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Life & Times Transcript
02/13/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- A new vision is in the works for Los Angeles's biggest natural treasure, but will we like its focus? Bernadette Soder>> Many more places where, if you're coming to Griffith Park, you will need to bring your wallet. Val Zavala>> And then, California's poorest patients can get free medical care, but can they find doctors to treat them? These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> 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 Zavala>> It's been called both majestic and shabby. It is Los Angeles's forty-two hundred acre Griffith Park and it's in need of a makeover. So the question is, can hikers, golfers, bikers, tourists, kids, wildlife, equestrians and pedestrians all get along? As Toni Guinyard tells us, the debate over Griffith Park's future has already begun. Joseph Drabinski>> It's very unusual to have this large of an untouched natural area in the middle of urban sprawl. Mary Button>> This kind of environment we're in now can never be reproduced and, once it's gone, it's gone. Tom Labonge>> People realize that this is a park. This is a great urban wilderness, emphasis on the wilderness. People think Central Park is big. We dwarf Central Park. Toni Guinyard>> Griffith Park is the largest urban park in the United States. While it may not look as if it's under attack, some people believe it's in danger and needs to be saved, and this is what they want to save the park from. It's a Draft Master Plan, a guide filled with proposals on ways to improve and manage the park for the next twenty-five or so years. It was put together for the City Recreation and Parks Department by a consulting firm at a cost of four hundred thousand dollars. Bernadette Soder>> When they opened the plan, we were surprised to see that more than two-thirds of it dealt with new developments and commercialization in the park. Toni Guinyard>> Bernadette Soder chairs the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council's Parks, River and Open Space Committee. It's one of several community groups that expected the draft to reflect residents' demands for preservation and sustainability. She and others complained the one hundred ninety-four page document focuses too much on development. Bernadette Soder>> Well, they're planning to make the park a lot more commercial, many more places where, if you're coming to Griffith Park, you will need to bring your wallet and you will need to spend money to be here. Toni Guinyard>> And in Soder's opinion, the thought of widening some streets, building aerial tramways, parking structures and a culinary school is a far cry from what the park's namesake had in mind and far from what park visitors can imagine. Mateo Gadioli>> I visit so many other cities, European and South American and Asian, but to have such an amazing park ten minutes from downtown is something that, to me, is wonderful. Toni Guinyard>> The land that is Griffith Park was donated to the city by Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith. The Welsh immigrant earned his riches investing in mining and, with this gift of land and the money to build the Griffith Observatory and Greek Theatre, he left his mark on southern California. In 1896, Colonel Griffith gave the people of Los Angeles three thousand fifteen acres of his estate. He wanted it to be used as park land. Now over the years, different attractions have been added and more land has been donated. Now the city of Los Angeles is evaluating how best to utilize Griffith Park in the years to come. Tom Labonge>> You know, it's like when you go to your doctor and you get a physical, he goes through everything. So what we're doing is going through and getting maybe a physical for Griffith Park to see what needs to be done to strengthen the park, to protect the park, to enhance the park, but not to damage the park at all. Toni Guinyard>> The physical that Los Angeles City Councilman Tom Labonge refers to is the Draft Master Plan. A long-time park user, Labonge pushed for the 1978 Griffith Park Master Plan to be updated. Although he now finds himself at odds with some of his constituents who have sounded a rallying cry to save Griffith Park -- Tom Labonge>> I would like to see more sports fields. Toni Guinyard>> -- he agrees with some of their criticisms. Tom Labonge>> I was disappointed about the length of this process. I was disappointed about how the draft was written in a lot of ways, some of those issues, because I saw an original idea that said a tram from the Toyon Canyon to the zoo. That's unacceptable. It doesn't work and it should not have been in the draft at all. It should have been erased. A culinary school or a hotel should not have been in there. A thing called the "Pleasure Pier" over the river should not have been in there. But it was in there and it's caused this discussion. Toni Guinyard>> It's a discussion that so angered so many that the councilman asked the City Recreation and Parks Department to form a working group with community members. Bernadette Soder>> We're trying once and for all to resolve the question of what is the purpose and function of Griffith Park so that every thirty-five or forty years the community won't have to rally and fight to preserve Griffith Park. Gerry Hans>> I'm afraid of the privatization, of making connections with outside corporations to run various vending opportunities, the "Disneyfication" of Griffith Park. Once that gets going, who knows where it could go? Toni Guinyard>> Gerry Hans and his wife, Mary Button, are runners. They own a business, RaceReady, a short distance away from the park. When they are here, they're often there training. Mary Button>> There's not enough green land. There's too much, as they say, paving of paradise and putting up parking lots. I just want to try and protect, you know, the beautiful, natural area that we have. Toni Guinyard>> What are you afraid of? Mary Button>> I'm afraid of having it get developed. Toni Guinyard>> The couple points out that L.A. Sports and Fitness magazine named Griffith Park a top spot for its running trails. They want the Draft Master Plan to reflect the interest of runners, but they say it does not. Gerry Hans>> The public is basically demanding that the Master Plan be rewritten the way the people of Los Angeles would like it to read. Toni Guinyard>> Joseph Drabinski first visited Griffith Park when he was in the fifth grade. Now he's a Senior Park Ranger. He's been with the Recreation and Parks Department for seventeen years, seven stationed here at Griffith Park. Joseph Drabinski>> Some people tell me I have the best job in the world and I'd have to agree with them. There's a lot of interest in this park. Just like Los Angeles is a melting pot, Griffith Park is a melting pot of interest. Equestrian, tennis playing, golfing, concert goers, hikers. Toni Guinyard>> He knows, perhaps more than most, that this park represents more than simply a place to escape. He also understands the conflict over the Draft Master Plan as simply an attempt by everyone who has a stake in the park to protect what they consider to be their own. Joseph Drabinski>> You name it, we have it, and everyone has their own interests. It's human nature to protect what you have. It's human nature to be, you know, a little bit wary of change. So when they see change coming along, they obviously think something is going to be taken away from them. Toni Guinyard>> But pleasing all of the interested parties is already proving to be tough. Critics believe the draft is being driven by efforts to make money. Bernadette Soder>> That was one of the complaints about the Master Plan, that the existing user groups in the park were not having their needs addressed in that plan, because the plan seemed to be chasing other users, new users, users who have money. Tom Labonge>> When they talk about commercialization, I think that's when confusion with the working group is that there has to be some reality that the city needs to have a certain amount of revenue to run the park. Toni Guinyard>> The working group is now rewriting portions of the Draft Master Plan to emphasize preservation and, despite the differing visions of what Griffith Park should be in the future, all sides seem to agree on one thing: this is a very special place. Joseph Drabinski>> It's essentially our back yard. Toni Guinyard>> A park blanketing more than forty-two hundred acres surrounded by cement, bordered by streets and freeways, homes and businesses, an oasis in the heart of the city. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> If you'd like more information on the Griffith Park Master Plan, you can go to laparks.org or savegriffithpark.org. Announcer>> 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 Zavala>> Being a doctor in California is generally a well-paid profession unless you treat California's neediest citizens. For doctors who are willing to take Medi-Cal patients, fees have been going down and now they're getting even worse. It's hard to believe that veterinarians treating pets get paid more per service than doctors who treat Medi-Cal patients. That's right. A veterinarian fixing a dog's broken leg will get paid about five hundred dollars. A physician fixing a broken arm of a person on Medi-Cal? Forty-four. When it comes to caring for our neediest patients, California doctors are among the lowest paid in the nation and the rates have just gotten lower by five percent. Dr. Brian Johnston>> Well, the Medi-Cal reimbursements have gone from poor to worse. California, before the cut went through, was fiftieth out of fifty states for physician reimbursement in Medi-Cal. Val Zavala>> Meaning we pay physicians who treat Medi-Cal patients less than what Mississippi does or Alabama and is the worst in the nation? Dr. Brian Johnston>> Worst in the nation, the lowest in the nation. Val Zavala>> Dr. Brian Johnston has been an emergency room physician at White Memorial Hospital in East Los Angeles for thirty years. Many of his patients are on Medi-Cal. Medi-Cal is the state's safety net for the poor. More than six million Californians who have no other coverage rely on Medi-Cal. Many are elderly, disabled or the working poor. Doctors have no obligation to accept Medi-Cal patients, but Dr. Johnston does, even though it means getting paid very little. Dr. Brian Johnston>> I could spend forty-five minutes with that patient. The payment from Medi-Cal would have been about twenty-four dollars. It will be twenty dollars now, which means that, you know, I can't buy a large pizza for that. I can't, you know, go to the movies for that. It's ridiculous. I mean, the only reason you would do that is because you have a human being in front of you who is really suffering and really needs help, so you do it. Val Zavala>> About ten miles away at Children's Hospital in Hollywood, Dr. Stuart Siegel is struggling with the same problem. He treats cancer patients, many of them without insurance. His fee from Medi-Cal is even less than what Medicare would pay. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> I might receive something in the range of sixty to eighty dollars possibly for a regular follow-up office visit. But with Medi-Cal, that number is going to be under forty dollars for that kind of visit. I would be happy if I could get reimbursed at Medicare rates for the care that I provide, as would be my colleagues. Val Zavala>> I first met Dr. Siegel six years ago. Even then, state reimbursement rates for treating seriously ill children were low. Since then, things have gotten worse and, today, two-thirds of California's doctors choose not to take Medi-Cal patients. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> With these rate reductions, the chances of physicians deciding that they want to be part of the system obviously go down. Val Zavala>> And it's hard on patients as well who have to search for doctors willing to take them. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> They may have to travel literally even hundreds of miles to find a physician with certain specialties that would be willing to care for them. Val Zavala>> The fee cuts were passed back in 2003 during the Davis administration, but a legal challenge kept them from going into effect until this year under Governor Schwarzenegger. Dr. Brian Johnston>> What the governor is saying and what Medi-Cal is saying is, well, we just have to obey the law. Val Zavala>> State health officials also say that the cuts were supposed to be retroactive, but Governor Schwarzenegger and lawmakers limited the cuts to just this year. In other words, things could have been much worse. The Department of Health Services says it doesn't like the idea of cutting doctors' fees, but they say it's better than cutting benefits to patients. In fact, they say, over the past twenty years, California has expanded the number of people who are eligible for Medi-Cal and given them more services. A spokesman for the State Department of Health Services says that no state is more generous with its Medi-Cal benefits than California. For example, California is one of only a dozen states offering dental services. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> The problem is that, if you say you're providing them, but then you don't pay adequately for them and therefore you don't have the providers there to deliver them, are you really providing them? Val Zavala>> But Dr. Johnston says that it's not just the meager fees that keep physicians away from the Medi-Cal program. It's the bureaucracy. Dr. Brian Johnston>> For example, if I decided to become a Medi-Cal provider today and didn't have a provider number -- I couldn't get paid until I got the provider number -- it would take me a year or more to get the number. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> I know that many physicians who see Medi-Cal patients don't even bother to bill because it literally costs more for them to bill than the reimbursement they receive. You can imagine, with that kind of situation, why so many doctors will not see patients with Medi-Cal coverage. Val Zavala>> A spokesman for the State Department of Health Services says, "We recognize the hardship the cuts will cause and appreciate the valuable services that physicians deliver to Medi-Cal patients." They are working with doctors associations to find other ways to save money. And how much will the cuts save? An estimated sixty million dollars a year. It sounds like a lot, but it is less than two-tenths of one percent of the total the state spends on Medi-Cal each year. Dr. Brian Johnston>> That saves the state sixteen million dollars, but because of the federal match, it takes a hundred twenty million dollars out of the health care system. Val Zavala>> And, says Dr. Johnston, once doctors drop out of the Medi-Cal program, it's very unlikely they'll rejoin. Dr. Brian Johnston>> Once an office says "no more", I don't think they're going to go back. My worry is that people will drop out and stay out. Val Zavala>> When there are fewer doctors treating Medi-Cal patients, you can be sure more sick people will turn up in our already crowded emergency rooms. >> "There's actually one, two, three, four, five, six patients right now and then there's four more admissions that I haven't even put on the board yet." Dr. Brian Johnston>> Twenty-five percent of the patients coming to the emergency departments are on Medi-Cal and that's because they can't get into an office, they can't get into a program. "Then one of them has been here twenty hours and fifty-two minutes?" >> "Correct, and two have been here over twelve hours." Val Zavala>> The Medi-Cal cuts don't just affect doctors, but home health care workers as well. Dr. Stuart Siegel>> We're hoping it's transitory. We hope the public will understand the terrible effect that this will have on the general health of the population. It will affect everybody, not just the patients who are not getting medical care, because the general health of the population will go down and the public will understand that this is a real priority. Dr. Brian Johnston>> This is not the way it ought to be. Not in the fifth largest economy in the world. Not in a civilized country. Not in a country that says, you know, "with liberty and justice for all". Does our system meet the needs of our people? I think clearly it doesn't. I think it's not designed to meet the needs of people. It's designed to fit a budget. Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "We need more roads, more hospitals, more schools, more nurses, more teachers." Val Zavala>> And come budget time, it will be up to the governor and state lawmakers to decide whether Medi-Cal reimbursements will be raised next year. Arnold Schwarzenegger>> "Thank you very much and God bless all of you. Thank you." Val Zavala>> I'm Val Zavala for Life and Times. Announcer>> 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. Val Zavala>> Orange County's cultural profile is rising. A beautiful new performing arts center is opening on the campus of Cal State Fullerton and, as Roger Cooper tells us, it's got not one or two, but three unique theaters. Roger Cooper>> It's been a long time coming, but there it sits on the campus of Cal State Fullerton. Built at a cost of forty-eight million dollars, it's the dream facility that faculty and students have wished for, the new Cal State Fullerton Performing Arts Center, one hundred nine thousand square feet of theaters and rehearsal halls for music, plays and dance, a beautiful state-of-the-art building for teaching and enjoying the performing arts, and it makes University President, Milton A. Gordon, very proud. Milton A. Gordon>> I'm in my sixteenth year here and I started working towards this building opening in the first year that I got here. Actually, it was on the planning board before I arrived, so I would conservatively estimate that the planning for this building has gone on for at least eighteen or nineteen years. I consider it the front door to the campus now. Roger Cooper>> We got to tour the campus's new front door guided by the Dean of the School of Arts, Jerry Samuelson. Jerry Samuelson>> This is the Jim Young thrust theater. We decided when we built this facility that we already had a proscenium theater. We wanted our students to have the opportunity to perform in this kind of a setting, so now we have all bases covered. Roger Cooper>> You're a theater person. What does it mean to you to have a facility like this? Jerry Samuelson>> Well, we've been under very crowded conditions for a lot of years and now to have a building like this with all of these wonderful new facilities is just a dream come true really. Roger Cooper>> And the acoustics? Jerry Samuelson>> The acoustics are -- we hope they're perfect (laughter). That's all we want is perfect acoustics. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> Students will also have use of this new black box theater which seats a hundred fifty for more intimate productions like this: "Grasmere" written by a Cal State Fullerton student. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> Earlier productions like this one won the school acclaim and invitations to perform it in Washington, New York and Chicago. [Film Clip] Jerry Samuelson>> We've had a really excellent program. Our theater program is ranked sixteenth in the nation, top sixteen of programs, and now they have a facility that matches what we've been able to do in very cramped quarters. It's really wonderful. Roger Cooper>> Associate Dean, Joe Arnold, likes the feel in the new theater. Joe Arnold>> I think the thing for everyone to remember is that these are magnificent spaces in this venue, but they're all student focused. This is all about student learning. Roger Cooper>> But the new performance venue that really makes jaws drop is inside these doors. Jerry Samuelson>> Behold. Roger Cooper>> Wow. What have we got here? Jerry Samuelson>> This is our Vaughncille Joseph Meng Concert Hall. This is a facility just for music, a true concert hall where the stage is out into the body of the audience and the canopy is movable. It's down in a very low position right now. It flies way, way up into the hall. Roger Cooper>> It's sort of like being under a flying saucer as it comes in (laughter). Jerry Samuelson>> It's one big flying saucer. It really is, yeah. Milton A. Gordon>> It will give us the right facility to showcase our students and our faculty and, on that, I could not be prouder. But it will also allow the university to incorporate more into the community. The one thing I've always insisted upon is that we're a part of the community, the entire community, the larger community. Jerry Samuelson>> This is my chance to sing, but I can't sing. Roger Cooper>> Same problem here (laughter). Jerry Samuelson>> But it is. It's wonderful looking out from this view, isn't it? Roger Cooper>> With this center, Cal State Fullerton is taking a stand against the trends of cutting arts programs. Milton A. Gordon>> It always saddens me that, when you get in a budget crunch, the arts are frequently programs that some want to cut. I think it's a mistake. Education is more than just a classroom experience. Jerry Samuelson>> In our state system, you have to get in the queue in order to get funding. We finally came to the top of the list and we did get forty-three million dollars from the state to build this facility. We also raised approximately five million dollars from private funds to help complete the building. Roger Cooper>> Any great hall needs a grand piano and Cal State Fullerton picked one. Wow. What is this? Jerry Samuelson>> This is a Hamburg Steinway. We sent two of our people from the music department over to Germany and they had the opportunity to look at five different pianos at the factory over there. Roger Cooper>> You know what I'm going to ask you. Could you honor us with one key? Jerry Samuelson>> (Laughter) Since I don't play -- Roger Cooper>> -- all the better. [Film Clip] Jerry Samuelson>> My piano faculty are going to have a fit that the Dean came in here and touched this piano (laughter). Roger Cooper>> Rounding out the new Performing Arts Center, a scene shop, a laboratory where students can learn lighting, and three new state-of-the-art dance studios. Jerry Samuelson>> Well, there is a basket-weave of wood underneath this and then there's felt and then there's this special finish that goes on top. Roger Cooper>> Cal State Fullerton's Center joins the ranks of premier performing venues on the west coast. Along with the Disney Hall in Los Angeles and the Orange County Performing Arts Centers, Segerstrom Hall which opens this fall. Jerry Samuelson>> This is going to be the best darned facility (laughter) in our system and I think, here on the west coast, this is going to be a wonderful, wonderful performing arts facility. Roger Cooper>> Mr. President, did you ever go on stage in a performance? Milton A. Gordon>> You know, this will be the first time I've ever admitted to it, but, yes, I did. As an undergraduate, I failed, but I did try. As an undergraduate, I did try out for one of the Shakespearian plays, a part in that, and I was totally rejected. As a mathematician, I just don't think I'm the performing type, so I don't think being on the stage is for me. So I just take the enjoyment of watching really talented people perform. Roger Cooper>> Cal State Fullerton's arts program has always been very strong, producing alums who land on Broadway, alums like international opera star, Deborah Voigt, who's returned for the opening. Now this school has the facility to turn out even more great performances. At Cal State Fullerton, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> For information on upcoming performances, you can go to their website at www.fullerton.edu. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> 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. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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