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Councilmember
Eric Garcetti |
A Word From Eric
Dear Friends,
As I wrote to you last week, there will be some changes in my office at the beginning of next year when I assume the office of the Council President. Among other things, I'm going to revamp the e-news to bring you more timely updates that are more closely linked with the cd13.com blog. There will still be e-news only content, so don't hesitate to subscribe now if you received this in a forward.
One of the most exciting things that has happened since the last e-news was a major housing policy announcement by Mayor Villaraigosa. I'm going to use my letter this month to share with you, in a slightly longer-than-usual essay, my thoughts about the possibilities opened up by the mayor. I'd love to hear what you think.
First: Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is
At the Mayoral Housing Summit at the UCLA Anderson School, sponsored by the Los Angeles Business Council, Mayor Villaraigosa announced his support of a $1 billion bond to finance solutions to the housing crisis. I've discussed the idea of a housing bond with my colleagues, with housing advocates, and with business leaders—the business community has been especially creative in promoting a bond. I was thrilled to hear the mayor's support.
I have no doubt that the time has come for dramatic solutions. Just look at the statistics around housing costs in Los Angeles:
- Average home price in Los Angeles County, September 2005: $494,000
- Monthly payments on such a house, assuming 10% down, 6% interest, and 30-year fixed rate: $2,665/month
- Maximum portion of income under federal guidelines that should go to housing needs: 1/3
- Salary required to afford such a house under that guideline: $96,000/yr
- Average rent for an apartment, Los Angeles County, September 2005: $1,441/month
- Full-time wage required to afford such an apartment under federal guideline: $27/hr
- Occupancy rate for rental housing in Los Angeles: 97%
So how can a billion-dollar bond help us out of our housing crisis? The fact of the matter is, Los Angeles is a proven leader at financing innovative affordable housing projects. We've demonstrated that we can build new projects to house working families in a mostly-built out city. We can invest wisely and we can design 'smart'.
Investing funds from our city's affordable housing trust fund in tandem with the state funds, we have funded more than 3,500 units of affordable housing in the past three years.
$100 million in city funds have leveraged $600 million in outside funds combining county, state, federal and private sources.
Although Los Angeles holds only one-tenth of California's population, our ability to add our own financing won us one-third of the Prop 46 funds at stake. We demonstrated the need, we demonstrated the means, and now we're seeing the product.
And is $1 billion too high a number? Just considering the homeless problem alone, I can tell you that it is not. With $100 million a year over ten years, we could begin to house the 91,000 people who nightly sleep on the streets of Los Angeles County. Jan Perry and I have passed legislation to keep shelters open around the year, but stop-gap measures are not permanent solutions.
The mayor led on homelessness too, promising to increase the housing trust fund by $50 million. This money would go primarily into projects serving low-income and formerly homeless individuals. These are the people who live in the cold borderlands between a slipping hold on an apartment and the cold, hard streets. With targeted attention to these projects, we can increase the options that have disappeared between the $494,000 home and the shelter bed. We can give people hope.
Second: A New Vision and a City Growing UpI had the honor of addressing the Los Angeles Business Council forum at UCLA where the Mayor made his announcement. In addition to speaking about the need for financial commitments to turn around the housing crisis, I spoke about the slightly thornier issues around zoning and planning for growth.
Let's make no mistake: we've tried to prevent growth by not planning for it, and that's no solution at all. Instead of growing up in skyscrapers, we've grown out, in "yardscrapers"—plots of land, often zoned for only a single family, on which every bit of yard has been appropriated into an overcrowded dwelling. It's the nightmare flipside of the original Los Angeles dream, where we wouldn't have to build parks because every house had a backyard. We ignored our urban status, and we crammed whole neighborhoods into those precious backyards.
But Angelenos are getting the point. With hope and hard work, communities have recognized the problem and have organized to change the dialogue from "Not In My Back Yard" to "Yes In My Back Yard." The Hollywood Interfaith Sponsoring Committee (now LA VOICE) assembled 2,000 constituents to ask me and then-Mayor Hahn to help build 500 units of affordable housing there in Hollywood. People Assisting The Homeless (PATH) have convened Project YIMBY to bring together people who want to solve the homelessness crisis and are willing to work in their own communities and not point fingers elsewhere.
The Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council, led by president Debbie Wehbe, has supported increased density along major thoroughfares in the Hollywood Community Plan Update. Neighborhood Council skeptics said that the councils would only voice NIMBY sentiments, but CHNC has proved them wrong: they have championed a smart growth vision for Los Angeles development.
For my own part, I have gone on record in support of a smart-growth solution. Sometimes planning for increased density is unpopular, but as I said above, we've seen the alternative, and it doesn't work.
SCAG estimates that with smart planning, we can accomodate our region's growth on only 2% of our land. With the Hollywood Community Plan update ongoing, I have supported the 2% strategy, requesting that the Planning Department work towards that goal.
Last month, the city approved the first mixed-use, or "RAS" zone change in CD13. That planning tool alone, which allows for mixed commerical/residential zoning in underutilized commercial corridors, has generated applications for 3,000 new units of housing.
Developers need to do their part. They must build transit-friendly apartment buildings, investing the money that might go to digging out extra parking spaces into making the housing more affordable, building green, or improving the quality of pedestrian life in the project. Investors and lenders must change their requirements of developers to enable smart buildings that enhance our urban fabric rather than repeat the mistakes of the past.
Our planning tool kit has come a long way in my four years on the council. My colleague Ed Reyes has tirelessly promoted a smarter vision for our future. As I said with reference to the housing bond, we've learned a lot about what works. Now we need to enact it on a scale large enough to change our whole city.
Survey says: CD13 is on the right track!
It came as a great vote of confidence in the work that we are doing together that I was permitted to run unopposed for a second term as City Councilmember. The lack of an opponent freed me up to try out some new ideas with my campaign, such as spending funds on a voter registration drive instead of on fighting an opponent. One of the projects my campaign undertook was an in-depth survey of how CD13 residents feel about the issues confronting the district. We received hundreds of responses to the survey. They came in from every neighborhood. I'll post the full results to the survey later this month, but here's a teaser:
- 49.87% of you feel that the city is on the right track (48.82% feel that the city is on the wrong track)
- 64.18% of you feel that your neighborhood is on the right track (33.58% of you feel that your neighborhood is on the wrong track).
Although my work in City Hall addresses all of Los Angeles, I'm proud to see that we've won results by starting in our own backyard. You ranked the issues confronting the district in this order:
- Addressing crime and gangs
- Cleaning up graffiti, trash and illegal dumping
- Improving neighborhood services (i.e. street paving, sidewalk repairs, tree trimming)
- Providing affordable housing
- Improving education and schools
- Relieving traffic congestion
- Cutting wasteful government spending
- Attracting jobs and economic opportunities
- Cleaning up the air and water
- Building new parks and libraries
And you considered some issues individually:
- 83.16 % favor a proposal that requires developers to set aside 10% of all new construction for affordable housing, 16.84% oppose
- 87.47% have a favorable impression of the effort to clean up business and shopping areas, 11.43 % have an unfavorable impression
- 82.74 % feel that graffiti is an important problem, 16 % feel that graffiti is not a major concern
- 52.19% favor a plan to raise trash fees or city sales tax to boost public safety initiatives, 47.18 % oppose this plan
Lastly, the survey itself was useful for spreading information about city services:
- 43.93 % were aware that you can report bulky trash and graffiti by calling 311, 56.07 % were not aware
There's more to be told, including the neighborhood-by-neighborhood breakdown. Stay tuned!
Odds and Ends
Holiday theatergoers looking for something in addition to the yearly “Nutcracker” may enjoy the Latino Theater Company's presentation of “La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin” at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. The play tells the story of the apparition of the Virgin Mary to the Indian peasant Juan Diego in the hills of Tepeyac. As a longtime supporter of the LTC, I helped sponsor this production, which is dedicated to the memory of Miguel Contreras, who sat on the board of the LTC before his death earlier this year. The show is up for two nights only, December 7th & 8th at 7:30PM, and admission is free. For information, email Info@latinotheater.com or call (213) 489-0994 Imagine what an Angeleno getting off the train from Des Moines in 1940 would send to the folks at home. If he couldn't afford a box of oranges, a postcard might do. Check out the archive from Hollywood, Downtown and other parts of the city past at Yesterday L.A.
CITY HALL UPDATE:
Good Government
Clean Money on the Move: Wendy Greuel, Bill Rosendahl and I first proposed a clean money policy for Los Angeles this summer, and it has garnered unanimous support from City Council, not to mention the support of the Ethics Commission. Our City Controller Laura Chick has also made many supportive statements, and the Daily News published an opinion piece by the three of us who authored the motion. Los Angeles already has an election matching funds program; for the money that we've already allocated, we could fund a good part of an initial clean money program. The Supreme Court has objected to laws that entirely prohibit political donations ( Buckley v. Valeo), but the beauty of a clean money system is that it is an "opt-in" program. Anyone can elect to continue raising private funds. But the candidate who foregoes private money receives the necessary funds to run a campaign. The voters are assured that he or she is in no one's pocket, and the candidate can spend his or her time talking to voters, not to special interests.
Economic Development
Land use welcomes:
Atop City Hall in the Tom Bradley Room, I had the honor of welcoming the members of the Urban Land Institute to Los Angeles for their international meeting. No other think tank in the world addresses issue of urban land use and development at the scale that ULI does; a few years ago, they performed a study of Hollywood, roughly bounded by the redevelopment area, and the recommendations they made have helped my office, the CRA, and the Chamber of Commerce think about the future of the area. Also welcome on the land-use front is Curbed L.A., a new region-wide blog addressing real estate, transportation, and development issues. It's great to see more discussion of these issues, which are central like no others to the 21st century in Los Angeles.
Open Space and the Environment
Benchmarks and beaches: I’m pleased to announce that Los Angeles has reached full compliance with the Santa Monica Baykeeper lawsuit. This is the capstone on an historical shift that I was proud to be part of. When I came to the city, we had a bad penchant for fighting federal regulators on challenges to our water quality. At the same time, we were seeing our beaches and waterways deteriorate under steady streams of runoff.
We soon moved to settle these lawsuits – to stop fighting regulators and start fighting pollution. This enormous shift left us with the enormous challenge of cleaning up the largest municipal sewer system in the nation, but you’ll see by these statistics that we’ve come a long way. In order to comply with the settlement, we’ve:
- Completed 45 of the 127 deliverables that are due during the 10-year term of the agreement
- Completed the two largest sewer relief projects -- the East Central Interceptor Sewer and the Northeast Interceptor Sewer
- Cleaned 82,000 pipe reaches, or 36 percent more than the 60,000 reaches required by the CSSA.
- Put Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) technology to work in order to assess the structural and maintenance conditions of 821 miles of sewer lines, 36 percent more than the 600 miles required by the agreement
- Inspected all 7,832 permitted food service establishments at least once as part of the City’s FOG (Fats, Oil and Grease) Control Program.
- Chemically treated a total of 474 miles of root-infested sewers, far in excess of the requirement of 150 miles and achieving a more-than 53 percent reduction in root-caused wastewater spills over the last two years since the inception of the root control program
- Implemented all of the required odor control and response modifications. Did you know that we have a community Odor Advisory Board?
On the catwalk: Sadly, Southern California is back on top in a competition we hate to win: we once again have the nation's worst air quality. Not only has the Coalition for Clean Air led by calling our attention to the severity of the problem and by pushing for solutions, the also know how to have a good time. For their annual fashion show fundraiser, elected officials from across Southern California don donated eco-friendly apparel and walk the catwalk as guests bid on the items they sport. Burbank City Councilmember Todd Campbell and I have been trying to outdo each other for a couple of years now, and this year we declared a full-on , Zoolander-style catwalk battle royale. (And we raised money for clean air at the same time.)
Let Your Fruit Fall Free: This January and February is TreePeople's 21st year distributing free fruit trees in L.A. County. If you'd like your own fruit tree, or you'd like to help Tree People distribute plum, peach, apricot, fig and nectarine trees to community groups, schools and churches, check out their operation here. And if you plant your own fruit tree, you might plant it in such a way that it shows up on this map, as reported on by NPR here. It's like having your very own produce aisle in your yard.
Farmer's Insurance and Energy Technology:
I joined Councilmembers Wendy Greuel, Jan Perry and Tom LaBonge as well as Kevin Kelso of Farmers' Insurance at an announcement just below the 1st Street Steps of City Hall. At the event, Farmers' announced that it has become the first auto insurer in the nation to offer a five percent discount to customers who drive hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles. I have driven an electric car since taking office, pausing only to try out a hydrogen fuel cell prototype (the city has three of the $1.5 million vehicles on a $500/year lease from Honda). More importantly than my personal choice, the city has converted the vast majority of its fleet to hybrid vehicles, which has paid off in huge savings as prices at the pump have shot up. Let me know if you've lessened your dependence on the dinosaur. Housing
SRO/ICO: For many, shelter of last resort is the residential hotel or single-room occupancy hotel. As downtown development burgeons, many of these places have been eyed by developers who think they can turn them into the next boutique hotel. That often results in the displacement of people who have nowhere else to go. The city council, at the behest of Councilmember Jan Perry and myself, requested an interim control ordinance to stop all conversions of SROs and residential hotels, an important measure needed right now in the fight against homelessness.
UNTAG
UNTAG in Lemon Grove Park | Recognizing our block captains: At Lemon Grove Park, I presented our hard-working block captains with certificates of recognition from the city of Los Angeles. They also got a sneak preview demonstration of the safety cameras we're installing in parks and hotspots throughout the district. John Coleman, Rusty Millar, Sue Wolf, Frank Hilton, Jocelyn Geaga-Rosenthal, Michael Dunn, Suzanne Davis (and her kids), Madison and Allie Bradfield Davis, Hannah Kramer, Richard Dikran Sevaslian, Dawn De Sielvie, and Viltis Januta all received top UNTAG honors.
Human Rights
Day of remembrance:
With Assemblymember Paul Koretz and representatives from the Southern California Transgender Community Coalition, I spoke at a press conference to announce the Day of Remembrance for victims of hate crimes against transgendered individuals. You might not have known that:
- the murder rate of transgendered persons is 17 times the national average and higher than any other minority group
- 100% of recorded hate crimes against transgendered persons in LA County are violent
- transgendered persons have a higher rate of HIV infection than any group.
The sign behind me in the picture reads "How Many Transgenders Have To Die Before You Get Involved"; one of the ways to get involved is to ask your representative to support AB 1160, introduced by Sally Lieber. Pending in the California State Assembly, AB 1160 would eliminate the “Panic Defense” so that defendants would not be eligible for a reduced “voluntary manslaughter” charge by contending that they were provoked to murder by discovering a victim’s disability, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.
My highest regard goes out to those brave individuals who have fought discrimination to speak out for equality for all.
NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT:
Atwater Village
Red Car Mural:
Luis Lopez from the Friends of Atwater Village sends in this beautiful photo of the new mural, seen from the Red Car River Park. FAV is painting this mural with assistance from the Community Beautification Grant, which is a great way for community groups to get their neighborhood beautification projects off the ground. I can't wait for the scaffolding to come down so we can see the mural in all of its glory. A writer at LA Voice stumbled upon the mural in this eloquent musing.
'AV' stands for Atwater Vegetables: The Atwater Village Farmer’s Market continues every Sunday, rain or shine, in the Wells Fargo parking lot at 3250 Glendale Boulevard. Ryan Majestic’s balloon and magic tricks and Stacey Longo’s arts + crafts continue every Saturday this month. Come on out! It’s the season for sweet potatoes, among other treats.
Improvement Project: What brings bike racks, bus shelters, wide sidewalks and more than 100 trees to Glendale Boulevard in order to beautify and mellow it out a little? If you’ve been following the e-news (or walking down the street) you know it’s the community-approved Glendale Boulevard Improvement Project. If you haven’t been paying close attention but want to get caught up, the Atwater Village Chamber of Commerce is tracking the project’s implementation on its website. Check it out, and feel free to call CD13's Deputy Field Director Mitch O’Farrell at (323) 913-4693 (or email him) if you have any questions.
Glassell Park
Northeast LAPD | Say Hello to L.A.'s Finest: Northeast LAPD held its sixth annual open house and resource fair, hosted by the Business & Law Enforcement - Northeast Division (BLEND) and the Community Policing Advisory Board (CPAB). I showed up to join Captain Morris Smith, Captain Jose Perez, and now-Councilmember Jose Huizar in dispensing crime prevention and safety information tips for families and businesses.
Donna Wong: Let's welcome Neighborhood Prosecutor Donna Wong, who joined the Northeast Area in late September from Rampart Division.
Division Street: Senior Lead Officer Red Falconer orchestrated a community clean-up on Division Street. Deputy District Director Mitch O'Farrell joined Carol and Diane (the “Ladybugs”), the Department of Sanitation, and officers from Northeast LAPD.
Elysian Valley
LA Bridges Handball Tournament: I'm continually impressed with the creativity and dedication our gang intervention counselors use to get young people away from lives of crime. As an “icebreaker” with the Frogtown gang in Elysian Valley, LA Bridges hosted a handball tournament at the Elysian Valley Recreation Center. About 25 young men joined in the tournament, and a member of the Frogtown gang applied for a position with Bridges.
No Dumping on Ripple: “No Dumping” signs have gone up at Ripple Street and Ripple Place. The few remaining knuckleheads who think that Elysian Valley is their own personal free dump have been warned.
EVU/WWW: Elysian Valley United has put up its new website. This will be a great resource for Elysian Valley residents to learn more about the services and programs that EVU offers inside their community, and a model for other community groups to emulate. EVU has been a great partner to my office in the last four and a half years. We've worked together on park projects and I've been very proud to be able to help advance their innovative microradio project.
Echo Park
Thanksgiving in Chavez Ravine: The Los Angeles Dodgers (of Los Angeles) coordinated a terrific turkey giveaway, buying turkeys for 500 families in the neighborhoods around Chavez Ravine. Councilmember Ed Reyes and I brought our staff up to Dodger Stadium where we gave turkeys out to individuals and to organizations that would get the birds onto local families' tables for Thanksgiving. Tommy Lasorda joined us and wrote about it on his blog, too. If you'd like to volunteer on Thanksgiving, L.A. Works has some ideas.
Small lots, smart designs: The full name of the Los Angeles River is "El Rio de Nuestra Señora la Reyna de Los Angeles de Porciúncula". That's "The River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Very Small Plot of Land." Most translations just leave 'Porciúncula' as it's found in the Spanish, but it refers to a very small plot of land on which St. Francis of Assisi lived in the 13th century. When the pobladores, the original settlers of Los Angeles, arrived here in the late 1700's, they found a small plot by the Los Angeles River, and there they founded our city. And for a long time, that was the last anyone thought about small plots in Los Angeles. We shared the dream of lots with big back yards, and the real availability of abundant private space led to an atrophy of our public space. Why build parks when you can have your own patch of green?
In order to come to terms with growth and density, last November, we passed the Small Lot Subdivisions Ordinance, which creates opportunities to build smart designs on small lots.
The Enterprise Foundation has posed a challenge: who can come up with a design smart enough to allow good living on a small lot? On Douglas Street in Echo Park, where I kicked off the contest with Councilmember Ed Reyes and Bill Jones from the Enterprise Foundation, housing prices are creeping over $700,000. The winner of the contest to build an affordable design for a narrow interior lot—and it's open to student or professional, newcomer or master builder—will see that design come to life on Douglas Street.
Join the contest today at www.smallbutsmart.org!
Historic Filipinotown
Filipino WWII Veterans Parade: Once again, the annual Filipino WWII Veterans Day Parade commemorated the brave Filipino veterans, parading right down Temple Street before a terrific crowd. Thank you to all who continue to keep alive the memory of those heroic veterans.
Pilipino Workers Center Dinner: Thank you to the Pilipino Workers Center, who honored me with the Solidarity Award for Public Service at their third annual fundraising dinner. It has been a pleasure to work with Aquilina Soriano and the rest of the PWC Staff on the issues confronting working Pilipino families in my district and throughout the city.
Crosswalks in Hi-Fi. pt. II:
Back in August, I teased the arrival in Historic Filipinotown of new crosswalks on Temple Street patterned after traditional Filipino weave patterns. Now the Bureau of Street Services (the BOSS) has installed patterned crosswalks designed by artist Erwin Federizo (who also designed Hi-Fi's street banners) at three Hi-Fi intersections. The kids of Burlington school, a day care school in the neighborhood, performed a short dance and helped us break in the new crosswalks. The artist himself was on hand, as was Jocelyn Geaga-Rosenthal from the Historic Filipinotown Improvement Association and a representative from the Filipino consul general. And I hear that the BOSS, whose creativity and willingness to listen to the community I must praise here, is already getting requests for the next neighborhood. See more pictures from the crosswalk dedication here.
Silver Lake
Silver Lake Triangle Park: Today, with a little help from my (little) friends, I cut the ribbon on Sunset Triangle Park, at the corner of Griffith Park and Sunset Boulevard. The park is truly an oasis restored: green grass, new trees, a working fountain, a printed crosswalk, seating boulders and bicycle racks all make this patch of grass one of the most attractive places in Silver Lake. Getting here was hard, but it was also fun. My office hosted community design charettes to formulate a neighborhood-level vision for the park. My staff located the funds to execute that vision, winning $95,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds. We added $11,000 from our office’s limited discretionary funds to hire Kathy Cerra, an independent design consultant who worked with community members. The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council was key in bringing this to fruition, especially Tom Blanchard (who's since moved out of town, but came back to see the park today) and Lorraine Kells. And Michael McKinley and Sunset Junction have been the park's stalwarts; it was their hosting of the Saturday morning farmer's market that really brought focus to the triangle park once again. Thank you to all and enjoy the park. See a set of pictures from this event.
Allesandro Apartments:
I was delighted to attend the grand opening of the Allessandro Apartments in Silver Lake. Hollywood Community Housing Corporation has developed 18 units of affordable, special-needs housing. Designed by M2A Architects, the building is an exceptional addition to a beautiful neighborhood. HCHC and M2A continue to demonstrate the kind of excellence we can achieve at the same time as we seek solutions to the housing crisis. Kyle Arndt, a Los Angeles real estate lawyer who serves as the president of the HCHC Board of Directors, spoke at the opening and reminded me how vital a talented volunteer board can be to the success of a community organization.
Didier and Eric | Mosaic Mural: I stopped by the in-progress wall mosaic at Mayberry Elementary School to lay a little tile, and I was blown away by the artistic talent on display there! The Community Beautification Grant (formerly the Neighborhood Matching Funds grant) was put to work well by Pilar Reynaldo and her team at Mayberry, especially by artist Didier Gudji.
Swearing-in: With Mayor Villaraigosa, I attended the swearing-in of the new officers of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.
AIDS Posada: December 2nd was the 18th Annual AIDS Posada from the Sunset Free Clinic to the Echo Park United Methodist Church. With candles in hand, families from the area, businesses, and community leaders walked with the accompaniment of mariachis to commemorate the fight against AIDS in our community.
Children's Celebration: The 26th Annual Children's Christmas Celebration is coming up at the Free Clinic, on December 15th. Children aged 2 to 12 may pick up a free ticket if they drop off a can of food for the homeless. Santa Claus will be on the scene with one toy for each child. Call(323) 660-7959 for tickets.
Lunch with the Senior Club: December 21st is the Gourmet Pot Luck at the home of Bea Gold, 2206 Micheltorena, 1 pm. Bring your favorite dish ready to serve. Seniors (50+) are especially invited. For information call Bea Gold at (323) 660-0106.
East Hollywood
Community In Action: The Community In Action (CIA) group, Children's Bureau, and SPA 4 hosted a community forum at Alexandria Avenue Elementary. Members of the community were able to have their concerns addressed by Senior Lead Officer Matt Ziegler, and my deputy Christina Ortega-Libatique. The community forum was follow-up to the June Community Forum.
Bulky Item Pick-Up: I joined Councilmember Tom LaBonge to announce a pilot bulky item pick-up program in two new neighborhoods of Los Angeles. We chose neighborhoods that were blighted with high concentrations of household items left on the streets or on the parkway. Couches, mattresses, refrigerators, you name it: if it doesn't belong, it's going to the dump.
Under the pilot program, city truck crews will routinely survey the streets to collect items left at the curbside. (You can still arrange a bulky item pickup by calling 3-1-1 from anywhere in the city, of course.) The target areas are in the Wilshire Center/Koreatown /Beverly-Kingsley area and in Little Armenia. The program will be in effect through the end of the year.
My hope, which I share with Tom, is that we can expand this program city-wide, possibly establishing a collection fee to help defray the costs of the service. Nobody wants this two-ton litter problem. Tenant advocates, renters, property owners, city unions and private waste haulers have all worked with us to find a solution.
So, today, whether you're inside or outside of the pilot area, why not make a note of that errant sofa you see on your commute? Let's get that seat off the street.
Virgil Middle School: Parents, students, administrators, and faculty from Virgil Middle School coordinated a great, festive community fair around the theme of "Working Together for a Better Future".
Welcome to Kingsley: Kingsley Elementary School, formerly known as Ramona New Elementary, celebrated its first day with a ribbon-cutting of their new school. I joined LAUSD Board President Marlene Canter to mark the occasion.
New SLO: Let's welcome Senior Lead Officer Matt Ziegler to East Hollywood. Matt is responsible for community concerns from Santa Monica Boulevard to Beverly Boulevard and from Hoover Street to Normandie Street.
Hollywood
Baydsar Honored:
Senior Field Representative Baydsar Thomasian got honors (and top billing!) in a very tony celebration by the Hollywood Police Activities League. Baydsar, whose service to CD13 predates even my own (she started her work in Hollywood under my predecessor), has been the go-to deputy for the Hollywood PALs for years. I'm proud of her. Inspector Robert Gladden from the Los Angeles Fire Department was honored the same night. My congratulations to both. New Lights: I rode the MTA to the Hollywood and Vine station with the Mayor to flick the switch on the new lights on Hollywood Boulevard. The Bureau of Street Lighting unveiled the new lights in time to be part of Hollywood’s splendid seasonal decorations.
Johnny Passes The Torch: I hope you enjoyed the Hollywood Christmas Parade! This was Johnny Grant's last year as the director of the parade; he's turning over the duties for the annual roll down Hollywood Boulevard to the Chamber of Commerce's incomparable Todd Lindgren, who's bound do to a bang-up job. (Don't worry; Johnny's still the Honorary Mayor.) This year's Grand Marshal was none other than our own Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Welcome, Studio District: CD13’s newest neighborhood council is on line. Shout-outs go to Chris Shabel, Ziggy Kruse, Patrick Agerkop, and Bob Blue for helping organize the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council.
Extreme Makeover: The Los Angeles Free Clinic on Hollywood Boulevard recently got an “Extreme Makeover”. Abbe Land, director of the clinic, writes:
Whew! It has really been a whirlwind few days. The "Extreme Makeover" at the Hollywood site was extreme and wonderful.
The first floor waiting room/reception area has been totally changed; all the exam rooms were redone; the chart room was totally upgraded; we don't even recognize the lab and triage room; and finally we have an ADA-compliant shower and gorgeous bathrooms.
Plus, the upstairs was painted, lots of new equipment donated (including clothes for our clients), the front of the building was repainted and redesigned - it's all really too much to describe in just one email. If the Clinic ever had the financial resources to do this type of thing, it would have taken months of planning, weeks of construction and the loss of client services for an extended period of time. (And trust us, we would never have had sufficient financial resources to accomplish what has been done.)
It's amazing that the "Extreme Makeover" crew accomplished everything in just three days, with only a few days of downtime at Hollywood with no client services available. UNBELIEVABLE!
We are just now beginning to truly realize all that has been done, and the incredible opportunity "Extreme Makeover" has provided to the Clinic -- not only for our patients, but also for the wide exposure we will receive when the show airs on ABC-TV nationally, December 11 (Sunday), with 22 million people watching.
The Other Hollywood Farmer's Market: So, it's Tuesday night, and you've already eaten all the vegetables you bought on Sunday at the SEE-LA Hollywood Farmer's Market. What to do? Write out that shopping list, because the Hollywood-Sears Farmer's Market is every Wednesday from noon to 5 pm at 5601 Santa Monica Boulveard. Here's what they have in store for the next few weeks:
- DECEMBER 7th: FREE Raffle and Fresh Produce Basket! Raffle at 3pm
- DECEMBER 14th: Join us for a fun holiday cooking demonstration with Chef Eviolet!
- DECEMBER 21st: Learn how to get more food with EBT and keep your family eating healthy!
- DECEMBER 28th: Sample fresh Winter produce!
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 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. In January 2006, he will become the President of the City Council.
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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