Young residents of Little Tokyo "lend a hand" to build a recreation center in their neighborhood.

Plans for a community support rally and handprint petition for the Little Tokyo Recreation Center are in full swing. On Saturday, October 28, 11am to 1pm, young basketball players and their families, martial arts practitioners and college students will converge on Little Tokyo to put their handprints on a community petition showing their support. Senior gateball enthusiasts and residents are also expected to "Lend A Hand," the theme of the day.

Formerly called "the gym," the concept has expanded from simply a multi-court sports facility to also house a 30-year-old senior lunch program, a computer center and provide workshop and rehearsal space for various performance and cultural arts groups.

"Such a facility has been a dream of Little Tokyo for more than 30 years," explained Rec Center Board President Dave Nagano, a stockbroker and Little Tokyo homeowner. "Twenty-five sites have been checked out in the past five years." Alluding to the City-owned "First Street North" property on Temple and Judge John Aiso Streets, Nagano added, "Only one is available that would accommodate the facility."

The City of L.A. is putting together a Master Plan for this block to be finalized by the end of the year. Preliminary drafts of this plan do not include the Recreation Center, despite the community-wide support for it. Community activist, Warren Furutani, will join members of the Little Tokyo Recreation Center Coalition at the rally to urge the City Council to include the Rec Center in the Master Plan. The Center would share the block with several civic and cultural attractions, including the 100^th/442^nd/MIS "Go For Broke" Veteran’s Memorial, the historic Little Tokyo business district, Union Center for the Arts, the Japanese American National Museum, the Geffen Contemporary and the Children’s Museum.

"The Little Tokyo Recreation Center will complete this block as a true community complex," said Bill Watanabe, Executive Director of the Little Tokyo Service Center, the community development group that has been providing technical assistance. "We urge the City Council to help the young people and seniors of Little Tokyo get the recreational space they need."

"This rally may be our last opportunity to show the City and Little Tokyo that the community really wants and needs this place," explained Rec Center Board Member Carrie Morita, an elementary school teacher and parent of two Yonsei basketball players. "We don’t have powerful or wealthy people pulling strings for us. All we have are all the different families, kids, seniors and others who would use this place and support the idea."

A community Coalition, working with the Rec Center Board, has organized this rally to bring supporters together, illustrating to the City and to the Little Tokyo community how many people would come down to use the facility.

"We want to bring life back to Little Tokyo, to create a center where the different generations can meet and interact," said Watanabe. "With the community’s support, we can make this long-held dream a reality!"

For information, call Thomas Yee at (213) 473-1670.