Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 25, 2013

5

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY

Mountain Views-News Saturday, May 25, 2013 


“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

Why I Wrote My Books:

HOW TO SURVIVE ANYWHERE

[Nyerges is the author of 10 books, and teaches regular classes through the 
School of Self-reliance. He does a weekly podcast at Preparedness Radio 
Network, and blogs regularly at www.ChristopherNyerges.com.]


LIVE OAK VILLAGE:

PROJECTED HOUSING FOR SOUTH ARCADIA

 At the last Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte Town Council Meeting, there was 
a special presentation and question and answer period regarding “Live Oak 
Village”, the proposed housing for South Arcadia. This was the second time 
Rose Olson, WHCHC, (West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation) 
came to a Town Council Meeting, and I am sure many readers may not be 
aware of the proposed project.

 WHCHC is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit housing development corporation 
founded in 1986 to buy, build, rehabilitate, manage and advocate affordable 
housing for lower income people in West Hollywood and the greater Los Angeles metropolitan 
area. They partner with local governments, funders, social service providers, community residents, 
architects, contractors and property managers to build their projects.

 WHCHC believes that available affordable housing for lower income people stabilizes 
communities. It reduces the need of government services for homeless and near homeless people, 
overcrowded households and inappropriately placed people.

 WHCHC develops environmentally sensitive, architecturally distinguished buildings that 
reflect surrounding areas and they feel their projects make efficient use of scare and public and 
private resources by carefully controlling costs. After buildings are completed, they maintain a high 
standard of asset management, and enhance the neighborhoods they are built in.

 Who lives in WHCHC housing? They serve older adults on low-incomes, people with special 
needs, mental and physical disabilities and low-income households.

 To date, WHCHC has developed 13 apartment communities, and maintains a development 
pipeline of 2-3 projects in predevelopment and construction. Their goal is to provide 20 additional 
units of low income housing per year.

 “Live Oak Village”, the first project in the San Gabriel Valley will provide 43 homes for 
families and individuals. It will be just south of the City of Arcadia, close to Rio Hondo bike path, 
Peck Road Park, the Live Oak Library and will be a short bus ride from the new Gold Line Station 
in Monrovia. (The housing will be on the southwest corner of Live Oak Avenue/ Center Street. The 
property currently is in escrow and the current Arcadia Bible Church will be razed.)

 Five of the units will be set aside for former foster youth. WHCHC is working with the 
United Friends of the Children and Pacific Clinics as lead service providers. The project is mixed-
use with live/work units on the ground floor and will have a community room opening onto a patio, 
children’s play area and community garden. Carde Ten Architects are being utilized for the project.

 After the presentation by WHCHC and Carde Ten Architects, there were several questions/
concerns. First, who will be the residents? 

Ann explained that there are many applications, and a “lottery” is used to choose the first group of 
prospective renters. There is a comprehensive screening program that is similar to the process used 
by Habitat for Humanity when I was on the Selection Committee for the Duarte site. The renters 
must have employment, which is verified, and have a good “rental” history. (Previous landlords are 
interviewed.)

 There also was concern regarding 49 parking spots for 43 units. Attending residents from 
Foss and Center Streets were NOT happy about the low number of parking spots. The reply was there 
would be several one-bedroom units, which means one person/couple may live in the unit. Also if 
they are low income, they would probably only have one vehicle, and many “seniors” no longer 
drive. (One of the reasons this site was chosen was proximity to the bus line.)

 The Town Council has a site: www.facebook.com/MADTownCouncil. Also please go to 
www.whchc.org for photos and more info regarding this project. When WHCHC is scheduled to 
speak again at a Town Council Meeting, the public will be alerted so nearby residents can attend. 
(Prior to this meeting, Carde Ten Architects passed flyers to residents on the two adjacent streets.) 
Both WHCHC and Carde Ten seemed to be very cognizant to residents’ concerns. That is a good 
beginning for any project. 

 Two of my books 
are closely related, 
“Testing Your 
Outdoor Survival 
Skills” and “How to 
Survive Anywhere.” 

 I began teaching a survival skills class at 
Pasadena City College in 1980 and have taught it 
at 3 other colleges as well, not to mention giving 
endless lectures and workshops. For me, the act 
of teaching forces me to organize information in 
the most useful and easily digestible manner (boy, 
I sound like a chef!). I worked to organize the 
subject matter and to cover one topic at a time. 
I know this may sound like a no-brainer, but I 
remember some classes on survival and related-
topics that were rambling discussions with the 
students with no sharp focus, and no show-and-
tell. I wanted to present to the student a situation 
that I felt would facilitate quicker learning, and 
more retention.

 Over time, my survival skills courses began 
to cover not just the skills that the lost hiker 
should know, but also the skills that every 
urban dweller should consider in the event 
of a disaster. In my early years of teaching, the 
subject matter more-or-less organized itself into 
discrete categories: Water, food and plants, fire, 
shelter, tools and weapons, first aid, navigation, 
alternatives to electricity, toilet alternatives, and 
woven throughout all this has been the necessity 
of having a good mental outlook.

 These categories have become my classes, with 
their endless permutations and constant updates. 
I found that one of the best ways to involve the 
student was to ask questions rather than just 
make statements. I gradually developed a series 
of questions for each category, which I used as 
the basis of my classes. Most of the questions had 
common-sense answers and were not intended to 
trick the student, but to cause the student to think 
logically and to see the relationships of things. 

 As I refined those questions, I compiled 
them into my spiral-bound book, “Testing Your 
Outdoor Survival Skills.” Scouts and schools 
have used the book for their own educational 
programs for years now. 

 In time, I developed my questions into a 
survival manual that I hoped would benefit not 
only wilderness travelers but anyone living in the 
cities and rural areas, as well.

 I filled in all the gaps from my “Testing” book 
and answered all the questions and added a lot of 
photos from my classes, and the result was “How 
to Survive Anywhere,” my most popular book to 
date. The title was the publishers’ idea, not mine, 
since I thought it sounded a bit presumptuous. 
However, it has worked, and is my most popular 
book to date. 

 It is divided into chapters similar to my class 
topics: Water (finding it, purifying it, storing it), 
Fire, Lighting, Energy (all the things you need to 
know when the power goes out, as well as how to 
make a fire from the most primitive to the many 
modern methods), Health and Hygiene (how to 
stay clean, how to make a toilet, how to use plants 
for soap, etc.), Clothing and Shelter (obvious 
topics), Fibre (all the ways to create and use plants 
for rope, weaving, clothing, etc.), Food (wild 
foods, growing 
foods, storing 
foods), Tools and 
Weapons (knives, 
primitive weapons, 
make-do, etc.), 
First Aid (though 
I defer to the Red 
Cross manual), 
and Navigation 
(again, I defer to 
other complete 
books on the 
topic). 

 The last chapter 
is called “What 
is Survival?” 
and it is this 
chapter which has 
drawn criticism, 
since I include 
a discussion 
on how all our 
choices affect our 
destiny, all the 
moral, ethical, and 
spiritual choices 
that we like to kid 
ourselves and believe it’s all “private.” In fact, I list 
the 10 Commandments and The Golden Rule as 
some of the best “survival tools” of all time. What 
you sow, you shall reap.

 I was criticized for including in a “survival 
manual” John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success, 
to my mind the greatest coach of all time, who 
always said he wasn’t training basketball players 
but was training people for life. To ignore these 
principles is the greatest ignorance.

 I also include economic considerations, though 
only briefly, since there are detailed books that 
cover “economic survival.” 

 In “How to Survive Anywhere,” I even address 
the topic of whether or not a dark age is looming, 
and I provide some practical solutions that 
anyone can act upon. 

 It’s a great book, and I hope you get a copy. 
According to actor Ed Begley, Jr., “How to Survive 
Anywhere shows us that ‘survival’ is a mind-
set, and that by understanding the principles of 
survival, we’d fare better in the woods, or in the 
aftermath of an urban disaster.”

 The book is available wherever books are 
sold, at Amazon, and from the Store at www.
ChristopherNyerges.com.


WATCH AS THREE PLANETS DANCE IN TWILIGHT

 
Look low in the west-northwest after sunset 
in late May, and you can watch Venus, Jupiter, 
and Mercury pirouetting through the tightest 
gathering of three naked-eye planets that the 
world will see until 2026.

 “Here’s a beautiful chance to see three planets 
all together,” says Alan MacRobert, a senior 
editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. “Add the 
Earth under your feet, and you’re seeing half of 
the solar system’s planets at once. They’ll be a 
lovely part of the spring twilight.”

 “The view should be best about 30 to 45 
minutes after sunset,” continues MacRobert. 
“And think photo opportunity. Set up a camera 
on a tripod, zoom to the max, and try different 
time exposures.”

 The show will continue with two of the planets 
well into June.

 The program of events:

 May 20-23. Venus and Jupiter, the brightest 
two planets of the solar system, have been 
approaching each other in the western evening 
sky for weeks. As they draw close together now, 
Mercury—currently the third-brightest planet—
climbs up from the horizon day by day to join 
them. By May 20th you should be able to spot 
Mercury to the lower right of the other two. It 
moves up closer to bright Venus for the next few 
days.

 May 24. Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury now all 
fit within a 5-degree circle. That means you could 
cover them with a golf ball held at about arm’s 
length. And you can view all three at the same 
time in most binoculars. They’ll stay within a 
5-degree circle until May 29.

 May 26. The grouping is now tightest; all 
three planets fit in a 2.5-degree circle, forming 
a striking little triangle. Your thumb at arm’s 
length will just about cover them.

 May 27. Jupiter appears right next to Venus. 
After this evening, Jupiter pulls down and right 
of Venus and Mercury, disappearing from view 
in early June.

 May 28 and later. Mercury, meanwhile, is 
coming into its own. It’s entering its best evening 
showing of 2013, soaring ever higher above 
Venus until about June 7th. At that point it slowly 
begins to sink back toward Venus and also starts 
fading—slowly at first, then increasingly fast after 
mid-June.

 True Facts: Although the three planets may 
look close together, they’re not. During the last 
week of May, Mercury is about 9 light-minutes 
from Earth (105 million miles), Venus is farther 
at 14 light-minutes (150 million miles), and 
Jupiter is 51 light-minutes from us (565 million 
miles).

 The fainter star Elnath, or Beta Tauri, which 
appears with them in the sky, is more than a 
million times farther away in the background at a 
distance of 130 light-years.

 A PLANET-VIEWING PARTY on May 27 
would make a nice addition to anyone’s Memorial 
Day barbecue. One might take a cue from the 
ancient Japanese custom of inviting dinner-
guests to jointly write a “renga” or series of linked 
17-syllable haiku poems, one contributed by 
each guest. Each new haiku would begin with a 
thought from the previous one, but develop it in 
a new way. 

Your Memorial Day renga might begin with a 
haiku like:

Out of the far west,

Three bright guests are dropping by—

Let us welcome them!

 Text, images, and video:

http://tinyurl.com/three-planets-dance-at-sunset

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/
ataglance

 All materials are free for use with a credit 
to Sky & Telescope magazine. Online use must 
include a link to SkyandTelescope.com.

 You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.