LAKE VIEW TERRACE : Broadous to Speak on Community Issues

The Rev. Zedar Broadous believes that there are three ways to lift the blight that has settled on many communities in the northeast San Fernando Valley. “I like to call them the three Es,” he said. “Economics, education and employment.”

Broadous, president of the San Fernando Valley branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, will get a chance today to share his community-improvement ideas with the leaders of about 10 homeowners’ associations and community groups representing a cross-section of the northeast Valley.

The town hall-style meeting is geared toward generating discussion of a range of local issues, including economic development, crime, traffic and pollution. It will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center on Foothill Boulevard.

“What we’ll be doing is attempting to identify some kind of work plan for the community,” said Bob Hawkins, director of a Sylmar youth group and an organizer of the event. “We’d like to try to see what everybody has to say about the direction things are going in our communities and talk about what we want to focus on.”

Hawkins added that the groups may eventually unite under the name Citizens Concerned for Real Progress, with biweekly meetings and elected officers. “We have to see how much interest there is in a coalition of that nature,” Hawkins said.