This following written by Aldama PTA member Monica Alcaraz. Local State Farm Agent Julie Montenegro is the newest member of the Highland Park business community to partner with and support Aldama Elementary School.  Aldama Elementary will receive a $15 donation for new clients that mention Aldama Elementary's referral program and purchase a new service: services include financial, auto insurance, house insurance and life insurance. This is part of an ongoing partnership with Aldama Elementary. Supporters can download the attached flyer for more information. Julie's office will provide free …

This letter was submitted by Franklin High School junior and Academic Decathlon participant Alex Moreno. Hello, my name is Alex Moreno and I’m currently a junior (soon-to-be senior) at Benjamin Franklin High School. This past year, I participated in a competition called Academic Decathlon, and I plan on coming back next year. But there’s a problem: with all of California’s budget troubles, there’s a chance that LAUSD funding for the program could be cut completely, which potentially means no competition for Franklin next year. First, let me talk about my own experiences in Academic Decathlon …

This letter was submitted by Aldama PTA member Monica Alcaraz. The Aldama Elementary PTA will be having a Used Book Fair on Thursday, May 24, and is asking the community to donate their used books. We are looking for both children and adult tittles, fiction and non-fiction, paperback and hardcover, and in English and Spanish. The PTA will be accepting book donation starting May 1 and will collect books until May 17.  Book donations can be dropped off in the book drop box located in the lobby of the school's main office.  Aldama Elementary is located at 632 N. Ave. 50, Los Angeles, CA 90042. …

The following letter was submitted by Northeast Democratic Club member Venita Strange. The Northeast Democratic Club will host an art auction and sale to raise funds for the Obama/Biden 2012 re-election fund on Saturday, May 12. Admission to the 50's themed fundraiser is $20 and ticket holders will save 10% on purchases over $100.  It will be held at the club's headquarters on 6027 York Blvd. from 4-8 p.m.  The headquarters in 2008 were so successful that they decided to do it again. D.J. Dan Medina will provide lively music of the period.The beautiful design of the graphics advertising the …

This letter to the editor was submitted by Frankling High School teacher and Academic Decathlon coach Samuel Kullens. Academic Decathlon is the largest academic competition in the United States. Thousands of high schools across 42 states contend in what is undoubtedly one of the most intellectually grueling and time-consuming endeavors a young person can undertake. All decathletes are tested in ten subjects: Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Math, Music, History, Literature, Speech, and Science.  Each year, the competition centers on a single curricular theme: the theme of this year’s …

On Saturday, April 21, parents and community members gathered at La Casita Verde to break up the soil in a patch of ground that will be the focus of May 5's Big Sunday beautification project. But, Saturday’s effort is just one piece of a garden design project started in 2009, when La Casita Verde was chosen by Matthew Evans, senior landscape architect and horticulturist of the United States Capitol, to receive his design plans to improve the outdoor space for the pre-school's children.  The outdoor space, which extends to the elevated sidewalk along Figueroa, is used daily by  children as a …

This post is adapted from a blog originally posted by Josef Bray-Ali on the Flying Pigeon L.A. Blog. A few weeks ago, Joe Linton from CicLAvia and Josef (me) from the Flying Pigeon LA bike shop met with a group of students at Nightingale Middle School and discussed the benefits of bicycling, how to fix flats, and ways to make streets safer. Some students were interested in getting more involved in pushing the city to implement bike lanes laid out in the city’s recently approved 2010 bicycle plan. The bike plan, in its Five Year Implementation Strategy, includes two one-way bike lanes on …

This piece was originally posted on Flying Pigeon L.A.'s blog, which can be read here. A recent LA Weekly article tried to make the case that the Highland Park area is "the new Echo Park". That is, Highland Park is the new place for low rent, young, fashionable people to move. Lately, a lot of people have been ragging on this fair barrio of mine. Guys with unwashed hair and paint on their jeans complain about how Echo Park is becoming too gentrified, too much like our now-grown-up neighbors in Silver Lake. (Shocking to realize it’s been more than a decade since Beck was couch-surfing his way …

Josef Bray-Ali is the owner of Flying Pigeon Bike Shop in Higland Park and a longtime Northeast L.A. pedestrian/bicyclist advocate. He also blogs over at FlyingPigeon-LA.com. Bray-Ali shared his most recent blog--which documents a bike ride between two Highland Park and Pasadena--with Patch. Follow the photos Above to track Josef's journey from along the "Northeast Passage."

The following post was originally written for Flying Pigeon's blog, which can be read here. How green is the Arroyo Seco bike path? So green that LA County’s Public Works Department has to spray it down with herbicides a couple of times a year. Way back in 2006, I used to commute to work using the Arroyo Seco Bike Path. The path is a 2 mile stretch of smooth pavement located in the bed of the Arroyo Seco – a tributary to the Los Angeles River, which itself feeds into the Pacific Ocean. Every once in a while, I would have to stop riding to dismount and walk around work trucks parked on the …

This letter was submitted to Patch by Mount Washington Preschool and Child Care Center Board Chair Pat Griffith, coinciding with the release of MWPCCC's annual financial report, which can be downloaded from the media box at the right. Dear Friends, With pleasure, we would like to share this year’s Mount Washington Preschools Annual Report, which can be found on our website at www.mtwashingtonpreschools.org.  It has been a strong year for our three centers – all thriving with strong staff and great parent involvement. But the issue facing all child care organizations, including MWPCCC, is …

This letter was submitted to Patch by former ASNC treasurer Mark Legassie in response to an ongoing DONE audit of ASNC funds. Here are important details to help understand the series of events for the most recent round of items brought up by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) via Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council (ASNC) President Martha Benedict and Treasurer Judy Knapton.   Both women keep grasping for new straws after repeatedly being proven wrong. I regret that the public also gets to see this pattern of vengeful behavior which is contradictive of community leaders.   Before …

The opinion piece was originally posted by Josef Bray-Ali on Flying Pigeon L.A.'s Blog, here. It is 2007 and you are in an elevator in City Hall. A well dressed black man is standing next to you with some fancy graphics printed on large poster boards. Is he a corporate lobbyist? A well-paid expeditor of plans for a big development? “Say, what are those posters for?” “Hi,” he says, “I’m Mike Echols, and I am trying to start LA’s first bicycle taxi service.” When Antonio Villaraigosa was elected to office in 2005, he made a lot of great promises: one million trees; his commitment to ride a …

Josef Bray-Ali is the owner of Flying Pigeon Bike Shop in Higland Park and a longtime Northeast L.A. pedestrian/bicyclist advocate. He also blogs over at FlyingPigeon-LA.com. Bray-Ali shared his most recent blog, which documents a bike ride between two very different occupy movements, with Patch. On my way to celebrate Thanksgiving with the in-laws this year (riding my wife’s abandoned road bike), I ran across an “Occupy Best Buy” encampment alongside the 60 freeway in Montebello. The Occupy Best Buy folks were parked out in front of a suburban (or exurban?) electronics depot – but with their…

Rigo and Elias, lifelong Northeast LA residents, are walking down York Blvd in Highland Park. It’s the weekend and people are out. There are families with kids coming out of restaurants and youngsters huddled in groups, talking their private gossip. It’s dusk and Rigo and Elias are heading over to El Huarache Azteca to get some huaraches. On the way, they pass the old Verdugo Pet Shop, which recently closed. Along the way they strike up a conversation with Norman, a self-described newcomer to the neighborhood. Norman talks about the possibilities of Highland Park, he’s excited about the new …