Ujima Village demolition set
Site will become a park
The Board of Supervisors Tuesday awarded a contract to National Demolition Contractors to remove the hazardous materials from the Ujima Village housing development and demolish the property located at 941 East 126th St. in the unincorporated area of Willowbrook.
Residents moved out of the 300-unit complex in August 2010, after an environmental investigation found asbestos and other hazardous materials on the property. Since that time, the empty complex has become a source of decay and community blight.
Tuesday’s action paves the way for new uses of the property by authorizing the contractor to begin demolition this summer. The county of Los Angeles is committed to using the space for parkland and recreational purposes and will seek feedback from interested community residents and stakeholders on the site’s design.
“We are starting fresh and setting a new path for the Willowbrook community,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. “Once Ujima Village is demolished, the site can be re-envisioned and redeveloped into a quality, community serving destination.”
The recreational improvements will be planned in consultation with the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
May brings us holidays from May 1 (May Day) through Memorial Day, May 27 (originally, Decoration Day), the preeminent celebration of loyalty and courage in America’s Civil War. In between May Day and Memorial Day, there is also Cinco de Mayo and the always adventurous Mother’s Day.
In fact, May hosts more than 25 distinctive political observances, including the annual Malcolm X birthday gala and festival (there’s also another Malcolm X festival held annually in April), held in most major urban areas in America.
The congressional hearings on May 8 may become the beginning of the end for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Three credible eyewitnesses of the Benghazi consulate assault last Sept. 11, 2012, finally got to give their accounting of it. They had been kept from the FBI, all committees of Congress—Senate and House, media and anyone else in the world. It was through the Whistleblower Program that they came to tell the real story.
When Beyoncé Knowles sang the Etta James song “At Last” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration, the song could have had several meanings. At last, we have an African American president? At last, the muscle of the Black vote has been flexed? At last, there is some hope for our country to come together with the mantra “Yes We Can.”
Sunday, May 19, is a day when many in Los Angeles and surrounding cities will have an opportunity to be twice-blessed. On that day, many will go out to worship, but will also have the options of getting their physical health and mental health check-ups at the same time.
This Sunday is the day that first ladies of 35 local congregations will host free medical tests for illnesses that particularly target African Americans and Hispanics in the community.
A panel of political, labor, educational and clergy leaders are demanding that elected officials establish and maintain a high level of accountability in providing services to and improving the standard of living in the African American community.
The Black Community, Clergy and Labor Alliance (BCCLA) convened a summit Monday morning at the African American Cultural Center in the Crenshaw District, specifying to liberal-democratic officeholders and candidates that the Black vote will no longer be automatic.
