That's the slogan we've come up with for the Bastille Day rally at City Hall at noon July 14.
It is meant to launch a new era in L.A., to give birth to a democratic movement that empowers the people and the communities to solve the growing problems caused by a failing educational system and a failing government.
The battle for a greater Los Angeles will not be won through pleading for our leaders to solve the city's problems or through a series of reforms or at the ballot box.
It can only be won through people power. Thousands of people across the city have worked hard to make their communities better and become angry and frustrated by the lip service, the indifference, the arrogance, of a system taken hostage by special interests.
The Saving L.A. Project -- S.L.A.P. -- is organizing a rally for July 14, Bastille Day, the moment the French Revolution began, to launch a movement that will bring together people who love L.A. and want to see change. The protest will start at noon at the South Lawn of City Hall.
Already, people from San Pedro to Sunland-Tujunga and many neighborhoods between them have committed to come to the rally and dump their grievances at City Hall and demand redress.
It is the start of something big. In numbers there is strength and by forming a coalition of concerned citizens we can make a difference, something dozens of local community groups have been unable to achieve over decades of struggling.
Take Back L.A. -- Demand A Great City. That's the theme of the protest. And greatness is our goal.
Great schools where every child is given the opportunity to learn and realize their full potential.
Great neighborhoods, free of gangs and the constant menace of violence, where families can live in safety.
Great businesses that add to the quality of life and provide great jobs.
We must confront the traffic congestion now by finding solutions that give people the choice between walking, biking, busing or driving from place to place.
We must become partners in every development to make sure that every project enhances the quality of our lives.
L.A. is a great place and now it must become a great city before it is too late.
The path we are being led down is the road to ruin, a city of rich and poor. A great city is built around the middle class and offers opportunity to all to achieve that It is not built out of mansions in guarded enclaves and slums under the control of hoodlums.
The people of the city must become full partners with the government in deciding how L.A. moves forward and that can only be achieved by having the power to help or hurt our political leaders. For too long, developers, contractors and public employee unions have held all the power and the residents of L.A. are left begging for what they believe will protect or improve their lives.
The Saving L.A. Project will change that by forming a united front. We don't have to agree on everything. We just need to support each other in our efforts to make our communities better and our city greater.
Come to the Bastille Day rally. Join hands with your neighbors. This is the birth of real democracy in L.A. where the people are the bosses and the politicians and bureaucrats are the public servants.
It is meant to launch a new era in L.A., to give birth to a democratic movement that empowers the people and the communities to solve the growing problems caused by a failing educational system and a failing government.
The battle for a greater Los Angeles will not be won through pleading for our leaders to solve the city's problems or through a series of reforms or at the ballot box.
It can only be won through people power. Thousands of people across the city have worked hard to make their communities better and become angry and frustrated by the lip service, the indifference, the arrogance, of a system taken hostage by special interests.
The Saving L.A. Project -- S.L.A.P. -- is organizing a rally for July 14, Bastille Day, the moment the French Revolution began, to launch a movement that will bring together people who love L.A. and want to see change. The protest will start at noon at the South Lawn of City Hall.
Already, people from San Pedro to Sunland-Tujunga and many neighborhoods between them have committed to come to the rally and dump their grievances at City Hall and demand redress.
It is the start of something big. In numbers there is strength and by forming a coalition of concerned citizens we can make a difference, something dozens of local community groups have been unable to achieve over decades of struggling.
Take Back L.A. -- Demand A Great City. That's the theme of the protest. And greatness is our goal.
Great schools where every child is given the opportunity to learn and realize their full potential.
Great neighborhoods, free of gangs and the constant menace of violence, where families can live in safety.
Great businesses that add to the quality of life and provide great jobs.
We must confront the traffic congestion now by finding solutions that give people the choice between walking, biking, busing or driving from place to place.
We must become partners in every development to make sure that every project enhances the quality of our lives.
L.A. is a great place and now it must become a great city before it is too late.
The path we are being led down is the road to ruin, a city of rich and poor. A great city is built around the middle class and offers opportunity to all to achieve that It is not built out of mansions in guarded enclaves and slums under the control of hoodlums.
The people of the city must become full partners with the government in deciding how L.A. moves forward and that can only be achieved by having the power to help or hurt our political leaders. For too long, developers, contractors and public employee unions have held all the power and the residents of L.A. are left begging for what they believe will protect or improve their lives.
The Saving L.A. Project will change that by forming a united front. We don't have to agree on everything. We just need to support each other in our efforts to make our communities better and our city greater.
Come to the Bastille Day rally. Join hands with your neighbors. This is the birth of real democracy in L.A. where the people are the bosses and the politicians and bureaucrats are the public servants.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the Naitonal Enquirer.
Ron, I love your PASSION for Los Angeles and hope that Bastille Day in Los Angeles is the beginning of a yearly event in which we take back control of our communities!
3:54pm we need Angelos to catch that passion and show up on the 14th.
Okay, Ron, so you'll get a couple hundred--maybe even a couple thousand--folks to show up on July 14th. But what exactly is it that you want the City to do once you get its attention? We all want L.A. to be a great city and yet the electorate mindlessly votes to recall a governor b/c it wants lower vehicle registration fees. And then we all moan and groan over cuts to services because of the state's huge budget deficit! We decry the fact that the performance of our schools has plummeted so dramatically in the last 2 decades, but no one makes the link between that and Proposition 13! Yes, everyone wants a better city, but no one seems to want to pay for it.