Tom LaBonge says the shoeless people are more important than Griffith Park.
There were tv crews and everything at the meeting on arsonists tonight. Carolyn Ramsay, of Councilman LaBonge’s office, was at the door handing out important pieces of paper. I reached for one, and she said the agenda was on the seats. There weren’t any seats left, so I held my hand out to her again, and when I took one of the important pieces of paper, she took it back from me and said, “If you don’t mind, please just take one of the papers on the seats. These are for the press.”
Do I look so very unimportant? Is it my blue guileless eyes? I wore a nice skirt and top. My hair was slightly damp from my shower. Do journalists not bathe?
pb Dan Steinberg / Associated Press, from the LA Times.
Eventually she did give me one of the important pieces of paper. Behold, a press release. To summarize it: five fires broke out in different sections of the park on Saturday, and 300 firefighters battled them. About 50 acres burned. That is really horrible.
Of course LaBonge had a lot to say, and introduced Griffith Park Ranger Doug Kilpatrick and LAFD Battalion Chief Chris Logan, who confirmed Tom’s statement that this was definitely ARSON. He didn’t say how – I guess they don’t know yet. He said while they were fighting the first one 3 more were lit. Gross. Someone from the park said arson is one of the most punished crimes, and that fire season would be even worse in November.
The area is west of the zoo, and the Skyline Trail, near Toyon.
They said the LAFD had beefed up patrols in the park, and now had apparatus IN the park, with brush patrols (which Tom described as a pickup truck with 2 men in it), and the arson unit. Just as Kristin Sabo has said previously in comments, he said cell phones don’t work in the park, and that’s pretty ridiculous, even for normal situations. (Yes, it is!) They are going to add cell towers on top of the DWP tanks scattered in the park.
They said not to confront suspicious activity, but to report it right away. Someone from the public asked if the Rangers were enforcing No Smoking in the park. At this point, Tom made a very very very very very very funny: “Yes, did you count how many butts were Marlboros and how many were Pall Malls?” Ranger Kilpatrick was too dignified to answer this remark. (Hmm. Did Councilman LaBonge used to be a smoker?)
LaBonge added that they were enforcing the No Smoking areas on the Golf Course, except for the areas that they DON’T enforce No Smoking. It’s a technical golfer type arrangement, so don’t worry about it. Even though that’s where the 2007 fire started that burned 800 acres. It’s all about golf, when it’s all about green fees.
But as our Councilman Tom would be the first to tell you, money doesn’t talk in Griffith Park. Nope. He said:
“As we all look around at each other here..and down at our shoes and socks… we’re living a step up from some people. Not everyone has shoes. That’s why we still allow barbeques in Griffith Park!”
So as LaBonge continues playing in his fantasy world of the poor little match girl, let’s look at reality here. There must be at least 50 barbecues in Griffith Park, all roaring merrily away on weekends. It’s not easy to step into the nasty little mind of an arsonist, but if I were someone who liked to play with matches, or smoke something or other, and I drove down the 5 past the billowing smoke and fumes of the meat frying in the BBQ pits, I might think those No Smoking signs in the park had nothing to do with me.
The Crystal Springs picnic area, home of BBQs galore, is by far the stinkiest, most fouled area of the whole park, and is very close to the arson areas. I’ve written before that I stopped running on weekends there because the stench of barbecue fire lighter fluid is so overpowering that I thought I would faint.
Barbecues are all about fire, are they not? Regardless of the pollution (and they are more polluting than cars or some trucks), they certainly don’t give the impression to park goers that fire is bad, or a danger. Can anyone remember the last time we had rain? We’ve had hundreds of acres destroyed by fire this year and last, and millions of dollars of damage, but Tom just can’t accept life without BBQs. And he’s pretty sure the people “a step below” can’t, either.
Tom closed the meeting early because he wanted to talk to the hundreds of Sierra Club hikers about to start walking. He said he planned to “deputize” them.
Tell me, are all Councilmen like him?
Donna Barstow
Griffith Park is the 2nd biggest park in the US, and I'm just the person to investigate it! I've lived here for over 25 years. I was part of the PROS Committee in Griffith Park Neighborhood Council and am on the Housing & Tenants Rights Committee in the Silver Lake NC. I'm in the LA Press Club, and you can find some of my articles in the LA Weekly and the Los Feliz Ledger. I'm a cartoonist for Parade Magazine, The New Yorker, LA Times, Slate, & most major media. Questions and contacts welcome.
5 Comments
Kristin Sabo
Correction —
I didn’t say cell phones don’t work in the park. I said that if you use a cell to call 9-1-1, you get the CHP on the other end who is not at all familiar with the majority of the park locations since they do not have physical street addresses. The Park Rangers are intimately familiar with all of the park. Call them: 323-644-6661
Yeah, I didn’t waste gas to go to the meeting because it was dead-clear to me this was pretty much a press event for the councilmember alone. Which is what you’ve reported. Quelle surprise. :-)
Honestly, did you learn anything really that you didn’t already know from the press? Other than LaBonge is now leading us all in the hunt for the arsonist. Oh, and deputizing people on his own authority, that too. And that people without shoes need barbecues in wilderness parks. But not afforable healthcare, good jobs, reliable transportation, safe schools and streets, and local parks to safely recreate.
Again, honestly, the Sierra Club hiking groups already do a great job looking out for weird stuff in the park. They don’t need a Deputy Do-Gooder membership badge and decoder ring to do the job.
So let’s work on we can work on — catching the firebug and getting him off the streets and out of our parks. As for our public representatives, that is another can of worms.
Robin Brock
I was also at the meeting and am a Sierra Club hiker.
Carolyn Ramsay gave me the press release with no problem and I looked like a dirty hiker in cargo pants and with a bandana on my head. There wasn’t much information in the press release anyway. I think the reason the meeting was so poorly announced was that the main purpose was a press event rather then an actual community meeting. You don’t want the general public to get in the way of grandstanding do you? That probably also explains the lack of seating.
My cell phone works in the park and the phones of my hiking friends also work in the park. Perhaps there are some carriers that don’t work, but to declare that cell phones don’t work in the park is incorrect because many do. You must have heard the confused muttering after his declaration about cell phones not working. We were all looking at each other and saying “my cell phone works – does your cell phone work”
I am not sure why the sudden need to put cell phone towers on every water tank. I have a feeling it is not really about safety rather having a convenient place for phone companies to put their towers.
The one thing I would add to Kristin’s excellent suggestions is this: If you are a regular visitor to the park try to familiarize yourself the names of the main fire roads and trails. That way if you need to report something and don’t see a water tower you can give a general description of where you are. The map produced by the park leaves off a lot of the trails but is a good starting point.
The “deputizing” was just a publicity thing. Basically they want the hikers to keep an eye out for suspicious activity and report it if we see something. We have been doing that for years anyway. They also want us to have more hikes through the side of the park where the arsons occurred (i.e. Tonyon/Landfill).
One more thing – They said that the fires on Sunday were started with an accelerant but they are not going to say at this time what it was. I got the feeling they did know what was used to start the fires but were not ready to make that information public.
Kristin Sabo
I hate quoting myself, but this info belongs here too:
“One excellent way to state physical locations without physical addresses in Griffith Park is by the numbers clearly painted on all active fire hydrants — each has two numbers on it, one is the grid number, one is the hydrant number. It’s only important to read the top and bottom number to dispatch — you don’t have to know which number is specifically which other than top and bottom. Dispatch will go to the LAFD’s excellent fire map and look up the location.
By way of example, the hydrant at Amir’s Garden has a 31 at the top and a 19 at the bottom. For the record, the hydrant location is in Griffith Park fire grid 31, and it is hydrant #19.”
Another way is the large numbers painted on the water tanks. Again by way of example, “Tank 73” is near Amir’s, and a good landmark for authorities to use to identify your location.
Robin Brock
I like it when you quote yourself. Especially when the information is good.
Unfortunately the few times I have been with a group that needed to report something to the rangers it was difficult get them to understand exactly where we were. The more you know about your location the better.
Kristin Sabo
Male transient on a bicycle apprehended by GP fire task force about a half an hour ago.
WooHoo!