In the Los Angeles area, the name Rick Rozman is synonymous with charitable
work. Rick’s goal in his charitable life is to reach as many people as possible
through the motivation of his words and deeds. Now, Rick has taken to the
airwaves on the EZ Way Broadcasting network of Blog Talk Radio to promote
philanthropy and reach an even broader market worldwide with his show The
Rozman Experience which airs Sundays at 4:00 p.m. PST. He points out during his
interviews with people who share his passion for giving that life has a sense of
urgency with time as the currency; everyone has the same twenty-four hours as
Ghandi, Martin Luther King, or Mother Theresa so make the most of that time.

As a vice president and wealth management advisor in El Segundo of a Fortune
500 Company in the sales and marketing branch, Rick is hands-on with his team
and keeps them positive and goal-oriented. His experience in sales and
marketing gives him the correct perspective to handle and deal with difficult
situations. Through weekly sales and motivational meetings, Rick guides his team
to look at the big picture in order to utilize their gifts and talents and be the best
they can be. For thirty-two years, Rick has created a positive culture by
encouraging his sales and marketing teams to bond through participation in a
number of programs for giving back to the community such as walking to raise
money for children with cancer, serving meals to the homeless at the Union Rescue Mission in LA, and participating in
Principal for a Day . In addition, he serves as Development Director for the Asomugha Foundation which empowers the
underprivileged orphans and widows in Africa through education.

Rick has a zest for life and boundless energy. From running in marathons to traveling to Beijing, Rick looks at life as a gift
which all Through Education Program, which provides economically disadvantaged students in South Los Angeles
opportunities to receive a quality education. Rick also works directly with the administrators and students of Jefferson
High School as a mentor and business leader.

Through Rick’s recent affiliation as a contributor to The Washington Times, he is reaching a broad spectrum of readers
who are looking to him for expert advice on the world of philanthropy and the best ways to become involved in their
own communities. Rick makes giving and donating time to charity cool and hip as he helps to build a new generation of
philanthropists. He has graced the covers of popular magazines such as Rock Thiz Magazine and Tightrope Magazine in
the first part of 2013. He is also featured in articles on WTV Networks, Diversity News Magazine, EOTM Radio/TV
Networks and the Examiner.com. The Rick Rozman Humanitarian Award from EOTM Radio/TV Networks is exactly as
it seems: An award presented to individuals who are emulating the charitable and philanthropic work exemplified by
Rick. In 2012, Rick was named “The Board Member of the Year 2012” of OWIN (Orphans and Widows In Need) and has
served on the board since the year of inception in 2005.

Since earning his B.A. from UCLA in Economics and Finance in 1977, Rick has relied on the experience of Thomas Edison
to guide him toward success in his business and charitable endeavors. Edison failed in his light bulb experiments over
10,000 times proving that success comes through understanding that failure is neither a place nor a state of mind but
just one way that something did not work. To succeed means to never ever give up. Rick Rozman is the man who never
gives up and who never feels he gives enough. His quest continues on a daily basis to find a need and to be part of the
solution.

Find out more at www.rickrozman.com

Black voters, particularly in South L.A., are one of the biggest voting blocs up for grabs. Relatively few blacks backed Greuel or Garcetti in the March 5 primary, opting instead for City Councilwoman Jan Perry, the sole African American in the race.

Gruel joined Lisa Osborn and Phil Hulett this morning to discuss her latest endorsement. Listen to the interview here:

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Want to Build a Guerrilla Garden? This Crowdsourcing Platform Could Help

Wendy Moore

Activist Post

So you know of an open lot in your neighborhood that would be perfect for a community garden. You really, really want to build one, but you don’t quite know how to pull it off. Let’s be honest—the idea of pulling off a garden build can be pretty daunting. You need a lot of supplies, possibly some funds, and, ideally a bunch of people to help—unless you feel like devoting the next couple weekends to digging.

You’ve heard of barn raising, right? That old tradition of collective community action in which the whole community used to gather together to build a barn for their neighbor. At thrdPlace, a newly-launched local platform for social action, we’re bringing it back by tapping online community to drive on the ground action.

So, think barn raising and replace it with… community gardens, mural creation, or art pop-ups. We help get the word out and recruit people to get involved by sharing the story of your project through the social networks of each person who comes to your project page and clicks to support your project.

What does this look like in real time? This past weekend we helped the Social Justice Learning Institute, a local Los Angeles nonprofit “dedicated to improving the education, health, and well being of youth and communities of color by empowering them to enact social change through research, training, and community mobilization,” to organize and execute 10 backyard gardens at South L.A. homes as part of their 10 Homes–10 Seeds initiative.

Read Full Article Here

Related articles

• Want to Build a Guerrilla Garden? This Crowdsourcing Platform Could Help (activistpost.com)
• thrdPlace wants to help make LA a better place to live (latechrise.com)
• Resources for Starting a Faith Based Community Garden – 2013 (godspace.wordpress.com)
• Guerilla Gardeners and Bragaw-Glenn Community Garden (alaskapublic.org)
• TED Talk -A guerilla gardener in South Central LA (john-king.me)
• Athens-Clarke commissioners want to grow interest in community gardens (onlineathens.com)
• Guerrilla Gardening in South Central L.A. (eatdrinkbetter.com)

Greuel named Congresswoman Maxine Waters as her campaign’s co-chair at a news conference on the steps of City Hall.

Waters, who represents Westchester and the South Bay, as well as South Los Angeles, said that as co-chair, she would “be involved in some of the planning that will take place to implement the campaign.”

“And then of course we will have a structure, and we will all work within that structure to carry out the mission of the campaign,” she said. “I will be happy to walk precincts, make telephone calls, to do planning, to raise money, to do all of that.”

Greuel called Waters, who is serving her 12th term on Congress, “one of the most powerful women in American politics and a tireless advocate for women, children, people of color and the poor” who has  “fought her entire career fighting to bring economic opportunities to South Los Angeles.”

Garcetti answered Waters’ endorsement with one from Congresswoman Karen Bass, whose district includes South Los Angeles as well as Mid-city and the Westside.

“I am happy to endorse Eric Garcetti for Mayor of Los Angeles,” Bass said. “I have seen how he has created jobs and economic development in our city, and I know that as Mayor, he will do the same for South Los Angeles.”

Waters’ endorsements also came with promises to invigorate Los Angeles’ job market and economy, with Greuel saying she and her new co-chair would “partner to invest in jobs and job-training programs, spur economic development and support the creation of small businesses in Los Angeles so every Angeleno has an opportunity to succeed.”

Greuel recently also received endorsements from another congresswoman, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and former President Bill Clinton. Ex- basketball player and businessman Magic Johnson has also backed her.

Over the weekend Garcetti won the backing of Council President Herb Wesson and former Council members Nate Holden and Rita Walters at a rally in South Los Angeles attended by Council members Jan Perry and Bernard Parks.

I told them ” I don’t want to go that neighbor hood” Normally it was not the place I go.

But my friends insisted. ” You are living LA but you are missing out! You should see this while we are here”

So I went along with them.

Here are the little history behind this tower :

The Towers were built by Italian immigrant construction worker Simon Rodia in his spare time over a period of 33 years, from 1921 to 1954.

The Watts Towers are located near (and visible from) the 103rd st Kenneth Hahn station. of the Metro rail LA blue line.

He built them with no special equipment or predetermined design, working alone with hand tools and window-washer’s equipment. Neighborhood children brought pieces of broken glass and pottery to Rodia, some of which were added, but the majority of his material consisted of damaged pieces from the Malibu Pottery or CALCO (California Clay Products Company), located nearby. Green glass includes recognizable soft drink bottles from the 1930s through 1950s.

Rodia often walked the right of way all the way to Wilmington in search of material, a distance of nearly 20 miles (32 km).

Rodia reportedly did not get along with his neighbors, some of whom allowed their children to vandalize his work.

In 1955, Rodia gave the property away and left, reportedly tired of the abuse he had received. He retired Martinez CA and never came back. He died a decade later.”

I was amazed cause he made this tower by hand. He did not have any scientific equipment. Just made from whole junk from the street and stones and clatter he made them alive again once more by his own hands.

He create his own dream paradise ” Nuestro Pueblo” castle from scratch without having lots of equipment and resources. Italian immigrant Simon had a dream and he said” I had in my mind I am gonna do something,something big!”

If you take a close look at these colorful mosaic were grass and stones must have been used for some other use such as cans,dishes,shells from the ocean and rail road metal.In another words these mosaic were composed mainly of what had once been refused under imagination and his effort and time all of them are turn into castle harmoniously. He gave them new life.

Tell do we need the lots of money and resources and equipment to make our dream come true?

Why don’t I start from what I have not wait around? Not complain about what I don’t have like money.resources. My resource is limited I have to stat from what we have.

He pursue his dream and did not cancel, did not just talk about it. From the beginning to the end made it through just by himself without any support.

Seeing and be by the watts towers is moving. The beauty of Watts tower reminds me of Duomo cathedral in Milan at the middle of south central LA. Perhaps he must have been missing his country and built similar and unique one by his own?

by Simon Rodia

“I got tired of seeing this happening. And I was wondering, how would you feel if you had no access to healthy food, if every time you walk out your door you see the ill effects that the present food system has on your neighborhood? I see wheelchairs bought and sold like used cars. I see dialysis centers popping up like Starbucks. And I figured, this has to stop.So I figured that the problem is the solution. Food is the problem and food is the solution.Plus I got tired of driving 45 minutes round trip to get an apple that wasn’t impregnated with pesticides. So what I did, I planted a food forest in front of my house.“

“See, I’m an artist. Gardening is my graffiti. I grow my art. Just like a graffiti artist, where they beautify walls, me, I beautiful lawns, parkways. I use the garden, the soil, like it’s a piece of cloth, and the plants and the trees, that’s my embellishment for that cloth. You’d be surprised what the soil could do if you let it be your canvas. You just couldn’t imagine how amazing a sunflower is and how it affects people.“

“ To change the community, you have to change the composition of the soil. We are the soil.“

“I see young people and they want to work, but they’re in this thing where they’re caught up – I see kids of color and they’re just on this track that’s designed for them, that leads them to nowhere. So with gardening, I see an opportunity where we can train these kids to take over their communities, to have a sustainable life. And when we do this, who knows? We might produce the next George Washington Carver. but if we don’t change the composition of the soil, we will never do this.“

“So what I want to do here, we gotta make this sexy. So I want us all to become ecolutionary renegades, gangstas, gangsta gardeners. We gotta flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangsta. Get gangsta with your shovel, okay?And let that be your weapon of choice.“

“I got tired of seeing this happening. And I was wondering, how would you feel if you had no access to healthy food, if every time you walk out your door you see the ill effects that the present food system has on your neighborhood? I see wheelchairs bought and sold like used cars. I see dialysis centers popping up like Starbucks. And I figured, this has to stop.So I figured that the problem is the solution. Food is the problem and food is the solution.Plus I got tired of driving 45 minutes round trip to get an apple that wasn’t impregnated with pesticides. So what I did, I planted a food forest in front of my house.“

“See, I’m an artist. Gardening is my graffiti. I grow my art. Just like a graffiti artist, where they beautify walls, me, I beautiful lawns, parkways. I use the garden, the soil, like it’s a piece of cloth, and the plants and the trees, that’s my embellishment for that cloth. You’d be surprised what the soil could do if you let it be your canvas. You just couldn’t imagine how amazing a sunflower is and how it affects people.“

“ To change the community, you have to change the composition of the soil. We are the soil.“

“I see young people and they want to work, but they’re in this thing where they’re caught up – I see kids of color and they’re just on this track that’s designed for them, that leads them to nowhere. So with gardening, I see an opportunity where we can train these kids to take over their communities, to have a sustainable life. And when we do this, who knows? We might produce the next George Washington Carver. but if we don’t change the composition of the soil, we will never do this.“

“So what I want to do here, we gotta make this sexy. So I want us all to become ecolutionary renegades, gangstas, gangsta gardeners. We gotta flip the script on what a gangsta is. If you ain’t a gardener, you ain’t gangsta. Get gangsta with your shovel, okay?And let that be your weapon of choice.“

WATTS (CBSLA.com) — Authorities Monday said a man was killed and his wife wounded in a shooting at their South Los Angeles home.

The shooting happened in the 9700 block of Beach Street in Watts around 11 p.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department said.

The couple, in their mid-50s, heard a car alarm go off outside their home and went into the front yard to investigate when they confronted two masked men.

The suspects reportedly chased the couple into their home and fatally shot the male victim in his bedroom.

Detectives say the suspects then asked the man’s wife for a tape of some sort before they shot her. She suffered a gunshot wound to her elbow and a bullet grazed her stomach.

“She was in shock herself. She was saying ‘I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot. My arm’s about to fall off,” neighbor Tina Marshall said.

According to police, the male victim had numerous drug convictions and an extensive criminal history.

The suspects fled the scene and no description from police was available.

The connection between the suspects and the victims was under investigation.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Los Angeles Police Department.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A mistrial has been declared in the case of an alleged Los Angeles gang member accused of fatally shooting a 5-year-old boy who was posing for pictures in his Spider-Man costume on Halloween 2010.

The judge ruled Friday after the jury deadlocked on charges against Leonard Hall Jr.

City News Service reports the split was 9-3, with the majority favoring conviction on a murder charge and two counts of attempted murder.

Little Aaron Shannon Jr. was killed by a gunshot to the head in the backyard of his South Los Angeles home on Oct. 31, 2010. His grandfather and uncle were wounded.

The defense disputed eyewitness identifications linking Hall to the killing.

A co-defendant earlier pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and two counts of attempted murder, and is awaiting sentencing.

The endorsement of the councilwoman, one of the three black members of the 15-member City Council, was expected to be announced at an 11 a.m. news conference at the 28th St. YMCA.

An endorsement by Perry, who made a strong showing in South Los Angeles in the March 5 primary, has the potential to sway her nearly 60,000 supporters to switch their votes to Garcetti in the May 21 runoff against second-place finisher Wendy Greuel.

Perry came in first in the primary election, ahead of Garcetti and Greuel, in a broad swath of precincts in South Los Angeles, an area that includes many black and Latino communities.

In the past two weeks, Garcetti, who earlier set up a campaign office in South Los Angeles to court voters there, picked up the endorsements of the Los Angeles African American Women Political Action Committee and the New Frontier Democratic Club, a predominantly women’s group with a long history in the black community.

Greuel’s campaign website features a long list of support from black politicians, including County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas. On the campaign trail, she frequently refers to her time working in the administration of the late Tom Bradley, to date L.A.’s only black mayor.

Perry’s endorsement would be the second for Garcetti from a former opponent. Emanuel Pleitez, who came in fifth in the primary, announced his backing for Garcetti earlier this month.

Third-place finisher Kevin James, who snagged more than 60,000 votes, mostly in the San Fernando Valley, met with Garcetti and Greuel two weeks ago but said he was dissatisfied with both of them.

LAPD spokeswoman Norma Eisenman says the man was pronounced dead at County USC Medical Center at 7:15 a.m. Sunday.

Two women were also wounded in the attack but were expected to survive.

They were struck in the neck and the chest, respectively.

Police said a dispute at a party reportedly led to the shooting.

The incident occurred around 12:35 a.m. at Avalon and Martin Luther King boulevards.

No further information was available.

(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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“She’s a phenom. She’s our fastest, strongest girl,” said Krohn, director of the Inner City Education Foundation’s rugby program. “She’s also a scholar.”

Tolliver is one of about 200 students who play competitive rugby for ICEF Public Schools, a K-12 charter school system centered in South Los Angeles that seeks to prepare students to attend top colleges and universities.

“That’s how she expresses herself … through rugby,” Krohn said of the View Park Prep Accelerated Charter High School student. “You just can’t keep her off the field.”

NBC Los Angeles: Alicia Keys discusses her tour and son Egypt

Tolliver and 19 other ICEF Rugby players are scheduled to compete in the Hong Kong International Youth Sevens tournament, which attracts hundreds of teams to China from around the globe. The 10 boys and 10 girls on the trip are competing in the U-18 varsity division of the tournament from March 22 to 24.

Although the trip is ICEF’s first time visiting Asia, the rugby program has traveled overseas for competitions since 2006, playing in countries such as New Zealand and South Africa.

Students must apply for the program, now in its 10th year. Players are selected to travel after submitting a letter of intent, along with grades and teacher recommendations.

“They have to be doing their best with everything and just show exceptional character as well,” Krohn said.

Click here to read the full story on NBC Los Angeles.

“Get Ganster with your garden… let your shovel be your weapon of choice.”

“If you grow a tomato your kids will eat tomatoes.   If  you  grow kale, they will eat kale… instead of mindless food.”

I am inspired by Guerilla Gardening, local foods using vacant lots & medians – sustainable and beautiful -  worth the watch… pass it along!

Enjoy – living the  EntwinedLife

Jayme B

NC Certified Environmental Educator

Garden Conservancy Regional Representative

JC Raulston Arboretum Volunteer

Some background on the area: The city of Compton became infamous with N.W.A’s 1988 debut gangsta-rap album and single of the same name, “Straight Outta Compton.” For decades, the area has been plagued by poverty, drug addiction and gang violence, which has been prominently featured on the History Channel’s Gangland documentary series. Although the turf battles between the Bloods and the Crips are largely a thing of the past, using data from the FBI’s annual report of crime statistics, in 2010 CQ press ranked Compton as the 8th most dangerous city in the country. Here are a  few more interesting statistics on South LA:

• The population of Lynwood has one of the lowest overall levels of education in the country: only 4.67% of people over 25 hold a college degree. The national average is 21.84%.
• The per capita income in Lynwood in 2010 was $12,674
• Chances of becoming a victim of violent crime in Compton are 1 in 91, compared to 1 in 243 in California
• 391 crimes occur per square mile in Compton; while the national median is 39.6

Things do appear to be looking up, in 2010 the Compton Sheriff’s department reported area homicides declined by about 38%, with 26 homicides, in comparison to the 42 homicides in 2009. This number is a 53% decrease from five years ago, and was the lowest number of homicides since 1972.

Unfortunately, we continue to get our share of GSWs (gun shot wounds) coming through the doors of the Emergency Department (ED). Since I’ve been on my ED rotation, it is hard to recall one day when a victim of crime hasn’t come in for care. Of course, it’s not all blood and stabbings. Serving a mainly poor, uninsured and disadvantaged population, the ED is increasingly used for primary care.

They city of Lynwood is 86.6% Hispanic, with the majority of patients speaking Spanish as their primary language. I would say, 1 in 3 patients we see need to be addressed in Spanish- a skill that should be added to the repertoire of every physician aspiring to work in the area!

I became involved with the clinical care intern program after moving to California from the east coast. It has proven to be an invaluable learning experience that has helped re-affirm my desire to work as an Emergency Room physician.

The Clinical Care Extender Internship (CCE) program is run by COPE Health Solutions and provides pre-heath professionals with unprecedented access to patient care. As a “volunteer” and “clinical experience” activity for pre-meds, it is one of the best I’ve heard of. I have done hospital volunteer work in the past–unfortunately, these unfullfilling positions most often resulted in doing administrative work, re-stocking gloves or other boring things that made me feel more like a custodian than a member of the patient care team.

The CCE program is different because it provides a precursory training in basic clinical care skills–after the training interns are allowed to perform the same work duties as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). This includes things like taking vital signs, monitoring patients, bathing and a myriad of other duties that might come up on different wards. The CCE program works closely with different departments and is considered a valuable addition to the hospital-including representation at the hospital administration level. The CCEs even have Leadership Team opportunities, for those interested in the executive work of managing hundreds of interns (I’m sure a great professional skill building opportunity for undergrad students).

The program works by having each intern rotate through progressively more critical units of the hospital. I started out on the med/surge oncology floor and after three months moved to peri-operative/surgery, followed by the emergency department. Given my desire to specialize in ED, I have stayed on the emergency floor for four rotations and plan on continuing to spend time here until I start medical school.

Below, I’ll briefly summarize my experience on the various floors:

Medsurge/Oncology

I typically had shifts from 7 pm to 11 pm, once or twice a week. Most of the patients on this floor had cancer and were admitted for complications resulting from their disease. The majority stayed for a week or more at a time, which meant establishing relationships. After I arrived on the floor it was time for the 7 pm vitals check- with 15-20 beds, this typically took me at least an hour or more to complete.  ”Vitals check” includes taking blood pressure, pulse, pulse oximetry (oxygen saturation), respiration rate, pain level and temperature. I often chatted with the patients to put them at ease about being in the hospital-most were bored, some were scared and others were just plain crazy or cranky. Some patients were hospice care only and could no longer speak because of breathing tubes. These were the hardest to see, especially if I came across someone who was my age. Because I had the pre-night shift, the rest of my shift was spent preparing the patients for bed. This meant changing sheets, and bathing those who defecated or urinated in their beds. The smell of this work was the hardest to stomach. I once had to assist an impacted patient, who relieved his bowels in my hand. Welcome to medicine!

Peri-operative/Surgery

Among the best aspects of this rotation was having to change into scrubs! I know this sounds kind of silly- but the other floors make us wear khaki pants and a teal polo shirt with the CCE logo-which I personally think makes me look like I work on a golf course. With the peri-operative floor you get to change in the Surgeon’s locker room and begin dreaming about a career as a surgeon. Uniform aside, this floor is much more interesting mainly because of the staff. The surgery nurses are phenomenal and very willing to share their medical knowledge with the interns. The peri-op department prepares patients for surgery and also monitors outpatient post-operative patients. The job of the intern is to monitor! The patient’s vitals need to be checked every 15-30 minutes, depending on the type of surgery they had, which becomes very hectic and demanding as the ward fills up with post-ops. The nurses really come to depend on you, and there is a great sense of camaraderie  Other tasks include discharging patients and making follow-up phone calls. When not swamped, the interns have the ability to see GI procedures. (The surgery ward itself is a separate rotation reserved for those who have rotated through at least three floors).  Among the procedures I observed was a laparoscopic gallstone removal. There were some complications, so I saw the surgeon really sweat to get this thing out. It was also my first experience seeing an intubation and sedation. The type of work you are assigned to really depends on what shift you are on. The shifts begin at 6am through 6pm. On a few occasions, I arranged my work schedule so that I could do the 6am shift. This was the best one because you prepped patients for surgery and things were full of movement and chaos– as most surgeries were scheduled for early in the day. The 2pm-6pm shift was hectic at first, as many post-op patients needed monitoring but tended to die down after 4pm since no elective surgeries were typically scheduled that late. You did however, get to see the surgical cases that came up from the ED. This meant observing as the surgeons and anesthesiologists spoke to patients about their impending emergency surgery- mainly appendectomies and ectopic pregnancies.

Emergency Department

Getting to hang out in the Emergency Department (not as a patient) has been something I’ve always dreamed of doing. This is by far the best rotation because you spend most, if not all your time with the ED doctors. Sure, you might be asked by the nursing staff to check vitals on a few discharges, or if triage needs help- the charge nurse might assign you to vitals duty, but most shifts mean getting paired up with an ER doc and going through their shift with him/her. I suppose it’s luck of the draw- some of the doctors are better than others about having an intern and how much they involve you. Typically, the doctors allow me to observe the history/physical exam, often times letting me palpate or feel things of interest, then they walk me through their thought process regarding diagnosis and treatment plan. Luckily for me, they don’t mind me asking unending questions. A couple doctors that I’ve come to know particularly well, treat me more like a med student, and are the ones doing the questioning- quizzing me on the causes of DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), what tests to run and if elevated, what they indicate, and bio-chemistry/physiology knowledge that has already escaped me.

I’ve been able to assist on a couple of lumbar punctures, and several central line insertions; I’ve watched a code team try to bring patients back to life; and observed the trauma team as they access the injuries of level I, II and III traumas. By far, the night shift (10pm to 2am) is the best. Working those hours changes something about the ED- the patients are different, the mood is different and it’s often in those late night hours that you get to see the really interesting cases.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Parents were outraged their children were forced to use portable toilets after a plumbing problem caused a sewage backup at a South Los Angeles elementary school.

The incident happened Tuesday morning at 107th Street Elementary located at 147 East 107th Street.

The Los Angeles Unified School District said a clogged pipe forced the sewage to spill into the kitchen and into several student bathrooms.

As a result, the school closed the restrooms and brought in portable toilets. The cafeteria was also sealed off and students were fed cold lunches in the auditorium.

Parent Roberta Perales said she pulled her 5-year-old daughter out of school when she saw the line of toilets on the playground.

“It’s unsanitary. It’s disgusting,” she said. “If I didn’t come and drop off my daughter here, I would have never known this was happening because the school is not calling and letting the parents know that there are 20 (portable toilets) for them to use.”

“It’s a health issue. They could catch hepatitis…there’s a lot of infections out there that these kids could catch,” said parent Mireya Falcon.

The district said the pipe was fixed and the sewage was cleaned up by the afternoon.

Administrators also claimed there was never any health risk to the students.

“After we do a cleanup, we take some swab samples, send them to lab, takes about 48 hours, once we get those results, if it’s all clear, we release the areas back to student use.  All the highest precautions are taken to ensure the safety and health of everybody,” said LAUSD Director of Maintenance Roger Finstad.

Parents, however, said there have been problems with the school’s bathrooms in the past.

“I’ve witnessed kids, a boy, using the restroom outside of the restroom because he said he doesn’t want to go in there because there’s water on the floor,” said Perales.

“I don’t like (the bathrooms) at all because they’re dirty,” a student told KCAL9’s Kristine Lazar.

Another child said, “Some people say they don’t want to use it and they want new bathrooms.”

The district said the restrooms are cleaned daily and the plumbing problem is an isolated incident.

Reblogged from settler agrarian:

A couple of days ago I wrote about “A Place At The Table,” a documentary film now in theaters and also on Amazon.com.  This is something that everyone should see.  As a result of my writing about that film, a friend sent me a You Tube link about a gentleman in South Central Los Angeles named Ron Finley.  Mr. Finley demonstrates for us what one person can do; how one vision, one heart can make our world a better place.  We have a real problem with hunger in our country.  We cannot turn a blind eye any longer.  Good people, hard-working people, people who have hopes and dreams for themselves and their children do not have enough food to eat.  And when they do have food, more often than not, it is the wrong kind of food–food that is filled with empty calories and little nutrition.  It is this kind of food that makes people fat and sick.  Obesity is linked to food with calories but no nutrition.  Ron Finley has an answer to that problem.  It’s simple.  It’s cheap (a lot cheaper than the health costs of subsisting on junk food) and if you are like me, I’ll bet it will fill your heart and your head with your own ideas about how you can create a better world by starting with your community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=EzZzZ_qpZ4w

Watch the You Tube video and tell me what you think!

The fatal car accident occurred around 3:30 a.m. at the intersection of Hyde Park and West boulevards in South Los Angeles, about six miles southwest of the university campus, according to Los Angeles Police Sgt. Manny Chavez of the South Traffic Division.

Chavez said a woman in her early 20s was driving west on Hyde Park Boulevard and ran a red light. The woman’s Ford Explorer struck the passenger side of a Ford Mustang that was heading north on West Boulevard. A 22-year-old man sitting on the passenger side was killed by the impact, he said.

“Alcohol is suspected right now,” Chavez said.

No arrests have been made, but Chavez said that crash is still under investigation.

University officials released a statement later that afternoon identifying the victim as Xinhai Huang, a junior who was majoring in electrical engineering.

“Xinhai was an honor student and in the Dean’s list,” the statement read. “We grieve for a promising life cut short, and for his parents who have lost their son.”

The statement said the parents were notified of Xinhai’s death.

via USC student killed in suspected DUI accident in South L.A. – latimes.com.

Ron Finely is. He’s a gangsta gardener.  Gardening is his graffiti, and his art. Finely is paving the way to a greener South Central LA.

Finely makes the same correlation between food deserts and poor health similar to what Byron Hurt made in his documentary Soul Food Junkies. He is bringing a greater awareness to the problem while at the same time doing something about it.

A new hero in my “make a change” category, Finely is funny, gritty, and real. If you want to meet with him, come to the garden, with your shovel.

Ted Talks: Ron Finely

The two-vehicle crash occurred about about five miles southwest of the campus at Hyde Park and West boulevards at 2:55 a.m.

Erik Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said two people were rushed to area hospitals.

Their conditions were not immediately known and it was not know if they too were affiliated to the university.

Sunday evening, authorities identified the deceased as 22-year-old Xinhai Huang,  an electrical engineering major and dean’s list honors student at USC’s Viterbi School.

The case remains under investigation.

No further information was provided.

(©2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Trial has begun for a reputed gang member accused of gunning down a 5-year-old boy as he played in his South Los Angeles backyard on Halloween day in 2010.

“A 5-year-old life cut short by gang violence on Halloween in 2010,” is how one prosecutor in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Friday described the murder of Aaron Shannon Jr.

One witness alleges that the accused, 21-year-old Leonard Hall, fired at least seven shots, striking Aaron once in the head.

Marcus Denson, another reputed gang member, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with Aaron’s death.

He is expected to take the stand Monday to testify against Hall in exchange for a lighter sentence.

The jury will be told that Denson, 18, did not fire the weapon that killed Aaron.

KCAL9′s Dave Lopez reports that Denson will tell jurors that on Oct. 31, 2010, he and Hall were instructed by another gang member to go into rival gang territory in search of a rival gang member and to “take care of him.”

The prosecution has told jurors that Aaron’s family had no gang ties.