LongBeachCulture.org CenterStage Blog

If you are as outraged as many in the community over the dismissal of Zoot Velasco, Cultural Program Supervisor at Homeland Cultural Center and Macarthur Park, then this is a CALL TO ACTION. You, The Friends of Homeland and the community want to know what this means for the future of the Art and Cultural programs of the Center; programs that are not only unique in this city but vital to the social fabric of the community around it.

Anyone who has visited Homeland during the past 16 months would have witnessed a scene unlike any other in a city often fractured by racial and ethnic tensions; young people of all cultures and races dancing together, hanging together, cooperating together, and co-existing. Homeland is not your typical Recreation Center. How can it be when it’s in the middle of a multicultural neighborhood with its share of gang violence, unemployment, and poverty? It is a refuge, a safe zone, a neighborhood treasure.

Is the person who is replacing Zoot so much more superior in experience with young people and cultural programs and working in a multicultural environment that they will blow anything that Zoot has done out of the water? Will they continue the rich programs for Hip Hop, the Ballet Folklorico, the Hmong Association?

And finally, what does this say about sensitivity to the needs of a multicultural community? Did the City of Long Beach go out of its way to assess the needs of the community that it serves and make a personnel decision based on the best interest of that community? Or did they just not care because they assumed that no one would say anything?

Here are some specific actions that you can take:

1. Call or email your Councilmember. If you don’t know who they are, insert the following into your internet browser and you can find out

http://www.ci.long-beach.ca.us/council/default.asp

1. Call or email Phil T. Hester, Director, Long Beach Parks, Recreation and Marine at (562) 570-3170 or phil_hester@longbeach.gov
2. Call or email City Manager Gerald R. “Jerry” Miller, main City Hall number (562) 570-6555 or citymanager@longbeach.gov
3. Call or email Christine Marshall, Manager, Community Recreation Programs Bureau, 570-3150. She made the final decision.
4. Call or email Harry Saltzgaver, Vice President, Parks And Recreation Commission and Associate Publisher and Executive Editor of the Gazette Newspapers, 562-433-2000 or hsalt@gazettes.com
5. Attend a special Thank You celebration for Zoot and the Homeland Cultural Center on Monday, October 16, 2006 at 7PM at the Center, 1321 E. Anaheim St., 570-1655, 2 blocks east of Orange at McArthur Park.
6. Attend the City Council meeting on Tuesday, October 17, 5PM in Council Chambers where Youth from the Center will be speaking during the Open Comment section at the top of the meeting
7. Attend the Parks, Recreation and Marine Commission meeting next Thursday, October 19, 9AM, at El Dorado Park West Community Center
   Senior Center Library, 2800 Studebaker Rd.
8. Write a letter to the Editor of the Press Telegram:

http://www.presstelegram.com/writealetter

1. Send us any suggestions or ideas to: creativitynetlb@aol.com

CONTACT:
The Creativity Network
and
Friends of Homeland
562-430-8637
creativitynetlb@aol.com