Streets of Los Angeles.com

The cell phone theft rate in Downtown is up 38 percent from last year, said Capt. Horace Frank, and the installation of new cell phone ATMs may only cause that number to increase.

Phone recycling machines called ecoATMs are popping up all over Southern California, with locations in Glendale, Culver City, Sherman Oaks and others. The machines use advanced technology to evaluate and purchase cellphones from people looking to sell.

The ATM uses artificial intelligence, electronic diagnostics and other evaluation techniques to determine what type of phone is being turned in as well as its value.

"It's a very, very smart machine," said Anita Giani of ecoATM, a San Diego-based company.

The seller is given options of either accepting the purchase offer or donating the money and/or the cell phone to a selection of charities. The ATM company then keeps a percentage of the profits.

Mobile devices are thrown out at a quicker rate than any other type of electronics, reports the Los Angeles Times -- but only 11 percent of the devices are recycled, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

While some customers average an $80 payout per phone, even if the phone has no value customers can still turn it in for recycling, ecoATM Chief Executive Tom Tullie told the L.A. Times.

EcoATM has recycled more than a quarter million phones -- seventy five percent of them have found second homes, said Giani.

But Capt. Frank says the phone ATMs make it easy for people to steal phones and turn them around quickly to make a profit.

"With these kiosks and with the way they're popping up, you're going to see more cell phone thefts," predicted Frank.

Giani argued that ecoATM have measures in place to deter people from trying to cash in on stolen phones. When someone tries to sell a cell phone at any machine, the ATM takes a photo of their drivers license and obtains a fingerprint of the seller.

"They'd really be pretty foolish if they were going to try and sell a stolen phone," she said.

But Frank said these systems aren't sufficient deterrents: Some people may be using a fake drivers license and even if the license is valid, the ATMs don't have access to the police database to cross-reference names.

He suggests that ecoATM initiate a waiting period so after the phone is turned in, no money is dispensed until the license is validated. He said the company should also work with local law enforcement to find out if the phone was reported stolen. If the person obtained the phone legally, they'd have no problem waiting for a payout, Frank reasoned.

Although there are no kiosks planned for Downtown at this time, new ecoATMs are scheduled to appear in Burbank, Westminster, and other Southland locations over the next three weeks.

Frank said the rise of cell phone thefts in LA is only a microcosm of similar trends going on across the country. Many of the Downtown thefts occur when people leave phones in a visible location in their car, or out on table at a when they get up to use the restroom. Some even occur as they are holding or talking on the phone as they walk down the street.

By Hayley Fox.

MTV is moving its annual, star-studded Video Music Awards (VMAs) to the Staples Center, bringing more celebrities to the Downtown venue than the NBA All-Star game itself.

This September will be the first time the home of the Lakers (and Clippers and Kings) has hosted this event. According to MTV, the expansive space is perfect for the ever-growing show which clocked a record-breaking 12.4 million viewers last year -- the largest audience in VMA history.

“Staples Center is incredibly excited to have the opportunity to host the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards," said Sr. Vice President & General Manager Lee Zeidman, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with our partners at MTV and hosting this one of kind music event here at L.A. Live.”

The 2010 and 2011 VMAs were held across the street at the Nokia Theater, and included highlights such as Lady Gaga's dress made of raw meat and Beyonce's public announcement of her pregnancy with hip-hop mogul husband, Jay-Z. Both spectacles resulted in a frenzy of twitter activity.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech this September on the same night of the VMAs. CNN reports that he is planning to accept the Democratic presidential nomination that evening at the Democaratic National Convention in South Carolina. To "avoid conflict" with the proceedings, an MTV spokeswoman told CNN that they'd be airing the awards an hour earlier than usual.

See Beyonce's performance and tweet-inducing announcement from last year

The VMAs take place Thursday, September 6.

By Hayley Fox.

One company in Downtown is combining two quintessentially LA industries – environmentally friendly technology and Hollywood.

Jon Miller and Robert Rutherford, two of the three partners of Hive Lighting, make sustainable lighting for film and television sets, using plasma bulbs.

Their entrepreneurship was born from necessity: In 2009, Miller was a cinematographer. He needed a high quality, low energy-consuming light for filming because he was constantly on the move between shoots.

Rutherford, Miller’s friend from undergraduate days at Brown University, had recently left the film industry to help his parents open a lighting retrofitting business. Rutherford introduced Miller to plasma lighting -- a smaller, easily chargeable alternative to typical set lighting.

“The light turned on, both figuratively and literally,” Miller said.

While other light sources need a huge source of fuel, such as a diesel generator, these can run off of a battery or plug into an ordinary house socket. But plasma bulbs weren’t very compatible with film and television lighting technology, so few people had ever tried to use them on sets, Miller explained.

“We were surprised at first that nobody had done it,” Rutherford said.

It turned out that creating the technology wasn’t easy – but they, along with a team of experts and engineers, have since invented the parts to work with plasma bulbs.

“If we had known how much work it [was going to be], we probably wouldn’t have done it,” Miller added with a laugh.

They describe their approach as triangular, wanting to maintain the highest quality and light output, while using less power.

Each line of lights is named after a different type of bee (though as they describe it, anything in the “Apoida” superfamily is acceptable) with names like Hornet, Wasp, Killer and Drone.

“All studios want to be able to say they’re green, producers want to save money, and for cinematographers and gaffers, quality is the first priority,” Rutherford said.

He added that a single bulb can last a minimum of 10,000 hours, compared to 150-500 hours for other traditional light sources on film and television sets.

A 2006 study out of UCLA found that the film and television industry accounts for the most emissions of certain pollutants in the Los Angeles metro area, and comes in second for greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition to requiring less energy, the lights don't create heat, so sets don't have to be as heavily air conditioned, said cinematographer Jay Hunter, who recently used Hive Lights.

“The priority seems to be to make cinematographers happy and give us a tool we don’t really have,” Hunter said. “That’s’ something I really appreciate.”

By Sonali Kohli.

The Los Angeles City Council is set to vote Tuesday on whether to ban the use of tents in city parks. This action comes soon before the City Hall lawn is set to reopen after it was closed post-Occupy encampment.

Overnight camping is already illegal in city parks, so some see the new measure as unnecessary.

"It's such a waste of legislative time,” Becky Dennison of the Los Angeles Community Action Network told the Los Angeles Times.

According to officials in the city attorney's office though, this new ordinance defines what is considered camping and includes a specific ban on tents, the L.A. Times reports.

The ordinance would ban all tents for any reason, except for those that provide shade at farmers markets or are used by vendors, according to KPCC. But one civil rights lawyer said Occupy L.A. tents could also be an exception to the law under the First Amendment.

“The United States Supreme Court and other courts have recognized that a tent represents expressive activity,” attorney Carol Sobel told KPCC. “There is a difference between sleeping and living in the tent and using the tent for expressive activity.”

After the Occupy camp was dismantled last November, city officials decided to not just fix the damaged portions of the City Hall lawn but give it a complete makeover. Native plants like succulents and California holly are being used in combination with decomposed granite and hybrid turf grass to create a whole new vision for the Downtown park.

In addition to tightening camping restrictions for the lawn's reopening, the City Council is considering shortening the hours that City Hall Park is open. Previously, it was open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. but Councilman José Huizar has proposed making the hours 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., KPCC reports.

By Hayley Fox.

Warehouse store Smart & Final signed a lease last week to open a new location on Figueroa in downtown L.A. The approximately 25,000-square-foot space should be up-and-running by early next year, said Randall Oliver, a company spokesman.

The location will be a Smart & Final Extra -- a larger- than-usual store which includes additional items such as produce, dairy and deli goods, in addition to a health and beauty section and baby supplies.

"Smart & Final actually got its start in downtown Los Angeles 141 years ago," said Oliver. Although it was under a different name at the time, DTLA remains a "historically significant and meaningful area for the company.

The concentrated combination of businesses and residences is also helpful for the company, said Oliver, which markets itself for commercial and personal use.

The Los Angeles Downtown News reports that the store will be located on the bottom floor of a South Park office building and include a deli and an outdoor patio.

Smart & Final has about 250 stores throughout select states and northern Mexico. In Downtown, it will be joining the ranks of large chain stores to recently stake out property in the area. The controversial Walmart "Neighborhood Shop" is set to begin construction this summer on the outskirts of Chinatown, a the Ross Dress for Less is moving into the old Woolworth's on Broadway and the highly anticipated Target is nearing its open date on 7th and Figueroa.

The new location is slated for 845 S.Figueroa

By Hayley Fox.