The Right Site Coalition and the Echo Park Historical Society are in the midst of a CEQA lawsuit against LAUSD that will not be heard until December 18th so in the meantime the school district is attempting to demolition the evidence before the case goes to trial.

Council President Eric Garcetti has said that he would not allow the closure of streets necessary for the school to be built; now we need him to block the issuance of demolition permits for the project. For background on the Site 9A fight click here.

LAUSD will conduct a public hearing this Tuesday, October 10 at Rosemont Elementary School at 6PM. (See attached PDF). Help support the preservation of part of the fabric of our community by acting today.

From the Right Site Coalition:

Hello everyone,

Please take a moment of your time and fax, call or email CD 13 representative, Council President Eric Garcetti today!

He must request a stay of demolition. The Right Sight Coalition has fought for over a year to stop the LAUSD from foolishly demolishing this essential part of Echo Park. Directly in our Community Center, it is full of historic housing and commercial uses. We need to show LAUSD that when you’re wrong you are wrong.

Enrollment numbers for 06/07 are about to be released and according to a Logan Street Elementary parent, the school was down to 742 students this year. That would mean over 150 less students than last year! Imagine how the other schools have fared.

Please support the Right Sight Coalitions fight to save this part of our neighborhood while preventing LAUSD from putting a school in an area that doesn’t need it! We have a trial date of December 18 for the CEQA lawsuit. Donations for the Right Sight Coalition may be mailed and made out to:

EPHS
PO Box 261022
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Fax or send your letters to:
Councilmember Eric Garcetti
323-957-4500
fax#323-957-6841

5500 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Artist/Millie’s waiter Aaron Donovan and Pac Bell operator/Spaceland doorgirl Patricia Castillo saw a need—an unpretentious place where artist could show—and a space—a turn of the century storefront in need of restoration. One sold ’64 Galaxie station wagon and countless tips later, Delirium Tremens was born. To settle an argument on the name, Donovan and Castillo chose one by a blind opening of the dictionary (a method used by countless bands in the same neighborhood). And yet Delirium Tremens—the formal name for the DT’s, or the shakes and hallucinatory visions drunks suffer upon withdrawals—fits perfectly with the duo’s vision of aesthetic provocation.

I really like art that people love or hate—nothing lukewarm,” says Donovan, whose hard luck getting his own show led him to open his own space. “I was taking my slides around, kind of frightened, and the galleries were so pretentious. They’d glance at the slides, look you over, look at their watch, and boom! You’re outta there.” An Art Center College of Design graduate, Donovan realized that many of his former schoolmates were likely undergoing the same experience.

He finally got a break last May when Ojala Fine Art, located next to the DTs space, opened its doors and gave him a show.

“There’s a lot of talent, but no venues,” says Jesus Sanchez, the proprietor of Ojala. Sensing a wealth of untapped talent in Echo Park, Silver Lake and Chinatown, Sanchez is committed to showing work for those communities. And so is Fototeka, a photography gallery that is set to open nearby before the end of the year.

“We want to bring people in, not be a snobby presence,” says Robin Blackman, one of three people launching Fototeka. As for Delirium Tremens’ niche in this mini art zone, the concept is to explore the fine line between illustration and fine art. “Think brain damage,” Donovan suggests.

glue style and action in los angeles is the new fashion and arts magazine busting out of Los Angeles, covering the trendsetting East Side of town. This is the world of Beck, indy film, cheap rent, affordable designer clothes, boutiques selling Mexican love potions, web geeks on crank, the Darby Crash Memorial Punk Rock Museum, and a million bands that will never get signed. Glue sees it all and takes pictures! Glue magazine is available at all major newsstands in LA, and at the following stores:
Squaresville, Amok, NYSE, The Swell Store, Eduardo Lucero, Retail Slut, Rojas, and Melrose Music.

The most notable feature of the intersection of Echo Park and
Morton avenues used to be Magic Gas station. Now, the same area is emerging as the neighborhood’s gallery row. By late September, three galleries are expected to be open in side-by-side store fronts on Echo Park Avenue.

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

Angeleno Heights will be featured this Tuesday November 29th at 6.30PM on

Life & Times.

Echo Park Push-Back On Eminent Domain, the Los Angeles Garment & Citizen on LAUSD’s 9A school site.

Pols to Public: Go Away puts in plain words how the public is turned away by the LAUSD School Board. When Neighborhood Council representative Christine Peters requested to speak at the commission hearing to discussion the hasty site selection and the pending emanate domain of 40 local homes she was turned away, told that the board would only hear from 7 speakers. Those that have dealt with local School Board Member David Tokofsky tell us that he’s particularly curt with the little people.

Don’t forget, Saturday October 16 the ELFS will be sponsoring the Edendale Library Neighborhood Open House from 10AM to 5 PM.