Reviews
of Local Businesses, Services & Products
by Neighbors for Neighbors
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Research and scholarly documents/projects 
● The Neighborhood Participation Project (NPP) at University of Southern California
● Rand: Neighborhood Definitions and the Spatial Dimension of Daily Life in Los Angeles
● Belfer Center: Best Practices in Neigborhood Revitalization
● Neighbor Works: Managing Neighborhood Change(pdf)
● Encyclopedia of Community
● Robert's Rules vs. Rosenberg Rules (pdf)
● DeliberativeDemocracy.net
A Directory of Lifesaving Emergency Preparedness Resources A smartly designed site, you click on the buttons to find out how you can prepare yourself and your family for an emergency. http://www.daretoprepare.org/www.terremotos.org A bilingual earthquake readiness campaign to raise earthquake awareness and encourage earthquake readiness in Southern California.
Prepare.org
Mar Vista "Youth Community Action & Leadership" (YCAL) Program
(in development)
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Ganging up on the Talent in Da Hood
Gangs embody our nation's and our city's worst nightmare. Urban poverty, drugs, violence, apathy and despair have, in fact, conspired to give LA the dubious distinction of being the nation's gang capital, the epicenter of a deadly epidemic.
We all know that gangs destroy the lives of our most vulnerable population, urban youth. They also seriously endanger our communities, our police officers, and ourselves. And each week, they keep growing: 1500 gangs and 200,000 members and counting.
Meanwhile, the never-ending background story of how our megalopolis and our politicians have denied, distorted, abused and ultimately failed to genuinely address this civic crisis is just as scary. Just search "gangs" in Los Angeles Times and you'll see what I mean.
Yet it's not impossible to sew a purse from a sow's ear, to find hope in this neigborhood and national tragedy, if we dare to look.
Sometimes in the dark you stumble across something that inspires and illuminates. And it serves us well to pay attention and use it to light our way through.
The Mar Vista Family Center is one shining project deserving of our support. Incredibly, MVFC succeeded in recruiting the very gang members who burned down its low-income community pre-school in 1980 to help build it and their community back up. A phoenix of a community organization, if there ever was!
Then there is Jorge Peniche, a talented Renaissance man from "da hood," a diamond in the rough and tough of LA. Visit his Website and you tell me!
A young man of indisputable talent, Peniche's in-your-face photography of real and wanna-be gang-bangers alone is an eye-opener, civic education through photographs that reveal truths in a kaleidoscope of greys rather than just black, brown or white.
Peniche's photographs bring all this to the surface in a way that makes the viewer ask why, how, who, and WTF (pardon my acronym)!
Above all, Peniche's calibre of work and personal modesty as a whole is a powerful message to young people everywhere. Peniche's work neither denies nor glorifies gangs. Instead, it shows its complexity, the allure, commercialization, vulnerability and deadliness of it all.
The message seems clear: Tell your story using a camera instead of a gun. Get your high with art instead of drugs. And don't ever give up in building yourself and your community a better future, decision by decision, pixel by pixel. And hurry, before it's too late!
WARNING: His latest video below of gang bangers posing and being "shot" in Mar Vista Gardens features Hip-Hop lyrics some folks may find objectionable. Turn down the volume if it irks you and/or get any kids/immature audiences out of earshot.
LOS: Listen Observe Speak
Observations, Ideas, Rants and Opinions about Our Megalopolis and Community
I love it that when you look up "NIMBY" on Wikipedia, it nervously announces that "The neutrality of this article is disputed." And some dispute it is, given how every neighborhood has its share of NIMBYs (Not In My Backyard), NIABYs (Not In Anyone's Backyard), NAMBIs (Not Against My Business or Industry), and even a few BANANAS (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything or possibly Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone)!
wanted to know what is, more or less, a NIMBY?NIMBY is an acronym for Not In My Back Yard. The term is used to describe opposition to a new project by residents, even if they themselves and those around will benefit from the construction. Often, the new project being opposed is generally considered a benefit for many, but residents nearby the immediate location consider it undesirable and would generally prefer the building to be "elsewhere."Deceptively simple and yet I was struck by the idea's slipperiness. A NIMBY doesn't say "Good for you, now go away" but "Good for us, but not good for me especially, so go away."
So while everyone, including the NIMBY, benefits from, say, a new school in the neighborhood (because it educates and empowers children as future citizens), the NIMBY doesn't want to deal with the noise, the traffic, the loss of her favorite strip-mall, and above all, the potential loss of her property's value.
Elected Government Officials
City Councilman Jack Weiss, 5th District 310-289-0353
City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, 11th District 310-575-8461
County Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke 213-974-2222
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa 213-978-0600
State Assemblymember Karen Bass, 47th District 323-937-4747
State Senator Debra Bowen, 28th District 310-318-6994
U.S. Congresswoman Diane Watson 323-965-1113
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer 213-894-5000
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein 310-914-7318
Parks
Mar Vista Recreation Center & Pool, 11430 Woodbine 310-398-5982
Palms Child Care Center, 2930 Overland 310-202-2577
Palms Recreation Center, 2950 Overland 310-838-3838
Post Offices
Palms, Motor north of Venice - 90034 800-275-8777
Exposition, Exposition south of Pico - 90064 800-275-8777
Schools
Public Schools Clover Avenue Elementary, Clover Avenue and Military 310-479-7739
Charnock Road Elementary, Charnock Road and Sepulveda 310-838-6110
Palms Middle School, Kelton and Woodbine 310-837-5236
Hamilton High, Robertson and Cattaraugus 310-836-1602
Private Schools Adat Shalom, 3030 Westwood Boulevard 310-475-4985
Redeemer Baptist Church and Elementary School 10792 National Boulevard 310-475-4597
Lycee Francais de Los Angeles, 3261 Overland Avenue 310-836-2699
Notre Dame Academy Elementary, 2911 Overland Avenue 310-287-3895
Notre Dame Academy High School, 2851 Overland Avenue 310-839-5289
St. John's Presbyterian Church, 11000 National Boulevard 310-477-2513
Web Sites
Emergency Survival Training www.cert-LA.com
Los Angeles City www.lacity.org
Mar Vista Community Council www.marvistacc.org
Palms Neighborhood Council www.Palms-California.US
State of California www.legislature.ca.gov
U.S. Congress www.Congress.org
Westside Village Civic Association www.westsidevillage.org
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Los Angeles Community Policing
Pacific Community Telephone Directory
LAX Substation 802 World Way, West Los Angeles, CA 90045 310-646-2255. Beach Substation, 1530 W. Ocean Front Walk, Los Angeles, CA, 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 310-392-5131
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