City News Archives
Last April, LA Weekly went to Los Angeles Superior Court to force the city to hand over public information about the locations of thousands of potentially illegal billboards erected without permits or formal safety inspections. Over the objections of Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS Outdoor, a judge ruled that the public had the right to these sought-after and plainly public lists.
As a result, the Weekly received two partial lists of billboard locations. A few weeks later, we secured a list of billboard locations owned by Regency Outdoor. These were posted on the paper's website [CBS,Clear Channel list one, Clear Channel list two,Regency ] along with a cover story about the city's failure to control the outdoor advertising industry in Los Angeles. The Weekly reported that city officials estimate there are roughly 4,000 illegal billboards citywide.
However, the lists we got in our court fight don't indicate whether the billboard is illegal or not. For the public or the media to find out if a billboard is up to snuff, they must take a trip downtown to the Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety and conduct a painstaking search through old microfiche.
Spurred on by the Weekly's coup in court, Jim Bursch, publisher of West LA Online, has now put these lists into electronic form and entered thousands of billboards, their addresses and owners, in a “database that can be viewed, searched and updated by citizens, activists and city officials.” And that means YOU, if you are angry about the thickets of illegal billboards in your area.
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Coroner Chronicles: A Skull and a Letter Show Plight of Immigrants
by Christine Pelisek
July 8, 2008 7:00 AM
In Los Angeles County, skulls aren't always found in cemeteries, shallow graves or Native American Indian burial sites. Sometimes they are found in brown paper bags near bus stops. According to the LA County Coroner, a homeless man stumbled across a skull as he was rummaging through a trashcan near Montebello in early 2007. The bag also contained a map and a letter written by an immigrant named Enrique who discovered the skull as he was crossing the treacherous Mexican desert to Arizona.
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Photos by Ted Soqui
For the second year in a row, Echo Park's Lotus Festival will be without lotuses. In fact, it appears the plants are in worse shape this year than they were last year (See end of this post for some photos from last year). Two years ago the lotuses did bloom, but arrived too late for the festival.
The Lotus Festival will still happen this weekend (Details here www.laparks.org/grifmet/lotus.htm), and I have no doubt it will still be great family fun, with lots of dancing, Asian and Pacific Island food, music, and plenty of sunshine. But it's sad that the festival itself won't feature the namesake flowers.
Last year, a few lotuses - and more of the plants did actually make it to mid-July.
Click here for more photos of what's left of Echo Park's lotuses.
Above three photos by Mark Mauer, 2007. All other photos by Ted Soqui, 2008.
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No one on the governing board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority had the courage to tell it like it is to the warring factions that showed up Thursday to push their pet transit projects.
The message to the people who want to extend the Gold Line to mars, via Ontario airport, would have gone something like this:
“We’re afraid of you. Your backers in Congress have juice and are 1,000 percent behind you. They’ll leapfrog your lame-ass, low ridership project over the much more greatly needed Expo Line to Santa Monica. They might even steal money from the divine Subway to the Sea.”
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A multi-agency task force of 500 law enforcement officers swooped down on members of the Avenues gang on Drew Street early Wednesday morning. The crackdown netted 32 members or associates of the “Drew Street” clique of the Avenues.
The operation, which began at 4 a.m., stemmed from a massive 157-page federal racketeering indictment targeting 70 members of the gang who lived on Drew Street in northeast Los Angeles. Federal and local law enforcement officers served 25 federal search warrants, and picked up 32 Avenues gang members and associates in the pre-dawn raids. Twenty-six of the gang members who were indicted were already in local and federal custody including Maria “Chata” Leon who is reputed to be the matriarch of a large family of drug dealing gang members.
Maria "Chata" Leon
The indictment of Leon and her extended family for mostly drug related charges was a coup for local law enforcement officials who spent years trying to break up the control the family had over the Drew Street community.
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A multi-agency task force of 500 law enforcement officers swooped down on members of the avenues gang on Drew Street yesterday morning. The crackdown netted 32 members or associates of the “Drew Street” clique of the avenues.
The operation, which began at 4 a.m., stemmed from a massive 157-page federal racketeering indictment targeting 70 members of the gang who lived on Drew Street in northeast Los Angeles. Federal and local law enforcement officers served 25 federal search warrants, and picked up 32 avenues gang members and associates in the pre-dawn raid. Twenty-six of the gang members who were indicted were already in local and federal custody including Maria “Chatta” Leon who is reputed to be the matriarch of a large family of drug-dealing gang members.
Her son, Francisco “Pancho” Real, the leader of the gang and the lead defendant in the indictment, was arrested along with some of his brothers. According to prosecutors, Mexican Mafia members authorized Francisco Real to take control of the area last summer.
Despite the massive sweep, more than a dozen gang members remain at large. They include:
Jose "Minor" Alvarado
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Major Law Enforcement Crack down Nets the Gangsters of Drew Street
by Christine Pelisek
June 25, 2008 3:08 PM
A multi-agency task force of 500 law enforcement officers swooped down on members of the avenues gang on Drew Street early this morning. The crackdown netted 32 members or associates of the “Drew Street” clique of the avenues.
The operation, which began at 4 a.m., stemmed from a massive 157-page federal racketeering indictment targeting 70 members of the gang who lived on Drew Street in northeast Los Angeles. Federal and local law enforcement officers served 25 federal search warrants, and picked up 32 avenues gang members and associates in the pre-dawn raids. Twenty-six of the gang members who were indicted were already in local and federal custody including Maria “Chatta” Leon who is reputed to be the matriarch of a large family of drug-dealing gang members.
Her son, Francisco “Pancho” Real, the leader of the gang and the lead defendant in the indictment, was arrested along with some of his brothers. According to prosecutors, Mexican Mafia members authorized Francisco Real to take control of the area last summer.
Guns confiscated during the raid
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CNN to Interview Former Prison Confidante of Manson Family Member Susan Atkins
by Christine Pelisek
June 24, 2008 7:00 AM
Former Beverly Hills matchmaker Virginia Graham told the LA Weekly that she has a date with CNN.
CNN contacted Graham after reading, Beverly Hills Matchmaker Spills About Manson Family Member Susan Atkins, she said. Graham’s upcoming interview will likely focus on her prison chat fest with Atkins who she shared a dorm room with at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women in the fall of 1969.
Atkins stabbed to death a pregnant Sharon Tate a gruesome 16 times at Tate’s Benedict Canyon mansion in the summer of 1969. Atkins told Graham that the 26-year-old actress begged for her life and the life of her unborn child.
“She told me this thing with great glee,” said Graham who was in jail for writing a bad check. “When I first saw her she was doing cartwheels up and down the aisle. She was in a total state of happiness. Truthfully I thought she was in for a drug bust.”
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Federal Court Judge Rules in Favor of Illegal “Supergraphics”
by Christine Pelisek
June 19, 2008 9:36 AM
It looks like Councilmember Jack Weiss’ plan to impose hefty fines on companies that post multi-story “supergraphics” signs plastered illegally around Los Angeles is kaput – for now. A federal court judge made sure of that.
Last April, Weiss held a press conference across the street from a Gap Inc. “supergraphics” with a blond model stretched across a 10-storey office building on West Pico Boulevard. Weiss called for the city to enforce a law already on the books that allowed the city to levy $2,500 fines, daily.
However, last week, a federal court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking Los Angeles from prosecuting the Philadelphia-based company that posted the Gap sign. The court ruling essentially stops the city from any enforcement actions at the companies Pico Boulevard spot or at its 33 other locations until the company has a chance to challenge the city's outdoor advertising laws.
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Only hours after a New York State judge tossed his defamation lawsuit against Beverly Hills Billionaire Ron Burkle and Bill and Hillary Clinton, former New York Post reporter Jared Paul Stern wrote to LA Weekly in an email, "We will file an immediate appeal. The judge's opinion was biased and disgraceful."
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Parole Anyone? Chilling Details Emerge from Susan Atkins’ Last Prison Hearing
by Christine Pelisek
June 17, 2008 4:57 PM
The LA Weekly recently nabbed the gory details of Susan Atkin’s last parole hearing on June 1, 2005 at the California Institution for Women in Corona. It turns out that the 250-page report is a blood-curdling reminder of the carnage that occurred in the summer of 1969 when Atkins, then 22, stabbed to death a pregnant Sharon Tate a gruesome 16 times at Tate’s Benedict Canyon mansion.
After killing Tate, prosecutors said Atkins tasted the actress' blood and used it to scrawl “PIG” on her front door. On that dreadful night, the Manson Family also killed Abigail Ann Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Steven R. Parent, and Jay Sebring. The following day, on August 10, members of the Manson family bludgeoned to death Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary at their home in the Los Feliz hills.
During the 2005 parole hearing, a panel of prison commissioners asked Atkins a variety of questions concerning her family relationships, work history, social skills in prison, and plans if paroled.
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Beverly Hills Matchmaker Spills about Manson Family Member Susan Atkins
by Christine Pelisek
June 16, 2008 5:37 PM
In the summer of 1969, Susan Atkins stabbed to death a pregnant Sharon Tate a gruesome 16 times at Tate’s Benedict Canyon mansion. Later, Atkins told fellow inmate and Beverly Hills matchmaker Virginia Graham that the 26-year-old actress begged for her life and the life of her unborn child.
“She told me this thing with great glee,” said Graham who shared a dorm room with Atkins at the Sybil Brand Institute for Women in the fall of 1969. After killing Tate, prosecutors said Atkins tasted the actress' blood and used it to scrawl “PIG” on her front door. On that dreadful night, the Manson Family also killed Abigail Ann Folger, Voytek Frykowski, Steven R. Parent, and Jay Sebring.
The following day, on August 10, members of the Manson family – excluding Atkins – bludgeoned to death Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary at their home in the Los Feliz hills. Atkins, then 22, was convicted of killing Tate and music teacher Gary Hinman. Charles Manson, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were soon charged with the other grisly murders.
Susan Atkins in 2001
Manson had preached of an apocalyptic race war he said was predicted in the Beatles song “Helter Skelter.” His followers including Atkins believed they would eventually control the United States — if they performed heinous crimes for Manson.
Almost 40 years later, Atkins, now 59, is asking for “compassionate release.” Atkins, who is dying from brain cancer, is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole, making her eligible for release.
Graham, who later became a key witness in the prosecution's case against Atkins, told the LA Weekly in a recent interview that she remembered Atkins as a “young silly ass teenager” who felt no remorse for the brutal attack on Tate.
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The Universal Studios fire that gutted a mechanical King Kong and the Town Square seen in “Back to the Future” was not exacerbated by a lack of waterpower, according to a report released by the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the county Department of Public Works on June 13. The 45-page report blamed the highly flammable materials and tightly packed set facades and warehouses for aggravating the June 1 fire.
Also, water sprinklers that were added after a 1990 blaze failed, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman at a 5 p.m. press conference last Friday at Los Angeles County Fire Department headquarters.
Three employees repairing a roof on one of Universal Studios backlots accidentally caused the inferno that destroyed 3.5 acres.
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At the Music Box Theater on Hollywood Boulevard Thursday evening, the Hollywood community said good-bye to legendary preservationist Robert Nudelman, who died in May at the age of 52. Nudelman was director of preservation issues at Hollywood Heritage, an advocacy group that seeks to maintain and refurbish old Hollywood. Last night, friends, colleagues, and sometime foes gave him a tribute.
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Los Angeles Firefighters Fume Over “No Show” Tattoo Policy
by Christine Pelisek
June 12, 2008 5:08 PM
Some city firefighters are fuming over the Los Angeles Fire Department's new “no show” tattoo policy. The policy as of May 1 forbids tattooed firefighters from exposing their ink in public. That means firefighters who have tattoos on their arms need to cover up with long-sleeve shirts, and those who have tattoos on their necks have to wear bandages.
The policy has raised the ire of tatted out firefighters – some former soldiers - who believe they are being unfairly targeted by brass.
“After 20 years I am no longer considered professional by my fire department, just like that,” said LAFD firefighter/diver John O'Connor. “Every piece of 'work' that I have is either blood family or fire service family. I have always displayed them proudly, and to be made to cover them up is weird. This was disheartening to me. My pride has been blown away.”
The policy affects around 200 firefighters with visible tattoos that cannot be covered by the standard uniform, says O'Connor. So now, firefighters are covering up with long-sleeve shirts and track pants to work out, and wearing bandages or skin patches where the shirt doesn't cover.
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There is still no news on what caused the fire that gutted a popular celebrity hangout in Hollywood according to Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators.
The Basque Restaurant & Nightclub, located on the corner of historic Hollywood and Vine, was a hotspot for young celebrities and a regular stalking ground for the paparazzi until it burst into flames on April 30.
Lindsay Lohan celebrated her 21st birthday and Kanye West partied there just nine days before the fire. Matt Damon played cards in the nightclub (then called Deep) for scenes in the movie "Ocean's Eleven."
The inferno tore through the nightclub and damaged three nearby vacant businesses - a tattoo parlor, a day spa and a shoe repair shop.
Arson investigators said the fire most likely started in the centre of the nightclub, but they didn’t know what caused it. A transient sleeping at the back of the building told investigators that he didn’t see anyone enter or leave the nightclub around the time of the fire. The bar was closed that night.
To help with the investigation, the fire department called in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ national response team. The 19-member team provided the fire department with chemists, forensic electricians, and mapping experts who were tasked with recreating the scene. The last time the response team was called in by the fire department was during the arson fire at the Palomar Hotel in Hollywood in 2001 that killed two people.
The fire department received 911 calls at 5:30 am from construction workers who were working across the street at the W Hotel. They reported seeing smoke billowing out from the roof.
No one was injured in the blaze that took 26 engine companies, six rescue units and 180 firefighters two and a half hours to extinguish.
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Paramount Veteran Draws Hollywood’s Golden Era to his 90th Birthday Bash
by Christine Pelisek
June 10, 2008 7:00 AM
Friends, actors, and studio executives gathered at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood on June 9 to celebrate the 90th birthday of veteran producer A.C. Lyles.
Lyles started his career at age 10 as a theater usher and worked his way up to becoming a well-regarded producer at Paramount Hollywood Studios with credits that included “Short Cut to Hell,” and “Waco.” On loan to CBS, Lyles also produced television’s Rawhide, starring Clint Eastwood.
Lyles counted former President Ronald Reagan and actor James Cagney as his closest friends. Cagney directed "Short Cut to Hell" for Lyles, and Reagan appointed him to a number of presidential committees. He also hobnobbed with screen legends Mary Pickford, Shirley Temple and Charlie Chaplin.
Among those celebrating his 90th birthday were astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Academy Award winning actor Ernest Borgnine, and American film critic and historian Leonard Maltin who was followed for awhile by a crew from Entertainment Tonight.
The Mary Tyler Moore Show’s Ed Asner nibbled on mushroom and cheese quesadillas, while octogenarian actress Anne Jeffreys held court at a table with fellow veteran starlets Anne Rutherford, Rhonda Fleming and Jane Withers. While trying to snap a couple of pictures of Fleming and Jeffreys, the actresses got irked at the LA Weekly for inadvertently cutting off the tops of their heads when I showed them their pictures. The Weekly quickly remedied the situation, and the starlets seemed slightly happier although they still looked a tad miffed while posing for the second batch.
“This is living Hollywood history here,” said Los Angeles City Council member Eric Garcetti who presented Lyles with a proclamation from the city. Not to be outdone, Council Member Tom LaBonge congratulated Lyles and offered him a loaf of pumpkin bread made by neighborhood nuns. Like most recipients of LaBonge's bread, Lyles just stared and probably wondered what kind of bleeping gift is that.
Partygoers missed out on the famous pumpkin bread but did get to munch on savory chicken skewers, mini Spanakopitas, a variety of cheeses and fruits, and decadent vanilla cupcakes before they were whisked inside the theater to watch a screening of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
A.C. Lyles and Associated Press entertainment reporter Sandy Cohen.
Actress Anne Jeffreys appeared with her husband Robert Sterling in the 50's sitcom "Topper." She also appeared in episodes of "L.A. Law" and "Murder, She Wrote."
Ed Asner starred as Lou Grant on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show."
Anne Rutherford played Scarlett O'Hara's sister in the 1959 movie "Gone with the Wind."
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin
Veteran 91-year-old actor Ernest Borgnine
Rhonda Fleming acted in more than forty films, mostly in the 1940's and 1950's, including Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Spellbound."
Jane Withers was one of the most popular child stars in the 1930's and 1940's. She co-starred with Shirley Temple in the 1934 film "Bright Eyes."
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Forty percent of Hollywood’s homeless youths ended up on the streets at some point after having been removed from their homes by a city, county or state department of children and family services. That's the stunning word from a survey conducted by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership.
The preliminary report also found a troubling correlation between youths who had spent time in foster care services, then ended up on the streets. According to the data, 48 percent of the youths surveyed said that they were involved with a city, county or state department of children and family services or child protective services.
The survey, which was conducted between February and July 2007, focused on runaways and homeless youths between the ages of 12 and 25.
The youths, who were recruited from drop-in centers, shelters, residential programs, a health clinic, and the streets, were asked to participate in an hour-long “Community Needs Assessment” survey. The computer-assisted survey included questions about race, gender, sexual identity, foster care involvement, and education and employment status. In total, 389 runaways and youths were surveyed.
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Five hundred Los Angeles Laker fans swarmed the Hollywood Billiards Sports Bar & Grill on Thursday night to watch Kobe Bryant and the boys take on Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics in game 1 of a best-of-seven series. The famous rivals were squaring off in the NBA finals for the 11th time and first since 1987.
The Lakers lost 88-98 but that didn't dampen the spirits of the true blue Lakers fans. Game 2 is on Sunday at 6 pm.
Go Lakers!!
The Hollywood Billiards is the unofficial NBA playoff headquarters in Hollywood for the next week.
Lakers Fan Dulce Castaneda, who was accompanied by a handful of friends, arrived early to get first dibs on seating.
Lakers fans Johnny Martinez and Ronald Solis show their support for the team.
Amanda and Iris take in the game while munching on bar snacks.
There were traffic delays on Hollywood Boulevard because of Lakers pandemonium. Over 200 cars were parked by six valet parkers.
The lot filled up in minutes.
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It sure seems like there has been an awful lot of murders in Los Angeles County since January. Every time I look at the newspaper or check out the nightly TV news, someone has been gunned down in a drive by shooting, stabbed to death in an alley, or set on fire.
In April, there were at least four murders in Los Angeles County during the 40-hour "murder moratorium" called for by civil rights activists to mark the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
However, the LA County Coroner recently reported that there were 101 fewer murders in the first half of 2008 than there were in the first half of 2007. According to Assistant Chief Ed Winter, 470 homicides occurred in the first half of 2007 compared to 371 in 2008.
Here’s hoping the decrease continues till the end of the year.
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s Courtroom 3 - a miniature auditorium with comfortable, smoked salmon-colored seats - was mostly filled with law students who seemed to be interested in just one thing: listening to Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe argue constitutional law.
It was a rare treat for law students, and they weren’t disappointed. Tribe, nationally recognized as one of the foremost liberal constitutional law scholars and Supreme Court practitioners, was in town from his lucrative gig as a consultant to the international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to give oral arguments in the billboard case Metro Lights v. City of Los Angeles.
Tribe, dressed in a gray suit and wearing a bright blue tie, told the Weekly that he became involved in the case just a month ago because it “intrigued me” and “I thought the federal court was clearly right.”
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Los Angeles County Fire investigators found that three employees repairing a roof on one of the studio’s back lots caused the Universal Studios fire. The June 1 fire gutted 3.5 acres including the “King Kong” attraction and a video library.
Two workers and a supervisor were using a blowtorch to apply asphalt shingles on the roof façade of the “New York Street” set. The workers finished around 3 a.m., watched the roof for signs of fire as required, then took an hour-long break. Around 4:43 a.m., a security guard saw flames and alerted the fire department, which arrived four minutes later.
Ten hours later, the “New York Street” and “New Jersey Street” sets were destroyed, along with a video library and part of the courthouse square area.
At a press conference on June 2, L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky called for an investigation into whether the 18-year-old sprinkler system or the lack of water pressure hampered firefighters’ efforts.
County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman said a task force is looking into the water power problems and will report to county officials by June 13.
Eager reporters waiting for a update of the Universal Studio fire, which injured a handful of firefighters and a sheriff's deputy.
L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman and Los Angeles City Council Member Tom La Bonge.
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It looks like the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office may have its hands full on June 4 when it goes up against leading First Amendment attorney Laurence Tribe in the case Metro Lights v. City of Los Angeles.
Tribe, who is nationally recognized as one of the foremost liberal constitutional law scholars and Supreme Court practitioners, is in town from his lucrative gig as a consultant to the international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to give oral arguments in front of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Tribe was brought in at the last minute to defend the billboard company against the city.
Tribe told the Weekly in an email that the reason why he agreed to take the case is “because I think the LA ordinance is a serious threat to the First Amendment and needs to be decisively invalidated.”
Tribe arguing the case could spell disaster for the City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. Delgadillo’s office isn’t exactly known lately for its great U.S. Supreme Court (or Superior Court) triumphs. Harvard Law School Professor Tribe, on the other hand, has successfully gone before the US Supreme Court over 17 times.
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Oral arguments will be heard in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal on June 4 in the case, Metro Lights, LLC vs. City of Los Angeles. The federal billboard case has dogged the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office since 2006 when a district court judge ruled that the cities “Street Furniture” program was unconstitutional.
The City Attorney's Office hopes that the panel of judges will overthrow that ruling.
In 2001, six months before City Hall erected a blanket ban on all new billboards, the city entered into a contract with CBS Decaux, which gave the advertising company a lucrative contract to sell and display advertising on bus shelters and kiosks. In return, the city would receive $150 million over the 20-year-term of the agreement.
Instead, the contract opened up a Pandora's box of litigation. It didn't take long before Metro Lights “movie poster” style signs that looked similar in size and shape to the cities “street furniture”started popping up.
In 2003, the city began citing the company for illegally erecting billboards. Metro Lights filed a federal lawsuit against the city arguing that it was unfair that the city could make money off its 3,300 street furniture program, tens of thousands of street banners and countless wall signs, murals and super graphics on public property but forbid similar advertising on private property. A judge agreed.
Since the 2006 federal ruling, a handful of other federal and state claims have been filed challenging the cities “street furniture' program.
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“It is the Los Angeles dodge and delay program,” said a frustrated Marilyn Cohon, the Vice President of Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association about City Hall’s long-awaited billboard fee inspection program. “We find it appalling that the city is dragging its feet.”
Even Council Member Ed Reyes, who is notorious for being tight lipped about billboard-related boondoggles, scoffed, “You aren’t moving anywhere…It is frustrating.”
At the last Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) committee meeting in February, building officials said they were working on implementing a billboard fee and inspection program. The problem is they said the very same thing last December. Both times, Department of Building and Safety general manager Andrew Adelman claimed that “due to various litigation actions” the program was at a stand still.
However, the LA Weekly reported in a cover story last month that there was no court order or injunction preventing the city from starting the program approved by City Council members six long years ago.
On May 27, billboard activists and Reyes listened intently as a Department of Building and Safety chief updated the PLUM Committee again.
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Inyo County sheriff investigators officially called off the dig for human remains Wednesday at remote Barker Ranch, the last known hideout of Charles Manson and his followers.
Investigators reported that 20 law enforcement officials and scientists using portable ground penetrating radar, lasers and Alternate Light Source technology found no bodies after two-days of relentless digging.
On May 20, law enforcement agencies, shadowed by a small army of local and international reporters, descended on Barker Ranch in the Panamint Mountains of Death Valley in hopes of getting to the bottom of persisting rumors that murder victims were buried there.
The forensic investigation commenced on five “hot spots.” Investigators reported Tuesday that they did not find any bodies at the first and largest site. Instead, they found a .38 caliber casing just two inches below the surface of the first dig site.
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Last month, the LA Weekly published a cover story about billboard blight in Los Angeles. Among other things, the Weekly delved into City Hall’s failed effort to find and remove an estimated 4,000 illegal billboards blighting L.A., and its resistance in giving L.A. Weekly basic, public facts about existing legal and illegal billboards.
Plenty of U.S. cities have required billboard firms to hand over their inventory lists — a necessary step before activists, neighbors and inspectors can ID and dispute illegal billboards. In fact, Philadelphia posts its billboard list on its city Web site. That city’s Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight, or SCRUB, goes further, offering a billboard “finder” that highlights in red all unlicensed billboards. The Florida Department of Transportation maintains an “Outdoor Advertising Database” of the 17,000 billboards along its federal and state roadways. The database, updated monthly, provides the address, owner, height, number of “faces” and permit status — plus a recent photo.
But in Los Angeles, the newspaper had to hire a First Amendment attorney to get an inventory list of CBS and Clear Channel's billboards from workers at the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. Since the story was published, the paper has been inundated with letters and emails by community members who are upset that there is no public database of billboard locations. Until now. Recently, a website dedicated to keeping track of billboard locations has popped up. And Angelenos are encouraged to participate by providing addresses of billboard locations in their neighborhoods. According to the site owner, the database is being driven by one big problem: no public database, and no move by the city to provide one.
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Former Developer of Sunset Skyscraper Files for Bankruptcy
by Patrick Range McDonald
May 13, 2008 11:23 AM
A few weeks ago, the LA Weekly first reported about Molasky Pacific, a Las Vegas-based real estate firm, selling its share of the old CBS TV-and-radio complex on Sunset Boulevard to Apollo Real Estate Advisors, a partner in the development project to build a 40-story skyscraper on the site. It was a sign that things weren't all that kosher with Molasky Pacific's financials. Now, the Las Vegas Review Journal has reported that Steven Molasky, the owner of Molasky Pacific, has filed for Chapter 11. In other words, the son of legendary Vegas developer Irwin Molasky, is bankrupt.
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It was a surprise to get another letter from Shayne Allyn Ziska, a former correctional officer at the California Institution for Men in Chino, who has continuously protested his innocence ever since he was found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy and civil rights violations by a federal judge in 2006. The Weekly wrote a lot about his bizarre case, and now it turns out he’s on a hunger strike, at least according to a letter I got from him this week.
Ziska, who is locked up in the Federal Correctional Institution Schuylkil in Pennsylvania, claimed that he has refused his share of prison grub since March 14, and is being forced fed “via a nasogastric tube through my nose, nasal passage, and into my stomach” since April 22.
“I refuse to eat because I am an innocent man that was falsely convicted and imprisoned,” he wrote. 'Soon {Bureau of Prisons] is going to have to water me too.”
Ziska was found guilty in Los Angeles on March of 2006 on one count of violent crime in aid of racketeering, one count of deprivation of civil rights under the color of law, and one count of conspiracy. During the six-day trial, his accusers – a rag-tag group of prisoners - took the stand in federal court, telling Los Angeles District Court Judge Terry Hatter Jr. that Ziska, then 44, became an associate of the Nazi Low Riders, a white supremacist prison gang, and participated in assaults and drug trafficking at the behest of gang members. They said he preached “white power” ideology and referred to black inmates as “rugs,” “porch monkeys” and “niggers.”
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The LA Times probably had its farewell lined up for weeks. Last year, the newspaper went after the California State Assembly Speaker for his sleazy handling of political contributions with a special kind of glee. On Tuesday, the Eastside pol will be termed-out and replaced, and today the Times thoughtfully dedicated several inches of its "California" section for a send-off piece, which recounted Nunez's highs and lows as one of the state's leading legislators. The paper, though, forgot to mention one thing--Nunez, who endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, will be succeeded by a vocal and active Sen. Barack Obama supporter. Her name is Karen Bass.
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Several hours after I heard Robert Nudelman had died at the age of 52 at his father’s home in Tucson, Arizona, I was driving on El Centro Avenue, heading north towards Sunset Boulevard and the Hollywood sign. In front of me, I could see the Palladium and the old CBS TV-and-radio complex—two important buildings that contributed to Los Angeles’s historic culture and funky architecture. I looked at these landmarks and thought of Robert, the now-former director of preservation issues at Hollywood Heritage.
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It's got to come under the category of "what was City Hall thinking?' that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa kept insisting his plan to funnel commuters onto Pico and Olympic boulevards by making them one-way streets would have no effect on the local environment.
A judge sounded almost incredulous in a five-page ruling that halted the project today, stating that "the very purpose of the project is to expand the use of the existing streets" -- which typically means more fine particulate matter from car exhaust, more noise, and a lower quality of life for anyone who has to live or work nearby.
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Molasky Pacific, a real estate development firm based in Las Vegas, will no longer take part in the effort to build a 40-story skyscraper on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Instead, the company asked its New York City-based partner, Apollo Real Estate Advisors, to buy them out for an undisclosed sum of money. "It was a timing thing," says Mark Cassidy, president of Molasky Pacific. Dean Pentikis, a partner at Apollo, says the developer will move ahead with the humongous project, which will dramatically alter the Los Angeles skyline and obscure views of the Hollywood sign and Hollywood Hills.
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Nine days ago, PolitickerCA.com wondered aloud if former Daily News editor Ron Kaye, who had just left the Valley newspaper, would be running for city council in Greig Smith's district--Smith plans to vacate the seat after his term is over. Kaye would undoubtedly make for an interesting candidate, especially since he often rails against City Hall's standard practice of running council districts as if they were fiefdoms, with no politician messing with the other politician's territory.
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Companies that put up huge “supergraphics” on buildings and the building owners who allow the gigantic illegal signs could be fined $2,500 a day under a new plan announced today by Los Angeles City Council Member Jack Weiss.
“These monster signs turn buildings into billboards,” said Weiss at a press conference today that was held in front of the huge Gap “supergraphic” plastered along the side of a bank building on the corner of Pico Boulevard and Overland. “It is illegal. I want to streamline and punish them...At the end of the day the hammer isn't big enough.”
A 2002 city law bans all new billboards in Los Angeles. The “supergraphic” popped up last year according to billboard activist Dennis Hathaway.
“It is still there getting revenue,” said Hathaway.
Weiss, who will introduce a motion Friday asking the City Attorney's Office to draft an ordinance to impose the fine, said he was aware of at least three dozen illegal “supergraphics” in Los Angeles. Hathaway said he has lodged complaints with building inspectors against at least 12. Only one has been removed.
Weiss' announcement came three days after Los Angeles City Council members tentatively voted on a proposal that would place two 76-foot-tall billboards next to the 10 Freeway. Weiss was the only council member who voted against the freeway plan.
Photos by Christine Pelisek
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The press release, whether deliberate or not, was sent out late in the news cycle on a Friday evening--6:43 p.m. to be exact. 17 months after officially taking the helm at the Los Angeles Unified School District, Superintendent David L. Brewer III finally hired a senior deputy superintendent to oversee curriculum and instruction at the second largest public schools system in the nation. His name is Ramon C. Cortines, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's now former deputy mayor for education.
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Once again, the name of Ray Cortines is buzzing around the halls of Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, according to today's LA Times. The former interim superintendent of LA Unified is apparently being considered by David Brewer, the current superintendent and retired Navy admiral, to fill the long vacant slot of chief academic officer. It is a crucial senior staff hire public education experts and district insiders have been demanding for nearly a year. (Read "The Admiral's Sinking Ship" for an in-depth look at Brewer's first year as the public schools honcho: http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/how-superintendent-david-brewer-ran-aground/17943/
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Three months ago, County Supervisor Gloria Molina, through an emergency measure passed by the County Board of Supervisors, gave Friends of the Los Angeles River an ultimatum -- remove the mural at the Arroyo Seco in 90 days, or pay through the teeth.
Ninety days have passed and there is still no resolution to the mural fiasco.
The mural, fully permitted by the county and the product of the wildly popular international graffiti event Meeting of Styles, remains, and neither the county, FoLAR nor Meeting of Styles organizer Man One have made any attempts to remove it.
(Above, one of the images that offends Molina. Photo by Mark Mauer. More here.)
Part of that, says Molina spokesperson Roxane Marquez, is that the county needed to give an additional 30 days of public notice before any action can be taken on the mural. Marquez says that notice was given last month, and that the county, through the Department of Public Works, can't touch the mural until April 12th.
Though the whitewash of the Arroyo Seco mural appears eminent, it remains to be seen who is actually going to complete the buffing, and who's going to foot the bill. Molina's emergency measure declares FoLAR liable for the removal of the art. Yet the county permit holder for the event was Man One and not the river organization.
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At the U.S. Federal Courthouse in downtown today, civil rights attorney Steve Yagman has finally been ordered to surrender to prison authorities on Monday, March 31, at a federal prison and medical facility in Butner, North Carolina. The renegade lawyer, who's made a career of battling the LAPD and the feds, will soon no longer be a free man.
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Steven Leigh Morris Responds to "Bitter Homes and Gardens" Comments
by Steven Leigh Morris
March 4, 2008 10:21 AM
March of the Phony Progressives
Who's on first, when the right pretends to be left?
Among the smarter reactions in the comments section of my cover story, “Bitter Homes and Gardens” (February 29-March 7) was the complaint that I dismantled the unintended consequences in the city's plans for a more densely populated “transit-oriented” future without providing some alternative options. It's a good point, though thorny because the problems confronting the city are so beyond the purview of just the Planning Department, the Housing Department, the Community Redevelopment Agency or the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The knee-jerk reaction of City Hall's density wolf pack is to ridicule anybody remotely critical of their plans as ostriches who, when not playing golf with George W. and Dick Cheney, are sticking their heads in the sand. Double-speak doubles back on itself when the “progressive” friends of City Hall, who sound like lobbyists for the construction industry, label residents out to protect the last vestiges of the city's green space, or their own neighborhoods, as neo-cons.
All of these city departments are, in their varied ways, working to stem the challenges of a demographic reality that's overwhelming them: some two million infants to be born in the County within the next 20 years, mostly to poor families, and subject to the whims of global economics that are crashing Los Angeles straight into the Third World.