 |
HOME |  |
SCHEDULE | |
PROGRAMS | |
KIDS & FAMILY | |
LOCAL | |
SUPPORT KCET | |
ABOUT US | |
SHOP KCET |  |
| About Us | Contact Us | |
 |
|
 |
          |
|
|
 |
 |
||
|
|
Life & Times Transcript
08/02/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- You may not recognize one of Los Angeles's most recognizable landmarks. What turned MacArthur Park around? Joe Colletti>> We're now all sitting around one table and talking about how we can work together and how we can do this in a way that it would be a win-win for all of us in the community, and that's exactly what's unfolded in the last half a dozen years. Val Zavala>> And then, a new runway will make for safer landings at LAX, but could it mean delays for travelers? It's all straight ahead 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 the densest neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles and, along with that, came one of the highest crime rates in the city. I'm talking about the well-known MacArthur Park, the park just west of downtown Los Angeles. So how did this dangerous spot go through such a dramatic turnaround? Jim Hill has our story. James Hill>> This is a sight you probably never would have seen as little as three years ago: first graders from nearby Esperanza Elementary School happily trekking through MacArthur Park. [Film Clip] James Hill>> They're on a nature field trip here to see the ducks, the long-necked geese and the gulls, to find interesting bugs hiding in the green grass. Nicole Reich>> I was a little concerned to come. My image of MacArthur Park was not good and I was a little concerned for us and our safety, but I'm really pleasantly pleased. This is quite beautiful. It's cool. The water is nice. James Hill>> Anyone who knows the recent history of MacArthur Park can understand how important it is to see kids here or joggers or strolling couples. This is one of the oldest parks in Los Angeles, built in the 1880s and renamed for General Douglas MacArthur after World War II. But starting in the 1980s, the park west of downtown was becoming a symbol of almost everything that could go wrong with an inner city neighborhood. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, this park named after a war hero had become a war zone of sorts. The eight square miles patrolled by the police department's Rampart Division consistently turned in some of the highest homicide rates in the city. Many of the killings were linked to a half dozen street gangs that battled over drugs and a range of illegal activities that took place here in the park and on the surrounding streets. Los Angeles Police Commander, Charlie Beck, used to head the Rampart Division. Commander Charlie Beck>> Literally, there's not a street corner in sight of this park and probably not a piece of the park that has not had a homicide in the last ten years. Crime was at a point here where it made all the parts of Los Angeles look positive by comparison. James Hill>> Many of the people here are Central American immigrants who fled the civil war in El Salvador. The MacArthur Park neighborhood became their entry point. City Councilman, Ed Reyes, says much of the violence and upheaval of El Salvador's war followed the refugees here. Ed Reyes>> And that intensity didn't change and they changed coats in terms of one political force against another. It became one gang force against the other. It was all about -- James Hill>> -- and they killed each other. Ed Reyes>> And they killed each other. It was a sub-economy based on drug transactions and they were fighting for territory. So the same tactics you had in guerilla warfare amongst the gangs was occurring here. That's how deadly it was. James Hill>> At night, the park was too dangerous to attract anyone but gang members or the occasional homeless person. Police cruised the mean streets past storefronts secured behind heavy steel shutters. This was the MacArthur Park that William Bratton faced in 2002 as Los Angeles's new top cop. Councilman Reyes says it was the first place he took Bratton after the Council voted to confirm him as chief. Ed Reyes>> I told him that, if he could turn MacArthur Park around and the neighborhoods around it, we could turn anything around in this city. James Hill>> Police say that they first targeted drugs and the gangs that sold them. Commander Charlie Beck>> We sent in undercover police officers. We used cameras. We used observation posts and we arrested a bunch of sellers. But then, also in conjunction with that, we did what we called reverses -- they're still called reverses -- where we would pose as drug dealers and arrest people that came to buy drugs here and then widely publicize it. [Film Clip] James Hill>> That laid the groundwork for what Chief Bratton has called "broken windows" policing. Patrols like this one became common within the park as officers targeted lesser offenses which had nonetheless helped create an atmosphere of lawlessness. Sergeant Ryan Shaffs and other officers now crack down on things like sleeping on park benches, graffiti, vandalism, even leash laws. >> "Hey, try to control that dog, all right?" James Hill>> Business people like Sandy Romero were also hard at work. She now runs Mamma's Hot Tamales Café across Seventh Street from the park. It's a nonprofit set up to organize the vendors who used to jam the sidewalks and park. Sandy Romero>> The problem was horrendous. We had, in front of our storefronts here, between Lake and Alvarado, you couldn't even walk the sidewalks. You'd have to walk literally on the curb because people had CDs lined up selling them, had their cars parked with their trunks open selling clothing, videotapes -- James Hill>> -- vendors everywhere. Sandy Romero>> Yeah. It was a mess, it was a mess. James Hill>> Now vendors are licensed, schooled in health codes and they cook tamales in the restaurant's kitchen. They sell them through the Café, splitting the proceeds. Joe Colletti>> We're now all sitting around one table and talking about how we can work together and how we can do this in a way that it would be a win-win for all of us in the community, and that's exactly what's unfolded in the last half a dozen years. James Hill>> The park is once again well-maintained, the landscaping trimmed and flowering. The park has the cool, inviting look that a park is supposed to have. The gangs seem to have given up and left in search of easier territory to conquer. Sandy Romero>> I personally live across the street from the park too and I freely and happily will bring my grandson and my family to the park and enjoy the beauty that's right there. James Hill>> But as fast as graffiti is painted over, at least some is sprayed back, often right over the new paint. The homeless can still be spotted now and then asleep on park benches. As one man said, "We used to have thirty-five illegal document sellers on the block. Now we have ten." But the people we talked with say they're confident the improvements will grow and, what's most important, that they will last. Bertha Wooldridge is a one-woman example. Ten years ago, the hardware store owner survived a terrifying robbery as five gang members burst into her store. Bertha Wooldridge>> They took me and kneeled me by the rack by the pipes. James Hill>> They made you kneel down? Bertha Wooldridge>> Yeah. They kneeled me down and put a gun at my head. James Hill>> Since then, she's helped run the Westlake Protectors, organizing cleanups, neighborhood watch, and forging close ties with the police. Bertha Wooldridge>> All the communities are involved and are real, real there for us. So I don't think that we go back to where we were at. Nobody likes that, especially me (laughter). That's right, and we won't. We won't go back. James Hill>> I'm James Hill for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> For years, we've all been hearing about plans to renovate LAX. Well, construction has now begun. Now I know what you're thinking. Oh, no, longer lines and more flight delays, but not necessarily. In fact, airport officials say you shouldn't even notice the difference. The first part of the airport renovation will be the demolition of the southern runway. They're moving it fifty-five feet further south mainly for safety reasons. It's one of four runways, which means that LAX will have to make do on just three runways for the next two years. I talked with Jake Adams, director of the three hundred thirty-three million dollar project, to find out why the runway is being demolished and what it will mean for the flying public. Jake Adams>> Basically, the whole purpose in doing this project, it's a safety project. We're trying to mitigate runway incursions here at LAX. Val Zavala>> Meaning close calls? Jake Adams>> Close calls, exactly. Anytime there's a potential for conflict between two aircraft. This is LAX. We basically have four runways. We have two on the north side. We have our central terminal area where all the passengers collect, and we have two runways on the south side. Val Zavala>> Basically, the two runways on the south side of the airport are too close together and taxiing between them is dangerous. By moving one runway fifty-five feet further south, they can reroute the landing planes and create a safer path to the gates. Jake Adams>> He will now have to make a left turn onto this center taxiway, stop and wait for permission from the tower to turn right and cross the runway. Val Zavala>> Wow. Three hundred thirty-three million dollars to (laughter) basically reroute the planes a little bit. Jake Adams>> That's exactly right. Val Zavala>> That's incredible. So how long is it going to take and what kind of impact will it have on passengers? Jake Adams>> The runway is actually going to take approximately eight months and then it will take another fourteen months to get the center taxiway done. As far as impact to passengers, we're really hoping it's going to be totally transparent to the traveling public. Val Zavala>> Now that goes counter-intuitive to what most passengers expect at airports. There are already long delays. It's hard to imagine getting rid of one out of four runways and not having more delays. Jake Adams>> That's a great point. But since 9/11, LAX, as far as the number of aircraft that land and take off here every day, those numbers have really not come back. The airlines have gotten really good about putting more people on those planes, but the number of planes has not really increased. We're still down roughly twenty percent from where we were pre-9/11. Prior to 9/11, we were handling approximately two thousand two hundred flights a day. Since 9/11, as of last week, we have had only about eighteen hundred flights. Val Zavala>> So there are just fewer planes. Jake Adams>> That's exactly right. Val Zavala>> So you can manage to do without a runway, whereas before 9/11, it would have been tougher? Jake Adams>> Absolutely. Val Zavala>> So the Los Angeles Times editorial specifically said, "If you think airports have long waits now, just wait." You would say not so. Did that drive you crazy to read that? Jake Adams>> It was a little frustrating, but we understand. People have to understand that, during the normal time frames, we're not anticipating delays, but again, during foggy weather, there will be delays. Val Zavala>> That's because only two runways are equipped with the technology to handle planes landing in fog and one of them is the runway that's being rebuilt. So for the next couple of years, only one of three runways will be able to handle flights during foggy conditions. Jake Adams>> So during those really foggy conditions, we're going to be forced to handling all of our arriving aircraft on that one runway. Val Zavala>> I see. Jake Adams>> The good news is that typically here at LAX we only experience those types of conditions six to eight percent of the time during the year. Val Zavala>> So it sounds like you have this all worked out. I understand there were computer models and whatnot that projected the traffic flow, and they did not project a lot of problems or a lot of delays. But then people will say, yeah, those were the computers. Then there's the reality. Are you sure all this stuff is going to work? Jake Adams>> That's right. It was a lot of computer modeling, but the reality is that we worked really closely with the controllers. The FAA controllers are really the ones who are in charge of figuring out how to manage the traffic during this construction. They feel fairly confident that they can do this without having major impacts. Val Zavala>> So what is a word of advice you'd like to give to all the passengers and travelers out there who are going to be using LAX over the next couple of years? Jake Adams>> Well, I would advise everyone just to be patient and, again, hopefully this is not going to be a major impact and hopefully it will be really transparent to the traveling public. Val Zavala>> Meaning they won't even know it's happening. Jake Adams>> Exactly. Val Zavala>> Well, Jake Adams, you've got a big job. Best of luck to you. Jake Adams>> Thank you very much. Val Zavala>> Now those southern runways have been the scene of almost three dozen close calls since 2000 and recently a small passenger jet almost collided with an airliner. They came within about thirty feet of each other. Air traffic controllers say that was the closest near-miss in seven years. 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>> The year was 1850. Now what town in America would you imagine had the highest murder rate? Was it Dodge City? Or maybe Tombstone? Well, guess again. It was Los Angeles. That's right. In the 1850s, Los Angeles had a murder rate one hundred times the national average. Then the sheriff came to town. Who was he? Well, the answer is in a book called "Six Gun Sound". It's by Sergeant Sven Crongeyer who's been with the Sheriff's Department for seventeen years. I met Crongeyer at the Museum of the American West in Griffith Park. So tell us, what was Los Angeles like in the 1850s? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Los Angeles really was one of the wildest towns in the west and the reason that few people know this is because it was so isolated. There was only one local newspaper and it was very small. It was called the Los Angeles Star. People on the east coast really had never even heard of Los Angeles until many years later. Val Zavala>> What was the crime rate back then and how does it compare to today? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> The homicide rate was a hundred times higher than the average rate was during the 1990s here in Los Angeles, so it really was quite out of control. The reason for that was many-fold. One of which there were young men living in Los Angeles, very few women, very few families. You had prospectors, Forty-niners, that thought they were going to strike it rich and ended up realizing that all their dreams were broken on the rocks. So they came to Los Angeles, as well as some banditos that came up from Mexico, and they met right in the middle of the state here on this street called the Calle de los Negros and there was kind of an explosive activity of violence there. At one point during the late 1840s and 1850s, it had degenerated into a street of bordellos, saloons, bars, gambling houses and every night at least one person was killed, sometimes more. There were shoot-outs and fights and stabbings and it was really a wild street and made Los Angeles one of the wildest towns in the west. The Bella Union was the first sheriff's office. It was a rented room at the hotel and it was the scene of many wild incidents over the years. Val Zavala>> Tell us about Los Angeles County's first sheriff, Sheriff Burrill. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> The first sheriff's name was George Burrill and he came from Mexico up north. He was actually, we believe, a Mexican American war veteran and he took office of the new county. He had an infantry dress sword which he carried on his side and he used it to prod the inmates to court with it. His first jail was an adobe house with a large log in the middle that he used to chain inmates to so that they wouldn't escape. He had one jailer and one assistant sheriff which was part-time. The county was much larger back then than it is today. The County of Los Angeles included Riverside, San Bernardino, parts of Ventura County, all of Orange County, so it was a huge area that he had to cover on horseback with one deputy. Early sheriffs were well-compensated. They were paid approximately ten thousand dollars in money back then, which is over two hundred thousand dollars today. Part of the income came from being translators for the judge. Judge Olvera did not speak English very well, so Sheriff Burrill would translate for him. The early sheriffs also acted as tax collectors and the county allowed them to keep a small portion of the fees that they collected. Val Zavala>> Then the next sheriff was Sheriff Barton. Tell us about him. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> He had a posse of five men with him and they were chasing after the Pancho Daniel gang in the area of Orange County where the 405 and the 133 intersect. They were outnumbered and outgunned and Sheriff Barton was killed along with three other men of his posse. The other two men escaped. One went to El Monte for help and the other went to Los Angeles on horseback at full speed to call for help. Val Zavala>> Whatever happened because these three lawmen get killed? That's pretty stunning. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Yes. Four total. Three of his posse, plus the sheriff. The next time this happened was in the 1970s where four California Highway Patrol officers were killed in the Newhall area. So it was a remarkable part of California history. Val Zavala>> And then Los Angeles County had a Mexican American sheriff way back then. Tell us about him. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> He's a very interesting man. Tomas Sanchez was from a family that was one of the original families to settle the Pueblo of Los Angeles. There actually was a Sanchez Street. They had a very, very large ranch, thousands of acres, many, many heads of cattle, and Tomas Sanchez was respected by both the Latino community and the Anglo community in town. There were three King brothers. One of them, A.J., was the under-sheriff to Tomas Sanchez. A.J. was in a dispute with a rancher named Carlisle and, at a wedding celebration, Carlisle slashed A.J. King with a knife. A.J. tried to shoot him, but the fight was broken up and he was pulled outside. At the doctor's, A.J.'s two brothers visited him. They were all southerners and they'd felt that their southern honor had been impinged upon, so the two brothers swore that they would get revenge. They went back to the Bella Union Hotel, which was in now downtown Los Angeles, and a large and wild shootout ensued. Carlisle was killed and Sheriff Tomas Sanchez broke up the fight, but not after one of the other brothers was killed. A horse was shot from a stagecoach and Mr. Carlisle's attorney was shot. But in the end, there was one King brother left and A.J. recovered from his knife wound. A pretty wild time back then. Sheriff Tomas Sanchez actually ended up breaking up the fight. Val Zavala>> Another sheriff who's in your book is Billy Rowland. Tell us about Rowland. Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> Sheriff Rowland was a very interesting character. He loved Los Angeles. He was born here, lived his whole life here and hated to leave Los Angeles. His mother was of Mexican descent and his father was of Anglo descent. Sheriff Rowland is most famous for his capture of the outlaw, Tiburcio Vasquez, after whom the Vasquez Rock is named. So he organized a posse and he knew that Tiburcio Vasquez was pretty sly. Tiburcio would probably run out of town if he knew that the posse was after him, so Sheriff Rowland purposely stayed in town so that, if there were any spies, Tiburcio wouldn't catch on. He secretly sent his posse out to the area close to where West Hollywood is now today to a ranch where they ambushed Tiburcio Vasquez and captured him and one of his henchmen. Val Zavala>> Now at some point along the line, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department really evolved and went through some major turning points. When did that happen? Sergeant Sven Crongeyer>> There were some very major turning points. One of them was when Sheriff Burns took office just after Sheriff Tomas Sanchez. Sheriff Burns was one of the first sheriffs to really stand up to the vigilantes. Prior to him, people would hold the sheriff at gunpoint and threaten him, break into the jail and take the inmates out and hang them. So Sheriff Burns collected a strong group of men who were able to stand up to the vigilantes and keep the security of the jails and the courts intact. That was the first major change towards modern law enforcement. From then, civil service rules came into being. Towards the late 1880s, things started to change. The sheriff took more of a manager's role, less hands-on type of role, and became more of a political role, as is the case today where he's managing a large department and doesn't handle the day-to-day duties that the deputies do. Val Zavala>> Sven Crongeyer, thank you so much for a lot of work and a great book. Thank you. Sgt. Sven Crongeyer>> Thanks for having me. Val Zavala>> Our thanks to the Museum of the American West in Griffith Park for lending us their beautiful venue. 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>> The Los Angeles Zoo has gone through a major renovation. It's got a grand new entrance and a lot of new animal exhibits. One of the most popular are the sea lions. But have you ever wondered what it takes to take care of sea lions? The key is in the training. Tammie Allante>> My name is Tammie Allante. I'm one of the five keepers that takes care of the sea lions. It's wonderful working with these animals. I've been with these animals for about two years. We test our chemistry. It's really important to make sure that the water is right for the animals, the right temperature, the right salt. We want to keep it as natural as we can. Our sea lions actually get fed and trained three times a day. Our seals get fed and trained two times a day. Our otters get four feedings a day. So after our cleaning, we're feeding pretty crazy around here, feeding everybody. [Film Clip] Tammie Allante>> Rocky and Bea are the parents of Mona. Mona was born here at the Los Angeles Zoo. She's about fifteen years now. She is our darker, smaller size female. She just popped her head up. Bea is our oldest female here. She can be a little grouchy sometimes, so we try and make sure that we give her a lot of respect. You know, we give these guys a lot of attention. You just make sure that we keep everything really positive here for the animals. If they're willing to work with us, then we can go ahead and give them the best care we can. [Film Clip] Tammie Allante>> There are a couple of different things that we kind of focus on. One is behavioral enrichment. We want to make sure that they're being stimulated mentally, that they have things to do. [Film Clip] Tammie Allante>> They're out in the ocean, they love to eat fish. Fish is what they catch, so we do feed them a variety of fish here. Rocky, our male, weighs about two hundred fifteen kilograms, which is around five hundred pounds. Currently, he is getting about twenty-four pounds of fish a day. [Film Clip] Tammie Allante>> We've got windows and we've got a lowered area where the public can really come up and view what's happening with the animals. [Film Clip] Tammie Allante>> What's great when the kids come here to the zoo down in the depths of this exhibit is they get to see the animals, see how they are, and it makes them realize that there are animals out there and this is what happens, and it makes them curious. What can I do to keep these animals around? What can I do to make their life better? We get to be in there with them, checking them out, doing medical behaviors, doing fun behaviors, and really interacting and being part of their lives because we love to be here and we love what we do. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> 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:  | |
|
Home | Features | Arts | Health/Science | OC Edition | L&T Blog | Archives | About Us | Contact Us | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use |