Profile: LA Beez

Excellent points, Warren. The story's main focus will be the "loophole"--as
you put it--that allows some entities  to maintain pre-Prop 13 rates. The
story will, indeed, address the basic aspect of Prop 13, and the history
that brought it about when many middle-class homeowners felt financially
threatened by high property taxes.

The story will also likely look at ideas to revise Prop 13 without repealing the core of law that is designed to protect everyday homeowners. Another aspect of the story will look at how Prop 13 has affected economic development, making cities and counties eager for retail development that brings sales taxes to supplant property taxes. We expect to delve into how that might have helped erode other aspects of the economy, such as light manufacturing.

This story will be published in the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen and on
the Labeez.org site, which will make it available to the various community
newspapers involved in that collaborative effort.

The Garment & Citizen has strong readership and a strong track record for
coverage of Downtown and surrounding districts, such as Echo Park, Angeleno
Heights, Westlake, etc.

The story has been planned for the Garment & Citizen and Labeez.org and
will be reported by Bejamin Mark Cole on a freelance basis.

Clinton,

Benjamin Mark Cole is a well-respected, veteran journalist with experience at the Herald-Examiner and the L.A. Business Journal. The story will be edited by Jerry Sullivan of the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen and Labeez.org. You can check www.garmentandcitizen.com for examples of Sullivan's editing, as well as his writing, which is featured in the weekly Commentary. The Garment & Citizen was designated as the best source of news for Downtown in the 2006 "Best of L.A." edition of LA Weekly, and Sullivan has won honors from the California Newspaper Publishers Association in each of the past 2 yeears. You can visit www.labeez.org for examples of the work the organization is doing in bringing various community newspapers together in a collaborative effort.