South Los Angeles

For 45 years, the Southeast Symphony Orchestra has filled church halls and school auditoriums in South Los Angeles with the sounds of classical music. The 40-member Southeast Symphony does not have a high degree of name recognition or much funding. But its supporters say the symphony provides a valuable place for African-American classical musicians to hone their skills while providing quality entertainment for area residents. "This is a wonderful opportunity for them to train.

Perched on a picnic bench beneath a shade tree, community activist Charles Rachal told a group of listeners about what his park used to be: a common ground for neighbors to gather in harmony. "I used to be here at 9:30 in the morning to go to the pool," the former gang member said, pointing at a dried-out, grave-like pool at South Park. "It's a real frustrating situation . . . this park symbolized a safe ground." Rachal's audience Aug.

Get educated: Travel. The opportunity to experience life outside of South Los Angeles was given last week to 40 lower-income area youngsters, who got a taste of life in Northern California for three days. "California is large," said Darwin Laidley, 12, from a telephone at Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf. "I've never seen these beautiful things before. There's more trees out here." The trip was sponsored by the Los Angeles Urban League through a donation from the private sector.

Three children were critically injured in a fire at an apartment Friday night, the second blaze in a week in which residents of the area were trapped by so-called "burglar bars," authorities said. Los Angeles police officers and firefighters had to rip the bars off one of the front windows to rescue the children, Sgt. Stephen Faulk said. The blaze broke out at 7:45 p.m.

Re "Safe in War, Sailor Slain at L.A. Club," May 26: The tragic murder of Brian Butler Jr. should remind readers of the unbearable costs of our war on terror as well as the narrowness of our definition of terror. As Congress approves billions of dollars to secure the streets of Fallouja in Iraq, 9th and Florence avenues remain as deadly as ever. No one should be so naive to think that simply throwing money at South L.A.'s myriad problems would create an inner-city utopia. But any reasonable person can see that if even a tiny fraction of the mounting cost of our Iraq war were devoted to improving the quality of housing, education and healthcare -- and increasing the presence of law enforcement -- the streets of South L.A. and the hundreds of U.S. communities like it would be far safer.

For three decades, Marcine Shaw has been a pillar of the community. She helped establish group homes for gang members and the disabled. She brought organized sports and literacy programs to youths. And as senior deputy to former County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, she cut through red tape to bring health care, food and other services to constituents in Willowbrook, Athens, Compton and other communities in the 2nd Supervisorial District.

Poor people are invisible, especially African Americans and Latinos who live in South-Central Los Angeles. This is not new; it has existed for decades. I grew up there and saw the injustices of poverty, poor housing, inadequate and unsafe school facilities and police brutality. But in the Los Angeles mayoral runoff election in May, African Americans and Latinos can finally play a key role in being the swing vote.

Opponents of rebuilding liquor outlets scored a victory last week in winning the right to have the community's views represented in a lawsuit filed against the city by the owners of three liquor stores destroyed in last year's riots. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien granted three South-Central residents and members of the Community Coalition Against Substance Abuse permission to intervene in the lawsuit, entitling them to all information related to the action.

It was envisioned 20 years ago as the bustling retail center of a "new city within the inner city," a 10-acre shopping plaza surrounded by stylish apartment complexes in a unique development named Ujima Village in the Willowbrook area of South Los Angeles. Renting the 300 low-income apartments was easy, but the project's creators could never find a developer to complete the shopping center or businesses to occupy it in the mid-1970s. For 12 years, the shell of a shopping center sat vacant.

An elderly man who was running his son's South Los Angeles market on Tuesday was killed during a noontime robbery, police said. Marcelo Campo Sr., 70, was filling in for his son at the Belize and West Indian Market, 5317 S. Normandie Ave. The younger Campo was out of town, said Police Detective John Zambos. Campo died at the scene.