March 2009 Archives

There are many alternate titles befitting to Geoff Schumacher's book Sun, Sin & Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas.  One is Las Vegas Hotels: Everything You Need (and Don't Need) to Know.  Another is The Suburbs of Las Vegas: Turning Deserts into Crowded Communal Playgrounds.  But truth be told, the best name for this book as a whole is The Over-Glorification of Las Vegas: Now with Less Sin!

Sun, Sin & Suburbia is a fact-heavy, 264-page salute to Las Vegas' past, present and future.  Schumacher does well to use the expertise of others when necessary, quoting many authors and Vegas experts rather than mustering up regurgitated explanations of his own.  But the book itself lacks fluidity and feels sectional.  In one chapter you're reading about eccentric aviator/businessman/billionaire Howard Hughes and his infamous urine-filled mason jars.  Another chapter pieces together how the Hoover Dam, WWII and a magnesium plant were all instrumental in the growth of the Las Vegas Valley.  Then there's an extensive ode to the entire history of Las Vegas' sustainability as a tourist destination, starting with downtown's early casinos and ending with today's (and tomorrow's) all-inclusive, themed, 24-hour resorts on the Strip.

Schumacher's book also details how big-buck developers sprouted expandable mega-communities after land-swaps with the government.  While the growth and prosperity of places like Summerlin, Henderson and Green Valley are fine examples of modern towns built to support the needs of a rapidly increasing population, they remain mass-built neighborhoods modeled so that more and more housing can be added, stretching further and further into the Nevada wilderness.  

Schumacher is far too celebratory of "Sin City" (in fact, the way he tells it, there isn't much sin in the city at all.  Perhaps he never noticed the all the strip joints, massage parlors and ads for escorts?).  One heavy topic missing from the pages of Sun, Sin and Suburbia is a discussion of Las Vegas' significant homeless population.  A February 2007 Associated Press article reported that Nevada has one of the nation's highest per capita rates of homelessness, with the majority of this population residing in Las Vegas.

Take a drive up Las Vegas Boulevard, a few miles north of the Strip, and you'll find rows of tents lining the sidewalks that surround the Clark County welfare building, the Catholic Charities soup kitchen, and the Salvation Army's local office.  This downtown "tent city" represents a small portion of the estimated 12,000 homeless that inhabit the Las Vegas Valley, according to an April 2008 Las Vegas Sun article.  Yet Schumacher makes no mention of Las Vegas' homeless problem.  Granted, his book was published in 2004, a few years before the above articles were written, but such staggering statistics didn't appear out of the thin, Mojave Desert air.  The problem was brewing, and Schumacher ignores the issue altogether. 

Schumacher's book often reads like a brochure for the Las Vegas Housing Promotion Authority.*  For example, in the chapter titled "Lap of Luxury: Las Vegas Goes Upscale," Schumacher writes:

Urban amenities are plentiful, from dependable electricity and a steady stream of clean water coming out of the faucet to some of the world's finest entertainment and dining options.  Housing in the valley is as attractive and diverse as anywhere in the American West. p.220

* There is no such thing as the Las Vegas Housing Promotion Authority

The most engaging part of Sun, Sin & Suburbia is the section about Howard Hughes.  Up to this point in the book (Chapter 4 of 11, yikes), any mention of Hughes would conjure up images from an old Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns becomes germaphobic after opening a casino in Springfield.  (He holes himself up in the casino's top floor, growing long hair and nails, and wearing Kleenex boxes on his feet.)  Fortunately for me, Schumacher published a whole book on the subject in 2008, titled Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue.

In Sun, Sin & Suburbia, Schumacher talks to the right people and highlights important Vegas movers and shakers (there's an exquisite section dedicated to the doings of Hank Greenspun, former editor and publisher of the Las Vegas Sun).  He also stretches out the timeline of Las Vegas -- year by year, hotel by hotel, casino by casino.  And there's plenty about Steve Wynn.  Still, the book glosses over Vegas' seedier underbelly of sex culture and poverty.  Schumacher paints a pretty picture, but it's incomplete.

It's a Las Vegas tale without gambling, guns or girls. The rapid growth of Sin City made the Las Vegas Strip good for more than just a night on the town. Las Vegas became the job capital of the U.S. Booming sales in casinos, retail and real estate meant job opportunities and newcomers clamored to get in on the action. Growth overtook the small desert city and exploded into a patchwork of subdivisions, mega-casinos and condos.

Las Vegan Geoff Schumacher details the history Las Vegas through the real estate development of the city and the surrounding communities. "Sun, Sin & Suburbia: An Essential History of Modern Las Vegas," ambles through the history of the casino industry's boon times from El Rancho Vegas to the Wynn as the now-famous names popped up in the desert. The heart of Las Vegas shifted from downtown's Freemont Street out into the glittering swath of roadway we know as The Strip today.

The book is filled with facts and figures but Schumacher stops short of telling the whole story. On the roller coaster that is Las Vegas, he stops at the peak of the upward chugging climb. Today, Las Vegas stands on a precipice, staring downhill into a future of foreclosed homes, job losses and stagnation. The real estate bubble that fueled unprecedented growth that shot Nevada into the #1 spot for rising home prices threatens to wipe out the financial gains of this desert gambling town.

Where the story ends is not his fault. Schumacher's book debuted in 2004 just as the housing market was revving up to its peak and profits from real estate sales were blowing up. If market watchers or journalists didn't predict the wild turn of events that would overtake Vegas after the housing bust, Schumacher is let off the hook.

A December 2008 article in Bloomberg Markets magazine written by Anthony Effinger hints at the second part of Schumacher's tale. "Fear & Foreclosure in Las Vegas" tells the crumbling story of Las Vegas' fall from grace at the top of the housing bubble. In what Effinger calls a "Bonnie and Clyde" of mortgages, real estate agent Eve Mazzarella and her husband were indicted for filing fraudulent mortgages worth $107 million. The loans left in their wake meant hundreds of empty homes and a lack of trust in the city's market.

Mazzarella isn't Las Vegas' only real estate disaster but it highlights the thin thread that held together the Las Vegas housing boom.

According to the U.S. census bureau, the number of Nevada's new homes rose by 33 percent from 2000 to 2007, and as Effinger writes, home prices skyrocketed nearly 54 percent in a single year. But after the sharp prick of reality deflated the housing market of Las Vegas, the city still holds a #1 title. But this time its claim to fame is the country's highest foreclosure rate.

Schumacher writes of the hoards of Californians coming across the desert to take advantage of cheap land and lower taxes in its neighboring state. But those same Californians that snapped up condos on the Strip and suburban tract houses are now leaving neighborhoods empty.

According to real estate tracking company, RealtyTrac, Clark County suffered more than 13,000 foreclosures in February 2009 alone. Nevadans have let a massive 30,000 homes fall into foreclosure since January.
 

Foreclosure Activity Counts - Las Vegas, NV

In the last 6 months, Chart Chai has taken every course offered at the Casino Gaming School of Nevada.

The 30-something Thai immigrant is hoping that knowing how to deal every game -- blackjack, poker, Pai Gow poker, mini Baccarat, and craps -- will give him an edge when he interviews for his first casino job in the midst of a recession.

But he admits that his confidence was shaken after failing his first audition last week.

"I think they prefer to hire a beautiful lady, not me," said Chai.

Chai arrived in Vegas by way of Utah, where he had been assembling chairs and furniture in a Lay-Z-Boy factory since 2002. Four years earlier, a buddhist temple in Fairbanks, Alaska sponsored Chai's move to the U.S. En route to Alaska, Chai made a brief stop in Utah, which, he explains, is why he returned there after leaving Alaska. Back in Utah, Chai enrolled in a high school ESL program, eventually earning his GED.

Last June the Lay-Z-Boy factory was moved to Mexico and all the employees were laid off.

A couple old high school friends from Thailand told him, why don't you come to Vegas? The living is cheap, and you can get a job here. One friend had been dealing at Palace Station for 6 years; the other has been almost a decade at MGM.

"You can make a living here, they told me," said Chai.

Paying your Dues

In the Mecca of gambling, tens of thousands of dealers are needed to staff its multiplicity of casino tables. At the Palazzo alone, 1,200 of them work shifts around the clock. Down at Encore, 400. 

Dealers make minimum wage, from $5.25 up to $7, and rely on tips to make a reasonable income. At a top Strip casino, that means they can earn up $80,000 to $100,000 a year, with little to no education required.

New dealers start at tiny break-in casinos at the edge of the city or in Northtown, making almost nothing -- $8 to $20 a day in tips at best. They'll work there for 3 to 6 weeks -- sometimes longer -- then try to move up to a smaller casino on the Strip.  

As these break-in shops typically lose a few dealers between Friday and Sunday, casino managers will call dealer schools on Monday to let them know that they have X number of spaces available. The dealer school will then send a few students who are ready to go to audition on Monday.

In a smaller casino the floor person may conduct an audition, but in a busy casino she'll walk you into a live pit and you'll tap out a dealer.

And the more games you can deal, the better.

The Draw of Dealing

Standing at a craps table a few feet away from Chai, Paul You had been making a decent living as a slot foreman at various casinos in Vegas for 15 years. His expertise was in fixing slot machines. But over the years, his job became more about pushing papers as machines became smarter. A few months ago, he and his entire staff of 45 was laid off. 

You's sister was a dealer at the Stratosphere, earning $50,000 a year. He decided to give it a try.

"Dealing will always be there to pay the bills," said You. 

Another man from Southern California got hired to be a construction project manager in Las Vegas 5 years ago. He packed his belonging, got ready to move, and then was told that his position was eliminated.

He asked his friends, what's the fastest way to get a job in Vegas? They told him, enroll in a dealer school.

Today he is a top craps dealer -- arguable the most difficult game to deal -- at the Venetian.

"The money is there. The job is there," he said. "Even if you have no education."

My overall story plan is to cover the fight over water in the Southwest caused by population increases, climate change and dwindling water resources. My collection of stories will focus on the challenges surrounding water (i.e., water shortages and contamination problems) from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California, Lake Mead and the Colorado River disputes in Nevada and Utah with the Indian tribes, as well as looking at the water struggles of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

I plan to begin my water coverage right here in the Central Valley of California.

This will be a print news feature with photographic elements (inline and slideshow). It will be told through the eyes of 5 to 7 taxicab drivers who work primarily on the Las Vegas Strip in Clark County, Nevada. It will focus on the undercurrent of issues that exists among the taxicab drivers of Las Vegas that have gone either misreported or completely unreported by the local media. These issues include:

• the changing demographics of the typical Las Vegas visitor and that shift's impact on tips,
• New Element: how the Las Vegas Convention & Visitor's Authority has completely mismanaged the image of Las Vegas in terms of luring business clientele (e.g. focusing on tech industry conventions such as CES with which the visitors are not the type to go out and spend money on indulging  the "Sin City" image of Las Vegas)
  
• the number of taxis in operation on the strip (determined by the Nevada Taxicab Authority) and this figure's relationship with the amount of advertising revenue the cab companies make from selling ad space on cabs (because Vegas cab companies atypically own the vehicles, they receive approx. $1000/month per taxi in ad revenue),
• internal pressure to perform in order to guarantee placement on the choice routes (this can lead to shady or even criminal manipulation of fares in order to increase daily takehome)
• constant competition with limo an bus services, crooked hotel doormen, and strip clubs and other joints that offer kickbacks to certain types of transportation operators for bringing business to the establishment,
• New Element: in relation to the above, there are rumblings of combining the Nevada Taxicab Authority and the Nevada Board of Transportation (which controls everything else) and placing the central command within Clark County, but also giving the new body authority over Reno and the rest of the state; this would at least provide one regulatory body over the competing elements and in the mind of taxicab drivers, offer some relief to the under the table dealings that are undercutting their business
  

As is the case with any set of grievances found repeated consistently in blog forums, there is bound to be another side to the coin. Where applicable, the story will be balanced by input from those on the other side of the issues taken up by the cab drivers, such as the Nevada Taxicab Authority, the LVCVA, the Nevada Board of Transportation, representatives from the 16 different cab companies that operate on the Strip, the mayor's office, individual doormen and the hotel worker's unions, and representatives from strip clubs. Reporters from local media who periodically do stories on taxicabs should also be consulted for perspective.

Logistically, this will require several trips to Las Vegas for on-the-ground reporting (the first of which will be this weekend). Finding taxicab drivers willing to talk openly about the issues they face on a daily basis should not be the challenge, nor should getting local agencies or hotel doormen to defend their long-held opposing positions to the cab driver's stances.

Specific interviews to be sought:

• "Unk" - webmaster of www.lasvegas-taxidriver.com (easily the most active and articulate of the taxicab driver bloggers); I have contacted him via email and he knows all of the other prominent cab bloggers as well as a host of regular Joe cab drivers
  
• Vegascabbie - also a taxicab operater and blogger @ www.vegascabbie.com who has gained something of a celebrity status through video podcasts chronicling his endeavors as a cab driver on the Strip
• Vegastaxidriver - a third taxicab operator and blogger @ www.vegastaxidriver.com
• Jane Ann Morrison - columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal who has written several pieces on the taxicab industry
• Liz Benston - writer of controversial Las Vegas Sun aticle supporting the NTA's efforts as an industry regulator
• LVCA representative
• NTA representative
• Clear Channel (main purveyor of on-cab advertisements) reprsentative
• Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce representative (good third-party neutrality)

Additional information sources to be utilized (as provided by the LVCVA website):

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority
Research Department
3150 Paradise Road, Las Vegas, NV 89109
(702) 892-2805
Maintains information on the Las Vegas, Laughlin and Mesquite tourism industry.

Clark County Comprehensive Planning
500 South Grand Central Pkwy, Ste 3012, Las Vegas, NV 89155
(702) 455-4181
View website
Maintains information pertaining to Clark County such as population, resident demographics, housing and land use guides.

Nevada Development Authority
6700 Via Austi Pkwy Ste B, Las Vegas, NV 89119
(702) 791-0000
View website
Distributes the "Las Vegas Perspective". This document contains information such as resident demographics, zip code profiles, cost-of-living, business & industry statistics, retail overview and Las Vegas tourism information.

UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research
4505 S. Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, NV 89154-6002
(702) 895-3191
View website
CBER was established to aid businesses and agencies by providing information that encompasses aspects of the business community including private, commercial and residential development, public transportation and communication systems. CBER publications include: Southern Nevada Business Directory, Housing Market Conditions, Migration Statistics Summary and many others.

Nevada Dept. of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation
500 E. 3rd St., Carson City, NV 89713
Las Vegas: (702) 486-7923
Carson City (775) 684-3911
View website
Distributes information on Nevada employment statistics such as labor force estimates, wage surveys and employment guides. The"Economic Update" among many other documents, is published by this agency.

McCarran International Airport
P.O. Box 11005, Las Vegas, NV 89111-1005
(702) 261-5100
View website
Collects information on airline passengers, average daily flights, load factors and other statistics regarding scheduled, charter and commuter air traffic at Clark County airports.

Where to Go:
The Salvation Army in downtown Las Vegas -- located on Main Street between Owens and Foremaster streets -- sits within the city's most visible enclave of poverty.  Tents line the sidewalks, abutting the local Catholic charity buildings and Clark County Social Services offices.  Men and women, some with children, stand in line at the Employment Services Center, while people in wheelchairs and even expectant mothers dilly dally under the hot sun with nothing to do except wait for the next free meal at the soup kitchen.


In this mini, poverty-outreach epicenter one can also find transitional housing where the Salvation Army helps to shelter victims of human trafficking.  This is the spot were I need to do my story; the story itself hinges on my ability to talk with one of the women whom the Salvation Army is protecting.  My access to these (mostly) women is through Stacey Kramer, the program director at the SA who heads their human trafficking assistance services.  I conducted a preliminary interview with Ms. Kramer on March 16.  I am proposing to her a story plan so that I can interview a victim staying in the SA's transitional housing.  Aside from a print piece, I want to shoot for a radio piece...though I ponder what kind of ambient sound will be available.

The SA provide services to trafficking victims once they have been identified by the police.  "If [the police] found a victim, what can we provide them?  Shelter, legal aid, translation services, clothing, food," said Kramer.  Though there are limitations as to whom the SA can assist.  "The Department of Justice grant* forces us to work with foreign victims.  The main reason is because they've identified that domestic victims have access to services already."
(*this grant is explained in detail further down in the post.)

However, any trafficking victim under 18, foreign or domestic, is eligible for assistance.  "At least 50 percent of the prostitutes that are domestic are juveniles," Kramer said.

The current focus of Kramer's efforts are to educate Las Vegas' growing Asian and Spanish communities about trafficking.  She noted that, "We've had a lot of Asian [victims]."

All trafficking victims assisted by the SA have agreed to help prosecutors convict their traffickers.

History Lesson:
In 2000, Congress enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.  It was the first comprehensive federal law created to protect trafficking victims and prosecute traffickers.  In 2003 the Department of Justice began distributing funds to nongovernmental organizations through the Services for Human Trafficking Victims Discretionary Grant program.  The Las Vegas SA, in conjunction with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, received federal grant money to create an anti-trafficking organization.  By 2007, the SA and LVMPD reorganized and created the Anti-Trafficking League Against Slavery (ATLAS).

Elynne Greene, supervisor of the LVMPD's Special Victims Section, the unit that coordinates with the SA to combat trafficking, explained the developmental stages of Las Vegas' attempts to identify and assists trafficking victims during an interview on March 17.

"It became very NGO driven and actually alienated law enforcement," Greene said of the now-disbanded ATLAS.  "They didn't even have a protocol, so when a victim was identified, everybody was getting called and everybody was showing up and it was like a three-ring circus."

Late last year, the SA and LVMOD re-organized again under the The Southern Nevada Human Trafficking Task Force.  "We established a protocol," said Greene.  "Prior to that we had no MOU, Memorandum of Understanding, so that all the partners have to abide by certain rules and regulations.  So we established that.  Now we actually have a flow."

"Most likely in Las Vegas were going to see the sex trafficking," Greene said.  "That doesn't mean that other areas don't exists and I'm really cautious when I say that because I think as we get better at this, we're going to find more untapped areas that we didn't even know existed."  She added that labor trafficking is a growing concern.

California is rushing to meet it's self imposed 20% renewable energy standards by 2010.  The state is currently only at 16%.  What is California's role in the nation's move toward renewable energy? 

Places to go:
Mojave Desert, Home to some of the largest solar field projects in the country. Spend 4 days touring and reporting to see how/if these projects are becoming more important to the renewable markets.

Tehachapi, CA and Solano County, Emerging wind production - provide fuel to LA Basin. (A Southern California Edison Project)

Loyalton, CA, a center for Biomass facilities. Biomass currently accounts for 53 percent of our renewable energy source. 

People to talk to:
Stirling Energy Systems, a massive solar farm project proposed in correlation with the Sunrise Powerlink Project. 

BrightSource, company who recently made a deal with SCE for the bulk of the states renewables.

Community activists - environmentalists.  As for the Mojave, Sierra Club is adamentally against the building of such large fields in the desert. 

Locals - more jobs?  Negative impact?

Start-up renewable energy company in the application process.  There are huge tax incentives right now for renewables - and applications for land are streaming in.

Transmission:

The transmission of energy may seem boring or uninteresting to many, but it is a crucial issue in the US.  Without upgrades and new lines, the renewables cannot even make it to the communities. 

Places to go:
Santa Clara, CA for the GridWise Expo in June (GridWise is responsible for remaking the existing power grid into a digital Smart Grid, also we need credentials from P.Dean and M.Cooper). Three Days

People to talk to:
California ISO, responsible for the allocations of the lines to different utilties

Mexico's La Rumorosa project - how intertwined is the fuel and lines to the US?

Changing Energy Needs
With population changes and shifts, the power demands too have changed.  In California there has a been a migration inland that has changed energy consumption drastically as residents use air conditioners and live in larger homes with more appliances, including more tvs and refrigerators. 

Places to go:
Possibly no travel

People to talk to:
California Energy Commission demographer - forecasts energy needs

Arizona Department of Commerce - AZ is really behind to even set renewable standards and efforts to capitalize on its sunshine.

Utilities to talk about changing usage patterns and what the future has in store


MULTI MEDIA COMPONENTS

Struggling rehabilitation programs have the chance to bring in some federal money dished out by the Second Chance Act. The two year old legislation is aimed at providing federal funds for programs that have the impressive goal of cutting recidivism rates by 50 percent within five years.

California's recidivism rate stands at 70 percent, the highest in the country. Re-entry programs are struggling with a lack of funding that is seeing more money be directed toward paying for more prisoners already behind bars. The authors of the legislation recognize that cutting the rate prisoners end up back in the system in half is not a likely outcome. 

"Though applicants will be required to track and report on performance measures, they will not be required to achieve a 50 percent reduction in recidivism rates.... We need to
emphasize that the 50 percent reduction is a "goal" and not a requirement," the legislation reads.

The grants can be used for a variety of programs including substance abuse treatment, job training, re-entry programs, or programs designed to identify high-risk releases. Programs could get as much as $750,000 to boost their budgets. Programs have until April 20th to apply for the funds. 

The federal funds could come as welcome relief as state programs struggle to stay afloat. California's prison health care system is a bad omen of hard times to come for rehabilitation in the state. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger came under fire today for refusing to fork over the first $250 million installment of a multi-billion plan to improve the quality of healthcare in the state's prisons. California has been trying to regain control of its prison healthcare system since the U.S. District Court appointed an overseer in 2006. The earlier ruling said that California was not providing a constitutional level of care for its inmates and that one prisoner a week was dying from health-related causes.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation was ordered to fund the rennovation of existing medical and mental health centers and build new ones to accomodate the rising prison population.

The Governor appealed against the $8 billion plan but the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the ruling.

The court restarted contempt-of-court proceedings against the Governor today, and as of now, California is still on the hook for fixing its prison healthcare system.

It could be curtains for Employee Free Choice Act as its currently written. The legislation has to move out of the Senate, and overcoming a filibuster got a lot harder after a GOP senator who had voted for cloture in 2007, announced Tuesday that he will vote against the bill this go-round.

Sen. Arlen Specter said on the Senate floor his decision stemmed not from a likely conservative primary challenge next year, but from worries about the poor condition of businesses right now.

Labor has been the primary vehicle for low-income workers to rise into the middle class, and EFCA would increase that trend. Labor remains a powerful movement within the Democratic Party and will be a potent interest around health care reform. Failing to pass EFCA might be the last opportunity for labor to catch up to employers. If it passes, it would amount to healthy steroids for the two fastest growing unions in North America, SEIU and UNITE HERE, who currently find themselves anywhere but healthy and functional.

However, the civil war within UNITE HERE is escalating, and observers see no turning back. The UNITE faction voted to start a new union, Workers United, and claims to have the support of 40,000 rank-and-file HERE members. Furthermore, Workers United voted to join SEIU at a bargain price. The infighting undermines all of organized labor, to say the least.

SEIU scored a big legal win when the National Labor Relations Board sided with the union in denying decertifications of 14,000 workers who sought to join the upstart rival National Union of Healthcare Workers (that was, you might remember, created by ousted lieutenants of the third largest SEIU local).

In another sign that EFCA will not be passed as written, a top official from the AFL-CIO signaled that big labor is open to negotiation. But the political director for the AFL-CIO said labor would continue to use its resources and clout to pressure wavering legislators to support pro-union initiatives. The AFL-CIO's comments on negotiation came a day after the CEOs of Starbucks, Whole Foods and Costco proposed a "compromise." Labor leaders opposed it and one leading Congressional Democrat said it was a bill "written for CEOs, and by CEOs."


The differences between EFCA as it stands now and the CEO-compromise are stark. Among them:
-Workers cannot form unions by way of majority sign up, or card check. Instead, unions will be formed through the National Labor Relations Board.
-Government arbiters will be unable to set terms for a first-contract (in other words, the government cannot intervene should employers bargain in bad faith).
-Opponents say it preserves employer's power to retaliate against pro-union employees.

Defendants of the 'compromise' say it allows labor more access to workers (outside the workplace, of course), and it would speed up electioneering (under the supervision of the NLRB).

It's a good sign that some companies are willing to compromise, but giving workers the right to choose majority sign up is non-negotiable from the labor perspective. So is government involvement in first-contract arbitration after 120 days. Relying on bureaucracies within the labor department might help in the public relations battle, but those close to the labor world see the labor department as impotent. A report released this week by the Government Accountability Office found in 9 of 10 instances, the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division failed to protect workers from discrimination and exploitation.

EFCA's fate will be determined like so much else happening right now: by how much the Obama administration comes out swinging. Some labor experts said they wonder how much political capital the president will invest in passing EFCA (Sen. Obama was a co-sponsor in 2007) when the president is already facing hyperbolic resistance to his domestic agenda. The administration's role will become clearer in a few weeks.

[DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately, this post will likely be woefully short and lean.]


...That's an unenviable position to be in, to say the least. But I have it on several good authorities that that may very well be the case for those Guatemalans who make it to Los Angeles and try to eke out their livings here (I say "those who make it" because as horrendous a journey as it is to come to the US from Mexico, that voyage's peril magnifies unquantifiably for Guatemalans--as they have to go through their own country and Mexico, before attempting our borders).

Much of the time, they do not speak Spanish, communicating in native dialects and indigenous languages, instead. Their education is limited, their growth possibly stunted by malnutrition. Of course, this is not universally the case among Guatemalan immigrants, but it is true all too often.

Before the break, I had thought I would be concentrating on sex slavery as it crops up among the Guatemalan community in Los Angeles and how immigrants pulled into the human trafficking ring relate to the theme of demographic shifts in the Southwest (sick as that sounds).

I had been reading about the criminal court cases of young (some under age) Guatemalan girls and women forced into that prostitution. In those cases I read about, the captors and pimps were illegal Guatemalan immigrants themselves. This fact also piqued my interest as it made me question whether or not the Guatemalan community keeps largely to itself--even in criminal situations--or, in these arenas, that's simply been true because these women and men were connected to and in communication with Guatemalans "back home."

But when we discussed covering these stories while in class, the idea verbally started evolving into one more general--more about the Guatemalan community, this under-covered, under-represented, often looked down-upon by other immigrants, group of people, as it looks and is changing in Los Angeles, than about things "simply" criminal.

Nevertheless, I think in order to find contacts and people I can talk to, it would be a good idea to start with those who have been involved with those cases or are somehow in direct contact with Guatemalans. Clearly,  I cannot walk down the street and shout "Who here's undocumented? Who here comes from Guatemala? Oh, and by the way, can you talk to me on the record?" so anyone I find, especially through more "official" avenues, should already be in the "public" sphere. Perhaps.

Either way, I started with Legal Aid. They are responsible for representing the victims in these cases. I've left numerous messages for lawyers working within the immigration section and human trafficking sections of it. I have not yet heard back from any of those who I've called, but I still think they're a good place to start and set of people to start with.

-I will discuss more ideas and possible sources in class.
-I will also describe the multimedia elements I envision if this is to pan out (no pun intended).
-I absolutely need to find out what area and towns people are leaving and what they do, where they live once here. As I wrote in another post, too often, they have traded one slavery (that to circumstance) for another (poverty, continually bottom rung and fugitive status, etc.).

At least three Southern California Native American tribes are embroiled in disputes that have splintered them into competing factions, with many former members left hanging out to dry.

When a tribal council votes to revoke a person's membership, it's called disenrollment, and it's part of what some say is a disturbing trend in California. Because Indian tribes are considered sovereign, they set their own rules governing membership. When a member cannot prove they meet the genealogical standards--which vary widely from tribe to tribe--or if the governing council votes to change those standards, people whose families have identified themselves as members for generations are suddenly confronted with the fact that they do not belong formally to any Native American group.

Though some have argued outright that casino-owning tribes vote to disenroll members in order to increase their own share of profits (which in some tribes are distributed per capita basis), it's not always that clear cut.

The current chairman of the Juaneno Band of Mission Indians, Anthony Rivera, commissioned a genealogical study of his rival, former chairman Chief David Belardes, and subsequently denied Belardes even had any Juaneno blood, according to an OC Weekly story in February.

The Juaneno people do not constitute a federally recognized tribe, though Belardes apparently had sought to change that. During his watch in the mid-90s, he ended negotiations with casino-gaming representatives when he was told it might jeopardize their chances for federal recognition, according to the Weekly.

But Rivera has claimed he is researching members' genealogies for the same reason. In order to be granted federal recognition, he said in the Weekly story, tribes must study the genealogical histories of their members.

Farther south there have been rumblings over disenrollments from the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians. Several blogs have cropped up over the past few years in protest of the disenrollments, including Original Pechanga's Blog and the T'eetilawuncha Blog. At least one disenrollment story not picked up by the local media right away ran here first. The two blogs are apparently run by a pair of cousins who themselves were disenrolled from the Pechanga tribe.

The story they got before the local media was on another dispute happening with a third tribe, the San Pasqual Band of Diegueno Indians in Escondido. A Youtube video of a confrontation between disenrolled members and Tribal police and county law enforcement appeared on Original Pechanga's Blog before being picked up by a local newspaper.

Whether or not these stories are actually indicative of a larger trend or that it's worse in California than in other states is not clear to me, yet. That's just one of the questions I hope to answer over the next few months as I search for other stories of tribal disenrollment in California and try to put them in context.

Take a drive down Spring Mountain Road just west of the Las Vegas Strip, and you'll see an eclectic cultural enclave that brings together a variety of Asian communities.  Don't be fooled by the title of Chinatown, it's really an Asiatown.  The largest of the many Asian-themed strip malls already up or under construction in the area is the Chinatown Plaza.  From eateries offering Sichuan- and Shanghai-style regional Chinese cuisines, to Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Malaysian and Filipino restaurants, there are also grocery stores, bakeries, banks, travel agencies and mortgage companies catering to Las Vegas' Asian community.


In the last 20 years, Nevada's Asian population -- including Pacific Islanders -- has grown faster than in any other state: 174 percent in the 1990s and 67 percent from 2000 to 2008.  According to the 2007 U.S. Census, Asians comprise 8.2 percent of Nevada's population, with the majority living in Clark County, where Las Vegas is located.

Last Monday morning, the parking lot in Chinatown Plaza was nearly full.  It is a hub of business activity geared toward the Asian community.  Chinatown in Las Vegas offers locals a central location to gather.  At the community board in the Chinatown Plaza, residents post homemade advertisements written in Chinese, seeking to rent out rooms in their houses for around $300. Most offers were near the Desert Inn, a 7 mile drive from Chinatown. The availability of low-rent housing geared specifically towards certain ethnicities allows immigrants to quickly assimilate into the Asian-American community. 


By contrast, Chinatown in Los Angeles is noticeably more homogeneous.  Apart from a few Vietnamese restaurants, the eateries, grocery markets, bookstores, music stores and the local dentist are Chinese.  Businesses run along narrow streets, giving it a more historic feel compared to the new, massive, urban-planned Chinatown in Las Vegas.  Unlike Vegas, there are separate Asian enclaves in Los Angeles.  Aside from Chinatown, L.A. has a Koreatown, Thai Town, Filipino Town and Little Tokyo. 

Within the doors of the Chinatown Mall are racks of free Chinese dailies, most of which are the Vegas edition of their Los Angeles-based headquarters as well.  The presence of L.A.-based Asian language newspapers in understandable when considering that, according to Terry Chen of the Las Vegas Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, "Half of the Asian people in Las Vegas are from Southern California."

These papers spotlight issues relevant to the community, such as immigration procedures,  gasoline prices and major casino happenings. They're chock-full of advertisements for Chinese lawyers, dentists and real estate agents.


But drive a little further west on Spring Mountain Road, away from the main Chinatown stretch, and you'll begin to see a different type of Asian business venture: massage parlors promising Asian girls and table showers.


It is common to see questions on online forums about the topic of "happy ending" massages (a massage that ends in some form of sexual service being provided by the masseuse at a cost -- a.k.a prostitution).  On www.openvegas.com, Gunit4417 writes, "I will be in Vegas in a few weeks, and wanted to get recommendations for a good Asian Massage Parlor. And yes -- I do want the happy ending!"


And there are plenty of responses.

VegasRex replies, "There are no Asian Massage Parlors that could even hope to stay in business in this town if they did not provide a happy ending."

The next comment is from Bagsman, who notes, "I believe there is a place called Sensations, that could take care of your needs....according to a cabbie that was bringing me home from a strip club it is the best one in the town..."

In a place known as Sin City, there is no shortage of gambling, alcohol and showgirls.  Scanty-clad women in high-heels with cigarette trays walk the casino floors as twentysomethings in tight mini-skirt dresses and knee high boots make their way to the clubs.  It's a sex-driven environment where massage parlors, offering illegal sexual services to its customers, fit right in.

Google search "Sensations Las Vegas" and you'll read eight angry reviews from customers who were directed to Sensations (on Industrial Road at West Desert Inn Road) by cab drivers who allegedly receive kickbacks for taking customers there.  It is illegal for cab drivers to assist in gathering clientele for a business that engages in illegal activities, yet it still occurs.

In June 2008, Clark County passed an ordinance allowing new massage parlors to operate only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m.  Further, new massage shops cannot be within 200 feet of a neighborhood or within 1000 feet of another parlor.  (Established parlors are exempt from the ordinance, permitted to operate 24 hours a day and remain in their current locations.)  Local parlor owners against the ordinance formed the United Massage Business Association to fight the new restrictions, arguing that business peaks during nighttime hours and that it was unfair to restrict business hours in a city where everything runs on a 24-hour basis.  The ordinance was supported by the Nevada State Massage Board.

The Las Vegas Review Journal wrote in July 2008 that the motivation for the ordinance was for county officials to better monitor the growth of the massage parlor industry amid continuous reports that prostitution occurs within these establishments.


There are dozens of listed Asian massage parlors near Chinatown (with names like "Oriental Angels" and "Asian Flower Massage").  With the rapid growth of the Las Vegas Asian population, there are ample women looking for jobs, helping parlor owners offering "A Lot of Asian Girl" fill their establishments with masseuses.  There is no proof that all Asian massage parlors partake in illegal sexual activity, but if there are numerous average Joes making online posts about how easy it is to get a "happy ending" in an Asian-run, Las Vegas massage parlor (just ask a cab driver!), then it's happening somewhere.


Many of the recent influx of Asian immigrants in Las Vegas have found work in the casinos as dealers. At top Las Vegas casinos, dealers can make more than $100,000 a year, according to Nick Kallos, owner of the 38-year-old Casino Gaming School. The recession has slowed down job openings, especially at the most glamorous hotels.

In the old days, casino workers taught each other valuable skills. Twenty-six-year-old Pai Gaw dealer and Vietnamese American Lynda Chen grew up in Vegas and has worked in casinos all her life. She was taught how to deal by some of her co-workers.

While no certification is required to work in a casino, the typical route into casino floors now starts with one of Vegas' dozen or so privately run schools.  The Casino Gaming School trains 160 students daily.

The shift over the past five years in Las Vegas clientele from largely American tourists to largely foreign tourists and conventioners has had a negative impact on tipping of taxi drivers; this combined with the 60% increase over the same period of time in the number of cabs in Vegas, stiff competition from limos and shuttles, and the overall downturn in the economy is making it tough to be a cabby in Sin City.

Between 2003 and 2007, the number of visitors coming to Las Vegas for "vacation or pleasure" dropped from 63% to 32%, according to a Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority visitor profile study.

From a June 2008 entry on www.LasVegas-TaxiDriver.com:

Since 2003 (last 5 years), there has been an SIXTY PERCENT 60% increase in the number of Taxis placed on the streets of Las Vegas.

This has resulted in these increases:
overall Trips ...............+21%
Revenues per Shift.......+17%
Revenue per medallion...+15.8%

and this decrease in Trips per shift: -11%

According to LVCVA figures, in the same time frame the number of taxis have increased by 60%, rooms added to Las Vegas has been less than a net 2%. In the last five years, Las Vegas has gone from being largely a destination for American Tourists to one currently filled with Conventioneers and Foreign Tourists. Ask any Cabbie and they will tell you this demographic shift has been a huge negative to side money (Tips). I would estimate based on my own figures, side money is down at least 35% from 5 years ago. Traditionally cabbies have relied upon Tips for upwards of half their take-home income. Current compensation plans with employers and tip agreements with the IRS are based on this once true reality. Drivers no longer can count on tip money.

Furthermore, even working with the people still coming to Las Vegas is becoming more and more difficult for cab drivers.

Almost every statistic indicative of traffic through the city (and the resulting revenue) is down, according to the LVCVA. Convention attendance is one of the most glaring declines, down a whopping 20% in January of 2009 from the same month in 2008.



Cab drivers are sometimes forced into situations where they must "long haul" fares in order to keep their "booking" numbers up so that they can maintain prime routes on the strip between casinos in their company assignments. Competing with those who receive kickbacks from strip clubs as well as limo and shuttle drivers in cahoots with hotel cab callers add to the daily roadblocks.

Advertisements are one way to offset lost passenger revenue, but because the taxi companies own the vehicles, they receive a percentage of ad revenue, making it in their best interest to continually increase the number of cabs on the road. In the meantime, this simply increases cab to cab competition for fares by crowding the streets and hotel taxi stations.

To top it all off, President Obama recently angered the taxi unions and companies by stating that any businesses holding conventions in Las Vegas were being "frivilous" with their money.

The shifting demographics of the typical Las Vegas visitor -- both in type and purpose -- combined with the macro and micro-economic challeneges drivers face on a daily basis make for a compelling analysis through the eyes of several cab drivers on the Vegas Strip.

This piece will be a magazine-style profile of 5 different taxicab drivers of varying employer, ethnicity, and location, with a business/economic slant.

Sources:

• Las Vegas Sun: Taxi board adds no extra cabs for MAGIC
• Las Vegas Sun: In Vegas, there's no free market for taxis
• LVTD.com critique
  
• LasVegas-TaxiDriver.com Forum
• LasVegas-TaxiDriver.com: Staging for Fun and Profit
• LasVegas-TaxiDriver.com: NBC KVBC Las Vegas 3 reports the pain most cabbies are dealing with these days
• VegasTaxiDriver.com: Las Vegas Taxicab Owners Hit Hard By Recession
• Las Vegas Convention & Visitor Authority visitor statistics
  

Alternate Story Idea:

The retirement of Baby Boomers combined with the ill-preparedness of Vegas resorts for elderly guests represents a serious threat to a huge potential revenue stream for casinos

• source: Las Vegas Review Journal

As if the fight over water from the Colorado River and Lake Mead could get any worse in the Southwest, the area is facing extreme drought conditions. A recent USA Today article reports that January and February 2009 are the driest beginning of any year since America started keeping precipitation records over a century ago. These low water levels are causing severe droughts in Texas and California, which exacerbates the water crisis in the Southwest.



The map reflects the exceptional (brown-red), extreme (orange) and severe (dark yellow) water problems in California, Nevada and Texas.

Social upward mobility for the second generation: Children of Mexican and South American immigrants

"By 2030, the number of Latino young adults who are second- or third-generation U.S.-born will grow markedly because they are the children and grandchildren of immigrants living here today."

The Changing Landscape

"Immigrant arrivals represent a different generation: most of the strains they put on society occur at the beginning of their U.S. residence, and the benefits of their presence come later."

Alpine residents may have expected a heated question and answer session with San Diego Gas & Electric about the future Sunrise Powerlink project that will traverse right through their own backyard--but what they got looked more like a tame science fair with cookies.

The power company is staging several of these town hall events to answer questions about the power project in response to local objections. More than 100 people gathered at SDG&E's open house at the Alpine Community Center where 18 employees were on hand to answer questions about the Sunrise Powerlink.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SUNRISE POWERLINK CLICK HERE

In a nutshell, SDG&E said they need the $1.8 billion transmission pipeline to pump energy from the Imperial Valley into San Diego because its population and demand for electricity have grown.

"It's a factor of people, and power needs--which is a factor of people," SDG&E engineer Jose Lopez said. 

The California Public Utilities Commission already approved the powerlink plan. This meeting merely served as a courtesy to residents--some of whom only found out the project was given the green light that evening.

 "It was only tonight I learned it was a done deal," said Sharmin Self, a resident of nearby Carveacre Ranch. She pointed to a map showing the line of proposed towers that would be visible from her backyard.

Sunrise Powerlink will be the first project for the region since 1983, making it the San Diego's second energy pipeline. In comparison, a city like Los Angeles has upwards of seven transmission lines, according to a SDG&E spokesperson. 

The community battle against power companies invading their towns illustrates the larger battle across the state as energy consumption is growing slightly faster than population growth, and more generation and transmission projects have to come in to meet energy needs and specifically California's renewable goals.

 

San Diego's power needs are growing by 100 Megawatts a year, said Brian Freye, a government affairs specialist for SDG&E. The utility company serves 1.4 million customers, who account for 10 percent of the state's energy needs. The city of San Diego's population has grown more than 13 percent since 1990, according to Census Bureau statistics.

              San Diego Gas and Electric is far from reaching the 20 percent renewable resources by 2010 as mandated for major utilities by the state of California. Freye said SDG&E is currently operating with 6 percent of its portfolio consisting of renewable energy.

"If we don't build Sunrise Powerlink we are dependent on another company to provide renewables to our area," Freye said.

SDG&E insists however that the existing transmission line, known as the Southwest Power Link, is not capable of carrying the needed renewable energy. And independent renewable energy companies sure aren't going to invest in big solar, wind, or geothermal projects unless there is a way to get it to customers.

 It is not an 'if you build it they will come' scenario--there has to be interest from utility companies to purchase and transmit the renewable energy.

"It's kind of the chicken before the egg," said SDG&E engineer Molly Frisbie. Meaning the utility company must build transmission lines for companies to want to get into the Imperial Valley renewable energy market.

And the Sunrise Powerlink project is informally linked to Stirling Energy Company, which wants to put up 12,000 solar energy dishes near El Centro, California. The company is just one of many now attempting to get permits for green energy projects since the passage of the stimulus bill and its $43 billion dollar allotment for energy developments.

The conflict remains many citizens believe a solution to large, encroaching power structures is localized projects like solar paneling on rooftops. But SDG&E and the California Energy Commission say this is not a viable solution.

"There is not enough roof surface in the state of California and it's too costly," Suzanne Korosec with the California Energy Commission.

The core issue here is how to get the power to the people. Do you build massive renewable energy sites that require new transmissions to reach growing population centers? Or do you invest in more local, and expensive, renewable projects?

As California has led the way in greener initiatives (and population), its conflicts over energy will continue to foreshadow the obstacles the nation faces as the U.S. fights to become energy efficient. 

At home, they were slaves to chance.

The questions "when will I eat next?" or "will I one day wear shoes?" could have better been posed to clairvoyants and witchdoctors. And perhaps they were. Neither the girls nor their 10 or 12 siblings could answer either with specifics or certainty themselves.

UNICEF has calculated the levels of child undernutrition in Guatemala at 23 percent, "the highest rate in the region and...of the highest in the world." Stating on one of its sites that one in two Guatemalan children's growth has been stunted by that undernutrition may allow even the casual and/or callous observer to understand one of the many possible motives the country's citizens may have or have had for leaving a mild, verdant place.

But even that same casual observer may discern that the trek North, two countries over, is fraught with perils so grave, many of those making it do not live to see its completion.

And those who do--running the gamut from very young children to full-fledged and elderly adults--can't be hoping to trade one slavery for another.

Of course, it's all relative. Some, perhaps, would say that slavery here resembles the life of a king back there. But I'd like to think they'd shy away from making such claims (unfortunately, they do not).

"It's better to be a whore in the United States than it is to be poor in Guatemala," U.S. Atty Cheryl Murphy told the jury acidly, re-framing the gist of what her opponent, defense Atty Dana Cephas, had explained were the reasons sex slaves, and in this case victims on the witness stand, would flee Guatemala, in blunter terms.

"'That is an insult not only to the whole nation of Guatemala,'" Murphy was quoted saying in this article, "'but to all of the women in this case.'"

This case concerns 10 Guatemalan women, some of them not yet 18, who had been forced into violent sex slavery by five fellow Guatemalan illegal immigrants upon their arrival.

Monitored 24 hours a day, their windows blockaded by wood, their doors guarded by a knife wielding tormentor, these women left the decimated valley only to enter the lion's den.

Their female captors first shaved their eyebrows, tattooing "more attractive" ones on in their stead. They taught these women to dress in a manner that would lure customers. They foisted 30 clients onto them each day, charging $80 for 15 minutes, $80 that the women would, of course, never see.

Beaten, threatened with death and tortured through sex slavery in sordid apartments throughout south and east Los Angeles, these women only found a legal safe haven when their driver began cooperating with the FBI.

This case is not unique. It does not represent a singular situation marked by cruel depravity--though that it possesses that element should be indisputable.

No, sex slavery is not new, and it's not new in Los Angeles either. We've read about the trade in the Russian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Chinese communities. We've heard of the insidious massage parlors, masquerading as legitimate business while hiding another, more lurid industry. We've stumbled across descriptions of the STDs and forced abortions.

But because the industry's not new, many may assume "it's been taken care of" or that it "no longer exists." The former is remarkably difficult to do--especially as the slaves become criminals as soon as they take part, willing or not, in prostitution--the second is simply not true.

How prevalent is the problem in Los Angeles?

I do not yet know.

Has it become more common in Latin American communities?

Perhaps.

Has Guatemalan and other Central American sex slavery overshadowed the other ethnic enclaves' "monopoly" on the field?

I do not yet know.

What does this criminal activity due to the LA neighborhoods in which it is taking place?

Well, I doubt it's made them Disneylands, but I also do not yet know the extent of the former's seedy effect on the latter.



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The Employee Free Choice Act has gotten a lot of press this week. It was introduced in the Senate again on Tuesday, but supporters do not expect a vote until May at the earliest.

EFCA is the crown jewel of organized labor's wish list. It would change the way unions are organized.

Under current labor law, unions are formed one of two ways: an election process or through majority sign-up (aka card check). However, the employer need not recognize the workers if they opt to organize through card check. Employers can require a secret-ballot vote overseen by the NLRB. Thus, an employer may refuse to bargain with or even acknowledge a union chosen by most of its workers through majority sign-up.

The fastest growing unions do not follow the NLRB methods.

"The most successful union organizing campaigns have been done without NLRB," labor observer Kent Wong said. "It used to be a strong advocate for workers and enforce workforce protections. But in the last several decades of GOP rule, NLRB has been completely gutted."
 
But the formula for growth in unions like SEIU has contributed to some of the ongoing strife between the union and its United Health Care Workers-West, a former local.

According to a study by labor researcher and Cornell professor Kate Bronfenbrenner, 78 percent of private-sector employers force employees to attend one-on-one meetings against the union with their own supervisors, 25 percent of employers illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns, 51 percent of employers threaten to close the plant if the union wins the NLRB election, and oh ya- 75 percent hire consultants to aid in the anti-union campaign.  

If enacted, the Employee Free Choice Act would reform labor law away from employers and allow union organization by way of majority sign up. That is why why business groups and chambers of commerce everywhere are lining up to defeat it. If a majority of workers sign cards- viola- you've got yourself a union. The employer has no choice but to recognize the new bargaining unit. And EFCA mandates that a government arbitrator will intervene and set terms if employers and workers cannot reach a bargaining contract within 120 days.

In current labor law, companies control the methods by which employees can organize. Employers favor the election method because it gives them a chance to run an anti-union campaigns and fire union advocates.

The bill passed the House of Representatives in March 2007 and was introduced in the Senate this go-round on purpose. Leading Democrats caved to pressure from the more conservative Blue Dog Democrats to bring the bill up in the Senate first.

The Obama administration has been quietly working with labor leaders to get approval through the Senate. Obama was an EFCA co-sponsor as a senator.

"The Obama administration can have a huge role in corporate behavior," Wong said. "The Bush administration was directly in line with anti-union forces in the country. If the current administration signals they have a different policy or message or approach to labor-management there'll be a huge impact in signaling federal government opposes attempts by corporations to defeat unions and pay poverty wages."

Liberal advocates believe getting 60 senate votes for cloture will not be a problem. However, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) believes Democrats have the votes to pass the bill, but not to break procedural requirements. He was quoted as saying he hoped the bill would be up for a vote in late April or May...when Al Franken is sworn in as the 59th senator in the caucus.

It will be interesting to watch Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) if Democrats cannot get through a filibuster. He's considered a deal-maker among Nevada political observers, and will no doubt be under tremendous pressure to force Republicans to actually filibuster by the dominent liberal-labor groups aligned with Nevada Democrats. Reid is up for reelection in 2010.

There's a pretty large hold pattern among most of the labor community. Another reason is the recession. Most union's have seen their bottom lines hurt and have reduced organizing activities as a result.

Andy Stearn, with tacit approval from Bruce Raynor, has been trying to absorb Unite Here into SEIU. SEIU has seen 60,000 more of its members defect and petition to join the new National Union of Healthcare Workers, formerly a SEIU local. Most of the onetime 150,000-member local have already switched sides.

There were reconciliation conversations at the AFL-CIO convention in Miami last week. Leaders gave it a 50-50 chance. If it happens, it looks like there'll a new umbrella organization to consolidate lobbying and political objectives, while having a recruiting arm that unions can join voluntarily. And the nation's largest union, the National Education Association, is reportedly willing to join the new federation.

Labor unions have been able to bring unorganized and poor minorities into the system and remain the primary vehicle for political participation. Failing to pass EFCA won't change that. It will be a huge embarrassment for organized labor and the administration.

There's a lot on the line. 

One of the ideas being thrown around to save California's prison system, or at least save its budget, is to keep released offenders from winding up back behind bars.

According to the Pew Center on the States study, prisons themselves absorb nearly 90 percent of all state funding spent on correction. But two-thirds of people in the state corrections system are either on parole or probation - and no longer locked inside.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has noted that California's recidivism rate tops 70 percent, one of the highest in the nation.

The report showed that keeping people on parole and probation from returning to prison may be one of the most fiscally responsible things the state of California could do. Housing an inmate in prison for one year averages about $29,000 - more than many people's yearly salaries. But the cost to manage a person on parole or probation drops to about $1,250 to $2,750 a year.

If county programs are funded properly and given enough support, prisoners could be much more easily managed within their own communities rather than being sent behind bars for technical violations. The Pew center report suggests that strong community supervision for ex-offenders costs much less than returning people behind bars, makes communities safer, and when properly funded and managed, can cut recidivism by 30 percent.

Estimates report that nearly 70 percent of inmates entering the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are habitual drug users. But funding cuts to rehabilitation programs may mean more people returning to prison because they didn't kick their drug habits while inside the system.

Methamphetamine is a major problem that continues to affect the rate of drug offenders in California's rural areas. Officers in Kern County seized $839,611 worth of meth for the fiscal year of 2007-08.

In December, a program to help combat the meth problem in Kern County became a victim of the state's budget crisis. The California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team, or Cal-MMET, has been receiving federal grants since 2001. The program started out with $1.4 million in state money, but Kern County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Keith Nelson said that's trickled down to its current total of $477,000. Now, the program is expected to receive no funding for the next fiscal year.

The county sheriff's department says it will still make fighting the meth problem in Kern county a priority, with our without grant money.

But the closure of this program is systemic of a bigger problem in the state of California. Funding is drying up for rehabilitation programs and programs that help law enforcement stop the flow of drugs in their communities. How will California curb its prison population without vigorous support of rehabilitation programs?

Below are excerpts from an interview conducted with Margaret Dooley-Sammuli of the Drug Policy Alliance about what the state can do to help increase rehabilitation programs and start to chip away at California's recidivism rate.

KF: Is there any reason why California's recidivism rate is so strikingly high?  

MDS: Really the bigger issue is the state has already failed. There's no doubt that California has not prepared itself to provide the kind of rehabilitation services that all sorts of offenders and especially drug addicted offenders need to successfully reenter society.

This costs money and increases crime. Because our lawmakers have not made the tough decisions to invest in rehabilitation and drug treatment, what we're seeing and what we're going to see more of in the coming year is a recidivism rates going higher - people committing crime because they're not getting the support that they need to reenter the community successfully.

This is one of those classic problems of short sighted, so called savings, that will not only increase costs not far down the road but is also going to increase crime.

KF: What is the protocol for when drug offenders are released form prison? Are they offered assistance or services or does the door open and they're on their own?

Well, both. Ideally, there are always services available. There's always too few. But really right now because of the budget crisis what you're seeing is no services. They're on their own. They're technically being supervised but when a parole agent sees someone struggling, that parole agent however much they may want to provide services to get that person the help they need, that agent has virtually nothing to offer.

KF: How does the financial state of California affect rehabilitation? If cuts need to be made, where would you recommend the state make them?

Well, this reflects the budget crisis. This is about the lawmakers having to make tough choices. A 10 percent cut across the board without being specific or thoughtful about how you're going to reduce spending, you end up cutting the wrong things. What the prison system needs to do, what the lawmakers need to do, is realize that we have too many people in prison, for too long, and we're too quick to put them back. We cannot provide the amount of services that offenders need when we have so many people in prison.

We send too many people to prison so we need sentencing reform. They're in there too long so they need more ability and incentive to earn good time credit. And we send people back too easily so what we need is a real overhaul of the parole system.


The governor actually recommended in his budget proposal all of these changes. Sentencing reform, good time credits reform, and parole reform. Unfortunately in these very heated negotiations, that fell away in this budget package. So that's exactly why you're seeing, rather than the sensible reform that the governor knows we need, what you have because we couldn't get 2/3 support, we're going to be cutting in exactly the wrong place in our prison system and that's in the rehabilitation.

KF: Even if the state acknowledges the prison population is reaching a crisis level, releasing inmates isn't going to be a popular decision. What should the CDCR do to limit the number of people in the system?  

MDS: We have such high turnover in our prison system; you don't have to release anybody early to stigmatically reduce the prison population. We just need to stop putting people back in so quickly. 10,000 people are released form prison every month but we put back in more than 10,000 people every month, or about the same. So what we can do is not look at release, which is scary, we can look at alternatives for technical parole violators. We can look at who we're sending to prison on the front end.

KF: Are there any models that are working? Are there any programs that California should model itself after?

MDS: California really went from being at the forefront of prison and parole issues to being one of the worst. So we can probably learn something from most other states. The corrections chief in Ohio just came out and said they need the same thing in Ohio, that they have too many drug offenders, too many petty thieves in their state prison and its mucking up the whole system and they've got to have sentencing reform, smart parole, smart policies that will ensure we're sending the right people to prison, not everybody. I think a lot of states are experiencing the same problem of overcrowding and they got there the same way.

A lot has to do with the drug war, a lot has to do with politically motivated penalty enhancements. Being tough on crime is popular. But unfortunately if your sentencing policies aren't smart, not well thought out, you're very likely to crowd your prison, make it ineffective, and pour a lot of money down the drain that your constituents wish you'd spent elsewhere.

KF: So, working on the treatment end, what is the balance between putting people behind bars who should be there and treatment and prevention?

MDS: That's the debate we need to have but we clearly are too far on the side of prison terms. What we know from research over and over again is that treatment is much more effective in reducing drug use than incarceration. We know from multiple reports from UCLA, the Inspector General, the Legislative Analysts Office that treatment instead of incarceration really works. In fact, the LAO recently recommended criminal justice realignment in the state of CA that would keep more adult non violent offenders at the county level to be handled in a variety of ways but one of which would be treatment instead of incarceration because that plan works and is cost effective.

KF: Is that just wishful thinking or would that ever actually be implemented?

MDS: Well it was a proposal from the LAO, it wouldn't have cost more, it would have cost less. The idea is that if you don't spend $46,000 a year to put someone in state prison you can spend a lot less and still do a lot of good with them and provide a lot of rehabilitation at the county level much more cost effectively.

KF: Well, if that option is cheaper and keeps people off drugs and out of prison, then what's stopping its progress?

That's a good question, that's what I'd really urge you to ask our lawmakers. It really comes down to the politics around sentencing issues and incarceration in the state. Which is exactly we're in the state we're in. the prison overcrowding crisis we have is the result of Sacramento's inability to have a real, smart, informed conversation about what good sentencing policy is and the most effective way to spend the resources we have to reduce crime and improve rehabilitation.

KF: With all of the attention being paid to California's prison system after last month's ruling that the state's prisons are too overcrowded, is this an opportunity for real change?

There have been so many moments where the state was backed into a corner where we thought, surely now, lawmakers will have to address the issue. And those moments have come and gone so many times that it really isn't clear when it's finally going to be the thing that makes our lawmakers act.

One proposal the governor had made was an alcohol tax. The governor proposed a nickel a drink increase that would go to fund rehabilitation programs in the community and behind bars. Of course that doesn't solve our prison crisis, but it certainly helps by providing rehabilitation services both to parolees, people who are on the front end and getting treatment instead of incarceration and people who get over their addictions before they become a problem for public safety. And unfortunately, that program too has fallen on the floor. That did not make the cut. Where they're going to get money for drug treatment at all is a big question and a big concern. It's a very scary time for people in the drug treatment field in California and people that have drug problems. There's going to be fewer options for them.

The heart of Las Vegas' Chinatown is on Spring Mountain Road, about a mile west of Las Vegas Boulevard, the famous "Strip."

A group of Guatemalan women have begun testifying in federal court.

Lacking education and facing very bleak economic prospects at home, they were driven to leave Guatemala, paying coyotes $10,000 to help them enter Mexico and the United States respectively. Once there, they discovered their coyotes had cut a deal with a pair of Guatemalan sisters (Mirna and Gladys Valenzuela) in their late 30s who, acting as their madams, sold these women into prostitution around MacArthur Park. Never able to keep their salary and pay their coyotes back should they have come here without having given the smugglers cash in Guatemala, they became indentured servants with no possibility of release.

A driver responsible for transporting these women from place to place cooperated with the FBI, enabling them to hone in on this one situation.

Those on the stand have explained they were not aware they would be forced into this position. Trial has been going on since early January, and this is but a small group of five or so.

I am in the process of inquiring into the frequency of situations like these.

The imposition of sex slavery onto illegal immigrants is neither a new phenomenon, nor is it one unique to this country or this ethnic enclave.

But...this type of thing is one of the darker slivers within the immigration section of the "demographic change" pie chart, and how big a sliver it indeed is would be a topic I'd like to pursue.

I am still looking into what stage of trial this specific case is. Depending on that, I could speak to the victims and defendants in addition to the lawyers and government officials. This story is tragic any way you cut it.

But it could work within the News21 schema if it embodies but one example of a larger problem of this nature.

If it is, I would be interested in its pursuit. These women are in Los Angeles, and I would prefer, from a storytelling perspective, to follow a lead that I could spend a great deal of time with in person.

The woman testifying has only provided her first name to journalists (Sandra), but again, access is also contingent on the stage of trial (in addition to other things). I had read about and been horrified by this story a month ago, but I heard about it in a bit more detail when I ran into Scott Glover, and he let me know he could, perhaps, help me get in touch with the relevant people.

Because this story regards crime, it would probably involve a top-down approach. The attornies involved with the case:

-U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow
-Assistant U.S. Attny Cheryl Murphy
-Attny Jeff Price
-Defense Attny Dana Cephas
-Assistant U.S. Attny Curtis Kin
-Mirna and Gladys Valenzula (also illegal immigrants)
-Mirna's boyfriend Gabriel Mendez
-Sandra and the five others testifying

Were it to work, this could be the kind of story told through writing but also with a fast still camera and recorded voice overs (sort of a photo doc + radio embedded into a long online story).




 

Exams scores in urban Texas schools are low compared to their suburban and rural counterparts. But a study released on Feb. 25, 2009 shows that the Dallas Independent School District is one of the top ten districts in the county who has successfully increased it's "Z-score" - a number that represents a school district's exam achievement in comparison to the state average.

The score is still significantly low, but according to The Brown Center on Education Policy, "Big city schools have made significant gains. While all school districts have notched achievement gains, the big city districts made even larger gains than other districts. They are closing the gap with suburban and rural districts, slowly, to be sure, but they are clearly making progress."




In the poorest urban school districts, improvement was much slighter, if at all:

Here is a look at Renewable resources in the Southwest according to the Department of Energy. 

Work Plan:

The renewable energy market experienced a slow down beginning in 2007. Companies saw their investors diminish as banks felt the effect of the credit crunch, and suddenly there was a lull in new energy ventures. 

 But with the passage of Obama's stimulus bill, which contains $43 billion going specifically toward energy and "green collar job" creation, there will be a resurgence of activity to produce more renewable energy and thus a resurgence in activity in the Southwest--a Mecca of renewable resources.

 Our project will seek to analyze whether the Southwest holds the key to the country's energy crisis.

 We will examine the upstart of new renewable energy operations and the improvement in transmission (i.e. power grids) in states like California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas.

 And of course, demographics make this all the more important. As the population keeps growing, especially in the Southwest, the existing power grids are not enough to accommodate our energy needs. While reporting on a network of power grids may not seem sexy, it is crucial to understand that without a new "smart grid" any new developments may be futile.

 Why we need two people you say? Because this project will encompass all renewable technologies, like wind, solar, biomass and geothermal (which all have unique and separate importance in the renewable energy industry) in 6 different states across the Southwest. This is a BIG undertaking to cover the entire region's energy needs.

 

 

Recent Articles Showing We Know What We're Talking About:

 • NYTimes op-ed from Feb 22, 2009, Thomas Friedman said:

"The renewable-energy business - wind, solar and solar thermal - was almost dead in this country. Most new projects stopped last fall because they depended for their financing on selling their renewable energy tax credits to Wall Street firms. ....The stimulus package created a mechanism for renewable energy innovators to bypass Wall Street and monetize their tax credits directly through the U.S. Treasury, for any project that starts between now and the end of 2010.

 

• LA Times article, March 1, 2009 "Wind-power industry seeks trained workforce":

"This is Wind Technology Boot Camp at Cerro Coso Community College, where eight weeks of study and $1,000 in tuition might lead to a job repairing mammoth wind turbines like the ones sprouting up across this region."

 "This is where the money's going to be," said the Ridgecrest, Calif., contractor, who likes the idea of a steady paycheck after years of construction boom and bust.

 

 • NYTimes article from Feb 12, 2009 entitled "California Utility Looks to Mojave Desert Project for Solar Power" about projects in the Mojave desert" :

 "The contracts amount to the world's largest single deal for new solar energy capacity, said officials from the utility, Southern California Edison, and BrightSource Energy, the company that would build and run the plants.

 "The reality is that renewable projects are very far away from where customers are," Mr. Hemphill said. "The key is to have transmission built."

 "The deal is one of many signs that concentrated solar power, after decades of ups and downs, is finding an important place around the world, said Severin Borenstein, a specialist in energy policy at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley."

 

 

People to Talk to:

• Pew Center on Climate Control

•  Solar Energy Industries Association--Monique Hanis, Director of Communications

• Stirling Energy Systems, company operating Solar fields in Mojave Desert

• California Energy Commission

• Sun Power, in San Jose, Calif.

• Dept. of Energy, Director of Smart Grid Task Force, Eric Lightner

• Department of Energy, EERE

• Bright Source, Media Contact Keely Wachs

• Western Area Power Administration

• Utility companies like PG&E, So Cal Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric

 

Questions we need answered:

 • What role does/will the Southwest play in providing energy to the rest of the country?

•  Biomass currently is the source of 53 percent of renewable power in the country, why is it not talked about more? Will this become a fading resource?

• All states in the Southwest have Renewable Portfolio Standards, or benchmarks they have to meet. CA must reach 20 percent renewable power (it is currently at 16 percent) by 2010. How will this urgent timeline affect the market?

• A digital Smart Grid is in the works to revamp the current power grid, how much of the existing grid will be just repaired? And how much will have to be replaced completely? Will the smart grid accommodate our growing population?

• How much green job creation will come out of the stimulus bill?

• What role will utility companies play in this surge in renewables? Do Southwest Utility companies buy up a majority of renewable power? How much will the public be able to purchase on their own?

• How will all this spending translate into cheaper energy for the consumer? Or will it?

• How practical is renewable energy for consumers if it is produced in remote locations?

 

Places we might go:

• Santa Clara, CA for the GridWise Expo in June (GridWise is responsible for remaking the existing power grid into a digital Smart Grid, also we need credentials from P.Dean and M.Cooper). Three Days

 • Mojave Desert, Home to some of the largest solar field projects in the country. Spend 4 days touring and reporting to see how/if these projects are becoming more important to the renewable markets.

 • Wind Turbines in Tehachapi, CA and Solano County, known as the Montezuma Hills Resource Area. These are emerging centers of Wind power production.

 • Loyalton, CA, a center for Biomass facilities. Biomass currently accounts for 53 percent of our renewable energy source.

 Pending out of state travel, we would like to also go to Southern Nevada, solar plants in Arizona, and Wind turbine fields in Texas. If you give us hotel fare, we will gas up the Jetta. 

William (Bill) Short - Photographer
News 21 - Thursday, February 26, 2009

• Photojournalism vs. Documentary Photography
• the difference in what you can do with time and space
• on the web - 2 or 3 photogs you can run with an article
• Background
• MFA in painting/sculpture from USC
• his work covers long periods of time (2-5 years)
• straddles documentary world, photojournalistic avenues, and art world
• primary venue is publication (galleries & museums)
• "To photograph is to edit the world with personal prejudice"
• "I speak from a very specific point of view and take a very specific point of view when I produce the work that I do" - BIll Short on personal viewpoint vs. fair/balanced
• currently working on exhibit on Vietnamese population in Sydney, Australia
• expects people to criticize the show for having a very narrow viewpoint
• since everybody believes that there should be fairness and balance, some people have a hard time dealing with this particular body of work
• something like this show isn't typical of the daily meat & potatoes you'd find at the LA Times, even though there is a slant at most papers, the pretense to practice fair & balanced still exists
• Fair & Balanced:
• always difficult to achieve because we all grow up with our own innate prejudices
• all of those things inform us as to how we operate in the world at large
• those parameters are what dictates how we look at the world and edit
• thus, we are fair & balanced from a specific point of view
• point of view should always be transparent so people can either embrace or reject it
• A good photograph is a good photograph - understanding what makes it so is important
• A camera is just a box with a lens that captures an image
• First order of business is to get away from full-auto so you have more control over the image that you capture
• example: having control over depth of field so you can capture one face in a crowd in focus with the rest of the crowd out of focus
• not possible in full-auto mode
• being able to choose shutter speed to either freeze motion or blur it
• Definition: depth of field - the area of the picture that is in focus
• Point of Sharpness/Focus: this is where the eye will be naturally drawn to
• Brightness: another area that eyes are naturally drawn to
• Camera Basics:
• Exposure (equal to Time x Intensity)
• Shutter
• Aperture
• these two work in conjunction with each other (E= i(t))
• you want the optimum amount of exposure on the sensor
• as aperture increase in size, you let a larger volume of light through so you have to increase the speed of the camera so the shutter is open for a shorter period of time to avoid over-exposure
• shutter speeds are durations of time (e.g. 1/1000 = one thousandth of a second)
• third factor: ISO (film speed)
• on point and shoot cameras, don't use any higher than ISO200 to avoid noise (or in film speak, "grain")
• the higher the ISO, the less flash is required because "faster" speeds mean a higher sensitivity to light
• Noise Ninja = Photoshop plugin for noise reduction
• Digital SLR's can shoot at ISO1600 easily, usually 3200
• Focus
• Point of focus: what you are focused ON
• Shutter lag - how long from pushing button to image capture?
• Depth of field: aperture dependent
• Aperture - f2.8 - wide open / f22 - pinhole size
• Focal length of lens
• Distance from subject
• Handling the camera
• proper way to hold camera - keep elbows in (especially in crowded setting)
• Camera angle
• Distance from subject
• Basic Planning for Photojournalism:
• Macro to Micro
• get as much detail at as many levels as possible
• shopkeepers example
• get shots of the city/area
• get shots of store fronts, streets, details on outside of the store
• then work into shooting the actual shopkeepers within their shops
• once inside, you'll want to crank the ISO so you can keep the shutter speed low enough to and capture some of the background and ambient light in the frame
• always dedicate to ISO first
• camera noise = camera sensor attempting to make up information that it can't see in dark spots of the frame
• PRE-VISUALIZATION - have a notion of what you want the photograph to look like before you take it - consider framing
• "If you're pictures aren't good enough, then you aren't close enough" - Robert Capa
• Predatory photography: question of whether or not a photojournalist is detached from what he/she is covering (i.e. do you help someone who is dying in front of you, or get the shot?)
• Structuralism - doing away with all of the structural confines of traditional photography
• A photograph is worth a 1000 words, but who's he author of those words?
• to contextualize a picture is incredibly important (who is writing the caption?)
• Think of photographs in terms of being build either symmetrically or asymmetrically
• dramatic angles can break the monotony we are used to looking through our two eyes
• we have inherited visual structures that go back as far as The Renaissance
• Single-Point Perspective - we use a single point that draws us into the frame
• Eastern/Asian use objects to indicate background/foreground (there is no "vanishing point")
• Looking at Photographs (creating composition, where eyes are naturally drawn)
• Point of sharp focus
• Contrast, bright areas, light sources
• Movement of eye across the photograph (we have a tendency to start in the lower left corner and move to the center with our eyes)
• Composition
• horizon vs. vertical
• Rule of thirds: dividing up into three sections, placing an object on one of those borders is naturally appearing to the eye
• Symmetrical vs. asymmetrical
• repetition of shape & line: builds familiarity, comfort food for psyche
• Edge of the frame
• some of the least explored real estate in photography
• area that needs to be thought about and explored more
• where the subject is in relation to the frame do very different things to the space of the photo
• Static vs. active
• Design Elements
• horizontal: calmness
• vertical: stature, strength
• diagonal: activity motion
• zigzag: rapid motion
• curved: graceful, slow
• Color
• warm vs. cool
• Saturation
• Contrast of color, compliments
• red/green
• blue/orange
• Cultural meaning of color
• black: funeral color here
• white: funeral color in Asia
• Framing
• framing is a CHOICE
• foreground vs. background
• don't forget the background is part of the photo
• Out of control visual elements
• tree growing out of the top of someone's head
• Use the edges of the frame
• The decisive moment:
• pictures come together at one particular space in time
• not before, not after; that is when the photo is made
• Cartier Besson would spend time talking to the person
• Shooting strategies
• pre-visualization
• subject placement
• lighting, location of light source
• depth of field and selection focus
• Direction of motion
• into picture
• out of picture
• Multiple image shooting
• Panoramas
• Diptych, triptychs
• Sequence shooting for animation
• When shooting in a public place, NO ONE has the right to ask us to stop shooting
• but in certain cases, what is the moral responsibility to the subject?
• i.e. shooting in a park with kids and a parent asks you to stop

MEDIASTORM.com - Ed Kashi's photography set to music on Kurds in Iraq