Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper 

 

It is hard to argue with the 2015 MVP Award selection of Golden State’s Stephen Curry. An incredible regular season backed by a stellar postseason performance has officially landed Curry into the household name category. At press time, his Warriors team is only one game away from their first Finals appearance since the 1974-75 season, and it’s no secret why. Equipped with a lethal jump shot, elite vision, crafty ball-handling skills and a magnetic personality, Curry’s regular season award is fitting and well deserved.

 

Golden State finished with the Association’s top record with 67 wins, a franchise best, and made believers along the way. The Warriors appear destined to meet up with the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team who just finished last season with the No. 1 overall selection in the NBA Draft and now sits just two games away from the Finals. What’s changed so much for the Cavs? Perhaps a focused and mature LeBron James? Curry is this year’s MVP but was his play as vital to his team as James? Perry Green and Stephen D. Riley of the AFRO Sports Desk debate the question.

 

Green: There isn’t a more skilled player in basketball than Curry. Sure, the MVP award is based upon a player’s importance, but Curry aced every single field you can have when it comes to an MVP race. He was the best player on the league’s best team and he put on nightly routines throughout the year that were as entertaining as a sitcom. James’ acquisition no doubt helped boost Cleveland to the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season, and they’re set to finish the postseason as the conference’s best team. A Finals matchup would virtually decide the real MVP and I’m all in favor of Curry showing us he fully deserves his title.

 

Riley: When you take a team that finished with last summer’s top overall selection then subsequently traded away that selection and still finished as one of the top teams in the conference, how can you not be impressed by that? James could realistically have been the MVP for the last 10-plus seasons that he’s been in the Association, but we continue to downplay his greatness. You’d be hard-pressed to research history and find a team who finished with the top pick in the draft and moved the player they selected and still had a remarkable turnaround. James has impacted the Cavs from top to bottom, from the worst player on the team to the best player. Players who couldn’t win with other superstars are now vital pieces; and coaches who never coached in the league are now big-time coaches. Golden State is only one season removed from winning 51 games, but it hasn’t been the turnaround that the Warriors experienced. If we were recounting you have to give it to James.

 

Green: James wasn’t alone in his return to Cleveland. Yes, his play was vital, but let’s not act like the roster is bare without talent. Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and a host of others have proven so far that they belong in this league, and sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to revitalize a player’s career. I’m not yet willing to grant the improved play by guys like J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert to the “almighty” influence of LeBron James. I think those guys are playing better on their own, and now James is benefiting from it. Let’s remember, the Cavs were a .500 team before the team traded for Smith, Shumpert and effective big man, Timofey Mozgov. Those three players made this team complete, so let’s not give a LeBron all the credit. On the other hand, Curry’s been flat out fantastic this season. And, the fact remains that he’s been the most influential player on the Association’s top team and that’s the key ingredient to becoming the MVP. He also won the three-point shooting contest and dazzled in the All-Star game. It’s been a record year for both Curry and the Warriors and while James has been his usual rock solid self, he hasn’t captured basketball enthusiasts’ hearts the way Curry has this year.

Riley: When I’m searching for a MVP I’m just looking for the facts. And the main fact is Cleveland was a bottom-of-the-barrel team just a season ago, and now they’re set to finish as one of the top two teams in the NBA. Curry’s offense sells tickets and puts fans into seats but no matter what he does in his NBA tenure, he’ll never be the transcendent player that is James. The Warriors and Cavs appear headed on a collision course right into each other, and I would even give the nod to Golden State since they’re the healthier team at the moment. However, no one expected this Cleveland team to be this deep into the postseason, especially after last year’s finish. What James’ presence has done to elevate that coaching staff and his teammates is something that not all players can do. Sure, Curry can go out and lead by performance, but he just doesn’t have James’ intangibles. The Most Valuable Player Award could really go to James every year, we know that, but for what he’s done this season with that team it should’ve been a no-brainer to select him this season. He’s been a beast on the court, but has also been the MVP for the franchise as well. It was his presence that made Cleveland a more attractive place to guys like Love, Smith and Shumpert. And it’s been his influence on Irving that has turned the young point guard into a prime time player. It’s too late to hand James the award, but it’s clear who the trophy really belongs to.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s new regime represents a revolution at City Hall with vast innovations of technology in how to govern in the new millennium and a staff that is young, energetic and majority female.

 

The days of a white male dominated City Hall has given way to one that is diverse in its ethnic make-up and reflective of the second largest city in America’s massive population.

 

“I first asked Kelli Bernard to join my team back in 2007 so I could harness her passion for creating livable and vibrant communities to benefit th e constituents of Council District 13,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.  “Now, as Deputy Mayor of Economic Development, she is a champion for LA — helping businesses grow, keeping development moving, and ensuring more Angelenos are prepared for and working in good-paying jobs as part of my back to basics agenda,” said Garcetti.

 

Among the Mayor’s key appointees is the young and vibrant Kelli Bernard, the Deputy Mayor of Economic Development responsible for overseeing vital job creation and improving the local economy.

 

“I first joined Mayor Garcetti when he was council president in 2007. I had tenure in City Hall in years prior to that, working in the private sector and doing consulting and the opportunity to come to City Hall and work for him presented itself and so I did so as his director of planning and land use. I did that for three years, and I left with his blessing to go work for Department of Water and Power as their director of economic development,” Bernard explained.

 

When Garcetti was elected mayor in 2013, he asked Bernard to return. Initially, it was a temporary assignment to help get the office set up while the mayor did a national search for deputy mayor of economic development. During his search, there were many people who said, “You have the person right there in your office.”

 

“He selected me because he felt that I was the best fit for what he wanted to accomplish,” she said.

 

Bernard, a mother of a nine-year old daughter, was born in Chicago and raised in Torrance, California where she attended and graduated from nearby Narbonne High School in Harbor City.

 

While in high school, she ran track and also served as the student body vice president. The latter a small precursor of what was to follow.

 

She went to California Berkley, a prestigious public Northern California university where she earned her BA in Sociology. Later she would earn her Masters Degree from UCLA in Urban Planning.

 

Throughout subsequent years, she has earned a stellar reputation in business development as vice president of Lee Andrews Group, Inc. and then as a senior business development representative in the office of former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

 

Bernard continued her elevation at the nation’s largest municipally owned utility company, Los Angeles Department of Water & Power.

 

As Director of Economic Development, she led the department’s clean technology initiative and leveraged their resources to attract, retain and expand businesses in the City of Los Angeles.

 

“My portfolio is everything from small business assistance to international trade to homelessness. And so, it’s really about growing our economy, business development and ensuring jobs for all Angelenos. As part of our economic work, I am the liaison for eight city departments including the Housing and Community Investment Department, the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles, our Economic and Workforce Development Department, Los Angeles World Airports, the Port of Los Angeles, our Department of Building and Safety, the Convention and Tourist Development Department and our City Planning Department. 

 

Among the eight departments and managers under Bernard’s portfolio are:

 

Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) —Gina Marie Lindsey

 

Port of LA-Harbor Department (POLA) — Gene Seroka

 

Housing and Community Investment Department (HCID) — Rushmore Cervantes

 

Economic and Workforce Development Department (EWDD) — Jan Perry

 

Department of City Planning (DCP) — Michael LoGrande

 

Department of Building & Safety (DBS) — Raymond Chan

 

Housing Authorityif the City of Los Angeles (HACLA) — Doug Guthrie

 

Department of Convention and Tourism Development (CTD) — Bud Ovrom

 

There are a lot of people in the departments and each department works with a general manager. We work with those general managers to set the policy and the vision for each department and then we rely on them to implement the vision of the mayor and to make sure their departments are running well.

 

On my staff here in the mayor’s office, there are about 25 staff members working under economic development. I have an international trade team, I have a business team that focuses on our key growth industries, we have an education and workforce team and housing and planning policy.”

 

When Garcetti was Council member in District 13, he tapped Bernard to lead economic initiatives where she provided strategic counsel on citywide planning and land use issues.

 

Now she’s back in a more vital capacity.

 

“I was a bit hesitant to return at first because it can be a grind. But, getting to know him as Council president, I saw right away that he was a leader of integrity and he one of the smartest people that I had met and so I said if I was going to return to City Hall it would be to work for someone like him.

 

And that I am an African American and a woman are great. It shows Mayor Garcetti’s efforts to be inclusionary. It did not happen by accident,” Bernard eloquently stated.

 

When suggested that her new position could be a launching pad to even bigger things, she paused and added with a smile;

 

“I hope you’re right. I always tell people that we have the best temporary jobs. When you work for an elected official in Los Angeles, you know we are here to do a particular job during a particular moment and that we have to be impatient and urgent about what we do because our time is brief.

 

I work with an amazing team and we work very hard to ensure Los Angeles is the best place to live, work, study and visit but this is not the end. I am in the middle of my career. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what’s next but of course there will be a next.”

 

With additional past experience as vice president of Real Estate at Genesis L.A. in the non-profit sector, Bernard has positioned herself as one of the most dynamic transformational leaders in the region, but she’s not sure that she would be inclined to run for an elected position.

 

“No. I’ve been interested in politics and community service for a long time. But I’ve realized that being an elected official is something I don’t want to do. Working behind the scenes and getting the job done is where I think I can be of best use,” she said.

 

Asked which of her many policy initiatives impact her most, she responded, “The mayor challenged us to think differently about homelessness. Asking what we’re doing to end it, “Well,  I was initially apprehensive about taking on homelessness…  But the more I studied the issue and understood the difference we could make, the more resolved I became. It is an issue I wake up thinking about.”

 

I think people are surprised that homelessness has fallen under the economic development team. And, I think that speaks volumes to how we think about it holistically. It’s important for our local economy to thrive and for our ports and our airports to be working, and for our businesses to be growing… but if they are not working for [the vulnerable] population, then they’re not working.”

 

As it turns out the Mayor’s first choice was his best selection for Deputy Mayor, Economic Development, one in whom he can trust and is more than capable of improving the needs of the City of Los Angeles.

 

That Kelli Bernard is an African American female and mother is additional inspiration to women in the community and city at large.

 

By Danny Bakewell, Jr.  Executive Editor 

 

Councilman Curren Price is not an easy man to keep up with these days.  In preparing to do this interview we had to re-schedule the interview 3 times.  Not because he was not willing to sit down with the Sentinel for the interview, but because he had much more pressing issues he had to deal with before he was able to carve 30 minutes out of his tireless schedule to sit down and answer questions.

 

The truth is Councilman Price, who is 23 months into his first term, as the councilman of what he has termed “The New 9th District has been the leading advocate on the Los Angeles City Council to raise the minimum wage.  

 

However, while he believes that raising the minimum wage is the best thing for his constituents and for all of the working people in Los Angeles, he also understands those small businesses and the opponents of the proposal have a right to be heard and their input needs to be considered as well. 

 

Price is leading the charge for the poor and disenfranchised in his district, which is considered the have the most poverty.

 

“It is about improving the quality of life for all of Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, the poverty crisis that is facing all of Los Angeles and our nation as a whole disproportionately affects people of color and we have to find ways to address this issue.  This is about improving their quality of life,” Price explained.

 

The Councilman is fighting for a two-layered increase to the minimum wage.  He is fighting to have the city’s minimum wage increased to $13.25 by 2017 and raised to $15.25 by 2019.  Price believes this is the best way to improve the lives of many in his district.  Price says this raise will drastically change the lives of many in his community those who he says are commonly referred to as “the working poor”.  Price says when he first made the proposal several businesses complained.

 

That is why he asked the city’s legislative office to commission a study and seek comments and concerns from the business community, and local labor.  Price says, “We need to understand what impact these raises will have on business”.  Price has been running around the city participating in local hearings to get information in support of this wage increase.  He has held hearings throughout the city, one was held at WLCAC in Watts, a hearing was held at the Museum of Tolerance on the West Side, another in the Van Nuys and one in East Los Angeles.  Price believes that the only way to get this done is to get input from everyone and he has traveled the city talking to stake holders making sure that he has united support throughout Los Angeles.  Price has also been able to rally his fellow councilmembers to support this effort.  Price is quick to point out that he has not been in this fight alone, “I have had great support from my colleagues on the council, Council President Herb Wesson and I have a great relationship and we always try and make sure the community is best served in everything we do”.  On the minimum wage issue Price has also had great support from Councilmember Gil Cedillo, Nury Martinez and Joe Buscaino. “These members have helped me carry the ball and given remarkable support and insight into driving this initiative home”.

 

While Price is hard at work trying to raise the minimum wage, this is not his only battle.  He led a charge to try for a second time to secure Promise Zone funding for South Los Angeles.  Unfortunately, South Los Angeles was again left out of the funding Price remains undeterred.  “While I am disappointed that we did not receive funding, I remain committed to keeping together the coalition of organizations and the programs that this group has put together to make South Los Angeles a better and stronger community”.

 

The New 9th District also has launched a Clean and Green Initiative under Councilman Price.  “We are cleaning up alleys, we have planted more trees, we have removed 3000 tons of extra trash from our neighborhoods and Central Avenue has gone under a major revitalization.  We are working with the Mayors Office to bring more investment into the 9th District because our needs are so great.  “Price says you can’t just take the cities funding and divide it by 15 because certain parts of the city have a greater need than other parts.  I have gotten the Mayor Garcetti to agree to drive funding to our community, allocating more resources from DWP and other city services to improve our districts infrastructure.

 

The 9th District also suffers from one of the highest unemployment rates in the city with over 12% of his residents looking for work.  Price believes that to fix this problem “we need to ban the box”.  We need to remove the question from our application process that ask have you ever been convicted of a crime?  Not that the question can’t be asked during the interview, but it should not eliminate a person from at least receiving consideration.  The State has already removed this from their application Price feels the city could do the same.  Price is also a supporter of street vending services.  He believes that the city needs to regulate it, but that the city should also support it.  “ Food Trucks have been a huge success in some communities, street vendors could be the same.  We need to find ways to support start up entrepreneurism and street vending is one of the ways we can achieve this.”

 

Anyone who has driven and spent time in the New 9th District can easily see that the district is improving, but Price is quick to state, “We still have a long way to go”.  But he encourages everyone to come out and get involved, to come to the 20th Annual Central Jazz Festival, to come out to Taste of Soul, to visit some of the new business near the Dunbar Hotel Development or come to the new shopping center on Central Ave. and Slauson Ave.   What anyone who has visited the district over the past two years understands is that while the challenges may be many Price is Right for the task. 

 

 

Curren Price champions minimum wage hike at committee hearing 

LAWT News Service 

As the debate over raising the city’s minimum wage rolls on, Los Angeles city council member Curren Price, a constant raise the wage supporter, will hold a committee hearing on the issue on Wednesday May 13 in hopes of giving some of the city’s hardest working residents a much-needed raise.

 

“Los Angeles is one of the most expensive major cities to live in,” Price said. “Yet our resident’s wages continue to lag behind.”

 

Currently the minimum wage in California is $9.00 an hour. Recently, many neighboring cities, such as San Diego, Oakland, and San Francisco, have taken the initiative and raised the minimum wage on a municipal level.

 

In Los Angeles advocates, community members and politicians hope that the city will do the same.

 

The current minimum wage often causes families to struggle to make ends meet while forcing some parents to work multiple jobs at the expense of quality family time, Price said.

 

And the low wages that Angelenos live on, it seems, may have a price.

 

“We need to do better for our hardworking men and women, because the price of waiting is too expensive,” Price said.

 

Although low wages impact all community members, Price makes it clear that Blacks are especially affected.

 

“We know that communities of color are struggling with higher rates of poverty, and among minorities this disproportionately impacts African-American men and women, who often make lower wages than their peers,” said Price.

 

Raising the wage, Price insists, could have long-term community benefits as well.

 

“As a policy maker, representing one of the poorest regions in this City, I know the real life impact that stagnant wages have had on our underserved communities,” Price said.

 

Experts often point out that raising the minimum wage could provide an economic boost in the city as well.

 

“We continue to see a persistent problem with income inequality in our City, an issue that we also know severely impacts our region’s long-term economic development,” said Price.

 

“Raising wages in Los Angeles will not only help hardworking men and women survive, bringing wages up to meet rising costs for goods and inflation,  it will also give our local economy a much needed booster shot, with families spending their additional income right here locally.”  

 

And Blacks, it seems, agree.

 

During a February press briefing on the issue, Laphonza Butler, co-convener of the Raise the Wage campaign and president of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers noted that  about 87% of African American Angelinos support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

 

And although the majority of Blacks support raising the minimum wage, the employment issue doesn’t stop there.

 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for Blacks is 9.6 percent, compared to an overall unemployment rate of 5.6 percent.

 

“We need to do a better job of ensuring that we make good paying jobs available to the African American community, but we also have to make sure that the baseline wages are enough to survive on,” he said.

 

On Wednesday Price, the chairman of the Economic Development Committee, will hold a minimum wage hearing at City Hall.

 

“The goal is to lay out the new Citywide minimum wage policy, to ensure the largest number of Angelenos reap the benefits of these higher wages,” Price said.

 

The hearing is open to the public and will begin at 2pm and the L.A. Chamber of Commerce, community supporters and advocates are expected to attend.