Still Waiting! 6 Months After Getting a Commitment from the City of Los Angeles, Broken Sidewalks and Overgrown Trees – Coalition of Community Groups, Disabled Residents Ask Why City Hasn’t Progressed on its Promise to Hire and Train Local Workers for Sidewalk Repair, Tree Trimming
Outraged Homeowner Describes Spending Hundreds of Dollars of Her Own Money to Fix Pipes Broken by Tree Roots – Says, “The City Has Money – So Why Aren’t They Staffing Up to Fix These Problems Before It Gets To This Point?”
South Central resident will hold press conference to demand that the cracked and uneven sidewalks, pothole-riddled streets and backed up drainage systems that the city made a commitment to fix nearly 6 months ago get the repairs and maintenance they desperately need. Mayor Garcetti proposed the largest budget in the history of the city yet residents are still waiting for vital repairs to be made. The city of Los Angeles has the ability to solve these issues by fulfilling a promise to hire 5,000 workers to address community infrastructure issues.
Who: Community leaders, community residents, clergy, and workers
What: Severe Need of Sidewalk Repair and Tree Maintenance
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 23rd from 11:30am-2pm
Where: 226 E. 109th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90061
South LA: Members of the Fix LA Coalition and the community group Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) citing the need for the city to fulfill a 2- year-old commitment to restore 5,000 permanent city jobs and launch a new Targeted Local Hire program. Led by community resident and leader Guadalupe Ortiz and other area residents, the group will lead a first-hand tour of sidewalks and trees where years of neglect has led to destroyed personal property and serious safety risks for disabled residents.
Guadalupe has a disabled wheelchair bound child that needs good sidewalks to be able to safely board the school bus in front of their house. Guadalupe states “I was hopeful that the Mayor and the city would take care of this when this was on the news last year. But I still can’t take my child out for a walk because the sidewalks are uneven and when it rains the situation goes from bad to worse – I can’t get him to his transport vehicle because the drainage system is backed up. The sad thing about situation is that I know the city has committed to hiring 5,000 local workers, and the city has the money, but they won’t use it”
This year’s city budget shows that over 2,500 permanent positions are funded, but still vacant, because the City Administrative Officer has used a “salary savings” restriction to continue a de facto hiring freeze that was lifted an official policy. Since the 5,000 jobs commitment, the city’s own data shows that less than 1,000 positions have been restored. Leaders of Tuesday’s event will call on the city to spend its money wisely – by rebuilding the stable workforce that it had committed to years ago.
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Contact:
Joe Delgado, (310) 704-9312
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