Cityhood for East L.A.

By Alberto Palacios

We have lots of good news to share with you! First and foremost, we are about to reach 6,000 signatures on our petition to conduct a Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis, the first step towards Cityhood. This week, Governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 301 (Romero), which will continue to provide increased state funding for newly incorporated cities. And most recently, the community has received lots of press coverage, with today’s Newsweek article profiling the Cityhood effort, and coverage in the LA Times and La Opinión.

We are contacting you today because we need your help. As a supporter, we’ve asked you to collect signatures, attend meetings, and talk to your friends about Cityhood. But we're going to do something we haven’t done before. To ensure our continued progress, we're asking you to make a contribution today.

Your donation will support our community organizing effort to promote Cityhood for East Los Angeles. Donations made through our website are fast and secure; your personal information will be kept confidential. Your contribution, of any amount, will be critical to the success of our campaign.

I’ve been a part of the East L.A. community for over 30 years, as a resident and as a social studies teacher at Garfield High School. I’ve raised a family here and want the best for them, like all other residents do. By making a contribution, I believe you can help build a stronger community for our families.

The Cityhood effort is receiving national media attention! Newsweek and the Associated Press released this article about Cityhood:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/161658

East L.A seeks to become a city of its own
East L.A., the unofficial capital of Chicano culture, seeks to become a city of its own
By CHRISTINA HOAG Associated Press Writer | AP
Sep 30, 2008

East L.A. — birthplace of the lowrider, Los Lobos and Oscar de la Hoya — is to Mexican-Americans what Harlem is to the black community. Now it wants to become its own city. Commonly mistaken for a part of Los Angeles, East L.A. is actually an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County, with more than 130,000 people — 96 percent of them Latino — packed into 7.4 square miles.

Cityhood proponents complain that East L.A. is treated as an afterthought by the county Board of Supervisors, and they want the community to take charge of its own destiny.

"We're a nationally branded area," said Diana Tarango, vice president of the East Los Angeles Residents Association, the prime backer of the effort. "We should be making our own decisions about planting trees on the street or putting up light poles."

Last month, we asked you to sign onto a letter (PDF) telling Governor Schwarzenegger he should sign SB 301, which would leave the door open for future cities, like East LA, who simply want a local government (Read more by EGP news).

Your letters and calls made a difference -- Governor Schwarzenegger signed SB 301!

See ELARA's press release below:

Governor Signs SB 301, Ensuring Funding for Future Cities
Community Leaders Favoring Cityhood for East Los Angeles Organize Support for Bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2008
CONTACT: Gustavo Camacho, 562-244-8973, Gustavo.Camacho@CityhoodForEastLA.org

(SACRAMENTO, CA) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 301, by Senate Majority Leader Romero (D - East Los Angeles), which will continue to provide increased state funding for newly incorporated cities. With this bill, a new city formed after July 2009 will continue to receive the same share of Vehicle License Fees in its early years that recently incorporated cities have received.

The measure had the backing of residents supporting Cityhood for East Los Angeles and dozens of other communities throughout California. "This bill goes a long way in ensuring the financial health of the future City of East L.A. Our community and political leaders provided admirable leadership in pushing for this bill, which will help soon-to-be cities across the state. Special thanks to Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero for sponsoring this legislation." said Gustavo Camacho, Treasurer of the East Los Angeles Residents Association (ELARA). "This is a tremendous boost for our effort."

Diana Tarango, Vice-President of ELARA, and lifelong resident who organized for cityhood in 1974, adds: "East L.A. community leaders are behind our movement, and we're doing real grassroots organizing to achieve real self-governance."

Cityhood supporters in East Los Angeles are continuing to gather signatures to order a Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis for East L.A., the next step in the cityhood process. ELARA has outreached to other communities considering incorporation regarding SB 301 and other issues affecting future cities. East L.A. and these allied communities wrote letters to Sacramento, faxed petitions of support, and called the Governor's office to express their support for this legislation.

The East Los Angeles Residents Association (ELARA) is committed to improving the social, economic, educational, and structural resources of the East Los Angeles community. Through advocacy and civic engagement ELARA is working to incorporate their community and become the City of East Los Angeles.

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By Alberto Palacios

I wanted to give you all an update on our petition signature gathering effort. Volunteers have been going door-to-door, precinct-by-precinct, collecting signatures from registered voters to order a Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis of East L.A. - the first step towards Cityhood.

At last count we've collected over 5,000 signatures, more than half of the way there! We're on track to gather our goal of 10,000, but we'll only be able to keep up if we continue at this pace. That's why we need your help gathering signatures from your family, friends, and neighbors.

Want to volunteer? Want to join the effort to move East L.A. forward? Sign up to volunteer here, and one of our volunteer coordinators will be in touch with you within 48 hours.

I've been a part of the East L.A. community for over 30 years, as a resident and as a teacher at Garfield High School. I know that if we come together we can make our community the best place to learn and live. Be a part of this historic movement!

Alberto Palacios is a Board Member for the East Los Angeles Residents Association (ELARA).