Ports O’Call Restaurant gets a reprieve p. 2 BNSF Railyard project appealed to State Supreme Court p. 3 The Everly Experience comes to San Pedro p. 11 Rescuing St. Patrick’s Day from myths and legends p. 12
Kids Step Up to Protect America By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
[See Changing, p. 7]
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students Cameron Kasky, Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg are the de facto leaders of youth rising up against gun violence in the US.
Local Bans on Cannabis Undermine Proposition 64 By Matt Garland, RLn Contributor
[See Local Ban, p. 10]
March 8 - 21, 2018
With national support for marijuana legalization polling close to 90 percent for medical use and 60 percent for adult use, the lopsided results of Compton’s special election explain why so many politicians and bureaucrats are so wary of leading on the issue. Instead, they opt for a wait-and-see approach, a lack of action that can sound like a policy, is more a calculation. They are more comfortable watching legalization play out elsewhere than taking political risks and enacting smart and sensible regulations. As a result, Compton is actually among a
Proposition 64 made it legal for individuals at least 21 years old to possess and grow cannabis for personal use as of Nov. 9, 2016. The law also allows cities to regulate or prohibit marijuana businesses altogether within their city limits. That’s what the City of Compton did, banning commercial marijuana activities within its borders. Voters preserved that status in a January special election, emphatically rejecting two proposals — one by the city council, one by a citizens group — that would have allowed regulated (read: taxed) sales.
slight majority of California municipalities that have chosen to ban commercial marijuana activities. In Los Angeles County, around 65 of 88 currently ban cannabis businesses. It’s probably not how most people imagined life in a world of legal marijuana. A citizen majority agrees that the war on drugs is a failure. Marijuana commerce and profits need to be shifted from the illicit market to a regulated marketplace and treated like any other business. Marijuana consumers deserve safe access. Marijuana entrepreneurs deserve a pathway to licensing and legitimate businesses. Our communities deserve living wage job opportunities. The details of regulating are overwhelming. This is not an exercise in creating a new industry, starting slow and creating regulations alongside growth as
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
This time, it’s different. You wouldn’t know it from the mainstream media, but year after year, decade after decade, the facts have always been against the National Rifle Association’s extremist positions on guns: The facts about guns making us less safe. The facts about guns and the Constitution. The facts about guns and public opinion—even of NRA members.
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A Reprieve (of sorts) for POC Restaurant By James Preston Allen, Publisher
March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
On March 6, the management offices of Ports O’ Call Restaurant received a letter of intent—a reprieve of sorts from the LA Waterfront Alliance. This happened three days after Port of Los Angeles communications director, Arley Baker, announced that the city filed nine unlawful detainers against the remaining tenants at Ports O’ Call, including Ports O’ Call Restaurant, in a social media post. And six days after Ports O’ Call celebrated the passing of the deadline they were supposed to receive an eviction notice with an all-day-happy hour. A letter of intent doesn’t explicitly offer an interim lease, which the developers can’t actually offer at this point because they don’t have possession of the property. A letter of intent means little unless the port acts on the intent and offers one itself. It has been rumored for several months that the San Pedro Public Market LLC (aka, LA Waterfront Alliance) were working on a “deal” to keep Ports O’ Call restaurant in the mix for the new waterfront plans. But even as late as Jan. 11, when they gave a presentation to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners in front of a vocally
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hostile crowd, the developers were mute on Ports O’ Call Restaurant. It took a public records act request of the port by this newspaper to even get the port to divulge the actual new plans. Even later it was confirmed by a source close to the commission that “no one at the Port was aware of or seen a LOI between the two parties.” Now, Wayne Ratkovich has expressed his interest in having Jayme Wilson, a principal in the restaurant and Spirit Cruises, as a tenant in one of the new spaces. However, the spaces to which they were referring in the letter of intent are only “scheduled for occupancy in 2021.” What will happen to the restaurant and its employees in the interim? It now appears that the port is set to evict one of the key tenants in the future development of the LA Waterfront while at the same time the developer is throwing them a life-line on the exact day the Spirit Cruise boats were forcibly removed from the docks at berth 77. Clearly a lack of coordination, like ships passing in the night. Baker continued online by writing, “Some establishments will remain open. They have negotiated their deal with their future landlord.”
Community Announcements:
Harbor Area Conquer Childhood Cancer
Since 2000 the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has raised more than 200 million for childhood cancer research. Lunch will be provided for all shavees by the Long Beach Firefighters Association 372. Time: 10 a.m., March 10 Details: www.st.baldrick’s.org/events/ longbeach2018 Venue: Long Beach Firefighters 372 Union Hall 2201 Cherry Ave. Long Beach
Red Cross Blood Donation Opportunities
The American Red Cross is asking blood donors to help patients rebound by making a lifesaving donation from March 16 to 31. All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. A blood donor card or driver’s license or two other forms of identification are required at check-in. Individuals who are 17 years of age in most states (16 with parental consent where allowed by state law), weigh at least 110 pounds and are in generally good health may be eligible to donate blood. Make an appointment to donate blood by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App. Details: www.redcrossblood.org; 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).
LA Waterfront Town Hall As work begins to tear down Ports O’Call Village, the owners of evicted businesses are calling for an investigation for possible wrongdoing. File photo
This apparently is in reference to the San Pedro Fish Market, Crusty Crab and LA Waterfront Cruises, who were previously excluded from the initial demolition plans. The port commented that these businesses were responsible for some $20 million a year in gross sales and the Fish Market ranked in the top ten in the entire country by revenue. Still, it remains to be seen whether the latest correspondence between Milan Ratkovich of San Pedro Market Place LLC and Wilson will stay the wrecking ball from demolishing the iconic San Pedro waterfront edifice of Ports O’ Call Restaurant. The other former tenants of the Village are planning a press conference on their legal grievances against the port on March 12 at the south end of Ports O’ Call Village. They are considering further legal action against the port, which seems to have anticipated potential litigation in its development time-line as the construction plan of the actual promenade isn’t scheduled until February 2019, according to Mike Galvin at Port of Los Angeles. It might be too much to expect the POLA to have a surprise announcement regarding any of this at their March 20 town hall meeting.
San Pedro and Wilmington residents are encouraged to attend a community town hall concerning the development of the LA Waterfront, including the San Pedro Promenade, San Pedro Public Market and the future of Ports O’ Call restaurant, AltaSea expansion and the new designs for the Wilmington Waterfront Promenade. Organizers promise to provide the latest information about current or planned projects, Time: 6 p.m., March 20 Details: www.portoflosangeles.org or www.lawaterfront.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre 478 W. 6th St.San Pedro
March For Our Lives--Long Beach
The kids and families of March For Our Lives will take to the streets to demand that their lives and safety become a priority and that we end gun violence and mass shootings in our schools today. March in Washington, D.C. or march in your own community. Time: 10 a.m., March 24 Details: https://marchforourlives.com Venue: Bixby Park, 130 Cherry Ave., Long Beach
San Pedro Bay/Long Beach Clean Air Action Plan Advisory Meeting
An advisory meeting concerning progress of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) 2017 is set for March 29 in Long Beach. This is the first of up to four stakeholder advisory meetings per year, which are required as part of the CAAP update approved by the Long Beach and Los Angeles boards of Harbor Commissioners, Nov. 2, 2017. Time: 10 a.m. March 29 Venue: Port of Long Beach Interim Administrative [See Announcements, p. 5]
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BNSF Railyard Project Appealed to State Supreme Court Major Breaks With Established Law Alleged By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
operates numerous schools adjacent to the proposed project site and its transportation corridor.” But deeper problems remained, according to Ramya Sivasubramanian, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “On three issues, we felt that the Court of Appeals got wrong what the trial court had actually gotten right,” Sivasubramanian told Random Lengths. The issues involved traffic, noise levels, and the Natural Resources Defense Council attorney, Ramya Sivasubramanian. overall growth impacts. File photo But each issue also involves a bizarre twisting, in which the agency can later correct that.” if not break, with existing law that would set The handling of the noise issues was equally troubling precedents for future projects and bizarre. The EIR adopted a specific standard litigation. from the Long Beach Noise Ordinance, known On the traffic issues, she said “The EIR had what the other side also admits was missing data,” which was unheard of in itself. Yet, “Somehow, this missing data notwithstanding, they found that adding thousands of container trucks to a city street would not significantly impact the traffic on that street.” The street, San Gabriel Avenue, has just two lanes. Daily truck traffic would reach approximately 2,771 trucks a day by 2035, so there was good reason to question the EIR’s missing data, but, “The Court of Appeals affirmed their conclusion by assuming that that missing data exists,” Sivasubramanian said, “and that the missing data actually supports this conclusion that thousands of trucks added to a small city street would have no significant impact on traffic there.” In another twist, “The court further authorized the agency to correct their analysis, but affirmed the conclusion. So there’s actually no preceding
[See BNSF, p. 6]
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On Feb. 21, petitioners challenging BNSF’s railyard project in West Long Beach filed an appeal to the California State Supreme Court charging that an appeals court ruling represented a “subversive approach to CEQA,” the California Environmental Quality Act, by failing to assess the true impacts of growth on the project. Two other significant breaks from established CEQA law could set troubling precedents for future projects. The environmental impact report (EIR) for the Southern California Intermodal Gateway, or SCIG, was approved by the Port of Los Angeles on March 7, 2013, and by the City Council on May 8, 2013. But it was challenged by an unprecedented alliance of plaintiffs— including the California Attorney General, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the City of Long Beach and its school district, and nearby residents and environmental justice organizations—who successfully sued to have the EIR redone in a 200 page ruling handed down on March 30, 2016. AQMD has never been involved in such a suit before. Long Beach City Attorney Michael Mais told Random Lengths it was unusual, if not unprecedented, for Long Beach as well. That ruling was partially reversed by an appeals court on Jan. 12, but the parties who brought the suit claimed that the ruling raised alarms that went far beyond just this specific case. “The court’s Opinion not only creates a split in long-settled CEQA law, but also raises fundamental legal questions about public agencies’ duty to fully inform the public about a project’s environmental impacts,” the appeal said, adding elsewhere that the appeal court’s analysis represented a “subversive approach to CEQA.” “We were pleased that the appellate court ruled in our favor regarding air quality impacts,” said Chris Eftychiou, spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District, one of the plaintiffs in the case. “That aspect of the ruling alone was enough to prevent the project moving forward, so the appellate ruling was a victory for our school children,” he said. “The school district
as Lmax, as its key threshold of significance. Anything over that would have to be mitigated. As the appeal notes, Lmax “is the most rigorous methodology for analyzing noise impacts because it assesses a project’s loudest sounds— day or night—rather than simply considering ‘average’ noise.” “But, somehow, despite adopting that threshold, it later used a different ... methodology for assessing the noise impacts,” Sivasubramanian explained. “So they’re really not doing what they said they were going to do.” The appeal says, “clear guidance is needed from this Court that an EIR must apply its adopted thresholds and disclose and mitigate the significant impacts its analysis reveals.” It seems surprising that this isn’t already settled law, but perhaps no one’s ever tried such a blatant bait-and-switch. “It’s certainly not something that I have ever seen,” Sivasubramanian said. “They selected the threshold and then didn’t really use it.” But the issue of growth got even more bizarre, with an expansion of capacity presented as neutral, if not a reduction—since trucks will be driving fewer miles per container, by diverting them from BNSF’s existing Hobart railyard near Commerce.
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State Lands Commission Hearing on PV Artificial Reef Proposal By Mark Friedman, RLn Contributor
Although a Feb. 27 hearing of the California State Lands Commission was conducted in Sacramento, it was accessible locally via a video hookup at the Point Vicente interpretive center in Palos Verdes. There were issues related to the extraction and refining of fossil fuels, but the artificial reef project drew the most attention. The Trump administration’s proposal to expand oil and gas drilling off the Northern, Central and Southern coasts of California drew public opposition, including San Pedro community activist, Peter Warren, representing seven environmental and religious organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for a Safe Environment, and the Sierra Club. On another issue, the commission waived attorney client privilege and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s legal advice about the butane and propane storage tank facility that Rancho LPG operates near the Port of Los Angeles, and a nearby rail spur located on property that the port owns. The commission acted in response to requests by the Sierra Club and local homeowners who’ve long advocated the removal of the tanks for safety reasons. The Southern California Marine Institute’s proposed construction of an artificial reef off the coast of the Palos Verdes Peninsula became the focus. With support from the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Montrose Settlements Restoration Project, the project intends to
A computer imaging of the Palos Verdes Shelf. File photo
Southern California Marine Institute Director Daniel Pondella. File photo
rebuild the biological resources decimated by the dumping of waste product from the old Montrose chemical plant, which produced the pesticide, DDT (dichlorodiphenltrichloroethane), from the 1940s through 70s. The project would place 70,000 tons of clean rock from an existing quarry on Catalina Island to create 38 reef sites. The reef sites would provide essential fish habitat and substrate for kelp, marine algae and marine invertebrates. One of the objectives is to increase kelp habitat which decreased 50 percent during the past 100 years, in part due to sea urchin population
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expansion after sea otters and urchin consumers were nearly hunted to extinction in California. With overpopulation, urchins eat down the kelp beds, causing a barren, virtually lifeless bottom. Efforts to restore the habitat have included the establishment of the Marine Protected Areas and urchin removal. Southern California Marine Institute director, Daniel Pondella presented the proposal through a slideshow and noted that the proposed artificial reef is intended to restore habitat rather than mitigate human activities like the Montrose Settlements Restoration Project. The reef modules will mimic natural design of reefs in 45 to 60 feet of water so they will not alter wave action, small craft traffic or surfing. Pondella also noted that the sediment at the proposed site is virtually the same as others, so the issue of stirring up toxic polychlorinated biphenyl is moot. “This is a unique opportunity by the state
to restore this habit. We don’t see any negative impacts on fish, surfing or MPA (Marine Protected Areas),” Pondella said. A number of Palos Verdes homeowners were critical of the reef project, expressing skepticism given the Environmental Protection Agency’s inaction in regards to leaks of the Torrance PBF owned refinery through the past 20 years. “We are opposed to this project,” Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor, Susan Brooks declared, echoing the sentiments of many homeowners and other critics. “Rancho Palos Verdes is one of nine entities that need to approve this project. Propose something more realistic. Increase the area of the MPA’s and stop illegal fishing.” Environmental organizations such as Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation didn’t take a position until more information was available. Mark Friedman is a 15-year veteran Marine biology teacher, trade unionist and environmental activist.
Robles Wins Delay of Final Order By Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter
Albert Robles, the mayor of Carson and a director of the Water Replenishment District, was in Los Angeles Superior Court on Feb. 27 attempting to mount legal justification for holding both those elected offices at the same time, despite state law prohibiting it. Judge James C. Chalfant tentatively found that under California Government Code 1099, the offices are incompatible. “What’s in front of
Community Announcements:
Harbor Area [Announcements, from p. 2] Offices at 4801 Airport Plaza Dr., Long Beach Details: www.cleanairactionplan.org.
POLB Sponsorships
The Port of Long Beach is accepting applications for its community sponsorship program until March 30. The Harbor Department provides sponsorship funds to local groups for community events and programs which help to inform residents about the Port of Long Beach’s role as an economic engine and a leader in environmental sustainability. Details: www.polb.com/sponsorship.
me is potential conflict,” he said. “Inherent conflict.” The judge explained that Carson has an interest in keeping water rates down, but the water board doesn’t. Robles, representing himself, succeeded in arguing enough points that the judge delayed issuing a final order. Instead, Robles and Deputy District Attorney Marian Thompson were instructed to submit to the court eight-page supplemental arguments on five specific points of law–then return to court April 17 for a final decision. But the judge could instead issue a final order based on the supplemental arguments without a return to court. The Los Angeles District Attorney began investigating whether Robles’ two elected offices represented incompatible conflict of interest shortly after Robles was first elected to the Carson city council in 2013 but did not resign from the water board, to which he was first elected in 1992. Under California Government Code 1099, “A public officer …
shall not simultaneously hold two offices that are incompatible.” If the two offices are found to be incompatible, the officer is “deemed to have forfeited the first office upon acceding to the second.” Robles’ argument relied largely on the law’s allowance for carving out exceptions. Carson in December 2017 passed an ordinance to allow council members to simultaneously serve as “elected or appointed officers” on several other specific governing bodies, including the Water Replenishment District. Around the same time the district adopted a resolution to allow its directors to sit on city councils. Chalfant stated bluntly that the state legislature’s intent was not for local officials to “wiggle out” of compliance by passing local laws. He determined that although Carson’s ordinance may have the force of law, the water board’s resolution does not. Pumping taxes that Carson pays the district make a major part of the District Attorney’s
case. Robles said the potential for increased pumping taxes were not “significant” and therefore could not be considered to cause “significant” conflict of interest. He said even a “fifty percent increase” would only amount to three cents for every Carson resident. Using Robles’ own words from a water board presentation he made to Carson in 2013, both Thompson and the judge hammered Robles on that point. Additionally, the figures Robles presented in his defense did not add up with the figures he provided in that presentation. “By his own words before the council, legal fees would go directly into the pockets of the attorneys, and water rates would be quadrupled,” said Thompson. “Three cents here and three cents there and soon you add up to real money,” the judge said, paraphrasing the late Senator Everett Dirksen’s “a billion here and a billion there” speech. Thompson presented evidence that the Water Replenishment District has a history of lobbying for its directors to hold city council
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With the grand opening of the Houghton Park Farmers Market, Long Beach now has a farmers market every day of the week. Houghton Park is in North Long Beach, on the corner of Atlantic Ave. and Harding St., and is open from Mondays, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. during winter months. In addition to fresh produce, the market provides a food court, live music and a free yoga session. Time: 2 p.m. Mondays Venue: Houghton Park 6301 Myrtle Ave., Long Beach
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Construction of the bridge that will replace the Gerald Desmond Bridge continues, and the big news is that the orange movable scaffolding system (MSS) has reached the west low-level approach onramp and begun construction on that approach. Yes, that is big news. It took a couple months for the machine to come down the eastbound decline. But it all adds up. The machine has already completed one span and has moved onto the second one, with a concrete pour on the road deck scheduled for the first week of March. Details: www.newgdbridge.com.
seats. For a brief time in the early 90s, the legislature carved out an exception for the Water Replenishment District, only to hastily repeal the carve-out in 1991. Based on Robles’ reliance on the statue’s allowance to carve out an exception and Thompson’s submitting an incomplete legislative history for 1099, the judge agreed to continue the carve-out issue. Robles also tried to argue the case was moot because the complaint dated to his previous terms on both bodies. The judge continued that argument “as a jurisdictional matter” only. The judge also asked for a supplemental argument on “a home rule issue.”
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[BNSF, from p. 8]
Rematch for Congressional Seat Trumps Dash to D.C.
SAN PEDRO — Actress and former Fox News commentator Stacey Dash notified the Federal Elections Commission on Feb. 26 that she intends to run as a Republican for the 44th congressional district. But the real news in the 44th district is the rematch of the 2016 race that underdog but now Rep. Nanette Barragan won in a squeaker (51.1 percent to 48.8 percent) over former state Sen. Isadore Hall. Barragán did not have Hall’s name recognition, nor the endorsement he received from former 44th district representative Janice Hahn. She won by countering Hall’s dominance in Compton and Carson with support from South Gate, Lynwood, Harbor City and Wilmington. She was nearly neckand-neck with Hall in San Pedro. In fundraising, the candidates were about even, each raising nearly $2 million each. This time around, the roles are different, if not reversed. Barragan is an incumbent, and has been endorsed by legendary Civil Rights leader, Congressman John Lewis, who called her “part of the new generation of leaders who will carry on the mission of justice and equality for all.” She also starts with more than $600,000 in cash on hand while Hall has $427. However, that’s more than Stacy Dash, who’s starting with $0 on hand in a heavily Democratic district. Some may call her “clueless” in reference to her one-time role in a movie of the same title.
LA Board of Supervisors Expand START to Prevent School Shootings
March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
On Feb. 27, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to expand the County’s School Threat Assessment Response Team (START) from school shootings in the Los Angeles County area. This was authored by Supervisor’s Janice Hahn and Kathryn Barger. START is staffed with 10 clinicians who work with local law enforcement to respond to reports of potential school violence. They also work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to develop a regional approach to targeted school violence. Principals, counselors, school security officers and parents worried about a student who has talked about suicide or exhibited other kinds of concerning behavior can consult a START team professional. Once the START team determines that a received threat is credible, they visit the school and the home of the student. A week before the Board passed the motion, L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies found AR15s, handguns and 90 high capacity militarygrade magazines at the home of an El Camino Real student who allegedly planned to stage a shooting in his high school.
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XPO Logistics Hit With Class Action Lawsuit
WILMINGTON — Two law firms that specialize in labor law filed a new class action lawsuit against XPO logistics on Feb. 26, alleging that the goods movement company has continued to engage in wage theft practices with port and rail drivers. Attorneys Julie Gutman Dickinson and C. Joe Sayas, Jr., filed the class action lawsuit on behalf of Angel Omar Alvarez, Alberto Rivera and Fernando Ramirez, seeking to represent at least 160 XPO Logistics port and rail drivers from Southern California. Regardless of whether XPO drivers lease a truck through Bush Leasing or another entity, or whether drivers already own their own truck as “owner operators,” the class action attorneys argue that drivers are still treated as employees by the company due to a level of control that XPO exercises over the drivers. Drivers depend on XPO to provide work and must follow all of the company’s rules.
BNSF
“The EIR refuses to analyze any increase in capacity resulting from SCIG by playing a shell game with growth,” the appeal says. “It concedes that SCIG will create the capacity to handle 1.5 million cargo containers each year. But it defines this capacity as cargo already going to Hobart.” While it’s arguable on a trip-by-truck trip basis, this ignores the fact that Hobart will still be there (and the 710 Freeway expansion is still being pursued, which will facilitate it). The appeal continues: “The EIR then dismisses the projected growth in cargo at Hobart (which
will immediately refill) as caused by ‘market demand’—not SCIG—and thus exempt from CEQA review.” However, Sivasubramanian explained, the opinion’s endorsement of the EIR’s ‘market demand’ excuse conflicts with CEQA’s most fundamental principles. All growth results from market forces, but it’s only when projects are approved through CEQA review that their impacts can be assessed and mitigated. “You cannot get around analyzing the project just by claiming that the impacts are attributable to market demand or market forces,” Sivasubramanian said. SCIG doubles BNSF’s capacity, she pointed out, “which obviously has an impact on market demand. That doubling of capacity means it needs to be analyzed.”
As explained in the appeal, “Even where it is unclear whether the approved level of development will actually materialize, CEQA requires lead agencies to analyze the full magnitude of potential development allowed by the approval.” It went on to cite court decisions including city annexations, general plan amendments, and rezones. While the Port won’t admit it, the impacts of the Southern California Intermodal Gateway will be significant, as would the impacts of the appeals court ruling, if left to stand. Whatever decision eventually comes down, it could be the most significant case the harbor area has seen since the China Shipping Settlement was signed in 2003.
Community Notice
WAKE UP SAN PEDRO!
The Port of Los Angeles is about to destroy a landmark business on our Waterfront! POLA is hosting a waterfront development meeting on March 20th at 6p.m. at the Warner Grand Theatre POLA will reveal its plan to demolish Ports O’Call Village and Ports O’Call Restaurant, affecting some 20 businesses and more than 200 workers. This was never in the original plans and is opposed by the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council, the San Pedro Bay Historical Society and the San Pedro Democratic Club, among others. Bring your family and friends to protest this wanton disregard for the history and culture of the San Pedro Harbor communities.
Community Impact Resolution on POLA Waterfront Development The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council calls for the immediate halt of [all] Ports O’ Call tenant evictions due to the Port of Los Angeles failing to adequately disclose subsequent amendments to the 2009 approved Environmental Impact Report regarding Ports O’ Call redevelopment and keep the CeSPNC and the public informed. The POLA has also not revealed in advance how these amendments will fundamentally change the previous plans and commitments made publicly that will substantially alter the waterfront development.
Therefore, the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council further resolves to call for transparency regarding Ports O’ Call redevelopment, [that] a public hearing on renegotiations of the lease with LA Waterfront Alliance and their new plans be held including [but not limited to] the preservation of historic buildings, and a guarantee for the opportunity to retain existing tenants through the negotiations of new leases that would include Ports O’ Call Restaurant, commercial boats, and others. —Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council
Position of the San Pedro Bay Historical Society The following is an excerpt from a Letter to the Editor which was published in the Feb. 22, 2018 edition of Random Lengths News. The Ports O’ Call Restaurant deserves a place in the waterfront plans. If a warehouse aesthetic is sought, in keeping with other parts of the redevelopment site, strip away the tropical foliage and it comes with much of that look already in place. Both locals and tourists crave the experi-
ence of something authentic, but authenticity cannot be recreated. Let us hang on to what is real and meaningful, a restaurant that embraces the waterfront and has served San Pedro so well for decades. Let us also ask that our port leaders and developers respect the community voice and commit to a candid dialog on waterfront plans. —Mona Dallas Reddick, PhD President, San Pedro Bay Historical Society
SHOW UP, SPEAK UP AND BE HEARD! Sign the petition at: https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/save-ports-o-call-restaurant Email letters of support for Save Ports O’Call to: Arley Baker: abaker@portla.org Erick Johnson: info@jerico-development.com Paid for by the Citizens Committee to Save Ports O’ Call
Changing of the Guard [Changing, from p. 1]
The facts haven’t mattered in the paranoid, lie-littered landscape of national gun politics constructed by the NRA during the past 40 years — until the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. What’s changed — thanks to the student survivors who formed Never Again MSD — is the landscape, not the facts. And in that landscape, hundreds of other teenagers, like Trevor Schnack, of Long Beach, have stepped forward to organize local marches in support of the national March For Our Lives the Parkland students are planning for March 24 in Washington, DC. The landscape has changed because they’ve refused to play by the NRA’s pre-scripted rules — starting with denouncing do-nothing “thoughts and prayers” rhetoric intended to silence them before they could say a word. “If all our government and President can do is send thoughts and prayers, then it’s time for victims to be the change that we need to see,” Parkland survivor Emma Gonzalez said in her viral, “We call BS” speech. And they were wellprepared. “The students at this school have been having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives,” she explained. “AP [Advanced Placement] Government had about three debates this year.” Congress, meanwhile, has been silent. But the most powerful part of Gonzalez’s speech zeroed in on the lies: Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this. We call BS!
A New Movement Forms
their loyalty to the NRA. It’s just one more way in which the GOP is losing touch with younger voters and voters-to-be: from gay marriage to global warming, immigration reform to legalizing pot, and raising the minimum wage. But in addition to a broader generational sea change, the gun control issue has its peculiar history, the last several decades of which can be seen in three movements—two towards an increased infatuation with guns, and one toward trying to control them.
Reinventing the Second Amendment
The NRA, with their twisted view of the Second Amendment, is an integral part of that broken system. Fortunately, even that 2008 Supreme Court decision, D.C. v Heller allowed for plenty of regulation—even outright bans. “The Second Amendment does not protect those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” it read, citing “the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons,’” such as “weapons that are most useful in military service — M16 rifles and the like.” Assault weapons are precisely what’s meant by “the like,” and an appeals court last year upheld Maryland’s ban on them, based precisely on that language.
Guns as a ‘Positive Good’
The second movement was described by Josh Marshall, a trained historian who edits the Talking Points Memo blog. On Feb. 22 he wrote, “Gun Rights, ‘Positive Good’ and the Evolution of Mutually Assured Massacre,” in which he described Trump’s proposal to arm teachers as a logical manifestation of a widespread “gun rights” mindset. It is supported by the now-debunked work of disgraced “gun rights” economist named John Lott, who purported to show that more guns produced less crime and less violence— [See Kids Stand Up, p. 17]
March 8 - 21, 2018
First, as explained by Michael Waldman, author of The Second Amendment: A Biography, there was the effort spearheaded by the NRA and its allies to transform the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment into a guarantee of individual gun rights. In fact, it was about arming militias— well-regulated militias. “Back in the time of the founding, there were gun laws,” Waldman explained in a recentlyrecorded video op-ed. “For example, in Boston, you were not allowed to have a loaded gun at home, because they tended to explode, and set fire to the houses. In 1824, the Board of Regents of the University of Virginia voted to ban guns on campus. Who were gun grabbers? Well, James Madison, who wrote the Second Amendment and Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence. The founders would think the idea that you should arm everybody and especially arm teachers was crazy.” As for why that understanding changed, he explained: The U.S. Supreme Court didn’t rule that the Second Amendment reflected an individual right to gun ownership until 2008. This was product of a concerted, very skilled, 30 year campaign by the National Rifle Association to change how we saw the Constitution. We changed our understanding as a country
of what the Second Amendment meant, not because of some dry words scratched on parchment, but because the gun rights lobby poured its energy into changing our view of the Constitution. They want to pretend that it’s an unlimited right, that any smart, sane law is an infringement on sacred freedom. And that’s just nonsense. The Second Amendment does not prohibit, does not bar strong, sensible gun laws. Only political will and the broken political system stands in the way of that.
A whole cadre of articulate Parkland classmates had already emerged to back her up. Student journalist David Hogg began documenting events in real time from a room 200 feet from the shooter, and was interviewed by Fox News later that night. “I don’t want this to be another mass shooting,” he said. “I don’t want this to be something that people forget.” It was Cameron Kasky who came up with the idea of starting a movement with a small group of people to “create a march and get in the media and pull the focus onto the politicians who are performing poorly in their jobs,” as his friend, junior-class president Jaclyn Corin, told New York magazine. They’ve called for a March for Our Lives in Washington on March 24, and hundreds of local marches have sprung up since. Kasky also came
up with the #neveragain hashtag, encouraging everyone following him to repost and retweet at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 16. “To those following our message, please remember the difference between the NRA as an organization and the members of the NRA,” Kasky tweeted recently. “The vast majority of NRA members are decent people. Patriots. Our issue is not with them individually.” The movement was already well underway when Gonzalez supercharged it with her Feb. 17 speech. Since then, politicians’ reactions have been all over the map, while the students have gained enormous cultural momentum with their unflagging outrage and practical demands — getting companies to cut ties with the NRA, and even stop selling assault weapons—as Dick’s Sporting Goods, the nation’s largest sporting goods retailer, announced two weeks after the massacre. “Our view was if the kids can be brave enough to organize like this, we can be brave enough to take these [guns] out of there,” Dick’s chief executive, Edward Stack, said on Good Morning America. Increasingly, it looks like politicians will only start to catch up after the 2018 midterms, when a good number of them are replaced, difficult though that can be, especially in gerrymandered states like Florida. “The @FLSenate has rejected the ban of AR15’s, the weapon of choice used at my school to kill 17 souls,” Corin tweeted on March 3, after several measures the students wanted were voted down. “This breaks my heart, but we will NOT let this ruin our movement.” “Florida is not disheartened by the pathetic choices made by our lawmakers,” Kasky tweeted. “We’re simply excited to kick them out and save our own lives ... We have a very clear understanding of who’s with us and who’s against us.” From the very beginning, they set out to be inclusive, still—with very few exceptions— Republican politicians’ have chosen to re-up
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
Two decades have passed since Congress prohibited federally funded research into gun policy impacts, a ban that began when research in the early 1990s started to show the wrongheadedness of the NRA agenda. Still, enough other research has been done to support the rest of what she had to say: They say tougher guns laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS. They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call BS. They say no laws could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS. That us kids don’t know what we’re talking about, that we’re too young to understand how the government works. We call BS.
Graphic by Suzanne Matsumiya
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An Arresting Situation LAPD claims that they can’t arrest their way out of the
homeless crisis, but apparently they’re trying By James Preston Allen, Publisher
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Los Angeles Police Department Cmdr. Dominic H. Choi appeared at the Los Angeles Police Commission this week and explained that LAPD officers had arrested 14,500 homeless people in 2017 as part of his yearend homelessness report. This is a 10 percent increase from the year before for an agency that claims that — this is a problem that we can’t arrest our way out of. But apparently, they’re trying. In a report on the issue, the Los Angeles Times found that homeless arrests climbed 31 percent in recent years, and that outside of the 6,400 felony arrests reported by Choi, the majority were for minor offenses, including failure to appear in court on qualityof-life citations. This is curious legal hypocrisy in that police are knowingly citing people who are incapable of paying for a ticket in the first place and then arresting them later for not showing up when a bench warrant is issued. Cmdr. Choi is in charge of the Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement or HOPE teams that were created by Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles City Council. The HOPE teams were supposed to be a means to offer a more compassionate response to citizen complaints by offering services and referrals to people living on the streets. The teams are comprised of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority case workers, specially trained police officers and Sanitation Dept. workers. I have seen them in action and I’ve come to the conclusion that HOPE is definitely a misnomer. We frequently receive desperate calls from the residents in the local urban encampment down at the U.S. Post Office on Beacon Street about LAPD “raids” during which police arrest people and “steal” their property. It has been explained to me that since these “enforcements are in response to complaints” about illegal activities, they don’t have to adhere to a rule enshrined in the Los Angeles Municipal Code 56.11 that require a 24-hour notice for “clean ups.” The City Council approved a revised version of LA Municipal Code 56.11, which was originally revised nearly three years ago to strictly criminalize storing attended property in public spaces, which impacted homeless residents and street vendors the most. Concerned that the new version would be cause for litigation for violations
of the constitution, the mayor halted further enforcement of the law until the city council revised it again. The city council, however, did not substantially change the ordinance during the second revision process. Myrna Bohan, the development director for the affordable housing advocacy group, Venice Community Housing noted that the ordinance that was passed still has criminal penalties for possessing property that is not causing any other hazard except for blocking the sidewalk or causing a health and safety concern. Bohan noted that it also limits total property in personal possession to the amount that can fit in a standard city trash bin, determined by the police officer or sanitation representative enforcing the law. “The council, despite many promises, did not create any additional voluntary storage facilities or allocate any additional funding to permanent supportive housing during the 8 months it had to reconsider this law,” Bohan said in a blog post on the subject recently. The real problem is that, as Councilman Mike Bonin points out in his Community Voices column, “In 2006, a federal court told the City of Los Angeles it was ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ to forbid people from sleeping on sidewalks unless the City offered sufficient housing and shelter as an alternative.” Yet, Councilman Joe Buscaino continues to place the LAPD in the untenable situation of pursuing enforcement rather than solving the immediate problem of providing emergency shelter. The city is a long way away from offering sufficient housing or shelter and the amount of people actually taken off the streets doesn’t even keep up with the growing number who are being forced out by gentrification, the housing shortage and low wages. This while Buscaino has supported more market-rate housing in San Pedro where about 420 new units are slated for construction in the next year and only three of those units will be targeted as “low income.” Speaking of failure to provide affordable housing, Buscaino is also implicated in the Sea Breeze $72 million apartment scandal. This bit of news isn’t particularly news anymore except that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office recently indicted the Torrance-based developer Samuel Leung, for making illegal campaign contributions while seeking a change to the zoning for his 352-unit apartment complex
March 8 - 21, 2018
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in Harbor Gateway. Buscaino and four LA City Council reps plus Mayor Garcetti all received tainted campaign contributions and then approved the re-zoning over the objections of both the Zoning Commission and the local neighborhood council. For some unknown reason, Leung even made large donations to then-Congresswoman Janice Hahn even though she could not vote nor influence the decision to change the zoning. In a more perfect world, if Leung is convicted in the Sea Breeze case, the 352 units would be converted into housing for the homeless and he would be sentenced to house arrest in one of those apartments. If the illegal campaign contributions are to be forfeited, they should all be donated to LAHSA or some other non-profit for supportive
services for the homeless. That would be justice, but don’t hold your breath. The city council members will continue to accept campaign contributions from developers who are eager to build with little incentive to include affordable housing units. The council will continue to approve them while wringing their hands publicly about the homeless crisis. The day the City of Los Angeles offers real HOPE to the homeless, rather than arresting them for quality-of-life offenses, will be the day the homeless crisis is treated as a real crisis. Emergency shelters, authorized parking areas and sanctioned encampments need to be put in place now, while the slow-boating of permanent housing grinds its way through the city’s political process.
Homeless By Choice? By Councilmember Mike Bonin, LA City Council District 11 It’s not politically correct to admit it, but it’s true: most people in Los Angeles are homeless by choice. Our choice, not theirs. Many major cities have a large homeless population, but only in Los Angeles does such a large percentage sleep without any sort of roof, seeking refuge on cold, hard pavement. That may not be by design, but it’s also not accidental, or unforeseeable. In 2006, a federal court told the City of Los Angeles it was “cruel and unusual punishment” to forbid people from sleeping on sidewalks unless the city offered sufficient housing and shelter as an alternative. For a decade, rather than offer such housing suggested by the court, the city effectively said, “let them eat asphalt.”
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Encampments proliferated nearly everywhere. By refusing to choose shelter, we chose sidewalks. In the past two years, elected officials and the electorate said “enough.” We developed a comprehensive homelessness strategy, approved new dedicated funding, and started housing people at an impressive, record clip. Yet homelessness increased and encampments are still present. Part of the reason is that public officials, foundations, and service providers are making the perfect the enemy of the good. We are so determined to build permanent supportive housing — which is expensive and can take years to bring online — that we fail to address the here [See Choice, p. 9] Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731. Address correspondence regarding news items and tips to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email: editor@randomlengthsnews. com. Send Letters to the Editor to james@randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, letters must be signed with address and phone number (for verification purposes) and be about 250 words. For advertising inquiries or to submit advertising copy, email: rlnsales@randomlengthsnews.com. Annual subscription is $36 for 27 issues. Back issues are available for $3/copy while supplies last. 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. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2018 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.
RANDOMLetters Homelessness is Everywhere in the Southland
When I was on the board of a local family homeless shelter 25 years ago, the saying was that “the average homeless person was an 8-year-old white child.” But we all agreed the homeless were evenly divided between those with alcohol/drug addiction problems, mental illness and economic crisis. Those numbers have changed. Studies have shown that about 60 percent of today’s homeless population in Los Angeles got there because of economic factors — chiefly mind-boggling rents of $2,500 for a 2-bedroom apartment and a total absence of affordable housing of every type. The voters have taxed themselves to pay for more housing but the problem is growing faster than the original solution (more permanent housing). We need something done NOW. It is shameful that people are sleeping on our sidewalks. Councilman Mike Bonin offers some solutions to what must be done. It seems like the majority of voters have compassion and want to end homelessness. They also agree that the solution is to build homes — Duh! The breakdown comes with the urgency of the problem. The homeless can’t wait years for developments to come to fruition. Their lives are being destroyed now. Open your minds. Support something being done ASAP. Diane Middleton San Pedro
Seabreeze Scandal
Guess you guys are giving Hahn and Buscaino a pass on the rather large “Contributions,” I’d call it an out
Choice
Gentrification of Ports O’Call
I appreciate the articles and editorials on the gentrification of Ports of Call. James Preston Allen — who I have known since about 1994 — is still thankfully able to write with a simplicity and clarity that is unknown even in larger newspapers. I appreciate the articles and editorials on the gentrification of Ports O’ Call. Yours may be a small paper in a sense but you manage to keep readers connected to the larger scheme of things. Who says that the White House is the only important news in town for the country’s welfare? I sense that the gentrificationrent control-tax credit property movements may be closely linked. I read one site about the Affordable Housing Act proposed but there did not seem to be any enforcement
from economic hardship, gentrification, a housing shortage, domestic violence, sexual abuse, addiction and mental illness are left to fend for themselves in the elements. That is unacceptable and intolerable. We must insist on a range of immediate options for housing and shelter — even if it means using every available city facility, and every church or temple in Los Angeles. If we don’t, encampments will proliferate. Men, women and children will continue to live on our streets by choice — our choice. Mike Bonin represents the Westside on the Los Angeles City Council and sits on the Council’s Homelessness and Poverty Committee. He and his colleague Marqueece Harris-Dawson have submitted legislation calling on LAHSA to develop an immediate plan to shelter people living in sidewalk encampments. This piece provided by Councilmember Bonin’s office.)
Kudos to Students Standing Up Against the NRA
I’ve been a teacher for more than 30 years. My job is to teach,
COMMUNITY ALERT SCAQMD Community Meeting
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) invites the community to attend this public meeting to learn about the ways in which two new laws will reduce air pollution in our region. Assembly Bill (AB) 134 provides funding to replace older heavy duty vehicles, equipment and other diesel sources in our region with new, cleaner technologies. AB 617 is a new effort which will bring opportunities to collaborate with disadvantaged communities to improve air quality in areas needing it most. The meeting will include a public comment period and question and answer segment. The community is encouraged to attend. Time: 6 to 8 p.m. March 13 Cost: Free Details: www.aqmd.gov (909) 396-2432 Venue: Wilmington Senior Center 1371 Eubank Ave., Wilmington
[See Letters, p. 19]
March 8 - 21, 2018
institutions have a hard time with that. They know how to approve development. They are accustomed to the slow, complex financing systems, and the arcane rules. They are not used to urgency. They operate at a traditional speed when we sorely need an emergency response. It has been two years since the City Council adopted a comprehensive homelessness strategy calling for an increase in and transformation of shelter — and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority still has no strategy to get thousands of people off the street any time soon. Bureaucratic inertia is at least as a big a hurdle as neighborhood opposition to specific projects. During recent fires, officials announced the location of emergency shelters within hours of deploying first responders to burning homes. Victims of natural disasters are not left to sleep on our streets, but refugees
The duplicitous actions of the Port of Los Angeles (POLA aka Harbor Department) and lack of historical consideration, sensitivity to the local community, patrons and long term employees of Ports O’Call Restaurant and the surrounding village is despicable demonstrating complete lack of compassion to the poignant concerns of the people at risk, and total mercenary intent. As the landlord, POLA, has long been culpable for many years of neglect and negligence: Offering only month to month leases, not maintaining the property or landscaping safely or aesthetically, forcing viable businesses to close; and now with the threat of Ports O’Call Restaurant (and Spirit Cruises) being shut down causing over 100 to lose their jobs (many who have worked there for nearly three decades) and face the unemployment queue that will cost taxpayers. The proprietor’s livelihood also is at risk because if the business closes it is a death knell, and dubious it will be reincarnated. POLA and the “carpetbagger” developers are morally corrupt and whatever action can legally be taken to abort the outrageous plan for the so called “historic waterfront” should be utmost in the minds of all concerned citizens of San Pedro, who have been speaking up yet being completely disrespected if not ignored The impassioned pleas made at the Board of Harbor Commissioners recently have
challenge, and enrich my students’ minds. Donald Trump’s response to the latest tragic school shooting— to put even more guns in our schools—is just the latest Trump scam. It’s a distraction. It’s meant to divide us. And it certainly won’t make our kids safer. But the Parkland students aren’t falling for it, nor are young people and students all over the country—including many who have been organizing against gun violence for years. Over the coming weeks, they are coming together to organize marches and other protests all across the country. I’m standing with these students, and so is MoveOn—by mobilizing its millions of members to participate in the protests and by pressuring corporations to cut their support for the NRA. We know how to reduce gun violence: for starters, universal background checks and bans on high-capacity magazines and AR-15s and other military-style assault weapons like the ones used in Parkland—and in Sutherland Springs, San Bernardino, Aurora, Orlando, Las Vegas, and Newtown. And we know the way to get there: direct pressure on corporations, demanding action from politicians at federal and state levels and replacing them when they fail to act, and—ultimately—breaking the stranglehold of the NRA by isolating it from its corporate and
and now. We desperately need thousands of units of permanent supportive housing (and I have proposed hundreds of units in my district), but that doesn’t help the people sleeping in a tent tonight. Call it crisis housing, bridge housing, or interim housing. Call it shelter, if you want. We need places where people can sleep next week, next month, and even next year until enough housing is available. Not bare-bones, onesize-fits-all shelters that feel like prisons and become permanent warehouses for people. We need specialized, welcoming centers or shared housing for couples, for families with children, for teenage runaways, for veterans, and others. Low-barrier, roundthe-clock accommodations that are genuinely a first step to permanent housing. Our bureaucracies and our
Good to hear from you Frank, I don’t believe that the “D” affiliation holds much bias in this newspaper as we have often reported on the failing of many public officials, most notably Buscaino (D-San Pedro). The only “D” that can be used in relation to Seabreeze development scandal is Dumb — both on the part of the developer and with the LA City Council reps who voted against the neighborhood council to approve it. James Preston Allen Publisher
Save Ports O’Call
fallen of deaf ears with the flagrant lack of humanity or compassion. The POLA claims it is the “developers” and the latter in turn claim it is the POLA who are responsible and making the decisions. It’s like an invisible ping pong game and those people and businesses that have been and are being compromised are the ball back and forth across the oxymoron net. The proposed plan for developing the “historic waterfront” is appalling, from the name change to the destruction of property; and specious to continue to state “historic” if the history is obliterated. Ports O’Call has a name that resonates around the world and is simply like Aladdin’s lamp in need of some polishing to open up the treasures to be found that are intrinsic to the seaside landscape. To tear down what has the ethos of six decades is heinous. Even the Constitution has Amendments and the plan should thus be reconsidered. Restore, revitalize, resurrect Ports O’Call for the greater good of all concerned today and for the future. Stephanie Mardesich San Pedro
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
[Choice, from p. 8]
and out bribe they received in turn for their support of the $7 million harbor gateway apartment complex. What a difference a “D” makes. So much for watching out for the “people.” Frank Pereyda San Pedro
provisions or penalties for noncompliance; the act has no teeth. But maybe one day you can devote a full page to the public speaking about the pros and cons of gentrification. G. Juan Johnson Los Angeles
9
[Local Ban, from p. 8]
Yahooty Who?
March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
On Feb. 26, the creators of the children’s book Yahooty Who? staged a reading for students at Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro. The co-authors of Yahooty, including Jen Oloo, Ray Hodjat and Mike Rodriguez, set out to create a character that embodied the virtues of thoughtfulness and caring for others. “Today, more than ever, parents must consciously raise caring and thoughtful individuals to better our world,” Oloo says. “As you read the story of Yahooty to your kids, they discover that
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Local Ban
Yahooty does selfless acts to bring happiness to the hearts of all children.” After serving dinner to children in Toberman’s after-school program, Oloo, Hodjat and Rodriguez gave away 80 Yahooty-themed box sets to the children of Toberman, which included a plush Yahooty doll, a puppet of one of the minor characters in the Yahooty universe, postcards and stickers. Photo courtesy of Toberman Neighborhood Center.
needed. The cannabis industry already exists in California. It is estimated that there are currently around 70,000 growers operating in our state who produce around 15 million pounds of marijuana. Most distributors, vendors, brokers, processors and manufacturers have gone almost entirely unregulated until January 2018. Every other industry in our nation operates under a regulatory framework that has evolved slowly since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Our legislators are trying to impose almost 200 years of comprehensive regulations on an existing industry all at once. Of course it’s easier for local governments to ban commercial cannabis. But what about the children? What about social and economic justice? What happens to community safety? The unintended consequence of banning marijuana commerce in our local communities is that all of this economic activity does not go away. It just goes underground. Street dealers do not check ID, pay taxes, employ fair labor practices, offer safe products or resolve their business disputes in courtrooms. Rogue operators are not motivated by community stewardship. They have no stake in building lasting and positive relationships with our communities. Prohibition is one of the biggest public policy failures of modern history. Nearly 100 years of prohibition in our country and not a single drugfree high school in America today. Prisons are full of drug offenders. Families, communities and entire countries in Central America have been
decimated by the war on drugs. The few municipalities that elected to regulate and license the industry are displaying good leadership, but it’s not enough. The few compliant locations available to operate a licensed cannabis business are being snapped up by wealthy investors who can afford the green rush. As of Feb. 7, only 0.78 percent of the growers in our state have acquired licensing. The majority of these growers are single family farms that spend their income in the local economy. The most common issue with obtaining licensing is the cost of compliance and strict local zoning restrictions. The California cannabis industry is projected to be worth $7 billion by 2020, but local bans are undermining the intentions of legalization. Marijuana businesses are being licensed in exclusive pockets of our state. This is mostly done by wealthy investors who likely do not spend their incomes in the local grocery store. The people who have grown this industry in the grey market are being forced to concede their businesses or operate illegally. The promises of legalization are being ignored by our local bans. Safe consumer access, youth exposure safeguards, drug education reforms, community stewardship, local job and ownership opportunities are among the casualties of a wait-and-see approach to local cannabis regulations. Our communities deserve leadership that will deliver on the promises of a post prohibition society. Matt Garland is an advocate of legalized cannabis.
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor Zachary and Dylan Zmed are bringing the Everly Brothers Experience to the Grand Annex on March 10. The siblings can flat-out sing and play the dickens out of their steel-string acoustic guitars. In fact, they play Everly Brothers hit songs looking and sounding very nearly like the Everly Brothers — right down to their Ivy League suits and their country-harmonizing ways. Just don’t call them a cover band. Even “tribute band” does not do justice to what they aim to do in every performance. Think you’re unfamiliar with the music of the Everly Brothers? Stop thinking. Just listen. The Everly Brothers gave us hits like Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have to Do Is Dream and Cathy’s Clown. The Everly Brothers emerged at a time when it seemed everyone was stretching the status quo. The civil rights movement was challenging this country’s racial caste system; the visceral, on-the-ground reporting of the Vietnam War galvanized the American public to form an anti-war movement. And rock ‘n’ roll and the rapid expansion then restriction of work opportunities for women spurred on the sexual revolution. [See Brothers, p. 16]
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
Zachary and Dylan Zmed of the Everly Brothers Experience.
March 8 - 21, 2018
11
Rescuing St. Patrick’s Day from Myths and Legends M
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uch has been said about the decline of manufacturing in America. Yet, we still lead the world in at least one category of manufacturing. I refer, of course, to manufacturing excuses to drink and party, particularly when it comes to celebrating other people’s cultural heritage. As an example, let us consider St. Patrick’s Day, which is usually commemorated with corned beef and cabbage, green beer, parades and wearing anything green — especially funny hats. With the exception of verdant derbies, there is at least some historical element to all of these. But it’s probably not what you’d think. This includes the career of the person who is actually being commemorated. To start with, there is no Saint Patrick — at least one canonized by the Catholic Church. He did exist, but is regarded as a holy individual, which is just short of sainthood. Patrick was born in England and his first encounter with the country that he now personifies was not spiritually uplifting. As a teenager, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and taken there to be sold as a slave. He learned the language during his six years of bondage, but eventually escaped and returned later in life as a missionary. He didn’t drive snakes from Ireland because there weren’t any. It’s at least plausible that he might have used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the concept of the holy
By Richard Foss, Cuisine and Culture Writer
St. Patrick on a prayer card with snakes.
trinity. He did bring Christianity to the Emerald Isle, and for at least 500 years that achievement was honored through special church services. That’s it. No green beer, no parades, just a church service. Things were different elsewhere, where Irish emigrants used the day to commemorate their homeland. At first they did so while wearing the traditional color associated with St. Patrick — blue. It wasn’t until 1798, when Irish soldiers fought the British while wearing green uniforms, that the color became the symbol of Irish nationalism. When we wear green for St. Patrick’s Day now, we are dressing
as a soldier for a war that most of us have never heard of. All celebrations of the day outside Ireland have been more focused on the culture rather than solemn festivities to commemorate a Christian missionary. The first actual St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in St. Augustine, Florida in 1601, and others followed in New York in 1766 and Philadelphia in 1771. They did finally get around to having St. Patrick’s Day parades in Ireland, the first one was in 1903. As for food and drink, the association of corned beef and cabbage with St. Patrick’s Day has a rather surprising genesis: the mixed Irish and Jewish neighborhoods in New York. The Irish were not historically big eaters of beef, but enjoyed cabbage with a salted and cured pork called bacon loin. It so happens that traditional Jewish corned beef was similar to bacon loin and very inexpensive, so thrifty Irish families adopted it as their celebration meal. The two immigrant communities had much in common, including being the target of prejudice by the Protestant majority, and many people commented on the solidarity between them. As the 1912 hit, If It Wasn’t For The Irish and the Jews, commented, Talk about a combination, hear my words and make a note On St. Patrick’s day Rosinsky pins a shamrock on his coat… Corned beef and cabbage are available for sale in Ireland now, but mainly for tourists. As for green beer, it was invented in the United States in 1914, and it only works with Germanstyle pale beers, not the traditional drinks of Ireland. Most traditional Irish beers were red [See St. Patrick, p. 13]
March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Where Everybody’s Irish
12
Some say everybody is Irish on March 17, St. Paddy’s Day; that may only be true if you get a little bit of Irish in you. One way to do so is to visit any of the establishments in RLn’s roundup of local St. Patrick’s Day Festivities. Another way is to watch the final game of the Six Nations Rugby Championship, which features France, Scotland England, Italy, Wales and Ireland. Or combine the two, find a seat at any of the wonderful local Irish venues, either before or after the game. The Auld Dubliner Irish Pub The pub will show the Championship Rugby Match, six nations round five, Ireland vs. England. Match starts at 8 a.m., pub opens at 7 a.m. The Auld Dubliner boasts the number one Guinness Beer account in Los Angeles. Live entertainment by Whooligans Band. Time: 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Cost: Free Details: www.aulddubliner.com (562) 437-8300 Venue: 71 Pine Ave., Long Beach Alpine Village Restaurant St. Patrick’s Weekend Special Corned beef and cabbage served all day on St. Patrick’s Day with green beer and live entertainment. Free parking. Time: 8 p.m. Cost: $5 cover. Venue: 833 W. Torrance Blvd., Torrance Details: http://www.alpinevillagecenter.com (310) 327-4384
Clancy’s Irish Pub Food and drink specials for St Patrick’s Day, green beer and outdoor beer garden. Enjoy the selection of craft beer, wine on tap, good food, and live entertainment. Sixteen rotating beer handles and six rotating premium wine handles. Time: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Cost: Free Details: www.clancyslbpub.com (562) 437-1836 Venue: 803 E. Broadway, Long Beach Gallagher’s Pub and Grill The American Wake performs at Gallagher’s Long Beach, a St. Patrick’s Day tradition. Other festivities include Irish dancers and bagpipers, green beer, shot specials and traditional Irish food. Patio seating available. Time: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cost: Free Details: www.gallagherslongbeach.com (562) 856-8000 Venue: 2751 E. Broadway, Long Beach [See Irish, p. 14]
[St. Patrick, from p. 12]
St. Patrick
in color, and if you add green dye it turns dark brown. As for the most popular Irish beer, you can’t dye a Guinness green because it’s already black, and if you add dye it will still be black. But your lips will be green after you drink it; that will make “kiss me I’m Irish” more or less likely to work depending on who you ask. So, what might you decide to eat if you’d actually like to enjoy a taste of Ireland? Soda bread goes back to the 1840s when bicarbonate of soda was first sold in Ireland, and it is still popular there. It’s probably the easiest bread for amateurs to make. It is delicious when served with real Irish butter. That variety along with New Zealand butters are vastly more rich and flavorful than the American counterpart, called Plugra. If you want to make soda bread part of a meal, beef stew with a healthy amount of Guinness is a good idea, and you might make
BIG NICK’S PIZZA
Tradition, variety and fast delivery—you get it all at Big Nick’s Pizza. The best selection of Italian specialties include hearty calzones, an array of pastas and our amazing selection of signature pizzas. We offer a wide selection of appetizers, salads, beer and wine. Call for fast delivery. Hours: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sun.-Thurs.; 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. Big Nicks’ Pizza, 1110 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro • (310) 732-5800 • www. bignickspizzasp.com
BRITE SPOT MEXICAN RESTAURANT
BUONO’S AUTHENTIC PIZZERIA
Fourth-generation artisanal chorizo and meats. Purchase chorizo by the pound or try our burritos and tacos! Menu specials change weekly. Open Thurs., 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Fri. - Sun., 8 a.m.
The Happy Diner isn’t your average diner. It’s the idea of fresh creative dishes in two San Pedro locations, and now a third—the Happy Deli. The selections range from Italian- and Mexicaninfluenced entrées to American Continental. Happy Diner chefs are always creating something new—take your pick of grilled salmon over pasta or tilapia and vegetables prepared any way you like. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner: Happy Diner #1, 617 S. Centre St., San Pedro • (310) 241-0917 • Happy Diner #2, 1931 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro • (310) 935-2933 • Open for breakfast and lunch: Happy Deli, 530 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro (424) 364-0319
JACKSON’S PLACE
Jackson’s Place is the area’s newest Cajun eatery featuring Louisiana classics such as gumbo, jambalaya, po’boy sandwiches and grits. Menu additions include potato andouille croquettes, entrée salads, fresh seafood dishes and more. Live music five nights a week, Wine Wednesdays (half-off bottles after 6 p.m.), happy hour and a First Thursday after party makes Jackson’s Place an evening hotspot. During remodeling, open for dinner only Tues. Sun. Jackson’s Place, 335 W. 7th St., San Pedro • (424) 477-5220
A micro brewery and American grill, SPBC features handcrafted awardwinning ales and lagers served with creative pastas, BBQ, sandwiches, salads and burgers. A full bar with made-from-scratch margaritas and a martini menu all add fun to the warm and friendly atmosphere. Live music. Open from 11:30 a.m., daily. San Pedro Brewing Company, 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro • (310) 831-5663 • www. sanpedrobrewing.com
SONNY’S BISTRO AND THINK CAFE
Sonny and Carly Ramirez are the husband and wife team behind Sonny’s Bistro and Think Café. Their hands-on attention to detail makes the restaurants successful, in both quality and service. Sonny’s Bistro’s lunch and dinner menus feature locally-sourced and handselected meats, seafood and seasonal vegetables. Try the $10 lunch menu served Mon.-Fri. Think Café serves breakfast in addition to lunch and dinner with egg dishes, omelettes and griddle cakes. Both restaurants have a selection of fine wines and beers. Sonny’s Bistro, 1420 W. 25th St., San Pedro. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sat. and Sun. from 4 p.m. • (310) 548-4797. Think Cafe, 302 W. 5th St., San Pedro. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. • (310) 519-3662.
Waterfront Dining
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 LA 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.
TAXCO MEXICAN RESTAURANT
We are proud to serve our community for almost three d e c a d e s . Generous plates of traditional Mexican fare are the draw at this homey, family-friendly restaurant. For a limited time: Combos #1-12— buy one, get the second for half off (of equal or lesser value. for a limited time only). Catering for every occasion, beer, wine and margaritas to your taste. Tony and Vini Moreno welcome you. Open Sun. and Mon. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tues.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Taxco Mexican Restaurant, 29050 S. Western Ave., Rancho Palos Verdes • (310) 5474554, www.taxcorestaurantpv.com
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
March 8 - 21, 2018
THE CHORI-MAN
HAPPY DINER AND HAPPY DELI
SAN PEDRO BREWING COMPANY
A San Pedro landmark for over 44 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) 5470655 • www.buonospizza.com
to 8 p.m. For catering email: info@thechoriman.com for catering and special orders. The Chori-Man, 2309 S. Alma St., San Pedro • (424) 287-2414
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
No matter when your day begins, you can always get a hearty breakfast at a great price at Brite Spot. Breakfast is served all day long. We serve freshly prepared, authentic Mexican food. We offer all the family favorites, from tacos to tamales, from caldo to chile, fresh seafood and much more. Brite Spot Mexican Restaurant is your late-night spot for when you want a night out on the town. Hours: 7 a.m. to midnight, daily. Brite Spot, 615 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro • (310)833-2599 • www. britespotsanpedro.com
boxty as a side dish. This is the Irish equivalent of latkes, but isn’t a New World idea — it’s how the Irish ate potatoes in the 1700s. Cook them crisp and serve alongside that stew. Then open a room-temperature Guinness and play some music that is heavy on the harp and fiddle while you dine. There are plenty of recipes online for the items I suggested and if I printed mine here you’d probably still go to the internet because that’s what everybody does these days. I’ll mention that I make soda bread with spelt flour for a healthier whole-wheat loaf that is actually more like the brown breads I had in Ireland. But if you prefer a white loaf, I won’t judge you. For that matter, if you decide to eat corned beef and cabbage while drinking green lager and wearing a plastic derby, I won’t judge you on that either. Choose your own way to commemorate the culture of that green isle of poets, scholars, sages, musicians and some of the most epic partiers and hospitable hosts to ever walk the Earth.
13
Through Light and Space:
[Irish, from p. 12]
Where Everybody’s Irish
K.C. Branaghan’s Irish Pub In honor of St. Patrick’s Day the pub will serve half-price beer and cocktails for 24 hours on March 17 only. Time: 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. Cost: Free Details: www.kcbranaghans.com (562) 434-3600 Venue: 5734 E. 2nd St., Long Beach Ports O’Call Restaurant Celebrate on the waterfront at Ports O’Call Restaurant’s St. Patty’s Party Palooza. Get in the spirit with the music of Innisfree, who’ll get your hands clapping with good old Irish hooley pub songs. Lucky drink specials and entrées featuring corned beef and cabbage will be served. Time: 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. Cost: Free Details: www.pocdining.com, (310) 833-3553 Venue: 1200 Nagoya Way, Berth 76, San Pedro Shenanigans Irish Pub & Grille Live music with Flogging Seagulls on St. Patrick’s Day, followed by Rock Stallion for the evening St. Patrick’s Party, from 6 p.m. Time: 12 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 11 p.m. Cost: Free Details: www.shenaniganslb.com (562) 437-3734 Venue: 423 Shoreline Village Dr., Long Beach
March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Shannon’s On Pine Irish Pub & Sports Bar and Shannon’s Bayshore Sports Bar Lively sports bars offering classic pub grub, live music, multiple flat screen TVs for sports fans. Bar games, happy hour food, happy hour drinks Time: From 11:30 a.m. Cost: Free Details: www.shannonsonpine.com (562) 436-4363; www.shannonsbayshore.com (562) 433-5901 Venue: 209 Pine Ave., Long Beach, and Shannon’s Bayshore 5336 E. 2nd St., Long Beach.
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Robert Irwin Illuminates the Unseen By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer
I
n 1975 Robert Irwin boldly installed his first piece of public art on the campus of California State University Long Beach. Titled Window Wall, it was created for that precise location, taking into consideration the entire environment on which it was placed. Unlike a statue of Robert E. Lee, which sits in a plaza where the public can admire the sculpture, Window Wall “breaks the frame.” That is, the sculpture frames the surrounding ambient environment, rather than obstructing it. Essentially, the sculpture acts as a picture window. Four decades later, the university invited Irwin back to his city of birth to honor his work with an examination of his most significant public art works at the Cal State University Art Museum. The exhibit, entitled Robert Irwin, Site Determined, is curated by Matthew Simms, professor of art history at Long Beach State and author of Robert Irwin: A Conditional Art. Irwin’s exploration of light as a medium in art and his association with the early California conceptual movement, established him as a member of the post-war avant-garde. Irwin and a select group of contemporary Los Angeles artists such as James Turrell, Larry Bell, De Wain Valentine and Doug Wheeler, developed the movement known as Light and Space. With reverence for the outdoor environment came a new way of making art. Irwin said that this form of art draws all of its cues from the environment. The influence of his thinking is pervasive — through his years as a teacher to artists including Chris Burden, Vija Celmins, Joe Goode and Ed Ruscha — but his presence in the world’s museums is limited, because for years he made nothing that anyone could buy or transport. Undoubtedly, his most widely viewed pieces of art are the Getty Gardens, a project that required 10 years of installation and maintenance.
Robert Irwin , Drawing for Black on White (Wedge for Pacific Standard Time), c. 2011 . Color pencil and collage on Mylar. Collection Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
Many of us have walked through the gardens and watched it mature through the years. Each subsequent visit reveals beauty and maturity brought with the growth of the living elements. With virtually no experience as a landscape gardener, he met massive resistance from traditionalists but persisted with his conviction that “you can’t plan nature, you court her.” The exhibit at the museum invites the visitor to witness Irwin’s thinking as he developed unique responses to different sites. Among the 20 drawings and two architectural models, are presentations for the Getty Garden, and the predecessor, a proposed outdoor environmental space at the Miami International Airport. The project was never realized, but the aesthetic was applied years later at the Getty Museum. The exhibit culminates with one of Irwin’s most important site determined works, Untitled (dusk to dawn), completed in 2016 at the
Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas. Created on the site of an abandoned and disintegrating army hospital, the artist made an ephemeral space, that mediates between indoor and outdoor. Irwin took advantage of the missing roof and window panes to incorporate his favorite palette, light. At 89 years old, Irwin still has new projects in development. The new campus at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents many possibilities, among them a garden project. The exhibition runs through April 15. Information about lectures and other collateral programming for this show can be found on the museum website. Time: 12 to 5 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 12 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Cost: Free Details: csulb.edu/university-art-museum Venue: University Art Museum, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach
MAR 8 - 21 • 2018 ENTERTAINMENT March 9
A Celebration of Life The Our World Project deals with problems that young people are facing today and are informative and inspirational and often life changing. Time: 7:30 to 11 p.m., March 9 Cost: $25 Details: www.alvasshowroom. com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro.
March 16
Comedy Night In Old San Pedro Join The San Pedro Art Association and Machine Art Studio for an evening of laughs. The evening will be hosted and emceed by Keith Michael Ashton. Time: 7 p.m., March 16 Cost: $5 Details: www.machineartstudio. com Venue: Machine Art Studio, 446 W. 6th St., San Pedro
March 17
St. Patty’s Party Palooza It’s St. Patrick’s Day on the waterfront at Ports O’Call Restaurant with live music by Innisfree, lucky drink specials and corned beef and cabbage. Time: 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., March 17 Cost: Free Details: www.pocdining.com (310) 833-5335 Venue: Ports O’ Call Restaurant, 1200 Nagoya Way, Berth 76, San Pedro
St. Patrick’s Day Sunset Cruise Hop on the three-decker, big red boat and cruise around the Long Beach Harbor on St. Patrick’s Day. Time: 4 to 9 p.m., March 17 Cost: $25 to $45 Details: www.campxanadu.org Venue: Catalina Classic Cruises, 1046 Queen’s Hwy., Long Beach
March 18
4 Level Interchange Fusion jazz rock band, 4LI features: Andy Waddell on guitar, Jim Simmons on keyboards and vocals, and Zephyr Avalon on bass and Rosy Rosenquist on drums. With visuals by Who’sTaylor. Time: 4 p.m., March 18 Cost: $10 Details: www.alvasshowroom. com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
FILM
March 18
Finding Kukan at LAHIFF Filmmaker Robin Lung investigates the case of Li Ling-Ai, the un-credited female producer of Kukan, the 1941 landmark color film that revealed the atrocities of World War II China to audiences around the world. Kukan has the rare honor of being the first ever American feature documentary to receive an Academy Award® in 1942. Time: 4 to 6 p.m., March 18 Cost: Free Details: www.laharborfilmfest. com Venue: The Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro
THEATER March 9
Ronald Harwood’s Quartet In this funny and poignant play, Cecily, Reggie and Wilf live in a home for retired opera singers, where each year they take part in a concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday. Time: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m, Sun. 2 p.m., March 9 - April 8 Cost: $23-$27 Details: (310) 512-6030 or text (424) 226-6030 Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro Daddy-Long-Legs at ICT International City Theatre opens its 33rd season with a musical “rags-to-riches” tale of newfound love. Daddy Long Legs, with music and lyrics by Tony Awardnominated composer/lyricist Paul Gordon and book by Tony-winning librettist John Caird. Time: Thurs. - Sat. 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., through March 11 Cost: $47-$125 Details: www.international citytheatre.org Venue: Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach Urinetown Urinetown is a hilarious musical satire of the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, municipal politics and musical theatre itself. Children 13 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Time: 7 p.m., March 9 and 10 Cost: $20
Los Angeles Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery presents Centaur in the Garden, recent works by Marc Kreisel. Peter Frank, art critic and essayist, on Kreisel’s recent works: “…in Centaur in the Garden, Moron in the White House, Kreisel knocks the stuffing out of a galloping centaur, the very embodiment of noble intention, by crowning it with a mop of sour-yellow hair combed into a now alltoo-familiar flop. Is this empty show of bravado what comprises our current leadership, Kreisel asks?” Details: www.warnergrand.com Venue: The Warner Grand Theater 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro
March 15
The Balcony Scene Alvin is a historian who believes the world is declining into chaos and has taken refuge in his apartment. Karen is a diehard optimist with a high pressure job who moves in next door. They meet on their adjoining balconies and form a friendship that sets their two worlds on a collision course. Time: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m., March 15 - April 5 Cost: $23-$27 Details: (310) 512-6030 or text (424) 226-6030 Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro
March 16
Pack of Lies Lately, talk of espionage is all over the news. So it’s the perfect time to see a fresh take on a classic Cold War thriller with Long Beach Playhouse’s production of Pack of Lies. Time: Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m., March 16-24 Cost: $25 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org/ Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach
ARTS
March 10
Centaur in the Garden Los Angeles Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery presents Centaur in the Garden, recent works by Marc Kreisel. Kreisel has worn many hats in his career: entrepreneur (owner/operator of Al’s Bar, the American Hotel and the American Gallery), producer, artistic director and practicing studio artist. Runs through April 27. Time: 4 to 7 p.m., March 10 Hours: Mon.- Thurs. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appt.
Cost: Free Details: (310) 600-4873, (310) 233-4411; ronmon@dslextreme. com. Venue: Los Angeles Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery, 1111 Figueroa Place Wilmington Cultural Alliance of Long Beach Take advantage of CALB’s lowered yearly membership dues during this membership drive and members exhibition. CALB is curating a group exhibition in Downtown Long Beach. Time: 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., March 10 Cost: Free Venue: 737 B Pine Ave. (rear entrance) Downtown Long Beach. HeARTbeat MADE by Millworks presents California Counterculture 196669, Photographs by Jim Coke. Sales of a poster for the show will benefit Lanny Cordola’s program in Kabul, Afghanistan, where he teaches guitar to child victims of war. Opening reception features poetry, music and full bar. Time: 7 to 10 p.m., March 10 Cost: Free Details: www.madebymillworks. com/ Venue: MADE by Millworks, 240 Pine Ave., Long Beach
March 16
Inhabit: The Olmstead Brothers at Palos Verdes Peninsula With an abundance of original source materials, the exhibition applies a multidimensional perspective to the Olmsted Brothers’ landscape architecture designs. Speaking to the intentions of Inhabit, guest curator Hilairie Schackai explains: “This exhibition is designed to cast a spotlight on the crucial process of visionary translation from a rough settlement and natural environment into a habitation of cultural splendor by displaying planning and other documents that are virtual art objects in themselves.” The show runs
Making Social Making Social is an exhibition based on a pedagogic approach to social experience and art. The show is based on a course taught by Matt Rich over the past decade about social experience as a medium in art. Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through March 17 Cost: Free Details: http://angelsgateart.org Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro Bulky Item/Curb Alert A location specific study and installation accessing the photographs and collected objects of Sheridan Lowrey, whose photographs of San Pedro’s castoffs allow views into the otherwise shuttered interiors and thus the private lives of city residents. Exhibit runs through March 31. Time: By appointment Cost: Free Details: corneliusprojects.com or call (310) 266-9216 Venue: Cornelius Projects, 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro Robert Irwin, Site Determined Robert Irwin’s exploration of light as a medium in art and his association with the early California conceptual movement, established him as a member of the post-war avant-garde. Exhibit runs through April 15. Time: Sun.- Thurs., 12 to 5 p.m. Wed.,12-8 p.m. Cost: Free Details: csulb.edu/university-artmuseum Venue: University Art Museum, CSULB College of the Arts, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach
COMMUNITY March 10
Wearable Art Fashion Show Celebrate wearable art with 22 artists as they share their beautiful wearable art at the first wearable art fashion show and fundraiser. Time: 12 to 2 p.m., March 10 Cost: Free Details: www.craftedportla.com Venue: Crafted at the Port of LA, 112 E. 22nd St., San Pedro 2018 STEM Funshop at the Port of Los Angeles An educational event for students of all ages designed to stimulate the brain with activities
USC Day of SCervice Join USC Alumni Second Decade Society and USC Marshall Alumni - Los Angeles for a tour of the Battleship USS Iowa on USC Alumni Association Day of SCervice. Be sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes. Must be 18 or older to participate. Time: 8 a.m., March 10 Details: https://www. tinyurl.com/USC-AlumniDayofService Venue: Pacific Battleship Center - Battleship USS
March 18
Rock Painting Party Kick of a community-wide kindness project by getting crafty and paint positive with like-minded folks. The group will paint encouraging and uplifting messages on rocks in two San Pedro locations to hide throughout San Pedro for others to find. Time: 1 to 4 p.m., Crafted and 3 to 4 p.m., the Garden Church, March 18 Details: www.facebook. com/meaningfullart1/ Venue: Crafted at the Port of LA, 112 E. 22nd St., San Pedro; the Garden Church, 429 W. 6th St., San Pedro Young Scientists Symposium Each year, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium presents a symposium of research projects recently conducted by CMA student volunteers and brings together scientists of all ages to talk about their shared love of science with the public. RSVP to aquaticnursery. research@cmaqua.org to attend. Time: 3 to 6 p.m., March 18 Cost: Free Details: www.cabrillo marineaquarium.org Venue: John M. Olguin Auditorium, CMA,3720 Stephen M. White Dr., San Pedro
March 24
Spring Plant Sale This annual plant sale is an important fundraiser for the South Coast Botanic Garden and a popular community event. Stop by early to see the best selection. Members only preview at 7 a.m., open to the public at 9 a.m. Time: 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., March 24 Cost: $6-$9 Details: www.southcoast botanicgarden.org; (310) 544-1948 Venue: South Coast Botanic Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos Verdes Peninsula
March 8 - 21, 2018
Alex Snydman Quartet Josh Nelson, Danny Janklow, Jonat Drummer and composer, Alex Snydman will perform pieces from Snydman’s forthcoming album entitled
Ongoing
The Rebel Body Angels Gate Cultural Center presents The Rebel Body, a solo show by Johanna Breiding. Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Mondays through Fridays, and 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through March 17 Cost: Free Details: angelsgateart.org Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro
The Dinner Detective Murder Mystery Cruise Enjoy a cruise on the ocean, a four-course meal, and a murder mystery show at the Dinner Detective Long Beach. Time: 6 to 9 p.m., March 17 Cost: $79.95, plus taxes and service fees Details: www.thedinner detective.com Venue: Grand Romance Riverboat, 200 Aquarium Way, Dock #4, Long Beach
Centaur in the Garden
centered around Science, Technology, Engineering and Math- ematics (STEM). Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., March 10 Cost: Free Details: www.portoflos angeles.org Venue: Banning’s Landing Community Center, 100 E. Water St., Wilmington
Real News, Real People, Really Effective
3’s Co. at Jackson’s Place Windy Barnes Farrell performs at Jackson’s Place with pianist Lindsey Hundley and percussionist Oliver C. Brown. Time: 8 p.m., March 17 Cost: Free Details: (424) 477-5220 Venue: Jackson’s Place, 335 W. 7th St., San Pedro
Sound Love, as well as choice standards and modern favorites. Time: 8 to 10 p.m. March 17 Cost: $20 Details: www.alvasshowroom. com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
through May 27. Time: 6:30 p.m., March 16 Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon.- Fri. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sun. Cost: Free Details: www.pvartcenter.org Venue: PV Art Center, 5504 W. Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes
15
T
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
urbulent times inspire powerful music. We are in those times. Artists of every kind can make powerful protest music. Yet, often because of the immeasurable and varied ways we now consume music, coupled with our demanding lifestyles, protest music is not always front and center. I happened upon one such video by Bay Area singer songwriter, Don Arbor. His song, Everyone Comes From Somewhere is a striking message to counter anti-immigrant sentiment. Arbor’s voice is mellow and inflected with folk stylings, but the power is in the message. Everyone Comes From Somewhere, is a welcome song for immigrants that is extremely relevant today. Donald Trump announced he was ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program on March 5 unless the U.S. Congress found a solution for about 800,000 dreamers brought here as small children by their parents. The Dreamers still await a congressional decision on their fate to remain living and working in the only country they have known. Arbor is an award-winning video artist. He has a particular talent for protest music, although his repertoire encompasses much more. His music has been compared to such varied performers as Glenn Frey, George Harrison, Steely Dan, and Green Day. In his video, with assistance from Bay Area filmmakers Charles Koppelman and Irene Young, Arbor weaves images that portray our immigrant past and present. In his words,
Don Arbor Carries on the Tradition of Protest Music By Melina Paris, Music Columnist
Bay Area singer/songwriter Don Arbor.
he came of age at a time when music with a message was very popular. “Like Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind, A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall and Masters of War,” Arbor said. “Those Dylan songs that had a message.” Arbor’s initial thought to write the song struck from a conversation with his mother’s caregiver, Karen, an immigrant from the Caribbean. “We talked about how badly she felt, given what she was hearing, so hostile toward immigrants,” Arbor said. “When she said that, I agreed and I just blurted out, ‘Everyone comes from somewhere.’ As if to say, ‘What makes you think you’re better because of where you come from?’ Her response to that was, “Yeah, everyone comes from somewhere. You should write a song about that.” He started writing that afternoon. It took more than a year and a half to make it into the song that it became. “I wound up with a file of so many ideas that it would almost have been a book or a short story,” Arbor said. Arbor has two other poignant videos. One is called, If I Had a Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon, after the 17-yearold who was shot and killed by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in February 2012. The other is Salam Pax, a peace anthem written in the words of an Iraqi blogger who wrote during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Arbor discussed his motivation to keep speaking out, if he becomes discouraged GRAND
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and his remedy for discouragement. He called himself hopeful but he always pays attention to what’s going on around him. Arbor’s Trayvon Martin song was triggered by hearing President Barack Obama observe, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” “That just struck me as such a human empathic thing for our leader to say,” Arbor said. “And you could see the emotion in his face. You could hear it in his voice.” The video makes a statement about the stand-your-ground laws in Florida, both in imagery (a car trunk full of guns for sale for $2) and words. It shows how the law allowed a neighborhood watch volunteer to disregard directions by the police to do nothing and wait for them to arrive and then persuade a jury to acquit him of the second-degree murder and manslaughter of an unarmed teenager. “I would hope that we’ve turned a corner and that the activism coming from Florida catches on like a wildfire that can’t be stopped,”Arbor said. Do I ever get discouraged? Yeah. There’s a [Brothers, from p. 11]
Brothers
Through it all, the Everly Brothers remained noncontroversial, even nostalgic of a more peaceful and more innocent America. Even if it never really existed. That’s not a knock against the brothers. It’s just to say that in a social moment fraught with tension and unease, there’s a place for good music that shifts attention away from the things that are pulling us apart. The Everly Brothers had cross genre appeal that may have had a great deal to do with the moment in which they emerged. This moment was created because of Elvis Presley and other white artists who ensured that black music would no longer be easily segregated in the race music aisle of the record store. The line between country music and rock ‘n’ roll was blurred by artists like Buddy Holly and Ray Charles. In a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, Don Everly noted that when they first came out in the late 1950s, the record companies didn’t like rock ‘n’ roll and interviewers from the press, were always old curmudgeons compared to the artists they were covering. Then the world changed when the Sixties came along, and everyone suddenly got real young, and if you were more that 30, they didn’t trust you. Don was comfortable with the change that was happening during that time and wanted to be a part of it. Phil Everly — not so much. During that same interview, Phil admitted that the Sixties weren’t his cup of tea. “I never bought that philosophy that, you know, we’re all brothers and that’ll solve everything. And I never believed that music dictated the times. I always thought it reflected them. We were against the grain in that period, and there was a lot of confusion about our direction. Maybe we were just losing the freshness of it all, losing interest.”
song I wrote on that very subject called Hope Is Hard to Kill. The idea behind that is we’ve been through a lot of rough times in the past and that we managed to get through them. We get through them by fighting back, by maintaining our hope and our activism.” Arbor is also open to the wounds that our present and our history have inflicted. It’s a constant tension between being a feeling person and resisting the urge to be defeatist. Song writing is a big help to him. “One of the reasons I do it is, there’s strength and power in communication and songs communicate,” Arbor said. Speaking to current protest music, Arbor mentions his two sons who are 21 and 18 years old and big fans of Kendrick Lamar. Through their influence he’s also become a big fan. “My first impression of Kendrick Lamar was his … incendiary performance at the 2016 Grammys, when he did Blacker the Berry and Alright, with cuffs and band members behind bars, followed by a bonfire,” Arbor said. “That took a lot of courage, not to mention a great performance. More recently — like most everybody else — I think Humble is a great track, with a surprising message. He’s really got a great boldness and vision about political and social issues that I appreciate. It’s refreshing to hear somebody have that courage to speak out.” Songs with messages were powerful to Arbor as a teenager, and inspired him. “I feel like I’m trying to carry on a tradition, where you can have a message in a song, speak your truth and people get some support for their own views. Music can build community that way.” The Everly Brothers didn’t always get along with each other, and their music didn’t necessarily keep up with the times. In a way, their music remained timeless. On The Everly Brothers Experience website, Zachary and Dylan say they are not impersonators, but aim to honor the aesthetics of the Everly Brothers’ sounds and honor their place in music history, all the while having a little fun telling their personal story. Zachary and Dylan began developing The Everly Brothers Experience show in 2016 along with their partner and drummer, Burleigh Drummond. Since then, the trio has traveled the world sharing the Everly Brothers’ sound and music in iconic clubs, theaters, performing arts centers, casinos, ballrooms and coliseums. A part of that experience is their accounts of meeting people connected to the Everly Brothers. One day they met and spent time with Del Bryant, son of one of the most significant and prolific songwriting teams in the 20th century, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. Del became a significant songwriter in his own right, and also spent time as CEO and president of BMI records. The Zmeds also relate the experience of becoming friends with great 1960s pop singer Julie Grant, who toured the United Kingdom with the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones in 1963. The bottom line is that The Everly Brothers Experience promises more than a simple tribute band can offer. The Everly Brothers Experience promises respite from tension-ridden angst of this moment. Time: 8 p.m., March 10 Cost: $25 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
[Kids Stand Up, from p. 7]
Kids Stand Up to the NRA the exact opposite of what virtually all other research has shown in multiple different forms. Marshall specifically drew a parallel to the “positive good” arguments for slavery, which emerged in 1830s and 40s precisely when the abolitionist movement began to seriously threaten its continued existence. Before that time, slave owners generally did not defend slavery as good, but rather as a temporary necessity, better than the available alternatives. Once it came under serious attack that they took up the notion it was a positive good. A more complex combination of events seems to have played a similar role regarding guns: the 1994 assault weapons ban made broader bans seem imaginable, the sharp drop in crime rates made guns-for-safety arguments less widely salient, and shocking shootings like Columbine made their deadly dangers more salient than ever. Whatever was most responsible, Lott’s research struck a chord, and the logic of his work spread in the NRA-nurtured gun culture, even though his work was discredited. Open carry laws, stand your ground laws and more are evidence of this same logic—a coherent narrative entirely at odds with the facts.
A Missing Movement’s Emergence
Children and parents protest Florida’s lax gun laws in the wake of the Parkland, Fla. shooting. Right, CNN’s Jake Tapper moderates a town hall meeting where student Cameron Kasky, left, faced off with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, an ardent gun rights supporter. File photos.
the Second Amendment and banning assault weapons. Student after student said they had no problem with the Second Amendment, echoing what the courts have already said, but in common sense conversational terms. Third, that the NRA is a bad-faith actor, and doesn’t represent what millions of its members want — much less gun owners in general or the American people. There’s now a good deal of polling on this point, and it only becomes more obvious the more wildly the NRA attacks the students survivors of Parkland.
A Changing Vision
One week after the Parkland massacre, the NRA’s Executive Vice President, addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he claimed that the right to bear arms is “not bestowed by man but granted by God to all Americans as our American birthright.” That statement was called “patently heretical” by Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary and Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, Dean of Union’s Episcopal Divinity School. The statement “demonstrates the NRA intends to continue sacrificing children on our culture’s—not God’s—bloodied altar,” they said, adding: Contrary to Mr. LaPierre’s rhetoric, this ubiquity of weapons is not a holy, ordained right but rather induces divine lament. In Isaiah, the prophet foretells a world in which people, “beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” The
Locke or Jesus. They’re talking about their dead friends and classmates, and their fierce determination to see that carnage end. But eventually, over time, they will inevitably meet up with these older streams of philosophical argument, because that is where our true protection lies. Meanwhile, they’re reaching an entire generation that feels the same way, with 455 March for Our Lives events listed on Facebook by March 5. In Long Beach, Trevor Schnack took the lead. “I had to create this event using my father’s account because, while I’m old enough to buy a gun in some states, I’m not old enough to create a public Facebook event,” he explained. (See community events for details.) Schnack told Random Lengths he considered himself apolitical, though he had interned for Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, and his father serves on the city’s Commission on Children and Youth. A planning meeting he organized drew students from five high schools and one middle school. Right now, they’ve just got their hands full planning for the march. But already there’s mention of California’s official High School Voter Education Weeks, April 15-28, in the events discussion thread. It only takes one student at a school to make it happen, with pre-registration starting at age 16. And there are hundreds of similar groups all across America. The future is being shaped right now.
March 8 - 21, 2018
vision: We don’t have to live like this.” And, she pointed out, “People say, ‘After Sandy Hook, nothing changed.’ That’s wrong. A lot changed. The movement got moving. But the groundwork had been laid by Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, and Aurora.” Goss highlighted that in her book, “I examined historical movements for social reform that faced big obstacles but mobilized masses of Americans. What was their secret? They framed their activity in terms of caring for children,” and thus, “@MomsDemand picks up a long tradition of women’s activism,” but “What I did not foresee when I wrote that book was that children would become a moral voice of the movement. The #MSDStrong kids shame us with #NeverAgain. They ask us, their civic parents, to take care of them.” It won’t be easy, she warns, “But this isn’t fundamentally a policy debate,” it’s about our capacity to act for the common good, and also about political power which “isn’t just about money, or even primarily so. It’s about creating a moral vision and organizing to attain it.” “That’s what the young people at #MSDStrong are doing,” she concluded. “They are developing a moral vision and asking us, their civic parents, to stop fighting and join them. Is this different? Yes, I think it is.” The exact outlines of that moral vision are still being fleshed out. But at least three key themes are worth noting, for how they’ve begun to break the NRA’s spell: First, that preventing gun deaths should be the paramount concern, and that more guns are not the solution. Student after student from Parkland said the same thing, each in their own way. “We are going to be the kids you read about in textbooks,” is how Gonzalez put it. “We are going to be the last mass shooting.” And when Donald Trump proposed arming teachers as a way to protect schools, everyone from veterans groups and law enforcement to teachers and school administrators echoed the students rejection of it. Second, that there’s no conflict between
But now, she said, “Much has changed. The movement is no longer missing. Philanthropists have made big commitments. But more importantly, social media have drastically cut the costs of communication, coordination and mobilization. People who never would have met now ‘gather’ on Facebook to build solidarity and organize their offline work.” What’s more, Goss said, “The gun violence prevention movement is much more strategic, too. It’s working state by state to pass laws that empower local authorities to enforce the gun laws we already have, especially around domestic violence.” But, “Most important, there is a critical mass of survivors and family members — more than 1,000 of them, organized state-by-state — as well as tens of thousands of energized moms who are providing a moral
In fact, the pretence that gun rights come from God isn’t Biblical at all. It comes from severely misreading John Locke, whose Second Treatise on Civil Government helped inform our Founders’ political worldview. Locke did say that men had god-given rights in a pre-political “state of nature,” in which no one rules over them. But those rights in that state were so insecure, that it “makes him willing to quit a condition, which, however free, is full of fears and continual dangers” Thus, according to Locke, it’s the very inability of weapons to provide individual security which is the foundation of legitimate government. I wrote about this at length for Al Jazeera English after Sandy Hook, in a piece titled “Locke and Unload.” The Parkland survivors aren’t talking about
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The third movement was described by Kristin Goss in a Twitter thread on Feb. 26—the underappreciated growth of a gun control movement since the Columbine shooting, around the time she began work on Disarmed: The Missing Movement for Gun Control in America, published in 2006. In it she wrote that—contrary to popular perceptions—the Columbine massacre, together with other mass shootings around the same time, did change something that “countless other gun violence traumas failed to do.” She explained: “These shootings planted the seeds of a sustained, visible, grassroots, nation-spanning gun control effort. New leaders emerged, new tactics were pioneered, and new interest groups formed.” When the book was published it was still too early to say what the future held, but she aimed to answer the question, “If a gun control movement were to arise in America, why didn’t it happen before Columbine? Where was this missing movement?” In her thread, Goss first summarizing the main things she found missing: 1.) money; 2.) realistic policy goals; 3.) a message inspiring to everyday sympathizers.”
NRA’s dream of a gun for every person simply does not square with this biblical vision. Between Mr. LaPierre’s word and the Bible’s, it’s clear where we must place our trust. Similarly, the NRA’s claim that safety lies in guns directly contradicts Jesus’ own teaching. In the moment he was arrested to be crucified, Jesus commanded his followers to disavow violent response, promising “all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
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Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2018052390 The following person is doing business as: W.C. Triplett Cleaners, 2138 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Willie Cameron, 658 W. 22nd Street, #1, San Pedro, Ca 90731. Luz Cameron, 658 W. 22nd Street, #1, San Pedro, Ca 90731 This Business is conducted by a husband and wife. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious
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Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2018048278 The following person is doing business as: Depot Painting, 26 Rockinghorse Rd, RPV, CA 90275. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Dulux Painting, 26 Rockinghorse Rd, RPV, CA 90275. This Business is conducted by a corporation. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: Jan. 30, 2018. 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/. John Mantikas, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Feb. 27, 2018. 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
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ACROSS
1 Big meals 8 Abrasive stones 15 Restricted, one way 16 Amount of a minor shock 17 Frazzle 18 Thorny problem 19 Glance of contempt 20 Oprah’s longtime partner Graham 21 They hold onto everything 23 Barnyard noise 24 Give permission 28 Reason for news to interrupt regular programming 36 Roam (about) 37 “Le Misanthrope” playwright 38 Assessment that may determine how well you work with others 40 In a way 41 “411” 43 Fuel-efficient vehicle 50 Tiny organism 54 Lovingly, in music 55 Freeloaders 56 Fallen for 57 First name on Mount Rushmore
58 “Gimme,” in more words 59 Tooth component 60 Egg containers
DOWN
1 Early Baseball Hall-of-Famer Edd 2 Film composer Morricone 3 “Bear” that’s not a bear 4 Like ___ in the headlights 5 Fathered 6 “Fiddler on the Roof” protagonist 7 Completely avoid, with “of” 8 Detergent containers that I shouldn’t have to tell you never to eat 9 Fathom, e.g. 10 “___ Kalikimaka” (Bing Crosby holiday song) 11 Exclamation akin to “Eureka!” 12 Council 13 Jazz trumpeter Ziggy 14 Played terribly 22 Sound of lament 25 Relating to coins or currency 26 Mail delivery site? 27 ___ May Clampett (“Beverly Hillbillies” daughter) 28 Oil additive letters 29 Early start?
30 Food involved in “typewriter eating,” according to tvtropes. org 31 Caption seen early in an alphabet book, maybe 32 NASDAQ newcomers 33 “It comes ___ surprise ...” 34 E-file agency 35 Badminton divider 39 Some capts.-to-be 41 “Grrr!” 42 Mythological weeper 44 Kitchen appliance brand 45 TV weatherman Al 46 Armour’s Spam rival 47 Apartment that’s owned 48 “Lord of the Rings” actor Sean 49 “The Tonight Show” house band, with “The” 51 “Fancy meeting you here!” 52 Rowan Atkinson’s “Mr.” character 53 J.D. Salinger title character ©2018 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers go to: www.randomlengthsnews.com
DBA AND LEGAL NOTICES [from p. 18] 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code). Original filing: 03/08/2018, 03/22/2018, 04/5/2018, 04/19/2018
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2018046612 The following person is doing business as: Jackie’s Multi Services, 1300 1/2 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1833, San Pedro, CA 90733. Registered owners: Jacqueline G. Bravo, 1300 1/2 N. Gaffey St., 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: 02/01/2013. 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/. Jacqueline G. Bravo, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2018. 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: 03/08/2018, 03/22/2018, 04/5/2018, 04/19/2018
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2018046613 The following person is doing business as: LA Ilusion Catering, 1631 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1833, San Pedro, CA 90733. Registered owners: Jacqueline G. Bravo, 1631 S. Pacific Ave., 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: 02/01/2013. 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/. Jacqueline G. Bravo, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2018. 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: 03/08/2018, 03/22/2018, 04/5/2018, 04/19/2018
INITIAL STUDY/MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION FOR THE BERTHS 238-239 [PBF ENERGY] MARINE OIL TERMINAL WHARF IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT The City of Los Angeles Harbor Department (Harbor Department) has prepared an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) to address the environmental effects of compliance with the Marine Oil Terminal Engineering and Maintenance Standards (MOTEMS) at the PBF Energy Terminal including demolition of an existing concrete wharf and construction of a new concrete loading platform. The MOTEMS are comprehensive engineering standards for the design, inspection and maintenance of marine oil terminals. The project also includes a new, 30-year lease to allow for the continued operation of the tank farm. The project includes sites identified on the State of California Hazardous Waste and Substances List (Cortese List) compiled pursuant to Government Code Section 65962.5. The IS/MND is being circulated for a period of 30 days for public review and comment.
The public has an opportunity to provide written comments on the information contained within the IS/MND. The 30-day public review period starts on March 2, 2018 and ends on April 2, 2018. A copy of the document is available for public review on the Port of Los Angeles website at: http:// www.portoflosangeles.org; the Harbor Department’s Environmental Management Division located at 222 West 6th Street, 9th Floor, 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/MND should be submitted in writing prior to the end of the 30-day public review period and must be postmarked by April 2 2018. Please submit written comments to: Christopher Cannon, Director City of Los Angeles Harbor Department Environmental Management Division 425 S. Palos Verdes Street San Pedro, CA 90731 Written comments may also be sent via email to ceqacomments@portla.org and should include the project title in the subject line. For additional information, please contact Tara Tisopulos with the Environmental Management Division at (310) 732-7713. CN946563 BERTHS 238-239 Mar 8, 2018
RANDOMLetters [Letters, from p. 9]
political enablers. Republicans in Washington are so completely bought by the NRA that new federal laws are unlikely in the short term. But the students leading the movement to end gun violence— from Parkland and from communities across the country that have been impacted—aren’t waiting for the Republicans in Washington, and neither is MoveOn.
Student-led groups and their allies, including hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members, are calling on corporations to stand up to the NRA, and this #BoycottNRA movement is catching on like wildfire. The retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods is the latest to defy the NRA by taking AR-15s and high-capacity magazines off its store shelves, while Walmart and others are raising the age of who can purchase guns. Indeed, the NRA isn’t invincible. (Remember the
old “emperor has no clothes” parable? That’s the NRA right now.) MoveOn is joining students in keeping the pressure on corporate America and pushing to pass new laws in state legislatures. And MoveOn has launched one of its biggest campaigns ever to end Republican control of Congress in the 2018 midterms this November, so that by this time next year, we can kick out some of the NRA’s biggest congressional enablers, show that the NRA can be beat, and start to move forward with common sense gun legislation in Congress, too. I pledge to stand with students—not by carrying a gun but by standing up to the NRA. Will you join me in the fight against gun violence by making a donation to MoveOn today? Robert Reich Former Secretary of Labor, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley Send Letters to the Editor to: letters @randomlengthsnews. com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor must include your name with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but are for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words.
Real News, Real People, Really Effective March 8 - 21, 2018
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March 8 - 21, 2018
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant