Birth certificate controversy exemplifies racialized politics

April 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

image “I hope this settles once and for all this ridiculous accusation that he was not born in the country and that he’s somehow less American than any other president we’ve ever had,” University of Southern California law professor Ariela Gross said.

Gross, a civil rights and legal history scholar, said the controversy regarding President Barack Obama’s birth is an example of racialized politics in society.

“I don’t think we would be seeing these accusations about President Obama if his father had come from Europe and rather than Africa,” Gross said. “I think there’s become quite an ugly tone to the kind of politics we’ve seen around this kind of conspiracy theory movement.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

South Los Angeles teacher opposes mayor’s education reform proposals

April 14, 2011 By 2 Comments


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

image Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa spent most of his recent “State of the City” speech addressing education reform. Villaraigosa proposed getting rid of the “first in, last out” system, which refers to the order in which teachers are hired and eventually laid off or fired.

“What that equates to in our mind is we get rid of the more senior teachers because they get paid a lot more,” said Dr. Aissa Riley, a teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School. “So if a teacher’s making $80,000 because they’ve been working here for 20 years, well, we can fire that person and hire two more.”

Dr. Riley also expressed concern regarding public-private partnerships in the South Los Angeles community.

“So what happens is, when a student isn’t working out at one of their schools, they get sent here (Jefferson),” Riley said. “And we end up having larger class sizes in the middle of the year because all these students are coming mid-year because they’ve been kicked out of their other schools, and it also has a lot of students who if they couldn’t cut it at the other school, now we have to deal with them. Our school somewhat becomes a dumping ground for all these charter schools quote unquote bad kids. And then it lowers the quality of education for other students who we’ve been working with all year long.”

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , , ,

LISTEN: State of the City address

April 14, 2011 By 1 Comment


imageMayor Antonio Villaraigosa issued his sixth State of the City Address from a podium at Jefferson High School in South Los Angeles Wednesday.

During the 33-minute speech, he highlighted improvements in policing and transportation and called for improvements in the Los Angeles educational system.

Listen to highlights from the speech:

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , ,

Los Angeles mayor gives State of the City address

April 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

image Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised to focus on education reform at the annual State of the City address on Wednesday.

“Well, it is true that I don’t have any formal authority over our schools,” Villaraigosa said. “I do have a bully pulpit, and I will continue to use it.”

Villaraigosa called for a shift in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He says school leaders are the most important agent for change and that expiration of union contracts in June could open up a new door.

“With the stars aligned, we have to seize the opportunity,” Villaraigosa said. “Let’s negotiate a new contract that empowers teachers, parents and principals at all schools. Let’s stop dictating at the district level, and let our local schools make the calls on budget, staffing, curriculum, schedule and professional development.”

The mayor also proposed compensating teachers for their proven effectiveness in the classroom.

“We need to create career pathways that reward our most effective teachers,” Villaraigosa said. “We need to reform a broken tenure system and do away with the last hired, first fired seniority system. It’s demoralizing to teachers, and it doesn’t serve our students. We need to create a multiple level evaluation system.”

But Dr. Aissa Riley, a world history teacher at Jefferson High School, opposes the mayor’s proposal.

“What that equates to in our mind is we get rid of the more senior teachers because they get paid a lot more,” Riley said. “So if a teacher’s making $80,000 because they’ve been working here for 20 years, well, we can fire that person and hire two more.”

Dr. Riley also expressed concerns regarding the prospect of more public-private partnerships. She said the private school operators do not accept all students.

“So what happens is when a student isn’t working out at one of their schools, they get sent here (Jefferson),” Riley said. “And we end up having larger class sizes in the middle of the year because all these students are coming mid-year because they’ve been kicked out of their other schools, and it also has a lot of students who if they couldn’t cut it at the other school, now we have to deal with him. Our school somewhat becomes a dumping ground for all these charter schools quote unquote bad kids. And then it lowers the quality of education for other students who we’ve been working with all year long.”

Villaraigosa used the rest of his State of the City speech to address unemployment rates. He noted that unemployment rates in South Los Angeles dropped from last month. He also praised the America Fast Forward plan – a plan that would create 166,000 new jobs in the city.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Social networking helps keep homeless youth safe

April 8, 2011 By 3 Comments


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

image Homeless youth in Los Angeles are technologically wired. Their connections to the outside world are making their lives safer, according to a study by University of Southern California School of Social Work assistant professor Eric Rice. Rice received a three-year $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study social networking among the homeless.

Rice and his co-investigator, Norweeta Milburn from the University of California Los Angeles, will look at two primary hubs of homelessness in the Los Angeles area – Hollywood and Santa Monica – to explore how and why homeless youth engage with each other and the outside world through social media.

“What’s happening is that the young people who are using social networking sites connect to best friends from home or family members that they still have good relationships with,” Rice said. “Those young people are the ones that are doing well. They’re using fewer drugs, they’re engaging in less risky sex and, partially because they have an anchor, they have an anchor to another social world that’s less filled with risk.”

Rice and Milburn hope to create new and innovative interventions to deter risky sexual behavior and drug-use.

“If I can help understand what’s going on in their lives and what’s working for them, then I can try to help agencies that serve these youth to deliver programs better, help develop newer programs that hit them right where they’re at,” Rice said.

While homeless services and programs do exist for youth in Los Angeles, the ways in which social media can be incorporated into those programs has not yet been explored.

“When we think about creating social media programs for these young people, we want to think about a few different things,” Rice said. “But one of the things we want to think about is trying to create programs that really encourage those young people to connect back to those positive influences. If most of these homeless youth that are doing well have someone in their lives that they can turn to, we want to encourage them to do that.”

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , ,

Metro begins tests for Expo Line, a controversial topic in South Los Angeles

April 4, 2011 By 7 Comments


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News story:

—–

On Monday, Metro began testing its Expo Line tracks. A high-rail truck pulled an empty light-rail train to test side clearance and overhead.

image “This is just a slow walking speed type test,” said Jim Jasmin, Metro’s start-up manager. “When we get to an object, if it looks iffy, we’ll stop. We’ll move up slowly until we get to it and then check the measurements and go on.”

Jasmin and other safety officials wearing bright yellow vests with orange reflectors followed alongside the train.

“It’s a very long process,” Jasmin said. “It’s going to be a couple of days before we get this all done just in this short, start up section of the line.”

There are 10 new stations included in Phase 1. The stops include the University of Southern California, Exposition and Crenshaw, Farmdale and Culver City. The estimated travel time between downtown and Culver City will be 30 minutes, according to Metro officials.

But the Expo Line construction came with controversy. South Los Angeles community members and activists expressed concern over unsafe railroad crossings in low-income and minority neighborhoods, especially at the Farmdale station near Dorsey High School.

Damien Goodmon, coordinator of the Fix Expo citizens’ campaign, called for every intersection of the Expo Line to have a grade-separated crossing.

“We needed to do this for a variety of reasons,” Goodmon said. “There was injustice and injustice anywhere is a threat to injustice everywhere. Dr King. And two, we had to establish that you can’t just assume that since you’re coming through a black and brown community that you’ll be able to build any kind of way.”

The California Public Utilities Commission Board voted in 2010 to support a plan that called for safety improvements. The improvements included station platforms and speed restrictions.

But the Federal Transit Administration’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether or not Metro complied with the Civil Rights Act. Title 6 states that any program receiving federal funding cannot discriminate in any way.

“And so that is one long fought for victory you can say,” Goodmon said. “From that standpoint, getting them to look at that project and maybe imposing sanctions upon Metro for violations, we would hope would lead to corrective actions that will prevent this type of disparity in future projects.”

The $862 million Expo light rail line is entirely funded by Metro. Metro has not yet set an official date for the start of passenger service. But they hope to be done with most of Phase 1 by November 15, 2011. Completion all the way to Culver City might not happen until early next year, according to Metro.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , , , ,

When music and technology collide

March 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

image Elaine Chew joined neuroscientist Aniruddh Patel, composer Peter Child and computer scientist Alexandre Francois Thursday night at the University of Southern California to examine the influence of language on music. The night featured scientific presentations, musical performances and interactive visualizations. The event was inspired by Patel’s research, which demonstrated that the music of British and French composers reflects the rhythm and intonation of their native languages.

Filed Under: Arts Tagged With: , , ,

Candidate Forescee Hogan-Rowles focuses on job creation

March 4, 2011 By 2 Comments


This story is a part of our series of interviews with the candidates for Los Angeles City Council Districts 8 and 10.

Listen to an audio story by Annenberg Radio News:

—–

Forescee Hogan-Rowles is running for the second time.

“I lost that race to Bernard Parks and I determined then that if the district wasn’t doing better in eight years, I would run again,” Hogan-Rowles said.

If elected, Hogan-Rowles says she intends to bring jobs into the community through redevelopment.

“There’s a number of things that have gone unattended under the leadership or lack of leadership of Bernard parks,” Hogan-Rowles said. “The first thing I want to work on is new job creation because we have the highest unemployment and that’s coupled with expanding local business and expanding new local business development within our district. Our corridors don’t have enough businesses operating in them and so if you have new business, then that will create new jobs.”

Hogan-Rowles served as commissioner for the Department of Water and Power, as well as commissioner for the California Commission for Economic Development. In both positions, she said, she focused on how to create jobs, and “impact new industries and support existing industries.”

Hogan-Rowles is one of incumbent Bernard Parks’ competitors. But Hogan-Rowles says what distinguishes the two of them is their relationship with the community.

“I actually like to attend meetings and enter into dialogue and hear the responses of and requests of people so we can work through and build consensus,” Hogan-Rowles said. “So when we do make a decision, everybody knows what it is. The people united will never be defeated, so we will win on March 8.”

Listen to more interviews with city council candidates.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

South LA officials and community members push to save libraries

February 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment


Listen to the audio story from Annenberg Radio News

Los Angeles Residents waved signs that read, “Open These Doors,” on the steps of the Angeles Mesa Branch Library. Budget cuts forced public libraries in the city to close their doors twice a week.

Council-member Bernard Parks says residents in the 8th district deserve to have the library open seven days a week.

“Many students come here for after school programs instead of going home to an empty home,” Parks said. “Or going to some other unhealthy after-school activity…we’re talking about unhealthy activities that could be gang related.”

But opponents fear that the measure would reduce the amount of money available for law enforcement agencies, fire services and street cleaning. But Parks, a law enforcement officer for 38 years, said libraries help stop crime.

“The libraries provide just as much or more prevention, intervention and education than law enforcement could ever do,” Parks said. “A librarian today is worth every dollar we spend and is equal if not more important than a police officer.”

Measure L would change the city charter to guarantee the Library Department a higher percentage of property tax revenue. The library would get $18 million in emergency funding without raising taxes. City Librarian Martín Gómez says he backs the measure.

“At a time when unemployment has reached record numbers, when students need all the support and resources they need to succeed, when more and more information is available only to those who can afford access to the Internet, the people he people of Los Angeles need their library now more than ever,” City Librarian Martín Gómez said.

The Los Angeles public libraries serve 15,000 kids every day, Gomez said. Last year, 7 million people visited the library. Roy Stone, President of the Librarians Guild , expressed fear over what might happen if Measure L doesn’t pass.

“Libraries will be closed,” Stone said. “There will be more firing and more layoffs.”

And Cheryl McCall, a clerk typist at the Mesa branch, stressed the importance of the library in the community.

“The library is an artery to the heart of the city of Los Angeles and the community depends upon us to be here and we try to help everyone in all areas of life.”

Yes on Libraries website

Read why the LA Times editorial board opposes Measure L.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

First building in South LA retrofitted

February 16, 2011 By 4 Comments


Listen to the audio story from Annenberg Radio News:

The first-ever large-scale retrofit program kicked off Monday in South Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Councilmember Herb Wesson joined community leaders for the unveiling of the Vineyard Recreation Center.

The Green Retrofit and Workforce Program is funded by the American recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program will retrofit 130 buildings in South Los Angeles.

While the unemployment rate for Los Angeles county is 13 percent, the jobless rate in South Los Angeles is a staggering 30 percent.

“For communities like South L.A., we are no strangers to unemployment and underemployment. This recession has had a devastating effect on black and brown families in my community,” community organizer and South L.A. native Virginia Franklin said.

The city council unanimously approved the program that will focus on green upgrades of libraries, recreation centers and fire stations.

“As we retrofit these buildings, they’ll be more energy efficient. They won’t cost the city as much. They’ll reduce their carbon footprint. They’ll continue to contribute to cleaning up our environment because you’re using less electricity and water,” Villaraigosa said.

And it already has generated jobs.

“I was one of the few who got laid off at a particular time…I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Los Angeles resident Paul Mills said. “But the program was offered to us. I met various people from all different backgrounds…and we went through the program and now we’re actually working for the city.”

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: , ,