March 1, 2013 Issue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dining with RhondaSHEILA’S FAMOUS TACOS .......................................page 6

Anne on Architecture..page 7

Book Reviews ........ page 7 & 9

D E P A R T M E N T S

contents

Inglewood Blackhawks Nat’l Champs—Again!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2Team Victory Muy Thai Kick boxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2Tabor E-mails Reveal Contradictions in Darby and Rogers Park Funds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3Inglewood Teachers in Stratosphere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4Mark Ridley-Thomas Helps a Fruit Tree Grove Grow near Inglewood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 4Dotsilla vs Inglewood I-Spy looks into the past to predict the future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5Randy’s Donuts are indeed the greatest! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6Market Street Historic Buildings survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7Dotson’s Monstrous Plan to Bring 6000+ More Cars to Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

By Teka-Lark FLeming

Bright Stars Reading Club was founded by teacher Ter-ri Norwood. I popped by Bright Stars Reading Club 9th anniversary party at the Four Points by Sheraton in Culver City on February 9. Children were laughing in pajamas and reading books with friends. “The pajama/teddy bear theme was an idea I had in the past, so it was time to make it happen. My goal is to help children and parents understand that reading re-ally is fun, “ said Terri Nor-wood. Norwood is also a 20-year veteran from the classroom. She is an award-winning teacher having garnered an Excellence in Teaching by the Inglewood Unified Su-

perintendent. “I find that fantasies are the best genre to engage younger children because anything can happen in a fantasy,” said Ms. Norwood.

Fantasy books tended to be one of the favorite genres of the young Inglelites.

“Inglelites” is a term coined by Morningside Park resi-dent Jeanette Parish. It plays

on the term socialite. “At Bright Stars we use various genres to make read-ing fun. We also reinforce vocabulary and comprehen-

L.A. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ Courageous Effort to Save JobsBy randaLL FLeming

This Monday, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas stepped up to strongly protest what was the last chance to save 600 union jobs at Hollywood Park Casino. “I’m here today to simply say that the worker-retention ordinance for the city of Ingle-wood ought to be the order of the day,” said Ridley-Thomas. Unfortunately, Ridley-Thomas’ demands were not heard by the Inglewood city council. The Tuesday night vote ended in a 4-1 approval of the new casino owner be-ing accepted with having to agree to a worker retention clause. Only Mike Stevens of District 1 voted against the mayor’s demand to allow the new operator to be licensed without the clause. The mayor has had am-ple time to attend the matter. The new operator, Eric Swal-low, visited city hall in Octo-ber 2012 and spoke to elect-ed officials about the impend-

ing change. A notice dated January 2 and required by the state to be disclosed no few-er than 90 days prior to a ma-jor layoff notice was sent to the mayor and all district city council members from Holly-wood Park Casino.

In the notice, which was sent via the State of Califor-nia’s Employment Develop-ment Division (EDD), it was prominently noted that “[a]s a result of [Hollywood Park Casino’s] cessation of oper-

Mayor Butts Lobbies Against Union Workers Mayor in Sacramento lobbying on behalf of new casino operatorBy randaLL FLeming

Monday morning found a plethora of city coun-cil members, union work-ers and Inglewood residents on the lawn of city hall lawn to protest this week’s Cali-fornia Gaming Commission consideration to allow the new operator of Hollywood Park Casino, LAX Proper-ty, a permanent operating li-cense. There was one person missing, however. James T. Butts was in Sacramen-to lobbying on behalf of the new casino operator’s own-er, Eric Swallow. Calls to the mayor’s office on Monday morning were answered by the mayor’s executive assistant, Melanie McDade. McDade refused to con-firm that the mayor was in

Bright Stars Reading Club Bursts Out

Shining a light on literacy: Bright Stars Reading Club’s founder and director Terri Norwood (in yellow shirt) stands behind her kids—literally and figuratively.

please see Casino, page 10 please see Betrayal, page 11

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas at Inglewood city hall last Monday morn-ing. At the following day’s city council meeting only District 1 councilman Mike Stevens voted for the worker retention requirement.

Ithe

morningside parkchronicleVol. 2, No. 3 B Informing Inglewood and the community March 1, 2013B

www.Morningside-ParkChronicle.com

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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

Bakewell’s

Big Boo-boo

— page 9 —

please see Bright Star, page 8

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Morningside Park Chronicle March 1, 2013

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

No, we can’t “get along.” I was raised in Inglewood, California. My community is Morningside Park. It is middle class. I’m not going to apolo-

gize for that. I’m not going to apologize for the media’s por-trayal of my community. That portrayal is based largely in the fact that Inglewood was integrated in the 1970s—which was after Montgomery, Alabama was integrated. That is the long way of me saying it’s based in racism. I understand that some parts of Inglewood have more chal-lenges. Some parts of downtown L.A., Echo Park and Hol-lywood have some challenges too. I’m not going to apologize for calling people who use the term “urban” cowards. If by “urban” you mean black, then say “black.” I’m not going to apologize for being insulted by people who call my community the “inner city.” Morningside Park looks just like Fullerton in the O.C., or Silver Lake. It is primary black and while we’re not record executives or millionaires, I’m not sure why black people who are middle class can’t be newspaper publishers and school teachers. Why, in order for black people to be viewed as mid-dle class, must we own a $2 million house and possess five college degrees? I don’t get why some black people have this perspective. I’m not going to let people who aren’t from here and won’t live here and would like to bulldoze it for profit—under the guise of “black pride”—destroy my neighborhood. At least not without at a strong verbal protest. I am not going to be quiet while developers and their friends continue to slap up big box stores and others continue to use the poverty narrative to destroy the reputation of my commu-nity for their own selfish gain. I don’t want to get along with people who don’t like me. I don’t want to get along with people who want to exploit me. I don’t want to work with people who want to keep things as they are. I’m tired of business as usual. I came back to Inglewood, because I saw stars in the horizon. I saw a small group of people who aren’t in love with old Inglewood and aren’t tools of the post-old Inglewood whose strings are being pulled from Bradbury, Ladera Heights and Playa Vista. So no, we can’t “get along.” I’m never going to “get along” with people who have no respect for me. I am not going “get along” on my knees for anything—and certainly not to pay people to continue stealing from me.

Teka-Lark Fleming

A word from the publisher

By Anne Cheek LA Rose

Our hometown, Minor League football team has do-ne it again! In December, the Ingle-wood Blackhawks defeated the unbeaten California Raiders with a 44-24 score in the 2012 National Foot-ball Events/Western Football News National Champion-ship Game. This game gave the Blackhawks their 39th straight victory. It also made the Inglewood Blackhawks back-to-back National Champs. In 2011, the Blackhawks defeated the New York Pred-ators (34-31) in Deland, Florida, for the National Championship. The Blackhawks finished this season with a 17-0 re-cord. Our team has not lost a game since October 2010, and their record stands at an amazing 48-1. In addition to being undefeated this season, the Blackhawks broke the national scoring record (903 points). Not content to rest on their laurels, on 16 February, 12 new players were signed.

Among them, are proven champs Marques Kelley, a defensive standout, and All American Mark Anderson. These two have been nation-al champions before, when they played for the Foothill Firehawks. Adding to the luster is To-ny Reid. Early February brought word that Tony was selected by the writers and voters of the LCFL as 2012 Owner and Coach of the Year. This is the first time in league history that an owner has won both awards in the same year. This achievement marks the sixth time that Re-id has been named Owner of the Year. More good news came to

Inglewood in February when Tony Reid accepted the title of Head Coach at Inglewood High School. He is sure to work his magic with the In-glewood Sentinels on the field in coming seasons. The Blackhawks go into the 2013 season being 10-time Conference Champs, 5-time League Champs, and 3-time National Champions. To celebrate and support the Blackhawks, get a “Three-Peat” Championship t-shirt for $10 by calling the team office at 323-297-3248. Catch all the latest news on the team’s website, www.blackhawkfootball.com, and follow them on Facebook.

Inglewood Blackhawks Now Back-to-Back National Champs

Publisher Teka-Lark [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief Randall [email protected]

Design and Production: RD & F [email protected]

Lead Writer: Gerald Morales

Contributors: Birtram BirtranIra HardenRhonda Kuykendall-Jabari Ann Cheek La RoseDavid Newman Wanjiku Stella NgigiMike Stevens

By GeRALd MoRALes

Team Victory Muy Thai Kick boxing has found a home in Inglewood at 957 S. La Brea Blvd. It is easy to find as it is located next to the classic Googie architec-tural building Foster’s Freeze. Humble, hardworking and passionate aptly describes owner Rod Mckiver as well as the philosophy he pro-motes to those who train at his gym. The same type of vibes can be felt when one enters a Team Victory train-ing session. All the members maintain deft concentration and are clearly focused on their training regimen. Team Victory is proud to have a place available to the community and its youth. The studio opened three

years ago and the number of members have grown signif-icantly since then. Mckiver originally ran his events at a local church called Victory Outreach. The program was dedicated to hosting Muy Thai kick box-ing for the youth who attend-ed the ministry. As Victory Outreach grew

he started to notice there was potential to turn this into something more. He decided to open up a gym and dedi-cate it towards reaching out to the area youth. Discipline is the main at-tribute Mckiver wishes to teach at the gym. The stu-

Victory in InglewoodDiscipline in many forms is instilled at training studio

The trophy wall at Team Victory Muy Thai Kick boxing studio; in the mir-rors below it, one can see the training sessions.

Spotlight on Local Business

please see Muy Thai, page 10

Morningside Park Chronicle/MPCPost Office Box 2155 • Inglewood CA 90305

Display Advertising Sales: [email protected] General Line: (424) 261-3019


March 1, 2013

March 1, 2013


Morningside Park Chronicle

letters readersfromour

Dear Teka-Lark Fleming and Gerald Morales, Thank you so much for your interest in interviewing me and including my national anthem in your February edi-tion. I am so honored and for-ever grateful! Gerald Morales is a won-derful interviewer!

-Crystal Chavis • • •

Dear editor, Hard hitting news is what we need. We get nothing on TV that tells the real story.Please don’t listen to those people. The public needs to hear

the truth no matter what.-Divinity Warmsley

• • •Dear editor, Re: Bill Overton’s book— Yes! I have documented and continue to document the bias of mainstream media, meaning white-owned media toward black people and oth-er people of color. Make sure you attend this photo exhibit where I will be speaking to the issue of main-stream medias biased report-ing on events involving black and other people of color, and the difficulty minority owned media has being able to doc-

ument equally news coverage of an event even when the news event is about people of color.

-Haywood Galbreath“My Choice of Weapons” is Mr. Galbreath’s photo exhibit, which will show

at the Museum of African American Art, 4005

Crenshaw Boulevard, Los Angeles. It opens April 24.

The Morningside Park Chron-icle welcomes readers’ 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.

A Dr. Seuss Triptych!Bring the family and join us for these three great programs:

• Dr. Seuss Puppet ShowSaturday, March 2 at 11:30 a.m.

• Dr. Seuss Pajama Rama StorytimeWednesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m.

• Family Movie based on a Dr. Seuss bookThursday, March 7 at 4:00 p.m.

All three programs are at the Inglewood Public Library, 101 W. Manchester Blvd. Inglewood, 90301 • (310) 412-5645

Afrofuturism Film Festival An intellectual event for adults:

March 2: Adventures in Sonic Fictionfeaturing Sun Ra’s Space is the Place (1974), a music video variety pack of P-Funk, Michael Jackson, Shabazz Palaces and Janelle Monae

***Special Guest Star: USC’s Sophia Azeb will share a few thoughts on Sun Ra and Egypt***

March 9: Alternate Black HistoriesIvan Dixon’s The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973)Haile Gerima’s Sankofa (1993)Guest Star TBDFor more info, please e-mail [email protected]

The Afrofuturism series takes place every Saturday at 10:45 a.m. in March at the Gladys Waddingham Lecture Hall, Ingle-wood Public Library, 101 W. Man-chester Blvd. Inglewood, 90301 • (310) 412-5645

El Camino College’s Black College Fair Learn about transfer agreements for: Albany State, Cheney State University, Clark Atlanta Uni-versity, Dillard University, Fisk University, Hampton University, Howard University, Morehouse College, Johnson C. Smith University, Spelman College and Talladega College.

Thursday, March 7 from 10 a.m until 1 p.m. on the Library Lawn 16007 Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance 90506

“Voices of the Past”A Look Back Into Our Pastfeaturing Singer and actress Toni MaloneWed., March 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Gladys Waddingham Lecture HallInglewood Main Library, 101 W. Manchester, Inglewood 90301

Southeast Symphony’s Broadway LegacyJoin us for a gala concert celebrat-ing Southeast Symphony’s 65 years of presenting outstanding orchestral music. The Southeast Symphony will explore and celebrate the contribution black performers and composers have made on Broadway.Sunday, March 17 at 3:30 p.m. at Faithful Central Bible Church, 321 N. Eucalyptus Ave., Inglewood, 90301www.southeastsymphony.org

Inglewood Community Calendar

MPC, P.O. Box 2155, Inglewood CA 90305or via e-mail at: [email protected]

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

Clip this coupon for

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one dozen donuts

By randaLL FLeming

Danny K. Tabor’s claims to be the person responsi-ble for the managing the trust fund meant to refurbish lit-tle league parks at Darby and Rogers Parks appear to be true. The claims were made by Tabor, on videotape, a few months after Sportsman Little League (SLL) president Der-rick Anthony Brown publicly proclaimed at a city council meeting that he and he alone was responsible for such de-cisions. Tabor is presently a candi-date for Inglewood District 1 council seat, and was brief-ly the mayor of Inglewood a few years ago. The funds were briefly overseen by the City of Ingle-wood via a trust fund said to be set up by Getty Oil for the sale of the Renaissance gated community a few years ago. In a January interview, Brown boldly boasted that Tabor had nothing to do with the non-profit-based enti-ty. His comments were in re-sponse to an article that re-vealed Tabor’s claims regard-ing personal responsibility for the funds’ management. The Morningside Park Chronicle has recently ac-quired a batch of e-mail sent from Tabor to City of Ingle-wood employees, Sportsman Little League (SLL) president Derrick Anthony Brown—aka Derrick Meridian—and various contractors with the City of Inglewood. The e-mails were sent by Tabor to several city person-nel and contractors personal-ly involved with the re-build-ing of the little league base-ball parks at Darby and Rog-

ers Parks, for the express pur-pose of being used by SLL. Many of Tabor’s e-mails have prompted a wider con-cern regarding his respon-sibility of misappropriated funds as well as city person-nel, equipment and material parts. The e-mails also appear to significantly contest Brown’s assertions. According to the many pag-es of e-mails, Brown’s singu-lar involvement in the affair appears to be little more than assuring the L.A. County Health Department approved minor aspects of the baseball field at Darby Park. Earlier reports of the pos-sible misappropriations and people responsible for such funds’ diversion prompted a series of contentions among those allegedly responsible, and appeared to have prompt-ed threats of violence aimed at the publisher of this news-paper. In January, Brown took it upon himself to make repeat-ed comments to Chronicle publisher Teka-Lark Flem-ing that were construed to be death threats. The comments were captured on a digital video camera immediately following an interview Flem-ing had conducted at Brown’s restaurant, Bourbon Street Fish. A selection of the e-mails can be viewed by scanning the QR code below or at http://bit.ly/ing01mpc

Tabor E-mails May Prove Foul Fiscal Plays at ParksD-1 candidate Danny Tabor’s missives clearly contradict SLL president’s volatile assertions

One of the many e-mails which Danny Tabor sent out regarding the on-go-ing dispute regarding the $200k trust fund that Sportsman Little League acquired and during which Inglewood city funds, equipment and personnel may have been misused.



Airport noise is indicative of poisonous 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 [email protected] and include the date, time, direction and general area. Anonymity is guaranteed, and there is no need to leave any identifying information.

Del Aire Park, located near the I-105 and 1-405 junction in an oft-forgotten section of the county, was in desperate need of a face-lift. John Koppelman, Del Aire Neighborhood Associa-tion president, would walk through the park and be-moan the dim lighting, muddy and patchy grass, its tiny community room and

“scary” bathrooms. Now Koppelman and oth-er residents can be proud. A beautiful new park has tak-en root, complete with a $4 million renovation of its community building, gym, baseball field and outdoor areas with better lighting, new bathrooms and a groundbreaking civic art project—California’s first public fruit park. Led by Los Angeles Coun-ty Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas, in partnership with the county Arts Commission, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the artists collaborative Fallen Fruit, the park has become a show-case for “edible art.” It is a new type of community park—one that harkens back to the old days of California ranchos and orchards and

that offers a sense of home for all the neighbors. Fallen Fruit, founded by artists David Burns, Mathias Viegener and Austin Young, planted 27 fruit trees, eight grape vines, dwarf lemons and rosemary in Del Aire and 60 fruit trees were giv-en away to local residents. The plantings are too young to yield fruit, but within a few more seasons, they should bring forth plenty to harvest. Residents will be able to enjoy plums and peaches in the summer, pomegranate and persim-mon in the fall, lemons, or-anges and kumquats in the winter. The artists hope that nature’s bounty will encour-age sharing and local pride. “Generosity brings gener-osity,” said Young. The edible art project is an example of what Chair-man Ridley-Thomas seeks to establish throughout his district. Neighborhood in-volvement is the key to cre-ating stronger community ties, he said. “We took advantage of an opportunity to think cre-atively about community wellbeing, health and sus-tainability through what one might consider “edible art,”

said Chairman Ridley-Thomas. “I believe that community gardens and farmers markets are truly the town centers of thriving communities.” Nine-year-old Aaron Lu-by, who was getting ready to zoom along the park in his Razor, said he was very pleased to have a surplus of fruit readily available. “This is good,” he said.

“If we have a shortage of fruit, we still have it at the park.” In a moving ceremony, the flag pole at the park was dedicated to a fallen soldier, Specialist Daniel Patrick Cagle, who died shortly af-ter his 22nd birthday in 2007 while on duty in Iraq. Daniel grew up in Del Aire and would often come to the park to play, said his mother Gail Johnson. “This is a very bittersweet experience,” she said. “Dan-iel used to play in this park. I am sure he would feel very humbled by this. We feel very honored that the com-munity would embrace him and his service.” As for, Koppelman, well, he couldn’t be happier. “I’m overwhelmed,” he said. “We have a homerun!”

Del Aire’s Public Fruit OrchardSupervisor Ridley-Thomas helps more than a tree grow near Inglewood

By GeRALd MoRALes

Ira Harden and Vicente Washington never thought they would fly in the strato-sphere as a result of being a teacher. The Inglewood teachers took part in a program NASA and the German Aerospace Center coordinated in order to enrich their student’s edu-cation. This program allowed teachers to join scientists on real missions aboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, also known as SOFIA, which is an astronomy observatory in the clouds. It was titled the Airborne Astronomy Ambas-sadors program and only a handful on teachers were se-lected to take part in the mis-sion. Mr. Vicente Washington is a retired U.S. Navy Officer and Commander. He com-pleted his undergraduate de-gree in math and engineering. Mr. Ira Harden graduated from Howard University in Washington DC. He studied chemistry and landed a teach-ing position four years ago. During the weekend of February 12, the teachers

ventured into the stratosphere above Palmdale. This jetliner was equipped with a 100-inch-diameter telescope in order to study the forma-tion of stars and planets, in-terstellar chemistry, asteroids and planets. While in space, Washington and Harden ob-served black holes in the Milky Way’s center. The men took two flights, one lasting 11 hours and the other 10. The application process was a highly competitive one. Eighty teams applied na-tionwide; only 13 were se-lected for the program. The teachers were required to describe what they would do with their space program-based observations to in-crease their students’ science literacy. One message both teachers strive to convey to their stu-dents is to envision some-thing beyond their immediate environment. “The world is a big place, but if students put their minds toward achieving a goal, anything is attain-able,” said Washington. The men plan on coordinat-ing a community outreach sometime in June.

Inglewood Teachers in the Stratosphere

Ira Harden and Vicente Washington contemplate plans to go into space.

By mike STevenS, Inglewood CounCIl MeMBer, dIstrICt 1

As the April District 1 Council Seat elections draw closer, I’ve spent some time contemplating the many responsibilities of being your Councilman. Being charged with representing your interests in council sessions, being a strong advocate for my com-munity, and working hard to get District 1 cleaned up (and keep it that way)—as well as the other duties and responsibilities—are challenges I enjoy. I have been told by many of my supporters that they feel I’ve

been successful during the brief time I have been in office. I am grateful that they are appreciative of the work, and feel that together we can all maintain our civic pride in District 1 and Inglewood in general. The most rewarding part of being your Councilman, however, is helping those in need. I have learned that personal community outreach has helped me gain a reputation among the administrative staff of being the member of the council most helpful to residents in need. It is an honor to know that, but it is often not shared what happens when such

personal outreach is engaged. So I’m going to share two recent events where being a Councilman gave me access to means or influence to help

Lending a helping hand

Inglewood District 1 council member Mike Stevens

please see Stories, page 11

[ GREETINGS from MIKE ]

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March 1, 2013



by Birtram Birtran

Hoof BeatsLIMITED

The time is here where the trainers are preparing their horses for the Kentucky Derby in the month of May. Since the horses can’t talk and tell the trainer when they are feeling good or bad, the trainer needs methods to check on the condition of the animal. They use blood-work to figure out if the horse is getting the care they need to become stronger or getting enough oxygen in their blood to run the gruel-ing race of that fateful day. Some trainers will not only train their horses by running them but also by swimming them in a training pool made especially for the horse. They will also train for the type of race that they were bred for. Horses are bred for differ-ent distances, different types of track and even for different types of weather. All horses have a best way of running their type of race. Some like to speed from the gate and go as fast as they can as long as they can and some like to start out slow

and finish as fast as they can at the end of the race. Because of this mentality of the horse, some handicap-pers believe that the pace of the race makes the race. This is the reason that train-ers will always try to place their horse in a race with horses possessing different handicaps so as to give their own horse(s) the best ad-vantage to win the race. An example of that is when a trainer will try to place his speed from the gate type of a horse with those horses who like to start slow from the gate. If all the horses in the race are slow starters with only one or two horses that are speeders, the slow or plodder type horses will not be able to catch up with the speed unless two or more of the horses are speeders who will run them-selves out before they reach the finish line. Handicap-pers will find this type of information about the horse from papers like the Daily Racing Form. If you want to learn to

handicap a race, you must learn the relative hiero-glyphics of the Daily Rac-ing Form’s “Past Perfor-mance Explanation.” It is not printed in every form but it may be found if you visit the Web site, www.DRF.com. If you don’t wish to learn all this information but still want to play the horses, you can avail yourself to the in-formation given by profes-sional Touts, people who make their living by selling information to their steady clients. These professionals will try to give you a horse that will give you the best odds of the day for your money so as to keep you as a cus-tomer. Be aware that all handicappers have their bad days and their good days of

Essential oils are to plants what blood and oxygen are to humans. The scientific name is “oleo-gum-resins.” Comprised of tiny molecules, essential oils travel easily through plant tis-sue and into the cells. They deliver nutrition information and carry waste products out. Just as hormones regulate growth in the human body, essential oils regulate growth in plant organ-isms. Like enzymes that boost the human immune system and combat germs and disease, essential oils are the basis for a plant’s immune system. Scientists at Tufts University devel-oped a scale for the US Department of Agriculture called the ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) score. The ORAC score tells us the ability of a particular food or oil to destroy free radicals. The higher the ORAC score, the greater the ability to retard aging and prevent cancer and other dis-eases. Interestingly, ORAC scores for essential oils are often much higher than those for super foods. Used properly, essential oils are non-toxic, harmless to human tissue and promote healing. They penetrate the Blood-Brain-Barrier, a network of blood vessels with closely spaced cells that makes it difficult for potentially toxic substances (such as anticancer drugs) to penetrate the blood vessel walls and enter the brain. This makes a convincing argument for the efficacy of aromatherapy. When diffused or used topically, essential oils enter through the olfactory system, cross the Blood-Brain-Barrier and work with the Central Nervous Sys-tem to promote healing. They communicate with a part of the brain that cannot be communicated to with spoken or written language. It only comprehends and responds to smell. Essential oils can be diffused, applied topically or taken orally (only where specifically stated). Oil burners are very popular but not recommended for essential oils because the heat changes the properties and diminishes the therapeutic effect. Diffusers break down the molecules and disburse them into the air without the use of heat, thus preserving the thera-peutic value of the oils. Essential oils are also great for mixing household cleaning aids. A few drops of lemon essential oil eliminates the mildew smell of clothes left in the laundry for too long. Add peppermint essential oil to your shampoo or conditioner for stimulate the scalp. If you like cleaning with vinegar but hate the smell, add lavender essential oil to calm the odor. Do not confuse essential oils with fragrance oils. Essen-tial oils are 100% natural and are extracted from the flow-ers, leaves, stems, bark or root of plants. They may be used therapeutically in physical applications and for psychological effects. Fragrance oils are synthetic and have no therapeutic value. Because fragrance oils are less volatile than essential oils, the scents last much longer. As a test, put a drop of the oil on paper. Pure essential oil will disappear without a trace. Fra-grance oils will usually leave an oily residue. Both fragrance oils and essential oils may be used to scent perfumes and body care products so read the label to know what you are getting. A few inexpensive, basic, multi-purpose essential oils like lemon, peppermint and lavender are a good start for beginners. To read the doTERRA recommends (101 uses), please see the Web site www.doterraeveryday.com/101-uses.

General Contraindications to Essential Oils Essential oils are highly concentrated and very potent. One drop of peppermint oil is the equivalent of 28 cups of pep-permint tea. Essential oils are 50 to 70 times more powerful

Introduction to Essential Oils

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

please see Aromatherapy, page 10Ii-Spy...For documents regarding who signed what and what will be done with Hollywood Park Tomorrow, scan the QR code or visit the Web site at:

please see Forms, page 11

http://bit.ly/HPING

• • •Rhonda Kuykendall-Jabari is a Morningside Park 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.

Dotsillavs Inglewood

Morningside Park Chronicle February 2013

By rhonda kuykendaLL-Jabari

Sheila’s Famous Ta-cos and Sandwiches opened about four years ago. Through many ups and downs, the unassum-ing, self-named ‘food stand,’ continues to serve a grow-ing audience. Look for the sidewalk sign near the cor-ner of Manchester and Ci-marron. Sheila’s tacos are deli-cious! She puts lots of love and pride in every one and serves it up with a beautiful smile. They are handmade to order and may be incon-

sistent in content. Ingredi-ents in the vegetarian ta-cos may or may not include dried cranberries, beans, on-ions, carrots, feta cheese, to-matoes, cucumbers and let-tuce. She runs a daily spe-cial on turkey tacos, three for $7, and this includes a canned soda. Not a bad deal for handmade with fresh in-gredients. Sheila also makes sandwiches and turkey chili. The turkey and beef tacos are made with fresh ground meat, mango and peach sal-sa, sour cream, chopped on-ions, cucumbers and cilan-

Sheila’s Famous Tacos & Sandwiches

[ DINING with RHONDA ]

please see Sheila’s, page 11

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

Randy’s Donuts is Ingle-wood’s arguably most fa-mous landmark and is a man-datory stop for Los Angeles tourists. This establishment has proudly been in service for over 60 years and there appears to be no end in sight of the succulent donuts. When people think of Los Angeles one tourist attraction that always comes to mind is “The Big Donut” located in Inglewood. Tourists can be seen taking pictures out-side of Randy’s. The drive-through window and walk-up line are always packed with customers. And what brings them all is not so much the great donut on top but the yummy ones inside. There is also the story of how the Big Donut wound up in Inglewood. The building has been here since 1952. It has been known as Randy’s since 1976. Larry Weintraub and his brother, Ron, are co-owners of the shop—and they have loved every sec-ond of working at the land-mark. Originally Ron worked at the location and the owner at

the time (who happens to be a cousin to the brothers) was selling Randy’s, the brothers decided to invest into the es-tablishment. But the big question peo-ple raise is: “How did Ran-dy’s Donuts get its name?” One would think one of the brother’s names was Ran-dy, but that clearly is not the case. It turns out the origi-nal owner’s son was named Randy, thus the namesake. After the acquisition, the brothers decided they would keep the name Randy’s and work on developing a reputa-tion already established rep-

utation. The architectural design is one of the primary rea-sons why Randy’s is so fa-mous. The type of design is called programmatic or nov-elty architecture, which is the definition for a build-ing shaped in the form of the product being sold or adver-tised. Novelty architecture was prominent in the ear-ly portion of the twentieth century but died down half-way through the 20th centu-ry. Randy’s Donuts is one of the last pieces of novelty ar-chitecture in the Los Angeles area.

The Iconic Randy’s Donuts

The iconic Randy’s Donuts Donut.

please see Randy’s, page 10


If you see this sign, you know the good tacos are not far behind.

February 2013 Morningside Park Chronicle

ARTSIT’STHE

[ ANNE on ARCHITECTURE ]

By anne Cheek La roSe

In Spring of 2000, Ingle-wood commissioned an his-toric survey of Market Street. The purpose was to identi-fy individual structures of historical significance and to determine the potential for an historic district proj-ect. Using the National Reg-ister of Historic Places Cri-teria for Evaluation, each structure was looked at with regard to its historic signifi-cance locally, regionally and nationally. For structures to qualify, they need to be at least 50 years old, meet at least one National Register Criteria within their histor-ic context and have retained their integrity. Market Street, La Brea Av-enue and Locust Street—from Florence Avenue to Hillcrest Boulevard—was the project area. One hundred and twelve buildings were surveyed; of these, 47 were deemed to have historic po-tential. We will concentrate on the eight deemed to have National Register potential. 170 N. La Brea was origi-nally the Citizens Savings Bank, built in 1921-1922. It is notable due to its associ-ation with early commercial

development in Inglewood. It is now a Chinese restau-rant.320 S. La Brea built in 1948 as Sparkling Cleaners. This is a fine example of Post-War late Moderne style.3. 330 E Manchester is the Bank of America and a very good example of PWA Mod-erne built in 1948. The struc-ture next door at 320 was re-modeled in 1954 to be part of the bank.100 N. Market was the Bank of Inglewood built in 1927. It is a beautiful example of Mediterranean Revival style. In 1936 the building was sold to Bank of America Na-tional Trust and Savings. For several years it has been a bookstore.

115 N. Market, the Fox Theatre, is the only struc-ture included on the Nation-al Register of Historic Places and is the focus of the “Save the FOX” campaign by the Inglewood Historic Preser-vation Alliance. This fine ex-ample of the late Modern style movie theatre was built in 1949 on the site of the Granada Theatre from 1921.200-204 S. Market is cur-rently Cox Menswear, but was constructed in the Streamline Moderne style so popular in the late 1930s as Scotty’s Men’s Shop.233-239 S Market, the S H Kress Variety Store built in 1927, is eligible due to its as-sociation with the chain store

Market Street Historic Buildings

100 N. Market Street, formerly the Bank of Inglewood, is now a book store.


please see Market St., page 8

Page 7

Sharing the PrizeThe Economics of the Civil Rights Revolution in the American South written by Gavin Wright Sadly, the economic en-gine of Inglewood’s city hall is poverty porn. Worse, it is by design and engineered by a few people whose intent is to profit from it even as they purport to be working for the very people they exploit, people who by a grander de-sign were historically ex-ploited overtly for centuries and in the last several de-cades remain exploited in a far subtler fashion. What does all this have to do with Sharing the Prize? Quite a bit Wright reaches back to the formative years of the Civil Rights movement so deeply as to purposely usurp the very term “Civil Rights”—and for good reason. Such a premise is sure to frighten many people—chief among them the pur-veyors of poverty who prof-it from pretending to grant

“power to the people”—in South L.A. Why undo a term such as

“Civil Rights”? is not the question, however, but why did the economic aspect of genuine economy in the U.S. seem to get ignored from the beginning? Before it was known as the Civil Rights movement, the push was for economic equality, a push that extend-ed to education and which remains a problem with In-glewood Unified School District and its many finan-cial scandals and recent de-velopments by Inglewood pols who have chosen to re-place well-paying, long-term union jobs with low-wage, part-time positions. In Sharing the Prize, Wright dissects the many

problems regarding why Civil Rights require an eco-nomic and educational base. The phrase is one that subtly sabotages what was originally meant as a cam-paign to acquire jobs, edu-cation and freedom. The problem these days—and then—is that the economic and education goals set forth by the Movement and Martin Luther King, Jr., have been obscured in a fashion meant to make black people appear to be prone to poverty and crime. The result is one that ben-efits those who set up non-profits ostensibly meant to help such people—especial-ly in cities nationally known for having significant popu-lations of black people re-gardless of their significant economic and educational status. In present-day Inglewood, we are experiencing a dearth of such possibilities that have been engineered by people who have profited from understanding what Wright has written.

($35.00: Harvard University Press/

Belknap Press, hardcover, 368 pages)

Feature Book Review

please see ?, page ?


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2013

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Books

Postcards

Brochures

Magazines

Newsletters

Business Cards

and, of course,

NewspapersRD&F pRint | [email protected]

Planning Commish George Dotson has rallied his years-long desire to make Holly-wood Park Tomorrow a real-ity for fellow developers ea-gerly awaiting a revenue windfall that will amount to hundreds of millions of dol-lars within a few short years of the project’s completion. The plans for the new Hol-lywood Park were reinvigo-rated at the Inglewood city council meeting of February 12. The big problem—one that the Dotson-chaired Plan-ning Commission has to date evaded addressing—is the traffic mitigation. Resolution #1667 for Case No. FTM 069906-01 was passed, ap-proved and adopted on Janu-ary 2, and the matter signed off by Dotson According to city manager Artie Fields’ description in a letter dated February 12 re-garding the Final Tract Map No. 69906-01, “[t]he Holly-wood Park Specific Plan consists of the redevelop-ment of the approximately 234-acre project site and in-cludes demolition of the ex-isting Hollywood Park race-track/grandstand, the rehabil-itation of the 120,000 square-foot Pavilion/Casino gaming facility, and con-struction of a new mixed-use development that contains approximately 2,995 dwell-ing units, 620,000 square feet of retail space, 75 ,000 square feet of office/com-mercial space, an optional 300-room hotel, 10,000 square feet of community serving uses, a private swim club, and a 25-acre park sys-tem with passive and active recreational opportunities, within four parks with one additional private pool. As

part of the project an approx-imately 4-acre site was dedi-cated to the City for a public/civic use.” In a report from the mayor printed in a recent edition of Inglewood Today and sum-ming up the project, “Once completed, [Hollywood Park Tomorrow] should yield be-tween 2500-3000 jobs, 650,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space, and 2500 single family homes.” What is not mentioned and has prompted at least one city council discussion on Hollywood Park project to be set aside is the significant increase in traffic, pollution and road damage that such an influx of thousands of new residents and service job employees will introduce to an already over-whelmed thoroughfare. Residents of Inglewood will bear the burden of greatly increased traffic on an already overburdened Century Boulevard. The streets, which have for sev-eral years have been ne-glected despite significant county funds, will continue to crumble under the added duress. And the sweetheart deals that have allowed both sides of Century Boule-vard’s poorly planned shop-ping centers and adjacent parking lots west of Cren-shaw will bear little to no taxes to help mitigate the re-markable traffic, pollution and other unforeseen prob-lems resulting significant residential property devel-opment without adequate street improvements. Calls and e-mails to Plan-ning Commissioner chair-man George Dotson were not returned.

The Renaissance is a recently built, gated community in Inglewood. The site, formerly owned by Getty Oil, it is now the site of more than 350 town homes cozily arranged on an approximately 43-acre plot squeezed between Darby Park and Hollywood Park. The Renaissance was a project built by Watt devel-opers, among others, and is said to be the largest new housing development in Inglewood since the 1980s —as well as a favorite residential destination for many New Orleans, LA transplants.

Century Boulevard bears the years of road rash and scarred tarmac as a direct result of Century Village shoppers’ traffic and no funds from the developers to fix the streets that feed the consumers to the stores.

Dotson Plans to Bring 6,000+ More Cars to Century Blvd.Promises of vast new retail tracts, jobs and apartments fail to mention taxes, road repair and traffic mitigation

concept of merchandising developed in the 1920s. Cal-ifornia was a significant ar-ea for Kress. The first store opened in San Diego in 1918 and by 1928, there were 28 stores statewide.330 E. Queen has been the home of the Chamber of Commerce since construc-tion in 1948. It is a distinc-tive example of Post-War ar-

chitecture and one of the fin-est examples remaining in Inglewood.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour of the architec-tural treasures of Market Street and La Brea Avenue. With the coming of the MTA Light Rail, it is hoped that these gems of our early his-tory will be saved and not fall victim to wholesale new development.

Market St., from pg. 7

Scribner Lane, Renaissance: Your Block Rocks!

sion development,” said Ms. Norwood with excitement. Classes are $20 per ses-sion. Etiquette classes are al-so in the works. For more in-formation, please visit www.brightstarsreadingclub.com. Bright Stars Reading Club is on 714 E Manches-ter Blvd., Inglewood, 90301. (310) 673-7323

Bright Stars, from pg. 1

March 1, 2013



Part auto-biography, part history and part confession, Raising Hell is a book that starts out a bit slow but very quickly picks up as it traces the dynamic life of tried-and-true activist Najee Ali. Starting out in Gary, IN and jumping back and forth be-tween Los Angeles and his hometown, Ali eventual-ly settles down and divulges a series of harrowing tales in which he has come to be in-volved. From the Michael Jackson trial, to the unjustified mur-ders of Latasha Harlins and Sherrice Iverson, to the 1992 L.A. riots and much, much more, Ali’s page-turning tales

are raw and insightful. Perhaps the most signifi-cant one for residents of In-glewood is the chapter titled “Danny Bakewell Sr. & Pov-erty Pimping.” Bakewell is the CEO of the possibly largest minori-ty-owned real estate develop-ment firm on the west coast. With his questionably ob-tained wealth—which he con-tinues to maintain via con-tracts with the Inglewood Unified School District—he is also a person whose behav-ior and diatribes tends to in-volve violence and libel. When Bakewell attempt-ed to sue the New Times, a cir-ca 1990s weekly L.A. news-

paper, the result was shock-ing. Bakewell was quick-ly SLAPPed (Strategic Law-suit Against Public Participa-tion) owing to the obvious at-tempt to quell discussion of his poverty-pimping machine. Bakewell was immediately or-dered to pay the weekly news-paper $25k for the litigation

Raising Hell: A Life of Activism written by Najee Ali

BOOK REVIEWS

L.A. Sentinel newspaper owner and Bakewell Com-pany principal Danny J. Bakewell has flip-flopped on his formal decision regarding the sales tax known as Prop-osition A while offering up a questionable excuse regard-ing the odd reversal. In the Sentinel’s February 21 edition, a half-page col-or ad on page 2 formally ad-monished readers to “Vote NO [on] Proposition A.” The following day, an “editori-al correction” was posted on the newspaper’s site. The re-traction colorfully admon-ished readers to “Vote YES! on PROPOSITION A.” In the retraction, Bakewell claims the printed endorse-ment to vote “No” was an “editorial mistake.” With a staff of several ed-itors to his weekly newspa-pers—the Sentinel also owns the L.A. Watts Times/Week-ender, and also induces oth-er area “news”papers to re-print its articles—questions abound how such an “edito-rial mistake” made it through the heavy vetting process. Prop A is the half-cent sales tax increase for the City of Los Angeles. A num-ber of real estate develop-ers backing Proposition A are doing so after having con-vinced the L.A. city council to drop a documentary trans-fer tax proposal that would have directly affected de-velopers’ profits. Addition-al Prop A support has come from a political action com-mittee representing the Cal-ifornia Association of Real-tors. In an L.A. Times arti-cle dated January 26, both AEG and J.H. Snyder have recently relied on the L.A. city council for the approv-al of significant development projects, and both develop-ers have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into pro-moting Proposition A. AEG had their downtown football stadium approved in 2012. The J.H. Snyder co-owned 3150 Wilshire, a re-al estate company, received nearly $18 million from the city for two residential tow-

ers in Herb Wesson’s district. Herb Wesson has publicly defended the dismissal of the documentary transfer tax and was the author of the Prop A sales tax that the real estate developers have backed. According to InsideBayAr-ea.com, in an article by Staff Writer Rick Orlov and dated November 13, 2012, “Wes-son insisted that dropping the documentary transfer tax proposal was not the result of lobbying by the real estate industry, but rather practical politics.” The Daily News summa-rized it succinctly when in a January 25 article, staff writ-er Dakota Smith wrote, “The contributions come months after the real estate indus-try successfully killed a pro-posed real estate tax ballot measure. Instead, they con-vinced the City Council to put a citywide sales tax in-crease on the ballot.” Bakewell, whose person-al residences include a home in the hills above Pasade-na, a house in Santa Barba-ra and a 373-acre ranch in Lompoc, CA, has apparently joined other high-profile real estate developers in pushing for Proposition A by publish-ing a retraction in the on-line version. According to a June 4, 2009 article in the San Fran-cisco Bay View, Bakewell is the owner of “one of the na-tion’s oldest and largest Af-rican-American owned and operated real estate develop-ment companies,” Bakewell Company. In a May 23, 2004 article

please see Flip-flop, page 11

If the world is any way up-side down, it may be owed to one’s preconception laid down from maps–and by proxy, those who chart, print and distribute them. To know this is to understand that one’s purview is not at all personal or unique, but very carefully, er, mapped. In the December 12, 2012 edition of the Wall Street Journal, it was recognized that “[a]mong cartographic misfirings, the disaster of Apple Maps is rather minor, and may even have resulted in some happy accidents—in the same way that Christo-pher Columbus discovered America when he was aim-ing for somewhere more eastern and exotic.”

And so it is that Sean Rob-erts’ fine title, Printing A Mediterranean World, is a book that may seem a spe-cialist effort—but it is one that will change the way you look at your world, the world and worldly ways. Like language, cartography is pervasive to the point of not being seen even as it is a staple on which we rely with every step, every utterance and every thought. Moreover, maps, in conjunction with the emergence of movable type and the greater printing press, was what helped certain cul-tures spread their influence over the raw power of others. As Roberts aptly puts it: “This seemingly extraordi-nary circumstance was made

possible thanks to the emer-gence of an enterprising Re-naissance print culture in a world still significantly with-out borders between East and West that modern readers have come to take for grant-ed.” To not have this title in one’s library is to fail to un-derstand one’s own perspec-tive from the ground up. In Printing... Roberts explains exactly why we should not ignore the history of maps. Replete with a wonderful number of maps and illustra-tions, it is a staple in under-standing our world.

($49.95: Harvard University Press,

2013, hardcover, 336 pages)

Printing A Mediterranean WorldFlorence, Constantinople and the Renaissance of Geography written by Sean Roberts

Bakewell’s Big Boo-booLocal developer turned “news”paper owner flip-flops on Prop A sales tax

In the world of real newspaper-men, “NO” means “know.”

Don’t be a victim of VOTER FRAUD!

This election...

“Election fraud...usually involves absentee or mail ballots.” -Paul Gronke, Director of Early Voting Information Center.

If you believe someone has tampered with your voter registration affidavit, report it to the California Election Fraud Investigation Unit at

(916) 657-2166 or (800) 815-2666Be sure to request the Voter Fraud Protection Handbook or download it from:

www.sos.ca.gov/elections/vfph-2009.pdf

please see Hell, page 11



dents and trainers come to-gether as a family. Many at-tend school, go to work or manage both in addition to training together. Mckiver teaches them the importance of managing their time and being disciplined to reach all of their goals in Muy Thai Kick boxing and be-yond. Inglewood is now on the map in the boxing world. UFC fighters visit the Team Victory Gym to hone their skills from time to time. Bobby Greens, Reuben Du-ran and a few others have trained with the Inglewood locals. This gym offers genu-

ine training that can be de-scribed in the fighting world as “Raw,” the result being that it has attracted many no-table fighters. Inglewood locals and graduates from Inglewood High School such as Rene Jovel and Jay Alvarez train under Mckiver and repre-sent Team Victory. Jay is the local champion and holds the record 9-2 thus far in his career. There are ma-ny fights coming in the near future such as one on March 2 at the Pomona Fair Grounds and another right here in Inglewood at Holly-wood Park and Casino on March 16. Mckiver just wants Team

Victory to be a place for any-one to learn how to fight, build friendships and man-age relationships with others. He has a genuine desire for all his students to walk away with some type of valuable life lesson once they leave. “This sport is amazing and it can change your life. I want this gym to be a lighthouse for boys and girls to find a safe haven and to explore all possibilities in life. I do this for Jesus Christ and for the people,” Mckiver declared. To stay updated with Team Victory, please visit the stu-dio’s Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pages/TEAM-VICTORY/ 116151528403628.

Muy Thai, from pg. 2

ations, HPC will lay off...ap-proximately 600 employees.” Despite promises to recon-sider hiring veteran employ-ees, LAX Property “has re-fused to guarantee that it will keep any of the 600 workers.” Absent were the mayor—

who was in Sacramento lob-bying on behalf of the opera-tor and against decent-paying jobs in Inglewood (see side-bar on page 1) and Eloy Mo-rales, Jr. The newly licensed oper-ator has held two recent job fairs to ostensibly re-hire cur-rent casino workers. Union employees who have attend-ed the job fairs have related further concerns that the job fairs are just smoke and mir-rors for what is believed to be a campaign to replace union jobs with low-paid, part-time personnel. “Hollywood Park Casino is one of the few sources of de-cent jobs in Inglewood,” said Pamela Smith, a 17-year ca-sino employee and long-time Inglewood resident. “I have a mortgage. I’m looking to our elected leaders to help.” At the February 5 city coun-cil meeting, Butts removed the agenda item regarding the new casino operator’s employment policy. The chambers were filled with Unite Here Local 11 members. “[DR-1] has been removed from the agenda,” Butts de-clared within moments of the meeting’s opening. Agenda item DR-1, pre-sented by city manager Artie Fields, signed by Michael

Falkow and represented by a significant 10-page docu-ment reviewed and approved by city attorney Cal Saunders, allowed for the layoff of all casino workers. The mayor then interrupt-ed a speaker to demand mem-bers of the public leave the 9th floor.

“Everyone who doesn’t have a chair, we have a over-flow room on the first floor. Regulations require everyone have a seat.” City employees loyal to the mayor appeared to have no sympathy for those whose jobs will be replaced by low-wage workers. “If you’re in such bad shape you can’t go anywhere else and get a job, no wonder the company wants to get rid of you,” said long-time chair-man of the Inglewood Parks and Recreation Commission Willie Agee. Agee has gone on the re-cord nearly every week for a few years commenting on how great a job the mayor has and is doing. In the wake of the ex-it standing-room-only crowd, fewer than 10 remained. At the February 26 city council meeting, it was deter-mined that there was no lon-ger enough time to consider alternatives. The many months during which the matter could have been addressed, the union jobs saved and the city not held hostage for the $3.8 mil-lion promised by a casino op-erator who stands to make tens of millions, was not tak-en into account publicly.

Casino, from pg. 1

than herbs. While there are no known side effects, there are some general and medi-cal contraindications. If you are under a doctor’s care or

on prescription medications, consult with a professional aromatherapist and also make your doctor aware BEFORE use. Space limitations prevent me from detailing the many

aspects made graciously available by West Coast Institute of Aromatherapy. For the complete list of general contraindications, please visit www.westcoast-aromatherapy.com.

Aromatherapy, from pg. 5

I had the opportunity to talk to Larry one on one and he was nothing but open and welcoming. He loves interact-ing with customers and talk-ing to everyone who comes to indulge in a donut, locals and tourists alike. He has a friendly attitude and genuine love to put a smile on peo-ple’s faces and this gives a good representation to both Inglewood and Los Ange-les. I asked him what was the best thing about working at Randy’s, he replied “One of the best things about the job is talking to people and in-teracting with all the custom-ers that come out of their way just to pay us a visit. I like talking to people and mak-ing them happy by either talking to them or just serv-ing a good donut.” Larry is such a wholesome member of the community and some-one to take note from since he is willing to always meet, talk and help people no mat-ter where they are from. He is open to helping and in-forming anyone that comes to him with questions. Larry has helped students complete projects for school, reporters (and local journalists) gain information for stories and filmmakers take shots for up-coming movies. Randy’s has been featured in movies such

as Mars Attacks!, 2012 and Iron Man 2. Beyond mov-ies the Big Donut has made look-alike appearances in TV shows such as The Simp-sons and video games like Need For Speed: Most Want-ed. The brothers probably never thought the investment they made would make such an impact on popular cul-ture and media the way it has over the years, they probably just thought they would be responsible for adding a few pounds on locals and noth-ing more. The Donut making pro-cess takes a little less than half an hour. Larry and his crew have established a reg-ular routine every morn-ing to get ready for the dai-ly batch. He arrives at 4 in the morning every day to help prepare for the coming hours. Randy’s Donuts is not limited to donuts alone. This place also serves fan-cies, which include cinna-mon rolls, apple fritters, bear claws and many oth-er fancy treats. In addition they also make cookies, ba-gels, muffins and serve cof-fee. Ask about the coffee flavor of the day and warm your body while you treat yourself to a donut or pastry. The very affordable pric-es make Randy’s so much more appealing to regu-lars since their prices are in-

comparable. Larry’s favor-ites are the apple fritters and buttermilk bars, but he ad-mits he likes all the donuts he makes. He jokingly add-ed that he still enjoys a good donut every now and then, but he has cut back in recent years even if it is hard to show. Larry says the most popular donut is the old fashion glazed donuts. Randy’s is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so feel free to pass on by to get a donut, pastry or memorabil-ia from one of Inglewood’s greatest landmarks. During holidays customers can al-so pick up special donuts to celebrate with their family and friends. This past Valen-tine’s Day the special donut had red and white sprinkles and the popular candy hearts on top. If there was ever an excuse to get donuts its on holidays to try the unique donuts Larry, Ron and the team make just for the cus-tomers. Randy’s Donuts is located 805 West Manchester Ave-nue in Inglewood CA 90301. If you can’t find that gi-ant donut off the 405 at the Manchester exit, just call! 310.645.4707. Be sure to browse Randy’s website http://randys-do-nuts.com and add them on Facebook www.facebook.com/randysdonuts.

Randy’s, from pg. 6

Get on the Chronicle mailing list:

[email protected]

Regarding the new Hollywood Park casino operator, Butts declared, “[W]e should be embracing Mr. Swallow.”

March 1, 2013



Sacramento, stating that she “did not give out the [his] schedule.” Also absent from the late morning event on the city hall lawn was District 3 council member Eloy Mo-rales, Jr. Speaking to the workers

facing imminent job loss District 4 council mem-ber Franklin courageously promised protesters that he would “be at the forefront!” By Tuesday evening, Franklin appeared to have forgotten his earnest state-ment when he voted “Yes” for a casino contract without a works’ retention clause.

Betrayal, from pg. 1

costs incurred to defend them-selves against his frivolous lawsuit. (The publisher even-tually accepted a settlement of $20k so as to not have to waste time pursuing payment.) The fallout among area ac-tivists was harsh. Ted Hayes was quoted as saying, “You gotta put out a press release and show the $20,000 check -- that should give courage to other news-papers to say what is going on, and to finally ask: For all the charity money Bakewell is getting, why is the black community just as poor?” Having worked with Ted Hayes—and saddened by the decision he had to make re-garding the Domes, which I also photographed being re-moved all those years ago—

I can almost hear him saying that in exactly that fashion. Ali goes on to conclude that “Bakewell finally coughed up $20,000, but in so do-ing he provided a disquiet-ing glimpse into how he runs the Crusade, a nonprofit that takes in about $2 million in donations annually and doles it out via grants that are sup-posed to help turn around mi-nority communities.” Such an act does not appear unusual for Bakewell, seeing as he is a real estate developer whose recent flip-flop regard-ing the Prop A sales tax—which was conceived and fi-nancially backed by real es-tate developers and will re-ly primarily on residents of Los Angeles. Instead of pay-ing the New Times, the enti-ty Bakewell targeted for al-leged libel, the real estate mo-

gul used the charity money ostensibly meant for bringing black people out of poverty. Of course, the only per-son who appears to have ris-en out of poverty from that charity money is Bakewell, who has chosen to build and own massive houses in afflu-ent enclaves known for be-ing havens for narrow demo-graphics. Ali’s chapter on Bakewell’s behavior is significant, but it is one of many intriguing chapters. And Raising Hell is by no means a comprehensive history of black activism in southern California—but it is a significant volume, and one which sits high on my shelf of Los Angeles history.

($19.99: www.najeeali.comOctober 2012 • 204 pagesISBN 978-0-9834856-9-8)

Hell, from pg. 9

in the L.A. Times, Bakewell was asked by journalist Mi-chael T. Jarvis, “Will you continue to be involved with real estate development? Could that pose a potential conflict for a newspaper pub-lisher?” Bakewell answered, “I don’t see it at all. I’m even surprised by the question. I don’t think I’ll be acting any differently than the publisher of the L.A. Times or the Dai-ly News.” The L.A. Times and the

Daily News have maintained their published endorsements to Vote “No” on Prop A. Bakewell is the former chair of the The National Newspaper Publishers As-sociation (NNPA) as well as chair of the Black Press of America. Both organi-zations regularly confer a number of annual awards to Bakewell’s newspaper staff at the Bakewell Company-owned L.A. Sentinel. Calls and e-mails to Bakewell at both the Senti-nel and Bakewell Company were not returned.some residents in need.

The story of Tony Davis is one such tale. Davis has been in Inglewood for decades. As a youth he experienced legal trouble and as result and served time. Once out he was not able to obtain a job and eventually became homeless. Over the years he became involved in several volunteer activities, assisting with the Salvation Army’s free meal program and working with youth sports leagues. I met Tony soon after being elected and would oc-casionally give him money for food. A few weeks before this past Christmas I came to the realization I was enabling Tony’s home-lessness by simply giving him money. The next time I ran into Tony I sat him on the tailgate of my truck and told him no more handouts until he gets his ID. I gave him a five-day deadline to do so. He was inspired and quickly found an odd job painting some stairs, which earned him enough money

to get a CA state ID the following Friday. I gave him some money and set the next goal for him: get temporary state assistance. Less than a week later Tony had housing assistance and a place to stay for Christmas. Not long after that I set the goal of him getting a job. Within two weeks, Tony found a job as a dishwasher for a local restaurant on Mar-ket Street through a contact he volunteered with at the Salvation Army. Currently he stays in an apartment I helped him find, has retained the dishwashing job, and is gradually rehabilitating. I imagine that in another three to six months will be ready to seek an office job. The second story is about Leticia Greer. She recently moved to Inglewood from the Eastern United States with her four children. She gets federal housing as-sistance and had transferred the assistance to her new Inglewood rental home. Unfortunately a gap in assistance occurred and her and her family were going to be separated for five days over Christmas. Three family

members were slated to stay in one homeless shelter and the other two in another. The family had exhausted their savings moving to California. An angel who manages the Inglewood Housing Department, Ms. Angie Pacheco, paid out of her own pocket at least one night’s stay for the Greer family in a hotel, and alerted me to the situation. I was able to get five more days’ stay donated by the owners of a local hotel, and arranged for food to be donated from a local grocery store. The Greer family was able to enjoy the 2012 Christmas together and they moved into their new home a few days later. These are but two of the dozens of instances where your District 1 Councilman has been able to help residents over the past 18 months, providing a firm guiding and helping hand to those in need in Inglewood.

Warmest Regards

Councilman Mike StevensDistrict One

Stories, from pg. 4

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Flip-flop, from pg. 9

tro. Again, all of these in-gredients may or may not be available and included in your order. If you enjoy delicious, ad-venturous, freshly made foods, you will love Shei-la’s tacos. They are a free-flowing good time for your taste buds, and constantly changing. If you’re a stick-ler for conformity, this is not the place for you. Even if you order the same dish, it may be prepared different-

ly each time. It’s not hard to become a fan of Sheila’s Fa-mous Tacos; just give them a try. The average wait time is 20-30 minutes. Call ahead if you’re in a hurry.

Sheila’s Famous Tacos2108 Manchester Avenue(323) 377-4286Los Angeles, CA 90047Parking: LotWiFi: NoAccepts Cash and ATM DebitAttire: Casual

Sheila’s, from pg. 6

handicapping, and with that in mind, you need to estab-lish yourself a bankroll to last you over a period of time to recoup your losses and give yourself a chance to catch a race where the horse wins with great odds or an exotic type of race to make great profits. As a bet-tor, you always hope to win but you must be prepared to

lose. As the saying goes, never play with money that you can’t afford to lose. This game at best is a gamble. You want to have fun with this game and look forward to catching a horse who runs first second or third and who will pay you a profit when it finishes in one of those posi-tions. For example, if you bet a horse across the board, you will have to spend a minimum of $6.00 dollars.

$2.00 to win , place and show. In order for you to make a profit in that race, the horse has to pay more than $6.00 to show. Of course if he wins and pays more than $6.00 to show, he will have paid more that three times that much to win. Have fun playing and be sure to play with your head and not your heart—unless you just LOVE that horse’s name!

Forms, from pg. 5



Paid for by Service Employees International Union Local 721 CTW, CLC State & Local Committee.

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

Councilman Stevens supports MARINELLO’S

COSMETOLOGY TRAINING SCHOOL

Councilman Stevens being thanked by Marinello’s staff and students for his assistance to their school. (from left) Ms Montee Benjamin, Khalia, Lahysa Greene, Ms. D, Marilyn Gilbert, VP Bev Yourstone, CMS,

Director Aiadzienne Johnson, Monique, Adore, Crystal Massey, Brea and Jennifer

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.

http://CouncilmanMikeStevens.com

Councilman Mike Stevens believes in training schools such as Marinello’s. He has been working with LAUSD and their East Los Angeles Skills Center

to duplicate their Utilities Linesman /Powerline Mechanic, Photovoltaics Solar Panel and Residential Construction classes at a location in or near Inglewood.

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March 1, 2013 Issue

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Transcript of March 1, 2013 Issue