Beachwood Canyon Neighborhood Association 

Minutes 

November 4, 2004 

Parking Enforcement: Sgt. Portio (Department of Transportation – Parking Enforcement 323-913-4470) spoke to us.  

Police, DOT, traffic and parking enforcement are working together to address parking concerns in the hills. These streets need to be open for emergencies. 

The DOT will get a map out that will outline which streets must be clear at ALL times. This map will have an evacuation plan. Bob Camou (DOT) will be releasing this map soon. The identified streets will get enforcement on the spot.  

Parking Enforcement comes up regularly. Call 213-485-4184 to get service. 

Towing from red zones: The policy for towing from red zones is taken on a one on one basis. If you have a special problem that may need attention, call them and they will come out and assess your situation specifically. The hillside DOT officers will have their training amended to address our hillside situation. 

Sgt Portio will circulate throughout our area on an hourly basis.   

Crime Report – Senior Lead Officer Bill Sollie 

Bill brought a map of the patrol area. There is only one black and white patrolling our area. The way that patrol is assigned is based on the calls that come from that area so make a report when a crime occurs. There are ten major neighborhood watch groups in Sollie’s area.  

Our burglary from motor vehicles has doubled however, compared to this time last year, our crime is way down.  

Robbery on Beachwood and Franklin – 8:30pm. Description: male white – transient 5’7” 150 – 170 35 years old. He had gel in his hair and wide-set eyes. They did a tug of war over her purse – he tried to bite her. 

Stolen car on Durand was recovered – the citizen noticed that there was someone in the car writing gang slogans on paper (the citizen whose car it was found this note inside and turned it in – it was a man at the dealership that had stolen the car.  

Stolen mail: We have the mail issue later on in the agenda. A male & female were seen in the knolls area getting into mailboxes. They had been stealing mail in the Knolls. This is very close to us and we are dealing with issue ourselves – they were caught in a stolen car and arrested.   

Sexual battery at the lake  - she was jogging and a man ran up behind her and grabbed her breast. He was leaving the scene when she flagged someone down and had that person follow his car to get the info. He pretty much admitted doing it but she had trouble identifying his photo in a group.

Officer Sollie brought neighborhood prosecuting information for help with neighbor-to-neighbor disputes along with 9-1-1 brochures.  

In all of L.A. there are only 9,000 cops – 2,500 patrol this huge area. Sollie has been here for 25 – 30 years and continues to tell folks that there are not enough cops.  

A neighbor asked about loud music. Keep a log of occurrences – then call the police each time 877 ASK-LAPD. This is something that should be brought to the neighborhood prosecutor. People are supposed to turn off the music at 10pm but even during the day, there shouldn’t be loud noise/music blasting. 

What about garbage pickers? Most are just stealing recyclables but some are looking up your driveway. If you have continued problems, call the senior leads and they will come on garbage day to talk to them. This is easy when they come at the same time/day.  

US Postal – Beachwood Canyon (especially Westshire Drive, Hollyridge, Glen Green and Ledgewood) have been hard hit by criminals stealing mail. Now it’s going on in the Knolls neighborhood with one perpetrator caught. We are also having some complaints that mail is not being delivered at the right time and packages are not being left at the homes. The Postal rep promised to attend our meeting but didn’t show up so solutions can’t be fully discussed. This issue is tabled until our next meeting. 

Concrete Repaving Issue – Fran/Missy shared what took place at the council office and how dedicated our group is to seeing that the repairs to Beachwood Drive are done in concrete until we can get the city to actually resurface it all in concrete at some point in the future. 

Speed Humps – Jack Fitzgerald got 92.3% of the owners to sign his petition to get speed humps on Gower between Scenic and Franklin. 44 potential signatures were required of residents/owners. He only had one flat turn down from a resident next door. One lady told Jack that he wasn’t authorized to collect signatures or even try to do this. After he got them all done, he took them all downtown (Mario Enriquez at 221 N. Figuroa) via the subway and got them signed off and stamped.  

There is an allotment for speed humps. The city does a certain number of streets a month. Steve Lui says to contact them in two or three months.  

Olivia – lives on Beachwood near Glen Holly and says there is loads of traffic coming up the street. Resident’s homes shake when buses and cargo trucks go by. There were two separate events of tourists being hit by cars. She is wanting speed humps for Beachwood.  

BCNA will ask for a study of Beachwood between the Village and Graciosa. Olivia will work with Jack on getting petitions from the residents of Beachwood.  

Fire Station 82 – Missy told the group that the Prop F committee has decided finally to move Fire Station 82 to the property of Florentine Gardens. 

Fence on Durand - Mike Armstong – gave a history of the issue. He moved to Hollywoodland in 1997. The back of his lot has a 14 feet granite wall rising up to the street above (Durand). People kept throwing trash in it. The lawn furniture they put there was stolen. He dug holes for chain link. The city said no to this. So they had poles but no chain link. It’s cost him 65,000 dollars plus to go through this entire experience.  

March of 2002 a man fell down and climbed the avocado tree to get back up the street.  

All city departments said because it was a safety issue, Mike didn’t have to go through the Design Review Board to get permission to build a 6 foot high fence to protect his property.  

A small group of people went to the city asking that Mike tear down this fence. There was no possibility of getting a set -back so the city ignored these people. In the winter of 2003, a meeting took place between Labonge’s people and this small group. It was decided in that meeting that pressure would be brought on the Armstrongs to remove their fence.  

Joel Schiller (opposing neighbor) published a couple of issues of Hollywoodland and its Legacy to expose Armstrong and his fence. Then the vandalism began. And Mike had to hire yet a second attorney and apply for a variance. Labonge’s office was placing pressure on each city department to disallow the permit.  

As a statement, Mike hired a guy to drop off a dozen cinder blocks on his property in order to fool the neighborhood into thinking he was going to build an 8 foot high fence.  

The city got many calls but Armstrong had the blocks removed before the complainers got up in the next morning.  

Armstrong felt he needed to leave after all these problems. No one wanted to buy his home with the fence problems. The potential buyer got a call from a agent in the office where Crosby Doe (another opposing neighbor) works threatening that buyer.  

In an HHA meeting, Doe was there and so was Mike with the new buyer and Mike spoke openly and was a bit angry so Mike was told not to testify in the hearing in August 2004.  

Weeks later, there’s another hearing coming up. The city told Mike that he was getting support. A few days later, the city rep called Mike to tell him there was a change. When the report came out all points sided with Mike but at the end it says that the fence has to come down. It grants him the right to have a 42-inch fence and work with Design Review Board.  

According to Mike, Renee Weitzer saw that original report and told Taganaka to rewrite it.  

Mike asked for a continuance. The new owner may try to compromise. Marty Sanger wrote a letter to LaBonge but Mike never sent the letter. He feels that it will be a lost cause.  

Approval of minutes: Approved unanimously. 

Treasurer’s Report: We are low in our account. Fran no longer pays for the mailings and we need to re-think our approach to outreach. Shelley mentioned that perhaps cards should go only to those who don’t have e-mail. Larry suggested that, when we send renewals, ask if they would like to receive e-mail announcements, cards, or both.  

Election: Fran nominated Jack to run for the board in the new year. Tina seconded the nomination. We still have one seat that needs to be filled or the one-year board member needs to run again.