02/22/05

LC050222

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

He may be lagging behind in fundraising and trailing in the
polls, but mayoral candidate Richard Alarcon says wait until
election day.

Richard Alarcon>> If I paid any attention to the polls, I would
have never run for office the first time. When they had me
fifth in the running there as they have me now, it's not about
Richard Alarcon. It's about what the people want.

Val>> And then, would Spiderman seem as powerful without his
web? Or Lemony Snicket as devious without his wardrobe? This
year's Oscar nominated costumes are ready for their close-ups.

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.

With additional support for Life and Times from the Ralph M.
Parsons Foundation.

Val>> His political career started early. He was the first
Latino to be elected Student Body President at his high school.
Richard Alarcon is now a State Senator representing part of the
San Fernando Valley, but he doesn't want to stop there. He
wants to be mayor of the city of Los Angeles. As Toni Guinyard
tells us, it's an uphill battle, but Richard Alarcon is
undeterred.

Richard Alarcon>> I believe that I've walked the walk and not
just talked the talk.

Toni Guinyard>> Los Angeles mayoral candidate, Richard Alarcon,
has been doing a lot of talking.

Richard Alarcon>> I want to change the city of Los Angeles and
I believe the best way to do that is to become mayor.

Toni Guinyard>> And he believes there is an audience for what
he has to say.

Richard Alarcon>> Well, I'm the guy that wants to first clean
up the pay to play scandal at City Hall. I want to eliminate
the influence of the contractors and developers who are stealing
the decisions away from the neighborhoods and destroying
neighborhoods. I want to give the power back to the
neighborhoods.

Toni Guinyard>> Alarcon launched his bid for mayor with the
promise of building middle-class. It's a campaign theme born
from his memories of growing up in the San Fernando Valley and
his desire to take some decision-making power from politicians
and give it to the people.

Richard Alarcon>> "We should not fear the neighborhood
councils. We should fear the people who are making the
decisions now, the special interests, the contractors, the
developers who don't give a damn about the congestion in our
streets."

Toni Guinyard>> It's become a cornerstone issue for Alarcon
during four of his mayoral debates.

Richard Alarcon>> "I absolutely believe neighborhood councils
should have planning authority and land use authority."

Toni Guinyard>> And interviews.

Richard Alarcon>> I want to give City Hall back to the people.

Toni Guinyard>> But that means changing a culture that's been
ingrained for years and years. What's the first step towards
doing that?

Richard Alarcon>> Well, more than changing the culture, you
have to change the rules. You can't just change the name.
You've got to change the game.

Raphael Sonenshein>> Richard Alarcon is a guy with a lot of
experience both in Los Angeles city government and in state
government.

Toni Guinyard>> Cal State Fullerton Political Science Professor
Raphael Sonenshein.

Raphael Sonenshein>> He was the first Latino elected official
from the San Fernando Valley. He was in the City Council.

Richard Alarcon>> "I think this is absolutely fruitless."

Raphael Sonenshein>> Elected back in 1993 and then moved on to
the State Senate in 1998 where he has been ever since. He's an
interesting guy because he's the only candidate in the race
who's been talking about poverty in Los Angeles as an issue and
saying that that's something that ought to be dealt with
directly.

Richard Alarcon>> One of my first acts as mayor would be to
convene a group to come up with a master plan for Los Angeles
for each of the issues of poverty that affect Los Angeles.

Toni Guinyard>> As Co-Chair of the Joint Legislative Committee
to end poverty in California, the Senator is already addressing
issues of the working poor at the state level. Now the concern
has become a priority in his bid for mayor.

Raphael Sonenshein>> It's rare to hear a candidate talk about
poverty issues. At the same time, in his appearance, his style,
his demeanor and the other issues he talks about, he addresses
the sort of Valley semi-suburban issues.

Toni Guinyard>> Issues addressed during an appearance at the
Canoga Park West Hills Chamber of Commerce Installation Dinner,
a rare non-campaign event during the final weeks of a tough
campaign.

Richard Alarcon>> "It's about the American dream. It's about
that entrepreneurial spirit that has compassion and concern for
our community as a whole."

Toni Guinyard>> Alarcon must connect with voters outside of
this room and well outside of the San Fernando Valley senatorial
district he represents. From a hotel in Woodland Hills to the
First AME Church, the campaign trail winds through communities
he's counting on for support.

Richard Alarcon>> "We have to build that bridge of trust
between the Latino community and the African-American
community."

Toni Guinyard>> He doesn't miss a chance to remind constituents
that it was during Mayor Tom Bradley's administration that he
got his first taste of Los Angeles city politics, his message
tailored to the audience. On this day, primarily members of the
African-American community.

Richard Alarcon>> "Mayor Bradley hired me as a senior policy
analyst and expressed trust when I was twenty-seven years old.
You do not know how that made a young Latino male feel when an
African-American leader with the stature of Mayor Bradley would
reach out and say, "You are the one that I trust."

Richard Alarcon>> I think any candidate would be foolish to say
that there isn't some ethnic voters, but the fact of the matter
is that there's a lot of voting that isn't ethnic. Once they
get past that, they say what are you going to do for me?

Toni Guinyard>> Alarcon says his bid for mayor is not about
what he says, it's about the people. He points to work done
during his City Council term as proof of what can be
accomplished if given the chance to serve as mayor.

Richard Alarcon>> When I developed the General Motors plan and
created four thousand jobs, I negotiated with business and I
negotiated with the community. When the community came together
with business, it was a beautiful thing. They created four
thousand jobs in a way that the project was embraced.

Toni Guinyard>> But his accomplishments have failed to
translate into campaign contributions. The Senator is lagging
far behind in fundraising, but when you ask him about it, he'll
tell you that says a lot.

Richard Alarcon>> What it tells me is that I'm doing the right
thing. It tells me that I'm standing up to the powerful
interests. I'm not their poster child. They don't want to vote
for me. They don't want to support me because they want the
system the way it is.

Toni Guinyard>> Despite Alarcon's seeming lack of concern about
money to continue funding his campaign, Jaime Regalado of the
Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs says dollars will make the
difference in the final days of the race.

Jaime Regalado>> If you don't have money to spread and compete
side by side, almost commercial for commercial, especially on
television -- radio to a lesser degree -- then you're out of the
competition pool, so it's huge.

Television Ad>> "They jacked up the water rates and waste the
money on PR contracts, so I sued them."

Toni Guinyard>> The tough-guy image reflected in this campaign
ad gives no hint that Alarcon has been labeled the underdog.
He's behind in the polls now as he was during the contentious
race against Assemblyman Richard Katz for the Twentieth District
senate seat. Alarcon won the race by only twenty-nine votes.

Richard Alarcon>> I was nineteen percentage points down in the
polls two weeks before my senatorial race and I won that race.
You know, polls --

Toni Guinyard>> -- how do you explain it?

Richard Alarcon>> The polls are obviously flawed, but the
people are not. On election day, that's the only poll that
counts.

>> "And I'm calling on behalf of Senator Richard Alarcon, the
candidate for mayor of Los Angeles."

Toni Guinyard>> At the Alarcon, Senator for Mayor campaign
headquarters in Van Nuys, volunteers are manning phone banks.
The ring of the bell signals the promise of a vote pledged to
back the candidate and his platform.

Richard Alarcon>> As a legislator, I've introduced a bill to
create a regional airport authority because I don't like the LAX
plan. We need to build a new airport. We can hire a thousand
new cops under my administration without raising taxes, by
placing the burden where it should be, on those people who are
getting free rides from LAPD, and the taxpayers are having to
bear the brunt for it to protect the shipping lines, the
airlines and DWP.

I'm the one that's suing the city of Los Angeles because they
raised the water rates illegally. I'm the one that's
introducing the ballot measure to eliminate contractor and
developer contributions to City Hall. That will change Los
Angeles. I'm the one that's taking the airlines on at the
airport. I'm the one that's taking on the shipping lines at the
harbor. I think the people know the difference between somebody
who's going to fight for them and somebody who's going to fight
for contributions.

Toni Guinyard>> And one more thing, he says don't worry about
how to pronounce his name.

Richard Alarcon>> My father says Alarcon, my mother says
Alarcon. In Spanish, we say Alarcon, but to sort of simplify it
for people who don't speak Spanish, the kids have all come up
Alarcon. Alarcon, Alarcon, Alarcon, you know, however you want
to say it, I hope people will remember it as a name that was
good for Los Angeles.

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

Val>> Life and Times has profiled all five major candidates for
Los Angeles 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>> We've all seen how the shooting of Devin Brown has caused
a change in police policy and we've heard black leaders express
outrage at the killing of a thirteen year old and rightly so.
But there are a lot of less predictable perspectives that you
won't hear expressed in news conferences or police commission
meetings. We thought we'd bring you three of them.

We begin with Joe Hicks, who's known for his Contrarian views on
race. Hicks is Vice President of Community Advocates. Joe
Hicks, you're with Community Advocates whose mission it is to
rethink issues of race and ethnicity. How might you rethink
race in view of the Devin Brown shooting?

Joe Hicks>> Well, I think we have to assess conditions today
and not always use a path as a reference point. There's a lot
of oppositional thinking that we use here around this particular
incident, but many in the past, the Stanley Miller case, on and
on and on that's been a constant very static view of who the
police are and how they operate that doesn't seem to take into
account any change has taken place over the last at least ten
years or fourteen years. You still hear people talking about a
culture of violence. You still hear rhetoric that would make
you think we've got a bunch of jack-booted thugs in blue
uniforms policing our communities. That's just not realistic.

Over the last fourteen years or so, we have in the department
now well over fifty percent minority and women officers. That,
if nothing else, would cause change. We've had back to back
black police chiefs. Chief Bratton is not, but we have a
history of this symbol of leadership that certainly want to do
things to change the makeup of the department policy-wise and
otherwise. Yet you listen to what's been said over the last
week or so, you would think that nothing had changed at all
since the days of Daryl Gates. I think that's simply
oppositional thinking that operates on its own track and its own
agenda regardless of what reforms have been put into place.

Val>> Yet why do you think that old track of thinking still
exists? Where is it coming from?

Joe Hicks>> Well, I think there's something that's almost
cathartic about trying to see the police in this way and to
continue to claim that the black community and black residents
of the city are victims not only of a "race system", but
continue to be victims of a police department that continually
victimizes them and sees them almost as people to be brutalized
almost at every turn.

I think, again, that's unfair. It insults the good men and
women in the uniform. Sure, there are some bad apples out
there. We all know that you can draw from the general
population and you're going to get some folks that perhaps don't
operate with the best thoughts in mind. But is that what we
have in certain parts of the city? I would argue that certainly
it's not.

Val>> Our second perspective comes from Rabbi Gary Greenebaum
of the American Jewish Committee. Greenebaum served on the
police commission during the tumultuous tenure of Chief Willie
Williams.

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum>> Back when Daryl Gates was police chief
when Warren Christopher came forward with the major report after
the Rodney King beating and these are all the changes he got up
with, I was at that press conference. Here are all the things
that need to be changed in the LAPD. The press then went to
Daryl Gates and said what do you have to say to this? He said
we've done almost all of that.

Val>> Just dismissed it.

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum>> He said we've done all that. You know,
there's not a problem and all the changes that he thinks need be
made, we've done all that. That was his response. You look at
the responses of Chief Bratton and it's very different. First
of all, his relationship to the African-American community has
been built very painstakingly over the time that he's been here,
number one. So there's some trust there. Number two, he did
the right thing. You know, his reaction was that he didn't say
there shouldn't be protests. He didn't say that everybody
should just go away, there's nothing here. He said it's
important that people protest. It's important that people react
and that people respond, but he also said --

Val>> -- and we're going to change his policy.

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum>> And we're going to change his policy,
and they need to respond, but let's not go overboard. Let's
keep it real. Let's talk about what really happened. Let's not
spread false rumors, but it's important that we get this
response that gives us the force to move forward and to really
change things. That's the right kind of response. Then we need
to see more of the right kind of LAPD members doing the right
thing.

You know, I think what also is sad here is that we really do
need two thousand more police officers so that they're not
overworked and stressed and so forth and pulled in too many
directions. But when you're afraid of the police, you don't
think more police is the answer to your problems, yet African-
American neighborhoods -- not all, but to some good extent --
are some of the places where a lot of the crime is taking place
and we really need to do crime suppression in those areas. If
we don't, then, again, the community is not responding at the
appropriate rate. We need more police in those exact
neighborhoods to work with the community to bring down the level
of violence.

Val>> Our third perspective comes from someone who will be
familiar to Life and Times viewers, Kerman Maddox. He runs his
own public relations firm, teaches political science at a
community college and is a political commentator on television
and in print. Kerman, great to see you again.

Kerman Maddox>> Great seeing you again, Val.

Val>> Now you've written an article that's appeared in several
papers in which you say that the African-American community is
more comfortable debating police brutality than personal
responsibility. Why do you say that?

Kerman Maddox>> Well, I say that, Val, because recently the
shooting regarding the young man Devin Brown created a lot of
controversy and there's been a lot of focus about what the
police did and what they did wrong and there's not been a lot of
focus about the notion that Devin Brown was out at like three or
four in the morning and what about adult supervision and things
like that. So what we've been doing in the community is seeing
if we can shift the debate. Yeah, we want to talk about
reforming LAPD so incidents like Devin Brown never happen again,
but we also want to vigorously debate and pursue what about
adult supervision. What I'm saying is African-Americans
historically have been unwilling to talk about those things that
reflect us in a negative light.

Val>> What can be done? How can you change?

Kerman Maddox>> Well, it's a combination of a number of things.
A lot of people like myself are involved in schools as mentors,
so I think you have to start at a very, very early age. We have
to roll up our sleeves. We have to go back to some of the
basics, some of the things my parents did with me. You know, I
know it sounds old-fashioned and hocus, but really I think it
goes back to the household, people getting involved and talking
to people about fundamentally the differences between right and
wrong, respect for authorities, things like that.

Val>> You're actually involved in a mentor program, right?

Kerman Maddox>> Yeah, there's a program called "See a Man, Be a
Man". The concept is that young boys see men like myself and
others. We work with them and we mentor them. One of the
schools we're based at happens to be Audubon Middle School which
is in the Crenshaw District which is where, unfortunately, Devin
Brown did attend. Devin Brown was not a part of the group, but
the concept is let's work with these young boys, let's work with
these young men, let's mentor them, let's point them in the
right direction and do whatever we can.

Val>> So Devin Brown would have been a perfect candidate for a
mentor. He was a young man who'd lost his father, he needed
some guidance, he was going through a tough time in life, right?

Kerman Maddox>> Absolutely. He's the young man that you want
to reach out and see if you can grab and hold and hug and work
with. Michael Franklin, who works with us at Audubon Middle
School, had talked to Devin Brown the Friday before he passed
away trying to see if we could get young Devin to get in the
program. It just never happened, but Devin Brown is the kind of
young man we want to work with and mentor and do whatever we can
to keep them from getting involved in trouble.

Val>> From being out at four o'clock in the morning.

Kerman Maddox>> From being out at four o'clock in the morning.
There are a lot of temptations that these young kids go through
because of things that are going on the neighborhood and what
we're trying to do is work with them to resist those temptations
and basically do the right thing.

Val>> Kerman, thank you so much. Great seeing you again.

Kerman Maddox>> Thank you, Val. Good seeing you again.

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Val>> It's Oscar season and few of us will get to see the stars
up close, but we can see the costumes that were made for the
stars. They're on exhibit at a fashion institute in downtown
Los Angeles and, as Vicki Curry tells us, sometimes even the big
screen doesn't do these costumes justice.

Vicki Curry>> Kevin Jones, you are Fashion Historian here at
the museum at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
and this exhibit is called "The Art of Motion Picture Costume
Design". Tell me about it.

Kevin Jones>> This is our thirteenth incarnation of this
exhibition and it really has grown over the years. We initially
had a very small gallery and had seven films, I think it was.
Now we have a ten thousand square foot gallery and we are
hosting costumes from twenty-six films from the year 2004. It
takes about a year for us to pull the exhibition together and we
have about sixty films that we then pare down to twenty-five or
twenty-six films. We really judge them based on the creativity
and the content of their costumes and how well they interpret
the characters. I'm proud to say, actually, that over the
thirteen years we have had all five nominees for best costume
design every year.

Vicki Curry>> It seems to me at first glance that costumes from
movies tend to come down into either something fantastical or
something historical or period. Scenes like "Lord of the Rings"
is a perfect example. Every year, you guys honor the winner
from last year.

Kevin Jones>> Yes. And last year, Richard Taylor won for the
third of the "Lord of the Rings" series. A gentleman named
Jamie Wilson actually comes all the way from New Zealand to help
us install these costumes because they are so complex. There
can be up to twenty-five individual parts per costume and none
of these costumes come with instructions, so it's very difficult
to actually dress them, so they send a courier over to help us
to install.

Vicki Curry>> So here is "Phantom of the Opera", very clearly
historical. Tell me about this.

Kevin Jones>> Yes, the movie takes place roughly in the 1870's
and we're really mixing a lot of time periods together. Since
this is opera, "Phantom of the Opera", the costumes are really
over the top and a lot of fun. We have Minnie Driver's huge
kind of eighteenth century dress that literally everything has
been thrown onto it. It really looks like a sumptuous piece of
pastry. Next to her is Christine Rossum, who is the star of the
movie. She is the lady that the phantom is in love with. Next
to her in the sumptuous red velvet is the phantom himself. The
coat is extraordinary because it's all hand-embroidered.

[Film Clip]

Kevin Jones>> Behind us, we have "Ray" designed by Sharon Davis
and she's pulled from a lot of historical research in order to
bring "Ray" to the screen in that authentic period look. From
what I hear, she had an extremely small budget. So to be able
to work this historical costume magic, it's quite a talent.

Vicki Curry>> And she was nominated for the Oscar for best
costume?

Kevin Jones>> Yes, indeed, and I think was well-received along
those lines.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Here's another Oscar nominee. It's "Lemony
Snicket" and that seems to be kind of a combination of
historical and fantastical.

Kevin Jones>> Yes, Colleen Atwood did a really well-balanced
job since this is a fantastical movie set in an unreal time.
She's kind of gotten around a time period by using mini time
periods. The lady right behind me is very 1895, really the
1890's with the large sleeves and the full train down. The
striped costume behind us is actually not striped material.
Every bit of that has been pieced together according to the
individual pattern parts, so it just makes for fantastical
detail you can see on the screen.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Here's another Oscar nominee, "The Aviator",
which again is considered historical because it's early
twentieth century.

Kevin Jones>> Yes. Sandy Powell has done a perfect job
recreating Hollywood of the 1920's, 1930's and 1940's. We are
dealing with a real live character here, Howard Hughes, so
everybody knows what the time periods looked like. Many people
are still alive who knew Howard Hughes, so to really get the
costumes right, you have to do your costume research.

Vicki Curry>> Here's another movie based on a real life person.
This is "Finding Neverland".

Kevin Jones>> Yes, but it's from quite an earlier time period.
We're dealing with 1905, 1910 in historical London. Going from
"The Aviator" right into Edwardian society at the height of its
time period takes a different kind of historical research.
Often costume designers mix real period pieces into the films
along with recreated garments.

Vicki Curry>> Now this is, I think, probably the ultimate in
fantasy, "Spiderman", which is obviously based on a comic book.

Kevin Jones>> Yes, every kid's superhero fantasy. The costumes
are really amazing things. Acheson did an incredible job. Next
to me is Doc Oc, obviously based on an octopus. He is the evil
villain in the movie. On top of the skylight is Spiderman
himself. Now we had lots of questions about that mannequin
(laughter).

Vicki Curry>> Oh, really?

Kevin Jones>> This is not a mannequin we had in our collection.
This is actually a custom created mannequin specifically for
this suit.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> Here's a film that I found particularly gorgeous,
"House of Flying Daggers", which takes place on the other side
of the world.

Kevin Jones>> Exactly. We're talking about really fantasy
Asian here, not a hundred percent historically accurate, but
really kind of evoking that area of the world, Pacific Rim. The
costumes seen behind us also had to be digitally manipulated as
well. The sparkled gown with the pink long sleeves that was
used in the famous scene where she throws her sleeves and plays
the drums.

[Film Clip]

Vicki Curry>> So, Kevin, I really wanted to point out this
particular display. It's pretty unique in terms of costume
design.

Kevin Jones>> Very unique. As far as I know, we've never
actually had marionettes dressed in our exhibition before
(laughter).

Vicki Curry>> So this is from the movie "Team America". It's
all marionettes and yet they did have to create actual costumes
for the marionettes.

Kevin Jones>> Yes, and this is quite a challenge. Karen Patch
is the designer and she scaled down everyday clothes to fit the
marionettes so something doesn't look out of proportion. It is
very difficult to do, particularly because they have knee pads
on. They have the ear microphones.

Vicki Curry>> Right. And the final Oscar nominee is a movie
that didn't get much attention elsewhere, but apparently did for
its costumes, "Troy".

Kevin Jones>> Yes. Bob Ringwood did an extraordinary job with
these costumes. Rarely is detail taken to this level. They are
so rich both in the texture and their color and their detail.
It really is extraordinary.

Vicki Curry>> And you were saying that, with these really old,
old costumes, a lot of that can be left to the imagination
because we don't have the historical data.

Kevin Jones>> Exactly. We have marble friezes or painted vases
that really kind of give you an idea of what the costumes looked
like, but very few actual historical artifacts have survived to
us. So you can be as creative as you want to be and mix
different time periods, different geographical locations, to
create a look of ancient Rome.

Vicki Curry>> Kevin Jones, thank you so much for walking me
through the exhibit.

Kevin Jones>> Thank you for coming and please come back to the
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

Val>> The costume exhibit will be on display through April 23.
You can check out their website or give them a call for details.
And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life
and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.

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.

With additional support for Life and Times from the Ralph M.
Parsons Foundation.

Val>> Next time on Life and Times --

He's been called a dreamer, a genius and a guru. Why are
thousands of people flocking to the California desert to see an
architect?

>> Human shelter is just a right, just like human rights for
government, for freedom, for food. Human rights for shelter.

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