Lakewood Community News - June 2020

Lakewood

News

Community

Official publication of the Greater Lakewood Chamber of Commerce | 30,000 Circulation - Delivered to every home in Lakewood

June 2020

Volume 40 Number 06

“Virtual” Memorial Day Lakewood Cares is big success, with over 1,000 recipients, and lots of donors Ceremony held in Lakewood

Volunteers, including City Council Members, helped load care packages for residents.

On Saturday, May 9, Lakewood residents, businesses and organizations showed local families in need that the community truly cared, providing over 1,000 recipients with care packages at a drive-through event at Lakewood Center.

Pre-registered participants orderly queued up their cars in the Lakewood Center parking lot to receive milk, a large box of dry food items, a gift card from a Lakewood merchant, and dog or cat food if they had a pet. A deck of playing cards was also included to provide some added fun for

families while at home more. Assembly Member Anthony Rendon provided custom facemasks for many participants with the City of Lakewood logo and the words “Lakewood Strong.”

Lakewood residents generously donated over $10,000 to provide food and gift cards to fill the care packages. Lakewood businesses stepped in to provide a variety of items also.

Businesses and organizations donating: • Bimbo Bakeries • California Pizza Kitchen • Costco

• City of Lakewood • George’s Greek Café • Grandpaws Foundation • Greater Lakewood Chamber of Commerce • Grocery Outlet • Home Depot • Lakewood Center • Project Shepherd • Raising Cane’s • Assembly Member Anthony Rendon • Rock View Family Farms • Rotary Club of Lakewood • Target “Lakewood Cares is an apt name for the event because our community truly does care,” said Mayor Todd Rogers. “Be it our local civic and service organizations, businesses or residents, we come together in good times and bad to support our community and those in need. This event was a success because of the efforts of so many who wanted to provide relief to those who are especially challenged during this health crisis.

Thank you, Lakewood, for stepping up and bringing out the best in all of us.” ♦

Lakewood Pan Am Association honors young scholars

Lakewood Pan Am Association has awarded scholarships since 1999.

Thirteen high school seniors from Lakewood who have overcome adversity, made significant contributions to their schools or community, and excelled academically have been awarded scholarships by the Lakewood Pan American Association.

They are: • Michelle Barbot (Saint Joseph High School) • Alyssa Bombarda (St. Anthony High School)

• Samira Elasmar (Mayfair High School) • Sarah Facterman (Millikan High School) • Domenic Iovine (Millikan High School) • Alissa Jeffrey (Mayfair High School) • Jirote Jiyacharoen (Mayfair High School) • Youstina Labib (Artesia High School) • Christopher McQuillin (Lake-

wood High School) • Koby Melvin (Ernest McBride High School) • Taylor Ravelo (Saint Joseph High School) • Quinn Sandoval (Lakewood High School) • Selene Velez (Saint Joseph High School) The Lakewood Pan American Association's annual scholarship program invites high school seniors who reside in Lakewood, regardless of where they go to school, to apply for scholarships ranging from $500 to $1500 to help pay for future college or trade school costs.

Traditionally, the winners are introduced and congratulated at the Pan Am Fiesta, where they serve as Pan Am Ambassadors.

Due to the cancellation of the Pan Am Fiesta this year because of the coronavirus, the Virtual Pan Am Fiesta page included a link to a special page dedicated to display the photos and bios of each honoree. You can see this page at www. lakewoodcity.org/Ambassadors.

Congratulations and best wishes to each of them! ♦

Lakewood’s traditional Memorial Day Ceremony at Del Valle Park brings together over 1,000 veterans and community members, many in their 70s, 80s or even older. County health coronavirus regulations prevented such a risky gathering this year.

But Lakewood city staff in partnership with local veterans groups “reimagined” a way to hold a virtual Memorial Day Ceremony as a community this past Monday, May 25.

Lakewood’s award-winning CityTV video team compiled a “greatest hits” video of recent Memorial Day ceremonies that included all the elements of Lakewood’s traditional event. It included a past video presentation of the colors by the Lakewood High School JROTC, patriotic songs by the Golden Sands Cho-

rus, excerpts from memorable past keynote speakers, a reading of The Boys of Del Valle Park, and a touching interview with the author of that poem, the late Dennis Lander.

Residents were invited to watch the virtual Memorial Day Ceremony online or on TV from their homes at 11 a.m. on Memorial Day and to take part in a community-wide moment of silence during the presentation.

“I think our city staff and veterans organizations came together and crafted a really nice, virtual alternative that was a perfect fit for this particular moment in history,” said Mayor Todd Rogers.

Residents can still view the virtual Memorial Day Ceremony video at lakewoodcity.org/MemorialDayvideo. ♦

Today

Lakewood

Page 2

www.lakewoodchamber.com

Working to open up Lakewood

By Mayor Todd Rogers

I want to thank Lakewood residents and businesses for their incredible support and compliance with the health protections and restrictions that have been put in place the past two months by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

These health restrictions and practices…and your compliance with them…have clearly helped to flatten the curve of coronavirus infections and deaths in Lakewood and our county…and have kept our health care system from being overwhelmed like we’ve seen in other parts of the country, even though L.A. County and its 10 million resi-

dents make up the largest county in the nation.

As a reminder, county Public Health oversees health regulations in Lakewood and most cities within L.A. County. The City of Lakewood has very little discretion over what businesses and public spaces can open up during a health emergency. But, as a city council and city government, we still have the power to communicate and advocate with L.A. County government on behalf of our residents, and you can rest assured that your city officials have been advocating strongly on behalf of Lakewood residents and businesses.

My partners on the Lakewood City Council and I know that these health restrictions over a long, twomonth period have come at a tremendous cost to many of our residents and businesses, both in terms of the ability to make a living and simply enjoy our normal quality of life.

So, we are relieved to see that the State of California is recognizing that we have flattened the curve and that a balance now needs to be achieved that acknowledges the economic and personal impacts of

the health restrictions. The state is starting to significantly relax its restrictions and allow more businesses and public spaces to open back up, with appropriate physical distancing safeguards.

That said, we can’t help but be a bit frustrated that the L.A. County Department of Public Health is remaining quite rigid and not allowing our local economy to open back up in a significant way.

As just one example, the county is now allowing stores in shopping malls that have an outward facing entry door to open for curbside pickup. But they say that stores inside a mall can’t open up for curbside pickup, even if their employees can bring items out of the mall through an employee-only door.

On behalf of our businesses, the City of Lakewood has advocated strongly with the county over this matter, showing them that the new state guidelines allow interior mall businesses to have curbside pickup, but county Public Health officials still refuse to change their position.

As another example, as of May 22, the very short list of businesses allowed by county Public Health to reopen includes businesses that hardly exist anymore, such as bookstores.

In sum, many of us are concerned that L.A. County is not taking into account the tremendous cost that the closure of businesses and other public spaces is having on our economy and residents.

To that end, I have written to our member of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, Janice Hahn, to request that the Board intervene to ease some of the ongoing restrictions on retail, restaurants and personal grooming businesses.

I told Supervisor Hahn that the people of Lakewood want to continue to be good, law-abiding partners to help get through this historic public health challenge. But too many of our residents and businesses are suffering, and we want to see our county work harder at reopening our economy and public spaces.

I will report back to Lakewood residents on the response we get.

Please know that the City of Lakewood will keep advocating for our residents and businesses on two important fronts: staying safe and healthy…and getting our economy and public spaces opened as quickly and as we safely can.

To that point, I would like to reiterate a very important message to Lakewood residents.

Reopening our economy means we are going to be in closer contact with more people…including people who may be infected…so we have to step up our vigilance about maintaining good physical distancing and hygiene, even more than before. That’s the only way a reopened economy can safely happen.

That means staying at least six feet from people not in your immediate household. And, very importantly, wearing a cloth face covering when you go someplace where you might temporarily be closer than six feet from someone.

Public health experts continue to emphasize that a cloth mask remains an important element to keep us from accidentally transmitting the coronavirus to someone else.

None of us wants to do that to a family member, friend or Lakewood neighbor.

Also, on a personal note, please know that I hear you. My partners on the City Council and our city staff hear you. We haven’t forgotten that it’s our job to represent the many voices in our community.

June 2020

We share your concerns about keeping our community healthy, especially those who are most vulnerable. We also hear you that we can keep people safe in a manner that is consistent with saving our local businesses and allowing each of us to regain some semblance of normalcy and personal dignity.

We’ll keep you posted as things develop. In the meantime, please continue to do your best to hang in there and, as always, thanks for reading this column and the Lakewood Community News.

Editor’s Note: Subsequent to the writing of this column, it appears that Los Angeles County is reconsidering some of the more restrictive elements of the Safer at Home orders relating to business, including the issue pertaining to stores on the interior of malls.

The Lakewood City Council has expressed appreciation for those reconsiderations, but is still asking the county to consider broader but responsible relaxations as outlined in this column. ♦

Lakewood Water Quality Report now available The City of Lakewood's 2019 Water Quality Report shows that the city's drinking water continues to meet all federal and state quality standards.

If you want a copy or have

any questions, contact the Lakewood Department of Water Resources at 562-8669771, extension 2700.

You can view the report at www.lakewoodcity. org/2019waterqualityreport. ♦

Your

Minding www.lakewoodchamber.com

June 2020

Construction at Del Amo and Lakewood intersection

have to be removed as part of construction projects in any city, but Lakewood always looks to replant an even larger number to make up for the loss and to expand our overall number of trees, and that will be the case here.”

Work will continue at this intersection during the summer and into November. ♦

Construction to add dual left-turn lanes will continue into the fall.

Construction began in late April on a new project to ease the traffic flow through one of the busiest intersections in Lakewood and our region.

Lakewood secured full funding from L.A. Metro to construct dual left-turn lanes in all four directions of the intersection at Del Amo and Lakewood boulevards.

The first portion of the project involves widening Del Amo on the south side of the intersection.

Periodically, curb lanes will be closed, but there will always be at least one lane in each direction open to traffic. Motorists are encouraged to find alternate routes if possible to avoid delays. During non-working hours, all lanes will be open to the extent possible.

Vans donates shoes to Lakewood student volunteers

Saint Joseph High School students with Vans' executive and founding family member Steve Van Doren.

Vans Shoes recently approached the City of Lakewood about wanting to donate 100 pairs of their colorful, youth-oriented shoes to a worthy group or cause in our community.

The city decided to ask the high schools in Lakewood if they would identify some students who deserved extra recognition for being “community conscious”…especially during this difficult coronavirus time.

Not surprisingly, all five high schools in Lakewood responded back to say that they definitely had plenty of students worthy of such recognition.

You can watch the Lakewood CityTV video that describes the donation and what these communityconscious Lakewood students did at www.lakewoodcity.org/Vans. ♦

As part of the intersection widening project, several dozen trees are being removed to expand the number of traffic lanes for the new dual-left turn lanes.

When construction is completed later this year, new trees will be replanted along the roadway in the project area, although a smaller number than originally there because the roadway area will be larger than before. To make up for the loss of those trees, a far greater number (over 100) of new trees will be planted elsewhere in Lakewood over the coming year, so that the city ends up with more trees in the end.

“As a Tree City USA, we obviously love our trees in Lakewood,” said City Manager Thaddeus McCormack, “and the city does everything it can to protect and enhance our tree inventory.

The city maintains over 27,000 trees along streets and in parks.

While it's regrettable that some trees had to be removed for this project, it was necessary in order to achieve the goal of reducing traffic and easing vehicle flow through the Del Amo/Lakewood intersection, which is one of the busiest and most congested in Lakewood. Trees sometimes

Business Page 3

& Financial

Business Page 4

www.lakewoodchamber.com

June 2020

June 2020

News

Community

www.lakewoodchamber.com

Page 5

Green Page 6

Living

June 2020

www.lakewoodchamber.com

Help make Lakewood #1 in Census participation The 2020 census is easier than ever to complete. It only takes a few minutes to submit your response online at https://my2020census. gov/. Be prepared to complete the census in one sitting, as the system does not allow you to save your progress.

So far, Lakewood's Census participation has been very good, but we can do better!

Census may invite you to participate in COVID-19 survey Over the next eight weeks, the U.S. Census Bureau will be conducting a COVID-19 online survey of 13 million households across the country to better understand the impact of the health crisis on employment, education, health, food and housing security.

You may be one of a random sampling of residents, chosen by address, not personal information, who will be contacted by email or text inviting you to participate in this survey, which is being called a Household Pulse Survey.

Participation in this survey (unlike the Census) is voluntary.

If you have been selected to participate in the Household Pulse Survey, you will receive an email from COVID. survey@census.gov or a text message from 39242 with a link to complete the survey.

The COVID-19 survey will have some of the same demographic questions found on the 2020 Census (e.g. gender, age, marital status), as well as questions about COVID-19 issues such as employment, food/housing security, education disruptions, physical/mental health and more.

In addition, the Census Bureau is also planning to release a Small Business Survey to collect data on how small businesses are weathering location closings, supply chain disruptions, and other impacts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Please note that while every household will receive mail from the Census Bureau about completing the 2020 Census, only a random sample of households will receive this COVID-19 survey by email or text message. Households will never receive invitations from the Census Bureau to complete the 2020 Census in the form of email or text messages.

Both of these new surveys are part of expedited efforts by the Census Bureau to quickly produce data to help guide policymakers during the pandemic. ♦

As we go to press, our total response rate is 70.9%, ranking us at: • 87th in the state (within the top 18%) • 2nd among the six closest cities to Lakewood “Let’s go for number 1!” says Lakewood City Manager Thaddeus McCormack. “Filling out the Census form just takes a few minutes, but it will bring great financial benefits to our community in the years ahead. Lots of federal and state funding formulas for cities are based on population, so we want to make sure we are fully counted in Lakewood.”

If you haven’t yet completed your household's form, you should have received a final reminder postcard to respond online, by mail or by phone. The Census Bureau is now contact-

Lakewood residents are getting counted!

ing those who haven't responded, and will continue through the next few months to be sure everyone is counted.

Once you've submitted your form, spread the word to friends and neighbors and encourage them to complete their response too.

You can see an interactive map showing Lakewood’s current Census response ranking at www.lakewoodcity.org/Census-

Eric M. Reed, D.D.S. UCLA ‘91 / Lakewood HS ‘82

Digital X-Rays NEW PATIENT SPECIALS

• Cleaning, x-rays and exam $75 (over 60% off) • Teeth Whitening $25 (reg. $99) with Cleaning, X-Rays & Exam

Family Dentistry 2704 Del Amo Blvd. (at Paramount) Lakewood, CA 90712 (562) 423-1441 www.EricReedDentistry.com

CURRENT PATIENT SPECIALS • 25% off Teeth Whitening

Free Kindergarten Dental Screening!

Town

Around June 2020

www.lakewoodchamber.com

Mothers at Work offers free childcare for essential workers

Mothers at Work is located in the Burns Community Center.

Mothers at Work Children’s Center, located in the Burns Community Center at 5510 Clark Ave., Lakewood, is open to serve the needs of the community.

Funding is available to provide free childcare for essential workers through June 30.

Children do not need to be toilet trained to enroll. A hot breakfast is served each morning at 7:25 a.m., and hot lunches and two snacks are also provided daily.

M.A.W. closely follows CDC guidelines by increasing the amount

Check out summer recreation activities

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the City of Lakewood Recreation and Community Services Department is committed to providing programs and services to the extent allowed by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The new Summer Recreation Catalog, although not in print, is available online now at www.lakewoodcity.org/Catalog. The catalog’s availability through the city’s webpage allows for the most up-todate information. As always, many classes are free or low cost.

Online registration is going on now. Visit www.lakewoodcity.org/ ecatalog and enter the activity number from the catalog description for details and to sign up.

Call 562-866-9771, extension 2408 for more information. ♦

of cleaning and sanitizing of the room, toys and touchpoints. Children are assigned to small groups with specific teachers in separate rooms to maintain social distancing.

Founded in 1971, M.A.W is a licensed private, non-profit childcare center that offers a full day program for preschool-aged children, ages two through five, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For more information, visit the Mothers at Work Children's Center website at www.mawchildrencenter. com or call 562-867-4083. ♦

Report use of illegal fireworks early The Lakewood Sheriff’s Station reminds residents to celebrate the Fourth of July safely by not using illegal fireworks-and not tolerating those who do.

To support the Sheriff’s efforts in suppressing the use of illegal fireworks, you can report problem locations now. That provides the Sheriff’s Department with the best opportunity to prevent the illegal use.

If you think someone is planning to sell or use illegal fireworks, or know of a location that regularly uses illegal fireworks, call Lakewood City Hall's Illegal Fireworks Tipline at 562-8669771, extension 7233 (SAFE) or email Service1@lakewoodcity.org prior to July 4th. You can keep your tip confidential.

To report the use of illegal fireworks in progress, call the Lakewood Sheriff’s Station at 562-623-3500.

Illegal fireworks are those that explode (like firecrackers) or go into the air (like skyrockets). The only fireworks that are legal to use in Lakewood as those sold at official fireworks stands in the city and that contain the California State Fire Marshal’s safe and sane seal, and those fireworks may only be used on July 4 between 10 a.m. and 11 p.m. ♦

Page 7

Stay in touch with Lakewood Connect The city’s emagazine, Lakewood Connect, is the best way to receive timely updates on Lakewood-specific news, especially in light of the COVID-19 health crisis.

It’s easy to sign up at www. lakewoodcity.org/emag.

You can also use these resources to get the latest Lakewood news: • Listen to Lakewood’s lowpower emergency radio station (1620-AM). City staff have activated it during this crisis, and update it regularly with useful

information.

• Follow the City of Lakewood on Facebook @LakewoodCalifornia, Twitter @LakewoodCA or Instagram @lakewoodcity • Watch the COVID19-related videos of the award-winning Lakewood CityTV at www. lakewoodcity.org/COVID19videos. They are all-Lakewood, all-the-time. You can also stream them at www.lakewoodcity.org/ CityTV or watch them on channel 31(Spectrum Cable and Frontier Communications) or channel 99 (AT&T U-Verse). ♦

Page 8

www.lakewoodchamber.com

$4.00 off X-Large $3.00 off Large $2.00 off Medium $1.00 off Small

COUPON

FREE DELIVERY(LIMITED AREA)

Not good with any other offer Limit (1) w/coupon

PIZZA

• Thin or Thick Crust OPEN FOR PICK UP AND • Salads & Sandwiches Me -n - Ed’s FREE DELIVERY Pizza Parlor PLEASE CALL & PLACE YOUR ORDER

4115 Paramount Blvd., Lakewood

Phone: 562-421-8908

Expires 6-30-20

$75 OFF

ANY WATER HEATER INSTALLATION 11829 Downey Ave Downey, CA 90241 (562) 861-1234

Call Now!

info@downeyplumbing.com

www.downeyplumbing.com St. Lic#: 731172

We Accept

Advertise in the award winning Lakewood Community News! Call or email us at (562) 531-9733 / advertise@lakewoodchamber. com.

June 2020