Los Angeles Downtown News 01-23-22

January 24, 2022 I VOL. 51 I #04

myCovidMD

Nonprofit connects the underserved with COVID-19 resources

Cargo Targeted Union Pacific rail theft on the rise

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Eye on Education February 14, 2022

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OPINION

Confessions of a Clutterer: The Great Un-stuffing

By Ellen Snortland LA Downtown News Columnist oing through our late friend’s mountains of material items inspired us to begin a pre-emptive unburdening of our own. We drafted our dear friend, Matina, to help us move our own mountains. “What’s this?” my husband asks. “They are Oaxacan topless mermaid Last Supper figurines, obviously,” I say, suppressing a tiny eye roll. “Notice that Jesus is serving watermelon and agua fresca for communion. He’s a topless mermaid, too, except he has a crown.” Duh. I peruse the house with the eyes of a minimalist. Ouch. There’s so much stuff that it hurts. I have the interior decorating touch of Martha Stewart on peyote.

I am a bonafide collector. I have Mexican folk art throughout the joint and feminist memorabilia from floor to ceiling. I have books that threaten to eat us alive. And clothing! I have my mother’s confirmation dress from 1928, her mother-of-the-bride dress from 1959, and her Grange square-dancing dresses with rick-rack decoration. I still have the sweaters she knitted for me and others.

I can’t let go of the things she made. I derive joy from holding something that spent so much time on her lap as I contemplate the hours and hours it took for her to create them.

Often, couples have one of each: a neat freak and a not-so-neat freak. Ken and I are both collectors and not-soneat freaks. We also married in our midto-late 50s, by which time we had both established what we collect. I moved Ken into my house as he couldn’t confront the task of packing and unpacking his home. The experience was like fitting the ugly stepsisters’ size 11 feet into size 5 slippers. It hurt! But I managed to do it and won my prince… and

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all his stuff.

After our friends’ passing and the arrival of 2022 — or, as one of All Saints Rector Mike Kinman’s kids called it, “2020: Season 3” — I declared an “un-stuffing” project. I am confronting every microbe of resistance I have to letting go of “stuff.” Mental mind traps like…

• Guilt from wasted money.

• If I don’t save this, it’ll be lost to posterity.

• Sentimental feelings and memories I attach to objects.

• As soon as I let go of it, I will need it (absolutely true!).

These thoughts have their roots in my Depression-era mother. She kept even the smallest of items, like margarine tubs for leftovers, prescription vials and rubber bands. She always bought three of everything so that we — her three daughters — wouldn’t be jealous.

My dad? His philosophy was, “Throw it out; we can always buy another one.”

I have none of my dad in me when it comes to possessions, and a lot of my mom, except for the cleaning and organizing that she excelled at. I have a phobia regarding housekeeping, because my mother spent her life perfecting the squeaky-clean home. I swore I would never spend my life cleaning, or even a minuscule portion of it. I became a topic of gossip with my sisters and mom, and maybe even my grandmother, when I hired a housekeeper in my mid20s. They thought, “Who does she think she is — better than the women who cleaned their own homes?!” No! I was contributing to the economy, darn it.

Part of the armchair psychology behind my comfy-womfy attachment to clutter was my discovery at 8 that I could maintain privacy with it. My mother was an inveterate snoop. How-

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Downtown News wants to hear from people in the community. If you like or dislike a story, let us know, or weigh in on something you feel is important to the community.

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ever, I discovered that her hatred of from the late 19th century. I have a clutter was so enmeshed and powerful complete set of Homer Laughlin Mexthat she would avoid my chaotic room. icana-themed stenciled dinnerware; Snooping foiled! cowboy pottery dinnerware; place setI was also raised to be an executive’s tings for 24 of cranberry glass; 16 place wife. However, my generation was on settings for a Bastile Day fete. I have my the cusp of women being hungry to be mom’s sterling, her silverplate, Ken’s both the executive and a wife. As a re- aunt’s sterling, cowboy-themed flatsult, I have one foot firmly planted in ware… you get the drift. The problem is getting a Ph.D. in gracious home-mak- the stuff in our home has literally drifting, the other in doing everything that ed into our daily enjoyment of life.

I saw boys and men being groomed Both Ken and I are putting on our for. The result is that I am very proud of big kids’ underpants and coaching ourEXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski my ability toSTAFF set WRITERS: a gorgeous table, cook selves into letting go… letting go… letAndrew Checchia, Andres De Ocampo, Julia Shapero a gourmet CONTRIBUTING meal, and WRITERS: flower Sara arrange. ting go…

Edwards, Kamala Kirk and we haven’t even dared to ART DIRECTORS: Arman Olivares, Stephanie Which circles back to more stuff! goTorres into the garage or basement yet. So, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Luis Chavez My kitchen and dining room para- if you haven’t heard from me in a week, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Myriam Santos phernalia includes a plethora of dish- please send someone — we are buried ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Catherine Holloway, Michael Lamb ware and silverware; I have fashion in here somewhere!

FOUNDER EMERITUS: SueaLaris and style for almost any occasion. I Ellen Snortland has been writing a have linens and crystal. I have fine Ba- gender column for decades. Contact her varian china with 24-carat gold trim at ellensnortland@mac.com.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Christina Fuoco-Karasinski STAFF WRITERS: Andres de Ocampo CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Laura Latzko, Ellen Snortland STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: Chris Mortenson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER: Alberto Camacho ART DIRECTORS: Arman Olivares, Stephanie Torres ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Catherine Holloway (213) 308-2261 Michael Lamb (213) 453-3548 FOUNDER EMERITUS: Sue Laris

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Debbie Shahbani gives a vaccination at the Shared Harves Vaccination event hosted at Homeboy Industries.

Photo by Chris Mortenson

Nonprofit connects the underserved with COVID-19 resources

By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer nonprofit’s initiative to connect underserved communities with COVID-19 resources partnered with Downtown nonprofit Homeboy Industries for a community pop-up testing and vaccination site on Jan. 19.

The initiative, myCovidMD, launched during the beginning of the pandemic as an extension of the Shared Harvest Foundation, a nonprofit under the Shared Harvest Fund, a social enterprise matching volunteers with student debt with businesses and organizations for work in exchange for debt relief.

Dr. Afoh-Manin, co-founder of the Shared Harvest Fund and myCovidMD, called the initiative a two-part solution to the pandemic. It provides disenfranchised residents with health care professionals through telehealth services and connects them with COVID-19 resources through pop-up events.

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Homeboy Industries — a nonprofit with the world’s largest gang intervention program that focuses on improving the lives of formerly incarcerated individuals through rehabilitative, educational and health services and programs — hosted the event at its Chinatown headquarters.

The myCovidMD pop-up vaccinated about 150 community members and Homeboy Industries staff.

Father Greg Boyle, who founded Homeboy Industries in 1988, said, “Our partnership with Shared Harvest, myCovidMD, is important because it involves their organization providing vaccination clinics and COVID awareness for our community and those throughout Los Angeles.

“Vaccinations are the disruptor for this worldwide pandemic. With intentionality, the clinic yesterday was a community event and our Homeboy community members felt comfortable receiving their vaccinations in the space. We are grateful to have this relationship with Shared Harvest.”

Manin, whose medical professional experience as an emergency room physician and crisis response during Hurricane Katrina, prompted her involvement in founding Shared Harvest Fund and myCovidMD. “People who are providing services are just not happy, especially people of color.

They’re coming in with six figures of student debt, they’re trying to navigate a hierarchal system and they all go in with the heart to do service; sometimes that heart to do service is manipulated by the health care system,” she said.

“I realized that we need to take care of our volunteers and the people on the front line. The Shared Harvest model came from an idea that we are sharing the harvest of all of our talents and skills. With this model we can reduce the burden of student loan debt and elevate the culture of volunteering.”

The pivot to create myCovidMD became a natural piece, fitting into the Shared Harvest model, Manin said. The volunteers or Community Health Partners (CHP) that work with Shared Harvest Fund and myCovidMD include trained doctors, nurses, EMTs, therapists, social workers and other front-line health care providers with a concern for social inequities and issues.

According to Manin, CHP volunteers are instrumental to myCovidMD, and so far, volunteers have helped vaccinate and test in targeted areas in South LA and East LA, including Watts, Compton and Boyle Heights. Currently, Manin said about 600 CHPs in the Shared Harvest network are active and 3,000 are registered for volunteer designation.

Though the initiative only provides COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters to areas in LA County, CHPs and pop-up testing health clinics with myCovidMD are national and have serviced areas like Oakland, Atlanta and Detroit. “(These volunteers) are exactly who are needed to address the health inequities that are happening when Black and brown communities were dying at incredibly high rates and could not get access to the health system,” she said.

“MyCovidMD was a vehicle for building a network of health providers who cared about these inequities and wanted to find a way to create a public health safety net.”

Derek Hansbrough, security and community relations with Homeboy Industries, received his booster shot at the myCovidMD community vaccination pop-up on Jan. 19 and his initial vaccination at a previous vaccine event hosted at Homeboy Industries.

“The only reason I got the vaccinations is because they were at Homeboy Industries.

It was convenient. Throughout the cities that I’ve lived and the ones I pass by to get to work, every time I pass by testing sites, it looks inconvenient and hard to get,” he said.

Hansbrough has been with Homeboy Industries for a year, going through the program and getting help with school while helping out with security.

“It felt good being at an event that embraced the community as a whole,” he said about the event. “When I went, all of the workers were nice and everyone was helpful. I felt that the event was welcoming and positive. It was informative and the people there were warmhearted. I never felt like I couldn’t ask a question.”

Manin explained the myCovidMD testing and vaccination pop-ups not only engage underserved communities directly through health services, both in person and online, but also through a “block party type of experience” where a certain relatability, trust and connection can be made with health care providers.

As of Jan. 19, CDC statistics about fully vaccinated individuals, with regard to race and ethnicity, report that Black, Hispanic and Latino are low, among other ethnic groups, which are reported to be even lower compared to white counterparts. Manin attributes some of these statistics to a general mistrust, due to misinformation, coupled with accessibility to resources.

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Members of the Shared Harvest organization pose for a portrait in between giving out free vaccine shots at Homeboy Industries in DTLA. Photo by Chris Mortenson

Through the myCovidMD outreach initiative, there have been over 7,000 vaccinations given to individuals in disproportionately affected areas with LA, and about 13,000 COVID-19 tests have been administered nationwide, according to Manin.

The purpose of the block party style, COVID-19 resource pop-ups is to “demystify medicine and health care,” manifesting as an environment where music can be heard from blocks away and where balloons, giveaways and open communication with health care professionals and Shared Harvest associates is normal, even on social issues outside of medical concerns, according to Manin.

“Health is in the backdrop, but we want people to feel comfortable and invited to join the discussion,” Manin said about the health care space and the friendly, accessible environment that’s missing.

“The first thing is to make a connection.

Be there, be present. Look like you’re from the community and take off the white coat and scrubs and start the conversation. We have people who follow us because they have a good time and think it’s just a block party, and by their third time, they get vaccinated.”

“That’s what we want to do; we’re not

here to judge. We want to keep the community safe and spread facts. Most importantly, we want to demystify health care because it’s not perfect.”

What keeps Manin going during a pandemic era, where so many are experiencing hardship in various ways, is “the human aspect,” she said.

“The best part is realizing that it’s just that easy to be accessible, it makes a big difference. We make medicine so complicated.”

Manin said she appreciates the culture of myCovidMD because of the real connections to community members that are built, not only with her but with CHPs. “What happens is that it’s not a oneand-done experience at the pop-up events. There’s a lot of relationship building on the back end, which is helping people to be more trusting,” she said.

Manin explained that CHP volunteers are available to any individual lacking resources, especially individuals previously vaccinated or tested through myCovidMD. Those individuals can reach out for anything from general medical advice to how to self-administer a COVID-19 test.

From a health care standpoint, Manin chimed in on the current state of the pandemic regarding the easily transmutable

omicron variant, effectively urging for a disposition of hopefulness with a healthy and reasonable amount of cautiousness.

“We are only into the second year into (the pandemic). With omicron, we know it spreads fast and, so far, it doesn’t impact people as bad, but that’s only over a short amount of data,” she said.

“There’s a twilight zone that’s happening in the hospitals. If you’re vaccinated, you’re not feeling the impact that we are seeing in the hospitals and emergency rooms where we see people coming in droves, some in critical care, who are typically not vaccinated.”

The urged caution from the doctor stems from instances like the CDC statement, released Dec. 27, declaring that only a five-day quarantine is necessary, which is a walk-back from the CDC’s previous recommendation of a two-week quarantine.

Though Manin said, “There are decisions being made from a business lens, which, in my opinion, isn’t really smart from a health lens,” she comes from a place of understanding, being familiar with CDC guidelines as an experienced health care professional.

“The other thing about CDC, which ties back to breaking down the barrier be-

tween health care and humans, is that the CDC walks back a lot of things, but that’s OK,” she explained.

“That’s the natural occurrence of science; you get more data, you get more updates and you move forward. Because I’m of that culture, it doesn’t scare me, but if you’re looking at it as (someone not from that culture), it builds more mistrust. … This is why we are trying to build better relationships and break down those walls so people can understand how to interpret the science and data and not feel uncomfortable when things are retracted,” she said.

Manin advised getting tested and wearing masks as frequently as possible, along with recommending getting vaccinated or getting a booster shot.

“This is for the community. Health care is for them. Just because someone doesn’t know all of the details doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be treated with respect and have someone sit down with them and help them understand it,” she said about the myCovidMD mission.

“Take care of the community. Take care of each other because we’re all interconnected. If we’re not all getting the treatment, we’re all going to feel the impact of that.”

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LA museum commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day

By LA Downtown News Staff n the wake of a rise in incidents of antisemitism, Holocaust Museum LA, the oldest survivor-founded museum in the United States, presents a virtual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27.

The event is presented in partnership with the consulate general of Israel in Los Angeles. The museum program begins with a virtual talk by Auschwitz survivor David Lenga at 11 a.m.

Born in Lodz, Poland, in 1927, Lenga and family were confined to a ghetto in the suburb of Strykow where they spent the first two years of the war.

Lenga’s family was later forced to move into the Lodz Ghetto, where he was eventually separated from his mother and younger brother. When the ghetto was liquidated in 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz and then to a labor camp in Bavaria. He and a few other prisoners escaped and hid throughout southern Germany until they were liberated by American troops in May 1945.

Recognized by the United Nations, International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the tragedy of the Holocaust and marks the day that Auschwitz was liberated.

The museum’s commemoration will include a presentation with 3D modeler and mapping expert Pavel Belsky, who will discuss the layout and function of Auschwitz from his unique perspective as a cartographer. The event will also feature remarks by Dr. Hillel Newman, the consul general of Israel to the Pacific Southwest Region.

For more information and to register, visit holocaustmuseumla.org/event-details/ international-holocaust-remembrance-day-1.

For more information and to register for Lenga’s talk, visit holocaustmuseumla.org/ event-details/holocaust-survivor-talk-david-lenga-1.

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Homeless authority postpones count

By LA Downtown News Staff he Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has postponed the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Point-in-Time Homeless Count to Feb. 22 to Feb. 24.

LAHSA cited protecting the health and safety of its volunteers, staff, and people experiencing homelessness as the reason for the delay, in light of the current COVID-19 omicron variant surge in Los Angeles County.

The Homeless Count will still be conducted over three nights in different parts of the region: • Feb. 22: San Gabriel and San Fernando valleys.

• Feb. 23: West Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles and the South Bay. • Feb. 24: Antelope Valley, metro Los Angeles and South Los Angeles.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which requires continuums of care to conduct point-in-time counts as a means of determining federal funding to address homelessness, approved the post-

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ponement.

“While we work to ensure an accurate Homeless Count, we cannot ignore the surging number of positive COVID-19 cases across our region,” LAHSA Executive Director Heidi Marston said.

“Even with safety precautions such as moving training online, developing outdoor deployment sites and keeping households together, moving forward with a count in January places our unhoused neighbors, volunteers, staff, and the accuracy of the count at risk.”

Even before the omicron variant led to a surge, LAHSA made several anticipated design changes to the 2022 Homeless Count to limit COVID-19 transmission, including: • Moving most deployment sites outdoors — at many sites, volunteers will not leave their cars to pick up their count packets.

• Moving training sessions online to minimize the time volunteers spend at the deployment sites; COVID-19 safety instructions are included in the training.

• Encouraging all volunteers to sign up as a “safety bubble” of two to three people and arrive at the deployment sites together to minimize cross-group interactions.

• Requiring all volunteers to use masks.

• Encouraging all volunteers to be vaccinated.

LAHSA has partnered with Akido Labs to develop a mobile app that uploads data collected to a central server instead of returning paper sheets to local sites for manual tallying. Using the new app will improve data gathering and quality assurance processes while limiting the number of in-person contact volunteers have with homeless count staff.

LAHSA will continue to improve upon and implement policies and practices that limit the amount of in-person contact during the homeless count.

“The homeless count is an essential tool in giving us a point-in-time snapshot of homelessness. Data from the count is used to inform the delivery of services and programs for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles,” Marston said.

“This decision is our best path to ensure the accuracy of the homeless count without putting the health and safety of persons ex-

periencing homelessness, volunteers and the community at risk.”

Since 2016, the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, overseen by LAHSA, has conducted the Greater Los Angeles Homeless PIT Count annually to gain a better understanding of homelessness across the county and to support applications for federal funding. HUD requires that all communities conduct a census of people experiencing homelessness every other year.

Last year, the homeless count’s main component, the unsheltered street count, could not be conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The availability of vaccinations enabled the resumption of the homeless count for 2022 with appropriate precautions.

In 2020, the last time the count could safely be conducted, 66,436 people were found to be living on the street in tents, makeshift dwellings and vehicles across Los Angeles County.

LAHSA continues to seek volunteers to count in February. Those interested can visit theycountwillyou.org for more information and to register.

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Union Pacific rail theft on the rise

By Andres de Ocampo LA Downtown News Staff Writer ust northeast of Downtown, a Union Pacific railway passing through Lincoln Heights is littered with thrashed cardboard boxes and plastic packaging from merchandise previously onboard cargo trains, signifying an increase in cargo theft.

Union Pacific Railroad Company is one of the oldest and largest domestic railroads and intermodal shippers, carrying anything from consumer goods like clothes and electronics to cars and coal.

UP cargo trains heading into Los Angeles County have been a target for theft, with “criminals trespassing on Union Pacific property, climbing aboard trains and breaking into customers’ containers loaded with cargo, packages and merchandise destined to warehouse facilities around the country,” the railroad company said in a statement on Jan. 16.

The statement came a day after 17 freight train cars derailed near the intersection of San Pablo Street and Valley Boulevard. Debris covered the area prior to the derailment, which happened in same area where thefts were reported. The incident is being investigated. UP repaired and reopened the section of the railway on Jan. 18.

UP workers are still cleaning the sea of packages heading to homes, businesses and ports that still cover the tracks. However, prior to the derailment, the company emphasized the extent and seriousness of the thefts in a letter to LA County District Attorney George Gascón urging concern and action late December 2021.

Adrian Guerrero, UP’s general director of public affairs, wrote, “Since December 2020, UP has experienced an over 160% increase in criminal rail theft in Los Angeles County.

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Union Pacific is experiencing a significant increase in rail thefts along a railway running through Lincoln Heights, where some merchandise packaging from previous cargo raids remains.

Photo by Chris Mortenson

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“In several months during that period, the increase from the previous year surpassed 200%.

In October 2021 alone, the increase was 356% over compared to October 2020. Not only do these dramatic increases represent retail product thefts, they include increased assaults and armed robberies of UP employees performing their duties moving trains.”

Guerrero reported that over 90 shipping containers were compromised a day and that, in partnership with LAPD, LA County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol, over 100 arrests of vandals have been made.

“This increased criminal activity over the past 12 months accounts for approximately $5 million in claims, losses and damages to UP,” he said.

“And that value does not include respective losses to our impacted customers. Nor does it capture the larger operating or commercial impacts to the UP network or supply chain system in Los Angeles County.”

UP has taken measures to prevent further cargo theft by enlisting additional Union Pacific Police Department special agents, who have responsibility and jurisdiction over the railway’s 32,000 miles of track in 23 states.

The letter goes on to say that UP will explore and implement more technology to combat thefts, utilizing drones, specialized fencing, trespass detection systems and other measures.

UP spokesperson Robynn Tysver highlighted one of the company’s issues in a statement; however, despite its preventative measures it needs help.

“We need the LA County district attorney’s help to ensure there are consequences for those who prevent us from safely moving customer goods,” she said.

The UP letter to Gascón noted that despite the hundreds of arrests made against trespassers and vandals, “UP has not been contacted for any court proceedings,” Guerrero wrote.

“Criminals are caught and arrested, turned over to local authorities for booking, arraigned before the local courts, charges are reduced to a misdemeanor or petty offense, and the criminal is released after paying a nominal fine. These individuals are generally caught and released back onto the streets in less than 24 hours.”

Guerrero asked Gascón to reconsider the policy applied to these cases, directly referring to the “no-cash bail” policy the district attorney announced when he was sworn in December 2020.

Gascón’s policy of ending money bail for any misdemeanor, nonserious or nonviolent felony offense seeks to reform bail policy in a way that does not recognize money as a determining factor of guilt or innocence.

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“Money bail is as unjust as it is unsafe,” he told the California Supreme Court in January 2021.

“It allows wealthy people who are dangerous to purchase their freedom while those without means who pose no risk to public safety languish in jail awaiting trial.

“There is no objective rationale for caging people who pose no danger to our community and have not been found guilty of a crime because they do not have the means to buy their freedom.”

The policy does not apply to potentially dangerous defendants and only considers people considered low risk for release and those convicted of nonviolent crimes among other similar criteria.

“Even with all the arrests made, the no-cash bail policy and extended timeframe for suspects to appear in court is causing re-victimization to UP by these same criminals,” Guerrero said.

“In fact, criminals boast to our officers that charges will be pled down to simple trespassing, which bears no serious consequence. … UP is now contemplating serious changes to our operating plans to avoid Los Angeles County. We do not take this effort lightly, particularly during the supply chain crisis.”

Guerrero highlighted the potential implications that the cargo thefts, coupled with UP considering avoiding LA County, has on the ongoing supply chain disruption.

“This drastic change to our operations will create significant impacts and strains throughout the local, state and national supply chain systems,” he said.

The supply chain crisis is a result of the pandemic and the consequential disruption pursuant, ranging from labor shortages to a slower timeframe for imports and exports, effectively limiting resources and deepening the need for reliable transportation.

Alex Bastian, Gascón’s special adviser, reassured the public.

“Our office is committed to working with law enforcement to ensure collective safety across Los Angeles County’s sprawling infrastructure, whether it’s at our ports or on railroad tracks,” Bastian said.

“Some cases presented to our office by Union Pacific have been filed, such as burglary and grand theft, while others have been declined due to insufficient evidence. We make charging decisions based on the evidence. Our office takes Union Pacific’s concerns seriously and hopes to discuss this issue more in the coming weeks.”

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The Trust Building won the USGBC-LA Sustainable Innovation Award in the Zero Waste & Circular Solutions category.

Submitted photo

Historic Art Deco building wins USGBC Sustainability Award

By LA Downtown News Staff he historic Trust Building in Downtown Los Angeles has won USGBC-LA Sustainable Innovation Award in the Zero Waste & Circular Solutions category.

Rising Realty Partners purchased and redeveloped this building with an interdisciplinary team involving involving ARG, Gensler, Morley Builders and Gaia — a high-performance building consulting firm, helping the building achieve LEED Gold certification.

The Trust Building’s renovation process preserved over 95% of the historical Art Deco features while holding the embodied carbon, giving it a second life.

According to McKinsey and Company, embodied carbon is a significant percentage of global emissions and requires urgent action to address it because it contains “all the greenhouse gas emissions associated with building construction, including those that arise from extracting, transporting, manufacturing and installing building materials on-site, as well as the operational and end-of-life emissions associated with those materials.”

“Historic preservation is also carbon preservation,” said Ryan McEvoy, principal at Gaia, who has contributed to more than 450 international projects.

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Gaia provides sustainability guidance to real estate developers, architects, contractors, owners and managers. Gaia provided data that supported Rising Realty Partners’ decision to keep the building instead of demolishing it.

Furthermore, revitalizing the Trust Building aligns with Los Angeles city’s goals in the Bringing Back Broadway strategic development plan to restore the historic corridor in Downtown Los Angeles.

The Carbon Leadership Forum has conducted studies that show that over the next 30 years, embodied carbon and operational carbon will be roughly equivalent. With energy modeling software, high-performance lighting and HVAC, and low-cost solar, it’s now easier to design, build and operate buildings that are carbon neutral.

The Trust Building is one of few historic buildings in Los Angeles to achieve LEED Gold certification. USGBC (United States Green Building Council) created the LEED rating system (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the most widely used green building rating system in the world.

Gaia and Rising Realty Partners will coordinate public tours and sustainability workshops at the Trust Building starting in 2022.

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ARTS & CULTURE

‘Mapping the Dragons’ exhibit puts 3 artists in uncharted territory

By LA Downtown News Staff nnamed Road Gallery is presenting “Mapping the Dragons,” an intimate group show of three artists who venture outside the borders, from Feb. 16-25.

Artists Gayle Friedman, Hikaru Hayakawa and Armando Adrian-Lopez are coming together in an intimate group show featuring painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation.

At least as far back as the 10th century, mapmakers depicted dragons and other ferocious creatures around the edges of maps. These images indicated uncharted territories, dangerous shoals or, at times, the sincere belief that actual sea serpents and monsters lurked there.

Modern cartographers may eschew depictions of fire-breathing beasts to warn of peril, but the association remains.

Although the oft-quoted phrase “hic svnt dracones” (Latin for “Here be dragons”) actually appears only on two surviving medieval globes, those words have come to mean in modern usage “that’s a nasty can of worms” or “beware, it’s a Pandora’s box.” Programmers and hackers use the same phrase embedded in computer code to designate something utterly indecipherable or a virus lurking.

Yet for artists, “dragons” can fuel creative expression. A painter or sculptor brave enough to explore monster-infested seas can sometimes break new ground. Whether the dragons are personal demons, societal wrongs or the stuff of our communal dreams and nightmares, it

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can be a rich vein for artistic mining.

The three artists in the “Mapping the Dragons” exhibit are very different artists and, each in their own way, confront unmapped and unvisited territories. It is then not entirely coincidental that the paradoxical, the surreal and the symbolic come to play in the work of each, in surprising and powerful ways.

Friedman received Artist Fellowship Grants from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities from 2018-22. In June 2018, her first solo show, “Measuring the Weight of Longing,” opened at International Arts and Artists at Hillyer Gallery, Washington, D.C. In November 2020, she presented her second solo show, “The Dangerous Playground,” at Red Dirt Studio, Mt. Rainier, Maryland, where she was an artist in residence. Friedman lives and works in Washington, D.C., where she maintains a fine art jewelry practice alongside her sculptural work.

Hayakawa, on the other hand, is a sculptor, painter and photographer whose work focuses on scale, time, human and geological history, paradox and juxtaposition. He is captivated by maps and globes, often incorporating them into his art, using them to communicate in intuitive and nonverbal ways.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Hayakawa received a BFA from Kyoto Seika University.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1987 and later earned his MFA at Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design (now Otis College of Art and Design). He has participated in many solo and group shows in

Hikaru Hayakawa’s “Panta Rhei (4,000 Years of Human History),” 2008-14, oil, paint, copper, brass and stainless steel.

Submitted photo

Los Angeles, New York City, Japan, Seoul and other locales. He currently lives and works in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles County.

Finally, Adrian-Lopez is a self-taught painter and mixed-media assemblage sculptor. He was born and raised in a small village in southwest Mexico, immigrating to the United States in 1988.

He is a Purepecha native, an Indigenous pre-Columbian people with a distinct language and culture dating from at least the 10th century.

Adrian-Lopez’s work stems from Mexican folk art traditions often combined with modern and surreal elements and themes. His grandfather was a master basket weaver and craftsman who had a strong influence on the young artist as a child. A tradition of fashioning dolls from corn husks and twigs to occupy children while their parents worked in the fields inspired Armando to make his first doll at 4 years old.

He currently resides with his partner in Abiquiu, New Mexico. Many of the materials used in his 3D mixed-media sculptures are collected from their land in rural northern New Mexico.

Unnamed Road, which is hosting “Mapping the Dragons,” is a new kind of gallery, featuring curated shows in borrowed spaces. Unnamed Road introduces and promotes extraordi-

nary artists who have limited access to the usual routes to exhibitions and representation. These include selftaught, LGBTQ, POC, elder, female, rural, emerging and unrepresented artists. It features pop-up exhibition shows in private homes and other special art projects in the greater Los Angeles area.

Founder and curator Lynn Dougherty earned an MA in art business from Sotheby’s Institute/Claremont Graduate University and Drucker Management School. She has a background in documentary filmmaking for National Geographic TV, Discovery Channel, PBS and others.

Gayle Friedman’s “Coupled,” 2018, Delft pottery, wrench, steel wire, plywood, paint and mud.

“Mapping the Dragons” WHEN: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. February 16-25; 5 p.m. February 16 opening night event WHERE: START Los Angeles, 2270 Venice Boulevard INFO: unnamedroadgallery.com

Armando Adrian-Lopez’s “Embrujo (Bewitched),” 2016, oil on canvas.

Submitted photo

Submitted photo

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Author shares thoughts behind his book ‘The Rise’

By Laura Latzko LA Downtown News Contributing Writer orldwide, Kobe Br yant is known as the basketball player who helped to lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA championships with his 33,000 points.

Many also recall his unexpected death on Jan. 26, 2020, at age 41, in a helicopter crash.

There was more to the Black Mamba than just his NBA career. In his book “The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality,” Mike Sielski explores the athlete’s early life.

Sielski is an award-winning sports columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer who covered the 2001 NBA Finals between the Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers.

“I grew up in the Philadelphia area,” Sielski said.

“I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area for most of my life. The story of Kobe’s ties to the area is pretty well known to those of us here, but I thought it was not as well known to people around the country. … I thought there might be some appeal in building the book around that.”

In his book, Sielski shares Bryant’s time at Lower Merion High School, Italy and his return to Pennsylvania. He led his high school team to a state championship in 1996.

He also covers Bryant’s impact on the community — during his life and after his death.

During his research, Sielski was struck

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Courtesy of St. Martin’s Press

Kobe Bryant, right, with his teammates Omar Hatcher, left, and Jermaine Griffin, center.

Photo courtesy of Mike Egan

by Bryant’s motivation in the eighth and ninth grades.

“I don’t think I really had an appreciation for it until I started digging into his life like that,” said Sielski, who took a year to write the book.

“He had this plan. He had it in him. He was groomed in some ways for this. He wanted it so badly at so young an age and knew that he could do it.”

For his book, Sielski used audiotapes and transcripts from Jeremy Treatman, a journalist and commentator who was close to Bryant, about whom he planned to write a book in the 1990s.

The author received Treatman’s tapes in December 2020, in advance of his March 2021 deadline.

Sielski said he was a good choice for the book because he could look at his life with an objective lens. Treatman and Gregg Downer, Bryant’s high school coach, were encouraging.

“They knew Kobe well, and other people have said similar things who knew Kobe back then: ‘We were looking for the right person to tell the story the right way’ — honestly and accurately,” he recalled.

“I don’t want to speak for Jeremy, but for his part, I think it was simply a matter of timing. It almost worked out in the late ’90s. It didn’t. He was very successful in doing other things in his life. Here’s the chance to get the story told.”

Sielski utilized various sources in his research, including high school newspapers, game videos, socially distanced in-person interviews, and archives of

The Philadelphia Tribune and The Bulletin. He worked closely with the Lower Merion Historical Society.

“It was so enjoyable and so enlightening to me to be able to dive into the other aspects of that community’s history, the conflicts there, all of the things that went into informing how people viewed Kobe and how they reacted to him when he arrived on the scene there,” Sielski said.

“I wanted the setting to almost be a character in the story, no matter where that setting was, whether we were talking about Lower Merion, whether we were talking about the actual city of Philadelphia and its basketball history, whether we are talking about the one chapter we spend in Italy with Kobe and his family there.”

Sielski said he wanted to give readers a sense of Bryant’s life, especially at Lower Merion High School, even apart from basketball.

“I wanted to talk to people who knew him away from basketball, who weren’t on the team,” Sielski said.

“I don’t know that anybody knew this.

He was involved in the Student Voice organization, the Black Student Union at Lower Merion.

“I was able to speak to a number of his female friends and classmates, who could speak to certain sides of him that nobody really spoke to before. They could speak to how he was grappling with his sense of identity, being a Black teenager in the early to mid-1990s who had lived in Europe for most of his ear-

ly life and only moved back to the United States permanently when he was in eighth grade, when he was 13 years old.”

He did not experience that most Black students in the Lower Merion school district did not share the same experiences as white students.

“That was really important to me, to give people a look at what his social existence and academic existence were like back then,” Sielski said.

He hopes to share information about Bryant’s life that even longtime fans might not know.

“I wanted to try to take people places with Kobe that they had never been before, if I could,” he said.

“What’s it like when he’s giving an oral presentation in English class? His relationship with his favorite English teacher. Those sorts of things. I wanted it to be an intimate book, in that regard.”

The book gives greater insight into the early relationships between the basketball player, his siblings Sharia and Shaya, his mother Pam and his father, Joe, a former basketball player. “(Bryant and his father) were so, so close when he was young and throughout his high school career,” he said. “You can see certain things in Joe’s early life and some of the things that he goes through. Kobe’s got so much of his mother, Pam, in him, too, the Catholic upbringing, the emphasis on education, some of his personality traits. He was very much a mixture of his parents.”

JANUARY 24, 2022

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Value Schools fundraiser postponed

By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski LA Downtown News Executive Editor he Value Schools fundraiser featuring Michael Chipman set for Saturday, Jan. 29, has been postponed to Friday, April 29, due to the current rise in COVID-19 cases in LA County.

The event was to be Chipman’s oneman show, “Take Me to the World,” at Colburn’s Zipper Hall.

“I live and work Downtown, so this concert is a very personal gesture of gratitude to my new ‘hometown’ of Los Ange-

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les — a city that has been so good to me.

I want to give back in whatever way I can.

And what better way than to raise money to educate the kids who live here?” he said.

The show will still feature selections from the Broadway stage, as well as television and film. “ When I learned about the Value Schools’ mission to help inner-city kids get into and through college, I knew I wanted to help them in any way I could,” said Chipman, who moved to DTLA in Au-

gust 2018.

Music has long been a part of Chipman’s life. His experience includes singing in church choirs, and taking piano lessons starting at the age of 8.

In high school, he fell in love with singing Broadway songs at first, and that segued into classical chorale music. In college, he studied art song and opera.

“I fell in love with the art of singing, the power of the human voice to communicate intense emotion in a large theater without amplification, like you would see in classical music performance.

“I wanted to get really good at it. I spent my 20s searching out the best teachers I could find across the country and ended up in New York for five years. I did graduate school at Oberlin in Ohio. I just had an incredible adventure and pursuit in mastering the art of singing.”

He is a trained classical baritone with degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Utah. He joined the voice faculty of the Colburn School in 2017.

In his work at Colburn, Chipman spends much of his time and energy helping aspiring young singers get accepted to top music schools and conservatories with scholarships, which inspired him to write the book “Sing Your Way Through College.”

The book’s publication led to a presen-

tation to the Value Schools about musical training and college prep.

“It was amazing to see how my passion for helping kids get into college aligned with the values and mission at Value Schools,” Chipman said. “This concert is the organic outgrowth of that alignment.”

The benefit is a challenge for Chipman, who has performed frequently but “never had a huge performing career.”

“Because of my pursuit of learning how to sing, I learned how to teach, and it took me by surprise,” he said.

“Teaching and mentorship is a big part of our music career. Now I spend 90% of my professional life teaching young people how to sing and perform. I have a big adult studio at Colburn, too.”

The event’s theme is “Take Me to the World,” based on a song by Stephen Sondheim that’s sung from the perspective of a young girl who yearns to see the world.

Chipman said that aligns with his and the school’s beliefs.

“The school and I are broadening the young children’s horizons,” he said. “I take them to the world in a way they wouldn’t otherwise know how to do. This is my life’s work. This is really my big singing debut in LA. It’s a chance for me to put myself out there as a singer and hopefully (do) it well.”

“Take Me to the World”: A Benefit Performance for Value Schools Starring Michael Chipman, baritone WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, April 29 WHERE: Colburn School’s Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles COST: $55 for general admission; $10 for students INFO: valueschools.com

Michael Chipman photographed on Broadway.

Photo by Alberto Camacho

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LA County Girl Scouts kick off 2022 cookie season

By LA Downtown News Staff irl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles kicked off the 2022 Girl Scout Cookie Season this month, taking orders starting Jan. 18.

Girl Scouts will be back to selling cookies, taking action in the community, and practicing their entrepreneurial skills for this tradition through Sunday, March 13.

Consumers are encouraged to support their local Girl Scout entrepreneurs by purchasing their favorite cookies — and trying the newest cookie to join the lineup: Adventurefuls, which joins the portfolio of eight other iconic Girl Scout Cookies including favorites like Thin Mints, Samoas and Tagalongs.

Adventurefuls is an indulgent brownie-inspired cookie with caramel-flavored crème and a hint of sea salt.

“Like everyone, our girls have persevered through some very tough challenges this year, and we are all so excited for another season of cookies,” said Theresa Edy Kiene, Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles chief executive officer.

“In true Girl Scout fashion, they have adapted, stayed hopeful and supported each other, and now they launch their beloved annual cookie traditions. This season

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is particularly special because it comes as we kick off our council’s centennial celebration. It is a big year for us, and we couldn’t be happier to share all of that excitement with the whole Greater Los Angeles community.”

This season, Girl Scouts will continue selling cookies in creative, socially distant and contact-free ways to keep themselves and their customers safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many Girl Scouts will also run their familiar outdoor cookie booths in the community, all of which follow local, state and CDC guidelines.

As part of a research-based curriculum, girls identify their passions, issues they care about and changes they want to make in their communities. They work with their troops to decide which adventures to pursue or projects to take on and use the proceeds from cookie sales to put their ideas into action. Through the Girl Scout Cookie Program, girls are empowered to explore and get a taste of what it’s like to be an agent for change and an entrepreneur.

They learn five curriculum-based online and offline business skills that are appropriate for each age level and set them up for success in life.

To purchase cookies, visit girlscouts.org.

Adventurefuls is an indulgent brownie-inspired cookie with caramel-flavored crème and a hint of sea salt.

Photo courtesy of the Girl Scouts

Los Angeles Best Advertising Source ’ ‘In the Heights

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Vegan chain selling kits plant-based BBQ

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a Advertising is Keep Great Way to rs Your Custome Informed The Los Angeles Downtown News publishes a wide array of special sections and quarterlies throughout the year on topics like Health, Education, Nightlife and Residential Living.

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Veteran DTLA Realtor Randelle Green: ‘Local Experience is Priceless’

By LA Downtown News Staff Since 2005, local Realtor Randelle Green has been servicing Downtown LA buyers and sellers since 2005.

That’s more than 15 years of dedicated and committed service to Downtown residences, over 15 years of playing a major role in the continued renaissance of our beloved urban core.

From his early days of managing sales teams at the Pan-American Lofts in the Historic Core and South Park’s “Mega-Complex” of Elleven, Luma & Evo, to the financial district’s Roosevelt and the Arts District, Green has been and continues to be a fixture of our booming market.

His powerful DTLA boutique brokerage, The Randelle Green Group, has gained national attention since he brought his dream to fruition back in 2015. He alone has sold over $18 million in lofts and condos since 2016 (per the MLS).

When asked what makes his company different, Green said the idea of working with a local specialist who lives and breathes the market, works one on one with clients, is accessible and, perhaps most importantly, intimately knows the different districts, buildings and developers throughout the sprawling and constantly emerg-

The RandelleGreen Group PhPhoooPPhoto courtesy of Randelle Green

Broker-CEO Randelle Green

PhPhoooPPhoto courtesy of Randelle Green

ing downtown area.

Green spoke about the early days, before LA Live, Ralphs, CVS & Whole Foods, before The Bloc, The Row and all the trendy restaurants and lounges. A time when the handful of local Downtown Realtors, to which he points out only a few remain, did not have many options for the buyers in DTLA. Oh, but how times have changed, Green said, ADVERTORIAL

“Nowadays it’s different. Downtown buyers must decide if they are new construction, high-rise people leaning toward a South Park condo or soft-loft, historians looking at Mills Act buildings in the Old Bank District, the theater crowd interested in the burgeoning Bunker Hill District or more secluded artists flowing into The Arts District. How fun it has become, facilitating and directing those dreams One thing is for sure, I was there yesterday, and I will be here tomorrow and remember. I put my name on it.”

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