Our fair city has been booted from a list of the world's top 10 centers of commerce, reports the AP. LA was number 10 last year, according to Mastercard's Worldwide Index, but this year is number 17—due mostly to explosive growth in Asia and a resurgent Europe (though the fact that many in our region try to stymie growth over fear of congestion can't help). More bad news: Chicago beat us. Ugh. On the upside though, the LA and Long Beach ports were named #1 in the world. Go San Pedro! And Seoul is number 9—a harbinger for more K-Town boomtimes?

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Tomorrow, California voters will be asked to decide on propositions 98 and 99. You may need a law degree to understand these props fully, but some say both measures are trojan horse initiatives, i.e. initiatives created to confuse voters and get them to vote a certain way. On the outset, 98 and 99 both claim to be against eminent-domain, the practice of government seizing private property for development (think Hollywood's under-construction W Hotel). Prop. 98 would protect all private property from eminent domain, while Prop. 99 would only protect single-family, owner-occupied homes (including condos), reports the Los Angeles Times. Another difference is that 98, while protecting more properties, would phase out rent control on apartments once rent-controlled tenants move out. Thoughts?
· What to make of Props. 98 and 99 [LA Times]
· Goodbye rent control? [Curbed LA]

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James Frey, the Million Little Pieces writer/fibber, has just released Bright Shiny Morning, a novel that many are saying is the ultimate Los Angeles book; a work that encapsulates the energy of this huge city and its numerous neighborhoods. Of course, those people aren't from LA. Here are some choice words from reviewers, both distant and local:
By Steven Moore of The Washington Post: "But in point of fact, this sprawling novel about Los Angeles, where Frey lived in the 1990s, is very accurate and can be considered a reliable guide to 'the most diverse, fastest-growing major metropolitan area in the United States,' as he writes near the end."

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After Katan Khaimov was stabbed in Poinsettia Park two months ago, the 70-year-old West Hollywood man cried for help for over an hour. Neighbors heard but ignored him, chalking up the moaning to the recent influx of prostitutes, drug addicts, and mentally ill that have descended on the area, reports the Los Angeles Times. Via the paper: "Some homeless and mentally ill people have begun drifting here from downtown L.A., which is undergoing rapid change with new, pricey lofts and new enforcement of loitering laws. Drug addicts have followed, some drawn by a nonprofit food kitchen and needle exchange program off Santa Monica Boulevard, on the other side of Poinsettia Park from Khaimov's apartment." One positive thing to come from Khaimov's unsolved murder is a resurgence of neighborhood civic pride: more than 300 people turned out for a recent public meeting to talk about crime, there's a new neighborhood watch program, and activists have started enlisting block captains to help keep tabs on criminal activity.
· Stabbing death shakes up neighborhood [LA Times]

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In an affront to chicken lovers everywhere, the City of LA is considering two motions next week that may limit the rights of our roosters to cock-a-doodle at will while also limiting the rights of homeowners to enjoy the company of more than one rooster. The motions, originally introduced in October, will be heard at the May 7th council meeting, and were introduced under the guise of fighting blight, protecting property values, stopping the bird flu and cock fighting - which can also result in prostitution, gambling, gang activity, human trafficking, drugs, and weapon sales. Evil, filthy birds! The motions, introduced by Councilwoman Janice Hahn (representing the Pedro!) also requires that pet roosters be microchipped and that a "mechanism" be established to respond to complaints of noisy roosters.

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· After huge donation, CalArts music school gets new moniker [AP]
· Homes in Vegas get old fast [LA Times]
· People are talking about our potential bullet train [Christian Science Monitor]
· Why is it so hard to open a goddamn public toilet Downtown? [blogdowntown]
· Designer doesn't want Paris anywhere near his new LA store [New Zealand Herald]
· City officials scratch collective head over gang problem [Daily Breeze]

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· Traffic tsunami: unionists plan three-day march through city [launionaflcio.org]
· As LA sits on quimby funds, grant funds two Long Beach parks [gazettes.com]
· Wicked closing. Will Xanadu be next show for Pantages? [broadwayworld.com]
· Israeli and U.S. environmentalists convene in our hometown [jewishagency]
· LA's epic battle for public transit now a national story [Wired]
· Wait, it's now a global story [China View]

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· Firefighter dies in manhole explosion near LAX [Daily News]
· Try to stifle laughter when you see the LAPD tricycles [franklinavenue]
· A murder this morning and a hobo attack yesterday; welcome to H'wood [laist]
· Real estate investors proclaim we're in a recession [Journal-Constitution]
· Talk about Debbie Downer: the 64 worst things about LA [la.metblogs]
· How to live green in Smog City USA [LA Times]
· Forget 30 Rock, Metro Board Chair on TV tomorrow [MTA]

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· Miami crane collapse kills 2 [NY Times]
· A reason to go to Panorama City? New hospital opens [Daily News]
· The perfect LA shopping trip, according to people who live in Utah [abc4.com]
· Zev not running for mayor; still hates development [LA Times]
· Your weekly dose of Convention Center Hotel construction porn [Angelenic]
· Breaking down the Las Lomas decision [CityWatch]
· More deets on the Arts District's new Dean & Deluca-like place [Eater LA]

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Yesterday city councilman Eric Garcetti cut the ribbon on the East Hollywood Shared Street Project at Los Angeles' Eco-Village on Bimini Place, a sustainable community a few blocks south of Beverly and Vermont. The Shared Street Project—which works to take roads back from cars and trucks and make them more amenable to walkers and bikers—brought art to crosswalks and macadamia saplings to Bimini's fancy new sidewalks. As reported yesterday by LAist, Eco-Village just fought off the LAUSD, which wanted to build a school near Bimini that would have razed 1/3 of the village. The school will now be built without bulldozing any homes, but LAUSD wants to convert a nearby building into a parking lot for the school. Sounds like the perfect Eco-Village addition.
· Celebrating Bimini Place [Streetsblog LA]
· LAUSD bulldozers steer clear of Eco-Village [LAist]
· LA Eco-Village [Official Site]

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· Graying and growing: L.A.'s homeless population [LA Times]
· Housing nightmare screws rich and poor alike [NY Times]
· Mayor wants city workers to take a day off to save L.A. $$$ [Mercury-News]
· California officially mortgage crisis ground zero [Bloomberg]
· Free trains to Coachella Festival will roll out of Union Station [Reuters]
· Even with 2,000 fewer people, LA County still most populous in nation [AP]

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Guyton\Walker. Untitled, 2008. Stretched vinyl on billboard. Courtesy of the artists and LAXART, Los Angeles

You can thank Culver City art gallery, LAXART, for the brightly colored billboard bananas gracing La Cienega Boulevard, between Washington and Venice. Opening on Saturday, the gallery's latest exhibition features New Yorkers Wade Guyton and Kelley Walker who have produced a series of site-specific silk screened wall paintings as well as the banana billboard (pictured). The press release says something about its statement on "consumerism and mass media." We're just grateful for public space not currently occupied by another American Apparel ad.
· By Not Permitting Billboards, City Sees Less Money, Less Ugly [Curbed LA]

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Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Are irate shop owners really making their own loading zones? A reader thinks she he may have uncovered a conspiracy:

OK, this started some time back, when I parked one evening in front of the liquor store at the corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega, at one of those yellow "Loading Only" signs, which all of us savvy urbanites know are only enforced during the same times as their adjacent parking meters, right? So before I know it, the liquor store owner comes out and tells me I cannot park there. I tell him I know what the law is and I can park there if I want. He says he is going to have me towed. Now, I am not so threatened by the store owner, as I am weary of the battle ahead at the impound because some stupid unethical paid-off sleaze-bag tower tows my car. So I move it.

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"Now the neighbor gets to hear how loud it is." Following Jackass's Steve-O arrest for making holes in the walls of his L.A. apartment building, a reader points out this video footage of Steve-O yelling and threatening his neighbor through one of those holes. We're guessing this was before the arrest? Also, full apologies for making you watch this idiot.
· Steve-O Popped for Allegedly Being a Jackass [TMZ]

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A reader snaps a picture and informs us of the tragic news of the removal of the Kentucky Fried Chicken sign at the Hollywood Boulevard franchise location. "The pictured hollywood boulevard colonel sander's bucket has bitten the dust..." Where has it gone, we are left wondering. More via Wikipedia:

"The rotating bucket sign was designed by Leonard Goldstein to advertise the availability of Kentucky Fried Chicken at his Lendy's Restaurants in Roanoke and Salem, VA. The signs first appeared in 1961..."

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