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Volume 3, Number 5 * Early June 2005 * www.cd13.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT:
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Councilmember
Eric Garcetti |
A Word From Eric
There were certainly bigger changes swirling through our city government last month. However, with little ado, standing in my office on the fourth floor of City Hall on a Friday afternoon, I had the honor of raising my right hand and repeating the oath of office as administered to me by City Clerk Frank Martinez. I inscribed my name in the Oath Book for the second time, and was sworn in to office for my second term of City Councilmember, 13th District, City of Los Angeles, California.
Friday's Council meetings offer us an opportunity to honor great work done by members of the community. Local heroes and marching bands, performing artists and youth groups have all taken turns in front of the assembled councilmembers to receive the recognition that is their rightful due. For me, one of the most remarkable pleasures of serving on the city council comes in the opportunity to showcase the work that goes on every day, under the radar. And one of the opportunities afforded by the e-news is to show you even a sample of the folks who we bring before the council.
From left: Lewis MacAdams, Ed Reyes, Maria Lopez, me | After the success of La Gran Limpieza (the L.A. River clean-up), it was a good time to honor the people who have dedicated their careers and lives to improving it. Maria Lopez represents All Things River when it comes to L.A. County government: as the Los Angeles River Master Plan project manager since 2000, she has led the way on bracketing the river's concrete embankments in bright, leafy green. She's developed signage and landscaping guidelines for the river and she's developed a reputation for bringing groups into the process, a vital characteristic for a government project leader.
Gloria Stevenson-Clark, family and friends | Gloria Stevenson-Clark is someone I met shortly after I took office, and she had been an important ally of the people of the 13th Council District and all of Los Angeles for many more years. In the Community Development Department, where she recently retired as an assistant general manager, Gloria designed the L.A. Bridges program that has guided so many young people away from gangs. She's also mentored countless public servants in the department. She will be sorely missed by CDD, but her effect will continue to resonate among the leaders she inspired. At the council presentation, I introduced her boss, CDD General Manager Clifford Graves, by wondering aloud just how he could possible be smiling when Gloria was leaving. His response: “I'm smiling because I have Gloria's phone number programmed into my phone.”
Remembering Raitt | We often adjourn council meetings in memory of district residents or notable figures who have passed away. When Broadway legend John Raitt passed away earlier this year, we made a formal tribute. On Friday, his widow Rosemary, his stepdaughter Sally Lokey and his good friend Paul Gleason joined us in council chambers. (Paul runs the American Center for Music and Theater out of the John Raitt Theater on Hollywood Boulevard.) At the end of the meeting, I made one last presentation in his honor, and his family and friend each made a small tribute. We closed by having our audio technician play “Soliloquy” from Carousel, the first show Raitt starred in on Broadway.
We received many responses to yesterday's urgent blast about the strike. Some of you asked how I could work to bring business and workers together in Los Angeles. Glad you asked! One of my most important initiatives has been the creation of a Healthcare Career Ladder with the participation of unions, hospital employers, and community groups. Through this program, almost 400 workers have taken classes, enhancing their job skills and helping them go from dead-end jobs to real careers. There's no question that we are stronger together.
One e-news reader asked for public transportation routes to the picket lines at the Hyatt. The 304 bus runs along Sunset Boulevard in Echo Park and Silver Lake and switches to Santa Monica Boulevard to head west. If you get off at Sweetzer in West Hollywood, you're a short walk from the Hyatt. For other points of origin, check out www.mta.net and use 8401 W. Sunset Blvd as your destination point. (And check back at www.supportlahotelworkers.com to see if there are picket lines at other hotels).
NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT: Atwater Village
Printed crosswalks for Atwater | Why did the chicken cross the road? Maybe to try out the new crosswalks on the Glendale Boulevard project in Atwater Village, which is moving right along. The Bureau of Street Services (we call it the BOSS) has begun to install the first of 21 duratherm crosswalks, starting at Seneca and ending just before Ferncroft. Each of the 21 crossings will get a crosswalk that looks like the one in the picture. The ones that cross Glendale Boulevard itself will probably be done at night to minimize the traffic impact, but you will see some signs up and some temporary lane closures while the work is in progress. What’s more important is that when the work is finished, you’ll see a shining new pedestrian-friendly Glendale Boulevard.
FOAV & friends on Clean Up Day | Friends of Atwater Village has been busy!
- With assistance from about 35 members of the MTA Metro Clean crews, a team of about 10 from Clean and Green, the Bureau of Sanitization 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. They even came back less than a month later to launch a mini-clean-up starting at coffee newcomer Creative Grounds. (Which, by the way, is steaming up the coffee scene in Atwater Village, thanks to entrepreneur Carey Dunn.)
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Big and blue | They worked with Rafael Escamilla, who painted this beautiful mural of a blue heron on the Hyperion Bridge near Ferncroft. It’s pretty astounding work and it looks even better (and bluer) in person.
- They were chosen by Cold Stone Creamery as the neighborhood volunteer group beneficiary of their Grand Opening fundraiser. The fundraiser was a great success and over $400.00 was raised at the March 17th event.
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.
Glassell Park
Home Depot has purchased the lease that K-mart held on San Fernando Road, and they've expressed an interest in developing a big-box format store at that location. However, the interim control ordinance now in place requires them to make design choices more in keeping with the pedestrian-friendly vision that many of you have spoken about with regards to the Fletcher/San Fernando area. I've asked the developers to meet with the affected neighborhood councils (Glassell Park and Atwater Village). What do you want to see there? Speak up! To find out about community meetings, please contact Field Representative Christina Ortega.
On Tuesday night, August 2nd, Glassell Park will play host to our own home-grown version of National Night Out. This night will celebrate our community and bring residents together in unity. This year we will be marching from 2 locations and meeting for a celebration. One march will begin at Glassell Park Elementary School and the other will begin at Juntos Park. The two marches will meet at the Recreation Center for a celebration.
The Glassell Park Improvement Association's meeting at the Recreation Center was well-attended. Presentations in English and Spanish were given on various activities for our youth ranging from Anahuak Soccer to ballet. And my Deputy District Director Mitch O'Farrell gave a terrific boost to the Santa Cecilia Orchestra.
Elysian Valley
I joined the Pacific American Volunteer Association (PAVA) at the Fletcher Drive river crossing to once again clean up the Los Angeles River in La Gran Limpieza. Thanks to the hundreds of volunteers who showed up! Our city's history is bound to the river's path and its movements. Taking care of it is fun, it's ecological good sense, and it represents a profound and necessary shift in attitudes: turning back to the river after we've turned our backs to it for so long a time.
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. Thanks, Gloria! We appreciate your support for the community.
The bus shelters keep popping up! We were able to secure the installation of three more for Riverside Drive. The new shelters are at Fletcher, Gilroy, and Dorris Place.
Echo Park
An Outpost on the edge of town | You may have noticed strange goings-on next to the car wash in May. Hosted by Julie Deamer's Outpost for Contemporary Art, the construction and events, now removed, were the work of Temporary Services, an art collaborative that took over the empty lot (with the permission of the property owner, of course). After two weeks of daily events and somewhat haphazard (but safe) construction, Temporary Services vacated the lot—like the Girl Scouts, leaving only footprints and having taken only pictures.
Thank you to the property owner on Echo Park Avenue who voluntarily removed the nuisance pay phone from out in front. Residents have complained about the abundance of pay phones for years, but when they are on private property, they are hard to get rid of. My staff worked with the property owner and brought the nuisance element to his attention.
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.
Historic Filipinotown
As part of the annual Pioneer Women celebration organized by the Commission on the Status of Women, I was delighted to honor Jocelyn Geaga-Rosenthal and Helen Brown in council chambers. Jocelyn, a dedicated community activist, is one of the founders of the Historic Filipinotown Improvement Association. She is an UNTAG block captain and is the president of the board of Westlake-Temple Development Corporation. She also runs a community art gallery on Temple Street called Remy's on Temple.
Our pioneer women | It was a very special treat to have Helen Brown join us the same day to celebrate her 90th birthday. Born and raised in the Philippines to parents who were involved in setting up the Filipino educational system under American rule, Helen Brown came to Los Angeles many years ago and founded the Filipino-American Library, now co-located with FASGI (Filipino-American Service Group Incorporated) at 135 N. Parkview. Helen has retired from public affairs so it was a special honor to have her grace us with her presence.
The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded the city a grant of $400,000 from the federal Brownfields program, which funds the cleaning and rehabilitation of contaminated areas. "Brownfields", by definition, are properties whose expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In CD13, the grant will help assess the possibility of remediating the Rockwood Park site in Historic Filipinotown, where abandoned oil extraction wells have a history of releasing small amounts of methane and hydrogen sulfide. (Part of the grant will also go towards a remediation assessment in San Pedro.)
The obstacles to locating new parks in dense, urban areas are tremendous. But my goal since I took office has been to double the number of parks in CD13. Obstacles are, if you'll pardon the expression, part of the course. And this grant puts us one step closer to knowing that Rockwood can be made safe for children at play.
For more information, check out Los Angeles's Brownfields program in the Environmental Affairs Department.
Breaking ground | Hooray for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy! The district's newest charter school, a high school, broke ground at 3550 Temple Street this past week. Congratulations to Philip Lance, president and co-founder; Ana Ponce, the Academy's executive director; Steve Seaford, who will be the principal of the new high school; and Anita Landecker from Excellent Education Development, whose assistance and participation has been invaluable.
Don't miss Clinica Romero's annual Alcohol and Drug Youth Prevention Festival, a great resource for families in Hi-Fi and surrounding neighborhoods. The festival takes place on June 25th from 10 am to 4 pm at the First Church of the Nazarene at 3401 West Third Street.
Welcome to the district, "Lake Street Primary School"! A unanimous vote by neighborhood parents (the same ones who will soon be packing their children off to school there) re-named the school formerly known as Belmont Primary Center #12. For the even younger set, Para Los Niños just opened up their newest pre-school at 234 Loma Drive, right next to Belmont High School.
Silver Lake
Shabbat with the kids at the JCC | The Silver Lake Jewish Community Center will keep its doors open! Due to financial problems and disagreements between the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Los Angeles, the center's existence was in doubt. Nothing would hurt Silver Lake quite like the loss of the popular SLJCC, which offers day-care and interesting classes, open to all community members. At a time when the city is trying to increase the amount of available day care, it would mean a public policy loss as well.
For much of my first term in office, I was involved in “shuttle diplomacy” between all of the parties involved, seeking a solution. (I had the excellent help of Jenny Isaacson and Julie Shullman, two concerned members of the center.) Things started to look bad; developers started to wonder about converting the site into other uses entirely. Meanwhile, the offerings at the center grew more robust: while facing closure, the center added ballet and flamenco dancing classes and the day-care center's waiting list surged.
Finally, help came from an unlikely source. Bishop Jon Bruno, the head of the L.A. Diocese of the Episcopal Church, stepped forward and offered to rescue the Jewish Community Center! The deal that the Episcopal Diocese and the center struck gives the Diocese 49% ownership of the facility, which they will use for community services and classes in conjunction with the JCC. (I asked the Federation to support the deal.) Bishop Bruno has emerged in all this as a real hero – as I told the L.A. Times, I think they'll make him an honorary rabbi.
(Read more about this exciting victory in the Jewish Journal and in the Los Angeles Times.)
To celebrate, I attended a fun pre-shabbat party at the Silver Lake JCC. As a band played shabbat songs, the kindergartners presented me with handmade cards thanking me for helping keep the center open.
Are you concerned about traffic congestion on the residential streets bounded by Silver Lake Boulevard, Glendale Boulevard, and Sunset Boulevard? At my request, the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) is conducting a neighborhood traffic management study to figure out how to prevent commuters from using residential streets as "cut-throughs". Many residents in that neighborhood have been troubled by smog, noise and public safety problems resulting from cut-through traffic during rush hours. My office will host a community meeting in early autumn to discuss the results of the DOT study. This meeting will be an opportunity for you to participate in the process and help determine what types of traffic mitigations the city will implement. If you'd like to learn more about the study in advance of the autumn meeting (date to be announced), contact Shane Goldsmith, my Silver Lake Deputy, via email or at (323) 913 4693. Thanks go to the members of the Duane Street Association in Silver Lake, who have taken a very active role in this process and they are eager to meet other concerned residents. Shane can put you in touch with them.
Kicking off the season: Silver Lake baseball
Pitching in | The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Beautification Committee was out in full force at Saturday's Silver Lake Beautification Day. I joined 150 volunteers turned out by Emily Johnson and the Beautification Committee to the area around Laurel and Hardy park. We picked up more than 130 bags of trash! After three hours of hard work the volunteers returned to hot dogs, musical entertainment, and the satisfaction of a job very well done.
Addie Daddio did a fantastic job organizing the Silver Lake Town Hall and Community Fair at Bellevue Park. A relative newcomer to Silver Lake, Addie brought energy and commitment that produced an informative, festive event which will hopefully return as an annual celebration. Michael Locke covered the event on his Silver Lake News. Check out his write-up here—you have to scroll down a little. Thank you, Addie!
On June 25th, come join the Myra Avenue Mural project and Thomas Starr King middle school to clear the street and prime the wall for the new mural at the Myra Street underpass. Thanks to Akbar for donating water for the day. If anyone else wants to donate their labor or even some snacks, get in touch with Peter Bedard peterbedard@yahoo.com. The event will go from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm.
East Hollywood
Remember the Briles house from last month's update? The historic home whose demolition was stopped by the Cultural Heritage Commission? Well, the owner would like to sell to a preservation-minded homeowner. If you are interested in investing in Ambassador Hill's heritage, contact my Planning Deputy Alison Becker at (213) 473-7013 or via e-mail.
The Bureau of Street Lighting keeps the roads light at night. You may have seen historical examples of their fine work on display in the Rite Aid parking lot on Santa Monica near Vermont. The yard itself is just the other side of the street, at 4550 Santa Monica Boulevard.
But the yard's small size of 4 acres constrains their work. Staff there have told me that they need a fueling station for their compressed natural gas equipment, and their office space is absurdly cramped.
I've been eyeing this lot as a potential park location ever since I got into office. It makes perfect sense. It's right between an elementary school and a library. It's in the relatively park-poor neighborhood of Virgil Village. And I'm not the only one who has seen a park beneath the lampposts, either. The members of the Greater Silver Lake Parks Coalition are only a few of the neighbors who have encouraged me to pursue the greening of the yard.
The funding has started to come together. Prop K has $1.5 million set aside for this project. That may sound like a lot, but it's just a start: cobbling together the full funding for the park this community deserves will be a real challenge. From that, the LA for Kids oversight committee recently designated $15,000 for putting the environmental documentation together. And I have some ideas about where we could move the street lighting yard.
What's more, a park in that location can help the city comply with the Clean Water Act by serving as a natural filter for street runoff. Do you remember the work we did with the Bimini Slough? A larger park could offer more recreation opportunities for more people and do even more for the environment.
The opportunity is before us. With Los Angeles as desperately short of green space as it is, we can't afford to miss it.
I attended the grand opening of Views at 270, a mixed-use development at the corner of Sunset and Western. The project has 56 units of affordable housing perched on top of a Walgreens. Not only is the affordable housing component of the highest rank in design and appearance, the project is a great example of a creative solution to problems of both urban design and the housing crisis.
When Village Properties came to me with their plans to put a stand-alone, suburban-style Walgreens at that corner, with a sea of parking between the store and the street, I was less than thrilled. My office has been encouraging development that's urban and friendly to street life, and this was the opposite. But working together, we found a great solution: Village would sell the air rights to the project to Hollywood Community Housing Corporation, transforming the project into a victory of New Urbanism and a first on many levels:
- the first partnership between a retail developer and a nonprofit housing firm to create affordable housing on top of retail
- the first time the city processed a vertical lot line adjustment—an obscure-sounding detail, but an important one for future mixed use development
- the first project completed and opened with Housing Trust Fund money.
We've shown that we can do affordable housing development mixed with retail. Now the only question I have is this: who's next?
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.
Hollywood
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Community Foundation has made its largest gift ever, this time to the Los Angeles Youth Network. The network has named it Beachwood Drive residence in the Foundation's honor; it continues to support street youth (and youth working on family reunification through the Department of Children and Family Services), mostly ages fifteen to nineteen. The house has twelve beds and serves as a safe haven for its inhabitants while helping them build skills and responsibility. The Los Angeles Youth Network www.layn.org provides services and shelter to more than 350 new youth each year.
Check out the light | I flipped the switch on a brand-new lighted crosswalk in Hollywood and connected Toyota of Hollywood with the north side of Hollywood Boulevard. Installing this crosswalk and the flashing yellow light above it was a priority for my office after Toyota’s general manager Tony Chapman told me that his employees and customers had had more than one near miss crossing the street. There are 200 employees at the dealership, which was the first Toyota showroom in the United States. It’s one of Hollywood’s big sales tax generators. Business tax reform has been one of my premier projects on the city council, but one of the simplest and best things that L.A. can do for business is to keep improving our infrastructure. A city where employees and customer can safely and easily walk to your store is a business-friendly city.
The Hollywood and Vine project has taken three giant steps forward. The project combines a hotel, mixed-income housing and commerical space on a transit-friendly site over the MTA station (and the rest of the surrounding block minus the Taft Building) at Hollywood and Vine. In March, the MTA board approved the deal; In April, the Community Redevelopment Agency signed off. And at the end of May, the project came before council, where I was pleased to steer it to unanimous support.
The details (.pdf link) of this project are truly impressive. The public component of this project is approximately $4.8 million. That's the leverage to bring $328.5 million ofpublic investment into Hollywood. By the time the project stabilizes in 2010 we will see sales tax and hotel bed tax from the project bring in more than $6 million; over the 30-year life of the project it should bring back more than $167 million (or a return on investment of nearly 3500%)! Especially exciting is the community benefit agreement (CBA) that my office developed along with local residents, community groups, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. The project and CBA include:
- a 296-room W hotel that has an agreement with hotel workers' union UNITE HERE Local 11
- 350 apartments, of which 74 are affordable at different levels
- 145 condominiums
- living wage agreement for all direct employees of the developer (hotel, security, parking, etc.)
- hiring from the community via a “first-source” agreement
- $30,000 to fund efforts to sign workers and neighbors up for low-cost healthcare
- $50,000 contribution to the city's Healthcare Career Ladder training program
- $100,000 contribution for career ladder training in the culinary industry
- $500,000 fund for the arts at Hollywood High School, established in memory of Hollywood high alumnus John Ritter
While we're still working with the developer to perfect the design, the project, valued at $326 million overall, looks great. Construction should commence in early 2006.
Da Mayor, Ryan and Leron | Street scene: Hollywood's Honorary Mayor Johnny Grant, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler at Seacrest's Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony. See the Hollywood section of this month's e-news for another picture from the event.
Most e-news readers in Hollywood and across the district know about the Hollywood Farmer's Market on Ivar between Hollywood and Sunset every Sunday. But did you know that there is also a farmer's market, sponsored by SEE-LA, the same organization that sponsors the Ivar market, that sets up shop on Wednesdays during the day?
Every Wednesday, rain or shine, from noon to 5:30 pm, the Hollywood Sears Farmer's Market sets up at 5601 Santa Monica Boulevard in the parking lot of the Sears between Wilton and Western.
Here are the special events for the next few markets: On June 15th, Chef Eviolet will do a cooking demonstration and kids can make Father's Day crafts; on June 22nd, learn how to keep your family healthy with EBT; on June 29th, win a basket of produce in the 4 pm raffle.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Don't miss Barnsdall Art Gallery's exhibit of the City of Los Angeles (COLA) fellowship winners, up through June 26. For more information, phone (323) 644-6272. Barnsdall Park is located at 4800 Hollywood Blvd, and the Gallery is open Friday through Sunday from 12 noon to 5 p.m. Adult Admission is $5.00, Student and Seniors are $3.00, children under 12 with an adult are free.
The following month, see the 2005 Los Angeles Juried Exhibition, part of a multi-site biennial exhibition program that provides artists residing in Southern California a competitive opportunity to exhibit work in selected city art galleries. The selection jury assembled by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs for 2005 jurors consists of James Elaine, Curator of Hammer Projects, UCLA Hammer Museum; Barbara Gilbert, Curator of Fine Art,Skirball Cultural Center; Karin Higa, Director, Curatorial & Exhibition Departments, and Senior Curator of Art, Japanese American National Museum; Lamonte Westmoreland, Curator and Assistant Professor of Da Vinci Gallery, Los Angeles City College. The exhibitions at the Municipal Art Gallery and Junior Arts Center in Barnsdall Park will be on view from Sunday, July 10, 2005, through Sunday, September 4, 2005. An opening reception will be Sunday, July 10, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Also:
- The Gallery Theatre presents a free Jazz concert the first Friday of each month. on the Great Lawn from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday June 6 features a Latin Jazz Concert at 8 p.m.
- July and August feature the collaboration of the Independent Shakespeare Company and Barnsdall Theatre to present free performances of "Hamlet," "Richard the Third," and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" on the Great Lawn. The three plays rotate in reperatory at 7:30 p.m. They will be performed from June 17 through July 2 on Friday and Saturday evenings. Beginning July 22 through August 28, the company will perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7:30. There will be no performance on August 13, and one will be added on Thursday August 25. More information can be obtained from the company (818) 710-6306,
www.independentshakespeare.com, or BGT at (323) 644-6272.
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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