Cities United States

They came for the soccer. We gave them Americana. Their tickets entitled them to World Cup games. We threw in an education in United States history, geography, and the economics of the $20 baseball cap. They expected an athletic tournament. We staged a county fair, featuring nine exhibits stretched across 3,000 miles, with people and surroundings as varied as our twangs.

Want a neighbor you can count on? Move to Montana. That's one conclusion you might draw from a Harvard University study released today, which finds that Los Angeles residents trust each other less than most other Americans. The study is billed as the largest-ever survey on "civic engagement"--activities such as joining social or community groups, voting and simply making friends.

For the second year in a row, Irvine is America's safest city among municipalities with populations greater than 100,000. Huntington Beach ranked No. 8. The list, compiled by Morgan Quitno Press of Lawrence, Kan., based on recent FBI crime statistics, takes into account both violent and property crime rates. "I am thrilled," Irvine Mayor Michael Ward said Thursday. "It says a lot about our Police Department, our city staff and the citizens of Irvine. It's a cooperative effort.

Newport Beach is one of the 10 best urban beaches in the United States, according to a report by the Surfrider Foundation released Thursday, despite the region's well-known water quality woes. The city was one of three California communities to make the list--along with East Beach in Santa Barbara and Main Beach in Santa Cruz--as spots where there is a "peaceful coexistence" between healthy shorelines and urban development, according to the advocacy group's State of the Beach report.

This innocuous little city, tucked away in a corner of Orange County, has once again made news. And once again, it's done so without trying. Villa Park (pop. 5,897), which has neither a bank nor a single street remotely resembling Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, has just been named one of the 300 wealthiest towns in America--and the wealthiest in Orange County.

Beverly Hills? Schmeverly Hills. Malibu? Middle-class. You want wealthy? You want residents-must-give-up-a-10-foot-strip-of-land-for-horse-trails wealthy? Rolling Hills is the place for you. The hilltop town of the rich if not necessarily famous, located at the tip of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, is the wealthiest town in America, according to the most recent issue of Worth magazine.

Negotiators for firearms makers and major U.S. cities met privately Monday in Washington to discuss the potential for settling the wave of municipal lawsuits that have engulfed the handgun industry. Participants, including Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn, declined to give details but said further meetings are planned, suggesting possible areas of common ground.

In a striking turnabout from the early 1990s, California's population swelled 1.3% in the 12 months ending July 1, outpacing the national growth rate of 0.9%, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. A Washington consulting firm said the new data indicate that California--which already has the largest congressional delegation--will be one of seven states to add a seat after the 2000 census.

Newport Beach is one of the 10 best urban beaches in the United States, according to a report by the Surfrider Foundation released Thursday, despite the region's well-known water quality woes. The city was one of three California communities to make the list--along with East Beach in Santa Barbara and Main Beach in Santa Cruz--as spots where there is a "peaceful coexistence" between healthy shorelines and urban development, according to the advocacy group's State of the Beach report.

President Clinton announced Saturday that 10 cities, including Los Angeles, will be added to a computer system that helps authorities pursue illegal gun traffickers by tracing guns sold to juveniles. Clinton said the program, which currently involves 17 cities, including Salinas and Inglewood, has tracked 37,000 guns used in crimes and that many of them were linked to gun-selling rings and dishonest gun dealers.

"The lights are much brighter there/You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares/So go Downtown/Things'll be great when you're Downtown." Petula Clark, songstress and urbanologist, from her 1964 hit "Downtown." * Here is the short course on the American downtown at the end of the 20th century: A lot of cities are striving to overcome the Doughnut Syndrome--communities surrounded by nice stuff but hollow in the middle--by turning their urban core into entertainment meccas.

Negotiators for firearms makers and major U.S. cities met privately Monday in Washington to discuss the potential for settling the wave of municipal lawsuits that have engulfed the handgun industry. Participants, including Los Angeles City Atty. James K. Hahn, declined to give details but said further meetings are planned, suggesting possible areas of common ground.

Poor education, traffic congestion, air pollution and economic inequality put Los Angeles behind most major U.S. cities as a safe and sound home for children, according to a ranking by a national environmental group released Tuesday. But among the nation's suburbs, Irvine ranked in the top 10. "The ongoing policy of the city is that we really believe it's important for us to support our families," Irvine Mayor Christina Shea said on learning that the city's overall grade was "A-".

Poor education, traffic congestion, air pollution and economic inequality put Los Angeles behind most major U.S. cities as a safe and sound home for children, according to a ranking by a national environmental group released Tuesday. Los Angeles received a C- grade on the Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card issued by Washington-based Zero Population Growth, which lobbies for causes ranging from a national population control policy to fighting urban sprawl. That mark placed L.A.

From Frenchie's Patio Soul Food on Western Avenue to the Getty Museum in Brentwood to St. Brigid's Catholic Church, Angelenos will come together in scores of places this week to talk. And organizers hope it will be the kind of candid talk usually reserved for close friends with shared biases--risky talk about issues that people too often prefer to avoid. These conversations have their genesis in reactions to the O.J.

In a striking turnabout from the early 1990s, California's population swelled 1.3% in the 12 months ending July 1, outpacing the national growth rate of 0.9%, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. A Washington consulting firm said the new data indicate that California--which already has the largest congressional delegation--will be one of seven states to add a seat after the 2000 census.

After years of working in war-torn nations overseas, International Medical Corps is turning its attention to America's inner cities. What it has found are communities faced with problems not so different from those in developing countries: high infant-mortality rates, an extremely low ratio of residents to physicians and high poverty rates.

The Christopher Commission Report, and ensuing developments involving Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, are already having a wide impact on law enforcement throughout the United States, according to many officials. The impression of a revered institution like the LAPD being tarnished by excessive use of force and the department's failure to monitor racist messages sent over patrol car computer terminals is sending a powerful warning to police chiefs and mayors throughout the nation.

Los Angeles is one of the worst places to raise a child, ranking near the bottom of U.S. cities in quality of education, environmental safeguards and economic well-being provided to children, according to a study released Tuesday by Zero Population Growth. The survey rated 219 cities of 100,000 or more on factors such as teenage pregnancies, dropout rates, student-to-teacher ratio, air quality and child poverty in an attempt to quantify the quality of life of millions of children nationwide.

Few teen pregnancies, good air and water quality, low levels of child poverty and low dropout rates add up to make Irvine the third most child-friendly city in the nation in a poll just released by Zero Population Growth. In the yearlong nationwide study by the educational organization, quality-of-life measurements such as crime rates, income and infant mortality were tallied for 219 cities of more than 100,000 people.