LAHC Department Chairman Invests in Former Students p. 2 Clinton and Trump Win Super Tuesday: The Story Behind The Story p. 10 Open Letter to Councilman Joe Buscaino From a Gallerist’s Perspective p. 16
Photo by Michael Justice courtesy of the Port of Los Angeles
One Mother’s Journey Through Los Angeles County’s Coordinated Entry System By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
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was for her daughters. Doby described her youngest daughter as a prodigy who designed clothes, while the oldest was a model. Both teenagers are academically gifted, she said. Before making the trek, Doby researched low-income housing options that would allow her to avoid homelessness until she was able “to get on her feet.” During that process, she found the Los Angeles County program, Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness. This was her initial introduction to resources for low-income [See Safety Net, page 6]
March 3 - 16, 2016
Tisha Doby’s experience of navigating the various programs for women with children, without many of the issues that keep many chronically homeless people homeless, is illustrative of the best and worst of Los Angeles’ anti-poverty and affordable housing solutions. Doby, a 40-year-old mother of two teenage daughters, migrated to California from Pittsburgh several months ago. She owned a fashion business and believed that she could build a better life for daughters in Los Angeles. She was a solidly working-class business owner. The move wasn’t just for her. It
he City of Los Angeles recently moved to seize and presumably dispose of the tiny houses that have been cropping up near freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles within the past year. This and the removal of encampments in other parts of the city are done in response to complaints of blight. The official actions are also aimed at preventing homeless people from getting so comfortable on the streets that they don’t get the available help that is out there. But what is often missing from the conversation is the effectiveness of city and county efforts in preventing homelessness and elevating people out of homelessness.
The Local Publication You Actually Read
Evading the Holes in the Safety Net
The name Brouwerij West (pronounced brew-ry) pays homage to its Belgian style beer. Beer lovers and locals alike have been waiting for more than two years for it to open. Some 4,500 people came to the official opening on Feb. 27, according to co-owner Brian Mercer. The grand opening capped a week of events starting with the unveiling of Crafted’s photovoltaic system on Feb. 24 (see p. 4) and Councilman Joe Buscaino’s sneak peek into future of the Los Angeles Waterfront the next day (see p. 7). The three events were intended to ignite a sense of excitement and momentum ahead of the Los Angeles Waterfront Alliance’s highly anticipated presentation on the redevelopment of Ports O’Call Village on March 2. For the short term, the question that remains: Can the momentum be sustained? And can the Waterfront Alliance’s vision meet the town’s great expectations? Read more on Brouwerij West’s opening on p. 11
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Community Announcements:
Harbor Area Long Beach Junior Lifeguards
The Long Beach Fire Department’s Marine Safety Division will once again sponsor the 2016 Junior Lifeguard Program. The 6-week program will kick off on June 27. The Junior Lifeguard Program offers youth 9 to 17 years of age the opportunity to receive instruction in lifeguard rescue techniques, first aid, ocean sports, physical conditioning, and marine ecology, along with CPR and first aid certifications. They will be conducting swim tryouts on multiple days and at two separate locations: Time: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. March 19, April 9 and 30, and 5 to 7 p.m. May 20 Venue: Belmont Plaza Pool, 4000 Olympic Plaza, Long Beach Time: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. March 5 and May 7 Venue: Silverado Park Pool,1540 W 32nd St., Long Beach Details: (562) 536-7807; http://tinyurl.com/ juniorlifeguards
Nightly LB Road Closures Continue at Pico Avenue and Ocean Boulevard
Traffic from downtown Long Beach using westbound Ocean Boulevard to reach Terminal Island and San Pedro can expect nightly closures from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. through March 12. During this closure, traffic is detoured to Pico Avenue, where flaggers will help direct traffic across Pico to rejoin westbound Ocean Boulevard. The on-ramp from southbound Pico Avenue to westbound Ocean Blvd. will be reduced to one lane during that same time.
March 3 - 16, 2016
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
Equality Plaza Selection Committee Seeks Nominations Nominations are now open for the 2016 inductees to the Equality Plaza Memorial Wall at Harvey Milk Promenade Park, near the corner of 3rd Street and Promenade in downtown Long Beach. Equality Plaza was created in 2012 at Harvey Milk Park to honor and recognize leaders in the local lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer community. Recognition is given to people who have given their time, talents and passion to help advance the Long Beach LGBTQ community. Nominees may be living or deceased and must identify as a member of the LGBTQ community. To place a nomination for selection committee consideration, please submit a short bio of the nominee via this online submission form https:// goo.gl/Yvhgf1 by 5 p.m. March 19. The names selected for the Equality Plaza Memorial Wall will be released in the spring. Details: https://goo.gl/Yvhgf1
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LB Port Offers Sponsorships to Community Groups
The Port of Long Beach will soon begin accepting applications for its community sponsorship program. The Harbor Department provides sponsorship funds to socially responsible local groups for community events and activities that also help to inform residents about the port while making Long Beach a better place to live and work. Community groups can submit their sponsorship funding requests through April 1. The next and last call for applications this year will be in September. There is no restriction on organizations that have received past awards. Applicants are judged on how they can help the port inform the community of the many ways the Port of Long Beach is an integral part of the community fabric. Details: www.polb.com/sponsorship
Filling Open Seat on Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council
The Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council is seeking to fill a vacant board seat. The vacant seat position is for a nongovernmental representative. The term would end on June 30, 2018. Applications are available at San Pedro Peck Park lobby or can be downloaded. Details: www.nwsanpedro.org
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LAHC Architecture Department Chairman Invests in Former Students Michael Song Purchases EZ Plan Franchise to Help Students Gain Experience By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor
Students who get a credential or degree from an accredited university or trade school are supposed to be able to find jobs. These days, students are caught in a catch-22. Employers require candidates to have work experience in addition to their credentials. Michael Song wanted to solve this problem, at least for the students who completed Los Angeles Harbor College’s architectural program. Song, who is the chairman of the department, said about half of his students transferred to universities. “The other half don’t go for a variety of reasons: family, money, time,” Song said. “There [isn’t] a market for students who do not have a bachelor’s degree or experience. Now, if they have experience, that’s another story. But coming out of junior college, who is going to give them that experience?” Song recognized another problem: consumers with small construction projects couldn’t afford
Chairman of LAHC’s Architectural Department, Michael Song, purchased an EZ Plans franchise to help graduating students gain real work experience in the field. Photo by Phillip Cooke
to hire professional architects. Most architects design libraries, government buildings and other large scale buildings. But if a consumer
just wanted to add a bedroom or a bathroom to his or her homes, most architects won’t take the job because there is just not enough of a profit margin. “So, often times, the consumers turn to drafting services or drafters and some of them do not have the experience or expertise of an architect,” Song said. After 15 years of teaching at the community college, he decided to do something about it. “I thought, ‘What if I could create an entity that would be directed by myself, who is a licensed architect, provide consumers with a licensed architect that could help them through their project and also provide an opportunity for my graduating students to gain work experience?’” he said. “So that becomes a win-win situation.” He invested about $120,000 toward equipment and an EZ Plans franchise that he plans to use to give his former students experience. EZ Plans is a professional services business that offers costeffective architectural services. According to its website, “the company was founded on the belief that many homeowners are being excluded from their home improvement dreams.” The company offers set prices on most projects. “The reason why I was interested is because they identified the same needs that I felt was lacking in the market,” Song said. “So, it just happened to be a good fit.” The company sells franchises to people who want to run an architectural office. The franchise provides management training, marketing assistance, a home-based business model, a stateof-the-art mobile office design studio and access to three-dimensional models. “But for me it is really about getting my students more work experience and…providing the community with a professional level of expertise,” he said.
The Way It Works
The business model is simple. Clients call EZ Plans’ corporate office, which fields the call and finds a franchisee who services the client’s area. EZ Plans contacts the franchisee, who in [See Students, page 5]
Port’s Response to State Lands Concerns Draws Community Fire By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Superficially, the Port of Los Angeles’ written response to State Lands Commission Chairwoman Betty Yee’s letter concerning the port’s failed China Shipping mitigations, struck a positive, upbeat tone. However, it largely swept aside the main thrust of her letter and showed no signs of grappling with the fundamental problems Yee identified, including three specific issues described in Random Lengths News’ initial story about Yee’s letter (“POLA: Shape Up!” RLn Feb. 4 to 17, p. 5). Activists who were previously engaged in community oversight, via the Port Community Advisory Committee, were not impressed. “The port can write explanation letters from now until eternity,” said Peter Warren, long-time chairman of Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Port Committee. “Why would anyone believe the port without outside monitoring?” “The port’s response to Betty Yee’s letter is disingenuous,” said former PCAC coChairwoman June Smith. “It seeks to hide its ‘negotiations about the lease’ from the public as it always does because these are ‘legal negotiations,’ and they can’t be compromised by sharing. However in the China Shipping and TraPac cases, these were not simply lease adjustment negotiations: they were matters that had been agreed to under either a court decision or arbitration. I find the director’s response completely self-serving and simply more obfuscation.”
At the same time, a seriously our duties homeowner group involved under the California in the original China Shipping Environmental Quality lawsuit, San Pedro Peninsula Act (CEQA) and Homeowners United, wrote out fiduciary duties to thank Yee for her letter, as a trustee of state saying “It is time for the tidelands. We are State Lands Commission to taking full ownership intervene,” in how the port of the issue and remain is meeting its public trust solutions-oriented as obligations. It also laid out we work to address the a detailed argument for why issue. State Lands Commission should intervene regarding But Seroka’s letter was the operations of Rancho sorely lacking on specifics. LPG, some of which involve Roughly half of the barely Chairwoman of the State Lands trust land. 3-page letter was devoted Commission, Betty Yee. File photo The 11 unimplemented to a boilerplate recitation mitigation measures were a serious concern, Yee of “essential background” and Yee’s specifically wrote in her Jan. 19 letter: stated concerns received scant attention. Failure to implement these measures is In particular, the port’s response made no not only a failure to meet the Port’s duties mention of (1) strengthening the commitment under the California Environmental Quality to zero-emissions technology, (2) restricting Act (CEQA), but it is also inconsistent with the reliance on statements of “overriding the Port’s fiduciary duties as a state trustee considerations” to skirt emission reductions, or of public trust lands and assets in a manner (3) implementing an independent stakeholder that directly harms the public. process that could help avoid future lapses in compliance. In his Feb. 5 response, POLA’s executive “His letter did not respond to those very director, Gene Seroka, met Yee’s broadly-stated important points that Betty Yee made,” said concerns head on. Morgan Wyenn, a lawyer with the Natural I want to assure you that we take Resources Defense Council, which argued and
won the China Shipping lawsuit. “It’s silent, but we’re just not sure what that means.” For example, Yee noted a significant weakening of commitment in the POLA’s Zero Emissions White Paper: [T]he Port has included only minimal deadlines and milestones in its zero-emission white paper (e.g. a goal of adding 40 zeroemission vehicles per year for 5 years). This is a significantly weaker commitment than the 2012-2017 Strategic Plan promise to ‘[i]ncrease zero emission truck trips to and from the Port to 50 percent including 100 percent of the trucks to and from the near dock rail yard…’ Seroka not only blithely ignored Yee’s point, he seemingly rubbed her face in it: “As background, I have attached a copy of current Zero Emissions White Paper.” The issues of overriding considerations or a public stakeholder process were not even mentioned in passing. When asked for a comment, Yee’s office declined to say anything specific pending talks with the port which are still being scheduled. “I actually met Betty Yee at a Democratic Club meeting on the 12th [of February],” Janet Gunter told Random Lengths. Gunter was one of three initial plaintiffs in the China Shipping lawsuit. She hand-delivered San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners United’s letter along with other documents related to taking action regarding Rancho LPG. “I thanked her for her intervention on the China Shipping situation and told her to please stay engaged…but also called for her (under her State Lands position) to become involved in the [See State Lands, page 17]
The Local Publication You Actually Read March 3 - 16, 2016
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POLA Gets 1.2 Megawatt Rooftop Solar Project By Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor
March 3 - 16, 2016
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
SAN PEDRO—On Feb. 24, Mayor Eric Garcetti joined Councilman Joe Buscaino, Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka, and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power General Manager Marcie Edwards, at Crafted, to announce the completion of a 1.2-megawatt rooftop solar project at the Port of Los Angeles. The project is part of Los Angeles’ rooftop solar Feed-in Tariff program, the largest of its kind in the nation. The program enables building owners to host large-scale rooftop solar projects and sell the power they generate to LADWP for distribution on the city’s power grid.The program maximizes the value of existing property by converting unused rooftops into commercial solar projects that feed the city’s grid. In its first year, the project will generate 2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power about 331 homes and cut 37.6 metric tons of carbon emissions. The solar installation will add power to the grid without any up-front capital cost This past October, POLA entered a long-term agreement with Hecate Energy Harborside LLC to build photovoltaic solar power systems at multiple sites within the port. Key initiatives include a 1 megawatt photovoltaic system atop the World Cruise Center. Hecate will build and operate PV systems at up to 12 different sites on port property with a total capability of about 10 megawatts. In 2007, the port, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the California Attorney General’s Office
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entered into a memorandum of understanding to reduce greenhouse gases. It included a provision for the port to install 10 megawatts of solar power by the end of 2012. Due to a series of setbacks (global recession, lack of suitable sites, permitting difficulties, lack of participation by port tenants, lack of LADWP construction resources), only 1.6 megawatts had been built out. Garcetti’s Sustainable City pLAn, released in April 2014, sets a goal of creating 400 megawatts of local solar by 2017, with authority for an additional 200 megawatts.
A new MOU was negotiated with the attorney general in 2015. That MOU adjusts the deadline to 2018. The 1.2 megawatt Crafted project counts toward the 10 megawatts goal and brings the total in Port complex today to 2.8 megawatts. This is under a different contractor than Hecate. There are several more projects in the works (through Hecate), and the port has contracted to bring the additional 7 megawatts of solar polar online prior to the 2018 deadline. The project is not undergoing any California Environmental Quality Act reviews, negative impact or environmental impact reports. “No. 1 priority is to talk to the tenants and parties adjacent to installations,” said Arley Baker, a spokesman for the port. “The port is looking at a lot of Terminal Island locations (and) non-cargo sites locations like the aquarium.” Baker explained that the port is also talking
to Westrec about utilizing non-cargo sites on port property such as the 22nd Street parking lot, rooftops and underutilized ground mount sites. The proposed site locations include rooftops at berths 54, 55, and 153 through 155; and Liberty Hill Plaza among other places. The 10 megawatts of solar energy is enough electricity to power about 2,500 homes. It also represents about one-sixth of the port’s power demand. Under the agreement, Hecate will operate the port’s photovoltaic system for 20 years, starting each time the each site becomes operation. The port will receive about 7 percent of Hecate’s gross annual revenue from the sale of its electricity to LADWP. The port’s income is projected to total more than $2.8 million over the life of the operating agreement. No costs to the port are anticipated outside of expedited roofing maintenance.
Middle School Students—Doctors of Tomorrow
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti celebrates the installation of solar panels, Feb. 25, at Crafted at Port of Los Angeles. Photo by Phillip Cooke
On Feb. 24, 50 Dodson and Curtiss Middle School students toured the Kaiser Permanente South Bay Medical Center in Harbor City as part of the Hippocrates Circle Program—a program designed to open their eyes to future careers in medicine. For the following several weeks, students will work with mentor physicians to learn about the education and preparation necessary to pursue a career in healthcare. The hospital tour, which includes visits to the labor and delivery ward, ophthalmology and gastroenterology departments, also includes hands-on experiences for the students such as the simulated evaluation of a pediatric patient and a demonstration of how to cast a bone fracture.
[Students, from page 2]
Architecture Students
Song expects his level of involvement with the franchise to lessen within two years. His goal would be that the four former students he is taking under his wing will become project architects, who in turn will do most of the
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By Lyn Jensen, Carson Correspondent Jim Dear was recalled as city clerk of Carson on Feb. 23, according to unofficial election results. Recall proponents, who sought to return Donesia Gause to the clerk’s office, mustered 4,710 votes, 53.82 percent of the total. Dear’s supporters accounted for 4,041 votes, or 46.18 percent. Gause, running unopposed to replace Dear, received 4,627 votes. Dear and his supporters did not field an alternative candidate, and instead chose to focus on fighting the recall. Previously Dear fought off at least two recall attempts. One, instigated shortly after he was elected to the city council in 2001, went nowhere. He became mayor in 2004, and survived a recall attempt that went to the polls in 2008, when his supporters chalked up 58 percent of the vote. He continued to serve as mayor until March 2015, when he ran for city clerk. He unseated Gause, the appointed incumbent. Almost immediately after he was elected, his handling of the election to fill former councilman
Mike Gipson’s seat created controversy. Around the same time, some city employees made allegations to the city manager’s office that Dear fostered a tense and racially charged work environment at City Hall. Following these allegations he was censured by the city council this past October. Dear made no public comment following the recall, and did not return phone calls from this paper. For the first time since 2001 he is not one of Carson’s elected leaders. What his plans are cannot be determined at this time. After Dear defeated Gause for clerk, she was appointed to the city council. What will happen concerning her council seat is not clear. By law she must give up the seat, with her successor being appointed or elected. A separate recall attempt against Carson’s Mayor Albert Robles remains underway. That effort must collect at least 8,059 valid signatures by April 18.
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March 3 - 16, 2016
Although the workforce involved in the EZ Plans franchise is comprised of Song’s former LAHC students, the school itself is not involved in the project due to liability concerns. “It is a huge undertaking,” Song said. “I debated doing it for many, many years and I certainly don’t need the headache of trying to run a business. But there was just such a need.” “My students spend two to three years with me. I get to know them very personally. I am committed to them in teaching them and educating them.… But they can have that opportunity if they can go out and say, ‘Hey, I have
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The Commitment
three years of real-life work experience... and the degree.’ Then they have a fighting job at getting a real job at an architectural office.” Beyond the technical skills they’ve learned at school, the franchise offers his former students an opportunity to gain professional skills on the business side of running an architectural office.
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turn, makes an appointment with the client. After an interface, the franchisee assesses the project and determines whether it is a project that can be undertaken. “Obviously, we are not looking for huge projects,” Song said. Song and his former students would be in charge of drawing the house as is, do research with the city and the zoning department, then provide the client with a design solution before drafting actual blueprints. Once they are submitted to city and a permit is issued, their job stops. Song plans to work with students who have graduated from the architectural program at LAHC and supervise the projects. “The idea is that they have graduated,” Song explained. “They don’t really have a place to go in an architectural office because they don’t have experience. So, those are the students who I will take. I will give them real-world experience. Of course, they’ll get paid for that job, too.” Song and four of his former students are taking on their first project in Downey. For now, they are looking for a space where they can do their work. The former students will be working as independent contractors, meaning they are working out of their individual homes. “It’s an experiment,” Song explained. “I need students who are self-motivated; I need students who are problem solvers; I need students who are technically sound, and I have them. I already have them.” To ensure that they are paid fairly, Song’s former students are working under a consultant agreement through the EZ Plan franchise. In essence, Song will be treating his former students as professional consultants and he will be overseeing the work. “Whatever is left will cover my overhead,” Song said. “Clearly, I’m not doing it as a money-making venture.” He envisions his project would work through a cycle of two to three years. His former students will work with the franchise, gain experience and move onward, making way for new sets of students to become part of the franchise project.
business management. “Hopefully, the business generates enough income for all four of them to be happy,” Song said. “Then, all the other students will filter in.” Of course, he won’t be able to remove himself completely from the business, because he is the licensed architect. As far as his investment, Song doesn’t foresee a return for at least four to five years. That’s OK, he said. As long as the business sustains itself, he’s happy. “My hope is that community understands the intent of the business,” he said. “We are really trying to service the community. In turn, the community will service our students by giving them valuable professional experience.”
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[Safety Net, from page 1]
Navigating the Safety Net
March 3 - 16, 2016
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
people in Southern California. Nothing quite went as planned when she and her daughters arrived. Doby believed that she would be able to immediately get into some low-income housing, but was only able to get a 14-night hotel voucher and enroll in Greater Avenues for Independence, also known as GAIN, a Los Angeles County program that provides employment-related services to California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, or CalWORKs. The program helps participants find work, stay employed and move on to higher paying jobs.
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If nothing else, Doby stayed organized and persistent, keeping detailed paper trail of her expenditures as proof that she’s a responsible adult. There’s an abundance of resources and programs to assist the down-and-out with a leg up out of poverty. But Doby’s experience shows that even with these, the road to self-sufficiency is pitted with potholes, red tape and human obstacles. “Nobody ever really explained who did what when or where,” Doby explained recently. “It was like a hodgepodge of call this person, go there, do this, go to this appointment. So I ended up meeting up with Ms. Barrett at the Multi Service Center in Long Beach.” The case manager took Doby’s application and said she would expedite it so that she and her daughters wouldn’t have to sleep in the streets. With time running out, she went back to the county for help. They gave her booklet filled with numbers of organizations that could help. The person at the first number she called told her that the place didn’t have any beds available. Doby and her family ultimately ended up at the Union Rescue Mission. “Here I am with my two kids who had never been subjected to anything like that in their life,” she said. “We had to go to the Union Rescue Mission because I had already paid for one night at a hotel out of my own pocket. So I was left with no resource.” She and her daughters had already spent a night at the Union Rescue Mission, when she got a call back from Los Angeles County’s Family
Source Center and was told to go to their Long Beach office for the follow up meeting. “I’m traveling by bus with my GPS because I don’t know anything about [anywhere] out here,” Doby said. “So I spent the whole day trying to get to Long Beach and the lady told me I was at the wrong location. You have to get rescheduled.” The caseworker there ultimately forwarded her file to Harbor Interfaith Services and told Doby to call if she didn’t hear from them within the week.
Connecting to Harbor Interfaith
She called after a week had passed. Doby underwent Harbor Interfaith’s assessment Aug. 27. She was able to get into Harbor Interfaith’s 90-day shelter program on Sept. 8. After undergoing the assessment, passing the background check, Doby was told she had to meet with a therapist and a case manager. Harbor Interfaith Services Executive Director Tahia Hayslet noted that it takes about 30 days on average, but often, longer, to transition a person living on the street into a 90-day shelter program. And that person may not necessarily end up at Harbor Interfaith’s shelter. She said it’s all based on priority throughout Service Planning Area 8 of the Coordinated Entry System, a geographic area that covers much of the southern part of Los Angeles County. She was told there was 80 percent mandatory savings, she had to go to self-improvement classes and that if she was not working, she should be enrolled in school. Doby said she had no trouble abiding by these conditions—that is, all but one: the mandatory 80
percent savings. Doby told the caseworker that she would have trouble with that condition due to the necessity of maintaining her storage units in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles as well as some minimum payment obligations related to her shuttered business. The mandatory 80 percent savings is not unusual. Hayslet explained that most 90-day shelter programs deploy the requirement as a means of helping clients save enough money for their deposit for an apartment and exercising financial discipline. Still, program participants struggle with the strict requirements. Doby explained that she was on a fixed income and was receiving $704 per month. She was required to contribute $563 per month, leaving her short the money to pay for her storage units and remain in compliance with Harbor Interfaith’s 90-day shelter program. Doby said she told the caseworker all of this and asked that they work with her on the mandatory savings component. The caseworker told Doby she’ll speak with the higher-ups and get back to her. Doby said she never heard anything more until she got the call to go to Harbor Interfaith with her daughters and her belongings. When Doby arrived and was completing the final paperwork that would allow her to move into Harbor Interfaith’s 90-day shelter program, no discussion or decision had been made on whether the service organization would work with her on that condition. Doby recalled being told, “I can’t make that decision for you. You have to decide for yourself.” “But you told me that you would talk to your boss about this,” she told the caseworker. “Why [See Safety Net, page 7]
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drug addict. My kids weren’t wrapped up in the system. I relocated. There’s a difference. “When my phone rang when I was at the [Union Rescue Mission] and I was told to come out here at 3 o’clock, that led me to believe everything was worked out. It wasn’t until I gave up my bed, paid somebody to bring us out here that you’re here telling me … you’re not giving me the key unless I sign this paper. What would you do?” Doby was ultimately able to come to an agreement with Stewart and stay. “I went to the classes,” Doby said. “I did my chores. I was in school already. I adhered to the curfew. I didn’t have any problems with any of it. As I told her, it’s not what I wanted but it’s a step.” Doby found herself on a two-track process, the Accelerated Learning & Living program or
Harbor Interfaith Services Executive Director Tahia Hayslet says transitioning a person from the street to a 90-day shelter program takes about 30 days. But a long list of educational, economic and counseling requirements can make it a lot longer. [Safety Net, from page 6]
[See Safety Net, page 17]
LAWA Says the Future of the LA Waterfront is Coming Soon By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Photo by Terelle Jerricks
3. It should have high aspirations. It should become a landmark of lasting stature in Southern California. 4. The development should attract entrepreneurial tenants that collectively create a unique experience in Southern California. A special emphasis is to be placed on those foods and products that relate to the ocean front location. 5. The development should connect the Waterfront to downtown San Pedro and serve as a stimulant of revitalization of downtown San Pedro. 6. The use should begin to connect various attractions and activities along the San Pedro and Wilmington waterfront. Councilman Buscaino called the Ports O’ Call redevelopment an opportunity to change the landscape in San Pedro and said the new plan could put San Pedro Public market on par with other Los Angeles assets such as Sunset Strip, L.A. Live and Hollywood. This bit of development news follows announcements of Boeing and Catalina Sea Ranch, an aquaculture company that raises farm fresh mollusk shellfish such as clams, oysters and scallops, partnering with AltaSea. Other redeveloping plans include the repurposing of the courthouse property on Sixth Street in downtown San Pedro and Los Angeles bid to host the 2024 Olympics, in which San Pedro will host the sailing competition.
March 3 - 16, 2016
Last week, Councilman Joe Buscaino revealed that the L.A. Waterfront Alliance was going to bring back the Red Car as part of their redevelopment plans for Ports O’ Call Village. It turns out that that wasn’t the only bombshell in redevelopment news. On March 2, hours before the public meeting on the Ports O’Call redevelopment plan at the Warner Grand, Wayne Ratkovich, of the Ratkovich Company and LA Waterfront Alliance announced that they will break ground on the project in 2017. The other piece of news was that it will no longer be called Ports O’Call Village. Instead, it will be called the San Pedro Public Market. Ratkovich described the fruition of the Ports O’Call development, despite the fits and starts over the past decade or so, the result of an aligning of the stars, citing the support of the mayor, councilman and harbor commission board. Buscaino noted during his comments that Ratkovich’s interest outlasted three administrations and two commissions to get to this point. During the short press conference ahead of the public meeting at the Warner Grand, Ratkovich explained the six principles that guided redevelopment plans of Ports O’ Call, including: 1. The site is publicly owned. Therefore it has to be very public in its use. Open to all, to residents and visitors alike. 2. The redevelopment of the site should serve to improve the quality of life in San Pedro, Wilmington and beyond.
to happen when I can’t pay that and you’re not giving me an answer and then it’s the [Oct.] 7. I met with her every Wednesday at 5 o’clock. So it’s already after business hours when we met anyway so there was nothing I could do until that next morning.” Doby started making calls the next morning before she had to leave for a doctor’s appointment about a cancer scare. She left messages. Other places she called said they were full. She even called the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the Los Angeles city and county department that oversees the Coordinated Entry System and explained her situation. She was referred to a number of people within the organization that couldn’t get her on a path that would lead to permanent housing in less than 48 hours. “I was like, what is going on in California that I can’t get a straight answer from anybody and there’s no repercussion for people not doing their jobs?” she recalled. The meeting took place on Wednesday evening, Friday came and went without incident, the following Monday was a holiday. Doby said that Tuesday morning, Stewart walked into Doby’s unit, leaving the door open, asking for the deposit. Doby said she was only in a towel at that point, in process of getting dressed when Stewart walked in. Recalling the exchange, Doby noted that she asked why she signed the paperwork knowing she couldn’t pay the deposit. “Because I was told you were going to work with me because of my two storage units,” she responded. “I could understand if you told me you couldn’t work with me on the rest. But how are you going to tell me, a mother with children, that I have to lose all this stuff that I earned and paid for to stay here for 90 days… when you’re an agency that is supposed to be helping us? … It makes no sense. I’m an adult. I’m not a
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would you call me if you didn’t do that?” Doby’s daughters were waiting outside with their ride and all of their belongings. By leaving the Union Rescue Mission based on the belief that she would be staying a new location, she no longer had a bed there. Doby signed the paper anyway believing that she could work out the problems along the way. Things came perilously close to not working out for Doby. She recounted meeting with her case manager once a week for three weeks with little interaction. Doby said she didn’t learned whether the 80 percent mandatory deposit would remain an obstacle or if three were other alternatives that would lead to permanent housing. Doby said the situation came to a head when the deadline to pay the deposit had came and passed and Family Shelter director, Sharon Stewart, gave her 48 hours to either pay the 80 percent deposit or leave the program. Doby said it was only then that her caseworker began providing possible leads to permanent housing. “She [the case manager] gave me a stack of papers that was like an inch thick,” Doby explained. The options consisted of single-room occupation hotels that charge $500 per month and other 90-day shelter programs. The options that stood out was a 90-day program in Santa Monica, which provides the same services as Harbor Interfaith and Harbor Interfaith’s Accelerated Learning & Living program. Doby noted that she had a Section 8 referral since she made the move to California. But she had not heard anything further on that front. “You entrapped me because you told me you weren’t going to call me unless you could work stuff out,” Doby recalled telling her case manager. “And then you get me out here and I’m asking you week after week what’s going
going to Lydia House in Santa Monica when her time was up in Harbor Interfaith’s shelter. An immediate response from Lydia House confirmed for Doby’s initial reservations about the work that would have only transferred her to another 90-day shelter program. “The lady from Lydia House called me the next day with follow up questions,” Doby recalled. She was confused. She said, ‘I don’t understand why I have your referral.’ She said, ‘Our program does exactly the same thing that Harbor Interfaith does.’ She said, “I don’t want to be overlapping services because if we bring you out here I won’t be able to do much more than what Harbor Interfaith is doing. Are you not getting services?’” After Doby told the Lydia House case manager how she came to Los Angeles, she
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Brewing up Change on the San Pedro Waterfront By James Preston Allen, Publisher
March 3 - 16, 2016
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
The crowds were ebullient, if not inebriated, at the long-awaited opening of Brouwerij West in old Warehouse 9 near the San Pedro waterfront on 22nd Street and Harbor Boulevard. Wayne Blank, known for building Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station, is the visionary who sunk a small fortune into creating Crafted at the Port of L.A. at the same location. Previously in that same week, Mayor Eric Garcetti, flanked by Port Executive Director Gene Seroka and others, flipped a symbolic switch with the help of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers as they unveiled the city’s 1.2 megawatt solar panel initiative on top of that very same warehouse. The initiative is part of Garcetti’s 2014 Sustainable City pLAn, which set the goal of producing 400 megawatts of solar energy by 2017. The port is proposing to produce 10 megawatts of energy on port properties, including the parking lot at Cabrillo Beach. The day after the solar panels were unveiled, the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce hosted a business luncheon at Crafted entitled, “The Future of the LA Waterfront,” presented by Councilman Joe Buscaino. Prefaced by a history lesson, the councilman’s presentation contained scant new information except that somehow the Red Car was going to be included in the, as yet to be announced, Ports O’Call waterfront redevelopment. This sudden flurry of activity is curious in the wake of recent cries to “Save San Pedro” and “Save the L.A. Waterfront”—from what? We don’t know. From the start, the march toward the stated goals in the 2009 waterfront environmental impact report has been obvious, but slow and methodical—distant goals that include AltaSea, Warehouse 1 and other sites. Anxiety over the timeline of future developments and the incremental process by which they are being envisioned, designed and possibly built has been at the source of ongoing criticism—mostly from the area’s neighborhood councils. But this current flurry of activity seems to be driven more by the councilman’s unspoken desire to show some accomplishment prior to his re-election campaign in 2017. Buscaino’s rush to get something done prior to the primary election next March has much to do with his aspirational vision of creating an L.A. Live-type attraction on the San Pedro waterfront. This, while deflecting criticism about the rise in homelessness and crime in his district, the failure to open the Harbor Division jail and increase patrol officers, or addressing
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underlying economic issues contributing to the lack of affordable housing. And let’s not forget the relatively high 14.7 percent unemployment rate in Council District 15 that has been largely underreported. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are frequently touted as “economic engines” in the local/regional if not the national economies. And that some 40 percent or more of all the imports into the United States come through these ports, generating some $200 billion annually in commerce, with $1.2 billion payroll for the ILWU workers. These are impressive numbers until one begins to break them down. How is it that in the shadow of such an immense economic enterprise we have such high unemployment, with increasingly disparaging levels of poverty, homelessness and lack of opportunities? Even with the relatively high pay of some waterfront workers, their compensation amounts to less than one percent of the annual gross of this immense economic engine. This would be an amazing statistic in any other business. Further exacerbating this issue is that distribution warehouses connected to our ports are so distant from the local jurisdiction of the waterfront unions and pay nowhere near union scale. This also plays into the plight of port truckers and their struggle to be recognized as “employees” rather than “independent contractors.” What remains invisible to all, who both decry San Pedro’s decline and who boost waterfront development, is that the Harbor Area hasn’t recovered from the loss of those 30,000 harbor jobs back in the Reagan era. So it’s great and I applaud the efforts of Crafted, Brouwerij West, AltaSea, the USS Iowa and Los Angeles Waterfront Alliance in building and creating even a few hundred jobs here. But the effort doesn’t come close to what it would take to fill the vacuum created by the historic loss of the shipyards and canneries. In the end, the few hundred millions of investment for waterfront development is a nice shot in the arm, but not nearly enough to jumpstart a sanguine economy to the level of Playa Vista or Silicon Beach on the Westside. The reason Garcetti is promoting the subwayto-the-sea rather than the light-rail-to-the-Los Angeles Harbor has everything to do with the billions in infrastructure and private investment going on, while San Pedro still waits like a bride at the altar for her renaissance groom to arrive. It’s no wonder people are still asking the councilman, “How long? How long is it going to take?”
By Juan Cole, Guest Columnist
The rise of Donald Trump to the presumptive Republican standard bearer for president in 2016 is an indictment of and a profound danger to the American republic. The Founding Fathers were afraid of the excitability of the voters and their vulnerability to the appeal of demagogues. That is the reason for a senate, which was originally appointed. The Senate was created with the intention of checking those notorious hotheads in House of Representatives, who are elected from districts every two years. But it isn’t only the checks and balances in government that are necessary to keep the republic. It is the Fourth Estate, i.e. the press; it is the country’s leaders and the general public who stand between the republic and the rise of a Mussolini. The notables have been shown to be useless. Donald Trump should have been kicked out of the Republican Party the moment he began talking about violating the Constitution. The first time he hinted about assaulting the journalists covering his rallies, he should have been shown the door. When he openly advocated torture (‘worse than waterboarding’), he should have been ushered away. When he began speaking of closing houses of worship, he should have been expelled. He has solemnly pledged to violate the First, Fourth and Eighth amendments of the Constitution, at the least. If someone’s platform is unconstitutional, it boggles the mind that a major American party would put him or her up for president. How can
Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com
Columnists/Reporters Lyn Jensen Carson Reporter Lori Lynn Hirsch-Stokoe Food Writer Gina Ruccione Restaurant Reviewer Andrea Serna Arts Writer Melina Paris Culture Writer Calendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com
Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com
Contributors Juan Cole, Ari LeVaux, Katrina Guevara, 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. 5 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.
How the U.S. Went Fascist
Photographers Terelle Jerricks, Phillip Cooke, Michael Justice
Cartoonists Ann Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker Design/Production Suzanne Matsumiya Advertising Representatives David Johnson rlnsales@randomlengthsnews.com Editorial Interns Mike Botica, Arlo TinsmanKongshaug Display advertising (310) 519-1442 Classifieds (310) 519-1016 www.randomlengthsnews.com
he take the oath of office with a straight face? The party leaders were afraid he’d mount a thirdparty campaign. But who knows how that would have turned out? Someone with power needs to say that Trump is unacceptable and to define him out of respectable politics, the same way David Duke is treated (Trump routinely retweets Duke’s fellow-travellers). Then there is the mass media. As Amy Goodman has pointed out, corporate television has routinely pumped Trump into our living rooms. They have virtually blacked out Bernie Sanders. Trump seems to have connived to have 10 or 15 minutes at 7:20 every evening on the magazine shows, such as Chris Matthews’ Hardball, who obligingly cut away to Il Duce II’s rants and gave away his show to him on a nightly basis. Not long ago, extremely powerful television personalities and sportscasters were abruptly fired for saying things less offensive than Trump’s bromides. Don Imus was history for abusive language toward women basketball players. But Trump’s strident attack on Megyn Kelly as a menstruating harridan was just allowed to pass. Jimmy ‘the Greek’ Snyder was fired by CBS for saying African-Americans were ‘bred’ to be better athletes. But Trump issued a blanket characterization of undocumented Mexican labor migrants as rapists, thieves and drug dealers. Of course this allegation is untrue. I watched the Nevada caucus coverage on MSNBC and was appalled at the discourse. One [See Fascist, 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 Expanded Vinegar Hill Historic District
Those who love San Pedro’s history are delighted that Vinegar Hill Historic District (HPOZ) has been expanded and now encompasses the area bounded by 8th Street, Harbor Blvd, Pacific Ave, and 12th Streets. In addition, the City has given us signage along the borders of the district. Unfortunately, some of the signs are posted more wisely than others, as shown by the accompanying picture near 9th and Mesa. John Mattson San Pedro
The following letter is in reference to a recall effort against Jim Dear. The effort succeeded, Feb. 23. Jim Dear is no longer the city clerk in Carson. This letter was received after the production cycle for the Feb. 4 edition of Random Lengths News.
Vote ‘No’ on Recall
To Carson voters, this is why it is critical to vote NO on the Recall
[Fascist, from page 8]
Fascist
If Charter Section 216 were properly managed, the mayor would be getting upwards of 50 reports a year to help him determine if city services are being delivered effectively and efficiently. Without such factual information, the mayor can’t really say that City Hall is working for the people. Moreover, it’s not just the mayor who needs the information the annual reports are designed to provide. The people themselves need to know what they’re getting for the money they send City Hall. And in an open society, they have a right to such information. What’s needed now is for City
Hall to embrace Charter Section 216—for the mayor to announce that for FY 2015-16, annual reports will be required of every officer or board in city government. He should commit to reading every report personally and finding a way to make them all available to the public. It’s time to get back to basics in city government —openness and accountability. And I can’t think of a better way to do that than by implementing Charter Section 216 right now. Can you? Samuel M. Sperling Monterey Park
Communicating with 4 Million Angelenos
My Pepperdine professors talked a lot about management in government. It’s critical, they said, that planning, organizing, budgeting, staffing, appraising employee performance and communicating with the public be well managed.
This is how the dictators came to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Good people remained silent or acquiesced. People expressed hope that something good would come of it. Mussolini would wring the laziness out of Italy and make the trains run on time. When Benjamin Franklin was asked by a lady after the Constitutional Convention what sort of government the U.S. had, he said, “A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it.” You have to wonder if we can keep it. Juan Cole’s work can be found at http://www.juancole.com/
Community Alert GOP Coup Planned at AQMD
March 3 - 16, 2016
A new Republican majority on the South Coast Air Quality Management District board is expected to force the resignation of longtime executive director Barry Wallerstein at its monthly meeting on March 4, as signalled by an agenda item posted earlier in the week. In reporting on the expected move, the Los Angeles Times quoted new board member Larry McCallon, the Republican mayor of Highland in San Bernardino County, saying: “I believe that having jobs are just as important for a person’s health, for a family’s health, as having clean air.” The AQMD has produced a number of studies showing substantial economic net benefits from its existing regulatory programs. Random Lengths will have a full report in our next issue.
in a significant proportion of the people in the country. He is a white nationalist and his message is that he will stand up for white Christian people against the Chinese, the Mexicans and the Muslims. Just as Adolph Hitler hoped for an alliance with AngloSaxon Britain on racial grounds (much preferring it to the less white Italy), the only foreign leader Trump likes is the white Vladimir Putin. That he won the evangelical vote again in Nevada is helpful for us in seeing that American evangelism itself is in part a form of white male chauvinist nationalism and only secondarily about religion. By the way, the idea that Trump won the Latino vote in Nevada is nonsense. In one of a number of fine interventions at MSNBC, Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out that something on the order of 1,800 Latinos voted in the Nevada GOP caucuses, of whom perhaps 800 voted for Trump, i.e. 44 percent of this tiny group. Trump lost the vote of even this small group of hard right Latinos, since 56 percent of them voted for someone else. There are 800,000 Latinos in the state of Nevada (population: 2.8 million). In 2012, 70 percent of Latinos voted for Barack Obama, while Mitt Romney got 25 percent. My guess is that Trump can’t do as well among them as Romney did. It has been a dreadful performance by the press and by party leaders. They are speaking in such a way as to naturalize the creepy, weird and completely un-American positions Trump has taken.
And they observed that in government, appraising employee performance and communicating with the public are often neglected. That’s how it was in Los Angeles city government forty years ago, and while changes have been made, weaknesses persist. Officials and boards are NOT evaluated effectively and City Hall does not connect with the people. The good news is all about a provision of the City Charter. Section 216 requires that every officer or board of city government make and present to the mayor and council an annual report relating to their work.
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reporter tried to assure us that Trump voters were not actually voting for racism and bullying politics, they were just upset. But polling in South Carolina demonstrated that Trump voters were significantly to the right of most Republicans on some issues. In South Carolina, 38 percent of Trump voters wished the South had won the Civil War, presumably suggesting that they regretted the end of slavery. Another MSNBC reporter helpfully explained that Trump voters feel that ‘political correctness’ has gone too far. But what does Trump mean by ‘political correctness’? He means sexism and racism. So what is really being said is that Trump supporters resent that sexist and racist discourse and policies have been banned from the public sphere. There is ample proof that Trump’s use of ‘political correctness’ identifies it with sexist and racist remarks and actions. Yet another asserted that ‘some of’ Trump’s positions ‘are not that extreme.’ Exhibit A was his praise for Planned Parenthood. But he wants to outlaw abortion, i.e. overturn the current law of the land, which is extreme. (A majority of Americans support the right to choose, so he is in a minority.) Chris Matthews explained to us that people hoped he would do something for the country rather than for the government. But Trump has made it very clear that he is not interested
on February 23. The Carson City Council continues to have a dog and pony show at every meeting. The appointed Mayor Robles cannot stand any criticism or any opinions that he doesn’t agree with. He shouts insults, ridicules and argues with constituents from the dais, on the microphone and on camera. It is unprofessional, unethical and in many cases illegal as the council may not discuss items that are not on the posted agenda. He uses the same tactics that he falsely claims are made by the Honorable Jim Dear. These accusations have totally no merit and are unsubstantiated. Robles is the same man who has donated $45,000.00 to the recall committee and has orchestrated the spending of hundreds of thousands of dollars of the Carson taxpayer’s money. Why is he so desperate to defame the Honorable Jim Dear? What is it that he is so desperately hiding besides what is already known? We know that Albert Robles is
being investigated by the LA District Attorney for his residency (he does not live in Carson), for holding two incompatible positions and he has sexual assault and sexual harassment law suits filed against him. Really, can anyone believe what this man says about anything? Before Robles was appointed to be mayor there had been complaints made to human resources or to the unions representing Carson employees. So, why did it suddenly become a problem? The answer is that Robles has directed this witch hunt, this political vendetta to cover his trail of misdeeds. Consider the source of the lies and Vote NO on February 23. Janice Shaefer Carson
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2016 ELECTION Analysis
Super Tuesday: The Story Behind The Story By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
March 3 - 16, 2016
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
From New Hampshire through Super Tuesday, the presidential primary sent shockwaves through the political establishment. A race that had been expected to pit two political dynasties against each other has instead revealed deep fissures in the foundations of elite rule. On the Republican side, a state of near civil war has broken out, with open speculation of trying to block Donald Trump’s nomination in a brokered convention. Trump won seven more states—Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont and Massachusetts—but only gained slightly more delegates than Ted Cruz, who won three: Texas, Arkansas and Alaska. At press time, Trump had gained 234 delegates compared to 209 for Cruz, 90 for Marco Rubio, who won the Minnesota caucus, and 19 for John Kasich 19, who came close to winning Vermont. Almost half of Cruz’s delegates—99—came from his home state of Texas. “After watching Trump’s golden ballroom speech and Ted Cruz’s fact-free attacks tonight, I’m tempted to say the GOP contest has come down to an interesting American cultural cage fight between Jay Gatsby and Joe McCarthy,” Texas author and activist Glenn Smith told Random Lengths. “Texas, though, was boring tonight. Texas voters did exactly what we expected them to: hand wins to Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz. Texas Democrats by and large love the Clintons and it was never much of a contest, despite Sanders’ clear progressive appeal. Cruz had more trouble as he grabbed just 40 percent of GOP voters in his home state.” The highly fragmented GOP field has allowed Trump to win states with 30-40 percent of the vote. On the Democratic side, however, Smith’s observation about Texas Democrats holds more broadly, particularly in the South. In a two-
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person race, Sanders, a national unknown who began with 3 percent support nationally less than a year ago, had to win an outright majority to win any state—a threshold Trump failed to reach anywhere, while Sanders captured 86 percent in his home state of Vermont, 62 percent in Minnesota, 59 percent in Colorado, and 52 percent in Oklahoma. In Massachusetts, Trump’s best showing, 49.2 percent, represented a 30-point victory, while Sanders almost equal 48.7 percent resulted in a narrow loss. Had Joe Biden had entered the race, Sanders might have done as well as Trump. Instead, Clinton handily swept the Southern states of Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, and Virginia, and narrowly won Massachusetts. Predictably, this restarted elite media talk about Sanders dropping out of the race—a ludicrous proposition in light of the $6 million in contributions he raised the day before Super Tuesday. So Sanders had to explain things for them once again. “This campaign is not just about electing a president,” Sanders said in his Super Tuesday speech. “It is about transforming America. It is about making our great country the nation that we know it has the potential to be. It is about dealing with some unpleasant truths that exist in America today, and having the guts to confront those truths.” “In Vermont, millionaires do not buy town
and let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace to every one of those states.” His rationale for staying in the race could not have been clearer. “This country belongs to all of us, not just those at the top,” Clinton said in her Super Tuesday speech, reflecting Sanders’ impact in agenda-setting, and then continuing, “Not just the people who look one way, worship one way, or even think one way. America prospers when we all prosper. America is strong when we’re all strong. “And we know we’ve got work to do,” she said, pivoting to respond to GOP front-runner Donald Trump. “But that work is not to make America great again. America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole. We have to fill in what’s been hollowed out. We have to make strong the broken places, restitch the bonds trust and respect across our country.” The distribution of Clinton’s wins was particularly telling, given the origins and purpose of Super Tuesday, which first appeared as it is known today, in the 1988 Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump dominate Super Tuesday primary votes. cycle, with the intention File photos. of empowering moderate meetings,” Sanders continued, “and in America, Democratic candidates to better reflect the views we are going to end the corrupt campaign finance of Southern white Democrats. system.” “Candidates will have to campaign first and “At the end of tonight, 15 states will have longest in the South, the plan goes, where they voted.” Sanders said. “Thirty-five states remain, [See Results, page 19]
By Gina Ruccione, Restaurant and Cuisine Writer
house, bottle shop, tasting room and Belgian-style beer on tap. I personally don’t know everything there is to know about beer, but I can tell you that I had little to no problem enjoying the first of the batches that rolled out. Brian Mercer and David Holop, the magical duo behind the full-production craft brewery, have had tons of visitors in recent weeks for pre-tastings, but Saturday was really meant to be a celebration. Four food trucks and several local bands including Bombón, Crow Baby and The Underground Railroad to Candyland fed and entertained the crowds of people. Construction challenges proved to be the main culprit [See Brouwerij West, page 13]
Photos by Michael Justice, courtesy of the Port of Los Angeles
Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE
M
ost were of the mindset, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” but it has finally happened. After years of delays and construction, the highly anticipated Brouwerij West opened its doors Feb. 27. The grand opening was nothing short of a party. For most of the day, at any one time, the Brouwerij West and Crafted warehouse lots were filled with about 1,500 people. At the end of the day, the number of attendees tallied up to 4,500. I’m still recovering from the copious amount of beer and snack intake that occurred Saturday. Here’s what you missed and here’s what to expect going forward. The brewery, which you all know by now, is in one of the coolest buildings of all time— a massive World War II-era warehouse in the Port of Los Angeles, boasts a five-tank brew
March 3 - 16, 2016
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I believe every month is a beer month— not just St. Patrick’s day in March, or the unofficial beer of June to celebrate the summer months or October for Oktober Fest. A few of our newest breweries in the Los Angeles Harbor Area and South Bay cities are celebrating anniversaries this month. Absolution Brewing Company will be open as usual to celebrate their second anniversary. But if you upgrade general admission ticket to the taproom to VIP status at $45, you can get a meal at a food truck of your choice, an anniversary T-shirt and unlimited pours from 12 to 1 p.m. and any four beers after 1 p.m. including special
St. Paddy’s Day Happenings By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
anniversary ale and cask tent. A general admission ticket is $25, which includes, one food truck choice, three pours of any of beer, ale and cask tent. There’s going to be live music, prizes and drawings all day March 5. Details: www.absolutionbrewingcompany.com
Phantom Carriage is celebrating its first anniversary on March 12 with two bottle releases: Strawberry Broadacres [Wild Berliner Weisse; 3.9 percent abv] and Centennial Muis at $14 per bottle. Bottles will be available when doors open at 12 p.m. The Phantom Carriage crew recently announced that they have partnered with the Los Angeles-based Wiegand Family Distribution company.
including Firefighter displays, marching bands, dancing groups, youth groups, local businesses, floats, and more. The parade will end with a festival highlighting local music, food and drink. The parade runs down Pine Avenue from 6th Street to Broadway in downtown Long Beach. The first entry steps off at 2 p.m. with the final entry making its way to the post-
parade festival about 3 p.m. The parade ends at Promenade Park between Broadway and 1st Street on the Promenade for the Irish Heritage Festival. The festival will have live Irish music, food, beer garden and vendors. Firefighters, police, and Irish heritage groups from all over Southern California will be participating. After the parade, the band, The Humble Hooligans, will be playing on stage. The postparade festival is free. From March 9 through March 12, the California’s firefighters and police officers are hosting the St. Patrick’s Day Cup—an ice hockey tournament to raise money for worthy causes.
Details: PhantomCarriage.com/tickets
March 3 - 16, 2016
INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment
But St. Patrick’s Day isn’t just about beer. It’s about recognizing the contributions Irish Americans, culturally and otherwise, to this country. The Long Beach Irish Heritage Parade and Festival will be hosted in downtown Long Beach for the second time on March 12. The parade will be a continuous motion parade with more than 50 parade entries
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Long Beach Fire Department Pipe Band at last year’s Irish Heritage Parade and Festival.
[Brouwerij West, from page 11]
BROUWERIJ WEST OPENS
Let the culinary adventure begin—Beach City Grill has reopened featuring your favorites along with soon-to-be favorite new additions. Now serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and Sunday brunch. Famous for Caribbean, Cajun specials, fresh seafood, salads, vegetarian and world cuisine. Be sure to try the award-winning desserts by Chef Larry Hodgson. Beach City Grill, 376 W. 6th St., San Pedro. (310) 833-6345 • www.beachcitygrill.net
Buono’s Authentic Pizzeria
A San Pedro landmark for over 40 years, famous for exceptional awardwinning pizza baked in brick ovens. Buono’s also offers classic Italian dishes and sauces based on tried-and-true family recipes and hand-selected ingredients that are prepared fresh. Dine-in, take-out and catering. There are two locations in Long Beach. Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m.11 p.m. • Buono’s Pizzeria • 1432 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro • (310) 547-0655 • www.buonospizza.com
Niko’s Pizzeria
One of downtown San Pedro’s signature restaurants features a full Italian menu, huge selection of pizzas, Greek specialties and a beer and wine bar featuring a wide selection of beers on tap and by the bottle. Watch sporting events on plasma TV screens throughout the restaurant. Delivery service to all of San Pedro, port locations and hotels. 399 W. 6th St., San Pedro (at the corner of Mesa and 6th Sts.) • (310) 241-1400
PHILIE B’S ON SIXTH
Owner Philie Buscemi welcomes you to Philie B’s on Sixth, where New York–style pizza, Sicilian rice balls and pizza by-the-slice are the specialties. Fresh hot or cold sandwiches, gourmet pizzas and fresh salads are also served. 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 ($15 min.) available. Philie B’s On Sixth • 347 W. 6th Street, San Pedro (310) 514-2500 www.philiebsonsixth.com
PIROZZI’S ITALIAN DELI
Walk into Pirozzi’s Italian Deli at Weymouth Corners and discover an ample selection of fine imported cheeses and salami, as well as a great assortment of imported prosciutto, pastas, sauces, olive oils and vinegars—all carefully selected by proprietor Vince Pirozzi. Best known for making fine homemade Italian sausages in five distinct flavors, Pirozzi’s also carries freshly prepared and frozen entrées and sauces available for take-out. Pirozzi’s Deli offers a full catering menu, made-to-order deli sandwiches, homemade Italian cookies and desserts. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 am-6 pm; Sat. 10 am-5 pm; Sun. 10 am-2 pm. Pirozzi’s Italian Deli • 1453 W. 8th St., San Pedro (310) 548-0000 www.pirozzisdeli.com
San Pedro Brewing Company
A microbrewery and American grill, SPBC features handcrafted award-winning ales and lagers served with creative pastas, bbq, sandwiches, salads and burgers. A full bar with made-fromscratch margaritas and a martini menu all add fun to the warm and friendly atmosphere. Live music. Hours: 11:30 a.m., daily. San Pedro Brewing Company • 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro • (310) 831-5663 • www.sanpedrobrewing.com
Stripe Café
Stripe Café Executive Chef Brett Hickey’s focus is on plantbased, farm-totable options. Thefood is fresh and organic. Everything is made in-house and reasonably priced. Hickey’s menu is full of surprises: salmon smoked each day, Nutella latte, lavender-infused 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. Stripe Café • 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes • Mon-Sat 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., • (310) 541.2479
The Whale & Ale
San Pedro’s British gastro pub offers dining in an oak–paneled setting, featuring English fish & chips, roast prime rib, sea bass, rack of lamb, beef Wellington, meat pies, salmon, swordfish & vegetarian dishes. Open for lunch & dinner, 7 days a week; great selection of wines; 14 British tap ales, and full bar. First Thursdays live band and special
fixed price menu. Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Fri. 11:30 a.m.-midnight Sat. and Sun. 1-10 p.m. The Whale & Ale • 327 W. 7th St., San Pedro • (310) 832-0363 • www.whaleandale.com
Waterfront Dining
Boardwalk Grill
C a s u a l waterfront dining at its finest! Famous for slabs of Chicago-style baby back ribs, fish-nchips, 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. Boardwalk Grill • 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77, San Pedro • (310) 519-7551
PORTS O’ CALL RESTAURANT
Since 1961 this landmark restaurant has extended a hearty welcome to visitors from around the globe. Delight in an aweinspiring view of the dynamic L.A. Harbor while enjoying fresh California cuisine and varietals. Relax in the bar or patio for the best happy hour on the waterfront. With each purchase of the award-winning Sunday Champagne Brunch, receive the first Spirit Cruises harbor cruise of the day free. Open 7 days, lunch and dinner. Free parking. Ports O’Call Waterfront Dining • 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 76, San Pedro • (310) 833-3553 www.portsocalldining.com
SPIRIT CRUISES
An instant party— complete with all you need to relax and enjoy while the majesty of the harbor slips by! Dinner cruise features a 3-course meal, full bar, unlimited cocktails and starlight dancing—the ultimate excursion for any occasion. Free parking. Spirit Cruises • 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77, San Pedro • (310) 548-8080, (562) 495-5884 • www. spiritmarine.com
Include Your Restaurant in the Dining Guide In Print & Online • (310) 519-1442
March 3 - 16, 2016
Gina Ruccione has traveled all over Europe and Asia and has lived in almost every nook of Los Angeles County. You can visit her website at www. foodfashionfoolishfornication.com.
BEACH CITY GRILL
Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE
behind the lengthy grand opening delay. What started as a 16-week project went on for 42 weeks, and while it is not registered as a historic building, it is very old. Parts of the building aren’t level— and that proved to be more than a challenge, but obviously well worth the wait. The inside is gorgeous and the space is expansive. The glowing strings of bistro lights illuminate the stunning space, giving it a rather charming ambiance. Oh, did I mention that this almost didn’t even happen in San Pedro? As it turns out, the brewery was originally intended to be in Long Beach, but Mercer and Holop saw the potential and ran with it. As a native to the area, I can say that we’ve certainly been waiting for something like this to hit San Pedro—it deserves to be a destination spot and this brewery will only add to the appeal. OK, so what about the beer, right? Forgive me, but I don’t know a ton about beer or the whole process, so this called for a bit of research, which basically means I had to read a lot about beer and then drink a whole bunch of different beers (for research, of course). As it turns out, I tend to gravitate towards sour beers. So imagine my surprise to find that Brouwerij West has a sour beer called Super Orange. It’s made from more than 500 pounds of sour oranges from Northern California. At the moment there are six beers featured and most are saisons. For those of you who don’t know (I didn’t either) saison is the French for “season.” They are meant to be refreshing, highly carbonated and tend to be fruity or spicy. Originally this pale ale was brewed in farmhouses in Belgium in the cooler months and intended for drinking during the warmer months of summer. They have a blackberry saison called Dog Ate My Homework and it is totally refreshing—fruit forward but not sweet and very drinkable. The Bitter Blonde was another one of my favorites— hoppy, bitter with a dry finish. Here’s yet another awesome tidbit about the beer: the bottle art is rad. All of the bottles feature different artists and they are awesome. I’m a very visual person and if I don’t know a ton about a product in the beginning, I tend to lean towards whatever is aesthetically pleasing. I think most of us can attest to that. I mean, consider going into any store to buy something. How long do you stare at a shelf and then just end up grabbing something familiar or something that looks cool? If I am experimenting with a new product, I opt for the cool packaging. And yes, there was talk about adding a restaurant to the space and yours truly will happily keep you updated, but it looks like we’ll have to wait on that...for the time being. For now, the brewery is open from 4 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s family, pet and skateboard friendly. Venue: Brouwerij West, 110 E. 22nd St., San Pedro Details: www.brouwerijwest.com
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Clem Pennington is the Whole Package
March 3 - 16, 2016
INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment
By Melina Paris, Music Columnist
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It really pays to check out local restaurants with live music. You never know what you might find. A couple of weeks ago, the newly reopened Beach City Grill featured the vocal sensation Clem Pennington. During the 1960s Pennington worked as studio musician, as a percussionist and a vocalist, and at times he filled in as a vocalist for the Spinners and the Drifters. The Spinners and the Drifters were two contemporaneous rhythm and blues groups that emerged in the early 1950s. They continue to perform to this day, supporting the idea that the group is greater than any one individual. Rolling Stone magazine’s story, “100 Greatest Arts” called the Drifters the least stable of the great vocal groups of the time. They were low-paid musicians hired by George Treadwell, who owned the Drifters’ name. The Spinners were a more organically grown group started by several friends in a housing project in Detroit in 1954. Pennington wasn’t intimately connected to these bands, but he contributed his silky and smooth style frequently. He looked like a million bucks. Neatly groomed and distinctively dressed, he wore black and white pin-stripe slacks, wing tip shoes, a white dress shirt with a black applique on the collar, and a black and white striped tie. At 77, you’d think his repertoire only included old school R&B. It’s the opposite. Pennington is belting out hits like Michael Jackson’s Rock with You, Human Nature and his posthumous release with Justin Timberlake, Love Never Felt So Good. Pennington has even included Robin Thicke’s Morning Sun and Pharrell Williams’ Happy on his song list. Originally from Kansas City, Mo., Pennington was reared in Los Angeles with his mother and grandmother. Pennington began his singing career at 11 years old in church. Back then, church went on all day long, he said. So he gained much experience, which set the stage for his future in music. Pennington dropped out of high school early, married, started a family and went into the Navy. After his Navy service he went back to night school for his diploma. He attended Los Angeles Trade Tech College, El Camino College and earned credits through the Navy, combining all three to earn his associate of arts degree in computer languages. He went on to University of California Los Angeles earning a bachelor’s of science and eventually went to work at Hughes Aircraft as a chemist. While serving in the Navy at Point Mugu, Pennington sang in a group called 4+1, with four marines, he was the only Navy man. The foursome participated in the 11th Naval District Talent Show and the top six acts would go on to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show. Pennington’s group came in seventh. He said those types of close chances were frequent in his music career, but it’s clear he is a musician who has always done well for himself through consistent work. Pennington started professionally as a
The versatile rhythm and blues vocalist Clem Pennington can be found at Think Prime Steakhouse and Beach City Grill. Photo by Phillip Cooke
drummer playing bongos and congas with a well-known Latin and jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican ancestry. Through Bobo, he met The Drifters and The Spinners. Pennington called himself one of the unsung heroes. He sang first and second tenor and played percussion behind these groups while he was a studio musician at Epic Records. If one of them was sick or out for some reason, he stepped up to sing in their place. During this time in the 1960s Pennington also sang at the Stardust Hotel in Las Vegas, all while still backing the Drifters and the Spinners and playing percussion in the studio. Two of the most popular songs he recorded on were Under the Boardwalk, with The Drifters, and I’ll Be Around, with The Spinners. He was a work-aholic and says he still is. Some of the musicians started having personal problems and addictions, so Pennington pulled away from the groups in the late 60s. Pennington shifted his energy to working at Hughes Aircraft full time. When he retired in 1992, Pennington revived his musical career seemingly without missing a beat. He met Spencer Chung, who owned Hong Kong Gardens Restaurant in Torrance. Pennington was purchasing karaoke equipment at an outlet in the same mall as the restaurant. When the owner of the outlet heard Pennington singing, he introduced him to Chung who was starting a karaoke night. Chung gave him a job singing in his restaurant and Pennington [See Pennington, page 15]
Arts Cuisine Entertainment March 3 - 16 • 2016
[Pennington, from page 14]
Pennington
Listen to Pennington at http://tinyurl.com/ ClemPennington and at http://tinyurl.com/ ClipofClem. See and hear Pennington live at the Beach City Grill in downtown San Pedro on March 10 and every second Thursday.
ENTERTAINMENT March 4
Classical Crossroads
First Fridays at First engages Southern California’s finest artists for lunchtime recitals followed by receptions with complimentary fairtrade coffee, freshly baked treats, and select seasonal fruit, where you can meet the artists and talk with fellow music lovers. Time: 12:30 p.m. March 4 Cost: Free Details: www.PalosVerdes.com/ ClassicalCrossroads Venue: First Lutheran Church & School, 2900 W. Carson St., Torrance
A.J. Croche
An ivory-searing New Orleans pianist, a pop music iconoclast and humble singer-songwriter tapping into the rich roots of Americana, A.J. Croche carries forward a musical legacy. Time: 8 p.m. March 4 Cost: $20 to $100 Details: (310) 833-4813; http://tinyurl.com/ hnvh3ce Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Lucinda Williams
The three-time Grammy award winning singersongwriter Lucinda Williams will be performing with alternative folk singer-songwriter Sean Rowe and the great avant-roots guitar hero Bill Frisell. Time: 8 p.m. March 4 Cost: $15 to $59 Details: (310) 825-2101; http://happenings. ucla.edu/all/event/183483 Venue: Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, 340 Royce Dr., Los Angeles
March 5
Bach & Mahler
Long Beach Symphony celebrates its 81st season in 2015-2016 by performing Bach’s Overture to Orchestral Suite No. 4, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Time: 8 p.m. March 5 Cost: $20 to $90 Details: http://tinyurl.com/ja6cgqs Venue: Long Beach Performing Arts Center, Terrace Theatre, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach
Thrillhaus Live
Through the exploration of the electric jazz tradition and contemporary beat music, the blended music of Thrillhaus forms broken middle flowing across, between and through temporal, cultural, and generic limits. Time: 7 p.m. March 5 Cost: $20 Details: http://tinyurl.com/z2os2cv Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
March 11
Arsenio Rodriguez Project
March 12
Jessica Fichot
Jessica has performed packed venues in France, China, Spain, Mexico, Canada and across the U.S—taking the listener on a thrilling journey of French chanson, gypsy jazz, Chinese 1940s swing, and international folk. She is backed by her fiery band, and armed
Tizer Live
This acclaimed world, jazz, fusion powerhouse group features an all-star lineup of musicians. Time: 8 p.m. Cost: $20 Details: (310) 519-1314 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
March 13
Trio Céleste Plays Beethoven’s Archduke
Rolling Hills United Methodist Church’s Second Sundays At Two concert series presents Trio Céleste—pianist Kevin Kwan Loucks, violinist Iryna Krechkovsky and cellist Ross Gasworth. Trio Céleste is ensemble-in-residence at the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California Irvine. Time: 2 p.m. March 13 Cost: Fee Details: (310) 316-5574 Venue: Rolling Hills United Methodist Church, 26438 Crenshaw Blvd.,Rolling Hills Estates
COMMUNITY March 5
Native Garden Workday
On the first Saturday of each month, join Cabrillo Marine Aquarium Educators in helping keep our Coastal Park eco-friendly and clean. Choose between helping to maintain the native garden and salt marsh areas (while learning about the importance of their plant and animal inhabitants) or cleaning marine debris off Cabrillo Beach. Time: 8 to 10 a.m. March 5 Cost: Free Details: (310) 548-7562 Venue: John M. Olguin Auditorium, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro
Festival of Authors
The Literary Women of Long Beach invite emerging writers from Long Beach City College, California State University--Long Beach and PEN Center USA to attend the event. They meet with the presenting authors, who offer them invaluable support and advice. In order to support our community of readers, Literary Women donates funds to the Long Beach Public Library to purchase books that will be featured at the upcoming festival. Time: 8:30 a.m. March 5 Cost: $10 for parking Details: http://literarywomen.org Venue: Long Beach Convention Center, 110 S. Pine Ave., Long Beach
March 6
Champagne Runch
Enjoy the brunch and some drinks and take in all the beautiful scenery. Time: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 6 Cost: $5 Details: http://champagnerunch.com/eventinformation/ Venue: Queen Mary Events Park, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach
March 8
Sierra Club Conditioning Hikes
Want to reconnect with nature and experience the exhilarating effect of vigorous hiking? Join the Sierra Club as it explores the hilly streets and trails of San Pedro. Make new friends and get in shape on a moderate hike [See Calendar, page 16]
March 3 - 16, 2016
The Arsenio Rodriguez Project is an AllStar ensemble of today’s top Los Angeles musicians, dedicated to celebrating the memory of arguably the most important figure in Cuban music history, Arsenio Rodriguez, the father of salsa. Time: 8 p.m. March 11 Cost: $20 to $120 Details: (310) 833-4813; http://tinyurl.com/ h78a84v Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
with her accordion and toy piano. Time: 8 p.m. March 12 Cost: $20 to $120 Details: (310) 833-4813; http://tinyurl.com/ j8hgl3y Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE
performed there for 13 years. He also performed at the Golden Lotus Restaurant in Palos Verdes for the next five years. In 2009, he got a gig at Think Prime Steakhouse and has been there since. During the past five years Pennington has taken his brand abroad, performing in Beijing and Shanghai. He also consistently spent the first week of June and July singing at Harrah’s and at Rio, respectively, in Las Vegas until 2013. Hearing Pennington’s smooth voice it’s no surprise that two of his biggest influences are Johnny Mathis and Marvin Gaye. He has covered Mathis along with other contemporary classics on his own CD titled, I’m in a Romantic Mood. What fulfills this balladeer the most is connecting to his fans. He relates a story from when he sang at The Golden Lotus. A doctor approached Pennington to tell him that when he came in the restaurant he had knots all over his body. But after having his dinner and listening to him sing for a couple of hours he was completely relaxed, free of pain. “When a doctor tells you, you healed him— I felt 10 feet off the ground,” Pennington said. “Now of course, when I sing in the church I have that healing, that is (when) I get the most out of it. I’ve done what I’m supposed to do.” Pennington continues to get gigs. He is starting a new residency at Beach City Grill on the second, fourth and fifth Thursdays of each month. In recent years, during the holiday season local residents around the peninsula hire him to perform at their holiday parties—an opportunity resulting from his performing at Think Prime. He sings at the steakhouse from 7 to 9 p.m. on Fridays.
His lineup there includes R&B, jazz and contemporary classics such as Johnny Mathis, or songs from Phantom of the Opera. “Everything from Uptown Funk to My Way, which even the young crowd loves,” Pennington said. “I love people and I love to see them happy. I’ve tried to live my life like it says in the Bible, ‘love thy neighbor as you love thyself.’ I think what people don’t pick up is this whole world is your neighbor. We have neighboring cities, neighboring countries, that encompasses everybody. God said to love.” Pennington knew he would never get far from music but he also knew he had a paycheck coming every Friday from his gig at Hughes Aircraft. Many people who he sang with ended up having problems. Success is not for everyone, he reasoned. He wants young people in show business to realize that they have to be educated in handling money in order to keep their success and to always get an education.
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[Calendar, continued from page 15]
Arts Cuisine Entertainment March 3 - 16 • 2016
for beginners or join the hot shots on a fast or strenuous hike. Both groups leave at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday from 8th and Averill in San Pedro. Time: 6:30 p.m. March 8 and 15 Cost: Free Details: (310) 545-3531; www.angeles. sierraclub.org/pvsb Venue: 8th and Averill streets in San Pedro
March 10
PortTechEXPO 2016
The 6th Annual PortTechEXPO brings together innovators and entrepreneurs; port and transportation executives; investors, sponsors and service providers; and academic, corporate and civic leaders for global networking opportunities. The expo features live demonstrations, interactive displays and the latest advancements in environment, energy, transportation and safety/security solutions. Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 10 Cost: $124 to $195 Details: (310) 519-1801; www.PortTechLA.org/ EXPO Venue: Crafted at the Port of Los Angeles, 112 E. 22nd St., San Pedro
March 12
Torrance Firefighters Association 44th Annual Spaghetti Dinner
Bring the whole family to this special annual event and enjoy all the spaghetti you like and feel great about it later. All proceeds benefit the Alisa Ann Ruch California Burn Foundation Summer Camp for burn patients. Time: 4:30 to 8 p.m. March 12 Cost: $6 Details: (310) 781-7000 Venue: Ken Miller Auditorium, 3341 Torrance Blvd., Torrance
March 13
INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment
The ABCs of Growing African Bulbs
Ernesto Sandoval, director of the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, returns to the South Coast Cactus & Succulent Society with a timely topic: helping people understand the workings of plants, how and why plants do what they do, and how to maximize their growth with less effort. Time: 1:30 p.m. March 13 Cost: Free Details: southcoastcss.org Venue: South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Blvd., Palos Verdes Peninsula
THEATER March 4
Closer Than Ever
Filled with hilarious and poignant songs about dating, parenting, aging and dreams both fulfilled and unrequited, Closer Than Ever is like a musical “how-to” manual for life. With each song a self-contained story inspired by reallife experiences, its message to value the little things in life remains timeless. Time: 8 p.m. March 4 and 5 Cost: $46 to $48 Details: (562) 436-4610; http://tinyurl.com/ zadhku9 Venue: Beverly O’Neill Theatre, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach
March 3 - 16, 2016
Domestic Tranquility
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Domestic Tranquility is about a nice family who live in a nice home in a nice suburb during the nice 1950s until their lives are turned upside down by three escaped convicts with bad table manners. Join the creative team for a 10- to 15minute post-show discussion at 2 p.m. March 20. Time: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, March 4 through April 2. Cost: $25 to $27 Details: www.littlefishtheatre.org Venue: 777 W. Centre St., San Pedro
March 4 Pygmalion
Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador’s garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which, he believes, is impeccable speech. The play is a sharp lampoon of the rigid British class system of the day and a commentary on women’s independence. Time: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through March 26 Cost: $10 Details: http://www.lbplayhouse.org/show/ pygmalion/ Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach
March 6
Shut Up! I’m Still Talking!
This vaudeville-style biography of Fred Crawford’s life will be illustrated through childhood recollections, monologues, comedy sketches, impressions, and, of course, lots of tap dancing. Accompanying Fred will the lovely and talented Diana “Ms. Keys” Brownson. Time: 4 p.m. March 6 Cost: $15 Details: (310) 519-1314 Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
March 11
Metamorphoses
Humorous and sorrowful, sensuous and thoughtful, the play explores the fluidity of human nature and the human condition. Time: 8 p.m. March 11 and 12 Cost: $10 and $15 Details: www.csudhnews.com/2016/02/ metamorphoses Venue: University Theatre, California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson
ARTS
Stop Crashing the Art Walk
Open Letter to City Councilman Joe Buscaino By Andrea Serna, Art and Culture Writer I am writing you this letter because lately I notice that you have become kind of—excuse the term—rude. You keep crashing the party. It appears that your office feels that scheduling crime forums during San Pedro’s First Thursday Art Walk will improve attendance for your events. Judging by the successful, standing room only attendance this past February and September, I would say you do not need to lean on the art walk to build your audience. The first time you crashed the San Pedro First Thursday Art Walk was in September, 2015, for a forum on homelessness. The citizens of San Pedro were in a state of alarm over the recent outbreak of tiny houses and tent encampments on our streets. You got the idea to schedule the forum at the Warner Grand Theatre during the art walk. I suppose it was done to drive attendance to the forum. No assistance was needed. The theater filled up with concerned citizens who were desperate for an answer to the intractable problem that is affecting the entire nation. From what I understand, the event was full. Because I am a gallery coordinator, I was unable to attend the forum. Many artists, who were also working their galleries, were not able to attend even though they see the problem around us every day. That first occurrence in September resulted in a low turnout for galleries and we wrote it off. More than 30 galleries participate in the First Thursday Art Walk. A great deal of work goes into scheduling, advertising and marketing our exhibitions. The result of that hard work is that
on one day of the month, downtown San Pedro comes alive with people in the streets and shops making money. I have personally spoken to visitors who have come to San Pedro from downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Orange County because they heard about our art walk. Many of these people are first-time visitors and eager to return. The First Thursday Art Walk is a special, almost enchanted night. It is the one night we are guaranteed an audience for our work. Didn’t you realize after your successful September forum that you don’t really need the art walk to bring folks to your community safety forums? The impact on the February art walk was much more severe. The corner of 6th Street and Pacific Avenue was filled with dozens of Los Angeles Police Department squad cars, along with satellite news vans and individuals protesting police violence. Who would stop for an art walk with that kind of circus atmosphere? I can see it now, “Pull over honey, this looks like fun!” Most of the gallery owners I spoke with said attendance in their galleries was low. But wait … food trucks! The food trucks were still here. Is this is the reason why you chose that night? Was it meant as a convenient way to draw a crowd and feed your friends at the same time? Your office sent me two emails in response to my complaint about this issue. Both of them, using the exact same verbiage: “We decided to host the forum on that date as we were trying to make it convenient. We [See Art Walk, page 17]
March 4
Deke Dickerson Tour Stops at Godmothers
South Bay Contemporary showcases the works or Nathan Huff, Siobhan McClure and Eve Wood. The artists’ works explore the relationships between humanity, nature, and society using imagery of a dreamlike state. Opens during the San Pedro First Thursday art walk. Time: 6 to 9 p.m. March a4 Cost: Free Details: www.southbaycontemporary.org Venue: South Bay Contemporary at the Loft, 401 S. Mesa St., San Pedro
By Mike Botica, Editorial Intern
Dreaming the Real
Wanderland
March 6
Nathaniel Galka: Wanderland beckons the viewer to enter a new land, filled with trees, mists, and solitude. Also on exhibit, An Aesthetic Realist 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 through March 6 Cost: Free Details: (310) 541-2479; www.pvartcenter.org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes
Veteran rockabilly singer, songwriter and guitarist Deke Dickerson will perform at 8 p.m. March 19, at Godmothers in San Pedro. He will be headlining a bill that includes local band Lazy Lance & the Longhorns. The cover charge $10. In a career that reaches back to the 1980s, Dickerson is most notable for his work in the eponymous Deke Dickerson and the EccoFonics, who have released three studio albums and toured the world. Dickerson often plays a TNM double-neck guitar embossed with his name. The instrument has become a major part of his sound. He also owns vintage custom amplifiers, including a rare custom Echo-Sonic, which has been used by legendary guitarist, such as Scotty Moore and Chet Atkins. In addition to his own prolific musical output, Dickerson is a collector of rare and wacky vinyl. On his website, he lists dozens of albums with ridiculous and hilariously dated covers. Dickerson also hosts the annual Guitar Geek Festival Show, which will be in Las Vegas this year. The show is part of the four-day rockabilly festival Viva Las Vegas, which takes place from April 14 through 18, at The Orleans Hotel. In
Songwriter and guitarist Deke Dickerson has been running the roots and rockabilly circles for more than 30 years. File photo
past years the event has taken place in Anaheim. It has featured artists as diverse and influential as Duane Eddy, J.D. McPherson, Nokie Edwards of The Ventures, Los Straightjackets, Sandy Nelson, Nick Curran, Brian Lonbeck and Del Casher. Dickerson played at Godmothers back in 2013. You can find photos of the event on Facebook at: http://tinyurl.com/DickersonGodmothers-2013. More details about Dickerson, including tour dates, are available on at www.instagram. com/dekedickerson,www.facebook.com/deke. dickerson and www.dekedickerson.com.
was told that if there were Section 8 housing was available, it will likely go to the worst case scenarios, the chronically homeless. Doby said she felt like she had been strung along from the beginning. “I wasn’t asking for a hand out,” Doby said. “I was asking for a hand up. I was just asking for some time in income based housing until I can get on my feet and establish my business out here.” The sad truth of it all is that their inability to direct Doby to low-income housing is not even Harbor Interfaith’s fault. Section 8 housing is the primary source of low-income housing. But with a 2 percent vacancy rate in Los Angeles rental housing market and few apartment owners willing to take Section 8 tenants, what we’re left with is homeless policy that’s more smoke and mirrors than smart policy. Of all the options Doby was offered, the Accelerated Learning & Living program was the only one that would lead to permanent housing. The Accelerated Learning & Living program meant that Doby and her two daughters could live in an apartment for up to 18 months until she finished school and found a job that would allow her to support her family. She underwent a background check, provided education transcripts and all the required paperwork. Doby said she got a call from the director of the Accelerated Learning & Living program a couple of weeks later and met with him. “First of all, I don’t know why I got your referral; it’s not complete,” Doby said, recalling the conversation. “You have a Pennsylvania ID. That’s not sufficient.” She said he reiterated his question, asking “why are you in my state, drinking my water, and eating my food?” She thought he was possibly joking before coming to the realization that he was serious. “What? We don’t have the right to do better or want better?” Doby asked. She recalled retelling her story of relocating her business and building a better life for her children. She recalled him saying, “Oh, so you chose to be homeless.” What’s apparent from Doby’s recollection was that she walked away feeling judged by something other than the requirements of the program. Doby’s original checklist didn’t specify she needed a California identification. It also didn’t specify that she needed to be a full-time student. At the time, she was a part-time student taking online courses with QC Design School. Doby secured all new additional paperwork asked of her and enrolled in a more rigorous Art Institute for interior design. Before she turned in her paperwork, Doby got to hear about the Accelerated Learning & Living program from Family Shelter Director Sharon Stewart during a resident meeting, reaffirming what she initially learned about the program. After the class, Doby showed her paperwork to Stewart. It was Doby’s understanding that Stewart had taken over her case for the Accelerated Learning & Living program. Weeks went by without word from her case manager, Stewart or the Accelerated Learning & Living director about the Accelerated Learning & Living program or entrance into Lydia House. With only three weeks remaining before she was to exit the program, Doby went to Stewart’s office without an appointment to make a
Holes in the Safety Net
complaint. Doby said it initially seemed as if the office staff were acting as gatekeepers, telling her that she needed her case manager’s permission to speak with Stewart. “You’re telling me that I have to get permission from case manager, who I am [having] issues with, to go to her boss? “Where do they do that at?” Doby recalled saying. She said she intentionally spoke with a raised voice so Stewart could hear her. She believed Stewart was there but out of sight. Doby said she got a phone call from the Accelerated Learning & Living program director not long after she left Stewart’s office. Doby was eventually accepted into the Accelerated Learning & Living program, and
AltaSea Announces New Leadership
SAN PEDRO—On March 1, The Board of Trustees for AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles announced that Jenny Krusoe has been appointed executive director and Sandra Whitehouse will serve on a consulting basis as the chief scientific officer. Krusoe has been involved with AltaSea since its founding in 2010, serving most recently as chief finance and operating officer. Krusoe is also a former motion picture executive and a longtime leader in the Los Angeles arts community. Under her leadership, several key milestones were achieved including the adoption of the AltaSea campus’ master plan, negotiation of AltaSea’s 50-year lease with POLA, establishment of AltaSea as a nonprofit corporation and securing Gensler as lead architect for the AltaSea campus. As chief scientific officer, Sandra Whitehouse will work as a consultant to oversee AltaSea’s efforts to expand science-based understanding of the ocean, providing strategic guidance and leadership for AltaSea’s Science Hub and related activities. Initially, these activities will focus on two efforts: developing technology for remote monitoring, sensing and ocean exploration—or “blue tech,” and promoting sustainable aquaculture solutions. Whitehouse is a longtime environmental advocate and policy advisor whose expertise in marine science has [State Lands, from page 3]
State Lands
matter of the Plains/Rancho LPG situation due to the ongoing violations at the port regarding the facility’s rail contracts that have been in violation for decades,” Gunter said. “Controller Yee seemed very amenable to understanding the situation.” One key point Gunter is pushing is the significance of a recent appeals court, shedding new light on State Lands Commission’s oversight responsibilities. In speaking to Yee, she said, “I also pointed out the SF Baykeeper lawsuit which rendered the judge’s opinion that the State Lands Commission has not performed its due diligence in protecting the public trust on proper uses of public lands. That decision is particularly important to us on the Plains/Rancho LPG use of port and city controlled rail over public trust property.” Gunter is also highly skeptical of Seroka’s response, well-intentioned as it might sound, because of the longer historical pattern. “A casual look at so many port contracts and previous agreements will illustrate that
AltaSea’s new chief scientific officer, Sandra Whitehouse.
helped shape environmental initiatives in her home state of Rhode Island and on the national level. She is former chairwoman of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Management Council and has served on the boards of Save the Bay, the Nature Conservancy’s Rhode Island chapter, the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting, The Aquidneck Island Land Trust, and the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Advisory Council, among others. She earned a philosophy doctorate in biological oceanography from the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.
the port has not been interested at all in the adherence to their legal responsibilities,” Gunter said. “Basically, if it is ‘inconvenient’ or not something that the port ‘wants’ to do…they just ‘ignore’ it…and challenge someone to take them on. Certainly, that is how it was with the original China Shipping complaints.” At the Natural Resources Defense Council, Wyenn held out some hope. “Of course, I want the port to take leadership and do the things that Betty Yee outlined, like do a moratorium on statements of overriding considerations, to do better on their emissions and to have a sort of new PCAC that has oversight and independence,” Wyenn said. “I want all of those things, so I don’t want to take this letter as the port saying, ‘no.’ I still want the port to say ‘yes’ to those things.” But activists on the ground are in more of a “show me” mood. “The port is in debt to the community,” said San Pedro Peninsula Homeowners UnitedVice President Kathleen Woodfield. “We don’t want any more excuses, promises and deception. We just want the debt paid.” 17
March 3 - 16, 2016
had hoped it would bring more people to downtown San Pedro to attend the forum and also visit the galleries, restaurants and local businesses after the forum concluded.” We did not see a single person from the forum. The irony here is that many artists are moving to San Pedro based on reasonable rents and a supportive arts community. We moved our studio here from Long Beach for this very reason. In addition to your propensity for crashing the art walk, we have also found that Property-Based Improvement District will unilaterally decide to close down the streets for random car shows with little or no notice. I would like to make the point that we all pay for a business license and pay rent and utilities to keep our business open. Ours is not a livework space. It is a professional gallery work space, a business just like many others. A multitude of studies have shown the impact of the arts on neighborhood revitalization. A study titled “The Role of Arts on Neighborhood Change,” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and conducted by the University of Texas, Arlington states that: “The arts remain a primary localized factor attributed to facilitating neighborhood change. A great deal of case study work demonstrates that individual artists, artistic businesses, and artistic spaces (e.g. small galleries, theaters, music venues, and art studios) function as a “colonizing arm” that helps to create the initial conditions that spark revitalization.” All these factors exist within a four-square block of San Pedro. Artists have spent 20 years building this environment. So now the March art walk is here and you have announced another opportunity to bring the LAPD to the party. Yolanda Regalado is opening Sirens coffee house to your crew for an evening called “Coffee With a Cop.” I anticipate black and white squad cars lined up in front of our gallery driving people away and sending a signal of unrest or disorder during the evening. My question to you is, what’s wrong with Saturday morning for coffee? You don’t seem to see the paradoxical nature of art walks and crime forums. We are attempting to create alluring, provocative stimulation for our visitors. You are signaling, “caution, danger ahead.” There is a time and a place for both, but not on the same night. Since you are going to be in the neighborhood, I invite you to do the art walk this month. Talk to the gallerists who have been impacted by your recent co-opting of First Thursday. All along the way you will pass Gallery Azul, Post-Future at Williams Bookstore, Warschaw Gallery, Gallery 478 (a traditional ending point for the evening), The Loft Gallery, Hirokos, Angels Ink and Huz Gallery. So councilman, please, consider the galleries that have worked so hard to make this evening a success. Have your forum on any other night. The restaurants and bars will all be open. Your current strategy is causing a tremendous waste of effort, focus and communications. The art district wants your support. All we are asking is let us work. The cliché of the dreamy lost artist is far from the reality of the art world. Art—making it and selling it—is work. We are asking for one day a month, the first Thursday, to do our job.
ART WALK
is one of Harbor Interfaith’s shiniest success stories. But it wasn’t easy. If not for her persistence, determination and faith, Doby and her two daughters could have wound up like Denise Vigil at Councilman Joe Buscaino’s homeless forum in September 2015. Buscaino’s office screened a video documentary of four success stories out of 76 people his emergency response teams transitioned into permanent housing. Among those success stories was Vigil, whose struggles were well documented in Random Lengths News this past year. When the forum concluded, Vigil was in her sleeping bag outside of San Pedro City Hall building with Section 8 voucher for housing in her hand. Vigil eventually got into permanent housing, months after the forum. Tisha Doby is a Harbor Interfaith success story, but the obstacles on the path to selfsufficiency are large and numerous.
[Safety Net, from page 7]
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[Art Walk, from page 16]
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DBA/legal filings 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, 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 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.
conintued on following page
[Results, from page 10]
Super Tuesday Results will have to play to Southern opinion,” the Christian Science Monitor explained in 1986, as the plan was taking shape. “A moderate Democrat, and perhaps a Southerner, Southerners hope, will emerge.”
It was a spectacular failure at first, with Jesse Jackson winning as many Southern states as Al Gore—five each— and Michael Dukakis winning over the highest number of states overall. But it worked almost exactly as planned in
1992, giving Bill Clinton a solid sweep of the South, while Paul Tsongas won a smaller number of other states. Now, ironically, almost 30 years since the first Super Tuesday, the logic has completely reversed itself. Southern blacks are providing moderate Democrat, Hillary Clinton their strongest support, even though she is ostensibly
DBA/legal filings from previous page
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, 03/03/16
03/17/16
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2016031290 The following person is doing business as: Premier Coating, 28134 S. Western Ave, #221, San Pedro, CA 90732, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: David Barba,28134 S. Western Ave, #221, San Pedro, CA 90732. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 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/. David Barba, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 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. 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: 02/18/16, 03/03/16, 03/17/16, 03/31/16
INITIAL STUDY/NEGATIVE DECLARATION FOR THE BERTHS 177-178 TRANSIT SHED DEMOLITION PROJECT The City of Los Angeles Harbor Department (LAHD) has prepared an Initial Study/Negative Declaration (IS/ND) to address the environmental effects of the Berths 177-178 Transit Shed Demolition Project (proposed Project). The proposed Project consists of the demolition of a 135,000 square foot cargo transit shed at 802 S. Fries Avenue in Wilmington, CA. The transit shed is part of a 40-acre cargo terminal operated by Pasha Stevedoring and Terminals (PST), which had used the shed to store steel sheets, coils, and other cargo as part of their terminal operations since 1986. The transit shed sustained significant damage from a fire that occurred in September 2014, and has since remained vacant and been deemed unusable. After inspection, LAHD determined that the most costeffective option for the damaged building is demolition. The IS/ND is being circulated for a period of 30 days so the public has an opportunity to provide written comments on the information contained within the IS/ND. The 30-day public review period will start on March 1, 2016, and ends on March 31, 2016. A copy of the document is available for public review on the Port of Los Angeles’ website at: http://www.portoflosangeles. org; the LAHD Environmental Management Division located at 222 West 6th Street, San Pedro; the Los Angeles City Library San Pedro Branch at 931 S. Gaffey Street; and at the Los Angeles City Library Wilmington Branch at 1300 North Avalon, Wilmington. Comments on the IS/ND should be submitted in writing prior to the end of the 30-day public review period and must be postmarked by March 31, 2016. Please submit written comments to: Christopher Cannon, Director Environmental Management Division City of Los Angeles Harbor Department 425 S. Palos Verdes Street San Pedro, CA 90731
Hometown Pride: Beach City Grill Premiers Mural
On Feb. 27, the proprietor of Machine Studio, Mike Machin, and his group of young artists, the CUTS Crew, put up a new mural on the corner of 6th and Nelson streets on the east-facing side of Beach City Grill. Beach City Grill owner Stu Smith said he wishes more walls in the community were used to give artists an opportunity to express themselves. Photo by Jessica Barroso-Gomez
March 3 - 16, 2016
For additional information, please contact Miller Zou with the LAHD Environmental Management Division at (310) 732-3921.
supported by Sanders’ frequent calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage. But building broad-based coalitions by its very nature takes time—a fact reflected in the much broader coalitions around Jackson in 1988 compared to four years earlier. And Sanders’ core argument is that pushing back against the dominance of the billionaire class is a precondition for being able to fully realize any of the other agendas progressive activists might have. On the other hand, there’s a strong argument to be made that runs the other way, that only a broad Jackson-style coalition can achieve the political revolution Sanders invokes: It takes a village to fight back against its own destruction.
Written comments may also be sent via email to ceqacomments@ portla.org. Comments sent via email should include the project title in the subject line and a valid mailing address in the email.
“Bernie Sanders is supposedly running a campaign in that tradition, bringing people together, bringing coalitions of people together. I’m not seeing that. I’m not seeing the nuclear activists and the peace activists and the ArabAmerican community and the labor community and the black community have a real say in defining a platform that makes some sense.” This isn’t to say there is no activist input. Black Lives Matter certainly did have a major impact entering into a dialogue with the Sanders campaign, resulting in a powerful racial justice platform. The Fight For 15 movement to raise the minimum wage, spearheaded by fast food workers, is fully
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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,
running as a progressive. Adding a further irony, her opponent, Bernie Sanders, was one of the very few Northern white politicians to endorse Jesse Jackson in 1988. South Carolina author and activist Kevin Alexander Gray commented on the situation on Democracy Now! the day before Super Tuesday. “Hillary Clinton is a neoliberal Democrat. The purpose of the Jackson campaigns in ‘84 and ’88 were a counter to Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton and the rise of the DLC, the Democratic Leadership Council, which Jesse called the Democratic Leisure Class,” Gray said. (As governor of Arkansas, Clinton was a founding member of the DLC.)
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Random Lengths News is proud of its 35 years of dedicated service to helping the nonprofit community of the Los Angeles Harbor Area. Through partnership, collaboration and strategic consulting, Random Lengths has given a greater voice to the organizations that help those whose voices struggle to be heard. Random Lengths News is a longtime friend of the Toberman Neighborhood Center and is proud to be the Media Sponsor of this year’s Drive “TO” Succeed Gala. We encourage our readers to contribute to and support Toberman’s many community programs.
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