Westside Village Civic Assn., Inc.

May 2003 newsletter

May 12, 2003

President?’s Message


Our Annual Meeting and Dinner were held once again at St. John?’s Presbyterian Church on February 20th with an attendance that surpassed all previous dinners and our expectations. We would like to thank each and every one of you who took the time to come together as a community, spend some time with your neighbors, and share in our common interests. We are also appreciative to Association member Ned O?’Rourke and his crew for their stellar performance in once again serving the delicious Baja Bud?’s Mexican Buffet and also to all the board members who gave generously of their time to make this event possible. Our gratitude is also once again extended to LAPD Senior Lead Officer Anthony Vasquez for providing reliable information from the Pacific Division and his ongoing interest in the welfare of our community. Charles West graciously accepted a commemorative plaque from the Board Members acknowledging his dedication and service to the WVCA for the past three years as President and he will remain on the board as Past President.

Deputy Sandi Sawa, representing Cindy Miscikowski from the Eleventh Los Angeles City Council District, acknowledged Charles West with a Certificate from the City Council Office along with answering questions from the floor. All residents in Westside Village South of Palms are located in her District. Jack Weiss was also present at the meeting to introduce himself to the WVCA and to his new constituency in Westside Village. Mr. Weiss represents the Fifth Los Angeles Council District that, for the first time in many years, again represents a portion the residents in Westside Village that live North of Palms. He made some interesting comments, answered questions, and left the impression that he was accessible and interested in our issues and concerns.

The Westside Village Civic Association is going to do something a little different this next year by incorporating sixteen board members instead of the usual fifteen. This was done in part by the willingness of people to serve and the thought that a quorum would be more easily achieved for meetings. All were in favor of this minor change at the Annual Meeting. Michael Goldman, Lisa Haught, and Roberta Schiller were elected as new members of the Board of Directors with Don Elliott re-elected as a returning member. There are several incumbents who will be continuing their term. These include: Ken Alpern, Lisa Cahill, Ian Halsema, Jacki Weber, and Marie Wallace, Marion Serra, Greg Severson, and Lotti Furlan. Once again, our Treasurer is Richard Saltsman and for the remainder of her term, Tracy Marsh, will be filling the position of Secretary. We have a very motivated and enthusiastic board who is looking forward to dedicating their time and energy to a myriad of different projects and interests in the coming year.

The board would like to extend its thanks to Joel Hagler for the use of the Queensland Manor Cooperatives as our monthly meeting place. Joel served as Treasurer for the board for six years and was a very active member in previous years. He has provided and continues to provide a valuable service to the WVCA.

What sets Westside Village apart from so many other communities in Los Angeles is our willingness to stand together and be a community. The WVCA has served its community well in the past and I hope to continue to incorporate the same integrity and dedication in the future. I look forward to the coming year and to the challenges that it holds. Please don?’t hesitate to contact me at WVCA@earthlink.net if there are any questions, concerns, or ideas that you may have.

Bobby Holliday



Department of Transportation

In our last newsletter, residents of Westside Village were asked to contact me regarding their concerns and ideas to improve traffic-related issues in the neighborhood. I received an overwhelming response to this solicitation and would like to thank those who took the time and interest to e-mail.

I forwarded the majority of the concerns and ideas to the engineers at the Western Section of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation last month in a letter requesting to for them to investigate these issues to see if anything could be done to rectify the problems. The specific issues some of you brought to my attention were intersection mitigation, the possible implementation of stop signs, speeding, and pedestrian safety. I am happy to report that the LADOT has sent engineers to Westside Village this last month and are considering the possible solutions and ramifications of these issues. They have already given us an answer on a few of our requests.

For those of you who have written in about the length of street light signals at Sepulveda and Wilshire, Sepulveda and National, and National Place and Overland, unfortunately there is nothing that the LADOT can do to increase the amount of time for each cycle to ease traffic congestion. There have been attempts in the past to change the cycle time and these changes only served to slow traffic flow more severely going in the opposite directions. The implementation of the photo cameras has indeed slowed traffic down but it has slowed it down to the rate intended by the LADOT. Without these cameras, the intersections did move faster, however, due to the increase of people running the red lights with a lowered risk of detection by the police made the intersections more dangerous to drivers and pedestrians.

There were also many concerns about speeding on the various streets located in our vicinity. The best solution for this problem is to call the LAPD Western Traffic Division at #213.473.0215 and request a speed trailer. This is the unit that many of you have seen temporarily parked along streets that tells what rate of speed you are driving at as you drive toward it. The data is then collected from the machine and the police do a follow up traffic citation presence for the week following. I believe this would be an effective deterrent for some of our speed-related problem areas.

The WVCA is going to be meeting with Mo Blorfroshon, who is an engineer and representative from the LADOT, at our next meeting in May and he will address the remainder of our concerns. In the following newsletter, I will inform all of you on what specific issues meet the criteria for change, which ones can be mitigated, and those that will have to be addressed at some future time. Thank you again for your insights and ideas.


Bobby Holliday
WVCA@earthlink.net


Improvements Continue with Block Captain System

Over the last year, the WVCA board of directors initiated a revitalization plan for the Block Captain system of Westside Village. Thus far, the efforts have gone a long way to improve the Block Captain system.

The goals of the initial revitalization plan were to draw attention to the importance of Block Captains and to retain and recruit new volunteers. Block Captains distribute newsletters, stay aware of local crime patterns and welcome new residents.

We started with the first annual Block Captain Picnic last June, to recognize past Block Captains and to begin recruiting more. This year?’s picnic will be on Saturday, June 7th. Please see the enclosed flyer for more information.

This past year, more than twenty new Block Captains and Co-Captains volunteered. We now have over sixty Captains representing the forty-four blocks of WVCA. The current Captains have worked with Everett Wallace to update the resident lists for each block of WVCA. These lists enable Block Captains to contact residents and alert them to any immediate news/crime in Westside Village.

But even with all these great volunteers, a few blocks remain under represented. Please see the list below to determine if your block needs a helping hand.

Blocks that need Captains and/or Co-Captains:

3400 Kelton Ave.
3500 Kelton Ave.
10800 Kingsland Ave.
3000 Malcolm Ave.
10700 National Pl.
11000 Queeensland St.
10700 Tabor Ave.
3200 Tilden Ave.
3400 Tilden Ave.

Remember, that even if there is a Block Captain on your block, there is always room for more. If you wish to volunteer, have any questions about becoming a Block Captain or want to know who your Block Captain is, call Lisa Cahill at 310-837-9635.

Enclosed with this May newsletter you will find a "We look out for each other/Neighborhood Watch" sticker. We encourage you to put it someplace visible on your home. It sends a message to those who would seek to destroy our community -- through theft, burglary or other crimes ?– and that we are not simply isolated houses but that we do look out for each other.

If you DO see suspicious activity or a crime being committed, contact the police immediately. But also let your block captain know. He or she can alert your
neighbors to be extra vigilant.


We especially need people to attend the Neighborhood Watch Meetings to stay aware of any crime patterns and prevention ideas. These take place at 6:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at Palm Elementary School at Motor and Palms Blvd.

Thanks for helping to make Westside Village a stronger community for each of us.


For more information call Jacki Weber at 310-876-3069.


Meet your new WVCA board members
________________________________________________________________________



Bobby Holliday Profile

Bobby Holliday is our current, new WVCA President. She has that friendly, healthy look commonly associated with Midwesterners. Not surprisingly, she comes from Green Bay, Wisconsin and yes, she is a Packer fan.

She discovered WVCA when she learned about MTA?’s proposal to use Sepulveda as a possible route for a busway or light rail, running from USC to Santa Monica via Exposition on the old freight train route. Between Motor and Sepulveda there was to be a detour along Venice to Sepulveda. The WVCA Board was about to endorse the idea before the environmental impact statement and report came out. Bobby came to a WVCA Board meeting, along with many others, to air what the majority felt about the route running along Sepulveda. It was like a spin off on a famous movie, the Lady Who Came to the Meeting and Stayed to Become President.

Bobby was attracted to Westside Village by the sense of community residents displayed. One of the first things she did after moving into the 3200 block of Greenfield was to help neighbors ?“grow?” the Annual Greenfield Block Party. It went from a modest gathering to a sizable enterprise that drew people from adjoining blocks. Residents were attracted by the diversity of home-prepared food, games and music, and especially the younger set enjoyed socializing with uniformed City ?“heros,?” from the LAPD and LAFD.

Bobby is a ?“doer?” and knows how to get things done. Her education, work and interests reflect energy and curiosity. She has been a professional musician for many years and owned her own rehearsal/recording studio. She was a disaster-related Housing Inspector for FEMA (still certified to work in this capacity). Currently she is a professional Voice-over artist. She has a BS degree from Biola University in Organizational Leadership and a minor in Theology. Currently she is two-thirds of the way toward a Master of Psychology degree at Pepperdine University.

She keeps physically fit with Krav Maga (Israeli street fighting) and you can see her early most mornings running with her dog. She has traveled widely, including to Greece, Israel, Turkey, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Clearly, she recognizes a good thing when she sees it. The ?“village?” quality in Westside Village with its strong sense of community attracted her and she plans to stay. If you have WVCA issues, feel free to contact her at WVCA@earthlink.net



Tracy Marsh Profile


Tracy Marsh is our new WVCA Board Secretary. Like our President Bobby Holliday, she too has a friendly, healthy look but in this case it is associated with Southern California and ?“yes ?“she was born here in L.A. While attending graduate school at USC she lived in an apartment building just south of Blockbuster at National Place and Overland. She discovered Westside Village during evening walks through the neighborhood. Tracy says ?“The charming and eclectic homes, the abundance of trees, and the steep hills and secluded streets attracted me to the area.?” and it ?“seemed to be the perfect small town in the middle of a metropolis!?”

With her partner, she took advantage of the 1993 housing market and moved into her present house on Kelton . A few years later, her sister followed suit and now lives on Greenfield, adding to the total of other families with close relatives living in Westside Village.

Tracy has her doctorate in Psychology and works with technology in the education field. She is Executive Director for Web & Application Development at the west coast office of Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. She focuses on providing distance-learning based degrees and courses to adults and travels frequently to Sylvan offices in Baltimore and the Twin Cities.

Outside of work she is active and enjoys: yoga, marital arts and hiking in the local mountains, travel, reading, cooking and ?“occasional afternoons in the garden.?” Three demanding, spoiled cats take the place of children.

As a WVCA Board member, Tracy is ?“most interested in affecting change through communication; specifically, how can we as a Board better communicate with our members, and in turn, receive time communication from them? We?’re all concerned about doing what?’s best for the community--but often need more timely access to critical information. I?’d like to enhance and advance our ability to communicate for the future.?”



Book Sales Resume at Palms-Rancho Park Library

Friends of the Library will hold its first book sale in the renovated Palms-Rancho Park branch on Saturday, June 7, 2003 between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Bring books that you want to contribute (tax deductible) to the Library Reference desk before that date.

In the meantime, consider joining Friends of the Palms-Rancho Park Branch Library. It involves a modest contribution with a huge return in the form of satisfactions such as implementing your ideas for workshops and discussion groups, meeting other idea-minded people from neighboring areas and helping the Library purchase activity items the City budget does not include.

For more information about Friends of the Library, contact either
Senior Librarian Maggie Johnson at 310-202-4593 mjohnson@lapl.org or
Marie Wallace, Co-President, 310-837-0839 everettandmarie@earthlink.net

In addition to the Book Sale, you?’ll want to explore some of the on-going scheduled programs:

Computer classes on Tuesday and Thursday at 1:00 pm
Mystery Rook Club - every third Tuesday at 6:30 pm
Grandparents reading to children
Mondays 10 am - 12Noon
Tuesdays 3 pm - 5 pm
Wednesdays 10 am - 12Noon and 3 pm - 5pm
Thursdays 3 pm - 5 pm
Fridays 10 am -12Noon
Saturdays 10 am - 12Noon

Looking ahead to summer activities, Michele Mednick, Children?’s Librarian, has planned exciting classes and programs involving art, drama, history and reading. Check with her for details.



Mark your calendars and come to the following meetings. You?’ll learn more about the neighborhood and meet a few neighbors:

Neighborhood Watch: Tuesdays, May 20th, June 17th, July 22nd and August 19th, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Palms Elementary School Auditorium, 3520 Motor Avenue, at Palms. Visit lapdonline.org, click on ?“Community Events?” and scroll down to ?“Pacific Area?” for more information. Note, the Palms Neighborhood Council meets after the Neighborhood Watch group.

Mar Vista Community Council: MVCC is charged is our way of staying in touch with and advising our city council. Its concerns are zoning, transportation, commercial development and much more. Monthly meetings are held at Mar Vista Park Auditorium (near Palms and Sawtelle). Tuesday, May 13th, MVCC will hold its annual general meeting. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski will install the Council's newly-elected Board of Directors to be followed by the Board's election of officers. A reception will be held at the conclusion of the election. Additional meetings will be held June 10th, July 8th and August 12th at 7:00 p.m. For more information visit www.marvistacc.org.

Westside Village Block Captains Annual Picnic: All 40-something Westside Village Block Captains and their families are invited to the second annual picnic. This year?’s event will take place Saturday, June 7th from noon to 3 on the green at St. John?’s Presbyterian Church, 11000 National Boulevard at Military. We?’ll BBQ, meet and mingle, play some games, celebrate our accomplishments from the past year and look forward to the next! Please call Jacki Weber for more information or to RSVP at (310) 876-3069.



Crime Trends/Neighborhood Watch

The following are the crime statistics representing February 16, 2003 through March 15, 2003:
Aggravated Assaults 4
Burglary / Theft from vehicle 23
Robbery 3
Burglary (Residential/Business) 9
Grand Theft Autos 6
Sexual Crime 0
Homicide 0

Violent crime is down in Pacific Division and Palms/Westside Village. To Westside Village area residents, the biggest concerns continue to be burglaries ?– thefts from vehicles, as well as residential/business burglaries. A number of arrests and detentions have been made in connection with recent burglaries; and Pacific Division Captain Wallace Graves believes these arrests and detentions should reduce burglaries in the future. Here are some tips for preventing and handling burglaries.

Always lock and secure your vehicle when it is unattended. Attempt to park in well-lit areas, and deploy any anti-theft you may have for your vehicle. Never leave items of value in plan sight inside your vehicle: it only increases your chances to have your property burglarized. If you observe any suspicious activity call the police right away with a solid description of the suspect and their vehicle.

Safety tips for after a robbery to preserve evidence: lock your business/home. Ask any witnesses to stay until the police arrive. Do not touch anything the robber may have touched. Write down an accurate description of the robber (if you saw him/her) and what was taken.

-- Jacki Weber