DOWNTOWN: Staph Spread By Shared Surfaces

Hat tip to LA Observed for pointing out an alarming story in LA Weekly about the spread of methicillin-resistant staph infections in downtown Los Angeles. According to the story:

The bacterium that transmits staph can be passed through touch, shared surfaces and personal items like razors or towels. It can stay on clothes or bedding for five days. The infection often is dismissed as a large pimple, ingrown hair or a spider bite, but it comes on quickly and is extremely painful. In some cases, it looks more like a rash or cellulitis. Most cases are easily treatable with antibiotics; in rare instances, staph can cause blood, bone and lung infections.

Many of the victims are homeless people who lack access to proper hygeine. The infection has also allegedly been spread to people who interact with the homeless population, including firefighters and police officers. Other victims may have had the infection spread to them by family members who work downtown.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

On The Cover Of A Magazine

The cover for the October/November 2006 edition of Quill features a photograph I took this summer in Chicago. Quill is the Society of Professional Journalists national magazine and is published 9 times a year by SPJ.

The photo is of the morning sun cresting Cloud Gate in Millennium Park in Chicago. Also referred to as "The Bean," Cloud Gate is a 110-ton elliptical sculpture made of highly polished stainless steel plates. I took the photograph during this year's SPJ convention, which was held in Chicago in August.

Quill is available for download in pdf format at the SPJ Web site.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Busted Deadline, Busted Budget, And A Bust

Many commuters in West LA are more than ready to heave a sigh of relief as the last of the orange cones begin to disappear from the $90-million Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Project.

Not only did this project bust its budget by more than $20 million, it also busted deadline by a year.

And now, there's a bust to watch over it.

This afternoon I spotted the curious bust pictured at right, along with some other works of art on the new lampposts along Santa Monica Boulevard west of Beverly Glen Boulevard.

A Sept. 27, 2006, press release from the LA City Department of Public Works implies that she and other works are part of the art that will cap off the project. According to the release:

As roadway construction nears completion of the Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway Project, crews are preparing to install project art work. Artistic medallions designed to showcase state themes along historic Route 66 will hang from steetlighting fixtures on Santa Monica Blvd. A pair of ruby red shoes will symbolize Kansas, while a likeness of Abraham Lincoln will represent Illinois.

I don't know who she's supposed to represent, though I'm sure I'll regret writing that when someone informs me of the person in whose likeness this was cast. In the meantime, if I may be so bold as to embellish a line from the 1996 film Swingers: She's so money, and she doesn't even know it.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Caltrans Cam Links Online

Did you know that Caltrans has links to many of its traffic cameras online? The choices in Los Angeles are few, considering how many exist, but there are many for the rural areas of the state.

I couldn't get any of the LA cameras to work, but the one up in Sacremento (pictured at right) was very clear.

The site also has a Photolog, which can serve as an online road atlas for the entire state. In addition, there's a Statewide Travel Information feature.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

That's 'Colonel' T.J. Sullivan, If You Don't Mind

It's official.

I have been commissioned by the governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky as a Kentucky Colonel, joining a list of colonels far more distinguished than me.

I have called five states home in my life, but never was made to feel more at home than I was when I lived in Kentucky.

— TJ Sullivan in LA

Another Reason To Worry About Housing

Robert J. Samuelson's column in the Oct. 16 edition of Newsweek points out some important facts about the national housing market.

Of particular concern are the figures he quotes on overvalued markets. The numbers, which came from a survey by Global Insight and National City Corp., said that by the middle of this year 236 metro areas had overvalued housing markets. As if that number weren't a concern in and of itself, it's particularly worrysome when put in the context of survey results from early 2000, when only 63 metro areas were judged as being overvalued.

From Samuelson's column:

We are at the endgame for housing. Until recently, our national motto has been "in real estate we trust." Just last week, the Census Bureau reported that median home prices after inflation rose 32 percent from 2000 to 2005. In some places, the gains were huge: 127 percent in San Diego, 110 percent in Los Angeles and 79 percent in New York. But real estate—which has acted as a national piggy bank, with homeowners borrowing and spending against rising house prices—no longer looks so trustworthy. On this, more than falling oil prices or a record Dow, hangs the economy's immediate fate.

— TJ Sullivan in LA