Foothills Sentry May 2024

Page 7 Foothills Sentry MAY 2024 Inspect. Inspect your trees, Coast Live Oak, Canyon Live Oak and California Black Oak. Look for D-shaped holes 2-4 mm wide in the bark. Identify. The larvae are in the bark. They are 2 cm long, white and legless. Adults are 1 cm in length, bullet shaped with gold spots. Treat. Spray infected oaks. Protect other oaks with special treatments. For more information and help, contact Mike Boeck at rockdad@cox.net. ACT NOW. The larvae are emerging. You can STOP THE SPREAD OF THE GOLD SPOTTED OAK BORER. Dodger slugger’s gift to El Modena High celebrated By Hana Brake A new clubhouse for the El Modena High baseball team was made possible by a $500,000 do- nation from Los Angeles Dodger batting champ and former El Modena Vanguard Freddie Free- man. The Freddie Freeman Club- house officially opened April 7, following a ceremony commem- orating the new facility and its eponym. The opening was attended by four generations of the Freeman family, past and present El Mode- na Vanguard baseball coaches, players and their families, OUSD administrators and community members. “When I was able to be blessed enough to have the resources to do something like this, that’s what I wanted to create,” Freeman told the audience. "The relationships, the bonds, the stories—every- thing you share in that clubhouse is special. That’s what’s going to last forever. That’s what it’s all about for me.” “It would be so easy with your career and family commitments to move on and forget about your past,” former EMHS Head Base- ball Coach Steve Bernard said, “but you are rooted to this school, and you chose to embrace it for the benefit of every Vanguard after you who will enjoy what you provided and will hopefully be inspired to provide for others, as you have. In all, Freddie Free- man is so much more than a great ballplayer – he is a great man. May we all be inspired to make a difference, to show how we care about the well-being and happi- ness of others as much as Freddie has shown us.” Staff collaborated with Fred Freeman, Sr. and ElMo Varsity Baseball Head Coach Joshua Kliner on the scope of work that Freddie and his wife Chelsea’s charitable donation made pos- sible, including the purchase and installation of a new 1,440-sq.-ft. modular baseball clubhouse; new extended batting cages; and re- quired code upgrades. The Free- man family visited EMHS to per- sonally provide the ceremonial check to El Modena’s excited and grateful baseball players, coaches and administrators last March. “El Modena is a wonderful place to be, and we’re honored that you look back at your time as a Vanguard positively, and not only come back, but give back to your community,” said Kliner. “We thank you for everything that you’ve given us. We’re so proud of you, everything that you’ve done, and everything that you continue to do.” The Freemans' donation to the Freddie Freeman Clubhouse is the most generous donation the district has received from a pri- vate donor to date. The OUSD Board of Education officially ap- proved the new facility’s name at its April 11 meeting. City Manager Tom Kisela (right) addresses the gathering at the site of the future El Modena restroom. Ready to break ground are, from left, Orange Councilman Jon Dumitru, Sammy Rodriguez, Carlos Valenzu- ela, policy advisor for Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento and Ana Gutierrez, Orange councilwoman. Attendees at the El Modena Basin groundbreaking gathered for a group photo to commemorate the occasion. Public restroom coming to El Modena Basin By Tina Richards A groundbreaking ceremony for a long-awaited public rest- room serving the El Modena Ba- sin was held April 4 at the site of the new facility adjacent to the El Modena Library. The El Modena Basin is pub- lic open space located across the street from El Modena Park on Hewes Street. A fenced lake on the grounds is an Irvine Ranch Water District natural water treat- ment site; the surrounding acre- age features picnic areas, picnic tables, benches and a walking path, but no permanent restroom. El Modena residents, cham- pioned by Councilwoman Ana Gutierrez and community mem- ber Sammy Rodriguez, tried for several years to convince the City of Orange to use federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to build a restroom on the basin prop- erty. CDBG funds are primar- ily intended for improvements to low-income areas, identified by demographic census maps and other criteria, but can be applied to other projects if they offer a “community benefit.” Historically, the city tended to use most of its CDBG funding for “community benefit” and not the El Modena area, which had long qualified for federal funds. Ro- driguez notes that, in the last two decades, the city has spent only $11,000 of CDBG money in El Modena. That was used for street repair on Chapman Avenue. Two years ago, Rodriguez asked Housing and Urban De- velopment (HUD), which assigns CDBG funds, to investigate the city’s use of that money. After a lengthy letter-writing campaign, HUD representatives met with the city manager and city staff in May 2023. Gutierrez, whose district includes El Modena, was not advised of that meeting until it was over. Incensed, she insisted that HUD come back for another meeting that included her. The agency returned to meet with her. A short time after that, the city announced that it was spending $300,000 of CDBG money on a restroom in the El Modena Basin. Ironically, the demographic cen- sus map used to identify CDBG- qualified areas now indicates that El Modena is no longer a low- to moderate-income locale (due to a El Modena Vanguard baseball players check out their new Freddie Freeman clubhouse. Photos by Tony Richards Photo by Tony Richards steady influx of higher income neighbors in the hills above the barrio) and does not quality for HUD block grant funding. The city considers the El Modena basin restroom to be a “commu- nity benefit.” Although El Modena resi- dents are pleased with the com- ing restroom, many, like Sam- my Rodriguez, see it as a ges- ture to pacify the community, and not a sincere effort to invest in the area. “CDBG funds are supposed to be used to attack poverty,” he says. “The El Modena Barrio has been excluded from CDBG money for decades. I com- plained; there was an investi- gation; we got $300,000 for a restroom, but now we’re told we don’t qualify for funding. All we’re asking the city for is dignity and respect.”