Homelessness Part II: Harbor Interfaith walks a tightrope pg. 4 Supreme Court’s women pg. 7
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Harold Greene switches up with local band, Switch Off pg. 11 Babouch Moroccan Restaurant celebrates 38 pg. 12 CEO Darren Eng demonstrated a component of Greenbelt Resources food waste regulating system, at the PortTechEXPO in San Pedro. The system converts food waste and beverages, into fuel, fertilizer, feed and filtered waste through a modular system. Photo by Mike Botica.
Polluters’ Coup Takes Over Air Control Agency Multi-Front Response Begins By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
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The Local Publication You Actually Read
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Stan Tomsic, executive director of PortTech LA. Photo by Taso Papadakis. Courtesy of PortTech.
March 17 - 30, 2016
[See PortTech, page 2]
This past year, ILWU Local 13 President Bobby Olvera said more had to be done to impress shippers and big box carriers of the importance of organizing their cargo as efficiently as possible. “When you’re bringing 150 to 200 cans, and they’re kind of scattered, that means they are going to be scattered throughout the yard,” Olvera said at the time. If the March 10 PortTech Expo was any indication, technology firms in the marketplace heard this call. The event’s first panel discussion dealt with the impact of technology startups on the supply chain. Panelists included Project 44 Chief Operating Officer Chris Helton, Cargomatic President and co-Founder Brett Parker, Flexport CEO Ryan Peterson and FLEXE CEO and co-Founder Karl Siebrecht.
olluting industries and their allies pulled off a coup at the nation’s top regional air quality agency on March 4, firing the long-time executive officer in a closed door session. Dr. Barry Wallerstein had served as executive officer at the South Coast Air Quality Management District since 1997. He was fired without explanation, and with just four days notice, when the closed door action item appeared on the AQMD board’s online agenda. The 7-6 vote reflected a new Republican majority on the board. The incident prompted public shock and outrage, and a promise of state legislative action to restore majority representation to protect the region’s public health. Clean air advocates at the meeting denounced the firing as “radical,” especially ill-timed and politically motivated. State Senate leader Kevin de León immediately denounced the firing as a “shameful action” that “is only the latest in a disturbing trend of dirty energy interests dismantling clean air rules that the public overwhelmingly supports.” De León commended Wallerstein “for his outstanding leadership and commitment to protecting public health,” and pledged to “work to ensure the board returns to its core mission of improving and protecting air quality, rather than catering to oil industry needs.” The following Tuesday, March 7, de León announced his intention to pass a law adding three more members to the board, a public health expert appointed by the governor and two environmental justice members appointed by state Senate and Assembly leaders. The leadership coup—engineered in secret—follows a controversial vote this past December to reject a staff-proposed revision of the district’s nitrogen oxide reduction program (NOx RECLAIM) to meet clean air goals. The program had been three years in the making. The proposal would replace the program with a last-minute industry alternative, another back-room, business-backed plan. But as has long been the case in California, the polluter’s influence has crossed party lines. This is reflected in the NOx RECLAIM vote, when San Pedro Councilman Joe Buscaino (a Republican-turnedDemocrat) and Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, also a Democrat, both voted to approve the industry plan. “I thought that Barry was doing a very good job at what he was trying to get accomplished on the major issues that were confronting AQMD,” Board member Joe Lyou told Random Lengths. “We finally have the technology we need to get to clean air now. And, it was thanks in part to his work and support for the development of that technology, and that he had, at least, a willingness to try to get the agency there.” “As soon as we learned that this was something being considered [See AQMD, page 6]
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