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ur present discourse on homelessness and how to address it has many problems. But the most glaring parts of that discourse make distinctions between the deserving and undeserving poor, and the classification of homeless advocates as “bleeding hearts.” Local social media pages are filled with posts by amateur gumshoe detectives. Armed with smartphones and snacks, they spend evenings staked out in their vehicles on dark corners tracking and filming the movements of homeless encampments, serial panhandlers and suspected bike thieves. Some do their part by holding up signs reminding motorists to “give a hand up, not a hand out”— ironically on the same street corner where the San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice demonstrators had maintained their vigil against the Iraq war for all those years. Others, like David Gonzales and Nikki Fabela, feed the hungry and provide them with needed supplies in Wilmington. The Dispatcher, the ILWU newspaper, recently published a profile on Gonzales, a guard in ILWU Local 26, and his group’s work feeding and connecting homeless people to resources. I was aware of his effort when Random Lengths published “Here Comes Rolling Thunder” this past June. The profile featured Nora Vela and the San Pedro-based Helping the Homeless in Need. Though the groups initially shared the same name, their efforts were independently grown. Gonzales wasn’t happy that the tiny homes controversy this past July took over the debate on how to address homelessness in the Harbor Area. He noted that after a Sept. 3 homeless forum at the Warner Grand Theatre, homeless people became targets of increased sweeps with physical attacks and a general free-for- all vilification of the homeless on social media. Many homeless people at their regular haunts were cleared out, including some at a longstanding encampment near the Longshore Dispatch Hall in Wilmington. “It’s my opinion that the forum put the entire Harbor Area homeless population into exile,” Gonzales O Obama Says ‘No’ to Keystone XL Environmentalists Win Key Battle By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor On Nov. 6, six years after it was assumed to be a “done deal,” President Barack Obama’s administration canceled the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would have tapped into the Athabasca Oil Sands of Canada, generating 181 million metric tons of carbon emissions every year—more than 37.7 million cars or 51 coal plants. The pipeline had been called a “fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.” It now appears possible that bomb may never go off, thanks largely to an unprecedented grassroots campaign, which 350.org helped coordinate, publicize and support. “The issue of Keystone was kind of a no-brainer,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow at the Democrat’s presidential forum later that day. “It never made sense to me from day one, as to why you would extract and transport some of the dirtiest fuel on this planet…. So I said ‘no’ to the Keystone on day one. I said ‘yes’ [See Keystone, page 8] [See Heart, page 4] Port Truckers Vow to Keep the Pressure On p. 3 Community Artists Respond to Aftermath of SP Fire p. 3 Angels Gate Cultural Center Celebrates 30th Anniversary p. 13 S P E C I A L SEC TI O N P U L L - O U T B A N Q U E T G U I D E P 9 Volunteers help David Gonzales (second to right) and his Andrew give a helping hand to homeless people in Wilmington. Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov.

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Heart of the Harbor: a Wilmington Grassroots group tackles homelessness

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Page 1: Random Lengths Newspaper - 11-12-15

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The Local Publication You Actually Read Novem

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ur present discourse on homelessness and how to address it has many problems. But the most glaring parts of that discourse make distinctions between the deserving and

undeserving poor, and the classification of homeless advocates as “bleeding hearts.”

Local social media pages are filled with posts by amateur gumshoe detectives. Armed with smartphones and snacks, they spend evenings staked out in their vehicles on dark corners tracking and filming the movements of homeless encampments, serial panhandlers and suspected bike thieves.

Some do their part by holding up signs reminding motorists to “give a hand up, not a hand out”—ironically on the same street corner where the San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice demonstrators had maintained their vigil against the Iraq war for all those years.

Others, like David Gonzales and Nikki Fabela, feed the hungry and provide them with needed supplies in Wilmington.

The Dispatcher, the ILWU newspaper, recently

published a profile on Gonzales, a guard in ILWU Local 26, and his group’s work feeding and connecting homeless people to resources.

I was aware of his effort when Random Lengths published “Here Comes Rolling Thunder” this past June. The profile featured Nora Vela and the San Pedro-based Helping the Homeless in Need. Though the groups initially shared the same name, their efforts were independently grown.

Gonzales wasn’t happy that the tiny homes controversy this past July took over the debate on how to address homelessness in the Harbor Area. He noted that after a Sept. 3 homeless forum at the Warner Grand Theatre, homeless people became targets of increased sweeps with physical attacks and a general free-for-all vilification of the homeless on social media. Many homeless people at their regular haunts were cleared out, including some at a longstanding encampment near the Longshore Dispatch Hall in Wilmington.

“It’s my opinion that the forum put the entire Harbor Area homeless population into exile,” Gonzales

OObama Says ‘No’ to Keystone XLEnvironmentalists Win Key BattleBy Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

On Nov. 6, six years after it was assumed to be a “done deal,” President Barack Obama’s administration canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline would have tapped into the Athabasca Oil Sands of Canada, generating 181 million metric tons of carbon emissions every year—more than 37.7 million cars or 51 coal plants. The pipeline had been called a “fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.” It now appears possible that bomb may never go off, thanks largely to an unprecedented grassroots campaign, which 350.org helped coordinate, publicize and support.

“The issue of Keystone was kind of a no-brainer,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow at the Democrat’s presidential forum later that day. “It never made sense to me from day one, as to why you would extract and transport some of the dirtiest fuel on this planet…. So I said ‘no’ to the Keystone on day one. I said ‘yes’

[See Keystone, page 8][See Heart, page 4]

Port Truckers Vow to Keep the Pressure On p. 3Community Artists Respond to Aftermath of SP Fire p. 3Angels Gate Cultural Center Celebrates 30th Anniversary p. 13

SPECIAL SECTION

PuLL-OuT BANquET GuIdE P 9

Volunteers help David Gonzales (second to right) and his Andrew give a helping hand to homeless people in Wilmington. Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov.

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Community Announcements:

Harbor AreaRegional El Niño Town Hall Meetings

Los Angeles is sponsoring town hall meetings that will review ways to prepare for El Niño. Officials will talk about the risks and answer questions related to winter weather.Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 12Cost: FreeDetails: (213) 484-4800Venue: Peck Park Recreational Center, 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro Last CERT Training of the Year

The CERT program educates people about disaster preparedness and trains them in basic disaster response skills such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization and disaster medical operation. The CERT training is 24 hours. Time: 6 to 10 p.m. Nov. 13, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 14 and 15.Cost: FreeDetails: (562) 570 - 2525; [email protected] Rain Harvesting Workshop

Get ready for El Niño and start capturing your rainwater runoff with a rain barrel. Rain barrels are $85 each, but SoCalWaterSmart offers a rebate of $75 per barrel for up to four barrels.

Each rain barrel is—• designed with a brass spigot for garden hose

attachment; • has a screen to prevent mosquitoes from accessing water; • has a side brass overflow; • is made from reused food grade plasticAvailable in black or terra cotta (subject to availability)

Time: 9 to 11 a.m. Nov. 14Cost: $75 to $85Details: www.rainbarrelsintl.comVenue: Scherer Park Community Room, 4646 Pasadena Ave., Long Beach Diabetes Walk-a-Thon

St. Mary Medical Center’s annual Juanita McNealy Diabetes Walk-a-Thon supporting the Center Outpatient Diabetes Education Program will take place Nov. 14.

The funds raised will be used to continue providing low-cost services to individuals diagnosed with diabetes.Time: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Nov. 14Details: (562) 491-4840Venue: Cabrillo High School, 2001 Santa Fe Ave., Long Beach

Eddie’s Tire City and the Heart of the Harbor Food Drive

Eddie’s Tire City has been sponsoring the drive-up food donation since Nov. 1. The drive will continue until Nov. 15. The Wilmington tire shop is requesting that all food donations for providing a Thanksgiving meal to the less fortunate be brought to Eddie’s Tire City during business hours, 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.Venue: 825 W. Pacific Coast Hwy., Wilmington

Social Security ForumSylvia Moore, Southern California Common

Cause organizer, will speak about Common Cause’s mission and legislative priorities at the November Palos Verdes Democratic Club meeting. Then Ernie Powell, former AARP senior manager of advocacy and current policy/political issues consultant, will speak on strategies to protect and expand social security.Time: 2:30 p.m., Nov. 15 Cost: FreeVenue: Palos Verdes Peninsula Center Library Community Room, 701 Silver Spur Road, Rolling Hills Estates

Nightly Road ClosuresAs construction continues for the Gerald

Desmond Bridge Replacement Project, temporary nightly and weekend road closures are necessary in the vicinity of Pico Avenue and Ocean Boulevard to facilitate installation of falsework over Pico Avenue and the on-ramp to westbound Ocean Avenue.

The Pico on-ramp to westbound Ocean will be closed nightly from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Nov. 16 through 20.

The Pico underpass at Ocean and the westbound Ocean off-ramp to Pico will be closed nightly from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Friday, Nov. 20 through 25.

These closures will affect Port of Long Beach traffic headed to Terminal Island (Piers S-T) and San Pedro, and port traffic that uses Pico Avenue to travel between Piers A-D and Piers E-J.

Sisterhood Handbags for HopeThe Sisterhood Ministry of Mt. Sinai Baptist

Church has launched an effort to collect new or gently used handbags that will be filled with essential toiletry items, a wallet and a handwritten note of encouragement for women struggling with domestic abuse.

The handbags will be donated to various women’s shelters that help women in transition, in need and those escaping domestic violence situations. Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays Nov. 1 through Dec. 12Details: (310) 986-7718; http://mtsinaisanpedro.orgVenue: San Pedro Chamber of Commerce, 390 W. 7th St., San Pedro

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Committed to Independent Journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for More Than 30 Years

Businesses Destroyed in SP Fire, Artists Respond by Beautifying ProjectSAN PEDRO—Six businesses were destroyed after a fire erupted on Nov. 2 at about 4 a.m.

It took 146 firefighters more than two hours to contain the flames off the 500 block of Pacific Avenue and 6th Street, reported Los Angeles Fire Department officials. Fire crews found smoke billowing from a one-story row of businesses.

A fire captain was hospitalized and treated for exertion.

Los Angeles fire officials identified a shop that rented out cannabis harvesting equipment as the fire’s point of origin. The fire burned through the businesses through a continguous, connected attic space that ultimately collapsed the roof.

On Nov. 5, a group of artists responded by volunteering their services and creating a temporary mural painting on the corner of 6th Street and Pacific Avenue on boarded-up buildings impacted by the fire.

That same afternoon the San Pedro Waterfront Arts District Tactical Urbanism Committee met.

“They were really charged up,” said Linda Grimes, who heads the Arts District. “But, these kids are really hungry and they want to make a splash in the community.”

Ricky Hernandez and his business partner, Ben Avila, offered to organize a crew.

“I contacted all the artists I know,” Hernandez, 23, said. “We wanted to give back to the community.” There were more than 20 artists who showed up.

The artwork’s theme was “Phoenix Rising.”Materials were purchased through Hernandez’

business, Modern Muralists.“We feel a phoenix rising from the ashes is a

sign of rebirth,” Hernandez said.Though the work is a temporary display

pending repairs to the businesses, artists see it as an opportunity.

“It was an exercise for us and a demonstration for others,” Hernandez said.

District artists want to continue doing more murals in the corridor, and hopefully receive payment for their work.

From Oct. 26 through 30, port truckers

engaged in their eighth unfair labor practices strike in the past two years. But on the last day, José Portillo, who works for Intermodal Bridge Transport, told the Los Angeles City Council, “If it takes 1,000 strikes, that’s what we’re going to do, because we’ve got to change this industry and we’ve got to stop wage theft.”

Portillo was testifying for a resolution of support, co-authored by Councilman Joe Buscaino, which was subsequently passed 11-0.

That same day, 14 new drivers filed “wage and hour” claims valued at $3.5 million with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, and an additional 19 DLSE claims were in the process of being completed and filed, according to a Teamster press release—a clear signal that the strike’s end did not signal any letup in the struggle. So far, 705 claims have been filed, with 155 orders, decisions or awards. These totaled $12 million in back wages and penalties, with estimated liability for the remaining claims totaling more than $60 million.

It was the first strike joined by drivers from Gold Point Transportation. It expanded to include warehouse workers from Cal Cartage, who suffer from similar sorts of unfair labor

practices. Drivers from Pacific 9 Transportation remain out on strike.

“It’s pretty incredible that these drivers have struck eight times in the last two years, and that the Pac 9 drivers remain on strike and it’s become very clear that this isn’t going away anytime soon,” Teamsters spokeswoman Barbara Maynard said. “José Portillo said ‘I will strike 1,000 times if that’s what it takes.’ That takes incredible bravery and strength to say that…. So the LA City Council heard that, loud and clear. They were very, very supportive and pledged to

help, and meetings are being set up, and those things are moving forward.”

Other drivers spoke out forcefully as well, before the council voted.

“There have been weeks when I worked and made $2,200 gross and, after all the deductions, all I made to take home was $200 for the week,” said Humberto Canales, a striking XPO driver. “We’ve got to stop what’s going on.”

His testimony was supported by payment records from different companies submitted to

1,000 Strikes: Port Trucker Says They’re Not About to StopBy Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor

[See Strike, page 5]

Modern Muralist Ricky Hernandez and volunteers painted murals to beautify the buildings that caught on fire on Nov. 2 in San Pedro. Photo by Betty Guevara

Picketers from the Port Truckers strike press conference in October 2015. Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov

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said. It’s like now all of a sudden the thing to do is to bash the homeless people. They were actually throwing rocks at the little houses. The tiny houses were never a solution. It was just an attempt to give comfort. I think it could have been better located.

“We got more homeless people in Wilmington than San Pedro. In Wilmington, we have more people that have struggled more. We’re not called the Heart of the Harbor for nothing. This is a working class town—a longshore community… We ain’t no candy-ass city. We’re about real life.”

Heart of the Harbor/Helping Those in Need

When it comes to the Gonzales’ close-knit group Helping Those in Need, he’d rather the attention not focus on himself but on the people who make it happen every week. In particular, he credits Fabela in helping realize his ambition to “pay it forward,” a phrase he got from a Haley Joel Osment film.

One day he posted a bit of food porn on Facebook, a shrimp burrito he bought for lunch.

The post received a lot of comments and likes from Facebook friends until he posted the comment, “I’m going to start a soup kitchen and feed the whole east side from my front yard.” He was only joking at first, but the idea struck a chord and stayed with him.

For him, that idea turned into a question: Can I really feed some people?

Gonzales likes to barbecue, so he bought two boxes of hamburger patties from Smart&Final—a total of 80 patties for 40 people. Fabela was the first person he enlisted to help.

Being a self-professed social media addict, he put out a challenge to Wilmington on Facebook to show up for his barbecue.

“The east side seems like the stepchild of Wilmington,” Gonzales said. “The west side has the Boys and Girls Club, the teen center, the YMCA, YWCA…”

He said the response was overwhelming. Through Facebook, he found many people from similar walks of life as his own coming out to help and others who were already feeding the

homeless on their own.“It’s a beautiful thing,” Gonzales said. The

whole [thing] just came together. We want to help people in the street in need. We don’t just help the homeless individuals.”

The group gives away food and water to families living in single-room occupancy hotels—families who are less than a step from being homeless.

“The people in those hotels…they are on hotel vouchers,” Gonzales said. “They are in an empty room with nothing to eat. So we are concerned about them. There are families in there with children.”

Heart of the Harbor works through existing aid agencies and men’s and women’s shelters in Wilmington and San Pedro.

“We use the resources that not too many people are aware of,” he said. “Our desire and main goal is to transition people off the street. We’re not doing this to make people comfortable on the street. We’re doing this to build relationships and give hope. We know everybody’s name and everybody knows us by name.”

Victory Outreach ministry is among the groups with which he’s built relationships.

Gonzales says the group has been successful in getting people off the street over the past two months.

“We just want to offer a little bit of love, comfort and hope, and at the same time encourage them to get off the street and let them know of the resources available,” he said. “Sure, we may not have enough and there may be a shortage of shelters, but there are resources you can go to for emergency relief.”

A Bleeding HeartAt 46 years old, Gonzales is a single dad of

seven children. He’s critical of President Barack Obama’s administration, mostly because he believes the president is trying to take away our Second Amendment rights.

He admires some of the positions of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump—particularly Trump’s emphasis on making “America great again.”

He’s a firm supporter of the military and draws inspiration from two uncles who are Vietnam War veterans. He says that if he had to do it differently, he would have joined the

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Heart of the Harbor Helps

[See Heart, page 5]

[Heart, from page 1]

Heart of the Harbor volunteers gathered clothes to give to the homeless people in Wilmington this past October. Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov.

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the council, showing that such treatment is common. One weekly statement showed a net loss of $617.06 for a week in July 2014.

“They are stealing money from us,” said Isabel Samayola, another IBT striker. “We really, really need your help.”

“I would like to thank the city council for [its] support,” Pac 9 striker Amador Rojas said. “This gives us strength to continue fighting so we get a better future.”

“Thank you for helping expose the abuse that these workers have to endure each and every day in the Port of LA,” Teamsters Vice President Ron Herrera said.

“The workers [who] came before us today are responsible for moving our goods,” Buscaino said, urging support for the resolution. “They make up the economic engine that has made our port complex what it is.”

The resolution stated that the council, “reiterates its support for all the workers at the Port of Los Angeles, and calls on all companies who conduct business at the Port of Los Angeles to comply with federal and state employment and labor laws and provide them with the same wage and benefits protections afforded to all employees in our city.”

The resolution was co-authored by Councilman Bob Blumenfield and Council President Herb Wesson, with Councilwoman

Nury Martinez seconding. But two other council members delivered perhaps the most moving council testimony of the day.

“I rise as the son of a Teamster and as the brother of a Teamster,” said Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, triggering a round of spontaneous applause. “I want to reiterate my support. This is a basic request that all companies at the Port of Los Angeles comply with state and federal labor laws. It’s that simple. Our workers, our men and women in the Teamsters, and our workers at the Port of Los Angeles deserve that basic right, and their families need these benefits that they fight so hard for every day and that they work for every day. I personally know what that is like, growing up, as I said, as the son of a Teamster, so I urge a unanimous ‘aye’ vote on this important resolution. Let’s support our workers at the port.”

Councilman Paul Koretz recalled perhaps the earliest hearing on the issue, which he convened a decade ago as chairman of the Labor and Employment Committee in the state Assembly. Among those in attendance was Rep. Janice Hahn, then a member of the LA City Council.

“We were talking about wage theft, and we were talking about misclassification; we were talking about working conditions,” Koretz recalled. “The amazing thing is that this is still an issue, and we still haven’t found a way to resolve it…. I want to let you know that I, for one, am 100 percent behind you, as I always have been and I will be until we find a way to get this done. I believe I am speaking for most, if not all,

of my colleagues in saying that as well. We are behind you. We want to get the word out. And we want to solve this problem.”

And the message is getting through to the industry as well.

“We’re hearing rumblings out there on the grapevine that people recognize clearly that change is coming—and, by ‘people,’ I mean the industry recognizes changes coming,” spokeswoman Barbara Maynard said. “It’s very, very clear that the fight really is on, and it’s not just on at of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, but it’s on across America. These strikes are not going to stop. The number of wage and hour claims filed with the California division of labor standards enforcement is growing every single week.”

And it’s not just a matter of port truckers and warehouse workers, she said.

“On Tuesday [Nov. 10], there’s a national day of action for low-wage workers, there’s

military. His arms are covered with tattoos, a reminder that he’s a former gang member. He is also a recovering drug addict, he says.

Gonzales recalled abuse from his stepfather from the age of 3. At 13, Gonzales fought back. He recounted calling his mom at work and telling her what happened. She told him to never come home again. As a result, he bounced around from couch to couch of the few friends he had at the time, and stayed with an aunt for a short period. But he was just another mouth to feed to the adults around him. Banning Park in Wilmington became the place where he slept.

Gonzales described himself as the “black sheep” of the family. He said he doesn’t know his biological father’s side of the family. He tried connecting with him briefly as a teenager, but discovered he was married and had another family.

“He took me in for a minute,” Gonzales said of his father. “But he had a wife. Me and her clashed….With me being so full of anger that only lasted for a couple of days. “

He remembers trying to find food.“I ate from garbage cans at the Taco Bell

on Anaheim, because I was too proud or embarrassed to beg or ask for change,” Gonzales said. “I would wait until the night time and [I’d] go dumpster diving. That was before I started selling dope when I was 16. [With the drug money], I was able to afford a motel room every now and again.”

Gonzales explained he tried getting help from family, but by then, he was struggling with drug addiction. Then he got a job as a security guard at the age of 18. His first post as a security guard was at Pick-Your-Part in Wilmington.

“I was like a lot of people on the street—jack of all trades but master of none,” he said. “But there was always security. So that was always my fall back.”

Labor and LoveIn September 1999, Gonzales was hired by

Local 26 as an emergency watchman. It was there that the seeds that would become Heart of the Harbor/Helping Those in Need were planted.

“I knew what the union was from a very early age,” Gonzales said. “I didn’t know the details of how it worked, but I knew that it was something people from here wanted to be. Kind of like back East with the coal mines where people from my background would do. It was the job of the community. I knew it was a thing of pride.”

Gonzales said that when he started working at the Hanjin Terminal as a guard, he began opening up to people—a sharp contrast to his tendency to view strangers with suspicion.

One of the first people he opened up to at the terminal was Mark Reyes, one of the shop’s stewards.

“We’re guards, so there’s nothing but time to talk and get to know each other,” Gonzales explained. “For some reason Mark just helped me out. He was a steward who helped me with some of the union issues I had. We just developed a

bond. He liked heavy metal, I liked heavy metal. We started going to concerts.”

When Gonzales, third youngest child Emory was born she had a heart defect. Reyes was there for Gonzales and his family.

“She had two holes in the upper chambers of her heart, causing her heart to beat extra fast. She needed major open heart surgery to correct the defect.

“He showed me genuine concern. The walk of life I came from, nobody does anything for free unless they have a hidden agenda.”

Gonzales describes Reyes as a bigger-than- life character calling for him through the hospital, and who literally held Gonzales and his daughter up before she went into surgery.

But Reyes wasn’t the only one, Gonzales recalls, looking back to the period after he separated from his wife and moved into a new place. He didn’t have any money to give his children a good Christmas.

A colleague at Hanjin Terminal, Christina

Heart

Truckers Strike

[Heart, from page 4]

[Strike, from page 3]

[See Truckers, page 17]

Leblanc, through casual conversation with him learned of Gonzales’ situation.

Without his knowledge, Leblanc collected donations from all the guards at all the nearby terminals.

“It was a better Christmas than I ever could have ever provided for them,” Gonzales said. Gonzales counts Leblanc as one of those that encouraged him and pointed him towards recovery from his drug addiction. The experience inspired him to do for others what was done for him. Heart of the Harbor volunteers serve food to the homeless and those in need

this past October. Photo by Slobodan Dimitrov.

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“A newspaper is not just for reporting the news as it is, but to make people mad enough to do some-

thing about it.”

Columnists/ReportersLyn Jensen Carson ReporterB. Noel Barr Music DudeLori Lynn Hirsch-Stokoe Food WriterGina Ruccione Restaurant Reviewer Andrea Serna Arts WriterMelina Paris Culture Writer

Publisher/Executive EditorJames Preston [email protected]. Publisher/Production CoordinatorSuzanne MatsumiyaManaging EditorTerelle [email protected]

Senior EditorPaul RosenbergAssistant EditorZamná Á[email protected]

Calendar [email protected] Jerricks, Phillip Cooke, Tommy Kishimoto, Slobodan Dimitrov, Betty Guevara

Contributors Noramae Munster, David Weaver

Design/ ProductionSuzanne Matsumiya, Ashley K. Wright

Advertising RepresentativesDavid [email protected] Intern Arlo Tinsman-Kongshaug

Display advertising (310) 519-1442Classifieds (310) 519-1016www.randomlengthsnews.com

—Mark TwainVol. XXXVI : No. 23

Published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, RPV, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson and Long Beach. Distributed at

over 350 locations throughout the Harbor Area.

CartoonistsAnn Cleaves, Andy Singer, Matt Wuerker

Random Lengths News editorial office is located at 1300 S. Pacific Ave., San Pedro, CA 90731, (310) 519-1016. Address correspondence regarding news items and news tips only to Random Lengths News, P.O. Box 731, San Pedro, CA 90733-0731, or email to editor @randomlengthsnews.com.Send Letters to the Editor or requests for subscription information to james @randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor should be typewritten, must be signed, with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words. To submit advertising copy email [email protected] or [email protected] copies and back issues are available by mail for $3 per copy while supplies last. Subscriptions are available for $36 per year for 27 issues.Random Lengths News presents issues from an alternative perspective. We wel-come 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 to express those opinions. Random Lengths News is a member of Standard Rates and Data Reporting Services and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. (ISN #0891-6627). All contents Copyright 2015 Random Lengths News. All rights reserved.

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San Pedro streets are getting narrower—25th Street and Pacific Avenue, for example. The shift is part of a larger effort to slow us down. Speed bumps, narrow streets, zigzags, roundabouts have all been employed to create slower speeds and safer streets.

City planner Jeff Speck put it this way: “When lanes are built too wide, people are forced to walk farther across streets on which cars are moving too fast and bikes do not fit—and bad things happen.” The ideal lane width is 10 feet.

So why is Los Angeles’ 15th District Councilman Joe Buscaino leading the effort to widen safe, unique, historic, narrow, tree-lined Hamilton Street, just blocks from White Point Elementary School? Why has Buscaino’s office quietly approved a four-lane, 70-foot-wide, 1,000-foot-long drag strip through the heart of a residential neighborhood in a school zone? And why has Buscaino’s office fast-tracked this pet project, which greatly increases the likelihood that a child walking to school will be hit by a speeding car?

By enlarging Hamilton Street, Buscaino will direct traffic around his own wealthy neighborhood.

Upon inspection, you see that Hamilton Street runs parallel to Paseo Del Mar—the street that fell into the ocean a few years back. Strangely, the landslide that took out Paseo Del Mar has been an economic boon for those wealthy residents near the slide and in South Shores. No longer can motorists take the coast

down Paseo Del Mar and up Western—that route has been cut off, leaving a park-like enclave of traffic-less streets and soaring home values—where Buscaino lives.

By widening Hamilton Street, Buscaino creates a viable route around South Shores.Traffic will be redirected south, through a poorer residential neighborhood…and right through White Point Elementary’s traffic circle. With traffic thus diverted, the new, much wider and unsafe Hamilton Street becomes the de facto reason to never repair Paseo Del Mar, thus keeping things quiet and private for Buscaino and his neighbors.

Buscaino’s office denies the correlation, of course (though several staff members live in the South Shores enclave). James Dimon, president of Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, said, “I’m not going to lie to you…widening Hamilton Street has everything to do with Paseo Del Mar and redirecting traffic.”

As for residents near Hamilton Street, few were ever told about the street-widening project, and to this day know nothing of its true scale. Ryan Ferguson, Buscaino’s field deputy responsible for notifying residents of the project (he lives near the slide), informed maybe six in the immediate area in early 2015. When asked why he notified so few, he replied, “I only told those people I felt would be affected by the project.”

More disturbing yet, Buscaino’s office has given the project what can only be viewed as a

Councilman Joe Buscaino’s School-Zone Drag StripBy David Weaver, parent of a White Point Elementary School student

[See School Zone, page 7]

www.RandomLengthsNews.com

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The Local Publication You Actually Read Novem

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Send Letters to the Editor to: let-ters @randomlengthsnews.com. To be considered for publication, all Letters to the Editor must in-clude your name with address and phone number included (these will not be published, but are for verification only) and be kept to about 250 words.

RANDOMLetters

In Honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Death of Labor Organizer and IWW

Songwriter Joe Hill

Hail, the Picket Line(for Joe Hill)By Mark Lipman

Hail, the picket line,

the picket line,the picket line.

Hail, the picket line.Don’t you dare cross that.

It started back in the daysof industrial revolution,

when the working manhad to fight for wage and right.(Not too much has changed these days, and much less for the better.)

To stand together,

shoulder to shoulder,against the bosses’ henchman,simply to organize,to work together,to protect the interest of the laborer, against exploitation from the 1%.

The unions are what made this country strong.

They had to fight for every inchand fight they did,… for their sons and daughters … for the future.

Hail, the picket line,

the picket line,the picket line.

Hail, the picket line.Don’t you dare cross that.

Now comes the attack,cuts in pensions,the outsourcing of production,the advancement of technologythat makes the common worker obsolete,striking divisions betweenthose who can and cannot afford to eat.

The rights we take for granted,

fought for by our grandparents,are being whittled away,one by one,until the land of the freeseems like some daydream,fantasy land imaginationthis once great nationSOLD…to the highest bidder.

If we’re ever going to save her,

we need to rememberwhat it took for usto earn our rights to begin with … and hold the line.

Hail, the picket line,the picket line,the picket line.

Hail, the picket line.Don’t you dare cross that.

fraudulently low budget of $1.2 to $1.6 million—a figure that was approved without a complete set of construction drawings. As a contractor I estimate that the project will cost $3 to $5 million—money that should be used to repair Paseo Del Mar. There’s no way to know what the true costs will be.

But here is something we can know: One day a kid will have to cross Hamilton Street—a street too wide and too straight, a street where cars are driving too fast—and bad things will happen. And Councilman Buscaino, we will look back at your direct efforts to create this school-zone drag strip.

Yes, Hamilton Street can use some improvement. It needs to be 2 to 4 feet wider, with a sidewalk on the north side. This can be done while keeping it the unique and lovely and safe residential thoroughfare it is. Then we recommend you take the millions saved and perhaps help the homeless being dropped off in the district, clean up and repair the dirt alleys in San Pedro and Wilmington, and attend to the trash and graffiti and lack of police presence on our streets. In other words, Councilman Buscaino, serve the entire 15th District, not just your own backyard.

Fact: In 2012, more than one in every five children between the ages of 5 and 15 who were killed in traffic crashes were pedestrians.

School Zone[School Zone, from page 6]

Editor’s note: In the past week, Random Lengths News received a slew of letters to the editor from San Pedro High School students on stories published this past summer—stories ranging from RLn’s coverage of the community debate on homelessness, the potential dangers of Rancho LPG in the wake of the Tianjin explosion in China, to the piece regarding the 50th anniversary of the Watts Rebellion.

Reading through the letters, the students did an admirable job following their teacher’s instruction to read and critique stories in RLn that piqued their interest. The end result was more than 10,000 words from high school students engaging the most topical issues being discussed today. In the interest of space, we organized the letters thematically and chose to run the letters commenting on stories related to RLn’s coverage of homelessness in the Harbor Area first. Locals Vent About Homeless at Coastal SPNC Meeting

The article “Locals vent about homeless at Coastal SPNC meeting” had a civil and humanitarian tone. The purpose of the article was to explain the meeting. The SPNC had to hear the public’s opinions

regarding homelessness in San Pedro. The article contained many good ideas and purposes but I think the best one is the idea that bussing them elsewhere won’t solve their problems. It really highlighted which parts of the debate were controversial. It did not [contain] any unsupported or weak claims. I also did not notice any counter arguments that the author did not deal with.

It is a highly controversial topic that Ivan Adame supported well. The author’s style and language tell me that he is trying to convey the information of the issue to the public. I trust the author because he seems like he does not make biased or unsupported claims. This

piece does affect me emotionally. The part where they say that the homeless people are being bused around really affects me because it shows that people treat them inhumanely and just send them somewhere else so somebody else can take care of them. I think I still have a good interpretation of the argument even though I have strong emotions about the argument.

Julian Johnson

Here Comes Rolling Thunder

I am a resident of San Pedro, and I am concerned about the recent controversy concerning the homeless. I am disturbed by the perpetual apathy the government

of San Pedro has shown towards homelessness.

As the recent article by Nora Vela points out, the homeless “are exposed to many dangers including: illness, theft, and assault,” and face dehumanizing conditions. By treating the homeless with apathy, we are willingly letting people suffer, despite the fact that we can help them. This is why it is crucial that we help the homeless, such as with Nora Vela’s suggestion of “6-month shelter[s] with running water and toilets.”

Now, there are those who believe that the homeless do not deserve help, because the homeless got themselves into trouble, so it

[See Letters, page 19]

Community AlertEPA awards $50,000 to LAUSD to Empower Students to Conserve Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded an environmental education grant of $50,000 to the Los Angeles Unified School District to develop and implement curriculum focused on water sustainability in a changing climate. Five middle schools and five high schools—a total of 20 classrooms—will learn about water conservation, recycled water and storm water runoff management.

Students will learn the science behind water sustainability—such as water chemistry, biology and the significance of water through critical thinking. LAUSD has partnered with the Los Angeles Sanitation District, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the Metropolitan Water District on the project under the One Water LA educational initiative.

EPA’s Environmental Education Local Grants Program supports environmental education projects that increase the public’s awareness and provide them with the skills to take responsible actions to protect the environment. The EPA’s Pacific Southwest Regional Office received over 80 applications this year, and the LAUSD project is one of seven projects in the Pacific Southwest Region that will receive an environmental education grant.Details: Environmental Education Grants visit http://tinyurl.com/Enviro-edu-grants, and One Water LA” Educational Initiative visit http://www.lacitysan.org/onewater

Major Modernization Project Coming to San Pedro High School

On Nov. 13, Los Angeles Unified School District’s facilities division is hosting a community meeting at the San Pedro High School auditorium on upgrades to plumbing and electrical systems and more. The public can learn about and give input on the plan for San Pedro High School. The modernization may include some or all of the following:

• Removal of bungalows•Demolition and/or replacement of existing buildings • Retrofitting buildings (for earthquake safety)• Remodeling classrooms, cafeteria, library, etc. • Upgrades to athletic fields•Rehabilitation of historical buildingsImprovements to student drop-off zones and paths of travel

Time: 6p.m., Nov. 13.Venue: San Pedro High School Auditorium, 1001 W. 15th St., San Pedro

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800-831-9399 • www.mesothel.comThe Law Offices of Worthington & Caron, P.C.

273 W. 7th St., San Pedro, CA 90731

Since 1991 we have helped recover over $2.5 billion for our clients

Attorneys John Caron & Roger Worthington

Their work cost them their lives In the 1940s and ‘50s, workers came from all over the world to snatch up the good-paying jobs at the Harbor Area’s shipyards, factories and refineries. For many, the jobs afforded a way of life not previously experienced, allowing them to provide homes for their families and education and opportunities for their children.

Unfortunately, the cost for too many workers has been a diagnosis with asbestos cancer or mesothelioma from asbestos inhaled on the job decades earlier. Even more unfortunate is the number of family members who develop the illness from contact with asbestos brought home on the worker’s clothes, boots and skin.

The Law Office of Worthington & Caron, PC is standing by to help persons diagnosed with asbestos cancer. We can help you get quick access to the most effective medical treatments from the world’s top mesothelioma specialists. We can also help identify the companies responsible for your asbestos exposure and get you the compensa-tion you deserve.

Call us toll free at 800-831-9399 or visit our website at www.mesothel.com for a free consultation and evaluation of your claim.

to a tax on carbon, just the other day with some other senators... we are fighting for the future of this planet.” Hillary Clinton, whose State Department earlier gave qualified approval to the pipeline, has recently come out against it, reflecting deepening opposition in Democratic ranks.

Although waged in hundreds of communities across the United States and Canada, the campaign to stop Keystone was turbo charged by months of White House protests in 2011, which saw more than a thousand arrests for civil disobedience that

undercut that leadership,” said Obama, neatly underscoring what had become the focal point of his administration’s decision process.

With the major COP21 climate change conference coming up in Paris this December, this leadership signal could be pivotal in convincing others to cooperate, by ensuring them of the seriousness of America’s own commitment.

“The critical factor in my determination was this: moving forward with this project would significantly undermine our ability to continue leading the world in combating climate change,” Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement, explaining the State Department’s determination, which the president approved. “I am also convinced that public arguments for and against the pipeline have, to some extent, been overstated. Our analysis makes it clear that the Keystone XL pipeline would not be the economic driver it is heralded to be.”

August, and more than 10,000 protesters surrounding the White House in November, a year before the 2012 election.

“We just made history together,” said a victory announcement on the 350.org website. “Four years to the day after we surrounded the White House, President Obama has rejected the presidential permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline!

“This fight started with first nations in Canada where the tar sands are extracted, and spread to farmers, ranchers and tribal nations along the pipeline route,” the announcement went on to say. “Since then people from all walks of life have joined hands against Keystone, and the 830,000 barrels per day of destructive tar sands

oil it would have carried through the country to be burned.”

The Nov. 6 decision capped a week of intense speculation and renewed activity. On Monday, TransCanada—the company behind the pipeline—told the State Department it wanted to shelve the review process until Nebraska, a key state along the pipeline’s route, gave its approval. However, this was widely seen as a “Hail Mary,” trying to save the project from an increasingly likely denial from the Obama administration, in hopes that a Republican would replace him, and approve the project.

“They know that they can’t get approval out of the Obama administration, so they want to avoid the ignominy of actually being outright rejected,” 350.org founder Bill McKibben told Democracy Now!

There were immediate calls for the decision not to be put off.

The next day, White House officials said the decision would not be postponed, and speculation began

Hall Endorses Malauulu LONG BEACH—On Nov. 6, Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees candidate Vivian Malauulu announced that her campaign for the Board’s Area Two seat in next April’s municipal elections has secured a formal endorsement from local State Sen. Isadore Hall. Hall’s 35th State Senate District includes portions of Long Beach.

Last week, Malauulu announced that her campaign had obtained the support of State Assembly Education Committee Chairman Patrick O’Donnell.

Officials Propose Sobriety Center for Homeless PeopleSAN PEDRO—On Oct. 28, Councilman Joe Buscaino met with Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Ralph Terrazas and Dr. Mitchell H. Katz, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, who proposed a “sobriety center” for the chronically homeless.

Currently, the LAFD and the Los Angeles Police Department only have the option of the emergency room or jail when transporting chronically inebriated persons. Both of these current options are a huge drain on financial resources.

Terrazas said that 20 individuals account for 2,000 LAFD calls. Prior to his role in Los Angeles County, Katz was the director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health, where he successfully implemented a “sobriety center” program.

Hahn’s Amendments to Improve Highway Bill Pass CommitteeWashington, D.C.—On Oct. 22, members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure passed two of Rep. Janice Hahn’s amendments to improve the long-overdue highway bill.

Hahn’s first amendment will allow federal freight funding to go to roads connecting ports to major highways. The National Freight Network created by the Department of Transportation designates major roads and highways that goods movement depends on. Unfortunately, it fails to include “last mile” roads, which connect major highways to the ports and airports. Her amendment will allow those roads to receive some of the $750 million of annual dedicated freight funding.

Hahn’s second amendment will allow more young people to receive job training in the transportation industry. Hahn has recently met with LA Metro’s Executive Director Phil Washington about the ongoing problem of youth unemployment and the opportunities young people could have with transit programs around the country. Her amendment will make grants available for transportation job training programs for unemployed youth.

rising that a decision could come soon. On Nov. 5, in a related development, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced he had issued subpoenas to Exxon, in light of substantial new evidence that Exxon has known about climate change since the 1970s, and deliberately deceived the world, much as tobacco companies deceived the world about smoking and lung cancer. Then, on Nov. 6, the decision was announced.

McKibben commented on Obama’s decision and Schneiderman’s announcement at the New Yorker’s website.

“These moves don’t come out of the blue,” he said. “They result from three things. The first is a global movement that has multiplied many times in the past six years…. The second, related, cause is the relentless spread of a new logic about the planet—that we have five times as much carbon in our reserves as we can safely burn…. The smart money is heading elsewhere. Which brings us to the third cause. There is, now, an “elsewhere” to head. In the past six years, the price of a solar panel has fallen by 80 percent.”

“America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change, and frankly, approving this project would have

Only 35 permanent jobs would have been created by the project.

Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a leading Keystone opponent, responded to the questions “Why now?” and “Why no?” on MSNBC’s Up the next morning.

“‘Why now’ is to shore up credibility and continue building momentum on the way to Paris. I think there’s a fair amount of optimism that something significant is going to happen at COP21 and this is a good lead-in to it,” the White House stressed. “And ‘why now’ is completely obvious, the pipeline would have had very significant environmental consequences, not a silver bullet to end climate change, but a very important win.

“This is something the environmental community fought very hard for and so there’s a separate piece here, you know. The town of Gettysburg was not the most important strategic site in the Civil War, but it was where the armies clashed, and it mattered who won. And this is where the environmental movement from the grassroots up first really stood up to the fossil fuel industry and it’s important that we won.”

Keystone XL[Keystone from page 1]

President Barack Obama (center), Vice President Joe Biden (left) and Secretary of State John Kerry (right) announced the cancellation of the Keystone XL on Nov. 6. Photo from Pipeline project. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images.

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Season of Giving & Gathering

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The Alternative to Slaving over Thanksgiving Dinner

By Gina Ruccione, Restaurant & Cuisine Writer

The Whale & AleOne of San Pedro’s favorites, The Whale & Ale, will be open Thanksgiving Day from 1p.m. to 7p.m. and will be serving quite an extensive array of menu choices. Of course, there will be carved fresh roast turkey with veggies, mashed potatoes, house stuffing, country gravy and cranberry sauce, but for those of you who don’t like the traditional dinner, there is plenty to choose from. Expect to see beef Wellington, The Whale & Ale’s roast prime rib au jus, an 8 oz. choice filet mignon, roast rack of New Zealand lamb, shepherd’s pie, curry, glazed twice-roast ¼ duckling in Cumberland sauce, baked Scot-tish salmon, and Chilean sea bass. They also have vegetarian options. Also featured that evening and [as well the Thursday before] a very special wine: Beaujolais Nouveau, which is released from France once a year on the Wednesday be-fore Thanksgiving. The Whale & Ale does tend to get busy, so plan on making a reservation.

Details: (310) 832-0363Venue: 327 W 7th St. San Pedro

Ports O’ Call Restaurant

The Thanksgiving brunch and buffet dinner at Ports O’ Call Waterfront is another viable option for those of you who would like to keep the pots cold this year. A perennial winner of “South Bay’s Best” brunch, you can rest assured that the food and service are top notch. Expect to see roasted turkey, hand-carved to your liking, and dressed with all of the homespun trimmings. Additionally, the carvery will feature certified Angus prime rib and honey-baked ham. As always, the brunch centerpiece is the cold seafood bar. The Thanksgiving Day brunch includes free-flowing champagne as well as all of the popular breakfast items. The brunch services will begin at 11a.m., and conclude at 3p.m., at which time the breakfast items will be replaced with dinner entrees such as swordfish, chicken artichoke, beef Bourguignon and more. This holiday brunch and dinner is priced at $38 for adults. Reservations are highly recommended.

Details: (310) 833-3553Venue: 1200 Nagoya Way San Pedro

James RepublicFor those of you non-traditionalists, consider Thanksgiving rein-vented at James Republic in downtown Long Beach. James Re-public assimilates flavors and techniques from traditional Ameri-can cooking with well-known foreign components, giving you the best of both worlds. This past year James Republic offered a three-course menu including a spicy pumpkin soup or spinach salad, Mary’s organic stuffed turkey roulade and pumpkin pie for $45 per person. Of course, there are plenty of a la carte menu items like veal crepin-ette, or smaller plates like persimmon carpaccio or oxtail poutine. This year expect similar options and more. James Republic will be open from 2p.m. to 8p.m. Thanksgiving Day. For reservations see www.jamesrepublic.com.

Details: (562) 901 - 0235Venue: 500 E 1st St. Long Beach

Not interested in cooking this year? I get it. We all have moments where we would rather decompress and just let someone else take care of dinner. For those of you who plan on heading out for Thanksgiving Dinner, here’s what’s going on in the Harbor Area.

Ports O Call Restaurant The Whale & Ale James Republic

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Season of Giving & Gathering

Turkey Gravy: Gleaned from the Hip of

My Aunts in New OrleansIs there any part of the meal that strikes more terror into

the heart of the cook than the all important gravy? There are three simple components to a gravy: a thick-

ening agent, the “drippings” or at least a stock, and the sea-sonings. My tip focuses on the third, assuming the first two are under control.

What makes a gravy memorable is its consistency. For Thanksgiving turkey gravy, I have found two ways.

First, if you do not put your dressing inside the turkey, stuff the cavity of the bird with celery, onion, red and green bell peppers and carrots. When the bird is done, fetch the vegetables and add them to the start of your gravy. Using an immersion blender will render the gravy into smooth, velvety deliciousness, with a lovely sheen across the sur-face. The abundant flavor comes from the fact the vegeta-bles have cooked inside of the turkey for hours.

If you do stuff the turkey, roast in a pan that has enough space to place the vegetables around the turkey, to take in some of the flavor from the bird. The seasoning will take less time than the turkey, so either start with the vegetables in the pan and take them out after a couple of hours, or put them on the pan when the turkey is within two hours of be-ing done. They will blend in just as easily as when they are inside the turkey. However, do make sure they are entirely cooked. They should be complete mush.

For the full recipe, email [email protected] —Noramae Munster, Culinary Director at Ports O’Call Waterfront Dining.

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[See Angels Gate, page 14]

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Angels Gate Cultural Center at 30:Reconnecting Roots, Strengthening Neighborly Bonds

On Nov. 7, Angels Gate Cultural Center was the site for A Gathering of Angels: Studio Artists from 1985–2015, an ex-hibition of former and current Studio Artists to kick off the center’s 30th anniversary.

A Gathering of Angels includes the work of 16 alumni artists and 45 current studio artists. The three downstairs galleries will set the stage for a cacophonous gathering of bold and diverse artists representing every year of Angels Gate Cultural Center’s history. The work delivers messages of awakening, shining light on issues ranging from the local to the international.

Angels Gate Cultural Center itself serves as a source of inspiration. Oil paintings of stunning views of Catalina Is-land, a history of the adjacent Gaffey Street pool, and a post-card-style rendering of its landmark flag pole is proof of this inspiration.

The works chosen for display are strongly inspired by the park’s ocean views in varied materials and mediums. It’s ap-parent they were inspired by the formal and abstract potential of beach trash and port architecture. The cultural landscape and the diversity of San Pedro also play a prominent role in making connections between artists.

The show’s curator, Martabella Wasserman, said she took advantage of the unique opportunity of capturing a bit of the center’s history from the founding art colonists who were there at the very beginning.

Wasserman gave artists one simple parameter for the show: that the work fits in the limited space of 2 cubic feet.

“I always think it’s more fun to give an artist minimal [space] constraints rather than a conceptual constraint,” Was-serman said

Through curating this show, Wasserman said she enjoyed seeing how community, shared space and geography informed the themes that emerged as she worked with these artists from different periods of the center’s growth.

Executive Director Amy Eriksen, spent several years as Angels Gates’ director of education before she was elevated to interim executive director. She expressed a keen interest in returning the center to its roots after spending the past year pouring over old documents and talking to board members, and past and present studio artists.

Eriksen drew upon her experience as an alumnus of Idyll-wild Arts Academy, a prestigious pre-professional arts train-ing school with a comprehensive college preparatory.

“I spent many summers at Idyllwild Arts and was very lucky there was a camp there, and to have been able to walk with Dr. Max and Mrs. Beatrice Krone, who were the ones that started that space,” Eriksen said. “When I was in middle school, he’d walk with a walker down the walkway, and he

[See Angels Gate, page 14]

By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor

Angels Gate Cultural Center’s Curator of Community Engagement Martabelle Wasserman and (left) Executive Director Amy Eriksen speak about the center’s 30 years of history.

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would sit down and I would catch him and have him tell me a story.”

Eriksen, in many ways, took that same ap-proach at Angels Gate, talking with founding artist Muriel Olguin and her contemporaries, such as Sam Arno.

“The process of taking over a space for a new use is very important to me,” Eriksen said.

This past year, she was focused on putting together a board that understands that process. She has tasked the board with forming a new mission statement.

“[A mission statement that only says] Ex-perimenting, community art and culture never spoke to anybody,” Eriksen said. “It was just something that was there. It didn’t engage you and made you want to be here. That was the conversation we had with board and the com-munity.”

Eriksen noted that she and the board are en-gaging community partners at the park, which include Fort MacArthur, the Los Angeles Uni-fied School District, the Marine Exchange and, the Marine Mammal Center.

Historically, there hasn’t been much col-laboration between the stakeholders at Angels Gate Park since the property was transferred into public hands in 1980. In fact, the park was the site of open warfare between factions with differing visions about the future of the park. That is a significant reason why eight years after getting a 30-year lease, a workable mas-ter plan has been elusive. Eriksen says that in the past couple of years there’s been a shift in

thinking and in relationships. She suggests there’s a greater sense of collaboration at the park and the community in general.

“It’s not because of my tenure at all [that we are beginning to shift],” She said. “We were lucky enough that we already had a staff in place will-ing to start that shift.”

Eriksen said this took the harness off the board to talk to potential community partners and forge new friendships.

One of the ways the center has been forging those ties was through the popup galleries they would set up in downtown San Pedro on First Thursdays.

“We would have eight to 10 organizations here that we partner with on Saturday for Open Studios day,” Eriksen said. “They would have their information out. It’s a great way for them to talk to our membership list. That’s also a way for us to market to their people.”

A Gathering of Angels will be displayed until Jan. 23, 2016.

The gallery showing of Service and Other Stories: A Living History Project will continue on

display in Main Gallery I through January 2016.The exhibition highlights the memories of

Veterans of the U.S. armed forces featuring the work of Farrah Karapetian. Karapetian worked with Veterans Joe Deeble, Mike Flech, John Warhank and Justin Wilson to convey their per-sonal stories.

In the Main Gallery II the last iteration of a two-year curatorial initiative Getting Off the Ground: Contemporary Stories from an Ameri-can Community will be on view.

The work represents a wide range of ap-proaches to telling stories relevant to the local community. Artists include Kaleeka Bond, Ben Caldwell, Cherie Benner Davis, Corita Scott Kent, Delbar Shanbaz, Louis M Schimidt, and Michael Sterns. Visitors will be able to tell their own story through interactive art stations in the gallery.

The exhibition runs through Jan. 23, 2016. Time: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays and SundaysDetail s: (310) 519-0936; www.angelsgateart.orgVenue: Angels Gate Cultural Center 3601 S. Gaffey, San Pedro

Angels Gate: Strengthening Neighborly Bonds[Angels Gate, from page 13]

Boys & Girls Club-Honors the House Nick Trani Built

On Nov. 14, the Boys and Girls Club of San Pedro will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original “The House that Nick Trani and Our Community Built” by dedicating its new Dan-iel’s Field Sports Arena with a block party and classic car show.

The event will include free barbecue, live mu-sic, site tours, games and activities for youth. The Boys and Girls Club announcement served as a reminder at what Dustin Trani, J. Trani’s execu-tive chef, told Random Lengths this past Decem-ber. He revealed his plans to roll out the Majestic Café menu, a throwback to the restaurant’s roots when the first and second generation of Tranis focused mostly on reasonably priced beef stew with chili beans, and beef dip sandwiches.

In that story, Dustin Trani explained that back in the day, his grandfather and his grand-father’s brothers kept a large jar behind the bar where they collected money for the picnic all year long.

“At the end of the year, they would take all of the money that was thrown in and have it at the Bobby Sox field over there and have this huge picnic.” Bobby Sox field is near the Los Ange-les Police Department shooting range, just up the road from Daniel’s Field.

Dustin Trani hoped to relaunch the picnic in the summer of 2015. Perhaps this event could be the new starting point for re-launching the picnic.

An attendee enjoys the art at Angels Gate Cultural Center’s Open Studios on Nov. 7. Courtesy of Angels Gate Cultural Center

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[See Calendar, page 16]

Nov. 13Seatbelt, South River SlimSeatbelt welcomes South River Slim all the way from Canada to celebrate his birthday with a rockin’ show at Godmother’s.Time: 9 p.m.Cost: FreeDetails: http://tinyurl.com/South-River-SlimVenue: Godmothers Saloon 302 W. 7th St., San Pedro

Live Bands at SP BrewingRock band Day Traitors is performing on the same night as cover band, Me Bad.Time: 10 p.m. Cost: $3Details: www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 14Porterhouse Bob, Down to the BoneThe band has appeared throughout Cali-fornia, Nevada and Utah and has produced four CDs on Big Mojo Records.Time: 7:30 p.m. Cost: $20Details: (310) 519-1314; www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom, 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Ticket to Ride:A Live Tribute to the BeatlesAn exciting live musical journey through the best of The Beatles, from the early 1960s through the Sgt. Pepper era. Time: 6:30 p.m. Cost: $29 to $59Details: (310) 548-2493 www.grandvision.orgVenue: Warner Grand 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

MolodiThis high-energy percussive show fuses stepping, tap, poetry, humor and body per-cussion.Time: 8 p.m.Cost: $20 to $30Details: (310) 833-4813 www.grandvision.orgVenue: The Grand Annex 434 W. 6th St., San Pedro

SinPalabrasCheck out the band, SinPalabras at SP Brewing.Time: 10 p.m. Cost: $3Details: www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

The Winehouse ExperienceDenice Ramage Klaus of DRK Events, pres-ents The Winehouse Experience, featuring Mia Karter & the Hits.Time: 9 p.m. Cost: $20 to 40Details: (562) 239-3700 http://longbeach.harvelles.comVenue: Harvelles 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Nov. 15Carey Frank TrioLos Angeles-based pianist, composer and educator, Carey Frank’s debut album, Keep Smiling, displays his abilities as a musician and storyteller. This show will feature all songs from the album, new compositions and reworked songs from Claude Debussy to Bob Dylan.Time: 4 p.m. Cost: $20Details: (310) 519-1314 www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Nov. 17The Dirty Little SecretsThe Dirty Little Secrets is an underground comedy and burlesque for 21 and older with a two-drink minimum.Time: 8:30 p.m. Cost: $10Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.comVenue: Harvelle’s 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Nov. 19Something Hit, The Heiz, Franks & DeansPower pop-rock band Something Hit from San Pedro, The Heiz hail from a plethora of electro rock bands in Japan, and Franks and Deans from Las Vegas, will be performing. 18 years old or older with valid identification. Time: 7 p.m. Cost: $7Details: http://tinyurl.com/Alpine-MusicVenue: Alpine Village 833 Torrance Blvd., Torrance

Nov. 20Sean Lane & The Hellhounds Album Release Party Lane is a singer and songwriter, who plays solo-acoustic Delta-style blues and fronts a four-piece electric combo.Time: 8 p.m. Cost: $20Details: (310) 519-1314 www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Steady 45’sReggae band Steady 45 is performing. Time: 10 p.m. Cost: $3Details: www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 21Damjan Krajacic QuintetComposer and flutist Damjan Krajacic’s sound is a blend of styles.Time: 8 p.m.Cost: $20Details: (310) 519-1314 www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Tim Burton BurlesqueFrom the creator of SEDUCTION: Classic Burlesque Stripshow comes a hauntingly sexy show inspired by the films of director Tim Burton.Time: 9 p.m. Cost: $15 to $25Details: http://longbeach.harvelles.comVenue: Harvelle’s 201 E. Broadway, Long Beach

Repeat O’fendersRock band Repeat O’fenders are performing at SP Brewing.Time: 10 p.m. Cost: $3Details: www.sanpedrobrewing.comVenue: San Pedro Brewing 331 W. 6th St., San Pedro

Nov. 22Oceans of SandOceans of Sand is rooted in the original “Luxury Living Band.”Time: 8 p.m. Cost: $20Details: (310) 519-1314 www.alvasshowroom.com Venue: Alvas Showroom 1417 W. 8th St., San Pedro

Contemporary Crafts Market Supports Local Artists

The Contemporary Crafts Market, which across three decades has become one of the tra-ditional signals that the holiday season is upon us, will fill up the Pasadena Convention Center exhibit hall in Old Town Pasadena from Nov. 13 to 15.

Attendees will discover American-made products not easily found anywhere else. Ev-erything is hand-crafted by master artisans. The Contemporary Crafts Market features more than 200 artists with works for everyone’s budget.

Artistic, hand-crafted, American-made craft generates $30 billion a year in the United States. That is double the $14 billion first reported by Craft Organization Directors Association in 2001.

When CEO Roy Helms started this show, there was no craft show in Los Angeles. The American Craft Council recruited Helms from Hawaii to manage their craft show in New York. Helms soon realized he could do the same on the West Coast and that it would be just as easy for him to start a new show in Los Angeles.

Naysayers were the inspiration for Helms. People told him that it would never work and that Los Angeles people have no taste. Helms felt a responsibility to provide a new opportunity for the public to enjoy art they could understand.

“Paintings on the wall in a museum can be so mystifying, crafts are understandable,” Helms said. “People collect what they enjoy and under-stand. People need to hold it, look at it and as an added bonus, (at Contemporary Crafts Mar-ket) they get to talk to the artist who made the piece.”

Speaking of the artists, Contemporary Crafts Market boasts returning artists most every year since the show began. One of the original art-ists participating is South Bay’s local Marianne Hunter, who works with enamels, metals, stones and other materials. Hunter also happens to be on permanent exhibition at Los Angeles County Museum of Art, as well as the Smithsonian.

Hunter says she has spent her life creating, refining, expanding, studying and falling in love with the ideas and details of every piece she has made over her 48 years as an art-jeweler.

“I draw on nature, archeology and human culture for the stories [that] I tell in enamel,” Hunter said. “I collect a wealth of materials in-cluding antiques, opals, and a hundred varieties of cut stones.... Each piece is like no other, comes from my heart and is engraved with its own poem. People wear my work because it reflects something essential of themselves.”

The event fosters familial relationships among artists and attendees.

“It’s been interesting growing up with some of the artists at the show and with some of the people who come to it,” Hunter said. “I’ve seen many artists not only grow into adulthood but also grow as an artist.”

Hunter will show about 35 or 40 pieces this year. She makes no more than 20 pieces in a year because they are so intense. Hunter will also be showing collaborations with her husband, Wil-liam Hunter. He works in wood sculpture.

Then, there is architectural designer and woodworker, Michael Olshefski, of Primal Modern. In a world of mass production and duplicate designs everywhere, there are still creations that strike our intuitive senses. Olshefski’s custom furniture and sculptures do just that, bringing us into

nature with pieces that are simultaneously tran-quil and sensual.

With his deep consideration for earth’s eco-system, all of Olshefski’s pieces are made from reclaimed wood. Handcrafted from salvaged trees, steel, glass and leather, every luxury de-sign is one-of-a-kind. Olshefski also donates 5

percent of each sale to environmental causes.Although featured in design shows and mul-

tiple publications such as Dwell, Luxe and LA Weekly, Olshefski, is not after fame.

“The environment is in a precarious state,” Olshefski said. “Yet, it is this very environment that gives us everything we need to live and to be inspired. We turn to nature to renew and re-flect on our true purpose. Mine is to be an artist and woodworker. By creating furniture that cel-ebrates and appreciates nature, our spaces look better and we feel better. Each piece is personal and infused with a grounding message of hope, beauty and awareness.”

In June 2015, Olshefski won the People’s Choice Award at the 30th anniversary of the Contemporary Crafts Market.

Lois Sattler has been with the show since it began. Working with clay for many years, her unique talents have elevated clay into a spectacu-lar art form. Her well-collected handcrafted piec-es are both decorative and functional. She has developed a unique way of hand building por-celain. Each piece is one of a kind and has been represented in museums and galleries across the globe.

“I love the show because it’s been an oppor-tunity to showcase what I do in a highly profes-sional environment,” Sattler said. “Because of it, I, along with other artisans, have met people who would never know our work existed without the show. It’s an intimate, personal experience to make craft that brings beauty into the lives of others. Artists mirror the soul.”

For more than 20 years, Sattler has been teaching art to children. It’s her way of making sure art continues to the next generation. She says craft and art communicates in a language that is so important.

“I notice that when kids have challenges and when they dive into art, their focus and their

By Melina Paris, Contributor

[See Contemporary Crafts Market, page 16]

Architectural designer and woodworker Michael Olshefski

creates custom furniture and sculptures. Photo courtesey of Contemporary Crafts Market

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COMMUNITY Nov. 13

Maize Lecture and TastingJoin Griselda Suarez from the Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies Department at Cal State Long Beach, as she discusses the evolution of corn in Latin American culture from prehis-toric times to the present day. A small tasting is included. Space is limited to 30 people. RSVP is required.Time: 7 p.m. Cost: FreeDetails: (562) 437-1689 Venue: MOLAA 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach

Creation StationEnjoy hands-on craft activities for all ages.Time: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Fridays through SundaysCost: FreeDetails: (310) 732-1270 www.CRAFTEDPortLA.comVenue: CRAFTED at the Port of Los Angeles 112 E. 22nd St., San Pedro

At Tasteful AffairThe board of directors of the AIDS Food Store invite you to its 30th anniversary celebration, A Tasteful Affair.Time: 6:30 p.m. Cost: $59 to $106Details: www.eventbrite.com/d/ca--long-beach/a-tasteful-affair/?view=listVenue: Pacific Gallery Long Beach Convention Center, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach

Nov. 14Pet Turkey TrotGrab your pet and go for a walk at the Pet Tur-key Trot.Time: 9 to 11 .am. Venue: Wilmington Waterfront Park Neptune Ave. at C St., Wilmington

Farmers MarketGet local produce grown within 10 blocks of the market.Time: 10 a.m. Cost: FreeDetails: www.greengirlfarms.orgVenue: The Corner Store 1118 W. 37th St., San Pedro Fort Mac Military ShowEnjoy a military collectibles show and sale.Time: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost: FreeDetails: (310) 548-2631 www.FtMac.orgVenue: Fort MacArthur Museum 3601 S. Gaffey St., San Pedro Battleship Iowa Curator TourJoin Battleship Iowa’s curator Dave Way on this in-depth look at the ship. The tour includes Q-and-A session, souvenir photo and buffet lunch.Time: 11 a.m. Nov. 14Cost: FreeDetails: (877) 446-9261 www.PacificBattleship.comVenue: Battleship Iowa 250 S. Harbor Blvd., San Pedro

Nov. 15Patchwork Show Long BeachDear Handmade Life’s biannual makers fes-tival showcasing local emerging artists, craft-ers and designers alongside artisan food, DIY craft workshops, gourmet food trucks and in-die music. Free to attend and family friendly. Time:11 a.m to 5 p.m. Cost: FreeDetails: http://dearhandmad-elife.com/ patchwork-showVenue: Marine Stadium Park 5255 Paoli Way, Long Beach

Contra DanceCalifornia Dance Co-op presents contra danc-ing at People’s Place.Time: 3:30 to 7:30 p.m.Cost: $7 to $10Details: www.caldancecoop.org/cgi/coop-driver.cgiVenue: People’s Place San Pedro 365 W. 6th St., San Pedro

THEATERNov. 13

Stick FlyThe story of an annual trip to Martha’s Vineyard by a well-to-do African-American family con-fronts issues of race, class and deep family secrets. Time: 8 p.m., through Nov. 22 Cost: $10-$15 Details: (310) 243-3589 www4.csudh.edu/ theatre-arts/buy-ticketsVenue: Edison Studio Theatre CSUDH, 1000 E. Victoria St.,Carson

Nov. 14Acrobatic Theatre Storytelling, physical theatre, and acrobatics create a whimsical world inspired by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s story The Little Prince. Time: 7 p.m. Cost: $10 to $20 Details: flighttheplay.comVenue: Elevation Studios, 1900 E. 27th St., Signal Hill

Nov. 20The NutcrackerCome share in the magic and wonder of the classic story. Time: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sundays, through Nov. 29Cost: (310) 544-0403Details: $32Venue: Norris Theatre for the Performing Arts 27570 Norris Center Drive Rolling Hills Estates

Nov. 21Mr. TurnerThis film explores the last quarter-century of the great and eccentric British painter, J.M.W. Turner. An intense student of nature, Turner straps himself to a ship’s mast so that he can paint a snowstorm. Far ahead of his time, he was both celebrated and reviled in his day.Time: 8 p.m. Cost: To be announcedDetails: pvplc.orgVenue: Warner Grand Theatre 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro

ARTS Nov. 14

Sam Arno Retrospective: 1995 – 2015Arno was a founding member of Angels Gate Cultural Center and was an exhibiting curator at the Sixth Street Gallery. He creates abstract art, but has also created landscape and cos-mos paintings. Time: 6 to 9 p.m. through Dec. 18Cost: FreeDetails: (310) 429 0973Venue: SBC Studio at The Loft 401 S. Mesa St, 3rd Floor, San Pedro

difficulties disappear,” Sattler said. “Art is transformative and it heals. It is a magical process. No one knows why art makes things better … but art always does whether you are a kid or an adult. Art enhances your life in every way, every day.”

Other artworks you can discover at the Contemporary Craft Market include photography, jewelry, wind chimes, clothing, hand-loomed rugs, furniture, handmade shoes, scarves, hand-blown glass and decorative art.

Photos of some of the crafted arts available this year can be found at https://instagram.com/contemporarycraftsmarket

Cooking Tips and Tricks: How to Not Completly Screw

Up Thanksgiving DinnerBy Gina Ruccione, Cuisine Writer

The holiday season comes at the same time every year, but somehow it always seems to sneak up out of nowhere.

Stress ensues and often continues all the way to New Year’s Day. And in case you haven’t noticed, it’s here again.

This year Thanksgiving falls on Nov. 26, ex-actly two weeks from the morning this edition of Random Lengths hit the streets. That tends to set the tone for the rest of holiday parties leading up to the New Year, so let’s make sure we don’t get off to a rocky start. I did you all a favor. I talked to some of the best chefs in the Harbor Area and had them share some cooking tips and tricks for making Thanksgiving dinner run as smoothly as possible. You can thank me later.

Brine your turkeyYou need to brine your turkey. Period. End of

story. Regardless of if you prefer a wet brine or a dry brine, it needs to happen. Dustin Trani, the executive chef of J. Trani’s in San Pedro, says the trick is to never let it brine for longer than 24 hours. The point of brining a turkey is to cure the outside so that you keep the moisture and juices in the bird. If you do it too long, it breaks down the bird. If you don’t do it long enough, it’s like dipping the turkey in salt water. That does nothing. At the very minimum, brine it for eight hours, but again NEVER longer than 24 hours.

Let Your Bird RestDo not skip this part. The bird must rest af-

ter it gets out of the oven. Every chef I spoke to could not emphasize this enough. If you cut into the bird and you see all of that “wonderful juice” on the cutting board, there is a problem. That juice is no longer in your bird. Now it’s too late. Cook the bird according to the instructions and weight for your turkey. Aim for a center tem-perature of 145 degrees and then pull it out and let it rest until it comes up to 165 degrees. This is anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.

Don’t Overcomplicate AnythingFor some of you, this next tip might sound

blasphemous, but bear with me. If you have a tendency to dry out your turkey every year, Frank DeLoach, executive chef of Padre in Long Beach, suggests butchering your turkey before you cook it. I know, I struggled with that concept too, but let’s talk this one out. Thanksgiving is supposed to be enjoyable, the turkey included, so

I’m open to any suggestion that makes my life a little easier on that day. Deconstruct the bird as you would a chicken, as the dark meat and light meat cook best at varying lengths of time.

“Too many people overthink Thanksgiving. Just enjoy it,” he says.

Don’t Stuff Your BirdAs one chef said, “Don’t stuff your turkey.

That’s stupid—that’s how you kill people. It ac-tually creates bad bacteria and doesn’t cook out properly.”

Well, that’s enough to instill fear in the masses, but more importantly, every chef agreed unanimously. Other tips for making stuffing in-clude cutting your bread the day before; it dries out the bread so the stuffing holds more flavors. Also, make sure to cut the bread cubes into small pieces. Big chunks of bread are obviously not bite size and are harder to eat.

Canned Cranberry Sauce. Please Don’tCranberry sauce is not rocket science, folks.

At the very least you can make this from scratch. Executive Chef David MacLennan from James Republic likes to take fresh cranberries and pulse them in a food processor. Then add sugar, orange juice, a little zest and some Grand Marnier. Do this a couple of days in advance to let everything sit and marinate together. Throw that in the fridge and you’re done.

So, You Want to Make a Casserole?I like the idea of casseroles but I don’t do

well with soggy anything. If your idea of casse-role includes throwing green beans in a baking dish with a can of cream of mushroom soup, I worry—unless, of course, you’re into brown mush. Then be my guest. Here’s a better way to do a casserole. MacLennan suggests making all of the components in separate parts to ensure a better consistency. Blanch the green beans in salt water, shock them in ice water to stop them from cooking, drain and dry. Make a mushroom cream sauce separately. The crispy onion topping is also fairly easy to make. Cut up shallots, toss in buttermilk and then dredge them in flour. Fry them up in a little pan and you’re good to go. Just reheat all of the components, layer and serve.

Gina Ruccione has traveled all over Europe and Asia and has lived in almost every nook of Los Angeles County. You can visit her website at www.foodfashionfoolishfornication.com.

Contemporary Crafts Market [Contemporary Crafts Market, from page 15]

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The Local Publication You Actually Read Novem

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going to be activities in cities across America including here in Los Angeles, port truck drivers are participating with that, and as a part of that, they are filing claims on Tuesday at the Long Beach office of the DLS. They will also be out protesting with other low-wage workers demanding change.”

Maynard cited a wide range of deceptive labor practices in different industries that are increasingly recognized as illegal—misclassification of independent contractors, using staffing agencies to employ workers as “permatemps” with low wages, no benefits or worker protections, or using franchising, as with McDonald’s, to avoid dealing with workers altogether.

“What we’re finally starting to see,” Maynard said, is “workers across America have peeled the curtain back on the root causes of income inequality and the party’s on. The party’s on not just at their individual workplace, in the industries that they work in, but it’s also on because these workers are really demanding that the presidential candidates take ownership and demand change and offer solutions when they get elected to the White House.

“We’ve certainly seen that with the popularity of Bernie Sanders’ candidacy, with Hillary Clinton’s candidacy taking on some of these really big issues, that otherwise would have been the 800-pound gorilla sitting in the room that nobody mentioned,” Maynard said.

Locally, new action by Los Angeles County

is expected soon. “On Nov. 17, the County of Los Angeles, the Board of Supervisors is going to have a hearing on wage theft, and port drivers will be central to that hearing, and to that discussion, and the ultimate policies that come out of it,” Maynard said. “There are many port trucking companies that are in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles and those companies are misclassifying workers and stealing the workers wages. Having the County of Los Angeles weighing in on this is very, very important.”

In July, the supervisors—approving a measure drafted by Supervisor Hilda Solis, former Secretary of Labor in Obama’s first term—requested two reports dealing with the issue of wage theft to inform their actions.

The first report, was to be “an analysis of the county’s legal authority to regulate wage theft… and its authority to enforce municipal, state, and federal wage theft laws,” while the second called for a “recommendation for the most effective and efficient model by which the county can enforce wage theft regulations.”

“It’s important to provide enforcement tools against those [who] would take advantage of our employees,” said Solis, shortly before the vote.

“Wage theft is 20 percent higher in Los Angeles County than the national average,” Victor Narro, a project director of UCLA Davis Center, told the supervisors.

Port truckers, forced to shoulder the burden of paying for the ports’ clean truck revolution are even more hard-hit than most of Los Angeles’ wage theft victims and are clearly looking forward to the county taking action.

Truckers Strike Honoring Veteran in Long Beach

Members of the 26th United States Calvary Philippines Scouts marched in Long Beach’s Veteran’s Day Parade on Nov. 7. The parade route was along Atlantic Avenue between Harding and 56th Street. Photo by Diana Lejins.

[Truckers, from page 5]

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DBA/LEgAL FILIngSTheater Writers WantedRandom Lengths News is seeking freelance writers to cover theater and film.Candidates must have a strong command of the Eng-lish language, knowledge-able about literature and have experience in writing about theater. The successful candidate will be required to arrange his or her own trans-portation to cover stories.The successful candidate needs to a thorough knowl-edge of what’s happening in the theater and film scene, particularly in the harbor area. at least two years ex-perience writing for print or online media required.in addi-tion, the successful candidate should have:

The ability to write with flairExcellent organizational skillsStrong initiativeGreat time manage-ment skills

Working hours are flexible, but you will be encouraged to attend biweekly editorial meetings. send your resume and a few samples of your writing to Managing Editor Terelle Jerricks, at [email protected] or drop by the office at 1300 S. Pacific Ave. in San Pedro.

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NoTiCE oF iNTENT To adoPT iNiTial sTudY/NEGa-TiVE dEClaraTioN For ThE Pasha sTEVEdoriNG aNd TErMiNals lEasE rE-NEWAL PROJECT

The City of los angeles har-bor department (lahd) has prepared this initial study/Negative declaration (is/Nd) to address the environmental ef-fects of the Pasha stevedoring and Terminals lease renewal Project. The proposed Project includes a lease renewal for up to 30 years to allow continued long-term operations including the handling of primarily steel slab and breakbulk at their existing terminals in the Port of los angeles. Proposed opera-tions would be similar to cur-rent operations and inclusive of omni-terminal operations at Berths 174-181 and breakbulk operations at Berths 206-209 and Berths 153-155. There would not be any improvements or physical modifications to the existing three terminals as part of the proposed Project.

The is/Nd is being circulated for a period of 30 days for public review and comment. The public has an opportunity to provide written comments on the information contained within the is/Nd.

The 30-day review period will start on November 9, 2015, and end on december 8, 2015. a copy of the document is avail-able for public review on the Port of Los Angeles’ website at: http://www.portoflosangeles.org; the lahd Environmental Management division located at 222 West 6th street, san Pedro; the los angeles City library Central at 630 W. 5th street; the los angeles City library san Pedro Branch at 931 s. Gaffey street; and at the los angeles City library Wilmington Branch at 1300 North avalon.

Comments on the is/Nd should be submitted in writing prior to the end of the 30-day public review period and must be postmarked by december 8, 2015. Please submit written

comments to:

Christopher Cannon, directorCity of los angeles harbor departmentEnvironmental Management division425 s. Palos Verdes streetsan Pedro, Ca 90731

Written comments may also be sent via email to [email protected]. Comments sent via email should include the project title in the subject line and a valid mailing address in the email.

For additional information, please contact James Bahng with the lahd Environmental Management division at (310) 732-0363.sion at (310) 732-0363.

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the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET sEQ., Business and Professions code).original f i l ing: 10/01/2015, 1 0 / 1 5 / 2 0 1 5 , 1 0 / 2 9 / 2 0 1 5 , 11/12/2015

Fictitious Business Name statement

File No. 2015282704The following person is doing business as: Whitewall Nation-als, 2049 W. Pacific Coast Hwy, suite #223, lomita Ca 90717.. los angeles County. regis-tered owners: Walter Eddie Greenwood, 1220 W. Cruces st., Wilmington, Ca 90744. This Business is conducted by an individual. The date registrant started to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above: 10/29/2015. i declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. (a registrant who declares as true informa-tion which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime.) s/. Walter Eddie Greenwood, own-er. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of los angeles on Nov. 5, 2015. Notice--in ac-cordance with subdivision (a) of section 17920. A fictitious name statement generally expires at the end of five years from the date on which it was filed in the office of the county clerk, except as provided in subdivision (b) of section 17920. were to expires 40 days after any change in the facts set forth in the statement pursuant to section 17913 other than a change in the residence address of a registered owner. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before the expiration.The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see section 1411 ET sEQ., Business and Professions code).Original filing: 11/12/2015, 11/26/2015, 12/10/2015, 12/24/2015

Page 19: Random Lengths Newspaper - 11-12-15

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RANDOMLetters[Letters, from page 7]

should be their responsibility to help themselves. However, this obstinately ignores the fact that many people are homeless because of powers that were out of their control, and this also ignores the fact that many homeless people are incapable of helping themselves.

There are also financial benefits to helping the homeless. As Nora Vela points out, by building “shelters where proper services can [be[ administered, will be able to avoid expenses such as unnecessary ambulatory calls, visits to emergency rooms, hazmat cleanups, storage facilities for personal belongings and police trips to downtown Los Angeles jails.” In addition to avoiding these expenses, through helping the homeless we can also increase the number of employed in San Pedro.

Homelessness has become too big of an issue to ignore, and it is crucial that we deal with the problem now. After all, we have the responsibility to help the homeless

not only for their sake, but for the entire community’s sake as well.

Franc Guzman

Venting at Coastal SPNC Meeting

As a San Pedro resident I always see homeless people walking the streets begging for money, food and searching for shelter. As time passes I find it hard to believe that locals have barely made an effort to help the homeless. They see the same faces every day, each day they deny giving them some change, and yet they do nothing to help. Instead we call the cops on them for loitering, even though they will always return because it is their form of shelter. The reality is that they have nowhere else to go. If we were to create villages for the homeless we would be providing for those in need. It not only benefits the homeless, but the community as well. First of all it provides shelter for the homeless. They will no longer have to worry about not having a place to sleep,

especially when there is bad weather, and they will always have a place to go. The community will also see a decrease in panhandling, and cleaner streets, which will improve our image as a city. It is said that many homeless people are being bused to San Pedro because other cities don’t want to deal with them. If this were true we would be confronting the problem instead of running from it like other cities. It is a large cost, but it would be worth it. A couple cities like Olympia, Wash. and Ithaca, N.Y. have already gone through with a similar action and are making an impact on those who live in the villages. Even if our gesture isn’t as big as making these villages, we could do something to start this action. This would keep the topic open instead of it being ignored. All in all, I believe that we should at least support the idea because they are humans just like you and I, so we should acknowledge them.

Crystal Cruz

Read more letters from San Pedro High School students at www.randomlengthsnews.com

Page 20: Random Lengths Newspaper - 11-12-15

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In 2013, the Port of Long Beach awarded about $2 million in seed money to help test the Advanced Maritime Emissions Control System, or AMECS.

With the California Air Resources Board’s approval, AMECS can now be used as an approved alterna-tive technology to shore power reducing danger-ous emissions while at berth or at anchor.

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