Obit – Ray Liotta, Actor, Father and Resident

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Sue

Ray Liotta
(Photo by: Paul Drinkwater/NBC Universal)

By BERNICE FOX

Tributes are coming in as fans and the world of entertainment mourn the death of Ray Liotta.

A longtime resident of the Palisades Highlands, Liotta died in his sleep in his hotel room in the Dominican Republic where he was making a movie, a thriller called Dangerous Waters. He was 67. Liotta’s publicist says the actor’s fiancée, Jacy Nittolo, was with him.

Liotta was best known for playing real-life gangster, Henry Hill, in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 classic, Goodfellas.

Lorraine Bracco, who played Hill’s wife, tweeted she is “utterly shattered to hear this terrible news about my Ray.

“I can be anywhere in the world and people will come up and tell me their favorite movie is Goodfellas. Then they always ask what was the best part of making that movie. My response has always been the same…Ray Liotta.”

Liotta also was known for playing disgraced baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams, which came out in 1989, a year before Goodfellas.

To Pacific Palisades residents he was a neighbor, who when he wasn’t filming, was seen on local hiking trails and at his daughter Karsen’s schools – always the proud father.

He threw out the first pitch to start the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association’s season in 2006. The man, with the piercing blue eyes, was surrounded by fans. Ever gracious, he took time to sign autographs before leaving for a rehearsal with Virginia Madsen for a new hour-long TV drama called Smith that was going to be filmed in Pittsburgh.

According to the late executive director of the Palisades Chamber of Commerce, Arnie Wishnick, Liotta was on his “short” list as a possible honorary mayor – except he was always working.

A Highlands resident remembers being with a group on Palisades Drive who were training to operate radar on that stretch of road.

“A car pulled over after seeing us and I was prepared for a screaming, unhappy driver,” the resident said. “Instead, it was Ray Liotta; he wanted to know what we were doing. We told him and he couldn’t have been more polite and professional. We shook hands and he thanked us for our service to the community.”

Those remembrances show how different Liotta was from some of his tough-guy roles.

Tough guys, nice ones and in-between filled Liotta’s acting career.

Liotta was memorable early in his career for playing the violent husband of Melanie Griffith’s character in Something Wild in 1986. Field of Dreams and Goodfellas came soon after.

The Hollywood Reporter ticks off some of his crime roles and those of cops with questionable ethics, saying they were his specialty. They include Unlawful Entry (1992), Cop Land (1997) and Narc (2002) and the voice of a mobster in the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

From 2016-18, Liotta played a corrupt cop in the NBC series, Shades of Blue, opposite Jennifer Lopez, who also produced the show.

When hearing of his death, Lopez tweeted, “Ray was my partner in crime on Shades of Blue … the first thing that comes to mind is he so was kind to my children. Ray was the epitome of a tough guy who was all mushy on the inside … I guess that’s what made him such a compelling actor to watch. The original Goodfella.”

The Hollywood Reporter says Liotta had a busy recent few years, with roles in Marriage Story (2019), No Sudden Move (2021) and The Many Saints of Newark (2021) — as two members of the Moltisanti family in the Sopranos prequel. And he played a villain on the third season of the Amazon Prime series Hanna.

There’s also an upcoming Apple TV series Black Bird and, according to IMDb.com, Liotta worked on movies that haven’t been released yet, such as Cocaine Bear; The Substance; April 29, 1992, and more.

Liotta won an Emmy in 2005 for his guest role as an alcoholic ex-con on the NBC drama ER. The episode was shot in real time. He then played on that performance for comic-effect in Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie (2007).

Ray Liotta was born December 18, 1954, in New Jersey. He was adopted from an orphanage when he was six months old by Mary and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts retailer.

In 2012, he told the Hollywood Reporter he “played pretend games as a kid, army, whatever, but I never wanted to be an actor.

“Basically, I just played sports all the time. Basketball, baseball, football, you know, whatever the season was. But I remember senior year (in high school), basketball had stopped, and the drama teacher asked me if I wanted to be in the play. So, ‘alright, I’m not doing anything, I’m used to hanging around anyway, sure, I’ll be in the play.’”

Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, graduating in 1978. He soon landed the role of nice guy Joey Perrini on the NBC soap Another World. And his career was off and running.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Liotta leaves his fiancée, his daughter, his adoptive family and other relatives he discovered about 23 years ago while doing research on his birth mother.

Ray Liotta filming “Shades of Blue” on the streets of New York City.
Photo: Peter Kramer

Posted in Obituaries | 1 Comment

Parking Restrictions Go Up on Asilomar Bluffs for Memorial Day Weekend

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Sue

Temporary “No Parking” signs have gone up on the Asilomar bluffs for Memorial Day Weekend.

People who live in Pacific Palisades are blessed with the town’s proximity to the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Perhaps one of the nicest perks are the spectacular views from the bluffs and cliffs that offer a panorama of the Pacific Ocean from the Santa Monica Pier to Malibu.

Two of the more spectacular sites to watch as the sun sets over the ocean are the Via de las Olas and the Asilomar bluffs.

Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, temporary “No Parking” signs have gone up on the Asilomar Bluffs, which is south of Sunset and easily accessed from El Medio Avenue. The street is now scheduled to be closed to parking from Friday, May 27 at 5 p.m. to Tuesday, May 31 at 6 a.m.

Circling the News contacted Noah Fleishman, Councilmember Mike Bonin’s Deputy District Director, to ask if there was construction or a special event or if it was just done to keep outsiders off the block.

Fleishman responded, “These temporary parking restrictions have been authorized by LADOT and our office at the request of the Community Council.”

CTN contacted Pacific Palisades Community Council President David Card, who referred CTN to Area 4 Representative Karen Ridgely.

Ridgely responded in an email that “’No Parking’ was done to prevent greater holiday congestion and potential fire and safety hazards. There is no Park Ranger or LAPD on site at Asilomar Park to enforce posted RAP safety restrictions or respond to emergencies.”

Ridgely said the site has smoking, alcohol and drug usage and BBQ with hot coals and candles on cakes.

“The Cul de Sac has been a known party spot for years in our ‘dark skies’ community,” she said and added the limited no-parking restriction is meant to mitigate fire and safety risk to the greater community.

It was pointed out to Ridgely that people could park a block away and walk over to the bluffs with their cake and candles.

CTN was told by Fleishman and Ridgely that the street has been posted “no parking” in previous years. At the May 26 Community Council meeting Card said that no official letter had been sent.

CTN also asked who is paying for the signs and the permit, and if there will be enforcement, not only of the parking—but of the possible “flammable devices that outsiders bring to the bluffs.”  There was no response to those questions.

Posted in General | Leave a comment

Molotov Cocktails Found in Santa Monica Mountains

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Sue

Nike Missile site is located west of the 405 and off Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica Mountains.

An alert hiker discovered eight Molotov cocktails and gasoline canister in a wooded area in the Santa Monica Mountains next to a trail on the northside of Mulholland Boulevard on May 21.

That hiker should be hailed as a hero. That person may have prevented a major brush fire that could have impacted Malibu, Pacific Palisades and Topanga.

When the hiker made the discovery, they immediately alerted a Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority park ranger.

The ranger took the items to the Nike missile site. Officers from West Valley Division and Emergency Services Division, Hazardous Material Section responded.  The Los Angeles Fire Department’s Arson Section was notified.

Maksim Klimenko, 34, was identified as the owner and was arrested on suspicion of possessing destructive device materials. He is being held on a $50,000 bail in the Twin Towers. His next court appearance is scheduled for June 6.

“Evidence at the scene lead to the identification of a suspect, a resident of Los Angeles,” the LAPD said in a written statement. Authorities would not divulge how Klimenko was allegedly linked to the devices.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is reviewing the case.

The Molotov cocktail is typically a glass bottle filled with flammable fluid and capped with a lit cloth fuse or wick soaked in alcohol. When thrown against a hard surface the bottle breaks causing the wick to ignite the liquid.  Molotov cocktails are easily produced and primarily intended to set targets ablaze.

The resident who tipped CTN about the incident, wrote “It’s a terrifying story. So glad they arrested someone.”

LAPD Commanding Officer of the West Los Angeles Area Captain Jonathon Tom said in an email to CTN, “There is no ongoing threat to the community.”

Posted in Accidents/Fires | Leave a comment

YMCA-Optimist Track Meet Will be Held June 5

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Sue

Runners take off at the start of the 200 meter race.

There is just too much pressure on parents.

After all, Tiger Woods’ father started him playing golf when he was 3. The father of Serena and Venus Williams started them with tennis at 4 and 7, respectively.

Palisades parents feel the need to find coaches, and clubs, for kids as young as toddlers. Who knows they might could be developing the next Megan Rapinoe?

How about taking some of the pressure off and putting your kid in a one-day, fun activity that is meant just to introduce them to a sport.

The Optimist-YMCA Track meet will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at the Palisades High Carl Lewis Track at the Stadium by the Sea on Sunday, June 5. Registration is $20. All participants will receive a T-shirt – and of course ribbons will be given per race heat. Kids, ages 3-12, run against kids of the same age.

There are also some parent races – so register and instead of watching your kid from the sideline, join in the fun, and have them cheer for you.

YMCA Executive Jim Kirtley said, “this a great event because it brings kids from all the schools in the area together, and kids get to try different events for the first time.”

The last time the event was held prior to Covid, there was long jump, shot putt and a javelin throw and even a relay race. Ever friendly Palisades Optimist Club members are on hand to help with mechanics.

Then, Christine Chambers who was a CYO champion in shot put, with a personal best of 26’8”, went 25’3” for this meet. Optimist Dr. George Labrot said, “She’s the only person I haven’t had to tell how to do it. Some of the kids wanted to try and throw it like a softball.”

To register: click here.

Posted in Kids/Parenting, Sports | Leave a comment

School Board Member Nick Melvoin Expresses Support for Solar at PaliHi

Posted on May 25, 2022 by Sue

LAUSD School Board member Nick Melvoin signs a pledge to help Palisades High School get solar.

By LAUREL BUSBY

Special to Circling the News

During a student-run press conference, Palisades Charter High School students recently grilled LAUSD board member Nick Melvoin about how the district is fighting climate change.

They sought to push Melvoin and the district to combat the climate crisis by educating students on the topic and pushing forward Pali’s student-led endeavor to install an array of solar panels on campus.

“Despite extraordinary efforts over the last two years, we have no concrete evidence of when Pali is going to make the transition to 100-percent renewable energy,” said Peter Garff, the co-president of Pali’s Human Rights Watch Student Task Force (HRWSTF), which helped coordinate the event.

“Students have organized petitions, met with LAUSD officials, written and presented the first-ever student resolution to the Pali Board of Trustees about climate change, helped start the Clean Energy Task Force and met with PermaCity, a solar provider, to help develop a solar plan for Pali,” Garff said. “We have a perfect opportunity to help solve the climate crisis by transitioning to 100-percent renewable energy, but it seems like we’re not taking this golden ticket. In fact, I would ask: Are we taking this golden ticket and ripping it up and throwing it on the ground?”

Melvoin expressed support for the project and agreed that the timeline was not moving at the speed the students would have preferred.

The event, which was held in Lisa Saxon’s journalism class as part of the school’s first Climate Summit Day on April 22, included more than 30 minutes of back and forth between Melvoin and the students.

They peppered him with questions about the timeline for approving the solar panels, which would cover Pali’s roofs and parking lots, and would provide electricity savings as well as income from selling excess energy to pay for the conversion. As the school’s landlord, LAUSD has to approve these changes before any construction can begin.

Students repeatedly expressed frustration with the time it was taking for this review and approval, especially since PaliHi’s Board of Trustees a year ago unanimously approved a climate-change resolution, which included as one of the tenets the transition to 100-percent renewable energy.

Melvoin said he understood. “If I had a dollar for every time I’ve been frustrated with the timeline of LAUSD, I would retire yesterday,” he said. The students laughed. He noted, “It’s easy for me to say ‘Hey, we have 1,000 schools. This takes a while.’ But from a parent perspective or a student perspective, they’re ‘Yeah, I don’t care. What about our school?’ Not in a selfish way, but it’s not your job to worry about 1,000 schools.”

Students mentioned a desire to begin installation of the solar panels this summer, but realistically, the issue wouldn’t be put on the LAUSD board’s agenda for discussion until July, according to Melvoin’s policy advisor, Kasey Kokenda. Melvoin encouraged the students to write and call board members, as advocacy campaigns have an impact.

Some of the students had already used their voices to make contact with Melvoin. Members of the HRWSTF began reaching out to him last year, meeting with Melvoin and his staff in smaller groups on three occasions as part of either the HRWSTF or Pali’s Clean Energy Task Force, which includes faculty and administrators. They had also emailed and worked to establish regular contact to push their climate-change goals.

At the press conference, Melvoin urged students to keep up this work. “I applaud your efforts and thank you all for your advocacy to help get the district and our lawmakers to treat the climate crisis with the urgency and the attention it deserves.”

He also shared some of the issues that slow the district. The most pressing was a prior PaliHi proposal headed for approval—a $34.6-million project involving water pipe repair, heating, ventilation and air conditioning that was scheduled for a vote the following week.

On April 26, the LAUSD board voted to approve installation of this system throughout PaliHi. Construction is slated to begin in the third quarter of the 2024 school year and end in 2026, according to the LAUSD website.

Another potential issue concerns the increased costs with district projects compared to private construction, Melvoin said. For example, the district must follow the Field Act, which ensures that schools implement additional earthquake safety measures in construction and improvements. Costs also rise because the school district must pay the prevailing wage and also abide by the California Environmental Quality Act, which has its own review process.

In his introductory remarks, he told the students that the district is pushing for many climate-change-oriented policies. A successful resolution, co-sponsored by Melvoin, committed the district “to the goal of achieving 100 percent clean renewable energy in its electricity sector by 2030 and all energy sectors by 2040.”

In addition, Melvoin noted that the district had recently approved implementing climate change education in its curriculum from kindergarten through senior year. The district also has approved seven pilot projects for installing solar energy at campuses at little or no cost.

Because LAUSD has a sizable budget to educate its students, who outnumber the population of Vermont, it can also have an important impact on climate change through its actions, Melvoin said.

“The potential for how we can move the needle on this is enormous,” he said. “Given our size, districts like ours can help move the market. If we insist that we’re only going to get electric school buses or we’re only going to purchase electric construction trucks, the market will adapt.”

Of course, he also noted that purchasing electric school buses also requires an infrastructure with charging stations that can support those buses, so there are additional expenses to consider. However, the district has already funded electric lawn mowers and leaf blowers to replace their old units and has begun transforming its vehicles.

“I won’t approve a new fleet of vehicles unless there’s a clean-air component,” Melvoin said.

In addition, he described how the district is working to enhance its campuses with more green spaces and outdoor classrooms. The district also has two campsites and was negotiating to purchase a campground for summer programs.

“We really have to get kids to fall in love with the planet we’re asking them to save,” he said. “We’re all being told that we have to save it, but for kids who live in other parts of the city where there’s only asphalt or where they don’t have park space, it’s very hard for them to understand why this is worth doing.”

But for the class of PaliHi students, moving forward on the school’s solar power project was the subject that their questions returned to again and again.

One asked whether approval in pieces might be a way to gain traction, and Melvoin said it could be. For example, some panels are intended to be placed atop new parking lot shade structures, so their installation wouldn’t require roof reinforcement or building retrofitting.

Melvoin also said that once their goal is achieved, “Pali can be a demonstration site for other schools in the district…I think the expansive nature and the ambitious nature of this project is new, and that’s why it’s really exciting.”

Students at Palisades High School are pushing for environmental changes.

Posted in General | 2 Comments

Joyous Celebration at Public Library

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Sue

Friends of the Library volunteer Karen Stigler welcomed people to the library.

Friends of the Palisades Library hosted a “grand reopening” celebration at the library, 861 Alma Real Drive on May 21.

And it was grand.

The library had been closed for nearly two years – first because of the pandemic and then in October 2020, a fire caused substantial damage to the roof.

On Saturday, the community room was opened for the first time in years, and photography from the Pali High 9th Annual Photo Show was on display.

The exhibition note stated: “This collection is the product of diverse perspectives evident in the school’s esteemed photography program. Under the guidance of teacher Rick Steil, students from all walks of life came together in introductory, advance and AP photography courses to create a body of work that expresses the world through their lenses.”

This was one of many photos on display in the community room.

There were opportunity raffles that included $100 gift certificate to PaliSkates, a basket of L.A. Public Libraries Best Books of 2021, a lava lamp, an art set – and for the kids there was a chance drawing for a butterfly garden, a LiteBrite game or a wooden U.S. States puzzle.

There were free giveaways that included cloth reusable bags, pencils, book markers, hand sanitizers and balls.

The Pacific Palisades 100th Birthday coloring contest entries, which had been sponsored by the Palisades Historical Society and the American Legion Post 283 Auxiliary, were displayed in the main library.

On the patio there were special cookies and treats, while a trio from the UCLA Gluck Old-Time Ensemble entertained an attentive audience.

Audience goers were told that much of the music played in the hour-long concert, stems from the Appalachian string band tradition. The genre is usually played on acoustic instruments, the most traditional being the fiddle and the banjo, but can also include the mandolin, upright or wash-tub bass, harmonica, dobro, accordian, jug and even the kazoo.

Oh—and books at the mini bookstore at the back of the library were half off. CTN picked up a “new” hardcover mystery for $1. Proceeds from the sale of the gently used, donated books go towards Library programs and materials.

To learn more about the Friends of the Library visit: friendsofpalilibrary.org.

This UCLA Gluck Old-Time trio entertained.

Posted in Arts, Books, Music | Leave a comment

Three Candidates Vie for LAUSD’s District 4 School Board Race

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Sue

Three candidates are running for the District 4 seat on the LAUSD Board.

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, Nick Melvoin, the incumbent school board member for District 4, faces a challenge from two newcomers: parent Gentille Barkhordarian and teacher Tracey Schroeder.

District 4 covers West L.A. and parts of the West San Fernando Valley.

Over the past five years, LAUSD enrollment has dropped because of declining birth rates, families moving to more affordable areas and competition from charter or private schools.

At one time more than 730,000 students were enrolled in the district. Now in a March budget forecast, LAUSD officials predicted that enrollment will decline by 36,000 students — enough to drop enrollment in the nation’s second-largest school district below 400,000 students by the start of Fall 2023.

Enrollment is down in public schools across California and even charter school enrollment has been flat the past five years.

How do LAUSD students rank? A report (“Educational Recovery Now”) noted that a LAUSD Independent Analysis Unit reported that in any given week between March and May 2020, two out of five middle and high school students were absent every day from the district’s online learning program, Schoology.

According to LAUSD’s interim assessment 66 % of high school students are not on grade level in reading and 67 % are not on grade-level in math.

The report states that “Black and Latino elementary school students fell the furthest behind, with only 43% of Black students and 44% of Latino students on track in early reading skills, according to literacy assessments from the fall.” (To read the report: click here.)

In a Daily News May 16 story (“Election 2022: In LAUSD’s District 4, Melvoin Faces a Parent and a Teacher” click here), candidates were asked about vaccine mandates, staffing shortages, declining student enrollment and school police .

 

TRACEY SCHROEDER

Tracey Schroeder

A Tarzana resident, Schroeder has lived in District 4 for about 20 years. To help bring families back to LAUSD, she advocates opening school facilities for sports, recreation, community and cultural events. Schroeder would also advocate for more autonomy at school sites and to provide as much funding as possible for local school site councils.

Schroeder says she wants the board to review the ABCs: accountability, back to basics and common sense.

The 48-year-old teacher says that the current LAUSD board holds meetings that are closed-door or inconvenient for parents to attend, and that needs to be changed. She has been with LAUSD for 24 years and said that voices are not being heard.

She taught at Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter school until last fall, when she was reassigned to teaching online because of the vaccination mandate for staff.

Schroeder says residents should not be subjected to “new taxes,” that LAUSD needs live within its means and because LAUSD is losing enrollment, “no new construction bonds.” She notes that independent charter schools that are using LAUSD should pay market rates for use (visit:  www.traceyschoolboard.com).

NICK MELVOIN

Nick Melvoin

Melvoin, 36, grew up in Brentwood, but now lives in Hancock Park. He was elected to LAUSD in 2017 and is currently the school board vice president.

He said that in his first term parent and community engagement was increased and that he implemented an “open Data Portal” which increases transparency about the District’s budget, academics and enrollment.

He received a law degree from New York University and a master’s degree in urban education from Loyola Marymount University, but taught in Markham Middle School in South L.A.

Regarding declining enrollment, Melvoin told the Daily News that LAUSD needs to do a better job of marketing and expand popular offerings such as dual-language immersion.

If reelected, he would continue to streamline and simplify Unified enrollment systems, make great investments in curriculums and supports that ensure that Black students thrive. He would also recruit and retain more teachers of colors, continue to make the District’s budget more transparent and fully implement the Community of Schools model (visit: www.nickmelvoin.com).

GENTILLE BARKHORDARIAN

Gentille Barkhordarian

Barkhordarian has lived in District 4 for more than three decades, including the last 20 years in Century City.

She is the parent of two elementary-aged children, who attend Warner Avenue School.

An engineer and IT consultant, Barkhordarian has a master’s degree in finance from the University of South California.

On her website she writes that she receives no funding from special interest groups and is “simply a mom who wants to get personally involved in making decisions for the future of our children.”

A former IBM Consultant, she speaks English, Spanish, Farsi and French. Barkhordarian notes on her website “School closures and mandates have caused a great deal of suffering and social isolation for our children, turning into an emotional health crisis.

“Studies have shown that children made little or no progress during virtual learning, especially in disadvantaged homes. Yet, our teachers’ unions lobbied and achieved one of the longest school closures in the world.”

She told the News, “Before we can focus on growing enrollment, we must identify the reasons that families are fleeing the district.”  (visit: www.gentille4lausd.com.)

***********************************************************************************

Regarding school police in the district, the News reported that “Melvoin, who voted to cut the department’s budget and to move officers off campus, said student behavioral issues should be handled by counselors while officers should focus on threats off-campus.

“Melvoin says district data suggests that suicidal thoughts and mental health issues have increased since the pandemic, but more violent incidents haven’t grown much since officers were relocated. . . .The other candidates believe officers should be allowed back on campuses.”

LAUSD Schools were closed for more than a year, starting in March 2020,  because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Superintendent Austin Beutner is in Venice for the reopening in April 2021.

Posted in Schools | Leave a comment

DWP Scandal Shows City Corruption Is Deep

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Sue

The DWP building is located in downtown L.A.

 

Little did Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials know that when they installed a new billing system in 2013, it would lead to and expose corruption in the highest levels of city government.

The story revolves in two areas: (1) filing, and then trying  to cover up a corrupt class action that the City Attorney’s Office had filed on behalf of the City, and settled in its favor, and (2) awarding over $40 million dollars in City contracts to a  cyber security company newly formed by a lawyer employed by the City Attorney’s Office, which occurred through a “fixed” bidding competition and in violation of the City’s open bidding process.

 

DWP BILLING:

The new billing system developed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for DWP was rolled out prematurely, despite a warning from the State Auditor that the system would not work.

It was disaster. Residents started complaining and several class action lawsuits were filed.

The City Attorney’s office, under Mike Feuer, sued PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), alleging that the malfunctioning system was negligently installed.

To deal with the many customer class action lawsuits, the City Attorney’s office, under the direction of Thom Peters, Jim Clark and Mike Feuer, came up with the idea for a “friendly” class action lawsuit.

Antwon Jones was selected for a class action law suit by the City Attorney’s office.

A “friendly” lawsuit meant that City chose the person and the lawyers, Jones v City, in order to receive a more agreeable settlement, which is unethical.

The fraudulent lawsuit was eventually exposed but not before attorneys for the City, at the direction of Thom Peters and Mike Feuer, had paid millions in legal fees and $800,000 in extortion to a secretary working for one of the City’s outside counsels, Paul Kiesel.

The law firm PwC took LA City to court and in depositions uncovered the bogus lawsuit. Feuer then dropped the $100 million lawsuit against PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Attorney Paul Paradis, the attorney hired by the City to prepare a complaint against itself and PwC, turned himself, agreed to plead guilty and then in April 2019, went undercover for the FBI and the U. S. Attorney’s Office.

Over the next 15 months, Paradis met with top city and DWP officials and made tapes, and video recordings – while wired. He turned the information over to the FBI.

In one of them, he spoke to the head of the DWP David Wright, who confirmed that the City Attorney’ Office had lied when they denied that they had filed a lawsuit against the City itself.

Wright has pled guilty and faces jail time. His guilty plea explains that he participated in numerous conversations with Jim Clark of the City Attorney’s Office because Clark was the author of the City’s friendly lawsuit. (Clark left that office in August 2020.)

DWP CYBER SECURITY:

At the same time that Jones v City, the class action lawsuit was underway, DWP, which had not upgraded its security and could easily be exposed to a cyber threat needed to hire a company to upgrade security.

When companies in the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) are approving a new contract, it goes through a competitive bidding process. The vote is later approved by DWP.

Attorney Paul Paradis wore a wire for the FBI to aid in the DWP investigation.

Paul Paradis was developing a company that could work with cyber security. David Wright, the DWP head, planned to leave his job and come to work for Paradis.

The company, initially Aventador, now Ardent was involved a three-year, $30 million no bid contract with LADWP to perform remediation work on the faulty billing system—and to perform cybersecurity-related work for LADWP.

As of March 2019, Aventador had received at least $21.9 million of public funds under the contract, without participating in the normal bidding process.

To receive the new cyber contract, it would need to go through a competitive bidding process against other companies.

But Ardent, formerly Aventador, knew it would be awarded the new contract. How did it know it would get the contract when competitive bidding had yet to be done?

According to the FBI tapes, Mayor Eric Garcetti and members of his office knew that Ardent/Adventador would get the cyber contract.

In one tape from Paradis to the FBI: “Heading to meet Josh right now [Joshua Perttula is a personal advisor and friend to Garcetti]. Just had approx. 15–20-minute conversation with Wright. Mayor’s office knows about bid rigging to steer Ardent contract and actively involved in setting pricing strategy. Call recorded.”

And “both Wright and Josh have now repeatedly admitted on recordings that the Mayor’s office, including the Mayor’s Chief of Staff Ana Guerrero and Deputy Mayor Barbara Romero, is actively involved in the fraudulent scheme to award the SCPPA contract to Ardent and that these two individuals are particularly involved in setting the $ amount of the contract to be awarded because of their ‘concern over the optics.’”

Perttula admitted on video that the mayor’s office and DWP Board all had actual knowledge that DWP was using the SCPPA contracting process to create the false appearance that the contracts to be awarded to Ardent and the other two vendors were the result of a competitive evaluation process when they all have actual knowledge that this is not true.”

Former LADWP Chief Cyber Risk Officer David Alexander “admitted to fixing the process to select Ardent as the vendor for DWP and also admitted the DWP has been falsifying regulatory records since 2007 to cover up its non-compliance with CIPT standards and other regulatory requirements.”

Garcetti denied those allegations in a May 4 Knock LA story (“Former City Lawyer Says Garcetti’s Office, DWP Steered Bogus Contracts] that they [the office] had no role in the SCPPA process and “It should surprise no one that a convicted criminal [Paradis], who has already confessed to defrauding the public for his own personal gain, is extending that fraud with a desperate attempt to deflect blame and minimize his own wrong doing.”

The commissioners, who are appointed by Garcetti, and are supposed to provide oversight on all contracts because they represent the public, were also involved in the awarding of contract, according to the Paradis tapes.

LADWP Board President Cynthia McClain-Hill and former board President Meldon Levine were named in the filing “Both Mel and Cynthia state Ardent had already been selected by them to perform cyberwork for LAPD (April 15), despite the fact the board was not set to vote until April 18.”

In the Knock-L.A. story, McClain-Hill said, “any suggestion that I was in any way involved in the so called ‘rigging’ of the SCPPA contract is patently false.”

TAPES BECAME PUBLIC THROUGH COURT FILING

Mike Feuer
Photo: File photo from LA Attorney’s office.

How did the FBI tapes become public? In one word – Feuer.

Paradis, the sole owner of Ardent Cyber Solutions, is now a debtor in Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Arizona.

Feuer filed a lawsuit against Paradis in an Arizona bankruptcy court for almost $24 million in June 2021.

As of March 2019, Aventador had received at least $21.9 million of public funds under the contract. In December, Paradise filed to dismiss. The Court granted his motion in February, but allowed the City to file an amended complaint, which it did in March.

Paradis, who has pled guilty to a bribery charge, responded on April 29 with a complaint against Mike Feuer, saying that he should be disbarred because the City’s suit “depicts Paradis in the worst possible light. . . .and that the amended complaint was known to Feuer to be false.”

Paradis points out that Feuer knew that Paradis was working at the direction of the FBI and the community safety crimes section of the USAO. Paradis said Feuer knew that Paradis had provided “evidence of corruption, contract bid-rigging and cybersecurity violations involving the LADWP and high-ranking officials in the Mayor’s Office.”

In Paradis’ court filing, he provides written summaries of the numerous undercover operations.  (Visit:  click here.)

To date, four people have been charged.

Paradis pled guilty to a bribery charge for accepting an illicit kickback of $2.2 million.

David Alexander pled guilty to a single count in a plea agreement with the United States District Court for making false statements.

David Wright pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and bribery in December 2021 and was sentenced to six years in federal prison in April.

Thomas Peters, who worked in the L.A. City Attorney’s office pled guilty to one count of aiding and abetting extortion,

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in City/Councilman Mike Bonin, Community | 1 Comment

Celebrate National Poppy Day May 27

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Sue

This year, National Poppy Day is May 27. On that day, Americans are asked to remember the sacrifices made by veterans, while they were protecting our freedoms, by wearing a red poppy. The Post 283 Auxiliary shared poppies at the town’s 100th Birthday Celebration on May 7.

The red crepe paper poppies became the national emblem of remembrance of World War I in the 1920s thanks to Canadian physician Lt. Col. McCrae poem, “In Flanders Fields.” He noticed the poppies growing the devastated landscapes and war fields, like tiny beacons of hope.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place, and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

 

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

 

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

The idea for the paper poppies is traced back to University of Georgia professor Moina Michael, who after WWI, came up with the idea of making and selling red silk poppies to raise money to support returning veterans.

Annually U.S. Auxiliaries promote the poppies in May. They are generally worn in the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand in November.

Since 2014, Ukrainians have worn the poppy as a symbol of Victory over Nazism and to commemorate victims of World War II.

If you have the opportunity, wear a poppy and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in General | 2 Comments

County Supervisor Candidates Spar in CD3 Forum

Posted on May 22, 2022 by Sue

By ANGELA MCGREGORA

A fast-paced forum to find Sheila Kuehl’s replacement for L.A. County Supervisor was held live (and live  streamed) in Venice, on Thursday, May 19.

Hosted by The Westside Current, Circling the News, the Santa Monica Daily Press and the Acorn, the six candidates, Craig Brill, Jeffi Girgenti, Bob Hertzberg, Lindsay Horvath, Roxanne Beckford Hoge and Henry Stern, presented their positions.

This was the first forum that included all candidates whose names are on the June 7 primary ballot. In prior debates, Brill, Girgenti and Beckford Hoge had been excluded.

Click here for YouTube.

HOMELESSNESS:

A homeless encampment is located below the underpass at 405 and Venice Boulevard.

Many of the questions asked related to what all the candidates stated was the most complicated and pressing issue currently facing the District — Homelessness.
Stern stated that in order to fix homelessness, the county “needs to get out of its own way and start spending down the almost $1 billion I found in an audit I did for mental health services.”

He pointed out the county has just 30 mental health workers currently working, a number he feels should be “in the hundreds.” He wants to put psychiatric care facilities in every neighborhood and stop pitting “care first versus housing first.”

Hertzberg said that he completely agreed with Stern’s assessment, and that “the county’s just not taking responsibility.” Hertzberg, who brought with him a bulging notebook full of what he called “homework,” held up a letter showing the county had yet to respond to a question about hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent funds.

Jeffi Girgenti

Girgenti spoke to the need for “conservancies,”, along with the need for a HOPE and HOST program that works, by working with all first responders and creating facilities to “get these people housed. “Hope of the Valley has done a great job with this,” Girgenti said.

Horvath said that in West Hollywood, they have an “80% success rate in getting people off the streets.” But she went on to state that the most complicated problem was “how to get people together to solve problems. People are very angry in this county. They’re angry, they’re upset, and they have a right to be.”

Beckford Hoge acknowledged that homelessness is a pressing issue but stated the most important issue for her was the “corruption in our City Council. It is the number one issue we face. It affects everything, from homelessness, to crime…everything is made worse by the cabal of people collecting huge pots of money and doing nothing.”

Brill said that “homelessness and public safety are the driving issues behind why people are angry. People don’t feel safe going out on the street.” He pointed to the need for more beds, and more assisted living centers. “We need to get people to get off the street who are mentally ill and can’t live on their own,” Brill said. “We need to build them immediately.”

All but one candidate — Henry Stern — said that they would abolish LAHSA (although Stern later clarified his response by stating he would restructure the agency, by having it work with the Department of Public Health and the Department of Mental Health “under one umbrella”).

Hertzberg said the recently released recommendation of a County “Blue Ribbon” commission on Homelessness were ridiculous. “On the one hand they say it’s a crisis, and on the other hand, they want 39 months to fix it,” he said.

Lindsey Horvath

Horvath said the commission’s recommendations (which include creating a new position to oversee all homeless services) create more bureaucracy and not solutions.

“What’s needed are elected officials being held accountable,” she said, noting that to determine if resources are being effectively managed, that there should be “legally noticed meetings with service providers and people with lived experience experiencing homelessness, meeting once a week.”

Beckford-Hoge said, “No one has the right to live in a public right-of-way. People have a lot of reasons for being homeless. But I don’t have the right to have a beach view because I can’t afford to live here.”

Brill stated that all 88 cities within the county need to be part of the solution to end the open-air drug dens across the county. “We need a regional approach, disband LAHSA and create an organization with real metrics that is accountable to the Supervisors so that we…can get them[homeless] the resources they need,” he said.

Stern said he probably would have voted with the three Supervisors who agreed to create a new Department of Homelessness (along with other proposals recommended by the Blue-Ribbon Committee) but that “they’re taking too long to do it.”

As for the County’s continued fight against the L.A. Alliance lawsuit, all six candidates felt the county should settle, as the city has done. The candidates expressed frustration with the County spending tax dollars to fight the lawsuit.

Stern said he felt the county’s contention that they are “doing all they can” is absurd in light of “five people a day dying on the streets.”

Horvath recounted frustrations with getting the county to provide her city with more mental health evaluation teams, which resulted in the creation of a model for every city to do so.

EXPANDING THE NUMBER OF SUPERVISORS:

All of the candidates, save for Stern (who replied, “not yet”), said the County Board of Supervisors should be expanded. Hertzberg pointed out that he had actually put forward a bill to do that in the State Senate, but that it had been voted down.

APPROVAL OF BERGGRUEN CENTER:

Bob Hertzberg

Stern felt strongly that the Berggruen Center in Brentwood should not be built, as it’s in a fire zone. Hertzberg disagreed, stating that the fire risks were being mitigated and the actual facility would take up just 2 acres out of over 400.

Horvath agreed with Stern, as did Girgenti and Brill, who pointed out the lack of parks in Los Angeles County, compared to other counties.

PLASTIC BAGS:

On a question regarding the banning of plastic bags in L.A. County for environmental reasons, all candidates except Beckford-Hoge (who stated it was “not the role of government”) favored a ban (in Stern’s case, only of single-use bags).

SHERIFF VILLANUEVA:

All six candidates stated they would be willing to work with Sheriff Villanueva, should he be re-elected.

Hertzberg stated he felt the Sheriff should be appointed by the Supervisors, rather than elected, because asking for political contributions leads to corruption.

Craig Brill

Beckford-Hoge said that the Sheriff is “elected for a reason, because it turns out having one appointed, like with the LAPD, means that “you’re just trying to cover your butt all the time.”

Brill agreed with her, and said he also feels the Sheriff is woefully underfunded, with unincorporated areas of the county not even able to get an officer to respond to calls.

Stern said that he thinks “we’ve given Sheriff Villanueva a lot of political fodder to exploit a wrong-headed agenda of defunding the police. We’ve got to get back to re-funding and reforming the police…The Sheriff is smart, and he’s taken all the consternation, all the fighting and has been trying to win in the court of public opinion. He came down here to Venice in his cowboy hat because nobody was doing anything to solve this.”

PUBLIC HEALTH – BARBARA FERRER

A question about the qualifications of the head of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, Barbara Ferrer, resulted in a discussion about the County Supervisor’s abdication of their responsibility to use her services in an advisory capacity, rather than, as Beckford Hoge put it, “asking not a single question…during this pandemic.”

Stern agreed with her that the Board is “simply not stepping up and owning the judgment calls that they’re making…We hid behind

Dr. Ferrer during this pandemic, but she ought not to take the blame. I think the Board’s got to step up.” Hertzberg agreed with him, and called for a better “management structure” for Public Health.

METRO BOARD -PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

In response to a question about how, as members of the Metro Board, they would facilitate the rehabilitation of public transportation after Covid, Horvath said community input to new routes and lines was vital.

Hertzberg favors expediting construction of new transit projects across the county.

Roxanne Beckford Hoge

Beckford Hoge and Brill pointed out that public transportation is currently unsafe and won’t be used until it is.

Stern would take money earmarked for the high-speed rail project through the central valley and “beat the 405” by creating rail lines between the San Fernando Valley and Orange County.

Jeffi Girgenti feels we should explore the creation of monorail lines.

SB9 AND SB10:

The candidates were asked their opinions of SB9 and SB10, which would increase density in the state by (respectively) allowing duplexes to be built on single-family lots and allow up to 10 units per lot near transit lines, taking away local control over zoning decisions.

Girgenti was adamantly opposed to the motions, stating that “we only think we have a housing shortage.”

Hertzberg said he voted for SB9 (but not SB10) because he thought it was “a reasonable solution” but cited other, better options for increasing density, including adaptive reuse and ADUS, that “do not encroach on open space.”

Horvath said that she opposed both motions because “we want to protect local control.  While there might be good intentions in terms of creating more housing, we don’t need a one size fits all approach because all of our communities are different.”  But now that they have been passed, she doesn’t feel cities should be filing lawsuits to oppose them.

Brill opposed the measures because it would expand housing in areas at risk of wildfires, but “we need to build housing in our transit corridors.”

Beckford Hoge opposed the motions. “Most of us live here because we want open space,” she said. “We do not want to live in Manhattan.”

Henry Stern

Stern opposed both SB9 and SB10 because he feels that we should not be building in fire zones.  “I don’t think Scott Weiner should be deciding what housing looks like in L.A.” he said, and pointed out that building market rate housing alone would solve the housing affordability crisis, and that neither motion contained an affordability requirement.

 

Other questions addressed by the candidates included: is the local government ignoring the middle class; do electric vehicles create a moral dilemma because of the way materials for them are obtained; should the state fund and build a desalinization plant to deal with ongoing water shortages; and what the candidates have learned from the Woolsey fire that will help them better manage the state’s year-round fire seasons?

The complete video of the event will be available on YouTube.

Posted in Community, Crime/Police, Environmental, Homelessness, Real Estate | 2 Comments