The competition between 22 fourth graders was Jan. 29 at Old River Elementary School.
The competition between 22 fifth grade spellers was Jan. 30 at Gauldin Elementary School.
Richard received the first place trophy, and his principal, Pamela Box, proudly accepted the perpetual trophy for the school. Second place was awarded to Mallory Hill of Old River. Third place was awarded to Biagio Genualdi of Rio Hondo Elementary School. Honorable Mention trophies were awarded to Rudy Enriquez of Carpenter Elementary School and Daniel Kosakowski of Rio Hondo Elementary School. The three words that eliminated the most students were "threadbare," "tyrant," and "attorney."
Superintendent of Schools Edward Sussman and Deputy Superintendent Donna Boose praised all the competitors as champions and winners. Credit was also given to school staffs and parents who gave their support. All school representatives were given a Spelling Bee Certificate and a participant's trophy. Alternate representatives were awarded a Spelling Bee Certificate and a Spelling Bee Pin.
The student panel which was a feature of the first Forum was not part of the second, due to exams. This partially accounted for the smaller attendance.
After introductory welcomes from the League's Hazel Scotto and Mayor Meredith Perkins, the meeting was turned over to moderator Francine De France, instructional dean of liberal arts at Cerritos College.
City Manager Gerald Caton led off the speakers, describing the City Manager form of municipal government employed by Downey, and adding that a city manager is only as good as his department heads. Caton expressed gratitude for the group of department heads he has been "blessed" with.
He pointed out that the Police and Fire Chiefs are relatively young men, with long and productive futures ahead of them. He said this bodes well for the City's future in terms of public safety. And Caton lauded department heads including Desi Alvarez of Public Works whose efforts are often overlooked.
Then City Clerk Kathleen Midstokke, City Attorney Charles Vose and Public Works Director Desi Alvarez gave brief presentations of what each of their departments does.
This was followed by a question and answer period. Most of the questions were directed at Alvarez, concerning items such as traffic on Firestone Boulevard and how to ease it in peak hours. Alvarez said a traffic light coordination center is planned for City Hall which will control traffic grids to eventually ease traffic.
Current traffic work on lights along Firestone and Lakewood Boulevards are a first step.
Mayor Perkins and the four City Councilmen, Richard Trejo, Keith McCarthy, Bob Winningham and Kirk Cartozian then spoke after intermission.
Perkins pointed out that a community government is only as strong as the people it represents. And he said Downey's was very strong, indeed.
McCarthy, representing District 1 (southeast Downey) stressed the importance of committees, many of which councilmembers sit on, such as SCAG (Southern California Association of Governments), which does long-range planning for the area in such terms as traffic.
A question and answer session closed the meeting.
Shelton, a real estate broker and owner of Shelton Real Estate & Investment, has resided in Downey for 22 years and has been a Downey business operator for 21 of those years. He is a member of Downey Optimist, Downey Police and Fire Association, and the Downey Chamber of Commerce.
Daily, Shelton's Plaza Guadalajara business partner, is a general contractor and owns JHD Construction Company. He has been conducting business in Downey for 10 years.
Shelton, who is also an accountant, consulted in food operations previously. Daily's food expertise came from working at Universal City Walk at one time. Both liked to eat at Plaza Guadalajara ever since it first opened in 1962, on Firestone Boulevard, directly across from where The Home Depot now stands.
After the sale was finalized in mid-2000, another round of negotiations was started with Krikorian Theaters to open a restaurant. Convincing Krikorian of Plaza Guadalajara's reputation for the quality of its "famous burritos" was not particularly difficult as Krikorian, Shelton says, knew of the restaurant's "tradition." No doubt he'd heard, too, of the place being a favorite hangout of Downey kids since way back. The two partners even suggested that the restaurant is indeed "part of Downey's history," when all agreed: "If you went to high school here 30-40 years ago, it was the place to hang out."
Former Downey residents now living in, say, Colorado and elsewhere instinctively seek Plaza Guadalajara when they pay the occasional visit to Downey and, discovering the restaurant has moved to its new place, are gratified to find they can still enjoy the old, favorite menu.
"Business is getting better every day since we're getting old customers back. We're winning over new customers also," assessed Shelton. "We bought the rights and recipes, so customers enjoy the same burrito taste and flavor as before. They look for 'it.'"
Prices are very competitive, Shelton says, with a top burrito price of $5.49. There are also tacos, enchilada combinations (enchilada, tamale, chili relleno) and special platters with the basic rice, beans and tortillas (chili Colorado and chili verde plates, steak picado, shrimp ranchos). Side orders and appetizers include guacamole, albondigas, nacho plate, chips and cheese, etc. and salads. They hired new staff, trained them and even the partners themselves have gotten in some additional food training. They, as well they should, emphasize good customer service ("We're looking forward to satisfying our old, as well as new, customers"). They cater to nearby churches and offices and schools. "The response has been very good," says Shelton. "They realize they get much food for the price."
Shelton says they built everything themselves "from scratch" when they were constructing the restaurant (tiles, tables, counters, glass installation, everything except the chairs). The chairs they bought turned out to be comfortable, and they blend in with the decor and ambience of the place. The facility itself is "open, airy, inviting, and has a modern look," with a capacity of 35 inside, and 35 outside, in the patio. "We haven't finished making improvements yet," Shelton says. "We're going to put a TV up in the the patio, for instance, and we're going to install a stereo system, and such. We'll innovate as we go along, and put in what we think will work best for our customers."
The partners' view of the onrushing future is grandiose and upbeat. It includes setting up additional outlets in outlying areas. "We're very confident and optimistic our concept will work," the partners concur. "It's a good challenge. It's fun. We meet a lot of people."
Their hours of operation are: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fridays, 11-10; Saturdays, 8-10; Sundays, 8-9. Shelton's wife, Candie, works in the restaurant, too, as does son Marc. Service is quick and efficient.
Their move downtown may be seen also as part of the downtown Downey revitalization program. And they can't thank enough former mayor Bob Winningham and present incumbent Meredith Perkins for the their encouragement and support. The following people, say the partners, were also very cooperative and supportive: community and development director Darrell George, city planning's Ron Yoshiki, public works' Linda Haines, and especially the city inspector.
And these investments in the future may just pay off even sooner than anticipated as the economy has shown signs of rebounding from a debilitating recession.
The partners know, too, that luck plays a big part in business, on top of good business planning, plus good timing. If better times are, indeed, ahead, everybody wins: the two overachieving partners and the city of Downey.
If the new proposal is passed by the UC Academic Senate and the Regents this would be a major step forward for California students. A new comprehensive test of math and English would cut down on the time that many California students would have to spend taking college admissions exams. Because UC applicants would no longer have to take two separate SAT tests in math and English, two days of testing would be cut down to one. This would also obviously reduce the cost of taking tests for many California students.
However, with all the good news, there are some major improvements to the UC proposal that must be made. First, the public needs to be reassured that no other changes will be made until the new tests are developed. UC President Richard Atkinson has been floating the idea of temporarily moving to a "Five SAT II plan". This plan would mean that the current UC requirement of three SAT II tests would be expanded to five SAT II tests. President Atkinson's plan has been to make a switch to a Five SAT II requirement for the UC system, and then make a second change when a "better" test was available. The Five SAT II plan would be disastrous for many California students who might get stuck taking the "Infinite SAT". Some students might be forced to take two days of SAT II for the UC system, the SAT I for the majority of other universities, and the ACT for schools like Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
In addition, when any major change in admissions requirement is made, there is an enormous amount of confusion to students, parents, and high school guidance counselors. It is clearly better to make just one quick strike of a change when the new College Board and ACT tests are ready. In the meantime, the UC system needs to leave the current requirement of the SAT I and three SAT II tests alone.
However, my greatest concern with the new UC proposal is the idea that the new test would be only a "California" test. When I made my proposal to the College Board, I strongly stated that a new single day test of math and English should be a nationwide test. Again, the UC proposal states that any new test would be designed specifically for California and would be separate from the current SAT I or ACT. In order to to make a comparison, apparently there would be some sort of conversion chart to compare the new test to the SAT I and ACT.
Why is the new test designated only for California, and not the whole nation? I believe there are two reasons. First of all, as much as I admire the College Board, the College Board has been very slow to give up the SAT I. Although, privately, some College Board members have expressed a willingness to create a new nationwide test, publicly, College Board spokesmen keep reiterating that the rest of the country is satisfied with the SAT I and seem reluctant to make a change. Obviously, there would be resistance from universities to any change, but I strongly feel that if the College Board announced to the country that it was creating a new, better SAT, the majority of universities would support this action.
The UC system has to do its part as well, though. Right now, the UC system is insisting that the new test conform exactly to California standards. Clearly standards differ from state to state and in order for this new test to become a nationwide test, the UC system may need to bend a little. Why would the UC system want to willingly segregate itself from all of the other universities in the country?
All in all, the UC system is off to a sound start in asking the College Board and the ACT to create a single day test of math and English. This is a good idea. Now we just need to turn it into a great one.
(The author of this paper, David Benjamin, is the owner of Ahead of the Class, a private education and test preparation company in Irvine. He is also the co-founder of Students First in California, a group that promotes educational excellence.)
Applications are now available for the scholarship program, which was inaugurated last year with $30,000 in scholarships awarded to seniors from Cerritos High School, Santa Fe High School and Long Beach Polytechnic High School. Applications can be obtained from the Customer Service Center at Lakewood, Los Cerritos and Stonewood Centers or from career counselors at the eligible high schools. The completed application must be submitted with supporting documentation no later than April 12, 2002.
Each shopping center will award a $10,000 scholarship to a deserving student based on academic achievement and community responsibility criteria. Applicants must be seniors in good standing from eligible area high schools.
Eligible schools for the Stonewood area include Bellflower, Calvary Chapel, Columbus, Downey, Santa Fe, Somerset, St. John Bosco, St. Matthias, Paramount, Pioneer, St. Dominic Savio Catholic, Pius X Catholic and Warren high schools.
Eligible schools for the Los Cerritos Center include Cerritos, Gahr, Tracy, Norwalk, Valley Christian and Whitney.
Lakewood Center eligible schools include Artesia, Jordan, Lakewood, Mayfair, Michelson, Millikan, Poly, St. Joseph Catholic, St. Maria Goretti and Wilson high schools.
Applicants must also be accepted as an incoming freshman for fall 2002 at an Independent Colleges of Southern California (ICSC) member school in a regular four-year program under usual academic standards. Scholarship winners will be awarded $2,500 per year for four years to use for regular undergraduate college expenses, including tuition, fees and college-administered housing.
ICSC member schools in the program are Cal Lutheran University, Chapman University, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Loyola Marymount University, Mount St. Mary's College, Westmont College, University of La Verne, University of Redlands, University of San Diego and Whittier College.