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VENICE — I love a good brunch.

It’s not necessarily the food or the bottomless mimosas (there’s usually cheap sparkling wine poured, which gives me a headache), but more the relaxed, pool-party atmosphere that keeps me in good spirits as I fight off the rapidly approaching Monday blues. Weekends seem so short these days, so any excuse to extend the feeling of freedom that comes with days off is welcomed.

I have my favorite brunch spots. Brick + Mortar on Main Street is where you want to go if you didn’t satisfy your club craving Saturday night, and are looking for a serious Bloody Mary. FIG at the Fairmont Miramar is where I go if food is the focus. It’s always fresh and delicious, plus it’s quiet, which is good if you have a serious hangover from a night of drinking.

The same can be said about my latest restaurant of choice, the Southern-inspired Willie Jane, which opened earlier this year on the trendy stretch of Abbott Kinney. The food is rich and flavorful, the service attentive and while dining I couldn’t help but feel as if I was sitting in my grandmother’s backyard with the ocean breezes keeping me cool as I gaze at the garden.

Chef Govind Armstrong poses at the future home of his chef’s garden on Abbott Kinney. (Photos courtesy John Blanchette)

A creation of chef Govind Armstrong and restaurateur Brad Johnson of Post & Beam fame, Willie Jane beautifully melds the spice and flavor of low country, Cajun cooking with traditional brunch dishes. I devoured my smoked trout Benedict, which was served on top of a bed of braised collards and a hearty homemade biscuit ($14). The mustard hollandaise wasn’t too thick and heavy, allowing me to sample some of my friend’s shrimp grits and applewood smoked bacon with spicy Fresno chili peppers ($16). I have to say that the shrimp grits were creamy and thick, taking me back to my days at Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., where I was exposed to grits and real humidity for the first time.

Seated next to us was a couple from New Orleans, who were also members of the Clean Plate Club. They were impressed by Armstrong’s take on Southern cuisine, saying that the food carried many of the flavors of back home. Armstrong basically nailed it, they said.

The shrimp grits with Fresno chili peppers, applewood-smoked bacon and scrambled eggs.

An added benefit of the brunch, which includes the bottomless mimosas for $15, is the restaurant’s expansive back patio. It’s airy and with just the right amount of shading for a pleasant atmosphere as you sip on a cocktail or tall glass of cold beer. Right next door is a nursery with a lush garden loaded with native plants.

On the other side of the restaurant is a chef’s garden that was under construction when I was there, but has tremendous promise. Armstrong plans to have several beds for planting and would like to get other chef’s along Abbott Kinney to participate. Soon the empty lot will be blooming with herbs and vegetables that will be used by Armstrong and his team. It’s a great concept and not every chef is fortunate enough to have the room to do it. I know I’m eager to see what blooms.

Willie Jane’s deviled eggs with marinated shrimp and preserved lemon aioli.

Willie Jane just started serving brunch so it hasn’t quite caught on yet, making it rather easy to get a table. Undoubtedly, it will be hopping in no time at all. I’m not sure how I feel about that as I like the mellow vibe there, but if it keeps Armstrong in business, I’m all for it. I plan on going back often and am eager to visit for dinner. They have an apricot-glazed pork shoulder with spinach and cracked almonds that sounds delicious, as does the curried oxtail with grilled plantains and curry leaves. Now there’s an entree you don’t see every day.

If you go

Willie Jane

1031 Abbot Kinney Blvd.

Los Angeles

90291

(310) 392-2425

http://williejane.com/

kevinh@smdp.com

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For the first time a United States president has announced that tackling climate change is a national priority. Yet, Congress shows no signs of passing meaningful legislation. For now, it’s up to states and localities to turn this declaration into action.

But this isn’t new. When it comes to renewable energy, state policy has yielded by far the most progress. In 29 states this has come mainly through renewable portfolio/energy standards, known as RPSs. These laws require public utilities to purchase or generate a certain percentage of renewable energy as part of their overall portfolio.

In my home state of Colorado, we are engaged in a highly-publicized legislative debate over expanding our RPS. But the national trend is in the opposite direction; various groups are trying to repeal or overturn RPSs in numerous states. In 2012 the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) adopted model legislation, ironically called the “Electricity Freedom Act,” to repeal these laws. ALEC-backed legislation was introduced this year in North Carolina and numerous other states. A legislative committee in North Carolina killed ALEC’s bill, but the debate continues there and around the country.

Renewable energy standards have also come under scrutiny by another faction — the “we’ve-already-met-the-bar” crowd. These folks point out that most utilities have already purchased enough wind and solar power to meet the thresholds. While the RPSs shouldn’t be repealed they say, these standards have lost their luster.

I beg to differ. RPSs need to be protected, at least until Congress adopts a federal version. Recent attacks are not only misguided and based on falsehoods, they miss the point.

As for the facts, studies are increasingly showing that RPSs — and renewable energy in general — do not increase electricity rates. And utilities with increased renewables haven’t found that grid reliability is jeopardized. The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (the regional grid for all or part of 12 Midwestern states) has increased wind generation 14 times the past five years without experiencing operational issues. In Colorado, a National Renewable Energy Laboratory study shows that many countries are successfully managing high levels of renewable energy on the grid. Projected increases in electric vehicles, net metering, smart-grid and efficiency will only increase the ability to integrate renewable energy.

Even more shortsighted is the notion that by emphasizing renewable energy sources we will cause businesses to outsource jobs. Anyone watching developments in Europe, Israel and China will recognize that renewable energy is the technological wave of the future. Sensible government incentives will help the U.S. compete against nations investing capital in renewables and clean technology.

Yet there is more to the energy cost/reliability/competitiveness debate. When President Obama labeled climate change a universal threat, he alluded to its dire economic effects worldwide — not to mention environmental and public-health risks. Many consider these issues more compelling than the latest economic forecast. Just ask my friends in the ski industry or rafting/outdoor trade.

This is where the RPSs are critical. These standards provide building blocks on which renewable energy developers strongly rely. For example, here in Colorado, while investor-owned utilities have made strides in meeting our RPSs, the state standard applies with much less force on other utilities, particularly rural cooperatives. The current Colorado bill ramps up these requirements and folds such progressive techniques as methane capture from abandoned coal mines into the mix. Without a firmly-established RPS, these advances would not be possible.

Let’s also not forget that popular sentiment supports working together to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and expand renewable energy. This is the greatest irony surrounding recent attacks on the RPSs. A number of ALEC members have already adopted renewable energy commitments or other GHG-reduction goals. For these same entities to simultaneously attempt to repeal RPSs suggests that independent efforts of corporations, NGOs and the free market can do it alone. Alas, if only we had a little more evidence of this, and a little less bad climate news.

We have a long way to go to reach a carbon-mitigation plateau in the energy sector, as well as in transportation and many other areas that are even more difficult to crack. Let’s not step backwards by undermining the RPSs. We need to preserve RPSs in all its various state forms.

Freeman is a partner at Davis Graham & Stubbs, LLC in Denver, where he works on environmental issues with both the traditional energy sector and numerous NGOs, including the American Sustainable Business Council.

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Editor:

It is a debacle of human civility and liberty as an American citizen born in this country to not only have to endure the ignorant prejudices of others towards the homeless, such as myself, but also to be subjugated to harassment at the bullish hands of law enforcement or, more appropriately, Santa Monica’s henchmen.

Being illegally detained without being read one’s rights for alleged “camping,” only to be held for the sole purpose of being told that the condition for early release from jail would be if we, those of us picked up in a sweep by local police, had some place to go and stay outside of Santa Monica.

I fully understand the eyesore that many of those without a home are to those whose sole existence appears to be based on financial narcissism. Not all of us are detrimental to your city. We are struggling and unfortunately many of the severely mentally ill have inundated the fine streets of this city, making it harder for the rest of us to be treated or looked upon without bias or prejudice. I do not drink or smoke, do drugs or even panhandle. I am an exception to the rule perhaps, but I do have my faults.

There are solutions to this problem and none of them entail playing revolving door with the city of angels. We are human beings, not an animal merry-go-round. Los Angeles sends Santa Monica their homeless and vice versa, but in reality those of us without a home go wherever we want. I choose to stay in Santa Monica for professional and artistic reasons. I will not be treated like an animal. I am a man, a human being, and I am a creation of divine intelligence!

Kevin Badway

Santa Monica

P.S. I suspect this will not be published or even read, but at least I have made it known my feelings regarding this subject.

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Editor:

Sometimes less is more. Case in point, Santa Monica Place. Our shopping center recently won the 2013 Best-of-the-Best VIVA Global Design and Development Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers.

When the center owner, Macerich, first proposed building three 21-story towers on the site, residents and the Santa Monica Coalition for a Livable City protested mightily. Macerich listened and the plan was abandoned. Instead, Macerich renovated within the footprint of the existing building. This is a shining example of how keeping a project’s scale and relationship to its surroundings can create a win-win situation for both residents and developers.

Current and prospective developers who have projects in Santa Monica would be wise to take note. Projects massively out of scale for Santa Monica with unacceptable impacts result in community-wide opposition and successful lawsuits by residents protecting their quality of life. The developer of the Miramar Hotel could also benefit from this lesson. Kudos to Macerich on this award.

Sherrill Kushner

Santa Monica

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Santa Monica Pier (File photo)

SM PIER — Water quality near the Santa Monica Pier dropped in 2012, reversing much-celebrated gains from the year before, according to a report released Thursday by local environmental group Heal the Bay.

Santa Monica went from all A’s during dry weather in 2011 to a B-grade in the summer and failing grades in both winter reporting periods, according to Heal the Bay’s Beach Report Card, an annual accounting of water quality on the West Coast.

Other measurement areas in Santa Monica fared better, with the Montana Avenue, Wilshire Boulevard, Strand Street and Ashland Avenue storm drains all reporting top marks during dry weather.

The culprit behind the drop in Santa Monica’s GPA?

Pigeons.

The creatures some refer to as “rats with wings” roost underneath the Santa Monica Pier, dropping their waste into the water and bumping up the bacteria counts that Heal the Bay uses to judge water quality.

High concentrations of bacteria can put swimmers, surfers and others who enjoy the beach at risk of illnesses like stomach flue, eye or ear infections, respiratory infections and full-body skin rashes, according to the report.

It’s an issue that Santa Monica officials have faced before, and ultimately solved by installing a large net beneath the pier between 2009 and 2010 to ward off the avian invaders.

That net, made out of high-density polyethylene twine, developed tears that gave the birds an opportunity to slip back into their old spots by the pier.

Heal the Bay discovered the situation when weekly tests near the site began to turn up significantly higher levels of bacteria, said Kirsten James, director of water quality for the nonprofit.

The pier scored a B for water quality during the summer, but between November and March, called the “winter dry” period, the scores began to slip into F territory, causing Heal the Bay officials to ask why.

When they went down to investigate, they noticed tears in the netting, James said.

City officials are already in the process of having the net replaced, and suspect the netting was vandalized.

“The netting doesn’t tear that easily under normal conditions,” said Rick Valte, a principal civil engineer with City Hall.

With that addressed, officials will be able to pinpoint any other potential factors in the precipitous drop in water quality.

Overall, the Santa Monica Bay reported excellent water quality during the summer, with 92 percent of beaches up and down the coast earning A and B-grades, up 6 percent from the last report.

Grades began to drop further north, with Malibu Pier taking a spot on the Beach Bummer’s list, a run-down of the 10 beaches with the worst water quality in California.

Four of those, including Malibu Pier, were from Los Angeles County, down significantly from the 2012 report in which the county claimed seven of the bummers.

That may reflect an improvement in Los Angeles water quality overall. This year, 86 percent of beaches in the county received A or B-grades, besting its five-year average by 16 percent. It fared even better during wet weather, increasing its number of clean beaches by 23 percent from the last year and 24 percent compared to its five-year average.

There’s still work to do. Los Angeles County fell short by as much as 12 percent compared to the statewide average for each of the three time periods measured despite a helping hand from the weather, which pumped 3 inches less water into the Southland last year than the last five.

Less rainfall means less water streaming down dirty streets taking pollution from urban centers into the ocean.

Urban runoff is one of the biggest sources of coastal pollution, James said.

Los Angeles has invested in water quality over the last several years, finishing the final phase of a more than $40 million project to divert dirty water that runs off of urban roads during rainstorms away from the ocean and toward the Hyperion Treatment Plant, where it can be cleaned.

Although environmental groups know where the problems lie, fixing them costs money, a scarce resource at a time where governmental agencies are scrambling to make ends meet.

The federal Environmental Protection Agency recommended eliminating $10 million in funding to keep beaches clean, and the California state government has also restricted funds to monitor water quality.

At the same time, the federal agency has also proposed weakened standards for water quality compared to those agreed upon in 1986, according to the report, and would allow states to choose “acceptable illness rates” for those that go to their beaches.

Those moves at high levels are concerning, James said.

“We’ve been lucky in Los Angeles County, because when funding tightened in the past, folks still moved forward with a good number of monitoring sites,” she said. “If cuts go into place, there could be problems.”

Over the coming year, Heal the Bay plans to fight for more local funding through the Clean Water, Clean Beaches program that would tax property owners to pay for clean up efforts as well as advocate for increased water monitoring at popular beaches, according to the report.

ashley@smdp.com

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A man walks his dog past a pine tree on Dewey Street on Thursday. (Photo by Daniel Archuleta)

KEN EDWARDS CENTER — Members of the Urban Forest Task Force ripped into consultants’ reports on the health of Santa Monica’s trees Wednesday, and vowed to send their concerns on to the City Council for further review.

The reports examined a small sample of Santa Monica’s 35,000 street trees and management practices surrounding the multi-million dollar contract with West Coast Arborists (WCA), the company charged with caring for the local urban forest. The reports were in response to claims raised by a city arborist that WCA was deliberately planting defective trees and then charging to replace them. He also accused former city employees of being complicit. His charges are under review by the District Attorney’s Office.

Wednesday night was the first time that task force members had a chance to speak to the reports themselves, which had originally been presented at their meeting in April when they’d had only a few hours to review dozens of pages of documents.

They used the intervening month to go over the reports in detail.

Task force members found fault in what they considered overly-rosy conclusions in a report by HortScience, the company that looked into the condition of the trees, and challenged the methodology used to select specimens that resulted in a sample that had little to do with the overall composition of Santa Monica’s tree population.

They also took issue with a report by Management Partners for not digging deeper after discovering shoddy billing practices followed by city officials in charge of monitoring the contract with WCA.

Both reports concluded that although there were problems with the health of the trees and the consistency in the billing, the overall condition of the urban forest was fine and there were no obvious indications of fraud.

City officials have accepted the conclusions in the report and WCA has since gone ahead with normal pruning and tree care after a period of months where work stalled so that HortScience and Management Partners could finish their reports.

That didn’t sit well with Grace Phillips, chair of the task force.

“I just don’t understand that math,” she said.

The HortScience report, written by arborist James Clark, found that 30 of the 54 trees inspected were in poor or fair condition and reviewed pictures taken of severely damaged root systems, but ultimately concluded that poor-quality trees and circling and girdling roots were not pervasive problems in Santa Monica.

Roots that grow in a circular pattern can eventually lead to girdling, a condition where the roots choke the tree off at its base, killing it.

Despite the fact that more than half of the trees sampled were considered to be in poor or fair condition and that many more that had been pulled by Robin Beaudry, the city arborist who raised the concerns, showed painfully girdled roots.

“I just don’t understand how he gets from A to B,” Phillips said.

Task force members also struggled with the depth of both reports, or lack thereof.

That had more to do with the speed with which city officials reacted to the complaints by task force members, said Karen Ginsberg, director of the Community & Cultural Services Department.

Officials had to keep the cost of the report under $5,000 to avoid putting the project out to a formal bidding process, which would have taken time, Ginsberg said.

“We wanted to do this quickly,” she said. “We wouldn’t be here tonight, probably, had we gone out to bid.”

The HortScience report came in under the $5,000 mark, but the low cost translated to a relatively small sample size. Clark chose every 20th tree to examine, a method called systematic sampling.

That resulted in a mix of trees that had little to do with the variety encompassed by Santa Monica’s treescape, Phillips said, and would make it difficult to draw conclusions for the population.

Given that there was no momentum for further study beyond an analysis of billing practices by city officials, the task force members concluded they had to raise their concerns to the City Council.

“I don’t know what else to do,” Phillips said.

Although the task force was unhappy with the results of the reports, City Hall has made moves in recent months to fix problems raised by both the task force and the reports themselves.

The Public Landscape Division, which cares for the urban forest, will move to the Public Works Department under the eye of Martin Pastucha, the director. The department handles multiple large-scale contracts like that with WCA, and Pastucha himself has been responsible for street trees in other cities in which he’s worked.

Public Works is still trying to assimilate the new division. When it comes into the fold, Pastucha first plans to fill key vacancies and meet with WCA to make his expectations for their contract clear.

He would not elaborate on what that meant Wednesday night.

ashley@smdp.com

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HERE IT COMES: Santa Monica High School starting pitcher Whitney Jones delivers a pitch against Paloma Valley during the third round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 playoffs on Thursday. The Samohi Vikings would go on to win, 8-1. (Photo by Paul Alvarez Jr.)

MEMORIAL PARK — By the end of the first inning, it was clear who would be moving on.

Santa Monica softball put a five spot on the scoreboard in the first frame punctuated by a leadoff home run by junior Sara Garcia that essentially spelled the end of Paloma Valley’s trip to the CIF-Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals on Thursday at Memorial Park.

The 8-1 win sends the Samohi Vikings to the division semifinals for the first time since the 2010 season when they won it all.

For head coach Debbie Skaggs, this year’s squad made up of a number of underclassman, was a year away from competing for another championship. Come to find out, the future may be now.

“This is huge,” Skaggs said. “[The} team already exceeded our standards this year.”

The victory sets up a matchup on the road at Dos Pueblos in Goleta, Calif. The game begins at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday.

After blanking the Paloma Valley Wildcats in the top of the first inning, Samohi wasted little time stirring the pot. After Garcia’s lead-off homer, the next three Samohi batters loaded the bases for Jamie Hom, who hit an infield sacrifice that scored Annie Quine with the game’s second run.

With a pair on base, Carly Condon slapped a double to left field that plated two more Vikings. Condon would eventually come around to score on a Ashley Rakuljic single to right.

Samohi would tack on three more runs throughout the game and only let up in the top of the seventh inning when Paloma Valley scratched for a run against mostly reserves.

Garcia finished the afternoon 4-for-4 and scored three times. The first-inning home run was her third in three playoff games and 15th on the season.

After the game, she seemed unfazed by Tuesday’s outcome. Instead, the fleet-footed shortstop said that the only thing on her mind is hitting the batting cage before Tuesday’s big game.

“We’ve really come together as a team,” Garcia said. “Hopefully we can keep it going and work hard. But for now, it’s all about the cages, practice and lots of ice.”

When Samohi wasn’t racking up runs, sophomore starting pitcher Whitney Jones was shutting down Paloma Valley’s bats.

She cruised through six innings, scattering just four hits. It wasn’t until the seventh inning, holding a 8-0 lead, that she let up.

Paloma Valley would breakthrough in the seventh for their lone run, but with the bases loaded with Wildcats, Jones induced a double play to end the game, sending the Vikings into a post-game frenzy.

“My defense backed me up,” Jones said. “I couldn’t have done it with out them.”

daniela@smdp.com

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File photo

This weekend, drivers on the Westside can expect a lane opening instead of a closure for a change.

Metro, the I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project contractor and Caltrans announced they will officially open 1.7 miles of general purpose lane on today, Friday at 5 a.m.

The opening will be northbound on Interstate 405 between Interstate 10 and Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

This opening is touted as a significant “project milestone” that will add lane capacity to one of the most trafficked freeway interchanges in the nation.

In addition, it’s also projected to ease the flow of traffic during the long Memorial Day weekend.

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Get some hands-on, hands-only CPR training for free, in honor of National CPR Week.

The American Heart Association is collaborating with the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency to coordinate a countywide effort to instruct hands-only CPR.

Throughout the week, emergency responders and healthcare providers will be going out to demonstrate and teach how to save a life.

The Santa Monica Fire Department will join the effort by hosting a CPR training session on June 4 at Santa Monica Place.

The training will be four hours long and participants will practice on mannequins.

The information learned will be valuable in an emergency but will not result in CPR certification, public safety officials said. However, information on how to get certified will be available. For more information call (310) 458-8651.

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File photo

The Big Blue Bus announced that buses will run on Memorial Day.

BBB will run its Sunday schedule on Monday, May 27, to accommodate users of public transportation during the holiday.

Regular service resumes on all routes on Tuesday. Routes that do not operate on Sundays will not operate on the holiday.

For more information, call (310) 451-5444.

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