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CITY & STATE
pted by the federal govern-
ment’s regulations.
Friday’s lawsuit chal-
lenges the related decision,
by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, to revoke
California’s waiver that al-
lowed the state to set its
own, tougher emissions
standards.
The filing names EPA
Administrator Andrew
Wheeler in addition to fed-
eral transportation officials
who have been working to-
gether to weaken fuel effi-
ciency standards adopted
under the Obama adminis-
tration.
For decades, California
has used its special status
under the federal Clean Air
Act to obtain waivers from
the EPA to set its own, more
stringent standards, a proc-
ess the state and others that
adhere to them argue is es-
sential to improve air quality
and fight climate change.
“We will be asking the
court to declare that our
right to demand cleaner cars
and trucks is protected
under the federal Clean Air
Act and cannot be taken
away by the Trump Admin-
istration simply because
they don’t believe in the sci-
ence of climate change — or
because they want to punish
us for taking action,” Califor-
nia Air Resources Board
Chair Mary Nichols said in a
statement.
EPA spokeswoman Molly
Block said the agency does
not comment on pending lit-
igation. Revoking the waiver
would affect not only Califor-
nia but also the 13 other
states and the District of Co-
lumbia that follow its car
pollution standards.
California’s special au-
thority to go further than the
federal government in regu-California and a coalition
of other states filed another
lawsuit against the Trump
administration Friday, chal-
lenging its move to revoke
their ability to set tougher
auto emissions standards
than the federal govern-
ment.
California was joined by
22 other states, Washington,
D.C., and the cities of Los
Angeles and New York in the
suit challenging the admin-
istration’s September move
to take away the state’s abil-
ity to set stricter emissions
rules as part of an ongoing
attack on government ef-
forts to reduce air pollution
and fight climate change.
It’s the latest jab in the
legal battle between Califor-
nia and other like-minded
states as they try to stymie
Trump’s push to weaken a
host of environmental regu-
lations.
California and a coalition
of other states filed a sepa-
rate lawsuit in September
challenging the Trump ad-
ministration’s move to roll
back California’s emissions
standards that the federal
government has moved to
dismiss in court.
In that previous lawsuit,
California and other allied
states challenged federal
transportation officials’
findings that the state’s
emissions standards were
essentially operating as fuel
economy rules and preem-
lating auto pollution dates
to the 1960s, when Los Ange-
les was enveloped in a thick
layer of smog that state offi-
cials came to see as a public
health crisis.
By the time the 1970 fed-
eral Clean Air Act took ef-
fect, the state had already
enacted its own tailpipe
emission controls.Concerned that each
state would pass different
regulations, Congress de-
cided that the EPA would set
vehicle pollution standards
for the nation. But it carved
out an exception for Califor-
nia, saying that the EPA
would be required to grant
the state a waiver to set its
own rules, provided theywere at least as stringent as
the federal ones. Other
states could choose to follow
either California’s regula-
tions or those set by the
EPA.
Since then, California
has led the country in the
adoption of tougher tailpipe
regulations and has worked
to promote the adoption ofelectric vehicles. The admin-
istration’s action jeopar-
dizes the state’s mandate
that automakers sell more
zero-emission vehicles and
plug-in hybrids, and raises
new doubts about whether it
will be able to meet its goal of
having more than 1 million
such vehicles on the road by
2025.State sues
Trump again
over right to
set emissions
By Tony Barboza
and Anna M. Phillips
A VW GOLFis inspected in Germany. California and a group of cities, other states and Washington, D.C., are
contesting a recent Trump administration action to strip their ability to regulate emissions from automobiles.Patrick PleulAFP/Getty ImagesSecond suit challenges
EPA’s move to revoke
waiver to authorize
tougher tailpipe rules.
When her mother was dy-
ing of pancreatic cancer,
Stephanie Ladsous knew
just the way to publicly hon-
or her.
For Ladsous — who is ad-
mittedly “not a tombstone
person” — dedicating a
bench in Huntington Beach
was the perfect way to me-
morialize her mother, Gloria
Patin, and keep her part of
the regular walks they had
shared for years.
Ladsous, a 33-year Hunt-
ington Beach resident, took
her request to the city and
was eventually offered a spot
on the backside of the library
branch on Main Street — a
location she considered a fit-
ting tribute to her mother, a
“voracious reader.”
What she didn’t know
was that the installation
would soon touch off a con-
troversy — and that the city
would eventually opt to put
its memorial bench program
on hiatus, pending further
study.
Ladsous paid about
$2,700 to buy the stone
bench and memorial bronze
plaque from a vendor, lay the
concrete slab at the desig-
nated location in Triangle
Park and cover a city admin-
istrative fee.
The bench, which was in-
stalled July 3, is considered
city property.
For the next few weeks,
all was well. Ladsous
stopped by often to “visit my
mom, either on a walk or
driving by.”
But problems began to
emerge a month after the in-
stallation.
Ladsous said she was
contacted by the city Public
Works Department and told
that a neighbor “was very
upset by the bench being
there” and “it was a magnet
for homeless people.”
She said she was asked if
she would be open to relo-
cating it, but “chose not to
move it because I like where
it is.”
On Sept. 13, Ladsous
drove to the dry cleaner — a
route that took her past the
bench. When she passed,
though, she saw an empty
concrete slab.Her first thought was,
“Where the heck is mom?”
After driving around in a
panic, Ladsous reached out
to the city and learned that
the bench had been removed
that morning and was being
stored in a city yard.
Upset, Ladsous shared
the experience on social me-
dia, where she found a num-
ber of sympathizers.
In a Facebook post Sept.
16, then-interim City Mana-
ger Dave Kiff addressed the
situation, writing that,
“While the bench donation
program clearly allows the
city to move benches ‘as
needed for (operations),’ it
is always our intent to reach
out to and work with families
prior to any removal and
relocation. I am frustrated
to say that we moved too
fast and didn’t inform the
Patin/Ladsous family this
time.”
The city offered Ladsous
a new location, and the
bench was put in place Sept.
27 near 14th Street and Pa-
cific Coast Highway. A week
later, the city refunded her
payment — which she then
donated to City of Hope.
“I did get what I wanted,”
Ladsous said, conceding
that the bluff-top spot was
her original preference.
Recently obtained com-
munications from inside
Huntington Beach City Hall,
however, have raised more
questions for Ladsous and
other residents.
“At first it was about the
bench, but now it’s so much
more,” Ladsous said.
Emails obtained by resi-
dent Vanessa Martinez Hen-
nerty through a public re-
cords request show that an-
other resident, Kim Kramer,
requested the bench be re-moved from its original loca-
tion and suggested it be relo-
cated within the park.
Kramer is a well-known resi-
dent who serves on the
Huntington Beach Public
Art Alliance and who
previously led the once-
influential Huntington
Beach Downtown Residents
Assn.
In a Sept. 9 email sent
after the request, city Main-
tenance Operations Man-
ager Denny Bacon wrote,
“Apparently [Kramer] gets
to decide where benches go.
We can run the program
through him now. The per-
son who bought it will be up-
set.”
Kramer said this week
that he “called the city to ask
if the bench could be moved
to the front of the library,” as
the original location was “at-
tracting a lot of homeless
people.”
“I thought it was inappro-
priate to have that in front of
a residential district,” he
said.
If the bench had been
moved to the front of the li-
brary, it would have faced a
commercial area, Kramer
said.
The library, he added,
has full-time security that
could have deterred people
from using the spot to sleep
or use drugs, which he re-
ported seeing.
David De La Torre, a city
landscape maintenance su-
pervisor, wrote in another
email that neither library
staff nor the Police Depart-
ment had raised any issues
regarding the bench.
City Manager Oliver Chi
and Assistant City Manager
Travis Hopkins said last
week that the bench was re-
moved as part of an ongoingeffort to address staff-driven
concerns regarding facility
and park features that could
attract homeless people.
“Some benches were re-
moved when they became an
attractive nuisance,” Hop-
kins said, adding that city
staff is exploring outdoor
seating models that “en-
courage a different type of
use” to keep public spaces
“useful to everybody.”
Hopkins said the original
location was offered to Lad-
sous without first consulting
staff at the library, who had
previously raised concerns
about fixtures that encour-
aged homeless people to
sleep or loiter around the
branch.
“We do have vocal resi-
dents,” Hopkins said. “We
need to evaluate how a good
decision is made.”
The memorial bench pro-
gram is now on hiatus while
staff evaluates the city’s pro-
cedures for identifying po-
tential locations and as-
sesses the model of the
benches themselves in light
of complaints that peo-
plesleep on them, Hopkins
said.
Chi described the memo-
rial bench program as “infor-
mally coordinated.” But be-
cause of its popularity with
residents, the city is running
out of appropriate locations
that line up with donors’ re-
quests.
“As a city we do apologize
for messing this up so bad,”
Chi said. “We do need to be
more thoughtful going
ahead.”
Kramer said he feels “bad
... for the donor that it hap-
pened this way, but it was
just a bad location within
Triangle Park.”
“If the city had notified
the donor first, there would
have never been an issue,” he
added.Sclafani writes for Times
Community News.Huntington Beach’s memorial
bench program is put on hiatus
STEPHANIE LADSOUS poses with her son behind
the bench she had dedicated to mother Gloria Patin.More study is needed,
officials say, after
installation by library
touches off debate.
By Julia Sclafani‘At first it was
about the bench,
but now it’s so
much more.’
— Stephanie
Ladsous,
on the memorial bench she
dedicated to her mother in
Huntington Beach that had
been removed without her
knowledgePolice in Merced have ar-
rested an El Capitan High
School student they say
posted a threat on social me-
dia stating there was going
to be a shooting Friday.
The Merced Police De-
partment received a call
about the post Thursday
and started an investiga-
tion, authorities said in a
news release. They arrested
a 17-year-old on suspicion of
making criminal threats. He
was booked into the Merced
County Juvenile Detention
facility. His name was not re-
leased because of his age.
The arrest came after a
shooting at Saugus High
School in Santa Clarita that
left two students dead and
three injured. The suspected
killer died Friday from a self-
inflicted shot, officials said.Merced teen is
held after threat
on social media
By Alex Wigglesworth
Shortly before gunfire
erupted Thursday morning
at a high school in Santa
Clarita, a 9-year-old boy shot
three fellow students with a
BB gun at an elementary
school in Pasadena, police
said.
The boy fired a pistol
loaded with BBs about
7:30 a.m. at Washington
Elementary STEM Magnet,
1520 N. Raymond Ave., Pasa-
dena Police Lt. Bill Grisafe
said.
None of the students re-
quired medical attention,
authorities said.
The boy and his parents
were contacted by police,
who are investigating the
shooting, Grisafe said.
The student was not im-
mediately arrested.
It was unclear what con-
sequences, if any, the boy
was facing, according to
Grisafe, who said the situa-
tion was sensitive because of
the boy’s age.
The Pasadena shooting
occurred moments before
police say a student at
Saugus High School shot
five classmates, killing two of
them.
The boy, whose 16th
birthday was Thursday,
pulled a .45-caliber pistol
from his backpack and shot
five schoolmates before
killing himself, L.A. County
sheriff ’s officials said.City News Service
contributed to this report.Boy with BB gun
shoots three at
Pasadena school
times staff
and wire reports