South LA bicycle clubs welcome the city to Watts Towers

June 13, 2012 By 1 Comment


By Ride SouthLA

A hundred cyclists are expected on Sunday June 17 for a group ride to celebrate and test a community bicycling map in South Los Angeles. They will receive free copies of the first map from RideSouthLA.com, a coalition of groups promoting bicycling in South LA and revealing community assets like the Watts Towers along a recommended bike route. The group ride starts at 10am at Augustus Hawkins Nature Park (5790 Compton Ave.), continues to the iconic Watts Towers, runs along the Metro Blue Line, and includes a visit of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee before looping back to the Nature Park.

The partners behind this effort point to a broad social agenda — from city planning to bicycle and social change advocacy. Central partners include T.R.U.S.T. South LA, Bikerowave, the East Side Riders Bike Club and C.I.C.L.E.. This return ride challenges cyclists to find what the print map is missing, and invites them to add their own live stream of pictures highlighting neighborhood assets they feel should be added. “We support basic cell phones — anything that can take pictures,” said Professor François Bar of the University of Southern California, which advised the project on technology.

“Our goal with each map project is to bring awareness to a different aspect of South LA culture that is easy to bike to and enjoy for both residents and visitors.” declared Tafarai Bayne, Community Affairs Manager with T.R.U.S.T. South LA. Sunday’s route is co-led by the East Side Riders (ESR), one of the bicycle clubs and education groups that calls Watts and Florence-Firestone home. “We see the map and the rides as a way to advocate for safe biking, but also for community service and engagement” said John Jones, who co-directs ESR. Other South LA bicycle clubs will be represented as well, including the Real Rydaz, the Compton Schwinn Masters, and the newly formed Los Ryderz.

For more information, visit RideSouthLA.com

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South LA residents deliver trash from foreclosed Watts home

June 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Esperanza Arrizon, Good Jobs LA

imageSouth LA residents determined to hold big banks accountable for cleaning up local communities, delivered trash from a vacant foreclosed home to BNY Mellon, one of LA’s largest holders of foreclosed properties. The action was held ahead of the LA City Council’s scheduled vote on amendments to improve enforcement of city’s blight ordinance.

After a devastating foreclosure crisis caused by greed and recklessness on Wall Street, thousands of bank-owned, foreclosed homes litter LA neighborhoods. These homes – often left unsafe and in disrepair – attract crime, drive down local property values and are a blight on LA’s communities.

imageLA has a blight ordinance that allows the city to collect $1,000 a day from banks that do not maintain their foreclosed homes. To date, LA has failed to collect a single dime from banks violating the law – a lost opportunity to hold irresponsible banks accountable and collect money to rebuild our neighborhoods.

Protesters held up signs reading “Banks Make Bad Neigbors.” One sign claimed banks owe the city of LA almost five million dollars in fines for ignoring the upkeep of foreclosed homes, allowing them to collect trash and centers for criminal activity.

“Big banks are devastating our communities, with blighted houses full of trash, crime, and poverty and taxpayers are covering the cost,” said South LA resident Angelina Jimenez. “It’s time to make the banks clean up or pay up.”

imageActivists collected trash from a home in dangerous disrepair on Wilmington Avenue in the Watts area and delivered three full bags to BNY Mellon’s lobby.

After the event, South LA residents went to city hall, calling on City Councilmembers to approve changes for better enforcement of the blight ordinance and to fine the maximum authorized amount for each bank’s failure to maintain their foreclosed properties.

The protest was organized by Good Jobs LA, SEIU Local 721 and the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment.

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Gates Millennium Scholars Make Manual Arts Proud!

June 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Kyle Holland, LA’s Promise

imageManual Arts High School seniors, John Mendoza and Adedamola Tombrown have been awarded the prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship. Both are the very first students from Manual Arts High School to ever receive this honor.

Mendoza, the youngest of seven children and an all city Colonel for Manual Arts’ Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) will attend the University of Southern California. He plans to major in engineering with a minor in business administration and pursue a career in construction management.

“I can now transform the college going culture within my own family and continue to serve as a role model for my 26 nieces and nephews,” says John.

Tombrown will go to the University of California, Irvine. He and his family relocated to the United States from Nigeria on a visa lottery just so he could pursue robotics. His family’s first stop in the U.S. was on the East Coast. They relocated to South Los Angeles in order for Adedamola to attend Manual Arts High School.

“With the support of my family and mentor, Mr. John Santos, I can achieve my goals,” says Tombrown, who is the lead programmer for the Manual Arts Robotics team that recently placed top ten in the worldwide robotics competition. He plans to study computer science and complete his PhD studies in AIDS research.

These incredible seniors are part of 1,000 students selected nationally each year for this highly competitive scholarship that requires strong academics combined with school and community involvement.

More then 24,000 students applied earlier this year, the largest and most competitive group of candidates in the program’s history. Having two first time Manual Arts High School recipients in such a competitive climate represents the collective support and resources provided to John and Adedamola by their families, teachers and school community.

The Gates scholarship reduces financial barriers for African American, Hispanic American and other minorities that have high academic and leadership promise and significant financial need.

The scholarship helps increase the representation of these target groups in the disciplines of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health and the sciences.

The award renews each year as long as students maintain satisfactory academic progress.

Please join LA’s Promise is in congratulating John Mendoza and Adedamola Tombrown! Their hard work and discipline has truly paid off and prepared them for the most exciting and challenging times of their lives.

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Reward offered in 1989 hit and run that killed 3 year-old

June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


The Los Angeles Police Department and Crime Stoppers Los Angeles have reopened a 23 year-old cold case with the hopes of finding the person responsible for the hit and run death of 3 year-old D’Ancee Nathanial Barnes. The boy was the son of Carson Councilmember Mike Gipson and wife LeCresha who say they want justice for the death of D’Ancee.

“Even though it’s been 23 years, for us as a family, it’s like it happened yesterday,” says Gipson. “A part of our family is missing and gone forever and we just want justice for D’Ance.”

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Carson Councilmember Mike Gipson and wife LeCresha make an emotional plea for anyone who has information on the hit and run driver responsible for the death their son D’Ancee to come forward.

On Saturday, Councilmember Bernard Parks announced a $50,000 reward at the South Los Angeles intersection of Van Ness and 65th Place, where the little boy was struck by a hit and run driver at approximately 8:55 p.m. on March 18, 1989.

According to the LAPD, a driver in a 1974-1985 white or light brown 2-door Cadillac was travelling north on Van Ness Avenue towards Gage Avenue when she hit the small boy as he ran into the roadway.

The driver is described as a 32-34 year old Black female with black hair, approximately 5’6” tall and weighing 110-120 pounds. She stopped briefly after the impact before continuing northbound on Van Ness Avenue. She has never been identified.

The reward was initiated by Los Angeles City Councilman Parks and supported in the council by a vote of 13-0, for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspected driver.

To help bring attention to the 23-year-old crime, Clear Channel Outdoor and CBS Outdoor has donated billboards that will be erected near the intersection where the accident took place. Also, on June 30 at 11:30 p.m. KCAL 9’s Crime Stoppers Case Files will air a re-enactment of the crime.

The L.A.P.D. South Traffic Division is asking that anyone with information regarding this incident to please call Detective S. Smith or Investigator R. Mendoza at (323) 421-2500 or (877) LAPD-24-7.

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Manual Arts MESA named Program of the Year

June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Koryama Arevalo and Eduardo Avila

Last Friday, the Manual Arts MESA program was named Program of the Year at the year-end banquet held at the USC Galen Center. This yearly banquet is intended to celebrate the achievements of MESA students attending the high schools served by USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.

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“This is quite an honor for the MESA students involved in this program,” said advisor John Santos. “With L.A.’s Promise deciding to reassign most of the teachers involved in supporting this program, the students had to step up and take on most of the duties that used to be assigned to volunteer teachers….With the help of our mentors, we were able to make up some of the hours dedicated by our teachers, our MESA students stepped up and did the rest.”

“A large part is due to the dedication of our advisor,” said senior Korayma Arevalo. “Mr. Santos promised us he would not let the politics of the school influence the integrity of our program. He worked extremely long hours to make up for the lack of teacher support. When the school administration misplaced our funds, he went and found them and got them back for us.”

“We had plenty of obstacles to overcome this year,” said junior Eduardo Avila. “We had to learn how to purchase our materials, talk to vendors, set up our calendars and schedule our mentors so that we could use their time most efficiently. Some of our teachers who used to work with us were still willing to offer us some support and assisted us in preparation for the SAT test.”

This year the “Robo-skunks,” as they prefer to be called, hosted 54 teams at the JPL Invention Challenge Regional, supported two FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics teams at nearby schools, supported four local and two international FIRST Robotics Challenge (FRC) robotics teams, held four robotics workshops, made presentations promoting STEM education at seven sites including UC Riverside, LAUSD Linked Learning Symposium; and finished as a semi-finalist in the Las Vegas FTC Robotics Championship and a quarter-finalist in the Los Angeles FRC Regionals. They also competed in Pre-MESA Day, TEAMS National Engineering Exam, and Zerorobotics “Satellite Capture Challenge,” where they finished 8th in the world.

“Last year, in a Los Angeles Times article, the former CEO of L.A.’s Promise called this program marginal. These students were out to prove that L.A.’s Promise and its executive board of outsiders, have no clue as to what students of this community are capable of with the support of their caring teachers and mentors,” said Santos.

“They can’t see us as marginal any more,” said senior Sabas Garcia.

All Manual Arts MESA senior team members will be attending a university next year, including one Gate Millennium Scholar.

Filed Under: Arts, Featured Tagged With: , ,

Congrats, NAI Grads: Headed to Harvard, West Point and USC

June 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment


By Eddie North-Hager and Merrill Balassone

Which high school graduating class boasts 100 percent of its students enrolling in higher education?

All 54 graduates of USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative(NAI) program, an intensive program serving public school students from the university’s neighborhoods, will continue their education this fall.

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Twenty-six of the graduates will attend USC on a full-tuition scholarship, with more headed for other top universities around the country, including Harvard University, the United States Military Academy at West Point, Morehouse College and University of California campuses.

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Twin brothers Arnulfo, left, and Jesus Moran will be the first and second in their family to attend college. (All photos by Dietmar Quistorf)

The program’s students, many the first in their families to attend college, spent six to seven years coming to USC’s campus for early-morning math and English classes and after school tutoring during the week and daylong Saturday classes.

“To date, 695 South L.A. students have graduated from the NAI program and gone to college — that’s huge in our community,” said Kim Thomas-Barrios, NAI’s executive director. “NAI works because we provide the academic rigor every child needs. We bring them to the USC campus to learn math and English in a university setting, where many never thought they had a chance to attend.”

The NAI is a seven-year, pre-college, comprehensive, educational enrichment program operated by USC Civic Engagement. NAI prepares low-income, minority students living in the neighborhoods surrounding USC for success at a college or university. Those who complete the program, meet USC’s competitive admission requirements and choose to attend USC, are awarded a four-and-a-half-year full-tuition scholarship.

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Juan Ramirez will attend USC.

Over the past 15 years, 99 percent of NAI graduates have enrolled in secondary education programs, with 83 percent enrolling as freshmen in four-year colleges. More than one-third of NAI graduates during that time attended USC.

NAI also boasts a Family Development Institute that assists parents in supporting their college-bound child with workshops and training on various issues, such as financial literacy and college retention.

Among the 2012 highlights:

• Twin brothers Arnulfo and Jesus Moran will be the first and second in their family to attend college. Arnulfo will attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and will major in mechanical engineering. Jesus will attend Harvard University (the first to be accepted to Harvard in NAI’s 20-year history) to study political science.

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Viviana Padilla will attend USC.

• Juan Ramirez will attend USC and major in global health with aspirations to become a pediatrician. His father’s battle with cancer only increased Ramirez’s drive to attend college and work toward a career in medicine.

• Viviana Padilla, a first-generation college student, will attend USC. As a volunteer at both a children’s hospital and senior center, Padilla found where she could make a difference. She’ll be majoring in neuroscience and forensic psychology.

• Jessica Rodriguez will attend USC. She was senior captain on her high school robotics team, participated in USC’s MESA program and attended NASA’s Summer of Innovation Camp — all while mentoring younger students. Rodriguez will major in biology and plans to become a pediatrician.

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Jessica Rodriguez will attend USC.

• Lizette Zarate was part of the second graduating class of NAI in 1998. She earned her bachelor’s degree from USC and is finishing her doctorate in education at Loyola Marymount University. She is writing her dissertation on NAI as she oversees the NAI Saturday Academy, where more than 600 students receive six hours of intensive instruction in math, science and English.

“I’m not that special around here,” Zarate said. “Our objective is to ensure all our kids go to college and they all do — becoming lawyers and doctors and such — all from the inner city representing NAI.”

• Kinder to College — This year, NAI started an innovative new program to get boys reading by the third grade. About 50 kindergarteners from the USC Family of Schools spend Saturdays learning how to read without using textbooks. Instead the focus is on activities where reading leads to rewards, such as instructions on creating a lava lamp with Alka Seltzer and food coloring.

While the kids play to learn, the parents are mentored on child development by Sean Taitt, a bilingual program manager who helped develop the curriculum.

The program, funded in part by a donation from Judge James “Jimmy” Reese ’46, will follow the boys all the way through sixth grade, when they would transition into the NAI program.

You can learn more about the program on this ABC-7 video:

Filed Under: Education, Featured Tagged With: , , ,

Manual Arts teachers march against school overhaul plans

June 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageThere are some big changes coming to South LA’s Manual Arts High School, and not everyone is excited about them.

The school has been awarded a $1.9 million School Improvement Grant (SIG) from the California Department of Education. The grant requires major structural changes to Manual Arts, including replacing half of its teaching staff.

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) asked all Manual Arts teachers to reapply for their jobs. Those who aren’t hired back will be shuffled to other schools in the district.

imageSome, like Manual Arts teacher Daniel Beebe, see this effort to turn the troubled school around as misguided.

Beebe teaches history and is chapter chair for United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the union that represents LAUSD staff. He and dozens of other teachers, students and union representatives marched in front of Manual Arts on Thursday to bring attention to the restructuring and its effect on teachers and students alike.

“You have a lot of hardworking teachers and hardworking students, and we should be supporting that progress instead of starting over every year or two with something new,” Beebe said.

The union requests that the Manual Arts’ administration retain teachers who have expressed a desire to stay at the school. But many teachers, Beebe included, chose not to reapply for positions at Manual Arts.

A few dozen Manual Arts students participated in the afterschool demonstration, holding signs or wearing homemade T-shirts voicing support for their teachers.

“There are good teachers here, and students need them,” said Jennifer Cardozo, a Manual Arts junior. “I don’t think they should be throwing that away just for some grant.”

Beebe and the teachers’ union argue that replacing half the school’s staff is not only damaging to the school’s sense of community, but also goes beyond what’s necessary to fulfill the requirements of the new grant.

imageBetween 30 and 40 percent of Manual Arts’ teachers were shifted just last year, according to UTLA. And one-third of the schools’ staff has been reassigned to the new Augustus Hawkins High School when it opens in the fall.

“With those displacements, we’ve already met the requirements of the SIG grant,” Beebe said. “This is just being used as an excuse to push out teachers that they want to get rid of.”

Another requirement of the grant is that the school’s principal be replaced. But that isn’t happening at Manual Arts, another fact that angers the marching teachers.

“Principal go! Teachers stay!,” a group of student demonstrators chanted from the sidewalk, as Principal Robert Whitman stood just feet away on the school’s front steps.

Whitman took up his post as principal at Manual Arts less than a year ago, and will remain through the restructuring.

Beebe sees this as “bending the rules,” and says that same flexibility should be applied to the teachers who will be displaced.

Whitman declined to comment.

Manual Arts is one of three LA schools managed by independent nonprofit LA’s Promise. The teachers’ union is unhappy with the group’s management of the school over the past three years — pointing to shortages of books and classrooms, five bell schedule changes and last year’s staff reduction.

imageTravis Miller, a ninth grade English teacher at Manual Arts attributes the school’s problems to “constant administrative mismanagement.” In his 12 years at the school, he says he’s answered to 10 different principals.

Miller says he doesn’t see how replacing teachers will deliver results.

“It makes no sense to get rid of the teachers and keep the administration,” he said. “At GM, they’d never say, ‘Our cars aren’t selling, so let’s fire everyone on the line and keep everyone that’s running our company.’”

Spokespersons for both LAUSD and LA’s Promise declined to comment on the planned restructuring.

In order to receive the School Improvement Grant funding, Manual Arts will be required to increase student achievement in reading and math.

Watch a short video of students protesting at Manual Arts:

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The Expo Line: Making South LA more accessible

June 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageThe Expo Line is Los Angeles’ newest addition to its light rail and subway system. Following an old rail line, it runs from downtown’s transit hub at 7th Street and currently ends at La Cienega and Jefferson. (The final stop of this phase of construction will be in Culver City, but that extension isn’t finished yet.)

This route takes the rail line through some of L.A.’s most underserved and poor neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are also some of L.A.’s most diverse and densely populated.

The Expo Line increases access to and from these neighborhoods. It will bring change to them – more business coming in, easier access to jobs and services for residents. This is hopefully for the better, but change can bring unintended consequences.

To give a better sense of what the Expo line will mean to South LA communities, we’ve created a slideshow featuring the intersections at the four westernmost stops on the line currently — La Cienega/Jefferson, Expo/La Brea, Expo/Crenshaw, and Expo/Western.

The obejctive of the slideshow is to create a brief record of what these neighborhoods look like at the beginning of these changes.

[Note: Click on each box to view the slideshow. It does not play automatically; you need to keep clicking on the images to move through the slideshow.]

A stop at La Cienaga and Jefferson shows the neighborhood has a mix of residential, commercial and industrial property. Those who don’t know the area will be surprised to know that some manufacturing still exists in South LA.

You won’t find a grocery store, but when you exit the Expo/La Brea stop, you’ll find a mini-mall and a West Adams landmark: Music Man Murray’s.

The Expo/Crenshaw stop is the home of two of the area’s most recognizable landmarks: the West Angeles Cathedral and Earlez Grille. The Expo/Western stop is bustling with activity and lots of businesses highlighting the area’s population diversity, which is 56 percent Latino and 38 percent African American.

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Lacey takes lead in DA race

June 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageTuesday night’s election gave Leimert Park native and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey the lead in the race for Los Angeles District Attorney. She will be facing Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson in the November runoff to replace Steve Cooley when he retires.

Lacey got 203,889 votes or 31.9 per cent of the votes, while Jackson picked up 151,199 votes — 23.6 per cent.

L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who had the most name recognition and had raised the most money – more than $1.1 million in campaign funds – came in third with 142,576 votes, or 22.3 percent, so he’s out of the race.

Lacey was one of five current county prosecutors running to replace Cooley, but she was the only one with his endorsement. She was also endorsed by the Los Angeles Times and City Councilman Bernard Parks.

This morning on her Facebook election page her message was simply “WE DID IT,” along with a graph showing her in the lead.

In a statement, Jackson called the election results a victory over Trutanich, “a politician who was more concerned about winning the next office instead of winning the next case. We were outraised, outspent and outsized by the City Attorney, yet we prevailed because voters clearly want a modern prosecutor not a politician. We look forward to November where voters will once again have a choice to elect a modern prosecutor to lead the District Attorney’s office.”

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South LA kids get free bikes

June 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageA group of 42 lucky teens got free bikes and helmets and a lesson on cycling safety during a special event held on Monday afternoon in South LA.

The non-profit organization A Place Called Home and employees from United Health Care partnered up for the bicycle giveaway.

The 42 bikes were donated as part of an effort to fight obesity and promote healthier lifestyles by engaging youths in daily exercise and proper nutrition.

imageProfessional cyclist Chris Jones, who’s part of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team, played basketball with some of the kids and shared training and nutrition tips with the youths.

The teens were selected for the bikes because they’re involved in A Place Called Home programs.

A Place Called Home is a non-profit in South Central Los Angeles that offers a safe haven for underserved youth with the objective of helping them find direction in their lives through programs in education, arts, and well-being.

Filed Under: Community, Featured Tagged With: , , ,
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