When Dalia Franco started planning her wedding more than a year ago, she decided to handle the nuptial logistics herself, from makeup to valet parking.  It never occurred to her that less than a month before the big day, the most crucial guy on her wedding preparations list wouldn’t be a deejay,  caterer or florist but LAPD Deputy Chief Kirk J. Albanese.

But there she was Thursday night, pleading for some help in making sure her beautiful occasion wouldn’t fall victim to some ugly timing.  The impediment to true love—or at least to getting 130 guests to a lovely mid-July garden wedding on time—is the impending closure of the 405 Freeway for an entire weekend in order to demolish the Mulholland Bridge. With ramps and lanes closing on Friday, July 15, and the entire freeway shutting down for all of Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, Franco’s dream wedding—scheduled for that Sunday at a private residence in Bel Air—was giving her nightmares.

For most Angelenos, the prospect of a 53-hour freeway closure is aggravating, alarming or a good excuse to get out of town. For Franco and her fiancé, Moshe Shmuel, it’s personal—not to mention a direct challenge to the guests who will be coming from around the world to witness their vows.

So Franco, 25, who works for a music industry attorney, threw herself on the mercy of the “unified command” in charge of public safety and traffic planning for the big freeway closure.

“I am begging all of you for some assistance in getting my guests up Moraga Drive,” she told leaders of the command at a community meeting Thursday at the Skirball Center. “Can I get some confirmation that my guests can make it up within three hours?  I am honestly speechless, I don’t even know…”

Her plight drew gasps from the audience, and, it appears, at least a little sympathy from the powers that be. Deputy Chief Albanese said he understood that the wedding is “a really special day for you,” and said his staff would give her a hand in informing guests on ways to get to the 5 p.m. wedding. But even so, they’ll need to allow plenty of travel time, he said.

“Here’s the thing that you need to understand, and your guests need to understand,” Albanese said. “They need to leave early. So you need to communicate with them that they need to leave early. Before you leave tonight, we’re going to tell you the alternate routes for them to get up there. But they’re still going to need to leave early. Really early.”

Franco and Shmuel aren’t the only engaged couple to find their wedded bliss threatened by the freeway closure.  Another wedding set for that weekend at the Skirball had to be rescheduled  to take place a day earlier, on Friday, July 15.

Franco, who attended the meeting with her mother and fiancé, said she first learned of the upcoming freeway closure about six weeks ago.

“My mom said it to me over dinner. ‘I’m going to tell you something. Don’t freak out.’ We all sat at dinner and said we don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Franco and Shmuel, who live in Marina del Rey, plan to send out an e-mail blast to all the guests with detailed information about alternate routes to the wedding, which will have “sort of a romance under the stars” theme.  After the meeting, Shmuel said he was “a bit reassured” by officials’ response to their situation.

And at least they don’t have to worry about making it a memorable occasion, Franco said: “Let’s just say that this will be the wedding no one will ever forget.”

Posted 6/24/11

This weekend, join other nature lovers and become a tracking detective—investigating wildlife clues in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve and getting to know your feathered or furry wild neighbors a little better.

Whether it’s a bit of scat (animal droppings) or a stray paw print, nature’s trails have lots to reveal to the trained eye. The hunt begins on Saturday, June 25 at the park’s Victory Trailhead. Participation is free, and it’s a moderate two-hour hike over 1.5 miles, but don’t forget that it’s $3 to park. Wear sturdy shoes, don’t leave the trail, and remember your water, flashlight and jacket.

Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch) is located at the northern end of Las Virgenes Canyon Road in the city of Calabasas.

Directions from the 101 freeway: Exit at Valley Circle Boulevard, head north to Victory Boulevard, and turn left; the park entrance is approximately one mile at the end of Victory Boulevard, and there’s a parking lot at the trailhead.

Posted 6/23/11

The final curtain comes down this weekend on “The Fifth of July,” a critically acclaimed revival of one of the most celebrated plays by Lanford Wilson, who died in March at the age of 73.

Wilson’s Tony-nominated production takes place in 1977, as a group of old friends, former anti-war activists at Berkeley in the late ‘60s, gather for a weekend and take stock of their lives and loves, hopes and disappointments as they ruminate about the past and look toward an uncertain future.

Critics hailed the play as “a major work by one of the theater’s most important and celebrated writers.”

Get your tickets now for its two final performances this Friday and Saturday evening at The Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Avenue in Hollywood . They’re available online through Brown Paper Tickets, or by phone at (800) 838-3006. Curtain is at 8 p.m., and here’s a Google map to the theatre.

Posted 6/23/11

Navigating the job market can be frustrating in these difficult economic times. But unemployment can go from bad to worse when job hunters become the target of scammers on Craigslist and other classified advertising sites.

Con artists exploit the desperation of the jobless by tricking them into divulging personal and financial information, says LA County Department of Consumer Affairs’ Acting Director Rigo Reyes. They then use that information to defraud the victim.

“This is always a problem when the economy slows down,” Reyes says. “We have seen a significant increase over the last year or so, not just in numbers, but in the complexity of the scams that they try to get you with.”

You can identify fraudulent job offers by arming yourself with information. According to Reyes, the two most important things to watch for are guarantees of employment and companies or individuals asking for payment up front.

Reports from the Federal Trade Commission and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse list other red flags and suggest some precautions:

Red Flags

• Requests for financial information (account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.)
• Requests for a Social Security number
• Requests to scan your ID card, or for a scan of your ID card
• Absence of a company name or contact information
• A contact email address that is not a primary domain (for example, when the hiring company is “Omegacorp” @yahoo.com instead of @omegacorp.com)
• Misspellings and grammatical errors
• Promises to get you a job
• Employment services that charge an up-front fee
• Reluctance by the hiring firm to answer your questions
• Ads containing such terms as “PayPal”, “package-forwarding”, “money transfers”, “wiring funds”, “eBay” or “foreign agent agreement”

Precautions

• Make sure you understand your duties and the employer’s duties
• Take time reading contracts and avoid high-pressure sales pitches
• Follow up with the company that listed the ad
• Check with Consumer Affairs, the state Attorney General’s office, and the Better Business Bureau to see if complaints have been filed against the company
• Research the company before sending your resume or any personal information
• Target your search to the type of job you are seeking
• Do not give prospective employers your money or financial information (after all, aren’t they supposed to be paying you?)
• Be wary of companies that want you to sign up for direct deposit before you have started work

Craigslist and other classified ad sites offer their own warnings and have security measures to protect users, but scammers often find ways around them. Furthermore, the websites are not legally responsible for the listings. The people who place the ads are responsible, says Reyes, but odds are against you getting your money back. Many of the scams originate outside of the country and are difficult to track down.

While some scams are fairly blatant, others are more clever, Reyes says. Some scammers use professional looking logos and websites. And when they steal, they take small amounts that embarrassed victims usually don’t report, and that law enforcement officials are often unwilling to prosecute.

If you find yourself victimized by a scam, you can take some action. If the scammers accessed your finances, close all accounts at the bank where it took place. Register a fraud alert with all three credit bureaus—Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion—and report the fraud to Consumer Affairs. The agency investigates complaints and presents viable cases to the City Attorney and the District Attorney for prosecution. You can call Consumer Affairs officials at (800) 593-8222, e-mail them here, fill out an online complaint form, or visit their office at 500 West Temple Street, Room B-96.

Finally, Reyes warns job hunters to guard their privacy online.

“A resume is basically an outline of your life. Who knows what they are going to use that information for?” he says. “Unless you are on a very reputable site, be extremely careful with your personal info. Once it goes online it is very difficult to get it back.”

Posted 6/23/11

When Fairfax High principal Ed Zubiate arrived at my alma mater in 2006, he had no intention of simply running in place. He was determined, of course, to lift the school’s academic standing. But he also was committed to an ambitious brick-and-mortar project: rebuilding the school’s aging track and football field.

Back in the mid-1960s, when I was on Fairfax’s cross-country team, I remember endlessly circling that well-trod dirt oval, which by then was already some 40 years old. And that’s the same track used by the school’s current crop of competitors, with virtually no improvements since the campus opened in 1924. As you might imagine, the decades have not been kind—as I know from dodging ruts when I run there today.

Principal Zubiate found this state of affairs ripe for tackling for reasons that transcend footraces and grandstands. As he told a local newspaper last year: “We wanted a school that physically reflected what we think we are on the inside, something the community could take pride in.”

To that end, he initiated an innovative fundraising drive that has been hailed as a model for other campuses in these days of disappearing dollars. For starters, he recruited Joyce Kleifield as the campus’ “development director”—a job usually associated with private schools—and got the non-profit Greenway Arts Alliance to generously pay her salary. Together, the two then reached into the community for donations and services they hoped might shake loose more government funding.

The American Youth Soccer Association, better known as AYSO, agreed to provide public programs valued at $1 million, an amount that enabled Fairfax to receive $2.6 million in voter-approved Los Angeles Unified School District bonds. The Faro Foundation, meanwhile, kicked in $500,000. Given assurances that the new facility would be open to the public at night and on weekends, my office contributed $250,000 in county funds.

Last Friday, the principal’s $6-million dream moved a huge step closer to reality when ground was broken for the new athletic facility. Scheduled for completion in 2012, there’ll be a rubberized track, synthetic field and a new grandstand for the Fairfax High Lions. On hand, among others, were proud members of the football team, who last year won a city championship in their division.

I recently saw Mr. Zubiate quoted as saying: “This is my greatest accomplishment in 30 years with LAUSD. It’s not just the money we raised but the relationships we created.”

How’s that for a winning attitude?

The principal has not only elevated the school’s academics and athletics, he has sent a clear and optimistic message to the neighboring community and beyond: Even in these most trying of times for our public institutions, so many seemingly insurmountable hurdles can be cleared with commitment and creativity. And that’s something to cheer about.

Posted 6/23/11

Paramedics on motorcycles. A world-class art facility repurposed as a firefighting staging area. And a 10-mile expanse of the 405 Freeway stretching out, car-free, as an enormous potential helicopter landing pad.

Talk about turning the problem into the solution.

Sure, the 405 Freeway will be closed to all of us for 53 straight hours in mid-July. But for an army of law enforcement and public safety professionals, the freeway has emerged as a key element in a wide-ranging emergency response plan being put into place to cope with whatever may arise during the closure.

Not only will the 405 provide a possible helicopter landing strip, it also stands as a quick response conduit for police and firefighters, and even, in the event of a fire or natural disaster, a mass evacuation route.

“The freeway’s available to us if we need it at any time,” said LAPD spokesman Lt. Andy Neiman. Most of the 405 closure zone—stretching north from the 10 to the 101, and south from the 101 to Getty Center Drive—will be readily accessible to emergency responders during the freeway shutdown. The section immediately under the Mulholland Bridge—where the south side is being demolished, prompting the freeway closure in the first place—could even be made available if needed, although it would likely take several hours of clean-up to reopen a lane under the bridge once demo work had started in earnest, Neiman said.

Community concerns about gridlock on local streets—and about emergency vehicles being able to respond to calls promptly—have been running high as the 53-hour closure approaches. But public safety planners say they’re confident they’ll be able to get through.

“If anything happens in those areas, I would almost expect that people will have a quicker response than normal,” said Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Alicia Mathis. “We want the community to be completely comfortable with our ability to respond.”

Beyond the freeway itself, the Getty Center has offered to make itself available as a staging area for firefighting resources during the closure. Mathis said the facility was built with firefighting capabilities in mind, including an augmented water supply, roadways constructed to accommodate heavy fire trucks, a helicopter landing area and a design that would allow it to be temporarily converted to a command post in the event of a major brushfire or other disaster. “In addition to being an art asset and a beautiful facility, it’s actually very functional,” she said.

In addition to the Getty and the freeway, the department has identified a number of other “helispots” where choppers will be able to land and take off if necessary during the closure. Brush patrol rigs will be continuously moving through the area—including one each for Encino, the Getty Center and the Bel Air Crest and Mountaingate neighborhoods—and an infusion of extra firefighters and other equipment is planned along with full staffing at the existing fire stations in the area, she said.

The fire department also will be fielding teams of paramedics on motorcycles.

While the fire department has deployed paramedic bicycle teams at LAX and during large festivals, “the motorcycle team is really something new to make sure we have quick access” during the freeway closure, Mathis said. The two-wheel paramedics won’t be able to transport patients, but will have a full array of equipment, such as defibrillators, for initial treatment of a medical emergency.

Likewise, LAPD motor officers will be on the frontlines during the freeway shutdown. “For any hot shot or important call, they will be the first responders,” Lt. Neiman said.

To make sure that emergency responders are in position, the closure area is being subdivided into four “branches” located on either side of the 405 and above and below the Mulholland Bridge, Neiman said.

The public safety and traffic response to the closure is being planned and managed by a “unified command” consisting of the LAPD, the Los Angeles Fire Department, the CHP and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation. A centralized command post will be up and running at the city’s Emergency Operations Center during the weekend.

LAPD Cmdr. James Cansler said all the agencies would have high staffing levels during the shutdown, including a “heavy deployment of traffic officers and engineers” to adjust street signals and open up intersections depending on the flow of traffic. Cansler added that police and fire helicopters would be keeping tabs on the situation from above.

Metro spokesman Marc Littman said it was “premature to speculate” about what the cost of the public safety and traffic deployment would be during the 405 shutdown. “No doubt the tab will be hefty but ensuring public safety is paramount, and we’re not going to skimp on safety,” he said in an e-mail.

The freeway closure is necessary to protect the public during demolition because the Mulholland Bridge is so steep, Metro officials say. Some ramp and lane closures will begin the evening of Friday, July 15. The entire freeway will be closed all of Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, and is set to reopen at 5 a.m. on Monday, July 18. (The entire exercise will be repeated some 11 months later, when the north side of the bridge is demolished.)

The $1.034 billion project will add a 10-mile northbound carpool lane to the 405 Freeway and modernize three bridges over it, in addition to widening underpasses and creating improvements such as new “flyover” ramps at Wilshire Boulevard.

A community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 23, at the Skirball Center for those interested in learning more about plans for the closure. In addition, an online chat will be held on Wednesday, June 29.

Even with all of the advance planning, though, the best plan will be to steer clear of the area altogether. CHP Lt. Mark Garrett said there was just one word for what the average motorist would be experiencing that weekend: “Frustration. That’s all you can say.”

Posted 6/22/11

If you’re flying out of LAX the weekend of July 15-18 or have guests coming into town, a new airport webpage offers suggestions for making sure your travel plans aren’t unceremoniously grounded by the 405 Freeway closure.

The page features links to resources including LAX FlyAway bus service from Van Nuys, Union Station, Westwood and Irvine. It also suggests staying near the airport the night before your flight, particularly if you have an early departure. In addition, it provides links to city and state traffic monitors.

To paraphrase the old ad, don’t leave home without checking it.

Posted 6/23/11

If you’ve got questions or concerns about the mid-July closure of the 405 Freeway, here’s your chance to get some answers.

 A community meeting will take place tonight—June 23, 2011—at the Skirball Center’s Ahmanson Hall, located at 2701 N. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90049. The meeting runs from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. Representatives from all the agencies involved—Metro, Caltrans, Los Angeles Department of Transportation, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department and the California Highway Patrol—are scheduled to attend.

For more information, please call the project’s hotline, (213) 922-3665 or email [email protected]

Posted 6/23/11

Filmmaker Tim Burton has been conjuring darkly humorous tales of mystery and imagination since he was a Burbank schoolboy growing up in the shadows of the major movie studios.

Now on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is a major retrospective of his varied work as a fine artist, painter, sculptor and animator that offers evidence of Burton’s talent even in his earliest notebook doodlings.

Complementing the weird and whimsical exhibit is a special retrospective of his best-known film work that runs through the end of June. Burton mines a rich literary lode with characters ranging from the demon barber of Fleet Street and the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to a little girl named Alice and a little boy named Charlie. Not to mention Burton’s Batman.

More information on the whole series may be found in LACMA’s detailed film schedule. To plan your visit—including directions, parking and dining options—click here.

Posted 6/16/11