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From LA Times

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Monrovia complex tells disabled tenants to leave

Apartments where many physically and developmentally disabled have lived for years were intended to be seniors-only, new management says. Those being told to go fear loss of precious independence.

By Corina Knoll

September 17, 2009

Lily Hixon flung open her kitchen cupboards with pride. "Look," she said, doing a Vanna White impression as she gestured to boxes of cereal and crackers. "I like everything organized."

The one-bedroom Monrovia apartment decked out in Ikea has been Hixon's introduction to independent living, a privilege the 25-year-old born with Down syndrome still can't believe is hers. Built on an old rail yard, Regency Court Apartments is a quiet, mini-neighborhood of sage-green apartments and bungalows where Hixon greets neighbors with a wave.

But last month, she and about 20 other physically or developmentally disabled tenants, some of whom have lived in the affordable housing complex for more than a decade, were notified that their leases were being terminated.

The management firm that took over the facility two years ago told the tenants there had been a mistake and they never should have been allowed to move in. Regency Court, the letter said, was always meant to be a senior apartment community, and those under age 62 would have to leave. It offered a brief apology.

Located among a row of houses in a quiet neighborhood, Regency Court is close to bus lines, within walking distance of jobs that people with disabilities might land and accepts Section 8 housing vouchers. It seemed a perfect fit for people who want to live on their own but are susceptible to predators.

Parents of the disabled say part of the complex's allure is the symbiotic relationship between the senior and disabled communities where both move a little slower than the outside world and neither presents a threat.

"If we'd sat down years ago and tried to dream up this package, we wouldn't have gotten it half as good as this," said Hixon's father, Ken. "That's part of the parents' anguish right now -- that now we're back to zero. How do we replicate this?"

Upset and unsure of what to do, residents and family members contacted the Housing Rights Center, which has filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing alleging discrimination based on age and disability.

Regency Court has failed to provide proof that its funding restricts the complex to seniors, said Michelle Uzeta of the Housing Rights Center.

"This is a complex that since it opened in 1995 has advertised to and served a disabled and senior client base," Uzeta said. "Even if they are supposed to be senior housing and have been acting inappropriately for the last 15 years, the answer would not be terminating everybody's residency."

Craig Diamond, an attorney who represents the owner and the management firm, said Regency Court is clearly defined as senior apartment housing, and a resolution in the matter will be determined by the state and county agencies that help fund the property. He declined to identify the agencies.

"Until I heard from the lawyer for the tenants, I had no clue as to the special circumstances surrounding these individuals," said Diamond, who wrote the lease termination letters. "It should also be said that the regulators, management and owners are working really hard to try to get this matter resolved."

Regency Court is owned by Star-Holdings of Illinois and managed by Professional Property Management, both of which are headquartered in Rockford, Ill.

Many of the residents at risk of being forced out are graduates of Taft College near Bakersfield, which has placed developmentally disabled graduates of its adult life skills program at Regency for 10 years.

"What's interesting is we talk about what gets you evicted in one of our class components," said Jeff Ross, director of student support services at Taft. "But these guys didn't trash their apartments. They paid their rent on time. They have done everything right. They graduated from high school, went to college to learn how to live independently, got a job. Then the rug started to be pulled out from underneath them."

Ross said that before the school's first students were placed at Regency Court, staff members verified that the complex accepted both senior citizens and disabled residents.

For Taft graduates Matt and Laura Fosbury, both 29, the upstairs apartment they share has been a newlywed nest. Framed photos of the two kissing and laughing cover the walls, and cards congratulating them on their recent one-year anniversary sit on the counter.

During the day, Matt works as a cart collector at Target and Laura clears tables at a hospital cafeteria. They take pleasure in simple things like making a dinner of enchiladas, balancing the family finances or going out for an ice cream shake. If the couple can't live at Regency Court, they worry they'll be forced to return to their families' homes and lose their independence.

"My dream was to have my own apartment, and that dream came true," Laura said. "I do not want to go back to living with my parents."

Some, like Frankie Mae Platt, don't even have that option. Platt won't turn 62 until next year and has been asked to leave.

Suffering from lupus and rheumatoid arthritis when she signed the lease 14 years ago, Platt is unable to work and worries that she won't be able to find safe, low-income housing in the area.

For the time being, Uzeta said Regency Court had verbally agreed to hold off on revoking the leases but offered nothing in writing. Until a decision is made, tenants worry about losing the home life they've created.

Hixon said an eviction would force her to leave the neighborhood and her job bagging groceries at a nearby market. But she said she's more concerned about losing neighbors who take time to understand a young woman whose facial expressions say what her sometimes garbled speech does not.

"Here I can go slow with words and take my time, and people around me understand," she said. "They're like my family."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-disabled-evict17-2009sep17,0,3969156,print.story

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Bones found at the home of suspected kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido

Investigators today announced that they have found bones at the home of suspected kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido in the Bay Area community of Antioch.

Phillip Garrido, 58, and Nancy Garrido, 54, were arrested Aug. 26 in connection with the kidnapping and rape of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was snatched near her South Lake Tahoe home in 1991. She lived in a warren of tents in the couple's backyard and bore Phillip Garrido two daughters.

Police are now searching for a possible connection between Garrido and two girls who have been missing for more than two decades: Michaela Garecht, 9, of Hayward and Ilene Misheloff, 13, of Dublin, both cities in Alameda County. Investigators plan to use ground-penetrating radar and magnetometers capable of detecting human remains and other artifacts. They may also raze structures on the properties, according to Hayward Police Lt. Christine Orrey.

Investigators have had to tow away vehicles and comb through piles of debris on the Garrido property, which is about an acre.

"A large amount of debris and trash has been removed from the Garrido property. Much more needs to be hauled off," Lee said.

By the end of today, investigators had finished searching the adjacent house, but not the yard or the Garridos' yard and house, Lee said. He said investigators plan to return tomorrow with dogs trained to sniff out human remains.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Schwarzenegger urges Brown to investigate ACORN

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today called on state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown to investigate ACORN, the left-leaning national community organization that has come under fire in recent days after conservative activists released videos that they said showed the group's workers offering advice on how to set up prostitution businesses.

A hidden-camera video released Tuesday by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, who posed as a pimp and a prostitute, depicts a woman who O'Keefe says is an ACORN worker in San Bernardino saying she could show them “how not to get caught.”

On the video, which is edited, she also discusses shooting and killing her ex-husband and says she “laid some groundwork” beforehand by going to domestic violence shelters and saying she was abused.

The pair has previously released similar videos in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn, N.Y., that have appeared on websites and the Fox News channel.

In a letter to Brown released to reporters, Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said the reports “concerned me greatly.”

“I believe it is appropriate that your office launch a full investigation into ACORN's activities in California,” the governor wrote. “My administration stands ready to assist in any way necessary.”

Brown spokesman Scott Gerber said in a statement that his office would review the video, "and if we think there's any wrongdoing, we'll look into it or refer it to the local" district attorney.

The U.S. Senate voted Monday to block federal housing grants to the group, which has also come under fire in voter registration fraud cases, particularly during last year's presidential campaign.

 The group registers voters for Democrats.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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L.A. council votes to impose furloughs and layoffs while talks continue on early retirement plan

The council took the first step toward eliminating 926 positions and imposing 26 days of furloughs on the Coalition of L.A. City Unions in an attempt to eliminate a $405 million shortfall.

Early retirement would have allowed 2,400 workers to leave up to five years early with full benefits. Although it was desigend to help address a budget crisis, the city's top financial adviser warned last week that it would only save $12 million this budget year.

Alarcon, who represents the San Fernando Valley, described today's vote as a place holder, one that will buy time as the city's negotiating committee tries to develop a new early retirement plan that is more financially viable. The vote “is a safety net, in the event that we aren't able to come up with an agreement,” Alarcon said.

Union leaders said they will take similar steps, preparing a legal challenge against the city even as they continue negotiations. But they were upbeat after today's vote, praising the council for searching for a new agreement.

“We're finding common ground, and we hope to build on that common ground,” said Victor Gordo, secretary treasurer of Laborers' International Union of North America Local 777.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Downtown denizens welcome new park -- even if it's in front of LAPD headquarters

When construction workers removed the temporary fence around the new Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, it was to downtown denizens like unwrapping a giant holiday present.

After years of demolition and construction, the dusty corner of Spring and 2nd streets suddenly gave way to a burst of green space complete with a lush front lawn that would do any suburban ranch house proud.

The space along 2nd is technically an adornment, but residents and workers desperate for open space are glad to call it a park.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Sheriff Baca orders examination of foot pursuit policy after deputy fatally shoots unarmed man

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca today ordered a task force examination of shootings during foot pursuits after learning that an unarmed man fatally shot by a deputy in Athens on Monday was hit in the back of the neck and the side of the body.

Some of the deputy's rounds also went through a wooden gate. Sheriff's officials also said that, contrary to initial reports, they don't believe the man was responsible for a nearby robbery.

Baca told The Times that, in the wake of the shooting of Darrick Collins, he has directed Assistant Sheriff Paul Tanaka to put together a "think tank" of the department's top shooting experts from across the region to find ways to "do a better job" handling foot chases.

"We want to get better answers to deputies' question, [such as] what should I do if I am chasing a suspect and believe he is armed?" the sheriff said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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L.A. Councilwoman Hahn exploring a run for lieutenant governor in 2010

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has established an exploratory campaign committee for a possible run for California lieutenant governor in 2010.

Hahn in March was reelected to a third four-year council term, and is scheduled to be term-limited out of office in 2013.

Hahn, who lives in San Pedro, ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1998, narrowly losing to Republican Steven T. Kuykendall of Rancho Palos Verdes.

If she decides to run for the statewide office, Hahn's biggest challengers for the Democratic nomination would, thus far, be state Sens. Dean Florez of Shafter, who has banked more than $872,000 in his campaign account, and Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, who has just under $27,000 in his account, according to state election records.

On the Republican side, the challengers include state Sen. Jeff Denham and Jim Battin, a former state senator from Riverside County.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Morris Dam fire started by 13-year-old boy, detectives say

The Morris Dam fire above Azusa, which burned 2,100 acres last month, was started by a 13-year-old boy, authorities alleged today.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, detectives presented the case today to the district attorney's office, which will decide whether to charge the unidentified boy.

Details of how the fire started were not immediately clear, but in a statement, the department described the boy as being "primarily responsible for igniting the fire."

The Morris fire broke out in San Gabriel Canyon on Aug. 25, the same day the much larger Station fire was sparked. The Morris fire burned areas along Highway 39 a few miles north of Azusa.

The Station fire, the largest in L.A. County history, has been declared an arson. But there are no suspects. 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Demand at local food pantries on the rise, food bank reports

Demand at Los Angeles food pantries has gone up by a third over the last year as the recession has dragged on and more people have lost their jobs, according to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.

The organization distributes food to more than 900 agencies in Los Angeles County, 500 of which are pantries. It is currently shipping 1 million pounds of food a week to meet a 34% increase in people seeking help, said Michael Flood, the president and chief executive.

"Food pantries are a good barometer of what Los Angeles residents are facing," Flood said. "The economic problems and meltdown have left many local families struggling to survive."

From May to August, the food pantries handed out an average of 122,850 food packages a month, according to the food bank's figures.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Garden Grove woman stabs two daughters, attempts suicide, police say [Updated]

A Garden Grove woman stabbed her two daughters and then tried to kill herself inside a Westminster home this morning, police said.

The 38-year-old woman, who has not been identified, was staying overnight with her daughters at a cousin's home when the violence occurred, said Westminster Police Officer Van Woodson.

Woodson said that about 6:30 a.m., the cousin's wife called authorities to report the stabbings at their home in the 14300 block of Starsia Street. He said the woman stabbed her 5-year-old daughter once in the chest and stabbed and slashed her 3-year-old multiple times in her upper torso.

"The other residents of the house were awakened to the screaming," Woodson said.

He said the woman admitted to officers that she stabbed her children and then tried to kill herself. All three were taken to a hospital.

The 5-year-old is on life support, and the mother and younger daughter are expected to survive, he said.

"We're trying to make sense of it," Woodson said.

-- Ari B. Bloomekatz

[Updated at 12:55 p.m.] Family members who live in the one-story, cream-colored house where the stabbing occurred expressed shock as police and investigators swarmed the home.

Police identified the mother as Thuy Le, 38. She was staying overnight with her daughters at the home of her cousin Toan Pham, 51.

Pham said he was awakened a little before 6:30 a.m. by children screaming. He ran into the living room, where his cousin and her daughters had spent the night, and saw his 5-year-old niece crying and bleeding. He asked her why she was bleeding, but she could not talk, he said. Le was holding her small child, and both were covered in blood.

Pham's wife frantically called 911. Pham said the knife Le used came from his kitchen drawer.

“We don't know why this happened,” he said in Vietnamese. “My cousin really loves her children. There is no way I could have ever imagined this could happen.”

Pham said his cousin asked to spend the night at his house, as she has done on one previous occasion. Le and her daughters slept on a spare mattress in the living room.

Pham said Le had been having financial difficulties stemming from trouble with a massage therapy business that she recently had to sell. He could tell that Le was troubled by her money problems, but they rarely talked about it when she came over to the house for dinner. He did not know whether the financial woes contributed to the stabbing.

“I feel terrible that my nieces had to suffer so much,” he said. “And to have this happen in my house.”

The condition of the 5-year-old has been upgraded to being in a medically induced coma, and hospital officials are hopeful of her survival, Woodson said. The mother and 3-year-old daughter are in stable condition.

Police are still investigating the crime. “We still don't know what drove her to this crime of trying to kill her kids,” he said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Student says assistant principal who molested her is 'terrible man who ruined my life' [Updated]

The former student who was sexually assaulted by a Los Angeles assistant principal now feels “worthless and guilty," according to a probation report obtained by The Times.

The school official, Steve Thomas Rooney, was sentenced to eight years in state prison for molesting the victim and three other students.

 “I think Mr. Rooney is a terrible man who ruined my life,” she told a probation investigator seeking to determine his suitability for probation.

The report paints a picture of a respected educator who used his position to sexually abuse the youngsters he was meant to protect. In the case of one of the other victims, by her account, between ages 15 and 17 they had “long-term affair.” 

Much of the time Rooney was a dean at Foshay Learning Center, where that girl was a student. “He took me everywhere with him, even to New York,” she told a probation investigator. “He had sex with me as often as he wanted. I think over 150 times.”

She testified in a preliminary hearing in the case that Rooney got her pregnant when she was 16 and that she essentially lived at his downtown loft for portions of 2005 to 2007. They even visited his parents' home in New York, where they had sex, she said

Rooney's conduct was eventually investigated after the girl's stepfather threatened Rooney with a gun.

But the girl withdrew her allegations. The district reassigned him to Fremont High and then Markham Middle School as an assistant principal, where police allege he found two more victims.

One of those victims, the one who called Rooney a terrible man, told investigators that she was taken to his downtown loft, stripped naked and “raped twice and sodomized.” 

Rooney was eventually convicted of lewd conduct with the girl.

After Rooney's arrest last year, the former Foshay student came forward again and revealed she kept a scrapbook that included photos of her and Rooney kissing and visiting his parents. She later testified that she continued the sexual relationship even after the initial police inquiry in 2007. She said Rooney got her to gather up all the items connecting them and give them to another dean, who hid them from authorities.

[ Updated 8:23 p.m. An earlier version of this story confused the accounts of the two victims quoted.]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Authorities seek to warn Station fire victims about illegal contractors

The agency offers advice on its Web page to help protect consumers from being victimized by unlicensed contractors.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Arrested in O.C.? A DNA sample could buy freedom

Guilty or not, people arrested can avoid the hassle of court if they give their DNA sample to the district attorney. The program raises privacy and equity concerns among legal scholars.

By Tami Abdollah

September 17, 2009

Orange County, which already has one of the nation's most aggressive programs for taking DNA samples from convicts, has quietly begun offering a deal to some people who have only been arrested: give a DNA sample and have your charges dropped.

The district attorney's office, which runs its own database, has started expanding its program by handling some cases "informally," Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas told the Board of Supervisors this week. In those cases, if a person who has been arrested agrees to give a DNA sample, "we would not even file" charges.

"There'd be no necessity for a guilty plea, and a dismissal, or anything like that," he said. "It's advantageous to the defense, and it's advantageous to us, because we're able to handle more cases with fewer resources."

The DNA sample could act as a deterrent for potential criminals and be a useful investigative tool for law enforcement, Rackauckas told supervisors. But the deal to drop charges in exchange for DNA samples, which appears to be unique in the country, has drawn objections both from civil libertarians and from some in law enforcement.

The plan became public when Rackauckas sought approval from supervisors to add a mandatory $75 fee to the deal. Supervisors approved the fee, allowing Rackauckas' department to process more DNA profiles at a time of state budget cuts. The plan applies to people arrested for nonviolent misdemeanors, including petty theft, trespassing and low-level drug-possession felonies.

Representatives of some Orange County police agencies objected to the idea of the district attorney releasing suspects whom their officers have arrested and booked.

"All law enforcement will be demoralized, especially on narcotics cases," said Wayne Quint, president of the Assn. of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs.

"I don't believe any plea deals for DNA should ever occur, period," he said. "There's absolutely no scientific empirical evidence to show that it's a deterrent."

Civil liberties advocates and defense attorneys say the plan would allow prosecutors to wrongly pressure people who have not been convicted of any crime to give the government a DNA sample.

Federico Sayre, an attorney based in Santa Ana who represented Rodney King in his case against Los Angeles, said most attorneys would be obliged to advise clients to provide a sample and pay the fee if they can afford it -- even if the client asserts his or her innocence -- to avoid a possibly prolonged, and more punitive, legal experience.

The district attorney's office is essentially saying that "the person who is arrested, though not convicted, is someone who has given up some of their rights as a regular citizen," Sayre said.

Erwin Chemerinsky, the UC Irvine Law School dean and constitutional scholar, said he was troubled by the program although he supports reducing the number of people imprisoned for nonviolent offenses.

This "troubles me because I do not think that we yet have adequate safeguards to protect privacy," Chemerinsky said. He also questioned whether a $75 fee would prevent release for those too poor to afford it.

Rackauckas launched the DNA database in January 2007 with $875,000 approved by the Board of Supervisors. It is one of a small number of databases maintained by local governments separate from the larger databases maintained by states and the FBI.

Critics call such local databases "rogues" because they are not subject to state and federal guidelines designed to prevent DNA profiles from being misused. The Orange County database is even more unusual because it is not run by an accredited crime lab.

Rackauckas' decision to expand DNA collection to some people who are merely arrested is an example of why critics are concerned about databases that exist outside the federal system, said UCLA Law School professor Jennifer Mnookin, an expert on the subject.

When DNA collection was established, the state and federal government created limits, and "there was debate and public discussion, to some extent, of when it's appropriate to do this," Mnookin said. "So I'm quite troubled by these so-called rogue databases, where prosecutors are claiming for themselves the power to decide when we ought to be keeping biological samples for people.

"I don't think it should be up to individual prosecutors without broader legislative oversight," she said.

In January, the state database began accepting local jurisdictions' DNA profiles of people arrested on suspicion of serious crimes but not yet convicted. This does not apply to people arrested for misdemeanors.

Rackauckas could not be reached for comment Wednesday because he was at a DNA conference, but a district attorney spokeswoman defended the plan. "It's completely voluntary, so no one has to do this," said Susan Kang Schroeder. "There's consequences when you commit a crime. This is actually a better option for them than other avenues of, I guess, going through the penal process."

As of December 2008, 4,000 people had given DNA samples and signed a consent form to be in the county's database. Schroeder said she could not provide figures on how much the database has grown since then, but said the new plan would allow prosecutors to more aggressively expand it.

Fountain Valley Police Chief Paul Sorrell, president of the Orange County Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs Assn., also backed the plan, saying that expanding the DNA database was "absolutely vital" in the effort to use DNA to deal with property crimes, which may lead to more violent crimes.

"In a perfect world, I think most of us would prefer that were someone accused and arrested for a crime, they proceeded through the criminal justice system in a more traditional sense," Sorrell said. "However, these are very difficult times, and the volume of crimes has had a huge impact on the D.A.'s office and law enforcement agencies."

On Wednesday, Supervisor Chris Norby said the program, though not perfect, would help save the county money and prevent crime. Those who truly feel they are not guilty should fight the charges but weigh the risks of doing so, he said.

"Our judicial system gives everybody the opportunity for a fair trial," Norby said. "But if everybody takes advantage of it, it'd break down. . . . No system's perfect, but weighing the trade-offs, I think this is a positive."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oc-dna17-2009sep17,0,4424366,print.story

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Disability activists sue Caltrans over access complaints

Suit alleges the agency has failed to bring sidewalks, intersections and roads into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act when upgrading or building transportation infrastructure.

By Dan Weikel

September 17, 2009

Civil rights advocates asserted in federal court Wednesday that California's highway agency has denied people with disabilities equal access to sidewalks throughout the state by failing to install wheelchair ramps and warnings for the blind at street corners.

The class-action lawsuit, which went to trial before U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong in Oakland, alleges that Caltrans has violated the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act, a federal law that requires improvements in accessibility whenever sidewalks and roads are built or undergo major repairs.

Attorneys from Disability Rights Advocates, a nonprofit law firm based in Berkeley, contend that thousands of required wheelchair ramps along state routes are either missing, do not comply with federal law or lack warnings such as bumps that the blind can feel underfoot. The conditions, they say, are dangerous and can force wheelchair users, for example, to detour onto streets, where they risk being hit by vehicles.

"We need to be able to get from point A to point B safely," said Ben Rockwell, 64, of Long Beach, a wheelchair user who is a plaintiff in the case. "I'm tired of having to go out in the middle of the street. . . . Do they have no sense of caring?"

Matt Rocco, a Caltrans spokesman, said the department has a policy that prohibits commenting on pending lawsuits. He said, however, that the agency remains committed to complying with the disabilities act. During the last 12 months, Rocco said, Caltrans has spent $10 million -- an amount that will be spent annually for the next several years -- to build and upgrade curb ramps as well as improve sidewalks.

Government officials and powerful municipal organizations such as the League of California Cities have contended that access lawsuits will burden financially strapped state and local agencies that are already struggling to comply with the law. Caltrans estimates that it would cost about $2.5 billion to make improvements statewide.

The California Council of the Blind, Californians for Disability Rights Inc., Dmitri Belser, 51, of Berkeley, and Rockwell, a disability rights activist, filed the federal lawsuit in August 2006. They brought a companion case in state court to address whether Caltrans should upgrade sidewalks built before the disabilities act was passed; a trial date has yet to be set.

The plaintiffs say they are seeking a court order or settlement forcing Caltrans to fix the problem sidewalks, change its policy and comply with federal law in the future.

They also want Caltrans to pay their attorneys' fees if they prevail.

Mary-Lee Kimber, an attorney from Disability Rights Advocates, said partial data from Caltrans from 2001 to 2006 indicates that the agency did not install about 1,000 required curb ramps during road improvements. She added that the number does not include curb ramps that were installed but don't comply with federal law.

Former Caltrans Director Will Kempton estimated last year that the agency needs to install about 10,000 new curb ramps statewide, retrofit about 50,000 existing curb ramps, reconstruct about 2,500 miles of sidewalk and modify pedestrian crossings at 15,000 intersections, including the installation of audible signals for the blind.

"This is a pervasive problem," Kimber said. "When you build a road or sidewalk or do an alteration, it provides an opportunity to provide access. Instead, Caltrans is just putting up roadblocks."

The case is one of a growing number of state and federal lawsuits in California designed to secure equal access to public rights of way, such as sidewalks, crosswalks and park-and-ride facilities.

Some of the cases have resulted in agreements with several cities to make improvements.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-caltrans17-2009sep17,0,4455519,print.story

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Baca to convene panel to examine deputy-involved shootings

After the 10th fatal shooting involving a deputy this year, the L.A. County sheriff wants to study whether the department needs further training in tactical responses to armed or unarmed people.

By Richard Winton and Andrew Blankstein

September 17, 2009

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Wednesday that he will convene a panel to examine deputy-involved shootings -- two days after a deputy fatally shot an unarmed man in the back of the neck and side during a foot pursuit.

The incident marked the 10th fatal deputy-involved shooting in 2009, twice the number of such cases for the same period last year.

The shooting took place Monday in Athens when sheriff's officials said that a man matching the description of an armed suspect placed his hands in his waistband as he ran from a deputy.

The deputy, who was not immediately identified, believed that the man was reaching for a gun and fired his service weapon three times, striking Darrick Collins, 36, Baca said.

At least two of the rounds penetrated a wooden gate before hitting Collins.

Investigators later recovered a cellphone -- but no weapon -- from the scene and also determined that Collins was not the suspect they were looking for.

Investigators said Collins, who had been arrested two weeks earlier on suspicion of drug possession, was found with Ecstasy and methamphetamine.

Baca said he wanted the expert panel to study whether the department needed additional training measures in tactical responses to armed or unarmed individuals who resist or reject orders by deputies.

He also asked the panel to investigate the possibility of expediting a wide range of deputy-involved shooting investigations.

"This is about transparency and providing an accounting to the community," said department spokesman Steve Whitmore.

Those assurances, however, did little to assuage the concerns of Collins' relatives, who expressed outrage over the shooting.

"I just want justice for my son, that's what I want," said his mother, Bernastein Huckabee. "It's pathetic how they did this. They took my son away from me."

The circumstances involving Collins' death also raised questions about training and discipline in connection with the sheriff's foot pursuit policy, which already is considered among the most restrictive in the nation.

"We want to get better answers to deputies' questions, [such as] what should I do if I am chasing a suspect and believe he is armed?" Baca said.

Merrick Bobb, an attorney who monitors the Sheriff's Department under a contract with the Board of Supervisors, said he believed that the additional scrutiny of foot pursuits is warranted.

Noting that 25% of officer-involved shootings between 1997 and 2002 involved foot pursuits, Bobb said that "in appropriate circumstances, there are alternatives to foot pursuits" including setting up perimeters and use of helicopters.

Bobb said the department panel should revisit recommendations made in his annual report to the supervisors in February 2005, including meting out discipline for deputies who engaged in unreasonable foot pursuits.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sheriff-shooting17-2009sep17,0,157773,print.story

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Lawsuit brings better conditions for immigration detainees

At a short-term processing facility in L.A., immigrants were held in cramped rooms with no access to drinking water, sanitary napkins or toothbrushes for weeks. U.S. officials have agreed to reforms.

By Robert J. Lopez

September 17, 2009

Immigrants detained in a short-term processing center in the basement of a Los Angeles federal building can no longer be held for weeks without access to drinking water, clean clothes or items such as sanitary napkins, according to a settlement announced Wednesday.

The settlement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities resulted from a lawsuit filed in April by the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, the National Immigration Law Center and the Paul Hastings law firm.

The suit described how immigrants were held in crowded, unsanitary conditions in the basement area known as B-18 in the Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. downtown. Women were often denied access to sanitary napkins, detainees were not allowed to brush their teeth for up two weeks and toilets would regularly overflow, according to the lawsuit.

"Nobody should have to live like that," said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrant rights for the Southern California chapter of ACLU and the case's lead attorney.

Lawyers for the detainees said immigration officials addressed the problems after the lawsuit was filed.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said the settlement underscores the agency's commitment to detainees' well-being.

"The cornerstone of these reforms is prioritizing health, safety and uniformity among all of the agency's facilities while enhancing operational efficiency and fiscal responsibility," the agency said.

Under the settlement, detainees cannot be held for more than 12 consecutive hours, except under limited exceptions such as waiting for court appearances.

Lawyers for the detainees will be allowed to visit the facility and be provided daily lists of people being held there, said Linton Joaquin, general counsel for the National Immigration Law Center.

The conditions in B-18 were not unique, according to Arulanantham, who said that he hopes the settlement will become a model for federal detention facilities nationwide.

"This is an important step," he said, "but it's one small step."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-immig-jail17-2009sep17,0,6558417,print.story

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MEXICO UNDER SIEGE

Former U.S. anti-drug official's arrest 'a complete shock'

Federal investigators say he served as a secret ally of traffickers while he was posted in Guadalajara.

By Sebastian Rotella

September 17, 2009

Reporting from Washington

As a high-ranking U.S. anti-drug official, Richard Padilla Cramer held front-line posts in the war on Mexico's murderous cartels. He led an office of two dozen agents in Arizona and was the attache for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Guadalajara.

While in Mexico, however, Cramer also served as a secret ally of drug lords, according to federal investigators.

Cramer allegedly advised traffickers on law enforcement tactics and pulled secret files to help them identify turncoats. He charged $2,000 for a Drug Enforcement Administration document that was sent to a suspect in Miami by e-mail in August, authorities said.

"Cramer was responsible for advising the [drug traffickers] how U.S. law enforcement works with warrants and record checks as well as how DEA conducts investigations to include 'flipping subjects,' " or recruiting informants, a criminal complaint says.

DEA agents arrested him at his Arizona home Sept. 4. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Miami said Wednesday that she could not comment but said that cases begun with complaints usually go before grand juries. A decision on an indictment in Miami is expected soon, according to a federal official who requested anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Cramer's duties as the ICE attache in Guadalajara included serving as a liaison with Mexican police. But the investigation revealed that he worked for "a very high-level drug lord," the federal official said. In a dark twist on the trend of former federal officials going into private consulting, the 26-year government veteran became a full-time advisor to traffickers after retiring from ICE in January 2007, the complaint says.

A trafficker "convinced Cramer to retire . . . and begin working directly for [him] in drug trafficking and money laundering," the complaint said. Cramer continued to sell secret documents that he obtained from active U.S. agents, an aspect of the case still under investigation, the official said.

The charges underscore the corruptive might of the cartels, which have bought off Mexican politicians, police chiefs and military commandos. Drug lords have corrupted U.S. border inspectors and agents to help smuggle cocaine north. In 2006, the FBI chief in El Paso was convicted of charges related to concealing his friendship with an alleged kingpin.

Cramer, 56, stands out because his rank and foreign post made his work especially sensitive, officials said. Colleagues described him as a well-regarded investigator who spoke Spanish and operated skillfully in the array of U.S. and Mexican agencies at the border when he ran the ICE office in Nogales, Ariz., his hometown.

"It came as a complete shock," Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada said in a telephone interview. "I have been in law enforcement at the border 42 years and I have seen some strange things, but I have never ceased to be surprised."

Estrada worked with Cramer at the Nogales police in 1979, and encountered him periodically as Cramer rose through the federal ranks.

About five months ago, Cramer showed up at the sheriff's office, Estrada said. The retired agent had returned from Mexico to his house in Sahuarita, about 15 miles south of Tucson. He applied for a job as a county detention officer, which pays about $30,000 a year, Estrada said. In contrast, Cramer's federal rank probably commanded a salary of between $130,000 and $150,000, plus benefits, officials say.

Estrada told him that working as a guard would be "quite a drop," the sheriff recalled.

"He said he wanted to keep being active, go back to his roots, keep busy," Estrada said. "So we put him through all the ropes: polygraph, background checks. We didn't find anything suspicious."

While Cramer trained at a state law enforcement academy, a two-year DEA investigation of a Mexican drug ring active in Miami accelerated.

Working with four informants, agents had run across evidence implicating Cramer in corruption, the complaint said. In 2007, an informant revealed documents -- four from the DEA database, one from ICE, two from the state of California -- supplied by an American in Mexico named "Richard," according to the complaint.

Agents identified the American as Cramer and learned that he was known to request database checks from DEA agents in Guadalajara, the complaint said. Such requests often are granted as a courtesy among agencies, officials said. ICE had six offices in Mexico at the time; the Guadalajara outpost has closed.

Agents learned that Cramer allegedly invested $40,000 in a scheme by Mexican traffickers to smuggle 660 pounds of cocaine by sea from Panama via U.S. ports to Spain. Agents tracked the shipment and Spanish police seized it in the city of Vigo in June 2007, setting off a dispute among the traffickers over who was to blame.

Cramer allegedly helped the Mexican drug lord conduct an internal hunt for henchmen responsible for the bust. Suspects under surveillance in Miami declared that Cramer would check databases to help unmask informants, whose families would be kidnapped in retaliation, the complaint said. A suspect told agents Cramer had quarreled with the drug lord over the $40,000 debt, the complaint said.

Early this month, DEA agents traveled to Arizona and told Estrada that they planned to arrest his new jail guard. "It was the last person I would have imagined," he said.

Authorities have not revealed many details.

"I think something went terribly wrong in Mexico," Estrada said. "I'm curious to know what flipped him to the other side."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-drug-charges17-2009sep17,0,6880286,print.story

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MEXICO UNDER SIEGE

Cartel rivalry blamed in latest Mexico drug clinic slayings

Two doctors and eight clients are killed in an attack by gunmen at a rehab facility in Ciudad Juarez. Officials close down others like it in the violent border city.

By Tracy Wilkinson

September 17, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City

In the second mass slaying at a Mexican rehab clinic in less than two weeks, gunmen burst into the Life Annex addiction treatment center in the volatile border city of Ciudad Juarez and killed at least 10 people -- patients and therapists alike.

The gunmen escaped, and authorities on Wednesday blamed the Tuesday night shooting on a "war of extermination" among drug traffickers. Rehabilitation clinics are often targeted as Mexican drug gangs hunt rivals or attempt to settle old scores.

Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said Wednesday that the violence marked the latest outbreak of a war between rival cartels -- the locally based Carrillo Fuentes gang and its enemies from the state of Sinaloa -- attempting to gain control of the city's flourishing drug market.

This was the sixth drug treatment center attacked in Ciudad Juarez in the last 13 months. The deadliest assault occurred Sept. 2, when 18 people were lined up against a clinic wall and cut down by automatic weapon fire.

In the wake of Tuesday's slayings, security officials ordered 10 Ciudad Juarez drug treatment centers closed, citing irregularities in their permits and a lack of security measures. Officials have said that some clinics are really just fronts for drug dealers.

"This is to prevent occurrence of another such act," said Victor Valencia, chief of security for Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located.

The attack in a working-class neighborhood left dead director Dr. Iram Ortiz; a female patient he was counseling; another doctor and seven male clients, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for government security forces. At least two other people were seriously wounded, he said in a telephone interview.

A survivor who watched the massacre while hiding inside the clinic told reporters that as many as eight gunmen burst through the front door and fired indiscriminately.

The shooting started around 10:15 p.m., after some residents of the facility had attended a prayer session and gone to bed. Neighbors said they had at first confused the gunfire with fireworks exploding in the city's main square as part of festivities marking the 199th anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain, which started late Tuesday and continued through Wednesday.

Frantic, sobbing relatives gathered outside the facility early Wednesday, pleading for information and bemoaning the loss of their kin.

Despite a heavy military presence, Ciudad Juarez, sitting just across the border from El Paso, is Mexico's most violent city in a raging drug war that has claimed more than 13,000 lives since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against powerful cartels in December 2006.

Scores of treatment centers for people with drug and alcohol problems have sprung up in numerous Mexican cities, reflecting this country's fast-growing addiction problem. Once just a pathway for drugs headed to the U.S., Mexico has become a consumer nation; the government says the number of addicts here increased 51% from 2002 to 2008.

But far from sanctuaries, many of the treatment centers have become part of the violent world spawned by drug trafficking. Many of the clients come from the gangs fighting to control the drug market, and the battle in the streets carries over into the clinics. Often the centers are used as a fertile recruiting ground by traffickers.

And some of the facilities, as officials noted Wednesday, are fly-by-night fronts with little connection to serious rehabilitation. Valencia, the security official, ordered a citywide inspection of the centers.

"This is a war of extermination among criminal groups," state prosecutor Patricia Gonzalez said at a news conference.

Elsewhere in Ciudad Juarez, five people were killed early Wednesday when gunmen attacked the Coco Bongo nightclub as customers were deep in Independence Day celebrations. It was the 23rd nightclub in the city this year in which patrons have been killed, according to tallies by local newspapers.

On Tuesday afternoon, five other people -- including two U.S. citizens from El Paso -- were shot to death at a carwash in Ciudad Juarez.

And in Tijuana, the bodies of six people were found stuffed in a car and badly burned.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-addicts17-2009sep17,0,7470108,print.story

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Opinion

Making L.A.'s money count

If financial institutions won't invest in Angelenos struggling with their mortgages, the city should consider withdrawing its billions on deposit.

By Richard Alarcon

September 17, 2009

In parts of California, including the northeast San Fernando Valley, it's hard to find a street without a foreclosed home being sold by a bank. Nationwide, foreclosures in July reached a record high -- one of every 355 homeowners received default or action notices or were foreclosed on.

Foreclosures lower property values, hinder neighborhood safety and lower government revenue. And a single foreclosure can cost up to $34,000 for local government agencies, which have to absorb the cost of inspections, court actions, unpaid water and sewage charges and trash removal fees. We are now six months into the federal government's Making Home Affordable Program, yet only 12% of eligible mortgage loans nationwide have been modified. That means 88% are still waiting for relief.

It is time for cities to step in and make use of an underutilized source of power-- their finances.

The financial clout of America's largest cities is staggering. On any given day in the city of Los Angeles, tens of millions of city dollars are held in banking institutions. Los Angeles' pension funds for city, fire and police personnel -- a total portfolio of more than $25 billion -- are also housed in financial institutions. The City Council needs to think more strategically about investing the city's funds. Currently, we choose entities based solely on financial considerations. But what if we also judged our banking partners by their commitment to the safety and soundness of our homeowners and neighborhoods?

Earlier this year, I introduced a motion to do just that -- divest from banks that are not actively working with homeowners to modify loans to keep people in their homes.

And it's not enough for Los Angeles alone to use its financial clout. I'm working to pass a resolution at both the League of California Cities and the National League of Cities encouraging members to divest from banks that are not moving fast enough to help homeowners remain in their homes. If even 10 cities agree -- and one, Elk Grove, Calif., already has -- it will put tremendous pressure on banks and financial institutions to do the right thing. Banks will get the message that the investment of government dollars is a privilege -- one that will be granted only to institutions that are responsible to the communities they serve.

Divestment is part of a larger vision that we need to consider about the future relationship between cities and our banking partners. In the long run, we must not only divest from those institutions that don't serve our interests, we must affirmatively invest in financial institutions that have a demonstrated track record of community responsibility.

The city needs to develop a new set of criteria for choosing banking and investment partners. Of course, as guardians of taxpayer dollars, we need to consider the security of the investments. But we also need to consider a range of social factors, and there are models for doing so. In Philadelphia, for example, banks that hold city deposits are required to submit Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, goal statements each year. The statements include such things as where the banks are making loans throughout the city and what kind of loans they are making. Bank performance has improved in Philadelphia's low-income and minority areas since the ordinance was introduced.

Last week, the City Council's Jobs and Business Development Committee, which I chair, heard the divestment motion and discussed what kind of factors should be considered when deciding whether banks' actions were helpful or harmful to the stability of the city. Banks that take actions to reinvest in our communities, such as opening a branch in a previously underserved neighborhood, would receive a higher social responsibility rating and be rewarded with city business. Negative actions, such as failing to meet national goals for modifying eligible loans within a designated timeline, would cause a bank to be rated lower and could eventually result in divestment. To ensure that our city's dollars are protected, we would only consider institutions that already meet the safety and soundness considerations -- that way we could ensure that taxpayer money was protected and used to improve our communities.

A report on the implementation of this new rating system is being prepared by the City Council's chief legislative analyst, to be heard at our Oct. 13 meeting.

It's time for local governments to make a statement to financial institutions: If they continue to stall on foreclosure prevention efforts, we will put our money elsewhere. And in the future, if they fail to responsibly serve and reinvest in our communities, we won't invest in them.

By beginning to change financial practices today, we will prevent more families from losing their homes -- and put our cities back on track to a prosperous future.

Richard Alarcon is a Los Angeles city councilman.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-alarcon17-2009sep17,0,817720,print.story

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Hog days of summer

Forget 'Born to Be Wild.' All those overaged 'Easy Rider' types need to put the mufflers back on their bikes.

By John Johnson Jr.

September 17, 2009

Summer is ending, and not a moment too soon.

In my seaside Long Beach neighborhood, the warm months used to be a time when residents threw open windows to let in the sound of surf and the fragrance of suntan lotion from the roller-bladers on the bike path. But open windows are no longer an option.

Summer has become the season of the cacophonous roar, a time when phalanxes of motorcycles head for the beach cities, piloted by black-helmeted, big-bellied men who think "Easy Rider" was about them. During the week, they may be accountants or car dealers. On the weekend, they are Captain America and Billy, setting out on their own private spiritual -- and noisy -- journeys.

Visit any coastal community or travel mountain roads on a summer weekend and you will see them: desktop rebels rumbling along in vast, growling herds. Not satisfied with the feel of the wind on their faces, these guys aren't happy unless heads are turning and ears are bleeding. In my building, neighbors have to stop talking with guests when one roars by.

As I researched this topic, I discovered I was not alone in my outrage. Indignation abounds on the Internet -- along with alarming information. One website reported that 45% of motorcycles have been illegally modified to make them louder. The California Air Resources Board puts the number even higher, at about 85%, while a biking industry group says it's closer to 40%. Whatever, it's a huge number of people who have deliberately made their bikes more annoying.

This was a revelation. Motorcycles come from the manufacturer with a muffler and catalytic converter to dampen engine noise and lessen air pollution. Why buyers would remove them is a mystery.

One city tried to do something a few years back. Laguna Beach sent a reserve officer into the field with a noise meter and a mission to rein in outlaw bikers. He did his job so well that bars catering to the motorcycle crowd began to complain. The reserve officer died recently, and no one replaced him. So much for the crackdown.

An aide to my city councilwoman, Suja Lowenthal, told me that his boss has tried to combat the problem. He says she pushed the police to set up checkpoints to catch the noisiest offenders. Great, I told him, so why haven't I ever seen one in my neighborhood? Probably, he said, because the police have their hands full with serious crime.

Haven't Bill Bratton and Rudy Giuliani finally killed the notion that cops should ignore nuisance crimes to free themselves up for the big stuff? In both New York and Los Angeles, a different approach to policing has shown that addressing quality-of-life crimes -- graffiti and noise prominent among them -- is crucial to preventing violent crime. If you ignore the little stuff, good citizens move out. Pretty soon, the neighborhood deteriorates and serious crime moves in.

State Sen. Fran Pavley, whose district includes Santa Monica, has introduced a bill, SB 435, that would give police the authority to inspect pollution control equipment on motorcycles. While presenting itself as an air quality measure, the bill would snare a lot of the loudest bikers because they tend to remove the catalytic converters to up the decibel level.

Pavley's bill might work, if it's ever passed. It seems the illegal motorcycle mob isn't so anti-establishment that they disdain the legislative process. Their lobbyists have been rumbling up and down the halls of Sacramento trying to put the brakes on Pavley's bill, and it looks as if they may succeed.

To her credit, Pavley hasn't given up. While she is concerned about excess noise, she said the health danger from unregulated motorcycles also is serious. "A motorcycle without its catalytic converter is seven to 10 times more polluting," she said.

Motorcycles amount to just 3.8% of the registered vehicles in California, but they produce a disproportionate amount of smog, Pavley said. The problem is growing worse as more and more people switch from cars to motorcycles to cope with the high price of gas and the sclerotic highways in Southern California.

The attitude of the cycling crowd might be summed up by Tony Huerta, director of a Southern California biker club called American Thunder.

"I do not agree with the state involving there (sic) noses where they should not be," Huerta wrote to me in an e-mail. "Leave all of us riders alone."

I'd be happy to, Tony, if you left the rest of us alone. You seem to forget that the highways are not playgrounds for you and your hog-riding friends. Your pack seems to think that the laws apply only to squares, and that carefree rebels can ignore them.

Pavley, still bearing the bruises from her bare-knuckles battle with the motorcycle mugs, is being careful to tread lightly.

"I respect people who are free spirits," she said recently. "But when it affects the health of everyone else, there is a role for government."

To my mind, the guy who wears different-colored socks is a free spirit. The one who purposely tampers with his vehicle to harass fellow human beings is a thug.

John Johnson Jr. is a Times staff writer.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-johnson17-2009sep17,0,5054586,print.story

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From the Daily News

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Mayor's top priority is schools

Despite the budget crisis facing the city, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told San Fernando Valley business leaders Wednesday that improving the school district performance remains his chief concern.

Speaking during the fifth annual Mayors Luncheon, sponsored by the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley, Villaraigossa said that some teenage job seekers cannot fill out a basic application or compile a resume.

"We're living in a city where 50percent of the kids drop out," Villaraigosa said. "This issue of education is still there. I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep fighting for these kids."

Villaraigosa also touted improved public safety, noting that violent crime on a per-capita basis has fallen to levels not seen since the late 1950s.

"Yes, there is still too much violence," he said, "but we're making progress."

It was Villaraigosa's fifth appearance at the luncheon but he almost skipped it because of the city's unresolved budget crisis.

"I'm in the middle of negotiations and discussions," he told the several hundred people who attended the event at the Warner Center Marriott.

The mayor was referring to the debate over the Early Retirement Incentive Program, which is designed to entice 2,400 workers to leave the city payrolls to avoid layoffs and furloughs and help eliminate a $403 million deficit.

The City Council later voted to move ahead with a budget-cutting plan that would eliminate 926 positions and require thousands of unionized employees to take furlough days beginning Sept. 28.

City Controller Wendy Gruel, the luncheon's master of ceremonies, said city leaders should focus on the basics like public safety, streets, lights and reasonable rates for water.

"I think everyone knows that these are very tough economic times," she said before the mayor spoke. "We are going to have to make some cuts to pay the bills.

Also honored at the event were Burbank Mayor Gary Bric, Calabasas Mayor Jonathon Wolfson, San Fernando Mayor Steven Veres and Santa Clarita Mayor Frank Ferry.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13351741

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Pressure increases on DWP after more water main breaks

Two more water mains in the San Fernando Valley burst early Wednesday, turning up the pressure on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and infrastructure experts to explain the seeming epidemic of underground pipe failures this month.

One theory being floated was that the trouble is an unintended consequence of the city's water-conservation ordinance limiting lawn sprinkler use to Mondays and Thursdays before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

"We have created surges of water on Mondays and Thursdays, (and) that has created new demands on our system and increased stresses on our pipes," said Jean-Pierre Bardet, chairman of the University of Southern California department of civil and environmental engineering, and director of USC's Center on Megacities.

Bardet cautioned that this is "just a theory," but said it's worthy of further analysis.

The search for causes for the unusual wave of water-main breaks has led to speculation about how factors as prosaic as hot weather might damage a 7,200-mile network of pipes that is more than 100 years old in some spots.

The sense of alarm has been heightened by customers' worry that the DWP's billion-dollar efforts to head off further problems will lead to more rate hikes.

The more dramatic of Wednesday's breaks occurred in Woodland Hills, where a leak reported at 5 a.m. in an 8-inch line at Burbank Boulevard and Irondale Avenue interrupted water flow to 35 customers, created a 12- by 15-foot sinkhole and closed a residential block, according to the DWP.

The other happened in Winnetka, where a leak reported at 1:40 a.m. in an 8-inch main on Corbin Avenue at Kittridge Street caused no problems with water service or traffic, the DWP said.

These developments came on top of 12 major pipe bursts in the first 13 days of September, including two incidents three days apart that caused flooding in Studio City and a sinkhole in Valley Village that nearly swallowed a fire truck.

"All the council members are concerned," said City Councilman Dennis Zine, whose district was the site of Wednesday's breaks. "Obviously it inconveniences the public. On top of that, with all our talk about conservation, we're seeing water being wasted."

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Speaking by phone from Washington, D.C., Zine said the City Council expects a report from the DWP on the locations and causes of the recent ruptures and what Southern California's largest water provider is doing to repair its aging web of pipes.

In an e-mailed statement responding to Daily News questions, the DWP said the recent pipe bursts are not an "epidemic." The department said it experiences 1,400 breaks a year, and this year has been normal overall. Of those breaks, the DWP statement said, about 200 affect customers, close streets or cause flooding.

The agency noted that it is in the middle of a capital improvement program, having invested $1.3 billion in the past five years to make improvements in delivery systems and planning to spend twice as much in the next five years on the same project.

No further rate increases have been proposed, the DWP said.

The utility said it hasn't reached conclusions about the causes of individual leaks and won't speculate or address theories. But one expert on water delivery speculated Wednesday that repair efforts could be causing further problems because shutting off one section of pipes increases pressure on others.

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A lot of talk Wednesday centered on how temperature changes above ground could cause pipe problems below.

Weather is the most common cause of water-main breaks nationwide, said Greg Kail, director of public affairs for the Denver-based American Water Works Association.

"The earth gets warmer than the pipe and creates a temperature differential between the soil and the water, and that stress causes the pipe to break," Kail said.

Some observers suggested the cluster of problems is a coincidence, that the depth of the crisis is being exaggerated as the more eye-catching pipe bursts draw media attention to more mundane cases like Wednesday's in Winnetka.

Others pointed out that in suffering the effects of an aging water system, Los Angeles is far from alone among the world's big cities.

Of his theory that drought-time water conservation is contributing to the pipe bursts, USC's Bardet said: "I'm not saying we should scrap the programs. But we should look at the big picture."

Bardet said the city can take advantage of this month's "warning sign" if it finds the causes and take steps to prevent the more serious water-main failures that could occur in an earthquake or fire.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13351739

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FBI seeks public's help in finding the Baby Boomer Bandit

Authorities on Wednesday sought the public help to find the so- called Baby Boomer Bandit, a man between the ages of 55 and 65 who robbed two banks in Pasadena and one in San Gabriel since April.

The latest heist occurred in Pasadena on Sept. 9, when the man robbed the Chase Bank, 860 E. Colorado Blvd., said Laura Eimiller of the FBI.

On June 5, he robbed the nearby Bank of America branch at 880 E. Colorado Blvd. And on April 2, he robbed the Chase Bank, 120 W. Las Tunas Drive, in San Gabriel, Eimiller said.

The man made verbal demands for cash, and handed "demand notes" to tellers, Eimiller said. He carried a black bag or backpack.

Investigators released surveillance photos of the man, described as Hispanic, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing about 160-170 pounds.

Anyone knowing more about the case was urged to call the FBI at (310) 477-6565 or at (888) CANT-HIDE.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13348388

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Dog Whisperer looking for a spokesdog

"Dog Whisperer" Cesar Millan put out an open casting call on Tuesday for a spokesdog to help him with a public service announcement on behalf of his foundation.

"We've created a contest to search for America's top dogs and promote spaying and neutering of dogs at the same time," Millan said.

"It's a great way to highlight the love we have for our canine companions while addressing the most serious crisis facing animals in shelters today."

Dogs can be entered by uploading their most memorable photo to NationalSpokesDog.org, accompanied by an explanation of why he or she should be selected. A $5 donation is recommended.

The winner will star with Millan in the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation's 2010 public service announcement, which promotes spaying and neutering and adopting homeless dogs from shelters.

Three finalists will receive awards in the categories of best pack, most outrageous feat, best camera face and most hilarious costume.

The competition will benefit the foundation's programs to rescue, rehabilitate, and re-home abused and abandoned dogs.

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13348363

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Retiring debate: Council avoids hard decision

FROM all appearances, Los Angeles City Council members are earning their keep this week, struggling with the city's financial future. They've held marathon meetings, stayed in closed session until late at night and endured verbal abuse from angry city workers at public hearings.

The reason for all this hard work is an ever-growing revenue hole (now at about $400 million) that threatens to sink City Hall if no clear, decisive and meaningful evasive action is taken soon.

But in all the hearings and debate and discussion in City Hall, what the group of 14 is desperately trying to find is not a solution - that's already been pointed out - but a graceful way out of a bad situation. In this case, evasive action means going back on a council-approved, mayor-endorsed agreement with city employee unions for a sweet - and expensive - early retirement plan.

The Early Retirement Incentive Program initially looked like a good way to reduce the City Hall work force while retaining younger, cheaper and less-senior employees. The program, referred to as ERIP in City Hall, is a complicated arrangement that allows older workers to retire five years earlier with their benefits.

But in recent weeks, the accountants at the city have sounded the alarm. The plan might save money up-front, but it could mean a loss of nearly $200 million in future years. With the city's projected revenues on a downward trend, that's the last thing the city can afford.

In the world of politics, no dilemma is more difficult than the one facing the council: making the right choice or making the popular one. They can either cross the city's most powerful political lobby or go down in local history as the politicians who let Los Angeles fall into bankruptcy.

It's the ultimate lose-lose for anyone with future political ambitions.

That's why the group of 14 (Wendy Greuel's seat being vacant for a few more days - or weeks) is furiously working day and night. They're apparently working out "cost-cutting" measures with the unions - essentially some sort of giveback impressive enough to be a palatable alternative.

In the end, however, there's really only one way that this must end - badly or really badly. We encourage the council to follow the mayor's lead and take the unpopular, though responsible, step not to "devastate city services."

That was the assessment of the council's own policy analyst - a conclusion that the chief administrative officer agrees with. And it was a stark enough sound bite to convince even Antonio Villaraigosa, a former labor leader himself and architect of ERIP, to drop support. He's gone even further, saying that if the council votes for ERIP, he will veto it.

You know the financial picture of L.A. is dire when the mayor would turn on such a vocal and longtime ally as the Coalition of L.A. City Unions. That alone makes starkly clear the scale of the city's deficit problems.

He made the right decision for his city and for his political future. So far, only two of the 12 City Council members have supported this position - Bernard Parks and Greig Smith.

Hopefully, council members will ultimately vote on the basis of their fiduciary responsibility to the city, not on some phony deal that only pushes the problem slightly farther down the road.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13352558

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The end of the affair - for the mayor and unions

MAYOR Heartbreaker has finally had his heart torn asunder.

As the world knows, Antonio Villaraigosa has had many conquests, but his soul mate - his one true love - doesn't live in a TV anchor chair. The love of Antonio's life was organized labor, and Tuesday labor left Tony for good - jilted! All the little blue pills and "his" and "hers" outdoor claw-foot bathtubs in world aren't going to bring these lovebirds back to the same nest. Like all aging Romeos, Tony V has wound up just another political cuckold.

Tuesday's Los Angeles City Council meeting featured a very public, very messy lover's quarrel, and in front of the children! It got so nasty at times even former Assemblyman and lobbyist lothario Mike Duvall had to cover his eyes. For nearly two hours of raucous public comments, public employee union members and leaders threw pots and pans and invective at their former heartthrob. The Service Employees International Union, the L.A. Police Protective League, United Teachers L.A., SEIU, local 777 - et tu, 777?

As the song says, "You always hurt the one you love." Especially when the one you love runs out of other people's money.

And that's why the mayor is brokenhearted today. Throughout his long political career, there was always someone else's money. Whenever he was in a jam, he could count on a little help from his well-heeled friends; and on those occasions when he needed big help, there were always homeowners, water and power ratepayers and garden variety taxpayers to seduce for a quick cash kiss. Remember the phony phone tax "cut?" Remember the trash fee hikes? Remember Measure R?

Los Angeles has been steaming full speed ahead into the iceberg field for years. Bankruptcy was not only predictable; it was predicted. All the warnings were ignored. Deals were sweetened. Landings were softened. Cans were kicked so far down the alley they've circled the globe and the can is back at square one.

The mayor's early retirement deal is deader than Sam Yorty and now Controller Wendy Greuel wields the financial death gong in her hands, not warning but telling the city of Los Angeles it will be flat broke in eight months. This isn't an opinion.

The public employee unions have been fed at the table for so long, they're now snapping off the fingers of the hands that fed them. Tony V created the beast in Sacramento, on the City Council and from his office on the third floor of City Hall. Now he has to tie the beast in the yard, and he's wondering where all that love went?

The love was never there. Purchased politicians are never loved; they're used. The shock and bewilderment on the mayor's face as he tries to play the role of fiscal watchdog for the cameras belies his awful epiphany: All those endorsements, all that delicious campaign cash, all those dependable votes meant nothing! Labor never loved Antonio Villaraigosa; they loved what he delivered. The mayor was simply an ATM with a nice smile.

And let's clear up a big fiction: The city of L.A. did not get into this mess because of the Wall Street crash. We spent our way to bankruptcy on new hires, developers and underfunded, overpromised pension deals. The market crash and recession might have sped up the process, but this course was set and locked in place by years of arrogant indifference to the taxpaying public. Tragically, an ignorant or indifferent public who sat home on election day after election day allowed a callow crowd to steer the ship onto a reef with zero accountability.

The same City Council that voted 15-0 to approve the mayor's "early retirement" scheme will now have to grow a spine and say no to the same heartbreakers who walked out on the mayor they "loved." This is the same City Council that hasn't been able to pick a golf cart vendor after six years of reviews and bids. Leaders? Please!

The city of Los Angeles has been taken over the financial cliff by the unions and their willing wheelmen on the council and the Mayor's Office. A bankruptcy court judge will clean up their mess.

Divorce is never pretty.

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_13343872

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From the LAPD

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LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Detectives Make Two Major Arrests Suspects
Arrested in the Leonard Samuel and Keith Moore Murder Cases

Los Angeles: At a news conference this afternoon, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) 77th Division Criminal Gang Homicide Group detectives announced the arrest of three suspects for the recent murders of 22-year-old Leonard Samuel and 20-year-old Keith Moore. 

On August 22, 2009, at about 8:10 p.m., 22-year-old Leonard Samuel exited a liquor store in the 1700 block of West Century Boulevard and was walking to his car in the parking lot.  The suspect approached Samuel as he was about to enter his vehicle and pointed a handgun at him and fired several bullets, striking Samuel multiple times as he attempted to flee from the gunman.  Samuel ran to a nearby fast food store where he collapsed.  He was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

Detectives from the LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Group were assigned to investigate the murder.  The detectives worked an exhaustive investigation and were able to identify 38-year-old Joseph Carrington, a resident of Inglewood, as the murder suspect.  Carrington was arrested on Tuesday, September 10, 2009, as he was driving home.  On Monday, September 14, 2009, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed one count of murder and the bail was set at $2 million.

On Tuesday, September 5, 2009, at around 2:35 p.m., victim Keith Moore, 20 years old, a resident of Los Angeles, was riding a bicycle near his home when two suspects in a car began to chase Moore.  One of the suspects exited the car and fired several rounds from a handgun at Moore, striking him multiple times. Moore fell to the ground.  He was transported to a local hospital and died from his injuries.

Again, detectives from the LAPD Criminal Gang and Homicide Group were assigned to investigate Moore's murder. Acting on a variety of tips and leads, police developed critical information about the suspect's description and the vehicle information.  Officers from the LAPD Metropolitan Division, assigned to the Southeast Regional Multi-Agency Task Force, recently formed by Chief Bratton to combat an increase in shootings and murders in the vicinity, located the suspects within a few hours of the murder and arrested them.

On September 9, 2009, the case was presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office where one count of murder was filed on 23-year-old Ronnie Onley and one count of murder was also filed on 27-year-old Jason Wilder. Their bail was set at $2 million each.

Anyone with additional information regarding these cases is asked to call the LAPD Criminal Gang Homicide Group at 213-485-4341.  During off-hours, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247).  Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click on Web tips.  When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD."  Tipsters may remain anonymous.

September 16, 2009

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LAPD Officers Rescue Baby from Mother Armed with Knife

Los Angeles: This morning, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers rescued a 4-month-old baby from her mother who was frantically waving a steak knife along 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

"What so many people don't realize is that officers do these things every day," said Lt. Paul Vernon, who heads up the LAPD Central Detective Division. "The public rarely hears about the cases where everything goes right, no one gets hurt and the suspect is apprehended."

The incident started around 8:35 AM with a report of a "woman with a knife, holding a baby."  She was on the north sidewalk of 7th Street, west of Hope Street. "The officers arrived quickly and contained the woman," Vernon said. "They had a number of options from pepper spray to tasers, but the first thing they did was talk to the woman.  As Officer Chris Green distracted her, Officer Arthur Gonzalez grabbed the woman's arm and took the knife, while Officer Clinton Popham grabbed the baby.  It all happened in a matter of seconds."

The baby girl was not hurt and appeared to be well cared for, but she was taken to the hospital for examination as a precaution.  The child will be cared for by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

The child's identity was not clear as the woman would not speak.  Detectives released photos of the child to aid in identifying her and for anyone to come forward with information about the mother and child's recent history.

The mother, 33-year-old, Malika Johnson, was booked for endangering a child. She had at least three prior arrests for child endangerment since 2004.

Officer Green, who is 45 years old, has over 19 years with LAPD; 26-year-old officer Arthur Gonzalez has been with LAPD three years; and officer Popham, who is 40, has 11 years with the Department.

Anyone with information is asked to call the 24-hour Information Desk at 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (527-3247).  Callers may also text "Crimes" with a cell phone or log on to www.lapdonline.org and click Web tips. When using a cell phone, all messages should begin with "LAPD." Tipsters may remain anonymous.

The following photos of the child were taken and released by LAPD.  The officer holding the baby is Clinton Popham.  Officers Green, Popham, and Gonzalez will be available for interview at Central Station between 11:45 AM and 12:45 PM.

September 16, 2009