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2010-02-02T22:45:39Z

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By Jami Farkas    They are a dedicated bunch, these fervent fans of football at the University of Southern California. Blood that courses through their veins isn't just red, but cardinal red. They speak as if they wore shoulder pads, talking about "our" new coach and when "we" won the national championship. Their cell phones don't just ring but instead blare the songs of the USC marching band, the peppy "Fight On!" and the regal "Conquest." Fans have grown accustomed to their team living in the spotlight, outshining even the biggest celebrities on the Los Angeles sports scene. The Trojans are king; Kobe Bryant and Manny Ramirez ― for all their stardom ― are merely princes. The Trojans of the past 50 years: dominating. Seven of the team's 11 national titles have come since 1960, the year John McKay took over as coach, posting a .749 winning percentage in his 15 seasons before moving to the National Football League. The script is waiting to be written on the next half-century. "I don't know if the next 50 will be as good as the last 50. The last 50 will be hard to beat," said Jeff Barth, a 35-year-old business analyst from Montrose and a lifelong fan. "If they are, it's going to be a fun life." But could the kingdom be crumbling? It's a tradition at a crossroads for the Trojans as they face 2010 with a host of questions. Will new coach Lane Kiffin come close to duplicating the feats of the departed Pete Carroll, who like McKay a generation ago took his lofty winning percentage and headed to the pros? Will the Trojans, just weeks after Kiffin took over, attract blue-chip recruits Wednesday on National Signing Day? And when an NCAA committee meets this month, will it slap USC with penalties? No matter what, the true-blue ― make that true-red ― USC fans vow to stick with them. "We will," said Louis Ramirez, 83, of North Hollywood, USC Class of 1951, "because we're Trojans." ■ Names.    O.J. Simpson. Lynn Swann. Ronnie Lott. Marcus Allen. Frank Gifford. Carson Palmer. Bruce Matthews. Troy Polamolu. They are among the Trojans who made an indelible impression in cardinal and gold then went on to professional stardom. Their feats line the pages of the USC record books. One name of the past ― Reggie Bush ― could prove to be the biggest of them all in the immediate future. Bush, now a running back for the New Orleans Saints who will play in Sunday's Super Bowl, left USC in 2005 with a Heisman Trophy in hand. The following year, an investigation by Yahoo! Sports outlined allegations that Bush's family received benefits in violation of NCAA rules. Later, former basketball star O.J. Mayo was alleged to have been at the center of another controversy, one that claimed former basketball coach Tim Floyd gave money to a man who led Mayo to USC. The NCAA ― the governing body of college sports ― has investigated both cases and its Committee on Infractions will meet Feb. 19 to 21 in Tempe, Ariz., to decide on sanctions for the school and the programs. USC fans are watching, waiting to see what happens. "It's a tough one," said Ramirez, who went to his first USC game in 1937 and remembers even the smallest of details of showdowns over the past 70-plus years. "I think people are always concerned. You just don't know." Maria Carreon, a 36-year-old nurse from Norwalk, wants to know. A season-ticket holder and avid pre-game tailgater, she tunes in to ESPN and listens to local talk radio to hear what the expert analysts have to say. Those analysts have convinced her that if sanctions do come, they won't put the football program in peril. Maybe, she said, the school will have a scholarship or two that it can offer taken away. "I'm not really worried about it being huge." Neither is Jeannine Ball of Long Beach, USC Class of 1978, who said she has attended every home game since 1974. "I am not concerned about any NCAA sanctions because it is completely out of our control," she said. "I just can't worry about that." Cynics say the sanctions could be big, setting USC back in its recruiting, and that's why Carroll took his 97-19 record and two national championships over nine seasons and headed to the Seattle Seahawks. And they don't look at the money ― a reported $33 million over five years ― or a chance to return to a head coaching job in pro football as Carroll's reason for departure. Instead, they say, he was just getting out of Dodge before the sheriff laid down the law. ■ Charisma.    Carroll has it in abundance. So did McKay, who passed away in 2001 at age 77. It was easy to get wrapped up in their excitement, cheer their exuberance, laugh at their jokes. "He had a tremendous sense of humor," said Rod Humenuik, who played for the Trojans in 1956 and 1957 and later served as a McKay assistant for five seasons, including the 1967 national championship year, of his former boss. "After one ballgame that we didn't win, the question at the press conference on Monday was 'How about the execution of the team?' "He said, 'I'm all for it.' " Kiffin has shown his charm in his first days on the job since being hired in mid-January. In news conferences, he has said all the right things. At 34, he has Southern California boyish good looks. With a beautiful wife and three children under age 5, they look like the All-American family. He appears excited for the future, even if he is a marked man at the University of Tennessee, where he spent one season as head coach ― the NCAA questioned some of his moves there ― and then stunned the Volunteers' faithful by leaving for Los Angeles. On Facebook, anti-Lane Kiffin groups have more than 75,000 members. It's the staff that will surround Kiffin at USC that has Trojan fans excited. Kiffin, who was an assistant under Carroll for six years before heading south, brings with him his father, coaching guru Monte Kiffin to lead the defense, and Ed Orgeron, associate head coach/recruiting coordinator/defensive line coach. Orgeron also previously worked at USC before leaving the school to become the head coach at Mississippi. The Sporting News and Rivals.com named him Recruiter of the Year in 2004. "With his father, it's a big plus," said Richard Chavez, 31, a banker from Pico Rivera, who said he plans on being in the stands when the Trojans play at Hawaii on Sept. 2, the official start of the Kiffin era. "Pete Carroll was like a student of Monte Kiffin through the NFL years... "The main key is him bringing back Ed Orgeron. He was a key to getting a lot of those USC players who are now in the NFL." Humenuik knows something about that, having coached in the NFL for years after leaving USC. He said Kiffin will have a grace period with the USC faithful. "The ‘SC fans, in the past, have always been supportive of the first-year coach because they want to see how well the team is going to perform under his leadership," he said. "The jury is still out until after the end of the season." Jordan Palmer didn't attend USC but at 25, has been a regular at games more than half his life. He grew up around old friend Rob Johnson, a former Trojan quarterback who went on to an NFL career. His brother, Carson, won the Heisman Trophy playing for USC in 2002 and now quarterbacks the Cincinnati Bengals. A quarterback himself, Jordan Palmer also is on the Bengals' roster. To him, it's going to take a while for the Trojans to reach the pinnacle again. "Pete Carroll was the foundation that recent program was built on," he said. Palmer said that top recruits coming out of high school right now with competing offers from other top-tier schools will think hard before signing with USC. He said the young men committing this week are looking at coaching stability among the intangibles. To achieve the same kind of success, Palmer said, Kiffin is going to have to be a tough coach, one who puts the emphasis on discipline and team play ― a few areas Palmer said Carroll let slip the past few years. With Pacific 10 teams like Oregon and Stanford rising in national prominence, they will take advantage of any USC weakness, Palmer said. "It's going to be tough," Palmer said. "Lane is really going to have to earn this. Signing Lane Kiffin as coach is a step backward. Nothing against Lane. When you lose Pete, you lose the cream of the crop." Johnni MacKe, a sophomore print journalism major at USC, is willing to give Kiffin a chance. "Initially, it was a big shock. I never thought Pete would go," said MacKe, whose family has USC season tickets. "But I suppose it makes sense to have a new, young coach. We're a young team. And it's not solely the coaching situation that might help win games." The change in coaches isn't going to affect some fans, like Robert Guardian, 34, of Montebello, who works in the film industry. "I'm a USC Trojan," he said. "I'm not a Pete Carroll Trojan. "Still, for others like Ball, the world shook on Jan. 12, the day the Seahawks introduced Carroll as their head coach. "It's only paradise if you know you are in it, and I knew I was in Trojan paradise every year of Pete Carroll's tenure as the USC football coach. We will never be able to replace him, but we will fight on," Ball said. "I am a Trojan for life. Win or lose, I will be there to support my team, but I know that I'm not in paradise any longer." ■  Tradition. USC played its first football game in 1888, long before pro sports came to town. The Cleveland Rams moved to Los Angeles in 1946, the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1958 and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1960. The Oakland Raiders came and left. And while the Dodgers brought with them the pitching duo of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale and the Lakers have graced the city with 10 NBA titles, it's the Trojans that have brought families together. Ramirez's family is among them. His father-in-law went to USC, as did he and his wife. His children? Trojans. His daughter Linda and son-in-law, USC and Olympic swimmer Steve Furniss, raised another Trojan fan, Kristina Furniss Stonebreaker, a USC graduate who is now 29 and an actress. "It's been very ingrained in me since I was a little kid. I always loved USC football," she said. Some USC fans in their mid-30s or younger can remember the days before Carroll, when the team's success wasn't a guarantee. They can recall the years of John Robinson, whose teams achieved greatness in his first stint with USC from 1976 to 1982 ― a national title came his way in 1978 ― less the second time around from 1993 to 1997. They can shudder at what is considered the dark days of USC football in the modern era, when Ted Tollner led the team to a 26-20-1 record from 1983 to 1986 or when Paul Hackett's teams posted just a 19-18 record from 1998 to 2000, the regime before Carroll. But the Carroll years have left fans wanting more, even though they said they don't expect instant supremacy from Kiffin teams. Guardian said he saw some of the fair-weather fans jump off the bandwagon during a season that was a disappointing by USC standards when the team finished 9-4 and didn't earn a berth to a major bowl game. The true ones? They will be there come fall, he said. "With the new era, the next year, they have the talent," he said. "They have a lot of good players that are going to do a lot of good things." Ramirez, who remembers watching Jackie Robinson play for UCLA against the Trojans, said he is looking forward to continuing the tradition. "We've always had a great football heritage," he said. "The alums have been very loyal. It's another chapter in Trojan greatness starting." It's a chapter whose pages Ball is looking forward to turn. "Am I more reserved about next season?" Ball wondered. "I am thrilled to see (quarterback Matt) Barkley come back. I believe that he will develop into a superstar, and it will be fun to see him progress. Monte Kiffin and Ed Orgeron will bring intensity to the defense that we were lacking last season. The rest is an unwritten book that could end in a thousand different ways. That is the thrill of any football season."

Update to the story: <a href="http://spot.us/pitches/343-trouble-in-trojan-land/posts/314">Where Are the Trojans Now - National Signing Day</a> Also <a href="http://www.scpr.org/news/2010/02/04/usc-trojans-face-new-coach-ncaa-sanctions/">published at KPCC</a>

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2010-02-03T14:35:17Z

Trouble in Trojanland 351 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nd/3.0/us/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0pt;" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a> Trouble in Trojan Land by <a rel="cc:attributionURL" property="cc:attributionName" href="http://spot.us/stories/351-trouble-in-trojan-land" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Spot.Us</a> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License</a>. Based on a work at <a rel="dc:source" href="http://spot.us/stories/351-trouble-in-trojan-land" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">spot.us</a>.

343

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2010-02-04T22:19:29Z

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2010-01-16T19:13:51Z

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With the help of 164 donors and several reporters contributing countless hours the SF Public Press produced the <a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/special-reports/bay-bridge">Bay Bridge Report series which they have packaged on their website</a>. We have mimicked their packaging below, with links going back to the Public Press, the editorial force behind this package. This series was also published by McSweeney's in print via the San Francisco Panaorama. We believe the information provided below to be the most robust source on the history and future of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge available. <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/unparalleled-bridge-unprecedented-cost" title="Unparalleled bridge, unprecedented cost">Unparalleled bridge, unprecedented cost</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/patricia-decker" title="View user profile.">Patricia Decker</a> and <a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/robert-porterfield" title="View user profile.">Robert Porterfield</a>, McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:50pm</div> </div> When completed, the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be not only the most complex engineering feat in California history, but also the most expensive, with a cost never subjected to public scrutiny. Although today’s price tag stands at $6.3 billion, the figure accounts for only salaries and hard materials—things like concrete and steel and cranes. When all is said and done, the new Bay Bridge will wind up costing tax- and toll-payers more than $12 billion—a figure that leaves even the officials in charge “staggered.” </div> <div class="views-row views-row-2 views-row-even"> <div class="node node-teaser node-type-news"> <div class="node-inner"> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/how-wall-street-profits-from-bridge-building" title="How Wall Street profits from bridge building">How Wall Street profits from bridge building</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/robert-porterfield" title="View user profile.">Robert Porterfield</a>, McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:49pm</div> </div> The Bay Area Toll Authority has the unique power to raise bridge tolls without the Legislature's approval, which it has done repeatedly to pay off the $6.9 billion bond debt amassed so far to build the new Bay Bridge and upgrade six other spans. That makes BATA particularly attractive to Wall Street, which has pocketed more than $122 million in fees to arrange the borrowing. </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-row views-row-3 views-row-odd"> <div class="node node-teaser node-type-news"> <div class="node-inner"> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/building-the-bays-signature-span" title="Building the bay&rsquo;s signature span">Building the bay’s signature span</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/patricia-decker" title="View user profile.">Patricia Decker</a>, McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:48pm</div> </div> <div class="field field-type-image field-field-images"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/building-the-bays-signature-span" class="imagecache imagecache-teaser_main imagecache-linked imagecache-teaser_main_linked"><img title="" class="imagecache imagecache-teaser_main" src="http://sfpublicpress.org/files/imagecache/teaser_main/news/section.jpg" height="158" alt="" width="200" /></a></div> </div> When all the pieces are finally welded together and tethered by the main suspension cable, the Bay Bridge east span will be not just a new American icon, but also a truly global monument. From the enormous solid steel castings of cable saddles, brackets and bands being forged in Japan and England to the gigantic bearings and hinges being manufactured in South Korea and Pennsylvania, fabrication of the bridge is under way in seven foreign countries and in more than two dozen American cities, including 12 in California. </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-row views-row-4 views-row-even"> <div class="node node-teaser node-type-news"> <div class="node-inner"> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/the-fine-print-interest-doubles-the-total-price-tag" title="The fine print: Interest doubles total price tag">The fine print: Interest doubles total price tag</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/robert-porterfield" title="View user profile.">Robert Porterfield</a>, McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:47pm</div> </div> <div class="field field-type-image field-field-images"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/the-fine-print-interest-doubles-the-total-price-tag" class="imagecache imagecache-teaser_main imagecache-linked imagecache-teaser_main_linked"><img title="" class="imagecache imagecache-teaser_main" src="http://sfpublicpress.org/files/imagecache/teaser_main/news/directcost.jpg" height="186" alt="" width="200" /></a></div> </div> Overall cost estimates have been presented to the public in annual reports and press briefings, but the cost of interest on money borrowed to pay for construction has not been included. </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="views-row views-row-5 views-row-odd"> <div class="node node-teaser node-type-news"> <div class="node-inner"> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/timeline-for-bay-bridge" title="A timeline of the old and new Bay Bridge east span">A timeline of the old and new Bay Bridge east span</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/members/mike-adamick" title="View user profile.">Mike Adamick</a>, McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:46pm</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2009-12/graphic-illustration-the-bay-bridge" title="Graphic illustration: the Bay Bridge">Graphic illustration: the Bay Bridge</a></h2> <div class="content clear-block"> <div class="field field-type-text field-field-source"> <div class="field-items">McSweeney's San Francisco Panorama/SF Public Press — Dec 8 2009 - 12:45pm</div> </div> The east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in graphic illustration. Design by <a href="http://www.eleven.net/flash/index.html" class="ext">Eleven</a>: Greg Hathaway, Darlene Gibson, Stella Trenggono & Liz Gershman. </div> </div> </div>

Some more news on the Panorama and the Bay Bridge report. <ul> <li><a href="http://missionlocal.org/2009/12/sf-panorama-on-sale-today/">From Mission Loc@l</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-panorama8-2009dec08,0,3360848.story">Dave Eggers, news publisher</a></li> <li><a href="http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/dave-eggers-and-the-san-francisco-panorama/">An interview with Dave Eggers - NYT Bay Blog</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/baynewser/bay_area_newspapers/five_questions_with_mcsweeneys_publisher_about_dave_eggers_newspaper_project_145238.asp">An interview with Dave Eggers - Bay Newser</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004051984">Editor and Publisher</a></li> <li><a href="http://sfist.com/2009/12/08/mcsweeneys_bay_bridge_investigative.php">McSweeney's Bay Bridge Investigation </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/12/san_francisco_panorama_hits_th.html">The SF Bay Guardian</a></li> <li><a href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2009/12/why-bay-bridge-going-cost-you-and-your-children">Mother Jones </a></li> <li><a href="http://sfpublicpress.org/blog/2009-12/panorama">The Public Press: Heralding the Panorama</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.avclub.com/articles/dave-eggers-on-his-favorite-things-about-newspaper,36711/">AV Club: Dave Eggers on his Favorite thing about Newspapers</a></li> </ul>

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BayBridge1.jpg

6474

2010-01-16T11:16:39Z

The Bay Bridge Explained 344

289

published

2010-01-16T19:28:55Z

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2010-01-10T21:21:11Z

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<a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/hunger">Originally published in Oakland Local</a>, funded by the Spot.Us community. Less work means more hunger. <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oakland-food-systems-ol-google-map">Oakland's </a>nearly 17% unemployment rate (close to twice the national rate) means that in our city, right now, <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oakland-food-systems-ol-google-map">many people</a> don't have enough to eat. And in outlying towns like Fremont and Hayward, the problem is even more severe. Recently <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/FoodSecurity/">the USDA reported</a> that in 2008 nearly 15 million US households were “food insecure” -- which means a member of the household did not have access to adequate and nutritious food at some point during the year. The number of people seeking free food from American food banks and food pantries is the highest recorded since USDA began collecting this information in 1995. What does increasing hunger look like in Oakland? At 9 o’clock Friday morning, the narrow streets of the Columbian Gardens neighborhood in East Oakland are choked with cars angling for parking spaces. Families with toddlers wrapped in fuzzy blankets make their way to the grassy area in front of 9854 Koford Road to join a multi-ethnic group waiting for the food bank truck to arrive. Bill Walker, a scruffy white guy in a checked flannel jacket, walks around handing out green slips of numbered paper. He’s busy this morning: 215 people have shown up for what turns out to be an enormous quantity of onions and potatoes, a few cabbages, and some gigantic yellow grapefruit. When Walker first started helping at the community center six years ago (after retiring from Pacific Gas and Electric), they’d get about five people a day picking up boxes of pasta, rice, beans, tuna, milk and canned vegetables at one time. Now, he says, they get between 20 and 30 people at any given time -- with an average family size of five to six. Today is not the biggest crowd the volunteers have seen. Andrew Roddy, who works in the sparely furnished community center, reports that one day they distributed 375 tickets. But Roddy and his mentor, Lurlean Jackson (who started the food distribution program in 1977) say that demand has been growing recently. The need is “more than it has ever been since I’ve been doing the food,” says Jackson. Despite her advanced age (which she declines to disclose), she refuses to retire from the role of community leader and food distributor that gives her “such a thrill.” Aside from the weekly produce giveaway, Jackson and her team of loyal volunteers (who call her “Mom”) also hand out boxes of food to people who call the Alameda County Food Bank’s emergency helpline. This helpline matches locals in need with nearby food distribution centers like Columbian Gardens. Brian Higgins, spokesperson for the Alameda County Food Bank, says calls to their emergency food helpline are up 43% compared to 2008 -- and 96% compared to 2007. <h2> More need, less resources</h2> In Oakland, a city that’s struggled with generational poverty for decades, the number of people seeking food assistance has clearly risen. Most agencies and advocates attribute this to unemployment, which stands officially at 16.8 percent, and under-employment, which is harder to quantify. Reports from both private charities and public programs like WIC and school nutrition programs show that Oakland is digging its heels a little deeper into poverty. And though outlying areas like Fremont and Hayward have seen more dramatic increases in the need for food assistance, Oakland’s residents are still in need, sometimes desperately. <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oakland-food-systems-ol-google-map">(See the map of where food is accessible here.</a>) Gloria Garner, 52, and Ella Hughes, 22, met at the Columbian Gardens food distribution center. Between the two of them, they can name a half dozen ways to cook the potatoes in today’s giveaway – hash browns, French fries, smothered potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes. Garner supplements what she gets here with smoked neck bones or ground beef from Food Max or Pac-n-Save – “to get some meat for my belly!” she chuckles. Garner and Hughes each has a different story for what brought them here. For one it was a messy split from a man in North Carolina that ended in eviction and a three-day Greyhound ride to live with her sister on 85th Avenue. With a son in prison and other struggles, she finds making ends meet without help like this difficult. For the other, it’s a household of family members up from Los Angeles staying with her and her mother and putting a pinch on her daycare salary. Over in Fruitvale, where Michael Gayman helps serve hot meals and distribute produce out of the Catholic Worker building at 4848 International Blvd., he sees a lot of out-of-work day laborers seeking help. Two years ago when Gayman arrived in Oakland, he gave out about 10 meals a day and now it’s more like 70. Just recently he’s found people looking for more than food. “In the last two weeks I’ve taken four people into detox for help with drug addiction.” Several blocks away at Street Level Health, Director Laura Lopez says the day laborers who sometimes eat lunch at the community clinic recently started stopping by for breakfast too. By offering coffee and pancakes in the clinic’s common room three days a week, Lopez says the organization helps the men avoid buying breakfast and offers a bit of nutrition. Without much work, these men are often hungry, says Lopez. Not that they’d admit it. “But you see when they’re coming they are asking for two or three plates,” she said. Schools see rising demand for meals In the schools, the number of parents requesting help feeding their kids has risen slightly (2%) but significantly, says Jennifer LeBarre, director of nutrition services. The number of folks who qualify for free/reduced lunch usually stays pretty steady, LeBarre says. “Just the fact that we have had more people apply is an indicator of increased need.” And out of those who qualify – almost 69 percent of all students this year – the number of people using the school food programs has jumped 6 percent. In the last two years, Oakland’s WIC program has added 900 people to its rolls for a citywide enrollment close to 20,000 people. According to Linda Franklin, who directs the Telegraph Avenue and Eastmont Mall WIC centers, these increases are significant, though not as notable as those in outlying areas like Fremont, where enrollment has risen more than 30 percent over the last two years. In Oakland, she says, “They’re suffering, but it’s on a continuum.” Franklin says she’s seen a drop in Spanish-speaking clients over the last few months. “What we’re hearing is people are finding jobs in Southern California and in Texas,” she says. The push for healthy local food grows Aside from those working on food distribution, Oakland has a rather large number of organizations working against hunger and food insecurity from a different angle. “We’re looking at ways to bring fresh, healthy, affordable, local food to Oakland’s low income neighborhoods,” says Hank Herrera, a local food justice advocate. His vision, shared by grassroots organizations like City Slicker Farms, Soul Food Farms, Mandela Cooperative, Planting Justice and others operate with a goal of setting up systems in underserved neighborhoods that follow more of a self-sufficiency approach. “It’s about insuring that people have the resources and the means to create access for themselves for the foods that they want,” he says. In the meantime, it’s people like Roddy, Walker, Gayman and so many others who will keep Oakland families from going hungry today. Like Lurlean Jackson says, “How could we not?” <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/sites/default/files/i/map.jpg" class="lightbox-processed"><img title="" src="http://oaklandlocal.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/article-single/i/map.jpg" height="177" alt="Where's access to food in Oakland? Check our map" width="344" /></a> Where's access to food in Oakland? Check our map Oakland has many neighborhoods where social action has improved food access, in West Oakland in particular. But many people continue to live in areas that qualify as food deserts, where there are no outlets to purchase healthy food within walking distance. Even more, lack awareness of food justice as an organizing issue, and of food distribution networks, community gardens and urban food co-ops and farmers markets as ways to start to address these issue   <h2>Faces of Hunger</h2>   It's not unusual for folks with limited or reduced incomes to turn to food banks and soup kitchens to help get them through tough times. That's what they are for. But volunteers and administrators at centers around Oakland say that more people are showing up for assistance now than ever before... According to a <a href="http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/Foodsecurity/">November 2009 USDA report</a>, as the recession escalated in 2008, 16.7 million households (14.6% of all US households) were "food-insecure." This means at some point during that year, those households were unable to provide enough food for their members. The overall number of households facing food shortages jumped 11% in 2008, an increase of 13 million households. This was the highest level of food insecurity recorded since such statistics were first compiled in 1995.

TAKE ACTION AGAINST HUNGER NEED HELP? If your family needs immediate assistance with food: Food Helpline: 1-800-870-3663 (FOOD)  Hours: Monday - Friday, 9 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 4 pm To find a list of agencies that <a href="http://www.accfb.org/agency_partners.html">distribute food </a>(hot meals and groceries), click here. Also, ask around at community centers, libraries, and churches to find under-the-radar food giveaways. WANT TO HELP? Cash donations are almost always the most efficient way to help agencies provide food. But if you have a large quantity of food or other supplies to donate, contact the agency to ask how best to help. Agencies usually need volunteer help too. <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Chttp://www.accfb.org/donate.html%E2%80%9D">Alameda County Food Bank</a> 510-635-3663, mailing address: P.O. Box 2599, Oakland, CA 94614 street address: 7900 Edgewater Drive, Oakland, CA 94621 <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.oaklandcatholicworker.org/How_can_I_help_.html%E2%80%9D">Oakland Catholic Worker</a> 510-533-7375, mailing address: P.O. Box 10131, Oakland CA 94601 street address: 4848 International Blvd, Oakland, CA, 94601 Columbian Gardens Community Center 510-615-5766 9854 Koford Rd, Oakland, CA 94603 <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.streetlevelhealth.org/%E2%80%9D">Street Level Health</a> 510-533-9906 2501 International Blvd, Oakland, CA  94601 GET INVOLVED! Donate to or volunteer with local food justice organizations: <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.peoplesgrocery.org/index.php?topic=participate%E2%80%9D">People’s Grocery</a> <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.foodcommunityculture.org/%E2%80%9D">Oakland Food Connection</a> <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.cityslickerfarms.org/Donate.htm%E2%80%9D">City Slicker Farms</a> <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.plantingjustice.org/about-us/community-contributions%E2%80%9D">Planting Justice</a> Learn more about California food security, food justice and food policy work by checking out <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.rocfund.org%E2%80%9D">Roots of Change</a>. <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/faces-hunger-oakland-just-us">Check out videos related to this story.</a> <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/oakland-food-systems-ol-google-map">See a map of where to find food in supermarkets, farmers markets, community gardens and food banks in Oakland.</a>

More people than ever are turning to food banks for help than ever before, says USDA.

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2010-01-22T13:57:08Z

More Than Ever, Oakland is Hungry 341

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By Bernice Yeung Part of the <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/prisons-public/">Prisons & Public Health</a> news blog funded through Spot.Us. This work was a series produced over several months. The majority of the work can be found in the "external links" section on the right where past blog posts have been aggregated. As 2009 comes to a close, so does this news series focused on California prison and parolee health. But this isn't goodbye: We'll return in 2010 with "California Smarter on Crime," which will provide broader criminal justice news coverage of the state that runs the nation's largest prison system. This is a particularly crucial time to report on corrections in California because the confluence of lawsuits, federal oversight and budget cuts brings an increased urgency to the state's ongoing criminal justice reforms. Here's what "California Smarter on Crime" will examine in 2010: • The state's continued efforts to address overcrowding. In addition to policy changes, such as diverting offenders from incarceration, the state plans to build or refurbish six prisons to create capacity for 7,588 prisoners, while shipping an additional 2,500 inmates out of state (the state already sends 8,000 prisoners elsewhere). • A $1.2 billion cut to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has led to the shuttering of prison rehabilitation programs. Six hundred to 900 of the state's 1,300 prison employees who work in rehabilitation are potentially in danger of losing their jobs, although the Service Employees International Union Local 1000 filed a lawsuit last week to stem the cuts. Gordon Hinkle, press secretary of the CDCR, declined to comment on the legal action, but he writes in an e-mail "unfortunately, the state is in a severe fiscal crisis... This means everything is being looked at, even some of our successful programs." • The state's efforts to open a controversial $116 million, 500-person re-entry facility in Stockton, Calif., which is scheduled to open in three years. Eleven more of these types of re-entry centers, which are designed to prepare inmates to return home, are on the drawing board. • As part of the Second Chance Act Prisoner Reentry Initiative, $28 million in federal funds is now being dispersed to states, local governments and nonprofits. San Mateo County was recently awarded $677,674 in federal funding to develop reentry programs for San Mateo County jail inmates. • In November, Californians will elect a new governor and state attorney general. We'll be watching the candidates' claims and counterclaims when it comes to public safety. These various issues will have ramifications not only on offenders and the 95 percent of inmates who are eventually released from prison and jail; it will also have significant effects on California communities, families and taxpayers. Consider that in 2009, California spent $10.3 billion on corrections, or about 10 percent of the state budget. In a time of great financial upheaval, now is the time to make sure that Californians are getting what they paid for. --Bernice Yeung/Newsdesk.org Sources: E-mail correspondence with CDCR Press Secretary Gordon Hinkle, December 22, 2009. <a href="http://www.pacificariptide.com/pacifica_riptide/2009/12/san-mateo-county-tests-inmate-release-program.html">San Mateo County Tests Inmate Release Program</a> Pacifica Riptide, Dec. 20, 2009 <a href="http://www.ojp.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/2009/bja100001.htm">"Justice Department Announces Grants Under Second Chance Act Prisoner Reentry Initiative"</a> Department of Justice, Oct. 6, 2009 <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/politics/story/2378231.html">Inmates' lawyers back plan to cut California prison crowding</a> Sacramento Bee, Dec. 8, 2009 <a href="http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091212/A_NEWS/912120316#STS=g3hlckr8.1v9s">"Mothballed site readied for men's re-entry facility"</a> The Record (Stockton, Calif.), Dec. 12, 2009 <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/the_state_worker/2009/12/seiu-launches-prison-education.html">SEIU launches prison education lawsuit</a> Sacramento Bee, Dec. 21, 2009

<a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006073.html">AIDS Cases Surge in California Prisons</a> California prisons saw 246 additional AIDS/HIV cases between 2007 and 2008, the largest jump in cases of any prison system in the nation, according to a recently released federal report.  <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006061.html">New Jails, No Treatment, in California Prison Plan</a> With his first proposal rejected by a federal court, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week submitted a new, 130-page plan to cut California prisons' inmate population by 42,000 in two years. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006045.html">A Pound of Cure: Tracy Velazquez on Prisons and National Health Care Reform</a> In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Tracy Velazquez of the <a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/">Justice Policy Institute</a> said national health-care reform could keep people out of jail. "Every year, thousands of people are locked up in U.S. prisons and jails because they do not have access to health care to treat mental illness and drug addiction," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/07/AR2009100702939.html">she wrote</a>. "Prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities are now some of the largest providers of mental health services in the country." In conversation with Newsdesk.org, Velazquez, whose Washington, D.C.-based think tank considers "tough on crime" policies to have largely failed, said the costs of incarceration greatly outweigh the price of preventive health care. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006034.html">California Prisons Report: A Look Inside with Hastings Scholar Hadar Aviram </a> Despite a year of legal sanctions and budget cuts, the <a href="http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/">California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation</a> takes an upbeat tone in its new annual report. Inspirationally titled "Corrections Moving Forward" <a href="http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/News/2009_Press_Releases/docs/CDCR_Annual_Report.pdf">[25 mb PDF]</a>, the report opens with a letter from the CDCR secretary Matthew Cate, who writes that "in the midst of significant challenges, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has quietly had a remarkable string of successes in the last year. While it is easy to focus on the negative, there have been many positive developments at our agency." <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006020.html">Is Schwarzenegger's Prison Plan Good Enough?</a> Facing a court-ordered deadline to reduce overcrowded state prison populations, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger released a plan last Friday <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/news/prisons_health/%20Defendants_Pop_Reduction_Plan_wExhibits.pdf">(PDF)</a> that would revisit a previously rejected "early release" program, along with other measures. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006015.html">After Prison, Calif. Women Find No Care</a> Women parolees in San Francisco and Alameda counties face long waiting lists for access to health and welfare services, many of which are unreachable by the phone numbers in official resource guides, according to a recent survey by prisoner advocates. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006014.html">Courts Push Back on California Prisons</a>  How will California resolve its chronic prison overcrowding problems? With court-imposed deadlines ahead, the answer is as murky as ever. Sept. 18 Deadline Looms In August, following class-action litigation filed by California inmates, a federal court found that the state's prisoners were receiving Constitutionally sub-par health and mental health care because of overcrowding, and issued an order requiring the inmate population to be lowered by more than 40,000 over the next two years. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006008.html">Calif. Prison Woes Tracked in Newspaper's Interactive Maps</a> The Sacramento Bee has posted some new online maps in advance of the potential release of 27,000 California inmates due to budget cuts, and another 40,000 thanks to a federal court order to curb prison overcrowding. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006003.html">Better Health Care, Better Prisons?</a> In a recent New York Times op-ed, columnist Nicholas Kristof cites the case of Curtis Wilkerson as an example of lopsided budget priorities (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/opinion/20kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion">"Priority Test: Health Care or Prisons?"</a>), wherein health care is considered too expensive, yet long and costly prison terms are the norm. Wilkerson, you see, is a California inmate who became entangled in the state's three-strikes laws; he's now serving a life sentence for stealing a $2.50 pair of socks (strike one and two both involved abetting a robbery in 1981 when he was 19). <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/006000.html">Alameda Plans Ahead for Parolee Surge</a> With 40,000 inmates <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/news/prisons_health/3JudgeCourtOrder.pdf">slated for release in the next two years due a federal court order</a> targeting overcrowding in California prisons, what to do with all those convicts re-entering society is at the top of peoples' minds. (In fact, the state has to come up with a plan of action by mid-September, although it will likely appeal the order.)  <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005977.html">Prisons & Public Health: Lois Davis Connects the Dots</a> Fresh from lockup and battling a host of health problems -- including chronic illness, addiction and mental illness -- a majority of California parolees wind up in a handful of cities like Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego. But here's the rub: Parolees often can't get the services they need because they're going back to low-income communities where health services are "severely strained," <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR687/">according to a recent RAND Corporation study</a>. <a href="http://www.newsdesk.org/archives/005974.html">Prisons & Public Health: Why Should You Care?</a> Ron Sanders, a community-health worker serving former prisoners at <a href="http://sfpublichealthfoundation.org/">San Francisco's Transitions Clinic</a>, struggles to keep his clients from being among <a href="http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/reentry/recidivism.htm">the 66 percent</a> of parolees who eventually return to prison. No easy task, as many are dealing with addiction, chronic illness, mental health problems -- or all of the above. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/30/CMPRVDERK.DTL">I first became interested in these issues when writing for the San Francisco Chronicle about Sanders</a>, himself a former prisoner who is all to aware of the challenges parolees face.

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Prison Health and our community: A Public Health Investigation 336

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By Benjamin Mark Cole with the <a href="http://www.garmentandcitizen.com/category/archives/archived-news-stories/2009-12-16-2.php">Los Angeles Garment and Citizen</a> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar19-2010jan19,0,2985790.column">Recognition from the LA Times</a>. The huge country clubs of Los Angeles — situated on some of the world’s most valuable land but protected from property tax hikes since 1978 and the passage  of Proposition 13— may be improperly enjoying that tax loophole, according to Los Angeles County Assessor <a href="http://assessor.lacounty.gov/extranet/default.aspx">Rick Auerbach</a>. In response to written and telephoned questions, Auerbach recently said that he is not sure if country clubs deserve their protected tax status, adding that he is uncertain whether the issue has ever been fully tested in a court of law or even by thorough regulatory review. Auerbach, a 37-year veteran of the assessor’s office and something of a don of property tax experts in Southern California, said he has referred the question of whether Los Angeles’ country clubs should face reassessment to the <a href="http://www.boe.ca.gov/">State Board of Equalization</a> (BOE). The BOE issues property tax regulations based on state tax code, and those rules are ultimately sanctioned by the state court system. <div>A BOE spokesman recently confirmed that the matter is under review.</div> <div> </div> <div><img src="http://assessor.lacounty.gov/extranet/images/assessorPic.jpg" alt="" /></div> <div>[Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach says he has asked state officials to clarify whether country clubs should continue to enjoy protections afforded commercial property under the state laws and tax codes that govern the implementation of Prop 13.]</div> <div> </div> <div>The landmark Proposition 13 was a ballot measure passed by voters in a statewide referendum in 1978, and allows for reassessment of residential and most commercial properties only after a sale. Homeowners feared being taxed out of their homes in the recurrent rounds of house appreciation that characterize the state’s real estate market.</div> <div> </div> <div>Prop 13 became section 13A of the California State Constitution—yet was so obliquely worded as to be meaningless when applied to commercial properties and transactions. Nearly forgotten today is the degree to which Prop 13 focused on residential properties to the exclusion of all else. To this day, 13A does not include the words or concepts of “partner,” “unit,” “stock corporation,” ‘commercial” or “equity-member country club.” Voters apparently did not consider commercial properties or commercial ownership formats worth mentioning or protecting in the language of the proposition, and those words are not in the state’s constitution, even today.</div> <div> </div> <div>After Prop 13, state legislators passed new sections of the California Tax & Revenue Code, upon which BOE later issued regulations—and in that welter of rules and laws, commercial properties were included under the Proposition 13 umbrella. Stock ownership and various partnerships have been protected from reassessments ever since.  It has been assumed, to date, that Los Angeles country clubs belonged in that group of protected properties. But that assumption is no longer clear, said Auerbach. <h2>Quite a Club </h2> The country clubs sprinkled around the Westside of Los Angeles County are nearly an unimaginable apparition on the current real estate landscape. Consider the <a href="http://www.thelacc.org/">Los Angeles Country Club</a>, which covers 313 acres on the Westside—a verdant, sweeping swath of mostly underdeveloped land used largely for golfing and upscale socializing, all on hundreds of acres of some of the world’s most expensive real estate. <div><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2545/3731787922_be13e24149.jpg" alt="" /></div> <div>[The Los Angeles Country Club pays less than $200,000 a year in property taxes, less than the tab for a nearby single family home that recently changed owners. Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/">dsearls from Flickr</a>.]</div>   Yet records kept by the County Assessor’s office confirm that the 313 acres have an assessed value of $17.6 million, or approximately $5,623 an acre. The club pays taxes at a rate of a little more than 1% percent of the current assessed value, or less than $200,000 a year. That’s less than the price of keeping two Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers on the streets. Compare the Los Angeles Country Club’s deal to the <a href="http://www.labeez.org/2009/04/latest-question-on-downtown-park-deal-conflict-of-interest-or-just-our-civic-culture.php">recent City of Los Angeles agreement</a> to buy a 0.8-acre parcel of land on the 400 block of Spring Street, a sometimes gritty stretch of Downtown. The city agreed to pay $5.1 million for the land, slated to be a city park—about 1,000 times the assessed value of the real estate of the Los Angeles Country Club, on a per-square-acre basis. What is the Los Angeles Country Club’s land worth in the terms of the actual marketplace? How much would the 313 acres sell for in the open market, free of any zoning impediments? It’s difficult to determine the value in a free and open market value, but in 2007 the British real estate outfit <a href="http://www.candyandcandy.com/">Candy & Candy</a> paid $500 million for eight acres of entitled land in Beverly Hills, a site already approved for 252 luxe condos. That’s $62.5 million an acre. At that rate, the LACC’s land, if entitled, would be worth $19.5 billion. Add some actual development such as luxury condos—and the value would go way up, in a good real estate market. By another measure, a single-family home at 500 S. Mapleton Drive—right on the edge of the Los Angeles Country Club, and adjacent to the famed Playboy Mansion—sold for a bit more than $18 million less than a year ago, according to the Los Angeles County Assessor’s office. The new owners of that Hefner-adjacent single-family detached house will pay more in annual property taxes than the entire Los Angeles Country Club. Based on the Mapleton Drive sale, if the Los Angeles County Club was developed only with low-density single-family housing on two-acre lots, annual property tax revenues on on the 313 acres would rise from the current $200,000 to $25 million—the equivalent of enough to put 250 more cops on the streets. The Los Angeles Country Club is hardly alone. Just a few miles away sits <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillcrest_Country_Club_(Los_Angeles)">The Hillcrest Club</a>, a Jewish private recreational institution established in the days of yore, when the “better” clubs restricted membership. Hillcrest includes approximately 125 acres along the south side of West Pico Boulevard at Motor Avenue, and a nice golf course. The assessor’s office says Hillcrest is worth $7.4 million—less than the price fetched by nearby houses and condos. Hillcrest pays less than $100,000 a year in property taxes on its spread. The <a href="http://www.bel-aircc.org/">Bel Air Country Club</a> has an even better deal. The club’s 121 acres are some of the world’s most exclusive real estate—the spot where billionaire Howard Hughes once landed a private airplane in a successful effort to woo actress Katharine Hepburn. The County of Los Angeles appraises the club’s land at $5.4 million. Members pay a little more than $50,000 a year property taxes. County records indicate that the situation is nearly identical at the <a href="http://www.mtngatecc.com/">Mountaingate Club</a>, the <a href="http://www.wilshirecountryclub.com/">Wilshire Country Club</a>, the <a href="http://www.brentwoodcc.net/">Brentwood Country Club</a>, and <a href="http://www.rollinghillscc.com/">Rolling Hills Country Club</a>—all of which sit as vast swaths of emerald green acres with enormous untapped development and job-generating potential—and paltry property tax bills. And even the federal government cannot tax the country clubs: They are 501-c non-profit corporations, and do not pay federal income taxes either. <div><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/3731790350_37911e8c1a.jpg" alt="" /></div> <div>[Left to right, Rancho Park Golf Course and Hillcrest Country Club. Photo from  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/">dsearls from Flickr</a>.]</div> <h2>Why So Low? </h2> As to why country clubs had such low assessed values back in 1978, no one at the County Assessor’s office seems to know anymore. Some observers speculate that the clubs were treated as non-profits in a part of town that was much less developed in the 1950s and 60s, and that the low assessments simply carried over into the 1970s. And those low assessments have been locked in ever since 1978. As most homeowners know, Proposition 13 bars reassessment unless a property changes hands. But under this umbrella, some property--especially any owned by stock corporations, such as Chevron Corp. for example—legally never changes hands, as defined by state legislators and the state Board of Equalization. The question that has vexed County Assessor Auerbach—whether country clubs qualify for the Chevron Corp.-type breaks on property taxes—revolves around ownership: Legally speaking, has ownership of the country clubs changed hands in the 30 years since Proposition 13 passed? Members of country clubs actually own the clubs through something called “equity shares.” State laws and rules say that a change of hands involving more than 50% of the ownership is enough to trigger reassessment. It’s nearly certain that the memberships of some country clubs in Los Angeles have turned over by more than 50% since Prop 13 passed in 1978. Members die, retire, or move out of town. But the country clubs have not been reassessed. The reason cited by BOE staffers lies in Section 64 of the state Revenue and Tax Code, which embodies the legislative interpretation of Proposition 13 as it pertains to commercial properties with multiple owners. In both law and regulation, in cases in which a property is owned by legal entity such as a corporation, there is no change in ownership, or reassessment, unless 50.1 percent of the corporation shares have clearly changed hands. Section 64 reads as follows: “(T)he purchase or transfer of ownership interests in legal entities, such as corporate stock or partnership or limited liability company interests, shall not be deemed to constitute a transfer of the real property of the legal entity.” Meanwhile, the state Board of Equalization—not state voters—has issued Property Tax Rule 462.180(c), which states “The purchase or transfer of corporate stock, partnership interests, or ownership interests in other legal entities is not a change in ownership of the real property of the legal entity, pursuant to Section 64(a) of the Revenue and Taxation Code. “ There’s some sense in the legalese. Stock corporation ownership is a fluid matter, with institutional investors—pension and stock mutual funds and others—buying and selling shares daily. Who actually owns a large stock corporation? Ultimately, an amorphous mass of millions of people in pension systems, insurance policies, or others represented by institutional investors. But that reality of a modern stock corporation is a long way from country clubs, where it can be easily determined whether ownership has in fact changed in the last 30 years. However, the county assessor’s office has not even checked. “Whether such equity clubs (the country clubs) should get reassessed is an unanswered question at this time,” County Assessor Auerbach said, adding that the nebulous nature of current rules and laws has led him to request a clarification or new rule from the BOE. “I see no evidence that question has been asked in the past,” Auerbach added. Even the Sacramento-based <a href="http://www.caltax.org/">California Taxpayer’s Association</a> (Cal-Tax), a robustly pro-business organization noted for its powerful support of Proposition13, is mute on the matter of whether country clubs should now be reassessed. David Doerr, who serves as chief tax consultant for Cal-Tax and is widely regarded as one of foremost experts on California's Revenue and Taxation Code, said through spokesman David Kline: “We are not familiar with the country clubs in question, their structure or their assessments, we can't provide any assistance for your story.” Reporting for this story has been made possible with the financial support of Spot.Us, an Internet-based non-profit organization that raises funds for independent reporting. Labeez.org, a website that has been established by New America Media and features coverage from various ethnic publications in the Los Angeles area, is a contributor to Spot.Us. The Garment & Citizen is a member of Labeez.org. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2617/3731794494_d86860caa5.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> [Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/">dsearls from Flickr</a>.] <h2>SIDEBAR: Developing Country Clubs? </h2> By Benjamin Mark Cole  In real estate and urban planning circles, the mantra “highest and best use” describes a development paradigm in which an unfettered free market determines how each parcel of property is built up, or left fallow. The theory is that a free market—and an unbiased system of property taxes—leads to the best development. It seems clear that Los Angeles’ country clubs, sitting on land of nearly incalculable value, would be intensely developed in a free market, and that the land lies fallow (developmentally speaking) only because of its protected status. By any reasonable measure of “highest and best use” and consequential taxation, the property taxes on the Los Angeles Country Club would rise by several hundred fold. Though it may seem an outlandish practice to assess property taxes on country club land as if it were developed for highest and best use, that in fact is the law of land—in that pro-business state of Texas. In the Lone Star State, commercial property is routinely taxed at a rate consistent with highest and best use, even if the land is fallow. Until this November, even residential property could be unilaterally reassessed in Texas—indeed an assessor could upzone residential property for its highest and best use as a commercial property. Texas homeowners stopped that practice with their own initiative this November, but the reassessment to highest and best use is still law of the land in Texas when it comes to commercial property. Put the Los Angeles County Club in Texas, bordered by expensive housing, and it would likely be reassessed to highest and best use, especially if it were in Houston, which has no zoning regulations. And assessing the Los Angeles Country Club to the highest and best use would likely result in a radical increase in property taxes, thus all but compelling the development of the land. Such country club development would initially bring with it thousands and thousands of jobs in architecture, construction, finance and related professional services. Then would come sales for furniture stores, designers and squadrons of cabinet-makers, painters and a whole host of other trades-people. Retailers in the area would permanently enjoy increased trade, as would professionals, such as lawyers, dentists, accountants and the like. Property and sales tax rolls would be nicely fattened by the kinds of upscale property owners who generally put less of a burden on public services. From strictly a business, economic and public revenues point of view, development of the county clubs appears to make sense. The doctrine of highest and best use seems to have its merits. Not everyone agrees, though. Some say stability in property taxes is more important than real estate development. “One of the few benefits we have in California to attract business is that they know what their property taxes will be,” says Kris Vosburgh executive director of the <a href="http://www.hjta.org/">Howard Jarvis Taxpayer’s Association</a>, an advocacy that’s named for the man who served as a driving force behind Prop 13. “People and capital can move where they want to, and we already have one of the highest tax burdens in the country.” <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/3279723241_091b410c45.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> [Image from <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/">dsearls from Flickr</a>.] <h2>To Develop the Clubs—Or Not?  </h2> But a city breathes not only money. In today’s world, for a metropolis to prosper, people must enjoy living there. In the post-industrial economy, large businesses such as a Capital Research & Management, Cisco or Microsoft, or any number of smaller consulting firms, software gurus or investment shops, can locate where they wish—and, in general, they choose to locate where the living is good. The quality of life is a business retention tool, and parks are part of the quality of life. Check a map of the Westside and you’ll see plenty of large splotches of green. Look closer and you’ll find they are country clubs, not public parks. The private patches of green space stand out more when considered against data showing Los Angeles ranking last in terms of open public space on a per capita basis. The <a href="http://www.nrpa.org/"> National Recreation and Parks Association</a> recommends 10 acres of park space per 1,000 residents. Los Angeles has barely reached 10% of that standard, with a mere 1.107 acres per 1,000 residents, according to the <a href="http://www.lanlt.org/">Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust</a>. In terms of accessibility, even that low figure is a bit misleading; it includes a few wonderful yet behemoth refuges such the 4,000-acre Griffith Park. Of course, Griffith Park and its smaller sister Elysian Park are air-freshening greenbelts, and great for mid-city residents—but are far away from other parts of the city. The City of Los Angeles needs more parks where people live and walk.  <h2>A Solution? </h2> As thrilling as it might be, the City of Los Angeles probably cannot financially afford to seize the thousands of acres tied up in country clubs by eminent domain and turn them into parkland. A related Henry Georgian idea of “fair play” and paying the country club property owners the assessed value for their land also has appeal, but probably not doable either. But there is a solution that could generate hundreds of acres of parkland for Los Angeles, develop more jobs, and make the country club owners a sizable boodle too: Convert 10 percent of country club acreage into super-luxury high-rise mixed-use developments, and turn the remaining 90 percent of green space into well-scrubbed parkland with maintenance revenues derived by special districts. Remember that eight acres in Beverly Hills that the Candy Brothers bought? Zoned for 256 condos and worth $500 million? How about 12 acres on the former Bel Air Country Club, zoned for 2400 luxury high-rise condos, each with breathtaking views of a 100-acre urban park? Think of New York City’s Central Park--and then several such parks on the Westside. It would make sense to upzone acreage around the parks so that condo towers could take advantage of the greenery and views. Additional billions in property tax value could be created, and additional billions in construction business would come to Los Angeles, the first wave of improved business for many Angelenos. And, the country clubbers could adapt. Surely, a few floors of the new luxury condo towers could be set aside for club activities. There are nice clubs in town—the Jonathan Club, the California Club, the Regency Club—that are largely indoor bastions of the wealthy. And country clubbers, instead of paying heavy dues, would earn heavy dividends from their land sale. Yes, they would be dispossessed, but they could cry all the way to the bank.   <h2>Westside Traffic </h2> To be sure, not everybody wants even more density on the Westside, even if the payoff is more public parkland. Traffic is miserable already. Yet the answer to Los Angeles commute catastrophes is not less construction, but more—and in the city. The answer is in shorter commutes and good mass transportation. The simplistic “no more building” solution is bad for business, and vaguely antidemocratic—is there not a whiff of pulling up the drawbridges after you got yours? Interestingly enough, some of the most Republican enclaves—try Newport Beach—have the strictest anti-growth measures in place. Everybody believes in free enterprise, except when they don’t. On another level, one might complain that what is needed in Los Angeles is not luxury housing, but affordable housing. True, but any increase in the total supply of housing also helps overall affordability. The housing market, after all, is one of supply and demand. More supply, and prices have to come down. More in-town building is inevitable, or should be—and better near job centers than in ever-expanding suburbs, …and better we get gorgeous parkland as a trade. In any event, the laughably low property taxes paid by country clubs of Los Angeles should not be allowed to stand. The tax dodge, favoring our wealthiest citizens, is something one would expect to find in the post-colonial Philippines, not modern-day Los Angeles. <h2>SIDEBAR: Marineland is Gone, But Not the LACC </h2> <div><img src="http://blog.spot.us/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Picture-32.png" alt="" /></div> <div>[Marineland once drew visitors to the Palos Verdes peninsula, one of a number of tourist attractions and novelty parks that used a lot of land in the region through the 1970s but have disappeared since then.]</div>   It is worth noting that many, many of the colorful but intensive land-using businesses of yesteryear have disappeared from the greater Los Angeles area while the country clubs have thrived. Marineland is gone, as is the Ascot Park racetrack in Gardena (where “Whoa Nellie” Dick Lane used to broadcast for the old KTLA Channel 5), the Japanese Village and Deer Park in Buena Park, and Gilmore Field near Park La Brea. Threatened is the Hollywood Park, thoroughbred racetrack, slated for final season next year and perhaps destined to be the site of another mixed-use mall. No more Gay’s Lion Farm (with 200 lions!) in El Monte, or even Kiddyland and the pony rides, now home to the Beverly Center mall. The change from rural to semi-rural to urban is always littered with misty stories of halcyon days gone by. Any number of crocodile farms, drive-in movie theaters, or pony rides have disappeared—none of these sometimes iconic enterprises were worth saving, said city and business leaders, either for cultural elan, or for the jobs. Yet the country clubs have endured, saved by generous tax breaks and wealthy benefactors. But unlike some the vanished businesses, country clubs are paltry job generators. According to the Club Managers Association of America, even better clubs nationwide had annual revenues of about $13 million apiece—nice, but truly just small businesses. It may be that the money-soaked Los Angeles clubs have larger revenues than the national average, but not enough to be considered serious job generators. The biggest clubs probably employ no more than 350. Any mid-sized factory generates more employment, and more boost to the local economy (country clubs, unlike tourist hotels or factories, generally do not bring much money into our regional economy). It is another perspective on the warping influence of special property tax protection for Los Angeles country clubs. <h2>SIDEBAR: Uncle Milty on the Cost of Membership </h2> Largely outside public purview, country clubs today are still a hot ticket. To join the Rolling Hills County Club as an equity (part-owning) member will set one back more than $100,000, and then nearly $1,000 a month in fees—but evidently Rolling Hills is far from the apex, country-club wise. (Clubs do not discuss fees with reporters, or nearly anybody else). Back in 1994, in an interview with the magazine Cigar Aficionado, <a href="http://www.cigaraficionado.com/Cigar/CA_Profiles/People_Profile/0,2540,39,00.html">the late comic Milton Berle explained</a> joining Hillcrest in 1932, and its then-current fees of 1994: “It cost me $275 to join in those days,” Berle said. “Now the initiation fee is $150,000, if they'll accept you, which all depends on how much money you've given to the United Jewish Appeal.” <div><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Milton_Berle_at_the_41st_Emmys.jpg" alt="" /></div> <div>[The famed comedian pegged the cost of joining of Hillcrest at $150,000—back in 1994.]</div> The clubs do not divulge joining fees, but upscale golf magazines hint at the $200,000 to $300,000 range as a starter. But you can’t just join. In general, you have to be vetted by current membership—you have to be asked, often by two existing members. After all, it’s not like the clubs need the money—their tax burden is  obviously very, very reasonable. </div>

<a href="http://www.garmentandcitizen.com/category/archives/archived-news-stories/2009-12-16-2.php">Originally published in the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen</a> with funding from Spot.Us. Written by Benjamin Mark Cole. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tobar19-2010jan19,0,2985790.column">Recognition from the LA Times</a>. Print copies available. This article will be printed in this weeks LA Garment and Citizen which can be found in dozens of newsracks Downtown. Most of our racks are located on the eastern side of Downtown, with one on each block of Broadway between 2nd and Olympic, and nearly every block of the same stretch on Spring. Some racks on Main, and the Echo Park racks are generally along Sunset. Racks on the western side of Downtown are limited, but 7th & Hope is a good corner, with one just at the subway entrace on the northwest corner, and another in front of Macy's plaza on the southwest corner.

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2009-12-17T17:47:59Z

Proposition 13’s Country Club Connection 334

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2010-01-20T20:44:06Z

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2009-11-10T17:05:00Z

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In September 2009, we began to see what President Obama’s immigration policy would look like. It played out in Los Angeles after American Apparel, a US based clothing company, laid off more than sixteen hundred workers. Instead of facing huge fines for employing undocumented workers, American Apparel laid of its immigrant workforce. On the surface, this might seem like a more humane approach. In a collaboration with Spot.Us Patrick Burke reports from L.A.; where for the community at large, the result may not be that much different from the Bush-era raids. <a href="http://www.radioproject.org/2010/01/immigration-reforms/">LISTEN TO THE RADIO REPORT FROM PATRICK BURKE AT NATIONAL RADIO PROJECT</a> Also by Patrick: <a href="http://www.radioproject.org/2010/01/obama-immigration-american-apparel/">Obama’s New Immigration Policy Forces Massive Layoff at American Apparel</a>

<h3><a href="http://www.radioproject.org/2010/01/immigration-reforms/">Originally Published at National Radio Project</a></h3> Video Republished <a href="http://www.garmentandcitizen.com/category/news/video-story/2010-02-01-1.php">by Garment and Citizen</a> and <a href="http://www.labeez.org/2010/02/video-report-icing-american-apparel.php">LA Beez</a>. <h3>For More Information:</h3> <a href="http://www.americanapparel.net/">American Apparel </a> Los Angeles, CA <a href="http://www.centerforhumanrights.org/">Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law </a> Los Angeles, CA <a href="http://www.howard-ind.com/DefaultPage.asp">Howard Industries </a> Laurel, MS <a href="http://www.yourmira.org/">Mississippi Immigrant’s Rights Alliance </a> Jackson, MS <a href="http://www.arch.pvt.k12.ia.us/PostvilleRelief/">Saint Bridget’s Hispanic Ministry </a> Postville, IA <a href="http://www.labor.ucla.edu/downtown/index.html">UCLA Downtown Labor Center </a> Los Angeles, CA <h3>Articles, Blogs, Films, Reports, Other</h3> <a href="http://americanapparel.net/contact/legalizela/">Legalize LA</a> Blog <a href="http://bit.ly/4nVf3S">‘Postville, USA: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America’</a> By Mark A. Grey, Michele Devlin & Aaron Goldsmith <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2009/0605/p17s08-usgn.html">‘How an Immigration Raid Changed a Town’</a> By Steve Dinnen, The Christian Science Monitor <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124645046801579421.html">‘Immigration Crackdown Shifts Focus to Employers’</a> By Miriam Jordan & Sabrina Shankman, The Wall Street Journal

Noami Perez, former American Apparel worker who was fired because of her immigration status. Credit: Patrick Burke

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2010-01-27T00:42:15Z

Immigration Reforms: How a Broken System Breaks Communities 308

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This story was produced by the wonderful folks at <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/">Oakland Local</a>. It was funded by the community on Spot.Us but we urge you to <a href="http://oaklandlocal.com/article/parent-community-groups-fight-uphill-battle-reform-public-school-food">go check it out on their site</a>. This story would not have happened without Oakland Local. Tavon Frazier is a skinny 9-year-old squirming in front of his Styrofoam lunch tray. He's eaten most of his chicken taco and his friends, all wearing the navy polo shirts of East Oakland's Korematsu Discovery Academy, are wiggling around him, chewing on their flour tortillas and nibbling on baby carrots. Tavon didn't stop at the salad bar on his way to the cafeteria table today. He says sometimes he'll get applesauce when they have it, but mostly he doesn't like vegetables, especially broccoli and carrots. His ideal cafeteria meal would be "donuts and cupcakes and a cake," he says with a mischievous sideways grin. Efforts to make sure that Tavon doesn't end up eating donuts every day and maybe even learns to like broccoli are underway in Oakland's public schools, though how successful these efforts will be remains to be seen. Between a convoluted and chronically underfunded system, divergent visions for what exactly healthy food is, and a cast of characters that range from bureaucrats to poor kids to soccer moms to farm-to-table visionaries, the school food situation in Oakland is messy. But the consequences for inaction are no joke. <img src="http://oaklandlocal.com/sites/default/files/i/salad%20bar%20kids.gif" alt="" width="450" /> Today, Tavon is part of an experiment. His lunch is made from scratch in a kitchen that stands some 50 feet from his table. "It's a totally different menu than what's being served in the rest of the elementary schools," says Jennifer LeBarre, director of nutrition services with Oakland Unified School District, as she watches kindergarteners line up for lunch. "We're doing it here as a pilot project because we're trying to see whether or not we have the capability with our equipment, our facilities, our staff." LeBarre says scratch cooking will be rolled out at Manzanita, Bella Vista and Lincoln elementary schools next. "And then our big hurdle is to see how we can take the same food and do it at the central kitchen level." And it's this kind of systemic change that advocates like Jesus Rodriguez, a community organizer with Oakland Community Organizations, a large faith- and community-based group, are hoping to see. Recently OCO joined forces with Oakland School Food Alliance, another parent and community organization, to figure out how to bring more fresh, healthy food to kids throughout the district. "One of the main goals of this project is to have real cooking in every school," he says. LeBarre supports that goal, though the definition of "real cooking" is up for debate. One might envision pizzas that start with flour, water and yeast being rolled out by toque-wearing chefs. The district's definition is closer to canned sauce and shredded cheese on a pre-made pizza shell. "I don't foresee us going back to baking," LeBarre says, citing staff and facility limitations. "It's a compromise we make." Melissa Newel, a Chabot parent and OSFA member, says she's pleased to see the changes the district has made in the last several years, like cutting back on trans fats, using more whole grains, and adding 42 salad bars throughout the district, but she'd like to see the entire system remodeled. "While we think the salad bars are great, we view them as a band-aids," she says. Other school food reformers are not as diplomatic. "The food that they're eating is bad," says Melrose Leadership Academy teacher Gehry Oatey, who writes a blog called <a href="http://teacherrevised.org/category/the-schoolyard-foodie/%20">The Schoolyard Foodie</a> where he criticizes the district's approach to nutrition. He says students in his classes find it hard to concentrate because they often don't eat lunch, in part because they think the cafeteria offerings are "hella nasty." But according to Joyce Peters, a dietician working with OUSD and the Alameda County Department of Health, Oatey's vision of fresh food from local farms doesn't take into consideration the reality of feeding the mercurial tastes of kids. "We have the parents who feel that the food isn't healthy or who feel that it's overly processed. And then we have the students who decide what to eat," she says. The problem, she says, is the two opinions often differ. "When we have healthier food -- they don't eat," she says with a laugh. And when the district is serving so many poor kids who rely on school meals for their primary nutrition source, she says this is a big problem. Whether the problem is undernourishment, too many calories, or just the wrong kind of calories, what the city's kids eat has serious implications. "I'm worried about obesity," says Townsend Miller, Tavon's grandfather, and a daily volunteer at his East Oakland school. Well over six feet tall, Miller towers over the kids while settling arguments in the lunch line. He describes himself as obese and says he's got diabetes, something he doesn't want his four grandchildren to contend with. While 4th-grader Tavon is far from obese, his chances of ending up that way are pretty good, according to the numerous public health studies. And obesity is closely linked with diabetes, among other health problems. Nationally, one in three children will likely be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. But in East Oakland, where Tavon lives and where 98 percent of his classmates qualify for free/reduced lunch, the numbers are more dire. "For children of color, or children living in low-income neighborhoods, with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables, it's more like a one in two chance," says Stephanie Hamilton, a district health consultant, referring to a 2004 policy brief prepared by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. "The people who are really experiencing the brunt of this epidemic are the kids in the flatlands," Oatey says. But while one might assume the more affluent folks in the hills have been pushing hardest for school food reform, that hasn't been the case.  <img src="http://oaklandlocal.com/sites/default/files/i/yum%20school%20lunch.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> *** It was a group of parents from the flatlands as well as the hills who got so fed up with prepackaged grilled cheeses and trans-fat-laden burritos that last year they attempted secession. In fall 2008 several schools including Thornhill, Montclair, Manzanita SEED, and Think College Now approached Revolution Foods, a private school food vendor, with the intention of breaking off from the district's nutrition program. When they learned they could not negotiate their own contract with an outside provider, <a href="http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_13714161%20">they reached out to other schools and community groups to broaden support for reform.</a> In April 2009, parents and community advocates from some 25 schools and community organizations met with LeBarre to ask for changes to the nutrition program. Around this time, the group, which began to call itself Oakland School Food Alliance, gave up the goal of using Revolution Foods. "As we became more involved in the issue and what the district faces -- it makes 30,000 meals per day -- we realized that we need to create change from within," Newel says. "I certainly respect the parents," LeBarre says. "I think we are working together to come to an understanding about where we want school food to go. I think we're on the same page," she says. "It's a struggle to do everything we want because of the limited funding." And a lack of funding is where most discussions about changing school food end up. LeBarre is counting on some $300,000 in stimulus money to prop up the district's haggard equipment -- a much-needed service since the 25 of 91 schools that have functioning kitchens, like Korematsu Academy, often have broken or poorly functioning appliances. LeBarre says Santa Fe Elementary, Oakland High School, Edna Brewer Middle School and others will get new coolers and ovens. State funding, at 22 cents per free/reduced lunch, is not expected to increase. In fact, LeBarre says the district can no longer rely on steady state income. She says California has failed to fully reimburse the district for the last four years. Last year, after the economy tanked and more students started eating meals at school, state funding fell some $200,000 short, requiring the district to shut down salad bars in order to keep providing the regular meal program This move upset many, though the frustration seems largely targeted toward the convoluted funding system. LeBarre and school food advocates across the country are eagerly awaiting the soon-expected reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which regulates federal school food reimbursements. President Obama has signaled his intention to increase funding to the program by $1 billion, though LeBarre says that increase may not come for another year due to the economy. School food advocates are hoping for at least a $1 increase per meal from Washington, which would bring the per-meal reimbursement up to about $3.70 per free/reduced meal. While hoping for more federal funding, the district is simultaneously making amends for past mismanagement. When the state took over the district in 2003, it found that nutrition services had overspent its budget and required it to repay what it deemed a loan. More than $200,000 per year of its annual budget of about $15 million now goes back to the state. "That's ridiculous," says <a href="http://www.chefann.com/">Ann Cooper</a>, the former Berkeley nutrition director, who many point to as the model for the kind of leadership needed to improve school food. "That's coming out of children's mouths. That amount should be forgiven." Cooper knows the inner workings of district budgets well. She negotiated for money from the city of Berkeley's general fund for school food, as well as the return of an obscure funding source known as Meals for Needy Pupils to Berkeley's nutrition budget. This money, which in Oakland totals some $600,000 annually, was originally intended for school food funding when it was passed as a parcel tax in some districts in the late 1970s. But later tax rules were changed so that the money could be used by the general fund. "The money could be and should be for the nutrition of the school children, and it is not being used for that purpose," says Chabot parent Newel. "Were the school board to allocate the money back to nutrition, it could make a big difference." LeBarre says there is no movement toward bringing that money back to nutrition services, nor toward forgiving the state loan. With district funding news so dismal, some parent groups are skirting the school food program to concentrate on auxiliary projects like school gardens and produce stands. Glenview Elementary recently opened a Tuesday farm table, and 12 more stands offering at-cost produce organized by East Bay Asian Youth Center have started opening in lower-income schools this fall.  As for OCO and Oakland School Food Alliance, they're working with local businesses and State Senator Loni Hancock's office to raise money for a feasibility study -- which could cost upwards of $100,000 -- to better understand what the district needs to completely overhaul the system. "This is a key part to moving forward," says OCO organizer Rodriguez. "We don't really have the picture to know what it looks like right now." *** Behind Prescott Elementary in West Oakland a narrow driveway leads to the loading dock of the Oakland Unified School District's central kitchen. In a space originally designed to prepare food for 500 students, some two dozen workers assemble 20,000 meals every day -- about two-thirds of the district's breakfasts, lunches and snacks. Boxes of paper products and prepackaged snacks like "Whole Grain All-Sports Bites -- Vanilla" (containing both partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup) squeeze into hallway corners and tower over workers' heads. One worker, wearing an "Expect success" apron, rubber gloves, and a black cap that mostly covers her graying hair, stands at a counter and assembles bagged lunches for a school field trip. Into each brown paper sack goes one prepackaged ham sandwich, Bear Grahams, baby carrots, a Best Foods mayonnaise packet, and one locally grown, pesticide-free Fuji apple. Picking through the box of apples, the worker looks for apples without black spots or other flaws. "This must be something they're trying," she says, looking a little frustrated with the apples' condition. Then she brings over a sack lunch she'd packed earlier and shows off a different apple -- a shiny, perfectly shaped Gala -- and nods with approval.  "As we do more and more from local, not everything's going to be perfect," says LeBarre standing next to the box of apples. "Instead of having people turn their nose up at it, I think it's part of the education we'll have to do." A few feet away, four workers stand beside an assembly line machine -- they toss handfuls of shredded iceberg lettuce into plastic trays that slide down a narrow motorized track. The machine wraps the trays in more plastic and two women pile them neatly into metal racks. When the racks are full, another worker grabs a stack and lugs them down the hall to the cooler. <img src="http://oaklandlocal.com/sites/default/files/i/lettuce%20assembly%20line.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> "Normally it would be romaine," says Donnie Barclift, the field supervisor who oversees this central kitchen. LeBarre nods, "The romaine went up by four dollars a case," she says. "And when we're using as much romaine as we normally do, we have to make changes to that. We can't afford it." And it's in the midst of this complicated situation, where a price fluctuation means kids are eating iceberg instead of romaine, where workers are uncomfortable with variation, where some kids have a 10-minute lunch period, and where schools range from 1 to 100 percent poor, that 4th-grader Tavon Frazier hopes to become a firefighter. If only he'll eat his vegetables.

Take Action: <ul> <li>Join <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=68765069424#/group.php?gid=68765069424">Oakland School Food Alliance on Facebook</a> and through its <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/oaklandschoolfoodalliance">Google Group</a>.</li> <li>Volunteer in the cafeteria or at a school produce stand. LeBarre says schools with salad bars require parent help to succeed.</li> <li>Contact Jennifer LeBarre at OUSD Nutrition Services (510-879-8345, jennifer.lebarre@ousd.k12.ca.us) and Superintendent Tony Smith (510-879-8200/tony.smith@ousd.k12.ca.us) to let them know what kinds of changes you'd like to see in school cafeterias.</li> <li>Attend school board meetings or contact your school board representatives to bring their attention to school food reform.</li> <li>Talk to school principals and PTAs about the kinds of changes you'd like to see.</li> <li>Volunteer on your school's Wellness Committee.</li> <li>Write letters to <a href="http://lee.house.gov/index.html">Barbara Lee</a>, <a href="http://boxer.senate.gov/">Barbara Boxer </a>and <a href="http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/">Dianne Feinstein</a> to let them know you expect their support of increased funding for the Child Nutrition Act.</li> <li>Contact <a href="http://dist09.casen.govoffice.com/">Loni Hancock</a>'s office to let her know you appreciate her support of school food reform.</li> </ul>

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2009-11-18T11:34:11Z

Parent, community groups fight uphill battle to reform public school food 303

299

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2009-12-03T22:37:32Z

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2009-10-15T22:59:38Z

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Many thanks to all of our supporters for making this project a big success!! To explore these relationships check out the research lists created by LittleSis.org's unique website.   <ul> <li><a href="http://littlesis.org/list/46/Ten_Largest_Bay_Area_Companies">Top 10 Companies in the Bay Area</a> </li> <li><a href="http://littlesis.org/list/52/Northern_California_Elite">Northern California Elites</a></li> <li><a href="http://littlesis.org/list/38/Fortune_1000_Companies_in_San_Francisco">Fortune 1000 companies in the Bay Area</a></li> <li>"<a href="http://littlesis.org/group/sfbay">SF Bay Group</a>" </li> </ul> <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/12/03/corporate-power-in-the-bay-area-and-beyond/" title="Permanent Link to Corporate power in the Bay Area and beyond">Corporate power in the Bay Area and beyond</a> by Kyle Stone and Kevin Connor Our research project on the <a href="http://littlesis.org/groups/sfbay">Bay Area’s ten largest corporations</a> was fully funded on <a href="../../../pitches/261">Spot.us</a> in early October and has come to a close, but with it we’ve built a lasting resource that we hope will continue to pay dividends for watchdog efforts in California. We focused on identifying and profiling the most powerful and influential executives, managers, board members, employees, associates, and lobbyists affiliated with each company. In the course of the project we compiled data on over 400 people, added close to 5,000 relationships connecting them, published ten in-depth profiles and stories (one of which was picked up by <a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143289/getting_to_the_bottom_of_the_bizarre_bank_merger_between_wells_fargo_and_wachovia/">Alternet</a> and <a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/14/the-vulcan-bank-meld/">Felix Salmon of Reuters</a>), and created several network visualizations.  Our progress is best illustrated by before-and-after social network maps of Bay Area data on LittleSis.  The first was built using data on Bay Area corporate elites (directors and senior executives) available on LittleSis before we began the project.   The second was produced using data compiled in the course of the project.  Nodes represent people, and edges are drawn between people with two or more shared relationships (eg, if two people went to Stanford and are executives at Google). LittleSis network graph of Bay Area corporate elites, before Spot.us research: <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sf_network_pre_large.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1695" title="sf_network_pre_small" src="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/sf_network_pre_small1.png" height="333" alt="sf_network_pre_small" width="464" /></a> The same, after Spot.us research: <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bayarea_network_large.png"><img title="bayarea_network_large_preview" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1766" src="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bayarea_network_large_preview.png" height="467" alt="bayarea_network_large_preview" width="464" /></a> Click through for the full map (and more detail)! You’ll notice that the network is densest around names like <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/15301/L_John_Doerr">John Doerr</a> (Google board member and legendary venture capitalist), <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/2169/Dr_John_L_Hennessy">John Hennessy</a> (Stanford president and Google board member), and <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/33691/Sheryl_K_Sandberg">Sheryl Sandberg</a> (Facebook COO). The second set of before-and-after social network maps show connections between the Bay Area corporations we researched and organizations that share common leadership or personnel. Before the research project: <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/org_network_pre.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1714" title="org_network_pre_small" src="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/org_network_pre_small1.png" height="347" alt="org_network_pre_small" width="464" /></a> And after: <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bayareaorgslarge.png"><img title="bayareaorgslarge_preview" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1764" src="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bayareaorgslarge_preview.png" height="464" alt="bayareaorgslarge_preview" width="464" /></a> Again, click through for the full map and a closer look.  The network is (somewhat predictably) densest around Apple, Google, Stanford, and other major Silicon Valley institutions. McKesson, Wells Fargo, and Chevron are all set apart, somewhat, from the Bay Area’s center of gravity. The final graph shows shared political giving habits: which of these individuals tend to give to the same sets of politicians?  Edges represent four or more recipients in common, and nodes are colored according to percentages given to Democrats and Republicans (red = Republican, blue = Democrat). <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bayareagiving.png"><img title="bayareagiving_preview" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1765" src="http://blog.littlesis.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/bayareagiving_preview.png" height="534" alt="bayareagiving_preview" width="464" /></a> Though Democratic donors appear to be in the majority, this group actually leans slightly red, in terms of amounts given:  $7.8 million to Republicans versus $7.7 million to Democrats over the past twenty years. Republicans also appear to be more densely clustered. Barack Obama does well with these folks, but John McCain does better (over the course of his career, at least. A <a href="http://www.factual.com/ts/BNsShm">full table of ranked political recipients here</a>). These graphs draw on over 10,000 political contributions by close to 300 people over a 20 year period, compiled using <a href="http://opensecrets.org/">OpenSecrets</a> data. All of this data was compiled by a team of LittleSis staff and volunteer analysts led by <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/kyle">Kyle Stone</a>, including <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/ellenp">ellenp</a>, <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/matthew">matthew</a>, <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/kevin">kevin</a>, <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/jzuk">jzuk</a>, <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/priscilla">priscilla</a>, and <a href="http://littlesis.org/user/ddwriter">ddwriter</a> (also, some credit is due to the LittleSis bot). Research was pulled together from over 1,600 unique urls, and sources included the <a href="http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml">SEC EDGAR</a> database, <a href="http://followthemoney.org/">Follow the Money</a>, <a href="http://opensecrets.org/">OpenSecrets</a>, <a href="http://croctail.corpwatch.org/">CrocTail</a>, <a href="http://crocodyl.org/">Crocodyl</a>, and <a href="http://fedspending.org/">FedSpending</a>. We paid careful attention to the accuracy and reliability of information entered about each company, adhering to sourcing guidelines that govern the entirety of the LittleSis database. What have we learned from all of this?  Plenty — and there’s much more to discover in the data set we compiled.  To wrap up the project, we’ve put together a handy list of the top ten interesting facts gleaned from our research. Top Ten Interesting Facts from the Bay Area Research Project 1. <a href="http://littlesis.org/org/623/Vulcan_Materials">Vulcan Materials</a>, a little-known construction aggregate supply company, <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/10/13/wells-fargo-wachovia-and-the-vulcan-three/">played a key matchmaking role in one of the most expensive, complex bank mergers of all time</a>: the Wells Fargo / Wachovia merger. 2. The Bay Area corporate elite’s two major political donors ($1 million plus since 1988), Cisco CEO <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/2167/John_T_Chambers">John Chambers</a> and venture capitalist <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/15301/L_John_Doerr">John Doerr</a>, are on opposite sides of the partisan divide, but they also give to many of the same politicians and PACs — 33, to be exact. The pair also co-founded <a href="http://littlesis.org/org/41054/TechNet">Technet</a>, a key Silicon Valley lobby. 3. A large number of ex-Apple employees <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/10/02/apple-silicon-valleys-staple/">currently sit in key executive-level positions at Google.</a> 4. <a href="http://www.factual.com/ts/BNsShm">John McCain has received more campaign cash from Bay Area corporate elites than Barack Obama</a> (granted: McCain’s been around a lot longer), and more of them have given to George W. Bush than either McCain or Obama. 5. The Executive Committee of the <a href="http://littlesis.org/org/36845/Federal_Reserve_Bank_of_San_Francisco">Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco</a> is composed of individuals from Chevron, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Amgen, and McKinsey and Company. 6. <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/2107/Steven_P_Jobs">Steve Jobs</a> sits on the Current Media board of directors, and <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/14210/Al_Gore">Al Gore</a> sites on the Apple Inc. board of directors. 7. Hewlett-Packard’s ex-Director <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/42099/Tom_Perkins">Tom Perkins</a>, at the center of an information leak controversy there, brings an <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/09/23/deep-dive-on-hewlett-packard/">eclectic mix of connections to his work</a>: he co-founded legendary venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins, sits on the board of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, and was briefly married to romance novelist Danielle Steel. 8. <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/1255/Michael_J_Holston">Michael J. Holston</a>, an executive at Hewlett-Packard, <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/09/23/deep-dive-on-hewlett-packard/">played a role in the prosecution of Enron’s CFO</a>, Andrew Fastow, and CEO, Kenneth Lay. 9. Out of ten, only one <a href="http://littlesis.org/org/18/McKesson">McKesson</a> director <a href="http://blog.littlesis.org/2009/09/10/mckesson-healthcare-giant-network-hub/">bears significant political or professional ties to Bay Area organizations</a>. 10. Bay Area corporate elites favor a Republican Senator from Utah over a Democratic Senator from California; <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/13329/Orrin_Hatch">Orrin Hatch</a> has nearly twice as many donors as <a href="http://littlesis.org/person/13105/Barbara_Boxer">Barbara Boxer</a> (though California Senator Dianne Feinstein receives more than Hatch). Much of this (and more) can also be found in some of the story updates produced by the Little Sis team along the way. <ul> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/248">Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and the Vulcan Three</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/230">Google, The world's search engine</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/226">Banking on Birmingham</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/214">Findings from Hewlett-Packard Research</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/185">McKesson: Healthcare Giant, Network Hub</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/176">Chevron: The Bay Area's Biggest Company</a></li> </ul> Note: visualizations were produced using <a href="http://nodebox.com/">NodeBox</a>.

Our reporting covered elsewhere <ul> <li>Alternet gives Little Sis research a nod: "<a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/143289/getting_to_the_bottom_of_the_bizarre_bank_merger_between_wells_fargo_and_wachovia/">Getting to the Bottom of the Bizarre Bank Merger Between Wells Fargo and Wachovia</a>"</li> <li>Rueters gives Little Sis research a nod: "<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/10/14/the-vulcan-bank-meld/">The Vulcan bank meld</a>."</li> </ul> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29792566@N08/sets/72157622804052315/">The Flickr Set that contains network analysis graphs</a>. Story updates along the way. <ul> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/248">Wells Fargo, Wachovia, and the Vulcan Three</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/230">Google, The world's search engine</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/226">Banking on Birmingham</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/214">Findings from Hewlett-Packard Research</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/185">McKesson: Healthcare Giant, Network Hub</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/261-who-s-behind-the-bay-areas-top-ten-companies/posts/176">Chevron: The Bay Area's Biggest Company</a></li> </ul>

Where do political donations go from Bay Area leaders?

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bayareagiving.png

570691

2009-12-03T13:48:21Z

Who's Behind the Bay Area’s Top Ten Companies? 291

261

published

2009-12-04T08:13:47Z

2186

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2009-10-13T19:24:17Z

0.0

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What happened at the first ever California Data Camp? <a href="http://blog.spot.us/2009/11/07/liveblogging-from-california-data-camp-app-contest/">A live blog of the event from Spot.Us.</a> The event was attended by roughly 100 people at Citizen Space in downtown San Francisco. The hashtag for the event was <a href="http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23CAdata">#CAdata</a> and one can construct the day's events here as well. We will soon have a professionally edited video of the day. Stay tuned!  (Scot Hacker and Chuck Harris - winners of the DataSF App contest: See all photos - <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29792566@N08/sets/72157622760630570/">over 44 pictures on Flickr.</a><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29792566@N08/sets/72157622760630570/">)<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2485/4086451380_28e752d98e.jpg" alt="" width="450" /></a> Sessions included <ul> <li>A primer on getting data (<a href="http://techliminal.com/data-primer-report-from-the-california-data-camp/">live blogged by TechLiminal</a>)</li> <li>Discussion of immigration data in California (see photo of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29792566@N08/4086557354/in/set-72157622760630570/">immigration data wish list</a>)</li> <li>A discussion on stimulus data lead by Bill Allison of the <a href="http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/">Sunlight Foundation</a>.</li> <li>A discussion on crime data</li> <li>Read <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tanja-aitamurto/sophisticated-tree-huggin_b_351743.html">a wrap-up from the Huffington Post</a>.</li> <li>and much more....</li> </ul> Craig Newmark joined us and <a href="http://www.cnewmark.com/2009/11/data-camp-sf.html">took note of the important work being done</a>. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2448/4086453092_f16b2a68bf.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> Apps built during the day Winner of the DataSF App contest: Tree Data: A web App for municipal tree tracking with the goal to <ul> <li>Make it easy for citizens to explore and discover the huge number of plant species and individual trees maintained by the city.</li> <li>Make it easy for citizens to “flag” a tree as needing maintenance, water, food, etc.</li> <li>Make it easy for citizens to request a tree at a particular location</li> <li>Provide data visualization tools to let citizens explore and understand the plant variety visually.</li> <li>Make it easy to see what a given species will look like in 5,10,15,20 years when requesting a tree.</li> <li>Ideally, a future version of the app would include ecology data on all species, listing the water consumption and carbon offset of each.</li> </ul> <a href="http://birdhouse.org/software/2009/11/django-treedata/">Details from Scot Hacker</a>. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2704/4091083624_a8f952e0e2.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> For handicapped parking Two apps centered around finding Blue Zones in the city. Silver ribbon winner (prize sponsored by <a href="http://www.mobclix.com/">MobClix</a>): A geo spatial app that allowed you to hold your phone up to find the nearest trees, crimes and blue zones. You could also add a layer to find the closest species of a tree or a type of crime. If looking for handicapped parking, just spin your phone around you 360 degrees and you'll find the closest space. <a href="http://porcupinealley.com/2009/nov/7/fun-layars/">Details on how this app came about from Josh Livni</a>. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/4091318319_b6c940e4ac.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> <a href="http://bit.ly/1iMPME">Blue Zone Application</a>: Find the nearest handicapped parking space while on the go. "The full source is downloadable from the app link.  It's all client-side javascript, so it can be run locally, or anywhere you can view a basic HTML page." Produced by Mark Shervey <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2802/4090549593_60cdb882f9.jpg" alt="" width="450" /> <a href="http://www.afterschoolsf.org/">After School Special</a>: By Gabe Scelta of <a href="http://zapsqueak.com">zapsqueak.com</a> built in one day. <a href="http://www.zapsqueak.com/blog/54-afterschoolsforg-launched">More about the After School Special</a>. The site uses school sets from <a href="http://www.datasf.org/">datasf.org</a> and combines them with library and food information from <a href="http://finder.geocommons.com/">GeoCommons</a>. It is a PHP application with a simple admin area and a MySQL database behind it. Ultimately I'd love to expand this out so that more discreet data can be shown. If have a relevant dataset, have suggestions or happen to have a lot of time to enter address data into the database <a href="http://www.zapsqueak.com/contact-us/">please let me know</a>. <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/4090317017_bfc6ffff15.jpg" alt="" width="450" />

Screenshot of an Application built at California Data Camp by zapsqueak.com

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2009-11-09T15:21:19Z

California Data Camp: Exploring State Data and DataSF App Contest 290

272

published

2009-12-29T02:00:32Z

2254

false

2009-10-09T23:18:31Z

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By <a href="http://spot.us/profiles/2324-deborah-stokol">Deborah Stokol</a> Images by <a href="http://pkimbui.com/">P. Kim Bui</a> As long as she is pregnant, a woman living in the United States may receive medical care. So even the homeless, the undocumented, “the tired [and] poor,” may visit a doctor while expecting.  Yet for the inhabitants of Los Angeles County, health continues to accompany wealth. L.A.’s southernmost areas sustain the highest rates of premature births, <a href="http://www.babycenter.com/0_gestational-diabetes_2058.bc">gestational diabetes</a> and hypertension in the county.  Every pregnant woman residing there may attain prenatal care, but for many, that is either not enough to reverse years’ worth of physical negligence, its acquisition still does little to provide them with the attention they need or they do not seek that care in the first place.  The number of preterm births in the country has increased 20 percent since 1990. While older women using In Vitro fertilization and overweight women are at high risk for early labor, African American women are most likely to give birth prematurely. That likelihood increases for those African Americans living in lower income areas like those in South L.A.  Many have disputed the reasons behind this phenomenon.   Some academics fault society, calling institutionalized racism the leading factor behind the stress and destitution adversely affecting these women’s pregnancies.   Others claim pollution insidiously complicates “confinement.”   Certain public health workers pin it on the difference in quality between the care a woman on Medi-Cal receives and the one she would have with Kaiser or with private insurance.   But while hospital and clinic doctors may have little reason to question or criticize the prenatal care given these women, they have joined the city’s public health department in citing other culprits.   They say it’s not necessarily the quality of care these women face that compromises their health or their baby’s, but such malaises as chronic poverty-wrought stress, non-compliance with medical schedules, family structure or the lack thereof, sexually transmitted diseases and poor nutrition.  In order to have a healthy baby, then, they say a woman must attend to her physical well-being long before she becomes pregnant because care, while incredibly important, comes too late.  :::: Care Received: More Functionally Analogous than Irrevocably Different?  <ul> <ul> <li><a href="http://tables.googlelabs.com/DataSource?dsrcid=92869/92869">Using Medi-Cal</a></li> </ul> </ul> <a href="http://tables.googlelabs.com/DataSource?dsrcid=92869/92869"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2497/4112584948_70695118fb.jpg" alt="" width="450" /></a> (<a href="http://tables.googlelabs.com/DataSource?dsrcid=92869/92869">Click into the image to play with the numbers</a>) Medi-Cal is California’s branch of Medicaid, the health program the country provides for low income, low resource families.  Both the <a href="http://www.cms.hhs.gov/">Centers for Medicare and Medicaid</a> and the <a href="http://www.dhs.ca.gov/">California State Department of Health Care</a> administer Medi-Cal.  And under the program’s  “<a href="http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/medi-cal/eligibility/Pages/PE_Info_women.aspx%5D">Presumptive Eligibility for Pregnant Women</a>,” any woman pregnant, with an annual income below roughly $11,000 may receive walk-in prenatal care and any prescription drugs needed as a result of her pregnancy.  Presumptive Eligibility does not include labor and delivery, and those do not have Medi-Cal but wishing to attain it—those uninsured and/or undocumented—must fill out an application for the service.  Once the applicant has submitted the form, the program sends her a temporary Medi-Cal card, good for two months. Medi-Cal requires this step that a women believing herself pregnant see a doctor in order to receive a pregnancy test.  Should she test positive, she must then present her results to Medi-Cal, after which the program will verify that she is financially eligible to use its services. Once its representatives have done so, they will send her an official Medi-Cal Beneficiary Identification Card (BIC) to use while pregnant.  But <a href="http://www.wattshealth.org/">Watts Health Care Center</a>’s Chief of Obstetrics & Gynecology’s Dr. Deirdre Logan said that “many of the woman do not open their mail and miss the 60 day cut off.  “Even with an extension,” she added, “a lot of women…who are on welfare and are otherwise uninsured…still don’t apply.”  A Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located on Compton Avenue, Watts Health Center receives financial support from the government under the <a href="http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/254b.html">section 330 grant of the Public Health Service Act</a>. FQHC’s <a href="http://www.raconline.org/info_guides/clinics/fqhcfaq.php#whatis">Web site</a> explains the grant exists in order to fund organizations “provid[ing] care to underserved populations.”  The clinic’s health educator, Marcela Rodriguez, explained that those who do apply and receive the Medi-Cal-sponsored prenatal care for which they are eligible, may visit the doctor once a month for the first six months of the pregnancy.  During the given woman’s third trimester, Rodriguez continued, she may see a doctor twice in the seventh and eighth months and once a week during her ninth. Medi-Cal’s prenatal care plan grants its subscribers health education, prenatal vitamins, lab work, diabetes testing, screening for birth defects and ultrasounds.  <a href="http://www.clinicaromero.com/">Clinica Monsenor Oscar A. Romero</a> has three branches and is also a Federally Qualified Health Clinic. One site situated in East L.A. directly across from L.A. County Hospital, its doctors attend to those generally uninsured and only able to speak Spanish.  Sandra Rivera, its prenatal case manager, said Oscar Romero turns no one away.  “If they come in,” she said, “they won’t be denied. Even if a woman comes in 36 weeks pregnant and has received no other care, we’ll see her.”  In a sense, hospitals adhere to the same M.O. as does the clinic.  Even though Medi-Cal and its Presumptive Eligibility do not cover labor and delivery, and many of these women have no other insurance, no hospital may refuse care to a woman in labor.  But most women neither know that nor feel it their best option. Clinics such as Oscar Romero and the Watts Health Center match their patients to hospitals nearest the women (such as L.A. County, UCLA Harbor or St. Francis Hospitals), or those that maintain a partnership with the clinic and offer these women care (e.g. Inglewood’s Centinela Hospital).  <ul> <ul> <li>Using Kaiser, then Private Insurance</li> </ul> </ul> Sarah Tuttle-Singer, 27, a pregnant woman with one young child who lives in West L.A., used both Los Angeles’ and Oakland, Calif.’s <a href="http://kpif.kp.org/brand09/Default.aspx?pcid=45888661">Kaiser</a> for her first pregnancy and now has <a href="http://healthinsurancemegastore.com/?gclid=CLrwkdK0kJ4CFSn6agod6Ae1oQ&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=BLUE+CROSS">Blue Cross</a>.  During her first pregnancy, she “had a lot of complications early on with a lot of bleeding, and I was at risk for preterm labor.  “[But with Kaiser,] you can’t just call up the doctor for the appointment,” she said. “You need to call the appointment line, and they assess whether you need to be seen. And the nurse was very good about getting me an urgent care appointment.”  She explained that Kaiser held an element of inconsistency she did not find unpleasant.  “You didn’t always see the same doctor—which was not a problem for me,” she said. “But it might be for others.”  When stepping into the waiting room, she felt “it was a very egalitarian process that includes difference ethnicities and levels of affluence.  “From what I could tell,” she continued, “we were all receiving good care. Kaiser is fantastic, but there is a different kind of attention you get with private insurance.”  She said she found the waiting room of the physician she now visits tending toward the homogonous Caucasian. She explained how it is “more expensive than with Kaiser as there is now an 80/20 co-pay.  She has received the results of every one of her tests the same day, while “the draw back with Kaiser is that there’s a longer wait time for results.  “We had a <a href="http://www.webmd.com/video/4d-ultrasound">4D video</a> taken of the baby and could see his face and watch him moving like a real person,” she added. “You don’t get that with Kaiser as far as I know.”  ::::  Other Factors  Map: Premature births and prenatal care by county. <a href="http://maker.geocommons.com/maps/9701">Click in to play with the numbers</a>.<a href="http://maker.geocommons.com/maps/9701"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2714/4112605292_eae283a2cb.jpg" alt="" width="450" /></a> Health Center professionals and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services indicated that while prenatal care was invaluable to these women and their unborn children, attending to such factors as stress, STD’s, nutrition and the pursuit of the care were as, or more, important.  Both Watts Health Center’s Dr. Logan and St. John’s Dr. Laura Reynard explained that stress could lead a woman to deliver early. And women living in Watts, Logan said, are under a lot of stress.  Many of these women single mothers and many of those on welfare, Logan also said “they’re worried about killings and drive-by-shootings, and all that [concern] can induce preterm labor.”  She said sexually transmitted diseases and infections could lead to preterm birth as well.  And in 2006, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a study titled “<a href="http://www.healthypeople.gov/Data/midcourse/">Healthy People 2010 Midcourse Review</a>,” breaking down the various areas within Los Angeles by such topics as respiratory disease, obesity, sexually transmitted diseases, cardiovascular disease and food consumption, among others.  The study named each general area a “service planning area” or SPA, and Watts belonged under the heading of SPA 6. Glancing at the charts revealed Watts embodied the gravest level of every category.  Thirty-nine percent of the Watts, Compton population is younger than 17, while 37 percent of the area’s “population lives below the <a href="http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09poverty.shtml">Federal Poverty level</a>.” Of that number, 44 percent are younger than 17-years-old.  Though L.A. County sustains 315 <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/STD/chlamydia/">chlamydia</a> cases per 100,000 people, Watts sees 1,022. While L.A. County encounters 74 <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/std/gonorrhea/stdfact-gonorrhea.htm">gonorrhea</a> cases per 100,000 people, Watts faces 407.  Within the area, 28.9 percent of children in fifth, seventh and ninth grade are obese, while 35.4 percent of the adults are as well. Consuming sugar-rich fast foods, 12.3 percent of SPA6 has diabetes, 37.9 percent of who die from the condition.  Eating inexpensive foods with too much salt can lead to hypertension, or high blood pressure. And 29 percent of SPA 6 have been diagnosed with hypertension. It may lead to both heart disease and stroke, 217.6 SPA 6 inhabitants per 100,000 die each year from the first, 51.9 from the second.  Nearly 75 percent of any given 1,000 births in the area come from girls within the ages of 15 and 19; for any given 100 live births, 8.5 percent concern infants with a low weight (less than 2,500 grams). Fourteen percent of babies born to African American women in the area have a low weight. Most of the infants survive, but they are far less healthy than they would otherwise be.  All of these numbers indicate that these situations are the worst in the county.  The statistics describing nutritional habits and smoking are concerning as well.  More than half of SPA 6’s children eat fast food “at least once a week;” more than half of the adults “drink at least one soda or sweetened drink a day” and more than half of the children do the same. Nineteen percent of the adults smoke cigarettes as well.  And 11.8 percent of SPA 6 live births come from mothers who received late prenatal care—or none at all.  :::: Look not for Blame Elsewhere (i.e. On-Paper Care Standards may be Deceiving)  But Cordelia Hanna-Cheruiyot said she felt the care women on Medi-Cal received sup-par, and no on-looker should be misled by what may seem like otherwise “standard care” and lofty principles.  A <a href="http://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/publichealth/women_child_services/blackinfant.asp">Pasadena Public Health Department Black Infant Health Program</a> community service representative, <a href="http://www.dona.org/mothers/index.php">Doula</a>, certified childbirth educator, certified birth assistant, assistant midwife, certified health education specialist and masters in public health and health education and Promotion/Maternal Health, Cheruiyot said “the comprehensive Medi-Cal program seems like a very good program in design, in theory and on paper, but how it is [put to use] leaves a lot to be desired.”  She emphasized “people think good care means measuring vitals and the growth of the baby and having the visits, but that’s only adequate in one sense—in terms of the physical care of the women. A holistic model includes the optimal wellbeing of the body, mind and spirit…the patient’s psychological well-being.”  Cheruiyot explained that she felt the women had been robbed of the opportunity to make pregnancy-related choices.  “One of the greatest differences between the types of care I saw while working at a Medi-Cal clinic is that the patients did not receive informed consent,” she said.’’  In medicine, informed consent means a physician will give the patient necessary facts about a certain test or treatment, and that patient must then knowingly decide whether he or she wishes to undergo the test or treatment based on that information.  Informed consent exists that patients have the right to make decisions regarding their own bodies and health. But leaving the patient the option to make that decision without first explaining the stakes only arms that individual halfway. He or she could make the choice, but it would not be an informed one.  “The greatest disparity I saw between the types of care,” Cheruiyot said, “is that women on Medi-Cal didn’t even know they had the right to ask questions.  “The providers aren’t taking the time to fully educate someone about the pro’s and cons, advantages and disadvantages, risks and benefits [of a procedure]—based on the patient’s values and needs,” she continued. “The woman must be allowed to make an informed choice, free from coercion, free from bias, in language and terms she can understand, and that doesn’t happen very often there.”  In Cheruiyot’s estimation, calling the patients non-compliant and making a decision for them is an “excuse. That gives [care-givers] carte-blanche to do what [they] want, and that’s unethical in my point of view. A vaginal birth, for example, is 99 percent safer for the mother and the baby, yet doctors have convinced many of the patients to have Caesarians.  “Some doctors at small clinics will tell their patients ‘you’ll go to the hospital for your induction,’ but she’s at 37 weeks, and they’re sending her to be induced? Why is it not safe for her [to wait]?” She said. “There’s no reason given, and these women on Medi-Cal are disempowered, ignorant and don’t have the information they need to prevent their care-givers from taking advantage of them.”  One of the richest countries in the world, the United States ranked No. 30 in 2005 for its rate of infant survival.  “We get this idea that childbirth is perilous, and we need highly trained specialists to help that,” she said. “But the way we conduct childbirth in this country perpetuat[es] that.  “You can literally take a perfectly healthy woman, put an epidural and pitocin in too early, keep her in the bed, and you’ve created a ripe environment for <a href="http://my.clevelandclinic.org/healthy_living/Pregnancy/hic_Fetal_Distress.aspx">fetal distress</a>,” she continued. “Fetal distress would not [otherwise] be common on its own.”  But Cheruiyot says many take such measures because they want to speed the birthing process up for convenience purposes.  “The doctors in hospitals are seeing a large volume of patients as well, and these are 15 minute prenatal care [sessions],” she said. “It’s a baby factory. They get pushed through the system, and the clock [keeps] ticking.”  Yet even with her criticisms of the care women using all forms insurance receive, Cheruiyot emphasized the most important way to ensure healthy birth outcomes was to keep the women healthy before they became pregnant.  “You get [the patient]—at best—for seven months, and you see her nine times,” she explained, “that’s not enough to make an impact. She needs to have [less stress] before she gets pregnant.”  ::::  Pollution as Malefactor: Yes, Care: No  This year, UC Irvine Epidemiology Department Assistant Professor in Public Health Jun Wu joined five other university researchers in publishing a study that showed women living near traffic hubs sustained a higher risk of <a href="http://www.preeclampsia.org/about.Asp">preeclampsia</a> and of delivering their babies early than did those living in areas with less air pollution.  Titled “<a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=12492d04a34c68f2&mt=application%2Fpdf&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3D2%26ik%3D20a2a1b0e4%26view%3Datt%26th%3D12492d04a34c68f2%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dattd%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQSKbaza5Pw2UtFbxApnSOn1d-Hkg&pli=1">Association between Local Traffic-Generated Air Pollution and Preeclampsia and Preterm Delivery in the South Coast Air Basin of California</a>,” the study looked at 81,000 people living in such southern state areas as Los Angeles County and Orange County.  It found that whether wealthy or impoverished, in possession of private or public health insurance, Caucasian, Hispanic or African American, women residing in those areas had 42 percent higher chance of preeclampsia and preterm birth.  The study’s <a href="http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.2&thid=12492d04a34c68f2&mt=application%2Fpdf&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3D2%26ik%3D20a2a1b0e4%26view%3Datt%26th%3D12492d04a34c68f2%26attid%3D0.2%26disp%3Dattd%26zw&sig=AHIEtbQVADhKTvALwLbDb0Af3ULmH537wQ">supplemental materials</a> divide the researcher’s subjects by race (Hispanic, White, African American, Asian and Other), insurance type and socioeconomic background, among other lines.   The majority of those living in the study area were White and possessed private insurance (e.g. 2,175 Whites v. 891 African Americans in one graph and 3,990 individuals using private insurance compared to 2,481 with public in another).  But Wu said that despite the “larger sample size,” statistically speaking, the “results overlapped if [the researchers] do data analysis by public or private insurance.  “There are not many differences [between the two],” she added, clarifying that  what affected the study women’s health was not the type of insurance they had or prenatal care they received but whether they lived near fume-rich thoroughfares.  ::::  Next in Line: Education  Toward the beginning of November, the Los Angeles Times published an <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kaiser6-2009nov06,0,861113.story">article</a> stating Kaiser planned to open a 15,000-square-foot building in South L.A. within the next two years.  The $10 million structure would provide “primary care, specialty care and other services” to the “80,000 members of the healthcare organization in the area.”  The Times wrote many of South L.A.’s inhabitants greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, celebrating Kaiser’s increased presence in the area with a gospel choir performance.  In addition to what should be more robust site-specific healthcare, <a href="http://labestbabies.org/">L.A. Best Babies Network</a> and within it its Best Babies Collaboratives, links 100 or so individuals to “caregivers” seeking to improve women’s health in between pregnancies as well as during.  But if poor care comprises only one part of the potential factors behind unhealthy births, and if it may not be the factor most influential, Dolores Magana and others in her position will have their hands full.  Assistant Principal at Watts-bound Los Angeles Thomas Riley school, Magana watches over 180 pregnant teenagers.  Along with McAlister and Ramona High Schools, Thomas Riley offers a high school curriculum to high school-aged girls who are pregnant. All three of them LAUSD schools, Magana states the “only difference between our school and others’, generally speaking, is that we cater to [the students] because of their condition.”  She added “we have parenting classes, but most schools have that too.”  Though neither Magana, the school’s nurse nor its teachers could force the students to seek proper prenatal care, eat healthfully and take the precautions that would prevent their catching STD’s, she said they do their best by “forcing the students to bring proof of pregnancy” in with them before enrolling.  Magana explained the school requires that proof because it lets her, the nurse and the teacher know that the girl had to go to a doctor to acquire the note and that she had begun to “receive medical care.”  Just across the street, Watts Health Center presents a convenient healthcare station for the students. After that initial proof of pregnancy and a doctors slip OK-ing or not OK-ing PE class, Magana said the schools begs “no [further] documentation, but the teachers are constantly asking them about their ‘appointments,’ and the nurses are too.”  She added that dearth of prenatal care posed a far smaller problem than did the girls’ nutrition and their health—unrelated to the pregnancy.  “A lot of them have health issues like STD’s, asthma and kidney infections,” she began, “yet…in my experience, most of the girls take care of business and follow up on their appointments. But my belief is that the majority of the girls don’t comply with eating the right things.”  She said the school does what it can, but even that action does little by way of health benefits. And a balanced diet will need to be a point of concentration.  “We provide them with the basic LAUSD school lunch, and we have to adhere to the nutritional guide provided by the government. But a lot of that food is high in fat and low in nutritional value.”  She said the girls—some of who have their own health insurance, others of who receive their own Welfare or that of their parents’—“are healthy in the sense that they look healthy, but their [diet] leads to high blood pressure.  “A lot of them load up on salt: potato chips, <a href="http://www.nissinfoods.com/cupnoodles/">Cup of Noodles</a>, Gatorade,” she said. “They think that’s healthy.”

<ul> <li><a href="http://www.bloggersunite.org/">Bloggers Unite</a> day of action <a href="http://www.bloggersunite.org/event/fight-for-preemies">around premature birth</a>.</li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/282-a-tale-of-two-births-differences-in-prenatal-care/posts/274">Wrapping up and Afterwords - behind the story.</a></li> <li><a href="http://spot.us/pitches/282-a-tale-of-two-births-differences-in-prenatal-care/posts/275">Source List.</a></li> </ul>

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Photo credit: kton25 on Flickr

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Expecting Poor Outcome 287 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/" rel="license"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nd/3.0/us/88x31.png" style="border-width: 0pt;" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a> Expecting Poor Outcome by <a rel="cc:attributionURL" property="cc:attributionName" href="http://spot.us/stories/287-expecting-poor-outcome/" xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#">Deborah Stokol</a> is licensed under a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/" rel="license">Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License</a>. Based on a work at <a rel="dc:source" href="http://spot.us/stories/287-expecting-poor-outcome/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">spot.us</a>.

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