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On Friday night, I attended the dedication of the new Belmont High School Athletic Field, which my office helped get built with Proposition K and Community Development Block Grant funding.
This morning the City Council passed two resolutions by Councilmember Richard Alarcon that put Los Angeles officially on record in support of two pieces of state legislation related to Filipino veterans. Assembly Joint Resolution 6 supports H.R. 210 - the Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2011, which would provide the benefits that were promised to Filipino veterans who fought alongside American soldiers during World War II. Assembly Bill 199 would encourage teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District to include the history of Filipino veterans in World War II as part of social science lesson plans.
We must make sure our courageous Filipino veterans and their families get the benefits they were promised and earned. And we must teach the next generations about this important part of our American history so that their story is never forgotten.
Sign up now for the 5th Annual Historic Filipinotown 5K Run/Walk! The race will kick off on August 6 at 7:30 a.m. at 1925 Temple Street, cutting through the heart of Historic Filipinotown with a rolling street closure along Temple Street.
The race is co-sponsored by the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council, the Silver Lake Medical Center, and my office.
Festivities will follow the race from 10 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. and include live music and dance performances, LA’s top food trucks, and a fashion, travel, craft, and free health fair.
To register to compete in the race, please click here. For more information, please click here.
This morning I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for Occidental Studios’ new state-of-the-art production facility. The soundstage is approximately 14,000 square feet with an additional 6,000 square feet of office space, conference rooms, dressing rooms, and hair and make-up rooms. It is conveniently located in Historic Filipinotown, just west of Downtown Los Angeles.
Keeping filming in Los Angeles is important to our local economy -- not only employing those who work on productions, but supporting jobs in related industries such as catering. The new soundstage will help us reaffirm Los Angeles as the world's entertainment capital and help keep our city working.
On Saturday I was pleased to join the Historic Filipinotown community in celebrating its newest addition -- a park at the intersection of Rockwood and
It’s hard to believe that this beautiful park was once an empty, contaminated lot filled with trash and covered in graffiti. Now, it has new landscaping, a children’s play area, and solar-powered lights.
The park is located in the heart of the Los Angeles Oil Field where the city’s first successful oil well was drilled in 1892. The City of
Join Council President Eric Garcetti for the grand opening of Rockwood-Colton Park in Historic Filipinotown! The festivities will be held on Saturday, May 7, at the park (1571 Rockwood Street) starting at noon.
Come check out HiFi's newest green and open space, which features a children's play area, landscaping, and solar-powered lights.
Hope to see you there!
Over the weekend, I held Los Angeles Neighborhood Dreams summits for the Echo Park/Historic Filipinotown and East Hollywood communities. I would like to thank all the community members who came out to share ideas on how to make our neighborhoods better.
At the Echo Park/Historic Filipinotown summit, dozens of community members joined in a constructive conversation around topics such as beautification, economic development, arts, transportation, safety, and community capacity building. For Historic Filipinotown, LAND participants were particularly interested in promoting the neighborhood's identity through increased marketing, signage, and tours of the community. Participants ranked beautification as their number one priority for Echo Park -- more trash cans, a streetscape plan, tree planting and maintenance, street furniture, and conversion of empty lots into green space were among their biggest concerns.
In East Hollywood, economic development, neighborhood beautification, public safety, arts, and green space topped the list of participants' priorities. Ideas that were raised included attracting more restaurants and small businesses to the area, beautifying storefronts, and bringing more lighting to the neighborhood. Stakeholders also said they would like to see a community garden in East Hollywood as well as youth centers and fields.
On Saturday, April 9, the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council (GEPENC) in partnership with the Historic Filipinotown Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown are sponsoring a neighborhood clean up.
Today I was pleased to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Children’s Institute’s new Otis Booth Campus located in Historic Filipinotown.
The Children's Institute has a long history of dedicated service to our most vulnerable, at-risk children and their families. The new 48,000 square foot facility will allow them to provide services to more than 5,000 families through its programs, health services, and performing arts opportunities.
I want to extend a huge thank you to all of the volunteers, students, and families who came to Saturday’s Cash for College workshop at Belmont High School, including volunteers from 826LA and Cal State LA. The workshop was a huge success, and it was because of all of you!
More than 50 students showed up to get assistance with completing their federal student financial aid applications. Two lucky students who attended the event will also be randomly selected for $1,000 Cash for College scholarships.
My office is seeking volunteers who are available this Saturday, February 26, to assist with a Cash for College workshop that we are co-sponsoring with Belmont High School. The workshop will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
At the workshop, volunteers will help local students access financial aid for college by providing to students and their families one-on-one assistance with completing the federal student financial aid application.
State and federal funding to help college students goes unused every year simply because their families can't figure out how to properly complete the complicated FAFSA form. Just a few hours of volunteer work could mean the difference between a student being able to afford college or not.
For more information or to sign up to volunteer for a shift, please contact Ryan Carpio at 323-957-4500 or ryan.carpio@lacity.org.
In honor of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., I had the pleasure of spending Monday with community volunteers participating in L.A. Work's 20th annual MLK Jr. Day of Service.
Hundreds of community members helped revitalize Rosemont Elementary School, working together to enhance unused areas of the school library, create a literacy garden, design a new game room, paint scenic murals, and assist teachers with their classroom needs.
Dozens of other volunteer events were also set up across the city. In Glassell Park, the Los Feliz Charter School of the Arts organized more than 100 volunteers to help pick up trash and clean up the streets (see photo at left).
L.A. Works is a nonprofit, volunteer action center that creates and implements hands-on community service projects in the Los Angeles area throughout the year. During the past 20 years, its members have contributed more than 1 million volunteer hours to Los Angeles. Click here to find out how you can get involved in serving your community.
On Monday, January 17, L.A. Works hosts its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. This year, volunteers will beautify and improve Rosemont Avenue Elementary School in Historic Filipinotown by converting an unused area of the library into a reading nook, landscaping to create a literacy garden, and designing a new game room specifically for children to interact with one another. The volunteer project will also include creating murals, painting school buildings, and planting flowers and shrubs.
In 2011, L.A. Works will kick off its 20th year of connecting volunteers with volunteer opportunities. The organization manages more than 80 volunteer events each month and has contributed more than 1 million hours of service to Los Angeles.
Click here to sign up to volunteer or go here for more information about L.A. Works and other volunteer opportunities.
Thank you to the Council District 13 community members who joined us for our annual holiday party last night. We had a great time at the Children's Institute's new Otis Booth Campus -- eating, catching up with friends, listening to a moving performance by young people who have received services from the Children's Institute, and even getting a visit from Santa.
Through the generosity of those who attended the festivities, we were able to collect dozens of toys that will be donated to local non-profit organizations that serve families so that they can help brighten the holidays for children in need.
Happy holidays!
Mark your calendars for the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Clean-Up on Saturday, December 18, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Volunteers are needed to help beautify the neighborhood through this community event sponsored by the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council in partnership with the Historic Filipinotown Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club of Historic Filipinotown.
Clean-up participants will gather at Lake Street Park (227 N. Lake Street). Refreshments and lunch will be provided by the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council.
For more information or to RSVP, contact Jorge Prado at 213-925-9107 or Jose Sigala at 213-308-2826.
Last week we celebrated the official opening of Camino Nuevo High School’s new soccer field and basketball courts. Both were built thanks to the help of a federal Community Development grant. Both facilities will also serve as a joint-use park, meaning they can be enjoyed by both students and community members throughout the year.
As the city made tough choices in our work to balance the budget, I wanted to make sure that key programs in my district -- particularly for kids -- were protected.
Thank you to the volunteers who joined me for Download Day on Saturday. We downloaded the new "Garcetti 311" iPhone app and then hit the streets of Historic Filipinotown to report graffiti, bulky items, overgrown plants, abandoned shopping carts and more.
The application is free via iTunes, and will soon be available for other mobile platforms such as Google Android, Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile. To download through iTunes, click here.
The Bootleg Theater and l’Enfant Terrible is presenting Hamlet, Prince of Puddles, an all ages adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play. Performances begin at 11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through May 9.
Tickets are $9.99 for adults and $5 for children, and are available at bootlegtheater.com and lenfantterrible.org or by calling 213-389-3856 for reservations.
