Here are ten New Year’s wishes from ten Los Angeles residents who care deeply about our glorious and difficult city.

Tsehai's own, Elias Wondimu is in the list that includes Jeff Carr, Steve Barr, Oscar Garza, Sergio Diaz, Jorja Leap, George Gascon, Marc Cooper, and Greg Boyle.

ELIAS WANDIMU is the creator and editor of Tsehai Publishers, a widely respected independent book publishing company, founder of the Ethiopian Institute for Nonviolence Education and Peace Studies, and editor of the International Journal of Ethiopian Studies….and an all around good guy.

"Next to Addis Ababa, where I was born, there is no place that I rather live, but my adopted city of almost fifteen years–Los Angeles. For this New Year, I wish we have no more fires in the dry season, floods in the winter, and earth quake at all time. And of course, we all use a little less traffic."

The ten list includes, JEFF CARR, the city’s Gang Czar who was picked by Antonio Villaraigosa; STEVE BARR, the founder and head of Green Dot Charter Schools, who wants to change how Los Angeles educates its kids; OSCAR GARZA, the editor-in-chief of LA’s Tu Cuidad magazine, before that he held multiple editorships with the LA Times and was an award-wining producer for San Antonio’s PBS; SERGIO DIAZ is the Deputy Chief of South Bureau of the LAPD; JORJA LEAP, the UCLA professor and conflict resolution specialist; GEORGE GASCON, the former Assistant Chief of the LAPD, and present Chief of Police of Mesa, Arizona; MARC COOPER, a columnist for LA Weekly, Special Correspondent for The Huffington Post, a contributing editor of The Nation magazine, he is also a faculty at the USC Annenberg School for communication and Associate Director of its Institute for Justice and Journalism; and GREG BOYLE, the director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention program in the city.

SOURCE: http://witnessla.com/gangs/2008/admin/dreaming-for-los-angeles-10-wishes-for-2008/