California Today: A Strike Looms in Hollywood

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/us/california-today-a-strike-looms-in-hollywood.html

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Good morning.

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Let’s turn it over to Brooks Barnes, our Hollywood reporter based in Los Angeles, for today’s introduction.

LOS ANGELES — For the first time in a decade, Hollywood is facing the threat of a major strike. Writers, who power almost everything the movie and television factories make, want better pay and the shoring up of a faltering health care plan. Studios, while open to some raises, have so far proposed health care changes that many writers consider rollbacks.

Should a walkout happen — with its contract expiring on May 1, the Writers Guild of America last week asked members to give it the authority to call a strike — Howard A. Rodman will be among those leading the charge. While not prone to public grandstanding, Mr. Rodman, president of the Writers Guild, West, is a behind-the-scenes firebrand.

He was elected in 2015 after vowing to get tough with studios. Labor conflict is in his blood; his father, also a writer, was a combative guild figure.

Speaking by phone, Mr. Rodman insisted that writers, despite a Netflix-fueled boom in television, were being left behind by the industry. TV seasons are shorter. Networks are showing fewer reruns, limiting residuals. Studios are also making fewer movies and cutting back on paying to polish scripts.

“Without beginning with the script — whether it is television, it’s film, it’s new media — none of the rest of the larger machine functions at all,” he said. “That needs to be deeply recognized by the industry. We need to be compensated in a way that is just and proportionate to our contribution.”

Mr. Rodman, a former journalist known for indie films like “Savage Grace,” declined to discuss the negotiations, which will resume on Monday after breaking off late last month. Asked about the economic impact of a strike — the 100-day writers walkout in 2007-2008 cost the Los Angeles economy about $2.5 billion — Mr. Rodman chose his words carefully.

“The leadership of the guild is experienced and deeply aware of the concerns of its members,” he said. “None of us takes any of this casually.” Voting for a strike authorization will conclude on April 24. It will most likely pass. After that, Mr. Rodman and his cohorts will have to decide what to do next.

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

• National Democrats are spending early in hopes of flipping Republican-held House districts in California. [The Associated Press]

• A California congressman’s proposal to pay for President Trump’s border wall: Charge wealthy foreigners $1 million for citizenship. [Los Angeles Times]

• Federal agents raided sites in greater Los Angeles connected to a $50 million scheme that enabled wealthy Chinese to secure green cards. [The New York Times]

• “Alternate universes”: In California, 75 percent of Democrats trust the news media. For Republicans, it’s 21 percent. [The Mercury News]

• Eight automobile insurers in California were found charging higher rates in minority ZIP codes. [ProPublica]

• In a lawsuit, two disability advocacy groups accused BART of violating passenger rights with its filthy, broken elevators. [East Bay Times]

• The Trump administration is easing the way for a plan to pump groundwater from the Mojave Desert and sell it in Southern California. [The Desert Sun]

• “Unbuilt Los Angeles” — see what the city might have looked like had alternate architectural visions won the day. [The Guardian]

• How far does $2 million go in the housing markets of San Francisco, Cape Cod and Dallas? [The New York Times]

• Richard Simmons signed with a licensing firm. Could the reclusive fitness mogul end his self-imposed exile? [The New York Times]

• Christian Bale is in talks to portray Dick Cheney in a biopic about the former vice president. [The New York Times]

• Metallica, the Who, Gorillaz, Lorde and A Tribe Called Quest will appear at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival. [San Francisco Chronicle]

To escape the concrete and clamor of San Francisco, you might drive 45 minutes to the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and slip into a redwood forest.

Or you could go the center of the city.

There rises Mount Sutro, an 80-acre hill forested by blue gum eucalyptus trees. Nourished by the enveloping San Francisco fog, many are more than 100 feet tall.

Among the reserve’s inhabitants are coyotes, red foxes, hoary bats and ringneck snakes. At least 80 species of bird have been spotted, including great horned owls.

Sarah Gustafson, a reader in San Francisco, said she walks regularly with her dog along Mount Sutro’s meandering five miles of trails. She shared a picture she took in December.

Entering the forest is almost immediately transporting, she said. After a few minutes of walking, the clatter of the city fades to silence.

“It’s really a fascinating place, especially on a foggy day,” said Ms. Gustafson, 27. “It’s got this sort of ethereal vibe.”

Mount Sutro has not been immune to the tree death sweeping California’s drought-stricken forests. A survey last year found that roughly a quarter of its trees were dead. A revitalization plan calls in part for clearing out the dead trees and introducing more native species (the eucalyptus are from Australia).

If you want to pitch in, they’re looking for volunteers.

Sutro Stewards, a nonprofit conservation group, invites people to help with trail and habitat restoration on the first and third Saturdays of each month. Get the details here.

Want to submit a photo for possible publication? You can do it here.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com.

The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian — born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Davis. Follow him on Twitter.

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.