By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
[See Banning, p. 4] [See Defenders, p. 8]
On June 30, Ketanji Brown Jackson was sworn in as the first federal public defender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Yet, Los Angeles County, with the largest criminal justice system in the world, has never elected a single public defender as a judge.
Once passed, these new measures go before judges. “And either they [judges] are willing to implement those new laws, or they are resistant to those new laws,” Hancock said at a Feb. 26 campaign event at North Atwater Park. “So what I can say is that I will be following the law. You know, I am not resistant to change and I know that there have to be alternatives. Because it’s the definition of insanity to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.”
As state and local measures have been passed
Defenders of Justice Could Bring Big Changes to LA Courts
1
Banned Books in the Crosshairs
A
George M. Johnson, author of All Boys Aren’t Blue, which was targeted by a Florida school board for removal from schools.
Homelessness report shows increase p. 2 MMA fighter Mavrick arrested in connec tion to raid on San Pedro gym p. 3 The Drowning Girls extra timely postRoe v. Wade p. 9
Public Defenders’ Unique Backgrounds a Plus for Reform
But that’s just how the status quo operates, Hancock told Random Lengths News. “District attorneys, who the data show often become judges, have jobs where they bring charges to accused people and fight for jail and prison time. The prosecutor-tothe-bench pipeline contributes to the problem of overincarceration because prosecutors have a very narrow viewpoint of how outcomes in cases can be managed,” she said. “By contrast, I’ve been looking for solutions to get to the root causes of problems that cause harm, and for ways to help the community.” She cited both Measure J (supporting alternatives to incarceration) and Measure H (funding to build housing for the
nyone with a smartphone is just one swipe away from casual acts of violence and sexuality of nearly every persuasion ... lies, misinformation, and halftruths all mixed in with small kernels of fact and truth. The kicker is that it’s all packaged as entertainment. Yet conservative politicians and school boards are once again banning books from classrooms and libraries. Does this all sound familiar in the culture war over content? It should. It’s happened before.
Last year, author George M. Johnson defended his critically acclaimed book, All Boys Aren’t Blue, after it was targeted by a Florida school board for removal. The author noted that if these state legislators are ready to ban every other medium or context that discusses sex and sexuality, they should be prepared to ban television and the Bible.
In Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue, he writes about growing up Black and queer in New Jersey. The book deals with homophobia, transphobia and racism. In November 2021, a school board member in Flagler County asked the County Sheriff’s Office to criminally prosecute whoever allowed the book in school libraries. The complaint led to the book being removed from the school system.
Sex and the Perceived Decline of Culture Drives Totalitarian Tendencies
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Graphic by Suzanne Matsumiya
But that may soon change, with the Defenders of Justice slate — three public defenders, Holly Hancock, Anna Reitano, and Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes, and a civil rights lawyer, Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park — running for judicial offices in the November elections. Hancock ran once before, in 2018, but it’s the first time she’s running explicitly as a public defender, and the first time there’s been such a slate.
At the school board meeting, Johnson noted that at the age of 3 or 4, the ’80s sitcom Murphy Brown prompted him to ask his mother what the term “lesbian” meant and noted that he learned about prostitution at the age of 6 in Sunday school. Johnson said his book was geared toward young people ages 14 to 18, grades 10th to 12th.
to reduce incarceration and promote alternatives — including restorative justice practices that focus on redressing harm to victims and restoring relationships — public defenders have a huge advantage in knowledge and experience to make these alternatives work.
Sandoval and McOsker, the two candidates vying to replace Buscaino, differed in their opin ions on
McOsker said he would not commit to add ing or removing any signs that ban homeless people, but that he would evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.
Venue: 2130 James M. Wood Blvd., Los Angeles
Homelessness Report Shows Increase
Labor Votes BBQ & Rally
Details: For questions, reach out to Liz Hartwell: ehartwell@thelafed.org.
By Hunter Chase, Community News Reporter
In his closing remarks, McOsker stated his intentions to bring services to homeless people.
Cost: https://tinyurl.com/rally-for-labor
“We also need to make sure that we are work ing for as long as it takes, for as hard as it takes, to be in the street, where people are, and bring ing to them in the community those mental health services, those addiction services, and those op portunities to come in and then navigate through a system so that everyone has the opportunity to come in and have a healthy, fruitful life,” McO skerSandovalsaid. said the city needs to do more,
“We need to make sure, under Boise, and be
2 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant
Long Beach Gives is an annual citywide giving event to raise awareness and inspire community giving for Long Beach nonprofits.
Time: 12 to 2 p.m., Sept. 17
“It is terrible for those folks experiencing homelessness when there’s a turnover of staff, when an outreach worker is there for a couple of weeks then gone,” McOsker said. “I’ve had the experience of being in encampments and talking to folks and seeing a stack of cards from different people who showed up and disappeared.”
“We need to have direct services,” Sandoval said. “And outreach workers need to build that trust. In order for someone to accept services, they have to trust the worker that they’re work ing with. And in order to build that trust, we can not have the high turnover that we have, because then we’re just starting all over again.”
$2.2 million to support the work of the nonprofit organizations serving the city. Long Beach Gives increases organization al support, collaboration and volunteerism.
Buscaino, who has been accused by critics of being anti-homeless, finished his press release by indirectly referencing section 41.18 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, which bans homeless people from sleeping on certain sidewalks.
“I did contact our senior lead officers and ask for extra patrols,” Sandoval said.
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instead of relying on the Los Angeles County De partment of Public Health. She wants it to have its own services and outreach workers.
Enjoy tri-tip, tacos, and raspados with your union sisters and brothers to mobilize for this election
The agency will be holding a virtual workshop Sept. 17, as a forum for community members to voice their opinions on the project, and uplift is sues important to your community.
Communities of interest are defined as: groups of people that share common social or economic interests; groups that live in a geographically de fined area and groups that should be included within a single district for purposes of effective and fair representation in future elections.
Sandoval said that 41.18 is poorly written and “Thereactionary.onlyreason why we have some of these sites under 41.18 is because it’s a reactionary response to the people that don’t want encamp ments near their homes,” Sandoval said. “It’s a form of SandovalNIMBYism.”saidthere are encampments with dangerous people, but others are just people try ing to shelter themselves from the elements, and they should be protected.
Of all the homeless people living in CD15, only 19% were in the city’s transitional housing.
Venue: Perry Lindsey Academy, 5075 Daisy Ave., Long Beach
Districting Changes Coming to Lomita
Joincommunity.inraising
Council District 15 candidates Tim McOsker and Danielle Sandoval discuss the issues facing homelessness. File photos
Cost: Free Details: www.helpmehelpu.org/ggng
Homelessness increased by 5% in his district, as there were 2,257 homeless people in 2020 and 2,373 in 2022, according to LAHSA’s count. He also pointed out that there was a slight decrease in street homelessness, as there were 1,934 peo ple living on the streets of CD15 in 2020, and 1,916 in 2022.
Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 40 Years
Every unit donated at a blood drive can help save up to three lives.
The City of Lomita is considering the transi tion to district-based elections and is seeking as sistance in developing a list of neighborhoods and “communities of interest” or COI to consider while drawing district lines.
Opportunity LA Offers Savings Accounts For Children
LA Metro has established a I-710 Task Force to aid in the development of a transportation invest ment plan to leverage $730 million in funding to improve the I-710 south corridor.
McOsker said that he wants the city, as part of LAHSA, to require that service providers show their retention numbers.
“It’s41.18.atragedy when anyone has to live on the street,” McOsker said. “But there are some areas that are more sensitive than other areas and are less appropriate for folks to be on the street. And in fact, in and around schools and carrying a safe passage to a school is one such area. So, I do sup port 41.18 and a protected zone around schools.”
He was referencing Martin v. Boise, a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit that homeless people cannot be punished for sleeping outside on public property in the ab sence of adequate alternatives.
“The most recent homeless count shows that transitional housing is working,” Buscaino wrote in the press release. “In Council District 15, peo ple experiencing homelessness are saying yes to interim housing which is serving as a necessary step on the path to permanent housing.”
McOsker said it was important to remain com mitted to outreach towards the people in encamp ments every time the city puts up a sign to enforce 41.18, but he did not mention these signs are no longer necessary within 500 feet of schools.
It’s Time for Long Beach Gives
Details: www.longbeachgives.org
cause it’s the right thing to do, that we have beds available for folks,” McOsker said.
Grocery Grab N Go
[See Increase, p. 3]
Laurie Jacobs, former vice president of the Northwest San Pedro Neighborhood Council, spoke to the candidates about the high-turnover rate of outreach workers. This is because of low wages, and Jacobs asked what the candidates
Parking is available at 933 S Lake St. Los An geles (down the street in the church parking lot).
Tim McOsker pointed out that LAHSA re cently raised the salaries of its outreach workers, but this created a problem. LAHSA partners with service providers, nonprofit organizations that help homeless people. Since these providers still did not pay very well, outreach workers left them to work for LAHSA instead.
CD15 Candidates Tim McOsker and Danielle Sandoval Debate Solutions
On Sept. 22, more than 222 nonprofits will share their programs and goals with the Long Beach
Grab N Go takes place every 3rd Saturday of each month.
Details: Provide your feedback by emailing Draw Lomita@LomitaCity.com.
The Opportunity LA Program is provid ing free savings accounts with an initial $50 deposit to all LA school first graders. Savings accounts are provided regardless of income, background, or immigration status.
season.Special Guests: LA Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass, Long Beach Mayoral Candidate Rex Rich ardson, with MC LACDP Chair Mark Gonzalez, and many other LA Fed Endorsed Candidates.
In August, Buscaino voted with the rest of the city council, which passed 11-3 an expansion of Section 41.18 to within 500 feet of all schools and daycares in the city, effectively banning un housed people from 20% of the city. Previously, the city had to put up signs banning unhouse people from specific locations, but these are no longer needed near schools.
Join The LA Fed, Labor Leaders, candidates, and workers Sept. 17, for Labor Votes BBQ & Rally.
Details: https://tinyurl.com/3nkt29hx
Details: 562-570-1326; redcrossblood.org
Join A Blood Drive at the Expo
“While this year’s count shows progress, the City — and every other city in LA County — must maintain basic rules and regulations in the public right of way while simultaneously invest ing in every type of housing to tackle this ongo ing crisis,” Buscaino wrote.
The American Red Cross could not meet pa tient needs and touch all of those lives if it were not for blood donors. The upcoming blood drive collection goal on Sept. 19 is 40 appointments. Think about all of the lives that can be touched by signing up to donate. A typical donation takes less than one hour.
“This ordinance should not have been put in without a plan,” Sandoval said. “Temporary housing, tiny home villages, micro-housing, shared housing, bridge homes, all of the proper resources should have been in place before we enacted any ordinance that criminalizes home lessness.”Sandoval said that schools should be pro tected against crime, but that the ordinance only criminalizes homeless people. While on the board of neighborhood councils, she would re ceive emails from parents who had to take their children past the McCoy encampment while tak ing them to school.
Community Workshops on the I-710 Corridor Project
On Sept. 9, the Los Angeles Homeless Ser vices Authority released the results of its 2022 homeless count, revealing a 4% increase in the homeless population in Los Angeles County, a 2% increase in the City of Los Angeles, and a 5% increase in Council District 15. The day prior, the two candidates for Los Angeles City Council District 15, Danielle Sandoval and Tim McO sker, took part in a forum on their plans to tackle homelessness.Inresponse to the homelessness report, Coun cilman Joe Buscaino, who represents CD15, is sued a press release. He said there was a 41% in crease in the number of people who accepted the city’s transitional housing, as 323 people were in the city’s shelters as of 2020’s count, and there were 457 in 2022.
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Sept. 17
Families are invited to get their children back to school ready with free nutritious gro ceries to feed the body and mind. The Sep tember Grocery Grab N Go is at Perry Lindsey Academy.Grocery
Details: https://tinyurl.com/I-710-coridoor
3 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
“Our representatives don’t understand the fear of going into temporary housing,” Sandoval said. “The fear of having to choose whether to pay their rent or pay for food, because they may become homeless one day.”
Nonetheless,in.”
“According to port staff... most ships here are still choosing to remain unplugged,” Gunter said in a public comment. “It is important to note that this most serious situation had never been addressed by the port prior to the recent intervention by Professor Hricko. Why was the port not on top of this critically important issue ahead of the situation?”
Sandoval said she has lived experience, as she was homeless herself at one point.
As noted in the letter, “the Port of Seattle says that: ‘93% of Seattle City Light’s energy used for shore power comes from renewable sources like hydroelectricity, wind and biogas.’”
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Guns the Los Angeles Police Department confiscated from a gym in San Pedro. Photo courtesy of the LAPD
Heatwave & Ship Pollution: A Needless Double Whammy MMA Fighter Arrested in Connection to Raid on San Pedro Gym
The search warrant was the result of an investigation by RIFTT (The Regional Illegal Firearms Trafficking Team) where a foreign national had attempted to illegally export 11 ghost guns, two of which were assault weap ons, and three silencers. RIFTT is a task force drawn from the Los Angeles Police Depart ment’s Gang and Narcotics divisions, the LAX Police and Department of Homeland Security. This little known unit of federal and local law enforcement often operates outside of the local command structure to investigate
[Increase, from p. 2]
terstate or foreign commerce. Nonimmigrant aliens are lawfully admitted people who are not lawful permanent residents, such as tour ists, students, business travelers, and tempo rary workers who enter the U.S. for fixed pe riods of time.
Von Haug was charged with manufacturing assault weapons, while his cohort was charged with violating a penal code that makes it illegal for a nonimmi grant alien to ship weapons in in these kinds of cases.
As a result of the search warrant, the task force recovered approximately 200 ghost gun frames, handgun slides, two assault weapons, a rifle, firearms magazines, ammunition, and nu merous parts and tools for manufacturing ghost guns. Von Haug was booked at 77th Division jail and posted bail. Briton was taken to Metropoli tan Jail and his status is unknown. Local police authorities were taken by surprise at the raid and the amount of weapons seized.
At the Sept. 8 Harbor Commission meeting, POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka assured the public that “Here in Los Angeles, we are on a separate system compared to the rest of the state and we have been assured by the Los Angeles Department of Water and power that we have adequate energy capacity to keep ships plugged
monitored increases in NO2, black carbon, fine (PM 2.5) and ultrafine (PM 10) particulate matter at the two ports’ monitoring stations. “Residents should be protected from ship emissions – and not have a ‘double whammy’ of extreme heat exposures and exposure to diesel exhaust and other emissions during a Flex Alert,” they wrote.
Increase
By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
“I understand both the homeowners and them feeling like they have agreed for the solutions,” Sandoval said. “And I understand those who are unhoused and need those solutions.”
Mixed martial artist and budding reality television star, Mavrick Wesley Von Haug, 54, alongside Cristian Briton, 30, were arrested in connection with an early morning raid Sept. 8 on Von Haug’s gym on the 100 block of W. 1st Street in San Pedro and an address in the 17000 block of Western Avenue in Gardena.
“CARB could solve this problem with a regulation about use of alternative technologies during Flex Alerts,” they noted. “But in the meantime, anytime a lease is up for a terminal, the POLA or POLB should put language in the lease that requires use of alternative technologies when there are Flex Alerts.”
As a record heatwave struck statewide, residents near the San Pedro Bay Ports saw exhaust belching from ships that would typically have been plugged into shore power. This was because Gov. Gavin Newsom issued Flex Alerts that allowed them to unplug from shoreside power.This situation was exposed by Andrea Hricko, professor emerita at USC Keck School of Medicine, who was joined by professor Ed Avol and homeowner activist Janet Gunther in a public letter explaining what she had found:
Recognized for his facial tattoos, Von Haug leased the warehouse facility on 1st and Palos Verdes streets to open Mavrick’s Ultimate Train ing Center, which has been closed since the start of theVideopandemic.ofthe raid can be seen at: www.ran domlengthsnews.com
as there are homeless people who haven’t seen outreach workers in a long time, or do not know where to go for resources. She also said there are people who are frustrated because ballot initia tives have passed, but they haven’t been able to prevent homelessness.
“The book does have two sections where I do describe sex, which is the time I was sexually abused as a 12-year-old and my first time losing my virginity,” Johnson said. “The parts that are being left out is, I lost my virginity at age 20, so I was an adult, and that both of those chapters are really teaching about consent, about agency, giving students the language to understand their bodies, to understand the power they have and to truly understand that because they don’t have sex education, they are having to go to other sources, which can make that — put them at risk and make them more vulnerable and susceptible to not only STIs, like HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, but also to potential harm.”
Earlier this year, Pacifica Radio’s Democracy Now! anchors, Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, interviewed Johnson over the controversy. The author noted that Black storytelling has often
• This year, proposed educational gag orders have increased 250% compared to 2021. Thirty-six different states have introduced 137 gag order bills in 2022, compared to 22 states introducing 54 bills in 2021. While there has been a decline in new gag order laws passed from 12 last year to seven this year, overall, legislative attacks on education in America have been escalating — fast.
Just last month, it was announced that the Justice Department is investigating several of the Southern Baptist Convention’s major entities following the denomination’s release of a 288page report by an SBC sexual abuse task force earlier this year. The report was the result of a seven-month-long independent investigation, which uncovered disturbing details of how denominational leaders mishandled sexual abuse claims and mistreated victims.
American Library Association graphic, ala.org/bbooks
School districts and Republican-controlled state legislatures have rapidly intensified efforts to ban certain books about race, colonialism, and gender identity from public classrooms and libraries while placing sharp limits on what can be taught in schools.
This past August, PEN America released a report entitled, America’s Censored Classrooms, by Jeremy C. Young, Ph.D. and Jonathan Friedman, Ph.D. The report’s key highlights include that:
• Bills introduced this year have targeted higher education more frequently than in 2021, part of a broader legislative attack on colleges and universities. Thirty-nine percent of bills in 2022 have targeted higher education, compared with 30% last year. At the same time, bills focused on diversity training at government agencies have decreased. Educational gag order bills have become focused almost entirely on educational institutions. And for the first time, some bills have targeted nonpublic schools and universities, too.
• Meanwhile, conservative groups and education officials are working to broaden the interpretation of existing gag order laws. Lawsuits have begun to appear that ask courts to interpret gag orders as broadly as possible, while state boards of education have handed down draconian penalties in excess of what the laws require.
• The report’s authors have noted that this year’s bills are strikingly more punitive. In 2022, proposed gag orders have been more likely to include punishments, and those punishments have more frequently been harsh: heavy fines or loss of state funding for institutions, termination or even criminal charges for teachers.
been targeted for bans. Authors such as Toni Morrison (The Bluest Eye), Maya Angelou (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings), and James Baldwin (Go Tell It on the Mountain) have multiple books targeted for bans through
number have targeted LGBTQ+ identities. This includes Florida’s HB 1557 — the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill — and 22 others. Attacks on LGBTQ+ identities have increasingly been at the forefront of educational censorship.
[Banning, p. 1] [See Banned, p. 5]
• Consistent with last year’s trends, Republican legislators have overwhelmingly driven this year’s educational gag order bills. Only one bill out of the 137 introduced so far this year has had a Democratic legislative sponsor. Just a few years ago, Republican legislators were championing bills protecting free expression on college campuses; many are now focused on bills that censor the teaching of particular ideas.
• While most gag order bills have continued to target teaching about race, a growing
the decades.Banned Books Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read, is from Sept. 18 to Sept. 24. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community — librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas, even ideas that are unpopular. But the threat isn’t just to books and unorthodox ideas, state legislatures and school boards are imposing educational gag orders that aim to restrict teaching, training, and learning in K–12 schools and higher education. The legislation is generally targeting discussions of race, gender, sexuality, and U.S. history.
Banning of Books on the Rise
4 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant
Banned
The report says it is also likely that future gag order bills will continue to target instruction related to LGBTQ+ issues and identities. Bills of this type have drawn increased interest from lawmakers through the spring and summer, mainly because of media attention surrounding Florida’s HB 1557, which has spawned similar bills in several other states, some of which have added further provisions. More bills will likely also be introduced that target private K–12 schools and higher education.
State of the Free Press 2022 covers this past year’s press.themarginalizedandcenteringjournalism,independentbestvoicestopicsbyestablishment
Learn more about Project Censored and order State of the Free Press at www.projectcensored.org
• In 2023, PEN America anticipates that the assault on education will continue. More gag order bills will be filed in states where they failed narrowly this year. Based on current trends, the report’s authors predict that other legislative attacks on education, such as “curriculum transparency” bills, anti-LGBTQ+ bills, and bills that mandate or facilitate book banning are also likely to America’sincrease.
[Banned, pg. 4]
The report’s authors noted that the future of educational gag orders will likely unfold as part of a broader legislative campaign of educational censorship. This includes “curriculum transparency” bills and tip-line-style reporting mechanisms at the K–12 level, which have become more common in legislative proposals, as well as bills that make it easier for parents to file challenges for the removal of books from school libraries.
5 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
Another pair of suits, Equality Florida v. DeSantis and Cousins v. the School Board of Orange County, have been brought against Florida’s HB 1557. They join lawsuits already underway in New Hampshire and Oklahoma against last year’s laws.
The report’s authors highlighted an April report from a group of students at Iowa’s Johnston High School that there was “a different atmosphere at the school” after the state’s gag order became law. So much so that one teacher who was explaining the history of redlining felt compelled to deny in class that they were trying to make students feel guilty. Another teacher felt unable to explain the motivations behind the Three-fifths Compromise in the Constitution without violating the state’s educational gag order law. According to a new survey by the RAND Corporation, a quarter of teachers nationwide have been directed by school administrators “to limit discussions about political and social issues in class.”
Censored Classrooms conclude that more educational gag orders are going to be filed in America’s statehouses in the next year considering the conservative enthusiasm for the tactic.
“State lawmakers will begin pre-filing their bills in the run-up to the November 2022 midterm elections, especially in states where Republicans failed to pass an educational gag order despite controlling both legislative chambers and the governor’s mansion — states such as Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, West Virginia and Wyoming, all of which came close to passing gag order bills during their 2022 legislative sessions but ultimately failed to do so,” the report’s authors said. “In these states and others, a new wave of educational gag order bills seems probable.”
freedom, shared governance and faculty tenure. In 2022, bills and policies weakening tenure have been adopted in Mississippi and Florida, with similar efforts underway in Texas and Louisiana. The Wyoming State Senate attempted to defund the gender studies program at the University of Wyoming. And Florida adopted SB 7044, a law that undermines the system of higher education accreditation and makes it more difficult for colleges and universities to retain access to federal student financial aid.
In higher education, educational gag orders are just one of the ways lawmakers are increasingly seeking to undermine academic
American Library Association graphic, ala.org/bbooks
Supporters of free expression aren’t taking these attacks lying down. So far, two lawsuits challenging Florida’s HB 1557 have been filed: Falls v. DeSantis and Honeyfund.com v. DeSantis.
Applying the critical media literacy tools Project Censored has championed since 1976, State of the Free Press 2022 exposes corporate media’s focus on “humilitainment” and “false balance” leads to slanted news, info-free clickbait, and censorship.
Finally, a group of parents have sued the Forest Hills School District in Ohio to block a districtlevel educational gag order. The report said more lawsuits opposing gag orders are likely.
The report’s authors noted that such legislation will likely have a chilling effect on teachers and exacerbate tensions between educators and the communities they serve.
The integrity of news has never been more important.
turned-pundit Mike Huckabee called Biden’s address “pure hate speech.”
And the talking heads over at FauxNews went crazy too, reporting that Joe Biden came to Philadelphia to give the most vi cious, hateful, and divisive speech ever de livered by an American president.”
Now of course this is just another of his
With this one speech, Biden flipped the po litical narrative of the midterm election from in flation and culture war to a referendum on Trump — a battle that’s been won more than once.
“They do not respect the Con stitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free elec tion,” he said.
James Preston Allen, Publisher
sin. In effect, we are in a “no-options” no man’s land, and this has created a vacuum where AT&T feels free to “hose” us since there seems to be no laws or regulations to cap its greed. On top of this insanity, it only covers our local calling, so we are forced to pay for a separate long-distance carrier, putting our total phone charges upwards of $1,000 a month! Who knows what AT&T may want to charge come 2023, while we struggle to pay out an “exaction tribute” of $12,000 annually.
It is the light of liberty that has led this na tion through abolition, the Civil War, suffrage, the Great Depression, two world wars and civil rights; with courage and conviction our nation will come to a new resolve — a resolution to this conflict.
J. Trump needs to go to jail!
Avoiding the argument has only drawn us closer to failure
It was none other than radical Malcolm X who presented the proposition in his famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech. And it is the chal lenge of our times that if we want to avoid a civil war there has to be a massive turnout at the ballot box. This means that the conflict between the left and right in America cannot be politely avoided, cannot be excused as impolite conversation at the cocktail party or dinner table. It needs to be ad dressed straight on. Don’t let them gaslight you. And don’t “step outside to settle it” either.
The blunt force of the law as expressed by the FBI search of Mar-a-largo and the 40-someodd subpoenas issued to Trump’s associates and the upcoming Jan. 6 Congressional hearings will, in the end, take down the Grifter-in-Chief. We have to believe that, or the whole notion about the “rule of law” will appear as fiction, like the Law and Order TV show.
“They look at the mob that stormed the Unit ed States Capitol on Jan. 6, brutally attacking law enforcement, not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but ... as patriots,” Biden noted. “And they see their ... failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024“They’reelections.”working right now, as I speak, in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself,” he explained.Thiswasn’t a great revelation to the majority of this country or to the world, but to a significant number of Republican loyalists (loyalists to Don ald J. Trump), this was blasphemy, treason and or fascism. This of course is coming from those who have been defending Trump through the Robert Mueller investigation, two impeachments, the capital insurrection and now Mara-a-Lago-Gate.
When I inquired of Spectrum for the possibil ity of bringing its service to our own marina, I was told that to do so would most likely cost us upwards of at least $40,000(!) based on similar situation in another location. Spectrum would cover separate upfront costs of $5,000 to $8,000. A near impossible “damned if we do, damned if we don’t” scenario. How are we, as a small busi ness, supposed to remain in business under these
Do come armed with the facts. Don’t get mired down in the inevitable, What- about-Hil aryisms. Trump did attempt a coup d’état on our own government. Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone and William Barr are all accom plices along with everybody else who has been convicted for the Jan. 6 insurrection. But Donald
“Now, I want to be very clear up front: Not every Republican, not even the majority of Re publicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology... But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans, and that is a threat to this country.”
Biden’s speech was cautionary.
6 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant “A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do something about—Markit.” Twain Vol. XLIII : No. 19 Random Lengths News is a publication of Beacon Light Press, LLC Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Columnists/Reporters Melina Paris Assistant Editor/Arts Hunter Chase Community News Reporter Fabiola Esqueda Carson Reporter Photographers Arturo Garcia-Ayala, Harry Bugarin, Raphael Richardson, Chris Villanueva Contributors Sean S. Doyle, Mark Friedman, Lyn Jensen, Ari LeVaux, Greggory Moore Cartoonists Andy Singer, Jan Sorensen, Matt Wuerker Publisher/Executive Editor James Preston james@randomlengthsnews.comAllen Assoc. CoordinatorPublisher/Production Suzanne Matsumiya Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks editor@randomlengthsnews.com Senior Editor Paul randomlengthsnews.compaul.rosenbergRosenberg@ Internship Program Director Zamná Àvila Design/Production Suzanne Matsumiya, Brenda Lopez Advertising Sales Chris Rudd DisplayChris@RandomLengthsNews.comadvertising(310)519-1442 Classifieds (310) 519-1016 www.randomlengthsnews.com 1300 S. Pacific Avenue San Pedro, CA 90731 Address correspondence regarding news items and tips to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email: Sendeditor@randomlengthsnews.com.LetterstotheEditortojames@randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, letters must be signed with address and phone number (for verification purposes) and be about 250 words. For advertising inquiries or to submit advertising copy, email: BackAnnualrlnsales@randomlengthsnews.com.subscriptionis$40for27issues.issuesareavailablefor$3/copywhile supplies last. Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspec tive. We welcome articles and opinions from all people in the Harbor Area. While we may not agree with the opinions of contributing writers, we respect and support their 1st Amendment right. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Services and the As sociation of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2022 Beacon Light Press, LLC. All rights reserved.
On Sept. 1 of this year, President Joe Biden stood at the podium at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the very place where the Declara tion of Independence was proclaimed and deliv ered a blistering primetime speech aimed at the former president. It wasn’t carried on the major networks. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threat ens the very foundations of our re public!” he exclaimed.
AT&T’s Monopoly in Wilmington
The usual suspects from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to former governor-
I am a partner in a marina in the Wilmington basin, where we operate along with a number of other marinas. Over the past few years, AT&T has raised its phone rates in our area so drasti cally that now we are being forced to pay the exorbitant price of $800 per month for simply having one phone in our office! This is happen ing because the only other competitor who offers service in the Wilmington area, Spectrum Busi ness, does not have service that extends into our area, an area from the Terminal Island bridge to out along the Cerritos Channel into the East Ba
By Sean S. Doyle, Resident of Leeward Bay Marina, Wilmington
And Trump told a raucous crowd on the campaign trail in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, while stumping for Republican candidates two nights later, “Vilifying 75 million citizens, plus another probably 75 to 150 if we want to be accurate about it, as threats to democracy and enemies of the state... He’s the enemy of the state if you want to know the truth.”
exaggerations to inflame the MAGA crowd, but it is what it is: a lie from a professional liar. It does however delineate the battle lines of the conflict. While most people are conflict avoid ant, choosing to block each other on social media rather than speaking up, the orange guy is riling up the white nation alists and neo-Nazis on Twitter — Biden’s speech said what was on many peoples’ minds — Trump is a danger to this republic. Thank you, President Biden for saying it out Atloud.this point, most of my friends and associates refuse to engage the true believers in the MAGA crowd, believing these Trump loyalists will just dry up and blow away in the southern wind on a parched desert. I’m afraid that this is not how this is go ing end.There is even some not so veiled talk of “civ il war” in that crowd. Though the Republicans probably have far more guns than the Demo crats, I doubt that they would stand a chance against the United States armed forces and Na tional Guard units. What we will see more of is armed idiots shooting up schools and grocery stores in a bid to incite a rebellion. Clearly, the party of “law and order” has been flipped with the MAGA leader himself the chief criminal.
I am compelled to write about AT&T’s com plete monopoly on a microcosm of businesses in Wilmington and using “vulture capitalism” tactics to extract larcenous fees from small busi nesses. It puts into question whether a company whose underlying ‘premise’ is to help businesses operate actually wants to assist them in not re maining in business.
[See AT&T Monopoly, p. 7]
Conflict and Resolution
This whole thing begs the question: if Spec trum knows its only other competitor is AT&T and competes with them elsewhere in Wilming ton, why would it essentially ‘gift’ AT&T with a complete monopoly of our area? Does this pos sibly speak to AT&T’s “reach” as far as its size, seniority or influence?
The answer is that this needs more publicity, immediate investigation, and legal action to en force equitable business practices.
live “news” coverage inspire oth ers to do these crazy and dangerous things? The American Psychologi cal Association points out that this (kind) of ‘fame’ is something that many mass shooters desire, often inspiring copycat shootings where a copycat tries to kill more people than their predecessor.
Former CBS, CNN and Public Radio journalist, Pasadena
“Building a Stronger Economy: The Ports’ Neglected Role,” (RLn, Sept. 1 - 14, 2022).
The article “Building a Stron ger Economy: The Ports’ Ne glected Role” was written by Paul Rosenberg, our senior editor who has covered the Port of Los An geles for over 20 years. The paid advertisement by former candidate Anthony Santich was written by him. Both were written without the assistance of James Preston Allen.
Anyway, I am willing to fur ther discuss Tim, Danielle, POLA or any of the district issues I’m in volved with.
Port Chair Attacks Port — Again
A friend of mine from back east just asked me, “How are we going to combat and deal with all this violence and lawlessness.” He was referring to last week’s televi sion coverage of a large flashmob ransacking and vandalizing a Los Angeles 7-Eleven store after an il legal street
fastcars on streets and highways. But is the following TV ad a case of the tail wagging the Dodge?
TV sports networks long ago decided to stop airing baseball fans running onto the field of play, to discourage others from seeking the same attention. That baites the question; when does freedom of
which the chamber rejected, and now have a fa vorable plan with Spectrum. And by the way, the chamber rightly, and courageously, filed a com plaint with the state of California.
The Dodge Demon comes with a 6.2L HEMI V8 engine that has a supercharger on it.This massive engine can produce 808 horsepower and 717 pound-feet of torque. This is a modified version of the same engine that you can find across the Hellcat line includ ing the Challenger and Charger. (2022)
Herewww.vehiclehistory.cominLosAngeles,local TV station are often interrupted with live coverage of police and CHP car chases of alleged law breakers. TV execu tives must believe this dangerous activity is good for ratings be cause they direct their station helicopters to follow the action. With the never-ending miles of roads and highways in Los Angeles, these chases can and often do go on for hours. Recently, I watched a car chase that ended in a shootout with police with the driver being shot and killed — on live AdmittedlyTV! streettakeovers, car chases, and flashmob theft make for captivating TV, but my question is, does this kind of
Anthony Santich San Pedro
speech as a right, including not only the content but also the means of expression, trespass on the rights of a business owner or the safety of a society? This is a diffi cult moral question that baffles free societies like the U.S. But, when the scale of justice leans heavily towards dangerous and illegal ac tivity, then I feel that scale needs to be recalibrated.
The same holds true for a re cent TV car commercial, “High way 93.” The spot highlights Dodge cars racing on public roads, with the announcer noting “smok ing tires, the s-curves” drifting car with tons of white tire smoke bil lowing out from behind it. Today, it’s hard to miss the tell-tale circu lar black-tire marks of a car spin ning “donuts” in residential inter sections. The current attraction of the Fast and Furious movie series (7) reinforces the appeal of driving
Santich Responds
7 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022 RANDOM Letters Read these online exclusives and more at: RandomLengthsNews.com
James Preston Allen, Publisher
Mike Ryan
Clarification
Once again, James Preston Al len, the Chair of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council’s Port Committee, is attacking the Port in his for-profit tabloid and pandering in his Labor Day issue.
Recently,takeover.thebrand new 6th Street Bridge in LA, became a hotspot for illegal street takeovers one week after its grand opening! The point here should Television coverage of violence share respon sibility for encourage more of the same. Watching a mob break into a store on TV can be an addictive mo tivator for a person with a propen sity for violence to steal and destroy property and get away with it.
This is neither leadership nor diplomacy. The Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council will never be respected by the Port of Los An geles as long as its Port Committee Chair is James Allen, aided by his accomplice and Vice Chair Frank Anderson.Onthe opposite page, you’ll also notice Mr. Allen publishing a full-page attack ad against our likely next city council member. Again, this is neither leadership nor diplomacy. James is just burn ing bridges for fun and profit.
—The Editors
Recently deposed president of Central San Pedro NeighborhoodCouncil
I would welcome a conversa tion on how I came to my endorse ment of Danielle Sandoval for City Council.Iunderstand you characterized my RLn article as an “attack ad,” which is puzzling since I outlined how I came to my decision. The article (based on facts, research, debates and discussions with both Tim and Danielle) is simply my opinion and my recommendation. I don’t know what your conflict is with James Preston Allen, but mis representing my endorsement of Sandoval seems like an ineffective way to make a point.
Louis P. Caravella
Of Power and Speed
“In 2014, California adopted Proposition 47, which made thefts of $950 or less a misdemeanor. Once people realized that they were unlikely to be arrested or prosecuted for stealing below $1,000, they, of course, responded to the incentive. For their part, the stores advise employees not to in terfere with shoplifters lest they get hurt.” — LA County County Pub lic Defender’s office
New CEO, Same Toberman By Hunter https://tinyurl.com/NewCEO-Same-TobermanChase Public Health Confirms First Death Due to Monkeypox https://tinyurl.com/1stMonkeyPox-Death-CA EPA Has Released Its EPA Proposed Chemical Safety Rule and the News Is Not https://tinyurl.com/EPA-Chemical-Safety-RuleGood [AT&T Monopoly, from p. 6]
conditions?Ispoke with someone at the Wilmington Chamber and learned that when AT&T raised its (and our) rates two years ago to $700 a month and balked, the chamber was told there was noth ing it could do about it since its old plan was an expired promotion and now had no other options. This is untrue since Spectrum covers downtown and the chamber’s building was wired to accept Spectrum. Of course, AT&T had to have known this, so when the chamber told them they were “done”, AT&T immediately changed its “option” tune and tried to woo it back with a cheaper plan,
To the readers and stakeholders, Regarding the above attempt by Mr. Caravella to once again slander my work both at this pub lication and in the community, the now deposed ex-president of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council continues on his rampage of rants not unlike Donald Trump. Has he been infected by the same virus that spread nationwide or is this a manufacture of his own de lusions? It’s difficult to tell. What I can tell you is that democracies both large and small are threat ened by such persons and it is wise to be vigilant against all those who accuse others for that which they themselves are guilty of.
AT&T Monopoly
“Restorative justice is a completely different model for how a court would handle a crime or an incident where there are criminal charges brought,” Lashley-Haynes told Random Lengths. “The purpose of restorative justice is to seek wholeness and forgiveness, and to restore all people involved in the case.”
during a time when people were getting very sick from COVID.” The judge failed to follow the law “because he did not personally agree with it,” she said, and “the DAs did not follow the law either, by asking the court to follow the law.” In addition, “It reflects an ignorance of the logistics for navigating the criminal system from the perspective of the accused/indigent. The way to fix that is by electing judges who do have
At present, “I work on post-conviction matters and to get records expunged. In this role, I’ve seen that sitting judges often do not grant petitions to clear a client’s record, even in convictions that are up to five, 10, and 20 years old,” she said. “I’m not seeing judges that are thinking outside of the box of jail and prison. They don’t want to release people once they’re arrested. They don’t look to implement alternatives, even when alternatives are presented.”It’sequally bad on the front end, as Reitano illustrated with an example she called a “g-rated story” at the same event. “During the height of COVID, there was an emergency order to release clients on non-violent offenses,” she explained. She had an unhoused client with a minor non-violent charge whose court date was changed without notice, resulting in a bench warrant. “I asked for him to be released based on the emergency order, as well as just not having proper notice,” but the judge noted the order was discretionary, and set bail at one dollar — which her client didn’t have on his person, meaning he’d be incarcerated overnight. It took Reitano jumping through hoops several hours later to get him released, paying the dollar out of her own pocket — a dollar that the clerks initially refused to “Beingaccept.arrested should not be a death sentence or health risk, but here, the judge made the call to ignore the realities of COVID in the jails,” Reitano told Random Lengths. “There was absolutely no care for the safety of the defendant or other people
Defenders
“The traditional model in criminal courts typically seeks to punish people who cause harm, and often leaves the victims of crime not any better than they were before — and sometimes worse off,” she said.
[See Candidates, p. 13]
[Defenders, from p. 1]
In short, “The judges we elect to the LA County Superior Court have a critical impact on how we interrupt houselessness and decarcerate
unhoused) as measures that “provide additional tools in the toolkit of a public defender to solve the root causes of problems.”
Clockwise from top left, Los Angeles Superior Court candidates: Holly Hancock, Anna Slotky-Reitano, Jiyoung Park and Elizabeth Lashley-Haynes
Things weren’t always this way. “Before politicians enacted a frenzy of harsh sentencing laws in the 1970s and 1980s, there was broad agreement, especially among policy elites, that long prison terms were programmatically ineffective at controlling crime,” historian Julilly Kohler-Hausmann notes in her book, Getting Tough: Welfare and Imprisonment in the 1970s. “Some criminologists and other specialists even predicted that the prison would eventually vanish from the landscape.”
8 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant
Perhaps most promising is a fundamental shift in how we conceive of justice.
that experience,” she said.
“In restorative justice models, families, communities, and neighborhoods can often work towards relationships being repaired. Many times the person who caused harm [the
“We need judges who understand the purpose and intent of laws and are willing to follow them instead of their own bias, which tends to favor the prosecution when the judge is an ex-prosecutor, like in that case.”
the LA County jail system,” said Gabriela Vázquez, deputy director of La Defensa, an abolitionist social justice organization backing the Defenders of Justice slate. “In November, voters will again make a choice between carceral judicial candidates and candidates that will bring fresh experience, diverse career backgrounds, and peoplecentered values to the bench.”
It’s clever of playwrights Beth
9 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
The script’s weakest aspect is the overuse of a device where the women alternate clipped phrases to gloss a feeling or event: “Head wrenched back,” “eyes wide,” “bulging.” “His eyes —” “no words,” “mouth shut.” “Filling up,” “going “submerging.”under,”
T
Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic to communicate the results of this pressure not via the words/actions of men toward them, but through those of the women themselves. Born and bred to be subservient, corseted in mind/body/ soul so that even talk amongst themselves is generally confined to triviality, and expected as a matter of course to espouse themselves on completely unequal terms, it’s heartbreaking to be with these patriarchy victims as they review their lives with one foot in the world that shaped them and the other in an afterlife from which they begin to get a clear view of what they endured in not just their last moments but all their lives.
Skylar Alexis, Natalie Kathleen and Jenney McAfee in The Drowning Girls at The Garage Theatre in Long Beach.
Curiously, the way they talk about themselves and their experience was the cause of much (what one might call) inappropriate laughter in the audience during the first half of opening night. Apparently tickled by the quaintness (i.e., compared to our (call it) more enlightened culture) of the women’s view of gender roles, laughter regularly abounded at expressions that highlighted the broader tragedy at issue. I can think of only one other show I’ve seen where such a significant percentage of the audience was apparently clueless to what was “really” happening onstage. I don’t know whether this has anything to do with director Eric Hamme’s seeing far more humor in the play than I do (as I learned from a discussion we had after the show); all I can report is a disconnect that was not the actors’
Although there’s a bit of whodunnit and comeuppance in what follows, plot isn’t the point. Neither is the question of whether The Drowning Girls is based on a true story (which couldn’t matter less in terms of what’s on stage and is only vaguely suggested in the closing moments). This is a play that is all about the telling, because it’s in both the women’s collective narrative and reenactment of scenes from their lives that we find the heartbeat of The Drowning Girls: the societal pressure that molds women to men’s designs.
Thursday through Saturday 8 p.m. through Sept. 24 Cost: $18 to $25 (Thursdays 2-for-1); closing night afterparty: $30 Details: thegaragetheatre.org
Venue: The Garage Theatre, 251 E. 7th St., Long Beach
the necessary pathos but also because the trio is increasingly called upon to embody additional roles, into and out of which they must move with a protean flow. In this all three excel, particularly Jenney McAfee, who alters herself moment-tomoment as needed with such detail that even in the Garage’s black box you have to look closely to catch it all.
If there’s much humor in the show’s first half, it doesn’t work for me, but eventually the playwrights manufacture some fun in the midst of the grimness — a neat trick. The best of this comes with a bit involving Scotland Yard, and Kathleen, McAfee, and Alexis slay us with their energy and timing. It’s not just a bit of sunshine in the gloom — it aesthetically elevates the entire work.
Alice (Skylar Alexis), Bessie (Natalie Kathleen), and Margaret (Jenney McAfee) as they emerge from bathtubs in a sort of netherworld (the only thing we learn about it is that there’s no fourth wall), where we come to find that all three died between 1912–’14 under identical circumstances: brought money into a new marriage to a man with little money, new life insurance policy at husband’s behest, recent doctor’s visit because husband claimed she had a sleeping seizure, drowned while taking a bath, supposedly alone, no signs of struggle.
The Drowning Girls at the Garage Times:Theatre
iming isn’t everything, but the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade provides a sort of serendipity to the two-year delay the Garage Theatre encountered on the way to staging The Drowning Girls by reminding us of the unfortunate historical truth that the patriarchal oppression featured in early 20th century England isn’t nearly as far removed from today’s USA as a lot of us wish.Wemeet
There’s no denying that The Drowning Girls is theatre that stays with you. And however much some might feel we’ve talked patriarchy to death over the last decade, considering how many of today’s American women are glad to be rid of Roe v. Wade and continue to support the political party that brought us Clarence Thomas and Donald Trump, it’s clear how deeply the issue at the heart of The Drowning Girls endures as a cancer in our national body, a cancer that art like this can help ablate.
“Darkness.” “Silence.” “Eternally.” This can be effective, but occasionally it comes off as careless (e.g., doesn’t their consciousness in the netherworld belie darkness-silence-eternally?), and by play’s end it feels tired even though the runtime is a mere 80 minutes.
By Greggory Moore, Curtain Call Columnist
Needlessfault. to say, a bad cast — especially when it’s just three actors who never leave the stage — could sink the whole production, not only in terms of generating
The only shortcoming here is the overly high percentage of time Natalie Kathleen pegs the needle. It’s fine that she’s naturally the loudest of the cast, and her vocal power is put to good use, but sometimes that volume comes at the expense of nuance and knocks the onstage energy out of balance. Probably a note from Hamme (who’s generally done a fine job with his able cast) is all that’s necessary to help her show more consistently how good she can be.
Another possible weakness may be the optimistic denouement, which to me feels like a cold comfort catharsis that blunts the overall impact. Then again, considering that this play’s spiritual raison d’être is to kill off all forces that rob women of their power — including the cultural messaging that contributes to women’s devaluing themselves — I can’t argue with the logic of projecting the villain’s comeuppance as a hopeful sign of change to come.
I picked up a peck or two of cucumbers and some dill at the farmers market, as well as the necessary supplies from the grocery store. Two days later, I had my first batch of kosher dills. The pickles were perfect.
My first canning project was a batch of cucumber pickles, and I’m probably not the only one for whom pickles were a gateway to home food preservation. Like most home economists, I had a background in cooking before I ventured into pickle-making. Alkon, however, calls herself a “lazy culinary hedonist” and finds food prep an irritating necessity that cuts into her writing time. As she puts it: “I don’t cook; I heat.”Given
We decided to hold an impromptu parking lot pickle tasting session.
This style of pickles are often referred to as “refrigerator pickles.” Unlike canned pickles, refrigerator pickles can’t languish for months
The bad news is that you can’t go to the farmers market and pick up a load of cucumbers and make a year’s supply of fridge pickles, because where would you keep them?
As we got talking, I realized that Zach was more than just a volunteer delivery man hoping for a signed copy of Alkon’s book (which he most certainly was), but a legit pickle expert.
Ari LeVaux’s homemade kosher dill refrigerator pickle. Photo by Ari LeVaux
8 tablespoons dill seed
1 cup cider vinegar
By Ari LeVaux, Flash In the Pan Columnist
This recipe works for me, but you are free to tweak the ingredients, especially the sugar, dill and blend of vinegar. The grape leaves don’t influence the flavor but do help the pickles maintain their state of crispiness.
“I will get a dorm fridge,” Alkon announced. “It will be my dedicated pickle-torium.”
at room temperature on a pantry shelf because they aren’t processed with heat, which kills microbes.Because fridge pickles are not preserved, their salt and vinegar levels can be more flexible than their shelf-stable cousins. If you want your fridge pickles sweeter, add more sugar. If you want them more sour, add more vinegar. Thus, fridge pickles offer a superior eating experience to that of canned pickles. Not only is the flavor more customizable, but they will be crunchier, thanks to not being cooked until limp.
This meant I had to get my hands on some D&W kosher dills, which turned out to be a tall order in Missoula, Montana. The mere fact that neither Amazon nor any other outlet would deliver them to me was an important clue to what makes these pickles tick. Amy confirmed my suspicion that her pickles of choice are sold in the refrigerated section.
Seattle to Indiana to bring his son to college, had seen Alkon’s tweet. He picked up two containers at a Spokane supermarket and hit the road for Montana, pulling off Interstate 90 and into a parking lot where I was waiting.
I
Kosher Dill Fridge Pickles
Amy’s lack of interest in the culinary arts, I knew it was a long shot when I offered to teach her how to make her beloved D&W pickles at home. But she was game.
Since then I’ve made several batches, tweaking the seasonings each time. Salt-averse picklers: Don’t reduce the salt by much, because a certain amount is necessary for the cucumbers to pull the vinegar inside them so they taste like pickles. And if you are like Alkon and you want salt as the dominant flavor, try dialing back the dill and sugar before adding more salt. I don’t know if Amy will actually try to make these pickles herself. But if she does, may her pickletorium stay packed.
½ cup sugar
6 tablespoons salt
5 pounds pickling cukes
Kosher Dill Fridge Pickles: The Pickle Project
Alas, we both found the Dietz & Watson pickles underwhelming. A good pickle must be salty, we agreed, but these had too much. We could barely taste the dill, and there wasn’t a hint of sweetness. They were at least very crunchy, being fridge pickles, but we wanted more. Zach suggested I check out Grillo’s brand pickle spears, another type of fridge pickle. Although Grillo’s are similarly unavailable in Missoula, I studied them, and they looked promising. I based my version on the Grillo’s ingredient list, including the grape leaves, which old timers know helps pickles stay crispy.
Determined to get me her preferred pickles so I could reverse-engineer them in my kitchen lab, she reached out to her Twitter followers and found somebody to drop off some Dietz & Watsons, literally the next morning.
6 unpeeled garlic cloves
This time of year, it’s possible to find fresh dill crowns at the farmers market, with the seeds starting to dry. I have also had good luck asking the produce person at the grocery store — sometimes the dill crowns are in the back when they aren’t on display. As for cucumbers, look for small-to-medium sized pickling cukes with rough, spiny skin. Large, smooth slicing cucumbers won’t turn out as crispy as pickles made with pickling cucumbers.
t began with my friend Amy Alkon gushing about Dietz & Watson brand kosher dill pickles, which she calls “the crowning glory of picklehood.”Alkonisan award-winning science-based advice columnist and author (most recently of Unf*ckology: A Field Guide to Living with Guts and Confidence). On Twitter (@amyalkon), she called her D&W’s the “best thing to stress eat … when the writing is going a little hopelessly.” Her pickle habit soon became an addiction. And like most addictions, it was expensive. Dietz & Watson pickles are “Like $5.67 for about six,” she tweeted. “I could eat those in a single setting!”
Add all of the ingredients except the cucumbers to a stainless steel pot and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for ten minutes, and then allow it to cool to room temperature. When the brine has completely cooled, either leave it in the pot and add the cukes, or transfer the brine to a plastic, glass, stainless steel or ceramic tub, and add the cucumbers. Put the pot in the fridge (or pickletorium). After about two days, they will start tasting like pickles. Keep them in your personal pickletorium and enjoy them until they are gone. And then, make more.
6 cups water
10 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant
A man named Zach, who was driving from
8 cups white vinegar
A handful of grape leaves
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service contributed $12.6 million to the conservancy — the largest grant in the nation from the cooperative endangered species conservation fund. The Wildlife Conservation Board added $4.8 million in matching funds towards the wildlife corridor. The conservancy noted this
award demonstrates the national importance of the lands and ecosystems of drought tolerant and fire-resistant plants that support the endangered, threatened and sensitive species in habitat managed by the land conservancy.
Built on the suc cess of Happy Diner #1, Happy Diner #2 offers American favor ites like omelets and burgers, fresh salads, plus pasta and Mexican dishes are served. Order online for delivery or call for pickup. Hours: Mon. - Sat. 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Happy Diner #2, 1931 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro, 310-9352933, www.happydinersp.com
PIZZERIA
WEST COAST PHILLY’S
The Fortnight Concert Series presents James Preston Allen with original songs from the Apparitions album with Erik Kongshaug on harmonica
Learyguests.Battery is
Conservancy executive director Adrienne Mohan spoke to Random Lengths News about its partnership with the city and the conservancy’s efforts to protect this natural habitat. She noted the land conservancy and the city have partnered for many years to protect open space in the city of Rancho Palos Verdes and have protected 1,400 acres of open space with the nature“Wepreserve.areexcited to have partnered to launch
The 96-acre coastal wildlife corridor connects coastal land to the contiguous Palos Verdes Nature Preserve. The “Go Wild” campaign will provide benefits for the community, support threatened species, reduce fire risk and contribute to California’s 30X30 goal of conserving 30% of state lands and coastal waters by 2030.
Pedro. Along with serving the classic cheesesteak, West Coast Philly’s puts its unique twist on its cheesesteaks and hoagies. Also on the menu are subs, burgers, wings and salads. Happy hour from 2 to 6 p.m., Mon.-Thurs. Indoor dining or order online or call for pickup. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. West Coast Philly’s, 1902 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, 424-264-5322, www.westcoast phillys.com
SAN PEDRO BREWING COMPANY A micro brewery grill,AmericanandSPBC features ningaward-winhandcraftedalesand
Going Wild For The Peninsula A Discussion About the 96-Acre Wildlife Corridor Acquisition
BIG NICK’S PIZZA
Support Independent Restaurants • Dining Guide online: www.randomlengthsnews.com/dining-guide
Tradition, variety and fast delivery or takeout—you get it all at Big Nick’s Pizza. The best selection of Italian specialties include hearty calzones, an array of pas tas and our amazing selec tion of signature pizzas. We are taking all safety pre cautions to protect our din ers and staff. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated on new developments. Call for fast delivery or to place a pick up order. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon.-Thurs.; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fri.-Sun. Big Nicks’ Pizza, 1110 N. Gaffey St., San Pedro, 310-732-5800, BUONO’Swww.bignickspizza.comAUTHENTIC
This is an intimate set ting in a 100+ year old World War I under ground tunnel with exceptional acoustics and is limited to 40 located in Angels Gate Park, San Pedro
The Happy Deli is a small place with a big menu. Food is made-to-order using the freshest ingredients. Break fast burritos and breakfast sandwiches include a small coffee. For lunch or dinner select from fresh salads, wraps, buffalo wings, cold and hot sandwiches, burg ers and dogs. Order online or call for takeout or delivery. Hours: Mon. - Sat. 6 am. to 8 p.m., Sun. 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Happy Deli, 530 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro, 424-364-0319, www.happydel isp.com
PINA’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT
lagers served with creative pastas, BBQ, sandwiches, salads and burgers. Order your growlers, house drafts and cocktails to go (with food purchase)! Open daily 12 to 8 p.m. for indoor or al fresco dining, takeout and delivery.. San Pedro Brewing Com pany, 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro, 310-831-5663, www.sanpedrobrewing.com
Authentic songs that come straight from the streets and the heart
Apparitions, 2-CD set with lyric bookvailable online Andrandomlengthsnews.com/product/apparitionsat:atJDCRecordsandGrandEmporiuminSan Pedro and at Page Against the Machine in Long Beach
Tickets: certs/743532/com/.../fortnightconhttps://www.tickettailor.$20
The Happy Diner #1 in Down town San Pedro isn’t your av erage diner. The selections range from Italian- and Mex ican-influenced entrées to American Continental. Happy Diner chefs are always cre ating something new—take your pick of grilled salmon over pasta or tilapia and veg etables prepared any way you like. Dine in or al fresco or call for takeout. Hours: Mon.-Wed. 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thurs.-Sat. 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Sun. 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Happy Diner #1, 617 S. Centre St., San Pedro, 310-241-0917, www.happydinersp.com
HAPPY DELI
Friday, Sept. 23, 7:30 pm
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy have partnered in the creation of a 96-acre wildlife corridor on the peninsula. The conservancy has also launched a $30 million “Go Wild For the Peninsula” fundraising campaign to provide for the corridor’s restoration.
11 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
[See Wild, p. 13]
By Melina Paris, Assistant Editor
HAPPY DINER #1
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes has contributed $1.3 million and the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District has awarded the land conservancy a competitive grant for $1 million from Measure A. So far, $19.7 million in public funds have been raised.
HAPPY DINER #2
Pina’s servesRestaurantMexicantraditonal Mexican food from Michoacan for breakfast through dinner, and is known for specialty enchiladas, burritos, tacos and mariscos served in a comfortable, casual dining atmosphere. Pina’s now has a full bar and outside dining, so come on by for a real margarita! Party trays for any occasion. Hours: Sun.Wed. 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and Thurs. - Sat. 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pina’s Mexican Restaurant, 1430 W. 25th St., San 310-547-4621,Pedro, www.pinasmexicanrestaurant.com
Family owned and operated since 1965, Buo no’s is famous for award-winning brick oven baked pizza. Buono’s also offers classic Italian dishes and sauces based on tried-and-true family recipes and hand-selected fresh ingredients. Now limited dinein and patio service, takeout and delivery. Hours: Sun.-Thurs. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Buono’s Pizzeria, corner of 6th and Centre sts., Little Italy San Pedro, 310-547-0655, www.buonospizza.com
Welcome to West Coast Philly’s Chees esteak and Hoagies where authentic Philly terfrontmeetcheesesteaksthewainSan
Venue: Billie Jean King Main Li brary, 200 W. Broadway, Long Beach
Virtuoso bassist Leslie Baker and guitarist-composer Sid Jacobs will take the stage for an evening of both com posed and improvisational fireworks. This show will be available either in person or live-streamed.
Guided Nature Walk at White Point Nature Preserve
This celebration features tradition al cultural craft demonstrations, storytelling, music, and dance. The festival celebrates Indigenous California maritime cultures, in cluding Tongva, Chumash, Ac jachemen, Costanoan, Luiseño, and Kumeyaay.
Join for the second annual Long Beach Youth Festival, celebrat ing the wellness, resilience and empowerment of youth in Long Beach. The event includes an interactive resource fair, therapy dog sessions, performances from local poets, artists, musicians and dancers, sports, free food and merchandise and raffle prizes.
Cost: $10 to $21
Venue: Beverly O’Neill The ater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach
Venue: Museum of Latin Ameri
Time: 8 p.m., Fridays and Satur days and 2 p.m. Sundays, now through Oct. 1
Time: 2 p.m., Sept. 17
ECC Music Faculty Showcase
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 24 Cost: $75 Details: https://tinyurl.com/alfranken
Venue: CCKCAM, 1250 Bellflow er Blvd., LongSept.Beach19
Details: 562-590-3100; aquari umofpacific.org/safety Venue: Aquarium of the Pacific, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach
Join a volunteer celebration to beautify the White Point Nature Preserve and Native Plant Dem onstration Gardens.
Time: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sept. 24
Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W 8th St., San Pedro, Sept. 25
Sept. 20
Venue: Collage, 731 S. Pa cific Ave., San Pedro
Venue: Watts Towers Arts Center Campus, 1727 E. 107th St., Los Angeles
At Full Volume II features a selec tion of paintings by Joyce Weiss, late Angels Gate Studio artist. Weiss’ brilliant use of color com bined with gestural forms at large scale created bold visions on can vas. The exhibition runs through Oct. 1.
From 15 years with Saturday Night Live, to nearly a decade in the Senate, to now host of one of the nation’s top political and public-affairs podcasts, Al Fran ken brings comedy and insight to important issues facing the coun try, from the Supreme Court to the state of our democracy.
Venue: Cesar Chavez Park, 401 Golden Ave., Long Beach
enue: Collage, 731 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro
Time: 6:30 p.m., Sept. 20 Cost: Free Details: https://tinyurl.com/studiosoup Venue: Online
The Hooten Hallers
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 16
Every last Saturday of the month the best local blues talent per forms.
SHIKI - What We Wish to Remember UnitOne, a professional taiko group based under the umbrella of Asano Taiko U.S., presents its long awaited full length concert.
With a vocal style like Milk
Venue: Torrance Cultural Arts, 3330 Civic Center Drive, Torrance
Details: le-sundayhttps://tinyurl.com/ukule
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 20 Cost: $10 Details: velles-comedy-burlesquhttps://tinyurl.com/har e
Gloria Gem Sánchez, and Kayla
Venue: Peninsula Center Library, Foyer Exhibit Area, 701 Silver Spur Rd., Rolling Hills Estates
Time: 2 p.m. Sept. 25 Cost: $5 to $23 and up
Details: https://tinyurl.com/kala koa
can Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach
Underground Standup Comedy and Burlesque
THEATER Sept. 15
12 202228,-15SeptemberRealPeople,RealNews,TotallyRelevant
Naturalists will guide you along a trail to discover a unique variety of wildlife in its coastal sage scrub habitat with amazing views across to the ocean. Meet in front of the nature center and come inside to explore after the hike. Park in the lot at the dead-end of 1600 Paseo del Mar, San Pedro. Reservations are not required.
Carton Kids and Iron & Wine, Smith’s guitar, voice, and string quartet arrangements are rooted in the stillness and internal qui etude of his spirituality.
BroadwaySept. 23
Sept. 17
Cost: Free
Open Garden: Feed and Be Fed Farm
Time: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Tues days and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays
Brush of Giftedness by Heidi Dong
Time: 6 p.m., Sept. 23, 24
Time: 9 p.m., Sept. 16
In this program, three authors who write novels and stories set in Chinese, Japanese and Mexican communities in Los Angeles will discuss how they weave culture into their plots and characters.
Details: bit.ly/LBYouthFest22
Sept. 21
Details: https://tinyurl.com/fort night-james-allen
Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday through Oct. 24 Cost: Free Details: brary/calendarhttps://pvld.org/artinourli
An Evening With Al Franken
Missouri’s The Hooten Hallers celebrate the release of their new album Back in Business Again!
Cost: Free Details: https://pvplc.org/calen dar/
Family Art Workshop
Details: Water-Music-LBhttps://tinyurl.com/
Time: 5 to 6 p.m., Sept. 21
Studio Soup Angels Gate Cultural Center will present the next lineup of art ists for Studio Soup: Alicia Piller,
Venue: Feed and Be Fed Farm, 429 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Time: 7:30 p.m., Sept. 23 Cost: $20
Miyoshi Barosh: The End Created shortly after the Miyoshi Barosh’s 2016 diagnosis with uter ine cancer, The End is an exhibi tion that contemplates expression during the most profound conclu sion one can consider: the end of one’s own life. The exhibition runs now through Dec. 22.
Sept. 18
Discovery Film Series: Tropical & Exotic Asia It’s armchair adventuring at its best, captured by renowned world travelers and cinematographers. Set sail with the world’s most trav eled filmmaker, Marlin Darrah, on a journey to many of Southeast Asia’s most intriguing, alluring and lovely countries.
Venue: Malaga Cove Library Gal lery, 2400 Vía Campesina, Palos Verdes
Cost: Free Details: https://tinyurl.com/familyart-workshop
Venue: Harvelle’s Long Beach, 201 E.
MUSIC Sept. 16
Time: 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 Cost: $14 to $16
Water Music Long Beach
Watts Towers Festival
COMMUNITY
Venue: George Nakano Theater, 3330 Civic Center Dr., Torrance
Heidi Dong, a young woman with autism, has brushed her gifted ness into 18 interpretations of fa mous artwork.
Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sept. 17, 18
Let’s Get Together
Venue: Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach
Celebrate National Public Lands Day
Details: room.com/eventhttps://alvasshow s
Details: For more info, email Rudy@RudyCaseres.com
Time: 12 to 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Thursdays Cost: Free Details: 562-985-5761; https:// tinyurl.com/Miyoshi-Barosh
Cost: $10
Time: 1 to 4:15 p.m., Sept. 24 Cost: Free Details: https://triartsp.com213-458-3066; Venue: Peck Park, upper lawn next to the Community Center, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro
Paul D. Smith II
The award-winning instrumentalist Brittni Paiva and Andrew Molina are headlining this year’s festival.
Rethinking Essential Artist Narsiso Martinez uses his firsthand experience as a farm worker in his work to reference the inequities in the current labor system, and is a contemporary it eration of social realism, critiquing power structures and conditions of the undocumented working class. Time: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednes day through Sunday Cost: $10 to $15
Time: 4 p.m., Sept. 18 Cost: $25 and up Details: event/paul-deiss-smith-ii/www.grandvision.org/
Details: covery-film-serieshttps://tinyurl.com/dis
Time: 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23 to Oct. 9 Cost: $20 to $30 Details: https://tinyurl.com/lastdance
Venue: Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro
Book Club: The Displaced Join ESMoA and author Rodrigo Ribera D’Ebre who will discuss his new novel The Displaced and how it relates to the theme of “displace ment.”
Texture: A Redondo Beach Art Group Exhibition
The way something feels to physi cal touch comes immediately to mind when thinking of texture, but while some artists might invite people to touch their works, most use special techniques to show vi sually how something might feel. The exhibit runs now through Oct. 24.
Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Cen ter, Battery Leary-Merriam, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro
Sept. 24
Details: www. versitytickets.com/elcaminotickets.uni
Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Time: 9 a.m., Sept. 24
Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro,
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 17 Cost: $16 and up Details: com/2p9m3vpyhttps://tinyurl.
Culture and Characters in Fiction — The Authors’ View
Internationally acclaimed Bunny Brunel has toured the world with the likes of Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stevie Wonder and more.
Cost: Free Details: 310-377-9584; artinourli brary@pvld.org
Long Beach Youth Festival
Cost: Free
LITERATURE
Details: 562-762-8317
Venue: White Point Nature Pre serve, 1600 W. Paseo del Mar, San Pedro
Cost: Free Details: 213-847-4646; wattstowers.org
At Full Volume II: Joyce Weiss in Brilliant Color
Venue: Harvelle’s Long Beach, 201 E.
The Revolutionists
Enjoy an irreverent, girl-powered comedy set during the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror. Play wright Olympe de Gouges, Ca ribbean rebel Marianne Angelle, assassin Charlotte Corday, and former queen Marie Antoinette
Sept. 24
ters Gathering of Elders. Supplies will be provided. Registration is re quired. Meet in the gallery/office Building A at 1 p.m.
18th Annual Moompetam Festival
Join a new open-mic storytell ing event Storytelling & Healing: The Sides of Suicide, hosted by award-winning mental health ad vocate Rudy Caseres. Stories can include essays, monologues, poetry, acoustic musical perfor mance, dance or mixed media performance. This event is not a replacement for mental health care. If you are in distress, please consider these resources: https:// tinyurl.com/mpd85va4 Time: 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25
Venue: Zoom
Join a basket weaving workshop with artist Stephanie Mushrush, lead organizer of the Many Win
Time: Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Fri, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sept.19 to Oct.17
Five concerts will be held in the access tunnel to Battery Leary at Angels Gate Cultural Center, through Oct. 24, featuring James Allen Sept. 23. COVID-19 safety protocols (mask wearing and con tact tracing) will be enforced.
Cost: $14 to $24 Details: www.lbplayhouse.org562-494-1014;
Details: https://tinyurl.com/ progject
Ohana Ukulele Family Sunday Grand Vision and Kala Koa Enter tainment with support from Ohana Ukulele present an afternoon of family ukulele fun.
Venue: El Camino College, Cam pus Theatre, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance
Details: https://tinyurl.com/Hoo tin-Hallers
BroadwaySept. 17
ART Sept. 15
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 24 Cost: $55
Time: 10:30 a.m., Sept. 17
FILM
hang out, murder Marat and try to beat back the extremist insanity in 1793 Paris.
Little Fish Theatre
The Ultimate Prog Rock Experi ence – performing the classics of Genesis, YES, King Crimson and ELP, along with some Pink Floyd, Rush, Jethro Tull, Peter Gabriel and more.
Ginger Lee Belle & Darling Nikki bring you the top headliners and the industry’s top comedians and burlesque performers each week to Harvelle’s.
Kevin Blickfeldt, Polli ChambersSalazar, Joanna Medawar Nachef and more will be performing at the faculty showcase. The show will feature works ranging from Bach to the Beatles.
Cost: Free Details: Vbdnmca7jhttps://tinyurl.com/
The two-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and activist, Eli za Gilkyson, is performing at the Grand Annex.
Tange will discuss art and process in a live virtual conversation.
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 24 Cost: $35 to $45 Details: show/shiki/https://torrancearts.org/
Time: 7:30 p.m., Sept. 17 Cost: $58 to $80
Bunny Brunel CAB
Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 17
Cost: Free Details: Book club zoom https://tinyurl.com/The-Displacedlink:
Cost: $35
Fortnight 2022 with James Preston Allen
Details: com/2p8azxu8https://tinyurl.
Venue: The Garden Church, 429 W. 6th St., San Pedro
EstatesSept. 20
Cost: $26 to $36
Sept. 24
Venue: Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach
Time: 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., Sept. 24 Cost: Free
Time: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sept. 24 and 25
Progject
Venue: Grand Annex, 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro
Sept. 19
Venue: El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance
Cost: $20 to $47
Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Cen ter, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro
Blues For All
Cost: $10 to $20
Louise Reichlin presents a family event featuring dance with per formances by 18 companies. The event includes free raffle tickets, community tables and a unique new feature called 2 Moves where the performing artists will share two moves from their dance for the audience to learn.
San Pedro’s own urban farm opens its downtown garden space every Tuesday and Friday, and on First Thursday evenings to feature local jazz musicians. Get your hands in the dirt as a volunteer, get expert advice, or just relax.
Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival
DANCE
Time: 7:30 p.m., Sept. 18
San Pedro Festival of the Arts 2022
Details: narsiso-martinez-rethinking-eshttps://molaa.org/2022sential
Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursday to Saturday Cost: Free Details: ii/gallery/joyce-weiss-at-full-volume-https://angelsgateart.org/
Sept. 24
Charlotte, an aging but beautiful poet living in a small villa in the South of France has decided to give away her young lover, Cab. This comedic farce is a tribute to the grandeur of the South and a musing on what a smart woman might really want in her later years.
Eliza Gilkyson
Sept. 23
Join Musica Angelica for its first concert of its 30th season featur ing the performances of artist-inresidence YuEun Gemma Kim, director Martin Haselböck, and concertmaster Cynthia Roberts.
Leslie Baker and Sid Jacobs
Sept. 25
An all-star line-up of international recording artists, local jazz greats, percussionists and dancers will come together over two days to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Watts Towers, the 40th year of the Watts Drum Festival and the 45th annual Watts Tower Jazz. Presented by DCA and the Friends of Watts Towers Arts Cen ter.
Sept. 15
Venue: Angels Gate Cultural Cen ter, 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro
Time: 1 to 2:30 p.m., Sept. 17
Cost: Free Details: pvplc.org/calendar/ Venue: White Point Nature Pre serve, 1600 W. Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro
The inequities go beyond criminal courts, she noted. “In immigration court, unaccompanied minors, meaning children who come to the U.S. without parents or guardians, they’re expected to represent themselves. In tenant-landlord cases, landlords get well-heeled attorneys, high-priced attorneys. Renters have no right to an attorney. A renter who’s being evicted, how are they going to afford an attorney?” She asked.
“Voters have a responsibility to support judicial candidates who fall in line with their values — particularly in this national context where the judiciary’s power is expanding and swinging right,” Vázquez said. “I urge voters to support the Defenders of Justice this November.”
She also noted “I am the only judicial candidate with significant union labor litigation experience. Most judges come from big law or have prosecution backgrounds, and that is why our judiciary tends to be conservative, procorporation, and pro-carceral as a whole.”
“[The] corridor links a lot of the preserved land [along] the upper portions of the peninsula hilltops all the way down to the coast, to the Abalone Cove reserve, which is already protected. It’s a corridor of land and connectivity that wildlife need in order to move around and expand their habitat and their populations.”Thewildlife corridor itself is the “crown jewel” of another big announcement made by the land conservancy; the $30 million initiative “Go Wild For The Peninsula.” The initiative helps to raise community support and funding to restore this wildlife corridor and then to enact other restoration projects throughout the peninsula lands that the conservancy serves.
[Candidates, from p. 8] [Wild, from p. 11]
The total amount of the initiative is $30 million. Now, at two-thirds of its target, the conservancy has $10 million left to raise. It will rely on public and private donors to reach its goal. Mohan said that $30 million is a fun coincidence in that it’s a play on California’s 30X30 environmental initiative.
offender] will not reoffend [cause harm] because they’ve gone through a powerful process of hearing how their actions have impacted other human beings.”
Go Wild
While that’s true, Reitano interned at the Screen Actor’s Guild before passing the bar and worked at a small firm handling union matters, before becoming a public defender, and Hancock was a union officer for the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), LA Local Council 12, serving as grievance chair, local council representative, secretary and finally, vice president. So there’s a good reason for labor to support the whole slate.
The conservancy’s other big effort is to help raise awareness about the beauty and benefits of bringing native plants into your home garden spaces. Mohan noted, in this time of drought it underscores how helpful native plants can be as communities face water issues going forward.
existence of those programs and the funding of those programs. Some programs exist, and some that are needed do not yet exist. Some existing programs need more funding,” she said. “As policy makers and legislators create or expand systems of care, judges can choose to connect people to the programs they need or can choose to focus on incarceration.”
Public safety is a key concern, of course, but “The old model has produced mass incarceration and fractured neighborhoods but has not reduced crime,” Lashley-Haynes says on her website. “By taking a practical approach to criminal justice reform, we can decrease crime, enhance public safety, and make more responsible use of our resources.” This includes “different responses for different situations — shifting gears to treatment, prevention, and long-term public safety solutions as appropriate.” And shifting gears is precisely what public defenders excel at, due to their experience.“Ihave the perspective of someone who has actually done the work to get adult and juvenile clients diagnosed with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, intellectual disabilities, or PTSD — as well as how difficult it is to get them services,” Reitano told Random Lengths. “I have been there for the long process of getting them into Regional Center after the age of 18 for disabilities that should have been caught much earlier. I know which programs work and which ones don’t because I have been there from start to finish with my Mentalclients.”health issues are a huge concern in LA County, impacting almost 40% of jail inmates, but they’re personally important to Reitano, as her brother suffers from schizophrenia.
“People will start to see their landscapes suffer if they are not ready for drought tolerance,” Mohan said. “It is a sign of what’s to come with water restrictions and [everyone] being asked to do our part. This is a sort of fun way that [we hope] folks think about ‘Going Wild’ at home by putting native plants in.”
In her 1994 book, A Rage to Punish: The Unintended Consequences of Mandatory Sentencing, former Philadelphia judge Lois Forer reported on her approach, which involved restitution rather than imprisonment for property, resulting in reduced recidivism. Almost 30 years later, people are much more receptive to that message.
member who was arrested while protesting the election of Donald Trump. I defended an elderly African American woman from Pasadena who was arrested at a sit-in which took place at a bank to protest mortgage foreclosures.”
this acquisition and restoration of a wildlife corridor,” said Mohan. “This 96-acre piece of land is one of a kind. There’s not many open space areas along the coast, especially in Los Angeles county. We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to protect and restore undeveloped coastal California land on the peninsula.
The website: www.gowildpv.org features videos showing the land and projects to be enacted on it, which includes fire reduction.
“This project serves as a local example of the state’s 30X30 goal to preserve 30% of open space by 2030,” she said. “Protect[ing] this open land is our small local way to help the state achieve that goal.”
Further, the conservancy will bring goats in, during the spring, to help eliminate the weeds on this tremendous sized piece of property. Once the weeds are gone, the conservancy will plant more native species and native seeds with wild flowers local to the area.
Details: www.pvplc.org and https://gowildpv. pvplc.org
“Our systems were not designed for everyone to thrive,” Park said at that same February event. “Our systems are designed for some people to thrive and I’m working for the system, our system, to work for everyone.”
Raising $10 million is no small feat, but Mohan said that there’s a lot of community support for it.
13 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
“A large portion of my clients suffer from mental health issues and the reality is that if we do not address the reason for them coming in, then they will just go to prison and be released without any support, medication, or stability, then cycle right back in to the court system when they pick up a new case,” she explained. “The laws have adapted to that, we just need judges with the experience of working with the mentally ill. I am the one who sets up psychological evaluations, gets social workers, obtains Regional Center services, and monitors individuals from the beginning to the end, sometimes over the course of years. Knowing what goes into getting appropriate help is incredibly useful to evaluate theseWhilecases.”Park isn’t a public defender, she has played a similar role in different settings. “I defended state workers who were members of SEIU Local 1000 in disciplinary matters,” she told Random Lengths. “I have also defended protesters in criminal cases on a pro bono basis over the years, including the following cases. I defended a CSUN student who was arrested while protesting state college budget cuts. I defended a union ironworker who was arrested at Occupy LA. I defended a Black Lives Matter LA
“Elected judges can be assigned to any of the nine types of courts in the LA Superior Court system — criminal, civil, family, probate, traffic, small claims, juvenile and appeals courts. Judges in a number of those courts can connect people to the services that they need so that they don’t fall into the criminal justice system,” Park told Random Lengths. “For example, a judge handling a family custody matter can connect the family with services that provide the support they need to keep the child out of the foster care system. All of this of course hinges on the
LA Superior Court Candidates
“We’re confident we’ll be able to reach our goal, but we certainly need the community’s help,’’ Mohan said. “We are hoping that people will consider a contribution or become a monthly member with us, or volunteer too.”
“Go Wild For The Peninsula is centered around this wildlife corridor as an example of the work that we’re hoping we can proliferate throughout the peninsula and also inspiring people to think about ways that they can ‘Go Wild,’ so to speak, in their homes,” Mohan said.
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Free newspapers provide a key source of informa tion to the public, in many cases providing an im portant alternative to the news and ideas expressed in other local media sources. The Legislature further finds that the unauthorized taking of multiple copies of free newspapers, whether done to sell them to recycling centers, to injure a business competitor, to deprive others of the opportunity to read them, or for any other reason, injures the rights of readers, writers, publishers, and advertisers, and impover ishes the marketplace of ideas in California.
Ref. Universal Citation: CA Penal Code § 490.7 (2021)
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The City makes no guarantee that existing construction and site conditions matches con struction depicted on record reference documents. It shall be the Bidder’s responsibility to identify existing conditions.
2.
NIB -9 Prevailing Wage Requirements per Depart ment of Industrial Rela tions. This Project is a public work Contract as defined in Labor Code Section 1720. The Contractor receiving award of the Contract and Subcontractors of any tier shall pay not less than the prevailing wage rates to all workers employed in execu tion of the Contract. The Di rector of Industrial Relations of the State of California has determined the general prevailing rates of wages in the locality in which the Work is to be performed. The rate schedules are available on the internet at dir.ca.gov/dlsr/DPreWagehttp://www.
Note: For project updates after Bid Opening, please contact polb.complans.specs@
NIB -5 Contract Time and Liquidated Damages. The Contractor shall achieve Sub stantial Completion of Work within 548 calendar days and Affidavit of Final Completion of the Project within 638 calendar days as provided in Paragraph SC - 6.1 of the Special Conditions, from a date specified in a written “Notice to Proceed” issued by the City and subject to adjust ment as provided in Section 8.2 of the General Condi tions. FAILURE OF THE CONTRACTOR TO COM PLETE THE WORK WITHIN THE CONTRACT TIME AND OTHER MILESTONES SET FORTH IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS, INCLUD ING THE ENGINEER’S AP PROVAL OF AFFIDAVIT OF FINAL COMPLETION, WILL RESULT IN ASSESSMENT OF LIQUIDATED DAMAGES IN THE AMOUNTS ESTAB LISHED IN THE SPECIAL CONDITIONS.
rental costs from vendors who are solely furnishing materials or rental equipment and are not performing Work as a licensed subcontractor on this project shall also be deducted from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be per formed by the Contractor with its own employees.
NOTICE INVITING BIDS
NIB -13 Bid Security, Signed Contract, Insur ance and Bonds. Each Bid shall be accompanied by a satisfactory Bidder’s Bond or other acceptable Bid Security in an amount not less than ten percent (10%) of the Base Bid as a guarantee that the Bidder will, if Conditionally Awarded a Contract by the Board, within thirty (30) cal endar days after the Contract is conditionally awarded to the Contractor by the City, execute and deliver such Contract to the Chief Harbor Engineer together with all required documents including insurance forms, a Payment Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price, and a Performance Bond for one hundred percent (100%) of the Contract Price. All Bonds shall be on forms provided by the City.
1.
Development Permit Applica tions and other Port forms are available at business/permitswww.polb.com/
15 EffectiveReallyNews,RealPeople,RealSeptember15-28,2022
Per the Department of In dustrial Relations, projects covered by a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) are exempt from the requirement to sub mit electronic Certified Payroll Records (CPRs) directly to the Labor Commissioner’s Office. However, the Con tractor and all Subcontractors are required to submit CPRs, labor compliance, and PLA documentation to the Port of Long Beach.
Location: Webex (virtual) - Join from the meeting link cb050d81TID=m93a74ae0aead5f3e36964e9chttps://polb.webex.com/polb/j.php?Mbelow:
Bids shall be submitted electronically via the Port of Long Beach PlanetBids (PB) System prior to 2:00 p.m.
6.
NIB -17 Iran Contracting Act of 2010. In accordance with Public Contract Code sections 2200-2208, every person who submits a bid or proposal for entering into or renewing contracts with the City for goods or services estimated at $1,000,000 or more are required to com plete, sign, and submit the “Iran Contracting Act of 2010 Compliance Affidavit.”
NOTICE IS HEREBY
TERMINAL ISLAND WYE TRACK REALIGNMENT at PIER S AND PIER T LONGCALIFORNIABEACH, [MARAD FY 2019 PIDP GRANT 693JF72040020]NO.
NIB -6 Contractor’s Li cense. The Bidder shall hold current and valid Class “A” California Contractor’s License to construct this project.
For the link to the Port of Long Beach PB System and for in formation on this Project and other upcoming Port projects, you may view the Port website at Copiesbusiness-opportunitieswww.polb.com/business/ofallPortinsurance
Please refer to the Port of Long Beach PB System for the most current information.
This Contract involves fed eral funds and, therefore, the Contractor’s Bid will not be invalidated by the failure to be licensed at the time of the Bid Deadline, but the Contractor must be properly licensed at the time of the award of the Contract. Failure to possess such license may render the Bid non-responsive and bar the award of the Contract to that non-responsive Bidder.
NIB -3 Non-Mandatory PreBid Meeting. The engineer ing staff of the City’s Harbor Department will conduct a virtual pre-bid meeting at 10:00 AM, on October 4, 2022, via Webex at the link provided above. Attendance is optional.
GIVEN that the City of Long Beach, California, acting by and through the City’s Board of Harbor Commissioners (“City”) will receive, before the Bid Deadline established below, Bids for the following Work:
Site images are provided with the documents for refer ence. Any site photographs, videos or maps included in the Contract Documents do
not constitute a complete visual depiction of the site and should neither be considered nor are warranted as such.
endorsement forms, Harbor
Questions must be submitted electronically through the PB System. Emails, phone calls, and faxes will not be accepted. Questions sub mitted to City staff will not be
NIB -12 Federal Grant. This Project is partially funded by a U.S. Depart ment of Transportation MARAD FY 2019 PIDP (CFDA No. 20.823) Grant No. 693JF72040020. Please refer to Special Conditions SC-9.
LEGAL NOTICES
NIB -4 Summary Descrip tion of the Work. The Work required by this Contract ,includes, but is not limited to, the following: Realignment of the existing track and add a new 5,000-foot track adjacent to the realigned track from the west end of the TI Wye to the east end of the Total Terminals International (TTI) terminal; and add two siding tracks of 2,000’ each adjacent to the realigned TI Wye track. See Section 01 11 00, Sum mary of Work in the Technical Specifications.
NIB -8 DBE. In ac cordance with the provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (78 Stat. 252, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000d to 2000d4) and the Regulations, all Bidders are hereby notified that for any contract en tered into pursuant to this advertisement, disadvan taged business enterprises will be afforded full and fair opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, or national ori gin in consideration for an award. The DBE participation goal for all Bidders for this project is eleven percent (11%). Further information about the DBE requirements are included in the Instruc tions to Bidders ITB-21 and Special Conditions SC-23.
NonMandatory Pre-Bid Meeting:
ContactProject Person: D. Trang Nguyen; trang.nguyen@ polb.com
For assistance in downloading these documents please contact Port of Long Beach Plans and Specs Desk at 562-283-7353.
addressed and Bidder will be directed to the PB System.
NIB -16 Substitution of Securities. Substitution of Securities for retainage is permitted in accordance with Section 22300 of the Public Contract Code.
ing insurance forms, bonds and signed Contract within thirty (30) calendar days after Conditional Award of Contract, the Board reserves the right to rescind the Con ditional Award and Condition ally Award the Contract to the next lowest responsive and responsible Bidder.
NIB -7 Contractor Per formed Work. The Contrac tor shall perform, with its own employees, Contract Work amounting to at least 30% of the Contract Price, except that any designated “Special ty Items” may be performed by subcontract. The amount of any such “Specialty Items” so performed may be deduct ed from the Contract Price before computing the amount required to be performed by the Contractor with its own employees. “Specialty Items” will be identified by the City on the Schedule of Bid Items. The bid price of any materials or equipment
Contract Available:Documents Download Contract Documents from the Port of Long Beach PB System Vendor
4.
Date/Time: October 4, 2022 at 10:00AM
This Project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Depart ment of Industrial Relations. No Contractor or Subcontrac tor may be listed on a bid proposal for a public works project unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code Section 1725.5 (with limited exceptions from this requirement for bid purposes only under Labor Code Sec tion 1771.1(a)). No Contrac tor or Subcontractor may be awarded a contract for public work on a public works project unless registered with the Department of Industrial Relations pursuant to Labor Code Section 1725.5.
NIB -11 Trade Names and Substitution of Equals. With the exception of any sole source determination that may be identified in this paragraph, a written request for an Or Equal Substitution using the form included in Appendix A together with data substantiating that the non-specified item is of equal quality to the item specified, may be submitted after Con ditional Award and no later than fourteen (14) calendar days after City’s issuance of Notice to Proceed (NTP). Authorization of a substitution is solely within the discretion of the City.
NIB -15 Period of Bid Irre vocability. Bids shall remain open and valid and Bidder’s Bonds and other acceptable Bid Security shall be guaran teed and valid for ninety (90) calendar days after the Bid Deadline or until the Executive Director executes a Contract, whichever occurs first.
Determination.htm and on file at the City, available upon request. Bidders are directed to Article 15 of the Gen eral Conditions for require ments concerning payment of prevailing wages, payroll records, hours of work and employment of apprentices.
Bid Opening: Electronic Bid (eBid) results shall be viewable online in the PB System immediately after the Bid Deadline.
www.polb.com/sbePortal: Click on the POLB Vendor Portal Register and Log In Click “Bid Opportunities” Double-click on respective bid Project Title Click on Document/Attachments tab Double-Click on Title of Electronic Attachment Click “Download Now” Repeat for each attachment
NIB -10 Project Labor Agreement. This project is subject to the requirements of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), included as Appendix AA. The Contractor and all tier subcontractors must sign a Letter of Assent before com mencement of construction and be bound by each and every provision of the PLA, including, but not limited to: payment of prevailing wages; payment of fringe benefit con tributions to union trust funds on behalf of workers; use of union hiring halls as a source for workers; follow alternating referral procedures if employ ing Core Workers.
Bid Deadline: Prior to 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 1, 2022.
NIB -2 Pre-Bid Questions. All questions, including re quests for interpretation or correction, or comments regarding the Contract Docu ments, must be submitted no later than October 25, 2022, at 5 p.m. Questions received after the pre-Bid question deadline will not be accepted.
The Disadvantaged Busi ness Enterprise Liaison Of ficer (DBELO) is available to provide information on the DBE program requirements. Please contact the DBELO at (562) 283-7566 or wynne@polb.comcharlene.
A non-mandatory networking session in Breakout Rooms under each potential prime Bidder’s name will be provid ed at the end of the Pre-Bid Meeting presentation.
Issued at Long Beach, California, this 22nd day of August, 2022.
7.
AS DESCRIBED IN SPECIFICATION NO. HD-S2542
NIB -1 Contract Docu ments. Contract Documents may be downloaded, at no cost, from the Port of Long Beach PB System Vendor Portal website. Bidders must first register as a vendor on the Port of Long Beach PB System website in order to view and download the Con tract Documents, to be added to the prospective bidders list, and to receive addendum no tifications when issued.
NIB -14 Conditional Award of Contract and Reservation of Rights. The Board, acting through the Executive Director, reserves the right at any time before the execution of the Contract by the City, to reject any or all Bids, and to waive any informality or irregularity. The Conditional Award of the Contract, if any, will be to the responsible Bidder submitting the lowest responsive and responsible Bid. If the low est responsive responsible Bidder fails to submit the required documents includ
5.
3.
Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Harbor Department, City of Long Beach, California
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