John Guenther

By John Guenther and Madeleine Scinto

For six straight years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vowed he would take on the trucking industry and impose strict air quality rules that would reduce truck emissions at the Port of Los Angeles by 80 percent by 2012.

The Port of L.A. launched the Clean Truck initiative in 2008 in an effort to scrub clean the air at the country's largest port. By barring older trucks from the port, by requiring other trucks retrofit in stages, and by providing incentives for purchasing newer and cleaner trucks, the plan aimed to hit the port's emissions goal in five years.

What seemed impossible took on a sense of reality in October when the mayor and port officials called a news conference to announce they reached a milestone:  truck emissions had dropped 70 percent at the Port of Los Angeles by mid-2009, putting the port three years ahead of its aggressive schedule.

"This is the most successful effort to clean a port in the world," Villaraigosa said. "I mean, think about it. Nobody thought it was possible to retrofit 5,000 trucks in a year, and we're at 5,500 and growing."

No one at the news conference cast much of a skeptical eye. Headlines in the L.A. Times read the next day, "Diesel emissions down drastically at ports of L.A., Long Beach."

A Neon Tommy team of investigative reporters set out to document the progress being touted by all types of organizations,  from the Port of L.A. to the National Resources Defense Council.

In interviews with truckers, port officials, and cargo companies, the team discovered truck companies use new and cleaner trucks to pick up cargo at the port, while the old and dirty trucks wait just outside the port to haul the cargo through Los Angeles.

 

When I asked DJ Chicken Leather if he had time for an interview, he wondered aloud if I'd be able to "keep up with the Chicken." That afternoon, I'd find out what that strange phrase really meant.

Following around this 52 year-old cycling activist, internet radio DJ, film sound tech, and citizen journalist became a ride through Los Angeles subcultures that most don't see as they zip along the freeways. Along the way, "the Chicken" shared a cyclist's view of L.A. and what being a journalist meant to him.

Hundreds of immigrant rights activists marched down Broadway in downtown L.A. last Saturday, many carrying signs calling for a boycott of the 2010 census. Activists from immigrant rights groups, labor unions, and community groups participated in the demonstration. The coalition called on President Obama to pass comprehensive immigration reform and health care reform legislation.

Hundreds of immigrant rights activists marched down Broadway in downtown L.A. last Saturday, many carrying signs calling for a boycott of the 2010 census. Activists from immigrant rights groups, labor unions, and community groups participated in the demonstration. The coalition called on President Obama to pass comprehensive immigration reform and health care reform legislation.

Hundreds of people marched in downtown along Broadway today calling for immigration and health care reform. Activists from immigrant rights groups, labor unions, and community groups participated in the demonstration. Groups of protesters also carried signs telling people to boycott the 2010 census, despite the urging of Mayor Villaraigosa for Angelenos to take part.

Crowd marches down Broadway Saturday for immigration reform.

This past Friday, I learned two very important lessons: always charge your batteries and go to Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice on the first Friday of the month.

While on a photo safari documenting lunch trucks in Mid-Wilshire, my camera battery died after taking five shots. Luckily, John Bowler, owner of the Barbie's Q truck, pointed me towards Abbot Kinney for more lunch truck sightings. 

What I found there was one of the most unique neighborhoods in Los Angeles where parents push strollers past marijuana dispensaries, a wine bar sits next to a toy store, and some of the best food is on wheels.

Nine trucks were interspersed along the boulevard, serving everything from barbecue to Indian to sushi.

The winner of a 2007 Pulitzer Prize was also the first mainstream reporter who wrote about the connection between "The Wizard of Oz" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" in 1995.

And a New York Times writer who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard heard his contest-winning poem from seventh grade proudly set to music in his hometown several years later.