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Tag: Palos Verdes Peninsula

  • Owe back rent due to wildfires, ICE raids? Find out how to apply to LA County for help

    After only allowing landlords to apply for cash assistance, a second round of Los Angeles County’s emergency rent relief program for survivors of the 2025 wildfires and for households impacted by federal immigration crackdowns begins on Tuesday, Feb. 9.

    This time, tenants themselves can initiate the application, which can prompt awards for back rent and for payments owed utilities, such as electric power and water.

    But there is a catch: Although the tenant can apply, their application must be accompanied by a second document from the landlord. If the tenant meets income eligibility requirements, and indeed owes back rent or utility bills, as long as the landlord agrees, the application can go through, according to rules from the county’s Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA).

    Each applicant can receive up to $15,000. All awards go to the landlords or property owners, who clear the back rents or pay the utilities of the tenant applicant. The window for tenant applications opens Feb. 9 at 9 a.m. and closes Wednesday, March 11 at 4:59 p.m.

    “The County’s Emergency Rent Relief Program has reaffirmed what we already know to be true – Los Angeles County residents are navigating undue hardship and financial challenges due to emergencies like federal immigration enforcement and the 2025 wildfires,” said Los Angeles County Board Chair and First District Supervisor, Hilda L. Solis in a prepared statement.

    For those affected by the Palisades and Eaton fires, the rent relief includes those laid off if their place of employment was destroyed or their work hours were reduced, resulting in lost wages. Even more than a year later, those displaced by the fires still need help paying rent or mortgages and would be eligible for up to six months of rent relief, not to exceed $15,000.

    The Palisades and Eaton fires destroyed 11,000 homes and 2,000 businesses. Some groups report only about 30% are rebuilding. A majority are still paying temporary rental charges and allotments from their insurance is expiring.

    “For families still recovering from the Eaton Fire, housing stability is essential to getting back on their feet,” said Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a prepared statement.

    In the first round, which closed Jan. 23, a total of 4,644 applications were received, the county reported. It is not known how many awards were given out since most of these are still being vetted, said Keven Chavez, spokesperson for the DCBA. Small landlords in unincorporated areas whose units sustained damage are eligible for six months of rent relief not to exceed $15,000, as long as the units were returned to the rental market. Landlords may still apply in the next round.

    For those tenants, including both in unincorporated county communities and in cities, who have sustained economic hardships such as a sudden loss of income due to federal immigration raids, are eligible for up to six months of rent relief not to exceed $15,000.

    “The urgent need for housing stability and to keep people housed is the reason behind LA County’s Emergency Rent Relief program,” said Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell in a prepared statement.

    The reopening of the $30 million program so that tenants can apply directly comes at a time when families are losing income due to the arrest of main breadwinners placed in detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents, said Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath.

    “My intent was always for tenants to be included because access to relief should not depend on who initiates the application. Allowing tenants to apply directly helps remove barriers and ensures assistance reaches families who need it most,” said Horvath.

    “With the opening of Round 2, by expanding that access to allow tenants to initiate the process, that reduces the barriers, allows more people to get the process started, get them access and to the finish line,” Chavez said.

    Marisa Prietto, a communications specialist and volunteer with The Rent Brigade, a grassroots group keeping track of rising rents in LA County, has found rents had increased in many areas by 300%, as landlords took advantage of the increased demand.

    “The last year we’ve seen extreme price gouging,” she said.

    Prietto said even now, the rent relief program is necessary to help those displaced by the January 2025 fires in Altadena and the Palisades. But she said the county program is not perfect.

    For example, many landlords who did not apply in the first round could more easily evict tenants, then rent out the unit at a much higher rent to a new tenant. Even with tenants’ applications, the landlords could simply look at the economics and not accept the deal and instead find a tenant willing to pay more per month, she said.

    “The main problem with it is the eviction protections aren’t strong enough to incentivize landlords to use the program (which is voluntary),” she said.

    The DCBA is hoping more tenants apply in this round than landlords did in the first round. But the application process is not yet open. The application will be open at the website: lacountyrentrelief.com

    “This program is an important first step that will bring much needed relief to some of the most vulnerable in our community,” said Chris Baca, director of humanitarian & migrant assistance at Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). “Our hope is for this program can bring relief to as many people who need it, and that it becomes a model of how to respond to the housing crises caused by disasters and other unforeseen emergencies.”

    In the meantime, Chavez encourages all tenants who think they may be eligible to go to the website anyway and put in their preliminary information and get on the program’s notification list. They can become familiar with the questions they will be asked, such as income, living situation and how they’ve become affected by either emergency.

    For those not tech-savvy, they can reach out to DCBA partners who can guide them through the application process. The following partners are available for help: Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, (323) 697-3952, jcoria@cluejustice.org; Klimt Consulting LLC, (424) 265-1700, landlord@klimtllc.com; Chinatown Service Center, (323) 909-7385, socialservices@cscla.org; Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), (213) 341-9659, Angeln@mycielo.org or Info@mycielo.org.

    “Rent relief is about stability — keeping people safe in their homes and making sure landlords stay whole,” said Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn in a prepared statement. “This is real help, not a loan, and it does not depend on immigration status.”

     

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Have you seen the whimsical sea sculptures at Whittier Narrows park? LA County archivists want to know

    Their names hardly do them justice: Mother Dragon, Fish, Two-Headed Dragon, Starfish, Octopus and Tripod.

    Six colorful, whimsical, playground sculptures surrounding Legg Lake within the expansive Whittier Narrows Recreation Area in South El Monte have become beloved park icons for kids and adults alike for more than six decades.

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Back in the 1960’s a sculptor named Benjamin Dominguez created several works of art inspired by fantasy sea creatures that were placed in playgrounds all around Whittier Narrows Recreation Area park on Oct. 24, 2025 in South El Monte, CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

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In order to find out more about them, the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture is asking the public to send them their personal photos of themselves and their children or grandchildren playing on the sculptures, captioned with memories of a mid-century era when parks intertwined public art, interactivity and a child’s imagination.

“Depending on the response, how many photos we receive, we will have a phase two to determine creative ways to share them with the public,” wrote Laleña Vellanoweth, the county’s civic art conservation and collections manager in a statement released Thursday, Oct. 23.

Erica Rojas was in the park on Friday, Oct. 24 with her husband. They were training their dogs to walk and behave on the trails, when Rojas noticed the theme of ocean life after passing by the Octopus and Two-Headed Dragon sculptures.

“I love any artist that has inspiration from both land and sea,” she said.

The county’s project has two parts: conservation and historical research, Vellanoweth wrote.

The department is bringing on apprentices to comb through the photos, people’s comments and dig out letters and other records for clues on how the sculptures got here and why. They will also digitize and catalog the data. Conservation goals include: upkeep of the outdoor artworks that are subject to wear-and-tear, weather and seismic activity.

The outdoor, interactive artworks were designed by Mexican artist Benjamin Dominguez (1894-1974). He studied art at Academia de Artes Plasticas at the University of Mexico and graduated in 1925. He perfected a centuries-old faux-bois craft, known as “concrete wood” while at the university and used it to create these unique park sculptures.

Dominguez emigrated to the United States at age 62 and was commissioned to make tiger and lion enclosures at a zoo in El Paso, Texas. But he first began building his concrete-and-steel sea creatures at a park in Las Vegas, which was recently bulldozed to make room for a development. All the sculptures were destroyed.

In 1961, Dominguez was commissioned to make the six playground sea creatures for Whittier Narrows park by Frank G. Bonelli, the father of parks and recreation in LA County and a former county supervisor. A nature park in San Dimas bears his name.

Most of what is known about Dominguez was unearthed by Friends of La Laguna, a grass-roots group formed 20 years ago to stop demolition of the artist’s sea sculptures, known as La Laguna, within Vincent Lugo Park in San Gabriel. The group persuaded the City Council to abandon demolition plans and later helped get the park’s sculptures placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“We noticed that the Dominguez sculptures at Vincent Lugo Park has tons of historical information and wanted to create that type of archive for our sculptures,” wrote Vellanoweth.

The county has consulted with Eloy Zarate, a history professor at Pasadena City College and co-founder of the San Gabriel-based Friends of La Laguna. The group raised $1.1 million to restore the La Laguna playground art, which includes a lighthouse with a slide kids love to go down. As a child, he played on the interactive sculptures in San Gabriel where he grew up, he said.

“We are the ones that brought Benjamin Dominguez to life. We said, ‘Hey, this guy was important,” said Zarate.

He said the six Whittier Narrows sculptures are similar to the ones Dominguez designed in Las Vegas, especially Mother Dragon, her yellow-orange body dotted with blue spikes and surrounded by red-and-white mushrooms.

Zarate has offered to write the nominating papers for the Whittier Narrows artworks so they can be accepted on the National Register of Historic Places.

“That is one of the last things we will do,” he said, noting the 20 years he and his group have given to preserving the artist’s unique playground artworks.

Besides San Gabriel and Whittier Narrows park, the third place where his work is preserved is Atlantis Play Center in a park in Garden Grove, at 13630 Atlantis Way, Zarate said. That park features Sandy Sea Serpent, with its tail winding up a hill that kids slide down. “All these structures are meant to be played on,” Zarate said.

His works in these parks represent “a rare example of handcrafted, mid-century playgrounds, when parks were designed to be creative and interactive rather than standardized,” wrote the Los Angeles Conservancy.

The works at Legg Lake were preserved in 2015 through the support of then L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina, according to the inscription on the informational display in front of one of the sculptures. It concludes by saying Dominguez’s works are an example of the contributions made by immigrants to Southern California.

In today’s political climate, in which ICE raids are resulting in the arrest of hundreds of immigrants, including those undocumented who’ve made a living and raised a family in Southern California for decades, the recognition of Dominguez at an L.A. County park is made more meaningful, Zarate said.

He hopes the county in its crowd-sourcing effort will acquire many photos, letters and documents relating to the Whittier Narrows park artworks.

“It is important particularly in today’s environment to understand people who come to this country and work, who give a significant amount to the country they’ve settled in,” Zarate said.

One can’t go into Whittier Narrows park without noticing the iconic serpent, or the octopus, for example, which are closer to the entrance on Santa Anita Avenue and the Pomona (60) Freeway.

“I mean, they are part of the park, and you recognize it,” said Armando Salcido on Friday, Oct. 24. Salcido and a friend were heading to get a closer look at some of Dominguez’s other sculptures scattered within the vast county park. “It is the first time I’ve seen the dragon. It’s really nice.”

To send in your photos, go to: https://form.jotform.com/252605621821148 and fill out the information, click next and you’ll get a page to download your digital photo(s). To see other photos already submitted, go to this dashboard on flickr. 

For questions or for help converting your physical images into digital images or submitting over 10 images, contact Danielle Galván Gomez, civic art registrar, at dgalvangomez@arts.lacounty.gov.

Submission deadline is Dec. 12 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Steve Scauzillo

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  • Last day for LA County voters to register to vote is Monday, Oct. 20

    Los Angeles County eligible voters who want to vote in the Nov. 4 statewide election must be registered to vote.

    The last day to register is Monday, Oct. 20. That is the deadline not only to register to vote, but also to receive a vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 4 Statewide Special Election.

    Voter registration applications are available at most government buildings, including libraries, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and also at the LA County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk offices throughout the county.

    Also, registering to vote can be completed online by going to: LAVOTE.GOV.

    If any voters miss the deadline for registration, they won’t get a vote-by-mail ballot. But they can still vote in person at any of the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk vote centers  beginning Oct. 25. There are 251 Vote Centers that will be open. Their hours are: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Election Day, Vote Centers will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

    If you’ve already registered, you should have received a mail-in ballot. After completing the ballot, it can be sent via mail, or deposited into one of 418 ballot official drop boxes or left at a vote center. The drop boxes will remain open through Election Day.

    Voters will decide during the special election whether to approve or reject Proposition 50, which would redraw congressional districts mid-decade to give California Democrats an opportunity to pick up five more House seats in next year’s midterm election. The effort, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, is in response to a similar gerrymandering effort by Texas Republicans hoping to ensure that the GOP retains control of the House in 2026.

    Voters can request to receive their materials in their preferred language by returning the Language Request Form on the back of the Sample Ballot Book, or by calling 1-800-815-2666, option 3. Spanish-speaking voters may also call 213-358-2701 for direct assistance, the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk reported.

     

    Originally Published:

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Power shutoffs creep wider on Palos Verdes Peninsula. Dozens of Rolling Hills homes to go dark

    Power shutoffs creep wider on Palos Verdes Peninsula. Dozens of Rolling Hills homes to go dark

    Power shutoffs have expanded on the Palos Verdes Peninsula amid worsening land movement. After the loss of gas and electricity has thrown parts of Rancho Palos Verdes into turmoil, dozens of residents in the adjacent city of Rolling Hills are facing the loss of power.

    Affected Rolling Hills residents are set to have their gas shut off Monday afternoon. The electricity shutoff will follow in about 48 hours.

    Late last week, Rolling Hills officials — citing communications from utility companies — announced that 51 homes were slated to lose power by 6 p.m. Wednesday, and nearly three dozen were expected to lose gas service Monday at 3 p.m. because of ongoing land movement that has prompted evacuation warnings and at least one fire in recent weeks.

    Like many of the power shutoffs affecting the Portuguese Bend area in Rancho Palos Verdes, these latest cutoffs are for an indefinite period.

    The city said in last week’s statement that it had asked both Southern California Gas Co. and Southern California Edison to “look aggressively at engineering solutions” to provide service again as soon as possible. Rolling Hills Mayor Leah Mirsch reiterated that Sunday night in a statement to The Times.

    “The safety and well-being of our residents remains the City’s top priority,” Mirsch wrote. “We are all impacted by the outages and are committed to holding the utility companies accountable — pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services both quickly and safely.”

    Rolling Hills officials warned that the affected homes’ power could be shut off at any time between now and Wednesday evening. The city encouraged residents to contact utility companies directly for more detailed information through the Southern California Gas and SCE websites.

    The news comes days after SCE shut off power to several dozen homes in the Portuguese Bend Beach Club and western Seaview neighborhoods of Rancho Palos Verdes. Power and gas were previously cut off to 140 homes in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood.

    “The land movement there has created such a dangerous situation that we must make that difficult decision to disconnect power indefinitely,” David Eisenhauer, an SCE spokesperson, said at the time. “We have an obligation that’s higher than providing electric service, and that obligation is safety: safety of the community and safety of our teams.”

    Some areas have been grappling with gas, cable and internet shutoffs and evacuation warnings as well — though some residents have decided to stay in their homes.

    Local officials have worried that the loss of electricity could create additional safety concerns because sewer systems and the pumps needed to expel the groundwater that can cause land movement both require power to operate.

    Previously, officials have said power shutoffs on the shifting peninsula are intended to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by electrified wires. Last month, a power line fell and sparked near dry vegetation, igniting a small fire in the Portuguese Bend neighborhood.

    On Sept. 3, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for the city of Ranchos Palos Verdes. In his declaration, Newsom said land in the area had been shifting as much as a foot a week, and that land movement had significantly accelerated after the severe storms of 2023 and 2024.

    Keri Blakinger, Paul Pringle

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  • LA supervisors advance ‘buffer zones,’ would protect worshippers, healthcare seekers from protesters

    LA supervisors advance ‘buffer zones,’ would protect worshippers, healthcare seekers from protesters

    Establishing a buffer zone between people entering a hospital or medical clinic, going to religious services or a school facility and groups of protesters gathered outside could soon be the law of the land in unincorporated LA County communities.

    By a 5-0 vote, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, Aug. 6,  ordered the county counsel to write a draft ordinance establishing a “bubble zone” that “protects individuals” entering or leaving hospitals, medical clinics, schools or places of worship from unwanted interactions with protesters who are trying to share their opposing point of view or offer counseling.

    The ordinance would make it a misdemeanor crime for anyone who obstructs or blocks another person from entering or exiting these places. It also would prevent anyone from getting within eight feet of someone handing out leaflets; displaying signs; orally protesting, educating or offering counseling — unless the person consents.

    The eight-foot buffer zone would be put in effect within a radius of 100 feet from the entrance to these kinds of places.

    “We have seen incidents outside of schools throughout the county,” said Third District Supervisor and board chair Lindsey Horvath on Aug. 2. Horvath authored the motion. “We have to make sure that when people are going to schools, or places of worship, for example, they can go in safely.”

    She said her office has heard from the Jewish community, especially men and women going into a synagogue wearing traditional clothing who have felt unsafe. She said there’s also been an increase in Islamophobic incidents.

    The StandWithUs Center for Legal Justice (SCLJ) filed a lawsuit against pro-Hamas groups and individuals from accessing religious services at Adas Torah Synagogue in Los Angeles on June 23, 2024, the group reported. It cited a federal law that prevents people from blocking access to places of worship.

    Horvath said at a place of worship, every worshipper should be free from intimidation and harassment.

    “Even here in Los Angeles County, we have seen how intimidation is used to prevent community members from entering facilities to receive essential services — bubble zones are how we meaningfully protect personal safety,” Horvath said in a prepared statement after Tuesday’s vote.

    Protests have increased after the start of the Israel-Gaza war, which began when Hamas attacked and killed 1,200 Israeli citizens on Oct. 7, 2023, which was followed by relentless bombing of Gaza by Israel that has killed nearly 40,000 Gazans. The Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents were up 140% in 2023 over the prior year.

    Although the motion does not mention abortion, most buffer zone ordinances in the United States that determine where protesters can stand have been in relation to demonstrations from protest groups both for and against abortion rights. Anti-abortion demonstrations often occur at clinics that provide abortion and other reproductive care and they’ve intensified after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022 by reversing Roe v Wade.

    “The exercise of a person’s right to protest must be balanced against another person’s right to access and obtain healthcare services, access education, and exercise their freedom to worship in a safe and unobstructed manner,” read the motion.

    The proposed ordinance is based on a state of Colorado law passed in 1993 that has withstood several court challenges, said Horvath.

    But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision is seen as weakening bubble zone laws, said Ken Paulson, First Amendment lawyer and director of the Free Speech Center based at Middle Tennessee State University.

    “The next buffer zone case to get to the U.S. Supreme Court will face extraordinary scrutiny as to whether it limits free speech,” Paulson said on Friday, Aug. 2. “There is a strong sense that the more conservative majority Supreme Court will be less tolerant of buffer zones than it has in the past.”

    If the county ordinance is adopted, the board directed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to train its deputies in its enforcement. Also, informational forums will be conducted with the county’s 88 cities to encourage them to adopt similar ordinances.

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • LA Metro beefing up police patrols, ‘hardening’ stations to stop fare-evaders

    LA Metro beefing up police patrols, ‘hardening’ stations to stop fare-evaders

    In response to a recent spate of rider assaults, LA Metro on Thursday authorized “a surge” of law enforcement to physically patrol on board trains and bus lines marked by high rates of crimes, instead of just remaining on train platforms, within bus depots or in squad cars.

    The sea change comes from a motion approved by the Board of Directors, aimed at rejiggering deployment strategies from the trio of law enforcement agencies hired by the transit agency, including officers from the LAPD and the Long Beach Police Department and deputies from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. The motion also includes redeployment of Metro Transit Security Officers.

    The 2024-2025 budget of about $9 billion will include an additional $18 million for law enforcement, bringing the total cost for the three agencies to about $195 million, which means LA Metro gets about 260 armed officers patrolling the vast system each day.

    While many board members acknowledged that is not enough, considering that LA Metro every day handles almost a million riders on 2,400 bus runs, 108 rail stations and more than 400 rail cars, they must work within a tight budget.

    “I’ve been told law enforcement can’t be everywhere at once,” said board member and L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. “They don’t have the personnel to the extent needed.”

    Nonetheless, CEO Stephanie Wiggins said the agency is reacting to recent violent incidents on buses and trains and on train platforms. The agency already expanded law enforcement presence primarily on the rail systems, while Metro’s security officers are increasing their presence on buses.

    Liu Francisco, 52, from North Hollywood rides the mile from home on his bike to the North Hollywood B (Red) line station on Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. He paid to enter as security look on. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

    The agency on May 28 will also launch a 90-day pilot program that involves locking the exit fare gates at the North Hollywood B Line Station. That will require passengers to touch a TAP card on a reader at the exit, showing they’ve paid the fare in order to open the turnstiles, a first in the agency’s history.

    Riders who did not pay will be cited or removed. The idea is to remove riders, often who are homeless, mentally ill or taking illicit drugs, from the system.

    “The majority of violent crimes are from those with untreated mental health conditions and drug addictions,” Wiggins said.

    An LA Sheriff's Department officer rides the C-train at the Vermont Avenue station in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
    An LA Sheriff’s Department officer rides the C-train at the Vermont Avenue station in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.(Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)

    Board member James Butts, mayor of Inglewood and a former police chief, agreed that enforcement of the agency’s fare system, part of its “code of conduct,” is a key aspect of stemming violent assaults. But that enforcement power was taken away from law enforcement a few years ago by Metro.

    “We need to make sure people who get on buses and trains are the people who have paid the fare,” Butts said.

    Two murders of passengers appear to have been committed by assailants who were mentally ill, as both killings were unprovoked, authorities reported.

    Wiggins specifically mentioned the unprovoked killing of Juan Luis Gomez-Ramirez, a teacher visiting from Mexico who was sitting on a Line 108 bus in Commerce when someone on the bus got up, walked toward the rear exit, pointed a gun at the back of his head and fired, killing Gomez-Ramirez instantly.

    Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón called it a tragic, senseless and heartbreaking killing of a “beloved father” who was simply riding on a bus in the 6200 block of Slauson Avenue in the afternoon of May 17. Winston Apolinario Rivera was charged with one count of murder, Gascon said in a statement.

    The second involved the fatal stabbing of 66-year-old Mirna Soza Arauz on April 22. Arauz was riding the B Line train at the Universal City Station in Studio City, heading home from her job as a night security guard at Tommy’s Restaurant in North Hills.

    Arauz, a mother and grandmother, was murdered in an unprovoked attack. After being stabbed in the neck, she managed to get off the train at the station, where she was found mortally wounded on the platform. A suspect was arrested about a half-hour later and identified as Elliott Tramel Nowden, 45. Nowden has since been charged with murder.

    Mirna Soza Arauz, 66, seen in a photo on the GoFundMe website, was heading home after boarding Metro B (Red) Line in North Hollywood early Monday, April 22, 2024, and was stabbed to death. A suspect identified as Elliott Tramel Nowden, 45, was arrested. LA Metro's board voted on Thursday, May 23, 2024 to beef up patrols and other security measures on its system. (Photo via GoFundMe)
    Mirna Soza Arauz, 66, seen in a photo on the GoFundMe website, was heading home after boarding Metro B (Red) Line in North Hollywood early Monday, April 22, 2024, and was stabbed to death. A suspect identified as Elliott Tramel Nowden, 45, was arrested. LA Metro’s board voted on Thursday, May 23, 2024 to beef up patrols and other security measures on its system. (Photo via GoFundMe)

    “No one should be losing their life or or risking their life just for riding on Metro,” said board chair and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “The violence and crimes we’ve seen on Metro is absolutely unacceptable.”

    A second motion also approved unanimously calls for the three chiefs of the law enforcement agencies to report to the Metro board at its June meeting about these “high profile” incidents, deployment of personnel, staffing levels and a cost analysis.

    Also at that meeting, the board will hear a report from staff on the possibility of establishing its own police department. Director Kathryn Barger, L.A. County Fifth District supervisor, said learning that Metro CEO Wiggins does not have the authority to learn where the officers are deployed and when, is a problem.

    “I feel the tail is wagging the dog right now,” she said.

    Below is a list of recent crimes on LA Metro that made headlines:

    A teenage boy was fatally stabbed at the 7th/Metro Center station in downtown L.A. on Jan. 11.A man was fatally stabbed at the Westlake/MacArthur Park Station (651 S. Westlake Avenue, Los Angeles) on Feb. 1.A No. 2 line bus was hijacked by a man with a BB gun that resembled a gun on March 21. The bus crashed into the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at West Olympic Boulevard.Two people were stabbed in separate attacks at Metro B (Red) Line stations in East Hollywood at (Hollywood/Western) and Westlake/MacArthur Park (600 block of South Bonnie Brae Street) on April 7.A bus operator got punched and stabbed while driving in Willowbrook (119th Street and Wilmington Avenue) on April 13.A man stabbed a 66-year-old woman (Mirna Soza Arauz) to death at a Metro Universal City station in Studio City (3900 block of Lankershim Boulevard) on April 22.A security guard was stabbed at a B Line station in Hollywood (1500 block of North Vermont Avenue) before fatally shooting his assailant on May 7, authorities said.A woman was stabbed in the arm at the Metro C Line Vermont/Athens station (South Vermont Avenue and the 105 Freeway) on Monday May 13.Hours later on May 13, four teenagers fought on a bus in Glendale (West Los Feliz Road and South Central Avenue). Two were stabbed and the other two arrested.On Tuesday, May 14, a man was robbed of his cellphone and hit in the chest on a bus in Encino (Ventura and Balboa boulevards).On Thursday, May 16, a man shot another passenger to death on a Metro bus in Commerce (6200 block of Slauson Avenue), authorities reported.A person was stabbed Tuesday, May 21, on a Los Angeles Metro bus in Lynwood (Long Beach Boulevard and Norton Avenue).

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Biden to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, add forest rangers, funding

    Biden to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, add forest rangers, funding

    President Joe Biden will add nearly 106,000 acres to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument on Thursday, May 2, expanding the monument designated 10 years ago by President Barack Obama by nearly one-third, according to the White House.

    Also, Biden will approve a 13,696-acre expansion of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in northern California’s inner coast range, north of Sacramento. The two designations will be signed as proclamations by Biden later today at the White House through use powers granted to the executive branch. Together, they will add protections from mining and new highways to nearly 120,000 acres of wild lands in the state.

    The San Gabriel Mountains monument expansion will add 105,919 acres of Angeles National Forest land to the existing 346,179-acre SGM monument, protecting closer-in areas in the western Angeles, including historic Chantry Flat, the Arroyo Seco and federal forest lands near Sunland, Tujunga and Santa Clarita.

    Along with the expansion of the SGM monument, Biden promised additional resources for the area known as “L.A’s backyard playground,” located within 90 minutes of 18 million Southern Californians.

    The White House announced funding for an unknown number of additional field rangers, interpretive rangers and positions to help with visitors. Also, $2.3 million in Great American Outdoors Act funding will be invested in the monument to rehabilitate barracks and provide housing for recreation and other Angeles National Forest staff, the White House said.

    The Angeles National Forest received nearly 4.6 million visitors in 2021, more than Yosemite and Yellowstone national parks. Yet many areas remain closed due to fires, subsequent flooding and not enough funding to complete repairs.

    U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join President Biden in the signing of the proclamations.

    “The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is a crown jewel for Los Angeles. It is a backyard to millions of people, and is also home to cultural resources, rare animals and plants, unique geology, and dynamic forests, rivers and high peaks,” said Secretary Vilsack. “President Biden’s actions today ensure this remarkable place is protected for current and future generations.”

    Others were jubilant over the presidential designation, something that was expected to happen on Earth Day in April but was pushed back. This included Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, who was present when Obama signed the original designation in 2014 and has championed the expansion for the last 10 years.

    “In 2014, President Obama answered our calls by designating the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument for the first time. Since then, we have introduced legislation and fought to complete the vision of an expanded Monument that includes some of the most visited and beautiful lands in the western Angeles Forest. President Biden and the Biden-Harris Administration heard us,” wrote Chu in a prepared statement.

    The monument before the expansion includes 342,177 acres of the Angeles National Forest and 4,002 acres of the neighboring San Bernardino National Forest. The addition also takes in lands owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

    Biden added to what Obama started by using the Antiquities Act of 1906, first used by President Theodore Roosevelt to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Eighteen presidents of both parties have used this power to designate other national monuments, including the Statue of Liberty, Colorado’s Canyon of the Ancients, and New Mexico’s Gila Cliff Dwellings

    The San Gabriel Mountains monument is renowned for scenic mountain peaks, dark canyons, a plethora of flora and fauna species, hiking trails, campsites, streams and reservoirs. The addition takes in more popular portions of the western Angeles National Forest left outside the boundaries by Obama.

    A map of the proposed addition to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. (graphic by Jeff Goertzen/SCNG)

    The expansion includes areas north of Sylmar and east of the Newhall Pass, near Placerita Canyon in the Santa Clarita area. It would include the Upper Arroyo Seco, a historic tributary of the Los Angeles River with headwaters in the Angeles that meanders through La Canada Flintridge, Pasadena and South Pasadena. Also, the addition includes the Big Tujunga Reservoir and Big Tujunga Canyon, Switzer’s Camp, Millard Canyon and Eaton Canyon waterfall.

    Another key addition is a closer-in area known as Chantry Flat, a popular hiking, picnicking and camping spot north of Arcadia and Sierra Madre that has attracted thousands of visitors on weekends but has been closed for several years due to damage from fires, rainstorms and a lack of resources from the U.S. Forest Service to make repairs.

    The road leading to Chantry Flat is closed. This area would be added to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. (photo SCNG)
    The road leading to Chantry Flat is closed. This area would be added to the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. (photo SCNG)

    .

    Also included in the expansion is the site of Thaddeus Lowe’s funicular, the Mount Lowe Railway, which from 1893 to 1938 took people on a roller-coaster of a ride high into the mountains above Pasadena. The monument protects giant wheels used to hoist the railway onto the tracks, left on the side of the trail near Echo Mountain for decades.

    Other historic trails that were created as part of the Great Hiking Era include the Gabrielino Trail, which was once a trade route used by Native American tribes and was recently restored. The new areas also contain ancient Native American relics.

     

    “Our local community is overjoyed to see this next step in a 20-year effort to permanently protect the San Gabriel Mountains,” said Belén Bernal, executive director of Nature for All, a group lobbying for more resources and expansion of the monument. “The area included in the expanded San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is the closest section of the National Forest to the San Fernando Valley,” she added.

    Guillermo Rodriguez, vice president of the Pacific Region and California director for Trust for Public Land, said the expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains monument will stimulate not just public, but also private funds, too.

    “Having that special designation allows for greater resources to be invested in these areas,” Rodriguez said. “We have seen national monuments, like national parks, act as economic drivers. That increased attention and accessibility adds revenue to the local economy.”

    About $1 million will be invested in the SGM monument from the State Water Resources Control Board, U.S. EPA, and the California Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, according to the White House.

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Unions and gig workers win fight as Metro denies Lyft bike share contract

    Unions and gig workers win fight as Metro denies Lyft bike share contract

    In a victory for local unions, LA Metro has reversed course by canceling the proposed turnover of its bike share contract to Lyft, documents show.

    The contract was slated to go in February to Lyft’s subsidiary, Lyft Bikes and Scooters LLC, but that was abruptly squashed after heated protests from unions and gig drivers said the rideshare company was not friendly to unions.

    A letter dated March 26 sent to current contract holder, Bicycle Transit Systems, Inc., (BTS) said: “The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has decided to cancel the subject solicitation.” It was signed by James Giblin, senior contract administrator for Metro.

    Instead, LA Metro is reexamining the scope of the program and plans to put the contract out for bid once again under a Request For Proposal (RFP). There’s no timetable for the new RFP, said Dave Sotero, Metro spokesperson on Monday, April 1.

    “There will be no interruption in bike share services,” he said.

    Both Lyft and BTS said they would reapply under the new RFP.

    “We are elated the voices of Angelenos were heard. Metro listened,” said Alison Cohen, founder and owner of BTS, which has been operating the system for the last nine years. “It is rare that once a decision is made they (Metro) change course. But it was the right thing to do.”

    The contract was the subject of a rally by drivers for Lyft, Uber, DoorDash and other car and bicycle delivery workers — known as gig workers — in front of Metro headquarters on Jan. 18. About 40 rallied against giving the contract to Lyft’s subsidiary, arguing that Lyft has not treated workers fairly and that the contract would downgrade bike share service in L.A. County.

    FILE- Felipe Caceras, organizer with the California Gig Workers Union, leads a rally on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, of gig workers who are against a plan by LA Metro to award a contract to Lyft for managing and operating Metro’s Bike Share program. Metro canceled the request for proposal and did not award the contract to Lyft at the end of March 2024. (photo by Steve Scauzillo/SCNG).

    Workers said they had been trying to join a union and have had labor disputes with Lyft, a ride-sharing company that has other ventures including operating bike share programs in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco.

    A letter sent to LA Metro from David Green, SEIU Local 721 president and executive director, said Lyft’s alleged anti-union practices and failure to uphold equitable standards made it a bad choice.

    This was one of 700 comments, letters and emails brought to the attention of Metro’s Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee that agreed to put off the matter in January. Although Metro staff recommended Lyft over the other vendors, the contract solicitation was canceled a short time later.

    “We are proud of our submission, which earned the highest score from LA Metro, and look forward to reapplying to the new RFP,” wrote Jordan Levine, a Lyft spokesperson in an emailed response received on Monday, April 1.

    On its website, Lyft wrote that a new ruling from the Department of Labor defining an independent contractor does not change Lyft’s business model and will not reclassify Lyft drivers as employees.

    Lyft said that 92% of its drivers support a policy under which drivers would remain independent contractors and would receive “some but not all of the benefits that employees receive.”

    Others that opposed giving Lyft the contract said Metro should not privatize a public transit system. “I applaud Metro reconsidering and ultimately canceling a frivolous contract which would have given taxpayer dollars to a private company making millions off the working poor,” wrote L.A. County Democratic Party Chair Mark Gonzalez in an emailed response.

    Political and union forces could remain steadfast when Metro rejiggers the contract and opens it up to the lowest bidder.

    “I hope LA Metro continues to heed the call for a robust bike share system worthy of Los Angeles that protects union jobs,” Gonzalez said.

    Cohen said her company BTS, which is women- and LGBTQ-owned, has about 65 employees. Of those, 40 are unionized, she said. She is looking for a one-year extension at the very least. The BTS contract ends in August, she said.

    The canceled 11.5-year Lyft contract proposal would have cost Metro $47 million less than the estimated cost of the current BTS contract, according to a Metro staff report.

    BTS argues that under its leadership, LA Metro Bike Share has grown.

    In all of 2023, Metro Bike Share ridership reached 441,199, which is the highest annual ridership thus far, Sotero reported. The 2023 ridership figure shows an increase of 128,787 trips or 41%, compared to the highest pre-COVID ridership of 312,412 trips in calendar year 2018, he wrote in an emailed response.

    Lowered costs and more available bikes increased use of the program, which mainly operates within the city of Los Angeles. The number of on-street bikes increased from 1,224 in April 2022 to 1,726 in November 2023. Pedal assist e-bikes increased from 97 in April 2022 to 370 in November 2023, Metro reported.

    Steve Scauzillo

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  • Wayfarers Chapel, L.A.’s famed ‘Glass Church,’ closes as land movement grows more severe

    Wayfarers Chapel, L.A.’s famed ‘Glass Church,’ closes as land movement grows more severe

    Los Angeles’ most Instagrammable chapel, a midcentury modern structure with redwoods, an ocean view and a long history as a popular wedding venue, has closed indefinitely. After recent storms, Wayfarers Chapel announced that land movement in the area had increased.

    Just months after the Rancho Palos Verdes church was named a National Historic Landmark, the venue was forced to shut its doors.

    “Effective immediately,” a statement read, “we are extremely devastated to announce the closure of Wayfarers Chapel and its surrounding property due to the accelerated land movement in our local area.”

    The statement said those with reservations would receive refunds.

    The Rev. David Brown told The Times in December that more than 300,000 people visited the chapel the previous year, and about 400 couples were married there, a dip from pre-pandemic levels.

    Celebrity nuptials have included Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay in 1958 and the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and Melinda Ledbetter in 1995. Four years after the Wilson-Ledbetter nuptials, the chapel hosted 800 weddings.

    “Visitors have told me they remember watching Jayne Mansfield getting carried to the limo,” Brown said.

    The 100-seat chapel, known to many visitors as “the Glass Church,” was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It was completed in 1951.

    The chapel sits on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, which has long been prone to landslides. The structure overlooks Abalone Cove, which is a landslide complex. Land movement has affected the area in recent decades, causing fissures and the earth and structures to buckle and drift.

    The chapel had to remove its original visitors center due to land movement. The new center was designed by Lloyd Wright’s son Eric Lloyd Wright.

    Wayfarers Chapel is set among trees on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where it overlooks Abalone Cove, a landslide complex.

    (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

    Times staff writer Lisa Boone contributed to this report.

    Terry Castleman

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  • $12.5 Million Is The Record-Setting Sales Price To Beat On California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula

    $12.5 Million Is The Record-Setting Sales Price To Beat On California’s Palos Verdes Peninsula

    As of early August, $12.5 million emerged as the sweet spot for record sales on Southern California’s tony Palos Verdes Peninsula. Two properties—a 6,000-square-foot estate in Palos Verdes Estates and a 10-acre hilltop residence in Rolling Hills Estates—sold for the top price in the last six months.

    It’s hard to know whether the record will stand for the rest of 2023. Last year, the most expensive home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula sold for $17.1 million while in 2021, the record sale was $16.6 million, property records show.

    The most recent sale, a contemporary home at 952 Paseo La Cresta in Palos Verdes Estates, was completed in July. “It was very fast,” says selling agent Suzanne Dyer of Strand Hill Properties. “The buyer was in Dubai on a business trip, and he saw it come up online and fell in love with it. He flew back … and bought it.”

    The two-story residence with five bedrooms and six bathrooms sits on a bluff above the coast with no homes between the property and the ocean. The design—glass walls on all ocean-facing rooms—takes full advantage of the location. Inside, the open floor plan with cathedral ceilings allows abundant natural light and views.

    A ground-up remodel by Pritzkat & Johnson Architects of Redondo Beach was completed in 2023, adding amenities, such as a pickleball court and an infinity pool with unobstructed ocean views. “It feels like a whole new home,” Dyer says.

    The home’s setting feels serene and private, starting with tranquil water features in the front courtyard to the back of the house with a large lawn. The primary bedroom has a private outdoor area and Jacuzzi. The home also has a three-car garage, wine cellar and outdoor dining and lounging spaces for entertaining.

    Palos Verdes Estates is located along the coastline of the South Bay. Recreational destinations in the small city include Palos Verdes Bluff Cove Beach and Lunada Bay (for surfing and beach activities), the 18-hole Palos Verdes Golf Club—designed in 1923—and the Palos Verdes Tennis Club.

    In March, the sale of a hilltop home on Georgeff Road in Rolling Hills Estates set the current 2023 record price of $12.5 million. The house is set atop lush canyons with coastal views and horseback riding and hiking trails nearby. It sold in one day.

    Suzanne Dyer was the listing agent for both sales.

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    Mary Forgione, Contributor

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