SLOW START FOR CENSUS: Word on the street says that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa fell flat on a recent bid to connect religious organizations and public officials in hopes of enhancing the city’s efforts to get a full count on next year’s U.S. Census. Seems the mayor’s staff planned for 100 or so attendees at the June 16 preview session at the 1st Chinese Baptist Church in Chinatown, but got only 10 or 12, with most from the offices of other politicians. Same sources speculated that the low-turnout could be related to recent talk among some church pastors about boycotting of the once-every-10-years census if there’s no progress of immigration reform They added that not one church sent anyone to attend the event—not even 1st Chinese Baptist (see related story, “Panel Foes Agree,” home page; Guest Viewpoint, Letters to the Editor home page)…LAPD HAS AEG COVERED: LAPD Central Area Captain Blake Chow says that his troops “deployed very heavily at the Staples Center and L.A. Live during the game to ensure that those two icons of Downtown Los Angeles were not damaged by an unruly crowd” after the Lakers won the NBA championship on June 14. Tell that to the folks who saw roving bands of unhinged sports fans trash a shoe store on Pico Boulevard and vandalize other locations beyond the AEG-owned developments…BID ON ICON PATROL, TOO: Some condo residents in the adjacent South Park district say their buildings sustained some vandalism, too, and they claim that the South Park Business Improvement District (BID) security crews covered the AEG properties but left residential buildings on their turf unguarded…AMERICAN APPAREL TO BOYLE HEIGHTS?: The home-grown label would have to rethink its “Made in Downtown L.A.” tagline with a shift to the Sears building at Olympic & Soto. Local wags say that a move to the Eastside is possible nonetheless, with several other locations also in the mix. The same wags hedge their bets, adding that there’s about as good a chance that American Apparel will keep its HQ and main production facility in its current location over at 7th & Alameda, home to a workforce of several thousand. Stay tuned…SANTEE ALLEY ALERT: For bargain retailers on the famed stretch of the Fashion District, which functions as an inner-city version of those big-box discounters out in the suburbs. Former Lakers great and current business mogul Magic Johnson is advising the big box operators on how to do business in the inner city, according to a report in the June issue of Fortune Small Business…HEARD IT HERE FIRST: Last week the Garment & Citizen ran a report on Georges Laguerre and the Hatian Bleu coffee that he’s growing in his native land and importing to Los Angeles for roasting, with bags available at his Tigeorges Chicken on the 300 block of N. Glendale Boulevard in Echo Park. Now we hear that Hatian Bleu will be featured in American Airlines’ in-flight magazine, which makes the rounds over five continents. Laguerre recently guided a reporter through his operations in Haiti, and the piece is expected to reach passengers on August 1.
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The Los Angeles Garment & Citizen is the community newspaper for Downtown Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods, including the Arts District, Chinatown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, Pico-Union, Silver Lake and Westlake.The Garment & Citizen reaches more than 20,000 readers weekly, an audience that spans the demographic makeup of the city and serves as the leading edge of statewide and national trends.
