Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott is living his wildest dream. He gets to coach his hometown Lakers team, which is the team he idolized growing up in Inglewood, California playing basketball at Morningside High School. 

The best part about Byron’s dream is he gets to share it with his son Thomas Scott, who works on the Lakers staff as an Assistant Coach in player development.

Thomas, parallel to his father, is living his wildest dream coaching for the Lakers. He grew up idolizing the Lakers but unlike his father, he grew up with the reality of the NBA as a backdrop.

“It all started when I was a kid and every summer, I was able to go a basketball camp,” said Thomas.  “I was very fortunate and blessed to go to my dad’s basketball camp twice a summer.  It was kind of non-negotiable but I wanted to do it.  I love basketball. Being a shadow of my dad trying to go to practice with him on Saturday morning, going to games on the weekends and trying to get there on weekdays and things like that. I was exposed to a lot of stuff.”

During the 1980’s, Byron Scott was NBA royalty winning three championships (1985, 1987, 1988) as a critical part of the “Showtime Lakers” led by Magic Johnson with teammates Kareem Abdul – Jabaar and James Worthy. Byron went on to play for the Indiana Pacers, Vancouver Grizzlies, and again with the Lakers, who had drafted a high school rookie named Kobe Bryant and acquired a big fish through free agency named Shaquille O’neal.  Scott was instrumental as a leader for the Lakers and a tandem destined for greatness during what is deemed now as the Shaq and Kobe era.

Scott would leave the Lakers and play one more season of basketball overseas for the Greek Basket League team Panathinaikos.  Fittingly, Scott led them to a championship going out on top, ending a storied Hall of Fame playing career.

Byron pursued a career in coaching immediately after he finished playing in 1998. He became an assistant for the Sacramento Kings and next got his first head-coaching gig as head coach of the New Jersey Nets leading them to two back – to-back finals appearances. Scott would later coach for the New Orleans Hornets winning coach of the year in 2008. He also coached the Cleveland Cavilers before getting his dream job as the Lakers head coach this past season.

“You know I imagined it and I dreamed about it”, said Byron when asked did he ever imagine his wildest dreams would come true.

 “When I played for the Lakers and got into coaching, I always said its the ultimate job.  Larry Brown who was a great coach, was one of my coaches during my NBA career, he always talked about the New York Knicks would be his dream job. When I heard that, I started thinking okay, what would be my dream job? It was real quick it was like the Lakers! That would be my dream job to come back here and coach the purple and gold.”

 Byron believes his story can inspire many to dream big.  “You know I dreamed of playing for the Lakers, I dreamed about playing in the NBA, I dreamed about coaching the Lakers, if you truly believe in your dreams and if you truly believe in the man upstairs there are so many things that are possible. This is one of those dreams that if I pass away in the next years, I pretty much fulfilled everything that I wanted to fulfill.  So I would be a happy man.”

Byron raised his son Thomas to dream big and never ask for a handout. Thomas always had to battle the bright lights of Hollywood and the fact that his dad was a famous NBA player. It’s hard for any kid with a successful father to follow in his footsteps but Thomas never seemed detoured or intimidated by the spotlight.

While coaching in New Orleans (Hornets), Byron saw that Thomas was ready to step into the professional world of basketball but had to earn his place if he was going to gain any respect.

“I didn’t want anybody to ever come back and say well the only reason Thomas is coaching is because his dad is coaching, his dad gave that to him,” said Byron. 

“I wanted him to earn everything so the first thing in New Orleans, he was an assistant video coordinator, in Cleveland, he was a player development coach. Cleveland loved the way he worked and the way he related to players.  They wanted him to be an assistant coach for the D-League team (Canton Charge) and he comes to L.A. and becomes and assistant for the D-League team (Los Angeles D-fenders). So at that particular time when I got the job and I talked to Mitch Kupchak and told him I wanted to hire him and put him on my staff. The good thing is they had watched him in the D-League so they thought he was extremely good with the players as well. So he had the resume at that time to make that leap. It wasn’t like I was giving him anything he had worked and earned it. That was the first thing I wanted him to do and he continues to do. If he continues to work the way he’s been working and he’s been getting accolades from the NBA to go the China this year to be an assistant coach out there, these are all the things he’s done on his own. The only thing I really did is I put him in the position to earn it and he did all the hard work.”

Thomas with the support and collaboration of his father has created You Ball Training, which is a company that provides basketball skills training from a professional level to athletes of all ages.

Led by Thomas, the organization provides a promising path towards improvement by his “Basketball Boot Camp” approach. “If you want to get better it takes hard work everyday, repetition equals progression,” says Thomas.

“Growing up you think that’s normal, seeing Magic Johnson talking to you, Kobe Bryant is asking you to rebound for him and different things like that when you are in middle school and that’s not normal. Reggie Miller giving you pointers on how to shoot and things like that.  I was trying to find myself in terms of what do I love and how can I help people? And I realized God blessed me to be in the presence of greatness and pick the brains of people and players so I ended up developing You Ball Training to pass it on because if I wasn’t able to pass this information on, it would be all for a waste.”

“So I felt like it was my duty on this earth to pass on all this information that I was able to be around and all the exchanges I was able to have at an early age. I also had a chance to reflect on how important those things were as a kid and how it impacted my life so I want kids to be able to have that same experience and have that impact.  I run into people that are in there thirties that say, man I remember Byron Scott basketball camp. I want to be able to be an old man and when I see young adults that are doing well for themselves and they say thank you for the lessons you taught me at You Ball Training basketball camps.  That is pretty much the reason why I got into doing this.”

Byron is the catalyst of his family and has always kept his kids grounded in faith.   “I think its (faith) very important, I think first of all it makes your family a whole. I think when your family prays together they stay together,” said Byron.

“We had three young kids at the time (Thomas, LonDen & DaRon), Anita and I, and every Sunday we would try to go to church. Now we didn’t make it every Sunday but we wanted to get them involved in the church and just let them know and introduce them to our heavenly father just to let them know how we felt.  And my father, Thomas’ grandfather was instrumental in doing that as well. So I think from a spiritual standpoint, you know in our family it was always God first, then family, then we thought about the individual things we want to do or we want to achieve and I think we raised our kids to believe in that to this very day.  So they understand how important it is to have God in their lives.”

When asked to describe their father and son relationship, Thomas said he can always call on his dad for advice and different things.  “I feel like I am there for him in a lot of ways, different ways that nobody else can be there for him,” said Thomas.  “We are always trying to support each other. We are around each other so much at work, we try to give each other our distance but at the same time we have a really good relationship. I am constantly learning from him.  And we’ve got the same kind of personality in terms of temper and keeping things light but also working really hard.  And that kind of credits our relationship I think.”

Like father, like son.  No better saying can be said for two individuals that love what they do, love the people they get to do it with and love where they get to do it. 

The city of Los Angeles is home to Byron Scott and Thomas Scott and will always be home, no matter where they go. 

Hundreds of Compton political, community and business leaders piled into the newly opened Dollarhide Senior Center last Friday night to hear Mayor Aja Brown deliver the first State of The City Message in over 20 years. Despite some early technical difficulties with the room lighting and a few video challenges Mayor Brown left no doubts that the city of Compton is on the rise, that as the city’s top leader the voters made the right choice 2 years ago when they elected her to move the city in a new direction, fix the city’s many problems and restore hope, dignity and confidence in the beloved “HUB City”.

When Brown took office as Compton’s youngest elected mayor she inherited a city with a 42 million dollar deficit. The city had laid off almost 50% of its employees, 90% of the city’s streets hadn’t been properly serviced or maintained in over 30 years and the city had lost its credit rating. Two years later that picture and the city overall looks very different.

Mayor Brown was elected with the belief that it takes “Strong People to build a Strong City”. She has emphasized rebuilding the city takes vision, leadership and collaboration and with these 3 tenets she has managed to guide the city into not only a one but one that is thriving. The mayor announced that Compton completed its fiscal audits which were 3 years in the rears.

With the help of her colleagues on the city council and City Attorney Craig Cornwell ,Brown has managed to reduce its outstanding debt to HUD by 4.3 million dollars. The city has also paid its 8 million dollar debt to the state of California and is on favorable terms. Compton, for the past 2 years has operated with a balanced budget with no deficit and ended the year with a surplus.

In addition the city has hired 34 new fire fighters to return quality safety services to the citizens, has hired several new employees and has returned most city workers back to a full time schedule. Many believed that it would take the city of Compton over 10 years to return to one that is credit worthy. But the Mayor announced that  in only 2 years the city has begun the process of meeting with Standard and Poors to return its credit worthiness status 8 years before most believed it was possible.

Brown is not a one trick pony. Yes she has managed to guide the city into financial stability, but she is also the kind of leader who gets down in the trenches. Gang violence has plagued the city and the city’s image for years. That is why she brought over 75 gang leaders to the Dollarhide Center to address these issues and has worked to establish a cease fire and has gotten programs like President Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper” and other community based initiatives  to help restore faith to the youth.

The Mayor has often been criticized for spending too much time flying back to Washington DC and traveling abroad. Her critics say that “she needs to stay here in the city working on our issues”. To those critics the mayor says “Compton’s reputation directly impacts relationships, relationships have a direct influence on access and access directly impacts our resources”.

This mindset has proven to bear great fruit. As the mayor she has been able to bring millions of dollars in funding to the city, for schools, street and infrastructure improvements, social programs and more. She has worked diligently with State Attorney Kamala Harris to address the school to prison pipeline and Compton has just opened its first Freedom School.

“We started our program at the kindergarten level, where everyone was excited. But as the children got older, we saw less hope. Now with this new initiative launched by the city of Compton we are seeing a sense of hope restored” said Sarah Adolphson of the William Morris Foundation.

The mayor has also worked diligently to improve the quality of life for seniors in the Compton Community. In addition to the new Dollarhide Center, Compton has built a new senior housing facility and Meta Housing is scheduled to break ground on a 9 million dollar second phase in September of this year. On the economic development front the mayor says Compton is booming.

The Compton Gateway Center has broken ground on its second phase. A phase which was stalled by the recession but is now moving forward. The Compton Brickyard Industrial Complex is underway and the mayor has made sure that the project has a 35% local hiring goal, priority bidding for local contractors and has worked with developer Trammell Crowe to fund job training as well.

Furthermore, the mayor announced that although Ralph’s Grocery Store in the Compton Towne Center has closed its doors, Smart and Final Extra is filling that space as part of a multi-million dollar renovation of The Compton Towne Center. Chase Bank is opening a new Branch on Compton Boulevard, Yogurtland will also be opening a new store in Compton and Brown recently announced a partnership with Press Juicery to offer more healthy living choices for the residents of the city.

In Brown’s first two years as the leader of Compton she has learned that  you “Gotta Be Tough to Lead Compton”. But she believes that under her leadership people are being “built and dignity is being restored.” As the mayor put it “Team Work Makes The Dream Work!” 

In a history-making move, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously reelected Councilmember Herb Wesson to a third term as council president on July 1. 

“I am humbled by the faith my colleagues have put in me to quarterback the City Council in our shared goal of enacting bold public policy,” said Wesson. “This is a “can-do” council and together we can do and will do big things.”

As the first African-American council president in city history, Wesson added to his own legacy by appointing Council­member Nury Martinez as assistant president pro tempore, the first Latina to ever hold the position.

“We have too few women serving in local elected office and it is my intention to elevate female leaders like Councilmember Martinez into leadership roles,” said Wesson, who also reappointed Council­member Mitchell Englander as President Pro Tempore. Englander and Martinez will share parliamentary duties and responsibilities in Wesson’s absence.

According to City Hall observers, Wesson has performed effectively as council president where he presides over L.A. City Council meetings, sets committee assignments and serves as the city’s chief executive in the Mayor’s absence.

Wesson plans to continue his record of effectiveness by implementing a bold agenda over the next year.

In his acceptance speech, he said that in addition to addressing everyday issues affecting Angelenos, he will prioritize a citywide plan to create jobs and recruit and retain businesses, identify new permanent revenue streams for financing city services including pothole filling, sidewalk repair and tree trimming, and devote more resources to finding workable solutions for addressing homelessness.

Also, Wesson will place an emphasis on combating the statewide drought ensuring local residents conserve and recycle water wherever possible and receive the city’s fair share of water resources.

Speaking specifically about South Los Angeles, Wesson’s spokesperson, Vanessa Rodriguez, said, “Over the next several years, the Council President will be about job creation and business recruitment.  Anytime the Council President puts an emphasis on creating more jobs, it will have an impact on traditionally underserved communities like South Los Angeles. When we have more jobs and businesses coming here, there is more opportunity for local residents to get those jobs.

“In one his first actions, he created a committee to that will deal specifically in putting together a comprehensive jobs plan and he’s appointed Councilmember Paul Krekorian to oversee this committee and the Council President will serve as vice-chair. 

“It’s a signal that he is serious about creating jobs in this city.  One of the first tasks of the committee is to review the resources we have available and determine if we are using those resources to the highest effectiveness,” she said.

Also, Rodriguez invited the public to share their insights with Wesson.  “He wants to hear from his constituents and as Council President, the entire city, so we welcome conversations from the community about what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong. He wants to hear from the public about what we can do to make the city more livable.”

Mark Ridley-Thomas Elected Chairman of MTA Board 

Supervisor Ridley-Thomas takes the wheel of Metro’s Multi-Billion Dollar Transportation System

Danny J. Bakewell, Jr. 

Executive Editor 

While several elected officials were being sworn in July 1, one of the most notable and most powerful leadership roles changed hands with very little fanfare, no grand ceremony but the change was historic just the same.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas the first African American Male to ever Chair the powerful County Board of Supervisors is now the chairman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.  Ridley Thomas in an interview in Metro’s internal magazine stated, “I have a triple bottom line, put people to work, green the environment and get people where they need to go efficiently”.

The MTA is working on projects all over Los Angeles County, the expanding Gold Line in Pasadena, The Culver City Line which will ultimately bring passengers all the way to the beach is in full swing.  But, no rail line is as critical as the Crenshaw Line to the African American Community. The Crenshaw Line economically represents over 3billion dollars being spent right here in the heart of the African American Community.  Supervisor Ridley-Thomas understands this and has worked diligently to insure that African Americans and all members of the South Los Angeles Community participate in this economic investment.

“We have passed legislation to insure that local citizens are the first ones given the opportunity to work and contract on the line.  This is not lip service this is law” stated the supervisor.  Ridley-Thomas who resides in the heart of community is no stranger to the challenges that construction on the line have presented to the community and he has worked diligently with Walsh-Shea (the contractor on the project) to insure that residents, businesses and visitors to the Crenshaw Community remain involved and informed about what’s going on and what is happening along the Crenshaw Line.

Ridley-Thomas is quick to credit his political predecessors like the Late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and the Late Congressman Julian Dixon with having the vison, the tenacity and the determination over 30 years ago to see Los Angeles as a major public transportation city back during a time when no one else believed it could be done.  These two men on both a local and federal level were the driving force behind securing funding to create the transportation system we are seeing today stated Ridley-Thomas.

Metros budget is now $5.5 Billion almost doubling what it was just five years ago.  Ridley-Thomas says “it means investment will change the landscape of Los Angeles County.”