Pico Union: THE HISTORIC "CENTRAL AMERICA TOWN"

PRESS CONF: Renaming Pico Union Central America Town Thurs
Body: National Central American Roundtable, Inc.
1501 W. 8th Street, Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90017 Telephone (213) 927-0992 Facsimile (213) 387-9189

News Advisory
A NEW TOWN IN TOWN: THE HISTORIC "CENTRAL AMERICA TOWN"


As of yesterday, the City of Los Angeles through the Office of the City Clerk has Received and accepted the petition and application of residents of the communities of Westlake/Pico-Union to have the designation of Historical Central America Town after receiving near 800 hundred signatures of residents and business owners of the area with other required documentes related to this petition, as it was reported on May 7 by the Los Angeles Times in a feature article in the California Section title: A place to call their own.

Among the petitioners there are Korean American merchants, Thai merchants, Afro-American merchants, Nicaraguan Business Owners, Salvadorans Business Owner, Guatemalan Business Owners. Mexican immigrants as Well as Mexican-Americans are supporting the designation. The Westlake Pico Union
Area has the largest concentration of Central Americans living outside their home countries.

As of tomorrow, Thursday, May 24, the City of Los Angeles will create a Council File and send the application and petition to the Departments of Plannning, Transportation, Community Redevelopment Agency and will go into communite wide consultation with stakeholders in the Designated area, including the neigh borhood councils.

Amid the debate of the immigration reform, amid the May 1 incidents at MacArthur Park, this community has decided to take a new approach about community rebuilding, from a maligned and criminal stigma, it would be renewed into one of the best latino areas for urban renewal, in a concept of gentrification with latino and Central American flavor. Welcome to Westlake Pico Union, the Historical Central America Town.

WHAT: PRESS CONFERENCE

WHEN: THURSDAY, MAY 24, 20007

TIME: 10 A.M.

WHERE: MacArthur Park, south corner of Park View and Wilshire Blvd.

WHO: Francisco Rivera, National Central American Roundtable
Julio Cardoza, President, Casa Nicaragua
Cecilia Rodriguez, President, Honduran Alliance of L.A.
Oswaldo Cabrera, President, Latin American Coalition
Teresa Tejada, Executive Director, Association of Salvadorans in L.A.
Representative from Councilmember Ed P. Reyes
Representative from State Senator Gil Cedillo
Representative from Congresswoman Lucille Royball Allard
Representative from Speaker Fabian Nuñez
Representative from Supervisor Gloria Molina
Representative from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa