City Has Reason to Be Proud of Ritchie Valens

* I heartily endorse changing the name of Paxton Park to Ritchie Valens Park.

More important than the fact that Ritchie Valenzuela was a rock star of international proportions is the reality that he was a positive role model, not only for his own generation of Latino youth but also today’s generation.

I know this personally. I was Ritchie’s record producer, and together we worked on releasing his hit recordings including “La Bamba,” “Come On Let’s Go” and “Donna.” He possessed, at age 15, the grit, determination and persistence to make it in the very competitive world of music and recording.

The difficulties back then, in the 1950s, were not merely musical or commercial. Barriers had been put in place by the mainly Anglo record business against Latin performers. The prevailing thought then was that they had no place in rock ‘n’ roll. Ritchie, happily, disproved this stereotypical line of thought, by his own talent, his recordings and, again, that determination to succeed.

Pacoima has good reason to be proud of the late Ritchie Valens. A green park in the center of the city would be a fine tribute to the memory of Pacoima’s rock ‘n’ roll son.

BOB KEANE

Beverly Hills