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LAPD lays out its plan for safety measures in South LA

September 25, 2015 By Etienne Smith Leave a Comment

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.

L.A. Clippers and City Year invest $3 million in Watts’ elementary schools

September 22, 2015 By Kate Guarino | Senior Reporter Leave a Comment

Mayor Eric Garcetti leading the City Year Corps pledge with its Los Angeles members behind him.

Mayor Eric Garcetti leads the City Year Corps pledge. | Photo by Malina Brown

The City Year Los Angeles Corps, whose members spend 11 months teaching in schools within high-poverty communities, marked the beginning of service for its new members by lining up the usual roster: fresh-faced young Corps members, their families and city officials.

Fatal police interactions spark ‘Know Your Rights’ panel in Compton

August 28, 2015 By Marisa Zocco | Senior Reporter Leave a Comment

LA protests Ferguson grand jury decision | Charlie Magovern (Neon Tommy)

In response to recent alleged incidents of police brutality, panelists talked about how citizens should interact with the police. | Charlie Magovern (Neon Tommy)

Educating residents on how to interact with law enforcement was at the top of the agenda for the “Know Your Rights” panel recently held in Compton. The event, held in the wake of the deaths of African Americans Sandra Bland and Sam DuBose, which involved police interactions that began as traffic stops that escalated in both cases. Panelists, pointing to these national headlines, stressed the importance of the black community knowing their civil rights in such situations.

Additional neighborhood safety comes with Price

July 28, 2015 By Marisa Zocco | Senior Reporter Leave a Comment

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.

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

July 20, 2015 By Marisa Zocco | Senior Reporter 1 Comment

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.

Teaching to avoid riots

June 29, 2015 By Anna-Catherine Brigida | Multimedia Editor Leave a Comment

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.

Jay Davis stands in front of his class at Augustus Hawkins High School. | Photo by Anna-Cat Brigida

When Jay Davis talks to his students about the 1965 riots, which broke out all around his South L.A. campus, he wants to make sure it is not just a history lesson. Instead, he pushes his students to use the images to talk about the history, understand the factors that provoked rioting and decide what role they would play in history. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Education, Featured, Featured Story, More on Intersections, Watts Tagged With: Augustus Hawkins High School, la riots, loyola marymount university, mccone report, rodney king, south central, south l.a., south la, South Los Angeles, watts 1965, Watts Revisited, Watts Riots

Paying for the right to affordable housing with health

June 22, 2015 By Intersections South LA Leave a Comment

Selene Rivera | Hoy LA

Soudi Jiménez | Hoy LA

This story is also available in Spanish.

Juana Lopez had to move because her son Anthony was sick from asthma and the administrator of the building where she lived did not pay attention to her complaints.

The dust on the tables and carpet never worries Juana López, nor the condition of the paint on the walls of her home, even though her seven-year-old son Anthony Perez has suffered from asthma and allergies since 2013.

It was in a medical consultation where the doctor made it clear that there was a connection between the diseases and the environment around her child. “I did not know how to clean, or what products to use,” said Lopez, originally from Guerrero, Mexico.

The medical center referred López to the organization, Esperanza Community Housing. A health promoter said they urgently needed to change the carpet and repair areas where paint was falling off.

Latino families transition from unemployment to work

June 15, 2015 By Intersections South LA Leave a Comment

Araceli Martínez Ortega | La Opinión (text)
Brian Watt | KPCC (audio)
Maya Sugarman | KPCC (photo)

This story is available in Spanish here.

David Williams, who works at Homeboy Industries, fills out paperwork to enroll in a seven-week construction course at Los Angeles Trade Tech College on Monday, April 1, 2015. The class is put on by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in partnership with LATTC. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC

Last September, Abigail Flores arrived heartsick at the WorkSource Center, a work placement agency in South Central Los Angeles. She had spent at least seven months unemployed, depending upon public assistance to support her three young children.

“What I encountered here was beautiful. They helped me in everything. The work that they found for me was at a Dollar Tree shop. Then the hours were decreased. Once again they found me another job in a hamburger restaurant where I made minimum wage,” said Flores, a resident of South Los Angeles and a 34-year-old single mother. Her children are 6, 7, and 14 years old.

At the same time that Flores returned to the labor force, and to be able to provide for her family, the WorkSource Center, located inside LA Trade Tech College at Vernon-Central, began to provide her with training in the hotel industry.

With these new skills, Abigail will be able to make a transition to full-time work with a better salary and benefits. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Business, Education, Featured, Featured Story, South Central LA, Watts Tagged With: LA Trade Tech, lattc, mccone report, south central, south la, South Los Angeles, Watts, Watts Revisited, Watts Riots, watts riots anniversary

Healthy options pop up in South LA, but old eating habits die hard

June 8, 2015 By Intersections South LA Leave a Comment

Adrian Florido | KPCC (text and audio)
Maya Sugarman | KPCC (photos)

Mary Muñoz, left, and her daughter, Melanie, smell fresh herbs grown at one of Community Services Unlimited’s five mini-urban farm sites. | Photo by Maya Sugarman for KPCC

Each Friday afternoon, the corner of Western Avenue and 39th Street in South L.A. gets a little brighter. Just before 2 o’clock, Rosario Mireles pulls up in a utility truck, unloads crates of organic fruit and vegetables, and sets up a produce stand in the parking lot of a liquor store where addicts used to loiter.

The produce stand popped up not long after a nearby Ralph’s grocery store shut down in 2013, leaving only a Food 4 Less in the area, where neighbors say quality can be hit and miss. It’s one of a constellation of small efforts that nonprofits have launched to increase access to fresh produce across South L.A., where options are limited. They’ve included farmer’s markets, community and school gardens, and corner store conversions. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, Featured Story, Health Tagged With: Community Coalition, community services unlimited, farmers market, fast food ban, south central, south la, South Los Angeles

Reviving South LA’s Martin Luther King Hospital

June 1, 2015 By Intersections South LA Leave a Comment

Amen Oyiboke | LA Sentinel

A sculpture by artist Lawrence Argent called “Pieces Together” sits outside the entrance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital. | Photo by Amen Oyiboke

On a rainy Christmas Eve in 1988, South Los Angeles native Toni Bazley was on her way home from work when she noticed a mother with two children waiting at a bus stop. “It was close to 10 o’clock and I couldn’t just drive by the family without offering a ride to them. It was Christmas Eve and no one deserved to wait in the rain,” said Bazley. She remembered asking the woman if she wanted a ride home and pulled into the closest gas station to let the small family enter her 1981 Toyota Corolla hatchback.

Bazley continued southbound on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to make a right turn on Vermont. That is when her good deed took the wrong turn. “I got into a hit-and-run accident with a drunk driver on the intersection of Vermont and Florence. The driver slammed into me so hard that my car hit a pole and folded,” said Bazley. The mother and two children were unharmed, but Bazley suffered from head injuries. “I had a pretty huge gash on my forehead that was opening up. So, I had to be rushed to the closest emergency room, which was Martin Luther King hospital.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured, Featured Story, Health Tagged With: charles drew medical school, janice hahn, mccone report, mlk hospital, south central, south la, South Los Angeles, toni bazley, Watts Riots, watts riots anniversary

'For love of music, movies and Michael'
Emily Henry

LAPD lays out its plan for safety measures in South LA

L.A. Clippers and City Year invest $3 million in Watts’ elementary schools

Fatal police interactions spark ‘Know Your Rights’ panel in Compton

Additional neighborhood safety comes with Price

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

Teaching to avoid riots

Paying for the right to affordable housing with health

Latino families transition from unemployment to work

Healthy options pop up in South LA, but old eating habits die hard

Reviving South LA’s Martin Luther King Hospital

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