By Kym Cunningham, Contributing Writer
1,400 unaltered dogs within Long Beach, although Stevens estimates [See Dog Park, p. 4]
Buscaino Sounds the Wrong Note in Call to Action Against Indigenous Peoples Day p. 3
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
“Mistakes are a sign of action and movement, and are necessary and inevitable in business,” said RJ Munzer, long-time CEO of Petrolane, in a 1979 interview in Nation’s Business. “But living with mistakes is a sign of stupidity.” San Pedro’s Rancho LPG facility — built by Petrolane in 1973 — strikes some as a perfect example of what Munzer was talking about, despite whatever Munzer himself might have thought about the facility. Initially built to receive about 50 million gallons of liquified petroleum gas annually via ship, Rancho only received two shipments, totaling less than 12 million gallons. It would never function as originally intended
or as its environmental impact report described. The first shipment was the only one from Sonatrach, Algeria’s state-owned oil and gas company, which had signed a nine-and-a half year contract. The second, following the Sansenia explosion, required an escort of two fireboats and a complete shutdown of the port. Aroused public pressure blocked construction of an anticipated prime customer, a companion mixing plant in Wilmington designed to process propane with air to dilute it so it could substitute for natural gas. Still, Munzer was a lifelong salesman and LPG was what he sold best. But a salesman may not be the best judge of public safety. [See Hidden History, p. 6]
August 17 - 30, 2017
The Origin Story of Jim’s Burger’s #2 p. 12
See p. 3
City of Carson Hosts Pacific Islander Film Festival p. 11
Rancho’s Hidden History Sheds Light on Public Safety Threat
Hundreds of Sailors Flock to Fleet Week
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Photo by Rapael Richardson
T
here is a war going on in Long Beach, a war fought in the most unlikely of places: the dog park. It can be seen in the nervous sizing up of new dogs when they enter the metal gates, as their owners unlatch harnesses from bellies. It is a war often fought only with stickers, flyers and sharpened glares as pets are corralled into opposing corners of a dust-covered park. But on occasion, these hostilities bubble up into angry words that boil in the unrelenting sunlight: “Fix your dog!” On March 17, 2015, Long Beach passed an ordinance requiring that all dogs over the age of six months be spayed or neutered. The law was slated to go into effect in October of 2015. Now, more than two years after the law was passed, the required de-sexing of the Long Beach dog community remains no less controversial. Based on the population of Long Beach, General Manager of Long Beach Animal Care Services Ted Stevens estimates that more than 100,000 dogs live within city limits, about 50,000 of which are registered with the city. Half of these registrations are not current. Animal Care Services, also known as ACS, has registrations for
Navy crew men pose with San Pedro locals at Fleet Week 2016 on 6th and Mesa. Photo courtesy of Port of Los Angeles.
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Community Announcements:
Harbor Area Multicultural Education Conference Honors Civil Rights Activist
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Melendez v. Westminster court case that ended segregation in California public schools. To help honor that event, educators and students will gather at the Anaheim Convention Center for the Multicultural Education Conference in Anaheim on Aug. 19 and 20; bilingual education/dual immersion, intercultural communications and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, or TESOL, will be the foci. Sylvia Mendez, one of the plaintiffs in the Melendez case, will speak at the conference. Her parents, along with other plaintiffs’ parents, successfully challenged segregation of Mexican children in California schools. There will be a cultural performance and a pre-conference TESOL workshop. Time: 9 to 5 p.m. Aug. 19 and 20 Cost: Free Details: www.academiafoundation.org Venue: Anaheim Convention Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim
California Air Resources Board Workshop
The California Air Resources Board invites you to participate in public workshops to discuss staff’s draft concepts to amend the existing Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Auxiliary Diesel Engines Operated on Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth in a California Port. Staff will discuss the Ships AtBerth Regulation, a recent update to the inventory of vessel emissions and the board’s preliminary ideas for changes to the regulation. These changes are intended to improve implementation, simplify requirements and enforcement and increase the community health benefits of the existing CARB regulation by requiring more vessels to reduce emissions. Time: 1 to 5 pm Aug. 28 Cost: Free Details: www.arb.ca.gov/homepage.htm Venue: Port of Los Angeles, 425 S. Palos Verdes Street, San Pedro
Peace Week Offers Alternative to Fleet Week
Fleet Week Volunteers Needed
The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce is looking for energetic and enthusiastic volunteers to work as event ambassadors Labor Day weekend. The chamber will be staffing three information booths from Sept. 1 through 4. It has three-hour shifts, which run between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Volunteers will be providing general information, directions, and event information to attendees, and service men and women. Details: http://signup.com/go/mDMzOWs
Ports Searching For Clean-Engine Upgrade to Harbor Boats
By Christian Guzman Community Reporter and Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
Hands down, Fleet Week is one of the armed forces slickest, most far-reaching marketing tools in its arsenal to restock its all- volunteer ranks with young recruits.
The military pageantry of Fleet Week serves as reminder that there are still opportunities in which they use the latest equipment and technology aboard naval ships and aircraft carriers. It’s one of a number of ways the five branches of the armed forces (possibly six if the Space Corp is formed) get to maintain their cool factor. On Labor Day weekend, thousands of Harbor Area residents and visitors will be drawn to the Port of Los Angeles to tour ships and meet the sailors and crew members from American and Canadian Navy ships. The ships will start docking at the Los Angeles Harbor on Aug. 29, and the tours will go from Sept. 1 to 4. The names of the six vessels that will dock will be announced 10 days prior to the beginning of Fleet Week. “We will offer a wide range of activities engaging multiple audiences,” said Jonathan Williams, president of the Los Angeles Fleet Week Foundation, which is leading the production of Fleet Week. “I believe Los Angeles [will host] one of the premier Fleet Weeks across
Columbus Day:
A Legacy of Tyranny
Peace flags greet the crowds lined up to visit the USS Iowa in San Pedro at Fleet Week 2016. Photo courtesy of Rachel Bruhnke.
the country.” Williams is also the CEO of the USS Iowa nonprofit and the president of the San Pedro Business Improvement District, both of which directly or indirectly benefit from the Fleet Week event. San Pedro hosted Fleet Week for the first time in 2016; about 200,000 people attended. The budget for the foundation is about $400,000. Williams said the rest of the costs for Fleet Week are covered by monetary and in-kind
sponsorships; sponsors include the Annenberg Foundation, Comcast NBCUniversal, the Bob Hope United Service Organization and Yelp. U.S. and Canadian militaries also will demonstrate equipment, answer questions and provide live entertainment, while service members tour San Pedro and other parts of Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles, the U.S. Marines and Navy, the Canadian marines and navy, the [See Fleet Week, p. 5]
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August 17 - 30, 2017
On Aug. 8, Councilman Joe Buscaino released a letter (see “Letters”, Page 9) urging constituents to attend the Aug. 22 Los Angeles City Council meeting and oppose what he called a “misguided proposal” to replace references to Columbus Day in official city documents with Indigenous People’s Day. In that letter, Buscaino chose to wrap Columbus in the value cloth of willful immigration and diversity. He even goes so far as to say, “Columbus, or Columbia, is no longer about a man ... it is now a universal theme.” As a first-generation Chicano of indigenous Mayan ancestry, I find Buscaino’s call for action deeply troubling. Buscaino argues that Columbus Day “recognizes the beginning of a worldwide immigration to America.” Crediting Christopher Columbus with opening the door for Europeans to immigrate to the Americas isn’t unreasonable. But crediting him with the diversity of our country? That’s not only myopic, but irresponsible. Columbus Day does more than just celebrate immigrants coming to the Americas for a better life; it glorifies a legacy of tyranny, the greed of which brought death and cruelty to a continent.
The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles want to upgrade tugboats, crew boats and barges to cleaner engines. Local harbor craft are responsible for 18 percent of emissions released into the San Pedro Bay and also contribute to 10 percent of nitrogen oxide and 6 percent of greenhouse gas pollution. In total, the ports offer $500,000 under the Technology Advancement Program. The program seeks demonstrations that could upgrade craft engines to Tier 3 or 4 standards, making them 70 percent cleaner than the current Tier 2 engines. Proposals for the program are due Sept. 21. Details: www.cleanairactionplan.org/documents
Fleet Week: Military Casting Call
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
From Aug. 29 to Sept. 3, Code Pink and the San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice are hosting activities celebrating and seeking peace throughout the world and local communities. Activities will take place around San Pedro and include a press conference at Liberty Hill, an Art Build and pizza party at Machine Art Studio, peace leaflets around downtown and a memorial at San Pedro’s Municipal Building. Time: 5 p.m. Aug. 29 Cost: Free Details: www.codepink.org/lapeaceweek2017 Venue: Liberty Hill, 100 W. 5th St., San Pedro
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[Dog Park, from p. 1]
Photo by Raphael Richardson
Dog Park Wars that the number of unaltered dogs who actually live in Long Beach is close to 11,000.
Knocking on Doors
August 17 - 30, 2017
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
The spay/neuter ordinance is largely enforced via door-to-door canvassing by Animal Care Services workers. “We’ll pick an area, and we’ll generally try to target areas where we have more expired, or what we call temporary, licenses — licenses that are out of compliance,” Stevens said. “We’ll run a report in our system, which will print out all of the animals in that area that we know about…. On those houses, we’ll specifically go up and knock; try to make contact. If they’re not home, we’ll leave a door hanger. We’ll try to work with them to get them in compliance. We can sell them a license on site or we can give them the information to mail it in.” For houses in which the dog is both unregistered and anatomically whole, ACS workers will issue warnings and vouchers for free or low-cost de-sexing, attempting to educate residents so that they can get in compliance with the Long Beach ordinance. ACS generally allots
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a two-month window for residents to spay or neuter their dogs, after which they begin to issue fines. “[Door-to-door canvassing] is one of the ways in which licensing can be enforced, as well as one of the ways in which to help reduce the ongoing problem of over pet population,” said Deborah Kopit, CEO and operations manager of the nonprofit Healthcare & Emergency Animal Rescue Team, or HEART. HEART provides, among other services, lowcost spay/neuter clinics in Long Beach. “It also often provides an opportunity to pet owners to become further educated on responsible pet ownership and provides resources for them to obtain vaccinations, microchips and spaying/ neutering,” Kopit said. “Unfortunately, the ratio of pet owners in every county far outweighs that of canvassing officers and the manpower available within many of our cities has been reduced or eliminated for licensing canvassing due to lack of funds for these agencies.” Considering that more than 85 percent of unaltered dogs are unlicensed within Long Beach, the task of door-to-door canvassing seems
an insurmountable challenge, the kind that begs the question, Where do you even begin?
An (In)/Effective Ordinance
In this age of fake and Twitter-inspired news, it is only reasonable to begin with the facts. But in America, even these seem up for debate. Part of the controversy concerning Long Beach’s desexing laws stems from conflicting evidence in both ACS data and scientific research. Most organizations, including the Humane Society and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, argue adamantly for the wholesale desexing of American pets. And when faced with the overwhelming and heartbreaking numbers — about 7 million homeless animals enter American shelters every year, less than half of which are adopted — it absolutely makes sense to desex every pet. However, when these numbers are localized or when these pets are individualized, the validity of the practice becomes much less clear. While Animal Care Services proclaims its progress with a record year of low dog impounds and euthanasia in 2016, these numbers cannot necessarily be linked to the city’s de-sexing mandate. From 2011 to 2016, dog impounds by the City of Long Beach Animal Care Services steadily decreased, as did the number of dogs euthanized since 2012. Indeed, 2015 itself saw the greatest drop in dog euthanasia — down by 40 percent since 2014. Considering the desexing laws had only been in place since October of that year and that this substantial decrease did not continue but rather returned to its normalized rate, it seems faulty reasoning to directly link
this ordinance to a profound decrease in dog impounds and euthanasia. However, the first six months of 2017 witnessed a substantial decrease in the number of dogs euthanized, although the number of dogs impounded remained at a similarly steady rate of decline. From January to June of 2017, ACS euthanized almost 65 percent fewer dogs than it had in the first six months of 2016; around four percent of the dogs it impounded, which was down from almost 11 percent the previous year. It remains to be seen, however, whether this downward trend in the rate of euthanasia will continue in the latter half of 2017. Stevens said that pit bull (a generic term used for any of the bully breeds) or chihuahua mixes make up almost half of the dogs that are impounded and euthanized. “The number of pit bulls impounded over the last few years has averaged around 20 percent,” Stevens said. “For chihuahuas, it hovers around 25 to 30 percent.” Although Stevens said that the majority of the animals that are euthanized or impounded are not fixed, it seems a tenuous claim to link the spay/neuter ordinance to the annual decrease in impounded and euthanized dogs. “[The ordinance] is just one more tool,” said Stevens. “Our goal is obviously always to work with the people and get them in compliance, not necessarily heavy-handed enforcement. We really reserve that when we need it.”
Taming Wild Urges
Along with the lack of clarity concerning desexing’s relevance to the number of homeless or euthanized dogs, the touted health benefits associated with pet desexing remain unclear. [See Desexing, p. 5]
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[Fleet Week, from p. 3]
Fleet Week
Battleship Iowa, San Pedro PBID and the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce are major partners in producing Fleet Week. The San Pedro Chamber of Commerce will be providing volunteers to direct both service members and visitors to restaurants, shops and tourist attractions. “There is a lot of pride among our businesses [in hosting Fleet Week],” said chamber President Elise Swanson. “It’s great public relations for this community as a visitor-serving destination.” Visitors will have to face added traffic issues due to ongoing construction on Harbor Boulevard. But Phillip Sanfield, director of media relations at the Port of Los Angeles, expressed optimism. “The port is working with California and Los Angeles [Departments of Transportation] to get people here efficiently,” Sanfield said. “We’re anticipating a little more of a challenge [this year, but] … we’ll have additional traffic controllers during the event.” There will be several parking locations along the waterfront and in downtown San Pedro and
[Desexing, from p. 4]
DeSexing
In looking at the varied findings from different studies, it is difficult to say whether desexing is healthier or more harmful for dogs, and in many ways, the health benefits seem to correlate more to the specific breed or individual dog than to vast generalizations. As such, it seems at the very least misguided to force owners to desex their dogs. But the ordinance might not have ever been put in place to promote the health of dogs. Rather, proponents of this bill, among them Councilwoman Stacy Mungo, stressed its importance in promoting responsibility among Long Beach pet owners. And so, it would seem that the true argument behind this ordinance lies not in the health of the animals but in the doubt of their owners’ relative capacities to care for their pets.
The Anti-War Perspective
“Fleet Week is a glorification of the military and a tool for recruitment,” said Chris Venn, member of San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice. He added that the outreach to youth in the South Bay and in Long Beach has been frighteningly effective. But Fleet Week also provides an opportunity for dialogue, Venn said. Local activist Rachel Bruhnke said she wants to counter the military commercialization the Fleet Week represents. Bruhnke is a member of Code Pink, an organization that seeks to redirect global resources away from war and into health care, education and sustainable jobs. She is working with Venn’s group to produce Peace Week. “[We can’t just] celebrate and dance in the streets to the U.S. military when our [wars] have led to extreme chaos and suffering of millions of people … and to increased insecurity, surveillance and bankruptcies at home,” Bruhnke said. “Peace Week will build and celebrate local
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August 17 - 30, 2017
For every fact that seems to advocate pet desexing, there is a similar detractor. In females,
All About the Owners
But looking at the event within the context of impending war, Fleet Week takes on more urgent meaning: We’re hiring!
peace economies to ensure that our communities are putting social needs over militaristic greed.” Peace Week will occur simultaneously with Fleet Week. It will include a press conference at Liberty Hill, an Art Build and pizza party at Machine Art Studio, peace leaflets around downtown and a memorial at San Pedro’s Municipal Building. Bruhnke added that some of the business owners are not entirely in favor of the military aspect of Fleet Week. “It’s economic chemotherapy for some — [effective but drastic],” Bruhnke said. “Imagine what the American people could do if there was a 50 percent decrease in U.S. military spending? With all that money — imagine all of the creative, community-oriented solutions in health, education, the arts, the environment, small town business support. It would be a boon for America.” Taken together, Fleet Week and Peace Week will offer the heterogeneous Harbor Area a variety to celebrate or advocate for. For details on Fleet Week visit www. lafleetweek.com. For details on Peace Week visit www.codepink. org/lapeaceweek2017. Zamna Avilla contributed to this story
Scientific Grey Area
early spaying can lead to incontinence and an increased risk of urinary tract infections, which is especially important considering organizations like the ASPCA claim that dogs can be desexed as early as eight weeks old. A study completed by UC Davis in 2013 found that allowing some of the reproductive hormones to flood the dog’s system — most of which are within the dog’s sex — can be beneficial to that animal’s future health. The study found that golden retrievers desexed before one year of age had increased risk of hip dysplasia and torn ligaments due to uneven bone growth, which could be tied to an imbalance or disruption in their reproductive hormones as a result of desexing. These dogs were also found to be four times as likely to develop bone cancer. Most opponents of pet desexing argue that it leads to obesity and lethargy, which then dramatically increase the likelihood that the pet will develop joint disease, arthritis, heart disease and diabetes. Except in some cases of hypothyroidism, however, desexing is not to blame for weight gain; rather, overeating and lack of exercise are the true culprits. A desexed dog often needs less food and more exercise than its intact counterparts, usually less than it was fed before the surgery. Many pet owners do not realize this, leading to a false correlation between desexing and obesity-related health complications.
Naval cadet greets visitors aboard a naval ship at Fleet Week 2016. Photo courtesy of Port of Los Angeles.
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
However, many pet healthcare groups and organizations, HEART and the Humane Society among them, vehemently argue for the overall health benefits attached to pet desexing. “’Fixing’ pets often ‘fixes’ problems relating to behavioral and health/safety issues,” Kopit said. Multiple studies corroborate the assertions of both Kopit and the Humane Society that a desexed pet is a healthy pet. In 2013, Banfield Pet Hospital released the State of Pet Health Report which showed that unneutered dogs are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car or bitten by another animal due to their propensity to “roam” to find a mate. “Neutering male pets will help stop them from reacting to the ‘call of the wild’ when they smell females in heat,” said Kopit. “This in turn will help prevent them from wanting to escape from their own yards or homes to react to that sexual drive and will ultimately help prevent them from being hit by cars, injured or killed in fights with other animals, or simply lost or stolen. Animals can contract sexual diseases, as can humans. So, when pets don’t mate, the risk of such disease is gone. Dogs and cats can contract other diseases through close contact with other un-vaccinated pets. Thus, by reducing the risk of unsupervised contact, you are reducing the risk of the spread of other diseases as well.” Neutering in particular has also been linked to curbing undesirable behavior, such as urinemarking and aggression. However, it is also important to note that these are traits usually linked to testosterone, a hormone whose appearance is not limited to the testicles of male dogs. Studies have shown correlations between neutering and the prevention of testicular cancer as well as between spaying and breast cancer and pyometra — a uterine infection that must be cured via emergency spay. For females, pregnancy itself can often be fatal. In both males and females, desexing has been linked to a reduction in the risk of perianal fistula — a painful skin disease in which infected boils surround the dog’s anus.
complimentary shuttles will ferry visitors to Fleet Week activities. The recently unveiled LA Metro Bike Share will also have bicycles available. Successfully getting people around town is key to repeating the first Fleet Week’s commercial success. Locally, civic leaders see Fleet Week as an economic opportunity for merchants to beat last year’s numbers. “That week attracts approximately 250,000 visitors over the Labor Day weekend,” Swanson said. “That’s a huge economic input. They’ll be visiting the Iowa, eating at restaurants and staying at hotels.” “Many businesses said that the first Fleet Week was their best weekend in their history,” Sanfield added. The port and the Fleet Week Foundation want to build on that this year. Besides stimulating the local economy and providing entertainment to people, an important goal for Fleet Week is facilitating positive interactions between service members and civilians. This past year, service members volunteered at nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity, and they are expected to do so again.
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Port of Long Beach Appoints New Communications Director
Rancho LPG’s Hidden History
LONG BEACH — The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners appointed Kerry Gerot to head the port’s Communications and Community Relations Division. The appointment of Gerot is effective Aug. 19. She will oversee media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and educational outreach at the Harbor Department. She earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in professional writing, both from the University of Southern California. Gerot previously worked as a public affairs officer for the Long Beach City Manager’s Office.
Built at a time of stunningly lax regulations — without either a building permit or an environmental impact report (one was completed just as construct finished) — it has repeatedly been kept alive by bureaucratic inertia, despite sharply increased evidence of risk and failures to comply with regulations. Ever since the 1984 San Juanico disaster near Mexico City, which killed more than 500 people and injured more than 7,000, the dangers of LPG transport have been undeniable, yet they’re still systematically ignored.
Former Hahn Staffer Indicted for Extorting Marijuana Shop
Hidden Origins: Nixon’s Secret Plan Casts Local Shadow
[Hidden History, from p. 1]
CARSON — Carson resident Michael Kimbrew, 44, was arrested Aug. 2 on federal extortion and bribery charges. Kimbrew, who worked as a staffer for thenRep. Janice Hahn, was arrested pursuant to a twocount indictment returned by a federal grand jury this past July. He was charged with attempting to extort a Compton marijuana shop and receiving a bribe. The indictment alleges that Kimbrew approached an employee of the marijuana shop and told him the store was violating a law. It goes on to detail that he offered the business operating permits in exchange for $5,000. An undercover FBI agent posed as a business partner and met with Kimbrew. He repeated his offer to take a bribe. In a second meeting between Kimbrew and the undercover agent, Kimbrew allegedly accepted the money hidden in a menu at a local restaurant. Hahn later fired Kimbrew. She denies having any knowledge of the illegal activity. Kimbrew pleaded not guilty and was freed on $15,000 bail. Trial is set for Sept. 6. If convicted for the counts in the indictment, Kimbrew would face a statutory maximum sentence of 18 years in federal prison.
Political Demonstrations Turn Deadly
August 17 - 30, 2017
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — On Aug. 12, one person was murdered during a protest and counterprotest concerning the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, drove his car into a crowd of anti-white-supremacy demonstrators; 32-year old Heather Heyer was killed and several people were injured. Fascists and the Ku Klux Klan led the protest against the statue’s possible removal, including former Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan David Duke and Richard Spencer. Multiple fights broke out among the hundreds of people and a total of 19 people were hospitalized. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency. Local police dispersed the crowd and arrested Fields Jr. He was charged with second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit-and-run. His next trial is scheduled for Aug. 25.
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JetBlue Agrees to Increased Fines in Long Beach LONG BEACH — This past July, JetBlue agreed to increased fines for late night flights. Fines will increase from $3,000 per violation to $6,000 per violation. JetBlue pays fines due to a Consent Decree it entered into with the City of Long Beach in 2003. The decree allows the airline to avoid prosecution under the Long Beach law whenever it violates flight curfews. The violations have impacted JetBlue’s [See News Briefs, p. 10]
Why does San Pedro have an ultra-hazardous LPG facility in the first place? Munzer is one key factor. But another is Richard Nixon, who made the Algeria connection possible. According to documents uncovered by Marcie Miller, who served on Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council from 2009 to 2013, a case can be made that the facility is a bizarre offshoot of Richard Nixon’s infamous “secret plan” to win the Vietnam War, which he promised to voters in 1968. He didn’t actually have a plan to win the Vietnam War, but he hoped to end it less ignominiously with a strategy to divide the forces of similar national liberation struggles across the globe; one such struggle won Algeria’s independence from France in 1962. Nixon’s 1972 trip to China openly epitomized this approach. But a great deal more was hidden, including a secret effort to woo and influence Algeria — a participant in the Paris Peace Talks. This centered around initiating liquified natural gas and liquified petroleum gas imports as documented in onceclassified documents from the White House, CIA and U.S. Department of State. “There was a flurry of activity [from] 1969-70: ‘How can we win favor with the Algerians?’” said Miller, summarizing what she had found. “The best way would be to infuse a new government with lots of money in return for something.” That something, she suspects, included the San Pedro LPG terminal and Nixon’s involvement helped hurry the process with minimal oversight. The interest in liquid natural gas (primarily methane) is central in the documents, given the relative size of the markets involved. But the San Pedro and Algeria LPG connection was publicly announced at the time, just a few months after the LNG deal. What wasn’t known was the hidden geopolitical side of the story. “Options open to the U.S. to increase its influence and prestige in Algeria are few,” a February 1967 CIA memo began. However, prospects gradually improved, despite a break in diplomatic relations following the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War in June of that year. “[Algerian President Houari] Boumediene has categorically stated that his primary interest is in economic development,” said National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger in a memo to Nixon in October 1970. “He is anxious to have greater access to U.S. energy markets, capital resources and technology, and commercial ties with the U.S. have flourished even in the absence of diplomatic relations.” In June 1971, Kissinger wrote a memo supporting the Sonartach LNG deal. “It would improve relations with Algeria while reducing the Soviet influence and
strengthening elements within Algeria who favor closer ties with the U.S.,” he wrote. The following March, Kissinger continued. “While the Algerians have not abandoned their philosophical positions on such issues as the Palestinian revolution and Vietnam, Boumediene’s pragmatic interest in developing Algeria has made possible a foundation for relating to the U.S. in areas — primarily economic — matching Algeria’s needs,” he wrote. On April 3, 1973, the Washington Post had reported a $1.7 billion deal for Algerian LNG from Sonatrach. The deal included the transportation of one billion cubic feet of liquified natural gas within 25 years. Then, on June 21, 1973, the Los Angeles Times announced that Petrolane would purchase about 500 million gallons of LPG from Sonatrach for as much as $40 million within a nine-and-a-half-year period. But neither deal worked out as planned. The LNG deal floundered, resulting in a massive lawsuit, as Algeria repeatedly increased the cost of its product in the wake of the oil crisis and the following geopolitical turmoil. The LPG deal, as noted above, only produced a single sixmillion-gallon shipment. But at the time the deals were conceived, they were central to altering United States-Algeria relations. Ripples were felt throughout North Africa and the wider oilproducing world. A wide range of other issues float through the declassified documents — everything from a proposed $60-plus million air defense system deal with Raytheon to concerns over Algeria having given asylum to Timothy Leary, who the Algerians said had just “dropped out of the sky,” and who worried them as a potential influence on their youth. But the LNG project clearly played the central role.
Other Factors
Three other factors loom behind Petrolane’s creation of the LPG facility: the unique nature of the LPG business as a niche product in the oil and gas industry, Petrolane’s spectacular growth record — both in its core business and elsewhere — based on seeing itself primarily as a sales company and the tremendous growth of the oil and gas sector in California within the previous decade. As explained in the 2003 book, The Story
Pictured is a satellite view of Rancho LPG in North San Pedro along with a photo of former President Richard Nixon. File photos.
of LPG, that story “began with a problem, an unstable transportation fuel, continued with a disaster, the Hindenberg crash in 1937 and then developed with the efforts of a few enterprising individuals who had the vision to see its commercial possibilities.” The early disasters remain as warnings. Munzer had the same sort of enterprising vision that helped launch the industry in the first place, always looking for new ways in which LPG could be used or sold. Replacing distribution via cylinders with customer tanks that could hold several months’ supply was an early source of Petrolane’s growth, for example. Turning LPG into a common auto and truck fuel was a particular long-term obsession for Munzer. But he wasn’t just wedded to LPG. Petrolane never had a formal growth plan according to Munzer. “Instinct and desire, those were the things that moved us,” he told Nation’s Business in 1979. “In the early 1960s, we realized we could really sell anything if it fit the locations in which we were operating. Our base was marketing; we understood that function, regardless of the product.” In the early 1960s, the Los Angeles Times began publishing annual lists of California’s top 100 companies. In 1963, Petrolane was ranked 82nd in the state, with sales of $29 million and $2.3 million in profits, roughly 1 percent of topranked Standard Oil of California, with sales of $2.25 billion and profits of $313.8 million. Two other oil companies made the top 10 that year. The next decade saw California’s oil and gas business boom, but excesses and dangers came into focus as well. Smog-fighting intensified as a [See History, p. 7]
[History, from p. 6]
History
Los Angeles concern and the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill ignited the modern environmental movement, giving rise to Earth Day and spurring a wave of state and federal laws. Petrolane increasingly promoted LPG as an ecofriendly alternative. In a 1971 Los Angeles Times story, “Petrolane Reaps Profits as LP Scores Hit with Ecology Buffs,” Munzer predicted that LPG would account for 3 percent of all auto fuel in the United States by 1975 — a dramatic increase over the (unverified) 1 percent figure he cited as then current. By 1973, the number of oil and gas companies in California’s top 10 had grown to five, including the top three slots. But Petrolane grew even faster: more than twelvefold in sales and almost sevenfold in earnings by 1973. It ranked 37th, with sales of $352.8 million and $15.9 million in profits, while the top five oil companies totalled $21 billion in sales and $1.5 billion in profits. At the same time, Petrolane’s holdings had diversified significantly. Operations expanded from 17 states along with British Columbia and Mexico in 1963 to 47 states, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and western Europe in 1973. By that time, Petrolane’s holdings included a “fleet of 61 vessels worldwide for offshore exploration and development, a services division providing directional drilling and surveying services, as well as 51 Stater Brother supermarkets, 26 Mark C. Bloome tire centers, 14 drug stores, and three department stores in a joint venture.”
Petrolane’s “Green” Fantasy
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August 17 - 30, 2017
Stater Brothers grew rapidly under Petrolane’s ownership, but the tire centers relate directly to our story. When Petrolane made a $30 million offer to buy the tire center chain in January 1972, the Los Angeles Times prominently reported that “ecology-minded motorists will have more facilities where they can have their cars converted from gasoline to propane gas … the fuel conversion facilities would be installed at some of the 22 Mark C. Bloome tire and automotive accessory outlets in Southern California, according to R.J. Munzer, Petrolane chairman.” There were three reasons this was an audacious, if not hare-brained scheme. First, LPG conversion kits cost $400 compared to $300 for LNG conversion (and are still seen as problematic today); second, the lack of refueling stations (Petrolane had opened five such stations, including one in Los Angeles, which could work for fleet sales — its initial market niche — but not for individual drivers); third, LPG’s particularly dangerous properties. “I would never ride in an LPG-fueled car,” retired oil industry consultant Connie Rutter told Random Lengths News, summing up her safety concerns. Still, Munzer saw it as a huge potential market and he was nothing if not a salesman. His attitude permeated Petrolane’s thinking. The after-the-fact environmental impact report for the LPG facility made a characteristically dramatic and wildly unrealistic claim: “If all local cars and trucks were equipped with propane combustion equipment, air pollution from motor vehicles would be reduced by 50 to 75 percent in the air basin,” the environmental impact report stated. That appeal apparently resonated with public officials at the time. But grassroots environmentalists were unmoved and so was the marketplace.
At the same time, the extremely primitive EIR paid no attention to any potential for explosions. Nor did it foresee anything like the current operations. It describes the project as composed of three elements: a marine unloading arm, an underground pipeline and a storage and distribution terminal facility, containing no discussion of rail operations at all, much less of safety considerations. “Petrolane planned to receive LPG by ship, blend it with air in another plant in Wilmington, then send it out by truck to customers who were affected by an expected natural gas shortage in 1972,” Rutter summed up. Petrolane apparently began with the assumption that no EIR would be needed. But on Sept. 21, 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled (in Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors) that government agencies must file EIRs before approving significant private developments. On Oct. 4, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Los Angeles County Supervisors passed a motion directing the development of county procedures and placed 14 pending conditional use permits on hold. Petrolane’s project was apparently already underway. Its EIR was not completed until the project was done, with no public review process. As noted above, it did not secure a city building permit either. Rather than revisit and correct any flaws, they have been repeatedly treated as sacrosanct and even compounded over the years. The most recent example of this involves the State Lands Commission. Corresponding with Rhys Williams, chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of three board members of the State Lands Commission, homeowner activist Janet Gunter referred to the evidence Miller found. “There has never been any environmental impact review that responds to this LPG operation as it exists today,” Gunter wrote. She pressed for the commission to get the Port of Los Angeles to provide “a rationale and a justification for the high risk exposure and potential liability that faces the public and the State from this site and its rail use.” “You’re asking the commission to exercise jurisdiction that it does not appear to hold, in my opinion,” Williams wrote in response. But Miller has also turned up evidence that the commission had a much more hands-on understanding of its role and responsibilities in the 1980s and 90s. For example, a calendar item from May 9, 1996 states: “Section 10 of Chapter 29 requires that the commission approve all new contracts; and all amendments to existing contracts entered into by the city as tidelands trustee for, among other things, the processing of gas from the Long Beach granted tidelands.” Given this view of oversight responsibilities, the commission would surely seem to have jurisdiction over operational changes that legally require a new EIR, as has happened at Rancho and Petrolane over the years. Activists will be making that argument with renewed force when SLC considers an informational item on Rancho at its Aug. 17 meeting —with a satellite video-conference meeting site at Ports O’Call Restaurant. While many of the details in Rancho and Petrolane’s history remain obscure —if not completely hidden — enough is now known to see how past patterns continue to repeat — and how government officials have repeatedly failed to correct past mistakes. “Mistakes are a sign of action and movement, and are necessary and inevitable in business,” Munzer once said. “But living with mistakes is a sign of stupidity.”
7
Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty Charlottesville, white supremacy and Columbus — And you think it can’t happen here?
August 17 - 30, 2017
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
By James Preston Allen, Publisher Who would have thought that a Civil War statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee would become the violent focus of hatred and the rallying point for white supremacists and neo-Nazis at this point in American history? Didn’t we bury the last of that conflict decades ago, along with the last living veteran of our bloodiest war? Not really. As William Faulkner wrote, “The past is not dead, it’s not even past.” As Americans, the one thing you can always count on is our love of arguing amongst ourselves — particularly when it comes to politics and national symbols. But the adoption of Confederate symbolism by the racist white extremists of this country is more than just a disagreement over history. It is a troubling reoccurrence of the unsettled issue of America’s “original sin”— slavery. As such, it is an onerous reminder, not only of slavery’s bondage and subjugation, but also of the oppression that has continued over the years. We cannot afford to look upon this from an ahistorical perspective. The rise of Jim Crow laws after reconstruction, the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan 50 years after the war and the continued racism confronted in the Civil Rights era are all still part of this ongoing struggle over this central issue of American identity — freedom, equality and liberty. The curious thing about the majority of these Confederate memorials, as catalogued by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is that most of them were erected between the 1890s and the 1920s, well after the war’s end and mostly in Southern states, but oddly, even in some Northern ones too. The number of Confederate statues grew again between the two world wars in which the participation African American workers in the labor market and the military were seen as a threat by the white working class; and grew more in reaction to the Civil Rights Movement. These were not just historical monuments of a long-lost cause, but a reminder by some Southern whites that the past was not dead. We should not be surprised then that white nationalists now embrace these statues, supported by neo-Nazis and promoters of the alt-right who swear allegiance to Donald
8
Trump. Southern California is not immune to this racism. In fact, we have our own sordid history involving the KKK, racial property discrimination, prejudice and oppression of people of color. Today, there are two prominent alt-right figures in the White House, and they come from Southern California. Back in the 1920s a large contingent of the Klan, whose headquarters were just west of the current San Pedro Library, marched down 12th Street in their white robes to break up the union hall of the Industrial Workers of the World, or Wobblies as they were called, primarily because they were the first integrated union. The IWW was the precursor to the ILWU and were the ones who coined the slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all.” The Wobblies had their heads beat in, were often tarred and feathered and then dumped out in the desert, if not arrested for violating the Criminal Syndicalism Act — a law enacted during WWI to suppress opposition to the Great War. This law was not revoked until 1967. Still if you think that the kind of racist rally held in Charlottesville this month couldn’t happen here in the City of Angels, think again. We have plenty of our own home-grown hate groups, although most might deny it openly. Still, they are here in our neighborhoods (79 groups in California alone) and they pop up in our social media and at neighborhood councils. And then there is our very own naive Los Angeles city councilman, Joe Buscaino, who recently put out the call for his supporters to come and support his objection to changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day (see Random Letters, p. 9). Now, I haven’t thought very much about Columbus Day, and for most of my life I probably thought of it like St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo — days that we’ve mostly all adopted as being a part of American melting pot. Yet, on closer inspection, the adoption of Columbus Day unfortunately coincides with timing of the resurgence of Confederate statuary in America. It was first adopted in 1905 and then made a national holiday in 1937 because of the Knights Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor
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of Columbus lobbying Congress. As national holidays go, it seems to be an also-ran kind of celebration, since at least six states don’t recognize it. Yet, this day is celebrated throughout the Americas but with some drastically different interpretations. In Uruguay, Columbus Day is celebrated as Día del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural (Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity). In Belize, it’s Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas). Other Latin American countries celebrate it as Día de la Raza (Day of the Race). All of these takes the emphasis off of the man who got lost looking for a western route to India and initiated the enslavement and near genocide of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. I’m sure that Buscaino didn’t learn that piece of history in his American history class at San Pedro High. Yet, he’s calling for us to embrace cultural diversity while embracing Columbus! Kind of like how San Pedro boosters embrace the term but with the aim of bringing more white people to the San Pedro waterfront. Does Columbus not represent the same kind of human repression as Lee’s statue? Buscaino’s understanding of diversity has a curious twist to it. He makes the case for keeping the day, yet there’s no other national holiday that is dedicated solely to one ethnic group. So perhaps the City Council should rename Columbus Day “Discovery Day” and let Buscaino celebrate Italian Day with Chianti and pasta any time he likes?
In The End
We, as people of a free nation, must be ever vigilant in protecting our freedoms against the “Unite the Right” white-nationalists, who as in Charlottesville or any place else rise up and threaten the freedoms and liberties of our citizens. It is up to this generation to set this right
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as generations before have struggled against even greater oppression. And, we must let it be known that there are actions and speech that step too far, that cross the line between one’s right to protest and another’s right to be free from oppression and abuse—a subtlety that the current occupant of the White House doesn’t get.
Questionable Benefits of Fleet Week By Chris Venn, Member of San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice
The arrival of Fleet Week in San Pedro from Aug. 29 to Sept. 3 raises the question of what effect military spending has on society and on our democracy. With thousands of sailors in San Pedro along with visitors from Southern California, some local businesses reported that sales increased significantly during Fleet Week and are expecting an economic benefit this year. Many communities have become dependent on this spending and the glorification of war and the military budget which Fleet Week represents. The budget for fiscal year 2017 will not increase but the military budget is proposed to increase by $53 billion. This money will come directly from social programs that are important for the health and well-being of our communities. Fifteen years of bombings and war have not led to peace in Afghanistan, Iraq or the [See Benefits, p. 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.
Community Alerts State Lands Commission Hearing on Rancho LPG Los Angeles Harbor Area residents may speak to the California State Lands Commission on any concerns they might have with the Rancho LPG facility. Time: 1 p.m. Aug. 17 Details: slc.ca.gov Venue: Ports O’ Call Waterfront Dining, 1200 Nagoya Way, San Pedro
710 Corridor Project Draft EIR Released
Come On, Pedro!
I’ve lived in San Pedro for 22 years. During these years I’ve seen progress in the pride that our neighbors take in our community. Abandoned cars and furniture are seen less frequently; there is less trash in the streets. These are all good things. Last Saturday, Aug. 5 I saw an act that truly makes me wonder if there’s any hope of our community becoming a truly nice place to live. While walking at the corner of 6th and Pacific I came upon a man looking at his car. Someone had defecated on the passenger side door. This was a deliberate act. Someone in the middle of the day dropped their shorts and did their business on his car. The smell was beyond horrible. Shame on the lowlife who did this! Further, there were a lot of people on the street that day; someone must have seen this. It was apparent that no one called the police. Shame on you if you witnessed this and did nothing! Come on, Pedro, would you want your family to see this? How can we revitalize our downtown with acts like this? Everyone has to step up if we’re going make our community a great place to live. Paul Gormley San Pedro
Dear Paul, This town has struggled with its self-image and socio-economic issues for 30 years or more and it is just now beginning to emerge into something new while holding on to its history. The only question is, “What will that look like?” Some
want to have great streets filled with modern stucco boxes adjacent to Starbucks and fast food. Clearly in this town, as in all of Los Angeles, we cannot move forward until we address the needs of those less fortunate — the homeless. Would this incident have happened if there were shelter and public bathrooms for the homeless? James Preston Allen, Publisher
Columbus Day Letter from Joe Buscaino
On Tuesday, Aug. 22 at 10 a.m., the Los Angeles City Council will consider a proposal to eliminate all references to the Columbus Day holiday in official city documents and replace it with Indigenous People’s Day. As a first-generation ItalianAmerican, I find this proposal deeply troubling. The celebration of our diversity and variety of cultures is part of what defines us as a city and nation. This has become even more apparent in light of recent news events highlighting the need for racial and ethnic harmony. We celebrate the hundreds of years of immigration to America because it is the immigrant that represent America’s ideals in the purest form — the notion that anyone can come here, work hard, succeed and achieve the American dream. Those who created Columbus day were seeking a nation that is inclusive — as a way to empower immigrants and celebrate their diversity. This day recognizes
the beginning of worldwide immigration to America. It truly is a celebration of immigrants coming here to seek a better life for themselves and their families. Columbus, or Columbia, is no longer about a man, it is now a universal theme. That has become ubiquitous with the celebration of not only Italian American Heritage, but the celebration of all cultures, and the acknowledgement of the sacrifices and contribution made by their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents to this great nation. I support the creation of a holiday celebrating Indigenous Peoples because it is so important to teach our young people about the contributions of all our cultures. But not at the expense of another culture, because I believe that goes against our ideals in this country. I urge you to attend the City Council meeting on Aug. 22 at 10 a.m. in City Hall and speak in opposition to this misguided proposal! Please arrive early to ensure plenty of time to park and clear security. Doors to the Council Chamber open at 9:30 a.m. If you need parking, please contact Lidia Soto in my City Hall office with your name, vehicle make, model, color and license plate number by emailing Lidia. Soto@LACity.org, or calling (212) 473-7015. Joe Buscaino Los Angeles City Councilman, 15th District See Edotor’s Response p. 3
Los Angeles Port Driver Perspective
I am currently a Los Angeles Port truck driver classified as an independent contractor. I have worked in the port as a contractor for nearly two years and have been through the gauntlet of allegations of misclassification and union strikes. Before the port, I was also an over-the-road driver previously working with companies on independent and employee statuses. As my understanding of the trucking industry broadens, I’ve found that different company models of employment are based on the industry’s dynamic demands — where some models work others fail. Union interventions have helped the future of some and have devastated the future of others. The company I work with, Intermodal Bridge Transport, is currently a target of such interventions and allegations; however, the agreement we have with our company is a “pay as you work” model. The majority of drivers are happy with this model; it affords us flexibility in our schedule and a livable wage, we earn some of the highest rates in the port. Our model is under attack by relentless organized strikes from outsiders who have no understanding of our model and assume that it’s misclassification in order to strengthen their frivolous lawsuits. The majority of our drivers have suffered loss of wages, threats of violence and discrimination based on these false allegations. We are looking for a voice that
hears both sides rather than just that of union propaganda that has had detrimental impacts on those who wish to remain independent or owner operators. Please get in touch with me; I am eager to clarify and elaborate more on behalf of the small business owners and contractors who choose to do business with fair and ethical companies. John Cullin Independent Contractor Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro
Medical Care in US
Your article, “Let’s Stop Talking About Insurance and Start Talking About Medical Care?” is an attempt to solve this most important problem but I would like to add a few more important steps that must be taken. There are two villains with the American health care system: the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical companies. Their objective is profit, not individual health. Unconscionable prescription drug prices makes it impossible for the middle class family to afford medication for acute illness and especially a chronic illness. The July 13, 2017 article in the New England Journal of Medicine (the most highly regarded medical journal worldwide) describes drugs that were cheaply available in the 20th century that are becoming prohibitively expensive in the 21st century. Governmental control of drug pricing is now essential. [See Letters, p. 17]
[Benefits, from p. 8]
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August 17 - 30, 2017
countries that are a focus of U.S. military action. Bombing campaigns in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Syria do nothing to address the reasons for violent extremism and do a great deal to radicalize the people being attacked. What will happen to our society with greater and greater military spending? Experience from other countries and history is unequivocal. The buildup of the military has severe consequences on civil liberties, democracy, veterans and youth who join the military because there are few options. Most importantly, foreign policy and economy increasingly dependent on the military drive up the likelihood of war. A May 9, 2017 study by the Friends Committee on National Legislation indicates that: • Further increasing the Pentagon’s budget is fiscally irresponsible. • Pentagon spending rose sharply after 9/11, increasing more than 40 percent in 10 years.
• Even after Congress instituted a cap on federal spending, the $600 billion Pentagon budget is still at or near the levels of the Cold War and the Vietnam War. • The build-up of the military does not decrease but rather increases the threat of war. In 2016, U.S. taxpayers paid $57.52 million for Department of Defense each and every hour. The military receives $3,979 from the average California taxpayer, according to National Priorities Project (www. nationalpriorities.org). To date no amount of Pentagon spending has appreciably affected the disappearing job market. “For every $1 billion spent on the military 11,000 jobs are created, for every $1 billion spent on education 26,000 jobs are created,” according The Job Opportunity Cost of War (http:// tinyurl.com/JobOpCostofWar). Diplomacy and peace through means rather than the militarism which has permeated our society is our only recourse. The pen is mightier than the sword.
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Caltrans and LA Metro recentlyreleasedtheRecirculated Draft Environmental Impact Report for the I-710 Corridor Project, opening a 60-day public comment period. Theenvironmentaldocument evaluates two alternatives for major improvements along most of the 710 Freeway. One alternative (Alt. 5C) would rebuild the freeway add capacity, traffic safety and operational improvements. The second alternative (Alt. 7) would add a “clean emission” freight corridor and modernize the 710. The freight corridor would add four lanes (two in each direction) for zeroand near zero-emission trucks. In some sections the lanes would be elevated over the existing freeway. There will be three public hearings during the 60-day period. The Long Beach hearing will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Aug. 31 at Cesar Chavez Park Community Center, 401 Golden Ave. There will also be meetings on Aug. 23 in the City of Commerce (6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Commerce Senior Center, 2555 Commerce Way) and Aug. 26 in Paramount (10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Paramount Community/Senior Center, 14400 Paramount Blvd.). Each meeting will begin with an open house for review of project exhibits during which project team members will be available to answer individual questions. The open house will be followed by a brief presentation. The public hearing will be opened for people to speak and provide formal comments. The report may be viewed online at www.dot.ca.gov/d7/ env-docs. Hard copies of the document are also available for review at the Long Beach Main Library at 101 Pacific Ave., and at the Bret Harte Library at 1595 W. Willow St. The deadline to submit public comments on the proposed project is Sept. 22. Details: www.metro.net
RANDOMLetters
9
Beyond Trump:
The Problems are Much Bigger than One Man By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Donald Trump has undergone a noticeable weakening since the healthcare loss in the Senate on July 27 and the more recent intensification of a probe into the Trump campaign’s possible entanglement with Russia. His poll support has dropped — falling to 33 percent in a Quinnipiac poll and 32 percent in a poll by Investor’s Business Daily. New rumblings of GOP primary challenges in 2020 are even starting to surface. A New Hampshire poll found Ohio Gov. John Kasich leading Trump 52-40 in a hypothetical primary match-up, and Vice President Mike Pence had to publicly denounce any suggestion he was preparing to run for higher office in 2020. All this is accompanied by repeated claims that Trump isn’t really a conservative or a Republican. Yet, in contrast, Trump has actually done a great deal to advance core goals of the Reaganite agenda, especially where wielding and advancing power are concerned. Prominent examples include deregulation at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Communications Commission, and a multi-pronged civil rights rollback at the Department of Justice. This is what the GOP donor base has always cared about most. At the EPA, Scott Pruitt has not only launched an all-out attack on climate science, he’s rolling back environmental protections in general. In the first six months, the Trump administration collected 60 percent less in civil penalties from polluters than the previous three administrations, according to an analysis by the Environmental Integrity Project. “This is the weakest start that any of us have seen, going back 25 years,” said Environmental
Integrity Project Executive Director Eric Schaeffer, a former director of civil enforcement at EPA, during an Aug. 10 press call. At the FCC, the Trump-appointed Chairman Ajit Pai has revived a decades-old regulatory loophole to allow a conservative media company — which injects chameleon-like “must run” propaganda segments into its local programming — to dramatically expand its reach, covering 72 percent of the local TV market, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles (KTLA). Rolling back FCC regulations — most notably the Fairness Doctrine — was one of Reagan’s key political accomplishments, which laid the foundations for the explosive growth of right-wing talk radio, a major propaganda arm of the conservative movement ever since. Pai’s decision could have a similarly sweeping impact. FCC rules prevent any company from serving more than 39 percent of the local TV market, and Sinclair Broadcasting already reaches 38 percent, with a proposed purchase of 42 stations from Tribune Media bringing it to 72 percent. To make this possible, Pai has revived a loophole that doesn’t count former UHF stations (numbered above channel 13), which, in the pre-digital era, had signals that were significantly less powerful and lower quality but are now indistinguishable. This made the loophole obsolete, which is why it was dropped. Pai is reviving it simply because he can, the same reason that Reagan’s FCC got rid of the Fairness Doctrine. Under U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
[News Briefs, from p. 6]
Robert E. Lee’s Treason Still Divides
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
efforts to expand offered flights. The city council, led by Councilman Daryl Supernaw, voted against proceeding with an international terminal at Long Beach’s airport. Supernaw criticized how the current fine structures under the Consent Decree do not dissuade JetBlue from its continued violations. In one of his newsletters, Supernaw presented a chart showing that in 2017, JetBlue almost doubled its yearly total of fines for 2012. JetBlue’s late flights are also affecting the Long Beach Airport’s on-time-performance ranking. In the July Airport on-time-performance ranking report by OAG, Long Beach Airport was ranked 153 out of 289 American and Canadian airports. In that same month, JetBlue was 23 out of 26 listed American and Canadian airlines for on-time-performance. The other major Long Beach airline, Southwest Airlines, was ranked 15.
August 17 - 30, 2017
Parking on Parkways Prohibited
10
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Department of Transportation is now enforcing L.A.M.C. 80.53, “Parkway Violation” in Los Angeles. The ordinance prohibits the stopping, standing, or parking of a vehicle in a parkway — the area of the public right-of-way not intended for vehicular use between the sidewalk and the curb. A parkway can be located where no curb exists between the sidewalk and the public street, which the City has reserved for landscaping and utilities. No person shall stop, stand or park a vehicle within the area of a parkway. Penalties for violating the ordinance include issued citations. Details: www.ladot.lacity.org.
the Department of Justice is the most vividly reactionary arm of the Trump administration. And, from a long-term power perspective what’s most notable is how that department is mobilizing to suppress Democratic votes, especially minorities and younger voters, working in tandem with Trump’s “election integrity commission.” On June 28, the commission asked for extensive voter data from all 50 states, and the DOJ sent a letter to 44 states, saying it was reviewing their procedures, asking how they planned to “remove the names of ineligible voters.” Vanita Gupta, who headed the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division under former President Barack Obama, called the letter “a prelude to voter purging.” On Aug. 7, the Trump-Sessions DOJ proved
By Harvey Wasserman, Journalist, Author and Activist Yet another deadly firestorm now swirls around Robert E. Lee. As his statues head to the ash heap, a life defined by slavery, betrayal and slaughter again divides our nation. Lee was an icon of the Confederacy and the architect of its defeat. He was a traitor to the United States of America. He cost humanity uncounted lives … right up to now. Lee’s gentlemanly portraits are a surface illusion. He could be gracious and chivalrous, a dashing strategist and later a beloved college president. . But his core was medieval and obsolete. He was the ultimate undertaker of a culture of death. Robert was the son of Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, a Revolutionary officer descended from Virginia’s early slave owners. But in the early 1800s Henry served a year in debtor’s prison, and died when Robert was 11, leaving the family disgraced and in dire straits. Robert excelled in mathematics and graduated West Point near the top of his class. He served as an engineer and pathfinder in the American conquest of Mexico, where he fought alongside Ulysses S. Grant, who would ultimately defeat him. In 1859 Lee arrested and hung John Brown after his legendary attempt to deliver weapons from the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, to a slave revolution. In personal letters, Lee questioned secession and doubted chattel slavery. But bitter controversy still surrounds his treatment of the
Statue of Confederate Gen. Lee in Charlottesville, VA surrounded by white supremacists. File photo.
slaves on his own plantation. Abraham Lincoln offered Lee a high command in the Union army. Instead he led southern armies against the nation of his birth. Though his first commands were mixed, Lee was a far superior tactician to most early Union generals. His key campaigns protected Richmond, threatened Washington, D.C. and inspired the Confederacy to press ahead. But victory fed Lee’s arrogance. In July, 1863, while foolishly attacking the north at Gettysburg, he ordered the legendary “Pickett’s Charge” that
Gupta’s point. It switched sides to support Ohio’s voter purge efforts in a Supreme Court case challenging them. From 2011 to 2016, Ohio purged 2 million voters, 1.2 million for infrequent voting. A Reuter analysis of Ohio’s three largest counties found that voters in Democratic-leaning neighborhoods twice as likely to be removed as those in Republicanleaning ones. Obviously, with elections decided by as few as 537 votes in 2000, any such systemically biased voter purge is a de facto form of election theft. State-level Republicans are completely united with Trump on this multifaceted power grab. “State and local Republicans have expanded early voting in GOP-dominated areas and restricted it in Democratic areas … prompting a significant change in Central Indiana voting patterns” the Indiana Star reported on Aug. 10. While the headlines continue to be filled with daily noise and fury, the hidden, silent story of the Trump administration is one of remarkable continuity with the GOP’s recent past. If Trump were to be impeached, Pence would be a more effective front-man for the same underlying agenda. But this political success would still mask a profound policy failure — Trump won the GOP primary because the party’s politics just don’t deliver for its base ,and they won’t deliver any better under anyone else. Trump won the general because Democrats have failed to articulate a plausible alternative that’s robust enough to command broad support — reflected most vividly in massive losses in state legislatures. Neither of these problems would be solved by getting rid of Trump. He’s just a symptom of the deeper problems that go far beyond him. cost some 7,000 lives in a matter of moments, breaking the back of the Confederate Army. As the slaughter dragged on, droves of poor whites fled Lee’s army. To combat desertion, he ordered a mass hanging and marched his infantry past the corpses. Thankfully, at war’s end, Lee resisted calls for a prolonged guerrilla resistance. He surrendered himself and his army intact. Lincoln and Grant never put him on trial. They gave his defeated troops safe haven, rations and the freedom to return to their farms — with their personal weapons — for spring planting. It was among the most magnanimous and far-sighted amnesties ever granted by a conquering army. In defeat, Lee advocated moderate treatment for freed blacks but opposed their right to vote. His own franchise was stripped along with ownership of the family estate, which became Arlington National Cemetery. As an individual, Lee radiated charisma and grace. But the treatment of his own slaves, his military defense of America’s “peculiar institution” and his treasonous attack on the nation of his birth make him one of America’s most murderous criminals. That statues still stand to him anywhere is an affront to our standing as a human community. That individuals like Heather Heyer should die in his wake is all too consistent with the life he led. Heyer’s murder in Charlottesville and the deaths two Virginia police officers, form a tragic epitaph to the decisions Robert E. Lee made and the slaughter he helped perpetrate. Harvey Wasserman’s History of the US can be found at www.harveywasserman.com.
Pacific Islander Film Festival:
carceraL, Colonial Trauma Take Center Stage By Kym Cunningham, Contributing Writer
Born Fo’ Bang, directed by FYI Films Hawaii Youths tells the story of a Hawaiian youth who refuses to beat up a haole as part of his gang initiation. His older brother threatens to ex-communicate him from the gang and his family.
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n Aug. 25, the Carson Community Center will host Pacific Cine Waves, showcasing a selection of films created by Pacific Islanders. The event aims to positively affect communities through storytelling and the arts. “Our mission is to support Asian American and Pacific Islander filmmakers,” said Francis Cullado, executive director of Visual Communications — the first American nonprofit dedicated to empowering Asian Pacific communities by challenging perspectives in the media arts. “If nobody is going to tell our stories, we have to tell our stories ourselves.” The event is a collaboration between Visual Communications, Films by Youth Inside, known as FYI Films, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. Although Visual Communications usually participates in events that feature and support East Asian communities, the creation of Pacific Cine Waves is meant as a stepping stone so that the organization can branch ou, both in terms of perspective and location. Through this free event, Visual Communications hopes to promote diversity and inclusion throughout the media arts world. Photos courtesy of Alex Munoz. “I don’t want our audience to be just Asian/Pacific Islanders,” Cullado said. “We want to be very inclusive…. It would be great if … all of the different media groups … were working together and making those impacts together.” To accomplish this goal, Visual Communications teamed up with director Alex Muñoz of FYI Films, a classically trained filmmaker who has been teaching his trade to incarcerated youth in Los Angeles County — the epicenter of the American carceral epidemic — since 2000.
Giving Incarcerated Youth a Voice
[See Cine Waves, p. 15]
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
On the set of The Strength of Siblings, the latest FYI FILM made with youth of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Originally intended as a single lecture at the formerly named California Youth Authority, Muñoz’s program snowballed into an accredited eight-week course now featured in several locations, including Los Angeles County, Guam, Hawaii and Ute Mountain. Muñoz’s program specifically focuses on incarcerated youth — most of whom have not had adequate educations. The industry training provides them with a future beyond prison cell walls. “FYI empowers youth affected by the juvenile justice system to improve
August 17 - 30, 2017
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Jim’s Burgers Swaps Out Its Old Menu for Fresher Ingredients
n a Thursday at noon, two restaurant cooks grill a steak under a cast iron press, chop onions and fulfill dozens of orders from a new menu they had to learn after 10 years of working at the place. The cashier takes the orders from a line made up entirely of men. A longshoreman fills his cup with horchata from the soda fountain after ordering his lunch. Jim’s Burgers No. 2 was originally a family franchise founded in the 1970s. It expanded to more than 20 branches in Southern California from Gardena to La Mirada. This was the second one, thus the No. 2 in the name. It’s at a prime location, says Marc Gold, one of its new owners. Big rig trucks continuously pass by. There isn’t another food place within a half mile. And, it’s right across the street from a forthcoming Longshore Hall. After making sure Jim’s Burgers could serve any customer by being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act standards, Gold and business partners Greg Gomez and TC also wanted to pay tribute to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. The burger joint displays photos of an old warehouse, bridges and several landmarks to remind the many patrons of their roots. Gold said the true story behind Jim’s
By Katrina Guevara, Contributing Writer
Burgers revival is about a Mexican, an Italian and a Jew who walked into a restaurant and saw a future: a true diversity team. The trio repainted the building, renovated the outdoor seating area and swapped out the old ingredients for quality choices. The onion rings and fries are freshly prepared. The hot dogs are now choice Hoffy dogs, known for their natural casing and “snap” when you bite into them. According to the National Hot Dog Council, Los Angeles residents consume more hot dogs than any other city (more than 36 million pounds), beating out New York and Philadelphia. Some of the diner’s remnants are the vintage signs, employees and patrons. The renovated diner offers the same breakfast burrito from 1979 with cheese, ham, bacon, sausage and hash browns. Gold, an investigator at a law firm, has a
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Jim’s Burgers supports the ILWU. Photo by Raphael Richardson.
August 17 - 30, 2017
With this coupon Dine-in only
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(310) 518-1030
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.
keen eye for data and observing the habits of his customers. He notices the relish falling off from a Hoffy dog and remarks less condiments can be put on the menu item. He also said the former owners of Jim’s Burgers claimed they sold four hot dogs a day, when it only added up to four a month on reports. His goal is to sell a thousand dogs by Labor Day. Gold used to work as a magician on cruise ships as a teenager, so his taste for good food came at an early start. And, it does seem like he has worked some “magic” in turning this restaurant around. Gold approaches two women in ILWU uniforms and discovers they both ordered his pride and joy: the Hoffy dogs. He asks if he can take a photo of them to post on social media. Gold thought opening a restaurant would be all tasting and eating with friends, but he said it is also about working 20-hour days, looking through cameras and managing the social media accounts. [See Jim’s Burgers, p. 13]
[Jim’s Burgers from p. 12]
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Jim’s Burger’s avocado burger. Photos by Raphael Richardson.
A few new menu items include the giant avocado bacon burger called the “LB 206” and a half-pound burger called “Berth 126.” Most items run less than $10. Items like the “Crane Operator” nachos are just $11.95. Gold said he wants everyone to have a fair meal at a fair price. Gold said some people count sheep to sleep, but he counts onion rings. Gold believes he was at the right place at the right time when investing in this location. It’s only a matter of time before the new Jim’s Burgers No. 2 wins over the hearts and stomachs of everyone who passes through this East Wilmington location. Jim’s Burgers No. 2 is at 1601 E. Anaheim Blvd. in Wilmington. The diner is open Mondays to Fridays from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Saturdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
NS AN PEDRO
Michael Stearns Studio 347 LIFE LINES BY KARENA MASSENGILL
Karena’s mixed media sculpture sculptures, paired with mirrored images on paper result in three- and two-dimensional works. Life Lines runs through Sept. 23. Michael Stearns Studio 347, 347 W. 7th St., San Pedro, www.michaelstearns studio.com Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Studio Gallery 345
new works on paper & canvas
Jim’s Burger’s signature Hoffy hot dogs.
Studio 345 presents watercolors and acrylics by Pat Woolley and works in water media and collage by Gloria D. Lee. For information, contact Gloria at (310) 545-0832 or Pat at (310) 374-8055 or artsail@roadrunner.com. 345 W. 7th St., San Pedro, www.patwoolleyart.com
Huz Gallery
Celebrating Elvis’ Memory
LIVE JAZZ SUNDAYS, 3 to 6 p.m. 1st Thursday After Party 9 p.m. to midnight
Wine Wednesdays
1/2 off bottles after 6 p.m.
Daily Happy Hour 3 to 6 p.m.
August 17 - 30, 2017
In honor of the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, newlysurfaced photographs of The King taken in 1955 by Air Force photographer Anthony B e r n a rd , S r. a r e available exclusively at huZ Gallery. Open Wed.-Sat. 1 to 7 p.m., or by appointment. 341 W. 7th St., San Pedro. (310) 428-0275, huZgalleries.com.
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ENTERTAINMENT Aug. 18
Cameron Graves Experience a mind-expanding jazz fusion. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 18 Cost: Free Details: www.grandperformances.org Venue: Grand Performances, 300 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles Dance Argentine Tango Learn new dance moves and show them off in a judgment-free zone at Grand Park. Time: Aug. 18 Cost: Free Details: www.grandperformances.org Venue: Grand Performances, 300 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
Aug. 19
August 17 - 30, 2017
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Catina DeLuna Los Angeles’s arranger and producer Otmaro Ruiz and international recording artist Catina DeLuna will present the music of their Grammy-nominated CDs Catina DeLuna and Lado B Brazilian Project. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 19 Cost: $20 Details: https://alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro
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ALT 98.7 Summer Camp ALT 98.7 Summer Camp will feature Foster The People as well as The Head and The Heart. Time: 3 p.m. Aug. 19 Details: http://alt987fm. iheart.com/features/altsummercamp-2199 Venue: The Queen Mary Events Park, 1126 Queens Highway, Long Beach Daedelus Grooves for Cola20 Daedelus and musical pals will reinvent classic EDM/IDM joints on real instruments as lullabies, sing-alongs and merry melodies. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 19 Cost: Free Details: www.grandperformances.org Venue: Grand Performances, 300 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles Djs Aaron Byrd, Garth Trinidad This special edition of KCRW’s Summer Nights series features after-hours museum access, food trucks, a beer garden and more. Time: 5 p.m. Aug. 19 Cost: Free Details: http://events.kcrw. com/events/summernightsaaronandgarth
Venue: The California African American Museum, 600 State Drive, Los Angeles
Aug. 20
Hollywood U2 Enjoy Bono-approved U2 covers. Time: 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 20 Cost: Free Details: http://tinyurl.com/ManhattanBchConcertsinthePark Venue: Polliwog Park, 1601 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Manhattan Beach
Aug. 24
David Buchbinder’s Odessa/Havanna Explore the rich and exhilarating connections between Jewish and Cuban music, sharing Andalusian, Arabic, Roma, Sephardic and North African ancestry. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 24 Cost: Free Details: www.skirball.org/programs/sunset-concerts Venue: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles
Aug. 25
DJs Jason Bentley and Travis Holcombe Experience the new venue for KCRW’s Summer Nights series, which will feature plenty of danceable grooves, games, food and drinks. Time: 5:30 p.m. Aug. 25 Cost: Free Details: http://events.kcrw. com/events/summernightsjasonandtravis Venue: Union Station, 800 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles Inca Enjoy Peruvian and Andean music, then chow down on food from the market. Time: 7 to 9 p.m. Aug. 25 Cost: Free Details: www.farmersmarketla. com Venue: The Original Farmers Market, 6333 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles Dj Nights Learn new dance moves and show them off in a judgementfree zone. Time: 9 p.m. Aug. 25 Cost: Free Details: http://grandparkla.org/ calendar Venue: Grand Park, 200 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
Aug. 26
The Jazz Giant Sessions Thin Man Entertainment presents a very special Jazz Salon Night, featuring vocalist Mon David, bassist Henry “The Skipper” Franklin, drummer Al Williams and pianist Sam Hirsh. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 26 Cost: $20 Details: www.grandvision.org Venue: The Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Mark De Clive-Lowe A sonic journey of jazz and electronic music from a Japanese New Zealander. Time: 9 p.m. Aug. 26 Cost: Free Details: www.grandperformances.org Venue: Grand Performances, 300 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles
AUG 17 - 30 • 2017
Aug. 27
Lynette Skynyrd Lynette Skynyrd is the world’s one and only female-led Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band that truly does justice to the genre-defining Southern hard rock of the original band. Time: 5 to 7 p.m. Aug. 27 Cost: Free Details: http://tinyurl.com/ManhattanBchConcertsinthePark Venue: Polliwog Park, 1601 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach
Aug. 31
Betsayda Machado y La Parranda El Clavo Listen to Afro-Venezuelan roots music and be ready to dance. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 31 Cost: Free Details: www.skirball.org/programs/sunset-concerts Venue: Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles
THEATER Aug. 18
Macbeth Seduced by supernatural prophecy, Macbeth and his lady embark on an ambitious quest to win the Scottish throne. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 18 Cost: Free Venue: Point Fermin Park, 807 W. Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro Details: (310) 217-7596; sbtsinfo@shakespearebythesea.org Sister Act Based on the 1992 film of the same name, Sister Act tells the story of aspiring disco lounge singer and diva, Deloris Van Cartier. Time: 2 to 8 p.m. Aug. 18 and 19 Cost: $25 to $35 Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance Details: (310) 781-7171; http:// torrancetheatrecompany.com
Aug. 19
The Taming of the Shrew When rebellious Katherina stands in the way of her younger sister Bianca’s marriage, fortune hunter Petruchio is enlisted to “tame” the elder daughter. Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 19 Cost: Free Venue: Point Fermin Park, 807 W. Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro Details: (310) 217-7596, sbtsinfo@shakespearebythesea.org
Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle in the Sky screens at Cinemark Carson on Aug. 27. Cowboy versus Samurai What if the classic romantic comedy, Cyrano DeBergerac, was set in modern day Wyoming? With quick-paced banter and witty repartee, this delightful romantic comedy addresses the issues of interracial relationships and platonic loyalty. Time: 8 p.m. through Aug. 19 Cost: $20 to $24 Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach Details: (562) 494-1014 boxoffice@lbplayhouse.org
Aug. 23
Silent Sky The true story of 19th-century astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt explores a woman’s place in society during a time of immense scientific discoveries. Time: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, and 2 p.m. Sundays, Aug. 23 through Sept. 10 Cost: $35 to $55 Venue: International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach Details: (562) 436-4610 ictlongbeach.org Pick of the Vine An exciting night of entertainment awaits you in these 7 to 15 minute short plays hand-picked by Little Fish Theatre from authors across the country. Time: 7 to 8 p.m. through Sept. 2 Cost: $23 to $45 Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 Centre St., San Pedro Details: (310) 512-6030; www. littlefishtheatre.org
ARTS
Aug. 18
Fabulous Friday Art Mixer The San Pedro Art Association will display local art in an intimate setting. Make new friends and enjoy live music, food and beverages. Time: 6 p.m. Aug. 18 Cost: Free Details: (310) 831-2928; spaa@ sanpedroart.org
Venue: Machine Art Studio, 446 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Aug. 19
Third Saturday ArtWalk The PBID and the Arts District invite the public to explore the galleries and artist lofts, dine in our unique eateries and stay for a show or listen to music at local bars and restaurants. Time: 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Aug. 19 Cost: Free Details: (310) 832-2183 Venue: Sirens Java and Tea, 357 W. 7th St., San Pedro
Aug. 25.
Audrey Barrett: Available Light Gallery 478 and TransVagrant Projects are pleased to present Audrey Barrett: Available Light, an exhibition of photography and auction benefiting City of Hope Metastatic Breast Cancer Research. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, through Aug. 25 Cost: Free Details: (310) 732-2150 Venue: Gallery 478, 478 W. 7th St., San Pedro
Aug. 27
The Desolation Center Experience Desolation Center once drew punk and industrial music fans to the far reaches of the Mojave Desert. Cornelius Projects pays tribute to the Desolation Center with an exhibition featuring painting, photography, sculpture and video. Time: 12 to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, through Aug. 27 Cost: Free Details: corneliusprojects.com, www.desolationcenter.com Venue: Cornelius Project, 1417 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro
Sept. 3
Cada Mente en Su Mundo The Museum of Latin American Art is proud to host a solo exhi-
bition of new and recent works by Luis Tapia, a pioneering Chicano artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays, through Sept. 3 Cost: $7 to $10 Details: molaa.org Venue: MOLAA, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray In May 1931, photographer Nickolas Muray (1892–1965) traveled to Mexico on vacation where he met Frida Kahlo (1907–1954), a woman he would never forget. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays, through Sept. 3 Cost: $7 to $10 Details: molaa.org Venue: Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach
COMMUNITY Aug. 17
Dance, Music and Color Celebrate a group exhibition by South Bay artists. Time: 6 p.m. Aug. 17 Cost: Free Details: spaa@sanpedroart.org Venue: 11433 Hawthorne Blvd., Hawthorne, CA
Aug. 25
Pacific Islander Films Visual Communications, Films by Youth Inside and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center bring an inspiring selection of works created by Pacific Islanders to the South Bay. RSVP by Aug. 21. Time: 7 p.m. Aug. 25 Cost: Free Details: http://pacinewaves. splashthat.com Venue: Carson Community Center, 801 E Carson St., Carson
Aug. 27
Castle in the Sky From the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki comes a rollicking adventure about a young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant who falls out of the sky and into the arms and life of young Pazu. Together they search for a floating island, the site of a long-dead civilization promising enormous wealth and power to those who can unlock its secrets. Time: 1 p.m. Aug. 27 Cost: $12.50 Details: www.fathomevents. com/events/studio-ghibli-festcastle-in-the-sky Venue: Cinemark Carson, 20700 Avalon Blvd., Carson
Book Review:
[Cine Waves from p. 11]
Cine Waves
their lives and become self-reliant,” Muñoz said. “Through media literacy and the creative storytelling process, youth find their voice and gain valuable skills that are transferable to all areas of their life. “The youth deserve the opportunity for selfexamination…. They always make films based on their own personal or immediate past. When they look at their own lives being played on the screen, they realize that they matter.” Muñoz’s program has had a ripple effect, impacting not only the lives of the youth but also those of their families and the community as a whole. “California [youth] recidivism rate is about 80 percent,” Muñoz explained. “Ours is about 15.” Muñoz told a story about two mothers who had struggled with addiction throughout the childhoods of their now-incarcerated sons. After watching the screening of the movie that detailed the devastating effects of parental addiction, these women checked into rehab programs within the same week. “The films are … brutally honest,” Muñoz said.
Hard Improvisation
Review by Lyn Jensen
A Wailing of a Town An Oral History of Early San Pedro Punk and More, 1977-1985 by Craig Ibarra Punks from San Pedro and around the South Bay recall how the original scene went down in Craig Ibarra’s A Wailing of a Town: “An Oral History of Early San Pedro Punk and More” 1977-1985. It is a collective memoir of the working-class alternative rock music that emerged from the communities around Los Angeles Harbor as the disco era ended and the Reagan era began. “There came a time when average Joes and nerds took up guitars against the state,” said bassist Mike Watt, remembering the first days of punk in this book.
Ho’Omau, directed by Layla Tripp-Hanohano, follows Kapualei Hanohano-Tripp, a young woman passionate about making a difference for the advancement of her culture. Right,prepping for the big shot with UMUT youth in Colorado. Photo courtesy of Alex Munoz.
Guam’s Colonial Trauma
Muñoz has taken this radicalized notion of what cinema can be back to his father’s home country of Guam. Since 2010, Muñoz has worked with incarcerated youth in Guam, attempting to heal some of the trauma inflicted under hundreds of years of Spanish, Japanese and American colonial rule. One of Muñoz’s films to be shown during Pacific Cine Waves, Guam is Crying, weaves together elements of political violence and creative fantasy in demonstration of the terrible ramifications of American foreign policy on the island. “During the Iraq War, Guam was losing more soldiers a month than each state in the country,” Muñoz said. Strategically, Guam is important to the United States as a military base. Indeed, the U.S. military occupies 48.5 percent of the land. This also makes Guam a target for countries such as North Korea, leading the residents of Guam to live in perpetual fear of impending war. Similarly, the residents of Guam are subject to the bizarre limitations of being citizens of an unincorporated U.S. territory rather than a state. They can nominate, but not vote for the president and it takes four Guam residents to equal a single “mainland” resident in terms of delegates. Muñoz’s films seek to address the denial of civil rights and liberties associated with American neocolonialism. “We have a lot of repressed pain,” Muñoz said. “We are in crisis and we’re still traumatized.”
Looking Towards the Future
In 1978, Watt and two school friends, guitarist D. Boon and drummer George Hurley, formed the Reactionaries as a reaction to the music of the ‘70s. After three gigs and much strife, they changed their name to the Minutemen and went on to break through as ‘80 alt-rock pioneers. “The Minutemen were like the sun, and all the other bands were the planets that rotated around them,” said Michael Quercio, who around the same time started a trio called Salvation Army — which later found success as Three O’ Clock — in nearby Carson. “Without them, I don’t think the scene would have [had] an anchor.” In the years Ibarra details, dozens
In addition to providing an avenue for Pacific Islander filmmakers — such as Muñoz — to showcase how identity politics informs
storytelling, organizers are hoping to expand the impact of Pacific Cine Waves to outside of Pacific Islander communities. “Los Angeles is very diverse but still very segregated,” Cullado said. “[Pacific Cine Waves] is about connecting with people we haven’t connected with before … and sparking something…. This is just the beginning.” Organizers hope that City Hall takes note of this event, projecting an annual film festival with government funding and sponsorship. “This is very personal,” Cullado said. “I grew up in [the] West Long Beach-Carson area. This is my hood. This is my community. My daughter goes to school across the street.” Muñoz agreed, viewing his work as his way of giving back to his community. “Artists always have to give back,” Muñoz said. “They have to do what they can to enhance their community and to contribute to the advancement of a safer … more productive and peaceful society.” As the current political turmoil shows no signs of abating, it is necessary for Harbor Area communities to come together under art’s restorative powers. On Aug. 25, Pacific Cine Waves will debut its first Pacific Islander cinema night at 7 p.m. in the hopes of creating an atmosphere of understanding in the place of biased judgement. RSVP for this free event by Aug. 21 at http://pacinewaves.splashthat.com.
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
[See Ibarra, p. 16]
August 17 - 30, 2017
But providing these youth with a voice wasn’t easy. “This is a population that is so underserved and so overlooked,” Muñoz said. “It took me a while to really figure out [how to teach them]. I couldn’t teach it USC-style because a lot of the youth are subliterate. So, I had to kind of shape the curriculum and make it their own.” Despite their lack of formal training, Muñoz said that these youth are incredibly innovative, coming up with ideas like bungee cams and suspended cameras that swing around the trunk of a tree. The youth also work to make these films their own, developing lingo that centers around their shared experience of incarceration as well as improvising all of their own lines. “They take ownership of the medium,” Muñoz said. “The first day I give them their cameras, they always aim back at the surveillance cameras.” Perhaps even more impressive, Muñoz said, was the rational and harrowing grasp these youths have of their own social positionality, viewing themselves — as one of his students put it — as “expendable.” “This is a really fragile population and we’re not doing enough: we’re not rehabilitating them; we’re just punishing them,” Muñoz said. “The more I worked with incarcerated youth, the more I realized that some of the kids were incarcerated because they stole baby formula, because they were a teen father and couldn’t afford it, or they stole a bike. It seemed somehow unjust to be incarcerated for 10 months for stealing a bike from someone’s backyard…. The system is changing for the better, but the odds are stacked against them.” Muñoz uses FYI Films, in part, to rebel against the prison industrial complex, the multifaceted societal systems in place which make the future of time and unpaid labor in prison almost a guarantee for many American youth of color. “Hollywood needs to do more to empower young people of color from disadvantaged communities,” Muñoz said. “For me, they radicalized cinema…. The youth have kind of formed their own genre. It’s kind of like neoethnographic realism…. It’s made me more excited about filmmaking.”
One Little Corner of the Punk World
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cross cultures and time, humans have had an appreciation of and connection with dance. Language does not limit dance. There are no boundaries to it; it only requires an open mind and imagination. Grand Performances recently broke the boundaries of imagination. In No Side Now: Dance that Abandons Boundaries on Aug. 4 at Grand Performances, four artists’ visions and works are connected into a cohesive and stunning production. The pieces drew on movement styles from broad sources including street dance, studio practices and girlhood games. Choreographer Milka Djordjevich’s Anthem questions contemporary dance’s tendency towards neutrality, authenticity and the desexualization of the female body. Four women costumed in pants performed a dance that began, although fluid in form, with restraint. They danced in unison in lines and circles repetitively. They moved switching their hands back and forth, from their frontal regions where their hips and thighs met and then back onto their buttocks. This was the dance’s foundation. It escalated to rhythmic chest patting, hand clapping and paddy cake with alternating partners. The dancers tackled multiple contradictory tasks, embracing the performance of invented female persona. Their continuous movements amplified the dance with increasingly elaborate configurations. Anthem ultimately transitioned into fullblown jazz dancing vivacity complete with an original score by Chris Peck.
Micaela Taylor’s Popmadness
Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant
Micaela Taylor with her company, The TL Collective, have a reputation for precision and a distinctive movement style that blends contemporary dance with theatrical hip-hop. Much of this piece was fueled by sharp techno and synth-rich music. But it had a whole lot of soul, too. The dancers’ bodies were precision instruments, yet they embodied liberation. It was a performance, the energy of which you couldn’t take your eyes off. They created a synthesis of shape, line and gesture. Popmadness was alive with popping and jazz dancing, characterdriven theatrics and ferocious funkiness. The dancers were simultaneously robotic and sensuous while personifying the inventiveness of a new generation of dancers in a world of complexity and opportunity.
Amy O’Neal’s Opposing Forces: Solo Remix
August 17 - 30, 2017
This solo piece re-examines Amy O’Neal’s most recent group work, Opposing Forces, developed in collaboration with a company of b-boys. After enjoying a multi-city U.S. tour, O’Neal altered her original choreography. It went through an evolution toward selfmastery. The piece originally confronted fears of the feminine in the masculine world of break dance via a solo that travels through the complexities of physical, cultural and creative power. O’Neal hit the stage all in black and her face covered with a hoody. She stayed close to the ground for much of the performance. The screen behind her 16 illuminated the dark stage with two rays of
Grand Performances Breaks Boundaries By Melina Paris, Contributing Writer
Electrogynous , by d. Sabela grimes was presented as part of No Side Now at Grand Performances. Left to right, Austyn Rich, Nina Flagg, d. Sabela grimes and Brianna Mims. Photo by Steve Gunther.
light forming an “X” and then, purple haze with soft pink in the center. With mind-blowing skill, O’Neal captured the full gamut of dance. She moved seamlessly between balletic effervescence and technical jazz — Broadway hallmarks. She even presented a subtle encapsulation of post-modern and flowed right into isolation, hip-hop and
breaking. Her movements coupled with her black clothing made O’Neal serpentine — a black cord of energy traversing different landscapes.
[Ibarra from p. 15]
and hang at these gigs,” said Lina Sedillo, Peer Group’s bassist. “Once the H. B.’s came in, it got too violent … a lot of the original bands stopped playing. People stopped going to gigs out of fear of being beat up by those cretins. I consider that the end of the original scene.” Punk rockers became resourceful at finding places to play. Jimmy Mack, a death-rock performance artist known as Jimmy Smack, operated the Star Theater; he allowed the venue to be turned into a San Pedro punk hangout for several months in 1981 and 1982. That ended when some punks fought with some Latino lowriders. Mack said of his venue’s demise, “I go outside and there are helicopters and the whole place is surrounded by black and whites. What happened was all the punks with their colored hair and their crazy clothes had caused a culture shock in the neighborhood. The locals cut my phone lines, the electrical lines.” Ibarra’s book describes several such incidents surrounding punk shows. The Los Angeles Police Department came down hard and often. Venues got trashed. Gig-goers got beaten. “The scene got really bad for a while especially up in L.A. The chief of police was out to close every club in L.A. that allowed punk,” said Earl Liberty, bassist for Saccharine Trust and the Circle Jerks. “[Landmark San Pedro nightclub] The Dancing Waters started to kick up a little bit more after that went down.” “The Dancing Waters was the major local punk venue and the link between the outside scene and the Pedro scene. It was here that most of the regular larger gigs happened,” Sedillo recalled about what became the rock club in San Pedro for years. Waters owner Al Cordiero stopped booking the raunchier style of rock after his wife objected, according to a 1982 Random Lengths News article Ibarra quotes. Cordiero quoted the lyrics his wife complained about to Random
Ibarra
of punk rock groups came and went like ships to and from San Pedro Bay, representing a remarkable range of musical and social diversity. Some get entire chapters in the book; many more get mentioned in passing. Besides the Minutemen, San Pedro was home to HariKari, Mood of Defiance, Saccharine Trust, Bedlam, the Slivers, Peer Group, the Plebs, the Wigs, and performance artist Jimmy Smack. The Alley Cats came from nearby Lomita, the Suburban Lawns from Long Beach, Quercio’s band and the Zippers were from Carson, and the Bangs (which became the Bangles) from Palos Verdes. Black Flag, The Last, the Descendants, and the Circle Jerks formed an adjacent scene in Hermosa Beach. Even the Meat Puppets from Arizona and Husker Du from Minnesota called at this port. Chris Wabschall, lead singer of Bedlam, offered, “My definition of punk rock would be: a radical, youth-oriented social movement of the late 1970s, early 1980s [although the sub-culture continues to this day]. Like most movements that came before it, it was a rebellious reaction to the status quo.” At first the scene was tolerant, but change was inevitable. “Geography wasn’t a big concern — at least not until some of the HB’s [from Huntington Beach] started doing their more territorial gang thing. The Minutemen beat the wave of H.B. bands but not by much,” remembers Gary Jacobelly of Peer Group and the Plebs. Circa 1979, hardcore punks from conservative Orange County brought with them a violent element. “It was punk’s bad luck to be found by … racism,” Jacobelly suggested. “I never saw it in the early punk scene.” “Prior to the appearance of the H. B.’s pretty much everyone — punk or not — could go
d. Sabela grimes Electrogynous
A description of d. Sabela grimes’ works
offers a look into the depth of his piece, Electrogynous I d. Sabela [grimes’] … interdisciplinary performances reveal physical and metaphysical efficacies of Afro-Diasporic cultural practices. His AfroFuturistic dance theater projects consider invisibilized histories and grapple with constructed notions of masculinity and manhood, while conceiving a womynist consciousness. Electrogynous could be a theatrical work with its dramatic clarity. The five-person troupe, choreographed by d. Sabela grimes, entered a dimly lit stage. They wore strings of electric lights around their necks like nooses. One dancer repeated, “I.” The powerful entrance pointed to the range and depth of what was to come. The piece covered far-reaching past and future of black identity, expressed through soundscapes, video and spoken word. It countered historically imposed notions of femininity and masculinity. The poetry was as astounding as the dance. She be darker than her silhouette’s God’s home brew, ocean of soul hair full of Coltrane notes. The finale was performed to a remix of Bob Marley’s Exodus. This powerfully expressed piece was a narrative. They danced under a pyramid, through sparring movements into elegant kinetics exemplifying a hard fought and spiritual journey to the lyric, “wipe away transgressions” to “move,” fusing hand claps, deeply funky hip-hop and jazz dancing. Lengths’ Eddy Mooney, who described them as: “violently sexist.” As the alternative music scene developed in the early ‘80s, the Minutemen made records for SST (Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn’s Hermosabased label) and their own label, New Alliance. Their label also released records by the likes of the Descendants, Husker Du, Salvation Army and Peer Group. During these same years the Minutemen toured “econo” (economically), often in a rundown van that strained to go 55 mph. That and Sammy Hagar’s 1984 metal hit, “I Can’t Drive 55,” was the inspiration for the title of the San Pedro group’s 1984 breakout double album: Double Nickels on the Dime, from automotive talk for driving 55 mph exactly. It wasn’t a Hagar-sized hit but by the standards of the early alt-rock scene, it was a commercial breakthrough. It sold an initial run of 10,000 copies. It got national press, including in Rolling Stone and SPIN. It enabled the Minutemen to play bills with the Ramones and REM. But the national attention following Double Nickels was short-lived. Watt, the group’s bassist, summed it up, “We’re only a national band for 17 months. We were a band for six years.” As so often happens with rock ‘n’ roll, the end came prematurely with a tragedy. Boon and his fiancée took the touring van to visit her family for Christmas in Arizona. Late at night near Phoenix, the van’s axle broke, causing an accident and Boon’s death on Dec. 22, 1985. Ibarra’s book ends with Boon’s funeral. If San Pedro’s punks were like ships in the harbor, Boon provided a major point by which they navigated. After his death the survivors had to find new points, new navigation routes. A Wailing of a Town is published by End Fwy Press, and is available in paperback and e-book.
[New World, from p. 3]
The New World
For people of indigenous ancestry, Columbus not only symbolizes the colonization that came from this encounter but also the injustice that still reverberates in the generational hearts of Native Americans. After “discovering” the so-called “New World,” Columbus left 39 men there when he returned to Spain. They helped themselves to the local native women until Columbus returned with 1,200 more soldiers, who continued where the original 39 left off–raping, pillaging and torturing. The Spaniards found this (morally) easy to do because they considered the natives subhuman. The mistreatment of indigenous people during Columbus’ voyages is well-documented in letters from passengers and crew members. The correspondence describes how native people were captured and pressed to work in gold mines to the point of exhaustion. Those who resisted or refused were tortured or gruesomely murdered. Failure to produce at least a thimble of gold every three months was punishable. The violators’ hands were cut off and tied around their necks, then left to bleed to death. Some 10,000 indigenous persons died during this time. Columbus was significantly involved in setting up the slave trade that sold girls — as young as nine years old — for sex. Letters and diaries of soldiers under Columbus’s command document the standard practice of feeding their attack dogs the body parts of indigenous people. Even the tossing of living babies to the dogs was documented. If Columbus Day “is no longer about a man,” as Buscaino suggests, why not create a celebration about a people? Italian American heritage is something to be celebrated. Why equate Italian Americans with such a ruthless mercenary? In the 241 years since the birth of the United States and almost 525 years since Columbus reached the Caribbean islands, thousands of
Italians and Italian Americans have made their mark on American culture. Perhaps those Italian and Italian descendents would be of greater influence and relevance to ItalianAmerican heritage and pride. Buscaino said he believes that “recent news events highlight the need for racial and ethnic harmony.” In the days following his letter, James Alex Fields, Jr., an avowed white nationalist, drove his car into a crowd of Humans have lived in the Americas for over ten thousand years. When Columbus landed, it was a dynamic and diverse place anti-white-supremacy demon- with hundreds of languages and thousands of distinct cultures. strators. The protest and counter-protest, a demonstration comprised of accomplishments (a pool in South Los Angeles) I support his call for constituents to attend the white fascists and the Ku Klux Klan, followed the during his State of the District — has decided to Aug. 22 meeting, but in support of the proposal decision to take down the statue of Confederate use his energy to urge constituents to counter the to eliminate the celebration of a historical Gen. Robert E. Lee, who has become an icon of council’s progressive move, instead of focusing monster. Continuing to celebrate Columbus Day on authoring meaningful ordinances that would is misguided. Ignoring the realities of our history the far right. Thirty-two-year-old Heather Heyer was improve the quality of life for his district’s is lazy, insensitive and privileged, and the refusal to remove these references that no longer reflect residents. killed and several people were injured. I urge the councilman to rethink his stance. our values is problematic. What Christopher Columbus represents and what Gen. Robert E. Lee represents aren’t that far apart. Clearly, the Republican Party does Because life north of the pacific not think so. coast highways can If Buscaino truly believes in the importance of [Letters from p. 9] Dr. Milford Wyman Become overwhelming sometimes, teaching, “young people about the contributions The insurance industry Retired Cardiologist And I must come back and of all cultures,” then let’s start with a reality check has taken control of American Rancho Palos Verdes submerge myself into the sleepy and look at the man he wants to celebrate. The medicine. The need for “Medicare harbor, impacts of colonization and Columbus are still felt forAll” is undeniable. This program The blowing wind, the flag has been carefully described The Mermaid Returns pennants waving atop the masts. by natives across the two American continents. and shown to be economically to Pedro Indigenous people face mass incarceration, I come back to sit on the rocks and feasible by Physicians for a I go back to the harbor to watch the gulls poverty, land stripping, exploitation of natural National Health Program. This remember Soar, the current ripple, the palms resources, violence against women and children, organization has been in existence My beginnings, who I am. What sway, not failed education, housing issues, inadequate for over a decade. The single- I’m about Participate in anything health care, suicide, and culture and language payer system has been effectively To smell the scent of the ocean, to I talk to Him, the Creator of all, death, among other issues. in place in Canada for decades. It see the this is our most provides Canadians with excellent Calming blue, to feel the earthly It is easy for people of privilege to ignore Precious time of All — He knows affordable health care. The presence of what I need history and the suffering inflicted by centuries July 18th issue of the Harvard The Pacific a walking mermaid I The Harbor, my home, my place, of injustice, conveniently using fear about the Business Review by Dr. Sandra am … I my beginning, my peace, dissolution of a culture to maintain the status quo. Galea examines the problem and Escaped … was curious, emerged Hello Mr. Fisherman. It astounds me that a councilman — who believes the U.S. is ready for a and touched Rachel Gray-Smith was only able to give one instance of his single-payer health care system. the blacktop once. San Pedro
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VACATION RENTAL Big Bear cabin, 1 bdr/1 bath, sleeps 2, kitchen, laundry. $500/wk. (310) 534-2278.
Real Estate SERVICES Real Estate Investor seeks to purchase commercial or multi-unit residential properties in San Pedro. No Agents please. 310-241-6827
DBA FILINGS Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017196277 The following person is doing business as: Colonial Construction & Design, 1275 W. 11th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: David Peter Buxton, 1275 w. 11th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 01/01/2002. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. David Peter Buxton, owner. This
statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on July 25, 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. Effective 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: 08/03/2017, 08/17/2017, 08/31/2017, 09/14/2017
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017196276 The following person is doing business as: Purpose Wear, 1807 N. Anzac Ave., Compton, CA 90222. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Ricky D. Willis, 1807 N. Anzac Ave., Compton, CA 90222. This Business
[continued on p. 19]
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Across
1 Chicken ___ (Italian dish, informally) 5 TV logician 10 Blot 14 Hairy twin of the Bible 15 Fluorescent bulb gas 16 ___ cosa (Spanish “something else”) 17 French term for a temporary residence 19 Algerian setting for Camus’s “The Plague” 20 Did some pranking 22 One-named ‘50s-’60s teen idol 25 Shelley’s elegy for Keats 26 Castaway’s refuge, perhaps 27 Fix eggs, maybe 29 Running count 30 Cross-shaped Greek letter 31 Diva’s rendition 33 “___ Ho” (“Slumdog Millionaire” song) 34 Duo behind the CW series “Fool Us” 39 Giants giant Mel 40 Brand in the pet aisle 41 Bigwig 43 Handled 46 Tar clump 47 John who once co-hosted “Entertainment Tonight” 48 First Lady and diplomat Roosevelt 50 Got to the point? 52 With 56-Across, low-budget
programming source 55 “It seems to me,” online 56 See 52-Across 60 Has ___ with (is connected) 61 Without ___ in the world 62 Golden State sch. 63 Construction area 64 “Death of a Salesman” protagonist 65 Marshmallow Easter treat
Down
1 Rally feature 2 “___ told you before ...” 3 “Insecure” star Issa ___ 4 Kid’s dirty “dessert” 5 “Damn Yankees” villain, really 6 Gazelles, to cheetahs 7 Fairy tale baddie (unless it’s Shrek) 8 “Marat/Sade” character Charlotte 9 Work out some knots 10 Symbol of deadness 11 Like some fibrillation 12 Thymine (T) : DNA :: ___ (U) : RNA 13 Graffiti artist who opened (and closed) Dismaland in 2015 18 Words between “chicken” and “king” 21 Wrecks 22 Qualified 23 “The faster the better” 24 “Kind of ___” (classic Miles Davis album) 27 Stereotypical last word of art
films 28 “This American Life” medium 31 Sagrada Familia architect Gaudi 32 Splinter, for one 33 Leader of the Holograms, on Saturday morning TV 35 Like horror movie characters, as they eventually find out 36 Running account 37 Opening for Quest or glades 38 Shine’s partner? 42 Dissertation writer’s goal 43 Tintype tints 44 Homecoming attendees 45 Visit to an Internet page, informally 46 ___-Roman wrestling (var.) 47 Game show question that determines which team plays 49 Using half as many digits as hexadecimal 50 Most common throw with two dice (D6es, for those of you playing at home) 51 TV show that took in Ted Danson 53 Seafood in a shell 54 “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” star Michael 57 0—F phenomenon 58 Torero’s encouragement 59 Quick snooze ©2017 Jonesin’ Crosswords (editor@jonesincrosswords.com) For answers go to: www.randomlengthsnews.com
DBA FILINGS [from p. 18] is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: May 15, 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/. Ricky D. Willis, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on July 25, 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. Effective 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: 08/03/2017, 08/17/2017,
08/31/2017, 09/14/2017
08/17/2017, 08/31/2017,
135 310-519-1442 $
August 17 - 30, 2017
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017185752 The following person is doing business as: Peninsula Mortuary Transport Service, 1840 S. Gaffey St., #226, San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Joseph Voss, 1840 S. Gaffey St., #226, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare
Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017153521 The following person is doing business as: (1) Lost Harbor Tattoo, 950 N. Avalon Blvd., Wilmington, CA 90744, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Oscar Montez, 751 Gladys Ave., Apt. 3, Long Beach, CA 90804. Luciano Munoz, 1816 Cabrillo Ave., Unit A, Torrance, CA 90501. This Business is conducted by a general partnership. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Oscar Montes, partner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on June 14, 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
Original filing:
09/14/17, 09/28/17
It’s Easy! DBA Filing & Publishing
08/31/2017, 09/14/2017
08/31/2017, 09/14/2017
county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920 where it expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).
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Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2017189240 The following person is doing business as: NMB Boutique, 667 W. 23rd St, San Pedro, CA 90731. Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Evelyn Cook, 667 W. 23rd St, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: July 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/. Evelyn Cook, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on July 25, 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. Effective 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: 08/03/2017, 08/17/2017,
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/. Joseph Voss, owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on July 17, 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. Effective 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: 08/03/2017, 08/17/2017,
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