Patch Blog: Concerns About Eagle Rock Patch

13 May 2012

Patrick Lee

Northeast Los Angeles Editor, Patch 

Mr. Lee –

My concerns about Mr. Singh’s coverage of events in Northeast Los Angeles are as follows –

His reporting often consists of calling a local official, say the Principal of Eagle Rock High School or the president of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, and printing their views verbatim, with very little – or no – fact checking. Mr. Singh also regularly fails to seek out not only alternate perspectives, but alternate accounts of serious events like the recent issues at Eagle Rock High School. This practice, or lack of practice, only further exposes Mr. Singh’s lack of local knowledge, in the case of EHRS and the long-standing controversy over Mr. Velasco’s bullying tactics with both teachers and parents. (He did expose, ironically and completely unintentionally, the behavior of Mr. Velasco’s toady, Mr. Cisneros.)

In the case of the local controversy over medical marijuana, this has made Patch the captive of a few NIMBY cranks and another Eagle Rock newbie, Mr. Michael Larsen, who’s looking to make a political name for himself by calling in the Feds on medical marijuana clinics. Again, Mr. Singh’s lack of local knowledge of Northeast LA as a progressive community, one that supports not only medical marijuana, but also marijuana legalization, appears profound.

Finally, Mr. Singh’s highly prejudicial judgments, reliance on hearsay and appeal to the most self-righteous among us are most apparent in his treatment of the homeless, or as he calls them, vagrants. I hope you are aware of this, and I think a simple review of Mr. Singh’s work in this area would be helpful for you both. I particularly recommend

I hope that if Mr. Singh remains responsible for covering Eagle Rock he makes an effort to reach out to a broader community than the nearest parochial authority figure that shares his seemingly quite conservative point of view.

Sincerely – Rob Schraff

cc: Ajay Singh