We have been blessed to have in our midst a distinguished and prominent surgeon, Dr. Columbus D. McAlpin. A gentleman of extraordinary achievements and success and extremely high personal ethical standards, McAlpin passed away on Friday, September 3. He was 61. McAlpin was the former Director of Pediatric Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was also on the medical staffs of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Childrens Hospital of Long Beach, King Drew Medical Center, Centinela Hospital, Santa Monica/ UCLA Hospital, Saint John’s Hospital and California Hospital. His brilliant surgical career spanned over 30 years and focused on healing and saving the lives of tens of thousands of children. McAlpin was born on August 11, 1943 in Los Angeles and attended Cathedral High School, where he served as student body president. Unknown to many, McAlpin turned down a UCLA football scholarship. Instead, he worked his way through UCLA so that he could focus on his undergraduate premedical studies and fulfill his dream of attending medical school. He accomplished all of this, while helping to parent and financially support his three younger siblings, due to his mother’s early death. McAlpin graduated at the top of his class from Howard University Medical School, Alpha Omega Alpha. He was also voted president of his graduating medical class. He completed his general surgical residency at Harbor UCLA Medical Center and his pediatric surgical residency at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. He distinguished himself as the chief pediatric resident at Childrens Hospital. He was the second African American to obtain certification by the American Board of Pediatric Surgery. He held academic positions at USC Medical Center and Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School. He received countless honors and awards during his prestigious career, most notably the coveted Golden Apple Award presented to the most outstanding faculty member and voted on by the chief resident and residents of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He and his family have been residents of Pacific Palisades for 15 years. ‘He walked among us as a common man: not flashy, not ostentatious, but humble and gentle with a twinkle in his eye and always a smile on his face,’ said family friend Brenda Miller. However, he was far from common. It was a unique experience to encounter a man such as McAlpin, whose miraculous touch healed so many. His calm and reassuring demeanor instilled immediate comfort and confidence, especially when fragile lives were at risk. McAlpin could not stroll in any community without being greeted by a former patient or parent, eager to extend a grateful hug. In spite of his demanding professional schedule, he placed the highest priority on his family. He never missed a special musical performance, sports event or any occasion honoring his family. His family was clearly an important priority in his life. He was dearly loved and will be tremendously missed. He is survived by two children, Marcus, 11, a 6th grader at John Thomas Dye, and Lauren, 15, a sophomore at Marlborough; his wife Rochelle; and four of his siblings, Lola McAlpin Grant, Leonard, Jerome and Christina McAlpin. His sister Veronica was recently deceased. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 11, at Corpus Christi Church, 887 Toyopa Dr. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Columbus McAlpin, M.D. Fund, which will underwrite a room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in McAlpin’s name, and contribute to the McAlpin children’s college education, 2341 Veteran Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064.
‘Dinner With Friends’: A Little Noshing, But No Meal
Marriage is a platform on which partners erect a structure of expectation and experience held together by tradition, children and sex. Or, put another way, marriage could be a dance where each holds the other tight, neither knowing the steps. These assessments might very well paraphrase playwright Donald Margulies’ ‘Dinner with Friends,’ the 2000 Pulitzer Prize-winning play which opened Friday night at Pierson Playhouse for a six-week run. In this Theatre Palisades production, directed by Hope Villanueva, Margulies’ lacerating examination of marriage is meant to elicit uncomfortable audience reaction, and it does. Anybody who is married or has been involved in a long-term relationship will recognize the terrain. Two couples’Karen (Alexandra Raines) and Gabe (Josh Matthies), Beth (Elizabeth Laird) and Tom (Sean Spence)’have been friends for a decade, sharing vacations, child-rearing activities and the easygoing conversations friends enjoy. This comfortable foursome suddenly is rocked out of equilibrium when in the first act Beth reveals while at Karen and Gabe’s for dinner that Tom has left her for another woman. Suddenly, this family, as Karen refers to their friendship, is shaken up. Through many conversations’Karen with Gabe, Karen and Beth, Gabe and Tom, and most painfully Tom and Beth’playwright Margulies finally gets to the nut of the drama. Towards the end of the second act, Gabe and Tom meet in a bar for a drink and talk. Tom explains that his new partner, Nancy, is everything Beth was not. The sex is easy and comfortable, she’s 100 percent there, she listens. Gabe’s response voices the truth we all come to realize as we grow up and gain wisdom, while mourning the loss of the aphrodisiac of new love. ‘We spend our youths unconscious,’ says Gabe, wisfully reflecting on the passage of time. In a marriage, you make mistakes, ‘but the key is to say, made a mistake, too bad, you have to live with it. The key is to resist chucking it all.’ This play stings more than it provokes reflection. The dialogue is closer to overheard cell phone conversation than the poetic irony of Ibsen. While the actors must relish this script because of its dense dialogue, it remains, like nervous noshing, far from a nourishing meal. The most revealing conversations occur between the two women and the two men because each bears some psychological truth. In the second act after Beth’s breakup, she excoriates Karen for her condescending role in their friendship. Beth has found a new love, David, and despite Karen’s caution, she feels confident and strong and set on this relationship. She observes that Karen is uncomfortable with Beth’s newfound strength. ‘I think you love it when I’m a mess,’ Beth says. ‘You got to be Miss Perfect. How was I supposed to compete with that?’ For her part, Karen reveals that she always considered Beth and Tom to be ‘family.’ Her own biological family, she remarks, was a mess, and she couldn’t get far enough away from them. To which Beth replies, ‘The family you’ve chosen is just as screwed up as the family you were born into.’ We’re all so vulnerable, so fragile, the playwright seems to be saying. We try our best, we make mistakes, we hurt one another. ‘Some of us will right the course, others blow up our homes and some take up piano,’ says Gabe, in pondering the trajectory of a marriage. Director Villanueva skillfully guides the actors through the scenes with clarity and a varied emotional tone. The actors are commendable, with particular praise for Elizabeth Laird (Beth), who so successfully conveys the roller coaster of emotions from crushing sadness and disappointment to rage and fear. Kudos to lighting and set designer Jenna Coulombe for successfully differentiating outside, inside and the passage of time, including a flashback at the beginning of Act II that finds the couples nine years earlier, when Karen and Gabe introduced Tom and Beth. ‘Dinner with Friends’ continues at Pierson Playhouse Friday and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through October 3. For tickets contact 454-1970.
For Mark Waldrep, the magic of music making lies in the way sound is recorded and produced. Sitting in his West Hollywood studio, the Palisadian audio engineer and producer says he believes his new DVD-Audio recordings sound better than live performances, and he presses ‘play’ to prove it. The pure sound of Willie Nelson and songwriter Paul Williams (Barbara Streisand’s ‘Evergreen’ and Karen Carpenter’s ‘Close to You’) singing ‘Rainbow Connection’ fills the room as if the musicians were performing right there, spontaneously deciding who sings each line. ‘This took two takes,’ says Waldrep, founder of AIX Records. ‘It just breaks me up every time I hear it.’ Having worked on behalf of musicians, singers and record labels for nearly 30 years, Waldrep is grateful for the new technologies that have allowed him to develop his newest productions’DVD-Audio/Video discs that include ‘audiophile quality music’ with 5.1 channel surround mixes (the method used in the film industry primarily for sound effects), multiple camera angle video, biographical texts and/or photos from sessions or artists. Some of the recordings have interviews with the musicians or special-interest segments such as a guitar lesson or backstage jam. AIX records an entire record in a single, four- to six-hour period in a live hall without an audience. Most of the music has been recorded in the Colburn School for Performing Arts’ Zipper Hall in Downtown L.A. ‘I love being inside music, not with people clapping,’ says Waldrep, who left his home state of Michigan in 1974 ‘to be a rock star’ in Los Angeles. When playing in a band didn’t work out, he took some classes at SMC before continuing his education at CSUN, Cal Arts and UCLA. Because the DVD-Audio/Video recordings are done in a short amount of time, usually with only two takes per tune, the musicians ‘have to be skilled enough and have been performing long enough to deliver great music in a single session,’ Waldrep says. ‘There’s no going back and fixing mistakes.’ He also wants to record bands who are ‘fun to work with and interested in what we’re doing,’ since AIX’s recording methodology is nontraditional. For example, Waldrep recently recorded a Christmas album with five musicians, including former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber and Waldrep’s favorite pianist, Jim Cox. ‘They had never played the songs together, and the DVD captures that sense of newness,’ says Waldrep, who directs the recordings with about a six-person crew. ‘The biggest high I had was working with Willie Nelson and Paul Williams on ‘Rainbow Connection’,’ he says. ‘The air became rarified because here was this icon [Nelson] taking direction from me.’ When Waldrep played two initial mixes of the recording for Paul Williams, he said the hall-of-fame songwriter looked at him and said ‘I get it, after 30 years,’ meaning that Williams finally understood what music could sound like and the magic of creating that sound. Waldrep strives for those moments that are ‘the reason people should be making records.’ AIX preserves the feeling of real-time music-making by avoiding techniques commonly used to produce recordings, such as dynamics compression, equalization, artificial reverberation and mono miking techniques. Waldrep points out that the use of stereo pairs of microphones for each instrument allows him to create a sound in which ‘the speakers disappear.’ The result is a recording that is 50 percent as loud as a normal commercial release, Waldrep says. ‘It’s quieter than anything you’ll hear on the radio, and as pure and natural an experience as you can create with technology.’ The DVD-Audio/Video discs are ‘my own creative visions,’ says Waldrep, whose company was born as the first DVD-Audio record label dedicated to new high-resolution releases. ‘It’s a pretty personal thing I’m doing.’ Over the years, he has researched, acquired and utilized state-of-the-art equipment, including a $400,000 Euphonix System 5 digital mixing console. ‘There’s been a little bit of debt along the way,’ he says, but admits that the 35 completed DVD-Audio/Video discs were ‘phenomenally less expensive’ to produce because he owns his equipment. His small company consists of four former students at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where Waldrep teaches digital media arts courses three days a week. ‘Music has an intangible ability to get in here,’ says Waldrep, putting his hand over his heart. ‘That’s what it’s always done for me.’ Waldrep has lived in the Palisades for four years with his wife, Mona, and their three kids, Kari, 20, Christopher, 18 and Michael, 16. Kari attends UC Santa Cruz and Michael is in the Highly Gifted Magnet program at North Hollywood High School. Christopher, a recent PaliHi graduate, is a member of the band Half Nelson. For more information about AIX Records, visit www.aixrecords.com or contact Mark Waldrep directly at mwaldrep@aixrecords.com or (323) 655-4116, ext. 102.
Palisadian Jack Rosenberg was a personal friend of Einstein’s. They met in Princeton in 1949 on Einstein’s 70th birthday and were friends until Einstein’s death in 1955. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Palisadian Jack Rosenberg thinks he may be the only personal friend of Albert Einstein still alive. They first met in 1949, on Einstein’s 70th birthday, when Rosenberg was a 31-year-old electrical engineer at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and Einstein was a world-renowned member of the faculty. Rosenberg was working for mathematician John Von Neumann designing what would be the first central processing unit for the first digital computer. A music fan, Rosenberg had developed sophisticated audio equipment for his own personal use, which attracted the interest of mathematicians at the Institute, who asked him to build them similar systems. Professor Erwin Panofsky, a good friend of Einstein’s, heard about this music system and asked Rosenberg to make one for Einstein as a 70th birthday gift. Rosenberg did, and it was the start of a friendship. Between late 1949 and 1951 they saw each other once a month. Even after Rosenberg moved away, he visited once or twice a year until Einstein’s death in 1955. On the occasion of the Skirball Cultural Center’s upcoming Einstein exhibit, which will run from September 14 to May 29, Rosenberg shared with the Palisadian-Post his personal memories of Einstein. Rosenberg grew up in New Jersey, the son of Russian parents who were interested in classical music. He studied engineering at MIT, and was on a troop ship in the Pacific heading towards invading Japan during World War II when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This led Rosenberg to an interest in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and his first job at Princeton, working with some physics professors. After that he began work on the Johnniac, the world’s first digital computer, named after its inventor, John Von Neumann. It was while working there at the Institute of Advanced Studies, through his love of music, that Rosenberg met Einstein. Born in Germany, Einstein was 26 when he had what he called his ‘annus mirabilis’ in 1905. He published four papers (including his famous E=MC2 formula) that revolutionized present concepts of time and space, energy and matter, and that same year he received his Ph.D. from Zurich University, all while working at the Swiss Patent Office. He was a professor of theoretical physics in Prague and Zurich, and later in Berlin and received the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921. He joined the Institute in 1933. By the time Rosenberg met him, Einstein was a world-famous figure who spent a lot of time thinking about philosophical interests other than science. That’s what Einstein discussed with Rosenberg and his wife, Frances (who died 10 years ago). ‘I was absolutely bewildered in his presence. I was tongue-tied,’ said Rosenberg of meeting Einstein. ‘He had a lot of humility; none of the other scientists I had ever met had this. He was a man who had nothing to prove.’ Rosenberg entered Einstein’s house surreptitiously several times to set up the audio system to play FM music over the radio. One time he installed a roof antenna, and several other times he was let in by Einstein’s longtime secretary, Helen Dukas. High-fidelity audio was not commercially available at this time. Einstein was fascinated when Rosenberg brought in the three pieces of furniture’the speaker, the FM receiver and the amplifier’that made up his surprise gift. J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had worked on the Manhattan Project, was head of the Institute at the time, and came with Rosenberg to greet Einstein on his birthday. ‘Einstein said, ‘You’re not allowed to go in there,’ when I headed to his study,’ Rosenberg recalls. ‘I said, ‘Please, you’ll understand later.” Once he learned about the surprise gift, Einstein, an amateur violinist, had a look of pleasure on his face. ‘What could I do to repay you?’ he asked. Rosenberg asked for permission to take his picture, which he granted. Rosenberg was thrilled to have met Einstein, and thought that would be the end of their association. But a month later he received a personal note from Einstein, thanking him for the ‘singing bird’ as he called his music system, on which he enjoyed Mozart’s ‘The Magic Flute.’ Several months later, professor Panofsky called, asking Rosenberg how Einstein could thank him once again for building the music system. Rosenberg asked if he could record Einstein’s voice on a recording system he had in his home. The recording device was not portable, so Einstein would have to come to the small apartment where Jack and Frances lived. In October 1949, the Rosenbergs had their interview with Einstein, who said he would answer all questions, but requested that the recording be only for their private use, and would not be made public. The Rosenbergs asked Einstein questions for half an hour, about world affairs, what he thought about the atomic bomb, his political ideas, and his favorite music. In his autobiography now in progress, Rosenberg describes Einstein’s answers as ‘shockingly candid. Many were so direct and surprising they left no room for further inquiry on that subject.’ When asked about whether he agreed we had to drop atomic bomb on Japan, Einstein said that he didn’t agree. He believed there there had been secret peace negotiations going on with Japan and they would have surrendered before the bombs were dropped. Two weeks later, Einstein’s secretary called saying that Einstein would like to have the Rosenbergs over for tea and cookies. This time, Einstein asked the questions. ‘I’m interested in what young Americans think about,’ he said. Although Jack and Frances protested that they weren’t typical young Americans, the first interview lasted two hours, and they visited once a month for the next year and a half, until they moved from Princeton. Einstein became a mentor and advisor, and was the motivating force behind the couple’s move from Princeton, claiming it was a closed society where people couldn’t speak freely. Only this year, at a lecture Rosenberg attended at Caltech, did he learn why Einstein felt that way. Caltech professor Diana Kormos Buchwald, editor of Einstein’s collected papers, explained that Dr. Abraham Flexner, head of the institute through 1939, had forbidden Einstein from speaking about his opinions publicly. Eventually, Rosenberg switched employers, and after leaving Princeton, got a job with GE in Syracuse, New York. He moved to the Palisades in 1954 to work for a subsidiary of General Dynamics. He later learned that mathematicians from Los Alamos were using the computer he worked on at the Institute for Advanced Studies to develop the hydrogen bomb. ‘I felt I had dirtied my hands,’ says Rosenberg. ‘When I mentioned it to Einstein in 1953, he said ‘I thought that was what they used it for. I thought they would find a way to design the hydrogen bomb. I feel that instead of making the U.S. more secure, this weapon has made us less secure.’ Sure enough, in the year after the U.S. exploded it, the Soviet Union also exploded its hydrogen bomb. So Einstein was right, there was no security.’ Einstein passed away in 1955 at 76, of a rupture of the aortic aneurysm. Living in the Palisades at the time, the Rosenbergs wept when they heard the news. ‘Einstein got criticism from both scientists and laypeople that he should stop spending time on political matters and world matters, and completely devote himself to science,’ Rosenberg says. ‘Even though he couldn’t solve the world’s political problems he felt he had to think about them, and when he thought about a subject, he thought about it more thoroughly than anyone else I ever met.’
At last Thursday’s Community Council meeting, a Verizon spokesman introduced the Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) project, an advanced fiber-optic technology that can be used instead of copper wires to connect a home or business directly to Verizon’s network. ‘Pacific Palisades has been selected to receive FTTP,’ said Tom Kormondy, Verizon Community Communication Manager. ‘What we propose to do is overlay the copper wires of the existing phone lines with fiber.’ When one audience member asked, ‘Did you say you’re going to replace our phone lines?’ Kormondy answered, ‘No, this is an offering we’re making to our constituents.’ He added that the project would maintain two telecommunication infrastructures’copper and fiber. ‘The layout design would be similar to what you have here [in the Palisades] today,’ Kormondy said, explaining that Verizon would ‘maintain underground conduits’ and other underground infrastructure where possible. Kormondy said that with fiber-optic technology, increased speeds of Internet access’10 to 30 times faster than cable modem’would enable residents and businesses to send and receive large files of data more efficiently. ‘It’s more reliable and dependable,’ said Kormondy, who calls FTTP ‘one platform for all,’ or one delivery system that offers multiple services. Fiber-optics systems use hair-thin strands of glass fiber and laser-generated pulses of light to transmit voice, data and video signals that exceed copper cable systems in speed and capacity. Kormondy said FTTP will be no more costly than having regular phone service and will also have lower maintenance costs. Resident Dick Littlestone wanted to know if FTTP will work if the community loses power, since the current, copper-wire system still works in these circumstances. ‘There is a battery back-up with fiber that’s good for four days,’ Kormondy replied. While the FTTP sounded good to community members, Marquez resident Haldis Toppel cut straight to the chase by asking, ‘Why do we need to know all of this?’ ‘Because there will be a presence of machinery and trucks in the community,’ said Kormondy, who could not answer specific questions about the engineering of the project, such as the impact FTTP installation will have on traffic and noise. Council secretary Karyn Weber suggested that Verizon have engineers come to another meeting to answer questions about street construction and how long the whole process will take. Questions also remain as to whether the FTTP service would be available in parts of Rustic and Santa Monica canyons that have a Santa Monica zip code. A recent Los Angeles Times article on wireless technology raises another point: Will wireless broadband technology soon match hard-wired cable and DSL in popularity? According to the article, Verizon is investing $2.5 billion to wire three million homes in two years. ‘It’s a $1 billion initiative this year alone to provide service to 1 million homes,’ Verizon spokesman Bill Kula later told the Palisadian-Post. ‘We hope to bring the benefits of fiber to Pacific Palisades but won’t likely initiate our fiber deployment until, at earliest, next year.’ Kula added that FTTP is ‘a very labor intensive and arduous process, and it is nearly impossible not to see a Verizon truck or van on the street on any given day.’ In California, Verizon most recently introduced FTTP in Huntington Beach, and the Palisades could be the first community in Verizon’s serving territory in the City of L.A. to receive FTTP, according to Frank Uribe, Verizon’s Director of External Affairs. However, Verizon must first receive the necessary municipal permits from the city, a process which asks that Verizon obtain public support from Pacific Palisades. Currently, Verizon has received letters of support from the Palisades Chamber of Commerce board and from Mayor James Hahn. ‘We’ll continue to have an open dialogue with the Palisades Community Council, with the intent of bringing fiber optics to the community,’ said spokesman Kula.
By ALYSON SENA and BILL BRUNS In addition to wrestling with fears about the Renaissance Academy’s potential traffic impact on Alma Real (see story above) and receiving an update about Verizon’s fiber-optics installation plan for Pacific Palisades (page 4), the Community Council heard updates about the following three issues at last Thursday’s meeting. CAR WASH NOISE Area Representative Stuart Muller reported that Palisades Gas and Wash is currently in compliance with the City of L.A.’S noise code. The latest sound measurements, taken August 25 between 5:15 and 5:30 p.m., were within the legal 65-decibel sound level (which allows for a 1-dB variable). Jay Paternostro, a noise inspector in the Dept. of Building and Safety, took a reading that was between 63 and 65 dBs. Meanwhile, an independent consultant/audio engineer working with Muller’s Car Wash Noise committee, measured 65 to 66 dBs. Both measurements were taken after the Village School annex construction (at La Cruz and Alma Real) had stopped, since the construction had corrupted Paternostro’s August 19 sound measurement at Palisades Garden Caf’. The car wash, run by operations manager John Zisk, ‘has been able to comply in essence with the decibel readings,’ Muller said. However, he also mentioned that the car wash’s high-speed motor fan was not in use when the readings were taken. Muller said that Zisk, who has made just under $10,000 worth of modifications to alleviate the car wash noise, ‘seems to be open’ to the idea of a plexiglass screen to enclose the car-wash tunnel, which would lower the sound readings about 5 dBs. Earlier, Zisk told the Post that enclosing the tunnel would be a last resort, since it would be ‘five to 10 times more expensive.’ (Palisadian-Post, August 26). On average, according to Zisk, about 200 cars go through the wash daily, and the vacuuming, washing and drying process for each car should take about ’35 minutes tops.’ MOVIES IN THE PARK Movies in the Park earned a round of applause from audience members, who learned that about 700 people turned out for the final screening, ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Council chairman Norman Kulla said he received about 15 communications telling him that the inaugural event at the Palisades Recreation Center ‘contributed to a real sense of community.’ Some noise concerns were raised, mainly by two residents who said they are willing to work with Chamber of Commerce organizers David Williams, Arnie Wishnick, John Wirth and Bob Sharka to alleviate sound problems at next year’s series. Council secretary Karyn Weber, who lives near the park entrance, said the film committee had been receptive to community concerns and ‘made sure the neighbors around the park were taken care of.’ Every night, ‘there was a different tweak to the noise’ as the sound crew tried to alleviate problems for neighbors, said Weber, who noticed the sound was loudest near her house the final night. Residents Mark and Jan Victor, who live at the back entrance to the park, at Frontera and Alma Real, said they had to go inside from sitting on their porch when they heard a loud woman’s voice coming through the speakers. ‘It was loud enough so I had to close the windows and doors,’ Mark Victor said. ‘I can’t be in my yard unless there’s a repositioning of the speakers.’ Chamber president Williams said his committee added two speakers to the original four after about 450 people turned out the first night. ‘We had been expecting 100 people,’ said Williams, who received complaints following the first showing but none after the last three. The Chamber set up two speakers in the back of the field so that sound was better distributed. ‘I’m interested in finding a way [to alleviate sound] so it doesn’t blast into my house,’ said Victor, who’s lived near the park for 25 years. ‘I’ve never complained about any event at the park, and I don’t want to take [Movies in the Park] away, but I certainly don’t want it expanded.’ Williams reassured the Victors that the Chamber had not talked about expanding the event, and is planning to keep it at four films next August. ‘GRANNY FLATS’ BILL On Friday, following a brief discussion at Thursday’s meeting, Kulla wrote to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on behalf of the Community Council. His letter opposed AB 2702, which would make it easier for property owners to build second units, or ‘granny flats,’ next to existing homes. Said Kulla: ‘We are informed that AB 2702 has passed both legislative houses and has been sent to you for your signature. Our council opposes this legislation and urges that you veto this bill. ‘Our opposition is based upon the following concerns: by prohibiting local government from requiring either unit be owner-occupied, the legislation essentially legalizes duplexes in areas now zoned R1; it preempts local regulation of such matters as parking; in a community such as Pacific Palisades which is largely zoned R1, the bill would nearly double the number of allowable housing units, further stressing our traffic and infrastructure problems; and, by making no mention of CC&Rs the bill leaves these contracts in legal limbo. ‘We recognize the need for more housing, but the approach taken by this bill is a short cut that overwrites local regulatory law long established to protect the quality of life in residential communities.’ Schwarzenegger has 30 days (until September 25) in which to either sign or veto this bill, or it automatically becomes law.
Palisades High School Principal Gloria Martinez looks forward to the new school year. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
Since July 9, the day she signed on as principal at Palisades Charter High School, Gloria Martinez has experienced a full range of emotions: the exhilaration of the new challenge, the breathless pace of learning about the school and its governance, and the anxiety that comes with all the unknowns. One thing that Martinez is not worrying about is what she calls the ‘tough pieces” discipline and special education. Her experience as vice principal at Malibu High School gave her time to develop a positive approach to discipline, and her educational background (she has a doctorate in education from UCLA) has equipped her with tools for tailoring programs to special education needs, from physical disabilities to learning deficiencies. ‘I have already dealt with the tough pieces at Malibu,’ she says, ‘but I know there will be new challenges.’ Replacing Linda Hosford, who retired in June, Martinez will become the first principal at PaliHi under the new management triumvirate. Her job will focus on the academic arena and looking after the welfare of the 2,800 ninth through 12th graders who are expected to show up for classes on September 8. She will be assisted in running the school, which became financially independent this last academic year, by executive director Jack Sutton and chief business officer Greg Wood. A native of Whittier, Martinez joins the staff with 17 years in education. She began teaching Spanish at St. Bernard High School, a racially diverse co-educational school in Playa del Rey, where she remained while pursuing her master’s degree and Ph.D. After taking over the vice principal’s position at Malibu in July 1999, she made sure that she always taught at least one class’a practice she would like to resume at PaliHi, perhaps after her first year. ‘I will miss teaching,’ she says. ‘It is a good way to get a pulse on the school.’ She also loves basketball and football and expects to out of her office ‘walking around and about. I like seeing our students involved.’ Martinez says she’s ‘all about giving all students a great opportunity’opening doors rather than closing them.’ She and her six siblings were given the opportunity that she believes this country promises. Her mother Rachel, who was a production pattern-maker, and her father Proto, a carpenter, worked hard and emphasized the importance of education which resulted in each of their children graduating from college. With her experience and expertise in maximizing academic achievement for all students’struggling and gifted alike, Martinez says the challenges in making sure each student receives what he or she needs are multiple. First, there’s the size of the school. Classroom space will spill into portable bungalows if the anticipated 2,800 students show up the first day, 100 more than last year. Martinez says that she will try to keep class sizes to 30-35 students. A second challenge is the student body’s diverse educational background. The school serves 117 different Zip codes and 60 percent of the students travel from other parts of the city. The third factor is communication’between teacher and student and between teacher and parents. Focusing on the ninth grade, Martinez explains that some 20 faculty members have been meeting this summer to work out the details of creating professional learning communities. Teachers in various departments’e.g., math, science, music, English, social studies’will be coordinating their curricula so that the high achievers will be challenged, and the average or slower learners will also be addressed. Martinez calls this differentiated instruction, which means that the teachers will try to use different instruction methods depending on the needs of the students. There will be assessments along the way, instead of waiting until midterm grades come out, and many resources will be utilized. ‘Whatever it takes,’ says Martinez, ‘the board is willing to provide funding; whatever comes out of the data, they’ll support.’ Martinez will also continue emphasizing the AVID program (Advancement Via Individual Determination), which prepares students for four-year college. ‘The whole goal of this program is to move middle-of-the-road GPAs (2.0) to a 3.5 or higher,’ she says. After enjoying stunning success with this program at Malibu (there were three AVID classrooms), Martinez will encourage as many students as possible to participate. There are criteria, including the student’s willingness to participate. ‘AVID won’t work unless students are on board,’ she says. Encouragement is also Martinez’s preferred approach towards discipline. She plans to reward students with Dolphin tickets for ‘catching students doing something right,’ such as picking up trash. The tickets are then entered into a weekly raffle for retail gift certificates. While Martinez’s experience and background give her confidence in her new job, she is comfortable with collaboration. Any visitor to her office notices the open door and welcoming greeting. While she calls the arrangement of furniture good feng shui, it also attests to her open- door attitude. The blinds on the windows have been raised, extraneous furniture removed, and the room painted a clean warm white. Her desk, placed in the corner, makes way for a small round conference table, where she prefers to talk with visitors, faculty and board members. ‘All this is new territory for me and I am grateful to have such resources to work with,’ Martinez says. She has already met with Brian Bower, the executive director at Granada Hills High School’the only other independent charter with joint leadership affiliated with the LAUSD’and with Merle Price, the former Pali principal who will assist the school in its charter renewal next spring while advising Martinez on the workings of LAUSD. Although the month before school has required attending a lot of meetings, Martinez is excited about the future. ‘The meetings are long, but I want to help kids; that’s the neat piece.’ Martinez, Sutton and Price will introduce themselves to the students at a school assembly on Wednesday morning, September 8.
Left to right, Renaissance Academy charter high school students Alex Lluch, Carly Fariello, Tommy Bigalow, Sabrina Sinclair and Daniel Wilkins were among the 350 kids and parents who attended the school’s picnic social and groundbreaking celebration Sunday at the Palisades Recreation Center. Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By ALYSON SENA and BILL BRUNS With the Renaissance Academy opening in less than a week, founding director Paul McGlothlin has been working overtime to finalize opening-day plans, complete classroom construction and secure various community facilities for eventual use by the 250 students he expects on September 8. Enrollment at the new new public charter high school will include about 100 ninth graders and just under 100 sophomores (as indicated by the students who showed up for class orientation this week), plus about 50 juniors and seniors. The school has hired 14 full-time teachers. During his appearance at last Thursday’s raucous Community Council meeting, McGlothlin managed to resolve only one of several controversial issues that worry residents who live near the 881 Alma Building, where Renaissance has leased 13,000 square feet for classrooms and offices. McGlothlin announced that students will not be allowed to drive their car to school (a prospect which had threatened to further congest neighborhood residential streets) and must sign a contract to that effect. Yesterday, McGlothlin told the Palisadian-Post that Alma Real will be not used in any way by parents, carpools, vans or school buses to deliver students in the morning or pick them up in the afternoon. ‘We’ve taken that street off the boards,’ except for faculty who will be parking in the building at the school’s expense, said McGlothlin, who added that a teacher or parent volunteer will stand in front of the school entrance to make sure people abide by this protocol. Renaissance students will be walking to school, commuting by public transportation, riding in parent-run carpools and vanpools, or will be taking the school bus. McGlothlin has leased three school buses through Four Winds, a Los Angeles area school bus operator, and bus passes will cost $40 a month. ‘The bus company said it’s not feasible to use the parking lot area at the Palisades Recreation Center for dropoff or pickup,’ McGlothlin said yesterday, following a Tuesday night meeting. This will eliminate another objection raised by Huntington Palisades residents at the Community Council meeting. ‘We are now working to use the existing bus zones’ at nearby Palisades Charter Elementary (on Bowdoin and Via de la Paz) or the car-pool zone along Swarthmore across from Village School, McGlothlin said. Renaissance classes will begin at 9 a.m. (at least 45 minutes after these schools begin) and end at 3:30 p.m. In addition, Renaissance parents are organizing gathering and delivery locations in the Palisades for kids commuting by carpool or vanpool. The school will give students the option of bringing their own lunches or buying food catered by a Westside food service company. ‘There’s also a great deal of interest from local vendors who want to provide box lunches,’ McGlothlin said. The kids will eat in supervised indoor and outdoor areas and, ‘if they want to leave the building and go into the village at lunch, their parents have to sign a release.’ Meanwhile, McGlothlin has been negotiating the use of community facilities and services, including the adjacent branch library, the nearby recreation center, Pierson Playhouse and Temescal Gateway Park. Park director David Gadelha said he met with Renaissance athletic director Jon Palarz about the school renting the old gym and playing fields for midday (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) P.E. classes. ‘Nothing’s been reserved yet; they have to come back and fill out a permit,’ said Gadelha, who’s happy to rent space as long as ‘we don’t have park activities at the times they want to use the facilities. We could use the revenue.’ Renaissance hopes to have its theater arts students use Pierson Playhouse (Haverford at Temescal Canyon Road). ‘We would like to work with them but the final arrangements have not been made,’ said Eva Holberg, vice president of administration for Theatre Palisades’ executive board (the Pierson Playhouse landlord). The matter will be further discussed at the next board meeting on September 8.
By Arnie Wishnick 1. ‘On The Waterfront’ ‘ New York dock workers in union mayhem. What a cast! Brando, Steiger, Malden, Cobb and Eva Marie Saint. Directed by Elia Kazan.Wins Best Picture 1954. 2. ‘Norma Rae” Southern mill is unionized when a poor textile worker joins forces with New York labor organizers. Directed by Martin Ritt. Sally Field wins Best Actress 1979. 3. ‘The Pajama Game’ ‘ Hey there! Getting a 7 cents raise at the Sleep Tite Pajama Company is worth singing about. Just ask Doris Day and John Raitt. Directed by Stanley Donen. 4. ‘How Green Was My Valley’ ‘ A Welsh family and the men who worked in the coal mines. Unionization, strikes, abuse and demise of a town. Directed by John Ford. Wins Best Picture 1941. 5. ‘Gung Ho’ ‘ Funny things happen when a Japanese firm takes over a small-town auto factory. Directed by Ron Howard. Michael Keaton is terrific trying to keep the peace between labor and management. 6. ‘Silkwood’ ‘ Nuclear power plant worker Karen Silkwood uncovers something that causes others to want to silence her. Directed by Mike Nichols. Meryl Streep and Cher are superb. 7. ‘The Devil and Miss Jones’ ‘ Romantic comedy finds a big business boss posing as a salesclerk to find union organizers. Robert Cummings, Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn 8. ‘Matewan’ ‘ West Virginia coal miners rebel against working conditions. Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones and Mary McDonnell. John Sayles direction and Haskell Wexler’s cinematography! 9. ‘Hoffa’ ‘ Jack Nicholson is James R. Hoffa. Directed by Danny DeVito. 10. ‘F.I.S.T.’ ‘ Truck driver goes from good to bad after teaming with gangsters. Stallone and Steiger. Directed by Norman Jewison
Once again, the creative talents of the men and women involved in the Theatre Palisades 2003-2004 season productions were recognized at the annual awards dinner in early August at Pierson Playhouse. The show was presented as a musical medley, with music by Bob Remsteen on piano and Bill Minderhout on guitar. The awards were given for acting, directing, costume, sound and set design as well as graphics and production. Director Sherman Wayne won for ‘A View From The Bridge.’ Lead actors Steve Larkin won for ‘Other People’s Money,’ and Shaun Benjamin in ‘A View From The Bridge.’ Lead actress Robin Navlyt won for ‘You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.’ Featured actor Greg Srolestar won for ‘Holiday’ and Allison Laurence for ‘A View From the Bridge.’ Supporting actors were Ivan Baccarat for ‘A View From The Bridge,’ and Elizabeth Kate for ‘A Romantic Comedy.’ Cameo actor winner was Lindsay Weems for ‘Holiday’ and Ray Dannis for ‘Holiday.’ Manfred Hofer won the graphics award for designing the program for ‘Holiday’ and Nikita Bezrukiy and Cindy Dellinger won production awards for ‘Other People’s Money.’ Sherman Wayne won a set design award for ‘Romantic Comedy,’ Bill Prachar won for sound design in ‘A View From the Bridge,’ Andrew Frew won for lighting design in ‘Other People’s Money’ and Joyce Gale Smith won for costume design in ‘Holiday.’
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