Ven-Mar Neighborhood Association

Ven-Mar Neighborhood Association

Neighborhood Empowerment and Neighborhood Councils

The Los Angeles voters passed a revision to the City Charter which calls for neighborhood empowerment. A citywide system of Neighborhood Councils is to be established. These Neighborhood Councils will have a role in the City's decision-making process, in that they will receive prior notification of issues before the City Council, its committees, City boards and commissions, and will have an opportunity to provide feed-back.

The goals and objectives of the Neighborhood Councils are stated as follows:

1. Promote more public participation in government;
2. Promote community input into the City's decision-making process in order to make government more responsive to local needs;
3. Facilitate the delivery of City services to neighborhoods by helping to identify community needs and involving relevant City staff in achieving integrated problem-solving techniques with Neighborhood Councils;
4. Ensure equal opportunity for all stakeholders in all communities to form and /or join Neighborhood Councils;
5. Promote inclusiveness by representing the many diverse interests in communities and encouraging these diverse interests to work together in addressing community concern; and
6. Promote and facilitate dialogue and collaboration among Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles through collaboration on those issues of common concern to Neighborhood Councils and by sharing resources and experiences.

For more information on Neighborhood Councils, visit www.lacityneighborhoods.com

Cut-back in Street Sweeping is in Effect

Last week (mid June 2001), in an emergency action, the Bureau of Street Services removed from operation more than 50 motor street sweepers - about one-third of the City's fleet. The Bureau took this action to protect employee and public health and safety, removing from City streets vehicles plagued with a design and manufacturing flaw that caused brake failure.
The Bureau of Street Services is meeting with representatives of the manufacturer, the axle assembly contractor, and the distributor to find a quick resolution to the problem and restore these vehicles to use.

Lincoln Corridor Task Force's Jay Kim: Public Input is sought

At the WANA / WAAG community meeting held at Penmar Recreation Center on Tuesday, June 26,2001, the work of the Lincoln Corridor Task Force was reviewed by Jay Kim of the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT). The LADOT is the lead agency in this multi-governmental Task Force.
After a slide presentation Jay Kim, who holds the title Senior Transportation Engineer, answered questions from the floor. Apart from a Citizen's Advisory Committee, appointed by LA City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, there is opportunity for public input at meetings of the Task Force. Anyone wishing to be put on the e-mail list for Task Force events, etc should contact Jay Kim at 310-524.8253 or jkim@gov.ci.la.ca.us. The next meeting of the Task Force has not yet been scheduled.
The next step is the award of a contract to a consultant to undertake a 9 months or longer Phase I Study and come up with possible solutions for easing the traffic problem in the Lincoln Corridor, which , for this study, is limited to approximately 5 miles, from the 10 FWY in Santa Monica in the north to Manchester Blvd in the south , The width of the corridor extends from the Pacific Ocean to the 405 FWY and therefore includes Penmar, Walgrove, Beethoven and Centinela. The scope of the study thus encompasses more than just Lincoln Blvd, also known as California HWY 1 for this stretch. This writer feels that the Task Force and the study should not be allowed to concentrate on the Blvd at the expense of the other north-south roads in the corridor. The presentation made scant reference to the problems we know to exist in the neighborhoods, which are all part of the same problem.
Due to lack of time, there was no opportunity to ask why CalTrans wants to shed its responsibility for this stretch of HWY 1, This was not metioned at this presentation but was learned at the last meeting of the Task Force, attended by the writer. AU
It is clear to this reporter that no traffic improvement may be expected in the next few years, because Phase I will be followed by a Phase II study of similar length in the search for a solution. Any small improvements made meanwhile by widening the Blvd here or there will be more than offset by the increased traffic resulting from the Playa Vista development and others in Marina del Ray.
In answer to a question, Jay Kim confirmed that the scope of the study will be wide and will not exclude consideration of light rail or elevated decks.

About our association

Formation of our Association and Neighborhood Empowerment

We are taking steps to form a neighborhood association for this area.

We need our own neighborhood association, in order to make our collective voice heard on all issues that affect us. If we don't speak for ourselves, someone else will do it for us.

Some areas in West LA have had neighborhood associations for many years; other areas, like ours, have not. The time has come to act.

Our Regular Meetings

We normally meet on the third Thursday of every month either at the Walgrove Avenue Elementary School,1630 Walgrove Ave (in the Auditorium or in the Teachers' Lounge adjacent to the Auditorium, entered from Appleton Way), or at the Penmar Recreation Center, 1341 Lake Street, (one block west of Walgrove Ave), beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Please check on this website under "Community Calendar" and under "Our News".

Our Name

At our meeting on November 6, 2001, a vote was taken to rename our organization "Ven-Mar Neighborhood Association" and this was ratified at the meeting on December 4, 2001. Formerly we went under the name of "Walgrove Area Neighborhood Association" (WANA). WANA splintered off from an organization called "Walgrove Area Action Group" (WAAG), which chose to be a single-issue group, dealing with traffic problems on Walgrove Avenue. Shortly following separation, the original area covered by WANA (from Beethoven Ave in the east to Penmar Ave in the west) was expanded by popular demand to extend from Centinela Ave in the east to Lincoln Blvd in the west. There were no other neighborhood associations active in the expanded area at that time.