WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2005
Volume 4, Issue 58
FR EE
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
To be ‘continued’? Homeless strategy has mixed results
DAILY LOTTERY SUPER LOTTO 3 7 29 30 41 Meganumber: 10 Jackpot: $10 Million
FANTASY 5 13 17 19 25 38
DAILY 3 Daytime: Evening:
343 080
Fewer people placed into permanent housing last year under City Hall’s ‘continuum of care’
DAILY DERBY 1st: 2nd: 3rd:
07 Eureka 01 Gold Rush 12 Lucky Charms
RACE TIME:
1:46.25
NEWS OF THE WEIRD BY CHUCK SHEPARD
Doctors at the Ballarat-Austin Radiation Oncology Centre in Australia have begun inserting three rice-sized grains of 24-karat gold against patients’ prostates. The pellets (cost: about US$300 each) graft permanently onto the gland and help doctors aim the radiation with more precision. And in December, in Vancouver, British Columbia, local TV stations said they were reluctant to air a public service announcement provided by the Prostate Center at Vancouver General Hospital because it featured a prostate-examining doctor reaching inside his patient and pulling out a ticking time bomb (to dramatize the urgency for men to be examined).
TODAY IN HISTORY In 1809, author Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston. In 1853, Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Il Trovatore” premiered in Rome. In 1861, Georgia seceded from the Union. In 1944, the federal government relinquished control of the nation’s railroads following settlement of a wage dispute. In 1966, Indira Gandhi was elected prime minister of India. In 1736, James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.
QUOTE OF THE DAY “Love is not consolation, it is light.”
SIMONE WEIL FRENCH PHILOSOPHER (1909-1943)
INDEX Horoscopes Happily at home, Pisces
2
Surf Report Water Temperature: 59°
3
Opinion Tastes like chicken
4
State Temps want to stay
6
National Toking behavior
7
Real Estate An offer they can’t refuse
10
Comics Bringin’ the funny
17
Classifieds Ad space odyssey
John Wood/Daily Press DIRTY WATER: ‘Skeltor,’ a remote-controlled surfer steered by Horizons West surf shop owner Randy Wright, charges out towards the lineup Tuesday afternoon. Warm weather has enticed some people back into the still polluted waters.
Resisting nature’s call tough when heat is on Health officials warning swimmers to stay strong, steer clear of the water
State of Bay just OK BY CORTNEY FIELDING Special to the Daily Press
BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
SM BEACH — Beachgoers beware: The lure of warm weather and rising surf should be weighed against possible side effects like vomiting, diarrhea, skin rashes and sinus infections. Health officials on Tuesday cautioned swimmers and surfers against rushing back to the ocean after this month’s deluge, saying bacteria levels are still dangerously high and may stay that way for several more days. “We normally say wait three days to go in the water after a rainstorm, but these were extremely heavy storms,” said Shelley Luce, a science and policy director for Heal the Bay, a nonprofit organization that tracks water quality levels. “It was a storm that lasted a long time. It really saturated all the ground and it created a lot of runoff, and then the water’s been quite calm since then.” Despite the filthy water, the recent run of warm weather combined with rising swell has lured many beachgoers back into the depths.
18-19
Jacquie Banks
See BEACHES, page 5
The overall health of Santa Monica Bay may not have improved as much as officials and environmentalists would like, but some areas are on the upswing. That was the general consensus among the approximately 300 attendees at the “State of the Bay Conference,” held by the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission (SMBRC) at the Skirball Center last week. Environmental officials from around the state were invited to take part in the one-day event, which highlighted improvements made in the bay’s restoration over the past five years, as well as hurdles yet to be cleared. Bacteria levels in the 266 square miles of bay during the dry summer months are steadily declining, according to Mark Gold, executive director of Heal the Bay, a non-profit organization involved in water safety and cleanliness issues in Southern California. The decline is partly due to a number of local projects that have created See WINTER WATER, page 5
(Editor’s note: This is the second article in a three-part series on homelessness in Santa Monica. An article in the Jan. 15 edition looked at new strategies for reducing homelessness. The third article will examine the impacts of homelessness in Santa Monica.) BY JOHN WOOD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITY HALL — Nearly 2,200 homeless people received some form of aid in Santa Monica last year, with several hundred moving into permanent housing and taking permanent jobs. Still, the community remains divided over how best to deal with vagrancy. While social service providers and many city officials maintain homeless programs are making significant strides in the face of economic obstacles, critics maintain the generous programs continue to inflate the local transient population. Meanwhile, residents and merchants are left to confront the reali-
ties of homelessness on a daily basis. Officials next week are expected to adopt an “action plan” for dealing with homelessness in the coming year. Among the suggestions raised at a Jan. 11 public meeting were the creation of a special courtroom for homeless offenders, allowing transients to choose to get help rather than serve time in jail and instituting a special program to assist the most entrenched homeless residents of Santa Monica. Those suggestions aside, City Hall is expected to continue giving nearly $2 million annually to nonprofit groups that serve the homeless. Last year, City Hall handed out a collective $1,823,391 to nine Santa Monica social service providers. The nine providers then raised an additional $5 million from outside sources, according to an annual report on homelessness prepared by City Hall. In order to receive city money, each of the groups must plug in to See HOMELESS, page 6
You big lug
Nicky Five Aces/Five Aces Photo Rick Cerba, a pipe fitter from Castaic and employee of the Santa Monica Department of Water, strains to loosen aged bolts from a fire hydrant that his crew was charged with relocating on Main Street Tuesday afternoon.
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