December 6, 2013 Edition

Publisher’s NoteThat’s not rain .......................................page 2

Dining with Rhonda: Tottino’s Pizza .......................................page 4

Cooking w/ Sweet Rice Tea: Sweet & Spicy Mixed Nuts w/ Dried Cranberries .......................................page 4

Los Angeles Tragedy: Odysseus Bostick’s NEW COLUMN! .......................................page 6

Rhonda’s Wellness Corner Soothing bath soaks .......................................page 7

Community Calendar .......................................page 7

D E P A R T M E N T S

contentsI Spy... more money—but not for any of you!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

Are “new” Forum jobs just pie in the sky?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2Friends of Inglewood Library’s annual meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3City attorney Cal P. Saunders to resign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3City map of “art” excludes entire district . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5Literary Night at War-ren Lane Elementary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 5L.A. Poet WANDA COLE-MAN passes at age 67. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

By Randall Fleming

Residents of Inglewood are being bamboozled by reports that imply a new round of Residential Sound Insulation (RSI) funds have been made available from Los An-geles World Airports (LAWA). The reality is that the funds were approved in 2005 and rescinded a year later in 2006. The recent hype regard-ing an Inglewood con-gresswoman, Maxine Wa-ters, and Inglewood’s mayor, James T., Butts, having allegedly acquiring a new round of RSI fund-ing is big news in the newspaper owned by Butts’ paid political con-

sultant, Willie Brown. The reality, however, was quickly clarified by Nancy Castles, P.R., Di-rector at LAX/LAWA. Reached by e-mail days after Waters’ announce-ment, Castles stated that

“the $7.07 million grant was originally authorized on Feb. 22, 2005, and...rescinded about a year later.” The “7.07 million” to which Castles referred was the same funding that both Butts and Waters have repeatedly implied is newly awarded to Ingle-wood residents. What neither Butts nor Waters would say, however, is that $2 million of those funds were already spent in 2006—five years before

Butts became mayor. According to the letter of agreement that both Butts and Waters an-nounced in late November,

“In 2006, Inglewood re-quested $7.07 million in GIP 6 from LAWA. LA-WA delivered the first in-stallment of $2.07 million to Inglewood. The remain-

$7 Million RSI BamboozleAre Mayor Butts and Maxine Waters pulling the wool over residents’ eyes?

Ithe

morningside parkchronicleVol. 2, No. 20 B Informing Inglewood and the community December 6, 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

Mayor a no-show at

Hostage Situation

— see page 3 —

City’s Mystery Position Pays $73,000.00Despite layoffs, mayor has approved top spot Inglewood is stuck in a structural deficit. The city is in a financial tailspin. Despite years of employee furloughs and farming out former union jobs, the city council continues to give itself an annual raise and the mayor hands out gold-en parachutes to employ-ees with just a few years of service. In October, the mayor and city council ap-proved a “new position” with no job description and a huge pay rate. Why did the may-or, James T. Butts, and the city council approve a $73,000 position that has yet to be defined? And could it already be filled by a person that In-glewood’s city manag-er, Artie Fields, refuses to discuss? That position is the “Se-nior Community Affairs

Warren Lane Gets New Address, Huge Makeover by CommunityFriends of Morningside High School sound bell to beautify school

By Teka-laRk Fleming

The beautification of the christened Inglewood Uni-fied School District (IUSD) Warren Lane at the former Daniel Freeman School was a resounding success. Students, IUSD Direc-tor Tom Chan, D-1 coun-cil member George Dotson,

Warren Lane Principal Jes-sicka Mears, teachers, IPD Senior Lead Officer Nicole Loudermilk, Delores Min-er of the Inglewood Rota-ry Club and the very ac-tive Friends of Morning-side High School (Friends of MHS) were all on hand to refurbish the school. “We’ve been working

with Warren Lane for five years, we have ice cream socials and we’ve helped set up the library,” said Dolores Miner, Inglewood Rotary Club. The cornerstone of any community is its public school; what a bright cor-ner Warren Lane is for In-glewood!

Councilman Dotson joins Principal Jessicka Mears, IUSD Executive Tom Chan and staff, Warren Lane parents and students, members of the Friends of MHS Alumni Group and IUSD administrators to beau-tify and repaint the inner quad and hallways of Warren Lane School on November 16.

please see Mystery, page 7

please see Bamboozle, page 7

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Guess which city council got a raise!

Page 2 of the November 14, BOAC agreement shows that newly touted $7.07 million RSI funds were approved in 2005.

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To see the letter which has all the details from the 2005 “agreement,” regarding this

story, please scan the QR code below or visit:

MorningsideParkChronicle.com

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 2 December 6 2013

That’s not rain In what world is less than 2% of 15,000 people being hired a “success?” There is nothing great about 15,000 peo-ple lining up around the block in the rain

and before the sun rises to wait for hours for the faint possibil-ity of apparent seasonal employment. The last time that such a scene was played out was in the Great Depression. Thisisn’taslamatMadisonSquareGarden’s(MSG)Forum.Inglewoodisn’tachildandtheForumisn’t“daddy.”It’snotMSG’sresponsibilitytofixcityhall’sdysfunctions. When 15,000 people come to your city seeking work in the rainandit is impliedtheyareresidents, it isn’tsomethingtobrag about. Why would anyone want to invest in a community thathas15,000peopleliningupfor250jobs?Suchacommu-nity is considered a slum—and a slum is something that should bebulldozed,whichisexactlythemessageInglewood’smayor,citycounciland“official”paidstoogesaresendingtotheworldinexchangeforafewdollars. The last two columns by the so-called “Thomas Bunn” in the Inglewood Today essentially stated that everyone in Inglewood is too old and should move. In particular, “Bunn” wrote that home-owners in District 1 and District 4 are too old to mat-ter.Apparentlythecity’s“official”paperseesthemiddle-classhome-owners along Crenshaw Boulevard as a place where L.A. County can move its homeless population. Look and see who the group homes are owned by in the area andnoticehowcloselytheyareaffiliatedwithcityhall. InHawthornetheyhaveSpaceXandLithographix,thelatterofwhichhasoneofthelargestsolararraysystemsinSoCal. Hawthorne has an urban planning department that under-stands urban planning. They understand that small, locally owned businesses, diverse economics and competency matters. They have a mayor that lives in the city. Hawthorne is able to do this with an average household in-come less than Inglewood. Inglewood’scityhallbudgetschemeisbasedontellingtheFedsthateveryonehereispoorsotheycanbegforHUDandHOMEmoneyundertheguiseof“helping”theso-calledun-derserved. Butts & Co. advertise job fairs that pull from all over L.A. telling people to come to Inglewood—then plaster the photo ops all over the place as proof that what we need is notaSpaceX,buta low-wageChili’sandotherout-of-statechains that contribute to obesity even as they siphon money out of state while our roadways are over-loaded and broken-down. I know the water sprinkling on Inglewood residents isn’train, so do the rest of Inglewood. The mayor needs to come up withananswerother than“theSpaceShuttlecameto town”and“theForumwillsaveus.”

Teka-Lark Fleming

A word from the publisher

Publisher Teka-Lark [email protected]

Editor-in-Chief Randall [email protected]

Design and Production: RD & F [email protected]

Writers & Contributors: Odysseus Bostick

Rhonda Kuykendall-Jabari

Jessicka Mears

Pastor Seth Pickens

Diane Sombrano

Sweet Rice Tea

an unknown comic

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

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Back issues are $5 each postpaid: [email protected] or send a check and the edition desired to the above address.


December 6, 2013

Ii-Spy...mana from Heaven while the people pay the price


Betsy Butler former-ly represented the diverse now redistricted 53rd Dis-trict. It was an extreme-ly liberal and conserva-tive district. Challenging for a politician. Her life experience enabled her to present a platform that all sides could agree upon. “I wanted to carry my experience with life my father’s situation with Al-zheimer’s and my expe-rience with elder care. I had a lot of elder care bills. My father was also in the military . I do a lot of work for veterans,” said

Butler. Butler is a fierce de-fender of our environment having worked with the California Conservation League of Voters and the Environmental Defense Fund. “I am very focused on good health and healthy living and clean air, be-cause the repercussions of that are immense. I’m all about investing in the fu-ture,” said Butler. Who pays for one’s cam-paign is the entity to which one becomes beholden. “I won’t take any money from oil companies,” said Butler.

Betsy Butler for 62nd Assembly Former Assembly Member remains representative of constituents’ interests

By Randall Fleming

In mid-November, the Forum invited South L.A. residents to apply for jobs at the soon-to-be reopened venue. Ads in a variety of media including Internet postings, USPS postcard mailers and area newspapers appeared to drive a massive turnout of applicants. One of the more remark-able announcements was a postcard mailed out to ap-parently select areas by the

Torrance-based Contempo-rary Services Corporation. Located on 2154 West 190th Street, the temp-ser-vices firm, which defines itself as “The Leader In Crowd Management®,” advertised that potential applicants contact it via its Los Angeles branch. According to Madison Square Gardens (MSG) Consultant/Community Outreach Jason Lombard of the Lombard Group, the Forum “had 8-10k people” for its Thursday, Novem-

ber 21 turnout. According to the city’s “official” pa-per—which is owned by a paid political consultant to the mayor and is heavily subsidized by MSG—only 250 jobs were available. The following day, Fri-day, pulled an estimated 5,000 applicants for its 3-7 p.m. time slot. The Lombard Group is a Baldwin Hills-based firm with an address to a live-work-styled “office condo” behind the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Mall.

Are Forum Jobs Pie in The Sky?Did nearly 15,000 applicants get invited for a 1.6% job chance?

Christma$ for the city council

Betsy Butler


Morningside Park Chronicle Page 3December 6, 2013

As the holiday season approaches, Southern California Edison (SCE) reminds customers that keeping family and friends comfort-able at home this season does not have to take a toll on your utili-ty bill. The California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) and the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) programs provide utility bill discounts to eligible families. “We want our customers to focus on spending time with family and friends this holiday season, rather than figuring out how to pay their utility bills,” said Jack Parkhill, SCE principal manager for In-come Qualified and Economic Assistance Programs. “We hope that all eligible customers will contact us to sign up for one of these pro-grams.” CARE can save eligible customers about 30 percent on their util-ity bill, while FERA provides a monthly discount for income-quali-fied households of three or more people with slightly higher income limits based on their energy usage. The following chart outlines the maximum income guidelines for the CARE and FERA programs that are effective through December 31, 2013.

Here are some simple tips to help you save during the fall and win-ter months:• Clean or change furnace filters every three months or as required by manufacturer. Dirty filters restrict airflow and increase energy use.• Repair, seal and add insulation to existing heating and cooling ducts to prevent heating loss.• Weather-stripping and caulking around doors and windows will rid your house of drafts and prevent leaking of heated air.

When preparing for the holidays, share these tips and savings pro-grams with your family. It could make a difference in the way you spend your holiday season and reduce energy costs all year long. To find out if you qualify for CARE or FERA visit www.sce.com/billhelp or call 1-800-655-4555.

SCE Programs Can Help You Save This Holiday Season

a d v e r t o r i a l

a d v e r t o r i a l

Inglewood city attorney Cal P. Saunders confirmed he will retire on Dec. 30. Saunders has been Ingle-wood’s city attorney since late 2006. Prior to that, he served as a Deputy City Attorney III in the City of Compton. Saunders was well-known for arguing on behalf of Compton police in SANFORD v. MOTTS (No. 00-56926, 2001) for the arrest of a 12-year boy whose mother was beaten by police. It was alleged by a num-

ber of current and former city hall insiders that then-council member Danny K. Tabor attracted Saunders by successfully promising him a 20-year full pension. Since then, Saunders has been served at least one subpoena by L.A. County D.A. Jackie Lacey regard-ing his employment with the City of Compton. City hall insiders have hinted that Kenneth R. Campos has been tapped to replace Saunders. Reached via e-mail, Campos did not respond.

City Attorney to Resign on Dec. 30

Update 11.7.201310.16.2013SCE Programs Can Help You Save this Holiday Season

As the holiday season approaches, Southern California Edison (SCE) reminds customersthat keeping family and friends comfortable at home this season does not have to take a tollon your utility bill. The California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) and the Family ElectricRate Assistance (FERA) programs provide utility bill discounts to eligible families.

“We want our customers to focus on spending time with family and friends this holiday

season, rather than figuring out how to pay their utility bills,” said Jack Parkhill, SCE principalmanager for Income Qualified and Economic Assistance Programs. “We hope that all eligiblecustomers will contact us to sign up for one of these programs.”

CARE can save eligible customers about 30 percent on their utility bill, while FERAprovides a monthly discount for income-‐qualified households of three or more people withslightly higher income limits based on their energy usage. The following chart outlines themaximum income guidelines for the CARE and FERA programs that are effective throughDecember 31, 2013.

Household Size CARE FERA

1 $22,980 Not eligible2 $31,020 Not eligible3 $39,060 $39,061-‐$48,8254 $47,100 $47,101-‐$58,8755 $55,140 $55,141-‐$68,9256 $63,180 $63,181-‐$78,9757 $71,220 $71,221-‐$89,0258 $79,260 $79,261-‐$99,075

Each Additional $8,040 $8,040-‐$10,050

Here are some simple tips to help you save during the fall and winter months:Clean or change furnace filters every three months or as required by manufacturer. Dirtyfilters restrict airflow and increase energy use.Repair, seal and add insulation to existing heating and cooling ducts to prevent heating loss.Weather-‐stripping and caulking around doors and windows will rid your house of drafts andprevent leaking of heated air.

When preparing for the holidays, share these tips and savings programs with your

family. It could make a difference in the way you spend your holiday season and reduce energycosts all year long.

To find out if you qualify for CARE or FERA visit www.sce.com/billhelp or call 1-‐800-‐655-‐4555.

•

••

By Randall Fleming

Inglewood homeown-ers in the idyllic suburban setting east of Crenshaw have had one question on their mind since last week’s police shoot-out on S. 5th Avenue: Where were the city’s so-called leaders during the nine-hour siege that brought hundreds of police offi-cers from eight or more agencies? On Wednesday, Nov. 27 at approximately 12:30 p.m., a hostage situation resulted when Inglewood police officers answered a domestic call at 10709 S. 5th Avenue. Two officers were injured during a fire-fight between an apparent-ly lone gunman holding a mother and her daughter hostage inside the house. Inglewood Police De-partment’s SWAT team was stationed behind the yellow tape on 108th Street and 7th Avenue. Los An-geles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) deputies con-trolled the area and all en-try points while an LAPD helicopter circled over-head. No fewer than eight police agencies, including the CHP, Gardena PD and Manhattan Beach PD were on-site throughout the day and into the night. Throughout the inci-dent, Inglewood’s mayor, James T. Butts, failed to appear. He alleges to live two blocks from where the media was staged all day at 104th St. and 5th Ave. Also absent were IPD’s chief, Mark Fronterotta,

and District 4 council member Ralph Franklin. The mayor personally ap-pointed Fronterotta earlier this year. Franklin has been D-4 council member since September, 2003. District 4 is the area where the siege occurred. The one city leader who was present was District 2’s Alex Padilla. Exiting 3rd Avenue from behind the yellow tape, Padilla said that he felt the situation was one that would end well. Families around the house were evacuated by police up to 104th Street. During the siege, resi-dents had other questions.

“How is it that we have had a bunch of shoot-ings the last few months in this area since [Fron-terotta] became chief? We haven’t had anything like this in decades,” said one resident who has lived in the area since the late 1960s. Other long-time residents along the blocked-off north side of 104th echoed similar sen-timents throughout the day. None wanted to be named, however, voic-ing concerns that it could

leave them targeted by the mayor. The mayor, who main-tains that he lives at the corner of 102nd Street and 4th Avenue, was not avail-able for comment nor was he at city hall. Neither he nor his executive assis-tant, Melanie McDade, an-swered or returned calls. At one point, a woman who would only say her name was “Cydia” an-swered one call and said both were out for the day. Reached via e-mail, Fronterotta responded with an “out-of-office autoreply” that stated, “I will return to my office on Wednesday, December 4, 2013. Should you need further assistance please contact the listed su-pervsiors [sic].” The suspect, 45-year old Christopher Warsaw, was transported to South L.A. Sheriff’s Station and booked for attempted murder. Bail was set at $1 million. The Chronicle wishes to thank Smart & Final man-ager David Villagomez for helping a Chronicle staff-er purchase water ahead of the huge holiday crowds for the evacuated families.

LASD’s Control of Hostage Situation Prompts Questions About Mayor, ChiefInglewood’s Mayor Butts, Chief Fronterotta absent during 9-hour siege

The tree-lined streets of Inglewood were shattered by gunfire and an army of LASD vehicles when a gunman took hostages on S. 5th Ave.

By Randall Fleming

The Friends of Ingle-wood Library held its an-nual meeting on Novem-ber 23 at District 2’s I-COP community center. Several Friends were present including all three officers (President Irene Cowley, Treasurer Frank Hough and Secretary Ray-mond Yeung) as well as

Inglewood Library’s Prin-cipal Librarian Fran Tracht and Membership Commit-tee Chair Anne La Rose. The Friends discussed a number of matters in-cluding finances, increas-ing membership, losing the book storage space to the South Bay Workforce Cen-ter and the Friends’ non-profit status not being re-newed. “We are work-

ing on [non-profit status] and anticipate it being do-ne in about 6 months,” said Hough. Tracht discussed lay-offs (two full-time employ-ees), future library pro-grams including the “Dis-cover Earth” which opens January 25 and the Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) security system be-ing implemented in 2014.

Friends of Inglewood Library Holds Annual Meeting

Morningside Park ChroniclePage 4 December 6 2013Morningside Park ChroniclePage 4

It’s a time for giving gifts of holiday treats. This recipe is a bit nut-ty and yet certainly fun to serve at holiday parties. Scoop ‘em in a jar and tie a ribbon around it and give it as a gift. The more the better—whether the number of nuts or the quality therein. It seems simple and it should be; the holidays are for enjoying not working, and these gifts are never-theless easy, healthful and best of all—tasty! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Sweet & Spicy Mixed Nuts w/Dried Cranberries


Tottino’s Pizza is a true family restaurant. It is an “A-grade,” fami-ly-owned business serving families on the edge of the city of Inglewood. The windows are littered with menu items and pricing, making it easy to dismiss this quaint eatery as a neighborhood take out

“joint.” Inside is a surpris-ingly spacious and invit-ing dining space that dou-bles as a banquet facility for parties, meetings, club events and other special occasions. Food is pre-pared for dining in, take-out or delivery. The many items on the menu can make it tough to decide which way to go. Italian cuisine is the obvi-ous star, but there are oth-er options like chicken, burgers, salads and 13 dif-ferent stuffed baked potato choices. The obvious se-lection for review purpos-es is pizza. It is apparent that a lot of care goes into the prepara-tion of food at Tottino’s. Ingredients are fresh and the pizza is made to order and served piping-hot. The Hawaiian pizza with

ham and pineapple is an instant hit. Every bite is sweet and succulent. The garden pizza is no less im-pressive with mushroom, olives, green peppers, on-ion, tomatoes and egg-plant. The crust is baked to perfection and cheese is spread in just the right amount so as not to smother the taste of the other toppings. This little restaurant puts big-name pizza establish-ments to shame. For $17.00, we got two deli-cious pizzas, fast and friendly service, a clean and comfortable setting, and kind faces that con-veyed a gratefulness that you’ve chosen to spend your hard-earned dollars at their business. Treat your family to a dining experience rarely found in Inglewood: eat at Tottino’s Pizza.

1139 N. La BreaInglewood, CA 90302Parking: Private Lot and StreetWiFi: NoAccepts Cash, Credit, ATM/DebitAttire: Casual

Tottino’s Pizza[ DINING with RHONDA ]

[ COOKING with SWEET RICE TEA ]

Mz. Sweet Rice Tea is a native of the Midwest where she grew up on a farm and learned to cook. Her educational background includes business administration, art and photography, but it’s her culinary experience by which she creates a mix of fun, tasty and healthful foods. She was cookin’ in the kitchen with her Grandma Odessa at age 10 learning everything from setting a table, to how to dress and fry a chicken, to traditional farm fare. Contact her: [email protected] or visit her culinary website at: www.SweetRiceTea.com.

In the Kitchen of Sweet Rice TeaWe wanna know what’s cookin with you!

In other words: what are you doin’ to make it work?

“Save your MONEY...make your own. Save your LIFE...cook at home.”

-Sweet Rice Tea

Bringing Communities Togetherfrom Cairo to Compton

Listen!WEDNESDAYS at 7 p.m.to Twil ight Talk Radio at

Twi l ightTa lkRad io . comw w w. S w e e t R i c e Te a . c o [email protected]

CALL IN! 424.243.9626

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The Illogic of De-Funding EducationBy daRRen CiFaRelli

There is something in-herently backwards about how federal, state, and lo-cal funding for public ed-ucation works: similar to the No Child Left Be-hind act in K-12 educa-tion, regulatory funding provided by the White House, the state, and local districts in higher educa-tion privileges funding for campuses that are already successful, following a business model for educa-tion and depriving strug-gling campuses of needed resources.

For “accountability” the federal Department of Education, the Califor-nia Community College Chancellor’s Office, and the LACCD use a College Scorecard with a collec-tion of measures, such as graduation rate, cost to at-tend, borrowing and loan default rate, and post-col-lege employment. All three measurement strategies have mysteri-ously vague policies for the allocation of fund-ing based on these da-ta but clearly will reward higher performing col-leges, stimulating com-

petition rather than coop-eration. In business, this means that some thrive while others fail; in K-12, this results in increased standardization, based on the faulty logic that all students learn similarly with no local or individu-al variation. Competitive account-ability measures use stu-dent “underprepared-ness”—the failure of the system itself—as a justifi-cation to reduce the bud-get for “failing” parts of the system and reallo-cate funding towards ar-

[ CIFARELLI on EDUCATION ]

Darren Cifarelli is Chair of the Department of English and Foreign Language at Los Angeles Southwest College in Los Angeles, California.

please see De-funding, page 5

www.MPChronic le .net

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Morningside Park Chronicle Page 5December 6, 2013 Morningside Park Chronicle

ARTSIT’STHE

Morningside Park Chronicle Page 5


Literacy Night at Warren LaneIUSD’s former Daniel Freeman Elementary inauguratedBy JessiCka R. meaRs, PRinCiPal, WaRRen lane elemenTaRy sChool

Warren Lane Elementa-ry School held its first lit-eracy night of the 2013-2014 school year Thurs-day, November 14. The event brought out students and parents to promote reading. The group spent the night playing literacy games, enjoying new books to read, exploring on iPads and as a special treat—a reading to the students in attendance by newly ap-pointed IUSD State Trust-ee Dr. Dan Brann. The coordinator of the event, Mrs. Jac-queline Jones (Warren Lane’s Reading Special-ist) closed the evening by shared tips with parents on how they could sup-port their child’s reading at home. This principal was proud of the education-al moment and I eager-ly await the turnout at the next educational night!

IUSD Super Dr. Don Brann reads to the kids at the first Literacy Night at Warren Lane Elementary School.

In what appears to be yet another concern re-garding the middle class, homeowner-filled Dis-tricts 1 and 4, a map giv-en out during the District 2-based Open Studios event omitted a large, working Art Deco foun-tain located on Park Cir-cle at the intersection of 5th Avenue and West 82/83rd Streets as well as the Academy and 5th Av-enue Theatres on W. Manchester Boulevard. The Academy Theatre, built by Charles Lee—the architect who also built the Fox Theatre on Mar-ket St., which was promi-nently featured in the bro-chure— was prominent enough to have been pho-tographed by Julius Shul-man as well as be recog-nized by the L.A. Historic Theatre Foundation. The

5th Avenue Theatre was recently purchased by St. Paul Baptist Church and is being refurbished. The map, titled “Ingle-wood Guide to Public Art, Architecture & Historic Sites,” appears to primari-ly promote the art struc-tures around city hall—including a grimy, long out-of-service fountain in front. The City of Ingle-wood’s Arts Commission and Parks & Rec were re-sponsible for the pam-phlet. Both are overseen by Sabrina Barnes. According to the min-utes from a Parks & Rec Commission meeting dat-ed January 7, 2010, Barnes has been acutely aware of the fountain. Reached for comment, Barnes said the fountain and theatres will be in-cluded in future editions.

City’s “Public Art” Map Excludes Districts 1 & 4Theatres, Art Deco fountain left out

The north face of the Art Deco fountain at Park Circle.

Warren Lane Elementary Principal Jessicka R. Mears (far right) at the school’s first literacy night.

eas demonstrating success (measured by retention, persistence, and comple-tion). The more students struggle, the less help they will receive—that’s backwards logic. Schools with a struggling student population need more re-sources and funding: for tutors, counselors, suc-cess centers, and after-

school student assistance programs. De-funding failure as measured by the sys-tem that creates the fail-ure simply hides the prob-lems of that system. It’s high time to reclaim—rather than merely “oc-cupy”—education for its primary purpose: to ed-ucate our future workers and leaders, not to cre-ate conformity for a low wage job market.

De-funding from pg. 4



By odysseus BosTiCk

As soon as I heard that the L.A. City Council was considering a citywide moratorium on feeding the homeless in public, what came to mind was the 1980s song “Kill the Poor”: The sun beams down on a brand new day/ No more welfare tax to pay Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light/ Jobless millions whisked away/ At last we have more room to play/ All systems go to kill the poor tonight/ The refrain is “Kill, kill, kill the poor.” The song, performed by the 1980s band Dead Ken-nedys, was a satirical reac-tion to Reagan’s heartless “welfare reform” and it may not be your cup of tea. Perhaps you prefer the tongue-in-cheek style of Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal, a classic piece of satire whereupon the bur-den of paying for Ireland’s poor is re-framed as an un-tapped edible resource—which itself may prompt a moral objection owing to its literary device of pro-posing to eat impoverished children. Either way, killing the poor or eating the poor is definitely more absurd a proposition as the one be-ing considered by our city council, but both are in the same vein of heartless, short-sighted solutions fo-cused only on the most su-perficial part of the prob-lem: the visibly ugly mess. A public feeding ban does nothing to solve the problem of homelessness. It only further criminalizes a human tragedy, pushing desperate people out of the public view and into the re-cesses of our community to either be victimized or left to suffer out of sight for the rest of their painfully iso-lated lives—even as their collective plight remains a burden on our public safety and health networks. The rationale for this ban appears to be “we can do better than feeding peo-

ple off the back of a truck.” Does that mean that the city is going to pay for the space for all the indoor feeding programs to re-place the ones affected by the ban? There’s a reason the charities handing out free food to the homeless do it off the back of the figura-tive truck: they don’t have the money to lease a space where people can go inside to get a free meal. More-over, they reach more peo-ple when they get into the field to seek people out. It is the climate and size of L.A. that renders a city-wide ban on public feeding impractical and unwork-able. It is too attractive a city for homeless people to think that we can sim-ply outlaw public feedings to make the “undesirables” magically go away. There are no greener pastures and the only reason smaller cit-ies nearby have had suc-cess with these bans is that L.A. was next door to pick up the tab. There is no doubt that open feeding programs for the homeless need more oversight. First and foremost, there should be an effort by our city government to illus-trate exactly where these programs fit into a larger solution and how they can eventually foster recovery for the homeless. Beyond that, our elected leaders need to provide the stew-ardship necessary to coor-dinate the many indepen-dent agencies’ efforts to-wards a holistic end goal for actually ending home-lessness. This is more than a sim-plistic “kick the can down the road” solution of a feeding ban. It requires the sustained, coordinated ef-forts of a world-class city capable of pursuing goals that are further away than the next election cycle. Anything less is a callous, politically motivated ef-fort to either win support or stave off the loss of support In that case, we may as well take the advice of the Dead Kennedys or Jona-than Swift.

Should We Kill the Poor—or Eat them?

[ LOS ANGELES TRAGEDY ]

Books

Postcards

Brochures

Magazines

Newsletters

Business Cardsand, of course,

NewspapersRD&F pRint | [email protected]

By diane somBRano

(Continued from page 5 of the Nov. 15, 2013 edition of the Morningside Park Chronicle)

When the Carnegie Building suffered ma-jor damage from the 1933 earthquake, (like many of Inglewood’s commer-cial street buildings, in-cluding the hotel, and the nearby school buildings) the community decided to not only simply repair the damage, but to enlarge it by adding two wings to the original building. The Carnegie building re-mained until 1967. When California es-tablished redevelopment agencies, the Inglewood community was excited with the plans for the Civ-ic Center Complex Project which included the library, city hall, courthouse, po-lice department and health center. The campaign for Inglewood to have her own library system was headed by Margaret Gr-odrian. She and many of the Inglewood women be-lieved that Inglewood chil-dren and their parents would be better served by a library locally operat-ed. Inglewood schools at the time ranked among the best in Southern Califor-nia, with a higher percent-

age of Sentinels and Mon-archs going directly to universities than graduates of other area high schools. The early aerospace era families had great vi-sion for the communi-ty they worked to billed. They expected the chil-dren of Inglewood’s future to be provided the oppor-tunity to explore a multi-tude of subjects within the new library system. The community worked to-gether to plan for the fu-ture educational support systems by establishing the two branch libraries. Both the library at Cren-shaw near Imperial as well as the Darby family do-nated branch known as the Morningside Park branch was stocked by book drives, held by the mul-tiple Inglewood service clubs (Lions, Elks, Moose, Rotary, Masons, Ingle-wood Women’s Club, Par-ent and Teacher Associa-tion, Camp Fire Girls, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Indi-an Guides and others), and business groups, purchas-ing and donation books for circulation. The L.A. County books were re-turned to the County sys-tem. Until the 1973 dedi-cation of the new Charles Luckman designed com-plex a “tin igloo” stood on the Grevillea Parkway

serving as Inglewood’s temporary research and study place. Even before being grant-ed the right to vote, the dedicated women of Ingle-wood inspired the voters to establish a place for the sharing of knowledge. It is upon their vision that fu-ture generations have been able to enjoy the plea-sure of discovery and joy of wonder at the universe of knowledge available to them in the Inglewood Li-brary Collection. As the Inglewood Library cele-brates fifty years as a fed-eral depository, and our awareness of the symbolic references of the building exterior is renewed, let us remember also the wom-en who worked to make research and fun books available for many gener-ations. Let us not forget that women could not vote until 1920, yet they greatly impacted the lives of the community by providing a location for investigat-ing the world through bor-rowed books. Inglewood students through the ages are privileged that the pio-neer families had so many forward-thinking women who influenced decisions improving our lives. Let us be thankful they valued the sharing of knowledge.

Celebrating The Written Word and The PIaces That Preserve It, Pt. 2


Morningside Park Chronicle Page 7December 6, 2013

Cold weather, tight bud-gets and the looming real-ity that Christmas is a few short weeks away pres-ents us with a need to get quiet and listen for direc-tion from a higher source as we plan for a future of a different design. Sim-plicity is key. In the Bible, water symbolizes God’s power. It is used to receive the blessing of the Lord and for physical and spiritual cleansing. Jesus cautioned the Pharisees to be clean inside and out. Perhaps this is why bathing has become a cherished ritual in the quest for in-ner peace, balance and a closer connection to Di-vine. The healing power and ancient wisdom of water washes away fears and invites a deeper un-derstanding of our place in the universe. Bubble baths have a “girly” reputation, but both sexes can benefit greatly from languishing in scented bubbles sur-rounded by candles, burn-

ing oils and soft music. If time is short, set a clear intention for healing and take a 20-minute bath soak to soothe a harried spirit. Add one of these ingre-dients for amplified heal-ing: • Soak in 4-5 chamo-mile tea bags and ease into a deep sleep at the end of a busy day. • Add 1-2 teaspoons of cold-pressed coconut oil to moisturize and soften your skin. • 2 tablespoons of lav-ender buds or flower pet-als add luxury and sensu-ality to any bath. • 1-1/2 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger makes a perfect pick-me-up bath, plus it relieves cold and flu symptoms. • 1 cup apple cider vinegar is a great way to remove toxins from the body and to soothe itchy skin. • Fresh cut orange and lemon slices create a nat-ural exfoliate in the bath, leaving your skin dewy and rejuvenated.

Soothing Bath Soaks

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

Liaison.” The job descrip-tion is under City of In-glewood classification 803: “Maintains and ex-pands neighborhood block clubs...participates in community events...main-tains operations of police community centers...and has a Bachelors Degree in...Public Administration or closely related field” as some of its key points. The position is listed in the “Salary ordinance Ex-hibits” for the Fiscal Year 2013-2014 for the City of Inglewood on page 11 un-der Exhibit E: Police Ci-vilian Management Job Classifications. The job also appears to have been posted on a Web site owned by for-mer city manager Mark F. Weinberg, CareersInGov-ernment.com, and can be seen at www.careersin-government.com/index.cfm?page=jobView& jobID=22842 and is titled

“Part-Time Special En-forcement Officer.” Wein-

berg is a board member on the City of Inglewood Oversight Board which handles the winding-down finances of the Redevel-opment Agency that was active during Weinberg’s tenure and according to a statement by Wein-berg, is also simultane-ously employed by MSG, the NYC-based firm that bought the Forum in 2013. The Oversight Board is chaired by Inglewood’s mayor, James T. Butts. Butts also cast a vote to approve “[an] agree-ment between the City and Mark F. Weinberg for management con-sulting services in an amount not to exceed $68,600.00” from the city’s General Fund. Ac-cording to the same con-tract, Weinberg “stepped down from his post on Ju-ly 14, 2011.” The contract was approved on July 19, 2011 after being present-ed by D-3 and D-4 coun-cil members Eloy Morales, Jr. and Ralph Franklin. The contract also states

that Weinberg’s “principal place of business [is] at Agoura Hills, California.” The Web site CareersIn-Government.com names its administrator as hav-ing an address as “29485 Fountainwood St., Agoura Hills CA 91301-4110.” Weinberg’s site has fea-tured at least one story by Butts without any disclo-sure. When asked to clari-fy why the position was posted as a “New Posi-tion” on page 3 of the Oc-tober 8, 2013 document, Inglewood’s city man-ger, Artie Fields, quickly replied he would look in-to it and answer in a few minutes. Fields refused to fulfill his promise and instead sent out Michael Falkow, who claimed that there was no job descrip-tion and that the position had not been filled. What Falkow did not state was why a city with a struc-tural deficit was inventing jobs without descrip-tions that will cost the city $73,000 a year.

Mystery from pg. 1

ing $5 million was never delivered due to Ingle-wood’s improper alloca-tion of funds per the [Let-ter of Agreement].” The latest agreement goes on to state that there will be no release of funds until “Inglewood completes the compre-hensive audit.” Even then, and only after approval of

the many other items that are required, “LAWA will recommend [empha-sis ours] the BOAC ap-prove new funding for In-glewood.” This means that any new funding can only be recommended by LAWA CEO Michael Feldman, as the City of Inglewood must leap through a num-ber of significant hoops before the Board of Air-

port Commissioners (BOAC) will even consid-er further RSI funding. Reached for comment via e-mail, Waters’ Com-munications Director Latoya Veal stated, “This agreement was reached between LAWA and the City of Inglewood, there-fore you will need to con-tact one of them.” Butts did not respond to requests for comment.

Bamboozle from pg. 1

Inglewood Resident Gives Back! On Dec. 17, Inglewood resident and international professional Jazz mu-sician Jacques Lesure will be spon-soring a benefit concert to help raise money to upgrade the play-ground at Holy Trinity Child Care Center on Crenshaw Blvd. in Ingle-wood. The show will be at Catalina’s Restaurant, 6725 West Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028 at 8:30 p.m. The playground will be named in honor of 2-year old Cahron John-son, who tragically drowned at his home earlier this year. We hope to complete “Cahron’s Playground” by Summer 2014. To purchase tickets, please visit catalinajazzclub.com or call (323) 868-9398. No amount is too small. For donations of $25 or more, you will receive an autographed copy of Jacques’ holiday CD, A Crenshaw Christmas.

• • •Open Mic every Thursday at Vibra-tions from 8 p.m. until the last poet standing. It’s the only poetry read-ing with its own theme song. 2435

West Manchester Blvd., Inglewood, 90305. For more information, please call (310) 261-6463 or e-mail: [email protected].

• • •Citizen Police Oversight Commis-sion, Wed., Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Inglewood City Hall, One Man-chester, downtown Inglewood, 9th Floor Council Chambers. For more information, please call (310) 412-5280. (Owing to misinformation given the MPC by a senior City of Inglewood administration member, the Oct. 18 edition published an in-correct date.)

• • •Metro South Bay Service Council, December 13, 9:30 a.m. at Ingle-wood City Hall, One Manchester, downtown Inglewood. Bring cash for parking in the city lot or quar-ters for the meters. For more infor-mation, please call (213) 922-1282.

• • •

Arts Commission meeting, De-cember 18, 6:30 p.m. at Inglewood City Hall, One Manchester, 1st Floor Community Room A. For

more information, please call (310) 412- 5280.

• • •

Trustee/Advisory Board of Edu-cation Meeting, Dr. Ernest Shaw Board Room, December ??, 6:00 p.m. 401 S. Inglewood Avenue, In-glewood. For more information, please call (310) 419-2700.

• • •

Parking Traffic Commission meeting usually meets on the fourth Wednesday of the month and it is assumed that the next meeting will be on Jan. 22, 2014 at 7 p.m. Inglewood City Hall, One Manchester, downtown Inglewood. For more information, please call (310) 412-5280.

• • •

City of Inglewood Planning Com-mission meeting, Wednesday, Feb-ruary 5, 7:00 p.m. at Inglewood City Hall’s city council chamber (9th floor), One Manchester, down-town Inglewood. For more infor-mation, please call (310) 412-5280.

INGLEWOOD COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Calendar items in the Chronicle are free of charge.Please send calendar items to our P.O. Box or via e-mail.

(See contact info on page 2)



She’s 60 feet in the air without a care—save for that teddy bear!WHY?

She’s on an elevator serviced by

ATOMIC ELEVATOR112 N. Glendora Ave. #127, Glendora CA 91741

(818) 640-0041 AtomicElevator.com

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Publisher’s Note

“Us”.....................

..................page 2

Community Calendar

.......................................page 3

Letters to the Editor:

We hear from and about the

owner of the “offi cial” paper

.......................................page 3

Dining with Rhonda:

Winchell’s Donuts

.......................................page 4

Cooking w/ Sweet Rice Tea:

After-school yummy

Grahammy snacks

.......................................page 4

Pastor Seth Pickens:

Your New Job.....................

..................page 4

Culture Nerd with Vince:

Cosplay .....................

..................page 4


CONTENTS

I Spy... bobbleheads!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 2

Inglewood resident

gets Roosevelt award

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 5

Wiley’s “Great Debaters”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 5

USPS letterboxes re-

placed in Inglewood

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 6

NEW COLUMN! Music...

by Candace Blankenship

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 7

Murder charges dropped

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 8

By randall fleMing

It’s no trick: the Depart-

ment of Finance (DoF) is

presently reviewing the re-

cently submitted Due Dil-

igence Report (DDR) that

the City of Inglewood sub-

mitted nearly 10 months

after the deadline.

With the recent devel-

opments in City of Cerri-

tos and the looming shad-

ow of CA AB 1484, cit-

ies with former redevelop-

ment agencies are in for no

treats if their asset transfers

are declared “unallowable.”

According to Cali-

fornia City News, “It is

feared that under AB 1484,

the Department of Fi-

nance will have too much

power to withhold sales

and property tax reve-

nues from cities if it de-

cides that not enough has

been returned to state cof-

fers. In addition, the DoF

would be able to impose

$10,000 per day fines.”

Last month, the DoF’s

findings prompted CA

State Controller John Chi-

ang to declare that Cerri-

tos stands to lose $170 mil-

lion because of “unallow-

able transfers” that its may-

or and council members al-

lowed. A key detail was

that the oversight commit-

tee to the successor agen-

cy—which was formed to

help resolve the dissolved

Redevelopment Agency’s

finances—was chaired by

the mayor. In Inglewood, the over-

sight committee is chaired

by the mayor, James T.

Butts. In the nearly three

years that Butts has been

mayor, a number of asset

transfers have been sug-

gested by the oversight

committee that he chairs

and thereafter approved by

the city council.

While the oversight com-

mittee and city council

may make transfers, such

as the $18 million dollar

loan of taxpayer funds to

a 501(c)(3) non-profit en-

tity that is also a religious

organization, it is the DoF

that decides if the transfers

are allowable. The state

controller determines fines

for unallowable transfers.

And it is stakeholders and

taxpayers who are on the

hook when “unallowable”

transfers are made.

For Inglewood taxpayers,

that could amount to nearly

a billion dollars.

The $18 million loan

made to Central Faithful

Baptist Church for the sale

of the Forum is just the tip

of the iceberg. According

to a number of audits that

have been generated in

the last three years as well

as a list of properties that

the city is preparing to of-

fer the DoF should there

be transfers deemed “un-

allowable,” $750 million

may be offered in proper-

ties’ rents—income which

What Will the California DoF Decide?

Will the city’s remarkably late Due Diligence Report be kicked back with Unallowable Transfers?

Ithe

morningside park

chronicleVol. 2, No. 18

B Informing Inglewood and the community

November 1, 2013

B

www.Morningside-

ParkChronicle.com

www.Morningside-

ParkChronicle.com


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

Inglewood Residents?

— see page 2 —

One-year

Anniversary

of Chronicle Jazz, wine, food

and funds at event

The one-year anni-

versary of the Morning-

side Park Chronicle took

place on October 26.

The event took place

at Inglewood stakeholder

Lynette Lewis’ home. It

was a standing-room-on-

ly success with a crowd

of other stakeholders and

taxpayers enjoying the

jazz, wine and food and

showing huge support for

the newspaper.

The renowned jazz

band Rose Gale and

Her Quartet—featur-

ing guest vocalist Simply

Charles—played standards

throughout the evening.

Stakeholders enjoyed a

plethora of wines provid-

ed by the Gallo Family

Wine Company. A ta-

ble full of comestibles in-

cluding a wide variety of

“Sick and Tired” at The Performer’s Corner

Inglewood theatre presents life of Fannie Lou Hamer’s voter rights fight

By teKa-larK fleMing

When I saw the Theatre

Perception Consortium’s

production of “Sick and

Tired: the Freedom Jour-

ney of Fannie Lou Hamer,”

I couldn’t help but think of

our fair little city of Ingle-

wood. The show began with

“We are on a 21st centu-

ry plantation!” Leilani

Sashae played the narrator

who spoke it and she per-

formed with the spirit of

1,000 nanas.

The play is funny, his-

torical and sad. Hamer,

a trailblazer of the Civ-

il Rights movement who

conspicuously seemed to

be erased until very re-

cently, had a life of strug-

gle and triumph. The

play—told through gos-

pel music, witty dialogue

and narration—had just

the right amount of all ele-

ments to keep this theater-

goer anxiously waiting for

each subsequent scene.

The duet between Ke-

turah Baker as “Fannie”

and Phillip Bell as “Pap”

was the highlight of the

show. To watch Pap pray

that his wife Fannie—

who had been thrown off

the plantation where they

lived for trying to reg-

ister to vote in an earli-

er scene—had not been

shot was heart wrench-

ing. It truly took you back

to another time in Afri-

can-American history that

hopefully we will nev-

er have to visit again. The

counterpoint between

“Pap” and “Fannie” was

technically flawless and

emotionally beautiful.

Baker, Leilani Sashae

(as both the Elderly Wom-

an and Ernestine) were

stand outs. Both of them

embraced two very differ-

ent roles strongly and re-

spectfully.

“Sick and Tired” was

written by Tu’Nook and

directed by Carla DuPree

Clark. Owing to its populari-

ty, the play ran for an ex-

tended 10 week-run at

The Performer’s Corner,

214 Hardy St., Inglewood,

90301; (310) 910-0392.

Keturah Baker as Fannie Lou Hamer and Julian Vazquez as the Voter Regis-

trar in Theatre Perception Consortium’s production of “Sick and Tired.”

please see Fundraiser, page 5

Audit INVESTIGATION

Part 4

To see the audits and other

documents regarding this

story, please scan the QR

code below or visit:

http://bit.ly/16HTW2Z

ww

w.M

PC

hro

nic

le.n

et

see

below

How much are those little

doggies on the dais?

please see Iceberg, page 3

is also available on our Web site!

UNLESS YOU SUBSCRIBE!Publisher’s Note

.......................................page 2

Community Calendar

.......................................page 2

Letters to the Editor

.......................................page 3

Dining with Rhonda:

Bourbon Street Fish

.......................................page 4

Cooking w/ Sweet Rice Tea

.......................................page 4

Rhonda’s Wellness Column

.......................................page 7

Hoof Beats Limited

.......................................page 7


CONTENTS

Bicycle peace rally for

Trayvon Martin

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 2

J. Warren Lane Elemen-

tary—Part two

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 3

HUD takes issue with

mayor’s comments

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 3

Dotson’s taxpayer-

funded gifts to himself

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 3

Markeis Parish Obituary

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 4

Inglewood artist Marion

Romea’s 80th birthday!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 5

I Spy..Ghost from the

past laments “future”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 6

NEW COLUMN! Making

the Connection

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . page 8

By Teka-Lark FLeming

A press conference

to announce the open-

ing date of the Madi-

son Square Garden Co.

(MSG) Forum will be

held Tuesday, July 30.

Lesley Elwood of Bar-

bara Goldstein and

Associates public art con-

sultant for (MSG) Fo-

rum gave the Inglewood

arts commission a taste

of what the new Forum

might look like at a spe-

cial Arts Commission

meeting on Monday, July

22. “We have been working

from the original architec-

ture of the building as the

inspiration for a lot of the

art and landscaping. Orig-

inally those painted arch-

es were all red. We are

looking at repainting the

interior portions of the

arches red,” said Elwood.

I know longtime resi-

dents of Inglewood will

be happy to see the Fo-

rum looking back to how

it looked when it was fab-

ulous. “We are continuing to

look at key areas of the

project for the primary fo-

cus for the artwork,” said

Elwood. MSG is working with

not only the government

of Inglewood, but the res-

idents who use the Forum

to exercise and socialize.

“We see the perimeter

as a critical area, because

it’s used so much by the

public,” Elwood contin-

ued, “We also looked at

the carpet footprint that

the building sits on that

can be used by the gen-

eral public walking up to

the building during the

day, as well as by concert

goers at night.”

She went on to talk

about the possibility of

pocket parks, embellish-

ing the walking path, pat-

terns on the asphalt and

sculptural seating areas. It

is going to be quite a res-

toration.

A Grand Old ForumMSG to announce opening on July 30

Ithe

morningside park

chronicleVol. 2, No. 12


July 26, 2013

B

www.Morningside-

ParkChronicle.com

www.Morningside-

ParkChronicle.com


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

WTF!?

— see page 3 —

Paint hue experiments are being done on the Forum’s rear panels.

Was I-COP

Founder Ille-

gally Fired?LaVerne Mann

forced to quit

The I-COP community

center founder, LaVerne

Mann, was forced to quit

her years-long post at the

West Manchester Blvd. lo-

cale. Were it not for Mrs.

Mann, the I-COP commu-

nity center would not exist.

She advocated long and

hard for the building, and it

has been a boon for resi-

dents owing to Ingle-

wood’s remarkably sparse

resources for residents de-

spite the city being home

to one of the highest-paid

city councils in the nation.

Residents are outraged.

Some have suggested

that the least the city coun-

cil could do is name the

building after her.

Over the years, Mrs.

Mann has been visited by a

number of notable pols and

bureaucrats at I-COP,

LAWA’s Feldman on RSI:

“There is no contract.”LAWA Deputy Executive Director Michael Feldman’s exclusive inter-

view with Chronicle about Inglewood’s Residential Sound Insulation

By mP ChroniCLe sTaFF

Michael Feldman, the

Deputy Executive Director

for Facilities Management

at Los Angeles World Air-

ports (LAWA), granted

an exclusive interview to

Chronicle staffer Randall

Fleming. The interview was about

Inglewood’s Residential

Sound Insulation (RSI)

Program. Of primary concern were

the frequent claims by In-

glewood’s mayor James

T. Butts that the city had

signed a contract or “agree-

ment” with LAWA. Ac-

cording to the city’s “offi-

cial” paper, Inglewood To-

day, “Butts used his influ-

ence and personal contacts

with airport officials to re-

instate $30 million for the

[RSI] program.”

According to Feld-

man, “there is no con-

tract.” When asked to clar-

ify, Feldman added, “Let’s

call it an action plan.”

According to Feldman,

that “action plan” is no

guarantee of funding but a

set of requirements that the

city must satisfy in order to

be eligible to be considered

for future funding.

When asked if he will

make the decision if Ingle-

wood, upon claiming to

satisfy the many require-

ments for LAWA to con-

sider, Feldman said that

it is the Board of Airport

Commissioners that makes

the decision. “All [I] can

do is make the request for

funding.” Asked if he knew of

any meetings between the

Board and Butts, he an-

swered, “Not that I’m

aware of.” Butts’ ambitious plans

have been widely touted in

Inglewood Today, the pa-

per owned by Butts’ paid

campaign consultant Wil-

lie Brown. In the March 28

edition, the lead story an-

nounced that “Butts pub-

licly signed an agreement...

for the most ambitious

project to date—1,000

LAWA Deputy Executive Di-

rector Michael Feldman

please see Mrs. Mann, page 5

Is it so bad that we’re

wishing he were back!?please see No Contract, page 6

please see Forum, page 6

Publisher’s Note.......................................page 2Community Calendar.......................................page 3Letters to the Editor: Objectivity and our Library.......................................page 3Dining with Rhonda: Veronica’s Kitchen.......................................page 4Cooking w/ Sweet Rice Tea: Apple Pie Smoothie!.......................................page 4Pastor Seth Pickens: It’s All About the Benjamins.......................................page 4Culture Nerd with Vince: The ABCs on Comic Cons.......................................page 4Reading with Randall: Spent by Antonia Crane.......................................page 5


CONTENTSCounty Assessor John Prang in Inglewood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2Crime Spree in Inglewood Districts 1 and 3

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2I Spy... a “mayor” who can’t make up his mind. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 2

Education is Knowledge is Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7

L.A. Care brings the AHA to Inglewood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 8

By Randall Fleming

Inglewood residents may find themselves on the hook for a staggering amount of possible unal-lowable transfers that the California Department of Finance could soon de-clare against the City of Inglewood. On Tuesday, October 8, the City of Cerritos was hit with a ruling by the State Controller’s office that the city must return $170 million in cash and properties owing to trans-fers made by the Succes-sor Agency. At present the City of Inglewood as the Succes-sor Agency and its Over-sight Board have been dealing with concerns re-

garding the same matters that may leave the Cerri-tos bankrupt. In a story that it broke on October 9, Hews Me-dia’s Randy Economy and Brian Hews stated that “the California State Con-troller’s Office (SCO)...confirm[ed] that trans-fers recorded by the Cer-ritos City Council and the Cerritos Redevelopment Agency were unallow-able under ABX1 26, and the city must return over $170 million in property and cash to the Successor Agency.” The story, titled “Cal-ifornia State Control-ler’s Office Orders Cer-ritos to Sell $170 Million in City Property,” makes very clear that the “report

calls into question actions by City Council, city of-ficials, and the Successor Agency Oversight Board for ‘unallowable transfers’ of property and cash. The City of Inglewood is the Successor Agen-cy (SA) to the Inglewood Redevelopment Agency

Are Inglewood Residents on The Hook?“Unallowable transfers” in City of Cerritos may also be the case for Inglewood

I

themorningside parkchronicleVol. 2, No. 17


October 18, 2013

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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

ACA Comes to Inglewood!

— see page 8 —

Inglewood Li-brary’s 50th Anniversary Event features kids, clowns, politiciansBy mP ChRoniCle staFF

The Inglewood Pub-lic Library celebrated its 50-year anniversary on Saturday, October 5. On hand were hundreds of kids, an Abe Lincoln on stilts, a juggling clown with an English accent, free popcorn and cup-cakes and the city’s en-tire administration as well other politicians. Inglewood Principal Li-brarian Fran Tracht was honored with a number of certificates for her hard work in keeping the li-brary afloat. In the balloon-filled lob-by was the aptly named Delian Music After-School Teachers’ Band playing jazz that perfect-ly complemented a library environment. Tables offer-

An Artful Evening at CAAM Annual gala honors artists, educators and entertainersBy mP ChRoniCle staFF

Last Saturday night, Friends, the Founder for the California African American Museum, held its annual fund-raising gala. The October 12 event was hosted by the Emmy-nominated actress and art collector CCH Pounder whose TV and movie cred-its include Sons of Anar-chy, The Shield and Avatar. The honorees were legend-ary entertainers Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder, businessman Le-on T. Garr and visual artist and arts educator as well as advocate Phoebe Beas-ley. There was a silent auc-tion prior to the dinner and awards ceremony, then dancing held into the small hours. While still a teenager, de Lavallade was introduced to filmmakers at 20th Cen-tury Fox by none oth-er than Lena Horne. She appeared in a number of films including Carmen

Jones where she met Her-bert Ross and was asked to appear in the Broad-way production of House of Flowers. From there her career soared. Holder won two Tony awards for Best Direction and Best Costume Design for the 1975 production of The Wiz. During the same decade he appeared in a the James Bond spy thrill-er Live and Let Die (1972), wrote a number of books and won a Guggenheim Fellowship as a painter. He

has been aptly described as a “Renaissance man in an age of specialists.” At the event, a great ma-ny artists, educators, celeb-rities and politicians were seen circulating the art made available for the si-lent auction. Autism Advocate and Founder of the Special Needs Network Areva Martin granted a few min-utes to speak about her re-markable work. “This year at our summer camp,

Phoebe Beasley and Carmen de Lavallade at An Artful Evening 2013.

please see Library, page 5

please see Unallowable, page 6

Audit INVESTIGATION Part 3

To see the audits and other documents regarding this story, please scan the QR code below or visit:http://bit.ly/16HTW2Z

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see below

Show me the money!

Inglewood Oversight Committee Chair (and Inglewood’s mayor) James T.

Butts and Board member (and former Inglewood city manager) Mark F.

Weinberg at the Oversight Committee meeting on October 16.

please see CAAM, page 8

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This one may be free but you won’t get every future edition


“Line breaks and stanza breaks are important to me, therefore, I am put-ting hard copies in the regular mail tomorrow so you can double check line breaks. You can re-turn anything you do not accept. I expect y’all will write an introduction, calling me as you see me...Hope all is going great guns with you, Dear One. Be in touch, Wanda” (excerpt from a correspon-dence between Wanda Coleman and Teka-Lark)

Wanda Coleman, born Nov. 13, 1946, passed away from a brain aneu-rysm at Cedars Sinai on November 22. People often talk about Wanda Coleman’s per-formances. Yes, she did a great job reading her poet-ry and in a town like L.A. where everyone wants to be a movie star and it seems as if no one knows how to read, reading is important. Wanda was a poet. Wan-da was a writer. Wanda wasn’t a poet-slash-when something better comes along. In Los Angeles there are a lot of those. I was introduced to Wanda by my never-pub-

lished writer/homemak-er/typing revolutionary mother. The first book of poetry I was conscious of was Coleman’s Mad Dog Black Lady. That to me was what poetry was. That was in 1986. I was 10 years old. In the poetry world there is a hierarchy and there are rules. The first rule is that women writers are to be well-behaved; rule number two is that black women writers are supposed to be very well-behaved. Wanda broke both rules, but her writing was good. It was strong. It was laven-der. Wanda’s writing em-braced the side of L.A. that was in the shadow of the palm trees, between the window cracks on a RTD 51 bus and on the air of a broken swing in a play-ground in the projects. Her writing embraced that with technical precision and fi-nesse, even if she hadn’t been writing about real is-sues in black L.A. her writ-ing would have worked, but for her to be writing about being black and a woman in L.A. in a way that held up a middle fin-ger and did not ask for pity was something that neither the black nor white L.A. literary scene could take. So what to do? What to

do with this person who does not fit in the box of a writer? She’s not a white man, she’s doesn’t have a formal education and she’s a bit too angry and unre-fined. We can’t let her just be a poet. We have got to find a way to discredit her without looking like we’re doing it...oh yes—she’s a

“performance poet,” she’s a “spoken word artist!”—the “pretty for a black girl” of poetic compliments. With the label of “spo-ken word,” she could then be kind of included in the world of poetry, because that’s not really poetry. There is no one alive to-day doing what Wanda did. Not one person is coming close. Most spoken word artists are actors; Wan-da was not. It should also be noted that Wanda was not what you see at poetry slam-for-cash prizes night. Wanda Coleman was a poet. Wanda was a writ-er. Wanda was a symbol of the hypocrisy of Los An-geles. Wanda is the perfect answer to what is L.A.: L.A. is a lie, that is L.A.L.A. is racist.L.A. is sexist.L.A. is beautiful.L.A. is literary.L.A. is what happens when the projector turns off and the hardcover book opens.

Poet Wanda Coleman Passes Away at Age 67Los Angeles’ unofficial poet laureate is everything L.A. wants to be but would not acknowledge

Wanda Coleman and Teka-Lark.

To see more video footage, photos and links regarding

Wanda Coleman, please scan the QR code below or visit:http://bit.ly/IAlWNm

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L.A. Poet Wanda Coleman at Overtures Gallery in Culver City, October 2006.

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Documents

December 6, 2013 Edition