South-Mar Neighborhood Association

MINUTES FROM MARCH 2008 MEETING

MINUTES FROM MARCH 2008 MEETING

SoMar Neighborhood Association Meeting


Minutes for Thursday, March 13th, 2008

Meeting held at Mar Vista Library, 12006 Venice Blvd. Corner of Venice Blvd. and Inglewood Blvd, Mar Vista.

Board members present: Curt Steindler, MVCC Zone 5 Director & Vice President, Chris McKinnon, Treasurer, Julia Jones, Newsletter Editor, Beccy Scheffe, Secretary.

Neighbors and Members present: Linda of Beethoven St, Pat of North Park Ave, Michael of South Park Ave, Melissa of Grandview Blvd, Michael of Berryman Ave

Meeting called to order by Treasurer, Chris McKinnon at 6:15 pm.

Public Announcement
• Due to Steve Wallace being absent, Chris McKinnon will chair this meeting.

• Beccy reports that the minutes for the last eight meetings are available on the South Mar Vista website:
http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/la/southmar/main.html (There was no September 2007, or February 2008 meeting.)

Traffic Report:
• Linda Guagliano reports that, due to local support, LADOT and the County have been considering widening the Mar Vista Post Office driveways. She reports, however, that the Mayor's office have now said 'No' to that proposal.

• Judge Murphy has been approached regarding the re-filling of pot holes down the alleys and we are assured that they will be filled again.

• Linda reports on a pilot program currently taking place in San Pedro and Brentwood to restricted overnight parking of oversized vehicles and RV owners. Many cities and neighborhoods around the area already have regulations in place.

• Linda reports two new stop signs being placed at Moore St and Zanja St.

• MVCC is requesting that the electronic video billboards being installed around the neighborhood be removed. Building and Safety say they are legal as long as they are on private property, however, the illumination can be regulated.

• A petition has been signed to prevent cut through traffic on Beethoven St.

Crime:
• Senior Lead Officer Drake Madison reports on the approaching task force days scheduled for LAPD. The task force will focus on fruit vendors within the neighborhood, RV parking and the general homeless population. This is becoming a chronic problem within the Mar Vista neighborhood. These groups are advised of the task force dates in advance and they are told that they are illegally lodged. If they are still there on the morning of the date they will be picked up and charged.

• The task force will also be watching for truancy. Child crime is high in the area and Senior Lead Officer Madison is working with a number of youths and youth programs to begin reaching out to the neighborhood's young people.

• Overall crime is down 14% in every category throughout the neighborhood. In South Mar Vista, robbery is the most prevalent type of crime. Senior Lead Officer Madison reports a robbery at the laundry on Venice Blvd. and Inglewood Blvds, north of Pacific Ave. and Grandview Blvd. There were two arrests made last week. However, patrols have been increased, and robbery is down.

• Motor vehicles are regularly broken into, and once again Officer Madison stressed the need to be watchful of our possessions. DO NOT leave windows and doors open, or unlocked. Keep valuable items, even small change, out of sight.

• Michael of Berryman Ave is relatively new to the neighborhood and is hoping to get a block meeting up and running. He enquired about becoming a block captain.

• Martha reminded everyone about the Block Captain Meetings held quarterly at the Culver Blvd Station.
The Deputy Chief wants Block Captains on every block this year.

• For Block Captains and neighborhood watch information contact Senior Lead Officer Drake Madison for information.
Email: 33997@LAPD.LACITY.ORG or telephone: (310) 622 3972

Newsletter Report:
• Julia reports that the latest newsletter is due to be released.

• Curt says that at the recent MVCC meeting it was decided that they will not support the SoMar newsletter.
Chris says we would really appreciate MVCC's help and hope to be able to open communications with them regarding this matter. He also reported that we will begin to use recyclable paper for our newsletters from now on.

• Chris reports that there may be folding and distributing organization at the next SoMar meeting in April.

• Curt asked how successful the pre-paid envelopes for membership renewal that were included in the last newsletter proved. Chris reported that they were successful and it should be repeated for the next membership drive in January 2009.

Treasurer's Report:

• SoMar Neighborhood Association currently has a total of $2573.


New Business:

• Chris opened discussion about wildlife in South Mar Vista. Apparently during a recent North Oval meeting, there were reports of raccoons entering houses, and a number of opossums having been sighted. Neighbors should be reminded to keep pet food indoors. Otherwise, people agreed that a certain amount of wildlife was a welcome change in an over developed city.

• Chris reports that a number of the Oval palms appear to be dying. The oval palms were trimmed quite vigorously last year just before the intense heatwave over the summer. The trimmer blades are required to be sterilized after each tree is trimmed, to prevent the spread of disease or fungus. Whatever the reason, some of the palms do seem to be struggling. Recently the Bureau of Street Services removed one of the now-damaged trees. The owner of the property then replanted a baby palm in its place. Bureau of Street Services came by a few days later to inspect the damage caused to the street surfacing while the tree was being removed. The owner of the property was told to remove his new plantings, as he had not applied for a permit. Permits must be issued for any parkway plantings.

• The city is no longer planting new palms. Maintaining these trees is costly, as are the many legal liabilities due to the falling fronds. Several of the Oval residents have expressed an interest in maintaining the original 'look' of the streets, however, which were planted with a sweep of palms.

• Several Oval residents are now collecting baby palm volunteers from homes up and down the Oval. Some community discussion will be needed to decide their fate, and how to approach thew preservation of this aspect of the Mar Vista Oval.

• Michael enquired about tree planting on his street, Berryman Ave. The Culver City end is very nicely planted, and Michael expressed the hopes of several neighbors here to continue the tree planting along the LA end, too. Martha advised contacting DWP for free trees. Tree people will also come out and help you dig and plant.

• Melissa suggested Fallen Fruit of LA. Their web site is: fallenfruit.org

• Chris has copies of other group's bylaws for South Mar Vista Neighborhood Association to examine. We will be holding board elections in June 2008. Contact Chris McKinnon for details.

• Chris talked about the development of Downtown Mar Vista. We need to encourage more local businesses. There was some discussion about opening up the alleyway behind the stores on Venice Blvd as a pedestrian shopping and eating street.

• There is nothing to report regarding developments in Culver City. The new building on Inglewood Blvd and Washington Pl. appears to moving forward, with no requests yet for a variance in zoning status. Was there a demo permit issued here?

• CERT training is going well. There have been approx. 20 people attending, and we are already in week 5 out of a total of 7 now. The course been full of fascinating facts, really helpful advice, and fun. We've also had the chance to get to know some more of our neighbors a little better. Many more people in the community will now be equipped with this potentially life-saving knowledge.

• Chris suggested the SoMar community gets together a 'lock box'/container of emergency supplies. This could be placed permanently behind the library.

• Emergency Rally Points were discussed. It was decided that several Rallying Points would be better than just one. Suggestions were made for the front lawn of Venice High School, Venice Blvd., The Bowling Alley parking lot, Venice Blvd., Grandview School, Grandview Blvd., and the DMV, Washington Blvd. Once these locations have been decided upon, we'll need to pass the information to Emergency Services so that they would know to bring supplies to these points, specifically. We can also print an information page in the Newsletter for the community. The Rallying points would be for people to set up a command post in the event of an emergency. There, neighbors could exchange first aid, supplies, and information as well as have a place to meet.

• Chris suggested a pilot program for lighting the alleyways. The alleyway behind the Fire Station could be the first to try out solar/motion detector lighting.

• There was a general question about where to find the Neighborhood Watch signs. Several neighbors and Block Captains have requested them.

• Fees are due April 1st., 2008

• Meeting Adjourned 7:55 pm