Homeowners May Foot Bill for Sidewalk Repairs

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INSIDE
• Commercial burglar
arrested. pg. 3
• LADWP gets new
interim manager.
pg. 4
Rain likely,
with temps
around 60º
Volume 20 No. 16
Serving the West Hollywood, Hancock Park and Wilshire Communities
Officials Aim
to Tighten
Restrictions
on Firearms
Homeowners May Foot
Bill for Sidewalk Repairs
n City Examines Proposals that Will Force
Residents to Absorb the Expense
BY IAN LOVETT
n Legislation Authored
A
s with the city’s streets, a
huge portion of Los
Angeles’ sidewalks have
fallen into disrepair—cracked by
time, rain and neglect, or pushed up
by tree roots.
For the last 35 years, if it was the
roots of trees on public property
damaged the sidewalks, the city
was responsible for repairing the
damage. That policy is set to
at State and Local Level
BY IAN LOVETT
L
ocal mid-city elected officials at the city and state
level have taken the lead on
gun control legislation. In recent
weeks, Los Angeles City
Councilmember Paul Koretz, 5th
District, and California State
Assembly Member Mike Feuer,
42nd District, both introduced legislation aimed to better track and
control private ownership of
firearms.
Koretz, who had already introduced a resolution to the city council urging Los Angeles businesses
to ban firearms from their premises, introduced another city resolution in support of California
Assembly Bill 1934, which would
make it illegal for anyone who is
not a law enforcement officer to
openly carry a handgun in public.
Feuer introduced Assembly Bill
1810, which would require the
preservation of records of long gun
(rifles and shotguns) sales and
transfers. Currently, state law
requires those records to be
destroyed.
Koretz joined State Assembly
See Gun Laws page 22
A
dozen students gathered in
the classroom of kindergarten teacher Carmen
Marsh-Weiss at 7:45am on Tuesday,
even though class doesn’t start until
8:00am. Ranging in ages from 6-8,
the students were there to use the
four classroom computers and chat
with their teacher. Principal Julia
Charles stops by and the little faces
light up.
West Hollywood Elementary
School was recently named a
California Distinguished School by
the California Department of
Education (CDE). One of only 27
elementary schools in the Los
Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD) to get the honor, West
Hollywood Elementary School is
full of students who know what they
like about their school, including
third grader, Bella Hensley.
change, however, as the Los
Angeles City Council Public Works
and
Budget
and
Finance
Committees moved on Monday to
shift all responsibility for sidewalk
repair from the city to the adjacent
property owner.
“Obviously, the city is in horrible
financial shape,” said Los Angeles
City Councilmember Paul Koretz,
5th District. “The council is trying
to decide what our core mission is,
See Sidewalk page 20
photo by Amy Lyons
Stuart Wilde made a pit stop at the Park Labrea News and Beverly
Press prior to his trip to Santa Monica on Earth Day.
Llamas Gone Wilde!
n Trek to Santa Monica Pier Marks Earth Day
BY AMY LYONS
K
icking off Earth Day, a
pair of eco-friendly pack
llamas visited the offices
of the Park Labrea News and
Beverly Press, along with Stuart
Wilde, a wilderness guide and
outdoor educator who leads
expeditions in Taos, New
Mexico. The llamas and Wilde
are in Los Angeles for the 40th
anniversary of Earth Day,
Thursday April 22.
“As a hiking guide, I literally
walk 2,000 miles a year. Llamas
are the perfect, low-impact,
high-altitude hiking buddy. They
have soft, padded feet that don’t
impact the fragile wilderness,
and they really tread lightly on
the Earth.”
Wilde, a naturalist and public
lands conservationist, who is the
director of Wild Earth Llama
Adventures, said he and his llamas will trek 16 miles from
“I like going to the school because
all the teachers care about what the
students are doing and I like our new
principal, Ms. Charles, and all the
photo by Ian Lovett
The sidewalks along Gardner Street have been badly damaged by tree
roots. The city may require residents to make the repairs.
See Llamas page 20
School Distinguishes Itself in Academics
BY AMY LYONS
kids are nice to each other,” Hensley
said.
Another student, third grader Adia
See School page 22
photo by Amy Lyons
West Hollywood Elementary School principal Julia Charles (top left) and
teacher Carmen Marsh-Weiss have worked hard to improve academics
among the schoolʼs diverse student body.
Teen Goes Green to Inspire
Her Peers to Join Movement
BY AMY LYONS
T
he
Green
Youth
Movement (GYM) will be
one of several organizations speaking at L.A. Live on
Thursday, promoting recycling as
part of an Earth Day celebration.
Next month, GYM will host a
waterless car wash in Larchmont
Village, and the group is currently working with Los Angeles
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to
implement a tree planting program at Pan Pacific Park as part
of the mayor’s Million Trees initiative.
The movement, which was
founded more than two years ago
by Beverly Hills teenager, Ally
Maize, has more than 1,000
members
throughout
Los
Angeles County, all teenagers
who want to save the Earth.
Last week, Maize was named a
semi-finalist in the 2010
“Huggable Heroes” contest, a
program
of
Build-A-Bear
Workshop that recognizes outstanding achievement by young
leaders across the nation. If she
wins the award, which carries
with it a $7,500 educational
scholarship and a $2,500 prize to
be donated to the charity of her
choice – Maize said she will give
back to GYM, so a younger
group of students can continue
the work as she graduates from
Archer School for Girls and
moves on to college.
“I really want to get young kids
excited about their impact on the
environment,” Maize said. “I
want them to be able to invest in
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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
3 April 22, 2010
Suspect Arrested for Local Commercial Burglaries Gang Member Gets Life in Prison
for Murder at Hwd. Liquor Store
n Police Search for
Owners of Items
Believed to be Stolen
BY EDWIN FOLVEN
A
BY EDWIN FOLVEN
A
40-year-old Baldwin Hills resident was arrested on April 15
for allegedly committing a string of
commercial burglaries during
March and April in the Melrose and
Wilshire areas.
The suspect, who was identified
as Patrick Leroy Taylor, was
charged Monday with two counts
of burglary and grand theft, but
police believe he is likely involved
in at least five burglaries in the local
area, and possibly more. The burglaries occurred between March 15
and April 12. Taylor was arrested at
his apartment in Baldwin Hills by
officers from the LAPD Wilshire
Division’s Special Problems Unit
after detectives identified him from
witness reports and surveillance
video.
Investigators later served a
search warrant at Taylor’s apartment and recovered numerous
items they believe are stolen,
including leather jackets, power
tools, cellular phones, electronic
appliances and several gasoline
powered engines used for motor
scooters.
“Our evidence is based on the
M.O. (method of operation), in that
he would break in or force entry,”
said Det. Ernie Rodriguez, with the
LAPD’s Wilshire Division. “He
was known for cutting phone lines
to disable an alarm system or using
photo by Edwin Folven
Police have confiscated several items from the suspect's apartment that
they believe are stolen, including leather jackets, clothing, cellular
phones and electronics.
a sledgehammer to bust open doors.
It was forced entry, no finesse.”
Rodriguez said Taylor allegedly
committed burglaries at the highend clothing stores Chloe, located
at 8448 Melrose Pl., and J.L.
Marks, located at 8238 W. 3rd St.
He said all of the burglaries
occurred between 8:00pm and
See Burglary page 21
21-year-old suspect who
was convicted in September
of murdering a clerk and shooting a cashier at the Limelite
Liquor store in Hollywood in
2007 was sentenced Tuesday to
life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Rodney Bourgeois, who police
identified as a gang member with
a lengthy criminal history, had
been convicted of first-degree
murder, with the special circumstances of murder during the
attempted commission of a robbery and during the commission
of a burglary. Bourgeois also was
convicted of one count each of
attempted murder, attempted robbery and commercial burglary.
Jurors
additionally
found
Bourgeois guilty of the special
allegations of personal use of a
firearm, personal discharge of a
firearm and personal and intentional discharge of a firearm. The incident occurred on July
19, 2007 at the Limelite Liquor
store located in the 1600 block of
La Brea Avenue. Bourgeois
entered the store posing as a customer, and initially brought a bottle of milk to the sales counter
and inquired about its price. He
then returned the milk to the
cooler in the back of the store and
confronted store clerk Pulod
“Peter” Davlatnazarov at gunpoint. Bourgeois held a gun to
Davlatnazarov’s head and forced
him to walk to
the front of the
store, where
Bourgeois
demanded
money from
the
cashier.
When
the
cashier actiRodney
vated a silent
Bourgeois
a l a r m ,
Bourgeois shot Davlatnazarov in
the back of the head, killing him
instantly. Bourgeois then shot the
cashier in the stomach and fled.
No cash was stolen. The cashier,
Vladamir Akkerman, was seriously injured but survived the
incident.
The murder and attempted robbery sparked outrage in the local
community, and Los Angeles
City Councilman Tom LaBonge,
4th District, initiated a $50,000
reward. Police were able to solve
the case using surveillance camera footage that showed
Bourgeois committing the crime,
and DNA evidence that
Bourgeois left at the scene.
“It was a sad tragedy at the
Limelite liquor, but justice has
been served,” LaBonge added.
Davlatnazarov was an immigrant from the former Soviet
Republic of Tajikistan, and had
only been in the United States for
nine months when he was murdered. Davlatnazarov reportedly
worked multiple jobs, and
planned to later bring his family
to the U.S.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
4 April 22, 2010
Pot Ordinance Moves Closer to Becoming Law
n City Council Votes on
Fees Dispensaries
Will be Charged
BY EDWIN FOLVEN
T
photo courtesy of Tyrone D. Washington/L.A. Mayor’s Office
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has selected Austin Beutner
as the LADWPʼs interim general manager.
New Interim General Manager
Appointed to Lead LADWP
BY AMY LYONS
F
ollowing a dust-up between
the Los Angeles City
Council, Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los
Angeles Department of Water
and Power (LADWP) over rate
hikes, Villaraigosa on Tuesday
appointed Austin Beutner interim
general manager of the LADWP.
Villaraigosa wants Beutner to
reform LADWP, clear out the
bureaucracy and lead a new era
of accountable management and
transparency.
“Austin has already made
great progress building a team at
city hall that changes our attitude
toward business and job creation
and I expect him to do nothing
less as the interim general
manger of the Department of
Water and Power,” Villaraigosa
said.
As Beutner’s first task, the
mayor has directed him to immediately perform a top-to-bottom
financial and operational review
to lead a new era of accountable
management and transparency at
the department, and immediately
implement business and ratepayer-friendly reforms. He will continue to serve as the city’s first
deputy mayor and chief executive for economic and business
policy, positions he has held
since January 11. During this
tenure, Beutner has been credited
with making progress in recrafting the city’s approach to economic development, business
attraction and retention, and job
creation for Angelenos.
Beutner
will
oversee
LADWP’s efforts to reduce the
effects of climate change including the integration of more
renewable energy sources into
the power supply and preparing
the department and the city for
the commercial launch of electric
vehicles, scheduled for later this
year. Villaraigosa and Beutner
will also continue the effort to
find a permanent general manager for LADWP.
he Los Angeles City Council
voted 9-1 on April 16 to
approve the fees that medical marijuana dispensaries will be charged
to operate within the City of Los
Angeles.
Because the vote was not unanimous, the council must vote again
on the fees on Friday as a formality, but only a simple majority is
needed.
Mayor
Antonio
Villaraigosa then has 10 days to
sign the ordinance, which will go
into effect 30 days later. The fees
were the last sticking point for the
long-awaited permanent city ordinance, which will now likely go
into effect on June 4, according to
Monica Valencia, a deputy to Los
Angeles City Councilman Ed
Reyes, 1st District.
The city will require dispensaries
to pay fees to the Department of
Building and Safety, the Office of
the City Clerk and the Los Angeles
Police Department. A $151 fee will
be required for the LAPD to conduct criminal background checks
on each employee, and dispensary
owners will be charged $374 to register with the city clerk’s office. In
addition, $688 will be paid to the
Department of Building and Safety
when applying for a business
license, with an additional $140
payment required quarterly for
building and safety inspections.
Reyes, who spearheaded the
effort to draft a permanent medical
marijuana ordinance, said he is
confident that the fees will cover
the costs of regulation, and that the
ordinance will end the proliferation
of dispensaries throughout the city.
“Many, if not all, will agree that
these fees are reasonable and long
overdue.” Reyes said. “I am
pleased that this final action will
give us the opportunity to begin
implementing a medical marijuana
ordinance in the City of Los
Angeles that we believe is both prudent and fair.”
The ordinance caps the number
of dispensaries at 70, but the city
will allow those that were operating
See Council page 21
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The Better Alternative Treatment dispensary is one of several that continue to stay open on Melrose Avenue.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
6 April 22, 2010
Heilman Takes Oath as Local Teen Starts Green Movement
New WeHo Mayor
From page 1
photo courtesy of Richard Settle
W
est Hollywood’s new mayor John Heilman was sworn in
Monday during a ceremony in the West Hollywood Park
Auditorium. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, 3rd
District, administered the oath of office to Heilman, and new Mayor
Pro Tempore, John Duran. Heilman is serving his seventh term as the
mayor of West Hollywood, after initially being elected to the council
when the city was incorporated in 1984. The mayoral position is rotated between the five councilmembers on an annual basis. Heilman
replaces outgoing mayor Abbe Land.
New Market
Barbershop
Brings Back
Old-Fashioned
Tradition
A
new barbershop has opened at
the Original Farmers Market,
corner of 3rd and Fairfax.
The Barbershop Club, located
next to Starbucks, is a full-service
shop owned and operated by
Woody Lovell Jr., who has run similar businesses in Los Angeles and
Beverly Hills. The Barbershop
Club offers men’s haircuts, as well
as hot towel and straight razor
shaves, and shoe shines. “In an age when salons outnumber barbershops by a ratio of ten to
one, a classic barbershop takes on
extra importance,” Lovell said.
“We’ve created a shop which honors the best traditions of the neighborhood barbershop. The only difference is that at the Market, the
neighborhood includes folks from
around the corner and around the
world.”
The Original Farmers Market is
located at 6333 W. 3rd St.
(323)933-9211, www.farmersmarketla.com.
Wagyu
“Kobe Style”
Top Sirloin Cap
projects that promote a greener
Earth.”
Maize first got the idea for GYM
at age 15, when she saw the film
“An Inconvenient Truth”. Inspired
by the film’s warnings about global
warming, Maize wanted to focus on
educating young people.
“My main goal was to work with
kids on sustainable projects,” Maize
said. “Since I started, GYM has
planted more than six gardens at
schools throughout Los Angeles.
Our group meets every month
and kids from all over the area
come to my house.”
In March, GYM was part of Los
Angeles Fashion Week, promoting
sustainable designers and fashion
lines.
“It was a great experience and the
head of Fashion Week helped us
showcase all these eco-friendly
designs,” Maize said.
Ted Kraus, director of operations
for GYM, said he is moved by
Maize’s commitment to change.
She was the driving force behind
participating in the Earth Day event
at L.A. Live, Kraus said, and she is
Great on
the Grill
!
always looking for new ways to
educate.
“Ally is the brains behind GYM
and she really gets what it means to
help your community,” Kraus said.
“She comes from a family who has
the resources to help and she really
uses those resources for the good of
others.”
For more information about
GYM, visit www.greenyouthmovement.org.
Thee’s
This Week’s Special
Bread Pudding
Marconda’s Meats
photo courtesy of GYM
Ally Maize (second from left) founded the Green Youth Movement, which
is involved with several projects to improve the environment.
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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
7 April 22, 2010
WeHo Panning Commission to
Review Sunset Plaza Division
BY AMY LYONS
T
he West Hollywood Planning
Commission will hold a public
hearing on Thursday, May 6 to consider a subdivision of the two parcels
that currently make up Sunset Plaza
into the following four parcels: 8600
Sunset Blvd., 8720 Sunset Blvd.,
8623 Holloway Dr. and 8665
Holloway Dr.
West Hollywood senior city plan-
“The new building
will be in keeping
with what already
exists at Sunset
Plaza.”
-Jennifer Alkire,
associate planner for the
City of West Hollywood
ner John Keho said the subdivision
will allow the property owners to
deal with each parcel separately in
the future. Keho said there are no
future plans to do anything with
three of the four parcels, but that a
project was approved by the planning commission in December for
the parcel at 8600 Sunset Blvd. That
project consists of demolishing a
3,371-square-foot
commercial
building, which will be replaced
with a 15,416-square-foot, three
story commercial building.
“The new building will be in
keeping with what already exists at
Sunset Plaza,” said Jennifer Alkire,
associate planner for the City of
West Hollywood, who added that all
Bill to Ease
Foreclosure
Crisis Moves
Forward
L
egislation that will establish a
mediation program to help
homeowners facing foreclosure
was passed Tuesday by the State
Assembly’s Banking Committee
AB 1639, which was introduced
by Assemblymembers Pedro Nava,
35th District, and Karen Bass, 47th
District, is designed to prevent
homeowners from losing their residences. The bill would provide a
mediator between the homeowner
and their lenders to help reach sustainable loans, and is also sponsored by Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa.
“This legislation sends a strong
message to the banking and mortgage industry, that business as
usual is not working,” Nava
said. “This legislation will require
face to face meetings between
homeowners and their lenders so
that a mutually acceptable plan can
be implemented.”
Under AB 1639, if attempts at
loan modification fail, a reasonable
transition plan would be established by the borrower and lender.
This type of mediation has proven
successful in numerous other
states, including Nevada and
Connecticut.
California continues to have one
of the highest foreclosure rates in
the nation, with one in every 144
homes in the foreclosure process.
four proposed new parcels comply
with city code.
The applicant for the subdivision,
Mark Montgomery, could not be
reached for comment.
The staff report will be available
on Thursday, April 29 at City Hall,
8300 Santa Monica Blvd., and the
West Hollywood Library, 715 N.
San Vicente Blvd.. The May 6 hearing will begin at 6:30pm in the West
Hollywood Park Auditorium, 647
N. San Vicente Blvd. For information, call (323)848-6475.
photo by Amy Lyons
The city is considering a proposal to divide the Sunset Plaza property into four parcels.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
9 April 22, 2010
City Moves to Make Business Assembly Member Bass Honored
Tax More User-Friendly
T
he City of Los Angeles
Business
Tax
Advisory
Committee (BTAC) on Tuesday
released its initial recommendations for reforming the city’s business tax program. The reforms
were presented to members of the
Los Angeles City Council’s Jobs
and
Business
Development
Committee as the first phase of an
effort to make taxes more equitable
for businesses. “BTAC has been charged with
reforming the business tax code to
make L.A. more business friendly. The focus of this, our first set of
recommendations, is to make the
tax administration process fair,
equitable, transparent and consistent,” BTAC Chair Lloyd Greif said.
“Businesses shouldn’t have to
guess, at their peril, what their tax
bill is going to be. This is not about
fighting with city hall, it’s about
partnering with city hall for a better
L.A.” “Businesses
shouldn’t have to
guess, at their
peril, what their
tax bill is going
to be.
-BTAC Chair Lloyd Greif
The recommendations include
reforms to the audit process, and
providing greater incentives for
non-complying businesses to participate in the business tax program.
They include creating a formal
“classification upon registration”
program to reduce confusion about
a business’s tax category, which
determines its tax rate. Other rec-
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":6,7057 5:79 7+,7 5 ommendations include implementing a program that provides greater
flexibility in imposing penalties on
tax evaders, and balancing the interest rate paid on business tax refunds
with the interest rate levied on past
due assessments.
The BTAC also wants to provide
online access to the auditor’s manual, training materials, and other relevant documents to provide greater
transparency and guidance to taxpayers. The current BTAC was convened in January, and its members
are appointed by the mayor and the
city council. For information, visit
www.clkrep.lacity.org.
Community Partnership
Will Continue at
Fairfax High School
R
egarding the article on “Water
Main Breaks Connected to
Rationing Effort” in the April 15
issue, as an engineer, both of the
suggested theories hold water in
explaining the cause of the recent
rash of water pipe ruptures. The
water-rationing program was illconceived, not in its intent, but in
its implementation. It created the
possibility of stress fatigue failure
of the aging and corroded cast iron
pipes. The other theory offered by
the LADWP, which attributed the
ruptures to diverting water from
pipes that were being repaired,
resulting in higher pressure in the
operating pipelines, is also a reasonable explanation. What amazes me is that those in
charge of the rationing program
and the pipe repair project failed to
review the details of their plans
with available experts. Certainly
our mayor and the city council
members are not experts in this
S
tate Assembly Member Karen
Bass, 47th District, was honored on April 15 by the Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority for her
continued efforts to promote
“Kin-Gap”, a program that provides support to caregivers who
open their homes to youths in foster care.
“Kin-Gap” is credited with a
decrease in foster care placements
in California. Ten years ago,
approximately 55,000 children
were in foster care in Los Angeles
County, while today the number
is less than 16,000.
“I am so honored to be given
this award,” Bass said. “When I
ran for public office, foster care
was one of my main issues. The
progress we made continues to be
one of my proudest accomplishments, and I hope to continue to
move forward, generating more
interest and concern for foster
youth throughout California.”
Bass has authored several
pieces of legislation designed to
improve the lives of foster children, including AB 12, a bill that
would extend the state’s support
for foster youth from age 18 to
Assembly Member
Karen Bass
21. The bill seeks to increase the
chances of a successful transition
from the foster care program into
a productive adulthood.
Letters to the Editor
area, nor are the administrators at
the LADWP. But there are engineers within the DWP, and other
resources available to our city that
could have, and should have,
reviewed the plans before implementation. If city finances are a
problem, many experts would be
pleased to volunteer their services.
There is also no question that the
aging cast iron pipes ought to be
replaced on a well-planned schedule, using modern-day materials
such as composites that do not corrode. And again, these plans
should be reviewed by technical
experts.
George Epstein
Detroit Street
Water Rationing Plan
Should Have Had
Prior Review
R
egarding “Fairfax Lions Will
Play on New Field” in the
April 15 issue, I have to thank you
for the great article. Ian Lovett did
such a good job getting across
what we’re working so hard to
accomplish at Fairfax High. I’ve
already received numerous comments from people who have been
inspired by the story.
With all the doom and gloom
today, especially in the schools, it
is wonderful to be able to present
positive news to our community.
With the help of our valuable partnership with Greenway Arts and
Fairfax Parents and Friends, we
fully intend to continue on that
path. Thank you for helping us
convey that message.
Joyce Kleifield
Director of Development
Fairfax High School
ʻCowboyʼ Stamps
Should Have Included
Lone Ranger
R
egarding “Autry Unveils
‘Cowboys’ Stamps” in the
April 15 issue, I’m not surprised
that Roy Rogers and Gene Autry
are to be “stamp famous”, but
instead of Tom Mix and William S.
Hart, who are long forgotten by the
public, why not the Lone Ranger,
whose career spanned films, radio
and TV for decades? How I wish I
still had his “silver bullet”, which I
acquired by sending in a Cheerios
cereal box top.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto,
along with their horses, Silver and
Scout, were my boyhood heroes.
Eddie Cress
Sylmar
Have an Opinion?
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you would like to have your
opinion heard, e-mail us at :
editor@beverlypress.com.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
10 April 22, 2010
A Slew of Classic Films Hit The Big Screen
photo courtesy of TCM
A
classic film starring
John Voigt and Dustin
Hoffman (pictured above),
“Midnight Cowboy” will be only
one of more than 50 old school
films hitting the big screen in
Hollywood this weekend. Turner
Classic Movies (TCM) will stage
its first film festival from April
22-25, setting up a central hub at
the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The theme of the festival is the
history of Hollywood, and the
films will be presented in conjunction with celebrity appearances, panel discussions and
more.
Charlie Tabesh, senior vice
president of programming for
TCM, said the network has been
toying with the idea of a festival
for several years.
“We really started to get into
the idea about a year-and-a-half
ago, when we brought in fifteen
fans that we got to know through
message boards and emails, and
we taped them introducing their
favorite films,” Tabesh said.
“When the films aired, the fan
segments would be shown first
and the sense of community we
felt from these film lovers was
overwhelming. That’s when we
decided the festival needed to
happen.”
Tabesh said one of the main
goals of the festival is to create a
sense of fan camaraderie and
community spirit around classic
films.
“It’s about seeing great films
with an audience of like-minded
fans, and then being able to have
a dialogue or hear from people
directly involved,” Tabesh said.
“We have done our best to get the
most pristine prints.”
Among the filmmakers and
celebrities appearing at the festival are Luise Rainer, Ernest
Borgnine, Eva Marie Saint, Tony
Curtis, Jon Voight, Jean-Paul
Belmondo, Martin Landau,
Anjelica Huston, and many more.
Kicking off the four-day event
will be the world premiere of a
new restoration of George
Cukor’s “A Star is Born”, starring
Judy Garland. Other important
presentations
include
“Metropolis”, featuring previously lost footage; a 50th anniversary
screening of a restored version of
Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless”,
and a screening of “The
Producers”, which will include a
discussion with writer/director
Mel Brooks, who will also be
receiving a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame during the festival.
For a full list of screenings,
events and information about the
TCM Classic Film Festival, visit
www.tcm.com.
ulie B. Gutman, the vicepresident of the City of Los
Angeles Board of Public
Works Commission and a
senior labor advisor to Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, has been
named as the new executive
director of the Program for
Torture Victims (PTV).
The PTV is a human rights
organization dedicated to helping survivors of state sponsored torture, and provides
psychological and medical
case management services, as
well as asylum trial preparation.
Located at El Mercado La
Paloma in downtown Los
Angeles, PTV is the first
photo courtesy of Richard Settle
West Hollywood city officials recently came together with representatives from the West Hollywood Sheriffʼs Station and the local
business community for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the cityʼs new
36-space short-term public parking lot located at 8459 Sunset Blvd.
The group included City Councilmember Jeffrey Prang (sixth from
left); Jackie Rocco, West Hollywoodʼs parking operations manager;
West Hollywood City Manager Paul Arevalo; and Oscar Delgado,
West Hollywood director of Public Works. The parking lot will be
open daily from 8:00am to 2:30am. For information, visit
www.weho.org.
Structure Could Add Even
More Spaces in WeHo
W
photo courtesy of TCM
“The Producers”, starring Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, Andreas
Voutsinas and Christopher Hewett will screen at the TCM Festival.
Program for Torture Victims Gets New Director
J
More Room to Park
in West Hollywood
human rights program of its kind
in the country. Los Angeles is
home to the largest population of
“Julie Gutman
is a mover and
shaker, and we
are thrilled that
she will take
the helm at
PTV.”
- Niels Frenzen
refugees, asylum seekers, and tor-
ture survivors in the United
States. PTV also provides training for legal and mental health
professionals and physicians,
and offers outreach, public education and advocacy on the
treatment and prevention of torture.
“Julie Gutman is a mover and
shaker, and we are thrilled that
she will take the helm at PTV,”
said Niels Frenzen, president of
the Program for Torture Victims
Board of Directors and Clinical
Professor of Law at USC. “Her
leadership is invaluable at this
critical time for immigrants and
survivors of state sponsored
torture.” Gutman will be in the
new position in mid-May.
est Hollywood city officials are looking into the possibility of
building a fully-automated municipal parking structure at West
Hollywood City Hall. The city is currently accepting proposals for the
conceptual phase of the project.
Automated parking facilities can hold two to three times the number of cars as traditional ramp-style parking garages, which would
enable the city to meet parking requirements in less space. Automated
parking structures utilize computer-controlled motorized lifts, conveyors and shuttles to transport cars from the arrival level to a parking space and back, without any human interaction. Customers drive
into an entry bay and lock their car, which is then taken automatically to a parking space. Upon the driver’s return, the automated system
retrieves the car and delivers it to the driver in approximately 90 seconds.
Additional advantages of automated parking include reduced risk
of damage, theft and increased personal safety, as the parking area is
not accessible to the public. In addition, automated garages pollute far
less than conventional garages, according to information provided by
the city. For the proposed 200-space parking structure in West
Hollywood, the reduction in CO2 emissions for is equal to taking 92
cars off the road each year.
For information, call (323)848-6390, or visit www.weho.org.
Mid City West Community Council
Holds Local Candidates Forum
T
he Mid City West Community
Council (MCWCC) is holding
a candidates forum on Tuesday,
April 27 at 6:30pm at the
NCJW/LA headquarters, 543 N.
Fairfax Ave. Candidates vying for seats on
the MCWCC board will discuss
their backgrounds, and their
visions for the neighborhood
council and the local community.
The MCWCC board election will
be held on May 13.
This is the best opportunity for
the public to meet the candidates
and hear what they have to say
about themselves, about MCW
and the community, prior to the
election on May 13th.
For information on the elections
or the MCWCC, visit www.midcitywest.org/election.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
16 April 22, 2010
County High School Arts Program
Holds 25th Annual Celebration
Goethe-Institut
Hosts South
East European
Film Festival
99 Cents Only Store Clean up Beach
T
photo courtesy of Jerry Digney
The 25th anniversary celebration for Los Angeles County High
School for the Arts (LACHSA) was held on April 17 at the Ahmanson
Theatre. The two-hour show featured performances by well-known
entertainers such as Barry Manilow (left) Monica Mancini and Dave
Koz, along with LACHSA student artists. Ranked as one of the countryʼs top five schools for the performing and visual arts, LACHSA has
trained more than 3,300 young artists, including vocalist Josh
Groban, actors Anthony Anderson, Jenna Elfman and Corbin Bleu;
Fergie, of “The Black-Eyed Peas”, playwright Josefina Lopez; and
Alvin Ailey dancer Matthew Rushing.
For information, visit www.artshigh.org.
he South East European Film
Festival (SEE Fest) will take
place at the Goethe-Institut Los
Angeles on Wilshire Boulevard,
and at the James Bridges Theatre at
UCLA, from Thursday, April 29
through May 3.
The theme of the festival is
“Breaking Down the Walls of South
East Europe”, and it is designed to
showcase films that will educate
people about South East Europe, its
troubled history and cultural diversity.
“We bring to light innovative,
different films that create an indepth portrait of South East Europe,
where countries are sandwiched
between defunct empires and
mixed legacies”, festival director
Vera Mijojlic said. “They are the
voices of a wonderfully expressive
diversity, something South East
Europe and Los Angeles have in
common.”
SEE Fest will include the film
“Alive!” (Albania), which explores
the responses of people confronted
by ancient blood feuds; “Bells,
Threads & Miracles” (Greece),
which examines the relationships
between Muslims and Orthodox
Christians; “A Step into the
Darkness” (Turkey), which tells the
story of a Turkmen girl attempting
to flee forum Iraq; and “Goodbye,
How Are You?” (Serbia), a documentary that explores the past 20
years of the Balkan nation.
Screenings on April 29 and 30
begin at 6:30pm; while screenings
on May 1 and 2 are at 1:00pm at the
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750
Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100. The closing night of the festival will be held
on Monday, May 3 at 6:30pm at the
James Bridges Theatre at UCLA.
For
information,
visit
www.seefilmla.org.
photo courtesy of Heal the Bay
The 99 Cents Only stores participated in an Earth Day-related beach
clean-up project at the Santa Monica Pier on April 17, where representatives handed out more than 299 reusable shopping bags and
gift certificates to volunteers. The event was part of Heal the Bayʼs
“Nothinʼ But Sand Beach Cleanups” program, which is sponsored by
99 Cents Only Stores. More than 1,800 people participated.
“We are glad we can support the effort for a greener environment,”
said 99 Cents Only Stores spokesperson, Ana Gamez. “The turnout
was amazing.”
The 99 Cents Only Stores is also offering free reusable bags at their
stores today, April 22, in celebration of Earth Day. Customers must
make a $9.99 purchase, and present the coupon from the latest 99
Cents Store ad (see page 5). For information, call (888)LUCKY99, or
visit www.99only.com.
Canada Featured in California
International Theatre Festival
Kids Run/Walk Towards Finding a Cure for Cancer
T
he Children’s Cancer Research
Fund (CCRF) will host the 5th
Annual “Kids 4 Kids 5K Run/Walk
and All Star Carnival” on Sunday,
April 25 at L.A. LIVE.
The event will feature a fundraising run/walk, as well as entertainment, rides and game booths staffed
by celebrities and athletes such as
actor Drake Kemper (left) and
photo courtesy of Lisa England
Consul General of Canada, David Fransen, recently hosted a
reception at his residence in Hancock Park celebrating Canada as
the featured country of the California International Theatre Festival.
Fransen was joined by festival organizer Linda Purl (left) and
actress Morgan Fairchild. The California International Theatre
Festival will take place from July 17 through 25, and will include
several international productions, including the American premiere
of “Stones” by the Orto-Da Theatre Group from Israel; and the
American premiere of “Tempting Providence” by Robert Chafe, of
the Theatre Newfoundland Labrador from Canada. For information,
visit www.citfestival.org.
“This event is
meant to create
a happier and
healthier future
for all children.”
State of California
LICENSED
photo courtesy of CCRF
CCRF will host the annual “Kids 4 Kids Run/Walk” on Sunday.
--Matti Contopulos
Founder and President of the
Childrenʼs Cancer Research
Fund
skateboarding star Ryan Scheckler.
“The Kids 4 Kids 5k Run/Walk
and All Star Carnival is meant to
give the kid in all of us a memorable
experience while helping kids with
cancer,” said Matti Contopulos,
founder and president of the
Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
“This event is meant to create a
happier and healthier future for all
children.”
The run/walk will take place at
L.A. LIVE on Chick Hearn Court,
at the corner of 11th and Figueroa
Streets. Registration begins at
8:00am, and the Radio Disney
Warm-Up takes runs from 8:00 to
10:00am. The run/walk begins at
10:00am, followed by the All Star
Carnival.
Advance registration is $10 for
children under 18, $25 for adults,
and is available at www.ccrfkids.org. On-site registration is $20
for children and $35 for adults.
CCRF provides support for clinical research in pediatric cancer, and
funds raised from the run/walk will
be used for art supplies for a pediatric playroom at Mattel Children’s
Hospital UCLA and at County USC
Hospital.
For information visit www.ccrfkids.org.
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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
17 April 22, 2010
Cooley Presents
Russian Dancers Help WeHo
Celebrate 25 Years of Cityhood ʻCourageous
Citizen Awardsʼ
at Rotary Club
5th Graders Hike Mt. Hollywood,
Plant Tree for Schoolʼs Namesake
L
photo courtesy of Joshua Barash
The City of West Hollywood held its 25th Anniversary of Cityhood
Community Celebration on April 17, which featured art, music, a public safety fair and the Russian Style Festival, with a presentation of
traditional Russian dance. The family-oriented event was designed
to celebrate the various cultures that make up West Hollywood, and
commemorate West Hollywoodʼs incorporation as a city in 1984.
Equality California Hosts Candidate Forum
O
n Sunday, the Equality
California Political Action
Committee will host a forum at the
Pacific Design Center in West
Hollywood for candidates running
for statewide office.
Several candidates will attend,
including San Francisco Mayor
Gavin Newsom, Rocky Delgadillo,
Janice Hahn, Gloria Romero, and
others. Candidates will take questions from a panel composed of
members of the press and community leaders.
At 10:00am, candidates for
Attorney General and Insurance
Commissioner will join the forum,
and at 3:30pm, candidates for
Lieutenant
Governor
and
Superintendent
of
Public
Instruction will be present.
Attendees will be able to meet the
candidates at receptions after both
the morning and afternoon sessions.
The forum will also be broadcasted
live
online
at
eqcapac.org/forum/online.
To submit questions for the candidates,
email
mythoughts@eqca.org.
os Angeles County District
Attorney Steve Cooley presented “Courageous Citizen Awards” to
three individuals at a ceremony on
April 9 hosted by the Rotary Club
of Los Angeles.
The District Attorney honored a
12-year-old boy, whose name was
not released, who testified against
two men who broke into his family’s apartment in Koreatown on
December 31, 2006 and murdered
his father and sister, and shot his
mother.
The boy’s mother survived the
attack. Two suspects were later
arrested and found guilty of multiple murders, robbery and burglary.
Both suspects were sentenced to
life in prison without parole. Cooley also presented an award
to Bruce Cotton, of Los Angeles,
who helped authorities identify a
hit-and-run driver after the assailant
ran over a pregnant woman during
an argument last April in South Los
Angeles.
Cotton followed the female
assailant and reported the incident
to police. The victim, who was
eight months pregnant, delivered a
baby girl, but the newborn later
died of head trauma. The defendant
was convicted of second-degree
murder and attempted murder, and
was sentenced to 32 years to life in
state prison.
In addition, Jose Arredondo, 57,
of Ontario, was honored for stopping an attack on an elderly man in
downtown Los Angeles last
June. When Arredondo intervened,
the attacker began assaulting him,
swinging a hammer and threatening
to kill him.
The suspect was later arrested,
pleaded no contest to assault
charges and was sentenced to a 12year prison term.
photo courtesy of 5th Council District Office
Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge joined 100 fifth
graders on a hike to the top of Mt. Hollywood.
A
pproximately 100 fifth
graders from Charles H. Kim
Elementary School in Koreatown
hiked to the top of Mt.
Hollywood in Griffith Park on
Monday to plant a Canary Island
Pine tree to honor their school’s
namesake.
The group was joined by Los
Angeles City Councilmember
Tom LaBonge, 4th District, who
planned the hike after two members of the fifth grade class won a
contest for their essays about
Kim, a Korean immigrant who
established farms throughout
California’s Central Valley.
Kim was also the first KoreanAmerican millionaire, and went
on to become an advocate for fair
wages and good working conditions for immigrant laborers.
Charles H. Kim Elementary,
located at 225 S. Oxford St., is the
first public school in Los Angeles
to be named after a KoreanAmerican.
“Through Mr. Kim’s wonderful
life story of farming, agricultural
development, community-spirit
“Through Mr.
Kim’s wonderful life story,
these students
are learning to
give back to
the world.”
--Tom LaBonge
Los Angeles City
Councilmember, 4th District
and philanthropy, these students
are learning to give back to the
world,” LaBonge said.
SOS Holds 3rd
Annual Festival
for Recovery
T
he Secular Organizations for
Sobriety (SOS) will host its 3rd
annual Festival of Recovery on
Saturday, April 24 at the Center for
Inquiry-Los Angeles and the Steve
Allen
Theater,
located
in
Hollywood.
The event marks the 25th
anniversary of SOS, a traditional,
faith-based 12-step program for
people struggling with alcoholism
and addiction.
“Obviously the need for alternatives to twelve-step groups is crucial,” SOS founder and executive
director James Christopher said.
“The all-day free public event has
been very successful for the past
two years, opening minds and
hearts to a better understanding of
diverse approaches to recovery
from the horrors of alcoholism, drug
addiction and mental illness.”
SOS is hosting the event in conjunction with the Self Help and
Recovery Exchange (SHARE) and
Project Return, which specializes in
mental health recovery. The event
will run from 8:00am to 5:00pm at
the Center for Inquiry-Los Angeles,
4773 Hollywood Blvd. For information, visit www.cfiwest.org/sos.
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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
18 April 22, 2010
RFB&D Holds Record-A-Thon Mayor Unveils New Israeli Consulate Celebrates 62nd
Campaign Against
Domestic Violence
Anniversary of Independence
Y
photo courtesy of Diane Kelber
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic-Southern California (RFB&DSoCal) is holding its “Volunteer Record-A-Thon” through Sunday,
April 25. The event utilizes hundreds of volunteers to record audio
books for people with sight impairment or disabilities such as dyslexia. The volunteers included celebrity guest Heidi (right), from the
“Frosty, Heidi and Frank” radio show on 790 AM, who was joined by
volunteer Neva Wallace.
The Record-A-Thon will continue throughout the week at RFB&D
SoCalʼs recording studio on Hollywood Boulevard. RFB&D offers the
largest audio textbook library in the world, and new volunteers are
always needed. For information, call Rob at (323)664-5525 ext. 107,
or visit www.rfbd.org/Western.
esterday, Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa, joined by Chief
Charlie Beck and women leaders,
announced a comprehensive
domestic violence initiative that
increases resources for victims of
domestic violence and prosecutions
of offenders, as well as connects
victims to services through a public
awareness
campaign.
The
announcement of the new initiative
coincides with the international
sexual abuse public awareness day,
Denim Day.
“Today we stand together to
speak out and break the silence in
support of victims of domestic violence,” said Mayor Villaraigosa.
“This new initiative will connect
victims with needed resources and
will work to increase the prosecution of perpetrators.”
Supported by a $1.1 million
grant awarded to the City from the
Department of Justice’s Office on
Violence Against Women, the new
initiative will work to increase the
rate of prosecutions of domestic
violence perpetrators and connect
victims with services.
photo by Peter Halmagyi
The Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles and the Saban
Theatre held a musical celebration of Israelʼs 62nd Independence
Anniversary on April 19. The event portrayed the story of Israelʼs history through live performances, dance, video art and stand-up comedy. In addition, Consul General of Israel, Jacob Dayan (right)
received a commendation from Beverly Hills Mayor Jimmy Delshad.
The event was hosted by KTLA entertainment reporter Sam Rubin,
and was held at the Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd.
ʻOceansʼ Opens with Ocean Displays at the El Capitan Park La Brea Celebrates Earth Day
photo courtesy of Michel Pascal
photo courtesy of the El Capitan Theatre
“Oceans” will run at the El Capitan through May 23.
Park La Brea held an Earth Day celebration on April 17 with informational displays, screenings of environmental films, activities for
children and free giveaways. Whole Foods Market offered healthy
snacks and literature about protecting the environment. The Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) also provided
information about programs and the environment, and residents
staffed a table with information about earthquake preparedness and
recycling.
# &"( '#)#!'
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H
ollywood’s legendary El
Capitan Theatre will celebrate
Earth Day today with the debut of
Oceans, a new film from
Disneynature.
Water covers nearly three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, yet
human beings have seen less than
5% of the oceans.
The film, narrated by Pierce
Brosnan, takes viewers under the
surface of the water with neverbefore-seen footage.
At every showing of Oceans at
the El Capitan, the Wildlife
Learning Center will showcase a
handful of exotic animals in their
care with the “Exotic Animals From
Around the World,” presentation
live on stage.
In honor of each moviegoer who
goes to see Oceans during the film’s
opening week, Disneynature,
through the Disney Worldwide
Conservation Fund, will help establish new marine protected areas in
the Bahamas with The Nature
Conservancy, one of the largest
conservation organizations in the
world. These areas will contain
miles of vital coral reefs that provide natural habitat, nurseries and
feeding grounds for hundreds of
marine species.
“The El Capitan is the perfect
place to experience this amazing
film with its state-of-the-art digital
projection,” Lylle Breier, senior
vice president of worldwide special
events for Walt Disney Studios
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Motion Pictures. “We’re proud to
help increase awareness for our
world’s oceans and the species that
depend on them by helping to save
our coral reefs on behalf of our
patrons.”
The El Capitan engagement will
run from April 22 through May
23.Tickets are available at the El
Capitan Theatre box office, locted
at 6838 Hollywood Blvd., online at
www.elcapitantickets.com, or by
calling 1-800-DISNEY6.
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Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
19 April 22, 2010
Garcetti Gets Own iPhone App School Officials
An After Hours Party at the Zoo
Agree to Shorten for Animals and Animal Lovers
LAUSD Year
M
embers
of
Associated
Administrators
of
Los
Angeles (AALA), the union representing school administrators,
approved an agreement with the
Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD) on Tuesday that
will shorten the school year by five
days and save thousands of jobs.
Last week, United Teachers Los
Angeles (UTLA), the union representing LAUSD teachers, also
approved the agreement.
photo courtesy of the 13th Council District Office
Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, 13th District, hosted a “Download Day” on April 17 for the new “Garcetti 311” iPhone
application, which allows users to submit photos of potholes, graffiti
and other problems within the 13th District for the city to address.
Garcetti is pictured reporting the overgrown brush and graffiti on a
wall in the Historic Filipinotown
District. The application, developed by the Los Angeles-based CitySourced, is available free of
charge via iTunes. Availability on other mobile devices such as
Google Android, Blackberry, Palm and Windows Mobile is expected
in the next three months. For information, visit www.ci.la.ca.us/council/cd13.
New Faces Join the Hollywood
Chamber of Commerce
photo by Bob Freeman
Sam Smith (right) was installed as the new Chairman of the Board
of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce at the chamberʼs 89th
annual installation and awards luncheon on Thursday, April 15 at the
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Also at the luncheon were (from left) Bill
Farrar, past chairman; Carole Sarian; Cris Com; and Los Angeles
City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, 4th District. Movie legend Tony
Curtis received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Hollywood
Chamber at the event.
MOCA to Host Gorky
Retrospective
The Museum of Contemporary
Art, Los Angeles (MOCA), will
present Arshile
Gorky: A
Retrospective. June 6 through
September 20. This major traveling
retrospective celebrates the extraordinary life and work of
Arshile Gorky is a seminal figure
in the movement toward abstraction
that transformed American art in the
middle of the 20th century.
The exhibit positions Gorky as a
crucial forerunner of abstract
expressionism, and as a passionate
and dedicated artist whose tragic
life often informed his groundbreaking and deeply personal paintings. The first full-scale survey of
Gorky’s oeuvre since 1981, this
exhibition includes more than 120
works.
“We will
continue to
work as a team
to weather this
financial storm
so that our students are protected as much
as possible.”
--Ramon C. Cortines
LAUSD Superintendent
The decision will result in five
unpaid furlough days for AALA
members during the current school
year, and seven furlough days during the 2010-2011 school year.
More than 90 percent of the 2,300member union voted to approve the
agreement.
“I appreciate the leadership our
administrators provide on a daily
basis to our schools,” LAUSD
superintendent Ramon C. Cortines
said. “We will continue to work as
a team to weather this financial
storm so that our students are protected as much as possible.”
Cortines proposed the shorter
school year and unpaid furlough
days to generate $140 million in
savings that can be used to address
the district’s $640 million budget
deficit. The savings have enabled
the district to rescind more than
1,400 layoff notices to teachers and
other employees. The agreement
also allows class sizes to be maintained at the current levels.
photo by Jamie Pham
The Los Angeles Zoo was full of wild times on Saturday, April 17
when the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) held its
annual Sunset Safari. From left to right, Stanley Silver, owner of Fred
Segal Feet on Melrose; Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association
(GLAZA) President Connie Morgan; and Los Angeles Zoo Director
John Lewis joined the fun at the Sunset Safari, a special event for the
zooʼs Safari Club donors. Patrons of the club, which is GLAZAʼs premier annual giving society, enjoyed an after-hours evening of dinner,
music and animal viewings at the zoo. The Sunset Safari featured
a variety of keeper talks and feedings with the zooʼs recently
acquired Brazilian giant otters, as well as the maned wolf, mountain
tapirs, white-faced saki, golden lion tamarins, snow leopards, tigers,
hippo, Indian rhino and black bears. There were also strolling “animal walkabouts”, which included chats with keepers and the chance
to observe small animals up close. The children in the crowd seemed
to get a big hoot from many of the owls being shown by keepers.
Strolling zoo personnel were draped with large snakes or carried
talking birds. To learn more about the Los Angeles Zoo Safari Club,
visit contact Nancy Simerly at (323)644-4717, or e-mail
nsimerly@lazoo.org.
Health Fair to Feed West ʻHealthywoodʼ
T
he City of West Hollywood and
the West Hollywood Chamber
of Commerce present the “West
Healthywood Day” health fair on
Thursday, April 29 from 10:00am
to 2:00pm.
The event will be held at the
Whole Foods West Hollywood
store, and will feature health discussions, blood pressure screenings,
exercise tips, free massages and
free healthy merchandise giveaways. There will be two panel discussions beginning at 11:00am,
including the “Health Care
Reform” panel moderated by Scott
Williams of AFLAC, and featuring
Tony Melia, of NBIA Insurance;
Todd Gurvis, of Trilogy Financial
Services; and Tim Peterson, of
TWP Insurance. At 1:00pm, a discussion titled “Wellness & Stress
Management” will be moderated by
Heather Mlodinow, of FREXTR,
and will include Megan Magee, of
NOURISH Nutrition, and Sheila
Kar, chief of cardiology for Cedars
Sinai Medical Center.
Whole Foods Market is located at
7871 Santa Monica Blvd. For information,
visit
www.wehochamber.com.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
20 April 22, 2010
Sidewalk Repairs Could Cost Residents
From page 1
and which things we can stop
doing. I’ve generally thought we
could use efficiencies in several
areas to eliminate much of the budget shortfall, but the one area that
we seem to have the clearest consensus on with cuts is sidewalk
repair. The council feels there still
needs to be sidewalk repair, but
we’re going to have residents pick
up that responsibility.”
Property owners were originally
responsible for the adjacent sidewalks, following a 1911 state law
that charged them with all construction, reconstruction, and repair.
However, in 1974, when federal
funding became available, the city
took on responsibility for repairing
curbs, driveways and sidewalks
damaged by tree root growth.
Although federal funding ran out
two years later, the city has
remained legally responsible for
repairing sidewalks damaged by
tree roots, even though most trees
were planted by adjacent property
owners and real estate developers.
Since 2000, the Bureau of Street
Services (BOSS) has repaired
about 550 miles of sidewalk, at a
cost of $95 million, but the condition of the city’s sidewalks has continued to get worse, with roughly
40 percent in need of repair. Los
Angeles also spends between $3
million and $5 million each year
defending lawsuits brought by people who trip and fall on city sidewalks.
The estimated $1.2 billion it will
cost to repair Los Angeles’ 4,600
miles of damaged sidewalk will
now fall to property owners.
Ron Olive, assistant director of
BOSS, said he believes the new
system will lead to more sidewalk
repairs across the city.
“I think we’ll definitely make
some headway, with property owners taking responsibility for repairs
again,” Olive said. “Right now,
we’re only doing interim asphalt
repairs. If we’re aware of a hazard,
photo by Ian Lovett
Many sidewalks in the local area are damaged, and the city is now looking to residents to pay for the repairs.
City Employees Wear Denim
for Sexual Assault Awareness
photo courtesy of Brett White
D
ozens of City of West Hollywood employees dressed in denim on
Wednesday in observance of Denim Day, which raises awareness
about the misconceptions surrounding sexual assault. Denim Day coincides with Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April, and started as a
response to a 1999 Italian Supreme Court decision which overturned a
rape conviction because the victim wore jeans. The Italian Court justices reasoned that the victim must have helped her attacker remove her
jeans, because they believed that without the victim’s help, removing
the jeans would have been impossible, which implied consent.
we’ll patch it with asphalt, but
we’re not laying any concrete.
Once the new program gets going, I
can see sidewalks being replaced
again.”
However, City Councilmember
José Huizar, 14th District,
expressed skepticism that shifting
responsibility to property owners
would lead to repairs across the
city.
“Folks in low-income neighborhoods are not going to have the
money to make those repairs,”
Huizar said. “This policy would
shift the responsibility to the property owners, but that doesn’t mean
the repairs are going to get done.
Huizar suggested that the city
offer a loan program and payment
installment plan to help lowincome residents fund sidewalk
repairs.
In addition, there will be a oneyear moratorium before property
owners are held responsible for fixing sidewalks. And even once the
new program begins, it remains
unclear exactly how the city will
compel property owners to repair
adjacent sidewalks. Currently, several options are being considered,
including a point-of-sale system,
which would require property owners to have their sidewalks certified
before an escrow could be closed,
or using BOSS employees to
inspect sidewalks and issue citations, which give the property
owner 90 days to fix the sidewalk.
It also remains to be seen how the
new policy will be enforced.
“The only kicker is, what if the
property owner doesn’t repair the
sidewalk after 90 days?” Olive said.
“Does the city make the repair and
put a lein on the property? We have
to have a system to address noncompliance.”
Other questions remain as well.
For instance, it’s unclear if the city
will remain liable for trip-and-fall
claims. At Monday’s committee
meeting, neither BOSS nor the City
photo by Ian Lovett
Broken sidewalks present a potential hazard to pedestrians. It is estimated that it would cost $1.2 billion to repair all of the sidewalks in the
City of Los Angeles.
Attorney’s office knew whether the
money spent defending trip-and-fall
litigation came from the Public
Works budget, the City Attorney’s
budget, or from the General Fund.
The City Attorney’s Office did not
return calls for comment.
What is clear is that whatever the
cause of damage to the sidewalk, the
cost for fixing it will soon fall to
property owners.
Jim O’Sullivan, president of the
Miracle Mile Residents Association,
said it was unfair for the city to
expect property owners to pay for
damage caused by city-owned trees.
“The city wants to walk away
from it and say, ‘OK, it’s yours
now,’” O’Sullivan said. “There’s
something really wrong with penalizing homeowners for sidewalks
that are damaged when it was the
city that put the trees in. Frankly, I
think that’s the city’s responsibility.
But the city doesn’t have any
money, and they’re probably going
to close a lot of Street Services
down.”
Llamas
From page 1
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre to the
Santa Monica Pier on Thursday to
promote walking as a sustainable
mode of transportation to reduce
consumption of fossil fuels, to
lower carbon emissions, and to help
fight obesity.
“If we all traded one hour of driving a day for walking the same distance, we’d cut our fossil fuel usage
by more than thirty percent, and
lose an average of twenty six
pounds a year,” Wilde said, adding
that he leads hiking treks in the
High Desert and Southern Rocky
Mountains, his llamas serving as
pack animals for towing supplies.
“This trip to Los Angeles is really
about reconnecting people with
nature and the natural world,” Wilde
said.
Wilde and his llamas will partner
with the Los Angeles Conservation
Corps on a Green community service project with inner city youth
and Los Angeles County Supervisor
Mark Ridley-Thomas for an event
at Kenneth Hahn State Recreation
Area on Friday, April 23 from
9:00am to 1:00pm. The animals will
photo by Amy Lyons
also accompany Wilde to a meet- Wilderness guide Stuart Wilde will walk with the Llamas from the
and- greet at Toyota of Santa
Graumanʼs Chinese Theatre to the Santa Monica Pier to promote walkMonica on Saturday, April 24.
For a full schedule of Los Angeles- ing as a sustainable mode of transportation.
based events featuring Wilde and
For more information about adventures, visit www.llamaadvenhis llamas, call Brett Stevens at
Stuart Wilde and Wilde Earth llama tures.com.
(818)310-6130.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
21 April 22, 2010
Council Votes on Fees for Dispensaries
From page 4
legally before a 2007 moratorium
went into effect to reapply for a new
permit, putting the total at approximately 128. The dispensaries will
also be required to be located more
than 1,000 feet from sensitive uses
such as schools, parks, religious
institutions and community centers.
The only dissenting vote on the
fees was cast by City Councilman
Bill Rosendahl, 11th District, who
said he is opposed to the ordinance
because it is too restrictive for the
dispensaries.
“It’s a dumb ordinance. It restricts
and eliminates almost all dispensaries in the eleventh district,”
Rosendahl said. “[Dispensaries] are
treated worse than adult bookstores
and other back alley stuff. It’s about
time people start realizing marijuana
is like alcohol and prescription
drugs. It needs to be regulated, taxed
and out in the sunshine.”
City
Councilmember
Tom
LaBonge, 4th District, said he
believes the fees are appropriate.
“It’s important that we try to
resolve this issue on the fees.
Although some people disagree, they
are justified by what has been determined by the city administrator,”
LaBonge said.
Frank Mateljan, a spokesperson
for the City Attorney’s Office, said
the first step in enforcing the ordinance will be for the Department of
Building and Safety to notify dispen-
photo by Edwin Folven
The La Luna Caregivers dispensary is located on a block of Melrose
Avenue that features two dispensaries just doors apart.
sary owners who are in non-compliance to close. If the dispensaries
remain open for more than 10 days,
citations can be issued. If the owners
still do not close their shops, the City
Attorney’s Office can begin legal
action, Mateljan said.
“All of our cases are fact-based
and driven by investigations by the
LAPD and Building and Safety,”
Mateljan added. “Once they go out
and find violations, then we plan to
aggressively enforce the ordinance.”
The prospect of the ordinance
finally taking effect in June has generated optimism about an end to the
proliferation of dispensaries, particularly in the Melrose Avenue
Shopping District. Members of the
Melrose Action Neighborhood
Watch canvassed the neighborhood
last November and found that 15 dispensaries were operating on Melrose
Avenue between Highland and
Fairfax Avenues. An inventory of
dispensaries conducted on Tuesday
found that seven dispensaries were
still open in the area.
“Seven marijuana stores in one
neighborhood is too many, just as
seven liquor stores would be too
many,” said Paul Lerner, co-founder
of the Melrose Action Neighborhood
Watch. “Our hope is that the new
ordinance will be thoroughly
enforced, so we can go forward having a reasonable number of dispensaries in the city, and not the Wild
West environment we have had.”
photo by Edwin Folven
The Exclusive Meds dispensary is one of several that continue to operate on Melrose Avenue. Some people in the local area are hopeful the
new ordinance will force many of the dispensaries to close.
Burglary Suspect Faces Charges
From page 3
6:00am when the stores were
closed, and took place in an area
bounded by Melrose Avenue to the
north, Wilshire Boulevard to the
south, Fairfax Avenue to the east,
and La Cienega Boulevard to the
west.
Rodriguez said Taylor was identified by witnesses who were
doing inventory inside one of the
closed stores when one of the burglaries occurred. In the other
cases, investigators are currently
reviewing surveillance video and
checking the serial numbers on
items recovered from the suspect’s
apartment. Taylor is also being
investigated for two commercial
burglaries that occurred on
Melrose Avenue
in West
Hollywood in March, according to
Lt. Lawrence Delmese, with the
West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station.
Delmese said both incidents were
“smash-and-grab” type break-ins,
but he did not have specific information on the cases. Rodriguez
said he is coordinating with the
West Hollywood sheriff’s detectives and officials in Beverly Hills
to identify additional crimes that
may be attributed to Taylor.
Rodriguez added that he is trying to determine the owners of the
items that were seized at Taylor’s
residence. Several leather jackets,
for instance, have sales tags
attached that do not identify what
store they came from. Many of the
other items, such as several cellular phones, are also in unopened
boxes. Police also seized burglary
tools, including a heavy-duty
metal cutting saw that could be
used to cut open security bars, and
tree trimming equipment that may
have been used to cut telephone
lines.
“We recovered a lot of things
that could be construction tools,
but this guy isn’t in construction,”
Rodriguez added. “There is a
sledgehammer, a reciprocal saw
that could defeat any kind of barrier a merchant puts up. He had tree
trimming equipment, but he doesn’t have any trees.”
Jane Robison, a spokesperson
for the Los Angeles County
District Attorney’s Office, said
Taylor has been released on bail
pending an arraignment on May 6.
Rodriguez said he is currently
putting together a list of the items
that he plans to distribute to other
police departments to determine if
they match additional burglaries.
He is also asking storeowners in
the local area to call investigators
at (213)922-8205 if their stores
have been burglarized and they
recognize any of the stolen merchandise.
photo by Edwin Folven
Police are looking for the owners of items recovered from the suspectʼs
apartment.
Park Labrea News/Beverly Press
22 April 22, 2010
Gun Laws Proposed by Local Lawmakers
From page 1
Member Lori Saldana, 76th
District, who authored AB 1934, at
a press conference on April 16 to
support the “open carry” ban.
Currently, California law allows
gun-owners to carry firearms in
public places without a permit, as
long as the gun remains unloaded.
The issue has sparked controversy
in recent months, as “open carry”
advocates began carrying their
weapons into Starbucks locations in
California.
“The status quo is both shameful
and shocking,” Koretz said.
“People who are not police officers,
and who may have no training or
permits, can carry handguns openly, into almost any public place.
That places innocent bystanders in
instant danger. Are we going to be
sending our Los Angeles police
officers to check each time a person
with a handgun is spotted walking
down the street or in a park, to see
if the gun is loaded with ammo?
Frankly, it’s an affront to have to
use our officers in a manner that’s
both so frivolous and so dangerous.”
On Tuesday, AB 1934 was
approved by the State Assembly’s
Committee on Public Safety
Committee, bringing it a step closer
to becoming law, as it now moves
on
to
the
Appropriations
Committee. The Public Safety
Committee also passed Feuer’s
long gun registration bill last week.
Suzanne Verge, president of the
Los Angeles chapter of the Brady
Campaign Against Gun Violence,
spoke about the importance of
tracking the sale of long guns.
“Right now, when someone buys
a handgun, there is a dealer’s record
of sale, so we can track who owns
the gun,” Verge said. “But there’s a
loophole in the law so that there’s
no record for the sale of a long gun.
By not having those gun records, if
a police department is going to
check out a domestic violence call,
they know if someone is a handgun
owner, but they don’t have any
record of if the person owns a long
gun, which makes it more dangerous for them. Half the weapons
police find on people with restraining orders or the mentally ill are
long guns.”
However, Chuck Michel, litigation counsel for the California Rifle
the constitutionality of state gun
bans.”
Michel also said that the City of
Los Angeles, and Feuer in particular, is hostile to gun-owners’ rights.
“As a City of Los Angeles
Councilman, Mike Feuer never met
a gun control law he didn’t like,”
Michel said. “If it was up to him,
nobody would have any firearms.
What we want is a fair and constitutional concealed weapon license
system in place in California. But
some cities, including the City of
L.A., are so averse to giving lawabiding citizens the right to carry
guns and defend their families, that
they won’t issue conceal and carry
“The new building permits even after they’ve been
and lost.”
will be in keeping sued
Both Feuer and Koretz, however,
with what already have worked to create stricter gun
laws throughout their
exists at Sunset control
careers in city and state government. When Feuer was a Los
Plaza.”
Angeles City Councilmember, rep-Jennifer Alkire, resenting the 5th District, he was
associate planner for the one of the council’s strongest advoCity of West Hollywood cates for gun control, helping pass
legislation that required longer wait
periods before buying a gun, as
and Pistol Association, called long well as a ban on cheap pistols
gun registration unnecessary and known as Saturday Night Specials.
politically-motivated.
In 2007, he authored a State
“Long gun registration is really Assembly bill that required all
designed just to throw more red semi-automatic ammunition sold in
tape in the way so people are dis- California to be microstamped,
couraged from participating in technology which would make the
shooting sports. I suspect this has bullets easier to track and identify.
very little to do with long guns, per
Koretz, meanwhile, has worked
se, and more to do with trying to get to pass gun control laws as a memas many gun laws passed as they ber of the West Hollywood City
can. This is an extreme bill that has Council; the California State
been considered before and not Assembly, where he preceded
pushed, and the only reason they’re Feuer representing the 42nd
trying to pass it now is because the District; and now the Los Angeles
Supreme Court is about to rule on City Council. In West Hollywood,
photo courtesy of the Fifth District Council Office
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz (center), 5th District, joined
representatives from Women Against Gun Violence last week to call
attention to legislation designed to regulate firearms.
Koretz co-authored the ban on
Saturday Night Specials that was
the first of its kind in the nation, and
sparked many similar bans around
the region, including in Los
Angeles. He also worked to ban
semi-automatic rifles, which lead to
similar state-wide and federal bans.
Koretz said he first started working for gun control in 1974, after his
friend, who worked as a pharmacist, was robbed three times in three
weeks.
“By that time, my mother and
father had each been robbed at gunpoint twice already,” Koretz said.
“My mother because she worked as
a bank teller, and my father randomly in parking lots, and I’ve
been involved with gun control
School Honored as Distinguished Elementary
From page 1
photo by Amy Lyons
Students at West Hollywood Elementary School voluntarily show up
early to work in the computer lab. The school has made major improvements to its academic achievement scores.
Marroquin-Mojica, said school is
fun.
“Your teacher lets you go to the
computers and sometimes lets you
play,” Marroquin-Mojica said.
Third grader Jennifer Ferreira,
said her love of learning keeps her
excited about coming to school
every day.
“We learn more about reading and
math and science and fluency. My
favorite subject is science because
we do things with the Earth,”
Ferreira said.
According to the CDE, eligibility
for the 2010 designation was based
on scores on the Academic
Performance Index (API), as well as
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP),
which charts improvement by subgroups such as family income; ethnicity and language of origin.
Students in every group must
demonstrate substantial growth.
Winning schools also had to narrow
the gap between high-and-low
achievers.
All applicants underwent a stringent selection process conducted by
the CDE with the help of educators
from across the state. Each applicant
was required to describe two signature practices that resulted in an
increase in student achievement and
a narrowing of the achievement gap.
Charles, who started at West
Hollywood Elementary School in
September, said the two signature
practices that made her school eligible are parent and community partnerships coupled with school-wide
collaboration.
“We have a huge amount of parent
involvement, it is part of our every
day experience here,” Charles said.
“The fundraising that our parents do
to enhance the curriculum and fund
programs is a big part of our success.”
Friends of West Hollywood
Elementary, the school’s parent volunteer group, has led campus beautification efforts and increased the
number of books in the school
library, to name just a few projects.
School-wide collaboration is
demonstrated by frequent “team
teaching”, wherein teachers pair up
to enrich the students’ learning experience. The 13 teachers at West
Hollywood Elementary School
strive to make connections in the
curriculum across all grades, K-6,
for all 289 students. And extra-curricular activities include a stage play
open for participation to students and
a gardening program. The school’s
current API is 849, which represents
an increase of 200 points over the
last five years.
Charles, formerly an assistant
principal at Toland Way Elementary
School in Eagle Rock, said she plans
to keep student achievement high in
the future by focusing on more forays into the community.
“Right now, we have a lot of community members, parents and city
officials coming into the school to
help out and see what we do here,
now we would like to get our students
out
into
the
community…we’re not there yet,
but that is the next step in community partnerships,” Charles said.
For a complete list of California
Distinguished School schools award
recipients, visit www.cde.ca.gov.
efforts ever since. Fortunately, no
one I know has ever been harmed.
I’m one of the lucky ones, most
people in this movement have lost
loved ones at the wrong end of a
gun.”
Koretz said California has made
great progress on the gun control
issue in the past 35 years.
“The recent Supreme Court decision was a significant step back.
The focus is always on getting the
most dangerous guns out of the
hands of the most dangerous people, and making it easier to track
them,” Koretz said. “The Mike
Feuer legislation tracking long guns
was something we looked at doing
when I was in the Assembly, and I
think that’s a priority.”
Comedy Show
Benefits
Cancer Charity
T
he City of West Hollywood
is co-sponsoring a show
titled “Laughter is the Best
Medicine” being held tonight,
Thursday, April 22 at 8:00pm
at The Comedy Store, 8433
Sunset Blvd.
“Laughter is the Best
Medicine” is a benefit featuring six stand-up comedians for
the charity, Cancer Shmancer.
Comedians include Marla
Schultz; Staci Lawrence; Justin
Martindale; Jodi Miller; Iliza
Shlesinger; and Bryan Callen.
For information about the
show and how to purchase tickets, contact the Office of West
Hollywood Councilmember
Lindsey Horvath at (323) 8486460, or visit www.weho.org.
For the hearing impaired, call
(323) 848-6496.
Answers From Page 15