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L.A. still saying parkway vegetable gardens must go

Written By kolimtiga on Rabu, 31 Juli 2013 | 22.26

First it was the rebel Abbie Zands, in Los Feliz, who ran afoul of L.A. City Hall. A few weeks later, Angel Teger of South Los Angeles incurred the wrath of the great bureaucracy.

Their crimes?

They planted lush vegetable gardens in front of their homes, and they shared their bounty — eggplant, melons, tomatoes, squash and more — with their neighbors.

And the city said cease and desist.

Does this sound familiar?

It should. Almost exactly two years ago I told the tale of Ron Finley, who took an urban gardening class and turned his South Los Angeles curb strip into a fabulously bountiful Eden that brought neighbors together and provided free, nutritious food to a neighborhood with too few healthy options.

This resulted, of course, in Finley being cited. The city owns those "parkway" strips between sidewalk and street, and growing vegetables is forbidden. Finley was told to uproot his little slice of Eden.

Finley decided to fight City Hall, and Councilman Herb Wesson vowed to take Finley's side. He told me then that he'd be introducing a motion to allow parkway vegetable gardens, provided they met certain requirements regarding public safety, emergency vehicle access, clearance for car doors, etc.

"This is an area that is vegetable-poor, with the highest rates of obesity and diabetes," Wesson said in 2011.

But two years later, Wesson's "edible landscape" motion is still stuck in the City Hall sausage machine, with several city agencies quibbling over details.

And now the city's garden cops are cracking down again. Zands got a notice in the mail last month from the Bureau of Street Services ordering him to remove three raised vegetable beds.

I went to see the boxes, thinking that perhaps they might be too close to the curb, making it hard to open car doors. But no. The stylish boxes, installed by Farmscape Gardens — a local urban gardening specialist — were about two feet from the curb, and only 18 inches high. Zands told me he's teaching his kids how to grow food, sharing the harvest with neighbors and asking them to share recipes on his Parkway to Garden Facebook page.

"I'm not taking it down," Zands said of his garden. He's due in court next week and has also been ordered to trim a hedge that extends out over the sidewalk.

South L.A. resident Teger's run-in with the bureaucracy began last week, with a visit from a tree surgeon with the Bureau of Street Services.

"I was ready to leave, and a city truck pulled up behind and was kind of aggressively honking. He said he'd been getting complaints from our neighbors," said Teger. She found that hard to believe, considering all the support she's gotten from neighbors. The garden has become a neighborhood magnet, she said, with kids and adults coming by to watch plants grow and share the harvest.

Teger said she was told to remove the parkway plants within 48 hours, and she was flabbergasted. She'd worked hard on that garden, building it with help from Finley and Florence Nishida, cofounders of L.A. Green Grounds, which has been helping homeowners build gardens in South L.A. and elsewhere.

The part of the garden that's outside Teger's front door is fine under city guidelines. But she was told that five fruit trees, several herbs and a couple of squash plants on the parkway violate city code and have to be removed immediately.

"This is ludicrous," said Finley, who thinks the city could find better things to do, especially since negotiations are underway to relax parkway gardening restrictions. He's now generating support for edible gardens in a Facebook campaign and told me he's contacted City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, asking him to help move things along.

"If you go to Brentwood," said Nishida, "do you think those people have permits" for their overgrown rosebushes, bougainvillea and other plants on parkway strips?

Even in Teger's neighborhood, numerous violations of the parkway code, with nonedible plants and trees, could be seen on nearby properties.


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Kevin James OKd for board seat after grilling by L.A. council

After being grilled about controversial past statements on immigration and climate change, former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Kevin James was confirmed Tuesday as a member of the powerful Board of Public Works, which is expected to play a key role in Mayor Eric Garcetti's effort to improve basic services.

The City Council voted 11 to 0 on Tuesday to appoint James, a Republican, with some members saying deference should be given to Garcetti, who nominated James, in picking commissioners.

"The mayor has been elected, chosen by the people and he has a duty, obligation and right to make appointments," said Councilman Gil Cedillo, one of those who pressed James about his stance on immigration reform. "Potholes are neither Republican nor Democrat."

During his days as a radio talk show host, James, an entertainment industry attorney, made statements that came back to haunt him as a candidate in heavily Democratic and ethnically diverse Los Angeles. Among other things, he once suggested Los Angeles should hire a lawman like Arizona's Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to deal with the "illegal alien invasion." He wrote that Democrats were "global warming wimps" exploiting the issue of climate change to increase government intrusion into Americans' lives.

Cedillo and others prodded James about his past views, with Councilman Jose Huizar saying that as an immigrant, he was "quite offended" by some remarks. Councilman Paul Krekorian questioned James on his environmental positions, and said he didn't believe there had been a previous appointee "that I have had more strenuous political disagreements with." All three men said their concerns had been allayed by recent private discussions with James, and his testimony Tuesday.

"I look forward to working with you, I think you bring a lot to the table, even your political views, whatever they might be. It is a good conversation for this democracy to have," Huizar said, adding that James' campaign showed that he was committed to making Los Angeles a better city. "We all agree on that."

James told lawmakers his views have evolved since his days as a conservative talk-radio host and commentator. He reiterated statements he made during the mayoral primary, affirming his support for immigration reform that will provide a path to citizenship for those in the country illegally. He also acknowledged that human activity has caused climate change.

Councilman Felipe Fuentes abstained, saying that he had not had a chance to discuss his concerns about past comments with James.

"There's a lot that he has said that I think is important for me to understand, what's different, and how it speaks to equity and fairness, especially in a service delivery agency as important as the Public Works Department," he said.

Among the council's 15 members, Joe Buscaino and Mitch O'Farrell were not present, and one seat is vacant.

James, the sole Republican to run for mayor this year, finished third in the March primary. He endorsed Garcetti in his runoff contest against Controller Wendy Greuel and campaigned for him vigorously, helping Garcetti increase his support in the San Fernando Valley.

Garcetti's other appointments to the Board of Public Works also were approved. They are: Matt Szabo, former deputy chief of staff to former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Barbara Romero, a planning commissioner under Villaraigosa; former Assemblyman Mike Davis; and Monica Rodriguez, an executive with the California Assn. of Realtors.

The Board of Public Works oversees street and sewer maintenance, tree trimming and other services, and is the city's only full-salaried commission, with each appointee earning more than $134,000 annually.

seema.mehta@latimes.com


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Carson declares emergency over contamination in housing tract

The city of Carson has declared a local emergency over contamination in a sprawling housing tract, ratcheting up the pressure on Shell Oil to cleanse the neighborhood of the toxic chemicals found in the soil around homes.

City officials hope the declaration will allow them greater authority to order the oil company to complete the cleanup of the site or give them access to federal and state assistance.

For years, residents in the Carousel housing tract have complained about the contamination. They have been advised to limit contact with the soil and not to eat vegetables or fruit grown in their yards.

The City Council's unanimous decision Monday drew raucous applause and cheers from the audience, which included environmental activist Erin Brockovich.

"The city of Carson is in this battle, and we're in the battle to win," Carson Mayor Jim Dear said after the resolution was adopted.

For many residents, it was a watershed moment in the ongoing battle with Shell.

Soil tests revealed elevated levels of benzene and petroleum more than five years ago and residents have complained about a variety of health problems they attribute to the contamination . Shell Oil has stated that state regulatory agencies have concluded there is no imminent health risk.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, the agency overseeing the process, has ordered Shell to clean up the site, which sits atop a former oil tank farm. But extensive testing of the tract's 285 homes could delay the actual cleanup until 2014.

The resolution called the contamination a "real time emergency safety hazard" requiring "immediate and comprehensive action" and accused the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board of granting Shell multiple extensions without "meaningful explanation."

The city also said it would request assistance from California Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris and Gov. Jerry Brown.

Kathy Noriega, 43, a homemaker who has lived in the Carousel tract for 23 years, said she worries about the well-being of her children, who are now in college but once played in the dirt in the neighborhood tract.

"You put everything into your home — your hopes, your dreams. That is your future," Noriega said. "Now we don't have that anymore."

Rep. Janice Hahn (D-San Pedro) supports the city's action, calling the situation "shameful."

Shell officials said Monday that methane gas poses no safety hazard to the neighborhood, despite its high concentrations in the soil, and emphasized that regulators have found "no imminent health risk" in the community.

Shell spokesman Alan Caldwell said the company was "disappointed" by the city's declaration, saying it "will not solve the problem."

"We have always been in favor of expediting the testing and cleanup process as we take the protection of the Carousel residents and the environment seriously," he said.

The Carousel residents and the city are locked in a lawsuit against Shell, in which they blame the soil contamination for a host of illnesses and decreased home values. Dear wants Shell to purchase all of the homes in the tract before proceeding.

"I challenge Shell … to make the people whole financially, and also to relieve the tremendous stress that the residents of Carson in the Carousel tract have been going through," he said.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com


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Fullerton firefighter was arrested in Huntington Beach riot

One of the suspects arrested in connection with looting and rioting in Huntington Beach has been identified as a Fullerton firefighter.

Anaheim resident Michael John Lytle, 30, was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in connection with the disturbance that broke out at sundown Sunday after the eight-day U.S. Open of Surfing ended.

The firefighter, who was hired in February 2008, has been placed on paid leave while Fullerton city officials investigate, said Gretchen Beatty, director of human resources in Fullerton.

Police arrested seven people in connection with the disturbance and said additional arrests were likely as they study the numerous photos and videos that were shot of people tipping over portable toilets, smashing a shop window, hurling traffic cones and wooden planks ripped from barricades, and taunting police.

Huntington Beach police fired pepper balls and nonlethal projectiles to quell the crowd. Several officers sustained minor injuries, and one person was treated and released from a hospital after being hit by a rubber projectile. More than 100 officers were deployed.

At a town hall forum Tuesday evening, Huntington Beach Police Chief Ken Small said officers used "an incredible amount of restraint" in dealing with the crowd that swept up Main Street from the beach.

"I can't tell you how many bottles of hot sauce were thrown at us," Small said.

Some residents said they wanted to see the annual surfing contest, which drew an estimated crowd of 100,000 spectators Sunday, to be better controlled or even ended.

Susie Smith, owner of Making Waves salon on Main Street, said the surf contest didn't necessarily help the city's downtown businesses.

"We're not making the money you think we are," she said.

Resident Jeff Freud said he grew up in neighboring Newport Beach and as a youth wasn't permitted to go to Huntington Beach because of its wild surf culture. He said he was now considering moving his family back to Newport or to Seal Beach.

"We hosted a young South African surfer in the contest and as soon as he was eliminated, he wouldn't go back down there," Freud said. "This is a guy that travels the world surfing and he didn't want to go watch surfing."

James Leitz, executive director of the competition, said Monday that an otherwise successful event was spoiled by a "few people" and that he hoped the competition would remain in Huntington Beach, which has long been the site of top-ranked surfing events.

City officials vowed to assemble a task force of residents and business owners to search for ways to make the even safer in the future.

ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Times staff writer Kate Mather contributed to this report.


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LAPD to try voluntary mediation in racial profiling cases

The Los Angeles Police Department received the go-ahead Tuesday to launch an experimental mediation program that would bring officers face-to-face with people who have accused them of racial profiling.

The three-year pilot program, unanimously approved by the Police Commission, will give an officer accused of racial profiling and his accuser the option in some cases of meeting to discuss the encounter where the alleged profiling occurred. Participation in the meetings will be voluntary for both sides, and volunteers trained by city officials will be neutral mediators during the sessions.

The goal, LAPD Cmdr. Rick Webb said, is to have officers and their accusers "stand in each other's shoes."

The initiative is the latest effort by LAPD officials to rethink the way the department addresses an accusation made hundreds of times each year — that an officer targeted someone for a traffic stop or some other type of detention because of that person's race.

The issue of racial profiling — "biased policing," in modern LAPD lingo — has dogged the department for years as it has tried to leave behind a reputation of racism and excessive force that is still felt in minority communities.

Profiling complaints typically occur after a traffic or pedestrian stop, when the officer is accused of singling out a person solely because of his or her race, ethnicity, religious attire or some other form of outward appearance.

Department records have shown that in at least several thousand cases spanning many years, no officer was found guilty of racial profiling in internal LAPD investigations. That track record left members of the commission increasingly angry and incredulous. Their ire was inflamed by former Chief William J. Bratton, who held firm to the belief that there was little the department could do to investigate profiling cases because, he said, it was impossible to know what an officer was thinking at the time of a stop.

As pressure for change mounted, Bratton's successor, Charlie Beck, has overseen reforms on how racial profiling cases are handled. In the most serious cases, instead of trying to discern whether an officer acted out of racial bias, a specialized team of investigators now looks at the more concrete question of whether officers violated a person's constitutional rights.

The new approach led police officials to conclude that one officer racial profiled motorists after investigators determined the officer stopped a disproportionate number of Latino drivers and deliberately misidentified them in department records as white. A disciplinary panel voted to fire the officer, although it was unclear whether the panel upheld the charge of racial profiling or fired the officer for a lesser infraction.

By contrast, the mediation program will be used in more run-of-the-mill profiling cases, in which there are no allegations of physical abuse, racial insults or other serious misconduct, Webb told the commission.

If an officer is found to have participated in the mediation session in good faith, the department's internal investigation into the allegations against the officer will be closed, Webb said. Officers with two prior complaints in the previous year will not be eligible.

A director from the union that represents LAPD rank-and-file officers told the commission Tuesday that the union supported the mediation plan and has instructed officers to participate.

Commissioner John Mack, a civil rights leader who has pushed for changes to the department's handling of racial profiling, praised the plan for mediation. "I am hopeful and optimistic," he said. "I think there is a lot of potential here. It could really offer the opportunity to help resolve some of these issues."

Los Angeles is not the first city to try mediation to resolve friction between officers and the people left upset by encounters with them. San Francisco has had a long-running mediation program.

joel.rubin@latimes.com


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New York City principal to head downtown L.A. arts high school

The third time was the charm in efforts to land a high-profile New York City educator to head the $232-million downtown Los Angeles arts high school.

Or was it the fourth time?

Kim Bruno, the longtime head of the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, has accepted the job of principal at the Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts.

Bruno had tentatively accepted the post at the 4-year-old campus at least twice before, but this time officials in the Los Angeles Unified School District are certain that she is switching coasts.

"Kim Bruno was the resounding favorite of the selection committee and I am very supportive of their decision," said Tommy Chang, the senior district administrator with jurisdiction over the school. "It's very exciting for that community."

The selection committee included teachers and parents, with their choice subject to approval by L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy. Chang said Deasy strongly backed the selection.

Bruno replaces Norm Isaacs, who resigned over what he characterized as inadequate financial support from L.A. Unified. Since its opening, the striking campus overlooking the 101 Freeway has been beset by a revolving door of principals.

Outside donors also have not stepped up as expected to help the school. The arrival of Bruno could change the funding dynamic. She was known for overseeing a program that attracted substantial outside dollars.

At one point, billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad had been willing to supplement the principal's salary by $75,000 to attract a top-tier candidate such as Bruno. It wasn't clear Tuesday if Broad was still so inclined, but Chang said the district would compensate Bruno according to the regular scale for principals.

Bruno, who could not be reached, headed an Upper Westside school that, in an earlier incarnation, was the inspiration for the movie "Fame."

A guide to New York schools describes the campus as "one of the most diverse and sought-after schools in the city," which "educates children of movie stars along with children poor enough to qualify for free lunch.... There is a spirited energy to the building that comes from being around students who are passionate about their work."

Entrance is by audition and academic achievement also factors in. In contrast, there are no entrance requirements at the Cortines school, except that students from the surrounding neighborhood have an admissions preference. Budget cuts have led to the elimination of arts instruction in area middle schools, which may have contributed to limited local interest in the school.

Not all reviews of Bruno are overwhelming. A survey reported that 59% of the New York school's teachers "say the principal is an effective manager," compared with a citywide average of 74%.

Parent Mary DiPalermo told a New York publication that Bruno was an effective leader.

"She ran LaGuardia with a firm hand, and I had some arts-over-academics issues with her, but she really was a strong advocate for the school," DiPalermo told DNAinfo New York.

howard.blume@latimes.com


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L.A. County moves to fire four social workers after boy's death

In an unusually swift and aggressive response, Los Angeles County officials have moved to fire four child welfare workers they say were responsible for serious lapses in the case of an 8-year-old Palmdale boy who died after allegedly being tortured by his mother and her boyfriend.

The May death of Gabriel Fernandez, whom paramedics found with a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns, came after the county's Department of Children and Family Services received and discounted a long series of complaints of abuse.

"There were so many red flags in this case that just didn't go heeded," said Philip Browning, head of the department. He said an internal investigation found crucial missteps by employees. Two social workers and two supervisors received letters Tuesday notifying them that the agency intends to fire them.

The details of Gabriel's death, first reported by The Times, prompted outrage from the public and child advocates, several of whom have appeared at the county Board of Supervisors' weekly meetings to demand action.

The relatively quick decision to terminate the employees marked a departure for an agency that typically has conducted lengthy investigations and imposed less severe penalties, even when children under its supervision have died from neglect and abuse. A recent county review of 15 deaths of children found dozens of serious errors committed by caseworkers, and only one instance of an employee being fired.

Child-welfare advocates said Tuesday's announcement was a welcome change.

"It is unusual for it to be this quick and also for it to be this severe, in my experience," said Dilys Tofteson Garcia, executive director of CASA, which trains volunteer advocates for foster children. "I think that is a good sign."

The dismissals fit with promises by Browning, who took over the beleaguered agency last year, to increase accountability, she said. "It aligns with what he's been saying since he got there. I think it sends a message to the whole system."

Rescuers were summoned to Gabriel's home May 22 and found him barely breathing. He died in the hospital two days later. His mother and her boyfriend have been charged with murder and torture.

Social workers missed numerous warning signs at the home, according to county documents. Gabriel had previously written a note saying he was contemplating suicide, the records show. His teacher told authorities he often appeared bruised and battered at school. He had bruises on his face from BB pellets.

Several investigations were launched. One complaint was determined to be inconclusive and the remainder were judged "unfounded."

At the time of Gabriel's death, another allegation of child abuse was pending in his file.

The four employees sent termination notices Tuesday were those most involved with Gabriel's case, Browning said. The workers — whose names have not been released — were placed on desk duty shortly after the boy's death, as county officials launched an investigation. Other employees who were "peripherally involved" in the case received warning letters and reprimands.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose district includes Palmdale, unexpectedly disclosed the move to fire the employees at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, in response to a public comment from a woman who identified herself as Gabriel's cousin.

The relative, Rosanna Lucero, had pressed the elected board members about the case. She said multiple reports of Gabriel being abused were filed with his teacher, law enforcement and the social worker assigned to the case.

"They did nothing. And he died a horrific death, which was physical, emotional and very visual," she said. "I don't understand why nothing has been done to these workers yet. I myself, plus a whole wide community, would like to know and demand why and what is going to be done with these workers."

After the meeting, Amanda Nevarez, a friend of Gabriel's family who created a Facebook page called Gabriel's Justice, said she was heartened to hear that officials intend to fire the workers. "For once, we need to start listening to children when they say they are hurt," she said.

Several board members said bold action was required. "There was a compelling need to act," board Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas said. "There are things that can't or shouldn't be tolerated, and the death of a child that is attributable to neglect or inaction or dereliction of duty certainly is grounds for termination."

After the boy's death, county supervisors convened a blue-ribbon commission on child protection that is scheduled to hold its first meeting this week. The panel is tasked with recommending reforms in the Department of Children and Family Services over the next several months.

In the past, the department moved more slowly, investigating the entire history of agency involvement in child death cases before taking action, Browning said. In this case, the initial investigation focused on the last two years.


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San Diego City Council refuses to pay Bob Filner legal bills

SAN DIEGO — Saying taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for the mayor's "mess," the San Diego City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night not to pay any of Bob Filner's legal bills as he fights a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by one of his top aides.

The move came just hours after the council voted — also unanimously — to sue Filner to recover any costs imposed on the city by the lawsuit, which names both Filner and the city as defendants.

The city's suit will seek to recover any damages ordered by a court, or agreed to as part of a pretrial settlement, arising from the lawsuit filed by the mayor's former director of communications, Irene McCormack Jackson.

Both votes were taken in closed session.

"Intimidating women is not in Mayor Filner's job description," said Councilman Kevin Faulconer. "His employers, the San Diego taxpayers, should not have to bail him out of the mess he's created."

"This is part of due process," City Atty. Jan Goldsmith said after Tuesday's vote authorizing him to file a lawsuit against Filner. "If Bob Filner engaged in unlawful conduct and the city is held liable, he will have to reimburse us every penny the city pays, and its attorney fees."

The phrase "due process" has been a mantra for Filner, 70, a Democrat, and his supporters in explaining why he should not resign and emphasizing that the allegations against him have not been proved.

The vote on Filner's legal bills came Tuesday night, shortly after an eighth woman went public with allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of the mayor.

Lisa Curtin, an official at San Diego City College, told KPBS that Filner kissed her and put his tongue on her cheek. She said he insisted on asking her for a date even after she told him she was married.

Filner's attorney, Harvey Berger, on Monday filed a request with the city attorney for reimbursement of fees arising from Jackson's lawsuit.

Before the vote on Berger's request, several residents told the council not to pay Filner's bills.

Anne Rauch, an attorney, said Filner has already admitted a long history of bad behavior toward women.

"He's admitted to creating a hostile work environment," Rauch said. "I do not want to see my tax dollars go in defense of this man. We are not only a national joke, we are an international joke."

Filner has had to hire a private attorney because Goldsmith said it would be a conflict for his office to represent both Filner and the city against the Jackson lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages. Jackson alleges that Filner made sexually inappropriate comments, touched numerous women inappropriately and once said she should work without panties on.

Seven of nine council members have called on Filner to resign, along with the local Democratic Party and a list of Democratic officeholders.

Filner has refused and announced Friday that he would undergo a two-week behavioral therapy treatment starting Aug. 5. Jackson's attorney, Gloria Allred, has subpoenaed him for a deposition Aug. 9.

The issue of paying for private lawyers to defend council members and city officials embroiled in scandals has been debated frequently at City Hall in recent years.

The city has paid several million dollars for lawyers for council members charged with allegedly taking illegal campaign contributions and for officials accused of acting improperly on the city's pension board.

tony.perry@latimes.com

Times staff writer Robin Abcarian contributed to this report.


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Commission to begin sweeping reform effort in child welfare

Written By kolimtiga on Selasa, 30 Juli 2013 | 22.26

A blue-ribbon commission tasked with examining Los Angeles County's embattled child welfare agency begins work this week on a sweeping reform effort that officials hope can stem persistent cases of child abuse and deaths.

Much of the panel's focus has been on fixing the troubled Department of Child and Family Services. But county political leaders, child welfare managers and commission appointees say the review will include the role law enforcement, school districts and county public health and mental health agencies have played in failing to protect children in abuse cases.

"This approach has never been taken before, and it's overdue," said Mark Ridley-Thomas, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors. "There's not a lot of appetite for philosophical debate.... This commission ought to be very, very bottom-line about what does it take to design a system that maximizes the safety of these youngsters who are at risk."

The county Board of Supervisors voted to form the commission in June after the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez in Palmdale. The boy's mother and her boyfriend have been charged with torture and murder in the death, which came after repeated reports to investigators of possible neglect and abuse.

Child welfare advocates said they hope the panel focuses on the needs of the tens of thousands of children in the system, and not just cases that have made headlines.

"To only consider childhood deaths would really neglect a bigger opportunity to change some of the issues that are pervasive in the system and hurting children every day," said Janis Spire, president of the Alliance for Children's Rights.

Spire said areas needing careful attention include group foster homes that effectively function as businesses, stricter rules on prescribing psychotropic drugs to foster youths and providing more support for relatives who are caregivers to foster children.

Commission members include Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, retired judges Terry Friedman and Dickran Tevrizian, and David Sanders, who ran the county's child protection agency from 2003 to 2006.

Sanders said the panel must determine how many children have been seriously injured because of abuse or neglect and create a coordinated, multi-agency reform plan that includes specific recommendations to improve child safety.

Critics have said the commission members don't include representatives of families trying to navigate the child welfare system.

"I think they are continuing to appoint insiders as opposed to independent citizens like parents, grandparents and other who have experience dealing with this department," said Denise Paz, a mother whose children were placed in foster care and who testified on the topic at last week's county board meeting. "Please consider appointing … representatives that are true representatives."

The commission is scheduled to hold its first public session Thursday at the downtown county Hall of Administration and present a final report around the end of the year.

seema.mehta@latimes.com


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Vegetarian in Buenos Aires? Prepare yourself for shocked reactions

I've been a vegetarian for most of my life, which means that over the years I've been subjected to plenty of unsolicited opinions about my health and my decision to stop eating meat.

There were epic battles with my grandmother, who grew up on a hog farm in Minnesota and believes eating animals is part of human nature. "It has to do with teeth," is her cryptic explanation.

My other grandmother, a New Yorker with a New Age streak, insists that I need beef, chicken and fish even more than most people because of my blood type.

But nobody had ever brought up the idea of taking meat pills.

Not until Buenos Aires.

I was sitting in the back of a taxi, chatting with the driver. He told me he was concerned that his daughter spends too much time on her iPad. I told him I had come to Argentina for vacation and to do some reporting.

"You know the first thing every tourist wants to do is eat steak," he said.

I nodded.

He started listing the city's best steakhouses. After five, I couldn't take it any more.

"I'm actually a vegetarian," I blurted out.

His smile was replaced by a look of grave concern.

"But your body needs meat. You could die without it."

I told him that, actually, I felt quite healthy. But he shook his head and, before he let me out, made me vow to consider taking "meat pills" to get some much-needed nutrients.

I promised I would investigate.

A Google search that night revealed what meat pills are: Little capsules stuffed with organ meats — mostly brains and liver. Um, no, gracias.

Although Argentina has a reputation as the beef capital of the world, I hadn't thought twice about traveling there as a vegetarian.

After all, in college I had survived five months in the Himalayas, where yak stew is a specialty and rejecting a host's offer of food is considered rude. I traveled for months in Southeast Asia, learning which dishes to avoid and how to say, "No fish sauce, please," in four languages. I even learned "no MSG" while I was at it.

Eating meat-free in Buenos Aires turned out to be quite easy. Thick-crusted pizza and homemade pasta are the culinary legacy of generations of Italian immigrants. Settlers from Spain brought empanadas, which typically are filled with beef or chicken but also can be made with veggies and cheese.

The city's trendier neighborhoods offer even more options.

At an all-organic, straight-from-California café in an area (not coincidentally) known as Palermo Hollywood, I ate a grilled eggplant and carrot salad with tahini dressing. A vegetarian spot nearby offered spinach smoothies, quinoa burgers and all the tofu you could handle.


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Filner's attorney asks City Council to pay mayor's legal bills

SAN DIEGO — Mayor Bob Filner's attorney asked that the City Council pay his legal bills as he fights allegations of sexual harassment.

The request came to the San Diego city attorney on Monday and will be considered in closed session by the council on Tuesday.

Seven of the nine council members have urged Filner to resign. Several have said that the city should not be forced to pay his legal fees because his alleged misconduct was not part of his official duties.

In the past, the city has paid several million dollars in legal fees for city officials in scandals involving illegal campaign contributions and the city's pension deficit.

One of Filner's former top aides has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit seeking unspecified damages. The aide said she was put repeatedly in the "Filner headlock" and told on one occasion to come to work without panties.

In announcing the lawsuit, Filner's former director of communications, Irene McCormack Jackson, said she has seen Filner touch numerous women inappropriately.

Six other women have accused him of making unwanted sexual advances, including a retired Navy admiral, a San Diego State University dean, a leader in the city's tourism industry and the head of a group of business owners who are tenants of the San Diego Port District.

The city attorney's office has said it cannot represent Filner because the city also is a defendant in the lawsuit.

Filner has rejected calls to resign and said that although his behavior toward women was unacceptable, he does not believe that he has committed sexual harassment.

He has hired Harvey Berger, one of the city's top employment lawyers, to help him fight the allegations.

Meanwhile, two groups are vowing to force a recall election that could oust Filner, but the city's recall law is fraught with legal questions.

Among the questions is whether there can be two recall efforts at the same time seeking to gather the signatures necessary to force an election.

A spokesman for City Atty. Jan Goldsmith said the office is researching the issue and plans to issue an opinion within a few days.

Filner is facing an increasing number of calls for his resignation amid allegations that he has sexually harassed constituents and staff members.

The 70-year-old Democrat has refused to resign but promised to enter a two-week course of intensive behavioral therapy starting Aug. 5.

One of the recall groups, led by land surveyor Michael Pallamary, filed an affidavit Monday with the city clerk indicating its plans to begin a petition-gathering campaign.

A second group, led by Stampp Corbin, owner/publisher of an LGBT newspaper, published an advertisement on the weekend indicating a similar plan.

Corbin was immediately criticized by anti-Filner activists who say that he is actually trying to protect Filner by launching an effort that will block a real recall campaign.

To qualify a recall effort for the ballot, a campaign must gather 101,597 signatures of registered voters.

The city's recall law is also being questioned by City Councilman Mark Kersey, who says it is inconsistent with a court ruling striking down part of the state law involving recalls.

Kersey, who is among the seven members of the council who want Filner to resign, has asked that the matter be brought to the council so that the section can be repealed.

City law needs to be changed, Kersey said, so that "voters may have confidence in the legal viability of future [recall] elections." In a recall, the ballot asks about recalling the incumbent and then lists candidates seeking to be the replacement.

Kersey noted that a provision in the city rules says that "no vote cast for a candidate shall be counted unless the voter also voted on the recall question." A similar rule in state law for state recalls was struck down by the courts in 2003, he said.

Even if legal problems are eliminated, recall remains a difficult process. Political analysts doubt that a volunteer-only group can gather enough signatures.

tony.perry@latimes.com


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Huntington Beach cleans up after weekend violence, looks ahead

The belligerent crowd poured onto Huntington Beach's Main Street at the surfing competition's conclusion near sundown, seemingly looking for trouble.

They tipped over portable restrooms, the waste flowing into the roadway. They rocked a city pickup truck — a Huntington Beach logo plastered on its door panel — and threw traffic cones and wooden planks pulled from barricades at its windows after they failed to flip it.

By the time the crowd reached the Easyrider bike shop Sunday night, pulling a stop sign from the ground and smashing it through the front window, employees had armed themselves with wrenches and bike seat posts.

As with other merchants along the main drag in Surf City U.S.A, they were making a stand to defend their shop.

"We figured this was going to happen," said Ryan Hartzog, manager of the shop that opened Monday morning, business as usual, save for the wood replacing the broken window pane and the casing of a rubber pellet he kept as a memento.

On Monday, the day after the riot in which at least seven were arrested, Hartzog's sentiment was echoed up and down Main Street, as locals surveyed damaged businesses and debris left behind by some who had attended the U.S. Open of Surfing, the eight-day competition that ended Sunday.

The city has regularly been the site of some of surfing's top competitions, a tradition that dates back decades.

"The officials want to attract tourists," said Larry Van Houten, who has lived at a trailer park near downtown for a decade, "and when the tourists arrive, some of them don't respect the city like we respect it."

Of those arrested in connection with the riot, only one was from Huntington Beach: 24-year-old Andres Gomez, who was booked on suspicion of refusing to disperse and resisting arrest.

Huntington Beach police said the others booked on suspicion of charges related to disorderly conduct and resisting arrest include Michael John Lytle, 30, of Anaheim; Michael Anthony Avila, 28, of Santa Ana; Joseph Monterrosa, 28, of Ontario; Adam A. Cecot, 18, of Irvine; Chase Scott Christman, 19, of Simi Valley; and Kyle Roger Crott, 18, of Riverside.

Additional arrests are expected as police sift through the dozens of photos and videos of the violence.

A photo of a man standing with his arms raised, moments after ramming the stop sign through Easyriders' window, has gone viral. It was circulated not just on Main Street but also Facebook, where the image was shared more than 5,800 times, in the hope of identifying him. Several people on Facebook went so for as to offer up clues about his identity.

At a news conference Monday, city leaders praised police for their work in trying to control the crowd. Authorities said officers on the ground fired pepper balls and nonlethal projectiles at rioters.

Several officers sustained minor injuries, and one person was treated and released from a hospital after being hit by a rubber projectile.

"It could've been much worse than it was," Mayor Connie Boardman said. "There was a plan in place to call on mutual aid in case it was needed. I think our police acted with great restraint given the crowd. They contained it very well."

Huntington Beach police Chief Ken Small also lauded his officers for their composure as they faced "a barrage of bottles, bricks, rocks and other devices being thrown at them from a crowd of people who repeatedly failed to disperse after being ordered to do so."

James Leitz, executive producer of the surfing competition, said an otherwise successful event was tarnished by a fraction of those who attended.

"It comes down to a few people," he said. "They play a game of cat and mouse. They'll start something here then go there. And that's exactly what happened."

Leitz said he hoped that the competition would remain in Huntington Beach, and city leaders said a downtown task force of residents and business owners would look for ways to make the event safer in the future.

Locals groused that for years the tournament has attracted crowds that drink in their cars, urinate in public and leave trash behind. Michael Heh, who has lived off the main drag since 2009, said the event this year seemed like more of a nuisance than in years past.

"It seemed bigger, more people and more rowdy," said Heh, 48. "I've never seen this many people packed into Main Street."

Kimberly Krosner, a kindergarten teacher, said she avoids Main Street during the competition. Krosner said she was frustrated with the rowdy crowds, particularly those from out of town.

"It's way too crowded, and there's no parking," she said. "We who live here love our city. What I would say to the outsiders is: Why don't you treat this as if it were your own home? You wouldn't destroy your home."

joseph.serna@latimes.com

anh.do@latimes.com

emily.foxhall@latimes.com

Times staff writers Rick Rojas and Anthony Clark Carpio contributed to this report.


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Celebrities join prison hunger strikers in protesting isolation

SACRAMENTO — Gloria Steinem, Jesse Jackson, Bonnie Raitt and Jay Leno have joined prison hunger strikers in calling for an end to California's use of solitary confinement to control prison gang violence.

The civil rights crusaders, singer and late-night comedian are among those who signed a letter sent Monday to Gov. Jerry Brown. The letter calls isolation units "extensions of the same inhumanity practiced at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay."

The letter to Brown, to be followed by a demonstration Tuesday at the Capitol, was arranged by the National Religion Campaign Against Torture and local supporters of the prison protesters.

The organization, based in Washington, is pushing to close solitary confinement units at prisons in 13 states, viewing such isolation as torture, said Executive Director Rev. Richard Killmer.

Brown's spokesman referred a request for comment to the corrections department.

Isolation units "serve a vital role in state prisons, keeping staff and other inmates safe from the same violent gangs leading the hunger strike and terrorizing communities across California," corrections spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said.

Other notables who signed the letter to Brown include political critic Noam Chomsky, Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman and actor Peter Coyote.

Some of the signers have visited California prisons. Raitt performed once at San Quentin, and her interactions with the warden and inmates there "made a profound impact on her," said a spokeswoman, Annie Heller-Gutwillig.

Others said they learned of the issue more recently through activists.

"I was appalled at this unlimited, indiscriminate use [of isolation] by prison administrators, so I rallied my network," said UCLA psychiatry professor Susan Smalley. Those contacts included her friend Mavis Leno, wife of Jay Leno.

The hunger strikers' supporters began to gather the signatures more than a month before the hunger strike began, said Carole Travis, a lawyer representing inmates in a federal lawsuit over long-term isolation at Pelican Bay State Prison.

On Monday, prison officials said 385 inmates have refused meals continuously since July 8, with 176 more now on shorter protests.

Prison medical staff reported that six inmates have required treatment since Saturday, including three who were sent to outside hospitals for care and returned the next day to cells.

More than 50 prisoners have received care since July 18, when the first protest-related medical issues arose, according to representatives of the court-appointed overseer of prison healthcare in California.

Advocacy groups called for an investigation into the death a week earlier of a protester at the state prison in Corcoran. Corrections officials said the inmate, Billy Sell, had already resumed eating when he apparently killed himself in his cell.

King County Chief Deputy Coroner Tom Edmonds said Monday that he had ruled Sell's death a suicide by strangulation but was awaiting toxicology results before issuing a report.

paige.stjohn@latimes.com


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L.A. County literacy initiative reaches juvenile offenders

At 8 a.m., the energy was already rising at a gathering in the affluent community of La Verne, nestled beneath the San Gabriel Valley foothills. Nearly 80 boys sang, cheered and chanted as participants shared inspirational readings, gave selected shout-outs and led a visualization to "breathe in love."

The feel-good assembly was Los Angeles County's latest initiative to improve the literacy skills of its juvenile offenders — in this case, teenagers convicted of robbery, assault, rape and other crimes who are serving time at Camp Afflerbaugh probation camp.

After years of damning reports and a class-action lawsuit alleging educational neglect of juvenile offenders, the county has launched a wide-ranging effort to remedy failing practices and boost the quality of teaching.

Under new county schools chief Arturo Delgado, the Office of Education and the Probation Department are teaming up to bring the students better instructors, more rigorous academics and a broader array of job opportunities, such as sewing and construction programs.

At Challenger Memorial Youth Center in Lancaster, which was targeted in the 2010 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, students allegedly received diplomas they couldn't read. But under a legal settlement that prompted new programs to improve reading, math, student behavior and teacher skills, test scores have begun to increase and discipline problems have sharply declined.

"It was a wasteland for education," said David Sapp, an ACLU staff attorney. "But things have improved dramatically."

The county's latest educational initiative is called Freedom School, a summer literacy program that includes the high-energy morning gathering — known as "Harambee," which means "Let's pull together" in Swahili.

The curriculum engages teenagers with books about civil rights featuring Latino and African American protagonists overcoming poverty, abuse and drug addiction. Related activities, such as making collages, drawing comic strips and writing personal essays, lead students to be introspective and explore their relationships.

The program, developed in 1995 by the Children's Defense Fund, has reached more than 90,000 students nationally and is being used in several Los Angeles neighborhoods. But the test run at two juvenile probation camps in La Verne and Malibu marks California's first effort to bring it to incarcerated youth — many of whom are struggling with poor educational skills, gang ties, dysfunctional families and substance abuse.

L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who led efforts to bring Freedom School to the area, said the program marked a turn away from what he called the "militarization" of probation camps.

"There was a greater focus on custody than on care," he said. "What you see here is a return to the original mission of juvenile probation, which is rehabilitation and setting the youngsters on the right path."

Probation officials agree that change is afoot. Many initially balked at allowing hard-edged rival gang members in a room together. Easing control has challenged officers to revise their traditional mentality, said Alberto Ramirez, a probation director.

"For decades, it was about supervision, containment and control," Ramirez said. Now, he said, the program is promoting closer relationships between the officers and offenders.

The results startled officials: Suspensions from classes and other disciplinary actions plunged by 93% at Camp Afflerbaugh during the five-week program, which concluded last week. Lemar Ruffin, a probation officer who took the 10-day training in Tennessee and has become one of the program's biggest fans, said there used to be daily fights — 16 one day — but not one scuffle occurred during the morning Harambee.

"Nobody thought it would work," Ruffin said, but instead they had "kids from every gang high-fiving each other."

Although no data is yet available on whether the program boosted the teens' literacy skills, students said they read more. Some boys reported finishing the first novel in their lives.

David and Marquis, both 16, said the program transformed their behavior and reading habits. They said that before, they would frequently get kicked out of class because they were bored and would make trouble — throwing paper at teachers, breaking pencils, horsing around with other students. (The teenagers are being identified by their first names because of Juvenile Court privacy laws.)

Marquis said he rarely read because doing so would mark him as a "weirdo" among his gang-banging peers, and he refused to read aloud in class, embarrassed by his inability to read fluently.

But during Freedom School, the boys said, fights nearly disappeared because no one wanted to miss Harambee or the special Friday activities — the camp brought in a magic show, drum concert, game truck and an animal presentation with a 12-foot snake and giant tortoise.

And, they said, teachers encouraged their reading with assurances that boost their confidence, fun activities and techniques to remember content, such as visualizing scenes. Since Freedom School, Marquis said he has written 20 poems — including "Be Yourself," which he recited at a morning gathering.

Students said classroom discussions and activities engaged them more deeply in the assigned reading. In one class, 10 students sat in a circle with a teacher and probation officer as they discussed what they would say to a friend addicted to drugs.

The classroom walls were covered with student essays comparing their families and neighborhoods to those in the books, collages depicting their fears and desires, and posters about such civil rights activists as Andrew Young.

Probation and school officials worry about whether the improvements can be sustained now that Freedom School has ended.But David and Marquis say they learned lessons for life.

"The stuff I learned ... I'm going to pass on to my little brothers and sisters," Marquis said. "The more you read, the more you attain."

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com


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L.A. seniors confident about aging, yet many don't manage health

Ninety percent of Los Angeles seniors are confident they will keep up the quality of their lives as they age, a new survey shows. Yet experts warn that only a fraction are taking steps to manage their health.

For many seniors battling chronic conditions such as diabetes and arthritis, "they're gliding toward a very distressing future," said Richard Birkel, senior vice president for health at the National Council on Aging, which helped conduct the survey. If seniors don't take action, "they will see their world begin to shrink."

Researchers surveyed 4,000 adults nationwide this year about how they felt about aging and their futures, including a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 seniors and thousands more from disadvantaged groups or rapidly graying areas such as Indianapolis and Los Angeles.

Seniors will make up nearly a fifth of the Los Angeles County population by 2030, according to USC projections.

Seventy percent of Los Angeles seniors said they had at least two chronic conditions, more than the national average, the survey showed. Yet nearly half of Los Angeles seniors surveyed said they didn't set any health goals in the last year. Less than a fourth received help with a health "action plan."

"They don't think they can do anything about their high blood pressure" or diabetes symptoms, said Laura Trejo, general manager of the city of Los Angeles Department of Aging. "That's concerning because there are a lot of things that seniors can be doing."

Such goals could be as simple as eating less fried food or taking more walks. For seniors fending off more than one chronic condition, planning around such goals should be the norm, Birkel said.

Experts fear that the modest share of seniors taking steps to ensure their health belies their overwhelming optimism about staying well. In Los Angeles and nationwide, nearly 3 of 4 thought their health would stay the same or get better in the next five to 10 years.

"Is all that positivity a good thing?" asked Rhonda Randall, chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare Medicare and Retirement. UnitedHealthcare partnered with the National Council of Aging and USA Today on the survey. "Or does it mean we're not preparing for the future?"

Despite their optimism, Los Angeles seniors still have many worries. Nearly half fret that their savings and income won't last their entire lives. Compared to seniors across the country, elderly people in Los Angeles are more likely to feel isolated or worry that their community isn't responsive enough to seniors, the survey found.

Researchers and nonprofits that work with seniors say that the challenges of navigating Los Angeles without a car — as well as the added isolation that aging immigrants may feel — could be behind those survey results. Better transportation and more affordable housing topped survey respondents' list of how Los Angeles could better support seniors.

Trouble getting around "prevents them from going shopping or visiting a friend," said Orlando David Estrada, a senior active at St. Barnabas Senior Services in Mid-City.

Los Angeles' steep cost of living could also be at play, forcing poorer seniors to relocate somewhere unfamiliar to them, St. Barnabas President and Chief Executive Rigo Saborio said. Other seniors may stay rooted in one place, but find their neighborhood changing around them.

emily.alpert@latimes.com


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West Hollywood bars boycott vodka to protest Russian anti-gay laws

West Hollywood may be home to a thriving Russian community, but at least one import is no longer welcome at the city's gay bars.

After Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed anti-gay laws, bar owners decided to say nyet to Stolichnaya vodka. Numerous bars have removed the brand — made from Russian ingredients — from their shelves and stopped ordering it from distributors. Bars in New York, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco are planning to do the same.

"Nobody was buying it," said Bob Yacoubian, owner of the Mother Lode bar in West Hollywood.

Yacoubian plans to hang a sign in his bar reading: "Russia's intolerance of homosexuality should not be supported by our hard-earned money!"

Putin recently signed legislation banning "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations," including gay pride events and providing children with information about homosexuality.

Human rights activists say the legislation has encouraged hate crimes against gays and lesbians. He also recently signed legislation banning gay adoptions.

West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran, who has been encouraging bars to join the boycott, said protesters in West Hollywood plan to dump the contents of Stolichnaya bottles into a gutter to raise awareness of Russia's laws. The protest is planned for Thursday in front of Micky's bar and will use bottles filled with water, not vodka, he said.

Micky's, as well as Eleven Bar & Nightclub, have stopped selling Stolichnaya. In a statement on its Facebook page, Revolver Video Bar announced last week that it would boycott all of the brand's products "effective immediately" and "could not support any brand associated with Russia."

About 40% of West Hollywood's population is gay or lesbian, according to city surveys. It is also home to a large number of immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union, who make up 11% of the city's population, city surveys state.

Russian bakeries and stores line Santa Monica Boulevard — as do gay bars. Public notices in City Hall, where a rainbow flag flies, are in English and Russian.

The chief executive of the SPI Group, which owns the Stolichnaya vodka brand, responded to the boycott in an open letter "to the LGBT community" on Thursday.

"Stolichnaya Vodka has always been, and continues to be a fervent supporter and friend to the LGBT community," Val Mendeleev wrote.

The Stolichnaya brand, he wrote, has no ties to the Russian government. Though the vodka is made from Russian ingredients, it is privately owned by the SPI Group, headquartered in Luxembourg, Mendeleev wrote.

hailey.branson@latimes.com


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Prison hunger strike leaders are in solitary but not alone

Written By kolimtiga on Senin, 29 Juli 2013 | 22.26

PELICAN BAY STATE PRISON — Inside the concrete labyrinth of California's highest-security prison, an inmate covered in neo-Nazi tattoos and locked in solitary confinement has spearheaded the largest prison protest in California history.

Convicted killer Todd Ashker and three other inmates — representing the Mexican Mafia, Nuestra Familia and the Black Guerrilla Family — called for a mass hunger strike July 8, largely to protest indefinite incarceration in solitary confinement.

More than 30,000 prisoners answered.

PHOTOS: Inside Pelican Bay State Prison

Though segregated from others, the leaders, who dub themselves the Short Corridor Collective, have kept the protest going, with more than 600 inmates still refusing food.

Among the four, Ashker is the most outspoken of the collective and the legal brains behind the strike.

Some prisoner-rights advocates describe the intense and sometimes volatile man as a brilliant champion for California's 130,000 prisoners.

Armed with a prison law library and a paralegal degree earned behind bars, Ashker, 50, has filed or been party to 55 federal lawsuits against the California prison system since 1987, winning the right for inmates to order books and collect interest on prison savings accounts.

"There's an element within [the Department of Corrections] who would celebrate some of our deaths with a party," Ashker wrote to The Times in March after prison officials denied access to him.

But others say Ashker is a danger, accusing him of being an Aryan Brotherhood member bent on freeing gang leaders from solitary confinement so they can regain their grip on the prison system.

"We're talking about somebody who is very, very dangerous … who has killed somebody in a pre-meditated way," said Philip Cozens, Ashker's court-appointed defense lawyer in a 1990 murder trial.

Terri McDonald, who ran California's 33 prisons until a few months ago and now runs the Los Angeles County jail system, said Ashker and his compatriots in the Short Corridor Collective are not fighting for rights, but power.

"From my perspective, they are terrorists," she said.

::

Ashker has spent nearly all his adult life in California's prison system — and much of that time, he has been in solitary confinement.

Born outside Denver, he wound up in Northern California after his father ran afoul of the law. Lewis Ashker is serving a life sentence in South Dakota for the 1985 murder of a retired police officer during a botched attempt to steal the man's gun collection.

Ashker's mother remarried and moved away in the late 1970s, leaving her son with a friend in Contra Costa County, according to his parole transcripts.

Ashker was 13 when he threatened another student to get his lunch money. It was the first of a long series of transgressions — among them truancy, DUI and burglary — that put him in juvenile halls and boys ranches for most of his youth.

Ashker ascended to state prison in 1982 at age 19 after being convicted of burglary. Five years later, housed at New Folsom State Prison near Sacramento for a second burglary, he stabbed another inmate 17 times.

According to testimony at his murder trial and a subsequent parole hearing, Ashker attacked the Aryan Brotherhood gang member while another inmate held a mattress over the door to block the guards' view. Prosecutors said the killing was a hit ordered by the white supremacist gang. Ashker contended he was acting in self-defense.


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Long Beach fire stations in hot pursuit of creative icons

At the corner of Loma Avenue and 4th Street, the Dark Knight keeps watch over the sleeping town below.

Perched atop the firehouse, the Batman figurine — his gaze steady, his pose vigilant — looms as a symbol of the busy nights in the Belmont Heights neighborhood on Long Beach's east side that Fire Station 4 serves.

The Belmont Heights station is one of several in Long Beach that have adopted icons that reflect the area they serve, following a New York City tradition that dates to the time of horse-drawn fire wagons.

Like the Caped Crusader, the Belmont Heights station mirrors the area's largely professional population, folks who leave during the day, but may well need help in the evening when they come home. Thus, Batman's on watch.

The tradition began after Long Beach firefighters visited New York firehouses following Sept. 11. Since then the Long Beach fire stations have been vying for the most creative and intricate design.

"They try to do something everyone will be proud of," said paramedic Ty D'Amico, who is based out of Station 18, which watches over the neighborhoods near El Dorado Park. "You wear that like honor."

One of the first stations to craft a logo was Station 10, which serves the city's Cambodia Town. The station adopted a fire-breathing dragon that highlighted the Asian heritage of the east-side neighborhood. Firefighters illustrated the serpent with the vibrant green of Polytechnic High School, and incorporated the colors and the jack rabbit from the school that lies within the station's coverage area.

Fire engineer Gary Schall was part of the team that spent four to six months breathing life into the serpent.

"It seemed like there was a lot of energy to bring [a logo] that was representative of the community we serve," Schall said.

Which station came next remains disputed, but it may have been Station 16's voluptuous pinup girl with the words "Daugherty Field" around a silver frame, a tip of the hat to the old name of the town's airport. Or it may have been Station 18's angry bee, reflecting the numerous bee sting-related calls firefighters have responded to over the years. Then again, it could have been Station 3 with its icon of a thief running off with a bag of fire, symbolizing the Daisy Avenue station's ability to creep into every neighborhood where there was a big fire. The firefighters' nickname? The "Poachers."

The details of each icon are distinct, every nuance intentional. Many icons are in the shape of the Maltese cross, a symbol used throughout firefighter culture, according Jake Heflin, a city firefighter.

Station 2, located on Third Street in an area of town with a large lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population, has an icon of a wolf in sheep's clothing holding a pink-tipped ax with the city's historic Villa Riviera in the background. The pink tool is reflective of the community's demographics, sheep a nod to the long gone papier mache ovine named Zeep that once occupied the station's lawn.

In the northernmost corner of the city, Station 12's logo is steeped in local legend.

Lore has it that the spirit of retired firefighter John Makemson — who died in the 1990s — remains in the 84-year-old building, the so-called "Ghost House." In Station 12's symbol a white phantom dons a leather fireman's hat and clutches a halligan and ax while levitating in the center of a horseshoe. The horseshoe reflects the pastime often played by firefighters there.

The tradition sprung from insurance markers once placed on the front of a home symbolizing that the owner paid for fire protection services. Before there were municipal fire departments, the makeshift firefighters wouldn't stop for a home ablaze without the appropriate marker.

New York firefighters kept the custom of having an image reflect its firehouses, and all of the 200-plus firehouses in New York City have one, according to Long Beach Fire Department Deputy Chief Rich Brandt, who came to Long Beach from the Empire State. Long Beach is one of the few fire departments to have such a tradition on the West Coast, department officials said.

The relatively young tradition hasn't gone unnoticed by residents. Belmont Heights resident Mike Schnee, 50, said he's spotted the Batman atop the building down the street and maybe snapped a photo or two of it.

"I thought it was an inside joke or something," Schnee said.

Ed Gallock, 57, lives three doors down from the corner of Loma and 4th, and said the superhero is a fixture.

"It's just always kind of been there. It's definitely not offensive," Gallock said, joking that "it's good-natured — and protective."

The firefighters inside have noticed parents pointing to the roof to show their children the watchful figure. The Belmont Heights Batman recently received a face-lift and was taken down while he got a new cape and coat of paint. Over those two days, five or six neighbors visited the station inquiring about the missing superhero, said Andrew Dorame, who works as a medic at the station.

Inside the building, a gray mural of the bat signal hovers above the pole where firefighters slide down when emergency calls come in. A bold number four hovers in the middle.

"I'm definitely proud to be here," said Eric Volivitch, who works at the station. "It's really who we are.… I'm proud to be busy."

lauren.williams@latimes.com


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Compton's first Latino councilman inspired pride, now draws concern

On a scorching July afternoon, Compton residents gathered to celebrate the inauguration of the city's first Latino councilman. A nine-piece mariachi band played and families cheered at the event many had been awaiting for decades.

But just a few weeks into Isaac Galvan's term, some are already having misgivings about the councilman.

Galvan, 26, has failed to file any of the required campaign finance disclosures for the primary and runoff elections. As his first official action, he hired an aide with criminal convictions for political misconduct. And he has declined to answer detailed questions about his residency in the city.

"I'm not against him, but I'm not really happy like I wished to be," said Jose Torres, editor of a local bilingual newspaper, La Voz de Compton. Torres said there were too many unanswered questions about Galvan's past and political connections.

Latino activists have been working for years to break into city politics. Even though demographics have shifted over 20 years from majority black to nearly two-thirds Latino, African Americans maintained a hold on the Compton's power structure — until the election of Galvan.

Although Galvan was a new face to many in Compton, some in neighboring southeast L.A. County cities recognized him as a protege of his campaign manager, Angel Gonzalez, a printer and onetime political operative for former South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles, who is serving time in federal prison for his part in a wide-ranging bribery scheme.

Galvan met Gonzalez through the Boyle Heights branch of the Victory Outreach evangelical church and later worked for Gonzalez's printing and political consulting business. Immediately after taking office, Galvan hired Gonzalez to a $47,500 city job as his community liaison.

"My knowledge of Angel Gonzalez is all bad. His history in South Gate talks for itself," said longtime South Gate Councilman Henry Gonzalez. "I would question whether or not he's still got those bad habits."

In 2002, Angel Gonzalez was convicted of a felony conspiracy charge — reduced to a misdemeanor at his sentencing — for sending out attack mailers with copies of fake official documents. In a separate case, he was convicted of two misdemeanor counts of sending out misleading campaign fliers.

Galvan did not respond to several interview requests, but provided a brief written response to some questions. He denied in an email that Gonzalez had ever been convicted of a felony and said that Gonzalez "has the right education and experience as a bilingual community advocate" to serve the largely Spanish-speaking council district.

"In little time, I will prove through my actions that I will always act in best interest of the residents of Compton," Galvan said.

Gonzalez said prosecutors wanted to "squeeze" him for information about Robles, and he took a plea bargain after he ran out of money.

"If I was guilty, then I was guilty by association," he said.

Galvan gave the job to Gonzalez after initially proposing to hire Richard Mayer, another familiar face in southeast politics with a checkered past. Mayer was convicted of felony perjury in 2001 for lying about his address so that he could run for a South Gate City Council seat.

Galvan said Mayer was not involved in his campaign.

Galvan seemed to have a well-financed campaign. One resident, Olivia Lopez, said he sent out workers to cut down a dying tree after she complained; he acknowledged doing the same for others. On election day, he passed out burgers and soda to those who voted.

But it is unclear how much the campaign cost and who financed it. Galvan has not filed any of the required campaign finance disclosure forms, violations that can result in fines or criminal prosecution.

When questioned about the missing forms in early July, Galvan said he had filed them "yesterday." He also said he would provide a copy to The Times, but never did. On Thursday, he told The Times that his treasurer was "in the process of filing" and that he did not know how much he had spent on the campaign.

"It's really a pretty cut-and-dried rule," said Gary Winuk, head of the state Fair Political Practices Commission's enforcement division. "The public needs to have information about any public official or potential public official's personal financial interests."

In addition to questions about his finances, Galvan declined to answer several questions about his personal history.

Galvan said he grew up in Compton and ran for Compton City Council because he was tired of paying high water bills and seeing trash and mattresses on the street.

But county voter records show that he was registered at an East Los Angeles address until October, when he switched his registration to an address in Compton's 2nd District.

Roger Bagne, 66, a retired school employee who lives in Commerce, said Galvan lived with him a few days a week until late 2012, when he moved to Compton. The rest of the time, he stayed at Gonzalez's print shop in Los Angeles, Bagne said.

"He's a good kid," Bagne said. "I hope that election over there doesn't give him a big head."

Galvan's victory as Compton's first Latino elected public official came after years of political pressure by a group of Latino leaders, who backed a voting rights lawsuit and ballot initiative that led to a change in city elections.

The switch from at-large to by-district voting gave Latinos a better chance of electing a candidate of their choice in areas with large Latino populations, including the district where Galvan ran. Many expected Diana Sanchez, a longtime Compton activist who ran in another district, to be the first elected Latino. She lost, but Galvan beat out a longtime council member in a runoff.

"We've been praying to eventually get some Latino in office. Our prayers were answered," said Alex Leon, pastor of the Victory Outreach branch in Compton. But, he said, Galvan is "young and ambitious and that can get in the way. If he doesn't walk the line, he could mess it up for all of us."

abby.sewell@latimes.com

angel.jennings@latimes.com


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Anaheim's changes not enough for Latino community

It began with violence: Anaheim police firing beanbags and a police dog breaking loose and lunging into a crowd of men, women and children, some of whom had confronted the officers over their fatal shooting of a Latino man.

When another fatal police shooting of a Latino followed, and the anger finally spilled over, people smashed windows, and police in riot gear rushed the street, even as the fireworks from Disneyland on the other side of town erupted in the night sky.

The unrest, and the street protests in the ensuing days, exposed long-simmering tensions in this resort city, not just over the police but because of a deeply rooted sense that those who live in Anaheim's densely packed core were being marginalized and excluded by the town's leadership.

Now, a year later, many of the issues that drove last summer's fury have again bubbled to the surface. The results of the shooting investigations have come in, and city officials — in response to calls for greater representation for Latinos — have altered the way voters select their leaders.

But to many who live in the so-called "flatlands" of Orange County's largest city, the investigations and decisions fall far short of what they've fought for. In some cases, they've only served to underscore frustration.

"They're not interested in working for our community," said Yesenia Rojas, an organizer who lives on the street where the unrest began. "We've gone, we've spoken with the City Council, and the reality is they have not responded."

::

The midsummer rallies and protests were seen by some as evidence that Anaheim's Latino community was finally flexing its political muscle.

Once staid City Council meetings were packed with local activists calling for election reform, citizens' oversight of police, and increased spending in poor and working-class neighborhoods. People booed and applauded raucously and called council members out by name.

"They can be very aggressive," said Councilwoman Lucille Kring. "They'll be clapping and whistling and applauding, and they're giving us the finger ... I cannot believe there's no respect."

Juan Alvarez, a middle school teacher who began attending council meetings after the summer protests, saw it differently.

"These people who have been running the city politics are relying on the fact that citizens are ignorant about what's going on," Alvarez said. But, he added, "we're figuring out how broken the system is."

Latinos now make up about 53% of the 340,000 people who live in Anaheim, but there are no Latinos on the City Council. A census analysis by The Times showed the town is deeply segregated along ethnic and economic lines.

One major demand spurred by the unrest was a call to change the city's at-large voting system to elections by district. The issue is also the subject of an ACLU lawsuit.

But the push for change seemed to stall when the council put off a decision on council districts, appointed a committee and then put aside the committee's recommendation that the matter be put to a citywide vote.

Instead, the council approved a requirement that council members live in specific districts but otherwise left at-large voting intact. Local activists saw the change as little more than a slight variation of the status quo. Again, some said they felt tuned out.

Councilwoman Gail Eastman said she believes the council district model pushed by Latino activists would actually leave residents with fewer representatives to respond to their calls.

She said meetings have become a sort of "endurance thing."

"I have to sit there, because I can't respond. I can't explain anything, I can't clarify anything. All people do is come and yell and try and beat us into submission."

Eastman and others say the city has increased spending on struggling neighborhoods. They point to such projects as a new neighborhood center, a community center, increased library hours and a half-acre park near the site of one of the police shootings. Others say the spending pales in comparison with money spent on the city's glittering resort district — a grand train station, a proposed streetcar project and a $158-million tax incentive given to the developer of two luxury hotels.


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Pat Brown stood firm on civil rights

SACRAMENTO--This is the 50th anniversary year of arguably the biggest, bitterest brawl ever in California's Capitol. And looking back today, it seems almost inconceivable what the fracas was all about.

It was waged over whether homeowners and landlords should be allowed to continue discriminating because of skin color in the sale and rental of housing.

This was an era of heated scuffles and heroic steps in Sacramento. And Democratic Gov. Pat Brown was boldly on the front line pushing, often at his political peril.

But nothing opened festering societal wounds like Brown's struggle to end racial discrimination in housing. It dominated the Capitol in 1963.

This comes to mind because of Gov. Jerry Brown's recent attempt to rationalize his refusal to provide a court defense for Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage initiative approved by voters in 2008. He equated his inaction with his father's refusal to defend Prop. 14, a 1964 initiative that nullified the act banning housing discrimination.

The comparison is hogwash. But more about that later. We're getting ahead of the story.

In 1963 across America, moods were turning ugly. There was an eruption of civil rights protests seeking to end racial segregation.

Birmingham, Ala., police Chief Bull Connor countered with dogs and firehoses. Alabama Gov. George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door vowing to block integration. Civil rights leader Medgar Evers was shot to death in Mississippi. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech supporting President Kennedy's new civil rights legislation at the march on Washington. Racists bombed a Birmingham church, killing four little girls.

In Sacramento, Gov. Pat Brown proposed sweeping legislation to end racial discrimination in housing. "No man should be deprived of the right of acquiring a home of his own because of the color of his skin," Brown asserted, a "duh" comment today, but a daring one then.

The bill was carried by Assemblyman Byron Rumford (D-Berkeley), the first black legislator elected from Northern California. It became known as the Rumford Fair Housing Act.

Civil rights demonstrators descended on Sacramento. In a scene unimaginable today because of tighter security, scores of sit-in protesters occupied the Capitol's second-floor rotunda between the two legislative chambers for weeks, sleeping on the tile floor at night and singing "We Shall Overcome" during the day.

At one point — when the Rumford Act was blocked in the Senate — the demonstrators answered by blocking the giant doors to the Senate chamber.

Actors Paul Newman and Marlon Brando visited one day to root on the protesters. The governor — two grandchildren in tow — also showed up once to thank the demonstrators.

The legislation stalled in the Senate, frowned on by its leader, conservative Democrat Hugh Burns of Fresno.

Finally, on the last night of the session, Assembly Speaker Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh — a champion of civil rights — threatened to kill all Senate bills pending in his house unless Burns freed Rumford's measure. A compromise version passed literally at the 11th hour, 22-13, then breezed through the Assembly, 63 to 9.

But first Unruh, a Texas sharecropper's son who understood white racism, rose during the floor debate and cautioned his Democratic colleagues about the political dangers of getting too far ahead of the people.

It didn't take long for Unruh to be proved correct. Soon after Brown signed the bill, the California Real Estate Assn. launched a repeal effort that became Prop. 14.

Seldom subtle, Brown denounced the group and its allies as "shock troops of bigotry" and equated them with Nazis.

Voters approved Prop. 14 by nearly 2 to 1. Ultimately, it was declared unconstitutional by both the state and U.S. supreme courts. But Brown's strong opposition to the initiative helped engineer his 1966 landslide defeat by Ronald Reagan, who railed against the Rumford Act. Rumford also was beaten.

"At that time" Brown told reporters, referring to his anti-14 stumping, "I didn't intend to run for a third term. If I had, I might have been more politic about it."

Doubt it. Pat Brown wasn't one to hold back or be politic.

Fast-forward to the initiative banning gay marriage.

Jerry Brown — then attorney general — didn't utter a peep about Prop. 8 while it was being considered by voters. Only after they narrowly passed it did Brown announce that he wouldn't defend the initiative in court. He contended it extinguished "fundamental constitutional rights" and noted that his father took the same stance in refusing to defend Prop. 14.

Well, of course Pat Brown didn't defend Prop. 14. It would have been blatantly hypocritical. He had aggressively fought the measure because it nullified his housing legislation. Jerry Brown, however, had no such history with Prop. 8 or same-sex marriage.

But even if Brown did think Prop. 8 was poor public policy — as I did — he owed its 7 million supporters their day in court. As attorney general and later governor, Brown could — and should — have authorized an independent counsel to officially represent the electorate. Same with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and current Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris, who also left the voters stranded.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Prop. 8's legal team didn't have "standing" because it wasn't representing the state and couldn't prove a "tangible harm" if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. So the justices left in place a lower court ruling that Prop. 8 was unconstitutional.

A half century ago, there was no question of standing. Realtors apparently could show harm from the Rumford Act. Don't ask me how.

Many things have improved since then, including the outlawing of racial discrimination. But the voters' access to the judicial system is worse off.

george.skelton@latimes.com


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Unruly crowds in Huntington Beach clash with police

Huntington Beach disturbance

A man smashes a stop sign through the window of a bicycle shop at Main and Orange streets in Huntington Beach. Unrest occurred following the conclusion of the U.S. Open of Surfing. The unruly crowd also clashed with police. (Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times / July 28, 2013)

By Kate Linthicum

July 28, 2013, 11:16 p.m.

Unruly crowds in Huntington Beach damaged property and clashed with police Sunday night following the close of a major surf competition.

Witnesses said a rowdy group of young men threw bottles, tipped over portable toilets and looted at least one store before police dressed in riot gear quelled the disturbance. Witnesses said police used tear gas and non-lethal projectiles to clear the crowds.

Police said the unrest began when a fight broke out at about 7 p.m., shortly after the conclusion of the eight-day U.S. Open of Surfing, which brought thousands of spectators to the Huntington Beach boardwalk. They did not provide details on whether there had been injuries or arrests.

One witness, Russ Mundi, who attended the surfing contest, said police fired what smelled like tear gas after the crowd defied orders to leave. "I heard shots going off, and the whole crowd just started running," he said.

Another witness said he watched as a group of men tore a stop sign from the ground and used it to break into a bicycle shop. At least one bicycle was stolen, the witness said, before local residents showed up and persuaded the looters to stop.

Huntington Beach police requested backup from neighboring agencies. Police said they had the disturbance under control by 9:30 p.m.

This was not the first time Huntington Beach police have squared off with young people following a surf event.

In 1986, hundreds of youths went on a rampage on the final day of the Ocean Pacific Pro Surfing Contest. They pelted police with rocks and bottles, stormed a lifeguard station and overturned and burned police cars.

At least 12 people were injured and nine arrests were made.

kate.linthicum@latimes.com


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Skid row bathrooms are a perennial debate

Facing a growing number of homeless people, Los Angeles housing officials agreed in 1992 to put dozens of portable toilets throughout skid row, only to have Mayor Tom Bradley cut off the funding.

Alice Callaghan, an activist for the poor, then arranged for six outdoor latrines festooned with ornaments and garlands for Christmas. The mayor had them hauled away.

Two years later, Bradley's successor, Mayor Richard Riordan, had two dozen portable toilets placed on skid row. Half were yanked in 1998, then returned after a protest. But in 2006, the city, with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in charge, had them all carted off for good.

Bathroom politics on skid row have long had an absurdist tinge, part Keystone Kops and part Groundhog Day, as the city has wrestled with how skid row's homeless residents should meet their most basic needs.

More than 1,000 people who sleep outdoors in the 52-block district, and 2,500 who join them during the day, rely on five self-cleaning toilets, social service agencies and a couple of park restrooms that are locked overnight. The streets reek of urine. And it seems everybody has a story of witnessing someone using the "box," as the neighborhood is known, as an open-air restroom.

The latest evidence of chronic problems with the city's skid row bathroom strategy came last month, when county officials warned of an immediate public health threat.

During two inspections in May, survey teams found human or animal waste piled at 14 sidewalk locations. Most of the $250,000, self-cleaning toilets were out of order, said the report by the Department of Public Health, which "strongly recommended" the city install more public restrooms.

"What is most critical in the … survey findings is the continuing lack of access to fully operable and sanitary public restrooms for homeless residents in the skid row area," the county's June 5 report said.

City officials said the toilets often break down but are repaired regularly. After a similar negative report last year, the city earmarked $1.2 million this year for quarterly sanitizing and spot cleaning of skid row sidewalks and streets, though there is no commitment to provide additional toilets.

Councilman Jose Huizar, who represents skid row, is studying bathroom access for homeless people in the neighborhood, a spokesman said.

"Unsanitary conditions on skid row are unacceptable," said Mayor Eric Garcetti's spokesman, Yusef Robb. "We want to stay focused on why there are people in the streets."

The problem is that public toilets — particularly ones used by mentally ill or addicted people — are perennially trashed and used for prostitution or substance abuse.

Some downtown business leaders say more bathrooms are not the answer. They argue that new toilets, like the old ones, will be colonized by prostitutes and drug users.

Estela Lopez, executive director of the Central City East Assn., says addicts and alcoholics are mired in a "culture of lawlessness" and won't quit using the sidewalks, no matter what the city does.

"It goes on all day, every day — they choose not to use bathrooms," she said, adding that the only solution is to get people off the streets.

Advocates for the homeless say the city should get rid of the criminal behavior, not the bathrooms.

"When [pop singer] George Michael was arrested for soliciting in the park bathroom in Beverly Hills, we didn't shut the bathrooms down," said attorney Carol Sobel, who has filed several lawsuits against the city on behalf of homeless people.

The advocates maintain that business interests, abetted by the city, are using the bathroom crisis to drive out homeless people so downtown can continue to gentrify.

"It's all about the real estate," said Callaghan, the longtime head of Las Familias del Pueblo, a social service agency on 7th street.

Jennifer Wolch, dean of the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley, who has studied homelessness in Los Angeles, agreed.


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Jazz patrons see L.A.'s Central Avenue on the upswing

Written By kolimtiga on Minggu, 28 Juli 2013 | 22.25

Slowly, steadily, in the shadow of downtown Los Angeles, change is coming to the history-rich but long beleaguered heart of Central Avenue.

Crime is down and optimism up. There's a new cafe, a new grocery store, new shops and apartment buildings. On 42nd Street there's the Dunbar Hotel — a showpiece during the area's heyday as a jazz mecca — which reopened this summer as senior housing after a painstaking restoration.

A sense that the neighborhood is on the mend could be felt Saturday on the streets surrounding the Dunbar, where an energetic crowd of about 2,500 convened for the 18th annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival.

"This is a celebration of black L.A. and L.A.'s jazz history," said Mark Wilson, executive director of the Coalition for Responsible Community Development, organizer of the event, which culminates with Sunday night's show by Gilbert Castellanos and the New Latin Jazz Quintet. "But it's more than that. It's also a celebration of the entire city's cultural heritage and a sign that things are changing. People are willing to invest in Central Avenue again."

Wilson scanned the avenue and smiled. A colorful, multiethnic crowd milled around, eating tacos or barbecue or fried fish, meandering near homespun booths selling candles or baseball caps or pastel paintings of President Obama. A large canopy covered onlookers as they listened to a band ease through some of the same tunes that echoed through the district during its pre-civil rights era heyday, when such jazz greats as Dexter Gordon and Charles Mingus were regulars at the Dunbar Hotel, partly because of the city's segregation.

For years the festival was a much smaller and less dynamic affair. "It only had 200 seats — pretty cramped," said Wilson, recalling a decade ago, when the event was held at a tiny park across from the Dunbar, which at the time was seedy and crime-strewn. He noted that as the neighborhood started improving, the festival improved as well: In front of the stage Saturday was seating for 1,500 people. On sidewalks, scores of onlookers took in the music, standing, or sitting in folding chairs.

"It's a real menagerie here," said one of the crowd, Ted Jones, 79, who began coming to the jazz district in the 1950s, about the time the neighborhood began to lose its luster. Jones noted his age with pride and pointed out that he was hardly alone, since an older crowd made up a large portion of the audience. "The older folks, they can remember what it was like here back in the day, so they come to remember, like a touchstone."

He looked at the stage and tugged his Dallas Cowboys baseball cap. A high school jazz group was swaying and swinging, fronted by a girl who sang with sass, her voice echoing down the block, recalling Ella Fitzgerald. "Wow," said Jones. "We look up and see the younger generation playing, young kids playing jazz, loving it, in this community, and there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is a bright light."

kurt.streeter@latimes.com

Twitter: @kurtstreeter


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Asiana crash focuses scrutiny on foreign pilots

The Asiana Airlines crash in San Francisco earlier this month in which three died and dozens were injured has focused attention on foreign airline safety and training procedures at a time when international air travel has boomed.

Federal investigators are trying to determine how three pilots who were in the cockpit allowed the landing speed and altitude of their Boeing 777, which had no known mechanical problems, to drop to dangerous levels. The crew's training, qualifications and experience are under examination, accident investigation experts say.

Asiana Airlines has defended its safety record and, in a statement to The Times, said its pilot training program meets or exceeds South Korean, U.S. and international standards. But in the wake of the San Francisco crash, carrier officials added that they were "in the process of reexamining our procedures and training."

Significant disparities exist between the safety practices of major U.S. airlines and those of some foreign operators, experts say.

The United States and a handful of European nations, by a wide margin, have better-trained pilots, more sophisticated regulatory agencies that closely monitor operations, and airlines that vastly exceed minimum government requirements, according to a wide range of aviation experts in the U.S.

Although all commercial airlines that fly into the U.S. must meet minimum international standards, only a few rise to the same level as the domestic industry.

"I refer to the United States as the gold standard," said Marion Blakey, former chief of both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board and now president of the trade group Aerospace Industries Assn. "It would be impossible to point to a safer system."

To be sure, many foreign airlines have excellent safety records and well-trained crews. Accident rates and fatalities have been declining worldwide since 2000.

But international accident statistics bear out Blakey's assessment.

Since 1990, foreign-based airlines have accounted for 87% of nearly 300 crashes worldwide, even though they represent a much smaller share of passenger traffic. The FAA has restricted or banned air carriers from 23 nations, largely in Asia and Africa, from entering U.S. airspace. European authorities have blacklisted nearly 300 airlines.

Last year, the aviation arm of the United Nations and the International Air Transport Assn., which represents more than 240 carriers, launched a safety task force in Africa, where the accident rate is more than four times the world average. In addition, the FAA is evaluating India's Directorate General for Civil Aviation because of recent lapses in airline safety, some involving Air India pilots.

Although Asiana is not among the restricted airlines, it has had at least six serious safety incidents since 1990, including the San Francisco crash. The most deadly was a 1993 crash of a Boeing 737, which struck a mountain ridge while trying to land in South Korea, killing 68.

Other incidents included a runway collision that heavily damaged a Russian airliner in Alaska and a hard landing in Japan in 2009 that damaged the plane's rear fuselage. Japanese investigators determined that the pilot erred by coming in with the nose too high.

The largest U.S. carriers have not had a major crash in more than a decade.

The Federal Aviation Administration does not openly talk about the disparity between the safety of U.S. and foreign operators, but it is quietly addressed in some cases.

Air traffic controllers at Los Angeles International Airport, for example, advise foreign pilots to use automated systems for landing — a reflection of concerns about proficiency and language problems.

A century of aviation in the U.S. has resulted in a huge pool of pilots competing for coveted jobs, allowing only the best to move up through the ranks from general aviation to charter operators to commuter airlines to major carriers.

By the time a copilot is seated in a major carrier's cockpit, he or she has thousands of hours of experience, even though the FAA currently requires just 250.

"These foreign countries don't have the pipeline in all the aspects of aviation that we do, not only pilots but mechanics, engineers and inspectors," said Robert Ditchey, a former vice president for operations at US Airways.

Without such a merit-based system, some countries can end up with pilots selected more because of their government or family connections, said Jack Panosian, a former Northwest Airlines captain who teaches aviation law at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona.


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