EVER SO HUMBLE: The lines were as...

EVER SO HUMBLE: The lines were as long as before, the chairs just as uncomfortable. But those who depended on the Panorama City welfare office are glad to be “home.” The office--busiest in the county (above)--was destroyed by arson four months ago. Welfare recipients had to spend hours on the bus traveling to other offices (B1). . . . Rebuilding cost: $2 million. No suspects in sight.

STOOD UP: L. A. Arts Festival organizers didn’t see much they liked in the Valley. Billed as reflecting “the scope of a great city,” the festival has only six Valley events--and more than 190 elsewhere (F1). UCLA hosts 26, Cal State Northridge none. . . . Says the festival director: “There’s a lot of city to cover. There’s a limit . . . to what the staff can do.”

THAT BAD? Are the flames of the 1991 riots dying down in the minds of would-be tourists? Hotel bookings are up. Universal Studios and Magic Mountain are setting attendance records. See Valley Business, page 3. . . . Executives credit vacation-starved families weary of the recession. Plus, said an executive at MCA, the $300 million in improvements at Universal Studios is “paying off in the face of a terrible economy and a city with probably as bad a reputation, or worse, than New York’s.”

BEST LAID PLANS: That change in the jury-duty rules that seemed like such a win-win plan is history. Slashing the duty time from 10 days to five--or one trial--was supposed to get local courts more jurors, and end the draftees’ griping. . . . The opposite happened. Jury prospects actually dwindled. Back to the old system, gripes and all (B9).

DON’T FENCE ME IN: Here’s the worst of all possible worlds: First, thanks to arcane property laws, the fence your neighbor built on your property, without your permission, gives the neighbor claim to your land after five years. See Valley Business, page 12. . . . Second? Well you still have to pay the property taxes.

Busiest Offices

The East Valley welfare office in Panorama City is the busiest of the 33 offices in Los Angeles County. Offices with the most cases, as of June 1993: East Valley: 41,500 Belvedere District: 39,700 Metro Special: 39,000 El Monte: 37,900 Echo Park: 36,600 Source: Department of Public Social Services