Los Angeles Must Make Building Affordable Housing a Top Priority

Audit of Housing Department Finds City As A Whole Must Take Immediate Action On Issue

Calling the shortage of affordable housing a crisis, City Controller Laura Chick released the first of several audits of the Los
Angeles Housing Department. “My audit of the Housing Department’s Affordable Housing Program found a Department hard at work to solve the housing crisis. However, the Housing Department is up against problems that they cannot solve alone,”
said Chick.

“The median price of a single family home in Los Angeles is over half a million dollars. How can we expect those in the lower income brackets to be able to put a roof over their family’s heads in this highly costly environment?” said Chick.

Among the audit’s key findings:

o Barriers to providing affordable housing require creative solutions from the Housing Department and the City, as a whole.
o The Housing Department does not have an adequate means of measuring its effectiveness.
o The Housing Department’s program to utilize City surplus properties for development has been unsuccessful.
o The Housing Department’s efforts to preserve the existing affordable housing inventory have had limited results.
o The Housing Department’s existing technology systems are inadequate, inefficient and do not interface with one another.

The Chick audit contains 28 recommendations to help achieve the goal of providing more affordable housing in the City of Los Angeles. The Controller’s Housing report, as well as all of her over 100 audits, is available at her website at www.lacity.org/ctr.

Discussions: LADWP Rate Hikes

LADWP Hosts Community Workshops to Discuss Proposed 2007-2008 Revenue and Rate Actions

The LADWP Executive Management Team will present its Power System - Proposed FY 2007-08 Financial Plan, Revenue Increases and Rate Restructuring and Water System - Proposed FY 2007-08 Financial Plan and Revenue Increases in a series of six public hearings to be held throughout the City.

The series of workshops began on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at the LADWP John Ferraro Headquarters Building, 111 North Hope Street, A-Level Conference Center, Los Angeles 90012.

Subsequent workshops are scheduled for:

July 21, 2007 at 9:00am at 14410 Sylvan Street Van Nuys;
July 21, 2007 at 1:30pm at 8475 S. Vermont Avenue Los Angeles;
July 26, 2007 at 6:30pm at 425 S. Palos Verdes St. San Pedro;
July 31, 2007 at 6:30pm at 4580 N. Figueroa Street Los Angeles;
August 2, 2007 at 6:00pm at 7114 W. Manchester Av Los Angeles

The workshops will include an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and discuss revenue and rate issues of interest to them.

Copies of LADWP Management's Water System and Power System Financial Plan and Revenue Increase Proposals for 2007-08, presented at the Board of Commissioners meeting on June 5, 2007, are available for review.

More detailed information relative to the schedule of community workshops on the proposed 2007-08 Revenue and Rate Actions may be accessed on the LADWP home page at www.ladwp.com.

Free Health Fair

Free Health Fairs Providing Free Medical Services to Communities

“Fiesta de la Salud” is a promotion that brings health related services FREE OF CHARGE to community members at their local grocery store. Services offered include screenings for cancer, diabetes, cholesterol, bone density and blood pressure. Children’s services will include FREE doctors exams, FREE immunizations, and FREE dental exams. Educational information that will be available in both English and Spanish. Any person that is found to have an abnormal test result, will be given no cost or low cost medical treatment. We will not screen people and send them on their way. Our goal is to find them a medical “home.”

All this will take place in a festival-like atmosphere that includes free samples, music, food, and guest speakers covering health related topics.

Each month we are able to help thousands of people in the community receive valuable health care that they might not have otherwise. Each person is given free or low cost services if we find they have any abnormal test results.

“Fiesta de la Salud” is committed to the community and to empowering families through education.

Valuable Free Services Offered:

- Diabetes, Cholesterol & Blood pressure, Bone Density
- Dental Exams
- Vision/Eye Exams
- HIV Testing
- BMI – Physical Activity Prescriptions
- Immunizations
- Children’s Check Ups/Dental Exams
- Woman’s Health Services (Mammograms, Pap Tests)
- Men’s Health (PSA - Prostate Screening)

Superior Super Warehouse for July

Date-Address-City
July 14, 2007 3129 Hoover St. Los Angeles, CA 90007
July 15, 2007 1375 N. Citrus Ave. Covina, CA 91722
July 28, 2007 151 S. Hacienda Blvd City of Industry, CA 91744
July 29, 2007 6010 Pacific Blvd. Huntington Park, CA 90255

Pro's Ranch Markets for August

Date-Address-City
August 4, 2007 1602 Roosevelt St. Phoenix, AZ 85006
August 11, 2007 820 Main St. Delano, CA 93215
August 12, 2007 600 Bear St. Arvin, CA 93203
August 18, 2007 2705 South H St. Bakersfield, CA

Superior Super Warehouse for September

Date-Address-City
September 8, 2007 12375 Central Ave. Chino, CA 91710
September 9, 2007 815 W. Holt Blvd, Unit 101 Ontario, CA 91762
September 29, 2007 1201 W. Whittier Blvd. Montebello, CA 90640
September 30, 2007 3831 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd Lynwood, CA 90262

KV Mart (Top Valu/Value Plus) for October

Date-Address-City
October 6, 2007 4700 Inglewood Blvd Culver City, CA 90230
October 7, 2007 2038 E. 10th St. Long Beach, CA 90804
October 27, 2007 14103 Ramona Blvd. Baldwin Park, CA 91706
October 28, 2007 15202 Hawthorne Blvd. Lawndale, CA 90260