New Expo line to finally open to public

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, MTA board member Richard Katz and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky were on board the Expo line’s preview ride with the media.

The mayor hopped on the Expo line this morning to take a preview ride on the new light-rail train scheduled to open to the public on Saturday, April 28. The public will get a chance to try it out for free during that first weekend.

In the first phase of the line, which cost $932 million, there will be passenger service from downtown’s 7th Street Metro Center station to La Cienega/Jefferson, with an extension into Culver City to be completed by this summer. The line features a total of 12 stations with two shared by the Metro Blue Line in downtown L.A.

The second phase, which will lengthen the line 6.6 miles with seven stations and provide service to Santa Monica, is expected to be a reality by 2015.

“Everything we expand is just going to keep connecting us all over the region,” said mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during the train ride. “I remember when we had the red cars. It’s back, everybody!”

Villaraigosa referred to the PCC Streetcar service inaugurated on March 22, 1937 and which was completely eliminated by 1963. It has taken 50 years for the South LA area to see another “trolley” on its streets.

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The old PCC “red cars” connected the city with the valley.

“This is a milestone. One that we’ve waited for a long time,” said L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who was on board during the preview ride along with the mayor and Art Leahy, the CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Construction on the line began in 2006. The opening date has been postponed multiple times due to technical problems uncovered during the testing phase.

“Safety is the number one priority,” said the MTA’s Leahy. “During the next month, we’re going to continue making sure all systems work and that every supervisor and every operator has been properly trained for when we have customers on board.”

The ride from downtown L.A. to La Cienega is about 30 minutes, with the train running at 55 miles per hour. The trains will run approximately every 12 minutes, stopping at each station for 20 seconds.

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Carolyn Kelly is one of the train operators of the new Expo Line.

The frequency of the trains will increase depending on the ridership. Leahy points out that when the Blue Line opened, it only had about 10,000 riders a day. Now, it carries about 80,000 people on a daily basis.

Carolyn Kelly, from Compton, is one of the line’s operators. A 22-year MTA veteran, she has been participating on the testing phase.

“We’ve been testing in the morning, afternoon and evening – at all hours for a year to make sure everything is safe,” she explained. “There are many safety mechanisms in the train that prevent us from going over the speed limit in the different areas of the line.”

For example, as the train nears the Farmdale station, it cannot run at a speed higher than 10 miles per hour, because there’s a school – Dorsey High School – just feet away from the station. If the operator were to exceed the 10 mph speed limit, a warning beep will sound off. If it’s ignored, the train automatically shuts down.

MTA will operate the Expo Line seven days a week from 5 am to 12:30AM. The fare for a one-way ticket will be $1.50.

You can check out video of today’s ride here:
Video courtesy MTA

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TV show tackles Baldwin Hills oil fields controversy

March 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment


image“SoCal Connected” has dedicated a segment of their news magazine to the controversial fracking techniques used in the Baldwin Oil Fields.

In the episode that aired on Friday, March 23, homeowners tell the reporter that the nearby oil operations are destroying their property.

Here’s the segment:

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

Filed Under: Arts, Featured Tagged With: , , ,

City Council approves redistricting map

March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment


imageHundreds of furious South LA residents attended today’s Los Angeles City Council meeting to protest the proposed redistricting map they believe would weaken the influence of African Americans and severely disrupt their community.

“They’re going to take established communities and divide the neighborhoods, so they’ll lose influence,” said Jacqueline Arkord, as she waited to enter the council chambers.

“I’m not happy about what they’re trying to do with our community,” complained Joyce Stinson. “We as black people don’t have a say so. We’re here to make a stand.”

For three hours people from different districts of the city pleaded with the council to not make the proposed changes. At times, the testimony was explosive.

Korean American attorney Helen Kim, a member of the Redistricting Commission, testified that the process had been flawed and that the redrawing of the map had been done in secret back room meetings. Grace Yoo, the executive director of the Korean American Coalition, said they will sue over the new map.

In a heated exchange, a man accused Council President Herb Wesson of being an “Uncle Tom,” eliciting a strong reaction from a livid Wesson.

Not all public comments were against the proposed map. State Senator Curren Price, who represents much of South LA, was booed by the audience when he stated he was in favor of the new boundaries.

imageDespite the contentious public testimony, the City Council approved the map with new boundaries for the 15 council districts.

The vote was 13-2. Council members Bernard Parks and Jan Perry, who represent South LA districts 8 and 9 and who have been the most vocal critics of the proposed map, were the dissenting votes.

The approved map removes a big chunk of downtown from Perry’s district, just leaving her the area around the Staples center, and takes USC out of Parks’ district. On a bright note for Parks, the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee approved an amendment earlier in the day that will keep parts of Baldwin Hills Estates in his district.

If not for that amendment, Parks’ place of residence would have been cut out of District 8, forcing him to either move or abandon his seat (council members must live within the district they represent). He has another three years left on his third and final term in City Council.

Perry will term out of her current seat next year, so the fact her downtown L.A. home residence has been left out of her district is not an issue for her. She is running for mayor in 2013.

In an unusual move, Perry addressed Wesson after the vote, apologizing for not having voted for him to become Council President. If she hadn’t been so critical of him, she said, perhaps her district wouldn’t have been sacrificed. “I feel your wrath, I feel your power,” she stated.

Wesson denied having used the redistricting process to punish Perry for not supporting his presidency.

“A great injustice has been done to the people of Los Angeles. Hundreds of people came out today in protest of what they viewed as maps that did not respect public testimony and the democratic process,” said Perry in a statement. “I am deeply offended and saddened that City Council insisted on rushing a process that will have enormous impacts on the future of communities for the next decade.”

Shortly after the vote, Parks sent his constituents an email saying the new city council district boundaries will “turn South LA Districts 8 & 9 into poverty pits, stripping away thriving business districts and economic engines, leaving little opportunity for new development and new jobs.”

The process is now in the final phase. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has yet to sign it. Parks is asking the mayor to veto the proposal.

Both Parks and Perry, whose districts will now be the poorest in the city, have vowed to sue over the new map.

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South LA town hall focuses on excessive force in Sheriff’s Department

March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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Audience listens to ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg, who detailed accounts of use of excessive force in L.A. county jails.

About 40 people showed up at a South LA town hall meeting on Thursday night to discuss the use of excessive force within Los Angeles Sheriff Department. The purpose of the event, held at the Imperial Church of Christ and organized by the Citizen Advisory Board (CAB), was also to introduce the community to a new task force made up of the department’s top brass currently dedicated to addressing the issue.

The first speaker of the evening, civil rights attorney Bradley C. Gaged, who described several cases of excessive force and abuse by law enforcement, questioned the efficacy of the unit.

“I don’t see how a task force can be of any use, because top management already knows about it,” said Gaged, referring to complaints against officers for excessive force. “The code of silence among officers is still strong…. There needs to be a strengthening of whistleblower laws.”

He also pointed out that among his biggest concerns was the fact that the majority of the cases of excessive force by law enforcement have involved African Americans victims.

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Assistant Sheriff Cecil W. Rhambo, Jr. addresses the crowd as CAB chair, Dr. Sandra Moore, listens.

Attorney Michael Gennaco, from the Office of Independent Review, was quick to acknowledge that there have been many problems in the handling of inmates by Sheriff’s deputies and that conditions in the jails have been deplorable. But he said that thanks to external advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), many needed reforms have been implemented, such as reducing the number of inmates per cell from six to four and seeking to improve access to medical care within a facility.

Gennaco also said that every year, the Sheriff’s department fires half a dozen deputies for use of excessive force in jails.

That may not be enough, if you listen to the account of ACLU attorney Peter Eliasberg, who worked on a 2011 report detailing abuses in L.A. County jails. “Civilian eyewitnesses told us they weren’t afraid of the inmates, but of the deputies.”

Assistant Sheriff Cecil W. Rhambo, Jr. defended his department saying: “We don’t supervise perfect people. We’re aware there are problems out there, but we’ve implemented a lot of measures to improve [our department], including town halls like this one.

Nine people from the Sheriff’s department were in attendance, including a cameraman, who recorded the meeting.

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Cynthia Salomon wants to know how long it takes for an independent review process to be completed.

The audience was given the opportunity to ask questions after the speakers finished their presentations. Among the concerns: race as a factor in the use of excessive force by law enforcement.

“If I ever had a problem, I’d be scared to call for help,” says Cynthia Salomon, an African American special education teacher’s assistant. Salomon went to the town hall to get some answers about the process of independent review of cases in which excessive force was used. She says both her children were arrested in March of 2011 during a street altercation, after which two LAPD detectives fired 17 shots, injuring her 21 year-old daughter in the leg. Both are currently in jail. “I’m worried for her. She has a lump on her breast and needs medical attention, but she still hasn’t been seen by a doctor.”

Salomon’s concern over access to medical care in jails was just one of many from the crowd – and an issue which the CAB is monitoring. Dr. Sandra Moore, Chair of CAB, a faith-based community advocate group, will soon be releasing its report of the Women’s Facility in Lynwood and make recommendations on how to effectively change the current prison culture that contributes to deputy misconduct, abuses and negligence.

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South LA theatre tackles education

March 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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The 24th Street Theatre production team: (front row, left to right) Debbie Devine, Sara Zinsser, Brad Culver, Eduardo Enrikez. (back row, left to right) Jay McAdams, Ben Durham, Michael Redfield, Jennie McInnis.

Every week, busloads of children arrive at the 24th Street Theatre in South Los Angeles, expecting to have fun during their much anticipated school field trip – and they will. What they don’t realize is that their visit is actually part of a program that uses theatre to teach math, history and language arts.

The children take part in “Enter Stage Right,” a standards-based arts education program that introduces students to live theatre.

“We take them behind the scenes of the magic of theatre,” says Debbie Devine, the 24th Street Theatre’s co-founder and artistic director. “They come and experience the whole process. We demystify it and make it mysterious, fun and magical.”

From the moment they step off the bus, the children are captivated by the warmth, humor and energy of the enthusiastic Devine, actors and staff. A welcome video by actor Jack Black, a supporter of the 24th Street Theatre, sets the stage for the morning program, which makes use of multimedia, comedy, improvisation techniques and student participation to enhance the learning experience.

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Samantha Terrazas with her grandfather Cristóbal González were impressed by the 24th Street Theatre’s performance.

Devine and her team of actors, musicians and technicians show the children how acting, writing, music, costumes, lighting and props are essential in producing a play – while incorporating basic math concepts and vocabulary in interactive segments throughout the show.

“Listening and speaking creatively empowers you as an individual. Acting is a big component of that,” says Devine. “And that’s what theater is… the art of persuasion.”

Devine herself is skillfully persuasive in getting children – even the most shy – to come out of their shells and participate. “Doing this gives me purpose. I was a child that was critically shy,” she remembers. “One summer my mother enrolled me in a drama class and it literally saved my life. I thought I could do the same for others.”

Throughout the program that she emcees, Devine asks questions and the young audience competes to be called on for an answer. The children watch mesmerized as the troupe’s actors perform specially designed skits on stage – one of which even tackles racism and how to respond to it.

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Students volunteer to answer Debbie Devine’s questions.

“I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot,” says 8 year-old Samantha Terrazas, who was part of a group visiting from the 186th St School. “I learned making a play is hard and that your feelings are important,” she said referring to the skit about racism. Her grandfather Cristóbal González, who joined her in the field trip, thought it was “very instructional. They should have more of these programs in the schools.”

The 24th Street Theatre’s Enter Stage Right Arts Education program began in 2003 in only five schools. By the second year, it had expanded to 35. It now serves over 10,000 students a year at 110 schools. The field trips run from January to June, usually two to three times a week.

At first, the 24th Street Theatre program had the financial support of the Los Angeles Unified School District. But due to severe budget cuts, LAUSD cut off funding in 2008.

“It’s outrageous that the school system is putting out a crop of kids that have no access to arts education,” says theatre co-founder Jay McAdams. Determined to provide what he considers a necessary component to education, he took the initiative of raising over $250,000 to keep the program alive.

“It’s about inspiring people,” says McAdams. “We’re getting the children in touch with humanity. Most theatres do just plays. For us, it’s what we do with the plays and the impact we have.”

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Jack Black was a high school student of Debbie Devine’s theatre class. He’s now a major supporter of the 24th Street Theatre.

The field trip is only part of the program. Prior to the theatre visit, a teaching artist conducts a workshop in the school with the same group of students that will go to see the play. That same teaching artist does a post-field trip workshop in the classroom, with the same students, to summarize and reinforce the concepts learned during the show. The objective is to build trust and confidence with the children.

Husband and wife team McAdams and Devine also run the “After ‘Cool Theatre Program” for local students in the West Adams District, which brings students into the theatre from 3:00 to 5:00 pm three days a week for supervised afternoons of arts education programming. Additionally, they offer professional development workshops for teachers.

“With our plays, classes and workshops we inspire,” says McAdams. “We help people feel good about themselves. We provide social service through art.”

As part of their commitment to promote arts and theatre, they give students free tickets to evening shows, so they can return with their families. They also give people who live in the theatre’s low-income neighborhood tickets for 24 cents.

What’s the reward for the founders of the theatre?

“The kids write us, the call us, they come back and bring their families,” says Devine. “That we’re able to be literally in the lives of these children as they grow up is so wonderful. The ultimate legacy would be for the kids to bring their grandchildren in the future.”

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

Senior apartments next to Marlton Square almost complete

March 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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Buckingham Place, with Marlton Square on the right.

After years of delays, the Buckingham Place senior apartments is putting its finishing touches and is about to open for business. The building’s current management company is now accepting applications from qualifying seniors.

“There are still spots available, but we anticipate they’ll go fast,” says Peter Barker, President of Barker Management, Inc., which oversees the leasing and operations of the new building. “We should be open within the next month.”

Barker says the building, which has one and two bedroom apartments, will have a social services center that will assist residents on an as-needed basis. On-site staff will help coordinate social activities for the seniors. The complex also has a community room and a barbeque area, which faces a vacant lot and some decaying structures from the dilapidated remnants of the former Santa Barbara Shopping Center.

The Buckingham Place apartments, part of the Marlton Square redevelopment project, was supposed to be a three building complex with 180 units. Only one building with 70 units was completed.

Construction of the affordable senior housing project was 90 percent complete when it was halted in 2008 after the original developer, Buckingham Place Senior Housing LP, filed for bankruptcy.

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Community center of Buckingham apartments, with Marlton Square in the background.

A second developer, Meta Housing, took over the project at the end of 2009 and construction resumed in 2010.

“It’s about time,” says neighborhood resident Erica Randall. “They really needed to clean this area up. It was really bad around here. I think it’s going to get better now with the apartments. There’s going to be more people traffic.”

Randall says that prior to the demolition of a great portion of Marlton Square she felt unsafe in the area. “Weird people would hang out and hide in the boarded up buildings. It was scary.” She believes that people living in the building right next to the now vacant lots will deter suspicious individuals from “hanging out” and bring about positive change to a blighted area.

“It seems like a pretty building,” observes Mary McNeill. The 69 year-old stopped by the Buckingham Place apartments to pick up an application. “I never lived in senior housing,” she says. McNeill currently lives with family. “I have chronic diabetes and other problems and wanted to see if I could manage living here.”

Among the requirements for living in the senior complex, tenants must be 62 years or older. A one-bedroom apartment rents for $751 and a two-bedroom for $859.

Seniors interested in applying can pick up applications in person at the Buckingham Place apartments, located at 4020 Buckingham Rd., just south of Martin Luther King Blvd. from 9 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.

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South LA mom faces 2nd murder charge

February 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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Valle (middle) with her two children, Marian (left) and Lindsay (right).

Prosecutors have added a second murder charge against a 32-year old Lorna Valle. She was initially charged on Friday, February 17 with murdering 1-year old Lindsay and trying to murder her older sister.

Her 5-year old daughter, Miriam Taque, died when was she taken off life support on Wednesday.

Prosecutors then amended the charges, which include the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and two felony counts of assault on a child causing death. They have yet to decide if they will seek a death sentence.

Valle appeared in court on Friday morning, but her arraignment was postponed until March 15th. She remains in jail without bail.

Editor’s note: The older daughter was previously identified as Marian, but the LA Times reports the official death record from the coroner’s office lists her name as Miriam Taque.

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South LA car wash workers unionize

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment


Until a month ago, workers at Vermont Car Wash had a lot to complain about.

“The owner wasn’t paying us what was fair.We worked 10 hours and would get paid 5. We had no lunch breaks and wouldn’t get any water to drink,” says Manuel Ernesto Martinez.

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Manuel Ernesto Martinez is one of the car washers that banded together to start a union at Vermont Car Wash.

The Salvadoran immigrant, who has been working at the car wash for more than four years, says a group of his co-workers finally said “enough!” and started fighting to improve their working conditions, demanding the owner pay them a fair wage.

“In one occasion all of them did a delegation to her and stopped working on a Saturday, a busy day to ask her to listen to their demands,” says CLEAN car wash campaign legal organizer Neydi Dominguez. “Through conversations, through action, community support, but most importantly the bravery and courage of the workers to really have conviction that this was the right thing to do, stay firm and continue the fight.”

Dominguez says it was this show of unity that forced owner Mi-Sook Kim, a Korean immigrant, to accept the unionization of the workers.

Thanks to the contract, they will now earn $8.16 an hour, they got a 2 percent raise, they’ll get uninterrupted lunch breaks and two 10 minute breaks, as required by California law.

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Luis Nava, owner of Nava Car Wash on Florence and Hoover, one of two South LA car washes to become unionized in January of 2012.

“What we’ve also learned is that even though many owners run their own businesses, it doesn’t mean they’re responsible owners that understand the law and how they should be running the biz. Many of them, often don’t know minimum wage laws,” Dominguez points out.

Nava’s car wash also accepted the union contract. Owner Luis Nava had been a manager at the car wash for more than 7 years and bought it from the previous owner in November of 2011.

“Everybody has the right to make minim wage,” says Nava. “They work hard. We have to help them and they can help me.”

The workers will now be represented by the Steel Workers Local 675.

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Thousands attend American Dream event

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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Homebuyers wait for assistance from NACA counselors

Armed with documents and lots of patience, thousands of homeowners braved the crowds and long waits at the L.A. convention center hoping the American Dream Home Save event would help them hold on to their homes.

For five days, Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) returned to Los Angeles to help struggling homeowners with the promise of providing them with a solution to their mortgage problems on site.

“The fear of being homeless is overwhelming. Having to pack up a house is like you’re packing up your dreams,” says Karen Johnson, who was at the convention center on Sunday to support an aunt who’s trying to stay in her South LA home.

Johnson, a special education teacher, is well aware of the frustrations of dealing with uncooperative banks. She almost lost her home after being laid off in 2009. She fell 18 months behind on her mortgage payments. During that period, she tried getting a loan modification, but she got no response from her original lender – Countrywide – and when Bank of America took over her loan, she says, she “got jerked around for a year…. I was in tears at times, with frustration,” she remembers.

“I think I was a victim. This was my American dream. I did so much to get this home. They weren’t going to get it without a fight.”

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Karen Johnson (left) accompanied two aunts to a Home Save orientation session at the American Dream event on Sunday.

Johnson then heard of the NACA Home Save program. “They helped stop my foreclosure the same day.” That was in 2010. Although NACA helped her get a reduction in interest, her mortgage troubles aren’t over.

Johnson bought her house, located off Hoover and Imperial in South LA, in 2007 for $420,000. It’s now worth $239,000. “But I still owe like $500,000,” she complains. That’s because Countrywide originally set her up with a subprime interest only loan at 6.75 percent. For three years she paid a monthly mortgage of $2,500, just in interest, with nothing to the principal. In addition, the 18 months of missed payments were added back to her loan amount, she explains.

Although Johnson was able to get her interest rate reduced to 2 percent, her monthly mortgage payments are $1800. But she also has to pay $511 in private mortgage insurance (PMI). Lenders require buyers to pay for this usually high premium insurance if they put less than a 20 percent down payment towards a property purchase. PMI doesn’t protect or benefit the borrower. But it protects the lender against default on the loan.

When you add property taxes, Johnson is now paying over $2800 a month to keep her home. She’s hoping she’ll eventually be able to qualify for a principal loan reduction.

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Retired couple Augusto and Rosa Avila are looking for lower interest rates for the home they’ve owned for more than 21 years in South Central LA.

Augusto and Rosa Avila are also worried about their home. The retired couple, who has been married 48 years, bought their South Central LA home in 1990 for $195,000. They’ve never been behind on their payments in the more than 20 years since they took out the loan. They’re paying $1,150 a month, but even that’s too much for them now that they’re on a lower fixed income.

“We prefer not to eat than to lose our home. What would we do without a home?” laments Rosa. “They told us when we bought the house that we would pay interest for 20 years and then only pay principal,” says Augusto in Spanish. “But I think they lied to us. We’re still paying 7 percent interest.”

The elderly couple spent over five hours at the convention center waiting for their turn to see a counselor. “We’re hoping we can get our interest reduced. Otherwise, we may start falling behind on our payments,” Rosa worries.

NACA has worked hard to get lenders to negotiate with distressed property owners. Rick Herrera, national media coordinator for the non-profit, says it hasn’t been easy. “Advocacy is among the best things NACA does. When CEO Bruce Marks started seeing thousands of foreclosures, he started talking to lenders about the need to restructure loans, but they refused…. We started disrupting shareholder meetings, showing up at the gated communities where the bank CEOs lived…. We made so much noise that we forced the banks to enter agreements with us.”

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While Rick Herrera, national media coordinator for NACA, holds the mic for her, a woman shares news that NACA and BofA helped save her home.

During the American Dream Home Save events, people first get a 45 minute orientation, then they are matched with counselors who help them review their income and expenses and help them submit modification requests, and then arrange for the homeowner to meet with their lender.

Hundreds of counselors, underwriters and bank representatives were on hand from 8 am to 8 pm each day to help people on the verge of foreclosure or seeking loan modifications that would lower their monthly payments and allow them to stay in their homes.

NACA’s arrangement with the participating lenders is that they must provide a solution on site. Herrera says that if the homeowner comes prepared with all the required documents, there is an 80 to 85 percent resolution rate.

Whistles and horns sounded off throughout the day whenever a homeowner got a positive resolution, followed occasionally by rounds of clapping from other hopefuls waiting their turns. Some homeowners were able to keep their homes, but others walked away disappointed that there was nothing that could be done to help them.

While most of the people at the convention center were there to save their homes, many others were hoping to buy into the American Dream of owning one.

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Homebuyers attend an orientation.

NACA also offers a home purchasing program. Prospective buyers have to go through an orientation session. They are then paired with a counselor who will help get them started on the qualifying process and let the potential homebuyer know “how much house they can afford.” The counselor sets them up with a lender (they only work with Bank of America or Citi Mortgage) and they are sent to a certified NACA realtor to find a home.

“We showed the banks we were better underwriters than they were,” says Herrera. “We showed them we were effective. Loans we underwrite have low rates of default.”

Herrera says NACA has organized 64 American Dream events around the country since 2009. Another 42 are scheduled for 2012.

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Mom jailed for murder and attempted murder

February 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment


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The Valle home on Thursday, where well-wishers have set up an impromptu memorial. While the youngest victim died, her older sister remains in critical condition.

A South Los Angeles woman is in jail, arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder of her two small daughters. Lorna Valle, 32, is being held on $1.5-million bail.

Valle, who neighbors say was suffering from depression, is accused of killing her 1-year-old daughter Lindsay Stephanie Taque-Valle. Marian, her 5-year-old, remains in critical condition at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

Police say the girls’ father told them he found Valle trying to drown their daughters in the couple’s home on West 50th Street on Wednesday. The couple are natives of Guatemala, who have been living in South L.A. aproximately 10 years.

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Valle (middle) with her two children, Marian (left) and Lindsay (right).

Click here for the video story from ATVN.

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