Long Beach Residents in District 4 Set to Fill O’Donnell’s Council Seat, April 14 p. 5 Studies and Broad Section of Angelenos Back Minimum Wage Increase p. 4 Actor’s Association Sees Existential Threat to Theatre Diversity with Proposed Rule Change p. 11
Cherished Icon Threatened Once Again By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
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Project Street Legal’s Quest for a Place to Race is Stalled By Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
“A
t first they called it a street race,” said Don Galaz of Project Street Legal. “Then they called it a speed contest. And even when I ask the authorities now what it [was], they say they’re still investigating. “We know the car the kids were driving was a highly modified car because we know the club the owner of the car hangs with,” Galaz said with frustration. Frustrated with politics, and frustrated with the slow pace of government, Galaz is not jaded…at least, not yet. Galaz, who also founded Project Street Legal, which aims to reopen an old raceway on Terminal Island, had just returned from an Eastview Little
League softball game. The sun was shining, the skies were clear and Galaz was just trying to relax with his family with a hot dog in one hand and a soda in the other, enjoying the game atop Knoll Hill—property of the Port of Los Angeles. Galaz recalled an exchange between himself and a supporter at the game. “‘What’s up with the race track?’ he recalled the supporter saying. [Harbor Commissioner Anthony] Pirozzi was like four or five feet away right there.” “‘Hey, I’m just going about it the right way and play[ing] this political game correctly,’” [See Racetrack, page 3]
April 2 - 15, 2015
Area residents are still reeling from news about the deaths of Banning High School siblings Elias and Elexus Garcia. The students’ car, carrying two back seat passengers, collided with a van while traveling the wrong way on Pacific Coast Highway in January. School had just let out when witnesses reported seeing the Garcias’ Honda Civic racing the other vehicle. Youth and fast cars are historically a deadly mix.
[See Red Car, page 6]
The Local Publication You Actually Read
Racetrack Fight Continues
ne of the first elements of San Pedro’s waterfront development to go live—its Red Car rail service—may also be one of its first to die. That’s apparently if port staff has its way, according to a deliberately vague and low-key presentation made to the Board of Harbor Commissioners on March 19. It was July 19, 2003 when Councilwoman Janice Hahn spoke at the inauguration of the Red Car line. Both she and her brother, Mayor James Hahn, had ridden with their father, legendary Los Angeles County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, on its last day of service to Long Beach April 9, 1961. And so the spirit of rebirth had a special poignancy, which was fused with a more general spirit of waterfront renewal. Now, however, a second death seems imminent, unless strong action is taken. Service will stop later this year, with no clear plans for resumption. “The Red Car is your icon. It represents the port in much of your literature,” former port lawyer Pat Nave said, in the comment period of the March 19 meeting. Commissioner Pat Castellanos echoed him. “I do think the Red Car is an icon,” she said. I’ve been on it with my nieces and nephews and it’s fun, even if it’s just for a short distance.” But she was concerned about the staff’s cost projections. Katherine Gray, with the San Pedro Convention and Visitors Bureau, called the Red Car “exactly what we need.” “We have people call us every week about the Red Car: ‘Is it running? How much does it cost? Where does it go?’” Gray said.
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