Cityhood for East L.A.

Dan Ortiz, Cityhood Volunteer
American Legion Post 804

By Dan Ortiz, Cityhood for East LA Volunteer

I've been volunteering to help bring Cityhood to East L.A. Will you make a $20 contribution to bring us closer to our goal?

I want to tell you a little bit about why I'm supporting Cityhood. My family has deep roots in East Los Angeles, and we've always been active in our community. My grandparents, Frank and Julieta Ortiz, came from Texas in the 1930s, and since their arrival they had their children, and those children have now gone on to have their own. My parents taught me to be active by example - for as long as I can recall they organized local Scouting activities, volunteered our home as a voting precinct, and much more. My mother worked as a teacher at Winter Gardens Elementary School and retired with 30+ years of service to education. I grew up proud to be from East LA, and my parents taught me to honor our community. Eventually I enlisted in the military but I came right back home. Since then I’ve been active with veterans organizations and now I'm helping to ensure we gain our Cityhood!

By Ben Cárdenas, ELARA President

For three years, the residents of East L.A. have worked tirelessly to form a new city for a brighter future -- the City of East Los Angeles.

Every day we get closer to meeting our challenge of raising the $134,000 needed to fund the Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis for our community. Will you do your part and contribute today?

We’ve come such a long way! In 2007 we released an Initial Fiscal Analysis (IFA), which projected that East Los Angeles can be a viable and vibrant city. In June of 2008 we kicked off a petition gathering campaign amongst East L.A. residents to request a Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis, the first step towards Cityhood. And in December we turned in over 16,000 signatures! To accomplish all of this, the East Los Angeles Residents Association (ELARA) raised over $100,000 over the past three years.

The Next Step - Cityhood for East L.A.

Please remember to join us this Saturday morning! It's been nearly 6 months since we completed the petitioning phase of the Cityhood process, and we're inviting everyone to join us for a full Cityhood process update meeting, look towards the next steps, and discuss how to get more involved.

Here are the meeting details:

   WHAT: Cityhood Community Update
   WHEN: Saturday, July 11, 9am-11am
   WHERE: Chicana Service Action Center
       3601 E 1st St, East Los Angeles, CA 90063

Hope to see you there!