Structural issues are certainly there. The council was supposed to reform and empower their ethics comission in light of these scandals but they've been dragging their heels lately to no surprise (1). There is still something to be said about a lack fo good sources of local news but also how we tend to fill our time focusing on irrelevant details. I'm sure many more angelenos are up to date about the latest gaffes in the national debate that hardly affects their daily lives than they are about their own blatantly corrupted leadership that has a much more direct effect on everything local, through their effect on home prices, rents, traffic, economic opportunity, and even local air pollution. Especially in a place like California that does a lot of functions such as social welfare or environmental regulation through its own state or municipal institutions vs. a large reliance on federal decisions or subsidy.
1. https://laist.com/news/politics/ethics-reform-stalled-la-cit...