February 2008 Archives

An online survey is available on the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council's Web site for residents to give their opinions about additional features for a proposed K-8 school in the community.

One of the questions is whether the school should have an enhanced multi-purpose room for the community to use with chairs, room dividers and kitchen access.

Other questions involve the size of the technology center, how important is it to have bleachers in the gym and should there be space for before- and after-school programs provided by the YMCA.

The new school will be located at Mason and Sesnon and will serve 1,047 students.

The information from the survey will be used to design plans for the new school.

To complete the survey, go to www.prnc.org.

Elections for the Studio City Neighborhood Council will be held from 2 to 10:30 p.m. March 11 at Walter Reed Middle School, 4525 Irvine Ave., North Hollywood.

According to the council's Web site, one only seat is contested, so far. David Burg and Erich Klain are running for one seat for a residential homeowner.

Also, there's no one running for the business property owner seat, according to the Web site.

Others running are Todd Royal for the residential renter seat, Ben Neumann for the business owner seat, Remy Kessler for the service organization seat, Ezra Dweck for the at-large stakeholder seat, Victor Helo for the employee stakeholder seat and Jeremy Lipton-Schwartz for the youth seat.

The Studio City Neighorhood Countil meets at 7 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the CBS Studio Center in the Annex 1 meeting room. All Council meetings are open to the public.

At a Valley Vision town hall meeting on Thursday, seven proposed developments in Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village, Valley Glen and North Hollywood will be discussed and the public can provide input.

The cumulative effect of these developments can be buildings up to 37 stories tall, 4,570,000 square feet of office and retail space, 5,483 new residential units and 14,817 new parking spaces within an five-square-mile area.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. with a meet-and-greet. Then representatives from the developers will give overviews and the public can provide input from 6 to 9 p.m.

Participants will include members from the five neighborhood councils in the southeast San Fernando Valley as well as city and state agencies and political leaders.

The meeting will be held at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, 4222 Vineland Ave., Studio City. Parking is $4.

A program called "Billboard Blight in L.A." will be presented at the March 1 meeting of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Congress.

Dennis Hathaway, a community activist and member of the Venice Neighborhood Council's land use and planning committee, will be discussing this city-wide issue.

The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the DWP headquarters, 111 N. Hope St., Los Angeles.

There is free parking on the DWP property.

The Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council is sponsoring the Lake Balboa Beautiful Homes for Spring Contest, honoring local homes - and their owners - who show pride, care and taste.

There will be first- and second-place winners and a grand prize winner.

Photographs of the winners will be displayed on the neighborhood council's Web site and the grand prize winner will be in the community's local newspaper.

Each winner will receive a prize and will be honored at the May 7 meeting of the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council.

To get an entry form, call 818-780-3920, ext. 4, or visit www.lakebalboanc.org and click on the link about the contest. Entry forms can be mailed to 15701 Sherman Way, P.O. Box 7720, Van Nuys, CA 91409.

A community meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss plans for the K-8 Span School to be built in Porter Ranch.

The meeting will be held at Germain Elementary School, located at 20730 Germain St., Chatworth.

The school's architect will be at the meeting. Based on this meeting, LAUSD expects to hold another community meeting within a month to review initial design schematics.

This new school is the result of a unique partnership between the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council, LAUSD, developer S & S and L.A. Councilman Greig Smith's office.

The school will be located on the southeast corner of Mason and Sesnon and serve 1,047 students. It's expected to open in 2012.

For more information, visit www.prnc.org.

The latest newsletter from the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association has this brief:

"True or false? Is Whole Foods seriously looking to close its two Sherman Oaks stores to combine them into one large store in our community? We are checking out this rumor.

"We have learned that the location of the former Barone's restaurant, billiard parlor, etc. - from Ventura Boulevard to Moorpark Street - is for sale. The asking price is $23 million, including entitlements to build 88 condominium units and 16,500 square feet of retail space."

Perhaps there will be an update out of the association's meeting last night.

Check out www.sohainfo.com.

The city's Education and Neighborhood Commission is seeking development of a "friendlier" form that neighborhood council members would have to fill out to disclose possible conflicts of interest, according to an article by Rick Orlov in today's Daily News.

There has been concern that financial disclosure requirements will discourage neighborhood councils' participation in city government.

Councilman Dennis Zine said he's concerned that requiring detailed financial information to serve on neighborhood councils will deter residents - who serve as volunteers - from getting involved.

However, Councilman Richard Alarcon argued he's concerned there's potential for conflicts of interest to make their way into the city's decision-making process.

To read the entire story, click here.

According to the Reseda Neighborhood Council's Web site, the results are in for a street repair poll requested by L.A. Councilman Dennis Zine.

Streets on the list are:
19300-19700 blocks of Kittridge Street
6800-6900 blocks of Calvin Avenue
17700-18000 blocks of Valerio Street
17700 block of Stagg Street
18100-18400 blocks of Valerio Street
7200-7500 blocks of Newcastle Avenue
7400 block of Balcom Avenue
7600 block of Hesperia Avenue
7400-7500 blocks of Nestle Avenue

Twelve people were recently elected to the Sylmar Neighborhood Council.

Elected to two-year terms were Hector Cabrera, Esteban M. Taberez, Guillermo 'Memo" Reyes, Gene Gatmaitan, Martin Ernest Laufer, Jim Schopper, Fabian Garcia, Hiral Bhakta, Rick Donnelly and Erlin Arellano.

Elected to one-year terms were Nicholas Krall and Saul O. Gonzalez.

The new year has started off busy for Lisa Sarkin, chair of the Studio City Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee.

She has formed the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Forum, which will bring together the six communities within the plan to discuss and agree on ways to enforce and review the plan.

She spoke with the L.A Department of Transportation and pointed out that money collected through the plan could indeed be used for pedestrian use, which means sidewalks, gutters and parking spaces could be installed along the north side of Ventura Boulevard, east of Colfax Avenue.

Sarkin was also an invited guest on "Your Neighborhood Council," a public access show hosted by Dr. Daniel Wiseman.

The Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council recently approved a $5,000 grant for the improvement of the Granada Hills Veteran's Memorial, often called "The Triangle," at Zelzah Avenue and Chatsworth Street.

The memorial's landscaping has been maintained by a coalition of Granada Hills community organizations, led by the Granada Hills Rotary Club, and funded through donations by individuals and grants, including a previous $1,500 grant from the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council.

The $5,000 grant will pay for improvements such as brick pavers to enhance the walkways. These pavers can also be paid for by individual donors in honor of local veterans and residents.

For more information, call Carl Melnick of the Granada Hills Rotary Club at 818-366-2020.

L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky will speak at the next Valley Vote meeting at 7:45 p.m. Monday in the second-floor meeting room at Galpin Ford, 15555 Roscoe Blvd., near the 405.

He will give updates on current issues calling the county and city of Los Angeles.

Yaroslavsky has been a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors since being elected in 1994. He has been re-elected three times, most recently in 2006.

As a member of the County Board of Supervisors, Yaroslavsky quickly emerged as a leader on fiscal, health care, transportation, cultural and environmental matters.

He authored the 1996 Proposition 'A' park bond, which resulted in the preservation of rural open space and the development of urban parks throughout the county.

He authored the 2002 Proposition 'B' trauma tax, approved by over 73 percent of county voters, a measure which is largely credited with stabilizing the county's perpetually unpredictable health care finances.

Yaroslavsky was also the driving force behind the Orange Line bus way across the San Fernando Valley, which opened in 2005 to record ridership (22,000 daily boardings.)

He is regarded as the county's fiscal watchdog, insisting that it live within its means.

A Valley Vote meeting will precede Yaroslavsky's talk, beginning at 6:45 p.m.

The Sunland Tujunga Neighborhood Council will discuss area residential and business developments at its next meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Mt. Gleason Middle School, 10965 Mt. Gleason Ave., Sunland.

On the agenda will be updates about the controversial Las Lomas residential development, the Verdugo HIlls Golf Course and Foothill/Commerce Town Center as well as a report about three "lock down" permits issued for the safety of a former local KMart store, which was purchased by Home Depot.

Because Home Depot's development of the site is in litigation, construction has halted. The permits were requested because parts of the structure are not secure from the elements.

Also the council is accepting candidate applications for its upcoming election. Filing deadline is 5 p.m. March 6.

For more information, visit www.stnc.org or call 818-951-7411.

The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council will get an update about a local middle school project at its next meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at Shepherd of the Hills Church, 19700 Rinaldi St., Porter Ranch.

The update will be given by Al Grazioli, LAUSD Valley Region Development Manager.

He will cover a new proposed site for the school, which is designed to relieve overcrowding at Castelbay, Beckford, Germaine and Darby elementaries and Lawrence and Frost middle schools.

According to initial plans, the two-story school was slated to open in 2012.

Christopher Alan of Dasher Lawless Inc. will speak about a proposed mixed-use shopping center, office and hotel project at the next meeting of the Valley Glen Neighborhood Association.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at Erwin Elementary School, 13400 Erwin St., Van Nuys.

As proposed, the new project, called Plaza at Valley Glen, will replace the current Victora Plaza occupied by Bally's, Vallarta Market, CVS, Citibank, Golan restaurant and a mini-storage facility.

In its January 2008 newsletter, the Encino Neighborhood Council gives the following building updates:

* - At 5501 Newscastle is another "monster" 120-unit apartment building coming to Encino. This project will add hundreds of new residents to our community, jamming streets, city services, police and fire facilities, markets and the like.

This project is being buiding under a new state law, SB 1818, which permits a 35-percent density bonus because it includes nine below-market-rate (low-income) apartments. Also, the building height will be over 59 feet. The density bonus allows an extra 30 apartments and a 20 percent reduced yard setback.

* - Valley Beth Shalom is planning a major expansion. The first phase will include a renovation of the sanctuary, a new parking garage and a two-story nursery school. The second phase will include a new day school building, expansion of the offices, a new social hall building and a new day school administration building.

The West Hills Neighborhood Council is now holding its monthly meetings in the auditorium at Chaminade High School, 23260 Saticoy St., West Hills.

Council officials said the auditorium will provide a larger and more comfortable meeting place and will allow refreshments to be available during meetings.

The council had previously met at the 911 Center and council members thanked the center for letting them hold their meetings there the past three years.

The next meeting of the West Hills Neighborhood Council is at 7 p.m. tonight.

There are seven vacancies on the newly named Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council.

Three of the spots are for residential stakeholders, two are for business stakeholders, one is for an organizational stakeholder and one is for a youth stakeholder between 14 and 17 years old at the time of the election.

Candidate forms may be filed through March 13, with the election on April 12.

For candidate forms and more information, go to www.lakebalboanc.org.

Congressman Howard Berman will speak at the next meeting of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Sunkist Building, 14130 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks.

He will talk about several topics including Iraq and the Middle East, the U.S. economy and healthcare, and transportation funds for Los Angeles.

For more information, call 818-377-4590 or visit www.sohainfo.com.