By Lionel Rolfe Energy Costs Harbor Area Gas Prices
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Serving the Seven Cities of the Harbor Area more than for 30 Years www.RandomLengthsNews.com October 15 - 28, 2010 Building, Oct. 1, 1910. Photo courtesy Historical Society/USC. of the California Oct. 1, Building, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles The The local publication you actually read2010 28, - 15 October By Lionel Rolfe he bombing of the Los Angeles Times Building in based on Howard Blum’s “American Lightning,” an his- EDITOR’S NOTE: Through the month 1910, which marks its centennial this month, is much torical pastiche and costume drama of figures such as of October, Lionel Rolfe, along with more than just a relic of class warfare. It ended a Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Clarence Lee Boek and Eric Vollmer of Public T Works Improvisational Theater has relatively radical, forgotten transitional period when Darrow, private detective William J. Burns and the bomb- Americans were increasingly electing socialist may- ing of the Los Angeles Times Building. been presenting a series of salons and theatrical productions relating to ors and even a congressman or two. Blum makes Burns the hero of his piece because the dynamiting of the Los Angeles The bombing undercut the power of the along with Pinkerton he specialized in fighting for Times Building in 1910. The American labor movement for the next management’s side in the great struggles accompanying explosion started a fire, which killed Northweston Amerigas NC Commission Tank Danger Study p. 2 two decades and yet scattered seeds of the rise of modern cities such as Los Angeles with sky- 21 employees and injured 100 more. reform that would flower once piercing buildings of steel early in the 20th century. The Times termed the explosion the again. Job Harriman was the In Blum’s book, Harriman’s name only comes up on “crime of the century,” and exploited Meet With ResidentsGrand Annexp. 3 p.11 the tragedy to ratchet up the Housing Authority Board Approves greatest seed-bearer of them three pages. Blum speaks well of Harriman, but in his all. version you would hardly realize he was co-counsel for pressure on unions. In this piece, Hollywood is pre- the McNamara brothers who were accused. Rolfe explores the real villains and Final Draft of Agency Plan, Then Finally paring a film about On the other hand, Blum manages to weave Burns the real heroes in that hot bed of labor organizing amidst an ongoing this period in and Darrow throughout his manuscript with that of D.W. Conjuntos Los Pochos Performs at the fight by progressives for social Los Angeles Griffith, the pioneer filmmaker. It’s a cute way of mak- Teaches Life is for Loving p. 12 justice. Dining: Grill duOperation Chateau’s Iraqi Al Castan Freedom andFreedom: 1,318 history, ing his story more “Hollywood,” but Harriman was a Rolfe, along with Nigey Lennon Energy Costs truer and better character by which to tell the times than and Paul Greenstein, penned the Burns ever was. book Bread And Hyacinths: The Rise OperationTotal NewU.S. FatalitiesDawn U.S. In Casualties Iraq: 4,428 Harriman’s dreams were not empty symbolism. They and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles to came out of the struggles of his times. Harriman was document this story. That book is now available on Kindle and can be Total U.S. Fatalities in AfghanistanU.S. and Gas Prices: $2.73 born in the year of Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugu- other locations in Operation Enduring ral address, which came at a time when the coun- purchased from Amazon’s Kindle Harbor Area Gas Prices: $3.08 try was being torn asunder by the threat of bookstore. Oscar-winning director Spot Price of Crude: $83.23 secession from those who believed in the and screenwriter Paul Haggis optioned the book. Villains and Heroes/to p. 6 1 Committed to independent journalism in the Greater LA/LB Harbor Area for more than 30 years. Community Announcements: Striking a Match Under a Vapor Cloud San Pedro Study Assesses the Potential Damage of SP Gas Tanks By Megan Barnes, Community News Reporter 75th Anniversary of CMA Two massive gas tanks Bryant said. Come to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium and sitting on seismic ground in celebrate their 75th anniversary at their an- Combined, the tanks contain nual Autumn Sea Fair festival. Festivities in- San Pedro could trigger a about 25 million gallons of refrig- clude live music, games, and shows for the blast spanning from 500 feet erated LPG and butane processed by whole family. The event takes place from 10 to most of the Harbor Area nearby refineries that is later trans- a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17. Admission is free. according to a recent study. ported by truck and rail car for ex- Details: (310) 548-7562; While the latter is highly port. Should liquid gas leak from the www.cabrillomarineaquarium.org unlikely, the study, released Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium tanks, it could spread as a colorless, Oct. 11 by the Northwest odorless vapor hugging the ground Location: 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San San Pedro Neighborhood Pedro and creating a volatile surface area. Council, included it in a haz- Patrick Luu, a Cornerstone en- ardous risk analysis of the gineer, told the council that the study Free Women’s Health Screening Rancho liquid petroleum The YWCA of the Harbor Area and the South did not determine the likelihood of Bay’s Encore plus program will be offering free gas storage facility on North each scenario, but rather the poten- clinical breast exams and mammograms for Gaffey Street. tial hazards. women who meet the requirements. Cornerstone Technolo- “We were asked to conduct a The screening days for this ongoing program gies, an environmental en- quantitative risk analysis for the are: Oct. 26 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the YWCA gineering consulting firm, of the Gardena Valley; 1341 West Gardena (Plains) facility for the butane tanks assessed the public hazard on the premises,” he said, acknowl- Blvd. Gardena, Also Oct. 28 from 9 a.m. to 2 of scenarios ranging from p.m. at the YWCA of the Harbor Area and South edging that on-site gas transporta- minor leaks, to emergency The worse case scenario: a 7.3- magnitude earthquake would cause catastrophic Bay. The program offers exams to uninsured failure of the largest butane storage tanks simultaneously. Vapor released from such tion was not factored in. low-income women older than 40. system shutdowns, to cata- an event would disperse and travel downwind until a combustion source ignited the All of the scenarios in the study Details: www.ywcaharbor.org; (310) 547-0831 strophic earthquakes. vapor. The study’s authors said it is likely that the flash fire would travel back to the are estimated under conservative Venue: YWCA of the Harbor Area and South “We have asked numer- pool source, igniting the dense concentration of vapor within and produce a column of flames capable of subjecting the vicinity within 6.8 miles to hazardous amounts of conditions that assume emergency Bay ous times for a hazardous thermal radiation. The study’s authors noted that this scenario is highly unlikely to fire control systems do not imme- Location: 437 W. 9th St., San Pedro footprint of the site and I occur, and that this projection contains some considerations that may not occur in practicality. diately prevent explosions and that understand somewhat why leaks occur uncontrolled for at least Golden Circle Awards we couldn’t get a footprint; The YWCA of the Harbor Area and South Bay five minutes. it’s private information within a company,” said taxpayer dollars, almost one-fourth of its operat- According to the study, if a forklift punctures are presenting the 8th annual Golden Circle Northwest acting-president Bob Bryant. The Awards. The reception is at 6 p.m. and dinner ing budget. a 9-square-inch leak in one of the tanks and a va- council commissioned Cornerstone to conduct the is at 7 p.m. The event is $30 per person “This isn’t a demonstration or to embarrass por cloud immediately ignites the escaped gas, an and RSVP’s must be made by Oct. 28. This study several months ago at a cost of $10,000 in anyone, it’s to provide information to the public,” explosion would reach the edges of Gaffey Street years honorees include Mitch Harmatz, and Westmont Drive. owner of Plaza Shell, SA Recycling, Assem- If a vapor cloud does not immediately ignite a blywoman Jenny Oropeza, Officer Joe Buscaino and a memorial tribute to Liz Port Exploring Possible “general release” gas leak, it will spread and once Arnesian. ignited, form a pool fire affecting a .4- to 1.7-mile Details: ywcaharbor.org; (310) 547-0831 radius. Hazards range from second-degree burns, Venue: Top of the Market Seafood USS Iowa Plans to a “devastating impact to residential and com- Restaurant By Megan Barnes, Community News Reporter mercial centers.” Material fatigue or poor tank Location: 1190 Nagoya Way, San Pedro maintenance can lead to general releases. While an official go-ahead has not been given, the Iowa comes here, there’s going to be a lot of The study says these are the “largest credible” talks between the Port of Los Angeles and a group House of Northern Lights Book Signing people coming down to San Pedro, so that was a hazards. The spread and intensity of fires increase hoping to bring the U.S.S. Iowa, the navy’s last at Williams Books very positive indication that they’re looking at this depending on the kind of tank failure, such as pres- On Oct.