Vermont Triangle Park: New Rendering, Ground Breaking Party

Proving even the smallest city projects are deserving of a party, a ground-breaking ceremony was held this morning for the Vermont Triangle park, the small patch of cement aka median island at Vermont and Hollywood undergoing a transformation.

When finished by October, the $800,000 project will see improvements like landscaping, benches, and trash bins. Both Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilmember Tom LaBonge were on hand to talk up the project in front of a crowd of about 15-20 people. In his remarks  Garden Landscaping, Garcetti called the project an instance of “urban acupuncture,” i.e., small efforts made in the city. Yes, more urban acupuncture, please.

Design and construction of streetscape elements along Vermont Avenue between the Vermont/Sunset Metro Rail station and Hollywood Boulevard, and improvement and possible expansion of a landscaped median island at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard, Vermont Avenue, and Prospect Avenue.

The Barnsdall Park Transit Oriented District Project was developed based upon extensive planning efforts in the Barnsdall Park and Los Feliz communities resulting in several plans that address community needs and design issues. The Project provides a design concept and includes funds for final design development and implementation.

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Friday, May 9th, 2008

Sonics City wouldn’t miss us

If the Sonics leave Seattle, the city’s economy won’t suffer and most people won’t care.

That’s not the tirade of some anti-arena activist; it’s the Sonics’ latest legal argument to try to get out of its KeyArena lease.

And it’s exactly the opposite of what the Sonics have claimed when asking for taxpayer help to build a new arena.

The team made the argument in papers filed in U.S. District Court this week, seeking mediation or a speedy trial to allow the team to abandon city-owned KeyArena before 2010. In the documents, Sonics’ attorneys dispute the city’s contention that the team’s departure would have a broad and hard-to-quantify impact.

“The financial issue is simple, and the city’s analysts agree, there will be no net economic loss if the Sonics leave Seattle. Entertainment dollars not spent on the Sonics will be spent on Seattle’s many other sports and entertainment options. Seattleites will not reduce their entertainment budget simply because the Sonics leave,” the Sonics said in the court brief.

The Sonics also said they would produce a survey showing that 66 percent of Seattleites say the team’s exit would make “no difference” in their lives, while only 12 percent said they’d be “much worse off.”

Those sentiments belie what Sonics’ boosters and sports teams in general have argued when asking for taxpayer help to build a new arena. Teams and their supporters generally portray professional sports as a boon, bringing a city millions in revenue, hundreds of jobs and immeasurable civic pride.

A spokesman for the Sonics’ owners declined to comment Thursday on the court filing.

Rodney Fort, a professor of sports management at the University of Michigan, who has criticized the economic-impact claims made by pro-sports teams, called the Sonics’ latest argument “the best chuckle” he’s had in a long time.

“It would seem that the value of the Sonics is a ‘contingent’ value contingent on the purposes of the Sonics ownership,” Fort said in an e-mail. “On the one hand, when the Sonics are trying to get the public to pitch in on a new arena, they are worth tens of millions to the Seattle area. On the other hand, when they are trying to beat their KeyArena lease, they are worth nothing to the Seattle area.”

From a standpoint of legal strategy, the Sonics’ argument makes perfect sense.

The team wants to convince U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman that its fight with Seattle is a run-of-the-mill landlord-tenant dispute that can be resolved quickly with a cash payment. The team has asked for a trial beginning on March 24 so the issue could be resolved in time for the NBA to approve relocation to Oklahoma City next season.

The Sonics also asked Pechman to order mediation to force a settlement.

Lawyers for the city say they need more time to gather evidence. They asked for an Oct. 27 trial date and said they’d be willing to participate in mediation if the Sonics agree to consider a renovated KeyArena as an option something that principal team owner Clay Bennett has ruled out.

Seattle City Attorney Tom Carr said he disagrees with the Sonics’ argument that the team has little or no value to the community.

“Don’t you wonder what the people in Oklahoma City think about that?” Carr asked, noting that city will vote in March on a $100 million tax package to spruce up its six-year-old Ford Center and build a practice facility to lure the team. “The impact of having a professional basketball team here is real, which is why Oklahoma City wants the Sonics, and why Seattle does, too.”

But the Sonics may be able to rely on other, less-flattering statements from Seattle leaders to buttress the team’s case. State and local politicians have been reluctant to support tax subsidies for a renovated KeyArena or a new arena elsewhere. Seattle voters passed an initiative two years ago forbidding city sweetheart deals for pro-sports teams.

In February 2006, Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata told Sports Illustrated the economic impact of the Sonics leaving would be “near zero.”

Now the Sonics are saying the same thing.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or %26#106;%26#98;%26#114;%26#117;%26#110;%26#110;%26#101;%26#114;%26#64;%26#115;%26#101;%26#97;%26#116;%26#116;%26#108;%26#101;%26#116;%26#105;%26#109;%26#101;%26#115;%26#46;%26#99;%26#111;%26#109;

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Saturday, January 19th, 2008

hood and the Quality of Your Life�What to do About It

In LAPD Chief Bill Bratton%26rsquo;s broken-window theory on stopping crime, graffiti is not only sight blight on your neighborhood, it is an invitation to more and bigger crimes.

Graffiti affects the value of your property and the quality of your

life %26hellip; and it is an issue of varying degrees of concern from the Warner

Center (Woodland Hills) to the Warner Grande (San Pedro).

CityWatch offers the following reports from different city council

districts on the way they are attacking LA%26rsquo;s graffiti epidemic.

District 12-Greig Smith-

Sometimes, maintaining the high quality of life in our community is as simple as cutting weeds and painting over graffiti.

When I first ran for office four years ago, I campaigned on the concept of taking back the streets and focusing on the quality of life issues that matter most to our community. That means maintaining the aesthetic appearance of our public places.

Recently, reports of graffiti have shot up 30 percent over last year, and weeds are growing wild on sidewalks and medians. So this summer, we are declaring war on graffiti and weeds.

We are ramping up our efforts to paint over graffiti and clear weeds with additional funding and an all new program that will also provide job training to youths in our community, to confront these blights.

Graffiti is one of the worst kinds of vandalism. It should be aggressively removed and its perpetrators dealt with harshly. Graffiti is often committed by violent gang members and criminals to mark their turf. It is meant to intimidate people and it does.

Removing graffiti is not easy and it is not cheap. One person can paint over 500 locations in one month at a cost of about $37,000 a year. But we will not give up the battle against graffiti. If we do not respond and remove graffiti immediately, vandals only become more emboldened and brazen.

That is why, for the last two years, we have been taking money out of our own discretionary budget to hire our own work crews to remove overgrown weeds in our District, above and beyond what is allocated in the City budget. We spent $15,000 on weed abatement in our District in 2005, $20,000 last year, and we plan to increase that to $30,000 this year.

We have also been working very closely with West Valley Alliance, the contractor that paints over graffiti in our area, to make sure graffiti is removed as quickly as possible - usually within 48 hours of being reported.

Our additional funding, together with donations from Neighborhood Councils in Granada Hills, Canoga Park and Reseda and others, will enable West Valley Alliance to hire another full-time employee and a part-time employee to respond to graffiti removal requests.

West Valley also plans to have a worker available on weekends to paint over graffiti more quickly, purchase additional paint sprayers, have staff work overtime, and identify graffiti %26quot;hot-spots%26quot; in coordination with our local police.

In response, we are launching our Blight Strike Team this summer, a youth work training program in partnership with L.A. Conservation Corps. This new initiative will offer paid jobs to young members of our community who will perform beautification work in our District.

The Blight Strike Team, which will have job training and supervision provided by L.A. Conservation Corp, will clear weeds and remove litter from medians, sidewalks, streets and other public places in our District. They will also be on call to provide immediate graffiti removal, remove litter after special events such as parades, and clean up illegal dumping sites.

We also organize several large-scale community clean-up efforts a year with volunteers, neighborhood Councils, community-based organizations and our own staff, to remove weeds, paint over graffiti and remove litter from streets, sidewalks and parks in our community.

Problems like graffiti, and sidewalks and medians overgrown with weeds are more than just eyesores. They deface the community that we work so hard to keep beautiful and safe, and offend our sense of neighborhood pride.

As a strong believer in the Broken Windows theory, I feel that when we allow a neighborhood to become littered, vandalized or blighted, residents become less engaged and invested in the improvement and maintenance of the neighborhood. That leads to a general decline in the quality of life, lower property values, and ultimately, to higher levels of property crime and vandalism.

That is why we are declaring war on graffiti and weeds this summer, and we need your help. The faster graffiti and overgrown weeds are reported, the faster we can eradicate them.

More info at www.CD12.org .


District 13-Eric Garcetti-

President Eric Garcetti joined with Board of Public Works President Cynthia Ruiz, LAPD Central Area Commander Andrew Smith, and representatives from the L.A. Dodgers and Central City Action Committee to announce that Garcetti%26rsquo;s campaign against graffiti, Uniting Neighborhoods To Abolish Graffiti (UNTAG) has slashed graffiti by two-thirds in Council District 13 during its first three years. Having surpassed its goal of reducing graffiti by half during the first two years of the program in 2006, community members, city paint out crews, and the police department intensified their efforts over the last twelve months to further erode the influence of taggers in Garcetti%26rsquo;s Thirteenth Council District.

Using a consistent methodology during each of the past three years, Garcetti%26rsquo;s staff counted 20,763 tags to establish a baseline in 2004. Two years later, they counted 9,419 tags in the 13.13 square miles of Council District 13, a 55% reduction. This year, that number fell to 6,677, a nearly 68% drop over the three year span.

Garcetti was joined by members of the Dodgers organization who presented a check for $15,000 to the Central City Action Committee (CCAC), one of the city%26rsquo;s graffiti paint out crews. The funds will be used to purchase an equipment truck for CCAC.

%26ldquo;Driving down any street in this area when UNTAG started three years ago, it was clear how much a program like this was needed,%26rdquo; said Cynthia Ruiz, President of the Board of Public Works. %26ldquo;UNTAG is a model for the entire city of Los Angeles.%26rdquo;

%26ldquo;UNTAG utilizes a network of community members who take responsibility for reporting tags to graffiti removal crews. Garcetti has recruited 313 active %26ldquo;block captains%26rdquo; who work to quickly report tags, simultaneously discouraging taggers and reducing their ability to intimidate communities.

Garcetti has continued to find funding for the installation of cameras at graffiti %26ldquo;hot spots.%26rdquo; This gives police 24-hour access to areas that are chronically tagged, and allows them to quickly respond to incidents. Such technology has reduced the frequency of tagging at Lake Street Park, locations along the Vermont Corridor, and businesses along Hollywood Boulevard. (Eric Garcetti%26rsquo;s blog: www.lacityorgcd13)


District 2-Wendy Greuel

See the steps being taken to fight graffiti by Councilmember Greuel: www.lacity.org/cd2

___

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Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Voices from the Hood

The McMansion Dialogues

(On December 7, 2007 CityWatch published by our erstwhile neighborhood issues provocateur, Charles Tarlow, offering his perspective on the Mansionization issue. Here is some of the passionate dialogue that followed.)

I guess Mr. Tarlow does not mind having a house the size of an apartment building looming over his backyard. The sad truth is that most McMansions are square, two story eyesores that are built out to 5 feet of the property lines. Even the %26quot;beautiful Spanish style%26quot; home he depicts appears to push out to the maximum limits.

The proposed City ordnance will require setbacks that will prevent second floors from destroying the privacy and light of their neighbors, yet still allow spacious homes.

As far as value goes, few will be able to afford these palaces. As a result, the price per square foot will drop significantly, pulling down values of smaller homes with them.

If you really want to live in a neighborhood with super-sized homes, then try Santa Clarita.

–Paul Hatfield

NC Valley Village


I would like to know which Neighborhood Council you hold office in or belong to; I am the Parks, OpenSpace and Recreation Representative for Encino Neighborhood Council, having had a business in Encino since 1982. I am also a member of the Planning and Land Use Committee; we are dealing with many issues connected with very large houses built up to the required 5 feet from the property line.

I must take issue with your choice of photographs; an enlarged latrine would look like a House and Garden prize-winner if it had a million dollars thown at it, as is the case with the house in the second photo. However, the welcoming yawn of a monstrous garage cavity which is soon to be filled with two or maybe three new gas- guzzlers is not what I would call inviting.

So please do not tar everyone with your own interpretation of what kind of people prefer smaller houses. Or what is attractive and what is not. At least clearly state that it is YOUR OPINION.

–Rosemarie S. White, Ph.D.

Parks, Open Space and Recreation Representative

Encino Neighborhood Council


Dr. White,

To answer your questions, I am a member of the Mid City West Community Council and also am a member of the Land Use Committee. I will have lived on Colgate Ave since 1947 (60years this week), so I believe I have some experience with my neighborhood.

And, of course, I write my own opinions. I do not speak for the council or the committee. I am just speaking out.

I really do not understand why you take issue with the pictures in my article. What you see is the run down eyesore that was built back in the 1920’s and the beautiful home that replaced it. You are looking at the exact same lot on Colgate Ave. I ask you to answer honestly … which home would you like to live in? Which home adds to the desirability of the neighborhood? There really is only one answer. You can make your argument for size limits, but I seriouslydoubt you would choose to live in the %26quot;dump%26quot; that was labeled %26quot;BEFORE%26quot;.

I realize that there are people who do not like attached garages, andif you are in that camp, you are entitled to your opinion. But consider this: most of the 1920’s older homes have narrow driveways that were not made for modern cars. As a result, few people park cars in their detached garages because their cars barely fit through the driveways. Attached garages allow people to actually park their cars off the crowded streets.

I know from your email that we will probably never agree on theproper size limit for new homes … and that is OK. What I hope we can agree on is that the majority of homeowners in their own neighborhoods should be able to make that decision. And that is what my article was really about.

It is not right for a small vocal minority to make the rules for the majority. If the majority of folks in your neighborhood want to

restrict the size of new homes to 1600sf, then they should be able to do it. If the majority of people in my neighborhood want 3600sf

homes, that is ok too.

The new mansionization ordinance is a one size fits all solution. It will help some neighborhoods and hurt others. A better solution

would be to let each neighborhood control their own destiny.

I hope this better explains my position and I hope the new law benefits your neighborhood. But as I said in my article, beware of

onerous zoning laws. They can do more harm than good.

And by the way, if you are worried that my opinions might adversely affect the city’s decision to implement the new law, you have nothing to worry about. It would take an act of God to stop this ordinance from becoming law. Right or wrong, you are about to get what youwish for. I hope you like it.

–Charles Tarlow

Mid City Los Angeles

Regular CityWatch contributor


The City’s General Plan discourages attached garages, and I think Charles Tarlow’s %26quot;After%26quot; picture illustrates why. With that beautiful, new garage that can probably fit two SUVs, gym equipment, and a workbench, the owners of the property still feel the need to park their car in the driveway illegally (within the 25 foot setback). Are they just eager to show off their car, or is the garage being used for something else?

–Teresa Feldman

Los Angeles


This past June, the City Planning Commission forwarded an anti-mansionization ordinance to the City Council. Our goal was to DO Real Planning. We were led by an unprecedented coalition of homeowners, environmentalists, architects, affordable housing advocates, and civic groups. Inexplicably, our effort has stalled for 6 months at PLUM. If you still believe that this City should take a balanced first step against grossly oversized homes, please read on and circulate this email.

–Jane Usher, President

Los Angeles City Planning Commission


Urgent Need For Action on Mansionization Ordinance

What: Please attend the PLUM Committee meeting at 2 PM on December 18 in City Hall. There is no similarly effective tool quite like your showing up. In addition, you may wish to contact the City Council in advance to express your views.

Why: The December 18 meeting of the PLUM Committee will mark the third time that this body has heard the Mansionization Ordinance. Currently, the City does not regulate oversized homes that disproportionately impact their neighborhoods and the environment. The proposed Ordinance curtails gross overbuilding while it allows homes of more generous size than are permitted by similar measures in surrounding cities. Work on the proposed Ordinance was sponsored by Councilman Tom LaBonge, and seconded by Councilmembers Ed Reyes, Wendy Greuel, Janice Hahn, Bill Rosendahl, Eric Garcetti, and Herb Wesson. The measure was drafted and recommended by City Planning on June 14. The Council has yet to see this work.

PLUM History:

%26bull; At the July 24 PLUM meeting, the Planning Department and the City Attorney%26rsquo;s office were directed to review the proposed Ordinance. In addition, Councilman Jack Weiss directed Planning to offer two changes: a menu of ways for a community to opt out of the Ordinance and a suggestion concerning enclosed porches.

%26bull; On October 18 the City Attorney%26rsquo;s office released the formal version of the proposed Ordinance. The house size limitations were essentially unchanged. There was no change in the porch provision.

%26bull; On November 20 the Planning Department again appeared before PLUM with a menu of ways for a community to opt out of the Ordinance. Councilman Weiss again asked for an expanded menu, and asked Planning to provide an economic analysis of the effects of the proposed ordinance. No funding is offered for the economic analysis, which would require months of study, and, according to an expert in the field, can be anticipated to find a positive effect on property values.

%26bull; Still another PLUM meeting is scheduled for December 18. Councilman Weiss has spoken publicly in favor of neighborhood-by-neighborhood regulations, rather than a citywide rule. The bureaucracy and time that this new approach envisions is, unfortunately, endless. None of us will live to tell the tale.

Action: The most common criticism of the criticism of the Ordinance is that it is too modest. Indeed, it is not tailored to protect individual neighborhood character, which must come via overlay zones, specific plans, and community plan updates. However, while we fiddle, construction continues on houses that are out of scale for our neighborhoods, that invade the privacy of their neighbors, that overuse scarce resources, and that place home ownership further out of reach for the next generation, including our children.


I was surprised and happy to read in Commissioner Usher%26rsquo;s letter that there are some efforts being made to seed control of individual neighborhoods to the majority of home owners in their own areas. This is something I can get behind. Maybe requiring signatures from two thirds of home owners in a given area before restrictions could be implemented.

–Charles Tarlow

Mid City Los Angeles

CityWatch contributor

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Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

CityWatch - An insider look at City Hall - Kept in the Dark by Huizar

A Report from Heinrich Keifer

The Friends of Southwest Museum Coalition has gotten stronger after persevering through four years of stalling, delay, misinformation, and deception by the management of the Autry National Center.

Late last month, the leaders from each of our member organizations received a %26ldquo;decision-already-made%26rdquo; email update from Councilmember Jose Huizar. This came without the prior knowledge or input from the Coalition of a new %26ldquo;agreement%26rdquo; with Autry and the formation of a group called the %26ldquo;Southwest Society.%26rdquo; We take it seriously that the Councilmember said he achieved what he said he could with this agreement, after his promise to engage the Autry.

All of us were kept in the dark, which seems to be in contrast to earlier this year when the Councilmember insisted that each Coalition leader meet with him to engage in a transparent and collaborative process. At that meeting in June, over 50 community leaders re-affirmed the importance of his fighting for the Coalition%26rsquo;s long-held central goals.

The Coalition steering committee is concerned that the announcement came as a surprise and that our numerous Coalition leaders were not asked, in advance of the hurried press event, to come back together to be informed or discuss the negotiations with the Councilmember or his staff. Apparently though, time was offered to selected individuals who received advance knowledge that allowed them to agree to lend their names to the Southwest Society and to raise many millions of dollars.

The steering committee felt we had to continue to be transparent and held a meeting with our Coalition leaders to discuss this new announcement. We discussed the situation so as to better understand where our leaders felt the issue now stood in achieving the consistent and long-held position of the Coalition:

_ Retain and create a world class Southwest Museum as the primary exhibition location of the Southwest Collection in its original location and

_ Ensure that there is a viable future museum use for both the Southwest and Casa de Adobe. For this an enforceable agreement, not a memo from the Autry CEO, would be needed.

Unfortunately, when one closely reads the %26ldquo;agreement,%26rdquo; which is a simple memo from Autry CEO John Gray to Councilmember Huizar, the Autry Board absolves itself from accountability and shrouds itself, once again, in vague language that does not offer anything of great substance that was not previously offered last fall. The consensus is that attainment of our core position has not yet been achieved because the Autry continues to refuse to alter its misguided plans to convert the Southwest Museum to a vague cultural and education center.

At this time, the Coalition does not believe that this new %26ldquo;agreement%26rdquo; will achieve a successful museum future for the Southwest Museum or Casa de Adobe, especially when professional evidence from the Autry-funded Brenda Levin Rehabilitation Study shows that there is a way to achieve future success as a museum — namely Option B of that study as a bare minimum.

Our elected officials have already helped secure public money for the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe. To-date most of the %26ldquo;Autry%26rsquo;s%26rdquo; investment in the Southwest Museum, $4.5-6.5 million depending on the memo, is actually public taxpayer funds, insurance claim payments, and grants that the Coalition has directly solicited or indirectly supported through critical letters of support. So, remember that the Coalition has been a true %26ldquo;friend%26rdquo; to the Autry when it comes to fundraising for the last four years already. Please thank our federal and state elected officials for most of this investment that Autry claims as its own.

Knowing the influence of Autry money and the lobbying muscle it has hired at City Hall, this is a classic case of moneyed interests trying to trump the will of people and the economic future of a community and region. The Coalition will continue to build and gain support for our cause to create a full and world-class Southwest Museum. Two new neighborhood councils, Greater Griffith Park and Hollywood United, just adopted positions supporting the retention of the Southwest Museum at its current location. The Oaks Homeowners Association recently joined our Coalition as did the Highland Park Kiwanis. Our resolve to seek a vibrant museum for our diverse community that reflects the full heritage of the Southwest, its cultural and economic future and for the children of Los Angeles must continue.

Thank you for standing in unity to take all necessary steps to achieve our common vision of an enhanced world-class museum. Our Southwest Museum, as envisioned by Charles Lummis, will shine on the Arroyo hillside once again. More info: www.FriendsoftheSouthwestMuseum.com .

(Heinrich Keifer is president of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council and heads the Friends of the SWM Coalition Steering Committee.) _

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Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Klessig Seeks Reelection In Westlake Village Landscaping Software

Most residents are happy with the way the city of Westlake Village is being run Landscaping Software, Councilmember Philippa Klessig believes Landscaping Software.

Councilmember Jim Bruno is not seeking reelection Landscaping Software. The other candidates are physician Theodore Corwin Landscaping Software, management consultant Ned Davis, and Carol Kirschbaum, a retired insurance administrator Landscaping Software.

(more…)

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Thursday, November 1st, 2007