Shawn Casey O’Brien is the underdog among five Democrats vying for their party’s nomination in the 41st Assembly District primary’a position he understands. When O’Brien was in grade school and coping with cerebral palsy, bullies stole his crutches and stuffed him in a trash can. He climbed his way out and crawled up the hill to get his crutches. “I was a mess,” he says. “I don’t like bullies, but they’ve made me what I am’I stand up for the underdog.” The oldest of seven children, O’Brien was born into a union family in Pontiac, Michigan. His father worked for Fisher Body before going into the state legislature. “I was taught early to respect labor,” says O’Brien, who calls himself an FDR Democrat who believes social programs with their safety nets help save the country’s middle class. “If you have grandma taken care of with Social Security and your children can get low-interest loans for college, that leaves a middle class able to spend,” O’Brien says. “It isn’t an original idea; I got it from Henry Ford who figured out if he paid his workers enough, he made out because they could afford the cars.” O’Brien started his political career at age 19 when he hitched out to Santa Monica to work for Tom Hayden’s 1976 senate primary campaign against John Tunney. After the election he sang in a rock-and-roll band called “The Cripples.” One night he was in Santa Monica thumbing for a ride home, when a man in a blue station wagon picked him up. They struck up a conversation and when the man heard that O’Brien had a band, he asked O’Brien to sing him a song. The man driving the car was Bob Dylan, who was impressed enough to take one of O’Brien’s tapes to Management 3. The company wanted to manage him, but told him to change his punk image to a “John Denver on sticks” kind of persona, drawing on the fact that he uses crutches. O’Brien refused, and he and his band were blackballed for several years. “I was 23 and didn’t understand the opportunity I had,” O’Brien says. “I don’t think anyone ever said ‘No’ to that company.” He started writing and had almost finished his first novel, “Notes of a Political Roadie,” when someone broke into his house and stole his briefcase, which contained the manuscript. He didn’t have a copy (in that era before the computer), and had to resign himself to its loss. Twenty years later he finished another novel, “For the Love of Long Shots,” which is excerpted in “Voices From the Edge: Narratives about the Americans with Disabilities Act,” published by Oxford Press. Along the way, O’Brien got married and had a daughter and then became a certified paralegal so that he could support his family. During that time, he came across a parking lot in Venice that had the handicapped parking area chained off. This triggered his activism to register disabled voters. Throughout the 1990s, he was executive director of the Unique People’s Voting Project, a grassroots effort that was able to register over 100,000 Californians. He was also a member of the California Secretary of State’s Taskforce on Touchscreen Voting and is currently on sabbatical from co-hosting KPFK’s “Access Unlimited,” the disabilities awareness show for people who are born “in the know” or those that arrive there accidentally. In 2002, O’Brien ran for Secretary of State and even though he spent less than $7,000, he received more than 81,000 votes, which was surprising, but helped him realize the value of “grassroots” politics. “I would outlaw fundraising while the legislature is in session,” he says. “It’s almost impossible for an average citizen of modest means to run against the millionaires.” “If I’m elected, neither I nor my staff will spend one moment of our time raising money for future campaigns,” O’Brien promises. “I will spend full time legislating.” He estimates that current legislators spend 40 to 50 percent of their time lining up support for future campaigns. He would also do away with term limits for two reasons: the people who pass the budget are no longer in office to be held responsible for legislation they’ve passed, and lobbyists are the only people with institutional memory. “We end up with totally inexperienced legislators who don’t know how to deal with internal politics.” O’Brien is quite clear about the transportation issue. “It’s not enough to say we need mass transit; it needs to be accessible and faster than traveling by car. If it takes 30 minutes to get to work in a car and 70 by mass transit, you’ll never get people out of their cars.” He also points out you can’t fix traffic problems in Santa Monica or Agoura unless you take a regional approach, because many people drive 30 or 40 miles to get to work. He supports a subway extension along Wilshire so that passengers could travel between downtown and the beach, dedicated bus lanes on the freeways, and expanding the car-pool diamond lanes by adding a second one to keep traffic flowing. O’Brien opposes passing bonds to pay for infrastructure. “I’m against borrowing because it taxes future generations which allows the governor and his wealthy friends to have lunch today.” But he’s in favor of having California join other states by charging a severance tax on oil extracted in California and using the money to help provide research and production incentives for alternative energy, alternative fuel vehicles and, energy-efficient technologies. “If corporate loop-holes could be closed, an additional $2 to $3 billion would be added to the treasury and help forestall additional borrowing. “I’m tired of the legislature balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, senior citizens, children and the disabled, while they give tax breaks to the most fortunate among us, which ultimately destroys the middle class,” O’Brien says.

Campaigning for nearly two years for the Democratic nomination in the 41st Assembly District, Barry Groveman has been endorsed by a broad spectrum of leaders: Senator Dianne Feinstein, Sheriff Lee Baca, L.A. City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, and California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell. But as he met for an interview with the Palisadian-Post at Mort’s Deli two weeks ago, Groveman admitted to one frustration. “My biggest problem is I’m running against two potent legislators.” He meant Assemblywoman Fran Pavley of Agoura Hills, who is termed-out this year, and State Senator Sheila Kuhn of Santa Monica, who previously held the 41st District seat for three terms. These two strong leaders have both endorsed Julia Brownley, president of the Santa Monica-Malibu School Board, and their support could prove decisive in a primary election with an anticipated light voter turnout. Another strong contender in this winner-take-all primary is 35-year-old attorney Jonathan Levey, who has been endorsed by the L.A. Times and the L.A. Weekly. Yet as Groveman assessed the final stages of a long, grinding campaign from South Oxnard to Santa Monica, he was optimistic that voters would endorse his career accomplishments, his energy, his candid opinions and his collaborative skills. “This campaign has presented a market place of ideas and the person who puts forward the best ideas should win,” said Groveman, who has been offering a flurry of problem-solving proposals drawn from his 27-year career as an environmental advocate, criminal prosecutor, public official and community volunteer. Born in New York and raised on Long Island, where his father owned an electronics company, Groveman graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in political science and then moved out to Los Angeles to earn his law degree at Southwestern University School of Law. He began his legal career in the L.A. City Attorney’s Office in 1979, and from 1980 to 1983 he was head of environmental protection for the city, serving as counsel to Mayor Tom Bradley, the City Council and city commissions. He then led a countywide Toxic Waste Strike Force and, in 1986, was principal co-author of the landmark environmental law, Prop. 65, the “Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.” After entering private practice in 1987 with Musick, Peeler & Garrett, Groveman continued to play an active role in environmental issues’from perchlorate contamination in water supplies in San Bernardino County to MtBE contamination of water supplies in Santa Monica and Morro Bay. He also was appointed to head an independent “School Safety Team” looking into environmental problems concerning several school sites within the LAUSD, which ultimately led to closure of the infamous Belmont Learning Center. In 2000, Groveman ran unsuccessfully for District Attorney against incumbent Gil Garcetti and Steve Cooley (“Cooley won because Gil and I split the vote”) but came away with important campaign insights. “In order to win in the future, you have to survive losing, because it teaches you a lot,” Groveman said. “I’ve run my whole Assembly campaign differently because of that.” What did he learn? “That there’s no substitute for my own judgement. I have to rely on a lot of people, but at the end of the day, my judgement is very important and there’s no substitute. Also, my instincts are good and I need to rely on them.” In that vein, he generally travels alone to interviews and other appearances. “This is not something that requires handlers,” he said at Mort’s. “I’m my own handler. I want to be accessible and free, and I know what I’m saying’I have 30 years experience; I don’t have to worry about what to say about a particular issue. I know the issues.” After being elected to the Calabasas City Council in 2003 and “bringing forward a series of reforms that were approved and implemented by the council,” Groveman served a short stint as mayor beginning March 23, 2005. He cites his council accomplishments as an important factor in holding his base of support on the “Valley side” of the district, which includes Agoura Hills, Encino, Hidden Hills, Oak Park, Tarzana, Westlake Village and Woodland Hills. The Valley has 41 percent of the district’s registered Democrats, compared to 28 percent in Santa Monica, where his four opponents all live. Helping Groveman make inroads along the coast is an endorsement by Santa Monica Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Shriver, who said in a statement that he supports Groveman because “he will focus on homelessness” as a regional challenge that requires “bringing other cities into this work” beyond Santa Monica and L.A.’s Skid Row. “Also, Barry will work hard to develop and finance a system that cleans all storm drains in the Santa Monica Bay watershed…[He] has committed to me that he will make regional storm-drain cleanup a priority.” Meanwhile, Groveman said he wouldn’t concede education votes to Brownley, arguing that he’s an advocate of everything from anti-bullying statues to charter schools. “Charters have some good, innovative ideas that we need to look at. They’re showing good results, and I also like the competition that they create for public schools’keeping people on their toes, keeping them accountable, and giving more control back to the community.” Like every candidate running for office in Los Angeles, Groveman has ideas for how to ease traffic congestion. He emphasizes a regional approach, starting with the appointment of a high-level “road superintendent” whose responsibility would include focusing on traffic flow issues along critical roads’such as Sunset, PCH, and the 10 Freeway leaving Santa Monica every afternoon’and marshaling the necessary resources to reduce gridlock. Other traffic ideas include (1) “computerizing all signals at major roadways and on/off ramps,” (2) “stopping rush-hour construction projects,” and (3) “removing freeway accidents in six minutes,” a plan modeled “on Houston’s successful traffic mobility program, which includes clearing non-injury collisions, fender benders and flat tires within six minutes, thus reducing backup that leads to gridlock and additional accidents.” If elected, Groveman vows to “fight aggressively to bring universal health care to all Californians, beginning with uninsured children.” He said at Mort’s, “I really believe I’m the only candidate in this race who has the bipartisan skills and bipartisan support to broker that kind of solution,” based on the recent Massachuetts plan. “My opponents are criticizing me because I have business support and criticizing me because there are Republicans who support me. But Im running to be a representative for everybody in this district. And as a lawyer I’m skilled at representing a lot of different parties.” Groveman also wants to “increase cigarette taxes by $2.60 per pack to invest to public health.” As Calabasas mayor, he helped pass a groundbreaking secondhand smoke ordinance which does not ban smoking, but requires individuals to smoke in designated outdoor areas, away from others. Married, and with a son in fifth grade, Groveman stays fit and trim by jogging every day in the Santa Monica Mountains near his home. “I’ve been running my whole life, but in the last 12 years’since my son was born’I’ve tried to run at least a half-hour every day, without fail. I run in the dark, I run in the weather, I’ve even run with injuries. I’m not competing for anything, it’s just a nice discipline: I do my best thinking and I get the tension out of my body.” Groveman’s wife, Susan, and son Brandon are actively involved in the campaign. “I’m lucky that they are into what I’m doing,” Groveman said. “Susan calls people who have been invited to events and is very effective. Brandon has enjoyed coming to the debate forums to sit in the audience and make me smile. One time I had him come up and stand with me on stage and get a feel for what it’s like when you look out at a thousand people. Pretty soon he tugged on my jacket and whispered in my ear, “Dad, listen, if they ask you a tough question you’re not sure about, I’ll take a crack at it.” Barry Groveman is a serious, intense fellow, but when he told this story, his face beamed and for a moment he could forget about his all-consuming quest for political office.

(Editor’s note: Five Democrats are vying for their party’s nomination in the 41st Assembly District primary election on June 6. Last week we profiled Jonathan Levey and Kelly Hayes-Raitt; this week we feature Julia Brownley, Barry Groveman and Shawn Casey O’Brien. Articles on the two Republicans competing for their party’s nomination’Tony Dolz and Adriana Van Hemert’appear on page 5. The seat is currently held by Fran Pavley, who is termed out this year after six years on the job.) Julia Brownley knows that she will have “big shoes to fill” if she wins Tuesday’s Democratic primary and is elected to represent the 41st Assembly District in November. With the endorsement support of State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and State Assemblywoman Fran Pavley, Brownley hopes to continue their fight for environmental protection and universal health care. But the Democratic candidate is, first and foremost, a leader in education, currently serving her third term on the Santa Monica-Malibu School Board and third time as president. “My expertise is education,” says Brownley, a Santa Monica resident. “I want to be to education what Fran has been to the environment and what Sheila has been to health care.” Her involvement in the city’s school system began at the local level as PTA president at Grant Elementary, where her children attended school. She says she knew she could make a stronger impact, and ran for school board president in 1992, but lost. She ran again in 1994 and was elected. “The school board job is the best job I’ve had,” says Brownley, who holds a B.A. in political science from George Washington University and an MBA from American University. Last year, she helped organize the “Caravan for Kids,” sending more than 5,000 parents, teachers and students to Sacramento to fight Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to cut school funding by $2 billion. Brownley, who is also endorsed by the California Federation of Teachers, has fought to raise academic achievement for all students, reduce the dropout rate, and increase school funding to reduce class sizes and pay for arts, music and after-school programs. “I’m really appalled at where California is with regard to education,” Brownley says, adding that she believes the state needs to “invest in community colleges and UCs, in research and cutting-edge technology.” She is “motivated by service,” said Louise Rishoff, Pavley’s district director, at a recent meet-and-greet in Topanga. “She helped make the Santa Monica school district a model for excellence.” Brownley believes that she and Pavley are “cut from similar cloth in a lot of ways,” as they are education advocates with a passion for the environment. She praises Pavley’s “green” accomplishments, calling her the “quintessential environmental goddess for the state of California.” Brownley traces her own environmental passion back to the 1970s when she was in Washington, D.C., working for Williamson Stuckey, a “moderate Democrat” who served in Congress from 1967 to 1977. “He introduced me to the importance of environmental concerns and open spaces,” she says. She went on to work for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, specifically on the dangers of lead-based paint in urban neighborhoods. In 1980, Brownley moved to San Francisco where she worked in product marketing and branding before moving to Santa Monica in 1983. “I consider myself a native Californian,” says Brownley, who was born in South Carolina and grew up in Virginia. “I’m here for the rest of my life.” When she relocated to Santa Monica, she worked as a product manager for Steelcase, a leading office furniture manufacturing company, but the job required a lot of travel and Brownley wanted to spend more time at home. “It wasn’t my passion,” she says, which is why she left the job to work for the school board. As president, she promoted her district’s policy to replace older diesel buses with buses that run on cleaner, alternative fuels. She recently won board approval to ban pesticides and herbicides at school sites and to incorporate “green” building objectives into all future plans for district facilities. Endorsed by the California League of Conservation Voters, Brownley links environmental issues with transportation, which she considers a regional issue. The crisis in the transportation system is “really is about finding financing,” says Brownley, who believes that state and city officials must unite “to ensure we’re getting every federal and state dollar.” She wants to join Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky in expanding current bus and rail transit systems in Los Angeles. She is particularly enthused about the impending construction of a light-rail line along the Exposition Corridor from downtown L.A. to Culver City (and eventually on to Santa Monica), to relieve pressure on the 10 Freeway. “Within a six-year cycle, finding funding [for the light rail] is really doable,” she says. Brownley is emphatic about the importance of partnerships, whether it’s working with local workers, nonprofit organizations or state officials. “My moral compass is justice,” she says. “I strongly believe there is no justice without economic justice.” Brownley was an active supporter of the Living Wage Campaign for hotel workers in Santa Monica, marching with them to support union organizing drives for the Doubletree Hotel, which is on district-owned property. She convinced the school board to adopt a labor peace policy at the hotel. She also helped create a partnership between her school district, Blue Cross and the Venice Family Clinic to start a health clinic at Santa Monica High to provide free health care and counseling to students. “I think we have hit the proverbial wall with regards to health care,” says Brownley, who is endorsed by the California Nurses Association. “I believe California has a strong responsibility to lead in this issue. I believe all Californians should have access to health care.” If elected, Brownley says she would partner with Kuehl to pass single-payer universal health care (SB 840), make sure that all children are covered and work to lower the costs of prescription drugs. Should she become the next state assemblywoman, she foresees her biggest challenge as “hitting the ground running and being effective right away,” adding that “I think I will do those things, but it’s about building relationships and trust.” “Restoring trust back into the government” is another key element of Brownley’s campaign. She supports Assemblywoman Loni Hancock’s “California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act” and wants to work with Hancock to minimize the influence of “big money” on the California political process. Brownley also wants to work with State Sen. Debra Bowen, who is running for secretary of state, on fail-safe voting systems. In November’s statewide elections, Brownley says she hopes the Democrats can retain a strong majority in the state legislature, and gain a Democratic governor. “That will provide a more effective landscape to move ahead on more significant legislation,” says Brownley, who is endorsed by the California Democratic Party as well as many local Democratic groups including the Palisades club. “I really see the Palisades community as my own community,” she says. “I know many people in the Palisades by virtue of living in Santa Monica.” She adds that she plans to follow in Pavley’s footsteps in terms of “accessibility,” or Fran’s involvement in the community. “I just want to have a seamless transition when it comes to that.” Brownley admits that her marketing background has been helpful in the last 15 months, as she has been campaigning and, essentially, selling herself. Her days are “nonstop” and, lately, spent phone banking, precinct walking and doing interviews with the press. She has raised more than $400,000 and her goal is to reach a half million. At 53, Brownley says, “I’ve never worked harder.” She usually gets up around 5:30 or 6 a.m. so that she can spend a little time with her son before he leaves for school. Fred, 18, is a senior at Santa Monica High School, and will enter UC Berkeley in the fall. Her daughter, Hannah, is a sophomore at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Brownley, who is divorced, winds down at the end of the day by “hanging out with my son, having dinner, and reading the paper.” She adds, “I’m really hoping that June will bring both my son and me a new journey.”

Last week Heal the Bay released its 16th annual Beach Report Card which shows that Los Angeles County had by far the lowest grades’with the top two of the 10 most polluted beaches in the state located right here in the Palisades. While a total of 32 beaches statewide received an F grade in the 2005-2006 report, the distinction of being the “most polluted” actually goes to four locations in North Santa Monica Bay that tied for the most number of violations: Escondido Creek and Puerco Beach at the Marie Canyon storm drain in Malibu and Castle Rock Beach at the Castle Rock and Santa Ynez storm drains, located between Santa Ynez and Topanga canyons. Will Rogers State Beach at the mouth of Santa Monica Canyon, which routinely gets an F, was ranked the second most polluted beach in California.(See related story, page 9) Heal the Bay’s annual report, a comprehensive evaluation of coastal water quality based on daily and weekly samples gathered at beaches from Humboldt County to the Mexican border, assigns an A to F letter grade to more than 450 California beaches based on their levels of bacterial pollution. Only 68 percent of L.A. County beaches scored an A or a B letter grade, compared to the statewide average of 85 percent, that got A’s and B’s during dry weather. A poor grade means beachgoers face a higher risk of contracting illnesses’such as stomach flu, ear infections, upper respiratory infections and skin rashes. The report shows that some of the most popular beaches in the region, including Surfrider in Malibu (ranked 4th) and Avalon on Catalina Island (ranked 3rd) are among the most polluted. “This Beach Report Card demonstrates that just because you go to the beach in a multimillion-dollar neighborhood doesn’t guarantee it is safe for swimming,” said Dr. Mark Gold, Executive Director of Heal the Bay. “Whether you are in San Pedro or in Malibu, you have a chance of being next to a highly polluted beach. Beach water quality knows no geographic or economic bounds.” The 2005-2006 report is the first to incorporate new monitoring systems endorsed by the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Beach Water Quality Work Group. Last year, monitoring programs were modified to collect samples directly in front of flowing storm drains and creeks’locations known as “point zero”‘ and 14 new Santa Monica Bay sites from Malibu to Palos Verdes were added under the beach bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) requirements. According to Heal the Bay, the new monitoring program indicates that people who swim directly in front of flowing storm drains are more likely to encounter highly polluted waters. And as in past years, there continues to be a great disparity between dry and wet weather, when water quality typically plummets because of the pollution that rain flushes through the storm drain system and into the ocean. While 80 percent of the beaches monitored in Southern California during summer dry weather received A grades, that number dropped to only 37 percent during wet weather, with 31 percent of the beaches monitored receiving an F grade. However, the report does say that overall water quality in dry weather continues to be good, meaning that the majority of California’s beaches are in safe condition for swimming and surfing throughout the upcoming summer season. “We’re happy to report that most beaches in the state continue to have safe levels of bacteria during the summer months, especially open ocean beaches,” said Dr. Gold. Gold noted that there were large expanses of the California coastline which got a letter grade of A, including the South Bay of Los Angeles County, Palos Verdes, as well as Seal Beach to Huntington Beach and Newport to San Clemente in Orange County, stretches of Ventura County, and nearly all beaches in North San Diego County. Approximately 85 percent of the beaches monitored statewide received a grade of A or B, meaning very good to excellent water quality. “The public has a right to get water-quality information that will help them make informed decisions about where to take their families swimming,” said Dr. Gold. “The Beach Report Card helps families understand which beaches they can visit without fear of getting sick.”

Landslide Win is Girls’ First Since 2003; Boys Dethroned by Cleveland

As soon as the Palisades High boys and girls swim teams were announced the winners of last Wednesday’s City Section Championship Meet, happy Dolphins took turns taking celebratory dips in the pool at the AAF/John Argue Swim Stadium, thinking they were headed home with two titles. Moments later, Cleveland, not Palisades, was declared the boys champion. After recalculating the final scores, officials determined that Cleveland had won by the narrowest of margins, 266-263, when 21 diving points that the Cavaliers had earned the week before were added to their score. Also affecting the outcome was the dubious ejection of Palisades senior Peter Fishler for “unsportsmanlike conduct” halfway through the meet. Fishler was heard talking back to an official who had asked him to get out of the pool. Thus, he was not allowed to swim the 100 Butterfly, in which he had the top qualifying time. He also had to be removed from the last event, the 400 Freestyle Relay. “Given the circumstances, I think it was an extremely harsh ruling,” Palisades head coach Maggie Nance said of the decision to eject Fishler. “Peter had just knocked three seconds off his best time in the 200 Freestyle, he was feeling pumped up and talked back, that’s all. He’s one of the most sportsmanlike kids on our team.” Nance was even more miffed that the team scores were inaccurate heading into the last relay. “I thought we were far enough ahead that we didn’t have to win the last relay,” said Nance, mindful that a disqualification in the prelims in the 200 Freestyle Relay had cost Pali’s girls the championship last year. “So I told our guys to do safe starts off the blocks, make safe turns–just don’t get disqualified. If I had known we needed to win, I would’ve told them to be more aggressive.” With Carl Kaplan swimming the first leg in place of Fishler, Palisades still almost won but Cleveland’s Michael Chiu out-touched Pali’s Brian Johnson at the wall to give the Cavaliers the points they needed to end the Dolphins’ reign. It was a confusing and controversial end to Palisades’ bid for a fifth straight boys title and took some of the attention away from the Dolphins girls, who racked up 316 points to lap second place Cleveland (180.5 points) for their first team title since 2003. “The girls were phenomenal,” Nance said. “And we’re only losing two to graduation so they are going to be good for years to come.” Palisades’ opening act foreshadowed what was to become a virtuoso performance by its entire ensemble as Kristen Fujii, Chelsea Davidoff, Nicole Washington and Patrice Dodd won the 200 Medley Relay in a blazing 1:56.93 to notch 32 points. In the 200 Freestyle Relay, Kathyrn Cullen, Washington, Julie Wynn and Fujii knocked almost two seconds off their qualifying time to win in 1:43.84, then the 400 Freestyle Relay of Wynn, Davidoff, Dodd and Alex Ehrgott closed the show with a three-second victory. Washington, only a freshman, took second in both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Butterfly, Jasmine Punch was second in the 200 Freestyle and fellow sophomore Fujii was second in both the 50 Freestyle and 100 Backstroke. Also contributing to the girls’ runaway victory were divers Ashley Baele and Cayley Cline, who finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to earn the Dolphins 12 points. “I was really proud of everyone’s effort,” said Davidoff, Pali’s senior team captain, who is headed for the University of Vermont. “We felt pretty good about our position after prelims but we knew anything can happen so we wanted to swim our best in the finals. We knew if we did that we would be hard to beat. I hadn’t won [City] since my freshman year so this is a great way to go out.” Davidoff was fifth in the 200 Freestyle and fourth in the 100 Breaststroke. Freshman Sofya Perelshteyn was fourth in both the 200 Individual Medley and 500 Freestyle events. “We had two quality swimmers in every event,” Nance said. “The girls won with a combination of talent and depth. It’s amazing how much they’ve all improved since the season began.” Palisades has now won 27 City team titles, 16 by the girls and 11 by the boys. Paris Hays capped off an undefeated senior season with a stellar meet, winning both of his individual events in personal best times and anchoring two victorious relays. Brian Johnson, Randy Lee, Fishler and Hays won the 200 Medley Relay by over two seconds, then Eric Hamer, Andrew Le, Carl Kaplan and Hays won the 200 Freestyle Relay by over a second. Hays won the 50 Freestyle in 21.82 and won the 100 Freestyle in 47.76. Hamer was second in the 50 Freestyle and third in the 100 Freestyle. In one of the best races of the day, Chiu edged Johnson by 24 hundreths of a second in the 200 Individual Medley. “I’m happy with the way I swam but it’s unfortunate that we came up short for the team title,” said Hays, who will attend Brown University in the fall. “It was pretty chaotic there at the end, not knowing if we won or lost. I’m still a little confused.”