The absence of its best player forced the Palisades High boys varsity basketball team to gel quicker than expected this season. Now that 6-5 senior forward D’Andre Bell has returned to the lineup, it will take time for his teammates to get used to playing with him again. But the Dolphins took a huge step towards finding the scoring balance coach James Paleno wants in last Friday night’s 66-56 victory over archrival Venice. Bell is still working his way back into shape after missing the first half of the season with a stress fracture in his right foot, but he finished with 12 points while point guard Corey Counts had 15 points and five assists and Carl Robertson contributed 14 points and seven rebounds. ‘It’s hard to lose someone like D’Andre and not have it hurt you in terms of scoring,’ Paleno said. ‘But in his absence other guys have had to step up and they will have to keep doing that because D’Andre still is not 00 percent. We haven’t broken 70 points all year.’ Bell, who has signed with Georgia Tech, averaged 25.5 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists last season. He put the game away with a steal and a fast-break layup that gave Pali a 61-53 lead with 1:23 left. Palisades (7-9 overall, 3-1 in league) played defending Division I state champion Fairfax (14-3, 3-1) Wednesday and hosts Westchester (10-2, 4-0), one of the top-ranked teams in California, Friday night at 7 p.m. Girls Basketball The Dolphins were unable to hold a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter of a 47-44 loss at Venice last Friday. Ivory Blockmon scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half for the Gondos (10-5, 3-1). ‘It was a tough loss,’ head coach Ronda Crowley said. ‘But we have to forget it and move onto the next game.’ Palisades (8-9, 2-2) bounced back in an intersectional game game Saturday at the Dolphins’ gymnasium, routing St. Monica, 48-31.
Kehrer Attains No. 1 Ranking
Thanks in large part to winning gold medals in three successive United States Tennis Association National Open Championships last year, Palisadian Walker Kehrer and his partner, Michael Lin of San Diego, were recently named the No. 1 under-14 doubles team in the nation. Kehrer and Lin accumulated 1,470 ranking points last year’150 points more than the second-ranked tandem from Fayetteville, North Carolina. If the first event of the year had not been rained out, the duo might have completed the ‘grand slam”winning all four National Open events in the same calendar year. Though he is not yet old enough to compete at the high school level, Kehrer looks forward to playing at Brentwood School next spring. While most of his success has been in doubles, Kehrer is also an accomplished singles player. He reached the finals at Newport Beach and also netted back-to-back silver medals in the Boys’14s division, raising his USTA singles ranking into the Top 25 for the first time in his career. With nearly a year left in his age group, Kehrer has his sights set on moving even higher. Kehrer and Lin have played doubles together since age 11 on the national stage. Although they live 120 miles apart and rarely meet outside of tournaments, they’ve joined forces at National Open and National Championship events from coast to coast. They were quarterfinalists at the summer National Hard Court Championships in San Antonio, Texas and semifinalists in the Southern California Doubles Championships in November.
Weeding Out Nonnative Plants
The recent record-breaking rains raised expectations for glorious wildflowers come spring in our local canyons and deserts. A century ago this most certainly would have been a logical consequence. But in recent decades the natural landscape has changed. Many native plants have disappeared as exotic (non-native species) have been introduced and taken an aggressive foothold. As result, the native wildflowers that we are anticipating may be trumped by the exotic vegetation. ”Only about one percent of California’s native grasslands still exist, including the perennial bunch grasses, pushed out by the more than 300 invasive species that have colonized the Santa Monica Mountains, according to restoration ecologist Christy Brigham of the Santa Mountains National Recreation Area. ”Suzanne Goode, senior resource ecologist with California State Parks, the Topanga district of Topanga State Park, says that Southern California is one of the most vulnerable to invasive exotic vegetation because of its benign climate. ”All over California, natural wildlands are under attack by invasives. As exotic plants replace our native habitat, we are also losing many species of birds, insects, fish and other wildlife. ”The chief offenders, according to Goode are: ”Arundo donax, a giant reed that grows in all our canyons, consumes more water than natives, eliminates native plants and wildlife habitat and fuels wildfires; ”Cape ivy, a transplant from South Africa that has infested all coastal-facing canyons, smothers riparian vegetation, and has no natural check; ”Pampas grass, an ornamental grass used in domestic landscaping that invades and degrades habitats along the entire California coast; ”Harding grass, a nonnative that has the potential to establish in dense stands, at least in localized areas and is a constant threat to native grasses; ”Euphorbia terracina, a large shrub-like herb that forms dense thickets, which out-compete native species for space, light and nutrients. Its rapid growth and prolific seeding gives it the potential to invade areas of healthy bushland; and ”Yellow star thistle, a gray-green annual whose extensive root system allows it to survive well into summer, long after other annual species have dried up. ”These and a host of other exotics are taking over in our local canyons, such as Los Liones and Temescal. This is because neither the National Park Service nor California State Parks began focusing on the problem until about 20 years ago, and there are still too few resource people to tackle the crisis, and minimal funding. ”’We take a triage approach to start with,’ says Goode, who until September was the only permanent resource ecologist in the Topanga district, which includes parks from Pt. Mugu on the western border to Baldwin Scenic Overlook in Baldwin Hills. ”’We had no natural resource maintenance money until just three or four years ago. The legislature was going to allocate $11 million two years ago, then we had the energy crises, and we were left with $2 million among all the state’s parks, with our share under $100,000 a year. I could use $500,000 to $1 million a year for state parks in Los Angeles and five to six people for each park before we can make inroads on this problem. ”’The climate in Los Angeles is very welcoming to weeds,’ Goode explains. ‘These weeds, mostly annuals, were preadapted from other Mediterranean areas, but when they came to our canyons, they changed the look and ecological function. Our native perennial grasses are bunch grasses, which would have allowed wildflowers to grow in between. But the annual grasses have taken over the understory. Their strategy is to come up quick, suck up the surface water, produce a seed head and multiply. Our natives are not in so much of a hurry so they lose out on water, and by the time they start thinking about sprouting around February, they will already be crowded out by the aggressive proliferation of non-native grasses.’ ”One of Goode’s most vicious outlaws is Arundo, which was originally introduced in Los Angeles in the 1820s as an erosion-control agent in drainage canals, and was also used as thatching for roofs of sheds, barns and other buildings. Today it poses the greatest threat to riparian areas. It takes away the shade provided by willows, traps mud in creeks, which raises the elevation, flattens out the channel and interrupts fish migration. And it is highly flammable, whereas riparian forests once presented a natural firebreak. And, like so many successful invasive plants, Arundo grows at an incredible rate, a foot a week in its growing season, Goode says. ‘ There are a number of eradication methods that can be used, including localized use of a state-approved herbicide such as Rodeo, controlled burning, and most often, hand removal. ”Local volunteers, including the Temescal Canyon Association, Heal The Bay, the California Native Plant Society, the Mountains Restoration Trust and the Lower Topanga Canyon group, work with State Parks on weed-whacking forays. ”’There is also money available through Propositions 12 and 40 and there is funding from the Santa Monica Conservancy for the lower Topanga Arundo project,’ Goode says. Last year the state suspended using herbicides on Arundo after residents felt that it was poisoning the environment, she says. ‘We are in disagreement on the science.’ Goode believes that often a combination of herbicides plus controlled burning or mowing can control the problem significantly. ”Stephanie Landregan, chief landscape architect with the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), takes a look at the bigger picture in suggesting ways to keep the native grasses thriving.” ”’Landscape architects have to come up with a balance between our desire to have an ever- verdant, tropical environment, and reintroducing an appreciation for the natives. People say the native plants look too weedy. I say, ‘So do your tomato plants.” ”Jo Kitts, program director with the Mountains Restoration Trust and inveterate weed whacker, has been battling horticultural grasses for some time. She condemns the use of fountain grass and pampas grass in gardens that are adjacent to wild lands. ‘Horticulturalists can find a number of alternatives to these weeds,’ she says. ‘For example, deer grass (Muhlenbergia rigens), looks like a small pampas grass but without the bad leaf cuts and the aggressive seeding.’ ”’We have to start respecting and teaching the seasonal and climatic cycle instead of living in denial, a favorite way to live in California,’ says MRCA’s Landregan. ‘We have to figure out the best way to deal with parks and development: What is the responsibility of all of us in making sure we buffer the invasion of nonnatives in our wild areas while allowing us to have individual gardens?’
Chamber Concert to Feature Artists from Both Seacoasts
Outstanding musicians from New York and Boston will join Los Angeles artists in the performance of ‘A Quartette of Trios’ for a Chamber Music Palisades concert on Tuesday, January 25 at 8 p.m. in the sanctuary of St. Matthew’s, 1031 Bienveneda Ave. ”Music by Beethoven, Poulenc, Loeffler and Durufle will be performed by New York-based oboist Garard Reuter and violist Scott Woolweaver from Boston, joining bassoonist Judith Farmer, flutist Susan Greenberg and pianist Delores Stevens. ”Oboist Gerard Reuter, who received the Pro Musicus International Award, is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the ensemble An die Musik. As a guest artist he has appeared at numerous summer festivals including Caramoor, Marlboro, La Jolla, Round Top and the Chamber Music Festival of the U.S. Library of Congress. Overseas, he has participated in the Flanders Festival, Dartington Festival and the International Musicians’ Seminar at Prussia Cove. ”A founding member of the Boston Composers String Quartet, and winner of the silver medal at the String Quartet and Chamber Music Festa in Osaka, Japan, Scott Woolweaver is violist of the New England Piano Quartette, Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society and the Boston Baroque. In 1998 he joined the San Francisco-based Ives Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the Rocky Ridge Music Center and Telluride Chamber Music Festival in Colorado. He has toured Greece on three occasions with Alea III, a contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University. ”Judith Farmer was principal bassoonist of the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra for 12 years and toured regularly with the Camerata Academica of Salzburg and with numerous chamber music ensembles in Vienna. ”In 1995-96 she was a visiting professor at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Graz, Austria. Since relocating to L.A., she has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Opera and is currently the principal bassoonist with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. She is head of the bassoon studio at USC. ”Completing the roster of artists are flutist Susan Greenberg and pianist Delores Stevens, both long-time Palisades residents, and co-founders of Chamber Music Palisades. As a member of the Montagnana Trio, Delores Stevens toured the U.S. and Europe and as a soloist and ensemble artist has recently toured Australia, Argentina, Japan, China and the Czech Republic. She is also artistic director of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society in Massachusetts. Susan Greenberg is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and has been a frequent soloist on both flute and piccolo. She has been a guest soloist with the San Francisco and Oakland symphonies, the Casals Festival and the Hollywood Bowl. ”Dr. Alan Chapman, the popular KUSC/FM early morning host, will provide commentary before each work. General admission tickets will be available at the door for $20. Students with I.D. will be admitted free. Contact: 459-2070 or 454-2177.
Editor Hirsch Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Film editor Paul Hirsch, who shared the best editing Oscar for 1977’s ‘Star Wars,’ was recently nominated for the American Cinema Editors’ ‘Eddie’ award in the best edited musical/comedy film category for ‘Ray.’ And later this month, the Palisadian will be the third recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award given by the Palisades’ Friends of Film. ”Fittingly, Hirsch will receive his award in conjunction with a film that celebrates his craft: ‘The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing.’ The award presentation and film screening will take place on January 30 at 7 p.m. at Pierson Playhouse, 941 Temescal Canyon. Hirsch will also answer questions about editing after the showing of the 90-minute documentary. The evening will open with short films from the Sundance Film Festival. ”’The Cutting Edge’ director Wendy Apple will also attend. Her film takes a behind-the-scenes look at the history and evolution of film editing. ‘It’s very interesting, a good explanation of the history of editing and what editing is all about,’ says Hirsch, who is featured in the movie. ”’We’re so honored to give the award to a strong talent who lives in the community,’ says Friends of Film’s founder Bob Sharka. ‘Like a great referee or umpire, the film editor’s performance often goes unnoticed, unless, of course, they foul up. When they put together a picture that flows so well, people don’t recognize their input.’ ”’I’m very flattered,’ says Hirsch. ‘It’s nice to be recognized this way, especially in your own community.’ ”Hirsch, who has lived in the Palisades for 21 years with his wife Jane, is gratified at the positive reception ‘Ray’ is getting from audiences and critics. ‘The whole reason we’re in the business is to contribute to people’s enjoyment of movies,’ he says. ‘You feel like you’re working on the good in the world.’ ”Hirsch’s career started in New York, editing trailers. There, he met a young director, Brian De Palma and worked with him on five pictures, including ‘Carrie.’ ‘De Palma recommended me to a friend and I worked on ‘Star Wars’ for my sixth film,’ says Hirsch, whose many other credits include ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ ‘Footloose,’ ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’ ‘Steel Magnolias’ and ‘Mission: Impossible.’ ”Hirsch is currently working on a version of ‘Ray’ to be shown on television, as well as remodeling his upper Bienveneda home. His two children, Gina, 27, an aspiring actress, and Eric, 24, a musician and composer, both live in New York.
Hoop Squads Split League Games
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
The Palisades High boys and girls varsity basketball teams opened Western League play in similar fashion last week, losing to Westchester on Wednesday and beating Hamilton on Friday. The girls hosted the Comets with hopes of upsetting the league’s perennial power, but it was clear from the opening tip that Westchester was the faster team. The Comets never trailed in a 67-43 victory that could have been much worse. Westchester scored the first eight points and held the Dolphins without a point for the first 2:17, when junior guard/forward Zedra Slaton finally got Palisades on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws. Westchester outhustled the Dolphins, forcing eight first-quarter turnovers and getting five offensive rebounds on one possession. Westchester missed 11 of its 16 free throw attempts in the first half but still led, 26-16, as the Dolphins were held to two field goals. Sparked by Slaton’s three-pointer, Pali picked up its game in the third quarter but it was too far behind and had accumulated too many fouls to catch up. Rhea Carter, who transferred from Palisades before the start of the season along with her sister, Renee, led Westchester with 17 points. Slaton led Pali with 22 points while junior forward Tylisha Trapp had 10 and junior guard/forward Megan Coulter added five. ‘Some people were scared of them,’ Slaton said of the Comets. ‘We played better in the second half and I’m proud of the way everyone played.’ It would’ve been easy to be down heading into their first league road game, but to their credit the Dolphins battled back from a late deficit to defeat Hamilton, 45-41, last Friday. Pali (6-8 overall, 1-1 in league) outscored the host Yankees, 18-12, in the fourth quarter. Pali hosted University Wednesday afternoon and play at Venice Friday at 4:15 p.m. While the Dolphin girls had a tough time with the Comets at Pali, the boys faced an even greater task: having to compete with a loaded Comets team on its home floor. The result was the Dolphins’ most lopsided loss of the season, 92-35, to one of the top teams in the City Section. For the first time this season, Pali (5-9, 1-1) played in its own gym last Friday and was anything but a gracious host to Hamilton, winning 68-52 for its first league victory. Senior point guard Corey Counts led the Dolphins with 24 points. Palisades played at University yesterday and hosts Venice Friday night. Boys Soccer With almost a month in between its last nonleague game and last Friday’s league opener, the Dolphins showed rust in trying to finish off chances and lost to Hamilton, 2-1, at Stadium by the Sea. Sophomore forward Osbaldo Garcia scored on a header to tie the game late in the first half, but the Yankees regained the lead early in the second half and Palisades (0-1-2, 0-1-0) was unable to answer despite several quality opportunities in the final 10 minutes. Garcia has scored both of the Dolphins’ goals this season, netting the tying goal against Reseda before Winter Break. ‘We should’ve won. They only had two good chances all game but they capitalized,’ Pali’s Ben Tom said. ‘We controlled the game. Especially in the second half. We had a lot of free kicks and corner kicks. We hit the post once. Nothing went our way.’ Palisades will host Westchester in a makeup game on Monday at Stadium by the Sea.
Kickers Lose To Hamilton
If one league opponent has proven to be most difficult to beat over the last several years for the Palisades High women’s soccer team, it would be Hamilton. That was the case once again last Friday afternoon, when the host Yankees edged the Dolphins, 3-2, on a tiebreaking goal by sophomore Cindy Flores with seven minutes remaining. Palisades was supposed to have played at Westchester two days earlier, but all games were cancelled to allow fields to dry out from rainstorms that drenched the Southland the previous week. Flores’ goal spoiled a gutty effort by the Dolphins, who kept falling behind, then catching up. Andrea Caldas opened the scoring in the 13th minute, but junior forward Lucy Miller tied the game, 1-1, on a well-placed shot into the upper right corner of the net. Hamilton (7-0-3 overall, 1-0 in league) answered right back when Flores pounced on a rebound to score six minutes before halftime. Nifty one-touch passing by seniors Alex Michael and Diana Grubb set up a partial breakaway in the opening moments of the second half, but Miller’s shot curved just wide. Pali kept the offensive pressure on Hamilton and its persistence paid off when Miller found a seam in the Yankees’ defense, deked a defender and beat goalie Danielle Raiss with a low shot to tie the score again, 2-2, with 12 minutes left. Palisades (3-5, 0-1) hosted University on Wednesday and travels to Venice on Friday.
Today’s Superstar: Hero or Villain?
By JACK KUHLENSCHMIDT Special to the Palisadian-Post Do you not miss the days of John Elway, Joe Montana, Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, Michael Jordan, and Larry Bird? The days when you did not have to worry about your favorite sports superstar being suspended for weeks for participating in a drive-by shooting. The days when athletes would let their statistics speak for themselves. Well, you might as well forget about those supertstars, because they are gone. In their place we see a new breed of high-profile athlete, the type that will be known as much for how they conduct themselves as for how they play the game. For a prime example in the world of sports today, you need look no further than players in the National Basketball Association. We are constantly subjected to the whining of overpaid superstars such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson and that is just plain annoying. Then there was that ugly scene in the Motor City earlier this season involving the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers. Pistons center Ben Wallace was fouled by Ron Artest and the situation quickly escalated into the worst nightmare the league could imagine’players going into the stands to attack hostile fans and fans storming the court to confront players. You can make the case that the incident was the fans’ fault, but the bottom line is that Wallace, Artest and the other players involved are paid millions of dollars to keep their fists to themselves. In baseball, we see ‘superstars’ paid over $100 million a year only to suffer through pretty-boy whiners like Alex rodriguez throwing hissy fits in the World Series. But Major League Baseball was made into the Major League of Babies when Francisco Rodriguez, a relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers, threw a chair at an Oakland Athletics fan who allegedly shouted racial slurs at him. The everyday man would have done the same and been fired, but Rodriguez was fined and let back in the game. The National Football League had stayed fairly clean until two weeks ago. Everyone enjoys watching a good touchdown dance, and Randy Moss can sometimes be humorous in his celebrations, but when he caught a clinching touchdown pass in the fourth quarter of the Minnesota Vikings’ NFC Divisional playoff game against the Green Bay Packers, things got ugly. After he scored, Moss walked up to the base of the goalpost and simulated dropping his pants and rubbing his rump against the pole. The point of this was to get back at Green Bay fans, who have been known to moon the visiting team’s bus as it exits the stadium. I agree that this was fairly funny, but what he said after he was fined $10,000 was across the line. I cannot repeat all of it, but he said something along the lines of ‘What’s $10,000 to a guy like me. If it’s only 10 grand I would go out there and…’ You can fill in the blanks. What Moss does not realize is that $10,000 is a lot of money to many of his fans. And those are the same fans that take pennies from under their couch to buy tickets for his game and the money that pays his out-of-this-solar system salary. Moss has done this kind of thing before (squirting an official with a water bottle, bumping a traffic officer with his car), and there is no one who can stop him. He is officially out of control. Players like Moss need to see the influence they have on youth all over America and they need to clean up their acts. You cannot be a hero and a villain, so professional teams need to toughen up on these players and make them respect the game and their fans. Editor’s Note: Jack Kuhlenschmidt is a 7th-grader at St. Matthew’s Parish School and is an avid sports fan.
Blanck Students Earn Black Belts
Local Yoshukai Karate students from Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center received their black belts from Japan last week. An even bigger thrill for them, however, was being presented with their certificates by 10th-degree black belt, Grand Master Yamamoto, during his most recent trip to the United States. Among the recipients were sisters Robyn (15) and Julia (13) Schwartz. Also testing was 14-year-old Rose Schlaff, whose 9-year-old brother is now a brown belt. Janet Wertman, who has two brown belt daughters and a six-year-old yellow belt son, also earned her black belt. Instructor and second-degree black belt Rick Phillips participated in three light-heavyweight tournaments recently. The first was a Super Fights event in Oxford, Alabama, where his performance earned him an invitation to the world championships in Osaka, Japan, where he lost a close decision due to a penalty point. Then, in the World Oyama Ultimate Challenge held in Birmingham, Alabama, Phillips won the Knockout Division to earn his first full-contact title. Yoshukai student Thomas Lesny, who recently moved to L.A. from Poland, also competed in the Super Fights and won the Amateur Heavyweight Semi-Knockout Division. Kickboxing instructor and Palisades resident Baxter Humby will defend his Super Welterweight title in Las Vegas on Saturday, February 5. For more information, call Blanck’s studio: 573-1985.
Renaissance Plans to Move from Alma Real in June
After four turbulent months of community debate and classroom dislocation, Renaissance Academy is planning to vacate the 881 Alma Real building at the end of the school year in June. The new charter high school is currently engaged in settlement talks with landlord Greg Schem, who leases Renaissance about 13,600 sq. ft. of space spread over two floors. ‘We’re very close to a settlement,’ Scott Adler, RA’s contractor and board member, told the Palisadian-Post Tuesday. ‘Assuming we reach a resolution, that would also assume an agreement on the part of Renaissance that we would not be there [on Alma Real] in June.’ The battle between the school and landlord began last September, after just three days of classes, when Schem gave Renaissance a notice of termination of the lease effective June 2005. Renaissance, which has an enrollment of 320 students in grades 9 through 12, filed a civil lawsuit against Village Real Estate, LLC (owner of the building) November 12 in an attempt to gain more use of its renovated space through June. Village Real Estate responded to the lawsuit January 5, and Schem told the Post last Thursday, ‘We have countersued for fraudulent inducement and for actual damages.’ By ‘actual damages’ he was referring to ‘the loss of a sale that was in progress [when the school moved in],’ among other things. However, Schem added that the owners also gave Renaissance a settlement option which, he said, ‘I think they’ve found more interesting.’ According to Schem, the general terms of the settlement option are that the school must vacate the building in June, giving back space which includes ground-level suite 114 (currently restricted to office use) and terrace level suites T-8 and T-9. Renaissance has not completed renovations in the 1,000 square feet of space in T-9, where initial construction was halted last August when black mold was discovered. ‘We’ve not received approval yet to finish the T-9 space; that’s part of settlement discussions,’ Adler said. Also part of the settlement option are ‘a number of conditions for [Renaissance] to adhere to,’ Schem said, explaining that he means ‘stuff they’ve said they would adhere to all along but now we’re saying we’re going to enforce.’ The list of conditions includes an absolute ban on students parking on neighboring residential streets and a prohibition against students gathering in the atrium and elevators of the building. Adler said that Renaissance has not been able to increase use of its ground floor space, and has been allowing a maximum of 175 students to occupy the terrace level. To date, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has stipulated that only 89 students may occupy the four permitted classrooms of the eight built in suite T-8. ‘We need to learn how to get along better so our other tenants want to stay,’ Schem said of his relationship with Renaissance. Adler confirmed that the school has been looking into other possible school sites for the 2005-06 school year but would not reveal the locations. Currently, students attend classes at Aldersgate Retreat Center and the YMCA in addition to the Alma Real building. ‘We hope the LAUSD will provide us with a campus,’ he said, adding that ‘the Palisades would be our first choice.’ Renaissance sued Los Angeles Unified School District last year when the District refused its request for space on the Palisades Charter High School campus; a hearing is scheduled for February 10. ‘We expect that we’ll either prevail in the lawsuit [with LAUSD] or end up settling with them,’ Adler said. Either way, ‘we have resolved that we will not be in the Alma Real building next year.’ Schem thinks this is for the best. ‘They need to be in a space that’s proper,’ he said.
