Latino group to present plans to council

Andrew Glazer

WEST SIDE -- After years of feeling ignored and months of meetings,

Latino community leaders on Monday finally finished a report for city

planners that they said will help revitalize their neighborhood.

They plan to unveil the report to the City Council and the public at the

Jan. 3 City Council meeting.

“The report will offer a new perspective on the West Side,” said Bill

Turpit, a member of the Latino Community Advisors, a coalition of

neighborhood activists, business owners and residents.

The group will not release details about the report until the council

meeting, Turpit said.

The city asked the advisory group to help its planners design a strategy

for bringing new life to the neighborhood, which recently has had

landscaping, street and traffic problems. The neighborhood features a mix

of homes, industrial facilities and small shops.

The advisory group formed in September after Latino residents complained

about being left out of the planning process.

“The report will summarize hundreds of conversations held in the Latino

community over the last two months,” Turpit said. “But they’re not coming

from left field. Our ideas aren’t radically different from comments that

have already been made. However, there will be an emphasis on different

issues.”

A dozen representatives from the advisory group put together the report

as a companion to one being made by a class of graduate students at UC

Irvine’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning.”We tried to get a

good sense of residents, business and key community organizations to

identify problems in the neighborhood that can be solved,” said Kris Day,

associate professor at UC Irvine.Patty Madueno, a member of the

coalition, said the group will try to encourage more Latino residents to

participate in city government. She said the group will tell people about

the release of the report at the City Council meeting during Sunday Mass

at St. Joachim’s Church, which has a large Latino congregation.