LA Storytelling Festival

Its a sin to have a lawn, how to befriend the taxman, the plane that got away, living with immigrant parents, long convoluted Russian fairy tales, dancing with the dead, songs of Obama......these are just some of the offerings at the festival.

It was very fun and in biking distance. Istarted out the morning doing yoga and meditation at the Y and then, already blissed out, on to story land. I met up with Margaret and Pieter and met Rick Bolin and his wife. I was amazed by Makeda ?..and spoke to her about performing at the next MLK event. She was enthusiastic and wants to come to this years event too.

Fighting Windmills....Oilwells

Here is what I said at the lastest hearing on Baldwin Hills Oil well and also sent in letter form


Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commissioners
Community Studies I, Hall of Records
320 W. Temple St., Rm. 1340
Los Angeles, CA. 90012

Re: Baldwin Hills Oilfield Clean Up

Honorable Commissioners:

The CSD revision falls short of providing adequate planning and protection for oilfield cleanup. My husband worked in the oil industry in Louisiana, and I have been following the issues regarding oilfield clean up in that state. Perhaps we can learn something from their problems and experience.

The Department of Natural Resources of that state spent $12.1 million between 1994 and 1998 dealing with 452 wells, 84 pits and 38 facilities. These orphaned wells have been waiting for clean up since they were abandoned in 1948. They are now being cleaned up because of their “potential harm to public health or the environment.” In 1999, nearly one-half a million dollars was spent to plug 8 wells, close 6 pits and remove 10 storage tanks. http://dnr.louisiana.gov/SEC/EXECDIV/PUBINFO/NEWSR/lsunews.ssi

Also in Louisiana, in May of this year, $126 million lawsuit was waged against an oil companies for allegedly polluting 374 acres with production waste. The suit also alleges that drinking water was polluted. The suit was brought by an owner against an operator, saying the operator purposely avoided complying with state environmental protection laws between 1984 and 1996. The plaintiff was awarded $1million in June of this year and no punitive damages were awarded. However, this illustrates the potential for expensive, drawn-out battles between owners and operators, currently acting as allies, regarding the responsibility for restoring the land. http://www.theconcordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=1963

The Baldwin Hills/Inglewood Oilfield is 1000 acres and clean up costs will be substantial. How will the clean up be funded? Is PXP in the position now or will it be able in the future to take on this level of responsibility? Or are the property owners expected to take on the expense of clean up after they have reaped the benefits of drilling on their land? The owners insist that their land-use rights supersede the rights of the community for health and safety – and so they should pay for that privilege, and should be required to make regular payments into an account that will be used to clean up the hills. Commissioners, is the county going to take responsibility equal to the potential damage incurred?
Respectfully,

Michelle Weiner, Lindberg Park Neighborhood, Culver City

Love, Passion, Longevity, Affection

Here is a sneak preview of the hoopa square. Its being printed on charmeuse silk at DPI-SF in San Francisco and should arrive any day. Then it will be sewn onto the background fabric that Rebecca chose, a grey velour, using some type of thin fun yarn. This is the third incarnation of this piece, its been a fun and interesting evolution.

corsage

Saturday was Play Day at Rand.

It is good to have a mobile studio at times, to narrow down materials and create an order to them during the prep and planning phase.

Materials include old botanical reprints, original cigarette cards and printed tissue.

Witness

Dropping Robbye Gerl at the bus stop at Fox Hills Mall today, we saw two men being detained by the police. It looked like this: three squad cars, six Culver City police officers, two men handcuffed and sitting on the curb. Robbye said that she had seen one of the men a few minutes before, walking down the street in a jacket and cap, not running or looking to get away, just walking. As she jumped on the bus she said to me, "go up to the police and ask them why they are holding those men". So I did. Well, first I watched-I stood next to folks who were waiting for the bus. We all watched. Nothing much happened except the police talked a bit with each other and then to the men. The guy with the cap wanted to know if he was arrested. The police officer's response was, no, not arrested, detained, which means that we can't legally hold you, but you can't go. Then two squad cars left and the men were led to the front and back seat of the third car. Minutes later the man with the cap was released. Before they let him walk away, they pulled up his shirt, front and then back, and had him open his mouth wide and stick out his tongue. Then they drove off with the other man in the car and left the guy with the cap standing there-trying to regain a shred of dignity in front of the bus riders and others who witnessed his detention.

1000 oil wells?

A group of folks from Culver City, Ladera Heights, Baldwin Hills and Los Angeles met with a commission from the County Board of Supervisors to raise our voices about PXP, a Texas-based oil subsdiary of Halliburton, that has rights to drill in the Inglewood Oil Field near Kennth Hahn State Park. We bused in (I walked from LA Attorney Dispute Resolution Program on 2nd and Hill-later took the public bus home with my friend Ruth Sarnoff) to conserve gasoline. At a previous meeting PXP executives minimized the impact of their scheme, saying that they would probably drill "only 24 wells a year", which of course is one every two weeks, a steady pace of environmental assault.

Their self -imposed CSD makes them look like heros for applying stringent requirements that they must then meet. They are requiring themselves to protect Native American buriel grounds, and to landscape with drought-tolerant native plants. However, they are not going to protect us from the long-lasting degradation of our local habitat: schools with hundreds of children, homes that already suffer from toxic fumes, noise and ground uplift. They have NO Business drilling in a high density, urban area. See the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance website for more information. http://www.cityprojectca.org/ourwork/baldwinhills.html also http://www.chc-inc.org/chcRegionalLB.cfm