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Ports Pretend All Is Normal In CAAP Stakeholder Meeting

Paul Rosenberg
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Ports Pretend All Is Normal In CAAP Stakeholder Meeting

 

The ports of LA and Long Beach studiously ignored the chaos created by the Trump administration, most recently its attempt to revoke California’s regulations of harbor craft and at-berth ocean-going vessels (see “Trump EPA Moves To Destroy Clean Port Plans”), fresh on the heels of new tariffs. They covered the slow, but steady, but slow progress of the Clean Trucks Program, the even slower progress with ocean-going vessels, and the more promising area of workforce development, all as if Trump and his minions did not exist.

While progress has certainly been made with trucks, the number of “cleaner” trucks, 1,458, is only 8.12% of the total trucks registered, the majority of which — 793 trucks — are liquified natural gas (LNG) or compressed natural gas (CNG), accounting for 4.42%, while 559 battery electric trucks account for 3.11% and 106 hydrogen fuel cell trucks account for 0.59%.

The underfunded Clean Truck Fund (CTF) has collected approximately $334.5 million since its long-delayed initiation on April 1, 2022, and is collecting approximately $2 to $4 million monthly by each port. Of that, approximately $181.1 million has been allocated to zero-emission trucks, infrastructure, and demonstration projects.

POLA’s progress on zero-emission early deployment has been slow. A 2021 request for proposal (RFP) has resulted in just two board-approved proposals for a total of $6 million. One 10-truck project was completed at the end of 2025, while the second has received 12 trucks but is waiting for infrastructure installation, estimated to be complete in the fourth quarter of this year.

More recently, on July 20, POLA announced a new RFP, with funding drawn from a $75 million fund, two-thirds of which comes from the EPA. They require a minimum purchase of at least 10 battery electric Class 8 trucks with a guaranteed minimum of 100 truck trips annually to POLA for three years, and provide up to $300,000 per truck. Proposals are due by 3 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 3, and vehicle deployment is required by Sept. 30, 2028.

On the infrastructure side, POLB has used CTF money to help fund a public charging station by Zeem at 2665 W. Seaside Blvd., which is expected to open this fall. And POLB-funded construction on 10 charging lanes at the Terminal Access Center site will begin around the same time. In addition, six regional charging projects are undergoing construction or have been completed.

The fuel transition for ocean-going vessels is far behind trucks. The ports’ presentation argued that “Zero-emission deep-sea shipping is not yet scalable,” and “Clean marine fuels are the most practical near-term solution,” but what that means is hardly straightforward.

While it’s true that shipping lines are investing billions in dual-fuel vessels, 69% of vessels on order are conventional fuel, and 31% are dual-use, of which more than half, 17.4%, is LNG (identified as “the near-term transition fuel,” with “significant carrier investment”), while methanol (“the next wave,” with “strong growth after 2028,” and potentially much cleaner, depending on how it’s produced) is 5.4% and all other fuels combined are 8.1%. Figures for local port calls in 2024 were far lower, however. Out of 3,963 total calls, just 189 (4.77%) were LNG and seven (0.18%) were methanol.

Progress on workforce development comes across as far less speculative. The challenge here is that the ports themselves only employ a small fraction of the workforce in the sector — less than a thousand employees each compared to more than half a million port-related jobs in LA and Orange County. Project labor agreements have played a significant role in the past, and will continue to do so, but beyond that, the Port of Long Beach presented a far more developed approach.

POLA’s presentation highlighted the Goods Movement Workforce Training Facility, a joint project with POLB projected to open in 2029, and the kick-off meeting for its POLA TEACH program aimed at developing curriculum on operations, maintenance and repair of zero-emission trucks and cargo-handling equipment, primarily in partnership with community colleges.

In contrast, POLB walked through its educational programs starting in elementary school, where it reaches 3,000 students per year with field trips, career day and sponsored events, and offering increasingly sophisticated experiences at middle school, high school and beyond, leading to internships, scholarships, certificate programs and on-the-job training. At the high school level, for example, Long Beach has three different specialized programs: ACE Academy at Jordan High School, focused on advanced manufacturing, construction, engineering, the Academy of Global Logistics at Cabrillo High School, focused on global trade and logistics, and NOVA at Poly High School, focused on transportation, energy and environment, including zero emissions.

As always, this CAAP update meeting suffered from the ports’ ongoing failure to provide a comprehensive framework for comparing progress made to what’s required to meet necessary climate goals. But that tragically built-in failure is all the more troubling as the ports keep their heads down, ignoring — at least publicly — the ongoing series of roadblocks the Trump administration continues to throw up.

From Faces of Pedro to Broken Dreams

Melina Paris
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From Faces of Pedro to Broken Dreams

Ray Carofano’s Lens Preserved a Community and Its Humanity

 

Raymond Mason Carofano

Photographer Master Printer

December 7, 1942 — July 15, 2026

 

Ray Carofano was an American photographer who lived and worked in the Los Angeles port town of San Pedro. Ray and his wife, Arnée Carofano, were vital contributors and collaborators in the formation of the San Pedro arts district from the time they moved to town in 1998 and opened Gallery 478, in downtown San Pedro.

Ray and Arnée met on the first day of spring, March 21, 1991, and as Arnée said, that was always the day they remembered as their beginning.

In 2020, writer Bondo Wyszpolski wrote that Ray came to the West Coast in 1966 driving an old Jaguar cross-country. A 50-year career in commercial photography allowed him the freedom to pursue his artistic gift. Wyszpolski went on to characterize how, during the First Thursdays Art Walk, Gallery 478 became the de facto gathering spot “to mix with an eclectic group of artists, musicians and intellectuals to discuss art, politics and enjoy a glass of wine.”

The Carofanos’ dear friend, artist Ron Linden, told Random Lengths News in 2017, “For the first 15 years of this century, the Carofanos’ anchored San Pedro’s budding arts district by inviting cutting-edge artists from across the country to their gallery and hosting regular artist openings. Gallery 478 was not alone in this work, but it did lead the charge.” A number of years later, the Carofanos began to feature more of their own works in their gallery.

Ray was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His career in photography spanned over fifty years. It was first a hobby, then a passion, and finally a profession. His self-education in photography began at an early age when his parents gave him the complete set of The Encyclopedia of Photography. He studied at Quinnipiac College, Southern Connecticut State College and Paier School of Art.

In 1969, he started Ray Carofano Photography Inc., specializing in product photography with special effects. When he wasn’t shooting ads and brochures for clients, he was doing his own personal work. In 1991, he began focusing more on fine artwork and less on commercial work.

Ray’s early work was mostly street photography — marginalized people on the fringes of society inspired by the sight of railroad “hobos” he had witnessed as a boy.

In 1998 he began Faces of Pedro, formal studio portraits of local “characters,” from the port town where he lived. Bill Kouwenhoven, contributing editor to HotShoe Magazine, wrote; “Ray’s portraits are haunted by the haggard visages and dark shadings that speak of those moving through long nights looking for something that was, and might never be again.” Ray’s decades-long Faces of Pedro reflects his ongoing engagement with this early passion.

Ray’s subjects shifted during his career, beginning with figurative subjects and moving towards landscapes and the Mojave Desert. He began capturing desert scenes and the detritus left by long-gone inhabitants. Broken Dreams, his 23-year project, examines the disconnect between the American dream of independence and the realities of social isolation. In Ray’s words, “it’s a place where everything seems a little out of alignment.

“The Broken Dreams series is about the disconnect between the American dream of self-dependency and the realities of social isolation. The images examine places and belongings. They tell more about the people than a portrait can.”

Ray’s black and white photographic portraits of San Pedro residents, past and present, are breathtaking by way of his striking photographic skills and the subjects’ expressions, some of which are confrontational.

Random Lengths reported in 2025, “Through a dance of give and take between photographer and subject, the resulting portraits, some shocking at first glance, are empathetic in Carofano’s hands, and viewers soon understand the vulnerability and complex systems and events that brought these individuals to their circumstances.”

These subjects were further explored in his series Terrene and High Tension. The Terrene photographs reveal Ray’s penchant for documenting the environment as it cycles from life to death, desolation to renewal.

His most recent series, riverrun, shot entirely in color — a departure for Ray — documents the Los Angeles River.

“These are probably the most geometric compositions I have done in a single body of work. I have been thinking about doing a body of work in color for many years, but this work sort of found me,” Ray said of his series.

In April, 2016, Ray released a limited edition book on his riverrun series of the same name, inside which Linden wrote: “riverrun is a suite of photographs capturing seldom-seen images of the fifty-one-mile storm drain that is still flatteringly called the Los Angeles River. Taking “less-picturesque” portions of the river as his subject, Carofano’s carefully framed images reveal the not-so-hidden majesty of the concrete, the smooth lines of the river’s channel, and its functionality. Sophisticated geometry, atmospheric light and color, and rightness of scale lend these images a painterly quality that requires close observation to determine that they are indeed photographs. Conditions considered appalling appear alluring, serene – each image paying homage to the intersection between nature and the designed environment.”

In 2015, RLN arts writer Andrea Serna wrote of riverrun, “[Ray] has experienced his own personal revolution with his move into color, away from representational photography and toward contemporary abstraction. It seems much of this collection could have been created with a paintbrush, rather than a camera.”

Carol McCusker, Curator of the Harn Museum of Art, wrote: “In Carofano’s photography is a sense of deep time, history, erosion, decay, passage and renewal. He takes these abstract ideas and literally allows them to abstract the things he is drawn to. The edges of his world blur, creating images at once literal and metaphoric, apocalyptic and expectant. They are transcendent, reconciling the forces of nature with man’s optimistic attempt at permanence; within each a recurring cycle of cultural death and exultant rebirth.”

Ray’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Texas, Gernsheim Collection, Austin, Texas; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California; Galera de Arde Fotografo, San Miguel Allende, Mexico; Fototeca de Cuba, Havana, Cuba, and many private and corporate collections here and abroad.

Remembrances from the local art community

We really came to know and appreciate Ray’s work when we had the privilege of working on Palos Verdes Art Center’s 2025 retrospective, CHRONICLES: The Photography of Ray Carofano. The show charted his career by showcasing a variety of his photographic suites. What quickly became apparent was that whether it was his hauntingly beautiful landscapes or unflinching portraits of eccentric outsiders and San Pedro locals, Ray’s humanity always shines through. Seeing him at the opening reception pointing at his work with recognition and joy was a real highlight; as was the accompanying panel discussion with the artist, curator Ron Linden, and Arnée Carofano that shed light on his process as both a gifted photographer and master printer.

Gail Phinney, Community Engagement Director, Palos Verdes Art Center, Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education

When I moved to San Pedro, Ray was a name that always came up when people talked about the scene in town. Gallery 478, which he ran with his wife Arnée, helped elevate the local art community, and while Ray moved on, his influence will continue to be felt.

Artist/Gallerist Peter Scherrer, solo. Gallery.

Faces of Pedro [was a] years-long project in which Ray documented many of the unique denizens of the area in downtown San Pedro. Ray was highly sympathetic to the hardships of the homeless and the downtrodden. He put together other volumes of his work, but this may be the one book that most people remember best, largely because of the bank of photographs that adorned one wall in his studio. As a collection, it’s an invaluable piece of history.

Ray said, “I tell people that, if I do photograph you, that means you’re going to be around for a long, long time — long after you’re gone, and even after I’m gone, your photograph’s going to still be here.”

Ray was an integral part of our lives while he was with us, and he’ll remain an integral part of our lives because knowing him was an honor and a gift.

Writer Bondo Wyszpolski

Ray Carofano is a uniquely perceptive and gifted documentarian of the everyday. As a person he was admirable with his adventurous motorcycle and bicycle riding. Also, he was a man of few words, but get him started, there were no wasted words. Ray and Arnée Carofano have been a dynamic force in San Pedro as well as his photography outside of our town. He will be missed.

Artist, Eric Johnson

Back in 2002, while walking around downtown San Pedro, we noticed a large, stunning photograph hanging in a front window on 7th Street. It was Gallery 478. The photograph was a huge leafless tree that only Ray could make so hauntingly beautiful. I’ve not forgotten this photo. We truly admired Ray and his talent. He was an amazing story teller, and fearless, both visually and abstractly.

Artists Anne and Eugene Daub

I knew Ray since I was a kid! He was breaking creative ground doing photojournalistic photography of families (vs. old-style portraiture). After UCSD, Ray hired me as his assistant and taught me to print black and white. Ray’s incredible camera virtuosity was mind-bending. In those early days, Ray was already known to be a dark room magician, alchemically weaving his eyes and hands with chemicals, light, paper and film to create impeccable prints.

Throughout my career I’ve had people say to me – how can you see the grey scale that way?! I always say – Ray Carofano. I worked with Ray many times, and could always depend on his integrity and quality workmanship. The last time being when we tackled some very difficult photos from the Armenian Genocide for Crows of the Desert.

Ray was such a good guy. He and his wife Arnée were so generous with other artists. I feel sad that such a lovely spirit is gone now, but his work and our memories live on.

Emmy Winning Filmmaker Marta Houske

 Ray Carofano is survived by his wife “Arnée” Nancy Carofano, his son Tracy and daughter Krista, Arnée’s two sons Robert McCann and Michael Corey McCann and four grandchildren, Haley Rae Carofano, Simone, Sebastien and Christian McCann, and two cousins, Franklin (Franco) Carofano and Gail Murdough.

Troy Jackson, Working Class Hero For Senate

Paul Rosenberg
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Troy Jackson, Working Class Hero For Senate

When Maine Democrats replaced U.S. Senate candidate Graham Platner with Troy Jackson on June 25, they traded in a would-be working class hero for the real deal. Platner played the part extremely well on social media, but had never been in a political fight before. Jackson, a fifth-generation logger, was born into the fight.

He saw his first strike when he was in 7th grade. In 1998, he came to public prominence as a leader of a week-long blockade, when 14 Maine loggers physically blocked low-paid Canadian loggers from crossing the border at three border checkpoints. At the time, the Bangor Daily News reported, “Of the 680 logging jobs offered by 40 timber companies in Aroostook County [Maine’s largest, northenmost county] in the past year, 18 have gone to Mainers and 662 have gone to Canadians.”

Twenty-one years later, as president of Maine’s Senate, a bill he sponsored finally gave loggers and haulers the right to unionize — similar to the struggle to get workers’ rights for port truckers, since they, too, were misclassified as independent contractors. So when he speaks, it’s not just words.

“We’ve been robbed of so many things in this world by the people who control it,” Jackson said, beginning his first speech as the official party candidate. “And what little time we have is being stolen by an oligarchy who see us as nothing more than a commodity. You know, we’re seeing a movement of everyday working-class people, people that have been left behind, people that don’t have health insurance, people that don’t have childcare, people that are looking for a government that’s going to fight for them. Together, we can fix what’s broken in Washington. We can pass Medicare for all. We can take on corporate power and the politicians in their pocket. We can create the future Mainers and Americans deserve.”

As his campaign website explains, his first taste of the fight came when he was in 7th grade:

His dad and his fellow loggers were standing up to a wealthy landowner who thought he could squeeze them for more. They weren’t asking for any special treatment or a pay raise — they were just asking for basic fairness.

He told them: Do the work for what I’ll pay you today, or I’ll replace you tomorrow. That was the familiar situation of powerlessness that Jackson was born into. And it only grew worse over time as he followed in his father’s footsteps. In a 2019 op-ed, he explained:

By the time I was working in the woods, large landowners had already systemically stripped away workers’ rights by making loggers and haulers independent contractors instead of employees. …

The blockade was the product of generations’ worth of resentment among loggers and haulers, who were just trying to make a living. …

Things came to a head in October 1998, when we blocked the border to protest the illegal hiring of Canadian loggers over hardworking Mainers. Canadian loggers could work for less due to the exchange rate and their national health care system. We couldn’t compete. Landowners pitted workers against each other to grow their profits.

The blockade came about after everything else had failed. The group of loggers Jackson led “filed like 137 complaints to the U.S Department of Labor and every single one of those 137 complaints get denied,” he said in a 2020 YouTube video about the blockade.

The Canadian loggers came in under the H-2A visa program, which requires employers to file an application “stating, among other things, that there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available, and that the employment of aliens will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers similarly employed in the U.S.,” according to the Department of Labor’s website.

But it’s absurd to believe this could be true, as forestry expert Mitch Lansky noted in the aftermath of the blockade:

If half the logging jobs in northern Maine have been eliminated by mechanization over the last 15 years, why isn’t there a surplus rather than a shortage of Maine workers?

Why, in the face of high unemployment in northern Maine, has the number of Canadian workers increased rather than decreased?

If there is a shortage of labor, why don’t companies pay higher wages and offer better working conditions rather than allow logging wages to decline relative to average wages statewide?

The blockade was a turning point in Jackson’s life. As explained on his campaign website:

Politicians — including then-first-term Senator Susan Collins — promised to listen, but they left Troy and his fellow loggers high and dry. After that experience, he realized nothing would change for him or anyone else like him unless there was a working class voice in the room when decisions got made. So he ran for the Maine state legislature.

As Random Lengths has reported in our Project Censored coverage, “People considered ‘working class’ make up half the country’s labor force, but only 1.6 percent of state lawmakers,” which “seriously distorts the legislative process, both in terms of issues considered and solutions proposed.” So Jackson faced seriously long odds when he first ran for a state house seat. In fact, he lost on his first try in 2000, running as a Republican, but won on his second try as an independent in 2002, in what The Bangor Daily News called the biggest upset of the 2002 elections in Maine.

Jackson re-registered as a Democrat before running again in 2004, ran successfully for a state senate seat in 2008, became majority leader in 2013, and senate president in 2018, leadership positions that are almost never held by working-class politicians. But he didn’t just hold high office; he got things done.

“In the legislature, Troy fought hard to lower prescription drug prices successfully, passed universal school meals, protected union jobs, expanded rural health care, delivered property tax relief, safeguarded our environment, and championed and passed some of the strongest reproductive health protections anywhere in the country,” his website sums up.

But given his roots, one accomplishment deserves special attention: a 2019 bill he sponsored allowing loggers and wood haulers to unionize.

“For too long, Maine loggers and wood haulers have been taken advantage of by large landowners, who hold significant power over these workers and their ability to provide for their families. This bill will right this wrong by giving these workers the same rights as everybody else,” Jackson said at the time. “LD 1459 will ensure that loggers and haulers finally get what they deserve — a fair shot to have strong wages, reasonable hours and safe work environments.”

With just over three months left til the November election, Jackson faces a tough uphill fight, despite a slight lead over incumbent Susan Collins in the polls. That’s because of the massive cash advantage Collins enjoys — and can readily expand thanks to what the New York Times described as “a towering Republican super PAC apparatus that is intent on re-electing Senator Susan Collins,” consisting of “a web of deep-pocketed outside groups, funded largely by billionaire megadonors,” that will “spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising promoting her and attacking the Democratic nominee.”

While Jackson is sure to be vastly outspent, he’s accustomed to the David-vs-Goliath role and confident that a broad small-donor base can raise enough to cut through the avalanche of lies ahead. His campaign raised roughly $2 million from about 30,000 donors in the first 24 hours after his nomination Saturday, according to figures his campaign shared Sunday night.

“I’m humbled beyond words by the tens of thousands of people who have stepped up to become part of this campaign,” Jackson said in a statement. “Every contribution — whether it was five dollars, twenty dollars, or more — is a vote of confidence in the working-class movement we’re building together,” he said. “I’m grateful to every person who has chipped in, volunteered, or told a neighbor about this campaign. This belongs to all of you.”

From Defender to Enforcer: Marissa Roy’s Case for a More Activist City Attorney

Terelle Jerricks
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From Defender to Enforcer: Marissa Roy’s Case for a More Activist City Attorney
Video Interview: https://youtu.be/3jBBGasSaWs

An incumbent probably has to be a special kind of terrible at her job in our top-two primary system to come in third — even more to draw criticism from across the political spectrum.

Hydee Feldstein Soto entered office framing herself as an independent legal professional — an outsider to City Hall politics who could bring managerial discipline, legal expertise and problem-solving skills to a troubled city government.

A fixer.

But a fixer, she was not.

Critics have accused Feldstein Soto of taking too many cases to trial rather than settling, increasing the city’s liability costs. During her tenure, the city faced several multimillion-dollarjury verdicts, raising questions about litigation strategy and whether earlier intervention could have reduced financial exposure.

A manager? Apparently not.

Former and current prosecutors have alleged retaliation against employees who questioned prosecutorial decisions. Former supervising attorney Michelle McGinnis filed legal claims alleging ethical violations, improper political considerations in charging decisions and retaliatory employment actions.

Independent? Questionable.

Among the most serious allegations Feldstein Soto has faced are claims that prosecutors were directed to dismiss or alter cases involving campaign donors. Internal communications obtained by reporters showed career prosecutors objecting to the dismissal of at least one price-gouging case involving political contributors.

Professional? Perhaps. Public protector, not so much.

Tenant advocates criticized her office’s refusal to approve several contracts supporting eviction defense services and rental assistance programs. Housing advocates also criticized her office’s legal opposition to affordable housing projects, including the controversial Venice Dell Community development, arguing that those actions obstructed voter-approved housing policies.

Civil liberties groups and progressive organizations have criticized her office for prosecuting protesters involved in demonstrations related to housing, policing and Palestine, arguing that those prosecutions risked criminalizing political expression.

And as Feldstein Soto sought reelection, she opposed recommendations from the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission that would have separated the city’s civil legal representation from its prosecutorial functions.

With that record in mind, Random Lengths interviewed Marissa Roy and potentially runner up John McKinney (when he agrees to an interview with RLn) through the standard Feldstein Soto established.

Marissa Roy, a public interest attorney, argues that she is not simply offering a vision for the office — she has already done the work she wants to bring to the City Attorney’s Office.

Roy describes her career as focused on consumer protection, workers’ rights, civil rights and government accountability. A former attorney with the California Department of Justice and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, she has litigated cases involving wage theft, tenant protections, corporate misconduct and public-interest enforcement. She also worked with the Public Rights Project, advising local governments on constitutional issues and legal challenges.

Her campaign centers on transforming the City Attorney’s Office from a largely reactive institution into a proactive force for protecting residents and holding powerful interests accountable.

“The city attorney has the powers of any business or anything that is unlawful, unfair, deceptive,” Roy said, arguing that the office has authority similar to the state Attorney General’s Office in consumer protection matters.

She said the office could pursue cases involving companies that exploit workers, harm tenants, dump toxic chemicals, or engage in deceptive practices — then reinvest recovered funds into communities harmed by those actions.

At one point, Roy contrasted that vision with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, saying, “It would be great if the district attorney would do that. But it’s a question [of] political will. The district attorney could be doing that, but chooses not to.”

Roy argued that Los Angeles has underused the city attorney’s consumer protection authority and needs an office willing to aggressively pursue public-interest litigation.

 

Protecting Local Government Authority

Another central theme of Roy’s campaign is defending local government authority against federal overreach.

Drawing from her experience representing Los Angeles County in legal challenges against federal actions, Roy argued that cities and states must defend their constitutional authority when the federal government attempts to use funding threats or regulatory pressure to influence local decisions.

She pointed to conflicts with the Trump administration over attempts to withhold federal grants as an example of why cities need strong legal representation.

Roy argued that federalism protections are not partisan issues but constitutional safeguards designed to preserve the ability of states and local governments to govern themselves.

She said Los Angeles should join other California jurisdictions that have challenged federal policies involving immigration enforcement, public safety, health care and research funding.

 

A More Community-Centered City Attorney

Roy also argued that the City Attorney’s Office should have a stronger relationship with neighborhood councils and local communities.

She described neighborhood councils as an important civic resource that can connect residents with city government, particularly on issues involving immigrant rights, public safety and access to information.

Roy criticized instances where community efforts to distribute “know your rights” information faced resistance from city prosecutors, arguing that the City Attorney’s Office should not act as an obstacle to community outreach.

She proposed restoring and expanding the neighborhood prosecutor model by adding attorneys, investigators and community outreach specialists who could work directly with residents to develop public safety strategies.

For Roy, the City Attorney’s Office should be visible and accessible — not an institution that operates primarily from City Hall.

 

Police Accountability and Litigation Management

Roy argued that the City Attorney’s Office should do more than defend the city after misconduct occurs. It should help prevent lawsuits by identifying risks, improving compliance and ensuring departments follow constitutional requirements.

She criticized what she described as a narrow approach to police accountability that focuses on defending agencies rather than addressing the underlying conduct that leads to litigation.

Roy pointed to lawsuits involving Los Angeles Police Department protest responses as examples where earlier legal guidance and intervention could have prevented future violations.

“The best way to defend your client is to prevent the lawsuit,” she argued.

She said the city attorney should work with the Police Commission, LAPD leadership, City Council, and other departments to identify patterns of misconduct and develop corrective strategies.

If departments fail to address violations, Roy said the office must be willing to use legal tools — including court action — to compel compliance.

 

Reducing City Liability Costs

Roy also framed rising city liability costs as a management problem.

She criticized what she described as excessive reliance on outside legal firms, costly settlements and judgments that could have been avoided through better oversight.

Her approach would involve analyzing recurring lawsuits, identifying patterns and developing protocols to prevent future claims.

Roy said the city attorney should work with the city controller, department leaders, and the City Council to determine where the city is vulnerable and address problems before they become expensive legal battles.

She argued that investing in compliance, training, and infrastructure can ultimately save taxpayers money.

 

Public Interest vs. Corporate Influence

Ultimately, Roy framed her campaign as a choice between two visions of the City Attorney’s Office.

One, she argued, maintains the status quo and protects powerful interests.

The other uses government authority to defend workers, tenants, consumers and vulnerable communities.

Roy said Los Angeles already has strong laws protecting residents — but those protections mean little without enforcement.

Her message is that the City Attorney’s Office should not simply defend the city when problems arise. It should use its legal authority to prevent harm, hold institutions accountable and serve the public interest.

Betye Saar, Pioneering Assemblage Artist and Voice of Black Feminist Art, Dies at 99

Reporters Desk
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Betye Saar, Pioneering Assemblage Artist and Voice of Black Feminist Art, Dies at 99

 

July 30 1926 – July 26, 2026

 

My secret heart bridges memory and vision.

 

Over the course of a career spanning seven decades, Betye Saar created a powerful body of multimedia collages, box assemblages, altars, and site-specific installations in which she addressed themes of race, gender, religion, and power, as well as personal, historical, and collective memory. A leading figure of assemblage art, Saar was crucial to the Black Arts Movement and second-wave feminism. She was also a proud Californian, a loving mother, a curious traveler, and intensely spiritual—and spirited. In a 1993 poem, Saar expressed her artistic vision, process, and purpose, all of which were strongly guided by a sense of intuition she termed “mother-wit”:

 

My secret heart is seduced by twilight.

It remembers the colors of dreams.

It longs for solitude and the exotic.

My secret heart is a wanderer.

It sails the sea of imagination.

It soars beyond the clouds, seeking the mysterious.

It moves through time (dreamtime) and space (mindspace).

My secret heart seeks the dusty, musty forgotten corners.

It constantly haunts, hunts, collects, gathers objects, images, feelings.

It mixes, matches, embellishes, simplifies, camouflages, fabricates to empower the ordinary, to invent artifacts.

My secret heart bridges memory and vision.

It pays homage to lost rituals of unknown civilizations.

It expands horizons only to condense them into a frame, a box, a room.

My secret heart is ageless.

It beats within the rainbow babe in the woods.

It dwells in the house of whispers.

From Dockside to Shoreline

Reporters Desk
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From Dockside to Shoreline

Four Harbor Restaurants Worth Visiting at Happy Hour

By Gretchen Williams, Columnist

Long summer evenings are perfect for alfresco dining and drinks. Across the harbor, happy hour is the happiest time of day.

For handcrafted cocktails and exceptional seafood snacks, Trani’s Dockside is a must-visit. The Trani family cocktail tradition dates to the 1930s at the original Majestic Cafe on Seventh Street. Legend has it that when Humphrey Bogart and his sailing party stopped in for Manhattans, Filippo Trani called the Norwegian ship chandler next door to mix the drinks because the Majestic typically served only beer and boilermakers.

Today, Dockside continues that tradition with a polished cocktail program that pairs perfectly with its impressive raw bar. Fresh oysters are shucked daily, including varieties such as the aptly named Summer Love from Prince Edward Island. Baja ceviche features fresh Alaskan halibut, while the bluefin tuna tostada combines green apple, radish and ponzu for a bright, crunchy bite.

Delicate stuffed squash blossoms offer a true taste of summer. Trani’s signature “New Style” calamari showcases local squid with Thai aioli, purple basil and sesame for a distinctive take on a classic appetizer.

Located on the waterfront across from the Municipal Fish Market on 22nd Street, Dockside offers one of San Pedro’s most memorable happy hour settings.

Trani’s Dockside
311 E. 22nd St.
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-833-1188

 

The Whale & Ale is the neighborhood pub everyone wishes they had — warm, cozy and welcoming. Its handsome bar features an extensive selection of spirits alongside rotating draft beers that satisfy every beer enthusiast.

The menu celebrates classic pub fare. The restaurant’s legendary fish and chips feature flaky fish paired with crisp pub potatoes. Tuna tartare, topped with scallions, is a refreshing choice on a warm afternoon, while Mum’s Blooming Onion is a fun, shareable favorite that’s even better with a cold pint.

The Whale & Ale salad combines fresh greens, mandarin oranges, feta cheese and candied pecans with the house’s creamy ranch-style dressing. Traditional New England clam chowder is rich, comforting and loaded with clams.

The Whale & Ale burger remains one of the Harbor Area’s favorites, featuring Angus beef on a brioche bun with lettuce, tomato and onion. Every neighborhood should be lucky enough to have a pub like this.

Whale & Ale Pub
327 W. Seventh St.
San Pedro, CA 90731
424-264-5115

 

Parker’s Lighthouse sits at the heart of Long Beach’s waterfront entertainment district, overlooking Rainbow Harbor, the Catalina Landing terminal and the Queen Mary.

The harbor views are reason enough to visit, but the weekday happy hour, offered from 3 to 6 p.m., is equally enticing. Cocktails and wines are $10, while craft draft beers are $7.50.

Happy hour appetizers are all priced under $20 and include favorites such as crispy calamari, shrimp scampi, Manila clams, Brussels sprouts, garlic cheese bread and a half-pound Angus burger. Sushi rolls and sashimi round out the menu, but the hidden gem may be the lobster or shrimp taquitos — a standout choice.

Parker’s Lighthouse
435 Shoreline Village Drive
Long Beach, CA 90802
562-432-6500

22nd Street Landing

Twenty-Second Street Landing is a San Pedro classic overlooking the sportfishing docks near Cabrillo Beach. With Olympic sailing events set to take place nearby in 2028, the restaurant’s waterfront setting is poised to become an even more popular destination.

Long a gathering place for fishermen, sailors and generations of waterfront workers, the Landing evokes the feel of San Francisco’s North Beach with its tile floors, ceiling fans and tall windows overlooking the harbor.

The appetizer menu is equally inviting. Classic Oysters Rockefeller are expertly prepared, while seafood-stuffed mushrooms arrive filled with shrimp and crab, lightly topped with cheese and broiled until golden. Maryland-style blue crab cakes are generously packed with crab and sautéed to a crisp finish. The lobster bisque is velvety, rich and full of flavor.

The menu also features an abundance of fresh seafood, including clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp cocktail, seared ahi tuna and the day’s catch. Whether you’re stopping in for cocktails, appetizers or a sunset view, 22nd Street Landing remains one of the harbor’s enduring favorites.

22nd Street Landing
141 W. 22nd St.
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-548-4400

A Bridge Too Low for the Future?

Terelle Jerricks
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A Bridge Too Low for the Future?

 

Port Launches Plans to Replace Vincent Thomas Bridge

The Port of Los Angeles’ announcement last week of a memorandum of understanding to begin planning for the replacement of the Vincent Thomas Bridge surprised many Harbor Area residents who believed they had already endured their last major disruption from the landmark span.

The announcement came as the region prepares for the Vincent Thomas Bridge Deck Replacement Project, a 16-month closure scheduled to begin Nov. 1, 2026, bringing traffic detours, road closures and construction impacts to San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City and surrounding communities.

Councilman Tim McOsker, who previously pressed Caltrans to address resident concerns during the earlier planning for what he called “Harborgeddon,” acknowledged that the immediate priority for residents is managing those impacts. But he argued that officials must address both the bridge’s current needs and its long-term future.

McOsker praised Caltrans, particularly District 7 Director Gloria Roberts, for responding to community concerns during the environmental review process and committing to mitigation measures. Those commitments include resurfacing detour routes, enforcing truck routes, providing advance notice of closures, and making additional roadway improvements after the bridge reopens.

He emphasized that Wilmington and Harbor City will experience a disproportionate share of construction impacts and said those communities must receive equitable treatment throughout the project.

The deck replacement project has been in development for several years. In April 2024, Caltrans released its draft environmental impact report/environmental assessment and began a public comment period. By October 2024, Caltrans selected a full bridge closure as the preferred construction approach. Preparatory work began in late 2025, with pre-closure activities underway in 2026. The bridge is expected to reopen in March 2028, before the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

But the question remains: Why replace the bridge now?

Port officials said the answer lies in the changing demands of global shipping. Initially, the environmental review process focused on repairing and rehabilitating the existing bridge — not replacing it. According to Port Executive Director Gene Seroka, officials later explored whether the existing bridge could be modified to accommodate larger vessels but determined that option was not feasible.

“The iconic Vincent Thomas Bridge needed to be fixed,” Seroka said. “We had a plan as a state to make that bridge safe through a re-decking or resurfacing project.”

At the same time, he said officials examined whether the bridge could be raised to accommodate larger ships.

“We thought, ‘I wonder if we could lift this bridge because the ships are bigger,’ and we looked at this back and forth, and it just didn’t work out,” Seroka said.

The port is committing $5 million to begin engineering studies, environmental analysis, financial planning and community outreach for a potential replacement.

Seroka said a new bridge would address a major limitation: the current bridge’s 185-foot clearance prevents some of the world’s largest cargo vessels from reaching terminals north of the span, restricting access to nearly 40% of the port’s container capacity.

He said removing that bottleneck could increase cargo movement by more than 1 million 20-foot equivalent units annually and support an estimated 144,000 to 150,000 jobs. A new bridge could also include additional lanes, emergency shoulders and modern safety features while allowing newer, cleaner vessels to access more of the port’s facilities.

McOsker compared the strategy to repairing an aging air-conditioning system while preparing to replace it.

“We are making repairs to make sure that we can safely move our goods, and more importantly, ourselves and our families across this bridge,” he said. “But we are also preparing for that next air conditioner.”

He acknowledged the deep emotional connection Harbor Area residents have with the Vincent Thomas Bridge, which has been a regional landmark since opening in 1963. Any future replacement, he said, must include a transparent public process that respects the bridge’s history while preparing for future needs.

The memorandum of understanding does not approve construction of a new bridge. Instead, it begins a multiyear process of study, environmental review, financing and public engagement.

Officials said the goal is to balance the needs of residents, workers, businesses, and the port itself — repairing the bridge that serves the community today while planning for the infrastructure the region will need for generations to come.

Waiting For The Right Shot: What Alan Collela Taught Me About Mindfulness, Art and Hunger

Reporters Desk
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Waiting For The Right Shot: What Alan Collela Taught Me About Mindfulness, Art and Hunger

By Devonte Barr, Columnist

Alan Collela turned 80 this past July. I turned 30 this year. When I walked into his barbershop in San Pedro on June 13, he was finishing a haircut for a man who looked about his age. Alan glanced up and said, “You must be the editor.”

“No,” I said. “I’m the writer.”

He nodded slowly, the way people do when they’re recalibrating an assumption. The man in the chair studied me in the mirror. I could feel the gap — not just in age, but in the unspoken calculus of who gets to tell whose story.

Alan has been cutting hair in San Pedro for decades, but that’s not why I was there. For over 50 years, he was one of the most successful paparazzi photographers in Los Angeles. They call him the godfather of paparazzi. He shot Natalie Wood, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, Elizabeth Taylor. He was there when the golden age of Hollywood was in its zenith; a single photograph could pay rent for months, film was expensive, and patience was built into the medium.

I had come to ask him about all of that. What I didn’t realize was that the story I expected diverged sharply from what I actually got.

The man in the chair, a longtime friend who’d known Alan for years, occasionally filled in details or clarified a point. At one point, the driver said something that stuck with me: “He knew where to go before that person moved.”

A recurring theme for Alan is his uncanny patience.

“I was polite,” Alan said. “I’d ask permission. ‘Can I take your picture?’ Most of the time, they’d say yes. If they said no, I’d wait. Maybe later they’d change their mind.”

But politeness alone didn’t get him into the rooms where the photographs happened. Alan had cultivated relationships with well-connected photography agents who knew which parties allowed cameras, which events were worth covering, which venues would grant him access. He understood the architecture of Hollywood — not just the geography of restaurants and hotels, but the social hierarchy that determined who could move through those spaces. He gained entry through calculated intelligence: knowing which agents to work with, understanding which events would yield the best subjects, positioning himself strategically so that when a celebrity arrived, he was already there, already positioned, already waiting.

This is not how people imagine paparazzi. The popular image is frantic, aggressive, invasive — photographers swarming like hornets, shouting, blocking exits. Alan’s approach was the opposite. Restraint and courtesy were deliberate, active strategies. He treated his subjects like people, not trophies, because he understood that if you wanted a good photograph, you had to earn it. The politeness was calculated. The patience was deliberate. The positioning was intelligent.

“Marlon Brando once told me, ‘I’m an artist,'” Alan said. “I told him, ‘I’m an artist too. These are my tools.’ He let me take the picture.”

That exchange may be the clearest distillation of Alan’s philosophy. Alan preferred to wait for the right shot. What mattered was restraint. Alan knew that the best photographs weren’t forced. They appeared, and if you were patient enough, if you were paying attention, you could catch them.

But restraint also meant knowing when not to shoot. Once, Alan approached Paul Newman while the actor was trying to reach a restroom. Newman declined politely, explaining he wouldn’t stop for a photograph under those circumstances. Alan considered following him but didn’t. He respected the boundary. That refusal exemplified his philosophy.

The walls of the barbershop are covered with photographs — decades of Hollywood history, framed and hung in no particular order. Alan pointed to one of Natalie Wood.

“She lost an earring once,” he said. “I found it and gave it back to her. She was so grateful.”

He told me about Tom Hanks, who patiently posed while a crowd gathered around him.

He told me about Chris Farley, who was kind and funny and died too young.

What these stories held were people. Alan remembered the small gestures, the moments of decency, the times when someone treated him like a human being and he returned the favor.

His philosophy worked precisely because it wasn’t sentimental. Alan once photographed Brooke Shields at a Beverly Hills Hotel event. The single image circulated internationally and earned him approximately $37,000. That resulted from positioning himself correctly, asking permission, treating his subject with respect — and getting a photograph that mattered because it was genuine.

Another night, he photographed Jack Nicholson outside Mr. Chow restaurant on Camden Drive. Nicholson was turning over his shoulder in profile, and Alan had positioned himself so that a reflection in the restaurant’s glass created a striking double image. It was the kind of photograph that only appeared if you understood composition, if you knew where to stand, if you were paying attention to the light and the geometry of the moment. Restraint and respect led to excellence, not mediocrity. His method worked because it was built on seeing clearly.

Alan shot on film for most of his career. That meant every frame cost money. Every roll had a limit. You couldn’t just hold down the shutter and hope something good appeared in the sequence. You had to think before you shot.

“You had to see the photograph in your mind first,” Alan said. “You had to know what you were looking for.”

Digital photography changed that. Suddenly, you could take a thousand pictures and delete the bad ones. The cost of failure disappeared. But so did the discipline.

Alan adapted, but he never stopped thinking like a film photographer. He still waited. He still asked permission. He still treated the photograph as something that had to be earned, not extracted. This discipline was possible partly because he wasn’t chasing celebrity out of desperation. He financed much of his collecting and photography through consistent work as a barber, which gave him a dependable income and the independence to pursue photography on his own terms. He had another life, which meant he could afford to be patient.

We had been talking for about two hours when Alan turned the questions around.

“What about you?” he said. “What’s your story?”

I wasn’t expecting that. Most interviews don’t work this way. The subject answers, the writer listens, and the power dynamic stays fixed. But Alan was curious. He wanted to know why I was there, what I was doing in San Pedro, how I ended up writing.

I told him. I told him about losing my job, about moving to San Pedro because it was cheap, about trying to build a writing career while feeling uncertain about everything. I told him about discovering writing in college, about how it was the first thing that made sense to me.

Alan listened. Then he said, “Sometimes you need to be hungry.”

It was an observation, not advice. He’d seen it before — people who found their path only after circumstances forced them onto it. Comfort can delay purpose. Hunger clarifies it.

Alan knew this from his own life. He grew up with an abusive stepfather, and confidence didn’t arrive until his mid-thirties. He understood what it meant to struggle, to feel lost, to have circumstances push you toward something you didn’t yet recognize as your own. His observation came from decades of delayed self-belief and the slow accumulation of work that eventually became a career.

Alan didn’t become the godfather of paparazzi overnight. He showed up. Day after day, year after year. He went to the restaurants, the premieres, the hotels. He positioned himself and waited — eventually, all of it showing up and accumulating into a career.

Listening to Alan describe his career, I couldn’t help noticing the similarity. Photographs accumulate the same way articles do — one assignment at a time.

Before I left, Alan drifted back into another story. Then another. A photograph of Natalie Wood. A memory of Steve McQueen. A restaurant that no longer exists. A celebrity who remembered his name years later.

At 80 years old, Alan Collela still cuts hair in San Pedro. The walls around him are crowded with half a century of photographs, but he speaks about them less as trophies than encounters.

The driver had said it hours earlier.

“He knew where to go before that person moved.”

The abundance of celebrity candids verifies that this is his gift.

Looking around the barbershop, surrounded by half a century of photographs, I realized that knowing where to be had never been about photography. It had been about attention — the willingness to look closely, to wait, to see what was actually in front of you.

Fortnight: An Intimate Concert Experience Beneath the Bluff

Melina Paris
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Fortnight: An Intimate Concert Experience Beneath the Bluff

 

Summer nights provide the perfect backdrop for a unique live music experience. With that in mind, it is time once again for the Fortnight Concert series at Angels Gate Cultural Center. This intimate series takes place in a World War 1 tunnel leading to Battery Leary-Merriam, which accommodates only 40 guests.

Fortnight concerts, hosted by musician, master designer and craftsman Harold Greene, provide the opportunity for music lovers to experience the artist’s performance up close and personal. This acoustic bunker, located in Battery Leary at the former Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California, encourages conversation between the performers and their audience as if you were in their living room.

This summer, Fortnight will take place over one weekend, beginning Aug. 14 with Stick Night, a tribute to Emmet Chapman, inventor of the Chapman Stick. Several stick players will perform solo, as duos and trios backed up by Rogerio Jardim, drummer of Infected Mushroom. Stick player Nima Rezai will join as well to honor the late Emmet Chapman. Greene noted in an Instagram post to expect some unusual and unique original music and stories about Emmet.

Note: Stick Night has already sold out, but there are two more very special concerts to enjoy.

Casey L
Singer/songwriter, bassist Casey Lipka performs at 8 p.m., Aug. 15

On Saturday evening, Aug. 15, singer, songwriter and bassist Casey Lipka will perform. Her crystal clear voice and expressive bass will very likely soothe your soul on this balmy August evening.

To close the series, on Aug. 16, Fortnight presents the Valley String Quartet for its first ever Sunday afternoon concert.

The quartet, led by cellist Benz Marston Duglio, features Shynar Nagimova – violin, Noah Cisneros – violin, and Nic Lampert – viola, performing Dvorak’s American Quartet, Beethoven and pop arrangements.

Links for tickets:

Casey Lipka Aug. 8 p.m., Aug. 15
https://tinyurl.com/CaseyLipka

The Valley String Quartet 2 p.m., Aug. 16
https://tinyurl.com/ValleyString

Details: https://tinyurl.com/Fortnight2025

County of Los Angeles Fire Department Releases the Investigative Reports on Cause of Eaton Fire

Reporters Desk
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County of Los Angeles Fire Department Releases the Investigative Reports on Cause of Eaton Fire

 

LOS ANGELES —The County of Los Angeles Fire Department or LACoFD is releasing initial and supplemental investigative reports* identifying the origin and cause of the deadly and destructive Eaton Fire that started on Jan. 7, 2025. The Eaton Fire tragically took the lives of 19 people and destroyed or damaged over 9,000 homes and businesses, changing the lives of those affected forever.

Access the reports here.

The LACoFD Arson Fire Investigation Unit jointly conducted the investigation with CAL FIRE. After 18 months of thorough review of all evidence, alongside retained electrical and metallurgical experts, the investigation concluded that the cause of the wildfire conflagration was due to the electrical arcing events that took place on the out-of-service Southern California Edison or SCE tower.

Fire investigators, using the NWCG investigative methodology, found that the area of the Eaton Fire origin was on the dry receptive fuel bed below the SCE transmission towers on the spur ridge above the Eaton Wash.

Pursuant to the California Public Utilities Code, SCE is to maintain and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that would minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by them.

“I recognize that no report or investigation into the Eaton Fire can ease the deep pain and tragedy our residents have endured,” said Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone. “While the cause has been determined, our focus remains on assisting our residents to rebuild their homes and livelihoods, and ensuring lessons learned drive meaningful and impactful change in memory of the 19 lives lost.”

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