South-Mar Neighborhood Association

MINUTES FROM JUNE 2007 MEETING

MINUTES FROM JUNE 2007 MEETING

SoMar Neighborhood Association meeting.

Minutes of meeting Thursday 14th June 2007

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

Board members present: Steve Wallace, President, 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, Julia of Grandview Blvd, Michael of South Park Ave, Joan of McLaughlin Ave, Sharon Commins and Pat Karasick.

Guests present: Senior Lead Officer Madison and Senior Lead Officer Llanes.

Meeting called to order by President, Steve Wallace at 6.30pm.

Introduces Sharon Commins: Sharon Commins is chairing the sub-committee to update the Community Plan.
• Sharon described the first meeting held on May 5th and said Zone 5 had been fairly well represented.
The first of hopefully many photographs and information, gathered from the Zones of Mar Vista, was received on June 13th during the meeting at Hurry Curry on Venice Blvd. The next meeting is scheduled for 12th July, 7pm at the Venice Grind, 12224 Venice Blvd.

• Sharon added that she and Chris McKinnon are among the 9 candidates running for the 7 available seats in the upcoming MVCC elections held on June 26th at Mar Vista Elementary, 3330 Granville Ave. from 5pm - 9pm.

The group agreed it would be extremely helpful to be well represented within MVCC.
Everyone is strongly encouraged to show their support and have their vote!

Senior Lead Officer Madison reports:
• Fortunately this is a pretty good area, burglary being the most prevalent form of crime in the neighborhood.
• Officer Madison strongly encourages the neighbors to be proactive. Keep your valuables out of sight. Even small amounts of loose change left visible in the car can become an incentive for crime.
• Don't leave stuff on view in your cars!
• Report everything! Even stolen loose change, or a break-in where nothing appears stolen should be reported.
• Officer Madison encouraged the use of the white cards handed out to the group at last month's meeting. If you see a neighbor's property where valuables are left unattended, the cards can be a helpful reminder to keep things out of sight and secure.
• In May, there were motorcycles stolen near Inglewood Ave.
• Recently, an ice-cream vendor was robbed on Braddock by 3 minors.
• A PTA member from Grandview School was robbed of $4000 on leaving the building after collecting the funds at a meeting.
• Officer Madison handed out a sheet explaining a new trend in car-jacking tactics. He warned drivers not to step out of their running vehicle to remove fliers left on the rear window. Better to wait until they have driven to a secure area. There has not yet been an incident of this type in the area but the neighbors should be alert.
• Officer Madison reiterated the information dealing with taggers and their graffiti:
If anyone sees a tagger in action, they are encouraged to phone the police immediately. DO NOT CONFRONT THE TAGGER PERSONALLY. If the tagger is caught still at the scene and convicted, there is a $1000 reward available.
For more information go to: www.lapdonline.org
• Linda asked if there had been any problems with the Farmer's Market and both Officer Madison and Officer Llanes agreed it had been all quiet.
• Officer Madison reassured the group that there would be an increase in Police presence during Mar Vista's 80th Birthday Celebration.
• Steve noted that if the market should expand, as seems to be the popular hope, there may be a problem for some of the residents of Grandview in accessing their homes.
• Officer Madison noted that Area Captain Williams will be leaving us on July 15th. He has been assigned to Commercial Crimes Division. Our new Area Captain will be Captain Hiltner. Officer Madison said they are looking forward to getting out into the neighborhood to meet and greet the community.
• Steve suggested that the 80th Birthday Celebration on August 5th might be a good time to do that.
• There will be a new Patrol Captain. We will be welcoming Captain Eisenberg to this position.
• Steve asked what had been decided regarding the fate of the Pacific Beat web site. Officer Llanes reported that it will continue for the foreseeable future.

Linda Guagliano Traffic Report:
• Linda has been part of the formation of a new traffic sub-committee for Mar Vista. She reported that at the recent MVCC meeting held on Tuesday June 12th, the group was approved by the committee. This means that workgroups can now begin monitoring traffic movements in the neighborhood. The next step will be for the sub-committee and the DOT to get together to share information.
• Curt suggested that if there were any traffic areas that needed to be monitored, or traffic calming measures implemented, this information should be forwarded to Bill Pope.
• Chris enquired about the suggested widening of Inglewood Blvd between Venice Blvd and Washington Pl.
• Curt answered that although Inglewood Blvd is considered a secondary highway here, widening it in only this area may actually increase traffic congestion. Widening the street would not measurably assist the Firestation.
• Linda informed us that Beethoven St, Venice Blvd and Inglewood Blvd all currently have traffic groups monitoring them.
• The study groups are located, for the most part, to the north of Venice Blvd. Linda says the traffic is particularly congested in these areas, so it has been decided to start there. It is hoped that any decisions made for the north of Mar Vista will not adversely affect traffic congestion in the South. Curt says that the speed data monitor shows the density of traffic is indeed high to the north of Venice.

McLaughlin Apartments:
• Steve informed us that there is a new developer for the four apartments on McLaughlin/Barrington, formerly used by UCLA. There are apparently two proposals from the developer for this site. The first is for 92 new condo units to be installed on the site using up 1/2 of the existing parkway to widen the street. The other is to leave the units as they are, but again adding extra parking by widening the street.
(?) Is this correct? The developer is hoping to work with the DOT on this matter.

• Curt noted that should the street be upgraded to a Secondary Highway, the building projects here could legally be 4 stories in height.

Treasurer Chris McKinnon reported that:
• SoMar Neighborhood Association currently has 81/82 members. Some have paid through to 2008. Some are unpaid to date.
• SoMar Neighborhood Association currently has $817.48 after the printing of latest Newsletter to be released in July.

SoMar Newsletter:
• Although partially offset by the advertising revenues of $950, printing costs of the Newsletter were $1250.
• Steve pointed out that we are still waiting for newsletter reimbursement from MVCC.
• Curt explained that Bill had lost the invoice again and requested that we re-submit another invoice.
• Julia is aiming for an early July release for the next Newsletter.
• There was some discussion about the highly popular 'useful numbers' page to be added as a loose, easy-to-pull-out sheet for this issue.

Tee Shirts:
Steve asked for a decision to be made regarding the T-shirts celebrating the Mar Vista 80th Birthday Celebration. There has apparently been some disagreement within MVCC over where the proceeds for the sales of the T-shirts should go. A solution has failed to be found and it appeared that Zone 5 were now the only group still considering the idea. Steve had looked into costs for printing and found a four color print job could cost upwards of $6 per shirt. The T-shirts could be on sale to the community for $9.99. We would also have to pay for the use of a table to be able to sell the T-shirts during the event, and this would cost us $35. Inevitably, there will be a number of shirts left over in each size. That means the profit per shirt will be less than $4, and printing a run of 100 shirts means this would actually be a fairly expensive way to raise money for the association. Due to the risk and high capital outlay, a majority of those present voted against the creation of a T-shirt celebrating Mar Vista's 80th Birthday.

There were suggestions for Birthday mugs, a raffle, or posters perhaps instead.

Items on the Agenda, Steve Wallace, President:
• There is a call for the cleanup of the alleyway serving the apartment garages and buildings behind the Library. Currently, there is a lot of litter and dumping here, and a fairly major weed problem.
The alleyway also needs to be re-paved. There is concern however that any money spent in this direction could be wasted, since there is an apparent lack of care by the property owners.
• Steve requested we send out a leaflet encouraging the residents and/or owners to keep a watch out for litter, which in turn would encourage the funding of re-paving and cleaning up in the alleyway, benefitting everybody.
• Steve requested the approval of an application for $5000 for new plantings for the Library. Since the cleanup day in May 2007 there are now a number of bare spots. We can then hold a re-planting day with community support, and brighten up the library's aspect.
• Chris pointed out that the weeds are already getting a firm hold again, despite all of our hard work, and that we could possibly need more professional help - or at the very least, more regular community weeding days.
• Beccy suggested we mulch the beds to help hold down the weed growth, and keep watering cost low.
• Steve reminded us that there is often free mulch available, and suggested we look into it.
• There was discussion about the type of planting to be included around the tree in front of the Library. This area currently holds a lot of trash. Should there be more trash containers available? Should we cover the area with wire mesh? Discussion can begin when we have the funding.
• Steve requested a donation for a fence to be installed at the Firestation, to protect the planting areas here. Litter blows across both the front of the Library and the Firestation, and collects in the beds. The group agreed that a low fence for both buildings could go a long way in solving this problem.
• The cost of fencing will be looked into.


Meeting Adjourned 7.55pm