For nearly 15 years, Amour Vert focused most of its business in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the company was founded by two entrepreneurs who believed that clothing needed to be more environmentally friendly.

But the women's fashion company, which describes itself as “French-inspired design, California-natural style,” is ready to conquer Southern California, with several stores set to open in the area next year. At the same time, Amour Vert is moving its headquarters from San Francisco to the heart of Los Angeles' fashion district, leasing space in The New Mart, a historic building that houses contemporary clothing showrooms and the biannual Designers and Agents trade show.

“It's a strategic realignment to maximize our opportunities,” said Dominique Mikolajczak, who was named CEO of the company last year after spending more than three years on the board. “Southern California is a fashion hub and Northern California is a technology hub.”

Amour Vert just opened its first Southern California location in Long Beach, in a relatively new open-air mall in the coastal city 30 miles south of LA. The mall, known as 2nd & PCH, is located on Pacific Coast Highway, with a massive Whole Foods Market as its anchor and several trendy shops, including Lululemon, Johnny Was and Free People.

This growing retail offering will soon be joined by stores in the Irvine Spectrum, a massive outdoor mall in Orange County, and in San Diego at the Westfield UTC shopping center. This summer, Amour Vert will open a store in Manhattan Village in the affluent Manhattan Beach neighborhood, where homes sell for at least $2 million.

Next year, the sustainable clothing and accessories label, most of which are priced under $300, will open a store in Westfield Topanga, adjacent to the affluent Calabasas and Hidden Hills neighborhoods where the Kardashians live.

At an Amour Vert store. Courtesy: Amour Vert

Before entering the Southern California market, Amour Vert had seven stores, all in Northern California, except for one store in Chicago. It seems logical that Southern California, just down the road, would be the next step in retail. However, moving the headquarters from San Francisco to LA is a dramatic move after years in Northern California, where residents have long supported environmentally friendly efforts to combat climate change.

This shift south is part of a restructuring and re-orientation of the company, which began with the creation of a cleaner logo and the redesign of stores with a more elegant look and neutral colors instead of wood-heavy elements. Additionally, fashion styles will feature finer details and higher-quality craftsmanship to enhance the look, made from recycled cashmere, linen, repurposed cotton waste, sustainable silk and upcycled fabrics.

By being based in LA, Amour Vert is closer to its fulfillment center, which is an hour east of downtown. Much of Amour Vert's clothing now arrives at the Port of Los Angeles, as apparel production has moved overseas from Northern California. Currently, about 80 percent of production is done in factories closer to fabric suppliers. For example, the recycled cashmere items added last year are made in China, and the linen styles introduced last summer are made in India. Other production locations include Portugal and Turkey.

Dominique Mikolajczak. Courtesy of Amour Vert.

With its offices in the New Mart, Amour Vert hopes to capture more wholesale opportunities as store buyers visit the building, which has more than 100 showrooms. And it will be closer to the country's largest garment manufacturing center, which employs more than 40,000 factory workers.

Amour Vert was founded by Christopher Frehsee and Linda Balti at a time when there weren't many sustainable fashion lines. Balti came up with the idea after reading that the fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world, second only to the oil industry. Her first collection consisted of five pieces that combined her love of French fashion with the casual vibe of California, with a label whose name means “green love” in French.

The founders are no longer with the company. Currently, Amour Vert's lead investor is Greenwich, Connecticut-based Emil Capital Partners, which has tapped Mikolajczak to take the company to the next level. While the CEO is expanding the label's retail arm to Southern California, he is thinking about one day opening stores in other areas of the country. “Retail has made a huge comeback after the pandemic. I think people wanted to go out and experience things,” Mikolajczak said. “We continue to see this extremely strong retail trend, which encourages us to accelerate our expansion.”

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San Francisco could soon ban right-hand turns on red lights, making it the second-largest city in the country to adopt the traffic rule.

The proposal, supporters said, could make the roads safer for bicyclists and pedestrians, encourage more people to walk, and cut down on the number of serious injuries in car accidents.

“Allowing turns on red results in deaths, injuries and collisions, as well as cars blocking or driving through crosswalks, making it more dangerous and stressful to cross the street,” said San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston as he introduced the measure last week at a Board of Supervisors meeting. “We should be expanding no turn on red to every neighborhood.”

Advocates for pedestrian safety have applauded the resolution, saying the proposed law could have a significant effect on reducing the number of pedestrians who are seriously injured by cars. Although some advocates said they were hopeful San Francisco would institute the rule, which New York previously adopted, the chances of a similar measure taking root in Los Angeles are slim, at least for now.

L.A. is “so car-centric” that people would think it was “the end of the world if we tried to implement this in Los Angeles,” said Damian Kevitt, founder of Streets Are for Everyone, a nonprofit that pushes for safety improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers.

In Los Angeles, advocacy groups have pushed to hold pedestrian-friendly events to get across to the public the need to walk more and drive less, as well as advocating for lowering speed limits on some streets and other measures to improve safety. But even the most ardent supporters are doubtful that a push to ban right turns on red lights would gain any traction in the county, at least for now.

“This is something that’s going to take years of work to even get to the point where it would be considered in L.A.,” Kevitt said.

Drivers in San Francisco, on the other hand, have already gotten a taste of what a ban on right-hand turns would look like.

In the fall of 2021, San Francisco banned right-hand turns on red lights in more than 50 intersections of the Tenderloin neighborhood.

According to an early assessment of the program from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the ban reduced the number of “close calls.”

The agency found that about 92% of vehicles were observing the rule, and the number of cars blocking crosswalks during a red light decreased by 70%.

After the initial program, SFMTA recommended expanding the rule to business districts. Preston’s resolution asks the agency to look at the possibility of expanding it across the city.

“It’s an important step in the right direction,” Preston said during the board meeting. “It’s a step we need to take in the city.”

Preston’s resolution comes after a 4-year-old in a stroller was killed in August by a driver making a right-hand turn on a green light at the intersection of 4th and King streets.

The tragedy raised questions about pedestrian safety at that intersection and citywide. Shortly after the incident, San Francisco Mayor London Breed called on SFMTA to identify changes that could be made to the intersection, including removing one of its two right-turn lanes, and changing the traffic signal to show a yellow arrow, instead of a green light, to encourage drivers to yield to pedestrians.

According to one study by Jerry, an insurance comparison company that drew on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of pedestrians killed in car crashes reached a four-decade high across the country in 2021, reaching more than 7,000 people.

Another study, from Streets Are for Everyone, found that in the city of Los Angeles there were 159 pedestrians killed in car crashes in 2022, a 20% increase when compared with 2021.

In San Francisco, the city in 2022 saw 39 traffic deaths, including 20 pedestrians killed — the highest number of fatalities in 15 years.

San Francisco and Los Angeles chalked up those alarming numbers despite adopting Vision Zero, a commitment from city officials to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.

Officials have taken steps to reduce the number of fatalities. In February of last year, the Los Angeles City Council approved a plan to reduce speed limits on 177 miles of road by 5 mph. According to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the project is underway.

Excessive speed is a leading factor in collisions, advocates said.

City officials also have pushed for more pedestrian-friendly events in recent years, such as CicLAvia, as a way of promoting walking and urging residents to drive less.

But taking up a fight to ban right turns on red lights in Los Angeles would be an uphill fight, advocates said.

“Our city is moving in that direction,” said John Yi, executive director of Los Angeles Walks, a nonprofit that works with communities of color to advocate for pedestrian-safe infrastructure. “Is there a chance for this? I think so. But is it going to be easy? I don’t think so.”

Advocates, including Los Angeles Walks, have considered seeking this ban in Los Angeles but have decided to focus on other efforts that they believe could have a more significant effect, Yi said, such as reducing speed limits.

“Any time you try to restrict movement of cars, you have an entrenched electorate that pushes back on that,” he said. “But this is part of a larger ecosystem of changes that need to happen.”

There are some signs of change. In West Hollywood, for example, city officials are looking at a plan that would ban right-hand turns at red lights at the city’s busiest intersections.

“The county as a whole may not be ready, but there should be places where this isn’t a debate anymore,” said West Hollywood Councilmember Chelsea Lee Byers, who proposed the plan.

City officials, at this early stage, haven’t heard opposition to the idea, she said, which she credits in part to the city’s small, pedestrian-friendly size and measures it has already taken to encourage walking.

Still, she agrees that implementing a similar rule countywide would be a challenge.

“It completely speaks to the challenges of breaking through car culture,” she said. “It’s why I see West Hollywood as part of that leadership of mobility justice,” she said, referring to a movement to make streets safer for pedestrians and public transit more accessible.

The city expects to see a report on the measure from city staff and a consulting firm by next year, and she said she hoped the city would extend the proposed ban to other intersections in the future if the level of traffic at those sites increases.

Byers, who said she hadn’t owned a car herself in seven years, said she’d seen firsthand the need for such a measure.

“My right of way as a pedestrian is often challenged by vehicles,” she said. “I’m jealous of San Francisco.”

Right-hand turns on red lights came to be through the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Kevitt said, which required states to allow the turns to receive federal funding.

Although the practice has never been found to reduce emissions or gas consumption, the measure was adopted as a way to cut down on idling cars at red lights during the 1970s oil crisis.

“But what we do know is that pedestrians are the ones that are most being hit and killed in traffic violence,” Kevitt said.

It could be a while before a similar measure could be viable in L.A., but Kevitt said it’s time the idea is considered. Smaller cities, such as West Hollywood, would be a start, he said.

“The right to drive is considered more senior than the right to live,” he said. “That needs to change.”

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Signs advertising drug rehab or access to emergency overdose kits are easy to spot here. It’s harder to find the downtown homeless encampment, a discrete cluster of three tents along the Ohio River, squeezed by a bridge and a construction site.

To people who believe drug addiction is to blame for the mushrooming tent cities in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., West Virginia presents a paradox. It leads the nation in overdose deaths per capita — by a wide margin. But this state best known for coal mines and the leafy Appalachian Mountains has one of the country’s lowest rates of homelessness.

Blake Orner, right, stands in the doorway of his bedroom as he talks with Fred Von, transition coordinator at Huntington Addiction Wellness Center. Orner has been in the program for four months after battling addiction.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

“People conflate these crises,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, a UC San Francisco professor who led the largest representative study of homeless people in three decades, released earlier this year. “They are related but they are far from one and the same.”

Huntington, a college town and riverside port city along the border of Ohio and Kentucky that was once dubbed the overdose capital of America, illustrates the knotty relationship between the two plagues.

Nearly two-thirds of the homeless people here self-reported that they were struggling with addiction this year. But cheap and available housing has kept the official homeless count at 244 people in Huntington’s two-county service area, up since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but still about a fourth of the per capita homeless population of Los Angeles County.

A man walks on a road that leads to West Huntington.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Housing markets operate a bit like rock concerts. Almost everyone can get in when demand and prices are low. But when Taylor Swift comes to town, and far more people want a seat than can get one, the barriers to entry grow, even for the cheapest tickets.

Those with the most hurdles — addiction, mental illness, criminal convictions and poverty, in the case of housing — are most likely to be stuck at the end of the line and shut out of a tight market.

From there, the problems feed off each other. People who lose housing are more likely to increase their drug and alcohol use, according to research by Kushel and others. And experiencing both homelessness and drug addiction — along with mental health issues in many cases — lengthens the time it takes to tackle each of the problems.

“A lot of people don’t understand that — but my substance use was kind of fleeting,” said Amanda Leffler, a 42-year-old Huntington resident who was homeless for about 15 years after leaving her husband.

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1. Amanda Leffler said she kicked her drug habit before she found a subsidized apartment seven years ago, but she still has trouble living inside. 2. Amanda Leffler cleans her apartment. 3. Amanda Leffler stands in front of the apartment.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

She began taking more prescription drugs after getting hit by a paint truck, but shame from being homeless pushed her over the top, she said.

“The amount of loathing that you can sense, just by somebody looking at you from across the street, is enough to break your damn soul,” Leffler said. “So if you can imagine having that happen for 24 hours a day, every day, for years and years and years, you’d get f—ing high too.”

Using drugs made it harder for her to imagine a life off the street, where she would need to shop and cook or perform tasks beyond “basic survival instincts,” she said.

Leffler said she kicked her drug habit before she found a subsidized apartment seven years ago, but she still has trouble living inside.

Leffler is a patient at OVP, a primary care and outpatient treatment clinic where signs under the fluorescent lights tell patients that they are loved and that “you can start where you are and change the ending.”

Changing the ending is hard work when it involves OxyContin, heroin or methamphetamine. People relapse. Overdose deaths haunt the nurses and counselors. They keep sticky notes on their computers to remind them of their successes: “I LOVE MY JOB — LOVE MYSELF.”

One patient who came in on a recent Wednesday said he knew of at least seven members of his high school football team — and 30 people at his school, including the homecoming king and queen — who died from overdoses.

Amid the wreckage, Julie Thompson, a nurse practitioner who grew up in the area, estimates that 75% of her addiction patients are currently housed, though not always consistently.

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1. A patient of OVP clinic, which provides treatment for people with substance use disorders among other treatments. 2. Blake Orner stands in the doorway of his bedroom at Huntington Addiction Wellness Center. Orner has been in the program for four months after spending time battling addiction. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

“A lot just float from family member to family member to keep them off the street,” she said. “Some of [those relatives] are drug addicts themselves. So it’s kind of like — give me drugs and you can stay here.”

That codependence can prolong addiction.

But extremely low housing costs and long-term ties to the region make it possible for West Virginians to get by with less. The state has 50 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely-low-income households, more than double the number that California has, according to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

An average family here can afford a modest two-bedroom rental on less than $17 an hour, the second-lowest figure in the nation. The same family would need to make more than $40 per hour to afford a two-bedroom rental in California, which has the highest costs, according to the coalition.

Michael, 39 and Candy Robinson talk on the tailgate of their truck outside their apartment. Candy says she never had a problem finding work or a place to stay during more than a decade of drug use.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Candy Robinson, 42, said she never had a problem finding work or a place to stay during more than a decade of drug use, living mostly in a nearby coal-mining town where she grew up. Her family occupied a house in a coal camp where they had been living for generations, paying a nominal $16 a month in rent until she was in 11th grade, when it went up to $200. She stayed there and in trailers, sometimes with no electricity or running water, in the years she used drugs.

“I was a functioning addict. So I always had money and drugs,” said Robinson. “Everybody wanted to be my friend.”

Others struggling with addiction here have been able to maintain a higher standard of living. Thompson, the nurse practitioner, ticked off a list of people who had been in the clinic for treatment in recent days: a nurse, a surveyor, employees at the Toyota plant and a slew of truckers.

Zachary Moore, left Advanced Practice, RN., conducts a follow up visit with a patient of OVP clinic , which provides treatment for people with substance use disorders.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

“It was just in my routine,” said Rodney Johnson, a 58-year-old cook who described his heroin habit while working in restaurants where he said drug use was rampant. “Get up, take a shot, go to work.”

Johnson said he “put his wife and family through hell,” sometimes disappearing for stretches when they had no idea if he was alive or dead. He lost his oldest son and oldest daughter to overdoses. He spent time behind bars, including four years on federal charges. But he never lost his home.

Rodney Johnson has a cigarette on his front porch in Huntington, West Virginia.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

He often worked and his wife held a steady job with the state highway department, allowing them to pay about $900 a month in rent, even as they struggled to buy groceries. Last year, as Johnson began rebuilding his life, they bought a house for $65,000, with a $450-a-month mortgage.

It’s a two-story brick house, with a backyard and a grill on the porch along a cobblestone street. His neighbors across the street pay $400 a month in rent and fees to live in one of an estimated 70 sober houses sprinkled throughout the city.

The mix of cheap real estate and high addiction rates has led to a proliferation of these houses, which rent rooms to people fighting addiction who might otherwise struggle to pay a security deposit or pass a background check.

A riverfront homeless encampment in Huntington.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

City officials, concerned that the houses were growing without proper regulations, approved an ordinance in September requiring the facilities to create exit plans so that patients aren’t dumped onto the street without recourse. Some of the operators had become almost predatory, profiting off tenants who sometimes are asked to surrender their benefits checks, said Sarah Walling, a City Council member and attorney with OVP.

“A roof over your head does not necessarily equal stable housing or a safe place to live, or a healthy place to live,” Walling said.

Craig Hettlinger, founder and chief executive officer of Huntington Addiction Wellness Center, stands outside one of his facilities.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Walling pointed to Craig Hettlinger, a former Marshall University soccer player who started a recovery program after he stopped using drugs in 2018, as one of the good guys. Hettlinger, 41, runs an in-patient treatment program, operates recovery houses with counseling services and fixes up apartments for people who progress toward independent living.

His business depends on buying properties for as little as $4,000 to $6,000 — including former drug houses — and then fixing them up himself for another $20,000 or so.

Chuck Evans, who works for Hettlinger as a rehab counselor, lives in one of Hettlinger’s more expensive properties — a six-unit apartment building that went for $225,000.

Chuck Evans, a peer support specialist at Huntington Addiction Wellness Center, walks in front of the facility.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

Evans and his fiancee pay a combined $600 a month. Their clean two-bedroom unit has a full kitchen, a washer-dryer, a living room that holds Evans’ coin collection and a back room where he keeps several bicycles.

It’s a vast improvement for Evans, who spent six years homeless — living in camp sites, on couches and in “trap houses” with fellow drug users.

But Evans doesn’t want to stay at his current apartment much longer. He’s been looking for a fixer-upper that never had homeless people squatting in it because, he said, they are more likely to have stripped out the plumbing and electrical wiring.

Rows of railroad track wind their way through the town of Huntington, West Virginia.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

On a recent Tuesday, he pulled up an auction website and pointed to a listing. He had put in a bid the night before to buy the house for $1,500.

Then he called his father, who offered to help pay for it, or whatever else he might find. “Get one dirt cheap,” his father instructed him.

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Providing financial assistance or incentives for housing projects to materialize must be considered by city officials to break through the pending doom loop cycle. The City of Los Angeles has an opportunity to partner with the private sector to contribute to the regrowth of the city. It’s not a new idea, but one that — in these times — would avoid a downward spiral of disinvestment and flight from Downtown Los Angeles if approached more aggressively.

Without debate, downtowns are crucial in the ecosystem of society. Historically, people have converged in cities to find employment, attainable housing, access to mass transit, and to make social connections. As found in the Gensler City Pulse Survey from 2021, people are looking to downtowns for a vibrant and mixed-use environment rather than just a place to work.

Urban centers across the country are suffering from a slow return to the office, and from workers and residents leaving downtowns in search of less congested spaces and more affordable lifestyles. In turn, municipalities are reeling from reduced real estate tax bases, as well as fewer transit occupancy taxes and property taxes. According to CoStar, the average price per square foot for commercial office space in Downtown L.A. is currently $242 per square foot, down over 50 percent from $523 in 2020. 

Many U.S. city centers are suffering from housing shortages that drive up costs for residents and force many to move to suburbs, which creates traffic-heavy commutes, mental health stressors, and additional financial strains. Los Angeles alone has a deficit of over 500,000 affordable housing units, making it one of the least affordable places to live in the U.S.

With many office tenants vacating or downsizing their spaces, the possibility of converting those offices to housing or other uses becomes an attractive alternative that could ease housing shortages that drive up the cost of living. Based on numerous recent studies, we know that there are large financial gaps between the cost of a building conversion and the market value of converting office towers to housing. Ultimately, conversions trend toward not making financial sense to pursue. In Downtown L.A., costs of a full conversion can range between $350 and $460 per square foot, which is higher than ground-up construction. These numbers pose an unfinanceable risk for developers. California’s strict requirements around seismic upgrades, exterior wall upgrades for acoustics and operable windows, and new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems are expensive to achieve. While buildings and land costs have decreased, we cannot rely on those prices dropping to zero to bridge the gap.   

In downtown, the city has a responsibility to explore every avenue to promote its economic and social resilience. The City of Los Angeles is pushing to ease the approval process and provide zoning incentives for developers through the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance 2.0, currently under review. Provisions like easing parking requirements, allowing greater square footage, waiving minimum unit size requirements, and increasing open space requirements are steps in the right direction, but are very unlikely to be enough to make projects viable.

In Canada, Calgary faced a similar challenge, and in response has implemented a bold and successful program where developers are granted $15 per square foot for demolition and $75 per square foot for construction to help make deals feasible to deliver the additional residential units that are needed. Developers seeking to provide more housing complete an application to request funds and, if eligible, the city then provides the requested funding.

Cities like San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles have an opportunity to implement similar programs. From Gensler’s study of hundreds of buildings in 25 U.S. cities, we have found that only 20 to 30 percent of high-rise office buildings are potentially feasible to convert to housing without financial assistance from the city. Economic impact studies show that investments from the public sector paired with private sector investments will create a larger tax base and revitalize our urban cores through an upswing in residents who will subsequently contribute to the regrowth of businesses that represent a thriving downtown. If the City of Los Angeles embraces partnerships with private entities like developers and banks, downtown’s revitalization can have a viable pathway to a vibrant future.  

John Adams is regional managing director at architecture firm Gensler.

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David and Lisa Felker put their life savings into an eight-unit building in Los Angeles 15 years ago. The couple drove there on weekends and evenings to garden, make repairs, replace a broken garbage disposal or an air conditioner, and check on their tenants.

For the most part, they liked their tenants, who kept up with their rent as best they could. The Felkers planned to live off the income from the building when they retired two years ago — David from his job as a computer technician and Lisa as a pattern maker in the garment industry.

But L.A. implemented an emergency rent freeze on rent-controlled apartments at the start of the pandemic in 2020, as costs for insurance, earthquake retrofitting, water, inspections and trash collection rose. Soon, the Felkers said, they were hardly making a profit.

L.A. is the only major city that still has a freeze — lasting until Feb. 1. — on rent-stabilized units, which make up almost three-quarters of its apartments.

For many renters, the freeze has been a lifeline, allowing them to stay housed and keep up with vital expenses as inflation soared and many lost work hours and jobs.

But landlords like the Felkers say they were forgotten in the debate — forced to dip into savings and let tenants fall tens of thousands of dollars behind in rent, even selling nest eggs that were supposed to fund them through retirement.

In the summer of 2022, the Felkers sold their building to a large private firm.

With the profit, they invested in out-of-state properties, where David said they no longer endure the headaches of L.A.’s housing market.

Despite praise from tenant unions, some policy experts say that rent control reduces affordable housing by discouraging housing development and driving providers out of the business.

“We have an affordability crisis and a homelessness crisis that absolutely demands urgent action, but a rent freeze is not the best solution,” said Michael Lens, associate professor of urban planning and public policy at UCLA.

Lens recognizes that the pandemic sent policymakers “reaching for the emergency button,” but the city should look at policies such as expanding housing subsidies rather than extending the rent freeze.

“In a city like L.A., that needs investment in housing, the last thing you want to do is drive away the people who are going to do the investment in housing,” said Jim Lapides, vice president of advocacy and strategic communications for the National Multifamily Housing Council. “And that’s what’s taking place right now.”

Evidence indicates that rent control increases the cost of non-rent-stabilized units, Lapides said. For example, in San Francisco, one study found that landlords reacted to rent control by reducing supply by 15%. This led to a 5.1% citywide rent increase.

But with California’s ongoing affordability crisis, tenant advocates say the rent freeze saved tenants who are still recovering from the economic consequences of the pandemic, including job losses, sick leaves and deaths of breadwinners in the family.

“It has taken this long to get people back on their feet, and some people never get back on their feet,” said Ryan Bell, Southern California regional coordinator for Tenants Together. “There’s a long tail to these types of crises.”

Homelessness increased by 10% in the city of Los Angeles last year. Shanti Singh, the communications and legislative director of Tenants Together, cautions city officials against lifting the rent freeze and potentially sending more renters into homelessness.

“Rent increases that were allowable with inflation were still really hurting people,” Singh said.

Landlords were allowed to apply for a rent increase if their income did not cover the property’s expenses. But Daniel Yukelson of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles said in an email that the application requires “a mountain of financial information” and a number of bureaucratic hurdles.

Tough decisions

Small and medium-size “mom-and-pop” landlords say that the onslaught of renter protections in L.A. combined with soaring costs infringe on their ability to operate.

Thomas Daniels bought his first L.A. rental property in 2000.

Up until 2020, he hosted twice-yearly barbecues at his five buildings so that his tenants could get to know one another. Sometimes, renters met their next-door neighbors for the first time as they made their way down to the gatherings.

Aside from interacting with tenants, Daniels enjoyed taking buildings that were “not in great shape and turning them around, making it an attractive, nice place to live.”

Since February, Daniels has sold all five of his buildings.

With high inflation and soaring costs such as earthquake insurance, Daniels found he had to forgo roof, plumbing and electrical repairs. Eventually, he could not afford to stay in the market.

“The rent freeze was effective at keeping people in their homes and probably necessary to prevent homelessness,” Daniels said. “I think the problem is that property owners were ignored. [A lot] of rent-stabilized units are owned by mom-and-pop and mid-tier owners like myself, and we’re not making a lot of money.”

Each of his buildings has been taken over by a “wealthy corporation” or a “wealthy individual.”

“Right now, it’s the big fish eating the little fish,” Daniels said.

Steven Jones has held out, but not without tweaking how he operates. With losses from the rent freeze and down an additional $24,000 from one tenant behind in his rent, Jones has to pick and choose what updates he makes to his buildings.

Steven Jones has become more stringent in choosing tenants, and only considers people with superb credit.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

He is also more stringent about whom he rents to, and only considers people with superb credit scores. In the past, he was more lenient. He has taken chances on people when his gut told him to, and they managed to keep up with their deals.

Jones doubts he would do that again, unless they put down a large deposit.

“The tenants that it seems to me are the most vulnerable are the ones with the lousy credit,” Jones said. “I can sympathize with that. But one of the side effects to all of this regulation is that any property owner is going to take a very hard look at the applications that come in, especially the credit history.”

Striking a balance

Nike Irvin is a self-proclaimed “very pro-tenant landlord.” The native Angeleno grew up in West Adams, and she and her mother acquired a seven-unit building there in the 1990s. Now, she owns buildings in Silver Lake and Los Feliz, and her mother, 91, owns a building in Jefferson Park. Both live in buildings they own.

“We are African American, we understand the economic challenges in our community and want to be good, fair property owners, which I think we are,” Irvin said.

But she is struggling. She has had to skip on some improvements and dig into her own pockets for others. It cost her $30,000 to eliminate mold. Her mother’s income from her unit funds her elderly care, but she can barely cover it with meager profits.

For work, Irvin runs a leadership development program for social entrepreneurs that facilitates civil discourse across political divides. She laments the growing divide between landlords and tenants.

“I believe I’m a better person because I’m a property owner,” Irvin said. “I live in my building and I see how hard my tenants work. I see how well they take care of the building. And it just gives me a greater insight and understanding and respect for humans. It makes me want to make sure they have a good place to come home to. … It’s a service to provide housing for people.”

Like others, she worries about mom-and-pop landlords leaving L.A. as larger landlords come in, many of whom live outside the state or far from the buildings they own.

Irvin still plans to remain in the market, and pass her property down to her nieces and nephews.

Singh, of Tenants Together, said that each time tenant advocates propose new protection, landlords sound the same alarm about the demise of mom-and-pops. She questions how widespread this problem actually is.

The city of Los Angeles defines small landlords as owners with four or fewer units. Landlord advocates tend to conceptualize mom-and-pops and noncorporate landlords.

Regardless of a landlord’s size, Bell, of Tenants Together, said the city should address corporate takeover as a separate legislative issue.

“These are folks who have multiple homes to their names, and the tenants are clinging tenuously to their only home,” he said. “So it just isn’t the same level of need.”

When landlords sell a property, they make millions of dollars, Bell said.

“They’re gonna be OK,” he continued. “If the city wants to preserve those mom-and-pop landlords, they need to take on that burden and not put it on the backs of working-class residents.”

The Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles sued the city in July over the rent freeze, citing financial strain on housing providers.

Landlords in the city have received more than $1.6 billion in rental assistance, and an additional $20 million is budgeted through United to House LA funding, said Sharon Sandow, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Housing Department.

“We understand that landlords have been impacted by the protections adopted to keep renters safe during the pandemic,” she said in an email. “LAHD is making every effort to help out landlords — while also focusing on keeping tenants housed.”

The post Pandemic-era lease freeze has lasted for over 3 years in L.A. appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Thursday, Feb. 23. I’m Vanessa Franko, an assistant editor on the audience engagement team with a focus on arts and entertainment.

Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” album was supposed to be a sonic beacon for dance floors around the world last summer.

And though the album was full of house bangers with more sparkle than a disco ball, there was a problem in getting people to the club: The Southland was in the middle of another COVID surge as well as a MPX outbreak.

“Last year we were all supposed to be back hitting dance floors,” Times music writer August Brown said. “Nobody got the chance to hit the town and go out in grand style like we had hoped for.”

That missed opportunity was the start of an idea. Brown and fellow music writers Kenan Draughorne and Suzy Exposito teamed up to compile a list of the best dance clubs in and around Los Angeles.

Together, they found 57 places to get out and get down — and to way more than just Beyoncé.

The list, an exclusive for Times subscribers that published this morning, spans ages, demographics and geography.

“There’s bottle service EDM in Orange County down to super horny gay raves to traditional regional Mexican dance hall music where you can put on your best line-dancing boots,” Brown said.

The team also wanted to highlight LGBTQ and Latin nightlife, including some new lesbian-themed club nights as well as drag clubs.

“If you can conceivably move your body to it, we found it and it’s in there,” Brown said.

Note that to make the list, the clubs and special nights needed to include a set location and nothing illegal, so you won’t find traveling warehouse raves here.

The list of boogie wonderlands also focuses on clubs with DJs rather than live bands. If you’re looking for the best live music venues in the region, check out our 2022 list of the best live music venues in and around L.A.

Of course, COVID and MPX, also known as monkeypox, are still out there, so consider your comfort level and take precautions if you’re planning to go out and boogie oogie oogie until you just can’t boogie no more.

And now, here’s what’s happening across California:

Note: Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.

L.A. STORIES

Let it snow, let it snow, let it — wait, what? Southern California has received a blizzard warning, in effect Friday and Saturday for the region’s mountains. Snow could fall as low as 1,500 feet in a storm that is expected to also bring rain and sleet to the state from the Oregon border down to the deserts near Mexico. Meteorologists say this storm is unusual even for the weird winter we’ve had. Los Angeles Times

Do you want to build a snowman? We may not get enough snow for the kids to start reenacting “Frozen,” but if you have snow at your house, we want to see your pictures. Los Angeles Times

Check out “The Times” podcast for essential news and more

These days, waking up to current events can be, well, daunting. If you’re seeking a more balanced news diet, “The Times” podcast is for you. Gustavo Arellano, along with a diverse set of reporters from the award-winning L.A. Times newsroom, delivers the most interesting stories from the Los Angeles Times every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

State lawmakers are considering a cap on oil profits. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a penalty on oil companies. Government officials, consumer advocates and market experts gathered Wednesday for the first legislative hearing on Newsom’s proposal. Los Angeles Times

The balloon ban is on in Laguna Beach. The city adopted an ordinance Tuesday that prohibits balloons at city events, on public property and from being released into the air. It takes effect in 2024. Los Angeles Times

CRIME, COURTS AND POLICING

Nipsey Hussle’s killer has been sentenced to 60 years in prison. Eric Holder Jr., a Crips gang member, was convicted of first-degree murder in July for killing Hussle outside the beloved rapper’s Crenshaw clothing store in 2019. Los Angeles Times

Handyman is charged in the killing of L.A. Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell. Carlos Medina, a 61-year-old handyman whose wife worked as O’Connell’s housekeeper, was charged with one count of murder in the religious leader’s death. At a news conference Wednesday, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón said Medina admitted to the killing to investigators. Los Angeles Times

HOLLYWOOD HAPPENINGS

With a possible strike on the horizon, writers, studios, networks and producers are making contingency plans. The contract for members of the Writers Guild of America expires in May and negotiations are expected to be fraught. Los Angeles Times

There’s now a “crisis team” for the Oscars. In the wake of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at last year’s ceremony, Bill Kramer, chief executive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said the academy will have a team in place to handle any future surprises. Time

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Tommy Bina inside the Canyon Country Store, which he’s owned since 1985.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

This grocery store is a shrine to L.A.’s musical history. Tommy Bina, owner of the Canyon Country Store, is determined “to bring back the spirit of Laurel Canyon.” Los Angeles Times

The clock tower on San Francisco’s Ferry Building is covered in scaffolding. The city landmark is undergoing a paint job expected to last until the fall. When it’s done, the building won’t be as blue, either. The current look is a result of poor aging of the previous paint job, which happened before the building was reborn in 2003. San Francisco Chronicle

If you’ve ever wanted to have a vanity plate to show off your wealth, your time is now. Claude Arthur Stuart Hamrick, a former patent lawyer in Silicon Valley, has had the license plate “CASH” for more than 50 years. Now he’s selling it, for $2 million. Mercury News

Free online games

Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games in our new game center at latimes.com/games.

AND FINALLY

Today’s California landmark is the Cypress Tree Tunnel at Point Reyes National Seashore from David Hayashida:

The Cypress Tree Tunnel at Point Reyes National Seashore

(David Hayashida)

The natural diversity of the Point Reyes National Seashore is remarkable. During a visit last spring, I saw elephant seals and their pups, migrating whales and carpets of wildflowers while hiking Chimney Rock; marveled at nesting federally threatened Western snowy plovers at North Beach; and took in the quiet beauty of the Cypress Tree Tunnel before heading home, recharged.

What are California’s essential landmarks? Fill out this form to send us your photos of a special spot in California — natural or human-made. Tell us why it’s interesting and what makes it a symbol of life in the Golden State. Please be sure to include only photos taken directly by you. Your submission could be featured in a future edition of the newsletter.

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

The post The place to go dancing in L.A. and past appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Wir müssen uns mit den gesellschaftlichen Problemen psychischer Erkrankungen und Drogenabhängigkeit befassen, aber sie sind nicht die Ursache der Obdachlosenkrise in Los Angeles.

Letzten Monat veröffentlichte Schätzungen deuten darauf hin, dass die Zahl der obdachlosen Menschen im LA County im Vergleich zum Vorjahr um 9 % auf 75.518 gestiegen ist. Wie kam es, dass sie obdachlos wurden? „Hohe Wohnkosten und niedriges Einkommen“, heißt es in einem Juni-Bericht von Forschern der UC San Francisco. Sie befragten fast 3.200 obdachlose Erwachsene in Kalifornien, von denen 70 % sagten, ein Mietzuschuss von 300 bis 500 US-Dollar pro Monat hätte sie von der Straße ferngehalten.

Mit anderen Worten: Die Kluft zwischen Einkommen und Wohnkosten in Kalifornien ist einfach zu groß geworden. Keine noch so große psychiatrische Versorgung oder Suchthilfe wird daran etwas ändern, aber bezahlbare Bauvorhaben und Wohnbauförderung würden es tun.

Ich habe im Juni und Juli mit drei meiner obdachlosen Nachbarn auf der Westseite gesprochen – Jermaine, Jason und John – und die Gespräche zeigen, wie schnell man auf die Straße gezwungen werden kann. Sie stimmten zu, ihre Geschichten mit der Times zu teilen, unter der Bedingung, dass ihre Nachnamen nicht verwendet würden. – Robert Karron

Jermaine

Mein Name ist Jermaine, aber alle nennen mich „J“. Ich bin 47 und in South Central aufgewachsen. Ich lebte mit meinem Vater – er ist Zimmermann – und einem älteren Bruder zusammen; Meine Mutter hat uns verlassen, als ich ein Baby war. Mit 14 traf ich sie tatsächlich wieder.

Ich ging auf die Locke High und bekam gute Noten, geriet aber auch in Schwierigkeiten, also habe ich meinen Abschluss in Dorsey gemacht. Meine Lieblingslehrer unterrichteten Englisch: Mr. Booker brachte uns Grammatikunterricht; Miss Carter ermutigte uns; und Miss Plant bestand auf einer Teilnahme. Ich habe schon immer gerne gelesen. Mein Vater kaufte mir Comics, National Geographics und die Encyclopedia Britannica. Eines Tages, als ich „Der unglaubliche Hulk“ las, sah ich das Wort „Automat“ und fragte Papa, was es bedeutete. Er sagte: „Sie haben diese Enzyklopädien. Du findest es heraus.” Das hat mich inspiriert. Ich habe sie alle gelesen.

„Man könnte meinen, ein Sachbearbeiter könnte helfen“, sagte Jermaine, „aber ich mache alles selbst, auf der Straße, von meinem Zelt aus.“

(Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Robert Karron)

Ich war in einer Bande, aber es ist nicht das, was die Leute denken – turbulent oder chaotisch. Im Green Meadows Park in Avalon ist im Sommer jeder da. Wenn ein älterer Junge etwas in dir sieht, macht er dich zu seinem „Kleinen“. Danach bringen sie Sie „nach Hause“, zum „Set“. Es gibt zwar einige Kämpfe, aber hauptsächlich sind es nur die Kinder in der Nachbarschaft, die sich aufhalten. Da herrscht eine solide Kameradschaft.

Neben Dorsey High befindet sich Jackie Robinson Field, damals das Rekrutierungsbüro der Marine. Eines Tages bat Miss Plant einen Personalvermittler, während des Unterrichts mit uns zu sprechen. Er erzählte uns vom Reisen. Es klang aufregend. Danach habe ich einen Einstufungstest gemacht. Ich hätte aufs College gehen können, aber ich wollte etwas anderes. Ich war drei Jahre lang bei der Marine, hauptsächlich in Japan. Ich habe am Bomberjet A-6 Intruder gearbeitet und viel gelernt – über Hydraulikflüssigkeiten, Schleudersitze und Düseneinlässe. Aber dann haben sie das Flugzeug außer Dienst gestellt. Was ich gelernt hatte, war nicht mehr anwendbar. Außerdem hatte ich Flugzeuge gebaut. Ich wollte etwas anderes.

Nach einer ehrenvollen Entlassung ging ich über die Vet Association in eine berufliche Reha und wurde zertifizierte Krankenpflegehelferin. Ich habe diesen Abschluss zusammen mit meiner Frau Karen absolviert – möge sie in Frieden ruhen. Ich habe eine Zeit lang für häusliche Krankenpflegedienste gearbeitet, aber ich habe festgestellt, dass ich weder Blut noch Spritzen mochte. Mir wurde klar, dass ich Grafikdesign machen wollte. Ich ging wieder zur Schule, immer noch auf dem GI Bill, bekam mein Zertifikat und dann ein paar Auftritte. In der Zwischenzeit machte Karen eine Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester und arbeitete gerade daran, eine Ausbildung zur Krankenschwester zu machen, als ihr Lupus erneut auftrat. Mit 14 wurde die Diagnose gestellt, aber bis zur Geburt unseres zweiten Kindes passierte nichts. Sie war neun Monate im Krankenhaus. Ich bekam Hilfe von meinen Tanten, aber ich war im Wesentlichen auf mich allein gestellt. Sie starb drei Jahre später, im Jahr 2015.

Man könnte sagen, dass ich im letzten Jahr ihre Krankenschwester geworden bin. Ich war freiberuflich als Grafikdesigner tätig, aber nicht viel.

Uns ging das Geld aus.

US-Tierärzte haben eine Drei-Zimmer-Wohnung für meine Kinder und mich gefunden. Sie zogen uns alle 90 Tage um. Und dann, als ich 2018 einmal versuchte, einen Platz zu finden, sagten sie, ich sei nicht teilnahmeberechtigt. Sie wollten Dokumente wie Geburtsurkunden und Sozialversicherungskarten, die wir aufbewahrt hatten, aber verloren gingen, als wir die Miete nicht bezahlen konnten. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt schickte ich die Kinder zu Karens Schwestern und zog auf die Straße. Ich habe ihre Schwestern nicht gebeten, mich unterzubringen, weil ich ihr nicht zur Last fallen wollte.

Eines Tages, als ich „Der unglaubliche Hulk“ las, sah ich das Wort „Automat“ und fragte Papa, was es bedeutete. Er sagte: „Sie haben diese Enzyklopädien. Du findest es heraus.” Das hat mich inspiriert. Ich habe sie alle gelesen.

– Jermaine

Seitdem bin ich auf Wohnungssuche. Vielleicht hätte ich es nur für mich besorgen können, aber als sie hören, dass es auch zwei Kinder sind, sagen sie, dass sie nichts haben. Ich habe Gutscheine beantragt. Ehrlich gesagt glaube ich, dass meine Sachbearbeiter den Ball verloren haben. Ich habe sie ein Jahr lang nicht gesehen. Ich war vor Kurzem im Büro und man sagte mir, ich müsse mich mit den Unterlagen, die ich noch nicht habe, erneut bewerben. Ich habe erst gestern mit ihnen telefoniert. Sie wollten die verlorene Geburtsurkunde meiner Tochter und meinen verlorenen Sozialversicherungsausweis. Ich habe geweint. Man könnte meinen, ein Sachbearbeiter könnte helfen, aber ich mache alles selbst, auf der Straße, von meinem Zelt aus.

Jason

Mein Name ist Jason und ich bin in Orange County, in der Nähe von Buena Park, aufgewachsen. Ich habe einen kleinen Bruder und meine Mutter war alleinerziehende Mutter; Sie hat uns unterstützt. Mein Vater war nicht oft da. Seit 20 Jahren ist er immer mal wieder ein Durchreisender.

Die Highschool war hart. Ich wollte akzeptiert werden, und am Ende habe ich mit den coolen Kids rumgehangen und getan, was sie taten, nämlich die Schule zu schwänzen. Irgendwann haben sie mich auf Bewährung gestellt; Schließlich haben sie mich rausgeschmissen. Später bekam ich meinen GED. Ich lerne gerne, aber nicht das, was mir die Schulen beigebracht haben. Mein Ziel ist es, auf die Los Angeles Recording School, nach Hollywood oder vielleicht auf eine Filmschule zu gehen. Ich mag Musik und Kunst, weil sie eine Fluchtmöglichkeit bieten. Ich bin die meiste Zeit in meinem Kopf. Es ist, als ob ich nicht anfangen kann.

„Das Verrückte ist, dass das alles so einfach sein sollte“, sagte Jason. „Ich brauche nur ein Dach über dem Kopf und etwas Geld.“

(Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Robert Karron)

Nachdem ich den GED bekommen hatte, lernte ich ein Mädchen kennen. Wir waren acht Jahre zusammen. Ich arbeitete für die Farm ihrer Familie im Humboldt County. Du bist draußen, in der Natur, mit Tieren. Das waren die besten Zeiten meines Lebens. Wenn man in den Bergen ist, sieht man nichts als Bäume. Darüber hinaus ist es so ruhig. Da oben würde ich mir vorstellen, Parkwächter zu werden, so etwas in der Art.

Als wir uns trennten, musste ich wieder bei meiner Mutter einziehen. Es war ein Schock – teils, weil ich wieder zu Hause war, teils, weil ich gerade das Sorgerecht für meine Tochter aus einer früheren Beziehung bekommen hatte. Sie wurde geboren, als ich in der High School war. Ich bekam Angst und rannte weg. Dafür war ich nicht bereit. Ich fing an zu feiern – also übernahm ihre Mutter das Sorgerecht. Aber irgendwann konnte ihre Mutter nicht mehr für sie sorgen, also zog sie bei uns ein. Jetzt war ich an der Reihe. Ich hatte keine Ahnung, was ich tun sollte. Ich saß wieder auf der Couch meiner Mutter. Letztendlich übertrug ich das Sorgerecht einem nahen Familienmitglied.

Ich musste von vorne anfangen. Ich bekam einen Job in der Hausumbaubranche. Ich war im Verkauf, als Makler. Ich würde Einnahmen generieren. Ohne mich gibt es keinen Job. Ich habe die Gabe zu reden, ich räume gut auf und ich kann gut mit Menschen umgehen. Ich habe dort 10 Jahre lang gearbeitet. Aber es stellte sich heraus, dass es eine Sackgasse war. Das Unternehmen nahm meine Provisionen entgegen – es nutzte Leads und verkaufte sie an andere Leute. Ich hatte meine Zeit damit verschwendet, mich im Kreis zu drehen. Ich musste aufgeben.

Ich bin jetzt seit sechs Monaten auf der Straße. Es ist kein so großer Schock, wie man denkt, denn ich bin damit aufgewachsen, wie mein Vater es tat.

– Jason

Das war letztes Jahr. Ich bin jetzt seit sechs Monaten auf der Straße. Es ist kein so großer Schock, wie man denkt, denn ich bin damit aufgewachsen, wie mein Vater es tat. Man könnte sagen, ich war erfahren. Außerdem habe ich, bevor ich hierher kam, alle negativen Menschen aus meinem Leben ausgeschlossen. Ich war es gewohnt, allein zu sein; Ich bin jetzt der Lone Ranger. Ich unterhalte mich.

Das Verrückte ist, dass das alles so einfach sein sollte. Ich brauche nur ein Dach über dem Kopf und etwas Geld. Das ist es. Ich wäre bereit zu gehen, wenn ich das hätte. Aber ich habe keinen Kredit. Könnte ich zu meiner Mutter zurückkehren und das als Startrampe nutzen? Ich möchte ihr das nicht antun. Ich würde das lieber selbst herausfinden.

Ich möchte es in den nächsten Monaten zusammenbringen; Ich möchte keine Zeit mehr verschwenden. Ich werde älter, wissen Sie – ich bin 35. Ich habe die Hälfte meines Lebens hinter mir.

John

Mein Name ist John und ich bin 66 Jahre alt. Ich komme aus Pensacola, Florida. Ich bin mit einem Leichtathletikstipendium an den Bundesstaat Florida gegangen. Ich war ein Hochspringer und mein Schulrekord lag bei 7 Fuß und 4,75 Zoll. Ich habe die Olympischen Spiele in Montreal um einen Platz verpasst! Ich habe Betriebswirtschaft studiert und anschließend meinen MBA- und Juraabschluss in Gainesville gemacht. Ich habe auch Workshops mit Geschäftsleuten wie Donald Trump besucht, um zu lernen, wie man erfolgreich ist. Man muss sich mit erfolgreichen Menschen umgeben. Du willst nicht in der Nähe von Verlierern sein.

„Ich kann in einem 10.000 Quadratmeter großen Haus oder in einem Zelt leben, und ich bin derselbe Mensch“, sagte John. „Aber es hat seinen Tribut gefordert.“

(Mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Robert Karron)

Eine Zeit lang lief es großartig. Ich besaß eine Spedition. Ich hatte ein Landschaftsbauunternehmen und besaß ein Hooters- und Verkaufsunternehmen. Ich hatte eine Lizenz zum kommerziellen Tauchen und besaß ein 38-Fuß-Segelboot. Ich hatte nie Angst davor, rauszugehen und einfach Dinge zu tun. Ich war mit 13 Jahren in Woodstock, weil ich Jimi Hendrix sehen wollte. Aber 1986 ließ ich mich scheiden, und das hat mich ruiniert. Ich musste alle meine Geschäfte verkaufen und meiner Frau 2 Millionen Dollar geben. Das war damals gutes Geld.

Ich bin mit meinem Segelboot in die Karibik gefahren. Ich hatte vor, um die Welt zu segeln. Ich hatte immer noch Geld. Ich habe sechs Jahre auf diesem Boot gelebt. Ich nahm Leute mit auf Tauchgänge und half ihnen mit ihren Booten. Dann starb mein Adoptivvater und meine Adoptivmutter war allein. Ich ging zurück. Ich habe mein Boot verkauft und mir ein 18-Wheeler gekauft, damit ich meinen Lebensunterhalt bestreiten kann. Als ich dort ankam, bestand der Gemüsegarten, der immer gut gepflegt wurde, nur aus Bäumen! So schlimm war es. Das dauerte bis 2004, als meine Mutter an Hirnkrebs erkrankte. Sie starb und ich zog in ein Wohnmobil. Ich fuhr mein Tauchgerät weiter und arbeitete im kommerziellen Tauchgeschäft, bis die Wirtschaft 2009 einbrach. Ich überlegte, wohin ich ziehen sollte, und entschied mich für Kalifornien. Ich hatte viel Zeit hier verbracht. Wenn Sie Bohrinseln fahren, müssen Sie das auch tun, denn hier lagern die Produkte. Da ich kein Gespann mehr fahren wollte, habe ich es verkauft. Ich dachte, ich könnte mich auf meine anderen Fähigkeiten stützen – Unternehmensführung, Buchhaltung, Recht oder Berufstauchen (ich weiß auch ein wenig über Klempnerarbeiten, Elektrik, Dachdecker und Automechaniker).

Egal, was Sie tun können – niemand, und ich meine niemand, wird einen Obdachlosen einstellen.

– John

Am Tag nach Weihnachten 2010 stieg ich aus dem Bus und schlief die ersten sechs Wochen im Innenhof der Midnight Mission. Ich hatte Geld, aber ich wollte es nicht dummerweise ausgeben, indem ich einen falschen Ort wählte. Ich wollte ein gutes Geschäft machen, und Ortskenntnisse sind wichtig. Am Ende habe ich eine Wohnung in Vermont and Exposition gemietet, aber es hat nicht funktioniert. Ich wurde belästigt, Leute brachen in meine Wohnung ein und bedrohten mich manchmal mit Messern. Nach einem Jahr packte ich eine Tasche und fuhr mit meinem Van los, in dem sich meine gesamte Tauchausrüstung befand, mit der ich mich in den nächsten Jahren ernähren konnte. Aber eines Tages wurde es gestohlen – Ausrüstung im Wert von Tausenden von Dollar. Ich war wieder im Nichts.

Manche Menschen, die alles verlieren, springen aus einem Gebäude. Ich bin stärker als das. Ich kann in einem 10.000 Quadratmeter großen Haus oder in einem Zelt leben, und ich bin derselbe Mensch – aber es hat seinen Tribut gefordert.

Ich war bis vor einem Jahr in einem Zelt, als ich dieses Wohnmobil bekam. Niemand wird mir einen Job geben, denn niemand stellt dich ein, wenn du obdachlos bist. Egal, was Sie tun können – niemand, und ich meine niemand, wird einen Obdachlosen einstellen.

Robert Karron unterrichtet Englisch am Santa Monica College.

The post How three males grew to become homeless on the Westside of L.A. appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

San Marcos State University does not screen its so-called independent contractors for past misconduct, according to a new audit from California State University.

LAT’s “disinformation” machine?

A spate of sudden layoffs at the Los Angeles Times sparked fear at the San Diego Union-Tribune, which the LA biotech billionaire owns Patrick Soon-Shiong — has nothing to do with the rise of artificial intelligence, company officials point out, but there are signs to the contrary. A total of 74 editorial jobs are to be cut, the newspaper reported on June 7, accounting for about 13 percent of the editorial staff.

Those who are looking for it Kevin Merida To provide some insight into the reasons behind the drastic move, they were disappointed when the Times editor-in-chief held a question-and-answer session that saw Merida and disgruntled staff engage in a verbal duel. “When asked why the proposed layoffs would disproportionately affect some departments — the copy and photo offices, the audience and the audio teams,” Merida replied, according to a Twitter account for the Los Angeles Times Guild, the union that represents newsroom staff of the Times argues, “There just aren’t really any good answers.” The Guild Feed noted, “There should be. When our livelihoods are at stake, we deserve good answers.”

Patrick Soon-Shiong’s LAT isn’t bots – yet.

But Merida was keen to deny that artificial intelligence had anything to do with the layoffs. “Generative AI, that’s not one of them, if that’s your question,” he said, according to the guild report.

Still a series of PR articles with people like Royce Martin, LA Times vice president of product, on behalf of Times automation company Brightspot, Inc., outlines a number of changes the company has made that some are concerned about. “In 2018, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and his family run the LA Times and a handful of local Southern California newspapers from the Tribune company,” Martin said in an account posted by Brightspot. “Once the deal was closed, the Los Angeles Times worked with Brightspot to design and develop a comprehensive makeover,” the story continues.

“The result? Multiple core systems are being replaced, migrated, jettisoned and rebuilt to redesign the Los Angeles Times platform on a modernized, digitally-centric basis.” Martin added, “This powerful content platform supports an important Core function of their journalism: writing and storytelling.” The article states, “Powered by federated search, a custom front end, and artificial intelligence, Media Desk essentially eliminates the following problems commonly associated with overburdened newsrooms: underutilized resources, wasted money, and Delays in publishing.”

Back in April 2019, Brightspot announced that the company was officially adding artificial intelligence to its publishing systems. “Don’t worry about your job just yet. Businesses continue to need content experts, developers, designers, and other real people to create rewarding digital experiences.

But AI is becoming an increasingly valuable tool that can help teams work more efficiently and create more compelling content for audiences.” According to this report, “Brightspot has long offered intelligent features like automatic tagging and automatic content migration, but the Platform has significantly expanded its AI capabilities by partnering with Amazon Web Services.”

One of the AWS tools available through Brightspot is Rekognition, which enables intelligent image and video analysis to identify objects, people, text, and activities. Detection also makes it easier to flag inappropriate content, a particularly important requirement for social media publishers.” Two years ago, in March 2021, Brightspot boasted, “With the right AI tools, businesses can create the most effective and targeted content for their create audiences.”

Despite the protestations and denials, some remain concerned about the growing AI trend, including the UCSD professor of data science and philosophy David Danks. “While Danks, who also serves on the advisory board of the UC San Diego Institute for Practical Ethics, believes there are positive uses for generative AI — such as proofreading, editing, or creative and artistic expression — he has major concerns about the potential of these opportunities are systems that are causing real harm to society,” reads a June 13 post on UCSD’s website.

“These include a rise in disinformation — which Danks says could have mildly disastrous implications for the 2024 presidential election — and the ‘deskilling’ of workers that will occur with the proliferation of generative AI tools. We are, he says, ‘the subjects of a mighty experiment’.”

dark backgrounds

San Marcos State University doesn’t screen its so-called independent contractors for past misconduct — exposing the school to a variety of potential problems, according to a new audit from California State University. “We found that the campus does not have a process to determine if background checks are required [Independent Contractors]reads a May 24 letter from the state university’s vice chancellor and chief audit officer Vlad Marinescu to the President of San Marcos Ellen J Neufeldt. “We examined the contracts signed with 12 [Independent Contractors] and noted that background checks were not considered during the IC engagement process.

Three of the ICs we reviewed appeared to require background checks based on the description of the services they provided; However, the campus did not conduct an assessment to determine whether background checks were required.” The report notes, “Properly considering and conducting background checks for ICs in accordance with CSU policy can reduce the risk of security breaches and criminal activity, including fraud to be exposed.”…Republicans Amy Riechertwho ran against the incumbent democratic superior who had been ousted in the meantime Nathan Fletcher Now running for his vacancy in 2022, she received $1,000 for her campaign from the Sacramento lobbyist Richard Markuson on June 8th.

Candidates line up to fill Nathan Fletcher’s place.

Markuson’s Pacific Advocacy Group represents the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association of California and the Western Electrical Contractors Association, according to state disclosure documents. Meanwhile, the San Diego City Council is Democratic Monica Montgomery Steppe, who is running for the same job, has received support from a company called PowerPAC, which conducted a survey on her behalf that cost $15,000, according to a June 12 filing. “PowerPAC is a left-leaning lobbying organization based in San Francisco specializing in voter mobilization. The organization was founded by liberal activists Steve Phillips and funded largely by left-leaning philanthropists Suzanne Sandler‘ according to the website Influence Watch. “The organization also claims to represent historically underrepresented constituencies. The organization researches the political landscape, sending it money and resources, usually related to local and state legislative battles or ballot initiatives. The organization is committed to establishing bases, formulating campaign strategies, representing interests and supporting the technical infrastructure.”

– Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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IIn art history, the white cube gallery is a relatively recent construct—one developed in the 1950s by New York artist and dealer Betty Parsons. It’s also something that artists, curators, dealers, and critics have been trying to dismantle for decades.

Luckily, there’s always room for experimentation in Los Angeles. Whether it was William N. Copley (later known as the artist CPLY) who took over a Beverly Hills bungalow in 1948 to show artists like Joseph Cornell, René Magritte and Man Ray in the short-lived Copley Galleries, or Danny Bowman who his BOZOMAG opened shop in the converted garage of his Highland Park home, the lure of intimate – and sometimes whimsical – domestic spaces has always appealed to Angelenos. And in recent years, more and more gallery owners — like Sara Lee Hantman, whose Sea View gallery was featured in the February issue for creating a space in Jorge Pardo’s old studio in Mount Washington — have opted for rooms with a view.

At Twentieth, a photograph and rug (right) by Marilyn Minter, seating by Paolo Ferrari, a light sculpture by Sébastien Léon, a coffee table by John Eric Byers and a lamp by Established & Sons. (Photo: Marten Elder)

“The commercial retail market in LA is so strange; it’s too scattered – everything is a destination – and you don’t leave your house for toothpaste or coffee without it being an event,” says David Alhadeff, who had this in mind seven years ago when he wrote about the Searching for a location for the Casa made perfect concept of his design gallery, the Future Perfect. “Real estate agents took me to Robertson, La Cienega, Highland and all the buildings were pretty ugly. What is incredible about LA is the residential architecture.”

LA gallery owners have chosen rooms with a view.

Alhadeff settled for a time in a low-rise modernist house designed by Korean-American architect David Hyun in 1957. After five years of traversing two other architecturally significant sites—including the mid-century Trousdale Estates home that Elvis Presley shared with Priscilla and Lisa Marie—Alhadeff and his husband bought the 1916 Hollywood mansion that belonged to Arthur S Heineman built for Samuel Goldwyn at the base of Runyon Canyon. Since last August he has transformed the property, planted a sculpture garden and hosted acclaimed solo exhibitions for legendary Italian architect and designer Gaetano Pesce and polemical New York painter Peter McGough amid rooms full of collectible design objects.

In the Half Gallery, a painting by Paul Salveson. (Photo: Paul Salveson)

“As an experience, this doesn’t translate into a commercial space,” he says, “but I also think you can’t just take any house and implement this concept.”

Just west of the Marmount Lane outpost of New York’s Friedman Benda gallery, designer Una Malan opened Una Casa Privada, a by appointment expansion of her LA and San Francisco showrooms in a 1937 Hollywood Regency-style mansion above Sunset Plaza, which opened during the La Cienega Design Quarter’s annual LEGENDS week. Further up the hills, Twentieth, which operated on Beverly Boulevard for more than two decades, moved into an airy 5,000-square-foot glass, beam, and plaster Zen retreat (on an acre of hillside dotted with eucalyptus and Japanese maple). designed by Jeff Mills.

At Casa Perfect, a table from Collection Particulière, armchairs by Dimoremilano, a console by Ben Barber, a chandelier by Karl Zahn, ceramics by Eric Roinestad and wall coverings by Calico Wallpaper. (Photo: Rich Stapleton)

“I just get tired of the storefront with all the hassle of parking lots,” says Stefan Lawrence, who opened an exhibition during Los Angeles Art Week by combining rugs and art by Nan Goldin and Kim Gordon in rooms full of design by local artists like Vincent Pocsik and Mattia Biagi. “This is a very special, quiet part of LA and I just feel in heaven with all these trees. I’m out here with my trimmers all the time.”

Further east, not far from the Parker Gallery — the living and working space where Sam Parker showcases underrepresented artists from multiple generations in his 1924 Tudor-style home in Los Feliz — is New York gallery owner Bill Powers in a 3,600 square meter Greek Revival moved. Style mansion built three years before the Griffith Observatory was built.

“Look at that, how would you live in New York?

Also at Casa Perfect a chandelier by Chris Wolston. (Photo: Rich Stapleton)

It’s crazy,” says Powers, standing in a double-height living room with views of downtown from the observatory. In addition to showing artists from his roster at Half Gallery — Se Oh, Maud Madsen, and Andie Dinkin, for example — Powers throws parties where he has a piano player on his Steinway, lights the fireplace, and invites guests to take kumquat out the terraced gardens designed by Florence Yoch, the legendary landscape architect behind the gardens for Gone With the Wind and the Jack Warner estate.

When asked why he hasn’t joined the crowded field of new galleries taking over Western Avenue, which he can see from his window, he replies, “I know I’ll never be Hauser & Wirth, so as a medium – I thought, “How can you fight unconventionally in a very crowded field?” LA just has more nooks and crannies, we have big walls, great views, outdoor sculptures, and I’m in the city about half the time, so this is like the white house. I live upstairs and the business is down here.”

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Kristina Provencio kneels Monday next to a street memorial near the home where Bishop David G. O’Connell was killed in Hacienda Heights. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

A 61-year-old man who prosecutors have admitted to killing Bishop David G. O’Connell was charged Wednesday with murder in the shooting death of the much-vaunted religious leader.

Carlos Medina, a handyman whose wife worked as a housekeeper for the bishop, also faces a specific allegation of using a firearm during the crime, Los Angeles County Dist. atty George Gascón announced this at a press conference on Wednesday. If convicted, he faces 35 years in prison.

In detailing the charges, Gascón said Medina admitted to the murder to investigators.

“I know this was a shock to our community,” Gascón said. “This was a brutal act of violence against a person who gave their life to make our neighborhood safer and healthier and always served with love.”

Medina is accused of killing the 69-year-old priest on Saturday at his home in Hacienda Heights, where he lived alone.

“His loss is one that I really believe will be felt for years to come,” Gascón said. “The charges brought against Mr. Medina will never undo the enormous damage caused by this callous act.”

O’Connell was found dead in his bedroom on Saturday with multiple gunshot wounds, Gascón said.

In an interview, Gascón said O’Connell was probably asleep when the shooting took place.

“In every way Bishop O’Connell was a saint for Los Angeles,” he said.

Law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation said the firearm was a small-caliber weapon and that O’Connell’s wounds were not clearly visible to the deacon, who first discovered the bishop’s body.

According to the sources, the bishop was shot five times.

Neighbors said they didn’t hear any gunshots or unusual noises from the house until deputies and paramedics arrived in the quiet neighborhood just before 1pm on Saturday.

Medina was taken into custody at his home in Torrance on Monday after barricading himself for some time. Inside, investigators recovered two firearms, including a .38 caliber handgun that detectives suspect killed O’Connell, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The story goes on

Investigators were led there two days after the killing, aided by a tipster who told officers that Medina had been acting strangely since the murder, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday after announcing the arrest had.

Surveillance video also showed a “dark, compact SUV” — believed to be owned by Medina — at O’Connell’s home around the same time the murder took place, Luna said.

Medina appeared briefly in court Wednesday afternoon, where Judge Armenui Amy Ashvanian posted bail of $2.3 million.

A Spanish language interpreter transferred the court case to Medina, but he did not speak during the brief court appearance.

His indictment was set for March 22.

Officials have yet to disclose what may have motivated the killing. After announcing Medina’s arrest, Luna, the tipster who referred law enforcement to the suspect, said Medina claimed the bishop owed him money related to his work as a handyman.

Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Modica said that when questioning Medina, he gave several reasons for the murder, but “none of them made sense to investigators”.

“We don’t think there’s any value in owing money,” he said, referring to the tipster’s suggested motive.

Los Angeles County public defender Ricardo Garcia said in a statement to the Times that Medina “is presumed innocent and is entitled to a vigorous defense.”

“We are sensitive to the impact this case has had on our community, but at the same time caution against any hasty judgment, whether by the public or the media, until all facts are settled in court,” the statement said.

Deputy Public Defender Pedro Cortes, who has been hired to represent Medina in court, did not respond to a request for comment.

Medina has a long history of arrests and convictions for personal drug use from 2005 to 2017, and detectives are investigating whether he was using narcotics at the time of the murder, law enforcement sources say.

Medina was arrested on narcotics charges in 2005, 2007, 2011 and 2017, according to police officers who are not authorized to discuss his criminal record. At least two of the convictions were for drug possession, but Handyman had no history of violent arrest.

In the unincorporated Torrance neighborhood, where Medina and his wife rent a two-bedroom yellow stucco house, neighbors said the couple lived quiet, ordinary lives and had been kind to their neighbors.

“He never said anything offensive,” said Francisco Medina Lopez, 74, a neighbor who said he was friends with Medina. “It’s so weird.”

Medina, who had a limp, was often seen tinkering with his cars or working in his yard, neighbors said. His wife was a neighborhood fixture, often spotted walking a large white dog that residents said belonged to the bishop.

The two neighbors occasionally drank beer or ate together, chatted, and listened to ranchera music.

Although Medina’s wife worked for the bishop, Medina Lopez said the couple did not appear particularly religious and did not mention it in conversations or decorate their home with Catholic objects and images.

But Medina Lopez said he always thinks well of his neighbor, who sometimes drives him to the swap meet or to nearby shops.

“He was your average older man, always talkative and in a good mood,” said Luis Lopez, who lived in a house behind the Medina’s house. “He was just a normal man.”

After news of the bishop’s death broke, about a dozen people stood with candles and prayed the rosary on Saturday near police cordon tape near his home.

O’Connell, who received the title of bishop in 2015, is a “peacemaker with a heart for the poor and immigrants,” Archbishop Jose H. Gómez of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles said in a statement Sunday.

“He had a passion for building a community in which the sanctity and dignity of every human life was honored and protected,” Gómez said in the statement. “He was also a good friend and I will miss him dearly. I know we all will.”

Born in County Cork, Ireland, O’Connell studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin and was ordained in 1979, according to the Archdiocese.

He has been an associate pastor in several Los Angeles parishes, including 14 years at St. Frances X. Cabrini in South Los Angeles. He then became pastor of Ascension, where he oversaw a church of about 4,000 families and two schools with about 500 students.

In the neighborhoods he served, he was known as a reassuring mediator, particularly after the 1992 riots. The Catholic News Agency reported at the time that O’Connell, not yet a bishop, was working to strengthen trust between police and the South community – restore LA.

He also served as founder and chair of the interdiocesan SoCal Immigration Task Force, which assisted children who entered the United States without adult companions.

“He was the help of the helpless and the hope of the hopeless,” Los Angeles Borough Superintendent Janice Hahn said Monday during an emotional news conference.

Gómez fought back tears and his voice broke Monday as he called O’Connell “a good friend from Los Angeles.” He remembered the bishop’s fluent Spanish with an Irish accent.

“Every day he wanted to show compassion to the poor, the homeless, the immigrants and all those who live on the margins of society,” Gómez said. “He was a good priest and a good bishop and a man of peace.”

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

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