RLn 10-28-21

Buscaino says city’s new antihomeless measures don’t go far enough p. 2 Proud Boys’ Pt. Fermin Love Fest ends with a whimper p. 4 SP Int’l Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary p. 11

By Melina Paris, Assistant Editor

[See Stories, p. 14]

Beta Operating is in line to get another $11 million to drill four new wells off the coast

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

SAN PEDRO BAY — Amplify Energy’s 3-1/2 hour delay in shutting down its pipeline after a low pressure alarm was just the first indication of systemic failures contributing to California’s most recent offshore oil spill. Signs of the spill were reported to the Coast Guard even earlier, as numerous residents either smelled the odor, or saw an oil slick as early as 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 1.

But Amplify’s operational failure was enabled by governmental failure at every level, from local to national, as quickly became evident.

On Oct. 6, Capital and Main reported that the City of Long Beach had signed a 20-year lease with Amplify on a pumping station in June 2020 “that could extend the pipeline’s life through 2040,” when it would be more than 60 years old — about double the initial expected lifetime, according to Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“A lot of platforms and pipelines when they were constructed in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, the oil companies said their expected lifespans is 30 years, and were already well past that for most of these new platforms and pipelines,” Monsell told Random Lengths News. “It’s high time to shut it all down, and start decommissioning it all.”

In fact, the 1985 environmental impact report for the Plains All American Pipeline that ruptured in 2015 “determined that the risk of a spill more than doubles as the pipeline aged from 20 to 40 years,” Monsel wrote on Oct. 8, when CBD filed a notice of intent to sue the Joe Biden administration if it fails to “reexamine the offshore oil industry’s threat to California’s endangered species and their habitats,” in light of the oil spill as well as well new information not previously considered, as called for in the Endangered Species Act. This was but one of a series of actions CBD has been involved in trying to hold the Biden administration to his campaign promises of vigorous action to combat catastrophic climate change. The Biden [See Clean Up, p. 6] 1

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

Telling stories around a fire is one of the most ancient forms of entertainment.

So says producer and director Melanie Jones, the host and resident witch of Scary Stories at Angels Gate Cultural Center. Jones describes eerie tales as a release valve for people’s genuine fears.

For 19 years, actors have performed almost 200 individual stories, offering a unique program each October for one night only — the Saturday before Halloween. The performance takes place outside in the amphitheater at Angels Gate Cultural Center around the bonfire.

OC Oil Spill Opens Window On Systemic Failures

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Scary Stories founder Melanie Jones dressed as a witch welcomes people back to Angels Gate Cultural Center for a frightful night of theatrical story telling. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

Community Announcements:

Harbor Area Daylight Savings Time

The days are getting shorter; the sun is setting earlier every day. The second week of November marks the end of daylight savings, and the clocks will change, as they do every year, twice a year.

Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November in the U.S. and Canada. This year it will fall on Nov. 7, 12 a.m. In March, we “spring” forward and set clocks forward one hour.

In November, we “fall” back and set clocks back one hour.

DACA Policy Updates

Centro CHA will conduct a presentation to discuss the recent changes to the DACA program via Zoom. For questions please contact Marlene Ayala at 562-612-1407 or email: Marlene@ centrocha.org.

Time: 4 p.m. Nov. 3 Details: Register at tinyurl.com/ CHADacaPolicyUpdates

Resources for Renters, Landlords and Homeowners

If you are a renter or landlord who needs help paying rent due to the pandemic, there is still time to apply for up to 100% of your costs covered by the state’s rent relief program. Applications will close when funds are used up.

Details: www.housing.ca.gov

Get Your Free COVID-19 Booster

The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, has authorized certain older adults, health workers and other vulnerable individuals to receive booster shots to better protect against COVID-19.

Contact your doctor or health provider for guidance on when or if you will need your booster.

For more information, visit https://covid19. ca.gov/vaccines To schedule an appointment for a vaccine, visit https://myturn.ca.gov If you are fully vaccinated and would like a digital vaccination record, you can request that by visiting myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov

Steps to Prepare for the Next Earthquake

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

The Great California ShakeOut, held annually on the third Thursday of October, hopefully helps you practice and prepare for earthquakes.

However, you can always take these other critical steps recommended by the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department to prepare for the next time an earthquake strikes: Make a Plan: Create a disaster plan so that you know what to do, and how you will communicate, in an emergency. Pick two places to meet: right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency and outside your neighborhood in case you can’t return home.

Make a Kit: Create a disaster kit for your household with water, food, first aid and other supplies and equipment you might need for family members, children and even your pets.

Details: www.emergency.lacity.org/getprepared/family-readiness

October 28 - November 10, 2021

FREE Legal Workshops and Online Classes

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For the 10th annual Pro Bono Week celebration, LA Law Library will host more than 80 different events through Oct. 30, both remotely and on-site, and as always, free of charge. Take part in classes, workshops and discussions on-site or in the comfort of your home or office, and join in the spirit of pro bono.

Details: To register visit: probonoweek. lalawlibrary.org

San Pedro Neighborhood Cleanup

Join with your masks and gloves and plenty of water. From the Gaffey area of Target and green space across from Target, 7-11 and DMV, in front of Harbor Highlands Park and up Capital to Amelia. If a couple people have weed whackers please bring them along.

Time: 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nov. 6 Details: www.nwsanpedro.org Location: meet at the entrance of Harbor Highlands park on Capital Drive

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

Buscaino Says City’s New Anti-Homeless Measures Don’t Go Far Enough

By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter

On Oct. 20, the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-2 to enforce a rule that would prevent homeless people from sitting, sleeping, or storing property on the sidewalk within 500 or 1,000 feet of 54 sites across the city. Councilwoman Nithya Raman and Councilman Mike Bonin voted against the motion, saying it violated the very provision it proposed to enforce. Eleven of these sites are in council district 15. Six of these locations are in San Pedro, and two are in Wilmington.

“While I am pleased the City is finally making good on its promise of clean streets for neighborhoods that accept shelters, safe parking, and other solutions to homelessness, this new process is slow, unnecessarily bureaucratic, and monopolizes valuable resources,” said Councilman Joe Buscaino in a press release.

The 11 sites in CD15 are all homeless shelters, where homeless people are prohibited from lying within 1,000 feet. The other sites are in council districts 2 and 3, and some are underpasses, bridges, parks, schools and libraries, where homeless people cannot lie within 500 feet. In both cases, homeless people are only prohibited from lying where the city council has specifically banned them. The council was voting to enforce Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, an anticamping law which went into effect Sept. 3, but had not yet been enforced.

“For the first time in years, the City of Los Angeles will prohibit camping in select public spaces,” Buscaino wrote. “But this is just the beginning. In the near future, I will continue to add new locations, while at the same time supporting the creation of more transitional housing, like tiny homes, so that everyone can come inside and we can see an end to all street camping in Los Angeles.”

People that work for the city will first offer housing or other services to people camping at the sites. Then they will provide a clean-up, which usually involves forcing homeless people to throw away most of their possessions. Two weeks later, the city will put up signs saying people are prohibited from lying in the area.

Councilwoman Nithya Raman said the council was not following the steps it set forth, which the council adopted in September. The first step is that a council member introduces a motion, and homeless engagement teams and multidisciplinary teams fill out encampment assessment forms. The second step is that housing resources and other services are identified and whoever is the lead develops an outreach plan. This is followed by engagement with the homeless people, i.e., city workers try to convince them to go into temporary housing.

In steps three and four, the city chooses a date to clean up, and confirms it with the Los Angeles Department of Sanitation. Two weeks after the actual clean up, the lead submits a report on data about housing placement. It’s only after all of this that a council member is supposed to introduce a resolution about putting up signs prohibiting camping in that area.

“I don’t doubt that there has already been outreach to many of the locations that are before

Councilman Mike Bonin agreed with Raman.

“I’m sure a lot of work has been done,” Bonin said. “But it still isn’t to the level of what we committed to as a body. I’m concerned about us losing the commitment to the street engagement strategy and not making sure that it is adequately resourced.”

Public commenter Rob Kwan said it was stunning to see the long list of sites where camping would be banned.

“I heard that you’re going to be spending $3 million on metal signs,” Kwan said. “That’s three Councilman Joe Buscaino reacts as his senior aide and quarters of the ethics commission’s communications director, Branimir Kvartuc, gets into a physical annual budget. We’ve had three confrontation with a protester at a press conference Buscaino held former city council members in Los Angeles on Aug. 16. File photo indicted in the last few years, and us in these resolutions,” Raman said. “I know a you’re going to spend three quarters of the ethics lot of council members did talk about the fact commission’s annual budget on metal signs that outreach has been regularly happening. criminalizing the unhoused.”

But we are being asked today to vote on 54 Buscaino argued in his press release that locations between these four resolutions with the city was making it more complicated than no documentation for us, or for the public, that necessary. this step-by-step process that we just codified has “This current 30-step process is unnecessary,” been followed.”

[See Enough, p. 3]

Hollywood in San Pedro—

Babylon on Sixth Street

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

You would have thought someone had turned back the clock outside the Warner Grand Theater on Monday morning, Oct. 18, as Paramount Pictures turned 6th Street into a bygone era of Hollywood. Hundreds of extras lined the sidewalk in costumes and the shops were decked out in fashions from the silent movie era.

Fittingly, all were sworn to silence regarding the title of this feature film and exactly who its stars are. There was even a dastardly subplot — this was the day that IASTE (The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States) was threatening to go on strike. But the day was saved and a shutdown avoided when a settlement was proposed at the last minute.

Both the FilmLA monitor and the Los Angeles Fire Department fire marshal were left in the dark as the film director had taken out the film permit under the cover title “Crazy Wild Chickens October’’ so the paparazzi didn’t catch wind that Babylon (the real title) starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie was camping out for a few days down by the harbor. Secrecy seems to be a plot with Hollywood during filming, but after the movie’s release come December of 2022 its

title will be blasted all over the place — with no mention of it being partly filmed here.

As many long-time locals know, there are hundreds of film and TV shoots in San Pedro annually, most of them trying to make this place look like somewhere else. We’ve been made up to look like San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, and in this case, Hollywood of the late 1920s or ’30s.

They often come with a degree of realworld disruption to local businesses and without much compensation for using our streets as the “backlot.” This time, however, 6th Street merchants appear to have been duly compensated, and there was hardly a peep and nary a gripe about Paramount taking over the entire 400 block on a Monday, when many shops are closed. The sign outside the arcade building advertised “Free Osterizer with any purchase” in a faux appliance store, which made me think of going in to purchase a vintage refrigerator. They had an exquisite collection of retro objects that would have made any of our second-hand shops envious.

Babylon is a period drama written and directed by Damien Chazelle, starring Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie in the lead roles. Tobey Maguire serves as an executive producer. Watch for it a year from this Christmas and see if you recognize your own town.

Stakeholder Advisor Meeting Touts Progress, But Skirts Difficulties

By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach once again reported progress at the Clean Air Action Plan stakeholder advisory meeting held online via Zoom on Oct. 19, but serious questions loom over the two largest polluting sources — port trucks and ocean-going vessels — and the continued lack of a timeline raises serious accountability concerns.

The ports once again touted their progress since 2005, diesel particulate matter (DPM) [Enough, from p. 2]

Not Enough Buscaino wrote. “Which is why I am working

on placing a measure on the next ballot so that voters can approve an approach that acts with urgency to eliminate street camping in Los Angeles.”

According to the press release, Buscaino’s ballot measure will provide emergency housing for everyone on the streets, as well as drug and mental health services. It will also ban encampments in public areas.

“Anyone who needs a bed will get one, but a choice to refuse housing and services will result in an order to move on,” the press release says.

The press release did not specify how it would create emergency housing for every homeless person in the city, nor did it say how quickly. It also did not address permanent supportive housing.

down 20%, nitrogen oxide, which contributes to smog, down 44%, sulfur oxide, which contributes to particulate matter, down 97% and greenhouse gasses down 29%, all achieved with a 20% increase in container throughput — although ship arrivals were down 30%, due to significant increases in ship size. Those gains were frontloaded in the early years of the CAAP, described as “low-hanging fruit” by Chris Cannon, POLA’s director of environmental management. But there was no analysis of more recent progress, or lack thereof — such as the delay in implementing the clean truck fee, finally scheduled to be considered by both ports the first week in November.

Trucks and ocean-going vessels contribute 98% of sulfur oxide, 71% of nitrogen oxide, 70% of greenhouse gasses, and 45% of diesel particulate matter. Rail (27%) and harbor craft (24%) are significant DPM contributors, as well as NOx contributors (12% and 11% respectively), while cargo handling equipment contributes 16% to greenhouse gasses. No other sources contribute more than 7% to one kind of pollution, so the predominant importance of ships and trucks is vividly clear.

When it comes to ships, the vessel speed reduction program has more than 90% compliance, with a 12-knot speed limit from 20 or 40 nautical miles off Point Fermin incentivized by reduced dockage fees on a fleetwide basis.

The two ports also have ship incentive programs, with reduced dockage fees for cleaner ships,

based on the international environmental ship index, which ranges from zero (base rate engine performance) to 100 (no emissions).

In Los Angeles, Tier II ships are discounted $750 if they score 40 to 49, $2,500 if higher, while Tier III ships are discounted an additional $5,000.

At Long Beach, tier II ships are discounted $600 if they score 25 to 47, $3,000 if they score 4853, and $6,000 if higher, while Tier III ships are discounted an additional $3,000.

Tier III ships are significantly cleaner, but much rarer, too. In response to questions by Richard Havenick, chairman of the Environment & Sustainability of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, Morgan Caswell, POLB Manager of Air Quality Practices, said that POLB had received just 15 Tier III vessel visits in 2020, and did not expect rapid growth. There was a rush to begin building Tier II vessels before the Tier III standard became effective in 2016, she acknowledged, “and we do expect it will take some time for the turnover to those cleaner Tier III vessels. We understand that vessels have a very long lifetime.” But even Tier III vessels are far from zero emission. POLA’s 2020 figures were similar: 18 vessels: 7 container ships, one cruise ship and 10 tankers.

On the truck side, participants objected to the low $10 container fee, delays in moving to zero emissions and inadequate protections for misclassified truckers. Michael Munoz, a researcher with the LA Alliance for a New

Economy, neatly summarized the predominant concerns, beginning with misclassification.

“So long as you allow companies who consistently break the law by misclassifying port truck drivers, there will always be costs being passed on to drivers whether it’s a $10 fee, a $75 or the cost of purchasing or maintaining a new truck. Those costs will eventually be passed along so long as the ports turn a blind eye to misclassification,” Munoz said.

But misclassification also connects to the issue of zero emissions, he explained.

“Our fear is that by incentivizing near-zero emissions trucks, the ports will be prolonging the problem of misclassification and the burning of fossil fuels which will undoubtedly delay the adoption of zero emission trucks,” he said.

He applauded POLA “for committing that any funds raised by the clean truck rate fund will be used for zero mission technology,” a step POLB hasn’t taken, and warned: By not dealing with misclassification and pushing natural gas trucks, the ports will be shooting themselves in the foot.

Data collected by CARB attempting to measure the progress towards emissions goals established by the Bus and Truck rule shows that trucks driven by misclassified drivers have lower compliance levels.

That’s because trucking companies are illegally passing along maintenance costs onto the drivers, who have to delay truck maintenance to provide for their family or simply can’t afford upgrades to newer, cleaner trucks.

In short, the ports are still ducking the hard problems at the heart of transitioning truck and vessel fleets to zero emissions.

But they can’t keep ducking them forever.

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October 28 - November 10, 2021

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October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Rightwing Love Fest? Anything But

By Terelle Jerricks and James Preston Allen

On Saturday, Oct. 16, a far-right political rally was held at Point Fermin Park. Organizers attempted to get a permit for the event, but according to sources at the Harbor Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, they were denied after a telephone call from Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office. The same organizers brought a similar event to Portland, OR, a week or so before, and it ended up in violence — a shootout between the far-right group and ANTIFA activists. The LAPD was on high alert for this event, staging more than 118 officers both at the park and offsite in case of violence.

None occurred.

According to promotional flyers, the rally was called the “Fall Love Fest--United We Stand, Divided We Fall,” an attempt to mimic the hippie peace and love posters from the 1960s.

Though the organizers of the event were not mentioned on the flyers, a number of the people who showed up were loud members of the Proud Boys, wearing group-identifying clothing.

Guest speakers listed in the flyer included Elsa Aldeguer, founder of Latinos for Trump, Jen Loh, who founded Latinos United for America, and Family America Project founder Genevieve Peters as well as Jesse Holguin, the founder of Lexit, named to suggest that Latinos exit from the Democratic Party. Campaign speeches were promised from candidates for state attorney general, Eric Early, Mark Meuser for Senate, and Derrick Gates for Congress. It doesn’t appear that any of them actually showed up after the permit was denied, but their followers did.

Random Lengths News photojournalist Arturo Garcia-Ayala and publisher James Preston Allen attended the event. The following is an on-theground-report after leaving the event: The LAPD was already present when they

On Oct. 16, far-right, neo-fascist group the Proud Boys organized a right-wing “love fest” at San Pedro’s Pt. Fermin. Pictured are Proud Boys members. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

arrived. Officers were patrolling in pairs and were spread throughout the park. There were about a dozen people [event attendees] walking around in small clusters at the park. They had a tent set up for selling concessions.

After an hour, the number of attendees grew to nearly 100, who gathered at the amphitheater.

A couple of people who apparently weren’t fans of the Proud Boys walked up to attendees and hurled a few insults before leaving. Eight others, identified by the Harbor Division police officers as belonging to the Rancho San Pedro street gang, got into a verbal altercation with the event attendees. Harbor Division officers formed a line to separate the two sides and the local gang members left. The attendees were largely from elsewhere, as far away as Sacramento,

Bakersfield and Fresno.

The LAPD said the right-wing group couldn’t have a bullhorn without a permit. The event started with introductions followed by prayer using the same jingoistic language common at Donald Trump rallies, referencing the “stolen election” and anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories.

Otherwise, the most-common messaging was delivered on signs reading “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Fuck Biden,” along with pro-Trump flags.

Roof Korea, a group of people identifying as a security force for the event, aggressively followed people who looked like they didn’t belong or appeared to be members of the press.

Roof Korea is named after armed Korean Americans defending their business during the 1992 Los Angeles rebellion.

By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter

Dr. Anyes Van Volkenburgh, owner of the Peninsula Pet Clinic, in a screen capture of one of her digital advertisements on YouTube

October 28 - November 10, 2021

says that all of the protestors named in the lawsuit, plus the 200 unnamed people in the Facebook group, “have intentionally and recklessly entered and trespassed on Peninsula’s leased premises at the Clinic and the frontage, front sidewalk and parking lot, on multiple occasions within the last 60 days.”

In addition, it accuses them of blocking the entrance to the clinic, as well as its parking lot and nearby sidewalk, after having been given notice not to enter the clinic or surrounding area. It does not specify why the clinic would have the authority to prevent protestors from entering the

surrounding area.

It also accuses the protestors of “disruption and harassment tactics, such as running in and out of the Clinic and surrounding area, swarming, surrounding, yelling and shouting at staff, new customers and existing customers, making defamatory statements, making slurs, using their cars and trucks to block the area, honking their car and truck horns to cause noise, all in an effort to disrupt Peninsula’s legitimate business activities through harassment and scare tactic,s [sic].”

The suit also claims that the clinic gave written notice to each of the defendants to not enter the premises, but does not specify if it means just the 13 named defendants or the 200 unnamed people in the group, nor does it specify how this was done.

The lawsuit says that the defendants made statements that “Peninsula had committed a crime, that Peninsula was a murderer, that Peninsula intentionally harmed animals, that Peninsula and staff were not professional veternarians [sic] and animal caregivers, that Peninsula were incompetent in their practice of veterinary medicine, that Peninsula was overcharging Clients, that Peninsula is unfair to its customers, and that Peninsula employed unfair business practices [sic].”

The lawsuit says these statements are false.

It also says the defendants harmed the clinic’s

Dr. Anyes Van Volkenburgh, controversial owner of the Peninsula Pet Clinic in San Pedro, is suing the protestors who demonstrated in the vicinity of her business for $21.5 million, according to court documents.

The demonstrators protested near her office on Aug. 16 and Aug. 28. Their complaints included overcharging for services, being rude to customers, and mistreating and misdiagnosing animals. Van Volkenburgh filed her lawsuit on Sept. 10.

In general damages, Van Volkenburgh claims $1 million for pain, suffering and inconvenience, $1 million for emotional distress, $3 million for injury to reputation and $6 million for infringement of copyright, trademark and trade reputation. In addition, she claims special damages of $900,000 in loss of earnings, $2 million in loss of earning capacity, as well as $500,000 for security, $875,000 for pre-judgement interest and $200,000 for attorney’s fees. She is also seeking $6 million in punitive damages.

Van Volkenburgh is suing 13 of the protestors, plus the Facebook group and page dedicated to shutting down her business. She is also seeking a temporary protective order or temporary restraining order against the 13 named defendants, plus up to 200 unnamed people in the Facebook group.

According to the court documents available on the Peninsula Pet Clinic’s website, the lawsuit

reputation, as well as “general damages including shame, embarrassment, mortification, and hurt feelings.”

The lawsuit also accuses the named defendants and up to 200 members of the Facebook group of conspiracy to commit the already listed acts.

On Aug. 25, the Peninsula Pet Clinic posted on its Facebook page a screenshot from the private Facebook group, where a member of the group asked for other members to submit complaints against the clinic to the Veterinary Medical Board.

“And what else have they leaked???” the clinic said in the caption. “What other juicy material evidence do we have that can be used in court? Thank you for the anonymous tip, Stranger. Good work. Keep it coming.”

On that same day, the clinic’s Facebook page criticized the Los Angeles Police Department, Harbor Division. It said one of the officers was a member of “a criminal Facebook group,” and accused him of “aiding and abetting” the protestors.

“Is this why the police stood by and did nothing, allowing criminals to attack an upstanding business?” the clinic wrote. “Are they protecting one of their own and his criminal alliances?”

In a different post, also from Aug. 25, the clinic accused the officer further.

“Police officer who sides with criminals,” the clinic wrote. “Now that’s a fraud if I’ve ever seen one.”

No trial date is yet set.

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Real People, Real News, Really Effective

Peninsula Pet Clinic Sues Protestors

They engaged outsiders with the intent to provoke as if spoiling for a fight. They harassed anyone with a camera.

Garcia-Ayala said he tried diffusing the confrontations by responding truthfully while using humor.

“They usually just went away. I went around taking pictures, but people kept saying things like, ‘you shouldn’t take pictures because you work for the liberal media.’ Or, ‘You’re ANTIFA media. You’re probably here just to take pictures of people’s faces,’” Garcia-Ayala said.

Though they’re trying to rebrand themselves as being about peace and love, their behavior when it came to the press was anything but.

There was an edge of hostility and not “love” that underpinned this event that was just waiting for someone to light a match to this gathering, which didn’t happen. There were a handful of people who were opposed that showed up to bear witness but the vocal opposition just didn’t show up, likely realizing that this was a made-for-TV news provocation.

Garcia-Ayala said he believed he was allowed to walk freely at first because of his military service (he is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan).

Garcia-Ayala said he was approached by two groups of people and one individual. He was approached by Roof Korea members once, and a random group of attendees the second time. The third time he was approached was by an individual who was particularly verbally aggressive. Every time Garcia-Ayala would walk away from a situation, someone would continue to follow him.

“Everytime I would take a picture, it was almost as if they wanted to just grab my camera,” Garcia-Ayala said.

Capt. Jay Mastick of Harbor Division confirmed that there was only one person detained but not arrested and that he had officers from Metro Division on standby if trouble erupted and others from throughout LAPD on duty that day.

LABORNotes California Moves to Prevent New Oil Drilling Near Communities

LOS ANGELES — As the state works to phase out fossil fuels, the Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management Division or CalGEM Oct. 21, released a proposed regulation that would prohibit new wells and facilities within a 3,200-foot exclusion area — or setback — from homes, schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other sensitive locations.

The state proposes a 3,200-foot setback to protect public health. A 15-member public health expert panel selected by University of California, Berkeley and Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers or PSE for Healthy Energy concluded when oil and gas developments are within 3,200 feet, there is a strong connection to higher rates of adverse birth outcomes, respiratory diseases such as asthma and heart disease, among other health impacts.

CalGEM will accept public comment on the draft rule for 60 days and then it will begin a comprehensive economic analysis of the rule.

Public comments can be submitted via email to CalGEMRegulations@conservation.ca.gov or by mailing comments to 801 K Street, Sacramento, California (ATTN: Public Health Regulations) by Dec. 21, 2021.

Details: www.conservation.ca.gov/calgem/Pages/Public-Health.aspx

San Pedro Bay Ports Announce New Measure to Clear Cargo

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SAN PEDRO — In an effort to improve cargo movement amid congestion and record volume, the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles will begin assessing a surcharge to ocean carriers for import containers that dwell on marine terminals.

Under the new policy, the ports will charge ocean carriers for each container that falls into one of two categories. In the case of containers scheduled to move by truck, ocean carriers will be charged for every container dwelling nine days or more. For containers moving by rail, ocean carriers will be charged if the container has dwelled for three days or more. Beginning Nov. 1, the ports will charge ocean carriers with cargo in those two categories $100 per container, increasing in $100 increments per container per day.

Fees collected from dwelling cargo will be re-invested by the two ports for programs designed to enhance efficiency, accelerate cargo velocity, and address congestion impacts throughout the San Pedro Bay. The policy was developed in coordination with the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, U.S. Department of Transportation and multiple supply chain stakeholders.

Port Launches Jordan High ACE Academy Partnership

October 28 - November 10, 2021

LONG BEACH — Port of Long Beach and Long Beach Unified School District officials on Oct. 20, kicked off a partnership at Jordan High School’s North Long Beach campus that will provide maritime industry expertise for students interested in careers in advanced manufacturing, construction and engineering.

The initiative at the Jordan ACE Academy brings real world experience to the classroom with maritime industry presenters, field trips and scholarships. The program provides students with work-based learning experiences that prepares students for future careers.

This is the second pathway partnership between the port and LBUSD. During the first four years of the program, the percentage of students with 100% attendance nearly doubled, and all other metrics for the program show positive increases with grade point averages, advanced placement courses and graduation rates continuing to move higher.

6 Details: www.polb.com/education.

Labor Wins Some in the Face of Economic Crisis

By Mark Friedman, Contributor

Thousands of union workers have gone on strike for better work hours, pay and benefits at food plants operated by Kellogg’s, Nabisco and Frito-Lay. At Kaiser Permanente in California, more than 24,000 healthcare workers voted to authorize a strike. Some 10,000 United Automobile Workers walked off the job and onto picket lines at John Deere — the first strike against the farming equipment manufacturer in 35 years — saying they were forced to work overtime while the company’s stock price hit an all-time high. The list goes on and includes more than 1,000 coal miners on strike for months at Warrior Met in Alabama. Some are calling it “Striketober,” but workers would have to sustain their militance much longer than one month to wrest back decades of concessions.

Illegal layoff of truckers after union vote

Universal Intermodal, which oversees multiple companies that handle goods coming through the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, was ruled to have violated multiple counts of federal labor law by laying off 70 employees in retaliation for their vote to join the Teamsters Union. Administrative Law Judge Michael A. Rosas ordered Universal Intermodal to rehire the fired workers, give them back pay with interest and negotiate wages and benefits with the unionbacked employees.

IATSE in Tentative Agreement

Some call it “Striketober” as IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees union of 60,000 television and film production workers, averted a strike when it reached a tentative agreement with an association of Hollywood producers representing companies like Walt Disney, Netflix and Amazon. The tentative deal brings members of IATSE, , higher pay, longer breaks, better healthcare and pension benefits.

Some members say the deal doesn’t go far enough, reports Democracy Now! Members are concerned with what’s called turnaround times, which is the minimum amount of time a worker has from when she leaves work to when she is expected to be back. Proposed wage increases for many members are only 3% a year, whereas currently, inflation is 5%.

About 40,000 members from 13 Hollywood locals must still approve the pact. Jacobin writer Alex Press says the averted strike is part of a “broader moment” of labor militancy across the United States, including workers at Amazon, Kellogg and elsewhere. “Workers are willing to fight back,” she says. “They understand they have more leverage right now.”

Strike vote at Kaiser Permanente

An overwhelming majority of Kaiser Permanente employees represented by UFCW

770 in Southern California authorized economic actions, including a strike. The employees are standing in solidarity with thousands of Kaiser employees across the country who have already voted to authorize a strike.

UFCW 770 represents nearly 2,000 skilled employees in Southern California at laboratories and pharmacies including pharmacy technicians, pharmacy assistants, clinical laboratory scientists and medical laboratory techs, as well as admins and medical assistants, among other health care specialists.

“Our workload increased due to COVID, adding new duties such as curbside pickups and arranging for special home deliveries. The company took away a whole distribution center which also increased our workload but did not provide additional staffing. We have been there for our patients even though we ourselves got infected,” said Tracy Cason, a pharmacy assistant at Kaiser Permanente, Baldwin Hills, who recovered from COVID-19.

“Kaiser Permanente makes billions of dollars in profits. The company keeps $45 billion dollars in reserves. There’s no reason why they can’t take care of their employees when as frontline workers, we provide extremely critical care to our patients,” said Christopher Porter, an inpatient/oncology pharmacy technician at Kaiser Permanente, Antelope Valley.

[Clean Up, from p. 1]

Clean Up

administration’s inconsistent actions reflect a deeper pattern of systemic failures, primarily with respect to flawed environmental analyses under the Donald Trump administration, and the Biden administration’s failure to re-examine them.

Two leading examples are the Willow Master Development Plan in the Western Arctic, which would have resulted in up to 250 wells producing an estimated 590 million bar- The oil spill off the Orange County coast washed up on Long Beach beaches. Photo courtesy of the Surfrider Foundation rels of oil over 30 years, and Lease Sale 257, the largest off-shore lease sale al agencies to evaluate the impact of their actions that’s simply not the case, that these oil spills are in history, covering 80 million acres of the Gulf on threatened and endangered species and their part of the inevitable result of this dirty dangerof Mexico, projected to produce up to 1.1 billion habitats,” Monsel explained. “But when new in- ous industry, and I think that a lot of those risks barrels of oil and 4 trillion cubic feet of natural formation comes to light that reveals effects … are heightened off California because of how old gas over the next 50 years. Both were approved they haven’t previously considered, that triggers a lot of the infrastructure is.”

The letter was sent the day after CBD reunder Trump, using a modeling approach that lu- a duty to re-initiate consultation to reevaluate leased an analysis finding that “since 1986, dicrously concluded that not drilling for massive what those impacts are.” quantities of oil would result in more greenhouse The sheer size of the oil spill was an example nearly 1,400 oil and gas pipeline leaks, spills and gases. After a court rejected this approach in the of such new information — initially reported other incidents in the Golden State have caused Arctic case in mid-August, the Biden administra- “more than 17 times larger than what the agen- at least $1.2 billion in damages, as well as 230 tion announced it would reexamine the Trump cies considered in their existing ESA analyses,” injuries and 53 deaths.”

Off-shore incidents are a relatively small plan. But it has since scheduled Lease Sale 257 the letter noted. It was later revised downward, for Nov. 17, despite being sued to stop by CBD but “It’s still significantly larger than what was percentage, but their visibility and impact looms and others. analyzed in the existing opinion,” Monsel said, large, both for endangered species and their habitats, and for neighboring communities, as highCalifornia’s off-shore oil fields are far small- which is unfortunately not unusual. er, but more high-profile, making long-term costs “It’s pretty common across the board for the lighted in a congressional field hearing held in more visible and questionable decisions more federal government to blow off the possibility of Irvine on Oct. 18, chaired by Irvine’s own repobvious, even as the underlying arguments are an oil spill, relying on things like inspections and resentative Katie Porter, and co-chaired by Long virtually identical. Flawed climate costs model- existing regulations to find that an oil spill is un- Beach Rep. Alan Lowenthal.

Porter drew attention to the substantial subsiing and inadequate endangered species analyses likely, and in the event that it happens it will be are common threads. small and not have any significant impact,” she dies Amplify and its subsidiary, Beta Operating, “The Endangered Species Act requires feder- said, adding, “We see time and time again that [See Oil, p. 10]

Carson Celebrates Larry Itliong Day

The City of Carson and parks and recs recognizing Larry Itliong featured a poster and essay contest from Kindergarten through High School. Leilani Arroyo Carson Harbor Teacher Prep High School won the grand prize. Photo by Harry Bugarin

On Oct. 22, the city of Carson celebrated the life and legacy of labor leader Larry Itliong.

The Filipino American labor leader gained wide recognition due to the Delano Grape Strike of 1965.

In October 2010, Carson’s City Council passed a resolution establishing Oct. 25 as Larry Itliong Day in Carson and has annually celebrated his life ever since.

Before this strike, the Itliong led Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee and Cesar Chavez’s National Farm Workers Association merged to form the National Farm Workers Union. The AFL–CIO union’s AWOC sent Itliong to Delano, California in the early 1960s, sent by the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee, of which the majority of its members were Filipinos who had arrived in the United States in the

1930s.

Up until that point, he had decades of labor organizing experience with the Alaskan salmon cannery union and the ILWU, Local 37. He organized a failed 1948 strike of the asparagus workers in Stockton and a successful strike in 1949. Arguably, he had more organizing experience than Dolores Huerta or Cesar Chavez.

Unfortunately he died a few years after the UFW was founded. He was pivotal to the Delano Grape strike and the early years of the UFW. The strike lasted for five years and relied on consumer boycotts, marches, community organizing and nonviolent resistance, gaining the movement national attention. In July 1970, the strike led to a collective bargaining agreement with the major table grape growers, affecting more than 10,000 farm workers.

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

October 28 - November 10, 2021

7

When All Systems Failed

No one was prepared for a delusional president

By James Preston Allen, Publisher

exposed in Congress by a whistle blower about one prominent Silicon Valley tech corporation.

In the aftermath of the insurrection, the pandemic and economic decline caused by it, the new president is sworn in under heavy protection promising bipartisanship to “build back better.” And yet the very party that supported the aborted coup attempt finds the new president and the nation at a divide that seemingly cannot be bridged.

Out west during this time there are massive wildfires, drought and a resurgence of the pandemic while some of the opposition party refuse to wear masks or get vaccinations that have proven to be effective against the disease. In California, the resistance is so virulent that they initiate a recall of a most popular governor and succeed in getting a special election called. It loses by nearly two to one but has the effect of nearly creating one more crisis just as the next one begins — the supply chain congestion at our ports.

I could end this twisted story here, but as you know it is yet unresolved. The pandemic is still with us, and the ex-president is still not indicted and still in denial. The opposition party is still hell bent on stopping any reforms or indeed governing with any sense of urgency to address climate change, voting rights protection, infrastructure, police reform, immigration reform, and in various states are doing their best to reverse civil rights, deny access to women’s health care and abortion and impeding the battle against the COVID-19 disease. Unfortunately, this isn’t a far fetched movie plot but the strange reality we’ve lived through.

From a distance, I see this as a monumental failure of our political and economic systems to plan for just such a crisis. The term “systems” is kind of a stretch. The pandemic exposed the lack of coordinated efforts from the very beginning from the federal down to the states and counties. From the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health to various private hospital corporations — none were prepared for a delusional president. None were prepared for the “just in time” delivery model to not function. It was however through the resilience of the American workers and a few dedicated leaders that brought courage, food and comfort to people during this crisis.

However, the legal mechanisms that have been in place for centuries, the economic model and the new media technologies that have evolved rapidly in the last decades as well as the

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

If you were looking at things from the outside over the past four years, it would look like the plot of a crazy movie that only a genius screenwriter could concoct: A celebrity narcissist gets elected president with the help of Russian trolls, and then nearly destroys the economy through his self-indulgent incompetence and mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic ­— failings for which he frequently blames non-white people and science via his habitual use of social media. Through it all, the only consequence he suffers is impeachment, but is never convicted.

The plot becomes increasingly bizarre after he attempts to rig the system in such a way as to allow him to hang on to the presidency, whether he won or lost the election. He refuses to concede, pressures Congress to decertify the results. He even goes as far as to incite his followers to storm the capital in an insurrection threatening to hang the vice-president. When this fails, he’s impeached a second time, but his loyal party again refuses to convict despite the voluminous evidence of his guilt.

He leaves office in disgrace, but the “big lie” continues, allowing him to raise millions of dollars for his discretionary use in challenging the vote results in the already certified elections in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. In Georgia, the disgraced former president faces a range of possible charges — including conspiracy and election fraud. His followers, still donning signs and t-shirts claiming, “he won” and “stop the steal,” are blind to his corruption.

Dozens of books are written about the fall and decline of this president. In one it is reported a senior military advisor says he was deeply shaken by the assault, and he was certain the president “had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election, now all but manic, screaming at officials and constructing his own alternate reality about endless election conspiracies.”

Meanwhile, back in Congress, the majority party starts an investigation into who, how and why the assault on the U.S. Capitol actually happened. As they dig into the evidence, they find a trail that leads back to the former president’s inner circle of operatives, several groups of white nationalist militias, and the stunning revelation that social media has been profiting from fanning the flames of hate speech and dissension all the while. The former president was the perfect protagonist for the social media algorithms that inspire hate speech around the world that are now being

8

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

—Mark Twain Vol. XLII : No. 22

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.

politics of the past seem to have all betrayed us.

At one point, back in March of 2020 when the country shut down and shipping ground to a virtual halt, there was a certain pause that revealed a truth that couldn’t be denied — that when the American consumers stopped spending their $13 trillion annual consumption everything stopped economically. That ultimately is a lot of power in the hands of the majority of the people, not the billionaires nor politicians. This and the shock of 700,000 U.S. citizens dying because of

ineptitude is perhaps the only thing that awakened enough of us to the threat posed by a celebrity narcissist bent on destroying our nation.

Perhaps in retrospect he deserves begrudging thanks for showing us just how vulnerable and precious what we have actually is. But I’ll only be satisfied once he is indicted and convicted then put away.

The thing is systems are only as good as the people who run them and the world is still wondering if ours still works.

Vacation Rental Ordinance A Remarkable Experiment in Self-Contradiction

By Kevin James

In 2018, the City of Los Angeles adopted its home-sharing ordinance, requiring a short-term rental to be a primary residence. Or put another way, the home sharing ordinance prohibits shortterm rentals in non-primary residences. With the city’s goal being to limit short-term rentals to protect long-term housing and neighborhoods, limiting short-term rentals to just primary residences is important, and makes sense.

What does not make sense, and what has housing advocates concerned, is the city’s subsequent move to propose the so-called Vacation Rental Ordinance.

The first page of the Vacation Rental Ordinance states that it creates clear rules and regulations to control the growth of the [vacation rental] industry, protect long-term housing supply, prevent citywide and geographic over-concentration, address community concerns about abuses,

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and compliment the Home-Sharing Ordinance.

And how will the Vacation Rental Ordinance achieve these goals? The answer is in the very same sentence that lists the goals — and the answer is unbelievable.

The Vacation Rental Ordinance states on the very first page that by legalizing and regulating short-term rentals in non-primary residences all of the great things listed above will happen.

The Vacation Rental Ordinance claims that by legalizing short-term rentals in non-primary residences growth of the industry will be control[led], long term housing supply will be protect[ed], citywide and geographic over-concentration will be prevent[ed], community concerns about abuses will be address[ed], and the Home-Sharing Ordinance will be compliment[ed].

This is obviously wrong. The truth is that the

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[See Ordinance, p. 9]

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RANDOMLetters It’s In the Numbers

The Republican politicians in Texas must really care about kids.

The infant mortality rate of Texas is tied at 23rd for the country.

Florida: 28 ( a larger number being worse) Kentucky: 36 Indiana: 45 The U.S. Virgin Islands does better than Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Evil socialist California is tied at three.

Cuba has a better infant mortality rate than the United States.

Mike Madrid San Pedro

Testimony POLA Oct. 21, 2021 Public Comment

The recent oil spill in Huntington Beach offers a direct segue into the continued high risk exposure to South Bay residents from the massive 25 Million Gallon liquefied Petroleum Gas storage facility, introduced by this Port in 1973.

Exemptions applied to the Amplify Energy Co. and the other oil pipelines installed directly within the traffic lanes of port bound cargo ships….was due to pressure of “expediency” resulting from the Mid East oil crisis of the early 1970s.

That same “emergency status” applied to the development of

[Ordinance, from p. 8]

Rental Ordinance

Meet Carson District 4 Candidate Dr. Sharma with the Medicine for Carson’s Dysfunction The Civil Liberties Champion: Candidate Faisal Gill Turns Outgoing City Attorney into his Foil Feuer for Mayor: He’s Got a Vision and a Plan for LA’s Future Curtain Call: Fun Wins Out in “Sister Act” Video: The City of Carson Celebrates Larry Itliong Day

Read these online exclusives and more at:

RandomLengthsNews.com

Community Alert

Congestion at the Ports: Nov. 3 Hearing to Address Shipping Crisis

The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles play a major role in the global supply chain and are crucial to the health of the American economy. At any given time, dozens of massive container ships sit in San Pedro Bay, but now they have been inundated with imports resulting in long wait times for ships to unload at the ports.

Things to know: • Approximately 40% of all goods arriving in the U.S. come through the two ports.

• Delays may impact holiday shopping and cost of goods • Shortage of trucks contributes to the supply chain strain.

• California farmers are struggling to export their goods.

• Experts predict the shipping surge will last into 2022.

The chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Ports and Goods Movement will be holding a joint informational hearing with the State Senate in the State Capitol to examine the issues facing California supply chains and identify solutions to the shipping crisis.

Time: 9:30 a.m. Nov. 3 Details: Watch the hearing live at www.assembly.ca.gov/ todaysevents

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Kevin James is an attorney, the former president of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works, and a candidate for Los Angeles City Attorney

mindless placement of this massive volatile & highly explosive facility. There simply is NO excuse for ignoring this situation any further.

Without “permitted” uses of public land controlled by this port … this LPG facility … currently owned by criminally convicted, Plains All American Pipeline … could NOT operate. Those permits can and should be revoked immediately by this port under the “umbrella of Public Safety.”

Why must we be forced to endure deadly consequences of government’s deliberate and ignorant disregard for our safety and for its very own infrastructure?

Janet Schaaf-Gunter San Pedro

nately, the Vacation Rental Ordinance interferes with our two most effective enforcement tools in the Home Sharing Ordinance.

First, there is a requirement that short-term rentals must be a primary residence. The Vacation Rental Ordinance harms this restriction because it allows properties other than primary residences to be listed as short-term rentals. So it is creating a loophole in this critical part of the Home Sharing Ordinance.

Second, there is a prohibition of listing rent stabilized units as short-term rentals. The Vacation Rental Ordinance hurts this restriction because it adds a whole new level of investigations on potentially thousands of new listings when the City Attorney’s office and city departments are already severely understaffed for enforcement of the Home Sharing Ordinance.

The Vacation Rental Ordinance ends up being an invitation for hosts and commercial operators to continue to ignore the Home Sharing Ordinance because the city will now have several thousand more of these listings to try and keep up with.

So while the proponents of the Vacation Rental Ordinance may be well-intentioned, passage of this ordinance actually could result in an acceleration of our low-income and affordable housing crisis.

There is a reasonable ball park figure on what this Vacation Rental Ordinance will cost the City of Los Angeles in lost housing stock.

Just by taking the 14,700 units the Vacation Rental Ordinance permits and then multiplying that number by a reasonable average value-perunit in Los Angeles of $500,000 — you get a total of over $7 billion dollars. That is what we are facing here.

One could call the Vacation Rental Ordinance the $7 billion dollar blow out to longterm housing stock in Los Angeles.

years after the Mid East oil crisis “emergency” was resolved. The port and vity of LA have continued to sweep this incredible disaster potential neatly under a bulging rug and have steadfastly “refused” to take any protective action, whatsoever.

A recent Los Angeles Times article describes the long ignored hazards from the hastily installed pipeline ultimately responsible for the recent oil disaster. It speaks to red flags of warning met with willful blind eyes. Please take note that as damaging as the decades long ignorance of recklessly placed oil pipelines may be, it pales greatly when compared to the extraordinary scale of death and destruction guaranteed from the flagrant …

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

opposite will occur. The Vacation Rental Ordinance opens the floodgates for short-term rentals.

If the city legalizes short-term rentals in non-primary residences by adopting the Vacation Rental Ordinance, growth of the industry will expand, long-term housing supply will be under attack, citywide and geographic over-concentration will proliferate, community concerns about abuses will be lost in the sheer volume of new short-term rentals, and the Home-Sharing Ordinance will be forever compromised and effectively eliminated.

When you legalize an industry, it grows. To claim otherwise defies logic. Proponents of the Vacation Rental Ordinance owe Angelenos answers to the following questions: • How does legalizing short-term rentals in non-primary residences control growth of the industry?

• How does such legalization protect longterm housing supply?

• How does legalization prevent citywide and geographic over-concentration?

• How does legalization address community concerns about abuses?

• And how does legalization of short-term rentals in non-primary residences compliment the Home Sharing Ordinance that expressly prohibits short-term rentals in non-primary residences?

The true effect of the Vacation Rental Ordinance is the opposite of its stated intent, and the result could be a $7 billion loss of available long-term housing stock. When it comes to the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, one thing the city must protect is our affordable housing stock.

And the City Attorney’s office currently has very few ways to protect it.

But one way is through enforcement of the city’s Home Sharing Ordinance. So the last thing we want to do is interfere with our ability to enforce the Home Sharing Ordinance. Unfortu-

the massive and highly explosive Butane Gas storage facility that continues to sit…representing an over 3-mile blast radius…”ticking away” on the doorsteps of our homes, schools, traffic corridors and at the edge of this port.

Like the disregarded pipeline safety concerns pertaining to the ocean pipelines …“exemptions” to compliance were also awarded to this LPG site. The regulatory exemptions included were from the LA Fire Dept., the American Petroleum Institute, the Dept. of LA Building and Safety, etc. Meaning that the facility never even met the lower regulatory threshold of that time! Fast forward now…almost 50 years later:…..the high jeopardy of this facility remains recklessly ignored despite the site’s horrific and ever increasing potential for catastrophe. This, 40-plus

9

[Oil, from p. 6]

Offshore Oil

had received, noting that Amplify “received $5.5 million in pandemic relief last year, only one year after they purchased massive stock buybacks to line the pockets of their shareholders,” in addition to two subsidies for Beta Operating. First, Porter noted, “They got nearly $20 million from the federal government specifically because the oil wells are at the end of their lives and are not producing much oil, which makes them less profitable so taxpayers are being asked to pay to encourage oil production in the Pacific Ocean by giving oil companies millions of dollars to do it.” Second, “Beta Operating is in line to get another $11 million to drill four new wells off the coast because that $11 million dollars is needed in their words to make production economic. So taxpayers are being asked to pay Beta to

drill new wells.”

These subsidies hearken back to the 1970s oil crisis, when they might have seemed to make sense to panicked politicians, but the fossil fuel lobby has kept them in place long after public support has evaporated. Provisions to end them are part of the Build Back Better package, specifically crafted by Porter.

But, “The witnesses here with us today will reveal a different kind of subsidy for oil and gas companies,” Porter said, “An involuntary subsidy that occurs when the community bears the cost of oil drilling’s pollution. When a locallyowned business like [West Caught Fish Company owner] Mr. [Scott] Breneman’s that has been in the family for four generations loses tens of thousands of dollars because of the leak, that’s his subsidy to oil and gas. When a hotel loses its bookings overnight that’s its subsidy for oil and gas. When the fragile decades-long effort to

recover a species under the endangered species act is finally showing progress but an oil spill puts it all at risk, that’s a cost of oil and gas too.”

Globally, fossil fuel subsidies were $5.9 trillion in 2020 These kinds of subsidy — what economists call the “externalized costs” of fossil fuels — are far larger than the direct subsidies from government, whether they’re deadly serious, such as premature deaths from pollution, or based on sheer misperception, as is the case with Breneman, who catches his fish 60 to 100 miles beyond the oil spill, in pristine, 3,000-foot deep water.

“In the ’90s my dad went through the oil spill that was off Seal Beach,” Breneman testified, “In our fish market the same exact response from the public — scared, worried the product’s contaminated all the way up — the huge ripple effect —

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all the way up to the wholesalers I deal with outside of Orange County. They had concerns from their customers, their restaurants,” he said. “In the ’90s, I watched my dad struggle for months to get it back to back to where it was. And I’m seeing the same exact thing happen here.”

According to a recent working paper from the International Monetary Fund, “Globally, fossil fuel subsidies were $5.9 trillion in 2020 or about 6.8% of GDP and are expected to rise to 7.4% of GDP in 2025.” However, “Just 8% of the 2020 subsidy reflects undercharging for supply costs (explicit subsidies) and 92 percent for undercharging for environmental costs and foregone consumption taxes (implicit subsidies).” Eliminating government subsidies in the Build Back Better plan would go a long way toward cutting that 8% down to zero. But to protect Scott Breneman and the rest of us in that 92%, nothing short of ending

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Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) pointed out that the federal government gave nearly $20 million to Amplify to keep using old oil wells.

the drilling will do.

“This is not a novel threat to us. Time and again Californians have suffered at the hands of offshore dwelling drilling,” Lowenthal said. “Preventing new offshore drilling is a crucial first step. … But we also must work together to wind down the current productions and demand that companies decommission their platforms, their wells, and their pipelines and clean up the mess they have left behind.”

Prevailing currents keep the immediate dangers of off-shore oil away from San Pedro and Wilmington. But the underlying logic threatens us in another way: The same oil crisis rush that led to the questionable decisions about Amplify’s pipeline was also responsible for the Rancho LPG facility, now owned by Plains All American, the same company responsible for the 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill.

As Random Lengths has previously documented, that facility has a three-mile blast radius, putting tens of thousands of residents’ lives at risk.

“Like the disregarded pipeline safety concerns pertaining to the ocean pipelines, exemptions to compliance were also awarded to this LPG site,” activist Janet Schaaf-Gunter noted in comments to the Harbor Commission on Oct. 21. “The regulatory exemptions included were from the LA Fire Dept., the American Petroleum Institute, the Dept. of LA Building and Safety, etc. Meaning that the facility never even met the lower regulatory threshold of that time!”

So far, we’ve been lucky. But how much longer can our luck last?

By Melina Paris, Assistant Editor

T

he San Pedro International Film Festival or SPIFF and Grand Vision Foundation, together with the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce will present Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 tour de force silent film, City Lights, at the historic Warner Grand Theatre on Nov 5.

This special screening honors three milestones in San Pedro’s cultural offerings. It celebrates the 10th anniversary of SPIFF — on its opening night, as well as Grand Vision Foundation’s 25th Anniversary and the Warner Grand Theatre’s 90th birthday. The event gathers San Pedro’s business and arts community, classic film and film festival fans and art deco enthusiasts.

“This is a unique way to call attention to the Warner Grand’s 90 years of entertaining the community,” Liz Johnson, executive director of Grand Vision Foundation, said. “City Lights was released in 1931, the same year the theater opened. By screening it alongside SPIFF’s new independent films, we connect the Warner Grand to both the past and the future.”

SPIFF created a hybrid festival that has become

the standard since the global pandemic crisis. SPIFF producer Ziggy Mrkich said the festival gives the local community a place to watch works from local filmmakers and emerging filmmakers from around the world on the big screen — both in a historic movie palace and online.

“It’s been a landmark year for the festival celebrating our 10th anniversary, and also the 90th for the Warner Grand and then also for the Grand Vision Foundation.”

Mrkich said. “Liz Johnson and I thought it would be a fun event to celebrate all these anniversaries together and open the SPIFF with a classic film from that era, Chaplin’s City Lights.”

In the festival’s inaugural year, Mrkich said they were lucky enough to screen Silver Linings Playbook [2013 Academy Award Best Actress] before the Oscars.

“I remember being so happy about that,” she said.

“This year we are excited to be back in the theater after being completely online and virtual last year.”

Feature Film

Charlie Chaplin’s silent romantic comedy, City Lights is considered his masterpiece. It’s been regarded by

directors and critics throughout the 20th century as one of the best films ever made.

Famed critic Roger Ebert, in a 1997 review, spoke to Chaplin’s talent and City Lights, which he noted would come the closest to representing all the different notes of Chaplin’s genius.

“It contains the slapstick, the pathos, the pantomime, the effortless physical coordination, the melodrama, the bawdiness, the grace, and, of course, the Little Tramp ... The Tramp is more of a mime, a person for whom body language serves as speech. He exists somehow on a different plane than the other characters; he stands outside their lives and realities, is judged on his appearance, is homeless and without true friends or family, and interacts with the world mostly through his actions.”

For those who aren’t sure about seeing a silent film, Ebert offered a compelling reason to do so. He observed that Chaplin and other silent filmmakers knew no national boundaries.

“Their films went everywhere without regard for [See Film, p. 16] Real People, Real News, Really Effective

October 28 - November 10, 2021

San Pedro International Film Festival producer Ziggy Mrkich in front of the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro. SPIFF is celebrating its 10th anniversary and the Warner Grand its 90th. Photo by Raphael Richardson.

11

I

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

don’t know if anyone has noticed, but there is an abundance of fun and creative museums to go to with great food all around Los Angeles, from ice cream to donuts. Now there’s a coffee museum, called Coffee World, located in Torrance. The world’s first coffee pop-up establishment brings a whole new realm of vibrant colors and fun. Created by brother and sister, Kashin and Divya Papel, as well as Nishant Sehgal and Tran Ngo, the popup museum provides an immersive, interactive experience for the price of a few cups of fine coffee. For $25, you can have the experience of becoming a cup of coffee from bean to brew.

Divya, the founder and the artistic mind of all, walked me through a curated coffee-inspired art show alongside a fully immersive social media experience. This, while teaching about the process and history of this bean we love so much.

Kishan and his sister Divya wanted to bring something new and interesting that brought Angelenos together. Their answer was coffee — the greatest product consumed globally on a daily basis ever, reflected in the cultures that make up Los Angeles. At Coffee World, the light and the dark and a splash of artistic vision (puns intended) of coffee are showcased.

The museum idea that’s been in the works since 2018 was first brought to life in March 2020 until temporarily shut down due to the pandemic, but reopened in May 2021. Since reopening, business has been booming and attracting people from all over neighboring cities, including San Pedro locals like myself.

Kishan helped me imagine ten different rooms that would showcase the entire coffee process.

Rather than the old-school way of going to museums to look around and read, here you’re

12

The Whimsical Experience of Coffee World

By Vera Magana, Dining and Cuisine Writer

source for coffee. The cherry is the pip inside the red or purple fruit.

In subsequent rooms, it was apparent that each space was curated using specific artists from all over the world. As the tour continued there were many fun things to keep yourself entertained, including a game of cup pong and a giant ball pit that made you feel like a coffee bean being roasted. We continued on to the seventh room, which was dedicated to sustainability, using used coffee cups to build an art piece, showcasing recycling in the process and making it beautiful.

The remaining rooms can be left to the imagination until your visit, but the fluorescent colors of each section flow radiantly, and there is plenty to learn. One fact interesting to me, I discovered through an art piece on their wall that said “THANK GOAT FOR COFFEE.” According to a legend, a young Ethiopian herder named Kaldi noticed his older goats bouncing around with high energy all over hillsides, so he followed them and discovered they had been eating a bright red cherry. Curious enough, he ate one too and suddenly became [See Coffee, p. 13]

Kashin and Divya Papel, siblings and creators of Coffee World, pose in various installations within the museum. Photos

by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

interacting with what’s around you, and each room represents a step in the coffee process from farm to cup. This museum is not only for the coffee lovers, but great for all ages, kids, adults and even people who don’t drink coffee but just enjoy pictures with life size whimsical art.

The tour of Coffee World begins in the seeding room, which became my personal favorite. The

zen environment and colorful artwork around the walls and ceiling offered a sense of peace and groundedness.

In the second room, two different types of processing occur — the dry method and the wet method.

Through another door was a beautiful art exhibit of hanging strings that represent the cherry going through the de-pulping process. A coffee bean is a seed of the coffea plant and the

[Coffee, from p. 12]

Whimsical Coffee World

energized, and thus coffee was discovered.

One more surprise is you can’t have coffee at their establishment just quite yet, however, based on this success, there are rumors about another location opening up. So be on the lookout for Coffee World, an interactive experience that makes you feel like a kid experiencing coffee for the first time all over

again. If coffee is your love language, definitely stop by.

Venue: Coffee World, 3525 W. Carson St., Suite #173, Torrance Time: Thursday through Friday 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Details: 310-896-5576

Palos Verdes Art Center EUGENE DAUB: MONUMENTAL

Michael Stearns Studio@The Loft COPACETIC

Above, vessels

by Phoebe Barnum; right, installation by Lowell Nickel.

Eugene Daub with Lewis & Clark Expedition, Montana Capitol Senate Chamber

Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon.- Fri., 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sat. through Nov. 13 Details: 310-541-2479; www.pvac.org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road, Rancho Palos Verdes

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

Palos Verdes Art Center / Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education is pleased to announce Eugene Daub: MONUMENTAL, a retrospective of the internationally acclaimed sculptor’s large public works sited across the U.S. This exhibition will disclose the many stages that are crossed in the course of developing a monument — the evolution from a sketch to a maquette, then an enlargement, the mold-making process, and finally the pouring of the bronze and welding it all back together again from many pieces — giving a behind-the-scenes view of the many steps taken to create monumental sculptures.

Copacetic: “It’s all good.” Michael Stearns Studio presents works

by Lowell Nickel and Phoebe Barnum. Their mixed media works investigate the fashioning of our own human footprint as artifact.

Opens on Nov. 4 with a reception for the artists on Nov. 6, 2 to 5 p.m. Runs through Dec. 18.

Details: www.michaelstearnsstudio.com Venue: Michael Stearns Studio@The Loft, 401 S. Mesa St., San Pedro.

362 W. 6th St. San Pedro 90731 310-935-2886

koryuramen.com Koi Ramen

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Ko-Ryu Ramen

13

[Scary Stories, from p. 1]

Stories can connect humans, consciously and subconsciously. When it comes to scary stories, Jones said they’re also important because most stories have resolutions — generally somebody triumphs. In scary stories, oftentimes, the main character doesn’t triumph but they give latitude to what you can imagine is possible, so … the things that are bothering you seem more local and accessible.

“They’re not zombies or ghosts or demons, you know?” Jones said. “People like to be scared as long as they know that they’re safe. They like the adrenaline rush and the contemplation of the unknown is something we all do. The Scary Stories also give a nice metiér [environment] for that.”

Jones equated that rush to the experience of seeing something scary in a film, then later, you can’t get that image out of your mind. But when you’re having an auditory experience and you are creating your own images, she said what might last in your mind are certain repetitive sound effects that are stand-ins for characters or emotions for stories. The listener is much more in control of how much they want to react.

San Pedro has an affinity for scary stories and mysteries. Because of the town’s long history, tales tell of haunted houses [The San Pedro Haunting] and buried treasures [#rudecindas_buried_treasure] from residents past.

“This is old land as far as human beings go,” Jones said. “Native cultures have roots here and it’s a natural harbor. I think as long as humans have lived in this [wider region], humans have lived here because it would be a logical place to be.”

And of course, Jones noted, the light-hearted fixation with pirates — including the San Pedro

Scary Stories Haunt the Night

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Melanie Jones, founder of Scary Stories, poses in her witch costume at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala

14

High School Pirates. There were probably some pirates here, Jones posited while noting the “crazy sailor town vibe” that San Pedro had through the two world wars. Even the site where Scary Stories takes place, at Angels Gate, Jones said, is pretty spooky.

She mentioned the gun emplacements at Angels Gate where massive offshore guns were located.

“It’s a place of ancient violence,” Jones noted. “Scary stories are often stories of violence of some kind. And those bunkers ...

There’s a mythology about those bunkers under

the hill, that are right next to where we do our Scary Stories.”

Jones has walked through there, where guns were stored and she said they’re pretty creepy.

She even mentioned a mythology about a very sick criminal individual who set up house there for a while.

“Any place that has had human beings living on it for a long time has its share of scary stories that happened,” Jones said. “Murders, treacheries of various kinds, scary criminals, people going crazy, we’re human beings … that’s what we do. I’m sure San Pedro has had

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its fair share of all of that.”

Acting is in her story

The Scary Story producer and director got interested in acting very young, doing her first professional show at 16. Jones worked in repertoire in different places around the country. She also worked in Hollywood and has continued her associations with the theater.

Although she’s stepped away from stage acting right now, Scary Stories is her focus in terms of performing.

“And it’s definitely performing,” Jones said. “Of course you don’t get to use your body.

It’s not visual so a lot of things like that are not available but it’s all in the ear, there’s a lot you can do with ... voice and sound, like taking on different characters and voices. People’s imaginations will fill in the rest.”

Like the tale of Dead Aaron, in the virtual version of Scary Stories in which “the corpse refuses to lie down and be dead” storytellers use humor to mix it up a little. Jones designed the program to be friendly to families, so the stories tend to be shorter. The narrators get people accustomed to trusting their ears, relaxing in the environment and allowing themselves to listen.

Jones said she tries not to scare you too much — although she revealed the last story in this year’s program is pretty unsettling.

The live program includes the campfire, different actors/storytellers and sound effects.

Last year they couldn’t meet live because of COVID-19, so Jones created a virtual show.

This will be the first year Scary Stories is having two different programs and two different venues. Jones decided this year to keep both the virtual and live shows going. Each program is distinct from the other but the essence of it is very similar to its original setting.

Scary Stories are suitable for all ages.

Complete with sound effects, the virtual version is similar to the live shows including the visual of burning fire. And if you listen at home, Jones encourages you to turn the lights off, light some candles and listen.

Jones is excited to perform live again.

Performing virtually was a good challenge she said, which she enjoys, too because she also does all the technology — the sound effects and mixing.

“I think that we have sorely missed being able to gather together in groups,” Jones said.

“There’s plenty of space up there and we’re going to make sure people have plenty of distance and wear their masks, so that it will be safe for everybody. I’m really excited to be in a group of people and to share scary stories.

“The witch is definitely my alter ego now.

People ask me, what are you going as? I’m like, are you kidding me? I’m a witch.”

Scary Stories, Live and Online Produced and directed by Melanie Jones.

With Heather Handwerk, John Charles Meyer, Cathy Skubik and Bill Wolski reading works

by Gahan Wilson, Susan Price, Ruskin Bond, Libba Bray and Charles Dickens, among others.

Donations gratefully accepted. Distanced seating and masks are required. Or, gather around the virtual fire at home for a unique online program.

Time: Live, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 /Online, Oct. 22 to Nov. 2 Cost: Scary Stories 19, live performance; $5; free online Details: www.MelanieJonesStoryteller.com and click on Witch Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

MUSIC Oct. 29

Bob Malone Known for his high-energy piano rock concerts, Malone has worked with Ringo Starr and many others.

He is featured on The Grinch (2018) soundtrack and is a longtime member of John Fogerty’s touring band. Enjoy Malone’s show at the Annex with a full band.

Includes Halloween festivities, costumes encouraged.

Time: 8 p.m. Oct. 29 Cost: $23 and up Details: www.grandvision.secure. force.com/bob-malone Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 5

First Fridays at First Presents Cantilena Trio Tenor John Lee Keenan, flutist Susan Greenberg and guitarist Kenton Youngstrom.

Consummate artists present creative arrangements for this unique combination.

Time: 12:15 p.m. Nov. 5 Cost: Free Details: 310-316-5574; www.palosverdes.com/ classicalcrossroads Venue: Online

Nov. 6

Branford Marsalis The jazz superstar will blow the house down in an evening of dazzling virtuosity, heartfelt ballads, and telepathic improvisations with his famed quartet.

Time: 8 p.m. Nov. 6 Cost: $65 Details: www.tix.com/ticket-sales/ carpenterarts Venue: Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach

Nov. 7

First Thursday ArtWalk Celebrates 24 Years Music will be programmed on the corner of 6th and Mesa streets and will feature Chad Bishop.

Organizers are positioning food trucks on the ArtWalk perimeters, and the guided ArtWalk Tours will gather at 6 p.m. at Sirens Java and Tea, 402 W. 6th St. Download the ArtWalk Map: www. sanpedrowaterfrontartsdistrict. com/map Time: 6 to 9 p.m. Nov. 4 Cost: Free Details: Sign up for free, in-person guided ArtWalk tour tickets: https:// tinyurl.com/3a9enb65 Location: Downtown San Pedro, 6th and 7th streets

Nov. 14

Long Beach Camerata Singers: Peace Project 5 Reconciliation Dr. James Bass has designed a concert that will explore the themes of diversity and inclusion that are so pressing in these times. The theme of Peace Project 5 will be “Reconciliation.”

In addition to featuring the premiere of Testimony composed

by Richard Danielpour, the rest of the repertoire and narrative will directly consider themes of equity, acceptance, racial justice and healing.

Time: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 Cost: $40 to $65 Details: www.longbeachcamerata singers.org/event/peace-project-5 Venue: Jordan Theater, 6500 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach

THEATER Oct. 28

Blues In The Night A Tony-nominated and Oliviernominated musical, conceived and originally directed by Sheldon Epps. With little spoken text, the interweaving stories are defined through glorious songs that cover the range of this indigenous American art form, from Bessie Smith to Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen, Alberta Hunter, Jimmy Cox, Ida Cox and more. The show runs Oct. 28 through Nov. 7.

Time: 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday Cost: $49 Details: www.ticketmaster.com/ international-city-theater-blues-inthe-night Venue: Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

Nov. 4

2021 Live Arts Exchange Festival LAX Festival returns in 2021 as a platform for gentle reconnections with Los Angeles-based artists and contemporary performance.

This year the festival will program 10 days of dance, music, theater and conversation in a light-filled breezy warehouse space on Mission Road, known lovingly as Frankie. Artists are sharing projects that were in development before and during a global pandemic. Please join. Capacity is limited and proof of vaccination is required.

Time: Various times, Nov. 4 to 14 Cost: $8 to $20 Details: www.performance practice.la/festival Venue: Frankie warehouse space, 300 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles

Nov. 4

The Tune In Festival Over 30 artists and ensembles come together to celebrate music and poetry as sources of resilience and resistance. Curated by performance poet J. Ivy and pianist Lisa Kaplan in close collaboration with CAP UCLA executive and artistic director Kristy Edmunds.

Time: 7 p.m. Nov 4 to 9 p.m. Nov. 9

Cost: Free Details: online.cap.ucla.edu.

Venue: Online

Nov. 13

Long Beach Symphony Opening Night Eckart Preu conducts the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra in performances of the StarSpangled Banner, Fanfare for the Common Man, Ballade for Orchestra Opus 33, culminating in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Time: 8 p.m. Nov.13 Cost: $32 and up Details: 562-436-3203 ext. 1; Venue: 249 E. Ocean Blvd., Suite 200, Long Beach

ART

Oct. 28 Betwixt and/or Between Betwixt and/or Between is organized by John David O’Brien, and includes works by Nena Amsler, Fatemeh Burnes, Mark Steven Greenfield, Renée Lotenero, John David O’Brien, Pam Posey, Shirley Tse, Alexis Zoto and Ismael de Anda III in collaboration with Eugene Ahn. Betwixt and/or Between seeks to illuminate how these different vital points are connected within the artists, their practice and ultimately the viewer.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday through Dec. 11 Cost: Free Details: https://www. angelsgateart.org/galleries/ Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Oct. 28

Hair Pulling Between Good and Evil The exhibition explores ideas around Filipino/a/x identity during Filipino American History Month. The Philippines have a rich tradition of weaving and mixed media, the artists in this exhibition not only weave together different materials, but family histories and connections. Join the artists and curators for an interactive discussion of Hairpulling Between Good and Evil, which explores Filipino heritage and identity.The exhibition runs through Dec. 11.

Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m., Oct. 28 Cost: Free Details: www.angelsgateart.org/ galleries/ Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro Breathe Studio artist Beth Elliott is showing a curated selection of her cyanotypes from her Breathe series from 2020-2021 in the galleries.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, through Dec. 11 Cost: Free Details: 310-519-0936;

angelsgateart.org Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St. San Pedro

Oct. 30

blue/s Experience 49 El Segundo Museum of Art invites you to a special preview and reception, with curatorial remarks at 6 p.m. from curator and arts writer Essence Harden. blue/s is a group exhibition. Through sitespecific installation, sculpture, photography, painting, collage and soundscapes, the Experience is an exploration of the color, influence sound and mood held within blue.

Time: 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 30 through March 26 Cost: Free Details: 424-277-1020; rsvp@artlab21.org Venue: ESMoA, 208 Main St., El Segundo We Are Home: A Community Quilt Project During October, quilt-block workshops led by SoLA and hosted at Angels Gate Cultural Center, brought these two communities together in making a quilt. This reception will display the final assembled quilt, each a personal reflection of home and community. Hear from the project organizer and meet some of the community members who shared their quilt block creations with the project. Concluding the quilt exhibition tour, individual quilt blocks will be auctioned and all proceeds will be donated to homeless-serving organizations.

Time: 4 to 6 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: Free Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ we-are-home Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, G Classroom, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro

Nov. 3

Eugene Daub: MONUMENTAL Join Palos Verdes Art Center for an artist talk by sculptor Eugene Daub in the atrium at PVAC followed by a tour led by the artist. Among the 12 of Daub’s monumental public works chronicled by this exhibition are Lewis & Clark, Kansas City, Mo; Rosa Parks, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.; and Harry Bridges, ILWU Union Hall, Wilmington. For those unable to attend in person, the artist talk portion of the event will be simultaneously held on Zoom, followed by Q & A. Register for Zoom at Eventbrite here, www. eventbrite.com/e/eugene-daubmonumental-artist-talk Time: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Nov.3, exhibition tour: 12 p.m.

Cost: Free Details: pvartcenter.org Venue: Palos Verdes Art Center, 5504 Crestridge Road Rancho Palos Verdes

Nov. 6

Copacetic Michael Stearns Studio presents works by Lowell Nickel and Phoebe Barnum. Their mixed media works investigate the fashioning of our own human footprint as artifact.

Time: Reception for the artists on 2 to 5 p.m. Nov. 6. Runs through Dec. 18.

Cost: Free Details: www.michaelstearns studio.com Venue: Michael Stearns Studio@ The Loft, 401 S. Mesa St., San

Pedro.

FILM

Oct. 30

Coco and Cruella Join a fall season of “Twilight Cinema,” a series of free Saturday night drive-in movie nights at the Pacific Coast Campus of Long Beach City College. Reservations are required and open at 9 a.m. on the Thursday of the week before the event. One vehicle is permitted per reservation and the parking lot opens at 5 p.m. Due to physical distancing requirements, people can only attend in vehicles.

Time: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30, Coco and Nov. 6, Cruella Cost: Free Details: polb.com/twilightcinema.

Venue: LBCC,1305 E. Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach.

Hocus Pocus This Halloween, the 10th annual San Pedro Film Festival presents Hocus Pocus. A villainous comedic trio of witches (Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy) are inadvertently resurrected by a teenage boy (Omri Katz) in Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night.

Time: 8 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: $15 Details: www.brownpapertickets. com/hocus-pocus Venue: Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 5

San Pedro International Film Festival Opens SPIFF kicks off with the silent film classic City Lights, Charlie Chaplin’s romantic comedy. This film, released the same year as the Warner Grand’s opening, is regarded by many directors and critics as one of his best.

Time: 7:15 to 9 p.m. Nov. 5 Cost: $20 to $25 Venue: Warner Grand Theater, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ charles-chaplins-city-lights-tickets

LITERATURE Nov. 13

In Conversation With George Geary George Geary is a historian, author, and TV personality who

Nov. 21

Tongva Stories Reimagined Tina Calderon is a Tongva culture bearer and storyteller, Jessica Gudiel is a visual artist who is inspired by traditional shadow puppetry. The two collaborated to create a magical experience as Tina told a creation story and Jessica animated it. Their collaboration will be shown and discussed, Jessica’s artwork will be on display, and Tina will tell more Tongva stories and sing new songs in her ancient language.

Come for an afternoon of ancient traditions brought to life.

Time: 2 p.m. Nov. 21 Cost: $15 Details: www.eventbrite/tongvastories Venue: Collage, 731 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

COMMUNITY Oct. 28

Downtown Día De Los Muertos 2021 Grand Park pays tribute to the cultural tradition of Día de los Muertos — Day of the Dead — with a 12-day public art installation taking place now through Nov. 2. Presented in partnership with Self Help Graphics & Art, Downtown Día de los Muertos is a community-oriented space inviting park-goers to contribute to the community altar. Stroll through the park to view 20 altars made by professional artists and local community organizations Time: 5:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Oct. 28 to Nov. 2 Cost: Free Details: www.grandparlla.org Venue: Grand Park, 200 N. Grand Ave., between Grand Avenue and Hill Street, Los Angeles

Oct. 30

Scary Stories Live and Online Join around a bonfire for an all-new program of tales for the witching season, suitable for young and old, living and… shhhh!

The performance will be outside in the amphitheater around the bonfire. Distanced seating; masks required. Picnics are welcome. Bring your own chairs and dress warmly.

Limited number of folding chairs available free on site.

No reservations are required.

There will also be an online free Scary Stories with similar programing between Oct. 22 to Nov. 2 at: www. melaniejonestoryteller.com/ witch Time: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: $5, children 6 and under, free. Cash only Details: melaniejones storyteller.com Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro 25th Annual Historical Cemetery Tour This one-of-a-kind living history event provides an amazing opportunity to remember the lesser-known

[See Calendar, p. 16]

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Nov. 10

Storm Large Cabaret Vocal superstar Storm Large returns to the Carpenter Center Cabaret stage with her sultry and subversive renditions of jazz standards, Broadway showstoppers and classic anthems.

Time: 7 p.m. Nov. 10, 11 Cost: $45 to $55 Details: www.tix.com/ticket-sales/ carpenterarts Venue: Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach

New Blues Festival The festival features two stages of entertainment with artists Tito Jackson, Lester Lands, Redd House, She Wears Black Corday and many others. A family friendly event with a vendor village, food vendors and bar.

Time: Nov. 13 Cost: $50 and up Details: www.newbluesfestival. com Venue: Shoreline Aquatic Park, 200 Aquarium Way, Long Beach

has written a book about the history of foods invented in California. At this afternoon event he will explore why California has such an enduring creative streak, engage in a conversation with culinary historian Richard Foss, and will sign books.

Time: 2 p.m. Nov. 13 Cost: Free Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/inconversation Venue: Collage, 731 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

The San Pedro Jazz Sextet This exciting group played its first-ever concert at Collage in September. The sextet was a hit, so they are returning. The group injects new life into classics and is also adept at sultry latin inflected pieces.

Time: 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 Cost: $20 Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ the-san-pedro-jazz-sextet Venue: Collage, 731 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro

Nov. 4

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

Perla Batalla The Grammy-nominated singersongwriter is best known for adding her rich vocals to the works of Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne and many others. She grew up surrounded by music at her family’s record store, Discoteca Batalla in Venice, Calif. and her solo performances combine her early influences with an homage to the music of Leonard Cohen.

Time: 8 p.m Nov. 7 Cost: $28 and up Details: www.grandvision.secure. force.com/Perla-Batalla Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 13

15

[Film Festival, from p. 11]

Film Festival

language, and talkies were like the Tower of Babel, building walls between nations,” Ebert said.

Mrkich said they look forward to screening this classic film at the Warner Grand — SPIFF’s home for the last 10 years. She noted the support from the community has been essential to the festival’s success.

SPIFFest

Also, as customary, SPIFF will participate in the San Pedro First Thursday Art Walk, with a reception at 7 p.m. Nov. 4, with an art exhibition at Backdoor Studios located on 374 W. 7th Street, which houses live/work art lofts including artist’s Cherry Wood, Jeff Allu, Peter Scherre, and Jules Wolfe.

SPIFF continues with the main film program Nov. 6, with the first Short Takes 1 program, followed by the feature film Wisper and ending the evening with the feature length documentary Raymond Lewis: LA Legend about the extremely talented basketball player blackballed from the NBA in the 1970s.

Closing out the film portion of the festival

Nov. 7 is Short Takes 2 and the feature film Amazon Queen, from award winning director Marlin Darrah.

SPIFF will host a tech panel discussion Nov. 7. From VR/AR to Crypto: the State of the Art of Digital Entertainment 2021. Innovators will review the mass movement towards digitization, the latest technologies and explore a range of trending digital applications.

In addition to these screenings, the program will also be available online until Nov. 14.

Film tickets include a pre-screening reception with one complimentary drink ticket.

Enjoy generous appetizers, sparkling wine or a vintage specialty cocktail plus a brief, live musical set of 1920s and ’30s tunes by vintage songstress, Janet Klein.

All Warner Grand attendees are required to wear a mask while not eating or drinking and to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test taken within 72 hours.

City Lights Time: 5 p.m. Nov. 5 Cost: $20 to $25 / Purchase at Details: 310-833-4813; www.grandvision.org and www.SPIFFest.org Venue: The Warner Grand Theater, 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

and well-known figures in Long Beach history.

Time: 9 to 3 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: $1 to $25 Details: 562-424-2220; w w w. h s l b . o r g / e v e n t / 2 5 t h cemetery-tour Venue: Sunniside and Municipal Cemeteries, 1095 E. Willow St., Long Beach Día De Los Muertos Celebration Between sets, enjoy DJ Las Chicas Tristes, Mariachi Angelitas, Jenni Rivera Tribute Band, The Como La Flor Band’s tribute to Selena, just after dusk, Coco film screening, Poncho Sanchez and his Latin jazz band and closing with Aztec Dancers. Food and drinks will be plentiful and the only thing you need to enter is proof of vaccination or COVID-negative test results within 72-hours of the event.

Time: 2 to 9:30 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: Free Details: 562-570-2222;.district2@ longbeach.gov Location: Pine Ave., between 4th and 6th streets, Long Beach Pre-Bagged Book Sale For every $10.00 donation, receive one of following: One-dozen pre-bagged hardcover fiction books, Two-dozen pre-bagged paperback fiction books Threedozen pre-bagged children’s paperback books. Books are already bagged by category and/or genre: General fiction, mystery/thriller, large print, classics, sci-fi/fantasy, children.

Time: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 30 Cost: Free Details: 310-781-7595 Venue: Katy Geissert Civic Center Library, 3301 Torrance Blvd., Torrance

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant

Nov. 1

16

helicopter rides for purchase.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 6.

Cost: Free Details: longbeach.gov/lgb/ community-information/festivalof-flight.

Venue: Long Beach Airport, Taxiway E, located on the west end of the airfield at 3590 E. Wardlow Road, Long Beach

[Calendar, from p. 15]

Honoring Día de los Muertos In lieu of the annual festivities that San Pedro typically hosts, downtown San Pedro will feature two viewable art activations designed by local artists, Sonia Gomez and Ruby Prieto.

Installations will be viewable at two locations in the downtown district Nov. 1 and Nov. 2. Face coverings are required when visiting the art installations and all guests are encouraged to practice physical distancing.

Time: Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 Cost: Free Details: www.sanpedrobid.com Location: 7th and Centre streets, 6th and Mesa streets, San Pedro

Nov. 5

First Fridays Long Beach First Fridays is back, Nov. 5. Join

to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with the annual Bixby Knoll Business Altar Contest, Aztec dance performances and much more.

Time: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Nov. 5 Cost: Free Details: www.facebook.com/ BKBIA Venue: EXPO Arts Center, 4321 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach

Nov. 6

Angels Gate Cultural Center Artist Beth Elliott will host cyanotype workshops with up to five people a session. All materials will be provided.

Time: 10:30 a.m. 12 p.m. Nov. 6 and Nov. 10 Cost: $20 Details: To register text, 562-5086947.

Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro ArtLab Join ArtLab taking place in-person at the Marine Mammal Care Center, as well as virtually on Zoom. COVID-19 safety protocols (mask wearing & contact tracing) will be enforced on-site. Sign up today. Register on eventbrite, and you will receive the Zoom link prior to the event. Children must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Time: 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 6 Cost: Free Details: www.eventbrite.com/e/ artlab-art-science-workshop Venue: Marine Mammal Care Center, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro Día De Los Muertos Chalk Festival Celebrate with your community and turn sidewalks into works of art honoring the dead. Enjoy artisan vendors, chalk artists, live music and classic cars.

Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 6 Cost: Free Details: 310-519-6115 Venue: Deane Dana Friendship Park, 1805 W. 9th St., San Pedro Festival of Flight The Long Beach Airport’s awardwinning Festival of Flight is coming in for a landing Nov. 6. The popular event is returning with aircraft on static display, live music, food and beer trucks, activities for kids and

Los Angeles Printers Fair, in Person and Virtual Join a celebration of letterpress and book arts and paper arts.

Exhibitors include many of the greatest letterpress and printmaking artists in the Southwest and beyond. The 2021 Printers Fair will be held both in person and online on Oct. 30 to Nov. 14.

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 6 and 7 Cost: $5 to $10 Details: www.printersfair.com Venue: The International Printing Museum, 315 W. Torrance Blvd., Carson

Nov. 11

Parade Of Trees Holiday Luncheon You’re invited to an afternoon of holiday cheer supporting Toberman Neighborhood Center programs. Featuring three-course luncheon, silent auction and an opportunity to bid on festive trees to bring home to kick off the holiday season.

Time: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 11 Cost: $75 Details: 310-832-1145, www.toberman.org/paradeoftrees Venue: Michael’s Tuscany Room, 470 W. 7th St,. San Pedro

Nov. 14

2021 AIDS Walk Long Beach The AIDS Walk returns as a live, in-person event along the scenic walking path on the Long Beach coast. Participants will enjoy cool weather, amazing people and exciting energizing music to start their walk. Food and beverages will be available to participants throughout the event. The walk is 5-kilometers or 3.1-miles. Participants can walk or run the route. Monies raised by individuals or private teams will support The Center’s many programs, services, activities and numerous social and support groups. Sponsorship commitment deadline is Oct. 31.

To sponsor: www.AWLB_2021_ Sponsorship_Digital_Kit.01.pdf Time: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 14 - run start time: 9:30 a.m., walk start time: 10 a.m.

Cost: Free Details: www.centerlb.rallybound. org Location: Walking path at Long Beach coastline

CLASSIFIED ADS & DBA FILINGS RLNews is looking for freelance food and music writers who are knowledgeable about San Pedro and Long Beach area restaurants, culture and music scenes. Experienced writers preferred, but will consider aspiring bloggers. We are looking for writers who have a curiosity for a wide range of cuisines or music in the greater LA / Long Beach Harbor Area.

Committment to writing to deadline is a must. Having a strong social media following and bi-lingual skills is a plus.

Submit inquiries and any links to your writing to editor@ randomlengthsnews.com or call 310-519-1442 weekdays.

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ACROSS

1 Trees lining the new Malahat Skywalk on Vancouver Island, B.C. (a spiral ramp tower with optional slide to the bottom) 10 Surname in a nursery rhyme with platter licking 15 To the point 16 “It’s ___ of passage” 17 2010 statute nickname whose real initials are hidden in the name 18 Sounds in certain specialty cafÈs 19 One with interior motives?

20 Realm of influence 21 Employs a hive mentality?

22 “La f’e ___” (fanciful term for absinthe, based on the color) 23 Sticks it out 24 Run, as a forklift 26 Maneuvers famously pulled off by rapper Lil Uzi Vert 29 You might use one to play Breakout 33 Second, for instance 34 Word that ends many yoga classes 35 Puzzle magazine with a “Pencilwise” section 40 Grey Goose rival, familiarly 41 ___ tetrameter (poetic verse used in works like “’Twas the

Night Before Christmas”, using an unstressed/unstressed/stressed pattern) 45 Film critic Kenneth who stepped down from the L.A. Times in 2020 46 Notable feature of “Careless Whisper” 47 “Fame” singer/actress Cara 48 Brit who imparts vitality (though the battery brand’s spelled with a Z) 49 Observes Ramadan, in a way 50 State where the soft drink Mountain Dew was first formulated 51 What some collars ward off 52 Participants in the Singing Revolution (1987-1991)

DOWN

1 Like eels and flukes, biologically 2 Brazilian gymnast Andrade, gold medalist in the vault in Tokyo 3 Modified leaves on flower stems 4 Maximal 5 “Toddlers & ___” 6 Cooper title character 7 Former Pacific defense gp.

8 “The Smartest Guys in the Room” subject 9 Site that bills itself as “The world’s best music blog” 10 Hindu scripture that contains melodies and chants 11 Demonstrate deservingness in

advance 12 1959 western with Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson 13 Nervously excited 14 SAT takers, e.g. (and not... body parts) 25 Legendary footballer 26 Go (through), as evidence 27 Nice private discussion?

28 Actress Dolenz 29 Note that sounds like B double flat 30 Residents of one of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Southeast Asia 31 Loser of a mythological footrace 32 Optimistic quality 33 Fluid, as a dancer’s motion 35 CNN senior political analyst David who advised four administrations 36 Saint Francis’s home 37 Peak near Olympus 38 Title name on the 1982 album “Too-Rye-Ay” 39 Sports recap feature 42 Geese on the Big Island 43 In regard to, old-style 44 Movie aired when there’s often nothing on?

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Don Marshall, MBA, CPA

The animals at the Harbor Animal Shelter have ongoing need for used blankets, comforters, pet beds.* Drop off at Harbor Animal Shelter 957 N. Gaffey St.,San Pedro • 888-452-7381, x 143

[continued on p. 19]

Don Marshall CPA, Inc. Specializing in small businesses CPA quality service at very reasonable rates www.donmarshallcpa.com

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

“Open Letters” — a themeless 58-worder.

(AAN CAN)

Bulletin Board

with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on 09/08/21. 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 expire

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Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2021200124 The following person is doing business as: (1) JOSSEPHINE BARBERY AND SALON, 1216 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Josefina Recio Castaneda, 1216 S Pacific Ave, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 03/2018. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. Josefina Recio Castaneda, Owner.

This statement was filed

© 2021 MATT JONES, Jonesin’ Crosswords

available. Call: 1-877-6495043 (AAN CAN)

For answers go to: www.randomlengthsnews.com

JOB OPPS

17

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: FOURTH TRACK AT OCEAN BOULEVARD LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA [FUNDED BY SB-1 THE ROAD REPAIR & ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2017] AS DESCRIBED IN SPECIFICATION NO. HD-S3044 Bid Deadline:

Documents, to be added to the prospective bidders list, and to receive addendum notifications when issued.

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.

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.

Prior to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 7, 2021.

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

Bid Opening:

Contract Documents Available:

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

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”

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 in downloading these documents please contact Port of Long Beach Plans and Specs Desk at 562-283-7353.

Non-Mandatory Pre-Bid Meeting:

October 28 - November 10, 2021

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3. Double-click on respective bid Project Title

18

Project Contact Person:

Date/Time: November 9, 2021 at 10:00 AM Location: Cisco Webex (virtual), Click here to join the meeting https://polb.webex.com/polb-en/j. php?MTID=m96cbd67e2d088a7 8c2702e898de7a01e Meeting Number: 2490 394 1626, Password: 110910am Tel: +1 408-418-9388; Access Code: 2490 394 1626 # Julia Wu, Julia.Wu@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

NIB -2 Pre-Bid Questions.

All questions, including requests for interpretation or correction, or comments regarding the Contract Documents, must be submitted no later than November 30, 2021, 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 Non-Mandatory PreBid Meeting. The engineering staff of the City’s Harbor Department will conduct a virtual pre-bid meeting at 10:00 AM, on November 9, 2021, via Cisco Webex at the link provided above. Attendance is optional.

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 nor 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 -4 Summary Description of the Work. The Work required by this Contract includes, but is not limited to, the following: procurement and installation of railroad track, special track work (turnouts and crossovers); concrete cross ties; construction of continuous welded rail; construction of storm drain lines, demolition/construction of retaining wall, realignment of Harbor Scenic Drive, modifications to existing railroad signal system, including procurement, installation, and integration of RailComm remote throw switch machines with existing RailComm yard control system, and major electrical work. See Section 01 11 00, Summary of Work in the Technical Specifications.

NIB -5 Contract Time and Liquidated Damages. The Contractor shall achieve Substantial Completion of Work within 393 calendar days and Affidavit of Final Completion of the Project within 473 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. NIB -6 Contractor’s License. The Bidder shall hold a current and valid Class “A”, California Contractor’s License to construct this

project.

NIB -7 Contractor Performed Work. The Contractor shall perform, with its own employees, Contract Work amounting to at least 30% 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 -8 SBE/VSBE. 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 participation goal for this project is twenty-seven percent (27%) of total bid value. The combined SBE/VSBE participation goal shall include a minimum of five percent (5%) of total bid value as VSBE. POLB expects all Bidders to achieve the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal.

Award of the Contract will be conditioned on the Bidder submitting an SBE-2C Commitment Plan demonstrating the Bidder’s intent to meet the combined SBE/VSBE participation goal. If the Bidder’s Commitment Plan does not demonstrate intent to meet the combined goal, the Bidder shall demonstrate that it made an adequate good faith effort to do so, as specified in the Instructions to Bidders. The Port’s SBE Program staff is available to provide information on the program requirements, including SBE certification assistance. Please contact the 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.

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.

to Proceed (NTP). Authorization of a substitution is solely within the discretion of the City.

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.

(1) Technical Specification Section 34 42 49 “Remote Throw Switch Machines” DETPC-00027-000 module

by RailComm;

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 Industrial 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.

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

The Board of Harbor Commissioners made a finding on October 11, 2021, that the following items be sole sourced in compliance with Public Contract Code Section 3400, to match existing rail control systems already in use on an existing public work of improvement:

(2) Technical Specification Section 34 42 49 “Remote Throw Switch Machines” IP Comm Interface COMEM-0030-001 module

by RailComm; (3)Technical Specification Section 34 42 49 “Remote Throw Switch Machines” 2.4 GHZ IP Radiant Radio RADDA-0004-001 by RailComm; and ( 4 ) Te c h n i c a l S p e c i f i c a tion Section 34 42 49 “Remote Throw Switch Machines” RF radio antenna CBLRA-0073-015 by RailComm.

NIB -12 State Funding.

This project is partially funded by the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program with funding from the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, (SB 1). Please refer to Special Conditions SC-9.

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 Conditionally 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, 23rd day of August, 2021.

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.

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[from p. 17] 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: 09/16/21, 09/30/21, 10/14/21, 10/28/21

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2021205703 The following person is doing business as: (1) LIFETIMES HEALTH SOLUTIONS, (2) LIFETIMES, 1441 W Paseo del Mar, San Pedro, CA 90731, Los Angeles County.

Registered owners: Sharon L

declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/.

Sharon L McGann, owner.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on 09/15/21. 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 expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 09/30/21, 10/14/21, 10/28/21, 11/11/21

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2021216815 The following person is doing

business as: BARCELONA APARTMENTS, 920 S. Montebello Blvd. Montebello, CA 90640, Los Angeles County.

Registered owners: David Blaney, 1357 W. 35th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. Terry Blaney, This 1357 W. 35th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731.

Business is conducted by a married couple. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above:05/2013. I declare that all information in is statement is true and correct.

(A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) S/. David Blaney, husband. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on Oct. 1, 2021. Notice--In accordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five

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

The filing of this statement does not in 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: 10/28,21, 11/11/21, 11/24/21

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October 28 - November 10, 2021

10/28/21, 11/11/21

McGann, 1441 W Paseo del Mar, San Pedro, CA 90731.

This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 01/1996. I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who

Fictitious Business Name Statement File No. 2021208707 The following person is doing business as:(1) V&B CHINESE FOOD HOUSE, 335 West 6th Street, Commerce, CA 90040, Los Angeles County. Registered owners: Brandon Chhea, 457 W. 13th Street, San Pedro, CA 90731. This Business is conducted by an individual.

The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 03/2018.

I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.)

S/. Thomas Gregory Compagnon, Managing Member.

This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles on 09/17/21. 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 expire 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET SEQ., Business and Professions code).

Original filing: 09/30/21, 10/14/21,

Real People, Real News, Really Effective

DBA FILINGS

19

20

October 28 - November 10, 2021

Real People, Real News, Totally Relevant