A Model for Rivers and Greenspaces

L.A. City Councilman Ed Reyes has invited Seoul's deputy mayor for infrastructure to show us how it's done...building a riverwalk and a park with environmental sustainability as the guiding principle, that is. All snarkiness aside, this is actually a great idea. The South Koreans have done good work in urban planning in terms of such projects. There will be a presentation at City Hall, open to the public, Friday, April 17 at 2:30, where
Dr. In-Keun Lee will talk about and show images of how Seoul has transformed a canal into a beautiful river walk. Expect to see more of these kinds of exchanges as L.A.'s new 4-block great park to be installed at the foot of City Hall downtown, and the L.A. River project unfolds (however slowly completion of the two shall meet the light of day).

Ipod Touch Here: A solution for a Frustrated Verizon Blackberry User

For more than a year, I've struggled with my Blackberry. Don't get me wrong; I know how it works. That's the problem: I hate how it works! I think there are two kinds of people. There are those who get algebra and the Blackberry algorithm. Then there are those of us who think a whole other way.
However, I don't want AT&T. So, for now, no iPhone. My plan is to ditch the Blackberry, get a regular, non-PDA camera phone, and and iPod Touch for my other, net-based needs. Tell me what you think of this solution if you have any experience with similar situations--especially if you know about the mythical world of unlocking the iPhone for use with Verizon (which I understand to be impossible because Verizon doesn't use removable chips).

Mark to Market: Other Big Financial News

FASBE, the rule-making body for the accounting industry (think of it as the lawyers' bar, except for CPAs), has bowed to political pressure and approved "more flexibility," i.e., more generosity, in the valuing of legacy, i.e., toxic, assets. The bottom line? Better-looking bottom lines for banks and other financial institutions. But is this just institutionalizing the kind of willy-nilly analysis that was the problem way back with Enron, and during the current crisis on Wall Street? Or, is it a necessary evil to grease the gears of the U.S. and world economies? I'll try to get some answers from leading accounting firms later at the Business Journal's website: sfvbj.com. (Maybe accounting is not such a bad beat for this reporter after all). Meantime, here's Reuters U.K.'s take on the so-called mark to market issue: http://uk.reuters.com/article/regulatoryNewsFinancialServicesAndRealEstate/idUKN0226528020090402

(No) Signs of the Times

The AIG sign on one of the Warner Center Towers in Woodland Hills has been blocked out with a big, black square covering. Has the King of Rocky Finance left the building? Are they still here and making way for their (probably very expensive) re-branding as AIU Holdings, Ltd?

Gone also is the small street-level moniker of FreddieMac on Oxnard Street at the same cluster of Warner Center Towers. Where have the visible sings of local incarnations of the American taxpayers' corporate crown jewels?

I will be answering these and other salient questions in the lead ValleyNewsmakers(tm) piece in the coming April 13 issue of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

L.A.'s Sea of Poppers

I have noticed, and I think there's a story here, wherever I see (driveby see) a major construction project in L.A. I smell what some might know as poppers. One whiff of the air on the southbound side of the 101 in the Cahuenga Pass near Universal at about the time the time of construction completion of the newish L.A. Fitness (you know, the building with the round, purple cardio module now practically suspended over the freeway), and I'm sure of it: Poppers.

If you don't know what poppers are, they (and don't be confused by the plural...a bottle of poppers contains a very odiferous liquid--nothing that will pop out at you) a chemical sold as either "room odorizer" or "video head cleaner," which people sniff for a quick rush, usually while dancing or having sex. Poppers have an odor that is a cross between dirty sox and jet fuel.

Other spots I've smelled the very specific and distinct odor of poppers include one in Reseda, on the corner of Tampa and Victory where an expansion of the Victory-Tampa Medical Square is ongoing, as well as at the new Pavillions construction site in West Hollywood.

If a sea of poppers underlies the City of Angels, there is an opportuntiy here: Cars that run on amyl nitrate!

Life goes on

I'm back. Last post: Dec. 10. Today is May 8. Much has happened.

I've gotten a lot of freelance work. Writing a lot for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Actually have a beat there--Law and Accounting. Also just finished the bulk of a special pullout section of SFVBJ about the biotech industry along the 101 Biotech Corridor, as it's called. I tried to stick a new nickname for the corridor, but the editor there, my friend Jason Schaff, nixed that.

What was my "brilliant" rebranding of the corridor? Drum roll: the DNA Highway. Whaddyuh think? Nice, huh? Okay I guess Jason knew what he was doing. Anyway, it was a great experience. Four 2000-word articles about biotech (Amgen, Baxter, and a lot of small labs and firms. One of those projects that make my motto about journalists true: "We know everything about nothing, but a couple things about everything."

I'm also doing a little bit of work for the paper at which I was managing editor for four years, North Valley Community News.

Of course, I'm back in school. In fact, the semester is almost over already. I did well, and even won a pretty respectable scholarship to help pay living expenses.

My internship with Marta Waller at KTLA Channel 5 begins in June.

I'm also doing a little bit of publicity work for a single client (a fact which will disqualify me from writing story from time to time, though nothing has come up yet).

Haven't done anything for the Daily News since last year. But that brings up a blog I want to recommend, that of retired Daily News Editor in Chief, one of L.A.'s great journalists, Ron Kaye. It's fast becoming one of the best local political blogs on the Web. Go to www.ronkayela.com to check it out.

I'm going to find a minute or two every day to blog from now on.

All good things come to an end. It's been a pleasure developing North Valley Community News into something special editorially. By treating the content hole of the newspaper as space for substantive, well-reported, multi-source news, news-features, and human-interest stories about the five communities of the Northern San Fernando Valley, I believe I, Amy Lyons--both as a staff writer, and later as an editor-at-large--and about a dozen passionate freelance journalists and contributors brought a rare thing to readers.

As the publisher, Wayne Adelstein, moves to help the publication survive financially by doing away with a formal editorial department relying on press releases, lay contributions and his own writing, I thank him for allowing me nearly four years of unencumbered editorial authority and respecting the traditional firewall between editorial and advertising most of the time. I hope North Valley Community News economic fortunes change and Wayne can restore editorial content that could place the paper in a position to be a Valley-flavored alternative to LA Weekly. I know we were on our way...

They want my opinion...again.

It's not that the Daily News cares so mcuh about my opinion, but my flood story has to be an opinion piece. That's because the paper doesn't accept freelance news stories. News to me. I guess Ed. in Chief Ron Kaye forgot to tell me that when he hooked me up with Chris Weinkopf, he's the Op. editor. Think that explains why my first story appeared on the Opinion Page? I think so. Now I have to form an opinion about the flood story and rework the piece. Oh well; it's a living.

Extended Deadlines

I'm working on a story for the Daily News about potential large-scale flooding. I should be meeting with a flood plane expert this week to get some clarity about the physics of one party's claim regarding the issue. I appreciate Chris Weinkopf's patience with me on this piece. It could turn out to be fairly important story.

It appears that the County may have a real problem with this one. They're certainy digging in their heals legally.

However, the paper I edit, North Valley Community News, has been taking all of my time. Because of server problems, we're down to the wire on getting all the editorial content in.

Next time, I should have news about an exclusive I've been offered.

Dear Universe: Send me a Mac.

A small flood of thoughts.

Okay, another week has come and gone. I'm finishing a story for the Los Angeles Daily News about a dam on private property that could someday cause the northwestern San Fernando Valley to flood. The threat is not quite like the levvies breaking in New Orleans, but...stay tuned. I 'll let you know when the story runs.

Still no leads from you my reader. Yes, I said reader, not readers. But, when I get a moment, I'll investigate how hone promotes one's blog. I guess I should request a link from L.A. Observed.