MONDAY, MAY 28, 2012
Volume 11 Issue 169
Santa Monica Daily Press
NEW BOX OFFICE CHAMP SEE PAGE 3
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THE ALL ABOUT THE BBQ ISSUE
Homeless youth attracted to the Westside BY GREGORY ASCIUTTO Special to the Daily Press
twice before setting out. “Driving is a symbol of freedom in the U.S.,” says Shanjun Li, an economist who studies consumer behavior at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics. At a nationwide average Friday of $3.67 per gallon, gasoline is far cheaper in the U.S. than much of the rest of the world, thanks to relatively low taxes. In Japan, gas costs more than $7 a gallon; in Britain, nearly $9. Yet Americans consider cheap gas a birthright, so it’s a shock when factors beyond our control drive up the price. People understand why a big TV costs more than a small one, or why tickets to
Gathered around a public bench in Venice Beach, three young men share a celebratory marijuana joint early one morning. Cody, who has just turned 20, takes a long drag and passes the joint to his friend Squirrel. “You want to know the meaning of life?” he asks. “To live.” Homeless on the streets of Los Angeles for two months, Cody says that for the first time in his life, he actually feels alive. According to the 2011 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Report, nearly 4,000 homeless youth without families currently live in Los Angeles County. Though the number accounts for unaccompanied minors, individuals between the ages of 18 and 25 make up the bulk of the homeless youth population. Like Cody, many homeless young adults in Los Angeles end up on the city’s Westside. “A lot of the kids, especially down at the beaches, they just like the freedom,” said Kenan Henderson of the Hope for Homeless Youth program. “They’ll leave some small town in Iowa and they want to just come out to the West Coast and see what it’s like out here.” Such travelers account for most of the region’s homeless youth population. “I just travel, I don’t think about really what’s going to happen tomorrow or what happened yesterday,” said Squirrel, a 21year-old from Alabama, who, like Cody, uses a nickname to prevent his family from tracking him on the streets. “I’m going with what’s going now, I could be here right now and in two days ... I could be in Portland, Ore.,” he said. Officer Robert Martinez of the Santa Monica Police Department’s Homeless Liaison Program said traveling youth rarely stay in Westside cities for extended time periods. “They’ll come in, they’ll get what they need, whether it’s a needle exchange, to see the doctor ... then they’ll move on to the next
SEE DRIVING PAGE 11
SEE HOMELESS PAGE 9
ON THE WAY UP
Brandon Wise brandonw@smdp.com Local Barbara Coffman reaches the top of the portable climbing wall by Happy Day Entertainment during the Pico de Mayo Festival at the Civic Auditorium parking lot on Sunday. The event showcased the neighborhood’s western end with food, music and art.
Driving season begins, as does griping about gas JONATHAN FAHEY AP Energy Writer
NEW YORK It’s Memorial Day and our national obsession with the price of gasoline is in focus once again. We’ll spend a little less at the pump than a few weeks ago, but that won’t stop us from muttering to ourselves, griping to friends and pointing fingers in many directions. Our rants about gasoline and the oil industry may not always be based on facts, but one thing is undeniable: Americans are obsessed with the price of gasoline. More than any other good or service we buy. In the language of economists, the price of gasoline is “salient.” That means it sticks in our brains. Here’s why:
We’re reminded of the price every time we pass a gas station and see those huge, numbered signs. We buy gas every week, unlike bills we pay monthly or a couple times a year. Milk is $4 a gallon, but we buy only one. When we fill up with gas, we spend $50 or more. And the biggest frustration, which comes into focus as the numbers spin ever higher at the pump: There is no alternative. “The oil companies have cornered the market and they are squeezing us for everything we have,” says Bob Simpson, 62, of Lodi, N.J., who pays close to $60 to fill up his Ford Escape. Cheap gas makes the wide open spaces of America seem full of possibility and adventure. When it’s expensive, we think
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