The Year in Lakewood

Been a little more than a year here in Lakewood, the town described by DJ Waldie. 

I describe the lives of my roommates at my other blog.

My block is full of the most visible everyday public employees:  teachers and police.

I don't really hear much about people's business here. 

This despite my landlord being a long-term dweller in the area.  He has lived in his place for 25+ years.  He supports local small businesses (mostly small food eateries) as well as the Walmart closest to us.  He walks the neighborhood with his dog.  He occasionally talks to neighbors.  He can tell me the landmarks that weren't around.  He tells me about the houses on which he has done construction-type jobs. 

But when it comes to news about the area, he can't tell me much that the local news can't.

The biggest local stories in the year and a half that I've been here:

• When someone killed someone with a baseball bat at the local Walmart on Carson St. and Paramount.  My landlord had actually seen the attacker outside the 7-11 near our house on occasion.
• When local news interviewed my landlord about his neighbor Kipp, a former LAUSD teacher who led police on a chase after being accused of committing a sex crime
• Mexican-American Mega-super rock star Jenni Rivera's death.  Her house near Carson St. and Lakewood has been the site of memorials

Though it's a small sample and non-scientific at all, it's the news that resonates with me.

It seems that's the only time the littler, non-LA cities ever crack the local news, when something really overwhelmingly negative happens, or when someone famous has connections to an area.  Reminds me of how the City of Bell was all over the news last year for corruption.

There's gotta be some better communication infrastructure in Lakewood that I'm just missing.