Dangling in the Tournefortia

Noticed someone parked at the end of the block, and it looked like he was protesting something with a sign taped to his car door, so I walked down to have a look. Well, he's mad as hell, all right, but a couple of things were interesting.

First, the sign wasn't taped to the door, it was the door. Apparently some mishap or governmental intervention caused his ride to be sans right passenger door panel, so what better time than the present to air your grievances. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that.

Second thing that was a bit disconcerting is that he was naked when I walked up to the car. In fairness he may have just been changing his clothes, but I got an eyeful of naked, crazy old dude, on an otherwise perfectly fine Sunday morning.




(In the background of the first picture you can see the infamous new sunken city home that I alluded to in an earlier post. We've since been inside - in the belly of the beast, so to speak - so a report is coming soon...)

The Shoes Begin to Drop

The first signs of new mayor Villaraigosa's touch on the the Harbor Comission arrived in this morning's L.A. Times. Everyone figured he would shy away from local leadership, in favour of more professional, if less passioned (and connected to the Hahns) members of the Harbor comission. I'm not too familiar with most of the new comissioners, although I'm sure that Joe Radisich will do a good job representing the ILWU on the board, presuming he is named this morning.

I am however really excited to see S. David Freeman, former L.A. DWP head, named to the harbor omission. Freeman was head of the DWP during the Enron (and Bush/Cheney/Rove/assorted oil shills in D.C. bastards) engineered power shortages/rolling blackout festival. Thanks to good management by the DWP during the crisis, L.A. City proper was spared both the rolling blackouts and the insane energy costs that vampired money from Californians. His tenure at the DWP was marked by an increased priority on both energy independence for the City of Los Angeles and greener, cleaner power. So let's see him work some managerial magic on transitioning the Port to a more responisble and efficient operation.

Of course with local educator & community advocate Camilla Townsend going off the board, that will free up her days to put even more hard work on getting the new Maritime Charter High School (can anybody find a website for this new school? How the heck do you find out how to register your kids and whatnot? Google & the LAUSD website are failing me on this one) up and running this fall.

Update! - Looks like Camilla Townsend has handed off the reigns of the Charter High School. So who's running the show there?

Hahn on the AFL-CIO Schism

From today's Daily Breeze

In a statement, Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn stressed that the labor movement must stay united to win "some big labor battles in California."

"Today's actions are disappointing to all of us that believe in fighting for working men and women and I hope there is still a possibility of mending fences," said Hahn, who represents the union-rich Harbor Area.

Personally I hope that this provides some local impetus for the Teamsters to get moving on more aggressively uninionising truck drivers currently working in and around the Port, making things safer for everyone on the roads and on the docks. Will this be the shot in the arm that the labour movement in America needs? Or will it divide the movement making it harder to recover?

Wee'ze in tha Paper Again & LPGA News

From this morning's Times, an article about the Bridge to Breakwater development and the uncertainty of the Villaraigosa era. This looks like one of the first public questionings of the future (or not so future) of the $700+ million Bridge to Breakwater project. Could this be the first (outside of Pedro) rumbling that brings the project down in scale to better serve the community? Or will the Port steam ahead, its finger on the mute button when the community speaks out about the project?

On to the LPGA controversy. Sounds like this one has been much ado about nothing. Basically the LPGA tournament at Trump National is going to be using existing parking in San Pedro and shuttle buses up 7th, to Gaffey, up 9th, to Western, to P.V. Drive to get the fans of women's golf to the ever-so-special Trump National golf course. Port properties along Harbor Blvd, including Ports 'O Call will be used to store their cars while they watch people golf (bring your eye pillow, it's nap time). No wetlands parking involved, no secret deal to pave over anything for the event. Just ladies in comfortable shoes and yuppies wearing their sweater capes.

Regardless of the lack of conspiracy to pave, I still end up feeling like a parking garage. Maybe we could schedule a big biker convention and have everyone park in P.V. to even things out?

mysterious beachfront Pedro homes

about five years ago i noticed the houses below Paseo Del Mar that are built right on the rocky coastline. i've always wondered what the deal was with those places - how they were approved by the coastal commission for one thing - and who the hell would want to live at the bottom of a huge flight of stairs for another (yeah, i know, it's right on the water --- still, that's quite a schlep every time you want to go anywhere).

does anyone who reads this know anyone who lives down there, or have you ever been in one of them? there's certainly nothing else like them in the area.





     
you can click on those images to get a closer view. or for a really close view, go to the source of the images, the California Coastal Records Project site. it's an amazing collection of aerial photos of the entire coast. very impressive project, and if you've got a lot of time on your hands, a cool way to spend many, many hours waiting for huge images to download. ;)

Take Notice Tonight!

Looks like tonight's the night to sound off on events at Ports O' Call and the Bridge to Breakwater site. I got asked/cajoled/pestered into attending this meeting, so I'm going to be there. This may be the perfect opportunity to tell the Port to stop putting on lousy "art shows" and to start supporting local artists in a meaningful way. Or a great opportunity to be marketed at by the Port's paid marketing shills.

Tonight, July 21.
6-8 PM @ 455 West Sixth Street

UPDATE!

I ended up attending most of the meeting last night (I had to leave at 8 sharp). Coastal was out in force, as were lots of local activist types, including the almost comically enthusiastic sports coalition crowd. Port employees and associated people almost outnumbered the community members. The meeting had a really rigid structure, apparently these meetings have gotten pretty exciting in the past, and the Port was trying really hard to keep "the sheep" a.k.a. the people of San Pedro, calm and on topic for the two hours. Everything was framed in terms of positives, but it was obvious that the community only wants one thing. A Pedro for locals, not for tourists. It is funny, when the Port talks about events, it's all numbers - number of attendees, amount of business, etc... When the community talks about events its about tangible things to do - what to see, stuff for kids, etc...

Overheard in San Pedro

No, it's not a horrifying quotable by some know-nothing Manhattanite, it's the stout brass sound of the lone tuba-ist. At about 3:30 this afternoon, I went out of my office at work, only to be tempted by the faint strains of somber brass emanating from this stoic soloist.

Why was he practicing the tuba in a park, on a Friday afternoon? Perhaps he's insane (not unlikely in this town, and not meant as an insult. Being insane in Pedro is a common hobby). Perhaps he's bold, eschewing social convention, pushing his brassy wind, where and when he chooses. Regardless...

Tuba Man, we salute you!

Be a $5000aire!

In case anyone wants a shot at the $5000 in purchase prize money that the Port is giving to a single work included in its Portraits (get it! Port-Raits! Commence kneeslapping.) exhibtion. Dropoff for work is today through Sunday, at 366 West 7th Street, from 1-5 PM, only. I don't think they publicised this thing widely, so In my crystal ball I'm seeing hordes of work by local yokels, with a light froth of pros, one of whom will be taking home an easy $5000 in purchase prize money.

Jurors include

Scott Canty, Curator, Municipal Art Gallery
Robin Hinchliffe, Independent Curator
Suzanne Muchnic, Art Writer, LA Times
Thomas Warren, Harbor Commissioner

PDF prospectus is here, get your paintings of cranes ready. Since there is no entry fee I'm tempted to grab some flat stuff, throw wires on it, invent a porty statement, and enter the lotto on this one.

Mysteriously Wet Trees - RPV fire waterdrop leakage?

From the wierdness desk: I came into work this morning to discover that several of the trees outside my office were sopping wet on one side, and in a big circle on the wet side. I think some of the water dropping vehicles fighting the RPV fire must have sprung a leak, or done some preventative dropping in the park. Anyways, it was wierd.. Closeup here.

Morgan Spurlock - no thanks for using us to make your point

As any San Pedran knows, ours is not a town to talk shit about, unless you want a fistfight. Last night on the FX show 30 Days, Morgan Spurlock's post Supersize Me project, San Pedro was used as an example of a "Diesel Death Trap". Upon interviewing a single doctor and presumably one of his patients who has children with asthma, he used our town as an example of how fossil fuels are killing people. Once again Pedro is presented as an industrial wasteland, with our beautiful coastline and quiet middle class community ignored in favour of a more "interesting/depressing" story. He doesn't even bother to do the pretty houses, nice community/industrial hell comparison that most writers fall back on, he just throws it out there as an unverified fact that San Pedro is home to a serious environmental problem that is killing people.

There are places in America where private industry has caused people uncountable pain and disease, but Pedro is not one of them, I'm sorry. I know that there are health problems caused by the Port's activities, but we aren't Love Canal here, and there has been a lot of movement in improving the emissions from the ships, the Port and the trucks and trains that service it. It would be a lot more interesting/probably closer to the truth to see a program talking about how alternative fuels and other efforts ( I know that what they are doing isn't enough, but it's a definite start and a change from the way the Port did business in the past) may make the Port a cleaner place, and how the community has been working both with and against industry to achieve that goal.

This is the sort of thing that pisses me off about documentary filmmaking. I drive around the country a lot and if I am in a region where someone has spotlighted an industry or a place, I'll often detour, sometimes hundreds of miles, to see that place. 90% of the time, I'm get there, only to find that the documentarian has totally misrepresented the place. Example: I went to Greeley, CO to check out the slaughterhouse madness profiled in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, and found little more than a small city with a large cattle industry attached. The town was neither steeped in manure or reeked of anything distinctive. It was like many small cities I've driven through all over the country, there was nothing to write home about. The most shocking thing I saw was the big sign announcing the opening of a new Hot Topic, proving that will ever be unmarketed to anyone, anywhere, ever again.

Anyways, huff...

Charter School Update

Our new/future/maybe Port of Los Angeles Charter High School looks like it's on again. After some bumps about "legalities" and whatnot from the state, it looks like the project is on, presumably for the upcoming school year. Look out for our coming expose on teenage drug use at the new high school, as a trio of mysteriously mature looking bloggers go undercover (like Johnny Depp) in the seedy world of charter high school users.

Also mentioned in the article is the "Welcome Park" that has been wobbling towards the Gaffey Street 110 offramp since what seems like the beginning of time, has lurched slightly closer to completion.

Genius Sighting!

Although Einstein never lived in Pedro, the Stewart Surfboards van does live here. I was on my bike this morning and had to snap this photo. The side of the van has a big wave piece on it, which is equally cool, but contains no geniuses.

Other photos from this mornings Tour de Pedro are here, here, here, here and here. If there is anything anyone wants shot in crappy 7 AM fog/light, I'm your man.

1st Thursday is upon us again

Well, I'm almost recovered from San Pedro Punk (book is almost ready for printing) and my hearing is returning after another 4th of July, ghetto style, complete with signal flares and way too many big fireworks coming from residential areas, so that must mean it's time for 1st Thursday.

Tomorrow, July 7, should be a nice, long daylight summer evening, probably with some more popping, leftover fireworks. Even my pesky jewish mother is coming out with some friends form her walking group, so if you get mugged by some old ladies, don't say I didn't warn you.

Here are the art highlights -

The show to see, IMHO, is the Butcher John Henry show at Gallery 478, a.ka. Ray Carafano's place. Scott Brown and Logan Fox merge like Constructocons into a 20 foot tall painting machine, known as Butcher John Henry, that just kicks ass. Their bad ass self portrait of themselves painting a nuclear blast as it happens, before the blast wave hits them, just kicks ass.

Down at Walled City, we are having a closing party for Tiki Jay One's show. Rum punch will be served, an acoustic reggae band will to relax us all into hazy island submission.

THM Gallery is presenting the Celebrity Art Exhibit. Apparently the opening for this show was quite the doozy.

The Loft is featuring a group show, with Ginny Bacon, Nancie Doughty, Mary Higuchi, Gloria Lee, Lynn Mikami, Carol Morris-Ward, Pat Wooley.