LA Eastside » alienation

Memorial Day

alienation — Sat, 29 May 2010 13:01:46 +0000

Evergreen Cemetery, Boyle Heights

The official and American observance of Memorial Day is to honor people who died while in the military service. In the Japanese American community, Memorial Day was adapted to be a way to honor the ancestors. Those who know some Japanese call it “haka mairi” which means “visiting graves”.

At least this seems to be the case in Los Angeles, because if you go to Evergreen Cemetery this weekend, you’ll find all these J-A families making their annual (or for some semiannual) visit to their dead ancestors. Lately, some people have made this event into a little family reunion, and I’ve seen people show up at different cemeteries with food and lawn chairs.

Everyone brings flowers. Some leave food or drinks. If they have vets who died in combat, they might bring flags. For whatever reason, my family never brought out a flag, but in the community the veterans are a big deal because the 442nd and the veterans groups are significant. My family and the families familiar with the Japanese rituals clean off the headstone, pour water over it, and trim the grass.

After visiting all the relatives’ graves we’ll go and eat lunch at a restaurant.

This is pre-theistic ancestor worship, where you believe that the spirits of the dead are in the sky, and are looking down at what you’re doing. Maybe they’re laughing at you, or upset, or just hanging out with the other dead. So you’d better clean up that headstone really good and pray.

If all this hakamairi wasn’t enough ancestor worship, it’s only a few months until the Obon festival, when you honor your dead ancestors again, and make another visit to the cemetery. People with religion can wait until Rosh Hashanah or Day of the Virgin, or start early with Easter and make another visit. If you have a dual- or tri-religion family, you can visit three or four times a year. Ancestor worship is on the decline in Japan due to its being outlawed, but still going strong in parts of America.

(The Ancient Cult, was by Lafcadio Hearn, 1904.)

Fight Against a Rent Increase (your deadline is Friday morning)

alienation — Thu, 06 May 2010 18:12:46 +0000

I got a letter from CES telling me that a 4-month moratorium on rent increases is coming up for a vote of the City Council of Los Angeles. The vote is tomorrow, May 7th, 10:00 AM, and they’re asking people to show up.

Please contact your council representative (or all of them) explaining why you cannot handle a rent increase. The inflation rate has been effectively negative, and wages have declined. People need a reprieve. See the link above for full details and instructions on sending a letter.

The Zanja Madre

alienation — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:59:39 +0000

On Wikipedia, there’s a sarcastic take on the re-discovery of the Zanja Madre, the original water supply for the city of Los Angeles:

In 1978 archaeologist Julia Costello discovered a portion of the Zanja Madre during construction of the Plaza de Dolores.

In 2000 two people allegedly dug up a section of the Zanja on the steep slope near a Broadway parking garage and were credited by the L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Times as having discovered the Zanja, but as it turned out later, they had merely come across the well-known brick “bulge” between the parking garage and the UP paint barn while trespassing on Union Pacific property. Later, archaeologists overseeing site operations near the MTA Blue Line, later named Gold Line, studied the portions of uncovered brick conduit. They expected to find more portions along the line near the River Yard, but there were no discoveries. It was generally supposed that the Zanja had been destroyed during railroad yard construction over the years. Another brick find, supposedly on private property, was uncovered during a weed whacking operation. Since it was private property, no archaeological surveys were made. This part of the Zanja was what was supposedly discovered in 2000. It is an area on the back side of an abandoned mill on Spring Street, and the old Union Pacific paint barn, which had been a favorite area for mill and UP employees taking their cigarette breaks. This area, which is open on the side facing Broadway in Chinatown, and from the Spring Street side, had been a playground for the local children and source of bricks for local gardners for many years. This is one reason why many locals met the news of the new “discovery” with puzzlement, for the location of the Zanja had been known by almost everyone living in Chinatown, Dogtown, Elysian Park, Solano and Echo Park.

In 2005 MTA construction crews uncovered unexpected sections of the brick Zanja Madre. This section was found following the path predicted by early Zanja investigator and amateur archaeologist, Rudy Zappa Martinez in 1975, when he used a compass and stick to follow the Zanja’s path from its terminus in Olvera Street, along to the bulging section behind the Union Pacific paint barn, up to the point where it disappeared into the sandy hillside by the cornfield trainyards, and onwards toward the river. Archaeologists were brought in to evaluate the finds, most of which were red-brick, penstock-sized aqueducts. Now serious studies and documentation have begun in order to have the Zanja Madre routes put onto historical registers.

Once again, the people’s history of L.A. trumps the official history. Archaeologists are always looking for cultural resources, but can neglect to talk to the “cultural resources” who have been living in the area for decades, and have local knowledge that never got written down because nobody thought it was worth recording. Anyway, I’ll get off the soapbox now.

Built by the settlers of Los Angeles shortly after the city’s founding, the Zanja Madre was the main water supply for the city, a channel diverting water from the LA River to the Plaza that constituted downtown LA in the 1780s. The Zanja Madre was part of a larger water supply system of zanjas, or ditches, that stretched across the city, with 90 miles of channels. The zanjas were the city’s main water supply until 1902, when the system was replaced with underground pipes. After this conversion, the Zanja Madre remained in use as a system of flood water drainage.

Eastlake and Westlake, now known as Lincoln Park and Macarthur Park, were originally reservoirs for water flowing in the zanjas. When there was a dry spell, you could get water from these manmade lakes. (Yes, it sounds disgusting. Just forget the past 50 years of history around these parks.)

The two people who discovered the remains of the ditch were documented in The History and Archaeology of the Zanja Madre, a good Powerpoint deck produced by Cogstone, an archaology firm hired to research the Zanja Madre after MTA construction uncovered part of it in 2005. The illustration above was from that report, and they have numerous maps and photos of the zanja. They also have a video about the uncovering and archaeology.

Ultimately, the uncovered portions were entombed in concrete after research was conducted on the ruins.

More reading:
A history of water in L.A., provided by the City, has a short overview of early water systems.
Irrigation development by William Hammond Hall describes the local irrigation system, c. 1880, in detail.

This is what a police state looks like

alienation — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:11:43 +0000

A police state looks calm, if you’re not being oppressed.

Grassroots activists and advocacy journalists in Southern California have been decrying the rise and proliferation of “sobriety checkpoints” for the past two years, saying they’re victimizing undocumented immigrants. See the list of links below for recent historical info. Ryan Gabrielson has done some great research, and has two stories, one at the NYT, accompanied by a video, and one at Mother Jones, revealing new and scandalous facts that point to systematically supported, police-coordinated theft.

The new information that Gabrielson dug up points to huge fiscal motivations for cities to run checkpoints. The checkpoints are paid for by the State, but the fines collected and impound fees collected benefit City governments.

These checkpoints always turn up many more unlicensed drivers than drunk drivers. They are used in Latino communities far more than other communities.

Rockero, the author of several articles linked below, noted that these checkpoints have the same function as checkpoints all over the world: in Israel, Mexico, and anywhere where we’re at war.

Historical reference of some local stories about checkpoints. URLs include to show dates:
http://laeastside.com/2009/12/dirty-deeds-done-dirt-cheap/
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/12/233456.php
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=1338
http://laeastside.com/2008/06/sobriety-check-point-on-cesar-chavez-and-evergreen/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFjNK-NFleg
http://standing-firm.com/2007/08/10/residents-fight-to-protect-community-against-unjust-checkpoints/
http://detodos-paratodos.blogspot.com/2008/09/pomona-coalition-demands-investigation.html
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/12/233422.php
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2010/01/234528.php
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2010/02/234730.php
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2009/12/233253.php
http://regenerationtv.net/pipermail/imc-la/2009-January/000992.html
This article was informed by an email by Rockero.

Choose Your Illusion?

alienation — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:09:36 +0000

The winds of educational change are blowing, but who the heck knows what’s going on? The LA Unified School District is holding elections where people can vote on different proposed plans to let private companies or the present public administration manage 36 underperforming LAUSD schools. It’s barely in the news. Is it because it affects almost entirely only working class people of color? (KPCC, Daily Breeze, The Wave.)

These votes don’t actually choose the plans, but, they will poll the stakeholders to get a sense of what they want to see at their schools. The school board makes the final decisions.

LAUSD has a web page with all the proposals. On that list are several eastside schools: new Esteban Torres HS, Garfield HS, Lincoln HS,

What do people think about this whole thing about bringing in outside management? Have you read any of the proposals? Are you voting?

[I added a link to the proposals and clarified who will run schools.]

Bringing Back Broadway?

alienation — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:36:28 +0000

KPCC had a long interview with Jose Huizar about this project called Bringing Back Broadway. The centerpiece is a streetcar, but, the real goal is to drive “economic development” and “revitalize” Broadway.

Around halfway through the interview, Huizar said something that’s kind of surprising. “The property owners are recognizing that some of the shoppers that come there now, mostly Latino immigrant shoppers, are looking elsewhere to do the type of shopping that they are doing now. They’re going to Huntington Park [and other local areas].” KPCC has been pumping this clip on the air a lot.

Is that true? Are Latinos abandoning the Broadway stores? It sounded to me like he was providing a rationale, and signal, to discriminate against existing businesses. One caller later in the show complained about the electronics and wholesale stores — so it sounded like there were still customers that she didn’t like shopping Downtown.

They’re looking for lots of funding, but they want to take some of that Measure R money. That cash was supposed to help transit, not to make a “streetcar” tourist attraction to help boost the property values on Broadway.

I don’t trust what’s going on. What do you think?

Fiesta Broadway 2009

The Cost of Bagging Groceries

alienation — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:00:01 +0000

[Some anonymous poster asked me to crosspost this musing here. I don't know grocery store economics, but if someone does, explain where I'm wrong, please.]

I was at Food 4 Less (or was it El Super), watching people bag their own groceries. What would it cost if someone was there to bag them, I wondered?

Let’s say it takes 5 minutes to bag a cart of groceries. So a worker can do 12 in an hour. They do this for, let’s say, 7 hours a day. There’s a half hour of breaks, and a lunch break, and meetings, so that’s why I say 7 hours.

Let’s suppose this bagger makes $12 an hour, which no bagger makes, but, let’s suppose. There’s taxes and other expenses like insurance, so, let’s say that they add 50% to the cost of hiring this person – $18 an hour, or $144 a day. That wage, spread over a day’s worth of groceries, is only $1.71 per cart.

Anyone who shops at bag-it-yourself supermarkets knows that they are a lot cheaper than the ones where they bag it for you. Everything is cheaper, and in my experience, you can save a lot of money. Certainly more than $1.71 per trip.

So, why don’t they just increase prices by 1% and hire a bunch of baggers? They would create some entry level jobs.

I suspect that it’s because the owners want to create a distinction between stores. You have Food 4 Less, and you have Ralphs, both owned by Kroger. Food 4 Less costs a lot less than Ralphs. The main differences between the two is the bagging thing, slightly more “gourmet” inventory, and “atmoshpere”.

“Self-bagging” has become a symbol of poverty, or at least of thriftiness. Conversely, not self-bagging. having a kid or the cashier bag them, has become a status symbol. By perpetuating this division, Kroger can increase profits at Ralphs.

There’s also the whole paper, plastic, or canvas issue. I know it’s not green, but I get plastic, because that’s all they offer at the self-bagging. I use the bag instead of plastic wrap when storing food.

Unemployment is high, especially in working class communities. What Kroger and other grocery companies with self-bagging stores, like Albertson’s Max Foods (and a Luckys in Alhambra), should do is add bagger jobs, and keep their prices low. Prices need increase only 1% to 2%, if they create $24,000 per year jobs with full benefits, and have the baggers do 12 carts an hour. The profit margins are there, so, the money’s there to make the job.

Realistically, they should be able to do this without raising prices at all, by paying minimum wages and full benefits, and making them do more carts per hour. That’s usually how they do it, because bagger jobs are the low-paid positions.

Who Felt the Quake? Who Has Money?

alienation — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:36:38 +0000

If you go by the raw numbers on the USGS.gov site, one might conclude that rich people felt the quake more than working class people, even though it happened in Inglewood.

The USGS.gov site has a cool feature where you can submit a quake report describing how it felt. You fill in your zip code, and some info about how much things were damaged, or not. During the recent quake on Sunday night, they collected more than 4,000 reports.

As you might expect, this received data was biased to come from upper-middle-class people, and probably younger people. I’ll leave it to the comments to speculate about biases. Details and links after the jump.

The data set I discuss here was from the night of the quake. Much more data has come in, and I’ll work on updating as time allows.

The degree of difference in the numbers was pretty large. Aliso Viejo, an area next to Laguna Beach and Laguna Hills, far from the epicenter, topped the list at 500 respondents. Conversely, zip codes in areas like Compton, Bell, and L.A. had around 10 to 50 respondents, despite being close to the epicenter (and probably more populous).

I took the data and mapped it via Google Maps and Google Earth. So you can mouse around and “take a tour” of who is “wired” and who is not “wired.”

A quick web search for “digital divide” revealed something surprising: people don’t care anymore. The issue came up in the mid 90s, and then again around 2000, but, today, the policy-wonk-writers haven’t said much about the domestic digital divide. Much of the attention is on the third world.

To be certain, there is a global digital divide between our “postmodern” or late-capitalist country and the third world, but, there is also a domestic one. When useful government services like USGS.gov are used ten times more (or more) by rich people than poor people, there’s a problem.

Click to view the map in Google Maps. You’ll have to zoom in to view the markers.

Click to download a file that you can view in Google Earth.

Click to view the current data at the USGS.

Gustavo Arellano at Borders in Pico Rivera, Tonight

alienation — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:18:02 +0000

You know who he is. He’s all over the local media. He’s written a book about himself, Orange County: A Personal History, and it’s reputed to be serious. He’s going to be signing it at Borders in Pico Rivera, at the corner of Washington and Rosemead, relatively convenient to Eastsiders. Starts at 7:00 PM. La Bloga has details. (He’s in OC on the 18th at Libreria Martinez, his home turf.)

Shakin’

alienation — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:57:22 +0000

We just had a quake that was shaking pretty hard. The epicenter was down south of Chino Hills and Diamond Bar.

USGS information about the quake.

Google Map of the epicenter.

Comparison: Northridge 6.7. Whittier Narrows 5.8.

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