Autumn is officially here, and the Children’s Nature Institute is using the occasion to acquaint folks with the ever-changing natural world that’s all around them. Sarah Lowing, program coordinator for the group, leads a family nature walk inTopanga State Park this Saturday, September 24, at 10 a.m.

“We will be talking about seasonal change,” said Lowing, “something that people forget happens around here.”

Last year provided a vibrant reminder that L.A. really does have seasons, with rare colorful leaf changes painting the hills red, orange and yellow. We may get more of the same this year, but it is too soon to tell. According to Lowing, a colorful fall is heavily dependent on weather: if there is too much precipitation, heat or wind, the leaves will brown and fall rapidly.

“If it’s cold and it’s calm and there’s no rain, then we get a chance to see fall put on her show,” Lowing said.

Saturday’s family walk focuses on the coming of fall but leaves plenty of room for improvisation, depending on what the group discovers. Kids will be given magnifying glasses for exploration, and can join in on interactive fun like leaf rubbing. Oak trees will be examined for evidence of ripening acorns—one sign that autumn is upon us.

The two-hour expedition costs $25 for the first child and $10 for each additional child. In a bit of a switch from the norm, adults go for free. Reserve your spots via the website, where you can also find directions.

This event is one installment in the institute’s Family Nature Walks series, which take place monthly across some of the most beautiful parks in Los Angeles.

Posted 9/21/11

This 10k will only disrupt your daily commute if you’re a ground squirrel. The Malibu Canyon Dirt Dash takes charitable exercise off-road, to the dusty trails of the Santa Monica Mountains.

More than 1,000 runners will participate in the Dash, which began six years ago as a small local event. This year, 10k and 5k trail runs will be offered, weaving through the oaks and evergreens ofMalibu Creek State Park. The truly adventurous can try the 5k Mud Run, an obstacle course alternative complete with rope climbs, swings, tires, bridge crossings and a slog through a mud pit to the finish. For those who prefer a slower pace, a fitness walk will be held in between the 10k and 5k runs. Kids can participate for free in a Mini Mud Run.

Food, beverages and T-shirts will be provided to all runners. After the races, a Community Fair will be held, with booths from local organizations and free samples.

The event benefits local Salvation Army Camps, which each year give more than 2,000 local youths, mostly from low-income families, a chance to get some nature in a safe environment.

“For some of these kids, it’s the first vacation they’ve ever had.  It’s the first time they have ever seen the ocean,” said Emily Parris, marketing associate for the camps.

Participants can register online or in person, as an individual or as part of a team. Fees vary depending on the course, and range from $25 to $65. You can also volunteer by handing out water, pointing the way for runners, or just offering encouragement. T-shirts, goodie bags and refreshments will be given to those who lend a hand.

The run takes place this Saturday, September 24, at Camp Mt. Crags, 6801 Dorothy Drive in Calabasas.  Registration begins at 6:30 a.m. (coffee will be available), and the first race, the 10k, begins at 8 a.m. Let the grime begin!

Posted 9/21/11

The Sheriff’s Department will, indeed, get a new jail phone vendor, promising cheaper calls for families of inmates and a bigger share of phone revenues for the county’s Inmate Welfare Fund.

Under the new contract with Public Communications Services Inc., the county’s share of revenue for the Inmate Welfare Fund will rise to 67.5%, with a guaranteed annual minimum of $15 million. That’s a 30% increase over the $10 million or so that was generated for the fund last year.

Meanwhile, the price of a collect call from jail will be cut from $3.54 to $1.25 for the first minute, with a 15-cent-per-minute charge thereafter. The price of a 17-minute phone call will fall 30% to about $3.65.

“This is a win-win,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who congratulated Sheriff Lee Baca for changing direction three years ago after the Board unanimously denied the department’s request to extend the contract with the current vendor, Global Tel*Link, and insisted that it be put out to competitive bid.

“It wasn’t your original path forward, but once it became the Board’s path forward, you did it with zeal, and I think the results are spectacular.”

PCS was the top scoring bidder among four who were vying for the contract, including the current vendor, GTL. Shortly after PCS submitted its winning bid, the company, then headquartered in Los Angeles, was acquired by GTL, which in the past year or so has acquired at least one other rival and has announced plans to acquire at least two more.

The terms of PCS’ bid are binding regardless of the change of ownership, according to the contract approved by supervisors on Tuesday.

The new contract, which takes effect in November, will cut the price of calls to public defenders via a special speed-dial number to a flat 12 cents per minute. Families of international callers will be charged a 50-cent connection fee in addition to the cost of the call, which will vary according to the country.

Calls to Mexico, for instance, will cost 50 cents to connect plus 50 cents per minute thereafter and calls to El Salvador and Guatemala will cost 50 cents plus 95 cents per minute; calls to most other countries will cost $1.25 per minute after the connection fee.

Sheriff’s officials told the board that the contract will cover some 5,800 phones in the jail and probation system—one of the largest public phone systems in the state.

Posted 9/20/11

The Pacific Standard Time initiative won’t officially open until October, but the early-bird exhibitions continue to shine.  This month’s gems include two upcoming looks at California’s contribution to the American Crafts Movement, and set the stage nicely for a big LACMA show next month on California design.

“The Eighties”, opening September 17 at the Freehand Gallery and the Craft in America Study Center, offers vintage works in glass, ceramics, jewelry and textiles by now-established artists who, at the time, had just graduated from Southern California art schools.

Then, on September 25, the Craft and Folk Art Museum will present “The Golden State of Craft: California 1960-1985,” showcasing the works of innovative California craft artists during those decades.

Click here and here for more information. And click here for more exhibition details on Pacific Standard Time.

Posted 9/14/11

Los Angeles County buys lots of stuff— everything from architectural services and badges to windshield wipers and welding goggles, according to this directory.

If you’re a local small business seeking a piece of the action, a new county ordinance is designed to give you a better shot at landing one of those contracts.

Los Angeles County Supervisors on Tuesday voted to increase from 5% to 8% the price preference given to small local businesses seeking county contracts. That means those businesses could come in with a price 8% higher than other bids and still seal the deal, all other variables being equal.

An analysis by the county’s Internal Services Division found that granting a price preference to small local firms has cost the county very little in the years since the initial policy was enacted in 2002. In the past three years, for example, it cost the county a total of $70,648.

“The preference is a small price to pay to help the local economy and keep jobs here,” said Internal Services director Tom Tindall. Raising it to 8% probably would cost very little more over the same period—likely $100,000 or less, he said. And it could pay rich dividends if it helped boost participation by small local firms.

“What we hope it will do is encourage more local small businesses to try” for a county contract, Tindall said.

As it stands now, local small businesses got just $184 million of the $14.9 billion in contracts and purchase orders put out by the county in the past three years. Interestingly, virtually all of them won their contracts as the low bidder, without needing any price preference at all.

Still, the hope is that sweetening the deal for the home team couldn’t hurt and might spur broader economic benefits.

“The City of Los Angeles recently implemented an 8% preference program after a USC analysis concluded that the heightened economic activity and jobs created by the program would generate new revenue that would offset any incremental costs,” Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Michael D. Antonovich said in their motion pushing for the county to make the change.

Tindall said the new ordinance, set to go into effect Nov. 1, is just one of the ways in which the county is trying to become friendlier to small local firms. He said the county has a prompt payment program in which vendors are paid within 15 days of submitting an approved invoice—a boon especially for smaller business in which cash flow is a constant concern. And he noted that certified local small businesses can land sole-source contracts of up to $5,000 from some county departments.

The Los Angeles County Office of Small Business has tips for getting certified, along with other information. It also has a toll-free phone number, (855) 230-6430.

Posted 9/13/11

It’s local, it’s delicious, it couldn’t be better for you—no, we’re not just talking about the perfect organic fig.

We’re talking about five days’ worth of great food, plus valuable lessons on gardening, beekeeping, backyard chicken raising, urban homesteading and all-around sustainable living at the Good Food Festival & Conference in Santa Monica from September 14-18.

Launched in partnership with FamilyFarmed.org as a celebration of the 30^th anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Markets, the festival will feature some of L.A.’s top chefs and some of California’s most provocative voices on the issue of food.

Nancy Silverton, Suzanne Goin, Mark Peel and other celebrity restaurateurs will be doing kitchen demonstrations, and a speaker series will feature such luminaries as pioneering rancher Bill Niman, “Food, Inc.” director Robert Kenner and Pulitzer Prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold.

There also will be a screening and discussion of the film, “The Harvest,” and an oceanfront “Localicious Gala” featuring 30 of L.A.’s best chefs and baskets full of the Santa Monica Farmers Markets’ best produce.

Click here for tickets, here for a complete event schedule and here for more information.  Bon appétit!

Posted 9/14/11

If you’re one of those people who needs a good excuse to have pie for lunch, here comes the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to the rescue.

This Sunday, LACMA joins KCRW for the 3^rd annual “A Slice of Pie” contest.The free event features amateur and pro chefs, who will bring in their best pies for an old-fashioned showdown. The audience gets to sample the goods, and DJ Anne Litt will set the mood with pie-oriented tunes.

Entrants will be judged by an all-star panel of foodies, including Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jonathan Gold and Eric Greenspan, chef and owner of The Foundry, the award-winning restaurant on Melrose Avenue. Unfortunately, if you had visions of proving your pie prowess, you’re out of luck for this year—the contest is no longer accepting entries. So put away the rolling pin and grab a fork for consolation.

There also will be a family-friendly “inedible” pie-making art workshop, free tours of the European Decorative Arts exhibit and an Apron Fashion Show. Wear your most stylish apron and receive free general admission to the museum.

It starts at 12:30 p.m. this Sunday, September 18, at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard. The 15 finalists’ pies will be brought out at 2 p.m., and winners will be announced at 4 p.m.

Posted 9/14/11

It’s not much to look at now. But when Sun Valley’s Strathern Pit is reborn as the Strathern Wetlands Park, the new facility is expected to offer picnic spots, walking trails, basketball and tennis courts, an exercise station, wildlife habitat and landscaped ponds.

Those water features aren’t just ornamental—they are being designed to play an important role in diverting and treating storm water runoff.

The multifaceted approach promises to bring beauty and usefulness to the 46-acre site, which until 2009 was used as a construction debris landfill.

The park’s proposed recreational features were developed at a community workshop in April. Get a look at what’s being planned at a community meeting this Saturday, September 17, at the Richard E. Byrd Middle School Auditorium, 8501 Arleta Avenue in Sun Valley. The meeting runs from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. Reservations aren’t required but if you’d like to RSVP, you can do so by contacting project manager Mark Lombos at (626) 458-7143 or by emailing [email protected].

Construction on the wetlands park is expected to begin in the fall of 2013. The $50 million project is being funded by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, City of Los Angeles Proposition O and the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

Posted 9/13/11

This year the Malibu Triathlon turns 25, and athletes again push physical and mental boundaries in a grueling swimming, biking and running competition, all while raising a pile of money for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In each of the past two years, the event raised more than $1 million for the hospital’s pediatric cancer research program. Event organizers say they are close to hitting that mark again this year, and since their partnership began 5 years ago, almost $5 million has been raised.

There are two separate races this weekend. The first, on Saturday, September 17, is the Herbalife International Distance Race. It consists of a 1.5K swim, a 40K bike ride, and a 10K run. On Sunday, September 18, the main-event Classic Distance Race features a half-mile swim, an 18-mile bike ride, and a 4-mile run. Both races will be held against the backdrop of the Malibu coastline and some of the most scenic roads in the world, which may or may not offer consolation to the athletes slogging towards the finish line.

The 2011 field is full, so those who want to enter are going to have to wait for next year. However, spectators are welcome, and on Saturday, all comers can get a head start on 2012 at an ocean swim clinic, which starts at 10:30 a.m.

As if the sands and surf of Zuma Beach aren’t enough to bring folks out, fun and healthy activities have been planned by the event and its sponsors. Kaiser Permanente will offer free health screenings from its Mobile Health Van, and Paul Mitchell stylists will give haircuts for a $15 donation to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Other sponsors will set up booths with their own products.

For kids, a “Fun Zone” will have airbrush artists, crafts, games and photo booths. There will also be a “Tot Trot,” where kids ages 7 and under can participate in a 50-yard or 100-yard dash to win medals, T-shirts and other prizes. Entry in the “Tot Trot” is $20, with all proceeds going to Children’s Hospital.

Of course, being in Malibu, the triathlon has attracted quite a few celebrities over the years, including Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey, Mario Lopez, Will Ferrell, and Robin Williams.  So far, confirmed for this year’s event are John Cryer of Two and a Half Men, Mark Feuerstein, Oscar Nuñez, and Chris Harrison, star of The Bachelorette and The Bachelor.

The Nautica Malibu Triathlon starts around 7 a.m. this Saturday and Sunday; see the online schedule for more details. Parking and travel details are also available via the website. For those who can’t make it out but still want to support Children’s Hospital’s pediatric cancer research, donations may be made in the name of participants.

Posted 9/14/11