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LA County offering free, anonymous STD test kits

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

The "DontThinkKnow.org" program will allow women to order free test kits.

To order a test kit call (800) 758-0880 or go to www.DontThinkKnow.org

2-Jul-09 12:00 PM

Plan to Redevelop Jordan Downs Gains Traction in L.A.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:00:00 GMT

Published in the California Real Estate Journal, on May 26, 2009
Click here for full article

2-Jul-09 12:00 PM

Scholarships for High School Seniors Living in Public or Assisted Housing

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

HACLA is pleased to announce that Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA) is accepting applications for scholarships for high school students living in public or assisted housing. HACLA encourages all students who qualify to apply for these scholarships. This is a great opportunity to relieve the financial burdens associated with college tuition, books and other activities related to college education.

To encourage academic excellence and community responsibility among high school students, Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA) has implemented a scholarship program for graduating seniors who are preparing to enter college. In 2009, PHADA will proudly award the following three scholarships to deserving high school seniors residing in public and assisted housing:

• Bollinger Scholarship - $7000.00
(Named for Stephen J. Bollinger, one of PHADA’s founding Members and former HUD Assistant Secretary in the early 1980’s.)
• HD Supply Scholarship - $5000.00
• Freedom Scholarship - $5000.00

The links to the application brochure and the form are below:
2009 Scholarship Application Information and Requirement Checklist

2009 Scholarship Application

For information on the scholarship and how to apply, visit the PHADA website.

HACLA looks forward to receiving your applications and wishes you success!

6-Nov-08 2:00 PM

Scheme to Sell Fraudulent Section 8 Vouchers Exposed: Police Arrest Three Suspects

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Aug. 29, 2008

Los Angeles -- This morning, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Rampart Division detectives arrested three people for operating a confidence scheme to sell fraudulent Section 8 housing vouchers. The arrests were part of a joint operation involving LAPD and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA).

The scam, which was advertised on the Internet at the Craigslist website, promised Section 8 vouchers to renters in exchange for a cash payment of $2,500. Victims were instructed to call a phone number and were then interviewed by someone posing as a HACLA official. Later, if the victim agreed, the “official” would arrange a meeting that was often staged at or near a HACLA facility.

During the meeting, the suspect(s) would show the victim an authentic-looking HACLA identification card and provide a document resembling a Section 8 receipt or voucher in exchange for $2,500. After the transaction, the suspect would vanish and change the listed telephone number. If the victim couldn’t provide the entire $2,500 in one payment, the scheme would continue until all partial payments were made, after which the phone number would be disconnected.

Potential victims may have been quite vulnerable to the scheme because genuine Section 8 vouchers are very much in demand and valuable, enabling those with low-incomes to rent housing for rates far below current market levels.

To date, at least five of these crimes are known to have been committed, with one of the five occurring in Inglewood. Detectives believe the suspects could be responsible for many more similar crimes because their scheme was advertised on the Internet. Anyone who believes he/she has been a victim or has information about other potential victims, is asked to call LAPD Rampart Detective Division at 213-484-3450. After hours and on weekends, calls may be directed to a 24-hour, toll-free number at 1-877-LAW-FULL (529-3855).

29-Aug-08 0:00 AM

Council to Vote on Gang Prevention Contracts

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:30:00 GMT

Aug. 15, 2008 -- Six organizations that work to keep youths in high- crime areas out of gangs are expected to receive one-year contracts today as part of the reorganization of the city's anti-gang programs.

The recommendations for the one-year $500,000 contracts for each organization will be considered by the Los Angeles City Council. The contractors were selected by panels made up of law enforcement officers, gang experts and community members.

The recommended contractors are:

Community Build in the Baldwin Village area;
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles in Cypress Park;
Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches in the Florence-Graham area;
People Coordinated Services in the Newton area;
El Nido Family Centers in Pacoima; and
Violence Intervention Program in Ramona Gardens.

Community Build and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles were previously awarded contracts through L.A. Bridges, the anti-gang city initiative that will end at the end of the year. On July 1, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assumed control of the city's anti-gang strategy.

City officials plan to award six additional contracts for prevention services and 12 contracts for intervention work later this fall.

The goals of the one-year programs are to prevent children ages 10 to 15 from joining gangs, and reducing the level of association with gang members.

Each program must work with at least 100 youths who are most at risk of joining a gang.

Providers are required to have a minimum of three face-to-face meetings with the children every week and at least one monthly visit with the parents.

The six risk factors that increase a child's chances of joining a gang are a lack of parental supervision; early childhood aggression; delinquent beliefs, including acceptance of antisocial behaviors; negative life events; having peers involved in deviant behavior; and a commitment to street-oriented peers.

15-Aug-08 8:30 AM

Racial harmony on display at Watts basketball tournament

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:00:00 GMT

July 17, 2008

The gym in the Nickerson Gardens housing project can be an unfriendly place for anyone who dares to enter without a tough, competitive game of basketball.

Just ask the Latino players from East Wilmington who, in May, for the first time, drove 15 miles to Watts to join the project's Moonlight basketball league. When they walked on the court, they were greeted with a chorus of taunts, and someone in the crowd issued a blunt warning: "You better not bring any weak stuff in here!"

The 12 young men didn't flinch; they knew they would have to prove themselves if they wanted respect in a tournament dominated by African Americans.

They were shorter than the players on the other top teams, and not quite as fast. Still, they were every bit as tenacious, and at times a little cocky. They had grown up together, were confident in one another's games and knew that when all else failed, they could rely on their star player: Joey Saavedra, a 24-year-old sharpshooter and former Banning High School superstar who dropped out of sight four years ago after being convicted of attempted armed robbery.

Joey was back and ready to make a difference.

With the 6-footer leading the way, East Wilmington, one of four Latino teams participating in the 12-team tournament, began winning games and gaining the respect of the players and admiration of the fans.

"This is good for the community," said Donny Joubert, who runs the Moonlight league, an offshoot of midnight basketball programs established in the early '90s to reduce gang violence. "This is not just an African American gym."

From the first tip-off of the tournament, all eyes were on Saavedra.

"He is a one-man show," said Coach Manuel Panduro. "But he also makes everybody else on his team play better."

Those in the stands noted Saavedra's cross-over dribble, his moves and his shooting accuracy.

"He plays with a lot of soul," said Hank Henderson, a recreation assistant at Nickerson Gardens. "Joey is gifted. He can shake and bake, drop back and hit a three-pointer or make a move like Michael Jordan."

In one dramatic finish, Saavedra knocked a ball out of the hands of an opposing player, ran down the court to catch a pass and laid the ball in the basket as the buzzer went off ending the game.

The stands emptied and a celebration broke out on the court. But then the referees denied the basket, declaring that the shot came too late, just after the buzzer. Saavedra's team won in overtime.

It was that way at Banning High, where the young player rose to fame, averaging just under 32 points a game. Once, after a 44-point burst, including 10 three-pointers, an opposing coach compared Saavedra's offensive talents to Inglewood High School graduate Paul Pierce, who, as a professional this year, led the Boston Celtics to the NBA championship.

Sam Turks, a 32-year-old point guard on the Compton squad who played high school ball with Pierce, agreed. He said he was aware of Saavedra's reputation by the time he had to cover him.

"I was told he could shoot and not to leave him open," Turks said. "They didn't tell me that I could have two hands in his face and he could still knock it down."

At Los Angeles Harbor College, Coach Tony Carter-Loza had high expectations for Saavedra when he started playing for the team in 2003. The Seahawks were off to a better start than in previous seasons, but then Carter-Loza received a call during the winter break. Saavedra had been arrested in a car with two other men and charged with attempted robbery.

"He doesn't seem to want to leave the guys he grew up with," Carter-Loza said. "There's nothing wrong with that. But as time goes on everyone, sooner or later, moves in different directions."

Saavedra sees that chapter in his life as a big mistake. "It was a dumb thing to do," he said. "We didn't need the money."

At the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, where he finished his 18-month sentence, Saavedra recalls serving his time in a holding cell. "There was nothing to do," he recalled. "I keep it in my past. There was time to wash clothes, take baths and try to keep busy. It was all a sign from God. It opened my eyes."

In August 2005, to celebrate his release from prison -- and to keep him closer to home -- Saavedra's family paved over the backyard and built a basketball court. He returned to the sport he loved.

At Nickerson Gardens, Joubert said he has heard similar stories.

"We have a lot of kids who get caught up in the life," he said. "The goal is to get them back on track, go to work, go back to school and do something positive in their lives."

East Wilmington wasn't an obvious entry in the Nickerson Gardens tournament. Some of the players were reluctant to face teams that bore some familiar names: the Compton All-Stars, Fremont, Imperial Courts, Nickerson Gardens.

"Are you serious?" Freddie Lopez, East Wilmington's 6-foot-3 center, asked his coach. "We're not going to play in Nickerson Gardens. That's in the middle of Watts."

But Joubert said the tournament established a "safe zone" around the recreation center, bringing in community members as a private security team -- the same force recently enlisted to provide help at the 109th Street Pool, which was shut down one Sunday last month after a band of young men took it over.

In addition, Joubert arranged to have an L.A. Police Department patrol car stationed outside the center.

After a few games, Joubert received a call from one of the coaches of the Latino teams.

"They felt so comfortable with the tournament that they wanted to know if it was OK to bring their families to the games," he recalled. "I said, 'Sure, bring them!' Then, suddenly, the mothers and the little kids were here."

Saavedra said the tournament helped his self-confidence.

"You have a lot of guys who say, 'If you can play here, you can play anywhere,' " Saavedra said. "To hear that can only make me better. I want to play against the best. I'm 24. I don't want to look back at my life and have any regrets. I want to say at least I gave it a shot."

The East Wilmington players made it to the semifinals but failed to make it to the finals of the tournament. They were beaten by Compton, which lost to Fremont.

But the men from East Wilmington made their mark. At tonight's awards banquet at the Nickerson Gardens recreation center they will all be recognized.

And Joey Saavedra will get the award for Most Valuable Player.

By John L. Mitchell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

john.mitchell@latimes.com

17-Jul-08 3:00 PM

A Struggle to Get Housing in Order -The L.A. agency's chief has discovered millions of dollars unaccounted for and thousands of residents unserved.

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 07:00:00 GMT

Oct. 21, 2007 -- When Rudolf Montiel came from El Paso three years ago to clean up the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, he didn't know enough to be daunted. It didn't take long, however, for him to get a sense of the challenges ahead. Precious vouchers for the poor and disabled seemed to be for sale on the black market, allowing hundreds of newly arrived immigrants to jump to the top of a 10-year waiting list for housing subsidies. A consultant looking into the problem found "a virtual feeding frenzy in which corruption, manipulation and fraud is strongly evident."

That was hardly the only disturbing discovery: Employees in one department appeared to be stealing, issuing themselves checks and then erasing the evidence. Millions of dollars set aside for rehabilitating a Watts housing project seemed to be missing. Parts of some housing projects had been commandeered by gangs to sell drugs, run brothels and hold dogfights.

Fresh from success building a nationally recognized housing authority in his hometown of El Paso, Montiel felt as though he'd entered a mysterious foreign culture, "like I was in the Kremlin, and I wasn't Russian."

Three years later, he still is struggling to bring order and ethics to an agency in which bad management and corruption have been endemic for at least 30 years. Yet, even as he has trumpeted his reform efforts, new controversies have emerged on his watch.

In interviews, Montiel, 46, laid bare details of many agency woes for the first time, at times wishing aloud for an exorcist and comparing his job to fighting a multiheaded hydra.

To date, Montiel said, he's spent $7 million on private eyes, auditors and lawyers -- mostly lawyers. He's referred some staff for prosecution, sued some for damages and outsourced the work of a whole department.

There have been setbacks. Earlier this year, a Times review of internal documents showed that a former manager had directed nearly $800,000 in contracts to his brothers and politically connected firms without competitive bidding or after rigged contests. He allegedly overpaid for the work as well, doling out nearly $2,500 apiece to install toilets in housing projects. The manager, who was fired, has denied wrongdoing and a criminal investigation is ongoing.

Not long afterward, Montiel fired his chief investigator, the very person he had appointed to get to the bottom of such misdeeds. In a lawsuit, his administration accused the sleuth of engaging in a delusional witch hunt. The agency has been racked by interpersonal and racial tension, absenteeism and resentment over Montiel's aggressive management style. Employees have complained of a jarring transition and a "rush to justice," saying that Montiel and his deputies "seem bent on getting rid of people," according to a 2007 consultant's report.

Given the troubles he inherited, some advocates for the poor, as well as city and federal officials, applaud Montiel for making remarkable strides. Donna White, a spokeswoman at the federal Housing and Urban Development department, said the director has put an agency that was on the brink of a federal takeover on solid ground.

Even so, the ongoing turmoil is a distraction from the agency's already formidable mission -- providing for the housing needs of more than 120,000 of Los Angeles' poor and disabled.

Because of funding limitations, five times as many people qualify for help as can be accommodated. Tens of thousands such as Eleanor Colon have been waiting years for subsidies to help them get off the streets or out of homeless shelters. "I don't see why they have to take so long to get people off the waiting list," said Colon, a 28-year-old single mother who applied nine years ago for subsidized housing. Now her "kids are half grown." "When I needed it most, why wasn't it there?"

Some officials said they find it appalling that this critical agency was allowed to fall into such disrepair. "It's horrifying," Councilwoman Janice Hahn said of the agency's troubles. "These [clients] are residents of the city of Los Angeles, and they deserve a lot better."

An orphan agency

For a bureaucracy of its size and reach, the Housing Authority in Los Angeles has historically received relatively little attention, from the public or the government.

It is the largest housing authority west of the Mississippi, with 8,000 public housing units extending from San Pedro to the San Fernando Valley. It also manages 44,500 Section 8 vouchers, federal subsidies paid to private landlords to cover rent for the poor.

Run by a commission appointed by Los Angeles' mayor, the agency receives the vast majority of its $850 million annual budget from the federal government.

But it is more or less an orphan: Most city officials have not involved themselves deeply in its operations, and U.S. officials have offered only sporadic scrutiny. Problems date back decades. Three of the last four executive directors left after inquiries involving alleged misappropriation of funds or improper contracting.

Montiel arrived after the top leader and his second in command departed in quick succession.

Director Don Smith took early retirement in 2004 after the agency gave out thousands more housing subsidies than it was authorized to provide. After HUD refused to cover the extra subsidies, the agency told 1,500 poor people they couldn't use their vouchers after all. An audit later found that the authority had $30 million on hand that would have been more than enough to cover the vouchers.

After Smith left, his second in command, Lucille Loyce, was fired. A federal audit had found that public-housing tenant organizations, which she oversaw, paid more than $2.1 million in no-bid contracts to a consultant, Duane Williams, who was her longtime friend. He performed ineffectually, the audit said.

In a pending lawsuit against the pair, the authority makes other startling allegations, including that Williams insisted that members of tenant boards undergo expensive dental work at agency expense, then he and Loyce blackmailed them into keeping quiet about other misconduct.

Loyce has said she did nothing wrong and that she was fired because of race and sex discrimination, according to court papers. Williams did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

HUD referred the matter to the U.S. attorney's office, which declined to prosecute after investigators found no evidence that Williams paid Loyce kickbacks.

Then-Mayor James K. Hahn's office brokered a deal with federal officials to hire Montiel, who had their confidence, averting the embarrassment of federal receivership.

Suspicions are raised

Although perennially late for appointments, Montiel has polished manners, reflecting an Old World courtliness and charm. He is a practicing Catholic who prays before meals, frequently refers to himself as "blessed" and ends conversations with the sign-off "Peace." He said he came to Los Angeles feeling "honored and humbled."

He also brought an unshakable confidence in his abilities and a national profile as a housing leader, carefully nurtured during frequent trips to Washington, D.C., and other cities.

Almost immediately, Montiel, who makes $225,000 a year, sensed trouble. Simple requests for information about, for example, the number of people receiving Section 8 vouchers, took days. And the answers he did get were incomplete.

His suspicions were heightened when he and federal officials noticed that a large group of newly arrived immigrants -- ineligible by U.S. law for housing subsidies -- had vaulted to the top of the Section 8 waiting list and had been issued vouchers in what appeared to be an organized scheme. The situation remains under investigation, he said.

Montiel said he began receiving anonymous letters, warning that he was looking into things he shouldn't and that he ought not go to housing projects alone. "You never know what might happen to you," he recalled one missive saying.

Montiel tends toward dark humor when describing the threats, but they clearly shook him. Even three years later, he won't say where he lives with his wife and son.

Nevertheless, he said, he was not deterred. Nor has he hesitated to cast himself as the public face of the agency: The lobby of its headquarters is decorated with 10 large photographs of Montiel with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, other public officials and smiling children.

He has drawn praise from some quarters for his perseverance in trying to smoke out problems. What Montiel discovered "flabbergasted" and "appalled" the commissioners who oversee the agency, recalled Eleanor Williams, a former board president.

"I couldn't believe that this very important agency helping the neediest people in our city was having so many problems," she said.

Montiel, too, was initially taken aback by what he found.

In the agency's information technology department, some employees had been cutting themselves checks, but there was no way to tell how many. Evidence had been purged from office computers.

There were signs, however, that it was not a small problem: One high-level staffer resigned under pressure after allegedly cutting himself a check for $7,600. At the end of 2005, the post office returned hundreds of 1099 income tax forms as undeliverable, suggesting that hundreds of thousands of dollars may have been diverted to staffers using false names, Montiel said.

At the Jordan Downs housing project in Watts, paperwork was such a mess that it was impossible to say where millions in rehabilitation funds went, whether they were lost to incompetence or misappropriated.

In the Section 8 department, Montiel said he discovered that more than 50 employees had a potential conflict of interest: They owned dwellings approved for subsidies, and thus were collecting rent money from the program their department oversaw.

Meanwhile, the waiting list for Section 8 subsidies stood at about 90,000 families.

Implementing new rules

Montiel dug in, confident he could turn the agency around. As instructed by HUD, he halted the distribution of vouchers for two years until the legitimacy of the Section 8 waiting list could be verified. He pushed through new rules prohibiting employees from owning property in the Section 8 program or doing business with the authority. Private investigators were dispatched to follow suspect staffers. Forensic auditors were hired to pore over paperwork. Then, this summer, Montiel fired his own chief investigator, Abel Ruiz. Ruiz told reporters he was targeted because he was pushing too hard in the investigation of alleged bid-rigging that had been spotlighted by The Times. Not so, agency officials shot back in a lawsuit, which stated that Ruiz was fired because he had inappropriately started investigating Montiel's distant relatives and a sitting councilman.

In this charged atmosphere, some staffers say morale suffered. One employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he feared retaliation, dismissed Montiel as a bad leader who "came in like a whirlwind" and made people "scared for their jobs."

21-Oct-07 0:00 AM