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San Pedro Welcome
Park
Rendering of the new Welcome
Park
Construction has finally started on our
long awaited San Pedro Welcome Park. Bulldozers are on
sight grading the property, preparing for construction of the
new park. We have waited a long time for this and
seeing the bulldozers out on the property is a welcomed
sight. Making this park a reality has been one of my top
priorities since I was elected. It's about time that we
cleaned up the main entryway into San Pedro and gave visitors
a proper welcome to our town.
The
Welcome Park will replace blighted properties at the end of
the Harbor Freeway on Gaffey Avenue. Community
activists, led by Jim Hussey, have been working for years to
turn the area into a park that better reflects the community
of San Pedro.
First
impressions are lasting impressions and our new park will
finally give the right impression of our community. I
can't wait to cut the ribbon on our beautiful gateway park
this summer.
Rewards offered in
murder cases
Arturo Ponce
Mercado
Ten days before 14-year-old Cheryl
Green was murdered while standing outside with friends in
broad day light, there was another murder in the same Harbor
Gateway neighborhood. Arturo Ponce Mercado was outside
his home when he was shot and killed.
Unlike in Cheryl's case, there have been no
arrests in Arturo's murder. I have introduced a $50,000
reward for information in the case.
Kendall Chun
I recently
stood with the family of Kendall Chun, a 34 year-old man that
was gunned down at a Wilmington Market on December 5.
Mr. Chun was simply picking up a few things
before going home after work when he was senselessly killed.
We are hoping that this reward will bring witnesses forward in
this case so that justice can be done, not only for the Chun
family, but also for the Wilmington community.
Anyone with information on either case is
urged to contact the LAPD Harbor Division at
310-513-7017.
Eastview Little
League Update
 Join our coalition to
support building ball fields at 22nd Street in San
Pedro where Eastview Little League can play temporarily until
we can build them permanent fields! Click
here to read my
San Pedro Magazine column on Eastview to learn more! Email me
at janice.hahn@lacity.org to join our coalition.
Don't forget to visit our
website for regular updates, announcements and information:
http://www.lacity.org/council/cd15/
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March/April 2007
You Heard Right, Reggie the
Alligator is back!
 I was so surpised to get the
news that Reggie the Alligator had once again been spotted at
Harbor Regional Park on Monday. No one had seen him in about
18 months and we had no idea where he was. In fact, we had
even gone back to business as usual at the lake, removing the
fencing and going back to regular patrols. Well, now
that Reggie is back we have once again cordoned off the
lakefront and increased patrols until we figure out what to do
to catch him this time. The plan is still to catch him
and move him to the LA Zoo, which is the best thing for
Reggie and the public that visits the park. But, I will
say that I've been out to the lake several times and it is
great to see families with thier children enjoying the park
while hoping to catch a glimpse of Reggie.
Before his tragic death, Steve Irwin had agreed to try
to catch Reggie when he resurfaced. We are checking with
Mr. Irwin's team to see if they would like to fulfill that
promise. We also have a lot of other offers from
alligator wranglers all over the county. I will keep you
posted on what we decide to do. Remember to check my
blog, www.janicehahn.org , for
updates.
Jimmy Carter Work Project
Coming to San Pedro & Harbor
Gateway
 Every year Jimmy and Roselyn
Carter work with Habitat for Humanity and pick one city to
focus their efforts for a one week Jimmy Carter Work
Project. This year they have chosen Los Angeles and both
work sites are in the 15th City Council District. We
will be building 14 homes in the Harbor Gateway and 16 in
Councilwoman Hahn with
President Carter San Pedro beginning on
October 28.
I have always been a big supporter of Habitat for
Humanity. I sat on the Board of the Long Beach Habitat
back in the 90's. And this is especially exciting to me
because my father was a good friend of President
Carter's. In fact, my father gave the first piece of
County owned land to Habitat Los Angeles in 1991.
The Carters were in town to formally announce the
project this weekend. It was great to see them and I am
very excited about the project. Literally thousands of
people from all over the world will be converging here in L.A.
to build homes for families that deserve them.
Think about getting involved. There are a lot of
opportunities for volunteers, even if you dont' have
experience. For more information, here is the Habitat
website link:
http://www.habitatla.org/habitatla/jcwp/JCWP_Committees.pdf
Developments at
LAX
 Last month marked a
big day for our airport. The biggest passenger plane in
the world landed at LAX--the Airbus A380. I was able to
see it land and then took a tour. It is really a
remarkable plane and BIG!
Councilwoman Hahn and Mayor Villaraigosa on
A380
The landing of this giant plane made it
even more apparent that we need to move forward with
modernizing LAX so that we can continue to compete for
international traffic and remain the gateway into the
nation. We must build new gates for our international visitors
at Tom Bradley International Terminal. We cannot count
on airlines continuing to come to LAX if we don't moderize to
accomodate them and their passengers.
The
community surrounding the airport has already signed
off on creating new gates at the terminal, but for some reason
the Airport staff has not moved forward yet. I have
called for the construction of these new gates
immediately.
Here is
the text of my remarks to the Airport Commission regarding
modernization: http://www.lacity.org/council/cd15/hot/cd15hot249144097_03192007.pdf
Crime down in Watts
 Thanks to hard work of the
community and the LAPD, crime in Watts is down. There has not been one
homicide in the Councilwoman
Hahn congratulates Watts Gang Task
Force
community since February 21. Additionally, crime is
down 7% in Watts from last
year and was down 14% in
2006.
In January of 2006, the Watts community was in despair following
a month of extreme violence in the community that included 18
gang related shootings and seven homicides. I called the community
together, along with the LAPD and began holding weekly
meetings that continue today. These weekly meetings
of the Watts Gang Task Force have been responsible for
improving relationships between the LAPD and the community,
and have also effected policy change in the City, including
serving as the catalyst for the new gang injunction guidelines
recently released by the City Attorney. Concerns about the
entrance and exit processes for injunctions were first brought
to my attention during our meetings, so I invited LAPD Chief
Bratton and the City Attorney's office to one of the meetings,
where they heard the community's concerns and agreed to review
the process.
It is hard to believe that just
over a year ago, the Watts
community had 18 shootings and 7 deaths in just one month and
that in the past two months, there has not been one homicide
in the community.
The community has really come together through the
Watts Gang Task Force and has formed a partnership with the
LAPD. Together,
we are combating the gang violence that has terrorized this
community for years.
Proudly serving the
communities of San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor
City,
Harbor Gateway, Watts & Athens on the
Hill. |
