Recipe: Here’s how to make Jet Tila’s Easy Lo Mein Noodles

• June 12, 2024

Los Angeles-born celebrity chef-restaurateur Jet Tila is a skilled teacher. The son of Thai parents who immigrated to the United States, Tila reveals every essential step in the preparation of dishes in cooking sessions on his Food Network show, “Ready, Jet, Cook.” He offers helpful hints along the way, and relays stories tied to his delicious Thai and Chinese dishes.

His Lo Mein Noodles are a delight. Once all the ingredients are assembled, the irresistible dish cooks in just a few minutes. The dish centers on fresh egg noodles. In the marketplace they are found refrigerated, often labeled “lo mein noodles,” or “egg noodles,” or “pancit noodles.” Sadly, at my local supermarket, they no longer stock fresh egg noodles, but they carry fresh Japanese Yaki Soba noodles. They are tightly packed and accompanied by small sauce packets. I’ve found they work just fine for Tila’s Easy Lo Mein, but they tend to stick together and require some pulling apart in the heat of the skillet using two forks — some of them break but it doesn’t seem to matter. The sauce packets that are included with them in the package can be discarded or used for another dish.

Tila’s Easy Lo Mein Noodles

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

Sauce:

1/4 cup chicken broth

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon Asian-style toasted sesame oil

Noodles:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 teaspoons minced fresh ginger

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, sliced into bite-size pieces

2 to 3 cups fresh egg noodles

1/2 medium-large peeled carrot, cut into thin strips (julienned)

1/4 pound baby bok choy, bottom 1-inch removed, cut on the diagonal into strips

Garnish: 3 green onions, cut into 1/2-inch diagonal pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. Before you start to cook, get all ingredients ready to use.

2. Sauce: Stir together the broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, cornstarch, and sesame oil; set aside.

3. Noodles: Heat a deep large skillet over high heat and add oil. When oil is hot, add ginger and garlic; cook stirring frequently until lightly browned and fragrant, about 20 seconds. Stir in chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until chicken is halfway cooked, about 1 1/2 minutes.

4. Add noodles, carrots and bok choy and cook until tender, about 1 to 2 minutes. Stir sauce and pour it into the pan, making a thin stream over entire surface of noodle mixture; toss and stir to incorporate sauce into ingredients.

5. Continue to cook until chicken is cooked through, and the sauce starts to bubble and thicken. Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with green onions.

Source: Food Network, courtesy of Jet Tila

Award-winning food writer Cathy Thomas has written three cookbooks, including “50 Best Plants on the Planet.” Follow her at @CathyThomas Cooks.com.

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​ Orange County Register 

Stagecoach Country Music Festival announces 2025 dates. Tickets go on sale this week

• June 12, 2024

It’s about time to dust off the cowboy boots and bolo ties. Goldenvoice’s Stagecoach Country Music Festival is set to return to the Empire Polo Club in Indio on April 25-27, 2025, and the tickets go on sale this week.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s sister country fest will follow the back-to-back weekends of Coachella, which will be held on April 11-13 and 18-20.

Although Stagecoach hasn’t officially announced the lineup, advanced passes will go on sale at 11 a.m. Friday, June 14 at stagecoachfestival.com. General admission passes start at $499 during the advance sale and will increase to $529 later with multiple-tier pricing. Corral standing pit passes in front of the Mane Stage start at $1,799, and reserved seating starts at $1,099-$2,199. A Rhinestone Saloon pass, which includes a viewing area of the Mane Stage with specialty food and drink vendors, air-conditioned restrooms, and a festival merchandise booth, starts at $899. Passes will be available at stagecoach.com.

This past April, Stagecoach celebrated its 16th year in Indio with headlining sets by Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen. As usual, festival curators also expanded the layout to expand restauranteur and TV personality Guy Fieri’s Stagecoach Smokehouse.

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EDM DJ and producer Diplo curated and expanded the Honky Tonk Dance Hall, bringing some of his friends and DJ’s including The Chainsmokers, Alana Grace, Cheat Grace, Cheat Codes, DJ Keahi, DJ Lauren, James Kennedy and more. Even though the Honky Tonk was setting the tone with DJ sets, the after-parties at Late Night in Palomino were just as massive. Nickelback, Diplo, and Wiz Khalifa all headlined the stage with densely packed-out crowds that had fans stretched all the way to the perimeters of the festival.

​ Orange County Register 

Travel: Here’s why the best way to see French Polynesia is on a cruise ship

• June 12, 2024

“Welcome to paradise!”

Experience should tell well-traveled warm-weather wanderlusters that when offered this greeting at a tropical resort, it’s best to take it with a grain of sea salt. Too many times has this heat-seeking holiday maker been burned, not by the sun’s rays, but that seemingly hospitable phrase.

At the five-star GoldenEye resort in Jamaica, for one, “paradise” had me waking up in a bedsheet speckled with blood despite having the protection, or not, of a mosquito net and generous layer of insect repellant. Las Brisas Acapulco is a luxury property affectionally called “The Pink and White Paradise,” but the only color I saw was red due to loud service carts whizzing past our room at all hours of the night. A drive-by shooting across the street was the cherry on top during a visit that was far from utopian.

If I had a nickel — or other small-value coin of foreign currency — for every time a tropical destination failed to live up to the paradisical hype, that would be a tidy sum and fodder for a tell-all travel book. But since life is short and we need more positivity in this topsy-turvy world, let’s not dwell on places where slices of heaven are inadvertently mixed with bits of hell. We should instead focus our travel binoculars on a corner of the world that rarely disappoints.

A couple from Mexico celebrates their fifth wedding anniversary on a motu. (Photo by David Dickstein)

We’re talking about French Polynesia in the center of the serene South Pacific. Made up of five archipelagoes and 118 islands, nearly half of them uninhabited, this pinch-me place is a popular setting for screensaver graphics and wall calendars. It literally is the model of what many of us picture as the quintessential tropical paradise.

Who doesn’t dream of cooling off with a fruity libation while lounging beside palm trees swaying in the breeze on a pristine white-sand beach? Here’s where that vision becomes reality, and the icing on the coconut cake are views of crystal-clear turquoise waters surrounded by lush, green mountains. Even sweeter, unlike many vacation destinations near the equator, French Polynesia gets the seal of approval — a Level 1 travel advisory — from the U.S. State Department for safety.

A floating bar on a private motu redefines “watering hole.” (Photo by David Dickstein)

Air Tahiti Nui, American, Delta, French Bee, Hawaiian and United airlines all fly between Tahiti and Los Angeles or San Francisco, and it’s a minimum of eight hours in the air. Although not a short trip, or a cheap one with roundtrips costing north of a grand, the ROI is a French-accented dream vacation with a joie de vivre.

Blessed with unmatched beauty, unique culture, friendly people and an alluring sense of seclusion, French Polynesia is a favored nation for honeymooners, celebrants of milestone anniversaries and others with the urge to splurge somewhere sultry besides the likes of South Florida, Hawaii, Costa Rica and the Caribbean.

The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort is famous for its overwater villas and majestic views. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Staying at a resort is how 80% of visitors do French Polynesia, per the country’s tourism authority (tahititourisme.com), and many go big with lodging at one of those luxurious overwater bungalows synonymous with the destination. The pinnacle of posh is arguably The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort (www.stregisborabora.com), where from inside your high-class hut you can watch sea life though glass-bottom flooring, and outside jump into an aquamarine lagoon off your private platform with a perfect view of iconic Mount Otemanu.

Making a full-service, five-star resort your base for an entire vacation sounds like paradise, and the majority of visitors would seem to agree. But know that if you ever want to explore other islands to get a different taste of Tahitian-French culture, that, mon amie, can be a hassle. Because flights and ferry service are limited to certain islands and days of the week, even the most resourceful hotel concierge may try to talk guests out of this well-intentioned, yet impractical idea.

The luxury, 332-passenger Paul Gauguin is specially built for Polynesian waters. (Photo by David Dickstein)

If catching “island fever” after spending a few days on one property is a possibility, then your best ticket to paradise could be a cruise. By ship is the easiest way to visit multiple islands in a sprawling destination that’s roughly the size of Europe. On a typical 7- to 10-day journey around the Society Islands, for example, ships make calls in Moorea, Taha’a, Raiatea, Huahine and, of course, Bora Bora, before returning to Tahiti. Paul Gauguin, Windstar and Silversea are offering the most roundtrips with this itinerary over the next year, give or take a port, and of special note are those that anchor overnight in Bora Bora.

One of the benefits of cruising is you go to many places and unpack only once. But when given the opportunity to abandon ship to spend a night in an overwater villa, fussing with luggage a second time is a pleasant inconvenience. On a recent weeklong “More Society Islands & Tahiti” voyage aboard the 332-passenger Paul Gauguin, at least two guests skipped out on their spacious veranda stateroom with butler in exchange for an “Overwater Deluxe Villa” at the St. Regis, the only Forbes five-star resort in Bora Bora. That coveted category starts at $1,530 a night. By comparison, the InterContinental Tahiti and Hilton Tahiti were reporting midweek availability in July with rates starting at $330 and $370, respectively, but with markedly less wow factor.

Selling points of the St. Regis include snorkeling safely in the stunning Lagoonarium stocked with more than 120 species of fish, adults-only nooks and crannies, a heavenly spa, themed dining events nearly every night at one of the six restaurants and bars (the luau-like Polynesian Evening on Wednesdays is a high-energy hoot), and among the recreational offerings is an assigned bicycle for every guest.

The farewell party on Paul Gauguin is bittersweet for guests and crew. (Photo by David Dickstein)

The good life continues back on the Paul Gauguin (www.pgcruises.com). With an excellent 1:1.5 crew-to-guest ratio, service on the Paul Gauguin is solid — quite possibly the most caring and friendly this sea-legged scribe has experienced. Several among the crew flaunted other talents at a delightfully entertaining crew show on the penultimate evening.

A Polynesian revue dazzles guests aboard the Paul Gauguin. (Photo by David Dickstein)

On other nights in the understatedly beautiful 314-seat Grand Salon, Polynesian culture is shared through song and dance by impressive local acts. Late-night entertainment is often a weak link on small ships, but not here; the Santa Rosa Band and pianist-singer Jerry Lomocso are two versatile acts out of the Philippines worthy of the extended contracts they just received.

Paul Gauguin passengers enjoy a day on a private motu. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Shipboard entertainment, a stern-side marina for watersports, and most organized activities are included in the cruise fare, which for a 7-day sail can be booked for as low as $5,000, double occupancy. What’s not included are treatments at the well-managed Algotherm Spa and shore excursions. That’s typical even for luxury-category cruising. Looking at a few tours, ATVing in Huahine costs $279 per machine (single or double), but the views along the route, road and off-road, are priceless; “Coral Garden Drift Snorkeling” ($120 in Raiatea, $125 in Taha’a) takes swimmers to one of the best spots in the world; and the “WaveRunner Adventure” in Moorea ($239 per machine, single or double) includes a pitstop at a motu for a thrilling ray encounter.

A cappuccino mousse dessert caps a lovely dinner at L’Etoile. (Photo by David Dickstein)

Adventures of the epicurean kind were mostly successful on the recent cruise; dishes starring steaks, shellfish, lamb and veggies were of the high caliber one would expect from French-based Ponant, which acquired the ship in 2019, and is known for outstanding cuisine. A tip of the chapeau to Cheese Night at L’Etoile restaurant, featuring a dazzling spread of 15 types of prized French fromage.

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Like the food, pretty much everything about the Paul Gauguin goes down smoothly. Even the ship’s bones are specially designed for smooth navigation in Polynesian waters, and at the risk of causing a nerd alert, here’s why: A 17-foot draft allows the ship to get in close to shallow lagoons and isolated islands, maximizing stopover time.

As for parts of the ship we can actually see, recent refurbishments have the 27-year-old ship looking younger and more distinguished than when I sailed on it in 2018. If only the spa’s $210 “Deep Regenerating Sun Care” treatment could have done that for me.

​ Orange County Register 

UC Regents appoint first Latino UCLA chancellor

• June 12, 2024

Dr. Julio Frenk, a global health expert and current president of the University of Miami, was named Wednesday as the next chancellor of UCLA, making him the first Latino to lead the Westwood university in its history.

Frenk will take over the job on Jan. 1, 2025, succeeding Gene Block, who is stepping down on July 31. UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt will serve as interim chancellor until Frenk arrives.

“At this crucial moment for higher education, returning to the public sector to lead one of the top research universities in the world — including one of the 10 largest academic health systems — is an exciting opportunity and a great honor for me,” Frenk said in a statement. “I look forward to adding my lifelong commitment to public service in education and health care to the vibrant, diverse, and cosmopolitan community that is Los Angeles.”

Frenk will take over a campus that has been roiled in recent weeks by pro-Palestine protests. Block has come under fire both on campus and from as far away as Washington, D.C., over the university’s response to a pro-Palestine encampment and other protests sparked by the Israel-Hamas war that have occurred in the past few months.

Frenk — whose father and grandfather were Jews who fled Germany in the 1930s to Mexico to escape growing antisemitism — acknowledged the issues facing the university and institutes of higher education nationwide.

“I consider myself a boundary spanner and a bridge builder,” Frenk said. “And I know that the strength of institutions of higher learning — socially, academically and intellectually — comes from their diversity and from a willingness to cross boundaries.

” … I do think that we’re at a critical moment in higher education. There has been an erosion of trust in institutions in general, including higher education institutions. The biggest challenge for us is to reaffirm our value to society — we have to constantly earn that trust. But the opportunity is huge.”

The University of California Board of Regents approved Frenk’s selection during a special meeting Wednesday at UCLA. UC President Dr. Michael Drake hailed the choice.

“Dr. Frenk has demonstrated a powerful commitment to the health and well-being of people, institutions, and systems around the world,” Drake said. “His leadership will build on the growth and strength the campus has achieved under Chancellor Block and accelerate UCLA’s brilliant trajectory in service to Los Angeles, the nation, and the world.”

Block also praised the choice of his successor.

“Dr. Frenk is an excellent choice to take up UCLA’s chancellorship,” Block said in a statement. “He is widely respected across academia and well-known as an exceptional thinker, an administrator of considerable ability and a brilliant public health leader. UCLA is in great hands, and I am certain that our university’s star will rise even higher under him.”

Frenk, 70, will earn a base salary of $978,904.

Frenk served as Mexico’s Federal Secretary of Health from 2000 to 2006 and was credited with overhauling the nation’s health system and expanding care to millions of uninsured people. He also founded the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico. He also previously held executive positions with the World Health Organization and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. From 2009-2015, Frenk served as the dean of faculty at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

He took over as University of Miami president in January 2016.

After stepping down, Block will remain a member of the UCLA faculty. He intends to return to the lab and continue his research as a member of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences within the David Geffen School of Medicine and in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology within the UCLA College.

“As I near the end of my time as UCLA’s chancellor — a role that remains the greatest honor of my professional life — I am filled with many emotions, but above all an overwhelming gratitude for every person who has made the UCLA community so special,” Block wrote in a message to the campus community last week “So in closing, I want to simply offer you my thanks. Thank you for your dedication, creativity, resolve and commitment to excellence. Thank you for the compassion, respect and support you have shown one another. Thank you for carrying out our university’s important mission, and thank you for representing the very best of public higher education.

“At UCLA, even in dark times there is still so, so much light,” he wrote.

Block noted in his message that the war in Gaza has “sown division and strife here on campus,” even leading to instances of “outright violence.”

“The war’s impact on our campus reached a crescendo in the last six weeks, and this period now looms large in UCLA’s collective consciousness,” according to Block. “I do not wish to downplay the anxiety people continue to feel, or the significant healing that we will need to do. I do believe, though, that it is important to remember that our university, our community and this academic year are not defined solely by our current, difficult chapter.”

That strife has continued to percolate on the UCLA campus, with another day of pro-Palestinian protest on Monday culminating in another large-scale police response and more than two dozen arrests.

Frenk will inherit a campus filled with unrest. A massive encampment that grew in the center of campus in mid-April was attacked by a still-unidentified group of counter-protesters and sparked hours of violence. The next night, hundreds of police descended on the campus and forcefully dismantled the encampment, making 209 arrests.

That action has been followed by accusations of unfair labor practices by unionized employees, demands for amnesty for those arrested, a congressional inquiry into the campus’ response to antisemitism, lawsuits accusing the university of failing to protect Jewish students and accusations by protesters of excessive force by campus police and interference with free-speech rights.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block testifies during a hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses on Capitol Hill, Thursday, May 23, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

The university’s commencement ceremonies begin Friday, with departmental ceremonies planned throughout the weekend. It was unclear if those events will be disrupted by additional protests, as pro-Palestine activists continue to demand that the university divest from all businesses tied to Israel.

“The final few days of spring are a period of excitement and anticipation as we prepare to send off a new class of UCLA graduates,” Block wrote in his message last week. “Reaching this milestone is a significant accomplishment at any time, but it is especially meaningful for many of this year’s undergraduates, whose senior year of high school was disrupted by the pandemic and who were not able to participate in their schools’ typical graduation ceremonies.”

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UCLA security heightened after latest pro-Palestine protest and arrests
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As UCLA Chancellor Block testifies in Congress, students launch new campus protest
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Criticism from campus to Congress: A dark end to UCLA Chancellor Block’s tenure

When Block announced his plans last year to step down as chancellor, UCLA highlighted Block’s key achievements during his tenure, including UCLA ranking as the No. 1 public university for six years running — up from No. 4 when he joined the university.

Block increased student enrollment by 24%, while the university became the first and only UC school to guarantee housing for undergrad students and built 15 residential buildings, according to UCLA.

Block also successfully steered the university through the pandemic.

He has praised the university’s research skills that delivered five Nobel Prizes in 10 years and nearly doubled external annual research funding, according to UCLA.

Last year, the university launched UCLA South Bay on 35.5 acres on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and UCLA Downtown, a high-rise building in downtown Los Angeles.

​ Orange County Register 

Top Chef winner is bringing classic Middle Eastern food to a new Hollywood restaurant this summer

• June 12, 2024

A Lebanese born Top Chef is bringing Middle Eastern food to Hollywood in a new restaurant with a massive patio set to open this summer.

“Top Chef Middle East & North Africa” season 5 winner Charbel Hayek will be behind the kitchen at the upcoming Laya restaurant, which is set to open at 1430 N. Cahuenga Blvd. on July 2.

“It’s going to be straight-forward comfort food but executed at the highest levels,” said Hayek, who also runs the respected Lady Hawk Mediterranean restaurant in West Hollywood and has worked at other well known restaurants like Mélisse in Santa Monica under two-star Michelin chef Josiah Citrin.

For Laya he is teaming up with the Sunset Entertainment Group, which is behind well-known Los Angeles spots such as the Sunset Room, Lure, White Lotus, Le Jardin, Green Door, La Mesa Lounge and others.

Hayek fell in love with cooking while in the kitchen with his mother, who was herself an accomplished chef.

“I was a chubby kid and I loved food and my mom used to cook great food so it was a great combo,” he said with a chuckle.

At the age of 17 he moved out of Lebanon and headed to Paris to study at the French School of Excellence. While he learned French and Italian cooking techniques as well as modern American, once he went on “Top  Chef” he went back to his roots.

“Being on ‘Top Chef’ you want to create stories for every dish you are doing and the best way to do that is to go back to your memories, and every memory I have as a kid is about our cuisines,” he said.

He’s continuing on that trajectory at Laya where he is planning a Middle Eastern menu that includes various skewers, including Wagyu beef and chicken offerings as well as octopus and an artichoke skewer served with lemon garlic dressing.

“It’s soft, it’s acidic, it’s aromatic and to me it’s the perfect appetizer,” he said, referring to the artichoke dish.

He’s also serving chicken shawarma, hummus, Hanan bread and other classic dishes.

The food will come with quite an ambience since the restaurant will also boast a 6,500-square-foot outdoor patio that will seat up to 157 people.

“I can’t wait for everyone to see the restaurant. It’s turning out to be stunning,” he said.

For more information go to layarestaurant.com.

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​ Orange County Register 

Is Biden’s boost enough to build new river access, restrooms at overused area of San Gabriel Mountains?

• June 12, 2024

An ambitious plan to completely transform a popular day-use area in the Angeles National Forest, heavily damaged by hordes of visitors and offering woefully insufficient amenities, has sat on the shelf for eight years.

But when the 2016 concept plan for the East Fork/Cattle Canyon Project located on a bend in the San Gabriel River in the canyon just north of Azusad was mentioned by President Joe Biden during his expansion of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in May, the project took on a new life.

A pile of trash left behind along the San Gabriel River East Fork in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument is seen on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023. Now a plan to revitalize the East Fork area could break ground in early 2025. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
A schematic shows the improvements planned for the Oaks area access, a portion of the 2.5-mile stretch of the East Fork of the San Gabriel River in Azusa Canyon in the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument in a concept plan originally conceived in 2016. (image by Lynne Dwyer, landscape architect/BlueGreen Consulting).

Still, even a presidential push may not be enough for this project to become a reality. Delays and underfunding, both familiar themes with projects involving the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument’s manager — the U.S. Forest Service — could doom improvement of this natural spot where thousands come each year to play in the river, barbecue, picnic and gain relief from the heat and other urban pressures.

The project would would add 270 parking spaces, six river access points, 10 restrooms, six picnic areas, a 2-mile river trail and bus/tram stops along a 2.5-mile stretch of the East Fork. It is estimated to cost $20 million to $30 million. The Water Conservation Authority (WCA), the lead on the project, has received about $2.5 million from the state Rivers and Mountains Conservancy and is searching for more funds.

“It is a critical project and it still needs a lot more funding. You will probably need a big donor to come in. I don’t believe the state, nor the federal government, can offset this cost gap,” said Nathan Nunez, founder of The Canyon City Environmental Project, a local nonprofit.

Trash left behind in East Fork area. The Canyon City Environmental Project began a cleanup there on July 30, 2023. In the first three hours volunteers with the group removed over a ton of trash. (photo courtesy of Canyon City Environmental Project.)

His group leads cleanup efforts along the project area. In July and August of last year, his group removed tons of trash left behind by visitors. They collected one ton of trash in the first three hours, he said. “It was trash in the river, big trash piles on the side of the river and on the side of the road. Trash was everywhere and anywhere,” he said.

Nunez is a descendant of Indigenous peoples from a Native American San Gabriel Mountain village called Japchivit, so he’s vested in seeing his ancient homeland beautified.

The USFS admits that with 4.6 million visitors a year, it can’t handle the load, especially in the East Fork areas. “The intense level of use, especially on peak days, can create management challenges that include excess trash, inadequate bathroom capacity, overflow parking that impairs emergency access, and adverse impacts to fragile water ecosystems,” according to a document released by the USFS recently.

John Monsen, a Sierra Club member who founded the group’s Forest Committee/Angeles Chapter, said Biden’s mention of the Cattle Canyon/East Fork project was not a trivial push. “I think there is a real commitment to this and I think it is going to happen,” he said.

Project early delays

Biden’s written materials about the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument said the East Fork/Cattle Canyon project would break ground later this year. But the WCA has said this month they’re hoping for groundbreaking in early 2025. Needed permits from state and federal agencies have delayed the start.

The first delays came soon after it was conceived, after President Barack Obama designated the monument in 2014, since the East Fork area is in the original monument boundary.

The Bungee America group, which operates off the Bridge to Nowhere near the bighorn Sheep Wilderness Area, sued the USFS. The private enterprise said the concept plan would not provide enough parking. Customers often park in that part of the forest and hike the rest of the way to the bungee jumping area off the bridge in a remote canyon.

Monsen said the litigation stalled the project for four years. Later, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed any work for at least three years. “It is a project that has gone through some really bad luck,” he said, adding that he believes the WCA can build the first of five phases starting early next year.

Nola Eaglin-Talmage of the WCA, and the project manager, also believes the first phase at the Oaks Picnic area access will start on time. “I believe we will have the full funding. Everyone wants this to happen, including the Forest Service,” she said on June 5.

Amenities, river access

The concept plan has five improvement areas from west to east, each with an array of amenities: Oaks Canyon Picnic/Access Area, Junction Area, Confluence Area, Coyote Flat and Heaton Flat.

Phase one would start at Oaks Canyon, with Heaton Flat the next phase, she said. The Oaks area has the most crowds and the most trash left behind. The East Fork, a source of drinking water for the region, has had so much trash in it that the local water board called the river water “impaired,” and requires the USFS to monitor total trash levels in the river, Eaglin-Talmage said.

“It becomes an important public green space to cool off in the middle of a hot summer,” she said. “That area (Oaks Canyon) received too much recreation for what it can actually handle. There have been horrible incidents of tons of trash being left behind from holiday weekends.”

People also build rock dams in the river, choking off oxygen for the endangered Santa Ana sucker fish. Moving the rocks can also destroy the fish’s spawning areas. Signs saying “no dams” will be posted, Eaglin-Talmage said.

The plan also calls for multiple river access points at each area, to unclog the logjam of people at Oaks “and disperse the human impact by providing more options,” she said.

The plan calls for making it safer to reach the river, and in more than one place, along the 2.5-mile stretch. “It is such a high recreation area that people are accessing the river by scrambling down the side of a hill,” she said.

“We would have gradual trails with reasonable access. We would stabilize the path so you could more safety get yourself down there,” said Eaglin-Talmage. The river access paths would be made of decomposed granite and have concrete stairs and railings.

Also at the Oaks access, people stack park, often preventing a car from leaving if there’s an emergency, she said. Also people block access to trash trucks, making them unable to collect trash from the forest Dumpsters. “There is no formal parking so people are wild west, parking on the side of the road,” said Eaglin-Talmage. The plan calls for adding 270 parking spots mostly along the river retaining wall.

A key part of the plan is to build recreational areas with trees, shade structures, benches, picnic grounds, more restrooms and a grassy area so people can lay down a blanket and view the river below — something not possible today because of the steep slopes and dense foliage.

“We are creating a park-like setting above the river. A really big option where you can see the river from up there. The whole area will be beautiful,” said Eaglin-Talmage.

In phase two at Coyote Flat, the plan calls for a scenic river overlook, seat walls, native trees, a perimeter path and a geology hut. Plus restrooms and picnic sites. Stairs from the parking area would lead across a boardwalk bridge to a botanical interpretive trail. Low on the priority list are shuttle stops for the Mount Wilson Express, a proposed shuttle that would connect from an A Line train station to the national forest/monument.

The Confluence Area would have river access, a new single restroom, a pedestrian bridge and a shuttle stop.

While all these amenities have been studied and approved in an Environmental Impact Report finished in October 2018 and a federal Environmental Impact Statement  completed in August 2019, they may not all get built. In the later phases, what actually gets built depends on the amount of funding in hand, said Eaglin-Talmage.

Even if the first two phases are completed, the area would be changed dramatically. Whether it is enough to prevent overcrowding and littering remains to be seen, said Nunez. He said the USFS and Caltrans must do a better job limiting the number of people into the Angeles and the national monument via Highway 39 in Azusa.

“There still needs to be a conversation on the number of people who visit this area. It is a capacity issue,” he said.

Monsen said even completing the first phase of this project would be historic and without precedent. “It is a great example of giving momentum, to show something can be done to improve visitor services within the national monument,” he said.

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Biden expands San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, adds forest rangers, funding
Volunteers, new programs aimed at curbing littering, graffiti in local mountains
Fodor’s puts San Gabriel Mountains National Monument on its 2024 ‘No List’
President Obama declares 346,000 acres of San Gabriel Mountains a national monument
Public transit into Angeles National Forest being planned for first time in 130 years

​ Orange County Register 

Budget mess is due to spending addiction

• June 12, 2024

Only two years ago, California enjoyed an unparalleled budget surplus of $97.5 billion, the result of soaring revenues and an influx of federal coronavirus funds. This editorial board advised Gov. Gavin Newsom to use that opportunity to make substantive changes to the budgeting process, invest in long-neglected infrastructure and prepare for the inevitable downturn.

Any fiscally responsible Capitol observer would have offered similar suggestions. Former Gov. Jerry Brown famously touted charts at all of his budget-release press conferences reminding observers that boom years don’t go on forever. His goal was to remind legislators not to get too carried away creating permanent spending programs.

Newsom largely ignored such advice. As federal COVID funds ran out and the economy slowed, California faced a sizable budget deficit last year. Newsom approved a variety of budget gimmicks to get through the year, with the unrealistic expectation that a recovering economy would throw a lifeline. It didn’t, and now the state faces a deficit of $45 billion (higher according to other estimates).

With no other realistic choice, the governor’s latest budget is serious about cuts, but the Legislature has resisted them. The Legislature has until midnight on Saturday to meet the state constitutional requirement that it pass a balanced budget. If they miss the deadline, the Legislature will pass a provisional budget and follow up with trailer bills.

In announcing his budget plan, the governor said many of the right things. He vowed to cut vacant state positions and avoid raising taxes, although his plan does include some proposed backdoor tax hikes for business. He would cut some from the outsized climate-change budget, slash child-care subsidies and, foolishly, swipe $12 billion from the rainy day fund.

Lawmakers are pushing back over his plans to cut housing and homelessness funding. Instead of paring social services, Democratic lawmakers want deep cuts at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. There’s plenty of room for cutting the bloated prison budget, but it’s a politically risky move at a time of growing fear about crime.

How did we get here? CalMatters columnist Dan Walters summed it up succinctly: “In 2022, Newsom’s budget staff evidently looked at a spike in tax revenue as the state’s economy recovered from the pandemic, mostly due to massive amounts of federal relief funds, and concluded that the cornucopia would continue indefinitely.” In our view, the governor owns the deficit and has no excuses given the size of the previous surplus.

One item highlights that point. Always eager to placate his labor-union allies, Newsom in October signed a law that boosted the minimum wage for healthcare workers to $25 an hour. As the Los Angeles Times reported, “The governor since has been crystal clear about his concerns over the plan’s price tag, originally pegged at $2 billion from the state general fund, with another $2 billion paid with federal funds, in its first year.”

That remains a source of contention, but it strikes us as an unforced error. Why pass something that the state likely couldn’t afford? The state will pass a budget and it will have cuts. But the entire mess is a reminder that — in flush times or lean ones — this governor and Legislature are not focused on the long-term fiscal health of the state.

​ Orange County Register 

Lakers legend and Clippers executive Jerry West dies at age 86

• June 12, 2024

Jerry West, an iconic figure in basketball who became the image of the NBA, passed away Wednesday morning at the age of 86, the Clippers announced.

West was a dynasty builder, winning nine NBA championships as a player, coach, scout, executive and consultant. As a player, he helped the Lakers win the 1972 NBA title, then went on to engineer another eight of the Lakers’ titles in the 1980s and 2000s. He was the architect of the “Showtime” dynasty.

West also was an adviser to the Golden State Warriors during their championship run and earned Executive of the Year twice (1995, 2004).

Most recently, West served as an executive board member and consultant with the Clippers, joining the team during the 2016 season at then-Coach Doc Rivers’ urging.

West was one of the game’s first superstars. He made the All-Star team in each of his 14 seasons and was named to the All-NBA team 12 times and the All-Defensive team five times with the Lakers.

He earned MVP honors in 1969, won the scoring title in 1970 and the assist title in 1972. He was named to the NBA’s anniversary team (35th, 50th and 75th) for his contributions to the game.

West also was a member of the U.S. Olympic Team that won a gold medal in 1960 at the Rome Games.

West, a graduate of West Virginia, spent his playing career with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, where he posted 25,192 points.

West is set to be inducted into the Hall of Fame for a third time this year — in 1980 as a player, in 2010 for being on the 1960 Olympic Team and this year as a contributor.

LeBron James tweeted Wednesday, “Will truly miss our convos my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever I love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy!”

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​ Orange County Register