Los Angeles Times - 13.03.2020

CALIFORNIA

FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020::LATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA

B

The businessman who al-

legedly plied Los Angeles

City Councilman Mitchell

Englander with cash, an es-

cort and a lavish night out in

Las Vegas to gain access to

real estate developers also

used his largess to “groom

and cultivate” other city offi-

cials, including at least one

other council member, a fed-

eral prosecutor said Thurs-

day.

Englander, who left the

council in 2018, made his first

appearance in front of U.S.

District Judge John F. Walter

since his Monday arrest on

charges he lied to investiga-

tors and obstructed justice

by telling the businessman

to do the same.

During the hearing, As-

sistant U.S. Atty. Mack Jenk-

ins provided new details of

the government’s case

against Englander and how

it is linked to a larger, on-

going investigation into cor-

ruption at City Hall.

Prosecutors have con-

cealed the identity of the

businessman, citing the on-

going investigation. Howev-

er, during the hourlong hear-

ing, Jenkins said the man —

identified in Englander’s in-

dictment as “Businessper-

son A” — operated two com-

panies, one that sold cabi-

netry and another that sold

electronic equipment used

in homes.

Businessperson A, Jenk-

ins said, wanted to sell his

products to developers. He

decided the best way to get

to those developers was to

pay council members and

city officials, the prosecutor

said.

“When it’s a billion-dollar

project in downtown Los An-

geles, that’s a lot of cabi-

nets,” Jenkins said.

Englander’s attorney,

Janet I. Levine, declined to

comment.

Jenkins told the judge

that Englander, 49, stated on

a disclosure form that he

filed with the city’s Ethics

Commission that he had re-

ceived gifts worth $250 from

Businessperson A.

The Times obtained a

copy of that form. On it, Eng-

lander said he had received

$250 worth of food and bev-

erages on June 1, 2017, from a

man named Andrew Wang.

It is the only gift of that

amount on the form, and the

indictment against Eng-

lander states he traveled to

Las Vegas with Businessper-

son A “on or about June 1,

2017.”

Wang did not respond to

calls and messages seeking

comment. An office in Mont-

clair that Wang listed in

state records as the address

for several of his businesses

was locked Thursday after-

noon. No one answered

when a reporter pressed a

door buzzer and knocked.

THE AIM

WA S T O

‘GROOM’

KEY CITY

LEADERS

Prosecutor says the

businessman involved

in the Englander graft

case also targeted

other L.A. officials.

By Emily Alpert Reyes,

David Zahniser

and Joel Rubin

[SeeEnglander,B5]

On Facebook and group
chats, the rumors are
spreading.
With more cases of the
novel coronavirus being con-
firmed daily, will the L.A.
Unified School District close
its 860-some campuses this
week, or next week, or not at
all? Should it follow in the
footsteps of the universities
that are rapidly moving to
online learning, or the K-
districts in Northern Cali-
fornia and across the coun-
try that have shut down as
they have confirmed their
first cases of the virus?
The answer, as of Thurs-
day afternoon, was no. De-
spite mounting pleas for
them to close schools, offi-
cials declined to do so.
Still, the district has been
preparing for that step.
Schools are engaging in con-
tingency planning that in-
cludes granting the superin-
tendent broad emergency
powers, canceling large
events and planning for
lessons delivered on TV. The
district also has two online
platforms: a system through
which teachers and stu-
dents can communicate and
a separate system of self-
contained online courses.
To date, no coronavirus
case has been linked to an
L.A. public school, although
there are confirmed cases
elsewhere in the county that
have spread through the
community without a clear
origin. Public health and
school officials said say they
plan to keep schools open
unless a confirmed case
reaches a campus.
Nonetheless, the head of
United Teachers Los Ange-
les, the union that repre-
sents about 30,000 L.A. Uni-
fied employees, demanded
the district shut down cam-
puses during a news confer-
ence Thursday evening.
“We are calling for the
rapid, accelerated and hu-
mane closure of all schools in
L.A.,” UTLA President Alex
Caputo-Pearl said. Experi-
ence in other countries, he
said, has shown that limiting
the reach of the virus by clos-
ing schools “actually slows
the spread, flattens out the
spread and makes sure that
healthcare providers are not
crushed with an overwhelm-
ing demand.”
He acknowledged that
additional planning might
be required. Many students
rely on L.A. Unified for meals
during the school day. Those

LAUSD

schools

remain

open

Teachers union, some

parents say they want

campuses shut down

as virus spreads.

By Sonali Kohli,
Howard Blume,
Hailey Branson-Potts
and Nina Agrawal

[SeeLAUSD,B4]

This just in:

At 11:30 a.m., in Grand

Central Market in down-

town Los Angeles, I

counted just seven people

in line at Eggslut.

This is bigger news

than the stock market

crash.

I’ve never seen such a

short line at this eatery, where millenni-

als and others are always more than

happy to queue up and wait eons for an

egg sandwich.

The coronavirus may be scary, but

there are upsides, it seems.

At 11:40 a.m., only one person was in

line at Eggslut. It was me, and I wasn’t

really in line. I just wanted to ask if busi-

ness had ever been slower.

“No,” said Eli Watson, who manned

the cash register.

I don’t want to minimize the poten-

tial impact of the coronavirus. We know

it’s a killer and have no idea how much

further it will spread. We also have no

idea how much our lives will be altered.

Already, people are out of work, the

markets have tanked and, if panic buy-

ing gets any worse, Southern California

stores will be out of toilet paper by to-

morrow morning.

But my colleagues were kibitzing in

our downtown bureau the other day

about how easy it is to get a restaurant

TRAFFIC WAS NOTICEABLY LIGHTon the I-110 Harbor Freeway and exit lanes around 3:30 p.m.

on Wednesday. Some residents are welcoming faster commutes as “social distancing” takes hold.

Genaro MolinaLos Angeles Times

Now for the good news:

perks of the pandemic

STEVE LOPEZ

[SeePerks, B4]

Retired businessman

Gary Martin Zelman was

looking forward to his center

court seat at Thursday’s

Lakers game. Until Wednes-

day night, he had planned to

be there, rooting for his

hometown NBA team, re-

gardless of warnings that

baby boomers should dis-

tance themselves from pub-

lic places to help stem the

rapid spread of the novel co-

ronavirus.

Hours later, the NBA sus-

pended its season, and Pres-

ident Trump, who has down-

played the risk of the virus,

imposed sweeping travel

restrictions on visitors from

They’ve heard, but will they heed?

Experts aim to curtail coronavirus skepticism among baby boomers

GRACE MAGALLON,63, right, here getting her temperature taken at an

Alhambra restaurant, says she’s “not really that concerned” about COVID-19.

Mel MelconLos Angeles Times

By Melody Gutierrez,

Anita Chabria,

Soumya Karlamangla

and Emily

Baumgaertner

[SeeSkepticism,B5]

Adult film actress Riley
Reyes was preparing for
a “particularly physical”
scene when she received
word of a proposed state
measure that would impose
strict new rules on her
industry.
“I was completely
shocked,” said Reyes, who is
among “hundreds of thou-
sands” of performers the bill
initially sought to have
fingerprinted, background-
checked and mandated into
education programs under a
new licensing scheme. “It
was weird to have to go to

work and act sexy and nor-

mal after finding out.”

Reyes shoots hardcore

sex scenes on the storied

sets of the San Fernando

Valley, long dubbed the

“porn capital of the world.”

She also heads the Adult

Performer Advocacy Com-

mittee, one of a small num-

ber of organized labor and

workers’ rights groups that

meet regularly with lawmak-

ers on industry issues.

None of them knew about

Assembly Bill 2389 until af-

ter it was introduced last

month. The snub has re-

newed a bitter fight over who

speaks for adult performers

in a state where legislators

have long sought to assert

some control over the indus-

try. After a decade of pro-

posed porn czars and failed

condom codes, strippers,

adult film actors and web-

Porn bill ‘treats us like criminals,’ actors say

RILEY REYES, who leads the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, said she

was shocked by a proposal last month to fingerprint and license adult film actors.

Dania MaxwellLos Angeles Times

Proposal to license

adult performers takes

industry’s few labor

groups by surprise.

By Sonja Sharp

[SeeBill,B6]

MORE COVERAGE

Reassuring words

for young people

Despite a prominent case

of COVID-19 in New

Jersey, experts say risk of

serious illness is low for

those younger than 40. B

Officials call for

halt on evictions

As the coronavirus

spreads, L.A. council

members seek a morato-

rium and other protec-

tive measures. B

Witnesses tell

of Durst abuse

First wife’s brother

and a friend testify in

the real estate scion’s

murder trial. B

The rain spigot

is staying open

Slow-moving storm

returns to Southern

California, bringing

more wet weather. B

Lottery......................B