More than three trash days have come and gone since an Echo Park woman named Glo has been able to use her blue recycling bin because it’s been stuffed with copies of Cybersocket, a Gay monthly magazine. Today, however, it looks like help is finally on the way. Glo received this email message from Morgan Sommer of Cybersocket:
“We will be sending someone over to pick up the Magazines today. We have also terminated the distributor who we think dumped the magazines in your bin. Please accept our apology.”
I guess Cybersocket doesn’t fool around when it comes to magazine dumping.
What’s more scary? The thought of your kid swimming in a pool separated from the 101 Freeway by only a rusty chain link fence or of your child’s skateboard flying into the windshield of a northbound truck? Those two visions come to mind as the Recreation & Parks Department is looking at converting the Echo Park Shallow Pool, which is embraced by the Echo Park Avenue onramp to the 101, into a skateboard park. Department official Anna Galbraith said that the proposal is still only a concept and the department is looking at what kind of grants might be available to convert the pool into a skate park. Meanwhile, next door at the red-brick Echo Park Recreation Center, a popular skateboarding club uses portable ramps in the 1920s-era building, constructed decades before the 101 Freeway cut through the park.
Given the options, maybe playing video games indoors is not such a bad idea after all.
Many Eastside residents cannot afford Internet service at home, leaving them to rely on print for news and information. That may explain why The Voice’s circulation has grown to 20,000 from 16,000 and the number of pages from about 8 to 12.
“Sometimes during the first year of our existence I was wondering if anyone was reading the paper. If anyone was getting it,” said Morales during an interview in his paper’s small office, which is dominated by his two bikes. “Then we started receiving more and more phone calls. Now people know to come to us when they don’t get results somewhere else.”
Yet, The Voice generates barely enough money to cover its printing and operating expenses, leaving Morales and Cabrera to live simply. That why in part Morales puts 250 miles a month on his bike – it keeps his expenses low and the paper afloat. Despite the gloomy financial outlook, Morales plans to keep reporting and biking.
“What happens in the community is very important to me,” Morales said. “So maybe that’s why I’m so passionate about what I’m writing about.”
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The Eastsider publishes stories and news from the northeast corner of the City of Los Angeles and neighboring East Los Angeles. Who is the Eastsider? Where does the Eastsider roam? 