Seat # 3
Election is March 3, 2015
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Monday, December 15, 2014
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
Want to Grow Your Business...than come on down to East Hollywood
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Saturday, February 15, 2014
View of Hollywood from the East Side
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Today I had the privilege
to tour the historic Barnsdall Park’s Hollyhock House. What a jewel siting in
the heart of East Hollywood. As a kid, I played in and around the park but
never knew the details and the history behind this significant architectural
marvel. I always observed the attention the historical property received from
tourists and the locals, however I never knew the details that were tucked away
in the peoples’ minds and hearts. Today while attending a children’s art class
with my daughter, I met a very personal and wonderful restoration artist who is
working on the historic Hollyhock House, Alex Sandoval.
Alex, took the time and
effort to speak to me while I was waiting for my daughter to finish her art
class. Alex took me inside the hidden treasures of the Hollyhock House and
demonstrated the details the infamous Frank Llyod Wright applied to achieve the
grand Hollyhock House. Evidently, Frank Lloyd Wright was a thinking and
creative mind of the 20th Century. As an architect and visionary, Wright
challenged the very physical and scientific principles of building and reaching
unconventional destination in his will of way. For example, the details that he
applied to the Hollyhock House can be only felt while observing it from very
close. Weather looking at a den setting or an outside wall, everything
reconciles in monumental spirit and design that speaks without being asked any
questions. Exquisite Artdeco age colors and patterns shape the ceiling that is
incorporated into the chimney, flooring patterns boldly shaped to connect with
the office desk and the chair.
I left the tour with a
taste that only can be experienced in East Hollywood, rich Mayan culture
infused into an Artdeco design that has been a home to Los Angeles for nearly
one hundred years. According to the published information at the Barnsdall
Park, the Hollyhock House will be finally open to the public in a few months.
The restoration has been in works for over a decade, although budget has been
short to complete III phase of the project but be patient and you will have the
opportunity to visit and see it for yourself.
Observing Hollyhock
House from economic perspective, over 1 million visitors annually make a
pilgrimage to see the Hollyhock House in East Hollywood. In addition to
visitors and economic incentives, there are many similar historically
significant properties and sites that are hidden gems in the neighborhood.
Please tune in soon, I
will keep you posted on similar opportunities to rediscover the past in the
present. I would like to share more photos from my visit.
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Monday, February 10, 2014
Republicans on mission to win over Asian-American voters
Republicans on mission to win over Asian-American voters
Josie Huang
Feb 10, 2014
Sharon Day, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, addresses Asian-American Republicans at the Grace Ministries church in Fullerton. ; Credit: Josie Huang/KPCC
The Grace Ministries complex, spread over 26 acres in Fullerton, is where some 6,000 Korean-Americans worship.
But on a recent weekday, the turnout was much smaller. Just 70 people gathered in the church's fellowship hall as Sharon Day, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, made a passionate pitch.
“We’re committed to tell you why the Republican party is the Asian party — why that’s where you should be,” Day said.
Surveys show Asian-Americans have made the biggest pivot away from the Republican party of any ethnic group in recent years. And now the GOP is doing its best to woo them back.
The RNC has hired three California-based staffers to reach out to Asian-American voters and support Asian-Americans candidates. Two other staffers in Washington work solely on Asian-American issues.
Day said RNC officials, recognizing that Asian-Americans are not a monolithic population, are cultivating relationships with different ethnic groups. Hours before the Korean megachurch event, Day met with a small group of Vietnamese-American leaders from Garden Grove and Westminster.
Asian-Americans shift from GOP
The Republican Party acknowledges it has a lot of catching up to do with all minority groups, including African-Americans and Latinos.
But the Asian-American swing to the Democrats' side has been particularly dramatic: Nearly three out of four Asian-American voters supported President Obama in 2012.
“By gosh, we’re going to earn your vote,” Day told the audience in the fellowship hall of Grace Ministries. "It’s time that we stood with you. It’s time we reached out to you."
As the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, Asian-Americans are a highly-coveted voting bloc that could make the difference in close races.
Up until the 1990s, Asian-Americans leaned Republican, with the party pulling in about two-thirds of the Asian-American vote, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a political scientist at the University of California, Riverside.
But a big political shift began during the Clinton administration, said Ramakrishan, who directs theNational Asian American Survey.
“The Clintons had done a lot of outreach," Ramakrishnan said. "They promoted a lot of people into positions, and inspired people to run for office.”
Another turning point was September 11.
“The post 9/11 racial profiling got a lot of Asian-Americans to turn away from the Republican Party,” Ramakrishnan said.
Ramakrishnan noted around this time, anti-immigrant rhetoric increased. Complaints may have been directed at Latino immigrants crossing the border illegally, but he said Asians — who have the highest percentage of foreign-born residents — were made to feel uncomfortable.
“Those voices were loud enough for Asian-Americans to feel less at home,” Ramakrishnan said.
Ramakrishnan's research shows that in the interim, a majority of Asian-Americans have come to support the social safety net promoted by Democrats, with laws such as the Affordable Care Act.
Other academics have also posited that Asian-Americans see Democrats as more progressive about science and technology, while Republicansare viewed as stuck in time.
Showing up when and where it matters
Rather than swooping into town months before an election, the RNC's strategy is to develop a long-standing presence where Asian-Americans live, work and worship.
Sam Han welcomed the RNC visit to Grace Ministries, where he is a youth pastor.
“[Asian-Americans] need to really get more involved and know what’s going on out there,” Han said.
At the same time, he said it was a smart move for the RNC to hold the event at his church. Churches such as Grace Ministries have been keeping their members plugged in since the 1980s, when a large of wave of Koreans emigrated to the U.S.
“It’s such a taste of home,” Han said. “You had a lot of Korean-Americans coming together who were struggling with the language barrier, with food, and they wanted to get together and really kind of encourage one other."
Han, who is 25 and whose father is the church’s senior pastor, said Republican values align with the church’s positions against same-sex marriage and abortion. That’s what drew him to the party first.
“And then as I got to know more about the party, I realized I’m not just a social conservative, I’m a fiscal conservative," Han said.
Republican values equals Asian-American values?
Republicans say their priorities resonate with many Asian-American conservatives: lower taxes, quality education, public safety.
Young Kim of Fullerton, who was at the RNC event as a first-time candidate for state assembly, said the party message of “individual responsibility” held particular appeal to her as an immigrant.
“I became a Republican because — just like all immigrant families do — I watched my parents struggle,” Kim said.
Because of her family background, Kim is more open to immigration reform than some of her Republican colleagues.
She supports offering permanent legal status to some of the people in the U.S. illegally, such as the young adults brought here as children.
“Let's help give them some sort of status to stay here so they're not living in fear every single day,” Kim said.
Kim, a long-time aide to Republican Congressman Ed Royce of Fullerton, is one of four Asian-American women in Orange County running for county or state office as Republicans.
She said getting elected will go a long way toward showing other Asian-Americans that they can belong to the Republican party, too.
Most are first-generation immigrants, she said, and regardless of how they've voted in the past, many have not firmly aligned themselves with a particular party — at least not yet.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Money to L.A.'s 'Promise Zone' could displace poor, experts say
From: Los Angeles Times
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, third from left, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, speaking, and Chief Gregory Pyle of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, meet members of the media after a White House event where President Obama announced the creation of Promise Zones. (Alex Wong / Getty Images / January 9, 2014)
A new flow of money to a handful of low-income Los Angeles neighborhoods could cause the areas to gentrify and squeeze out the poor who live there, according to experts reacting to news that the city has been included in a special federal anti-poverty program.
The White House announced this week -- marking the 50th anniversary of the launch of President Johnson's War on Poverty -- that five areas in the country would be designated "Promise Zones," pushing them to the top of the list for federal grants and making them test sites for President Obama's new poverty reduction initiative. The 10-year designation went to sections San Antonio, Philadelphia, southeastern Kentucky, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, the area designated a "Promise Zone" covers a portion of the city, stretching through Pico-Union, Westlake, Koreatown, East Hollywood and Hollywood.
That distinction has raised questions about what will happen to the areas where money would be concentrated and to the rest of Los Angeles that won't be a beneficiary. (There is no new funding coming from the federal government. Instead, the program is intended to help cities cut through red tape to win existing grants from a variety of federal departments and then focus them in needy areas. At most, L.A. could get $500 million over 10 years.)
Chris Tilly, professor of urban planning at UCLA, said the extra money in the L.A. neighborhoods could definitely help people in poverty. However, he said that the growth of commercial centers could attract tourists and make prices rise, thereby displacing the people who live there now.
"It may end up hurting the poor," he said.
Manuel Pastor, director of the Program for Environment and Regional Equity at USC, said that the Los Angeles "Promise Zone" is much more likely to gentrify than the other two urban locations chosen, east San Antonio and west Philadelphia. Already, prices are rising in Los Angeles as more and more young people want to live within the city.
For that reason, Pastor said that though some city leaders thought the exclusion of South L.A. was misguided, the White House made a smart choice by designating the L.A. neighborhoods that they did. The risk of gentrification and the high immigrant population in the city's "Promise Zone" will allow the federal government to discover how this experiment in poverty-reduction works in various settings.
"It's an investment that's not being made in the four other areas and by those grounds, it's a pretty solid investment," Pastor said.
Like Tilly, Pastor said that the most important piece will be looking at whether these funds really help low-income people who live in these areas. A "Promise Zone" had to have an average poverty rate of at least 20%. If this plan succeeds in L.A., it could be a model for what to do in places like the Mission District in San Francisco, he said.
According to the city's application, Los Angeles' funding would go toward increasing affordable housing, investing in public transit and bike lanes, and giving people more access to career training through a partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District.
Money also would go to the L.A. Unified School District and the nonprofit Youth Policy Institute to increase support services at schools.
The initiative relies on an interconnected approach, through which cities can work to improve public housing, safety and education all at once. It was inspired by the Harlem Children's Zone project in New York, which inundated an area with resources to improve every aspect of children's lives.
"There’s no silver bullet, and government can’t lift people out of poverty by themselves, but what this finally recognizes is that you have two or three things that you need to do together," said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Tilly pointed out that the suggested improvements in Los Angeles make city residents more competitive when looking for jobs, but don't increase the number of available jobs -- which only tackles one side of the unemployment problem.
Obama has proposed a $500-billion tax cut for businesses that hire and invest in "Promise Zones," which should increase demand for workers in those areas, according to the White House. That, however, still needs the approval of Congress.
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-ln-promise-zone-poor-20140110,0,2739898.story#ixzz2qoUsoZbG
Hollywood Building Boom Continues in 2014
From: Hollywood Business Advocate Volume 9 Issue 1 January/February 2014
Hollywood Construction
Surge to Continue in 2014
The Hollywood Chamber anticipates another great year in Hollywood in 2014!
The revitalization of Hollywood will continue in 2014, with several major projects either beginning or being completed. “We believe that 2014 is going to be a great year for progress in Hollywood,” said Chamber President & CEO Leron Gubler. “The first wave of new construction since the Great Recession will be coming on line, and several other major projects will break ground. This will definitely send the message that the revitalization of Hollywood is on track and gathering momentum.”
Emerson College’s stunning new Sunset Blvd. campus will be completed and occupied in the first
quarter of the year. The Morphosis-designed school has already turned a lot of heads with its
cutting-edge design, and will house the West Coast operations of the Boston-based college.
Meanwhile, CIM’s Sunset-Gordon project, across from Emerson, is expected to be completed in July.
The 22-story building will house 300 residential units, 40,000- sq.ft. of office space and
12,000-sq.ft. of retail space, with a half acre park adjacent.
Clarett West’s Boulevard 6200 project, just east of the Pantages Theater is scheduled for
completion in late summer. It includes 535 apartments and 75,000-sq.ft. of retail in what is the
first phase of what will eventually double when a second phase is built opposite on the south side
of Hollywood Blvd.
Construction continues on Kilroy Realty’s Columbia Square Project. While the campus is being built
concurrently, it will open in phases. Phase one, the renovation of the historic 100,000-sq.ft.
CBS Studio will be completed in July. An additional 330,000-sq.ft. of creative office
space will be finished in the fourth quarter of 2015, while a 20-story, luxury residential
tower is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2016.
Walls are going up for the Hollywood Target at Sunset and Western, which is the
community’s first department store since Sears closed a decade ago. The 160,000-
sq.ft. store is expected to hold its grand opening in March of 2015.
Breaking ground this past December was Camden’s long-awaited Hollywood project at 1540 Vine Street.
When completed, it will include 287 housing units and 40,000-sq.ft. of ground floor retail.
Two hotel projects have also announced groundbreakings in 2014.
The current Vagabond Inn at 1133 Vine Street will be replaced by a 112-room,
five-story motel, being proposed by Holivine Investment Co. The developers anticipate a construction start in the first quarter. Also anticipating a first quarter start in construction are Grant
King and Richard Heyman of Hollywood International. Their Dream Hotel at 6417 Selma Avenue, will convert an existing parking garage into a 173-room boutique hotel. They raised
$52-million in EB5 funding to cover construction costs. In addition, there are several other projects in the pipeline. They include Lennar’s 76-unit apartments at 1411 N. Highland, which should break ground
in the first quarter of 2014 and Champion Real Estate’s 248-unit residential project at Highland at Selma.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Nostalgia: Blast from the Past
This article was published in the LA Weekend Asian Journal back last year on March, 2013.
Asian Journal LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 2-5, 2013
AS the primary nominating elections on March 5 draw near, it becomes clearer than ever that the residents of City District 13 (CD 13) need to elect a Council member who knows what the district truly needs – a hometown man who can provide the local solutions to meet the district’s unique problems.
That candidate is no other than Sam Kbushyan.
“Sam Kbushyan, who is running for LA City Council, seems like a genuine guy with good values and great plans for the city,” said Robert Maullon, President, Barangay Los Angeles.
Community advocate Sam Kbushyan is a proud Angeleno. He is a charismatic, pro-active leader, and a powerful voice advocating for the needs of his community. Sam comes from a background of public participation. His father is a retired restaurant entrepreneur and his mother is a retired public school teacher. He is married to an extraordinary woman, Suzanna, and has been blessed with two lovely children, Maria and David. Suzanna is an English instructor with a local community based organization; she teaches ESL and GED courses to underprivileged students.
Sam earned a political science degree at California State University Los Angeles, where he received his B.A. He completed his graduate degree at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He spends most evenings and weekends participating in community events. In support of his commitment and work for the community, he has been recognized many times for civic participation and citizenship empowerment. He is a passionate gardener, committed father, and lives in East Hollywood.
Asian Journal LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 2-5, 2013
Local man, with Local Solutions
AS the primary nominating elections on March 5 draw near, it becomes clearer than ever that the residents of City District 13 (CD 13) need to elect a Council member who knows what the district truly needs – a hometown man who can provide the local solutions to meet the district’s unique problems.
That candidate is no other than Sam Kbushyan.
“Sam Kbushyan, who is running for LA City Council, seems like a genuine guy with good values and great plans for the city,” said Robert Maullon, President, Barangay Los Angeles.
Community advocate Sam Kbushyan is a proud Angeleno. He is a charismatic, pro-active leader, and a powerful voice advocating for the needs of his community. Sam comes from a background of public participation. His father is a retired restaurant entrepreneur and his mother is a retired public school teacher. He is married to an extraordinary woman, Suzanna, and has been blessed with two lovely children, Maria and David. Suzanna is an English instructor with a local community based organization; she teaches ESL and GED courses to underprivileged students.
Sam earned a political science degree at California State University Los Angeles, where he received his B.A. He completed his graduate degree at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He spends most evenings and weekends participating in community events. In support of his commitment and work for the community, he has been recognized many times for civic participation and citizenship empowerment. He is a passionate gardener, committed father, and lives in East Hollywood.
LADWP: Let the Public Trust Games Begin
LA controller to issue subpoenas for DWP union boss
Alice Walton
Jan 08, 2014
Controller Ron Galperin, center, is joined by Mayor Eric Garcetti, left, and City Attorney Mike Feuer to announce he will issue subpoenas to DWP union boss Brian D'Arcy in an effort to determine how $40 million in public money was spent. ; Credit: Alice Walton/KPCC
Los Angeles Controller Ron Galperin announced Wednesday his office is preparing to issue subpoenas for the DWP's union boss in an effort to figure out how more than $40 million in taxpayer money was spent over a decade-long period.
At issue are two nonprofit trusts, the Joint Safety Institute and Joint Training Institute. The two groups are jointly run by the Department of Water and Power's top management and the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18. The trusts, which share office space on the site of a DWP plant in Sun Valley, receive millions of dollars a year as part of the utility's contract with the union.
For months, the controller has requested financial documents, invoices and checks that would shed light on just how and where the money has been spent.
"If you receive and spend public money, then it's a simple principle of transparency," said Galperin at an afternoon news conference with Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Attorney Mike Feuer. "We need to know how that money has been spent. We also need to know whether we're getting a good return on that investment."
But IBEW's Brian D'Arcy and attorneys for the trusts disagree. Rather than show up for a Wednesday morning meeting called by Galperin to discuss the trusts' finances, an attorney sent the controller a letter stating the entities are not public and therefore do not have to make their financial records available. The letter cites an opinion from the state Attorney General that determined the trusts are not subject to the open meeting requirements of the Brown Act.
The city's administrative code "does not provide the controller the authority to audit JSI and JTI because the trusts are not, by any stretch of the imagination, 'charged' with 'safe-keeping or disbursement of public money or securities,'" according to the letter.
The subpoenas for D'Arcy and whoever keeps financial records and minutes for the trusts are expected to be served by LAPD in this week. The deadline to comply with the order will be Jan. 23, according to the controller's office. A spokesman for D'Arcy was not immediately available to comment on the pending subpoenas.
In the meantime, money is still flowing to the trusts because the payments are a contractual obligation between the DWP and IBEW, Garcetti said.
The political arm of IBEW Local 18 spent $3.6 million last year to defeat Garcetti in his mayoral race against Wendy Greuel.
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Sheriff Baca steps down!
Sheriff Lee Baca Resigns to Avoid Bruising Re-Election Battle
Tue, Jan 7, 2014 at 4:14 PM
By Gene Maddaus
Sheriff Lee Baca announced his resignation this morning, bringing to an end a 48-year career that has lately been marred by corruption charges and woeful mismanagement of the county jails.
Baca choked up as he reflected on his career, but said stepping aside would spare the department from a bruising negative campaign.
"I know I'm 72 in May, and I don't see myself as the future," Baca said. "I see myself as part of the past."
Baca's resignation will take effect at the end of the month. He asked that the Board of Supervisors appoint Assistant Sheriff Terri McDonald to serve out the remaining year of his term.Baca also encouraged two other assistant sheriffs, James Hellmold and Todd Rogers, to enter the race to succeed him. After Baca's press conference, Rogers announced that he would pull papers to run for sheriff today.
Baca's troubles began three years ago, when the ACLU and clergy groups began sounding the alarm about rampant abuse in the jails. In 2011, the ACLU issued a report citing testimony of numerous jail chaplains who recounted excessive violence meted out against inmates. The ACLU said Baca had turned a blind eye to the abuse, and called on him to resign.
The L.A. Times and other media outlets published a series of reports on jail violence, and the FBI also launched its own investigation. The county Board of Supervisors created a citizens' commission to investigate the claims. The commission's report, issued in 2012, was damning of Baca's leadership, stating that if he were a CEO, he would have been fired. The report also blamed much of the violence on a culture of poor accountability fostered in large measure by Undersheriff Paul Tanaka. The report recommended that Tanaka be removed from command of the jail system.
At first, Baca was defiant, saying that his critics were overstating their case and ignoring the innovative educational programs he had created in the jails. But by late 2012, he had begun to take the criticism more seriously.
Last spring, he forced Tanaka to retire. Tanaka turned around and launched his own campaign for sheriff, taking aim at Baca's mismanagement and saying that he would restore clear and consistent leadership to the department.
Bob Olmsted, a retired commander who had blown the whistle on jail violence, also announced that he was running.
Early last summer, Baca promoted Rogers to assistant sheriff, and put him in charge of reorganizing the department and implementing reforms. Many reforms have in fact been implemented, and violence in the jails has been on the decline.
But Baca could not escape the scandal.
Last month, the Department of Justice brought charges against 18 deputies, including allegations that they had abused inmates and obstructed the FBI's investigation.
That appears to have been the final blow. Parke Skelton, Baca's political consultant, said that Baca feared he would be forced into a runoff campaign with Tanaka.
"I think he knew it was going to be a tough race," Skelton said. "I don't think he wanted to put the department through that or himself through that."
Baca does not relish confrontation. He also might well have lost the race.
Baca was asked repeatedly during his press conference whether he was resigning under pressure from federal prosecutors. While he did not give a clear answer, a source close to him later said his decision was not connected to any sort of deal with prosecutors or pressure from them.
Before he publicly announced his resignation, Baca encouraged both Rogers and Assistant Sheriff James Hellmold to run. Rogers, a councilman in Lakewood, has been mulling a campaign for some time and was ready to announce right away. Rogers cast himself as a reformer within the department.
"There has been a catastrophic failure of leadership in the Sheriff's Department," Rogers said. "The sheriff's biggest mistake was trusting the wrong people, and they let him down, and some of them have stabbed him in the back."
Rogers said that Tanaka was "a big part of the problems" at the department.
Hellmold, who was once one of Baca's drivers, said he had not yet decided what he would do, though he stressed he is not a politician.
Also in the mix is Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell. McDonnell had announced last summer that he would not run against Baca, but has since been reconsidering. He was not expected to make any announcements today.
In a statement, Tanaka said he would "put politics aside for today and applaud (Baca) for his dedication to public service."
Olmsted issued his own statement declaring himself the frontrunner.
"It's a new day in Los Angeles County - and I think it's a sunnier one with Lee Baca gone - but we've still got a lot of work to do to make sure that we replace Lee Baca with a transformational leader who can reform the department, not somebody who will continue the same corrupt practices under a different name," Olmsted said.
The primary election is in June. The deadline for candidates to file is in March.By stepping aside in early January, Baca gives new candidates enough time to organize campaign teams and raise money.
Baca became emotional when reciting the department's core values, including opposition to racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and bigotry.
"I will go out on my terms," he said. "To the people of the county, I extend my deepest gratitude for you allowing me to serve you for the past 48 years. It has been a true dream come true."
LAPD Deputy Chief Terry Hara said he was also considering a run. Hara ran for the 9th council district last year, finishing fourth.
"This announcement by Sheriff Baca is a game-changer for a lot of people," Hara said. He said he would bring a perspective from outside the department.
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