LAPD lays out its plan for safety measures in South LA



LAPD Chief Charlie Beck spoke with the South LA residents at his forum in Exposition Park. | Photo by Etienne Smith

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck spoke with the South LA residents at his forum in Exposition Park. | Photo by Etienne Smith

The Los Angeles Police Department is promising changes in the way it relates to the community, it announced just weeks after saying it would add more officers to South Los Angeles streets.

About 40 community members were present to hear Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck discuss the relationship between the city’s police and the community. The discussion, in the format of a breakfast, was held at the California African American Museum this past Friday.

“Everybody has a responsibility to make this a safer place to live,” Beck said, “a place our young people and all of us can go to have a sense of community.”

These types of forums began in 1999 to “[involve] minority communities in time-sensitive issues,” according to the forum’s website. On that Friday, the forum was discussion-based and then audience members asked questions to LAPD’s top man. The LAPD has evolved in its relationship to the South LA community. More efforts are being made to not just police the community, but work as partners with it.

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Fifty years after Watts Rebellion, residents commemorate in vacant lots



Watts recently commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Rebellion.

During the commemoration, the Watts Reimagined team, which includes Grant Housing & Economic Development Corporation, the Natural Resources Defense Council Urban Solutions Program and Kounkuey Design Initiative, brought people together in an abandoned lot on 103rd Street and Central Avenue.

During the event Watts residents came together for entertainment and healthy living activities like Zumba and food cooking demonstration.

Though the 50th anniversary events are winding down, the Watts Reimagined team hopes to keep these community building activities alive and continue creating impactful changes throughout the area.

Learn more about the Watts Reimagined mission here.

Watts fresh food markets respond to community needs



Healthy food options are sprouting in Watts.

The riots that occurred in Watts in 1965 left the community without stable and reliable restaurants and other food establishments. As this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Watt’s Riots, the community continues to rebuild and grow. One of those things growing is a farmer’s market, an exciting solution for healthy foods in the Watts community. Check out this video below to see how health educators bring a fresh new perspective to food options in Watts

Watts Village Theater Company founder dies



Lynn Manning 2

Lynn Manning, founder of Watts Village Theater Company, dies at 60. | Photo provided by Watts Village Theater Company

Lynn Manning, co-founder and artistic director of Watts Village Theater Company, died of liver cancer Monday at 60.

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Additional neighborhood safety comes with Price



Councilman Curren Price looks up at the new traffic signal on the corner of Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street.

Councilman Curren Price looks up at the new traffic light on Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street. | Photo by Marisa Zocco

 

Alysia Busher did not notice the new traffic signal near her daughter’s daycare as she navigated the pair’s way from the bus stop at Figueroa Avenue and 56th Street, having to cross the busy six-lane intersection.

The struggle to cross the street had become so routine that Busher dropped her daughter off before noticing Councilman Curren D. Price standing on the corner July 22 poised to speak to a dozen community members gathered to celebrate the new safety measure.

[Read more…]

Ron Finley’s latest South LA garden grows renewed community interest in fresh foods



Ron Finley has planted gardens around South LA for the past few years.

Ron Finley, self-proclaimed “gangster gardener,” helps a young girl plant a sunflower seedling.

Just months ago, the lightly browned yard behind the oldest operating library in LA sat unused, save for the handful of individuals who relaxed in it.

[Read more…]

Crenshaw/LAX light rail construction to expand road closure



Construction for the metro rail line on Crenshaw blvd.

Construction for the metro rail line on Crenshaw blvd. (April 2014)

The final phase of the Crenshaw/LAX line construction will close down roads around Crenshaw Boulevard and Vernon Street starting June 7.

Excavation and decking for the underground Crenshaw/Vernon station of the newest Metro line will be taking place. [Read more…]

Reinvigorating empty lots of South LA



By

Shawnte Passmore | LA Wave (text)
Gary McCarthy | LA Wave (photo and video)
Kevin Tsukii | Intersections South LA (video)
Deepa Fernandes | KPCC (audio)
Susanica Tam | KPCC (photo)

This article was produced for Watts Revisited, a multimedia project launched by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism that explores challenges facing South L.A. as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots. Learn more at www.wattsrevisited.com.

Barbara Stanton stands in front of a rendition of the Wattstar Theatre. | Photo by Gary McCarthy for LA Wave.

Barbara Stanton stands in front of a rendition of the Wattstar Theatre. | Photo by Gary McCarthy for LA Wave

For community stakeholders interested in transforming vacant lots, it may seem easier to clean up blighted areas than to change public opinion about the area of South Los Angeles widely known for its infamous riots. Yet, several community-based organizations are determined to do both.

Barbara J. Stanton grew up in a different kind of Watts, a place that had plenty of stores to shop along 103rd Street and a movie theatre before the riots or as locals call it – Watts Rebellion – broke out Aug. 11, 1965.

After the rioters looted and burned 600 buildings in Watts and neighboring communities, business owners were slow to return, if they did at all. The only movie theatre in town did not return.

For over 20 years, Stanton has been trying to bring a theatre back to the area but with a twist: featuring an educational and job training facility for those wishing to work behind the scenes in the entertainment industry. Her nonprofit organization, Watts Cinema and Education Center (WCEC), expects to hold a ground-breaking ceremony before September in a vacant lot on Graham Avenue next to a Metro Blue Line station. [Read more…]

Reporting on social change, 50 years after Watts



Erin Aubry Kaplan with her father, Larry Aubry. Kaplan covered the 1992 Riots, while Aubry covered the 1965 Riots. | Jenna Pittaway

Erin Aubry Kaplan with her father, Larry Aubry. Kaplan covered the 1992 Riots, while Aubry covered the 1965 Riots. | Jenna Pittaway

How is social change covered in the wake of civil unrest? Journalists, community organizers and students convened at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism on April 23 to reflect on the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Watts Riots — along with underlying issues, and how reporting can benefit the community. The event was the culmination of a months-long project that connects local and ethnic media outlets and organizations to investigate current structural problems and potential solutions in South Los Angeles. Through a partnership between USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism’s Metamorphosis Project, Intersections, five additional news outlets, six community organizations and a local high school, attempted to create a glimpse of contemporary challenges, as well as where change is happening that could be expanded.

Annenberg Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative Director Daniela Gerson moderated a panel that considered how coverage of South Los Angeles can play a role in drawing attention to and alleviating structural inequalities that contributed to civil unrest and rioting. The panel included observations from two long-time South L.A. residents with first-hand perspectives on the unrest and coverage of it. Larry Aubry, a columnist with the Los Angeles Sentinel and civil rights activist who witnessed the 65 riots, exchanged thoughts with his daughter, KCET writer Erin Aubry Kaplan, who reported on the 1992 unrest. Among the questions they raised was: Just how should we refer to the event commonly known as the “Watts Riots?” Perhaps “culmination,” said Kaplan, indicating that such eruptions come from long-simmering issues and that terms riots, unrest, and rebellion do not encompass all of the elements.

Two of the project participants, KPCC Community Health Reporter Adrian Florido and Community Coalition press liaison Isaiah Muhammad shared the process of collaborating on an article about promoting healthy living, as well as some of the barriers for media to cover South LA such as an assumption of a violent narrative and lack of context. The four panelists agreed that many stories remain to be revealed in South L.A. — if only reporters can dig deep to the “grassroots level,” as Kaplan suggested. The audience divided into teams to do just that, meeting with community activists to discuss development, housing, jobs and health.

Visit the site at www.wattsrevisited.org.

Visit the site at www.wattsrevisited.org.

The event also marked the launch of WATTS REVISITED, a website that provides solutions-oriented reporting about challenges that South L.A. faces today. It was created by Intersections, the Metamorphosis Project and the Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative, all hosted at the USC Annenberg School. Media partners included La Opinion, LA Sentinel, Hoy, LA Wave, KPCC, and students from the journalism program at Augustus Hawkins High School. Community organization partners included the All Peoples Community Center, Coalition for Responsible Community Development,Community Coalition, Community Health Councils, Esperanza Community Housing Corporation, and Trust South LA.

Read event highlights in the Tweets below:

New name game: South LA or SOLA?



SOLA

What’s in a name? More than a decade ago Los Angeles officials decreed that the area south of the 10 freeway would no longer be referred to in official documents as South Central. Instead, to end the stigma of crime and violence associated with the area, officials rebranded it “South L.A.” but the area may soon see another name change.

District 8 Councilman Barnard Parks introduced a proposal last week to abbreviate South L.A. to “SOLA.” The proposed change is indicative of a larger trend at promoting city nicknames: West Hollywood has been embraced as WeHo, and Downtown has taken on the moniker DTLA for locals.

Read the original City Council file on changing “South Central” to South L.A.” in 2002.

As far as South L.A. residents? “They see these other communities reinvigorated by these contemporary names,” Parks told the L.A. Times. “And they wonder, at times, why their community is lagging behind.” [Read more…]