March 2010 Archives

Rancho Palos Verdes just announced that tonight's continued City Council meeting on the Marymount College expansion will not be broadcast on public access Channel 35.

It also won't be streamed on the city's Web site (and that never works for me anyway).

So, if you want to find out in real time what's happening, go to the meeting at Hesse Park at 29301 Hawthorne Blvd. I'll have some kind of update in the morning, too.

City listserv notice after the jump.

South Bay lights are expected to go dark this Saturday, as millions participate in the annual "Earth Hour" call for worldwide energy conservation.

Los Angeles International Airport will even participate, dimming the gateway pylons that dot the airport entryway from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. The pylons will glow solid green an hour before the observance, and then will go dark.

Sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund, Saturday marks the third Earth Hour observance. More than 80 million people in the United States participated last year.

The LAX Gateway pylons were first lit in August 2000. They went dark about five years leaders as more energy-efficient LED fixtures were installed, consuming 75 percent less electricity than the previous system that had 736 lamps. The columns range in height from 25 to 60 feet along Century Boulevard, leading to a ring of 15 100-foot tall columns at the intersection of Century and Sepulveda boulevards. 

A new UCLA study out today found that women, along with patients suffering from diabetes and dementia, are the most likely to face high out-of-pocket drug costs in the Medicare prescription drug plan.

The so-called "donut hole" -- the gap that occurs after seniors reach their annual coverage limit and before catastrophic coverage kicks in -- leaves many without means to pay for medication, researchers said.

The study looked at 287,000 of the 3.4 million Medicare Part D beneficiaries, finding that 16 percent of enrollees entered into the gap. Seniors in this situation paid an estimated $3,600 in drug costs that weren't covered by insurance.

Women with "co-morbidities" such as hypertension, coronary artery disease and depression, had a 54 percent chance of falling into the donut hole. Other conditions that led to high drug costs included dementia and diabetes, according to the study.

In the health care reform package recently signed by President Obama, the Medicare donut hole will eventually be covered by the government. In the meantime, researchers say women and those with chronic conditions should get counseling to ensure they select the best drug coverage plan.

Sunday's article about local residents who received 2010 census forms with the wrong city name listed on their address generated some frustrated e-mails from South Bay residents.
Carson city officials said every resident in the city -- including City Manager Jerry Groomes -- got forms with Long Beach written as their city of residence instead of Carson. The forms made it to homes because the street addresses and nine-digit ZIP codes were correct.
U.S. Census Bureau officials said the mistake is purely superficial, will not affect the nationwide population count, and citizens should quickly mail back their completed census forms. Cities across the country were affected by the city-name misprint.
The mistake has thrown many local residents -- in Long Beach, Carson, Hacienda Heights, Whittier and elsewhere -- for a loop.
Several Cerritos residents e-mailed me to say that their census forms had Artesia written on them.
Here's what one reader wrote:
"Live in Cerritos, same location for 36 years. The census came with City of Artesia address. This happens every decade and no one comes by to correct or update, so we return the census unanswered as usual. City of Cerritos Web site has some information on the census, as over 1,000 homes have non-correct addresses and will not be countable."

The state Supreme Court sided with environmentalists and labor groups today in a long-running dispute over a project that allows for the production of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington.

El Segundo residents Joe and Heidi Wang were doing well crawling across a World War I battlefield in the French countryside until they were targeted by another team and had to perform an extra task. They struggled with Morse code and couldn't figure out the message they had to decipher.

A protest designed to draw attention to an alleged racial profiling incident drew a handful of civil rights activists and defenders of Torrance police to a sunny street corner today.

Organized by regional civil rights groups, the event highlighted the stop and search last week of Torrance resident Robert Taylor, an Inglewood pastor. Taylor's car was similar to one used in a violent kidnapping the day before the March 4 incident, police told the Daily Breeze this week.

"I look nothing like this guy. My car is six or seven years newer than his," Taylor said. "This is unconstitutional, what they're doing."

His case, which Torrance police said is the subject of an "administrative investigation," has been taken up by local civil rights groups. Today, they sought to highlight their efforts to get the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to investigate.

About 15 mostly black supporters of the groups were met by a more or less equal number of white protesters who defended Torrance police. The latter group drew honks from cars that passed by the event, held at the corner of 190th Street and Yukon Avenue, where Taylor said he was pulled over.

"The Torrance Police Department are out of control. Some people say they have taken on the Ku Klux Klan hats and made them badges," said Eddie Jones, president of the Los Angeles Civil Right Association.

After speaking to a handful of reporters, Jones was confronted in the middle of the street by Redondo Beach resident Lynette Vandeveer, who said she came out to support Torrance police. The two spoke to each other in raised voices as cameramen circled their interaction.

"Your city needs to be investigated," Jones told her, referring to Torrance.

Vandeveer held a sign that said "I love Torrance PD."

After the two faced off, a Torrance man who gave his name only as "Dave" yelled to Jones, "Where do you live?"

Jones replied: "I live in the United States of America."

Dave yelled back: "Get out. You're rotten, get out."

They returned to their corners, waving signs. Jones led a prayer for justice, then often-quoted activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable told reporters he had sent a letter to Southern California-based U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte asking for "a pattern and practices probe of Torrance police operations."

Jones and Hutchinson said they would monitor the Torrance department for six months, and encouraged anyone who felt victimized by racial profiling to contact them.

"We're going to do this really big," Jones said.

Within an hour, the civil rights group packed up, leaving a few pro-police protesters on the sidewalk with a sign that said "We've Been Pulled Over Too ... What's Your Point!"

I've been off on vacation this week and just got caught up with The Amazing Race from Sunday.

You've read the article now listen to the radio broadcast.

This item will appear in this week's listings of restaurant closures in the South Bay. It sounds like something you'd read in The Onion, but no, it's true. 

Lomita Pure Water
1234-J W. Lomita Blvd., Harbor City
Close date: 3/5
Reopen date: 3/5
Reason for closure: No potable water supply or no hot water

 

   Just days after he snubbed her, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today endorsed Councilwoman Janice Hahn's run for lieutenant governor.

   "I know first hand that Janice Hahn is ready to lead California as our next lieutenant governor," Villaraigosa said in a statement released by Hahn's campaign staff.

   "Janice Hahn knows what it will take to get the job done and fight for all Californians," he said. "I have worked side-by-side with Janice fighting gang violence, greening and growing the Port of Los Angeles and creating jobs for Angelenos. There is no doubt that Janice Hahn is the tough, strong leader California needs as their next lieutenant governor."

   On Monday, Villaraigosa sang Hahn's praises as a councilwoman but never mentioned her run for lieutenant governor, all while encouraging the community to support Rep. Jane Harman's bid for re-election.

   The endorsement comes as many across the state wait to see whether San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will toss his hat into the lieutenant governor's race. Newsom pulled nomination papers this afternoon and paid a filing fee, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. He has until 5 p.m. Friday to submit the forms.

   Apparently frightened of Newsom's name recognition across the state, Hahn launched a pair of online videos criticizing her potential rival for the Democratic nomination.

   Villaraigosa apparently isn't a fan of Newsom either. The big city mayors were poised to duke it out for the governor's seat, but backed down when Jerry Brown trounced the pair in fundraising and preliminary polls months before he ever confirmed his own nomination.

Update 8/31/10: This has still not been resolved. I have sent off yet another email to DWP who says they will "investigate." Unbelievable.  

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In my desk drawer here in the newsroom is a pile of old bills and notes labeled "DWP."

I pull it out every couple months as I make my regular call complaining to the Los Angeles agency about an "Extra Capacity" fee that's been (wrongly) appearing on my bill since September 2008.

That's right. 2008.

I am longsuffering, if nothing else.

For the first few months back in 2008 I couldn't figure out why my DWP bills were higher than usual. I figured I was using too much water and it would go back down next time. But after the third bill came, the "extra capacity" trash pickup line was finally noticed.

I'm being charged $10 a month (that's $20 more on each of the bills that come every other month).

Why?

Because my neighbors put their black trash bin, alongside mine, out against my curb (with my permission as they need their curb space for their cars). At some point, the DWP apparently hand-counted trash bins, writing down how many appeared in front of a given address. Not the most sophisticated way to do an audit, but this is L.A.

The DWP has acknowledged the extra charge is their fault and that I am owed a credit.

But when?

Every time I call, they say that while they have completed their "investigation," issuing a credit will "take time." It is "in the process" of being issued. They cannot say when the credit will appear, however -- or even when the overcharges will be stopped. Sigh.

After being told late last year that the over-charge should stop by January, I opened my latest bill in February to find it was still there. I was not surprised. Another call was made, another "we don't know when it will be resolved." 

I'm not alone. I found this post  from 11/09 on a blog by Douglas E. Welch detailing the same frustration. I his instance, it was his neighbors' green bin that was counted when it was put out next to his one week. 

"The operator at the DWP instructed us that they would have to send an inspector out to confirm that we only had the one green bin and it could take up to four months to see the change in our bill. This happens as the LA DWP only bills every two months. So we waited. Sure enough, the next bill still had the charge, so we called again. The opearator told us that the inspector had not yet been sent out, so the bill still contained the fee.

I should have been reading our sister paper's (The Daily News) "Friendly Fire" blog, as it turns out. They warned their readers back in August 2008 of the coming "extra capacity" charges in a post titled Outrage of the day: City finds new ways to charge you for trash.

Sanitation officials estimate that 77,000 Angelenos have extra bins that the city has neglected to charge for, resulting in an annual loss of $8.5 million. Notices were sent out to those residents and about 1,000 chose to return their bins. Residents who retained their bins.

But what about bins counted that aren't yours?

I realize the wheels of city government grind ever-so-slowly and inefficiently -- especially in Los Angeles. But when I read today about the proposed "massive" rate hike by DWP that is scheduled to hit us all in April, I became irked all over again.

Is anyone else out there having this same problem? Feel free to leave a comment.

 

 

 

Los Angeles port and city officials gathered for a press conference Monday at the intersection of Harry Bridges Blvd. and Neptune Ave. in Wilmington to break ground on a street-widening project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Rep. Jane Harman, left, talks to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa along with Councilwoman Janice Hahn. (Robert Casillas/Staff Photographer)

 

Whether it was intentional or not, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa snubbed Councilwoman Janice Hahn this morning at a public event in Wilmington.

During a news conference to promote $22 million worth of improvements to a 1.3-mile stretch of Harry Bridges Boulevard, Villaraigosa praised Rep. Jane Harman -- and endorsed her re-election bid -- but didn't mention a word about Hahn's run for lieutenant
governor.

 

Villaraigosa thanked Harman for her efforts to get federal funds to complete the roadwork, then urged the community to support the Democratic congresswoman in the June primary.

"For a woman who's currently up for re-election, let me say to Angelenos that it is important that we send Jane Harman back to the House," Villaraigosa said, with Harman standing to his right.

"She's going to advocate," he said. "We got a lot of money, but we need to get a lot more because this port is just so important, not just to Wilmington, not just to the city of Los Angeles, not even just to the state. It's important to every part of the United States
of America."

With Hahn standing to his left, Villaraigosa praised her role as a City Council member representing the Harbor Area, but he made no mention of his colleague's campaign for California lieutenant governor.

 

While she hasn't received the backing of the mayor, there is some consolation for Hahn. So far, she's gained the endorsement of City Controller Wendy Greuel and eight of her City Council colleagues: Eric Garcetti, Paul Koretz, Tom LaBonge, Bernard Parks, Jan Perry,
Bill Rosendahl, Herb Wesson and Dennis Zine.

Our very own Terranea Resort will be the star of a two-hour special episode of ABC's "The Bachelor" beginning at 8 p.m. Monday.

OK, maybe the resort won't be the star. But the still-new coastal destination will play a supporting role in a show focused on the wedding of Jason Mesnick to Molly Melaney.

Reality TV fans -- not me, sorry -- will recall that Mesnick dumped finalist Melissa Rycroft for runner-up Melaney just after the final episode of the 13th season of "The Bachelor." This is the FIRST EVER wedding coming out of a show designed to marry people off. I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, last weekend, some 300 guests and 150 crew members took over the resort for the taping of the big day.

"It was really very, very exciting. We think that the bride and groom -- while it was a production -- we think that they had a very romantic weddding," said Terri Haack, managing director of the resort. "We were very happy that we were able to create that."

Haack said she and her staff had to sign confidentiality agreements, so she couldn't say much about the show. She did reveal that the event started off during a break in the rainy weather, then it started pouring during the outdoor ceremony.

"They got drenched," she said.

The resort has gotten a ton of press and a big uptick in inquiries since the celebrity event focused the spotlight on Terranea. That's despite a bit of a negative connotation, perhaps, from the citizens arrest of two paparazzi by security guards that Haack said were associated with the production company.

"We have a wedding this weekend. A real wedding," Haack said. "I mean, not that this one wasn't real."

Terranea is the location of several still-secret, upcoming television shows and commercials, she added.

Jonathan Strickland, the 18-year-old pilot we wrote about Sunday (see story here), passed his commercial pilot's test on Monday. 
His (very proud) father sent an e-mail on Tuesday to tell us about Jonathan's latest accomplishment.
With this under his belt, Jonathan can work as a flight instructor and get paid to fly. The Inglewood teenager has been piloting planes since he was 14 and has most recently worked toward his dream of becoming a commercial pilot at Hawthorne's Beach Cities Aviation Academy.
He has already broken several records for his early accomplishments.
In the fall, he plans to attend Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.