October 2008 Archives
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Get Involved - Facilitate, Video and Bike the Vote
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 30, 2008
A Republican Against Prop 8
By Web Team
October 30, 2008
We sat down to talk to Steve Soboroff, real estate developer and 2001 Republican candidate for mayor of Los Angeles, about his opposition to Proposition 8. Suboroff is a member of Republicans Against 8, and also opposed Proposition 22 in 2000, which banned gay marriages in California until it was struck down by the California Supreme Court on May 15, 2008.
A Blog on My Marriage
By Rabbi Denise L. Eger
October 30, 2008
Rabbi Denise L. Eger is the founding Rabbi of Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood, CA. She is currently Vice President of the Board of Rabbis of Southern California and busy marrying couples before election day. In this blog post, Rabbi Eger writes about her wedding. In a follow-up post on Monday, November 3rd, she'll share the story of two friends, Robin and Diane.
I did it. After 19 years in relationship. After having a religious ceremony fourteen and half years ago, my spouse, Karen and I got married Saturday night. Our 14 year old son was our best man! The same rabbi who officiated at our religious ceremony 14 years ago married us legally. We had family and friends surround us underneath the wedding canopy, the chupah in our front yard.
Dear Mr. President
By Producer Christal Smith
October 30, 2008
Parting Shot: Naturalized In Time to Vote
By Producer Christal Smith
October 30, 2008
Normally Los Angeles conducts naturalization ceremonies for groups of anywhere from 900 to 3,500 applicants. On September 11, we witnessed 18,000 immigrants became US citizens, one of the very last groups to become naturalized in time to register to vote in the 2008 presidential election.
Yes Virginia, There is a SoCal Conservative Internet
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 30, 2008
Californians have a long tradition of supporting Democratic presidents and progressive causes, but the blogosphere is full of local conservatives and libertarians weighing in on Proposition 8. First up, Red County blogger Jubal offers what seems to be standard non-religious defense of Prop. 8: natural law.
Commentary by Patt Morrison
By Correspondent Patt Morrison
October 30, 2008
Palinization of Politics
By Correspondent Judy Muller
October 30, 2008
Win or lose, many are saying Sarah Palin has a bright future upon her. This week there has been much buzz about what her lasting effect will be in the Republican party and on the national stage. We are taking a look at Sarah Palin and how her style may influence future female candidates.
Overview: Propositions 1A-4
By SoCal Connected
October 29, 2008
Overview: Propositions 5-8
By SoCal Connected
October 29, 2008
Overview: Propositions 9-12
By SoCal Connected
October 29, 2008
Art To Match Our Environmental Messes
By Jenny Price
October 28, 2008
Jenny Price, a writer and Los Angeles Urban Ranger, is the author of "Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A.," and contributes regularly to the "Native Intelligence" column on LA Observed. She shares her thoughts on how to share the burdens and benefits of a Green Revolution.
In L.A., I recently became an artist. Accidentally.
Before I came to L.A., I thought of environmental art as decorative—though I rarely thought about it. My introduction to its power to actually green things up came when I encountered the quixotic campaign to revitalize the concrete L.A. River—which artist and writer Lewis MacAdams launched with a few friends in the mid-1980s. In 2008, it’s a gargantuan public project with a cast of thousands. Engineers, politicians, city planners, and activists are working to bring the river back to life—as are sculptors, painters, dancers, performance artists, photographers.
The Water Cooler
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 24, 2008
A Convenient Exit
By Val Zavala
October 24, 2008
This week’s SoCal Connected takes a look at our environment. I gotta say, hearing experts prognosticate on our planet’s fate, is anything but reassuring. And I secretly hope that the heart-breaking photo of the polar bear stranded on a shrinking chunk of ice is staged.
An Unforeseen Loss
By Joseph Angier
October 23, 2008
My first reaction when associate producer Anne Lilburn uncovered this story was that this was huge. It’s about nothing less than our region’s worst water pollution problem - stormwater runoff - the efforts being made to try and curb it, and the well-funded forces that are arrayed against those efforts.
A Storm Amongst the Stormwaters
By Joseph Angier
October 23, 2008
On the one hand, southern California is a national model for pursuing clean water standards. Especially since the 1998 upgrades to the Hyperion Wastewater Treatment Plant, we’ve been way out front in pursuing scientific solutions to the problems of treating raw sewage (in L.A.’s case, over 400 million gallons a day) before it hits the ocean. On the other hand, we go to the back of the class when it comes to that other source of pollution: stormwater. That’s all the stuff that comes down all those storm drains across the County … ensuring that the motor oil spilled out in Burbank and the food wrapper tossed off in Bellflower finds its way onto Long Beach and Santa Monica. And the reason why L.A.’s problem is so horrific is that we’re dry most of the year … so for months, tons of all that stuff builds up underground … out of sight … then comes all pouring out at once into the ocean when there’s a huge rain.
Get Involved - Save the Earth (Or, Barring That, SoCal)
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 23, 2008
To paraphrase this week’s SoCal Connected Guest Blogger Jenny Price, “if you want a green planet, you have to work for a green planet.” Those of you looking for ways to work for a green future have a, well, mess of options for putting in some green elbow grease in the Southern California region.
Are We All In This Together?
By Jenny Price
October 23, 2008
Jenny Price, a writer and Los Angeles Urban Ranger, is the author of "Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A.," and contributes regularly to the "Native Intelligence" column on LA Observed. She shares her thoughts on how to share the burdens and benefits of a Green Revolution.
If I've been hearing nonstop these days about the whats, hows, and whys of going green, still there's a whole class of questions that are receiving a lot less attention amidst the enthusiasm for light bulbs, organic peaches, and solar and energy-efficient everything.
Who, exactly, can afford organic peaches? Who can afford the light bulbs and the Priuses and the nontoxic paints and carpets? Who works in and lives near the Prius factories and breathes the emissions? Who, exactly, benefits from carbon trading, which decreases pollution overall but moves it around unequally?
Yes, those pesky "who" questions. Not the kind I see on TV or in the New York Times or People every day--you know, "Who in Hollywood is building an all-green house now?" Rather, who can't afford to? Who suffers the worst consequences of global warming and other environmental messes? Who benefits least from the industrial activity that creates these messes? And who benefits least from green initiatives to clean it all up?
Too Poor to Go Green?
By Correspondent Angie Crouch
October 23, 2008
In Search of Darkness
By Correspondent John Ridley
October 22, 2008
Get Involved - Meetup, Krugman, and Volunteering
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 16, 2008
Your friends at KCET New Media are probably not the best source for hard-core financial advice (people obsessed with getting rich tend not to build websites for non-profit public media), but we do know a few things collaboration, education and D.I.Y. - do it yourself. Those opposed-seeming values are at the core of what we do here, and there are plenty of ways those same values can be turned into a survival strategy during these down times.
The Water Cooler
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 16, 2008
In "Financial Futures" we heard from different groups of people and how they're weathering the economic storm.
How is the economy affecting you? We’d like to know how you’re coping.
Is the Tide Turning?
By Karen Foshay
October 16, 2008
Last week’s SoCal Connected story on billboards seems to have gotten the attention of our city’s leaders. Today, the Planning and Land Use Management Commission voted to initiate what’s called an “interim control ordinance’ regarding the conversion to digital billboards. In simple terms, the commission voted to draft a report outlining a one-year moratorium on digital billboard conversions. Commission President Jane Usher said, “I’m tired of the city of LA being the doormat for the billboard industry.” It was tough talk I haven’t heard from any city leaders since I started looking into this story.
Inside the Burbank Senior Artists' Colony
By Vicki Curry & Christal Smith
October 16, 2008
As part of their coverage of the economic downturn this week, producers Vicki Curry and Christal Smith spent some time with a spirited group of seniors in Burbank. They share some additional thoughts on growing older during down times.
When we were looking for a group of seniors impacted by the economic downturn, we discovered a club at the Burbank Senior Artists Colony that meets every Friday morning to discuss current events. The discussion is lead by Gloria Schklair, a voracious reader of news who shares her knowledge and enthusiasm with her fellow residents. One woman we spoke with told us that these discussions are a highlight of her week. We listened in on the group the day that Congress passed the $700 billion bailout plan. Many of the members turned up with buttons and t-shirts proclaiming their allegiance to Barack Obama.
Gloria did a great job of steering the conversation away from politics and the bailout to the more personal level. The people we met agreed that this is not the first economic crisis they will have weathered. Many of them feel that the last couple of decades have been a "gilded age" of unlimited credit, so they're not surprised to see the economy falling apart. Some even said they're happy that their children and grandchildren are going to be forced to live more frugally and responsibly. But they're also sympathetic; they see how hard it is for their families to pay the bills, especially in Southern California.
Billboard Confidential - Part 2
By Correspondent Vince Gonzales
October 16, 2008
Help With College Costs
By Val Zavala
October 16, 2008
Ok, ok. You young’ens don’t want to hear about what college cost back in the “old days,” or, in my case, the '70s. It’s like hearing your grandfather talk about the price of gas, or parents talk about buying their first home for $6000 and a sofa.
But, I can’t resist. So I’ll say it. Yale University - yup, that fancy schmancy college that saves money on paint by letting ivy grow up the dorms - cost me $7800 in 1973! That’s for everything. The whole year, including air fare back home to sunny Chula Vista for Christmas, where I tried to explain a bagel to my folks.
So what financial advice do I have for today’s college-bound kids besides marry rich or learn to love the outback? Here‘s some tips that I picked up from doing the story about the Royal family - the ones in the O.C. not Buckingham Palace - who were smart enough to start early and go to a college advisor at a great non-profit called Get College Funding.
Next: The Economy
By SoCal Connected
October 10, 2008
Get Involved - Billboards, Graffiti, and Beautification
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 9, 2008
Graffiti Is The Poor Man's Advertising Campaign
By Too Tall Jahmal
October 9, 2008
Too Tall Jahmal, who we featured in this week's Web Original video Ad-Buster, argues that graffiti and billboard advertising are two sides of an unequal coin.
As long as our cities are filled with advertising they will be filled with graffiti. Graffiti is the poor man's ad campaign. You can argue about one campaign being legal and the other illegal but the visual difference is purely academic.
Some companies spend millions (and make millions) to put their message in front of the public, while some individuals risk everything doing the same. They are both violating our public space, but most of the time I prefer the message I get from the individual.
Behind the Billboards
By Karen Foshay
October 9, 2008
Karen Foshay, producer of Billboard Confidential, shares a few thoughts about her segment - and the state of LA's public advertising.
Having been born and raised in LA, I never gave much attention to billboards. They were always just there, like traffic and smog. A few years ago I was working with a photographer who had just moved to Los Angeles from Virginia. When I asked him how he liked LA, he said, “I just can’t get used to all of the billboards everywhere.” I chalked his comments up to that of a lifelong country boy who is now living in the big city. But then I thought about it some more… So many of the great cities and towns in America aren’t blanketed in billboards - so what happened to LA? Why can’t someone stop it?
Last Week: Fire
By SoCal Connected
October 9, 2008
SoCal Connected's Judy Muller profiles private firefighters who - for a price - will protect your house from impending fire. Plus a look at a woman who lost her home in a wildfire, and is now an activist, protecting homeowners from their insurance companies. Also, commentary from Correspondent Chris Ayres.
SoCal Connected’s web team examines why disaster movies and theme park attractions are so popular in a place where a natural disaster can strike at any moment.
Read moreSend us your photos!
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 9, 2008
Every day as I drive into work I marvel at all of those who are free from the daily grind of the 9-5; window shopping, dining, strolling, bike riding... I wonder who they all are, pedestrians with freedoms from traffic and the fear of being late due to traffic, and seemingly, office life.
What do you see on your daily commute? Curiosities, familiarities, things that just make you smile -- we want to see them all (under the stipulation, of course, that you keep your eyes on the road while the car is in motion, and not on your viewfinder while speeding down the freeway). Submit your photo to our Flickr pool, or email them to us.
The Water Cooler
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 9, 2008
In Los Angeles, you can't travel far without seeing a gigantic billboard advertising something. Do you love your neighborhood billboards or despise them?
Send us a photo of your favorite or most hated billboard and tell us why you're so passionate about it. Submit your photo to our Flickr pool, or email them to us.
Commentary by Sam Hall Kaplan
By Sam Hall Kaplan
October 9, 2008
Let There Be Lights
By Sam Hall Kaplan
October 9, 2008
Sam Hall Kaplan is the author of L.A. Lost and Found. He is the former design critic for the Los Angeles Times and a former Emmy Award-winning reporter for FOX 11. He offered a commentary on LA's billboards in this week's episode of SoCal Connected, and shares some more thoughst below.
Yes, billboards can be ugly, as can be the infinite forms of signage, be they on buildings, off freeways, or on banners trailing droning biplanes.
And yes, the billboard lobby can be deceitful, select councilpersons devious, and our outdoor signage laws confused.
Welcome to the political construct of the City of Los Angeles.
That said, let us not ban all those billboards just yet, and turn the city into blandsville.
Billboard Confidential
By Correspondent Vince Gonzales
October 8, 2008
Val Zavala Reads Your Comments
By Val Zavala
October 7, 2008
Quite a cluster of comments this week. One of you hated the Brit. (Don’t take bald guys with accents so seriously.)
None of you were overly impressed with the fire-gel service. The gel is cool, but can they arrive in time through L.A. traffic? Still, wasn’t Judy Muller gutsy to get a blowtorch manicure?
The Firefight
By Steve Pyne
October 6, 2008
Steve Pyne is a fire historian, professor at Arizona State University, and the author of over 20 books, including "Tending Fire: Coping with America's Wildland Fires." We asked him to join the conversation about privatized firefighting raised in this week's segment "Fire, Inc." You can read his first post here.
The firefight is the great set-piece of American fire management. It seems so obvious: Control the bad fires before you introduce good ones. Seize the battlefield. The drama is overpowering, a moral equivalent of war; exciting, potentially lethal, inextinguishably telegenic. For some seven decades the U.S. threw everything it had into the fight against fire. It won far more battles than it surrendered, and in the end it lost the war.
Mitigate, Mitigate, Mitigate
By Karen Reimus
October 6, 2008
Karen Reimus is a lawyer and a married mother of two. Karen and her family lost their home and all possessions in the October 2003 Cedar Fire. The firestorm, the largest wildfire in California state history, leveled her suburban San Diego neighborhood. In a previous blog post, Karen told her story of underinsurance; today she shares gives some hard-won insights on how to best mitigate the threat of natural disaster to your home.
After my suburban San Diego home burned down in the Cedar Fire in 2003, I learned first-hand that a natural disaster can hit anyone at anytime. So, is there something we can do to protect our homes and belongings BEFORE disaster strikes? YES!
Friends Don't Let Friends Go Underinsured
By Karen Reimus
October 2, 2008
Karen Reimus is a lawyer and a married mother of two. Karen and her family lost their home and all possessions in the October 2003 Cedar Fire. The firestorm, the largest wildfire in California state history, leveled her suburban San Diego neighborhood. In this blog post, Karen tells her story of underinsurance; in Part 2, she shares gives some hard-won insights on how to best mitigate the threat of natural disaster to your home.
When you say the words “homeowner’s insurance”, I think most people’s natural reaction is that their eyes start to glaze over and their hearing starts to fade. And, I can’t say that I blame them, it’s not exactly a glamorous subject. In fact, that most definitely would have been my own reaction before October 26, 2003. On that date, my home and 321 others in the San Diego neighborhood of Scripps Ranch where I live, burned to the ground in California’s largest wildfire, the Cedar Fire.
I do not live in a log cabin on the top of a mountain surrounded by forest, but rather, in a heavily populated suburb located less than two miles from a fire station, a major freeway and an elementary school. In my wildest dream (or nightmare), I could not imagine that wildfire would sweep into my neighborhood and destroy it. But, it did.
Judy Muller Feels The Burn
By Vicky Curry
October 2, 2008
We spent a day with Pacific Fire Guard at their headquarters in Wildomar. The company owner, Bill Kneebusch, gave Judy a demonstration of how the fire retardant gel works by covering a piece of paper in the gel and then trying, unsuccessfully, to set it on fire with a blowtorch. Bill commented that the gel is so effective that it would even work on a person. So we put it to the test. As you can see here, Judy stuck her hand in the gel and survived to tell the tale. But we don't recommend trying this home, especially because Judy's skin did blister a bit in the following days.
RELATED STORIES:
Fire, Inc. - By Correspondent Judy Muller - Many public, municipal firefighters are worried that private firefighters lack training, may get in the way of the real firefighters during a wildfire, and worse, might be encouraging some of the recent foolish homebuilding in fire zones by leading people to believe that their new, private policy will protect them..
Send us your photos!
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 2, 2008
In Los Angeles, you can't travel far without seeing a gigantic billboard advertising something. Do you love your neighborhood billboards or despise them?
Send us a photo of your favorite or most hated billboard and tell us why you're so passionate about it. Submit your photo to our Flickr pool, or email them to us. Your photo and story might be featured on next week's SoCal connected.
The Water Cooler
By SoCal Connected Staff
October 2, 2008
Every Thursday, SoCal Connected will be featuring your reactions, thoughts and commentary on the previous week’s show. We’re calling the segment "The Water Cooler" in homage to that gathering place in every workplace, office and school where people steal a few moments out from a busy day in order to discuss the most pressing question of our time - namely, what they watched on TV (or TiVo) last night.
(Or in the case of our virtual water cooler: Discuss what they watched on SoCal Connected!)
Our question this week:
Would YOU be willing to pay more for private fire protection? Is that fair to the people who can't afford it?
Use the comments below to share your thoughts and responses to those questions, and we’ll feature some of your comments on the Thursday, October 9th show. Please make sure to use leave us a valid email address so that we can verify your identity. Your comment WILL NOT air if we can't comment you, so leave SUNSTUD37 in chat where he belongs and use your real email; we promise to keep it a secret!
Public Safety First
By Tracy Westen
October 2, 2008
Tracy Westen is CEO of the Center for Governmental Studies, which develops model laws and media solutions to improve governance and civic engagement. We asked him to join the conversation about privatized firefighting raised in this week's segment "Fire, Inc.," and this the first of three entries Tracy shared with us. Check back on Monday, October 6th, and Wednesday, October 9th for the next installments.
Government services for public safety, such as fire prevention, should not be undermined by forces of privatization.
A private company must maximize profit to favor shareholders. But some services are so important to public safety that their provision should not be left to bottom-line oriented forces of supply and demand.
Advice for Roz... and the Rest of Us
By Val Zavala
October 2, 2008
Wow! What wonderful - but also disturbing -- responses we got from our story on Roz Lee. She’s the woman, wife and mother who lost her $70,000 a year job and is on the verge of getting kicked out of her apartment. People wrote to Roz sending their prayers, practical advice and empathy. But what’s disturbing is how many people are in the same terrible situation - unemployed, bankruptcy, buried in debt that they can’t crawl out of. Roz Lee, you are not alone.
Here‘s a summary of the advice that people offered (and a little bit of my own):
The Woes of the WUI
By Steve Pyne
October 2, 2008
Steve Pyne is a fire historian, professor at Arizona State University, and the author of over 20 books, including "Tending Fire: Coping with America's Wildland Fires." We asked him to join the conversation about privatized firefighting raised in this week's segment "Fire, Inc."
The wildland/urban interface is a dumb term for a dumb problem, and both have dominated the American wildfire scene for nearly 20 years.
What's The Real Story?
By Roz Lee
October 1, 2008
So it's all out there...it's all on the table. Now you all know a bit about what life has been like for me of late. Most of you already know my story, and know it well. But I have to assume that some of you may also have some questions about what I must be doing wrong if I can't seem to find a job. Some, like the lovely Vera Lusia (thank you ever so much for your kind words in the comments--they carried light) know that the situation is rampant and hitting close to home. And hear me: we are not the only ones.
It seems like everyday I am meeting people who are also displaced, and who also have not been able to find jobs unless they know someone on the inside. I recently chalked it up to the assumption that, by law, employers have to post open positions, but they wind up hiring from within. At least this is what I tell myself because the alternative is just too dark a corner to visit. Let's just say it's very, ummm, depressing. (Ahem!)
How depressing? A few days ago, I received my third regret letter from one major bank since Aug 2007. Did I mention that I have a 10-year history in Banking and Finance? Did I also mention that I was not offered an interview - not even an interview - for three positions I had applied for over the past year and half with another major bank? Now, that that bank has been in the headlines for financial problems it is apparent why.
Two days ago , I applied for an awesome Trainer position in Pasadena. It is with a heavy heart that I expect to hear that the position has been filled with someone who more closely matches their ideal candidate. Did I mention that I have been in Training Design and Delivery for the past 6 years from Trainer I to Training Manager? I even applied (twice, mind you) for positions at a department store. The first response was that the position was filled with someone else, and the second was that I was overqualified for the sales associate position. Imagine that; being told you are overqualified to work.
I did hold one job for a short while. I had to quit. And they knew I would...eventually. It was with a timeshare company, and I was so desperate to work that I did not mind the fact that I would only be working no more than 20 hours a week. I went in with the conviction that I would work hard and earn more hours. That's the way the company worked. What I did not expect was gas prices to hit an all time high (at the time), nor having to commute to Anaheim, Ontario, Irvine - may as well have been frickin’ Pluto. (At least the trip would have been more interesting, certainly not less time or gas consuming)! I had to pay a sitter, pay for gas, eating would have been nice, but often was not possible, plus handle whatever costs may occur in that day for the $50 salary I'd make for it. Dude, I'm not kidding. And all for the sake of just having a job. Fortunately for that company, they expect the high turn over. Unfortunately for me, I needed to work so bad that I took the first hot coal on my plate...and paid for it. Literally. So please don't assume that I must be doing something wrong, or that I must somehow not be worthy of the jobs I am applying for. I think, if this is your opinion about my situation, you need to take a good hard look at some of the people around you, maybe even in your own back yard. There is a situation brewing that none of us are in control of.
I'm still looking, as I will continue to do. Since I '"don't qualify" for cash aid (in my opinion, simply because I refused to lie about my situation; I think the truth is evidence enough that we need a break) I cannot get the other services I could use to help me out of my situation, like child care services while I physically look for work. But I can't give up. My Bishop at the Victory Bible Church in Pasadena instilled the word in me that God is my ultimate provider. In saying so, His will for me is not to sit back and play victim. Not at all. Not ever. So I will continue to apply, as I have for several jobs this week. The one I am most excited about is the position in Pasadena that I mentioned above as a trainer for a credit union. Wish me luck, ya'll!
To conclude, there needs to be an eyebrow raised with concern over the fact that so many people like you and I, and Vera's sister, that are being forced to seek aid just to have bare necessities. People think that aid is readily available, but in fact, getting it involves stepping intp a convoluted web of confusion geared towards total control of you and your situation. But that's another story.
What would you do if you were in my shoes? Hearing from you helps keep me grounded. Your thoughts are warmly welcomed!
Buyer Beware
By Shereen Marisol Meraji
October 1, 2008
Today concludes our week-long journey into the mind of Michael Shermer, author of The Mind of the Market, a book about human evolution and the reasons why we make irrational financial decions.
According to Shermer, it’s not the the government’s job to protect us from making stupid investments.
We want to hear from you. Don’t let Michael Shermer have the last word; comment below.
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