San Pedro Central

By Bill Schopp, president of Cabrillo Beach Youth Sailing Club Foundation

When I was growing up, I was looking for “my sport.” I assumed that everyone has a natural ability towards a particular sport. By the time I was 14, I had sadly crossed most sports off my list as it was clear they weren’t for me. Then, I discovered racing sailboats.
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San Pedro’s Marine Magnet Likely to Become the New Angel’s Gate High School – a Move That Ensures a School No Larger Than 800 Seats and Reduces Traffic Through Busing; LAUSD School Board Expected to Approve Measure Tuesday & School Officials Add a Major Bit of Enticement – the Possibility of Reopening Gaffey Street Pool. (more...)

“Saturday Night Fever;" Keep Our Very Own City Ballet Alive and Leaping!! Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 6:00 pm The Reef Restaurant 880 Harbor Scenic Dr. Long Beach (near the Queen Mary) One hour hosted bar, silent and live auction, dinner, disco dancing Advance purchase: $70 per person or $650 per table of 10 At the door: $80 per person Adults only, please RSVP by April 28th Proceeds to benefit the 15th Anniversary production of “The Nutcracker”.

ON A DAY GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE, DISCOVERING YOU ARE THE LUCKIEST GAL ON EARTH;

It was a bad day.
How bad? Testy is the best way to describe my disposition at the time.
And it wasn’t only me. Everyone I bumped into seemed irritable.
I watched people get into arguments. I was in a couple of them myself.
First, a little background:
Stepping out of my normal box, I see a San Pedro community pulsating with anger about over development, a proposed new high school, traffic quagmires and parking shortages. In general, I see a community frustrated about the way San Pedro is reshaping itself.
New families priced out of the South Bay housing market see this community as the last bastion where you can live near the water in a “reasonably” priced home – under a million bucks. They are the fresh faces in a town that prides itself on generations of tight, large families that emigrated from places such as Croatia and Italy. Newcomers bring new pieces to the puzzle. Sometimes they fit, and sometimes they don’t.
Downtown is being redefined as an upscale condo haven, but everybody’s holding their breath wondering if the new units will sell in a sliding economy. Downtown businesses are shuttering their doors or surviving by a thread. And looming budget cuts from every direction make people wonder whether they will have jobs tomorrow. On the street, I keep hearing people ask: “Tell me again, why can’t we break away from L.A.?”
It seems everyone is wondering what tomorrow will bring.
This brings me to my point. That was exactly the type of day I was having Tuesday. Small things were piling up, like the ATM failing to give me a receipt. When I went inside to get one, the clerk told me irritably she couldn’t help. The ATM is operated separately and there was nothing she could do.
Talk about a gigantic lie! That was the beginning, and it went downhill from there.
Then two things happened that made me wake up and smell the flowers. It took some time. The first was at a meeting when Ana Dragin, an aide to Councilwoman Janice Hahn, confirmed she was leaving to have her first baby.
At the end of the meeting, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Joe Buscaino and his wife Jay surprised Ana – and all of us – by presenting her with a cake and flowers. This might not seem like a big deal, but I could tell it made Ana’s day. It was so thoughtful because these people don’t work together routinely. This group meets once a month or so to discuss safety issues.
Still, I returned to my grumpy mode within minutes of leaving the meeting.
Late in the afternoon, I was peering out at the ocean as I walked along Paseo del Mar. Point Fermin Park was oddly quiet for 5 o’clock. It was nearly empty, in fact.
That’s when I saw it: a thick wave in the middle of the ocean going in the opposite direction of the current.
It seemed odd. I couldn’t remember a rock out there before. That’s when it began to rise up from the water. I suddenly realized it was a gray whale headed back to Alaska. Then it lurched out of the water in a giant leap!
It was like magic to see something like this. I looked around to find someone to share it with and didn’t see a soul. There it went again! The whale performed another spectacular breech into the air. I witnessed this three times and still I couldn’t find another soul.
Perhaps the gift would have to be savored alone.
But toward the end of the walkway, three young men were peering out at the ocean with big smiles on their faces. That made me suspect they had lucked out, too.
“Did you see the whale?” I asked excitedly. Happily, one of the men said not only had they seen the leviathan, they watched it leap from the water six times. Although he’d lived in San Pedro for years, he’d never seen anything like that before.
That put my grumpiness to rest, at least for the rest of the day. Within a few minutes the park had filled and the whale had moved on. That glimpse reminded me why we live in San Pedro: It’s because you can see the universe work its magic on a daily basis.
At that moment, I felt I was the luckiest gal on Earth.

PREDICTING A RELATIVELY BLEAK FUTURE FOR THE ENTIRE HARBOR AREA ONCE MONEY SHIFTS FROM THIS LOCALE TO PROVIDE GANG REDUCTION TO A DOZEN OTHER REGIONS CONSIDERED MORE CRITICAL;
IT’S TIME TO REALLY WORRY ABOUT OUR KIDS AND FOR THE COMMUNITY TO STEP UP WHETHER THAT BE VIA DONATIONS, VOLUNTEERING OR FINDING OTHER OUT-OF-THE -BOX SOLUTIONS

By Diana L. Chapman

The bit of luck that existed in the Harbor Area when it came to ugliness of gangs will soon be erased with our mayor’s latest and greatest plan – which is way too late and not that great.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa believes that if he transfers funds currently for gang prevention that exist here and other areas of the city –and filters it to twelve more distinct gangster-ridden neighborhoods with higher crime stats, he will be doing something really different that will work. He plans to hire 1,000 more officers, I guess to stomp the gangs out in those neighborhoods.
Well it’s not that different and it’s unlikely it will work.
First, I wish the mayor had to face Harbor Area victims and tell them that our area didn’t provide enough statistics to keep the money here. I’d like him to face:
a) My girlfriend who stumbled on her way home during rush hour in San Pedro into the brazen shooting in broad daylight of a 15-year-old on his front porch. My friend was desperately trying to reach his younger sister to get her out of the line of fire. While I can’t name my friend, I know one thing; she has not been the same since and makes sure she’s out of San Pedro before dark.
b) LaTerian Tasby, 17, a prominent football and basketball player, who died trying to protect his friends at an athlete’s party last October when gangsters crashed the party, carrying knives and guns and shouting racial slurs. They shot LaTerian in the chest. After all, the kid was an easy target, 6’ 7” inches, and someone who would fight to save his friends and who knows.
c) Cheryl Green, the 14-year-old gunned down in Harbor Gateway because she was black.
d) The six-year-old who was shot in the head in his parent’s van, when gang signs allegedly were flashed on both sides. Who cares who was in the gangs – all I care about is a six-year-old does not ever deserve to be shot.

What would the mayor say to these people? Sorry, the media just blew your story up so much – the neighborhood got a lot of hype it didn’t deserve. And how about it mayor? You sure were prancing around the cameras when Cheryl Green was killed during the big media blitz.

Our kids are dying in the streets – everywhere in this city – so why would you take away from one area to allegedly fix another. Historically, every time the police zero in on a region with a driving force to batter down gangs, the gangsters do one thing – they leave and move to areas left wide open..This is exactly what happened when the LAPD broke up Nickerson Gardens – and in fact – exactly what happened with the mafia in Sicily when the government cracked down in the late 1800s. Many mafia members upped and move to the U.S. Why not? It was a wide open territory.

Where an area has less police to mind the store and less programs to mind the kids, we become – like La Terian Tasby -- a giant to target.
I shake to think what will happen if the Toberman House loses so much funding they quit sending former gang members out in the streets to sooth the hostilities and prevent more gang killings.

Or what the Boys and Girls club will do when it’s budget plummets by up to $200,000. The club has discouraged kids from joining gangs with after school programs-- including encouraging kids who never thought they could go to college in a million years – do exactly that -- go to college.

In fact, more than 127 Boys and Girls club seniors have been accepted to colleges and are headed there this fall, with even more waiting in the wings for their acceptances.

But I fear all this will be swept away when the money gets sent to areas such as Watts, Hyde Park and Panorama City. Not that those areas don’t deserve the money, but what many local officials believe is that without the money here – gang crimes are only going to get worse.

Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who serves the Harbor Area, said she’s puzzled why more money isn’t used on diversions – primarily after school programs which time and time again are shown in studies to prove to be the best way to keep kids from gangs.

She's planning to put forward a multi-million intiative to the voters to establishes scores of after school programs throughout Los Angeles.

“We have to out recruit the gang members,” Janice said. “They are good at recruiting. They are there before school, during school and after school. It’s not rocket science. We’ve just given up and we have left our kids completely vulnerable to gang members.”

I too am a huge advocate of promoting after school programs – something I’ve worked on at Dana Middle School the last few years to keep the kids off the streets, out of gangs, far from drugs and to help them find their interests.

Meeting with some success, about ten of us were allowed to show the mayor’s staff
Dana’s pilot program. The model could be done anywhere, as it draws from a variety of sources, including police, parents, businesses, community members and nearby community organizations.

The mayor’s staff let us in the door and -- at the time -- offered for us to come back. But that door, no matter how many calls or emails, was not reopened. The Dana program only keeps scores of kids off the streets and helps them reprogram that – yes – they are worthwhile! They are smart! They are talented! They can bring their grades up!

Kids can change on a dime given the right set of circumstances unlike the parents that the mayor’s office told me need to be reached and changed first. Well, good luck changing the heroine addicted parents, the gangster parents, the single mom with six kids to feed who is just trying to keep everyone alive. It's not realistic. It's tough to teach an old dog new tricks.

But a young dog – that’s another story.

I’d rather pour all my efforts into the youngsters – who no matter what you say – still have a chance to make it if the right person, right program, right college bound effort, right talent is dropped into their lives.

I’ve witnessed it myself many times. A girl who wrote that she lived like “Cinderella,” raised her brother and sister, and lived a routine of social workers and police storming her house – was recently interviewed by both Pepperdine and Harvard. Shortly, she will be off to a UC school with future plans to become a judge. That happened – and only happened – because one of these programs captured her heart. In this case, it was the College Bound program.

Or how about Dana’s basketball coach, who runs a club where no kid can be turned away. Derrick Smith not only teaches the intense discipline of the sport – but watches over their grades.
“I’ve learned so much about basketball,” wrote one 13-year-old boy. “Coach has taught us we could become anything that we want to be. He also taught us to reach for the sky. It also keeps kids off the streets who might be doing bad things if they didn’t have this basketball club. I respect the coach as an idol and a father figure.”

We need parents to volunteer. We need more coaches who can look past the athlete and into the heart of a kid. We need community leaders to step up and help shore up after school activities – in particular at middle schools where kids still have a much bigger chance to change.

And we need the mayor to realize the damage he's about to do for our area.

If the rest of us don't pick up after the cuts, it makes it just that much easier for gangs to pick our kids off the tree as easily as a piece of fruit ready to fall.

In essence, the mayor hasn't done the Harbor Area kids a single favor -- but when we have another killing with a lot of hype, I suspect the mayor will be back, smiling that wide grin for the cameras.

In what appeared as a miraculous buy-in package to build a school at Angel’s Gate, Los Angeles school officials this week turned criticisms into advantages for residents to continue the progress toward building an 800-seat campus at the site.

Linda del Cueto, the superintendent for region district 8 which includes all of San Pedro and areas stretching up north to Watts, promised a list of benefits that might encourage even critics to turn their heads around and consider the site. She added the school likely will be for 9th and 10th graders only.

The final decision making, however, is left for Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Richard Brewer, Jr.

The proposed promises included:
Every student attending the school must live in San Pedro A magnet school will not be built at the site The proposed school would not be a satellite to San Pedro High, but exist as its own entity and run as its own school.

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Families of murder victims in San Pedro are asked to call in and share their stories if they would like their loved one honored at an upcoming peace vigil against violence this coming May.
Volunteers are also being sought for the May 15 event that will be held at 6 p.m. at San Pedro High School’s Pirate Stadium.
The vigil was sparked by the public outcry of the October shooting death of a popular San Pedro High football and basketball player, 17-year-old LaTerian Tasby, who was killed at a party filled with local athletes. Gang members allegedly crashed the event and prompted a brawl. Several other youths were stabbed, but survived. LaTerian was shot in the chest.
The San Pedro Safety Collaborative -- a group of law enforcement, school and service organization officials – have been studying a variety of ways to make San Pedro safer. After LaTerian was killed, the group agreed the entire community should step forward in a united stance against violence -- not just for LaTerian, but for all victims in the community who've been murdered.
Over the past two decades, 189 residents – including 24 children – have fallen to violence, averaging out to about nine deaths a year in the seaside community. However, few vigils have ever been held in any of these deaths.
Some of the murders were triggered by gangs; Many remain unsolved.
Joe Buscaino, a senior lead police officer for LAPD, said officers are tired of telling family members that they have just lost a loved one and watch the intense suffering and pain in the aftermath. The officer was born and raised here, and remembers several of the residents who were killed as people he grew up with or knew at school.
Besides family members who would like to honor their loved one, volunteers are also needed to help with the event, which will include guest speakers, students reading off 189 names of those who have died, and a ceremony where those attending will be asked to light up their cell phones to honor those who have been lost.
Residents who would like to honor their lost loved ones during the vigil should call, Gabriela Medina, and those interested in volunteering should call Alice Castellanos or Jennifer Gonzalez. All three work at the YWCA. The number is 310-547-0831.
If you need to reach the writer, email Diana at hartchap@cox.net

A LOT OF INTERESTING THINGS TO DO ABOUT TOWN -- FROM ROWING DRAGON BOATS TO PLAYING TEXAS HOLD'EM AS A FUNDRAISER FOR TWO SCHOOL'S BOOSTER CLUBS -- SAN PEDRO HIGH AND MARY STAR!

FROM OUR BOOSTER CLUB FRIENDS:

Howdy Partners !

Yep, it's our Annual TEXAS HOLD'EM fundraiser (a poker game battle!) between the SPHS Pirate Booster Club and the Mary Star Stars Booster Club.

Mark Your Calendars for Friday April 25, 2008. Check-in starts at 5pm.(check out last years event pictures at http://www.pirateboosters.org/ )

We have new information this year and it will be held again at our best location ever-the San Pedro Elks Lodge!

Check out the details in the attached brochure, it's better than everway to support our booster club.
Get your tickets early before we sell out.
Scott Carter,2nd Vice President
SPHS Pirate Booster Club
2007-2008

FROM OUR DRAGONBOAT FRIENDS:

Hi All: Good news! The two boats are painted, on the beach and ready for our first season as the LAHDB club. Special thanks to all the players that made this happen: Al Larson Boat Yard and Mariano Bracco for giving their expert painting services gratis, Lewellen Paint for their generous paint donation and many of the new LAHDBC members for their time and labor in prepping, transportation and coverings for the freshly painted boats. It was alot of hard work, but it was worth it!Great job everybody - they look great!

LAHDB Club Open House - May 10th from 8 am to 1 pm at the Cabrillo Watersports Center in San Pedro. Everyone is invited to come down and experience Dragon Boat for themselves. Invite your friends to come as well. This will also be the start of our 2008 Dragon Boat season. We will be forming adult and children teams and signing up paddlers for practice sessions. The cost for a season membership is $60. That includes membership, club t-shirt, Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival (July 26th and 27th) entrance fee, insurance and practice schedule.

The Open House is another opportunity for members to get involved. We currently are in need of 8 more volunteers to help out at the open house.Volunteer needs:
- Run the food concession (fund raiser) - Help at the LAHDBC booth signing up children and adults for membership - Help with the dragon boats on the beach and in the water. - Help direct people from the parking lot to the event on the beach front.All volunteers will receive a hot-off-the-press LAHDB Club t-shirt for helping out.Please let myself, Bruce or Marie know if you are interested in volunteering. We will also need your shirt size."Crimes of the Heart" Fund Raiser on May 10th (same day as the open house) @ 3:00 : If you are interested in attending the play tickets are available for $35. It is going to be a great afternoon of comedy/theater and I hope you are planning on attending.
Please let myself or Bruce know how many tickets you would like for the performance. We have many great prizes to give away at the intermission: movie tickets, gift baskets, gym work-out passes, gift certificates, LAHDBC t-shirts, wines, DB paddle and more. Also, we are planning on going to go over to the Whale and Ale after the show. I hope you are planning to spend the day with the LAHDB club on May 10th. Come and meet some old friends and make some new ones! Finally, we are having a planning meeting at the Cabrillo Watersports Center on April 9th at 6:30 pm in the meeting room upstairs. If you would like to get involved with the club this season, this would be a great opportunity to see how things work.3000 Shoshonean RoadSan Pedro, CA 90731 Looking forward to a great DB season! Thanks,Patrick

HAUNTED IN SAN PEDRO; ONE MORE CHILD DEAD. What does it mean to the woman who stumbled onto the shooting -- with a medical background and stops as a duty?

Dear Readers: This piece was written by a friend who was on her way home from work in the medical industry when she stumbled on another senseless shooting in our town. Miguel Osuna, 15, was killed last Wednesday around 5 p.m. while he stood outside on a porch in the 600 block of Sixth Street. This is what my friend wrote when she fell into the tragic event driving home from work. Because of her medical background, she stopped to help. Miguel is now the 189th murder in the last two decades in San Pedro -- an average of nine killings per year. Many of the homicides s are related to gangs and also remain unsolved. Whatever you can do to help the youngsters of today -- please do so. Diana

She wrote:
I am haunted by the death of yet another teenager in San Pedro.
I didn’t know Miguel but feel that I may have seen him since I work a block away from the house where he was killed.
Last week, I heard the shots and attempted to approach the scene. The police had not arrived yet. I was stopped by a few men who inquired as to where I was going? These men brought me back to reality by saying, “They are shooting down there. You shouldn’t go." At that moment, I saw a little girl standing on the sidewalk and my instincts took over. " Get to that little girl-remove her from this situation." There was no one (an adult) near her. Where was her mother? Was the mother the one that was shot? There were so many things that went through my head and I know that I needed to process things very quickly as a little girl's life was now at stake. At this point, I still did not know what happened. But I made the decision to grab the little girl and take her to a safe distance from the house.

As I approached, a man appeared and stayed next to her. I then became a bystander and watched as several women on the porch were obviously grief stricken and hysterical. I still didn’t know what had happened, but I knew whatever it was, it was really bad.

The police and paramedics arrived. I could tell by the demeanor of the paramedics that whomever was shot was in all likely hood deceased. Just a feeling. The next day I desperately needed to know if the little girl was okay. I was unable to focus at work. I had been told a boy was shot six times and was informed that the little girl was his sister. She was okay.

Miguel’s blood was still on the porch. Family and friends had erected a shrine which consisted of a basket ball jersey, several velas and a rosary. It was just very, very sad. I hugged his friends/hommies whom were obviously in shock and grieving for the loss. I hugged an older woman who came out of the house and I believe was his mother as she kept saying, “My son, my son” in Spanish. Several girls clung to me for support.

One individual that I spent some time with had on a T-Shirt of a cousin who died in a similar fashion. I couldn’t help thinking that the next time I see this individual he will have on a T-shirt with a picture of Miguel and the dates of his short life.

These people didn’t know me, and I didn’t know them. They received me as a person who was touched by the death of their loved one. It wasn’t a matter (for me) of being in a gang or not; it was about being a human being at that moment.

I’ve had some time to think about Miguel and the individual whom shot and killed him. I grieve for both families because ultimately whether it be via the police or “street justice” another family will lose a loved one. That’s just the way it is.

Haunted in San Pedro.

HONOR FOR THOSE MURDERED IN SAN PEDRO; THE SAN PEDRO SAFETY COLLABORATIVE ASKS INTERESTED FAMILIES OF MURDER VICTIMS TO HELP TELL THEIR STORY AND PROVIDE PHOTOS FOR THE MAY 15 PEACE VIGIL; VOLUNTEERS ARE ALSO NEEDED: THIS WEEK, ANOTHER CHILD FALLS VICTIM TO VIOLENCE

By Diana L. Chapman

Officials of a three-year-old collaborative working to prevent violence in San Pedro are asking families of scores of murder victims to step forward and share their stories and photos to honor the victims at a May 15 peace vigil. Another child was killed in the seaside community this week in a possible gang-related incident.

The Peace and Unity rally will be held at San Pedro High School's Pirate Stadium at 6 p.m. as a way to allow victim's families and the community at large to mourn and come together against violence on San Pedro's streets -- a move that is rare in this community. The planning was underway long before violence took a teenage boy was shot Wednesday about 5 p.m.

Miguel Osuna, 15, reportedly was shot as he stood on the porch of 600 block of Sixth Street about. Police told the Daily Breeze that the teenager was possibly killed from shots fired from a rifle at a car wash across the street. He died later at County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

His death boosts the number of killings in San Pedro to 189 over the past two decades. Not only is he the 189 victim to die from violence, he becomes one of 24 children killed during that time period. This averages out to a rate of more than nine murders each year in this coastal community.

Many of those killing remain unsolved and were victims of gang violence.

"This is a long overdue memorial for those who have been killed in San Pedro," said Senior Lead Police Officer Joe Buscaino, a Los Angeles police officer born and raised here. "This is an opportunity for us to remember those who fell victim to violent crime. This a chance for the community to show that violence is not acceptable in this town."

Families who want their loved one honored at the rally can call officials to provide information and photos and are asked to attend the rally -- which was sparked by the unsolved October shooting death of the San Pedro High football and basketball player LaTerian Tasby.

Students across San Pedro High School believed a vigil was going to be held in LaTerian's honor text messaged each other furiously to go, according to one report, but officials -- out of respect from a family request -- agreed to wait and honor all victims of homicides in the community.

The football player -- who had moved to San Pedro to get away from violence in his former Los Angeles-area neighborhood -- became a popular figure at both the high school and the Boys and Girls Club with his turn around in grades, his talents at sports and his "if-I-can-do-it-you-can-do-it-too attitude."

He also spent time tending to younger youth's issues by listening to them. LaTerian was shot and killed on an October weekend last year after alleged gang members crashed a party filled with promising high school athletes, yelled out racial slurs -- according to some youths -- and started a ruckus which wound up in several other students being stabbed. Those youths survived.

Due to the enormity of LaTerian's death -- and the fact that the murder remains unsolved as do many other homicides in San Pedro -- the San Pedro Safety Collaborative agreed to hold a rally in hopes of bringing the community together against violence.

The collaborative includes police, school officials, non-profit organizations dealing with youths such as the YWCA, Toberman and the Boys and Girls Club, and business leaders.

Families that desire their loved ones to be honored and included in the rally should call Gabriela Medina at the YWCA at (310) 547-0831. Volunteers will be needed to help set up and break down the event. Please call Alice Castellanos, also of the YWCA at the same number.

All I ask -- please come. Show the kids we care. Show families who've lost loved ones that they are not alone in their grief.

Angels Gate Cultural Center and San Pedro City Ballet
present newly commissioned work

Angels Gate Cultural Center and San Pedro City Ballet will collaborate on a program of all original modern dance works, including a new, site-specific work commissioned especially for the ballet’s male youth group, to be performed in the Center’s Gallery A. Performances occur on April 11, 12 & 13, 2008 at Angels Gate Cultural Center in Angels Gate Park.
It’s unusual to have a group of artistic young men, especially in the heavily industrial neighborhoods of the L.A. Harbor area, focused on doing exciting things with dance. All the dancers for the new work are under 21; most are currently students in San Pedro. “This commission is a great opportunity to support and encourage a talented and hard working group of young artists, and, at the same time, support the fabulous San Pedro City Ballet, which is an enormous San Pedro resource that everyone needs to be more aware of”, said Nathan Birnbaum, Executive Director of Angels Gate Cultural Center
“The project was very appealing, as it has been six years since the company has done a program like this. It is an intriguing challenge to do an entire evening of site-specific works”, said Patrick David Bradley, choreographer of the commissioned work and SPCB Co-Artistic Director.
The performers of the new work are San Pedro City Ballet’s male youth group – Wolf Bradley, Julian de Santiago, Andrew Macatrao, Gabriel Macatrao and Juan Wing – and one female dancer from the troupe, Caroline Cypres.
The commission is supported with a Cultural Center grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation and a SPCB grant from the L.A. County Arts Commission. “It was perfect timing to combine forces and a grant from the County Arts Commission, and just create on these wonderful young dancers,” says Co-Artistic Director Cindy Bradley.

Program: World Premiere of “Door #2; “Date”; “The Art of the Shoe” (danced to poetry by local poet Regina O'Melvany); “Covenant.”
Choreography: Patrick David Bradley and Cindy Bradley.
Dancers: Caroline Cypres, Wolf Bradley, Julian de Santiago, Andrew Macatrao, Gabriel Macatrao, and Juan Wing. PERFORMANCE DATES & TIMES: Friday, April 11th, 8 pm; Saturday April 12th, 8 pm; Sunday April 13th, 7 pm.
LOCATION: Angels Gate Cultural Center, Gallery A
3601 South Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA
ADMISSION: $25 general, $20 Angels Gate Cultural Center members
(Limited seating)
For ticket reservations: (310) 519-0936
About San Pedro City Ballet: San Pedro City Ballet (SPCB) was established in 1994 by nationally recognized dancers and teachers, Cynthia and Patrick David Bradley, as a not-for-profit dance company serving greater Los Angeles. The company performs "The Nutcracker” annually at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, produces original modern works for a variety of venues throughout Southern California, and holds performance workshops throughout the city of Los Angeles. SPCB’s mission is to identify, train and promote a world-class pre-professional dance company from the diverse population of the Los Angeles Harbor area that is founded in classical works and traditions, and goes beyond to explore new contemporary and original modern works, and to provide training to schools throughout Los Angeles for arts education and after-school programs.

About Angels Gate Cultural Center: For 25 years Angels Gate has been recognized for its high quality, innovative arts programming in the areas of public exhibitions and performances, education programs for the school-age kids of the Harbor area, international residencies in the visual arts, and much needed services to professional artists. In 2003, Angels Gate Cultural Center began a growing into a mid-sized institution, obtaining a 30-year lease from the City of L.A. and launching plans for the development of the coastal 64-acre Angels Gate Park. Dance commissions and special site specific events are part of the continued expansion of the Center’s performing arts programs, along with the New Play Reading series and the Art on the Waterfront festival, a partnership with the Port of Los Angeles. The Cultural Center is an independent nonprofit in partnership with the City of L.A. Dept. of Recreation and Parks. More information about Angels Gate Cultural Center is available at www.angelsgateart.org

Weighing In On Angel’s Gate as A High School; The Question We Should Really Be Asking Ourselves is Not Why…We Should Be Asking Why Not? A Prominent Educational Facility Could Be Built Here; It Just Needs Wings To Fly & the Residents to Tell the School District How to Do It
By Diana L. Chapman
I watched four high school students bravely get up and talk about the torturous learning environment they are currently living in at San Pedro High School.
Despite the hoards of resident’s complaints against the proposed building of a new high school at Angel’s Gate, the students stepped forward asking desperately for the 800 to 1,200 seat high school to proceed on the 28 acre site.
“Yes, we need to save the foxes and work on the noise pollution,” one 12th grade girl told the crowd in regards to their complaints. “But we really need more room. It’s like we are playing football everyday. It’s so crowded, it’s hard to get to class on time.”
Classes are so overbooked at their current school, the students said, some kids stand during the entire class or are crammed right up to the teacher’s desk. Going into the hallways is like heading onto the freeway at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to face a gushing onslaught of traffic. And education is spiraling downward because the teachers can’t teach in classrooms that are jammed like sardine cans with students.
This explains right away to me why we have a 50 percent dropout rate in Los Angeles Unified. The kids begged for help, but some of the residents failed to use their ears. One man told the students to climb aboard and join the real world. Los Angeles, he said, is overcrowded “so get use to it.” Residents clapped at that. It seems nowhere in San Pedro will our community accept the building of a desperately needed new high school. That must speak loudly to our kids about how our community feels toward them. The students who spoke at the Los Angeles Unified School meeting held at Dana Middle School March 13 won’t stand to gain anything; the school won’t be built until 2012. They are thinking about the future.
Perhaps we should too.
I would ask you now to take the time to pause, step out of your box and imagine the tremendous educational opportunities that could be at Angel’s Gate. For just a moment, stop worrying about the traffic, the den of foxes, the concern a high school would mar the tranquility of the site -- a location which overlooks the Pacific Ocean and is constantly beaten by pulsating winds. Think instead for a moment at what a emarkable educational facility Angels’ Gate could become – which will only happen if residents force the issue.
Currently, Angel’s Gate hosts a plethora of underused possibilities – all of which should absolutely be integrated into the proposed high school’s regime. If a high school becomes the inner-hub of the area, think of the potential. Students could study marine biology at the Mammal Marine Care Center and help feed fish to the rescued sea lions. They can learn firsthand about World War II and what it meant to California at the Fort MacArthur Museum and visit the underground bunkers that still exist there today. They can learn from a slew of amazing artists at the Cultural Arts Center. Students can learn how to save birds and study the impact oil has when its washed into the sea at the International Bird Rescue Center.
Everyone of these facilities is located at the site.
In short, this could be one of the best, hands-on academic facilities in all of Los Angeles. An educator told me once that it was a shame we tried to do everything in a classroom; the real learning, he said, happens out in the field. Here is a place where all kinds of study and research could be adopted. Students also could volunteer at many of these remarkable resources and keep them alive and running for generations to come.
We can complain about the den of foxes at Angel’s Gate being in danger because of the construction and the marine mammals ears popping due to jackhammers and the traffic that could pour into the campus. These are critical issues that need to be addressed.
Yes, the district needs to protect the foxes and might have to build a preserve for them on the site, which would provide students with yet another educational opportunity.
The residents’ contend that vehicles should not be allowed to access the school using Alma Street -- an argument that should be adhered to due to the already existing number of accidents on the narrow residential street. The residents know them all. They've been counting.
Community members want more than the proposed 113 parking spaces. That too makes sense, because the neighbors don’t want – and should not have to deal with -- an overflow of cars parking on their streets.
Another man feared juvenile destruction that can sometimes accompany neighborhoods set near schools. The district needs to find away to provide the security the neighbors seek.
LAUSD School Board Member Richard Vladovic told the crowd that he would pull together a team of educators to design this school. I propose that he not just use educators, but include residents and community leaders who understand what Angel’s Gate can provide for students, but also buff down the severe impact a high school could have if its not built keeping the neighborhood in mind.
All I am asking right now is that residents think about it. Think about the potential and the much greater chance we – as a community will have – to churn out kids who will care about their environment, protect and rescue wildlife, understand the atrocities of World War II and the way it played out here in California and explore the arts with true artists working right next door.
Here, we will be molding well-rounded, future citizens. If we do not do this, as Richard Vladovic has indicated, our high school – San Pedro High – will go year round.
Then think about this; This means 1,000 kids will be streaming through our streets – without adult guidance because many parents will be working -- all day long. They will receive a lesser education, according to the school board member, because studies have shown year round schooling is not nearly as successful as traditional year round.
And then think about this: What will all that mean for the future of all of San Pedro? Rather than send the kids packing with shoes to the streets, I'd much rather give the kids wings they need to learn to soar the sky at Angel's Gate. Then perhaps, we will truly be making good citizens.