Community Relations

As a respected Mexican diplomat for nearly six years, Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro spent hours each week listening to the problems of Orange County's poorest residents. Now, as a new consul takes the helm of the Mexican consulate in Santa Ana, Ortiz Haro finds himself telling his own tale of woe. Ortiz Haro, 47, a former elected official in Mexico City who had no previous diplomatic experience, was replaced last month in what Mexican officials described as a routine change of consular heads.

The 22nd floor of the new Solair building, a residential, retail and transportation hub at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, is still just a concrete platform -- the building's official opening is months away. But from that high up, it's easy to see how the building stands at the crossroads of change along the storied boulevard.

Their beef isn't with the burger. Merchants near some Southern California In-N-Out Burger restaurants say their gripe is with growing traffic jams at drive-through lanes that are keeping customers from getting in and out of their stores. Long lines of idling cars whose occupants are waiting for made-to-order double-doubles, fries and chocolate shakes sometimes spill into streets and block driveways and alleys, according to owners of adjacent businesses.

The stunning skyline drew Edith Jeske to small-town Acton 35 years ago, the rugged Sierra Pelona to the north and the snow-capped San Gabriel summits to the south. Before her lay the sprawling high desert wilderness dotted with enclaves named for their beauty: Littlerock, Pearblossom, Sun Village, Juniper Hills. "It was rural," said Jeske of the sleepy town of about 9,100 people, 50 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. But today she feels the rustic community, where she lives on 2 1/2 acres, is increasingly being eroded.

Everyone's an art critic when it comes to a $195,000 mural for the LAPD's new Hollenbeck station. The tile mural was meant to depict a quaint Sunday in Boyle Heights. Many angry residents say it makes their neighborhood out to be a crime-ridden dump filled with fat women, stray dogs, beer-swilling men and illegal street vendors. And don't get them started about the pinata. "There's no American flag.

Molokai Ranch said it would shut down most of its operations at the end of the month and lay off more than 120 workers. The company blamed the move on community opposition to its plan to develop multimillion-dollar beachfront estates at Laau Point on the island of Molokai. The company will close Molokai Lodge, the Kaupoa Beach Village, the Kaluakoi Golf Course, the Maunaloa gas station, the Maunaloa Tri-Plex theater and its cattle-rearing business. Molokai Ranch also said it would cut off public access to the 60,000 acres it owns on Molokai -- roughly a third of the island.

The City Council postponed a decision Tuesday on a plan to raise water and electrical rates despite a warning by the Department of Water and Power that a delay would increase the chances of hot-weather power outages. DWP General Manager H. David Nahai voiced dismay about the one-week delay, saying that the higher rates were needed to fix aging water systems and electrical lines. "We're going to get pushed back again, and it's not right," Nahai said moments before the vote. "We've got urgent needs in this city."

The giant retro neon sign proclaiming "Americana at Brand" has been installed. A gold-plated sculpture now graces the public square, still wrapped in thick, clear plastic. The tracks for the trolley have been laid, and piping for the dancing fountains is in place and being tested. For better or worse, builder Rick Caruso's mega retail and residential development in the heart of Glendale is nearing completion and is scheduled to open in a month.

Fearful that their area might be getting more criminals from throughout Los Angeles County, some residents of the Antelope Valley voiced concerns Saturday over a proposal to expand Lancaster's Mira Loma Detention Center complex. "We're tired of being a dumping ground, and that's what we're being used for," Fred Sellas, a 15-year resident of Palmdale, said at a town hall meeting inside Palmdale's City Council Chambers. "Just because we got a lot of space, a lot of dirt up here . . .

After a lifetime spent digging for black clams in the swamps that line the coast here, Clojilda Velasco remembers when she could count on finding 400 a day. Now she's lucky if she gets 100. But she still shares when one of the other women comes up salado, or unlucky.