114th Annual Golden Dragon Parade in Chinatown

Los Angeles, CA - Thousands of Los Angeles County residents and tourists came to Chinatown on Saturday, February 16, to see 114th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and participate in 2013 Chinese New Year Festival.  

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck were grand marshals for this event.  The parade route took from Hill Street and Ord Street to North Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue.  People stood or sat on the sidewalks waiting for the parade.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles  hosted the 114th Annual Golden Dragon Parade.  This is a spectacular event that people come to watch from all over to be entertained by musicians, dancers, fireworks , dragon line dancers and much more. 

Occupy Fights Foreclosures Protests in front of Bank of America on Wednesday, February 20.

Los Angeles, CA-  Occupy Fights Foreclosures activists and homeowners gathered in front of Bank of America branch on North Vermont Street at 12:00pm on Wendesday, February 20.   The activists and homeowners held their signs and marched in a circle chanting "B.O.A how many homes did you steal today…. Bank of America, Bad for America".  The demonstration lasted for about two hours.  

Josephina Perez, a recent victim of fraudulent foreclosure came to participate in a protest with her 3-year-old grandson, Jesus and her husband, Jose Perez.  Mrs. Perez said that she was trying to modify her loan with Bank of America but Bank of America repeatedly claimed that they never received her paperwork.  Eventually, Bank of America foreclosed on a house and Mrs. Perez and her family, including two small children, Jesus, 3 and Nalanie, 5 were forced to live on the streets.  Mrs. Perez said that they lived on the streets for three weeks.  "We slept on the street, we used public bathrooms . I even gave children a bath  right on the street.  Many times the children wanted to go to the bathroom and could not wait for us to drive around to find one, so they would end up going to the bathroom right on the street" Mrs. Perez added crying. 

Sherry Hernandez, another victims of bank's fraudulent practices also came to participate in a protest this Wednesday afternoon.  Mrs. Hernandez is still fighting to keep her home.  "We bought a house in 2006.  It had to be our retirement home.  We did not plan to make low payments. We wanted a conventional loan, but Countrywide pushed us to take 2% loan.  After 4 months our  payments got raised by $800" she said.  "We were trying to get a loan somewhere else but Countrywide would not release our loan saying that we have 3 year repayment penalty that we never signed for" Mrs. Hernandez added.  Eventually Mrs. Hernandez was able to get a new loan with City Mortgage,  but two moths later her loan got sold to PennyMack and her troubles started again. Mrs. Hernandez is still fighting to keep her house.  

Occupy Fights foreclosures activists and homeowners stood in front of Bank of America this Wednesday afternoon demanding justice. They called for Bank of America to start working with the families and end fraudulent foreclosure practices.   "Housing is a human right !"  activists shouted.  

Occupy Fight Foreclosures activists cross the street on the way to a protest in front of Bank of America.

Protesters march and chant " Bank of America, bad for America"

Protesters march in circle in front of Bank of America branch on North Vermont Street in Los Angeles, CA.

Soledad Corona, a recent victim of fraudulent foreclosure holds the sign.

Carlos Marroquin, a core member of Occupy Fights Foreclosures chants "B.O.A. how many homes did you steal today".

Activists and homeowners march in front of Bank of America branch on North Vermont Street

Unidentified women holds the sign during a protest in front of Bank of America brach on North Vermont Street

Jesus Perez, age 3, marches with his grandfather, Jose Perez, during a protest in front of Bank of America

Activists march and chant "Housing is a human right"

Activists and homeowners march in front of Bank of America branch on North Vermont Street on Wednesday afternoon, February 20.

Activists hold the sign in front of Bank of America during a protest

Josephina Perez and her grandson, Jesus Perez (age 3), hold the sign during a protest .

Climate Change Rally Brings Thousands to Protest in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA - Over 100 cities across the nation gathered this Sunday for the Climate Rally protesting  construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.  Here in Los Angeles  2 000  activists from Los Angeles and surrounding areas marched from Main Street to the steps of City Hall carrying signs and voicing their disagreement with the proposed pipeline. 

The Keystone pipeline is designed to transport synthetic crude oil from the Athabasaca oil sands region to US refineries in Texas.  The public concern is over oil leaks , which occur frequently in pipe line construction and additionally a toxic nature of Alberta's crude oil.  

Sunday's Climate Rally was hosted and organized by actor and environmentalist Ed Begley. The organizations such as the Sierra Club, WilderUtopia, Citizens Climate Lobby, Long Beach Coalition for a Safe Environment played an important role in organizing Sunday's Climate Rally.  The afternoon was filled with speeches and performances.  

Denis King from Topanga, California and a member of Topanga Peace Alliance came all the way to Los Angeles to participate in Climate Rally this Sunday afternoon.  Mr. King said " We are destroying our environment….. I think bicycles could be a solution and the best way of transportation".  

Senator Henry Waxman called for President Obama to take an action in reducing carbon emission.   "There is simply no more important fight for the future of our children and grandchildren" Senator Waxman added.  

Senator Henry Waxman speaks at Sunday's Climate Rally.

A member of Occupy Long Beach, Sonny Pencr said "I am here today because i wanted to stand in solidarity with my comrades in Washington DC in support of doing something against a Climate Chaos.  I can't call it Climate change, it's a climate chaos and examples of that chaos are hurricanes such as Sandy and Nemo".   

Member of Occupy Long Beach, Sonny Pencr came to Los Angeles for Climate Rally.

Students , scientists and political leaders stood in front of Los Angeles' City Hall this Sunday afternoon in agreement that the Keystone Pipeline would destroy the effort to reduce the world carbon emissions in time to stop Global Warming.  Activists demand President Obama and federal government  to take action now before it's to late: adding another polluter to our atmosphere could set global warming to escalate out of control.  

Pictures from Sunday's Climate Rally

One Billion Rising in Long Beach, California

Long Beach, CA -  One Billion Rising is a global day of action to end the violence against women.  By now hundreds of men, women and children have already danced across the globe.

From London to Los Angeles to Johannesburg, street exhibitions, dance performances and musical rallies were all held under the slogan "One Billion Rising."

In Long Beach, California about 40 activists from Occupy Long Beach as well as friends and community members gathered together at 7:30pm in front of Chase Bank branch on Second Street between Nieto and Corona Avenues on Thursday, February 14.  The activists displayed their signs and then danced for about 20 minutes.  One of the man carried the sing that read "Real man don't rape!"  
This event was organized by women from Occupy Long Beach group.  

Eve Ensler, the author of "Vagina Monologues" is a founder of One Billion Rising.  NPR reports that Eve Ensler  credits widespread coverage of both the gang rape in Delhi and the Taliban shooting of the young girl in Pakistan for spurring this global outpouring to end violence against women.

Eve Ensler told NPR: "On this St. Valentine's Day, we are saying we don't want violence. We want love. What kind of love? Just love. Love based on justice, love based on equality, love based on mutual respect".

Source: NPR


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