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ad802878ee19a382eda4dc55a5074d4c | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2201-story.html | ROAD NOTES | ROAD NOTES
Here are some of the closures Caltrans plans this week, all on the Pomona Freeway:
One lane of the westbound freeway will be closed at the Stimson Avenue under-crossing in Hacienda Heights on Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The alternate, or emergency, lane of the eastbound freeway will be closed at the Phillips Ranch Road off-ramp in Pomona on Monday from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.
The alternate lane of the eastbound freeway will be closed at the Crossroads Parkway off-ramp in City of Industry on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
One lane of the westbound freeway will be closed at Santa Anita Avenue in South El Monte on Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
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8e94c1bc1dddee690347b18e657c9345 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2202-story.html | They Fight to Curb Thirst of Plant Life : Pasadena: Landscape architects are trying to wean the city from lush green lawns in favor of more water-efficient vegetation. | They Fight to Curb Thirst of Plant Life : Pasadena: Landscape architects are trying to wean the city from lush green lawns in favor of more water-efficient vegetation.
Call the recent rain a mixed blessing, conservationists say. It’s watering thirsty plants and restocking reservoirs, but it’s also eroding zeal for voluntary rationing.
“Some of us are talking about starting an organization called Californians for the Drought,” jokes Rebecca Fisher, a landscape specialist with the Pasadena Water and Power Department.
Fisher heads a program to change Pasadena, where for decades tourists have come to ogle the extravagant stretches of green grass and tropical shrubbery, into a model of water conservation in landscaping. About half of the city’s water supply--about 45% to 50%, Fisher says--now goes to landscaping.
Already, city-owned green strips that used to be covered by water-guzzling turf now sport native succulents and cactusy-looking agaves. City landscape architects are beginning to pore critically over plans for new construction projects, looking for water-wasting flaws.
And Water and Power staff are preparing an ordinance that would establish landscaping guidelines for new commercial and multifamily residential developments--including the prohibition of new turf except in “functional” areas, such as playgrounds and picnic sites.
“The momentum is there,” says Fisher, 31, an energetic woman who talks in rapid-fire spurts. “It’s taken a year to gear up to full force.”
Five years of drought may have left some distressing views of cracked mud where lakes and reservoirs once sparkled, she says, but it has also forced many Southern Californians to reconsider their spendthrift ways with water.
Even a year of normal rainfall, as 1991 may shape up to be, shouldn’t reduce the zeal for conservation, Fisher insists.
“People in Southern California have to realize that they live next to a desert,” she says. “It (the drought) is going to happen again.”
Besides, Pasadena is still under orders from the Metropolitan Water District--which supplies more than half of the city’s water--to reduce its allotment by 46%, says Water and Power conservation coordinator Mariann Long.
“We’re still under mandatory restrictions,” Long notes.
As with most cities, the conservation message seems to flicker between a brilliant glow and a dull glimmer in Pasadena, city officials say. “When you have 1,800 employees and a budget of $375 million,” says Rick Cole, a member of the Board of Directors, “some people get the message on policy and some don’t.”
For example, as city workers installed native plants along a median strip on the east side of City Hall last year, they were also putting in new grass, which requires about four cubic feet of water for every square foot of lawn, in the building’s courtyard. (Most drought-resistant plantings can get by with less than half of that, with some requiring no watering at all.)
Such scenes make Fisher, a landscaper before she joined the city staff nine months ago, frown. Commenting on the workings of city government, she says, “Everything seems to take about three times as long as you expected it to.”
If she had her druthers, all of the city-supervised landscaping would be water efficient. That means it would look something like the grounds around the city-owned La Casita del Arroyo, a historic stone house on South Arroyo Boulevard.
At the house, orchid-like Pacific Coast irises and tiny bell-like snow-in-summers bloom in low-water beds, while heavy-drinking azaleas are irrigated with dripping mechanisms instead of sprinklers. Plants are sectioned off to distinguish their watering requirements.
The point of the city’s “xeriscaped” garden, as environmentalists call this mode of water-efficient landscaping, is not only to show that it can be done but that it need not be drab and dun-colored, Fisher says. There are scarlets, whites and purples in the garden.
“Here’s a spot of color,” says Fisher, touching the pale purple irises, “and they don’t even like summer water.”
On the other hand, some new developments, like the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel and a wing of Huntington Memorial Hospital, are notable for doing things the old way--wastefully, Fisher says.
She marches around the 23-acre grounds of the hotel, pointing out the errors. There are beds of flowers, ground covering, shrubs and expansive fields of grass--all requiring heavy irrigation. Where hotel landscapers have placed drought-tolerant native oak trees, near the swimming pool, they have laid turf right up to the trunk, ensuring that the trees will be over-watered.
Burt Cota, landscape manager for the hotel, says the landscaping is “sensitive” to conservation necessities. He adds that the hotel does not tap into city water because it has its own well, whose water is used exclusively for landscaping.
“We’re very concerned about water,” Cota says. “We’ll be doing our part--that’s for sure.”
But Fisher, not assuaged, says wells are supplied with ground water. “They’re pulling out water from everybody’s supply of water,” she says. “It’s not an excuse not to conserve.”
At the Huntington Hospital wing on California Boulevard, Fisher waves dismissively at two broad, fenced-in swaths of grass.
But hospital spokesman Steve Willis defends the landscaping, saying, “It’s an inexpensive ground cover. It keeps the weeds down and it’s better than what was there before--a gravel lot that a lot of people complained was an eyesore.”
Counters Fisher, “They should turn it into baseball fields.”
George Morrow, manager of utility resource planning for Pasadena’s Department of Water and Power, says projects such as the hotel and hospital, which received city approval more than three years ago, are “past situations.”
Now, all building plans are reviewed by city landscape architects, and water inefficiencies are pointed out to developers, Morrow says.
“Most folks tend to want to do things that are supportive of conservation and the environment,” he adds. “We tend to get a great deal of cooperation.”
Where there is a lack of cooperation, a new city ordinance should soon be in place to deal with the situation.
Like every municipality in California, Pasadena faces a new state law requiring that it pass a “water-efficient landscape” ordinance by January, 1992. That means landscaping plans are to be reviewed for water efficiency before a development receives city approval, Fisher says.
City officials concede they worry about over-regulating the kinds of things people put in their yards. “We don’t want to be water Nazis,” Fisher says. “Nobody wants to say, ‘Thou shalt not plant pansies in July.’ ”
But special conditions sometimes dictate special measures, city officials say.
Cole considers a not-very-likely extreme contingency. “The real test will be when they replant the Rose Bowl playing field with a low-water-use ground cover,” he says.
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65754b5b5f534485a1792f75e1a4b51e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2203-story.html | Claremont : Driveway Zoning Amended | Claremont : Driveway Zoning Amended
Residents in the city’s rural zone are now “encouraged” to build circular driveways--so long as those designs include landscaping between the drive and the street and between the drive and the house.
Last week, the City Council altered a zoning regulation that “discouraged” circular drives. Under the new rule, circular drives are allowed on lots with a minimum building setback of 40 feet. An exception is the Blaisdell Ranch subdivision, which was approved with setbacks of 30 feet.
The new amendment also stipulates that driveways should have a maximum width of 18 feet and only two openings, each with a maximum width of 12 feet at the property line.
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70628e9492a9dbb81336ed64235a20a5 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2204-story.html | It’s over. It’s finally over, no fooling.After... | It’s over. It’s finally over, no fooling.After...
It’s over. It’s finally over, no fooling.
After 26 years of touring the country and hamming it up classically, P.D.Q. Bach (aka composer Peter Schickele) is finally taking himself off the truck with the collapsible cow.
The end comes, appropriately enough, on April Fool’s Day--Monday--at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
But Schickele, the maestro of mayhem, is not kidding. It really is his swan song in the “Farewell to Touring” concert, featuring highlights of his comical career as P.D.Q. Bach, the “last and least of the 20-odd children of J. S. Bach.”
The program is conducted by Jorge Mester, Schickele’s longtime friend from the Juilliard School of Music. It features excerpts from Schickele’s musical shenanigans over the years, such as the “1712 Overture” with exploding balloons and “Prelude to Einstein on the Fritz,” a musical poke at Philip Glass’ minimalist work, “Einstein on the Beach.”
The concert is at 8 p.m. at the auditorium, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Tickets are $18 to $35, and are available at the auditorium box office or all Ticketron outlets.
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bf1c87839a0259161199ae35be1dc16b | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2205-story.html | Pasadena : Landlord Pleads Innocent | Pasadena : Landlord Pleads Innocent
David O. Howard, owner of a 15-unit apartment building ordered evacuated Dec. 21 by city officials, pleaded innocent last week to 81 misdemeanor criminal charges that stem from conditions at the building.
Howard is charged with violating plumbing, fire, building, mechanical, health and safety codes in the operation of the building at 543 N. Raymond Ave. in Northwest Pasadena. The city is also trying to recover more than $26,000 it spent relocating 53 of Howard’s tenants.
Trial is set for June 19.
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306abe6b3e6c33410527a43cc7b068d2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2207-story.html | Walnut : Go-Ahead for Sewer System | Walnut : Go-Ahead for Sewer System
The City Council on Wednesday agreed to proceed with plans for a sewer system that will allow access to all residents in the Gartel-Fuerte area, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Walnut.
The council directed staff to begin collecting bids for the work, which City Engineer Ron Kranzer estimated will cost about $625,000. Much of that will be recouped by the city when property owners connect to the sewer system, Kranzer said. The fee for the linkup will be about $4,000 per household, he said.
If the bidding process goes according to plan, construction could be completed as early as Oct. 31, Kranzer said.
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941a38054549f1a154d7c8a9d5c8ea9e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2210-story.html | Claremont : Use of Theater to Be Studied | Claremont : Use of Theater to Be Studied
The City Council agreed last week to pay $20,285 for a study of possible uses for the historic Padua Hills Theater.
Milford Wayne Donaldson, a San Diego architect, will receive $10,915 for a study of possible uses of the theater, which is considered an integral element in the city’s development of the Claremont Hillside Project north of Foothill Boulevard. Staffers said they recommended Donaldson over three rivals because he appeared most open to a use for the structure besides a theater.
Economic Research Associates of Los Angeles will be paid $9,370 to study profitability of those uses.
Built in the 1930s, the theater is owned by Padova-Padua Inc., which has agreed to sell it and surrounding acreage to the city for development as a planned residential community. Formerly used as a community playhouse, the building at 4467 Via Padova now houses Chantrelles Catering.
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c6e7a36f485dedc8b3cbf3051739f1a2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2212-story.html | Cal State System Honors Phoebe Dea | Cal State System Honors Phoebe Dea
Phoebe K. Dea, professor of chemistry at Cal State Los Angeles, has been named a recipient of the Outstanding Professor Award given by the California State University system.
Each year, two faculty members are honored for their contributions to their students, academic discipline and campus community. Dea will receive a $4,000 cash award.
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7c470ad4b8c1b88977e61866e88d7fc6 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2213-story.html | Caltech Receives $16.8-Million Pledge | Caltech Receives $16.8-Million Pledge
Intel Corp. co-founder Gordon E. Moore and his wife, Betty, have pledged $16.8 million for a five-story electronic materials and structures laboratory at Caltech.
The building will contain classrooms, labs and office space. Intel manufactures supercomputers and microcomputer components and modules.
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2e5a9582afc4a9e6a656f2386957adb0 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2214-story.html | Claremont Graduate School Names Schwartz | Claremont Graduate School Names Schwartz
Murray M. Schwartz has been appointed vice president of academic affairs and dean of Claremont Graduate School.
Schwartz has been dean of the faculty of humanities and fine arts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst since 1983.
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8e64fb29440faa931d0c704d1887f982 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2215-story.html | THOUGHTS ON THE DROUGHT | THOUGHTS ON THE DROUGHT
‘Even if MWD is entirely out of water, it only affects a small portion of the San Gabriel Valley.’ In the region overall, ‘We don’t need to ration water because we’re not going to run out.’
Robert G. Berlien general manager, Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District
‘We should all be encouraging our customers to cut back.’
Edward R. Heck general manager, Azusa Valley Water Co.
‘Maybe we’ll get lucky and only have to go to 20% (mandatory cutbacks). The drought situation--regardless of where the water comes from--exists. So that’s why we’ve implemented the water conservation plans.’
Barbara Kirschner Southern California Water Co.
‘We have a sufficient amount of water to meet the demand.’
Herman Weskamp president,Valencia Heights Water Co.
‘I can’t get over it. Last year we used 25.8 million gallons a day. This year, 13.2 million gallons. That’s almost a 50% savings.’
Anthony J. Skvarek manager, Pomona water department
‘The real test will be when they replant the Rose Bowl playing field with a low-water-use ground cover.’
Rick Cole Pasadena city director
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815b76d7429de57733dcb59cabff671e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-ga-2217-story.html | Whimsy of Water Supplies : Drought: Some communities must impose broad controls on water usage, while cities that have their own wells escape with mild cutbacks. | Whimsy of Water Supplies : Drought: Some communities must impose broad controls on water usage, while cities that have their own wells escape with mild cutbacks.
Residents of the sprawling San Gabriel Valley, with its extraordinarily heavy reliance on underground water supplies, are being affected unevenly by drought-related rationing and other prohibitions on water use, a Times survey of cities has found.
Cities with their own wells, such as Monterey Park and South Pasadena, may end up imposing relatively relaxed conservation measures. But cities such as Diamond Bar and Walnut, which import most of their water via the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and its pipelines from Northern California and the Colorado River, have been forced to impose a wide range of controls.
For the record:
12:00 AM, Apr. 04, 1991 For the Record Los Angeles Times Thursday April 4, 1991 Home Edition San Gabriel Valley Part J Page 2 Column 5 Zones Desk 2 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction Water conservation--A chart in the March 31 San Gabriel Valley section should have listed Southern California Water Co. as the source of mandatory water conservation measures in Claremont. Also, the chart incorrectly stated the requirements on swimming pool construction during the drought in Claremont; there are no restrictions.
The disparity results from a diverse, semi-desert valley that simultaneously embraces abundant underground aquifers fed by mountain streams and areas with virtually no local water supply.
In addition, a patchwork-quilt system delivering water to more than 30 cities and major unincorporated communities complicates the rationing picture further. Close to 60 water companies and water districts supply water to the region. There are nearly 150 holders of water rights. Some cities run their own companies. Most communities rely on a number of water sources, both local and imported.
The myriad water suppliers have responded to the drought with varying degrees of urgency. For instance, the Rowland Water District already has ordered 30% mandatory cuts in water use, to start Monday. The city of Glendora, meanwhile, still is pondering whether to ask for a voluntary cutback of 10%. The Glendora City Council plans to discuss the matter April 9.
Although sections of the San Gabriel Valley are extremely reliant on imported water, almost 90% of the water supplied to the region’s residents comes from runoff from the San Gabriel Mountains and from underground water supplies, according to Robert G. Berlien, general manager of the Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District.
Said Berlien: “Even if MWD is entirely out of water, it only affects a small portion of the San Gabriel Valley.” In the region overall, he said, “We don’t need to ration water because we’re not going to run out.”
Others, however, emphasize that the drought has shown the need for greater conservation by all water users. “We should all be encouraging our customers to cut back,” said Edward R. Heck, general manager of the Azusa Valley Water Co., which supplies 14,500 customers in Azusa, Covina and West Covina.
Four major water companies and four San Gabriel Valley cities--Arcadia, Covina, La Verne and Sierra Madre--have done more than encourage. They already have made plans to require mandatory rationing in portions of 19 communities.
In addition, city councils in 11 cities have enacted mandatory measures designed to foster water conservation, such as banning the use of hoses to clean driveways and sidewalks. And a combination of six city governments and two other water companies are considering mandatory cuts in water use.
One of those companies proposing cuts is Southern California Water Co., among the biggest suppliers in the region, with customers from Pomona to Rosemead. The firm has proposed mandatory cuts of 30%, starting in May.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and only have to go to 20%,” said Barbara Kirschner of the firm’s customer service department.
“The drought situation--regardless of where the water comes from--exists,” she said. “So that’s why we’ve implemented the water conservation plans.”
However, some San Gabriel Valley water departments, water districts and city governments are simply asking for voluntary cuts.
An example of the complex and varied responses in the region can be seen in West Covina, where the city’s 96,086 residents are served by nine different water companies, an oddly fashioned network that evolved during the last century.
Several of West Covina’s water suppliers--such as the city water department, which serves 7,000 customers and gets all its water from the MWD--have either instituted mandatory cuts or raised rates to discourage those who don’t conserve. Other suppliers in West Covina have concluded that voluntary cuts should be sufficient.
Another example of voluntary cuts comes from Azusa Valley Water, which is seeking a voluntary 20% reduction in water consumption. In addition, the company is asking customers to observe standard water conservation practices, such as running washing machines and dishwashers with full loads only and installing low-flow shower heads.
Azusa Valley hasn’t implemented mandatory cuts, Heck said, because the company benefits from the runoff that cascades from the San Gabriel River Canyon, especially after recent rains. Sixty percent of Azusa Valley’s supply comes from there. Another 35% comes from deep wells, and the remaining 5% is supplied by the MWD.
Another small water company, Valencia Heights Water Co. in West Covina, has not been seriously threatened by the drought because about 90% of its water for 1,200 customers comes from local ground wells.
“We have a sufficient amount of water to meet the demand,” said Valencia president Herman Weskamp.
In fact, Valencia may be able to provide some water to its parched neighbors to the east in Diamond Bar and Walnut, Weskamp said. But, he cautioned, “The time they’ll need it the worst, in the summer, we may need it, too.”
Indeed, water officials say some companies and communities that have only sought voluntary reductions in water use could face the need for mandatory cuts by late summer.
That need for mandatory conservation already has been painfully obvious to many of the more than 53,600 residents of Diamond Bar, who are cut off from the water-abundant and separate San Gabriel, Chino and Pomona basins.
Diamond Bar relies solely on water brought from afar. The city’s only supplier, Walnut Valley Water District, receives its water from the MWD, which in turn pipes it from Northern California and the Colorado River.
Because of the dire supply prospects faced by the MWD, even in light of recent rain and snow throughout the state, Walnut Valley has enacted mandatory rationing for customers in Diamond Bar, Walnut, Industry, Pomona, Rowland Heights and West Covina.
Customers must cut their usage by 20%, based on the amount of water they used in 1990. The penalty for using excessive amounts is 91 cents for every 748 gallons over the limit.
The Rowland Water District has taken similar action, asking its customers to cut back by 10% now and 30% as of Monday in Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, Industry, La Puente and West Covina.
Even in areas that have somewhat plentiful local ground water supplies, difficulties exist.
The Claremont-based Three Valleys Municipal Water District receives 35% of its water from local sources. The rest comes from MWD.
But district manager Richard W. Hansen notes that the local supply is plagued with problems. Contamination--both from toxic chemicals that seeped underground and nitrates from septic tanks, fertilizers and waste products of agricultural animals--reduces the amount of well water that can be safely used.
Also because of the drought, Hansen said, the water table has dropped to record lows, making it more expensive to pump water and rendering some wells inoperative.
One of the more fortunate members of the Three Valleys District is the Pomona Water Department, which gets 75% of its water from local wells and only counts on MWD for 25%.
Pomona has held back from instituting mandatory cuts, water department manager Anthony J. Skvarek said, because “the community is just doing marvelous” with voluntary conservation efforts.
“I can’t get over it,” he said. “Last year we used 25.8 million gallons a day. This year, 13.2 million gallons. That’s almost a 50% savings.”
An aggressive conservation campaign during the last year, he said, included the distribution of 15,000 water conservation kits and installation of water-saving devices on irrigation systems for the city’s parkland.
Likewise, Pasadena officials have eschewed mandatory rationing, saying they derived great savings last year from distributing conservation kits throughout the city to 18,000 single-family residences.
Still, pressure has increased for mandatory rationing in Pasadena, which relies on MWD for 60% of its water. (The remainder comes from local wells.) In early March, Pasadena came under fire for exceeding conservation goals set by MWD for February.
The city’s water department used 122% more water in February than it had been allocated under a MWD plan.
City water systems administrator Willard O. Bangham attributed the overdraft to a communications snafu. He said the city followed the standard water practice of using more imported MWD water in the wet season--and cutting back on pumping from its own wells--with the expectation of drawing more heavily on the wells in the dry summer period.
Pasadena officials, in a letter in late January, had notified MWD of this plan, Bangham said, but MWD did not respond until nearly a month later. It was then that MWD told Pasadena it had used far too much water and would be financially penalized.
Pasadena may soon join the ranks of cities requiring mandatory cutbacks. The community’s Board of Directors on Tuesday is to hold a public hearing on cuts that, if approved, could go into effect in May.
The recent rains, city officials said, may greatly influence how restrictive Pasadena’s rationing might be and whether the Board of Directors will take formal action Tuesday.
HOW CITIES ARE PLANNING TO SAVE WATER
Here is a city-by-city look at drought-related measures taken by municipal and private water suppliers serving the San Gabriel Valley area. Only mandatory measures are listed. Failure to comply with the measures could result in penalties ranging from fines to the interruption of water service. For more detailed information, contact the agency or company listed on your water bill.
* To water the exotic plants that have made the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino known throughout the world, the institution uses almost 98 million gallons a year. That translates into 267,945 gallons daily, although summertime use is higher and wintertime is lower. The Huntington--encompassing 207 acres--has two wells that meet the facility’s needs. Because of that, the gardens have not been severely endangered by the drought. But owing to the rainfall shortage, the Huntington still has a diminished ground water supply. To save water, the Huntington has grouped together plants that require similar amounts of irrigation. In addition, only recirculating water is used in the fountains and waterfalls now in operation. Two-thirds of the Huntington’s 23,000 different varieties of plants are drought-resistant.
* Although Pasadena has not yet instituted mandatory rationing (a 20% cut in water use is proposed to start in May), the city last year did implement an aggressive water-savings effort. Crews went door-to-door installing water conservation devices--toilet dams, faucet aerators and low-flow shower heads--free of charge. City conservation officials estimate that for each of 18,000 single-family residences, the savings will average 33 gallons daily (the equivalent of 20 flushes of a low-flush toilet). Over a five-year period, that would translate into a savings of more than 1 billion gallons of water. Conservation kits are still available to Pasadena residents, who can call (818) 584-WATER for more information. City workers will deliver and install the kits. In other communities, residents should check local water departments for information about conservation devices.
* Thanks to a recent Los Angeles County Superior Court decision, reclaimed water--sewage that is treated to a level almost safe enough to drink--will one day be used to replenish the underground water supply of the San Gabriel Valley. As soon as an intricate pumping and piping system is installed during the next three to five years, 30,000 acre feet of reclaimed water (enough to supply the needs of about 60,000 average families) annually will be pumped from a treatment plant at Whittier Narrows and brought into the San Gabriel Basin. The water will be shunted into shallow, rock-lined basins, as big as football fields, and allowed to percolate underground, where it then can safely supplement the region’s water supply.
CUTBACKS IN WATER USE
Exempt level in City Cutback gallons (supplier) Ordered Base period a day Arcadia 10% Average from 250 (City water system) 1987 to 1990 Bradbury 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 Covina ** (City water system) Duarte 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 El Monte 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 Hacienda Heights 10%, 1990 * (Rowland Water District) 30% as of April 1 Industry 10%, 1990 * (Rowland Water District) 30% as of April 1 La Puente 10%, 1990 * (Rowland Water District) 30% as of April 1 La Verne *** (City water system) Rosemead 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 Rowland Heights 10%, 1990 * (Rowland Water District) 30% as of April 1 San Gabriel 15% July 1988 Available (San Gabriel County to June 1989 for small Water District) users San Gabriel 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 San Marino 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 Sierra Madre 20% 1989 250 (City water system Temple City 20% March 1989 324 (California-American Water Co.) to Feb. 1990 Walnut 20% 1990 * (Walnut Valley Water District) West Covina 10%, 1990 * (Rowland Water District) 30% as of April 1 West Covina 20% 1990 * (Walnut Valley Water District)
* Customers using less than the “neighborhood average” are exempt.
** Those using more than 17,952 gallons every two-month billing period face financial penalties
*** Those using more than 14,000 gallons every two-month billing period face financial penalties
OTHER MANDATORY MEASURES
Alhambra (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Arcadia (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Azusa (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Bradbury (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Claremont (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Restrictions on building of swimming pools Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Covina (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Restrictions on building of swimming pools Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Diamond Bar (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Duarte (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
El Monte (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Hacienda Heights (Rowland Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Industry (Rowland Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Industry (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
La Puente (Rowland Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
La Verne (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Restrictions on building of swimming pools Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Monrovia (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Monrovia (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Pasadena (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Pomona (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Rosemead (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Rosemead (San Gabriel County Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Rowland Heights (Rowland Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Rowland Heights (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
San Gabriel (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
San Gabriel (San Gabriel County Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
San Marino (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Water leaks must be repaired promptly
San Marino (California-American Water Co. Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Sierra Madre (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
South Pasadena (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Temple City (California-American Water Co.) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
Walnut (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
West Covina (city water system) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
West Covina (Rowland Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
West Covina (Walnut Valley Water District) No hosing off driveways, walkways and patios No lawn watering during most day hours No car washing with free-flowing hose Water in restaurants served only by request Ban on non-recycling decorative fountains Water leaks must be repaired promptly
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d36e9267652c83c54a3cbcb3c935c337 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-hd-2304-story.html | Police Issue Warning About Car-Theft Scam : Crime: Thieves using stolen credit data have taken 30 new cars from dealerships and resold or subleased them. | Police Issue Warning About Car-Theft Scam : Crime: Thieves using stolen credit data have taken 30 new cars from dealerships and resold or subleased them.
Police have a warning for consumers who subleased or picked up loan payments on a new car in recent months: They may be driving a stolen automobile.
Detectives estimate that as many as 30 new cars have been stolen from six dealerships in Bellflower, West Covina and the South Bay since November by con artists pretending to be credit-worthy customers.
Using information stolen from strangers with good credit ratings, the thieves have financed the cars, driven them away and then pawned off the loan or lease payments on unsuspecting consumers who handed over cash down payments, according to Inglewood Detective Paul Harvey.
The complex scheme can create a number of victims--the dealership, if the consumer fails to make payments and the bank demands repayment; the bank, if the lending contract does not require the dealer to return the money; the unsuspecting stranger, whose good credit rating can be ruined, and the buyer, who cannot register the car that he believes he has purchased.
Buyers have told police that they bought the cars through people who said they were “car finders” or “credit repair” specialists who could give them creative financing on the purchase.
In each case being investigated by detectives, the consumer failed to keep up with the payments, triggering unsuccessful efforts to repossess the car from the person whose credit information was used to purchase it.
“We don’t usually publicize something like this at this stage, but we need to let people know that they could be victimized by this,” Harvey said. “And if people think that they have been, they should come forward to tell us. . . . It’s better to lose a car and a couple thousand dollars than to go to jail.”
One woman who handed over a $500 fee to sublease a new car was arrested by the Gardena Police Department about two weeks ago when a routine check of her car’s license plates indicated that the car had been stolen.
Police released her without charges after several hours, but the car was returned to the dealership from which it was stolen.
“She didn’t intend to defraud anybody,” Harvey said. “I just don’t think she was aware that you can’t take over a motor vehicle sales contract under California law. You can’t do it.”
Harvey said the thefts have come in two waves. Nineteen cars were taken between late November and the end of January, and as many as 11 have been taken this month.
The thieves have focused their efforts on 1991 Toyota Previas, 4-Runners, Supras and Camrys, 1991 Acuras and 1991 Volvos from car dealerships in Inglewood, Torrance, Gardena, Hawthorne, Bellflower and West Covina.
In several cases, credit information may have been stolen from legitimate applications submitted by potential customers who ultimately decided not to buy a car.
In one case that detectives are investigating, information from an application that a man submitted at one dealership was used for a theft from another dealership several miles away.
“The true people whose credit is being used range from Bakersfield to San Diego,” Harvey said, noting that most of them have no idea that their names were used to buy a car.
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c365af56386a77a5fe44e99b3c5bf1bd | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-hd-2306-story.html | FREEWAY REPAIRS | FREEWAY REPAIRS
Caltrans advises motorists that it has scheduled the following freeway work in the Southeast and Long Beach area this week. Repair locations are spotted on the map by number and are identified in the list below by the nearest city or cities.
ARTESIA FREEWAY (91)
1. Carson: Eastbound No. 5 lane at Avalon Boulevard, plus the Main Street on-ramp; 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; bridge repair.
2. Cerritos: Eastbound on-ramp at Norwalk Boulevard and off-ramp at Bloomfield Avenue; 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; landscaping.
3. Compton: Eastbound on-ramp at Alameda Street; 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday; bridge repair.
4. Long Beach: Westbound No. 6 lane at Santa Fe Avenue, plus the Long Beach Boulevard on-ramp and Santa Fe Avenue off-ramp; 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday; bridge repair.
HARBOR FREEWAY (110)
5. Carson: Northbound on-ramp at 220th Street; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday; core drilling.
6. Carson: Northbound on-ramp at Carson Street; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; landscaping.
7. San Pedro: Eastbound No. 2 lane of the Vincent Thomas Bridge, plus the Harbor Boulevard on-ramp to the bridge; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday; bridge inspection.
8. San Pedro: Westbound No. 2 lane of the Vincent Thomas Bridge; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday; bridge inspection.
9. San Pedro: Westbound No. 1 lane of the Vincent Thomas Bridge; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; glare screen repair.
10. Wilmington: Southbound on-ramp at Pacific Coast Highway; 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday; core drilling.
LONG BEACH FREEWAY (710)
11. Bell and Commerce: Southbound No. 4 and 5 lanes from Washington Boulevard to Slauson Avenue, plus the off-ramps and on-ramps at Washington, Bandini and Atlantic boulevards; 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday; marker repair.
12. Long Beach: Northbound No. 1 lane from Pacific Coast Highway to Artesia Boulevard; 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday; marker repair.
13. Long Beach: Northbound No. 3 lane from Anaheim Street to Pacific Coast Highway, plus the Pacific Coast Highway off-ramp and on-ramp; 9:30 a.m. to noon Tuesday; marker repair.
14. Long Beach: Southbound No. 3 lane from Wardlow Road to Pacific Coast Highway, plus the off-ramps and on-ramps at Willow Street and Pacific Coast Highway; 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday; marker repair.
15. Various Cities: Northbound No. 4 lane from Imperial Highway to Slauson Avenue, plus the off-ramps and on-ramps at Firestone Boulevard and Florence Avenue; 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday; marker repair.
16. Various Cities: Southbound No. 4 lane from Slauson Avenue to Imperial Highway, plus the off-ramps and on-ramps at Florence Avenue and Firestone Boulevard; 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday; marker repair.
POMONA FREEWAY (60)
17. Industry: Eastbound alternating lanes at the Crossroads Parkway off-ramp; 9 to 10:30 a.m. Tuesday; stenciling.
SAN DIEGO FREEWAY (405)
18. Carson: Southbound on-ramp at Avalon Boulevard; 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. today; landscaping.
SAN GABRIEL RIVER FREEWAY (605)
19. Cerritos: Northbound and southbound No. 1 lanes from the Artesia Freeway (91) to Alondra Boulevard; 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday; surveys.
SANTA ANA FREEWAY (5)
20. La Mirada: Northbound No. 4 lane from Artesia Boulevard to Rosecrans Avenue; 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday; landscaping.
TERMINAL ISLAND FREEWAY (103)
21. Long Beach: Southbound No. 3 lane from the Henry Ford Avenue on-ramp to the New Dock Street off-ramp; 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; steam cleaning.
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9b705680de3dd2cc3ece004e5fdd196c | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-hl-2300-story.html | Advocates of Affordable Housing Reject Developer Plan : Development: Activists angrily criticize a voluntary incentive program suggested by builders. One opponent calls it ‘a 100% rip-off.’ | Advocates of Affordable Housing Reject Developer Plan : Development: Activists angrily criticize a voluntary incentive program suggested by builders. One opponent calls it ‘a 100% rip-off.’
Efforts to forge a new affordable-housing law for the city faltered again last week, with housing advocates angrily denouncing a proposal by developers and calling it a greedy blueprint for profits at the expense of the poor.
“Any hope of getting a consensus is gone,” said Toby Rothschild, executive director of the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach, one of a coalition of activist groups lobbying for an affordable-housing program to replace one recently repealed by the City Council.
The developers had proposed a voluntary incentive program. In return for building affordable units, they want permission to exceed normal density limits, to relax design standards and to postpone payment of development fees for recreation and transportation.
Legal Aid attorney Dennis Rockway characterized the developers’ latest proposal for incentives as “a 100% rip-off.”
Randal Hernandez of the local Chamber of Commerce, which is a member of the business coalition, said he was “really disappointed” in the housing advocates’ condemnation. “We’ve come from two opposite ends of the political spectrum. Compromise was hoped for, but unlikely.”
Hernandez nonetheless said he was confident that the City Council would come up with a housing package.
A council committee will meet Wednesday to discuss the issue, and Councilman Jeffrey A. Kellogg said he is determined to take a proposal to the full council by April 9, when a moratorium on the demolition of low-cost housing units in the city is scheduled to expire.
The moratorium is almost certain to be extended for at least a month, Kellogg and others said. It has been in place during months of wrangling over the city’s affordable-housing policies.
The council, under intense pressure from the development community, recently killed a city law requiring developers who tear down low-cost apartments to replace them or pay a fee to the city. For months before the repeal, attempts had been made to devise a program acceptable to both developers and housing advocates. Hoping that continued negotiations would yield a proposal, the council kept the demolition moratorium in place after scuttling the replacement law.
But more than a month later, the two sides are still hurling darts at each other.
Housing advocates reluctantly have agreed to consider a voluntary program by developers, but they insist that if it doesn’t work, then mandatory requirements automatically must be adopted, forcing developers to include a certain number of low-income units in new projects.
Moreover, Rockway contended that the incentives outlined by the business coalition in its latest proposal amount to “an attempt to exploit the housing crisis . . . and reap windfall profits.”
He cited, for example, a clause that would allow developers to retain a share in the affordable condominium units they build--even after the units are sold to low-income buyers--and a clause that could force owners of the low-income units to pay at least part of the deferred developer fees.
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5808210b687ee8fe8b090333985eee55 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2295-story.html | Orange County Voices : Training, Trust, Truth Can Keep Brutality Out of Uniform | Orange County Voices : Training, Trust, Truth Can Keep Brutality Out of Uniform
The nationwide furor caused by a videotape of the police beating of Rodney G. King in Los Angeles has caused law enforcement agencies throughout the nation to reflect on their procedures for handling volatile situations. The Times asked Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters and Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Orange County Human Relations Commission, to talk about the effect of the King incident on local law enforcement policies and procedures. They were questioned by Claudia Luther, Times editorial writer, and the discussion was moderated by Stephen Burgard, The Times Orange County editorial page editor. The conversation took place March 22 at sheriff’s headquarters in Santa Ana. Question: President Bush said that he had seen (the videotape of King’s beating) and that it made him sick. Even (Los Angeles Police Chief) Daryl F. Gates has said that it made him ill to watch that tape. Let me start with Chief Walters and ask you, what was your personal reaction to it?
Chief Walters: At first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It took a while to sink in, and the more I saw it, the more disturbed . . . it really bothered me. I guess it is a difficult thing to accept that that can happen on the street.
Sheriff Gates: I would probably have to repeat a lot of the words I have heard from professionals and from the law enforcement world: It made me queasy. It made me sick. It made me nervous. I think it was a black mark on the profession that we all love and respect and are dedicated to very deeply. The more times I saw it on TV . . . it made me angry that people in our business would do something like that. That’s my personal, emotional feeling. I won’t forget it for a long time. I don’t think any of us will.
Kennedy: I was shocked and horrified to see it, simply put.
Q: There have been a couple of calls even within the law enforcement community for Daryl Gates’ resignation. Is this something that you would be prepared to do at this point?
Chief Walters: I think that for me personally it is really an issue between him and the people that employ him and the community. . . .
(But) I don’t think Daryl Gates should be the scapegoat for the problems that we’re having in our society. We recruit (police officers) from the human race, and there are going to be mistakes made. I think it’s a dreadful mistake to think getting rid of Daryl Gates is going to suddenly fix all of our ills. It’s not going to happen.
Sheriff Gates: I would just say that in relation to any of us in law enforcement, if something were to occur within this organization, I would hope that the examination would go to the policies that are in place and the procedures that are in place, the training that has been conducted--supervisory as well as rank and file on the streets. . . .
I don’t know how you can blame the leader if he has done his job as much as he can to make sure that those policies come alive and are followed. . . . You can’t blame the guy who is running the shop of 8,000 people or 2,000 people--whatever it may be. . . .
Kennedy: Chief (Daryl) Gates is responsible for his department, and the people of Los Angeles are the ones that should judge him. I believe it’s their decision.
Q: Chief Walters, do you think that any of your officers behave like this?
Chief Walters: I would hope not, but certainly that is possible. I would think it would be naive of anybody in any organization to think that their employees sometimes don’t step outside the rules. I think the real question is what are you doing to identify (police misconduct), correct it and, if you can’t make corrections, to remove those people from the workplace. There have to be clear messages that it is not condoned, it is not acceptable, and that you will use every legal means to follow that through, whether it’s administrative or criminal.
One of important things the employees need to know is what are the standards that you want from them in the performance of their duties. And part of that means that you have to know that they are human beings and they make mistakes, and you have to be prepared to deal with that. If you don’t have a way of constructively addressing their needs as employees, then it will manifest itself negatively, and one of those negative ways is by excessive force. It is a twofold thing; it’s not just getting rid of employees who are not doing what they should do and making clear what their expectations are, but it is also recognizing that they’re fragile human beings, that they’re subjected to tremendous tragedies in our society that no one else is subjected to, and it will take its toll on them. I think if you don’t recognize that going in, you make a drastic mistake.
Sheriff Gates: It’s always frustrating to me as a law enforcement leader to see the attention that is applied, rightly so, when this kind of incident occurs. . . . I think we have taken all of the appropriate action that (Chief Walters) outlined clearly here that you should take. (But) I think that the political leaders that we hear a lot of screaming and hollering from today . . . what have they done to make sure that there are jobs? What have they done to make sure that there are opportunities?
Q: Has the Rodney King case made it more difficult for local police officers to maintain a level of trust in the community?
Chief Walters: It’s possible. I would hope that most agencies would have a philosophy that there is an ongoing relationship and an incident in another community wouldn’t make people (here) question the integrity of their officers. . . . I would think, though, that it could affect agencies that have not had ongoing dialogue, and, suddenly for something like this to happen, there is just certain to be a doubt cast in the community’s mind if they’re not just sure what this department is all about.
Sheriff Gates: You have to stay in touch with the people. . . . We have a community feedback which we have been operating for about 10 years. . . .
I think the other way that you find that is from the internal part of your organization. . . . I think that (employees) are more critical (of) our people than the outside world is. They will bring complaints about people not doing their job . . . which is probably what we take the most seriously in most cases because they are going to be real situations which we have to live with and change and deal with.
Kennedy: Clearly, there is a certain amount of trust that has been injured by this incident. One thing I think is essential in building trust is how you deal with complaints (of police misconduct). One of the problems we are having in Orange County in dealing with complaints is the difficulty in reporting the action taken (to dispose of the matter). I think for years law enforcement agencies have been moving toward not giving specific information as to what action was taken to deal with a certain complaint that came about because of an officer’s potential misconduct.
That needs to start going the other way. If we are going to maintain a faith that our law enforcement executives are dealing with the kinds of complaints that they get, they are going to have to put down in writing a response to complainants--what action was taken with the officers in question. I mean more than just a standard “exonerated,” “sustained,” “not sustained” or “unfounded,” which is sort of what it has come down to. . . . I think if we do that, we will find that it will help to rebuild the trust that is squashed whenever you have an incident that is this severe. . . .
Q: Do you think it is time for some sort of police commission or civilian review board in Orange County to review incidents involving police or sheriff’s deputies?
Kennedy: We haven’t taken that position. . . .
Sheriff Gates: I think that the ultimate community review is a thing called community feedback. . . .
Any criminal complaint that comes into this agency in relation to one of our personnel, founded or unfounded, once the facts are put together, that’s delivered to the district attorney, and it’s his decision to make. . . . The FBI (also) is there to look at all of those areas in criminal as well as civil . . . that need to be looked at with outside eyes. I think that those kinds of bodies are the appropriate places to be doing the work.
In these (civilian) commissions that are formed, there is always politics. . . .
Chief Walters: I think you have to look at the history of law enforcement. Law enforcement was very corrupt in America if you go back 50 years ago. It went through a giant reform period, professionalization. Part of that professionalization was keeping politics and civil service separated. When you create a commission of public review, all you are doing is injecting politics back into professionalization. . . . You look at Los Angeles as one of the few around that has a police commission; the chief reports to that commission. If you wanted to use Los Angeles as an example, has that police commission affected seriously the delivery of services? If they have, they ought to be fired and not Chief Gates.
I think it would be a dreadful mistake, based on this incident, to turn around and say the solution is to have a citizen oversight or review committee. Citizens cannot devote the amount of time, the expertise, the training--they just don’t have it. They end up being token persons that answer to the politicians and do what they say. That’s the real world.
Q: Have you had any increase in complaints that have been filed since the Rodney King case? Have people been coming forward with things that they haven’t before?
Assistant Sheriff Walter Fath: One person called and said he had already made a complaint and he wanted to make sure we knew he had made it.
Chief Walters: No instance that I am aware of. They do run in peaks and valleys, and they’ve been pretty constant.
We try to look at twofold--not just the complaints, (but) how about the good things that you’re doing? . . . We end up dealing with victims, and we end up dealing with arrestees and suspects. Those are all very negative things to an officer that comes into this business and wants to do something positive. They feel overrun by the system; they feel like there’s a battle they can’t win.
But what we’ve tried to do is direct their energy (and) give them time to work with other agencies like the County Human Relations Commission or the Public Works Department or the YMCA or whatever public agency is out there that can help us address these social problems. . . . By allowing those things, we have seen a tremendous change in their attitude and the public attitude about what we can do, and the end result is really much more praise for their work.
Kennedy: Complaints have not gone up at the (Human Relations) Commission since the Rodney King case. We don’t get enough complaints to give you a trend in that short period of time. We get maybe 30 complaints a year for excessive force, whatever. In fact, I do believe it went down at one point years ago, and I think it was about the time when . . . cities starting self-insuring and police chiefs starting seeing the real value of police complaints as a management tool to identify problems and head them off before they become fiascoes. I really believe that most complainants now go directly to departments with their complaints, whereas maybe a decade ago we may have gotten more than the departments.
Q: Chief Walters and Sheriff Gates, has the incident in Los Angeles prompted any review of your own policies of how your officers behave in the field?
Chief Walters: One of the things I do is personally bring the officers in when they start on the department and have them swear to the oath of office, and they get a very strict orientation about what we are all about, what we stand for and what we’re involved in and what happens to them when things go wrong. We try to really take it from a really positive aspect. One of the biggest things that I have tried to do to deal with the stresses they face is to make it OK to have problems. If you don’t say that, and you don’t let them recognize that, then they keep it within themselves. Those things internalized many times can result in behavior that is not appropriate on the street, because being macho policemen, you’re not supposed to cry and nothing is supposed to bother you. But that is not the real world; that is not what happens.
Q: But have there been any changes (in your policies) since this incident?
Chief Walters: Absolutely not.
Sheriff Gates: (We have) a police chiefs and sheriff meeting every month where a lot of these things are discussed, an exchange of what is going on in their shops and my shop. If we have, for instance, a pursuit that’s been an extraordinary one, there is discussion. How many policemen? How many cars? How did the people react? Did they follow the procedure that we’ve got in place, and if they didn’t, what do we need to do to tighten that up?
So there is a constant process of review. . . .
Q: Was the (Rodney King) film used in a briefing or training sessions?
Sheriff Gates: I don’t think there is any police department in America today that probably hasn’t discussed their situation internally in their department and what they’re doing today based on what happened.
Chief Walters: We all have a system of reviewing our policies and procedures. This would be an example of something that would reinforce that system. . . . You would look at if there is any way we could take this incident and say, “What is there in our system? Is there some fault or weakness here that we need to correct or take a look at?” But it wouldn’t be the knee-jerk reaction of “Hey, they got caught in Los Angeles, so you guys watch your Ps and Qs so that you don’t get caught here.” That’s not the reaction.
Q: Rusty, would you like to see the individual departments in Orange County and the Sheriff’s Department use this particular incident to prompt a review of their procedures? Do you think that it is justified or warranted, based upon the severity?
Kennedy: The most important reaction of local law enforcement would be to look at training on how to control yourself when you have been attacked and adrenaline is rushing through your body and you feel your life may be threatened, or any kind of situation where an officer is in that high emotional “fight” profile, and how they can control that and bring it down. I had a police officer this week who described a situation where he was out on stakeout and he was assaulted by the person that they were trying to catch in a crime. He described how, as the fight progressed, he felt himself losing control and started to really beat the hell out of this guy. He felt he went too far and used too much force, but before he went way too far, his training kicked in, and he stopped. His reflection on it was that that training really paid off for him. . . .
Not just training for this particular kind of scenario, but cultural awareness too, (is something) supervisory personnel at all levels should see as their most important job (to) help officers deal with the stereotypes that are the very natural consequences of the interactions that they have with people. In other words, if you are a police officer and 90% of the Latinos that you see are those Latinos that you are arresting . . . the empiric knowledge that you gain from that context is going to tell you Latinos are criminals. . . . The way to overcome that is by setting up experiences where the officers can have the opportunity to positively interact with people of minority cultures so that their only experiences aren’t with criminals. . . .
Q: Chief Walters and Sheriff Gates, how are your officers disciplined for using excessive force?
Chief Walters: Each case is taken individually. An investigation is done--it may be by Internal Affairs or may be by the supervisor of the section they are in--and reviewed by management; recommendations are made based upon each individual incident and the person’s prior performance. If there is any indication that there is criminal behavior, we call the district attorney’s office, and they conduct a criminal investigation separate from our investigation.
Sheriff Gates: We do it in two ways. You have a personnel complaint that would come from the outside; normally, that is referred to our personnel section. . . . We also have the internal complaint that would come from sergeants or fellow officers that would come through the system. . . .
Kennedy: One thing I’d like to say in this area is (the review process) has got to be opened up. What happens to the officer in a complaint where it’s a sustained complaint where they find wrongdoings? The individual who has been victimized in a situation needs to know. You can’t build community relations unless they know that action was taken, not just that it was sustained, but what the action was--whether their pay was held up, or leave without pay, terminated, put into a training program. . . . They’ve got to know that disciplinary action was taken against the officer that they complained about or the feeling of satisfaction and trust isn’t there.
Q: Subsequent to the Rodney King incident, the officers involved described it totally different than what actually happened when you saw it on the tape. It was nowhere near as serious in the written (police) reports as it was when you saw what happened. Is there any instruction now that you give to your officers or deputies about how you would want them to report incidents they have seen on the scene?
Chief Walters: We have had training that specifies that in your reports you are to specifically state your actions and what you did. It’s not to be a generalization. The whole reason for that in there is so that you get accurate reporting and they know what is expected of them.
Sheriff Gates: You are going to have, generally, a sergeant on the scene within a short period of time, if not immediately, when these incidents take place, (and) that individual is trained to look for these signals of wrongdoing. . . . It is his job to make sure that the actions that were done there or stated in that report (are reported) in an accurate way. . . .
Q: These small video recorders are now prolific in society. Has this changed policing for you?
Sheriff Gates: Eventually, within the next couple of years, you will have a videotape situation of almost everything that goes on of any significance in the field. That kind of technology is within reach. . . . That’s going to take a little bit of convincing with police officers in today’s world, because there is a negative to these kinds of situations in that they get fearful of Big Brother’s eyes. . . .
Chief Walters: On major incidents . . . if there is a potential for either the officers to be physically attacked or for there to be instances where we have to use force, we’ll take a video camera. We do it for the purpose of critiquing the incident and also to make sure that we have a documented record of what happened. Because things can explode. You take the (anti-)abortion (protests), so many explosive issues in the community . . . they can really get away from you. And the accusations that come back on you really can taint your credibility and reputation. So we have taken the opposite approach. We’ve done it in gang areas, we’ve done it in large demonstrations, and they have really been a savior for us, because when the (City) Council asks, and you give them four hours of tape, they have a different perception of what occurred than listening to reports. They can see what happened--these two groups got into it, we were forced to come in, intervene, break it up, and, as a result, some people end up getting injured.
I am a strong advocate of technology and video. It only enhances our reputation, our professionalism, and it says, hey, if we’re unwilling to be looked at on the video camera that we’re running, there’s really something dreadfully wrong about our system.
Kennedy: I don’t think surveillance of everybody everywhere is the ideal system for controlling crime. But I do believe that the advent of the portable videotape in the community will help to identify and get rid of the criminal element amongst police officers.
(The King incident) is, for all intents and purposes, proof of some misconduct. . . . But if it wasn’t for that videotape, we probably would have missed it. So, to a certain extent, maybe (video cameras) will help identify some of those bad problems that are happening out there and get some of those people who don’t belong in uniform out.
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95e32e04fcfea357bd6294594b09a210 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2308-story.html | Out in the Cold : Despite Some Progress, Lack of Affordable Housing Leaves Most Migrants Struggling in Makeshift Camps | Out in the Cold : Despite Some Progress, Lack of Affordable Housing Leaves Most Migrants Struggling in Makeshift Camps
This spring, unexpected good fortune has visited Cirilio Zafra, a Mexican field hand long accustomed to living in crude dwellings constructed amid the brush, like so many of his co-workers in the fertile fields of northern San Diego County.
Now, however, Zafra sleeps on a crisply made bed, purchases fresh and reasonably priced hot food at a clean cafeteria, views a big-screen television on idle evenings, has access to modern toilet facilities, and avails himself of the heretofore unimaginable luxury of hot showers.
“Life is much more tranquil,” says Zafra, 59, a father of eight and native of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, who has picked and planted tomatoes in San Diego, lettuce in the Central Valley, and apples and berries in Washington state during three decades of job-seeking wanderings in the West.
But a few hundred yards down the hill from the modern dormitory where Zafra and his co-workers reside, life is not so untroubled for Pedro Guzman and another 200 or so field hands. They inhabit a coarse encampment of dirt-floor shacks fashioned from scrap wood, bamboo and plastic--a mini-village situated amid a willow thicket flanking the San Luis Rey River, now swollen and muddy from recent rains.
Most buy food at inflated prices from catering trucks, heating it later on open fires. The bushes serve as restrooms. Candles, flashlights and campfires provide light.
“We live like this only out of necessity,” Guzman explains as he rinses clothes in a communal washing area, water provided by a hose tapped into a line meant for an adjacent cucumber field. “There is no choice for us.”
As tens of thousands of agricultural laborers return to California for the upcoming spring farm cycle, the tale of the two juxtaposed home sites says much about the desperate state of migrant housing in northern San Diego County, where--despite a labor-intensive, almost $800-million-a-year agricultural industry--decent and affordable accommodation is available for relatively few.
Here, virtually in the shadow of upscale shopping centers and $250,000 homes, thousands of otherwise homeless farm workers and day laborers--perhaps as many as 10,000 (no one knows for sure), mostly men but including some women and children--reside in illegal, makeshift camps that experts say constitute the largest and most dramatic concentration of substandard, unhealthy farm-worker living conditions found anywhere in California, if not the nation. Some live in so-called “spider holes,” gouged out of the earth.
“Amid this extraordinary vision of wealth, which San Diego represents for the nation, you have this shocking situation of people living in a Third World-like setting,” noted Don Villarejo, executive director of the California Institute for Rural Studies, a Davis-based nonprofit research and education organization that has studied the state’s almost $18-billion-a-year farm economy.
While scattered settlements of homeless agricultural laborers can be found in fields, canyons, caves and beneath roadways and bridges throughout California’s farm belts, experts say that a number of factors unique to San Diego--among them the area’s prohibitively high housing prices, its rugged topography and its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico border (the latter ensuring an endless stream of cheap immigrant labor)--have meant that nowhere else has such primitive accommodation evolved as the norm.
In the midst of such a stark tableau, Cirilio Zafra’s newfound tranquility stems from a propitious circumstance: He works for a major Oceanside-based grower, Harry Singh & Sons, which last year opened a novel, $2.5-million farm-worker housing development that features dormitory-type accommodations for about 325 field hands.
They pay $16.50 a week for a bed and $6.40 a day for three hot meals. It is a veritable poor man’s palace, the largest such project ever constructed in the San Diego area, it is believed--and among the most ambitious farm-worker housing tracts built lately anywhere in California.
But, as part of the development agreement, the facility is only available to Singh workers--and only to legal U.S. residents.
To their great misfortune, Pedro Guzman and his neighbors down the hill are employed by other area growers who provide no housing whatsoever--the typical scenario here. And many camp dwellers are illegal immigrants.
Much of the North County’s agricultural work force lives in more than 200 illicit encampments, which range in size from small clearings with a few campsites to sprawling mini-communities (like Guzman’s) that provide shelter to hundreds, experts say.
The proliferating camps are situated on both private and public land. Property holders, fearing liability in case of fire or other mishaps, generally disavow knowledge of the squatters’ presence, although some have forcibly evicted trespassers, often after warnings from health authorities.
Many residents regularly take on other day-labor jobs, particularly in the construction and landscaping industries, in addition to farm work.
“They live . . . in fields, hillside, canyons, ravines and riverbeds, often on the edge of their employer’s property,” noted a report released last month by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, a study group headed by San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor. “They have suffered from years of widespread neglect.”
Now, despite the arrival of the long-awaited Singh farm project and some other hopeful developments, authorities have streamlined the rural-housing application process, and plans are on the drawing board for perhaps 200 more low-income units throughout North County, both publicly and privately funded. Officials and activists say there is no immediate prospect for the emergence of large-scale alternatives to the crude camps.
That may not be surprising considering that most San Diego-area farms are small, half consisting of fewer than 9 acres, according to an analysis by California Rural Legal Assistance, which provides legal aid to migrants.
Singh farms about 700 acres, making it one of the area’s largest. Worker-advocates praise the Singh effort, although many have reservations about the dependency fostered by company housing.
“What Singh did is fine, but the problem is: Do you lose your home if you complain about working conditions?” noted Claudia E. Smith, regional counsel in Oceanside for California Rural Legal Assistance. “And do you lose your job if you complain about housing conditions?”
At the moment, Smith and other advocates say, things are particularly desperate for San Diego-area field hands. Unemployment and underemployment are rising in the fields and among those who seek day jobs in home-building and other sectors that have been hard hit by the national economic downturn. And recent rains have washed out much of the early strawberry harvest, exacerbating the plight of job-seekers.
Moreover, even in the best of times, most immigrants, who typically earn the state minimum wage of $4.25 a hour, are simply unable to afford the high rents that are prevalent in one of the nation’s wealthiest and fastest-growing urban-suburban corridors.
Things are so bad now that many field hands interviewed recently in San Diego camps said the paucity of work meant they could probably not even afford the $66-per-month rent charged at the Singh property, assuming such low-cost housing was widely available, which it isn’t.
With work so scarce, the mood in San Diego’s camps seems gloomy and apprehensive.
“If we had to pay rent, we wouldn’t be able to buy food, much less send money back to our families (in Mexico),” said Guzman, a father of six, who explained that he and others living in the makeshift camp find work on the average of three days a week, six hours a day.
Farm-worker advocates fear matters could worsen in coming months as drought-related water restrictions further constrict the already-depressed market, and new job-seekers overflow the saturated labor pool.
Each day, more and more migrants arrive from Mexico and Central America, many of them undocumented men in their late teens and early 20s who quickly take their place in the squalid squatters’ villages that dot the landscape.
“Sure, everyone agrees that Harry Singh did a great thing, but it’s not even a drop in the bucket,” said Ramon Bobadilla, a Catholic Charities social worker who often visits campsites along the San Luis Rey River Valley. “The need is just so great. It’s a humongous problem.”
Largely because of the region’s proximity to the border, in the midst of one of the world’s busiest migratory corridors, the farm-worker population of the San Diego area is exceptionally poor, even by the generally low standards of the entire California and U.S. agricultural work force, experts say.
Most camp dwellers, according to federal officials and industry representatives, obtained legal U.S. residence status via the special agricultural worker amnesty provisions of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. Western growers, fearing a loss of the work force that is the backbone of their industry, lobbied Congress extensively for inclusion of the provisions.
However, authorities say the inexorable flow of new arrivals from the border means there is a substantial--and rising--number of undocumented immigrants who are firmly planted at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Those without papers inevitably have more difficulty obtaining work. A clear attraction of the North County area is that it is south of the U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoint along Interstate 5, the region’s principal north-south route.
In addition, San Diego’s farm-worker population base includes a high proportion of indigenous Mixtec Indians from Mexico’s Oaxaca state who generally have fewer resources than other Mexican-born field workers, further limiting their ability to pay rent. The same is true of the growing number of Guatemalan job-seekers, most of them Indians from northern states of that Central American republic.
In the Central Valley and elsewhere in the state, experts note, farm laborers typically cram into homes, apartments and garages, as well as into unlicensed agricultural camps, packing houses and storage sheds that double as housing.
Most pay some kind of rent. A fortunate minority do manage to gain entry into the state’s relatively small number of legal camps and publicly funded housing, where rents are controlled, noted Smith, the attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance.
Much of Imperial Valley’s work force, in contrast, resides in Mexico and commutes daily, but the 35- to 75-mile distance between the border and much of North County makes that solution impractical in San Diego.
Only in the San Diego area--with housing prices generally much higher than those found in the San Joaquin Valley and other larger agricultural zones--do so many live in such overwhelmingly bleak conditions, Smith noted. The region’s canyon-studded terrain allows squatters to find isolated spots where they can construct their homes, even amid heavily populated areas.
“Although pockets of farm-worker misery can be found throughout California’s farmlands, North County’s situation is incomparable in terms of sheer numbers,” Smith, who has represented farm laborers throughout the state for more than 17 years, stated in a recent letter.
“Nowhere else in the state--possibly, the country--do the living conditions of farm workers so consistently outdo those exposed in Edward Murrow’s classic ‘Harvest of Shame’ broadcast,” Smith added in a separate correspondence, referring to the legendary CBS journalist’s seminal 1960 documentary film exposing abuses against migrant labor in the United States.
The backward living conditions prevalent in North County date back more than a decade. But the presence of the homeless immigrants has only emerged as a central political issue in North County during the late 1980s, as rampant suburban-style development gobbled up huge swaths of rural landscape, increasing sometimes uncomfortable contacts between non-Latino residents and the overwhelmingly Latino work force.
Meantime, many thousands gained legal U.S. residence status via the farm-worker amnesty provisions of the sweeping 1986 immigration law. The prospect that newly legalized workers might abandon the fields en masse--a scenario that has yet to materialize--prompted Harry Singh & Sons to construct its housing tract in the unincorporated rural community of Bonsall, east of Oceanside, despite relentless community opposition.
Singh was forced to pay more than $400,000 in fees and hookups, which delayed completion for more than a year until it opened last December.
Last week, as rain pounded the fields of North County, greatly reducing job opportunities, Singh workers had the luxury of a sheltered place to pass time by reading, writing letters home, shooting pool and playing pinball in the company cafeteria. When the downpours abated, young men went out and played basketball and volleyball on company-built courts.
Down the hillside, however, residents of the settlement by the San Luis Rey River saw their camp transformed into a quagmire. They labored to repair leaky roofs and to channel the torrents of runoff away from their shanties. Residents huddled near campfires for heat in the near-frost.
“No one wants to live like this,” said a disgusted Agustin Valdez, a 42-year-old from the Mexican state of Oaxaca who spoke outside his boxlike dwelling of scrap wood. “We’re tired of this,” Valdez said, “but there is no place else for us.”
MONDAY: In the migrant camps of northern San Diego County, residents used a wide array of materials to construct their crude dwellings. Their inventiveness knows few limits.
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060855ec3ed06c0a4cdc73a610145ef2 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2317-story.html | Editorial : The Recall Process on Trial : Bernhardt disappointed voters, but her transgressions are not worth ouster | Editorial : The Recall Process on Trial : Bernhardt disappointed voters, but her transgressions are not worth ouster
The city of San Diego is about to have its first recall election since the Charter was adopted in 1931. On April 9, San Diego City Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt faces the voters who elected her just 17 months ago.
A recall election seems to fit with the times. Direct democracy has been booming with initiatives and referendums in recent years. Combine that with anti-incumbent fever, and you have fertile ground for recall.
Linda Bernhardt, in her first elected office, helped sow seeds of discontent with a series of rather dumb, if not dishonest, mistakes.
She was at least a supporter, if not a prime mover, behind a reapportionment plan that jettisoned Scripps Ranch, which played a major role in her 1989 election.
She made a big deal about not accepting developer contributions during the campaign; yet since the election she has accepted thousands of dollars from the building industry. Her justification is that she only ruled out donations from the principals of companies with business before the city.
This is true, but the campaign pledge became a cornerstone of her candidacy when she burned a Building Industry Assn. questionnaire on the steps of City Hall and sent out a brochure that said Bernhardt “refused to accept any campaign contributions from developers.”
Bernhardt also is under investigation by the city attorney to determine if her outstanding campaign debt violates a city ordinance, and the district attorney’s office is investigating her campaign finances.
Maybe her transgressions will prove sufficient grounds to see her thrown out of office. Maybe they should. They do seem rooted in more than just political inexperience.
But there are other factors worth considering by voters in the old 5th District and in the rest of the city.
* Recall got easier with district elections. Instead of needing a percentage of signatures citywide, recall advocates need only 15% of the voters in the district. In this case that meant only 11,240 voters had to sign a petition.
* These relatively easy recall rules could further discourage qualified candidates from seeking office. Even council members with less political baggage could be pushed from office for taking an unpopular stand.
* Easy recall also could further paralyze government. Recalls, referendums and initiatives--if overused--can generate inoffensive, but also ineffective, laws, or even legislative chaos.
* The city attorney’s investigation of her campaign debt seems questionable because there are other former candidates with outstanding debts who are not under investigation. And neither Bernhardt investigation has resulted in any charges.
* There is merit to Bernhardt’s argument that some of her former district had to shrink; one of the reasons for redistricting is to keep districts roughly equal in population. So some voters were going to be transferred to another district under any circumstances. And, whatever her mistakes, Bernhardt has benefited the city with her voting record on environmental and growth-management issues and the housing trust fund.
This first recall is a time for reflection on broader questions about the process as well as on the specific Bernhardt decision.
What should be the threshold for recall? Are blunders or even relatively minor deception sufficient cause?
Or should it be reserved for officials who have broken the law or who have broken the public trust? Should the recall rules be tightened under district elections?
Are Bernhardt’s missteps and political cowardice sufficient to merit throwing her out of office less than halfway into her term?
We think not. Although Bernhardt’s performance has been a disappointment, local government is better served if recall is saved for more serious cases.
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e36586486c0ee12f7e6386b837cec440 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2324-story.html | Cerullo Cancels Discount Cards for Heritage USA | Cerullo Cancels Discount Cards for Heritage USA
San Diego evangelist Morris Cerullo has sent thousands of letters retracting lifetime discounts at New Heritage USA as he tries to begin settling a lawsuit by his partners in the religious retreat.
The letters, sent Friday, tell about 14,500 cardholders they can get full refunds for the $300 “gold” and $1,000 “platinum” cards. Cerullo sold the cards to raise money for his minority share of the theme park once operated by former PTL leader Jim Bakker.
The cards are at the center of a federal suit by a group of Malaysian businessmen who own 51% of New Heritage USA.
Cerullo holds 49% and borrowed some money from the partners to pay for his share. Cerullo raised more than $4 million from the cards to help pay back the loan.
The business partners accuse Cerullo of fraud and conspiracy. They contend that he offered the discount cards without their knowledge and consent.
The letters say cardholders can ask for a full refund, transfer their membership to a new discount card program for Cerullo’s ministry activities other than New Heritage or can choose to allow the purchase to stand as a donation to Cerullo’s ministry.
“I think we’ve muted out the heart of this lawsuit,” Cerullo’s lawyer, Jim Bensfield, said during a court hearing.
But the partners said they have not decided whether to honor the cards, which would give holders discounts on events at the park.
New Heritage USA, in Fort Mill about 10 miles from the North Carolina border, is scheduled to open this summer.
A lawyer for the majority partners has said New Heritage does not want to alienate potential customers who already have bought Cerullo’s cards.
“We don’t know what impact on our position his letter would have,” said George Kucik, who represents the majority partners.
The partners have asked that Cerullo be required to pay for any financial losses from the cards. They are considering asking that Cerullo’s assets be frozen.
An April 15 hearing is scheduled in federal court to settle other issues, including how much Cerullo must have to cover any financial losses stemming from people’s use of the discount cards.
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f3b0ee3772babcb27c91e684e2b90e23 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2325-story.html | Cab Discount U-Turn Ordered | Cab Discount U-Turn Ordered
Mayor Tom Bradley ordered city transportation officials Friday to determine what changes must be made in city ordinances to permit a taxicab company to offer $10 discount ride vouchers to returning Persian Gulf troops and their families.
Bradley responded to a preliminary ruling by a transportation staffer who held that Bell Cab Co-Op could not offer discount rides because city regulations forbid them.
“I want you to pursue this proposal, to see what city ordinances need to be modified in order to allow the flexibility to offer discounts in these extraordinary cases,” the mayor said in a letter to Ed Rowe, head of the city Transportation Department.
Bradley urged the officials to act promptly. He noted that Los Angeles residents will demonstrate their support for returning troops with a parade along Hollywood Boulevard on May 19.
“It (the changes) would send a strong signal that people throughout the city, in the private and public sector, want to provide a rousing welcome home to our troops,” Bradley said.
Tom Conner, assistant general manager of the Transportation Department, said the department will move quickly to recommend changes permitting Bell Cab Co-Op, along with the city’s seven other authorized cab companies, to offer discount rides.
Conner expects the suggested amendments to be presented to the Transportation Commission on April 11, then go to the City Council soon afterward. If council members and the mayor agree, Conner thinks the changes could be in effect by early May.
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615ec856b680fc2b6f40503d83e9bd42 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2326-story.html | ‘Rocky’ L.A. Run-In Spurs Paparazzi Story, No Photo | ‘Rocky’ L.A. Run-In Spurs Paparazzi Story, No Photo
E.L. Woody is a member of the paparazzi , that breed of photographer who chases after movie celebrities in hopes of shooting a big shot.
So when one of Hollywood’s biggest stars allegedly turned the tables and started chasing after him the other night, the idea came to Woody in a flash.
Never mind the picture. Sell the story to the tabloids.
Faster than you can say “RAMBUNCTIOUS RAMBO RAMS CAMERAMAN,” Woody was negotiating with News of the World and another London-based tabloid over the tale of how actor Sylvester Stallone allegedly chased him and crashed into his car Thursday in Beverly Hills.
Stallone has disputed Woody’s claim. The star of the “Rambo” and “Rocky” film series has charged that Woody was the one who did the chasing, repeatedly smashing into Stallone’s car as he was leaving Bar One, a Sunset Boulevard nightspot, about 2 a.m.
It “was like an excerpt out of the ‘French Connection,’ ” Stallone, 44, said later of the incident, which covered several blocks in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood.
Authorities are still investigating and plan to interview Stallone early next week, said Lt. Frank Salcido of the Beverly Hills Police Department.
Woody, who is also 44, said he was too scared during the incident to take pictures. But he said he went back later and photographed a 300-foot-long strip of rubber that Stallone’s Mercedes convertible allegedly left in the street during the fracas.
When Thursday’s incident began, Woody said, he was sitting in a rented 1991 Honda Civic and chatting with a friend, singer-songwriter Philip Norris. He said he uses rented cars to avoid being recognized.
“It was insane. He kept ramming my car repeatedly. What kind of nut uses a $100,000 battering ram?” Woody said of Stallone. “He and his bodyguard in another car were alternating ramming me. I was very lucky not to get hurt.”
Still, the incident was all in a night’s work for Woody, a 6-foot, 3-inch Texan who joined Hollywood’s corps of paparazzi about 16 months ago after working 20 years as a portrait and fashion photographer.
Since then, he said he has sold pictures of movie stars to dozens of European publications, along with American tabloids like the National Enquirer, Star and Globe.
Although he acknowledges that he had a recent run-in with rock musician Prince’s bodyguards outside another nightspot, Woody said most stars are friendly with him and with the estimated 75 celebrity-chasing photographers who operate in Hollywood.
Woody said he works seven days a week, hitting movie premieres during the day and staking out nightclubs each night.
He said he finishes shooting pictures about 3 in the morning, then works the telephone calling European publications to sell his photos until about 5 a.m. He sleeps until noon, then edits his pictures from the night before.
On Friday, many inquiring minds in the celebrity-watching business were wondering who really was to blame for the “Rocky” vs. Woody episode.
“The nature of this business has changed,” said Dick DeNeut, West Coast bureau chief for Globe Photos, a 50-year-old picture agency that specializes in entertainment photos. He said star-shooting was a more gentlemanly profession in the old days.
“For as many crummy photographers you find out there these days, you find crummy celebrities,” DeNeut said Friday.
Barry Levine, Los Angeles bureau chief for the Star supermarket tabloid, defended Stallone as an “extremely sensitive man. . . . I can’t see him doing anything like that unless he was provoked.”
Levine said conflicts between celebrities and photographers have increased in recent years. In the past, he said, such run-ins were infrequent. And often accidental.
But now, “this thing has festered so photographers are trying to set these things up . . . some of these photographers torment celebrities, follow them around from clubs to home. After they’ve gotten numerous pictures, they harass them.”
Some paparazzi, Levine said, “would love nothing more than Sly Stallone raising his fist at them. They could sell that picture around the world for $50,000.”
Woody figures his story is worth about $5,000.
News of the World editors in London could not be reached late Friday. But Woody said he is keeping quiet about Thursday’s unusual incident until the deal is signed.
And please, he said, no pictures.
“I don’t even want people to know where I live. They’ve got thugs all around them,” he said.
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cc477daf92fd2c4ed64439f476b608ff | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2342-story.html | Home Along Road to Recovery : Health: Residences run by the county let the mentally ill test waters of independence after their treatment. | Home Along Road to Recovery : Health: Residences run by the county let the mentally ill test waters of independence after their treatment.
The duplex blends in with all the others on the residential street in Oxnard. The yard is mowed. A small American flag is taped to the front window. Inside, the rooms are clean.
Richard T. Spencer, 23, sits at the table eating a bowl of beans and rice while his roommate Kathy, 54, smokes a cigarette. Another roommate, Dolores, is running errands.
The three are among about 45 mentally ill men and women living as roommates in 15 homes for semi-independent living run by the Ventura County Department of Mental Health Services.
A caseworker meets with them weekly to discuss problems and help them run errands, but other than that they are on their own, says department spokesman Dennis O’Connell.
Neither Kathy nor Dolores works; Richard is a part-time counselor for other mentally ill people. They each pay $250 toward the rent from Social Security payments that they receive each month and they buy their own food.
The program has maintained a low profile, with only one complaint registered in the 10 years that the county has been operating the residences, officials say. Most people wouldn’t know it if they were living next door to one of the homes, they add.
The sole complaint came in January, when more than 200 Thousand Oaks residents protested a new semi-independent living home for three mentally ill men. Despite the protests, the county opened the home.
Richard and Kathy have been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenics. Dolores suffers from manic depression. They are well enough to take care of themselves and their home, but they face some unusual problems.
Richard hears voices and remembers when he thought that he was Nancy Reagan. Kathy says her thought processes must be slowed down by medication so that she can handle the stresses of everyday life. October and November are a bad time of the year for Dolores, who becomes moody with the change in season.
A tape is playing on Richard’s stereo upstairs.
“Sometimes I can’t listen to the radio because the people on the radio start talking about me,” says Richard, who is reserved and always polite.
Several healthy plants sit on the counter, on the table and in the corner.
“I thought the Mafia was after me,” Kathy says. “I thought the Catholic Church was after me.”
Noisy children are playing on the sidewalk out front, and Richard shuts the window.
“I can’t live in Ventura because everybody over there is talking about me,” he says, scraping the last bit of food from the bowl.
Yet, despite their problems, there is an appearance of normality to the daily routines of Richard, Dolores and Kathy.
They usually eat leftovers on Wednesday, and after dinner they watch television--basketball, if there’s a game on.
Dolores reads Danielle Steele novels. “She’s my favorite author,” Dolores says. She also bakes cookies and cakes.
Richard teases Kathy about her marathon phone calls to her boyfriend, another county mental health patient living semi-independently in Port Hueneme.
“We talk on the phone quite a bit,” Kathy laughs.
The three roommates have worked out a schedule for themselves, leaving the house weekday mornings about 8:30 or 9 and returning home by midafternoon. They take turns with the housework and the cooking. And they don’t go into each other’s rooms without asking, Richard says.
They agreed to the rules, given to them by their caseworker, Martha Hughes, when they moved in last June.
“I’m real tough,” Hughes says. “They have to keep things clean. I think it makes them real happy too, that their house is kept clean.
“They have to be able to monitor their own medication, and they have to be able to do some kind of cooking,” Hughes says. “They have to be able to live with other people. They have to participate three days per week in some kind of structured program. That could be working, it could be volunteer.”
Those who cannot cope in a relatively unsupervised setting are sometimes moved back into board-and-care homes, where they receive around-the-clock supervision, Hughes says.
Hughes adds that the roommates find her visits reassuring. They know they have “somebody that’s going to come out if something goes wrong in the house.”
“If the washer goes out, they call me and I come out and get it fixed. They know they don’t have to worry about getting to the store, because I’m going to take them.”
For three people who know what it’s like to be locked up in a mental ward, this suburban house and lifestyle are like heaven.
Richard takes a cigarette from Kathy’s pack and slides a dime across the table in payment. He is trying to quit smoking, so he hasn’t bought any cigarettes. House rules don’t allow roommates to borrow from each other.
“This isn’t borrowing, it’s trading,” he says.
Richard, Kathy and Dolores have worked their way up from mental breakdown through a long recovery process. This house is the last stop before complete independence.
“We get to decorate our rooms the way we want to,” Kathy says.
Hers is scattered with pictures of her children and grandchildren, and one of her and her boyfriend. The bed is neatly made, with a doll given to her by her daughter-in-law resting against the pillows.
When they’re not at home, Kathy, Dolores and Richard can usually be found at a nearby park at the Turning Point socialization center, an informal day-care facility used by the county mental health department.
Dolores, who was a waitress for 30 years beginning at age 16, often helps set the table and plan the weekly menu at the center, which is operated out of a small clubhouse building in the park weekday mornings and Saturday afternoons.
A graduate of Hollywood High School, Dolores became ill in 1989 and was placed in Ventura County Hospital for three weeks. From there she moved into a board-and-care home for about a year. Then she moved into the Oxnard duplex with Kathy and Richard.
Kathy, a smiling, energetic talker, briefly attended the University of Illinois, then married at 19. She and her husband divorced, and she says she spent years trying to put the marriage together again. She eventually gave up and moved to California in 1970.
“I was very sick at the time,” she says. “They stuck me in Camarillo State Hospital. I haven’t been back, thank goodness.”
Richard, who was a student at Louisiana State University before he became ill three years ago, is one of three mental health clients who are staff members at Turning Point.
“I monitor people, see if I can refer them to help,” he says.
Some of them hear voices talking to them inside their heads. He reassures people “not to contemplate or worry about something being said to them that isn’t real.”
Richard, who is Japanese, was adopted by a white family and moved from Japan to the United States at age 3. He was close to receiving a degree in chemical engineering when he became ill.
He hopes to go to junior college in the fall and study physical therapy. “I don’t want to be an engineer,” he says.
The three seem cautiously optimistic about the future. “This is one of the steps of recovery,” Richard says.
In fact, their living arrangement is only one step from a life free of supervision. And it’s a big contrast to the depressing conditions facing almost 2,000 other people being funneled through the county mental health system.
The mental health department “doesn’t have the luxury of having a shelter,” says coordinator Vikki Smith. “There are shelters around, but those who are mentally ill don’t fit into the family shelters,” she says.
Instead, the county contracts with 30 hotels and motels to give the homeless mentally ill a roof over their heads until they can find a better place to live or get into treatment. Most of them are not places where middle-class vacationers would want to stay.
According to Randy Feltman, director of the Department of Mental Health Services, one reason that mentally ill people “fail in the community and end up in the hospital” is a lack of affordable housing.
In semi-independent living homes, “they can have decent, safe housing in lieu of what they could otherwise get on $637 per month,” he says, referring to Social Security payments given to mentally ill people living on their own.
“The alternative for a lot of these persons is hospitalization, homelessness and jail,” Feltman says.
The mental health department estimates that up to 7,000 adults, or 1% of the county’s population, suffer from mental illness. Between 2,000 and 3,000 of those are treated by the department, Feltman says.
This year the county plans to add nine semi-independent living homes, bringing the total to 24, Feltman says. One reason the county is expanding its program is that it costs less than other programs, he adds.
But not just any mental health client can get into an independent living home, officials stress.
“We screen these people. All the people in independent living have been in some kind of program,” says Hughes. She says caseworkers have monitored all of the semi-independent residents for six months to a year.
Anyone living in a semi-independent home can also be sent back to a board-and-care facility, which has more supervision, Hughes says. She has moved people out of, and back into, semi-independent homes.
Hughes can tell during her weekly meetings with Richard, Kathy and Dolores, and with the residents of the other home she manages, how they are progressing.
“If they’re doing well, they’re going to take their medication,” she says. “If they’re eating right and cleaning for themselves, those are usually the signs.”
Richard recalls a time when he heard thousands of voices talking to him, day and night. They sounded just as if they were in the next room.
“You’re afraid to open the door,” he says. Now the roar of voices is dying down. “I can handle one or two.
“I used to try to just pick up and walk off to the desert,” he says.
He doesn’t try that anymore. He has settled for the one-mile walk to the park every morning.
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836e14b60522ebe3dac25bf1a567c091 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2349-story.html | Man Suspected in Fatal Mall Shooting Injured in Robbery Attempt : Crime: The gunman who tried to hold up a liquor store was driving the dead woman’s car, police say. | Man Suspected in Fatal Mall Shooting Injured in Robbery Attempt : Crime: The gunman who tried to hold up a liquor store was driving the dead woman’s car, police say.
A woman shopper loading bags into her car at Topanga Plaza was fatally shot by a gunman who was shot and wounded hours later during a fight with a Chatsworth liquor store owner he tried to rob, police said Saturday.
The name of the 45-year-old Canoga Park woman was not released because her relatives had not been notified. She had left the May Co. about 7:30 p.m. Friday and was getting into her Corvette when she was confronted by a gunman who shot her in the head at close range, Los Angeles Police Lt. Richard Pooler said.
The man, identified as Emelito Halili Exmundo, fled in the Corvette. Shortly after 10 p.m., he drove to the Country Squire Liquor Store about three miles away, Pooler said.
Exmundo attempted to rob store owner John Olden, 49, at gunpoint, police said. But Olden fought with the man behind the counter. The gun went off three times during the struggle, wounding Exmundo in the leg, police said.
Olden and his wife, Charlyne, held Exmundo until police arrived, Pooler said. Exmundo was treated at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and was being held Saturday without bail at County-USC Medical Center on suspicion of murder, he said.
Police spokesman Dennis Zine said the mall parking lot is not considered “a bad crime area, no more so than any other mall.” Mall officials refused to comment.
Olden, who has owned his store at 21717 Devonshire St. for six years, said he and his wife were in an office about 10:15 p.m. when he saw Exmundo on a video monitor.
Olden said that when he came out of the office, Exmundo put on a ski mask. Olden said Exmundo poked a gun in his chest and demanded money.
“I said, ‘Whatever you say,’ and pulled out about $100 from the cash register,” Olden said. “I started to hand it to him and then he said, ‘Put it in a bag.’ And that’s when I got a real bad feeling. I looked at him and thought, ‘No matter what I do, this guy is going to shoot me.’ ”
He said he flashed back to an incident he heard about a few years ago in which a liquor store clerk in Van Nuys was shot and killed by an armed robber. “He cooperated, gave the guy the money, but made a wrong move. He was killed, blown away,” Olden said.
As he reached for a bag, Olden said, he knocked away Exmundo’s arm. He said he then grabbed Exmundo’s hand with both of his and tried to wrestle the gun away. He said Exmundo jumped over the counter and they struggled. Charlyne Olden saw the two men struggling on the monitor. She heard gunfire and saw her husband lean to the side.
“I thought he had been shot,” she said. She ran to the store’s bathroom to hide, thinking that the gunman would next come after her.
Olden said he and Exmundo wrestled on the small floor space between the counter and a wall fully stocked with liquor bottles.
Olden called to his wife for help. She came out of the bathroom and phoned police from the office. She then ran into the store and found her husband still struggling. The gun went off two more times.
Olden then managed to get the better of the gunman. He straddled on top of him and shouted for his wife to hit the man over the head with a bottle.
“Then the guy said, ‘Yeah. Kill me.’ It was really creepy,” Charlyne Olden said. “I grabbed a half-gallon bottle of Jim Beam, but the way he was positioned, I couldn’t get much leverage. I hit him, and the bottle didn’t even break.”
John Olden then shattered a quart bottle of liquor over Exmundo’s head. The struggle stopped.
Olden said he did not know about the shooting in the mall until Saturday morning. “I feel I’m lucky to be alive,” he said. “I feel I made the right decision.”
It was the first armed robbery at the store, he said.
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cc06d23a28b129402557ca5c49c1c606 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2353-story.html | Candidate Paterson Stresses Business Savvy | Candidate Paterson Stresses Business Savvy
As far as Tom Paterson is concerned, City Hall is a remote, unresponsive institution in need of drastic reform.
“We need to tear the temple down and start over again,” he said.
A longtime North Hollywood community activist, Paterson is promising to do that as he campaigns for the City Council seat held by veteran incumbent Joel Wachs.
Paterson, who has held a variety of middle-management positions for a City of Industry firm that sells carpet-installation supplies, said the council also is badly in need of management expertise.
“The city faces serious infrastructure, management credibility and fiscal problems,” he said. “With 25 years’ experience in the private business community, I have developed a business management experience, vision, expertise and perspective--something missing in today’s council makeup.”
Paterson, 56, has long been active in homeowner and other community groups in the North Hollywood area.
He served as president of the North Hollywood Homeowners Assn. for seven years and is now president of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn.
He also was co-founder of the Coalition of Freeway Residents and chaired the legislative and legal committee of the East Valley Airport Impacted Communities Coalition.
An articulate, thoughtful man, Paterson is a classic grass-roots candidate. His campaign headquarters is a friend’s home and he has raised exactly $1,079 for the race. He took a week of vacation time from his job to campaign--the only full-time campaigning he will be able to do before Election Day.
In Wachs, Paterson is up against a skillful politician with 20 years in the same office. The incumbent has raised more than $67,000 for his campaign and, unlike Paterson, is well known in the district.
But Paterson is hopeful he can capitalize on what he sees as a thread of discontent among voters with politics-as-usual.
“There’s just a mood out there,” he said. “People are ready for change.”
Paterson said if elected, he will push to create much smaller council districts. He said he thinks the city should double the number of districts, to 30 from 15, because smaller districts would provide better representation to local residents. That could be done, he said, without any increase in taxes by making cuts elsewhere in the city budget.
Paterson also said he will help write a citywide growth-management plan. The city’s failure to do so, he said, has contributed to problems with traffic, waste disposal and other services.
“The city has let growth get out of control and now we have all these infrastructure problems and we’re trying to play catch-up,” he said. Paterson also favors limiting council members to two terms in office, making it easier for citizen groups to recall city elected officials and rolling back the 40% pay raise that council members received when voters approved a city ethics initiative last year.
TOM PATERSON
Age: 56
Occupation: Corporate transportation manager and buyer
Education: University of Illinois, BS
Home: North Hollywood
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f4bb9fc353023cdcd4ef193d40b40469 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2354-story.html | Hush-Hush Work on Panel Is an Education | Hush-Hush Work on Panel Is an Education
The hours vary, the pay is lousy, the work can be dull, and when people ask what you’ve been up to, you can’t breathe a word.
But you do get a reserved parking place. And, as a member of the Ventura County grand jury, you have a chance to learn about local government and make it better, former grand jury members say.
“I would say it’s extremely interesting,” said Leonard Harris, a retired Simi Valley engineer who served as foreman of the 1988-89 grand jury. “I thought I knew something about county and city government, but I had much to learn.”
Although the grand jury is increasingly being used for criminal cases, its main function under the state Constitution is to be a watchdog on county government. Each year, the grand jury investigates county departments and issues recommendations. For example, Harris said his panel saved the county millions of dollars by recommending improvements in purchasing procedures.
The grand jury, appointed by the Superior Court judges, is part of the judicial branch of government, but it is an independent body, free to look into and comment on anything it wants.
The 1963 grand jury made sure that “The Dictionary of American Slang"--apparently a controversial work at the time--was not available at any library or public school in the county. (It has since infiltrated the county library system’s collection, according to a librarian at the E.P. Foster branch in Ventura.) The same grand jury recommended that the county establish building standards for fallout shelters.
By law, agencies targeted for grand jury criticism or recommendations must respond, but they do not have to follow the advice.
Betty Kane, the county’s manager of jury services, said anyone can apply to be a grand juror, and now is the time. Applications must be returned by Friday.
Applications are available from judges, federal and state lawmakers, county supervisors, city officials, past grand jurors and from Kane’s office.
The Superior Court judges will choose 30 finalists--six from each supervisorial district--and 19 are chosen by lot to serve as the grand jury.
Grand jury members have to spend three or four days a week on their duties, and they make only $20 per day plus mileage. They are sworn to secrecy and cannot tell outsiders anything about their activities.
Few people can afford the time and financial commitment, Kane conceded, and the judges who make the selections are especially interested in receiving more applications from minorities, young people and low-income residents.
Judge Edwin M. Osborne, presiding judge of the Superior Court, said he looks for “someone with common sense, the time to devote to the job and no personal agenda or crusade.”
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346a8fde7742356220cbcdb1b7a4ba53 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2355-story.html | Officer Helps Save Boy Who Fell Into Pool | Officer Helps Save Boy Who Fell Into Pool
A police officer helped save the life of a 2-year-old North Hollywood boy who had stopped breathing after falling into a swimming pool Saturday, authorities said.
Adeel Kahn was in critical condition at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, officials said.
The boy fell into the pool at his parents’ apartment in the 6200 block of Lankershim Boulevard about 5 p.m. and his father pulled him out, Los Angeles Police Sgt. Christopher Vasquez said.
Officer Vincent Bancroft, 35, responding to the parents’ 911 call, administered mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, then paramedics restored the child’s breathing.
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49be2f29fdea90ae55a7afdf4056f50e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2357-story.html | Obituaries : Roderick (Mac) MacPherson; Deputy Marshal | Obituaries : Roderick (Mac) MacPherson; Deputy Marshal
Roderick (Mac) MacPherson, a retired Los Angeles County deputy marshal, has died at his home. He was 61.
MacPherson died Thursday of a heart attack, said his nephew, Kevin Gilmartin.
Born in Boston, MacPherson worked as a mechanical engineer and played the bass in the Charlie Mal Trio in Massachusetts before he came to California in 1962. He soon joined the Los Angeles County Marshal’s Department and three years later was transferred to the Van Nuys courthouse, where he worked as a bailiff. As a senior deputy marshal, MacPherson oversaw the deputy marshals who provide courtroom security and supervise criminal defendants.
MacPherson’s sense of humor and easygoing manner made him a popular court figure, said Lt. Cary Klippert, division commander of the marshal’s office at the Van Nuys courthouse. MacPherson retired in December, 1989.
He is survived by his wife, Jean, of 33 years; brothers Gordon MacPherson of Braintree, Mass., and William MacPherson of Waltham, Mass.; sister Muriel Maver of Braintree, Mass., and three nieces and nephews.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Lorenzen Mortuary in Reseda is handling the arrangements.
Dougherty, Evelyn T., 69, of Northridge, homemaker. Bastian & Perrott Mortuary, Northridge.
Haight, Horace R., 77, of Reseda, retired service area manager for Associated Students of UCLA. The Neptune Society, Burbank.
Hamady, Jose Rey, 77, of Sepulveda, international vice president for Libby, McNeill & Libby. Pierce Brothers Meyer-Mitchell Mortuary, Van Nuys.
Hart, Dolores C., 65, of Palmdale, retired postal worker. Praiswater Funeral Home, Van Nuys.
Klump, George H., 86, of Glendale, retired senior vice president for Security Pacific Bank. Kiefer & Eyerick Mortuary, Glendale.
Lehmker, Yvonne J., 66, of Lancaster, real estate saleswoman for Ana Verde Realty. Halley-Olsen Funeral Chapel, Lancaster.
Little, Louise P., 82, of North Hollywood, hospital laundry manager. Forest Lawn Mortuary, Glendale.
Lynch, Frederick D., 79, of Newhall, retired maintenance supervisor for Crater Lake Lodge. The Neptune Society, Burbank.
Miller, Patricia S., 40, of Lancaster, sales clerk for a Payless Drug Store. Halley-Olsen Funeral Chapel, Lancaster.
Minalga, Helen A., 82, of Glendale, retired timekeeper for Blue Cross of California. The Neptune Society, Burbank.
Nyberg, Donald D., 67, of Northridge, retired railroad switchman. Eternal Valley Mortuary, Newhall.
Ross, Macdonald C., 43, of Glendale, salesman. The Neptune Society, Burbank.
Scardino, Elena M., 80, of Valencia, homemaker. Utter-McKinley Mortuary, Mission Hills.
Smith, David F., 75, of Burbank, retired Associated Press photographer. Valley Funeral Home, Burbank.
Smith, Mary G., 68, of Panorama City, retired saleswoman for the Broadway. J. T. Oswald Mortuary, North Hollywood.
Steinbrook, Eddith R., 93, of Arcadia, formerly of Burbank, homemaker. Pierce Brothers Valhalla Mortuary, North Hollywood.
Information on Valley-area deaths is provided by cooperating mortuaries.
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52556e9f780b5f41c08ccdc46c438c9d | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2393-story.html | Arguelles Is Back in the Middle : Inquiry: Appointed by Chief Gates to lead an investigation of police misconduct, he is at the center of a dispute more politically volatile than any he faced as a state Supreme Court justice. | Arguelles Is Back in the Middle : Inquiry: Appointed by Chief Gates to lead an investigation of police misconduct, he is at the center of a dispute more politically volatile than any he faced as a state Supreme Court justice.
When retired Justice John A. Arguelles was on the state Supreme Court, he was known as a moderate and judicial centrist who cast decisive votes in some important cases that closely divided the court.
Now Arguelles finds himself once again the man in the middle--but this time in a dispute more politically volatile than any he faced on the court. He has been named by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to lead an investigation of police misconduct, an issue that has polarized the community like few others in recent history.
A product of a racially diverse neighborhood of East Los Angeles, Arguelles worked his way through UCLA, practiced law in Montebello and then began a 25-year judicial career that culminated on the state high court, where he was only the second Latino to serve.
On the bench, he was known as hard-working, patient and so dignified and unfailingly courteous that legal colleagues privately called him “the Cardinal.” Observers say he may need those qualities--and more--as he chairs a five-member committee investigating police training practices and potential reforms to curb police brutality.
Longtime associates praised Arguelles’ selection and said they were confident that the 63-year-old former judge, now in private practice in Orange County, will perform in the objective and even-handed manner that characterized his years on the bench.
“That’s what’s needed here, obviously,” said Anthony Murray, a Los Angeles attorney and former president of the State Bar. “If the facts are negative, he’ll still call them as he sees them. . . . The selection of a man with his reputation and integrity is just what was needed, not only to do the right kind of a job, but also to give the appearance of propriety.”
One of Gates’ sternest critics questioned Arguelles’ appointment, saying the job should have gone to an expert on police practices--and preferably one from outside the state.
“Why Arguelles?” asked Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “I can understand that judges often give the feeling of impartiality to people . . . but there are others with the experience and knowledge to do a better job. I think this is just an attempt to deflect what really needs to be done.”
Former Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Robert H. Philibosian, now in private practice, said Arguelles’ lack of direct involvement in police matters will actually weigh in his favor as he tackles his sensitive task.
“He will be able to look at this problem in an unbiased way, and because he is so complete and thorough in his work, he will make sure he has all the facts,” said Philibosian. “When I was a young deputy D.A., we were all told to be fully prepared before we went into Judge Arguelles’ court, and we made sure we were just that.”
USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, while voicing no view on Arguelles, said the committee would have gained greater public acceptance had it been formed by an authority other than Gates, the head of the department under investigation. Gates appointed Arguelles and Dr. James Zumberge, retired president of USC, to serve; the other three panelists are to be chosen by Arguelles.
“Any committee Gates appoints is going to be perceived as biased,” said Chemerinsky. “Had he had the mayor or the Police Commission pick the committee, it would have had much more credibility.”
Born in Los Angeles, Arguelles attended Garfield High School, working part time as a shoe salesman before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. High school was a “slice of Americana,” with a student body of Latinos, Anglos, Asians and other races all mingling together, he recalled in a 1989 Times interview.
After graduating from law school, he decided to practice law in East Los Angeles, “rather than try to compete with a thousand other lawyers by opening an office in Beverly Hills.” Later, he was elected to the Montebello City Council by what then was the largest vote in city history.
In 1963, Democratic Gov. Edmund G. (Pat) Brown named him to a Municipal Court judgeship, and from there Arguelles worked his way up the judicial ladder, taking a place on the high court--as an appointee of Republican Gov. George Deukmejian--in 1987. Arguelles retired in 1989 and went into private practice with the firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in its Newport Beach office.
On the Supreme Court, Arguelles generally voted with four other Deukmejian appointees who have steered the court rightward after the defeat of former Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird and two other liberals in the November, 1986, election.
He provided key votes when the court ruled 4 to 3 that Proposition 51, the “deep pockets” liability-reform initiative, could not apply to the thousands of cases pending at its passage in 1986. Similarly, he joined the majority in a 4-3 ruling allowing police roadblocks to catch drunk drivers.
But Arguelles also deserted the majority in other important cases. He joined two liberal dissenters when the court abandoned a constitutional prohibition against unlawfully obtained confessions and held 4 to 3 that such statements could be used to challenge the truthfulness of a defendant’s testimony at trial.
And although he usually voted to uphold the death penalty, he filed a dissent when the court, in a 4-3 decision, upheld the capital sentence of the killer of a Riverside high school coach. Arguelles said the majority erred when it held that procedural errors during trial were “harmless” and were not sufficient to warrant overturning the death sentence.
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e979582f8603fb259088e83392384146 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2394-story.html | L.A. CITY ELECTIONS PROPOSITION 1 : Bond Would Update Police, 911 Networks | L.A. CITY ELECTIONS PROPOSITION 1 : Bond Would Update Police, 911 Networks
The 911 emergency system in Los Angeles was a lifeline this month to a woman whose home in the Highland Park area was being burglarized.
Hobbled by a leg cast, and terrified of being discovered, she barricaded herself in a bedroom and dialed 911. The operator dispatched a police squad car, and within minutes a suspect was taken into custody as he fled over a fence.
The failures of the system have been just as spectacular when the volume of calls exceeds the number of phone lines and operators available to handle them.
In a highly publicized case last July 4, a woman frantically dialed 911 for 20 minutes seeking help for a toddler wounded in a drive-by shooting. Each time she reached a recorded message: the 911 operators were busy. A telephone company operator finally summoned an ambulance directly from the Fire Department--and the child received medical care.
City officials worry that others may not be so fortunate. More callers each year get the recording instead of prompt help through 911 or the Police Department’s regular phone lines. Last year, 1 million people--roughly one out of five callers--did not wait long enough for an operator to take their calls.
“That’s waiting and listening to the stupid recording while someone is kicking in your door,” said Los Angeles Police Sgt. John Emerson, who supervises the staff of operators.
City officials and a coalition of civic leaders say the only solution is replacing the entire police communications systems with one able to accommodate current calls and grow with the city’s population.
A $235-million bond issue--Proposition 1 on the April 9 ballot--would provide the money to do that, through a property tax increase determined by building size. The owner of a 1,500-square-foot home would see a hike of about $12.75 a year for the next 20 years.
“That’s only a dollar a month for an average household, and that gives you comfort for saving your life or your grandparent’s life, or your neighbor’s,” said Richard Riordan, a Los Angeles businessman who is heading the Yes on Prop. 1 Committee.
Support also is coming from the Japanese and Korean business communities, several major corporations and civic groups.
Although sharply critical of the Police Department and Chief Daryl F. Gates over the savage beating of Rodney G. King, the local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Urban League joined Mayor Tom Bradley at a press conference this month to urge support for the department on the 911 issue.
“We are trying to get people to use their common sense and not shoot themselves in the foot because of anger with Daryl Gates on another issue,” said Joseph Duff, president of the Los Angeles branch of NAACP.
An opposition committee--No on Prop. 1--was recently organized by apartment and commercial building owners and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.
The group objects to financing the project through property taxes and to what committee Chairman Michael N. Silver says is an attempt to sneak the measure through on a “little-watched, off-season ballot.”
Five months ago, an identical measure on the Nov. 6 ballot failed to win the required two-thirds majority for passage. Called Proposition J, it was favored by only 56.54% of the voters.
Proponents believe the measure got lost among numerous state and local spending propositions on an extremely crowded ballot--and should be put before the voters again.
The bonds would finance the construction of two new communications centers, at a cost of $105 million. One would be in the San Fernando Valley, the other in another part of the city outside downtown, where parking for the 500 communications employees would be easier.
The expansion to two centers would double the number of operators dedicated to 911 lines. Currently there are only 12 for the city’s 3.5 million residents. Overall, the number of police operators would increase from 58 to 100, with the capacity to add 40 more computer terminals and dispatchers.
The remaining $130 million would be used to revamp the communications system between police stations and officers in the field. Some police divisions now have to share radio frequencies, causing communications delays. Under the proposed system, police would have an additional 39 radio channels and better equipment.
Since 1984, the communications center has been located in a City Hall sub-basement that previously had been designated as a bomb shelter.
The location is a major problem. For one thing, a sizable earthquake downtown could bury it, according to Emerson, who has shuddered through five earthquakes in the 3 1/2 years he has been assigned to the communications center.
If an earthquake knocked out the system, there would be no central means to dispatch police, fire and ambulances. Residents would have to directly call individual police or fire stations, which have few incoming lines, Emerson said. But if two centers were built, one could back up the other.
Another problem is the capacity of the current system, which in addition to 911 handles all outside calls to the seven-digit police lines and radio communications between police stations and officers in the field.
“The system is obsolete,” said Riordan.
The main computer is operating at capacity and cannot be expanded. The system was installed in 1984 at a cost of $50 million. A decade of planning and delay preceded its launching. But in just two years, the volume of calls began to exceed the system’s capacity, officials said.
In 1987, 470,600 of 3,991,068 calls were listed officially as “abandoned,” meaning the caller hung up before an operator was free.
In 1991, police officials project total calls at 5.7 million, of which 1.2 million will not get through to an operator.
Proposition 1 proponents say they are more optimistic about the bond proposal this time around. Riordan said he has raised $550,000 for a publicity campaign, compared to only $90,000 last fall.
EMERGENCY CALLS
An increasing number of calls to Los Angeles’ 911 lines and the Police Department’s regular phone lines go unanswered because there are not enough operators and lines, officials say. Last year, 1 million people--roughtly one out of five callers--did not wait long enough for an operator to take their calls. Proposition 1--a $235-million bond issue on the April 9 ballot--would replace the system with one that officials say will meet the city’s present and future needs.
in millions
1986:
Calls received: 2.9
1987:
Calls received: 4.0
Calls unanswerd: .5
1988:
Calls received: 4.2
Calls unanswerd: .6
1989:
Calls received: 4.6
Calls unanswerd: .5
1990:
Calls received: 5.2
Calls unanswerd: 1.0
1991: (projected)
Calls received: 5.7
Calls unanswerd: 1.2 Note: Includes calls made to 911 emergency systems and other Police Department lines.
Source: LAPD
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a0c00cf6775c9ac1c04ca7e59eb9794a | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2395-story.html | 18 Injured as Bus, Truck Crash in Intersection Near Downtown : Accident: Two people are listed in serious condition. Witnesses say driver of the pickup ran a red light. | 18 Injured as Bus, Truck Crash in Intersection Near Downtown : Accident: Two people are listed in serious condition. Witnesses say driver of the pickup ran a red light.
Eighteen people were injured Saturday, two seriously, when a crowded Southern California Rapid Transit District bus crossing a downtown intersection slammed into a pickup truck that witnesses said failed to stop for a red light.
The truck’s driver, Mario Hernandez, 27, and his wife, Guadelupe Gomez, 28, were reported in serious condition at County-USC Medical Center after the 12:12 p.m. accident at Broadway and 18th Street. Their two children, a 2-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, were listed in stable condition at the medical center.
Many of the 49 people on the bus complained of back and neck pain after the collision, but only two were taken to a hospital, said Jose Garcia, an accident scene investigator.
Maria Lopez, 76, and Angela Velasco, 46, were treated at White Memorial Hospital.
Twelve other people were treated at the scene by paramedics for minor injuries, Garcia said.
Five ambulances and five engine companies were called to the scene, where rescuers had to pry the truck’s driver free.
Garcia said witnesses told him that the Line 55 downtown bus was traveling east on 18th Street on a green light when the 1978 Chevrolet truck, heading south on Broadway, entered the intersection.
“We have several witnesses indicating that the bus was traveling within its rights,” Garcia said.
The bus slammed into the right side of the truck, pushing it nearly 100 feet east on 18th Street before the truck ran into a telephone pole and street sign. The impact shattered the windshield and crumpled the hood of the truck nearly in half.
Damage to the bus was less severe. The driver’s side window was smashed, and the bus had long scratches and dents radiating out from the front bumper.
Garcia said he did not know whether drugs or alcohol contributed to the crash. He said he believed that the bus driver submitted to a drug test after the crash, as is required by RTD policy.
RTD spokesmen could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Other recent accidents involving RTD buses also resulted in large numbers of injured.
In January, a van ran a stop sign and struck an RTD bus broadside in the City Terrace area, injuring 23.
Last November, 17 people were hurt when a car bounced off a guardrail on the Pasadena Freeway and rammed into a bus, which traveled across several lanes of traffic before stopping.
Times staff writer Elaine Woo contributed to this story.
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6ed7ae332790c97bd890abc074ea4f51 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2396-story.html | Officers Free 16 Illegals, Arrest 3 Kidnap Suspects | Officers Free 16 Illegals, Arrest 3 Kidnap Suspects
Officers working on a tip from a relative freed 16 undocumented Mexican immigrants who were held by kidnapers in a Florence-area apartment for more than two days without food or water, authorities said.
Five suspects were taken into custody. The abductions apparently took place after the suspects helped the victims illegally cross the border.
Huntington Park police said they were contacted by a local family who said kidnapers were holding a relative and threatening to kill him if the family did not pay a ransom.
Authorities said undercover officers met two of the suspects--Marcos Lopez, 24, and Juan Contreras, 21--and their victim at a gas station at Florence and Compton avenues, where the family was to have handed over the ransom. After the arrests, police learned that 15 more people--13 men, one woman and a 1-month-old infant--were being held in a nearby apartment, Detective Kenneth Rulon said.
About 1:30 p.m. Friday, Huntington Park police and deputies from the sheriff’s Firestone station raided the apartment in the 1300 block of 76th Place, where they arrested a third suspect, Antonio Garcia, 33.
All three suspects were booked on suspicion of conspiracy to commit kidnap for ransom. Contreras also was charged with being in possession of a stolen gun.
Police said 16 of their victims had been crammed into a 400-square-foot apartment.
“The apartment was rat and cockroach infested. The plumbing wasn’t working, so it was pretty bad in there,” Rulon said.
Two other men who apparently helped the group cross the border but who were not involved in the kidnaping were turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for prosecution, Rulon said.
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4b24b8efda078b2abdc4a0f612f5e859 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2398-story.html | EASTER | EASTER
Easter will be observed today by Roman Catholics, Protestants and Christians of other churches outside the Eastern Orthodox tradition, whose parishes will mark the holiday next Sunday. Easter rites commemorate the belief that God raised Jesus from the dead.
TRADITION: The oldest creedal statement of the Resurrection, in the Apostle Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, says that Jesus died, was buried, was raised on the third day and appeared to numerous followers, including Peter (“Cephas”) and James, the brother of Jesus. The Gospel accounts, written later, describe the Resurrection through stories of an empty burial tomb. Disagreements over when to celebrate Resurrection Sunday led to a church council decision in AD 325 making Easter the Sunday after March 21 (the first day of spring). But the eastern churches insist that the council also said that Easter must follow the weeklong Jewish observance of Passover. The English word Easter comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre , the Teutonic goddess of dawn and spring.
OBSERVANCES: Churches typically enjoy their largest attendance on Easter. Roman Catholic parishes have vigils and liturgies in anticipation of Easter. Sunrise services are also popular in Southern California--at parklands, cemeteries and other public sites or on the grounds of individual churches.
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66985a56a9b96e98be58cd004dad6eef | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2399-story.html | 1 Shot in Melee Sparked by 200 Gang Members | 1 Shot in Melee Sparked by 200 Gang Members
More than 200 gang members disrupted a teen-age party at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport late Friday night, resulting in one minor gunshot injury.
The melee began at about 9:20 p.m. in a parking lot behind the Viscount Hotel, at 9750 Airport Blvd., police said.
“There was a party inside the hotel that flooded out to the rear parking lot,” said Pacific Division Sgt. Ronald Colquitt.
The fighting began when gang members were turned away from the party and refused to leave, he said.
One party-goer was shot in the right shoulder and taken to Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital.
Three shots also were fired into a passing car driven by a guest from a nearby hotel, police said.
Witnesses at a Burger King restaurant reported seeing gang members running down the street waving guns. A Burger King employee said that some customers were robbed of jewelry.
About 80 officers from the Pacific, 77th, Wilshire and West Los Angeles divisions were called to handle the disturbance, which was quelled by midnight.
Colquitt said no arrests were made.
Hotel management would not comment on the incident.
Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.
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d7fa6170747d3901a0826ba59578b430 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2441-story.html | Wayward Seal Pup Turned Over to Laguna Beach Shelter : Marine life: Mammal was picked up in San Pedro, where he refused to return to the surf. He’ll eventually be released. | Wayward Seal Pup Turned Over to Laguna Beach Shelter : Marine life: Mammal was picked up in San Pedro, where he refused to return to the surf. He’ll eventually be released.
A wayward seal pup was picked up early Saturday from a San Pedro beach and brought to a marine shelter here where it pronounced underweight but otherwise healthy.
The 20-pound pup, dubbed “Sparky” by marine officials, was discovered by Greg and Verda Lewis of Los Angeles as they took a walk along Cabrillo Beach about 1 a.m. The couple said they tried to put the seal back into the water, but he stubbornly kept scurrying back out.
“He was on the beach and they put him in their car and took him to the police station--surprise!” said Judi Jones, director of Friends of the Sea Lions Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. "(The police) called us and we came and got him.”
Shelter officials said he had lost a lot of weight but otherwise appeared to be in fine spirits. He should be back in the ocean within a few months.
Meanwhile, he is living at a Laguna Beach gift shop along with four other pups that have turned up beached in the last week. “This happens kind of often,” Jones said. “Sadly, people see the baby, think it’s an orphan, and pick it up. Then when the mother returns the baby is gone.”
Sparky will spend the next few months putting on weight and learning to fend for himself, shelter officials said.
“He’s got to learn how to catch fish so that he can take care of himself when he goes back out into that great big world,” Jones said. “We’ll have to basically play mom--put the fish in the water, wriggle them and make him chase after it until he catches on.”
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34800b028bfbd5c0e6d33737c64e9306 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2442-story.html | Defenders Object but Must Endure Office Crush : Lawyers: Six attorneys for poor clients must take refuge in a library and a 12-foot-square trailer room with three desks until new quarters are ready. | Defenders Object but Must Endure Office Crush : Lawyers: Six attorneys for poor clients must take refuge in a library and a 12-foot-square trailer room with three desks until new quarters are ready.
In the community room of Crown Valley Library, Dr. Seuss meets Perry Mason.
On one side of a sliding partition, librarian Letitia Maitlen reads to 25 preschoolers from “Midnight Snowman,” “Patrick’s Dinosaurs” and “A Tree Is Nice.”
On the other side of the partition, Deputy Public Defender Jan Christie and her colleagues prepare arguments for trials involving rape, assault and vehicular manslaughter. The discussion often becomes animated, forcing the storyteller to demand quiet from the attorneys.
Christie and colleagues are temporary refugees in the library, victims of an office crunch that has reduced the public defender’s office in South County to a library room and a trailer so small that six lawyers take turns sharing three desks and telephones in a 12-foot-square office.
The attorneys had hoped to move into a new, $900,000 modular building, but it was damaged during the recent heavy rains even before being completed.
And so it goes in Laguna Niguel, where the county’s battle for decent office space has been a long and tortuous one involving encounters with rats, rabbits and snakes that had burrowed under a dilapidated trailer office outside the courthouse.
The trailer was demolished about two years ago, when the stench of dead rats became overwhelming. But the problem did not go away. The public defenders were left out because landlords near the courthouse refused to rent them office space and considered the steady stream of criminal clients undesirables.
The library allowed the lawyers to use a section of the community room on condition that they not bring their clients inside. The county, meanwhile, set up a new trailer outside the courthouse, but it, too, is much too small to handle the staff.
“They’re taking care of the little guys, and so are we,” said Carmen Martinez, an assistant county librarian. “Giving them a section of the room cuts off access to the community groups that can use it for free. But in the spirit of accommodation, we decided to share.”
Deputy Public Defender Thomas G. Mooney, who supervises the 10-member office, shares the trailer office with five other lawyers. If an attorney strolls in with a client, Mooney has to give up his chair. Two secretaries are squeezed behind desks, while an investigator and an interviewer share a another closet-size office in the trailer.
The public defenders must walk down to the library to retrieve their files. Mooney said some of the lawyers keep their law books in their cars, because it is easier to walk to the parking lot.
The lawyers, who each year represent 7,000 people who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys, interview clients outside the trailer. If it rains, they move inside, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere.
“A few days ago we couldn’t get out of the office, because seven or eight witnesses came in at the same time,” Mooney said. “There was no space to move.”
“This is the most primitive condition I’ve worked under,” said Christie, who joined the department two years ago. “There’s no privacy, and it’s a disgrace to our profession . . . and the people in the district attorney’s office do not have to put up with this.”
The lawyers said they had expected their trials over the limited office space to be over in August, when a two-story modular building was to have been put up on a site behind the courthouse.
But the building arrived just three weeks ago and has been battered by heavy downpours. Mooney and his staff fear that it could be several months before it is erected.
Ed Feser, president of Profile Structures, the Santa Fe Springs company that prefabricated the building, said his company had been ready to install it since July, but county officials caused a delay by changing the site.
Feser said he tried to persuade the county not to accept the building three weeks ago, because he feared that the predicted heavy rain would damage it.
“But we were put under the gun to ship it,” Feser said. “We told them we will not be liable if the rains caused damage.”
Several compartments of the modular building were left uncovered, and about 40 gypsum panels were drenched. Feser declined to say how much replacing them would cost.
Presiding Municipal Judge Pamela Iles said she hopes the public defenders can move into their office soon.
“They’ve waited so long, and it’s a bit of bad luck that the only rains in four years fell just when they were going to get it,” Iles said.
“It’s been frustrating so far,” Mooney said. “We thought getting the building here was an achievement. . . . Now we’re praying that there’s not too much damage.”
Times correspondent Frank Messina contributed to this article.
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aff1ed4c314da608f23c959e931520d6 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2444-story.html | Tributes to Fender Come With Strings Attached : Memorial: Musicians and friends remember, in words and music, the inventor of the standard in electric guitars. | Tributes to Fender Come With Strings Attached : Memorial: Musicians and friends remember, in words and music, the inventor of the standard in electric guitars.
Leo Fender, the back-yard inventor who created an electric guitar made legendary by some of rock ‘n’ roll’s most famous musicians, was remembered in a memorial service Saturday by some of the artists and music fans touched by his craft.
“Probably the best tribute we can give is the sound of his instruments,” said John Jorgenson, guitarist for the country-rock band Desert Rose, about the 81-year-old inventor, who died at his Fullerton home March 21 of complications from Parkinson’s disease.
On a stage bedecked with floral arrangements and vintage Fender amplifiers, Jorgenson turned up the volume on his silver metal-flake Fender guitar and let fly with the bright, twangy sound that Fender introduced to the world more than four decades ago.
About 200 friends, family members, musicians and music fans attended the memorial at Temple Baptist Church. Other tributes, musical or spoken, came from steel-guitar legend Alvino Rey, Western swing star and comedian Hank Penny, singer Eddie Dean and business associate Forrest White, many lauding Fender’s genius and influence throughout the music world.
Fender’s widow, Phyllis, told the audience that her husband would not know what to make of the praise he received Saturday: “Leo would probably be embarrassed today, or wonder who in the world you were talking about, because he never thought of himself in the way that you remember him. He truly was that humble little custodian out in the garage, and he loved that.”
She was referring to Fender’s hands-on approach to his work, which often would leave visitors to his factories believing that he was an employee rather than the boss.
Fender was buried Tuesday in a small family funeral.
The memorial was held less than 2 miles from the small shop on Fullerton’s Harbor Boulevard where Fender developed his solid-body electric guitar more than 40 years earlier. That instrument, dubbed the Telecaster when it went into production in 1950, revolutionized the sound of popular music.
Fender then developed the Stratocaster guitar favored by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and countless other artists, as well as the now-ubiquitous electric bass, lines of amplifiers and other products for musicians.
He sold the Fender company in 1965 but continued in the last 12 years to refine his invention with another line of electric guitars--G&L--also; based in Fullerton. Fender could be found there at his workbench until the day before he died.
Though his functional yet flashy instruments were used by the most famous performers in country, rock and blues music, the memorial was a low-key, informal event, framed by the warm recollections of friends and business associates and by spirited performances on the guitars that bore his name.
White recalled that when he started working with Fender in management in 1954, the inventor instructed him to wear old clothes “because I was going to be in the factory a lot and needed something to wipe my hands on.”
White also remembered a time in the 1950s when he, Fender and associate George Fullerton--who also attended the memorial--left the plant to try out a new Cadillac. The snooty salesman, he said, “just saw these three jugheads coming in in their old clothes,” and became only more perplexed when Fender got down on all fours to satisfy his curiosity about the car’s construction.
Fender, he said, applied that same curiosity to his instruments, constantly checking with musicians to see how he could better serve their needs.
Western swing star Penny said he first noticed Fender in the 1940s in the audience at his concerts with pencils and a slide rule.
Penny said he believes that Fender is now attending a concert in heaven, watching history’s greatest musicians and still “sitting in the front row with his pencils and slide rule, grinning like a mule eating molasses.”
In addition to two instrumentals by Jorgenson, the tributes included two country-tinged songs from Dean, 84, plus musicians Gene Galien, Jeff Ross, Lowell Shyette and Troy Robbins. Letters of remembrance were also read from surf music originator Dick Dale and the Academy of Country Music.
Though a few tears were shed, most of the memories remained humorous and upbeat. Most of the speakers seemed to share the feeling of local musician and Fender friend Robbins, who said, “For those of us left behind, we’ve still got Leo in every way, in his guitars and in the music you hear everywhere.”
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468b578872e3aac006de3506fd023c18 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2446-story.html | Zone Change Paves Way for Project | Zone Change Paves Way for Project
A zone change approved last week by the City Council has opened the way for the construction of a 45,000-square-foot office building.
Previously planned for recreational use, the 3-acre site at Oso Parkway and Country Club Drive was changed to administrative and office zoning by unanimous vote of the council on Monday.
Known as the Country Club Center II, the office complex will be two or three stories high and have a Spanish theme with white stucco and red tile roofs, according to the builder, Emerald Development of San Juan Capistrano.
“We feel it will be a good showpiece property for the city,” said Dan Olsen, an official for Oso Office Partners, a partner in the project.
Clint Sherrod, community development director for the city, said that representatives from the two groups told him that construction will begin when enough renters are lined up to make the project financially feasible.
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5a1d180ee922dcdf157166b67c7b8051 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2550-story.html | Renewal Forces Some Hawthorne Firms to Close | Renewal Forces Some Hawthorne Firms to Close
For the past 14 years, Mike Slawinski has operated his vintage printing presses and typesetting machines out of a Hawthorne print shop on 145th Street, producing customized brochures and business forms for his clients.
Monday, the 47-year-old printer plans to hand the keys to his grimy shop to officials of the Hawthorne Redevelopment Agency, walking away from a business he had no intentions of leaving.
The problem is that Slawinski’s 10,000-square-foot lot lies in the path of a $250-million redevelopment project that eventually will contain 394 condominiums, dozens of retail outlets and up to three hotels.
The Redevelopment Agency offered Slawinski $270,000 for his property, but he says that’s not enough to buy another building in a comparable area, and he can’t afford to rent a building large enough to hold his presses. He says the rent would be twice as much as his current mortgage payments.
Slawinski, who has been a printer for 30 years, doesn’t want to close shop, but at this point, he has no choice.
“I guess Monday I’ll be among the ranks of the unemployed,” Slawinski said. “It’s sad.”
Except for Slawinski and a handful of other property owners, the 26-acre area south of Rosecrans and west of the San Diego Freeway has become a ghost town in the past few months.
About 60% of the 72 property owners who were forced out of the neighborhood under eminent domain proceedings have already settled with the Redevelopment Agency, and most of their houses and businesses have been boarded up.
After granting six months of extensions, officials are giving Slawinski and most of his fellow holdouts until Monday to move out or face eviction. The deadline for six other businesses was extended to May to give the agency time to complete required tests for toxic pollution at the sites.
Agency officials say the Monday deadline is necessary because the area has been attracting crime. They also note that their contract with the developer, Cloverleaf South Bay Ltd., obliges them to hand over the property so that construction can begin on schedule in two months.
Demolition on the site was supposed to begin last November, and every month of delay since then has cost the company at least $40,000 in interest payments it owes on a loan it arranged for the Redevelopment Agency, which is acquiring property for the project, said Rex Swanson, Cloverleaf vice president and project manager.
Cloverleaf arranged for Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank of California to loan the agency up to $46 million to acquire the site. So far, the agency has spent about $38 million. When all the property is in the agency’s hands, it will sell the site back to Cloverleaf for $23 million. The rest of the loan will be paid off with taxes earned by the project, which is expected to be finished in 1995.
As property owners began leaving the area, transients began moving into the boarded-up buildings, and there have been several instances of vandalism and burglary in the area, said Beth Garrow, Hawthorne redevelopment assistant. Two weeks ago, someone dumped six 33-gallon barrels of toxic material on an abandoned lot, she said.
“The sooner we get those buildings down, the better,” Garrow said. “We’ve tried to be as reasonable as possible to grant extensions (to the property owners). We’ve bent over backwards to grant extensions. But there comes a point in time” when the end must come, she said.
But in interviews last week, Slawinski and several other reluctant sellers said they haven’t been able to move because they have had trouble finding affordable locations for their businesses.
Part of the problem is that the area they are being forced to leave, which the city annexed from Los Angeles County in 1975, had the unusual feature of combining residential and industrial uses. Low property values kept mortgages low, and businesses there enjoyed good freeway access and relatively low crime.
James Watkins of J & D Towing, who ran his business on 146th Street for 13 years, recently found a place to lease five miles away in Gardena. But he said he expects to lose many customers.
“I’m sure they’ll call somebody else because I (won’t be able) to get there as quickly,” Watkins said.
By law, the Redevelopment Agency is required to offer fair market value for the land and buildings, as well as relocation money to help tenants and business owners move. Business owners may also receive compensation for lost profits as a result of the move.
Many of the owners and tenants who were pushed out of the area were satisfied with the agency’s offer, and several said they were glad to get out of what was becoming a blighted neighborhood.
Fred Amberger, president of DARC Corp., said the Redevelopment Agency paid him 8% to 10% more than his property on 146th Street was appraised at in 1984. In addition, the agency helped him find a new location in Gardena and then paid to install an alarm system and electrical outlets.
“We felt we got a real fair offer,” Amberger said. “They took care of everything and satisfied us with everything we needed.”
But not everyone was happy with the agency’s buyout offers. Officials say between 15 and 20 property owners have gone to court to challenge the price offered by the agency.
Among them is Jaxon Uyeda, who owned and ran an auto body shop on 145th Street for the past 26 years and who was offered $116,000 for his 5,670-square-foot lot. Uyeda, 65, who had hoped to eventually sell the shop and retire, says the city’s offer is so low that it is effectively forcing him out of business.
“You can’t find anything,” said Uyeda. “Everything I’ve seen is over $350,000. I will just have to quit.”
In addition, several property owners have complained that the agency is charging them to clean up toxic substances on their lots. Wallace Mason, who owned and ran Mason Parking Lot Maintenance on 144th Street for the past 43 years, said the agency has deducted $35,000 from its $237,000 offer for his lot to remove several gas pumps on his property.
Others complain that the agency is even charging them to remove fluorescent lamps--$90 apiece--and up to $250 for a linoleum floor that contains asbestos.
Slawinski, whose print shop is lighted with several fluorescent lamps, said: “We didn’t want to sell in the first place, much less to subsidize them to tear it down.”
But Bud Cormier, Hawthorne’s assistant director of redevelopment, blamed stringent toxic clean-up laws for the removal charges. He noted that the agency’s offers all made it clear that contaminating substances must be removed at the owners’ cost.
In response to complaints that the agency has tried to get away with unreasonably low offers on some of the properties, Cormier said: “I can swear on a Bible and tell you we have never told an appraiser that he’s too high.”
Nevertheless, many property owners continue to resent being forced to move.
Linda Bates, whose company manufactures professional carpet cleaning equipment, is just beginning to settle into the Gardena-area building in which she is leasing space. But she says she misses the building on 146th Street where she had operated for 10 years.
“When you spend so many hours someplace, it’s almost like a second home,” Bates said. “Since this began, I spent many sleepless nights wondering where am I going to go, what am I going to do. It’s been a real frustration. . . . I don’t know if money can really compensate for that.”
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e433a84e5c0123e15faa62128d12e730 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2553-story.html | Actions of Few Put Suspicion on All Who Wear Uniform : Police: Four LAPD officers have been indicted in the beating of Rodney King. Now, officers from many departments find their already difficult jobs even tougher. | Actions of Few Put Suspicion on All Who Wear Uniform : Police: Four LAPD officers have been indicted in the beating of Rodney King. Now, officers from many departments find their already difficult jobs even tougher.
Even before the Rodney King beating, South Bay police say, it was not easy being a cop.
And now it’s harder.
Although the officers involved in the King case were with the Los Angeles Police Department, South Bay officers say the video images of the beating have cast a pall of suspicion over everyone wearing the uniform of any department.
Black motorists pulled over for traffic infractions accuse officers of stopping them because they are black, police say. Other motorists tauntingly ask whether the officer is going to start hitting them. Snide comments, whispers and stares follow them as they walk their beats.
In Redondo Beach, an officer strolling through a mall walked into a clothing store to check that all was well. A nervous manager promptly asked him to leave.
“She kind of apologized, but said, ‘Your uniform isn’t very popular right now,’ and she talked about the video,” said the officer, who did not want to be identified. “She said I was driving away business.”
Such an incident has become all too typical, officials at South Bay departments agreed.
“It makes you sad to know that the image of law enforcement is going to be hurt, perhaps for many years,” Redondo Beach Capt. Roger Bass said. “We all feel concern. You feel damaged by it.”
In Torrance, the King video has opened old wounds for the city’s department.
On May 15, 1988, a teen-age party-goer videotaped two Torrance officers arresting a 20-year-old man. In the tape, one officer can be seen holding the man in a chokehold while the other strikes him repeatedly with his baton. Finally, the man slumps unconscious to the ground, and one of the officers jumps with both feet on his leg.
Administrators ultimately concluded that the video captured only a small part of what took place and that the officers were being threatened by a large crowd at the party. Privacy rules prohibited officials from saying what disciplinary action was taken against the officers, but both still work for the department.
“Our incident was put to rest a long time ago, but it’s being thrown back in our faces again,” Sgt. Ron Traber said. “It’s something we put behind us, and we don’t want to have it rehashed just because somebody else’s agency has gotten involved in something similar.”
The reminders come in brief moments of confrontation.
A few days after the King beating tape was first aired, a man stopped to inspect a police recruiting poster in front of Torrance’s substation at the Del Amo Fashion Center, Lt. Harold J. Maestri said.
Turning to a nearby officer, the man said: “Gee, I didn’t realize they paid you guys so much to beat people.”
Then the man turned and left.
Maestri said he doubts that the comment reflects the general public’s view of police officers.
“The larger portion of the community, I believe they’re intelligent and mature enough to realize this incident only involved a few people,” he said.
But the constant publicity about the King beating and the annoying reminders that some people do lump all police officers together can be exhausting.
“I’m just sick to death of hearing about Rodney King,” Hawthorne Sgt. Robert Cooper said. “It’s really a shame what happened, and taking it at face value it looks like there were some things done that shouldn’t have been done, but, for God’s sakes, what are we going to do? Round up all the cops and shoot them?”
Three to five times a day, people ask him about the video, he said. Nearly three-quarters of the black people he stops during the day accuse him of racism.
“ ‘You’re only doing this because I’m black. I know how it is. I’ve seen the videotape,’ ” Cooper said people tell him. “There is no acceptable response. If you say no, (they think) you’re a liar. If you say yes, you’re a bigot.”
Black officers say they too are putting up with more abuse.
“I don’t get so much like some of the white officers (do) . . . but I do get snide remarks like, ‘Oh, you’re going to beat me now with your baton?’ ” Hawthorne Officer William Ray said. “Police work is definitely getting harder and harder as the years go on.”
Within the South Bay, the video’s impact has been felt most strongly at the LAPD’s Harbor Division, where officers are reminded daily that King was beaten by some of their own.
“There has been a strong level of support and understanding for us among many in the community. I think, though, in talking to officers, that they sense people are still looking at them like they have two heads,” said Capt. Joe De Ladurantey, the division commander.
The video has left even relatives of officers wondering what may be happening inside the department.
Harbor Division Sgt. Rick Dedmon, a 17-year veteran of the department, said his two children--ages 10 and 13--were so troubled by the tape that he had to sit them down for a long talk.
“They were concerned, but I told them I’d never done anything like that, never seen anything like that,” Dedmon said. “And that made them feel better . . . because they weren’t sure.”
Since the video’s release, Harbor Division officers say they have been eyed suspiciously, insulted, and treated with disdain and sometimes outright fear. In response, De Ladurantey has asked officers to spend more time talking with people, even if that means listening to criticism, to help improve public sentiment.
In general, however, department administrators said there is little they can do to respond to the negative publicity.
Most South Bay departments have reminded officers to be familiar with use-of-force policies and to behave as politely and professionally as possible, but none have instituted special training programs since the beating.
“Our department has a big push (on for) service-oriented type policing where we work with the community,” said Lt. Drake Robles of the Lomita sheriff’s substation. “This kind of brought to light how important that really is.”
One key approach, Robles said, has been to tell officers to always be on their best behavior.
“We should be at a point where we conduct our everyday activities as if we were being videotaped.”
Times staff writers George Hatch, Kim Kowsky, Greg Krikorian, Marc Lacey, Deborah Schoch and Tim Waters contributed to this report.
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36e83988655a261b47d48bac23040106 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2556-story.html | 3 Bid for Consultant Job in Torrance | 3 Bid for Consultant Job in Torrance
Three firms have submitted bids to the city of Torrance in hopes of being chosen to craft guidelines to regulate hazardous chemicals.
The city plans to hire a consultant to develop an ordinance that would allow Torrance to ban chemicals it finds too risky. City officials say the ordinance may be among the first of its kind nationwide.
Two of the firms were runners-up for another consulting job--the post of court-supervised safety adviser at the Mobil Oil Corp. refinery in Torrance.
Arthur D. Little Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., and ACTA Inc. of Torrance both lobbied unsuccessfully this winter to be the city’s nominee for safety adviser. The city preferred SRI International of Menlo Park. Mobil nominated Westinghouse Electric Corp. of Pittsburgh. The final choice probably will be made by a judge this spring.
Now city staff members are sifting through proposals in search of a consultant to help draft the chemical ordinance.
ACTA is the low bidder, at $43,990. Arthur D. Little bid $97,228.82. Battelle Memorial Institute of Columbus, Ohio, bid $145,779. Since the city is seeking a consultant, it is not required to accept the lowest bid, said Brian K. Sunshine, senior management assistant in the city manager’s office.
The city’s search team will meet this week and hopes to make a recommendation to the City Council by early May.
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77450dff4bc8099991d02681cafc4204 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2557-story.html | ELECTIONS : LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL : Galanter Skips Debates; Her Foes Make It an Issue | ELECTIONS : LOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL : Galanter Skips Debates; Her Foes Make It an Issue
When a consultant to Ruth Galanter snatched her nameplate off the dais last week at a candidates’ forum in Venice that the Los Angeles city councilwoman did not attend, the aide inadvertently spotlighted a key complaint about Galanter’s reelection campaign: Why won’t she regularly debate her opponents?
Galanter’s challengers charge that she is insulting voters by boycotting the same kind of community forums that four years ago helped catapult her from the ranks of grass-roots candidates to victory over then-City Council President Pat Russell.
Galanter’s aides deny that she is snubbing the voters, citing schedule conflicts and council duties as reasons for her absences.
Galanter has thus far attended two of 10 forums. She has declined invitations from groups such as the Marina del Rey and Westchester chambers of commerce.
At least two more forums are scheduled before the April 9 council primary, in which Galanter hopes to capture more than 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff. She has not committed to attend any of the remaining events.
The issue of Galanter’s skirting the debates arose even before the start of last week’s forum, where her six challengers gathered for a televised give-and-take organized by the Venice Action Committee, a business-oriented activist group, and sponsored by 15 other organizations. Among them was the League of Women Voters, which provided a moderator for the event.
Galanter was in Venice, doing a solo turn at the Venice-Mar Vista Democratic Club. She said she had accepted that invitation before receiving notice of the candidates’ forum.
But her campaign consultant, Steven Glazer, was at the forum to check out the competition, and wound up drawing attention to the very issue of Galanter’s absence.
Just before the debate was to begin, Glazer grabbed Galanter’s nameplate from the table where the other candidates were sitting, just after he had hand-delivered to them a call by Galanter for a fair mail campaign pledge (a proposal that her foes quickly rejected).
Glazer was in turn grabbed by challenger Salvatore Grammatico, who with the other opponents and forum organizers demanded that Glazer return the nameplate, which he had dropped into his briefcase.
While Glazer insisted that the presence of an empty chair and Galanter’s nameplate broke debate rules, Venice Action Committee President Jack Hoffman suggested that his true motive was to try to downplay Galanter’s absence.
Faced with a growing conflict and a reporter taking notes, Glazer ultimately relinquished the sign. “No comment,” he said the next day when asked about the incident.
But Galanter’s challengers had many comments about her absence during the debate. Indeed, challenger Mary Lee Gray drew the night’s loudest applause from the crowd of about 90 when she chided Galanter for her absence. “Ruth Galanter should be here answering these issues,” said Gray. “She should be here.”
After the debate, Grammatico, a slow-growth activist, likened Galanter’s absence to missing a job interview and “showing total disrespect for the public.”
Discussing the general issue of Galanter’s absences, candidate Tavis Smiley called them an indication that she “doesn’t want to face the heat.”
Galanter’s other challengers--all of whom were present at the forum at Venice High School--are Mervin Evans, J. Wilson Bowman and Charles Mattison.
All six are in the same spot Galanter was four years ago: trying to get their names, ideas and what they perceive as the incumbent’s shortcomings before the voting public before the primary.
Prevailing political wisdom holds that there is no reason for an incumbent to give challengers attention they might not otherwise get by joining them to discuss the issues. But it especially rankles Galanter’s challengers that she has, in their view, veered so far from her grass-roots activist background so quickly by adopting an “above the fray” strategy.
Responding to such criticisms, Glazer said Galanter is accessible to the public at planned events throughout the district to discuss her record. Noting the small crowds that have so far attended the forums, Glazer said there is little interest in the race because voters are satisfied with Galanter’s performance.
He predicts that she will sail through the primary with more than 50% of the vote. But that did not mean he wanted an empty chair with Galanter’s nameplate in front of it to be seen at last week’s candidate forum, which was televised by Continental Cablevision.
Although closemouthed about details of its overall strategy, the Galanter camp is expected to mount a targeted-mail blitz, relying on Galanter’s endorsement by the Police Protective League, environmental groups and several Westside congressmen and state legislators, particularly state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).
Already, mailers signed by Police Protective League President George Aliano have arrived at homes of many voters in the district, which includes Westchester, Mar Vista, Venice, Playa del Rey and the Crenshaw-Baldwin Hills area.
The mailers remind the voters that Galanter is a crime victim who narrowly escaped death in a stabbing attack during the last campaign. “Today, she is a champion of law enforcement,” said the mailer.
Some of Galanter’s challengers, particularly Smiley and Evans, say emphasizing support from the Police Protective League may backfire on Galanter, especially in the Crenshaw area, where there is strong community outrage over the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police officers. The league, which represents rank-and-file officers, has backed Police Chief Daryl Gates against a growing call for his resignation.
Smiley, a former aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, who has concentrated his effort in Crenshaw and the Oakwood section of Venice, predicted that Galanter’s police support “will backfire like you won’t believe.”
Galanter has not called for Gates to step down, saying he deserves a fair hearing. Glazer, Galanter’s consultant, predicted that voter concern over public safety would far outweigh any animosity toward police over the King beating.
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e8ae866758b51d3d57781273117f34c8 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2559-story.html | Drugstore Fire Investigated | Drugstore Fire Investigated
A fire in a Redondo Beach Thrifty drugstore has drawn the attention of a multi-agency unit that is investigating whether the blaze was linked to fires that broke out in two other South Bay Thrifty drugstores this month.
The Redondo Beach fire occurred at 12:37 p.m. Wednesday in a Thrifty at 1720 Aviation Blvd. It caused an estimated $100,000 in damage. Listed by fire officials as suspicious, the blaze is being investigated by a unit that includes officials from local fire and police departments and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
“It originated in broad daylight in the middle of the store, where you wouldn’t normally have had a fire,” Tom Krieg, a battalion chief with the Redondo Beach Fire Department, said Friday. “When you put that together with the other Thrifty fires, it’s suspicious.”
The Redondo Beach blaze follows two similar fires March 3 that occurred about 20 minutes apart. The larger, which broke out at about 1:30 p.m., gutted a Thrifty store at Anaheim Street and Avalon Boulevard in Wilmington and also destroyed a Bank of America branch and damaged a Top Value Market.
The other caused minimal damage to a Thrifty outlet at 501 S. Gaffey St. in San Pedro. Investigators attributed both fires to arson, saying the blazes started when stacks of pillows at the drugstores were deliberately set on fire.
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c7f769ea5da3ca16773c7a61ec132101 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-me-2583-story.html | Heavy Rainfall Does Little to Replenish Ground Water : Drought: Clay soil layers, evaporation and thirsty roots allow only a fraction to soak into basins supplying the county. | Heavy Rainfall Does Little to Replenish Ground Water : Drought: Clay soil layers, evaporation and thirsty roots allow only a fraction to soak into basins supplying the county.
Despite the wettest March on record in Ventura County, experts predict that important ground-water basins will absorb only a fraction of the rain that fell.
Soil conditions, including impenetrable clay layers that lie below the surface of much of the populated area of the county, dramatically limit the amount of water that can seep into the basins below ground.
The clay layers have teamed up with evaporation and thirsty plant roots to allow only about 10% of the rainfall to soak into shallow basins underground, experts say.
“It’s like a five-gallon water bottle sitting out there in the rain with only the small mouth open to the sky,” said Luke Hall, hydrologist for Ventura County Flood Control.
Far less water, about 1% of total rainfall, eventually makes its way down through hundreds of feet of soil to the deepest and largest basins that provide much of the ground water used in the county.
“As a result, the water we pump from those aquifers is not being replenished,” Hall said, referring to the deepest basins.
In October, at the beginning of the current rain year, the county had a 29-inch rainfall deficit. The deficit had reached about 40 inches before recent rains began Feb. 26, but has now been reduced to about 28 inches.
“Basically, we bought ourselves a year,” said Hall, who also teaches geology at Ventura Community College. “But it was not enough to end the drought.”
Nevertheless, the 12 inches of rain that fell over the past month on the Oxnard Plain, combined with runoff from mountains and rivers, will raise ground-water levels in the shallow basins by several feet over the next two to four weeks, said James T. Gross, a ground-water geologist and resource manager with the United Water Conservation District.
Many of those basins had reached record low levels before storms began on Feb. 26.
Ground-water basins supply two-thirds of the county’s water during normal years. In 1989, cities, farmers and residents pumped nearly 280,000 acre-feet of water from the ground. Farmers used about 85% of that. An acre-foot of water supplies two California families for a year, or covers one acre of land with water one foot deep, experts say.
The county’s dependence on ground water is expected to increase drastically if restrictions on imported water continue.
Already, many farmers whose imported water supplies have been cut by 90% are drilling wells or activating old wells to make up the deficit.
Hydrologists estimate that ground-water basins in the county contain up to 5 million acre-feet of water. But much of that water is too high in mineral content for drinking or crop irrigation.
When the usable basins are overpumped, as they have been on the Oxnard Plain, the remaining water can become contaminated, they say. In the shallow Oxnard Aquifer and parts of the deep Fox Canyon Aquifer, overpumping has allowed seawater to contaminate corners of the freshwater supplies.
And overpumping in inland basins can draw in poor-quality water from the sides and bottoms to the central parts of the pools.
“We suspect that is occurring now in the Santa Clara River Valley,” Gross said. Studies are under way to determine the extent of any contamination.
United and the county’s Fox Canyon Ground Water Management Agency are working to replenish their aquifers and limit pumping.
United operates the Freeman diversion dam on the Santa Clara River, which diverts water into settling basins in the Oxnard Forebay, an area of sandy soil that water can easily penetrate. Along the 20-square-mile forebay, water filters through the soil and into Oxnard Plain aquifers.
That is the only portion of the Oxnard Plain where water can soak into the basins, said LaVern Hoffman, a Ventura County ground-water hydrologist. The rest of the plain has clay layers underground that prevent rainwater from seeping in, he said. Instead, it pools above the clay and eventually runs into the ocean.
The same kind of clay layer prevents water from seeping into much of the Pleasant Valley and Los Posas basins that stretch from the Oxnard Plain northeast toward Moorpark, Hoffman said. Simi Valley has some sandy soil that allows water to soak into underground basins, but the water there is too high in mineral content to use for drinking water, he said.
In the Ojai Valley and the Ventura River Valley, sandy soil allows water to percolate quickly through the ground. During rainy times, the three basins recover quickly, but two of them are also heavily pumped by water districts and farmers, Hoffman said.
The sandy bottom of the Santa Clara River also accepts water readily. The easy replenishment, along with treated sewer water that is discharged upstream in Newhall, has helped keep basins healthy in Fillmore and Piru through the drought, Hoffman said.
But the Santa Paula basin benefits less from the Newhall water because it is farther downstream. And that basin is heavily pumped by farmers and the cities of Santa Paula and Ventura, which reduced it to a record low level before the rains, Hoffman said.
“The rainfall will go a long way toward getting us back to where we want to be,” Gross said. “But we’ve had nearly five years of below-average rainfall. It was not enough and can’t sink in fast enough to make up for the dry years.”
BARRIERS TO GROUND-WATER REPLENISHMENT
Much of the southern part of Ventura County is covered with an impenetrable clay layer that prevents water from seeping into undergound water basins. When rainwater hits the clay layer four or five feet underground, it pools up and runs off into the ocean through underground streams.
But about 25% of the ground has sandy alluvium soil that allows the water to seep into the ground-water basin.
Once the water sinks into the sandy ground, about 90% of the water remains in the upper-level aquifers, such as the shallow Oxnard or Mugu aquifers. Only 10% of the water eventually seeps down into the deep Fox or Grimes canyon aquifers, and that process takes decades.
Source: Ventura County Public Works Department
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bc9b093454e2ddad63bc0794b5c0d526 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2257-story.html | Adventurers Have Heard the Call of the Wild Worldwide | Adventurers Have Heard the Call of the Wild Worldwide
Japanese explorers and adventurers have wandered the globe for centuries, expanding the horizons of their narrow island nation.
Japanese joined silk-trading caravans that traversed China’s western deserts centuries ago. Religious ascetics began climbing Japanese mountains in the 8th Century, believing them to be the dwelling places of gods.
In a nation that is 85% mountains, mountaineering is a natural pastime, although deserts and seas are equally tempting.
Junko Tabei, who in 1975 became the first woman to climb Mt. Everest, belongs to a long line of Japanese adventurers:
* Naomi Uemura is venerated as Japan’s pioneer alpinist and explorer. Stricken by wanderlust after he graduated from Meiji University in 1964, Uemura lived hand-to-mouth as he conquered the world’s highest peaks, including Everest. He was the first man to trek alone to the North Pole, in 1978. He then sledged from Alaska to Greenland. Uemura died in 1984, on his 43rd birthday, when he disappeared mysteriously while descending Alaska’s Mt. McKinley.
* Veteran sailor Kenichi Horie was the first yachtsman to cross the Pacific alone, from Japan to San Francisco, in 1962 at age 23. He circled the world alone in 276 days in 1974. He completed the world’s first north-south circumnavigation in 1982.
* Not satisfied with reaching the North Pole by motorcycle, adventurer Shinji Kazama plans to bike to the South Pole next November. Kazama also has biked across a glacier on the face of Mt. Everest.
Tabei says Japanese embark on such escapades to surmount the confines of their small island nation.
“Japan is such a small country,” she says. “It’s isolated from the rest of the world. It doesn’t have really tall mountains or deserts.
“Until recently, Japanese weren’t blessed with the chance to travel, but now they can. I think we just really want to see the rest of the world, to go beyond our own limitations.”
Curiosity and thirst for adventure, however, have been the undoing of many Japanese.
In late January, a team of 11 Japanese and six Chinese disappeared while trying to scale 22,242-foot Mt. Meili in southwestern China. The climbers are thought to have been buried by avalanches.
Balloonist Fumio Niwa, 40, drowned in January while trying to cross the Pacific alone in a helium balloon.
Three Japanese balloonists who tried to fly over Mt. Everest--another would-be first--were luckier. One man suffered leg injuries and two others escaped unhurt when their balloon crashed into a cliff in Tibet and burned.
An unofficial estimate by the Japan Himalaya Assn. in 1989 put the number of deaths by Japanese climbers in the Himalayas since 1952 at 176, or one in every 40.
In 1989, 178 Japanese died while mountain climbing in Japan and nine died overseas.
The highest of Japan’s many mountains, Mt. Fuji, is only 12,388 feet high. But many peaks are dauntingly rugged, and defiant climbers often brave blizzards and ice in winter assaults.
Tabei says that the Japanese, who generally tend to be very careful and well organized, fare no worse than adventurers of other nationalities.
“It’s the media’s fault,” she says. “Whenever someone gets lost, they play it up with maps and pictures. They make the mountains seem like something scary.”
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440fa9e4480d43ed07a35d0ccfd505c4 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2260-story.html | Servant Girl Is a Cinderella in Stone : Archeology: Beautifully detailed Egyptian statue is the latest surprise from a cemetery that has produced many since its discovery last August. | Servant Girl Is a Cinderella in Stone : Archeology: Beautifully detailed Egyptian statue is the latest surprise from a cemetery that has produced many since its discovery last August.
She works forever at the grindstone, but is garbed for grander stuff: red lipstick, black mascara, necklaces and a braided wig with ribbons in it.
The ancient Cinderella in stone has turned many heads since making her debut in February after more than 4,000 years in a tomb near the Giza pyramids.
Egyptian excavators found the statue of a servant girl in a cemetery for overseers and workmen from the days of the early Pharaohs. A team of experts restored it.
The limestone carving is a foot long and eight inches high, tinted with dyes of red, yellow and black, a rare survivor in the genre Egyptologists call “maid over millstone.”
It depicts a maidservant hard at work over a stone slab, her body bent forward, fingers wrapped around a roller and toes curled beneath her shapely form.
She wears a tight white skirt from waist to knees, but nothing above the waist. For hair, the anonymous ancient sculptor carved a fancy plaited wig decorated with a braided ribbon tied in a bow at the back.
She wears two necklaces and a bracelet. The delicate face, with a broad nose and tight lips, still bears traces of brushed-on color: Her eyes are rimmed with black eye shadow, her lips painted red with lipstick.
Whether she is rolling dough or grinding grain is the subject of debate, but there is no controversy about her charm and detail.
“She’s really lovely, a work of art,” said Zahi Hawass, antiquities director of the pyramids area and chief of the cemetery excavation.
The statue, not yet on regular display, is far superior to a famous one of a female servant crushing grain that is a tourist favorite at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. That maidservant has no jewelry and only a simple wig.
Statues depicting servants at their chores were placed in a master’s tomb to make sure his soul would be served through eternity. Unlike Pharaohs and royalty, whose likenesses were carved to show regal majesty, common people could be portrayed with charm and endearing touches.
Servants were depicted carrying the master’s sandals, straining beer, making pots or roasting a goose on a brazier. The practice died out in Egypt’s later periods, replaced by paintings of working servants on tomb walls.
Hawass said the girl’s statue was the latest surprise from a cemetery that had produced many since its discovery last August. She and two other figures were found in a niche in the mud-brick tomb of an overseer, Kehy Neseb, and his wife, Heb-ny-Khawyess.
Salt has badly eroded the overseer’s statue, but that of his wife is in good condition. The figure depicts the lady of the house, obviously a woman of means, sitting on a chair.
As to the question of what the servant girl is doing at the stone, Hawass believes she is rolling dough to feed her master and mistress in the afterlife.
Amal Samuel, chief inspector for the pyramids area, disagrees.
“I think she’s crushing grain, because there’s part of a small sack at the back of the grindstone,” said Samuel, who was at the excavation site when the statue was found.
The cemetery contains the remains of overseers, workmen and their families from as early as the Fourth Dynasty, 4,600 years ago. Hawass dates the three statues to the Fifth Dynasty, which lasted 142 years and ended in 2323 BC.
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3e1158692887d2d16e3d43158df190c1 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2263-story.html | Gym on Wheels Gets Clients Rolling : Health: It’s hard to duck disciplined exercise when a 5-ton ‘Fitness Fleet’ rig is idling in the driveway at dawn. | Gym on Wheels Gets Clients Rolling : Health: It’s hard to duck disciplined exercise when a 5-ton ‘Fitness Fleet’ rig is idling in the driveway at dawn.
For all you 98-pound weaklings and cellulite queens who are too busy or lazy to join a health club, Fred Daniels can drive his exercise gym right to your doorstep.
It’s hard to crawl under the bedcovers when Daniels’ 5-ton “Fitness Fleet” rig is idling in the driveway at dawn, waiting to stretch those triceps, tighten the abdominals and banish the blubber.
Once inside the 32-foot trailer, which is hauled by a heavy-duty pickup truck, Daniels’ customers quickly run out of excuses to prolong their flabby indolence.
Awaiting them is a climate-controlled gymnasium on wheels, with mirrored walls, track lighting, carpeting, taped music, jugs of spring water and $30,000 worth of sophisticated exercise equipment. It’s all there, from the digital StairMaster and Schwinn Airdyne stationary bicycle to rowing machine, leg press and weight rack.
Daniels’ curbside appointments begin as early as 5:45 a.m., before busy executives leave for work, and continue until mid-evening. He charges $50 to $80 an hour (it’s cheaper in the middle of the day) for a minimum 12-week regimen under the supervision of a personal trainer.
Daniels insists on full payment in advance, giving his customers a financial incentive to maintain their resolve. But most of his two-dozen clients in affluent Washington-area neighborhoods no longer need any encouragement.
They include a retired Marine colonel, a 13-year-old girl, career women, triathletes and a 74-year-old asthmatic. One of the most enthusiastic is Marilynn Breslau, wife of a corporate executive, who meets Daniels outside her swank Potomac, Md., home at 7:15 a.m. for an hourlong workout three days a week.
A year ago, her mirror was giving Breslau early warnings of middle-age spread. She tried dieting, but it didn’t work. She sensed that exercise had become a distasteful necessity.
“When I started 10 months ago, I hated exercise,” she said, pumping iron in Daniels’ trailer on a recent snowy morning as the Drifters sang from the tape deck.
“I’d joined an aerobics class but never went. I’d put on my exercise tights and go out to Bloomingdale’s or even to the car wash--anything to avoid it. I’d buy aerobics tapes and sit on the living room sofa and just watch the tapes.”
Desperate, Breslau called Fitness Fleet. “When someone rings your doorbell at seven in the morning and you’ve already paid for it, you do it,” she said.
She also likes the privacy of Daniels’ gym. “Nobody else sees you,” she said. “You don’t have to enter a gym and see other women with long, skinny legs and you’re afraid of being seen in your leotards.”
Today, Breslau says, “my clothes fit better, I’ve stopped smoking, my strength has increased tenfold and I have an incredible amount of energy.”
Daniels, 38, is a former professional guitarist and singer who entered the fitness business a little more than a year ago. Certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a personal trainer, he hopes to expand his $100,000 investment into a national franchise of gyms-on-wheels serving homes and offices.
With life in the 1990s racing on fast-forward, Daniels says, his gyms give stressed-out customers a chance to “clear their screens” with intense, closely monitored exercises tailored to meet their individual fitness goals.
Daniels argues that shopping-mall health clubs are more interested in fat profits than a lean, trim clientele.
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b43e31bbb757993b14e0cb83d0b7eb18 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2267-story.html | Some AIDS Victims Get Free Marijuana From U.S. to Fight Symptoms : Medicine: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome gives new impetus to those who contend that pot has medicinal value. | Some AIDS Victims Get Free Marijuana From U.S. to Fight Symptoms : Medicine: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome gives new impetus to those who contend that pot has medicinal value.
Last year, armed Florida drug agents broke down Kenneth Jenks’ front door with a battering ram and arrested him and his wife, Barbra, for having two marijuana plants in their home.
These days, the Jenkses get their pot free from their local pharmacist, courtesy of the federal government.
The Jenkses are not ordinary drug users. Kenneth Jenks, 29, is a hemophiliac who contracted AIDS from a contaminated blood transfusion. He unwittingly transmitted the disease to his wife.
They began smoking marijuana two years ago with the full consent of their doctor. It helps them counter the nausea and severe weight loss caused by their affliction.
The couple’s rare “medical-necessity” defense didn’t keep them from being convicted of violating state drug law last fall. Since then, in a development that some AIDS activists say may have long-range repercussions, the Food and Drug Administration is permitting the couple to receive marijuana under a little-known policy that allows some seriously ill people to use unapproved drugs.
In February, the first shipment arrived--a can containing 300 meticulously rolled joints, filled with marijuana grown under contract at a highly secure U.S. government marijuana farm in Oxford, Miss.
“I feel kind of vindicated,” Jenks said shortly after the package came.
“I’ve smoked better,” his 24-year-old wife said of the marijuana. “But it works.”
The Jenkses are the latest symbols of one of the long-term and contentious debates about federal drug policy: Does marijuana, still the most widely used illegal drug, have medicinal value?
The Drug Enforcement Administration has long denied there is any legitimate use for marijuana. The agency classifies pot as a Schedule I “controlled substance,” the same as heroin and LSD. This means it has no recognized medical purpose and may not be prescribed by physicians.
Cocaine, on the other hand, is classified as Schedule II. Doctors can use it legally as a local anesthetic in some cases.
For years, dissenting physicians and anti-prohibition activists have sought to reverse the DEA classification. They point out that the illicit weed already is used by tens of thousands of patients to ease suffering from muscle diseases, glaucoma and side effects from chemotherapy for cancer.
Now, the AIDS crisis is giving new impetus to the campaign, according to its supporters. A small but apparently growing number of AIDS patients has begun, like the Jenkses, to smoke marijuana to suppress nausea and stimulate their appetites. Using pot helps them gain weight and cope with the side effects of AZT and other anti-AIDS drugs, some doctors and AIDS workers say.
“I think there’s going to be a groundswell around this issue,” said Michael Merdian, executive director of the National Assn. of People With AIDS, a nationwide support group.
So far, there is little hard evidence that marijuana is widely accepted among AIDS patients. Pot has become increasingly expensive (it currently sells for as much as $400 an ounce) and many doctors say there are equally effective alternatives, such as Marinol, the legal prescription drug made from synthetic delta-9-THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
Merdian said there is some reason to believe that AIDS patients get better results from smoking their THC. As many users learned long ago, smoking marijuana can stimulate the appetite. At a recent meeting attended by 30 long-term AIDS survivors, 20 acknowledged having smoked pot during the course of their treatment, Merdian said.
“I think there’s a significant number of people who are helped by this,” he said. “The biggest problem (for AIDS patients) is that doctors are quick to prescribe psychotropic drugs to deal with the stress (of AIDS), and people say these wipe them out. But people who smoke marijuana said they can continue to relieve their stress and increase their appetite.”
Stephen Stone, general counsel to the DEA, dismissed such statements as arguments of the “pro-marijuana” lobby whose real agenda is legalization. “There are no medical studies showing marijuana is an effective treatment,” Stone said. “It’s all anecdotal stuff.”
Richard Schwartz, a Vienna, Va., pediatrician, said he recently surveyed 140 oncologists and learned that marijuana, or THC, was ranked sixth among all known treatments for severe nausea and vomiting.
Marijuana or THC relieved these symptoms in 50% of their patients, although one out of four, primarily elderly patients who had no previous experience with the drug, reported adverse reactions, such as “being goofy, lightheadedness and dizziness,” Schwartz said.
“Marijuana has a niche,” Schwartz concluded, “but it’s a small niche.”
As a result, some Bush Administration officials have argued that the route chosen by the Jenkses--getting legal marijuana from the government--is a better alternative than changing the government classification. Since the mid-1970s, about 30 people--mostly cancer and glaucoma patients--have sought permission to use marijuana, and in almost all cases the requests have been granted, officials say.
Jeffrey A. Nesbit, associate FDA commissioner for public affairs, said the agency’s decision to grant the applications should not be construed as approval of marijuana smoking in general. But he said that most seriously ill applicants who meet the agency’s criteria--a note from a doctor and a signed consent form acknowledging the risks--would likely be favorably considered.
“I suppose you can say the agency acted compassionately,” he said of the decision to give marijuana to the Jenkses, which was one of the first involving AIDS patients. “If there was evidence of possible acute risk associated with the product, we wouldn’t allow it to be used. . . . That does not appear to be the case here.”
AIDS activists say that the approval process takes too long (one patient died while waiting for action on his application), and they are pressing their case in court.
Two years ago, a DEA administrative law judge, after hearing testimony in a 1972 lawsuit brought by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, concluded that marijuana’s medical usefulness was “clear beyond question” and the drug’s classification should be changed.
The DEA rejected the ruling, prompting NORML and other plaintiffs to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that the agency was acting for “political” reasons.
“The DEA is denying needed medicine to seriously ill people, and the only reason they’re doing it is for symbolism--they don’t want to recognize anything positive about marijuana,” said Kevin Zeese, the general counsel for the Drug Policy Foundation and a longtime lawyer in the case.
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13115279802c266d39f4bc2c8ea37c7b | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2359-story.html | MWD’s Thirst for New Customers Continues : Drought: Critics urge a moratorium on annexations. Officials say it is not a growth-control agency. | MWD’s Thirst for New Customers Continues : Drought: Critics urge a moratorium on annexations. Officials say it is not a growth-control agency.
Southern California’s largest water agency has annexed thousands of acres of mostly dry hillside into its six-county service area and agreed to supply water to tens of thousands of new homes and businesses--even as its water supplies have dwindled during five years of drought.
The continuing expansion of the Metropolitan Water District service area worries some water officials, who argue that it is senseless to promise to supply new areas when there is not enough water to serve the existing 15 million customers. The MWD, they say, should declare a moratorium.
“It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee,” said S. Dell Scott, one of eight Los Angeles representatives on the MWD board. “I don’t see why we should encourage development when we don’t have enough water already. . . . It’s preposterous.”
Some water agencies around the state have barred new water hookups and, in effect, stopped development in the face of tight water supplies. Annexations by the MWD have continued while the agency imposed the most severe restrictions in its 63-year history.
A dozen such annexations gained final or interim approval in December--at the same meeting that the board of directors voted to impose 10% mandatory cuts in water deliveries.
At the January board meeting, when directors voted to impose a 17% overall cut in deliveries to MWD agencies, approvals were given for five annexations totaling several hundred acres.
In February, when 31% cuts in water deliveries were approved, directors approved a request for another annexation.
MWD General Manager Carl Boronkay and his staff say that a moratorium is not necessary because the agency can meet the water needs of annexations. Besides, Boronkay said, “We’re not a growth control agency.”
The recent annexations range from parcels as small as an acre up to more than a square mile. Much of it is raw land slated for development, but one pending proposal seeks to annex the entire Ventura County town of Port Hueneme with its 6,000 homes.
Through 27 agencies, the MWD supplies water to more than 300 communities stretching from the Mexican border to Ventura County, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
During the last two decades, lucrative development in the western San Fernando Valley, northern San Diego County, the Oxnard Plain and booming western Riverside County communities such as Murrieta Hot Springs and Temecula was made possible by the MWD agreeing to annex the territory and share its water supply.
Under the agency’s statement of purpose, the so-called Laguna Declaration, the MWD is to provide all the water requested of it by members. Or as MWD director Charles D. Barker put it: “We don’t like to deny anyone anything.”
Under the MWD’s charter, written in 1928, the agency’s purpose is to bring in the water necessary for the economic development of Southern California. The agency, traditionally dominated by business and development interests, has stuck to that mandate from the time it served 13 cities in the Los Angeles area to today, as it provides water for 300 communities throughout Southern California.
But as the state’s water supplies remain low, some directors say it is time to declare at least a temporary halt to new water connections.
Last Tuesday, the board’s five-member annexation committee voted unanimously to delay until May consideration of any new annexation proposals, except hardship cases. By then, directors said, the rainy season will be over and MWD will have a much better idea of what the year’s supply will be.
For now, officials do not believe they have the votes on the full 51-member MWD board to win approval for more annexations. “I think we’d be in trouble if we went to the (full) board with a host of annexations now,” said Barker, chairman of the annexation committee.
Talk of a possible moratorium may explain the rush of annexation proposals during the last few months, officials said. “The drought has engendered a flood” of applications by developers and communities hoping to submit their requests before the district closes the door, said Scott.
On Tuesday, the annexation committee heard but did not vote on proposals for 11 annexations that cover more than 3,750 acres--including the city of Port Hueneme, which is worried about the declining quality of its ground water. That doubles the number of annexation proposals pending before the MWD.
Since the drought began, some other water agencies and cities around the state have refused to make new connections until the drought ends or new sources of water are found.
In Marin County, authorities have imposed a building moratorium at least until water in the reservoirs reaches normal levels. “We just felt that would be fairer to the people who are already here and conserving,” said Lynn Schneider, spokeswoman for the Marin Municipal Water District.
In El Dorado County, officials also have refused to make any new water connections, stalling a dozen developments that would have added thousands of homes.
At the MWD, the idea of limiting service area expansion has gained some support in recent years because population growth has threatened to outstrip the agency’s supply.
In the last two decades, the number of residents in areas served by the MWD has increased by about 50%. While water supplies declined, the population in the district went from 10.2 million in 1970 to 12 million in 1980 to an estimated 15 million now.
The MWD is a wholesaler of water from the State Water Project’s sources on the Sacramento River and water from federal projects on the Colorado River. The MWD provides about 60% of all water consumed in Southern California.
Landowners often seek inclusion in MWD’s service area as an early step in the development process. Without a guarantee of water, it is unlikely that they would receive permits for development.
Those seeking MWD water are required to pay a $3,000 processing fee plus a minimum fee of $832 per acre of raw land, officials said. Developed properties pay higher fees, based on the value of the land. Developers are also required to pay the costs of laying pipe and other connection-related construction.
Smaller agencies and cities often aid the landowners in obtaining MWD water because they want to promote economic growth.
Developers of the Murrieta Springs Mall are seeking a 44.4-acre annexation that they say would provide 1,700 construction jobs and 3,400 permanent jobs. Developer John Haskell said the mall is projected to increase sales and property taxes by $100 million in its first 20 years.
The Eastern Municipal Water District of Riverside County has sought more MWD annexations than any other agency during the drought. Spokesman Peter Odencrantz said that the MWD annexations, in addition to assisting development in the rapidly growing area, help avoid the depletion of local ground water supplies.
The drought--and suburban growth--have caused MWD directors to debate how much control the agency can and should exercise over development.
The MWD by law cannot deny annexations to its original members, including Los Angeles and Pasadena. It can deny annexations to the suburban water agencies where most of the recent growth has occurred.
Last summer, the MWD adopted annexation guidelines aimed at making the new areas as efficient as possible in the use of water. Annexation candidates must now show that they are planning water conservation and use of reclaimed water.
Boronkay said that even with the new guidelines, “the philosophy remains the same. . . . We exist under the law to serve water, not to shape the size of the community by the supply of water.”
Other directors say the new rules are a start, but the MWD must show greater leadership and help put the brakes on development.
“The MWD has to stop pretending that it is not a growth control agency,” said MWD director Timothy Brick of Pasadena. “The MWD is not a neutral servant of growth. It is actually the handmaiden of growth.”
Boronkay argues that the amount of land left to be annexed is insignificant, perhaps as little as a 2% addition to the existing service area. “The potential for burdening MWD is not very great,” said Boronkay.
Brick argues that much of the new territory is in desert-like areas--particularly in Riverside County--where per capita water consumption tends to be high.
Boronkay’s position is supported by a study last June by the MWD staff that concludes that about 110 square miles could be annexed for development in the next 60 years. That area amounts to about 2% of MWD’s current service area.
The study does not include the Oxnard Plain along the coast of southern Ventura County, which is almost certain to be annexed; nor a 20-square-mile section of Santa Susana Mountains that the city of Los Angeles is considering for annexation.
An earlier study, in 1982, concluded that 1,000 square miles of territory could be annexed by MWD--an increase of 20%.
Wiley Horne, MWD planning director, could not explain why the estimates varied so widely. “All I can guess,” he said, “is that the (1982 report) had a more boundless vision of Southern California.”
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167757c485a8f113029522f74dab1e69 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2361-story.html | Soviet Georgians Probably Will Vote Today to Secede : Nationalism: After 70 years, the southern republic is extricating itself from the grip of Moscow. | Soviet Georgians Probably Will Vote Today to Secede : Nationalism: After 70 years, the southern republic is extricating itself from the grip of Moscow.
A former political prisoner is president. The Communist Party bosses, the men who used to run the place, are out of work. The KGB security police now answer to the people they used to jail.
With nationalists in power for the first time in 70 years, the southern Soviet republic of Georgia is extricating itself from the grip of Moscow.
Today, its people will probably vote to secede entirely.
“The great majority of the population will vote for independence,” Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s dissident-turned-president, said in an interview. “This local referendum will be an argument before the world that we want independence.”
But Georgia, a small republic in the Caucasus Mountains, has already taken many steps away from the Kremlin.
There was only a little more than a year between Gamsakhurdia’s last day in prison and his first day as president. He was selected by a pro-independence Supreme Soviet, the Georgian legislature, which was elected in October in the Soviet Union’s first multi-party elections.
The Communist Party committees, which had ruled each city, town and district in the republic for decades, have been stripped of their authority.
“The Communist Party exists no more,” Gamsakhurdia said triumphantly.
The huge statues of Bolshevik leader V. I. Lenin, which dominate most central city squares across the Soviet Union, have been dismantled throughout Georgia.
Even the old Soviet court system--infamous for imprisoning political activists such as Gamsakhurdia and others who now hold top government positions--has been replaced with a new system; judges are sworn in with a Bible.
“Psychologically, we are already independent, and we will always remain independent,” said Nodar Notadze, another nationalist leader. “Either quickly or gradually, we shall reach our legal independence.”
As they vote on independence, Georgians will also cast ballots in their first post-Communist local elections for a new type of government structure. They will be electing district councils to share the responsibilities of local government with recently appointed prefects.
“We decided on this form of government because there was horrible chaos and anarchy in Georgia and nobody was working,” Gamsakhurdia said. “There was no power, no authority, no police, nothing. Everything had stopped. The old power was no more because the Communist Party was gone. But there was no new power yet.”
Gamsakhurdia’s bloc, a coalition of seven parties known as the Round Table, controls the legislature, and the Communists often vote with it.
The charismatic president has fierce critics among ultranationalists, who accuse him of setting up a system that gives him all but dictatorial power.
Gamsakhurdia brushes off such charges about the prefect system and his policies in general.
“Some ignorant men here say this is not a democratic system,” he said. “Why? Our Parliament is democratic rule because it was elected by the people.”
Notadze, who leads the minority Popular Front in the Georgian legislature, said Gamsakhurdia and his supporters have given too much power to the prefects and not enough to locally elected councils.
“We have made many steps toward democracy,” said Notadze, a philosophy professor. “But we have many steps yet to make. Democracy is not the freedom from chains. It’s a building you have to erect, and you can’t build it in a year.”
Gamsakhurdia contends that what his government has achieved in a few months is already democracy. “In Parliament, we have more than 10 parties,” he said. “All over Georgia, there are 130 parties. Isn’t that democracy?”
Gamsakhurdia calls his critics terrorists, criminals and crazy.
“They cry, ‘Dictatorship! Fascism!’ because we won’t give them their own newspapers or access to television,” he said.
Some of his political opponents have set up a National Congress as a parallel parliament to challenge Gamsakhurdia’s rule. His critics accuse him of holding more than 70 political prisoners. Gamsakhurdia contends that they were all legally arrested on such charges as kidnaping, robbery and assault.
Members of the National Congress, Round Table and even the Communist Party here all agree on one thing--Georgia’s independence.
Georgians, a fiercely proud people who value their national identity, have avoided assimilation into a generic Soviet culture more effectively than have most other ethnic groups in the Soviet Union.
They trace their history to a kingdom that was founded in the 4th Century BC and reached its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries. After being divided between Turkey and Persia for more than 200 years, Georgia became a protectorate of czarist Russia in 1783. It was formally annexed by Russia in 1801 but enjoyed a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1921 after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Georgia’s most famous son was the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who ruled the country from 1924 to 1953. A huge statue of Stalin, the last in the Soviet Union, stands in the central square of Gori, his birthplace.
But Georgians never took well to Communist Party rule. Georgia has been known for decades as the wildest of the Soviet republics, with a powerful Mafia and a strong, if tiny, group of outspoken, ardent nationalists and human rights activists.
“It’s just a little country,” said Vazha Barnabishvili, a sculptor. “But Georgia has been here since before Christ, and if we give up our struggle and miss this chance for freedom, future generations will never forgive us.”
Georgia’s battle for independence gathered momentum after an attack two years ago on peaceful demonstrators by Soviet troops using shovels and gas.
“It was a horrible massacre,” said Gamsakhurdia, who was jailed for the third time after the incident. “But after this, all of Georgia was for the national movement and worked toward the fall of the Communists.”
Unlike the struggles for independence in the Baltic republics, which were bloodless until Soviet troops cracked down there in January, the Georgian freedom fighters have never been strangers to weapons or bloodshed. Political figures often carry guns and sometimes automatic rifles. Gamsakhurdia carried a gun before he became president and is now protected by a squad of well-armed security men because of recent attempts on his life.
The new government is recruiting men for a new Georgian National Guard, which would become the army if Georgia gains independence. The force, started about three months ago, will number at least 12,000 men by the end of the year, said Tomaz Dumbadze, a National Guard officer.
“When each person is born, he has a yearning to be free,” Dumbadze said. “If we have to fight for our freedom, I will give my blood so our children will be free.”
If the Georgians vote overwhelmingly for independence, as expected, their separatist government will use the victory as leverage with Moscow, which insists that republics go through a long secession process before becoming independent.
Gamsakhurdia said that after meeting with Secretary of State James A. Baker III this month, he believes that the United States and other countries will help Georgia and other republics fight for a new secession law that will enable republics to become independent after a referendum.
“Now, the government of the United States is more attentive to us,” Gamsakhurdia said. “Baker met me in Moscow and we talked. It is a very good sign, and if it will result in political help (from the United States, then) we can soon be independent. Baker said they are interested in . . . reforming laws about secession from the Soviet Union. This is a great hope.”
Gamsakhurdia said if the referendum is successful, he will start appealing to Western governments to acknowledge Georgia as an independent country. “It’s impossible to predict when we will be independent. It depends a lot on Western governments.”
For now, Georgian nationalism frightens the Abkhazians and Ossetians, two minorities in the republic who are worried that they would lose their rights in an independent Georgia.
These tensions exploded into warfare in southern Ossetia, a region that late last year declared itself an autonomous Soviet republic and, effectively, independent of Georgia. The Georgian legislature responded by ending southern Ossetia’s special status as an autonomous region within Georgia.
Extremist bands of Ossetians, a small, ethnic group that forms the majority in the region, are fighting Georgians for rights to the territory.
More than 50 Ossetians have died in the conflict, the Communist Party newspaper Pravda reported. A government spokesman said about 30 Georgians have been killed. Hundreds more on both sides have been wounded, and thousands of Georgians and Ossetians have fled their homes.
Ossetians favor continued Soviet rule to ensure their rights in increasingly nationalist Georgia. They voted strongly for it in the March 17 referendum on the preservation of the Soviet Union as a federal state, but the Georgian legislature banned the referendum.
Most Georgians believe that the conflict with the Ossetians is being orchestrated by Soviet officials because of the Georgian government’s refusal to sign the proposed union treaty, which lays out a new political foundation for the country.
“No one doubts that the Kremlin is behind it,” Notadze said.
(Bulldog Edition) MINDING GEORGIA
The Georgian republic, which joined the U.S.S.R. in 1922, has an area of 26,900 square miles and a population of 5.49 million (1989 estimate). Its capital is Tbilisi. Its population is 68.8% Georgian, 9% Armenian, 7.4% Russian, 5.1% Azerbaijani, 3.2% Ossetian and 1.7% Abkhazian (1979 estimates). Its chief products include wheat, sugar beets, barley, tea, citrus fruits and livestock. In addition, it manufactures textiles, chemicals and steel products and produces hydroelectric power.
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65a6fa5585b5d859fa9c3359fb7f093e | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2362-story.html | GIs Horrified by Iraqi Repression : Gulf: American troops are ordered not to interfere in the uprising against Hussein. They watch helplessly as his forces shell a hospital and refugee camp. | GIs Horrified by Iraqi Repression : Gulf: American troops are ordered not to interfere in the uprising against Hussein. They watch helplessly as his forces shell a hospital and refugee camp.
Shocked by the savagery of Saddam Hussein’s repression of the uprising against him in southern Iraq, American troops manning the Persian Gulf War’s long cease-fire line say they would willingly fight their way north to Baghdad to topple the Iraqi dictator.
This attitude was repeatedly evident to a reporter who spent several days touring the U.S.-occupied zone, an area embracing more than 15% of the country.
Typical were feelings in the 2nd Cavalry’s I Troop, where despair was heavy on a sweltering afternoon here at the U.S. Army’s deepest post inside Iraq.
Under orders not to interfere, the Army scouts watched helplessly as Iraqi Republican Guard troops in nearby Samawah shelled a hospital and refugee camp, and rocketed and strafed civilians from a helicopter gunship.
And after Hussein’s shock troops recaptured the last known Shiite rebel stronghold late Thursday, the Americans could only listen as hundreds of refugees begged them to stop massacres of women and children.
“You go through a lot of training for war,” Lt. Tom Isom, 26, said later. “But they never teach you about this. . . . It’s very hard sitting here not being able to do what we can do.”
Even worse, the U.S. troops fear refugees may be penalized, or even executed, by Iraqi troops for having sought help from the Americans. Some field medics now remove U.S. labels from dressings and medicines, hoping to remove any “incriminating” signs.
“If they see we’ve given people help, even MREs (Meals, Ready to Eat), they’ll be killed,” said I Troop’s commander, Capt. Daniel Miller, 29. “Because they’re unclean.”
Miller compared the Republican Guard’s terminology and savage tactics to those of Adolf Hitler’s notorious SS troops in Nazi Germany.
“They say the town is unclean,” he said. “Meaning it’s not pro-Saddam, it’s defiled by the rebels. Apparently the means of cleansing it is to just go in and shoot all the people.”
Debate may rage in Washington over whether allied forces should have roared on to Baghdad to topple Hussein and wipe out his army during the ground war, instead of stopping at the Euphrates River on a temporary cease-fire line.
But there’s no debate here at Observation Post No. 3, a huge Iraqi oil refinery and tank farm turned to crumpled steel and twisted pipes by B-52 bombers early in the air war. One 500-pound bomb still lies unexploded amid the rubble and huge craters.
The refinery is 55 miles down a rutted desert track and more than 160 miles from the Kuwaiti border. The American Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Apache helicopters now based here are but a day’s drive from Baghdad.
“If they asked for volunteers, there’s not a man here who wouldn’t go north to finish the job,” Isom said. “There’s not a soldier out here who doesn’t want to finish it.”
Similar sentiments can be found across the U.S. occupation zone in southern Iraq. The 190-mile-wide front, mostly along Highway 8, is guarded by the 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions, with the 2nd Cavalry at the northwestern point.
The 18th Aviation Brigade holds the left flank in the desert, and the 1st Infantry Division is in reserve. The U.S. troops, most of whom arrived in December from Germany, do not control any major towns.
Across the bleak desert, where dust devils whirl over the sun-baked sands and swarms of gnats cover the skin, every American wants to go home. But many are intensely troubled at what they’ve seen, and worse, what’s likely to happen after they leave under a formal cease-fire agreement.
“I don’t want to even think about it,” said Staff Sgt. Jonathan Santy, 31, guarding Checkpoint Zulu. “Considering the stories these people have told, I don’t see Saddam Hussein letting these people live.”
“I think they will rapidly cross the river and hunt down anyone who fled,” agreed Maj. Douglas Macgregor, 38.
U.S. troops have given food, water and medical care to anti-Hussein resistance fighters but are under orders not to provide guns or other military assistance.
“The insurgents are living in Bedouin camps,” said Lt. Col. Mike Kabbe. “They’re burying their weapons in the desert, then they come back from town at 4 a.m. to have a chat with us.”
As the resistance has faltered in the south, so has the sad stream of refugees moving across the wind-swept wasteland. Up to 6,000 refugees a day passed U.S. checkpoints headed south early in the week. On Friday, only 693 passed.
But scores of Iraqi soldiers were captured. Some said they had been ordered to report to Iraq’s 7th Corps in Basra by April 1 or their families would be executed. Others simply surrendered, seeking food, water and safety since Republican Guard units had begun rounding up and executing men over 15.
“We are looking for hope,” said Abdel Mutalib, 25, a hollow-cheeked POW in a U.S. Army truck. “We are dead here.”
One old man brought his four sons, all in Iraqi uniform, to surrender at Checkpoint Zulu. They all cried as they bade their father goodby.
“Our destiny is unknown,” said Abas Moussa, 25. “A disaster has begun. We’ve had no rights for 25 years. Just famine, poverty and executions in the streets. What is our future?”
Haidar Qazem Ghali, 20, who walked 40 miles to surrender, had other questions. “Can we know what the end of the road will bring for Saddam?” he asked. “So we will have one drop of hope after we have left our families behind. Is there a solution?”
Many Iraqis think there is. One man handed a letter to Capt. H.R. McMaster, 28, at Checkpoint Eagle and then scurried away. It was addressed to President Bush.
“He said, ‘Saddam is killing many innocent people. You shouldn’t just stand by. Your army could go push Saddam out very easily. Your victory in Kuwait was great, but incomplete,’ ” McMaster recalled.
Some refugees began leaving squalid, overcrowded camps near Safwan, on Kuwait’s border, which has seen food riots and at least one murder. Bandit gangs are a further danger as they return home.
“We would like to leave (Iraq), but there is no way out,” said Saijal Khalaf, 19, a high school student reluctantly heading back to his family in Basra. “We can’t find anything to eat. A sackful of flour costs 400 dinars on the black market.”
That’s twice the 200 dinar cash bonus that Hussein supposedly has offered his ruthless troops to kill children of Shiite rebels, according to refugees and U.S. troops.
“They’re executing children with weapons and knives,” said one refugee from Nasariyah.
In Samawah, a Euphrates River city of 28,000, U.S. troops using helicopters and binoculars watched the Republican Guard shell the city hospital Wednesday, scoring two direct hits. Then they began shelling several hundred people camped in tents and under tarpaulins near the city’s railroad station.
“As best we can tell, it was only designed to kill civilians or terrorize them,” said Capt. Miller. “There was no military purpose.”
By 3 p.m. Thursday, after a nightlong artillery barrage into the city, and two days of attacks by a Soviet-built MI-8 Hip helicopter gunship, green resistance flags had fallen from water and communications towers. Nearby Al Khidr also quickly fell.
“It’s about done, I think,” said Miller. “They’re out of ammo. They’re out of guns. Basically, they’re outgunned. You can’t fight tanks and artillery with rifles.”
More than 2,000 refugees and resistance fighters soon flooded the U.S.-held refinery on the city’s southern outskirts, saying men and boys over 12 were being executed and buried in mass graves.
Terrified men paid 100 dinars to board trucks to the border. Black-clad women and crying children camped in the few surviving buildings and drank from a pool covered with thick green algae.
Unable to feed them, the U.S. troops pooled their MREs and twice tried handing out the leftovers.
“We had a riot both times,” said Miller. “So we stopped giving them food.”
The combat medics were swamped, evacuating 40 wounded civilians and treating 100 others. Dixon Figueroa, 27, scrambled to treat infants and children with drugs, syringes and medicines intended for adults.
“Nine years I’ve done, but these last two days were my worst,” he said wearily.
One 10-year-old had lost his hand. Another child had been machine-gunned. And an 18-month-old child somehow survived being shot in the chest at point-blank range with a pistol.
“When someone brings you a small baby with powder burns on his chest, what can you say?” said Isom. “What kind of people are these?”
The Americans warned the refugees to leave, saying U.S. troops will leave the refinery soon. A sign, posted in Arabic, recommended that the civilians head southeast toward Safwan.
“Saddam’s army may be following and you may fall under his rule,” the sign said.
On the concrete berm by one of the bombed-out oil tanks, a 52-year-old, well-dressed surveyor suddenly appeared to plead for help in halting English.
“I will go with you to America,” he said with a grin. “To hell with Iraq.”
When the soldiers explained that they could not help, the man began to cry. He then tore up a handful of Iraqi dinars, stamped on the remains and spat furiously on the ground.
“The world doesn’t care,” he said finally in Arabic, turning away. “We are carrying the burden of the crime of one man.”
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c113fc91bae6871c4d4e2443bf21ce18 | https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-31-mn-2366-story.html | Saudi Women Still Paying for Taking a Spin | Saudi Women Still Paying for Taking a Spin
Almost five months after their bold crime, the women who dared to drive are still jobless and trapped in a country where they have suffered scorn and ridicule.
By driving a convoy of cars through the streets of Riyadh on Nov. 6, at a time when a world on the brink of war focused attention on Saudi Arabia, 49 Saudi women violated longstanding Islamic tradition to press demands for a limited agenda of equal rights and opportunity. It was an unprecedented challenge to authority that shattered the Saudi veneer of tranquil stability and rocked the nation to its core.
The women were quickly arrested. Many lost their jobs or scholarships to study abroad. They were prohibited from leaving the country, and, in some cases, the ban applied to their husbands, as well.
In the weeks that followed, they were denounced by religious leaders and their names and phone numbers were printed in widely circulated pamphlets that labeled them “fallen women” and communists. Their children were ridiculed in school. At the King Khaled mosque, one imam called for them to be beheaded.
“There is no name for what they have done to us,” one of the women who participated said in an interview.
Today, bitter and disillusioned, the women feel they are still being punished. In a rare interview, two of the women agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that their real names and some identifying details be omitted. They say they fear further retribution.
The government of King Fahd contends that the illicit drivers violated the “sound Islamic attitude” that forms the basis for the Saudi way of life. Cracking down on the women was seen largely as a concession to outraged religious conservatives; by placating the powerful religious fundamentalists on the issue of the women, Fahd hoped to quiet them on the also controversial and more urgently crucial point of allowing foreign troops on Saudi sand.
Even among liberal intellectuals sympathetic to the women’s cause, some felt the “drive-in” was wrong because it provoked a public confrontation at an inappropriate moment--a moment when the country faced war. Change in Saudi Arabia, some argued, must be gradual and slow.
Some Saudi observers believe the women will be forgiven and their status restored, in time. The two interviewed for this article, who will be called Mona and Layla, were not so sure.
“We sit tight and just wait and see,” Mona said. “We are prisoners . . . in a different kind of jail.”
Most of the women, though not all, are educated and have spent considerable time in the United States or Europe. There, they learned not only to drive but to function with some independence and self-reliance, traits not generally part of a Saudi woman’s public role.
Many are from prominent Saudi families, have taught in the women’s section of King Saud University and are married with children.
Mona, 33, holds a doctorate in education, which she earned in Oregon. She is the mother of several children. Layla was studying for a doctorate in a medical field in London and had only come to Saudi Arabia for a visit a short time before the drive-in, intending to return to school. Now, she said, she is trapped and cannot get back to her studies in England.
Both arrived at the interview in long black abayas , the cloak women are required wear under Islamic tradition. They removed their abayas once entering a home for their interviews. They were brought in chauffeur-driven cars, the mode of transport for the average Saudi.
“I learned to have freedom” in the United States, Mona said, sipping cardamom-spiced coffee and smoking a cigarette. “I had to stand on my feet. Suddenly, (I’m) back home and I can’t do anything without my husband. . . . When I get really depressed I ask, ‘Why did I go to the States to begin with, why did I bother? Why didn’t I just stay here and be like most Saudi women?’ ”
The women said they decided to press the issue of driving rights because they feared that, if war came to Saudi Arabia, their chauffeurs, natives of countries like the Philippines, India and Bangladesh, might flee.
“Driving is important,” Layla said. “We meant it to represent our position in society, to show our resentment toward our position in society. . . .
“Even Qatar has a better position” on women, she added. “We are like Jews among Arabs.”
The issue, of course, went beyond driving. Taking a steering wheel in a car was only a symbol. Few women in Saudi Arabia really care about driving, but many, especially among the Western-educated liberals, do desire greater opportunities in a country that restricts the jobs women may hold and segregates the sexes.
“If I have to be driven, it shows I am not a responsible person,” Mona said. “If I can put a car beside another guy’s car who doesn’t think of women as people, it will make him change his mind about me. . . .
“I just want some rights,” she said. “We need things to change. I have simple demands.”
The drive-in, said one Western diplomat, was “the Saudi equivalent of sitting at a lunch counter in Birmingham.”
The event did not occur totally spontaneously. After three planning meetings, the drive-in was timed to capture the attention of scores of reporters from the international press, in Saudi Arabia to cover the Gulf War. When word spread among the network of women that D-day had arrived, someone contacted the journalists.
The women gathered at a central meeting place, then boarded their cars. A woman sat behind the steering wheel of each car, with others seated as passengers. Two caravans, a total of 15 cars, peeled off into the traffic of the Saudi capital.
Careful not to offend too many social mores on one day, the women were clothed in their traditional black abayas and veils.
Mona recalls stopping at an intersection during the drive. A male driver in the next car over cast a glance and quickly did a double take. Then, Mona recalled with a smile, he flashed a thumbs-up sign to the car full of women.
“He thought we were courageous,” she said.
Such small victories would be short-lived.
The Riyadh police soon caught up with the women and pulled the caravan to the side of the road. An officer went from car to car asking the women where they were from. He apparently had expected to find Kuwaitis. In Kuwait, women are permitted to drive, and there had been numerous incidents of female Kuwaiti refugees found driving on Saudi roads.
A stunned police officer radioed the awful truth back to headquarters: “They’re all Saudis!”
Within minutes, the matawah , or religious police, arrived. They ordered the women hauled off to the police station.
Cramped in a small cell with barely room to sit, the women were held for 12 hours while police called their husbands and fathers. In Saudi Arabia, women are the responsibility of a male guardian--a father or husband--who is held accountable for their actions.
Some of the women were interrogated. When was the first time you thought about driving? When did you decide to drive in a public place? When did you learn to drive?
And the most persistent question: Who put you up to this?
“They couldn’t believe that women had thought of it,” Mona said. “They kept asking, insisting, ‘Who was the man behind it?’ ”
The women were eventually released to the custody of their male guardians after signing statements promising never to do what they had done again.
That was only the beginning.
The women underestimated the response their action would generate. They did not anticipate the scathing attacks that followed the drive-in and were especially dismayed when other women turned against them.
“We thought we would have more support,” Layla said quietly.
The demonstration came at a time when U.S. service women were seen driving military vehicles in Saudi Arabia and Western female journalists were seen walking about with their heads exposed. There was an air of new openness, as the government-controlled Saudi press suddenly became more lively and officials started to speak again of democratic reform.
“The atmosphere made them think it would be acceptable,” said a leading Saudi political scientist. “They miscalculated.”
To many in Saudi Arabia, the women had gone too far. Hundreds of female university students signed petitions saying they did not want to be taught by women who had participated in the protest. Six professors were suspended from their jobs by royal decree.
The country’s highest religious authority, Sheik Abdulaziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz, ruled on the “inadmissibility” of women driving cars, extolling “the necessity of meting out deterrent and appropriate punishment to whoever commits this act again.”
In a country where the Koran is the constitution, the ruling royalty had little choice but to condemn the women. Moreover, King Fahd found himself in a position of compromise with the religious right: By agreeing on punishment for the women, he could exact a pledge from the country’s imams to permit the deployment of half a million American troops in the Saudi desert.
“Their timing was bad,” said one prominent businessman familiar with the thinking of the royal family. “The government was busy with the war effort . . . (and the women) gave the religious fanatics something to exploit.”
But, the businessman added, “This is not a police state. . . . There is no vindictiveness, (and) the leadership is very forgiving.”
Indeed, some of the women reportedly have met with the king to plead their case, a move that has sent encouraging signs to some.
But for Mona and Layla, the ordeal will stay with them.
“We expected to be jailed for a few days, (but) this was crazy,” Mona said. “I wish they had put us in jail some days and let us out. That would be better than what we have.”
As for the argument that their timing was wrong, Mona remains skeptical.
“I don’t know,” she said, “if there will ever be a right time.”
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a90ec535668c2c493c81efeb791d740e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/04/09/prince-philip-dies-at-99-a-long-royal-life-in-photos/ | Prince Philip Dies At 99: A Long Royal Life In Photos | Prince Philip Dies At 99: A Long Royal Life In Photos
19th November 1947: Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, later HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. Getty Images
Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II's husband and the longest serving consort in history, died at age 99, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday.
"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
"His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle," the announcement reads.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, @theroyalfamily one of the last of his generation to have fought in World War II, overcame a difficult family life, lack of money, nationality and surname to marry Princess Elizabeth and stay by her side for 73 years. His job, as explained by The Guardian, was “first, second and last, never let the Queen down.”
Her “strength and stay,” the Queen called him.
At the thousands of engagements that the couple presided over during their seven decades together, Prince Philip would be seen, as protocol dictated, at the queen’s side or a few paces behind, always taking second place.
Philip Mountbatten, prior to his marriage to Princess Elizabeth, batting at the nets during cricket ... [+] practice while in the Royal Navy, July 31, 1947. Photo by Douglas Mille Getty Images
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The most experienced plaque unveiler
Characterized through the years as brusque and easily exasperated, his disinclination to suffer fools became more familiar to the public at large thanks to his depiction in the popular television series, The Crown.
“Salt-tongued and short-tempered, a man who told off-colour jokes and made politically incorrect remarks, an eccentric great-uncle who'd been around forever and towards whom most people felt affection - but who rather too often embarrassed himself and others in company,” writes BBC’s royal correspondent about “an extraordinary man who led an extraordinary life.”.
Self-described as “the world’s most experienced plaque unveiler,” he was recognized as a hard-working royal with one of the busiest programs of daily events. He stepped back in 2017 after undertaking 22,191 solo engagements and giving 5,493 speeches.
His last official engagement was July, 2020, when he passed his role of colonel-in-chief of The Rifles over to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in a ceremony at Windsor.
Before the most recent spats between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and the British press, Prince Philip had maintained a difficult relationship with the press, which he described as “bloody reptiles.”
The day of the official announcement of the engagement of Princess Elizabeth to Lieutenant Philip ... [+] Mountbatten at Buckingham Palace. PA Images via Getty Images
A lifetime of service
Philip and the queen met for the first time in 1939 when the then-13-year-old Princess Elizabeth made a royal visit to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth where he was a cadet.
The 18-year-old Philip was among the officers charged with entertaining Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret.
“He was confident, outgoing, strikingly handsome, of royal blood if without a throne. She was beautiful, a little sheltered, a little serious, and very smitten by Philip,” writes the BBC.
He became one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy before, to his regret, he had to renounce to serve the queen.
Princess Elizabeth with her fiance, Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, and her sister, Margaret, in the ... [+] White Drawing Room of Buckingham Palace in September 1947. Photo by Hulton Archive Getty Images
A prince without crown
Prince Philip was born on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, who was a younger son of King George I of the Hellenes.
Philip’s mother, Princess Alice, was a daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
He had four older sisters, three of whom married Germans. “While Philip fought for Britain in the Royal Navy, three of his sisters actively supported the Nazi cause; none would be invited to his wedding,” explains BBC.
Princess Elizabeth (later, Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince Philip receiving the blessing of the ... [+] Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey during their wedding ceremony on November 20, 1947. Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II, as Princess Elizabeth, and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding ... [+] day. She became queen on her father King George VI's death in 1952. Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, wave to the crowd, June 2, 1953 after being crowned at ... [+] Westminter Abbey in London. Her coronation was the first worldwide televised event. INTERCONTINENTALE/AFP via Getty Images
Philip once described himself as “a discredited Balkan prince of no particular merit or distinction.”
The royal marriage of Princess Elizabeth and the Greek Prince who became Duke of Edinburgh took place in 1947. She became queen five years later on the death of her father, King George VI, in 1952.
Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, pose during their honeymoon in Malta, where ... [+] he was stationed with the Royal Navy, in 1947. Photo by Anwar Hussein Getty Images
Picture released November 18, 2007, showing Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke ... [+] of Edinburgh marking their diamond wedding anniversary in Malta. Queen Elizabeth, then 81, was known to cherish the time they spent on the Mediterranean island as a young couple, out of Britain and out of the spotlight in the years before she inherited the throne aged 25 in 1952. AFP via Getty Images
Prince Philip and the queen had four children, eight grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Their first son, the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, was born in 1948, followed by his sister, the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, in 1950, the Duke of York, Prince Andrew, in 1960 and the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, in 1964.
The royal couple at a square dance held in their honor in Ottawa, by Governor General Viscount ... [+] Alexander, October 17, 1951. Getty Images
Chatting with Frank Sinatra and his wife, the actress Ava Gardner, at London's Empress Club in ... [+] December 1951. Getty Images
At Buckingham Palace during a banquet held in honor of President John F. Kennedy and his wife, First ... [+] Lady Jacqueline Kennedy on June 15, 1961. Getty Images
With American film star Grace Kelly, who became Princess Grace of Monaco, and Prince Rainier in ... [+] 1960. SSPL via Getty Images
His role in the monarchy
Generally found several steps behind the queen, he — who was never officially given the title of prince consort — lived a life of royal duty and played a key role in the development of the modern monarchy in Britain.
"Like the expert carriage driver that he was, he helped to steer the Royal Family and the monarchy so that it remains an institution indisputably vital to the balance and happiness of our national life," said Primer Minister Boris Johnson.
In March 2021, the Duke of Edinburgh had been released from hospital after a month-long stay for treatment. He had gone through a procedure for a pre-existing heart condition at another London hospital, St Bartholomew's.
Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Charles and Anne at Balmoral Castle in Scotland in 1952. Photo by ... [+] Lisa Sheridan Getty Images
The Royal family at Balmoral Castle in 1960. Bettmann Archive
The royal family Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The queen, Philip and the Maharani of Jaipur pose with a tiger killed by Philip in India in 1961. CENTRAL PRESS/AFP via Getty Images
During an official visit to Germany in 1965. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Earl Mountbatten, Admiral of the Fleet, and the Duke of Edinburgh in formal military uniform in ... [+] 1965. Photo by Dennis Oulds Getty Images
“Because of his desire for privacy, because of his position, and because nearly all who knew him best have gone, our understanding of him will always be incomplete,” writes the BBC.
“Our only distinction," Prince Philip said earlier about his life, "was that we did what we were told to do, to the very best of our ability, and kept on doing it."
Wearing pantsuits for protection from the blackflies, the queen, Princess Anne, Prince Philip (his ... [+] arm in a sling from a polo injury) and Prince Charles, completing the Arctic portion of their Canadian tour. Photo by Doug Griffin Toronto Star via Getty Images
Charles and his father in RAF uniforms in 1971. Mirrorpix via Getty Images
With Prince Charles And Princess Diana on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their wedding. Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
During an official visit to the Bahamas in 1985. Photo by John Shelley Getty Images
During the Gulf Parade in London in June 1991. Photo by Anwar Hussein Getty Images
Walking behind the carriage carrying the casket of Princess Diana in London on its way to the ... [+] funeral at Westminster Abbey. AFP via Getty Images
With Queen Rania Of Jordan at Windsor Castle during her State Visit in 2005. Photo by Tim Graham Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images
At Prince Harry's "Passing Out" ceremony at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Photo by Mark ... [+] Cuthbert UK Press via Getty Images
Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall break into ... [+] laughter as they watch Balmoral compete in the tug-of-war during the Braemar Gathering in 2006 in Scotland. Photo by Chris Jackson Getty Images
As Chancellor of Cambridge University, attending a service at King's College to mark the 800th ... [+] anniversary of the University in 2009. Photo by Stefan Rousseau Getty Images
Leaving London Clinic 11 days after he was admitted for exploratory abdominal surgery in 2013. Photo ... [+] by Dominic Lipinski PA Images via Getty Images
With Princess Anne, attending Sunday service at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham in 2015. Photo ... [+] by Max Mumby Getty Images
Followed by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, Philip arrives at the ... [+] Royal Family's traditional Christmas Day church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, in 2017. Photo by Adrian Dennis. AFP via Getty Images
At the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018. Photo by Jonathan Brady Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on January 6, 2020, in the quadrangle of Windsor Castle ... [+] ahead of his 99th birthday. Photo by Steve Parsons PA Images via Getty Images
Arriving for the transfer of the Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles ceremony at Windsor castle in ... [+] Windsor on July 22, 2020. Prince Philip, stepped down from his role as Colonel-in-Chief for the Rifles after 67 years of service. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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6cff5fe71c5d9727534e4dd7d97f7a26 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/04/14/caviar-champagne-no-masks-the-vip-clandestine-dinners-in-lockdown-paris-causing-an-uproar/ | Caviar, Champagne, No Masks: The VIP Clandestine Dinners In Lockdown Paris Causing An Uproar | Caviar, Champagne, No Masks: The VIP Clandestine Dinners In Lockdown Paris Causing An Uproar
Teddy bears sit at tables inside the closed iconic brasserie Les Deux Magots in Paris as public ... [+] spaces including cafes and bars stay closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Photo by Ludovic Marin AFP via Getty Images
In France, as in much of Europe, restaurants and cafes have been closed for more than five months and, despite public discontent and exhaustion with the confinement, the government decided to reinforce the lockdown last week to deal with surging Covid-19 infections.
So when a video filmed by M6 television reporters using hidden cameras at a restaurant in a high-end Paris neighborhood as part of an investigation into clandestine restaurants opening for “huppé” (elite) clients (allegedly including government ministers), the uproar was heard throughout the country.
The story came on the tale of increasing headlines in the media about restaurants offering pre-coronavirus secret dining experiences.
Who is telling the truth?
Police officers stand guard in front of the main door of the Palais Vivienne event venue in Paris. A ... [+] report by French TV channel M6 alleges that "clandestine" luxury dinners were organized there. Photo by Thomas Coex AFP via Getty Images
Public furor over the claims that the nation's political elite was brazenly ignoring rules they themselves had set exploded in social media, generating more than three million comments and soaring speculation over who attended the secret dinners (with menus costing €150-plus per person — and where neither staff nor guests wore masks.
One of the participants, Pierre-Jean-Chalençon, identified by The Local as a socialite and collector of Napoleonic memorabilia, reportedly said that ministers and other members of the government often took part.
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An immediate investigation was ordered by the public prosecutor and Chalençon — claiming it was just a joke — was briefly detained alongside a “chef to the stars,” Christophe Leroy.
Chalençon, Le Point adds, “further explained that the images broadcast on M6 of the private rooms, with Empire decor, seated guests and tables set simply were a rehearsal, a test evening to take advertising photos, in order to organize receptions once the containment measurements are lifted.”
The government has denied participation by any if its officials and the public keeps wondering who else from France’s elites will be exposed.
Protesters hold placards and banners reading "Let us work" during a demonstration of hotel and ... [+] restaurant owners in Paris to demand their businesses be allowed to reopen. Photo by Michel Stoupak NurPhoto via Getty Images
The witchhunt is on
A French media “witchhunt” is also in progress and “any famous name who has eaten in a clandestine restaurant is likely to be a victim of delation – snitching,” The Local writes.
"At this stage of the investigation, there is no evidence that indicates any members of the government took part in the dinners being investigated," prosecutors have said.
“The video shows them scoffing champagne and caviar at €200 a head in a secret restaurant near the Louvre in the heart of Paris,” writes The Local in an opinion piece about how this scandal touches two of France’s obsessions: food and elitism:
“In France, subjects which send people up the wall include a vague suspicion that the ‘Boss Classes’ are cheating and anything to do with food. Put those two things together and France loses its mind.”
Condemned by social media
For L’Opinion, the “internet prosecutors” have already delivered their verdict against the elites that ignore the coronavirus rules while the rest of the country has to obey and as the other restaurants stay closed.
“Their hasty indictment is without appeal against this France from above, accused of taking advantage of it and despising the little people who are suffering despite the billions poured out by the state,” writes Olivier Baccuzat in an editorial article entitled “The underground dinners and the pressure cooker.”
“But they are to be taken very seriously,” he wrote. “Because beyond the almost permanent mistrust and suspicion nurtured against political leaders, they bear witness to the pressure cooker that France has become a year after the start of this health crisis.”
John Lichfield from The Local backs that view: “A large part of the French population is convinced, and will remain convinced that ministers – like the pigs in the last scene of George Orwell’s Animal Farm – are perpetually feasting while ordinary people are denied a croque monsieur in the Bar de Commerce.”
His conclusion is unnerving: “France is not patient with its leaders at the best of times. These are the worse of times.”
‘Clandestine’ members of the government?
The M6 channel stands by its reporting, with the channel’s Society of TV News Journalists saying that anonymous source confirmed “that at least one member of the government was attending one of these dinners.”
An effort by Marlène Schiappa, the Minister Delegate of Citizenship, to defend the government spokesman Gabriel Attal, whose name has been mentioned as one of the guests at a clandestine dinner, has backfired.
She said that she knew "from a reliable source that there was indeed an invitation and that Gabriel Attal firmly refused it, saying that there were sanitary measures."
Her statement seems to imply that Attal was aware of the secret meals and didn’t report them to the public prosecutor.
Officially, it has been announced that 200 suspects were identified and face "heavy punishment" while the members of the government have insisted that none participated in the clandestine dinners.
Empty restaurant with a view of Paris. getty
Raids and fines around town
Police have been conducting raids at restaurants as part of the investigation into possible charges of endangerment and undeclared labor and to identify the organizers and participants of the gatherings.
Detectives also have searched the homes of the chef who created special menus costing up to €490 per person and the owner of a restaurant venue in one of Paris’s chic districts.
Le Parisien has reported that more than 110 people gathered in a ‘secret’ restaurant in the 19th arrondissement of Paris last week were fined “for non-compliance with sanitary measures,” while the organizer and manager of the restaurant were taken into police custody for "endangering the life of others and undeclared work."
They were subsequently released pending "further investigation."
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Le Point writes that “a further 62 participants were arrested having lunch at another illegal eatery in the up-market Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen.”
Police also have been ordered to crack down on large outdoor gatherings that flout the covid-19 restrictions, according to AFP: “For example on Saturday, 150 gathered for a party in a disused hangar in Fuveau in the south of France, near Aix-en-Provence. Police broke up the party and imposed fines.
Earlier in the week, police were called to break up a group of 200-to-300 people gathered on the riverside in Lyon, most of the participants students aged between 15 and 25.”
The organizers of such events are expected at court hearings and face up to a year in prison and €15,000 fines. The participants could receive two fines of €135 euros each for not respecting the curfew and not wearing a mask.
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8e5d0a96ff4fb628ae51156ed8ceaba5 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/04/17/horrible-and-ugly-why-the-gucci-family-dislikes-upcoming-house-of-gucci-movie-with-al-pacino-and-lady-gaga/ | ‘Horrible’ And ‘Ugly’: Why The Gucci Family Dislikes Upcoming ‘House Of Gucci’ Movie With Lady Gaga And Al Pacino | ‘Horrible’ And ‘Ugly’: Why The Gucci Family Dislikes Upcoming ‘House Of Gucci’ Movie With Lady Gaga And Al Pacino
Lady Gaga and Al Pacino during the filming of 'House of Gucci' in March in Rome, Italy. Photo by ... [+] Ernesto Ruscio GC Images
Members of the Italian luxury fashion house Gucci are not happy with the upcoming American film “House of Gucci,” #HouseOfGucci, directed by Ridley Scott, currently in production and including Al Pacino, Lady Gaga and Adam Driver among its stars.
“Horrible” and “ugly” appear among published family comments about the casting of the movie scheduled for release in November by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The film follows the story of Patrizia Reggiani, who was tried and convicted of orchestrating the assassination of Maurizio Gucci, her ex-husband and former head of the Gucci fashion house and the grandson of fashion designer and company founder Guccio Gucci.
Among its other stars, "House of Gucci," a biographical crime film based in the book House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed, features Jared Leto, Jack Huston, Reeve Carney, Jeremy Irons and Salma Hayek.
Short, fat, ugly
The main complaint by the family has to do with appearances, which in the world of fashion is what matters most.
“We are truly disappointed,” Patrizia Gucci, second cousin of the late Maurizio Gucci, told The Associated Press. "I speak on behalf of the family. They are stealing the identity of our family to make a profit, to increase the income of the Hollywood system.”
Lady Gaga and Adam Driver on Piazza Duomo in central Milan on the set of the movie. Photo by Miguel ... [+] Medina AFP via Getty Images
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Lady Gaga, Jared Leto and Adam Driver on the set earlier this month. GC Images
The Guccis’ shock after seeing photos of the set is particularly directed at the casting of Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci, who was a key figure in the global growth of the fashion label, and of Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, who among other creative contributions designed the company’s internationally-recognizable double G logo.
Patricia Gucci, who wrote her own book about the family, Gucci, The True Story of a Successful Dynasty, published in 2015, told AP that the family’s concerns “stem from the casting of top actors to play family members whose stories intersect little with Maurizio Gucci’s murder, the lack of contact with Scott’s production company and the inaccuracies in the book on which the film is based.”
Designer Aldo Gucci attending the premiere of "Yes, Giorgio" 1in New York City, 1982. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
"My grandfather was a very handsome man, like all the Guccis, and very tall, with blue eyes and very elegant,”Patrizia said. “He is being played by Al Pacino, who is not very tall already, and this photo shows him as fat, short, with sideburns, really ugly. Shameful, because he doesn’t resemble him at all."
Jared Letto appearing with a bald head was “horrible, horrible. I still feel offended,” she added.
Killing and glamour
‘House of Gucci ‘ tells the story of the 1995 killing of 46-year-old Mauricio Gucci, as he arrived at his Milan office, by a hitman hired by his former wife, Patrizia Reggiani, whom he had left for another woman.
She was convicted and sentenced to 29 years in prison after a very public trial that captivated Italy in the late 90s.
Lady Gaga during the filming of "House of Gucci" on April 7, 2021 in Rome, Italy. GC Images
Reggiani, called the “Black Widow” by the Italian media, was released from prison after 17 years in 2016.
“It was sensational fin de siècle stuff,” The Guardian reported in an interview with Reggiani when she was freed. “This was elegant Milan, not mob-riddled Naples, and execution-style killings of the city’s glamorous elite were unknown.”
“Reggiani, dubbed the ‘Liz Taylor of luxury labels’ in the 1970s and 80s, was an immediate suspect. She had openly threatened to kill Gucci after their split. Without evidence, the crime went unsolved for nearly two years. A tip-off led to her arrest in 1997, along with four others, including the hitman.”
By then the company wasn’t any longer under the Gucci family control after decades of fighting among the heirs. Maurizio who had taken over and became the CEO in 1992 had been forced to sell to the Bahrain based investment bank Investcorp (later bought by the French group PPR which is now Kering), a year before his death.
Maurizio who held 50 percent of Gucci’s shares had been accused by relatives of forging signatures on papers giving him half the company on his father's death. At some point his shares were frozen and the firm was put under the control of state-appointed custodians.
Maurizio Gucci (AP Photo) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jealousy, greed, madness
All kinds of theories surrounded Patrizia Reggiani’s likely motives for the murder: jealousy, greed, envy and madness. The widely accepted conclusion was that she was furious with Maurizio for selling out the family business.
The murder, according to The Guardian, “coincided with a thrilling revival of the brand’s image in the mid 90s” that has continued since, eclipsing memories of the murder — until now.
Although AP has reported that the fashion house is cooperating with the movie’s production companies, MGM and Scott Free Productions, providing access to its historical archive for wardrobe and props, it also explains that “the great grand-grandchildren of Guccio Gucci, who founded the luxury fashion house a century ago in Florence, are appealing to filmmaker Ridley Scott to respect their family’s legacy.”
A soap opera or a mockumentary?
The film’s cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski, has described ‘The House of Gucci” film as a “soap opera.”
“It’s a bit of kitschy, funny, tragic tragedy – like a high-end soap opera,” he told Indie Wire. “With a crazy cast as well.”
To add some spice to the controversy, how’s this for ‘crazy casting’ and “soap opera’ likeness: Salma Hayek, who is married to François-Henri Pinault, the chief executive and chairman of Kering, now the owner of Gucci, joined the cast earlier this month. She portrays Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma, a clairvoyant friend of Reggiani who was sentenced to 25 years for organizing the killing for a fee of $350,000.
The label’s continued rise over the past two decades has certainly left behind memories of the murder. But the story has all the characteristics for cinematic success: glamour, greed, money, sex, murder, betrayal, raging status anxiety and a first-class cast.
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cdfe54ed799635a19f431160081822d3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/04/22/the-price-of-a-golden-passport--maltas-cash-for-visa-scheme-comes-under-scrutiny/ | The Price Of A Golden Passport: Malta’s Cash-For-Visa Scheme Comes Under Scrutiny | The Price Of A Golden Passport: Malta’s Cash-For-Visa Scheme Comes Under Scrutiny
A 'golden visa' can cost between one and two million dollars. getty
This is not the first time that Malta has landed in hot water with the European Union for its ‘cash for passport’ scheme. The clashes actually started years ago and the E.U. is conducting infringement proceedings against the country’s ‘golden backdoor’ that permits super-rich individuals to get visas securing unrestricted access to the European Union.
A journalistic investigation of leaked documents shows what The Guardian calls “the highly artificial nature of the golden passports scheme” that, thanks to loopholes, permits many applicants paying enormous fees to claim “nationality based on a genuine link to Malta that may be largely spurious or superficial.”
The new report confirms the European Commission’s suspicions and fears: not only that many of the golden visa holders don’t have real links with the country, which is one of the conditions in such arrangements, but that the scheme can be exploited for money laundering, corruption and tax evasion by high-risk people wanting entry to the European Union.
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Security and the uber-rich
“European values are not for sale,” Ursula von der Leyen, the commission’s president, said while the Maltese government denies any shady dealings and argues that the country has the final decision over who can get a passport — and that applicants are strictly checked.
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Valletta skyline getty
“Super-rich Russians, Chinese and Saudis have secured unrestricted access to the E.U. via a Maltese cash-for-passports scheme that requires them to spend less than three weeks in the country,” The Guardian reports after reviewing a trove of thousands of emails and documents from Henley & Partners, a passport brokerage organization.
The cache of documents “provides an unprecedented window into the mechanics of so-called ‘golden passport’ schemes, whereby countries sell citizenship to wealthy foreigners,” the paper explains.
The citizenship advisory firm has denied any systematic problems.
The price tag?
The ‘golden passport’, or citizenship by investment program, that reportedly can be had for about $1 million, allegedly accounted for €432 million in Malta’s 2018 budget.
View of the Portomaso Marina in St Julians, Malta getty
The loophole has permitted buyers of the visa to successfully comply with the rule of having a “genuine link” to Malta by buying or leasing property, renting or buying a yacht or donating to local charities while staying in the country just a few weeks and leaving their properties empty for the rest of the year.
The Times of Malta has reported that the documents show how such millionaires spend an average of 16 days in Malta during their one-year residence period before receiving citizenship.
“In a number of cases, applicants spent just days in the country in order to pick up their residency card, open a bank account and fulfill other requirements,” writes the BBC. “One individual from the United Arab Emirates arrived in the morning and left nine hours later, having taken his oath of allegiance.”
Reporters’ investigation
The new data revealing the scheme was obtained by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation, a non-profit founded after and named for a Maltese anti-corruption journalist who fiercely criticized the golden passports scheme and was murdered in 2017.
The data was shared with a consortium of media organizations including The Guardian, Dossier Centre and five independent Maltese media.
According to The Guardian, Henley & Partners, chaired by Christian Kälin, a Swiss lawyer, “arguably invented the modern ‘citizenship planning’ global industry, worth an estimated $3 billion annually. Its first major client was the government of St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, where it was hired to launch a citizenship-by-investment scheme in 2006.”
The company advised Malta in the development of the golden passport scheme, which has benefited ultra-wealthy clients who get unrestricted access to the Schengen zone and free movement between E.U. member states.
In a statement to the BBC, Henley & Partners said that it was "fully aware of the potential inherent risks in handling client applications for residence and citizenship" and was committed to due diligence.
It also noted that "ultimately it is the responsibility of the countries involved to investigate and vet applicants."
Malta, which has been offering citizenship to foreign nationals in return for investment since 2014, includes among its requirements an investment of $720,000 and a three-year residence period, or $900,000 and a 12-month residence period under exceptional circumstances.
Applicants also must buy a residential property worth at least $850,000, or take out a five-year rent on a property with a minimum value and donate $12,000 to charity.
The E.U. has repeatedly called on Malta and other countries including Cyprus — which suspended the scheme after a number of scandals related to illegal dealings — to end the practice and has urged a golden passport crackdown, noting that the investor citizenship schemes carried "inherent" security issues.
"The Commission considers that the granting of E.U. citizenship for pre-determined payments or investments without any genuine link with the Member States concerned, undermines the essence of EU citizenship," it has said.
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ba63cfe540ea5722c222adbe209482aa | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2021/05/02/prince-william-and-kate-middleton-10-romantic-photos-to-celebrate-their-10th-wedding-anniversary/ | Prince William And Kate Middleton: 10 Romantic Photos To Celebrate Their 10th Wedding Anniversary | Prince William And Kate Middleton: 10 Romantic Photos To Celebrate Their 10th Wedding Anniversary
One of the most recent photos of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of ... [+] Cambridge, attending a charity event last week. Photo by Andy Commins Getty Images
It has been 10 years since the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got married in a lavish ceremony watched by billions of people at Westminster Abbey in April 2011, and during their decade together they have been a fixture of support and love through their domestic and royal life.
They have formed a solid family, participated in hundreds of engagements, backed many charities, traveled around the world on official missions and survived the ups and downs of royal life — including the scandals around their royal family — with admirable discretion and poise.
One of the photos released by Kensington Palace to celebrate thee Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's ... [+] wedding anniversary. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge @KensingtonRoyal
Love, support and learning together
The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and was attended by 1,900 guests, including foreign royal family members and heads of state. Well-wishers from around the world also flocked to London to witness the spectacle and pageantry of the Royal Wedding.
“The wedding was watched by 17.6 million people in the U.K. and two billion worldwide, including thousands of royal fans who travelled to London to try and get a glimpse of the couple on their special day,” the BBC recalled.
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As the prince explained in a BBC documentary; “Me and Catherine, we support each other and we go through those moments together and we kind of evolve and learn together.’
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, kiss on the balcony at ... [+] Buckingham Palace after their royal wedding on April 29, 2011 in London. Photo by George Pimentel WireImage
William and Kate walking hand in hand from Buckingham Palace the day after their wedding to a ... [+] waiting helicopter as they left for a secret honeymoon location. Photo by John Stillwell Getty Images
Discretion and glamour
Kate Middleton and Prince William, who are globally admired for their discretion, good sense and glamour, have three children: Prince George, who was born in July 2013, Princess Charlotte, who has just turned six and Prince Louis, who is three years old.
To mark their special anniversary, the Cambridges issued two new portraits taken by photographer Chris Floyd earlier this week outside Kensington Palace in which they appear happy and at ease.
At the London 2012 Olympic Games. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain Getty Images
William and Catherine, expecting Prince George, standing on the balcony during the annual Trooping ... [+] the Colour Ceremony at Buckingham Palace on June 15, 2013 in London. Photo by Samir Hussein WireImage
The Cambridges at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 9, 2014 in New York City. Photo by ... [+] James Devaney GC Images
A great family video montage
The pictures were also posted on the Royal Family's social media accounts, along with a new video on their Instagram account thanking the public for their support and congratulations: “Thank you to everyone for the kind messages on our wedding anniversary. We are enormously grateful for the 10 years of support we have received in our lives as a family. W & C”
The video shows the family of five enjoying time at the beach and at the grounds of their family home, Amner Hall in Norfolk, laughing, playing together and toasting marshmallows over an open fire.
William and Catherine in London in October 2015 during a visit by the President of the Peoples ... [+] Republic of China. Photo by Chris Jackson Getty Images
With Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a Royal Tour of Canada in September 2016. Photo ... [+] by Karwai Tang/ WireImage
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in front of the Eiffel tower during an official visit to Paris in ... [+] March 2017. Photo by Arthur Edwards Getty Images
Sitting in front of tennis legend Rod Laver, attending the Men's Singles final of the Wimbledon ... [+] Tennis Championships on July 15, 2018 in London, England. Photo by Clive Brunskill. Getty Images
In February 2019 during a visit to Belfast, Northern Ireland. Photo by Max Mumby Getty Images
Walking in Dublin, Ireland, in March 2020 in Dublin. Photo by Julien Behal WireImage
Kensington Palace released this photo to celebrate the 10th wedding anniversary. duke and duchess of cambridge, @kensingtonroyal
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0da82a5e9f2b5e0029ac41fd0c78c18e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cedricmuhammad/2013/09/30/populism-socialism-anarchy-or-aristocracy-wwes-bray-wyatt-is-must-see-tv/ | Populism, Socialism, Anarchy or Aristocracy? WWE's Bray Wyatt Is Must-See TV | Populism, Socialism, Anarchy or Aristocracy? WWE's Bray Wyatt Is Must-See TV
“They've been lying to you, man. There ain’t no such thing as a hero, not anymore. But you … have become addicted to the illusion of what a hero is. … You think you need someone to pat you on the back.”
- Bray Wyatt
Unsolved Mysteries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Regardless to when it happens and that’s part of the secret of its success - you never know when– the most riveting moment in TV takes place inbetween 8 and 11 PM est on Mondays. At some point during that wide window I experience a feeling only generated by episodes of Unsolved Mysteries (the edition with Robert Stack) when I was a child. There’s actually a Facebook Group that describes it quite well “The Unsolved Mysteries theme scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.”
WWE (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The MKULTRA-like experiment of ‘Monday Night Raw’ goes something like this: a sheep’s head mask is flashed; the screen and arena goes dark; 3 huge men who have come from either a day’s work at the factory, farm or ranch appear, with one carrying a lantern and smiling as if he were Jack Nicholson in The Shining; and irresistibly unnerving music (the best entrance theme since The Road Warriors came out to Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ ) giving melody to a stalk to the wrestling ring that feels like it lasts an hour. With all of the above, the WWE creative team has ritual drama gold –and a captivating experience that comes across well, in arena or viewing by television.
Were this all, the just described would be a moment.
But with an extremely charismatic and intellectual character at the center of it all (as evidenced by witty and intriguing tweets which combine not-so-veiled threats with fan appreciation and quotes from Nietze and a cross-section of support – beyond creed, class or color – the dismissal of Bray Wyatt as a hillbilly by some, really misses the mark. And the sound of it all is so captivating, the composer of entrance theme “Broken Out In Love,” Mark Crozer is generating headlines of his own (so talented I’ve actually added his group’s EP, “Backburner” to my Playlist). And each week there is a new message to decode - something that seems so accessible, but yet remains elusive.
Cover via Amazon
But if the WWE ends up making the mistake of thinking the Wyatt Family only appeals to a pejorative ‘red-neck’ fan base it would be a huge big mistake. What Bray Wyatt has tapped into can best be understood from the mind of Eric Hoffer and the pages of his classic The True Believer: Thoughts On The Nature of Mass Movements. Wyatt’s look may be that of a rural populist but the cult-following appeal is for all of the disaffected. In that sense Wyatt is the possible culmination of what I call the Dissatisfaction era which finds CM Punk (‘The Voice of The Voiceless’) and Daniel Bryan (the Underdog) as co-leaders.
But Wyatt can go further because the juxtaposition is not just to that of the popular ‘good guy’ character (John Cena) or abusive corporate power (the McMahon Family) but rather to an entire epoch leaving so many of us behind. He’s competing with society and culture not the preferences of a Big Business.
What makes Wyatt an enigma is that the dissatisfaction which his character, music and message tap into can come from a variety of sources: economic recession, technological advance or cultural decay. Even the political malaise of a government shutdown gives Bray Wyatt fertile recruiting ground. Hoffer described something like Wyatt’s fan base-coalition when he wrote, “Though the disaffected are found in all walks of life, they are most frequent in the following categories: (a) the poor, (b) misfits, (c) outcasts, (d) minorities, (e) adolescent youth, (f) the ambitious [whether facing insurmountable obstacles or unlimited opportunities] (g) those in the grip of some vice or obsession, (h) the impotent (in body or mind), (i) the inordinately selfish, (j) the bored, (k) the sinners.”
In that respect, what Bray Wyatt represents is Communal more than ‘Rural’ or ‘Southern’ or ‘White’ and the cult that he is producing via look, wit, aggression and sound is looking to lose themselves in something more than asserting their individuality above the crowd. As Hoffer saw of the discarded, rejected and left-behind, “They also crave to dissolve their spoiled, meaningless selves in some soul-stirring spectacular communal undertaking – hence their proclivity for united action.”
Wyat speaks to this when he says, “We live in a world where society has poisoned the souls of men. It hovers over them like a dark cloud and they can’t do anything about it because this is the regular working class…People like me, they get down on their hands and knees and they whisper these little lies and secrets into their ears. Well, I have a secret of my own! And what are you going to do when they start walking upright?” .
Yet Bray also says, "I have no Followers. I have only Brothers and Sisters all in the name of Cause. People are sheep - you understand me? They can't lead themselves. They need to be led. People buy and sell fear. They worship war, they crave war. And I'm not afraid of their wars. I created war! And I think it's time for the masses to wake up."
Huh? I'm motivated and confused at the same time.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first self-identified anarchist. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
So, is Bray Wyatt one of ‘them’ or one of ‘us’? Is this Karl Marx, Saint-Simon or Pierre-Joseph Proudhon peddling fedoras?
He looks like a 99-percenter but sounds very much like a member of the 1%.
Or maybe Bray Wyatt is just suggesting or better yet, here to reveal that every mass leader is also a member of an aristocracy and every oligarch needs a crowd.
Should the WWE (and Bray Wyatt on his own) continue to tap into this intriguing duality and signs of the times which dramatize it – what it might produce each Monday could captivate millions for weeks to come.
As Hoffer explained, change and vigor doesn’t come from just the heroes of a static society, “A nation without dregs and malcontents is orderly, decent, peaceful and pleasant, but perhaps without the seed of things to come.”
The Attitude Era was cool but emerging Dissatisfaction looks so much more interesting..
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e8471b045e3c757a727272adf6ac6f54 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cedricmuhammad/2013/11/01/the-worlds-next-gold-standard-will-come-through-china-and-africa-not-america/ | The World's Next Gold Standard Will Come Through China And Africa, Not America | The World's Next Gold Standard Will Come Through China And Africa, Not America
see Images name (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The thoughtful piece, “China Should Issue Gold Bullion Coins That Aren’t As Practical In The U.S.” by Nathan Lewis allows me an opportunity to re-visit my growing conviction that the world’s next great episode in currency stability will come through the symbiotic relationship that exists between China and Africa, rather than from the United States of America.
There are a few reasons for this.
First, the China-Africa engagement has reached a plateau in its second phase which centered around infrastructure-for-oil arrangements. Chinese investment in Africa’s physical capital is increasingly frowned upon and in order to successfully navigate a growing horizon of dissatisfaction in African nations where electorates feel exploited, the Chinese diplomatic onslaught and African leadership will have to find a new point of engagement – human capital. It appears that both sides are getting closer to recognizing the estimated $700 billion gap in the financing of African Small and Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) as the way to go.
In a Forbes column last year I presented a path by which China could facilitate the usage of its currency, the yuan, throughout Africa . The formula combined top-down incentives such as providing seigniorage to African governments with bottom-up steps like making yuan-denominated loans to entrepreneurs and SMEs. Something related to the latter emerged in Tanzania in August with the National Bank of Commerce (jointly owned by Barclays, the International Finance Corporation, and the Government of Tanzania) enabling its banking customers to do business with Chinese partners directly in yuan, avoiding intermediate transactions in other currencies. The bank proudly places the announcement front and center on its website, “Speaking during the launch, NBC’s Head of Treasury, Pius Tibazarwa said, ‘We have decided to launch the Chinese Currency offering, after realizing the need for this offering, owing to the growing business between Tanzania and China. We believe that this offering will ease the way our customers do business with their partners in China and vice versa.’”
Next door, Kenya is now determined to provide Africa’ first yuan clearing house which would allow the renminbi currency, of which yuan is the unit, to be utilized as a settlement currency.
With China as the only rational economic actor on the continent with deep and patient enough pockets for risk finance and Africa as the world’s largest laboratory of unbacked talent, and desperate to address its volatile population pyramids, the marriage is obvious. And once the Federal Reserve finally tapers its quantitative easing, the largest African economies like Nigeria, now dependent upon hot money flows (but who already want to hold 10% of their foreign exchange in renminbi) will increasingly be incentivized to turn East.
And that raises another issue – why a national gold standard is less likely in the United States.
Nathan Lewis notes, “Despite promising moves on the state level, such as Texas’ recent move to remove taxes and endorse the use of gold and silver as money, the U.S. Federal government will probably remain opposed to any viable alternative to the now-dominant fiat dollar.”
And there is another barrier – the partisan divide.
The Federal Reserve remains the greatest impediment to currency stability and it can only be effectively opposed by a Left-Right, Progressive-Populist coalition as I noted in my recent column, “Senator Rand Paul Is Right To Hold Up Janet Yellen’s Federal Reserve Nomination, And Democrats Should Support Him.”
However, even though the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street advance authentic points of grievance with the Fed, because so much of today’s ‘grassroots activism’ sells out to partisan affiliation, the Left and Right are controlled more by their reactions to one another than across-the-aisle points of agreement. An understanding of why the country is so divided would require the reading of an excellent 400-plus page book - Avi Tuschman’s Our Political Nature: The Evolutionary Origins of What Divides Us, which of course most Americans aren't going to do. My humble contribution is an in-depth interview with him about the ideological partisan divide .
So, Afro-Optimism contrasts with American-Pessimism and the continued U.S. anti-China angst and unbridled military operations in Africa only contribute to a deeper China-Africa embrace that will impact dollar hegemony.
So how will it all happen?
I believe by this decade’s end we’ll see a gold-backed currency in Africa in one of three ways- through a common market optimal currency area; a series of regional parallel currency regimes which will lead to single currency; or through a local gold-backed currency which becomes so attractive in a multi-currency environment that it compels regional and continental embrace.
As I advised the African Union in 2008, Africa is definitely an optimal currency area as defined by Nobel Prize Economist Robert Mundell – it has the necessary GDP, currency reserves, and improving labor and capital mobility to be sturdy enough to survive speculative attack and the ebb and flow of demographic changes.
But 53-African nations agreeing on a common market with a single currency has been a challenge with nothing concrete established since the 1991 Abuja Treaty which intended it all. And regional monetary unions like the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) – the one with the most potential – have languished, continually postponing currency issuance.
So, it now seems far more likely that the process will be bottom-up with the central bank of a single African nation issuing a 100% gold-backed currency that would not initially replace any other currency as legal tender.
By allowing the electorate to freely choose to use the new currency in a multi-currency environment, good money would likely win over bad and over time a young gold medium of exchange would become the ‘people’s money.’ Seeing its success, neighboring governments would throw in enough reserves to make it a credible regional currency.
Where does China fit into this?
It could either provide aid in the form of gold bullion or give an implicit indication of its support to African nations who take this route or it could make millions and billions in yuan-denominated loans to African entrepreneurs in a gold-based currency of its own.
Is this any more of a long-shot than seeing the dollar tied once again to gold?
I don’t think so.
- Follow Cedric on Twitter
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b122b6756b138102599df090bd994b4e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceibs/2015/11/30/why-does-alibabas-stock-drop-with-each-acquisition/ | Why Does Alibaba's Stock Drop With Each Acquisition? | Why Does Alibaba's Stock Drop With Each Acquisition?
Mergers and acquisitions have become a major trend among China’s Internet companies this year. An estimated $62.5 billion in alliances have already been established, the most notable of which includes the taxi hailing apps Didi Taxi and Kuaidi, job search portals 58.com and Ganji, food apps Meituan and Dazhong as well as travel platforms Ctrip and Qunar.
While these companies seek solace in each other’s arms to fend off the competition, Internet giant Alibaba’s acquisitions seem geared towards gaining access to every area of its clients’ lives. The company’s total investment in acquisitions has tripled this year over last year’s numbers. One of its biggest deals was on October 16 when it spent $4.3 billion in gaining full control of Youku and Tudou. The most bewildering thing about all this is that while Ali controls so many leading Internet companies, its stock price keeps dropping (see below).
(Source: Caijing Lang Yan, 2015.11.02）
Over the last two years, Jack Ma has been on a buying spree that would be the envy of any avid female shopper . He has snatched up UCWEB, Highmoral Map, Kuaidi Taxi, Meituan, Suning, Youku and Tudou, etc. It’s clear that Ali’s ambition is to create one-stop access to the Internet . But, at the same time, financial magnate George Soros got rid of almost his entire stake in Ali, Tiger Fund series reduced their shares in Ali and Baidu, and Morgan Stanley even excluded Ali from the Focus List for the Asia-Pacific.
So, let’s begin with Ali’s acquisition of Youku (social networking) and Tudou (video). What is Ali’s intention here?
First of all, in terms of social networking, Ali products like Momo, Laiwang, and Ding Talk all failed miserably against WeChat. In a desperate attempt to try anything to loosen WeChat’s grip on China’s social networking world, at one point Ali even developed a function embedded in Alipay called “Burn After Reading”. That didn’t work. Many people quipped that – regardless of user experience – it seemed like a weird product designed only for discreetly paying for sex.
Internet+ (Internet plus) has become a buzz word in China, but one has to ask: what on earth should be added to the Internet? The answer is in three key words: search, trade and social networking, which respectively refer to Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT), or the three American Internet giants – Google, Amazon, and Facebook. They are essentially advertising companies.
Take Google for instance: it accounts for 47.4% of total Internet advertising revenue, and Facebook has 7.1%. It’s always a good idea to remember that no matter what a company’s core business, social networking provides the richest resources of user behavior data . According to a recent Wired magazine survey, 70% of customers trust user generated information and content, instead of implanted ads. That’s why Google developed Google+, and acquired YouTube, the original version of China’s Youku and Tudou. And also why Facebook bought control of Whatsapp and Instagram, social networking apps that appeal to today’s youngsters. Meanwhile Ali, like Tencent and Jingdong’s “Jing Teng Plan”, is focused on strategies that will pave the way for targeted advertising by mining user data.
Now let’s look at video. Compared with Baidu’s IQIYI and Tencent Video, Ali only lacks a terminal link for its online video website. Though it has copyrights to various upstream movie and TV works, Alibaba Pictures Group only has one access to online TV programs – the Tmall Magic Box. The American online video website Netflix took advantage of its successful entry into Virgin Media’s Set Top Box and big data to guide its decision to produce the very popular drama series House of Cards. Based on a BBC miniseries, it was later tailor-made for America viewers according to data on their preferences. House of Cards’ success translated to a 1000% increase in Netflix’s stock price within a few years. Ali took the opposite approach, starting from integrating all access points to TV viewing by acquiring Youku and Tudou. If Ali adopts the development model used by Netflix or Hulu, and further collects audience data on ads and content, from a vertical perspective, it will be able to better promote content production – and eventually time slot promotion – for its film and media business lines. This would help it reduce content acquisition costs. From a horizontal perspective, it will be able to develop a Universal ID in the background, through which it can integrate all the information from Weibo, Taobao, Alipay, Youku & Tudou, and Ant Financial, in order to form a complete user profile. On that basis, Ali will be able to make use of big data to infer the target audience for a certain TV program, and also tell which viewers are likely to apply for loans from Ant Financial. Interesting, right?
This is only possible in China, a country that now lacks relevant laws and regulations, is lax in the protection of user privacy, and also encourages cross-industry monopolies among Internet enterprises! No wonder Ali makes huge investments in the culture and entertainment industry. A close look at the investment list of 2014-2015 shows that though BAT is in fierce competition in the O2O field, Baidu focuses on education, Ali on entertainment, and Tencent on its core business of online games.
Now we come to the question asked at the beginning: why does Ali’s stock price keep dropping? And why is Baidu doing no better, with its shares decreasing when it has new acquisitions (see below), and Tencent’s shares hold steady during the same process?
It’s because the American market is skeptical of Chinese Concept Stocks, and China’s economic downturn isn’t helping either . Furthermore, American investors are typically very prudent and conservative when it comes to making acquisitions. As emphasized by Das, Sen and Sengupta (1998) [1] – investors are faced with more uncertainties when they make decisions to cooperate with technology-oriented partners, than with market-oriented partners. Derrick Harris, editor of Giga Om once said that despite the huge market share and scale of Ali and Baidu, unfortunately, as technology companies, they lack innovation, and are more like traditional businessmen, instead of focusing on technology development.
In addition, Ali and Baidu steer too much investment into other industries that are irrelevant to their main business , which further puzzles American investors, many of whom are generally perplexed by the overall Chinese market. At present, Ali benefits from the unique fertile soil in China, which on one hand boasts a huge e-commerce market and sustained demographic dividend. On the other hand, traditional industries suffer from exorbitant taxes and levies, and slow transition to online business. Therefore, it is understandable for Ali to grab market entry and monopolize the data flow. In this respect, Ali gets good marks from most of the domestic media, and even users. However, Wall Street senses ominous signs . China’s slowing GDP growth, unpredictable RMB exchange rate, as well as the slowdown in growth of Ali’s gross merchandise value (GMV) all indicate that the “soil” itself is approaching the bottleneck stage. Without core technical barriers and innovation as its life-blood, how can Ali continue to enjoy favorable climatic, geographical and personnel conditions, and keep pace with American Internet giants? It seems Wall Street investors don’t think it can, so many of them have dumped their Ali shares.
In stark contrast, the third-quarter earnings of the three American technology giants, Microsoft, Google and Amazon, are impressive. Within one day, their market value increased by $100 billion. On the basis of that growth, the total market value of the top 5 American technology companies by capitalization has exceeded $2,000 billion. We can see that the three giants have a common strategy – cost reduction and technological innovation.
According to the figures, what contributes most to the impressive earnings of America’s three Internet giants is steady revenue growth, effective cost control, and rapid development of cloud services. But dig deeper and you will find these achievements are also inseparable from their long-term business strategy, as well as timely and effective adjustments.
It is said that in the Internet industry, investment priority varies across different countries: America focuses on high technology, Germany on industry 4.0, and China on O2O. In America, nothing compares with Google in its wide range of businesses. With the establishment of its parent company Alphabet, along with the accompanying structural adjustments, Google has gradually expanded its business to the Internet of things, driverless car and bioscience. This is in addition to its traditional businesses like search, mobile, and video. Perhaps this case best proves that we can successfully balance profit making with heavy investment in R&D for the future. The key to the American big three’s winning formula lies in the fact that, based on traditional business lines, these giants are relentless in their efforts at self-innovation and exploration, and keep responding to market changes by pioneering new areas of business.
However, Ali does the very opposite. It actively grabs market share, absorbs data flow, and acquires entry to the Internet, which seems to be its focus in recent years. What’s more, Ali has spread itself thin in covering many fields including O2O, e-commerce related business, mobile Internet, social networking software, culture, media, logistics and finance, etc. With its frequent and diverse acquisitions, it is very difficult to believe that Ali’s intention is technical integration. On the contrary, it seems more like traditional market monopoly, i.e., to establish an Alibaba empire through market entry monopoly.
In the short term, O2O is the most efficient way to integrate the resources of traditional industries and seize market share. Disruptors like Ali will cause a “catfish effect” in the market, disturbing the living environment of smaller fish and thereby activating their survival skills. A powerful competitor can help improve the overall performance of various industries. Nevertheless, when the capital market enters a chilly winter, such a competitor might bring piercing wind that freezes entrepreneurs to death. That’s why mergers are so popular among Internet companies.
In the Chinese Internet Industry, BAT has entered the rosy “Three Kingdoms Era,” while the small fish are faced with a choice between “competition or coalition” in troubled times. The latter have to cooperate with other small businesses to compete with the giants, or join one of the giants in overwhelming smaller ones. Whichever they choose, the capital market-led coalition is full of uncertainties. Furthermore, to gain recognition from investors, Chinese Internet companies must firmly take the technology and innovation-oriented road, constantly improve their self-analysis and development ability, and stick to the long road of precision marketing.
As for the future of Ali, maybe it will continue to bloom and yield fruit in the soil of the Chinese market as a profit-making organization. But we expect more than that. We hope that Ali will better integrate its precious resources and huge market share, so as to develop awe-inspiring new technologies and lead China into a new Internet era.
Lin Chen is Assistant Professor of Marketing at China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).
[1] Das, Somnath., Pradyot K. Sen and Sanjit SenguptaV (1998), Impact of Strategic Alliances on Firm Valuation, Academy of Management Journal, 41(1), 27-41,
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903cbed2a0e04105b59586b565d2d0b6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceibs/2016/03/25/private-equity-helps-chinese-mnes-beat-a-path-to-europe/ | Private Equity Helps Chinese MNEs Beat A Path To Europe | Private Equity Helps Chinese MNEs Beat A Path To Europe
In recent Chinese takeovers of European companies, the only thing more remarkable than the identity of those new buyers is the identity of the sellers. In more than half of the mega deals, the seller is one (or more) private equity (P.E.) fund (Table 1). The question is, why do private equity firms and Chinese multinationals do so much business together? The answer is in what both sides stand to gain from each other.
What are Chinese multinationals looking for? At this particular point in history, Chinese companies are relatively rich in cash, but relatively poor in international management capabilities – notably lacking capabilities to restructure a struggling business in another country. Many Chinese acquirers look to Europe as a source of technology or brands that they can, in the long run, transfer to their operations in China, and perhaps even use to eventually become a globally competitive business themselves (see my blogs of October 2014, November 2015, January 2016). Their preferred management approach is ‘light touch’ integration, which leaves the acquired operations relatively autonomous under their existing management teams, perhaps with added financial resources for new investments, and with practical help entering the Chinese market. This ‘light touch’ approach, however, requires that the company is well run before the acquisition. What do P.E. funds do? Typically, at least in the cases listed in Table 1, a P.E. fund acquires a company because it’s in financial difficulties, or at least under-performing. The objective is then to reorganize the company, for example by cutting costs and by re-positioning it into new, more promising growth markets. This restructuring is driven by the overall objective to sell the company at the highest price, which can be achieved if the company is not only viable on its own, but positioned in an attractive industry. The company might than be listed on the stock market through an IPO – but if a corporate buyer comes along and puts more money on the table, even better. Some companies are in fact sold in a quasi-auction, inviting bids from competing potential buyers.
So, Chinese acquirers are looking for well-managed companies with a viable strategy and technologies and/or brands that are potentially useful in China. And, they are able and willing to pay a good price for such companies. P.E. funds, on the other hand, maximize their revenues exactly by creating such companies. Moreover, private equity investors are looking for the highest bidder who’s not hobbled by sentiment – such as those that, for example, a family owner may have for the future of the company bearing his name. Last but not least, P.E. funds make takeovers easy by reducing the number of negotiating parties, and facilitating due diligence. Acquirers get to deal with fewer sellers than in a takeover of a listed company, and many hidden liabilities or reorganizational challenges have been resolved by P.E. players as part of their restructuring job. In fact, P.E. funds are increasingly aware what Chinese investors are looking for and cater to their needs, for example by providing advance information and extensive external due diligence. Thus, when P.E. and Chinese multinationals meet, supply meets demand, and the deal gets done.
What are the long-term implications for the new enterprise? As an example of how a company may prosper when both the P.E. fund and the Chinese MNEs play their role well, consider Kiekert – a German supplier of locking systems for cars.[1] In the year 2000, Kiekert was acquired for € 530 million by Permira, a British P.E. fund who delisted the company in 2003. However, Permira burdened the company with too high debt and itself soon ran into financial difficulties. Thus, in 2006 a group of new financial investors – Bluebay, Silver Point and Morgan Stanley – took over and in 2007 installed a new management team led by Karl Krause (who still leads the company in 2016). In the first years of his tenure, he had to face the financial crisis, which hit the automotive industry hard, and Kiekert laid off about 20% of its global workforce. Yet, Kiekert used the crisis for corporate restructuring, and by 2010, it surpassed its pre-crisis output with a global turnover of € 507 million (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Kiekert 2005 to 2015
In 2012, Lingyun Industrial (part of the Norinco Group) acquired Kiekert from the P.E. investors. Lingyun applied the ‘light touch integration strategy’. As the Kiekert CEO said in 2014: “We are operating autonomously, we are less key-numbers-driven than when financial investors owned Kiekert”. With fresh financial resources, Kiekert expanded production in China and the Czech Republic, and grew its sales. In 2015, Kiekert acquired a local competitor in China’s Henan Province, and grew its sales worldwide to over € 825 million, employing 5,800 employees, and holding 1600 patents. Its global market share recovered to 20%. Many of today’s Chinese investors see Lingyun and Kiekert as a role model to follow.
With many – though not all – Chinese firms opting for the ‘light touch’ approach to their acquisitions, it is common for German middle managers, employees and even trade unions to prefer a Chinese investor over a P.E. fund. The ‘light touch’ management after the acquisition is attractive as it tends to provide management with greater autonomy, and greater job security to the workforce. However, it is often the restructuring led by the P.E. that placed the firm on a profitable growth path, thereby creating just the right conditions that make it possible for new Chinese owners to take a ‘light touch’ approach.
Klaus Meyer is Co-Director of the Centre for Globalisation of Chinese Companies at China Europe International Business School where he is also Professor of Strategy and International Business.
[1] Case Sources: www.kiekert.de; Wirtschaftswoche May 2007, March 2012; Handelsblatt June 2014; China Daily June 2014; personal conversations.
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fdc1582c6620398e46dddb716a02a04f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2014/12/30/how-to-shop-for-faux-fur/ | How To Shop For Faux Fur | How To Shop For Faux Fur
Few things are more fabulous than a fur coat—and they do double duty by keeping you warm while looking glamorous. Now, thanks to the proliferation of high-quality faux fur, it’s easy to wear the trend guilt-free. “Faux fur has made leaps and bounds in the last few years,” says Charlotte Beecham, a British-based designer who founded her accessories line, Charlotte Simone, after graduating from New York University in 2011. “Faux fur is no longer considered a cheaper alternative but a lush and equally desirable fluff. It no longer has a stigma attached to it as it both shines and comforts you just like the real thing. I have invested a great deal of time sourcing the perfect faux fur and can happily say it mirrors the quality of real fur to a great degree.”
Beecham fell in love with accessories when she spent her freshman year of college in France, where she was inspired by Parisian women and their innovative ways of creating an outfit based on one accessory. That style philosophy eventually sparked her line. “I love that an accessory has the ability to rejuvenate any old look,” she says. “I want a Charlotte Simone scarf to be more than just an item of practicality but a statement of style. I want women to invest in Charlotte Simone just as they do a shoe or handbag!” A recent trip to Tokyo served as the muse for her 2015 collection. “Expect a very Kawaii range coming your way soon,” she says. “The pastel shades, bold prints and school girl stripes that seemed to litter the Harajuku district inspired me heavily.”
Animal lovers can rest assured knowing that the synthetic process used to make faux fur materials has become so advanced that it’s often hard to tell the real and man-made apart. But, sometimes you’re not always buying synthetic fur when you think you are—despite the label, many allegedly faux pieces include the real deal. A tell tale sign is checking the base of the fabric: Leather or skin is a giveaway that it’s real, while fake fur typically has a fabric backing. Also, natural animal hair often tapers off at the tips and the faux version has blunter, straight edges. It’s a personal choice to wear real or faux fur, but it’s good to know what you’re buying. “I felt it was important to offer all styles in both real and faux to allow my customers to decide their preference,” says Beecham, who exclusively uses ethically sourced fur that is origin assured.
Not all faux fur is created equal, so it’s important to know what to look for in a quality, well-made piece. “Personally, I look for a silky smooth hand feel and glossy sheen,” Beecham says. “Charlotte Simone faux fur mirrors real fur in the way that our faux fur fibers are different lengths, which means it looks more believable to pass as real fur.” The first way to test the caliber is to feel the fabric—the softer, the better. Poor quality synthetic fur can be itchy and uncomfortable. Also, top-notch faux fur will retain its shape, meaning if you touch it, the fibers should quickly fall back in place. Finally, check the label and keep an eye out for the acrylic fibers kanecaron or tissavel, which have the best texture and last longer.
From vests to chubbies to collars, scarves, bags, and coats, faux fur is popping up everywhere. So what’s the piece every woman should have in her closet? “A Charlotte Simone faux fur Popsicle,” says Beecham of her brightly hued scarves. “I can sling it over my shoulder as I rush out to work or slip it through into a cuff that sits snug around my neck. The fun flash of color adds a bit of life to the every day look. I stick to neutral shades in my wardrobe—lots of navy, black and gray. I love that Charlotte Simone fluff has the ability to lift the most mundane of looks and add a splash of glamour.”
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a4e7fac871e0e206d5365fa7d9635d46 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2015/10/28/katie-holmes-on-her-favorite-hair-products-beauty-icons-and-bad-hair-day-go-to/ | Katie Holmes On Her Favorite Hair Products, Beauty Icons And Bad Hair Day Go-To | Katie Holmes On Her Favorite Hair Products, Beauty Icons And Bad Hair Day Go-To
Katie Holmes looks just as radiant as when she burst onto the scene years ago as Joey Potter in Dawson’s Creek. And while her roles both in front of and off camera have changed since then, her classic beauty has not. As the Global Brand Ambassador of Alterna Haircare, she’s picked up even more beauty and hair care insider know-how. And during a phone chat she was quite willing to share the details about her own hair philosophy and the most valuable lesson her mom taught her about beauty.
Why did you feel the role of Global Brand Ambassador with Alterna Haircare was a fit for you? I like that it’s all about maintaining healthy hair and when you have that good base then you can do anything to your hair. You can have any style. Keeping your hair healthy is the best thing you can do.
What are your favorite products in the line? I’m a huge fan of the Alterna Haircare Moisture Intense Caviar Oil Crème Shampoo and Conditioner and the Caviar Moisture Milk; I’ve seen a real difference in my hair since I started using the product and I really believe in it.
What’s your hair care routine like? So I usually wash my hair and condition my hair at night and then in the morning I wake up and apply the Caviar Omega Oil, and then I go.
You make it sound very easy. Let’s say you’re having a bad hair day. What’s your go-to look? Usually I throw it up in a bun or ponytail.
Alterna Haircare Caviar Omega[+] Nourishing Oil, $38, Sephora.com
What hair care tips have you learned from working with Alterna?
You’re a big fan of embracing beauty products that are free of harsh chemicals and preservatives; why is that important to you? I think it’s really good to put good things on your hair just like it is to put good things, like good food, in your body and take care of yourself.
As an actress you spend a lot of time in the makeup chair. What have you learned from sets? Well you know being on set for 12, 13 hours a day and wearing makeup and having hair products in your hair is a long time, so it’s really important to put good makeup on your skin, to take care of your skin, wash it at night, moisturize it. I love the Olay Regenerist cream. And with your hair, with a lot of blow drying and curling, you really want to have a healthy base. The Alterna Haircare Moisture Intense Caviar Oil Crème Shampoo and Conditioner really help to maintain nice hair.
What do you wish all women knew about beauty? I think that beauty really does come from within. You have to embrace who you are growing as a woman and you become more beautiful every day.
What is your personal beauty philosophy? I like to eat right and get lots of sleep and do things that make me happy.
Who are your beauty icons? My mom is my beauty icon. Lauren Hutton. Kate Moss. Audrey Hepburn.
What did you learn from your mom growing up about hair and makeup? She really taught my sisters and I that beauty comes from within, so make sure that you make good decisions and you’re happy in your life. Take care of yourself and you’ll be beautiful.
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5bf7ec9a229142b4619455ed92aeb40a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2016/01/20/the-must-have-beauty-trend-of-2016-facial-mists/ | The Must-Have Beauty Trend of 2016: Facial Mists | The Must-Have Beauty Trend of 2016: Facial Mists
Think spa in a bottle. That’s why facial mists are having a moment. They do more than deliver an instant pick-me-up for skin—a simple spritz can do everything from tone, refresh, prime, extend your makeup and even deliver SPF. And they have long-term perks too, thanks to powerful extracts and antioxidants that can take on skincare concerns. There’s a face mist out there for every skin type.
Philosophy Renewed Hope in a Jar Microrenewal Hydrating Mist, $30, philosophy.com. Say goodbye to lackluster skin by spraying on this blend designed to re-energize and rehydrate, leaving a cooling feel. Each spritz delivers three forms of alpha hydroxy acids for zero shine skin while an Asian fruit extract boosts circulation for a dewy glow.
Caudalie Beauty Elixir, $49, Us.Caudalie.com. Designed to instantly deliver radiance and tighten pores, this makeup-artist favorite has regal roots: Queen Isabelle of Hungary’s Elixir of Youth was its inspiration. Grape and rose extract brightens and firms, Rosemary essential oil tones and refreshes, orange blossom hydrates, and Benzoin, Myrrh and mint brings a glow. And good news for guys: It doubles as an aftershave for men. Urban Decay De-Slick Oil-Control Makeup Setting Spray, $30, UrbanDecay.com. Urban Decay teamed up with SKINDINÄVIA to create the only setting sprays with Temperature Control Technology—it lowers the temperature of your makeup to give it staying power. The fine mist means you won’t feel it on your skin and you’ll avoid makeup meltdown while controlling shine.
SK-II Mid-Day Essence, $80, SK-II.com. Just like you can use a cup of coffee for an afternoon jolt, your skin can use an energy boost around that time of day too. The Mid-Day Essence is the ideal afternoon pick-me-up, perking up your skin and penetrating through makeup for a refresher. Each application brings hydration for up to four hours, visibly slashing the effects of oxidative stress and boosting the moisture barrier long-term.
Dr. Jart+ Pore Medic Pore Minish Mist, $30, Sephora.com. Made for combination and oily skin, you can tighten pores and smooth fine lines in just one spritz, thanks to its ability to reduce excessive sebum production. The dual-phase toner has a powder phase that mattifies and a liquid phase to purify skin. Apply after your makeup to set your look while delivering an extra dose of moisture to reenergize and soothe skin.
June Jacobs Neroli Hydrating Mist, $38, junejacobs.com. This multitasker packs a punch with its powerful ingredients: Bitter orange extract stimulates cell regeneration, while white, red and green tea extracts mixed with goji berry, pomegranate and grape seed extracts neutralize free radicals, guard skin from environmental toxins and reduce signs of aging. Packed with antioxidants and free of Parabens and preservatives, use it as a toner by spritzing on after cleansing or as a mid-day refresher.
Fresh Rose Floral Toner, $40, fresh.com. A single spritz moisturizes skin for 24 hours, thanks to the soothing, cleansing and calming qualities of rosewater. The toner clarifies while removing impurities, making it a great base before applying serums and creams, or for during the day as a recharger.
Supergoop! Defense Refresh Setting Mist SPF 50, $28, Sephora.com. This triple threat zaps oil and shine, sets makeup and protects against aging UV rays, all while leaving your skin smelling of rosemary and mint. When you’re in direct sunlight, it’s crucial to refresh your sunscreen every two hours, and with this mist’s SPF 50, you can keep skin safe without spoiling your makeup.
Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water, $32, Sephora.com. In 2000, Smashbox launched its cult hit Photo Finish Foundation Primer to keep makeup look its best for as long as possible on shoots. Now the same concept is available in a spray, leaving your skin with the same special effects—essentially an Instagram filter for your face. Chock full of electrolytes—yes, like Gatorade for your skin—it delivers hydration and radiance.
Boscia White Charcoal Mattifying MakeUp Setting Spray, $38, Sephora.com. Binchotan White Charcoal Powder—prized in Japan for centuries for its skin-balancing abilities—saves your skin from an oil slick and locks makeup in place while hydrating. Artichoke Leaf Extract boosts elasticity to shrink pores and reduce hyperpigmentation, while antioxidant-packed black tea guards against free radical damage.
Benefit Ultra Radiance Facial Re-Hydrating Mist, $26, benefitcosmetics.com. A spritz does more than give an instant refresh—it also provides long-term hydration. Meanwhile, magnesium PCA and white and blue lotus extracts ward off skin stress and help you relax.
Honest Beauty Elevated Hydration Mist, $16, HonestBeauty.com. Soothe and moisturize your skin with this refreshing elixir. Chamomile and calendula calms, Aloe Vera conditions and Hyaluronic Acid hydrates.
AmorePacific Moisture Bound Skin Energy Hydration Delivery System, $35, Sephora.com. Every bottle is packed with powerful Asian botanical agents, including Red Ginseng extract to revitalize, Bamboo Sap to moisturize, and Matsutake Mushroom extract to soothe. When used daily, it stimulates the skin’s circulation for a long-lasting radiance boost and helps products penetrate deeper.
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53a451571e7cbbc6eb5efd7ba191344d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2017/12/18/12-chic-holiday-party-shoes-that-are-actually-comfortable/ | 12 Chic Holiday Party Shoes That Are Actually Comfortable | 12 Chic Holiday Party Shoes That Are Actually Comfortable
We’ve all been there—you step out wearing the perfect heels that pull your look together and you end up hobbling home. “That’s one of the reasons I launched Sclarandis,” says Sarah Sclarandis, founder of the incredibly chic line of shoes that are designed to actually be comfortable without sacrificing style. Her shoes are lined with extra comfort within the inner sole to help the foot. So how can you find a pair that will look great at a holiday party without leaving you limping? “Think about what your night will look like and the event,” Sclarandis says. “Is it standing around and chatting, is it dancing, and how late are you going to be? Or is it more of a holiday dinner where you’re sitting around? And going from the colder outdoors to warmth inside, your foot might swell a little bit.” When you’re shoe shopping, Sclarandis recommends trying on both shoes to make sure the pair fits, and don’t just test them out on a fluffy carpet—walk around the store to see how the shock absorption is on other surfaces, especially harder floors like wood or concrete. If you’re trying a strappy sandal, check that there’s some flexibility to the straps, such as elasticity, and for heels in general, extra cushioning under the ball of the foot is a major help. When you’re between sizes, always go larger, since you can get inserts to attain the right fit. And no matter how much you love the shoe, if it isn’t the right size, skip it. “You just have to learn to listen to your feet,” Sclarandis says. These shoes are pretty enough for your next holiday party and New Year’s Eve, but comfy enough so you can stay out as late as you’d like.
Sclarandis Alessa Peep Toe Boot, $775, sclarandis.com Courtesy of Stéphane Deroussent
Talk about a showstopper. The red hue is unique on python, and the heel is high enough to give you height, but low enough for day-to-night wear. Plus, inner cushioning softens your step.
Isolá Maria, $79.95, isolashoes.com Courtesy of Isolá
Put a metallic spin on menswear with these snake-embossed slip-on brogues that can be paired with jeans or party dresses. No one will ever guess they’re designed for comfort, with a padded footbed and soft Italian leather upper that molds to your feet.
Taryn Rose Cassidy, $210, tarynrose.com Courtesy of Taryn Rose
Rose gold elevates anything it graces, from jewelry to makeup to these metallic booties. The wooden block heel is just the right amount of subtle contrast, and you can sparkle all night in them with internal shock-absorbing foam, flexible sole and contoured arch support.
Zvelle Tara, $395, zvelle.com Courtesy of Zvelle
Mules get a party-ready makeover with playful pom-poms on the sultry lace-ups. All Zvelle shoes have a cushioned memory foam insole and custom injected rubber mould outsole to help with grip—that means no slipping on the dance floor.
Shoes of Prey Corvetto 70, $149, shoesofprey.com Courtesy of Shoes of Prey
A winter wonderland for your feet, the bronze cap toe adds just the right amount of metallic to the snowy leather. To get the most comfortable pair for you, the shoes are easily customized, from picking the toe type to the heel type to the width to the heel height, and more. Every pair of Shoes of Prey comes with a shoe comfort kit, with heel grips and soft cushions for under the ball of your feet, to make it as cozy as possible.
Roccamore Hope, $245, roccamore.com Courtesy of Roccamore
Trade in your go-to black pumps for ones with unexpected buckle details. Roccamore shoes are designed with an orthopedic insole that is made in a shock-absorbing latex that naturally adapts to your foot and shapes it to walk in as anatomically correct a manner as possible.
Koio x Hickies Onyx Swarovski, $268, koio.co Courtesy of Koio x Hickies
Sneakers with skirts and dresses is the ultimate cool girl combo, and it doesn’t get cooler than the Koio x Hickies collab. Koio’s original low-top sneaker in luxe leather and suede ups its glamour with limited edition Hickies Swarovski shoelaces. Already have a pair of kicks that are set to sparkle? Buy the laces separately and they’ll transform any pair into slip-ons.
SENSO Rina, $195, senso.com.au Courtesy of SENSO
Rhinestones bring pizzazz to baby pink suede mule sandals, and the trendy block heel means extra support and comfort.
Børn Avala, $200, bornshoes.com Courtesy of Børn
Instead of black, go for an unexpected burgundy hue in classic suede knee-high boots. The brand’s patented hand-sewn construction method guarantees you can dance all night in them, with arch support, flexibility and a multilayered cushioned footbed.
Jaclyn Jones Poppy, $1,475, jaclynjonesusa.com Courtesy of Jaclyn Jones
The architectural silhouette of these heels is unique, and so is the color combo of black, burgundy and bronze. The heels feature 4-millimeter-thick foam insoles—two to three times thicker than the usual insoles—with an impressive rebound rate for lasting comfort.
Söfft Tamira, $69.99, sofftshoe.com Courtesy of Söfft
A chunky block heel—especially in scarlet—will be in heavy rotation through the holiday season and beyond. And you can wear them all day long, thanks to the brand’s signature contoured foam footbed that provides extra padding and support at the heel, ball of foot and arch.
Naturalizer Rainy, $130, naturalizer.com Courtesy of Naturalizer
The brocade trend is still going strong, and this print brings an unexpected edge to a timeless silhouette. Featuring Naturalizer’s N5 Contour technology, it sends your weight to the back of the heel and has dual-density cushioning all over, with extra on the pressure points.
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6d136a4fb6fb27c9fbcfe2957a0e97ef | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2020/01/15/this-is-the-age-when-women-see-the-biggest-changes-in-their-skin/ | This Is The Age When Women See The Biggest Changes In Their Skin | This Is The Age When Women See The Biggest Changes In Their Skin
When you think about the symptoms of menopause, the first that come to mind are probably hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings. But the one that everyone is mum about is the transformation that your skin undergoes—it’s actually when you’ll see the biggest changes in your complexion. “Women all over the world are struggling with skin issues directly caused by menopause and the dip of estrogen levels, yet no one is talking about this menopausal symptom of the skin and no one has come up with a solution, until now,” says Lena Korres, Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer of KORRES. “You lose 30% of collagen, 30% of skin lipids, and you have a 36% reduction in skin reproduction. It’s the most drastic change our skin will ever go through.”
KORRES White Pine Meno-Reverse Volumizing Serum-In-Moisturizer Courtesy of KORRES
That’s why KORRES is launching a line specifically for menopausal skin, debuting on HSN. “My team at KORRES knows the power of science in skincare and its potential to change women’s lives,” Korres says. “Our new KORRES White Pine Meno-Reverse is the first and only skincare line that is clinically proven to address aging concerns after menopause, when most skincare stops being as effective as it once was. This isn’t just an anti-aging line. This is a targeted treatment line, with incredible results just for her.” The line is comprised of two products: Volumizing Serum-In-Moisturizer, which boosts volume, moisturizes and plumps skin while tackling deep wrinkles; and Deep Wrinkle Plumping + Age Spot Concentrate to reduce age spots and deep lines. The collection is designed to be used together for maximum results, as they work in tandem to target the two biggest agers: dark spots and deep wrinkles.
KORRES White Pine Meno-Reverse was years in the making. “In cooperation with the Department of Pharmacy and the Department of Biology of the National University of Athens, we conducted primary research on the amazing powers of centenarian trees for two years,” Korres says. “At the same time, we discovered a natural peptide blend we called Meno-Reverse that’s a breakthrough active with targeted action on post-menopause aging that can bring vital water levels and skin density to pre-menopausal levels. These two key ingredients rest at the heart of a mature-skin-targeted formula.” White pine bark is at the center of the collection because of its ability to detoxify cells and accelerate the production of new proteins, which is based on Nobel awarded science. The discovery was so crucial that it was added to the W-INCI (world INCI directory) under the KORRES name.
KORRES White Pine Meno-Reverse Deep Wrinkle Plumping + Age Spot Concentrate Courtesy of KORRES
The line is specifically tailored to women going through menopause, since the skin's structure completely changes during and after menopause. “Even though the skin's top layers become thinner, the epidermis becomes more difficult to penetrate, which means skincare products you may have been using effectively up until this change won't be as effective,” Korres explains. “The Meno-Reverse technology is formulated to target this change in the skin specifically, absorbing deeply into these tough layers of skin to restore it back to a premenopausal look and feel. Even more surprising than the massive change in skin due to menopause is looking at the clinical research that shows that with the right technology, the skin's state can truly and effectively be put into reverse.” Their research found that when using White Pine Meno-Reverse, skin density, natural moisture and quality of wrinkles were proven to return back to a post-menopausal state within 28 days.
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Eventually, KORRES plans to expand the collection and introduce new products in the fall to build out an entire White Pine Meno-Reverse targeted treatment line. But that’s not their only goal—they also want to educate women in this demographic about their beauty needs. “With this launch, we hope we can contribute in educating all women on how menopause has a direct impact on the skin,” Korres says. “It’s a touchy taboo subject—women know that their skin is aging rapidly and may feel their appearance changed almost overnight, but they don’t make the connection between their skin struggles and menopause. And many women want to discuss these drastic changes but haven’t found a comfortable outlet to do so. We want to change the conversation and open up the dialogue so it’s taboo no more. We know what she’s going through, why it happens, how she is feeling and most importantly how to solve it. We are here to deliver answers and real solutions to a real-life issue that was never fully addressed before.”
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c825d4d41143d02050c7a7ba948e23d6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2020/04/15/louis-vuittons-paris-atelier-is-now-making-hospital-gowns/ | Louis Vuitton’s Paris Atelier Is Now Making Hospital Gowns | Louis Vuitton’s Paris Atelier Is Now Making Hospital Gowns
Since 1854, the world has admired gorgeous goods crafted by Louis Vuitton, starting with their innovative luggage collection to bags, shoes, jewelry, fragrance, watches and clothing. For the first time, they are creating another coveted item in the age of coronavirus: hospital gowns. Louis Vuitton has reopened their ready-to-wear atelier in their headquarters on the rue du Pont Neuf in Paris specifically to craft this desperately needed medical staple. The gowns are being made for frontline workers at six hospitals in Paris, specifically the hospitals of the Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris, which are called AP-HP. This is the regional hospital center operating in Paris and its suburbs, who are taking care of COVID-19 patients.
A hospital gown made in the Louis Vuitton atelier in Paris Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
“We are proud to be able to help healthcare professionals at our level and put our know-how at the disposal of the Hôpitaux de Paris to create gowns for medical staff,” Michael Burke, Louis Vuitton Chairman and CEO, has said. “I would like to thank the artisans of our atelier who voluntarily participate in this civic act and who have been bravely applying themselves… to equip healthcare workers in hospitals who are in need of gowns.”
Every evening, the gowns made that day are picked up from the atelier and distributed to the six Parisian hospitals. Twenty volunteers are making thousands of gowns to provide support for the healthcare workers of Hôpitaux de Paris. The gowns are all being made in AP-HP approved fabrics and patterns. In addition to the gowns being made manually at the Pont Neuf atelier, Louis Vuitton pattern cutters are volunteering to work from home. Each pattern cutter will be given an automatic machine to allow them to produce even more gowns.
A hospital gown being made in the Louis Vuitton atelier Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
As the coronavirus pandemic has taken a toll on a range of businesses around the globe, Louis Vuitton has not been immune to its effects, particularly since they shut down business. “It turns out that when your stores actually physically close down, the entire content closes down [and] we are not as seamless as we thought we were,” Burke has said. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m x number of stores down,’ we have 12,000 stores now. In the beginning, it was just about... staying in touch, reaching out, making sure everybody is fine, nobody needs anything and of course, progressively, [clients] got back into purchasing.”
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A hospital gown made by Louis Vuitton Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
Like many other fashion brands, Louis Vuitton has used their force for good to make an impact during these unprecedented times by making medical supplies. “Overall, inside the company, everyone wants to help out as you’ve seen with the teams on the leather goods side,” Burke has said. “It’s based on people volunteering and wanting to do good.”
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28eaf1a96ad3bdac21ac25ac43fd1ef1 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2020/04/15/the-best-bold-lipsticks-to-look-put-together-on-zoom-calls/ | The Best Bold Lipsticks To Look Put Together On Zoom Calls | The Best Bold Lipsticks To Look Put Together On Zoom Calls
So much for boardrooms and epic lunches—in the age of coronavirus, practically every work meeting is over Zoom. But the video conference platform isn’t just for business. It’s how we’re communicating with our friends, family and it seems anyone who is more than six feet away. For those of us lucky enough to work from home, most of us aren’t exactly in our typical nine to five garb. Blazers and pencil skirts have been replaced with hoodies and yoga pants. As for hair and makeup routines, you might be asking what hair and makeup routine? One perk is it’s been great letting our skin breathe sans makeup—and you can keep that going even when getting ready for your next Zoom call simply by swiping on a bright lipstick. That’s all you need to look chic and pulled together.
“To wear bold lip color is really the easiest way to get the illusion of a full face of makeup,” says Chanel Makeup Artist Tyron Machhausen. “A strong lip commands all the attention. You don’t have to do anything else. It’s almost like using an accessory. With a clean, bare face it looks not too dramatic, but easy going and nonchalant—it’s casual. There are different ways to wear a bold lip depending on what you’re trying to achieve.” For example, for a sharper look, use a lip liner. Or you can wear lipstick a little bit softer by putting a bold lip color on and blotting off with tissue; diffusing the line around the lips makes everything look softer.
Chanel Rouge Camélia in Camélia Pourpre Courtesy of Chanel
To find the right bold lipstick for your skin tone, there’s no need to follow the rules. “I think a little differently about this,” Machhausen says. Typically those with cool undertones are advised to go with lipstick with cool or blue undertones, while those with warm skin tones should stick with warm lipstick tones. Don’t know where you fall? Use this old trick: If the veins on your wrist look blue then you’re cool and if they appear green then you’re warm. “I think all those rules do not apply, especially with bold lipstick, because a warm orangey shade can look amazing on a cool person,” Machhausen says. “There are not really mistakes to be made. People are too individual. Bold colors can be worn by any skin tone, in my opinion. If you want a bold color that isn’t too red or orangey, go with something more like wine colors in the burgundy category, something that is a little bit more muted. There are so many shades that you can play with.”
Another element to consider is the texture of your lipstick. “That’s important, especially on a video conference,” Machhausen says. “In front of the camera, matte isn’t distracting, unlike something too shiny. A matte texture always looks chic and effortless and not trying too hard. The Rouge Allure Velvet from Chanel has a soft matte finish, which never looks dry.”
After finding the perfect shade, learn how to apply it the right way. Start by prepping your lips, which is a crucial step. “The most important thing is to exfoliate your lips,” Machhausen says. Right after you get out of the shower, you can gently rub your lips with a dry towel, then moisturize them. However, never apply lip color directly on top of moisturizer because the lip product swims on top, since moisturizer creates a layer between the lips and lipstick. Then it’s time to swipe it on. “Everybody does it differently, from right from the tube or people use their fingertips to apply,” Machhausen says. “There are so many different ways. [The application method] really depends on the outcome you want to achieve. With a brush you can be more precise and a little bit sharper. If you use lipliner first, especially a long lasting one, it prevents lipstick from feathering. If you use lipliner and then put lipstick on that, you always look put together. You can play with lipstick too, especially with bold color. Go for a two-tone look—add lighter and brighter color in the center of the lips for a nice way to add three dimensional effect. For a true red lip, add a bit of an orangey red tone to the center or even fuchsia. It sounds extreme, but since the colors are overlaying, it’s not something that is really in your face.”
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Those little extra steps can make your lips even brighter—and it’s a nice little dose of self-care that we could all use these days. “Wear a bright lipstick and you’ll look put together right away, you don’t have to do anything else,” Machhausen says. These bright, bold shades will do the job on your next Zoom call:
Hermés Beauty Rouge Orange 53 Mat Objet Courtesy of Hermés Beauty
Hermés Beauty Rouge Orange 53 Mat Objet, $67, hermes.com. The new lipstick collection by Hermés is truly a thing of great beauty. Functional and fabulous, the lipstick cases are designed by Pierre Hardy and made with lacquered, polished and brushed metal and are refillable. This shade is classic Hermés orange in a lipstick. Highly pigmented, a single swipe delivers all the color you need.
Gucci Rouge a Levres Mat Lipstick in 402 Vantine Fuchsia Courtesy of Gucci
Gucci Rouge a Levres Mat Lipstick in 402 Vantine Fuchsia, $42, Sephora.com. Everything about this lippie screams Old Hollywood, from the luxe gold case to the vivid fuchsia tone. The pop of pink will brighten your mood and your computer screen. Packed with pigment, the color is bright and feels smooth on your lips.
Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet Camélia in Camelia Rouge Courtesy of Chanel
Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet Camélia in Camelia Rouge, $40, chanel.com. Everyone needs a classic red lipstick in their makeup bag and this one fits the bill. “Camelia Rouge is an absolutely beautiful shade,” Machhausen says. The limited edition lipstick collection comes in a Rouge Allure click case adorned with a golden camellia, making it just as pretty on your vanity as your pucker.
Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick in Peculiar Pink Courtesy of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté
Yves Saint Laurent Beauté Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Matte Lipstick in Peculiar Pink, $39, yslbeautyus.com. No lipliner? No problem. The slim square-shaped lipstick has sharp edges for precision application, allowing the longwear matte lipstick to last all day. A deep berry shade is a sophisticated hue that will instantly take your Zoom looks up a notch.
Huda Beauty Power Bullet Matte Lipstick in Masquerade Courtesy of Huda Beauty
Huda Beauty Power Bullet Matte Lipstick in Masquerade, $25, hudabeauty.com. Unlike some mattes, you never have to worry about this rich formula drying out your lips. Make a statement with Masquerade, a cool toned aubergine.
L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Luminous Hydrating Lipstick + Nourishing Serum in Splendid Plum Courtesy of L’Oreal Paris
L’Oreal Paris Age Perfect Luminous Hydrating Lipstick + Nourishing Serum in Splendid Plum, $8.49, walmart.com. One of the perks of working from home is keeping extra comfy—and this lipstick will do just that for your pucker. Infused with a serum and vitamin B5, it promises nine-hour moisture and helps lips look and feel smoother over time, all while coating them in a pretty pink plum.
Armani Beauty Lip Maestro Liquid Lipstick in Mahogany Courtesy of Armani Beauty
Armani Beauty Lip Maestro Liquid Lipstick in Mahogany, $38, giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com. If you want to mix up the formula, opt for a liquid lipstick. This award-winning, iconic lipstick is designed to stick around for eight hours comfortably while delivering deep color. Mahogany, an inky hue between purple and burgundy, oozes style.
Tom Ford Ultra-Shine Lip Color in La Chaleur Courtesy of Tom Ford
Tom Ford Ultra-Shine Lip Color in La Chaleur, $55, tomford.com. When you have back-to-back Zoom calls, this creamy color is the answer. Essentially three formulas in one—a lipstick, gloss and balm—it’ll keep your smoocher soft all day in a delightful shade of pink.
Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Pandemonium Courtesy of Urban Decay
Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Pandemonium, $19, urbandecay.com. Talk about purple rein! All eyes will be on your mouth when you sport this intoxicating violet lipstick. The “mega matte” formula has an intense finish but a dreamy, creamy feel.
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in The Queen Courtesy of Charlotte Tilbury
Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick in The Queen, $34, charlottetilbury.com. When a lipstick is inspired by the queen, you know it’s going to look regal, and this rosy pink matte certainly does. Buildable color allows you to make as much of a statement as you’d like. The formula contains antioxidant orchid extract to soften and hydrate, plus it has up to 10 hours of staying power.
LORAC Pro Satin Lip Color in Grapefruit Courtesy of LORAC
LORAC Pro Satin Lip Color in Grapefruit, $19, lorac.com. Super creamy and super easy to apply, this long wear lippie is a winner all around. There’s even a built-in sharpener to keep a fine point, making it a twofer as a lipliner.
Clé de Peau Lipstick Cashmere in Legend Courtesy of Clé de Peau
Clé de Peau Lipstick Cashmere in Legend, $65, CledePeauBeaute.com. You can never have enough reds and since this one is limited edition, you’ll want to snatch it up right away. The classic red with a semi-matte finish works on all skin tones. Thanks to the bullet’s petal-shaped tip, you can apply it straight from the tube—it’ll hug your lips’ contours.
Revlon Super Lustrous Matte Lipstick in Hot Date Courtesy of Revlon
Revlon Super Lustrous Matte Lipstick in Hot Date, $8.49, amazon.com. A striking matte finish sans drag or dryness is true makeup magic. The lightweight formula packs a punch while giving all the color you need. Hot Date is the perfect moniker for this dynamic magenta.
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608ee08240d2f19b2298c20a1bbfb415 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2021/02/22/chanels-new-lipscanner-app-finds-any-lipstick-color-and-virtually-lets-you-try-it-on/?sh=6b216aa1a4cb | Chanel’s New Lipscanner App Finds Any Lipstick Color—And Virtually Lets You Try It On | Chanel’s New Lipscanner App Finds Any Lipstick Color—And Virtually Lets You Try It On
The Chanel Lipscanner app Courtesy of Chanel
Sometimes the perfect shade of lipstick isn’t found in the makeup aisle. It’s a vibrant bloom you spot in a garden, the same crimson as your favorite statement heels or a color in a pretty painting. Now, thanks to groundbreaking technology from Chanel, you can find those hues—and any other you see—in an array of lipsticks. Today marks the launch of Lipscanner, Chanel’s first makeup color scanner app, available for iOS. “The beauty of AI is it is extremely powerful if you have the right data set and if you have the right approach to design,” says Cédric Begon, Director of the Connected Experience Lab at Chanel. “At each step we worked with the Creation Studio and makeup experts. When you try the app you will see we paid a lot of attention in really finding the closest shade you are interested in when you flash a face of inspiration or an object. If you like this red, you can take a photo. If you are interested in a face—this face can be a movie star, it can be your neighbor, it can be a friend, it can be a photo of someone on social networks—we automatically extract the shade and the finish, and in turn we retrieve immediately the closest product with that shade and this finish in the Chanel range.”
The Chanel Lipscanner app Courtesy of Chanel
A joint collaboration between the CX Lab (the connected experience lab, a team created in 2018 to design new services for mobile and retail) and the Chanel Makeup Creation Studio, Lipscanner was developed completely in-house to find the exact lipstick that you’re looking for. The app works intuitively and instantaneously. All you have to do is snap a photo or select one from your camera roll. Whether the pic is of an inanimate object or a person, Lipscanner will recognize the color, then suggest a few products in the closest shade from their range of more than 400 lipsticks. You can then instantly try it on virtually with the app and even take a selfie to keep or share on social media. There’s also the option to purchase the lip product of your choice on chanel.com. “[The concept] was a direct request from our president [of fragrance and beauty], Anne Kirby,” Begon says. “In early 2019 we had a discussion regarding virtual try-on. Anne was very interested in pushing the experience further to make it much faster, simple and convenient to avoid having to navigate through inventory to find the right shade.”
The Chanel Lipscanner app Courtesy of Chanel
There’s no limit to the pictures or inspirations you can submit. If you provide an image of a person, Lipscanner identifies the face, honing in on the lips, and will even identify the texture of their lipstick and deliver suggestions with the same one. Lipscanner recommends shades in five color families—natural, pink, orange, red and plum—as well as in five textures: gloss, shine, metallic, satin and matte. As for inanimate objects, there’s never been a better way to match your lipstick to your outfit. The algorithm analyzes the shade down to the pixel.
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It took over a year and a half to fine tune the app and the technology behind it. The algorithm is exclusive to Chanel, with a patent pending. Tens of thousands of facial images were used in its creation, to study everything from skin tone to lip color to lip shape. The app also takes your own lips into account when creating its recommendations for lipstick shades and finishes. “The most difficult part was extracting the shade and rendering on faces and on lips,” Begon says. “We constituted a very large data set, including the broadest variety of lips, skin tones, lip tones, facial expressions, and we trained the algorithm to be able to work from the palest to the darkest tones and extract the rendering. When you try the app yourself you’ll see it’s really a color extraction in a sense; we trained the algorithm to do that. It’s not a simplistic capture of the color of the pixels; [it] understands the shade and the finish. It’s a true AI approach.”
The Chanel Lipscanner app Courtesy of Chanel
One of Begon’s favorite elements of Lipscanner is the privacy it affords. “All the computation takes part on the smartphone; we don’t call a server,” he says. “There is an initial call to download the model when you open the app, so you need a connection, but once it’s done, everything you do is your private game. We don’t retrieve any personal data and to do that we had to bring the model entirely on the phone and make sure it was able to deliver the computational performance on all the iPhone generations we have on the market and that was quite a tough challenge. Guided by this radical choice of privacy, we wanted the images to stay on the phone and we don’t have any access to a single piece of personal data. To be useful, simple and fun, you need to have trust, you need to make sure that customers don’t ask themselves am I tracked, am I going to give my images to someone. That’s the reason why we wanted the privacy approach to be extreme.”
The Chanel Lipscanner app Courtesy of Chanel
This is just the start of tapping into this type of technology for Chanel. “Digital beauty is so exciting at the moment,” Begon says. “We started a long time ago. The first virtual try-on experience the house released in-store was in January 2016, so we were among the first brands to bring live virtual trial in-store. We learned how to use this in consistency with our message on beauty. Now our objective is to push what can be an interesting differentiation and an interesting value for customers with tech.”
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6159807c79da8540de108b03979c4af3 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2021/03/19/celebrity-makeup-artist-katie-jane-hughes-on-her-drugstore-beauty-favorites-and-using-instagram-to-pivot-her-career/ | Celebrity Makeup Artist Katie Jane Hughes On Her Drugstore Beauty Favorites And Using Instagram To Pivot Her Career | Celebrity Makeup Artist Katie Jane Hughes On Her Drugstore Beauty Favorites And Using Instagram To Pivot Her Career
Celebrity and Editorial Makeup Artist Katie Jane Hughes Courtesy of Katie Jane Hughes
When makeup artists first began flooding our Instagram feeds years ago, it felt like an endless scrawl of contouring tutorials and images of the perfect taupe smokey eye. But not for celebrity and editorial makeup artist—and now influencer—Katie Jane Hughes. A breath of fresh air, she has always been about dewy skin and a bright, bold aesthetic that’s all about creativity and experimentation. Best of all, everything about it is accessible. Famous for her #KJHAcademy, she shares step-by-step makeup tutorials on Instagram and reposts pictures of her followers who have recreated the look, proving these anything-but-basic looks aren’t just for professional makeup artists. Hughes is also famous for her high-low mix when it comes to makeup products. That might explain her devoted following on the platform, not to mention the famous faces she paints regularly, including Ashley Graham and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. We chatted with Hughes about her rise to fame on Instagram, her partnership with Revlon and whether she’ll ever have her own makeup line.
How did your partnership with Revlon come about? As a makeup artist, I’ve never been afraid of using drugstore or premium cosmetics. In my opinion, there’s really no difference. I’m shopping colors and textures; I’m not shopping brand names. That gets exciting at times, but really, I’m shopping what the product looks like on the skin or what you can do with it, how you can manipulate product. People sometimes overlook drugstore and they’re a bit like, it mustn’t be as good because it’s cheaper. That’s absolute bullshit; that’s not the truth. I’ve always loved drugstore products throughout my whole life. My first lipstick was a drugstore lipstick when I was like 15, 16. I forgot what it was—Rimmel Birthday Suit or something crazy. Everybody has been through that one. That’s the foundation of my love for drugstore, about how I like to challenge people’s ideas on what things are sometimes, and trying to convince people that drugstore makeup isn’t any less than premium is one of them. Working so closely with Ashley Graham, who is one of the faces of Revlon, whenever I work with a talent or celebrity figure that has a contract with a beauty brand, I take pride in really using those products on them because it’s the truth. My kit that I take to Ashley’s house is like 90% Revlon, and the other bits are a few skincare things, a few tools, because for me to able to actually reiterate what I’ve used on her when somebody asks me it’s important that I’m telling them what it is. Working so closely with Ashley, that absolutely was an organic match made in heaven for the three of us, for Revlon, Ashley and I. We get to play creatively with color and product and have all the fun.
Revlon So Fierce! Prismatic Eye Shadow Palettes in Clap Back Courtesy of Revlon
What are your favorite Revlon products? The new So Fierce! Prismatic Eye Shadow Palettes. As soon as I know I can use anything wet and it’s a dry product, my usage of the product will triple. There’s a photograph on my Instagram where I use this everywhere and I use this in the center of my eye and it’s this insane wild, big blown out rock n roll smokey eye. I used them wet. They went on like an absolute dream and that’s why I love this. The two palettes I used was the Clap Back and Slight Flex. Those are amazing. You can use them wet or dry, and just a little bit of setting spray or water if you’d like. And So Fierce! Big Bad Lash Mascara. It’s amazing. Also, I think Revlon tops the lipstick category across the board. Their lipsticks are comfortable, but they have long wearability, whereas I feel like often some drugstore [brands] try to overachieve a little bit, and then it’s really hard to wear and quite uncomfortable. I have almost 100 shades in the Super Lustrous Lipstick line, which is wild.
How did you initially become interested in makeup and beauty? When I was a little girl, my mum was a singer and she would basically transform from mum at home, looking after her four kids, to then being this woman who goes and commands the room and takes over the stage and is the entertainer of the night. Seeing her put on her red lipstick— she was definitely a Revlon girl with bold red lips—and loads of mascara, as much mascara as she could possibly get on, loads of bronzer, big long nails, hair backcombed to the nines, super glam, and just being able to see that transformation really showed me the transformative power of beauty and fashion and expressing yourself.
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Revlon So Fierce! Big Bad Lash Mascara Courtesy of Revlon
What were your first jobs in the industry? I started as a nail technician because I was a bit of everything school drop-out. I didn’t really like high school, I didn’t really like college, I just didn’t excel well in a school environment at all. I’ve always been a hands-on, get stuff in, get your foot in the door and work your way up type of person. My whole family is those type of people. My mom was like, go get a job in a nail shop and learn a trade. My dad’s a builder, my brother’s a builder, my mum’s a singer. We’re all self-employed and do something crafty or creative in a way. So, I did that. I worked in a nail shop from age 17 to 20. I knew I wanted to transition to a makeup artist, so I moved to London to do [that]. I remember one picture that really made me want to do makeup as a career, seeing this cover of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley on Love magazine with a bright red, wavy wig on, with the most amazing red lips, and that lip-print dress. Charlotte Tilbury did the makeup at the time. That photograph that made me want to do this as a job. So, I moved to London, got my foot in the door doing nails on set and then slowly but surely started to tell people I’m also trying to get into makeup if you ever need an assistant, I’m here. I just hustled my way up, basically.
What are the most valuable lessons about makeup and beauty that you’ve learned? We’re in such a different time now. Five years ago, we would have been able to say skin first, everything second. But now if you want to wear full coverage foundation then who gives a shit. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. If it makes you feel good, then that’s all that matters. Based on what I just said, the ability to evolve with how things are moving is important. Hung Vanngo posted something on his Instagram; somebody DMed him and said it’s disgusting that you’re doing YouTube—these are our trade secrets, how disappointing. And I’m like, okay, well sorry, but you’re the one who is going to be left behind because this is the way the industry is evolving and also let people do what they want to do. Also, somebody gave me this generalization: You don’t watch someone play football and then call them out for stealing trade secrets. And then I was talking to somebody else about this and she was like, I could give you my entire kit, I could show you exactly from step one all the way to step 100 what to do and you still wouldn’t be able to execute it the same way as me because we’re different. Our hands our different. Our minds are different. What we see is different. So, I think being able to evolve is key. Just being able to move with the curve and the time. And being accepting of one another. We all like different things and we all have different aesthetics and we all evolve through it.
Katie Jane Hughes Courtesy of Katie Jane Hughes
Why did you start posting your tutorials on Instagram? I got on Instagram just like everybody else did back in 2012 as like a hobby. When you work in the fashion space you are taught by the people you assist to do skin that looks like skin and not that looks like it’s wearing foundation. A lot of what we were seeing back in 2013, 2014 and 2015 on Instagram was heavy skin, like all the contouring, all the foundation, all the baking, all the brows, all the everything. The cut creases, all of it. There were definitely people doing the fresh skin style at the time, but it wasn’t as popular as it is now, to be dewy and almost make people be like whoa, she’s really greasy, or is it dewy? It was interesting. That’s what made my work stand out I think back then, was because I was so much of that fresh skin, creative, funky eye details happening. It was all very much glam and nothing else. And I was frustrated with being on set and not necessarily being able to do these creative looks on a model that I would have loved to have done because back then the on-set aesthetic most of the time—unless you were doing a big bold, creative editorial for like Allure or someone—were beige, neutral, a little bit of contour, a little bit of a taupe on the eye, balm on the lip, brushed up brows, done. And so, for me, I wanted to come onto Instagram and educate like hey, if you’re just a girl or a boy or whoever, you’re just a person who wants to wear creative makeup, but you don’t want to just do beige, you don’t want to do to that heavy kind of look, then here’s something in the middle.
How did being on Instagram like that changed your career? It changed my career a lot. I think because of this space I transitioned from nails to makeup. I moved to New York completely to rebrand, which is what I did. I was definitely known as a manicurist in London, moved over here, did a little bit of nails in a previous job I had with a beauty brand and then slowly started to let nails dwindle away and I think that Instagram really allowed me to just keep posting the makeup, the makeup, the makeup. At the end of the day, our own Instagram is our little editorial and that’s something that you’re not necessarily getting to do. You don’t get to decide. You get told by your creatives or your higher-ups what is the reference, what is the mood, unless you’re obviously spearheading that project, but that was the reason why I wanted to do so much of that stuff, because I did want to make my Instagram my own little haven of creativity and it became the place where brands found me, where my celebrity clients found me. I’ll be sitting with like Rosie Huntington-Whiteley or Ashley [Graham] and they’ll literally be swiping through my Instagram looking at it like it’s a menu and they’ll tap on a photograph of me wearing a makeup look and go let’s do this and it’s brilliant. That’s the hardest thing with being a makeup artist. If somebody gives you a reference verbally, what that actually means in their head is very different. So, when somebody just tells you, points at a picture and says let’s do this, it is literally the best thing in the world.
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow Courtesy of Revlon
Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Cherries in the Snow Courtesy of Revlon
How would you define your aesthetic? I think it’s evolved a little over the years, like everything else. I would say it’s colorful, fresh, and creative and achievable, hopefully. I’m about to do my KJH Academy that I do every Thursday or Friday where I encourage my audience to join in. I actually did a poll [on Instagram] not so long ago that blew me away to see who’s a makeup artist and who’s not and the percentage of the not makeup artist poll was 90% and I was floored. Wow. That fills me with a lot of confidence to know that hopefully I’m doing something right if I’m making makeup artistry digestible and accessible to non-makeup artists. With the KJH Academy, I can literally see the progress of these people week by week by week because a lot of the same people will get involved each week and it’s amazing to see them improve based on little bits of education.
Will you ever do your own makeup line? Yes. I just did a brush collection with Spectrum from the UK and it sold out in two and a half hours, so that was some really awesome information to gear me up for what I’m going to do on my own. With what I’m going to do on my own, it’s coming slowly but surely. What it is that I’m trying to cook up is different in the sense of how it’s going to be delivered to the consumer. I don’t believe I’m going to be one of those people that only uses my own product. The brand isn’t going to be called Katie Jane Hughes Beauty; it’s not my vibe to do that. It’s a brand for the people. I want it to be their brand and your brand and something that I just help to bring to you.
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5657a575b62399bac7a1df4f6d7e9e1a | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2021/04/12/lingerie-line-luxxie-boston-is-making-sustainability-sexy/ | Lingerie Line Luxxie Boston Is Making Sustainability Sexy | Lingerie Line Luxxie Boston Is Making Sustainability Sexy
The Luxxie Boston Maxi Slip Natalia Borecka
Stefanie Mnayarji was walking down the street in Sydney, Australia in 2013 with a client when a gust of wind came and ripped open her wrap dress. Needless to say, she was mortified. The Boston-based economist had flown there for business meetings and realized a slip would have prevented that mishap. In the moment, she was desperate to find something so she wouldn’t have to live through that again. The only option she could find was shapewear, which was painfully tight and uncomfortable, but she bought it anyway because she was in a bind and needed a foundation for her clothing. “I couldn't take it off and so I took a pair of scissors and just cut it right off me,” Mnayarji recalls. “I swore I would never do that again.”
Mnayarji did more digging and couldn’t find options beyond shapewear. “A slip for a modern woman and modern clothes didn't exist,” she says. “Slips have gone the way of the dodo bird. But friction and gravity are still a thing.” Mnayarji decided to take matters into her own hands and create her own, dubbing the line Luxxie Boston. She wasn’t a seamstress, but began by playing with attaching silk to her bra. “It was not at all pretty, but it did serve a function,” she says. “I didn't want to have to wear multiple layers under my clothes, like a bra and something else. It helped me evolve into the design that we eventually settled on.” Mnayarji wanted to get it right, so she tapped material scientists at MIT to make the perfect silk and designers at Parsons School of Design for the pattern. She didn’t compromise on her vision: The fabric had to be light, comfortable, breathable and washable. “It's also had to be elegant, something that I wouldn't mind showing off,” she adds. Living in Boston and experiencing all four seasons, Mnayarji wanted a slip that would keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
The Luxxie Boston Slip Natalia Borecka
Once the prototype was ready, Mnayarji beta tested it on over 300 women. “If you met me in the year 2013 and 2014, I made you try this on and wear it every day for a week,” she says. “From my mother to all my sisters, my cousins, my friends, people that I would literally have five-minute conversations with while waiting in line, I had them test it. It was important to me that we got women in all different sizes, so that's why we were able to offer sizes 32 to 42. And it was important for me to get a comfortable fit as well. Comfort is so important. For all of human existence, women have compromised comfort to look good. It's time that we change that; this is absolutely ridiculous. Never settle for discomfort. I always said this is a distraction—imagine what we could do if we weren't thinking about what's pinching us and pulling us and squeezing us in different directions.”
The feedback Mnayarji received from her testers helped her evolve the design. The biggest challenge, in addition to accommodating so many different body types, was designing a slip that worked for a range of styles. “We focus on women in traditional industries that have to wear business casual to business formal,” Mnayarji says. “Traditionally, that’s a knee length dress or a button-down shirt, but we have become more casual, and especially now, we are super casual. We also wanted this to be something that you would want to go from power nap to power suit, so you can also wear it comfortably on the weekends and for leisure.”
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Luxxie Boston CEO and Co-founder Stefanie Mnayarji Austin Nunes
Luxxie Boston officially launched on Kickstarter in 2014, which was also a way for them to get feedback from a much larger community. “Especially back in 2014, Kickstarter was largely for gamers and more in the tech space, so we showed up in a place where we were least expected,” Mnayarji says. “There were also people there that were in a more scientific, methodical mind, so the people that supported our campaign really wanted to get involved in the nitty gritty of the details in the design and that was super valuable. More importantly, from a marketing standpoint, it made us stand out. If you're going to a website and you're expecting gamers and you see a lingerie company, that makes you raise an eyebrow. It was a good way to introduce ourselves to the world and that also helped us finance our first production.”
To this day, Luxxie Boston remains exclusively direct to consumer through their website, which helps them keep their pricing down. The entire line is manufactured in the United States, in Los Angeles. “We're paying our manufacturers a fair wage and that is not cheap, so our margins are very slim to start off with,” Mnayarji says. “We would rather pass on a savings to our customer. And we wouldn't be able to price it as competitively if we were to go through more traditional retailers. We also have a more personal experience with our customer because we want to interact with them.” Being direct to consumer enables them to communicate with customers directly about their feedback. It also gives Luxxie Boston greater control over their product and how it's presented to the customer.
The Luxxie Boston Cami Natalia Borecka
Luxxie Boston has since expanded beyond a slip to a cami, maxi slip and a robe. Like the slip, the cami eliminates the need for a bra thanks to its built-in support system. All pieces are in their signature silk, which was also created so that whatever is worn over it just slides down, sans any friction, including the lace detail that will never ride up. Mnayarji purposely opted for organic silk over a synthetic one because those are made of polyester. “I hate to break it to everyone, but polyester is plastic,” she says. “Every time you wash it, it's flushing microplastics into our oceans and literally suffocating it. That was just something that I was not interested in doing at all, knowing that information. I don't care if it would be more profitable. There's so much jargon out there about sustainability and I'm so passionate about this. Even if you're making something out of recycled plastic bottles, that does sound admirable, but you're still flushing microplastics into the ocean every time you wash it, and that's something that we can never clean up. We can't take a skimmer to the ocean and pick up those microplastics because they're so small. It's disrupting everything from the way whales make milk to the way the corals spawn and reproduce. It's the biggest environmental detriment to our oceans.”
Luxxie Boston considers every aspect of their environmental impact, which is why they minimize their use of plastic. Instead, they opt for recycled paper and cardboard boxes. Since their silk is machine washable, that saves on dry cleaning, which is another detriment to the environment. “The fashion industry in general is the second largest polluter, so we didn't want to be a contributor to that,” Mnayarji says. “Our tagline is heirloom, not landfill. We want to give you something that's well crafted, that is sturdy enough that maybe you will pass it down to your own grandchildren. Imagine having your grandmother's awesome silk robe?”
The Luxxie Boston Robe and Slip Natalia Borecka
Like many lingerie lines these days, Luxxie Boston is meant to be seen. For example, the cami shouldn’t always be hidden underneath a button-down shirt; it can also be styled with a blazer. “I've worn the black maxi to black tie events,” Mnayarji says. “I've also worn it out for dinner with friends.” Eventually, she’d like to expand the collection and hopes to put out a boy short next. Just like the rest of the line, the new additions are sure to be classics that are made to last. Trends will come and go, but Luxxie Boston knows that careful craftsmanship and sustainability are always in style.
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e2c10610d223f5d269c5200170f0c536 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celiashatzman/2021/04/22/the-best-sustainable-beauty-buys-for-earth-day-2021/ | The Best Sustainable Beauty Buys For Earth Day 2021 | The Best Sustainable Beauty Buys For Earth Day 2021
PYT Beauty Upcycle Eyeshadow Palette PYT Beauty
What the beauty industry does to our environment isn’t exactly pretty. But more brands than ever are stepping up to do their part to help the planet. Reducing carbon emissions, rethinking packaging, serious corporate commitments to adapting earth-friendly practices, biodegradable formulas and sustainably sourced ingredients are finally becoming a beauty trend that everyone can embrace. In honor of Earth Day, these are the best sustainable beauty buys to shop now.
Beautyblender Bio Pure Makeup Sponge Beautyblender
Beautyblender Bio Pure Makeup Sponge
The signature Beautyblender sponge is bright pink, but this one is green in every way. Made in the US from the brand’s exclusive BioPlush that has a 60% plant base of renewable sugarcane, it still delivers the sponge’s signature bounce and blends makeup to perfection. Its new canister is constructed from recycled resins and made with less water waste and CO2 emissions, and over the next three years, Beautyblender will transition as many items as possible to this material. $20, sephora.com
Burt’s Bees Rescue Lip Balm Burt’s Bees
Burt’s Bees Rescue Lip Balm
Burt’s Bees has always been known as an eco-conscious brand and they just took their efforts up a notch. By 2025, they have committed to ensuring that 100% of their packaging is recyclable, reusable or compostable; investing in recycling infrastructure in the US; using 100% renewable electricity; and engaging with third party audits to ensure their workers are supported with labor rights and other protections. Then there’s their new Rescue Lip Balm, housed in a new hybrid tube of post-consumer recycled content and bioresin from upcycled potatoes. $4.39, burtsbees.com
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Colgate Keep Colgate
Colgate Keep
What happens when you’re done with your toothbrush? Most likely, you toss it in the trash. In 2020, over 495 manual toothbrushes were purchased, and there’s an excellent chance the vast majority of them are sitting in landfills because they’re not easily recyclable. But Colgate is trying to change that with Keep, a manual toothbrush with a replaceable head that eliminates plastic waste by 80%. Designed with a snap-on replaceable brush head and a reusable aluminum handle, it’s something to smile about! $12.69, target.com
Izzy Zero Waste Beauty Mascara Izzy Zero Waste Beauty
Izzy Zero Waste Beauty Mascara
Making its debut on Earth Day, Izzy Zero Waste Beauty is the very first fully reusable, sustainable and direct-to-consumer beauty brand. The cosmetics industry produces more than 120 billion units of packaging globally every year, but Izzy is aiming to change that and break the cycle by having the smallest carbon footprint of any beauty brand. Their first product is a mascara that delivers the lush lashes of prestige brands, with impressive volume, length and lift, but without waste. Once the mascara is all used up, clients can send the empty tubes back to Izzy via a reusable shipper made from upcycled materials. It will then be emptied, medically cleaned, refilled and shipped out to a new customer. Each mascara will last through at least 10,000 cycles, so it can last for 60 generations. from $35 for starter kit, yourizzy.com
Susanne Kaufmann Cleansing Gel Refill Susanne Kaufmann
Susanne Kaufmann Cleansing Gel Refill
As an early adopter of clean and sustainable beauty, it was only a matter of time before the award-winning Austrian beauty brand introduced refillable packaging. Now offered for their three most popular products—the Cleansing Gel, Hand Soap and Shower Shampoo—they come in a lightweight plastic refill bottle comprised of 75% recycled high density polyethylene that is recyclable. Since the refill is so much lighter than the brand’s glass bottles, it’ll reduce their CO2 emissions during production, transport and the post-consumer recycling process. For an extra eco-friendly touch, the plant-based Cleansing Gel is formulated with natural sugar surfactants from renewable sources and leaves skin soft and supple. $82, susannekaufmann.com
Old Spice and Secret Paperboard Deodorant Old Spice / Secret
Old Spice and Secret Paperboard Deodorant
Last year, Old Spice and Secret were the first major brands to bring all-paper, plastic-free aluminum-free deodorants to market with a limited-edition collection. They were so successful that they’ve become a permanent part of the line. Now that push-pop design is available in six fresh fragrances, including Clean Water, Clear Harbor and Mountain Peak from Old Spice, and Rose & Geranium, Lavender & Lemon and Orange & Cedar from Secret. If parent company P&G converts 10 percent of their current deodorant packaging to recycled paper or another recyclable material, it could save up to 1.5 million pounds of plastic waste in a single year. That’s why they have pledged to use 100% recyclable or reusable packaging by 2025 across their beauty business. $10.49, oldspice.com and secret.com
Garnier SkinActive Cleansing EcoPads Garnier
Garnier SkinActive Cleansing EcoPads
Garnier is on a major mission to help the planet, making plenty of changes at the corporate level. Their products are made in 100% renewable electricity facilities powered by 59% renewable energy, and the brand aims to become carbon neutral by 2025. That ethos is reflected in their product offerings, such as the Garnier SkinActive Cleansing EcoPads. Cotton rounds used to remove makeup and such typically go straight into the trash, but this three-pack of reusable microfiber pads can be washed by hand or tossed in your machine over and over again—up to 1,000 times, to be precise. $8.99 for pack of three, walmart.com
Tata Harper Skincare Water-Lock Moisturizer Tata Harper Skincare
Tata Harper Skincare Water-Lock Moisturizer
A true OG in the luxury natural beauty space, Tata Harper has broken many barriers. Combining cutting edge science with plant-based ingredients, Tata Harper has proven you can have the best of both worlds. Their Water-Lock Moisturizer—a lightweight hydrator that smooths skin by tackling uneven texture and dullness with orange peptides, pomegranate spheres and macro hyaluronic acid—has a refillable pod that locks into the reusable Water-Lock Moisturizer jar. To celebrate Earth Month, the brand has teamed up with Trees for the Future on an exclusive sweatshirt that’s sustainably made with 100% organic cotton. For each one sold, 100 trees will be planted to help end poverty for farmers and aid the environment. $68, tataharperskincare.com
SUPERZERO Normal/Oily Shampoo Bar SUPERZERO
SUPERZERO Normal/Oily Shampoo Bar
Plastic-free clean haircare line SUPERZERO is on a mission to “beat the bottle” with their line of shampoo and conditioner bars. Each full-size bar is the equivalent of two to three eight-ounce liquid bottles. The zero-waste brand is all about eliminating single use plastics while going waterless. Since the bars are much lighter than liquid-filled bottles, they are easier to ship, massively lowering their carbon footprint. The Normal/Oily Shampoo Bar doesn’t compromise on results, though, delivering soft, shiny hair with its blend of green tea leaf oil, juniper berry oil and natural plant proteins. For more specific hair needs, they recently launched the Anti-Frizz Hair Serum Bar and the Blondest Blonde Purple Shampoo Bar. They just received ThePlastic Soup Foundation’s “Zero Plastic Inside” seal, certifying that every SUPERZERO product is made 100% microplastic-free and on Earthy Day they will donate 100% of sales to the nonprofit to help fight against plastics and microplastics. $18, superzero.com
Crabtree & Evelyn Herb Candle & Bali Mug Limited Edition Set Crabtree & Evelyn
Crabtree & Evelyn Herb Candle & Bali Mug Limited Edition Set
Upcycling just got so much more chic. Their delicious Herb Candle will refresh your space with the blend of basil, neroli and amber. It comes in plantable packaging, which can be grown in the Bali Ceramic Mug that’s handmade by artisans in a village north of Denpasar. In a few weeks, you’ll have your very own basil plant. Even better, 5% of sales are donated to the WAS foundation to support their programs of education, environmental clean-up and social support in Bali. $47.60, crabtree-evelyn.com
Love Beauty and Planet Murumuru Butter & Rose Shampoo In Reusable Pump Bottles Love Beauty and Planet
Love Beauty and Planet Murumuru Butter & Rose Shampoo In Reusable Pump Bottles
If the brand’s name doesn’t give it away, Love Beauty and Planet is all about groundbreaking innovations that help our environment. They were the very first brand to introduce a nitrogen aerosol dry shampoo to cut down on greenhouse gases and their super concentrated shampoos and conditioners cut down on water, plastic and energy. Their latest game-changer is they’re the first mass beauty brand to debut aluminum reusable shampoo and conditioner bottles. Once a bottle is empty, it can be reloaded with a recyclable refill made from 100% PCR plastic. Plus, the aluminum packaging can be recycled infinitely. The collection comes in two ranges: Coconut Water & Mimosa Flower and Murumuru Butter & Rose. $12.19, target.com
Beautycycle with Nordstrom Nordstrom
Beautycycle with Nordstrom
Just because you’re tossing every single one of your #beautyempties in a recycling bin doesn’t mean they aren’t ending up in a landfill. There’s a myriad of reasons they can’t be recycled, from the ink used on labels to caps to pumps. But Nordstrom is helping to make a zero-waste beauty routine a reality with Beautycycle and now accepts a wide range of empty containers in their stores or via send-in that will be recycled for eventual reuse. They’ll make sure all components are properly separated, cleaned and recycled, including empty shampoo and conditioner bottles, including the caps and styling product tubes; empty skincare bottles, tubes and dispensers; empty makeup tubes, palettes, tubs and twist-up containers; and even sample size tubes and vials (except for perfume). Beautycycle is part of Nordstrom’s promise to reduce single use plastic in their chain by 50% and take back 100 tons of beauty packaging to make sure it’s actually recycled. Once you’ve sent in your empties, you can shop Nordstrom’s sustainable beauty offerings for more.
Klorane 2-in-1 Mask Shampoo Powder with Organic Nettle and Clay Klorane
Klorane 2-in-1 Mask Shampoo Powder with Organic Nettle and Clay
The World Health Organization has predicted that by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population will face water shortages if our current usage doesn’t change. Klorane is trying to help, so they are embracing waterless beauty with this latest launch. This two-in-one shampoo and mask is a win for oily scalps, delivering 48-hour oil control. Its powder formula keeps its active ingredients even more potent, including organic nettle extract, glyceryl laurate and clay. $26/box of eight treatments, KloraneUsa.com
PYT Beauty Upcycle Eyeshadow Palette PYT Beauty
PYT Beauty Upcycle Eyeshadow Palette
Whenever a makeup palette has a mirror, that means recycling it is nearly impossible. That’s why PYT beauty removed all mirrors from their Upcycle Eyeshadow Palettes and created this groundbreaking packaging. The first of its kind fully recyclable palette is made with 15% PCR and patented first-to-market sustainable pre-degraded plastic components—even the hinges are recyclable. PYT Beauty shares detailed recycling directions on their site for all of their sustainable packaging. Then there’s the clean formula, which is vegan, cruelty-free and Leaping Bunny certified. The palette is available in four colorways, and all the eyeshadows are infused with vitamin E and sunflower seed oil to nourish skin. The hues flatter a range of skin tones and blend like a dream. $28, pytbeauty.com
Circumference Daily Regenerative Gel Cleanser Circumference
Circumference Daily Regenerative Gel Cleanser Root to Leaf Set
Cutting down on waste is one of the best ways to make a difference and sustainable skincare brand Circumference has teamed up with Brightland to do just that as part of their second Wastenot Sourcing Initiative. Olea Europaea (olive) leaf is an unusable byproduct in the olive oil-making process. Circumference features it in their Daily Regenerative Gel Cleanser, giving this waste from Brightland’s family-run farm partner in California a second life. Tapping a chemical-free method, Circumference extracts high levels of the bioactive nutrient, and then the mulch is returned to the farm to be used as compost. Olive leaf delivers a slew of health perks, including skin-healing properties and nutrients that help ease inflammation, protect skin from oxidation and erase signs of aging. $65, circumferencenyc.com
SeSpring 2-in-1 Moisture Lock Mist SeSpring
SeSpring 2-in-1 Moisture Lock Mist
Korean beauty with a conscious, SeSpring takes the traditional K-beauty 10-step skincare routine and pares it down to their seven-item collection to cut down on products and production. Focusing on natural ingredients that are responsibly sourced, the bottles are recyclable, the packaging is made from PCR materials and they partnered with sustainable packaging company No Issue for their shipping materials. For every order placed, trees are planted where they are needed most, and the line is verified clean by the Environmental Working Group. The 2-in-1 Moisture Lock Mist does double duty as a toner and an essence, working to hydrate, calm and soothe skin with a spritz. It’ll extend the wear of makeup while delivering a pick-me-up, thanks to olive oil and jojoba to moisturize, and apple, macadamia and ginseng extracts to nourish skin. $14.99, sespringskin.com
W3LL PEOPLE Nudist Lip Butter W3LL PEOPLE
W3LL PEOPLE Nudist Lip Butter
Plant-powered beauty brand W3LL People partnered with the National Forest Foundation to plant 10,000 trees in the National Forests in the US in April to celebrate Earth Month. They’re also offering 22% off select best-sellers on their website, including the Nudist Lip Butter. A cross between a lip balm and a lipstick (though it also comes in clear), the Nudist Lip Butter is packed with organic omega oils and aloe, as well SPF 15 broad spectrum protection, leaving your pout pretty and protected. Like all W3LL People products, its packaging is FSC-certified paper, as part of their commitment to sustainability. $14, w3llpeople.com
BioBlender by EcoTools EcoTools
BioBlender by EcoTools
A traditional makeup sponge takes a whopping 50 years to break down in a landfill. But the BioBlender, the very first completely biodegradable makeup sponge, can be tossed in your compost pile and will break down in just 180 days. That’s because it’s composed of a biodegradable foam material made of five earth-friendly 100% biobased and vegan ingredients. Plus, its new packaging is also planet-friendly, reducing its plastic use by 88%, which is the equivalent of nearly 14 million plastic bags, with FSC-certified paper that’s printed with soy ink. The versatile sponge can be used wet or dry with liquid and cream foundation. Bonus: EcoTools teamed up with One Tree Planted to plant one tree for every BioBlender purchased during the month of April. $5.99, ulta.com
Nudestix Heaven & Earth Palette Nudestix
Nudestix Heaven & Earth Palette
Nudestix looked to nature for inspiration for their new limited-edition collection, specifically the cotton candy hues of sunsets. The seven-piece Heaven & Earth Palette includes two Plush Paints for eyes, three Magnetic Eye Pencils and one Nudies Bloom Blush in Bohemian Rose, all tucked into a chic pouch completely made from recycled water bottles. For each palette sold on Earth Day, they’ll plant one tree, in partnership with Canopy Project. A tree will also be planted for every post of the Heaven and Earth Palette on Instagram or Tiktok that incldues @nudestix #nudestix and #gonudeandsavetheearth. $80, nudestix.com
Almay Biodegradable Longwear & Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover Pads Almay
Almay Biodegradable Longwear & Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover Pads
Getting off waterproof mascara at the end of the day can be quite the challenge, with cotton balls covered in black mascara to prove it. Luckily, Almay’s Biodegradable Eye Makeup Remover Pads go much easier on the delicate skin around your eyes and the planet. Made from 100% biodegradable fibers that are consciously sourced, they’re also ophthalmologist-tested to ensure they’re safe for contact-wearers and sensitive eyes. With just a single swipe, they’ll remove even the most stubborn long-wear makeup. $5.99, ulta.com
Free + True Raw + Wild Free + True
Free + True Raw + Wild
Get glowing with this illuminating hand-blended honey mask that pays homage to the bee. Made with raw regional honey, bee-friendly botanicals—including lavender, rosemary and marigold—and fruit enzymes, it brightens, detoxes and boosts elasticity. There’s also kaolin clay to draw out impurities and pearl extract for a glowing complexion. One dollar from every sale will be donated to organizations that are fighting to save bee populations. $56, freeandtrueskincare.com
Leaf People Kalahari Melon Seed Oil Leaf People
Leaf People Kalahari Melon Seed Oil
The ingredient spotlight is shone on fairly traded Kalahari melon seed oil in this organic facial oil. It’s hand-collected from the oldest genetic watermelon plant on the planet, which delivers vitamins K, D and E to tackle hyperpigmentation, fine lines, scars, redness, dryness and sensitivity. Each purchase directly supports the Bush People of Namibia, plus all packaging is made from a mix of FSC certified, post-consumer recycled, recyclable, and biodegradable materials with vegetable- and water-based inks. $52, leafpeople.com
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798ea407b9d5ecbd5b1ba59a95dd836c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2016/07/20/personal-freedom-its-a-commitment/ | Personal Freedom Should Not Be A Fight | Personal Freedom Should Not Be A Fight
Walking through Trinity College, Dublin. Image: Celinne Da Costa
I visited Dublin in the midst of my search for freedom from an old life. At the time, I did not know that I would soon decide to couch-surf around the world. I was just looking to get out of New York City and the unfulfilling routine I was falling into, and a final round interview with a tech giant in Ireland seemed like the answer.
Prior to visiting, I could paint my impression of Ireland in broad strokes: I knew that it has spectacular nature, the people are friendly, the weather is deplorable, and it is *not* part of the U.K. (Northern Ireland is). I was also vaguely familiar with the country’s past political struggles, including the Great Famine of 1845-52 that drove many migrants to the U.S., its tireless fight against Britain in the Independence War of 1919-21, a long-standing conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and the country’s recent rise from poverty due to the tech industry boom in Dublin. Other than the information I gleaned from school and word-of-mouth, I admittedly hadn’t given Ireland much thought.
Gallery: 25 Inspirational Quotes By Powerful Women 25 images View gallery
I was mesmerized by Dublin’s effervescent green parks, the simple elegance of British and Gaelic architecture, and the countless rows of vibrant, colorfully painted doors peppering the streets. More notable, however, were the people: the Irish’s friendliness and hospitality is commonly touted as the country’s trademark, and although I did not experience it right away (my visit began with the hotel’s staff cluelessness to my arrival and a chase out of the park at dusk by an angry security guard), I soon found that there was much to learn from the Irish mindset.
What I most admired about the Irish was their deep-seated conviction to protect their freedom without compromising integrity. While the Irish have long struggled with their independence, they never lost their amicability. When I commended this trait to one of the locals I met, she joked that Irish friendliness is a by-product of a populace that until recently has only known poverty. Never having much to lose, she said, made it much easier to give: while they didn’t have much material wealth, their way of being was worth protecting despite difficult circumstances.
My time in Ireland helped me understand that personal freedom is not easily acquired – rather, it is difficult to obtain, harder to sustain, and a commitment that we must actively work towards keeping.
Ireland knows something about freedom. Here is what it taught me:
A small (and very green!) staircase in Howth, a small fishing village an hour from Dublin. You could... [+] also poetically call it the Irish staircase to freedom :) Image: Celinne Da Costa
There is an abyss between wanting freedom and taking responsibility for it
When I speak of freedom, I’m not talking about the great heroes of history who won independence wars or the underdogs who fought against their oppressors. Think smaller than that: I’m talking about you and me. I’m talking about that dream you’ve always wanted to pursue but never tried to because you were afraid of what people would think; that suffocating relationship you no longer want to be a part of but can’t handle the insecurity of walking away from; the job you desperately hate but can’t bring yourself to quit because not knowing what to do with your newfound freedom feels unbearable.
The struggle for freedom will always be there. The question is whether you want it badly enough to deal with the consequences once you decide to reach for it.
I may have been brave enough to spontaneously get on a plane to Dublin, but in all honesty, deep down I didn’t want that job. Taking that offer would have meant packing up my life in New York City to move to a foreign country and industry within a few months’ time. Which would be the change I thought I was looking for, except I wasn’t ready. I was enamored with the idea of freedom from my current life, but wholly unprepared to deal with the realities that follow.
The problem with freedom is the unknown that lies on the other side of it. That’s what paralyzes us – not knowing what awaits us once we break the chains that hold us back from doing what we really want to do.
What gets us moving is conviction. For us to gain the freedom necessary to dictate the course of our lives, we have to absolutely believe in and follow through on the decisions we take to get us there. Ireland’s freedom was spearheaded by a group of artists, poets, and intellectuals who ardently believed in freedom and were willing to pursue it against all odds. The revolutionaries of the Independence War were idealists – not fighters – who were severely outnumbered by British soldiers and initially disliked by the Irish majority until public executions by the British sparked support for their movement. During times of turbulence, conviction that their freedom was worth the struggle kept them moving forward.
The main obstacle standing in the way of achieving personal freedom – that is, the ability to conduct the trajectory of your life without self-imposed restrictions – is lacking conviction that we want it. When the conviction is there, anything is possible. We are free agents in the pursuit of our dreams, only restrained by the lack of faith in our own capabilities. We are meant to be free – but this freedom asks us to take responsibility for our actions and decisions.
A view of The Victorian Room in Kilmainham Gaol, a former prison where many key Irish... [+] revolutionaries were held captive and later executed by the British (thus fueling the fire for the Irish's fight for independence, achieved in 1922). This ghastly space was specifically designed to give guards a bird's eye view over all of the prisoner rooms. Image: Celinne Da Costa
Don’t let security shadow freedom
Claiming freedom for ourselves can also mean facing opposition, overwhelming self-doubt and insecurity, and even being ostracized. When we do what we truly want to do, rather than what society tells us to do, we aren’t “normal.” We face resistance because we are taught to fear what we don’t know.
Our very human need for security too often trumps our hunger for freedom. When I thought about how easy and lucrative it would be to keep living my comfortable life in New York City (case in point: I didn't leave when first given the chance), I would almost forget how deeply I craved something more. Craving for something that doesn’t exist yet, however, is a different animal than dealing with the realities of a current situation.
There are countless inspirational quotes floating around the Internet wistfully talking about the value of freedom, but when it comes down to claiming it as our own, why do we recoil? We welcome freedom when it comes comfortably and doesn’t deprive us of security. What happens when we are asked to work for it, make sacrifices, be uncomfortable and risk being outcast from the norm? We put our heads down, thrust our hands in our pockets and mumble something about how it’s great but we’ll get to it another time.
Gaining freedom can be an unbelievably uncomfortable process. Even when the benefits are obvious, few are willing to undergo it if it means sacrificing security.
Ducks serenely swimming in the pond in Stephen's Green Park, Dublin. Image: Celinne Da Costa
Don’t fight for freedom. Instead, persevere.
I used to think I was a fighter. Anytime I perceived a threat – a deviation from what I wanted to do, an encroachment on my set-in-stone principles – I would get ready to pounce. A fighter is always on the defense, ready to resist anything in his or her way. But once that fight is conquered, there is nothing to do but gloat and slump back into suspended anticipation for the next battle. I realized during my time in Ireland that I am not a fighter, nor do I want to be. Fighting asks us to contract, to squeeze ourselves into tight little balls of ideologies and beliefs to protect ourselves from invaders. Perseverance, on the other hand, asks for patience and expansion – both ingredients for growth.
Personal freedom is not a one-time fight. It’s a slow and gradual progression that must be cared for, nurtured, and increasingly committed to over time. Most of us don’t just wake up one day, say screw it, and march out into the world with all our freedom in hand.
Truthfully, we may not even fully comprehend what freedom means to us until we are deep in the process of pursuing it. How could we understand something that we just obtained or don't have yet? That’s why it has consequences – if we knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into and what the results would be when we set out for it, then it wouldn’t be so intimidating to pursue in the first place.
We don’t have to fully understand freedom to want it, but we do have to be ready to face the consequences of pursuing it and have conviction in walking that path. Once we’ve taken the first (and in my opinion, most difficult) step towards freedom, we need to keep nurturing it by creating opportunity.
Ireland has done just that by leveraging its independence to lift itself out of poverty, becoming a hotspot in the booming tech industry and even rivaling its former colonizer, Britain, as a choice for HQ.
In my case, I wanted freedom from my old life. The first step was saving money. The next was brainstorming alternate ways to change my job. The next was packing up and moving out. And so on. Rome wasn't built in a day. The path to sustainable freedom is a slow and gradual one.
Freedom is not something you need to consistently fight for more of. Similar to income, there is a tipping point – after you reach a certain point, having more money won’t make you happier, and neither will having more freedom. It’s what you do with what you have, and how you choose to use it to reinvent yourself that matters. When you remove your self-imposed restrictions and choose to direct the trajectory of your life, the world and its endless possibilities open up for you.
Freedom may carve the path, but in the end, it is your responsibility to walk it.
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ccfdc88f68d06932e17cc08a186bac09 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2016/11/28/what-i-learned-about-preventing-burnout-from-burning-out/ | What I Learned About Preventing Burnout - From Burning Out | What I Learned About Preventing Burnout - From Burning Out
After five months on the road as a digital nomad, I burned out hard. Since I left behind my corporate New York City life to circumnavigate the globe by couch-surfing through my social network (I don’t use the website – only human connection), I've been running around nonstop, constantly balancing travel, work, and sleep (spoiler: I don’t get much of the latter).
This past month, after a few consecutive weeks of excessive physical activity, an inconsistent diet, and long travel stints with little sleep, I hit a limit. I was so exhausted, both physically and mentally, that my eyes would droop the second I sat down with my computer. Realizing this way of life was not sustainable, I had to force myself to slow down and seriously consider what it means to create a balanced life.
Despite my unique lifestyle – I recognize most people don’t travel full time – a lot of the lessons I’ve learned about burning out (and more importantly, how to prevent it) are applicable to everyday life. I share my biggest takeaways:
1. Organization is essential. Organization – or lack thereof – was one of my biggest downfalls when it came to burnout. For the most part, I don't have an issue mentally “bookmarking” my to-dos. As life got busier and responsibilities multiplied, however, things started slipping through the cracks. I am now my own boss, which makes staying on track significantly more complicated. Every day, I have to manage deadlines, budget, sponsorships, and content creation, all while on the road. The more my responsibilities piled up, the more I realized that I am only one human and cannot track everything in my life without proper organization.
I learned from this experience that in order to prevent burnout, it’s important to create a system to streamline thinking. On my end, this meant organizing my to-dos into a comprehensive list (which were previously dozens of loosely scattered notes on my phone), creating an excel sheet mapping out projects and deadlines so I didn’t lose track, and most importantly, prioritizing: that is, determining which tasks were most urgent and which could be put on the back burner.
Visualizing responsibilities and organizing them in a way that felt manageable helped tremendously in relieving stress and providing order to my scattered brain.
Too many mornings waking up before sunrise to go out exploring eventually led to my first burnout.... [+] Photo: Celinne Da Costa
2. Learn to say "no." As my travel blog and following grows, I am getting more and more requests for collaboration. At first, I wanted to say yes to most projects since they provide me with experience and exposure. Recently, though, I learned that it's ok to say no.
For example, I can no longer write articles for free just to get my writing out there - now I have to charge. When I am offered paid work, I still have to seriously weigh whether the pay and exposure are worth the cost of time and effort.
I learned that realistically, no single person can be everything to everybody. We have to make choices, especially when presented with an overwhelming amount of options, and protect our time ruthlessly. Part of preventing burnout is making sure we are selective about the opportunities we want to take on, and focus on a select few rather than spreading ourselves too thin.
Sitting on the edge of Ijen volcanic crater in Java, Indonesia. Photo: Celinne Da Costa
3. Don't be a slave to technology. I'm not one to preach about this because I am definitely still a slave to mine. One of the greatest costs of becoming a digital nomad is being consistently tethered to my phone. It’s exhausting: some days, up to 80% of my work can happen on there since I’m always on the move, and sometimes I wake up in the morning and spend over an hour just catching up on messages. As helpful as technology can be, the explosion of over-communication associated with it can also create a lot of stress and anxiety.
The best work-around to disconnecting from technology, I found, is literally leaving it behind. It's difficult to do when so much of my work depends on it - I shudder at the thought of how many emails and notifications await me once I’m back online - but it really does wonders to clearing and relaxing the mind. For example, I wrote this entire article immediately after disconnecting to meditate for an hour, when previously I had a writer’s block for days.
4. Respect your heart. This may sound like new age BS, but hear me out. One of the biggest lessons I learned from staying with a spiritual healer in Bali is that our mind and our heart are two separate entities, and both need to be respected. Our mind is the one that pushes us to work those few extra hours, meet our friends for drinks, and still manage to get enough sleep, all in one day. Our heart is essentially our intuition - that voice in the back of our head that begs us to stop pushing, tells us that we need rest to properly function, or that we need some time off to recharge.
If you only allow your mind to lead the way, chances are, you'll burn out. You have to listen to what your body and heart need. I pushed myself so hard last month, often times waking up before sunrise to have enough time to explore places and write about my experiences, all before sleep. My mind gave out on me: I haven't experienced a bigger writer's block since I started my trip as I did during that time.
My most valuable lesson in preventing burnout is: listen to your heart, and take rest when you need it. Taking personal time to recharge has been crucial to my productivity and well-being. Since realizing that I had burned out, I’ve consciously carved out blocks of time to just relax and do nothing. As we go on with our busy lives, it’s important to continue dedicating time and attention to activities that we enjoy – not because they will generate income, or help us with XYZ – but rather because they genuinely make us happy.
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6527626185a774dcd0ff4d0eb66c95e9 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2016/12/29/how-to-use-fear-of-failure-as-a-motivator/ | How Fear Of Failure Can Motivate You | How Fear Of Failure Can Motivate You
Six months ago, I took the biggest risk of my life: I quit my corporate job in New York City, packed up all of my things, and set off into the world with nothing but a carry-on. This was the beginning of my quest to circumnavigate the globe by couch-surfing through my social network, a project that has since taken me to 60+ hosts across 4 continents and 17 countries.
So far, my risk has more than paid off: my social presence has grown twentyfold, I’ve published dozens of articles about my experiences, and collaborated with companies in almost every country I’ve visited. Even so, my journey hasn’t been completely rosy. Despite the successes of my decision to become a digital nomad, I still occasionally fear that something will go wrong. What if I run out of money, can’t find work, and have to return to New York City to live the same life that I was unhappy with?
When we are pursuing what we really want in life, fear of failure is almost unavoidable. We have a choice: we can let fear prevent us from moving toward our goals, or we can use it as a tool for motivation. Some tips on how to work through fear of failure:
Identifying what motivates you is important because it will keep you focused when the doubt creeps... [+] in. Photo: Celinne Da Costa
Identify what motivates you. In other words, what do you aim to accomplish? What keeps you up at night?
Identifying what motivates you is important because it will keep you focused when doubt creeps in. We all have fears stopping us from achieving our goals – just thinking about the “what if’s” of what could happen if we fail can be downright immobilizing. We cannot, however, allow this fear to paralyze us.
Leaving corporate America to travel around the world, for example, was the first real risk I’ve taken in my career. What made the risk worth the possibility of failure was realizing how much travel motivates me to be more creative, open-minded, courageous, and experimental in my life and work. Once I identified this, I understood that being a digital nomad was what I had to do.
Accommodate your fears. Push yourself, but do it kindly. An effective way to conquer fears is to move past them gradually.
Once upon a time, I was too scared to travel on my own. The thought of going to a foreign country by myself was too intimidating as I was terrified that I’d fail at independence. To accommodate this fear, I decided to start by only traveling to countries where I had a friend that I could stay with. By exploring on my own during the day and having someone I knew to come home to at night, I satisfied my need for independence while also accommodating my fear. Gradually, I “weaned” myself off my fear of solo traveling. Fast forward a few years, and I have no qualms booking a ticket to an unknown place and traveling there on my own.
You don’t have to immediately fight a fear to conquer it – get comfortable with it, work around it, and chip away at it while consistently challenging yourself to take a step forward.
You don’t have to immediately fight a fear to conquer it. Photo: Celinne Da Costa
Acknowledge your progress. When you are in the thick of pursuing a goal, it’s hard to see how far you’ve come. Taking a step back from your fears to observe your progress is essential to stay motivated.
When I look at my day-to-day situation, it’s not always great. Sometimes I’m low on funds, sleep deprived, or having a huge writer’s block. Fear gives us tunnel vision and only lets us see what’s not working out. When I take a step back and look at everything that I’ve accomplished over the course of six months, my perspective completely changes: though I have bad days, I’m significantly better off today than I was when I left New York. Realizing how much progress I’ve made despite my fears motivates me to keep going.
While it’s hard not to fear failure, this fear should be approached as a motivator rather than a deterrent to your goals. All of the risks I’ve taken since leaving New York to become a digital nomad have not only been worth it, they’ve given me a profound sense of purpose and fulfillment in my work. If anything, the fear of failure makes every victory that much sweeter.
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17ffd38e56ed044e8034a19756d1a10e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2017/11/29/three-finnish-habits-that-will-make-you-a-more-successful-entrepreneur/ | Three Finnish Habits That Will Make You A More Successful Entrepreneur | Three Finnish Habits That Will Make You A More Successful Entrepreneur
The Finnish philosophy makes them very good at what they set their mind to, both as people and as... [+] entrepreneurs. Celinne Da Costa
My recent visit to Helsinki, Finland, quickly revealed a city that boasts a vibrant ecosystem of over 500 thriving startups, as well as hoards of ambitious entrepreneurs hungry to disrupt the tech scene. Little could I have guessed that Finland was a hotbed for entrepreneurship: investments into Finnish tech startups went up by 42% in 2016 and have quadrupled since 2011!
After spending some time with the startup community, it became very clear to me why the Finnish are thriving in the tech, design, and innovation spaces. I believe their entrepreneurial prowess can be attributed to a unique philosophy that’s deeply rooted in their culture. Most notably, their grit, diplomacy, and ability to navigate between tradition and modernity sets them apart and makes them very good at what they set their mind to, both as people and as entrepreneurs.
My time in Finland revealed three habits that entrepreneurs looking to grow a successful business can incorporate and learn from:
Sisu: Get The Job Done, No Matter What
The Finnish live by the concept of “sisu,” a unique and untranslatable word that roughly translates to perseverance, strength of will, resilience, determination, and survivalism.
Sisu embodies a philosophy of getting the job done, no matter the cost, and even more importantly, to do so with integrity. Sisu is not just about getting what you want; it is a quality that asks you to act in the face of adversity, learn from failure, do what you promised, and push through with what you’ve set your mind to. No excuses.
Whatever enterprise, passion, or business you choose to pursue, do it with “sisu”: persist in your goals, get the job done well, protect your integrity, and commit to seeing success to the end. Most importantly, sustain the courage and strength to act and hold your vision despite the hardships.
The Finnish attitude of pursuing their goals, no excuses, really sets them apart. Celinne Da Costa
Sauna Culture: Treat Everyone With The Same Respect
The sauna is an integral part of Finnish culture (fun fact: there is an average of one sauna per household in Finland!) and a place where Finns go to relax physically and mentally. It is also a meditative and respective space where people build relationships, whether it be friendships, agreements, or even important political and business decisions.
Regardless of social status, everyone at the sauna is mostly or fully naked– when I asked why, a Finn joked that this makes sense since “naked you were born, naked you will die.” The Finnish are known for their diplomacy and successful democracy, and this tradition is reflective of a cultural belief that, at the end of the day, we are all the same.
Consequently, there is a pay-it-forward mentality in the workplace that encourages people who are ahead in their career to give back to the community and help those who are more junior. This “we’re in this together” attitude is one that any entrepreneur can benefit from: after all, part of successful entrepreneurship is always evolving and learning, and insights can come from all kinds of people. Anyone, at any level or walk of life, can offer you value and vice versa.
In your personal life and your business, find ways to support your community and collaborate rather than compete with others. Everyone around you will grow because of it.
Appreciation of Contrast: Balance Practicality With Innovation
Finland is an extreme country, both geographically (for example, the Midnight Sun and winter darkness, the East's and West's drastic genetic differences, and the distinct divide between urban and rural areas) as well as culturally.
To list some examples of Finnish contrasts: the people appear outwardly withdrawn but are very hospitable and kind when spoken to (as the Finnish joke goes, “an introverted Finn looks at his shoes when talking to you; an extroverted Finn looks at your shoes”), they're known for their modesty but there is tons of national pride for Finnish accomplishments, and they live simply yet strive to excel. Most notably, it is completely normal and expected to jump into a freezing cold lake or ocean after being in a steaming hot sauna – and to continue doing so for a couple of hours!
Despite being rooted in tradition, Finland has become one of the world’ most modern and technologically advanced nations. It was truly inspiring, for example, to see how the Finns strike a balance between being hyper-connected and innovative, while also making the time to recharge and disconnect in nature.
This integration of extremes has made the Finns extremely practical yet also innovative entrepreneurs: it’s only a population of six million people, yet they make around 15,000 inventions every year. As a Finnish entrepreneur I interviewed said, this cultural appreciation for contrast helps startups be nimble, think big, and “very good at getting rid of traditions that don’t work.”
My time in Helsinki reminded me that when you’re constantly testing your limits, it pays off. While it’s important to stay practical and grounded when running a business, allow yourself to dream big and create the conditions for innovation to thrive.
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f91a86d1bc2ff68e01e7b676e389e05d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2018/06/25/3-ways-to-create-stand-out-brand-messaging-in-a-world-of-noise/ | 3 Ways To Create Standout Brand Messaging In A World Of Noise | 3 Ways To Create Standout Brand Messaging In A World Of Noise
Leverage your story to differentiate your brand and show (not just tell) how you can help your... [+] audience overcome their challenges. Magdalena Bodzioch Photography
We live in a world full of noise. Every day, we are bombarded with hundreds of messages from brands asking us to pay attention, purchase something, or take some sort of action, and most of the times, it’s annoying and overwhelming. It's not surprising that 57% of consumers actively take steps to avoid brands who bombard them with poorly targeted marketing messages.
Even if a brand is somehow able to capture your audience's attention, the message won’t stick if it’s not being delivered strategically. If your message is in any way confusing, you are going to lose your audience.
I share three tips I teach my brand story coaching clients for crafting stand out messaging that differentiates you from the crowd:
1. Make the audience the hero. Your message should not be about you, but rather about what you can do for the people you’re serving. Too many brands make the mistake of creating messaging that exclusively focuses on talking about themselves, their history, their achievements, etc... and then ask the audience to do something for them (e.g. Buy now! Subscribe to my newsletter! Sign up today!).
Your audience’s primary concern is not how impressive you are. It is how you can make their life better, and your story serves as the evidence that you have the expertise to do that for them. When crafting your message, remember that you are not the hero: your audience is. Speak directly to who they are, what challenges they’re facing, and how your brand will guide them closer to what they need.
For example, my online coaching business has allowed me to design my ideal lifestyle, travel the world, and have the freedom to pursue my passions. I share pieces of this story as a means to empower my clients and illustrate what mindset, strategies, and habits they can develop to design their own lifestyle. The messaging is not about me; it’s about how I can facilitate the realization of their goals through my services.
Leverage your story to differentiate your brand and show (not just tell) how you can help your audience overcome their challenges.
2. Offer value in every single message. While it’s important to keep a consistent and steady presence, focus on quantity rather than quality: filler messaging should be avoided at all costs.
Treat each piece of content as a dish you're serving to a hungry audience – do you really want to feed them a bunch of empty calories, or would you rather give them nourishing, delicious content that will create some sort of value in their lives?
You can offer value directly (e.g. tips, instructions, to-do's, etc) or indirectly (e.g. inspiration, motivation, community building, etc). Ask yourself how you can showcase your brand’s expertise while also giving back to your audience. Therein lies the art of storytelling: how can you skillfully tell your story and get your points across without coming off as self-serving?
For example, I only started seeing profound results in my business when I changed the conversation from being all about my experiences traveling the world to what my audience could take away from those experiences. Instead of highlighting how great it was to travel, I shifted to discussing the insights and key takeaways that I learned from travel which could also apply to love, business, personal development, and so on. This made my messaging relatable and useful to people who shared my mindset but perhaps not my lifestyle. As soon as I did that, engagement skyrocketed and a loyal community was formed.
When you consistently nourish your audience with valuable content, you train them to keep coming back for more.
Be hyper-aware of the fact that your audience is taking their time and energy to consume your... [+] content. Magdalena Bodzioch Photography
3. Respect your audience’s time. Be hyper-aware of the fact that your audience is taking their time and energy to consume your content. How would you feel if someone asked you for a moment of your precious time, and then wasted it talking about nonsense and giving you the impression they want something from you (but not directly telling you what it is)?
The same concept applies to the online world. Stellar messaging quickly and powerfully taps into a pain point, explains how the brand will solve this pain point (this is where the value comes in), and then gives the audience pointed instructions on what they need to do next to relieve that pain point.
Be as open and direct as possible in your messaging and include a call to action at the end. Respect your audience by telling them what you want them to do and how you want them to do it. If you want to open a conversation, ask them a compelling question. If you want them to learn more about something, ask them to click and tell them what they'll find. Don’t leave people guessing, or worse, give them cryptic hints about what you want them to do or think about as a result of your communication.
Treat your audience as the hero of the story, connect with them in a way that genuinely offers them value, and be considerate of the time they spend consuming your content. With these simple steps, you will begin creating messaging that differentiates you from a sea of confusing, overwhelming, monotonous content.
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c3adb8b5237bcc986018b29a2d4fc68d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2018/10/11/how-to-design-your-dream-life-and-travel-the-world/ | How To Design Your Dream Life And Travel The World | How To Design Your Dream Life And Travel The World
Life design & story coach Celinne Da Costa shares 3 tips on how you can start designing your life,... [+] your way. Riccardo Orizio Photography
Take a moment to honestly ask yourself: are you living a life that you’re excited to wake up to, every single day?
Too many of us go through life feeling like we are “supposed” to hit certain milestones: go to a great university, get a decently paying job, get married, buy a home, have kids, etc. It’s easy to get caught up in this cycle of societal expectations without fully understanding why, and when you want to make a change, the same excuses pop up: you don’t have enough money, you’re scared to give up the comforts of stability, you don’t believe you'll succeed, or you’re afraid of what other people will think. Unclear on what you want or how to get it, you put your dreams on hold for another time.
So the real question is: what life do you want to live, and how can you be living it?
A few years ago, when I was living in New York City and working 60-hour weeks in corporate America, mindless routine was all I knew: I would wake up at 6:30 am, go to the gym, go to work, grab drinks with a friend, pass out, and do it all over again the next day.
This was my American dream, or so I believed. I couldn’t help but wonder (way too often) what was the point of hustling to take care of my basic human needs – income, stability, and a roof over my head – but ignoring my deepest, soul-aching wants: to travel the world, pursue my passion for writing, and make real human connections. And, as I looked around, I realized I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. My peers were feeling it too, yet most allowed themselves to stay stuck in their situation because they did not know what to do about it.
I hit a point where I couldn’t bear it anymore. I quit my job to do a social experiment, in which I circumnavigated the globe for a year by exclusively staying in the homes of people whom I shared a human connection with. While this was the scariest decision of my life, I quickly realized that everything I wanted was on the other side of certainty. But first, I had to take a leap of faith… despite not knowing what the outcome would be.
My vision was to design the life I always wanted (instead of the one I’d been told to live up until that point). Within a couple of years, I built a six-figure coaching business that allows me to travel the world full-time, monetize my passions, and live every day on my own terms… and help others do the same. After witnessing many other entrepreneurs achieve similar feats, I can attest that it is absolutely possible to design the life of your dreams and achieve financial, location, and time freedom--if you’re willing to work for it.
Here are three key ways to get started…
Setting an intention means having a vision for what you desire. Riccardo Orizio Photography
1. Set an aligned intention.
The change you wish to see in your life starts with setting an intention. Simply put, an intention is a vision for what you desire.
Identify what you want to create more of in your life right now. Next, dig deep into your heart and understand why that is. Not having an intention is like getting into a car and saying, “I want to get out of here and go somewhere better,” without having a clue of where you’d like to end up. Your intention is going to give you a destination to move towards and knowing your “why” will keep you on track despite any challenge you may face along the way. When you know what sort of change you want to make and what the driving force behind them is, you’ll get to where you want to be significantly faster and in a way that feels fulfilling to you.
To set your intention, map out what your ideal day looks like. Be as detailed as possible. What time are you waking up? What do your surroundings look like? How much time are you spending on which activities? How do you see yourself? How do others see you? What does it feel like? Compare your ideal day with your actual days, observe what’s missing and what you want to invite more of into your life.
For example, when I mapped out my ideal day before quitting my corporate job, I realized that what brought me the most joy was having ample pockets of time where I could read in the park, relax at home, or have conversations with interesting strangers… without worrying about finances. Instead, my real days consisted of long workdays behind a desk, counting pennies, and having no free time for my writing or friends. Therefore, my intention was to design a lifestyle that gave me time, financial, and location freedom so I could do all of those things.
It’s important to visualize how your intention plays out in your life, as you can’t act on a vision... [+] that feels blurry, abstract, or confusing. Nick Bauer-Levey Photography
2. Get crystal clear on what your intention looks like.
After you understand what you want, you need to gain clarity on what that literally looks like. It’s important to visualize how your intention plays out in your life, as you can’t act on a vision that feels blurry, abstract, or confusing.
Going back to the car analogy, once you set an intention for your destination, you can begin understanding and visualizing what the potential paths to get there look like.
First, get clear on what you absolutely don’t want. These are your non-negotiables. For example, mine were: I did not want to spend 10 hours per day at work, live in New York City, and spend half of my salary on rent. And, I didn’t want to feel like I was wasting my life away—I wanted my creative work to have a bigger purpose.
The next step is to think about what you do want. This doesn’t need to be as defined as what you don’t want but should still be clear enough. For example, I wanted to explore the world, write stories, and have time for genuine human connections every day. With this information, I could already understand that designing my life would require me to move around a lot, become efficient with my time so I could have more of it, and interact with others, to name some. As a result, I knew that I had to learn how to build a business that was completely remote, required less than 15-25 hours a week to run, and directly served people.
Once you get clear on what you want and what you don’t want, create a vision board (for the next three months to a year) to help you visualize your intention. Transferring your dreams onto a tangible vision board will massively help you understand how your intention would play out in your life, as well as hold you accountable to your goals.
Take action even when you don’t know all the steps. You can decide and adjust along the way. Isabella McNeill
3. Take consistent action every day.
You can imagine your intention all you want, but if you’re not actively working towards it, it cannot come to fruition. This is the part where you get in the car and start driving; where you try out different paths and see what feels good to you as you’re making your way towards your destination. As you put yourself out there and your desires begin to take form, you will witness what works and what doesn’t. It’s important to take action even when you don’t know all the steps as you can decide and adjust along the way.
This whole process can feel a bit overwhelming at first, which is why it’s important to break your big dreams down into smaller goals, and those goals into manageable everyday tasks and habits.
For example, my big picture dream was to have time, financial, and location freedom. My goals looked like: visiting ten countries by the end of the year, starting a business doing what I loved, and making time to have a meaningful conversation with at least one person every day. My tasks included: buying plane tickets, researching how to build an online business, and texting loved ones regularly. Breaking your big dreams down into manageable goals will help you fulfill your intention sooner than you thought was possible. And, you will have fun doing it because it will feel good, manageable, and aligned with your life.
When you’re intentional and strategic about going after what you want, you can create huge shifts in your life and business, discover yourself, and design your dream life in the process, all the while, enjoying every minute of the ride.
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573224e014b1f48ca217f1e4ba4b99b4 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2019/08/23/how-to-know-when-your-brand-story-is-boring-and-what-to-do-about-it/ | How To Know When Your Brand Story Is Boring (And What To Do About It) | How To Know When Your Brand Story Is Boring (And What To Do About It)
All stories have a shelf life. And when yours hits its expiration date, there’s a huge chance your... [+] customers, clients and potential clicks will start to disappear. Fast. Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash
We’ve all got that one friend. As soon as I start to describe them, you’ll know who I’m talking about.
Whenever you hang out, it could take half an hour or it could take all day, but they always bring up the same stories. Maybe it’s an embarrassing one from the office holiday party. Or maybe it’s an epic tale of the last sale they made. But you can almost sense when they’re about to launch into their story for the umpteenth time--your cue to smile at them while thinking about what you’ll have for dinner tonight.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re Stephen King or Soul Cycle: all stories have a shelf life. And when yours hits its expiration date, there’s a huge chance your customers, clients, and potential clicks will start to disappear. Fast.
I know, I know. You slaved over that brand story. There were meetings. Charts or vision boards. Focus groups (even if it was your closest friends). It was a huge win for you and your business.
The keyword here is “was.” It’s time to say thanks for the memories and move on. J.K. Rowling once said, “No story lives unless someone wants to listen.” Sure, she was talking about the story of the boy who went to Hogwarts, but the same can be said for a brand story. You need a knockout tale that will make everyone sit up and listen—not an old one making their eyes glaze over.
You could have the most essential product in the world or provide five-star service, but if you haven’t taken the time to click “refresh” on how you’re marketing them, you could be leaving piles of money on the table.
So how do you make what’s old fresh, alluring and new again? Here are three ways to swap a boring story for a breathtaking one that will multiply your sales.
1. Rediscover your radical why: If your brand story is only a year or two old, you may be suffering from a classic case of disconnection. You’ve been so busy scrambling to assemble the right marketing team and pull your accounting act together that you’ve completely forgotten why you’re hustling so hard in the first place.
That hunger and passion that used to propel you out of bed in the morning before your alarm clock even went off is gone because, well, who’s really excited about freaking spreadsheets? Now your cooled jets are dragging behind you while you fumble to your coffee maker and wonder how many days until Friday.
This is the exact time you’ve got to cancel your call with that social media expert and spend time reconnecting with your why. Just keep asking yourself over and over and over why success is important to you. Because you want to be rich? Why? Because you want to be able to support worthy causes? Why? Don’t stop until you get to your passion-drenched, indestructible, undeniable why.
If your brand story is older, it’s probably time to light a match, set it on fire and walk away. Congratulations, you’ve grown. When you first dug deep to find your why it was eons ago. Maybe you’re married now. Or have kids. Or have multiple companies.
Your mind has grown, your values have shifted, and your expertise has broadened. Your why should be different because you’re in a completely different position now. Time to go back to the drawing board and sketch out a new one.
By the way, it’s totally normal to disconnect from your why. But you’ll never get ahead until you get your spark back by figuring out why this brand is at the heart of every move you make.
Say it with me now: I’m officially done imitating whatever’s coming out of my competitor’s mouth. Photo by Nong Vang on Unsplash
2. Recommit to a totally new vision
Say it with me now: I’m officially done imitating whatever’s coming out of my competitor’s mouth. Ah, doesn’t it feel good to aim one step ahead of them instead? It feels pretty fantastic to your customers, too. They deserve to hear fearlessly bold claims and incredibly inspiring promises from you instead of the same lousy lines everyone else is feeding them.
While your “why” is what fuels you on the inside, your vision determines the direction you take in your business and how you channel your why into actions that transform your audience’s lives.
If you’re scrambling to figure out how to give your brand’s vision an extreme makeover, ask yourself this one question: How can I establish my brand as the one and only brand that can solve my customer’s problems? Your new vision rests in your ability to differentiate yourself from, and as a result completely eliminate, the competition.
Remember that your brand story is what gives your business a soul. Derek Simpson Photography
3. Show and tell your values
It’s one thing to say that your brand believes in honesty or transparency or human connection, but are you showing it? For example, TOMS has a core value of community that they show by giving away free shoes to kids in need all across the globe. They’re practicing what they preach and then showcasing in a refreshing way.
But most companies are floating by on watered-down core values. One study showed that only 10% of companies have operationalized their values into actionable behaviors that can be taught to their employees and used to hold people accountable. The rest might as well be written on tissue paper. Your ideal clients are going to see right through them.
For example, one of my core values is human connection, but in one of my first courses I decided to go for 100% automation and eliminated any interaction with me. Sure, it saved me time and money, but it ended up being a disastrous move because I was going against my values. When you unequivocally commit to a core value you believe in, it’ll be a beacon that draws people to you forever.
Remember that your brand story is what gives your business a soul. You can use all the strategies in the world to grow your business and make lots of money, but in the end, what does it matter if it’s making you miserable or if it’s replaceable as soon as the next bigger and better thing comes along?
Strive to turn your brand into a legacy, and you’ll see that your sales will increase, your visibility in your industry will skyrocket, and your audience will grow. Most importantly, you’ll feel connected to your why, your vision, and values, and know that everything you’d built came from the heart and served a purpose on this planet. And that… is priceless.
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169ba4ce089715f6d445acd6b9b8ed19 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2019/11/01/3-ways-to-use-your-story-to-build-a-better-personal-brand/ | 3 Ways To Use Your Story To Build A Stronger Personal Brand | 3 Ways To Use Your Story To Build A Stronger Personal Brand
Your story is as interesting as you choose to make it. What will you do with yours? Kathryn Aime Photography
The biggest excuses I get from clients looking to build a premium personal brand are “I don’t have a story,” “my story is all over the place,” or “my story is not interesting enough.”
There is so much self-consciousness — and as a result, self-sabotage — around using your life experiences as a story that’s compelling enough to captivate an audience and use as a foundation for a strong personal brand.
I’m going to nip that in the bud here and now. You do have a story worth telling — and if you believe otherwise, it’s because you’re not looking hard enough.
Let me ask you this: do you really believe that throughout your entire life, nothing of interest has ever happened? That there are absolutely no stories that others would find interesting, engaging, or could learn from? Probably not. Your experiences have led you to where you are today, and how you share them with the world will have a direct influence on the types of people and opportunities you attract into your life.
Your story is as interesting as you choose to make it. I could tell you the most exciting story about a trip to the doctor’s office, or the most boring story about a skydiving experience in New Zealand. When it comes to storytelling, it’s not what you say but rather how you say it.
The good news is, you have a choice. You can keep telling yourself that your story isn’t interesting, that it’s too complicated, or that people wouldn’t care... or you can choose to get into the driver’s seat of your own story and turn it into a personal brand that attracts your ideal audience as well as increases your visibility, impact, and income.
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Here are the 3 steps to turn your life experiences into a story worth telling:
1. Reframe your past. If you’re struggling with leveraging your story as part of your brand, the first step is to ask yourself why. Is it because you’re comparing yourself to other people? Because you feel it’s not good enough? Are you ashamed of your parts of your story, don’t want to hurt those involved, or feel fearful of what other people would say?
What are the thoughts, beliefs, and past experiences that are keeping you small? Make sure to journal on these questions and get whatever insecurity you may feel out on paper so you can begin the process of confronting and reframing.
You’ll likely find that it’s not your story that’s holding you back… it’s your mindset.
For example, you may be telling yourself stories that disempower you. Instead, shift your perspective to reframe reality in your favor. For example, if you feel self-conscious that your story is not exciting enough because you’re a stay-at-home mom living in the suburbs, know that there’s women in parts of the world who look at your life with envy.
If you had a happy, safe childhood and wish you had more drama to share, know that there’s people who had traumatic pasts who would be mesmerized by your stories about playing in the yard with your siblings.
There’s always someone out there who can learn from what you have to say. When thinking about what role your story plays in your personal brand, choose to look at your past as a collection of experiences that have led you to where you are today and can support your current goals and mission.
2. Choose your present. If you choose to frame your story as uninteresting or boring, that’s what you’ll get. What if you started to actually look for the small adventures and excitement in everything that you do?
For example, when you’re dropping your kids off to school, are you listening to the quirky things they’re saying? That’s a story you can post on social media that will showcase your personality. When you’re meeting with your clients… are you paying attention to their concerns, wins, and difficulties? That’s a lesson or insight that can be shared with your audience to support your credibility.
As you’re going about your everyday routine, are you appreciating the things around you? Even something as simple as a quick chat with the barista at your local coffee shop could turn into a story about how important it is to connect with others every day.
Choose to look at your days as a collection of potential stories you can share with your audience. It will not only make great content for your brand, but will also transform how you perceive your life.
3. Design your future. Your story extends far beyond your past and present. You can also design a story that you can step into in the future.
For example, think about the story you’d want to tell your grandchildren someday. Who will you become, what will you do to get there, and what goals do you need to set for yourself to become the story you want to live? If you’re less than satisfied with your current story, then what would your comeback story look like?
The best part is, the very act of documenting your journey from your present to future story will capture your audience’s attention, because so many people want to change their story and influence others with their own experiences... yet few actually do it.
The stories you tell — past, present, and future — have a huge influence on the life you create and how people perceive you. When you learn to rule your story (rather than let it rule you), you can strategically and consistently leverage your experiences to build a personal brand that is profitable, impactful, and inspires others.
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3b16d6f1d25e081040751049d47acce8 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2021/03/21/creating-the-oprah-effect---how-brands-on-the-edge-can-change-their-future/?sh=1a0e9f975ddf | Creating The Oprah Effect—How Brands On The Edge Can Change Their Future | Creating The Oprah Effect—How Brands On The Edge Can Change Their Future
In today’s fast changing business landscape, brands now more than ever face a myriad of challenges that can disrupt their futures.
A lack of agility or a slow response to radical change—like that brought on by the pandemic—can see the end of a once promising enterprise. Add to that a series of poor business decisions and business owners are soon looking for a Midas touch solution to avert looming failure.
Some can find this golden solution better than others. Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is famous for turning things around with a mere mention of a product or business on her show. She’s launched careers and made books bestsellers, simply by picking winners and offering exposure in a creative manner. She’s so good at it media pundits have given the phenomenon a name: they call it The Oprah Effect.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 19: In this screengrab released on December 19th Oprah Winfrey during ... [+] Global Citizen Prize Awards Special Honoring Changemakers In 2020 Shaping The World We Want on December 19, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images for Global Citizen) Getty Images for Global Citizen
So what is it? At its heart, The Oprah Effect is the power to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices. The effect has been documented in domains as diverse as book sales, beef markets and in influencing elections.
Her book club made best-selling authors of any she featured. When a discussion on mad cow disease made her openly question whether she would ever eat another burger, beef sales plunged. Her endorsement of Barack Obama during the Democratic Primaries alone netted him more than a million votes, playing a large part in putting him in the Whitehouse.
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The point is Oprah knew that what she said—and how she said it—had the power to change the way people around her formed opinions. Understanding this kind of energy involved in this circle of influence is a sure-fire way of getting your business back on track in times of adversity.
Here’s two ways you can recreate the Oprah Effect—and how they were embraced by business women during times of adversity.
Leverage Word Of Mouth Marketing
Kendria Johnson Kendria Johnson
Kendria Johnson, founder of K Consultants, firmly shares Oprah’s sentiment, and believes in the power of pursuing new avenues of online communication to cultivate reach and prosperity. She shares: “Gatherings and the opportunity to spread your message by word of mouth are never in short demand. Even during a pandemic, people have invented ways to gather with virtual birthday parties, baby showers, game nights and many more. Use your power of online socializing as online word of mouth,” she suggests.
Johnson believes that being a change-maker in the online space is the best way to substantiate new growth opportunities. By being the first on the scene, you’re often seen as the pioneer of a new trend or development. This positions you as an expert in your industry and expands your audience in the process.
She continues: “Instigate, recreate and formulate a marketing party. Take a month to gather 15 to 20 business owners and their followers. Host a live event where each business gives a five-minute pitch to drive traffic to their business. Don't be in the backseat of this online train, get in front of it! Create avenues for other businesses to prosper and watch yours do the same.”
Johnson began public speaking in 2013 as supplemental income for teaching, and her career has since accelerated. Working with the American Federation of Teachers gave her the boldness to become an educational consultant. Today, she shares her teaching expertise coaching and mentoring teachers. She hosts workshops and events helping teachers fall in love with their jobs and reignite passion in their career.
Create A Viral PR Campaign
Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter
Failure and challenge is a part of growth. As Oprah has said: “If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher, the law of averages predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to know this, remember this: there is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” Her message is clear: always seek improvement and never allow obstacles or setbacks to take you off your course.
Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is the CEO and cofounder of IMPAQTO, a B Corporation based in Ecuador. Her company builds startup ecosystems and creates the innovation networks that impact-driven entrepreneurs need to thrive, grow and make a difference for their communities and the planet. A viral PR campaign breathed new life into her business after the pandemic took it to the brink of collapse. Her approach? Much like Oprah, she made a decision to push higher and offer guidance, support, and value-rich content to business owners and entrepreneurs in times of crisis.
She shares: “Our business model pre-pandemic leveraged the income from the coworking side of the business to fund our social business accelerator and our change agent community-building events, supporting the broader mission of IMPAQTO as a B Corporation. When the pandemic hit, our physical spaces shut down. And with that, so did our revenue model.”
“We knew that our next steps would mark our future,” she continues. “Instead of desperately thinking of replacing the lost income source, we asked ourselves: what does our brand stand for? Community. What do communities do in times of distress? They lend out a hand.” As Oprah is famously quoted, “The great courageous act that we all must do is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.” Instead of clinging to the past, Arevalo looked forward to the future.
She continues: “We opted to pivot our entire team with a new approach – to produce a free micro-webinar series for entrepreneurs who needed guidance to adapt and stay afloat. The webinar series soon went viral through word of mouth and within the first six weeks of the pandemic, we had reached over 14,000 participants across Latin America through our content. The result? Now that we have reopened our physical spaces, we have a steady flow of grateful entrepreneurs, small business owners and solopreneurs who come recommended by those who remember we were there when the community needed it the most.”
Be Creative And Stay Connected
It’s clear that during times of adversity, an active approach is always superior. As Oprah says: “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” It’s best to take control, talk about the importance of communication, and be creative in the ways in which you do that. The Oprah Effect is about the power to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices. And while Oprah herself has incomparable impact, we could all learn a thing or two from the queen of influence.
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84537b2f2509cc973609bf7ed5902301 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2013/06/13/changes-from-adobe-others-show-cloud-leaving-its-mark-on-marketing/ | Changes From Adobe, Others Show Cloud Leaving Its Mark On Marketing | Changes From Adobe, Others Show Cloud Leaving Its Mark On Marketing
There’s no doubt cloud computing is transforming business. And there’s no doubt that Big Data is changing the game for companies looking to improve customer service and retention. But what does it all mean for marketing?
With Adobe’s recent announcement to move its Creative Suite of applications to the Cloud, many are left wondering just what the cloud means to the marketing industry. Here’s a quick look at how marketing and the cloud are creating big opportunities for marketing experts across the globe:
1. Customer accessibility
The cloud is allowing marketers to reach and engage their audience in ways not seen before, thanks to mobile applications and their prevalence among consumers. In the past, a person sitting on the couch watching TV was out of reach for digital marketers. Now, thanks to the cloud, that person sitting on the couch watching TV is also likely to be accessing data and the Internet through a smartphone or tablet, and thus would be accessible to digital marketers.
2. Creative creation
The applications that make up the Adobe Creative Suite, which are the universally accepted tools of choice for creating marketing collateral, are now available to users through a cloud-based subscription plan called the Creative Cloud. Though the applications can be downloaded locally, users must buy subscriptions to access these downloads, as well as the application updates and new features. If a subscription is canceled, the software — which checks its status online every 30 to 90 days — is no longer available to users.
3. Customer relationship management
Salesforce.com, a leading Software-as-a-Service provider of CRM tools, recently made a move to expand its reach by buying ExactTarget, a digital marketing firm with clients such as Coca-Cola , Gap , and Nike. The company, which launched its Marketing Cloud last year to tap into CMOs’ thirst for digital services that are powered by cloud computing, is hoping the acquisition will further boost its marketing influence. As Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff says, “The CMO is expected to spend more on technology than the CIO by 2017.”
What other ways are you seeing the cloud boost marketing? How can marketers take even more advantage of cloud technology for greater results?
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5d42dc8480546bca0d6341e9e0acb9ae | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/03/11/why-blackberrys-turnaround-may-be-too-late/ | Why BlackBerry's Turnaround May Be Too Late | Why BlackBerry's Turnaround May Be Too Late
It would be an understatement to say that the BlackBerry has fallen out of favor with the mobile set. Once so revered and coveted that it was dubbed "CrackBerry," it now commands only a fraction of its former market share. BlackBerry's newest CEO John Chen recently said the company has a 50/50 chance of a successful turnaround and will focus heavily on business customers for the next two years. But is it too late?
A report by The Globe and Mail suggested some reasons for BlackBerry's precipitous fall -- and C-level execs can take away four lessons from BlackBerry's struggles as it attempts to reclaim its former glory.
1. BlackBerry (formerly RIM) missed the tablet train
Seeing the big-picture technology landscape is a challenge for any CIO, but you have to wonder how BlackBerry missed the growing trend toward tablets in what was becoming a post-PC world. With such a beachhead in the enterprise--BlackBerry devices and enterprise-grade management software--the company should have been a shoe-in to pilot a successful tablet launch. Amazingly, not only did the company miss the mark with its PlayBook tablet offering, it hardly took a swing.
The Globe and Mail report highlighted the PlayBook's quick demise: "The tablet, originally slated to come out in the fall of 2010, didn’t appear until April 2011, and it failed to sell. It was an awkward accessory to RIM’s smartphones, and lacked e-mail, contacts and apps. Once again, RIM had missed the mark: Tablets that sold well worked as standalone devices, which the PlayBook wasn’t."
2. BlackBerry was blind to the changing nature of work
As we watched BlackBerry's strategy during the last few years, one of the biggest head-scratchers was the company's inability to capitalize on the corporate shift toward the bring your own device (BYOD) model. From enterprise tools to apps and smartphones, the consumerization of IT was everywhere. But, once again, BlackBerry missed a revolution--and a big opportunity.
3. BlackBerry overlooked the app economy
It's hard to imagine that a company so dependent on software would almost abandon its developer community at a time when key infrastructure was being re-architected.
The Globe and Mail touched on how Blackberry again dug its own hole: "Software developers were left with dead-end investments after learning they would have to rewrite their apps for the new system if they wanted to remain part of the BlackBerry world. Many simply didn’t bother."
Further, BlackBerry underestimated the app ecosystem, one that would take its users further and further from their inboxes for communication. Social networks and other, lighter SMS tools siphoned off some traditional messaging, but it was the app marketplaces and developer communities that really attracted users. Apple and Google , with their iOS and Android platforms, noted the shift early, which paid huge dividends. As with Microsoft (at least for now), BlackBerry's app economy is paltry compared to Apple's and Google's.
4. While BlackBerry was focused internally, its competitors--including new ones--were looking at the outside market changes
While BlackBerry was focused on doing its own thing, companies including Google and Amazon were looking at the market needs and busy building robust and widely applicable Web solutions. These companies saw (and see) hardware and operating systems as conduits for content and commerce, much like Apple does.
What BlackBerry learned the hard way is that your competitors, especially in technology-driven industries, can come from anywhere. It might be Ford. It might be Microsoft. It might be Walmart.
Indeed, the only constant today and in the future will be change. BlackBerry serves as a lesson for technology leaders on the need to adapt based on what customers need and want, but also to strive to offer products and services customers can’t even imagine today.
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6a755b372ab1eee67637ca3a5175331d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/05/29/retail-it-gets-ready-for-chip-and-pin-tech-2/ | Retail IT Gets Ready For Chip-And-PIN Tech | Retail IT Gets Ready For Chip-And-PIN Tech
Does "October 2015" mean anything to you? That’s when the United States will reach a milestone in credit card security: the country will switch from the magnetic stripe and signature system—or "swipe and sign"—used for the past 50 years, to the all-electronic system already used in most of the rest of the world. Businesses that keep up with the new technology may make themselves and their customers more secure; businesses that don't could find themselves liable for credit card fraud.
For decades, credit and debit cards in the United States have used the magnetic stripe system. These stripes are easy to replicate, leading to a high level of credit card fraud in the U.S. compared to other countries. In contrast, cards using the chip-and-PIN technology—also called EMV, for Europay Mastercard Visa have an embedded microchip. Customers simply insert their card into a terminal and enter a PIN number.
The chip-and-PIN system is not hack-proof, but it does make it more difficult for thieves—such as those who perpetrated the recent Target and Nieman-Marcus breaches—to use information they steal, says Barrie VanBrackle, co-chair of consumer financial services for Manatt Phelps & Phillips, in Washington, D.C.
Not only are cards with embedded chips more secure, they also open up new opportunities for retailers and customers alike, says Al Vrancart, founder of the International Card Manufacturers Association, in Princeton, N.J. For example, cards with embedded chips can store customer loyalty program information, eliminating the need for the deck of reward cards so many people currently have on their keychains. “It opens up a whole new market for other applications that issuers may want on that card,” Vrancart says.
Retail IT prepares for new technology
To get ready to accept and process chip-and-PIN cards, retailers and businesses alike will need a point-of-sale terminal that can read them. Point-of-sale (POS) terminals purchased within the last couple of years are likely to already support the technology—the software will just have to be updated, says Carolyn Balfany, senior vice president of product delivery and EMV for MasterCard. Not sure if your equipment is up to the task? See if the terminal has a slot for the new cards, she says.
Balfany adds that businesses will also need to prepare their employees to explain the new technology to customers.
Retailers whose POS terminals don't support the new technology will find they have to lay out a fair amount of money to upgrade: The terminals cost $300 to $600 each, Vrancart says—a big investment for big companies that need to buy them in large numbers.
On the other hand, the prospect of potential new business could result in some interesting innovations, says Dan Kaminsky, chief scientist at White Ops in New York. For example, a company like Square could offer card readers for tablets, dramatically reducing the cost per terminal to $100 or less and shaking up the POS market. “This isn’t going to be a slow and deliberate process,” Kaminsky says. “The race is on to figure it out.” And all of these companies will need to ensure they have the IT support in place for this new technology to work.
Liability switch
Issuers and merchants can still use magnetic stripe cards after October 2015, with one caveat. After that, if an issuing bank doesn’t offer a chip-and-PIN card, or if a merchant doesn’t accept chip-and-PIN, liability for any fraud switches to them. “Whichever one has the least secure technology will bear the liability,” Balfany says.
While customers will still be off the hook for any fraud perpetrated as a result of using the older cards, the liability switch will be a strong motivation for both retailers and card issuers to move to the new technology.
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7c4beeb929bc0366a6129bb43533addb | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/06/06/3-ways-emerging-technology-is-changing-how-cios-do-business/ | 3 Ways Emerging Technology Is Changing How CIOs Do Business | 3 Ways Emerging Technology Is Changing How CIOs Do Business
The explosion of the use of mobile devices, the cloud and other emerging technologies in the workplace has greatly affected the day-to-day responsibilities of a CIO. To lead effectively, CIOs must be able to evaluate the potential of a new technology, communicate the risks and rewards effectively throughout an organization, and apply it in meaningful ways.
In the financial sector, up to 5 percent of revenue is being spent on monitoring new technologies to help keep pace, said Patrick Meehan, vice president and research director in Gartner's CIO Research group.
According to Meehan, when evaluating new technologies, it is important for CIOs to ask themselves: "What categories of technology am I looking at it? Am I looking at technology to run the business, grow the business or transform the business?"
Today, the answers to these questions are especially important in helping CIOs achieve results in three areas:
1. Adaptation to BYOD
The use of personal devices for work purposes is almost a given these days, whether companies sanction the BYOD model or not. It's up to CIOs to channel the use of personal mobile devices in the best interests of their organizations. "BYOD can happen with you or to you—there's not an option," Meehan said.
This can present a major security challenge for CIOs. According to a recent survey by Centrify, an identity management software provider, 15 percent of employees believe they have no responsibilities or minimal responsibilities when it comes to protecting data on their personal mobile devices.
It's critical that CIOs lead their organizations by executing a plan that secures BYOD in the workplace while being flexible enough to enable employees to do their jobs well. CIOs must make the use of employees' personal devices as effective as possible—relying not just on policy but on actionable solutions that keep in mind both privacy and security issues.
Such an actionable solution is being put into place at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Stephen Lamb, CIO of BCIT, said his organization is becoming less dependent on shuffling files around across devices and is instead centralizing them in a web-based format in the cloud. "We are driving toward a social collaborative platform with less dependency on email, moving things to an environment where the users take control of the structure," he said.
According to Lamb, BCIT is taking a holistic approach to BYOD by focusing more on the cloud and the use of mobile device management (MDM) services. A MDM service allows an organization to secure and manage mobile devices across different carriers. In this model, most files live in one centralized secure location in the cloud, while any archived items on personal or work devices are protected by the MDM solution.
2. Partnerships with Competitors
It may be treading new territory for an organization to partner with the very companies it competes with, but the results can benefit all parties—especially customers.
The continuing evolution of technology has encouraged some CIOs to seek new partnerships—both inside and outside their sectors—to increase efficiency and cut costs.
For example, BCIT works with the other higher education institutes in British Columbia by sharing various IT services on the same network, called BCNET.
"There's this collaborative and cooperative approach since we all can't do it ourselves," Lamb said. "With public funding, we have exactly the same expectations of our clients as they would in a corporate environment. But we don't necessarily have the dollars to match, which is why we have to find new business models."
This high-capacity network helps meet the demands of each BCNET user at a lower cost than if each school managed their network on their own.
3. Agile Hiring Practices
CIOs must look to create multidisciplinary and cross-functional teams to implement new technology, improve existing processes and react to relevant changes in consumer behavior.
"They are looking at what is driving change in behaviors in the workplace or with their customers that ... they will have to deal with," Gartner said.
CIOs must hire individuals who can identify these changes and create solutions that address and support new patterns in consumer and employee behavior influenced by technology. This is no small task because IT as a whole is changing so drastically to meet changing behaviors.
"We are going through a reculturing of our staff and a reculturing of the environment," Lamb said. "We need to be looking for people that are more focused on moving the business forward and who are going to be more flexible with their thinking."
CIOs should therefore focus less on hiring individuals who want to control IT and more on candidates who can demonstrate the ability to help manage the IT environment as it evolves, Lamb added. He's less interested in a candidate looking to quickly move up the corporate ladder and more interested in people who are looking to help the organization move its processes forward when it comes to IT.
CIOs may have never been more challenged than they are today. But within the challenge lies a great opportunity. Getting a handle on key products, processes and trends will enable CIOs to increase their companies'—and their own professional—competitive advantage.
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58af20f71dc21ae8736e8c69fb879d99 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2014/11/19/how-chief-data-officers-are-changing-the-way-businesses-think-about-digital/ | How Chief Digital Officers Are Changing The Way Businesses Think About Data | How Chief Digital Officers Are Changing The Way Businesses Think About Data
As digital disruption impacts every industry, the emerging role of chief digital officer (CDO) is becoming increasingly important. According to a recent survey by Harvey Nash, some 7 percent of companies polled--and 16 percent of companies with IT budgets greater than $100 million--already have chief digital officers in place. In fact, about half of the Fortune 500 will appoint a CDO by 2016, predicts Constellation Research, a San Francisco-based research firm focused on digital disruption.
“There’s a deep business model shift that’s going on,” said R “Ray” Wang, founder and chairman of Constellation Research.
Although the cloud, mobile devices, big data and social media all helped create the digital landscape, the role of a CDO is not simply to learn how to use these technologies, he said. Instead, on a much broader scale, the CDO must understand how these technologies can change the very way business is done.
“What we actually see is a set of technologies that allow people to create brand-new business models,” Wang said. As a result, some 52 percent of Fortune 500 companies have gone bankrupt, been acquired, ceased to exist or dropped off the list since 2000, he said.
Wang points to ride-sharing service Uber as an example of a new digital business model. At its heart, Uber is a mobile application that can be used to access a cloud-based network of drivers and passengers, he said. The network accommodates live data--Uber X drivers have dynamic pricing for holidays and bad weather conditions. It also has a social component, where both drivers and passengers can be rated.
Traditional car rental companies can’t compete with this new sharing business model simply by using social media to engage with customers, or by creating mobile apps for renting cars. Instead, they need to understand how the availability of these technologies created an innovative new way of finding a ride.
“That’s the kind of transformational shift that is happening with digital,” he added. “Inside every organization, people want to access technology to create new data models, and they want to access the data to identify new problems that customers might have.”
Understanding and analyzing that data is the foundation of any digital businesses model, added Wang. “We are looking for anomalies and we’re trying to figure out patterns that make sense,” he said.
And it’s the role of the CDO to lead this transformational business shift. “The CDO’s job is to turn the digital cacophony into a symphony,” wrote George Westerman in Harvard Business Review. “The CDO creates a unifying digital vision, energizes the company around digital possibilities, coordinates digital activities, helps to rethink products and processes for the digital age, and sometimes provides critical tools or resources.”
In a Constellation survey of 500 organizations, the 100 companies identified as market leaders or fast followers were also the most ready to hire a CDO, Wang said. The right time to adopt a CDO depends on whether companies need to be industry leaders: “You have to understand your company. If you’re a market leader or a fast follower, you’re definitely going to get on board now,” Wang said.
CDOs are found across all industries, but advertising, publishing and information-based industries were early adopters. For example, NBC, Harvard University and the Federal Reserve have all hired CDOs.
And while CDOs can be hired from other C-Suite positions, it’s shortsighted to view the role simply as a bridge between competing marketing and IT departments vying for control of a company's digital strategy.
Instead, the CDO needs to lead the way to a digitally enabled company, Wang said, where all executive roles understand the ways digital technologies can transform business -- from marketing and sales to back office functions like human resources and finance.
“The CDO is not going to be just one individual over time,” Wang said. “We actually think that you want a set of digitally-enabled CDOs who understand where this digital disruption is going … and where technology can create brand new opportunities.”
That’s why it’s important to also build a corporate culture of digital DNA, he said. Beyond data scientists, companies also need cultural anthropologists who understand how to make products and services appeal to people’s emotions and senses. Digital technology, after all, enables personalized experiences and not just transactions.
Although Wang predicts that the CDO role will eventually go away, he sees continued growth over the next five years as CDOs serve as transformation agents in a digital era. “We are seeing a wholesale shift,” he said. “Some people think it’s about technology but it’s not. This is about a business model transformation first.”
To learn more about today’s rapidly evolving business climate, read CenturyLink’s Executive Brief: 7 Secrets to Becoming a Digital Disruptor.
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a3496b9550e306b6f4bc05283bf9523c | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/04/15/could-interactive-kiosks-replace-retail-bank-tellers/ | Could Interactive Kiosks Replace Retail Bank Tellers? | Could Interactive Kiosks Replace Retail Bank Tellers?
The fundamental challenge facing any services-oriented business today is the sheer number of people required to do the selling and provide the customer support required to effectively deliver services. Nowhere is that more evident than in retail banking.
Just about every major branch of a retail bank these days is staffed with people to provide advice about financial services products. While the automated teller machine (ATM) has replaced the need for each bank branch to staff as many tellers as they once did, the cost of providing the staff needed to sell and support financial services products remains high.
Working to reduce those costs while providing customers with more consistent service, retail banks are looking to transform the branch experience with technology. In this regard, the industry is joining a far larger trend: analyst firms project that the customer experience management market will be worth $8.39 billion by 2019.
Instead of installing ATMs capable of only processing transactions, an increasing number of retail banks are tapping into ATMS with far more advanced functionality, including videoconferencing that connects customers with financial services experts working out of the bank’s central headquarters.
NCR, one of the primary manufacturers of ATMs, has developed much of the core technology that will drive this new customer experience in retail banking. NCR is working with a number of banking customers, including Wells Fargo, Bank of Montreal, First Hawaiian Bank, Akbank, Reliance Bank and Glenview State Bank to deploy NCR APTRA Interactive Teller kiosks.
The ultimate goals is to significantly shrink the physical size of the retail bank branch. “It’s all about branch transformation to provide a better customer experience,” said Jed Taylor general manager of NCR's Interactive Services business. “It’s about building the branch of the future.”
But why are banks just now expanding the use of videoconferencing, a technology that has been around for decades?
Taylor attributes it to improved video compression, better network infrastructure and lower prices that make the use of videoconferencing more feasible in more situations. “The cost of delivering these services is now significantly less,” Taylor says. “In terms of staffing, this allows the bank to be more flexible.”
While the quality of the video being provided won’t reach high-definition quality right out of the gate, Taylor envisions a retail banking experience that is similar to what customers now see in some retail stores. Kiosks will be able to handle a much broader array of complex transactions, while bank associates armed with tablets will come out from behind their desks to provide assistance whenever needed. Videoconferencing systems will then allow customers to engage remotely with the bank’s most knowledgeable financial services advisers for longer periods of time during the day because no adviser will be tied to any one branch.
Of course, the degree to which videoconferencing will become a core component of the pantheon of technologies used to provide that transformational customer experience remains to be seen. But when you get right down to creating a quality customer experience, there’s no substitute for an encouraging word or a warm smile--whether it comes in person or via videoconferencing.
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7ea3d7f47c61de92b5d5450d88191b4d | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/07/13/wake-up-tech-industry-its-all-about-the-customer/ | Wake Up, Tech Industry: It's All About The Customer | Wake Up, Tech Industry: It's All About The Customer
It’s no surprise that customer satisfaction is a key driver of business success. Recently, a top consulting firm predicted customer experience will surpass both price and technology as a key differentiator of brand. Unfortunately, this essential message isn’t getting out there. American Express even noted only five percent of companies surveyed believe they’re exceeding in the area of customer expectation. And that’s a problem, especially in the technology industry.
The IT industry is at a crossroads. The flood of emerging trends such as Big Data, IoT and Cloud has ushered in a technology transformation like never before. According to research firm Markets and Markets, the Big Data market is pegged at nearly $15 billion. This means global companies are searching for new ways to integrate revolutionary technologies into their infrastructures, in an effort to capture the promised cost and efficiency savings. Yet many struggle to realize the value of new technologies for the customer.
IT leaders must rethink their strategies and accelerate tactics to achieve aggressive business outcomes. The race is on to shift focus from “infrastructure architects” to “customer experience architects” and transform IT delivery models to “as-a-service.” The ability to translate technology into customer-centric business solutions is a critical step along the way. Across all industries, the impact of an empowered customer is undeniable. By catering to a customer’s wants and needs, companies immediately gain a trusted partner — one who is willing to spend more money repeatedly — to capture these experiences again and again.
To capture the power of the customer, CIOs must fully understand the digital strategies that technology savvy companies employ to meet customer-centric imperatives. What’s required is to explore the emerging “as-a-service” model and understand its use to create exceptional customer experiences. It’s important for businesses to fully understand the emergence of agile hybrid IT infrastructures — and how to leverage it to gain competitive advantage. Through better education on the next-generation digital infrastructure, companies can put the power of the customer to work for them.
We’ll be discussing these topics at the upcoming CIO Magazine “Building Customer-Centric IT to Move at the Speed of Business” in Chicago on July 22. Sessions will discuss how organizations can leverage “as-a-service” models to create customer-centric IT, while helping to understand the importance of agile, hybrid architectures to deliver IT necessary for the digital economy.
The IT world is moving at unprecedented speeds and companies are struggling with how to best leverage next-generation technologies to gain competitive advantage. But it’s more than just technology, and customer benefits must now take center stage. Only by identifying customer needs and challenges can businesses help capture all this digital transformation has to offer. Now’s the time for IT leaders to wake up and put the customers first…before it’s too late.
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9687168c9d53c47931f646dad0d3a13b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/07/15/should-you-outsource-your-data-why-colocation-is-on-the-rise/ | Should You Outsource Your Data? Why Colocation Is On The Rise | Should You Outsource Your Data? Why Colocation Is On The Rise
Running a data center can be expensive and labor-intensive. That's why businesses are increasingly turning to third parties to handle the work in what are known as colocation facilities.
Colocation, an alternative to traditional in-house data center approaches, allows businesses to benefit from the economies of scale that come from sharing power, cooling and data center floor space with other tenants, while still allowing each user full control over the equipment.
The colocation approach works for enterprise IT in the same way that shared offices are ideal for individual entrepreneurs—neither wants the hassle and cost of setting up and maintaining their own space.
Many companies see the value of colocation and are taking steps now to make it part of their IT strategy.
A Global Trend
By the end of 2017, the global colocation market is expected to be worth $36 billion, up 58 percent from where it stands today, according to 451 Research. Most of the expansion will occur in the Asia Pacific region, where colocation is expected to solve an infrastructure conundrum for growing companies that lack space for a data center, the firm predicted.
The growing popularity of colocation also can be attributed to more companies adopting hybrid IT, a strategy that involves both onsite and offsite data centers, according to a December 2014 hosting and cloud infrastructure report from Structure Research.
Taking a hybrid approach is ideal for companies that want to use colocation facilities as a cloud testing ground. This way, they can experiment with the cloud for certain computing tasks while keeping everything else in the familiar confines of the in-house data center.
Offsite setup should be straightforward if the colocation provider is cloud-ready and performs according to enterprise standards and requirements.
Scaling Up
Philbert Shih, author of the report and managing director of Structure Research in Toronto, explains that colocation facilities are all about helping companies manage data efficiently, freeing up time and resources so they can instead focus on core competencies.
“You can imagine the waste when an organization builds a large data center for themselves, and it turns out they only need 50 percent after they've laid out significant capex to build it," said Shih.
With colocation, however, companies can use as much as they need now, and can easily scale up as they grow. Companies can then divert these cost savings into more strategic areas of their businesses.
“Colocation allows organizations to turn capex expenditures into opex expenditures so they can spend resources more efficiently and predictably," Shih said.
Since the data center operators used by colocation providers are experts in their field, they have more nuanced insights into how to perfect processes and handle challenges.
"It's like letting the experts work on the plumbing so that you can worry about what drives the business," Shih said.
Data center operators also can procure gear at a scale that most individual organizations can't match, providing another layer of cost savings.
There are many ways companies can shift IT to the cloud, and colocation is making the transition easier and less expensive. With time and money saved, organizations can focus on what they do best.
Explore your hybrid IT options and discover the solution mix that best fits your business needs with CenturyLink's Hybrid IT Navigator.
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05d3930faf35750d3a52960c6f07b860 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/08/24/keeping-the-lights-on-while-building-tomorrows-foundation/ | Keeping The Lights On While Building Tomorrow's Foundation | Keeping The Lights On While Building Tomorrow's Foundation
Any homeowner knows the travails of DIY projects. You need a new deck and figure you can do it yourself. At the local big box hardware store, you notice faucets and remember that you wanted to put a new one in the kitchen. So, you buy it and install it, but need to run back to the store for the right wrench. When you turn on the light to admire your handiwork the switch doesn’t work, so back to the store a couple more times for the switch and a new cover plate because you broke the old one taking it off.
When you get home, you discover that you’ve been robbed. The thieves tore off a part of your crumbling deck and used it to break a window.
In an International Data Group (IDG) study commissioned by CenturyLink, IT managers reported feeling like our oppressed homeowner. They relate that about 75 percent of staff time is spent on day-to-day maintenance of core functions, the IT equivalent of kitchen faucets and light switches. Yet, they also know that they need to build the metaphorical equivalent of new decks. Expectations are rising for IT initiatives that drive new revenue streams, new efficiencies and new business models. The top drivers of change are mobile, cloud and big data.
And no one wants to be robbed, so more than half the managers also flagged security as a huge issue in any new initiative.
The study adds some quantitative texture to pressures we all know are weighing on IT shops everywhere. Technology now provides more than just automation. It empowers digital transformation of any business. If we can imagine what we want the business to look like, the technology likely exists to create that value proposition.
Digital transformation creates new business models and new ways of creating customer value. Big data initiatives alone can provide the insights to create new products and services that customers want even if they cannot quite articulate the need themselves. Yet, standing up an Apache Hadoop cluster takes a lot of work. Likewise, a sensor network threaded through a manufacturing operation can produce efficiencies through the Internet of Things. However, those sensors and the networks connecting them to the analytics engine do not install themselves. Meanwhile, the network is down and it’s time to renew your Oracle license. It’s hard to build tomorrow when there’s only 24 hours to get everything done today.
Like the homeowner, the IT manager is caught in the tensions of the modern world. The big projects that add real value are piling up, but the water still needs to run and the lights need to stay on.
You might take comfort in knowing that you’re not alone in feeling this tension. The IDG study indicates it is a pretty common feeling. Yet, that also indicates that the race is on to figure out a way to deal with it. Said differently, competitive advantage flows to the IT shop that navigates this tension in the fastest, most cost-effective way.
IT has become too large and complex for you to do this on your own anymore. The same IDG study shows that half of IT managers expect to be using three or more managed service providers (MSPs) in the next two years. A whopping 85 percent expect to engage a managed service provider to launch a new initiative in the same timeframe.
The same technologies that are driving digital transformation are also enabling a new hybrid approach to IT, in which you do some functions in-house, use MSPs for core functions and a mix of internal and external expertise for the high value projects. You can move faster, reduce costs and build your new business models sooner.
The choices you make determine what gets done and your competitors are facing those same choices. Which of you will move first?
Owning a house involves a similar set of choices among plumbers, architects, contractors and your own ingenuity. Your neighbor has faucets and light switches too. But, by making different choices, he or she might be grilling steaks on a brand new deck long before you.
This post is the first in a series on Digital Transformations. In the next post, we shift from mere home improvement to Extreme Makeover: IT Edition.
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ebbaa7b0891d6fe60b4c5183a59f1614 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2015/09/10/3-ways-to-step-up-your-cyber-security-game/ | 3 Ways To Step Up Your Cyber Security Game | 3 Ways To Step Up Your Cyber Security Game
As IT security threats continue to evolve and expand at an exponential rate, concern over those threats has moved into the board room, said speakers at a conference sponsored by CenturyLink and Alcatel-Lucent and produced by CIO Magazine on “The Future of Security and Compliance in a Hostile World,” held in Washington, D.C., Aug. 26. In response to these threats, chief information security officers (CISOs) must change their approach to enterprise security.
It’s no surprise that cyberattacks are increasing, but the speed at which this is happening is breathtaking. Kicking off the event, Julia King, contributing editor at CIO Magazine, quoted statistics from a recent report that found that 76 percent of enterprises experienced more attacks in 2014 than in the previous year, and 82 percent expected to be attacked in 2015.
One cause of businesses’ increased vulnerability is the proliferation of new technologies such as social media and mobile computing, which have opened more doors for hackers than ever before. The growing use by workers of their own devices (BYOD) and public cloud services like Dropbox complicates the picture further, and the trend will continue. It’s estimated that by 2017, 50 percent of IT spending will be out of the IT department’s control, said Tim Kelleher, vice president of IT security services at CenturyLink.
In addition, as enterprises arm themselves with technology to protect against attacks, the number and types of security products they have installed have skyrocketed. Christina Richmond, program director of security services at IDC, reported that CISOs tell her they are using products from 70 to 100 security vendors within their IT environments.
It’s time to move beyond trying to solve this problem through technology, speakers agreed. Rather, enterprises should shift to developing a threat intelligence network that focuses on research and analysis of possible threats from potential bad actors. The key is to understand what critical information your organization has, what type of hackers might want that information and why, and how they might go about getting it, said R. David Mahon, vice president and chief security officer of CenturyLink.
Kelleher suggested three steps that today’s CISOs should take to protect their businesses.
1. Prioritize and segment information assets. This means deciding what type of information you have that might be the most enticing to hackers, and devoting more resources to protecting that information. Don’t assume that criminals won’t target your company because of its low profile. Many organizations make that assumption when reading the headlines about breaches of retailers, for example. But today’s cyber criminals target specific companies to go after very specific information, Kelleher said.
Kelleher cited a hedge fund manager who thought his firm would be under the radar. Then Kelleher pointed out that the hedge fund kept confidential data on potential mergers and acquisitions that could prove quite lucrative for any hacker looking to gain insider trading information on publicly traded companies. Today’s hackers usually go after specific information for specific reasons, so it’s important to consider what data you have that would be most valuable to steal.
2. Focus on insider threats. Plenty of groups could target your data for various reasons. Mahon, a former FBI agent, described five potential threat groups: nation states, criminals, terrorists, hacktivists and insiders. Insiders are the most common, responsible for allowing about 50 percent of all breaches. The activity may not even be malicious, but could be caused by human error and/or a lack of training, such as standing up a server without setting a new, hard-to-guess password, Mahon said.
The key here, according to Kelleher, is that companies need to build, annually update and thoroughly socialize an organizational security policy that applies to employees, vendors, partners and any others that access your corporate infrastructure and data. People inherently trust one another, which automatically makes them a security risk. “People are wired to make bad decisions on security,” Kelleher said. But people can also be your greatest defense if they are well trained in simple and clear policies.
3. Engage top executives, including the board of directors. Today, only 42 percent of CISOs report quarterly to their boards, Richmond said. That will likely rise because of three things that have caught boards’ attentions and made them nervous, according to Mahon. The first is guidance provided by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission four years ago that companies may have disclosure obligations relating to cyber security risks and cyber incidents if the impact is material. Second, data breaches are generating lawsuits. In fact, the board of a large retailer is being sued for negligence over a breach that led to the exposure of millions of its customers’ data, according to Mahon. Third, as breaches increase, insurance brokers and underwriters are asking more probing and detailed questions when issuing cyber insurance to corporations. All of these factors have led boards to realize that “they can be personally held accountable and sued for damages by not paying attention to [cyber security threats],” Kelleher said, and this fact has caused boards and senior leadership to take cyber security much more seriously.
When considering the bigger picture of managing IT security, all speakers agreed that the industry still needs to make a cultural shift from fighting the problem with just technology to studying the enemy. Companies should focus on hiring intelligence analysts rather than more technologists, Mahon said. Today, corporate information security departments need to act like government intelligence agencies, which study their adversaries first, then figure out how to fight them most effectively, he said. In fact, by using big data and predictive analytics, companies now have the tools to do this more effectively than ever before. But first, they need to have the right mindset.
“The information security industry as a whole has had more of a technical solution-based approach to doing its job,” Mahon said. “What you need to switch to is a threat-focused mindset. You have to realize that there is an adversary out there every day.”
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40315433b27e2b62d10bcd439496adac | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2016/02/23/how-uber-for-trucking-apps-are-driving-change-in-the-freight-industry/ | How "Uber For Trucking" Apps Are Driving Change In The Freight Industry | How "Uber For Trucking" Apps Are Driving Change In The Freight Industry
Nearly 70 percent of all freight moved in the United States travels by truck, a haul that totals an eye-popping 10 billion tons each year, according to the American Trucking Associations, a trade group.
Without trucks, the American economy brakes to a halt.
Despite the industry’s importance, its progress has long been impeded by its fragmentation—the tens of thousands of small trucking carriers needing intermediaries to transact business with shippers. Such brokers typically rely on telephone calls to engage the parties—not the most efficient or cost-effective means of moving freight in an age of on-demand commerce.
Industry Ripe For Disruption
Now several mobile applications are looking to alter this paradigm for the better. By replacing the traditional middleman linking truckers to shippers and vice versa, the apps are shaping up to be as disruptive to the trucking industry as Uber was for the taxi business.
One of these new apps is Cargomatic, the brainchild of a tech entrepreneur from Silicon Valley and a logistics expert from Los Angeles, which launched in 2014. Another is Convoy, a Seattle-based startup launched in September 2015.
Not surprisingly, both companies leverage the similarities of their apps to Uber in their marketing materials. The comparisons are obvious, although the apps transport freight and not people. Like Uber, both companies have created algorithms that address the transportation needs between two parties, with all the financial logistics, such as billing and payment, handled by the app.
New Expectations Accelerate Shipping
The new technology is further evidence of a gradual shift to on-demand transactions in shipper-carrier business dealings. In a world of one-click overnight and even same-day deliveries, companies gain competitive traction when they can move goods the fastest.
Such short-notice, spot-market jobs are becoming more common, according to Dan Lewis, founder and CEO of Convoy.
“Shippers need trucks to be available on a just-in-time basis more and more, but the carrier industry is very fragmented,” said Lewis, whose company is backed by some deep-pocket investors, including Pierre Omidyar from Omidyar Technology Ventures and Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff.
The industry’s fragmentation creates the need for brokers to interact with multiple carriers on behalf of a shipper to determine their availability, followed by price haggling and back-office administrative headaches. It’s common for a broker to conduct more than 200 phone calls per day just to arrange, track and complete shipments, Lewis said.
In this era of mobile apps, GPS navigation and the cloud, brokers on a telephone are an antiquated and costly way of arranging shipments.
“Anything that makes the middle work faster, more efficiently and transparently saves money at both ends,” Lewis said.
Brokers aren’t cheap. For local trucking jobs, the fees can be up to 45 percent of the job, he explained. Although Convoy also takes a percentage of each transaction, it is nowhere near 45 percent, he said.
Algorithm Does Work Of Middleman
The apps are designed to connect a shipper with a truck carrier to schedule transport at a competitive price based on distance, weight, size and other customary variables. Carriers are approved based on their financial security, reputation, equipment, rates and other factors.
Any type of shipper, from those moving parcels to those with a full container of goods, can make use of the technology. Like an Uber driver, the algorithm-selected carrier can accept or decline the opportunity on the app. If it consents, it then uses the app to assign the job to a driver. For shippers, there’s no waiting, haggling over price or managing paperwork.
Owner-Operators Stand To Benefit Most
Over the long term, the apps have the potential to transform the trucking industry from a network of mostly small businesses to one in which larger players emerge.
Today, more than 1 million smallish companies own 90 percent of all trucks, each owning about three trucks on average, according to Lewis. The apps may allow these small businesses to grow by reducing management burdens and administrative costs.
“It’s common for the owner to be one of the company’s drivers, making it difficult for these businesses to grow beyond three trucks,” he said. “More trucks means more drivers and more work to manage them. Beyond six trucks, companies need to hire back-office staff or simply stop growing.”
The new apps may also provide societal benefits. When freight shipments are booked more efficiently, a truck is on the road less often. Rather than driving back from a job with an empty container, the driver can fill the hold with freight on the return, reducing traffic congestion, vehicle exhaust emissions and the risk of automotive accidents.
The growth of Convoy and Cargomatic since their respective launches testifies to the demand for the technology. Cargomatic launched its app initially in Los Angeles and has since rolled it out into the New York tri-state region and the San Francisco Bay area. It subsequently raised $8 million to expand its platform.
And they have competition. Seven companies in the space raised $63.25 million in 2015, reported VentureBeat.
“Shippers and carriers are realizing this is where the industry is headed,” Lewis said. “The old ways of doing things no longer make sense.”
Russ Banham is a Pulitzer-nominated business journalist and author, whose most recent book, “Higher: 100 Years of Boeing,” is in bookstores now.
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29f768581de3411e98803ab943afb733 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2016/05/03/how-to-find-networking-opportunities-when-you-work-from-home/ | How To Find Networking Opportunities When You Work From Home | How To Find Networking Opportunities When You Work From Home
Working from home has many perks: the ability to make your own schedule, a super-short commute, being there when your kids get home from school, saving on gas and travel costs, being able to sign for packages or let in repair people. The list goes on. But there are a few drawbacks, too. One drawback is that you lose social and professional networking opportunities that happen daily in a physical office.
Not only does the lack of networking opportunities make it challenging to collaborate with and learn from your peers, but working from home by yourself can also be isolating. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can find very worthwhile networking opportunities when you work from home. Here are a few options to consider.
Events
Attending events on a regular basis is a great way to replace networking opportunities frequently found in an office setting. And you don’t have to spend a lot of money to attend national conferences to benefit from this, although that is certainly an option. Event-based networking can also include local professional group meetings, Chamber of Commerce events, social media meet-ups and even lunch-and-learn sessions conducted by businesses or schools in your area.
If there are not a lot of events in your local area, consider reaching out to businesses in your community and co-hosting them together.
Online Networking Groups
Online networking can take place on forums related to your business, on sites created for collaboration in a specific industry and even through frequent comments on your favorite business blogs. And let’s not forget about all of the networking that takes place on social media platforms. LinkedIn is a professional networking powerhouse, but similar benefits can be found from networking on Twitter and in Facebook groups, too.
Webinars and Video Conferences
Many businesses host large-scale webinars, video conferences and workshops – often for free – that help you advance your skills in a specific area. These sessions can also be a great place for networking with other professionals, before and after the sessions. Often all it takes is reaching out to people personally to kick-start a conversation that leads to productive networking.
Co-working Spaces
When you’re ready for a break from your home office, explore co-working spaces in your area. Co-working offers many of the same benefits of working full time in an office at a fraction of the cost. Plus, you usually have the flexibility to pick and choose when you want to work from home and when you’re ready to sit alongside other professionals. When you find the right co-working office, you can get the best of both worlds and a steady stream of networking opportunities.
Each of these examples demonstrates that there are ways to find networking opportunities when you work from home, if you’re willing to be proactive about it. Start with a reasonable goal – one networking activity per week or per month – and stick with it for ongoing benefit. And now that you’re home-based for most of your work hours, you may find that the networking activities you participate in are more useful to you than they were in the past.
Check out CenturyLink Business’s Bright Ideas blog for more home office & business tips.
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8dbd70f153667a82081a3a32fecedc1b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2016/07/11/female-execs-gender-gap-closing-in-tech-but-more-role-models-are-needed/ | Female Execs: Gender Gap Closing In Tech, But More Role Models Are Needed | Female Execs: Gender Gap Closing In Tech, But More Role Models Are Needed
By Mark Stone
Fields that involve science, technology, engineering and math offer some of the highest-paying, most in-demand careers, according to a White House report released in April. But women represent a mere 29 percent of the STEM workforce, despite an estimated 600,000 unfilled jobs in the IT sector alone.
Theories for this gender disparity in the United States abound. In an article that appeared in the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Science, the authors suggest that women perceive STEM careers as less desirable than careers in fields that involve communal goals, such as helping other people.
If that’s true, is the IT industry fighting a losing battle to hire more women? Two women who are executives in the field don’t think so. If more women in tech can step forward as role models, they say, then more girls who are interested in the field can see themselves in those same positions — leaders in tech.
“Role models help them set an example for which skill sets and personality traits lead to what could be possible,” said Maxine Moreau, executive vice president of global operations for CenturyLink. “The more people they see and can identify with, the better.”
What Women Tell Other Women
When Moreau started with CenturyLink 30 years ago, she was often the only woman in a room of 20 or 30 people.
Over the years she’s witnessed many changes in the STEM industries and believes that young women’s and girls’ attitudes toward STEM fields have steadily improved. She points out that the gender stereotypes surrounding other occupations have dissipated over the years: Once upon a time, nearly all nurses were women and nursing was considered woman’s work.
“Now that’s no longer true,” Moreau said. “I see the same thing with women in STEM. Every generation will get us closer to equal numbers. It’s going to take time and education.”
CenturyLink plays a big role in STEM education. The company sends its engineers to middle schools to help girls there get interested in technical and engineering careers.
“We educate them about network technologies,” Moreau said. “It’s important for us to link it to what’s important to them so it’s relatable, whether it’s a game or an app or something interesting to them.”
When Moreau speaks to groups of women in leadership positions, she shares the philosophies that have served her well in her career. Being open to new ideas, embracing innovation, being curious and always maintaining a readiness to learn are key, she tells her audiences. Most important for young women looking to get into STEM fields is that they surround themselves with positive influences and push themselves to do better. Not that that’s something that only young women should hear.
“This advice is appropriate for anyone at any level in their career,” Moreau said.
Sandra Wear, former CEO of Canadian Women in Technology, has made it her personal mandate to encourage girls and young women to seek careers in STEM. Wear explains that although STEM initiatives are increasing on the political level, stubborn gender biases remain to be overcome.
“The challenges exist within social stereotypes,” Wear said. “You see girls interested in STEM when they’re young, but then they hit their teen years and there is a huge drop.”
The Importance Of Role Models
Part of the problem may be that many girls don’t see their peers showing much interest in STEM. That might be a result of too few female role models and society’s failure to depict STEM fields as an appealing pursuit for young women.
“In high school, you need role models to relate to,” Wear said. “Unfortunately, what is important at that age is being pretty, being cool and having a boyfriend. So if you want to relate to that girl, you need to show her someone she will look up to. You have to show her it’s not just about the profession and talk to her about the fact that on average it’s a 40 percent increase in salary.”
Relating to what they see is key. As the media increases its influence on young women, it’s critical that it present more role models in the STEM fields. To that end, video streaming giant Netflix is working with major youth organizations to host special screenings of its teen series “Project Mc2” at educational institutions. Heavy hitters from Silicon Valley and Hollywood will be interviewed about the relevance of STEM skills in their professions during panel discussions in which cast members will also participate.
While elimination of the STEM gender imbalance may be a way off, the progress these initiatives are catalyzing, combined with the headway being made by IT hiring practices, is cause for optimism.
Mark Stone worked in information technology for many years before deciding to make a career writing about it. He lives in Canada and also covers entertainment.
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e6354f9331f44997371399fe741a4efc | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2016/09/16/how-a-new-phone-system-can-make-a-small-business-look-big/?sh=72e4fa737151 | How A New Phone System Can Make A Small Business Look Big | How A New Phone System Can Make A Small Business Look Big
Got a small business with a tight budget? It can be tough to convince potential clients that you can meet their needs. Whether you like it or not, size matters in business, and it makes sense to look big even when you aren’t.
Voice over IP phone systems might do the trick. VoIP systems are among the most effective and inexpensive ways to build a professional image and look bigger than you are.
For one thing, VoIP providers don’t expect you to pay a la carte for tools and features. A typical VoIP service today includes virtual receptionist, call recording, screening, call logs, video, conference and a tight integration with email, calendar and productivity apps.
A voice communications system is considered VoIP when a provider is converting your phone’s audio signals into digital data and then transferring those signals over the internet, routing them directly to your devices of choice.
Paying Small To Look Large
Craig Walker, an executive in the voice communications business who has founded and sold several companies, explained the illusion that VoIP can create.
“When a new customer calls, he hears options like, ‘Press 1 to set up an appointment. Press 2 for finance. Press 3 to speak to Gary.’ Of course, Gary is the only person in the company, and the call goes to his phone in all three cases.”
VoIP gives the impression of a larger company than actually exists, while allowing Garry to make and receive calls from a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile device.
“It can help you convey that your business has a wide area of coverage and may attract some new customers,” Walker said.
Features vary by providers, but most VoIP systems offer an auto-receptionist, extensions with individual voicemail boxes, phone greeting, call recording, screening and forwarding.
CenturyLink figures show that small businesses can save 50 percent to 75 percent after switching to VoIP.
“Instead of making huge capital expenses into your phone system, VoIP lets you pay a fixed monthly fee for your phone service,” said Kevin Bumpus, a CenturyLink product manager.
Creating Multiple Phone Numbers
VoIP also allows companies to create custom phone numbers for different areas and look local in cities that might be hundreds of miles away.
For example, if your company is based in New Jersey and you are willing to travel to New York City or Philadelphia, you could have local numbers for customers in those areas and have those calls forwarded to your device of choice.
One big draw of VoIP is how it is being integrated into productivity apps and social media platforms, such as Twitter and LinkedIn. This integration further enables small companies with small budgets to use features generally associated with big enterprises. For instance, it allows click-to-call functionality from email, calendar and chat and makes available document collaboration tools.
When a VoIP call is tightly connected to online apps such as email and calendar, it can give users context about the caller. Systems can also present this kind of information during outgoing calls.
Staying Up When Phone Lines Are Down
VoIP also offers small businesses disaster management capabilities. In the wake of a disaster, a traditional phone line might be down hours or days, making the company look unstable and unreliable. But a VoIP solution allows the company to easily route calls to a new destination or your mobile device with just a few clicks.
“In a highly competitive environment, you could end up losing opportunities if you are not available all the time,” said Susie Stanek, a senior product manager at CenturyLink.
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7e96a3cabc5e0cd89f954762b11d611b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2017/01/09/disaster-recovery-planning-preparing-for-winter-weather/?sh=1895f6b04ec4 | Disaster Recovery Planning: Preparing For Winter Weather | Disaster Recovery Planning: Preparing For Winter Weather
The arrival of winter means many things: family gatherings, cozy fires and warm sweaters and scarves. It also means cold weather, fewer daylight hours, the flu season and travel hazards including bitter cold and snowy and icy roads. In the data center industry, being prepared for winter means businesses should review their strategies for potential outages due to storm-related impacts.
Disaster avoidance and recovery planning is essential for businesses in keeping their data safe and secure – be it on premise, in the cloud or colocation. It ensures that critical people and processes remain operational, minimizes the impact of unplanned events and helps businesses recover more quickly in the event of an impact. Below are some eye-opening statistics that point out the high cost of outages:
Outages cost enterprises an astounding $700 billion per year. The cost of an unplanned data center outage is nearly $9,000 per minute. The total cost of a data center outage has increased 38 percent since 2010 to $740,357.
Planning for contingencies in the case of storm-related disruptions is only possible if companies know for which contingency they need to plan. One of these contingencies is the data center location – businesses need to know where their IT infrastructure is and assess the potential risks surrounding that location. Once that is determined, they can decide on the elements of their business resiliency strategy that may need attention. The main question to ask yourself in this area is if the primary and secondary (backup) data centers are far enough apart as to avoid both being impacted by a single event, natural disaster or man-made incident such as train derailment or terrorist attack.
Another way to be prepared for a storm-related disaster is to identify business processes that could be affected by adverse conditions and develop a detailed plan that outlines how to maintain continuous operations through such events. Frequent review and rigorous testing should then be performed to ensure the disaster recovery plan remains aligned with changing business processes and system changes.
Many data centers employ multiple methods to reduce and even eliminate downtime in the event of a disaster. This planning was especially evident during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, when all 15 CenturyLink data centers in the storm’s path avoided downtime. A big reason for the company’s ability to keep our data centers operating at 100 percent is that they’re built for resiliency and include capabilities designed for business continuity. More importantly, the operations team has built upon over 20 years of data center management experience to develop comprehensive policies, methods, and procedures that cover not only day-today operation, but pre-event preparation for disasters like hurricanes that provide at least a bit of warning, and clear roles and actions when a major incident occurs so everyone knows what they need to do and with whom to communicate. Without a well-rehearsed plan, even a minor incident can spin out of control causing much greater business impact than anticipated.
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8dfd6d755893565a179276ef38a9e92b | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2017/02/21/2017-predictions-3-technologies-that-will-put-your-new-year-on-the-right-track/ | 2017 Predictions: 3 Technologies That Will Put Your New Year On The Right Track | 2017 Predictions: 3 Technologies That Will Put Your New Year On The Right Track
If you’ve been following any of the latest business and technology headlines, you’ve no doubt heard how 2017 will be the year that ground-breaking technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence will create new paradigms in our healthcare systems, schools, universities, and enterprises. Even small and mid-sized businesses (SMB) stand to gain immeasurable benefits from these technological advancements, helping managers to understand, manage and measure businesses operations and customer interactions in ways that were never possible before. We’ll have the opportunity to become more efficient, innovate faster and ultimately, make better decisions as long as we have the network foundation required to sustain this innovation.
2017 will be the year that ground-breaking technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence will create new paradigms in our healthcare systems, schools, universities, and enterprises.
Here’s a look at three types of technology that can help you establish the groundwork required to get ahead in 2017:
Fiber Optics: Fiber is the foundation of any business technology stack with its inherent speed and scalability. With fiber, you’re driving on a supersonic raceway; without it, your business will operate like the digital equivalent of driving on a dirt road. Fiber has the speed needed to enable complex technologies where every nanosecond counts. Fiber networks provide uncompromised performance and distinct uptime advantages with split-second data processing and the ability to upload and download files at the same fast pace. As the technology landscape becomes more complex and our patience for “load times” diminishes, it’s extremely important that businesses have a network that can run everything from basic business functions like conferencing and cloud uploads to some of the more powerful applications, like data mining and artificial intelligence. I’ve seen plenty of retail establishments leverage fiber and it’s fast, dependable connectivity as a competitive advantage to attract customers into their business. But if they wanted to go a step further, the store or restaurant could leverage fiber to access cloud-based business intelligence applications and better understand their customers’ preferences and buying habits.
Similarly, I’ve consulted with larger companies who also leverage fiber for cloud-based applications, but in addition to business intelligence, they also rely on it for instantaneous access to cloud-based procurement, sales and customer service applications, data backup and server processing environments. Many of these companies also have dispersed workers and need fiber to power online collaboration and video conferencing solutions. Fiber provides the gateway into an incredible set of IT services that enables businesses to delegate their IT challenges over to a trusted provider whether for business intelligence, email and security services or simply removing plain old phone systems off desks and putting in new IP telephony devices with advanced features. In my experience, fiber lays the groundwork for business growth and advancement while helping a business achieve maximum savings and efficiency.
Software Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN): Having multiple office locations has always been a bit of a headache when it comes to IT. First, there’s the capital investment for the networking equipment that has to be considered. Then, how do you manage and maintain it? That’s where SD-WAN comes in play. With SD-WAN, SMBs have cost-efficient, secure, cloud-based WAN connectivity that not only supports the bandwidth-intensive, dynamic nature of today’s applications, but also reduces the need to spend money on proprietary hardware and expensive network transport. SD-WAN can securely connect a business to a public or private cloud or as in the case of a branch office, to a corporate network. Expect adoption of SD-WAN to continue to expand as companies gravitate towards virtualization of traditional, physical networking functions that allow them to pay for only the networking requirements they have now and the flexibility to adapt service to changing requirements at a moment’s notice without waiting 60 or 90 days for a hardware installation. For even more benefit, businesses can turn to a service provider for SD-WAN management, eliminating the need for IT staff involvement, perfect for companies without IT staff or for those businesses whose IT department is focused on other initiatives. With SD-WAN, a business can go from technology ideation to revenue- and customer-impacting activities in a matter of days, a must-have in the day and age of immediate gratification and competitive market pressure.
Security: I believe that today’s businesses are caught between the benefits of the hyper-connected enterprise and the ever-growing number of smart, sophisticated cyber attacks. This perfect storm of the new digital economy and increasing security threats creates serious risks for businesses and for the people who manage them. Whether you own or manage a coffee shop and are processing customer credit cards, process patient information for insurance companies or manage global acquisitions, you require encrypted, secure transactions to protect not only your networks and company data, but also to protect your customer and patient data from falling into the wrong hands. The real question becomes how do you balance hyper-connected, open commerce while also protecting against sinister activities, whether it’s fishing and DNS attacks or identity theft? For many SMBs, security is seen as a complex and expensive undertaking, and the threat landscape constantly evolving with formidable adversaries. Consequently, many companies will wait until there’s an incident before addressing security vulnerabilities. For example, the first time a company experiences a DDoS Attack, it might take employees an hour or more to figure out what is happening and then another hour or two to mitigate the problem. During this time, the company website is down, customers can’t complete purchases, customer satisfaction dwindles and sales revenue is lost. However, Managed Security Services (MSS) can relieve a business owner or IT manager of the complexity associated with proactive security preparedness. With MSS, the managed security services provider (MSSP) provides consulting services, vulnerability assessment and advanced detection and analysis to thwart attacks and protect.
The technology landscape is morphing at warp speed. Autonomous cars, drones, voice-activated artificial intelligence devices, smart homes and even smart cities are becoming the norm rather than the exception. Yes, all of this new technology could potentially hold hidden security vulnerabilities, but it also holds the promise of a hyperconnected reality that can simplify our lives, save our businesses money and potentially provide our customers with instantaneous gratification with advanced products and services.
Ultimately, the benefits that these technological advancements afford us far out-weigh any potential risks. I believe that 2017 will definitely be the year of expanding paradigms and supersonic advancement.
To learn more about how CenturyLink can provide your business with a solid technology foundation, please visit: http://www.centurylink.com/business/.
This blog was originally published on CenturyLink Bright Ideas.
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ac1fdb6141ae5fa99d03295c7885a8b6 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/centurylink/2017/05/25/how-to-speak-executive-a-lesson-for-data-security-pros-at-interop-itx/ | How To Speak Executive: A Lesson For Data Security Pros At Interop ITX | How To Speak Executive: A Lesson For Data Security Pros At Interop ITX
Cybersecurity experts at the Interop ITX tech conference in Las Vegas said the WannaCry ransomware attack makes clear that security leaders must do a better job of considering data risks and protections.
Presentations at the cybersecurity crash course at Interop ITX drew questions surrounding the issue of protecting data. Interop ITX
But encouraging business leaders to take action against threats requires a fuller discussion than just issuing a warning about potential damage, according to John Pironti, president of cybersecurity strategy firm IP Architects.
“Business leaders are there to take risks,” Pironti said at the conference last week. “That’s why they’re paid insane salaries — their ability to formulate goals, take risks and gain a reward.”
Pironti was one of several speakers that Interop ITX assembled for the Dark Reading Cybersecurity Crash Course, a two-day event that offered IT professionals and chief executives a high-level overview of the key issues around data security.
Michael Ferrell, security solutions architect at CenturyLink Business, said at the crash course that business leaders can quickly grasp any threat by assessing its magnitude, its damage-causing potential and the value of the data in the crosshairs. Because WannaCry, for example, infects only Windows-based computers, it is not equally important to all businesses.
“In the middle of WannaCry, if you didn’t have a single Windows device, did you care?” Ferrell asked rhetorically.
Executive Speak
The WannaCry attack also gives security professionals an opportunity to reopen conversations with chief executives about lingering threats and the cost of doing nothing, he said.
When dealing with business leaders, security professionals must speak plainly. But it is also important to write up as much as possible. That means including technical details, Pironti advised. Executive summaries that lack supporting details undermine your standing and encourage dissenters to take potshots.
“If you can’t document your methods, practices, source materials and intelligence, you have a credibility problem,” he said.
Pironti encouraged security professionals to sit down with business leaders and record key data sources, as well as the leaders’ understanding of and tolerance for significant risks. Explain risks with visuals that match the indicators business leaders are already looking at in color-coded heat maps and radar charts, he advised. Just the act of creating these documents can help align business and cybersecurity leaders.
“You’re engaging with the leadership team, which is an important step,” Pironti said. “Collaboration helps us define common tasks, not just impose our will.”
Including the names of collaborators can aid in accountability.
“When people are upset and look for scapegoats, they often start forgetting that they were part of the process,” Pironti said. “Documentation shows that there was a dialogue we all agreed to.”
Legacy Of No
Ferrell said that cybersecurity professionals must understand that being too cautious — by rejecting proposed tech initiatives — can curtail the introduction of new products and services, and slow the internal adoption of cutting-edge practices.
When “no” must be said, being specific helps, he said. Because complex topics such as distributed denial of service attacks may seem abstract, it helps when you put them in terms business leaders can understand.
“Ask how much they make per minute on their site. Every (chief financial officer) can answer that. Then ask how many minutes they can afford to be offline,” Ferrell said.
Above all, remember that business leaders, like all people, respond when you stimulate their imagination in ways that are easy for them to understand.
Dawn-Marie Hutchinson, executive director of the office of the chief information security officer at Optiv, an IT security company, suggested during the crash course that security experts tap into priorities that are deeply meaningful to executives.
“Ask them, ‘What do your company’s worst five days look like?’” Hutchinson said. “Then design your program around that.”
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c879ea350c14004e277cdf99c553a40f | https://www.forbes.com/sites/cfainstitute/2012/01/30/exxon-and-the-natural-gas-revolution/ | Exxon and the Natural Gas Revolution | Exxon and the Natural Gas Revolution
By Robert Stammers, CFA
Director, Investor Education
As the demand for natural gas increases and catches up with supply, companies-like Exxon-that made early investments should benefit from having invested ahead of the trend.
It has been a bleak couple of years for many investors in natural gas, as expected demand failed to materialize resulting in abundant supply. However, expectations for increases in demand creation and price recovery should directly benefit companies, like Exxon, that have investments in natural gas resources. Though traditionally recognized for its capabilities in petroleum exploration and drilling, over time Exxon has built up a significant capability and inventory within the natural gas sector.
Investors have been waiting a long time for the natural gas revolution and for Exxon’s natural gas play to begin bearing fruit. Although it has not had a positive impact on profits lately, Exxon’s natural gas assets may be poised to augment profits and share value as the energy source becomes more prominent and in greater demand.
Exxon & Natural Gas
It’s been over two years since Exxon Mobile Corporation (XOM) bought shale-gas company XTO Energy for $25 billion making it the world’s largest natural gas producer. Since the acquisition, shares of Exxon are up an extremely modest 17%, compared with a 38% and 37% gain for competitors ConocoPhillips (COP) and Chevron Corporation (CVX), respectively. Higher oil prices have helped cover up a disastrous few years for natural gas assets.
Natural gas prices plummeted 31% last year (while West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose 8%) as huge supplies drastically outpaced demand. In 2011, The United States Natural Gas Fund, LP (UNG), which aims to track the spot price of natural gas, fell a staggering 42%.
Pearce Hammond, Jr., CFA, and Co-Head of E&P Institutional Research for Simmons & Company International, believes short term pressures remain but the future is brightening for the natural gas industry. Simmons & Company’s 2012 forecast calls for a natural gas market that is still oversupplied, but not as severely as 2011. In fact, last week many traders were caught “offsides” as the U.S. energy department slashed its estimates of the amount of gas in the Marcellus shale formation by 269 trillion cubic feet, down to a third of what was previously estimated. This, combined with other downward revisions, led the price of natural gas to rally on reduced supply.
The overall supply and demand dynamics should continue to improve. Hammond believes organic natural gas demand is increasing, which will benefit natural gas exploration and production leaders like Exxon.
Natural Energy Transition
According to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, global gas demand increased six-fold from 1965 to 2010. Natural gas, already a big component of total energy usage, is expected to grow markedly over the next ten years. A study released by Exxon in December 2011 forecasts that global energy demand will jump 30% by 2040, and that natural gas will overtake coal to become the number two overall fuel source by 2025.
Natural gas proponents argue that huge natural gas reserves and cost effectiveness are speeding up this transition. Crude oil trading at close to $100 per barrel is historically high, compared with natural gas priced near $2.33 per million BTU.
In addition to the pricing advantage, natural gas is preferential for environmental reasons. The higher the hydrogen content in fuel, the cleaner it is. Natural gas has relatively high hydrogen content; it burns about 50% cleaner than coal and roughly 30% cleaner than oil. Many experts, including energy magnate T. Boone Pickens, believe that natural gas is the transitional fuel to bridge the gap for green energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear. In a previous post, I described the various options that green investors have and the issues that they face.
Demand Dynamics
When looking for companies that will benefit from the long-term prospects in natural gas, just look to big oil. The world’s largest oil producers are now counted among the dominant natural gas producers. After the XTO acquisition (which made Exxon a leader in the natural gas sector) shares of Exxon were pounded in the aftermath as investors correctly believed the price paid for XTO represented a significant premium to intrinsic value. Since the acquisition natural gas prices have tumbled. In its defense, Exxon cites the forecast for growth in natural gas usage, and believes their bet will pay off in the long run.
Since prices are low, developing nations like China—which desperately need cheap energy sources—are likely to import increasing amounts of cheap natural gas. China currently uses a very small percentage of global natural gas supply, yet demand is growing exponentially. Depressed prices create a huge opportunity to export large supplies of natural gas to ports around the world where alternative energy sources are comparatively more expensive. All natural gas producers including Exxon should benefit from increased demand from China.
Hammond believes that “it’s just a question of time before the U.S. is no longer a net importer, but is actually a net exporter, of natural gas” and that reduced global nuclear utilization (fallout from the Fukushima meltdown) and an aging domestic coal fleet could help natural gas take market share faster than anticipated.
Barriers to Change
Although the outlook for the sector is bright, significant obstacles remain. Powerful lobbying groups, including the coal industry, are actively fighting the conversion from dirty energy sources to natural gas. Proponents of natural gas believe the U.S. government should let old coals plants expire that are up for renewal.
But coal companies and other groups are actively lobbying the U.S. government against supporting natural gas. This is stalling federal support for natural gas fueling stations as well. More of these fueling stations would push truck and automobile operators to purchase vehicles that run on natural gas. Demand for natural gas would pick up dramatically if it were to become a core transportation fuel source.
Somewhat surprisingly, the environmental lobby is another threat. Obviously, clean renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear are much cleaner than natural gas and are preferred by many lobbying groups. Another potential threat, although unlikely, is a potential federal ban on hydraulic fracturing (or fracking)—a technology that is increasingly used to extract natural gas from complex rock formations—due to potential environmental issues that may result from its use.
Exxon’s Natural Gas Future
Natural Gas deposits can be difficult to discover and perhaps more difficult to estimate. The impact of smaller shale deposits than expected may result on some resistance to share price increases in the short term, since companies like Exxon are valued in part in relation to the amount of oil and gas they can expect to extract in the future. Even though the demand for natural gas has increased to over 300 billion cubic feet per day, experts like Pearce Hammond think the market will remain oversupplied in the near-term, and the current supply glut should keep prices extremely low.
Despite the environmental concerns, lobbying efforts, and current pressures on natural gas prices, there is still a consensus, even from many in the oil industry, that the natural gas revolution is inevitable. Cost efficiencies in concert with low prices are helping to foster demand as natural gas competes against other energy sources. At some point in the not so distant future, if demand catches up to supply, prices should rebound. When that happens, companies like Exxon, that have made considerable investment in Natural Gas should benefit significantly.
You should follow us on twitter @CFAInvestorEd.
Matt Cavallaro contributed research and reporting.
The information contained in this article and from any related communication is for informational and educational purposes only. The information in this article should not be interpreted or used as investment advice. CFA Institute does not recommend or endorse any investment security, product, or strategy or any service, product, or material submitted by or linked to this article by third parties.
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6ce5324c3b5ccedd94e05f709460ad22 | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chaddscott/2018/12/10/j-paul-getty-museums-the-renaissance-nude-presents-turning-point-in-art-history/ | J. Paul Getty Museum's 'The Renaissance Nude' Presents Turning Point In Art History | J. Paul Getty Museum's 'The Renaissance Nude' Presents Turning Point In Art History
Dosso Dossi (Giovanni di Niccolò de Lutero) Italian (Ferrarese), about 1490–1542 Allegory of... [+] Fortune, about 1530 Oil on canvas Unframed: 181.3 x 194.9 cm (71 3/8 x 76 3/4 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles 89.PA.32
Perfectly proportioned and scantily clad with wrinkle-free skin. And those are just the patrons.
Excuse the joke.
America’s modern stereotype of Los Angelenos pairs nicely with a dazzling exhibit on display through January 27, 2019 at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles: The Renaissance Nude.
With masterworks on loan from the Louvre, The Met, the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and numerous other prestigious art museums across Europe and the U.S. – not to mention out of the personal collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II – a lifetime could be spent tracking these works individually across the globe. The show even boasts all four “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle” namesakes: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello.
That artistic firepower is no joke.
“The fame of the greatest artists of this period–a number of them household names—as well as the reputation of Renaissance art as a whole rests substantially upon their depictions of the nude,” exhibition curator Thomas Kren said. “Everyone from Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci to (Albrecht) Durer, (Jan) van Eyck, (Hans) Memling, and (Jean) Fouquet, plus countless artists who were less well known, created nudes that will take your breath away.”
Among the icons of the Renaissance on display, Fouquet’s Virgin and Child (below), may steal the show. Painted about 1452 to 1455, this arrestingly modern piece looks as though it could have been purchased out of a contemporary art fair this month.
Jean Fouquet French, born about 1415–1420, died before 1481 Virgin and Child, about 1452–1455 Oil on... [+] oak panel Unframed: 92 x 83.5 cm (36 1/4 x 32 7/8 in.) Courtesy of Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen Image © www.lukasweb.be–Art in Flanders vzw, photo Dominique Provost EX.2018.1.17
The seemingly hard, shiny surfaces of the figures appear plastic, a material not created for another 450 years after the work’s completion. The Virgin's and the child’s pale, flawless, seamless complexions, vacant gazes, and limb positioning recall science fiction androids. The shape of the Virgin’s outrageously proportioned breasts would make a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon blush.
According to Kren:
This painting has attracted one of the strongest responses of any work in the exhibition, not only for its stunning quality, but for the appropriately otherworldly character of the celestial setting, an enthroned Virgin in heaven surrounded by a multitude of seraphim (red) and cherubim (blue), the two highest ranks of angels. While this rich palette of red, blue, and grey is not unusual in French depictions of heaven in the fifteenth century, Fouquet raises it to the next level through the sophisticated geometry of both the composition and the figures, including the focus on the Virgin’s sensual, exposed breast. It is a transgressive image, carrying an erotic charge–a commemorative portrait of the French king Charles VII’s late mistress, Agnes Sorel, one of the most celebrated beauties of her time.
As evidenced by the inclusion of Fouquet, a Frenchman, The Renaissance Nude makes sure not to focus its examples exclusively on Italian artists, offering a more complete, more accurate, broader view of the period. The Renaissance was much more than an Italian phenomenon. No individual exemplifies that better than Germany’s Durer.
Durer, along with Leonardo and Michelangelo, appears on any list of the elite draftsman in art history. Durer’s brilliance with the line can plainly be recognized by even novice art connoisseurs in his symbolically packed (notice the cat at their feet) engraving Adam and Eve (below).
Albrecht Dürer German, 1471–1528 Adam and Eve, 1504 Engraving Unframed: 24.9 x 19.2 cm (9 13/16 x 7... [+] 9/16 in.) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Art Museum Council Fund Image: www.lacma.org EX.2018.1.166
An opportunity to compare the drawing talent of Durer, Leonardo, and Michelangelo side-by-side offered in this show provides a delicious treat.
The mastery these three immortals showed when depicting the human figure, along with all of the artists in the exhibit, and countless others from the period, represented a major turning point in art history.
“The new professional ethos that placed mastery of the depiction of the unclothed human figure at the center of artistic practice transformed not only the training of artists but the measure of artistic success,” Kren said. “The nude moved to the center of art-making as both motif and aesthetic ideal.”
If the idealized, pin-up quality of the figures thus far described has you looking for a darker side of The Renaissance Nude, you’re in luck there too. Along with a variety of paintings depicting Saint Sebastian stuck through with arrows, you’ll find a sorrowful wood carving of St. Jerome from Donatello, and the otherworldly bizarre The Fall of the Damned (below) by Dieric Bouts.
Dieric Bouts, The Fall of the Damned, 1468–69 This painting is on deposit from the Musée du Louvre to the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, 1957 Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Jean-Gilles Berizzi EX.2018.1.11
Artists of northern Europe–the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Germany–Bouts being Netherlandish, have thankfully been counted on throughout art history to sprinkle liberal dashes of the odd and macabre into their work.
Far from simply another opportunity to admire the beautiful people, The Renaissance Nude presents timely conversations carried over through the centuries.
“The exhibition looks at the complex, often ambivalent reactions to the nude then as anticipating many of the reactions to the ubiquitous imagery of the nude body today,” Kren said. “It also offers an opportunity to consider the historical roots of the objectification of the body in the visual arts and the gender attitudes around them.”
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5218a7c32c2f585e7caaa1112880817e | https://www.forbes.com/sites/chaddscott/2019/01/22/santa-fe-indian-school-artists-made-most-of-terrible-situation/ | Santa Fe Indian School Artists Made Most Of Terrible Situation | Santa Fe Indian School Artists Made Most Of Terrible Situation
Andrew Tsihnahjinnie (Yazzie Bahe, 1916-2000, Navajo), Horse Stampede, Tempera on paper, 1956 Gift of Clay Lockett, Museum of Northern Arizona, C1160
One of the saddest chapters in American history is the Native American Boarding School era. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the United States government forced Native American children out of their homes, away from their families and sent them to boarding schools across the country. The government wanted to assimilate the children into “white” culture.
“Kill the Indian in him and save the man,” U.S. cavalry captain Richard Henry Pratt, the man tasked with solving the “Indian problem,” infamously said at the time of the goal for the boarding school program.
The students had their hair cut. Their native names were removed, replaced by Anglo-American names; their native dress replaced by “white” clothes. They were forbidden from speaking their native languages and from practicing their native religions.
The results of this policy upon Native American children and culture was predictably disastrous.
In the 1920s and 1930s, official U.S. government policy toward Native people began to humanize. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Indian New Deal” began to give Native Americans more control over their governance and education.
One benefit to emerge from this shift in policy occurred at the Santa Fe Indian School in the arena of the arts. The artistry coming out of the school during this time is the focus of an exhibit, Transcending Duality: the Santa Fe Studio Style, on display now through February 18 at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.
Fred Kabotie (Naaqavo'ma, 1900-1986, Hopi), Santa Clara Mountain Sheep Dance, Watercolor on paper,... [+] c. 1925 Bequest of Katherine Harvey, Museum of Northern Arizona, C488
“I'd describe (the Santa Fe Studio Style) as stylized representations of Native American life and ceremonial scenes,” Alan Peterson, curator of the exhibit, said. “It's graphic and two-dimensional as a result of limited use of light and shade being used to describe forms and space. Colors tend to be intense.”
Greater freedom afforded to Native children in selecting the boarding school of their choice in the '20s and '30s created an artistic hub in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“After the mid-1920s, (students) were given greater choices for schools to attend and many who wanted to be artists selected the Santa Fe school on their own,” Peterson said.
They were victims of a system that was purposefully designed to strip them of their cultural identity. Some teachers and administrators, like John and Elizabeth DeHuff, and later Dorothy Dunn, bucking the (Bureau of Indian Affairs) administration, did their very best to make their students feel more welcomed and at home. Among things they did was to hire older artists, for example Awa Tsireh, to paint murals with Native motifs in the school in order to create a more welcoming atmosphere. They were also great advocates for their students and helped them in many ways outside the classroom.
The Santa Fe Indian School continues educating Native children to this day although in a completely different fashion. It is owned and operated by the 19 Pueblo Governors of New Mexico. Roughly 700 students who meet the application requirements attend classes in grades seven through 12 there.
Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal, 1898 – 1955, San Ildefonso Pueblo), Koshare Sun Design, Colored ink on... [+] paper, ca. 1916-1930 Bequest of Katherine Harvey, Museum of Northern Arizona, C642
“Although it's no longer the dominant style, I think that there are artists still working in this style, and many more working in styles derived from it,” Peterson said. “Of course, there are also a great many Native artists working in a very contemporary manner. I think another significant legacy from the Studio and this period (1920s–1930s) is that of pride in the Native artists’ culture and traditions. It definitely helped to give Native Americans and Native artists a greater sense of cultural pride when they sorely needed it.”
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