Rl 2 04 16 issu 1 20

L.A.’s Homeless Service Authority Aims to Count the Uncounted p. 2

Chef Paul’s Farm-to-Table Plans for Hoppy Valentine’s Day at Brouwerij West p. 11

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State Lands Commission to Port’s Air Quality Failure: Shape Up! p. 5

Sanders and Clinton Split Iowa Caucus Votes The Equally Split GOP Leaves Uncertain Path to the Presidency

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

[See Iowa, page 10]

Marco Rubio

43,165

23.1%

T

he Los Angeles Forum on Crime at the Warner Grand Theatre on Feb. 4 was not just intended to be an opportunity for San Pedro to sound off on opening the Harbor Division jail or getting more police officers on the streets. It was also intended as an opportunity for Chief Charlie Beck to burnish the image of the Los Angeles Police Department in a context in which both the image of his leadership and the image of police as public servants have been taking a beating.

This was made abundantly clear at the “No Excuses” rally in the parking lot of LAPD’s Harbor Division on Jan. 30.

Cmdr. Phillip Tingirides of the LAPD South Bureau and Sgt. Catherine Plows spoke directly to public relations problem police officers face both locally and nationally even as they were effusive in the praise of the community for coming together in support of their police officers.

“This is a cop’s dream,” Tingirides said at the rally.

“Think about it…every time you turn on the TV all you see is cop bashing.”

Plows sounded a similar note.

“When you look at the different rallies that are held across the country right now, how many are out there for police support?” Plows asked rhetorically.

“Not many. This is really a phenomenon, at least here in California.”

The Los Angeles Police Protective league attended in support of the rally, but also to push its most recent attack against Beck, calling him out on the alleged dismantlement of the department’s Parole Compliance Unit—“alleged” because the LAPD media relations department, and by extension Beck. would neither confirm or deny that he dismantled the unit as of press time Feb. 3.

Councilman Joe Buscaino, who recalled staffing the jail when it was briefly opened while he was an officer, suggested that the jail was going to be soon

February 4 - 17, 2016

Trump Gets Cruz-ified

Coastal Neighborhood Council President James Dimon, flanked by James Baeza (left), Mona Sutton, chairwoman of the Community Police Advisory Board and co-owner of the Omelette & Waffle Shop (right). Photo by Phillip Cooke.

The first election in 2016, the Iowa Caucuses did nothing to restore politics to a state of normalcy—if, indeed, that term still has any meaning anymore. It only added a layer of complexity.

The Democratic race ended in a “virtual tie,” as Sen. Bernie Sanders declared in his election night speech, a stunning accomplishment on his part, given that a year earlier, Sanders trailed Hillary Clinton by 61 points in an NBC/Marist poll of likely Iowa voters. The Democratic establishment and establishment press still Ted Cruz 51,666 27.6% assume that Clinton is the Donald Trump 45,427 24.3% prohibitive favorite to win

The Local Publication You Actually Read

By Terelle Jerricks Managing Editor

[See Rally, page 3]

1

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Gerald Desmond Bridge Work

Northbound Harbor Scenic Drive at Ocean Boulevard will be reduced to one lane.

Time: 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Feb. 5

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Beach Clean-Up and Native Garden Workday

Volunteers learn about shoreline habitats and the coastal sage scrub native plant community, while discovering the benefits of protecting these environments. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are welcome.

Time: 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Feb. 6 Details: www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro

Rain Harvesting Workshop

Hughes Middle School’s Green Team students and Rain Barrels International are partnering for another workshop and rain barrel sale. Rain barrels are $85 each but SoCal Smart Water offers a rebate of $75 per barrel for up to four barrels. Only rain barrels ordered in advance are guaranteed to be available.

Time: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Feb. 6 Details: www.rainbarrelsintl.com Venue: Hughes Middle School, 3846 California Ave., Long Beach NUDA’s February Workshop Demonstration and sampling. Infusing raw tempered cacao with essential oils workshop.

Time: 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 7 Details: nudajuiceshop@gmail.com Venue: NUDA San Pedro,407 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Gerald Desmond Bridge Construction

The on-ramp westbound on Ocean Boulevard will be closed to traffic from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Feb. 9. Exit at Anaheim Street. Head west to use State Route 103/State Route 47 south to rejoin Ocean Boulevard from the southbound Interstate 710 to reach San Pedro. From Pico Avenue take northbound Pico Avenue to 9th Street west, continue to I Street. Take SR-103/SR-47 south to rejoin Ocean Boulevard to reach San Pedro.

Time: 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Feb. 9

February 4 - 17, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Free Health Lecture: Help! I Am Not Getting Any Younger!

2

Learn what happens to the body as it ages. Find out what can be done to control aches and pains with the help of Dr. Romina Ghassemi.

Time: 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10 Details: (310) 548-5656 Venue: San Pedro Chiropractic and Posture, 1534 25th St., San Pedro

Networking at Noon

Promote your business and exchange ideas with other San Pedro Chamber of Commerce members. Networking at Noon highlights different locations throughout San Pedro. Be prepared to provide a commercial about your business or organization, and share materials with other attendees. Seating is limited to 20 and is open to members only.

Call for reservations Time: 11:45 to 1:15 p.m. Feb. 12 Cost: $20 Details: (310) 832-7272 Venue: Marymount California University, Waterfront Campus, 222 W. 6th St., San Pedro

City of Long Beach Sandbag Sundays

As part of the Long Beach City El Niño preparedness efforts, Long Beach CERT will be hosting Sandbag Saturdays. Come and fill your own sandbags with assistance from CERT & Search and Rescue personnel. Both sand and sandbags will be available free on site.

Time: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 13 Details: http://tinyurl.com/zyfxbfp Venue: Fire Station 11, 150 E. Market St., Long Beach [See Announcements, page 4]

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 30 Years

Homeless Count Seeks to Count the Uncounted

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

On Jan. 27, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority was embarking upon its second night of the homeless count. This year’s count is the first to be conducted in consecutive years due to concern for the rising number of homeless in places outside of downtown Los Angeles Skid Row. The count will be critical in deciding where and how $100 million from the City of Los Angeles would be spent.

Grace Weltman, LAHSA’s regional coordinator for Special Planning Area 8, said their goal for this year’s homeless count was 6,000 volunteers, 1,000 more than the 5,000 volunteers that served during this time in 2015.

Instead, the turnout exceeded expectations with 7,500 volunteers throughout Los Angeles County except Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena.

Weltman, who was managing the media hub and staging area for the Harbor City area at Kaiser Permanente, noted that the volunteers in the South Bay and the Los Angeles Harbor were comprised of residents from the City of Los Angeles, the unincorporated cities in the county and other cities comprising the South Bay. She noted that the Los Angeles contingent showed the greatest interest and participation.

“The Carson site has 100 volunteers,” she said.

“Our Inglewood site has over 100 volunteers. And down here, when we combined the Wilmington, San Pedro and Harbor City, we’re looking at 200 volunteers. This year, there is a great deal of engagement and interest.”

In 2007, LAHSA made a conscious effort to count youth under the age of 25 because that population is the most hidden. Weltman explained that up until this past year, LAHSA conducted an observational count where they would canvas

Volunteers listen to a training session, Jan. 28, at the LAPD Harbor Division’s Community Room before participating in the 2015 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. Photo by Betty Guevara.

areas based on information gathered from homeless youth providers.

“It’s hard to just look at a youth and identify them as homeless,” Weltman explained. “We have found that youth come across very well.

They don’t come across like a homeless adult. So we move to a survey based count.”

This resulted in LAHSA conducting in-depth interviews with youth all over the county and flagging those who exhibit signs of homelessness.

Weltman explained that demographic information such as whether they’ve been in the foster care or penal system and where did they become homeless would be collected.

Weltman explained that previously, when homeless youth have been interviewed, they

were only interviewed in the context of where they were found. As an example, Weltman took a fictional youth who was found in Hollywood who would be there because there are services there, but had originally become homeless in San Pedro.

“This is information we try to get from our homeless youth population because funding for this population has not [previously] been considered important,” Weltman said.

Weltman noted that there homeless youth hubs in Carson, Hawthorne, Inglewood and San Pedro, particularly around skate parks and restaurants. Weltman said there are a lot of group homes and foster care homes in Carson and Hawthorne.

“People will say there aren’t a lot of homeless people in the South Bay but that really depends on what you’re comparing to,” Weltman said.

“A lot of the youth we’ve identified goes to El Camino College.”

They recruited special teams such as youth providers and youth to help interview youth.

“We’ve found they are more likely to respond to other youth than they would to an adult,” Weltman explained. “Outreach teams have been canvassing the entire county and distributing information. Our hope is that we get them out of riverbeds and freeways and areas that we know that if there is flash flooding they could be hurt or their life could be threatened and get them out of their and connected to some services. But if they continue to stay and the weather gets bad, then at least they know that there are weather activated shelters.”

The weather activated shelters have been identified, although their whereabouts are not necessarily available to the public.

Weltman explained that anybody that goes to a winter shelter would be navigated to those [weather activated] sites.

She also noted that the Red Cross and their facilities would also activate if an emergency arises.

As of press time, the numbers were still being tallied.

[Rally, from page 1]

‘No Excuses’ Rally Reveals a New Coalition

Candidate for Los Angeles County Supervisor in District 4, Mike Gin, with LAPD Harbor Division Capt. Kathryn Meek and South Bureau Commander Phil Tingirides at the Jan. 30 “No Excuses” Rally. Photo by Phillip Cooke.

February 4 - 17, 2016

up with that and why?’ When you start to look around, you see the reasons why. It’s basic neglect. So this year, we’re all on the same page and that’s a good thing.”

The vice president of the San PedroWilmington NAACP Branch 1069, Joe Gatlin, echoed similar sentiments.

“The exciting thing about this is [that] this is an issue the whole community believes in,” Gatlin said. “When I was the president of the neighborhood council 10 or 15 years ago, this was the same issue. It hasn’t changed.”

Gatlin served as the president of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood council during the mid2000s.

“We lost officers 15 years ago because crime had [gone] down,” Gatlin said. “Then we have a homeless situation and we have a lot of businesses shuttered down and it’s getting worse.

“But when big budgets are made and they see that crime is going down in the Harbor, they take everything from us. Now crime is going up again.”

Community leader and restaurateur John Papadakis blames unions and city government.

“We must maximize public access and maximize commercial opportunity,” Papadakis said. “We have no commercial businesses here.

It breeds crime.”

Papadakis recalled driving down Gaffey, one of the busiest streets in town, and noted that on both sides of the street that there were homeless people just waking up in the doorways of shuttered businesses.

“Commercial businesses ensure safety because people take care of their businesses and won’t allow the criminal element around it,” Papadakis said. “San Pedro has given itself over to the criminal element and the homelessness due to the fact that businesses are dying and going elsewhere. They let them die because they won’t create a seaside, they won’t create a peoplefriendly seaside.”

Papadakis was referring to local government and the ILWU in his all encompassing “they.”

“The union’s misjudged this whole matter,” Papadakis said. “They tried to pit union officials against people who want development by saying their jobs would suffer if the port invests in public use infrastructure and what would turn this area around…i.e. public access, businesses

holding elected officials accountable. The Saving San Pedro social media hub started off as a severe reaction by a subset of the community to the homeless encampments sprouting out of nowhere in town.

Back then, their vision was small and limited to questions of who belonged and who didn’t and social media pages a space for harassment as exemplified by online attacks on Helping Those In Need founder, Nora Hilda-Vela and homeless people who have committed no crime other than simply being visible in public spaces.

An exacting of a reactionary San Pedro brand of justice.

The “No Excuses” Rally looked like an unveiling of a new coalition of interest groups—a coalition with subtly differing views on addressing homelessness, but on the same page, that quality of life in this town has deteriorated.

The featured speakers at the forum include Beck, Police Commission president Matthew Johnson and Tingirides. But the real question is whether City Hall and every layer of government governing the Los Angeles Harbor Area are listening.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

opened anyway. He believes that some things could be done now to put more officers on the street.

“This was one of the reasons I ran for this office,” Buscaino said. “These are the frustrations that we hear today.”

Buscaino said opening the jail has been his main priority every year he has served on the council.

“My main priority for each budget year was opening this jail and staffing it with detention officers,” Buscaino said. “We have created a pathway to ensure that this jail is staffed … that’s a major success in the last couple of years.”

Buscaino explained that the jail hasn’t opened sooner because of the length of time it takes to attract and train new detention officers.

“When you staff and hire detention officers you have to advertise the positions and they have to go through the academy,” Buscaino said. “The department tells me that they first have to move the sworn officers out of the metropolitan jail, which numbers 70 or so. Once they move the sworn officers out of the metropolitan jail, I was told that the Harbor jail is their priority.”

There were also those who are livid at the perceived deterioration in the quality of life due to the presence of homeless encampments and homeless people and their perceived connection to the increase in crime in the Harbor Division.

For better or for worse, the link among these ideas is a belief that city government has neglected its seaside community.

Saving San Pedro member, George Palaziol, said as much during the rally. “We need to show our local politicians that this is something we hold near and dear to our hearts,” Palaziol said.

“We need to come together and show that we mean business. If there are some people in office not willing to provide that for us then we will put somebody in there that will.”

Saving San Pedro started off as Facebook hashtag following after the emergence of homeless encampments around the old Ante’s restaurant and the short-lived Tiny Homes San Pedro project last summer. But aside from Palaziol’s heated rhetoric, the issue of homelessness or rather the high visibility of homelessness was negligible compared to the general sense of neglect by city government—past and current elected included.

Other contingents at the rally included activists who have fighting to shut down the Rancho LPG tanks for the past decade and the local realtor backed group, the Los Angeles Waterfront Access and Redevelopment Coalition, which is frustrated by the direction of Waterfront Development.

This is a cascade of interests for the same thing which is the betterment of the community across the board,” said Janet Gunter, member of the San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners United, the original Saving San Pedro group that began challenging Rancho LPG more than a decade ago.

“We may not interpret everything in exactly the same way, it shows that everybody is concerned about what’s going on in the community, and they see [the community] as being on the decline in multiple ways.”

She noted that the Porter Ranch gas leak has really drawn a lot of attention and local residents are now wondering what’s inside Rancho LPG’s tanks.

“That’s good,” Gunter said. “We’ve got elevation in crime. That’s significant and has been publicized. So, people are saying, ‘what’s

along the waterline, grand public attractions.”

Papadakis noted we only need to look to Long Beach for an example of a skyline that matches the crane-line.

“We see a port that competes with us in cargo movement but it’s also a great destination,” Papadakis said. “We need to follow that, but we don’t want to because the people with power… big government and big unions don’t want to give it up. And they punish us economically to keep us on our knees.

That’s what breeds this problem of crime and lack of police.”

Speakers at the rally made repeated calls to stay united in spirit and purpose as they move forward in

3

Restaurateurs Serve Up Minimum Wage Cost

By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor By 2021, Los Angeles County and two of its largest cities are set to raise their minimum wage to $15 an hour. Though the move is widely supported, business owners in the restaurant and hospitality industries continue to fret over the cost of doing business.

“Across the board, this is devastating to all businesses in California,” claimed Scott DiDomenico, general manager at J. Trani’s in San Pedro. “It’s based on good intention but the

Higher wages will impact more than just the bottom line, DiDomenico said.

“There are a lot of entry-level people in those positions and it’s hard to pay those people at that minimum wage ($15 an hour),” he said. “There’s got to be an incentive. Do a good job and you’ll transition.”

Though businesses in the hospitality industry will have to make much greater adjustments, a 2013 Economic Roundtable study found

Manuel Villanueva of the Restaurant Opportunity Center. “This is illegal. You cannot touch people’s hard earned money. This is a profession we learn out of necessity and we do our jobs with pride. We want to bring dignity and respect to the profession we serve.”

While some people question why a waiter should get paid equally or more (including tips) than a sous chef, Pérez, who is married, has a daughter and a mortgage, believes he not only deserves a living minimum wage but his tips.

He says he considers his job to be profession for which he has prepared for and is no less valuable than that of a chef or an office worker.

“I am a professional waiter,” said Pérez, listing specialties in culinary, drinks and banquets.

“What makes you think that what I do has less value? I have 15 years experience as a waiter and I’ve prepared myself for what I have.”

What people don’t consider is how much waiters are taxed by the government, how waiters hardly ever get benefits such vacations and how some don’t even get paid a minimum wage. Moreover, after the Obamacare passed companies reduced the amount of hours allowed for waiters and bartenders, so that employers would be exempt from providing benefits, Pérez said “I bet you there isn’t any company that has full time servers or front staff,” Pérez said.

[See Cost, page 4]

Plans for Outlet Mall on Stadium Site

By Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter

A member of the Restaurant Opportunity Center Los Angeles holds up a sign in Spanish that reads: “I Work Hard, I Deserve $15.” Photo courtesy of Raise the Wage Coalition

February 4 - 17, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

results are tragic.”

Right off the bat, some restaurants are going to cut their staff to be able to maintain payroll, DiDomenico said.

Most restaurants are operating below a 6 percent net, which doesn’t mean they are inefficient. That’s just the state of the industry, DiDomenico said.

Rigoberto Pérez, who works as a server in Long Beach and in Orange County, does not believe that to be true. He said he’s worked as a manager, assistant manager and relief manager for different companies and he would notice the companies’ earnings.

“It’s higher than a clothing store or cosmetics, because the earnings are at 300 percent,” Pérez, 34, said. “It’s one of the chains that grows more rapidly because the cost of labor is so low. They take the earnings.

The state demands the minimum.”

4

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area [Announcements, from page 2]

Climate Change: Effects of Drought and El Niño on Residential Gardens and Marine Mammals

Botanist Tanya Finney, Superintendent of the South Coast Botanic Garden, will speak on gardening in the drought, El Niño’s potential effect on drought-tolerant plants, and give an overview of the Botanic Garden.

Marine Mammal Care Center Education and Outreach Coordinator Kristi Fera will describe the center’s work and discuss the effects of climate change on marine mammals: available food, pollution and El Niños (Los Niños). We will be collecting items from the center’s wish list if you want to donate; please make choices from the lists here: http://www.marinemammalcare.org/ donate/wishlist.html Time: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 21 Cost: Free Venue: Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library Community Room, 701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates

that there would be a net increase in jobs with the minimum wage increase. Personal service establishments, hotels and restaurants will need to reallocate about 14 percent of their revenue to raise employee wages the study stated.

In June 2015, the Los Angeles City Council voted to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 2020. In September 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors mirrored the city’s vote for workers in unincorporated areas and county employees. Employers with fewer than 25 employees have an additional year to reach the $15 an hour raise. This past January, the Long Beach City Council followed with a minimum wage increase path of its own. The city would require most workers to earn at least $13 by 2019, with the option of raising wages to $15 by 2021. Nonprofits and businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have a one-year delay.

As far as restaurants are concerned, they “would not be treated differently than any other business,” said Long Beach City Attorney Charles Parkin. “They would be required to pay the local minimum wage.

Some restaurants have looked into options that would make the wage increase more digestible, such as lobbying for a “tip credit.” A tip credit would create a lower minimum wage for tipped employees, where tips would be counted toward the minimum wage requirement.

However, California Labor Code 351 clearly states: No employer or agent shall collect, take, or receive any gratuity or a part thereof that is paid, given to, or left for an employee by a patron, or deduct any amount from wages due an employee on account of a gratuity, or require an employee to credit the amount, or any part thereof, of a gratuity against and as a part of the wages due the employee from the employer. Every gratuity is hereby declared to be the sole property of the employee or employees to whom it was paid, given, or left for.

“Tips do not make part of your wages,” said

Carson isn’t getting a professional football agreement with the previous owner, Starwood stadium anytime soon, so the city must once Capital, to develop the acreage. A key part of again consider what to do with a 157-acre the complex land swap transferred the parcel to brownfield commonly referred to as the a “joint powers authority” controlled by the city. “stadium site.” Many proposals for a stadium If the stadium was not ultimately built, the city or other development have been floated over the would retain control of the property, said Mark past decades, but all have been stymied, partly Fabriani, the Chargers’ general counsel, at the time. because the site is a former toxic waste dump.

Official documents regarding remediation of Ken Farfsing, Carson’s city manager, explained the city is proceeding with a Base the Cal Compact Landfill site, as it was originally called, may be found at the Carson Regional Site Plan approved before the 2008 recession.

“The stadium was an overlay,” he added. Library or by contacting the Department of “Now we’re back to development consistent with the underlying zoning plan.”

That plan, variously called the Boulevards at South Bay or the Carson Marketplace, shows an outlet retail mall on 43 acres fronting the 405 freeway, with one or more big box stores and parking lots on acreage further south. Farfsing said the project first After losing out on an NFL stadium, the city of Carson is returning to the faltered when the Boulevards at South Bay plan that was approved before the 2008 recession. developer failed to File photo. attract tenants during the recession.

Toxic Substance Control. The construction The city has a lot of history with that land.

In early 2005 Carson officials met with quality assurance plan was prepared by Tetra National Football League Commissioner Roger Tech for Carson Marketplace LLC in 2011. It Goodell about developing a stadium. A month lays out installation of systems for groundwater later, Carson abandoned that stadium plan and extraction and treatment, gas collection, control pursued the Boulevards at South Bay, a retail or treatment and a polyethylene cover landfill and residential space. Nonetheless, the city cap over the contaminated soil.

Emad Yemut, the project’s supervising went ahead with an environmental impact report that was intended to cover any development— engineer at the Department of Toxic Substance stadium, residences, retail, or a combination of Control, was asked if the remediation process is complete. the three.

Yemut says the gas and groundwater systems Recently, Mayor Albert Robles said Carson has gained control over the entire property and have been completed, but a polyethylene cap still needs to be installed. Residential development is is talking to developers.

According to Carson’s official newsletter, “not on the table anymore,” he added.

Long-term monitoring data, meant to ensure the City of Carson Reclamation Authority took title to the 157-acre Carson Marketplace site in the systems are working properly, is found on the department’s website. It may be accessed under June 2015.

This followed reports in May 2015 that the the “Activities” tab at envirostor.dtsc.ca.gov/ Oakland Raiders and Chargers Football Co., public for relevant technical data. representing the NFL teams, entered into an

[Cost, from page 4]

Cost of Minimum Wage

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

On Jan. 19, California State Controller Betty Yee, in her first month chairing the State Lands Commission, sent a letter to Port of Los Angeles about the port’s failed China Shipping mitigations.

“Failure to implement these measures is not only a failure to meet the Port’s duties under the California Environmental Quality Act, but it is also inconsistent with the Port’s fiduciary duties as a state trustee of public trust lands and assets in a manner that directly harms the public,” Yee wrote. “Public harm resulting from port operations is a serious concern and inconsistent with the Port’s fiduciary duties to the people of California and Public Trust Doctrine principles.”

Local activists and environmentalists across the region have long made this argument, pushing the State Lands Commission to become actively engaged, but there’s never been any such statement from the commission.

Yee went on to specifically push for zeroemissions technology, a policy goal in tune with Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Air Resources Board.

“Consistent with applicable law, and in order to avoid a repeat of the China Shipping experience, I write to recommend that you update all new and amended leases at the Port to push for zero-emission technologies,” Yee wrote.

She also called for the equivalent of recreating the Port Community Advisory Committee, which POLA defunded and disbanded before dropping

California State Controller Betty Yee. File photo

enforcement of the China Shipping mitigation measures: I recommend that the Port create a stakeholder public participation process that includes ample representation from community and environmental groups to discuss and deliberate the implementation of its environmental protection and improvement plans.

Yee also called for a qualified abandonment of statements of “overriding considerations”—

Slangerup Promises Cleaner, Safer Goods Movement months for operations to recover,” Slangerup said. “It actually took half the time—six weeks— to clear the backlog of ships at anchor.”

During the negotiations, the port worked with chassis providers to create an interoperable chassis “pool of pools,” which was launched in March of that year, Slangerup said.

The POLB also put out a new initiative called the Supply Chain Optimization, which was done in collaboration with the Port of Los Angeles. The initiative seeks to create a tight marine supply chain. Both ports sought and received authorization from the Federal Maritime Commission to launch the initiative.

The CEO said the Long Beach port also initiated an aggressive outreach program to address cargo owner concerns.

Slangerup explained that volume rebounded quickly because “Long Beach offers the shortest, fastest and most cost efficient gateway for movement of seaborne goods from Asia to America,” where the Panama or Suez canals add to transportation costs and transit time to market

by 20 to 40 percent.

“We have little to fear from other ports … or the Panama Canal … stealing our cargo and the jobs that come with it,” he said. “Over half of the container vessels … will be too big to fit through the expanded canal.”

[See POLB, page 6]

By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor Port of Long Beach CEO Jon Slangerup’s second State of the Port address, on Jan. 21, was one of triumph over the bottlenecks created in the flow of goods movement during the labor negotiations between 2014 through 2015.

Large retailers and others in the goods movement industry repeatedly warned that clients may permanently stay away from the twin ports because of the labor strife with the union.

Instead, Slangerup was able to boast of the fact that the Long Beach port in 2015, handled 7.2 million 20-foot equivalent units of cargo, something that has happened only three times in the port’s 105-year history.

And through December 2015, there was about a 5.4 percent volume growth compared to 2014, nearly double the rate of the national average.

Slangerup credited, in part, the February 2015 labor agreement between the International Longshore Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association, which opened the door to rapid recovery of the congested port.

“We were predicting it would take three

[See SLC, page 6]

The Local Publication You Actually Read

In the end, what he calls, “front house” employees only supplement their income with their tips, which varies from customer to customer.

“Sometimes people will deprive you by not giving you tips that you deserve because they think that you are getting rich,” Pérez said.

Yet, he continues doing this job because he enjoys his profession, he said.

“Like an elementary teacher who is not paid sufficiently but fights for his or her profession,” Pérez said. “I love what I do.”

An all-inclusive pricing model is another option restaurant owners are considering.

Restaurants would eliminate tipping and the entire cost of dining would be incorporated into the menu.

Service charges are another other option restaurant employers are exploring. In this case, a service charge would be added to the tab for the total due. Instead of the customer gifting a tip based on their discretion and the server’s earned service, the customer would be paying a service charge that belongs to the employer, not the employee, and would be managed directly by the employer. Moreover, implementing a service charge runs the risk of doing away with good service, because it takes away the incentive value for a tip.

“You start guaranteeing … they might not provide that [same] level of service,” DiDomenico said.

For now, J. Trani’s is not considering service charges or doing away with tips, but DiDomenico warns nothing is set in stone.

“Where one goes, the industry goes,” he said. “There is some who are doing away with tips and they are getting a lot of negative [feedback].”

Pérez agrees that taking tips out of the equation would be detrimental to the industry as a whole.

“By taking out tips they are taking [away] the essence of service,” he said. “You are practically destroying the history of the industry…. For those people who do it, it will be counterproductive.”

At this point education is the best solution, said Elise Swanson, president and CEO of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce.

“We took an opposed position to [Mayor Eric Garcetti’s] minimum wage policy, but it passed,” she said. “Now, what we are doing is making sure our members are educated.”

Several calls to the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, the California Restaurant Association, the Downtown Long Beach Associates and other local restaurant owners were made without response by the time of production.

POLA: Shape Up!

used to approve projects with irreparable environmental or public health harms—unless projects involve zero-emission technology.

The letter directly addressed Executive Director Gene Seroka, but copies went to the board, other top POLA officials, as well as Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Joe Buscaino.

POLA declined to comment in advance of Seroka responding in a letter.

Yee’s letter drew immediate support from local activists as well as policymakers.

“Polluting our air and water violates the port’s obligations under the Public Trust Doctrine,” said Joe Lyou, president of the Coalition for Clean Air and board member at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “The State Lands Commission is right to remind the port of the need to operate in the public interest and protect our environment.”

“The integrity of CEQA is part of what’s at stake here,” said Morgan Wyenn, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, who also cited the local health impacts as well. “I was really excited to see the letter.... I really hope the port listens to her.”

“Yee’s letter indicates that the SLC has the legal right to review and audit the administration of the tidelands,” said Kathleen Woodfield, vice president of San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners Coalition, one of the plaintiff organizations in the China Shipping case.

“The port has now demonstrated that it is time for the SLC to step in and exercise this right.”

“It supports arguments that some of us have made that the port should be in receivership, certainly with regards to its environmental impact

February 4 - 17, 2016

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[SLC, from page 5]

SLC’s Yee Issues Notice on POLA reporting and auditing,” said Peter Warren, a long-time chair of the Port and Environment Committee of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council. “They are incapable, for whatever reason, of reporting on that honestly.”

At least three mitigation measures for the TraPac terminal expansion were not fully implemented said Wyenn, who spoke to Random Lengths hours after being briefed by POLA on Jan. 29. Information about unmet mitigation on other projects has not yet been provided by POLA. “I totally reject that it was [former Executive Director Geraldine] Knatz’s doing by herself,” Warren added. “The same people are there now…. This was a criminal conspiracy that went on. They broke CEQA law, they violated a court-approved settlement, and they kept it secret, and they kept it secret consciously and deliberately, for years.... The Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council regularly asked and was not given this information.

“We have a Flint, Mich. here….

We now have seven years, up to seven years of added harm, and irreversible damage to children in the Harbor Area, elderly, people with disabilities and also people who are healthy. It’s very much like the Flint situation except the decision-making process and how we got here is different.”

An even more long-standing

enforcement failure concerns the Pacific Harbor Line rail used

by Rancho LPG to transport its hazardous fuel.

“This rail segment over which Plains/Rancho transports butane from the facility through the Port is a tidelands trust asset that belongs to the people by law,” lawyer Noel Weiss pointed out in an email.

POLA has failed to provide oversight since 1997, when the PHL operating agreement was first signed, including a provision for a Railroad Oversight Committee “to monitor the performance by Operator.”

“Our public records requests have yielded the fact that this Railroad Oversight Committee has never met because no minutes of such meetings were produced in response to the request, made about two years ago.” Weiss noted, “The Plains/Rancho facility is excluded from the list of approved ‘switching’ (loading) sites” where hazardous materials are allowed.

Because this occurs on Tidelands Trust land, the port’s oversight failures are clearly in the State Lands Commission’s court, although it has shirked its responsibility in the past.

Both these operational concerns and Rancho’s inadequate insurance coverage were brought to the commission in 2014, when acting chairman, Alan Gordon, wanted to take further action, but a staff report said there was nothing the commission could do.

Typically, the State Lands Commission has taken a rather passive, hands-off approach— except when it has actively intervened against communityapproved mitigation measures, as Woodfield notes—leading many to ask where the seeming change in attitude was coming from. Yee’s public information officer, Jennifer Hanson told Random Lengths that Yee “just thought this would be a good jumping off point for a longterm discussion on the issues, since this is her first month as chair.” [She serves as chairwoman in even-numbered years.]

“She had a series of stakeholder meetings throughout the past year to help develop the five-year strategic plan for the State Lands Commission and this was a concern she heard repeated from multiple stakeholders over the course of the year,” Hanson explained. “She’s obviously deeply concerned and hopeful that this lets them know she feel strongly about the issue and we’ll work together moving forward to make some serious improvements.”

“The new strategic plan commits to ‘early and meaningful coordination with local and regional communities disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution,’” Woodfield said.

“That’s us! We hope this language results in more effort by the SLC to protect our community from [See SLC, to page 7]

[POLB, from page 5]

State of POLB

He announced that in a few weeks the 18,000-TEU container vessel, the Benjamin Franklin, will call in Long Beach at the Pacific Container Terminal.

He said that the Port of Long Beach is in the middle of executing their 2016 Strategic plan, which includes a 10-year, $4 billion capital improvement program to develop Middle Harbor, replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge and double the capacity of the on-dock rail system.

The new bridge is scheduled to handle three lanes of westbound traffic by the end of 2017, with both east and westbound lanes open for traffic by 2017.

Middle Harbor, the first all-electric and zero emission automated mega terminal, will have the capacity to handle more than 3.3 million TEUs per year when fully operational

The Future

Looking toward the future Slangerup said the port is focused on achieving the state’s 2050 emission reduction goal by working the Port of Los Angeles on the join Clean Air Action Plan, which will be incorporate new technologies.

He touted the Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System [AMECS] project, as a successful story. AMECS outfits the ship exhaust systems with a hood that captures and filters particulate matter while the ship idles with the engines at dock. This method used as an alternative to ship-to-shore electrical plugin power, called cold-ironing.

He also touted the port’s Energy Island concept,

Port of Long Beach CEO John Slangerup gave the state of the Port address which boasted that POLB handled 7.2 million 20-ft. TEUs of cargo, which has happened on three times in its 105-year history. File photo.

introduced in 2015. The concept envisions transforming the port into an integrated network of micro-grids that generate clean, sustainable power and water throughout the port.

“Energy Island has the potential to deliver significant environmental benefits…and operational resiliency against unplanned or catastrophic grid outages,” he said.

E-TAP (Technology Advancement Program) mitigates mobile sources of pollution such as ship, trucks and trains by evaluating advanced technologies for renewable power generation, lighting, energy storage and clean water.

“It boils down to vision, courage and leadership,” he said. “It was the vision of those who came before us that got us here….I couldn’t be more proud about the future.”

[SLC, from page 6]

SLC Notice

unnecessary and unlawful port impacts.

“We hope that controller Yee’s letter results in a cultural change, and that the SLC staff will direct its focus toward protecting our community from harm rather than scrutinizing and restricting community-recommended mitigation projects.”

Another contributing factor—specifically raised by Janet Gunter, one of three original China Shipping plaintiffs—may have been a November 2015 appeals court decision, San Francisco Baykeeper, Inc. v. California State Lands Commission. In that case the State Lands Commission was the lead agency approving an environmental impact report for sand mining in San Francisco Bay. The appeals court ruled that the commission had not “fulfilled its obligation to conduct a public trust analysis in the CEQA process,” meaning that CEQA itself was not selfcontained law and that active consideration of public trust doctrine was required.

“I totally believe that this suit is largely responsible for the SLC’s sudden interest in doing the job that they have abdicated,” Gunter told Random Lengths. “This is the first time that the SLC has ever been reprimanded for their ambivalence regarding oversight and adherence to public trust duties.”

“The communities around the ports for years, probably a decade, have been wanting the State Lands Commission to take a more active role in pushing the ports to do better and using the authority that the State Lands Commission has,” Morgan said. “But from my understanding and experience, the State Lands Commission historically has done the opposite, in more of a limiting role, arguing that the port is limited in

China Shipping terminal from the vantage point of Knoll Hill in San Pedro. File photo.

the mitigations they’re allowed to do.”

Local activists attest to this.

“Historically, we have been abandoned by the SLC, who we only hear from when SLC staff wants to intervene and prevent a mitigation project that has been proposed by the community,” Woodfield said.

“So I’ve never seen anything like this where they’re being proactive, where they’re pushing the port to do more,” Morgan concluded.

It’s still a wide-open question what further action the letter will lead to. One suggestion it makes comes close to matching past activist demands—the call for a qualified end to the use of “overriding considerations”: [T]he Port should adopt and implement

a policy establishing that it will not use a statement of overriding considerations for air quality and greenhouse gas emissions in its CEQA reviews unless the tenant agrees to the implementation of mitigation measures incorporating zero-emission technologies for

off-road equipment and drayage trucks.

“I put through a motion advising the commission to place a moratorium on overriding considerations,” recalled Woodfield, as PCAC member.

At the time, Woodfield told POLA’s board that the recommendation “seeks to support the port’s stated goal of ‘green growth’ and provide a feasible methodology for obtaining ‘green growth.’” But the board unanimously rejected the recommendation, based on a convoluted argument that it would violate CEQA — a claim disputed by both Natural Resources Defense Council and then-State Sen. Alan Lowenthal. In an Orwellian twist, POLA Board Chairman S. David Freeman protested that the board already intended to do what Woodfield and PCAC wanted.

“The resolution being proposed is basically our policy,” Freeman said, before voting to reject it.

Although Yee’s proposal is more limited— allowing exceptions when zero-emission technology is involved—it clearly contradicts the convoluted logic that POLA embraced in the past.

Another crucial open question is whether effective community oversight will be restored.

Former PCAC co-Chair June Smith underscored the importance of such oversight, pointing out [See POLA, to page 10]

The Local Publication You Actually Read

February 4 - 17, 2016

7

Crime and the Harbor Division Jail Badges, Pistachios and More Excuses

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

February 4 - 17, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

A few weeks ago, a 14 year-old suspect carjacked a black SUV in San Pedro at gunpoint.

Within hours, the police had spotted the stolen vehicle and a chase ensued into my neighborhood.

The teenager panicked, abandoned the car and ran into a family member’s home.

The residence was eventually surrounded, while the streets covering several blocks around 11th and Mesa streets were cordoned off with yellow police tape. Police officers stopped and inspected cars traversing through the area at gunpoint in search of the suspect.

Within those first few hours of this live crime drama, I saw more police officers on the block than I ever imagined were available.

There were at least 15 patrol cars, if not more.

There was a canine unit, a helicopter hovering overhead, and an armored vehicle carrying a squad of SWAT officers. Plain clothes detectives, Port Police and the Los Angeles Fire Department assisted.

By the end of the standoff, several hours later, the Los Angeles Police Department captain in charge estimated that there were something close to 100 officers involved. To the credit of the police officers on the scene, that 14 year-old carjacker was arrested without being shot. The Jan. 30 “No Excuses” rally calling for “more police” outside of LAPD Harbor Division reminded me of this incident.

For those who attended the rally, rising crime stats along with the still shuttered jail was the focal point of their collective anxiety and frustration.

This mixed bag of concerned citizens included representatives of not one, but two groups using the moniker of “Saving San Pedro” (one that has been most vocal against the homeless and the other, older group, of antiRancho LPG activists). Then, there were the opponents of the current waterfront development at Ports O’Call and some representatives of the newly reorganized NAACP. What was not generally recognized in this unique pro-police-open-our-jail demonstration is that it was conceived by members of the Community-Police Advisory Board, a public outreach initiative created by the LAPD, managed by the senior lead officers of Harbor Division with pro-police community members as advisors.

8

The CPAB does not have elected community membership nor does it have any formally elected representatives from the Harbor Area neighborhood councils or authority to do much more than “advise” the police.

To the point of the jail being closed, for more than two years the Harbor Area neighborhood councils have lobbied, passed motions and written to Chief Charlie Beck, Mayor Eric Garcetti and Councilman Joe Buscaino about staffing this jail, but to no avail.

The argument is that with the jail closed, every year some 4,000-plus arrestees have to be driven from this area up to the 77th Division, the closest jail in this part of the city, at a loss of 3 to 4 hours for two officers. This equates to the annual loss of some 32,000 patrol hours for what amounts to chauffeuring criminals to a distant location for booking. Perhaps LAPD could use an Uber app or a bus?

Like most everything in the City of Los Angeles, solutions are never simple and this one involves the city’s budget process, two human resource departments and the hiring and training of more than 29 detention officers before the jail can be opened.

According to LAPD Assistant Chief Jorge A. Villages, head of operations, of the 24 people who were recently in the detention academy, only 13 passed the training. And, the priority for placing those who did pass is to put them at the 77th Division to replace the badged officers who are working there because of the shortage of lessor paid detention officers. However, the Harbor Division jail is the next in line of priorities for staffing as it is the largest of the five LAPD jails that still remain closed.

The frustration is that after spending $42 million to build a new jail eight years ago, we still have a pristine facility waiting to be used.

This, joined with the fact that of the 21 LAPD divisions, the Harbor Area has one of the lowest crime rates in the entire city. Even with the recent rise in crime, Harbor Division is a “low priority” for an increase in officer deployment in the eyes of LAPD command. The demonstrators decry the transfer of some 40 officers out of this division some years ago.

What few of the “No Excuses” demonstrators at Harbor Division understand is that in the Greater Los Angeles Harbor Area we have

dollars in pistachios that were stolen from Horizon Nut Co. based in Tulare County during the past holiday season. This company learned that the theft could be the work of a sophisticated network of thieves as part of a bigger scheme.

Who knew that a container full of nuts was worth half a million dollars? It did however end up at the Port of Los Angeles. Half of the nuts had already been shipped to the Persian Gulf before U.S. Customs and the FBI found the remainder.

Excuse the pun, but nobody around here is going nuts over property crimes. However, in the Central Valley agriculture theft is big business. The question still remains whether the Los Angeles City Council has the nuts to keep the promise made to the Harbor Area residents and pass a budget that will allow them to open the Harbor Division jail.

Keep Public Funds Out of Politics

By Robert Foster, Former Long Beach Mayor

Recently, the Port of Long Beach proposed to reverse a policy prohibiting port funds from going to any local organization that has contributed money to a candidate or ballot issue within the past two years.

The item did not indicate that the port would be reversing a policy, but the Press Telegram noted the potential reversal. The port “tabled” the proposal—wisely so.

The issue involved the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce’s request for port funds to support

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com

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Contributors Mayor Robert Foster, Katrina Guevara, Mathew Highland, Greggory Moore

“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about it.”

—Mark Twain Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg Vol. XXXVII : No. 3 Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

no fewer than 16 badged and/or armed police agencies.

If you start counting, we have more police protection than almost any place except maybe the White House, and yet if you call 911 for anything less than a naked man with a gun shooting his neighbor you’re bound to wait 45 minutes to an hour for a response. This is a customer service issue complicated only by invisible jurisdiction.

The LAUSD police, park rangers or Port Police aren’t going to respond to a bicycle theft on 24th Street.

As aggravating as small property crimes are and as connected they may be to high unemployment among certain age groups and drug use by others, the Harbor historically has been a magnet for much larger crimes.

For instance, take the nearly a-half million

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the state of county address. First, I want to make it clear that I find it inappropriate—and outrageous—that the chamber would take local public funds for anything and be an active player in local political races.

Money is fungible. Every dollar that is given by the public to an organization for an ostensible specific purpose is a dollar freed up for other purposes. Where money is concerned there is no “lock box.” Just look at the Social Security System. It does not matter that the public funds are for a specific purpose. If the funds were not given, the organization would have to make a [See Money, page 9]

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.

Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @ randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email rlnsales@randomelengthsnews.com or reads@randomlengthsnews.com.

Extra copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $36 per year for 27 issues.

Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We welcome articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2016 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

RANDOMLetters

San Pedro Homeless Crisis

In response to a letter, “San Pedro Homeless Crisis.” In quotes, “We can easily get rid of these homeless people by giving them six months with running water and toilets that would be the, “etc.” to become a productive member of society again.

I am shocked at how the person Luna Manzano spoke of the

homeless. She wants the homeless taken care of because she doesn’t want to see them.

In Sarai Penalonzo’s letter, it says, “So many people did not care and how they take their lives for granted.” It also says, “These homeless people cause discomfort many controversies and crucial issues.”

Penalonzo also feels that by taking away shelters, the homeless

will not have and will maybe strive to get a job. “I think the police should enforce more laws in reducing the amounts of the homeless. I disagree the homeless are exposed to many dangers, including assault, illness, and theft—the homeless cause these things.”

The homeless are not the problem; society is the problem.

How great is a nation if it cannot help their own brothers and sisters?

Do you know how many homeless are vets? Do you realize many

Close Guantanamo Bay Detention Center Now!

homeless had jobs they lost that created a domino effect: losing homes, then cars, until they’re on the street? Clearly you know nothing about the homeless.

You also know zip about love, compassion, and service. Your president spent Thanksgiving serving dinner to the homeless, what did you do to help?

Kari Krome San Pedro

Is Bernie Too Old?

As a San Pedro progressive, I am proud to support Random Lengths as our hometown newspaper, and I support Bernie

Sanders for President. So I commend the thoughtful, highly detailed profile of Sanders and his campaign in the January 7-20 issue of RL. As the article points out, the corporate media’s coverage of Sanders has been woefully inadequate, so this article was particularly valuable in helping to fill that gap.

On the other hand, the large close-up image of Sanders on the front page made me cringe. Whoever created that image seems to have started with a photo of a much younger Bernie and then retouched it with bizarre details such as hair as thick as white spaghetti. The result

lies somewhere between a photo and a cartoon. This feeble attempt to make Sanders look younger does him an extreme disservice. Unlike this image, he has never tried to obscure the fact that he is 74 years old.

“Is Bernie too old?” is sure to come up as a campaign issue, and there are plenty of ways to argue that he is not. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, both 69, are not that much younger, and Joe Biden, whom some Democrats wanted to recruit, is 73. Surely the grueling months of campaigning ahead will give everyone a chance to [See Letters, page 19]

Members of the Harbor Chapter of Witness for Peace/Southwest in front of Fr. MacArthur military base calling for an end to the 113 year long U.S. occupation of Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. The chapter called on Rep. Janice Hahn, “to actively push for an immediate closure of the US taxpayer funded base and a return of Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban people,” in a released statement.

[Money, from page 8]

Public Money

February 4 - 17, 2016

dollars.

If a group of businesses or labor organizations want to come together to support or oppose candidates, then, that is their right. They can do so by forming a political action committee and be both separate from their trade organization and transparent in their support.

Indeed, I would encourage more businesses to be politically active. For too long they have largely abandoned the political field in California to other players and have not engaged in a process that means much to them. But get involved openly, and with your money, not the public’s.

It is a principal of law.

You cannot do indirectly what you are prohibited from doing directly. You cannot directly give local public funds to support political candidates or political issues. This principal is there for a reason. We should not allow our public agencies to use loopholes and potentially funnel public funds into candidate’s coffers. Let’s keep public and political separate, transparent and free from potential abuse. Let’s adopt and expand the prohibition of indirectly using local public dollars to fund organizations active in local politics.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

decision on spending within its remaining resources. The organization would have to make choices, deciding what is important to the organization, just like businesses and families. Put another way, if a public agency gives an organization $100 to support an event that it’s hosting, that now frees up $100 for another purpose, perhaps a contribution with a political purpose.

Had the port given the $3,000 to the chamber, it would have freed up a like amount in the chamber’s budget, perhaps finding its way into a candidate’s race or an independent expenditure campaign.

It does not matter that it was the chamber; it could have been any politically active organization. I’m a strong supporter of business. I had a long and successful business career. As an elected official I was fiscally disciplined and I did much to improve the business climate of Long Beach.

However, I also strongly believe that the back door nature of local public giving to politically active organizations is corrosive to our politics and creates an unhealthy

dependency that can be exploited by the unscrupulous.

Organizations can become dependent on public support, and that support can come with strings attached, political strings.

In many ways, this distinction is like the tax code itself. You receive a tax deduction for charitable giving.

You cannot deduct the cost of political giving. The principal that this distinction rests upon is simple: public funds, either directly or indirectly through the tax code, should not be used for political purposes.

To do so forces some in the public to support speech (political activity) they may disagree with, or compels some to support (through tax deductions) a candidate or ideology they find offensive.

I would urge that the policy in place at the Port of Long Beach remain in place and be more broadly applied. Local governments, either through enterprise units or directly, should not publicly fund a politically active organization.

It does not matter if the organizations involved are chambers of commerce, labor organizations, or other nonprofit organizations. If they are politically active, they should not receive local public

9

[Iowa, from page 1]

IOWA CAUCUSES: 3,000 Pounds of Ganja Intercepted While Smuggled by Panga Boat

SANTA BARBARA CO., CALIF.—On Jan. 30, federal authorities arrested 13 people after law enforcement authorities intercepted nearly 3,000 pounds of marijuana that they were trying to smuggle into the United States by panga boat at Arroyo Quemada Beach in Santa Barbara County.

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint that was filed, drug-traffickers commonly use panga boats at night in an effort to evade law enforcement.

Authorities believe that three people were in the boat. Fifteen people were observed on shore helping to unload the bales of marijuana.

Two vans and a pick-up truck separately drove to the beach and loaded up the marijuana bales. The vehicles then left the beach at about the same time, but went separate ways.

Law enforcement seized 114 bales of marijuana from the van stopped in Camarillo and the pick-up truck stopped in Carpinteria.

Former Owners of Long Beach Medical Equipment Supply Company Sentenced

February 4 - 17, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

LONG BEACH—The former owner and the former operator of a durable medical equipment supply company based in Long Beach were sentenced for their roles in a $1.5 million Medicare fraud scheme on Jan. 29, Long Beach residents, Amalya Cherniavsky, 41, and her husband, Vladislav Tcherniavsky, 46, were ordered to pay $614,418 in restitution.

United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. ordered Tcherniavsky to serve 51 months in prison, while Cherniavshy was placed on probation.

A federal jury convicted the two defendants of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and five counts of health care fraud on October 15, 2015.

Cherniavsky owned JC Medical Supply, a purported durable medical equipment supply company that she co-operated with Tcherniavsky.

It was found that the defendants paid illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals and paid kickbacks to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions—primarily for expensive, medically unnecessary power wheelchairs—which the defendants then used to support fraudulent bills to Medicare.

Between 2006 and 2013, the defendants submitted $1,520,727 in claims to Medicare and received $783,756 in reimbursement for those claims, according to evidence presented at trial.

10

First Metrolink Tier 4 Locomotive Completed

LOS ANGELES—Work on Metrolink’s first Tier 4 locomotive was completed in January.

The state-of-the-art locomotives will reduce particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 85 percent. In addition to environmental benefits, the new engines will have up to 57 percent more horsepower, allowing Metrolink to move people more quickly and reliably.

“Completion of Metrolink’s first Tier 4 locomotive is an important milestone in the effort to improve California’s air quality,” said California State Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León. “The emissions reductions promised by these state-of-theart locomotives will lead to cleaner air and a healthier environment for the people of Los Angeles and Southern California.”

Metrolink became the first commuter rail agency in the country to purchase Tier 4 locomotives in 2013. The long-term Metrolink fleet plan calls for up to 40 new Tier 4 locomotives expected to cost about $280 million.

Uncertain Path to the Presidency the nomination, but since they assumed Clinton would win Iowa in a cakewalk, that assumption is equally open to question. Most notably, Sanders won 84 percent of the Democratic voters younger than 30—a dramatic signal of how far the party establishment is estranged from the young voting base that represents the party’s future.

“The people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment, and by the way, to the media establishment,” Sanders said. “That is, given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for establishment politics and establishment economics.”

Although she spoke earlier, Clinton sounded like Sanders in a more restrained manner, as she has increasingly done recently, “I am a progressive who gets things done for people,” she said.

The next morning, it appeared that Clinton had eked out a less-than-0.3 percent win, 699-

A candidate scoreboard at the Democratic Caucus on Feb. 1.

695 in “state delegate equivalents,” the arcane metric used by Iowa Democrats. Actual vote totals weren’t available.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump by more than three points, and Marco Rubio finished a strong third, just 1.3 percent behind Trump. Altogether, 61 percent of GOP voters backed Cruz, Trump or Ben Carson—all anti-establishment candidates on their side of the aisle. Rubio straddles the line.

Author E.J. Dionne described him on election night as “a conservative who ran [for Senate] as a Tea Partier who has become, by default, the moderate candidate.” The Iowa result gave new hope to both Cruz and Rubio, but winning Iowa had never been essential for Trump, who remains well ahead in other upcoming states.

Thus, Iowa confirmed the emerging narrative of two party establishments out of touch with their respective bases. Republicans are much angrier, since Democrats generally approve of President Barack Obama, while there’s no similarly unifying figure on the GOP side. But although Democrats may approve of Obama personally, Sanders has tapped into a deep desire for even more fundamental change than Obama has delivered: universal health care as a fundamental right, paid family leave, free college education—things that other advanced industrial nations provide for their citizens. And Clinton

has responded to Sanders by taking on more progressive positions, even trying to outflank him here and there. But more than anything, Sanders’ youth appeal derives from articulating a sense of both the possible and the just, which is firmly rooted in the promise of a better future that was core of Democratic politics from the New Deal through the Great Society. That’s where his 84 percent margin with younger than 30 voters came from.

Sanders is expected to win New Hampshire, but Clinton is counting on the South as her firewall, based on strong support in the AfricanAmerican community. But this support was recently questioned by Michelle Alexander, author of the 2010 book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, which reignited the movement to reverse mass incarceration. In a Facebook post, Alexander wrote: If anyone doubts that the mainstream media fails to tell the truth about our political system (and its true winners and losers), the spectacle of large majorities of black folks supporting Hillary Clinton in the primary races ought to be proof enough. I can’t believe Hillary would be coasting into the primaries with her current margin of black support if most people knew how much damage the Clintons have done—the millions of families

State of Iowa Historical Building in Des Moines, Iowa was a venue for the Democratic Caucus on Feb. 1.

Photos by Mathew Highland.

that were destroyed the last time they were in the White House thanks to their boastful embrace of the mass incarceration machine and their total capitulation to the right-wing narrative on race, crime, welfare and taxes.

There’s so much more to say on this topic and it’s a shame that more people aren’t saying it.

I think it’s time we have that conversation.

Sanders himself has not gone after the Clinton record here. But as Alexander says, it is very much a conversation that we need to have.

In her post-election speech, Clinton said, “It is rare that we have the opportunity we do now, to have a real contest of ideas, to really think hard about what the Democratic Party stands for and what we want the future of our country to look like, if we do our part to build it.”

If we’re going to talk realistically about building a future, an honest conversation must first take account of the past, and how we got to where we are today.

[POLA, from page 7]

POLA

that PCAC was dismantled right before the China Shipping mitigations were dropped.

“That’s why it was sidelined, they did not want us doing our job,” Smith said. “When I was in front of them [POLA’s board] and they were going to dismantle PCAC, I said that you have not finished your job…because the EIR process is not finished and we’re not completed in our tasks.

“I absolutely agree that we cannot continue without some kind of reputable oversight committee that doesn’t have business interests, primarily with the port, in order to monitor things.”

The problem of self-interest, including politicians, is a key concern of Smith’s.

“I think that the best that citizens can do is to fight for the greatest independence that we can get,” she said.

But Smith also thinks time is of the essence.

“Strike while the iron is hot,” she said.

“You’ve got this information about China Shipping, you’ve got the [Southern California International Gateway] lawsuit, you have this new attention from State Lands, so everything’s coming together.”

Hoppy Valentine’s Weekend of

Beer, Food

and Lovers By: Katrina Guevara, Contributing Writer Chef Paul Buchanan at Brouwerij West is hosting Hoppy Valentines Feb. 13.

gypsy swing music throughout the night.

Aphrodisiac appetizers, labeled as “Love At First Bite,” include: rose petal ravioli with creamy leek & housemade Berkshire bacon; octopus tartare on wonton chip with wasabi and yuzu reduction; and bruleed strawberries with balsamic syrup & goat cheese. The main courses include five options: juniper spiced pan seared duck on a bed of farro with bing cherry chutney; shaved fennel, frisee lettuce with reggianito parmesan, smoked almonds, citrus segments and blood orange vinaigrette and roasted root vegetable ménage à troisparsnips, golden beets and weiser farms heirloom carrots. The dessert, called Happy Ending, is bittersweet dark chocolate cakes with

farmer’s market berry compote and chantilly cream.

Hoppy Valentine’s will take place two weeks before the grand opening of Brouwerij West on Feb. 7.

Tickets for two are $90 and a ticket for a Singles Awareness Day celebration is $100 with additional service charge. For more ticket information, visit: www.hoppyvalentine.bpt.me.

Buchanan shared about his career and the upcoming lover’s day event.

Katrina Guevara: Where is Primal Alchemy based out of?

Chef Paul Buchanan: Primal Alchemy Catering is based in Long Beach with our kitchen [See HOPPY, page 14]

[See Epic Homecoming, page 15]

Arts • • Cuisine Cuisine • • Entertainment Entertainment >> >> INDEPENDENT INDEPENDENT AND AND FREE FREE Arts

20 Eyes Looks Forward to the Future

Nothing speaks more directly to the heart than farm-to-table meals and locally brewed beers.

Chef Paul Buchanan’s Primal Alchemy, together with brewer Brian Mercer and the anticipated Brouwerij West will host Hoppy Valentine’s: A Night of Perfect Pairings, from 6 to 10 p.m. Feb. 13, at The Port of Los Angeles.

Buchanan and Mercer will share their love of their crafts with couples and singles alike at the 26,000-square-foot warehouse. Buchanan’s Long Beach-based catering company will be providing appetizers, main course and desserts. Mercer is serving five different, complimentary Brouwerij Belgian beers. Local quartet Hedgehog Swing will perform French-

February 4 4 -- 17, 17, 2016 2016 February

11 11

INDEPENDENTAND ANDFREE FREE >> >>Arts Arts••Cuisine Cuisine••Entertainment Entertainment INDEPENDENT

Local Dining Directory for the San Pedro Harbor Area and Beyond BIG NICK’S PIZZA Tradition, variety and fast delivery — you get it all at Big Nick’s Pizza. The best selection of Italian specialties include hearty calzones, an array of pastas and, of course, our amazing selection of signature pizzas, each piled high with the freshest toppings.

Like wings or greens?

We also offer an excellent selection of appetizers, salads, beer and wine. Call for fast delivery.

Hours: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun.-Thurs., 10 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat. Details: (310)732-5800; www.bignickspizzasp.com Venue: 1110 N Gaffey St, San Pedro, CA 90731

NAZELIE’S LEBANESE CAFE Chef Nazelie Kasabian uses recipes that have been handed down to her generation after generation.

Nazelie’s Lebanese Café is a true neighborhood favorite for its terrific kabobs, delicious hummus a n d falafel.

T h e y make great beef or chicken shawerma dishes— available as an entrée, wrap, sandwich or salad.

The eatery also has delicious lamb and excellent Baba ganoush dishes. Their homemade lemon chicken soup is legendary.

Hours: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday - Sunday Details: (310) 519-1919; GrubHub.com Venue: 1919 S. Pacific Avenue, San Pedro

PHILIE B’S ON SIXTH Owner Philie Buscemi welcomes you to Philie B’s on Sixth, for New York–style pizza, Sicilian-style rice balls, pizza bythe-slice, fresh hot or cold sandwiches, gourmet pizzas, a fresh salad, or a pint or glass of wine.

Try the “white pizza” with smooth ricotta, mozzarella and sharp Pecorino-Romano cheeses, topped with torn fresh basil. Extended hours accommodate San Pedro’s unique lifestyle and work schedules.

Catering and fast, free local delivery available($15 min.).

Hours: 11 a.m. - 11p.m. Daily Details: (310)514-2500; www.philiebs.com Venue: 347 W. 6th Street, San Pedro

BEACH CITY GRILL Let the culinary adventure begin anew—Beach City Grill has reopened featuring your favorites along with soon-to-be favorite new additions.

Now serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and their famous Sunday brunch, with Caribbean, Cajun specials, and fresh seafood.

Be sure to try all of the awardwinning desserts

by Chef Larry Hodgson.

Hours: 6 a.m. - 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday - Saturday; Closed Sunday and Monday Details: (424) 287-0645; www.beachcitygrill.net Venue: 376 W. 6th St., San Pedro

BUONO’S AUTHENTIC PIZZERIA A San Pedro landmark for over 40 years, famous for exceptional awardwinning brick-oven-cooked pizza.

Buono’s also offers classic Italian dishes and sauces based on tried-and-true family recipes and hand-selected ingredients that are prepared fresh. Dinein, take-out, delivery and catering are also provided.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fri. & Sat. Details: (310) 547-0655 www.buonospizza.com Venue: 1432 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro (1) 250 W. Ocean Blvd.

Long Beach, 90802 (2) 401 W. Willow St. Long Beach, 90806 (3)

NIKO’S PIZZERIA One of downtown San Pedro’s signature restaurants, featuring a full authentic Italian menu, 11 notoriously addictive pizzas, Greek specialties and an extensive beer and wine bar that features a wide selection of beers on tap and by the bottle.

With food prepared with a riff, on traditional Italian and Greek cooking values. A great place to watch sporting events, on plasma TV screens throughout the restaurant. Delivery service to all of San Pedro port locations and hotels, and catering options available.

Hours: 10a.m.-11 p.m. Daily Details: (310)241-1400; nikospizzeria.com Venue: 399 W. 6th St., San Pedro

SAN PEDRO BREWING COMPANY A microbrewery and American grill since 1999, San Pedro Brewing Company (or SP Brew Co., or Brew Co., or SPBC) features handcrafted award-winning ales and lagers served with creative pastas, bbq, sandwiches, salads and burgers. A full bar with madefrom-scratch margaritas and a martini menu all add fun to the warm and friendly atmosphere. Wi-Fi bar connected for Web surfing and email—bring your laptop. Live music on Saturdays and check our Calendar online for more fun!

Hours: 11:30 - Close time! Daily Details: (310) 831-5663; sanpedrobrewing.com Venue: 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

STRIPE CAFÉ Executive Chef Brett Hickey’s focus is on plant-based fare, with farmto-table option highlighting his conscious cuisine. The quality food is fresh, organic and natural. Everything is made in-house with good prices.

Hickey’s menu is full of delightful surprises: salmon smoked each day, Nutella latte, lavenderinfused olive oil cake topped with lemon curd, and daily fresh soups. The café is open for lunch, but pop-up dinners have already become highly anticipated special events.

Hours: Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Details: (310) 541.2479 Venue: 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes

Waterfront Dining

February44- -17, 17,2016 2016 February

BOARDWALK GRILL

12 12

Casual waterfront dining at its finest! Famous for slabs of Chicago-style baby back ribs, fish-n-chips, rich clam chowder, cold beer on tap and wine. Full lunch menu also includes salads, sandwiches and burgers.

Indoor and outdoor patio dining available. Proudly pouring Starbucks coffee. Open 7 days a week. Free Parking.

1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77 San Pedro (310) 519-7551

PORTS O’ CALL WATERFRONT DINING

Since 1961 they have welcomed visitors from every corner of the globe. Delight in an awe-inspiring view of the L.A. Harbor while enjoying coastal California cuisine. Relax on the outdoor patio for the best happy hour on the waterfront. With an award-winning Sunday champagne brunch, receive the first Spirit Cruises harbor cruise of the day free.

Open 7 days a week. Free Parking.

1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 76 San Pedro (310) 833-3553 www.Portsocalldining.com

SPIRIT CRUISES

Complete with all you need to relax and enjoy the majesty of the harbor. Their three yachts and seasoned staff provide an exquisite excursion every time, and all-inclusive pricing makes party planning easy. Dinner cruise features a three course meal, full bar, unlimited cocktails and starlight dancing.

The ultimate excursion for any occasion.

1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77, San Pedro (310) 548-8080, (562) 495-5884 www.spiritmarine.

To include your restaurant in the Dining Guide, in Print & Online please call (310) 519-1442 or email Reads@RandomLengthsN ews.com

Long Beach Courtyard

Downtown by Marriott reopens

By Mick Haven, Contributing Writer Servers also wandered around with trays of smoky split pea soup in shot glasses and crab cake balls — the former delicious, the latter average.

For music, the Pacific Room mated a DJ with a couple of professional dancers on a stage.

Standard club fare blared and the matching set of dancers, one male and one female, stayed busy on the corners of the stage. Here, James Republic provided the food. Chef Dean Max supervised the line, a take on street tacos. Rib eye or short rib on homemade corn tortillas plus a table-full of toppings, but the whole thing still felt pedestrian.

In the back of the dimlylit confines of the ballroom, a bookcase held desserts.

A standout entry, the honey panna cotta, Long Beach’s Courtyard by bounced a staff preparing for the evening. spangly lemon gel off the flat sweetness of the panna cotta. Nicely played.

Silvano Merlo, the general manager of the Courtyard, held court in the Bay room, a mockup of the hotel’s remodeled offerings. Merlo said the reopening was designed to, “Update the hotel to better tie in with James Republic which acts as an anchor for downtown Long Beach and to reposition the Courtyard as a boutique offering with events by James Republic.”

Dominated by modern shapes and a cool blue and white palette, the room’s décor nods at the contemporary boutique hotel aesthetic trend, for better or worse. But a functional desk with a real desk chair and an accessible outlet coupled with free high-speed Wi-Fi highlight point to the actual clientele of the hotel, business people.

The crowd peaked at maybe 150. Besides a couple leaving at one point that said they lived in the neighborhood and happened to be walking so thought they’d check it out, the rest of the people all seemed to be Marriott hotel employees or friends of the same. Natalie Minder, Marriott Area Sales Leader for the South Bay and Long [See Courtyard, page 151

A Memorable Weekend Awaits at LA’s Iconic Waterfront Restaurant Inspired Food & Drink Menus Debut Thursday 4-Course Dinner Menu Saturday & Sunday Sunday Champagne Brunch SEE POCDINING . COM FOR MENUS AND DETAILS

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED 310-833-3553

Valentine’s Dinner Cruise Board the Motor Yacht Spirit for an Evening to Remember 2.5 hour Cruise thru Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbors Filet Mignon and Salmon Dinner White Wine and Champagne After Dinner Cocktails and Dancing

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

On Jan. 27, the downtown Long Beach’s Courtyard by Marriott showcased the interior remodel of its rooms with a reopening celebration.

Though the hotel never shut down during the renovations. It conducted business as usual. Corporate Marriott tried to explain with varying degrees of success.

Emissary Media Group put on the slick event. On its website, Emissary states the group believes, “It’s all about the experience.”

For the Courtyard’s reopening, the mantra translated into two ballrooms featuring food and music, and another room rigged up to look like one of the remodeled offerings the hotel has now.

All three were attached to the lobby and front desk.

Marriott Musician Halle Johnson b a c k e d h e r voice with acoustic guitar while translating cover songs into her brand of mellifluous soul rock in the Atlantic Room.

The main event seemed to be also in the Atlantic Room with Jeremy Ford, from the current season of Top Chef, handling the food. Ford, who works at the Matador Room in South Beach, Miami, is on tour for the show as this season is shot at various locales up and down the California coast. The night before the Courtyard’s reopening, Ford worked with James Republic and put on a showcase of his cuisine. James Republic, of course, is the cornerstone restaurant ensconced in the bottom of the Courtyard Long Beach Downtown.

Ford brought in some of his crew from the Matador, including Joe Mizzoni, the Executive Sous Chef. Shaved scallops topped with homemade mustard rode in a little bamboo boat with a wooden spoonlet as utensil. The clean flavors and thoughtful presentation explain how Ford’s charting his course to the top both professionally and on the show.

Valentine’s with a View

SEE SPIRITMARINE . COM FOR MENUS AND DETAILS

February 4 - 17, 2016

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED 310-548-8080

13

Lights Transcend at the Museum of Neon Art

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

February 4 - 17, 2016

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

The grand opening exhibition Illuminations, at the Museum of Neon Art, brings together a group of contemporary artists displaying glass, and light and animation art. The artists address issues from indigenous culture to social media emojis.

Although the museum has been in existence for more than 30 years, the Glendale location is its first permanent home. A grand opening is scheduled for from 7 to 10 p.m. Feb. 6.

San Pedro artist Candice Gawne has served on the advisory board at Museum of Neon Art almost since the museum’s inception.

“It has been an epic journey” said Gawne.

“Finally the city of Glendale welcomed us and gave us this building. It’s really a wonderful facility.”

She is represented in the group show with two pieces of her incandescent art. Gawne began her career as a painter, creating works reflecting her passion for light and color. In 1982, she began to experiment in sculpting with glass and light. Light serves as a literal and metaphorical medium to communicate transformation for the artist.

A rare visit to her cathedral-like studio, overlooking downtown San Pedro, will find you surrounded by luminous pulsing anemones, starfish and shimmering lunar beams. Gawne resides in a

14

home exploding with color over the cliffs of Point Fermin. Much of her glass work reflects a fascination with botanical and marine life. Gawne said her passion started with a love for jellyfish but it has moved far beyond towards iridescent dragons, and finally, a neon doorway, — perhaps a threshold leading to the eternal light.

Abstract artist Lisa Schulte created A Conversation, a 10- by 20-foot wall of emojis, following a distinct conversation using only hugs, smiles, hearts and many more symbols that seem to have replaced conversation as we knew it, before social media.

“One could say that working in neon is akin to bringing sky to touch ground, harnessing the spiritual to the earth,” stated Schulte on her website.

Schulte began her affair with neon as a traditional neon sign maker. Eventually she expanded towards more personal work that has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art commissioned one of her pieces for their permanent collection and her art has been published in science books.

Today’s neon has moved away from the concept of highway advertisement and into the world of fine art. It has become multi-dimensional alchemy.

Neon is a gateway between scientific principles and artistic expression.

The “Boulevard of Cars” on Brand Avenue in Glendale used to be lined with dazzling, animated, bright neon signs advertising the wild love affair Americans were having with automobiles during the mid 20th century.

Now, on Brand Avenue, you can once again find vibrant signs, as well as contemporary neon art, but it is inside the newly opened home of the Museum of Neon Art. The small building across

Artist Candice Gawne. File photo

the street from The American Center can be easily found by looking for the curvaceous figure of the Neon Diver on the roof.

The Neon Diver was created in 1950 for the Virginia Court Motel along U.S. Highway 80, the historical Dixie Overland Highway, in Meridian, Miss. Museum of Neon Art Vice President Eric Evavold explained the importance of neon during the creation of the great American highways system. Evavold, a neon preservationist, is known as Los Angeles’s ‘neon archeologist’ and devotes much of his time to rescuing abandoned neon signs.

“Neon is one of America’s cultural threads that hold us together in the blanket of history,” said Evavold, explaining that the birth of the automobile came in the early 1920s.

The Los Angeles Packard automobile dealer brought the first neon sign to America from the Paris Art Deco Fair.

The museum mission is divided between conserving the history of neon and development of the art form.

Bringing together historical preservation and contemporary art forms the Museum of Neon Art has just begun to build their future. The new building boasts a workshop to train the next generation weaving light and glass.

If you are feeling nostalgic for the beautiful neon signs of old Hollywood try the Neon Cruise, a double-decker tour bus. Coming up for Valentine’s Day, the Museum of Neon Art will

take you from downtown Los Angeles to tour neon signs, movie marquees and permanent installations of contemporary neon art through downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood.

Tours meet at 7 p.m. and the bus departs at 7.30 p.m. sharp for the three-hour tour. Evavold will lead the February tour and you can depend on receiving an in-depth history of Hollywood landmarks, plus he has promised a few surprises.

Tours fill up quickly every year, so call the museum or purchase tickets online.

The future is definitely ‘bright.’

Time: 12 to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday Cost: $8 Details: www.new-neonmona.org/ Venue: Museum of Neon Art, 216 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale

[from Hoppy, from page 11] Nothing speaks more directly to the heart than farm-to-table meals and locally brewed beers.

Chef Paul Buchanan’s Primal Alchemy, together with brewer Brian Mercer and the anticipated Brouwerij West will host Hoppy Valentine’s: A Night of Perfect Pairings, from 6 to 10 p.m. Feb. 13, at The Port of Los Angeles.

Buchanan and Mercer will share their love of their crafts with couples and singles alike at the 26,000-square-foot warehouse. Buchanan’s Long Beachbased catering company will be providing appetizers, main course and desserts. Mercer is serving five different, complimentary Brouwerij Belgian beers.

Local quartet Hedgehog Swing will perform French-gypsy swing music throughout the night.

Aphrodisiac appetizers, labeled as “Love At First Bite,” include: rose petal ravioli with creamy leek & housemade Berkshire bacon; octopus tartare on wonton chip with wasabi and yuzu reduction; and bruleed strawberries with balsamic syrup & goat cheese. The main courses include five options: juniper spiced pan seared duck on a bed of farro with bing cherry chutney; shaved fennel, frisee lettuce with reggianito parmesan, smoked almonds, citrus segments and blood orange vinaigrette and roasted root vegetable ménage à troisparsnips, golden beets and weiser farms heirloom

Rotary Crab Feed Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor There’s nothing better than buckets on top of buckets of well prepared crab legs except a crableg feast for a good cause. The Rotary Club did just that by raising $11,000 at the Jan. 23 Rotary Crab Feed.

Among the 30-plus nonprofit organizations [From Courtyard, page 131 Beach, succinctly defined the hotel as “A hybrid of business class and boutique.”

So what was the point of the reopening? Perhaps to let Marriott employees figure out what the revamped Courtyard is all about, so they can talk it up. While the rooms and the restaurant definitely aim at the center of the boutique target, the outside of the hotel is still industrial tan-colored late ‘70s-early ‘80s bland architecture. Will the play work? The previous boutique offering in the Pike got taken over by Hyatt and no one even remembers the original name. But

maybe that hotel wasn’t already benefitting from a business clientele and incorporating facets designed to draw them in. Perhaps the Courtyard Long Beach Downtown’s come upon an effective formula. Check back in a couple of years.

Details: (562) 435-8511; http://tinyurl.com/ LBCourtyard Venue: Courtyard by Marriott in Long Beach Details: (562) 901-0235; http://jamesrepublic.com Venue: James Republic

ENTERTAINMENT Feb. 5 First Fridays at First

Classical Crossroads’ presents 2015 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Junior Division gold medalists violinist Geneva Lewis, violist Emma Wernig and pianist Nathan Lewis.

Time: 12:15 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 316-5574; www.palosverdes.com/ClassicalCrossroads/ FirstFridays.htm Venue: First Lutheran Church and School, 2900 W. Carson St., Torrance Feb. 6

P R E S E N T S

434 w. 6th Street, San Pedro... music lives here

Dennis G & the Zydeco Trail Riderz

Stars of Tomorrow

Rolling Hills United Methodist Church’s Second Sundays at Two concert series presents Stars of Tomorrow from USC Thornton School of Music. These talented top students are from the USC Thornton graduate program under the direction of renowned violist and USC Thornton Director of Chamber Music Karen Dreyfus.

Time: 2 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 316-5574 Venue: Rolling Hills United Methodist Church, 26438 Crenshaw Blvd., Rolling Hills Estates COMMUNITY Feb. 6

The Alley Cats at Harold’s Place

The punk legends, the Alley Cats, Pat Todd & the Rankoutsiders and the Exxtras will be at Harold’s Place Saturday night.

Time: 9 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-5503 Venue: Harold’s Place, 1908 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro Cumbre Flamenca

Enjoy the highest level of Flamenco artistry from Spain for a performance from the soul of Andalucia. Considered two of Spain’s premier flamenco dancers and choreographers, Domingo Ortega and sister Inmaculada Ortega mark their return to Los Angeles with some of Andalucia’s finest flamenco musicians and singers.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $40 to $65 Details: www.itsmyseat.com/Vida Venue: Grand Annex Theatre, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro Robert Sarzo: A Salute To Santana

Robert Sarzo, nicknamed The VuDu Man is a Cuban-American guitarist. His career has spanned 40 years. He has worked with an array of notable and iconic people in the entertainment industry.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $30 Details: (310) 519-1314; www.randomlengthsnews.com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro Feb. 13 Markus Carlton

V I S I O N

Venue: The Whale & Ale British Restaurant and Gastropub, 327 Feb. 14

Markus Carlton brings new material as well as jazz and blues standards.

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-0363; www.WhaleAndAle.com

Lunar New Year Festival

The Port of Los Angeles’ 2nd Annual Lunar New Year Festival Year returns honoring the year of the fire monkey. This free event offers activities for everyone to enjoy with traditional hanging and floating lanterns, face painting, Los Angeles Public Library Book Bike, crafts by CRAFTED, food trucks (Asian inspired and American) and traditional brush artistry and live entertainment.

Time: 2 to 7 p.m. Feb. 6 Cost: Free Details: www.portoflosangeles.org Venue: LA Waterfront, 6th Street at Harbor Boulevard, San Pedro Feb. 6 Friend Fest

The Friendship Neighborhood invites you to join them at the next Friend Fest.

Join them for live music, open mic time, icebreaker games, raffle prizes, food and new friends.

Time: 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 6 Cost: Free Details: facebook.com/ e v e n t s / 1659017264361851 Venue: Drake Park, 951 Maine Ave., Long Beach Feb. 6 Long Beach Mardi Gras Parade, Festival

Thousands of revelers of all ages will once again descend on Shoreline Village, and neighboring Rainbow Harbor and Aquarium of the Pacific, for the largest annual parade event to hit the Long Beach coastline. Celebrated for its focus on offering a family-friendly alternative to the more traditionally risqué and adult-oriented annual tradition,

[see Calendar, page 16]

February 4 - 17, 2016

G R A N D

the fundraiser benefitted was Cabrillo Beach Boosters Fireworks, 15th Street School Financial and 2014 Service Project, Happy Hats for Kids, and Harbor Community Clinic.

Founded more than a century ago, the Rotary Club is a service organization with chapters all over the world, including San Pedro. The service organization is committed to human rights and bringing together business and professional leaders, to provide humanitarian services and end Polio globally.

Harbor area shenanigans

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Fundraiser a Success

carrots. The dessert, called Happy Ending, is bittersweet dark chocolate cakes with farmer’s market berry compote and chantilly cream.

Hoppy Valentine’s will take place two weeks before the grand opening of Brouwerij West on Feb. 7.

Tickets for two are $90 and a ticket for a Singles Awareness Day celebration is $100 with additional service charge. For more ticket information, visit: www.hoppyvalentine.bpt.me.

Buchanan shared about his career and the upcoming lover’s day event.

Katrina Guevara: Where is Primal Alchemy based out of?

Chef Paul Buchanan: Primal Alchemy Catering is based in Long Beach with our kitchen by the sea at the Belmont Pier. We cater from two to 2,000 people focusing on local, seasonal and sustainable handmade foods.

KG: Exactly how many years have you been a chef?

PB: I graduated culinary school in 1992 and got my first chef position in 1996. So, I guess I am going on 20 years now.

KG: How did you initially come to collaborate with Brouwerij West?

PB: [Brian and Primal Alchemy] have known each other for about a year now.

We have been with them since the time they first started building out the brewery.

We catered their first press conference. I love their beers, and they love our food. I also believe they feel our passion and in-

Rockin’ Zydeco, Cajun, & Swamp Pop! Tickets & Info:

310.833.4813 | grandvision.org

15

[Calendar, continued from page 15]

[Calendar, from page 15]

Harbor area shenanigans (Continued)

[from Calendar, page 15] Long Beach Mardi Gras has quickly become embraced as one of Long Beach’s signature annual events.

Time: 6 to 12 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: www.longbeachmardigras.com Venue: Long Beach Shoreline, 401 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach Chinese New Year and Health Festival

Join SouthBay Pavilion’s Annual Health Fair event featuring a very magical dragon dance by Wushu Shaolin Entertainment. Local organizations and health related companies will partake in this event to offer the community useful resources to improve health and wellness. There will be free screenings, fitness demonstrations, free massages and giveaways.

Time: 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: southbaypavilion.com Venue: South Bay Pavilion, 20700 Avalon Blvd., Carson Feb. 7

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Tidepool Wonders

Explore low tides on the rocky shore with Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Bring family and friends to the aquarium’s John M. Olguin Auditorium for an informative slide show, followed by a Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Education staff led walk to the nearby Point Fermin Tidepools.

Time: 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: (310) 548-7562; www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro

Feb. 8 Artists Talks

Finding the Singing Voice that Sells Records/Songwriting Techniques will be taught by celebrity songwriter and former band member of the group Oingo Boingo, John Avila. Master classes are a series of artist development workshops created for visual and performance-based artists.

Time: 7 to 8 p.m. Feb. 8 Cost: Free Details: (310) 303-7223; www.MarymountCalifornia.edu Venue: The Klaus Center, 430 W. 6th St., San Pedro Feb. 12

February 4 - 17, 2016

Night Dive

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Night Dive is an adults-only event with local bands rockin’ out right next to the fish, DJs spinning in the aquarium’s galleries, and inspiring works of art, cocktails and drinks, and tasty bites from food trucks.

Come take in the aquarium at night, when the lights go down and the bubble curtain goes up.

Time: 7 to 11 p.m.

Cost: $14.95 Details: www.aquariumofpacific.org Venue: Aquarium of the Pacific,100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach Feb. 13 Cultural Conversations

Long Beach is known as the “international city” and this program at North Branch Public Library aims to embrace the cultures residing in the surrounding neighborhood. Cultural Conversations is a program that highlights different countries and cultures each month. The focus of the program is to bring patrons and community organizations together so we can share our stories to give insight as to what it was like living in another country. Come and learn about the traditions, food and folklore while forming new friendships and learn about different cultures in our community. The focus will be on Samoa.

Time: 3 to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 13 and 27 Cost: Free Details: (562) 570-1047 Venue: North Neighborhood Library, 5571 Orange Ave., Long Beach Feb. 13 Salt Marsh Open House

Step out into nature and discover the hidden world of the Salinas de San Pedro Salt Marsh.

Join Cabrillo Marine Aquarium educators and Coastal Park naturalists as they help uncover the world of mud and water that is our local wetland.

Time: 2 to 4 p.m. Feb. 13 Cost: Free Details: (310) 548-7562; www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro Feb. 13 Hoppy Valentine’s

Set in the new event space at the Brewery, you will arrive to aphrodisiac appetizers paired with a complimentary tasting of 5 Brouwerij Belgian style beers to start off the evening. Following the passed appetizer reception, you will take your seat at the farm-table where you will be welcomed by Chef Paul Buchanan and Brewer Brian Mercer as they share with you an intimate look into why they are passionate about their craft.

Time: 6 p.m. Feb. 13 Cost: $100 and $180 for two.

Details: http://hoppyvalentine.bpt.me Venue: 110 E. 22nd St., Warehouse No. 9, San Pedro

Feb. 14

South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society

Join Marquita Ellias, author of Botanical Names Decoded, on a delightful journey of discovery as we learn why we use those Latin names, what they mean, and how really simple it is.

Time: 1:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: southcoastcss.org Venue: South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula THEATER Feb. 5

Memories: A Performance Art Work in Progress

Robert Dilworth’s Memories of Inhabited Spaces exhibition is brought to life through the presentation of this performance art piece.

Time: 4 to 5 p.m. Feb. 5 Cost: Free Details: www.marymountcalifornia.edu Venue: Klaus Center for the Arts, 430 W. 6th St., San Pedro Feb. 6 Academy Award Nominees for Best Live Action Shorts

Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see all of the Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Live Action Shorts, including Bis Gleich directed by Benjamin Wolff which screened at San Pedro International Film Festival in 2014.

Time: 7 p.m. Feb. 6 Cost: $13.75 Details: http://spiffest.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro Staff and Friends Cabaret

Come have fun with the staff of the Long Beach Playhouse and watch them perform for your amusement.

Time: 8 p.m.

Cost: $10 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach ARTS Feb. 11 OutSpoken Conversation

A rising force in the contemporary art world, artist Jacolby Satterwhite utilizes a variety of new media to explore themes of memory, desire, and personal and public mythologies. His videos, digital prints, and performances include a variety of references from paintings by Caravaggio, to Harlem drag queen ball culture and per-

sonal family gatherings.

Time: 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: www.fmch.ucla.edu Venue: Fowler Museum, North Campus UCLA, 308 Charles E Young Drive, Los Angeles Wild Land

Wild Land: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Landscape Painting, a traveling exhibition exploring Cole’s role as an artistic and cultural pioneer, runs through March 14 at the University Art Gallery at California State University Dominguez Hills.

Time: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. through March 14 Cost: Free Details: (310) 243-3334; kzimmerer@ csudh.edu Venue: University Art Gallery, CSUDH, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson Wanderland

Nathaniel Galka: Wanderland beckons the viewer to enter a new land, filled with trees, mists, and solitude.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays through March 6 Cost: Free Details: (310) 541-2479; www.pvartcenter. org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes An Aesthetic Realist

On exhibit will be about 28 oils and pastels by Theodore N. Lukits highlighting his atmospheric plein air landscapes and captivating Orientalist paintings.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays until March 6 Cost: Free Details: (310) 541-2479; www.pvartcenter. org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes Feb. 13 Dennis G & the Zydeco Riderz It’s Mardi Gras at the Annex with zydeco, Cajun and swamp pop.

Dennis G & the Zydeco Trail Riderz rev up the stage with a delicious taste of Louisiana.

Time: 8 p.m. Feb. 13 Cost: $20 and $25 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Music for Friends

and Lovers

By Melina Paris, Music Columnist

Saxophonist, Michael Lington. File photo

Kenny Latimore

With Valentine’s Day soon upon us, what

could be better than taking the one you love to a romantic concert and dinner?

It’s time for Rainbow Promotions’ Valentine’s

won for 2011’s Best Gospel Song, It’s What I Do.

Soul Man” by the New York Times, has said that

the human voice through his horn.

women and the minds of men. He has enjoyed

When Whalum plays, he brings the intonations of As a musician, songwriter and producer,

Day Concert, Feb.13, at the Terrace Theater in

Braun is a high-energy and charismatic perform-

This year’s show features BWB, the com-

No. 1 Smooth Jazz Songs Artist of 2015 but also

Long Beach.

bined talents of three successful solo artists: gui-

tarist Norman Brown, saxophonist Kirk Whalum

and trumpeter Rick Braun. Matt Pierson of Warner Brothers Jazz, who says the collaboration was

conceived as a modern take on a lively ensemble vibe, brought them together.

Grammy-nominated, Brown’s dexterous gui-

tar work has earned him praise as the George Benson and Wes Montgomery of his generation.

Kirk Whalum is one of the most influential

sax men. He’s a 12-time Grammy nominee and

er. A diverse player, he was named Billboard’s

has a background in straight-ahead jazz. His

playing brings a passionate mix of rhythm and

his musical purpose is speaking to the hearts of

tion, Lington’s live performances offer a versa-

multiple career successes from his debut album,

classic jazz riffs and romantic smooth jazz, and

Kenny Lattimore, which went gold to the critically acclaimed sophomore release, From the Soul

known for producing the Long Beach Jazz Festi-

which led him to American soul music and the

To add that extra dose of romance, vocalist

Kenny Lattimore and saxophonist Michael Lington also are on the bill.

Lattimore, who was proclaimed “A Modern

The Valentine VIP package includes a three-

As a teenager, Danish-American Michael

with singer Chante Moore.

2002 and Human Nature, 2013, which features chael Jackson. It’s top-notch entertainment.

R&B.

course meal, a rose for each lady and preferred

Lington was captivated by the contemporary jazz

instrumental jazz interpretations of songs by Mi-

tility with vibrant sax melodies, funky stylings,

of a Man followed by two Top 10 duet albums

blues, jazz and funk.

BWB has two highly rated releases, Groovin,

Known for his musical talent and improvisa-

of David Sanborn and Grover Washington Jr.,

songs of Junior Walker, King Curtis, Sam Cooke

theater seating. Rainbow Promotions is best val, one of the city’s most popular annual musical

events. Its Valentine’s Day dinner-and-jazz event is becoming nearly as special.

“You never know who may show up,” said

and Wilson Pickett.

Kimberly Benoit, CEO of Rainbow Promotions.

play the sax, all of that American R&B and in-

actress Loretta Devine will be coming.”

“This was the music that made me want to

strumental funk becoming part of my soul in my mid-teens,” said Lington.

“Stevie Wonder attended last year, and this year

Details: (562) 424-0013; www.rainbowpromotions.com

You aren’t just buying an ad,

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Guitarist Norman Brown, saxophonist Kirk Whalum and trumpeter Rick Brau of BWB. File photo

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Easter — 3/17/16 Mother’s Day — 4/28/16 Father’s Day — 6/9/16 Taste of San Pedro­­­­­­­— 8/4/16 Labor Day— 9/1/16

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DBA/legal filings Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 201532443 The following person is doing business as: Lenchner Glass Company, 7708 Chimineas Avenue, Reseda, Ca 91335, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Lenchner Steven Elliot, 7708 Chimineas Avenue, Reseda, Ca 91335. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 12/02/2010. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Lenchner Steven Elliot, owner.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 29, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and

Professions code).

Original filing: 01/07/2016, 01/21/2016,

02/04/2016, 02/18/2016

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2015319103 The following person is doing business as: Leeward Bay Marina, 611 Henry Ford Avenue, #1, Wilmington, Ca 90744, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Leeward Bay Marina Inc., 1001 Casiano Road, Los Angeles, CA 90049, Registered in California, LWB Marina, Inc. 1145 S. W. Sunset Drive, Corvallis, OR 97332, Registered in California. This Business is conducted by corporationsl.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 12/15/1995. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Robert Perel, President. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 21, 2015. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 01/07/2016, 01/21/2016, 02/04/2016, 02/18/2016

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conintued on following page

RANDOMLetters [Letters, from page 8]

judge the level of Bernie’s vigor and stamina. But if progressives want to continue to make the argument that mainstream media distorts the truth to further its own agendas, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard of veracity when it comes to the material that we publish.

Terry Andrews San Pedro Dear Terry, You make a good point and I think our design staff was attempting to do a graphic image, not unlike the one Obama used in his first campaign, for Bernie Sanders.

I will pass on your concerns to both our design and editorial staff to discuss the issue that you bring up as it does bring up an issue of integrity.

DBA/legal filings from previous page

03/03/16

Mr. Garcetti, I will have to hold you personally responsible if the Red Car and its line is lost to oblivion, again for another 60 years. You and Mr. Buscaino could have avoided this impending

The Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council supports the port’s effort to secure funding from additional sources to support community and infrastructure projects. For example, the realignment of Sampson Way in San Pedro is part of the redevelopment of the Port ‘O Call area. The port’s estimate of the project cost is $13.6 million with

Send Letters to the Editor to: letters @randomlengthsnews.com.

To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor must include your name with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but are for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words.

03/03/16

03/17/16

February 4 - 17, 2016

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2016015927 The following person is doing business as: (1) Palos Verdes Security Systems, Inc., 1931 N. Gaffey St., Suite A, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: PVS Inc., 1931 N. Gaffey St., Suite A. This Business is conducted by a corporation. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 01/04/2016.

I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Andrew J. Rafkin, President. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Jan. 22, 2016. Notice--In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920 where it expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 02/04/16, 02/18/16, 03/03/16,

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2016000132 The following person is doing business as: (1) Roys Toys, 539 Shepard, San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Leroy Foughty, 539 Shepard, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A . I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Rand Denina Relatores, owner. This statement was

Open Letter to Garcetti, MTA

Open Letter to Gene Seroka Regarding POLA Community Funding

construction starting later this year. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority authorized $4.9 million in funding for the Sampson Way Realignment Project. Accordingly, there is $4.9 million in budgeted funds available for other community waterfront projects. It is our interpretation of the port’s waterfront investment policy that outside funding will not be considered as an offset to the $100 million that the port committed for public access waterfront projects over the next five years. We hope that the port concurs with this interpretation. Our neighborhood council and Port Committee look forward to working with the port to identify project to which that $4.9 million could be applied.

Raymond Regalado President Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2016000132 The following person is doing business as: (1) Elite Connection, (2) Platinum Reporters & Interpreter, 302 W. 5th St., Suite 303, San Pedro, CA 90731. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 6070, San Pedro, CA 90734.

Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Ghada Young, 6612 via Siena, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 01/01/2016. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Rand Denina Relatores, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Jan. 4, 2016. Notice--In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920.

A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920 where it expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 01/21/16, 02/04/16, 02/18/16,

filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Dec. 9, 2015. Notice-In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920 where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 01/21/16, 02/04/16, 02/18/16,

Thank you, James Preston Allen, Publisher

disaster with a phone call to the Port of Los Angeles. POLA is the mayor’s pitbull, Mr. Garcetti, his behavior is utterly egregious: Make him behave—yank his chain—he’s YOUR dog, Mr. Garcetti, NOT the other way around!

The Red Car and its line is much too important in terms of regional—and potentially worldwide significance—far too important to be discarded by UNDERLINGS as a trifling local matter. This treasure has been deliberately held in check by POLA in a years-long anticipation of its eventual wanton destruction.

Be our world-class leader and give us our world-class historically authentic Red Cars as your enduring legacy: 1) Initially reinstate and retain at least that portion north of 6th Street and N.O.W. (No Outrageous Waiting), WIRE IT past Knoll Hill and continue to the end of existing track at Target/Home Depot along the Gaffey corridor.

2) Link this work to the outside world with MetroLink service from the World Cruise Terminal, bringing port visitors from LAX, Bob Hope Airport, LA Union Station with those surplus MetroLink cars and relatively minor infrastructure investments.

Also, by the way, retain the existing Metro Blue Line and Metro Expo Line vehicle fleet, which you intend to ditch in the next year, for YEARS-EARLIER rail stars: A) Between Watts and Torrance.

B) Brea and LAX—saving the Slauson Avenue tracks to line up with the Crenshaw Line.

C) Begin reactivation of the West Santa Ana Branch to eventually meet the OC Streetcar Start strategically planning these and other rail applications now, while proceeding with the LA Rams Stadium project, provided it has CROWDSWALLOWING rail service to the front door as a precondition for its implementation.

James Henry Washington Jr. Long Beach

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February 4 - 17, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area