No politics in new Gang Contracts???

Lets play "Connect the Insiders"...........

Refer to the list of "Advisory Board Members" for the "Legacy LA Project".

Experts on violence intervention: Dr. Astrid Heger, Violence Intervention Program, and Belinda Smith Walker, Girls and Gangs; on redevelopment: Dalila Sotelo, Community Redevelopment Agency; on education: State Superintendent Jack O’Connell and Paula Crisostomo, Occidental College; on environmental sustainability: Larry Smith, Executive Director of Northeast Trees; on community issues: Olivia Rodriguez, Los Angeles Commission for Women; and on marketing: Will Caperton y Montoya, Department of Cultural Affairs.

Steering Committee:
Sister Hilda Alfaro/Church Youth Leaders Santa Teresita Church; Leo Alvarez, Hazard Park Advisory Board; Alma Garcia, Ramona Gardens Community Service Center; Martha Gonzalez, LA Voice; Santa Teresita, Ramona Gardens Community; Scott Johnson, Hazard Park Advisory Board; Monique Moncayo. Hazard Park Teen Program; Tammy Membreno, Barrio Action Youth & Family Center; Veronica Pagan, Murchison Street School – LA’s Best Program and community resident; Hector Verdugo, Homeboy Industries – former Ramona Gardens resident; Raul Estrada, Executive Director, El Centro de Ayuda; David Galaviz, Director Community Outreach, USC Civic and Community Relations (former LHNC President); Sesshu Foster, Bravo Medical Magnet High School

Legacy L.A. staff includes two co-directors for the project, former executive director for the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, Jenny Krusoe, who has led the project from its inception, and Maria Lou Calanche, a former resident of Ramona Gardens and currently a professor at East Los Angeles College.

........and who was one of six groups awarded gang intervention contracts by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the "General Secretary of Gang Intervention, Jeff Carr"???. From today's LA Times piece by Phil Willon,

The mayor's office recommended Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for the gang-prevention program in the Cypress Park area; Community Build for the Baldwin Village area; Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches for the Florence-Graham area; People Coordinated Services for the Newton area; El Nido Family Centers for the Pacoima and Foothill area; and Violence Intervention Program for the Ramona Gardens and Hollenbeck area.

......and some from the "cut and paste archives",

Special Interest = Legacy LA Project. One should ask David Galaviz and Eileen Sanchez (she works for VIP) why they attempted to allocate $3,000 to a Project that they have a vested interest in.

The same ingrate "Ellen Sanchez" who is reported to have told the Advisory Board that they should be happy that they are getting something for their community.The same David Galaviz who told the Advisory Board that restoring the Wetlands at Hazard Park would conflict with USC's building program.
July 03, 2008 11:06 AM

Yeah, David and "Ellen" should remember that the meeting in question was video taped. "Ellen" should also remember the responses to her "kind comments".BTW, alot of people are catching on to the scam that is Legacy LA. Once again a "Non-profit" set up to benefit friends of the Mayor and Huizar.
July 03, 2008 11:26 AM

David Galaviz told a community member that their grant request to USC for "wetlands related" activities was rejected due to conflicts that a restored "wetlands" would have with USC's Capital Projects.
July 03, 2008 12:33 PM

....and this,

Earlier in the year, this body voted to support the controversial "Las Villas Project" on the corner of Broadway and Thomas (old Rose Eye Center location). Later on the same night that Councilman Ed Reyes announced the end of the "Las Villas Project", NC members proposed giving money to support a community event for Jenny Krusoe's "Legacy LA Project". Yet at no time did any of the USC employees or Violence Intervention Program staff member Eileen Sanchez recuse themselves from voting, and not cite that their respective employers have a vested interest in the successful completion of the "Legacy LA Project".

So the notion that the Mayor was removing politics from the awarding of gang intervention contracts is a complete farce.

Jack Hoff's Talk O' The Town

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