PW OPINION PW NEWS PW LIFE PW ARTS BRIEFS NEW CROWN ROSE QUEEN NAMED WOMAN OF THE YEAR BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada) has named Rose Queen Louise Deser Siskel the 25th Senate District’s 2019 Woman of the Year. Louise Deser Siskel “I am grateful to Sen. Anthony Portantino for nominating me for the California Legislative Women’s Caucus Woman of the Year Award,” Siskel said. “I feel lucky to be honored among a group of truly dedicated women who make the world a more kind and welcoming place. This year, as the 101st Rose Queen, I had the opportunity to promote scientific research, education, and inclusion. This recognition encourages me, and I hope will encourage others, to advocate for these values.” Siskel came out as bisexual in a column in the Los Angeles Times on New Year’s Eve. “[I]n this new, very public position, I feel it’s important to present myself authentically, especially to those who look to the Royal Court as a representation of our community,” wrote Siskel. “While I am almost certainly not the first member of the LGBTQ community on the court, I hope that by saying so publicly, I might encourage others to be proud of who they are.” In February, Siskel appeared at the Pasadena City Council and spoke in favor of the city remaining on track to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. Later that month, members of the controversial anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church protested against Siskel at Sequoyah High School in West Pasadena. “I am very honored and excited that Louise has to come to Sacramento to represent our district. She has distinguished herself as an amazing leader, not just displaying poise while the entire world watched her in the Rose Parade but through her trailblazing leadership. She embraced the responsibility of being selected Rose Queen with a bold civic agenda, impressed everyone who has encountered her during this past year and exemplified intelligence, confidence and maturity,” Portantino said in a prepared statement. Each year, members of the Legislature recognize the exceptional women in their district with a celebration commemorating their accomplishments and positive impact on our communities, said Yvonne Vasquez, a spokesperson for Portantino. “This year, Sen. Portantino is honored that Ms. Siskel has agreed to proudly represent the 25th Senate District.” Vasquez said. n ‘RIGHT PLACES, RIGHT TIMES’ PARSONS MOVING HEADQUARTERS TO VIRGINIA BY ANDRÉ COLEMAN Officials with the Parsons Corp. announced last week that the company will move its headquarters from Pasadena to Virginia in order to be closer to clients in the Washington, DC area. Chuck Harrington According to a company spokesperson, Parsons corporate headquarters will be relocated “effective immediately” to a facility in Centreville, Virginia, about an hour’s drive from downtown Washington. “Parsons’ position as a world leader in defense, intelligence and critical infrastructure is the result of more than seven decades of strategic planning and investment,” said Chuck Harrington, Parsons chairman and CEO in a prepared statement. “Our strategic actions over the past 10 years, including acquisitions, have led to the Washington metropolitan area having Parsons’ largest concentration of employees worldwide. The move of our corporate headquarters to the Washington area will support this concentration of employees in the region.” Being in Northern Virginia, Harrington said, gives us more opportunities to be in the right places, at the right times, with the right people driving the future of our markets.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the company already has 2,400 employees in Washington. Parsons employees 500 people in Pasadena and 2,000 in California. Those employees will not be asked to relocate . Parsons, which makes about $3.6 billion a year, provides cyber/converged security, technology-based intellectual property, and other innovative services to federal, regional, and local government agencies, as well as to private industrial customers. The firm has more than 16,000 employees across 24 countries and spanning four continents. Parsons was founded by Ralph M. Parsons. Beginning in 1944, Parsons provided process engineering, facility design, construction services and operated various jet propulsion facilities — nuclear, chemical, and heavy fuels. It also delivered electronics, instrumentation, and ground checkout systems design and engineering for aircraft, missiles and rockets. Parsons sold its 22.7-acre property on Walnut Street to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing and Lincoln Property Co. for $320 million in 2011, but was still housed in the 12-story building. The employees in Pasadena will continue working in that building. Plans for the remaining property by Lincoln Property and AMLI Residential call for multiple mid-rise structures across 6.4 acres, featuring 400 residential units and 210,000 square feet of office space above 17,500 square feet of retail and underground parking, according to urbanize.la. n CHEMICAL ROUNDUP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 THE COUNT As of Monday, 4,023 days after the war in Afghanistan ended … 2,228 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. 3,000 people, including some ISIS extremists, have fled villages in Syria as US-backed forces pushed into the terrorist organization’s last stronghold there, according to USA Today. products that contain traces of glyphosate. However, US District Judge William Shubb’s injunction left glyphosate on the list required by the 1986 Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act as a “chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer.” In April, a state appellate court found that the state can require labeling of products containing glyphosate herbicide as toxic under the state drinking water law, also known as Proposition 65. Proposition 65, according to efficientgov.com, a San Francisco-based information collection service that tracks fiscal and operational challenges facing cities and towns, requires notification and labeling of all chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm, and prohibits their discharge into drinking water. In August, six months after the federal court ruling, a state civil court jury found that Roundup was responsible for a school groundskeeper’s terminal cancer. Dewayne Johnson was spraying the chemical 20 to 30 times a year while working at a school district near San Francisco. According to CNN, more than 800 other people are suing Monsanto, claiming Roundup gave them cancer. In an email to Noreen Sullivan, field representative for Councilman Gene Masuda, who represents eastern Pasadena, Hu Yi, Los Angeles County Public Works senior civil engineer, said the spraying is only being done a few times a year to stop vegetation from growing near a heliport in the Sierra Madre Debris Basin. “The basin is a unique facility because the crest of the hillside serves as a heliport with the capacity to hold two helicopters at a time,” said Yi. The use of Roundup by the city of Pasadena was stopped in areas where people recreate and congregate in 2017, and discontinued altogether last year, said City Manager Steve Mermell. All told, there are local and state government glyphosate restrictions or bans in place in 13 states. Other California cities to take action on use of the herbicide include: Los Angeles, where in 2017 the city Recreation and Parks Department stopped spraying the weed killer within 100 feet of children’s play areas, recreation centers and dog parks; Burbank, which discontinued the use of Roundup in city parks for one year, and the Burbank Unified School District, which stopped using the herbicide due to cancer concerns; Carlsbad, which adopted a policy that makes organic pesticides the preferred method for killing weeds; neighboring beach city Encinitas, which banned the use of Roundup and other glyphosate-based weed killers in city parks; Irvine, which has stopped spraying Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides; and Thousand Oaks, which has a ban on glyphosate use on public golf courses. Petaluma officials are considering a ban on glyphosate for use in public parks, according to efficientgov.com, and Richmond has banned the use of glyphosate for all weed abatement activities conducted by the city. Despite all the calls to ban the product, Roundup can be purchased at most local hardware stores. “It is one of the only heliports of its size in the area and it is frequently used as a filling station for waterdropping helicopters used in aerial firefighting,” Yi explained of the need to clear the heliport area of vegetation. “This area must remain clear of vegetation and obstructions at all times per Fire Department guidelines,” he continued. “Use of herbicides for vegetation management is a cost-effective means to improve visibility along the public rights-of-way, reduce fire hazards, facilitate infrastructure inspections, prevent rodent infestations and to keep them functioning as designed.” Although in a phone conversation Yi acknowledged Roundup was being used in the area, and that such spraying was conducted up to three times a year, the email does not mention the herbicide by name. However, it does state that spraying of the herbicide is canceled when the wind exceeds five mph or if there is a forecast of rain within the next 24 hours. According to Donner, spraying was done on Feb. 27, when rain was in the immediate forecast. The site where the weed killer is used is also supposed to be monitored to ensure members of the public are not in the location of spray prior to, during, and immediately after the application, according to the email. “When I asked them what they were spraying, I was right in front of them at the gate and no one told me I couldn’t be there,” said Donner. “We only use herbicides that are approved by both Federal Environmental Protection Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency,” Yi said in the email. “The herbicides used do not pose a threat to humans, animals, or insects when used according to the product label. Applications of herbicides are not sprayed directly into water and where there is a possibility it could come into contact with water, then we use an herbicide approved for aquatic use.” Last year, US Rep. Adam Schiff called for a ban of Roundup after it was discovered the weed killer was being sprayed along and in the LA River. According to a story in the Los Angeles Daily News, Schiff asked Col. Kirk E. Gibbs, district commander of the Los Angeles District US Army Corps of Engineers, to “end its use of products containing glyphosate as part of the (Los Angeles River) vegetation management plan in favor of safe alternatives.” Pasadena city officials have also fought to stop the use of dangerous chemicals in local communities. In 1990, Pasadena city officials filed a legal brief in support of the lawsuit by Los Angeles, Glendale and Burbank seeking to stop state helicopters from bombarding homes with the pesticide malathion to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly. For former Pasadena Mayor Bill Paparian, who helped lead the city’s fight against the spraying of malathion to eradicate crop-destroying fruit flies in early 1990, expressed concern over the county spraying Roundup in Pasadena. “Portugal and Italy, as well as Vancouver, Canada have banned the use of the chemical in public parks and gardens. My family and I have lived in the immediate neighborhood where LA County has been spraying Roundup. Obviously I am deeply concerned over the potential health risks,” Paparian said. n 10,000 people have left villages in Syria since February 20, including members of ISIS who have surrendered to local forces, according to USA Today. 2 men will be hanged for their involvement in a suicide bombing in Baghdad. The pair admitted the attack was meant to achieve terrorist ends, according to Retuers, — Compiled by André Coleman 8 PASADENA WEEKLY | <strong>03.07.19</strong>
STARDUST FORMER WRITERS GUILD PREZ VICTORIA RISKIN DISCUSSES NEW BIOGRAPHY OF PARENTS ‘FAY WRAY AND ROBERT RISKIN: A HOLLYWOOD MEMOIR’ AT VROMAN’S BY BLISS BOWEN Early in Victoria ia Riskin’s biography of her parents, “Fay Wray and Robert Riskin:AHollywoodMemoir”she Memoir,” she recalls building a snowman at age 3 with her brother Bobby and their father, screenwriter Robert Riskin. For years, she writes, she imagined her mother “was in the kitchen having the cook prepare the hot chocolate to warm us when we came in, or rearranging the living room rugs and furniture for an evening of square dancing that was all the rage in the late 1940s, or readying a dinner party for the friends who regularly came to our house: Jack Benny, Rosalind Russell, Ronald Colman, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Irving Berlin, Harpo Marx, Darryl Zanuck, Edward G. Robinson.” But Wray was behind a Leica camera, in that rare snow, recording the family happiness she had finally, gratefully found. Pop culture enshrines Wray as the blonde love object of “King Kong” in the iconic 1933 film. But the Utah innocent who arrived in Los Angeles at 14 emerges from her daughter’s pages as a kind, good-natured trooper. The script for 1933’s “The Bowery” called for costar George Raft to slap Wray — a move he reluctantly repeated through 20 takes until, with Wray’s “eyes watering, her face bright red and her ears ringing,” director Raoul Walsh was satisfied. “King Kong” director Merian C. Cooper ordered her to “scream for your life” into a microphone for “eight uninterrupted hours” until he caught the desired pitch. Wray couldn’t speak for weeks afterward. That year, she became “Founding Member #1475 of the Screen Actors Guild.” The witty, progressive-minded Riskin, whose parents had fled anti-Semitic repression in what is now Belarus for New York in 1891, was active in Depression-era organizing efforts for what ultimately became the Screen Writers Guild. He was at the beginning of his collaboration with Italian-born director Frank Capra, which yielded such legendary films as “Meet John Doe” and the Oscar-winning “It Happened One Night.” In conversation Victoria describes parties where the two men rolled around like clowns, and the “incredible elegance and fun” as well as “rich political conversation and artistic conversation” that prevailed in her parents’ intellectual social circle. CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 PHOTO: David Welsh <strong>03.07.19</strong> | PASADENA WEEKLY 9
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