08.16.18

PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS
BRIEFS
ANOTHER BITE?
FAMILY PETITIONS FEDERAL APPEALS
COURT TO RECONSIDER RULING OVER
ADAM AND EVE PAINTINGS
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
The legal battle over paintings seized by the Nazis and later
purchased by the founder of the Norton Simon Museum may
not be over.
On Monday, Marei Von Saher, heir of art collector
Marei Von Saher
Jacques Goudstikker, filed a a petition to have a federal appeals
court reconsider its ruling allowing the museum to keep the nearly 500-year-old
paintings of Adam and Eve by German Renaissance painter Lucas Cranach the Elder
once owned by Goudstikker.
Saher filed her petition on the grounds that critical facts were not considered
when the court ruled against her last month and affirmed the museum’s ownership of
the classic paintings.
“I brought this case more than 10 years ago to recover artworks that were indisputably
looted by the Nazis during World War II from my family,” said Von Saher in a
statement. “I am very disappointed that the court decided against me this time, and
ask that it reconsider its decision. I am hopeful that justice — long overdue — will
finally be achieved in this case.”
Goudstikker was forced to sell his 1,200- piece collection to Nazis in 1940 before
fleeing to the Netherlands. In 1971, Norton Simon purchased Adam and Eve, two of
the paintings from that collection.
Von Saher, Goudstikkers’ daughter-in-law, began seeking the return of the family
collection in 1998. In 2006, the Dutch courts awarded her restitution of 202 paintings,
but not those two.
In 2007, federal proceedings in the US began, but the family has been hampered
by a major stumbling block: Family members did not act in time to get the artwork
back.
Last month’s ruling agreed with the previous decisions that the US had no authority
to overturn the Netherlands’ decision to allow the sale sell Adam and Eve to Simon.
“In light of the US government policy strongly urging the restitution of Nazi-looted
artworks to the victims’ families, it is particularly disturbing that the court would
permit these paintings to remain in the museum,” Von Saher’s lawyer Lawrence Kaye
said in a statement. “As Congress expressly stated in the recently enacted HEAR
(Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery) Act. which permits claimants a greater opportunity
to bring restitution claims without fear of having them dismissed as untimely,
the law should ensure that the US policy on restitution is furthered, not hindered, as it
was with this decision.” n
TAX CONTAGION
PASADENA CHAMBER SURVEY SEEKS
OPINIONS ON TAX INCREASE, AS
GLENDALE AND BURBANK PLACE TAX
HIKES ON NOVEMBER BALLOT
BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN
The Pasadena Chamber of Commerce is surveying local
community members to gauge support for a three-quarter
percent tax sales increase that will appear on the November Paul Little
ballot.
Earlier this month, the Glendale City Council voted to put a proposed threequarter
percent sales tax increase on the Nov. 6 ballot, which would increase the
city’s sales tax from 9.5 percent to 10.25 percent, the same as Pasadena’s.
If approved, it could potentially generate $30 million annually.
Council members in that city said they felt the sales tax increase was necessary
before Los Angeles County or the state implements similar tax hikes, which local
officials fear would lead to money leaving Glendale.
Burbank, which currently has no sales tax, has also put a sales tax of 0.75
percent on the November ballot.
The Pasadena chamber’s three-question survey asks respondents if they
support the tax increase and if they support using a third of $21 million it is
expected to generate annually to help fund public schools. The final question allows
respondents to leave a comment on the issue.
The measure concerns the Chamber of Commerce, which has not yet taken a
position on the issue.
“Those who sell high-end and expensive items may be priced out of a very
competitive market, especially for automobiles, computers and appliances,” wrote
chamber CEO and President Paul Little. “If you tax these items to a point where
our sellers are not competitive, you may also reduce tax revenues to the city. If it
appears that I can save a few hundred dollars or more by purchasing a car 20 miles
away, why wouldn’t I do that?”
Little said survey results will be available next week.
According to the wording of the measure, the money would be used to maintain
essential services such as fire, police and paramedic. It would also be used to
improve neighborhood and school safety, repair streets and sidewalks, address
homelessness, and maintain after-school programs and senior services. Voters will
also be asked if a third of those funds should be used to fund public education. n
‘OF GREAT CONCERN’
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
The grand jury recommended all 12 cities comply
with a requirement to provide written notification
to the complaining party of the disposition of the
complaint within 30 days. Pasadena does comply
with the requirement 78 percent of the time.
The CGJ also called on all 12 departments to
develop websites that would allow complaints to be
taken online.
City officials were scheduled to respond to the
report this week via a formal letter. As of press time,
Mayor Terry Tornek had not signed off on the letter.
The matter was also scheduled to be discussed
at Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Public
Safety Committee.
“As a progressive city, appropriate civilian
oversight of the Pasadena Police Department must
be viewed in that context, without a federal judge
ordering it,” said Councilman and committee Chair
John Kennedy. “What is needed is leadership, and
best-in-class policies, not more studies.”
Kennedy has been the council’s leading proponent
of civilian oversight of police.
“The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department enjoys
civilian oversight because the Board of Supervisors
passed legislation requiring reasonable oversight,”
Kennedy said.
Activists have been calling for civilian oversight
of the Pasadena department since the 1991 beating
of Altadena motorist Rodney King in Lake View
Terrace.
After that effort failed, then-Police Chief Jerry
Oliver started a citizens’ police academy, a 12-week
class designed to provide participants with an
inside look at police operations while promoting the
principles of community policing.
The call for civilian oversight of police went out
again following the death of local barber Michael
Bryant. In 1993.Bryant led police from San Marino,
Pasadena and Los Angeles on a high-speed pursuit
that ended in Highland Park. Bryant got out of his
car, climbed a hillside and jumped into a swimming
pool to avoid arrest. While he was in the water, police
officers used their Tasers to shock him.
Police reports later stated Bryant was struck
several times by police batons, according to a Los
Angeles Times article. Pasadena police claimed local
officers did not strike Bryant, but helped him to the
police car.
Bryant was hogtied and placed on his stomach in
the car’s backseat and died a short time later. Bryant
was overweight, out of shape and high on cocaine at
the time of the incident. Bryant’s family was awarded
a $1.5 million settlement from the city of Los Angeles.
After his death, more than 100 people demanded
an independent investigation.
In 2005, Bernard Melekian, when he was chief of
police in Pasadena, opposed calls for more civilian
oversight in the aftermath of the officer-involved
deaths of Maurice Clark and LaMont Robinson.
The call for more accountability came up again
in 2009 after officers shot and killed Leroy Barnes
after Barnes exited the backseat of a vehicle with a
THE COUNT
As of Monday,2,066 days after the war in Afghanistan ended …
2,224
American military
service members
(0 more
than last week)
were reported
killed in Afghanistan
since
the war began in
2001, according to
The Associated Press.
12
airstrikes were
conducted against
ISIS in Syria and
Iraq by coalition
members Aug.
6-12. A weapons
cache and 6
ISIS vehicles were
destroyed.
weapon during a traffic stop.
Three years later, the calls resurfaced after
Officers Matthew Griffin and Jeffrey Newlen shot and
killed unarmed teenager Kendrec McDade after 911
caller Oscar Carrillo Gonzales told police that he had
been robbed at gunpoint by McDade and a juvenile at
a taco stand in Northwest Pasadena.
After McDade was fatally shot officers discovered
he was unarmed.
According to a 2016 poll “Community Perceptions
of Policing in Pasadena,” African Americans by far
had the most negative perceptions of local police.
Seventy-percent of those polled said they believed
police engaged in racial profiling. Sixty percent of
black respondents said they believed police stopped
people for no good reason. Fifty-three percent found
verbal and physical abuse to be a problem, and 37
percent said they found offensive language to be an
issue during encounters with local officers.
Interim Police Chief John Perez told the Pasadena
Weekly that the grand jury report “details the best
practices on how the Pasadena Police Department
can do better in serving the Pasadena community.”
“We take the grand jury recommendations
seriously and move to enhance our complaint process
for sheer equity of all the stakeholders,” Perez said.
“Certain recommendations have been or will be put
into place while others need further examination on
how to better satisfy the recommendations moving
forward.”
This past year at least two people filed claims that
later appeared to be false based on camera footage
provide by the police.
On July 17, the city released footage of a 2016
police stop involving Sharell Thompson, 43, and her
daughter Sharaya Brown, 22.
After the stop the women claimed that Thompson
was forced to show her breasts and Brown was
fondled and molested during a “nightmare of a traffic
stop.”
But dashboard camera footage released in July did
not appear to substantiate the claims of misconduct.
In July 2017, Kelvin Jankins said he was
“threatened, assaulted, battered” and subjected
to excessive force, which left him physically and
mentally injured. Body worn camera footage
contradicted Jankins claim.
“The CGJ’s goals were to increase the availability
and acceptance of citizen complaints; insure that
timely and appropriate investigations occurred;
assess that compliance with the citizen complaint
process was being followed and to insure that logging
and tracking measures were in place to identify
problem officers early. This can potentially prevent
more serious problems in the future.
“It was the CGJ’s desire to improve transparency
and oversight, and thus police conduct.”
This year there have been six complaints against
officers for excessive force. That number is down
from 19 last year. n
31,600
ISIS members may still
be Iraq and Syria,
according to the
US Defense
Department. The
revelation comes
after 4 years of
bombing the terrorist
group.
2
people were killed and 6
wounded when a bomb
went off at a crowded
market in Baghdad on
Tuesday. According
to Reuters, no one
has taken responsibility
for the attack.
— Compiled by
André Coleman
8 PASADENA WEEKLY | 08.16.18