Community Briefs

L.A. secession may cost taxpayers more

A study shows a breakaway city in the harbor area would generate
$35.4 million less in revenue than is needed to pay for existing
city services.

The findings in the preliminary study were a blow to harbor
secessionists, but leaders opposed to a breakup of Los Angeles said
the study proves independence for the Wilmington and San Pedro
districts would cost residents dearly.

The harbor area is one of three areas which secessionists are
trying to carve out as new cities: The San Fernando Valley and
Hollywood also have breakaway movements.

Secessionists said they were confident they could eliminate the
deficit in the projected $159 million budget through savings from
contracting for police, fire and other services.

“We are going to put together an efficient form of
government,” said Andrew Mardesich, executive director of the
Harbor Study Foundation, which is pushing for a November 2002 vote
on cityhood.

Mardesich said preliminary talks with the Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department about policing the harbor area have
convinced him that just that portion of the budget can be cut by up
to $15 million while providing better services.

Children in foster care are at risk for
violence

At least 40 percent of children in foster care continue to be
exposed to violence, even after entering out-of-home placement,
reported a study in the May issue of the Journal of the American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The study, led by UCLA child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr.
Bonnie Zima and authored by Dr. Brad Stein of Santa Monica-based
RAND, also links violence exposure to high levels of distress among
foster care children.

The researchers assessed lifetime and recent violence exposure
in 300 Los Angeles County children, ages 6 to 12, living in foster
care. During their lifetime, 85 percent reported witnessing
violence, including weapon-related violence, and 51 percent were
victims of violence.

In addition, 54 percent of the children had witnessed violence
and 41 percent had been a victim of violence during the past six
months. Such exposure, however, does not necessarily imply that
violence occurred in foster homes or as a result of continuing
contact with the biological family. Violence exposure after
placement also may have occurred at school or in other community
settings.

Activists heighten anti-sonar campaign

The Navy’s new low-frequency sonar creates an
“acoustic traffic jam” that threatens the way whales
and dolphins communicate, environmentalists claimed Thursday in a
stepped-up campaign against the system.

“If deployed, all species and marine animals could be
affected,” said Natural Resources Defense Council attorney
Joel Reynolds.

Reynolds was joined by actor Pierce Brosnan and other opponents
of the sonar system in a press conference before the first of three
public hearings scheduled by the National Marine Fisheries Service
on the issue. The fisheries service will decide if the Navy should
be exempt from environmental protection laws, which would give the
military clearance to deploy the sonar system. The Navy has said
its sonar, designed to detect quiet submarines by emitting sound
waves at 180 decibels, does not pose a significant threat to marine
life.

But environmentalists are trying to convince the fisheries
service otherwise. They say the sonar system harms whales and other
sea creatures, and they want more research before the Navy should
be allowed to move forward.

Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.