Eric Pierce’s Blog

Ball and chain

My brother’s getting married Saturday and Monday is a holiday, so blogging will be light for the next couple days.

If anything really funny happens at the wedding, like a crazy uncle has too much to drink and begins rambling incoherently during a toast (believe me, it’s possible), I’ll share the details here.

Until then, it’s Thursday, which means we have a paper tomorrow. Here’s what’s on tap:

•The Downey City Council on Tuesday approved plans for Villa Lubec, the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion that will soon be towering over the Lubec Street neighborhood in northeast Downey. The Council approved the house by a 3-1 vote (with Councilman Kirk Cartozian, who spoke at a previous Planning Commission meeting, abstaining and Councilwoman Anne Bayer dissenting).  Interestingly, Councilman Rick Trejo said he would vote AGAINST the project before he voted FOR it just minutes later. That was a head-scratcher. And he didn’t return calls for comment.

•Staff writer Mary Forney chronicles the abandoned cat problem at Rancho Los Amigos. More accurately, it’s former Rancho property that now belongs to the County. About 150 homeless cats roam the empty buildings, which may soon be torn down for redevelopment. The L.A. Times did a story earlier this year, which helped spur food donations, but no new homes for the felines. Check out pictures (some pretty gruesome) here.

•Local government officials, including Mayor Pro Tem Mario Guerra, are trying to convince Gov. Schwarzenegger to leave local funds alone when creating a state budget. It’s a wait-and-see.

•Last week, staff writer Scott Cobos featured the Downey Hoopsters, inaccurately describing them as “the only travel basketball team in Downey.” Um, wrong. He forgot the Downey Ball Hogs, a team that plays out of Warren High School. We introduce you to them this week.

To Scott’s defense, the mistake is one his editor (me) should have caught. But what can I say, I had never heard of the Downey Ball Hogs either.

•Scott also features the Bocce Ball Club of Downey for this week’s “Downey in Action.”

Plus a lot more. Hope you can pick up a copy.

Autistic man goes missing

Downey police are asking for the public’s help in finding Trayvion Thomas, 21, who walked away from his Dalewood Avenue home Tuesday at about 11:25 a.m.

Thomas suffers from autism and other developmental disabilities.

Police described Thomas as black, 5 ft. 11 in., 200 lbs., with black hair and black eyes. He was last seen wearing jean shorts, a red Angels baseball jacket, and white shoes.

Thomas has a history of disappearing: he walked away from his group home about three weeks ago before turning up in West L.A.

Anyone with information on Thomas’s whereabouts are asked to call the Downey Police Department at (562) 904-2308 or Det. Raul Salazar at (562) 904-2332.

DUI checkpoints Thursday

This came in too late for last week’s paper, but the Downey Police Department will be conducting DUI checkpoints this Thursday from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. at various locations within the city.

“Traffic volume and weather permitting, all vehicles may be checked and drivers who are under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs will be arrested,” Sgt. Dean Milligan of the Downey Police Department said in a press release.

A checkpoint earlier this year at Firestone Boulevard and La Reina Avenue netted five arrests.

The checkpoints are being funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Time to sign a budget

Courtesy SourceWatch

Fifty-seven days into the state’s new fiscal year, and California still doesn’t have a budget. Good grief. And that’s irking local officials, including Mayor Pro Tem Mario Guerra, who issued the following statement:

It’s time to sign a budget. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Compromise Budget has enough in it for both sides to agree on. It offers solutions and protects local government. Given the choice between borrowing from local governments and temporarily increasing the sales tax, it’s clear that the temporary sales tax — which is ultimately a tax decrease — is the fiscally responsible choice.

This proposal includes meaningful budget reform, $2 billion in additional cuts, protects Prop. 1A and Prop. 42, and funds Prop. 98 $1.2 billion above current year levels. It also includes a temporary (three year) 1-cent increase in the state sales tax, followed by a permanent 1/4-cent decrease below current levels.

It also includes a temporary shift in redevelopment funds — I know this has been a big concern, so here’s additional information: this 5 percent shift is for three years, 2008-09 through 2010-11. After that, the 5 percent stays local and doesn’t need to be shifted to ERAF (Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund). The proposal was structured to provide 5 percent or $225 million, whichever was greater. The $228 million assumed for 08-09 is what the 5 percent is anticipated to yield in the budget year.

The Governor is still opposed to increasing taxes but believes that it is fiscally responsible — as opposed to more borrowing or raiding local government. I agree with this position and urge everyone to let our legislators know that it is time to make the tough, but right, decision for our citizens.

Schwarzenegger so far seems reluctant to borrow money - at steep interest rates - from local governments, which would probably include Downey.

“When I stepped into this mess we had to borrow,” Schwarzenegger said. “But that hasn’t even been paid off. You can’t have a loan out that you haven’t paid off — can’t even find a way to pay it off — and you say, ‘Let’s borrow more.’ That is terrible business. That’s what gets people into trouble with their credit cards. All of a sudden they’re in bankruptcy.

“Just bite the bullet and get the revenue from the temporary sales tax increase.”

Good column on the subject in yesterday’s L.A. Times.

A mansion lurks ahead

Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Villa Lubec, a six-bedroom, eight-bathroom Italian Renaissance estate that, barring a last-minute denial by the City Council, will soon be built in northeast Downey.

The two-story mansion, zoned for a single-family residence, encompasses more than 7,000 square feet and includes two separate two-car garages.

Blueprints for the mansion were approved by the Design Review Board in May, but local resident and teacher George Redfox appealed the decision, saying the new home violates the city’s municipal code, specifically section 9110.14 (”The architecture and general appearance of the building shall be in keeping with the character of the neighborhood and such as not to be detrimental to the general welfare of the neighborhood in which they are located.”).

The Planning Commission rejected Redfox’s appeal, so he appealed again, this time to the City Council, which will hear the case at its meeting tomorrow night.

In a staff report, city officials urged the council to deny the appeal, claiming differing architectural styles already dot the Lubec Street neighborhood.

“The proposed project design features an Italian Renaissance architectural style. The surrounding neighborhood has been in transition with constructions from exterior modifications to a new single-family residence,” Deputy City Manager Gilbert Livas wrote in a staff report. “Additionally, the homes within the neighborhood have a variety of architectural styles ranging from California Ranch, Spanish, Mediterranean, and Contemporary styles, as well as several homes with an eclectic architectural style.”

Livas said the two garages would be concealed behind a front gate.

“Also, the front entrance has been enhanced with details rather than increasing in size to stay consistent with the neighborhood,” Livas said.

Damon Bottoms of Perris owns the property. Through his representative, Daniel Cano of Covina-based Premier Real Estate, Bottoms said he intends to live in the mansion with his family and mother.

The Mansion

Blueprints show the mansion would be luxurious, if not outlandish, when complete. The home’s first floor would include:

•One bedroom
•Two baths
•Living and dining rooms
•Kitchen
•Family room
•Library
•Wine room
•Alfresco living area
•and a porte-cochere (carriage porch)

The second floor would call for:

•One master bedroom and bath
•Three bedrooms
•Five baths
•One guest room
•Theater
•Terrace
•and a laundry room

The mansion would be painted a cream color, with “yellowish cream” accents and a brown door. A clay tile roof would also be brown in color.

Inspiration

On June 24, architect Theron Pate submitted a letter to the city of Downey detailing his inspiration for designing Villa Lubec.

“Although the architectural inspiration for Villa Lubec came from a wide range of sources (including a neighboring Italian Renaissance structure located at 9489 Raviller Drive, Downey), it was Villa Philbrook, located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that provided the initial spark that revealed the emotional essence of well proportioned Italian Renaissance architecture,” Pate said. “With Villa Philbrook being of such grand scale and truly representative of the most positive connotations of the word ‘mansion,’ the design objective with Villa Lubec was to take this aforementioned emotional essence and infuse it into a structure of much more appropriate ‘un-mansionlike’ scale befitting its location and surroundings. And in doing so, break the massing of the overall structure into individual elements of residential proportion sensitive to the architectural character of the neighborhood.”

Architects are a zany bunch. Here’s more:

“Upon approaching the main entrance, the sound of a fountain’s playing water can be heard through the ornamental iron gate, which upon entering leads to the architectural intrigue and tranquility of the entry portico and entry loggia. As for the vehicular entry, a motor court has been screened from view by a porte cochere element wide enough for only one vehicle to pass through at a time. Consequently, the garage doors themselves have been pulled away from the street as far as possible, in an effort to entirely eliminate their negative impact on the front elevation street scene.”

Council decision

The City Council will decide tomorrow whether or not “Villa Lubec” actually materializes from pipe dream to reality. The meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. inside City Hall.

Here are a few more blueprints:

The property as it appears today.

‘Tropic Thunder’ arrest

Sometimes protesters can go too far.

Three developmentally-disabled activists in Framingham, Mass. were arrested over the weekend as they protested the film “Tropic Thunder” at a local movie theater.

The protesters bought movie tickets and sat in the theater’s lobby “to urge moviegoers to boycott the film.”

Police arrested the three and charged them with trespassing while engaging in civil disobedience.

Arc of Southeast Los Angeles County has been vocal in their opposition to “Tropic Thunder” and their use of the word “retard.” But with the exception of the movie’s Hollywood premiere, officials have chosen not to protest at local theaters.

Downey Bob’s in the L.A. Times

Via L.A. Times

Apparently it wasn’t only me who noticed the sudden resurgence of Bob’s Big Boy restaurants.

The L.A. Times has a story today on the diner’s return to the American conscience. They also have a cool feature on the “hunt” for Googie architecture.

But how was the food?

Photo by Eric Pierce

The consensus among people I’ve spoken to regarding Nordic Fox’s impending closure has been:

“It’s a shame they’re closing, but the food there wasn’t that great.”

Nordic Fox’s lackluster menu is a tough thing to admit, because the restaurant’s management have been great stewards for the community…

Nordic Fox will close Aug. 31 due to slumping sales. Manager Joe Becker said he would need at least $30,000 to keep the restaurant open through the holidays, when he expects sales (and the economy) would pick up. His attempts to secure a small business loan were unsuccessful.

Nordic Fox was a favorite hangout of my old editor, John Adams. They treated him well there, and when his health and mobility skills faltered, they made sure he was always well-fed.

They treated John like a guest, not a burden. And for that I thank them.

We’ll have the full story on Nordic Fox’s closing in tomorrow’s paper, plus a heartfelt “letter to the editor” from the restaurant’s owner, Jane Hendricks.

Here’s what else you can expect:

• A judge denied bail for alleged investment scam operator Juan Rangel, calling the Mexican national a potential flight risk. And more alleged victims are slowly coming forward. Staff writer Mary Forney has the story.

•Mary also profiles a prison ministry that works in conjunction with Calvary Chapel Downey. The group travels to prisons throughout the country, speaking to inmates who hope for a reformed life.

•Results from the California Standards Tests have been revealed, and it’s mostly good news for Downey schools. Most scores are up from previous years, with the exception being third grade reading and speling.

•The Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Band closes out the summer concerts Wednesday at Furman Park. (This means Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas are not far off.)

Plus: A new travel basketball team begins operation, Dr. Alan Frischer talks hot/cold medication, and Soroptimist International of Downey is our featured “Downey in Action.”

Hope you enjoy the issue.

Nordic Fox is closing

Flickr photo courtesy Googiesque

The Nordic Fox restaurant at Paramount Boulevard and 3rd Street in Downey is closing later this month, manager Joe Becker confirmed today.

Becker cited rising food prices and a decline in customers as the reason. The restaurant’s last day will be Aug. 31.

I’m on my way to Nordic Fox right now. We’ll have a complete story this week.

A tad inappropriate?

Forgive me for sounding prudish, but isn’t the outfit pictured above a tad bit inappropriate for a teenage beauty pageant, let alone Hollywood Boulevard?

Nancy Pelayo, above, was crowned Miss California Latina at a pageant July 12. Downey High School junior Ashley Campuzano, wearing a beautiful (and much more modest) ensemble, was named Miss Teen California Latina at the same event.

Speaking strictly as a guy, I don’t understand why some women choose to continually cover their natural beauty with gobs of make-up and provacative clothing. It’s not attractive.

And the fact that pageant winners are looked up to by little girls as supposed role models should be further reason for these young women to cover up.

Congratulations to Ms. Campuzano, a former Miss Teen Downey, on her coronation. We’ll have a short article and pictures in this week’s paper.