The week ahead

A look at upcoming events:

Today

Eastside violence: Community leaders, businesses, nonprofit and faith-based organizations hold “Stop the Violence,” a community meeting and outreach presentation at White Memorial Hospital’s church, addressing neighborhood violence in Boyle Heights.

Tuesday

Pension debate: The Orange County Board of Supervisors considers a proposal that would require future increases in Orange County employee pension packages to be approved by voters.

Music Center: Music Center and county officials unveil the renovated Mark Taper Forum, which underwent $30 million in upgrades.

Lincoln Heights: The Los Angeles City Council discusses a business improvement district for Lincoln Heights.

Wednesday

Court talk: Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the new law school at UC Irvine, speaks about the Supreme Court at UC Irvine’s University Club.

Thursday

Walk of Fame: Actor Charles Durning is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Durning is a World War II veteran, Oscar nominee and recent SAG Life Achievement Award recipient.

Friday

Urban foods: Nonprofit organization Urban Farming begins the Food Chain program to end hunger by presenting its first four “edible” green walls in Los Angeles’ downtown and skid row areas, enabling residents to grow and harvest their own fresh, organic produce.

Saturday

San Pedro party: The 20th annual “Taste in San Pedro” festival begins. The two-day event will feature food from several of the city’s restaurants, a children’s area, artisan booths, craft boutiques, fireworks and musical entertainment.

Fishing contest: The 46th annual Huck Finn Fishing Derby, for children up to 15, includes a contest for best-dressed Huck Finn or Becky Thatcher. At the Huntington Beach Pier.

Ask a Reporter

After spiking significantly early this year, homicides in the city of Los Angeles are down to 2007 levels (and as of last week were actually slightly lower). How does that play out regionally around the city?

About half of the LAPD’s 19 divisions saw slight increases in homicides this year: the Devonshire, Foothill, North Hollywood and West Valley areas in the San Fernando Valley; the Hollywood, Pacific and Wilshire divisions on the Westside; the Northeast and Rampart in Central L.A.; and the Southeast division in South Los Angeles.

Among the divisions that have seen declines: Newton, Southwest, 77th Street, Van Nuys, Hollenbeck and Mission.

On latimes.com: High-rise controversy

David Zahniser reports on the controversy surrounding L.A.’s new high-rise project: a 23-story condominium tower on the site of the vacant Spaghetti Factory restaurant in Hollywood, including two billboard-size signs on the building’s south and west sides. The 305-unit project was approved despite objections from neighborhood critics who argued that it had received too many exceptions to the city’s planning and zoning rules, including higher density levels and “supergraphics” -- signs stretched across vinyl on part of the building’s exterior. Although the city’s code would have required 512 parking spaces, the developer was allowed to build only 416, according to a report prepared for the council on the project.

latimes.com/lanow