That’s the Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension. I can’t wait. The construction is all underground through Boyle Heights, so not much visible progress yet.

But when it opens, there will be two stops - one at Mariachi Plaza on 1st & Boyle, and another at Soto & 1st - that will both be less than a mile walk from my front door.

The Wall Street Journal Opinions has a great article on the overemphasis in the “morality” war - on s-e-x (can’t write the word outright - it will attract the wrong kind of traffic to this site).

“Inner-city parents desperate to use vouchers to send their children to values-forming parochial schools can’t, because the reigning political calculus holds this would somehow “advantage” an abortion-resistant Catholic Church. Meanwhile the only values taught now in public schools are diversity, tolerance and respect for the environment…Maybe it’s time for the sex obsessives on the left and right to take their fights over abortion and gay rights into a corner somewhere and give the rest of society space to restore some ethical rootedness in an endlessly variable world.”

Read the whole thing here.

“This is a national issue about young men that could be my kids.”

That from a Guatemalan business leader, Carlos Zuniga, about the problem of gangs in his country.

The same could be said of the U.S. Less than an hour ago, I walked my daughter, Isabel, 3 blocks from my house to her babysitters, Gabby. A block away from Gabby’s, we passed an apartment with some young men standing in front. “Miralo, miralo,” they said as I passed, “Check this out.” Without turning to confirm it, I undoubtable knew they were referencing me - a father walking with his baby daughter down the street. It seems at times in my neighborhood, we are a rare breed.

Less than five minutes later, as I talked with Gabby about Isa, we heard a volley of gunshots from up the street - right were we had passed just moments earlier. And while I thank God for his providence and protection over Isa and me, my heart was heavy as I walked home. Frustrated forr my neighborhood and the climate of fear that a daytime shooting - or an anytime shooting - creates. Sad for the negative stereotypes about my neighborhood that this reinforces. And angry that young men have violence modeled to them in everything from video games to life at home to even quiceaneras, while never even knowing a model of peace from fatherhood or a picture of real manhood.

It is humbling, since fatherhood isn’t something you can legislate. And yet I suspect that the age at which hyperactive young boys become gang-involved young men, is probably the same age when they realize the anger - about their absentee dads, the pain & problems of their single moms, and probably most sadly, the void of any other models in their lives.

This wild beast was in front of my house on Saturday.

I’m not talking about beer or Jim Beam,.. but rather baby formula. Apparently there must be a underage “drinking” problem with baby formula, since it is locked up in a cage right next to the alcohol in the local grocery store that I just bought it from.

Considering how much baby formula we are slurping down these days - despite that it costs as much as good tequila - I’m guessing that they’ll be asking for a lot of ID from our household at that store.

In light of the ever urgent challenge (read Jeremy Del Rio here) to influence this generation of youth, and young men in particular, I offer these thoughts from Richard Rohr, author of Adam’s Return about male initiation and a priest & director of the Center for Action & Contemplation:

“Usually no one has offered [young men] anything more than Jacob’s cheap “soup.” We are sons of Esau, having sold our birthright for fast-food religion (Genesis 25). It does not deeply transform the self or the world…You cannot fake it by any mere belief system, any moral performance, the reassurance of belonging to a group, ar any herioc endurance contest… An unitiated ego becomes rigid about words and rituals when it lacks any real inner experience…

The great spirituality is letting go. Instead we have made it be about taking it in, attaining, performing, winning and succeedding. Spirituality has become a show we perform for ourselves, which God does not need. True spirituality mirrors the paradox of life itself. It trains us in both detachment and attacment, detachment from the passing so we can attach to the substantial…

The general assumption underlying all initiatory rites is that unless a young male is shown real power through a community of wise elders, he will always seek false power and likely spend much of his life seeking prestige, perks and possessions.”

Not sure if it is ironic, or not, that my very first post, and now this post - #300 - are on this topic of male spiritual development. This must be important. It is.

Maybe this bulletin from the LAPD’s New Year’s Eve Gunfire Reduction Program will change the old addage - “Gun’s don’t kill people, People kill people” - that has always been used to support liberal exercise of gun ownership legislation.

“As New Year’s Eve approaches, the Los Angeles Police Department is launching its Citywide Gunfire Reduction Campaign. This campaign is designed to help reduce incidents of indiscriminate gunfire that have become a deadly New Year’s tradition in our city… Discharging a firearm into the air is a felony punishable by one year in state prison. Anyone arrested for discharging a firearm will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.Many times individuals involved in celebrating New Year’s Eve with gunfire do not realize the dangers posed by their actions. Researchers report that a bullet fired into the air can climb two miles into the air and remain in flight for more than a minute. As it falls, the bullet reaches a velocity of 300 to 700 feet per second. A velocity of only 200 feet per second is sufficient to penetrate the human skull.

Over the last several years, the Los Angeles Police Department has made great strides in reducing the amount of gunfire that occurs on New Year’s Eve…In 1997, forty-two arrests were made on New Year’s Eve for gunfire related crimes and fifty firearms were seized by task force officers.”

May efforts like this reduce not just New Year’s eve gunfire, but any and all gunfire from our city streets.

In the ongoing challenge to find affordable housing, the L.A.Family Housing organization - a non-profit housing advocacy group - recently made a deal with the MJW Investments, the real estate group in charge of the Sears redevelopment project here in Boyle Heights. The newsgroup www.garmentandcitizen.com has an article on the agreement, stating that:

“The overall plan for the 22-acre Sears site includes a total of 772 housing units, 680,000 square feet of retail space, and 85,000 square feet of office space.

MJW Investments is seeking some public subsidies for the project, a request that puts a premium on the inclusion of affordable housing, a common contribution in exchange for public money or other benefits for developers.”

I’m curious to see the impact of this project on the community. Later on in the article, they report:

“People were complaining about the vagueness of the price ranges at the meeting—they didn’t give out any price ranges, even though people kept asking,” said Jose Aguilar, a Boyle Heights resident and member of the Project Advisory Committee for the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Adelante-Eastside area, which includes the Sears site. “We’re worried about gentrification, and being priced out of our own neighborhood.”

Information released by the developers after the community meeting said rates for the affordable rental units will range from $300 to $900 a month. The developers did not provide a price range for condominiums that are expected to be included as part of the affordable stock of units.”

What I didn’t know is that this same company, MJW Investments, was part of a redevelopment proposal for MTA property on Cesar Chavez and Soto, that never seemed to be approved. But if you follow their lead, then it is still time to buy now in Boyle Heights.

More on the impact on LA’s housing crunch as it impacts people in Boyle Heights. With 75% of Boyle Heights being renters, the dilema between reporting illegal living conditions and maintaining “affordable” housing is a challenge.

“…with a median income of $22,652, housing is a source of community tension. One-third of the population lives below the poverty line, and the competition for affordable living space is keen.”

One family that reported problems with their landlord’s maintenance experienced the following problem:

“The home was filled with code violations, but the entire apartment was illegal. The tenants would have to leave. “Now we don’t know where to go,” said Lopez, who has lived in the Mott Street home for seven years. Where else can they live for $350 a month?”

On the otherside of the equation,

“…housing officials say, is that the rules are clear and apply to everyone. Landlords have 60 days to bring their property up to code or pay to relocate tenants. Some extensions are granted. Families receive $3,000 for relocation, senior citizens $8,000.”

No easy solutions, though it reminds me of a statement from President Bush recently in regards to similar topic: immigration.

“…people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful one.”

I think residents in Boyle Heights shouldn’t have to choose either.

READ - “Buy Now” part V
Or parts I, and II, and III

I’ve never considered myself much of an artist. Can’t draw. Can’t paint. Can’t dance or sing. But since moving to Boyle Heights 5 1/2 years ago, I’ve had a artistic dream swimming around in my head to do a photo project looking in at downtown LA from 360 degrees around the city.After several years of no movement on this project, I took a class a year ago to learn more about the technical side of photography. Great class - learned a lot of the basics. Then no movement again. Yesterday, on my day off, I decided to get off my duff and try things out.

Since my “360 degrees on Downtown” is the main project, I’m not showing those photos. But I liked how these photos I also took came out. This is off of Main Street at the edge of Lincoln Heights heading into Chinatown and the downtown area, just by the LA “river,” looking northwest at the bridge at Broadway and towards the San Fernando Valley.

Like the mural depicts, the heart of a Barrio Prophet is not sheltered from pain and the thorns of life. Anyone in the barrio knows that through personal experience. “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet” is the topic and theme for the CUMBRE de ALABANZA this Friday at 7pm at Community Baptist Church (map) in East Los Angeles. One goal for this gathering of Latino/a college students from campuses and churches across Los Angeles is to create a place to encounter God - the great healer - through worship, prayer, fellowship and the Word. In this encounter - encuentro con Dios - God works to heal hurt and then lead students not away from the pain, but into facing & conquering it in order to usher in God’s transforming power.For many, one source of pain is the experience of the barrio. This was true for our speaker, Abner Ramos, who grew up here in East LA, and planned for his education at UCLA to be his ticket out of the barrio forever. But then the his encounter with God changed Abner from a barrio victim to a barrio prophet:

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t want to come. I thought that going back to East L.A. was against everything I had been working hard to accomplish, that is, to stay out of the ghetto and make a lot of money… But something interesting happened that day.As we were unloading the pizza Brad told me that someone had been shot on campus the day before. “Yea, some guys got in a fight in the parking lot. One of them pulled out a gun, and now the other dude is dead.” I didn’t think much of it then.

I went home to visit my family that weekend. That’s when my brother asked me what I had been up to. “I went to ELAC this week, it’s a cool place.”

He looked at me with a sad look on his face. “Guess who shot someone on that campus this week?”

“Who?”

“Marcel Narro.”

Marcel was by best friend growing up. I saw him go downhill when we were freshmen at Montebello High School. We did everything together. The day before I came to ELAC he pulled out his gun and emptied the clip at point blank range into another man’s chest. It’s a sad thing to see your friends make stupid decisions.

At that point I heard God’s voice say, “Abner, your best friends are killing people on that campus. You have to go and tell them that I bring hope, you have to give them my gospel.”

Yeah. Wow. Come on Friday to hear Abner speak. Bring your Latino youth, friends, leaders and future barrio prophets to experience this transformation from the God of Barrio prophets, Jesus himself.

READ: Barrio Prophets (a) and (c)

Everyday this week, I’ll be previewing CUMBRE de ALABANZA — “The Heart of a Barrio Prophet,” the big event this Friday at 7pm at Community Baptist Church (map) in East Los Angeles, by linking to information (all the links will be worth the click) about the event, the speaker, and our hopes and goals for the time.
Abner Ramos - serving students at East Los Angeles College (ELAC) will be preaching from Jeremiah 12 (read passage), a book he has been recently challenged by:

“Like Jeremiah, I’ve been fed up with the sin and apathy of my people. God had me study the prophet, and stopped me at chapter 12. When Jeremiah exposes his heart to God, God exposes his heart to Jeremiah. God has a beautiful heart.”

Read more of Abner’s blog thoughts on Jeremiah & being a Barrio Prophets here and here. One of our hopes for this time is for God to raise up a generation of Barrio Prophets to communicate a message of hope & justice.

Just last week I was at CSULA inviting students to this event when I met a student named Jose, who was waiting at the bus hub on campus to go home. Jose - who grew up in the barrio here in East LA - is a senior studying engineering who hopes to graduate this spring.

When I asked him “If God were to walk into the barrio, what would he have to speak to?”, Jose responded, “God would have to speak to the false perceptions that people have about those of us who live in the barrio, about how we live, what we are like, and what we hope for.”

Jose’ challenge for God is the same as Jeremiah’s challenge for God - to rise up and to act for justice in the barrio. God’s response to Jeremiah, to Jose and to you & I is this: “I am rising up - through this generation from the barrio to be worldchangers across the globe.”

On that note, you’re all invited this Friday to hear more about the generation of Barrio Prophets that God is raising up.

READ: Barrio Prophets (b)

As part of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council email list, I got this report about police activity in Boyle Heights. The part of the report that got my attention was this last paragraphs:

“If you’re traveling after 8 pm near State Street East where the on ramp to the fwy is located please be very careful. Its been reported someone is throwing rocks or huge boulders at cars. Hollenbeck is trying to resolve and catch the suspects.”

That happened to me about a week ago. I was getting onto the 10East onramp (about 2 blocks from my house) to go to CSULA at about 7:45pm when I heard a thump on the roof. I pulled off the freeway and noticed a indent on my roof. When I circled around to re-enter on the same onramp, I saw broken concrete & rocks on the road. I sure hope they catch this J@#$k.

Living in Boyle Heights and wanting to be real about the challenges of my neighborhood, I find myself stuck between two values. On the one hand, “stuff” happens here that I never experienced in my suburban enclave of La Crescenta - a mere 15 minutes from here. on the otherhand, life in tha hood is full of misperceptions and false judgements (read here).If I address things frankly, am I opening eyes or am I reinforcing false stereotypes. For this story, and for others, I trust that people understand that after 5+ years of living here in Boyle Heights, I’m still planning on raising my family here and don’t believe we are “in harms way.”

Having said that, stuff like this story happen that make me engage both God & my neighbors (often literally) more deeply. I couldn’t find any internet reporting of this, but I saw the scene about 30 minutes later, and saw a 10 second report on TV at 11pm.

(Boyle Heights) - A man who allegedly shot at a police officer in Boyle Heights remained at large tonight after a search to find him was unsuccessful, police said Sunday.The suspect fired two shots at a Los Angeles police officer near Chicago and Michigan streets at about 2:30 p.m., police said. Neither of the shots hit the officer, police said.

Police established a perimeter in the area, closing off several blocks in an attempt to find the suspect, police said. Canine and SWAT units assisted in the search, police said.

Police broke down the perimeter around 7:30 p.m. without finding the man, according to police.

That street corner is where our friends Gabbi & Paco just moved. We were dropping them off after church, but had to manuever away several blocks because of the police perimeter. They (Gabbi & the kids) were able to get to the apartment without any problem, but the helicopter was flying around until the sun went down.

Having been intrigued & attracted to the murals in Boyle Heights since I moved here in July 200, any new news about murals always grabs my eye. Recently, I’ve gotten several emails or noticed new articles about mural projects or mural controversy in Boyle Heights. This article caught my eye:

“That’s beautiful, it has history and heritage, expresses unity and aspiration,” he says, pointing to a mural 15 feet high, replete with images of Aztec figures, animals, and soldiers.

“That’s not,” he says, pointing to an equal-sized explosion of spray-painted signatures, gang initials, cryptic symbols, and numbers. “That is gangs defining turf, defacing the city.” - Armando Herman, Boyle Heights resident and teacher.

Sometimes I wonder if others can tell the difference between murals and graffiti. Later in the article, quoting Judy Baca, a professor from UCLA:

“I am grieved by the condition of existing murals, no public policy to support them, and a coming generation which has begun to deface what we have because they have no context to understand the heritage behind them or a way to channel their own talent to produce their own.”

I think that is somewhat how I feel about the whole thing.

Rudy Carrasco, Director of Harambee Ministries in Pasadena, blogger of Urbanonramps, and contributing editor to PRISM magazine, recently wrote the cover article on “Surfacing Hispanic Leaders - Visibility is a Challenge, but not for long.”

“My family came to Christ through a Baptist, predominantly white church in Burbank. During college, first at Biola University, then as a Stanford University transfer student worshipping with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, I was in a small minority of Hispanics living out their faith.More challenging, my peers had few connections to Hispanic Christian leaders. That didn’t deter me in my quest to find an ideal Hispanic congregation “back home.” East L.A. had not been home for many years, but it had been my mental fixture, my destination, ever since I responded to an altar call at age 10.

So I searched—in vain. It was one thing to find Hispanic churches on the east side of Los Angeles, but quite another to find a church where I felt I fit in. The traditions and predominant use of Spanish (I’m not fluent) were foreign to me.

In addition, I’d learned of God’s desire to touch the whole life, not just save the soul. Finding a church that integrated action with faith was more difficult than I thought.”

Rudy is a great leader and a stand-up guy who - everytime I’ve ever heard him speak - shares about his personal journey with Jesus as much as about his ministry “accomplishments.” His authenticity is real and his influence is great.

Also, listed among 8 influential leaders is InterVarsity’s Director of La Fe (Latino Fellowship) - Orlando Crespo, as well as a blogger mention to East LA’s Abner Ramos (read his recent post about why he is in East LA.)

I have the pleasure of working with Orlando on a national La Fe leadership team, and much more closely with Abner serving Latino students here in Los Angeles. Both are great men of faith.

For those of you who appreciate a good mural, then you’ll appreciate this story in today’s paper. If you really like murals, then take this tour.Original L.A.Times article link

UPDATE: A dissenting view on mural art. And on Boyle Heights?

I recently came upon this blog post with a certain interpretation about the danger of Boyle Heights, from a law-enforcement perspective.

“In fact, I would dare most readers of this blog who aren’t in law enforcement to drive though East Los Angeles with you windows down, absorbing the scenery.”

From my experience living in Boyle HeightsI offered him this invitation

“As a home-owning, law-abiding resident of Boyle Heights NOT involved in law enforcement, I dare you to come to my home & walk around my neighborhood with me. I’ll even pay for dinner.”

Time Magazine released a recent web-exclusive story on the 25 Most Influential Latinos in the US. Not surprisingly, one-third of the Latinos on the list are from Los Angeles.With Los Angeles being home to the largest Hispanic population outside of Latin America, the future influence of Latinos will be felt not just within the Latino community, and not just in Los Angeles, but across the U.S. in the coming decade.