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Including Inglewood Airport Area • Baldwin Hills • Crenshaw/LA • Ladera Heights VOL. 24, No. 12
March 19, 2015
Deceptive Signature Gatherers Threaten Stadium Project By Brooke Stanley
“I felt totally tricked” says one resident — but antistadium signatures can be withdrawn.
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nglewood residents: Beware of dishonest signature gatherers who are endangering the Hollywood Park stadium! That’s the warning from city leaders this week, as a rash of deceptive signature collectors are knocking on doors in an attempt to lure unsuspecting residents into signing a petition against the stadium project. Project opponents from outside of Inglewood are paying door-knockers to visit local neighborhoods and use misleading claims—or outright lies—to collect signatures that would reverse the City Council’s approval of the City of Champions Revitalization Initiative. “I felt totally tricked and scammed! I couldn’t believe what happened to me,”
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kid on a skateboard whizzed past me, rolled off the sidewalk, and into the street and nearly collided head on with an oncoming car that may have been going a handful of miles over the speed limit. Nevertheless, the rattled young man received a verbal lashing from the elders who just happened to be standing
By Thomas Bunn
Keyjon Smith
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t’s about to get really crazy, as college basketball watchers put in their bets on which teams will win in “March Madness.” Teams around the country will be competing in the annual basketball-athon, but we all know it’s about much more than basketball. The annual NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is about money. Lots of it. How much might surprise you. According to Black Enterprise, “picking teams and waging bets on who
specific language showing support for the project, dismissing the petition as “law talk.” But she didn’t realize she had been lied to until being alerted by her husband, who had heard about the antistadium effort on the radio. “I love Inglewood, and I want to see it succeed,” said Espana, who moved to Inglewood seven years ago from the San Fernando will win in March MadValley. “This project is very ness is estimated to cost the (Continued on page 2) American workforce nearly $2 billion.” Everyone from President Obama to lowlevel employees gets in on the act. A lot of time goes into picking a winning team, making wagers and keeping track of what’s what. outside at the moment to add Challenger, Gray & insult to injury. I decided that I Christmas estimates that would walk over to him and see more than 60 million Amerif he was okay. He said he was icans take valuable time in a hurry because he wanted away from their workday to get home to tell his mom to participate. While that’s the good news. He had finally good for workplace morale, made the honor roll after strug- employers pay dearly in lost gling in math for 2 years. earnings, distracted and unTwo years of hard work productive workers. doesn’t seem like a lot of time, March Madness official(Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 2)
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said Susana Espana, whose home near Crenshaw Blvd. and 118th Place was visited on Monday by a fraudulent signature gatherer. The man claimed that his petition would show support for the new professional sports stadium. He even encouraged Espana to sign a second time, on behalf of her sister, who also supports the stadium. Espana said she became slightly suspicious after the man was unable to point to
March, Money, and Madness
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