YMCA Closes Facility, Will Bus Children to South Pasadena

Up to 24 children from Eagle Rock and Highland Park will be bused to South Pasadena today so that they can continue to participate in an after-school program run by the YMCA.

The busing became necessary after their neighborhood YMCA closed, leaving many parents in those northeast Los Angeles neighborhoods scrambling for an alternative. But some parents remain frustrated.

“I am upset and depressed about it,” said Richard Bentley, whose daughter Hope, 6, is in the after-school child-care program. “The Y program was really good. Both my wife and I work and I always felt confident when she was at the Y. Now the children have to be bused.”

Los Angeles County YMCA President Larry Rosen, however, said his organization is committed to “doing YMCA work with children in northeast Los Angeles. We provide child care for over 7,000 children in Los Angeles County, 2,500 of them in the inner-city.”

Referring to earlier news reports about the after-school program in northeast Los Angeles closing, Rosen said: “I think it’s a lot of attention to put on us about two dozen children.”