INGLEWOOD, Calif. (2UG) – Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. and District 1 Councilwoman Gloria Gray clashed over pedestrian crosswalk improvements during the Aug. 15 regular city council meeting.
The council voted unanimously to approve a $25,000 reward to aid in the investigation of the 2020 death of motorcyclist Jose Samuel Galvez Pineda.
Pineda was killed on December 6, 2020, around 4:30 p.m., in front of his home in Council District 4 near the intersection of 108th Street and 8th Ave.
Months after his death, Pineda’s family was frustrated with the lack of communication from the Inglewood Police Department.
“We do not know about them, they do not communicate with us, we are calling and calling, they have no clues, they have nothing,” said Érika Moreno in an interview with Univision.
“He was my husband, the father of my children, he is a human being, he had a mother, some brothers,” says Érika through tears. “He left me alone with my 5 children,” she added.
The Aug. 15 staff report, states the fatal crash involved Pineda and two other cars which were identified as a Cadillac Escalade and a Chevy Tahoe.
Councilwoman Gloria Gray had questions about how it’s determined if rewards would be offered.
Acting Police Chief Cardell Hurt was not called up to answer those questions.
“It’s up to the police department and a reward can be offered if they feel the trail has gone cold and all leads have been exhausted and we can go no further and if the department makes the recommendation the reward can be offered,” said Mayor Butts.
Gray then mentioned there are quite a high number of cold cases.
“There are a number of cold cases and they are all deemed worthy of a reward because of the particular facts and circumstances surrounding each case,” said Butts.
The City has installed extensive camera systems, throughout the area immediately surrounding venues in the sports and entertainment district, leaving it difficult to monitor traffic collisions in other parts of the City.
Residents continue to come to city council meetings about the unsafe driving conditions and speeding throughout the City which falls on deaf ears.
During a city council meeting held in April residents complained about a high-traffic corridor in District 1, which is represented by Gray, along 8th Ave. between Crenshaw and 78th Street which is the site of many near-fatal accidents.
Three days after the woman appeared at the city council meeting, a wrecked vehicle was found abandoned on 8th Ave. around the corner from both the mayor’s and Gray’s homes.
“The corridor you speak of is primarily in the city of Los Angeles and we have added motor officers to the Inglewood side,” said Butts at the time the resident voiced her concerns.
The corridor the woman spoke of is a route frequently IS in Inglewood and is a walking path by residents in and the mayor with a good portion of it in Inglewood where the accidents have occurred. Residents who live along 8th Ave. have written to 2UrbanGirls to heighten the visibility of the dangers along the corridor that is ignored by the City’s Public Works Department.
Related: Letter to the Editor: Inglewood mayor is ignoring resident’s safety concerns
The two motor officers the City had have been promoted to supervisor and are no longer visible patrolling the City on motorcycles.
During the Aug. 15 meeting, the city approved an agreement with Select Electric Inc., in excess of $1 million, to provide pedestrian safety improvements in Districts 2 and 3 which are represented by Councilmen Alex Padilla and Eloy Morales Jr. and are in close proximity to the sports and entertainment district.
The staff report indicates a support letter was received from the South Bay Cities Council of Governments. The funds for the project will come from Proposition C Local Return Fund.
Gray asked if any of the improvements would be in her district.
“Centinela and Market and Manchester and Cedar are not in District 1 so there are no items on the agenda related to District 1,” said Butts. These two intersections are along the routes to the Kia Form and SoFi Stadium.
Gray further asked how were the intersections selected.
“At Manchester and Cedar we had a fatal collision at the crosswalk and the determination was made to increase safety at the intersection and had the same issue at Centinela and Market Street and it’s a fairly high-speed thoroughfare with a crosswalk so a pedestrian traffic control device is being put there,” said Butts.
The item was approved unanimously.
Councilwoman Gray has declined 2UrbanGirls interview requests but is scheduled to be on the city clerk’s podcast in the near future.
3 Comments
How scary the multi-year police officer -now mayor doesn’t know where the city boundaries are located !!
Perhaps at 70 brain fog is impacting more than his civility …we know he forgot the difference between truth & lies, as well as his manners long long ago.
Are all the intersections beginning to look the same?
Hmmm did the accommodating planning staff think the 100,000 fans would walk single file to their cars parked in Los Angeles, Lennox, or Hawthorne ?Pedestrian safety would be to require on site parking.
So if the staff are not permitted to respond to a council persons questions why are they in the room rather than in their office or better yet why do we pay a staff at all if Butts knows all and does all ??
Whenever I hear of James Butts puffing up in public proposing or voting for a reward for information about a shooting, I get disgusted. Not because I am personally against rewards, I’m not, but because JAMES BUTTS IS. The degree of dishonesty and hypocrisy it takes for Butts to promote rewards when it suits him after he got up in a previous city council meeting and made a whole presentation, including the police chief, saying that rewards NEVER work is just infuriating. “mayor” Butts and “chief” Fronteratta got up in the meeting and said that neither one of them had EVER seen a reward help in ANY way. But James Butts knows that our police department is weak, our murder rate is high, and he’s too occupied with networking with NFL and NBA billionaires to do anything productive about our crime, so he votes for rewards that he thinks don’t work and which the city will likely never have to pay.
See Butts’ hypocrisy @ https://youtu.be/-5VQZrW7BVY