RLn 7-23-20

The Fight to Save American Livelihoods A look at the good, the bad in the Paycheck Protection Program

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

The Paycheck Protection Program was intended to be a lifeline for small businesses when it became clear that the COVID-19 pandemic had put jobs and the economy in clear and present danger. Part of the CARES Act coronavirus relief bill, PPP was supposed to help small businesses — those with fewer than 500 employees and relatively few financial resources — keep employees on their payroll. Congress passed the bill in record time, despite lingering questions about whether oversight would be strong enough to ensure that only small businesses get the billions of dollars in aid.

Several big corporations that signed up for the federally backed loans — low cost loans that could be potentially forgiven — returned the money, most [See Livelihoods, p.4]

Whoa!! Neighborhood councils pull reins on proposed SP development p. 3 New Carson budget focuses on maintaining services, employment p. 5

“

Violent instigators have hijacked peaceful protests and demonstrations.

— U.S. Attorney Nick Trutanich

Early on in the wave of Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd, Donald Trump, in a signature move, tried to shift blame onto a personal bogeyman.

“It’s ANTIFA and the Radical Left. Don’t lay the blame on others!” he tweeted on May 30. “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” he tweeted the next day.

It was just one of many conspiratorial narratives spread via Fox News and social media as public opinion changed dramatically, baffling Trump and his supporters alike.

Experts quickly refuted Trump, noting that Antifa

isn’t even an organization, but rather an organizing philosophy — militant anti-fascism — much less a foreign, international organization, which it would have to be for that designation to apply. What’s more, the story on the ground was precisely the opposite.

“Violent instigators have hijacked peaceful protests and demonstrations across the country, including Nevada, exploiting the real and legitimate outrage over Mr. Floyd’s death for their own radical agendas,” said U.S. Attorney Nick Trutanich, the son of former Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, on June 3, as he announced charges against three rightwing extremists.

[See Antifa, p. 8]

COVID-19 Deaths in US as of July 22, 2020: 142,677 • Confirmed Cases: 3,940, 592. For local numbers see p. 2

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Al fresco dining: San Pedro aims to build permanent outdoor dining p. 10

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

Planet of the Humans: Missteps overshadow the message p. 9

The Truth About Antifa Trump inadvertently outs himself

1

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Pride On the Port of Los Angeles

Join a special virtual event that will include videos from local politicians, Bride Cities Alliance board members and members of the community as well as two different hour-long DJ sets.

Register for this event and an email will be sent to you the day prior to the event with information.

Time: 6 to 9 p.m. July 25 Cost: Free Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/pride-on-the-portof-los-angeles-tickets

Free DACA Renewal

Join an interactive webinar that will guide you on how to complete your own Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals renewal forms. You will be provided with a one-on-one session after the workshop with an accredited representative to review your completed forms. RSVP. Details: https://tinyurl.com/DACA1WORKSHOP

DMV Driver License Extensions

The Department of Motor Vehicles is providing an automatic one-year extension to Californians age 70 and older with a noncommercial driver license with an expiration date between March 1 and December 31, 2020. Other license holders may also be eligible for extensions.

Details: www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/covid-19-reliefinformation

2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission Application Period Open

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County RegistrarRecorder/County Clerk or RR/CC Dean C. Logan announced the kick-off to the 2020 Citizens Redistricting Commission or CRC application period.

The commission is formed every 10 years following the federal census to adjust the county’s supervisorial districts, so each district is reasonably equal in population and geography.

The adjusting, or redrawing of boundaries is designed to ensure local legislatures are representative of the county’s population.

Any county resident who is a registered voter and meets the eligibility criteria is encouraged to apply online or by returning a paper application.

Details:.https://lavote.net/2020-citizensredistricting-commission/

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End the U.S. Blockade of Cuba— U.S. Out of Guantanamo

Pastors For Peace is inviting community members to attend a public (wear masks and practice social distancing) and online event.

The event will call for a local rally to demand the United States’ hands off Cuba, end the blockade and get the United States out of Guantanamo.

Time: 3 p.m. July 26 Details: 310-259-9441; https://ushandsoffcubacommittee.weebly. com, https://tinyurl.com/y7gq2wol Venue: Machinists Union Hall, 1261 Avalon Blvd., Wilmington

Low-Cost Internet Services and Computers Available

Long Beach residents now have access to low-cost Internet services, computers and digital literacy resources.

Check out ConnectedLB, a centralized online platform to connect to digital inclusion resources. Long Beach residents may qualify for low-cost Internet services and computers based on verification of income status and household participation in public benefit programs.

Details: everyoneon.org/longbeach

Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 40 Years

Casual Saves Longshoreman’s Life With CPR

By Melina Paris, Editorial Assistant

At about midnight July 8, Evelyn Cahue, a casual longshore worker, sat in her car at the Long Beach APL Terminal parking lot finishing her lunch break. Longshoreman Terry Bullock backed in next to her, exited his car and suddenly passed out, falling onto her driver’s side door and windshield. Cahue jumped out of her car immediately administering chest compressions to Bullock.

“I was sitting in my car … and got startled by someone falling onto my driver’s side window, [he] then slid down slowly, his face pressed against the window and I knew I had to do something fast,” Cahue said. “He’s a big guy so it was hard to open the door with him still on it. I pushed with all my strength and he fell to the ground between our cars. I yelled, ‘Are you OK?’” Cahue shook him and checked for a pulse and for breathing. Nothing. She checked again.

Nothing. She started compressions and yelled for help and for someone to call 911. Several longshoremen who were arriving back from their lunch break heard her and called 911 as she continued compressions.

“In less than two minutes Bullock moved his head and was disoriented but conscious,” Cahue said.

The 38-year-old Bullock was lucky. Cahue is also a certified respiratory therapist at the West Los Angeles Veteran’s Administration. Cahue said that at that moment he was dead, but as she kept “putting compressions” on him, Bullock came to life. Medical technicians soon arrived

Registered longshore worker Terry Bullock with rescuer, Evelyn Cahue, a casual longshore worker. Photo courtesy of Evelyn Cahue

and transported him to the hospital.

It’s a great story, Cahue said, because not only did Bullock survive but the casuals from Local 13 are usually looked at like “peons.” But a casual saved the life of a “Book Man” — the highest position. Bullock is a crane mechanic and on that night he was driving a top handler.

Bullock’s wife, Harmony, left a note on Cahue’s car when she returned to pick up his car. She wrote that her husband didn’t suffer any brain damage because Cahue immediately

started chest compressions.

Bullock said he felt weird that night. He went to visit his sister, who lives near Holy Trinity Church in San Pedro for his lunch break. As he drove back to work, he said he felt strange and “tingly.” His hands felt clammy. This happened to him before on two occasions, both times on an airplane. He knew the signs. He was able to control his physical reactions the second time by requesting ice from the flight attendant. Bullock [See Casual, p.3]

San Pedro NCs Oppose Planned Development

By Hunter Chase, Reporter

On July 13, the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council voted 9-2 to support the appeal of a four-story apartment complex at 1309-1331 S. Pacific Ave. in San Pedro. Board members Rock Ashfield and Bron D’Angelo voted against supporting the appeal.

In April, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission unanimously approved the development. Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council and Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council supported the appeal prior.

This past November, both NWSPNC and Central SPNC voted to support the project but suggested changes.

“In part, we were pleased that they were not asking for an exemption to parking requirements,” said Diana Nave, chairwoman of the NWSPNC’s Planning and Land Use Committee. “We also felt that this part of Pacific was a riskier area to develop than in some of the other projects we had reviewed.”

The development is 45-feet tall and is on the west side of Pacific Avenue, between 13th and 14th Street. The project will have 102 units — a dozen of them for very low-income tenants — and 127 parking spaces.

The appeal of the development deals primarily with the impact and interpretation of the state density bonus, Nave said.

“This is a law under which developers can get certain incentives and waivers in exchange [Casual, from p.2]

Casual

Pedro is in favor of a project at 1309-1331 S. Pacific Ave, but not one like this.

“Every day we learn of more corruption within our city and we must do all we can to not let it happen in San Pedro,” Rudisill said.

The density bonus law requires the floor-toarea ratio and height be on-menu items, Rudisill said. On-menu items are a relaxation of zoning requirements that can be earned by things like providing a certain amount of affordable housing, or being close to a major transit center.

“But when the project didn’t meet the requirements as on-menu items, the city allowed

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[See Development, p. 15]

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July 23 - August 5, 2020

for inclusion of a certain number of incomerestricted units,” she said.

NWSPC opposed the density bonus law before it passed because it would be disruptive to the community plan, she said.

The developer used the state density bonus ordinance to request several variances, i.e. a relaxing of restrictions.

Jonathan Lonner, a representative of Burns & Bouchard Inc. — the company that is representing RKD 13 PAC. LP, which owns the property — said that since the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approval in April, there have been no changes to the size or scope of the project. However, a community group called Citizens Protecting San Pedro appealed the commission’s decision.

NWSPNC’s resolution in support of the appeal points out that the project does not conform to the Local Community Plan, the Community Plan Implementation Ordinance, and the Pacific Corridor Redevelopment Plan. In addition, a letter that the NWSPNC approved to send to Councilman Joe Buscaino and the Los Angeles Planning Department contended that the formula used to calculate traffic impacts was inaccurate.

“You might hear this appeal is just a policy difference of opinion and that the city is doing what the state allows,” said Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council member Robin Rudisill, who also chairs her council’s Planning and Transportation Committee. “That is nonsense.

Those are just excuses. We’ve poured over both the state and the city regulations. This is not a policy issue. In this appeal, we’re talking about city planners who are making serious errors and abusing their discretion in approving this project.”

Citizens Protecting San Pedro had a lawyer look at the project and summarize the many ways the city violates its own law in approving it, Rudisill said.

“In the appeal, we show how the city violated their regulations,” Rudisill said. “But even looking at it big picture, it’s clear on its face that a 77% floor area ratio bonus and a 55% height bonus are too much to ask for them to provide just 12 affordable units.”

Rudisill said that if this is not done correctly, it will haunt the community on every project that follows.

“The city’s violating and abusing their own laws,” Rudisill said. “It’s not fair to us community members or the developers, for that matter.”

Rudisill said that Citizens Protecting San

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applied it to his neck and the episode passed.

However, that night by the time he reached the APL Terminal he felt dizzy and as though he was having hot flashes. He almost started hyperventilating. He parked next to Cahue and got out of the car to get fresh air. He said his legs felt like rubber and his equilibrium was off. The next thing he knew, he woke up on the ground with a bunch of people around him and he had no idea what happened in between.

Bullock fell to the ground landing on his shoulder, dislocating it and his head bounced off the asphalt. That’s where Cahue came in.

Bullock said he couldn’t understand why, the next day, he felt like someone had been jumping on his chest.

“To me, this woman is an angel,” Bullock said. “What were the odds of me just happening to park where I did, fainting right by her and her just basically saving my life? I owe her forever.”

Bullock noted that if he had pulled in facing the same direction as her, Cahue said she would have never seen him.

“I guess it wasn’t my time to go,” he said.

“I’ve still got some work to do. I’m just really grateful to be alive.”

Bullock and his wife have four young children. He is an alumnus of San Pedro High School, where he played football. He also volunteers as a coach at St. John Bosco High School in Bellflower and does college recruiting for the football players. Cahue said Bullock also wants to mentor her son who loves football.

Bullock will be following up with a cardiologist.

The proposed site of a San Pedro housing development at 1311-1321 Pacific Avenue.

the applicant to then move them off-menu,” Rudisill said.

“But that’s not allowed. And, that’s one of our main appeal points.”

What can be an onmenu item and what can be an off-menu item are very specific and they cannot be interchanged, Rudisill said.

Lonner said the appeal was factually incorrect in what the density bonus provisions allow, but he did not elaborate.

Instead, he thanked the NWSPNC for including him in the discussion, as the other neighborhood councils did not invite him or the company he represents to speak when they voted on the appeal.

“It’s an attempt by a couple people that don’t want a project in their neighborhood to happen in yours,” Lonner said.

There have been similar projects approved in San Pedro, and in the city and state, Lonner said.

NWSPNC Treasurer Melanie Labrecque said her family lives next to the development and that traffic there is very heavy. One of the intersections it intersects with, 13th Street and Pacific, is busy and there have been many accidents there, she said.

“To add 107 units like right there, it’s very

3

[Livelihoods, from p. 1]

POLA Moves 691,475 TEUs In June

SAN PEDRO — In June, the Port of Los Angeles moved 691,475 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs — a 9.6% decrease compared to June 2019.

Six months into 2020, overall cargo volumes have decreased by 17.1% compared to 2019.

June loaded imports decreased to 369,189 TEUs down 6.8% compared to a year ago. Loaded exports dropped 21.3% to 109,586 TEUs. Empty containers declined 7.2% to 212,701 TEUs. Details: https://youtu.be/P9kdzs15DaU

Cargo Declines At POLB In June

LONG BEACH — The COVID-19 pandemic continued to drive down demand for goods in the second quarter of 2020, leading shippers to cancel more sailings, which decreased the number of cargo containers that were moved through the Port of Long Beach in June.

Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 602,180 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, this past month, an 11.1% decline compared to June 2019. Imports shrank 9.3% to 300,714 TEUs and exports dropped 12.2% to 117,538 TEUs. Empty containers shipped overseas to Asia were down 13.1% to 183,928 TEUs. Economic uncertainty generated by reduced consumer spending and rising health concerns brought by the rebounding COVID-19 epidemic were illustrated by the shipping statistics that defined the first half of 2020, which showed cargo shipments at 3,433,035 TEUs, 6.9 % less than the same period last year.

The San Pedro Bay ports complex — Long Beach and Los Angeles combined — had 41 canceled sailings in the first half of 2019.

West Tower Crane Taken Down

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

LONG BEACH — The Bridge Project’s 600‑foothigh west tower crane was lowered to the ground July 10 as part of a weeklong removal process.

It was dismantled incrementally in 40-foot segments, and the jib (the horizontal arm at the top) was lowered little by little until it reached ground level where it will be disassembled.

Starting at the top, construction crews used a 40-foot-tall hydraulic strand-jack system that wrapped around the tower crane mast (vertical structure of the crane). After the mast was secured, crews began to unbolt the upper segment, moved it laterally, then lowered it to the ground. The climbing frame was then lowered to the next segment, and the process repeated 40 feet at a time.

Upon lowering the tower crane mast to each of the two ties (i.e., connector brackets that attached the towers for support), a secondary hydraulic crane at the deck level was used to disconnect and lower the tie to the deck, where it was disassembled and hauled away. Once the tower crane reached ground level, a crawler crane disassembled the jib, cabin and counterweights.

Details: www.newgdbridge.com,

July 23 - August 5, 2020

LBPD Anti-Looting Task Force Arrests 14 Suspects

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The Long Beach Police Department created a task force to prosecute suspects of looting on May 31, 2020. In a press release on July 16, the LBPD revealed the names and ages of 14 suspects, as well as the cities they reside in and the price of each suspect’s bail.

The task force includes detectives, officers and administrative staff. It reviews photo and video evidence from different sources, including surveillance systems, social media, news reporting and evidence submitted to the LBPD. The task force has obtained an additional 28 arrest warrants and has submitted an additional 15 cases for consideration of felony charges. The task force has impounded 12 vehicles and used six search warrants.

Saving American Livelihoods notably restaurant chains Shake Shack, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, and Potbelly. Investigative journalists with ProPublica found at least 15 large corporations receiving loans through their subsidiaries.

Less attention has been paid to the small businesses that received the loans and how they are fairing. In interviews with local business, Random Lengths News learned about the initial difficulty of the applications and the anxiety of small business owners over whether the other federal government stimulus efforts would sabotage their efforts to bring back laid off workers, particularly those earning more on unemployment than the wages they were previously earning.

President Donald Trump didn’t want to reveal who got the PPP loans, but 11 major American news organizations, including American City Business Journals, forced him to via lawsuit.

After weeks of legal challenges, on July 6 the U.S. Small Business Administration released a redacted slice of Paycheck Protection Program data that identifies major recipients as well as the jobs supported by the $659 billion program during the country’s initial economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic.

Though the July 6 data release provides the most-detailed data yet about the program, it falls short of the transparency sought by the news media lawsuit, which was initially filed May 12, in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Rather than identifying specific loan amounts, the data is bracketed in buckets ranging from $150,000 to $350,000; $350,000 to $1 million; $1 million to $2 million; $2 million to $5 million; and $5 million to $10 million.

What was unsurprising was the number and nature of the corporations that applied for the loans that exceeded $1 million in the Los Angeles Harbor Area, where a significant chunk of the applicants are tied to the twin ports goods movement industry. Another sizeable amount went to nonprofit organizations which include a large amount of charter schools.

In San Pedro, 11 companies received more than $1 million. Among them was former Harbor Commission President Nick Tonsich’s company Ocean Terminal Services, which received $5 to $10 million. Random Lengths News has reported that the company is embroiled in a civil suit.

Other businesses or corporations that received PPP loans in the millions include: Catalina Channel Express Inc.; Al Larson Boat Shop; San Pedro Fish Market LLC; Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor; Advent Resources Inc.; Port of Los Angeles High School; Jankovich Co.; Westwind Engineering Inc.; So Cal Ship Services Inc.; and Rolling Hills Preparatory School.

In Wilmington, 10 companies received more than $1 million: American Integrated Services Inc.; Patriot Environmental Services Inc.; Harbor Industrial Services Corp.; Tony Demaria Electric, Inc.; Konoike Transport Co. Ltd.; Innovative Terminal Services Inc.; Pac Anchor Transportation Inc.; Gssi Inc., Potential Industries Inc.; and American Soccer Co. Inc. In Carson, 27 companies received $1 million or more in Paycheck Protection loans. More than one hundred companies in Long Beach received $1 million.

According to the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., California’s share of the PPP loans was $68.2 billion or about 13 percent.

Researchers with LAEDC noted that regardless of the problems of the PPP, there was no doubt that the loans helped Californians to keep working and maintain their solvency of their households to prop up the economy. But now there is fear about what a renewed shutdown order would do to businesses in Los Angeles.

There has been a gradual increase in COVID-19 positivity rates since the reopening of businesses in Los Angeles County, leading to Gov. Gavin Newsom issuing new shutdown orders for dine-in restaurants, bars, malls, salons and barber shops. While there is discussion in Congress of doling out another round of stimulus

checks to tide Americans over, the Trump administration is looking to tie those monies to cuts in payroll taxes, which pays into Social Security. Also, the Republican Senate majority is preferring a stimulus with significantly less benefits. There’s still $120 billion left to make a few more PPP loans and there’s discussion about reopening the application process for that money. After July 31, when the extra $600 in federal weekly unemployment benefits ends, many Angelenos could find themselves under further lockdown orders and economically dark days ahead.

Different Names, Same Address How big businesses got government loans meant for small businesses

By Paul Kiel and Jack Gillum, ProPublica Contributors ProPublica found at least 15 large companies received more than half billion dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, known as PPP, using the same technique: Getting multiple loans sent to smaller entities they own.

The Paycheck Protection Program was launched to rescue the little guys, the millions of small businesses without the deep pockets needed to survive the Illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker, Propublica.

COVID-19 shock.

But among the restaurants, dentists and mom-and-pops was Vibra Healthcare, a chain of hospitals and therapy centers spread across 19 states with more than 9,000 employees. The biggest PPP loan was supposed to be $10 million, but Vibra found a way to land as much as $97 million.

Vibra boasts annual revenues of $1 billion, but when the company got in line to receive what is essentially free government money (the loans are forgivable), it made itself seem small. From Vibra’s corporate address in Pennsylvania, 26 limited liability companies received PPP loans, 23 of them from the same bank, with almost all the loan approvals coming on the same day in April.

ProPublica found several other large businesses employing the same apparent strategy — counting each of their limited liability companies or other entities as a separate business. In Las Vegas, a casino operator backed by hedge funds got 20 loans. Two nursing home chains received tens of millions of dollars; one chain in Illinois got loans for 51 different entities, while another based in Georgia got 19. Together, ProPublica was able to identify up to $516 million that flowed to just 15 organizations.

ProPublica’s findings bring into sharper focus on how companies with thousands of employees were able to get assistance, just as some small businesses were reluctant to even apply. So

[See Names, p. 5]

Budget Focuses on Maintaining Community Service, Employment

By Joseph Baroud, Reporter

Carson’s Finance Department is not allowing COVID-19 to hinder its budget process.

City Manager Sharon Landers, who works with the finance office to formulate, format and present the budget, cited organization as the key to the efficiency of Carson’s budget process.

“You want to adopt a budget on time so you can keep your finances on track,” Landers said.

“The longer it takes beyond the fiscal year to adopt a budget, the bigger your gap can become and the deeper the cuts you might need to address it.”

Creating this year’s $86.9 million budget required a different mindset than usual because of the conditions COVID-19 created. Council members and city staff had to consider an estimated $2 million loss in sales tax revenue, an estimated $2.3 million loss in license and permit tax revenue, close to $1 million in franchise tax revenue and thousands from various community service programs, then recalculate expenses accordingly.

Cuts came from throughout the budget — enough to make up for the losses and leave $20 million in reserves for future spending decisions.

“We were able to reduce our expenses very strategically by around $10 million,” Landers said. “The biggest single savings was a reduction in our pension liability costs for this single year by almost $6 million by issuing a pension obligation bond. The next two large reductions

the pandemic.

“The amount budgeted to public works enables that department to maintain its current level of operations with no cuts in service,” Landers said. “The budget for community development is to a great extent an indication of the projected level of development we are expecting to occur.”

The city council was estimating its fund balance to be $43 million before the virus hit. It is reducing its fund by $10 million even though the projected revenue loss is only $5 million. The biggest revenue losses are projected to come from licenses and permits — a combined $2.3 million loss. The city isn’t projecting a loss in property [See Carson, p. 16]

of just over $2 million each are for non-personnel operations expenses and maintaining a vacancy rate of 6 percent. Our current vacancy rate from staff attrition is 12 percent.”

The city focused on ensuring that a lot of its employees kept their jobs and the city continued rendering services to its constituents. It also implemented good budget management tools.

The council’s decision to move forward with the pension obligation bond saved $6 million for the upcoming fiscal year, which makes up for some of the losses from one of the nation’s worst economic statuses.

“This smart initiative, along with precision belt tightening has enabled us to balance the budget, maintaining our current levels of service to the community and with no staff layoffs,” Landers said. “I’m very proud that we were able to adopt a budget that maintains the same levels of services and doesn’t lay off any of our employees.”

The city spends almost 48 percent of its budget on employee salaries. Thirty-two percent of that is used to pay city employees in the public works department and 29 percent of it to the community services department. With the cuts in community services during the stay-at-home and social distancing orders and closures of various city entities and locations, they focused on keeping their staff fully employed throughout

[Names, p. 4]

Different Names

July 23 - August 5, 2020

[See Scams, p. 15]

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far, the PPP has paid out more than $517 billion to 4.9 million companies — loans that can be forgiven if used to cover payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities. It was among the most generous of programs for businesses in the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, known as the CARES Act. Loan programs for medium and large businesses spelled out in the bill generally were not forgivable.

Appraisals of the PPP by economists and policymakers have been mixed; while the program did inject hundreds of billions into the economy, it did not do so efficiently, often sending aid where it was less needed, and going through banks meant well-connected businesses had a far easier time getting their share.

Amanda Fischer, policy director of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, said there should have been enough money available to help every company quickly — even those with large payrolls.

“But if we’re not going to do that, I do understand concerns about businesses that don’t technically comply and it’s not a good look,” Fisher said. “It’s Congress’ fault. We should have helped everyone, or targeted the neediest businesses instead.”

The Small Business Administration generally defines small businesses as those with 500 employees or fewer. Congress carved an exception into the CARES Act for restaurants and hotels, allowing them to count each location as its own business, but after large restaurant chains like Shake Shack disclosed they’d taken PPP loans, the Treasury Department responded to the uproar by changing the rules to set $20 million as the maximum any one corporate group could accept. Businesses that had taken more, the government said, had to give the money back.

The chains we identified were not restaurants or hotels, but experts told ProPublica that, without knowing all the details of an entity’s control, it is difficult to say definitively whether a company had broken the program’s rules.

Fifty-one separate limited liability companies or other business entities tie back to Petersen Health Care, headquartered in Peoria, Ill., which runs nursing homes and other health facilities in the region. The loans would secure at least 6,200 jobs, records show, which would total more than $52 million if the chain got the maximum amount of funding. (When the SBA released information about PPP recipients last week, it only provided ranges for the amount of each loan.)

At least 30 of those entities are nursing homes or care facilities in Illinois, according to state business documents and data from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

More than a third were given Medicare’s lowest 1-star rating, which the government considers “much below average” when examining health inspections, staffing and other quality measures.

The loans would support about 1,900 jobs among those facilities.

The firm and its owner, Mark Petersen, did not respond to phone messages and emails seeking comment. A person who answered Petersen’s main number last week transferred ProPublica to the company’s legal department, which did not return a voicemail seeking comment.

5

Good Trouble & Bad Capt. Ahab confronted by naked white Athena in Portland retreats

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

“I want to see young people in America feel the spirit of the 1960s and find a way to get in the way. To find a way to get in trouble. Good trouble, necessary trouble.”

—Rep. John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020)

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

I’m often stopped on the street by people wanting to know what’s going on in town and I invariably hand them a copy of this newspaper and tell them to get off of social media and read something. Almost as frequently they end with a salutation of, “Stay out of trouble.”

To which I reply, “What fun would that be?” Meaning the same kind of “good trouble” our hero John Lewis was talking about.

Lewis was arrested more than 40 times during the 1960s for his civil rights work. His heroism is reminiscent of a former resident of San Pedro, union organizer Pat Chambers, who held the distinction of getting arrested 80 times in one month during the 1933 cotton strikes in the San Joaquin Valley. Noted historian Kenneth Starr documented this struggle in histories of California, called Americans and the California Dream.

So there’s good trouble and bad. But what we are seeing across America today is a new generation of activists engaging in good trouble!

And I admire their tenacity in the fight against injustice and mostly non-violent protests in the interest of causing good trouble.

Sure, there’re a few extremists in every crowd but not like there was during the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War days, but then much of that was caused by instigators who were paid to infiltrate leftist groups and start the bad trouble to discredit the movement.

This shouldn’t be dismissed as a possibility in today’s troubles. Caution is advised in the reporting on all of this as it becomes clear that the man who is running to remain president has been known to lie, cheat and otherwise abuse his power of his office to keep everything confused. Truth is a rare commodity these days.

So for these past months, like many of you, I’ve been trying to find a precedent for the times we are living in. And I first thought that Donald Trump is most like Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus; the third emperor of Rome. In the first six months of his rule he was described by historians as a noble and moderate ruler.

Today he is only remembered for his

cruelty, sadism, extravagance and sexual perversions — an insane tyrant. Historians have described Caligula as working to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the state –– sounds like a close match but I’m not sure.

Sometimes I even think that what we are witnessing is some perverted version of Shakespeare’s King Lear. Though it seems apparent that Trump is starting to lose his grip on “his kingdom” and his own mind, it is doubtful he would ever step down and bequeath his reign to his daughter.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Trump’s rule is an American saga that mirrors Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The protagonist Captain Ahab, not unlike Trump, is obsessed with a monster that has injured him and he sets off to get even with the great white leviathan, Moby Dick. Now most of this tale is about hunting whales and yet the truth is it’s about a deeply flawed man doing battle with nature or God and himself. He is willing to sacrifice his crew, his ship and ultimately himself to kill the very beast that has done him wrong. In the end he accomplishes it all. And he leaves just one lone survivor floating on a wooden coffin to be rescued. It’s a powerful metaphor.

Is Trump’s great white whale American racism or is it the very republic that he so erratically criticizes even while commanding it chaotically? And is he willing to wreck the ship of state to attain these very same ends out of some invisible vengeance? Perhaps his niece’s book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man will reveal more of his psychosis. All I can tell you is that he — with all his cruelty, lies, extravagance and sexual perversions — was confronted this week. Trump’s assembled hodgepodge of federal law enforcement officers in Portland, Ore., were confronted not by a great white whale on July 17 as they defended the federal courthouse against Black Lives Matter protests, but by the singular image of a completely naked (except for a mask) white female.

And as reported in the Willamette Week she danced, posed and then sat down with legs

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston Allen james@randomlengthsnews.com

6

Assoc. Publisher/Production Coordinator Suzanne Matsumiya

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

—Mark Twain Vol. XLI : No. 15

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

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spread as the federal agents continued firing rounds of tear gas and rubber bullets — missing her. And then they simply stopped and retreated.

These well-armed officers just weren’t up to shooting, nor arresting, a naked white woman.

No one knows her name for sure but she has been dubbed “Athena” by social media. In Greek mythology Athena’s strengths are rational, intelligent, a powerful defender in war but also a potent peacemaker.

To some this conjures up the iconic picture of a lone Chinese man standing down a tank at the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989. A singular act of courage against the odds.

The following day, dozens of mothers wearing white and helmets attended. They stood arm-in-arm with each other, forming a barrier

between federal agents and demonstrators. The gathering came after a report that unidentified federal officers from unknown agencies have been driving around and renditioning suspects off the streets like we’ve seen in the past in Pinchot’s dictatorship in Chile. The groups of mothers are called the “Wall of Moms.”

They along with the naked Athena and others have gotten into some good trouble as Captain Ahab DJT steers the Pequod ship of state ever closer to the brink of disaster and into bad trouble for the nation.

On second thought perhaps Trump is also his own manifestation of Moby Dick himself and what we are witnessing is his delusional battle with his own demons –– on this point I defer to his psychologist niece Mary Trump.

An Ultimate Meaning of the Bernie 2020 Campaign:

“Not Him. Us.”

By Norman Solomon “Eugene V. Debs is Bernie Sanders’ political hero,” The Washington Post reported in early 2016, while the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination was raging, with evident distaste. “A picture of the socialist union organizer hung in city hall when he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont. A plaque honoring Debs is now by the window in Sanders’ Senate office.”

Now, as Bernie’s latest presidential campaign fades into history, it’s appropriate to consider this statement from Eugene Debs, whose dedication to the working class was matched by his eloquence and courage: “I do not want you to follow me or anyone

else; if you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of this capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into the promised land if I could, because if I led you in, someone else would lead you out.”

Millions of Americans, inspired and energized by the Bernie 2020 campaign, certainly do not want to stay right where they are, in the midst of the capitalist wilderness surrounding us — menacing and deadly with the climate emergency, the unchecked pandemic, vast income inequality, structural racism and so many other terrible ills.

[See Campaign, p. 7]

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RANDOMLetters Parents Need Teaching Materials

It’s nice to have a set course and now that we accept it we can begin making better plans.

Let’s face it, computers are not the only answer. Never in the 30-plus years working in the classroom have teachers not had an array of teaching materials on hand.

They have books, worksheets, [Campaign, from p. 6]

Campaign

subsequent primaries.

Those of us who regret some of Bernie’s tactical decisions during the past three months would do well to recall Eugene Debs’ words about why he was not seeking to “lead you into the promised land.” And now, Bernie Sanders’ campaign slogan is more to the point than ever: “Not me. Us.” Both of the Sanders’ presidential campaigns were historic breakthroughs for challenging the moral rot of oligarchy in the United States and for pushing real class analysis into mainstream

discourse. The campaigns grew out of — and, crucially, helped grow — grassroots movements fighting to transform institutions that are structurally racist, sexist, militaristic and environmentally destructive that serve corporate power and wealthy elites.

The future is up to us.

Community Alert

preceded by a virtual open house from 4 to 6 p.m. Two weeks prior to the public meeting, a notice with details on how to access the online meeting and teleconference will be made available on the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov.

Located southwest of Anaheim Street and the 710 Freeway, the Pier B on-dock Rail Support Facility would shift more cargo to “on-dock rail,” which places containers directly on trains at marine terminals.

Currently, the ability to build long trains is limited.

Phase 1 rail work is slated to begin at the start of 2022 and be completed in 2024, doubling the capacity of the existing Pier B rail yard. Street realignments and other component projects will continue to improve operations as they are finished. The project is scheduled for full completion in 2032.

Draft Environmental Study Released On Rail Facility

LONG BEACH — The U.S. Maritime Administration has released a draft study on environmental impacts of the Pier B on-dock Rail Support Facility, a Port of Long Beach project.

Port officials initiated the process for a draft environmental impact study, or draft EIS, to make the project eligible for federal grant funding. The notice of availability for the draft EIS is available on the Federal Register and at www.polb. com/ceqa. The public has 45 days to submit comments on the Draft EIS before the close of the comment period on Monday, Aug. 24, at www. regulations.gov.

An online public meeting and teleconference will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. July 28,

teachers a way to evaluate and assess areas of need. Do a driveup-pass-out approach. As a matter of fact, let’s throw in incentives for completed work, like vouchers for learning supplies that children and or parents can use to enhance

the teaching experience. Pay for a virtual museum tour, art supplies and music lessons or buy high interest publications like Kids National Geographic and others.

We can get highly creative when we collaborate knowing

and accepting the course ahead and start planning today. Call to action. Call the district!

Carol Holton San Pedro

Norman Solomon is cofounder and national director of RootsAction.org. He is a Bernie Sanders delegate from California to the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Solomon is the author of a dozen books including War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.

Details: https://youtu.be/ BbkRfZlXuCI

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

There’s no Moses in sight, nor should there be.

To say that Bernie’s role in progressive movements will diminish in the months and years ahead is to take nothing away from his profound importance in the past and present.

During a PBS NewsHour interview a couple of nights ago, he was as cogent and strategic as ever, emphasizing that to defeat Donald Trump “there has to be energy and excitement among younger people, among working-class people, among people who very often do not vote.”

Overall, Bernie Sanders continues to be the preeminent and most effective progressive voice in the country. And yet, the pathbreaking brilliance of his 2020 campaign has been followed by confusing and somewhat dispiriting choices that he has made since announcing the “suspension” of his campaign on April 8.

The last hundred days have been marred by a backtrack on his pledge that day to “continue working to assemble as many delegates as possible at the Democratic convention, where we will be able to exert significant influence over the party platform and other functions.”

Actually, Bernie and his campaign did almost nothing to gain further delegates in

supplemental workbooks and teacher’s guides, offering handson activity ideas to fill in the gaps.

Computers were and still should be just one tool in the toolbox. We are setting ourselves and our kids up for frustration and failure if we do not give our parents and children 100% of what they had and need to really get them learning. The school district can bring teachers back to campus

or alternate working at home to assemble and provide these materials our tax paying dollars have already gone towards.

Our teachers know their kids and can maintain meaningful engagement with their students by issuing out grade level books, individualized lesson plans and hands-on materials to allow necessary reading and writing skills to continue.

Physically completing an assignment gives both parents, students and most importantly the

July 23 - August 5, 2020

7

author Nancy Rosenblum told me, “offers an opportunity for people to assent” not “to a theory, an explanation of something,” but “to the aggressiveness and the targetedness of the conspiracists’ claim.”

Because there’s no specific content at the heart of Trump’s Antifa conspiracy fantasy, it’s impervious to factual refutation. And it serves as a perfect cover story for his own authoritarian scheming. At the same time he tweeted his Antifa accusation, he pushed farther, tweeting out a threat: “Crossing State lines to incite violence is a FEDERAL CRIME! Liberal Governors and Mayors must get MUCH tougher or the Federal Government will step in and do what has to be done, and that includes using the unlimited power of our Military and many arrests. Thank you!”

[Antifa, from p. 1]

Antifa

“Law enforcement is focused on keeping violence and destruction from interfering with free public expression and threatening lives.”

The arrests came from the Joint Terrorism Task Force involving the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Clark County District Attorney’s Office and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. A press release identified the three men as “alleged members of the ‘Boogaloo’ movement — a term used by extremists to signify a coming civil war and/or collapse of society.”

More precisely, most “Boogaloo Bois,” as they call themselves, look forward to a racial civil war — the exact opposite of the historic shift in public consciousness shown by demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police.

The arrests had been made on May 30, the same day as Trump’s baseless tweet. But the pairing of Trump’s conspiratorial Antifa fantasy and the cold hard facts of Boogaloo terrorism was hardly an isolated occurrence. Trump’s fantasy was allencompassing, while the facts were all against him — despite a flood of false rumors about mythical busloads of bloodthirsty Antifa protesters out to pillage lily-white communities from Curry County, Ore., just north of California on the Pacific Coast, to Sparta, Ill., “where they will be directed to target rural white Americans by burning farm houses and killing livestock,” according to Mike Adams from NaturalNews.com and other equally preposterous targets.

Rightwing Terrorist Threat is Real

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

On June 16, the Department of Justice

8

Thanks, indeed for threatening to violate the 1877 Posse Comitatus Act, by using the

Nevada U.S. Attorney Nicholas Tonsich

announced two more Boogaloo arrests for the May 29 murder of Pat Underwood, who was guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland. Another officer was wounded in that attack, and a Santa Cruz County Deputy Sheriff was killed apprehending one of the suspects a week later.

Then on June 23, San Antonio Fox affiliate KABB announced the June 8 Drug Enforcement Administration’s arrest of a “Boogaloo Bois” body-builder for steroid trafficking, with further charges possible. Another “Boogaloo Bois” body-builder had been arrested two months earlier, on April 11, in a different part of Texas, after he reportedly used Facebook Live to show himself attempting to murder police.

But none of this was surprising to the consortium of 17 spy agencies collectively known as the U.S. Intelligence Community, according to a Department of Homeland Security report secretly published on June 1, and leaked to The Nation magazine six weeks later. It bluntly began: “The Intelligence Community reports that Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs) who support ‘Boogaloo’ could exploit the current political and social environments to conduct attacks in the United States, and pose a potential threat to law enforcement.”

But the “Boogaloo Bois” are simply the latest variation on a much older theme.

Armed Boogaloo Bois in signature Hawaiian shirts. Photo by Anthony In mid-June, the Center Crider. for Strategic & International Studies issued a report stating that “right-wing military as domestic police. It’s arguably the attacks and plots accounted for the majority of all favorite federal statute of Trump’s hard right terrorist incidents in the United States since 1994. white supremacist supporters, since it put an In particular, they made up a large percentage of end to the use of U.S. Army troops to protect incidents in the 1990s and 2010s,” and that “the against racist terror in the South. But since total number of right-wing attacks and plots has the threatened violation was aimed at their common enemy — the militant anti-fascists of grown substantially during the past six years.”

Specifically, they perpetrated two-thirds of Antifa — there was barely a whisper of dissent. the terrorist attacks and plots in 2019, and over 90 percent of them between January 1 and May Trump’s Jack-Booted Thugs Six weeks later, on the streets of Portland, 8, 2020. we saw what Trump had in mind: an Similar figures came from the Anti-Defamation unidentified secret police force, kidnapping League’s annual Murder and Extremism report, citizens at will, like a Latin American released in February, which found that 38 of the dictatorship during the Nixon or Reagan 42 extremist-related murders in the United States administrations. in 2019 were committed by right-wing ideologues, In justification Acting DHS Secretary including white supremacists. They also accounted Chad Wolf issued a July 16 press release for “330 deaths over the course of the last decade,” condemning “The Rampant Long-Lasting 76 percent of the total due to domestic extremistViolence In Portland,” repeatedly blaming related murder. “violent anarchists” without any evidence of who they actually were, for a long list of The New Conspiracism But Trump’s style of minimalist conspiracist grievances, including 20 incidents of sprayassertion is ideally suited to disregarding painting graffiti and 13 of setting off fireworks.

A unified chorus of state and local officials facts. It typifies what’s described as the “new conspiracism” in the 2019 book, A Lot of People — including U.S. senators — condemned the Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault actions.

“Authoritarian governments, not on Democracy, whose authors I interviewed for Salon last year. This “new conspiracism,” co-

[See Antifa, p. 12]

A Deep Dive Into

Planet Of The Humans

F

By Melina Paris, Editorial Assistant

ilmmaker Michael Moore executive produced the 2019 film, Planet of the Humans. Moore released the film on Youtube for free, so that everyone could see it. Planet of the Humans is intended to cause alarm and destroy sacred cows in the fight against climate change and the broader environmentalist movement.

Jeff Gibbs, a self-described tree hugger and early environmentalist, takes a fire axe to the belief that a profit motive and capitalism are needed to stop climate change and environmental degradation.

The former journalist lived off the grid in a cabin in Michigan, where he wired solar panels and heated the cabin by burning wood instead of contributing to the use of fossil fuels for his energy. He wrote for Mother Earth News, covering protests about mountaintop removal for coal. He also documented the ecosystem collapse and species extinction.

Indeed, Planet of the Humans concludes that no matter how many green energy options humans create, the problem of resource depletion will never be solved without reducing consumption. The film also posits that renewable energy sources, including biomass energy, wind power and solar energy, are not as renewable as they are portrayed to be. And it seems Gibbs’ “sin” is that he does not provide any plan or solution for this extreme issue. More on that later.

The film has been panned by critics for presenting outdated information and not providing dates on events Gibbs claims are important.

That’s not to say Gibbs doesn’t ask valid questions. He does.

Gibbs indicts the whole environmental movement from the Sierra Club to 350. org and its founder, Bill McKibbon.

Gibbs tears down Vice President Al “Inconvenient Truth” Gore and Virgin Atlantic airline owner, Sir Richard Branson. Gibbs argues that the that the parts of the environmental movement that chose to get into bed with Wall Street and so-called “green capitalists” are complicit in the stagnation of the movement to reduce the carbon footprint of humans on the earth Gibbs illustrated this through CNN’s reporting that

[See Planet, p. 10]

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

Gore encouraged Branson to invest in green energy. Branson then pledged future profits from his airline to the tune of $3 billion to fight global warming. This sounded like a great thing, then Gibbs reinforced his point in a cringeworthy scene. Gore and Branson are interviewed in a clip where the interviewer asks Branson, “Is Al Gore a prophet?” Banson responds, “How do you spell prophet?” to remarkably boisterous laughs from the three.

Gibbs argues that the green energy being pushed forward isn’t what it seemed. Through interviews with biofuels, wind and solar energy proponents, Gibbs shines a light on the disconnect between the ideas the movement’s leaders have promoted and the reality of abandoned and dilapidated solar and wind farms. This is contrasted with Gibbs’ interviews of attendees at what appears to be green energy conventions, seemingly — though it’s not indicated — discussing how wind and solar provide only intermittent energy and must be supplemented by coal power or how adding storage to the grid increases the carbon footprint.

Someone Gibbs consulted often in Planet of the Humans is Ozzie Zehner, author of Green Illusions and visiting scholar at Berkeley and Northwestern University. Zehner asserted green energy isn’t replacing coal. He believed in solar and wind energy once but now says it’s an illusion that technologies like solar and wind are different from fossil fuels. He explained, to sustain the world’s largest solar plant, Ivanpah Solar Array in the Mojave Desert, in which the mirrors were built by a company that the Koch brothers control, the facility had to burn natural gas almost daily in order to start up. The plant had to file for permits for acid rain, nitrous oxide emissions and carbon offsets. The plant was built using fossil fuel infrastructure.

Given no timeline there’s no way to tell if these claims are still accurate. But Gibbs interviews multiple people who discuss how solar is ultimately connected to the fossil fuel grid.

The second half of Planet focuses on biofuels and mass deforestation. Scenes showed massive logging operations that left land barren and indigenous people in the Amazon uprooted from their communities after their homes were burned to the ground. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019, annulled a 10-year-old regulation that had banned the expansion of sugar-cane planted in the Amazon in favor of producing non-food crops for corn ethanol, which has created an even larger carbon footprint.

Planet shows the biomass movement is also supported by the Sierra Club and colleges like Middlebury College in Vermont, where they have a biomass gasification system. Biomass plants highlighted in green saturate a United States map in what appears to be thousands of plants. Further, the United States exports biomass to Europe, where they also import from Brazil, Indonesia and British Columbia.

“Biomass, especially when you add in biofuels, is by far the largest portion of green energy around the world,” Gibbs said.

Meanwhile, Gibbs spoke to protesters against fossil fuels at rallies who objected to the use of biofuels.

The other issue raised in the film received

July 23 - August 5, 2020

9

T

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

he San Pedro Property Owners Alliance, commonly referred to as the PBID, is now set to start constructing “parklet” dining platforms to compliment the newly opened sidewalk dining in the San Pedro Arts District, after Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino initially closed the streets for outside dining this past month.

This comes after many delays and some false starts that saw a temporary platform built in front of Campagnon Wine Bistro on 7th Street earlier. Now, starting on July 23, 15 restaurants have been approved to participate in this plan that is like many across the Los Angeles region to help restaurants remain viable during the pandemic.

As indoor dining has been canceled by government officials the only option for the local eateries is to create some kind of outside dining experience. The PBID is stepping in to provide support for this long held aspiration of the local restaurant industry. In fact one owner said that, “the PBID is offering up to $9,000 in forgivable loans to any restaurant that participates and keeps open until September.”

This was confirmed by the PBID office this week, which explained that there were some “complications due to the COVID-19” but that they were starting construction soon.

The PBID went to all 15 participating restaurants and told them it had the authority to offer forgivable loans up to $9,000 and also had the authority to proceed with a standard design (very cost effective) for a parklets handrail with a cover around the k-rail and platform flushed with the sidewalk.

Choura Events signed a proposed contract

10

Community Waited Long for Al Fresco Dining

By James Preston Allen, Publisher and Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Diners at Compagnon Wine Bistro on 7th Street enjoyed their meals al fresco on the first weekend after installation of k-rails in downtown San Pedro. Platforms will be installed to help provide level ground on sloping streets. Photo by Guillaume Zuili.

beginning of summer “not the middle of it.”

Yet, for some like James Brown of the San Pedro Brewing Co. this is his best shot at staying open under trying circumstances. Brown has contracted to take some 60 feet of street parking for this project that may get him close to 50% of his normal seating capacity, others much less so.

Outside or sidewalk dining has been a long term goal dating back at least two decades in San Pedro with its inclusion in the vision for the San Pedro Arts and Culture District, if not before.

With so many people living here from all over the world where sidewalk dining is the norm not the exception one would have thought that this would have been accomplished years ago.

Yet, perhaps one of the side effects of this pandemic is Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti using his emergency executive powers to lift city regulations. Like the homeless crisis perhaps it takes a crisis to solve long standing problems. It remains to be seen whether either the homeless shelter and outdoor dining will succeed but for now it’s a start.

Tim McOsker, co-chair of the PBID’s economic recovery committee, explained that the agreement the PBID signed with the city stipulates that all outdoor dining will adhere strictly to city COVID-19 guidelines. What the

with the PBID with the participating restaurants as third-party beneficiaries. The PBID would make the initial payment on the loan with each restaurant paying a little over $1,000.

Choura Events is acquiring all of the materials and will begin staging the equipment

on July 22. The contractor was certified by the PBID on July 12. The PBID hopes to have the Al Fresco dining complete by July 29.

Until now, restaurateurs have had to improvise and/or turn outside patio spaces into full service dining while waiting for the city and PBID to act. Some complained that this plan should have already been in place at the

PBID is aiming to do is make permanent the Al Fresco dining infrastructure and their permits for the foreseeable future.

“We cannot predict what will happen in the future,” McOsker said. “So we thought the best investment would be to build these platforms that are designed to comply with city standards and be permitted permanently.”

[Planet, from p. 4]

College, Sheldon Solomon. Gibbs presented an analogy saying, the right has religion and believes in infinite fossil fuels. The left has green energy, solar and wind, a religion in itself.

“Could it be our denial of death?” Gibbs asked. “Could it be that we can’t face our own mortality? Could we have a religion that we are unaware of?”

This led to Gibbs’ epiphany.

“If we do not come to grips with our own death and are presented with a reminder of that [climate change], we are likely to make some tragic solutions for the community,” he said.

This could be the essential reason why Gibbs made this film with no convenient solutions to offer.

“There’s only one solution,” Solomon responded. “As [philosopher, author and journalist], Albert Camus said, ‘There’s only one liberty, to come to terms with death, thereafter, anything is possible.’”

Left with this explanation, Gibbs calls on humans to live more with less. The necessary explanation or solution before ourselves is it’s up to the human race to discover and teach one another how to survive on less consumption on a grand scale in order to realize freedom from the existential threat that we created.

Planet

only brief focus — population growth. Gibbs asserted each climate change expert he spoke to cited this issue, however, no real discussion occurred past the mention of it. Faced with how to cope with this problem — since we’re already here — it seems logical to do more with less.

This point is worthy of more examination on a large scale.

In regards to the previously mentioned “sin”of presenting no solution, Gibbs offered his take on the problems humanity faces.

“It took humans tens of thousands of years to reach a population of 700 million,” Gibbs said. “When humans tapped into millions of years of stored energy [fossil fuels], our population exploded … our energy consumption exploded too, on average 10 times per person and many times more in the western world. Put the two together, the total human impact is 100 times greater than 200 years ago.

“We humans are poised for a fall from an unimaginable height not because of one thing, not because of climate change but because of all the human-caused changes the planet is suffering from.”

From here, Gibbs’ examined humanity’s problem with coming to terms with death.

He spoke to social psychologist at Skidmore

Details: www.youtube.com/planet-of-thehumans

Palos Verdes Art Center

Studio Gallery 345

THE SUMMER SHOW

Pat Woolley, Tetons

In an abundance of caution, Studio 345, which shows the works of Pat Woolley and Gloria D. Lee will be closed for First Thursdays until further notice. 345 W. 7th St., San Pedro.

The Summer Show is a virtual exhibition featuring works by PVAC members associated with its eight artists groups: Artists Open Group, Pacific Arts Group, Paletters, Palos Verdes Painters, Peninsula Artists, Photographic and Digital Artists, The Artists’ Studio, and Third Dimension. Nina Zak Laddon, co-founder of the Redondo Beach Art Group and originator of the Power of Art exhibition, is this year’s juror.

“This is a unique time to create and to jury an exhibition. PVAC artists have submitted works reacting to the turmoil of our new reality,” Zak Laddon said. “They have returned to beloved landscapes and found solace in their studios while in quarantine. The artworks I reviewed are full of emotion, beauty and each one reveals a story either personal or universal. … Artists are entrusted to continue to create, provide a dialogue and lead us to a more just world.”

Details: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes, (310) 541-2479, www.pvartcenter.org/the-summershow-2020/

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

Take a vir tual tour of Pat Woolley’s work at www. randomlengthsnews.com/art/first-thursday

Adolfo Girala, Serenity, mixed media on canvas

July 23 - August 5, 2020

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[Antifa, p. 8]

Antifa

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

democratic republics, send unmarked authorities after protesters,” Oregon U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley tweeted that same day. “These Trump/Barr tactics designed to eliminate any accountability are absolutely unacceptable in America, and must end.”

“As best as I can tell, this is an effort — a last gasp effort — by a failed president with sagging polling data, who’s trying to look strong for his base,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler told NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro on July 19. “He’s actually using the federal police function in support of his candidacy.”

“We don’t have a secret police in this country.

This is not a dictatorship,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown told NPR on July 19. “Trump needs to get his officers off the streets.”

Rather than listening to others, Trump played misunderstood.

“We are trying to help Portland, not hurt it,” he tweeted that same day. “Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators. They are missing in action. We must protect Federal property, AND OUR PEOPLE. These were not merely protesters, these are the real deal!”

But again, this stood reality on its head. The size of protests had dwindled to a few hundred over the course of seven weeks, but rose to about two thousand in response to the federal presence, according to media reports. On July 19, a “wall of moms” aka “momtifa” formed to protect the protesters. It was organized by Bev Barnum, 35, after seeing videos of the federal forces in action.

“We are about protecting peaceful citizens’ right to protest,” Barnum told BuzzFeed News.

“We wanted to look like we were going to Target, like normal people.”

The moms’ presence subdued the federal forces for several hours, but eventually, Trump’s troops attacked with tear gas, flash-bangs and pepper spray.

And the next day, Trump doubled down even more.

“We’re looking at Chicago, too. We’re looking at New York,” he said from the White House. “We’re looking at Chicago, and New York, and Detroit, and Baltimore, and all of these ... Oakland is a mess. We’re not going to let this happen in our country.”

What’s happening is mostly peaceful protests — the most broadly-supported protest movement in American history, according to recent polls. And Trump is on the wrong side, along with his white Christian nationalist base. His utter failure to protect the country from COVID-19 is only making matters even worse.

But the confusion he’s sown around Antifa remains a dangerous distraction that needs clearing up — first about Antifa itself and then about how his conspiracy mongering mixes with and supercharges other sources of disinformation.

12

Members of Antifa in Berkeley, Calif. Photo by Frances Dinkelspie, Berkeleyside.

Antifa Demystified

In early July, Natasha Lennard wrote a useful introduction to Antifa, for Vice.

“Antifa is not an organization. There are no official ‘antifa leaders;’ there are no official members. There is no centralized leadership board or committee,” she wrote. “Antifa is best understood as a practice, or a set of tactics, which groups can take up and deploy; and sometimes certain collectives use the label ‘antifa’ to describe themselves.’” (This is far more common in Britain, where scores of such groups can be found online.)

Lennard introduced an analogy from historian Mark Bray, author of Antifa: An Antifascist Handbook. “To call antifa an organization, he wrote, is ‘like calling bird-watching an organization. Yes, there are bird-watching organizations as there are antifa organizations, but neither bird-watching nor antifa is an organization.’”

While Antifa’s origins stretch back to anti-Nazi street-fighters of the 1920s and 30s, “Physical force is just one string in the antifa bow,” Lennard explained. “The whole bow is focused on doing whatever is necessary to render racist extremists unable to gather, organize, and spread hateful ideologies.”

Some liberals abhor this, under the banner of “free speech,” but Europeans — especially Germans — who have experienced the horror of fascism first-hand, have long seen things differently, and Antifa activists share that understanding.

“Antifa practices understand that the desire for fascism is not something based on reason, so it is not something to be reasoned out of.”

Lennard wrote. “The point at the very heart of antifa action is to make unpleasant, reallife consequences for those people who would engage in fascist organizing. If the sense of power, domination and belonging is what makes fascism appealing—why young white men are

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jumping on board—militant anti-fascist action is about shutting down that appeal.”

One might disagree with this argument, but it’s clearly a principled one, and one that doesn’t sanction widespread violence, as it’s often misportrayed. Of course, it can be corrupted and abused — as any principled position can be. But it is not inherently lawless, irrational or senseless in a “mirror image of fascism” as too many ignorant critics allege.

New and Old Conspiracism Combined

So, what about Antifa conspiracy theories?

Trump’s ‘new conspiracism’ is perhaps the easiest to understand, as noted above: there’s nothing to it but broad emotional/attitudinal appeal.

“They’re bad people” has no more real empirical content to it than racism does. “I don’t like them and you can’t make me,” is all that it really boils down to.

But there are also classic conspiracy theories to consider. The essence of them is that some small group of people are pulling the strings to secretly and malevolently control history, and that only a dedicated band of fearless truth-tellers can expose them and thus save the world.

Two canonical examples in the Western world are anti-Semitism — dating back at least to the Middle Ages — and the Illuminati conspiracy theory, dating back to the 1790s, when they were blamed for the French Revolution. Tellingly, the Illuminati did not exist, having been disbanded under severe criminal penalties almost two

decades earlier. European Jews certainly did exist, but the power they had was extremely limited, defined almost entirely by powerful Christian elites, who used t hem as middlemen, intermediaries and scapegoats.

Conspiracy theories involving Antifa take on multiple forms, including both of these classics. First, a la the Bavarian Illuminati are claims about its very existence. Of course, unlike the Illuminati, Antifa does exist. But, as Lennard and Bray explain, not in anything like the way it’s assumed to. Antifa brings together people with diverse political and ideological views around a shared opposition to fascism. It typically comprises local groups, not top-down regional, national or international organizations — the most inhospitable way to run a conspiracy.

And, its planning revolves around responding to specific threats, not long-range world domination. Because it’s a coalition of diverse ideologies it couldn’t possibly be otherwise.

Second, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are second nature where fascists are concerned, so naturally Antifa is a target for them. A good example in circulation today is that George Soros is funding them. He was also accused of funding the entire wave of George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, so why not Antifa as well?

In fact, accusations of Antifa’s involvement opened the floodgates, so that any conspiracy theories about the protests could mutate or adapt to include Antifa as well. Rumors hyping Antifa’s supposed omnipresence and/or string pulling are examples of classic conspiracism in action, tropes that have been around for so long, they can be feed from a wide range of sources.

The rapid, unexpected spread of Black Lives Matter protests — even to some overwhelmingly white communities — surely helped prime fears, which conspiracy-peddlers preyed on. And those peddlers, in turn, ran the whole gamut, from the white nationalist group Identity Evropa, whose role was spotted early on, to self-described democratic socialist Adam Rahuba, a prankster unmasked by The Washington Post, who recently explained that he antagonizes far-right extremists mostly for his own amusement.

Such is the nature of conspiracy theories: because they’re unmoored from reality, they can be harnessed to do almost anything — at least, in the minds of those who deploy them. But how they end up in practice can be a whole other matter.

Right now, Trump is using the fantasy threat of Antifa to justify the lawless deployment of federal troops in Portland—and who knows how many other cities to come. In doing so, he’s acting out the fascist playbook that first gave rise to Antifa almost 100 years ago. We can only imagine what this will look like 100 years from now.

LEGAL NOTICES NOTICE INVITING BIDS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the City of Long Beach, California, acting by and through the City’s Board of Harbor Commissioners (“City”) will receive, before the Bid Deadline established below, Bids for the following Work: PIER E TERMINAL SOUTH BATTERY EXCHANGE BUILDING LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA AS DESCRIBED IN SPECIFICATION NO. HD-S2550 Bid Deadline:

correction, or comments regarding the Contract Documents, must be submitted no later than August 25, 2020, at 5 p.m. Questions received after the pre-Bid question deadline will not be accepted.

Questions must be submitted electronically through the PB System. Emails, phone calls, and faxes will not be accepted. Questions submitted to City staff will not be addressed and Bidder will be directed to the PB System.

NIB -3 Pre-Bid Meeting and Site Visit. There will

Prior to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 1, 2020.

Bids shall be submitted electronically via the Port of Long Beach PlanetBids (PB) System prior to 2:00 p.m.

Bid Opening:

Electronic Bid (eBid) results shall be viewable online in the PB System immediately after the Bid Deadline.

Contract Documents Available:

Download Contract Documents from the Port of Long Beach PB System Vendor Portal: www.polb.com/sbe Click on the POLB Vendor Portal 1. Register and Log In 2. Click “Bid Opportunities” 3. Double-click on respective bid Project Title 4. Click on Document/ Attachments tab 5. Double-Click on Title of Electronic Attachment 6. Click “Download Now” 7. Repeat for each attachment For assistance indownloading these documents please contact Port of Long Beach Plans and Specs Desk at 562-283-7353.

None.

Project Contact Person:

John Litzinger, john.litzinger@ polb.com

Please refer to the Port of Long Beach PB System for the most current information.

NIB -1 Contract Documents.

Contract Documents may be downloaded, at no cost, from the Port of Long Beach PB System Vendor Portal website. Bidders must first register as a vendor on the Port of Long Beach PB System website in order to view and download the Contract Documents, to be added to the prospective bidders list, and to receive addendum notifications when issued.

NIB -2 Pre-Bid Questions.

All questions, including requests for interpretation or

NIB -5 Contract Time and Liquidated Damages. The

NIB -8 Mandatory SBE/ VSBE Participation. This project is subject to the Port of Long Beach (POLB) Small Business Enterprises (SBE)/ Very Small Business Enterprises (VSBE) Program. The combined SBE/VSBE mandatory participation requirement for this project is twenty-seven percent (27%), of which a minimum of five percent (5%) must be allocated to VSBEs. POLB expects all Bidders to achieve the combined SBE/ VSBE participation requirements. Responsiveness of the bid will be conditioned on the Bidder submitting an SBE-2C Commitment Plan demonstrating the Bidder’s intent to meet the combined SBE/VSBE participation requirement. If the Bidder’s Commitment Plan does not demonstrate intent to meet the combined requirements, the Bid will be deemed nonresponsive. The Port’s SBE Program staff is available to provide information on the program requirements, including SBE certification assistance. Please contact the

This Project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations.

No Contractor or Subcontractor may be listed on a bid proposal for a public works project unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code Section 1725.5 (with limited exceptions from this requirement for bid purposes only under Labor Code Section 1771.1(a)). No Contractor or Subcontractor may be awarded a contract for public work on a public works project unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code Section 1725.5.

NIB -10 P r o j e c t L a b o r Agreement. This project is subject to the requirements of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), included as Appendix AA. The Contractor and all tier subcontractors must sign a Letter of Assent before commencement of construction and be bound by each and every provision of the PLA, including, but not limited to: payment of prevailing wages; payment of fringe benefit contributions to union trust funds on behalf of workers; use of union hiring halls as a source for workers; follow alternating referral procedures if employing Core Workers; and Local, Disadvantaged, and Veteran worker utilization goals.

Per the Department of In-

NIB -11 Tr a d e N a m e s and Substitution of Equals.

With the exception of any sole source determination that may be identified in this paragraph, Bidders wishing to obtain City’s authorization for substitution of equivalent material, product, or equipment, are required to submit a written request for an Or Equal Substitution using the form included in Appendix A together with data substantiating Bidder’s representation that the non-specified item is of equal quality to the item specified, no later than fourteen (14) calendar days after City’s issuance of Notice to Proceed (NTP). Authorization of a substitution is solely within the discretion of the City.

The Board of Harbor Commissioners made a finding on December 16, 2019, that the following items be sole sourced in compliance with Public Contract Code Section 3400, to match existing systems: 1) High-speed roller door (AGV access door) listed in Technical Specification Section 08 33 23 “Rolling Rubber Industrial Doors”

by Dynaco or Entrematic; 2) Locks listed in Technical Specification Section 08 71 00 “Door Finish Hardware”

by Schlage; 3) Building management system listed in Technical Specification Section 23 09 23 “Building Control System” by Johnson Controls; 4) Electrical Equipment listed in Technical Specification Sections 26 12 16 “Dry-Type Medium Voltage Transformers”, 26 12 16.13 “Unit Substations”, 26 24 13 “Distribution Switchboards”, and 26 24 16 “Panelboards” by Square D; 5) Lighting Control System listed in Technical Specification Section 26 51 00 “Interior Lighting” by Lithonia;

cation Section 28 46 21.11 “Fire Alarm System” by Xtralis.

NIB -12

NOT USED.

NIB -13 B i d S e c u r i t y, Signed Contract, Insurance and Bonds. Each Bid shall be accompanied by a satisfactory Bidder’s Bond or other acceptable Bid Security in an amount not less than ten percent (10%) of the Base Bid as a guarantee that the Bidder will, if Conditionally Awarded a Contract by the Board, within thirty (30) calendar days after the Contract is conditionally awarded to the Contractor by the City, execute and deliver such Contract to the Chief Harbor Engineer together with all required documents including insurance forms, a Payment Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, and a Performance Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price. All Bonds shall be on forms provided by the City.

NIB -14 C o n d i t i o n a l Award of Contract and Reservation of Rights. The Board, acting through the Executive Director, reserves the right at any time before the execution of the Contract by the City, to reject any or all Bids, and to waive any informality or irregularity.

The Conditional Award of the Contract, if any, will be to the responsible Bidder submitting the lowest responsive and responsible Bid. If the lowest responsive responsible Bidder fails to submit the required documents including insurance forms, bonds and signed Contract within thirty (30) calendar days after Conditional Award of Contract, the Board reserves the right to rescind the Conditional Award and Condition-

ally Award the Contract to the next lowest responsive and responsible Bidder.

NIB -15 Period of Bid Irrevocability. Bids shall remain open and valid and Bidder’s Bonds and other acceptable Bid Security shall be guaranteed and valid for ninety (90) calendar days after the Bid Deadline or until the Executive Director executes a Contract, whichever occurs first.

NIB -16 Substitution of Securities. Substitution of Securities for retainage is permitted in accordance with Section 22300 of the Public Contract Code.

NIB -17 Iran Contracting Act of 2010. In accordance with Public Contract Code sections 2200-2208, every person who submits a bid or proposal for entering into or renewing contracts with the City for goods or services estimated at $1,000,000 or more are required to complete, sign, and submit the “Iran Contracting Act of 2010 Compliance Affidavit.”

Issued at Long Beach, California, this 16th day of December 2019.

Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Harbor Department, City of Long Beach, California Note: For project updates after Bid Opening, please contact plans.specs@polb. com.

In accordance with Sec. 106 of the Programmatic Agreement, AT&T plans a utility pole at 1036 W 37TH ST ON S ALMA ST, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. Please direct comments to Gavin L. at 818-898-4866 regarding site CRAN_RLOS_ CYLA8_020.

6) Fire alarm system listed in Technical Specification Section 28 46 21.11 “Fire Alarm System” by Notifier; 7) VESDA Aspirating Smoke Detection (ASD) system listed in Technical Specifi-

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Copies of all Port insurance endorsement forms, SBE/ VSBE Program forms, Harbor Development Permit Applications and other Port forms are available at www. polb.com/business/permits.

NIB -4 Summary Description of the Work. The Work required by this Contract includes, but is not limited to, the following: construction of the Pier E Middle Harbor Terminal South Battery Exchange Building, a new, single-story, pre-engineered metal building (PEMB) and site work, including precast prestressed concrete piles.

NIB -7 Contractor Performed Work. The Contractor shall perform, with its own employees, Contract Work amounting to at least 15% of the Contract Price, except that any designated “Specialty Items” may be performed by subcontract. The amount of any such “Specialty Items” so performed may be deducted from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be performed by the Contractor with its own employees. “Specialty Items” will be identified by the City on the Schedule of Bid Items. The bid price of any materials or equipment rental costs from vendors who are solely furnishing materials or rental equipment and are not performing Work as a licensed subcontractor on this project shall also be deducted from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be performed by the Contractor with its own employees.

NIB -9 Prevailing Wage Requirements per Department of Industrial Relations. This Project is a public work Contract as defined in Labor Code Section 1720.

The Contractor receiving award of the Contract and Subcontractors of any tier shall pay not less than the prevailing wage rates to all workers employed in execution of the Contract. The Director of Industrial Relations of the State of California has determined the general prevailing rates of wages in the locality in which the Work is to be performed. The rate schedules are available on the internet at http://www. dir.ca.gov/dlsr/DPreWageDetermination.htm and on file at the City, available upon request. Bidders are directed to Article 15 of the General Conditions for requirements concerning payment of prevailing wages, payroll records, hours of work and employment of apprentices.

dustrial Relations, projects covered by a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) are exempt from the requirement to submit electronic CPRs directly to the Labor Commissioner’s Office. In lieu, the Contractor and all Subcontractors will be required to submit electronic or hardcopies of CPRs and labor compliance documentation to the Port of Long Beach.

For the link to the Port of Long Beach PB System and for information on this Project and other upcoming Port projects, you may view the Port website at www.polb.com/business/ business-opportunities.

not be a pre-bid meeting or site visit for this project. Site images are provided with the documents for reference. Any site photographs, videos, or maps included in the Contract Documents do not constitute a complete visual depiction of the site and should neither be considered or are warranted as such. The City makes no guarantee that existing construction and site conditions matches construction depicted on record reference documents. It shall be the Bidder’s responsibility to identify existing conditions.

NIB -6 Contractor’s License. The Bidder shall hold a current and valid Class “A” or “B”, California Contractor’s License to construct this project.

SBE Office at (562) 283-7598 or sbeprogram@polb.com.

You may also view the Port’s SBE program requirements at www.polb.com/sbe.

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Pre-Bid Meeting:

Contractor shall achieve Substantial Completion of Work within 373 calendar days and Affidavit of Final Completion of the Project within 463 calendar days as provided in Paragraph SC - 6.1 of the Special Conditions, from a date specified in a written “Notice to Proceed” issued by the City and subject to adjustment as provided in Section 8.2 of the General Conditions. FAILURE OF THE CONTRACTOR TO COMPLETE THE WORK WITHIN THE CONTRACT TIME AND OTHER MILESTONES SET FORTH IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING THE ENGINEER’S APPROVAL OF AFFIDAVIT OF FINAL COMPLETION, WILL RESULT IN ASSESSMENT OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNTS ESTABLISHED IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS.

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FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020084943 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: FRED ALLEN & ASSOCIATES DBA MISTER MARLEY, 880 W. 18TH ST, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 County of LOS ANGELES Registered owner(s): FRED C. ALLEN, 880 W. 18TH ST, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on 09/2014.

I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/FRED C. ALLEN, Owner This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 05/19/2020.

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, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

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

Original filing: 06/11/2020, 06/25/2020, 07/09/2020, 07/23/2020

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020088140 The following person(s) is (are)

Serving the South Bay

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doing business as: L.A. URBAN BALLET SCHOOL, 1231 S. PACIFIC AVE, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 County of LOS ANGELES Registered owner(s): L.A. URBAN BALLET SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP, 1231 S. PACIFIC AVE, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731.

This business is conducted by a General Partnership. T he registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/PATRICK BRADLEY, Partner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 05/26/2020. 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, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new Fictitious Business Name Statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 06/11/2020, 06/25/2020, 07/09/2020, 07/23/2020

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020084095 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: DOT COM LOU, 555 CALIFORNIA AVE, NEEDLES, CA 92363, County of LOS ANGELES, Mailing Address: P.O. BOX 857, Needles, CA 92363. Registered owner(s): LOUIE BLANCHARD, P.O. BOX 857, Needles, CA 92363. This business is conducted by an individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/2004. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true

ACROSS

1 How karaoke singing might go 7 Org. advocating pet adoption 11 CIO merger partner 14 Singer Watkins (aka T-Boz) of TLC 15 Early TV host Jack 16 Sprawl 17 Someone who just likes the sky levels in the Mario series?

19 Car grille protector 20 Rock suffix, in NYC 21 Auckland Zoo animals 22 It may cause inflation 23 Shows pride 25 Work-at-home wear 27 Machine that inspired separate rewinding machines 29 Aussie hoppers 31 Disk memory acronym 32 Ishmael’s captain 34 “Simpsons” character who was on Homer’s bowling team 36 “The Unity of India” author 40 Accepts emergency funds?

43 Fire off some letters?

44 Alternative to watercolors 45 ___ Cat (pet food brand) 46 Dandyish dresser 48 Minor bones to pick 50 “I finally got it!”

51 Interpret inaccurately any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ LOUIE BLANCHARD, Owner.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 05/18/2020.

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, where it expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to Section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner.

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

Original filing: 06/11/2020, 06/25/2020, 07/09/2020, 07/23/2020

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020102768 The following person(s) is (are)

55 2022 World Cup host country 57 None other than 58 In ___ of (rather than) 60 Actor Fulcher of “The Mighty Boosh” 62 USPS driver’s assignment 63 Spoken sign from the rafters?

66 “We ___ Never Ever Getting Back Together” 67 Like some lattes 68 Verdi opera based on a Shakespeare play 69 Area full of used cars 70 Canadians’ last letters 71 Walk like a duck

DOWN

1 How most aspirin is sold, for short 2 PC document 3 One way to stop a bike 4 First name in Notre Dame football 5 Make beloved 6 “You betcha” 7 A lot of it is filtered 8 Settle a bill

9 Salad with romaine lettuce

10 Part of ETA 11 Wedding souvenir 12 Terra ___ (solid ground) 13 Balletic maneuvers 18 Country completely surrounded

by South Africa doing business as: SPIRIT CRUISES & YACHT PARTIES, 429 SHORELINE VILLAGE DRIVE, SUITE D, LONG BEACH, CA 90802, County of LOS ANGELES Registered owner(s): JAYME WILSON, 43-61ST PLACE, LONG BEACH, CA 90803 This business is conducted by an Individual. The registrant(s) started doing business on 01/1984.I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ JAYME WILSON, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/09/2020. NOTICEIn 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, where it 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

22 Creator/star/director Adlon of FX’s “Better Things” 24 Beside the point 26 “Both Sides Now” songwriter Mitchell 27 Brewery fixtures 28 Mate from Manchester, e.g.

30 Kimmel’s onetime game show cohost 33 Proverbial place for bats 35 Like some references 37 Options for cereal, sandwiches, etc.

38 The “R” of RBG 39 Arches National Park locale 41 Gin flavoring fruit 42 Dog created by Dashiell Hammett 47 Glitzy estate 49 Geologist’s layers 51 Aesop fable’s lesson 52 Opening 53 Hard rain 54 Enjoyed a meal 56 Had discomfort 59 Bread heels, really 61 Barnacle’s spot 63 Ending for some commerce URLs 64 Sudoku section 65 “Unknown” surname

For answers go to: www.randomlengthsnews.com

JOBS

© 2020 MATT JONES, Jonesin’ Crosswords

must be filed before the expiration. Effective Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 07/22/20, 08/06/20, 08/20/20, 09/03/20

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020102768 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: THE KATHERMAN COMPANY, 6442 PARKLYNN DRIVE, RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA 90275, County of LOS ANGELES. MAILING ADDRESS: 46 E PENINSULA CENTER #284 Registered owner(s): RGM, LLC, 6442 PARKLYNN DRIVE, RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA 90275. This business is conducted by a CORPORATION The registrant(s) started doing business on: N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant

continued on following page

[Scams, from p. 5]

Big Business Scams PPP

In Maryland, a different set of 19 loan recipients traced back to an office park about 30 minutes north of Baltimore. Business records show most of those companies had another Georgia address, the home of Mariner Health Care Inc. Mariner, which was acquired in 2004 by National Senior Care Inc. for $615 million, has 20 nursing homes and care centers in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, according to its website. Those companies could receive as much as $31 million in maximum SBA funding, data shows, which could help safeguard more than 1,600 jobs.

Mariner did not answer phone calls at its main number, nor did the company respond to emails sent to an address on its website.

Another big beneficiary of the small-business program was Las Vegas-based Maverick Gaming, which has been on a casino-buying spree, backed by hedge funds, since it launched in 2017. The company owns and operates 26 casinos across three states. The company was valued at about $1 billion, Maverick CEO and owner Eric Persson told the trade magazine Global Gaming Business this past year.

SBA data shows upward of $46 million going to Maverick’s companies, all of the loans arranged by the same bank. Persson, reached by phone, declined to comment.

Vibra, from its base in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, specializes in hospitals that provide “post-acute” care to recovering patients.

Its CEO, Brad Hollinger, has drawn on Vibra’s success to become a player on the international racing circuit: He’s a major shareholder of the British Formula One team Williams Racing.

Although a car racing enthusiast, he said in 2015 that he’d bought into the team primarily for business reasons.

“I am never in business not to make money,” he told Reuters.

The PPP loans are just one way the company

has been buoyed by the CARES Act: Vibra hospitals have also received at least $13 million in grants for health care providers and $41 million in loans (in the form of advanced Medicare payments), according to Good Jobs First, a government and corporate watchdog based in Washington.

In publicity materials, Vibra refers to its hospitals and rehab centers as “affiliates,” but for purposes of the PPP, it appears to have treated all these limited liability companies as unrelated companies, receiving between $42 million and $97 million in total. Together, the companies reported retaining a total of 4,600 jobs.

Twice in recent years, Vibra has been penalized for bilking the government. In 2016, Vibra paid $33 million to the Justice Department to settle allegations that it had defrauded Medicare by admitting and keeping patients for unnecessarily long stays in order to drive up billings. This past November, Vibra paid $6 million more in a different settlement with the government; this time, it had allegedly billed Medicare for doctor visits that did not happen. In the settlements, Vibra did not admit to any wrongdoing.

There are signs that Vibra is weathering the COVID-19 outbreak well. This past month, the company announced it would manage a new hospital being constructed in Bakersfield, Calif. The company did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Generally, the SBA looks at “the entirety of the organization” in determining whether businesses should be considered affiliates or separate businesses, which means taking into account “common ownership, intertwined management and economic dependence between entities,” said Megan Jeschke, a partner at the law firm Holland & Knight.

In her experience defending companies accused of violating the affiliation rules, the

SBA has tended to be “rigid” in interpreting the rules and frequently finds that apparently related companies are in fact affiliates, she said.

After large businesses were revealed to have taken PPP money, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in late April that the SBA would conduct a “full review” of each PPP loan of $2 million and up. About 29,000 such loans had been made in recent weeks. Given that volume, it’s unclear just how thorough the reviews might be. The SBA did not respond to a request from ProPublica seeking comment.

Recently, following pressure from watchdog groups and Congress, the Donald Trump administration disclosed only those entities that

were approved by banks for loans over $150,000.

A consortium of news organizations, including ProPublica, had sued the administration under the Freedom of Information Act to release the full list of recipients and loan details.

“The vast number of PPP grants went to truly small businesses — but a lot of the money went to big businesses,” said Aaron Klein, policy director of the Brookings Institution’s Center on Regulation and Markets. “The media attention is going to focus, and crystallize, how much big businesses got out of this program.”

Mollie Simon contributed to the reporting of this article.

[Development, from p. 3]

Pacific Ave. Development Opposed concerning,” Lebrecque said. “That’s a lot of density to add to that very congested area as it is right there on Pacific.”

Lee Williams, chairman of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, said it is important to make sure that affordable housing is part of every development in San Pedro.

“I like the idea of spreading the affordable units out, instead of creating ghettos and lowincome like sections of San Pedro,” Williams said. “It’s nice to have various income levels living together in different neighborhoods so that we can get that homogenized interaction.”

Williams said he did not want to discuss the appeal, because from what he had heard from the city, it has little merit.

Danial Nord, who has lived, worked and owned property on Pacific Avenue for 18 years, said he wants to see responsible development on Pacific, but this development is irresponsible.

“The applicant has created and uploaded a document called ‘applicant rebuttal,’ attempting to legalize their dismissal of our community concerns,” Nord said. “They distort and obfuscate a few cherry-picked points, while completely omitting the most important issues, like falsified traffic and air quality studies, cumulative impacts,

a high injury network ... tsunami and emergency services routes, insufficient affordable housing, and violating community and redevelopment plans.”

Nord said that the developers are flippers, and they are not planning on building anything.

“They’re violating all these rules to secure outrageous entitlements to the lot so they can turn around and flip the entitled lot and walk away with a load of cash,” Nord said.

Flipping like this inflates housing costs by adding middlemen, Nord said. While 12 verylow-income units will be built, 90 market-rate units will be built as well — and there are already 490 empty market-rate apartments in San Pedro.

San Pedro resident Allen Franz said that if built, the project will be profitable, but it won’t be safe, livable or sustainable.

“We need, for San Pedro as a whole, a clear precedent that Los Angeles Municipal Code, that the San Pedro Community Plan, the CPIO, and the Pacific Avenue Redevelopment corridor — which the community developed — have value,” Franz said. “We’re not doormats for anybody with a wad of cash to come in and put in whatever they want.”

DBA FILINGS

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020102756 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: OMELETTE

08/20/20, 09/03/20

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020108119 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: (1) NORTH SHORES WELLNESS CENTER (2) ABSOLUTELY NORTH SHORES WELLNESS CENTER (3) NORTH SHORES SOLUTIONS, INC. (4) NORTH SHORES WELLNESS (5) VITAL HEALTH WELLNESS CENTER, 3425 S. PATTON AVE., SAN PEDRO, CA 90731, County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s): NORTH SHORES SOLUTIONS, INC., 3425 S. PATTON AVE., SAN PEDRO, CA 90731 This business is conducted by CoPartners.

The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed

one thousand dollars ($1,000)).

S/ Rebecca Melzer, CEO. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/19/2020.. 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, where it 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 Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 07/22/20, 08/06/20, 08/20/20, 09/03/20

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT File No. 2020107261 The following person(s) is (are) doing business as: (1) ROYAL PALMS CONSULTING (2) SOUTH SHORES WELLNESS (3) SOUTH SHORES WELL-

NESS CENTER, 1611 W. 25TH ST. SAN PEDRO CA 90731, County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s): ROYAL PALMS CONSULTING, INC. 3425 S. PATTON AVE., SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by CoPartners.

The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ Rebecca Melzer, CEO. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/17/2020. 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, where it 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 Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Iden-

tity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 07/22/20, 08/06/20, 08/20/20, 09/03/20

DBAs $ 140 Filing & Publishing

310-519-1442

July 23 - August 5, 2020

08/20/20, 09/03/20

name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq. Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 07/22/20, 08/06/20,

knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ JAYME WILSON, Owner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/09/2020. 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, where it 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 Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business name statement must be accompanied by Affidavit of Identity form. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a Fictitious Business Names in violation of the rights of another under Federal, state, or common law (See Section 14111 et seq.

Business and Professions code).

Original Filing 07/22/20, 08/06/20,

& WAFFLE SHOP, 1103 S GAFFEY STREET, San Pedro, CA 90731, County of LOS ANGELES. Registered owner(s): MONA SUTTON, 437 W 38TH STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. LESLIE JONES, 437 W 38TH STREET, SAN PEDRO, CA 90731. This business is conducted by CoPartners. The registrant(s) started doing business on N/A. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true any material matter pursuant to Section 17913 of the Business and Professions code that the registrant knows to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000)). S/ LESLIE JONES, Partner. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles County on 07/09/2020. 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, where it 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 Jan. 1, 2014, the fictitious business

Real News, Real People, Really Effective

from previous page

15

Shelter Gave One Woman Hope

By Lyn Jensen, Contributor

July 23 - August 5, 2020

Real News, Real People, Totally Relevant

Sally Esquivel knows first-hand about being homeless in Los Angeles. In 2013 a job with a legal firm didn’t work out and she was unemployed for a long time. She suffered other financial problems, too. She went from renting a Long Beach apartment to staying with friends to staying in her car.

She insists she never really slept during those days and nights in her car, she felt so unsafe, “I stayed overnight inside my car for at least four days. I did not lay down. I sat in the driver’s seat and stayed awake.” She’d spend her days at a coffee place or the beach, but she still had her laptop, so she could look for a safer place to sleep that way.

Through the 211 network, a nonprofit website and call line that links Los Angeles County residents with social services, she found Doors of Hope in Wilmington.

Laura Scotvold-Lemp, the shelter’s director of operations, provided some details via a phone interview. It’s primarily a twenty-bed emergency shelter where “guests” stay for a week or 14 days, although six women designated “program residents” may stay for as long as two years, doing shelter work duties as part of their program. The women are screened during intake hours, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m., six days a week, during which staff makes the determination of whether the women and the shelter are a good fit.

As an example of persons who are screened out, Doors of Hope isn’t a drug-alcohol recovery residence, there are no medical personnel. If

16

someone is actively doing drugs or alcohol, that person is directed elsewhere.

Doors of Hope started in 2011 when Beacon Light Mission expanded its services to include women, according to the shelters’ websites and Scotvold-Lemp’s account. Beacon Light Mission is much older, having begun providing food and shelter to sailors and other men in the Los Angeles Harbor Area in 1902.

As Esquivel describes the living conditions, the sleeping area was one room with twenty twin beds. The bath had stalls to dress and shower in, “We stored our clothing and were given clothes to wear during our stay.” On the same floor there was a sofa, chairs and a computer area and a library. Since her stay there have been some changes but the dormitory-style life remains.

She remembers the women and men shared a dining room, “Dinner was donated, prepared and served by local community organizations.

Women, the Doors of Hope residents, sat on one side of the room and the Beacon men’s shelter on the other.”

She and the others were required to leave the space during the day. “I mostly drove back to Long Beach or went to a Starbucks in San Pedro to use my laptop with their wi-fi,” Esquivel said.

She spent her days at Doors of Hope looking for an accounting job but didn’t find any, then, “Near the end of my stay I was referred to a community center in San Pedro where I was given counseling and a housing voucher.” She has since found work with a retail chain, and now

lives in an apartment in the city of Orange.

One aspect of life at Doors of Hope that some may find uncomfortable is that the organization is, after all, a Christian mission.

Although all faiths and persons of no faith at all are welcome, chapel service every night before dinner is mandatory.

Esquivel admits being alarmed at first, “The first service was very harsh. It sounded like it was directed to those sailors in 1902!”

She soon found each service was different, given by different churches, and, as her stay wore on, she found some services and sermons enjoyable.

Scotvold-Lemp says there have been some changes in shelter life since COVID-19 became a major concern. Around mid-March, when libraries and restaurants closed, the shelter made short-term guests and long-term residents stay in all day, no coming or going.

Masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, sanitizing— not just cleaning — and daily temperature checks have all become part of the shelter’s routine, although the restriction on going out has been relaxed, for the present.

According to Scotvold-Lemp, Doors of Hope and Beacon Light are funded entirely by private donations. For in-kind donations, such as food and toiletries, she says to call ahead to arrange an appointment.

Details: www.doorsofhopewomensshelter. org

[Carson, from p. 5]

Carson

tax revenue; Carson is a low-generating property tax city.

A loss of about $300,000 in revenue is expected in regard to community services, mostly in catering services and park reservations due to COVID-19. Most of the projects will have the same amount of funding. Some projects were defunded, such as parking lots at Stevenson and Anderson parks. Repairs at Calas and Scott parks will cease, as will those at the Carson Street Masterplan. The city will also save $150,000 from cancelling public events.

The city’s contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was boosted by about $2 million for a fiscal year total of $22 million. The sheriff’s contract had been discussed already and the increase is unrelated to recent events surrounding protests.

Carson holds three budget workshops to keep the community involved and informed throughout the budget process. Normally they’re held in public, but this year because of COVID-19 they were online. The budget is deconstructed each session and then recreated. Residents can watch the budget workshop sessions and then submit comments during the council meetings.

The $20 million in reserve will play a key role this fiscal year as COVID-19 is still ravaging the nation’s economy and human health. The reserve fund is important as a safety net to the continued costs of the virus.

“The impacts of COVID have been felt throughout the budget,” Landers said. “It has impacted both revenue and expense projections and has been taken into account how the city is moving forward.”