Biz News Briefs

Grammy winning producer/performer Pharrell Williams who is known for his fashion flair and launching two lines of luxury streetwear–Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream–and having collaborated on a winter line with Adidas, has been named as Louis Vuitton’s new menswear creative director.

“I am glad to welcome Pharrell back home, after our collaborations in 2004 and 2008 for Louis Vuitton, as our new Men’s Creative Director. His creative vision beyond fashion will undoubtedly lead Louis Vuitton towards a new and very exciting chapter.” said Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari. Williams first collection for Louis Vuitton will be reveal in June during Men’s Fashion Week in Paris.

D.T. CARSON Contributor

west Gas will also receive an accelerated credit of varying amounts.

“We know this provides only temporary relief from soaring bills,” Newsom added. “That’s why I’m asking the federal government to use its full authority to investigate the spike in natural gas prices and take any necessary enforcement actions. We’re going to get to the bottom of this because Californians deserve to know what’s behind these exorbitant bills.”

“We understand that our customers are starting to feel the pain caused by large changes in the national gas market,” said Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Gillian Wright. “And we also recognize that we owe it to our customers to provide them with as many tools and tips as possible to help them find ways to prepare for colder weather and higher winter bills, including financial assistance in some cases.”

Among those programs is a Level Pay Plan that charges an average monthly bill based on your total gas usage in 2022 while a “Ways to Save Tool” analyzes your gas usage and offers recommendations on how to reduce it, including links to rebates.

Lower income households can access any number of programs, including a one-time grant of as much as $100 to help qualified households pay their bill.

Edison’s CARE program discounts rates by 30%. Their Family Electric Rate Assistance program cuts them by 18% and eligible customers can receive onetime grants of as much as $300.

The Department of Water and Power also offers programs to those facing financial adversity including the EZ-SAVE Low Income Customer Assistance Program offering income-qualified residential customers with a discount to help reduce the cost of electricity, water, and sewer services.

The federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program also offers one-time grants to help pay gas and electric bills or to make your home more energy efficient and the California Alternate Rates for Energy program lowers gas rates by 20% to qualified households.

On the Money

27 Years Post Death, Basquiat Dominates the Art World

Around $2.2 billion has been spent on work by African American artists at auction over the past 10 years. Works by JeanMichel Basquiat account for $1.7 billion (77%) of it. In 2018, one of his works brought $110 million, the highest at that time ever paid for an American artist at auction. Today, among the most highly valued artists in the art market, his work–completed between 1981 and 1984, regularly sells at auction for tens of millions.

In fact, thirty-five years after Jean-Michel Basquiat’s death at age 27 from a heroin overdose, his art– highlighting racial inequalities and the lack of representation of racialized people in the media; celebrating Black culture; and highlighting the evils of white supremacy–is more relevant than ever.

Basquiat is everywhere from stage plays, film and apparel to auctions, countless exhibitions and famous collectors like Jay Z. And for $60,000 a month, art lovers can rent the storied studio space where he lived and worked until his death in 1988.

“Basquiat is not just an artist; for a lot of the people out there, he’s a religion,” said one dealer of the artist who ran away from home aged 17. Befriending many of the period’s most significant artistic cultural figures from Andy Warhol to Madonna, Basquiat quickly became a central player in New York’s art scene and in 1982.

While his first painting was sold for just $200, listed below are Basquiat’s top ten most expensive works:

Untitled, 1982 — $110.5 million

In This Case, 1983 — $93.1 million

Untitled (Devil), 1982 — $57.3 million

Versus Medici, 1982 — $50.8 million

Dustheads, 1982 — $48.8 million

Flexible, 1984 — $45.3 million

Warrior, 1982 — $41.9 million

The Field Next to the Other Road, 1981 — $37.1 million

La Hara, 1981 — $35 million

Untitled, 1981 — $34.9 million

Mariah Carey’s Liqueur Goes International

Mariah Carey’s Black Irish Cream Liqueur–which was launched stateside in August 2021 to great success–is set to expand to South America and the Caribbean this spring, with locations in Mexico, Brazil, and the Bahamas leading the way. This marks the brand's first international distribution.

"I am ecstatic to extend the reach of my cream-liqueur Black Irish to South America and the Caribbean," said Mariah Carey. "My fans there have supported and given so much to me, so of course I wanted to create an opportunity for them to enjoy this delicious liqueur!"

The name of the brand–Black Irish Cream Liqueur by Mariah Carey– is a nod to her heritage. Black Irish is crafted in Ireland with aged Irish whiskey and dairy sourced from Irish farms, resulting in its rich and decadent taste. Its full portfolio of flavors include original, salted caramel and white chocolate.

Statement Films Secures Major Funding from the likes of Magic Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson Statement Films, a women-led, data-driven entertainment startup, has announced that it has secured an initial three quarters of a million dollars of funding from an array of titans across Hollywood, Sports and Business, including Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson.

Founded by writer, producer, and political analyst, Areej Noor, Statement Films sources, develops and presents a pipeline of African-women-led IP to international buyers, bridging the gap between African and Diaspora women filmmakers and the global market. It showcases the growing collaboration and stewardship between Black America and Africa.

"I am incredibly excited to be a part of the journey with Statement Films. The company is doing such important work to fill a long overdue gap in the industry. We can look forward with optimism to the future of African women in film," stated Oscar winning actor Samuel Jackson.

"As a female creative, this is something I am particularly passionate about and I look forward to seeing the opportunities and progress that will unfold for African women through the incredible work of Areej and her team at Statement Films,” said LaTanya Richardson Jackson.

Imagine having to depend on bottles of water being trucked in to take a bath or having brown sludge come out of your tap when you turn on a water faucet. And no, we’re not talking about Flint, Michigan, or Jackson, Mississippi. It’s a reality right here in communities like Riverside and the Central Valley and perhaps even in your own water delivery system.

Over 27 million Americans get water from systems that violate health standards and that violators of state drinking water are 40% more likely to serve people of color. Fact is three out of four Black Americans are more likely to live near polluting facilities.

In 2019, the state water board ordered the dissolution of the Sativa Water District after widespread reports from residents of Compton and Willowbrook of murky brown water and a foul odor coming from their pipes.

A majority of Black Americans say they only drink bottled water. Just one in five Latinos are very confident in their tap water and nearly half of all tribal homes do not have reliable clean water for drinking or basic sanitation.

Yet, in our day to day lives, little consideration is given to how we get our water, how clean it is or the Colorado River and Sacramento Delta that for years have provided it. And if you’re not sure about why you should be thinking about your water, try living without it.

While most Angelenos take for granted that their water is clean and safe (and for the most part it is), there is indeed a water crisis. The fact is that just 17 of California’s 58 counties have local water systems that fully comply with state and federal drinking water standards.

This startling reality prompted the establishment of Groundswell, a project of the South L.A. non-profit Community Build–to give disadvantaged communities an equal voice and a seat at the table in decisions impacting their access to safe, clean, affordable water and to advocate for new policies that enhance water delivery to communities that have suffered for decades from toxic pollution, underinvestment and unsafe drinking water.

Last month, Groundswell for Water Justice convened its second Water Justice Summit, bringing together over one hundred community leaders and social justice activists to raise the awareness of the threat posed by drought to communities of color throughout the state of California.

The summit featured presentations by Adan Ortega, Chair of the Metropolitan Water District; Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, State Senator Steven Bradford and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who presently serves as Governor Newsom’s Infrastructure czar.

“I don’t have to tell you what the history has been when it comes to building infrastructure, whether its water infrastructure or transportation infrastructure, some communities–communities of color–are almost always left behind,” Villaraigosa stated.

Groundswell jumped into action as the California State Auditor released a report detailing that nearly one million Californians did not have access to clean drinking water with the most impacted being people of color.

“It’s been said that homelessness has been noted as the greatest social justice issue of our modern times,” stated Community Build CEO Robert Sausedo. “I want to suggest to you that clean safe drinking water is the most important social justice issue of our modern day times and without it, it will halt building for homelessness. Without it, we will continue to see health disparities grow. Without it, food insecurity grows. This is about saving lives.”

Contaminants infecting drinking water include Chromium 6, high levels of nitrates and arsenic, and an aging infrastructure that can bring lead directly into households. One report has noted that 85% of infants with exposure to lead come from formula mixed with tap water.

“The source of contamination is different depending on where you find yourself living in the state. Sometimes these are naturally occurring contaminants,” says Karina Cervantez, who serves as the managing director of Cal Mutual, an association representing smaller water systems across the state that service 1.3 million Californians.

“Often times they are legacy contaminants from industrial or agricultural practices, but one thing that remains consistent is that disproportionately communities of color, low income communities…they are the ones that are most often carrying the burden of these contaminated waters,” Cervantez reported.

Adds Sausedo, “The spigot for some has become wicked, and we cannot afford not to take this issue up on behalf of all Californians and Americans.”

That said, access to water is a complex series of key legal, regulatory proceedings and though it is changing, is for the most part determined by white dominated water boards.

“We are being held hostage by a few companies that take our collective public dollars and tell us how much it’s going to cost,” says Reginald Swilley of the Santa Clara, Ca.-based Minority Business Consortium.

“There are communities that do not have the economic and political power to demand that they have clean water, but we keep giving all our money to the folks that are delivering clean water in the nice neighborhoods.”

State Senator Steve Bradford is all too familiar with the issues.

“We’ve been fighting over water since the beginning of time in California,” Bradford said. “Lack of diversity in those who represent the industry. Lack of diversity in resources and the process in which we can fix this.

“Right now, as we experience this rainstorm, there’s millions of acre feet of water heading straight to the Ocean because we can’t capture and store that water,” Bradford continued. “We passed a water bond ten years ago during Jerry Brown’s tenure and it comes as no surprise that we have not built one project. Not one storage project. Not one conveyance project,” he continued, while referencing the numerous lawsuits waged by environmentalists who have blocked such projects claiming that the complex series of dams, channels, aqueducts and pumps responsible for transferring water from north to south in the state are killing fish and damaging the Delta’s fragile ecosystem with many threatened and endangered species.

“I’m an environmentalist…so I believe in the environment,” Bradford adds. “I believe we need to protect it, but it shouldn’t be the reason why we don’t do these projects.”

Yet as Sausedo was quick to point out, “Of all the environmental groups that focus on water, not one of them has demonstrated an interest in communities of color. Hence, a lizard and a fly have more rights to water than people of color.”

Metropolitan Water Board chair Adan Ortega believes that California’s current framework for restoring the Delta, is on the course of destruction.

“Studies in the early 2000s projected a seismic storm event in the following 50 years that could destroy not only our source of imported water, but the farms and towns of the Bay Delta region”, Ortega said.

“If you believe the studies of 20 years ago, nature itself will literally destroy the Delta bringing real human suffering and hardship to almost everyone in California within the next 30 years. Falling reservoir levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead have been steady and now we find ourselves with the reckoning as lake levels threaten to reach dead pool.”

Proposed solutions to the water crisis include building storage to capture stormwater runoff, recharging groundwater basins, increasing supply capacity, greater recycling efforts, improved agricultural and farming practices, conservation, increased water rates and the development of energy efficient desalination plants (which serve to remove excess salt from sea water, converting it into safe water).

Speaking to the state’s need to streamline some of its infrastructure construction needs, Villaraigosa noted that Governor Newsom had implemented unprecedented measures to cut water use, build storage capacity and increase supply capacity with an emphasis on inclusion.

“From showers to flowers, toilet to tap, the science is there,” noted Bradford. “To continue to blame this on climate change, we’re never going to solve the problem.”

Indeed, for many, what has greatly exacerbated the state’s water crisis is climate change.

“The series of droughts that occurred in the last decade have exposed vulnerabilities in the design of our water system,” stated Ortega. “We did not anticipate the acceleration of climate change.”

In December, the MWD declared a Regional Drought Emergency for all of Southern California and called upon water agencies to immediately reduce their use of all imported supplies. Before the recent winter storms, the California Water Project had reduced its allocation to local water districts to below five percent of the requested supplies. The shortage would force local agencies to cut the amount of supplies available, forcing communities to begin more extreme conservation measures. In a positive development, the volume of water added to the supply through rainfall has allowed the water project to raise its allocation to 30% of the need.

While the recent series of storms slamming the west coast that have left the snowpack at twice the normal level, but experts agree that one wet year cannot erase years of drought.

“These storm events that are occurring right now could solve the drought if we have a few years of it but in the blink of an eye, leave us worse off than a drought,” said Ortega. “The weather events that can save us can also destroy us. The atmospheric rivers that seem to promise relief from drought can also crumble critical levees that currently protect our freshwater sources from the San Joaquin and Sacramento Bay Delta.

“We had two levees fail during the last atmospheric storm events,” he continued. “What that means is that if we were to have the wrong levees fail, it would introduce salt water into the aqueduct, rendering it useless. So, in an era of climate change, you can’t cherry pick when you’re going to believe in it and when you’re not going to believe in it and in a world where we really have to plan for a lot of variability in the weather, we’d be foolish to think that the party has just started with the end of the drought because indeed it hasn’t.”

For Ortega, summits like the one held by Groundswell should be about regulations and initiatives befitting of circumstances encouraging greater flexibility in how we use our human-made infrastructure while accommodating nature’s needs to meet human needs.

“Metropolitan’s Board is determined not to just identify our technical and infrastructure needs and projects, we are doing this in the context that compels us to perhaps incorporate the human right to water which was made into state law in 2012 with implications that have been scantly considered until now. Human rights are not supposed to be bureaucratic hostages.”

Affordability is yet another key factor, given that what is economically feasible for the state or water supplier is not always affordable for the consumer.

In California, there are very limited options to cover the cost of needed treatment and ongoing maintenance of water systems.

Says Cervantez, “Affordability becomes a critical concern of ours because if someone is struggling to pay their water bill, it means that they’re also struggling to contribute to the pot that makes up the money from shareholders to be able to fix and address issues with their system.”

In 2022, it was reported by Cal Matters that several hundred drinking water wells throughout the state exceeded the State Water Resources Control Board’s proposed standard of 10 parts per billion for Chromium 6. The highest levels were reported in parts of Ventura, Los Angeles, Yolo, Merced and Riverside counties.

The cost of fixing the problem, more often than not, is reflected in customer rate increases, but water suppliers maintain that due to years of underinvestment in communities of color, rate increases may be inevitable. That may mean financing at the state level to develop more affordability programs to assist those in need.

States Ortega, “Tap water from our kitchen tap costs about a third of a cent per gallon. Modest rate increases from the third of a cent could build the financial war chest we need to adapt to climate change in addition to more state and federal investments. But yet while the public–rich and poor–is willing to pay a thousand times more for commercially filtered [bottled] water, city councils or water boards that propose rate increases are often threatened with recalls. This is the social, political and economic paradox we face and water suppliers must confront.

“It is our collective responsibility to allow that sufficient resources be made available to poor communities, particularly when it comes to meeting safe drinking water quality standards which is massively expensive as science and technology advance.”

For Assemblymember Sabrina Cervantes, Chair of the CA Latino Legislative Caucus, what came out of Groundswell’s summit last month was the need for action. “Underserved communities, disadvantaged communities, farmworker communities, don't have this most basic human right. Children and families do not have access to fresh, clean, affordable water. This should not be a reality in any community.”

Bradford, in his closing statement, pointed to the only factor that remains consistent in summits like the one held last month in L.A. and across this country.

“The one common denominator that we have is that the people that have the dirtiest water are people of color, because affluent communities don’t suffer in the same way. They find a way to figure it out and we need to find a way to figure it out.”