RLn 03-31-16

Alameda Corridor gets a new finance deal, but what do residents get? pg. 6 Choosing Us—Evolve creates change through the power of theater pg. 11 Ports O’ Call Restaurant embraces the coming change pg. 12

Sen. Bernie Sanders at Safeco field in Seattle, Washington on March 25. Photo by Alex Garland Photography.

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

T

After 20-Plus Years, EPA Finally Says ‘Enough’

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

On March 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency informed the South Coast Air Quality Management District that its 2012 pollution reduction plan for meeting Clean Air Act standards did not pass muster.

The EPA rejected key elements of the plan, stating that the central cap-and-trade program “has not been effective,” approving others and setting some aside.

It was the sharpest of several recent signs that the AQMD, under increasing industry influence, is significantly out of step with the science, the law and the regulatory community. The EPA had been on track to approve the plan before a group of public health and environmental organizations raised objections this last

November. The group was represented by Earthjustice.

The specific concern was nitrogen oxide, NOx, for its role as a contributor to fine particulate matter, PM 2.5. Particulate matter also contributes to ground-level ozone (smog). AQMD’s NOx cap-and-trade program, NOx RECLAIM, has repeatedly failed to perform as well as direct regulation of refineries and other facilities.

This is required by state and federal law, dating back to its inception in 1994. But oversight has been lax and slow-moving. So, the EPA’s action was attentiongrabbing, especially in light of recent AQMD actions weakening its regulatory commitment—most notably by ignoring its own staff and adopting an oil industry [See AQMD, page 7]

March 31 - April 13, 2016

[See Endorsement, page 3]

AQMD Pollution Plan Violates Clean Air Act

he leadership followed the lead of its rank and file on March 24, when the executive board of the International ILWU endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders.

With an online ILWU rank and file for Bernie Sanders movement, Sanders’ primary wins in Washington, Hawaii and Alaska by wide margins seems to reflect that fact.

He won at least 71 percent of the vote in each state, including 82 percent in Alaska.

“Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for America’s working families,” said ILWU International President Robert McEllrath.

“Bernie is best on the issues that matter most to American workers: better trade agreements, support for unions, fair wages, tuition for students and public colleges, Medicare for all, fighting a corrupt campaign finance system and confronting the power of Wall Street that’s making life harder for most Americans.”

“The reason we are doing well is because we are talking about the real issues facing America and we’re telling the truth,” said Sanders in a victory speech in Wisconsin.

The union represents roughly 50,000 workers in California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Bernie Gets ILWU Endorsement and Landslide Wins in Three States

1

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Overcoming Mistrust

The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council invites stakeholders to attend a Los Angeles Police Department and community panel. The panel, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, will feature California State Sen. Holly Mitchell, community activists and members of the LAPD. will be moderated by Sandy Banks, former Los Angeles Times columnist. RSVP is required.

Time: 9:30 a.m. April 2 Cost: Free Details: (213) 368-1616; www.lwvlosangeles.org Venue: Loyola Law School, 919 Albany St., Los Angeles

POLAHS E-Waste Collection and Fundraiser

The Port of Los Angeles High School is hosting an electronic waste recycling drive in a “drive-thru” style. Enter on 5th St. and exiting onto 3rd St. Simply load your waste into your trunk and workers will remove the waste and properly handle it.

All proceeds will be donated to POLAHS for a scholarship in environmental studies.

Times: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 23 Details: (310) 832-9201 Venue: POLAHS, 250 W. 5th St., San Pedro

GDB Replacement Project Work

All lanes of northbound and southbound Pico Avenue will be closed underneath Ocean Boulevard.

During this closure, traffic on Pico Avenue will be unable to travel under Ocean Boulevard (Gerald Desmond Bridge) between Broadway Road and Pier E Street. In addition, from 9 p.m. April 7 to 5 a.m. April 8, there will be no access to Pico from westbound Ocean Boulevard, and the off-ramp from westbound Ocean Boulevard to Pico Avenue will be closed.

Public Meeting on International Terminal Potential

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

To determine the feasibility of a Federal Inspection Service facility at the Long Beach Airport, the Long Beach City Council recently approved a contract with Jacobs Engineering Group to study this issue.

The final report shall include potential community impact, market analysis, airport scope and capacity, financial feasibility, economic impact, assessment of environmental impact, and security risk assessment. Furthermore, the contract calls for community meetings to gather public input and to hear from neighbors.

In addition to airport staff, members of the Jacobs Engineering Group team will be present to speak with and hear from residents and provide materials regarding the study.

Time: 6 to 8 p.m. April 20 Venue: Long Beach Gas & Oil Auditorium: 2400 E. Spring St., Long Beach

POLA Community Investment Grant

For the third consecutive year, the Port of Los Angeles will make up to $1 million in nontaxpayer funded community grants through the Community Investment Grant Program, which supports initiatives, programs and events [See Announcements, page 7]

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

Animals Rule: Breaking the Chains of Confinement

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

Prisons exist all around us. It is possible to wander past a prison and not even realize it exists.

In the heart of the Harbor, there exists a little-known site, right on Harbor Boulevard, where prisoners are released from solitary confinement on a regular basis. Animals Rule is an animal rescue group operated by volunteers and managed by Stephanie Crawford, the owner of Creative Pet Supply.

Each week fortunate dogs and cats are adopted into loving homes. Formerly abandoned and neglected animals find comfort with families seeking to grow their own families through the unconditional love of a pet.

Lokie, a pure-bred German shepherd, had a particularly rough start to his life. Through a stroke of fate, Lokie was saved in the effort to rescue a small bichon frise named Niño.

“We were closing one Saturday and a customer came in asking for a tie-out cable,” said Crawford.

Crawford was immediately alerted to the request because tying down dogs is illegal in Los Angeles. During the conversation, she found out that the man was a customer at a mechanic shop in Wilmington. He was concerned about the small dog who kept escaping from the mechanic yard.

Crawford asked if she could talk to the owner of the shop. Astoundingly, the owner agreed to let her visit the shop. She found not one, but two animals chained to a wall.

Lokie was living a hopeless life, chained to the end of a 25-pound chain. Nuzzled in between a wall and a truck was his living quarters. He slept and lived in his own urine and feces his entire life. He had never been bathed. Lokie sat at the end of the heavy chain with his head cocked to one side. Visitors to the yard believed that his neck was broken from the weight of the chain and feared that he may be vicious. Lokie had never had human contact. He had never walked any further than the 3-foot chain would allow.

“He could only turn around and sit down,” Crawford said. “He was never off that chain. As he turned the chain cranked around his neck and caused his head to turn to one side. I asked them

The Aquarium of the Pacific unveiled the design of a new $53 million project—a 29,000-squarefoot, two-story sustainable structure called the Pacific Visions wing. San Francisco-based architecture and design firm EHDD designed the wing.

Pacific Visions will include a new theater featuring a curved 130 by 32-foot screen, a retractable 30-foot-diameter floor projection disc, a 6,000-square-foot exhibit space and art gallery. The City of Long Beach, American Honda Motor Co. and private contributions are funding Pacific Visions.

Details: www.aquariumofpacific.org/news/pacificvisions

March 31 - April 13, 2016

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to remove the chain and they said it was rusted and could not be removed.”

After many attempts to remove the chain Crawford was ready to ask her husband to bring bolt cutters, but one worker finally unscrewed the bolts holding the dog. When the chain dropped to the ground, Lokie simply sat and looked at his rescuer.

“All I could do was cry,” Crawford said.

As the dog began to walk she noticed a limp.

On Lokie’s first veterinarian visit, an x-ray was taken that showed no serious hip damage, but the muscles on one side had atrophied from sitting on cold concrete. Lokie also had blood bulbs and blisters on his elbows from the concrete. After a few weeks, those began to heal.

“Now, because he gets out twice a day he runs and jumps and each day he gets better,” Crawford said. “Today, you can barely tell that he had those problems.”

Animals Rule has created a wide network of relationships to assist with the rehabilitation of their rescue animals. In addition to the many volunteers, foster homes and veterinarian care, K-9 Companions in Corona helps with the reintegration of their animals. K-9 Companions specializes in dog training, as well as training individuals who want to become professional animal trainers.

“They have trained several dogs for me

before,” Crawford said. “I took him out there to have him assessed to find out what kind of training he will need, how long it will be and how much it will cost. He passed with flying colors.

On April 9 he will be going into training and they will work with him for three weeks. Our goal is to be able to train him to walk and respond to commands so he can eventually be adopted.”

According to the Humane Society, it takes about three months for a dog, who has lived his entire life on a chain, to learn how to play and chase a ball because they have been so traumatized.

The training will cost about $1,500. Today, Lokie is like a toddler, who jumps and plays and craves attention, but does not know how to sit and stay put. His gentle temperament provides a glimpse into his potential as a family pet. When he is finally adopted he will require new owners who are committed to his progress towards becoming a faithful companion.

Niño and Lokie are together now in the safe environment of the kennels at Animals Rule, but they will soon find new homes and the love they were denied.

It is easy to see how the cost of rescuing animals can run up quickly. Funding for the nonprofit organization is raised through their website and through tax-refundable adoption fees. With a small staff of volunteers, Animals Rule finds homes for about 200 animals each year. There are four full-time volunteers and another five who volunteer on a part-time basis.

To volunteer or donate to Animals Rule call (310) 832-9929 or visit animalsrule.org. Foster homes that house and assess a dog’s temperament are especially needed.

Open Tues.-Sat. 10-5

Wilmington Marina Boat Owners Looking for Answers to Spill Clean Up

[Endorsement, from page 1]

Endorsement

Craig Merrilees, an ILWU spokesman, noted that the rank-and-file backing for Sanders is clear.

“The support was significant at the grassroots level,” Merrilees said. “Many local bodies throughout the union had already recommended endorsements.”

Caney Arnold, founder of L.A. South Bay for Bernie and L.A. Harbor for Bernie Facebook pages echoed Merrilees.

“As opposed to many other labor unions making decisions on their own, the ILWU-local and national are listening to their members and the members know who they can count on. They know they can count on Bernie.”

Arnold’s Facebook pages has been the face of the local grass roots support for Sander’s campaign and has been on a mission of pushing forward the ideas encapsulated in Sander’s campaign, such as combating income and wealth inequality and getting big money out of politics.

Ray Cordova of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor believes Sanders can take California and New York from Clinton.

“That endorsement was big potatoes,” Cordova said. “A lot of people are talking about Clinton locking up all of the super delegates. In the entire time we’ve had elections, I don’t care what they say, they have never made a difference in an election and I don’t see that happening now.

There are two places in play right now: California and New York. She [Clinton] may not get it.”

Cordova went on to say that Clinton’s connection to the [Bill Clinton] administration’s North American Free Trade Agreement and the jobs it cost as one significant reason labor is siding with Sanders.

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

ILWU president Robert McEllrath with Sen. Bernie Sanders following the executive board’s endorsement on March 24. Photo Courtesy of the ILWU

Cordova doesn’t expect too many labor leaders campaigning against Clinton as much as simply campaigning for Sanders.

Cordova noted that it wasn’t the ILWU that was first to endorse Sanders, but rather the Los Angeles County Federation.

“We endorsed Sanders a longtime ago,” Cordova said. “I think most of labor will stay on the sidelines. I don’t see them jumping on either side, which I think is fair enough.”

The ILWU is the fifth major union to endorse Sanders, following the Amalgamated Transit Union, which declared its backing for him the week prior. Sanders’ strong support for single-payer healthcare earned him a strong early endorsement from National Nurses United, whose precursor, the California Nurses Association was central in thwarting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s antiunion agenda a decade ago. More than 20 unions, however, have lined up behind Clinton, including the Teamsters, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Laborers’ International Union of North America.

Wilmington marine boat owners called a press conference following an oil spill caused by the car carrier Istra Ace in Cerritos channel near Berth 198 at the Port of Los Angeles.

The 577-foot cargo vessel was bunkering oil from the shore, when the oil leak started from an open valve. The crew saw the leak and stopped bunkering operation, ballasting to stop the leak, but not before a good portion of oil had spilled into the water and caused pollution.

Boat owner Ruthie Harris recalled a spill 20 years prior.

“It was pretty bad,” she said. “It smelled bad. It was real thick in the water. They just came and hauled us all out, which at the time was $2,800. Our last haul out was $6,500 which was last year.”

Harris noted that this spill wasn’t as bad because it was more in the channel, rather than the marina.

“The other one was worse because it was closer to where our boats were,” Harris said.

A man who identified himself as the owner of Pacific Yacht Landing, but only gave his name as “David,” questioned whether the company would fulfill their obligations.

“As far as we know, we were just given a claim number to call,” David said. “They claim they are going to haul the boats out to clean them.

But it’s not just the boats that are affected. Our docks are affected. The Styrofoam is being eaten away by all that oil and it needs to be replaced. I don’t want to pay for someone else’s negligence.

They should pay us to replace it.”

Boat owner Morgan Griffin is concerned about how the company is going to clean the oil from the ocean when they wash off their boats.

“There are a lot of things in crude oil that are really nasty to our health and have a lot of carcinogens,” Griffin said. “These people said they were going to come and wipe down the sides of our boats. No you’re not, because whatever you are going to use to wipe down our boats [See Wilmington, page 4]

The Local Publication You Actually Read

March 31 - April 13, 2016

3

APLA Another Resource for HIV/AIDS Treatment

By Christian L. Guzman, Editorial Intern

AIDS Project in Los Angeles, APLA, is bringing a fresh approach to HIV/AIDS health care in Long Beach.

APLA provides health care and HIV/ AIDS education and prevention services with a focus on serving lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders and people living with limited income. In February, the organization opened a Health and Wellness Center on the St. Mary Medical Center campus.

APLA will share the same floor with another nonprofit that serves people living with HIV/ AIDS, the Comprehensive AIDS Resource and Education, C.A.R.E. Program. For more than 30 years C.A.R.E has provided health services for individuals and families living with HIV/AIDS. The majority of its clients are also low-income.

According to C.A.R.E., in 2015, it served more than 1,000 blacks and Latinos.

Although both facilities provide HIV/AIDS related health care, each fulfills a distinct role.

“The use of primary care as a means of HIV prevention is sorely needed,” said Miguel Gutierrez, the APLA director of health care operations in South Los Angeles County. “That will be the APLA center’s main strategy in Long Beach.”

The rest of the APLA center’s strategy will include HIV testing, evaluations to receive Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, STD screening and treatment, and assistance with health insurance enrollment.

and the C.A.R.E. Program agree that being on the same campus will be convenient for people seeking HIV/AIDS care, especially if people aren’t sure which clinic would meet their needs.

Both clinics will make it clear that the APLA is better suited to treat the causes of HIV/AIDS, while C.A.R.E. Program is better suited to treat the effects of HIV/AIDS. “We [The APLA Health and Wellness Center] have already begun referring HIV-positive patients to C.A.R.E. We have a great deal of respect for them,” Gutierrez said.

Multiple attempts were made to get an

the chief executive officer of APLA Health & Wellness. Specifically the APLA is collaborating with the Children’s Clinic, The Center and the Long Beach Health Department.

“We are making the effort to engage the community,” Gutierrez said. “It takes time, but we’ve been well-received so far.”

The APLA center’s facilities include an exam room, a treatment room and staff space.

Operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The center will expand in the coming months. Once additional construction is complete, there will be

Employees of the C.A.R.E Program underscored that their clinic has an extensive amount of specialized services designed to improve the lives of HIV-positive patients. The program offers HIV medical and dental care, psychiatric and hepatitis-C treatment, counseling and case management, and a food bank.

APLA and C.A.R.E. Program also differ in their funding.

The C.A.R.E. Program is funded by grants from the county, federal and state governments, and private donations. APLA also receives grants and private contributions; however in addition, the APLA is a federally-qualified health center, FQHC. With FQHC status, APLA collects increased reimbursements for caring for underserved patients covered under Medicare or APLA Health & Wellness opened a new Long Beach Health Center January 2016. File Photo Medicaid. Being an FQHC is highly beneficial for health clinics serving these official statement from Dignity Health, which a laboratory and phlebotomy room, counseling types of patients, because it has historically not owns St. Mary’s Medical Center, regarding any rooms, a four-chair dental clinic and more space been easy to collect these payments. formal collaboration with the APLA center. for patient reception and staff. Patients interested “Not every [health clinic] has the same grants, Dignity Health did not respond by press time. in Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, PrEP, will need and our FQHC funding is helping the APLA The APLA center’s own collaboration efforts to be evaluated with a counselor before the complement the other clinics in the community,” extend beyond the C.A.R.E. Program. medication is approved for them. The center is Gutierrez said.

“Providing excellent culturally competent expected to be able to serve about 4,000 patients The APLA Health and Wellness Center care is a community effort, and we are working per year. Services are free or on a low-cost, with other key partners,” said Craig E. Thompson, sliding-fee scale.

[Wilmington, from page 3]

March 31 - April 13, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Wilmington Boat Owners Waiting

4

On March 25, boat owners in the Wilmington Marina protested what they deem as lackluster response to their concerns by the Istar Ace car carrier, the company that caused the March 13 spill in the Cerritos Channel. Photo by Terelle Jerricks

which is illegal to put in our waters.”

The residents believe there’s an ordinance that prevents them pushing the port to improved water safety and other measures.

Boat owners believe 700 and 1,200 gallons of oil spilled into the channel, though the Coast Guard has only reported the initial 50 gallons.

Griffin says that wildlife has been affected, but the U.S. Coast Guard stated that there have been no reports of oiled wildlife at this time.

The cargo company contracted with the National Response Corporation Environmental Services and other subcontractors to contain and clean up the oil.

About 15,600 feet of boom has been deployed around the vessel as well as at critical points in the channel. Additional resources will be deployed as necessary.

Contractors are continuing to clean with sweepers and sorbent pads in the affected area and any affected shoreline, as well as deploy resources for removal of contamination from vessels, docks, pilings and other structures.

Residents who encounter oiled wildlife are asked to not capture any animals. Instead they should call the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at (877) 823-6926. Oil spill impacted persons can file a claim by calling (888) 850-8486.

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for the Even-Numbered Council Seats

When you need help, think local. Support the Independents.

By Mike Botica, Editorial Intern

Long Beach voters in even-numbered districts will have to choose from a plethora of candidates this year. Long Beach City Council facing off in the April 12 election.

District 4 Councilman Daryl Supernaw, who was elected in 2015 after Patrick O’Donnell became an assemblyman, was not opposed this year. However, 10 candidates are campaigning for Districts 2, 6 and 8.

What’s at stake is the leadership and representation of distinct city areas, from downtown Long Beach, where much of the city’s dollars are focused, to culturally diverse areas such north Long Beach and Cambodia Town, which have issues concerning quality of life and public safety.

Some candidates are newcomers vying for a seat on an equal, yet influential, playing field. Others are fiercely challenging incumbents.

There has been recent outrage surrounding a controversial mailer sent out by the Long Beach Citizens for Good Government, a PAC that has contributed to the campaigns of both Wesley Turnbow and Joen Garnica.

Both candidates are supported heavily by local businesses in their districts. Incumbents Al Austin and Dee Andrews both face the challenge of reestablishing their platforms against newcomers, while gaining support from state senators and Mayor Robert Garcia.

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March 31 - April 13, 2016

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Name: Joen Garnica Experience: President of East Village Association, vice president of Promenade Area Residents Association, director of Downtown Residential Council, president of Garnica Interiors Inc. Issues: Building c o m m u n i t y, protecting quality of life and growing local economy Background: Garnica has worked in District 2 for more than 12 years as president of Garnica Interiors Inc., an interior design firm on The Promenade in Downtown Long Beach. Her endorsements include the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee.

“I am running because I’ve been committed to my community for years. That commitment to community is what drives me to serve,” said Garnica in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

Name: Jeannine Pearce Experience: Director of Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, former director of Long Beach Coalition for Good Jobs and a Healthy Community Issues: Building a healthy community, protecting the environment, promoting a thriving local economy and strengthening local democracy.

Background: Pearce has held multiple positions as a community leader in outreach programs. She has worked with Mayor Robert Garcia as a member of his transition team. She was recently endorsed by Rep. Janice Hahn.

“I’ve worked to make sure that working families can put food on their tables, to make sure that the youth have healthy neighborhoods and ensure that our economy is growing and

In Random Lengths News

DESIGNS

When Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal announced she would not seek a third term as a write-in candidate for District 2, three candidates stepped up to represent a district that includes the Port of Long Beach, the East VillageArts District and coastal neighborhoods as far east as Redondo Avenue. They are Joen Garnica, Eric Gray and Jeannine Pearce.

Beach Residential Council, president of ITO Solutions Issues: Economic development, quality of life, public safety, mobility, arts and culture, historic preservation, homelessness, LGBTQ community, music and entertainment, parking improvement and senior citizens Background: Gray helped revamp the Pine Avenue business district as co-founder of the Historic Old Pine Avenue Business Association.

Former Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster has endorsed him. He currently is President of ITO Solutions, a software and hardware company.

“I believe that a candidate like myself needs to balance business, labor and community, and I believe I am the best candidate to do so,” said Gray in a candidate statement to PADNETtv.

5

Alameda Corridor Gets a New Finance Deal

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

At its March 17 board meeting, the Port of Los Angeles agreed to restructure its long-term debt obligation for Alameda Corridor Transit Authority, ACTA. However, its action was not without opening up yet another can of worms in which filled community criticisms. This is especially true when it is centered around familiar themes of unmet environmental mitigation commitment, lack of transparency and questionable long-term

planning.

Relations with the board were quite cordial, particularly with Commissioner Ed Renwick, who has been responsible for the board’s involvement in handling the debt restructuring. And yet, the failure of the corridor to meet expectations— despite its considerable benefits—remained as a background object lesson, tantalizingly beyond grasp.

“I appreciate, Commissioner Renwick, your work on this, and your dedication to try and resolve something, that truly you did inherit, and nobody’s been paying attention to, with a serious effort to resolve it,” said community activist Janet Gunter, who nonetheless drew comparisons to other outstanding problems the port has yet to resolve, as well as recalling questions about the corridor’s financing raised back in the 1990s.

“Thank you all for your comments. They’re great comments, and I very much appreciate them,” Renwick responded in turn, following two other broadly themed critiques.

The corridor—first proposed in the 1980s— has never carried as much volume as originally expected. This is in part because by the time it finally opened in 2003, an alternative mode of freight movement called transloading had been established. Transloading allows for containers to be trucked to Inland Empire warehouse complexes to be repackaged into lighter domestic containers for targeted domestic redistribution.

Per container fee rates had been contractually

Alameda Corridor was to cut emissions drastically. Commissioner Ed Renwich noted that changes in the goods movement and the Great Recession made the corridor less relevant. File photo

locked in at the planning stage. So, there was no option to adjust. But the corridor didn’t run into serious trouble until after the Great Recession hit, after which competition from other ports intensified. This was abetted by the Panama Canal expansion, which further clouded its financial future.

As finance costs in the coming decade grow faster than projected volume, a serious operating shortfall looms. Ports are obligated to cover the shortfall at an estimated cost of about $100 million each. The restructuring—moving larger debt payments to later years when larger volume are projected—is projected to reduce those costs to $17 million each.

“This lowers the cost to the public sector,” said Renwick, lumping together the two ports and the corridor authority. “This is a great transaction.”

That may be so, but news of the restructuring caught the general public by surprise. This was much like recent disclosures of unmet mitigation measures at the China Shipping and TraPac terminals. It also carried a similar undertone— justified or not—of secret dealings hidden from public sight.

“I feel blindsided as a community member,” said Kathleen Woodfield, vice president of San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition. “I [See Alameda Corridor, page 10]

“Together, we’ve won six out of seven of the last contests—by some very large margins—and we’re gaining momentum every day.”

—Bernie Sanders

March 31 - April 13, 2016

ILWU International endorses Bernie Sanders

6

“Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for America’s working families.

Bernie is best on the issues that matter most to American workers: better trade agreements, support for unions, fair wages, tuition for students and public colleges, Medicare for all, fighting a corrupt campaign finance system and confronting the power of Wall Street that’s making life harder for most Americans. ” —Robert McEllrath ILWU International President

To learn more visit www.BernieSanders.com Paid for by the readers of this newspaper. Send your contributions to RLNews, P.O. 731, San Pedro, CA 90733, note: Bernie 2016, or with paypal at www.randomlengthsnews.com

AQMD

[AQMD, from page 1]

SCIG Rail Project EIR Rejected By Court

The Port of LA’s EIR for BNSF’s Southern California International Gateway Project EIR has was voided in a 200 page ruling handed down by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barry P. Goode on the morning of April 30. Further approval by the LA City Council and POLA’s subsequent “Site Preparation and Access Agreement and Permit” with BNSF were also voided. Further details involving the claims of the seven groups of plaintiffs involved in the suit remain to be worked out in the months ahead. A new EIR will have to be drafted in order for the project to move forward “I am elated that our Environmental Justice Communities who would be significantly impacted by the BNSF SCIG Project have defeated the Port of Los Angeles the largest container port in the US, Jesse Marquez said in a released statement.

Marquez,the founder of Communities for a Safe Environment, was one of the chief litigants in the lawsuit against the project.

Marquez noted that the new railroad yard intermodal facility would produce more air pollution, noise and truck traffic and would impact Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach residents who would live near the facility and connecting railroad tracks.

“I am disappointed that Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti took no leadership role to meet with his own city residents in the environmental lawsuit and our neighboring cities to help guide the Port of LA to a pre-court settlement,” Marquez said. “ We claimed throughout the public hearing process that the Environmental Impact Report was inadequate and failed to contain all required information on the project’s negative environmental and public health impacts and what mitigation measures that were available.”

Among other thing, the ruling found that “The EIR declines to analyze impacts that may arise with regard to Hobart and Sheila. As a result, it does not adequately apprise either the public or decision-makers of the reasonably foreseeable indirect impacts,” that “The EIR’s analysis of ambient air quality dispersion impacts (AQ-4) is wanting,” that the the EIR’s greenhouse gas analysis “is deficient because it omits to consider Hobart,” and that “The Cumulative Impacts section of the EIR failed to consider (or show it considered) the cumulative impacts on air quality from the operation of SCIG and ICTF combined.”

Coming

to

SAN PEDRO — Plans for a complex with retail and residential space on about 2.5 acres at 550 to 560 S. Palos Verdes St. were recently filed with the Department of City Planning.

Omninet Capital is proposing the development, which could include a six-story structure with 403 residential units, 5,200 square feet of ground level retail and a 639-car garage, Bisnow.com cited. The development would be across the street from the 16-story residential tower, The Vue.

Gov. Brown Appoints Local Man to Military Council

SAN PEDRO—The Los Angeles Board of Harbor [See News Briefs, page 10]

about $205 million since 2007 by delaying the installation of 47 SCRs. The cost-savings would continue to accumulate as long as refineries are able to further delay the installation of SCRs and still remain in compliance under RECLAIM. In agreeing with Earthjustice on this point, the EPA rulemaking document said: [R]efineries did not install any SCR control technologies in response to the 2005 NOx RECLAIM amendment even though SCAQMD staff had estimated about 51 SCRs would be installed.

The AQMD amendments proposed by the staff were supposed to remedy this situation. But the industry plan that replaced it not only cut [See AQMD, page 17]

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area

[Announcements, from page 2]

benefiting Los Angeles Harbor communities.

Grant applications for the 2016-2017 grant-funding year are due by 5 p.m. May 9.

Time: 5 p.m. May 9 Details: http://tinyurl.com/ POLACommunityInvestmentGrant

Speak Out About Gun Violence Video Contest

The Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles is joining the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. for a video contest open to high school students in Los Angeles County. The second annual Tony Borbon Youth Scholarship Video Contest invites high school students to submit films or videos on the negative effects of gun violence on youth and the positive actions youth are taking to reduce it.

Contest entries are due by July 1, 2016.

Films or videos should run three minutes or less. The winner will receive the Tony Borbon Youth Scholarship of $1,000. The runnerup will receive $500. The winners will be honored at the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles Angel of Peace Awards Luncheon on Sept. 21. The scholarship is named after Tony Borbon, a firefighter and activist, who helped establish the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles in the 1990s.

Details: http://www.vpcgla.org/videocontest

March 31 - April 13, 2016

Reducing Crane Replacement Project

to this day, as EPA concluded in reaching its decision.

RECLAIM has been allowed to slide until now, due to the power of polluters and the laxness of the regulatory process. The just-announced disapproval reflects a belated response by the EPA to finally start addressing the long-standing shortfall, after attention was brought to bear by Earthjustice late this past year.

“They [AQMD] committed to cutting pollution from the NOx RECLAIM program,” Earthjustice lawyer Adrian Martinez told Random Lengths. “It was a pretty modest proposal at that point, and EPA was proposing to approve it. We submitted evidence showing, look, you can’t approve it because it [the cut] was just too low, and so it didn’t meet Federal Clean Air Act requirements.”

Some of the same evidence and arguments re-appeared in the lawsuit filed on March 9, reported on in our most recent issue, “Polluter’s Coup Takes Over Air Control Agency.” But AQMD pooh-poohed the significance of EPA’s ruling, stating in boldface: It is important to understand that EPA’s decision is NOT a criticism of the Governing Board’s adoption of the RECLAIM amendments in December. It has nothing to do with whether the Board adopted a 12 ton per day or 14 ton per day “shave.”

Although the first sentence is technically true—the EPA has yet to look at the amendments, and was rejecting a 2012 plan, modified in early 2015—the whole statement is substantively false.

The decision to cut emissions less than originally planned was precisely the same sort of flawed calculation that made the plan unacceptable in the first place.

Beyond the pre-2002 record, Earthjustice noted in its Nov. 19, 2015 comments to the EPA that there continued to be “certain sectors where readily available technologies simply have not been installed because of too many credits in the NOx RECLAIM program.” One such example involved selective catalytic reduction, SCR, controls: For example, following the 2005 NOx RECLAIM amendments, none of the 51 SCRs identified in the Best Available Retrofit Control Technology analysis for refineries have been installed because of RECLAIM. Furthermore, four SCRs were installed only due to orders for abatement. As a result, refineries have saved

SACRAMENTO—On March 21, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the appointment of 68year-old Joseph Czyzyk to the governor’s military council. Czyzyk, a Rolling Hills resident, has served in the Military Council since 2015.

He has been chief executive officer at Mercury Air Group Inc. since 1999. He served as a petty officer in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1970. Czyzyk is chairman of the U.S. Vets Board of Directors and treasurer of the Homeland Security Advisory Council Board of Directors. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Czyzyk is a Republican.

President tempore of the state senate, Sen. Kevin de León, above, pledged to place three more members onto the AQMD board representing the public health and environmental justice community. Councilman Joe Buscaino, right, voted with the Republican members of the board to weaken the AQMD’s NOx RECLAIM program. File photos.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

New Mixed-Use Housing Downtown San Pedro

plan for amending the same NOx RECLAIM program. The AQMD raised eyebrows when it fired its long-time executive officer, Barry Wallerstein, who openly criticized the decision to ignore staff and adopt the oil industry plan. “[T]he amendments do not appear to meet the minimum emissions control requirements in California law,” California’s Air Resources Board already warned.

A group of organizations represented by Earthjustice and the Natural Resource Defense Council have filed suit challenging them in state court. President pro tempore Sen. Kevin de León also announced plans to add three more members to the AQMD board representing public health and environmental justice points of view.

De León noted that the AQMD board “further weakened” NOx RECLAIM in December.

“SCAQMD board members should rethink their votes to weaken the region’s clean air standards and take the necessary steps to comply with state and federal law,” De León said. “Their actions are not only irresponsible, but illegal.”

San Pedro City Councilman Joe Buscaino joined with Republican board members to approve the weakened plan.

Under the federal Clean Air Act, NOx RECLAIM is required to reduce pollution as much as direct regulation, employing Reasonably Available Control Measures and Reasonable Available Control Technology (RACM/RACT).

California state law has similar requirements.

Deborah Jordan, director of the EPA’s Air Division for Region 9, covering the western states, explained the reason for the disapproval in a letter to the AQMD: Recent information indicates that the 2010 RECLAIM program has not been effective in reducing NOx emissions for certain covered sources because an excess of NOx RECLAIM Trading Credits (RTCs) artificially depressed NOx RTC prices for several years and allowed RECLAIM facilities to avoid installing technically feasible and cost-effective pollution control equipment. We disapproved the Plan’s RACM/RACT demonstration in light of this new information.

The AQMD responded the same day in a statement posted on its website that claimed “the disapproval is based on a technicality,” but the reality is quite the opposite. Since it began in 1994, NOx RECLAIM has never met its projections or legally mandated targets. The projections and targets were intended to ensure that it cleans the air as well as specific mandated pollution controls would.

“There was clear evidence by mid-1998 that control installation was occurring at a fraction of the rate anticipated at the time of program adoption,” a November 2002 review by the EPA stated. “The actual rate of reductions has been 19 percent from 1994 to 2000, or 3.2 percent per year.... The projected rate of reductions in actual emissions in the 1993 Development Report was 65 percent, or approximately 11 percent per year.

The same chart shows 72 percent, or 12 percent per year, for the ‘no project’ alternative (the traditional direct regulations of facilities).”

In short, RECLAIM was about one-quarter as effective as the regulatory practices it replaced and less than one-third as effective as it was projected to be. The central problem was an oversupply of pollution credits, making it much cheaper to buy credits than to install pollutioncutting technology—a problem that continues

7

End of the Dream or a New Beginning?

Los Angeles has changed but will it also embrace a new reality?

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

I remember traveling one hot July day in 1955 to the opening of Disneyland in Anaheim.

For the “happiest place on earth,” that day was a disaster.

When Disneyland’s gates opened for the first time, the park unveiling was plagued with epic traffic jams, counterfeit tickets, broken rides, food shortages and a lack of water on a 100-degree day.

It was a bold move opening a theme park in the outer-reaches of Orange County—an event that heralded the urban sprawl that has now become epic in Southern California.

Gone now are the orange groves, vineyards and dairy pastures that once fanned out across the southland from places like Torrance, Lomita, Gardena and even San Pedro.

San Pedro locals still remember Lochman Farms Dairy on Western Avenue.

Los Angeles County was once the largest agricultural region in the state. All of it has been divided and subdivided by freeways and thoroughfares, housing communities and shopping malls except for the last piece of vacant Lochman Farms land that’s to be developed known as Ponte Vista.

This was part of the “dream” of an everexpanding future. Disneyland and Hollywood fueled those dreams until they hit the brick wall of the Watts Riots in the summer of 1965. The hard reality set in that some parts of sunny California weren’t a part of the “happiest place on earth.” I watched the fires burn on TV from the hills of Palos Verdes and wondered.

There is a lot more to this narrative that leads right up to Los Angeles today being the capital of homelessness that makes me believe that what we are witnessing is the demise of this dream. That all of the anger expressed by the Tea Party and the Donald Trump hostility on one side and the “enough is enough” campaign of Bernie Sanders are part of the same reaction to the squeeze.

More symbolic to this end were the recent deaths of both former First Lady Nancy Reagan and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

With the first being a champion of the “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign and the

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

March 31 - April 13, 2016

8

latter a constitutional “originalist” appointee to the Supreme, both were extensions of President Ronald Reagan’s dubious legacy.

The worldview of this Reagan triad that started back when he was governor of California and continued with his now discredited “trickle down economics” in the 1980s. This has persisted as a legacy up until President Barack Obama got his signature Affordable Care Act passed.

The ACA continues to be a thorn in the side of conservative Republicans, Tea Partiers and neo-Trumpites even though it has survived three Supreme Court challenges, massively exceeded expectations, and has covered millions of Americans for whom the “dream” has slipped from their grasp along with their last middleclass job.

What we are clearly witnessing in this curious presidential campaign year is the end of the Reaganomics era and the beginning of something else. That’s what the real debate is about. What’s the alternative to trickle down economics, free trade and inequitable wage compensation?

Both Trump and Sanders criticize the free trade deals as a gambit that ships manufacturing jobs overseas, but clearly Sanders has the better grasp of the complexity of the issue and only recently has Hillary Clinton signed on to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.

The TPP treaty is only understood by some 10 percent of the California electorate, but conservatives and liberals alike oppose it once it is explained. It is a curious phenomenon that in a time in which Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on much of anything that voters both left and right oppose the TPP. This probably has something to do with the growing realization that “the dream” is slowing slipping from both hands.

Back here in the Los Angeles Harbor Area we also have these dreams of waterfront development and of saving San Pedro. Perhaps someone will make a hat that reads “make Pedro great again.”

Yet, the issue of a few hundred homeless people camped out on our streets or the slow boating of waterfront development are only a veneer of the true problems that plague many parts of this great metropolis by the sea. Sustainable jobs, lack of faster public transportation to the rest of Los Angeles and better access to capital investment

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

—Mark Twain Senior Editor Paul Rosenberg Vol. XXXVII : No. 7 Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com

for small business is the cure.

The one key element that’s missing from the current plan to expand the MTA’s light rail system over the next 20 years is the connection from LAX to the Port of Los Angeles.

This one change in the transportation plan would solve two of the three causes listed here for poor economics and would improve the lives of millions of county residents who live south of the 405 Freeway, as reported on in the LA Weekly. Read the story at http://tinyurl.com/ Suburbs-Fight-MTA-Transit-Plan. Supervisor

Don Knabe and Mayor Eric Garcetti need to hear from you.

In the end, what’s needed for this new era is a different dream that is not predicated on more freeways, more cars or more urban sprawl as we ship jobs overseas. What is needed is for city governments to connect residents to themselves and to their city both physically and technologically.

What is needed are cities committed to being both economically and environmentally sustainable while ensuring shelter for everyone, even those who have the least.

Happy 6th Anniversary to the Affordable Care Act

By Melissa Stafford Jones

In terms of significance, the passage of the Affordable Care Act, ACA, in 2010 is often compared to the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.

The ACA grew out of advances in coverage provided by Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, President Teddy Roosevelt first proposed a national health insurance program in 1912. We celebrate over 100 years of health care progress in 2016.

The ACA turned 6 on March 23, 2016. Its elder sibling, Medicare, turns 51 a few months from now. Both programs continue to evolve, enhancing the lives and health of Americans.

More states continue to expand Medicaid.

Thirty states, and Washington, D.C., have expanded Medicaid, and it is under discussion in others.

Columnists/Reporters Lyn Jensen Carson Reporter B. Noel Barr Music Dude Lori Lynn Hirsch-Stokoe Food Writer Gina Ruccione Restaurant

Reviewer Andrea Serna Arts Writer Melina Paris Culture Writer Calendar 14days@randomlengthsnews.com Photographers Terelle Jerricks, Phillip Cooke, Contributors Alex Garland, Melissa Stafford Jones, Greggory Moore

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Since the ACA took effect, 20 million uninsured adults age 18 to 64 gained health coverage. This figure does not include children or adults 65 or older. The uninsured rate has decreased substantially across all races and ethnicities throughout the country.

About 1.57 million Californians selected health plans during the recently ended open enrollment period. And, recent data suggests California has seen a significant drop in its percentage of uninsured.

However, the ACA hasn’t impacted only those who have recently gained coverage.

Virtually every American has benefitted in some way from the ACA, whether they realize it or not.

Here are a few of the benefits we all enjoy: • Young adults can stay on their parents’ plans [See ACA, page 9]

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

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

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

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

RANDOMLetters A Note from Supervisor Don Knabe

(Originally read at the MTA Board meeting on March 24) The Valley is complaining they only have two of the 80-plus Metro rail stations … but San Pedro, PV, South Bay gets MINUS FOUR???

Meaning: they LOST FOUR STATIONS and 1 OPERATING rail line since Sept. 27!

This whole undertaking is CURSED by the fact that you had a treasure in the Waterfront Red Car, now being dismantled, while you contemplate unbuilt systems half a lifetime away in the future.

Want proof? EXPO-WHICH WE STILL CAN’T RIDE TO-DAY! Just compare their 80-odd stations with the San Pedro Red Car Crime in broad daylight in which that region gets absolutely nothing? IT is SO DEEP here, I need HIP BOOTS on, just to read about it…

While the Valley (land area about 30 percent of the City of Los Angeles) certainly deserves more than 1.6 percent, San Pedro deserves better than less than nothing! Immediately stop dismantling the Red Car and reinstate the expanded Waterfront Red Car, initially running along the deservedly recognized “Gaffey Gateway Corridor.” This would be served by the Historic Waterfront Red Cars, augmented by retained, repurposed Metro Blue Line equipment, which YOU ARE ABOUT TO LAY WASTE! Eventually, this high-floor equipment will link up to the Metro Green Line equipment coming from its present terminus.

Similarly, MTA should pay MetroLink to deploy surplus equipment to establish service connecting San Fernando Valley’s Bob Hope Airport, Union Station and San Pedro’s Cruise Terminal.

James Washington Jr. Long Beach

What I Know for Sure

All I know for sure about California’s June 7 Primary is that I will be on the ballot running for re-election and I have drawn two Republican opponents.

I am working hard to be prepared for whatever happens.

Could the Democrats take back the House? Maybe.

Who will be the Republican nominee for president? Who

knows?

I will always be grateful to you for your help in electing me to Congress. Because of your support I have been able to champion the environment, advocate for jobs, especially in goods movement and provide bipartisan leadership in government reform.

But I never take the privilege of public service for granted.

I would be grateful for your support once again so I can continue fighting for the issues we care about.

Congressman Alan Lowenthal, Long Beach, CA 47 District

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

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Big Oil is Funding My Opponent

Elections are choices about a candidate’s values. We are excited that this past week, the Sierra Club endorsed our campaign, joining the League of Conservation Voters and Climate Hawks Vote, because they know that I will be an advocate for our environment and fight against corporate polluters who are causing public health impacts to our children and families.

On the other hand, our main opponent has made no secret of his relationship with the oil industry.

Big Oil eagerly gave his campaign a big check because they know that he will continue to be their champion if elected to Congress.

When I walk the streets in Wilmington, it breaks my heart to see school children walking around with inhalers around their necks due to massive air pollution and dirty air. And if you read last week’s LA Times you know that air pollution regulations are about to be further weakened. Our next Congress member needs to fight for our children and their health,

[ACA, from page 8]

ACA’s Sixth Anniversary

Melissa Stafford Jones is the regional director of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Region 9

March 31 - April 13, 2016

has brought to the entire healthcare landscape.

Changes continue to be phased in, bettering healthcare and health in America.

We are working now to improve care, by encouraging better coordination and prioritizing wellness and prevention. We’ve already begun to see success in programs like the Diabetes Prevention Program, which help at-risk individuals turn their health around before they develop diabetes. By preventing illnesses before they happen, we can save lives and save money.

And finally, we are taking a new approach toward health care data. Private businesses are building creative apps that help patients and doctors better access electronic health records and be active participants in their own care.

Visionary Americans fought for the right for all Americans to have affordable, quality healthcare.

The ACA will continue to bring those visions to fruition this year and for years to come.

until age 26.

• Consumers have appeal rights on denial of payment decisions.

• Lifetime limits are banned.

• Insurance companies must justify rate hikes.

• Many preventive care services are covered at no cost with Qualified Health Plans and with Medicare.

• The Medicare “donut hole” is closing and will be closed by 2020, saving seniors on prescription drug costs.

• Health plans must spend at least 80 percent of premiums on health care instead of administrative costs.

• Insurance companies can’t deny coverage based upon pre-existing conditions.

• Medicare payments to hospitals and physicians are now linked to quality instead of quantity of services provided.

• States are incentivized to come up with innovative plans to improve the health of their citizens.

These are just a few improvements the ACA

not the oil industry.

Nanette Barragan, Candidate for Congress 44th District San Pedro

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Metro recently unveiled its project list for a proposed tax measure that will go before voters on the November ballot to fund transit projects.

After reviewing the list of “Measure R2” projects, I’m greatly concerned first and foremost about geographic equity across our region; there are 88 cities in Los Angeles County, not just one.

Taxpayers across the county will be asked to pay an additional halfcent sales tax and in return, they should all see benefits.

Promises were made to taxpayers eight years ago when voters approved Measure R. Now, some of those commitments are being pushed down the road. We must not allow high-profile projects to leapfrog rail and highway improvements that can be made in all areas of the county.

Fixing congested areas across the county is not just about rail, we must have multi-modal solutions including better bus service, road improvements and more bike lanes.

Metro’s highway program, for example, can have a huge effect on the quality-of-life in communities, often for less of a budget and less time.

With over 40 percent of the nation’s imports coming through our two ports, we must make infrastructure improvements to better move goods, which provide a big economic boost to our region.

As the Metro board analyzes this proposal, we must consider geographic equity and balance as top priorities. I look forward to delving into the details of this proposed program and for us to receive community input from across Los Angeles County.

Don Knabe, Los Angeles County Supervisor

Proposed November 2016 Ballot Measure

Mr. Washington, Jr., Like much else in the great metropolis of Los Angeles, we don’t get much south of the 405 freeway.

We not only need to be lobbying for the light rail from LAX to the Port of Los Angeles cruise terminal but we also need to be demanding more of the cultural assets of the county to be distributed to this region (think an annex to the LA County Museum of Art or the Natural History Museum). The dreams of great things on this waterfront will depend on access to this area. The one element that would change this would be connecting Los Angeles to its waterfront by rail kind of like what happened over 100 years ago.

Sometimes I think the solutions to our problems are buried in our forgotten history.

James Preston Allen, Publisher

9

[Alameda Corridor, from page 6] [News Briefs, from page 7]

Commissioners has authorized plans by SA Recycling to replace an older diesel mobile crane with a new mobile crane that will initially be operated with a cleaner Tier 4 diesel engine and then transition to an all-electric mode when an electrification project is complete before the end of January 2017.

After January 2017, it will run solely on electricity except for no more than 12 hours per year for standard maintenance. The crane will be used at SA Recycling’s scrap metal recycling, processing and export operations at the Port of Los Angeles.

The project is being funded in part by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency $1.3 million Diesel Emissions Reduction Act grant to the City of Los Angeles Harbor Department. The remaining cost of the $5 million crane replacement project is being funded by SA Recycling, which will own, operate and maintain the crane at the port.

The new crane will be used to load processed metals onto vessels to be shipped overseas.

Replacing a 950-horsepower diesel-powered “Tier 2” crane, the newly installed Tier 4 engine will eliminate 74 tons of oxides of nitrogen, three tons of particulate matter, three tons of hydrocarbons, and 14 tons of carbon monoxide emissions over the life of the equipment.

The board’s action included adoption of the Final Initial Study/Negative Declaration that determined that there were no adverse impacts associated with the project under the California Environmental Quality Act. The board also approved issuance of a Coastal Development Permit needed to move the project forward. The permit approval followed the close of a public comment period in which no negative comments were received about the proposed project.

The Port of Los Angeles was one of four U.S. ports to receive the grant this past year aimed at reducing diesel emissions and improving air quality, particularly for communities near port operations.

March 31 - April 13, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area

Port Buildings Earn Environmental Recognition

10

LONG BEACH — Four structures at the Port of Long Beach’s newest marine terminal recently earned the coveted “gold” status in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, which encourages the use of Earthfriendly features that save energy, conserve water and use recycled materials.

The four buildings, which are at the Long Beach Container Terminal’s new Pier E facility at Middle Harbor, function as administrative offices and meeting space, an information technology center, and maintenance and operations structures. They range in size from 10,000 square feet to 50,000 square [See News Briefs, page 17]

Alameda Corridor Deal wonder if the commission feels blindsided….

I don’t know how candid the staff is with you before things reach a crisis point, but from my perspective there’s been a lot of crisis points coming forward to you over the last six months, at least. And many of them have great consequences to the people who live here.

“There are so many sick people right now in Pedro — I being one of them — with respiratory disease. You could draw a line to the Alameda Corridor under-use, as it was pushed as a great move forward to help reduce air pollution at the time — efficiency and all that.” “[Citizens for a Safe Environment] conducted some research on ACTA and discovered that since 2009 ACTA had been filing its legal notices every year that it would not generate revenues to pay off its billion construction debt,” explained Jesse Marquez, executive director of Citizens for a Safe Environment explained in a email after the meeting. “Unfortunately the POLA and POLB failed to disclose this to the public, failed to investigate why and failed to research how to prevent the debt service shortfall in the future.”

The situation was not actually kept secret, like the mitigation failures at China Shipping and TraPac, but neither was it frankly and openly discussed. Renwick ably argued that it was actually a very successful process.

“I actually think this is an example of great corporate governance,” he said. “Most organizations don’t solve problems five or six years down the road. That’s what’s happened here. So, we have a situation where we’ve forecasted that there’s going to be significant shortfall payments and we’ve come up with a solution to fix them.”

Renwick’s statement was true as far as it goes. But as Marquez indicated, the problem had been looming for years. In 2010 there had been an effort to secure a $550 million federal government loan to refinance about a third of the corridor’s debt, and when that fell through, both ports chipped in to cover annual shortfalls in 2010 and 2011. So, one could argue the actions came six years late, not six years earlier.

One could also argue that the problems were baked into the cake from the beginning, with the dominance of corporate interests, perspectives, time frames and values shaping a costly multidecade project, whose long-term public impacts and viability in a changing world were never adequately considered.

Even the limited public commitments that were made have not been honored, as Marquez pointed out in his testimony.

ACTA Commissioner Ed Renwick. File Photo

“I just spoke to a City of Carson representative yesterday,” Marquez said. “He has stated that the 1993 [environmental impact report] that went with this, there’s never been an audit, for compliance. So a soundwall that was supposed to be built has never been built. Alameda Street is probably the worst street in Los Angeles to drive by, because of the potholes and the condition of the streets. Again, mitigation monies could have gone toward that. So this is why I believe there should be some type of study to look into whether these lease agreements should be adjusted to it, and what other revenues are available to us.”

Another proposal Marquez has repeatedly made is to include incentives or requirements to increase usage of the corridor in terminal expansion and lease negotiations. This is a

proposal highlighting the issue of corridor underutilization, a key factor in its operating shortfalls.

“The Alameda Corridor is not underutilized,” said Renwick at one point, maintaining its historical share of “between 37 and 41 percent of the boxes that flow through the San Pedro ports.”

He later admitted the opposite.

“In truth, the Alameda Corridor is not utilized as much as it could,” he said. “It’s got an immense theoretical capacity, far in excess of all the boxes that come through the San Pedro [Bay] ports.”

The gap between Renwick’s two statements is partially explained by how transloading transformed the way the ports work in the years between when the corridor was conceived and when it opened. This altered reality may limit the potential effectiveness of the lease terms Marquez has advocated. But it only strengthens the larger argument against the dominance of insider interests in shaping long-term public investment projects and limiting the options considered, as well as future alternatives.

“I have to say that the community has given a lot of good advice over the years and the community has probably been more candid with you than your staff,” Woodfield said. “And yet, when we had a [Port Community Advisory Committee], with very educated and informed people, the port unceremoniously removed it, saying that the PCAC did its job. I don’t think anyone can agree that that is true. There not only needs to be oversight at this point, and maybe from a state level, but there needs to be a real candid open exchange with the community.”

E

volve Theatre Co. is on a mission to create positive social change.

Its production, Choosing Us, is a testament to that undertaking.

The production is playing at the Studio Theatre of the Long Beach Playhouse. Choosing Us is a response to Leelah Alcorn’s suicide.

Leelah, who died Dec. 28, 2014, was only 17 years old. She was a transgender girl whose suicide attracted international attention.

Leelah, who was assigned to the male gender at birth, had asked her parents for permission to undergo transition treatment but they refused. Instead, her parents forced her to take antidepressant medications and sent her conversion therapists. They withdrew her from school and removed access to social networks.

After years of unhappiness, Leelah took action. She posted a suicide note to her Tumblr blog, writing about societal standards affecting transgender people and expressing the hope

that her death would create a dialogue about discrimination, abuse and lack of support for transgender people.

On Dec. 28, 2014, Leelah ended her life by getting in traffic on Interstate 71 in Lebanon, Ohio, where a semi-trailer hit her. She died at the scene.

Ultimately, Leelah’s voice was heard. By Dec. 31, her suicide note was republished in Tumblr 200,000 times.

A petition calling for “Leelah’s Law,” a ban on conversion therapy in the Unites States, was created by the Transgender Human Rights Institute to raise awareness on the psychologically harmful effects of such practices. With 330,009 signatures it started a series of events eventually leading to President Barack Obama. In April 2015, the White House gave an official response to the petition stating, “We share your concern about its potentially devastating effects.”

[See Choosing Us, page 14]

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Jackson Alexander Kelly as Daniel in the stage production, Choosing Us. Francis Gacad Theatre & Dance Photography

By Melina Paris, Contributing Writer

March 31 - April 13, 2016

11

Changes Are Coming to San Pedro Waterfront Restaurants

By Gina Ruccione, Restaurant and Cuisine Writer

P

orts O’Call has been an iconic waterfront dining destination for generations. Since its inception, families from all over Southern California have been coming to San Pedro to dine. While the façade seems somewhat lackluster in recent years, there is finally hope for the future of the waterfront.

Phase One of development has all but been approved for several berths north of the classic Ports O’Call Restaurant. The dining scene will be changing.

The restaurant business is fickle at best.

Consumers and diners are constantly looking for the next best eatery, but San Pedro — perhaps more than any other area in Los Angeles County — holds fast to tradition and appreciates local, family-owned businesses more than almost anywhere. It’s only appropriate that we take care of our community treasures, and not let them depreciate into dilapidated buildings and storefronts.

I recently spent several hours wandering around Ports O’Call trying to picture what changes might bring to the businesses at the waterfront and had the pleasure of dining at one of San Pedro’s oldest dining establishments, Ports O’Call Restaurant — which has been in the same location for more than 55 years. I

March 31 - April 13, 2016

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

James Republic:

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Casual Fine Dining in Dowtown Long Beach Story and photos by Gina Ruccione

A lot of restaurants in Los Angeles boast a “farm-to-table” concept.

Instead of grimacing every time you hear the term being overused (and it is, often), ask yourself, “What constitutes an actual farm-to-table restaurant?”

Just because a joint claims to be serving fresh fare doesn’t necessarily mean it’s pulling in boxes of organic produce after a trip to the local farmer’s market. Restaurants that work with local farms, and are inspired by seasonal produce and sustainability, are true farm-to-table eateries.

James Republic in downtown Long Beach epitomizes that concept and also makes the fine dining experience much

more tangible for guests. The restaurant opened three years ago. It is the brainchild of Chef Dean James Max, owner of a slew of restaurants. He also is the head of a team of culinary consultants eager to help other restaurateurs bring their concepts to fruition. If his name doesn’t ring a bell, then perhaps you’ve heard of Jeremy Ford, a chef who came up in the ranks under Max and just won the most recent season of Top Chef on Bravo TV. Although the caliber of food at James Republic is celebrity chef style and status, don’t brush it off as an experience you may find difficult to assimilate or even afford. That’s hardly the case. The new trend in fine dining is starting to shy away from that stuffy suit-and-tie

was able to chat at length with Noramae Munster, the culinary director for the restaurant. She was able to provide some wonderful insight about the upcoming changes to the area.

Munster, who was originally brought on as a consultant 10 years ago, fell in love with the waterfront and has been with the restaurant since. While the restaurant has seen its ups and downs, she maintains a positive disposition. She assured me that they are at the top of their game — and she’s correct. Reviews and ratings for the restaurant are higher than ever and the feedback from patrons is positive.

Vindicated by recent

accolades from a recent annual poll South Bay’s Best for banquet facilities, happy hour and Sunday brunch, Ports O’Call Restaurant pulls in quite a bit of business. Currently, the brand of the waterfront seems to project one that is old, broken and undesirable. What most don’t realize is that the waterfront is actually quite successful in its own right, despite having a less-than-glamorous exterior appearance. Ports O’Call Restaurant did more than $5 million in sales this past year. And the San Pedro Fish Market just down the way? It reportedly made about $15 million in revenue. That’s nothing to scoff at.

Munster believes the development of the waterfront couldn’t have come at a better time.

Not only is it greatly appreciated but it’s been a long time coming. While the immediate development and construction doesn’t directly affect the Ports O’Call Restaurant property, she looks forward to seeing the other areas develop.

She believes it will help paint an accurate depiction of what to expect moving forward.

Details: www.portsocalldining.com.

Mahi-Mahi Tacos is a favorite at Ports O’Call Restaurant.

Wednesday Night is Jazz on the Waterfront. Photos courtesy Ports O’Call Restaurant.

Gina Ruccione has traveled all over Europe and Asia and has lived in almost every nook of Los Angeles County. She also is a member of the Southern California Restaurant Writers Association. You can visit her website at www. foodfashionfoolishfornication.com.

existence. James Republic takes food seriously but the staff is lively, upbeat and eager to have you try nearly everything on the menu.

Patrons navigate the menu through shareable plates, a concept that I thoroughly embrace. I find it hard to commit to one dish; I’d rather try a little bit from everyone else’s plate. As one can imagine, this causes serious problems on most of my first dates.

The menu changes daily — something that takes time and careful planning by chef

James Republic cocktail called Penicillin, made from farm-to-table beets along with some flavorful spices.

James Republic’s lamb babacoa.

and staff. While it’s important to stay true in quality and service, the Executive Chef David MacLennan also stresses the importance of pushing dynamic and interesting menu items that are truly inspired by seasonal produce.

Don’t come in and ask for strawberry jam in the winter. Strawberries don’t grow in December.

Just because you can find them in the grocery store doesn’t mean you should be eating them now.

A new addition to the James Republic team is the general manager, Brad Burbich, who was a recent acquisition from Manhattan Beach Post — a restaurant that revels in the top tiers of casual fine dining in Los Angeles. Eager to elevate the dining experience, Burbich explains that embracing local food and farms isn’t a [See James Republic, page 16]

April 7 AR T G A L L ER I E S | OPEN S T UD I O S | L A T E D I N I N G & S H OPP I N G | L I VE M U S I C ON T H E S T REE T S

South Bay Contemporary at the Loft David Bradbury

David Bradbury’s visual ideas are derived from patterns and symmetry found in nature. His recent work, on display in the Project Room, incorporates paint, collage elements, mixed media, found objects and iPad drawings. Reception for the artist April 7, 6-9 p.m. Hours: 1-5 p.m., Thurs.-Sat. or by appt. Shows run through May 30. South Bay Contemporary at the LOFT, 401 S. Mesa St, 3rd floor, San Pedro, (310) 429- 0973, www.southbaycontemporary.com

Studio Gallery 345

new works on paper and canvas

Sat., April 2, 7pm TERCERA RAIZ

FREE for residents of CD 15 with ID; email patespinoza93@ gmail.com, or TEXT (562) 448-4352.

Grandezamexicana.com

Sat., April 9, 5pm GATHERING FOR THE GRAND

Gala fundraiser hosted

by Grand Vision Foundation. Advance tickets are $175 & $185 at grandvision.org or call 310.833.4813

Wed., April 20, 8pm BEACH HOUSE

FYF and Goldenvoice present BEACH HOUSE, who will also be appearing at Coachella. Tickets $32 gen. adm. at fyfpresents. com

PRIMAL POND

All art tells a story or conveys a message. By using organic materials such as sticks, twigs, leaves, stones, branches, feathers and shells, Stearns taps into the source of narrative to chronicle it while honoring its offering.

He collects what nature discards. The Primal Pond series addresses the original source of life force in the beginnings of the microscopic primordial soup or at the macroscopic level of the entire universe. Open during First Thursday Art Walk and by appointment.

Michael Stearns Studio 347 is at 347 W. 7th St., San Pedro, www. michaelstearnsstudio.

Michael Stearns, Primal Pond #3, com acrylic on canvas

Live Music • Dining Specials Unique Shopping Opps

Be a Part of First Thursday Artwalk

Transvagrant@Warschaw Gallery IN THE MEANTIME…

Ten paintings by Ron Linden are on view at Wa r s c h aw G a l l e r y.

T h e s h ow h a s b e e n extended through April 23. Gallery hours are Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment.

TransVagrant is at 600 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro.

For information call (310) 600-4873.

Ron Linden, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 48” x 60”

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment > The > INDEPENDENT ANDYou FREE Local Publication Actually Read

Pa t Woolley and Gloria D. Lee show new work including watercolors from their extensive travels in France.

Pat‘s children’s book illustrations are displayed, as well as unique jewelry a n d ot h e r s m a l l gifts from France.

Open 6-9 p.m. on First Thursday and by appointment. For more information, call Gloria at (310) 545-0832 or Pat at (310) 374-8055 or artsail@roadrunner.com. 345 W. 7th St., San Pedro, www.patwoolleyart.com

Michael Stearns Studio 347

Visual and performing arts presented by members of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Harbor Area. FREE.

Sun., April 24, 5pm 2016 OSCAR® NOMINATED ANIMATED SHORTS

Presented by San Pedro International Film Festival. Tickets $15 & $10 at SPIFFest.org.

Fri. & Sat. April 29 & 30 HP LOVECRAFT

FILM FESTIVAL

An homage to the king of gothic horror Tickets $15-$80 at hplfilmfestival. com. Show times vary.

MarchMarch 31 - April 2016 31 -13, April 13, 2016

Fri., April 22, 5:30pm ARTS ACADEMY SHOWCASE

13 13

[Choosing Us from pg. 11]

Unleashing the Power of Theater

March 31 - April 13, 2016

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. became the first two cities to outright ban the practice of conversion. California banned the practice in 2012. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear two cases challenging the legalities of the ban and the law took effect.

But work still needs to be done. According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, a study released in 2012 by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force states, transgender people are twice as likely to become homeless or turn to street-based economies, they are 85 percent more likely to become incarcerated, and twice as likely to become infected with HIV. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 21 transgender women were murdered in the United States in 2015, more than any other year on record. In fact, on March 23, news outlets reported the murder of Kourtney Yochum in Los Angeles. It was the first transgender murder in 2016.

Leelah’s death struck a chord with director Ryan Weible. He followed Leelah’s directive that her death mean something. Weible, who used to teach high school, found out that one of his former students had committed suicide a couple years after graduating.

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Leelah’s death occurred at the same time that Weible struggled with the suicide of his former student. Leelah’s suicide was a result of her struggle with gender identity, trying to fit in and trying be accepted by her family. He believes his former student also struggled with those issues.

“It made it so clear to me in that moment that this was the first piece we needed to take on as a theater company,” Weible said. “Leelah’s last few words in her suicide note was, ‘fix society… please.’ Something about that was a major call to action for me.”

Weible said that he wants to use the privilege he has as a straight white, cisgender man to open opportunities for underrepresented communities. He wants to give these communities an outlet where their voices can be heard.

One way he is doing this is by displaying series of watercolor and ink drawings at the theater that Los Angeles queer artist, K. Ryan Henisey, created. Henisey painted a numbered series of each transgender woman who was murdered in 2015 titled, #sayhername. It’s the first thing people see when they come into the lobby.

Evolve put out a commission to find transgender writers to tell the story of what

Jackson Alexander Kelly as Daniel with Eduardo Mora above, and Marta Portillo in the photo below in the stage production, Choosing Us. Francis Gacad Theatre & Dance Photography

is happening in the transgender community.

Two writers were found: Rain Valdez and Lino Martinez.

Valdez wanted to pursue something lighter.

Martinez wanted to be truthful, gritty, darker and heavier. So, a third playwright, Vanessa Espino, was brought in to help make the disparate stories come together in a cohesive way. Espino is the one playwright who is not transgender. They did not expect to have two transgender writers perform as lead actors.

Weible said having the writers play the characters that they had written, based loosely on their own life experiences, makes this production especially meaningful and impactful.

Choosing Us has two story lines: one told from the perspective of a teenage boy coming to grips with his transgender identity, while the other is from the perspective of a successful artist and photographer who denies her transgender identity.

Valdez said Mia had been living “stealth” for a several years as a successful artist and photographer. Stealth is a term used in the transgender community to describe when someone disassociates from being transgender and just wants to live a normal cisgender identity, or the gender they were born into, Valdez explained.

“As a co-writer I basically put a lot of my experiences into this character,” Valdez said. “I didn’t know I’d be playing her but I thought, if I was going to write something, I was going to write from my experiences and my truth.”

At one point in the play, Valdez’s character, Mia, realizes she has done a disservice to her community by denying her transgender identity. In a moment of epiphany, she scraps her originally planned exhibit of black-andwhite architecture photographs. Instead, she interviews and photographs subjects from her community as a way to serve them better.

One of the most impactful scenes in the play involves Mia’s interview with the siblings of a transgender person who was murdered.

“It’s one of the interviews that gets very deep into the tragedies that happen in our community,” Valdez said. “Even though it’s timely, with what is happening in the world, it’s still a play that we really haven’t quite seen yet.”

Weible hopes that the play will be effective.

Weible is especially sensitive to issues

impacting transgender women of color, in addition to the suicide rates that impact the community as a whole. But he tried to balance these issues with some levity.

“If you sort of immediately beat them over the head with heavy tragic stuff you almost rob them,” Weible said. “It doesn’t start that way, it’s mostly infused with the opposite and I think because of that, when those intense moments do come, they hit in a significant way.”

When the Long Beach Playhouse offered Evolve Theatre a spot in the Long Beach Playhouse’s annual collaborative season, Managing Director Kenny Allen jumped at it.

Evolve has been talking with Housing Long Beach and Latino’s In Action to find out if there can be a potential collaboration project with them. It wants to respond to community needs in all sorts of issues throughout Long Beach.

It’s been a labor of love for the people who put together this play. While the writers and designers were paid for their work, Weible, the producers and the publicist are not taking fees for their work. The biggest thing Weible hopes to convey is how important it is for this kind of theater to be supported.

“It’s incredibly important work that has to be supported or else it will cease to exist,” Weible said. “So I guess my call to action is to come.

Entertainment is not the purpose of this work.

The purpose is for you to have an experience that makes you more understanding and empathetic and kind to one another. There is so much hate in the world and not to get political [but] it’s time for us to let the pendulum start to swing back the other way and start to find things that we have in common.”

Details: http://evolvetheater.org

The Chouinard Legacy is Carried Forward

By Andrea Serna, Arts and Culture Writer

“Art has always been my passion since I was a child… as I started to get older my love for art increased and I knew that this was going to save me from a difficult life.”

ENTERTAINMENT April 1

Owen Tirre The avant-garde sense of humor of artist Owen Tirre will be on full display at The Corner Store Gallery April through May 31. Gang stars, Godzillas and broken rainbows will be waiting for you there.

Time: 2 p.m. April 1 Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-2424 Venue: Corner Store, 1118 W. 37th St., San Pedro

April 1 Alligator Beach The band is what you get when New Orleans meets Los Angeles. The band grabs something from The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Maceo Parker and Aretha. Round up all the party people and head down to the beach to have a funky good time.

Time: 9 p.m. April 1 Cost: $10 Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.com/ Venue: Harvelles Long Beach, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach The film documentary Curly documents Curly Fernandez’s journey and the story of the iconic Chouinard Art School that changed Los Angeles culture.

File photo

the story of the iconic art school that changed the Los Angeles culture.

In 1972, the school closed when it was contentiously consumed in the creation of CalArts and the Disney Corp.

Through an accident of good fortune, the history of the school was unearthed by artist Dave Tourjé. Tourjé purchased Nelbert Chouinard’s former home and began to research her place in the art world.

In 1999, Bob Perine and Tourjé created

[See Curly, page 16]

April 2

Spirit of John Fahey Tour This milestone performance will feature three of the finest finger style guitar masters: Peter Lang, Rick Ruskin and Toulouse Engelhardt.

All three of these acoustic guitarists were original members of the legendary “Takoma 7” along with Leo Kottke and Robbie Basho and were hand picked by the late John Fahey to record for his cult label, Takoma Records and their affiliates.

Time: 8 p.m. April 2 Cost: $20 Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro Bach’s Journey Follow in Bach’s footsteps as you encounter the music that inspired his artistic development.

Experience the masterpieces he was stirred to compose during this pivotal time in his life. The exquisite artistry of Musica Angelica and the Long Beach Camerata Singers will transport you to the gilded past with inspiring performances of these rare musical gems.

Time: 4:30 p.m. April 2 Cost: $10 to $40 Details: http://tinyurl.com/LBBachsJourney Venue: Long Beach City College, 4901 Carson St., Long Beach American Monster Burlesque and Blues This fun burlesque and blues show guarantees a jaw-dropping good time for anyone 21 and older who can handle a two-drink minimum.

Time: 9 p.m. and 10:45 p.m. April 2 Cost: $15 to $20 Details: (562) 239-3700; http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s Long Beach, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

April 5

April 8

Fantasea Award-winning illusionists come together for

April 9

An Evening of Brazilian, Latin Jazz Join jazz pianist and guitarist Frank Unzueta with special guests vocalist Lauren Koval and saxophonist Eric Marienthal for an exciting evening of Brazilian and Latin jazz. Frank will be performing compositions from his CD release, Thoughts Revealed.

Time: 8 p.m. April 9 Cost: $25 Details: www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro The Winehouse Experience The Hits pay tribute to the late icon Amy Winehouse, known for her distinctive warm vocals, soulful songwriting and signature style.

Time: 9 p.m. April 9 Cost: $10 Details: (562) 239-3700; http://longbeach. harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s Long Beach, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

COMMUNITY April 1

Long Beach County Fair First Fridays and Long Beach Fresh presents the 3rd annual Long Beach County Fair. The Long Beach County Fair is a free showcase of local food producers and organizations from all over Long Beach and the region. Enjoy educational displays and demonstrations while you interact with the passionate people behind the good food movement in Long Beach including its “Seeders,” “Feeders” and “Eaters.”

There will also be plenty of local art, music, games, fair food and even animals along Atlantic Avenue.

Time: 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. April 1 Cost: Free Details: (562) 595-0081 Venue: First Fridays Long Beach, 4321 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach

April 2

PVPLC First Saturday Family Hike Take the family on a guided morning walk the at George F. Canyon.

Time: 9 a.m. April 2 Cost: Free Details: (310) 547-0862 Venue: George F. Canyon, 27305 Palos Verdes Drive East, Rolling Hills Estates

April 8

Fantasea: Magic Festival Get up close and personal with roaming magicians ready to captivate you with their artful deception. Learn a trick or two from expert performers, sample phenomenal concoctions made by wizards of the mixology world and enjoy entertaining parlor performances at the Hocus Pocus Parlor & Pub. Time: 7 p.m. April 8, and 10 a.m. April 9 and 10 Cost: $25 Details: www.queenmary.com Venue: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach International Children’s Day Celebrate the amazing talents of children of all cultures. This festival features West African, Mexican, Pacific Islander, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Persian [See Calendar, page 16]

March 31 - April 13, 2016

Underground Comedy, Burlesque The best comedians in the world come to Harvelle’s every Tuesday to work on their acts in the sexiest venue beneath the streets of Long Beach. The comedy combines well with the burlesque of the Dirty Little Secrets.

Time: 9 p.m. April 5 Cost: $10 Details: (562) 239-3700; http://longbeach.harvelles.com Venue: Harvelle’s Long Beach, 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

one spellbinding weekend aboard the historic Queen Mary.

Time: 7 p.m., April 8 Cost: $25 Details: www.queenmary.com/events/ fantasea Venue: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach

Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment >> INDEPENDENT AND FREE

Anyone with a passing familiarity with cultural history of the arts in Los Angeles has heard the name Chouinard (pronounced shuhnard).

The influential art school counts some of the most innovative names — from painter Ed Ruscha, to Academy Award-winning costume designer Edith Head— as its alumnae. The school operated from 1921 to 1972.

I grew up hearing the name because my father graduated from the Chouinard Art School on the G.I. Bill following World War II. Nonetheless, I had no idea the school singlehandedly created the West Coast art scene.

My father was not a fine artist. He was a lucky man who found his way out of an impoverished life in the southern New Mexico copper mines and into a solid career as an illustrator in the nascent California aerospace industry. His luck and talent led him to create fantastical artistic presentations of the race to the moon. The journey from the copper mines to the Mission Gemini project was amazing.

Much of this luck was made possible by a kind-hearted woman named Nelbert Murphy Chouinard, who dedicated her life to training artists and bringing life to the barren 20th century Los Angeles cultural landscape.

My father would have related to Curly Fernandez, a boy looking towards art for salvation.

Curly is the subject of an award-winning film, Curly, which documents his journey and

— Gustavo “Curly” Fernandez

Arts Cuisine Entertainment March 31 - Apr 13 • 2016

15

[Calendar from pg. 15]

Arts Cuisine Entertainment March 31 - Apr 13 • 2016

dance performances. Enjoy performances by an international children’s choir and martial arts demonstrations.

Time: 10 a.m. April 8 Cost: $29.95 Details: www.aquariumofpacific.org Venue: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach We Labs Grand Opening Join WE Labs to celebrate the opening of a new space at Packard. The new space boasts more 15,000 square feet of communal and dedicated desks, offices, and event and maker spaces to better serve and support local, creative entrepreneurs. RSVP by April 4.

Time: 6 p.m. April 8 Cost: Free Details: http://tinyurl.com/ WELabsatPackardGrandOpening Venue: WE Labs @ Packard, 205 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

THEATER

March 31 - April 13, 2016

INDEPENDENT AND FREE >> Arts • Cuisine • Entertainment

April 1

16

Universe Multicultural Film Festival Join the Universe Multicultural Film Festival plays host to a fabulous array of movies and movie stars. The Festival will feature a stellar lineup of films from all over the world, cultural Fashion Competition event, filmmaker tributes, industry seminars, film market and Red Carpet Fashion show and gala receptions. It is a very special multicultural fun event which live-broadcasting to the worldwide.

Time:10 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 1 through 3 Cost: $10 to $388 Details: (310) 266-8559, http://umfilms.org/ Event.html Venue: RHCC Community Center, 735 Silver Spur Rd., Rolling Hills Estates; Peninsula Center Library, 701 Silver Spur Rd., Rolling Hills Estates; Fred Hesse Community Park, McTaggart Hall, 29301 Hawthorne Blvd., Rancho Palos Verdes Pie in the Sky The Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival is presenting Pie in the Sky, written by Lawrence Thelen and directed by Mitchell Nunn. It is an endearing comedy about an aging mother and daughter who live together in Abilene, Texas. Melinda Parker Weinstein and Elaine Herman portray a mother and daughter who spend an afternoon making the perfect apple pie while engaging in a series of heart to heart conversations.

Time: 8 p.m. April 1 Cost: $10 Details: (562) 494-1014; www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

April 2

Tercera Raiz Tercera Raiz features a historic perspective of the modern influence of African cultures in present day Mexican folk.

Time: 7 p.m. April 2 Cost: $20 Details: www.grandezamexicana.com Venue: Warner Grand, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro Adam and Eve...And Adam And Steve The Long Beach Playhouse New Works Festival is presenting Adam and Eve...And Adam And Steve written by Jason Gordon and directed by Gigi Fusco Meese. It’s a comedy that ponders what might’ve happened if there were two couples in the Garden of Eden, one straight and one gay. As each couple explores their new physicality, they compare notes and arrive at some profoundly funny truths.

Time: 8 p.m. April 2 Cost: $10 Details: (562) 494-1014; www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

April 6 14th Annual Indian Film Festival The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles will present a diverse and prestigious lineup of narrative and documentary features, short films and galas at ArcLight Hollywood.

Time: 7 p.m. April 6 through 10 Cost: $15 to $200 for all access pass Details: www.indianfilmfestival.org Venue: ArcLight Hollywood, 6360 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles

April 8

SHE SHE, was one of the 2015 winning submissions.

The play takes place in a small working class town where children play outdoors and respect their elders. The story follows the life of She Sojourner Freeman, a 13-year-old African American poet who hopes to use her talents as a writer to take her out of her small town existence.

Time: 8 p.m. April 8 and 9 Cost: $10 Details: (562) 494-1014; www.lbplayhouse.org, Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach

April 17

Out of Africa Hoping to forge a better life, Denmark native Karen Blixen (Meryl Streep) enters into a marriage of convenience with a womanizing baron. But when the couple moves to Nairobi, Karen falls in love with a free-spirited hunter (Robert Redford) who can’t be tied down.

Following the film, former Conservancy board president Bill Swank will share remarks about living near the Blixen residence during his teens.

Time: 4 p.m. April 17 Cost: $10 Details: www.pvplc.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 5th St., San Pedro

[Curly from pg. 15]

Curly

the Chouinard Foundation. From its inception, the Chouinard Foundation’s purpose was to illuminate the legacy of Chouinard and bring it to public consciousness. Through this effort, the seeds of Fernandez’s future were planted.

From 2006 to 2009 the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks hosted affordable art classes in partnership with Chouinard Art Foundation, where Fernandez received his first training in the arts. Curly Fernandez served as an archetype for thousands of young artists, including my father, who sought salvation through the arts. The Chouinard Foundation carries the torch for them all.

The film follows the young man as he journeys from tagging street graffiti to life drawing classes. His self-esteem begins to grow as he develops the identity of a talented artist, away from a life in the streets.

“That’s what art gave me: stability,” Fernandez said in the film. “It’s like a drug to me. Art is my fix.”

Fernandez carries his portfolio of street art to local businesses and occasionally receives permission to create legal ‘tags’ in his neighborhood of South Los Angeles.

In the film Fernandez meets with Chaz Bojorquez, a Chouinard graduate and a highly acclaimed Chicano artist. Bojorquez lives in the inner city. He began his career in the 1950s, much like Fernandez, painting graffiti.

The seasoned artist mentors the young

apprentice in the ways of the streets. He provides wisdom that comes with lessons learned from the hood. Chaz was one of the first graffiti writers from Los Angeles with his own style. After more than a decade of tagging in the streets in the 1970s and early 1980s, came a deeper need to understand, why do we do graffiti?

Many other legendary alumni from Chouinard are included in the film, through rare in-studio interviews.

South Bay artist, John Van Hamersveld, also a Chouinard alumni and a famed designer of iconic posters and murals, serves on the board directors for the Chouinard Foundation.

“Bringing children in those neighborhoods into classes and learning how to draw is in a sense pulling them into the idea of ‘drawing the idea,’ and from there they get to relate to a larger culture,” Van Hamersveld said.

Unfortunately, the foundation no longer has funds to provide classes through the Recreation and Parks Department, but they have found new life through the release of this film.

“This all started when I bought Nelbert Chouinard’s home by accident,” Tourjé said.

“We chose to make this film as a way to communicate our mission to the world. I see it as a public trust.”

The foundation has created a library documenting the history of the school and the careers of the renowned alumni. The film, which continues to win awards at film festivals around the world, can be viewed at https://vimeo. com/126462248.

ARTS April 7

Revolutionary Women Revolutionary Women is a group art exhibition about women who, through their actions, contributed to radical and pervasive change in social structure.

Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 7 to May 5 Cost: Free Details: http://www.galleryazul.com Venue: Gallery Azul, 520 8th St., San Pedro Anguish and Obsession, An American Love Story Anguish and Obsession, An American Love Story features the photography of Huss Harden.

The powerful images captured by Hardan, were inspired by the recent activities in Ferguson as well as the Black Lives Matter campaign.

Time: 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays though Sunday, starting April 7 Cost: Free Details: (310) 428-0275 Venue: huZ Galleries, 341 W. 7th St., San Pedro LAHC Faculty Exhibition Los Angeles Harbor College Fine Arts Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of recent works by Studio Art Faculty. Joshua Abarbanel, Craig Antrim, Tony Beauvy, Ron Linden, Victoria Loschuk and Jay McCafferty are among the featured faculty artists whose work is on display.

Harbor Studio Faculty runs through April 23.

Time: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday, through April 23 Cost: Free Details: (310) 600-4873 Venue: LAHC, 1111 Figueroa Place, Wilmington

Acclaimed graphic designer and Chouinard alumni, John Van Hamersveld, serves on the board directors for the Chouinard Foundation. He designed the foundation’s iconic posters.

[James Republic from pg. 12]

James Republic

relatively new concept but it’s important to be creative about what you serve.

His passion and knowledge for wine pairs nicely with the coastal California cuisine that James Republic serves on the daily menu. The wine list is unique, mostly local to California and features small, family-owned operations with lower productions but a higher attention to detail.

March 20 was one of the highly anticipated chef’s table dinners, which I had the pleasure of attending. The Dinner Bell, as they call it, is a quarterly communal dining experience meant to ring in the new season of menu changes with as much zest and passion as one could pile onto a plate. Guests sit at one long table, implementing

a pass and share system that’s reminiscent of a Sunday, family-style dinner. There were several courses served with wine. Everything was perfectly executed. Highlights from the evening included crispy calamari with Peruvian sweet potato and a lamb barbacoa dish served in a cast-iron skillet with cauliflower puree, curry and mint.

I will say, the one dish that had everyone floored was the grilled Persian cucumbers, with a mint and pistachio puree topped with tart feta.

I’ve been trying to recreate this dish for a week, but then again, I’m hardly a master chef.

James Republic is open seven nights a week for dinner. They also have an awesome dollar oyster Happy Hour during the week and a brunch on the weekend.

Details: http://jamesrepublic.com

[AQMD, from page 7]

AQMD

emissions less, it started more slowly, proceeded more gradually and failed to get rid of credits for facilities that had been shut down (although it promised to study the matter further). All of these changes would reduce the price of credits and thus the incentive to clean the air. But even the original AQMD staff proposal falls short of being as good as the law requires, according to the Earthjustice lawsuit.

As laid out in the lawsuit, AQMD staff first performed an analysis showing a need for a 8.77 ton-perday, tpd, reduction from the 2005 levels. Assuming facilities had come into compliance, this would mean an allowed level of 9.5 tpd.

Then, to address industry’s desire for large margins between overall RECLAIM Trading Credits in the system and actual emissions, staff proposed several ‘flexibilities’ that improperly allowed for an increase in the overall NOx emissions from the covered facilities.

These “flexibilities” added another 3 tpd to the target amount of allowed pollution: 12.5 tpd. The NOx RECLAIM system current contains 26.5 tpd, hence the proposed 14 tpd shave. The industry balked, and the AQMD board adopted a 12 tpd shave, leaving 14.5 tpd in the system in 2023.

By 2023, there will be more than a 50 percent excess of pollution credits, compared to the AQMD’s own analysis. Although the industry complained that AQMD was hostile to business, they’ve actually been bending over backwards to accommodate polluters. The original AQMD plan would have still produced more than a 30 percent excess, which would also have doomed the program to fail.

Not only has RECLAIM been plagued by poor design, it’s also been subject to glacial oversight, with plan approval reviews stretching out indefinitely.

“It’s a consistent frustration of ours that they don’t get this done sooner,” Martinez said. “It’s a 2012 plan getting partially disapproved in 2016. So, it’s frustrating how long it takes to get these things done.”

Nor was this timing exceptional.

“It’s very rare that they act on a plan within the time-frame that the Clean Air Act requires,” Martinez said. “Consistently on these ozone and PM plans, we have to sue them.

By the time they act, it’s so many years afterwards. They’re already working on another plan.”

This is precisely what’s happened this time and AQMD is using that fact to muddy the waters and try to pretend the problems are mere “technicalities.”

“It needs to happen quicker,

especially given the need,” Martinez said.

Sure it’s a complicated process, but if any place needs intensive focus, it’s California, with the most polluted air basins in the nation, in the San Joaquin Valley and LA, so we need this kind of quick turnaround.

“The South Coast Air Basin is one of only two ‘extreme’ nonattainment areas in the nation that have not reached the federal 8-hour ozone standard,” AQMD staff itself noted in a November 2015 document. “According to recent estimates by the California Air Resources Board, elevated ambient PM2.5 levels result in approximately 4,100 premature deaths annually in the South Coast Air Basin.”

These are the most drastic hidden costs of air pollution, which are routinely overlooked because they never make the evening news.

But, as noted in the Earthjustice and NRDC lawsuit against AQMD, “Every year more people will die in Southern California from air pollution-related diseases than from all traffic accidents and crimerelated deaths combined.”

It’s all these deaths that don’t make the news which ought to be foremost in the AQMD’s minds.

It’s not just a good idea. It’s the law.

And, the battle is finally on to see that the law is enforced.

[News Briefs, from page 10]

feet. They were completed last year in preparation for this spring’s opening of the new terminal.

The LEED awards are for the first phase of the new terminal. The $1.3 billion automated Middle Harbor terminal, almost all electric and near zero emissions, is being built in two phases, with the second half due for completion in 2020.

As part of the 2005 Green Port Policy, the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners declared that every new major building at the Port of Long Beach would be LEED certified.

The approval of the Middle Harbor buildings brings the total number of LEED-certified buildings at the Port to 10, including nine at the gold level and one at the silver level.

In the four new buildings, water usage was reduced by 40 percent.

Energy use was cut in half for lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. At least 25 percent of total building materials were composed of recycled content.

Court Approves O.C. Register, Riverside Press-Enterprise Purchaser

LOS ANGELES—On March 21, the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California approved Digital First Media, publisher for the Long Beach Press Telegram and the Torrance Daily Breeze, as the purchaser of Freedom

Communications Inc., publisher of the O.C. Register and Press-Enterprise.

After Tribune Publishing Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times, had attempted to emerge as the winning bidder in the bankruptcy proceeding, the Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Tribune from acquiring Freedom Communications on March 17, 2016.

The next day, Judge André Birotte Jr., a federal judge in Los Angeles, granted the department’s application for a temporary restraining order to prevent Tribune from acquiring Freedom Communications pending further proceedings.

“Preventing the Los Angeles Times from combining with the Register and the Press-Enterprise will ensure that citizens and advertisers in Southern California continue to benefit from competition and from a diversity of views in their local news coverage,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Antitrust Division will remain vigilant in protecting competition in this important industry.”

In his ruling granting the department’s application for a temporary restraining order, Judge Birotte found that “local newspapers continue to serve a unique function in the marketplace: they are the creators of local content. It further stands to reason that local advertisers in search of print advertising would choose to advertise with local news providers.”

CANDIDATE FILING IS NOW OPEN— THE DEADLINE FOR FILING IS APRIL 8

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Please plan to vote on June 7

File your candidacy at EmpowerLA.org/nccr

When registering as a candidate, verification of stakeholder status is required as per the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council Bylaws (“Verification of stakeholder status by those who are candidates for Governing Board office shall be by two (2) forms of documentation confirming stakeholder status based on being a resident, owning or working at a business, or owning property within the boundaries of the Council.

March 31 - April 13, 2016

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Please help!

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DBA/legal filings Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2016031290 The following person is doing business as: Premier Coating, 28134 S. Western Ave, #221, San Pedro, CA 90732, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: David Barba,28134 S. Western Ave, #221, San Pedro, CA 90732. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 2010. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

S/. David Barba, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 2016. Notice--In Accordance with subdivision (a) of

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

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

Original filing: 02/18/16, 03/03/16, 03/17/16, 03/31/16

[City Council, from page 5]

LB City Council Candidates

thriving,” Pearce said in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

District 6

The Sixth District encompasses neighborhoods in the central part of Long Beach, including the area around Long Beach Polytechnic High School, parts of the Cambodia Town and Wrigley areas.

Councilman Dee Andrews is seeking a third term as a write-in candidate. His challengers are Robert Harmon, Erik Miller and Josephine A. Villaseñor.

Name: Dee Andrews Experience: District 6 Councilman Issues: Employment opportunities, unemployment, youth tutoring and youth mentoring and improvements in public safety and infrastructure Background: Andrews’ key endorsements include the Long Beach Police Officers Association, Long Beach Firefighters Association and the Teachers Association of Long Beach. He was elected in 2008 and in 2012.

“Sometimes they overlook the central area and this is why I ran for the Sixth District council position to make sure that they do the same share they do for the City of Long Beach… and this is what makes me so proud to be a part of that situation,” said Andrews in a candidate statement for PADNETtv. Name: Robert Harmon Experience: Surgical technologist for Kaiser Permanente, project co-manager of Cambodia Town Square and International Marketplace Project Issues: Public safety, promoting cultural heritage, leadership, economic justice and

Name: Erik Miller Experience: Director of Operation Jump Start and former Long Beach Gang ReductionIntervention and Prevention, GRIP, Taskforce Chairman.

Issues: Community outreach, youth development and mentoring Background: Miller is a community leader and gang intervention specialist. He said he wants to provide safer neighborhoods through more police and gang reduction.

“I’m tired of seeing crime ridden, violent streets in the Sixth District. It’s time for a change and I’m here to tell you I can be that change,” said Miller in a candidate statement for PADNETtv. Name: Josephine A. Villaseñor Experience: Member of Long Beach CERT Issues: Connect police department and fire department with community, public safety, gang intervention, and homelessness Background: Villaseñor started the Wrigley Community Watch and continues to be active

Councilman Al Austin is seeking a second term. Laurie C. Angel and Wesley Turnbow are his challengers.

The Eighth District includes the Bixby Knolls and Rancho Los Cerritos areas, as well as part of North Long Beach.

Name: Al Austin Experience: Councilman for 8th District, staff representative for the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO. Issues: Public safety, infrastructure improvement, community building, economic and job development, and leadership Background: Austin was elected in 2012 to Long Beach City Council.

Since taking office, he has promoted public safety and the commercial corridors revitalization in his district. Mayor Robert Garcia, the Long Beach Police Officers Association, and the Long Beach Firefighters Association have endorsed him.

“This election is about progress and we have the opportunity—[by] re-electing me—to continue the great progress we’ve had in the Eighth District,” said Austin in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

Name: Wesley Turnbow Experience: Chief executive of EME, Inc. Issues: Business and finances, leadership, police and education Background: Turnbow has been president of metal and finishing shops. He received support from local businesses.

“I want to reconnect our communities with the city hall,” said Turnbow in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

Jesse N. Marquez III, known by “J”, a native of Redondo Beach, California, passed to eternal life on March 23, 2016, in Houston, Texas. His loving and devoted wife Geraldine and their son Christopher were at his side. His loving and caring parents are Jesse N. Marquez of Wilmington and his mother Debra Romero of Carson. He was the first grandchild of Jesse and Dolores Marquez and Nash and Delores Romero. He is survived by his sister, Crystal Bass and brothers Alejandro N. Marquez and Danilo P. Marquez and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends. A celebration of life memorial service will be held on Sunday, April 10, 2016, at the Wilmington Senior Center at Banning Park, 1371 Eubank Ave., Wilmington from 12 to 4 p.m. Contact: Jesse N. Marquez at 310-590-0177 or email: jnmbus@yahoo.com.

District 8

Name: Laurie C. Angel Experience: Business manager for AcademicTechnology Services at Cal State University Long Beach, former senior financial analyst for the Orange County Transportation Authority Issues: Finance and business, quality of life, and public safety Background: Angel has worked for the Orange County Transportation Authority, as well as for California State University, Long Beach.

“I’m an active community member and I have every intention of ensuring that our residents have the best quality of life possible and that they’re well represented,” said Angel in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

The Local Publication You Actually Read

Jesse N. Marquez III

dignity, opportunity and job creation, and community improvement Background: Harmon’s career includes work as a surgical technologist, engineer and president and CEO of his nonprofit organization, Top Gun Supercarrier. He also has a military background and pursued bringing the USS Ranger aircraft carrier to Long Beach.

“I’m running because, for me, it is a call of duty,” said Harmon in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

in numerous neighborhood organizations.

“Our district has been left in the dark, and I want to bring light back to our district,” said Villaseñor in a candidate statement for PADNETtv.

March 31 - April 13, 2016

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March 31 - April 13, 2016

Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area