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Beachwood
Canyon Neighborhood Association
Meeting
Minutes
August
19, 2004
Meeting
was called to order at 7:34PM
Crime
Report: Senior Lead Officer Bill Sollie
– Crime is down 37% from last year and it’s all because of the
neighbors being active.
Knolls
– a
woman got out of her car upon arriving home. Two men with guns took her
purse. The license plate was tracked to out of town and involved in an
accident – inside was all kinds of mail and other things. That case is
ongoing and someone will be in custody soon, we hope. These people may
have been involved in our recent mail theft problem.
On
Franklin,
two suspects went into a boutique in the Franklin strip – one grabbed
her purse – he didn’t get her purse but she got their plate.
Deronda,
last month burglary from motor vehicles had jumped to 22 per month. A
woman saw a man breaking into the car. She called the police but they were
at a shooting so another division came to take the report. The bad guys
came back and the police caught them. They had property and mail in their
car – they were doing all the hillsides from Los Felis to Burbank. They
were doing this for drugs.
Sara
Melson
called Fran – she had vandals throw large rocks through her windows appx
10 days ago. Her building has improved their lighting program but the city
needs to add street lights to light up Graciosa where it bends toward
Cheremoya. Officer Sollie wants her to call him so that he can discuss
this. If there are DWP poles already there, it will be a quick install. If
not, this could take a year. Officer Sollie’s phone number is
213-793-0703 His e-mail is 21444@lapd.lacity.org
(but he’s not familiar with technology)
Terrorists
or Tourists
– a man was busted in another state with all kinds of pictures and
information about Hollywood. If someone seems overly curious and is acting
suspiciously, let the police know. A man was seen on Deronda taking
pictures and acting suspiciously. They were in a van, were middle eastern,
had telephoto type camera… The homeowner gave police information
including the license number. This information helped them track and bust
a cell of terrorist operatives. You can call this number anonymously:
877-A THREAT.
George
reports homeless encampments at the intersection of Vine/Argyle/Franklin.
Sollie said that he would go check it out tonight.
Sollie
said that on Franklin & Wilton, vandals got buckets of paint and put
hate slogans all over the ground. HBT will be helping with the clean up
tomorrow.
Special
Guest – Jim Haybert, Sr. Lead Inspector,
with the housing department – systematic code enforcement program.
877-556 -RENT
They
take a census tract and approach all multi unit properties of two or more
units. They have just become fully staffed. They have 100 inspectors – 6
in each council district. Plus they have a complaint division – calling
in will get a response within 72 hours. (877-556 –RENT)
In the
Beachwood area, there are only 40 properties left that hadn’t gotten
inspected. The goal is to complete this first wave by November.
The
program was developed to stop slum housing.
Missy
says that the apartments in her neighborhood were inspected and asked when
the next wave of inspection could be expected. Jim says that they will
come back in five years or so.
Tina
asked about single family dwellings that have been converted. Jim says
that this is a Building and Safety’s issue.
After
inspections, if a tenant finds more things that are out of place, call the
number and get the inspectors out again. They will note it and give it to
the owner – All complaints will be dealt with. 877-556 –RENT
Apartments
built after October 1978 can charge as much rent as they want to.
A
neighbor said that a home has been converted into a hotel in an R-1 zone.
Jim says for her to call the Building and Safety department at 888-LA4-BUILD.
A
woman from Glen Oak pulled the stats online but it had the wrong number of
units etc. Jim says that they are not going to make an issue out of that.
She can go to the county assessors office to change it.
201 N.
Figueroa is where the planning department has copies of zoning
information.
Specific
Plan:
The issue of the fence that was erected without the Specific Plan sign off
lead to a discussion regarding the Specific Plan itself.
Helen
went to the meetings regarding the implementation of the specific plan.
She was not impressed that democracy found its way into the process of
creating this specific plan. She is not satisfied that it is handled with
the best interest of the neighbors in mind.
Bryd
says that the homeowner who built the fence must abide by the law and is
out of order in not adhering to the Design Review Board.
Missy
shared that the owner of the fence has been persecuted and assaulted –
he has moved as a result and only is involved in this procedure along with
the new owner to clear up the mess. Meanwhile, he actually did get a
permit from Building and Safety. She stressed that it wouldn’t be good
for our association to get in between such intense emotional individuals.
She suggested that the BCNA support the Specific Plan and not mention
anything about the fence.
Some
were not sure what the Specific Plan was for. The specific plan is to
control the building plans for Hollywoodland. Ideally, it keeps the
building designs in line with the rest of the neighborhood as far as
design is concerned.
Prudence
agreed with Helen that the Specific Plan may not be actually legal.
Fran
suggested that, if there are dissatisfactions with the Specific Plan,
perhaps an investigation into the process of amending it would be a sound
idea.
Motion
to remain neutral regarding the Design Review Board and the issue of the
fence on Durand. (Fran/George) Motion carried.
Fire
Station 82 update: Missy
announced that the Prop F committee charged with finding a new location
for Fire Station 82 has decided to place it on the property that is now
Florentine Gardens on Hollywood Blvd. She told how some of the board
members had acted proactively with the neighbors in the two previous
efforts to relocate the Fire Station because it would have caused many
minority families to be displaced. However this is one location that we
can support.
Motion
to send a canyonwide mailing regarding support letters that need to be
sent to the Prop F committee. (Missy/Larry) Motion carried.
Motion
to support the relocation of Fire Station 82 to Florentine Gardens site. (Larry/Tina)
Motion carried.
Pothole
Remedy
– Moni, called street repair because water was collecting in potholes
and that mosquitoes were breeding. She suggests that people look at the
pot holes on their streets to see if water is collecting and if so, report
this to the street repair division – call 311 for the number.
Reading/approval
of minutes and treasurers report tabled until the next meeting which will
be in on November 4, 2004.
Meeting
adjourned |