FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2002
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Volume 1, Issue 203
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues.
Too much development eliminating public art? BY ANDREW H. FIXMER Daily Press Staff Writer
Santa Monica is spending $95,000 to study whether or not rampant development is having a negative effect on the amount of public art in the city. If a correlation is found, the city would charge developers fees to create sculptures, murals and landscaping. California cities such as Culver City and San Francisco already charge developers for public art. Seattle and Boston do the same. “The council commissioned the planning department to do a Nexus study, which proves from a legal basis the relationship between devel-
opment and some sort of infrastructure improvement,” said senior planner Kim Christensen. “What we would be doing is trying to prove the need in the community for public art and art improvements in relation to development.” A similar study is being undertaken to determine if a correlation exists between development and the need for child care. Santa Monica already taxes the construction of new office and residential complexes to address the additional people who are drawn to the area and need city services. City officials said it’s likely the city would offer developers options on how they could fulfill See ART, page 5
Damian Dovarganes/Associated Press
Tony Morris, a documentary filmmaker and journalist, and a resident of Topanga Canyon, right, and Bob Cavage, president of Aerial Fire Protection Associates, are pressing Los Angeles County officials to consider buying two Canadair CL-415 amphibious aircrafts, known as “Super Scoopers.”
Malibu residents want planes to help fight fires
Flag face
BY PAUL WILBORN Associated Press Writer
Franklin Smith/Special to the Daily Press
Yukimi Isom and her daughter, Autry, get patriotic at Palisades Park on Thursday as part of the city’s Fourth of July celebration.
MALIBU — In the canyons of Malibu and Topanga, where a tree-shrouded retreat just inland from the jagged lips of the Pacific Ocean starts around $500,000 and spikes up from there, fire is a fact of life. Up here, arson watch volunteers patrol for signs of smoke. Deputies enforce brush removal requirements around houses. And people spend the dry months between June and December watching nervously for fire trucks. Topanga resident Tony Morris isn’t content to watch and worry. He’s launched what may be a Quixotic crusade to talk his wealthy neighbors into spending
$50 million for two state-of-theart water dumping bombers known as Super Scoopers. A documentary filmmaker and journalist, Morris fled the 1993 Topanga/Malibu wildfire with his family, a few documents and his son’s bunny. He spent two days thinking his was one of the 350 houses destroyed by that blaze, which also killed three people. His house survived, but Morris was reborn as a fervent believer in the fixed-wing CL 415s used extensively in Canada and Southern Europe to douse wildfires but are rare in the United States. His evangelism has won him some local disciples, but so far he See MALIBU, page 5
Surveillance cameras will keep eye on Palm Springs By The Associated Press
PALM SPRINGS — Elvis, Frank Sinatra and other celebrities often came here to escape public scrutiny. Now the desert city intends to watch more closely, turning its sights on residents and visitors with surveillance cameras installed and tested this week at popular tourist destinations. Critics condemn the cameras as an invasion of privacy and a “Big Brother” tactic. Others, however, say the move will help merchants and tourists feel more secure. More than a dozen cameras went up in the city’s bosco, ward & nopar
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trendy downtown shopping district, several popular parks and at the airport, Mayor Will Kleindienst said. “This is a safety issue,” he said. “We do not see it as an invasion of privacy or attack on civil liberties.” However, Palm Springs Councilman Ron Oden cautioned that the cameras will create a false sense of security and push crime from one area to another. Police cameras have monitored public areas in Europe and some cities in the United States for years. Palm Springs police haven’t seen a major increase in downtown crime but merchants have reported smash-
and-grab robberies over the years. And they still recall the 1999 daytime robbery of a jewelry store, when shots were fired while people sipped coffee at a cafe across the street. The cameras are expected to go into use sometime this fall. The cost of installation was about $365,000. Mounted on street lights, the cameras can pan 360 degrees and zoom close enough to read license plates or notice a bulge, possibly a gun, in a person’s jacket, said incoming police Chief Gary Jeandron. The cameras do not pick up sound.
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