 |
|
|
|
|
City Beat
City council candidates appear one last time
PACT members ask for support on local issues
By Kate Carter
District 6 city council candidates met publicly for the last time before election day at an Oct. 26 forum, where they were asked to address concerns faced by low- to moderate-income residents of the Sherman Oaks neighborhood of District 6.
Candidates Kris Cunningham and Ken Yeager both affirmed their support to members of the faith-based People Acting in Community Together at the forum at the First Congregational Church that was conducted in English and Spanish. Members of the group asked that their new city council representative make priorities of establishing parks and community centers for the area's children, improving the safety of the neighborhood and addressing the need for affordable housing when he or she enters office.
Susan Price-Jang, the group's co-chair, said 75 percent of Sherman Oak's children live in poverty and are overlooked by city leaders. She said that promises to address neighbors' problems have not been kept.
"Last fall about 250 residents again met with our city council member at this same church to tell him that local seniors and children had been shut out of our community center," Price-Jang told the candidates. "We are still waiting for resolution. Clearly we have not been a priority for the city."
Cunningham and Yeager both said they would work to provide children, teens and seniors with programs and space.
PACT representatives asked for and received the Candidates' support for using tobacco settlement money to provide health insurance to children whose families cannot afford it, by supporting the county's proposed Children's Health Insurance Initiative.
Cunningham and Yeager agreed to establish a plan to address the poor conditions at the Richmond/Menker Apartments within three months of entering office. They also said they would look at ways to put a multipurpose community center nearer to transit lines and to the center of District 6, but neither confirmed that the main center wouldn't be built at the Willows Senior Center location on Lincoln Avenue near Curtner Avenue, as is now proposed.
PACT is a 15-year-old interfaith organization that has chapters in 15 congregations throughout the county, Price-Jang said. The grassroots group helps get people involved in the decision-making processes.
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
