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Life & Times Transcript
03/27/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Sizing up "A-Town". Are people willing to live in a high-rise to stay in Orange County? Rich Knowland>> Going vertical north of twenty or thirty stories tall will allow some people that might have the only choice to own a home to drive out to the Inland Empire and give them a chance to come back and live in Orange County, in the heart of Orange County. Val Zavala>> And then, first it was comedy, then it became taboo. So why are two young men reviving blackface? 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>> Orange County is on the rise literally. High-rise living may soon compete with traditional single-family suburban homes, but there are some safety issues involved when you live on the 35th floor. Orange County reporter, Roger Cooper, takes us to the biggest high-rise development called "A-Town". Roger Cooper>> Think of Orange County and you think of the suburbs, orange groves, single-family homes and office parks. Tall buildings are something you see in places like downtown Los Angeles, Chicago or Manhattan. But big change is in the works. Wait until you see what they've started to build in Anaheim just a long fly ball away from Angel Stadium. It's a fifty-acre mixed-use development to be called "A-Town" and "A-Town" will have tall buildings. Not just two, not three, but eleven residential towers reaching as high as thirty-five stories. Thirty-five stories, almost three times taller than what has passed for a big building in Orange County. Finally some competition for the Crystal Cathedral. Rich Knowland is a Regional Vice President of Lennar, the company that's building "A-Town". You're going to go up. Why? Rich Knowland>> Well, we think it's time for Orange County to grow up both literally and figuratively. There is a market for this. There is a lifestyle that people in Orange County are ready to embrace and that is living in a more of a high-rise maintenance-free kind of lifestyle, a place you can lock and leave to go to work, to go visiting, to travel. Roger Cooper>> "A-Town" will have a mix of townhouses, lofts, high-rises, shops and restaurants. The interesting thing about "A-Town" is how massive a project this is. Picture forty acres, all of it being demolished all at the same time. To get a good look at the "A-Town" site, we went up on the roof of a nearby building with Anaheim Mayor, Curt Pringle. He says the time has come for Orange County to look at all of its housing options. Curt Pringle>> I live in a single-story house and I'm happy about it and I believe suburban living is a great option, but I also believe urban living is a great option too. In Orange County, I think we have matured enough to say that people should have that choice as well where you can live in a high-rise residential tower, twenty-five hundred square feet, twenty stories in the air. You even have an ocean view from Anaheim at that height. Or you can live in a single-family home in one of the great neighborhoods of Orange County. Roger Cooper>> Why go vertical? Part of the reason is that Orange County has finally run out of available land. Rich Knowland>> Number one is commute. There's very little land available in Orange County, so people that are wanting to live in some type of affordable fashion are finding themselves spending two to four hours on the freeway going out to the Inland Empire. Going vertical, especially what we're talking about, north of twenty or thirty stories tall, will allow some people that might have the only choice to own a home that drive out to the Inland Empire and gives them a chance to come back and live in Orange County, in the heart of Orange County, near their jobs. Roger Cooper>> But this reach for the sky is not just happening in Anaheim. People already live in these newly-completed twin high-rises along the 405 in Irvine with more on the way nearby. There are plans to construct Orange County's tallest building, a thirty-seven story office tower in Santa Ana. In all, some thirty-four high-rise buildings are on the drawing board for Orange County right now. The arrival of all these tall buildings will bring with it a new era of challenge to firefighters. This is a Bronto, Anaheim's tallest aerial apparatus capable of reaching twelve floors up. But in many of the new buildings, people will be living thirty-five floors up, a fact that doesn't escape Fire Marshall Jeff Lutz. When it comes down to it, though, firefighters have to climb those stairs all the way to the top. Jeff Lutz>> That's true and we look at about one floor per minute, so a typical firefighter climbing up that high takes, you know, quite some time. Roger Cooper>> Los Angeles's First Interstate Bank fire in 1988 and the World Trade Center on 9/11 showed how difficult fighting high-rise fires can be. And fire officials in Orange County are now figuring out what sprinkler systems and other firefighting features they will require developers to design into their tall buildings. Jeff Lutz>> We're looking at the possibility of having certain stashes of equipment or caches of firefighting equipment and tools that may be stored in the buildings as opposed to being carried up into the buildings by the firefighters. Roger Cooper>> That includes a booster system for emergency radio. Curt Pringle>> And we passed an ordinance to require a building over a certain height to have that booster capacity so that those radios for the emergency responder can be heard on all floors. Roger Cooper>> Anaheim will also need new fire stations and more firefighters to handle this new high-rise challenge. "A-Town" is breaking new ground not only in how tall it's being built, but also how it's being built. The city has created an area called the Platinum Triangle where developers have special zoning that allows them to renovate. Curt Pringle>> In fact, we gave incentives for the developers to come in and build what they thought was a responsible market approach. What would the market respond to? Well, in fact, we did not use any eminent domain. None of the area where the new residential development is taking place is in a redevelopment area. So, in fact, many of those traditional tools that a lot of cities have said are the only way you get revitalization, we used none of them. We used a market approach. Roger Cooper>> The approach has met blazing speed. All this development has come about in just over a year since the City Council created the zone. Curt Pringle>> And really what's happened over the last year is really unbelievable. Seventy-five hundred units have been approved and among that mix are about fourteen twenty-plus story residential towers. Rich Knowland>> The genius of the Platinum Triangle is the city having the vision to really look and understand that Orange County doesn't have a downtown, so they had created the Platinum Triangle overlay zone. The good news is that they had old industrial buildings and we were paying top dollar for those, so it turned out to be a win-win not only for us, but for the property owners that sold land in the Platinum Triangle. Roger Cooper>> But a question remains. Can you still have a California Orange County lifestyle thirty-five stories up in the air? Curt Pringle>> Oh, I think you can. I mean, if you think about parking your car, not leaving the building, going into a nice entry lobby, going thirty stories up, feeding your cats and visiting with your family, then going to the ground floor and walking along the streets, wide sidewalks, outdoor dining, a coffee shop or a bookstore, all along the way, that type of living is exciting to a lot of people. Roger Cooper>> You're telling me from your 35th floor penthouse that you can see Catalina? Rich Knowland>> You see Catalina, Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles. It is a stunning view that nobody in Orange County, frankly, has ever seen because we've never built this tall in Orange County. So it's going to be exciting to see when it's finished. Roger Cooper>> Who would have thought it? Orange County is entering the elevator age. Demolition for "A-Town" will be done by this fall and that's when Orange County starts building tall. In Anaheim, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> So how worried should we really be about a terrorist attack here in southern California? Well, we can't be too complacent. In fact, we got a reminder recently when it was revealed that the tallest building in downtown Los Angeles, in California for that matter, had been a target for terrorists. So are we more prepared than we were four years ago? Anne McDermott tells us that we can learn a lot from our fears, both present and past. [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> This was the fear of fifty years ago, but you couldn't worry about it all the time. [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> And it's not so different today with terror. [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> No, people will never forget this. But for those not directly touched by the terror, the horror has a way of fading. Example: seventy percent of Californians are not prepared for a terrorist attack. [Film Clip] Anne McDermott>> Oh, sure. Local governments hold numerous disaster drills and have other plans in place, but individuals, it seems, aren't looking out for themselves and that's something that may have hit home for a lot of people here earlier this month when President Bush released new details of an aborted post-9/11 attack against this Los Angeles landmark. This is the U.S. Bank Tower, formerly known as the Library Tower, the tallest building in the city, the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Its very silhouette is a symbol of the city and it's where Eric Bender goes to work each day. The view from his 56th floor office is splendid, as splendid perhaps as the views from the World Trade Towers once were, but Bender is not particularly worried about his building being a potential target. Yet he's not naïve either. Eric Bender>> You know, I don't think that it's any more likely than an attack somewhere. I think it's somewhat inevitable that the terrorists, whether it's Osama bin Laden's terrorists or some other terrorists. I mean, look at Oklahoma City. That was a domestic terrorism thing. That was a terrible thing. But there's going to be other, I believe, terrorist incidents happening here and I think that would happen regardless of, you know, who was doing what. I think you can't prevent that, but my feeling is that you can't hide in your bedroom in your closet all day because you're afraid that something may happen. You wouldn't live your life and then the terrorists win without doing anything. Anne McDermott>> Over in Santa Monica at the Rand Corporation, terror expert, Jack Riley, says we must be vigilant, but -- Jack Riley>> But I think the important thing for viewers to understand is that the core group that is committed to conducting these large acts of terrorism such as we witnessed on September 11 is very small and, therefore, this really comes down to a game of odds and, in some very important sense, the odds are in Los Angeles's favor. There aren't that many people that are committed to conducting those kinds of attacks and they have other communities throughout the United States that they can choose from. So one of the things you're banking on is the percentages. Anne McDermott>> Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, is trying to better the odds by trying to get more money from the federal government to help fund anti-terrorism measures and he recently announced that he's forming a forty-one member committee to help advise him on disaster preparedness. City Councilman, Jack Weiss, says we have to be ready. Jack Weiss>> Los Angeles is going to be attacked by terrorists. It's only a matter of time and are we safe? Well, we're safer than we were, but, no, the federal government hasn't done nearly enough to protect us in Los Angeles. Anne McDermott>> But the Rand Corporation's Riley says you can spend all the money in the world and still get attacked. Jack Riley>> No. I mean, the notion of a hundred percent preparedness in terms of prevention is just not possible. There are too many different ways that people can seek to disrupt and conduct attacks and too many potential targets. Anne McDermott>> One would think Eric Bender in the U.S. Bank tower would find that somewhat disturbing news, but not really. Do you feel fearful? Eric Bender>> No, not really. I think I'm probably more concerned about what an earthquake would be like in this building and think that's a lot more likely than planes flying into the building. Anne McDermott>> Earthquakes. Nature's terror. Another horror that comes without warning, something Californians have been dealing with generation after generation and largely ignored when enough time passes between tremors. You see, seventy percent of Californians aren't prepared for terror or the Big One or all those fires, any disaster. And California's First Lady wants to change that. Maria Shriver>> "When one does happen, do you know what to do? Does your family have a plan? Be prepared to take care of yourself, your loved ones and your community. To find out how, visit the Governor's Office of Emergency Services at www.oes.ca.gov and thanks, California, for bearing responsibility for our state." Anne McDermott>> Preparing for natural disasters is not all that different from preparing for terror, but the experts say we must create a California culture of being prepared. Step one? Get the message to the kids. Matt Bettenhausen>> "So you really are the key to the future for not only Los Angeles, but California and the nation, in driving a culture of preparedness." Anne McDermott>> Kind of a scary message? Well, some would say that's only sensible. If one of your constituents said to you, "I'm scared of terrorists", what would you tell him? Jack Weiss>> I'd tell him that they're right. They should be scared. The terrorists are going to hit this country again. It may be a catastrophic attack as we saw four years ago or it may be the sort of attack that we saw in London over the summer. But radical Islamist Jihadist terrorists have America in their sights and they will for many, many years to come. Los Angeles, I'm sorry to say, I think is one of their top targets. Anne McDermott>> But the news isn't all bad. Jack Riley>> I think we're doing a better job of keeping the extreme radicals out of the country. We have better intelligence on who they are. We have better pre-flight and better border control that helps keep them out. We've disrupted some of the groups so we've affected their operational capabilities. We have better surveillance and better deterrence methods in place against some key targets here in the country. I think all of those things add up and help explain why there's been no other major terrorist incident inside this country since 9/11. Anne McDermott>> Still, we wouldn't buy a house without insurance, so preparedness is simple common sense. After all, no one can predict a sneak attack from above or below and we must ask ourselves, "Are we ready for anything?" I'm Anne McDermott 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>> It was a painful chapter in African-American history. Turn-of-the-century minstrel shows where whites in blackface would portray blacks in a less than positive light. Well, now two young playwrights are giving us a different take on these minstrel shows. Meet Aaron White and Jason White. They're not related, but they share an intense interest in how black stereotypes developed. [Film Clip] Jason White>> This piece is a satire. What this piece seeks to do is, it's a minstrel show that's teaching you the history of minstrelsy, but as a minstrel show. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> After several years of research, Jason wrote a play, a condensed history of blackface minstrelsy. Jason White>> We're actually cataloging a hundred fifty years of minstrelsy in one hour. [Film Clip] Aaron White>> You see dance a lot. You see dance in the scene and then it goes from the dance into the two characters, Sambo and Zipcoon. So you'll see an actual conversation with actual minstrel characters. [Film Clip] Aaron White>> At first, it was made just for white audiences to laugh at the imitation of black people. So we want that to come across. We want you to laugh. We want you to experience it like they experienced it in the 1800s. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> These two CalArts graduates realized that reviving a controversial form of entertainment may not sit well with some audiences. Aaron White>> Once again, we're doing a minstrel show which is how they did it in the 1800s and how it was done before when people put on burnt cork and actually performed, imitating black culture. So we're actually doing that, but we're teaching you about minstrelsy at the same time, meaning that's what makes it so interesting while I see people watching it because we want them to get a feel of how it was in the day. For us to do it as this, our faces now, it's sort of like you don't get the full impact of how it was then when it was just for white audiences. Jason White>> When you put on blackface, there's a lot that goes with that. It's something that is not to be played with. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> The play draws from actual minstrel show skits, but it goes further, drawing connections between turn-of-the-century stereotypes like The Mammy -- [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Uncle Tom -- [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> Sambo -- [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> And makes connections, say, between the group then and today's black gangstas. [Film Clip] Jason White>> Now we see these. We see variations of this every single day, particularly within music and in entertainment and on television and even on billboards and in videogames and such. But once again, it's that connection. I believe that, somewhere along the line, we lost that connection of where that image has come from, so this piece, "The Dance", seeks to tell that story. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> So how have audiences, especially young people, reacted to these blackface characters? Aaron White>> It's a hilarious show. It is a funny show, but it's not funny at the end of the day. There's a point where the laughter stops and you hear it in the show which is amazing. It's a point where all the -- oh, wow. Val Zavala>> The title, "The Dance", refers to something much more than fancy footwork. It refers to something we must all ask ourselves. Aaron White>> It takes off the blackface makeup and it puts on what you wake up in the morning and put on. When you go to work, are you going to work for yourself or are you going to work because it's something you just have to do? At the end of the day, it brings up the question of who are you dancing for? You can go sixty years of your life dancing for someone else, meaning performing for someone else, meaning trying to impress someone else, but at the end of the day, who are you truly dancing for? [Film Clip] Jason White>> You walk away changed individually because you're able to see the truth behind the image and compare that to your own dance. Aaron White>> Own dance. Jason White>> My dance is not yours and my dance is not his. He has his own. You know what I mean? Aaron White>> That's right. Jason White>> So it's an awakening of what the dance is for you. [Film Clip] Aaron White>> If you don't know the past, it's one of those situations where you keep going around in a circle. I know, for the younger generations, we've seen these images. We've seen these images in certain cartoon shows and things like that in growing up. But you look at the youth today who have no idea that this even existed, so it's like bringing the old ghosts and old demons to the present and witnessing it for what it is. And through that, you just have an awareness. I'm not saying it is the answer. Blackface is not the answer to go back into that or anything. That is not the answer, but to be aware that it happened. Jason White>> That's right. Aaron White>> To accept that it has happened and to use that as a vehicle to push forward. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> "The Dance: A History of American Minstrelsy" is playing at the Cinefreestyle Theatre in Leimert Park. For more information, you can go to their website at inthacut.net. 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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