Views of and from Beverly Hills, California

Cable TV Shortchanges Many of its Viewers

Many in Los Angeles feel we are paying more for cable service and getting less satisfaction than ever before, according to an op-ed by Ellen Stern Harris published July 17 in the Los Angeles Daily News. Among the imbalances in our locally franchised cable programming, are the following: The percentage of paid programming and/or infomercials ... The frequently simultaneous commercial periods for cable news and commentary channels ... and the fact that four-minute commercial "breaks" are becoming more and morev common. Click here

Commemorating 30 Years of the
California Coastal Commission's Work

Stanford University's Institute of the Environment and the California Coastal Commission (CCC), on May 11, 2005, honored pioneers in the efforts to save the California coast. This included those who began the effort and worked for  legislation, ultimately succeeding with the passage of Proposition 20 enacted and its legislative successor.

In photo are, from left: Michael Fischer, formerly Executive Director of the California Coastal Commission (CCC); Paul Rogers, environmental reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and discussion facilitator; Ellen Stern Harris, Vice Chairman of the first term of the CCC; Joseph Bodovitz, first executive director of the CCC; and former state senator and discussion participant Alan Sieroty. Click here

Why Are 30% of Us Being Ignored?

From a letter published in the the Beverly Hills Courier:

A presentation to the Council by the City's sports-oriented staff and consultant makes it clear that their  planning is extremely limited in their appreciation of the program and facilities needs of approximately 30% of Beverly Hills residents who are our frail elderly, chronically ill, disabled and low income residents who lack a suitable means of transportation, especially on weekends.

Currently, there is no Dial-A-Ride service on weekends, so these residents can't get to the Farmers Market. And if they could, no battery-operated or student-driven wheelchairs are available to them. Similarly, these same alienated residents can't enjoy the concerts at Greystone, because for many of them there is no way to get there. Click here

Yet Another Palm Frond Causes Yet Another SCE Outage

Lack of preventive maintenance, once again, means that yet another palm frond caused a power outage in Beverly Hills on February 19. According to Southern California Edison, more than 3,000 households were affected. An earlier outage, on Nov. 21, 2004, blacked out 187 households. It may have been the exact same palm tree at Rexford and Carmelita that caused both outages in this neighborhood.

Mark Olson, Region Manager of Public Affairs for SCE, says he called headquarters and was told that no one will come from SCE to re-set anyone's clocks, or the AM / FM stations which were scrambled by the outage. There appear to be no consequences for SCE's lack of preventive maintenance. Click here

Destruction of Public Property By Public Works Personnel

The needless slashing of Beverly Gardens Park's wisteria vines, to replace its pergola, exemplifies the lack of communication between the City's Recreation & Parks and Public Works departments. The result was destruction of wisteria vines that could easily have been saved.

Once again, the City's public works dept. has destroyed the very wisteria vines they should have conscientiously saved, by placing them on scaffolding, while replacing the deteriorating wooden beams of the pergola. At the same location, they similarly destroyed a magnificent 60-year old wisteria decades ago. Click here

Los Angeles Times
Columnist Steve Lopez:

Brawling With Velvet Gloves

Steve Lopez
December 15, 2004

"Beverly Hills invites you to experience all the season has to offer," said the newspaper ad, which reminded shoppers to be sure and check out the Baccarat chandeliers now lining Rodeo Drive.

I may want to experience more than one season. A citywide brawl is about to break out over the proposed five-star Montage resort in the heart of Beverly Hills, where traffic is already so maddening it has to be God's revenge on people buying $6,000 handbags.

As for the chandeliers, I took one look and a thought occurred:
Where's Cary Grant ("To Catch a Thief") when you need him?

What a heist that would be, I told Beverly Hills resident Ellen Stern Harris, who was guiding me on a tour of what she calls the city's "scandal sites."

Harris is one of those gadflies — every town has at least one — whose life's mission is to keep public officials honest. She said she needed lots of help in Beverly Hills, describing the relationship between public officials and developers as an orgy.

Dissing' The Elderly:  A Letter To The City Manager

Beverly Hills can and must do more to meet the needs of the 30% of its residents who are frail elderly, disabled, low income and those with limited transportation options, the Human Relations Commission was told. Betty Harris, League of Women Voters President Dorothy Kaufman and Ellen Stern Harris of Fund for The Environment testified before the City's Human Relations Commission. Also in attendance was Councilman Steve Webb.

The testimony focused on the great need to assist the approximately 30% of Beverly Hills residents who, according to the latest U. S. Census figures, are among the frail elderly, disabled, low income and those with few transportation options. Click here

Zev Yaroslavsky, County Board of Supervisors Honor Environmentalist and Consumer Activist Ellen Stern Harris

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and the Board of Supervisors this week honored Beverly Hills resident and longstanding environmental and good-government advocate Ellen Stern Harris on the occasion of her 75th birthday, celebrating a lifetime of activism and engagement.

“You are a model of civic involvement,” Yaroslavsky told Harris after reeling off a list of her accomplishments, appointed service and awards over the years. Click here

Are Doctors Too Cozy With Big Pharma?

The recent recall of Vioxx after tens of millions have been exposed to its serious risks raises questions about the safety of our FDA pharmaceutical approval system, and about the cozy relationship of doctors with drug companies that wine and dine them. Click here

A Southern California Water Primer

Seventeen million Southern Californians, including those in Beverly Hills, rely on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for their water supply. The MWD’s mission is to provide water for all comers, no matter how many, or the traffic and air quality consequences. It has become the de facto land use planner for California. Where the water goes, there goes development. Click here.

Smart Farming and Water For The Cities

As much as 85% of California's water is used by agriculture. Despite this, the state has no requirements for agricultural users to conserve. With legislation mandating that builders first secure an assured 20-year supply of water before they commence construction, the race is now on for more and more water to be made available to developers. Click here.

Wisteria in Beverly Hills, using giant bamboo and flowering pear trees as its trellis
clear across the back of a garden

Re-Landscaping Isn't The Only Answer

The following is an expanded version of a letter published in The Los Angeles Times Dec. 11, 20034

Re: Adan Ortega's letter on native plants (Letters, Dec. 4): Southern California, without its cooling lawns and shady trees, without its camellias, azaleas, gardenias, ferns and seasonal bedding flowers would be a very different place indeed. Native plants can be lovely, but often for no more than three months of the year. The browning of the Southland would mean using more electricity for air conditioning. It would also make this area less of a Mecca for tourism, our number two industry.

Only 5% of California's water is used by residential consumers, while 85% is used by agriculture. Yet residential customers are required to do 100% of the water conserving, while the State imposes no mandatory conservation requirements on agriculture.

Rather than spending millions of ratepayer dollars propagandizing for re-landscaping with drought-tolerant plants, it's time that the Metropolitan Water District put its influential lobbying efforts to work in Sacramento on our behalf. MWD needs to get the Legislature to require California's number one industry, agriculture, to do its full part in conserving water.

Ellen Stern Harris, MWD Board Member Emeritus
and Executive Director, Fund for The Environment
Editor of BeverlyHillsCitizen.org
 

Diesel Trucks and The Air We Breathe

When a massive number of diesel trucks travel our residential streets, the cost to homeowners isn't just a loss of peace and quiet. Those fumes are dangerous. Here's what you can do about it. Click here.

When Shrubbery Becomes A Problem

The following was published in the Letters section of the Beverly Hills Courier, Feb. 20, 2004

Excessively tall, residential, shrubbery is far more than a nuisance. It can unfairly obliterate neighbors' views while blocking sunshine and breezes. Fortunately, the City of Beverly Hills has an ordinance addressing these issues. Most importantly, it is effectively enforced by the Bldg. & Safety Dept. and assisted, when necessary, by the BHPD and the City Attorney. Municipalities which recognize that fairness and quality-of-life matters are aspects of environmental justice, also know that timely enforcement minimizes neighborhood friction and enhances property values.

This is true not only in single family residential areas, but also throughout the community, where 60% of our citizens reside in multiple-unit dwellings. Kudos, too, for the City's enforcement efforts to require compliance with its ban on the use of noisy, pollution emitting, dust-dispersing, gas-powered leaf-blowers. Code-enforcement definitely matters.

Wherever readers reside, they can call their local elected representatives and ask for enforcement where relevant ordinances are on the books. Where they are not, they can ask that they be enacted and enforced.

Ellen Stern Harris
Executive Director
Fund for the Environment
Editor of BeverlyHillsCitizen.org

The following was printed in the Letters section of The Los Angeles Times Aug. 30, 2003

You correctly describe how California's current campaign financing works: "politicians shake down contributors and pay them back with favors at the citizenry's expense." Fortunately, there's now a better model. It's called "clean-money campaigning." This requires a prospective candidate to collect a large number of signatures, accompanied by contributions of $5 each. These are submitted to the state to qualify for public financing.

Both Arizona and Maine have enacted this form of public financing. It allows for viable competition by those not financed by the special interests. And the results are most encouraging. For example, in Arizona, seven out of nine statewide offices, including that of the governor, were won by clean-money candidates. Maine's Legislature recently passed a form of universal health care that has been signed by the governor. Clean-money candidates there now hold over half the state's legislative seats. Efforts are underway in California to enact similar legislation. For further information: www.caclean.org

Ellen Stern Harris
Executive Director
Fund for the Environment
Editor of BeverlyHillsCitizen.org

Of, By and For Just Some of The People

On any given Sunday, the City of Beverly Hills promotes cultural and community programs which are supported by the tax dollars of all of its citizens. However, those of us who are among the growing number of frail elderly and disabled residents, often cannot avail ourselves of these community benefits. Isn't it time for the City Council to make our inclusion a high priority? Click here.

When It Comes To Cable TV Programming, 
Residents are Seldom Seen or Heard 

Residents of Beverly Hills get a few minutes to air their views on the cablecast meetings of the City Council. Only a few years ago, residents were also able to locally produce and cablecast 28-minute programs to more fully discuss issues of concern. That was halted by budget and other concerns, with promises of restoration as yet unfulfilled. But another "public affairs" cable show, of great benefit to a particular politician, continues. What should be done? Click here.