June 14, 2018
VOL. 31, No. 70
Mayor James LA CLIPPERS CHAIRMAN BALLMER T. Butts Response JOINS ASSEMBLYWOMAN KAMLAGER-DOVE, INGLEWOOD COMMUNITY LEADERS TO SUPPORT AB 987 To Facebook Inquiry By Francis Taylor, Asst. Editor
(Mayor Butts and Los Angeles Clippers Chairman Steve Balmer)
For anyone who is curious about what the Inglewood Mayor and City Council have been doing, please read Mayor Butts’ summary below. My seven years of making historic concert venue and professional sports deals have given me the experience to take Inglewood to the next level. We opened our TEEN CENTER in 2013, in conjunction with the South Bay Workforce Investment Board in 2014. We opened the largest Senior Center (35,000 square feet) in California at a cost of $23 million in January of 2018 for long-suffering seniors who had been promised a center since 2006. The LA Philharmonic will relocate from downtown Los Angeles and open its Youth Orchestra Program (YOLA) in Inglewood on the Civic site (in a building designed by Frank Gehry) in 2019. The Girls Scouts of the United States
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Inglewood City leaders, area community members and labor leaders recently joined LA Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer and Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove to announce widespread support for AB 987. The new state legislation will help ensure that the new Inglewood Basketball and Entertainment Center Project meets strict environmental standards and enhances local services while still protecting vital community interests. An impressive list of stakeholders addressed hundreds of local residents and other dignitaries on the vacant lot of the future home of the LA Clippers at the southeast corner of Prairie Avenue and 102nd Street in Inglewood. The list of speakers included LA Clippers Chairman Steve Ballmer, Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Senator Steven Bradford, Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts, Clippers President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker, Clippers consultant Jerry West, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, Southern CA Pipe Trades Council Mike Layton, IBEW LOCAL 11 Business Manager Marvin Kropke, and Wilson Meany Project Manager Gerard McCallum With widespread community support, Kamlager-Dove’s proposed legislation, co-authored by Senator Steve Bradford, will assist the City of Inglewood in bringing NBA basketball back to the community by providing CEQA streamlining relief for the new arena project. “This is an exciting opportunity to build a world-class environmentally friendly facility in the heart of Inglewood, help-
ing to create thousands of good jobs and improve local services while respecting community interests across the region,” said Kamlager-Dove. “AB 987 will help achieve that goal by striking a critical balance, prioritizing the needs of local residents, businesses and the environment. I am encouraged by the overwhelming support for this new Clippers Arena and look forward to working with a team owner who is committed to investing in our community as we work to return an NBA franchise to Inglewood.” Balmer wowed the crowd when he declared, “I want to build a house in Inglewood. We want our own home,” obviously alluding to the shared stadium the Clippers use in downtown Los Angeles. He also indicated that in addition to his work with the Clippers, he and his wife Connie are actively involved in getting kids a better opportunity and he hopes to continue that work in the City of Inglewood. Rivers said that he was “excited about bringing an arena home to Inglewood and is proud that the greatest arena in the world will be built without any public funds. West, who was on hand when ground was broken for the Forum was build to house the Lakers, reflected on his memory of the citizens of Inglewood and how receptive the business owners and fans were towards he and his teammates. “I am old-fashioned,” he said, “but live modern. It will make me proud that the Clippers are coming home.”
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CALIFORNIA COULD BREAK APART? In November, California voters will get to cast ballots on whether to split up and become three states after an initiative secured the number of signatures needed to become eligible. Of course, Congress would have to give its approval for any of this to be more than California dreaming. And voters will have to consider a host of potential complications that would come with a split, such as breaking up the University of California system and who gets the rights to the California Raisins?
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