Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki declared last year that he intended to end homelessness among veterans within five years. That was welcome news to Los Angeles, where advocates say there are more veterans on the streets and in shelters than in any other part of the country — about 8,000 on any given night, by the VA's estimate. But while we're pleased that efforts to combat homelessness have become a top priority, they haven't yet shown the urgency that Shinseki's pledge demands.

The federal Department of Veterans Affairs has approved $20 million in funding to convert a little-used building at the West Los Angeles VA campus into therapeutic housing for chronically homeless veterans – a plan that has been years in the making.

The action was jointly announced by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Representative Henry A. Waxman and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

Yaroslavsky credited Santa Monica Mayor Bobby Shriver with proposing in 2004 that three unused or underused buildings on the campus be converted to help ease the county's homeless veteran problem…

Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver, a member of the Kennedy clan and brother of California's first lady, was selected Tuesday as Santa Monica's new mayor, replacing the late Ken Genser, who died earlier this year.

Strawberry Flag Radio speaks with Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver about his quest to house the 16,000 homeless vets in LA County.

This blog has ridiculed the RED campaign from all possible angles. Displaying exceptional cool in the face of this mockery, Bobby Shriver, the other co-founder of RED, met me for a coffee. He could have gone all angry and defensive and preachy about His Great Initiative (which others in his place have done). Instead, he asked for suggestions on how to improve RED.

Sometime last summer—around the time California's budget crisis led it to begin paying state workers in scrip—a meme took off in the media, that of California as a "failed state." Of course, it is nothing like the textbook definition of a failed state, a nation whose central government does not possess a monopoly on military force within its borders. But it was a humbling comedown for the Golden State to bear the stigma of the lowest credit rating in the nation, with a government virtually immobilized by its experiment with direct democracy, staggering under the incompatible demands of decades of citizen ballot initiatives.

Sean Kingston, Mitchel Musso and the Carter Twins are very special choirboys, young arrivals to a holiday legacy of all-star talent that began two decades ago with U2, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and Sting. A Very Special Christmas 7, out this week, is the latest installment in a franchise that has raised $100 million for Special Olympics. This first batch since 2003 offers 13 tunes, from Kellie Pickler's sassy Santa Baby to Gloriana's reverent Silent Night.

City Councilman Bobby Shriver is surrounded by bubbles thanks to two girls during a press conference for the opening of a 'toy-rary,' where formerly homeless kids with Upward Bound House can borrow toys for weeks at a time and exchange them.

Los Angeles County once again performed poorly in the report card, its beaches having the overall worst water quality in California, giving it a strong presence on the "Beach Bummers" list. One beach that did move down on that list was the area around the Santa Monica Pier, which went from the second slot in 2008 to number five this year. Councilman Bobby Shriver said he hopes the beach will move onto the report's newly established "Honor Roll" next year.

Last week I expressed doubts whether in the three years that the City of Santa Monica has to take advantage of the best financing available under its Earthquake Redevelopment Project the City could plan and design all the projects that the City's staff propose to fund with redevelopment bonds. On Saturday I came up against the City's glorious counter-example at the grand public opening of the Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach.

One month after publicly expressing interest in running for state attorney general in 2010, City Council member Bobby Shriver has withdrawn his name from a long list of potential candidates. Shriver – who is a nephew of President Kennedy and son of Sargent Shriver, the 1972 Democratic candidate for vice president -- said he wanted to spend time with his infant daughter, Rosemary, and his elderly parents.

Eight months after opening its first facility for homeless veterans, the New York City-based homeless service provider Common Ground was chosen as the preferred provider for a similar facility on the Veterans Administration grounds in Westwood. Common Ground – which was chosen this month along with builder Macormack Barron Salazar to provide therapeutic homeless housing for Los Angeles area veterans – has been making a mark on Santa Monica’s latest policies to tackle homelessness

Council member Bobby Shriver -– who retained his council seat with the second-highest vote count in Santa Monica history -- is considering a run for state attorney general in 2010, joining a crowded field eyeing the post currently held by former California Gov. Jerry Brown.

More than a year-and-a-half after a trio of dormant buildings on the West L.A. Veterans Affairs campus were designated to house homeless services, a nonprofit provider has been selected to operate one of the facilities. "It's thrilling that this world-class organization has been selected and they're working with great developers," said Santa Monica City Councilmember Bobby Shriver, a local proponent who pushed the Building 209 Homeless Housing Project, which would convert three existing facilities on the VA grounds to support homeless services.

Bobby Shriver, the nephew of President John F. Kennedy and brother of California first lady Maria Shriver, is mulling a run for California attorney general next year, according to his political adviser. "There's been a wide variety of people who have come to him and who he has used as a sounding board to talk about the job of attorney general and the role it takes, the profile it has in terms of moving California forward," said Harvey Englander, a Democratic political strategist who managed both of Shriver's successful runs for Santa Monica City Council, in an interview.

Bobby and Joel Reynolds of the Natural Resources Defense Council see the rejection of the Foothill South toll road in Orange County as an opportunity for mobility and parkland. Read what they had to say in the Los Angeles Times.

A San Diego lawmaker has introduced a bill to require legislative approval of any major development proposed in California State Parks. State Senator Christine Kehoe says the legislation is designed to protect state parks against development. "This was at the suggestion of Bobby Shriver who I heard speak last year at a rally to stop the San Onofre toll road. And he said, "parks should be permanent."

Cynthia Fox of KLOS 95.5 FM interviewed Bobby for a fun talk about (RED), the veterans campus in Brentwood and our new President! Check out her Spotlight on the Community section here (interview entitled Councilman Shriver – airdate of 12/19/08).

Bobby chatted with Alan Levy, co-founder of Blogtalkradio and host of The Alan Levy Show, about (RED) and what it means to be a "conscientious consumer."

Council member Bobby Shriver extended his voter base across the city, picking up 50 of Santa Monica’s 54 precincts in the November race for four City Council seats, according to an analysis of election results by The Lookout.

EUKicks.com gives a preview of the Converse (PRODUCT) RED Spring 2009 collection, including photos of Bobby's sneaker design along with those by The Edge and Lupe Fiasco.

City Council member Bobby Shriver and Joel Reynolds, a senior attorney for the Santa Monica branch of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) both celebrated the federal government’s final rejection of the controversial $1.3 billion Foothill South Toll Road, a project opposed by environmentalists and favored by Orange County transportation planners in equally passionate degrees.

Sports Illustrated honored Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver with the first Sportsman of the Year Legacy Award at the 2008 Sportsman of the Year celebration in New York City. Bobby Shriver, Mrs. Shriver's son, attended the celebration and accepted the award on her behalf.

The City Council will remain the same as it has since 2004, with the four City Council incumbents sweeping to easy victories Tuesday.

With all 54 precincts counted, Council member Bobby Shriver finished first among the 13 council candidates, with 18,755 votes; followed by Richard Bloom with 16,024 votes; Ken Genser with 15,179, and Mayor Herb Katz with 13,646 votes.

...Council incumbent Bobby Shriver, who’s seeking a second term, not only listens to residents, he seems to enjoy listening to them, and asks a lot of questions.

Indeed, Shriver behaves, thinks and acts more like a resident than a member of the ruling claque, which makes him a kind of City Hall heretic.

He is one of only two Council members (the other is McKeown) to support the residents’ ballot measure, Prop T, and the only Council member to oppose the City’s own ballot measure, Prop SM, which would expand and extend the existing utility tax.

Unlike his colleagues, Shriver also initiates projects rather than waiting for them to turn up on the staff agenda...

In sum, Shriver is independent, a heretic in the bureaucratic temple, who actually listens and acts. He’s also the only member of the current Council who doesn’t see this irreplaceable and iconic beach town as a product.

...make sure to vote for Bobby Shriver. He blew it on the trees, and on the pharmacy too, but his work on the homeless issue will bring real change, his openness on a variety of issues is refreshing, his access to powerful individuals is a useful tool for this town, he is owned by no one, his sense of right and wrong and fair play is strong, and his legal and journalistic backgrounds make him unique in assessing politics and real life. We are happy he has chosen to return and are looking forward to the possibility of his becoming Mayor.

There has been a significant and healthy shift in the school culture. Everyone is benefiting. We have four members of our City Council to thank for that: Bobby Shriver, Herb Katz, Bob Holbrook and Ken Genser... Shriver, Katz, Holbrook and Genser had everything to lose and nothing to gain when they stood up for Special Ed families and told the school district that the gags had to stop. The Council also called for an independent audit of Special Education as a condition for the release of a portion of the City funds earmarked for the schools. Independent auditor Lou Barber issued a report that revealed many of our district’s core problems. Although the audit has yet to be fully acted on, it has informed a shift at the district office and in the community.

Saying it takes “common sense” to conclude that more commercial development will generate more traffic, Council member Bobby Shriver announced Thursday that he is throwing his support behind Prop T.

Seven months after thousands poured into the Del Mar Fairgrounds for a raucous state Coastal Commission hearing on whether to build a 16-mile toll road through a state park in north San Diego County, both sides are set to be back at it today.

In an eight-plus hour event and with more than 3,000 toll road opponents in attendance, state and local elected officials and members of the Save San Onofre Coalition spoke before three Bush Administration officials overseeing a Commerce Department hearing on the Foothill-South Toll Road. "The people of Orange and San Diego Counties reject this road," commented Bobby Shriver, Santa Monica Councilman and former president of the California State Park and Recreation Commission. "They have proved that by showing up in huge numbers at the Parks Commission hearings, at the Coastal Commission hearing and again today at the Commerce Department hearing."

Santa Monica’s Police and Firefighters unions are throwing their political clout behind the incumbents in the race for four open seats on the City Council and opposing a measure that would place a cap on most commercial development. Mayor Herb Katz and Council members Richard Bloom, Ken Genser and Bobby Shriver “have been supportive of the members of the both associations in reducing crime and addressing fire and life safety concerns,” the unions wrote in a joint statement issued Thursday.

Santa Monica is one of the most Democratic towns in one of the most Democratic states in America. But, last Wednesday, the Santa Monica Democratic Club members failed to endorse Bobby Shriver, by any measure, Santa Monica’s leading Democrat, and an exemplary City Council member, for re-election to the Council... In refusing to endorse Shriver, the Club’s membership overturned the steering committee’s recommendation that he be endorsed.

Since being elected to the Santa Monica City Council in 2004, Shriver has spearheaded several new approaches to reduce homelessness, concentrating on the chronically homeless and promoting cooperation across the region.

The political season is taking shape, and a gaggle of Santa Monica contestants are poised for battle as the lines have now been drawn.

A long-delayed plan to house homeless veterans on the Veterans Administration grounds in Westwood got a major boost this week when federal officials extended the sharing agreement with a potential service provider to 55 years.

The southern African nation of Lesotho has become the fourth country assisted by the United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to receive funds from the consumer-driven (PRODUCT) RED initiative.

(RED), which gets a portion of the sales of sponsoring products for proven HIV projects in Africa, was launched in 2006 by Irish musician Bono and Bobby Shriver, nephew of former United States President John F. Kennedy.

Here are two guys who didn't see it coming when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger terminated them: his own brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, and actor-director Clint Eastwood.

The governor dropped Shriver and Eastwood from a state parks commission where both had served since before he took office. The two oppose a Schwarzenegger-backed plan to build a toll road through a state park, but Shriver said Thursday that the governor's decision was a surprise to both of them.

A national environmental group on Saturday called for a legislative investigation into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's removal of his brother-in-law, Bobby Shriver, and actor-director Clint Eastwood from a state parks panel.

The Natural Resources Defense Council had initially called on Schwarzenegger to reinstate Shriver and Eastwood to the State Park and Recreation Commission. But the group said Saturday it wants the state Senate to investigate the move after learning that state law does not allow the governor to reappoint them for at least a year.

More than $900,000 was raised for amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, last night at the annual New York Gala. Julian Schnabel, acclaimed artist and film maker, Carine Roitfeld, editor in chief of French Vogue, and Bobby Shriver, founder of the (Product)RED campaign, were honored at the event for their vital and distinctive contributions to the global struggle against AIDS.

DATA and (RED) co-founders Bobby Shriver and Bono announced today that DATA is merging with the ONE Campaign to Make Poverty History. The merger was voted in by the boards of both organizations. Bobby, as Co-Founding Chairman of DATA worked hard to recruit Tom Freston to be chairman of the board of the new organization. Bobby and Bono will also join the new board.

The ADVERTISING Club was proud to honor Bobby Shriver for (PRODUCT) RED as its 2007 Advertising Person of the Year on Monday, September 24th at a special luncheon that opened Advertising Week at the prestigious Metropolitan Club.

A plan spearheaded by Santa Monica Council member Bobby Shriver to house homeless veterans on the Veterans Administration grounds in West LA took a major leap forward, federal officials announced Tuesday.

ANGE(RED) over the state of AIDS, Bobby Shriver gets revved up with A&U’s Dann Dulin about irrational mindsets, selling products as a form of fundraising, and what he learned from this very interview.

On the left at Friday's kickoff event in New York: An Irish singer and songwriter who just might be the biggest rock star in the world today. On the right: Bobby Shriver, nephew of a President of the United States, brother of the first lady of California, son of the founder of the Peace Corps who ran for vice president, and son of the founder of the Special Olympics. They have combined to try to make red the new hot color, launching a huge marketing campaign across the country.

For years, the sons of Eunice Kennedy and Sargent Shriver have been driven to change the world through public service, while loving every minute of it.

It's not so much that Bobby Shriver captured more votes than any other City Council candidate in Santa Monica since 1984; it was the way he won -- besting his closest rival by more than 5,000 votes, according to an analysis of the Los Angeles County Clerk's final official tally.

Propped up by his political connections, wealth and well-known family, Santa Monica City Council candidate Bobby Shriver has dominated the headlines this election season. (PDF)

He's one of 13 candidates vying for four council seats in this upscale beach city outside Los Angeles, but his name and his campaign volunteers are setting Bobby Shriver apart.

A question on many Santa Monicans' minds is "Who is this Bobby Shriver guy and what does he want?" As he has had little or no prior involvement in Santa Monica politics, people wonder how familiar he can be with the issues that matter to them and how effective can he be as a City Councilman. Fair enough. In his first month of campaigning, Shriver opened a campaign office, took part in numerous Council candidate forums, walked door-to-door, shook hands and introduced himself to the community, and sent letters to all registered Democrats, soliciting their votes and volunteer work. Obviously, he was committed and serious.

Bobby Shriver, whose family tree includes President John F. Kennedy and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is making his first bid for political office as a candidate for Santa Monica City Council.

His uncles have been a U.S. president and senators, his father ran for vice president, and his movie star brother-in-law was elected governor of California. Now the political wasp has stung Bobby Shriver. At 50, the nephew of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and the late John and Robert F. Kennedy and the brother of Maria Shriver, wife of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is making his first bid for political office – for the Santa Monica City Council.

Every time you switch on the radio these days, you can hear a musical variety of holiday cheer being spread by the rock star du jour -- Madonna's "Santa Baby" and U2's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" are radio-wave mainstays in late December. Although you might suspect a growing commercial exploitation of the Christmas spirit, there's a special story behind these hits.