Trumpers shout down Rep. Barragán at town hall meeting p. 4 The New South comes to Old San Pedro at Jackson’s Place p. 12 Top-secret NSA report details Russian hacking days before 2016 election p. 19
Tesoro Plans at Odds with Brown’s Vision Governor, Mayors Stand Up to Trump on Climate Change Refinery Approval Tells Different Story By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
C
The Local Publication You Actually Read
alifornia appeared as a world leader fighting climate, as Donald Trump defaulted on America’s role. Gov. Jerry Brown signed California onto the U.S. Climate Alliance, along with New York and Washington and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was the lead signatory on a declaration from 187 cities. But they’re missing in action. The Tesoro refinery merger is opening the way for a massive influx of dirty crude into the state, directly contradicting their stated goals. “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be. They won’t be. I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” That was the heart of Donald Trump’s petty, resentful, fact-free speech on June 1 as he announced he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate [See Climate, page 6]
In a rebuke to President Donald Trump’s withdrawl from the Paris Climate Accord, California Gov. Jerry Brown has joined with other states to adhere to the goals of the international climate agreement.
Unsolicited and Free
Louis Carreon Rises from the Heart of the Harbor to the Heights of Art World Acclaim did to the centerpiece of Carreon’s art show Trap Supper, a hip-hop and Hollywood-inspired remake of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Hamilton-Selway chopped off the bottom part of Carreon’s table, effectively throwing away the work’s negative space, as well as several symbols Carreon felt were integral to the piece. “My work doesn’t start from the bottom; my work has room to breathe,” Carreon said. “That’s not the way I show my work.” While this choice seems unconscionable to most artists and [See Unsolicited, page 11]
June 8 - 21, 2017
Photo courtesy of Louis Carreon.
When Louis Carreon’s first solo show, no unsolicited submissions, opened May 18 at Hamilton-Selway Fine Art in West Hollywood, the graffiti-writer-turned-contemporary-artist suddenly joined an impressive list of creatives. Hamilton-Selway frequently features the latest work by emerging contemporary and pop artists; the gallery has shown a variety of highprofile artists, such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. However, it seems quite unlikely that the gallery would have ever cut a Warhol or a Haring in half, which is what Hamilton-Selway
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Community Announcements:
Harbor Area AltaSea’s Quarterly Open House Featuring Blue Robotics Learn about AltaSea’s partner, Blue Robotics, the latest AltaSea achievements and plans for the future. Blue Robotics founder and engineer, Rusty Jehangir, will present a demonstration of his company’s latest underwater robotics. The event is free to the public. Wear flat, closed-toe shoes. Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Details: (424) 210-4973; rsvp@altasea.org Venue: Berth 58, 2456 S. Signal St., San Pedro
Lower LA River Revitalization Plan Workshop
Residents are invited to a community workshop to learn more about what’s being cooked up along the Lower Los Angeles River. Hear project updates from the planning team, discuss opportunities for river revitalization and engage at interactive workshop stations. Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. June 10 Details: LowerLARiver.org Venue: Westside Christian Church, 1549 W. Willow St., Long Beach
Informational on Solid Waste Disposal
Learn more information on solid waste disposal from the Los Angeles Sanitation Department regarding apartment and multi-family recycling and bulky item collection and black, blue and green container collection services. The event is free to the public. Time: 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., June 10 Details: (800) 773-2489; www.lacitysan.org. Venue: Harbor District Yard, 1400 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro
Annual Parents’ Council Meeting
The Office of the Independent Monitor’s annual Parents’ Council meeting on June 12 continues as a significant part of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s legal obligation to monitor its compliance with California’s special education laws. Applications are being accepted for the Parents’ Council through December. Time: 6 to 9 p.m. June 12 Details: oimla.com Venue: Moseley-Salvatori Conference Center, 637 Lucas Ave. Los Angeles
POLB Board of Harbor Commissioners Meeting
Central SPNC Monthly Board and Stakeholder Meeting
Due to the current status of “exhaustive efforts,” the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will be creating the agenda for this meeting, which will be posted at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. Time: 6:30 p.m. June 13 Details: sanpedrocity.org Venue: Port of Los Angeles High School, 250 W. 5th Street, San Pedro
The Long Beach City Council Environmental Committee will be receiving an update from city staff and public comment on the proposed polystyrene ban. Time: 3 p.m. June 13 Details: District4@longbeach.gov Venue: City Hall, 333 W. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach The Los Angeles Harbor Commission is scheduled to meet June 15. Time: 8:30 a.m. June 15 Details: www.portoflosangeles.org/commission/ schedule.asp Venue: Port of Los Angeles Administration Building, 425 S. Palos Verdes St., San Pedro
A court injunction that reinstated striking workers at Star Fisheries just before Memorial Day weekend marked a significant victory, coming 17 months after the workers went on strike. Steve Badger, the Teamsters Union Local 572 business representative, called the strike in December 2015, citing the ongoing lack of a contract and the obstacles to negotiating a new one. The union drivers have been without a contract since February 2013. The injunction forces Star Fisheries to reinstate all employees who have made unconditional offers to return to work on an interim basis to their former jobs, or “some substantially equivalent positions, without prejudice to their seniority or any other rights or privileges previously enjoyed,” the order stated, even if that means displacing workers hired, transferred or reassigned after the strike began on Dec. 18, 2015. The injunction also rescinds any changes to the union’s pension fund and health and welfare plans, resuming all contributions for those employees. Star Fisheries proposed to stop paying pension benefits altogether, to force workers to contribute $400 to $600 per paycheck towards their health insurance and to provide only a 35-cent-per-hour wage increase in a two-year deal. “The owner said from the very beginning, in writing, that she wanted to get rid of our union, and during negotiations she showed why — to slash our healthcare and get rid of our pension,” said driver Joe Ramirez, a Star Fisheries employee since 2010. “I have two young children [who] need health insurance and with what she proposed, I practically would have had to pay them to go to work. “When we went on strike, the owner threatened that she would never take us back, and when we offered to go back to work, the company slammed the door in our face. That’s illegal and the court has ordered the company to take us back. Today we’re going back, but this is far from over. We still have to negotiate a contract that provides affordable health insurance for our families, protects our pension investment and assures a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. With that challenge still ahead of us, I’m proud to have the Teamsters Union behind us.” Local 572 is demanding that Star Fisheries restart negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that will be fair to the workers. “We are calling on Star Fisheries to return to the bargaining table and get serious about negotiating a fair contract,” said Rick Middleton, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 572. Middleton is also the Western Region International vice president for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “The company has been dragging its feet for too long and it is past time for Star Fisheries to treat workers with the respect they have earned.” “This ruling proves that workers have protections and that corporations like Star Fisheries cannot get away with callously violating the law when workers are fighting to safeguard good middle-class jobs, earn affordable health
care for their families and exercise their legal right to have a union,” said Dennis Watson, president of Teamsters Local 572 and lead contract negotiator in this matter. “This employer has been ruthless in its efforts to de-unionize the company. By issuing a 10(j) Injunction ordering the company to take all union members back to work, the federal district court judge is sending the message loud and clear that workers have rights and that employees, not corporations, get to decide if they want to have a union.”
Members of Teamsters Local 572 celebrate after recent court victory, which allows them to return to their jobs at Star Fisheries. Photo by Barb Maynard
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LA Harbor Commission Meeting
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Proposed Polystyrene Ban Policy Study Session
Court Injunction Reinstates Star Fisheries Union
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The Port of Long Beach Harbor Commissioners are scheduled to meet June 12. Among the agenda items is a proposal to authorize spending more than $1.14 million for the Baseline Project Budget of more than $25 million. Time: 6 p.m. June 12 Details: https://tinyurl.com/POLB-June-12 Venue: Harbor Department Interim Administrative Offices, 4801 Airport Drive, Long Beach
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Trumpers Shout Down Barragán By Lyn Jensen, Carson Reporter
Rep. Nanette Barragán hosted a town hall June 1, in the auditorium at Stephen M. White Middle School in Carson, but it was disrupted by two dozen Trumpers from the Beach cities and Orange County. The meeting started at 6:30 p.m. with almost 200 in attendance. Carson Mayor Albert Robles (who introduced Barragán), Councilman Jawane Hilton, former Mayor and City Clerk Jim Dear, former Mayor Vera Robles-DeWitt and a number of other former electeds were in attendance. Barragán started her first town hall in Carson by recounting her biography as a student in the city’s school before the Trump contingent interrupted her. “You’re disrespecting our flag!” they shouted, as they stood up and said the pledge of allegiance. About half the room joined in. Barragán continued her introduction, remarking that she was the daughter of immigrants
from Mexico who went on to college. Only about 10 percent of students in “this district” go to college, she said. “We have a president who’s acting like he can do anything,” Barragán said. The group in Trump gear started chanting: “Build that wall! Build that wall!” and “We want Trump!” and “Respect our president!” Some other audience members boo’ed and shouted at them. Barragán kept on talking into the mic but nobody could hear her over the shouting and chanting. These Trumpers, clad in Trump shirts, hats, flags and signs, were led by right-wing gadfly Arthur Schaper. Schaper’s group received better treatment in Carson than they did at Rep. Ted Lieu’s and Rep. Maxine Water’s town hall meetings. In each of those cases, Schaper’s group were verbally shut down and/or were booted from the meeting by the representatives.
Right-wing gadfly and Trump supporter Arthur Schaper in red cap shoots footage of his group’s disruption of Rep. Barragán’s Carson town hall meeting June 2. Photo by Jan Schaefer.
In Carson, former City Commissioner, Rick Pulido, spoke quietly to the Trump-sign group at some length. “You have a right to speak, but let’s be orderly about it,” he told this Random Lengths News reporter when asked what he said. “Let the congresswoman speak her talking points, then we’ll all get a chance to speak …. If you want to yell, let’s go out to the lobby.” Two mics were available and she wanted people to talk on one side of the room and she
would take questions from the floor on the other side of the room. At least three Trump people lined up on the wrong side of the room. People started yelling at them to sit down. “You don’t know how to conduct a town hall,” one of the Trump people yelled. Barragán launched into a speech about the sacrifices our veterans made. Then she said that this meeting was in her official capacity as a [See Distrupted, page 17]
California Marine Science Educators Visit Cuba
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
By Mark L. Friedman, Los Angeles Maritime Institute
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Cuba has been at the forefront of coral reef preservation since Fidel Castro led the revolution in 1959. Protecting native species continues to be a goal of the Cuban government although that is not something generally known outside of the island nation. The pristine coral reefs found near the offshore archipelago Jardín de la Reina and the largest mangrove in the Caribbean, the Zapata Peninsula, are the outgrowth of the government’s enforcement of strict environmental regulations aimed at preventing overfishing and pollution.
Coral reefs are in rapid decline worldwide as water temperatures rise, ecosystems change and diseases spread because organisms have fewer resiliencies. Organisms that can move, migrate. Others, like corals, expel their symbiotic zooxanthellae algae (coral bleaching), which produce oxygen and food for the living coral. Unless environmental conditions rapidly change and these algae are reintegrated, the corals die. Coral reefs are critical for many fisheries (types of fish) consumed by humans and
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California marine science educators from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USC Wrigley Marine Science Center and teachers from LAUSD middle and high schools visited Cuba this past May as part of an information exchange program. Photo by Mark Friedman.
This past May, a group of California marine science educators from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USC Wrigley Marine Science Center and teachers from LAUSD middle and high schools visited marine scientists in Cuba as part of an information exchange program to learn and apply Cuban know-how elsewhere.
provide safe breeding grounds. The Cuban aquarium has decades-long research associated with its coral reefs, animal husbandry, ocean acidification, coral bleaching and preservation of endangered species. They also face the Caribbean-wide problem of invasive [See Marine Biologists, page 5]
and on our way back into the lagoon — the largest one of 12 the U.S. government permits. The tour school of fish that I have ever encountered!” was made possible by the loosening of the travel At a recent meeting, the National Council ban under the Barack Obama administration, of Ministers approved a plan to tackle global although the half-century old blockade is still in climate change, which Cuba’s Minister of effect. Science, Technology and Environment Elba Members of the California delegation Rosa Pérez Montoya said “is worsening and will are organizing a reciprocal tour for Cuban exacerbate environmental problems, making it a marine scientists and educators throughout crucial factor for sustainable development.” California. If you would like to help, contact: Montoya noted that the plan includes a Marklewisfriedman@gmail.com “series of measures geared toward reducing the impact of natural weather events on vulnerable zones, such as prohibiting the construction of new homes in coastal settlements and For youth ages 6-12 reducing areas used for cultivation close to the coast or to zones damaged Two Locations: by seawater intrusion into freshwater 1220 256th St., Harbor City, (310) 534-0056 aquifers.” 802 Gardena Blvd., Gardena, (310) 523-2173 The International Committee of Friendship with the People organized $70 per week • Space is limited, call today the tour under the education category,
[Marine Biologists, from page 4]
Marine Biologists
lionfish. With government support, they have developed sustainable aquaculture of shrimp and lobster. The California delegation met with the leaders of Acuario Nacional — Cuba’s aquarium that is visited by almost one million residents of the island nation every year. The Cuban aquarium is not as flashy as Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific. But George Matsumoto, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s education director, emerged from a snorkeling exhibition in Cuba’s Caleta Buena and pronounced it “remarkable and uplifting.” “The water and the life within were so far beyond anything that I had expected,” Matsumoto said. “[There’s] no evidence of bleaching, no evidence of marine algae taking over. Healthy corals, healthy sponges, diverse fish population
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Rep. Barragán Visits Deported Veterans
SAN PEDRO — Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (CA44), along with her colleagues, Reps. Juan Vargas (CA-51), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), Lou Correa (CA-46), Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) and Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), visited the Deported Veterans Support House in Tijuana, Mexico on June 3 and met with veterans who have been deported from the United States. “It was heartbreaking to see my constituent, Hector Barajas from Compton, still proudly wearing his U.S. military uniform, but unable to live with his family in the country for which he fought,” said Rep. Barragán. “I am grateful to Gov. Jerry Brown for issuing Hector a pardon. I am working to do everything in my power to help Hector rightfully receive his U.S. citizenship.” Barajas served in the Army for five-and-ahalf years. He got out in 2001, after trying to get help for drug and alcohol addiction. Soon after, he was involved in a shooting in Los Angeles — no one was hurt, but he did prison time. Then authorities drove him to the border and dropped him in Mexico. He now runs “The Bunker,” or the Deported Veteran Support House, a shelter to help other veterans who have been deported. Naturalization used to be part of basic training, but the laws changed. As of January 2017, there were 10,644 non-citizens serving in the U.S. military and an additional 11,524 noncitizens under reserve status.
Elderly Man Brutally Robbed
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
CARSON — Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Carson Station detectives are actively investigating a brutal assault and robbery of an 85-year-old man at about 5:30 p.m. May 31, on the 300 block of East 220th Street in Carson. The man was walking his neighborhood alone when he was attacked by an unknown suspect. The suspect was described as a male Hispanic in his 20s, light complexion, wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and dark shorts, dark baseball cap with short curly hair. Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call (310) 830-1123 or visit http:// lacrimestoppers.org.
6
State, Local Officials Pledge to Maintain Paris Agreement WASHINGTON, D.C. — Since the President made his decision to dump the Paris Agreement on climate, June 1, mayors and governors across the nation have been pledging to abide by its goals anyway. Ten states that have signed onto an alliance including California, New York, Washington, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia, Oregon and Hawaii. All of the states’ governors are Democrats except those representing Massachusetts and Vermont. The Paris Agreement’s goal is to keep global warming to 2 degrees Celsius by 2100 to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and slow the catastrophic advance of climate change and rising temperatures. During his speech from the White House Rose Garden, Trump argued that the nonbinding agreement was unfair to American workers, destroying up to 2.7 million jobs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi replied that the Paris climate agreement is a “shared legacy of the world” and that it is part of the country’s ethos to protect the Earth and natural resources. “We have natural resources because our previous generations protected these resources. We must do the same for our future,” Modi said. More than 187 mayors joined a Climate Mayor pledge, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia.
Standing United on Climate Change
Accords, an entirely voluntary agreement, the terms of which he could simply have modified without any renegotiation. Trump’s fears of being laughed at were wellfounded, it turned out. “Fact: Hillary Clinton received 80 percent of the vote in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto tweeted in response. “Pittsburgh stands with the world & will follow Paris Agreement. As the Mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy & future.” Peduto’s sentiments were widely echoed by hundreds of state and local political leaders, including California Gov. Jerry Brown, and mayors Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles and Robert Garcia of Long Beach, along with mayors of 32 other California cities. But the very next day, a strikingly different reality unfolded at the monthly board meeting of the South Coast Air Quality Management District in Diamond Bar. About “Trump may well create 50 Wilmington residents and allies unexpectedly the exact opposite of what he shut down the meeting intended. And that is an aroused in protest of SCAQMD’s recent approval of the citizenry in America and aroused environmental impact nations of the world who will report, or EIR, that not tolerate this kind of deviant assessed the merger of the Tesoro refinery — an behavior from the highest office approval completely at in the land.” odds with California’s — Gov. Jerry Brown green, clean energy, lowDemonstrators protest at the June 2 South Coast AQMD meeting. AQMD execucarbon image. tive director, Wayne Nastri (left) and Communities for a Better Environment orgaThe Tesoro project would dramatically boost nizer, Alicia Rivera. File photos processing of dirty crude — Canadian tar sands and highly volatile Bakken crude — among the were ignored. The City of Carson more directly Officer Barry Wallerstein after an earlier round worst possible fuel sources from a global warming opposed the project and has filed a notice of of protests in 2010. “He reluctantly said that they would conduct a study, but they never did,” she perspective. It would trigger related impacts intent to challenge the EIR in court. The SCAQMD itself had agreed to look into said. “up and down the Pacific Coast,” according to [See Climate, page 7] the impact of dirty crude under former Executive Jack Eidt of SoCal350.org, a coalition of more than 100 groups affiliated with the international climate change organization 350.org. “Both these crudes are very volatile and dangerous to transport,” Eidt said. “So, this is a crude oil invasion that should be looked on as a comprehensive and secondary impact” of the Tesoro project, including its impacts all along By Baynard Woods, Guest Columnist from Democracy in Crisis the supply chain, from where the crude is first extracted. I’m writing this week from North Carolina, Americans (and that’s some stiff competition). This is precisely the sort of comprehensive the state that may be the center of our current When the Supreme Court ruled that native lands perspective that politicians like Gov. Jerry Brown illiberal, anti-democratic and yet ostensibly were sovereign in Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson have adopted in criticizing Trump, but somehow populist politics; the place that should be proclaimed “the decision of the Supreme Court it goes missing closer to home. So, protesters called North Coup-d’etat-arolina after the has fell still born, and they find that they cannot came to decry the decision by Executive Officer Republican legislature tried to disempower the coerce Georgia to yield to its mandate.” Wayne Nastri and the board’s failure to get The court-hating Trump may present democratically elected Democratic governor involved in the process. in a session from which they expelled the himself as a Jacksonian in hopes of at some “You washed your hands!” the group press and the public; and the place where point employing this line, or more likely the chanted as community organizer Alicia Rivera, the Supreme Court just ruled that its racially apocryphal version, in which Jackson said Chief with Communities for a Better Environment, gerrymandered congressional districts are Justice “John Marshall has made his decision; concluded her remarks. “You washed your hands! unconstitutional. This caused what may almost now let him enforce it!” You put all the power in one person’s hands!” The case addressed the forcible removal of constitute a miracle: Clarence Thomas sided “They already rubber-stamped the decision, the Cherokee, a horrendously shameful event with the court’s more liberal justices. without evaluating the impact of that dirty I am in the town of Waxhaw, which claims in our nation’s history, and one that inspired not crude,” Rivera told Random Lengths News — although it is disputed — to be the birthplace only Trump but also Adolf Hitler. afterwards. “That’s why I said we believe that I thought of this a couple weeks ago when I of Andrew Jackson, seemingly the only one of they evade responsibility on this significant issue talked to Kathleen B. Jones, a scholar who studies his predecessors that Donald Trump admires. by putting all the power on the executive officer. The town is named after the indigenous the work of the political theorist and Holocaust They should have a public hearing: they should people who were wiped out during the Yamasee refugee Hannah Arendt, whose The Origins of be the ones deciding, not the executive officer, Totalitarianism became a surprise best-seller War, which ended 300 years ago in 1717. that’s why we started chanting.” The Museum of the Waxhaws has a after the election. I called Jones because I wanted The protesters aren’t alone in finding fault. particularly noxious sign featuring a picture to talk about Trump’s claim that he was “a Both mayors Garcetti and Garcia had requested of Jackson, probably the president most nationalist and a globalist.” Trump’s nationalist a more thorough review in recent letters but responsible for the genocide of Native [See Fascist Seeds, page 19]
Trump and the Seeds of Global Fascism
Climate Change
This long and frustrating history has left community members and activists with little recourse, Eidt explained. When 5,000 to 10,000 people came out to the Climate Action March, which partly protested Tesoro precisely because of how it represented the more abstract global climate change issue in its most down-to-earth form. They were still completely ignored by the SCAQMD; there was nothing else to do. “They feel OK to disrupt the health and safety of the port area, as well as further the goals of big oil,” he said. “So, we’re going to disrupt the way that they do business. There’s no other alternative. We can’t appeal this thing.” What happened next was completely unexpected. “After a while I was surprised that the guards are not coming to put us out,” Rivera said. The chanting continued in different forms. “Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!” the group chanted as the board members eventually left. The webcast of the meeting was abruptly discontinued, then removed. “We did a Freedom of Information Act request to make sure they didn’t destroy it,” Eidt said. Not only was the board swept from view, the protesters were left unhindered rather than being expelled or arrested, as they had expected. So they stayed and talked with staffers and guards. “We wanted the guards to realize that if they were parents with children who can’t breathe, would they like people like us to be there,” Rivera said. “And they were nodding their head in agreement, so we were not arrested.” At the same time, the board continued their meeting, unbeknownst to the public.
“Had [SC]AQMD announced that they were continuing their ‘public’ meeting in the back room, then at least one or more representatives of the protesters would have attended and would not have interrupted the meeting,” said Caney Arnold, a Harbor City Neighborhood Council member who took part in the protest. “Since it wasn’t publicly announced, that was a violation of the Brown Act.” The protesters’ arguments were echoed in Garcetti’s letter, sent this past December. “The potential increase in air and water pollution, upstream greenhouse gases and international safety hazards related to the use of Bakken crude require a broader environmental analysis through your recirculation process,” Garcetti wrote. He also cited Wilmington’s status “as a ‘disadvantaged community’ under our Clean Up Green Up policy (and as) a key environmental justice benchmark in the city’s Sustainability Plan.” But it remains to be seen if Los Angeles will follow up with any action, as Carson has begun to do, although even Carson may not actually go to court. “The filing deadline is June 12,” Carson’s attorney Sunny Soltani told Random Lengths. “The city is considering its options…. Tesoro is diligently negotiating with the city to try to address the city’s concerns.” Brown has been seen as even more of a disappointment. “California really is a tale of two states,” Suma Peesapati, president of CBE’s board told Random Lengths. “This is so representative of the two faces of California, where we have Jerry Brown and representatives from state government independently going to these climate talks in Paris, and representing California as independent [See Climate, page 10]
Spend the day on the Waterfront and learn about environmentally friendly boating products and practices through exhibits and demonstrations. We’ll have ocean critter touch tanks, kids crafts and food trucks!
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Providing clean facilities and protecting our waterways from pollution
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a in
Way M ar illo r b
Ca
[Climate, from page 6]
June 8 - 21, 2017
7
No Solutions to the Rising Tide of Homeless People
City Hall must lead on homeless solution with more than words By James Preston Allen, Publisher
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
It is perhaps far too symbolic that Councilman Joe Buscaino will have his swearing-in ceremony for his second full term representing the 15th Council District at the reopening of Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park and Machado Lake June 17. It’s going to be a very fun family day with lots of activities and performances. Everyone is welcome, except the homeless. It only cost $130 million in renovations; the eviction of Reggie the alligator and some 167 homeless souls. Considered “invasive species,” neither will be welcomed back. This is a classic example of the city spending money to solve one problem, while ignoring a much larger problem, holding a ceremony to celebrate the success of one and pretending the second had nothing to do with the first. Several years back when the city did an assessment of Harbor Regional Park, the Recreation and Parks Department informed the council office that there were homeless people living amongst the backlands of the marsh and trash. They were out of sight and out of mind from the thousands of commuters traversing Anaheim Street heading to the Harbor Freeway. That is until they were evicted with no place to go but to the sidewalks of the surrounding neighborhoods. Buscaino and the city have spent the past two years chasing these folks around from one spot to another at a cost of about $35,000 per homeless sweep. In the eyes of some, the city has stepped to the plate to address the homeless crisis by solving the housing shortage with Measure HHH. As a sign of progress, those same folks would point to the coordination between Los Angeles Police Department, Harbor Interfaith Services and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in regularly deploying “quality of life units” to connect homeless people to services, while clearing out encampments. Yet, on May 31, Mayor Eric Garcetti had the grim honor of announcing that the January homeless count revealed a 23 percent increase from January 2016, after all that’s been promised, said and done. “The extraordinary number of people falling into homelessness shows that we still
face a historic shortage of affordable housing, a staggering mental health crisis, insufficient support for veterans and foster youth and inadequate resources to help formerly incarcerated Angelenos,” Garcetti said. This was announced two weeks after the city council signed off on the mayor’s $9.2 billion city budget — a budget that is being drained by escalating pension obligations and the rising number of legal settlements. “Voters put their trust in us by passing Measure H and Proposition HHH, to deliver the housing and services that people on the streets desperately need,” Garcetti said. “But we can only solve this crisis by deepening our investment in affordable housing.” Right there is the problem. The only solution the city sees is to build more housing at some point in the future. But the crisis is now! And no one in city or county leadership is addressing this as a “what to do now” issue. Long before Buscaino stepped into this mess with his feckless Homeless Task Force and his useless town hall meeting, and before Los Angeles City Council even formed a Homeless Committee, the concerned citizens of San Pedro Harbor area were meeting with then-state Sen. Isadore Hall to plan a rapid emergency shelter program. This would have addressed the right-now problem for the thousands who are without shelter or living inside of their cars. The city could still do this at a much lower cost by using some of the 9,000 unused city owned properties to locate safe and sanitary emergency shelters. If you are still shocked and appalled by the plight of 58,000 people living on our streets and under our bridges, then you must demand immediate solutions, not more talk. By this, I don’t mean more homeless sweeps that clean up the sidewalks for a day or two. I’m talking about an all-hands-on-deck and get every city and county department involved. As the city addresses the LA River project and waterfront developments, there must be remediation and space allotted for emergency homeless centers. There should be one in every council district throughout the City of Los Angeles. Not only will this be more cost effective than what is currently being practiced with the
Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya
June 8 - 21, 2017
Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com
Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com
8
“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 Vol. XXXVIII : No. 12 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.
Paul Rosenberg Assistant Editor Zamná Ávila zamna@randomlengthsnews.com
enforcement of LAMC 56.11. It is also the more humane policy. Some would call it the “Christian” thing to do. Using existing land and buildings to effectuate a now solution would be similar to a crisis response that we would expect from government if there were just 5,800 people displaced by a natural disaster. Tell me that the Red Cross, the California National Guard, FEMA or a dozen other alphabet agencies don’t have the tents, portable sanitation or medical supplies to rapidly respond. Tell me how the multitude of nonprofit and religious groups would not sign on to a call to action to address this crisis. When you get down to the root of the problem, what we have is a failure of leadership. The core issues causing this are much deeper. High levels of poverty, growing income disparity, slow job growth in relation to population increases, inflated real estate prices and education levels are not keeping pace with either technology or market demand. Yes, it seems daunting, but one part of this complexity that I ran across the other day is an economic analysis report entitled, Industry and Labor Market Intelligence for the City of Los Angeles. It was released in 2013 by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. To my surprise, on the issue of education levels for CD 15 the largest percentage of residents 25plus years, 32.9 percent didn’t even have a high school diploma. High school graduates without a college degree were the next highest at 26.4 percent. That’s almost 60 percent of our resident workforce that never went to college or a trade school — this is the population that will become more vulnerable to homelessness in the years to come. Even with the one-year free tuition at our junior colleges, enrollments are down at Los
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Angeles Harbor College even while high school graduation levels are slightly up. The task of stemming the tide of homelessness is daunting, but Garcetti, Buscaino and the rest of the council do have it in their power to provide emergency shelters now while supporting longer-term goals tomorrow. They all just need act as if this is a crisis and not just a slow-motion train wreck.
Open Letter to SC AQMD Executive Director Wayne Nastri By Rachel Bruhnke, San Pedro resident
Dear Mr. Nastri, I am dismayed, but not surprised, at your certification of the final environmental impact report for the expansion of the Tesoro Oil Refinery in Wilmington. I have taught environmental resource management for many years. This is what students understand about your decision on this project, that you do not: 1. That any consideration of energy infrastructure must look at the source of that energy in making a determination of “impact.” Because of the grotesque nature of the Tar Sands project in Alberta, Canada, and the devastation it is causing to the Boreal Forest, its land, water, animal, plant and human life, expansion of the refining of that “oil” is immoral. My students feel the same way about the land, creatures and people in the Boreal region as they do for ourselves in the Harbor Area. They can “connect the dots” from Wilmington all the way back up to [See Energy, 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 2017 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.
RANDOMLetters
Protest the Approval of Largest Refinery on West Coast
As you may know Wilmington is ground zero to oil production, and it is here that the Air District has approved Tesoro’s refinery expansion! This project will
[Climate, from page 6]
Energy
the points of extraction of this very, very crude oil.
2. That the justification, the supposed “trade off” of increased refining capacity of a larger facility is that it will allow for a modernization and cleaner refining process overall, is a scam. If the technology exists to increase the efficiency of the Tesoro refinery, why is an expansion needed to achieve this goal?
3. That the workers at the refinery are between a rock and a hard place. They must defend the negative impact of their employment in order to feed their families. This surely, is unsustainable, because people in the end are moral creatures. And, we breathe air.
6. That our industrial “sacrifice zones” in the United States must be transformed, and the people who live in them engage in the restoration of the land, air and water. This is a “land use” issue at heart, and peoples’ employment must come, not from laying waste to the land, as your decision makes possible, but in the restoration of the land and the communities that live on it.
that when you are given a chance to learn, the outcome can affect your life in many wonderful ways. George De La Torre Jr. Elementary After School Program staff: • Gina De La Torre Harpur: Photography • Norma Hernandez: Stagecraft • Vivian McClure: Performing arts Aurora Lopez San Pedro
Requiem for Biracial Terminology
While walking through Ports O’ Call Village in San Pedro recently a young man bumped into [See Letters, page 10]
I don’t usually write to newspapers about things that I have come across in my life, but I had to write about the after-school program at George De La Torre Elementary School in Wilmington. Juanita’s Foods supports the after-school program for children of this school. They help fund drama, arts and crafts, photography, guitar and many more programs for these
Community Alert
Upcoming Deadline for the Central SP Neighborhood Council
The deadline for Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council application to fill vacancies is June 9. The neighborhood council has three board seat openings. Any stakeholder age 18 or older may apply. Before you fill out the application, scroll down and read the Board Member Expectations so that you are aware of what is expected of you should you be chosen to fill a board seat. Be sure to include proof of your stakeholder status and a candidate statement. The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council functions in an advisory capacity to various Los Angeles city departments and elected officials through meetings and various forms of communications, as well as promoting a strong sense of neighborhood by bringing stakeholders together to work on activities that enhance the livelihood of the community. Who can be a Candidate? Any stakeholder at least 18 years of age is eligible to run for the office of board member. A “stakeholder” is defined as those who live, work, or own property in the neighborhood and also to those who declare a stake in the neighborhood and affirm the factual basis for it. The term of service for these vacant positions is from June 2017 through June 2018. Details: http://tinyurl.com/ CeSPNC-application
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June 8 - 21, 2017
The current overall trajectory of U.S. energy infrastructure is socially, economically and environmentally unsustainable. By definition, therefore, it will not last. By implication then, neither will your power to make these vital decisions for the rest of us. There is a new generation coming, who has no interest in business as usual. Their world has been made dangerous, polluted, unjust and unnatural. The people who currently make short-sighted, and frankly, unimaginative decisions about how this all works will become irrelevant. It is a matter of survival. I actually feel for your legacy as a person and implore you to rescue it now. It is never too late but of course, you are but one cog in a vicious wheel, so I don’t blame you personally. I only hope and pray that you come to your most human senses and do a 180 when it comes to your role in how we obtain our energy in the U.S. and for what purposes. I respect your expertise in the energy field, Mr. Nastri. You could be so helpful in crafting the energy transition that is inevitably coming to our country. I guarantee you, too, you will be personally much happier.
To George De La Torre Elementary, With Gratitude
her or off on his own building sets. Angelo has been volunteering up to three days per week, four hours per day; he also helps the music department teaching guitar, etc. The amazing thing is that the school gave Angelo a chance to learn as he helped in any way he could. He had no skills and they did not care. He was there to help and that was all they needed. They cared enough to let him learn as he went along and have given him so much in return. He learned so much about carpentry, set building and stage craft, papier-mâché, painting and lighting. I will be eternally grateful to the staff at George De La Torre Elementary and Juanita Foods for showing my grandson
5. That the decentralization of energy production through the harnessing of more localized and renewable energy that is all around us in solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and ocean energy is not only more sustainable, but it is more interesting and inclusive of the larger population. It is a question of paternalism versus democracy, centralization of power or decentralization. A more democratic, localized
supply of energy is what will massively increase jobs in the U.S. economy, and what will revitalize buy-in to this increasingly illegitimate system. Participation is the key to harmony and there is much “disharmony” in the population. We are seeking the balance and equality-of-voice that is promised to us in the Constitution.
students. My grandson, Angelo, heard about all the programs that the school offered to their students and he wanted to learn and help. He offered to help at the GDLTES but had little skills. They took him in and in one year he is building stages using electric tools and his muscle power. His determination in learning these skills has been amazing to watch as he helps these students showcase their art talents. He has built a solid rapport with students and teachers alike. In talking with the fine arts teacher, I have come to realize that with Angelo’s help she is able to give students more time with her skills, while Angelo is busy helping
The Local Publication You Actually Read
4. That the “end use” of our energy — from whichever sources it comes — must actually lead the decisions as to the production of that energy. Thus, the fact that the U.S. economy is bloated with needless consumption, waste, war-manufacturing and toxic products begs the question of whether we must increase, or in fact, decrease our energy use overall. Indeed, with only 5 percent of the population of the world, and 25 percent of its energy use, an unbiased observer would surely conclude that an “energy diet” is actually in order here. At very least, a change from a diet of pure raw meat to one with an abundance of healthy vegetables, no? But if nothing changes, nothing changes. You are in a position to help make that “change” and I encourage you to start now by reconsidering your decision on this project, at the very least.
strike the Frontline communities that have been fighting and resisting Big Oil’s invasion of the W. Coast. Help us stop the largest refinery in W. Coast from bringing high volumes of North Dakota crude into Los Angeles! On April 29, 2017, frontline allies and other organizations gathered
in Wilmington, and together thousands marched in solidarity with CBE and members to resist Tesoro Refinery Expansion. Unfortunately, on Friday, May 12, 2017, the South Coast Air Quality Management District rubberstamped Tesoro’s project despite presenting an incomplete DEIR and health impacts prone to not only impact the Los Angeles area but to our Pacific Coast. We made history on April 29th, and we are anything but through fighting back! Our community is not backing down to SCAQMD negligence in protecting our health and environment. Julia May Wilmington
9
OFF theShelf
A Must Read for Anyone Opposing Trump Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny–Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century By James Preston Allen, Publisher
“We do not subscribe to Do Not Obey in Advance, the view that Mr. Hitler and his followed by a meditation, if friends now finally in possession you will: “Most of the power of of the power they have so long authoritarianism is freely given. desired, will implement the In times like these, individuals proposals circulating in [Nazi think ahead about what a more newspapers].” repressive government will History tells us that they want and then offer themselves should never have been so without being asked. A citizen trusting. First, they come for who adapts in this way is the illegal aliens, and then they teaching power what it can do.” will come for the dissenters; This is a curious observation remember, before the fascists on the psychology of conformity, took out the Jews and the which can be found often in Timothy Synder. File photo gypsies, they attacked the free many groups. Yet, here we press. It’s not unlike what this president has done — are in the “post-fact” arena of competing world views where alt-right spin is confronting factual, beware! The checks and balances of our institutions science-based research and traditional journalism. are not absolute and they may be corrupted and fail The term “anticipatory obedience” is the very without the support of patriots who do more than beginning of adapting instinctively to a new order salute the flag. This brings us to one of the final chapters, Be A of what becomes “normal.” In Chapter 9, Be Kind to Our Language, the Patriot, which starts with a list of what patriotism is author starts: “Avoid pronouncing the phrases not — and halfway through, it dawns on the reader everyone else does. … Make an effort to separate that this list is based upon this president’s biography, like dodging the draft or admiring foreign dictators yourself from the internet. Read books.” He follows with some obvious suggestions while failing to serve your own country by living like Fahrenheit 451 and George Orwell’s 1984 up to its ideals. Democracy can fail and is failing out of the but then adds some surprises like Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America or obscurities like acceptance of a kind of false patriotism called The Language of the Third Reich by Victor ,nationalism, which does not have universal values, aesthetic or ethics. “A patriot,” Snyder concludes, Klemperer. The warning against pretending or adapting says that this kind of failure could happen here, “but to the normalcy of doublespeak and alt-fact that we will stop it.” propaganda is driven home by a quote from a leading Jewish-German newspaper that did not [Climate, from page 7] take Hitler and his Nazi party seriously in 1933.
Sold!
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
A few people have come up to me since the November election to ask, “Why don’t you just give him a chance?” Of course, they are referring to the newly-elected Twitterer-in-chief, who I resolutely refuse to admit is either sufficiently qualified or trustworthy to be president. Like many of you, I am resolute in my rejection of #45 and his alt-facts as well as his attacks against women, journalists (for obvious reasons), the judiciary and anyone who doesn’t agree with him. He is a danger to our republic and is the face of proto-fascism that we have long been warned about but thought naively, “It could never happen here!” Well, it has. This small book of reflections, 20 of them, are a guide to the warning signs or historical cues to understanding just how a democracy can elevate a tyrant into becoming a national leader. The book also indicates what we as thinking, patriotic citizens must do to protect civil society and our cherished rights in this republic. It is well worth the short read and a longer discussion with your friends and family. The author, Timothy Snyder, is the Levin professor of history at Yale University. He has been recognized by the New York Times as “unafraid to make bold connections between the past and present.” This he does without ever mentioning the current president by name — only by title and inference. “History can familiarize and it can warn,” Snyder admonishes. It doesn’t repeat, he says, but “it does instruct.” In 20 short chapters, Snyder makes historical references that should give us all pause as to exactly what is taking place now in America. Each chapter starts like the first one, entitled
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(310) 519-1442
Climate
from the country. And at the same time, all over the state these refineries are being retooled to bring in dirtier crude, and we’re fighting coal exports from California, even though California doesn’t produce coal. “It’s part of this really schizophrenic state that we live in when it comes to the environment. But in terms of disproportionate impact, on communities of color, that’s nothing new. It’s the same old same old.… there is a higher sensitivity to environmental justice issues at the state level, the legislature and the executive branch in particular. That being said there’s still a long way to go.” In a conference call hosted by the World Resources Institute, Brown called Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accords misguided. “I would even say this is an insane move by this president,” he said. “And, in fact, Trump may well create the exact opposite of what he intended. And that is an aroused citizenry in America and aroused nations of the world who will not tolerate this kind of deviant behavior from the highest office in the land.” But Tesoro’s refinery brings the global question down to earth in a way that calls such sweeping claims into question. “We’re looking forward to having a different governor, because he is not environmentally friendly,” Eidt said. “All these different types of extreme drilling procedures that he doesn’t want to go near touching, (which have proliferated throughout the state). He could be worse, as we see what’s happening with the president. But he’s not nearly good enough for what is necessary.”
RANDOMLetters [Letters, from page 9]
me. I immediately saw he was a light-skinned Afro-American. He apologized for his misstep (maybe too polite) and moved on. The young man appeared to be part Caucasian, so it made me think of my family, which has several mixed-race marriages. If the subject comes up, they prefer to be identified as biracial. One problem is their attitude that to be racially mixed is a badge of honor. An argument predictably will ensue when race is the subject matter and one points out, we are all just homo sapiens. Race by itself is neither good nor evil. It would be understandable if a mixed person’s desire to honor each of their racial components to protect the family legacy. However, there is a dark side, particularly for those of Afro-American descent. Common occurrences are: unresolved anger issues, loneliness and the awkward feeling of not belonging to any heritage group. Isn’t the mixed-race child entitled to a doting grandma? Said awkwardness may persist for a lifetime when mortals judge other mortals resulting in pejorative assumptions. Anecdotal information suggest some AfroAmericans’ mixed race persons choose to avoid residence in Afro-American communities despite a community having a higher social station, thus the appearance of [being] separate as a subculture apart from historical Afro-Americans who sacrificed to achieve equal rights for all. There is also the supposition mixed-race AfroAmericans fear being criticized by traditional Afro-Americans for behaving white. However, there are those who see that any criticism is intended as an awareness of who one is, or as an invitation to the sanitarium of everyday black life, a life lived, where paranoia is a virtue (to be used as a defense mechanism). As one who is multicultural black, AngloSaxon, French white and Native American, I am biracial, but I have chosen to be racially identifying as: OTHER. Does it really matter? We are just vulnerable humans, so let’s be human and stop the racial boxing match. There is no one race of people better than another. We do not need racial/caste labels to identify who we really are. Let’s get together and have a good time. We are all OK. John R. Gray San Pedro
How Very Trumpish
(Regarding The Box DONE Come in the May 25 At Length column) Really, James? The plus-size beauty queen of Saving San Pedro? Sounds very Trumpish of you! I thought James’s comment was very hurtful. A low blow, but that is what this whole neighborhood council, Saving San Pedro crap has become. John Gant Wilmington
To the Wall Street Journal: “Los Angeles Charter Uprising”
Without question, public schools can do better. And yes, there is “nothing progressive about failing low-income minority kids.” However, choice, charter or vouchers are not about kids — they are about parents. I have yet to meet a 5-year-old who can complete a charter, choice or voucher application. The public-school system teaches all kids: kids with parents who do not care, kids with disabilities, foster kids, kids who just moved into the neighborhood and kids who cannot speak English. This is its mission. The public-school system cares for all kids — the kids without a voice or a choice. No children chose their parents, their prenatal care programs, their home environments or their DNA. The public-school system teaches all kids. The choice is not another system; the choice [See Letters, page 19]
[Unsolicited, from page 1]
aficionados — including Carreon himself who contemplated cancelling his show at the eleventh hour — this decision betrays what Carreon called the greater “disconnect between the modern artists and the gallery.” Indeed, modern art shows balance the artist’s vision for the audience with the gallery’s desires, namely, what the gallery thinks it might be able to sell. Carreon’s manager referred to many gallery owners as “real estate agents,” trying to sell displayed art so that they can move on to the next piece. As a result, galleries sometimes take liberties and make choices that they think are more marketable. In this situation, the person who ends up losing out is often the artist. Carreon acutely felt this loss, similar to what he experienced as a young graffiti writer years ago when another crew had disrespectfully gone over his work. “I grew up fighting people who went over my art,” Carreon said, his voice close to breaking. “Now people are cutting my art in half.”
Harbor Born and Raised Born in Harbor City, Carreon comes from a line of longshoremen.
The Local Publication You Actually Read
Carreon’s family moved throughout the Harbor Area before settling a little farther south in Seal Beach. Carreon’s father wanted his son to have a chance at a better education than he felt was available in his hometown of Wilmington, but Carreon had other plans. “By ninth grade, I [had] already dropped out of school and [was] heading back to the hood to try to be around cats who were doing cooler shit than playing baseball,” Carreon said. “They were listening to hip-hop, tagging, doing graffiti, break-dancing and freestyle battling: all of the stuff that I didn’t have at my predominately white school.” Carreon hooked up with a local graffiti crew out of Long Beach named KBH, or Krown By Honor. [See Unsolicited, page 14]
Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner With this coupon
(310) 518-1030
June 8 - 21, 2017
1601 E. Anaheim St., Wilmington
Open daily — M-F: 6 a.m. - 11 p.m. Sat.: 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Sun.: 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.
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T
he newest restaurateur in San Pedro is serving Louisiana cooking, but not in the surroundings you might expect. Kevin Faciane knows that most Southern eateries feature the rustic cabin look, but that’s not his vision at the new Jackson’s Place. “The sawdust-on-the-floor thing is fine for a certain style of place, but it’s not what I want to do,” Faciane said. “It’s more on the Creole side than the Cajun side, a more contemporary and urbane Cajun. That would be a nice name for a restaurant, Urbane Cajun.” There haven’t been many changes to the art-filled room that used to be a wine bar serving simple sandwiches, but the menu has been transformed. Faciane is cooking the food that is part of his heritage — though he grew up in Los Angeles, both parents were from Louisiana. “Mom was used to cooking what her mother made and she was busy raising four boys and stuck with what she knew,” he said. “Home cooking was Cajun. Monday night was always red beans and rice; there was fried chicken, smothered pork chops — all the traditional items. That’s the culture she passed on to us.” Kevin learned that cuisine and kept cooking it for friends after he became an aerospace and technology engineer. The idea of opening a restaurant came to him gradually. “My family is really big,” he said. “So, any time we got them all together we were cooking for almost 50 people anyway. My brothers and I
The New South Comes to Old San Pedro By Richard Foss, Cuisine and Restaurant Writer
Jackson’s Place new proprietor, Kevin Faciane. Photos by Richard Foss
started doing Mardi Gras parties about 15 years ago, and the parties got bigger and bigger. Then we added a Fourth of July party, tailgate parties for the [U]SC-Notre Dame
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
Buono’s Authentic Pizzeria
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A San Pedro landmark for over 44 years, famous for exceptional awardwinning pizza baked in brick ovens. Buono’s also offers classic Italian dishes and sauces based on tried-and-true family recipes and hand-selected ingredients that are prepared fresh. Dine-in, take-out and catering. There are two locations in Long Beach. Hours: Sun.Thurs. 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. • Buono’s Pizzeria, 1432 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro • (310) 547-0655 • www.buonospizza.com
Happy DineR AND HAPPY DELI
The Happy Diner isn’t your average diner. It’s the idea of fresh creative dishes in tow San Pedro locations, and now a third—the Happy Deli. The selections range from Italian- and Mexicaninfluenced entrées to American continental. Happy Diner chefs are always creating something new—take your pick of grilled salmon over pasta or tilapia and vegetables prepared any way you like. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner: Happy Diner #1, (310) 241-0917, 617 S. Centre St., San Pedro • Happy Diner #2, (310) 935-2933, 1931 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro • Open for breakfast and lunch: Happy Deli, (424) 364-0319, 530 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro.
MARIA’S RESTAURANT
If you are in the mood for authentic Mexican food, at an affordable price, try María’s Mexican Restaurant. The inconspicuous eatery on Pacific Avenue and 22nd Street in San Pedro offers a wide variety of
A bowl of gumbo and a shrimp po’boy at Jackson’s Place.
savory, traditional dishes from tortas and burritos to chiles rellenos and camarones a la diabla. The exceptional service matches its well-proportioned meals. On a time crunch for lunch or dinner? Give María’s a call and they’ll have your food warm and ready for you within minutes. Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. María’s Mexican Restaurant, 2215 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro • (310) 833-6666.
PIROZZI’S ITALIAN DELI
Walk into Pirozzi’s Italian Deli at Weymouth Corners and discover an ample selection of fine imported cheeses and salami, as well as a great assortment of imported prosciutto, pastas, sauces, olive oils and vinegars. Best known for homemade Italian sausages in five distinct flavors, Pirozzi’s also carries freshly prepared and frozen entrées and sauces available for take-out. Pirozzi’s Deli offers a full catering menu, made-to-order deli sandwiches, homemade Italian cookies and desserts. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm; Sat. 10 am-5 pm; Sun. 10 am-2 pm. Pirozzi’s Italian Deli, 1453 W. 8th St., San Pedro • (310) 548-0000 www.pirozzisdeli.com
San Pedro Brewing Company
A microbrewery and American grill, SPBC features handcrafted award-winning ales and lagers served with creative pastas, bbq, sandwiches, salads and burgers. A full bar with madefrom-scratch margaritas and a martini menu all add fun to the warm and friendly atmosphere. Live music. Open from 11:30 a.m., daily. San Pedro Brewing Company, 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro • (310) 831-5663 • www.sanpedrobrewing.com
The Whale & Ale English Restaurant & Pub
The Victorian oak panels & elegant brass fittings will make you feel like you crossed the Atlantic. Featuring popular pub fare such as Fish & Chips (a regular “Best in L.A.” winner), Shepherd’s Pie, & entrées of Choice Steaks, Roast Prime Rib, Beef Wellington &
game. After doing all those parties and always having people over for food, we started thinking, maybe we should look for a restaurant.” He started the project
Roast Rack of Lamb. Seafood selections include Chilean Sea Bass, Atlantic Salmon, Jumbo Tiger Shrimp & Sand Dabs. Try hard-tofind international draft beers & ales, as well as domestic craft beers on tap. Full bar; free, gated parking lot. Open daily for dinner and lunch Tues.-Sun. 327 W. 7th St., San Pedro • (310) 832-0363 • www.whaleandale.com
Waterfront Dining
Boardwalk Grill
Casual waterfront dining at its finest! Famous for slabs of Chicago-style baby back ribs, fish-nchips, rich clam chowder, cold beer on tap and wine. Full lunch menu also includes salads, sandwiches and burgers. Indoor and outdoor patio dining available. Proudly pouring Starbucks coffee. Open 7 days a week. Free parking. Boardwalk Grill, 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77, San Pedro • (310) 519-7551
with an engineer’s attitude to research and got a job at a now-closed Ports O’ Call Village restaurant to see if he liked the business. “I was working at Northrop by day and doing banquets at Nizitich’s so I could learn how a restaurant operates. I saw for myself what goes on in a restaurant and even after that, I still wanted to do it. I decided you could run a restaurant and have a life at the same time if you do it right. I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it.” After deciding to go forward, the San Pedro resident considered a location in Belmont Shore, but a chance interaction led him to consider a place closer to home. There was one problem with the restaurant he took over: it had a tiny kitchen. “It was a wine bar that served snacks, but didn’t have a cooking line — they had a panini press and convection oven, and they made cheese plates. People stopped by on their way to dinner or after an event, but it wasn’t a food destination. We’re going to extend the building with a cargo container right outside the backdoor; it will be fitted out in advance with the other items we need. ” That new kitchen is still under construction but the menu has already expanded. A barbecue in the back is turning out pulled pork, jambalaya, gumbo, seafood etoufée and other delights. These are made with attention to [See Cajun, page 13]
SPIRIT CRUISES
An instant party— complete with all you need to relax and enjoy while the majesty of the harbor slips by. Dinner cruise features a 3-course meal, full bar, unlimited cocktails and starlight dancing—the ultimate excursion for any occasion. Free parking. Spirit Cruises, 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor - Berth 77, San Pedro • (310) 548-8080, (562) 495-5884, www.spiritmarine.com
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PORTS O’ CALL RESTAURANT
Since 1961 this landmark restaurant has extended a hearty welcome to visitors from around the globe. Delight in an awe-inspiring view of the dynamic LA Harbor while enjoying fresh California cuisine and varietals. Relax in the bar or patio for the best happy hour on the waterfront. With each purchase of the awardwinning Sunday Champagne Brunch, receive the first Spirit Cruises harbor cruise of the day free. Open 7 days, lunch and dinner. Free parking. Ports O’Call Waterfront Dining, 1199 Nagoya Way, LA Harbor, Berth 76, San Pedro • (310) 833-3553 www.portsocalldining.com
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[Cajun, from page 12]
Cajun Cuisine
tradition. “Cajun cuisine involves sauces that take hours that are put on items that take minutes,” he said. “The seafood doesn’t touch heat until it’s almost ready to be served, so the customer always gets everything fresh. We think you can tell the difference even if you’re not really familiar with this food.” He is ready for the day when that kitchen is finished and will add a jazz brunch, fried chicken, steaks, and grilled seafood. The big plans involve a big investment and raised the question of why he would locate his restaurant in a town with no obvious cultural link to the American South. “The future is bright here in downtown San Pedro, despite the fact that there’s not a big Cajun community locally,” he said. “A lot more people know about this food than you’d expect, because they’ve tried it elsewhere and are excited about getting it near their homes. Many of my customers have Southern roots and there’s an underserved African-American community in San Pedro that appreciates this cuisine. Our target audience is San Pedrans and there is nothing like us here.” He also cites demographic changes as a reason for optimism. “The downtown core is very urban, and younger people today — the ones between 25 and 40 — they like urban,” he said. “They’re not afraid of it; they embrace the history and the authenticity and character. There are projects
that are coming in that will bring in new tenants and workers, and that’s not including whatever impact we get from the San Pedro Public Market renovation. That will become a magnet for people from outside and will also give locals more reasons to come downtown instead of thinking of other places for dining and nightlife. There are plans to make this a pedestrianfriendly area, which worked very well in South Pasadena, and people are going to want to come and walk around.” “People who love this cuisine will travel to find it, and they like to try them all – people come in and tell me they’ve been to Little Jewel downtown, Ragin’ Cajun in Redondo, Uncle Darrow’s in Carson, they list them all,” he said. “We’re now part of that conversation. ” The engineer-turned restaurateur has done a remarkable job of transitioning from an orderly business to one that is unpredictable under the best of circumstances. “An engineer can go into their office and close the door and tweak something until it’s perfected, but here every day I’m judged on every minute of the experience,” he said. “Someone asked me what the business is like and I asked them if they had ever hosted a family Christmas. You know how you have to run around all day and get things ready, work for hours serving and then at the end of the night everybody goes home? At the end of that you have a year to get ready to do it again. I have to do that tomorrow, so for me it’s Christmas every day. It’s harder than that, because when you have people over for Christmas you know how many you invited and when they’re coming — I don’t.”
The Local Publication You Actually Read June 8 - 21, 2017
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[Unsolicited, from page 11]
Carreon: Unsolicited “It was pretty much like an art gang,” Carreon admitted. “I was the kid who lived in Seal Beach — the privileged kid. I was automatically the punk out of the crew, so I had to work really, really hard…. Graffiti became everything to me…. It was just about getting respect from your peers.” During this time, Carreon and his crew stole paint, hip-hop CDs and cassettes and hung out at backyard parties, where Sublime would play. “Long Beach was on fire,” Carreon remembered. “There was not a care in the world.”
Fighting for Art
Occasionally, Carreon and KBH would “battle” with other crews or taggers, who he really only knew by their tagging names. “We battled with spray cans to start but usually ended up fighting,” Carreon said. “I threw fists. I have scars on my face from graffiti. But that’s punk rock.” Around 2000, Carreon got a car. That is
when he said his life as a graffiti writer really took off. “We started mobbing the freeways heavy, like hard,” Carreon said. “We were bombing [tagging] freeways five nights a week, from the 110 all the way through Pedro all through the bridges — downtown, 110, 605, 91. We were rocking billboards, heavens [graffiti pieces painted in hard-to-reach places], rooftops.” More than anything, his time in KBH has taught him a code of respect for other people’s artwork. Now, when he is commissioned to paint a wall in another country — the Philippines or South Africa — Carreon tries his best to make sure that he contacts any artist whose work he paints over. “That’s where I come from,” Carreon said. “Unless [the other artist] is dead, I need to reach out to this guy and let him know you’re paying me to paint a mural here.” He said that this code is part of the reason why he is so frustrated with the younger generation of self-titled street artists, whose
Louis Carreon in his studio. Photo courtesy of Louis Carreon.
numbers seem to grow every day courtesy of Instagram and who have no qualms about painting over another artist’s work. “We were just vandals — street art didn’t exist,” Carreon said. “We didn’t know anything [about art] except what the art teachers taught us in history and most of us weren’t listening to that shit anyway.”
About 10 years ago, so-called street art became popularized throughout Los Angeles galleries. Many galleries — or sometimes even the artists themselves — would label these works as graffiti. Yet many “old school” graffiti artists like Carreon see a clear, black-and-white delineation between street and graffiti artists. “Just because you use a spray can, doesn’t make you graffiti,” Carreon said. Carreon described the learning process required of graffiti artists, who he said needed to know the tagging alphabet by studying scripts like bubble bottom letters or New Yorks. “I come from a place where I don’t even
The Road to Success
But Carreon has progressed vastly from the young graffiti artist who secretly mobbed freeways in the middle of the night. Around two decades ago, Carreon moved from Long Beach to West Hollywood, leaving most of his old crew behind. For the next decade, Carreon struggled with addiction before finally landing in prison for two years on drug-related charges. “I was a lowlife,” Carreon said. “I did nothing but ruin people’s lives and ruin my own.” Unlike most inmates, Carreon seemed to thrive in prison, as the penitentiary afforded him the time and solitude to get sober and practice his art, which had mostly fallen by the wayside during his drug-addled years. Carreon drew art for tattoos in prison, using mostly bold, simple [See Carreon, page 16]
Shred Fest Takes Over Downtown San Pedro
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
The Real Meaning of Street
think you should say the word street … whether you paint the fucking street or not,” Carreon said. “If the people from the street don’t know you, you ain’t street…. The street implies community. If the community doesn’t know who you are, you ain’t shit.”
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The streets of downtown San Pedro were shut down on June 3 for the ShredFest. Skateboarders of all ages showed up and took full advantage of the ramps and street courses set up for the day. There was even live music, featuring Minuteman co-founder and San Pedro resident Mike Watt and Toys That Kill. Photos by Raphael Richardson.
Art as Resistance Lights Up Los Angeles By Melina Paris, Music and Culture Writer
Protest takes on many forms. One of the most prominent forms is the protest march. In 2017, we have witnessed a flurry of marches all with one thing in common: resistance to President Donald Trump’s policies. We saw The Women’s March in January, not only in this country but around the world. April saw at least three protest marches, Tax Day March, The March for Science and The People’s Climate March. There were marches at airports throughout the nation and thousands more globally after Trump’s executive order banning people entering the United States from seven majority-Muslim countries. Then came May Day protest marches. But another form of protest has been brewing and producing impactful art works. It is Art as Resistance, Paintings in Protest to a Trump Presidency. The exhibition is curated by
science fiction. He always imagined an apocalypse would take place in the not-toodistant future, but it seems like time has fastforwarded and we are at a threshold, about to enter a post-apocalyptic society. Almanza called Alex Schaefer’s piece, A Banquet Without Consequences, a “tour de force.” It includes Trump and various bankers. Almanza said Schaefer has been very upset by the government bailouts of the banks. As a form of protest in 2011, Schaefer rendered a painting, while on the street in front of a Chase Bank on Van Nuys Boulevard. In the painting the bank roof was ablaze. Police arrived and questioned him, asking if he was planning to follow through on the scenes he had painted on canvas. A year later he was arrested for a chalk drawing of the word “Crime” with a Chase logo in front of a [See Resistance, page 16]
Arts Cuisine Entertainment JUNE 8 - 21 • 2017 ENTERTAINMENT June 9
The Habits, Weathers Expect a surprise from The Habits, while these two bands will get you moving. Time: 7:30 to 10 p.m. June 9 Cost: $5 Details: www.sanpedrocityballet.org Venue: San Pedro City Ballet, 1231 S. Pacific Ave, San Pedro
June 10
Mouths of Babes The Americana songsters are powerful, romantic, giddy and insanely infectious. They are no strangers to the contemporary folk music scene. Time: 8 p.m. June 10 Cost: $20 to $120 Details: www.grandvision.org/shop/tickets. asp?id=977 Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro Markus Carlton Markus Carlton is a lifelong musician who has worn out many guitars over the years. He will entertain you by playing new material, as well as jazz and blues standards. Time: 6:30 p.m. June 10 Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-0363 Venue: The Whale & Ale, 327 W. 7th St., San Pedro Calum Graham Enjoy a night of acoustic fingerstyle guitar from one of Canada’s best up and coming artists with special guest Donovan Raitt. Calum Graham has already enjoyed a career that would be the envy of most artists twice his age. Time: 8 p.m. June 10 Cost: $20 Details: https://alvasshowroom.com/event/ calum-graham-and-special-guests Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
June 11
Eric Almanza’s With this Fire a Rebellion Will Rise. Photo by Melina Paris
Hidden Hairpin
• Blow Outs • Color • Cuts & Styling • Vintage Styling & Updo’s Specializing in balayage and color correction
June 17
Sharon Marie Join Sharon’s 2017 kickoff of her Summer Love Concert schedule, and enjoy intimate jazz with Sharon Marie Cline and The Bad Boyz of Jazz. Time: 8 p.m. June 17 Cost: $20 Details: https://alvasshowroom.com/event/ sharon-marie-cline-summer-of-love Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
June 18
Music on the Meadows Kick off summer and celebrate Father’s Day weekend with Terranea Resort’s annual oceanfront concert Music on the Meadows! Enjoy
THEATER June 10
Dead Man’s Cellphone How we memorialize the dead and how remembering changes us is examined in the odyssey of a woman confronting her own assumptions about morality, redemption, and the need to connect in a technologically obsessed world. Time: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, through July 8. Cost: $2 to $24 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA
June 16
Long Beach Playhouse Radio Hour Long Beach Playhouse will present the seventh annual Long Beach Playhouse Radio Hour performed by Long Beach political players, who this year are: Mayor Robert Garcia, Suzie Price, Rex Richardson, Marcelle Epley, Shirley Wild, Porter Gilberg, Mari Hooper, Steve Keesal and Mike Murray with Art Levine on sound and Mitchell Nunn as master of ceremonies. Time: 6 to 8 p.m. June 16 Cost: $5 Details: (562) 494-1014 Venue: The Offices of Keesal Young & Logan, 400 Oceangate, Suite 1400, Long Beach
June 17
Fences The Long Beach Playhouse presents August Wilson’s Fences, which observes the African American experience across several decades. Time: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sunday, through June 17 Cost: $20 to $24 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St, Long Beach
June 18
The Last Five Years An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their 20s who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. Time: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, through June 18 Cost: $30 Details: http://boxoffice.printtixusa.com/ friendsoftorrance/eventcalendar Venue: Torrance Theatre, 1316 Cabrillo Ave., [See Calendar, page 16]
June 8 - 21, 2017
Firebird Quintet This concert series present is presented by the Beverly Hills National Auditions winner, Firebird Balalaika Ensemble. Time: 3 p.m. June 17 Cost: Free Details: www.palosverdes.com Venue: First Lutheran Church and School, 2900 W. Carson St., Torrance
The Swinging Whalers The Swinging Whalers perform on Third Thursdays jazz standards from a quartet of tenor saxophone, guitar and drums. Time: 7 to 9 p.m. June 18 Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-0363 Venue: The Whale & Ale, 327 W. 7th St., San Pedro
310.547.4566
461 W. 6th St., Suite 105 San Pedro
Robert Thies Pianist Robert Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. Thies enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Time: 2 p.m. June 11 Cost: Free Details: (310) 316-5574 Venue: Rolling Hills United Methodist Church, 26438 Crenshaw Blvd., Rolling Hills Estates
Rhythmic Relations 2017 Taikoproject ain’t your mama’s taiko, but it may be your hip younger cousin’s. This two-hour concert will also feature sister groups Kitsune Taiko and Bombu Taiko and guest performers from Los Angeles-based Cirque Berzerk. Time: 7 to 9 p.m. June 18 Cost: $22 to $28 Details: www.TAIKOPROJECT.com Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro
The Local Publication You Actually Read
Long Beach artist Eric Almanza in response to the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. The showing opened May 12 at Avenue 50 Studio in Los Angeles. The gallery exhibits artists of color who display high quality work and who haven’t been represented in mainstream galleries. Opening night drew a large crowd that steadily multiplied to a full house as the night continued. Almanza said that curating for this show was different because all of the artists created new works. Usually, artists choose from what they have, looking for pieces that go along with the theme of a show. In essence, Almanza trusted the artists to produce great work. As a curator, this required much risk. It wasn’t until a week before the opening that he saw the works. Some artists even dropped out or their works were not produced. As for Almanza’s contribution, With This Fire a Rebellion Will Rise, his piece pictures a section of the border wall. It is set on fire. On the wall is Almanza’s logo of resistance, a dream catcher with two triangles in the center. Almanza has said it’s for the resistance “because every great resistance needs some kind of logo.” When he created, it he thought of it as a piece of apocalyptic
an afternoon filled with music from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and other headliners, Farmto-Terranea barbecue and local breweries. Time:12 to 7 p.m. June 18 Cost: $65 to $85 Details: ticketfly.com/purchase/ event/1487893 Venue: Terranea Resort, 100 Terranea Way, Rancho Palos Verdes
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Arts Cuisine Entertainment JUN 8 - 21 • 2017 [Calendar, from page 15] Torrance
ARTS
June 10
National Watercolor Society Member’s Show The exhibi is juried by nationally known Bob Burridge and features water media paintings by members of the society. Time: 2 to 4 p.m. June 10, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 12 to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through July 9 Cost: Free Details: (424) 225-4966 Venue: National Watercolor Society, 915 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro Justin Favela: Gracias, Gracias, Thank You, Thank You! Following a tradition of social commentary practiced by notable Latino artists such as Coco Fusco, John Jota Leaños, and Alejandro Diaz, Justin Favela’s piñatashaped sculptures meld memory with humor to reveal difficult to communicate experiences of identity and place. Time: 6 to 9 p.m. June 10, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays, through July 9 Cost: Free Details: www.pvartcenter.org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes
June 8 - 21, 2017
Serving the Seven Communities of the Harbor Area
June 17
16
From The Desert to The Sea: The Desolation Center Experience Before the era of Burning Man, Lollapalooza, and Coachella, Desolation Center drew punk and industrial music fans to the far reaches of the Mojave Desert for the first of five events, Mojave Exodus in April of 1983. Cornelius Projects pays tribute to Desolation Center’s pioneering vision with an exhibition featuring painting, photography, sculpture, video and ephemera. Time: 6 to 9 p.m. June 17, and 12 to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, through July 30 Cost: Free Details: (310) 266-9216 Venue: Cornelius Projects Gallery, 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro A New View A New View features new member artist Susan Soffer Cohn, jewelry artist Nancy Comaford and painter Parrish Nelson Hirasaki. Time: 4 to 7 p.m. through June 25 Cost: Free Details: (310) 265-2592; artists-studio-pvac. com Venue: Artists’ Studio Gallery at Promenade on the Peninsula, 550 Deep Valley Drive, #159, Rolling Hills Estates
ART CONTINUING
URBANO URBANO by Dario Gonzalo Tavoni is a series of physical and digital paintings, which adapt characteristics of graffiti art to depict feelings and concerns toward judgment and society. Time: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, through June 26 Cost: Free Details: (310) 303-7311 Venue: MCU Klaus Center for the Arts, 430 W. 6th St., San Pedro
COMMUNITY June 10
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, On the Waterfront The Los Angeles Conservancy brings its acclaimed film series to the Warner Grand. The Last Remaining Seats program presents the feature films 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Disney, 1954) 8 p.m. and On
the Waterfront (Columbia Pics, 1954). Time: 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively, June 10 Details: laconservancy.org Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro Rumble on the Water at The Queen Mary Cheer on your favorite local mixed martial arts fighter when Rumble on the Water comes to the Queen Mary. Time: 5 p.m. June 10 Cost: $45 to $70 per adult Details: bit.ly/2pGtS9T Venue: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach 119th Philippine Independence Day Celebration Come out to Carson and celebrate Philippine Independence Day. The event features a ceremonial parade around the Veterans Park field with street cultural dancing. Time: June 10 Cost: Free Details: www.philippineconsulatela.org Venue: Veterans Sports Complex, 22400 Moneta Ave., Carson Clean Boat Show Spend the day on the waterfront and learn about environmentally-friendly boating products and practices through exhibits, presentations and demonstrations. Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 10 Cost: Free Details: (310) 514-4985; www.CabrilloWay-Marina.com Venue: Cabrillo Way Marina, 2293 Miner St., San Pedro
June 11
Second Annual 2017 MGWC Scholarship Pageant You are invited to the 2nd Annual MGWC Scholarship Pageant. Actor Vincent M. Ward from The Walking Dead will be the 2017 celebrity host. Details: www.missgwc.com for presale tickets Venue: California State University Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St., Carson
June 12
Ships and Giggles Comedy Night Such top Los Angeles comedians as Alonzo Bodden, Jodi Miller, Jamal Doman, Richy Leis and Brenton Biddlecombe will be throwing their wisest cracks around the old luxury liner. Time: 8 p.m. June 12 Cost: $15 Details: www.queenmary.com Venue: Queen Mary, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach
June 14
Obento: The Japanese Lunchbox Learn the art of Japanese-style bento boxes with this hour-long cooking demonstration. Yoko Isassi from FoodStory teaches how to create cute designs out of edible ingredients. This program is for ages 12 through 18 years. Time: 4 to 5 p.m. June 14 Cost: Free Details: www.colapublib.org/libs/dominguez Venue: East Rancho Dominguez Library, 4420 E. Rose St., East Rancho Dominguez
June 15
The Dew Tour Dew Tour’s 2017 summer skate competition and festival is a four-day weekend celebration featuring a four-part course, team and individual competitions, an outdoor concert area and a public skate park. Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 15 through 19 Cost: Free to $300 Details: http://tinyurl.com/The-Dew-Tourlb Venue: Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach
[Resistance, from page 15]
Resistance
downtown Los Angeles Chase bank. He spent 12 hours in jail for vandalism. There is much going on in Timothy Robert Smith’s piece, Untitled. It makes a compelling statement about the president. Untitled depicts a swirl of hair appearing as a tornado around a black hole. War planes come from behind the chief executive. He holds what appears to be a cell phone with his Twitter thumb positioned dangerously close to pressing the Timothy Robert Smith’s Untitled, depicts Trump’s “Twitter nuclear button — earth with a red thumb” poised to press the nuclear button. Photo by Melina circle around it. Paris The following is an excerpt from from the oppressed, these paintings serve as curator’s statement on the group a visual protest to Trump and everything his exhibition. administration stands for. Art as Resistance brings to focus the artistic reactions of 17 artists living and Details: www.ericalmanza.com, http:// working in the era of Trump. Rich with voices avenue50studio.org [Carreon, from page 11]
Carreon
lines which can be found in some of his earlier post-prison artwork. In many ways, Carreon viewed art as his redemption, giving him a clear path for what he wanted to do with his life. But Carreon has not necessarily left his old lifestyle behind. Although sober, he also works as a club promoter and part owner of the clubs Bootsy Bellows and Poppy. “I own some of the best nightclubs here so I’ve become pretty deep into pop culture and Hollywood,” Carreon said. “I know pretty much everybody.” Carreon admitted that he has been lucky in this venture, and perhaps in life in general, as his integration into the Hollywood scene seems to have led to the seed money to jumpstart his career as an artist. Other members of Carreon’s old crew, some of whom he admitted are just as good if not better artists, have not been so lucky. “They didn’t move up to Hollywood and they didn’t do what I did and I’m the one catching some light,” Carreon said. “But I’m also running a business.”
The Art Businessman
Now, Carreon is an artist with large, sophisticated narratives behind his pieces, which he completes in his studio in West Hollywood called, The Drip Factory. Around two years ago, Carreon recognized that the communication of this knowledge and the historical resonance of his pieces were necessary in order to have success in the art world. “Now, I’m studying art, I’m learning how to explain my pieces,” Carreon said. “It has completely changed for me from the kid that was just defacing stuff.” Indeed, now Carreon is commissioned to create art around the world by institutions as diverse as Autism Speaks and the Chicago Blackhawks. In 2015, he painted a private jet for Art Basel, an homage to the AIDS-related death of renowned artist Keith Haring. But in many ways, Carreon seems conflicted, torn between this “authorized” art and the vandalism still in heart. He joked about the fact that driving down La Cienega Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles, a commissioned billboard sits just a few blocks
away from one of the billboards he recently vandalized. Indeed, this fluidity seems to have become ingrained within his art itself, as he now prefers blurred lines in his paintings to the clear lines reminiscent of prison tattoos. For Carreon, definitions seem to have become blurrier with 40 years, as he has realized that life is so infrequently black and white. In this way, the dynamism of graffiti as a medium still suits him, as the transient nature of the art replicates the in-the-moment lifestyle of modern society.
Evolving from the Streets
Carreon said that he is not as influenced by other artists as he is by life, a street-centric view that is possibly a holdover from the tagging of his youth. “You can find inspiration anywhere,” Carreon said. “I could walk into Kmart, see something interesting … talk to a homeless guy, read something on Facebook … nightclubs. I find inspiration listening to music, watching people function.” Carreon said that he often feels trapped when he spends too much time looking at other people’s art; if he studies other artists for too long, he tries to replicate what they are doing, only to end up deeply frustrated. “I don’t like being influenced by other artists,” Carreon said. “I prefer freestyle. I’d rather be stuck in my head. It takes me a long time to paint some of this shit. I can’t move fast enough. My brain won’t let me…. I’m not even that good at art. I’m just free.” This freedom has allowed him to pursue his pet project, creating what he calls international symbols of travel that he paints on walls worldwide, including the outside of The Drip Factory. “They’re kind of like a little story that you can look at,” Carreon said. “Every time I paint it, I see it differently and I add characters. It’s evolving, just like myself.” This evolution of character is perhaps the most quintessential aspect of Carreon as an artist, and even as a human being. Carreon credited much of his past as intrinsically shaping his artwork. “I did get into a lot of trouble and I did take a lot of wrong streets, but it all was a culmination to get me to where I am now,” Carreon said. “I’m still on the grind and still learning about everything, including myself.”
[Disrupted, from page 4]
Barragán Disrupted
member of Congress so she wanted to try to keep this more “in our official capacity,” not get into politics. A man who boasted he voted for Trump, as well as Barragán, said he was poisoned at a base in Alabama. He launched into a speech about the veterans poisoned by nerve gas and Agent Orange. Apparently, no other senator or Congress
member would help him but “Barragán listened to me for two-and-a-half hours.” Barragán introduced her staff and praised them for how they “reach out to vets and the Veterans Affairs.” Out of the blue, a Trumper shouted, “You disrespect our president!” and “You apologize!” “If you’re waiting for an apology for that,
you’re going to wait for a long time,” Barragán shot back — the only time she took the bait during the meeting. Another Trumper shouted: “Politicians continue to support illegal aliens!” Barragán, talking over the commotion, said something about, “They live in this country; they pay taxes.” Barragán made a long speech about how you can sign up to serve your country, maybe even get killed, and then come back and be deported. “I’m going to Mexico to visit a deported veteran,” she
added. “If you’re a serious violent offender you should be deported.” She abruptly changed the subject to introduce Carson Councilman Jawane Hilton. Everything Barragán said, the Trump crowd continued to shout down. Eventually Barragán, a sheriff’s deputy and perhaps about 10 people clustered around her and spoke quietly with each other. “There’s another room we can move to and people [who] want to have a civil conversation [Distrupted, to page 19]
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DBA FILINGS Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017139299 The following person is doing business as: EC Construction Consultants, 14616 Eastwood Ave. #6 Lawndale, CA 90260. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: John Grimes, 14616 Eastwood Ave. #6 Lawndale, CA 90260. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 05/17/2017. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. John Grimes, owner. This
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statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on May 31, 2017. 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. Effectively January 1, 2014, the Fictitious Business Name Statement must be accompanied by the Affidavit
of Identity form. 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: 06/08/2017,
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Across
1 Alarm clock button 6 Last name of a trio of singing brothers 11 1040 preparer 14 “It is ___ told by an idiot”: Macbeth 15 Dizzying images 16 Set your sights 17 Bialik of “The Big Bang Theory” 18 Highly important cloak? 20 Goes on 22 Lightning McQueen’s pal 23 ___ kwon do 25 “To ___ is human ...” 26 Freezer bag brand 27 Draw 29 Novelist Turgenev 31 180░ from WSW 32 Salad dressing with a light, woody taste? 35 Singles, in Spain 36 Shirt that’s seen better days 37 “My Way” lyricist Paul 41 Business course that draws heavily on Julius Caesar? 46 “Ha! I kill me!” alien 49 Batman foe 50 Comedy style based on “yes, and” 51 Highest point 53 Show that bronies are fans of, for short 54 Bugs and Rabbits, e.g.
55 “That was ___-death experience” 56 Having sides of different lengths, as triangles go 59 Rip on one type of lettuce? 61 Samurai without a master 64 Chaney of “The Wolf Man” 65 “That ain’t gonna work” 66 “Einstein on the Beach,” for one 67 ___-Caps (theater candy) 68 Representative Devin in 2017 news 69 Fix a friend’s listing in a Facebook photo, e.g.
Down
1 Hit with force 2 Flight stat 3 Greet someone 4 “Death of a Salesman” director Kazan 5 Paint in a kindergarten classroom 6 Ledger role, with “The” 7 Unwrap 8 Bill-killing votes 9 Biceps site 10 Durability 11 Stampede members 12 Load up with 13 Punish by fine 19 Crash for a few 21 Beforehand, for short
23 “Forbidden” fragrance brand name 24 “QI” regular Davies 26 Unpredictable move 28 “Back in the ___” (Beatles song) 29 Foolheaded 30 “Luka” singer Suzanne 33 Neighbor of Azerbaijan 34 Skatepark fixture 38 Sensory system for some primitive invertebrates 39 Have down pat 40 Dirt bikes’ relatives, briefly 42 First American college to go co-ed 43 Farmer Yasgur of Woodstock 44 Country singer Vince 45 Akihito, e.g. 46 Makes use (of) 47 Thomas of “Reno 911!” 48 Largest inland city in California 52 Either T in “Aristotle” 53 Sail poles 56 Read a QR code, e.g. 57 Road work marker 58 “That ain’t gonna work” 60 Ft. Worth campus 62 Glass on NPR 63 Badger repeatedly ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers go to: www.randomlengthsnews.com
RANDOMLetters [Letters, from page 10]
is not diminished funding, nor is the choice to demonize teachers or the unions. The choice is very clear — commit our energy and resources to fixing our public schools. Commit our resources to fix the plumbing; commit our resources to ensure we have enough desks and chairs for each classroom; commit our resources to ensure each child has the supplies and equipment they need to further their education; and commit our resources to ensure that our teachers are paid well and have the tools they need to teach every child. That is the choice we need to make. Public schools do not have 70-page parent manifesto on what parents are required to do so their child can stay in the charter school. Public schools do not have public relations officers promoting their charter schools. Public schools do not have Boards of Directors and “big time” donor lists. Public schools teach all kids; public schools take all comers — no matter what. Charter, choice, and voucher — they are not going to make us better — they are going to continue to create a large population that is underserved, heavily subsidized, and a drag on our economy. We are all better served by doing the “hard work” and committing to fix our publicschool system. That is the right choice, the moral choice we need to make. Mitch Harmatz San Pedro Dear Mitch Harmatz, I knew you had it in you! But you don’t get specific enough on how to change public schools. My rebuttal to you would be: if charter schools can have local governing board, so why not public schools? If charter schools can have corporate sponsors and donors for specific programs, why can’t public schools? My complaint against public schools is that they are run too much like the rest of corporate America: from the top down. LAUSD is full of corporate, top-down policy making and strings-attached funding that is geared to make school all the same and, by my estimation, mediocre. It thereby fails in the mission of rising to the highest standard to bring out the best in students, instead pandering to the lowest common denominator. And yet, I am not a proponent of charter schools as they represent a form of privatization of the public cause that has uplifted generations of common people to have access to literacy. James Preston Allen Publisher
[Fascist Seeds, from page 6]
Trump’s Seeds of Fascism
supporters saw this claim as a betrayal — and yet many of these same people praise Putin and used their dank memes for Marine Le Pen. Arendt wrote about the ways that initially nationalist movements, like fascism, ultimately embrace globalism as they move toward full-blown totalitarianism and seek to politically remake the world. I thought this might help me understand what was going on with the current international movement of nationalists interfering in each other’s elections around the world. “If you add the adjective … ‘white’ in front of the word ‘nationalist, a ‘white nationalist’ and a ‘globalist,’ there isn’t really much of a contradiction between those two tendencies,” said Jones on the phone. “It’s interesting because when Hitler was formulating his program of
land conquest … he writes about this in Mein Kampf ... he turned to the United States as an illustration of the strategy to be pursued in order to advance the interests of a people across the scope of an entire territorial area. He was thinking of Manifest Destiny. And he was thinking of the decimation of the American Indian population.” There we were, back at Jackson — via Hitler, who wasn’t only inspired by our genocide of Native Americans and conquest of the continent alone. James Q. Whitman’s new book, Hitler’s American Model, shows the extent to which Nazi race laws were inspired by Jim Crow laws in the American South from the period to which MAGA-ists seem to want to return. Many Nazis even thought that our race laws were too extreme. Jones says that Trump’s “restrictive
Top-Secret NSA Report Details Russian Hacking Effort Days Before 2016 Election
By Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Sam Biddle, Ryan Grim, The Intercept
Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept. The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light. While the document provides a rare window into the NSA’s understanding of the mechanics of Russian hacking, it does not show the underlying “raw” intelligence on which the analysis is based. A U.S. intelligence officer who declined to be identified cautioned against drawing too big a conclusion from the document because a single analysis is not necessarily definitive. The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood. Read more of the story at www.RandomLengthsnews.com/.
immigration policies” and his “draconian economic policies,” which will disproportionately affect communities of color, amount to a kind of recolonization of America and have parallels with what happened in Germany and Russia between the two world wars. “It’s the transformation of people from all of the residents, all of the inhabitants of a country, into a racialized, ethnicized concept of the people that, simultaneously, basically deterritorialized the concept of nation,” she said. “When you look at what Marine Le Pen is doing — France should become French again — you know who the targets are…. She isn’t shy at all about naming them. When you look at what’s going on — in the Netherlands, in Hungary, in Poland, in Greece — these are all places where far-right nationalists’ parties, ethno-nationalist parties have gained footing in ways we haven’t seen since the between the wars period.” This is particularly troubling for us, of course, within the context of Trump, who has consistently acted as if he is the leader, not of the whole country, but of his supporters. He sees the press as the “enemy of the people” and finds less commonality with Democrats than he does with foreign nationalist authoritarians like Putin, Erdogan, or Rodrigo Duterte, whose murderous drug war Trump praised in the same conversation in which he gave the dictator the position of U.S. nuclear subs. As with Manifest Destiny, white Christians believe Trump’s election was the will of God. “He offended gays,” evangelist Franklin Graham recently told The Atlantic. “He offended women. He offended the military. He offended black people. He offended the Hispanic people. He offended everybody! And he became president of the United States. Only God could do that.” I’m not saying there are no differences between Jackson and Hitler and Trump. Two of the three are guilty of genocide. But neither Jackson nor Hitler actually had the capacity — in the form of nuclear weapons — to destroy the entire world. Trump does. Arendt’s Origins is not about finding exact parallels, Jones said, but it is “a warning of what will happen if we don’t pay attention when people who try to sort of create dictatorships or a kind of power without limits.”
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On August 27, 2015, Ruslan Kirilyuk was charged federally with 24 counts of wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. It is alleged that, between October 5, 2011, and March 5, 2014, Kirilyuk and others participated in a large-scale scheme to obtain money from credit card holders, credit card companies, and third-party credit card payment processors by charging individuals' credit cards, without their permission or knowledge, for goods and services that were not provided. After Kirilyuk failed to appear in court to face these charges, a federal arrest warrant was issued on February 7, 2017, in the United States District Court, Eastern District of California, Sacramento, California, and he was charged with failure to appear. �$�5,1�&�2#��+5�'+$,.*�0',+�!,+!#.+'+%�0&'/�-#./,+��-)#�/#�!,+0�!0�5,1.�),!�)�����,7!#�,.�0&#�+#�.#/0��*#.'!�+��* �//5�,. �,+/1)�0#� �'#)"��7!# Sacramento
June 8 - 21, 2017
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can join me there,” she announced. “We’re going with you!” one Trumper shouted. At about 7:40, Barragán and a cluster of about 10 or 20 people — including some staff and at least one sheriff’s deputy — were walked up the aisle (the aisle was ordered cleared) and the Trumpers followed. They moved across the quad to a room called White Hall. The front door was left open (protocol for a public meeting) but at least one sheriff’s deputy was blocking it. The only people who were admitted were people who could show identification that they were from Carson or another city in Barragan’s district. The Trumpers were not admitted because they were mostly from Orange County, outside Barragán’s district. They pressed around the open door, chanting, “Let us in! Let us in!” About six more sheriff’s deputies arrived to control them. The 20 to 25 people who were admitted listened to the congresswoman finish her speech but no one could hear much over the noise at the door. The congresswoman was able to finish her speech and close the meeting without further incident.
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Baynard Woods is the independent AAN reporter covering the Trump regime from the Washington D.C. area for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Listen the entire conversation with Kathleen B. Jones, who is teaching a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar about Hannah Arendt on two special episodes of the Democracy in Crisis podcast.
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June 8 - 21, 2017
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