Lawndale Tribune Inside This Issue Calendar...............................2 Classifieds............................4 Community Briefs...............2 Hawthorne Happenings....2 Legals.................................6,7 Pets........................................5 Police Report.......................2 Politically Speaking............3 Sports....................................4 Weekend Forecast The Weekly Newspaper of Lawndale City Holiday Festivities Commence Parents and children enjoy the Happy Days train ride during the annual angel tree lighting ceremony. Families packed the intersection of Burin Avenue and 147th Street for the Dec. 2 event. The train rides were free to attendees as were the music and a visit from Santa Claus. Photo by Cristian Vasquez. One More Angel Tree Lighting Ceremony By Cristian Vasquez Thousands of Lawndale residents and other members of the South Bay community gathered for the City of Lawndale’s Annual Angel Tree Lighting Ceremony on Monday, Dec. 2 at Civic Center Plaza. The annual tree lighting event drew a large crowd of residents who came out with family and friends for the winter and Christmas-themed festivities. “The event has been going on for many years and it usually takes place in late November and early December,” Lawndale Community Services Supervisor Sabina Almeida said. “It takes a lot of legwork in terms of organizing the events. It takes months of contacting the main groups involved and we do like to get the community involved as much as possible.” Arts and crafts, a snow sled run, train rides, music and entertainment and pictures with Santa Claus were all part of the evening’s festivities. All activities were free and tailored to entertain the adults and children alike. “We have kindergarten kids, elementary school kids and middle school kids involved,” Almeida said. “There are marching bands, after-school programs and we also have classes that take place in our community center so the instructors will come to do demos for the patrons. They instructors have Pilates, they have ballet, and they do all sorts of dance in order to get the community involved and aware of what is going on in the Community Center.” One of the evening’s dance groups, Herencia Mexicana, is a regular at the Lawndale Community Center and used its time at the event displaying a couple of traditional dances from the neighbors to the south. This dance group, which is from Lawndale and hosts two classes a week in the Community Center’s second floor, meets on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6 p.m. “I like to spread and plant the seed of culture in children,” Herencia Mexicana instructor Maria Elena Alvarez said. “Anyone can come to the Community Center and register at any moment. The group has been around for a year and a half and we are always ready to dance. The kids are ready at a moment’s notice.” Keeping with the theme of the holiday spirit, there was a food drive effort attached to the event so people in attendance could donate a canned food item, which would later be donated to a family in need. The effort to collect items for the less fortunate will run throughout the holiday season and people can continue to donate at drop-off locations in the foyer of City Hall or in the designated space on the third floor of the Community Center where there is a box is designated for the collection. “The Lawndale PTA has a toy drive and canned food drive as well, so we will actually have a booth set up for people who bring and donate canned food items,” Almeida said. “They collect these items and put them together for the Christmas Basket Program. Those baskets are for people that are in need during the holidays and they are later delivered to local families.” The evening’s event also included a variety of food vendors. “It is collaboration where everything is brought together,” Almeida said. “This is the largest event that we have--easily 1,000 to 2,000 people will show up. We get a lot of the schools involved, so you see a lot of the parents and their families and children.” The schools and kids are a big part of the evening’s entertainment. “To me, it is important that the kids perform because that has a lot to do with the emotional development of the child,” Alvarez said. “Especially in regards to losing that fear of the public appearances--it changes self-esteem. We have seen how much self-esteem improves when kids display their abilities in front of the public.” • Chris Brown Sworn In for New Term On Tuesday evening, Former Hawthoren Mayor Danny Juarez handed over the gavel to newly sworn-in Mayor Chris Brown as the latter took his place on the dais to preside over the first meeting of his two-year term. Brown is the first African-American mayor of the City of Hawthorne after his campaign defeated Juarez (and Jose Gutierrez) for the office. The City Clerk certified that the election results for the General Municipal Election on Nov. 5 are final with the vote counts as follows: For the mayoral race, Danny Juarez 1,324, Chris Brown 1,695 and Jose Gutierrez 1,262. For Council, Alex Vargas 2,000, Angie Reyes-English 1,630, Katrina Manning 1,376, Miguel Talleda 889, John Jefferson 610, Frances Stiglich 565 and Gordon Mego 400. For City Clerk, Norbert Huber 2,599 and Shelby Anderson 1,178. For City Treasurer, L. David Patterson 2,315 and Thierry Lubenec 1,703. The ballot measure to change the term for Mayor from two years to four years was approved, effective with the election on Nov. 6, 2015. With the certified election accepted unanimously, the next order of business was the official swearing-in ceremony for Brown’s two-year mayoral term, the second four-year Council terms for incumbents Reyes-English and Vargas, the second term for Huber as City Clerk; and for new City Treasurer Patterson. Friday Mostly Sunny 62˚/48˚ Saturday Sunny 72˚/51˚ Sunday Sunny 71˚/53˚ AND lAwNDAle News Herald Publications - Inglewood, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Torrance & Manhattan Beach Community Newspapers Since 1911 - Circulation 30,000 - Readership 60,000 (310) 322-1830 - December 12, 2013
Lawndale 12_12_13
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