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HISTORIC HIGHLAND
PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL - 2nd Term is up an running!
We are off to a decent start
after our 1st year as an elected Council.
It is all - volunteer, but
we are finding our way and our voice, and heck, the city makes areal budget
available to the Neighborhood Council to make a difference for our community,
so the effort is worth it. Many people in NELA and Highland Park
are very, very busy w/ jobs, hobbies, kids, school, etc., but if you are
even remotely interested in exploring the Neighborhood Council as a vehicle
of service and volunteerism in the Highland Park Community, I assure you
it can be worth while! Please attend a meeting and/or
REGISTER yoursel at the official HHPNC Website
You will receive automatic
updates from the HHPNC website, once you are registered -- It is the BEST
way to keep abreast of developments in NE Los Angeles!
Los Angeles has been called
"the greatest sociological experiment of the 2nd half of the 20th century."
Well, the first part of the 21st century has an even greater experiment
going: Empowering Neighborhoods with Real Advisory Authority to the
City Government. Neighborhood Councils are an Official Part of Los
Angeles City Government. As time goes by, the Neighborhood Councils
will find their important place in the formula of making the city work.
Already there is a sense
of real possibility as the Neighborhood Council has learned how the city's
budget, departments and Council Offices together with the Mayor's Office
make up the machine which keeps the city together and functioning.
It is big and complicated, but we are invited to have a real part in it
- directly.
Amateur Urbanists are Welcome!
Try your hand at Public Service!
Volunteer to serve on
one (or more) of our 8 Issue Committees:
City Services & Transportation
Committee
Human Relations, Education
& Youth Development Committee
Arts, Culture & Architecture
Committee
Land Use Committee
Outreach, Promotions &
Communication Committee
Economic Development Committee
Public Health & Safety
Committee
Housing & Community
Development Committee
Thanks - Robert Mendel (1st
VP - 1st term 2003-2004,
Secretary - 2nd term 2004-2006)
CPAB Report #2
In partnership with police officers serving residents of the Hollenbeck
Area, members of the Community
Police Advisory Board (CPAB) contribute to a
reduction in crime.
Hollenbeck is among the city's leaders in reduction of crime. Volunteers
who live and work in Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, El
Sereno and Montecito Heights
serve as members of the advisory board.
But much remains to be done to make our communities safer and to improve the quality of life for
people who live and work in the area. Members of CPAB invite others to participate
with them in this effort by becoming a part of
one of the many Hollenbeck
volunteer programs.
If interested in working with young people one could volunteer in the Police Athletic League (PAL).
PAL offers an alternative to gangs and drug
abuse to more than 300 area
children. Volunteers work with police officers to promote responsibility,
education, physical and mental conditioning and success
in life.
Volunteer Service Representatives work in the station to help "walk-ins"
requesting police service
or information. They also answer telephones, take
reports or make referrals.
Volunteers are able to attend a 40-hour Police Academy to learn about the
department, basic law, report
writing, community relations, develop communication skills and
how to be a police service representative.
Volunteers in Patrol act as "eyes and ears" of the officers serving the community. They patrol
the area in a specially marked car. When they observe
what might be illegal activity,
they report it by radio so officers can respond.
Volunteers participate in a number of other activities, including the
Hollenbeck Open House, the
Toy Giveaway at the Hollenbeck Youth Center, the
Booster Association and
Neighborhood Watch program. Such activities have a
significant effect on the
reduction of crime and improvement in the quality of life for residents of the
communities served.
To learn about these volunteer opportunities, people who live and work
in the area are invited to
attend CPAB meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at 6 p.m. in the community
room at the station, 2111 E. First Street.
For more information, telephone the Hollenbeck Community Relations office
at (323) 586-3188.
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Business News
Bingo Dog Grooming on
York Avenue in Highland Park - A Shop Emergency
As far as my thinking goes,
this is an emergency. There is a wonderful man who has Bingo Dog Grooming
on York at ave 51. His name is Richard.
His telephone number is 323-255-6012. He has made his business there for over awhile now, and
today is looking at a real problem. His business was slow in april,
and he was unable to make the 1600.00 a month rent. He has part
of the rent. May is now due. He pays rent to a leaseholder on the
west side. They have threatened to evict him, and also that may mean that
they would charge him for the full duration of his lease, which is several
more years. He is stressed to the max.
He is important, There is no other dog groomer in the area (in a shop), and I think he does
beautiful work. He is great at his work, and I hope that he can succeed.
He is ambitious and reliable.
If we could rally some business for him, we could help save this shop.
People say that we dont want anymore 99 cent stores, or starbucks, so this might be a shop that
should be supported. I care very much about this and am going to pay
for some time ahead with him today. I am hoping others will help
me spread the word so that we can help Richard keep his shop.
To me, this kind of neighbor in our business community is very important. I am asking that
if anyone can possibly muster an appointment for the dog to get a bath, please do call Richard. 323-255-6012
Any other ideas are welcome.
This man is a decent, local businessman who was raised in East LA. Can we please try to help him.
I am thanking you.
From the studio of Sheryl GETMAN:
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We at East Los Angeles Net welcome the following 3 Business's to our "Business Directory".
Bob Taylor Properties, Inc.
Cheryl Johnson -Broker
5526 N. Figueroa St.
(Highland Park) Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 257-1080
E-Z Carpet
5026 Huntington Dr. South.
(El Sereno) Los Angeles, CA 90032
(323) 223-6717
The 90032 Voice
"Serving the 90032 zip code communities of El Sereno, Hillside Village, University Hills, Rose Hills and Emery Park"
P.O. Box 32104
(El Sereno) Los Angeles, CA 90032
(323) 225-2600
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Civic Empowerment
"Let's tell young people
the best books are yet to be written; the best painting, the best government,
the best of everything is yet to be done by them." John Erskine,
US educator, musician, novelist, 20th century
HOW A TEEN STUNNED THE
CITY COUNCIL
It was a moment of profound
silence at the city-council meeting. Two of the city councilors, who had
been whispering to each other intermittently during the
meeting, stopped, strained, and when comprehension sank in, stared at one
another.
The police chief, sitting
in the "pit" below the semicircular council table, sat up in his chair
and looked quietly up at the mayor, hoping for a statement to cue him on
a position to take.
A perennial gadfly, who sat
in the front row of the public area, gave a clap and a stomp, and chuckled
in delight. There was a low buzz from the audience and
whispers from the high schoolers who had accompanied the speaker to this
meeting.
The speaker was Desafi'a
Pobeda. The mayor had thought, "What a strange name", but had not placed
any ominous significance to the name until a note was
passed to her: "Her name translates to 'challenge' in Spanish and 'victory'
in Russian". Now the mayor began to think otherwise.
In a bold, imaginative, and
by many accounts, totally impractical move, Desafi'a, a high-school sophomore,
had proposed a policy which had delighted some, irritated others, and made
yet others nervous. Desafi'a had come with two sets of paper. One set she
had given to The city clerk to pass to the city councilors. "I have a petition
here signed by four hundred students at our high school and by four hundred
of their parents."
"We are aware that in our
city a quarter million dollars is spent every year to clean up graffiti.
We are aware that most of this damage is caused by teenagers
and young adults, and that the problem is not going away. If anything,
with fewer resources, this problem is becoming worse."
"We, the petitioners, propose
to start a community-based program run by teenagers to reduce graffiti.
We ask for no funds, but, for every dollar saved every
month, compared with the same month last year, we ask our city to direct
fifty cents to us, so that we continue our work, donate
to school programs, and reward cooperating teenagers for a job well done."
"Through our program, not
only do we intend to reduce graffiti through education and positive peer
pressure, but, also, we will set up an alternative to our
burdened juvenile court system, so that offenses be dealt with quickly
and we discourage repeat offenses."
"The bottom line is that,
if we do not succeed, our city loses no funds, because no funds are asked
upfront."
From where I sat in the public
area, I saw a grimace on the face of the city administrator. As a traditional
policymaker, she did not like the idea of sharing
city money with residents, no matter that the money was, ultimately, the
property of the populace. One city councilor, realizing the
implication of what Desafi'a said, commented, "Our city does contract for
private services. Are you looking to start a business and get a contract?"
Desafi'a refused to be fit
into the traditional mold. "Not quite," was her reply. "We are starting
a community program, not business, and, yes, we do want to
get a contract. From our share of the money saved, instead of pay for employees
and profit for the owner, we will pay our expenses
and put money into our community."
This was becoming a bureaucrat's
nightmare--an all too reasonable assertion of resident rights. Had I not
been looking at the city administrator, I would not
have noticed the body language from her to the mayor, then from the mayor
to the city attorney. The city attorney reacted quickly. "Minors may not
enter into contracts. Your proposal is laudable, but our city cannot contract
with you."
Nobody in the city council
or among the staff in the pit had noticed that a prominent local attorney,
whose son was among the group of teenagers in attendance, had signed the
petition. Although the attorney was not at the city-council meeting, it
became apparent that he had been consulted
before the meeting. An adult stood up in the public area:
"Our sons and daughters and
we have formed a corporation. The adults will sign a contract with the
city and supervise as our sons and daughters plan and run
the program. While we are not a public charity, we are not a for-profit
corporation, either."
The director of public works
stood up to make a last stand for the city. "Think of the jobs which will
be lost. You will be taking away jobs." The mayor looked
at Desafi'a as if hoping that the city had just checkmated the young woman.
The adult who had spoken
had sat down, so Desafi'a provided an answer to the director. It was apparent
now that her group had rehearsed with questions
and answers to one another, as Desafi'a's reply came without delay: "The
impact will be minimal. The city will spend less on supplies
and equipment, and personnel will be reassigned to other priorities. In
fact, we are willing to allocate a portion of the money which
we receive for city personnel who lose hours through our program to earn
some of it through involvement in youth programs."
The mayor looked down and
flipped through the petition pages. Eight hundred signatures. Those signatures
would be the first wave in a larger petition to place an initiative on
the ballot to authorize the program. A delaying tactic would serve only
to anger residents.
The mayor made her decision.
"I make a motion to adopt the proposal. I direct the police chief to meet
with representatives of the petitioners and to come to council in one month
with a plan for implementation."
There was a second. The motion
passed four to nothing, with one abstention. The abstaining city councilor
was concerned because he would lose money through
the proposal, as he had the concession on selling exterior paint to cover
over the graffiti on Whittier Boulevard.
This story is meant to presage,
not pretend. In other words, if you like the idea, pursue it. If you choose
to pursue the idea, contact the public charity
Optimizing National Education, one@pacerpost.com , and mention this story.
The charity will help you.
"We live in an age when to
be young and to be indifferent can be no longer synonymous. We must prepare
for the coming hour. The claims of the Future are represented by suffering
millions; and the Youth of a Nation are the trustees of Posterity." Benjamin
Disraeli, English novelist, politician, reformer, 19th century
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Education News
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New Survey of California Teachers
Reveals Serious Problems in Classrooms, Starkly Unequal Conditions for
African American, Latino Students, and Broad Teacher Support for Transferring
More Control, Accountability from Districts to Schools
Fifty Years After Brown
vs. Board of Education, Students of Color
Still Denied Equal Opportunity
to Quality Education in California
Los Angeles, CA— As the 50th
anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling approaches, a new
Louis Harris survey of teachers across California, commissioned by the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, offers a sobering look directly from
the classrooms: the public school system is struggling with textbooks shortages,
overcrowded classrooms, run-down facilities and a serious shortage of qualified
teachers. This crisis is especially bleak in schools with high concentrations
of African American and Latino students.
“This report from the
front lines is sobering: for school children, the California Dream is more
like a daily nightmare of crumbling, infested buildings, unqualified teachers
and missing textbooks,” said pollster Louis Harris, who directed the survey
of 1,056 teachers with the Peter Harris Research Group. “Huge numbers of
schools are failing to hire and keep qualified teachers. Textbooks are
so scarce kids can’t even take them home to do their homework. Classrooms
are severely overcrowded, and the buildings themselves are crumbling and
infested with rats and cockroaches.”
Harris noted that these trends
are magnified at California schools with a high concentration of African
American and Latino students. Compared to schools attended by mostly white
students, these schools are:
11 times more likely to have
a high percentage of under-qualified teachers;
73 percent more likely to
have evidence of cockroaches, rats or mice;
74 percent more likely to
lack textbooks for students to use for homework;
·
More than 3 times more likely to report that teacher turnover is a serious
problem; and
·
Twice as likely that teachers rate the working conditions in their school
as “only fair” or “poor.”
“Fifty years ago, Brown v.
Board of Education promised a fair and equal opportunity to learn for every
American child,” said John Rogers, Associate Director of UCLA’s Institute
for Democracy, Education & Access (IDEA), who provided additional analysis
of Harris’s findings with funding from the Hewlett Foundation. “This survey
reveals that, here in California, this promise is being broken every day
and it’s African-American and Latino students whose opportunities to learn
suffer most.”
Based on the survey results,
researchers estimate that about 2 million California students attend public
schools without the essential tools for learning: textbooks to take home
and a school building free of vermin. One million students attend schools
unable to attract and retain an adequate number of qualified teachers.
Among the survey’s other findings:
Over half (54 percent) of
science teachers report that they do not have enough equipment and materials
necessary to do science lab work, such as lab stations, lab tools and materials.
Half of social studies teachers
report that they do not have enough maps, atlases, and reference materials
for their students to use or take home.
Nearly a third (32 percent)
of teachers who use textbooks report that there are not enough copies of
textbooks for all students to take home.
·
Nearly a third (29 percent) of teachers report that they have seen evidence
of cockroaches, rats, or mice in their school.
·
Thirty-nine percent of teachers rate their facilities as only fair or poor.
Conditions in the classroom
have deteriorated in many areas since 2002 when Harris conducted a similar
poll, despite the increased emphasis on accountability through standardized
testing mandated by the federal and California governments.
For the first time, the survey
also shows that two-thirds of California’s teachers support a new proposal
being discussed in Sacramento that would improve public schools by setting
budgets based on individual student needs and giving local schools both
authority and accountability, not only for student achievement but also
for the opportunities the school provides for teaching and learning.
The Harris survey, conducted
between February 12 and March 7, 2004, consisted of 1056 telephone interviews
with teachers in California. Additional analysis was provided by the Institute
for Democracy, Education, & Access (IDEA) at the University of California
at Los Angeles. IDEA is a premier expert on California’s K-12 education
system.
According to further analysis
by UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, & Access, Los Angeles
County schools with 90 percent or more students of color are 2.5 times
more likely than schools with a majority of white students to experience
3 to 4 of the following critical opportunity problems:
Quality Teaching: More than
20 percent of a school’s teachers lack a full credential
Stable Staff: Teachers report
that turnover is a problem, positions can’t be filled, or school has difficulty
finding substitutes
Essential Instructional
Materials: Teachers report a lack of textbooks and materials in their classroom,
insufficient textbooks for students to take home, or lack of access to
fully useable computer
Adequate and Safe Facilities:
The state identifies a school as critically overcrowded, or teachers rate
their facility as poor or only fair, or report evidence of cockroaches,
rats, and mice.
Southern California schools
outside of Los Angeles County with 90 percent or more students of color
are 3.4 times more likely to experience 3 to 4 of the above problems compared
to schools with a majority of white students.
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Lincoln High School Class of 1964 is holding its' 40th reunion on October 16, 2004 at the Pasadena Sheraton. Tickets are $75/person. We are looking for alumni from that era including classes of 1963 and 1965 to attend this event. Is it possible to post this type of information in your webpage. For further information, you may contact me thru email at ACALDERETE @ AOL.com.
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The New Media University
Academy (NMUA)
is a free computer training program funded by the City of Los Angeles Workforce
Investment Act (WIA). It is an intensive 10 week program with five instruction
hours per day. The goal of this program is to teach students to have the
necessary academic, technical and social skills that will enable them to
pursue higher education and become gainfully employed.
At NMUA you will
learn:
• Microsoft Office - Word,
Excel, PowerPoint
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Pagemaker
• Basic Training in computer
hardware
• Hardiness Training - international
award winning program that improves academic, professional and personal
performances, morale, stamina and health.
• College preparation and
counseling
• Career Preparation and
Placement: workshops on resumes, career fairs, job search and job interviews
How to qualify:
• 18-21 years old
• Live in the City of Los
Angeles
• Have a high school diploma/GED,
or will obtain high school diploma/GED within five months
Classes are Monday through
Friday, 9am-2pm.
All equipments and materials are provided free of charge, including bus
passes. We are located in the heart of Northeast LA in Cypress Park.
For more information or
to register, call (323)223-0604 x33.
New Media University Academy
570 W. Avenue 26, Suite
300
Los Angeles, CA 90065
www.nmua.org
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Health News
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Spotlight
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Technology News
Hispanics Going Online In Record Numbers
According To America Online/Roperasw's
First Annual U.S. Hispanic Cyberstudy Landmark Study, Hispanic Online Consumers
Are More Active Than General Market in Online Entertainment Activities
including Downloading Music Files, Listening to Music Online,
Watching Video Clips Communication
Key with Hispanics Sending/Receiving Photos and More Using Online Instant
Messaging
* The size of the online
Hispanic population is growing rapidly, with nearly half of those surveyed
(48%) having first gone online at home in the past two
years - compared to 21% for total U.S. online consumers.
* Hispanic consumers report
spending more time online than total U.S. online consumers - nearly 10
hours a week at home (9.5) vs. 8.4 hours for all U.S. online consumers and 13.8 hours a week at work vs. 9.6 hours for all U.S. online
consumers.
* Hispanics surveyed spend
16% more time online per week (15.7 hours home/work combined*) vs. total
US online adults (13.5 hours home/work combined). Hispanics surveyed spend
12% more time online per week from home (9.5 vs. 8.4 total US online adults)
and 44% more time online per week from work (13.8 vs. 9.6 total US online
adults).
* Hispanic online consumers
surveyed want bilingual online service -- with 83% saying access to English
content is very or somewhat important, and
58% saying the same of Spanish content.
To see the full article,
click:
Web Site
Luis E. Rodriguez
Access Technology Coordinator
Centro Cultural of Washington
Co.
<www.centrocultural.org>
Ph (503) 359-1106
Fax(503) 357-0183
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Business Directory
