Hurdles

Inside the California Recreation Center Long Beach Councilman Dee Andrews of the Sixth District is seated at a rectangular banquet table in the foreground of vertical folds. Lenses popped inside gold coated frames skew the speaking notes with blurred lines. On the edge, he’s eagerly poised with a pencil mustache to listen to the youth voice their opinions on the proposed skate park on 15th and Martin Luther King Boulevard. Like drought resistant plants their souls are the urban terrain’s landscape. Dee’s sleeves are rolled up for action. The blue and pink color hues of his dress shirt stand for the boys and girls he helps by creating alternatives activities on the troubled quicksilver streets. The work is disguised behind manicured hands. The slightly glossy light can been seen below the stage’s dress. The wall of hostility torn apart. For one reason or another their families have broken up. When the navy blue curtains are closed grandmothers play the role of absent fathers.

The first community meeting about a skate park targeting central Long Beach provides a family-like structure inside the social hall. Professional skateboarders like Ron Chatman, Danny Montoya and Rob Gonzalez are action-sports men of valor who have tailored their lives around serving the youth with grateful hearts. Dee learned by watching the penal system process many mornings at the courthouse how dealing with juvenile criminals could only go so far with the jailer’s bars. He continues the lifelong race to improve the quality of life for the young and old people living in the district he represents at city hall. Although being sidelined by substance abuse in the distant past Dee has competed around the track enough to successfully lead with the knee. He rises over the insurmountable low and high hurdles with aggressive speed and flexible strength. The spirited lead leg takes the race with the fastest snap downs to the ground.