From the Daily News:

Entertainment industry insiders gathered in Hollywood Friday to hash out their most pressing issues and possible opportunities in the first State of the Entertainment Industry Conference…

“You’re looking at 247,000 people who are working in this industry, one way or another, whether they’re earning a paycheck or self-employed,” Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said while presenting his organization’s “The Entertainment Industry and the Los Angeles County Economy” report.

The study found nearly $19 billion worth of payroll locally distributed over all facets of the entertainment business in 2011…

The report also notes that showbiz-associated indirect job creation (caterers, florists, for example) yields close to 586,000 jobs countywide. Entertainment directly generates $47 billion in annual output, or some 8.4 percent of L.A. County’s $558 billion in 2011, and accounts for $6 billion in state and local taxes each year…

Across town at City Hall on Friday, the City Council called for measures that would refund 75 percent of the sales tax related to productions, and study how to develop a new tax rate for radio and television broadcasters.

“These industries can generate their signals from anywhere,” Councilman Eric Garcetti said. “We want to keep them in Los Angeles.”

Under the proposal, the city will study changing the gross receipts tax and offer a minimum tax rate for the industry, similar to what is done with film companies.

Garcetti said he also wants to study possible incentives for the video game industry.

“Right now, the video game industry is bigger than Hollywood,” Garcetti said. “I was talking with one video game producer and he said he is moving to Montreal because of the incentives they are offering.”

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_22014072/los-angeles-leaders-entertainment-industry-ponder-how-keep

From the LA Times:

Convenience to some, menace to others, L.A.’s myriad parking valets could soon, for the first time, be subject to regulation.

Critics complain that fly-by-night valets have turned trusting souls into cynics by failing to cover damage to vehicles or by lifting valuables from glove compartments. Meanwhile, rogue operators have enraged residents by parking across driveways, moving garbage bins to free up spaces, monopolizing metered spots and speeding in reverse down busy streets to snag spaces…

“It has been the wild, wild West at our curbs,” said a spokesman for Councilman Eric Garcetti. “This ordinance is the equivalent of bringing the marshals to town to get a handle on it.”

Garcetti and other council members in 2009 asked the city attorney’s office to craft an ordinance in response to complaints. Several city agencies and valet company operators and businesses worked together to devise the proposed rules…

Joseph Gharib, president of CarPark Inc. in Hollywood, said the ordinance was a step in the right direction because it would help “reduce unlicensed operators and shady companies.”

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/nov/16/local/la-me-valet-parking-ordinance-20121117

From the Daily News:

Frustrated by the delays and conflicting information being given out by the Los Angeles Fire Department on its response times, two City Council members called Friday for the department’s top brass to report directly to the City Council.

Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Mitch Englander said they want to hear directly from LAFD officials on the inability to develop immediate solutions to the department’s response time issues – particularly in the more remote areas of the city, such as the Pacific Palisades and hillside areas in the San Fernando Valley.

“The department’s managers are either unable or unwilling to do their job to reduce response times and make Los Angeles safer,” Garcetti said. “It’s outrageous, and I demand they answer publicly to the people of Los Angeles.”

Garcetti said the City Council last year blocked plans to eliminate 318 firefighter positions and has added resources to the department. It also provided funding to create the FIRESTATLA program to track response times to various calls…

Pat McOsker, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, endorsed the Garcetti-Englander proposal.

“Rank and file firefighters are grateful for this motion today,” McOsker said. “Union leaders have been meeting with and leaning on the department brass for months, begging that they come forward with a five-year restoration plan.”

http://www.dailynews.com/ci_22013944/lafd-brass-called-carpet-information-response-times?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

Children’s Institute, Inc. is providing parenting classes focusing on building compassionate, empathetic relationships with children that offer them security, protection, and guidance, so that they can become caring and productive adults.

Classes start December 13, 2012 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm taking place at the Otis Booth Campus, 2121 W. Temple St., 90026. Classes will be held in both English and Spanish and childcare will be provided.

For more information or to register, please call 213-385-5100, ext. 8154 or 1121.