No Smoke Detectors – No Fire Sprinklers – No 24 Hour Security Patrol to Detect Fires Early – No Technology – No Security Cameras – Not Even a Webcam – there's More Security at a 7-Eleven – No Nothin' – No One Will Buy Your House Now Either – "Remember there's Another Hangar Too"!
AZUSA, Calif. (KABC) — Authorities are investigating after a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s helicopter crashed in the Angeles National Forest north of Azusa Saturday.
The incident happened near Highway 39 and East Fork Road shortly before 5 p.m., according to officials.
Officials initially said five people were aboard the aircraft at the time of the crash, but L.A. Sheriff Alex Villanueva later confirmed that a total of six people were aboard. All were taken to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.
Those aboard included a pilot and co-pilot, two paramedics, one crew chief, and a doctor from UCLA on a ride-along, Villanueva said. All are expected to survive, according to officials.
One person suffered critical injuries, two suffered moderate injuries, and another two suffered minor injuries, but all are currently in stable condition, officials said.
“They’re pretty banged up, some of them, and I’ll leave it at there’s some fractures, some broken ribs, and some things of that nature,” Villanueva said. “But thankfully nothing that is life-threatening at this time, and they’re in good hands here.”
Unacceptable Risk: The Troubling Medical Helicopter Safety Record
When the helicopter landed in his yard, Larry Strittmatter didn’t think about the cost. His wife Dana had accidentally burned her leg with boiling water. Instead of driving her to one of six hospitals within 15 miles of their house near Fort Worth, Texas, paramedics called a helicopter to fly Dana to the Parkland Hospital Burn Center in Dallas.
Shortly after Larry arrived, the doctors gave his wife a bandage, a prescription for Tylenol with codeine and a swift escort to the lobby. The hospital refused to admit her for such minor injuries, leaving the Strittmatters with a $17,000 flight bill. “The doctors said they were shocked and dismayed when they saw a helicopter landing,” Strittmatter says. They had been in touch with EMTs at the scene, and after hearing Dana’s injuries described had advised that she should be transported by ground ambulance.
In Arizona, 43 percent of patients transported by helicopter to hospital ERs were discharged within 24 hours, suggesting most didn’t need a helicopter at all. In Maryland, the 24-hour discharge rate for patients transported by state police helicopters was 41 percent prior to 2008.
Dana Point will consider undergrounding utility lines to improve views and safety
“AFTER” – spending $200,000 to remodel their Dana Point home, Marilyn and Len Gardner realized a huge utility pole with as many as 20 power lines connected took away their peekaboo ocean view, and more importantly, they said, posed a safety hazard for their property.
So, Marilyn Gardner took to the NextDoor app and voiced her concerns about the dangers and unsightliness of power lines in the community. Interest, especially in the Lantern District overlooking Dana Point Harbor, grew quickly, she said.
“We had a lively conversation,” Gardner said of the response on social media. Within a few months, she and her husband founded the Poles and Lines Coalition and began talking with neighbors about what could be done. Their group grew to now more than 300 members.
“If we want to be a world-class city, we have to look a certain way,” Gardner said.
The P.A.L.Coalition then requested the city assess the location of overhead utilities and develop a cost estimate to underground the lines.
Recently, the Dana Point City Council unanimously approved hiring a consultant for $49,000 to see what it would take to bury utility lines citywide. The plan would be ambitious – the city’s cost alone to underground areas in the public domain could be as much as $500 million.
The consultant is expected to be back with a report by early summer.
“Enough of our residents in the Lantern District have done their due diligence,” Mayor Joe Muller said about the council’s willingness to move forward with the initial first step. P.A.L worked for 14 months, he said, holding community meets, meeting with experts and city officials to get the message out.
“In a bluff-top city, it’s expensive to go underground,” Muller said. “We can’t answer the questions until we know more; otherwise, we’re just shooting in the dark.”
The consultant will complete a citywide assessment and map all of the utility lines, develop a cost estimate on burying the lines and update the city’s Utility Undergrounding Assessment District Policy to meet current regulations and procedures.
Muller said it would be critical to find an appropriate funding source for the project.
“We’re looking at utility assessment districts and how we could set these up,” he said. “That how we can decide if we want to do this or not.”
Muller said that many times, when lines are buried, the costs to hook up to those lines are extremely expensive – sometimes tens of thousands of dollars. Dana Point is an older community with many people on a fixed income, so figuring out how to make the undergrounding equitable to all is critical, he said.
“Everyone thinks underground is a good idea until they have to pay for the connection,” Muller said. “How do you force it on people who don’t want it?”
About six years ago, residents in Capistrano Beach also expressed interest in undergrounding utilities, but the idea fizzled because few were keen on the high connection costs once the utilities are buried.
Muller added that the new federal infrastructure bill signed by Pres. Joe Biden in November may offer help.
Gardner also points to that as an option.
Meanwhile, she said she is ecstatic about the city’s response, but plans to do her best to reach more people in the community over the next few months while the consultant undertakes the city’s study. Her goal is to hold an in-person community meeting sometime next year.
“We’re in it for the long-haul, whatever it takes,” she said. “It’s unacceptable to have this blight on our beautiful city. I know this isn’t a done deal, but it does mean it’s starting. To have the 5-0 vote is so gratifying, and it took a lot of effort and work, but it was worth it.”
Gardner also gave props to Councilman Mike Frost, who represents the Lantern District. “He was behind every meeting.”
A recall effort funded by the Santa Ana police union against a council member who voted against police pay raises is moving forward.
Santa Ana Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias (Courtesy of the city of Santa Ana)
The recall drive against Councilwoman Cecilia Iglesias, which garnered more than 16,000 signatures, was submitted to the city on Dec. 18 and delivered the following day to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. The Registrar’s office has until Feb. 3 to verify the signatures and return those results to the city.
To qualify for a ballot, the recall bid will need to have at least 10,865 valid signatures, Registrar Neal Kelley wrote in an e-mail.
Meanwhile, a separate recall drive against Santa Ana Councilman Juan Villegas, who also voted against police pay raises, appears to have stalled or stopped. In recent months, paid signature gatherers who earlier this year were urging Santa Ana residents to approve both recall efforts, have focused solely on Iglesias.
The councilwoman said Monday that recall is political payback for her vote earlier this year against the police contract and its new pay raises.
“This tells you: ‘Who has the money has the power,’” Iglesias said.
“City Hall is being managed by third-party interests.”
The Santa Ana police union is funding the drives against the council members, according to campaign disclosure statements filed with the City Clerk’s office. The Police Officers Association has spent $220,000 since last July to oppose Iglesias, most of it going to a committee dubbed “Neighbors Supporting the Recall of Cecilia Iglesias.” The union has given another $100,000 to “Neighbors Supporting the Recall of Juan Villegas.”
Gerry Serrano, the union’s president, wrote in an email that the POA is supporting Iglesias’ recall because “her behavior while in office has been unethical, unprofessional and criminal.”
“She has slandered the police officers association. She has illegally interfered in personnel matters and does not support public safety; she voted no on the city budget and the police budget. (The) illegal behavior must not go unchecked.”
Iglesias has openly criticized Serrano. Her hashtag for him on Facebook is “#greedygerry.”
“Gerry has taken a personal stand on me because I’ve called him out. And he doesn’t like it. He’s never been called out,” Iglesias said Monday.
Serrano wrote in e-mails to the Register that Iglesias has slandered, libeled and defamed him and the union, and insisted that such conduct “is criminal.”
The POA and Serrano made similar complaints to the council on June 28, when an attorney for the union asked city officials to investigate Iglesias for city ethics and code violations.
“Councilmember Iglesias has used language that is the opposite of civil and courteous such as calling Sergeant Serrano a bully and corrupt, and that implies improper action on his part to act for personal gain,” attorney Charles Goldwasser of Sherman Oaks wrote in the letter to Mayor Miguel Pulido and the city council.
No city action has been taken, Serrano said Monday.
Iglesias voted against the city and police budget because she said she did not support $25 million in police pay raises, which included retroactive increases and extra money for long-time officers. It is not illegal to vote against the budget.
In August, when asked about allegations that the union is behind the recalls, Serrano told the Register: “we are evaluating this as it progresses.” But by the date of that email, Aug. 6, the union had done more than evaluate. The union had spent a total of $50,000 against Iglesias and Villegas, according to records filed with the city.
“It’s a waste of everybody’s time but Gerry wants to prove a point,” Iglesias said.
Both Iglesias and Villegas voted in February against spending $25 million for police pay raises. The raises are being funded by Measure X, a sales tax approved by Santa Ana voters in 2018 that is expected to generate some $60 million annually.
That 1.5 % tax – which makes Santa Ana’s 9.25 % sales tax the highest in Orange County – was supposed to fund a number of city services, including police. But a citizens’ committee tracking the money said recently that most of that tax is being spent on police expenses and other city debt.
Meanwhile, the police department recently announced that it hired 50 new officers this year, “something that has not occurred (in Santa Ana) in over 20 years.”
Iglesias and Villegas both said they support police officers but want to see fiscal responsibility. Both said the police union is out of line with the recalls.
“It’s unfortunate that police officer dues are being used for this type of propaganda. I wholeheartedly support the men and women of the Santa Ana police department, not their union,” Villegas said.
Iglesias, a Republican, said the paid canvassers collecting signatures spread misinformation about her in the predominantly Latino city. In one flyer, which misspells her name, her smiling City Hall photo appears next to one of Donald Trump, angry and screaming: “Inglesias=Trump.” Iglesias shared the flyer on Facebook.
“They were people not from Santa Ana, paid canvassers, who were misguiding individuals,” she said.
One of the union’s talking points, according to Iglesias, is that she supports having a homeless shelter in Santa Ana. But Iglesias has vociferously opposed having her city be the county’s dumping ground for the homeless. Last month, she told county supervisors that their plan to open a new shelter in Santa Ana means they don’t care about the city’s Latino community and consider its residents second-class citizens.
If enough signatures are certified as accurately belonging to Santa Ana voters, the matter goes back to the City Council to decide when it should be placed on the ballot. It’s unclear when a recall election would take place and whether it would necessitate a special election — which could cost the city about $500,000, City Clerk Daisy Gomez said.
It’s unclear whether the recall could be included on the November ballot. Iglesias plans to be on that ballot already — she’s running for mayor.
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