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

News this month

A vulnerable city

Does Los Angeles, one of the top three terrorist targets in the country, get the federal homeland-security money it deserves? Not according to a report by the 9-11 Commission released in early December. America's third-most vulnerable city, after New York and Washington, DC, Los Angeles got $92m in 2005. Divided among LA itself and 16 other cities in LA County, the funds represented a lower per-capita funding than for low-risk areas such as Vermont and Wyoming.

Mark Leap, head of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, reckons LA needs at least twice this amount. But even if local lobbyists win more funds from Washington, city officials say they also need more flexibility in how they spend it. At present, federal funds cannot be used for staffing, which means that the LAPD must transfer officers from other units to beef up its counter-terrorism division. This is a challenge given that LA, the second-biggest city in America, has relatively few policemen.

Delayed

Los Angeles Airport—LAX to the aviation world—has more than a year left to prepare for the arrival of the A380 Airbus, the biggest airliner yet. But this may not be enough time for the world’s fifth-busiest airport to make all the necessary changes, which include special gates, taxiways and extra-long runways to cope with the massive aircraft and the 800 passengers on board. Building has been sluggish at best: LAX must deal not only with the logistical problems of construction in a busy airport, but also with protests from surrounding communities, which are opposed to any project that could create more noise and pollution.

The bickering over construction for the A380 is only part of a larger problem at LAX: after spending a decade and some $150m on a controversial plan to modernise the airport, the city has decided to review the scheme and will probably scrap much of it. In return, communities around LAX have agreed to drop the federal and state lawsuits that could have stopped work on the $300m rebuilding of the southern runway complex—the one project still on track. If LAX is not ready for the A380 in time, its loss will be San Francisco’s gain. LA’s northern rival has already made many of the needed changes, which has not gone unnoticed by several airlines flying lucrative trans-Pacific routes.

A Hollywood tragedy

Hollywood’s best actors can cry on demand, but the industry's executives may soon be shedding real tears. A new report from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation predicts that 2006 will be a hard year for the entertainment industry, which employs about 249,000 people in LA County. Falling cinema attendance, a slump in DVD sales (which fell from $15.2 billion in 2004 to around $10.2 billion in 2005) and the increased threat—thanks to evolving technology—of copyright piracy are all contributing factors. As if this wasn’t bad enough, studios will begin new contract talks with unions in late 2006.

With the industry aiming to cut costs, the city itself may suffer. Los Angeles is facing increased competition from other cities in America and around the world which are wooing film and television producers with tax incentives and lower labour costs.

A killing judged not to be a crime

On December 5th, the LA County district attorney announced that it would not prosecute Steve Garcia, an LA police officer who shot and killed Devin Brown, a 13-year-old black boy, last February. The boy was shot in the early hours of the morning as he backed a stolen car towards Mr Garcia, who had stepped out of his police cruiser. Though the officer will not go to jail, his problems are not over: an internal police board will now investigate whether the shooting followed police policy, and in January the LA Police Commission will decide whether to penalise or fire Mr Garcia. In April, a jury will hear a civil-rights and wrongful death suit filed by Evelyn Davis, Brown’s mother, against the city and Mr Garcia.

In the meantime, relations between the police and LA’s blacks are as tense as ever. To soothe them, Michael Cherkasky, the federal monitor overseeing the Los Angeles Police Department, has suggested that police cars be equipped with video cameras, to document the behaviour of both the police and the public.

Busted

LA’s new Orange Line buses, 60-foot-long monsters that run from downtown through the San Fernando Valley, have become moving targets for LA drivers. The buses, which are designed to speed along a congestion-free, dedicated bus-way, have averaged a collision a week since the line was launched in late October. MTA officials have ordered the bus drivers to slow to a mere 10mph at intersections with public roads, which have been festooned with warning signs and traffic lights for other drivers. So far, the MTA is refusing to consider railway-style barriers; instead, officials hope that LA drivers can be taught not to run red-light signals at intersections with the bus line.

But this hope may be in vain: despite the $341 fine, many drivers are willing to risk running a red light, particularly since contesting the fine often leads to exoneration over a technicality (often with help from the highwayrobbery.net website). Indeed, the Superior Court of California, LA County, has grown so exasperated that in November it banned any “education or counselling” within 100 feet of a courthouse that might help a driver dispute a traffic citation.

Catch if you can

December 2005

Ecstasy: In and About Altered States

Until February 20th 2006

Baby-boomers might think psychedelia rather old hat. But those nostalgic for their hippie days may relish this exhibit in the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). It features paintings, sculptures, installations and video-art created over the past 15 years by some 30 artists—most of them under the influence of some kind of hallucinogenic drug, legal or not.

Charles Ray, for example, has a life-size photograph of himself under the influence of LSD, mounted in a convex frame on a convex wall. Rodney Graham has a 26-minute video illustrating a journey in the back of a van in Vancouver while under the influence of sleep-inducing Halcion. Intriguing stuff about “altered states”—definitely not for the “Just Say No” brigade.

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, 152 North Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90013. Tel: +1 (213) 626-6222. Open: Mon, Fri 11am-5pm; Thurs 11am-8pm; Sat, Sun 11am-6pm. Entry $8. See the website for details.

More from the Los Angeles cultural calendar