A Wish List for the Valley for 1999

With 1999 stretching out before us, what would be your wish for the San Fernando Valley in the coming year?

KARIMA A. HAYNES asked several area residents.

VALERIE MOODY / Director, Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park Child Care Center, Pacoima

I would like for our youth in the San Fernando Valley to have more respect for other people. We have to remember that America is a melting pot. That’s why people migrated to this country. They thought this was a place where we could all live together in peace, but we have strayed from that.

For the little ones here at the center, I would like for them to just enjoy being a child. They have so many adult problems as little children that they shouldn’t have to worry about: Where am I going to live? Will I have dinner tonight? Who will pick me up tonight?

They have hard lives. We try to get them to relax and have fun for the few hours that they are here. We want them to enjoy being a child, because there is no going back.

DANIEL SHERMAN / Homeless services coordinator, Glendale

I would wish for a Kroc Center here [like the facility in San Diego donated by McDonald’s magnate Joan Kroc]. It is a multipurpose agency dedicated to all the needs of the homeless: work, medical, psychiatric and child care.

Second, I would wish for us all to enjoy who and what we have in our lives--problems and all. We are too busy rushing to the next place to enjoy the moments that we have and to see the beauty in the flaws.

RUBEN ALVIDREZ / Interim pastor, Arleta Foursquare Church, Sylmar

I wish that we would all prosper in the ways of Christ.

I wish that the youth in the San Fernado Valley would have greater hope for the future, and that their hope would come through their faith in God. There are a lot of programs out there to help youth, but they can fail kids. If we work with kids and teach them about the word of God, their eternal future is secure.

I would hope that parents would reach out and get involved with young people. We all want to have a solution to the gang problems and youth who are hanging out in the streets, but we as adults have to get involved in their lives. If we do, we can help an entire generation.

It seems like everyone is in awe and fear of the year 2000, but if we believe in God we won’t have those fears. People will fail you but God’s words won’t fail you.

MARIO MATUTE / Economic development center manager, Canyon Country

I wish to have zero unemployment in the San Fernando Valley. My wish is that residents could find employment here in the Valley so that they would not have to spend hours on the freeway and driving hundreds of miles each year to go to jobs outside the Valley. Can you imagine if everyone who lived in the Valley could work here too? The freeways would be clear in the mornings and afternoons, we would have fewer accidents and happier residents because they would be under less stress.

I would also wish for people to become motivated to improve their job skills and their education so that they could improve their socioeconomic status.

JIM KENNEDY / Assistant principal, Morningside Elementary, San Fernando

For next year, we are hoping to implement a math program called “Move It Math.” It’s a program that has a lot of hands-on activities.

In terms of the reading program, our wish is to continue to involve parents. We received a “Wonder of Reading” grant this year. The grant money will be used to build a library at the school. The library is going to be built with study carrels where parents can tutor students one-on-one at lunch, during recess and after school. We also want to continue to have story time.

Because we have directed all of our resources into these areas, we have a need for computers and other high-tech teaching tools. We would like to have computers in all of our classes.