Economist.com Cities Guide: Los Angeles Briefing - August 2005

News this month

A deep problem

Blacks in Los Angeles often face profound inequalities. Just how deep those problems run is revealed by a new study from the Los Angeles Urban League and the United Way of Greater Los Angeles. Blacks, who make up just under 10% of the local population, score badly on just about every economic and social measure. Most disturbingly, the study reckons that 32% of black males born in 2001 in LA County will spend part of their life in prison. Their prison terms are also longer: the average sentence for blacks charged with violent offences is 46 months, compared with 39 months for Latinos and just 13 months for whites.

They also have the highest rate of homelessness and are three times more likely to die of murder or from HIV/AIDS. On an “equality index” of economic and social data that puts whites at 100, Asians score 98, Latinos 71 and blacks a depressing 69.

Better late than never

Almost half of the containers that enter the United States pass through the huge Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex. Finally, the port is now equipped with special portals that can detect minute amounts of radiation. So far some 14 portals have been installed, and 90 are planned for by the end of the year. These work by scanning a container truck for explosives or nuclear materials as it drives slowly through a portal. In theory, such checks are already made by customs officials using hand-held devices; in practice, the volume of container traffic has been far too great for anything but random checks.

The goal is now to check everything. This makes sense, given the economic importance of LA's port complex. However, terrorism in the port itself is not the main concern; one senior official reckons that terrorists may use the port as a conduit but would prefer to carry out an explosion where they could kill as many people as possible. A container coming through the port could just as easily end up in downtown Chicago as downtown LA.

Unusual suspects

Burbank, home to a share of the film industry, is making news fit for the big screen. A popular Burbank councilwoman, Stacey Jo Murphy, was arrested on July 13th after police raided her home and found cocaine, three loaded handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition. The arrest was part of a larger investigation into Ms Murphy's boyfriend, Scott Schaffer, who allegedly has ties to the violent, drug-dealing San Fernando Valley gang known as the Vineland Boyz. Ms Murphy, who faces charges of drug possession and child endangerment (a divorcee, she shares custody of her 12-year-old son), says she will not attend any council meetings until she appears in court. But she intends to serve out her four-year-term, which started in May. Neighbours in Ms Murphy's suburb were roundly shocked. She is scheduled to be arraigned in court on August 25th.

The police, after arresting more than a score of suspects in late July, claim to have inflicted real damage on the Vineland Boyz, whom they have been investigating since the murder of a rookie police officer in November 2003. A spokesman for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, however, is sceptical, saying that only one of 22 arrests had a known connection to the gang; the others were just “a cell of mid-level drug dealers”.

Head transplant

The Los Angeles Times, the city's paper of record, will have a change of guard: John Carroll, editor for the past five years, is stepping down in favour of the managing editor, Dean Baquet, who takes over on August 15th. But why alter the helm of a newspaper that has been riding high, with 13 Pulitzer Prizes during Mr Carroll’s reign? The outgoing editor explains that, at the age of 63, he wants “to be a free man” and sail in the Chesapeake Bay.

Some also speculate that the Times’s owner, the Tribune Company of Chicago, is looking to stem the loss of readers and raise the profit margin. The paper's daily sales have fallen 6.5% in the past year, and the firm recorded a profit of 17.6%; Gannett, the industry leader, had a margin of 27.7%. Some predict cuts to the newspaper's large reporting staff, even though Mr Baquet, the first African American to edit a big US newspaper, apparently agreed to take the job only after receiving assurances that he would have the freedom and money to maintain the Times's worldwide news operation.

And the presidency goes to...

Stand by for some melodramatic Hollywood in-fighting: Melissa Gilbert (who once starred in “Little House on the Prairie”, a television show from the 1970s) has decided not to run for a third two-year term as president of the Screen Actors’ Guild, an important union. Contenders for the post all seem to be aging television stars, including Morgan Fairchild (one-time star of “Falcon Crest”), Alan Rosenberg (“LA Law”) and 70-year-old Robert Conrad (some remember him from “The Wild Wild West” of the 1960s).

Being the SAG president carries no salary, but a great deal of prestige and potential power. SAG represents almost 120,000 actors in TV, films, commercials and music videos—which means the union's president has a crucial role in negotiating benefits with studios and media firms. It is a hard balancing act: many union members want a job at almost any price, and rich studios can afford to play hardball. These negotiations are invariably fraught (remember the six-month strike in 2000?). Meanwhile, new technology raises new questions, such as how much actors should get for video-game characters that bear their likeness.

Catch if you can

August 2005

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Until October 10th 2005

Born in Brooklyn to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a prolific painter with a short career. He began as a graffiti artist, covering New York streets with cryptic aphorisms and faux-naive, expressive figures. The art world slowly opened its doors to him in 1981 and 1982, finding room for his oversized paintings with their impatient lines, bits of text and bold colours. He was only 21 when he painted some of his finest works, which are remarkable for their gritty energy and balanced compositions. He brought the urgency of the city street into galleries, a rare black face amid the lily-white art scene.

As he became more famous, his work became more essentialist, filled with African themes and Afro-Caribbean imagery. Though his work continued to be compelling throughout his stunted career, his later self-importance stole away some of the energy he had in his first canvases. He lived hard, and tragically died of a drug overdose in 1988; he was only 27. The Museum of Contemporary Art has over 100 of his works in an exhibition organised by New York's Brooklyn Museum.

MOCA, 250 South Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Tel: +1 (213) 626-6222. Open: Mon, Fri 11am-5pm; Thurs 11am-8pm; Sat, Sun 11am-6pm. Entry $8. See the museum’s website.

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