Mayor Emphasizes Support for Youth
The city’s new mayor, Kenneth Blake, says his goals for 1997 include the advancement of youth-support activities.
The City Council earlier this year approved $10,000 for a values-training program called “La Palma Youth 20/20.” The program involves community meetings to promote character development, family life, diversity and growth through recreation.
Blake noted that the program has been launched in some parts of the city, and he wants to expand it. “I want to continue with the Youth 20/20, trying to get that going throughout the city,” he said.
He also wants to promote public safety “and keep crime down.”
Blake, a 49-year-old accountant, was unanimously voted in as mayor by his fellow council members this week. Councilwoman Charlene Hatakeyama was elected mayor pro tem.
Blake is a 26-year resident of La Palma who was elected to the council in 1994 after serving on the city’s Cultural and Beautification Committee. His wife, Karen, is a trustee of the Centralia School District serving her second four-year term. The Blakes have two children, Ryan, 13, and Chris, 21.
The mayor was born in Los Angeles and earned his bachelor of science degree in accounting from Cal State Northridge.
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