Articles
About The Neighborhood News
- Details
- Category: About Us
- Published on Thursday, 23 May 2013 17:55
- Written by Dianne Lawrence
Established in August of 2008 by writer, artist Dianne V. Lawrence, The Neighborhood
News covers the events, people, history, politics and historic architecture of communities throughout the Mid-City and West Adams area in Los Angeles Council District 10.
13 - 15,000 copies of this black and white, 24 page magazine format, community resource are distributed in neighborhoods within the borders of Normandie on the east, Fairfax on the west, Olympic on the north and Jefferson on the south. This area lies between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City, just north and south of the Santa Monica Freeway (the 10 Freeway). The magazine is distributed door to door and in community locations for free.This area has a rich history (Click on "Our History" or Historic Architectureor visit http://www.westadamsheritage.org/) and contains one of the most diverse racial, income and cultural groups in Los Angeles.
Many of the large historic homes fell into disrepair as parents grew older or kids who had inherited the property could not afford to keep it up. Many of the old stately homes also became drug havens but in the 90's the houses were slowly sold off to upwardly mobile young families as seniors passed away. This fact along with the area's central location and 
proximity to the 10 freeway, allowing for convenient access to the beach, downtown and Hollywood, made the area an attractive destination for many middle income families looking for large houses at reasonable prices. This new population took restoration to heart and once marginal communities continue to be revitalized. The area The Neighborhood News services hosts four Neighborhood Councils, UNNC, P.I.C.O, MINC and Olympic Park, many block clubs and associations and West Adams Heritage Association (WAHA) which has been responsible for preserving the historic integrity of the architecture and the communities.The Staff:
L-R Associate Editor/Reporter -Renee Montgomery; Publisher,Executive Editor/Reporter Dianne V. Lawrence
L-R Back Row: Staff Reporters Deborah Charles, Chelsee Lowe, Dawn Kirkpatrick and Investigative Reporter Carla Pineda.
Dianne V. Lawrence, a resident of Council District 10 for over 30 years is publisher/editor/reporter of The Neighborhood News. She is also an artist click here and published writer. She was Associate Editor of Real Talk LA (a short lived magazine created by Jay Levin who started the LA Weekly), an editor-at-large and interviewer for the art journal Coagula, film reviewer for filmmonthly.com click here and has been published in the LA Weekly click here. In June of 2012 she became a blogger for the Huffington Post click here.
As an animal rights activist and advocate she was responsible for getting a law changed making it illegal to tie your dog up in a back yard as an ongoing lifestyle click here. As a community activist she recognized it was time to connect local communities and provide them with an opportunity to share information, concerns and good news about their neighborhoods. Her background in sales, art, writing and editing provided her with the skills to quickly pull the magazine together and keep it growing. Because this area is a drive through community without opportunities for residents to stroll the business corridors, she suspected that local businesses struggled to connect with the residents living around them and was proven correct when she began to immediately get local advertising. Her ability to connect residents and businesses to each other has kept the publication growing into its fifth year from 1,500 at the first printing to its current number of 13,000+. Along with ongoing article contributions from local residents, The Neighborhood News is supported by a volunteer staff that includes
Renee Montgomery, Associate Editor/Reporter:
In 1999 Renee moved from Rancho Park to Mid-City’s La Fayette Square and "will never go back to the Westside.” She is Assistant Director of Risk Management at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A native Californian, she grew up in San Gabriel Valley and was educated in SoCal. She photographs L.A.’s street culture, draws and helps rescue abandoned dogs in any way she can.
Carla Pineda, Staff Investigative Reporter:
Since 1990, Carla has lived in Jefferson Park with her Central American family. Although she enjoyed living in Pomona during college she returned to her community and now lives in the West Adams Avenues. She previously worked downtown as a staff writer for the Daily Commerce, a Los Angeles business affairs newspaper. In her free time she likes to explore the city's hidden gems, volunteer at local events, travel and learn new multimedia skills.
Deborah Charles, Staff reporter
Deborah Charles moved to mid-city in 1978 and would not trade it for any other area except perhaps Paris, France. Over the years Deborah has re-invented herself and career. After spending more than 10 years in corporate America, she has now immersed herself in all genre of the arts. As a volunteer staff writer for The Neighborhood News, she now gets the opportunity to further explore her ever changing community.
Dawn Kirkpatrick, Staff reporter
Dawn moved to Los Angeles in 2011 from Ann Arbor, MI where she worked as a reading coach and facilitator at a reading clinic after earning a master’s degree in education with a focus on arts education, museum education and technology in education from Harvard University. Since living in L.A., Dawn created and now manages an arts in education blog called SOSARTSED. Dawn enjoys reporting on crime, education, film, health and the history of Mid-City neighborhoods for The Neighborhood News (TNN). She also enjoys photographing and videoing events for TNN.
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