New AQMD Chair
A deeply divided South Coast Air Quality Management District ousted its chairman Aug. 8, just weeks after handing its chief executive his walking papers.
San Bernardino County Supervisor Jon Mikels was removed from the chairman’s seat by a vote of 7 to 5. Former Vice Chairman William A. Burke, who will become the AQMD’s first African American chairman in its 20-year history, was elected to the post on a vote of 7 to 2, with 3 abstentions.
Mikels fell under criticism from some board members for supposedly being insensitive to small businesses and the needs of poor and minority communities.
“We need to put this controversy over leadership behind us and get to work on cleaning the air,” said Burke in a written statement.
Newport Beach City Councilwoman Norma Glover will succeed Burke as vice chair. In addition, Barry M. Wallerstein, the AQMD’s deputy executive officer for planning, transportation and information management, was named interim executive officer until a permanent replacement for former AQMD chief James Lents can be found.
Union Defeat
Dealing a blow to union organizers in one of L.A.’s longest and most bitter labor disputes, an administrative law judge last week ruled that the New Otani Hotel & Garden did not engage in unfair labor practices when it fired three housekeepers in 1995.
Prosecutors with the National Labor Relations Board had argued that the three workers were dismissed because they were key leaders of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.
Hotel officials, meanwhile, claimed they were fired for violating the company’s policy preventing one employee from punching a time card for another.
Administrative Law Judge Timothy D. Nelson sided with the hotel, saying prosecutors had failed to prove their case. Union officials subsequently vowed to appeal the decision to the NLRB in Washington, D.C.
Beach Billboards Banned
A group of 22 red-tiled sun shelters scattered along the beach between San Pedro and Malibu are likely to disappear, after the state Coastal Commission last week made a strong statement opposing advertisements on state beaches.
Los Angeles County officials had sought an after-the-fact permit from the commission for the sun shelters even though they were installed in 1992. The costs of the structures, which look much like bus shelters, were covered by revenues generated from poster-sized advertisements on the shelters mainly for upcoming movies.
Commissioners, many of whom objected to the idea of peppering beaches with advertisements, vote 10 to 2 to deny the permit. They also turned down a permit for the construction of 23 advertising-supported information kiosks that county officials had hoped to install.
Proceeds from the kiosks and shelters would have been used to help pay for beach maintenance and educational programs. County officials said the existing shelters will be removed.
Teachers for the Beaver
Child actors were waving their photogenic fists last week after winning a victory against the likes of Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox.
The California Department of Industrial Relations set new educational standards for child actors, forcing movie and television producers to hire highly qualified teachers to work on the set with underage thespians.
The decision came as a response to complaints from the Screen Actors Guild that studios were hiring unqualified teachers to educate child actors, who must often spend months at a time away from school while working on a project. The new regulations would require multi-subject, secondary-level teaching credentials for educators on the set, as well as additional training in labor law.
A lawsuit by the studio teachers’ union alleges that many child actors who fail to find success in Hollywood after reaching adulthood are hampered in finding outside careers by inadequate education.
Home Prices Rebounding
There’s more evidence that L.A. County home prices have turned the corner.
According to the California Association of Realtors, the median price for a single-family home in L.A. County during the second quarter was $173,240, a 0.5 percent gain over second quarter 1996. It marked the first time in five years that a quarterly increase over the previous year has been reported.
The report came just one week after County Assessor Kenneth Hahn stated that overall property values have increased for the first time since 1994, rising 0.8 percent between March 1, 1996 and Jan. 1, 1997 over the like period a year earlier.
Home sales were also robust in the second quarter, according to the association, rising 10.5 percent over the like period in 1996. Statewide, the median price of a single-family home increased 3.2 percent over second quarter 1996.
Wachs Calls for Volunteers
L.A. City Councilman Joel Wachs last week issued a public call for volunteers to help with an initiative that would prohibit the city from spending tax money on professional sports teams without voter approval.
The initiative drive is aimed at the $70 million in city funds that may go toward a proposed $240 million downtown sports arena if approved by the City Council.
Wachs has been a critic of the arena, claiming that the secretive nature of the negotiations on the facility have shut the public out of the decision-making process. He is leading a call for public disclosure of all documents related to the project.
Wachs said he is willing to lead a drive for a ballot initiative forcing public approval of arena spending, but only if he receives a demonstration of support. If enough people volunteer to submit petitions Wachs must get more than 60,000 signatures from registered voters he promised to move forward with the effort.
“If people have to vote on new police stations, and new fire stations, and new libraries, and new schools, the very least they should be able to do is vote on giving money to wealthy sports owners and their luxury facilities,” Wachs said in a written statement.
