Volume 3, Number 3 * April 2005 * www.cd13.com Check out my new homepage! I've got a new look and a weblog, or blog. E-news items will appear throughout the month on my Council-blog, so return frequently for news from your neighborhood and the rest of CD13. Monthly updates via e-news will continue, of course. IN THIS ISSUE A Word From Eric CITY HALL UPDATE: Public Safety Budget Housing Economic Development Open Space and the Environment Neighborhood Empowerment Cable and Technology Human Rights NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT: Atwater Village Glassell Park Elysian Valley Echo Park Historic Filipinotown Silver Lake East Hollywood Hollywood UPCOMING EVENTS CONTACT US Councilmember Eric Garcetti A Word From Eric If you know one thing about me, you know that I strongly believe that government can be a force for good in people's lives. Foes of government paint it as an anonymous, bureaucratic force that takes away people's ability to act. Having seen my share of bureaucracy, I understand that sometimes government has to get out of the way.  But more often than not, government should, can, and must help us live better lives. I believe that at the root of any success we achieve in government is a simple, powerful axiom: individuals truly can change the world. I'm not talking solely about the people who work in government: previous e-news letters have dwelt on the folks I like to call CD13's “heroes”. I'm talking about the individuals I meet through this terrific job who convince me that hope is stronger than despair, and that one person can make a difference for good. Sometimes it's hard to see at the end of the day; sometimes it takes until the end of the week, or the year, for change to be perceptible. But hope wins, and change happens. Joe LaMuraglia contacted my office with a simple question. He'd read that I had helped expand the city's Equal Benefits Ordinance, and that contractors with the city were now required to provide the exact same benefits to their employees' domestic partners as they did to their employees' married partners, no more, no less. But he worked for Nissan, which does business with the Department of Water and Power. Did the ordinance apply to him and his partner? When he contacted me, they weren't covered by the EBO. The three “proprietary departments”—DWP, Los Angeles World Airports, and the Port of Los Angeles—operate on their own and don't have to follow the policies that the council chooses for the rest of city government unless they choose to.  With Joe's instructive example and the help of Mayor Hahn's office, we persuaded each of the proprietaries' appointed commissions to adopt the Equal Benefits Ordinance. Because Joe stepped forward, change came sooner rather than later: when Nissan extends or modifies its contract with ratepayers, Joe's partner will get health benefits, as will many other partners of contractors' employees. And the underlying message of social justice, that people shouldn't be denied health care because of who and how they love, will be sent to hundreds more corporations with global reach. Roberto Haraldson and Ken Zavana haven't met, but together they helped bring about a big change in the way cable service is offered in Los Angeles. At the same time that Roberto was developing the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council's position that “lifeline” cable service should be offered for low-income families and seniors on fixed incomes, Ken was working with my office to find a way for his mother, a senior citizen in Atwater Village, to get basic cable service with having paying for Adelphia's relatively robust entry-level package. When an opportunity to negotiate with Adelphia over rates arose, the city was faced with the option of a getting a cash rebate—which the company could charge right back to ratepayers—or introducing a “skinny basic” rate similar to Roberto and Ken's lifeline ideas. I recommended to city officials that they pursue the lower basic rate. Earlier this year, Adelphia made a $12/month cable rate available, not just to seniors but to its entire subscriber base. Candida Perez and Carmen Pirada are two women who saw what their neighborhoods could be and changed them. Without Candida, Lake Street Park would never have happened. She proposed it to my predecessor and while working two jobs and raising kids, lobbied for funding, attended night meetings, and fought for the park down to specific elements of the design. Carmen, also a working mom, fought to create Madison West Park out of what would have remained a vacant lot. My desire for new parks is well-known. But it's a lot easier to make the pieces fall into place when constituents as serious about their communities as Candida and Carmen are pushing for change. Sometimes landmarks in a life allow us to look back on its works. Ron Emler passed away last month, and a memorial luncheon held by his friends in Echo Park demonstrated without qualifiers that one person can make a difference. The neighborhood would simply not have been what it is today without Ron. In addition to helping found the Echo Park Historical Society and the neighborhood's Improvement Association, Ron planted trees, picked up garbage, and, I'm told, once staged an opera outside his front door. His book Ghosts of Echo Park was the chronicle that such a great neighborhood deserved. I've consulted my own copy, sometimes in preparation for an evening meeting. The riches of Ron's heart were magnified in the treasure trove he found in Echo Park, the neighborhood in which he spent most of his life. Change doesn't come automatically; the “winds of change” are not like the weather. Sometimes it comes from years of work. Sometimes it comes from being in the right place at the right time and believing in your own voice. I'm proud to be able to see change, and the people who make it, at work every day. The e-news is full of people in addition to the three above who have changed their neighborhood, their city and the world. CITY HALL UPDATE: Public Safety Farewell bash Captain Michael Downing, now Commander Downing, came to Hollywood in July of 1999, and this month, just shy of six years later, he bids us farewell. Few officers of the peace have ever had a task quite like policing Hollywood. As the Commanding Officer of the Hollywood Division, Capt. Downing rose to the challenge and left Hollywood a different, better place. He understood that public safety went hand in hand with economic development; he recognized that a thriving, safe nightlife would bring the kind of investment that brings day-life too. Policing the most diverse neighborhoods in Los Angeles (and probably in the world as well), he was known in Hollywood and beyond as acutely sensitive to the needs of the community he protected and served. As Assistant Commanding Officer, Operations-South Bureau, he will oversee and serve nearly four times as many officers and residents. I know that he's up to the challenge. Captain Beck As if that weren't enough, we also learned that Captain Charlie Beck would be leaving Rampart Division at the same time. In Captain Beck's tenure leading Rampart Division, he helped restore the sheen to the division after it had been tarnished in the scandals of the late nineties. A faithful partner not only to my office but to the whole community, Captain Beck oversaw a dramatic decrease in crime throughout his division and led the turnaround of MacArthur Park. He has been instrumental in getting UNTAG up and running in CD13, and deserves credit for the attendant drop in graffiti. He has been an innovator in policing, most recently by helping develop policy and procedures around the use of cameras; as he explained it at the installation of safety cameras at Lake Street Park, "My father was a police officer before patrol cars had radios. He had to return to the station to be dispatched to the scene of a crime. Like radios before them, cameras will transform our ability to protect and serve the public." Welcoming Sanchez (far left) with Mayor Johnny Grant, Downing, and Bratton Meanwhile, Hollywood is pleased to welcome Captain Ron Sanchez, an LAPD veteran approaching his thirtieth year of service. Rampart Division will say hello to Captain Debra McCarthy, who has been with the force since 1988. Next month, we'll have an opportunity to look at our new captains' plans. In the meantime, we're proud to have them with us. Also: LAPD forwards us this chart from State Farm showing the ten cars most likely to get stolen. Is your car on the list? Budget Today is the second day of hearings in the Budget and Finance committee for the FY2005-6 city budget. I am impressed by the Mayor's budget this year. While there are always revisions and tweaks that come up in April's series of arduous committee and full council hearings, the Mayor has proposed big increases in police and fire services, recreation and parks, and animal services. The budget reflects a rebounding economy and reduced costs for the city (for instance, we reduced our workers compensation costs by some $17 million!). Check back at www.cd13.com for updates. Housing courtesy of m2a-architects.com. Sneak preview: Views at 270, the who'da-thunk-it housing development atop a Walgreen's, is opening this week! My thanks go out to Bill Harris and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation for continuing to surge ahead in solving the housing crisis, 56 units at a time (in this case). You can also see HCHC at work in the Palomar Hotel project (see East Hollywood). Economic Development Healthcare graduation at Kaiser Woodland Hills While the city budget is the biggest fiscal project that we undertake every year, it's not the only money we're responsible for. The Workforce Investment Board's Annual Plan has been developed by the city-appointed board and the Community Development Department, and it will soon come to the council. It was with this budget (three years ago as high as $120 million but nearly cut in half since then with federal cuts) that we developed the $3 million Healthcare Career Ladder, which has placed 200 students in much-needed medical positions since the Metropolitan Alliance, SEIU, workforce development professionals and my office designed the program. Open Space and the Environment 1,000 on the ice For Earth Day, I flew with Global Green to Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada, to raise awareness about global warming and its effects on Los Angeles and on the arctic north. Just under the arctic circle, Iqaluit has about 6,000 residents, most native Inuit. With a delegation of business executives, climate scientists, actor-environmentalists Salma Hayek and Jake Gyllenhaal, myself and Assemblymember Joe Nation, we took to the polar ice cap with about 1,000 locals to create a piece of art called "Arctic Warning" designed by a local Inuit artist and implemented with the help of John Quigley.      The north and south poles of our planet act as filters for much of the earth's pollution, which washes out to our oceans and eventually makes its way up to the north via ocean currents. There, the pollution lodges in the fatty tissues of marine mammals that form the core of the Inuit diet in many places. Now, as a result, many Inuit can no longer breast feed their children. At the same time, the polar ice caps are melting away due to global warming, at a rate that will see them disappear entirely by the year 2080. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, the elected chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, put their struggle to survive best when she said, "We are not looking for saviors. We are looking for allies."      Our environmental goals in Los Angeles, like trying to move away from consuming coal and other fossil fuel and building up our Renewable Portfolio Standard of green energy at the Department of Water and Power, can help turn this crisis around. The ill effects of our actions are more subtle in Los Angeles (we see it in smog, in asthma) but what we see in the north is deeply connected to the problems we face at home. Salma Hayek, who speaks powerfully about climate change, added that we are not trying to save the planet, as the planet will long outlast any of us. We are trying to save ourselves. Free parking for hybrids The six-month pilot program offering hybrid vehicles free parking at city meters is still in effect and will be until May 31, 2005—at which time I hope to make it permanent, pending a report from city staff on its effectiveness. Remember, hybrid drivers: the time limits still apply. May 1st through 7th will be National Composting Week. The City of Los Angeles officially supports composting and can help you get started. Composting is enlightened self-interest at its best: not only do you prevent our landfills from filling up, you get free nutrient-rich soil for your home garden or potted plants. Mr. Peterson's centenary We celebrated in Council Chambers the centenary of Ed Peterson, founding board member of the Theodore Payne Society. Mr. Peterson, a UCLA grad and Hollywood native helped create the Wild Seed Collection program at the foundation, which is dedicated to the protection and appreciation of California's wildflowers. Legislative Analyst John Wickham, also pictured, is the president of the Society. Neighborhood Empowerment I see the expansion of the DASH network as one of the key answers to our transportation crisis. It’s viable, it’s cost-effective, and—here's the challenging part for us in CD13—the competition for new routes is keen. We’re avidly seeking new routes in the neighborhoods. Routes are under consideration, and the Department of Transportation will soon issue recommendations with a goal to create ten new or restructured routes over the next ten years. I lobbied my colleagues on the council's Transportation Committee earlier this week on behalf of proposed lines that would serve Glassell Park, Elysian Valley, and Silver Lake.  I know that there are not yet enough funds in place for these lines, but we will keep fighting to find the funds in the coming years to make these lines a reality. Cable and Technology Many readers will know how to access city council agendas online, and a few of you probably know how to track the progress of an individual item using the Council File Index. But there are—or were—pages of information related to every item in the form of staff reports that could not be accessed by any means other than coming downtown to the Clerk's office. Since taking office, I have sought to make those staff reports available electronically, not just inside City Hall but to the public at large. Now, if you pull up any City Council or Committee agenda online at the city's website, each agenda item appears with a hyperlink that brings up the actual documents online. It's still on a go forward basis, but now you can review the agenda at home, and, if an item piques your curiousity, you can click and read the staff reports as .pdfs. Here's an example: for agenda item 15 from Tuesday April 12th's council agenda, here is the original motion followed by the legislative analysis. (.pdf links) Human Rights Rocky, Allana and me We said farewell to Alanna Bowman, a longtime activist who made us more aware of and more responsive to the crisis of domestic violence. She headed up the City Attorney’s domestic violence unit, the first in the United States. She became a national spokesperson on violence against women, and now she has become an international spokesperson! She left Los Angeles to consult for the United Nations in New Zealand for a coalition of domestic violence shelters. She asks Los Angeles to take note: in New Zealand, a question which every governmental agency is asked in its performance assesments is What are you doing for women and girls in your agency? Solidarity in Century City I attended the Banquet in the Streets put on by Local 11 of UNITE HERE to call attention to the fight for justice in Los Angeles' hospitality industry. The workers of L.A.'s hotels have called a boycott until the companies sign a fair contract that protects wages and health insurance and allows the union to bargain with a national voice—which seems right, considering that the companies they are bargaining with are no longer local businesses but are multinational names. At the banquet, supporters dined in the middle of the street outside the Century Plaza Hotel as a group of workers, organizers and supporters served salad and sparkling cider. It was a unique and festive alternative to the picket line. Support the boycott! NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT: Atwater Village Union Pacific Railways has completed the installation of approximately 300' of chain-link fencing along Casitas Avenue south of the 2 Freeway support column. CD13 and the Atwater Village community are very appreciative; since the installation, no homeless encampments have been set up under the freeway. The Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce sends word of a new gallery opening in Atwater. Black Maria, dedicated to non-mainstream and underground art, will open on May 7 at 3137 Glendale Boulevard. The gallery will focus on "works that reverberate with the shock of the content—not in a gratuitous sense, but in a way that initiates wonderment, self-reflection, and, ultimately, a measure of enlightenment,” according to proprietor Zara Zeitountsian. A group show featuring recent works by Los Angeles artists Thomas Lee Bakofsky, Frieda Gosset, Sophia Gasparian, Sam Saghatelian, Mark Todd, Jaime Zollars, Jeff Morgan & Loraine Villarreal and Esther Pearl Watson will inaugurate the space. The gallery will be open Tuesday through Friday from 12 to 6 PM and Saturday from 7 to 11 PM. For more information, call (818)613-9090. FAV Board Members at Ranch Market Friends of Atwater Village has cleaned up this town: With assistance from about 35 members of the MTA Metro Clean crews, a team of about 10 from Clean and Green, the Bureau of Sanitation Bulky Item Truck, those famous graffiti-eradicators the Hollywood Beautification Team, 12 members of the Sunrise Rotary, 8 students from Marshall High School, several members of the Teen Club from the Chevy Chase Rec Center and their own dedicated hard core of residents, the Friends picked up trash and cleaned Glendale Boulevard. Also, Luis Lopez writes in: Friends of Atwater Village would like to take the opportunity to thank Cold Stone Creamery for choosing our neighborhood volunteer group to be a part of their Grand Opening fund raiser. The fund raiser was a great success and over $400.00 was raised during the March 17th event. In other FAV news, they won support this month from the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council to name the pocket park area at Glendale and Ferncroft the "Red Car River Park". Glassell Park The first pitch We awarded the Northeast Little League Opening Day game ball to Rene Medina, who has been involved with the league since its conception. He started out small but he's now in the junior league.    A fond farewell to Alonzo Calderon from the Glassell Park Improvement Association. He has sold his house in Glassell Park and is moving to San Bernardino. George Brauckman will now be the solo president of GPIA. Alonzo was the Johnny Appleseed of Glassell Park, planting more than 100 trees in his day.   It's not Chavez Ravine, but Baseball Opening Day in our CD13 recreation centers promises to be exciting. On Saturday, April 30th, you can attend festivities at either Bellevue or Glassell Recreation Centers. Glassell starts at 9 am and is open to all ages; Bellevue starts at 10 am and is for children from 5 to 12 years old. For more information, contact Nicole at Bellevue at (323) 664-2468 or Ramon at Glassell at (323) 257-1863. Elysian Valley Who says the city can't work with the county? The L.A. County Public Works department has allocated money to put parks at each of the streets that dead end at the Los Angeles River in Elysian Valley. The County owns the flood control land, and led by Supervisor Gloria Molina, they've consented to develop it in keeping with Elysian Valley's appreciation for the L.A. River. Newell Street, Harwood Street, Shoredale Street, Duvall Street will all see little entryway pocket parks. And many of you have already visited Meadowvale Park, an independent project opened with help from Tree People last year. A warm welcome from the teens I had an excellent visit with the Elysian Valley Teen Club on April 5th. Monica Munoz of the Recreation Center put together the group. We spoke about getting involved in your community, the history of Elysian Valley (did you know Marilyn Monroe went to school at Dorris Place Elementary?) and issues that affect young people. They had a lot on their minds; it was a good conversation, with lots of questions from the Club.   Another challenging audience: I spoke to sixth grade students at Allesandro Elementary School during Annual Career Day. They asked me whether I like my job (yes), what I do every day (read the e-news, it's all in here!), and how much I work every week (three council sessions plus two to four committee hearings plus district office hours plus constituent meetings plus, plus, plus…) After meeting the class, I think there are at least two of them who may run for City Council in 2009. They'll be tenth graders by election time. One member of the class asked me if I could get speed bumps for her street, but since she lives in Sun Valley I sent her to Councilmember Cardenas, who is on the case. The fact that she lives in Sun Valley but goes to school miles away in Elysian Valley is a good argument to keep building more neighborhood schools! Echo Park Support for Echo Park I reported last month on the announcement that Nike would donate $50,000 for improvements to Echo Park. They presented the (outsize novelty) check in a ceremony by the lake and then the whole crowd stuck around to clean up the play area around the lake, too. Thanks to Nike, inlcuding Echo Park resident and Nike employee Celeste Allene, for the contribution (which does not portend the installation of a giant swoosh) and thanks to Mark Mariscal and General Manager Jon Kirk Mukri from the Department of Recreation and Parks as well.   During the winter rains, many of you saw the article in the Los Angeles Times about the mudslide on Landa Street; as Street Services explained in the article, it was not safe to immediately sweep up the debris. Geotech crews who investigated the site during the rainstorm felt that too hasty a cleanup might compromise the hillside and the property above. We stayed on the case and got the slide cleared up without moving unstable soil. The unprecedented rain delayed the resurfacing of nearby Landa Street until June. Resurfacing steep hillside streets is always challenging, even moreso when the soil is water-logged. We organized a walk-through with residents of Landa Street and Street Services engineers in April to explain the process to everyone.   Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park just keeps getting nicer: Trees have been planted outside Jensen’s Recreational Building. The public trash cans on Sunset Boulevard have regular schedules for emptying and the lots are getting cleaned more often. With some help from CD13, the the Sunset Boulevard Central City Beautification Team has taken off! Central City Action Committee youth are now emptying the decorative trash cans along Sunset every Monday and Thursday. Look out for bright red T-shirts with the Beautification team's logo. We're going to seek additional funds to support the creation of new jobs in addition to the steady improvement of Echo Park.  A Temporary Outpost in Echo Park You  may have noticed strange goings-on next to the car wash. Hosted by Julie Deamer's Outpost for Contemporary Art, the construction and events are the work of Temporary Services, an art collaborative that has taken over the empty lot (with the permission of the property owner, of course). Events and construction will take place every day from 11 am to 6 pm, at which point Temporary Services will vacate the lot—like the Girl Scouts, having left only footprints and taken only pictures.  Historic Filipinotown My thanks go to the Hi-Fi Improvement Association for co-sponsoring a clean-up with my office earlier this month. We picked up 30 bags of trash with help from  Mike Parker, Gary Gamponia, Joselyn Geaga-Rosenthal, Francis Verdote, Teresita Dery, and Aquilina Soriano.   A warm CD13 welcome goes out to the Tribal Café, newly installed on Temple at Union Street and hopefully portending the neighborhood renaissance in front of Hi-Fi. The current art exhibit up features works by Augustin, Alfie, and Flow and the management is looking for new artists. The Tribal also got a shout-out in Laist.com, who reported that the new coffeeshop has roots in the Onyx Cafe, an historic CD13/CD4 institution. I introduced legislation to put the city on record in favor of L.A.-area U.S. Representative Juanita Millender-McDonald's bill to provide veteran's benefits for the Filipino soldiers who fought for the United States in World War II. There are more than 12,000 Filipino veterans living in California, and 46,000 in the Philippines. Justice has been delayed for these veterans, who fought side-by-side with U.S. soldiers. The Filipino-American Veterans Research Center has more information. Silver Lake Silver Lake Beautification Day is this Saturday, April 30th. Meet at Laurel and Hardy Park (Vendome, south of Sunset) at 8:30 am. Work gloves will be provided. Thanks to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council and the Silver Lake Improvement Association for putting it together! More coverage in the Silverlake News. Cecilia Rasmussen reported on Silver Lake's history in her weekly L.A. Times column. Did you know that the reservoir isn't silver because of its color? It's named after former City Council President Herman Silver. The Police Commission came to Silver Lake to talk about the falling crime level. At the same time, Being Alive, the HIV action and services coalition run by and for people with HIV/AIDS held its annual town meeting. Being Alive is moving back to Silver Lake! Its office was originally where Cliff’s Edge is today. They are moving back to better serve their Eastside client base, but hanging on to their West Hollywood location.   A warm welcome from the teens Accompanied by Clay Allen's ukulele strains, I joined representatives from Sunset Junction, the Neighborhood Council,  and Micheltorena School's student government to move the symbolic first shovelfuls of earth at the Sunset Triangle Park, kicking off the installation of a brand new irrigation system and other improvements to a small park with a big part in the community’s life. Helen Lessick, Kathy Cerra and others played a big part in the community-driven design process which, along with the federal grant of $95,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds and $7500 from our office’s limited discretionary funds, will result in better street crossings, new grass, seating boulders and, in a future phase, the potential expansion of the park's footprint. (If you've read about the park before in the e-news, you may be thinking of this episode...Mildred P. Flaggerty's bedpan plaque remains.) Uke, kids, fountain... East Hollywood Children's Hospital With a $66,338 grant from the third phase of voter-approved Proposition K, Children's Hospital has completed their LA Child Development Center playground. This is the fourteenth new park that has opened in CD13 since the beginning of my term in office. The Melrose Hill Neighborhood Association has completed its impressive Neighborhood Matching Fund project. Not only did they landscape of the CalTrans sound wall by Melrose Hill with 3 California Live Oak trees, 25 Bougainvillea and other wall vines, planting, staking and tying 39 city street trees in two planting Saturdays, they had trees (and energy) left over to plant 19 street trees on Sierra Vista which previously had not a single street tree, 7 street trees near Lemon Grove Park and 9 new street trees in the Melrose Hill Historic District. Special thanks go to Ed and Martha Hunt and Tina Farash. Blessings at Thai Fest Kurt Holtzclaw sent in this photo from the Thai New Year's celebration earlier this month. In it, festival planning committee member Prakas Yenbamroong pours water over my palms and those of Councilmember Wendy Greuel as part of the traditional water blessing ceremony. Also pictured is Pastor James Croon. I welcomed Kynna Wright, the new executive director of the Bresee foundation. Ms. Wright comes to us from UCLA where she was the Associate Director of the Vivian Weinstein Child Advocacy & Leadership program. Her professional interest in pediatrics and especially HIV/AIDS has been fueled by a passion for young people that will make her a strong leader of one of my favorite CD13 institutions. Have you been to the wi-fi pocket park that we built together? Tough Q's from the kids Joining Mayor Hahn, I visited the Pilibos School, an Armenian private school. The students were very well prepared for our visit, armed with sharp questions before which many elected officials might have withered. I think the Mayor and I held up, though. The Lemon Grove Park Advisory Board received a powerful training last month from Monica Resendes, a city Recreation and Parks official who introduced the board members to the fine art of advocating for your neighborhood park.   The Franklin Briles House Did you know that the members of the Cultural Heritage Commission were street-stalking crime-stoppers? On a tour of properties recently nominated to the list of Historic and Cultural Monuments, the Commission, its staff and neighborhood activists like Rita Stafford from the Catalina-Kenmore group found themselves in front of an illegal demolition at the Franklin Briles Residence at 151 N. Berendo, an elegant example of Mediterranean Revival with Prairie Style influence. On top of the house was a demolition crew, knocking down the chimney and tearing up the roof! The Commissioners recognized that this was in violation of at least two laws: nominated properties must stay any demolition work until approved, and the house also falls in the Station Neighborhood Area Plan which prohibits demolition until construction plans are found to comply with the areas rules for transit-friendly development that takes advantage of the nearby Red Line stop. Luckily, an inspector from the Department of Building and Safety was found nearby and issued a stop-work order on the spot. Now the owner has hired a consultant to work with the Cultural Heritage staff to restore the building, and I have asked the City Attorney to explore sanctions against the scofflaw owner. Leron Gubler from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has been steady at the helm of efforts to form the East Hollywood Business Improvement District. The end should be in sight, with only a few more steps to go before the election. If it passes, businesses and residents along the Vermont Corridor will see regular street cleaning as part of the BID's management plan. Call or email Josh Kamensky in my office with questions about the BID's boundaries, activities or process.   The Children’s Bureau celebrated 100 years of service this year. That's a century of parenting education, help for abused and neglected children, and wide-ranging community support such as tenant's rights workshops and other vital services. Hollywood Are Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit? The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has released their Mature Market Directory, a guide to "hotels, attractions and fun things to do for Senior Groups" in Hollywood. Recommended tours include Architecture Tours L.A., a guided tour of the Kodak Theater, and—you guessed it—Hollywood Forever Cemetery. For more information, call the Chamber at (323) 469-8311. Great news for families seeking preschool and day care services in the Hollywood area. The Delaney Wright Fine Arts Preschool has recently opened at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Hollywood, at 6125 Gower Street. The preschool currently has openings for children from 2 to 6 years old. It is open Monday through Friday from 6:30am to 6:00pm, and offers full and part time schedules. The school placed strong emphasis on the arts. A summer program is available, which culminates with a production in which all children participate. This summer, the children attending the preschool will present “Peter and the Wolf.” If you would like more information, please call Shelley Acton, the director, at (323) 871-2470 or e-mail her at fineartspreschool@sbcglobal.net. Rising from ashes I have written previously about one of the most harrowing days in my life as a Councilmember: the Palomar fire that left Luis Galindo and his two children without a wife and mother. We acted quickly after the fire to seize some hope from the ruins of the building, and Hollywood Community Housing Corporation has undertaken the project of turning the Palomar's burnt shell into an affordable housing project. The finished project will feature 27 units of affordable housing, a sorely needed addition. Bill Harris, HCHC's executive director, sent this picture along. Progress! On a lighter note, Paula Abdul and I met at Ryan Seacrest's Hollywood Star ceremony, where she was warm, encouraging and solicitous of my performance thus far as a city councilmember, and, hypothetically, as a singer. She thought my performance so far has some promise.   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

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