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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

District 9 Resident Says Neighborhood Is Neglected

Anne Artley |
March 5, 2013 | 4:40 p.m. PST

Contributor

Charles Pool (Anne Artley/Neon Tommy).
Charles Pool (Anne Artley/Neon Tommy).
Charles Pool voted for mayoral candidate Jan Perry in Tuesday's primary election because he said her focus is to make schools better in South Los Angeles. He said he researched her and learned that she has had continued involvement in the community.

Pool, 57, has a vested interest in South L.A. because he grew up in the community and said he has seen it deteriorate in recent years. He lived in Encino and then moved back to South L.A.

“I’ve lived in Encino for 20 years and you would think you were in heaven,” he said.

In addition to education, regular maintenance of the neighborhoods is the most important issue facing South L.A. residents, Pool said.

Decades ago, before he left for Encino, Pool said there was more regulations regarding noise. Now, “on the weekends over here, it’s like being at the World’s Fair,” he said.

Pool, who is now retired, worked as a hospital administrator. He attended both Los Angeles City College and University of Southern California, where he received a bachelor's degree in business administration.

As a 30-year L.A. resident, Pool has seen many phases of growth in the city. But some, he said, are not such an improvement.

“Most of the politicians around here focus on immigration. [Immigrants] should adjust to our way of life, not the other way around.”

Pool cites lax law enforcement for parking issues as another concern. He said that people often leave their cars parked on the streets all night and will move residents’ garbage cans from the street to use the curb space for their cars.

“People park all kinds of vehicles on the street,” he said. “Even commercial trucks that shouldn’t even be allowed to park here.”

Another change Pool wants to see is increased regulation of businesses because, he said, many neighborhood residents run businesses out of their homes.

These operations contribute to the noise level, as one household runs a “chop shop” out of their garage in the neighborhood near Pool’s parents home, also in South L.A. He said he hears machines running at one or two o’clock in the morning.

Pool said a problem with South L.A. politics, where a majority of voters are black and Latino, is that politicians from the same cultural background as their constituents run with the assumption that the community will vote for them and do not work to affect any real change.

“Blight areas like these are ‘gimmes’ to politicians," he said. "They don’t pay attention to people in these areas because they assume they have the vote. Black politicians assume they will get the ‘black vote’ and Hispanic politicians think they’ve got the ‘Hispanic vote,’ and they take advantage.”

In addition to Perry, Pool said he voted straight-ticket Democrat for all the candidates.

 

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage on the LA election here.

Reach Contributor Anne Artley here.

 



 

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