, member of the United States Congress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
By Brian Hews
Los Angeles (Photo credits: www.roadtrafficsigns.com)
“Promise Zones” will be coming to Los Angeles in the future it was announced on Thursday by the White House.
Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard, who represents a wide swatch of East Los Angeles and Commerce, joined President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday as he announced the first five “Promise Zones”— high-poverty areas where the federal government will partner with and invest in communities to create jobs, leverage private investment, increase economic activity, expand educational opportunities, and improve public safety.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for greater Los Angeles and the selected communities across the nation,” said Roybal-Allard.
“By building these kinds of partnerships, we will take an important step toward reviving our local economies through job creation, increased access to education and safer streets for our families.”
Roybal-Allard informed members of the media, including Hews Media Group-Community Newspaper about the new program late Thursday morning.
Obama and Roybal-Allard said that the first five Zones, located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, have each put forward a plan on how they will partner with local business and community leaders to make investments that reward hard work and expand opportunity. Each of the areas will “receive the resources and flexibility they need to achieve their goals.”
“Each of these designees knows and has demonstrated that it takes a collaborative effort – between private business and federal, state, tribal and local officials; faith-based and non-profit organizations; children and parents – to ensure that hard work leads to a decent living for every American, in every community,” Roybal-Allard hailed in the press statement.
The plan for Los Angeles includes the neighborhoods of Pico Union, Westlake, Koreatown, Hollywood, and East Hollywood.
Roybal-Allard said that the new plan includes increasing housing affordability by preserving existing affordable housing and partnering with housing developers to increase the supply of affordable new housing to prevent displacement.
Roybal-Allard also announced that “ensuring all youth have access to a high-quality education, and are prepared for college and careers through its Promise Neighborhoods initiative.”
The lawmaker stressed that the program includes partnering with the Youth Policy Institute and L.A. Unified School District to expand its Full Service Community Schools model from 7 schools to all 45 Promise Zone schools by 2019.
Also proposed in the program includes a component to ensure that youth and adult residents have access to high-quality career and technical training opportunities that prepare them for careers in high-growth industries through partnerships with career and technical training schools and the Los Angeles Community College District.
In addition, President Obama and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard said that the funds will be invested in transit infrastructure including bus rapid transit lines and bike lanes, and promoting transit-oriented development (TOD) that attracts new businesses and creates jobs.
Roybal-Allard also said in a statement that the Promise Zone Director and Advisory Board with eliminating wasteful and duplicative government programs.
What a terrific idea.. (Sarcasm) Because the war on poverty has worked so well up to now.
Put Irwindale on the list…I understand Texas has come a courtin’ the Hot Sauce maker, that the city, county and state government are virtually regulating out of business here. But hey, more real estate and we need another football stadium anyway..
D. Lauderdale
Looks like more crony Socialism targeted at illegal aliens and former illegal aliens, seems to be racially discriminatory and a corporate giveaway to low wage employers, a massive cost shift unto the taxpayers.
I’ll immediately grab your rss as I can’t find your email subscription link or e-newsletter service.
Do you’ve any? Kindly permit me recognise in order
that I could subscribe. Thanks.
The Promise Funds were manipulated by Garcetti to go to Hollywood and East Hollywood where his big campaign funder, Millennium (Phil Aarons), has their controversial projects. Read Betty Pleasant of The Wave articles to ‘connect the dots’ about how this happened and how impoverished South L.A was snubbed. Garcetti buddy Slingerland, who is one of the biggest ‘bundlers’ raising campaign funds for him and Obama, head of Youth Policy Institute, and Garcetti have most likely been collaborating on this for years. According to Pleasant, not only is Slingerland a huge Garcetti funder (L.A.Ethics Commission website), but had his whole staff contribute like church tithes for years to Garcetti campaigns.The Phil Aarons Hollywood Cap Park in East Hollywod above a freeway, supposedly for the poorer families will also include his luxury towers thereby will not be for those families at all. They will not be able to afford living there and will move out of the Promise Fund area, funds supposedly for the poorer areas of LA.. Millennium gets big tax breaks as a developer in a Promise Fund Zone, (Millennium funded) O’Farrell has been appointed by Garcetti as head of parks and rec to make sure all goes smoothly for Millennium,and Millennium and O’Farrell are already stupidly and arrogantly bragging about Promise Funds helping his boss’s project park get built. Above a freeway, in earthquake country.
And the other area receiving the funds is Hollywood.. Hollywood really needs GOVERNMENT Promise Funds more than impoverished South LA? Seriously? Hollywood is where Phil Aarons (Millennium) the developer Garcetti sold Hollywod to, has his building site on Vine, for his heatedly opposed mega massive skyscrapers,(ironically that NO ONE wants yet the GOVERNMENT may now help get done!) at the foot of the Hollwyod Hills where no one can get in or out of their communities now. They are on hold although Aarons claims he will still build there in spite of Dr. Parrish the state geologist CONFIRMING the site sits on active fault line STRANDS, and NO ONE should build there especially 55 or 45 story skyscrapers towering over residental communities..
These were Garcetti’s babies..And not one word from the corrupted by Millennium money Eric Garcetti!
Both he and O’Farrell should BOTH be recalled for choosing Millennium money over the lives of thousands of people who will potentially die if an earthquake hits the Hollywood Cap Park (does anyone want to be sitting in their car on the freeway in a tunnel under Millennium’s Cap Park?)or Vine St.. if Millennium does build there! And THIS is what Garcetti brought GOVERNMENT PROMISE FUNDS back from Washington for.
Stupid Government got taken by shrewed Eric Garcetti!