02/10/05

LC050210

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

He was once the head of the California Assembly known for his
bear hugs, but will Los Angeles voters embrace Bob Hertzberg for
mayor?

Robert Hertzberg>> They had the Villaraigosa-Hahn race.
They've already seen it. Been there, done that, seen it, and
there's not real excitement. You would think that people that
are that well-known -- I'm not that well-known, okay? I get it.
I understand it. It's okay. Hopefully, a lot of people will
watch this show.

Val>> And then, it was once that nifty new computer, but now
it's just taking up space. What to do with those old
electronics.

All that and more straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times.

Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> We continue our look at the men who would be Los Angeles
Mayor. Tonight a profile of Robert Hertzberg. Hertzberg was
born in Los Angeles, went to public schools and lives in Sherman
Oaks. His primary political experience was in Sacramento.
Hertzberg has vowed to give Los Angeles an extreme makeover, but
can he? And from what to what? Toni Guinyard takes a look at
the former Speaker of the California Assembly, Bob Hertzberg.

[Film Clip]

Toni Guinyard>> Robert Hertzberg. He is the man who would be
mayor of the city of Los Angeles. Cross his path and you'll
have a better chance of getting a hug than a handshake.

Robert Hertzberg>> "Oh, my God."

>> "Yeah, things are looking good."

Robert Hertzberg>> "Things are looking good. Hey, Mighty Joe,
how you doing? I'm going to start talking. Hi, young lady."

Toni Guinyard>> At the grand opening of his campaign
headquarters, he leaves behind his calling card, the so-called
Hertzberg hug. It's his way of bonding with people he meets,
embraces given as freely to strangers as to friends. And with
the crowded field of mayoral hopefuls headed into the March
primary, Bob Hertzberg is counting on his friends.

Robert Hertzberg>> People are really sticking their necks out
because I'm running against the Chairman of the Senate Labor
Committee, the Chairman of the Budget for the city of Los
Angeles, the Chairman of the Transportation Committee of the
city of Los Angeles, and the mayor of the city of Los Angeles,
and Bob Hertzberg, private citizen.

Toni Guinyard>> Hertzberg is a private citizen, but he is not a
political outsider. He was elected to the California State
Assembly in 1996 and served for six years before being termed
out. He represented the San Fernando Valley. This is where
Hertzberg is expected to garner the majority of his support.

Jaime Regalado>> The Valley represents anywhere from forty to
forty-four percent of the citywide vote, so it's the richest in
terms of vote content.

Toni Guinyard>> Jaime Regalado, Executive Director of the Pat
Brown Institute of Public Affairs.

Jaime Regalado>> His base is the San Fernando Valley, primarily
the white, the conservative voter, the Republican voter as well
as the moderate, you know, white Democratic voter. But he would
also like to pull in a sizable and growing contingent of
residents in the Valley as well.

Toni Guinyard>> Born in Los Angeles and a resident of Sherman
Oaks, he's the political powerful guy next door. Bob Hertzberg
is the former Speaker of the State Assembly and that may
resonate among Valley constituents, but it might not be enough
to get him through the March primary and into the May runoff
election. Even though Bob Hertzberg has clearly earned the
reputation in politics, political observers say his biggest
challenge will be gaining name recognition outside of the San
Fernando Valley.

Jaime Regalado>> His name in the south side, his name in mid-
Wilshire outside the corridors of power and of the east side is
unrecognizable.

Robert Hertzberg>> They had the Villaraigosa-Hahn race.
They've already seen it. Been there, done that, seen it, and
there's not real excitement. You would think that people that
are that well-known -- I'm not that well-known, okay? I get it.
I understand. It's okay. Hopefully, a lot of people will watch
this show.

Toni Guinyard>> Hertzberg is counting on airing campaign ads --

Robert Hertzberg>> "The L.A. Unified School District is a
failure. I'll break it up into smaller districts for local
control and better schools."

Toni Guinyard>> -- to deliver his message.

Jaime Regalado>> He's running largely as a regional candidate
and his primary campaign issue is breaking up the school
district and that's been a siren song for disgruntled people,
especially voters in the San Fernando Valley, for years and
years and years.

Toni Guinyard>> But the mayor of the city of Los Angeles really
can't legislate what takes place in the Los Angeles School
District.

Robert Hertzberg>> Sure they can, sure they can.

Toni Guinyard>> You can have an impact. How would you
legislate what's taking place?

Robert Hertzberg>> Sure they can. Leadership is leadership.
Leadership doesn't say, well, oops, that's not my department.
I'm sorry. Leadership is about the understanding fundamentally
what the problem is and figuring out how to fix it or getting
out of the way, pure and simple, no excuses.

Toni Guinyard>> During an appearance on Life and Times back in
April 2000, Hertzberg was asked about breaking up the LAUSD.

>> "Should we break up the Los Angeles Unified School
District?"

Robert Hertzberg>> "It's not the size of the district in Los
Angeles. Let me just tell you, it's more the state issue. So
I'm not convinced the size of each district is what makes the
difference. I think it has to do with the issue of neighborhood
control of the schools, the size of the schools. I'm certainly
in favor of very small school sites."

Toni Guinyard>> He focuses on public schools, although his sons
attend private school. He says they deserve the best and adds
so do all students in Los Angeles.

Robert Hertzberg>> So what does it mean? It means that I'm
going to use the bully pulpit and the power of the mayor's
office, if it means charter changes, if it means leading a
constitutional amendment statewide. The mayor of Los Angeles
has enough political power to do it.

Jaime Regalado>> Bob obviously has fire in the belly. He's a
smart guy. He's an energetic guy.

Robert Hertzberg>> "She really would be a much better mayor of
Los Angeles than I am, but you're going to have to take second
best. But let me tell you something. She is going to be a
great First Lady of the city of Los Angeles."

Toni Guinyard>> His wife, Dr. Cynthia Telles, is no stranger to
the world of politics. Her father, Raymond Telles, was mayor of
El Paso, Texas in the fifties. She's expected to be a strong
presence in her husband's campaign and so is Assemblyman Mervyn
Dymally. Hertzberg began his political career in 1973 as an
intern for then Senator Dymally. Now Hertzberg is the mayoral
candidate who, in rapid fire fashion, lays out his ideas for
running the city.

Robert Hertzberg>> On day number one, I will sign an executive
order and eliminate road construction during rush hour, period.
I have to attack it like just hard and bring everybody in
intersection by intersection, figure out what we've got to do,
just focus like a laser beam. I said and will do in the first
ninety days as mayor convene all the experts, draft the proposal
of what we're going to do about the schools. I'm going to make
the cuts and dedicate the resources to begin to fill up the
academy, to bring the police officers to Los Angeles.

Toni Guinyard>> Why would you want to run for mayor of the city
of Los Angeles?

Robert Hertzberg>> (Laughter) A lot of people have asked me
that question. You know, I came home after serving in the
legislature for six years and the first person who was Speaker
in almost fifty years did not run for office again. I was
happy. I came to South Los Angeles and, as KCET's Life and
Times documented, I opened a solar energy factory.

Toni Guinyard>> Hertzberg no longer has financial interest in
the company.

Robert Hertzberg>> Mickey Kantor, the former Secretary of
Commerce, recruited me to a big law firm and I got involved with
the community and was very happy.

Toni Guinyard>> But happiness apparently has limits and, for
Hertzberg, the line begins and ends with Mayor James Hahn.

Robert Hertzberg>> He's just an old throwback, you know,
without his dad's skills and he's just killing this city.

Jaime Regalado>> Obviously, Hahn is the target of all the
candidates at this point and Bob Hertzberg is no different than
the others in going after Hahn tooth and nail. But it's
interesting that Hahn (inaudible) at Hertzberg and neither
Antonio. The expectation --

Toni Guinyard>> -- what does that tell you?

Jaime Regalado>> It tells us that Hahn is probably very fearful
of a Hertzberg runoff.

Robert Hertzberg>> You've got to be bold. You've got to get up
every day and fight for this place. There are a lot of things
that I want to do that I can't do from the outside. If I felt I
could, I'd stay on the outside.

Toni Guinyard>> Hertzberg is not one to stand on the outside.
He wants to be inside City Hall and, if the vote goes his way,
he already knows how he's getting there. A 1958 Chevrolet
Apache truck he restored.

Robert Hertzberg>> This is it. If I'm fortunate enough to be
selected, this is what I'm driving to work the first day.

Toni Guinyard>> But to make that drive, he's going to have to
quickly become a familiar face and name to people outside of his
home turf.

>> "Okay, well, are you interested in having just a look
through to see our candidate?"

Toni Guinyard>> As his supporters handing out campaign flyers
discovered, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Robert Hertzberg>> "Just put your seatbelts on when I'm mayor
of Los Angeles and hold on because I'm going, I'm going, and it
ain't stopping until we're in City Hall. Thanks, everybody."

Toni Guinyard>> I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times.

Val>> Life and Times is profiling all five major candidates for
mayor. If you've missed any, you can go to our website where
you'll also find links to the candidates' websites.

Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and
Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts
and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most
interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life
and Times".


Val>> Here is a statistic that will shock you. Three-quarters
of all the computers in peoples' homes are just sitting in
attics, garages or closets. That's right. Three out of four
home computers are going unused. Part of the problem is you
can't throw them in the trash because they have all sorts of
contaminates, so what can you do with them? Well, here's an
answer from a different kind of computer geek.

This is SoCal Computer Recyclers in Harbor City. It was started
six years ago and, in terms of square footage, it's grown
twelve-fold since then. Randy Lewis is the founder and owner
and he's excited about a new law that also benefits consumers.
It makes the recycling of computer monitors free and easy.

Randy Lewis>> You can drop off the stuff for free at a place
like my warehouse or at any of these mobile recycling events or
from a lot of other places. However, it's not really, truly
free. When you buy a new TV or you buy a new monitor, you have
to pay something up front to cover that cost.

Val>> I think it's between six and ten dollars.

Randy Lewis>> Between six and ten dollars, depending on the
size. Once that happens, that money, that fee, goes into a fund
and then the state administers the fund and pays recyclers and
collectors like myself to safely and properly recycle it.

Val>> You used to have to pay ten dollars to have a computer
monitor or anything with a video screen recycled. But as of
January 1, 2005, it's free. No fee required.

Randy Lewis>> So this new law enables us to not have to charge
the clients, which again is a good thing for us. So every step
of the way, I think what the state has done and the decisions
they've made have been very good not just for my industry, but
for all the consumers in California.

Val>> On the average, three thousand pounds of electronics come
through these doors every day. It may sound like a lot, but
consider this: America produces 150 million pounds of electronic
waste every year. How much is that?

Randy Lewis>> If you were to pile all that up and make a giant
pyramid out of it, not only would you be able to see it from
space, but it would be bigger than the entire city of Las Vegas.

Val>> And who does all the dismantling? Some very special
folks.

Randy Lewis>> We're very fortunate that we've got the
Vocational Rehabilitation Center right down the street from us,
so we're able to offer job training to these vocational
rehabilitation people and they do great work for us.

Val>> I hear you're one of the fastest.

Basil Hayden>> Yes, ma'am, because Mike and Chad train me to
become a professional employee here. I caught on after six days
and then I got good in three months, six months, and then I got
bonuses here and gifts from the bosses for being a good and
faithful employee and I really enjoy working here. I keep
things clean, being organized for Randy and the staff and I just
love it.

Randy Lewis>> We have things separated out by the power
supplies, different cables, plastics and metal, and each of
those components get recycled separately because there are
chemicals in there that definitely don't belong in the landfill.

Val>> Heavy metals are bad news for our landfills and it's
estimated that electronic waste is responsible for seventy
percent of all the heavy metals found in our dump sites.

Randy Lewis>> Monitors have between five and seven pounds of
lead per unit and, if you throw that in the trash, it could leak
into the groundwater, contaminate the soil. We don't need that
stuff going in there.

Val>> SoCal Recyclers doesn't just take in computer monitors.
It takes in almost every electronic gadget you could think of at
no charge. What is all this?

Randy Lewis>> Our rules is that we'll take anything with a
circuit board and a plug, so at every event, we count on the
fact that we're going to get some sort of oscilloscope or test
equipment. We also are positive that, at any one time, we're
going to get a vacuum cleaner, we're going to get a coffee
machine, we're going to get a copy machine. We get lots of fax
machines and it's things that we've grown to expect. All of
this stuff can be recycled. None of it belongs in the landfill,
so we'll take anything and this is proof.

A lot of this stuff can be used by collectors. A lot of
collectors come by. They'll see this stuff. They can't live
without it. Stuff is really cheap because it doesn't really
cost us anything to attain it. People are getting rid of it and
our main mantra is "Keep it in use". It's the same amount of
work to keep it in use as opposed to breaking it down, so if we
can keep it in use, we know it's not going to go in the
landfill.

Val>> We have large screen televisions, tons of VCRs,
computers. Where did all this stuff come from?

Randy Lewis>> All this stuff came from Hollywood Park. This
represents two pickups over one day.

Val>> Does this stuff work?

Randy Lewis>> Most of the time, we get things for one of two
reasons. Either it's too old or because it's broken. So if it
looks really, really nice, we already know that it's probably
broken. If it doesn't look so good, then it's worth testing and
we try to keep it in use and we'll clean it up.

Val>> Now this looks familiar. It's a cell phone mass grave.
Look at this. Do you get a lot of these?

Randy Lewis>> We do get a lot of these. Especially at events,
people always throw in, along with everything else, at the last
minute they'll remember that old cell phone in the closet and
throw these along.

Val>> Now, are cell phones in general very recyclable or not?

Randy Lewis>> Some parts of them are. For example, the circuit
board inside a cell phone is very recyclable. The batteries
inside out? Not very recyclable, something you definitely don't
want to have in a landfill. Nickel metal hydrate, lithium ion,
you really don't want to have those going into a landfill where
they can contaminate everything. So it's better to bring them
to us and let us safely recycle the batteries at the same time.

Val>> How about plastics?

Randy Lewis>> Plastics are actually a problem within the
industry. They're getting better these days, but originally a
computer could have up to four different kinds of plastic.
Recently there's been a trend from manufacturers to try to make
things easier. They want to use one type of plastic, maybe two.
They want to make sure the plastic they have is recyclable and
easy to take apart.

Val>> Check this out. DVD player, probably broken.

Randy Lewis>> If not, you can break it if it'll make you feel
better (laughter).

Val>> E-therapy.

Randy Lewis>> That's one of the best things about this job. On
a really bad day, I can take a crow bar out here and go nuts.
What am I going to do? Break it? It can't get any more broken.

Val>> About half their revenues come from refurbishing
computers and reselling them pretty cheap, about two hundred to
fifty dollars apiece, but they also give plenty of computers
away.

Randy Lewis>> We get letters all the time from people saying
they need a computer for their school or for their church.
We're very happy to be able to help out.

Val>> Now, another big concern are that companies who have all
sorts of sensitive data on their computers may be reluctant to
drop them off because they don't know what's going to happen to
those hard drives.

Randy Lewis>> And that's one of the cornerstones that may
define this company was start by removing all the data. We do
asset management, we do hard drive declassification, we run a
special program that writes layers of ones and zeroes over the
drive, starting at the first sector, ending at the last, burying
it over seven layers of data, then we erase it all.

Val>> Of the millions of personal computers that become
obsolete each year, only about eleven percent are recycled.
Randy Lewis is determined to get that number up and, as their
slogan says, they're "saving the world one computer at a time."
If you'd like to find out about electronics and computer
collection events in your area, go to the website erecycle.org.
In the meantime, Socal Recyclers is having a collection event at
the Torrance Courthouse on April 23. That's Earth Day.

To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us
by mail at this address:

Life and Times
4401 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, California 90027

You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or
contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org.

Larry Mantle>> Welcome to FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm
Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC. Coming up in our first film, it's a
comedy starring Will Smith, "Hitch".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> I'm joined this week by film critics Jean
Oppenheimer of New Times and Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley
Beat. Andy is going to start us off. Our first film, "Hitch"?

Andy Klein>> "Hitch" is a romantic comedy and I love when they
try and recapture the romantic comedies that were so great in
the 1930's and the 1940's, but once again they failed to do it.
This is really tepid. Will Smith plays Hitch who is the Think
Doctor. He's a guy in New York who basically advises dorky men
on how to come on to the women they're madly in love with
without completely screwing it up. He's working with this
accountant played by Kevin James who's very, very funny from
"King of Queens". Kevin James is in love with this heiress and
she's a gorgeous jetsetter, so Will Smith is feeding him lines
and trying to help him court this woman.

At the same time, Will Smith is falling in love with a reporter
played by Eva Mendes who's a gossip columnist who would love to
blow the lid on all this. Other than Will Smith's charm,
there's really not much happening here. I thought it was way
too long and the scenes were too long.

Larry Mantle>> Jean?

Jean Oppenheimer>> I really disagree. I think, particularly to
last week's "The Wedding Date" which was the most charmless,
superficial romantic comedy, I think that "Hitch" actually
really works very well. I think part of it is that it's such a
good script. It's a first-time scriptwriter named Kevin Bisch.
But I think he creates really believable characters who have
real emotions. I thought some of the dialog was very funny.

In terms of the actors, I agree with Andy. I think Kevin James
was wonderful. I've never seen the TV show. I thought that the
super model who played the socialite, Amber Valletta, actually
seemed to have some of the flair that Cameron Diaz does. I
thought Eva Mendes was a bit off in the casting and that didn't
work as well. But overall, I thought it was really cute. And
the fact that I could buy into some of these unlikely romances
to me was a sign of the film's success.

Andy Klein>> You're an easy sell (laughter).

Larry Mantle>> Our second film is a British movie that's done
in the Indian Bollywood style of filmmaking. It's from the
director of "Bend It Like Beckham" and is a take on Jane
Austen's "Pride & Prejudice". The movie is "Bride & Prejudice".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> Jean, what did you think of "Bride & Prejudice"?

Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I can sum it up in three words. It
was sweet, but silly. Or maybe silly, but sweet. I'd actually
never seen a Bollywood film, so this was an introduction for me.
It had all the conventions I've always heard about. I mean, it
was very colorful. It's got singing, it's got these extravagant
musical numbers, it's got romance, it's got comedy. You
certainly don't have to have read Jane Austen's "Pride &
Prejudice" to enjoy this film or to get something out of it.

However, I must say that, for me at least, I think the fact that
I'm very familiar with the book put an extra layer, added an
extra layer, to the film for me because I could be thinking
about, all right, which character was she changing here and, oh,
that character is playing somebody that I know from the book.
That made it a lot more enjoyable actually for me.

Larry Mantle>> Andy?

Andy Klein>> I agree. I actually haven't read "Pride &
Prejudice" since high school, so I had forgotten everything. I
checked afterwards and was delighted to see that everything that
I thought maybe this is a new part of the story that she's
added, it all turned out to be stuff from the book and very
cleverly transferred. I thought this was delightful. It's
basically Bollywood-like. It's different from a real Bollywood
film in that it's under two hours, which is rare, but it does
get the musical numbers right and it's a total sort of fantasy
production. Very colorful and lots of dancing and singing.

I thought it was great. It's like an old-time musical and the
only problem for me was the leading man, Martin Henderson, who
was also in "The Ring", who just vanishes off the screen
particularly when the star, the leading lady, is there, whose
name I'm not going to try and pronounce, but who is so
devastatingly magnetic that he doesn't stand a chance.

Larry Mantle>> And finally this week, we close with a
documentary of a highly controversial film that opened in 1972.
"Inside Deep Throat" is directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy
Barbato who did the documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Fay".

[Film Clip]

Larry Mantle>> "Inside Deep Throat", Andy Klein?

Andy Klein>> This documentary looks at really more the cultural
phenomenon of Deep Throat's success than at the film itself,
though it does throw in some details about the making of the
film. It talks to whatever people are still around who are
involved. For those who are too young to remember or who have
blocked out the 1970's for whatever reason, "Deep Throat" was
essentially a hardcore porn film that became validated as a
movie that middle-class couples could go to. This was a real
first. It was a big breakthrough. It was coming after the
sexual revolution of the late 1960's and it became this
international phenomenon.

Very quickly, however, there were a lot of forces of repression
cracking down on it and it's very reminiscent of things that are
going on in the last few years as well. Actually, some of the
same religious right people who got, you know, all upset back
then are doing it again now. It's a pretty interesting film. I
really wish that they had pointed out that, if "Deep Throat"
itself hadn't come along, there would have been another film
just like it. It's not the specific film that was so important
as much as a cultural moment that was waiting for a film like
that to happen.

Larry Mantle>> In fact, I think you could argue there was kind
of an unlikely candidate for that. The timing was so right
instead of another film. What did you think, Jean Oppenheimer,
of the documentary?

Jean Oppenheimer>> Well, I thought it almost tried to cover too
much ground and felt a little bit superficial because of that.
I think it was really good that it approached the subject from a
lot of different angles, all of which were important ones. The
issues themselves were very serious. It's almost -- I got the
feeling that the filmmakers were treating it in a sort of fun,
rebellious way, the subject, as the original film was apparently
intended. In some ways, that distracted from the seriousness of
what the issues were. I think it comes off a little bit
dismissive of the people who have a different view from the
filmmakers. Although to give this film credit, it certainly had
people on both sides of the political divide talking about it.

Larry Mantle>> Thanks for joining us for another edition of
FilmWeek on Life and Times. I'm Larry Mantle of 89.3 KPCC
joined by critics Andy Klein of City Beat and Valley Beat, and
Jean Oppenheimer of New Times. Please join us again next week
at this same time for another edition of FilmWeek on Life and
Times.

Val>> And remember that you can hear a full hour of FilmWeek
every Friday morning at 11:00 a.m. on KPCC 889.3. And that's
our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times,
thanks for watching. We'll see you tomorrow.

Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of
the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality
of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of
medicine, health, science and education.

And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times --

Inside California's juvenile prisons. Critics say the way we
lock kids up is a crime.

>> Chad was called gladiator school and it's like, I mean, it's
like hardcore criminals right there and everything and it's like
another step towards, you know what I mean, prison.

Val>> That's next time on Life and Times.