Progress interrupted

REMEMBER when progress was a good thing?

When we looked toward the future and saw better roads, new inventions, scientific advances and a better life?

Today, many look at progress as a dirty word.Perhaps it is the Baby Boomers’ fault. They went to college, many the first in their families, and experienced freedom of expression, freedom to choose a career path
they wanted, the freedom to say “no” to mom or dad and say, “I’m going to do what interests me, not what you want me to be.”

Perhaps we are spoiled. So much so that many Boomers unintentionally want to stop progress because they want to keep things the way they are. The same is often said of the World War II cohort, a group Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.” They want things to go back to the good old days.

That’s a theme running through the conversations I’ve had this month with candidates running for city councils and school boards. Of course, not all candidates want things to be the same. On the contrary, most are forward thinkers and problem solvers. But many report to me, in what Simon and Garfunkel would label “dangling conversations,” that constituents often lament today’s traffic, higher density dwellings, etc., and wish to keep their city “quaint” or “like it was.”

These are valid concerns. In fact, such quality of life issues are close to the hearts of Valley residents. We don’t live in the city of Los Angeles, and we don’t want our necklace of small cities strung amid the picturesque San Gabriel Valley to become one ginormous megalopolis. Still, I haven’t figured out how to reverse time.

“Many tell me they liked it when we had Liebergs,” said Dan Arrighi, Temple City councilman. “They want to keep their city ‘quaint.’”But standing still is not keeping a city quaint. By doing nothing, downtown shopping districts deteriorate. Some are going from quaint to ain’t. I see homeless people in our downtowns. I see empty lots, graffiti and crime. And I see people going to shopping malls and Big Box stores, leaving small cities’ downtowns with only liquor stores, nail salons and drug stores.

Unfortunately, small cities cannot keep providing police and fire/paramedic services, working sewers and storm drains, paved streets and active recreation programs without adequate sales tax revenues. Sales tax revenues often come from Big Box stores or car dealers. The cities that realize this first get these retailers first — then they fill in with quaint eateries and shops. Two cities that have not sat back on quaint are Monrovia and Alhambra. They’ve revitalized their downtowns and provided a better quality of life for their residents.

Yeah, but what about the traffic, you say? Good question.The way traffic is addressed in this state is archaic.

For example, take the need for freeway widening. The San Bernardino (10) Freeway through Baldwin Park and West Covina is one of the few links without a carpool lane. Also, the juncture of the 10 and the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway is dangerous and causes traffic congestion every single day — one that stretches for several miles, not just at the exchange.

The westbound 10 Freeway is sluggish (moving about 10-20 mph) every Saturday afternoon from 2 p.m. into the evening. The Pomona Freeway (60) is very jammed every Saturday afternoon also, not from accidents but simply from too many cars. Let’s not even talk about the Foothill (210) Freeway!

To say we have a commuter or “rush hour” problem woefully underestimates the situation on our freeways. Freeways are busy seven days a week. The time sitting in traffic impacts families, hurts commerce and adds to air pollution.Gasoline taxes for roads are collected and funneled to the state.

The California Transportation Commission recommends what improvement projects make the list. Amazingly, the 10/605 exchange did not.We need progress in fixing our freeways. New Assemblyman Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, gets it. So does West Covina Mayor Mike Touhey and Councilman Steve Herfert, Baldwin Park Mayor Manny Lozano and Duarte’s John Fasana (also on the MTA board). They recently screamed and yelled about the funding inequity and even held a press conference on the overpass Friday, attracting even more supporters (Assemblyman Bob Huff, Rep. Hilda Solis, Supervisor Gloria Molina).

Hernandez put it best: “We have one of the most dangerous, congested interchanges in the state of California, at one of the most critical hubs for commuters and commerce. ... We need this project to be funded now.”

The California Transportation Commission meets Feb. 28 at Irvine City Hall. I’d love it if everyday folks would show up. If traffic prevents you from getting there, fax a letter to Ed Hernandez’s office. His fax number is: (626) 960-1310 or drop it off/mail it to 1520 W. Cameron Ave., Suite 165, West Covina, 91790. Address it: Attention Progress.

Steve">steve.scauzillo@sgvn.comSteve Scauzillo is the opinion page editor for the San Gabriel ValleyNewspaper Group.

A sense of purpose

Here is my latest column. It is on gangs and stems from a recent visit to a juvenile hall in LA County. Tell me what you believe are the solutions to the gang problem?

I sat nervously in a green, plastic chair, unsure of what to do with my hands. I ended up folding them in my lap.
Around me were 10 boys, all 15-years old, dressed in loose-fitting sweat pants without belts, sweat shirts with no zippers or buttons and sneakers with no shoelaces.The juvenile hall inmates were surprisingly animated, eager to talk to this week’s visiting group, even ready to solve my problems. I went there on a Sunday with a friend and his church group who listen to the inmates and spread God’s hope.
“I have a question,” I said. “I know a kid your age in my community. He attends high school. But recently he’s talking about joining a gang. He even has a gang tattoo on his arm. What should I say to him?”
These kids, who know a thing or two about gang-banging, jumped at the chance to answer. Their advice was helpful, right-on, insightful.
“You gotta separate your sons from him. Don’t let them like go to the mall or hang out with him,” warned one boy. “You know, sometimes an innocent girl or boy can get shot ...” he said sincerely. His sentence trailed off, but the care in his voice remained.
“Try doing some things with him. Like, take him to a Dodger game or to the movies. Get him to do other things ... good things,” he suggested.
The conversation went on for an hour. They spoke about what they did that landed them in juvenile hall and about how they felt about being locked up.
This reporter is hardly naive about crime. But as I spoke to them, I saw them as fellow human beings — not society castoffs. Could they get it together someday with a little help?
It hit me later on that perhaps we are attacking the gang problem in this county backward. Sure, more cops and more enforcement will help. But why don’t we put more money, more time and more resources into rehabilitation and prevention.
ot every one of these kids will be rehabilitated. In fact, the odds are stacked against them. But they deserve a second or third chance. If for no other reason than protecting ourselves, rehabilitation and job training are effective tools for preventing today’s juvenile inmates from committing new crimes when they get out.
I’m not talking politics. I’m talking common sense. Most crimes are committed by ex-cons. Often, time makes them harder criminals. This problem needs to be addressed. Yes, it would be a huge undertaking. But our state’s youth institution policies must go beyond locking them up and hoping they don’t get out. Because that doesn’t work.
What does work for juveniles is tough love and a helping hand (i.e. a job). That’s something that Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries/Jobs for a Future, has been doing for nearly 20 years. Boyle celebrated Mass that morning inside the hall’s gymnasium and spoke to the inmates about seeing the potential within themselves.
Boyle’s homily centered on Jesus’ call to his apostles, who were not having luck catching fish. When Jesus said cast your nets elsewhere, they did so and pulled in a boatload of fish.When others doubt, trust that God can tap that potential that’s inside you. “Remember, boatloads of fish. You, too, have boatloads of potential,” he preached.
Boyle’s ministry is centered on a simple philosophy: “Nothing stops a bullet better than a job.” Teens that joined gangs in Boyle Heights were way too idle; having a job gave them purpose and filled up time.
Which brought me back to the most chatty member of our Sunday morning circle. I’ll call him Jay. He was at the El Monte house of a friend who had a shotgun. They took the gun and stole a car and drove it into L.A., where the LAPD Hollenbeck Division pulled them over. It was a miracle Jay was alive, since he resisted arrest — he ran. All because, he says, he had nothing else to do. He said he wanted to come back to juvenile hall.
“Why did you join a gang?” I asked them.
Jay’s response was genuine: “There’s no greater feeling when you see your homeboys, and they are like, ‘Hey, how ya doing?” he said.
The others in the circle nodded in agreement. It is that feeling of being loved, being respected, that they thrive on. When they get it, it is like a drug-induced high. It’s what keeps them coming back.
One final story. Boyle took two Homeboy workers to a small town in South Dakota where he spoke. The local newspaper did a story on the young men and ran it on the front page. The newspaper was slipped under their hotel room door and they read it, even took it onto the airplane.
Father Boyle looked over at the young man seated next to him who was re-reading the story and had started to cry. Boyle asked what was the matter.“Nothing,” he said. “When I read this, I feel like I am somebody.”

steve.scauzillo@sgvn.com
Steve Scauzillo is the opinion page editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers.