L.A. County workers want their recession-era sacrifices honored

Hours after their labor contract expired, thousands of Los Angeles County workers took to the streets of downtown Tuesday morning, rallying for higher wages and accusing county leaders of failing to recognize the sacrifices they made during the recession.

Linda Dent, vice president of a union that represents 55,000 county employees, said the workers did without raises during the recession to help the county stay afloat.

"We sacrificed for the last four years for L.A. County," Dent told the crowd of SEIU Local 721 members gathered in front of the Hall of Administration and spilling into Grand Park. "We did everything we could and they turn around and do this to us? …. We have been neglected, rejected and disrespected by L.A. County."

SEIU officials say the last offer the county has made for a new contract would provide 4% in raises over two years, but increased medical costs means that low-wage workers' pay will effectively be cut. County officials say they have offered a 6% raise, similar to that signed onto by several other labor unions that represent county employees. Both sides will return to the negotiating table Thursday.

The protesting workers were joined by a handful of elected officials, including Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez (D-Los Angeles) and City Councilmen Curren Price and Paul Koretz. They began their march with a rally at California Plaza, where a loudspeaker blasted Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" and Aretha Franklin's "Respect."

"We're getting ready to march down to the Board of Supervisors, where we're going to raise some hell!" regional SEIU director Michael Green told the crowd from the flatbed of a pickup truck. "Are you scared?"

"Hell no!" replied the crowd, which waved signs reading "Fair Pay for Los Angeles" and "Fair Share from Corporations." The group included a variety of county workers, including a large contingent of social workers who called for lowering their caseloads, nurses in blue scrubs and public works employees in neon orange work shirts.

After weaving around Walt Disney Concert Hall, the crowd marched to the Hall of Administration, with some walking through the building, banging drums and chanting. The Board of Supervisors would typically be holding its weekly meeting at the time of the protest but had canceled this week's session because several members could not attend.

During the rally, union leaders met with county Chief Executive William T Fujioka, who agreed to personally attend a bargaining session "with the intention of trying to find a way to close negotiations," he said.

"What I impressed upon them was that the county has just exited one of the most severe recessions that have hit not only the nation but particularly our county, and we were able to manage the recession and successfully deal with it because of our fiscal discipline," Fujioka said. "What we have at the table now is a responsible, very reasonable salary increase [of 6%] that's been approved by over half of the county unions, including firefighters and deputy sheriffs."

Labor leaders said more than 5,000 people participated in the march. County officials said there were 3,400 unexcused absences Tuesday. Workers also took time off to participate in the event, which snarled downtown traffic Tuesday morning, closing streets around the Music Center and the county hall. There was no "significant impact" to county services, Fujioka said.

The county has not seen this large of a public protest by workers nor this level of tension with its biggest union in years. Next week, labor leaders will meet at the downtown convention center to decide whether to accept the county's most recent offer or move toward declaring an impasse or a strike vote.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has received deep levels of SEIU support in his campaigns, said he hoped the relationship would not become contentious.

"It is clear that the working men and women of the county have been both cooperative and long suffering over the course of the economic downturn. I certainly hope that the good fortune of labor peace we've enjoyed will continue," he said.

The event, however, ended in some chaos. Two women, not county workers, who were protesting social workers potentially getting raises in light of abuse and deaths of children under county supervision held large signs in front of the podium. SEIU members tried to take their signs, while other members tried to stop them. A tussle ensued, and an SEIU supporter was either pushed or fell to the ground. Paramedics were called, placed a brace around her neck and took her by ambulance to a hospital. Sheriff's deputies questioned at least one of the protesters.

seema.mehta@latimes.com

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L.A. Unified's iPad rollout marred by chaos

At a taco truck near Maya Angelou Community High School in South Los Angeles, senior Ramiro Gonzalez showed off his school-issued iPad tucked into his backpack Tuesday, excited that he still has it.

"They're saying we might have to give them back now," he said. "But I hope we get to keep them."

Nearby, Eliazith Lorenzo, a senior at a different school on the same campus, had his iPad taken back only days after receiving it. He'd used it a little in class but said he'd mostly played a soccer game on it at home.

Ramiro and Eliazith represent the confusion and complexities in the Los Angeles Unified School District's $1-billion effort to provide all its students with the Apple tablets. The first rollout, at 47 campuses, has raised questions about whether the nation's second-largest district tried to do too much, too soon.

Teachers reported not being able to connect to the Internet in some classrooms. Students bypassed security measures and surfed prohibited websites. Parents aren't sure if they're liable if the $678 tablets get lost or break. District directives have been misinterpreted.

The latest: Students from three high schools — Angelou, Roosevelt and Westchester — have been told to surrender their iPads until further notice. Students elsewhere aren't being allowed to take them home.

The students themselves aren't even sure why some tablets were taken back while others weren't.

"They gave them to us, but then they said that we had to give them back," Eliazith said. "Somebody hacked into them or something."

Schools Supt. John Deasy, who has pushed for the iPads, remains undeterred and said the project is essentially on track.

"It's an astonishing success," Deasy said in an interview Tuesday. "I couldn't be more pleased to get [the iPads] in the hands of students and teachers. The feedback has been extremely positive.

"This is a civil rights issue," he said. "My goal is to provide youth in poverty with tools that heretofore only rich kids have had. And I'd like to do that as quickly as possible."

Others, however, have applauded the goal but not the execution.

"I think the district hurried the iPad rollout," said Scott Folsom, a member of the committee that oversees school bond spending. The tablets are being funded by bonds: about $500 million for the devices and the rest for wiring campuses and other costs.

"We strongly believe that students need access to technology as a tool," said Judith Perez, head of the association that represents principals and other administrators. "Nevertheless, there are unanswered questions regarding the iPad rollout, which need to be resolved before the distribution of additional devices."

She noted concerns about security, the curriculum on the tablets and what she called the need for a consistent, coherent policy on the use and handling of tablets.

Security issues emerged more than a week ago, when more than 300 students, including those at Angelou, Westchester and Roosevelt, evaded an Internet security filter when using the tablets off campus.

Technicians could tell which devices and which students were involved, but officials still were taken by surprise.

At Westchester, students reported that there were problems from the get-go, including tablets that were configured in different ways with different levels of security. Some students deleted the district security filter with two clicks. Others may have been unhindered in the first place from going wherever they wanted on the Web.

Principal Robert Canosa-Carr hauled in some of his best students, who were among the first to tinker with the filter, including Brian Young, a candidate to be valedictorian, according to students.

"He wasn't threatening me but he told me millions of dollars of technology had been compromised because of me," Brian said.

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Officials open Security Housing Unit at Corcoran prison to reporters

CORCORAN, Calif. — The large metal cages are lined up in two rows under the blistering Central Valley sun just outside the prison walls. For maximum security inmates here, this is what counts as outdoor space.

Some inmates are placed in the cages with cellmates, but most are alone. One passes the time by pacing back and forth. Another does push-ups with the help of two prosthetic legs. Two men in adjacent cages discuss the Oakland Raiders and the San Francisco 49ers.

The inmates in this part of Corcoran State Prison — known as the Security Housing Unit, or SHU — are considered some of the most dangerous in California's prison system. Some are separated from the general population because of violent infractions like attacking a guard; others are deemed members of prison gangs.

Reporters visited Tuesday as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation opened the doors to some of its most controversial facilities in the midst of heightened concern over prison conditions.

"It's a good thing to be transparent," Corcoran Warden Connie Gipson said.

Another tour will be held Thursday at Pelican Bay State Prison near the Oregon border.

Corcoran, which received its first inmates in 1988, was the first prison in California with an SHU. Inmates rarely leave their cells except to be escorted, handcuffed, to the outdoor cages for exercise several times a week.

The Security Housing Units around the state have been the focus of external scrutiny and prison protests. A two-month-long hunger strike that involved thousands of inmates ended in early September, and legislative hearings are scheduled to begin next week. A United Nations investigator is also seeking access to the prisons to review conditions in the isolation units.

The Corcoran prison sprawls over 942 acres in Kings County, surrounded by farmland. Roughly one-fourth of the prison's 4,386 inmates are in the SHUs.

Prison officials say the term "solitary confinement" should not apply to the secured units. Some prisoners have cellmates and they can speak with inmates in adjacent cages while in the yard. There are small televisions in some cells.

The inmates disagree. Brent Shelton, 41, said "solitary" is the only way to describe it.

"You're living in cages," he said. "Dog cages."

He's serving a life sentence for armed robbery and was placed in the SHU for his alleged affiliation with the Mexican Mafia.

Another inmate, Randall Scott, 54, said being placed in a secure unit has a damaging effect on inmates.

"You get depressed," he said. "You become frustrated. You start to act out."

Inmate leaders began this year's hunger strike to protest conditions in the secured units. Roughly 800 inmates at Corcoran participated.

Ronald Hopkins, 24, said that for weeks he drank nothing but water and ate only a few crackers.

"I couldn't take it anymore," said Hopkins, who is serving a sentence for car theft. "I feel like I did what I had to do for my cause."

He wound up in the SHU for attacking an officer, an incident he remains unapologetic about.

"It was spur of the moment," he said. "To spice things up."

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California Gov. Jerry Brown signs bill to outlaw 'revenge porn'

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed bills that will ease the state's sale of potentially hundreds of surplus homes in Los Angeles County, outlaw an Internet trend known as "revenge porn" and help the state implement the Affordable Care Act.

The governor signed 36 bills, including a measure that would allow Caltrans to fast-track the sale of properties that are no longer needed for the long-stalled project to extend the 710 Freeway from Alhambra to Pasadena.

Since the 1970s, Caltrans has bought 460 properties in the area. But a 4.5-mile freeway extension bogged down in political and community opposition.

Transportation officials are close to deciding an alternative for the route that could include building tunnels or no project at all. Caltrans officials said Tuesday that once the decision is made on which alternative to pursue, it will figure out how many of the properties can be sold.

Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) introduced the measure signed by the governor after an audit found that Caltrans was mismanaging its properties, failing to properly maintain them and not collecting market rents.

"Now Caltrans can start getting out of the real estate business, raise more revenue for transportation projects and return these properties to local tax rolls," Liu said Tuesday after the signing of SB 416.

Caltrans will sell surplus homes methodically over time, said Robert Oakes, a spokesman for Liu. "They are not going to flood the market," he said.

Brown also signed a measure criminalizing a practice dubbed by lawmakers as "revenge porn," in which a person electronically distributes or posts on the Internet nude pictures of an ex-romantic partner after a breakup to shame the person in public.

Under the bill by Sen. Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres), those convicted of illegally distributing private images with the intent to harass or annoy face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

"Until now, there was no tool for law enforcement to protect victims," Cannella said. "Too many have had their lives upended because of an action of another that they trusted." SB 255 takes effect immediately.

Brown also signed 10 healthcare bills Tuesday, including some that help the state transition to the health insurance exchange under the federal Affordable Care Act.

Among them are measures that extend healthcare tax breaks to same-sex couples, require school districts that offer discounted meals to poor students to notify parents about expanded healthcare options, and ensure that new state insurance contracts are subject to state open-records laws.

"While extreme radicals in Washington shut down our government, here in California we're taking action to extend decent healthcare to millions of families," Brown said in a statement.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

anthony.york@latimes.com

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L.A. County leads California in poverty rate, new analysis shows

Los Angeles has the highest poverty rate among California counties, according to a new analysis announced Monday that upends traditional views of rural and urban hardship by adding factors such as the soaring price of city housing.

The measurement, developed by researchers with the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, found that 2.6 million, or 27%, of Los Angeles County residents lived in poverty in 2011. The official poverty rate for the county, based on the U.S. Census' 2011 American Community Survey, is 18%.

The new analysis set California's poverty rate at 22%, the highest in the nation, compared with the official rate of 16%. Counties such as Placer and Sacramento, with more moderate housing costs, have lower poverty rates than those of metropolitan areas, researchers said.

"We always see maps of official poverty and think of the Central Valley as the most impoverished," said economist Sarah Bohn, a research fellow at the public policy institute and one of the study's authors. "This really turns that on its head."

The new model aims to present a fuller picture of poverty by taking into account living expenses and government benefits ignored in the official formula.

Social scientists have argued for decades that the federal definition of poverty, which dates to the early 1960s, falls short on two counts: ignoring the benefits of government aid, including food stamps, Social Security, subsidized housing and tax credits, and failing to account for regional cost differences in transportation, healthcare and housing.

The report released Monday found that although many Californians find it difficult to make ends meet, things would be much worse without state, federal and local safety net programs, including food stamps, CalWORKs and the earned income tax credit. Out-of-pocket medical costs, however, increase the hardship, particularly for Californians over 65, the report said.

The U.S. Census Bureau for the last two years has released its own alternative poverty rate that attempts to recalibrate the poverty threshold. The rate is for research purposes only, but if adopted nationally, it could lead to a dramatic redistribution of federal funding in state and local jurisdictions.

The new California estimates could add to the pressure for change.

"People in Los Angeles deserve more help from the federal government than people in Mississippi," said Dowell Myers, professor of policy, planning and development at USC.

Myers said there has been tremendous resistance to adjusting the poverty rate, "even when it makes total sense."

Daniel Flaming, president of the Economic Roundtable, cautioned the rural poor often have higher transportation costs and fewer social service agencies than their city counterparts.

The rural poor are isolated "and there are very few places to turn for help," he said.

gale.holland@latimes.com

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Gov. Brown sees his ambitious agenda as a template for nation

SACRAMENTO — For the first two years of his late-in-life second act as governor, Jerry Brown focused almost exclusively on California's woeful budget situation.

Now, with the immediate crisis having passed after a hard-won tax increase, Brown is back trying to change the world, like the Jerry Brown of yesteryear.

But instead of looking toward higher office, the three-times-unsuccessful candidate for president is trying to effect that change from the state Capitol.

As he works through hundreds of bills on his desk that must be signed or vetoed by Oct. 13, Brown has taken steps aimed at combating global warming, reversing growing income disparity and giving undocumented immigrants a series of new rights. The governor says California is forging a political path that could become a national model.

"Things happen in California that are not happening in Washington," Brown said after an appearance at an electric-vehicle expo in San Francisco last week. "We can do a lot of things in California to shift the [political] climate throughout the whole country."

Some are skeptical that laws passed in California — where Democrats dominate state politics — can do much to prompt action from politically divided Washington.

"It doesn't always work that way," said Sean Gibbons, a spokesman for Third Way, a Washington, D.C., think tank. "Just because a suit looks good on you doesn't mean it will look good on me.  Some of the public policy that comes out of California is ahead of its time, but some of it is out of step with things that are possible or probable in Washington or in other states."

But Brown says he will continue to try.

The governor has said he plans to sign a bill allowing state driver's licenses for immigrants in the country illegally, completing the reversal of his position during the 2010 governor's race.

He said Washington's failure to agree on more comprehensive changes to immigration policy led to the change.

"Because Congress has been so slow, I think they need a good push, and that's what I think this driver's license bill does," Brown said. "It says California recognizes these human beings are very important to our communities."

Other measures to give those here without documents the ability to practice law or serve on juries also await his signature.

In April, Brown spent 10 days in China meeting with senior government officials and signing pledges to promote renewable energy technologies and help combat global climate change. Brown said last month that the state's relationship with China "can be the catalyst that shifts American policy and can be the catalyst to shift global policy."

Brown's second term ended in 1983. Since retaking office in 2011, Brown has raised concerns about growing income inequality across the country, calling it a risk for the United States' long-term political and economic stability. Months after persuading state voters to increase income taxes for those making more than $250,000 per year, Brown is now set to raise California's minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2016 — the highest in the nation.

Democratic leaders hope the changes in California could help build momentum for national change.

"This new law puts Californians ahead of the curve. Now, it's time for Congress to follow suit," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said after Brown signed the wage increase.

Brown has political advantages that leaders in Washington do not. In 2010, voters approved rules allowing state budgets to be passed by a simple majority instead of a two-thirds vote, eliminating a key opportunity for Republicans to exert influence in a Legislature long dominated by Democrats.

Although Republicans' differences with President Obama caused the government to shut down Monday night, in California the GOP has been rendered powerless. In 2012, Democrats won two-thirds majorities in both legislative houses and swept every statewide office. Republican registration in the state has fallen to below 30%.

This time of year, Brown has been known to spend hours poring over bills in the AstroTurf-covered courtyard outside the governor's office, surrounded by top aides and with his Pembroke Welsh corgi, Sutter, at his feet.

Over the next two weeks, he will weigh in on more than 500 bills passed last month that are now awaiting his signature or veto. While he has already telegraphed his intentions on a number of key bills, he has been coy about other hot-button issues.

Brown has not said, for example, how he will treat more than a dozen bills on his desk aimed at regulating or limiting access to guns or ammunition, despite ongoing gridlock in Congress over firearm policy.

Brown, a gun owner himself, has also indicated that California already has the toughest gun laws in the nation and that he may not sign all the measures on his desk.

Still, the governor said he would continue to look for ways for California to be a political trend-setter, as it has been at times over the last several decades on everything from tax policy to environmental protections.

"California may be the lever," he said last month, going on to quote a Greek mathematician from the 3rd century B.C. "Archimedes said if you give me a place to stand, I can move the Earth. I don't know whether that works any more today, but we're certainly looking for it."

anthony.york@latimes.com

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Jewish secularism on rise, Pew survey finds

Growing up Jewish, Marilyn McLaughlin loved lighting the braided candle and singing to mark the end of Shabbat. She relished studying the Talmud and weighing its ethical questions.

But sitting in synagogue left her cold. "I was stuffed with religion," McLaughlin said. "But I had no deep connection to it."

A new study from the Pew Research Center finds that more than a fifth of Jewish Americans say they have no religion. Yet like McLaughlin, they still identify themselves as Jewish.

Scholars say that the Jewish people have long seen themselves as more than a religious faith, also defining themselves as Jewish through culture or ancestry. Only 15% see being Jewish as "mainly a matter of religion," the new survey of nearly 3,500 Jewish Americans shows. Less than a third of Jews — even religious Jews — think someone can't be Jewish without believing in God.

As more Americans of all faiths turn away from religion, Jewish secularism seems to be booming too. Pew found that the share of "Jews of no religion" appears to have surged, compared to a somewhat different survey a dozen years earlier. Younger Jews are much more likely to shrug off religion than their elders.

The findings, which echo earlier research, are bound to fuel fears about the future of Judaism: Such Jews feel less connected to the Jewish community and rarely belong to Jewish organizations, Pew found. Among parents and guardians, two out of three "Jews of no religion" are not raising their children Jewish in any way.

Yet at the same time, retention rates seem to be improving among Orthodox Jews, who have much bigger families than other Jewish Americans. Researchers say that the result could be a growing share of Jews who are not religious at all, alongside a growing share who are strictly religious.

The pull away from religion could challenge Jewish institutions to better serve nonreligious Jews. "If they're not being wooed, secular Jews may walk away," said Phil Zuckerman, professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College. "And what you'll have left is the Orthodox."

Some groups are, indeed, attracting nonreligious Jews like McLaughlin. As is true for a growing share of American Jews, McLaughlin married someone who wasn't Jewish. She agonized over how to raise their twin daughters. How could she make sure they knew about their Jewish identity, she wondered, without forcing religion on them?

It was at Sholem — a culturally Jewish community in Los Angeles — that McLaughlin finally felt at ease. Its Sunday School teaches children about Jewishness as a culture with its own history and rituals. Children learn about the first chapter of Genesis, for instance, as a creation story that helped ancient people make sense of their universe. Adults discuss topics such as Yiddish film and how to raise secular children in a religious world.

McLaughlin was also relieved that Sholem welcomed intermarried couples, who are especially common among nonreligious Jews, Pew found. Another mother, Mila Marvizon, came to Sholem after a Reform rabbi refused to perform a naming ceremony for the baby she was raising with her Zen Buddhist husband.

"He said, 'Do you know what the chances are of you having Jewish grandchildren?' " Marvizon recalled. She told him, "With rabbis like you, it's about zero."

Fifty-eight percent of Jews who married since the turn of the millennium have married someone who wasn't Jewish, Pew found. The numbers are even higher at Adat Chaverim, a secular, humanistic Jewish community in Los Angeles where three out of four families are "intercultural," cantor Jonathan Friedmann said. He believes the congregation connects Jewish Angelenos who might otherwise be alienated by religious dogma or exclusion.

By doing so, "we like to think that we're sort of saving Judaism, in some ways," Friedmann said.

Others are skeptical that Jewish identity can endure over generations without a religious anchor.

"It's not good for the survival of the community," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism. Secular Jewish movements "have all kind of struggled and ultimately withered and died."

Though synagogue alternatives such as Sholem and Adat Chaverim exist, they have yet to become common among Jewish parents who aren't religious: Only 13% said they sent their children to any kind of Jewish educational or youth program, compared to 59% of religious Jews, the survey found. Ariela Keysar, an associate professor at Trinity College who has studied religious identity, said Jewish literature, theater, comedy and other cultural activities could be another way to engage secular Jews.

"The Jewish community is not disappearing. It is changing," Keysar said. "The challenge is to adjust and accommodate."

McLaughlin used to lament that her children wouldn't have the same Jewish identity that she had. It was another Sholem board member, she said, who told her what she would grow to accept: "Your children will be a different kind of Jewish than you are."

emily.alpert@latimes.com

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Santa Monica crash renews debate on airport's safety

Santa Monica Airport is steeped in glamour and history.

Douglas Aircraft Co. built its famous DC-3s there, and in 1924 it was the jumping-off point for U.S. Army pilots who were the first to circumnavigate the globe by air. The first woman to fly the U.S. Mail began her milestone flight in Santa Monica in 1938.

More recently, actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and casino mogul Steve Wynn have been among the celebrities and business tycoons who have kept planes there.

But the oldest operating airport in Los Angeles County has become the most embattled general aviation facility in the nation as housing tracts, started during the Douglas years, moved right up to its boundaries.

Concerned about noise, pollution and safety, those well-heeled Westside communities have been pushing city officials for years to either close the airport or slash flight operations — demands that intensified after Sunday's crash of a private jet that slammed into a hangar, killing at least two people.

The fiery crash, which occurred as the plane landed after a flight from Idaho, is believed to be the first fatal accident involving a jet in the airport's history. The impact and fire collapsed the hangar's steel roof onto part of the aircraft as well as planes stored inside.

Morley Builders of Santa Monica announced Monday that its chief executive, Mark Benjamin, 63, and his son Luke, 28, are believed to have been killed. It remains unclear whether others were in the plane.

Residents near the airport and community activists say the crash of the twin-engine Cessna Citation 525A reflects some of their worst fears because the plane came to rest about 150 feet from homes near the northwest section of the airfield.

"It's a warning of what could really happen," said John Fairweather, founder of Community Against Santa Monica Airport Traffic. "Obviously we are saddened by those who lost their lives in that plane. Our concern is what would have happened if it hit houses and the fire spread beyond the hangar."

There have been at least 11 crashes involving planes coming and going from Santa Monica since 1989, according to federal records. Six were confined to airport grounds, two struck homes, two came down in the ocean and one crashed on a golf course. The airport had about 7,300 takeoffs and landings in August, the most recent month for which data was available.

Some community activists are pushing to turn the 227-acre airport into a park. They say that the federal requirements and leases to operate a large portion of the property as an airport, including a section of runway, end in 2015.

"We hope it's a wake-up call," David Goddard, chairman of the Santa Monica Airport Commission, said of Sunday's crash. "Now we hope the City Council will take the next step" and reduce flights.

But the Federal Aviation Administration asserts that Santa Monica must operate the airport in perpetuity under a 1948 transfer agreement reached when the facility was returned to the city after World War II. Agency officials have vowed to protect the interests of pilots and aviation-related businesses.

The fate of the airport has been debated for decades. When jets began operating at Santa Monica in the 1960s, the city imposed restrictions and, at one point, a total jet ban, which aviation advocates successfully challenged in court in the 1970s.

With the advent of more powerful private jets, the city voted in 2007 to ban high-performance aircraft with fast landing speeds, such as larger Gulfstreams, Bombardier Challengers and some Cessna Citations. (The aircraft involved in Sunday's crash was not one of the barred models.)

The Federal Aviation Administration later struck down the ban because it discriminated against aircraft types, a decision that was upheld by a federal appeals court.

The closure of Santa Monica has long been opposed by pilots, airport-related businesses and national aviation organizations, such as the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. They caution that the cause of the crash has not been determined and it was unlikely the jet could have entered a nearby neighborhood because of a protective berm, landscaping and a wall.

"Let's find out what happened first before we speculate," said Bill Dunn, the association's vice president of airport advocacy. "The reality is that accidents occur, and the reality is that more people have been killed on bike paths and in fatal car accidents in Santa Monica than in airplanes."

Robert Chandler, a veteran Santa Monica pilot whose vintage 1953 Cessna may have been damaged by the crash, said the airport has a good safety record and is a vital part of the region's transportation system.

"To close it would be the equivalent of closing 10 miles of the Santa Monica Freeway," Chandler said. "It's disingenuous to move next to an airport and then complain about it."

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Family of slain Dodgers fan asks for help outside S.F. ballpark

SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of friends and family members of slain Dodgers fan Jonathan Denver came together outside AT&T Park on Sunday before game time to pass out fliers seeking witnesses to the Wednesday night stabbing preceded by taunts of team rivalry.

Clutching one another for support, Denver's father, brother, mother and aunt also stood before a bank of cameras to make their plea and offer more personal details about the 24-year-old apprentice plumber from Fort Bragg, Calif., nicknamed "Burrito."

Robert Preece of Alhambra — Denver's father and a security supervisor at Dodger stadium — described losing a child as "a heartache no parent should have to endure."

In a nod to the family of the 21-year-old Lodi man who police said implicated himself in the stabbing but is said to be claiming self-defense, Preece said, "I also understand that the Montgomery family is likely suffering as well." He pleaded for any witnesses to contact authorities "so that both families can have some measure of closure."

Michael Montgomery was arrested after the incident and booked into San Francisco County Jail on Thursday afternoon. But Dist. Atty. George Gascon late Friday sent the case back to police for further investigation, saying more witnesses needed to be interviewed to support or rule out legally justified homicide.

Preece and his son, Robert, who was also at Sunday's news conference but declined to speak, are both witnesses to the stabbing. But they shed little light on what happened Wednesday night, when police say a "back and forth" over the Dodgers-Giants rivalry triggered two altercations between their group and Montgomery's.

Montgomery's group had come to the city to go to a club and did not attend the game that night, but a friend of Montgomery's was wearing a Giants hat, and Montgomery told his father that Denver, who was wearing Dodgers gear, yelled, "Giants suck!" He is said to contend that he stabbed Denver only after the Dodgers fan "jumped" him.

Preece declined to address Montgomery's contention of self-defense, saying he is "trusting that [police and prosecutors] are going to do what's right." Preece's sister, Jill Haro, said: "This is why we're here today. We're looking for the public's help. We have reason to believe people may have [recorded] it and witnessed it, and we need them to come forward."

The family chose instead to focus on the young man they loved and lost. Preece, choking back tears, said he would always remember Wednesday night's game, which he attended with his two sons in a belated celebration of his 49th birthday.

"More than once that night, Jonathan told me how much he loved me," Preece said. "That will remain a most cherished memory for me."

Denver's mother, Diana Denver of Fort Bragg, spoke briefly, criticizing the media for "maligning my son's character," presumably by reporting on drunk-driving and public-intoxication arrests. "Remember, he was the victim," she said.

She also criticized the criminal-justice system for releasing Montgomery without charges.

But mostly, she spoke to her son's character, saying he was "well known and loved in his community" and describing him as "loving, caring and kind. His laughter was everything, and what a smile he had," she said.

Denver, who went by Jon (as well as Burrito), loved his dogs, Buster and Blue, and adored his brother, Robert, who was his roommate and dear friend, she said.

Sunday's group — more than 40 people from Fort Bragg and several dozen from the Southland — began arriving Saturday evening in San Francisco to pass out fliers. Some wore blue sweat shirts emblazoned with "RIP Jon D."

"We need your help," says one handout, with a photo of Preece and his sons at Wednesday's game.

"The SFPD and district attorney's office are seeking additional independent evidence regarding the death of our friend and family member Jonathan Denver," it reads, asking anyone with information that "can help bring forth the truth" to contact either agency.

Sharon Rocco, a 62-year-old retired parole agent and avid Giants fan, was heading into the ballpark Sunday as reporters gathered for the family's news conference.

"What is very sad is I think we've had an evolution of aggressiveness," she said. "We've lost the ability to respect other people's beliefs." The crux of the fight may have been Giants-Dodgers rivalry, she said, "but they just lost self control."

lee.romney@latimes.com

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Grand Avenue project at turning point

The push to transform downtown's Grand Avenue into a Champs-Elysees for Los Angeles has faced years of delays and obstacles. The ambitious plan to create a tony cultural destination around the landmark Walt Disney Concert Hall has already been scaled back because of the recession.

Now, with a key deadline set for Monday, the centerpiece of the Grand Avenue project — two towers offering luxury condos, a hotel, and high-end shops and restaurants — is facing another critical test.

In a little-noticed meeting last week, county Supervisor Gloria Molina and other officials unanimously rejected the conceptual plan for the $650-million project, with Molina criticizing the design and saying developer Related Cos. had failed to create an enticing public space that went beyond expensive shops and restaurants.

The move put the long-awaited project in jeopardy, according to alarmed business leaders and government officials. At midnight Monday, an agreement between the authority and Related will expire.

Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the downtown-based Central City Assn., said she was "shocked and angry" over the committee's Sept. 23 vote to reject the proposal from Related, which has already committed $120 million to the Grand Avenue effort.

"Coming so close to the deadline for the contract's ability to move forward, the vote really cast doubt as to whether the project could proceed at all with Related," Schatz said. "After nine years, that was shocking to hear."

The Los Angeles Grand Avenue Authority — a panel that includes representatives from the city and the county — voted 3 to 0 last week to reject the developer's proposal, a key milestone. Officials at the authority and their spokespeople say the vote was merely a rejection of the proposed plan, not of the developer. But according to a report prepared for the committee ahead of its Sept. 23 meeting, any vote to reject the plan is the same as killing the project outright.

If the project falls apart, the county could face major legal liability, notably because of the $50 million that Related put into the expansion and reconstruction of Grand Park, which stretches from the Music Center to City Hall. The developer is already building a residential tower on Grand Avenue as part of the authority's effort to remake the corridor.

Since the vote, the authority and its staff have moved quickly to get the matter reconsidered — and Related's agreement extended — before Monday's midnight deadline. Staffers spent the weekend writing up a report for a new meeting Monday. Three of the four members who sit on the panel are set to participate by phone, including Molina, who will call in from a hotel in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she is on vacation. They will vote not on new plans but on a proposal to extend the agreement for three months.

During last week's meeting, Molina and county Chief Executive William T Fujioka made clear their displeasure with Related's proposal. Both said they did not see how it would be a high-caliber project for Grand Avenue, home to the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Frank Gehry-designed Disney Hall and the Broad Museum, which is expected to open in 2014.

Molina, who heads the committee, criticized the proposal's "boxiness" and complained that one entry facing Grand Avenue lacked "any architectural interest whatsoever."

"There's nothing there that lends itself in any aspect to a design that promotes any kind of pedestrian activity, any street activity or anything," she told the panel. "It is still a continuation to me of the fort-like conditions down Grand Avenue."

Fujioka, who reports to the five county supervisors, voted with Molina and Steve Valenzuela to reject the plans, saying during the meeting that he was "very, very disappointed" with the presentation. City Councilman Jose Huizar was absent.

The president of the development company said Sunday that he remains committed to the project.

"We have in good faith fulfilled all of our obligations through every step of the process, had multiple meetings on the Conceptual Plan and were therefore surprised and disappointed that it wasn't approved," said Bill Witte, president of Related California. "It was in no way a completed design but a concept to be refined in collaboration with the Grand Avenue Authority."

Since last week's vote, county officials have struggled to explain what exactly happened and what comes next. On Friday, Molina spokeswoman Roxane Marquez said the panel voted to "remove Related from the Grand Avenue project" but said the panel could change course after seeing new plans Monday.

On Sunday, Molina aide Gerry Hertzberg corrected that statement, saying plans won't be presented Monday. In addition, he said, the committee "did not vote to terminate" Related's contract. "If they don't approve a new agreement … by Sept. 30 then [the] Related contract terminates," he wrote in an email.

Martha Welborne, former chairwoman of a nonprofit committee that first began promoting the Grand Avenue effort in the early 2000s, said she was "very concerned" by the authority's action last week.

"This was always seen as the flagship of the project. It's right across from Disney Hall," she said. Any further delays mean "a more uncertain future at the top of Bunker Hill and the impact that the project can have."

Schatz said the authority and Related need to come to terms quickly.

"There is no more time to wait," she said. "The project must move forward now."

seema.mehta@latimes.com

david.zahniser@latimes.com

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