Cras rutrum venenatis mi. Vestibulum metus erat, dapibus et, lobortis et, cursus sed, urna. Donec egestas, erat ut bibendum auctor, nunc dolor pretium risus, vel tincidunt mauris diam et elit. Suspendisse nec felis vel leo varius congue. Etiam quis nulla. Ut non elit vitae leo ornare fermentum. Nulla id purus. Nam consectetur ligula eget metus. Vestibulum pellentesque semper ligula. Nulla mauris. Fusce pharetra. Duis nec turpis. Curabitur eros felis, varius quis, rhoncus eu, rutrum vel, ante. Etiam in lectus id libero aliquam elementum. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed a metus a metus sagittis consectetur. Suspendisse eros. In pellentesque. Sed pellentesque metus eget diam. Sed pellentesque, ante eu ultrices posuere, sem risus posuere dolor, ac auctor libero eros vel mauris.

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On November 3, 2008 Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky joined Placido Domingo, General Director of the LA Opera, and other officials to announce the “Ring Festival,” a major Countywide arts and culture extravaganza planned for 2010 to celebrate LA Opera’s presentation of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Events will include exhibitions, performances, symposia and special events developed for the occasion, which will mark the first time that Wagner’s four-opera epic work will be presented in its entirety in Los Angeles. A wide variety of venues will host events throughout Southern California from April 15 through June 30, 2010. “We can all be proud that so many diverse organizations are joining together in this incredible effort,” Yaroslavsky said. “Ring Festival LA will highlight the wealth of arts and culture that is unique to our town. The festival puts Los Angeles at the forefront of our major international cultural destinations, drawing together visitors from around the world and residents from neighborhoods across our county. It’s truly a celebration for all of us.” Visit LA Opera Ring Festival for full details.

Left to right: LA Opera Board member Barry A. Sanders, LA Opera Board President Carol Henry, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Edythe Broad, LA Opera General Director Placido Domingo, Founder of the Eli Broad Foundation Eli Broad, LA Opera Chairman and CEO Marc I. Stern gather to announce Ring Festival LA. (11/3/08)

Flu season is upon us again, and public health officials urge County residents to obtain their flu shots from one of the numerous locations offering them around the County in the coming weeks. General information may be found in this flu vaccine press release, and full details including searchable flu clinic locations and other information are available on the DPH Immunization Program website.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2008, the Board of Supervisors gave final approval to the County’s green building, low-impact development and drought-tolerant landscaping ordinances, one of the most far-reaching sustainable planning policies adopted by any local jurisdiction. To learn more about the proposals, read the accompanyingimplementation plan report.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Board of Supervisors Chair Yvonne B. Burke, Senator Barbara Boxer, Supervisor Gloria Molina and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa don protective gear for a tour of the construction site for the six-mile Eastside Gold Line light rail extension at 1st St. and Mission Road in East Los Angeles.

Bottom photo, a workman surfaces the rail bed for the $900 million project, scheduled to open in late 2009. For additional information, see Metro’s press release, and for full details, visit Metro’s Gold Line project page.

Supervisor Yaroslavsky (fourth from right) pays a visit to the construction site of the Sun Valley Middle School Health Clinic. The first full service school-based health clinic in Los Angeles County, the clinic is a partnership between the County, Los Angeles Unified School District, UCLA and the community-based non-profit Northeast Valley Healthcare Corporation.

On November 3, 2008 Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky joined Placido Domingo, General Director of the LA Opera, and other officials to announce the “Ring Festival,” a major Countywide arts and culture extravaganza planned for 2010 to celebrate LA Opera’s presentation of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Events will include exhibitions, performances, symposia and special events developed for the occasion, which will mark the first time that Wagner’s four-opera epic work will be presented in its entirety in Los Angeles. A wide variety of venues will host events throughout Southern California from April 15 through June 30, 2010.

“We can all be proud that so many diverse organizations are joining together in this incredible effort,” Yaroslavsky said. “Ring Festival LA will highlight the wealth of arts and culture that is unique to our town. The festival puts Los Angeles at the forefront of our major international cultural destinations, drawing together visitors from around the world and residents from neighborhoods across our county. It’s truly a celebration for all of us.” Visit LA Opera Ring Festival for full details.

On September 26, 2008 Los Angeles County Fire Chief P. Michael Freeman, joined by Supervisor Yaroslavsky and other officials, presented a display of airborne firefighting resources available to the County for the 2008 Fire Season. The LA County Fire Department’s Air Operations Section has a fleet composed of three Sikorsky Firehawk Type I helicopters (1,000-gallon tank, crew of 14, ground- or hover-fill from numerous water sites), six Bell 412 Type II helicopters, two SuperScooper fixed wing planes leased from the Province of Quebec, Canada (1,620 gallon tanks), and one Sikorsky Helitanker leased from Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated (2,200-gallon tank); as well as “Helicopter 10,” a Bell 412 that acts as Helicopter Coordinator.

helicopters

The SuperScoopers and the Sikorsky are leased during the high-risk fire season from September to December to augment our aerial firefighting resources. Each helicopter is configured for multiple missions. In addition to aerial firefighting, they perform EMS medical transport, search and rescue, hoist rescue, swiftwater and ocean rescue, fire crew transport, and night operations. Air Operations Section is comprised of 63 dedicated personnel who respond to approximately 1,600 calls for service every year.

It’s been more than a week since the Metrolink crash and I’m still haunted by Beckie Pompel.

I met her at Chatsworth High School well past midnight on that horrible Friday night, September 12. She was among more than 100 people who’d gathered there in gut-wrenching uncertainty, awaiting word on the fate of loved ones whose names were missing from lists of the injured. There was despondency, and there were tears.

I’d arrived at the school after spending hours at the scene of the head-on collision. There, amid the overpowering smell of diesel fuel, I witnessed first-hand the heroic response of an army of firefighters and law enforcement officers as they clawed through the tangled debris, where 25 Metrolink commuters perished.

At one point, when the flag-draped body of uniformed LAPD officer Spree Desha was lifted from the train, I watched the firefighters halt their grim work. With helmets off, they sat motionless atop the Metrolink’s toppled first passenger car, as though the magnitude of what they’d been doing since early evening had finally sunk in.

For me, I could think only of how that single tragedy was being multiplied across two dozen other families, of the fragile and fleeting nature of life—thoughts that would become even more overpowering in the hours ahead at Chatsworth High.

When Sheriff Lee Baca first asked me to accompany him to the school, I was reluctant. I didn’t want to deal with the immense grief I knew would be awaiting us. However, I also thought that perhaps I could provide a measure of comfort, that maybe I could hold someone’s hand or put an arm around a shoulder. So, despite my anxiety, I went.

Over the years, I’ve seen too many fatal disasters—plane crashes, fires, floods, earthquakes, even the last Metrolink crash in Glendale. Yet none of them, not even this accident, had the emotional impact of what I’d encounter at Chatsworth High, with scores of distraught people praying for the best but fearing for the worst. Many had been waiting for news about their families and friends for eight hours. They were increasingly anxious, despite the best efforts of our fine County mental health specialists and the L.A. city volunteers who’d been dispatched to the school.

Beckie Pompel seemed to be an exception.

When I arrived, the 63-year-old wife of Metrolink passenger Howard Pompel recognized me and immediately introduced herself. She was kind and open, and she instantly put me at ease. As we shook hands, she told me she was reasonably optimistic that her husband had survived the crash, even though there was no record of him being transported to a hospital. He always rode in the last car, the safest one. He’ll turn up, she said.

My heart sank. I couldn’t be as upbeat. A few hours earlier, I’d been told by fire officials that two commuters, whom they did not identify, had in fact died in that final car. I gamely encouraged her to keep praying but, in my gut, I had a sinking feeling that she was never going to see her husband again.

That night, after getting home in the wee hours, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about all those shattered lives and about Beckie Pompel. I felt a bond with her. And, like her, I wanted to believe.

Sometime after 4:00 a.m., the names of the fatalities began to trickle in. When I first saw the list, I quickly searched for Howard Pompel, hoping beyond hope his name wasn’t there. But it was. The discovery sucked the air out of me. I knew that the smiling, optimistic face I’d seen only hours earlier was now gone, replaced by grief and anguish over the loss of a 69-year-old husband, the father of three, a grandfather of five.

I know that the public is often cynical about why politicians dash to the scenes of calamitous events, as I did on that tragic Friday night. The rap is that we’re just looking for publicity and visibility. In some cases, that cynicism is justified.

I can only speak for myself: Throughout my political life, I’ve made it a practice to get out of the comfort zone of my Civic Center office and into the communities I serve. In my experience, this is the only way to get unfettered and unfiltered information on the performance of our government agencies. What’s more, County workers on the front-lines have told me that they appreciate the show of support. We are, after all, on the same team.

Maybe more important, in times of tragedy I have the chance to see and feel the real-life struggles that people confront, to develop a level of empathy that can’t be achieved by reading the statistical reports and charts that move across my desk.

To me, this deeper understanding of the kind of pain suffered by Beckie Pompel and so many others like her is essential to my service as an elected official. Sure, we’ll learn from this tragedy. We’ll plug the safety gaps that were exposed in this accident. Rules will change, new regulations will be imposed and investments in new technology will be made. The sooner the better.

But more than anything else, I’m motivated by an unconditional commitment to never having to look another Beckie Pompel in the eye.

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