Mountain Views News          Saturday, July 26, 2014

SECTION B

SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2014

AROUND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY


“What’s Going On?” 

News and Views from Joan Schmidt

FOOTHILL EXTENSION UPDATE

JOSEFINA LOPEZ, A WOMAN 
WITH MANY HATS: AUTHOR, 
PRODUCER, ACTIVIST, CHAMPION 
OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS


I love my 
job! I have 
met another 
awesome 
woman who has blown me away. Josefina Lopez 
is one remarkable woman who has accomplished 
so much although she’s only 45 years old! Recently 
Josefina participated in the Idyllwild Author 
Series, with Eduardo Santiago. (Photo of Eduardo 
and Josefina courtesy of Jenny Kirchner) Josefina 
was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico to Catalina 
and Rosendo Lopez. When she was five, her 
family relocated to the US-Boyle Heights (East 
LA). Josefina graduated from the first class of the 
LA High School for the Arts in 1987, the year she 
received Amnesty and became a US Citizen in 
1995 

 For over twenty years, Josefina has been an 
activist and has been doing pubic speaking. Her 
topics include Chicano Theater, Women’s History 
Issues and Minority Representation in Cinema at 
over 200 universities including Yale, Dartmouth, 
and USC.

 Her writing skills are unmatched. First there 
are her plays. One of her best-known plays Real 
Women Have Curves (1992) led to the film of 
the same title co-written with George LaVoo as 
a feature for HBO. This film starring America 
Ferrera, Lupe Ontiveros and George Lopez opened 
doors for these actors.

 Real Women Have Curves is a coming-of-age 
story about Ana, a first generation Chicana torn 
between pursuing her personal goal of attending 
college and her family’s expectation of her finding 
employment. Along the way, Ana finds cultural 
assumptions about beauty, marriage and a woman’s 
sole in society. Another play she penned, Detained 
in the Desert, written in protest of SB1070 won 
many awards and turned it into a film. Other plays 
include Unconquered Spirits (1995), No Place Like 
Home (1999), Queen of the Rumba (2000), The 
Cleaning Lady (2009), Baby Boom (2005), When 
Nature Calls (2007), Boyle Heights (2008), Lola 
Goes To Roma (2011), Hungry Woman (2012) 
Fifty One Fifty (2012), Trio Los Machos(2012) 
and A Cat Named Mercy (2013). Several became 
screen plays.

 Josefina’s latest book is a novel, Hungry Woman 
in Paris, inspired by her own life...”Since I was a 
little girl, I wanted to live in Paris. I think every 
writer and artist has that fantasy. So when I met 
my husband who is French-American, and he 
asked me if I’d ever consider living in France, I 
told him, ‘Yeah’.”S ince Josefina and her husband 
were against war, and President Bush was re-
elected, it was time to start a “new life in France”. 
Josefina also went to Paris to “take time off from 
my unrewarding writing career in Hollywood and 
have my second baby.” While living in France, 
she studied French and read a very funny book, A 
Year in La Merde. (A year in Sh*t), penned by an 
Englishman after observing the French! Josefina 
wanted to write about her observations. After her 
second child Sebastian was born, she enrolled in 
Le Cordon Bleu Cooking School so she could write 
about her experiences as an immigrant in France 
with a Latina as the protagonist...”I wanted to 
present a delicious female fantasy that would excite 
Latinas and create a forum for discussion about 
female sexuality.” This is how Hungry Woman in 
Paris came about.

 Josefina has received many awards and 
accolades, including recognition from US Senator 
Barbara Boxer’s 7th 1998, and The Gabriel Garcia 
Marquez Award from LA Mayor James Hahn in 
2003. Recently, 2013, she received a grant from The 
California Endowment in Josefina and husband, 
Emmanuel Deleage, the Executive Director of 
CASA 0101 Theater live in Silver Lake, CA with 
their two sons, Etienne and Sebastian. To learn 
more about Josefina Lopez, please visit www.
josefinalopez.co and www.hungrywomaninparis.
com .

 
Yesterday, Metro approved the agency’s Short 
Range Transportation Plan (SRTP). The plan 
was approved without an updated future project 
list indicating which transit projects would be 
advanced should additional revenues become 
available during the next 10 years. Attending 
in support of the Foothill Gold Line were 
representatives from Congresswomen Grace 
Napolitano and Judy Chu and State Senator 
Carol Liu, along with Construction Authority 
Chairman, Glendora Councilman Doug Tessitor. 
Each urged inclusion of the Foothill Gold Line to 
Claremont in the Final SRTP as part of that future 
project list and map. Their efforts are appreciated 
and clearly had an impact on the proceedings. 
Particularly yesterday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric 
Garcetti ran his first Metro board meeting as 
Chairman. He began the meeting reiterating the 
importance of collaboration, working regionally 
and delivering successful projects. As part of his 
remarks (which are summarized below in a post 
on Metro’s blog, The Source), Mayor Garcetti 
highlighted the need to complete projects in 
the most heavily traveled corridors, specifically 
identifying the need to build the Foothill Gold 
Line to Claremont.

Separately, I want to share that over this past 
week, our contractor (FTC) has completed work 
on the Magnolia Ave grade crossing in Monrovia 
and Foothill Boulevard bridges in Azusa. With 
these project elements behind us, only one bridge 
structure and two at grade crossings remain to 
be completed on the project. These are the last 
significantly impactful activities for communities 
along the 11.5-mile corridor; all are on schedule to 
be completed in the next two months. Remaining 
major activities include completing installation 
of the light rail track, the OCS and safety systems 
equipment (and testing), station elements, and 
parking. Below are photos taken this week of 
work underway. Left, tiles are installed on the 
Duarte/City of Hope station canopies; and right, 
track is installed near the recently completed 
Magnolia Ave crossing in Monrovia.

L.A. MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI OUTLINES HIS 
GOALS AS METRO BOARD CHAIR

Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board Chair Eric 
Garcetti delivering his remarks on Thursday 
morning. Photo by Steve Hymon/Metro.

 As noted earlier, Los Angeles Mayor Eric 
Garcetti is the Chair of the Metro Board of 
Directors for the next year. At the start of today’s 
Board meeting, Garcetti briefly outlined his goals 
as Board Chair. Here are some highlights from 
his comments.

 •”When you’re talking about transportation, 
the top priority has to be reducing traffic. 
Traffic, especially in Los Angeles, defines our 
lives. It keeps us from being with our loved ones 
and enjoying life’s daily moments. But it’s equally 
important that we provide good service for our 
customers and build for the future.

 “The only way we can do that well is by 
working together as a region. We all know that 
traffic doesn’t care about borders. And none of 
us can serve our constituents well if we only care 
about what happens inside our city limits.”

 •”How we do that? Innovation and technology. 
That’s not only the obvious things — like having 
cell service in our stations or creating an app 
where riders can load their tap cards on their 
phones so they don’t have to wait in line at the 
ticket machine.”

 •”We must always be looking at where there 
is new demand and build projects in our most 
heavily traveled corridors. We must complete 
projects like the Exposition line all the way to 
Santa Monica. We must plan to build the Gold 
Line extension to Claremont. We must improve 
service between the San Fernando Valley and the 
Westside. We must make sure the Blue Line is 
fixed, and our highest [ridership] rail line runs 
like it once did. And we must find a way to open 
the train to the planes by the time the Crenshaw 
Line starts running.”

 •”I’m committed to keeping the momentum 
going on our construction projects — and 
making sure they’re done on time and on budget. 
We cannot repeat the cost overruns and sinkholes 
of the 1990s.

 “When I became Mayor, I was told the new 
lane on the 405 project wouldn’t be open until the 
fall. So I called an old friend, Nick Patsaouras, 
and asked him to volunteer his time and talents 
to get it done sooner. He came through big for 
us. As Chair, I am calling on him to now lend his 
expertise and provide construction oversight of 
the Crenshaw Line.”

 •”Over the last year, we were successful in 
securing over three billion dollars from the 
federal government. I’m confident that success 
will continue if we work together across the 
region to get our fair share from Washington and 
Sacramento. But we also need to think creatively 
about public-private partnerships and innovative 
financing. People are impatient, people can’t 
wait.”


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The World Around Us

Business News & Trends * Opinion * Legal Notices


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