march 2010 voice · * free physicals for insured women over 21yrs * free if you qualify, &...
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Circulation - 20,000 323.221.7400 www.thevoicepub.com MARCH 2010
THE VOICEThe Number One Source
For News in Serving
Northeast Los Angeles
IN THIS IN THIS ISSUEISSUE
Council District 14 Discretionary Funds “Show Us Our Money”
WILDFLOWERES WILDFLOWERES @ @
ASCOT ASCOT PARKPARK
Page 10Page 10
FARMDALEFARMDALEELEMENTARYELEMENTARY
RECEIVESRECEIVES$3,000$3,000Page 7Page 7
NEWNEWMOVE MOVE
OVER LAWOVER LAWPage 4Page 4
LAPDLAPDCOMMUNITYCOMMUNITY
POLICE POLICE ACADEMYACADEMY
Page 5Page 5
Arroyo Vista Family Health Center 5 CLINICS TO SERVE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
EL SERENO4815 Valley Blvd.
LA CA 90032(323) 222-1134
LINCOLN HEIGHTS2411 N. Broadway Blvd
LA CA 90031(323) 987-2000
LOMA DRIVE303 S. Loma Drive
LA CA 90017(213) 201-5800
MEDICAL MOBILE CLINIC“We Care About Your Health”
At various Community Locations Call for an appointment or just walk in or
call for a Mobile Clinic visit
HIGHLAND PARK6000 N. Figueroa St.
LA CA 90042(323) 254-5221
In celebration of Arroyo Vista’s 29 years of providing health care services to our community. The following services were offered at our clinic sites during the month of March.
If you were not able to visit one of our clinics, call us if you are interested in receiving a free screening.
Your Health Care Connection Celebrates 29 Years
of Providing Health Care Services
Free Diabetes Classes Free Vision Screenings Free Dental ScreeningFree Height and WeightFree Blood PressureFree Hearing TestFree Childhood Immunizations*$25.00 Physical Exam* Free Pregnancy Test * Free Mammogram* Free Physicals for Children* Free Family Planning * Free Primary Care* Free Physicals for Insured Women over 21yrs * Free if you qualify, & availability of program
Friend pf Arroyo VistaWishes a
Happy Birthday
By Scott Johnson The February edition of THE VOICE gave extensive coverage to the protest organized by the Hillside Village Property Owners Association (HVPOA), regarding the cutbacks in fi re services at Station 16 in El Sereno. Residents picketed outside the fi re station demanding that fi re and paramedic services be maintain at their “pre-brownout levels”. But while the protestors were given time to express their frustrations to CD 14 City Coun-cilman Jose Huizar at the protest
and two follow up meetings (one hosted by the Hillside Village Property Owners and another “choreographed” by the offi ce of Councilman Huizar), little did the protestors and constituents across CD 14 know that Council-man Jose Huizar controls certain “discretionary funds” that could be utilize to offset budget cuts in Police, Fire and other public ser-vices. These “discretionary funds” have garnered media attention in the recent weeks as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Coun-
cil, debate how to offset the $200 Million Dollar + budget defi cit that has major ramifi cations for city services. On Friday Febru-ary 26, the City Council and the Mayor came to agreement on a plan for each city councilperson to give back $800,000 each from their respective discretionary funds, to help with the defi cit for this fi scal year, Jose Huizar sup-ported the majors proposal. But two city council districts have special amenities fund that by law can only be use in their coun-cil district and one of those funds
is here in CD 14, the CLARTS Fund.
What is the CLARTS Fund? CLARTS stands for Central Los Angeles Refuge Transfare Station. This is a Bureau of Sani-tation facility on Washington Boulevard where refuge is sorted before heading to the landfi lls of choice. During the term of Councilman Nick Pacheco between 1999 and 2003, Pacheco’s Chief of Staff, the late Lloyd Monserratt,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
By Carlos Morales On February 13, 2010 at approximately 10:30pm. West Covina police offi cers responded to a shots fi red call, 1800 block of West Badillo Street. Police shortly found out that four people were inside the home being held hostage. They called in SWAT to handle the situation. Swat Team offi cers subsequently responded to the location, Some-time shortly after midnight a Swat Team sniper observed a male in-dividual through an upstairs win-dow holding a fi rearm to a victims head. One shot was fi red by one of the West Covina Swat Team mem-bers. The suspect sustained one gunshot wound to his upper torso region and as a result expired. The deceased suspect was subse-quently identifi ed as John Aguilera.
New No-Revocable Parole PolicyWas John Aguilera, West Covina Police Offi cers and hostages all victims of the New No-Revocable Parole Policy?
We may never fi nd the true facts and accurate answers because the evasive Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and its Division of Adult Parole Operations are re-fusing to return our phone calls. John Aguilera was initially released on parole on March 31, 2009 and had resided at FOUR different locations, 3 of the 4 being identifi ed as Sober Living Home Facilities. The last documented address of
record was at the Humble House a Sober Living Home located at 3151 Farnsworth Avenue in El Sereno. Humble House provides a struc-tured living environment for both individuals, released from State Prisons and who are under active parole supervision and also for individuals under Los Angeles County Probation supervision. Who was John Aguilera other than being a parolee on active
parole status? He was on parole for: Non-violent, Low-level criminal offenses, Grand Theft Auto / Fire-arm, 487 (D) , 12020 (A) Manu-facture / Sales or Possession of a fi rearm as noted in the California Penal Code and Disregard for Safety 2800.2 also from the Cali-fornia Penal Code found under the Vehicle Code violations. Review of his parole face sheet notes that the problem areas were left BLANK (Narcotics, Assaults,
Sex, Alcohol and Other) and the same can be stated with refer-ence to Scars, Marks and Tattoos. These are very important descrip-tors that assist Law Enforcement offi cials identify problems that these parolees have and give them an insight into the parolees past behavioral patterns and help them to physical identify them when they are being sought after. One must ask why was Aguilera participating in Anti-Narcotic testing and was attending Parole Outpatient Clinic (prescribed medications), when the prob-lem areas were all left blank on his parole face sheet? (See Face Sheet on Page 6) How can any member of law enforcement ascertain or detect the parolee’s behavior when this vital information is not noted by parole offi cials. We have obtained information that John Aguilera has stopped taking his prescribed medications
and was then ordered to leave the Humble House facility by its house managers for his failure to follow the rules and guide-lines some three weeks prior to February 14, 2010. We also obtained information that the managers of the Humble House had notifi ed his assigned parole agent R. Duran that Aguilera was no longer resid-ing at their Sober Living Home Facility. On Jan 25, 2010 the new Non-Revocable Parole Policy took effect. Was Aguilera case simply transferred over to this new policy? This new parole policy
states that parolees re-assigned to this new parole policy will not have an assigned parole agent and will NO LONGER BEUNDER PAROLE SUPERVISION. There are so many unanswered questions surrounding the John Aguilera case. Review of Aguilera’s parole face sheet notes the cur-rent address of record as the same Humble House address in El Sere-no and continues to document after February 14, 2010 that he was being supervised as an Active Pa-rolee at the High Service Level of parole supervision and that he was not assigned to the new Non-Revocable Parole status. Now if his assigned parole agent R. Duran had prior knowledge that he was no longer residing at the Humble House Sober Living Home,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 See “Community in Danger”
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Continue To Operate With Disregard To Public Safety
Another Example of Parolees Being Placed In Another Example of Parolees Being Placed In The Middle of Our NeighborhoodsThe Middle of Our Neighborhoods
Sierra Park Elementary is two blocks awaySierra Park Elementary is two blocks away
THINGS TO DO
THURSDAY, MARCH 11THHILLSIDE VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD WATCHAbsolute Tow4760 Valley BlvdEl Sereno, CA 90032 6pm - 9pm
VARIOUS DAYS IN MARCHAZTEC NEW YEARXOKOLATL CAFE4987 Huntignton DriveEl Sereno, CA 90032Info: 323/441-8400
SATURDAY, MARCH 20THLA BIKE SUMMITBIKING, WALKING & BEYONDLA TRADE TECH COLLEGE10:30am - 5pmFREE
THURSDAY, MARCH 25THLINCOLN HEIGHTS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LUNCHEONLuminarias Restaurant3500 Ramona Blvd.Monterey Park, CA 91754RSVP 323-221-657111:30AM
SATURDAY, MARCH 27THAMERICAN INDIAN MUSIC FESTIVALLA STATE HISTORICAL PARK1243 North Spring Los Angeles, CA 9001212 Noon - 5pmFREE
Submit Your Events to
“Nothing Compares To The Simple Pleasure Of A Bike Ride.”
- John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President
write us [email protected]
To get on our email list of all of our rides
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/EASTSIDEBIKES
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Original Club Charter Established 1893
JOIN US for rides thru the cityEVERY TUESDAY NIGHT AT 7PM
AND EVERY SATURDAY MORNING Meet at 9:30 ride at 10am
WE DEPART FROM THE CHARO BLDG.4301 VALLEY BLVD.
EL SERENO, CA 90032ALL BICYCLE RIDERS INVITED TO JOIN
REGARDLESS OF AGE AND ABILITYPlease weAR a helmet on our rides!
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Hello Neighbors I have been talking about the early release of felons back into our communities for over a year now and that time has arrived. We need to be more vigilant, NOW, more than ever. Be aware of the people in your neighborhoods; take notice of who is hanging out around your home and business. We featured the article about Low Level Non Violent Offenders being released and housed with-out supervision on the front page to bring awareness of the true danger we are in. Many people do not want to talk about it or simply ignore the situ-ation or not want to get involved and be proactive, many just want to stay home and watch “NOVELAS” or Soap Operas. The irony is that you will get involved, when it’s too late! After you or a loved one has
become a victim. I urge our readers and community members to form or join a Neighborhood Watch group and get CERT Training (Commu-nity Emergency Response Team) Both of the programs are free of charge and have the support of LAPD and LAFD. The benefi t of these programs is that you will take an active roll in keeping your family and neighbors safe. Changing subjects; it has been almost two years since I founded the EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB, it has grown from eight members to nearly 300 members. We average between 12 to 40 riders on any given ride. We are the only BIKE CLUB in the City of Los Angeles that hosts two rides a week. On Tuesday Nights and Saturday Mornings. Members come from the communities of El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights, Ramona Gardens, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Hermon, Mt. Wash-
ington, Silverlake, Echo Park, Alhambra, Monterey Park, South Pasadena, San Gabriel, Pasadena and El Monte as well as other communities. 20 Members of the Eastside Bike Club participated in the Chinatown Firecracker Bike Tour on Saturday, February 27th most riders rode the 20 mile route and a few rode the 45 mile route. The club has become an extended family and this past month we lost one of our members after a short battle with Cancer. Felipe Valenzuela was one of the early
recruits that joined our club. He lived in Lincoln Heights for 30 years and bike riding was his favorite past time. He was an inspiration to many of our riders and was al-ways there when someone needed someone to talk to. He will be missed by us. To honor him members of the EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB will be riding in an LAPD “Ride to Arrest Cancer” on March 13th. Give us a try you will enjoy the treks thru the streets of LA. We welcome your comments send them to voicepub@gmail.
EDITORS MESSAGE
SAVE THE DATE
THURSDAY, MAY 20THBIKE TO WORK DAYINFO 323/221.7400
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OBITUARY
Felipe ValenzuelaFebruary 5, 1954 - February 19, 2010
Felipe was born on February 5, 1954 in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Felipe lived in Lincoln Heights for 30 years and bike riding was his passion. He was a member of the EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB. Felipe would always encourage our riders and would always tell them “Si Se Puede” & “Volar Con Los An-geles” (Fly with the Angels)
He is survived by his Mother Belin Perez de Valenzuela, his daughter Michelle Placencia, his son Felipe Jr.
His smile and unmistakeable voice will be missed.
RIDE IN PEACE FELIPE
EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB MEMBERS AT START LINE OF THE
“CHINATOWN 2ND ANNUAL BIKE TOUR”
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Jaime Gutierrez, Esq.Abogado / Attorney
El Luchador Del Pueblo
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PUBLISHER / EDITORCarlos Morales
GENERAL MANAGERJoe Rivera
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CFOSal Garcia
PHOTOGRAPHERSRichard Canales
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CONTRIBUTORSGeorge Cabrera Jr.Frank A. SerranoKimberly Bueno
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Mark OverstreetBob HidalgoErik Sarni
Adriana OleaScott Johnson
Sevin Riley Teresa Marquez
Val Marquez
THE VOICE Is a community based news publication based in El Sereno and published once a month. Our circulation consists of 20,000 print impressions and 1,200 email subscribers. It is delivered to residents and businesses in the El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, and Boyle Heights, Rose Hills, University Hills and Downtown Alhambra and Emery Park communities. Our growing network of com-munity participation has made this publication the primary source for local information. We strive to make a positive impact on the community by reporting news that is seldom found anywhere else in the me-dia to inform, and educate this community on what is going on in their front yard! We welcome community interest stories, and press releases. 60% of all articles are written by community stakeholders THE VOICE reserves the right to edit all materials due to space constrictions. THE VOICE is not respon-sible nor liable for any claims or offerings, nor responsible for products availability that may be advertised. Opinions expressed in these columns are those by the authors who wrote them. All rights reserved. Re-production in whole or in part without written permission from the editor is prohibited.
4301 Valley Blvd., Suite A1
Los Angeles, CA 90032
323.221.7400www.thevoicepub.comtwitter.com/voicenewspaper
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New Recreational Space in El Sereno
By Val Márquez Concerned Neighbors of El Sereno
Has anyone ever passed by the empty lot at Alhambra, Lowell and Concord Avenues and wondered, wouldn’t this be a good place for a park? Well, Concerned Neighbors of El Sereno (CNES) thought so back in 2006 when they presented the idea to several agencies, including Cal-trans, North East Trees, and others. CNES later presented the idea of an open recreational space to Coun-cilmember Huizar several years ago. Finally, some progress may be on the horizon. Last year North East Trees planted 52 trees and installed irrigation on the hillside as Phase I of the effort to “green” this space. This hillside area is leased from Caltrans by Peter Aru-tunian, President, Heritage Disposal, who has been a great neighbor. Peter is so supportive of these improve-ment efforts that he has taken on all the costs involved with upkeep of Phase I and even attended one of the park workshops. Finally, we had some great news. A 25 year lease between Caltrans and LA City was negotiated for this property with intentions of develop-ing a recreational area for the east side of El Sereno. The Department of Recreation and Parks has also agreed to perform the Operations and Maintenance of the site. CD14 also partnered with Trust for Public Land (TPL) to assist with applying for a grant, to outreach to the com-munity for design, and to develop the recreational space. Trust for Public Land held four community workshops during Feb-ruary. Thanks to some tremendous outreach efforts by TPL and with the help of CNES, there was a remark-able turnout. Over a 130 community members participated. According to TPL it was the best turnout they’d ever seen in such a short period of time. You showed up! You gave your input! You did your part! Based on the results of the community’s input, TPL presented four terrifi c potential park designs to the community on February 10, 2010, at the El Sereno constituent center. Now, here’s some disappointing news. The terms of the Caltrans lease
did not meet the criteria for the Prop 84 $1 million grant we were trying so desperately to acquire. Appar-ently, CD14, Senator Gil Cedillo and TPL, were all aware that there was a problem and were trying to work it out. They were unable to get it done in time. So the deadline slipped away, along with the $1 million grant money…at least for this year. There is still hope. CNES, TPL and the offi cials are all optimistic that this will be accomplished in the not-too-distant future; and believe it is something the community desper-ately needs. So on Monday, February 22, 2010, we all met at Councilman Huizar’s offi ce to discuss Plan B – and other funding. Cedillo’s offi ce agreed to: 1) Work to get the lease agreement signed between Caltrans and LA City before the new fi scal year, and 2) Liaison with State Park offi cials (who handle Prop 84 funds) to ensure the lease meets their criteria. His of-fi ce will also work to renegotiate for a slightly longer term on the lease so we can qualify for a $5 million Prop 84 grant instead of only $1million. TPL, CD14 and Cedillo’s offi ce will continue to work toward identifying addi-tional funding sources, including pri-vate partnerships. TPL will continue to go forward with the planning, and hold two more meetings in April. Of course, CNES will closely with ev-eryone as needed to ensure success of this project. So that is where the project currently stands. We lost one source of funding (for now), but there are more out there. We have regrouped and are go-ing forward. Ultimately, the sooner the lease is signed, the sooner we can apply for more grants; as all funding sources will require a viable lease on the property. CNES thanks the community for their tremendous support and involvement, especially those who attended the workshops. Concerned Neighbors has been working on get-ting this park since 2006 and we are not about to stop now! We will con-tinue to keep you informed via email and THE VOICE. To sign up for email updates, please contact: Con-cerned Neighbors of El Sereno at [email protected]
Effective January 1, 2010 a new law in CA went into effect motorists are now required to take specifi c ac-tion when approaching an area on the freeway where emergency vehicles are present and displaying emergency lights. Know as the “Move Over” law, motorists are now required to either move over to a lane not adjacent to the emergency vehicles or vehicle. If not practical or safe to do so, the mo-torist must slow down to a reasonable or prudent speed that is safe for the existing weather, road, and vehicular or pedestrian traffi c conditions. This law has been enacted in 50 states. This law is intended to protect emergency workers and personnel at the scene of an emergency incident or other situation where public safety personnel are present. THE VOICE has received many calls asking questions regarding this new law. We contacted Luis Mendoza who is the Public Information Offi cer
for the CHP East Los Angeles offi ce and asked him for clarifi cation of this new law and he said “The fi ne for this infraction is $50.00 dollar penalty. Drivers are in compliance with the law if they just slow down, if a lane change is not wise or possible with the given traffi c conditions. Drivers are also exempt if there is an actual physical barrier (wall, metal guardrail) between the emergency services vehicle and the adjacent lane. More importantly, the purpose of this law is to enhance the safety of the public, when stranded on a busy high-way. As many of your readers prob-ably already know, traffi c is the # 1 killer of highway emergency services personnel and stranded motorists.” stated Mendoza.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
MOVE OVER LAW Protecting Public Safety Personnel on the Highways
MARCH 2010 Follow THE VOICE on Twitter.com/voicenewspaper 323.221.7400 email: [email protected] Page 5
L - R Unidentifi ed, Israel Ortiz, Leo Alvarez, Pastor Mike Anaya, Gabriel Acosta, and Martin Cruz
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The Community Police Academy is an 11 week course, taught one night a week at the Los Angeles Police Academy. It is designed to develop a partnership between the LAPD and the members of the community. The Academy pro-vides students with an inside look at the LAPD and various facets of law enforcement. The course is taught at the LAPD Academy in Elysian Park, 1880 North Academy Drive, Los An-geles, CA 90012 from 6pm -9pm every Thursday. The last day of course will conclude with Gradua-tion Ceremony. Through the community Police Academy enrolled students will be encouraged to build a lasting part-nership with the LAPD with the ul-timate goal of reducing crime and improving the quality of life in our neighborhood. Members of THE VOICE Com-munity Publication have gradu-ated from this course and HIGHLY RECOMMENDS it to community members. Each community member must meet the following criteria for con-sideration: Must be 18 years of age
or older. Live, Work or go to school in Operation Central Bureau, No Outstanding Warrants, No Pending Criminal Cases, Must be approved by an Area Commanding Offi cer. Note: High School students be-tween the ages of 14 and 17 yrs are encouraged to enroll and at-tend Community Police Academy Classes. However, their parent(s) and / or Guardians(s) must be en-rolled in the class and shall accom-pany the minor. The parent(s) and / or guardian(s) will also be respon-sible for the transportation of the minor(s) to and from the Los Ange-les Police Academy. Interested community members are asked to contact LAPD Hollen-beck Senior Lead Offi cer Joe Perez @ 213.793.0754 or Hollenbeck Sergeant Andy Rea 323/342.4130 or THE VOICE 323/221.7400. The next CPA is scheduled for MARCH 25th thru June 3rdApplications must be turned in for review no later than March 15, 2010.SPANISH CLASS June 10th thru August 19thLast Class of the year is August 26th thru November 4th
LAPD OFFERS COMMUNITY
POLICE ACADEMY
It’s Tax Time! By Victor M. Quinones
CPA, of Miguel A. Jorge, Inc., We help small businesses
keep the IRS away I’ve written about this here a bit before, but I wanted to highlight a few more things for you. Some of this is “tax lingo” but it’s use-ful for our clients and their friends to know about it. As usual, we’ll handle it all for you, though! One of the other reasons we put together this list, is for our clients to have a resource to offer their friends and family, so feel free to pass this to your neighbors. They may already have a tax profes-sional—or they may be “going it alone” (we hope not, especially this year!). But regardless, here are the top fi ve changes that may show up on your 2009 return...
1. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (The “Stimu-lus” Bill) ARRA provides several tax provisions that affect tax year 2009 individual tax returns due April 15,2010. The recovery law provides tax incentives for fi rst-time homebuyers, people who pur-chased new cars, those that made their homes more energy effi cient, parents and students paying for college, and people who received unemployment compensation.
2. The IRA Deduction is Expanded You may be able to take an IRA deduction if you were covered by a retirement plan and your 2009 modifi ed adjusted gross income is less than $65,000 or $109,000 if you are married and fi ling a joint return.
3. Standard Deduction Increased for Most Taxpayers. The 2009 basic standard deductions all increased. They are: $11,400 for married couples fi ling a joint return and qualifying widows and widowers $5,700 for singles and married individuals fi ling separate returns $8,350 for heads of household. Taxpayers can now claim an addi-tional standard deduction based on the state, local sales or excise taxes paid on purchases of most new motor vehicles purchased after February 16, 2009. You can also increase your standard deduction by the state or local real estate taxes paid dur-ing the year or net disaster losses suffered from a federally declared disaster.
4. 2009 Standard Mileage Rates The standard mileage rates changed for 2009. The standard mileage rates for business use of a vehicle:• 55 cents per mile. The standard mileage rates for the cost of oper-ating a vehicle for medical reasons or a deductible move: • 24 cents per mile. The standard mileage rate for using a car to provide services to charitable organizations remains at 14 cents per mile.
5. Kiddie Tax Change The amount of taxable investment income a child can have without it being subject to tax at the parent’s rate has increased to $1,900 for 2009 tax returns.
You may email your questions or comments at [email protected] or leave a message at: 323-488-9400.
Personal Finances:Víctor M Quiñones, CPA
Students in El Sereno needing funds for college should consider applying for a scholarship from Cal State L.A. Federal Credit Union. The credit union, which opened a new branch on Huntington Dr in El Sereno last year, is accept-ing applications for two $1,000 scholarships to be awarded in 2010. Applications are open to students who have been members of the credit union for three months or longer. Scholarships are provided for 4 year colleges or universities, (graduating high school seniors may also apply) with a 3.0 cumulative GPA or better. Students don’t have to be attending Cal State L.A. to qualify.
The credit union will select a recipient based on a written or video essay on a variety of credit union topics. The topics are provided on their web page along with resources for you to study up on the topic! Inter-ested students can visit www.calstatela-fcu.org and click on ‘Scholarships’ in the grey menu bar for more information and re-strictions. To join the credit union, you can visit a branch at 2445 Mari-ondale Ave, Los Angeles, just North of the Cal State L.A. campus, or 4989 Huntington Dr N, Los Angeles in El Sereno. Membership is open to those who live, work, worship or go to school in El Sereno.
Cal State L.A. Federal Credit Union announces new scholarship program
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The Greater Ramona Gardens Community in collaboration with the Ramona Gardens Recreation Center, is glad to announced that the 2nd Annual Fashion Show will take place on April 24, 2010 from 1:00 PM- 3:00 PM at the Ramona Gardens Recreation Center. This year’s theme as determine by the youth at Ramona Gardens Recreation Center is “I am what I am”. Last year’s fashion show was the brain child of longtime community resident Maggie Aguilar and received an outpouring of support from many in our surrounding community. You can help our community youth experience the self-esteem builder of “dressing to impress”, with your donation of Men’s wear, girls clothing, summer wear, spring wear and shoes of all sizes for the participants in our fashion show. (Girls and boys ages 4-19). Further, you can help with donations of products and services such as hair styling, cosmetics, and other fashion related items. In additions, we are looking for prizes to raffl e. All help in material and in person is greatly ap-preciated. If you wish to help, contact Recreation Director Debra Price or Maggie Aguilar at the Ra-mona Gardens Recreation Center at: (213) 847-2961.
Ramona Gardens Host2nd Annual Fashion Show
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
WHY DID HE NOT CHANGE THE RECORDED ADDRESS OF RECORD
ON THE PAROLEE’S FACE SHEET?
And the second question would be;WHY DID PAROLE AGENT
R. DURAN NOT REQUEST AN ARREST WARRANT FOR AGUILERA?
Or was parole agent Duran just going to discharge Aguilera from continued parole supervision on the 13th month of his parole supervision which would have been in April 2010. The El Sereno Community and its residents have many legitimate concerns as to the locations of Sober Living Homes and other Residential facilities which provide housing for ex-offenders in our community. We can’t forget the community concerns when resi-dents discovered the illegal housing by the Division of Adult Parole Operations of High Risk Sex Offenders in 2007 and 2008 in the middle of our residential neighborhoods. (THE VOICE EXPOSED THIS) The Division of Adult Parole Operations had also failed to notify the Los Angeles Police Department, Hollenbeck Divison of the illegally placed High Risk Sex Offenders residing in our El Sereno Area. Many can recall when State Senator Gloria Romero which at the time was the Chair of the State Public Safety Committee wrote a
letter to the former Head of the California Department of the Corrections and Rehabili-tation, James Tilton requesting an investigation only after community members demanded an explanation as to why parole administrators were illegally placing and housing High Risk Sex Offenders in our community in direct violation of Jessica’s Law. An investigation was never initiated; Tilton simply retired and failed to initiate the investigation that was requested by State Senator Gloria Romero. To add insult to injury the parole agent who supervised the illegally housed, placed High Risk Sex Offenders in our community received a promotion as did the Eastern District Parole Administrator at the time Maria Franco. Senator Romero NEVER FOLLOWED THRU! (So Much for being the Chair of Public Safety) Now I ask you our readers and community stakeholders; Could this shooting and hostage incident have taken place in El Sereno, Lincoln Heights, Alhambra, South Pasadena, or the Boyle Heights Community?
THE ANSWER IS YES! Ask any police offi cer!
In next months issue of THE VOICE we will discuss and address the Phillip Garrido case and how close our community came to and could have had our own Jaycee Dugard incident. (Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped and sexually abused at the age of eleven in South Lake Tahoe and held captive for over eigh-teen years by parolee Phillip Garrido).
Community In Danger Another CLEAR Example of Parole Agents
Not Doing Their Job
Criticle Info Is Missing Here
If you are a Breast Cancer Survivor with a sense of adventure, we want you. We are the Los Ange-les Pink Dragons, a breast cancer survivor Dragon Boat Team. Dragon Boat Racing is centuries old, but dragon boating as part of breast cancer recovery which
began 15 years ago in Vancouver, Canada. A medical group headed by Dr. Don McKenzie tested the con-ventional wisdom that limiting repetitive upper body activity would prevent lymphedema. Dr. McKenzie formed a team
of breast cancer survivors and trained them in the sport of drag-on boating. None of the ladies that participated in the trial expe-rienced lymphedema and they all continued to paddle long after the trial was over. Currently there are 100 breast
cancer survivor dragon boat teams worldwide, ours is the fi rst in California. We hope that we have whet your appetite and you will go to our website www.lapinkdragons.org to learn more about this fantastic opportunity.
If this sounds like something you would like to try, contact us via the web site and we will take you for a test paddle.
WANTED BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS WANTED
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On February 11, 2010, The Rotary Club of East Los Angeles presented to Farmdale Elementary School and the Healthy Start Project a check for $3,000. Rudy Salinas, Past President from the Rotary Club of East Los Ange-les stated “that the monies will be used to create a literacy project at Farmdale Elementary. Our goal is to create literature chil-dren throughout the Greater East Los Angeles community.” Ricardo Lopez, Healthy Start Coordinator and current Club President stated “that Rotary International calls on Rotarians to expand and im-prove early childhood literacy and
education programs for both boys and girls. It was important for our club to fund a literacy project in the community of El Sereno. We chose Farmdale Elementary as a funding site because of its commitment to their students and the great leadership under Teresita Saracho De Palma, principal.” The literacy project will specifi -cally target young students who are struggling with their literacy skills and make them profi cient readers. For additional information or are interested in donating new books, please contact Ricardo Lopez at [email protected].
Rotary Club of ELA Funds Literacy Project at Farmdale Elementary
Pictured (L to R) Ricardo Lopez, Healthy Start Coordinator; Rudy Salinas, Past President of the Rotary Club, Teresita Saracho De Palma, Farmdale School Principal and Rafael Ortiz, Farmdale School Assistant Principal.
COMMUNITY MEMBERS GRADUATE FROM CERT LEVEL 1 CLASS
Chinatown Resident Cathy Choi Is Recognized As a California Senior Leader
An amazing LA Chinatown resident just received a statewide
award for her social activism
A Chinatown resident Cathy Choi a fi rst generation immigrant, re-tiree Cathy Choi uses her tremen-dous energy to ensure that Chinese Americans have access to the ser-vices and information they need to thrive in their new country. Choi is president of the City’s AARP chapter in Chinatown the fi rst culturally Chinese chapter in the nation, with a membership of over 500 and a 35 person Board. Choi’s mission is to coordinate and assist all Chinese communities in the county to follow LA’s example in insuring that each has a Chinese language AARP chapter. On the national level, she’s also working to push AARP as an in-stitution to make its programming and work more accessible to non-English speakers. In addition to language access, Choi plays an impassioned role in advocating for home care ser-vices and transportation for seniors throughout Los Angeles County. Choi was among 31 men and women aged 60 and above who were honored on Saturday Febru-ary 27th as California Senior Lead-ers in recognition of their outstand-ing contributions to community building, healthy aging, and social
justice in the state. Sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health and held at the Water-front Hotel in Oakland’s Jack Lon-don Square, the awards ceremony was the celebratory culmination of a two day event in which these older activists shared their decades of experience with one another and participated in interactive trainings in areas such as media advocacy and fundraising. Funded by The California Well-ness Foundation, the California Senior Leaders Program began in 2002 as a means of shining a spot light on the often invisible volun-teer and community advocate roles of California’s rapidly growing se-nior population. An intergenerational program, Se-nior Leader participants are linked with Berkeley public health gradu-ate students who will continue to check in with them over the next 15 months, learning from their expe-riences and stories, and arranging technical assistance where possible to aid the seniors with their com-munity building or healthy aging projects. “The intergenerational component of the program is one of its biggest assets,” said Julia Ca-plan, a graduate student who directs the project. “Listening to and learn-ing from the experiences of these older adults is an essential part of
building strong communities that respect people of all ages.” Also participating in the program this year were six Senior Leaders from the classes of 2002, 2005 and 2007, who have formed a new ad-vocacy organization, the California Senior Leaders Alliance, and were eager to welcome the newest class of senior leaders, including such experienced advocates as Choi, into the fold. UC Professor Meredith Minkler who developed the Senior Leaders Program, points out that it’s sol-idly based in research. “Not only have seniors been called our only expanding natural resource,” she says, “but we have strong scientifi c studies showing that active engage-ment with life is one of the most important contributors to a healthy old age. A project like this one can both honor seniors for their invaluable contributions and by supporting them in this work, hopefully con-tribute to their own healthy aging as well.” By showing appreciation to individuals like Cathy Choi with her 30 years of volunteer experi-ence, the program hopes to inspire others to recognize and appreciates the diverse roles all older Califor-nians hold in the state’s communi-ties and neighborhoods.
Nearly 30 community members fi nished the CERT LEVEL 1 Course last month organized by Mark Lagaspi of the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. These community members came from Hermon, Montecito Hieghts, Boyle Heights, El Sereno and Mt. Washington. These will be fi rst responder volunteers in case of a major emer-gency in our communitites. These classes are free. For info on the next class call Thomas J. Wirth (626) 307-9251 He is the Battalion 7 CERT Coordinator.
Page 8 Become a Fan of THE VOICE COMMUNITY NEWS on Facebook 323.221.7400 www.twitter.com/voicenewspaper MARCH 2010
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1negotiated with B.O.S. to set up an Amenities Fund for CD 14 that is funded from the recycle materi-als, separated from landfi ll-bound refuge at the facility. In a meeting at the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council during his term as City Councilman, Pacheco explains to the council that the CLARTS Fund should be use to fund community base or-ganizations and other groups re-quests for funding for events such as fi reworks shows, school trips, athletics uniforms and more. Fur-ther, the neighborhood councils should use their budgetary allot-ments for outreach and leadership development. Thus with the cre-ation of the CLARTS Fund, com-munity groups had a new source of money to request from,..... if they only knew that the CLARTS Fund existed. ** (You can view Pacheco’s CLARTS Fund discus-sion @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1gi2gSDgU). Recent use of the CLARTS Fund by former Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa and current Council-man Jose Huizar. Since the creation of the CLARTS Fund during the ad-ministration of former Council-man Nick Pacheco, not much is known how the CLARTS Fund has been use to provide for com-munity amenities in CD 14. During the brief period of Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, $66,000 was allocated from the fund to pay for staff cost (Coun-cil Motion 05-1371). Another $60,000 was given to the non-profi t group El Centro de Ayudo for the purpose of organizing “turkey giveaways” and “Christ-mas Toys Programs” (Council Motion 03-0307-S6). Once Councilman Villaraigosa became Mayor Villaraigosa, new-ly elected councilman Jose Huizar has used the fund to pay for police overtime (Council Motions 05-1371-S12 $20,000 and 07-0564, $20,000), his “popular “Winter Wonderland and Tree Lighting in cooperation with the non-profi t Barrio Action (Council Motion 07-0876, $30,304) and the Clean and Green Program (Council Mo-tion 07-0401, $50,000). Yet between May of 2006 and June of 2007, the CLARTS Fund had an uncommitted balance of $468,724.33. This should cause many to question why this money was not allocated for community use and were there other projects that Councilman Huizar had in
mind for this balance? Further, since April of 2007, how much more money has been placed in the CLART Fund and how has Councilman Huizar has allocated for its usage? This ques-tion was recently broached by those, concern with the “brown outs” of fi re services in the El Sereno Community. Since the CLARTS Fund was use in the past to pay for police overtime, could it be use to make up the funding gap to maintain a fully staffed paramedic unit in Station 16? That question was asked of Coun-cilman Huizar during the recent meetings with Hillside Village and other community members. His response was non-committal and vague at best. But what was certain were the remarks of City Controller Wendy Greuel at the most recent meeting of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council, when the subject of discretionary funds was brought to her atten-tion. She stated that the CLARTS Fund, “by law, was only to be use in CD 14 for community ameni-ties”. Thus at a time when maintain essential public services is of paramount concern, Councilman Huizar should be open and trans-parent on the current status of the CLARTS Fund and detail a plan on how the CLARTS could be use to offset cuts from the Gen-eral Fund to the “brown-outs” in fi re services. On February 23rd Carlos Mo-rales, The Publisher and Editor of THE VOICE, sent a request to the Offi ce of Councilman Jose Huizar in relation to this article.Morales requested a list of expenses for the CLARTS FUNDS for the past 5 YEARS.and also requested all city coun-cil motions that has any modifi cations for the usage of the CLARTS FUNDS. The response from Councilman Jose Huizar’s Chief of Staff Ana Cubas datedFebruary 25, 2010 stated, We have made “a deter-mination” with respect to your request within 10 days, as we are required to do under the law. We believe the records are public and we ask you to recognize that you are asking for records span-ning a number of years. Given this fact, we estimate that it will take approximately thirty (30) days to fully gather the specifi c expense information you seek in the fi rst half of your request. With respect to the second half
of your request, relating to coun-cil motions, I would encourage you to look at the publicly avail-able information on the City’s Council File Management Sys-tem (CFMS) website at: http://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerk-connect/. There is a simple search function on the CFMS that will allow you to quickly and easily search for any City Council Mo-tions involving CLARTS fund-ing. All of the actual motions are downloadable as PDFs from that site. Finally, your request asked for information from the last fi ve years, however the Councilmem-ber has not been in offi ce a full fi ve years. The Councilmem-ber was fi rst elected to offi ce in November 2005. We will gladly give you information from that point on. At a time when information on all funds, whether General Fund or Discretionary, should be open for public scrutiny, Chief of Staff Ana Cubas feels that it is the general public and not public servants like herself, who should do the work of identifying and investigating how their public money is being use. In recent conversations with both Councilman Huizar and his staff I have heard many times “There is a misconception of how much money there is in that fund”, However Councilmember Hu-izar has made NO ATTEMPT to CLARIFY or be TRANSPARENT about this little pot of gold! Councilman Huizar we as STAKEHOLDERS are requesting for you to be TRANSPARENT about these funds. It can be done very easily the following way; Publish it in your weekly email updates you send the stakeholders. Include how much money our community has in our “CLARTS FUNDS” and how are you spending it. How hard would that be? If this simple request is met there would be no more MISCONCONCEPTION OR DECEPTION! Meanwhile, someone at this mo-ment may be waiting for a para-medic squad that could render life-saving attention to their medical needs, life-saving services that could be protected with funding from an discretionary fund few stakeholders know that exist. THE VOICE will update stake-holders in next months issue of where these funds are being spent.
Discretionary Funds, “Show Us Our Money!”
ADELANTE EASTSIDE REDEVELOPMENT PAC
ELECTION RESULTSBUSINESS OWNER NON-MANUFACTURING /NON-INDUSTRIALCandidate Votes Cast3118 LLC –Mike Kolker 7Artic HotSpot –Christina Mora 4Universal Realty –Bart M. Bartolome 4Chavez Studios, LLC –Ricardo R. Mendoza 3Primera Taza Coffee House –Juan Romero 3DJL Foods Inc. Subway –Danny Leon 3Farmers Insurance Group –Rodolfo Torres 2Whitter Boy, Inc. –Jimmy Chai 1
BUSINESS OWNER –MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIALCandidate Votes CastHy Grade Transmission –Jesus Gutierrez 4Manny’s Car Wash –Manuel Gallegos 4AMTEX California, Inc. –Saqib Hafeez 3Gorilla Arts –Mary Kristine Kolker (WI) 3Shamrock Base Corp –Manuel Galvan (WI) 0Non Vote 1
EXISTING COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION NON-PROFITCandidate Votes CastNuestro Futuro Inc. –Eve Del Real 16 Salesian Boys & Girls Club –Vickie Castro 12Union De Vecinos –Elizabeth Blaney 10USC –Cesar Armendariz 10Universal Health Foundation –Danilo S. Ang 9Proyecto Pastoral –Fatima Djelmane 9East LA Community Corp. –Erika Villablanca 8 RESIDENTIAL TENANTCandidate Votes CastSusana Gonzalez 3Eleanor Armas Hernandez 2
RESIDENTIAL OWNER OCCUPANTCandidate Votes CastTom Haskins 2
PROJECT AREA COMMITTEE WINNERS WILL SERVE 3 YEAR TERM
After fi ve years of success-ful programming and growth in the San Francisco Bay Area, Spark will pilot a Los Angeles apprenticeship program in March 2010. Spark will be working with es-tablished local schools including Para Los Niños, Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Partnerships to Uplift Communities (PUC), and Bright Star Schools. All four schools aim to address the needs of underserved and high-risk stu-dents in Los Angeles, and work with a predominately Hispanic/Latino population from low-income neighborhoods such as Pico Union, MacArthur Park, and Lincoln Heights. According to the 2000 Census, the median household income was $17,040 in Pico Union, $19,299 in MacArthur Park, and $23,591 in Lincoln Heights; the median household income in Los Angeles County, in contrast, was $42,189. In all of these neighborhoods,
over 40% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 live in poverty. Spark is honored to have the op-portunity to make an impact in the lives of underserved youth in Los Angeles through inspir-ing one-on-one apprenticeships, and excited to be growing the San Francisco based organization into a statewide, and eventually nationwide youth apprenticeship program. ASHOKA Spark’s Executive Director, Chris Balme, recently received the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship, among the highest honors for social entrepreneurs in the world. In recognition of Spark’s innovative approach to combating the dropout crisis, this award puts Spark among the leading nonprofi ts worldwide recognized for having innovative solutions to social problems, and the potential to change patterns across society. For more info on spark visit:www.sparkprogram.org
Spark Launches Programs in LA, Aimed For Underserved High Risk Students
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By Mark Overstreet, CPAB Creating a safe and civil community starts with residents who are willing to be the “eyes and ears of the community”. Each L.A.P.D. Division offers community members residing within their area the opportunity to participate on the LAPD’s Community-Police Advisory Board (C-PAB). Created in 1993 for the purpose to advice and inform the Area Commanding Offi cers of quality of life problems and concerns in the community. C-PAB provides the community with a voice in the policing of their communities. Having community involvement can help to decrease the incidence and fear of crime within the community. The C-PAB meets monthly to discuss crime and quality of life issues. The C-PAB is a city wide pro-gram, one C-PAB for each of the 19 LAPD Divisions, consisting of an advisory panel of 13 people representing a cross-section of the community. Members do not serve a specifi c term and participation is volun-tary. The Hollenbeck C-PAB meets at the Hollenbeck Station’s Community Room on the third Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm. Members meet with the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Division Captains, Anita Or-tega and David Hanczuk, along with their Senior Lead Police Offi cers. The Hollenbeck C-PAB members have been pro-active and have brought fresh ideas to the meetings that have helped create a safer and more civil community. Members have devoted their time, energy and money into developing and imple-menting activities that have enhanced the community. They have collaborated with the City offi cials as well as a variety of community organizations, such as Barrio Action Youth and Family Center in devel-oping activities or participating in events that upgrade or beautifi es the community. C-PAB members have committed them-selves to help organize the annual Na-tional Night Out Against Crime, they held a Community Beautifi cation within the Boyle Heights neighborhood, created and implemented a Neighborhood Watch
Workshop that informed and motivated residents to start LAPD Neighborhood Watch Programs. The current C-PAB chairperson, is Mrs. Margarita Amador of Pico-Aliso who just took over the reins from Mr. Sal Marti-nez who has been the Hollenbeck C-PAB chairperson during 2008 - 2009 year and has used his leadership skills to motivate and support members to step forward with innovative ideas to keep our community safe. Meetings are informative and are open to the public. Representatives from lo-cal elected offi cials offi ces, city, county and state, are usually present along with members of community organizations and concerned residents. Captain Ortega and the Senior Lead Offi cers provide updated information such as crime statistics and what issues are confronting the commu-nity and what is being done to rectify the issues. The meetings provide members the opportunity to dialogue with other members from various areas of the com-munity, share thoughts and ideas regarding crime and safety and to communicate their concerns with the local police offi cers. Through the collaboration with the LAPD, City Council Offi ce, and community based organizations the C-PAB has been able to face and overcome the challenges of various quality-of-life issues. Input on issues such as graffi ti, illegal vending, traffi c, gangs, drugs, and fraud has helped provide our police information to help bet-ter resolve some of these issues. C-PAB members have developed a relationship with the Police Department which includes understanding and trust which they in turn communicate to their neighbors. Information about the Los Angeles Police Department’s C-PAB is on the Los Ange-les Police Department’s offi cial website (www.lapdonline.org). If you are interest-ed in becoming a C-PAB member, appli-cations can be obtained by contacting Of-fi cer, Anthony Macklin at the Hollenbeck Police Station at 2111 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033.
LAPD’s Community-Police Advisory Boards, Working to Make Us Safe
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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Here is the actual California Vehicle Code: 21809 of the California Vehicle Code: 21809. (a) A person driving a vehicle on a freeway approaching a stationary autho-rized emergency vehicle that is displaying emergency lights, or a stationary tow truck that is displaying fl ashing amber warning lights, shall approach with due caution and, before passing in a lane immediately adjacent to the authorized emergency ve-hicle or tow truck, absent any other direc-tion by a peace offi cer, proceed to do one of the following: (1) Make a lane change into an available lane not immediately adjacent to the au-thorized emergency vehicle or tow truck with due regard for safety and traffi c con-ditions, if practicable and not prohibited by law. (2) If the maneuver described in paragraph (1) would be unsafe or impracticable, slow to a reasonable and prudent speed that is safe for existing weather, road, and vehic-ular or pedestrian traffi c conditions.
(b) A violation of subdivision (a) is an in-fraction, punishable by a fi ne. The bottom line is that this law makes sense for everyone to slow down and pay attention to your surroundings when you see emergency lights. Public Safety offi -cials are there to provide assistance or to render aide to motorist, cyclist, and pedes-trians. There is also another new law that many CERT(Community Emergency Re-sponse Team) members are concerned about and the general public should be aware of as well. It’s called the PER-SONAL LIABILITY IMMUNITY (AB 83, Feuer) • This became a law August 6, 2009 and provides that a Good Samaritan (gen-eral public, off-duty medical or off-duty law enforcement personnel) who renders medical or non-medical care at the scene of an emergency would not be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission.
Move Over Law
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President of the United StatesBARACK OBAMA
1600 Pennsylvania AvenueWashington DC, 20500202/456.1414http://www.whitehouse.gov/con-tact/
U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD Representative for 34th District of CA255 E. Temple StreetSuite 1860Los Angeles, CA 90012-1578(213) 628-9230www.house.gov/roybal-allard
U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN JUDY CHU
Representative for 32ndDistrict of CA4716 East Cesar E. Chavez AvenueLos Angeles, CA 90022(323) 307-9904http://chu.house.gov/index.html
US SENATORDIANE FEINSTEIN
11111 Santa Monica Blvd. #915Los Angeles, CA 90025310/914.7300feinstein.senate.gov
US SENATORBARBARA BOXER
312 N. Spring StreetSuite 1748Los Angeles, CA 90012213/894.5000 Los Angeles202/224.3553 Washington DCboxer.senate.gov
CA GOVERNOR ARNOLD
SCHWARZENEGGER
Los Angeles Offi ce300 South Spring StreetSuite 16701Los Angeles, CA 90013213/897.0322 Los Angeles916-445-2841 Sacramentohttp://gov.ca.gov/
STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER
JOHN PEREZ46th District
320 West 4th StreetRoom 1050Los Angeles, CA 90013213/620.4646
STATE ASSEMBLYMEMBER
KEVIN DE LEON 45th District
360 West Ave 26Suite 121Lincoln Heights, CA 90031323/225.4545
STATE SENATORGLORIA ROMERO
24th District
149 South Mednick AveSuite 202Los Angeles, CA 90022323/881.0100
LA COUNTY SUPERVISOR GLORIA MOLINA
1st District
4801 East Third Street Los Angeles, CA 90022323/881-4601
LOS ANGELES CITYCity Hall Offi ce200 North Spring StreetLos Angeles, CA 90012
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa213/978.0600 [email protected]
COUNCILMEMBER 14THJose Huizar
COUNCILMEMBER 1ST Ed P. Reyes
Elected Offi cial’sDIRECTORY
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Jerry Schneider It was a windy Sunday afternoon in mid January and the rain from the fi rst of a predicted El Nino effect storms was starting, as Ascot Hills Park Advisory Board (PAB) mem-bers Michael Lopez and Val Marquez met with me, park advocate Jerry Schneider, to sow wildfl ower seed. The PAB for Ascot Hills has been expressing concerns that landscaping for the park has been long delayed with the freezing by the State of Proposition 40 bond funding and that the park entrance was not looking inviting. The Department of Recre-ation and Parks maintenance crews have experienced staffi ng reductions and their maintenance work was con-fi ned to herbicide applications, thus bare soil and dried tumble weed clus-ters dominated the park entrance. The LA –32 Neighborhood Council approved a funding request up by the PAB members for wildfl ower seed for Ascot Hills Park at their January meeting, The wildfl ower seed, fi ve pounds of Arroyo Lupine and fi ve pounds of California Poppy seed, costing just under $200, were or-dered from a wholesale seed nursery, and delivered by the end of the sec-ond week of January. It was intended that school youth from the nearby Multnomah Street Elementary School would help to sow the wildfl ower seed, however, the school students and faculty were just coming back from the winter holiday break and the time to arrange for par-ent permissions and other logistic re-quirements meant that it would take until after the forecasted mid January storms for the school classes to be visiting the park. The PAB members and I did not want to miss sowing the wildfl owers ahead of the coming storms. They scheduled their small work party to just beat the forecasted fi rst wave of rain, But as they met at 3 pm on that Sunday, the rain had already started. First they cleared out the large clus-ters of tumbleweed and some trash at the entry. Then the bulk packages of seed were slit open. The seed was
spread with hand held, rotary device. Although the moisture from the rain was making some of the seed stick to the spreader, the process was go-ing fast. Michael and Val raked the soil after Jerry spread the seed. At one point, I asked whether some of the seed should be reserved for the school classes to sow, but with the rainfall increasing and seed sowing out so fast it was decided to put all of the seed out. The thirteen pounds of wildfl ower seed were sown along the entry drive-way and around the interim gravel parking lot that is not fenced off for the future park development. The following week, John Mais-terra, the Environmental Science Magnet (ESM) School coordinator at Multnomah Elementary notifi ed me that all of the classes at the ESM were scheduling visits to Ascot Hills Park on January 28, and that at least two classes were looking forward to sowing wildfl ower seed in the park. I knew that all of the seed purchased by LA-32 NC and all of my personal supply of seed had been sown, but I was able to obtain complimentary packets of Cali-fornia Poppy seed from the Theodore Payne Foundation, a non-profi t or-ganization for California wild-fl owers and na-tive plants head-quartered in Sun Valley. It just happen to be on the TPF board and was visiting their headquar-ters the just prior to notifi cation from Maisterra. So we were in luck, I had 50 small envelopes,
each with about one-half teaspoon of poppy seed. The weather on January 28 was mild and sunny. It had rained lightly the day before, but conditions were just right for sow-ing additional seed. Park maintenance supervisor for Ascot Hills Park, Martin Hernandez, opened the locked gates that allowed access to the easterly side of the fence along the entry driveway. Fifty-four students from two second grade classes and one hearing im-
paired students class lined up along the fence, opened the complimentary seed packets and with assistance from parents and teachers, the Poppy seed was sown and then raked lightly. Now, students and park visitors are waiting to see the wildfl owers grow to provide brilliant colored fl owers in the spring. It has been a long time since there has been extensive wildfl ower blooming in Ascot Hills Park. When the fi rst Spanish explorers discovered this land, they wrote of vast fi elds of wildfl owers turning hillsides into a display of colors from golden yel-lows to reds to blue. Gradually, the effects of introduced livestock grazing and competing ex-otic grasses and weeds have dimin-ished this springtime delight. In As-cot Hills not only was there impacts from grazing, but also human caused activities such as repeated wild fi res and plowing have diminished the wildfl owers. Some locals have extolled the an-
nual show yellow fl owers from Black Mustard that usually covers the As-cot Hills in the springtime. But Black Mustard is environmentally a poor substitute for the native wildfl owers. Black Mustard grows tall and fast. It out competes most native plants for moisture and sun and exudes chemi-cals that retard and kill other plants. The habitat value of Black Mustard is low compared to that of our native wildfl owers and plants, which pro-vide more useful food, nectar, pol-len and plant residues to birds and insects. The California Poppy is our state wildfl ower. Its bright, orange spring-time blooms in vast fi elds in Southern California inland and desert areas at-tract visitors from around the world. In Ascot Hills the presence of this wildfl ower is limited to small patches where the disc of the plows has not buried it or its seed. California Pop-pies actually live for two years, com-ing back from their roots after drying out in summer. In a garden setting where supplemental irrigation is sup-plied poppies will often re sprout and produce blooms in the summer. The Arroyo Lupine is common in local hillsides and meadows and has a distinctive sweet pea-like fl ower in clusters along a vertical fl ower spike. In Ascot Hills Park this wildfl ower is more common than the California Poppy its larger seeds can take be-ing buried, so it is not as impacted by plowing, and its the wildfl ower that is nature’s “band aid” following a fi re. This year, Lupine fl owers will be much more spectacular as the com-bination of the burn from a fi re that burned into the park last May and abundant rainfall have already shown us many purple fl ower spikes along the parks interior trails.
MiAcceso ™ “Serving The Community Since 1977”
“Sirviendo La Comunidad Desde 1977”
MARTINEZ & MARTINEZ
2 4 1 4 D a l y S t r e e t , L o s A n g e l e s , C A 9 0 0 3 1 323-223-9989 / 323-223-2771 Fax 323-223-6535
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INSURANCE-REAL ESTATE-FAMILY LAW-BANKRUPTCY
Con respeto al tema de Immigracion, ha llegado la hora de que nuestros ofi ciales electos cumplan su palabra!
Necesitamos una reforma digna, imparcial y mas aya, que se realize. Esto fue prometido por nuestro
Presidente electo Barack Obama!
Es la hora! Necesitamos que nuestros lideres respondan.Necesitamos componer nuestro sistema de Immigracion !!!
Hay que pelear en contra de los extremistas que quieren deportar a mas de 15 MILLONES de personas que pagan
impuestos y trabajan muy duro. No podemos dejar que separen a las familias!
Llamenos o visite nuestra ofi cina para darle mas detalles!Necesitamos su apoyo para lograr este objetivo.
REFORMA de IMMIGRATION21 de Marzo 2010
TAXES / IMMIGRACIONASEGURANZAS
COMPRAS Y VENTAS DE CASADIVORCIOS
BANCARROTA CHILD SUPPORT
Venga a nuestra ofi cina para la preparacion de sus impuestos federales y estatales para la temporada 2009 y deje que Nue-stro 33 anos de experiencia le ayude a recibir el maximo reembolso possible.
Hay cambios este año que puede afectar su reembolso o resultado fi nal! Llame ahora para mas informacion!
“MiAcceso, la distancia mas corta a la mejor solucíon”
On Sunday, February 14th The EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB held our1st Annual FRIENDSHIP BIKE RIDE
The ride was a success thanks to the following sponsors. We thank each and everyone of you for your commitment in helping us create a healthy community.
Join the EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB on FACEBOOKFollow us on Twitter.com/eastsidebikes
myspace.com/eastsidebikesemail: [email protected]
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Page 12 Become a Fan of THE VOICE COMMUNITY NEWS on Facebook.com 323.221.7400 MARCH 2010
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WEEKENDS
By Stephen Box LAPD Chief Charlie Beck head-lined a City Council Transporta-tion Committee, declaring that he supported cyclists and that he would be working to change the culture in the LAPD and on the streets of Los Angeles. This comment was met with ap-plause from many and skepticism from a few, prompting Beck to declare, “Watch for the results. They’ll speak louder than my words.” This past year has seen a tremendous increase in cycling, incidents involving cyclists and motorists, and media coverage of the confl ict on the streets as peo-ple of all modes struggle to get to their destinations safely and effectively. The motorist vs. cyclists con-fl ict “heard around the world” was the Mandeville Canyon road rage incident that started with Dr. Christopher Thompson using his vehicle against two cyclists to “teach them a lesson!” A year and a half of legal ma-neuvering resulted in Dr. Thomp-son receiving 5 years in prison after being convicted of charges that include Assault With a Dead-ly Weapon and Mayhem. Then there was the Hummer vs. Cyclists incident that took cy-clists to the Police Commission, the Transportation Committee, and the City Council in an effort to get justice and an even hand in the investigation of a traffi c colli-sion incident on the streets of Los Angeles. Most recently, there was the Hit
and Run incident on 2nd Street that resulted in a cyclist getting run down from behind but with no charges fi led against the mo-torist. Ed Magos, an employee of the City of LA, was riding to work when he was hit from behind. As he lay in the street, the motorist stopped, got out and looked at him and when he yelled “I can’t move, call 911!” she got back in her Porsche Cayenne, hung a u-turn and left the scene. Witnesses noted her license plate, her identity was known within the hour, but it just didn’t matter because the City Attorney and the District Attorney both de-clined to fi le charges. After all, she later turned herself in, saying “I may have hit something, I’m not sure.” Apparently that’s all it takes to relieve oneself of any responsibility. (She didn’t even have insurance!) It’s against this background of confl ict and alienation that Chief Beck has stepped up and repeat-edly assured the cycling commu-nity the days of modal segregation are over and that his commitment is to making the streets safe for everybody, regardless of whether they walk, ride a bike, use mass transit, ride a motorcycle or drive a car. The words fi t well, but how does it happen? On Beck’s fi rst visit to the Citywide Alliance of Neighbor-hood Councils last November, I presented him with the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights and asked for his endorsement as well as the op-portunity to work with him at
the policy level on changing the culture of the LAPD. He agreed to give issue “10th fl oor” priority and support and he has been true to his word. Since then, Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger has led the charge by creating the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force, which is reviewing policy and training of old and looking for opportunities to improve so that the LAPD offi cers on the streets are operating in sync with the new attitudes on the 10th fl oor. Paysinger, who fl anked Beck at the Transportation Com-mittee, reiterated the new LAPD policy toward cyclists saying “Our (the LAPD’s) commitment to the cycling community as we move forward is to do better.” The Transportation Committee hearing was moderated by Chair-man Bill Rosendahl who was en-thusiastic and optimistic, “This is a new day for Los Angeles!” While the ongoing confl ict on the streets of Los Angeles hardly inspires optimism, the fact that Beck agreed to revisit the Magos Hit and Run case and the fact that the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force is already developing LAPD train-ing materials that support cycling as a transportation solution dem-onstrates that Beck seems to be committed to actions over words and that is cause for hope.
(Stephen Box is a transporta-tion and cycling advocate and
writes for CityWatch.com He can be reached at [email protected]
LAPD Chief Beck Bonds with Bikers
A man was killed in a head-on collision with another car on Thursday, February 18th at approximately 10:12pm. An LAPD Hollenbeck Gang Unit on patrol was traveling south-bound on Eastern Avenue when they were past by a speeding black Honda traveling northbound on Eastern Avenue at a high rate of speed. The gang unit offi cers negotiated a U turn to follow the speeding vehicle and when they came around the turn at Klamath and Eastern they came across the traffi c collision. Said LAPD Sergeant Sanchez of the Central Traffi c Division. The speeding vehicle was travel-ing so fast that it veered over the double yellow line, hit a blue Toyota Prius that was traveling
southbound on Eastern Avenue, then possibly hit a tree. The driver of the speeding Honda was pronounced dead on scene and was only identifi ed of a male Hispanic between 20 and 30 years of age. The driver of the Prius, only identifi ed as an adult Asian female which had to be extricated with the Jaws of Life by the Los Angeles Fire Department was then transported to a local hos-pital with non-life threatening injuries. Debris from the collision was scattered all across Eastern Ave. The speeding vehicle was split in half and twisted in half. As you can see in the photo the front tires of the Honda are facing up.
Man Dies in Traffi c Collision
Photo Credit: Tod Sudmeier www.fi rewxphoto.com
FROM THE DESK OF STEVEN KASTEN
MARCH 1, 2010 AN OPEN LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY FROM STEVE KASTEN
STEVEN KASTEN PROPERTIES PROPERTY OWNER /BUSINESS OWNER
2718 NORTH BROADWAY, LOS ANGELES, CA 90031
I approve of our recently enacted Business Improvement District (BID) in Lincoln Heights.
I am pleased to see the improvements and the more positive activities and attitudes in our community. Our newly enacted Business Improvement District (BID) is definitely making a difference. Please take some time to check out the business corridor along Broadway, Daly Street and around five points at Pasadena Avenue and Avenue 26. What a difference! The streets are free from litter and graffiti. The streets and sidewalks are cleaned Monday through Saturday every week.
With the support of our Council Office (Councilman Ed P. Reyes and his staff), the LAPD (Hollenbeck Division) and the support in the community, our businesses will survive the recession and prosper as our economy improves.
Please support our local merchants in Lincoln Heights.
Thank you,
Steve Kasten
(Your comments are welcomed by phone at (323) 222-3489 or by e-mail to [email protected])
WATCH FOR THE GRAND OPENING OF
STEVEN KASTEN REALTY, INC @ 2223 North Broadway
(North Broadway & Ave 24)
Every month it looks like our community is improving. Our BID has hired a private security firm to patrol our Business District for 16 hours a day. The BID also installed Christmas Decorations in our Business District in December of last year. .
We need a safe and clean community to attract new businesses. As we know, businesses in the community create jobs in the community. We need new retail businesses to open in our newly created fashion district on North Broadway. If you have any ideas or leads, please let me know.
Our wish list for the community still includes the following:
1. A community Certified Farmer’s Market
2. A Lincoln Heights (Gas Powered) Trolley to travel through the Business District.
3. Regularly sponsored community promotion such as store discount coupons and advertised community sales promotions, etc.
4. A community newsletter to keep us all informed of upcoming events & promotions.
Are you thinking of buying or selling real estate? Please wait for our Grand Opening.
We will be offering deep discounts on our real estate commissions.We want to be your real estate agent for all of your real estate needs.
Steven Kasten, Broker, DRE License #00861861
STEVEN KASTEN REALTY, INC
2223 North Broadway
(323) 223-3496
NOW OPEN6am - 9pm Everyday
Delicious Sandwiches * Affordable Prices * Great Atmosphere * Wi-Fi
Page 14 Become a Fan of THE VOICE COMMUNITY NEWS On Facebook.com 323.221.7400 MARCH 2010
My name is Sadra Larsen and I am the “Incompetent, Ill Intent, Unprofessional, Shady, Terror-ist, and Dishonest” Treasurer of the LA-32 Neighborhood Council as stated by my fellow board members. I was introduced to the LA-32 NC by my neighbor Rev. Cha-con back in 2005. By talking with Rev. Chacon, I too wanted to join the Neighborhood Coun-cil to get involved with issues in the community and make positive changes. I have lived in El Sereno since 1974. I went to Multnomah Elementary, Graduated from Wilson High School, and completed my Bachelor’s degree at CSULA, all schools in the El Sereno area. I joined the Neighborhood Council a few years back and was becoming acquainted with how the board was run and what the function was in the community. As an outside observer and new to the board, there were already groups developed with common interests. The fi rst year I was in-volved I was an observer and did not have much of a role within the council as they were in there last year. At fi rst I had no intention of running again as there appeared
to be too much in-house fi ghting among fellow board members and I did not see how anything could be accomplished. I was asked to run again with others with the intent of contribut-ing positive progressive outcomes for our community, however the more I tried the more I failed. I was elected with six votes from stakeholders; I should have gotten the message then. I be-came the budget chair and held my meetings. At that time C. Roura was the Treasurer. She and I were good friends. A friendship that was lost within the realm of doing what was best for the board and the community. As the Trea-surer Roura resigned I became the Treasurer. At the fi rst meeting as treasurer I was slammed by board members, I tried to the best of my ability to complete the task as-signed. I held meetings monthly and was completing the reports on time as requested by the board and the Department of Neighbor-hood Empowerment. I wanted to let the community know that I never claimed to be a CPA, I have never had any personal agendas with any fund-ing requests that came before
the board. One of the main com-plaints from stake holders was that I was diffi cult and the pro-cess was “cumbersome”. I have not profi ted from any request that was approved by the board. The one mistake I made was paying vendors by credit card when their payments were not be-ing processed by city checks. They had provided a service to our community and had not been paid in 8 months. Yes, I knew that I did not follow procedures! If I bend the rules I am hung out to dry and when I follow the rules and go by the book, then I am looked at, as not being a team player. The most diffi cult part of being a board member on the LA-32 NC is the lack of communication among board members. Most board members have not taken the eth-ics training which is required by the city, but some take the role as the gate keepers of inaccurate in-formation. Then turn around and accuse the treasurer of being in-competent. Other board members have poor attendance and do not have all the facts before them. They cannot hold or post com-mittee meetings accordingly, but
can continue to have serial meet-ings spreading gossip and misin-formation. They continue to want to conduct business via emails, phone calls, and secret meetings to discuss matters that should be handled at public posted meet-ings. I cannot count how many times board members call and want things done between meetings. If those board members are so concerned about doing things correctly get trained and commit to your role as a board member. They want to know what the bud-get is, but will make excuses as to why they cannot come to meet-ings or talk to the treasurer who has the records and information. To set the record straight there is no “buddy system” on getting funding approved. The Execu-tive Board of the LA-32 NC is not receiving any compensation from any funding requests nor is pocketing any monies from our budget. We present the funding requests that come to the LA-32 community by the community. The LA-32 NC rarely has re-ceived a funding request that has been from a stranger to the com-munity asking for monies.
The LA-32 NC does not and has not funded events that do not directly benefi t the community stakeholders. We are volunteers, giving up our time to serve and better the EL Sereno Commu-nity. That has always been my intention as well as the Executive Board, regardless of what some will think of me personally. In the end, it was never my in-tention to continue with the in-house fi ghting on the board. I have failed what I set out to do. Thinking I could make a differ-ence in my community and for that I am truly sorry. The LA-32 will have the budget completed at the end of the 3rd quarter which is March 31, 2010. On March 31, 2010 I will be singing Johnny Paychecks’ 1978 hit song. Infor-mation will be available during April’s meeting. The new board will handle the last quarter as they will be elected and taking over. Next time you want accurate in-formation come to a LA-32 NC meeting.
Sadra LarsenVolunteer
Letter To The Editor: “Shame the Devil and Tell the Truth”
STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a woman named Jane stumbled and took a little fall and she assured everyone that she was fi ne (they offered to call paramedics) ..she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. Guest got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the eveningJane’s husband called later telling
everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital and at 6:00 pm Jane passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some victims of a stroke don’t die, They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the
effects of a stroke... totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough...
RECOGNIZING A STROKE Thank God for the sense to remember the ‘3’ steps, STR. Read and Learn!Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are diffi cult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim
may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:S *Ask the individual to SMILE.T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today.)R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.If he or she has trouble with
ANYONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.New Sign of a Stroke: Stick out Your TongueNOTE: Another ‘sign’ of a stroke is this: Ask the person to ‘stick’ out his tongue. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indica-tion of a stroke.
STROKE: LIFE SAVING SYMTOMS TO REMEMBER STROKE
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