Public Health Introduces Community Readiness Champions Initiative; More Than 500,000 County Residents Trained in Hands-Only CPR in 2023
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health in April is launching the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, a campaign aimed to train residents and workers in multiple essential life-saving skills.
This initiative includes Hands-only CPR/AED or Automated External Defibrillator awareness, STOP THE BLEED®, mental health first aid, and Naloxone training. The goal is to equip county residents and workers with lifesaving skills needed during emergencies or disasters where emergency services may be delayed.
A series of in-person and online trainings will be available for the public through Los Angeles County. For more information on the Community Readiness Champions Initiative, click here.
This new initiative comes after 506,332 Los Angeles County residents were trained in hands-only CPR in 2023.
LOS ANGELES— The Port of LA is the busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere. The Vincent Thomas Bridge, which opened in 1963, handles a daily traffic load of 53,000 vehicles, with 8.8% of that — or about 4,664 — being heavy trucks. In April, councilmember Mcosker introduced a motion calling for an analysis of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in an effort to prevent a tragedy similar to the one that brought down the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. McOsker is also calling for a report on the existing coordinated emergency planning response plans, should such an event similar to the collapse of the Baltimore bridge occur in the San Pedro Bay Complex.
Mayor’s Executive Directive 4 is Breaking Down Multiple Barriers for Small Business
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Karen Bass April 18 announced progress in opening Los Angeles for business by expanding city departments’ services for small businesses and improving the experience of doing business with the city.
Making it easier to open and expand businesses:
The Bureau of Contract Administration has increased staffing and expanded scheduling from two days per week to four days per week for the virtual project assistance meetings (PAM) Desk to make it easier for business owners to ask questions and receive guidance on public works permit requirements..
Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment is maintaining same day review for most of their services and seeing increased demand.
On Feb. 20, Mayor Bass approved an ordinance to exempt small scale development projects from the Low Impact Development or LID permit, which will streamline plan review processes and support development of small businesses and affordable housing while focusing on the environmental impacts of larger scale projects.
The Department of Building and Safety added staff to help execute the restaurant and small business express program which helps facilitate the approval process for all restaurants and other small businesses such as retail and barber shops.
The Bureau of Streets Services opened a public counter in Van Nuys for walk-in assistance for street vendors.
Improving the experience of doing business with the city:
Departments involved in executive directive 4 have adopted strategies to help expedite internal review processes and are aiming to finalize the reviewing and processing of invoices that are submitted correctly in less than 45 days. This is a priority shift since Mayor Bass issued the directive, an important step to ensure small businesses with less cash on hand will be paid more quickly when doing business with the city.
The office of community beautification within the Board of Public Works, between July 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, managed to slash the average time taken to settle invoices with contractors by 50%, compared to the previous year’s performance.
The Mayor’s Office will continue to review and assess processes, timelines, taxes, and fees that create barriers for entrepreneurs and small businesses; evaluating how departments can improve businesses’ engagement with the city and gathering feedback from the business community to advance priorities. The steering committee will submit regular reports to the mayor’s office to track progress and identify additional areas of improvement.
Mayor Bass signed Executive Directive 4 in June 2023. The directive instructed the mayor’s office in collaboration with select city departments and bureaus to form the Los Angeles business steering committee to identify barriers to business development and growth. It also instructed the committee to conduct its initial findings and report back within 90 days of the issuance of the directive. Read the 90-Day Progress Report here and Report Summary here.
Mayor Bass Announces Recommendation of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power CEO & General Manager
LOS ANGELES – Following a nationwide search, Mayor Karen Bass announced April 19 that she has recommended Janisse Quiñones, PE to serve as the new CEO & general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power or LADWP and lead the department through the transition toward 100% clean energy by 2035.
Janisse Quiñones brings more than 25 years of leadership experience as a senior executive in utility and engineering industries where she managed large-scale operations in order to deliver reliable service to customers, prioritized the safety of workers on the job and directed improvements that made electrical infrastructure more resilient.
Quiñones most recently served as senior vice president of electric operations at Pacific Gas and Electric or PG&E. At PG&E, Quiñones was responsible for the territory’s electrical system operations and the power generation fleet as well as the management of electrical assets that support the California independent system operator. Prior to that role, Quiñones served as senior vice president of gas engineering for PG&E and as the vice president of gas systems engineering for National Grid, vice president of operations for Cobra Acquisitions and director of design, planning, construction & vegetation management as part of her nine years of work at San Diego Gas & Electric or SDG&E, after she left full time military service. At SDG&E, Quiñones managed the majority of the company’s gas and electric distribution capital construction.
While Quiñones has extensive experience managing large scale gas and electric companies, she also serves as a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves assigned to USCG District 11 and as the USCG emergency preparedness liaison officer where she is responsible for managing local, state and federal emergencies. Starting in 2004, Quiñones served as engineering officer and through her work for the United States Coast Guard, Quiñones has shown her strong crisis and emergency response, working in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Juan Puerto Rico where she played a significant role in rebuilding the energy grid in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Mayor Bass’ recommendation will now be referred to the Board of Water and Power Commissioners, and later to the Energy and Environment Committee followed by a confirmation vote by the Los Angeles City Council.
Riverpark Coalition to host a public event celebrating successes, discuss vision and plans for 2024. Riverpark Coalition encourages community participation in its pursuit of park equity goals for west Long Beach.
Riverpark Coalition or RPC is celebrating four years of work on a venture to gain parkland/open space on the westside of Long Beach. Undeveloped land is at a premium with limited parcels that can be acquired for public parkland. A group of citizens formed the Riverpark Coalition in November 2020, and became a 501c3 nonprofit in 2022.
RPC won a lawsuit to require an Environmental Impact Report or EIR of the old oil operator’s land (formerly the driving range) at 3701 Pacific Place along the LA River. Another parcel that had long been designated for parkland in city plans on the south side of the 405 at 712 Baker Street subsequently approved by City of Long Beach as planned gated residential development. Riverpark Coalition filed a lawsuit and the suit was subsequently settled with a commitment by the developer to record a covenant of a five-acre extension of the existing Baker Street Park to be publicly accessible in perpetuity, despite being on private property. In order to conform to the City’s “H” zoning and in keeping with its equestrian legacy, the developer shall construct a Public Equestrian Rest Area or PERA on the neighboring county parcel along with other improvements. The Riverpark Coalition still has challenges ahead and seeks public support and participation.
Photo courtesy of Riverpark Coalition.
Join the event and learn more.
Your RSVP will help to plan refreshments and craft materials for kids.
Participants: Riverpark Coalition, Audubon, Sierra Club, LB Water Department, Rock the Boat film producer Thea Mercouri, LA River Kayaking – Steve Appleton, LA River X (Tilly Hilton), LA Waterkeepers, and more.
Activities include: Films and exhibits, meet the players: Riverpark Coalition board Education:
Rock the Boat film – a trip down the LA River in a kayak. This is the story of a single person’s determination to show that the LA river is still navigable and deserves to be designated as a resource that can be developed using grants and public monies.
Equestrian Corner – short film and display. Information on trail signage and equestrian history.
Slideshow: a map of the future showing target properties for parkland; plans to pursue parkland, history of the area, environmental status including air quality.
Crafts: Learning by Doing – wildflower seed balls
Kids corner: art activities
Plans: Pollinator Project with insects and butterflies.
A plant sale to raise funds for the pollinator project
Make the Long Beach RiverLink a reality
Public input: An exercise to collect what features the community would like to see in new parkland
Refreshments: Finger foods and drinks
~ Juan Ovalle, Riverpark Coalition chair, provided the following statement:
“Our successes in the past years are only the beginning. The challenge of increasing park space on the westside to even begin to equate to that which the eastside enjoys (17 acres per 1000 people) is formidable, but worth the effort. The decisions we make today matter profoundly in the future of our children and all members of our community. We hope to expand public support of Riverpark Coalition and continue this endeavor in solidarity.”
Time: 1:30 to 4 p.m., April 28
Cost: Free
Details: RSVP @RIVERPARKCOALITION.ORG
Venue: EXPO Arts Center 4321 Atlantic Ave. (Bixby Knolls) Long Beach
LOS ANGELES —The Port of Los Angeles handled 743,417 container units in March, a 19% increase over the previous year. It was the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year growth at POLA.
For the first quarter ending March 31, local dockworkers moved 2,380,503 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) across Los Angeles marine terminals––nearly 30% more than 2023. It was among the Port’s best first quarter starts, behind only the pandemic import surge in 2021 and 2022.
Seroka was joined at the port’s media briefing by Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology. As deputy assistant to President Biden, Neuberger advises on matters related to cybersecurity, digital innovation and emerging technologies.
Among other topics, Neuberger shared insights on President Biden’s recent Executive Order to bolster cybersecurity at U.S. ports.
March 2024 loaded imports landed at 379,542 TEUs, up 19% compared to the previous year. Loaded exports came in at 144,718 TEUs, an increase of 47% compared to last year. It was the Port’s best export month since January 2020 and marked 10 consecutive months of year-over-year export gains.
The port processed 219,158 empty containers, up 7% over 2023.
And cargo growth continued at Port of Long Beach. In a press release,POLB said rising consumer confidence lifted trade moving through the port in March, marking the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year cargo growth.
Dockworkers and terminal operators moved 654,082 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) last month, an 8.3% increase from March 2023. Imports grew 8.4% to 302,521 TEUs and exports were down 21.3% to 105,099 TEUs. Empty containers moving through the port jumped 28.9% to 246,464 TEUs.
The Port has moved 2,002,820 TEUs during the first quarter of 2024, up 16.4% from the same period in 2023.
With a commitment to fostering technical excellence alongside creative expression, the Haley Clark Dance Company is a locally cherished institution situated in the heart of San Pedro. Established in 2015 and named after its founder, Haley Clark, the company embodies a vision of promoting growth, self-esteem and healthy living through the art of dance.
Born and raised in San Pedro, Haley Clark’s journey into dance began at the tender age of 3. Fueled by an innate passion for movement and a desire to share her love for dance, Haley embarked on a mission to create a space where students could not only refine their technique but also find joy in their journey as dancers; combining her background in dance studies and elementary education.
“I envisioned a studio where every individual, regardless of background or experience, could thrive,” Clark says, and that’s what she has created.
Haley Clark and her students take position. Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala.
Haley Clark Dance Company is deeply rooted in its community, offering free dance classes during designated weeks to foster accessibility and inclusivity. Haley’s dedication extends beyond the studio as she serves as a special education teacher, embodying the company’s ethos of giving back. The studio’s commitment to diversity is reflected in its inclusive culture, where dancers of all backgrounds and ethnicities are welcomed and celebrated.
Setting itself apart from traditional dance studios, Clark prides herself on her studio’s small class sizes, ensuring personalized attention for each student.
“We offer a diverse range of dance styles catering to all ages, from toddlers to adults. The studio emphasizes holistic development, promoting physical fitness, confidence and artistic expression,” she says.
Notably, adult pole dancing classes have garnered acclaim for empowering participants and fostering strength and self-assurance.
At the heart of Haley Clark Dance Company is a mission to blend technical precision with creative joy. The studio’s warm and family-friendly atmosphere fosters a sense of belonging, where students are encouraged to push their boundaries and strive for excellence while embracing their unique journey as dancers. With a commitment to individualized instruction and a deep understanding of each dancer’s needs, the studio nurtures a supportive environment where every student can flourish.
As the spring session opens for enrollment, Haley Clark Dance Company invites aspiring dancers of all ages to embark on a transformative journey.
“Whether you’re a seasoned performer or taking your first steps onto the dance floor, there’s a place for you at HCDC,” says Clark.
Discover the joy of dance with Haley Clark Dance Company, where everyone can dance!
Details: 310-480-4981
Website: www.hcdancecompany.com
Social Media: Facebook & Instagram @HaleyClarkDanceCompany
April is Arts Month and it’s perfect timing for Angels Gate Cultural Center’s Spring 2024 Open Studios Day on April 27. In 2019, California declared April as Arts, Culture & Creativity Month, intending to engage arts advocates and raise awareness of the impact of the arts within communities.
Since 1987, Angels Gate Cultural Center has grown to fulfill this goal year-round, doing one of the things it does best — community connection — where more than 45 local artists will open their doors to the public for a look into their art practice. The mission of Angels Gate is to provide space for artists to work and to engage the community through arts education, exhibitions of contemporary art, and cultural events.
The site was originally established as Fort MacArthur in the early 20th century, serving as a coastal defense installation for the Los Angeles Harbor. Its strategic location played a role in safeguarding the region during times of conflict. Eventually, the campus’ purpose and landscape evolved. In 1977, the City of Los Angeles acquired the site, recognizing its potential as a cultural and artistic hub. Former military buildings were transformed into a thriving center for arts and culture, officially opening as the Angels Gate Cultural Center.
Open Studios Day, an all-ages event, provides the public a glimpse into the process, art, and lives of local artists who create at the center. AGCC hosts one of the largest studio artist programs in the region with a diverse range of artistic disciplines including ceramics, photography, printmaking, writing, sculpture, videography, music, and painting. This self-guided tour of artist studios provides a unique opportunity to interact with the artists and purchase contemporary works of art. And … an exciting update; three new studio artists, Karla Diaz, Melody Chan and Emma Rault have joined the cultural center.
Livecommunity class demonstrations will take place throughout the event and include: painting, screenwriting, printmaking, music exploration, Raku, and ceramics. Find a schedule of classes for Open Studios Day below.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of FLOOD presenting SoundWalk. soundplay < = > southbayprovides both a glimpse and glitch into two decades of sound art within the context of Long Beach SoundWalk and soundpedro, produced by the artist group. Through installations, videos and performance, the exhibition will trace early SoundWalk events (which started in 2004) and bridge time, up to the current soundpedro2024. The exhibition runs through June 1, with additional programming information available on the AGCC website.
FLOOD produced the SoundWalk annually for ten years, within a shifting footprint of urban streets, sidewalks, unexpected indoor spaces and alleys of downtown Long Beach. This evolved into soundpedro, the more recent iteration of the sound art festival. From the one-night SoundWalk, soundpedro has expanded into a season of sonic experiments and ear orientation, both in-person and online. The signature on-site event takes place annually at Angels Gate Cultural Center, where participants respond to and react within the wild, varied landscape and complex history of the site.
Direct from the Classroom: Spring Selections the floor 1 gallery will showcase student art by local K – 6th graders in AGCC’s Artists-in-Classrooms or AIC program. Paintings, creative writing, sculpture and dance works represent 1,512 students taught by artist-teachers in 54 classrooms throughout San Pedro and LA County during the Spring academic term.
The All-Ages Musical Instrument Making Station invites participants to join AGCC’s artist-teachers Julie Borkin and Dalia Palacios in making their own musical instruments. Inspired by the soundplay < = > southbay exhibition, guests will make and decorate their own drums and tambourines in this walkthrough workshop.
Angels Gate studio artist Ashton Phillips Photo credit Jose Cordon, courtesy of PhillipsArtist Kim Kei in her studio. Photo by Jordan Rodriguez. Courtesy of AGCC.
Angels Gate Cultural Center enriches its programming through events like artist talks, panel discussions, and workshops where participants can delve deeper into each exhibition. In addition, AGCC executive director Amy Erikson noted that it’sgetting back to pre-pandemic levels of visitors and class takers, as a result, the center is expanding its community classes. Angels Gate invites the public to explorea diverse array of instruction year-round on its stunning coastal campus. Offerings include woodworking, welding, Art Lab science and art workshops, ceramics, printmaking, watercolor, family art workshops, Raku, hand-building pottery, master painting, life painting and drawing, dance, Kyudo (traditional Japanese archery) meditation, ukulele, and guitar and piano.
A few of the center’s community partners will be in attendance at Open Studios; so far confirmed are Deane Dana Friendship Park and Nature Center, Best Start Wilmington,andToberman Neighborhood Center. Angels Gate works with partners in San Pedro, Los Angeles, and beyond to ensure that the arts are part of a standard K-12 school curriculum.
Yuichiro Roy Kunisaki studio. Photo by Jordan Rodriguez. Courtesy of AGCC.
Further, check out Angels Gate Cultural Center Studio Artist Emporium.You can find inspiration and support the cultural center through your purchase of contemporary artworks by AGCC studio artists. A portion of all proceeds from the Emporium are donated to support Angels Gate Cultural Center.
AGCC Studio Artists include: Adam Gaxiola, Andrea Lien, Ann Weber, Anna Erneholm, Ashton S. Phillips, Beth Elliott, Candice Gawne, Catherine Burce, Da Aie Park, Deborah Wright, Daniel Porras, Delora Bertsch, Dennis Keeley, Elyse Pignolet, Elizabeth Casuga, Emma Rault, Frank Minuto, Frank Rodriguez, Gil Mares, Henry Krusoe, Jesse Small, Joe Barile, Jon Nakamura, June Edmonds, Kim Kei, Leah Shane Dixon, Lowell Nickel, Lucinda Rudolph, Marco Schindelmann, Melodie Reay, Mike Watt, Nancy Voegeli-Curran, Perry Okimoto, Phoebe Barnum, Regina Herod, Rene LaRue, Robert Alexander, Scott Anger, Susan Rawcliffe, Syracuse residency students (Gary-Michael Tuzinkiewicz, Jalal Ghias Beygi, Pegah Bahador), Tianlu Chen, Tim Maxeiner, Vanessa Madrid, W.S. Milner, Yoon Jin Kim and Yuichiro Roy Kunisaki.
Frank Minuto Studio by Jordan Rodriguez. Photo courtesy of AGCC.
Open Studios Classes All Day
1:30 to 1:40 p.m. Master Painting – Barbara (Painting/Speaking)
1:40 to 1:50 p.m. Ceramics- Lowell Nickel (Clay Demo/Speaking)
1:50 to 2:00 p.m. Music exploration – Shane (Performance/Speaking)
2:00 to 2:10 p.m. Film & Screenwriting – Larin ( Flyers/Speaking)
2:10 to 2:20 p.m. – Public Art & Storytelling – Rachael (Speaking/Activity)
2:20 to 2:30 p.m.- 3D Printing Art- Jesse Small (3D Example/Speaking)
2:30 to 3 p.m. – Raku ceramics demo – Perry Okimoto
Nguyen Ly will be working in the printmaking studio with students all day. Guests can visit to discuss printmaking and their work.
The instrument-making workshop will happen all day and people can drop in as they like. And visitors can purchase art directly from the artists in their studios.
AGCC’s campus is located within Angels Gate Park and is open during park hours from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. AGCC’s galleries are open to the public.
Open Gallery Hours: Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
99 Cents Only Stores Closure Leaves LA Shoppers Scrambling
By Rosie Knight, Columnist
It was with shock and surprise that LA residents learned that the popular discount grocery chain 99 Cents Only would be closing all of its 371 stores nationally. While we still don’t know the exact reasons behind the closures, we do know the impact it will have on our local communities.
99 Cents Only competitors are often big chains that charge far more expensive prices for the same or equivalent items. In San Pedro, the closest option for local shoppers is Vons, which is far more expensive. Taking advantage of their deals to save on staple items requires membership and accessing their digital coupons via an app, excluding an entire demographic without smartphones or the tech savviness to navigate the apps being left out. This is in a supermarket landscape in which area stores have reduced their hours following Vons’ announcement in March that they were shortening their hours to 6 a.m.–10 p.m.
Nevertheless, residents of the Los Angeles Harbor still have Superior Grocers, Aldi, 99 Ranch Market, H-Mart chains and even Tokyo Central, the online Japanese grocery store as viable alternatives. Although they can’t compete with the deals on many shelf items, they do offer a wider range of fresh produce and meats at more competitive prices than the larger corporate chains. But the reality is that the closure of 99 Cents Only stores means that we’re going to see our area become an affordable food desert, especially when it comes to fresh produce, which isn’t available at Dollar Tree and other similar dollar-store competitors.
On April 5, a Friday afternoon, a parking spot was scarce to be found at 99 Cents Only at 10th and Gaffey in San Pedro. That’s because word had spread that the discount grocery store’s liquidation sales had begun, despite the chain only announcing its closure on Thursday of the same week. While it was unclear how significant the sales were with only a few markdowns, from the picked-over aisles to the long lines to the crowded parking lot, the regulars showed up. Many shoppers were just learning of the imminent closure of the chain.
“I only just heard,” Jocelyn, a local resident, told Random Lengths. “I’m surprised, I thought they were doing well.”
That was a common perspective as the company had been opening new stores across Los Angeles in recent years and in the Harbor Area, the discount stores are a grocery staple with three in just District 15 alone and 10 in the wider area.
So what will shoppers do now?
“We’ll just have to adjust,” Jocelyn said while pointing out she’d done just that when her other go-to affordable option, Big Lots, had closed their store on Pacific Coast Highway in Lomita.
In the San Pedro location of 99 Cents Only, the general feeling was one of resignation, with another shopper who preferred not to share his name telling us, that “I shop here all the time,” but when it came to where he’d go next, he wasn’t sure. “I don’t know… It’s private industry, what can you do?”
Councilman Tim McOsker, who represents the 15th District, released a statement showing a clear understanding of the impact the closure of the stores will have on this district’s local communities, explaining:
“Not only are 99 Cents Only stores a lifeline for lower socioeconomic residents providing for their families, but they employ many of our neighbors and community members.”
He said he has been in communication with the City’s Economic Workforce Development Department and has asked them to deploy a rapid response team to aid local 99 Cents Only store workers with a range of resources, including assistance with Unemployment Insurance Benefits, as well as helping them find their next place of employment.
“We will do our best to mitigate the negative impacts of these layoffs and to support the workers, their families, and our communities,”McOsker said.
Shoppers at Lomita’s 99 Cents Only on PCH shared McOsker’s worries.
Margaret, a senior who lives within walking distance of the store, shared her dismay at the closures.
“I wish they could leave some open and not close all of them.” She was most concerned about the staff who were not told of the closures before the announcement.
“These poor people. I’ve known them for years and they’re like family.”
David Gold’s Legacy
It’s especially painful as the founder of 99 Cents Only, the late Dave Gold, had always looked after 99 Cents Only workers before the chain’s sale in 2011. During the chain’s glory days, Gold insisted that all workers be given stock options, from part-time workers to managerial staff, whether they worked the floor or cleaned the shop. His care went beyond that of an employer too as his daughter told theJewish Journal when he passed in 2013, “[He] liked to advise workers on how to best invest their money, and looked for good deals on houses for them.”
For Margaret, the shop gave her a place to find a variety of food and good produce for prices that didn’t break the bank. While planning to try and replace 99 Cents Only with Dollar Tree in her regular shopping routine, she noted they were also closing local locations. This is an alarming trend, with Dollar Tree announcing it is closing 600 of its Family Dollar store locations in 2024, along with another 370 in the coming years.
Another Lomita shopper, Liz, who lives in Inglewood but works in the area and shops at the Harbor Area 99 Cents Only every week, was absolutely shocked. “I’m really sad,” she said. “I feel like this is like my staple store. I get everything here! It’s just so affordable, whether you want candy or vegetables. And recently I noticed that they started having organic things. So I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is like the best thing ever.'” She was also worried that despite their prevalence she doesn’t feel that Dollar Tree has a comparable selection. “It’s just not the same.”
Private Equity’s Grip: A Pattern of Retail Decline
By Friday afternoon, just 24 hours after the announcement, there seemed to be hope for the SoCal staple as former Big Lots President Mark J. Miller toldLA Mag he was hoping to put an investor group together to purchase the SoCal locations of the store. “It’s a passion for me to try and do this deal because I think it’s such an iconic brand name and has such a great feel for Southern California,” Miller explained. But that potential plan was soon complicated by the fact that on Monday, April 8, 99 Cents Only revealed that the franchise had filed for bankruptcy. This isn’t the first time that a store owned by Ares Canada Pension Plan has shut stores and filed for bankruptcy, as in 2020 the same thing happened with Neiman Marcus, a chain that the company had bought in 2013 for $6 billion. That bankruptcy filing led to an investigation about fraudulent asset transfers, but that was settled out of court with creditors in the same years.
Private equity companies buying chains and running them into the ground — and massive amounts of debt — before filing for bankruptcy is a depressingly regular trend, one that has made people like Mitt Romney a lot of money. Reporting at The Atlantic during the Toys ‘R Us closures showcased this back in 2018. “An analysis by the firm FTI Consulting found that two-thirds of the retailers that filed for Chapter 11 in 2016 and 2017 were backed by private equity. ‘Had these companies remained publicly owned,’ [Thomas] Paulson said, ‘they would have had a much higher probability of being able to adapt, to invest, and to withstand’ the ups and downs of the economy.” And in 2024 things have only gotten worse as SPGlobal reported that “private equity portfolio company bankruptcies spiked to record high in 2023.”
As for what the workers impacted can do, The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is preparing to craft a report to work out how they may support those who have lost their livelihoods due to the unexpected closures. “I am worried about the thousands of 99 Cents Store workers across L.A. County who are going to lose their jobs, but L.A. County is ready to help,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement. “We have a department that can step in during an event like this and help workers with not only short-term assistance to get through this difficult time but job training and support to help them get a better job.”
The song starts with a gentle, rhythmic cackling. Low notes tumble and cascade off each other, building to a quiet cacophony then ebbing into silence. If you’ve been to Cabrillo Beach lately, or anytime when the storms have washed the sands off the stones, you’ll recognize the noise the cobbles make when waves topple them together. It’s the sound of rocks rolling, of ankles getting bruised and beaten, of winter at a Southern California beach – as cyclical, native, and potentially treacherous but also hypnotically beautiful as icicles falling in Michigan.
Rick Bunce loves this sound so much that he sampled it for the appropriately titled Tourettes of the Feet. It’s the twelfth track on The Miracle of Tape, the new album by Goosewind, the band he formed in 1991. Bunce knows the noise from his regular visits to Cabrillo, where — if the rocks and the waves are too treacherous — he walks regularly with his wife and bandmate, Melody Bunce.
But mostly Rick goes to the beach to catch waves. His ride of choice is the same as it has been for years, beginning when he was a kid from Upland visiting the ocean with his family: a boogie board.
“I prefer boogie boarding to everything. I like being on the same level as the water — zooming by and seeing the water really close to my face,” says Bunce, 55. “I found that getting in the ocean in any way, especially boogie boarding just melts away the tension.”
Melody, 61, an artist, took up bodyboarding (as the sport is also known) a few years ago, after she and Bunce became engaged — though her time in the ocean was unexpectedly cut short. “I love catching a wave,” she says. “That’s the best feeling, like sledding on a good, long hill. I think my favorite part is just being out there and waiting for a wave and just floating — I never go out far enough where I can’t touch the ground — but just kind of suspended in the water. It’s so beautiful. It’s glassy and it’s calming; I just think about things. The world seems so much better.”
That dissolution in the universal solvent binds many who turn to the sea for recreation — whatever the size and make of their flotation device, if they even have one. In surfer lingo, it’s the “stoke.” In The Book of Waves, author Stefan Helmreich, professor of anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and himself an amateur bodysurfer, discusses how “the aesthetics of the sublime — of individual union with scary phenomena — have contoured risk-taking leisure.”
Or as Rick Bunce says on a crystalline April day, floating on his board waiting for a set: “The ocean is the ultimate anti-depressant, and the prescription never runs out.”
The Birth Of The Boogie
The modern boogie board was invented by a surfer looking for a quicker, cheaper way to ride. In 1971, Californian Tom Morey was living in Hawaii, where he was probably exposed to the tradition of the alaia: a wooden, finless board rode by Hawaiians in the 19th century. An engineer, Morey ironed some spare polyethylene foam, and voila, a light, inexpensive way to ride a wave was born. The jazz drummer dubbed his creation the Boogie Board, after boogie woogie jazz; the board predates the 1970s disco boogie craze.
It’s interesting that Goosewind’s maestro prefers what may be the only sport named after a musical form. Before I met Rick, when I would see him every week leaning patiently on his board, waiting for a lift – a beatific presence among Cabrillo’s never-dull cast of characters – I nicknamed him the Boogie Man, after the KC and the Sunshine Band song. With his shaggy blond hair and his board tucked under his wetsuit-covered arm, Bunce can look like a ’70s SoCal prototype but in a friendly, not buff, way. He has a big-kid Peter Pan demeanor, a shy grin, and a positive attitude. “Skipping rocks is really fun too if you can’t boogie board,” he notes, correctly.
Rick grew up landlocked, in Upland. Music was his first passion. He named his band in response to the name of another space-metal band. “It’s a riff on Hawkwind. Basically, I thought it’d be funny because a hawk is known for being kind of streamlined and serious and a raptor hunter. And a goose is known for just, like, being goofy, I guess. Nipping at shoelaces, and being mischievous. Our band is kind of mischievous and annoying.”
As a bodyboarder, Bunce was a late bloomer. He bought his first ride 17 years ago, after he moved to Venice, as a way to relieve the stress from his job working with homeless individuals. He used to ride it every day at lunch. “I have a tendency towards some depression stuff. And it just kind of keeps it away. Makes you feel better every time.”
Rick moved to San Pedro with his daughters 14 years ago and immediately fell in love with the town, especially the beach. “It’s just so small and friendly. It’s like a little secret. Even the surfers are really nice, you know, like they don’t have an attitude towards me. I’m the only guy on a boogie board with a bunch of surfers around and they’re never mean, they’re always just really cool. And I got to know them a little bit. Venice, I had a little bit of attitude thrown at me once in a while, being a boogie boarder among surfers. Not here. Not once.”
A few years ago Bunce was reintroduced to Melody Kriesel, whom he had met a few times when they were both growing up in the Pomona area. In San Pedro, she reconnected with her childhood love of swimming and soon, Rick had a partner on the bodyboarding line.
“I was really timid because I was scared of the pull in the ocean water, that I was going to get caught in a riptide and wind up out there,” Melody says. “And I’m not a strong swimmer. But as we started coming regularly I noticed that I wasn’t so scared anymore.”
In this small but brave artist with the musical name, the boogie man found his boogie woman.
Neither of them standup surfs, or are interested in trying. The boogie couple ride flat, as opposed to bodyboarders who ride with one knee bent or even standing. Melody and Rick can be in the water for hours but stay close to shore. She fears the riptide, he worries about sharks. “I just saw too many Jaws movies, and I’m still like, I’m gonna be the one that’s taken down by a Leviathan or something out there. The unknown: It freaks me out.”
The boogie couple mostly seek their moments of Zen floating on soft, buoyant boards — though the rush of adrenaline is part of the thrill. Melody describes the experience of losing control of a wave. “I would just go running out there, and the water oftentimes, especially at Torrance beach, I would get tossed,” she says. “And then it would be pulling me and I’m in the sand, and I’m trying to get up, and every time I think I’m getting footing and I can pull myself up, another wave comes in and pulls me down and I’m like ahhh! I remember that it’s fun to go farther out each week, get a little braver.”
Bunce’s antidepressant is the gateway drug to water sports; you don’t need much surf to have a great time on the boogie, and, with a strap velcroed around your wrist, it acts as a kind of life jacket. The foam provides a buoyancy that your body alone doesn’t have, and of course, it’s easier to lie down than stand up on a surfboard. Still, accidents happen. A leash once twisted around Rick’s finger in a strong wave, giving him a spiral break.
Eighteen months ago — seven weeks before their wedding — Rick and Melody were both out on the water. She decided to catch a nice, small wave in. But with waves, size can be deceiving. This one turned out to be a powerful shorebreaker, sending Melody crashing into the sand upside down, head first. Rick and a swimmer helped her to shore. A couple days of pain later, she went to a doctor and discovered she had broken her T5 vertebrae. She wound up wearing a back brace on their honeymoon in Italy and hasn’t been on a board since.
“What a luxury, what a gift to be able to swim in the ocean,” she says. “We should all feel, and treat it with, enormous gratitude.”
“Nature deserves our utmost respect,” says Rick.
Photo by Arturo Garcia-Ayala.
THE PERFECT WAVE
Nature is a fickle boss. On a late-winter afternoon, Rick and I decided to brave the cobbles and cold and catch some waves down at the bend, while Melody took photos of a waterlogged agave plant that had recently slipped down the Point Fermin cliffs. I hadn’t waded more than ankle-deep when a wave threw a sharp rock into my shin, drawing blood. “Tourettes of the Feet”, indeed. Winter storms have wreaked havoc with the ocean bottom at Hurricane Gulch; the floor dips and rises like a stingray roller coaster. We made it out to the sandbar where the waves break, but what had looked like mild surf turned into killer sets. Bunce caught one “terrifying” ride in, flying on his boogie into the stones. I gave up and walked back to shore, praying not to damage my lower limbs any further.
A few weeks later the solstice had worked its magic. The water was cold but crystal clear, the cobbles manageable, the waves occasional but, yes, sublime.
“The perfect wave is one that never ends,” Rick said as he barreled through the surf, wielding his board with surprising strength and grace. “It breaks forever right or left.”
Then Goosewind’s guitarist let the curl take him in, hooting with joy, his arms spread wide, like a kid shouting, “Look Mom, no hands!”
Nowadays Melody walks the beach while Rick rides, or they both walk and skip stones. At home, they make music together. The Miracle of Tape — lo-fi, rollicking, mischievous, a little dated, but also classic, kind of like boogie boarding — is released on CD by Shrimper Records on April 19. On the title track, he plays blistering surf-guitar (of course) licks; she responds with a melodic (of course) “who-hoo.” Melody designed and shot the album cover: A photo of styrofoam mannequin heads floating in the kelp.
Evelyn McDonnell is the author or editor of eight books, an internationally recognized award-winning journalist, and a professor at Loyola Marymount University. She writes the series Bodies of Water – portraits of lives aquatic – for Random Lengths.
As redevelopment plans jeopardize cherished gathering spots all over San Pedro, the community faces a crucial moment to advocate for these vital spaces. Thankfully, we are not alone. All over Los Angeles — the metropolis that San Pedro is begrudgingly part of — communities are organizing effectively against the displacement of longtime mom-and-pops and finding ways to save the places that matter. This month, Little Tokyo residents won a major victory in the battle to preserve their neighborhood character. When landlord Anthony Sperl evicted the historic Suehiro Cafe last year, the LA Timesreported his desire to turn Little Tokyo into the new Melrose Avenue and his efforts to get a marijuana dispensary off the ground. In response, nearly one thousand community members pledged to boycott a dispensary in that location or other type of business that would destroy the neighborhood fabric. A coalition called Little Tokyo Against Gentrification (LTAG) spent two and a half months picketing outside the Suehiro Cafe Building. Their efforts were successful: Sperl has informed the Little Tokyo Business Association that the next tenant will be a new Japanese restaurant. Another advocacy group, Little Tokyo Service Center, was instrumental in advocating for a citywide program to protect historic small businesses. Their efforts, too, have paid off: in the fall, the City of Los Angeles is opening up applications for its new Legacy Business Program, which will offer grants and practical support to community linchpins. “We … pushed to ensure that those [businesses] who are most vulnerable to displacement will benefit from the program,” Erich Nakano, executive director of Little Tokyo Service Center, explained in a press release. These examples are a testament to the power of collective action. They also debunk the false binary that sometimes creeps into the public conversation about development: the notion that, on the one hand, you have those who embrace the forces of progress, and on the other, you have nostalgic pipe-dreamers who are unwilling to accept change. Rudy Espinoza, executive director of LA-based Inclusive Action for the City, rejects that false binary outright.
“You can protect culture and have a values-driven approach to community development that invites new people while [also] protecting the folks that want to stay,” Espinoza told Random Lengths. As well as providing micro-loans to individual businesses that are at risk, Inclusive Action is fighting for mom-and-pops in the political sphere. To this end, it has joined the nationwide Small Business Anti-Displacement Network (SBAN), a think tank that explores various ways that local communities can push for change to protect their legacy businesses. Many of SBAN’s recommendations for systemic change echo those made by dyed-in-the-wool LA urban planner Don Spivack in the last Random Lengths. They include government loan and grant programs for building repairs, legislation that penalizes negligent and greedy landlords, and neighborhoods taking an active role in succession planning to make sure beloved businesses stay in the community when owners retire, rather than the building being bought up by speculators and razed. Another promising avenue is community-owned real estate. To this end, Inclusive Action has teamed up with the aforementioned Little Tokyo Service Center and another nonprofit called East LA Community Corp. to form CORE. Since 2019, CORE has already been able to secure $5.5 million in loans to buy five commercial buildings to preserve the businesses located there. Inclusive Action is also part of an LA-wide initiative called the Small Business Alliance for Equitable Communities, a coalition of organizations from all over the city putting their heads together to focus on the issue of small businesses being displaced. Step one is to diagnose the problem; step two is to identify solutions; step three is to advocate for them, loud and clear. This kind of commitment, Espinoza says, is vital. With initiatives like LTAG, Little Tokyo Service Center, Inclusive Action, and CORE scoring key wins for the future of Los Angeles, it’s clear that it is both an urgent and hopeful time to take up the fight for San Pedro’s heritage. Espinoza recognizes that getting involved in city politics can feel daunting.
“But this is our government,” Espinoza said. “We should be able to push where resources go. I understand the cynicism, 100%. But what is the option — just give up? We need to lean in more.”
If you have attended a city council meeting, or port police session, or watched the news of late you will likely have heard someone talking about less-lethal means of force that the police can use instead of firearms. They’re often touted as a safer, more humane way for law enforcement to take down people suspected of a crime. Still, in the wake of the police killing of 50-year-old Alejandro Campos Rios outside of a McDonald’s in Fullerton, the question of how safe these less-lethal weapons are comes to the fore once again.
As recently released body camera footage shows, Rios was approached by the police, who claimed he was “acting erratically” outside of a McDonalds, the video shows him swinging his belt and singing in Spanish. When Rios refused to lower the belt, the police responded by tasing him twice before shooting him with four bean bag rounds also known as “kinetic impact projectiles” or KIPs one of which pierced his chest cavity and killed him.
Though Rios’ killing happened in Orange County, the use of so-called less-lethal weapons is an issue that affects all of us. In the recent port police budget that was shared thanks to AB 481, a large amount of the military spending that the port police reported was on “less-lethal” weapons. In the 22/23 period, they bought 2,500 12 Gauge Kinetic Energy Projectiles and requested the same amount for the 23/24 period. They also requested hundreds of other KIPs including 100 40mm Kinetic Energy Projectiles at $18.50 per unit and 500 40mm Kinetic Energy Projectiles (foam-tipped) at the same cost. These are military weapons that are being utilized in our communities and can be just as dangerous as live ammunition and firearms.
While the concept of “less-lethal” weapons is well known, what often isn’t talked about is that the “safer” weapons are military-grade equipment that the U.S. Military first developed for use in Hong Kong in the ’50s to deal with protestors, and that mindset of using KIPs as a tool of repressing free speech has continued throughout the decades. Over the years the technology has evolved with the introduction of rubber bullets, tasers, and bean bag projectiles which have caused injuries at protests across the globe as well as being taken up by local police forces as an apparently “safer” way of apprehending suspects.
In the 2023 Amnesty International and Omega report The Global Abuse Of Kinetic Impact Projectiles, the organization highlighted the danger and impact of KIPs during the period of the Black Lives Matter protests across America in 2020. “Physicians for Human Rights found that police forces had shot at least 115 people in the head and neck with KIPs across the USA in the first two months of protests after the killing of George Floyd, at least 30 of whom had suffered permanent eye damage.”
In that same report, we learn that “A systematic review of medical literature published between 1990 and June 2017 on deaths and injuries resulting from the use of KIPs, found that at least 53 people had died as a result of injuries sustained by KIPs, with 300 people suffering permanent disability.” Though the reality is the number is much higher in the U.S., seeing as reporting on the use of “less-lethal” force is relatively new at the federal and state level.
The Office of Government Accountability recently released a report called “Federal Agencies Should Improve Reporting and Review of Less-Lethal Force,” which shows that reporting on the use of less-lethal rounds is still deeply flawed. While some of the suggestions from the report have been taken on by some departments, many are still open. For example, one of the suggestions that has not been taken on: “The Attorney General should develop standards for its component agencies on the types of less-lethal force that should be reported when used.”
LAPD use of munitions and equipment. File photo
When it comes to Los Angeles specifically, a 2024 report revealed that less-lethal force is relatively ineffective in subduing suspects with less than a 38% success rate. The report states that “In eight of the 133 instances where the less-lethal projectiles were deployed last year, they failed to stop their targets and officers then shot the individuals with firearms.”
That’s especially relevant here as the report was commissioned after the police killing of 36-year-old Jason Lee Maccani in a Skid-Row building, where he was found holding a plastic fork during a mental health crisis and “acting erratically” and after the attending officers deployed three bean bag rounds to no avail, Maccani was then was shot and killed by the police.
All of this begs the question: Why are the police — and specifically in our case, the port police — spending so much money on dangerous munitions rather than training their officers in de-escalation tactics? It should be noted that when the port police were asked how much they spent on de-escalation training for their officers at their recent AB 481 meeting about military spending they declined to answer, claiming that wasn’t under the bill’s purview.
