Griffith Park Blog » The Land the Times Forgot

Maybe the Los Angeles Times just doesn’t like Mexicans.

Donna Barstow — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:41:23 +0000

Who says you can’t teach an old dog grey lady new tricks? I’m talking, of course, about the LA Times (which they call the Old Grey Lady.) Liberal bastion. Friend of the homeless. Empathizer of the poor. Yet they have changed their attitude, at least towards one poor group – our gangs. The Times has stopped giving them tongue-baths, and given them a slap on the backside! Watch.

You all know me as the green, mean, Park activist machine, but did you also know how fond I am of the Avenues gang? I bet not!

avenues gang member arrested

I wrote about the Avenidas, as they say, twice last year, both times in response to the positive press the Times gave them. Apparently this gang is very popular, all over the US, not just in LA. Of course, I identify with my homeboys because they are so nearby. According to a map on the Times site, their “territory” begins at the foot of Forest Lawn in Glendale, which I can see from where I live. Also, they’re part of LA’s culture. Or something.

Now, you have to admit, most gangs don’t have the best education. Perhaps irony, sarcasm, or exaggeration weren’t mentioned in their English classes, but you know what? They’re busy guys. They have guns to clean and tats to sit for. So if my writing isn’t that well understood? Well, my bad. Let’s continue.

My first post on the attractive Avenues, or Drew Street Gang, as the hip kids call it, was in 2008: The LA Times has a secret crush on the Avenues Gang!

I can’t decide if it’s the awesome tats or the baggy duds…still stylish a decade later, apparently!

It’s always First Class to get an article written about you on the front page of the Times, and this time it’s the Avenues gang that hit the jackpot. I imagine gangs all over the city are envious, and wondering how they, too, can get such reportage and press. Don’t hesitate to read it: it’s family-ready, and really very forward-thinking!

From my June 2008 post 2 months later:

When you read about a neighborhood painted as loyalists with deep family ties to its members, doesn’t that sound attractive? Perhaps a suburban enclave of LA, or one of those beach towns, with all those diehard volleyball players. Good people, in other words. And so these gangs are, in their hearts.

Last time, the Times writers defined the gang as resilient, powerful, and defiant: survivors, with loving neighbors. They’re definitely not as positive this time; I’m afraid they’ve gotten bitter, and that’s a sad thing to see in a journalist.

The new Los Angeles Times headline on September 23, 2009:

Massive police raid targets brutal L.A. gang

This time, the Times writers get down and dirty; they use the terms vicious, gunned down, entrenched, violent, drug-related, and more!

avenues gang members shackled

The gang, named for the avenues that cross Figueroa Street, has a long, ugly history dating back at least to the 1950s.

Officer Juan Aguilar said:

Some of them [gang members] he had at one time tried to help, telling them quietly that the only way to leave the gang is to leave the city. Others had long ago slipped beyond help, he said.

And:

The day’s only significant use of force was the shooting of two aggressive dogs by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies.

Oh, that’s right, guns don’t kill dogs, police do. (Although I hate to blame gang types for anything, really, I do wish they’d take their dogs to puppy school before their funny dog fights.)

Federal immigration officials were on hand to deal with any undocumented immigrants, although a DEA spokesman said none of the people arrested were found to be in the country illegally.

Most of the Avenues members and associates included in the indictment are being charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, which allows prosecutors to pursue lengthy prison sentences.

Hmm, how would they know about the illegal part? And why would that ever cross their minds?! LA Now blog called the gang people notorious, that they used extortion. BUT, then this…

Drug activity in the area has slowed considerably in recent months, the detective said, but considering the size of today’s operation, the gang clearly has maintained a commanding presence in the area.

Oops, back to the compliments, boys! Who wouldn’t want to have a commanding presence?! Name one teen! This is one for the Avenues Gang scrapbook!

Just one slip-up, Times writers. So even though no one from there has given Griffith Park, Interrupted any pats on the back recently, or even credit, I know you read me, LA Times! You took my essays to heart! Your liberal shades dropped from your eyes for a minute. I’m proud of you.

Photos by Mark Boster, LA Times.

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You mean I have to get political, and write about cruel farmers?

Donna Barstow — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:17:07 +0000

I wrote in my cartoon blog, Why I Did It, about how I take my canary for a walk these days. He’s near enough to a window to get fresh air, but for him to go outside is nirvana. Can you imagine how the breeze feels against his feathers, ruffling them, tickling his skin?

I’ve had him for 4 years, and now, for the first time ever, he is trying to sing!!

From East Bay Animal Advocates.

Most farm animals will never feel fresh air on their skin, let alone a breeze. That’s farming for you! Yes on Prop 2 would fix this, at least for a few animals. (I wrote about this issue earlier when I criticized the faulty logic of yet another piece in the Times.)

Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society, has been very public about this proposition – I never knew what he looked like until now, handsome fellow!

The greatest nation in the world, with the most innovative farmers, can do better than immobilize animals in severe confinement systems for their entire lives. Family farmers know food quality is enhanced by more humane farming methods, and they know there is a balance between animal care and economics.

…These modest reforms of farm practices won’t be costly to implement. The egg industry’s own California-based economist reports that producing cage-free eggs costs less than one penny per egg more.

The Times doesn’t like this – says it would outsource egg farmers. Well, yeah, if they were little helpless children, and don’t know how to run a business or change the simplest thing, like move one side of a cage. And you knew that George Skelton at the Times was going to be an asshole about this when he starts off in a demeaning way:

The right for egg-laying hens “to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely” in their little cages, to quote from Proposition 2. [My emphasis - DB.]

(And I rarely swear here, so you know I mean it.)

Photo from the excellent and professional Farm Sanctuary.

I couldn’t find anything new in his article worth quoting, but here’s his ending:

The issue of hen confinement should be worked out between farmers, animal rights activists and consumers through the marketplace.

I’m going to ask my wife to buy only eggs from cage-free chickens. Then I’ll probably vote against Proposition 2.

Well, no George, the farmers , animal rights people and consumers have already come up with something: this. LA Animal Watch shows how another Times opinion fails:

A Times editorial today starts by talking about the terrible conditions at current California egg farms, says the animals deserve better, then opines we should vote no on Prop 2.

However, the Times has an excellent article here:

Since there are few veal farmers in California and the state’s largest pork producer has already said it would eliminate small crates, the initiative would mostly affect 19 million laying hens and the egg industry that farms them…The space per bird is slightly smaller than a sheet of letter paper.

When one more farmer whined (and lied) that this would put him out of business,

Paul Shapiro, the Humane Society’s factory farm expert, responded, “Even if such a synchronized ballet of wing-spreading were possible, it’s not required by Proposition 2.”

Hee!

Oprah had a whole program devoted to this, and my favorite part was when a chicken farmer said that if this law passes, all chicken farmers will go out of business, and California will have to import all its eggs from Mexico and China! Boat or plane? I can’t wait to see the packaging on them. I can feel some new cartoons coming on…

The part that I hate the most: this won’t go into effect until 2015. This is TOTAL pandering to those wimpy farmers. Also, I wrote about this issue earlier when I criticized the faulty logic of yet another piece in the Times.

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Plastic, plastic, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Donna Barstow — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:37:54 +0000

Ever wonder why water in bottles has an expiration date? It’s the plastic. It does bad things as it dissolves. Heard John and Ken talking about it this afternoon, while discussing emergency earthquake supplies. Not only do you have to keep checking the batteries and canned goods – should you go the nervous ant-like way of even having earthquake supplies – and I’m not saying which way I roll, cause maybe I’m a selfish ant – you gotta keep changing the water, too.

Of course, this doesn’t concern the DWP, or the City of LA, or H. David Nahai, or Mayor V., as proven by the tons of HDPE plastic bird balls they keep dumping in our Ivanhoe Reservoir drinking water. DWP has promised they will only stay in the water for 4 years. Okay, for 5 years, in some reports. Plastic for all!

From treehugger.com. Sad.

I just checked the water I’m drinking now. All my water is bottled, and although I enjoy trying different brands of water, I can taste very very well, and prefer distilled water most of the time. (I can even taste differences in that!) I enjoy Whole Foods 365 Brand in a lot of foods, including their water. My bottle of distilled water – with no minerals, as pure as you can get- has an expiration date of June 9, 2010. (my birthday!) So the bird balls baking in the sun in a reservoir for several hundred thousand people, today and every other day, – which is apparently, SUNNY. Again.- are supposed to last at least 2 years longer than my distilled water bottle?

As I reported here several times, these plastic bird balls have NOT been tested by the only water-approved lab in the country, NSF, for anything besides 17 days in water at a temperature of 73.4 degrees. What does the LA County Health Department have to say about this? We shall find out.

Speaking of plastic, a subject I never get tired of, very happy to see LA has banned plastic bags. Treehugger says:

This new vote by the LA City Council is likely to engender vigorous opposition from the plastic bag industry, represented by the creatively named Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, which has already filed a lawsuit challenging a LA County measure to lower plastic bag use 30% by 2010.

David Lazarus, in the LA Times, wrote such a pathetically ridiculous take on this important environmental issue that I think I may have cackled. Lazarus quotes Eric Gutierrez and Elicia Ortiz, whose environmental expertise and objectivity are not at all influenced by the fact that THEY WORK FOR A PLASTIC BAG FACTORY. Lazarus writes:

[Ortiz says] “I’m a single mom,” she said. “Everyone who is against plastic bags should consider all the people who depend on this for a living.”

That’s certainly one aspect of the issue that merits more attention.

Lazarus probably gives money to the homeless, too. But before I got a chance to write this, lao points out Spouting Off, by the President of Heal the Bay, who beat me to the punch:

The whole piece took the side of the plastic industry, which argues that bags are harmless and that banning them will cost the public money and cause people to lose jobs. There was little mention of impacts to the marine environment, let alone the economic impacts of disposal, recycling and clean-up.

Clearly, the article’s premise is preposterous. Personally, I’m more than a little peeved because I spent a half hour talking to the guy and I shot down every myth he trotted out. No mention of HtB, nor a direct quote from me.

David Lazarus, meet H. David Nahai. I think you guys would hit it off.

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Translator needed for LA Times Opinion piece on chickens.

Donna Barstow — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:45:50 +0000

UPDATED: here.

Ooh, good, I thought. An opinion on chickens. This is something I might ~~want to read~~ understand.

Photo credit: Compassion Over Killing. I appreciate the humane way the HSUS treats photographers, too, by giving them proper credit.

Chicken Run, by Julia Olmstead, is about an initiative by the Humane Society to outlaw battery cages for farm animals.

If we’re going to eat eggs, I think the chickens that lay them should be able to stretch their wings, stand up and turn around, and not be caged. So I buy cage-free eggs, and I’m not alone. Demand for these eggs has outpaced supply in the last few years.

So far, so good. I like to agree with writers. Then she quotes a lot of numbers on how many chicken farmers there are, the problem with manure and ammonia to the environment, etc. Very true for all farm animals.

If passed, the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act would ban some livestock confinement systems. Sounds like a no-brainer…

But I’m not certain I’ll vote yes.Unfortunately, a California ban may carry unintended costs for the environment.

Not quite understanding…you mean, new environmental problems, other than those you just listed? She doesn’t elaborate on this. The chickens (and other farm animals, like pigs, veal, etc) will have bigger cages, not GROW humongous themselves, Ms. Olmstead.

Photo credit: Farm Sanctuary. These calves live in darkness 23 hours a day, and can’t even stand up. I never eat veal.

She goes on to say farms might move to other states, or Mexico. Those flighty farmers, traveling men, always pulling up stakes, wondering if the grass is greener somewhere else!

She says this law isn’t strong enough. Why save the lives and suffering of animals now, when you can wait until things might get better down the road?

Her last point is good, although it’s nothing to do with how chickens are raised, but rather how the eggs are labeled:

Further, cage-free isn’t the same thing as free-range. The label does not ensure that chickens can get outdoors.

Heaven forbid that the Opinion section actually put LINKS in their articles, even when they’re online! Ooh, scary, someone might leave the page. (Should I go into my whole story about how a goofy opinion about what to do with Silver Lake made its way into the Opinion section, and did link to my server, but without my name or blog mentioned? Okay! They linked only to my large photo. They loved my copyrighted photo and bandwidth, but not me, apparently. Took several phone calls to get that corrected – sort of.)

So I had to Google the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act to find it. This is fantastic. Vote YES on Prop 2. The Humane Society, which is sponsoring this legislation, also has an excellent page on the opposition’s points.

Photo credit: Farm Sanctuary. Pregnant sows can’t move.

At least I know now where the Humane Society stands, and what the pros and “cons” are. I have no idea what the writer in the Opinion page is trying to say, or even which way she rolls.

Los Angeles Times, this time I’m putting my foot down. Bring back the copy editors, stat.

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The LA Times feels sorry for the Avenues gang.

Donna Barstow — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:28:38 +0000

One of my more popular posts is my April post on how the Times covered the Avenues gang: The LA Times has a secret crush on the Avenues gang!

A lot of looky-loos have been stopping by today, too, of course, because the Avenues and Drew Street gangs are on the front page again, and this time they’re not such heroes. The LAPD cracked down and arrested 28 of those poor guys. Here’s the Times this time:

Heavily armed police and federal agents stormed into a Glassell Park neighborhood Wednesday morning to wrest control away from a street gang — and loyalists with deep family ties to its members — that has in effect turned the sequestered swath of run-down apartments into rogue territory.

That’s a pretty good start. However, note the bolded description. When you read about a neighborhood painted as loyalists with deep family ties to its members, doesn’t that sound attractive? Perhaps a suburban enclave of LA, or one of those beach towns, with all those diehard volleyball players. Good people, in other words. And so these gangs are, in their hearts.

Photo of Latino Taming of the Shrew, by Bob Chamberlin, LA Times.

Last time, the Times writers defined the gang as resilient, powerful, and defiant: survivors, with loving neighbors. They’re definitely not as positive this time; I’m afraid they’ve gotten bitter, and that’s a sad thing to see in a journalist. The quotes they included from the Avenue homeboys and girls were understandable, but so darn negative: they described the police as “gestapo,” and they were frustrated by the show of force by the police and FBI, and doubted those pig bullies could change anything. Nobody on the street was happy the cops were cleaning house, and why would they be? Nosey parkers, those Feds.

Too, I notice a slightly different slant online as compared to in the paper, and this is because of the always powerful and terribly underrated photographs. The front page in the paper has a detective apraising photos of gang members. He looks a little mean to me. Inside, there is a photo of Patricia Gomez scolding police officers because her children were frightened by the early morning raid. Aah, that poor woman. She comes here from who knows where, just wants to be left alone with her druggy gang killer friends, and the police wake her up early. I hate that.

And the photo of the children, ah, the children. I don’t know how much English they understood, and they look confused – maybe bored, I don’t know – but it’s always touching to see children, even living in one of the scariest, dirtiest neighborhoods you’d never want your child to go in, isn’t it?

Online, there are additional photos of the police doing their jobs, and enforcing order. It looks to be more balanced! There are over 400 comments, and not everyone is sensitive enough to put themselves in the shoes of the gang-bangers. Sigh. I guess the LAPD and the rather sexy FBI has to clean up messes once in a while, but I hate to see a close gang like that lose touch with each other. Fist bump.

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To catch a thief.

Donna Barstow — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:49:07 +0000

On April 16th my neighbor had her catalytic converter stolen out of her SUV. (I had heard the loud roar when it started up, and this told me why.) I told another friend who has 2 SUVs (and it’s just her and her husband. Don’t ask.), and she said she had read in a Long Beach paper that it’s because of platinum inside the converter.

My neighbor didn’t know what to do. She has one car parked inside our complex, but has to park the SUV on the street. If she got a new cc, then that one, too, would be stolen. She compared prices, and decided the one that is bolted in cost too much, so she would just have her boyfriend put in the cheaper one, but only when she needed to drive the car. This seems like an extremely temporary solution to me, but people who drive SUVS may not have the brightest bulbs in their dash…

Be a crime-solver! Do you know what kind of car this is?

The LA Times was on top of this latest popular crime back in January.

The prize is a catalytic converter, a device used to reduce emissions. Platinum is more valuable than gold, and the contents of a typical converter are worth $40 to $50 to scrap-metal dealers.

I’ve always wanted platinum jewelry, but now I’m not so sure. I guess I should ask for vintage platinum jewelry, just to make sure that it doesn’t come from the lowest of the low, thieves, who would rather steal, and strand motorists (which is everyone in LA), rather than get a [blank] job.

I love how laist points out that the Times then gives explicit instructions on how to do it:

Some thieves use saws, but the preferred weapon in Southern California is a ratchet with a 14-millimeter socket. The thief crawls under the car and unfastens the bolts holding the converter, a process that accomplished crooks can complete in 90 seconds.

That is as unethical as printing instructions on how to make a bomb. Also, overly dramatic. Way to make criminals sound proficient and professional, Times. And my neighbor said when her boyfriend tried to do put the temporary converter in, it took like 15 minutes. The article continues:

“We’ve had them all over the place; we’ve had them in broad daylight in a Vons parking lot,” said Det. Jason Knickerbocker of the Manhattan Beach Police Department. “Most of them are at night. A lot of times, we never find the victim.”

I have no idea what this detective is trying to say. Victims are more important than perpetrators in Manhattan Beach, I guess.

I’m always on high alert anyway!, but after my neighbor put up a notice about this theft, that next week was our first big heat wave of the season. I had my windows wide open one night, and I was almost asleep when I heard this ratchety wrench type sound in the street. Like someone was fixing a tire or something. It was about 4 AM, however. I froze for a couple of minutes and then leaped out of bed, suddenly remembering that not everyone does the right thing in the early morning, like fixing coffee, getting ready for the car pool and generally contributing to the world.

No street lamp, and I could barely see a car double-parked on our almost empty street, with the lights on, next to an SUV. The sounds continued.

I thought about calling the police, but THERE’S a 10 minute wait on hold. I thought about running out there in my jammies. Maybe not. I thought about calling out, but not sure if they could hear me, and didn’t want my neighbors to complain. So I ran to get my lovely digital camera, and then started force-firing the flash over and over. I knew it wouldn’t be able to focus at that distance in pitch black, but my flash might do the trick.

After a couple flash pops, the ratchet sounds stopped and in a minute the car roared away!

Even better, I was using the camera as a flash beacon, but I guess my little guy was able to faintly focus in one of the snaps! You can see the last 2 numbers are clearly 29, and I think the one before that is also a 9. But can any of you identify the kind of car it is from the backlight?

I emailed our small Neighborhood Watch list (email me if you want to be on it!) and our LAPD community liaison, Officer Gina Chovan. I sent her details and this photo. When two stripped cars were dumped on our street last fall, and my windshield was bashed for no reason at all, she had told me that there are only 6 officers on duty at any one time for the entire Northeast area. (There now, don’t you feel safer?) But what about the detectives there? No one ever got back to me!

So here I am, trying to solve the crime for them. I need help; it’s obvious I am co-dependent with the City of Los Angeles.

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Silver Lake is once again a lake! Excellent News!

Donna Barstow — Tue, 06 May 2008 08:16:07 +0000

Late this afternoon a state official called to tell me LADWP has promised to start refilling Silver Lake at 8 AM on Wednesday. There will be a press conference. Why? Self-aggrandizement.

I was very happy to get the news, but you heard it here first: I predict (very unhappily) that they will drag out the refilling until it finishes on their all important target date of June 1. That way, they can spin H. David Nahai as a winnah twice: for doing such a great favor to the community as giving back the emergency water he took out, and for being a man of his word who sets and keeps his own deadlines. Not in my book, feller.

And Los Angeles Times, thanks for not helping with any investigation or insight of any kind on this. Was it too local for you? My Paypal donation button is on the bottom of the right column. Do the right thing.

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The LA Times has a secret crush on the Avenues Gang!

Donna Barstow — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 03:00:31 +0000

I can’t decide if it’s the awesome tats or the baggy duds…still stylish a decade later, apparently!

It’s always First Class to get an article written about you on the front page of the Times, and this time it’s the Avenues gang that hit the jackpot. I imagine gangs all over the city are envious, and wondering how they, too, can get such reportage and press. Don’t hesitate to read it: it’s family-ready, and really very forward-thinking!

The title of the article sets the tone:

A gang’s staying power

There’s a positive spin for you! Here are some of the other highlighted phrases that tell me the Times is in love:

[the Avenues gang] continues to defy the forces of law
The young men who rule Drew Street have survived countless convictions, injunctions, evictions and deportations.
Police have tried to crush them for years, but for all the law enforcement rained upon the shabby two blocks of wrought-iron fences and stucco apartments, homeboys still command the street…
…the notorious Avenues gang … has tenaciously retained control over a wide swath of Northeast L.A., defying both the forces of gentrification and heavy crackdowns by police
The insignia tattooed on many members’ bodies speaks to their virulent history: a skull with a bullet hole, wearing a fedora. (how very colorful!)
…resilience through the decades
…one of the most powerful gangs in the city
…shared history breeds loyalty. Several residents interviewed Friday said they supported the Avenues. “I’ve been here 25 years and they’ve never disrespected me,” said Modesta Hernandez. “On the contrary, they protect us. They help us.” They depicted the police as hostile and corrupt, and several said the shooting of Daniel Leon was unprovoked, although one neighbor said he clearly saw Leon raise the assault weapon at the officers.

The reporters, Joe Mozingo, Sam Quinones, and Richard Winton, don’t have their heads in the sky however. Their affection for the gang is tempered by some cold ugly facts, and they admit there are some negatives with this gang. (For instance, on Feb 23 they killed 2 people and shut down the whole area for hours. That wasn’t very nice.) The reporters also used these descriptions:

virulent history
wreaked havoc
illegal
And in 2006, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles won hate-crime convictions against five members for a murderous campaign to force African Americans out of their turf.

So let’s compare the negatives and positives: the love shines through. You’re busted, guys!

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