Echo Park, California

Matt Welch continues his queries regarding the 9A Site, this time he asks the LA Times why the paper hasn’t been reporting on LAUSD land grabs throughout LA.

After a short hiatus the Echo Park Holiday Parade returns next Saturday December 3rd. This year’s theme is Holiday’s Around the World with Councilmember Ed Reyes as the Grand Marshall. The parade will start at Noon beginning at Portia Street and traveling west down Sunset Blvd to points unknown.

Angeleno Heights will be featured this Tuesday November 29th at 6.30PM on Life & Times.

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Here’s some background on the 9A site from the Right Site Coalition:

Margarita Reyes came to the U.S. in 1949, from Managua, Nicaragua and saved to buy her home in Echo Park 5 years later. She was 23 years old.

Gilbert Joves’ Grandmother came from the Philippines in 1976 and bought 2 tiny cottages in Echo Park that now house 2 generations of her family.

The Villanueva’s have 12 family members, 3 generations, living in their 4 unit house on Mohawk St., a cherished family home that was purchased with sacrifice and patience.

All of them will lose their homes if the Los Angeles Unified School District succeeds in demolishing 50 housing units along Alvarado St., Santa Ynez St, Marathon St., and Mohawk St.

The Right Site Coalition is raising money to fight this proposal for a new elementary school and instead steer it to another more available and suitable “for sale” site. If the coalition’s efforts prevail, they will preserve dozens of historic housing unit–most built between 1900 and 1925.

Government bureaucrats are demanding the homes that Mexican, Central American and Filipino families struggled and sacrificed to buy. In today’s real estate market, where will these people go?

The school district is moving ahead even though local elementary schools are experiencing continued and increased decline in enrollments. Logan Elementary, the nearest available school, has lost 300 students since 2001.

To aid in this fight, give what you can to the Right Site Coalition today, by making your tax deductible donation to the Echo Park Historical Society, PO Box 261022, LA, CA, 90036 or online at www.historicechopark.org

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Today Curbed LA picked up Matt Welch’s blog on the eviction plight facing the residents of LAUSD’s next unnecessary school site. Check back tomorrow for additional information on why this is a poor school site and how you can help the neighbors fight the taking of their homes.

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Well it looks like Councilmember Garcetti will indeed be Council President.

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