Publisher’s Note .......................................page 2

Community Calendar .......................................page 3

Letters to the Editor .......................................page 3

“Greetings from Mike” by Council Member Stevens .......................................page 4

Rhonda’s Wellness Column .......................................page 5

Hoot Beats Limited .......................................page 5

Dining with RhondaSTUFF I EAT ....................page 6

Anne on Architecture..page 7

Book Reviews ...............page 9

D E P A R T M E N T S

contents

Joe’s Barbershop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

“Pet Peeves”column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

Mark Fronterotta ap-pointed new IPD Chief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4

Fox Theatre now on National Register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4

Feature book review:Word for Word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7

Fruit Tree Giveaway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6

Michael Massenberg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7

Your Block Rocks, W. 102nd Street!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

Dinglewood! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

Dotson’s Drug Den. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 9 By Randall Fleming

The cumulative safety haz-ards of the Osage Senior Vil-las have been a part of daily life for the center’s residents shortly after the City of In-glewood, the Redevelopment Agency and Planning Com-mission declared, “The proj-ect was completed and re-ceived a certificate of occu-pancy” in June 2003. On October 4, 2005, the aforementioned agencies signed the “Release of Con-struction Covenants Certifi-cate (formerly called a Cer-tificate of Completion) of the project.” However it was not disclosed that there were “nu-merous revisions, change or-ders and building modifica-tions were necessary…” and that the “Osage Senior Vil-

las Limited Partnership, LLC (OSVLP) also contends that the building modifications and change orders have re-sulted in a project cost over-run of 15%…” from a letter from the city administrator’s office. The city administrator

at the time was Mark Wein-berg. Weinberg has since been retained by the City of Inglewood as a consultant un-der a contract to receive near-ly $70k annually. Weinberg was also investigated by the

Inglewood native Crystal Chavis sings at Lakers GameBy geRald moRales

What is the sound of in-spiration drawn from inspi-ration? One Inglewood na-tive with a remarkable talent might have an answer. Crys-tal Chavis, a 17-year-old ju-nior student of Inglewood City Honors High School, found her passion in music four years ago. Her roots in the entertainment industry, however, date back much fur-ther. At only three weeks of age Crystal received her first glimpse to the industry when she was in a film for a com-mercial for Fidelity Financial. She continued getting acting gigs in commercials for State Farm and Jeep as well as ma-ny other well-known compa-nies. Throughout elementary and middle school, she partic-ipated in many performanc-es and activities in and out of school. Her mother, Allison Queen, is a publicist who spe-cializes in local and nation-al media placements. From a

young age decided she want-ed Crystal to develop into a well-rounded individual. She enrolled her daughter in ice skating and dance classes and even had her try horseback riding. “I tried to support Crys-tal in every endeavor she pur-sued and I knew it was im-

portant for her to be well-rounded. I wanted her to know she could do anything she put her mind to, which is why I wanted her to be ac-tive,” said Mrs. Queen. Crystal spent a lot of time acting as well as participat-ing in various activities—but

Residents Claim Victory Against 728% Tax Hike Mayor’s Property Tax proposal shot downBy Randall Fleming

In a quietly announced last-minute city council meet-ing for January 23, Ingle-wood mayor James T. Butts moved to reject a proposal to place a 728% increase of the city’s property transfer tax on the April municipal ballot. The city clerk was directed to withdraw Resolution No. 12-157 (adopted December 18, 2012) from the April 2 ballot. The mayor had argued through no fewer than two previous council meetings to push the remarkably high tax hike proposal forward for the April ballot. It was rumored that the reason for the pro-posal was to upset the unions that would benefit from the increase, should any council members oppose the new tax hike. The mayor remarked that such a tax hike is not an un-usual one. “The city of Los

please see Rusty Tub, page 10

A Decade of Rusty Bathtubs at OsageRusty pipes, fire-hazard stoves at Senior Center were approved by Planning Commissioner George Dotson

All the bathtubs in the Osage Senior Villas look like this. The rust staining the plastic bathtubs is a result of iron pipes that for over a decade have drained condensation from the residents’ heating and air conditioning units. The non-ceramic tubs, lack of safety bars and other safety hazards were approved by Inglewood Planning Commissioner Dotson in 2003. INSET: A shot of the iron drain pipe from which rusty water has dripped since 2003.

please see Crystal, page 11 please see Victory, page 11

Crystal Chavis sings the national anthem at the Lakers v Jazz game on January 25.

Ithe

morningside parkchronicleVol. 2, No. 2 B Informing Inglewood and the community February 2013B

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Morningside Park • Briarwood • Century Heights • Inglewood Knolls • Fairview Heights • Arbor Village • North Inglewood • Hyde Park • West Athens • Westmont • Crenshaw-Imperial • Lockhaven • Imperial Village • Downtown Inglewood

To see more pictures of the Osage safety hazards, scan the above QR code or visit:

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FPPC fines

Tabor $32k

— page 8 —

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 2 February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Stop “Helping” WeheldthefirstMorningsideParkSustainable meeting last month. Itwas filled with enthusiastic peoplewho are excited about a smaller,

morelocalandmoresustainableInglewood.WeinvitedValerieWatson,thePedestrianCoordinatorfortheCityof LosAngeles and former chair of downtown L.A.Neighborhood Council’s Parks, Recreation andOpenSpaceCommitteetospeaktoourgroup. Whydidweinviteherratherthanthetraditionalor-ganizations that serve communities that are a major-ity of color?The reason is simple: I do not feel thatsuch organizations fit this community. Our city maybeblack,Latinoandwhite,butwehaveasizableandstrongmiddleclass.Wehaveasizablebohemianclasstoo.IfeelthatIandmanyotherresidentsofInglewoodalreadyknowhow to eathealthfully,how to exerciseandhowtoshopforfood. Iam tiredofpeoplecoming toourcommunityandsaying we shouldn’t eat Kentucky Fried Chicken orMcDonald’s—as if these are thingswe don’t alreadyknow. Ifind that approachhighly insulting. I andmyneighbors,myparentsandallourpeersaretiredofbe-ingsubjectedtosuchdisrespect. While I understand that portraying the city’s resi-dents as ignorantpeoplewhodon’t knowhow tonotkillthemselveswithfoodisacashcowtomanypeoplewhowant tobegunder theumbrellaofa501(c)(3), Ibelievethejourneyisasimportantasthedestination. If you’re helping of the community portrays thecommunityanditsresidentsastrashthenyouhaven’thelpedanyone,butyourself.The imageofyourcom-munityisimportant.Itimpactstheopportunitiesoftheresidentsanditimpactsyourhomevalues. Ihaveamessageforpeoplewhocomehereto“help”:pleasestoppinghelpingtoruintheimageofthiscom-munityforpublicity,forgrantsandforfundsthatwillneverbeusedforwhattheyarepurported. Iwasrecentlyinterviewedonaradioshow.Thehostsaskedme topickoutsongs that represent Inglewood.I purposely excluded songs that denigrated the city’simage.ThismeansIincludedzerorapsongsfromthe1990s.It’snotabouttakingtheeasyroadandmakingtheeasybuckbyfalselyembodyingstereotypes. Ihaverespectforthepeoplewholivehere.Afterall,IliveintheAvenuesinInglewood’sMorningsidePark.

Teka-Lark Fleming

A word from the publisher

By Trix Pau

What do you do when you see a stray dog? If you’re like me, your instinct is to stop the car—or if you’re on foot, stop in your tracks—and do what you can to ap-prehend the dog, or at least herd it off the streets and on-to a sidewalk out of harm’s way. But even if you suc-ceed at this, what do you do next? The dog is likely to be lost, frightened, anxious, hungry or thirsty, or some combination thereof. It could also be hurt, which could make it even more anxious and possibly aggressive. Or it could be very receptive to someone corralling it and giving it some TLC, ideal-ly returning it to its own-er (if indeed there is an own-er who had enough foresight and caring to have given the dog a tag and/or microchip). I’ve done a lot of on-the-spot rescuing over the years, and frankly, there is no stan-dard operating procedure. Each dog is truly differ-ent. Some will walk up right up to you, but my experi-ence has been that most stray or lost dogs are too leery of

people to be caught, no mat-ter how great their need and no matter how good your in-tentions. They move away and move on. What I have learned is that you can rare-ly catch any dog by follow-ing it; you have to be still, or even move in the opposite direction, to get it to come to you. Sounds counter-in-tuitive, but it works. It helps if you have some food, and water too: strays are usually more thirsty than hungry (af-ter all, you can go much lon-ger without food than you can without water.) Unfortunately, Ingle-wood’s population of home-less dogs is sizeable. And it’s quite diverse: I’ve tak-en in dogs that range from

purebred to stereotypi-cal (but adorable and very adoptable) mutts. Whether it’s because the economy is forcing more people out of their houses and into small-er spaces that don’t accom-modate dogs, or whether it’s because too many people routinely don’t keep track of their pets, hardly a week goes by that I don’t spot a dog (or two) out there on its own. Most of them wind up passing through my neigh-borhood and through my life, but each of them means something. In each case I like to imagine he or she made it back home, or en-countered a new one. That would be the best thing for all of us.

“Pet Peeves”Our new pet column!

Publisher Teka-Lark Flemingpublisher@MPChronicle.net

Editor-in-Chief Randall Flemingeditor@MPChronicle.net

Design and Production: RD & F DesignRDFdesignWOOD@gmail.com

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Lead Writer: Gerald Morales

Contributing Writers: Birtram BirtranAnn Cheek La RoseRhonda Kuykendall-Jabari Mike Stevens

By Gerald Morales

It’s a family business that has been in Inglewood for generations. It’s on 681 W. Arbor Vitae Street, near Ash Street. It is home to some of the best barbers in Inglewood. What is it? Why, Joe’s Bar-bershop, of course! The story begins in the 1970s when Joe Victorino was searching for that one good barber to cut his hair on a regular basis; his search was in vain. He attended school and studied the ways of crafting unique hairstyles. Learning how to cut hair Joe was the first step; afterward he decided it was time to open up his own shop. The first Joe’s barbershop was opened in 1976 on Ar-bor Vitae and La Cienega. Long-time Inglewood natives

may recall the Doors Mar-ket and mechanic’s shop at the shopping center back then. The barbershop soon gained a great reputation. In 1979, Joe’s Barbershop was relocat-ed to Arbor Vitae. For two decades Joe has been cutting hair. People come not just from Ingle-wood but all over Los Ange-

les—just to get one of Joe’s classic cuts. As a witness to the legacy his father es-tablished, Joe Jr. decided he wanted to continue what his father started. In 1992 he got into the hair-cutting business as well. “My father had a say-ing: You watch people get married and you watch them

Joe’s BarbershopAn Inglewood Landmark For Generations

Kevin Chavez, Jennifer Espes, Robert Gonzales and Joe Victorino take a second from their scissors to pose in front of Joe’s Barbershop.

Spotlight on Local Business

please see Joe’s, page 10

Morningside Park Chronicle/MPCPost Office Box 2155 • Inglewood CA 90305info@morningsideparkchronicle.com

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

February 2013

February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 3

letters readersfromour

Dear editor,

Just a note to say thank you for the kind and support-ive review. I specifically placed Liz Taylor and Brooke Shields on each side of Michael Jackson, as book ends for friendship. Friendship and loyalty are re-al important. Snoop just hap-pened to be the next photo. Additionally, I arranged the pictures and quotes to “make” the reader work to understand what I was thinking at the time. As an example Ali and Sinatra were/are so big they need no intro. I have been an advocate for stopping the violence against women and in society at large. Also, I hope the book will be-come a template for all coun-tries to study their media and it’s impact and to promote cultural acceptance. Be well and thanks again.

-Bill Overton,Santa Monica, CA

• • •

Dear editor, I have attended two of the three transit development meetings regarding the Flor-ence and La Brea Metro Rail station. I spoke with sever-al of you at the meeting on 1-23-12 about a video I had seen regarding a large devel-opers plans for downtown Inglewood. Seeing the vid-

eo left me a little perplexed. There has been lots of talk about economic development for the city, but I haven’t heard a whisper about this project. I mean we certainly heard about Madison Square Gardens before the official announcement. What perplexes me is how we can spend so much time on ideas about revitalizing the northern part of down-town and not even know about this huge proposal. Ei-ther this is a grand propos-al and is going to happen or something happened to kill it or move it off the radar screen. Either way, I would like to know what’s going on. It’s hard to fathom that someone in Inglewood city govern-ment or RRM Design Group or any of the other ‘planning’ organizations associated with the Metro Rail project don’t have a clue about a project this big and how it could or would integrate into or im-pact the Metro Rail project. The visions of RRM and JohnMcDonald for downtown In-glewood almost seem to be at polar opposites to each other.This is an introductory link that I assume is quoting John McDonald, dated August 14, 2012, just to set the stage for the long video.http://southla.wordpress.com/category/vision-southla/page/2/

Below is the link for the full story. I am not discount-ing the first part of the inter-view, but I couldn’t find a way to fast forward to the In-glewood Promenade part so you may have to see it all. In-glewood Promenade begins at about 34.39 minutes.www.incomtv.com/video/video_mcdonald.html Once again my questions are: How come I only came across this by accident; and, What’s going on behind the scenes?

-RP,Inglewood

• • •

Dear editor,

I read the KCET column and enjoyed Erin’s commen-tary; he’s an excellent writ-er. Also read the Morning-side Park Chronicle last night. Keep moving forward...you’re doing an awesome job!

-Theresa,Zion Hill Baptist Church

Los Angeles, CA

The Morningside Park Chronicle welcomes read-ers’ letters. Please write us at the address below. Please include full name and telephone number for verification purposes only; if requested, names will be withheld from publication.

Inglewood Main Library11:00 a.m on Saturday, February 9,Dr. Melissa Rice of the California Institute of Technology will speak at a program co-sponsored by the Library and the Planetary Society. Gladys Waddingham Lecture Hall, Inglewood Main Library. Please call (310) 412-5380 for more information.

Bright Star’s Reading Club Family Literacy Night5:30-10:00 p.m., Sat., February 9Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, 5990 Green Valley Circle in Cul-ver City 90230. FREE Parking!Advance Payment Is Required. Adults: $25.00; Children 2-years plus: $20.00 Check in upon arrival at the regis-tration table.Late Registration: Adults: $30.00 Children: $25.00 For more information, please call (310)673-7323 (center) or (310) 880-5964 cell/text, e-mail info@brightstarsreadingclub.com, or visit the Bright Stars website atwww.brightstarsreadingclub.com

• • •

A-MAN, Inc. Saturday Science Academy Saturday, February 9 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.National Society of Black Engi-neers Alumni Extension—Los Angeles Chapter101 S. La Brea Ave , Inglewood, CA 90301. Tyrie (310) 571-7073.

• • •

Be Well: Adult Senior Exercise ProgramThe City of InglewoodWednesday & Thursdays 9- 11 a.m.Come to our special orientation sessions on Thursday, February 7 or come to the first session on February 13 at Darby Park, 3400 W. Arbor Vitae Blvd., Inglewood,

90301. Transportation is available.For more information, please call Linda Peterson at (310) 412-4368.

• • •

An evening with Erin Aubry Kaplan Inglewood Main LibraryGladys Waddingham Lecture Hall 6:30 p.m., Monday, February 25For more information, please call (310) 412-5645.

• • •

Still Waters Writing Workshop Vibrations in Inglewood’s Morningside Park Community, from 6–8:30 p.m. on Sunday, February 17 at Vibrations on 2435 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305. For more information, please call (424) 646-3334 or blessedvibrations@gmail.com

• • •

Poet’s Jazz House Vibration in Inglewood’s Morning-side Park Community 2435 West Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305 8:00 pm, February 7, 14, 21, 28, Thursday. A Spoken Word and Music Lounge Where spilling your Heart is Art and Searching your Soul is Man-datory to get in the door and The cover charge is always Free every Thursday.

• • •

(re)Think-Ing! Manchester Part 2 Morningside Park Sustainable Cityat the District One Community Center 2901 W Manchester, Morn-ingside Park 90305Wednesday, February 27, 6-8 p.m.http://goo.gl/ZnKNB(424) 261-3019.

Inglewood Community Calendar

MPC, P.O. Box 2155, Inglewood CA 90305or via e-mail at: letters@MPChronicle.net

Randy’s Donuts 805 W. Manchester Blvd • Inglewood, CA 90301 310-645-4707 • RandysDonuts.com

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INGLEWOOD—The Ingle-wood City Council appoint-ed interim police Chief Mike Fronterotta as the permanent head of the department, it was announced Tuesday. He had been serving as interim police chief since June 2012. Fronterotta, a 31-year vet-eran of the police depart-ment, served as commander of the Office of Patrol Ser-vices, and he participated in a restructuring of that office that focused on community collaboration and the use of new technology. He is a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts and graduat-ed from Lowell University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. “Certainly it is an honor to be appointed chief. I am pleased that this community has the faith to have me be

their chief. I will do noth-ing less than deliver a first-rate police department. Af-ter all, I consider Inglewood my home; I could not think of doing less than that,” said Fronterotta. The city council approved his permanent status at its meeting on Wednesday, January 23.

New Police ChiefFronterotta appointed Chief at IPD

Inglewood Chief of Police Mark Fronterotta

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 4 February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Airport noise is indicative of poi-sonous air particulate matter—which is a proven hindrance to children’s health and well-being, negatively impacts health and is a proven factor in autism.

Be sure to call the number below when loud or low-flying aircraft are observed over your home.

424-64-NOISE424 (646-6473)To be sure that LAWA/LAX is recording and reporting your complaint, please e-mail the Chronicle via blast@mpchronicle.net and include the date, time, direction and general area. Anonymity is guaranteed, and there is no need to leave any identifying information.

On the 84th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Master Plan for the new Mar-tin Luther King Jr. Commu-nity Hospital campus spon-sored by Board Chairman Su-pervisor Mark Ridley-Thom-as, embracing in vision for health care delivery for not just the new hospital, but the entire MLK campus. The master plan was the re-sult of a year-long communi-ty planning process, and was formed with the input of hun-

dreds of residents, civic lead-ers, business owners and health care advocates. What does having a master plan mean? It means that the new hospital will be at the heart of a web of community wellness resources. The Mas-ter plan recommends not only expansion of the new hospital and existing Multi-Ambulato-ry Care Center, it also urges: a new mental health urgent care center, mixed-use retail space, medical office space, connected community gar-dens, safe pedestrian walk-ways and recreational facili-

ties to promote wellness and physical activity, among oth-er suggestions. The master plans is a road map, not a hard and fixed re-quirement, but it seek to an-ticipate the future direction of healthcare and prepare for that new day. It also lays out a vision for the entire 142- acre Willowbrook communi-ty that surrounds the campus. Off campus, the plan envi-sions space for school-based health centers, mobile clinics, blood banks, and community health centers to support the

Supervisors Unanimously Approve Master Plan for Martin Luther King, Jr. Hospital Campus

please see Supervisors, page 11

By anne Cheek la rose

A lot has happened for the Inglewood Fox Theatre in the past two months. In November, the Fox was included on the California Historic Resources list. The application was then for-warded to the National Reg-ister in Washington, DC for consideration. During December, the not-for-profit Inglewood Histor-ic Preservation Alliance (IH-PA) began discussions with the Fox owners about resto-ration. IHPA’s concept is to re-store the theatre as a multi-purpose event and enter-tainment venue. Inglewood lacks a large, elegant ven-ue for parties and events. It’s a wonderful theatre that en-genders fond memories from residents of Inglewood and surrounding communities.

Many folks would like to see the Fox come back to life. On January 14, it was in-cluded on the National Reg-ister of Historic Places. Now the real work begins. We need the community to support the Fox through tell-ing others about saving the Fox and joining IHPA in fu-ture fund-raising events for the theatre. Currently, we have a Face-book page at www.face-book.com/pages/Ingle-wood-Fox-Theatre-Alli-ance/137338472943207 (or visit Facebook.com and search for “Inglewood Fox Theatre Alliance”) that can be visited to see photos in-side the theatre, leaving your memories of time spent at the Fox, messages, and keep-ing up on the latest news about the theatre. Don’t for-get to “Like” it when you visit the page.

Inglewood Fox Named to National Register

The interior of the Fox Theatre as it was known decades ago.

By mike stevens, Inglewood CounCIl MeMBer, dIstrICt 1

Last month we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King. As I sat in the front row at Crozier Middle School on Saturday, January 19 at our official Inglewood celebration looking at the many historical photographs of Martin Luther King, Jr., and his quest to achieve equality, I noticed a few glaring facts in the photos. Maybe it was because the photos were so large. After all, the entire screen itself was over 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide. The most obvious

was that everyone in the photographs was good-looking and well-groomed. I guess back then, everyone wore what looked best on them—not what looked best on their favorite celebrity or entertainer as many people do today. In the photos, I did not see anyone with 30 pounds of potatoes squeezed into a 10-pound sack in the photos. Many of the people marching and standing alongside King, Jr. may have been share croppers but they sure maintained their dignity while taking an active role in changing America and making it possible for

residents residing in a com-munity such as Inglewood to have the power to change governmental policy simply

Come to City Council Meetings

Inglewood District 1 council member Mike Stevens

please see Vigilance, page 11

[ GREETINGS from MIKE ]

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February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 5

by Birtram Birtran

Hoof BeatsLIMITED

Well, we have begun a new year. With hope this one will be better than the last one. I always look for-ward to something better than before, something more interesting, more entertain-ing. I am hoping to see more horse racing and more horses developed in this great state of California. I happen to be-lieve that this is the greatest state for horse breeding than any in America. Many of our top horses are sold to other people in other countries at a price too large for the owners to pass up. I would sell a horse for two, three or four million dollars that I bought for a few thousand dollars as well. For some new news in the horse-racing world—news that a few of you may al-ready know—Gary Stevens has returned to riding again. (Stevens was a retired fa-vorite jockey that I use to love to watch ride, and who was also in the HBO series Luck.) He looks great for a guy in his late forties who retired because of his health and bad knee problems. I wish him a lot of good luck. Speaking of riding, I have often wondered: What

makes a good jockey? Does he talk to the horses ? Is it tactical? Does he sit dif-ferent from lesser jock-eys? What is it? It has been said that a jockey may for-get a race that he rode in but he —or she? There are now a lot of great female jock-eys that ride today and get their share of wins—nev-er forgets the horse they rode. Therein lies one of the premises of one of my hand-icapping rules. I try to pick the horse who has a rider that knows him, or a jockey who is more successful with many horses. An interesting note about jockeys when they are rac-ing is that they don’t sit on the horse, rather they stand on the horse when racing. Their butts hardly touch the seat of the saddle until the race is over. When I learned to ride (for fun) I realized that a horse could be trained to walk or run in different styles. It can be taught to canter, which is a very smooth way to ride without being bounced around on its back. There is also the trot, which is where you see the rider’s head bouncing up and down on

every step. Then there is the gallop, or run. This is what the horse does when it races. When I started trying to handicap the horse rac-es, I had to find out which horse had the potential to be the strongest horse, the one with the most stami-na. I found that this was very important when hors-es of different ages raced against each other. I found that 3-year-old horses were stronger than 2-year-olds and that 4-year-old horses were stronger than 3-year-olds, and that the 4-year-old horses have pretty much gained their full speed al-though not their full endur-ance to run their best at a longer distance. Once they reach their fifth year, they are pretty much ready for anything that they are bred for, and they are considered a full-grown horse.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 1 in 3 U.S. adults (est. 68,000,000) has high blood pressure. In 2010, high blood pressure cost the U.S. $93.5 billion in medications, missed days of work and health care services. High blood pressure can lead to bone loss, sexual dysfunction, coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, Dementia, kidney failure, damage to the eyes and more. Known as “The Silent Killer,” high blood pressure may present no outward symptoms until it reaches advance stages. The only way to know for sure if you have high blood pressure is to confer with your doctor and know your numbers. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) defines blood pressure as “the force of blood against the walls of arteries.” It is measured by the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats, as the muscle contracts (systolic) and when the heart rests between beats as it refills with blood (diastolic). It is written as systolic/diastolic. For example, if the systolic pressure is 115 and the diastolic pressure is 79, it is written as 115/79 and read aloud as, “115 over 79.” As we age, arteries lose elasticity, which increases the risk of hypertension. Family history also plays a role in the likeli-hood of developing high blood pressure. Dr. Andrew Weil, a leading natural and integrative health advisor, lists stress, excessive salt consumption, a diet low in calcium, magnesium and potassium, excessive alcohol intake, obesity and certain prescription medications as potential contributing factors. According to the American Heart Association, blood pres-sure categories are defined as follows:

Dietary and lifestyle choices are key factors in the preven-tion and control of hypertension. In addition to following doctor’s orders, discuss and incorporate some of the following into your daily self-care plan. DASH Diet: The NHLBI promotes the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension), which has been proven to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. It is high in fruits and vegetables, low- or non-fat dairy, whole grains and fiber. The DASH diet is also rich in potassium, calcium and magnesium. For recipes, menus and more information, visit http://www.dashdiet.org.

Dr. Weil recommends the following nutritional measures:• Eat eight to 10 servings of vegetables and fruit per day.• Limit animal protein to six ounces per day.• Limit salt intake. If you are salt sensitive or have a family history or hypertension, reducing salt to about one teaspoon a day may help control your blood pressure.• Use garlic. It has a modest effect on blood pressure, poten-tially helping to relax blood vessels.• Consume four to five servings

A Drug-free Approach to Lower Blood Pressure

Rhonda’sWellness

Cornerb y r h o n d a k u y k e n d a l l - J a b a r i

Ii-Spy...To hear what at least one Inglewood little league president has to say about misap-propriated funds, scan the above QR code or visit:

please see Diet, page 10

Blood PressureCategory

Normal

Pre-hypertension

High Blood Pressure

(Hypertension) Stage 1

High Blood Pressure

(Hypertension) Stage 2

Hypertensive Crisis

(Emergency care needed)

Systolicmm Hg (upper #)

less than 120

120–139

140–159

160 or higher

Higher than 180

and

or

or

or

or

Diastolicmm Hg (lower #)

less than 80

80–89

90–99

100 or higher

Higher than 110

please see Jockeys, page 11

http://bit.ly/ingdbmpc

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 6 February 2013

By Rhonda kuykendall-JabaRi

Sunday evening seemed the perfect time to dive into a “vegan, organic and eco-friendly” meal. This is the tagline for the eatery Stuff I Eat on N. Market Street. It had been a very long day and I was ravenous! The unpretentious brown awning is easily missed on the block between Re-gent and Queen Streets. The search for a vacant parking meter may be distracting if you’ve never been here be-fore. If you miss it the first time, circle the block again; you won’t be disappointed. On a Sunday evening, you may catch a live jazz trio playing at just the right vol-ume.

Stuff I Eat is fairly spa-cious, clean and inviting. There are no detectable smells to entice the taste buds, which leaves the fla-vor of the food to its own devices. The black cultur-al décor could fit as easily in an art gallery or sidewalk cafe. Some of the pieces are reminiscent of the former Lucy Florence Cultural Cen-ter in the Historic Leimert Park Village. Unlike some health food restaurants, Stuff I Eat draws a hard line; there is no sacrifice of healthful in-gredients for taste. It is ob-vious the food is prepared with loving care and a con-sciousness rarely found at so-called health-food res-taurants in and around the

Stuff I Eat[ DINING with RHONDA ]

please see Stuff I Eat, page 10

COSMETIC, IMPLANT & GENERAL DENTISTRY

The Smile Studio 3300 W. Manchester Blvd.Inglewood, CA 90305

(310) 674-3232

TheSmileStudioDentist.com Carla Thomas, D.D.S.

By geRald moRales

The environmentally fo-cussed nonprofit organiza-tion Tree People, based in Beverly Hills, helped the So-cial Justice Learning Insti-tute to sponsor a Free Fruit Tree Giveaway on Satur-day, January 25. Tree Peo-ple holds monthly Free Fruit Tree Giveaways through-out southern California, and once a year they come to In-glewood. More than 2,000 families from all over Los Angeles—and Inglewood too!—came out to see the Laker Girls and former MVP Steve Nash help educate people on tree-planting. Families lined up to await being taught valuable in-formation on how to plant trees and grow gardens in their own homes. Some resi-dents were new to this event while others had been here before, yet the common goal in mind was to support the idea of growing their own fruit trees. Steve Nash, the Laker Girls and volunteers got together to help plant a peach tree which they nick-named Nash Jr. Seeing ce-lebrities take the initiative

sets a good role model for children, teens and every-one in the community to take note that many people aim at creating a more sus-tainable future for commu-nities such as Inglewood. Both the Tree People and SJLI put together events for community wellness; when possible they partner up to combine their resourc-es in order to promote big-ger events to benefit as ma-ny people as possible. The organizations like providing hands-on education so as to interact with the communi-ty. Tree People person To-rin Dunnavent adds, “If you

don’t work with people it’s not going to stick, which is why we like to provide these type of events for the community so people have something to take home.” These type events are not limited to Inglewood alone. The long-established group coordinates with commu-nities all around Los Ange-les in order to create a more sustainable future. The So-cial Justice Learning Insti-tute on the other hand focus-es a bit more on Inglewood and has gained a lot of mo-mentum for establishing a brighter community. The

2013 Fruit Tree Giveaway

Councilman Mike Stevens and a family at the Tree People’s monthly “Free Fruit Tree Giveaway” on January 25.

please see Tree People, page 10

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

February 2013 Morningside Park Chronicle Page 7

ARTSIT’STHE

By anne Cheek la Rose

By design, these build-ings herald the product sold inside. Theme architecture goes back to the 1920s. Back in the day, the retail landscape was dotted with the likes of giant coffee

cups, big oranges, and hot-dogs. Of course, the most fa-mous was the celebrity stud-ded eatery, the Brown Der-by. There were four Brown Derby locations and the last to be demolished was on

Theme Architecture in Inglewood

Foster’s Freeze on La Brea Avenue.

[ ANNE on ARCHITECTURE ]

Word for WordEmancipation and the Act of Writing written by Christopher Hager From the opening sentence to its final sentiment, Word by Word wastes no words stating clearly the importance of its topic: literacy and its paramount importance to knowing how to free oneself, remaining vigilant and under-standing the words of those whose only intent is to op-press others that they may live off their blood, sweat and toil. It was riveting to read, as early as the introduction, seemingly prescient revela-tions such as, “By writing out the clause in Article II that begins, ‘the president Shall be commander in chief of the

Army and navy of the united States,” he taught himself to spell ‘president.’” It would be a shame in this day and age were a writer imagining him- or herself to possess any sig-

By teka-laRk Fleming

I sat down with Michael Massenberg recently to dis-cuss his journey in the art world and art in Inglewood. According to Massenberg there were art studios on Warren Lane before there were art studios at the Bea-con Arts Building. There have always been artists on Inglewood’s West Boule-vard since at least the 1980s. Sadly, the art studios on Warren Lane are no more. Art often takes second fid-dle to more easily funded social service programs. Massenberg found his

“art” in Watts. He went to CSULB to study art, but ended up be-coming a business major. One of the last things he did before dropping out of CSULB as a senior was take a black studies class on art that was taught by Professor Silvers. Silvers taught an art class at the Watts Tower Arts Center where John Out-terbridge was the director. “When I did go [to the Watts Tower Arts Center] it was my first time going there. I was blown away, be-cause when I walked in I saw all these people who looked like me and I hear jazz and

they are all painting. I had to go to Long Beach to figure out this existed 10 minutes from my house,” he said. That was his last art class for eight years. One day in 1989 he took an encyclopedia to work and during his break he picked up a pencil began to draw a picture of the gym-nast Nadia Comaneci. It was first time he had done any art in eight years. “And I looked at that and said to myself I think I want to do this. They say don’t become an artist, be-cause you’ll starve and you won’t have any mon-ey and I thought I’m driving a shuttle van, I don’t have any money, and I had filed bankruptcy two years prior, so since I’m already at no

money I might as well do art,” he said. In the 1990s Otis Parsons, now Otis College of Art and Design, was in MacArthur Park. He decided to go there. He spent one year there. He got a grant to cover the tu-ition, but unfortunately pa-perwork and a counselor at Otis decided he wasn’t go-ing to get that grant. “I had already made a de-cision that I was going to do art. It was no ifs, ands or buts about it. I was enjoying art too much,” he summarized. Massenberg’s first show was at the Third World Art Festival, which was run by Cecil Ferguson, in 1990. To learn more about Mas-senberg’s art, please vis-it the website: michaelmas-senburg.daportfolio.com.

Michael Massenberg

Michael Massenberg, “L.A. Style,” painting and drawing on wood panel.

please see Theme, page 10

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 7

Feature Book Review

please see Word, page 9

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 8 February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Books

Postcards

Brochures

Magazines

Newsletters

Business Cards

and, of course,

NewspapersRD&F pRint | DesignRDFDesignWOOD@gmail.cOm

SACRAMENTO—Daniel K. Tabor, Tabor for Mayor 2010, and Krishna Tabor, Treasurer, were fined by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FP-PC) for violations regarding a “fail[ure] to timely file preelection statements” for the 2010 Inglewood munici-pal election. Tabor is again running for election in the 2013 municipal election. Daniel K. Tabor was a candidate for mayor of the City of Inglewood in the June 8, 2010, special elec-tion, the August 31, 2010, run-off election, the Novem-ber 2, 2010, general election, and the January 11, 2011, run-off election. “Tabor for Mayor 2010” was his candi-date-controlled committee, and Krishna Tabor was the committee’s treasurer. They failed to timely file pre-election statements for the March 18, 2010, through May 22, 2010, the July 1, 2010, through August 14,

2010, the August 15, 2010, through September 30, 2010, the October 1, 2010, through October 16, 2010, the October 17, 2010, through November 27, 2010, and the November 28, 2010, through December 25, 2010, reporting periods; failed to timely file a semi-annual statement for the May 23, 2010, through June 30, 2010, reporting period; and failed to file late contribution re-ports within 24 hours of re-ceiving nine late contribu-tions, totaling approximate-ly $29,500, between August 15, 2010, and January 10, 2011. The result was a $32,000 fine. Will Inglewood city clerk Yvonne Horton again accept a late statement from Tabor? Stay tuned to www.fppc.ca.gov (search: “Tabor”) for the answer. Calls to Inglewood city clerk Horton were not re-turned.

West 102nd Street: Your Block Rocks!

District 4’s West 102nd Street has a rich history that stretches west to Los Angeles Airport, north to Ladera Heights and centrally to city hall. Morningside Park says “Hello!” to the idyllic hillside charms of West 102nd Street!

“Everybody who is not me, SHUT UP! I have the floor, and everyone else is OUT OF ORDER!

Dinglewood!A look back to the good ol’ Dorn Days

Former Inglewood Mayor Danny K. Tabor files his 2013 District 1 council seat running papers at City Clerk Yvonne Horton’s office on January 7. He neither paid nor filed a statement for the 2013 election.

Danny K. Tabor Fined $32k by CA FPPC

Get on the Chronicle mailing list: blast@MPChronicle.net

February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 9

This book resonates in ma-ny ways. I was never a librar-ian, but I am a Brooklynite who to this day carries his Brooklyn Library Card—and will never forget cutting his newspaperman’s teeth on mob-sponsored community newspapers that remain well-fed to this day. And I am also a fan of the Dick Riordan L.A. Library and all its vaults, nooks and crannies. It is a bitter albeit hilarious, hateful yet hopeful, and bril-liant book for its insider dis-closure. Like teaching, work-ing at a library is a career that requires complete exposure to a volatile element that is

street life, gang members, rubber room rejects and all manner of danger—but pays remarkably little. In Scream at the Librarian, we get a dictionary of mental delinquents that helps one to understand just what really happens. It is scary, sad and bitter—but it may well be the last bit of limited art that one will be able to afford by a writer whose chapbook is il-lustrated by an artist whose work is found in most muse-ums of modern art on the west coast. The faux quarter-cloth, letter-set cover printing is a tangible aspect that makes the fingers tingle—

right before the brain screams as the miscreants of the street trickle into the library on 5th Street.

(softcover, letterset press, $5: Booklyn, 37 Greenpoint

Avenue, 4th FloorBrooklyn, NY 11222www.booklyn.org)

Scream at the Librarian written by Joel L Raneillustrated by Raymond Pettibon & Cristin Sheehan Sullivan

BOOK REVIEWS

A marijuana dispensary re-cently opened up in a space that was formerly a residen-tial garage. To this day it is only identified by the flores-cent green cross in its win-dow; there is no sign identi-fying the dispensary’s name. Nevertheless, a business li-cense search revealed that it is named Spectrum L.A. Located in the parking lot of F & M Market on the southwest corner of S. Van Ness Avenue and W. Arbor Vitae Street, it opened on November 4 with little fan-fare. Many neighbors have felt it is a nuisance but are fearful of approaching the city departments responsible for allowing and regulating the dispensary, feeling retali-ation could occur. “I had a county worker in here last month, and they have prevented further action until I can prove that the smell of pot is not mine. I told them that the problem is right around the corner but they didn’t believe me,” said one resident who requested anonymity for fear of repri-sal. The entire time the resi-dent explained the problem, the distinct smell of marijua-na remained strong in the outside afternoon air. It was prominent even on the Los Angeles side of Van Ness. One block away is St. Eu-gene’s Catholic School, which has daily classes for Kindergarten through 6th grade. Some students walk past the dispensary on their short walk home from school. The dispensary, however, was no surprise to the City of

Inglewood. The ordinance, number 08-19, acted on be-half of the Planning Com-mission of the City of Ingle-wood Resolution No. 1528 and dated July 2, 2008, was proposed by Planning Com-missioner George Dotson. In the resolution that the Plan-ning Commission approved and recommended to the city council was “the adoption of amendments to Chapter 12 (zoning) of the Inglewood Municipal Code to...permit inpatient dispensing and use of medical marijuana at hos-pitals and other long-term medical care facilities.” The resolution which al-lowed the marijuana dispen-sary that is causing signifi-cant problems for the resident with respect to lia-bility and L.A. County, goes on to state that “the proposed amendments will not consti-tute...or impose an arbitrary or unfair requirement on a few property owners.” One may well imagine that prop-erty owners having to con-tend with L.A. County offi-cials and perhaps being pushed to suppress an odor not of their causation but which limits their ability to live in peace, heaps “unfair requirements[s]” on a few property owners whose prox-imity to the drug den that Dotson allowed. According to his election website, Dotson was also on the Advisory Council of St. Eugene’s, the same church at which the schoolchildren who daily pass the marijuana dispensary also attend daily classes.

There is simply not enough space to fully discuss this su-perb book. As such, I’ll stick to basic points. Published in 1972, Bo-nacich and Goodman set out to document in significant detail the manner by which school desegregation was car-ried out in Inglewood Unified School District. At the time, there was a distinct paradigm change occurring regarding demographics in Inglewood,

and it provided a unique case study. What the authors noted back then has become vitally important today. Some of the very people who were start-ing out at IUSD as well as at city hall remain entrenched there today. Moreover, the radically religious nature that has been allowed to fester at IUSD—certain school board members no longer observe the separation of church and

state—means that IUSD has again become a focus of study, albeit for different rea-sons. But it is not a myopic view the authors present. Most ev-ery aspect of Inglewood is preserved from the time peri-od. It makes this title one I strongly suggest folks seek out and read.

(Praeger Publishers, 1972, 6” x 9”, 107 pp, hardcover)

Deadlock in School SegregationA Case Study of Inglewood, California written by Edna Bonacich & Robert F. Goodman

nificance yet to misspell such a mighty word as “President.” It bespeaks the importance of establishing and maintaining one’s writing (and reading) skills in the perpetual cam-paign to beat back the dark-ness of ignorance, corruption and oppression. The slave owners of the Deep South feared that black slaves learning to write would be “unsafe” and did all they could to prevent such lessons from occurring. Pub-licly, however, slave-owners attempted to declare that the slaves could not write owing to their innate biological infe-riority. Nevertheless, slaves did learn to write, and there are samples presented that negate both the slave-owners and the abolitionists perceptions.

(hardcover, $39.95: Harvard University Presswww.hup.harvard.edu)

Dotson’s Drug DenMarijuana dispensary on Van Ness was approved by Planning Commissioner George Dotson—in 2008

Spectrum L.A., on 9305 Van Ness Ave (at Arbor Vitae) in Inglewood, is located one block from a Catholic school that offers Kindergarten through grade 6.

Word, from pg. 7

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 10 February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

of nuts, seeds and dry beans per week. This is equivalent to two tablespoons of nuts or seeds, or 1/2-cup cooked dried beans.• Eat plenty of fish. Include at least three servings of fish a week, emphasizing cold-water fish such as wild Alaskan salmon and sardines, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Take fish-oil supplements if you cannot get enough omega-3-rich foods.• Take calcium and magne-sium. Inadequate intake of both of these minerals has been associated with high blood pressure. Women should get between 1,000 and 1,200 mg of calcium a day from all sources, while men need no more than 500-600 mg daily from all sources and probably do not need to supplement.• Take vitamin C. This antioxidant vitamin has been shown to lower blood pres-sure in people with mild to moderate hypertension.Exercise: Aerobic activity strengthens the heart, en-abling it to pump more blood with less pressure. Exercise

also helps maintain a healthy weight, reducing obesity which is a risk factor for high blood pressure. Aim for at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity each day. This may include walking, jogging, swimming or household chores like raking leaves, mowing the lawn or scrub-bing/mopping floors. If you are unable to do 30 minutes at one time, break activities into three 10 minute sessions and get the same benefit. Deep Breathing: Dr. Weil says, “If I had to limit my advice on healthier liv-ing to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly.” Deep breathing lowers blood pres-sure, increases energy levels, promotes better sleep, helps break down salt, promotes weight loss and relieves stress and tension. Deep breathing exercises can be done anywhere at any time. The goal is to slow your breathing to less than 10 breaths per minute. Inhale for six seconds, hold for 18 seconds, exhale for 12 sec-onds. Repeat 10 times, twice daily (try it upon rising and before bedtime).

Reduce Sodium: Most so-dium is consumed as sodium chloride, known as table salt. NHLBI recommends a daily sodium intake of 1 teaspoon or less. This includes sodium or salt found in processed foods (read labels), table salt added to foods, Kosher salt and sea salt. Keep your combined daily intake below 2300 milligrams. Use deep breathing twice daily to help break down and eliminate salt from your body. Limit Alcohol: For weight and blood pressure control, limit alcohol to one moderate drink daily for women, and two drinks daily for men. A drink is 12 ounces of beer, five ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 100 proof whiskey, etc. Quit Smoking: Smoking injures blood vessel walls and accelerates the hardening of arteries. This applies to filtered and unfiltered ciga-rettes. If you smoke, quit. If you don’t smoke, don’t start.Regular doctor’s visits, com-pliance with doctors’ orders, a heart healthy diet and common sense goes a long way in the fight against high blood pressure.

Diet, from pg. 5

get buried. Now I’m starting to see that happen the longer I cut hair,” Joe divulged. “As Hispanics, there are few leg-acies you can look up to for the young generation. I love to be a positive influence on the community, so I do things like offer free cuts to kids that bring in good report cards. It’s my way of giving back.” Both my grandfathers got their hair cut at Joe’s, and I have many friends who will only go there to get the work done. People from all over the community recognize

Joe’s as one of Inglewood’s greatest legacies. My fami-ly has gone there for gener-ations, and we all agree that the staff live up to the reputa-tion set down by the founder and namesake. For those Inglewood res-idents who have yet to vis-it, get a cut from Joe’s barber-shop and see for yourself: it’s a cut above! For more information, please visit the website at www.JoesBarberShopLAX.tumblr.com. One can al-so just call and drop in to get the work done now at (310) 674.3655.

Joe’s, from pg. 2

Fruit Tree Giveaway Festi-val can be seen as an exam-ple and used as a blueprint for other cities to create their own events similar to this one. They receive help from the mayor and Dis-trict 3 councilman Frank-

lin in a lot of the initiatives that they pass around the community. They have vol-unteers at Inglewood High School and try to coordi-nate as many events to plant trees as well as spark com-munity awareness when possible. One day and one tree at

a time the Tree People and Social Justice Learning In-stitute are helping make a big wave in and around In-glewood. If anyone is inter-ested in learning more about either group, visit their web-sites at www.treepeople.org and www.facebook.com/mySJLI.

Tree People, from pg. 6

city of Inglewood. Take, for example, the Organ-ic Soul Food Platter ($11 for half-plate, $15 for full). Comprised of yams, mac ‘n’ cheese, BBQ tofu, kale greens, black eyed peas, cornbread muffin, potato salad and coleslaw, this de-lectable meal won’t likely invoke memories of Grand-ma’s home cooking. But is it enjoyable? Absolutely! Stuff I Eat aims to re-cre-ate familiar dishes, not imi-tate them. The flavors are ro-bust and satisfying, but there is no doubt that what you have in front of you is filled with ingredients that feed the cells and nourish the body. The BBQ tofu is perfectly seasoned and not too spicy. The kale greens, black eyed peas and cornbread muffin are familiar, but not identical to the fare in other soul food restaurants. The vegan pota-to salad is delicious and fill-

ing. This food is a safe and delicious alternative for any-one who is ready for a life-style change to eating and living well. There are plenty of fresh vegetable juices, smoothies and assorted bottled drinks. Desserts are vegan, sug-ar free and made with pure and (some) organic ingredi-ents. If it’s sweets you crave, without the sugar and emp-ty calories, these fit the bill. I had the vegan banana pud-ding ($11) and found it to be as comforting and filling as any. For about $25 - $35, you can enjoy a tasty, guilt-free entrée, beverage and dessert at Stuff I Eat. The good you will do your body is worth every dime!

Stuff I Eat114 North Market StreetInglewood, CA 90301Parking: Metered • WiFi: NoAccepts: Cash, VISA and MastercardAttire: Casual

Stuff I Eat, from pg. 6

• • •Rhonda Kuykendall-Jabari is an Inglewood resident where she lives with her ‘tween’ son, Damani, and his father. She has a BA in Spiritual Healing and is certified as a Reiki Master Teacher and Holistic Health Practitioner. “Like” her page at www.facebook.com/wellness.uprising, or visit her on the web: www.wellnessuprising.com.

Wilshire in mid-city. Inglewood is fortunate to have perhaps the most rec-ognizable of LA’s theme ar-chitecture – Randy’s Donuts. Randy’s was originally one of 10 such places. There were two size donuts, one large (32 1/5’)—like Ran-dy’s Donuts on Manches-ter at the 405 freeway— and one somewhat smaller size (23’). Of the five remaining, Randy’s is the best known and certainly the most pho-tographed. Randy’s has been fea-tured in films, some being Get Shorty, Earth Girls are Easy, the currently running Iron Man 2 and many oth-er movies as well as a num-ber of MTV videos . It is al-so currently seen on TV in the Toyota commercial. Re-

member when the Shuttle was filmed being pulled by a Toyota truck across Man-chester? That’s the one. It may not be a theme building per se, but one can’t overlook the Brol-ly Hut located in Lockhav-en. They don’t sell umbrel-las, but the structure makes you smile—even if you’re a vegetarian. Inglewood has anoth-er icon. It’s small, very un-assuming and most of us drive by daily without notic-ing. It’s the original Foster’s Freeze on La Brea at 94th St, in the Arbor Village sec-tion. It was opened in 1949 and was the first retail loca-tion in the state of CA. Remember Ike and Tina Turner? Their studio was in Fairview Heights. The ad-dress is 1300 N. La Brea, an unimpressive white stuc-

co one-storey structure. But oh—the music that was made there! Just outside Inglewood, the Beach Boys Monument is on the Hawthorne side of the 105 Freeway. This is the site of the childhood home of Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson. The Beach Boys were responsible for giv-ing the world the Califor-nia Sound. To make the pil-grimage, take Prairie south, left on 120th Street, make a left again on Kornblum and go to the end of the street. Lastly there is the crown jewel of Inglewood, the Centinela Adobe. It is the birthplace of Inglewood and a great place to visit. I’ll be writing about the about the Adobe in a fu-ture edition of Morningside Park Chronicle, so be sure to never miss a single issue!

Foster’s, from pg. 7

LA. County D.A. for his in-volvement in a HUD scandal that found then-mayor Roo-sevelt Dorn guilty of embez-zlement. Dorn was the chair-man of the Redevelopment Agency responsible for the HUD scandal and the Osage Senior Villas approval. With such cost overruns as mentioned in the 30 March 2004 document titled “dda amendment 1” and such a vast shortage of basic materi-als that this journalist was al-lowed to photograph in de-tail, one wonders how it is that shorting residents of the senior citizen in a manner that certainly costs a good bit now—and could result in injury and death—where all the money went. There are no stove-top exhaust pipes over the stoves, the air con-ditioning/heating unit pipes

discharge into the bathtubs and there are no A/C vents in the hallways throughout the building. Councilman Mike Stevens, in whose district the Osage sits, has attempted numer-ous times to resolve the ma-ny safety and security prob-lems. His prime concern has been to have shower bars in-stalled. While investigating the shower bars—which were never installed despite the RDA and City of Inglewood officials approving the proj-ect at its “completion”—it was discovered that the bath-tubs were kits and not prop-erly built. As such, shower bars can not be installed with-out significant remodeling. It was just one more question of how “cost overruns” oc-curred but cheap and nonex-istent materials were marked on the blueprints and item-ized on the invoices that were paid off nearly decade ago.

Rusty Tubs, from pg. 1

February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 11

Angeles and Santa Moni-ca both enjoy a similar per-centage of property tax trans-fer rates,” said Butts. What the mayor failed to add was that long before either of the named municipalities in-creased their property trans-fer taxes was a growth in commerce, art and ameni-ties. Such has not been the case in Inglewood for sev-eral decades despite having the same planning commis-sioner, George Dotson. Ma-ny people have tried but city hall pols and staff have re-mained resistant to provid-ing the residents with any-thing other than little league baseball fields after receiv-ing hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. More-

over, the baseball fields and parks in which they sit are too often used by residents from Los Angeles as well as non-Inglewood teams. The people of Inglewood have made their collective voice heard, and that sound is their protest of being unfair-ly taxed by an administration that has squandered an ob-scene amount of taxes. In the past, Measure UUT, which was to go toward li-braries and parks, failed to prevent at least one library from closing—but it remains a tax that all Inglewood resi-dents pay. The latest attempt to tax residents, the 728% city increase in the Proper-ty Transfer Tax, was a pro-posal against which the res-idents of Inglewood rallied successfully to defeat.

Victory, from pg. 1

it was not until one of her per-formances at Laguna Beach Middle School when she de-cided to focus on music. The crowd was ecstatic, which in-spired her to pursue a career specifically in music. She started to take classes at De-lian Music and was soon spot-ted by musical songwriter and produce Kashif for her unique talents. He could re-late; his musical career took off at the age of 15 and can now be heard on releases by stars such as Kenny G and Whitney Houston. He guides her through her career and has helped her work with a vocal coach and attend the Holly-wood Academy of Music. The inspiration within Crystal is not only the musi-cal talents she possesses, but her persistence in reaching her goals. She recently sang the American National An-them at The Staples Cen-ter for a Los Angeles Lakers game (against the Utah Jazz) on Friday, January 25. How

she landed the gig is indica-tive of her persistence. Last summer, her men-tor Kashif suggested she sub-mit an application to sing the national anthem for the Lak-ers. She took it upon herself to look up the Lakers’ enter-tainment publicist and request an audition; she was reject-ed. The publicist responded that she would keep Crystal’s tape on file but that the team had booked all national an-them singers for the season. Prior to the Laker vs. Jazz game there was a cancella-tion, and the publicist con-tacted Crystal. She agreed but then her nerves went hay-wire. “This was the first time she was going to sing in front of 20,000 people,” said her mother. “She’s used to crowds of about 200 or so but this was the first time she sang for such a big crowd.” The performance went off without a hitch. “What makes this so re-warding was that I did this all on my own and that is what gave me my confidence when

I sang, that was also the best part, my confidence,” Chavis said after the performance. Despite her swell of suc-cess, Crystal still under-stands the importance of ed-ucation. She maintains a 3.6 GPA and retains an inter-est in sports such as volley-ball. She strengthens her tal-ents at the piano, guitar and keyboard, and has designed her own website. She hopes to pursue a major in music at Loyola Marymount Universi-ty. She loves her hometown—Inglewood!—and the great-er Los Angeles area in gen-eral. The message she would like to leave to the youth is to remember to pursue your dreams and to never let any-thing stand in your way. Crystal aims at inspiring young girls through her mu-sic, because the youth is what inspires her to pursue her mu-sical career and dreams. To find out more about this up-and-coming talent from Ingle-wood, please visit the website at www.crystalchavismusic.com.

Crystal, from pg. 1

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Now here is a tip that may keep some of your money in your pocket when you bet. Once you get your program of the races, check the race that you are betting on to see if the horses in the race are

of different ages. If so, you might consider betting on the horse of older age with a top jockey riding it. Have a good time at the races this year. Be sure to bet with your head and not your heart—unless you just love that horse’s name!

Jockeys, from pg. 5

work of the MLK campus and provide a more holistic approach to health care. The plan recommends a new health park and a series of connected community gar-dens, safe pedestrian walk-ways, and recreational facili-ties to promote wellness and physical activity. It promotes access to healthier food op-tions and includes space for retail. It also increases ac-cess to public transportation.

“I am thrilled with the pas-sage of this master plan,” said the Supervisor. “It is our goal to bring a complete and comprehensive network of services—not just a hospi-tal—to South Los Angeles. The planning process was in-tense and intensive, but it was well worth it. This document will serve as a guide for many years to come as we bring top-notch services to a community that has long waited for quality care.

Supervisors, from pg. 4by participating in their local government. Before this we would have gone to jail—or worse!—attempting to affect change in our local govern-ment. Next, let’s discuss how taking an active role in the governing of this city has benefited you, the residents of the greater Morningside Park area. One of the most important things you can do to make a difference—besides vot-ing—is to come to council meetings when items of im-portance to you are brought before the city council. When constituents come to the council and comment on agenda items, we on the city council pay attention. On that note, I want to thank everyone who came to the council meetings this past month to make their voice heard and speak truth to power! Together we successfully defeated the attempt to place a 728% increase in the Property Transfer Tax on the April ballot. With respect to Ingle-wood’s Residential Sound Insulation (RSI) program, it is very possible Inglewood would still be doing land acquisition, clearing the land, and selling the vacant land to developers instead of sound-insulating our homes.

More than a decade ago, the residents went to council meetings with me. We demanded that Mayor Dorn and the council use the noise mitigation funds for a sound insulation program, and we now have more than 4,000 homes sound-insulated. Unfortunately the Inglewood RSI program has been slow and inefficient since 2003. I’ve pushed, prodded and begged for information, met with many government and sound insulation company officials, and spent countless hours discussing problems in the program with many of you. I’ve found the city has been failing to file required grant reports since 2006, has had exorbitantly high per-home sound insulation costs, and that sound insulation funding to the City of Inglewood has been cut off by Los Angeles and the FAA. Being docile and thinking if we ask real nice or kiss up to the right government official isn’t going to get most of our homes sound insulated. I need your help now! Many more of us are going to have to make it very well known we are upset about the lack of progress. We as a group are going to have to raise our voices and demand our Mayor James Butts, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and our ranking member of the House

Financial Services committee Congresswoman Maxine Waters get this City of Inglewood Sound Insulation Program and its respective funding back on track. I urge you to support our commu-nity’s efforts and write letters to all three aforementioned elected officials. Here are the addresses of the representatives to which to write:

James T. ButtsOne Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90301Mayor@CityofInglewood.org or call (310) 412-5300

Antonio Villaraigosa200 North Spring St. L.A., CA 90012 (213) 978-0600 (213) 978-0721 mayor@lacity.org

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, 10124 S. Broadway, Suite 1, Los Angeles, CA 90003. (323) 757-8900

If all residents work together—those inside and outside the “noise contour”—we’ll have an even better Morningside Park community! Wishing all of you the very best!

Sincerely,Councilman Mike Stevens

Vigilance, from pg. 4

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 12 February 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Paid for by Committee to re-elect Councilman Mike Stevens 2013

On April 2, vote for our children’s future. Re-elect Councilman Mike Stevens!

Happy Birthday, Mother Cooper!

above: Councilman Stevens with Valentine’s Day Baby, Ms. Gwen Cooper, who will be 100 on February 14, 2013. Stevens successfully advocated for grab bars in the bathrooms at Osage Senior Villas.

District 1 Councilman Mike Stevens is working to make a better Inglewood for our children.

Residential Sound Insulation ProgramTo save our children from air quality-related health issues like asthma and autism as well as to provide the peace of mind required to focus on their studies, Stevens has fought tirelessly for many years to get houses sound-insulated and air-conditioned.

Crenshaw Light Rail CrossingsStevens has spent significant time performing outreach to his constituents as well as MTA and CPUC representatives. He has written and presented seven Council Initiatives to the mayor and city council for approval in an on-going campaign to get the dangerous street-level LAX/Crenshaw Light Rail crossings—which are close to schools, churches and parks—placed below grade in Inglewood.

www.CouncilmanMikeStevens.com