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Life & Times Transcript

8/10/07

Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times --

Homeless women and children are moving from Skid Row to the suburbs, but not without a fight.

Marlene Rader>> Just because we have a nice scenery doesn't mean that you become emotionally okay or you have kicked a drug habit because you live in a better area.

Val Zavala>> And then, an audience of hundreds spends a Saturday night in a parking lot on folding chairs. The attraction? A midsummer night's murals.

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>> We all know that Skid Row is no place for women and children and yet how many of us would be willing to welcome a homeless shelter in our neighborhood? Well, the story of Hope Gardens in Sylmar is one example of a rare victory for the homeless. Sam Louie caught up with a mother and her daughter on moving day.

Sam Louie>> Keisha Weatherspoon and her daughter are leaving behind a chapter in their lives that could not end soon enough. For the past nine months, the thirty-one year old single mother has been homeless. It began last September when her grandfather passed away and, without someone to watch her five year old daughter, she had to quit her job as a vocational nurse.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> Scared, that was the main thing. Nervous. Where was I going to go?

Sam Louie>> Eventually, they ended up at the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles's Skid Row, hardly a place for women and children. Yet their numbers have been growing. Some estimate as many as forty percent of the people on Skid Row are women and children.

Andy Bales>> Outside our Mission, there's a seventy percent chance that women will be raped within two weeks of being on the streets of Skid Row.

Sam Louie>> Andy Bales is the Executive Director of the Union Rescue Mission. The Mission takes in a couple hundred women and children each night. Keisha and her daughter were among them. But today is their last day. They're making the rounds saying goodbye to the staff.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> "Thank you for everything."

>> "I'm going to miss you, man."

Sam Louie>> What she won't miss is living near the squalor of Skid Row.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> Violence, drugs. It's very filthy down here and there's no place you can really go.

Sam Louie>> Until now. Today is moving day.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> I am overjoyed, ecstatic. I barely could sleep last night knowing I was going to leave.

Sam Louie>> Keisha and six other families are among the first to climb aboard a van headed to a new home dedicated to women and children. It's thirty miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles and a world away from Skid Row. This is Hope Gardens Family Center. It's a former senior home. The Rescue Mission purchased the property in October of 2005 for seven million dollars.

[Film Clip]

Sam Louie>> As they arrive, each mother is greeted with a bouquet of flowers. They take a tour of their new home. The kids quickly find the outdoor play area.

Andy Bales>> It's seventy-eight acres, garden retreat, big oak trees and coast redwoods, walking paths, a Koi pond, waterfalls, a lodge-like setting in homes.

Sam Louie>> It's a peaceful retreat, but getting it open was anything but peaceful. Few communities welcome homeless shelters and Sylmar was no exception.

Brian Gavin>> We all support what they're trying to do. It's just that this is the wrong place to put it.

Sam Louie>> Brian Gavin lives in Kagel Canyon, a rural neighborhood in Sylmar made up of outdoor enthusiasts. Many of his neighbors tried to persuade county officials to reject the project when the Mission bought the property two years ago.

Brian Gavin>> So this is just going to be a giant seventy-one acre warehouse for the homeless.

Sam Louie>> But after a year and a half in limbo, the Los Angeles County Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the project. It was a rare victory for the homeless.

Andy Bales>> For years, it's been a policy of containment and corralling the homeless downtown and that's been a tragic policy. It's created probably the worst human disaster in the United States on Skid Row.

Sam Louie>> Hope Gardens can house up to two hundred twenty-five women and children. The women here all agree to participate in a comprehensive program that covers everything from education to job training. The program can last anywhere between twelve months up to three years as long as progress is being made.

Andy Bales>> It'll be different for each family, but every six months, we'll check with the families. Are they working toward the goals that they had when they moved in? That will determine how long they stay.

Sam Louie>> There is also a strictly enforced eight p.m. curfew and a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol. But behind the discipline is a backdrop of calm, a complete change from the harsh city environment.

Andy Bales>> It's a time of rest from the violence that they've experienced in their lives, the trauma; a time for rest to gain some job skills; a time for rest to gain some educational skills. The setting is perfect for that.

Sam Louie>> So how do homeowners view Hope Gardens now? Some are still skeptical saying that a new zip code doesn't alter the challenges facing many of these women.

Marlene Rader>> Just because you have a nice scenery doesn't mean that you become emotionally okay or you have kicked a drug habit because you live in a better area. Scenery has nothing to do with it. You're just relocating the problem.

Sam Louie>> Marlene Rader lives a few miles from the shelter. She's with the local Homeowners Association which was against the project from the start.

Marlene Rader>> My concerns have always been the safety of everyone in concern. Not just the residents of all the surrounding communities, but of the people that are going to be living on the facility as well.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> You have to give it a chance in order to know how it's actually going to turn out.

Sam Louie>> As for Keisha Weatherspoon, she's determined to make it. She also welcomes the rules and the promise of self-sufficiency.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> Just being within a program knowing I'll be case-managed by someone and having a six-month goal up until the time for you to actually leave, get two to three years to stay here, trying to find a job as fast as possible.

Sam Louie>> But some women will avoid the program altogether.

Andy Bales>> Not every woman will choose to come out to Hope Gardens because there is accountability. There is a future in mind. You've got to build your skills. You've got to get job training.

Marlene Rader>> We'll see what happens, hopefully nothing drastic. I wish everybody luck as far as in their recovery process. I think we all want people to get healthy emotionally.

Sam Louie>> Keisha wants to take classes and upgrade from a vocational to a registered nurse. She also wants to be a good mother.

Keisha Weatherspoon>> I feel powerful over my own choices and my life decisions.

Andy Bales>> And really, these moms are heroes. I mean, they have survived sharing a room with several other families. They've survived the violence outside of the Mission on Skid Row. So she's a hero to me and now I know she's going to make it. She's going to succeed because she is in the safety of a beautiful place.

Sam Louie>> The next couple of years will be a transition time not just for Keisha, her daughter and the other families, but for residents of Sylmar who once opposed the shelter. Now that Hope Gardens is open, everyone is hoping it will fulfill its mission. I'm Sam Louie for Life and Times.

Val Zavala>> These hot temperatures are pushing people into hardware stores. They're snapping up air conditioners like they're going out of style. Well, in fact, some of them are. There's a new law that affects air conditioning and consumers will want to listen up.

A new law calls for phasing out an old refrigerant and replacing it with R-410A, a more ecological one. The new law takes effect in 2010. Michael Druyanoff is President of an air conditioner distribution company. He's says the change in refrigerants is part of the Clean Air Act. The whole idea is to cut down on gases that deplete the ozone layer. I talked with Druyanoff about what the new law means for consumers.

Michael Druyanoff>> As part of the Clean Air Act of 1990, United States Congress implemented the Montreal protocol and set forth regulations to control and eventually ban the production of what's currently called R-22 refrigerant. That's one of --

Val Zavala>> -- now stop there because we're going to be using that phrase a lot. R-22 is the current refrigerant that's used in, what, most of the air conditioning units right now?

Michael Druyanoff>> Probably around eighty percent now of residential equipment. In commercial, they are used as well. The core ingredient in any air conditioning unit is refrigerant, but refrigerants have in it chlorine and the chlorine part of that refrigerant is harmful to the environment.

Val Zavala>> I see.

Michael Druyanoff>> So in years past, they've come up with some alternate refrigerants. One refrigerant is called R-410A, which is right here. That is chlorine-free and it is ozone-friendly.

Val Zavala>> Oh, really?

Michael Druyanoff>> So if you're sitting here today and you're trying to decide on what unit to purchase, they are both available right now. You could buy an R-22 unit which is harmful to the environment or you could buy a R-410A unit which is ozone-friendly and environmentally-friendly.

Val Zavala>> So people can buy an R-22 unit. That means refrigerant 22, the old stuff, or they can buy this one which is R-410A which is cleaner and which you say -- R-22 is no longer going to exist after a certain amount of time. It's going to be all R-410A eventually, correct?

Michael Druyanoff>> Correct. Basically, there's a phase-out plan. In 2010, there'll be sixty-five percent less produced. In 2015, there'll be ninety percent less produced.

Val Zavala>> Of R-22.

Michael Druyanoff>> Of R-22. Eventually in 2020 and beyond, there'll be nothing.

Val Zavala>> So eventually, no R-22 at all?

Michael Druyanoff>> Eventually, no R-22.

Val Zavala>> Only R-410A.

Michael Druyanoff>> Right. And the important thing is that today, if you have a unit in your home, it doesn't mean you need to replace it. But if you're buying one today, you could have let's say a five to ten year warranty on the equipment. But if something goes wrong five to ten years from now and you're trying to fix it and you're trying to replace the refrigerant in the unit and it's an R-22 unit, one, you might have a hard time getting R-22 --

Val Zavala>> -- right, because it will be phased out or is being phased out.

Michael Druyanoff>> Right. There will be little supply. Demand will still be there, so the price will be very high.

Val Zavala>> So they're phasing out R-22 because it has ozone-depleting chemicals. How much better is this in terms of both the depletion and does it have other advantages as well?

Michael Druyanoff>> Well, it's completely ozone-friendly, so it doesn't deplete the ozone at all.

Val Zavala>> At all?

Michael Druyanoff>> At all, because it does not have chlorine in it at all.

Val Zavala>> Okay.

Michael Druyanoff>> So it's a very ozone-friendly, environmentally-friendly product. There are other advantages. One other advantage is that these units can be quieter and they use at least five percent less energy. So the electricity that your air conditioner uses during the summer months during the heat, your air conditioner is one of the major draws on your electricity bill. So you will save at least five percent electricity based on just your air conditioning consumption.

Val Zavala>> What are the chances of a unit that's two or three years old being compatible with the new refrigerant?

Michael Druyanoff>> There's an okay likelihood. I mean, it always comes down to the contractor. I mean, right now in the United States, the estimates are the mix in residential about twenty to thirty percent, closer to twenty percent, are buying R-410A. That rate has increased rapidly this year because there's a contractor awareness of this law.

But if you go back a few years ago, R-410A has been out a few years, but the penetration into the market has only been due to the contractor. That's one of these things of why we did this was to educate consumers about questions asked. Right now, the only ones being sold out there are primarily due to a good contractor who's certified on R-410A offering it as a choice.

That's why it's very important today. If you are considering buying a new unit, these choices are so close. At times, they're probably the same price. If they are a little bit more, it will probably be offset by your savings on your energy. So really the important decision is to buy something that's not going to be obsolete in a couple of years.

Val Zavala>> And in the meantime, what are some other things they can do outside of changing the refrigerant which will come along in time? What other things can people do just to make sure that they're not paying more than they have to for their air conditioning bills?

Michael Druyanoff>> There are a few little steps that you can do. First, you should be changing your filter regularly. Filters generally should be changed four times a year. I typically just do it every season, spring, summer, fall, winter. Basically, what happens is if the filter gets dirty or clogged, it's resisting and the system is operating less efficiently and using more energy.

Val Zavala>> Those are just the little boxes that you go in a hardware store, those thin squares with the mesh on it? That's all it is?

Michael Druyanoff>> Right. Some of them you just wash off. Some of them are a few dollars to replace. There are more expensive filters out there that protect you with air quality. But for the most part, it's a very easy thing to change. If it's not accessible, you can have a contractor come out and do it for you. But it increases the efficiency and people don't realize that small filter that doesn't cost that much, they're spending a lot of money running their system with a dirty filter.

Val Zavala>> Got it. The other thing you're saying was check the ducts. Make sure there's no leaks, correct?

Michael Druyanoff>> Right. The other thing is, you should definitely have a contractor come out, check the performance of the system, maintain the system and check the ductwork. The ductwork is what the air goes through either in the attic or through the walls.

A lot of times, people have the most efficient system. They buy the highest efficiency system, but they have ductwork where it's leaking air out. So you could have the highest efficiency system and air is just going into the hot attic.

More importantly, the ductwork might not be sealed properly or wrapped properly, so it's not insulated. The cold air is going through it, but it's actually getting warm in the attic and it's not operating efficiently.

Val Zavala>> So you're pumping warm air up through the attic and down into your house?

Michael Druyanoff>> You're cooling the air, it's getting warm in the attic and then coming in your house, and the cycle keeps going. The last thing you can do is put a programmable thermostat in so that, when you go off to work or when you go to sleep, the temperature changes towards your lifestyle. That way, you're not wasting energy when you don't need it.

Val Zavala>> Well, Michael Druyanoff, thank you so much for some great information, and people should watch for R-410A in the future. Thank you.

Michael Druyanoff>> Thank you.

Val Zavala>> For more information, you can go to the website at greenerhomeair.com. You'll find information on chlorine-free refrigerants and the new law and they'll refer you to contractors familiar with the new law. There's also a toll-free number where you can talk to an expert about your particular situation.

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 what are you going to do this Saturday night? Well, how about sitting in the middle of a parking lot on a folding chair listening to an art lecture? Believe it or not, hundreds of people in Long Beach do just that.

It's a warm evening. The sky is getting dark, but hundreds of people are still busy socializing. And Gregorio Luke, the Director of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, is checking on last-minute details at his characteristic high-speed pace. This is one of his favorite events: splashing magnificent murals onto a huge outdoor wall to be seen as they were meant to be seen.

Gregorio Luke>> Always you think that murals, you can only see them if you go there. But now with the projection technology, you can recreate a mural sometimes better than the original. In other words, the photographs from which you derive the mural sometimes is taken when the mural is in perfect color, perfect tone, and then that mural deteriorates. But the photograph doesn't. So you can still show this.

Val Zavala>> Tonight the audience will see the work of what many consider to be Mexico's greatest artist, Diego Rivera.

Gregorio Luke>> "If you study the work of Diego Rivera, it is as if you were taking a trip throughout the history of art."

Val Zavala>> Gregorio recounts Rivera's early talent, his tumultuous marriages and his great love, Frida Kahlo.

Gregorio Luke>> "He was over six feet tall. He weighed more than three hundred pounds. This is a portrait that Frida Kahlo, his second wife, did of him. Bertram Wolfe would say that "only love could produce such a portrait of Diego Rivera."

Val Zavala>> Murals Under the Stars is like a drive-in theater only with folding chairs instead of cars and murals instead of movies.

Gregorio Luke>> I love the fact that we're not elitist. This is fun. The other day, you know, after we were doing the tear-down, I looked at an ocean of cans of beer and Cokes and I thought we have arrived. Because I don't think there's any art lecture in the world that can deliver an ocean of beer cans after it's finished.

Gregorio Luke>> "This year, we're commemorating fifty years since Diego died and I'm pleased to report that he's more alive than ever."

Val Zavala>> The most formative years in this Mexican artist's life were spent in Europe and what Rivera himself saw when he went to Italy, the audience sees in two sweeping minutes.

[Film Clip]

Val Zavala>> Now it's time to reveal the murals beginning with one of his later works depicting ordinary life in Mexico.

Gregorio Luke>> "There was a lot of things different in Mexico. In Europe, most of the backdrops were darker and the faces were lighter. In Mexico, the faces were darker and the backdrop was full of light."

Val Zavala>> His work is replete with politics, social struggle and rich Mexican history and, through it all, you can see Rivera's love for the common man.

Gregorio Luke>> "This is a mural in which he presents the unity of the worker and the farmer."

Val Zavala>> Rivera traveled to America where he visited an auto factory in Detroit and was amazed by American industrial might.

Gregorio Luke>> "It's really amazing because you could give a class of engineering and you could spend hours discussing every one of these processes as accurate."

Val Zavala>> Then the finale, a magnificent work and, by far, Rivera's most controversial.

Gregorio Luke>> "Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to bring to you the forbidden mural of Diego Rivera."

Val Zavala>> The mural commissioned by Rockefeller encompasses everything, the microscopic world, the heavens, industry and nature, evolution and, of course, politics.

Gregorio Luke>> "But the problem was that Diego included the portrait of Russian revolutionary Lenin and Rockefeller said, "Well, you have to destroy this. I'm not taking that. Besides, you cheated me because you did not include Lenin in the sketch." Diego said, "I did, but he was wearing a cap." (laughter)

So unfortunately this mural was destroyed by hammering on its surface. My dream is someday to be able to go to Rockefeller Center in New York and project this mural where it's supposed to be. Gracias, thank you very much."

Val Zavala>> This Saturday, tomorrow, is the final lecture in the Murals Under the Stars series featuring the work of Mexican great, David Alfaro Siqueiros. For more information, you can go to their website at molaa.org.

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 Native Americans see it as sacred, but others see it as a way to make money. Today we head to the northern tip of California as part of our "Magical Mystery Tour of California". Student reporter Amy Tenowich from the USC Annenberg School of Journalism takes us to Mt. Shasta.

Amy Tenowich>> At more than fourteen thousand feet, it stands alone on California's northern border, Mt. Shasta. For centuries, it's been a sacred place for Native Americans. Now it's where many tourists come to reboot their souls.

Ashalyn>> "So what I'd like you to do is just ground and center yourself and think about what your intentions are for the day."

Amy Tenowich>> Ashalyn -- that's her first and last name -- runs Shasta Vortex Adventures. She's turned this natural beauty into a successful business. Now she's cleansing her client's aura with burning sage.

Ashalyn>> Everything that I do has a spiritual aspect in it. So when we go on our tours, we use our intention and our focus to communicate with the realms of spirit as well as the beauty of the physical terrain around us. "There's shakras in the bottom of your feet. Imagine those shakras opening up and, with each step you take, little tiny lotus petals fall out of the shakras and are behind you as you walk."

Amy Tenowich>> Sharon Szczybor, a retired science teacher from Baltimore, felt called here to go on one of Ashalyn's guided vision quests. That includes visiting sacred sites and focusing on spiritual cleansing and growth.

Sharon Szczybor>> I hope today to get purification, clarification and energy for healing.

Amy Tenowich>> As part of that healing, Ashalyn encourages her to hug a native.

Ashalyn>> "Wow, that one was opening up my third eye (laughter)."

Amy Tenowich>> With their third eyes of consciousness now wide open, the two ended the day at a local waterfall, the perfect place to cleanse any lingering negativity.

Sharon Szczybor>> I released energy and impurities and I allowed myself to be filled with energy from the earth and from the waterfall.

Amy Tenowich>> Sharon says that it was $385.00 well spent. Other tourists are opening their wallets too. Just walk through town and you'll find stores catering to every spiritual appetite. Thousands of outsiders hoping to look within come to Mt. Shasta each year, but some feel that tourism threatens what makes this place so sacred.

Floyd Buckskin>> A lot of people just treat it as a big playground. "All right, let's go. We can do anything we want." No, you can't do anything you want.

Amy Tenowich>> Floyd Buckskin is with the Pitt River Tribe. He introduced me to flowers as a snack. Tastes like children (laughter).

Floyd Buckskin>> (Laughter) I hope not.

Amy Tenowich>> His job is to manage and protect the land around Mt. Shasta, and with good reason.

Floyd Buckskin>> Mt. Shasta has always represented the home of the creator. It's always been a place that's recognizable on a spiritual level and on a physical level.

Amy Tenowich>> Buckskin knows that many New Agers aren't disrespecting the land, but says that many Native Americans are sick of visitors leaving so-called spiritual objects in their sacred places. Like at this spring, we found beads, ashes from incense, twine that once held burning sage to trees, and this colorful prayer bundle. But the New Age invasion doesn't stop at the edge of the spring.

Floyd Buckskin>> People are supposed to be able to go and drink and not worry about whether someone's sitting in there in the spring nude with a bunch of crystals sitting around them. You know, you don't want to drink water then.

Amy Tenowich>> Buckskin says that the beauty of the area is its simplicity and that all those objects aren't necessary to get the most out of it.

Floyd Buckskin>> When it gets right down to it, all you need to do is to open your mouth and let your spirit talk and let the spirit of the land talk to you.

Amy Tenowich>> Back on the vision quest, Ashalyn agrees with the Native Americans.

Ashalyn>> I understand their feelings a hundred percent. They want everything to stay in its pristine natural state as the creator created it.

Amy Tenowich>> No matter, she says, who your creator might be. For Life and Times, I'm Amy Tenowich.

Val Zavala>> Our thanks to the USC Annenberg School of Journalism for those stories, and congratulations to all those student reporters. I'm Val Zavala. 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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