|
Eastwood Coalition Meeting Report
June 1st, 2004
7:05 pm
Hollywood-Adventist Church
The meeting was called to order and we began with the crime report.
Crime Report
Officer Sevdalian reported that crime is low. However, burglaries start to
go up during the summer months ; windows and doors are left open for the
cool breeze. Sevdalian told us about operation ID. A new program that
encourages you to identify your property, make a list of these
items, and then keep the list in a safe place. It keeps your valuables
organized in case you get victimized, and it makes it easier for the
police to identify your property. Officer Sevdahlian left brochures with
forms to complete.
Sevdalian talked about how the City Attorney's
Dispute Resolution Program helps resolve neighbor to neighbor
disputes. Call them before things get too intense between neighbors.
Gang Officers Vargas and Velasco spoke about local gang activity. There
has been a marked decrease in gang activity in Hollywood. However, the
gangs, The Armenian Power and White Fence are still a
problem in our neighborhood. Taggers are at work, specifically JPK.
To keep their members safe from injunctions and civil activity the
gangsters are recruiting taggers. Gangs are no longer broadcasting their
tattoos as much as in the past and are downplaying their dress. There are
penalties and enhancements that are put in place when gangsters get caught
for crimes.
Still, El Salvadorian, Armenian, Hispanic gangs are at work in Hollywood.
Due to the civil injunctions the gang members can be jailed just for
hanging out with one another. The Wilshire Division is now getting
involved in the civil injunction process.
The number for the Gang Unit is 323-957-6493 or 6494. Leave a message with
info that helps identify the criminal or gang member when you see one.
Continuation School at 1717 N. Gramercy:
Beverly Christian Church, located at 1717 N. Gramercy Pl., leases out
classrooms to the probation department. They have been there for a very
long time. A few kids who are participants in this program also belong to
gangs. There were rival gang members attending and there have been
shootings in the past. Officer Sevdalian has discussed this issue with the
church's administrator, Dr. Peggy Clark. She is going to set up a meeting
between the probation department and herself.
Video Camera Program:
Senior Lead Officer Mike Shea gave an update on the video camera program.
Captain Downing wants 4 zones covered. Hollywood Blvd. will be the first
zone. The BID has come up with some money for that. One camera was
installed at Hollywood and Cahuenga. It's
a wireless, pan-tilt, zoom capacity camera that officers monitor. DVD's
can be created from these cameras. From the corner they can zoom in and
see the face of someone at the 7-11 on the corner of Yucca and Cahuenga.
In the first week of having this camera installed, they made six arrests
without trying. Request for Prop has gone out for $100,000 of equipment
for the first zone
The second zone is Sunset and Cahuenga, the third zone is Santa Monica
Blvd / Highland, and the fourth is the Western Corridor.
All this is dependant on the success of the first zone and by June there
should be four to eight installed in this zone. The intent is not to go
out and make arrest but to deter the criminals.
A question was posed about the possibility of the cameras being misused as
opportunities to make arrests to fill quotas. The officers answered with
the fact that they are committed to the motivation of making the
neighborhoods safer. There are no quotas that need to be filled.
CRA - John McCoy http://www.lacity.org/cra
www.lacity.org/cra:
Mr. McCoy gave a review of the Request for Proposal (RFP) that the
Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) generated. Deadlines for submissions
closed on the 14 of May with four
excellent development proposals from four very good teams. These proposals
will be available to view online at the CRA's website (address listed
above). The CRA will be creating a meeting after the 22 of June for all
four to give a presentation to the community. When the CRA goes to the
formal interview they will invite neighborhood reps (delegates) to this
interview. After the community meeting, the CRA will have a better idea of
who those reps will be. It's hard
to negotiate in the middle of the large room.
CRA will make recommendations after they have evaluated the proposals.
They will want to work on an agreement to negotiate, meet with the
commissioners and conduct environmental studies. They will want to
incorporate the wishes of the community in the exclusive right to
negotiate.
John asked for the neighborhoods to rethink their wish lists after
reviewing the proposals late in June. CRA is working with community from
Western to Vermont for a street-scape project. They will want to bring
that streetscape project through the area of this RFP.
They have a strong preference to property ownership. Two of the developers
interested own substantial amounts of the development area: St. Francis is
working with CIM, and American Housing (the Mayor building) is working
with the Core group. The Bond group is also participating. All four of
these developers have solid track record working at this large level of
development.
Parking and open space will be important aspects of these proposals and
will have to be adjusted to meet the needs of the community.
The CRA has a design advisory board that will take part in input on the
design aspect of this development.
Anne Marie asked about whether this development will clean up the
boulevard.
John says that there should be enough money in the budget to pay for the
same kind of cameras that are being installed on Hollywood Blvd. Also, the
streetscape will extend to this development. He did add that the liquor
store is not in the project.
We will have to look at the individual proposals/concepts. This is a long
process. During the design process, there will be considerable opportunity
for input from the community. There will be an integrated architectural
approach given by all developers. Again, there will be a streetscape
component.
1% of the project will be given to public art
John says that there will be parking for the two historic buildings to
bring them to their full potential. The additional parking requested by
the community will be (somehow) addressed. John said that the CRA will be
talking to the MTA about the bus route. There is a need for specific
alternatives for what they have now.
Reporting for Counsel District 4 Erik
Sanjurjo:
1) Closure of the St. Andrews Stairs. CD 4 will not support the
closure. An effort to make them historic is underway.
2) 3 way stop The
request was made to DOT regarding a 2-way stop for Wilton and Franklin. It
'd5s being studied as a traffic safety issue.
If it is found to be such, they will go ahead with the three-way
stop. If not, the request will remain in the queue, (in line waiting with
other similar requests). If residents want to come forward now with
documentation about accidents and safety issues specifically, please get
that info to the council office.
213-485-3337
4) Street cleaning on Hollywood Blvd. - Cars may park on this strip of the
Hollywood Blvd 24 hours around the clock. There is no parking restriction
on Hollywood Blvd so there are no citations given during street sweeping
time. The area between Western and the 101 are cleaned between 3:30 and
5am. However, the curbs never get cleaned due to these parked cars. Heidi
reported that she saw the sweepers come by and drive around lots of cars.
We would like the curb to get cleaned and have asked the counsel offices
to look into this.
5) Land for sale west of the Hollywood Sign: CD 4 is still trying to find
out what the property is worth. CD 4 is trying to see if the Mountains
Conservancy can buy it.
Neighbor comment: Lights: Garfield
and Franklin lights need to be calibrated. Also, we need to request speed
bumps on Garfield and on Gramercy.
6) Bulky item problems: Labonge has proposed a new system for handling
bulky items generated by apartments. He
suggests a 2 dollar fee/month to be split by the apartment owner and the
tenant; Each pays 1 dollar a month for the cost of picking up these items.
Also, they need a multi lingual outreach to address the problems.
Missy had comments about a recently passed increase of $30.27 to the rent.
She also now pays a seven dollar check for a
unit fee and rent has just raised sixty dollars a year. Missy feels
that the tenant should not bear the cost of this. Rather, bulky items are
the responsibility of the landlord and should absorb this.
Fran asked how many attendees are renters.
Many hands raised and a promise was made that many of them will
attend hearings before this fee is attached to renters.
Whole Foods:
KC gave Whole Foods update. The Design Meeting went well and he expressed
appreciation for the BOND company and the fact that they are committed to
continuing to dialog with the community. Minutes from this meeting are
available online at our website.
Tony and Anne Maria Harrington will be added to the Design Team. Their
e-mail address is califconn@aol.com.
We will be moving our monthly neighborhood meeting from the Hollywood-Adventist
church on Van Ness to the Gershwin Hotel, located at 5533 Hollywood Blvd.
The next meeting will be on July 6th, starting at 7:00 pm. It's
recommended to walk to the meeting as parking is sparse. If you must
drive, however, please, park in the lot behind the florist.
Coyotes crossing Franklin:
Steven Carthy: A coyote killed his cat in his back yard. Animal control
says that it is rare to see a coyote cross south of Franklin. Everyone should be
aware that the coyotes are getting aggressive and desperate. Steven
circulated info about the statistics of pets, kids and adults being
injured or killed by coyotes. He thinks that there is a big cat in
Griffith Park driving the coyotes down. Erik added that Rec and Park and
Animal Services is very concerned about the Mountain Lion issue. There is
an internal policy which will allow the use of bean bag shootings along
with education. The council
office needs to get letters from neighbors. People should never feed them.
To see more about the danger of Coyotes in urban communities, go to:
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/awm/docs/coyoteattacks.pdf.
Tree Planting on Franklin:
Adam Kear gave an update on his tree planting project. They got matching
funds for trees from Western to Canyon using HUNC name on the application
he prepared. Tree People are also involved. They will get 50 trees
planted. Owners will have to be involved and more info will come regarding
volunteers in the future as well as the tree selection process. The
applications for matching funds reflect many people committed to donating
hours of their time to this project. Good job, Adam!
Half Penny Tax Proposal:
Monica Harmon, Community Activist for public safety shared with us how
Sheriff Baca is proposing a half penny tax for more police. Ten
councilmembers, Mayor Hahn, Police Commissioners, Captain Downing and
Chief Bratton support this tax. It would add 75 officers per precinct.
This is called Public Safety and Homeland Security tax. It can only be
used for public safety. If enough signatures are collected, then this
initiative will be on the ballot in November. She asked that people sign
petitions to get this initiative on the ballot. Many stayed after the
meeting to sign.
Meeting adjourned.
|