2007 Cinco de Mayo Parade in Gardena

Our club had another strong contingent in this year's Cinco de Mayo Parade in Gardena. Neal Kleiner, carrying his signs above, joined us both to support our causes and to promote his campaign for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, representing Gardena and much of South L.A., enjoyed riding in the parade in a beautiful Model T roadster.

Maxine, one of the most progressive members of Congress, has really enjoyed being in the majority after the Republicans' "moral majority" shut the Democrats out of the legislative process for 12 years. After the successful "First 100 Days" of the new Congress in which the Democrats pushed through their election pledges, the Republicans are now participating fully in the legislative agenda, as it was in the previous two centuries of our country's history. Maxine is still fighting for our agenda, since a Democratic majority does not necessarily translate into a progressive majority in Congress and since President Bush has been thumbing his nose at every Congressional attempt to get our troops out of the Civil War in Iraq. Maxine went on to give important speeches at other Cinco de Mayo events in the Southland.

Former Mayor Don Dear, now President of the West Basin Municipal Water District, once again enjoyed riding in the parade in a beautiful hot rod, acknowledging the cheers of the crowd lining the parade route.

Universal Health Care for EVERY Californian, and for every American, was once again a main focus of our contingent in the Parade, along with getting our troops safely out of Iraq and other Democratic issues.

Club President Dan Medina emceed the festivities at Mas Fukai Park following the Parade. Here Dan is preparing to introduce the Cinco de Mayo Queen and her Princesses.

Stay tuned here for more photos from the Parade!

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If you've got any photos you'd like to put up on our website, please email them to our club or bring them to one of our club meetings! If you would like to add an anecdote or comment, please email us!

2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade in Gardena

We had a great turnout on Saturday morning, January 13th, to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. We had three
cars and a number of Club members who walked in the Parade. We emphasized our support for Universal Health Care
in California and throughout the U.S.A. -- the State Legislature's version, NOT Governor Schwarzenegger's
Johnny-come-lately version! On September 22nd, 2006, Gov. Schwarzenegger VETOed a well-thought-out,
REAL Universal Health Care plan for California that was passed by the California State Legislature! Now, after
he accepted $4 million from the health care industry last year, he is pushing for a "Universal" health care plan
that will force uninsured and poor Californians to pay for private health insurance! Does anybody see the irony?
Those private insurance companies will get back THOUSANDS of dollars for every dollar they gave Arnold!
Just about the same rate of return that Lobbyists got from the Republican Congress; go figure.

Our Club President and Gardena City Council candidate Dan Medina had the privilege of driving Miss Cinco de Mayo
along the Martin Luther King Parade route.

Our banners included "OneCareNow.org," the website of Health Care for All-California, which our Club has
supported from its start, and "NATIONAL HEALTH CARE NOW," which we've been parading with for 22 years!

Newly-elected West Basin Municipal Water District President Don Dear, who was the Mayor or Gardena for 19 years,
riding in the MLK Parade in a beautiful hot rod. Note the metallic car door sign that the City of Gardena provided for
Mayor Dear (Not!). Notwithstanding, everyone along the Parade route knew who Don was, and cheered him!

A number of our Club members posed with our signs at the end of the Martin Luther King Parade. Many of our Club
members participated in other capacities in the parade. (Hopefully, some of the other Club members who took pictures
at the end of the parade will email them to us so we can replace this overexposed version!) (The above photos by Jim McGreevy)

Club member Lucille Green made the front page of our local newspaper, the Daily Breeze, holding one of our "WE HAVE A DREAM" signs, in a very nice photo. (Photo by Bruce Hazelton, Daily Breeze staff photographer) . . . . Many thanks to all of our Club members who participated in the Martin Luther King Parade. (We realize that many of our members in the 53rd Assembly District, who used to take part, couldn't participate this year because their State Party Delegate Selection Caucus was held at the same time as the Martin Luther King Parade. Again.)

If you reside in CARSON, DON'T SIGN the petition to recall Mayor Jim Dear! At our December 2006 Club meeting, the Gardena Valley Democratic Club voted to oppose the recall attempt. Please click here to view or download a large (712KB) printable Acrobat PDF version of Mayor Jim Dear's brochure about the issue.