Councilmember Eric Garcetti

A Word From Eric

The snow-like hail in Watts turned out to be more trouble than wintry charm, but the cold weather this week nicely heralds the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Call me sentimental, but I still enjoy the dinner-table ritual of gracing the meal with a list of those things for which I am thankful.

My work in CD13 regularly overwhelms me with gratitude: for the engaged community members who work full-time but still devote time to attending or serving on their neighborhood councils, mentoring local young people, organizing neighborhood watches, or meeting with fellow activists or union members. But one group to whom I owe inexpressible thanks, and who rarely receives it in public, is that of the City workers who keep our great city of angels up and running.

A year ago at this time, City workers had just taken something of a beating in public. The divisive secession campaign to split Los Angeles into two or three cities had just been defeated by the voters. For the better part of the year leading up to it, we were flooded with propaganda claiming that City Hall was clogged up like an artery with bureaucratic fat. The hard work of the men and women of the City’s departments was denigrated on a daily basis, even as City unions invented ways to save the City money and coped with staffing shortages due to a hiring freeze that remains in place today, precipitating an average cut of 7% per department.

We voted to stay as one city, in part, I believe, because Angelenos know, at some level, that thousands of City workers perform essential services day in and day out. Certainly, none of the work I do would be possible without them. So as an early Thanksgiving for City workers, I recently hosted a small luncheon for CD13’s "Heroes" – the men and women who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their service to you in the 13^th council district. Here, I’d like to profile just a few of the 32 City stalwarts we honored last week.

Mary Bingham

Mary Bingham, a native of Tuskeegee, Alabama, has worked in the Department of Recreation and Parks for 23 years. As the Griffith District Supervisor, she’s responsible for overseeing recreation, childcare and senior centers at Yucca, Las Palmas and Poinsettia. She also makes sure the mobile recreation van gets out to CD13’s pocket parks, providing crafts and games four days a week for the children who frequent those parks.

Gene Dudley

Gene Dudley is also in the Department of Recreation and Parks, but he doesn’t provide services: he provides parks. Gene is the Director of Real Estate, and he negotiates the treacherous waters of land acquisition. When I ran for office, I swore to increase the number of parks in CD13, and Gene is at the fulcrum of that vision’s realization. Gene has worked for the City as long as Mary, but in a number of departments, including the Community Development Department, the Department of Aging and the Department of Housing as well. He’s a Southern California native, but he came to L.A. after a number of capacities in public service, including a stint with Governor Richard Kneip of South Dakota.

Amanda Montenegro

If you’ve ever had City help with a community special event, Amanda Montenegro was probably involved in it. A nine-year veteran of the General Services Department, Amanda can get you a stage or a sound system, and she can help make a community gathering a real occasion. Amanda immigrated to the United States from Colombia and grew up in CD13 right on Silver Lake Boulevard! Her division is responsible for coordinating 3,000 events a year.

Dave Bermudez with District Director Ana Guerrero

Graffiti is a number-one headache for CD13 residents. I get calls about it every day. On occasion, I even pick up a brush myself to paint it out, but most days, if it involves the north or east sides of CD13, I send the call to Dave Bermudez. We count on Dave and his colleagues at Central City Action Committee to get the call, get in the car, and paint out tags before a neighborhood starts to feel afflicted by graffiti.

Our cd13.com photo gallery has more pictures from our Heroes’ Luncheon, the second one we’ve hosted. Check ‘em out and get to know the people who serve the people of the 13^th Council District. We could never do it alone. And have a great Thanksgiving!

CITY HALL UPDATE:

Public Safety

Last month, I wrote about my proposal for a Comprehensive Public Safety Ballot Measure. The question on the ballot would ask voters to tax themselves to bring our police force up to 10,000 and fund gang intervention programs as well. Recently, Sheriff Lee Baca proposed a similar measure with a ½-cent sales tax. The Sheriff and I are discussing how we can best bring these concerns before voters, and either a City or County measure may appear on the November 2004 ballot. Thank you to those of you who wrote in supporting such a measure!

I joined City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo to announce a gang injunction against the 18^th Street Gang for Hollywood. Gang violence is relatively lower in Hollywood than in other parts of the city, but drug trade is too frequent there. Police have been frustrated by a drug trade that is visible but repeatedly escapes arrest by ditching the evidence; now they have a valuable tool for getting drug dealers off the Boulevard and other Hollywood spots.

Crime statistics for October are in. In both violent crime and total crime, the 13th District bears about 10% less crime per capita than the city as a whole. Next month, I'll look at how that's changed over time.   

Housing

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mercedes Marquez as the new General Manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department. I can’t express how cheered I am by Mercedes’ arrival. As Vice President of housing developer McCormack Baron Salazar, she was key in advancing innovative affordable housing projects like the Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing development on Vine Street. In her confirmation hearing before the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee (which I chair), she spoke passionately about how affordable housing projects, defying commonly held stereotypes, can attract for-profit development, as evidenced by the Lee Group’s recent market-rate investment in Lincoln Heights next to an attractive affordable housing development. She is a compassionate and powerful leader, and I anticipate working closely with her to solve our city’s housing crisis.

Bring LA Home, the Blue Ribbon Panel on Homelessness, met for the first time on November 13th. The panel’s mission is to come up with a ten-year plan for solving homelessness in the County of Los Angeles. I believe this is an ambitious but possible goal, and I look forward to working with the other local elected officials and community leaders on the panel to come up with a real plan. I'm proud to serve as a member on the panel.

That doesn't mean that we will shy away from immediate action. This morning (Tuesday), Council voted on a motion I brought to open 1400 emergency shelter beds for the homeless that have been closed since spring. Spread throughout the city, the beds will ease the extra pain that winter brings for those without shelter.

Economic Development

I recently set up the City's first Small Business Advisory Committee, with the help of Mayor Hahn and Councilmember Wendy Greuel. Wendy and I will co-chair the committee with the mayor, and my colleagues and I will soon appoint local businesspeople and professionals to the committee, which will recommend changes in City policy to make it easier for small, local businesses to contract with the City. SBAC will also take a look at policy changes that can improve the business climate in L.A. for small businesses, which generate 90% of new jobs in Los Angeles. Any ideas? Let me know.

The Community Redevelopment Agency has adopted the "Community Impact Report" for use in staff reports. I championed the report, which was developed by the Growth with Justice Coalition, because I believe that developers and communities too often end up at loggerheads with one another, despite common aims. Early discussion of a project’s impact can invest communities in the result and build allies for projects that bring good jobs and housing. Now it falls to the City Council to develop policy guidelines for developer requirements and thresholds of application. But the process of building our city has acquired more transparency and more sunshine.

Open Space and the Environment

I was pleased to support two strong policies in front of the Planning and Land Use Committee. The first, a revision to the Landscape Ordinance, will reduce wastewater in new housing and commercial developments. Irrigation and planting will be regulated to minimize waste; without these regulations more than 65,000 gallons would be lost annually to the sea in a time of looming water shortage. In the second, amendments to the City’s Oak Tree Protection Ordinance will protect native bay, walnut and sycamore trees, and add civil penalties for their non-permitted removal. Trees make our city much more livable, and we require permits for the removal of mature oaks. This measure adds more tree species and makes the penalties more effective.  John Quigley, the famous tree-sitter who won protection for a centuries-old oak in Santa Clarita by sitting in it for 70 days straight, joined me at the hearing. For Los Angeles to truly grow into a safe, livable, world-class city, we must nurture and guard the great, old trees that enliven our boulevards and protect our air and water.

Neighborhood Empowerment

Graduates of the Leadership Institute with Rigoberta Menchu

Our Grassroots Leadership Academy continues to turn out graduates who are fluent in the language of Getting Things Done. Spanish- and English-language trainings on successive Saturdays in November brought us 35 graduates who know how to organize their neighbors and use their power as Angelenos to get the City working for their neighborhoods. In a rare treat, when we honored the graduates in council, we met up with Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, whose leadership and organizing skills were key in leading her native Guatemala out of civil war and into peace accords in the early 1990s. Do you want to organize a community clean-up or a neighborhood watch? Sign up for the Academy's next Leadership Institute.

Cable

The City is currently engaged in the renewal of its cable franchises. For cable customers in CD13, this means a chance to win better customer service standards as well as enhanced "PEG" access. "PEG" stands for Public, Educational and Governmental, and refers to the services that cable companies provide in exchange for the privilege of using public rights-of-way to run their cable. This includes everything from public access to production facilities to wiring the schools, as well as the city’s own Channel 35. I’m interested in what you have to say. What PEG features do you currently enjoy: do you watch Channel 35 or 36? Have you ever used public production facilities? Would you use a Community Technology Center if one opened in your neighborhood? Let me know your thoughts.

Human Rights

Every once in a while, we need to step back and take a look at the big picture. The Council did just that when it requested an ordinance implementing the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Los Angeles city government. I spoke in favor of an ordinance enacting CEDAW so that we can have a serious look at the way everything from economic development dollars to City hiring practices affects women and girls. The ordinance should come to a vote of the full City Council soon.

Also in the works is the creation of an Office of Immigration. Los Angeles is the economic and cultural nerve center of worldwide migration, and City Hall needs to acknowledge and support that. An Office of Immigration would help connect new Angelenos to the services and information they need to thrive in our City, from wherever they have come. Houston, New York City, and Chicago all have similar offices and it's time for Los Angeles to step up.

Odds and Ends

On the stranger side: While driving into the field office one morning, my district director Ana Guerrero noticed large animal bones on the corner of Sunset and Silver Lake. The exact species could not be discerned, but the presence of a large hoof confirmed that the bones were from an ungulate. Field deputies Arsen Melikyan and Joe Bernardo were immediately dispatched to remove the bones from the scene, and discharged their duties admirably. And one more: The Center for Land Use Interpretation is showing movies shot from the perspectives of a sheep, an armadillo, and a plant. That’s right, a plant.

NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT:

Spotlight on Sidewalks

Who repairs sidewalks? There are 11,500 miles of sidewalk in Los Angeles, and 4,300 of those miles need to be repaired or replaced. By law, sidewalk repair is technically the responsibility of the property owner by that sidewalk, but the city endeavors to repair sidewalks where it can. This year, Los Angeles has funded the repair of 74 miles of sidewalks, down from 118 last year. This leaves us with 4.13 miles funded for repair in CD13, bumped up an additional 1.17 miles funded from federal block grant funds, bringing our total to 5.3 miles of sidewalk slated to be fixed.

It's hardly enough for our dense, weathered district, but we’ve taken full advantage of it. In the first half of the fiscal year, we replaced or repaired sidewalks at:

Atwater Village

Just as our October e-News went to press, the Atwater Park Baptist Church celebrated its 80^th anniversary with a special service. Congratulations!

The bump-out on Glendale Bl. at Madera Ave is completed! The crossing is much safer now, but you still have to look both ways.

Glassell Park

Honoring GPNC

Thank you to everyone who came out for the offsite City Council meeting in Glassell Park! It was a terrific success, with a duet on harp and violin from the Santa Cecilia Orchestra, a sneak preview of English-language Latino TV network Sí TV, and terrific energy and assistance from the students of Washington Irving Middle School, who hosted the affair. We'll post more pictures in our online photo gallery.

The McDonald’s saga continues with success. The Golden Arches had its appeal denied by the East Area Planning Commission. Now it’s time to find a developer who will move the community forward with a progressive, attractive project.

Northeast LAPD continues to proactively enforce the injunction against the Avenues Gang. 76 gang members have been served since April 2003 when the injunction began, and 15 arrests have been made for violations of the injunction.

Neighborhood Champions

CD13 residents Maggie Darrett and Mitch Quiroz were among City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo's "Neighborhood Champions" honored in a sky-high ceremony in City Hall's 26th-floor Tom Bradley room last week. We're honored to have them in our district.

The Bureau of Street Services/Street Use Division impounded an illegal magazine rack at 4000 Eagle Rock Blvd. It takes big steps and little steps together to eradicate blight.

Echo Park and Elysian Valley

The Bureau of Street Services has repaired a broken fence at the end of Harwood which had become an illegal dumping site next to the River. Problem solved!

The Echo Park/Elysian Valley/Silver Lake Community Plan went through a public hearing at the end of October, preceded by an open house event. In January, the plan should go to the East Los Angeles Area Planning Commission for review and comment, and it should hit the full City Planning Commission for approval before spring. The Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee will then hear it, and it will proceed to full Council for adoption.

We've now had 2 community meetings to envision Riverside Drive Park, and working together, we're approaching a strong consensus on the attractive new design of the park. We've begun our application for the State Proposition 40 funds that will allow us to build it; in the meantime, if you'd like to weigh in, please come to one last community meeting on Thursday, December 18, 7:00 PM at Allesandro Elementary School, 2210 Riverside Drive.

Congratulations to the Greater Elysian/Echo Park Neighborhood Council on the 10K/FunRun!

Historic Filipinotown

The revised Streetscape Plan for Hi-Fi (Hi-Fi: Historic Filipinotown – get it?) debuted to an enthusiastic reception last week. Urban design expert Kathy Cerra made proposals focused on gateway identification, pedestrian safety, and opportunity sites. Possibilities include gateway elements at the intersections of Hoover and Temple, Glendale and Temple, and Silver Lake and Temple. Our toolkit includes stamped crosswalks, murals and landscaping; at opportunity sites throughout Hi-Fi, we could place bump outs that might encourage drivers to slow down, murals, landscaping, and bus waiting areas. The Search to Involve Filipino Americans (SIPA) suggested stamping the crosswalks with designs that would symbolize such universal values as family, harmony, and peace. So as you drive down Temple a couple of years from now and you are suddenly overtaken by feelings of peace and harmony, credit the crosswalks! The next meeting will be a community-wide forum on January 21, 7pm at Rosemont Elementary. Interested?

Veteran's Day in Hi-Fi

I was honored to serve as Grand Marshal for the Veteran’s Day Parade in Historic Filipinotown. Filipino and Filipino-American soldiers have served in the U.S. Armed Forces in repeated conflicts, but the former have often been denied the veterans benefits that are their due. My office and the City of Los Angeles have supported efforts to have this injustice recognized and righted.

The Belmont High Community Campus Clean-up and Resource Fair was a thrilling crowd scene, with teachers, students and parents numbering 700 strong. Nice work!

Silver Lake

In the last e-News, I noted the efforts to increase safety around Laurel and Hardy Park. New lights installed by the Bureau of Street Lighting will make the park 150% as bright. Also, with regard to the murder of a young man in that neighborhood, the police have suspects in custody but are continuing the investigation. Recent tagging in the area, I’m told by gang intervention experts, is not so much a harbinger of violent gang activity but is acting-out by ill-mannered youngsters. Just as it's important to intervene with young people before they turn to violent crime, it's important not to let our rightful disgust at the blight of graffiti stoke our fear of violent crime.

The first time I said the words "Descanso Drive" to the General Manager of the Bureau of Street Services, he visibly flinched. Descanso has suffered severe buckling due to out-of-control root systems. Now it’s getting some relief. Five dying and dead carob trees that make the street look like a roller-coaster have been removed, and a community process has determined that they will be replaced with specimens of the magnificent Rusty Fig tree. (The Toog tree enjoyed a flurry of support, but unfortunately is available only in Florida.)

Sunset Junction

Sunset Junction screened at the recent AFI Fest at the Arclight in Hollywood. Congratulations to this CD13 organization, whose efforts in youth advocacy and whose annual street fair were highlighted in the film. It also puts on the Saturday farmer's market in Silver Lake.

Nothing cheers up an empty lot more than a community garden, and soon the Manzanita Community Garden will be producing produce! My deputies Jim Omahen and Glen Dake report that the work weekend turned up more than two dozen willing community gardeners who shaped up the future garden with a new fence and more. Thanks!

Jim makes art

And speaking of Jim, my busy Silver Lake deputy's creative side is on display at the Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock at 2225 Colorado Boulevard! Although it's not in CD13, the exhibit includes some of the local artists that I've exhibited in our Silver Lake and City Hall offices. If you missed Lysa Flores, Jesse Muñoz or Hector Velez in our offices, you have another chance. Call 323-226-1617 for more information; the gallery is open 1 - 6 pm, Monday through Friday.

East Hollywood and Hollywood

You're welcome, little van

 Earlier this month, calls poured into our office regarding an unusually long red light at Melrose and Hoover. While traffic backed up, a sign taped to a parked van encouraged idling commuters to call my office and complain! We were pleased that once the normal timing was restored, a different sign appeared on the van (see photo). Everything’s back to normal, but the Department of Transportation asks me to let you know that Virgil is quicker.

Rainfall kept many people away from Hollywood Boulevard on Halloween this year, but a dozen City officials were on the scene anyway. The combined crews of Building and Safety and LAPD representatives were there to arrest illegal vendors of "silly string". It’s silly at night, but ugly in the morning: this stuff gets washed into our drain systems and pollutes the Santa Monica Bay.

Sunset and Vine is open for business! The Borders bookstore and the Bed Bath and Beyond are open, and Schwab’s Drugstore is coming soon, to be followed by 300 apartments overlooking a newly enlivened Hollywood corner. Developer Larry Bond, along with investor Magic Johnson, have brought to CD13 an urban smart-growth model that will change the way we build in Los Angeles. Parking is free for an hour with validation, too. To keep traffic moving around the building, we’ve re-shaped the Sunday-morning Hollywood Farmer’s Market. Check out the Artisans’ Alley leading you up Cosmo Street – all the crafts that used to be displayed on Selma east of Morningside Court are now there!

The Catalina-Kenmore Neighborhood Association sponsored a great community clean-up. More than three dozen people got up at 8 AM to brighten the pavement, and ended with a pizza party lunch. Thanks!

Marshall Primary Center has broken ground on Westmoreland near Santa Monica. CD13 is a young district getting younger, and we look forward to the opportunities for working parents and their children that the finished center will provide.

Bimini Park is coming soon! I was able to capture an additional $100,000 for completion of the urban eco-park at 2nd Street and Bimini (near 3rd and Vermont) detailed in September’s e-News. Look for a grand opening in early 2004.

The Triplets of Belleville

My moviegoing deputy attended several screenings of international cinema at the AFI Fest and strongly recommends "Beat" Takeshi Kitano’s Dolls and the new French animation The Triplets of Belleville, both of which should have an art-house release soon. While industry types value film festivals as a chance to get out of L.A., AFI and sister festivals IFP West and the Hollywood Film Festival bring cutting-edge cinema straight to Angelenos, and encourage tourism and economic development in the bargain.

UPCOMING EVENTS

As always, see our community calendar for more events.

The City of Los Angeles will sponsor a toy giveaway at Lake Street Park on Saturday, December 20th. If you want to bring a toy or get a toy, let us know.

The Silver Lake Senior Club serves the 50+ population in the community. It’s part of the Department of Recreation and Parks’ Federation of Senior Clubs. The Club has organized free classes provided by LA School District Adult Education as well as Yoga, Tai Chi, Line Dancing, Life Story Writing, painting and crafts. All classes and activities take place at the Silver Lake Recreation Center. All ages are welcomed and all classes take place during the day. The Club also has monthly trips with transportation provided by the Council District. General meetings, held on the 3rd Wednesday of the month at 1 PM, often include presentations by speakers on various topics of interest, such as City Controller Laura Chick. Membership is $5 a year which includes $1 for insurance. For more information on any of the above, please contact Stephanie Vendig at (323) 667-3043 or vendig@sbcglobal.net, or Jeanne Phipps at (323) 664-2681. Upcoming events:

• Dec 17th - Gourmet Potluck
• Jan 21st - Speakers on "Making Sense of Medicare"

A community meeting to envision the new Middlebury Park in East Hollywood will take place December 11 at Dayton Heights Elementary School at 607 N. Westmoreland Ave.

Free Cash for College Day was on November 12, but you can still find out more! Call the Free Cash for College hotline at 213-482-9847 or go to www.lafreecashforcollege.org to learn how to claim the CalGrant that could launch your or your child’s college career.

CD13 did not invent the Internet (Newsletter), no matter what you might hear. Visit LADWP’s newsletter.

In cooperation with our office, the office of Councilmember Ed Reyes and the Echo Park Community Action Committee, the Department of Transportation invites you to an open house to view traffic calming proposals for your neighborhood streets. The project area is south of Brandon St, north of Beverly Blvd, east of Silver Lake Blvd, and west of Beaudry Ave. The project objectives are to reduce peak-hour traffic, and enhance pedestrian safety and the neighborhood environment. There is no formal presentation, so feel free to stop by any time during the scheduled hours. December 10th from 6 pm to 8 pm at Echo Park Library, Temple and Douglas.

Street resurfacing continues! In the next few weeks, expect to see gleaming new asphalt on:

• Wilton Place, between Sunset Blvd. and Fountain Ave.
• Bonnie Brae St., between Beverly Blvd. and 3rd St.
• Lowe St., between Blimp and Queen St.

The Lunar New Year parade will be held in Thai Town on February 1^st. Is the November e-News too early for Groundhog’s Day announcements? Nah.

CONTACT US

Tell us what you think. ..... garcetti@council.lacity.org

Councilmember Eric Garcetti represents the Thirteenth Council District which includes all or part of the communities of Glassell Park, Atwater Village, Elysian Valley, Echo Park, Historic Filipinotown, Silver Lake, East Hollywood and Hollywood.

Councilmember Garcetti serves as Assistant President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council. He chairs the Council‘s Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee, is the Vice-Chair of the Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee, and sits on the Information Technology and General Services and Budget and Finance Committees. He also sits on the Council‘s Ad Hoc Stadium Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Los Angeles River.

Councilmember Garcetti and his staff can be reached via e-mail at garcetti@council.lacity.org or by mail or phone at City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Room 470, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 473 7013 and 3525 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026, 323/913-4693.

www.cd13.com