GUEST WORDS-(Editor’s Note: This column was posted in CityWatch 10 years ago … in 2006. We post this Flashback to remind you how little LA politics have changed. It is yet another ‘book cooking’ column about the misuse of your money. Question to you: what will it take and how long will you hide before you’re upset enough to do something?) 

Hard as it may be to believe, it was just six months ago that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa celebrated his managerial triumph by getting the long troubled L.A. Housing Authority (HACLA) back in the good graces of the federal government.
The mayor boasted that HACLA "has reached an important milestone in its efforts to reform ... and successfully met federally mandated reforms covering the City's Section 8 voucher program, putting the department back in good- standing and ending federal oversight of the program." 

"For the first time in years, this agency is solvent, functional and in a strong position to deliver much-needed help to low-income families in LA." 

Oops, maybe Antonio spoke a little too soon.

A new report from federal housing authorities -- that has gotten no visibility in the press -- says he spoke way too soon ... to the tune of a $27 million problem, nearly $28 million actually.

"The Authority's accounting records showed that it improperly advanced and expended more than $27 million in restricted funds to cover its operating losses for its other programs," reported Regional Inspector General Joan Hobbs in the Housing and Urban Development Report dated Aug. 21.

"The authority contended there was no misappropriation of funds, but rather the way the accounting system presented its financial transactions; however, we were unable to validate its contention."

The focus of the audit was to see if the city was still screwing recipients of Section 8 vouchers that let them live in decent units at a price they could afford but it expanded when suspicions arose that the highly-paid HACLA head Rudy Montiel  (more than $300,000) was juggling the money without regard to federal  rules or regulations.

No surprise there, the city of L.A. doesn't believe in obeying the law.

It's not entirely clear from the audit what exactly Montiel was hiding or why he was moving the money from account to account other than to conceal losses in specific areas, but HACLA's history suggests it has a lot to do with mismanagement of Section 8 housing vouchers.

From what I can see I'm willing to bet Montiel -- who's gotten a lot of favorable media treatment -- was cooking the books to make it look like the Section 8 funding problem was fixed when he, like just about everybody else at City Hall, was doing the mayor's bidding.

And in the housing area that means carrying out the mayor's insane policy of densifying the city to "address the affordable housing crisis in Los Angeles" -- a crisis manufactured by the philosophical commitment to providing new housing to any poor person who wants to live here.

Well, at least some of the people who want to live here. Because the long-standing accusation is HACLA is that it's selective about who it helps and who it doesn't.

Even as HACLA was being brought under control by federal authorities for its abuses, a coalition of public interest law firms and civil rights groups last year filed a class-action lawsuit charging it broke the law when it effectively raised the rent for more than 20,000 poor residents.

So much for the myth Antonio and his pals really are helping the poor.

HACLA disputed the finding that it lacked "prudent oversight" of its federal funds, violated any rules or misappropriated any money. The agency blamed "accounting problems," but it's telling that after getting its protestations of innocence in the record, the agency obeyed HUD's directives and reimbursed the money -- $27,801,379 of it.

Now ask yourself, what would you do if you were one of those 15 City Council members, especially those who claim they care so deeply about the poor?

Wouldn't you be mad as hell? Wouldn't you be calling Montiel on the carpet and holding public hearings and making sure this was the last time HACLA cheated the poor?

Of course, you would. But you can't because the City Hall game is fixed and the public doesn't stand a chance.

It's not like the council has shown much interest in all the troubles HACLA has had over many years.

Have they looked into why the agency is spending $7 million a year or so on outside lawyers, something that has caused so much concern when it involves bumbling City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo?

Was anybody worried when Montiel last year fired his own whistleblowing chief investigator, Abel Ruiz, after he alleged that people inside the agency interfered with his efforts to get to the bottom of an $800,000 bid-rigging scheme.

The firing followed disclosure in the Times that a housing authority manager, Victor Taracena, had awarded construction and design contracts to family members and to three firms with ties to present and former City Council members in the 14th District, the seat now held by Jose Huizar.

You don't need to ask whatever came of all that -- I told you the game is fixed.

(Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Daily News and the activist behind the Save LA Project. Read more Ron Kaye at www.ronkayela.com ) 

CityWatch

Vol 6 Issue 74

Pub: Sept 12, 2008

DEEGAN ON LA-If a tourist-filled “chop-top” open-air tour bus were to be crunched like an accordion if hit from behind or if it recklessly crashed into something ahead, it could become a death trap. The “crunch” could be caused by the vehicle’s structural integrity being compromised once the roof has been cut off. 

In our “post-truth” world, where the appeal to emotion outweigh the facts, the scramble for inside info about celebrities seems to outweigh reality as tourists rush to board these often unregulated, open-air vans to fulfill their dreams of rubbing shoulders with fame. 

It’s a wonder these possibly unsafe vehicles are allowed to operate. 

There are lots of chop-top buses cruising through the Hollywood hills, filled with tourists who may not realize the risk they are taking when they respond to celebrity tour barkers promising “behind the scenes” insight into Hollywood royalty supposedly living on their routes. 

A scary public safety point about chop-tops was made toward the end of a two-hour “Tour Bus Town Hall” that was held in Hollywood a few nights ago with a panel of fifteen officials, moderated by Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council President Anastasia Mann. Present were community members, state and local political figures, and law enforcement officials who gathered to air many issues concerning the tour buses that use the Hollywood Hills by-ways to entertain tourists with fantasies about stars who often don’t even live there. This group searched for solutions to problems caused by the proliferation of chop-top tour buses -- multiple traffic violations, illegal parking, misinformation about celebrity homes, sneaking onto side streets, endangering the lives of tourists, and the many buses and driver/guides who operate unsafe vehicles that may not even be registered or insured. 

Councilmember David Ryu (CD4), representing the Hollywood Hills, kicked off the forum, saying, “We are working with our state representatives to identify solutions.” Some of those state officials were represented on the panel, including the California Highway Patrol, the Consumer Protection and Enforcement Division of the California Public Utilities Commission, and the office of State Assembly Member Adrin Nazarian (46^th District.) Local representation included CD4 David Ryu and his deputies, Catherine Landers and Nicholas Greif, officers from the LAPD (including the Hollywood Commanding Officer,) the presidents of various neighborhood councils and homeowner associations, and tour operators. 

Several dozen members of the hillside community spoke forcefully about the intrusion of these buses into their neighborhoods. Numerous practical ideas were presented, although it was stressed that the state Public Utilities Commission has the final word on licensing tour buses; local government and police need to work through the PUC and state legislature to effect change.

Regulating public safety has to take priority over many of the other complaints voiced by the community. The possible lack of structural integrity of these passenger vans with their tops chopped off in order to give an open-air experience and a better view to the riders, poses potential dangers that must be the first priority for authorities. 

Some relevant solutions were offered, including one successfully used by a homeowners association that was able to get the Department of Transportation to use “weight” for controlling access to their neighborhood streets. Sheila Irani, President of Lake Hollywood Estates Homeowners Association (adjacent to the Hollywood Sign) explained, “The HOA adopted weight control signs and worked with LADOT to post them at all street entrances leading to the Vista. After that, we worked with CD4 and LAPD to create a task force that ticketed overweight vehicles in July 2014 and since then the tour vans coming to our area were reduced from 40 a day to one or two.” 

Another suggestion that received positive response from the CHP officers was to post “designated routes” for the tour buses to keep them off side streets. “Our office is looking into these suggestions (designated routes and weight limits),” responded Ryu. 

Tourism has a bottom line: $2.5 billion in state and local taxes were driven by tourism employment in 2015, according to Ernest Wooden Jr, President of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, the official tourism marketing organization for the City of Los Angeles. Wooden adds, “LA Tourism's focus is on ensuring that visitors to our city have a memorable and authentic Los Angeles experience.” 

Given the problems associated with top-chop tour buses, it’s time to add “safe” to the list of what LA is promising our tourists because, in the end, death has no replacement value price tag.

(Tim Deegan is a long-time resident and community leader in the Miracle Mile, who has served as board chair at the Mid City West Community Council and on the board of the Miracle Mile Civic Coalition. Tim can be reached at [email protected].) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.

GELFAND’S WORLD--What would massive resistance look like? (Massive resistance ended the Vietnam war—photo above.) 

In regard to the expected reactionary onslaught, Erik Loomis writes the following in the blog Lawyers, Guns & Money: 

"All we really have in the end is massive resistance. That is where we are heading–acquiescence or resistance. You and I will all need to make our choices about whether we will stand up against oppression in ways that a lot of our ancestors did not stand up to Jim Crow, to Chinese Exclusion, to the Japanese internment camps, etc." 

This is his conclusion after considering what Donald Trump has already done since the election. He summarizes the bad news: 

"I don’t actually have confidence that we will have a functional democracy by 2020. It’s entirely possible that historians, assuming they exist in a century, will see 2016 as the end of a period of American history where rights generally expanded. That’s because Trump, Giuliani, Sessions, Gingrich, Flynn, etc., etc., and most importantly huge chunks of the Republican base, simply do not respect the fundamental tenets of democracy and they are seeking to roll back two generations of social progress. Despite what I might have believed a mere few weeks ago, they are in fact reasonably likely to succeed. 

Some of the proposed rollbacks include the end of Medicare as we know it, the reversal of the Roe v. Wade principle, and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. Voter suppression will be part of the recipe. Those are just a few of the likely outrages on the domestic side. On the international side, we have almost no idea what will happen. 

The outrages will most likely be presented in legal form -- as bills before congress and as judicial appointments. What then, constitutes massive resistance? 

There are two potential paths. The first, requiring only a small number of people, is that a few Republican senators may quietly decide that they don't want Trump's power to be left unchecked. Their best approach is to leave the senatorial rules in effect, particularly the one that requires 60 senators to break a filibuster. It's the rule the Republicans used so effectively in thwarting Obama when the Democrats held a senatorial majority. It would only take three Republican votes in the senate to maintain the current rules. 

If that should happen, then it's up to the Democrats in the senate to resist and obstruct at every possible point. They should go hard on the more objectionable cabinet appointments. Even the appointments that eventually go through should be subjected to aggressive and prolonged questioning at the committee level. 

Democratic opposition is particularly important in terms of a Supreme Court nominee. If the Democrats can delay a Trump appointment permanently, that would be righteous payback and it would be protective of our system. 

It would be up to the rest of us millions and millions of people to back up the Democratic senators. We would march in the streets when necessary, and flood our senators and congressmen with mail and telephone calls. 

But if the Republicans stick together and go for a change in the senate's rules, then the deluge is upon us. It will be up to the American people to figure out what we mean by massive resistance. What would it consist of, and how can we make it effective? 

The first order of business is to decide that we are serious. To borrow a phrase from an old movie, it's called commitment. It will take tens of millions of people, acting in concert, to make the point properly. 

Here's a for instance. The first time that Paul Ryan or one of his lackeys proposes to phase out Medicare, we need to act aggressively. That means visiting the office of every congressman, writing letters (in our own handwriting), and marching in the streets. It also means raising funds in advance, so Democrats can send out mailings to the people who will be most affected. 

Imagine a television ad which shows somebody on Medicare saying, "It was great to finally get free of the health insurance companies. Now the politicians want to put me back in their clutches." 

Given the views of the congressional Republicans, we are going to have a lot to dislike. It's long since time that the saner among us form their own version of the Tea Party, but one that upholds traditional liberal values.

It's about time that the more powerful unions got on board. The dockworkers can close down shipping. They've done it before in limited jurisdictions, but suppose they were willing to carry out actions on both coasts and on the Gulf. The same argument goes for railroad workers and airline pilots. It's what should have happened (but didn't) when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. 

One other idea, albeit a long shot. We badly need a national union of white collar workers, part time workers, and temps. It's been attempted on a limited level by graduate students and college athletes, but it never got very far due to governmental interference and a general lack of will on the part of the workers. There are at least 80 million Americans who fear and resent the Trump victory, and it's time that they unified to represent the interests of the worker bees. (Curiously, the idea that Democrats should have spoken out for blue collar workers in order to win the Michigan and Wisconsin votes has been out there since the day after the election.) It shouldn't take long before the working class realizes that Trump isn't really their guy. We should take the old country tune "Take this job and shove it" and make it into a political movement that isn't on the side of the Republican Party. 

I might add that the title of the Loomis column is a takeoff on the famous quote from H.L. Mencken, "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." It's a bit cynical for my taste, but the result of the Trump election is consistent with Mencken's point of view. Loomis continues: 

"And I am disappointed in myself for not seeing this more clearly before the election. Democrats and liberals were holding on strictly to the presidency as a buffer between us and the apocalypse. Between gerrymandering, voter suppression, and a bloody ineffective DNC strategy to operate on the state level, Republicans had already grabbed most of the levers of government. And while Trump is uniquely bad in some ways, in many others, he really isn’t that much worse than your bog-standard mainstream Republican governing class such as Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Paul LePage, Rick Snyder, or, of course, Mike Pence." 

We should make use of the judicial system where possible, in particular fighting for voting rights and against gerrymanders. It won't solve everything, but it is part of the overall approach. 

We also need to create a new language of opposition. The fact that Donald Trump is treacherous, lazy, and greedy is becoming increasingly obvious, but we need to build the arguments against him using the right words and phrases. Based on Trump's most recent statement that he actually won the popular vote if you subtract out millions of illegal votes, I think that the term crybaby would be a start. 

(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected]) 

-cw

GELFAND’S WORLD--If the big earthquake hits, do you know where you would go to get food, water, or medical attention? Most of us don't. At a more proactive level, have you stocked the equipment, food, and water that you might need to survive? This is where the sense of urgency comes in. 

We have been discussing these issues at the Neighborhood Council Emergency Preparedness Alliance (NCEPA) for the better part of a year. We've heard from many experts in the field, and we have some conclusions to present for your consideration. 

We find that most Angelenos are not yet sufficiently prepared to deal effectively with a real disaster scenario. We find that the government agencies that form the set of first responders -- the LAPD, LAFD, and LASD along with the emergency command structure -- are well trained and well prepared. What's been missing in the equation is the rest of us. For some reason, our government hasn't done a good job of creating a process in which the first responders will seamlessly interface with the remaining 3,900,000 inhabitants of Los Angeles. 

We think that there is a way forward and that there is room for optimism. 

We've been developing some ideas that involve using our already-in-place community organizations. We intend to deliver a workable plan to our 96 neighborhood councils, this in the hope that each will be the point of crystallization for effective local response preparation. We expect the neighborhood councils to recruit their neighborhood watch organizations and other local groups to provide the focal points for training and organizing. 

In theory, this should not be very difficult. What we've found is that training programs already exist. Systems for organizing an area as small as a single block (or even an apartment building) have been worked out. The 5-Steps program is one such approach that shows some promise. What has not been worked out is how to motivate the thousands of small areas in our city of four million people so that they will get started. 

Here's a bit of good news. What we've learned is that your own effort on the individual level need not be all that extreme. There is a training program called CERT that the LAFD developed starting in 1985. It requires 17 hours and teaches you the basics of evaluating injuries in yourself and your family, and teaches you about evaluating your immediate area for human injuries and structural damage. CERT training will make it possible for you to respond to a disaster in coordination with others, on an organized basis. 

Hold that thought and consider this sobering consideration: In the event of a big earthquake, the authorities are more likely to provide immediate help to areas that have a working disaster response organization. That's because, in the first few hours, the LAPD and LAFD won't have time to evaluate every damaged structure in the search for the injured. But if you have a local response group, it will have evaluated the area, learned what injuries exist, and communicated this information to the professionals. 

Why will help go preferentially to areas with organization? You have to consider the challenge that will be facing the professional first responders in a situation which involves damage to tens of thousands of structures and injuries to hundreds or perhaps thousands of people. Simply put, the fire department and the police will be busy. They won't have time to poke through all the damaged structures right away. But if your response group has reported specific injuries to the appropriate listening post, the helpers will at least know where to go. 

Here's what the CERT website says about your vulnerability: 

It is important to know, if a major disaster occurs, the LAFD, paramedics, police…WILL NOT COME! They will be deployed FIRST to major incidents such as collapsed buildings. That is why you constantly hear…You MUST be prepared to take care of yourself. In the CERT course they say…“The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number of People.” When you are trained, you are far more equipped to deal with your circumstances without needing aid from outside sources. 

That's pretty blunt. But if the people of Los Angeles begin to take emergency preparedness seriously, we can become the solution to the problem. 

Here is a preliminary summary of the overall NCEPA plan. We will visit the 96 neighborhood councils and discuss what they need to do in order to get their inhabitants organized at the micro level. We will provide training materials and specific instructions. We will leave the geographical analysis to the locals. We figure that each neighborhood council has knowledge of the specific neighborhoods, organizations, and neighborhood watch programs within their boundaries. It will be up to the locals to figure out how to subdivide their own responsibilities, and it will be up to NCEPA and the city government to provide teachers, instruction manuals, and lists of items that individuals and neighborhood councils should stockpile. 

One issue came up in our most recent discussion. Right now, the CERT program is administered by the LAFD and recruits trainers from within its own ranks. We believe that it would be possible to develop CERT trainers who are not fire fighters. This would help to fill the gap in the needed number of trainers. If only five percent of the population of Los Angeles were to have CERT training, that would amount to about two-hundred thousand people. The current system of trainers and classes is orders of magnitude short of that capability. This is essentially a political problem, in that the city is fully capable of developing the required number of trainers and classes should it so choose. 

NCEPA will have one additional request to make. The idea of making nearly 4 million people a part of disaster preparedness is an ambitious idea. We will expect the city to think about budgetary requirements. If the city were to set aside a mere one-tenth of one percent of the annual budget for the emergency preparedness process, that would amount to something like five million dollars. This would be more than enough to create dozens of new CERT trainers, to print training materials, and to send city employees to local meetings. 

Here is one way to imagine a scenario in which we succeed. Think of a block consisting of single family homes, and imagine that there are two CERT trained people living on that block. The two trained people will talk to each other, and out of that process, they will become motivated to bring the block's families together. The whole block will become aware of what they need to do to prepare, and how they can deal with an unexpected disaster. 

There are obviously other possible scenarios for successful disaster preparedness on a citywide basis. It is our job to consider the possible scenarios, find the best ones, and to work with the city's professionals to make them happen. 

Addendum: Most of the ideas and findings expressed here come from the participants in the numerous NCEPA meetings. We have Mary Garcia to thank for pointing out that we need to communicate the urgency of preparedness to our city.

(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected])

-cw

THANKSGIVING SPECIAL-Late on a Thursday night in Woodland Hills, California, the recessed lights of the Maserati Auto Gallery spotlight a gaggle of sleek, luxury automobiles; like carbon fiber and plexiglass statues standing in relief, their muscled torsos gleaming, they show off their voluptuous curves, bold coloring, and clean, sharp lines. Masterpieces of human ingenuity, these works of art demand to be ogled, gazed at and above all else … to be seen. 

In the foreground like in a soothing mural of a city at sleep there's a man, but he's not made of paint. Seemingly oblivious to the world -- just as the world is to him -- the man is sprawled on a bus stop bench. He lies so close to the Maseratis that their cool light refracts off of the storefront glass, illuminating the remaining white of his soiled, tattered shoes.  

Across the street, rummaging through a trash can in front of Whole Foods, is a middle-aged woman; she's got straight shoulder-length grey hair, a weathered noble face, and at least three layers of clothing on despite the lingering mugginess leftover from the day's heat. 

Stoically, this woman forages, inspecting her finds quizzically but also in an experienced and depressingly practiced way. Periodically, she will sigh deeply, and sometimes she will add a plastic bottle or soda can to her burgeoning collection; already piled high, it threatens to topple down from her overly-full shopping cart.  

Visible under the woman's recyclables is a cornucopia of blankets, clothes, foodstuffs, a battered (but maybe not broken) clock radio, an umbrella, a few books, and a magazine -- last week's New Yorker. The New Yorker lies on the cart's bottom rung next to a framed photo of a smiling young woman; it's a spitting, albeit much younger, image of the grey-haired woman now picking through the detritus of the rich, just to survive. 

The beaming woman in the picture wears graduation garb and she holds a diploma high above her head like the Statute of Liberty holds her torch. If you look closely you’ll see that the glass of the picture frame is cracked. 

Seeping from doorways and neighborhood storefronts of still-open restaurants and bars comes contented laughter; the sound is shrill and jarring as it whistles down the boulevard, swirling past the man who is sleeping (or maybe not sleeping) with the Maseratis. Occasionally, an unintelligible shard of conversation -- happy, animated voices -- punctuates the din of the night air, before dispersing, slowly disappearing. 

Soon young men and women the same age as the smiling girl in the picture frame, their dress immaculate -- with hair, makeup, and expensive outfits still impossibly fresh and unwrinkled despite the lateness of the hour -- will emerge from the various establishments. They’ll spill out onto the sidewalk like a ragtag collection of wayward sheep. Shepherdless but feeling satisfied, with sloppy stumbles now and again, they successfully make their way to their own Maseratis or Maserati-like cars. Revving well-maintained foreign motors, some lighting cigarettes for the road, they head for home. 

Barely taking noticing of this departure, the woman in front of Whole Foods digs deeper -- she's reached the bottom of the barrel now. And across the street, the man on the bench rolls to his other side and pulls the drawstring on his hoody tight; he's already home.

(Stephen Cooper is a former D.C. public defender who worked as an assistant federal public defender in Alabama between 2012 and 2015. He has contributed to numerous magazines and newspapers in the United States and overseas. He writes full-time and lives in Woodland Hills, California. Follow him on Twitter @SteveCooperEsq) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.

-cw

MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS OBLIVIOUS--In high school, we all read with horror of the broken promises of the U.S. government to the Native people. Today, the marvels of technology afford us the opportunity to observe first hand the continuance of this ignoble tradition. Turns out the breaking of treaties is not just for the history books. It’s happening right now. 

As I write this article, I am witnessing first hand via Facebook Live Native children and elders, water protectors and their allies from around the world being pummeled by Dakota Access Pipeline Security company mercenari es, Morton County police officers, and National Guard soldiers deploying concussion grenades, mace, tear gas, chemical, rubber bullets and water cannons in temperatures below freezing. 

The fight is on in Standing Rock North Dakota - where citizen journalists are struggling to maintain a live feed of events in spite of jamming by drones. The mainstream media appears to be completely void of interest. 

The attacks are brutal. These first people are not militia. They are unarmed men, women and children. 

As I watch the assault of the U.S. government, local law enforcement and company thugs on the most poverty stricken people in the country as they continue to insist on their sovereign right to protect their water and their sacred burial sites, I can see on my computer screen that a fella named Richard B. Spencer is calling for ethnic cleansing and throwing down the Nazi salute at a sizeable meeting in Washington D.C. 

The rain pours down hard tonight in Los Angeles. We’ll need it if we’re going to have enough water to survive. 

The level of impunity regarding the contamination of our most precious resource is astounding. From the lead contaminated waters of Flint to the Enbridge cover up exposed by John Bolenbaugh, it is clear that our water supply is of paramount importance at this time. As Donald Trump continues to appoint those who promise to continue to imperil life on earth, it is more urgent than ever to act. 

This Thanksgiving, I am thinking of the courageous people in Standing Rock North Dakota who are fighting for the right of all of us to have the clean water we need to survive. 

Please take a moment to call the numbers below and voice your concern. We’re in this boat together. Let’s make sure we stay afloat. 

NEED TO KNOW: 

• Here’s a video of the father Sophia Wilansky, a 21-year old girl who is about to lose her arm due to the police attack: 

• Another video distributed by Mark Raffalo on Facebook of Saturday night’s attacks: 

• LIVE FROM STANDING ROCK - CALL THESE NUMBERS AND TAKE A STAND!• ND Office of the Governor: 701-328-2200• Morton County Sheriff's Department: 701-328-8118 & 701-667-3330• ND National Guard: 701-333-2000• ND Governor's office 701.328.2200;• Army Corp of Engineers 202.761.8700;• Amnesty International 212.807.8400

(Jennifer Caldwell is a an actress and an active member of SAG-AFTRA, serving on several committees. She is a published author of short stories and news articles and is a featured contributor to CityWatch. Her column at www.RecessionCafe.wordpress.com is dishing up good deals, recipes and food for thought. Jennifer can be reached at [email protected].  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jennifercald - Twitter: @checkingthegate ... And her website: jenniferhcaldwell.com) Photo credit: Stephanie Keith/Reuters

  -cw