City Clerk Receives Pay and Benefits as Elected Official and City Employee

A public information request reveals that current City Clerk Andrea Hooper is considered both an Elected Official, and a City Employee. Andrea Hooper receives pay and benefits as both, an Elected Official and as an employee of the City of Lynwood.

Read more from Lynwood Watch.

Local Newspaper Reports Council Split over Bill Board Contract

Lynwood, CA - Local newspaper reports that the Lynwood City council is divided by a 30-year contract awarded to Bulletin Displays outdoor advertising company for $1.2 million.


Read article here.

Newspaper Reports City Employee's Claim of Intimidation by Councilman Fernando Pedroza

Lynwod, CA – One of the most important Spanish circulation daily newspapers in California, La Opinion, publishes an article about the harassment claim made by City employee Jaime Flores against current councilmember Fernando Pedroza.

The article recounts the incident in which Fernando Pedroza confronted the City employee. Councilman Fernando Pedroza denies any wrong doing. Lynwood Watch reported the incident shortly after it happened, and later made available for download, a copy of the notarized copy of the grievance.

Read from LynwoodWatch.com

Los Angeles Times Includes Lynwood Unified in List of School Districts that Fell Short of State Requirements

Lynwood, CA - The Los Angeles Times published a list on February 17, 2005 that shows all the School Districts that fell short of State requirements. Lynwood Unified is included in the list.

Download List Published in the LATimes from LynwoodWatch.com

City Employee Files Grievance Against Councilman Fernando Pedroza

Lynwood, CA - During the council meeting of Tuesday, February 15, 2005, a city employee handed council members a notarized document. The notarized document is a grievance against current council member Fernando Pedroza. The document claims that Fernando Pedroza harassed, and tried to fire the city employee 8 months ago. The city has ten days to respond.

Download document here.

School Board Member Attempts to Give Friend a Sweetheart Contract

Lynwood, CA - School board member Maria Lopez attempted to give her long time friend and Compton Community College Associate Matilde Zapien, a sweetheart deal.

Report #7.3 of a draft agenda presented Monday, January 31, 2005,
shows a request for "Approval for Matilde Zapien to Act As GED Consultant
during the 2004-2005 School Year at Lynwood Community Adult School.”

Read more from Lynwoodwatch.com

$89,506.83 in Legal Fees in February 15, 2005 Warrant

Download Warrant Here. ( See pages 26-30)

Local Paper Reports that a New City Manager has been hired

Lynwood, CA – Local Newspaper reports that a new city manager has been hired by the Lynwood City Council read story here. In other news, the paper also reports that the Lynwood Unified School District’s master plan is facing difficulties, read story here. The paper also presents the story of 15 students from Lynwood High School’s Nine West Academy that watched President W. Bush’s inauguration, read story here.

Sex Offenders in Lynwood

Lynwood, CA - The Department of Justice's Megan Law's webiste provides information about 63,000 people required to register in California as sex offenders. According to the website, about 33,500 specific home addresses are listed.

You can browse the website, and obtain specific information about sex offenders by Zip Code, city, and county.

Lynwood Watch searched the database, and found information on 63 offenders in Lynwood and created a pdf file for your viewing. The pdf file shows you a picture of the offender, and his address in Lynwood.

Click here to go to LynwoodWatch.com for more details and to download file.

Councilmember Fernando Pedroza Confronts City Employee

Lynwood, CA – This morning about 9:30 am, councilmember Fernando Pedroza confronted a City employee at the Lynwood City Park. It is alleged that the City employee was performing clean up job with a blower when he was approached by the councilmember. Fernando Pedroza questioned the employee as to why he wasn’t using a vacuum, instead of a blower. The City employee responded that workers are not assigned vacuums. Allegedly, coucilmember Fernando Pedroza used the following choice of words:

- “Since you are such a blabber mouth (Pedroza used the Spanish word “hocicon” *), why don’t you go to the council meeting and ask for one”.

The incident escalated to an exchange or words. Some believe that Pedroza’s confrontation was in retaliation because the employee expressed content for the arrest of former councilmember Paul Richards before the TV cameras.

-------------------------------------------

* The Spanish word “hocicon” is defined as

hocicon = meterse en todas partes con excesiva curiosidad, queriendolo averiguar todo: Calumniador.

It may be compared to the English noun blab, defined as

Blab = A person habitually engaged in idle talk about others: gossiper.

Los Angeles Sheriff Department Disciplines 157 Deputies, 20 Sergeants, and 1 Lieutenant According to Report

Lynwood, CA - The Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review released it's report for the 3rd quarter of 2004 on Monday. The reports states that 221 employees received discipline from founded administrative cases. 178 sworn peace officers were also disciplined. These include 157 Deputies, 20 Sergeants, and 1 Lieutenant.

Read more from LynwoodWatch.com

(Download link of 73 page pdf file of findings is at the bottom of full report page)

California Teachers Association Lifts Lynwood Unified School District's Sanctions

Lynwood, CA - Local newspaper reports that Lynwood Unified School District has had sanctions lifted by California Teachers Association.

Read full article here.