January 2009 Archives

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Tony Cardenas, L.A. City Councilman and John Lewis, L.A. Zoo Director on why Billy bobs his head repetitively.

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Can you save all of the animals all of the time? First, humans come along and wreck an animal’s habitat. Then, we launch massive campaigns to save an endangered species…provided it’s a cute and cuddly species.

John Ridley takes a look at what happens when humans meddle with natural selection.

To get more information about California condor recovery efforts, check out the California Condor Recovery Program.

More on breeding and what it means for the elephants.

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Last October SoCal Connected aired a two-part series investigating the booming billboard business in Los Angeles. We found a city overrun with 4,000 illegal billboards and a city government unable or unwilling to regulate the signs of LA. This video takes a look at what's happened since our last report.

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Ok. Here what a non-animal activist, non-zoo supporter has concluded after learning more about elephants than I care to know. (Don’t ask me about the herpes virus.) In short:

Yes. Billy should stay at the zoo. No. Elephants in general should not be in zoos.

And finally, spending $42 million an elephant house is nuts.

Billy should stay at the zoo, but only because he’s been there since he was a toddler living in a very small enclosure. He’s now 23. When he moves into his new home he’ll be in pachyderm paradise relatively speaking. Also, zoologists point out that Billy has pristine DNA material. He came from Malaysia and has yet to make elephant whoopee. So if you’re going to try to help an endangered species, Billy got blue ribbon genes. Let’s just hope future babies have a better survival rate than past attempts have achieved.

But overall, I’ve come to believe elephants should not be on a zoo’s viewing menu. They need WAY more space than even the L.A. zoo is giving Billy. Too little space leads to serious foot and joint diseases. And a new study shows elephants have a much shorter life expectancy in zoos compared to those in protected natural areas. If they want to breed Asian elephants, can’t they do it sanctuaries?

Finally, the cost of this whole project is ridiculous. $42 million dollars for an elephant enclosure - even before cost overruns - while the City is facing a $110 million deficit and a bigger one coming next year! How did this happen? Well, as one city council member who prefers to stay nameless said, once a government project gets going it’s nearly impossible to stop. And the elephant project is already a third complete.

And on a final financial note … It’s hard to believe, but for reasons that only a municipal accountant understands, it would actually cost MORE to stop the project than finish it. That’s right. They’ve spent $12 out of $42 million. So simple math says you’ll save $30 million. Right? But wait. This is municipal math. There’s nothing simple about it. So taxpayers they tell us will save money by spending another $30 million to finish the project.

All the while human beings are homeless on the streets, gangs are terrorizing neighborhoods, and millions of people are without adequate medical care. But the zoo officials assure us they will spare no expense to give Billy the elephant the best medical care possible.

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Since he arrived at the LA Zoo 20 years ago this month, Billy the elephant has attracted his share of crowds, but probably none were bigger than the group of activists and zoo supporters who gathered at City Hall this week to weigh in before the city council's final vote on an issue that will determine his entire future.

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KCET's SoCal Connected, which launched on-air and online in September 2008, this weekend won two Golden Mike Awards for Best News Public Affairs Program and for Best Original News Commentary. The awards were announced yesterday by The Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, which presents the Golden Mike Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism every year.

In addition to the Best News Public Affairs Program Award, SoCal Connected won Best Original News Commentary for a piece by London Times correspondent Chris Ayers about the "changing seasons" in Southern California, frequently signaled by different types of disasters, such as fires. (You can see his commentary here.) KCET also won a third Golden Mike for Best Hard News Series Reporting for the Life & Times report "Aids in Tijuana."

SoCal Connected is made possible through the generous support of The L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education; The Ahmanson Foundation serving the Los Angeles community since 1952; Jim and Anne Rothenberg; The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation; the Elizabeth Hofert Dailey Trust; by US Bank and by UCLA.

Congrats team!

Los Angeles-based artist, Shepard Fairey’s portraits of Obama are everywhere: bumpers, billboards and wheat pasted on walls across the country.

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What was your favorite moment from the inauguration?

Leave your comments here, and SoCal Connected anchor Val Zavala will read the best on next week's show.

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Every president to hold office has espoused some version of Americanism; the truths that we hold self-evident, even when those truths are not always in evidence. But for all their grand rhetoric and mostly good deeds, none was able to seal the deal on the trifecta of equality, plurality and socioeconomic ascendancy. Obama has. Obama is the more perfect union. He is a house united. Obama is the New Generation and the hot light of a dawn that goes way beyond clever talk of morning in America.

Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue his being, Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation.

If there was ever a policy wonk, Congressman Henry Waxman is it. And a nerdy-looking one at that. But when it comes to getting laws passed through the maze that is Congress, he’s your guy. After 33 years he’s one of the most powerful politicos in Congress.

It talked with him for about 90 minutes in his L.A. office. This guy is so popular in his Beverly Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica district that he’s been re-elected for 16 consecutive terms. Not bad for a Jewish kid from south L.A.

I loved it when he gave hell to corporate CEO’s who were bringing down obscene bonuses while thousands of Americans were losing their savings or their jobs. That was when he was head the oversight committee. Now he’s running the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. He ousted a long-time Detroit Congressman to get there. So expect energy policy to take a decidedly California pov.

We only used a small part of the Waxman interview in our broadcast. So here are some outtakes for you to check out. He talks about politicians’ reputation, what his folks taught him, and how our society is going to have to change to get us through hard times.

Madison Middle School is a public school in North Hollywood, serving a mostly low-income, immigrant community: Latinos, Asians, Armenians. But Terre Fallon, a language arts teacher, was determined that her school’s students get a chance to go to Washington for the Inauguration.

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We only used a small part of the Waxman interview in our broadcast. So here are some outtakes for you to check out. He talks about politicians’ reputation, what his folks taught him, and how our society is going to have to change to get us through hard times

Public's opinion of politicians

We're in this together

Family upbringing

One reporter shares the behind-the-scenes story of her fight to get from her hotel to the National Mall on Inauguration Day.

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Anchor Val Zavala sits down with one of the most influential men in Washington - Representative Henry Waxman (30th District) for a candid conversation about his career, George Bush and his relationship with President Obama and his goals for the coming term. Waxman also talks about growing up as the son of a grocer in LA; his rise to power, his Beverly Hills constituency and why he has never been to the Academy Awards®.

RELATED RESOURCES:
What Waxman is working on

PRODUCTION EXTRAS:

More From Our Henry Waxman Interview - Three clips from Val's interview with Waxman that didn't make it into the show.

More than twenty-five years ago, Barack, or "Barry,"  Obama was a student at Los Angeles' Occidental College. On inauguration day, we visit the president's alma mater to sample students' opinions about the school's most famous alum.

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The SoCal Connected web-team captures the Inauguration reaction from the Sunset Coin-Op Laundry in Silverlake. Wall-mounted televisions broadcast the event with Spanish voice-over. George Guevara breaks his dryer induced trance to watch the historic event while other customers swap dollars for change and continue washing. After the swearing-in ceremony, Guevara resumes folding his freshly laundered shirts. Tuesday is his only day off.

The anonymous blogger at L.A. Can't Drive has been keeping track of the daily outrages against good sense, neighborly-ness and the law committed by drivers on the streets of Los Angeles. We asked them for a few of their favorite posts - which is to say, their worst - and with the help of the region's motorists they delivered. God help us.

Free Bags of Soil on Camarillo

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Does this really need much more explanation? I got this submission a few days ago:

“This picture pretty much speaks for itself. I took this photo while stopped for a red light on Camarillo at Lankershim in North Hollywood. Clearly, those bags of soil were not strapped and secured in the back of that SUV.”

First, notice the license plate…long time California (and likely L.A.) native. Second, which is more of an afterthought, notice the broken taillight. Many of you already know my rule of thumb that states that vehicles with malfunctioning or broken lights usually contain poor drivers. Last of all, is this driver honestly telling me that (s)he couldn’t maneuver those bags of soil so that the hatch and tailgate could close properly? Honestly, this has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen. Talk about waving a red flag in front of law enforcement and begging for a ticket. Oh, wait. What law enforcement?

Scooching at Large in Beverly Hills

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Some readers don’t understand what I mean by “scooching”. I specifically define scooching as crossing over two sets of double yellow lines to bypass traffic in front of you and “cut the line”, so to speak, to get into a specific lane, usually a turning lane. For all intents and purposes, two sets of double lines are treated as berms or concrete medians according to the law; the city just doesn’t have enough money to create these raised structures all around town. I’m not OCD about this either, so I don’t immediately point a finger at someone for cutting into a left turn only lane a few feet earlier. But I saw this white Ford Explorer cut out of traffic in the #1 through lane on Wilshire, use a left turn only lane to pass traffic, cross an intersection, drive over the two sets of double yellow lines over the length of another block, and then enter the left turn only lane to Santa Monica Blvd. Did I mention that he also momentarily went completely into oncoming traffic to bypass another car that was entering the left turn only lane in the legal way? This wasn’t the only impatient, selfish bleep either…at least 5 other drivers pulled this same stunt (sans playing chicken with oncoming traffic) while the rest of us waited patiently in rush hour traffic. It’s important to note that areas sectioned off by two sets of double yellow lines are not the same thing as center left turn lanes, which are bordered by two sets of one solid and one dotted yellow lines. You can legally enter and travel within these center left turn lanes for up to 200 feet, according to the book. But the book doesn’t give you the license to be an egocentric prick, so be patient, wait your turn, and don’t scooch.

Seeing-Eye Dogs for Drivers?

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I made a posts a few months ago about a dumb-looking, silicon-enhanced driver rolling around Beverly Hills with a Yorkshire Terrier leaning out her driver’s side window. Well, clearly idiocy of this degree isn’t reserved for “dumb blondes” with runty Pomeranians and “trophy wives”. This dude was cruising along Ventura in Sherman Oaks in his black Range Rover with two pugs sticking out the window. From afar, we saw this guy drifting in and out of lanes without signaling; upon closer inspection, it’s clear that he relegated signaling duties to his dogs. In fact, these dogs were also in charge of checking his driver’s side blind spot and sideview mirror. The lighter pug was all over that mirror like white on rice, let me tell you. But hey, you never know, these dogs might be geniuses and, unlike their caretaker, are highly aware of the dangers associated with driving. They definitely seemed to be more alert than their owner, who probably possesses a level of intelligence comparable to any average canine. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if a kid suddenly ran out into the middle of the street right in front of his vehicle. Would this guy’s first instinct be to veer out of the way or save his dogs from flying out the window? This is what “Southern Cali laid back” is all about people….ignorance, idiocy, and negligent nonchalance.

One of my craziest submissions in the 2+ years we've been operating:

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Here’s a submission from a reader who did the right thing and took matters into his own hands to catch someone who not only deserved to lose his license but should now spend some time behind bars. Thanks to him, we have one less irresponsible, dangerous driver on our roads:

“My old roommate had his ‘06 Mustang parked in front of my house. This morning (10/14/08) at about 10AM, I hear a crash and a car alarm go off. I run out and see my friend’s car smashed in and the rear of a dark gray Ram turning the corner. I hop in my vehicle and tear out after the guy. As soon as I round the corner, I see him making a U-turn and coming back down the street with a flat tire. I stop him and call the cops. After I get off the phone, he writes his info, illegible and very sloppy, on a napkin, puts it on the wiper, and TAKES OFF after I told him not to and him saying that he did all that he had to do. I advised him that if he left, things were gonna get way worse. He left anyway. So I’m following him down the street with his flat tire and all, and he’s veering off the road, driving in the dirt, straddling lanes, etc. He then stops half way in an intersection, makes a left, bumps the curb, makes a right to go on the freeway, and hits the curb again. Now we’re on the freeway going 75-80 mph. He’s driving on the shoulder and brushing the guard rail before he loses his tire completely about a mile later. I’m on the phone with LASD (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) giving them updates, and luckily, there was one that just finished a stop just ahead.”

“8 miles later, they stopped him, got him out of the truck, cuffed him, and then placed him in the back of a cruiser. They determined he was high on prescription meds (forgot the name), and he hit numerous other things before he hit my friend’s Mustang. He had a suspended license, no insurance, and possibly no papers. They said he had a ticket still in the truck issued in 2006 for no insurance as well. My truck got peppered with debris from him running off the road-no damage though.”

Neighborhood Watch programs really help law enforcement catch offenders, like this would-be hit-and-run perpetrator. Though the person submitting this post just happened to be in the right place at the right time, along with the right amount of experience on the road to do what he did, active crime watch programs in your community will not only make the streets safer but will also likely catch repeat offenders. FYI, if you do happen to hit a parked vehicle by accident, the law requires that you right down your contact information, license plate, vehicle make and model, and insurance information and leave it in a secure, visible place for the other driver. We can all benefit from the habit of at least writing down and phoning in the license plate of any vehicle we see performing a hit-and-run.

To Protect and to Serve?

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It’s no wonder why so many people in this town have difficulty with proper headlight use when our law enforcement officials either fail to uphold the law and cite offenders or fail to set a good example. At the very least, you would hope that those whose responsibility is to uphold the public’s safety would be a bit more observant. This is a submission from one of our regulars that was taken before sunrise:

“It’s 6 AM, do you know where your lights are? Coming home from work today, I almost slammed into this deputy ’cause he was going 20 mph on a 55 mph DARK road (n/b Sierra Hwy a few miles south of San Fernando) WITH NO LIGHTS ON. WTH was he thinking? Stay to the side if you’re gonna do that crap, not right in the middle of the 2 lane road!!! I waited 2 miles till I got to the stop light to snap this pic. The license plate light is out, which is clear proof that he doesn’t get it. I could see inside and the dash was dark as well. You’re setting a real good example, dude….”

Again, don’t be fooled by the brake lights, but rather see how the license plate is unlit-a clear sign that this sheriff’s headlights were not in operation.

L.A. Can't Park (Either)

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My, oh my, look at what we have here! It’s been awhile since we’ve had a post about bad L.A. parking, and this is a first on this site for a trifecta of poor judgment. This was taken today in the parking lot of the mall at the corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon in Studio City. My wife and I were meeting her parents at the Daily Grill for dinner when we came upon 3 cars taking up 4 parking spaces. This is how we think these drivers managed to squeeze a square peg into a round hole:

1) Selfish moron in the charcoal gray Toyota Highlander dived for the first parking space he or she saw and didn’t have the presence of mind to take the time to adjust his or her vehicle properly in one parking spot.

2) Dimwitted moron in the green sedan felt like he or she had no choice but to park right next to this SUV at exactly the same angle rather than parking properly one spot over to his or her right, which would have made the SUV stand out alone as the clueless dung bomb.

3) We were actually behind the maroon minivan as it finished parking. Instead of parking evenly in the 4th parking space (counting from left to right), the driver decided to keep the back of the minivan in his parking spot while angling the front of the minivan into the 3rd parking space.

I’m sorry, but is there some unwritten law among idiots in L.A. where you must park at the exact angle as everyone else around you, regardless of lane markings, common courtesy, or basic common sense? The fact that you have an SUV and a minivan squeezing into compact parking spots is another issue altogether….

Got a submission for L.A. Can't Drive? Visit their site and share the wealth. All photographs copyright L.A. Can't Drive.

SoCal Connected's web team gave video cameras to 5 commuters and had them document their journeys to and from work. Lorena is a nanny in Los Feliz and takes two trains and a bus, every evening, to get home to her own kids in Santa Ana. Larry drives for over an hour, every morning, from Silver Lake to Santa Monica in his SUV. Bjorn walks, Camille bikes, and Carlos van-pools to his job in the O.C..

We also asked *you* (our friends on the web) to send in video and photos of your commutes. The results are on the Google Map below. Click on an icon and follow along. (You can find a larger version of the map here.)

We'll be updating this map periodically, so feel free to send us photos and video of your commutes to our map next week. Here's how to contribute:

Shoot and upload a video to YouTube. Once your video is up, tag it with "KCETCOMMUTE" and send us a message at our Youtube account KCETOnline. Also make sure to indicate roughly where the video was taken in its description so that we can put it on the map. Intersection is great, but full street address is better.

Shoot and upload a photograph to the SoCal Connected Flickr Group. No need for special tagging, just join our group and it to the pool. But do make sure to tell us where the picture was taken in its description!

Unfortunately, we can't map your routes. But if you have a google map of your route that you'd like to share, feel free! Flickr user ingipet sent us this map to help us place her photographs

Many thanks to Lorena, Larry, Bjorn, Camille, Carlos, ingipet and wildbell!

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Are you willing to pay more to drive in rush hour as a way to reduce congestion?

It was music to my ears when I learned President Obama had asked poet Elizabeth Alexander to share the spotlight on one of the world's biggest stages -- the Presidential inauguration.

Across the country, car dealerships are going bust, victims of plummeting sales, changing consumer tastes and frozen lines of credit. We look at how the economy is affecting the San Bernardino Auto Mall. Busy in good times, it's starting to resemble an automotive ghost town as a growing number of dealerships close their doors for good and empty their lots of cars.

There won't be many weeks like this one, America's history and America's future sitting back to back on your calendar. A fine week to get involved!

As a warm-up for the big events Monday and Tuesday, get your hands dirty over the weekend at the Daniel Webster School's Environmental Education Garden: "The Daniel Webster Garden was established to teach children growing up in an urban area about the environment. Join us as we create new plots, remove weeds and brush, and add new plants."

MLK Day is Kingdom Day in Los Angeles. On January 19th you can check out the 2.5-mile Kingdom Day Parade, which starts at Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard at 11 am and snakes down Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Avenue before ending in celebration at Leimert Park.

President-elect Obama has called on January 19th to be a day of service. L.A. Works invites you to join them in a "special day of service" at Loren Miller Elementary School. "[W]e will revitalize the school with murals and green spaces, energize the community, and inspire a new generation of leaders. Project activities will include murals, planting and landscaping." Go here for more info.

Those of you feeling more introspective should consider the upcoming Zócalo lecture at the Hammer: The Future of Martin Luther King's Legacy. Randall Kennedy, author and professor at Harvard Law School and Debra Dickerson, journalist and author will "discuss the meaning of the King holiday, the rise of President-elect Barack Obama, and the ongoing significance of race in America."

And then, of course, there is the big day. The "inauguration party" dilemma has been chewed to death from every possible angle. (Green, anyone?) Our friends at LAist recommend keeping it simple:

Now here's a great use for those criticized TV screens all around LA LIve's Nokia Plaza. Councilwoman Jan Perry invites all to come "celebrate history" at "L.A.'s Biggest Inaugural Viewing Party." It's next Tuesday morning with events beginning at 7 a.m. Barack will take office around 9 a.m. with post ceremony coverage, entertainment, and the parade to follow.

The weather will be great, the screens will be huge and Get Involved/KCET New Media will be there recording the event for posterity. We'll buy you an inaugural tee if you can figure out who we are.

Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the country. SoCal drivers sit in rush-hour traffic 93 hours a year -- more than twice the national average. The five-county area has more than 2000 freeway miles crowded with more than 10 million commuters. Since 1980 Californians have doubled the miles we drive on highways and freeways, but we've only built 6% more miles of freeway lanes. No wonder we're often bumper to bumper.

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Well, after reading Tom Vanderbilt’s book on traffic and talking to Caltrans and L.A. City traffic experts, I learned some helpful and fun things about driving. Here they are in no particular order.

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SoCal Connected’s web team gave video cameras to 5 commuters and had them document their journeys to and from work. Lorena is a nanny in Los Feliz and takes two trains and a bus, every evening, to get home to her own kids in Santa Ana. Larry drives for over an hour, every morning, from Silver Lake to Santa Monica in his SUV. Bjorn walks, Camille bikes, and Carlos van-pools to his job in the O.C. See how Southern California gridlock affects each of their lives.

We'd like to add your photos and video of your commutes to our map next week. Here are two ways to contribute:

Shoot and upload a video to YouTube. Once your video is up, tag it with "KCETCOMMUTE" and send us a message at our Youtube account KCETOnline.

Shoot and upload a photograph to the SoCal Connected Flickr Group. No need for special tagging or messaging, just join our group and it to the pool!

Make sure your videos and photos clearly indicate where they where taken - intersection is great, but full street address is better - so that we know where to put it on the map!

Sandra Tsing Loh on someone you rarely hear from in public education debates -- the parents!

It's a New Year. Have you gotten involved?

We've shared this particular tidbit before, but, like this week's look back at earthquake safety on SoCal Connected, a good "get involved" never goes goes stale. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program "educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations." You can find out about CERT training in the Los Angeles area by visiting the CERT-LA website. Those of you farther afield can check with www.californiavolunteers.org for information on disaster preparedness training.

Volunteer site L.A. Works offers a monthly calendar of volunteering opportunities. This week, this item leapt out at us.

Put on your boogie shoes for an evening of dancing with the delightful BCR clients... BCR offers day programs for disabled adults and children. Its mission is to enable its participants to develop their abilities so they may become independent and contributing members of the community. [Get involved here.]

For those of you whose tastes are more electronic than electronica, this week is the first Dorkbot SoCal event of 2009. Dorkbot - billed as "people doing strange things with electricity, mostly in Los Angeles" - brings together technology enthusiasts with artists Deborah Aschheim, Brian Evans and David Guttman for an afternoon of tech and community. As before, Dorkbot is being hosted by our friends at Machine Project.

Are you ready for the big one?

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Have a hangover from 2008? They say the ingredients in menudo are the perfect morning-after remedy, be it pork or beef:

• 1 calf's foot (about 1 to 1 1/2 pounds)
• 2 pounds honeycomb tripe
• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 6 peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 4 quarts of water
• A comal or griddle
• 3 large chiles anchos
• A spice grinder
• A large chile poblano, peeled or 2 canned, peeled green chiles
• 1/2 cup canned hominy (1 pound) drained
• Salt as necessary
• 1 scant teaspoon oregano

For those of you upset by "calf's hoof" reference above, Get Involved is told that the fideo soup, served every Monday at Homegirl Cafe is an excellent (and meat-free) menudo alternative. And for those of you whose lingering 2008 headache is more metaphysical in nature, here are some ways to put a bit of time and energy towards helping all of us avoid a repeat of '08's annus horribilis in '09.

The good folks at L.A. Works maintain an active calendar of "hands-on community service projects" that need volunteers. Opportunities just this coming week include rescued-rabbit sitting, art and games interaction with seniors, and box sorting at various food and donation banks. Which is to say: L.A. Works offers a volunteer opportunity for every taste and temperament, be it animal loving or introvert.

Looking for something more out-doorsy in hopes of making early progress on your health-related New Years resolutions? Check out the Los Angeles Hiking Meetup group, which provides a range of hikes in the area geared towards both the well-traveled enthusiast and the beginner. (If the hiking isn't your speed there are over 2000 Los Angeles region groups for you to choose from on Meetup. You only have yourself to blame if you can't find one.)

Maybe your '09 master plan for giving back first calls for you to amass a vast and impressive fortune, which you in turn plan to disburse to well deserved Gates Foundation style. If so, you will likely be spending an awful lot of quality time with your business plans and mock-ups in '09. When you start to go stir crazy in, say, mid-January, pay a visit to Jelly LA, weekly "casual co-working at venues around Los Angeles providing free wi-fi and creative company. We welcome small business owners and freelancers—from all industries—with pleasant attitudes needing to work, collaborate…or just get away from their desk for a bit."

Have a good week and an amazing 09!

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