Los Angeles County Launches Program to Cancel $500 Million in Medical Debt
Piano Teacher Arrested by SMPD on Child Sex Abuse Charges
The Alleged Incidents Took Place at the Student’s Home and at His Music Studio in Beverly Hills’ French Conservatory of Music.
A Van Nuys piano teacher was arrested
on multiple felony charges after authorities uncovered allegations of months-long sexual abuse involving his 13-year-old student, Santa Monica Police announced.
SMPD detectives began investigating 41-year-old Hovanes John Jihanyan on November 19, following a report of suspected child abuse. According to police, Jihanyan engaged in sexual activities with the student beginning in July 2024 when she was 13. The alleged incidents took place at the student’s home, in Jihanyan’s vehicle, and at his music studio in Beverly Hills’ French Conservatory of Music.
On December 12, 2024, detectives, with support from uniformed and undercover officers, executed search and arrest warrants in Encino, taking Jihanyan into custody. He was booked on charges including lewd acts
on a minor under 14, continuous sexual abuse of a minor, sexual assault involving a significant age disparity, possession of child pornography, and sexual exploitation of a minor.
Authorities confirmed that Jihanyan has no prior criminal history. He remains in custody as the case is prepared for filing with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on December 16, 2024.
The Santa Monica Police Department is seeking additional information about Jihanyan or potential victims. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Lizette Hard at (310) 458-2256, Sgt. David Haro at (310) 458-8952, or the Watch Commander desk 24 hours a day at (310) 458-8427.
Santa Monica College Seeks Applicants for Vacant Trustee Position
The
Appointed
Individual Will Serve Until the Next Board Election in November 2026
The Santa Monica College Board of Trustees is seeking applicants to fill a vacant seat left open after Trustee Barry Snell was elected to the Santa Monica City Council. The appointed individual will serve until the next Board election in November 2026, at which time the position will be filled through the standard electoral process.
Applications, available at smc.edu/ BOTMeetings, must be submitted by January 10, 2025. The Board plans to make its selection during its regular meeting on February 4, 2025.
The seven-member Board of Trustees serves as the governing body for SMC, which educates over 27,000 students across Santa Monica and Malibu. Trustees are elected by voters within the Santa Monica Community College District. The Board also includes a student trustee elected annually by the student body. Current trustees are Dr. Nancy Greenstein (chair), Dr. Sion Roy (vice chair), Anastasia Foster, Dr. Tom Peters, Dr. Margaret Quiñones-Perez, Rob Rader, and student trustee Daniel Martinez Garcia.
To qualify, applicants must be at least 18 years old, reside within the Santa Monica Community College District, be registered voters, and must not be disqualified from holding civil office under California law.
The Board is looking for candidates capable of meeting the responsibilities of a trustee. This includes attending Board meetings and college events,
studying agenda items, and participating in educational programs. Trustees are expected to understand and advocate for the diverse communities served by the college, support its mission, and address educational, social, and economic policy issues. Candidates should also be committed to ensuring the college’s fiscal health and sustainability, hiring and
supporting the Superintendent/President, and fostering collaboration among diverse groups.
For more information on the application process, contact District/Board of Trustees Coordinator Lisa Rose at 310-434-4402 or Rose_Lisa@smc.edu.
Micro-Amusement Park “Two Bit Circus” Opens Pop-Up on The Promenade
Guests Can Enjoy Unlimited Gameplay for a $25 Admission Fee, With Highlights Including
a VREnhanced “Cocktail
Shooter” Game
Two Bit Circus, the high-tech entertainment company known for its immersive and interactive experiences, has launched a pop-up arcade on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
The pop-up, which opened Dec. 14 and spans 4,000 square feet, offers a scaleddown version of the company’s signature “Micro-Amusement Park” and is set to run through Jan. 5, with the possibility of an extension, founder Brent Bushnell told the Los Angeles Times.
The site, located at 1220 3rd St Promenade, offers a mix of arcade classics, multiplayer games, and innovative experiences like augmented reality battles and group game show-style competitions. Guests can enjoy unlimited gameplay for a $25 admission fee, with highlights including a VR-enhanced “cocktail shooter” game and multiplayer stand-up games like Frogger and Marble Madness, as reported by LA Times.
“Downtown L.A. was great for adults and corporate events, but families and tourists were harder to reach,” Bushnell told LA Times. “Santa Monica lets us hit all those audiences.”
Santa Monica to Unveil Plaque Honoring
Lloyd C. Allen, the City’s First Black Rec and Parks Commissioner
Allen Was Instrumental in the Creation of the Park
Where the Plaque Will Be Displayed
The city of Santa Monica will host a ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 21, to unveil a plaque honoring Lloyd C. Allen, a trailblazing advocate, entrepreneur, and public servant whose contributions have shaped the community, the city announced.
The event will take place at 3 p.m. at Virginia Avenue Park, 2200 Virginia
Ave., near the roundabout entrance by the Thelma Terry building. The public is invited to attend the free ceremony, which will feature remarks from Mayor Lana Negrete and Allen himself, who celebrated his 103rd birthday in August. Light refreshments will be served.
“I am thrilled to celebrate one of our most prominent community members, Lloyd C. Allen,” Mayor Negrete said in a release. “Mr. Allen’s legacy is seen and felt every day in Santa Monica, and it is truly an honor to acknowledge his decades of service and contributions to our community.”
The plaque honors Allen’s extensive contributions, including his role as Santa Monica’s first Black Recreation and Parks commissioner. Allen was instrumental
in the creation of Virginia Avenue Park, where the plaque will be displayed.
The recognition follows a directive by the City Council in early 2024 to formally honor Allen’s legacy. In addition to his public service, Allen was a pioneering Black entrepreneur in the late 1950s, founding multiple businesses that enriched the local community. His ventures included Allen Maintenance, Allen Janitorial Supplies and Equipment, and Allen Vacuum Repairs, all based at 400 Pico Blvd.
“My commitment has always been to create spaces and opportunities where everyone, regardless of background, can come together, thrive, and feel a sense of belonging,” Allen said in a release.
Los Angeles County Launches Program to Cancel $500 Million in Medical Debt
Initiative Targets Low-Income
Residents with $2 Billion Debt Relief Goal
of Public Health has launched the Los Angeles County Medical Debt Relief Program, an initiative aimed at addressing the mounting crisis of medical debt that disproportionately affects low-income and vulnerable communities across the region.
Debt Coalition, will initially wipe out $500 million in medical debt using a $5 million investment approved by the LA County Board of Supervisors through a motion introduced by Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell. By purchasing medical debt for pennies on the dollar, the program targets past-due bills for qualifying low-income residents.
eliminate $2 billion in medical debt for LA County residents, with support from philanthropic partners, health plans, and hospitals. L.A. Care Health Plan has contributed $2 million to the effort, while the Los Angeles County Medical Association has funded an additional $1 million in debt relief.
Community Hospital and Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital. These hospitals will partner with Undue Medical Debt, a national nonprofit,
Happy Holidays
OPINION
SMa.r.t.
Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
S.M.a.r.t. (Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow) is wishing you a wonderful holiday season. We hope you are surrounded by pets, friends and family and can celebrate with festivities and traditions that make you feel that the world, with all its imperfections, is still a good place. We also hope that you can avail yourself of some time off for the 3Rs: relaxation, recovery, and reflection. Like wise we will be taking a holiday break; so our next S.M.a.r.t article will be appearing in the Santa Monica Mirror Friday, January 10.
It has been a tumultuous year internationally, nationally, and locally, so we optimistically wish that 2025 will bring you peace, health, safety, and progress in all the goals that are important to you.
S.M.a.r.t Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA, Robert H. Taylor AIA, Architect, Dan Jansenson, Architect & Building and Fire-Life Safety Commission, Samuel Tolkin Architect & Planning Commissioner, Michael Jolly, AIR-CRE Marie Standing. Jack Hillbrand AIA Landmarks Commissioner. For previous articles see www. santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing
September 5
This film is a documentary-style look at an ABC team of sports broadcasters sent to Munich to cover Olympic athletes and sports events, who instead recorded one of the most tragic events in modern history, the Israeli hostage incident at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The story is told honestly from the point of view of these broadcasters, who are threading a never-before situation for which they had no experience or training. The set is extremely realistic, with every detail true to that era of television.
Director Tim Fehlbaum grew up in Switzerland and studied film directing in Munich. He recalls that he and his classmates shot the film in and around the same building where the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Games were housed and taken hostage. The experience left in his mind a wish to one day film a movie of that horrific kidnapping. He says that in Munich, the memory of the incident is still very present. He did as much research as he could to make sure he told the story truthfully. He and his crew were given access to the original tapes, and he could see the importance of the role the media played as the event transpired.
Famed journalist, media personality,
and renowned film critic Rex Reed, now 86, says, “I can tell you everything in this fantastic movie seems totally accurate and looks exactly the same as it did on September 5, 1972. I should know. I was there.” He was returning home from the 1972 Venice Film Festival and was invited by producer David Wolper to join him at the Olympics to witness the coverage.
Then all the chaos of the kidnapping suddenly took over. There was really a rivalry going on between the ABC News and Sports divisions on who would call the shots. Reed notes, “Tim Fehlbaum does a masterful job of hopping from one highlight to the next, capturing the essence of what I saw in person.” He said that at the time he couldn’t believe that what he was witnessing was real and that it has been recorded in meticulous detail in this film.
The ensemble led by John Magaro, Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, and Jacques Lesgards, does a remarkable job of creating an air of realism as if events are unfolding before our eyes. You don’t feel that they are acting – rather that they are experiencing. Benesch stands out as the German translator. She is one of the most interesting characters, and
the most proactive thinker on the staff in the broadcast room. She has to endure dehumanizing comments from her male counterparts, and finally, she puts them in their place more than once.
It’s unnerving that few are still alive who lived through the rise of Nazism. Will we remember? Last week I attended a conference on Anti-Semitism, along with hundreds of dignitaries from all over the USA, North America, and Europe. Anti-Semitism is just one form of prejudice that continues to exist today, and the many stories I heard made me realize that we have changed very little regarding prejudice. This movie leads you to question the nature of the perpetrators - whether or not the human race has evolved, and whether we learn from our atrocities. It also raises questions about where the lines should be drawn for journalistic integrity.
Something that Rex Reed reported haunts me. He said that in the original tapes of the Israeli hostage athletes at the airport, before they were murdered, in shocking irony they were driven in buses past airport direction signs that read “This Way to Dachau.” Let us all hope that history does not repeat itself over and
over. Let us hope that we have a better spring of hope for human dignity to tap into and that we all, every one of us, make the effort to find it.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com.
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