BEACHWOOD CANYON
NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

BOARD MEETING MINUTES

JANUARY 15, 2004

Attending Board Members

Fran Reichenbach

Nina Van Tasssell

George Abrahams

Tina Roman

Byrd Holland

Missy Kelly

Ed Hayek

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 President Fran Reichenbach called the annual meeting to order at 7:40PM. Five two-year seats and one one-year seat are open for election. Attendees introduced themselves and all members were asked to vote.

Crime Report – Senior Lead Officer, Bill Sollie: Bill introduced two officers that patrol our area. They work 7pm to 7pm.  Hollywood is divided into 11 sections.  Six officers work this area every day.  Bill Sollie has a new cell phone number: 213-793-0703.  Let him know about trends or concerns, not crimes in progress.   For that, call 911. Also, the number for Hollywood Division of LAPD is 213-485-4302.  For traffic, call 213- 473-0222.  There were 11 cars broken into in two weeks.  That’s really low.  Officer Sollie told how a burglary operation was broken up and the perpetrators caught. These particular arrests account for the dip in percentage in crime. There were two robberies in last two weeks with guns, Ivarine and Vine and Tamarind and Franklin. There is one guy wanted for three specific crimes. The guy on tamarind is a big guy accompanied with two other guys.   Most robberies are after 10PM, between 10PM and 100AM.  The sexual attack a month ago was late at night after 11 p.m. Police have good DNA waiting to get a hit.

Apartment Owners/Managers Seminar: There are a lot of apartments in this area.  There is going to be a seminar for apartment owner and managers in two weeks.  The meeting will be held on Monday, February 16, 2004, 1 to 5 pm. Santa Monica Elementary School located at 1022 North Van Ness Avenue. Topics: landlord/tenant disputes, civil law, and narcotic evictions.  For inquiries:  contact Armen Sevdalian or Joe Bunch at LAPD Hollywood Community Relations Office at 213-485-4310. He was happy to report that there are 10 neighborhood watch groups in our area.

Gas powered blowers are now illegal.  Officer Sollie circulated fliers in English and Spanish to give to gardeners.

If there is construction in your area, often trucks don’t have a permit to park illegally. Call DOT – they can ticket.   

Priorities for next year, issues to be addressed. 

1)  Speed at which people drive upper Beachwood, specifically between the 2900 and 3000 block. This is a public safety issue.  Problem between Ledgewood and up, particularly between Beachwood and Rogerton.  Suggested:  speed humps or whatever will slow the traffic down. We have the same problem on Gower.  The only thing we can do is write a letter to West Traffic. They will put people on Gower and up on Beachwood and give citations.  Call Captain Bill Williams, Commanding Officer at West Traffic at 213-473-0220.  People blow the stop sign at Scenic and Beachwood.  Out of 100 cars they roll right through the sign only 3 or 4 stop completely.

Parking is a big problem.  Abandoned cars. Some neighbors say that the system is too slow.  Takes two to three weeks to get the cars tagged and another two to three weeks to get towed if still there.  The problem is that residents use the streets as storing garages for extra cars or one car while on vacation.  For The Hollywood division of parking enforcement contact senior traffic officers at 323-913-4639 or 323-913-4460 and complain.  Maybe if there are enough complaints from this area, we will get a better system. 

Street Repairs: A new attendee reports crumbling streets and holes in Rogerton drive and hillside erosion.  These problems should be called in to Street Services:. 

Garbage cans being taken off the street on pickup day or the night before so that people can park on Carmen. Contact Bill Campbell, customer service representative for the Department of Sanitation at 213-473-7882 or at egcambe@san.lacityl.org

Tom LaBonge, Councilman for the 4^th district:

Bill Reichenbach was given a citation. for the Trombone Christmas program on Glen Green. The Councilman brought citations for all 21 of the other trombone players.

Fire Station 82:

The Fire Bond people are looking at the area between Taft and Van Ness across from Pier 1.  There will be a community meeting to discuss this on  January 22, 2004 at Hollywood Billiards. 

We still have a problem with the storm drains on Rogerton/Ledgewood.   Tom says that funding for drainage this year is not high on the priority list.  He will ask the Dept of Engineering to look into that.

Funding for Beachwood concrete repaving. 

There is a limited amount of funds for streets and replacing dead trees.  He wants to work on that with Hollywood Beatification Team. 

Undergrounding Utility wires. 

Beachwood, Santa Monica Blvd., La Brea east, and Burbank are high priorities to work with Department of Water and Power and Tom will push this underground utility issue forward for us.

Vine and Hollywood proposed project. 

He would like to see an observation tower included in the project to encourage people to see the sign without driving though our area.

Parking problems on and around Franklin by the restaurants. 

He is looking at parking for the area that is now the old fire station 82.

Security and Public Safety   

Priorities is public safety throughout city.  Make sure you have awareness.  Increased need for security especially at the harbor airport and at this area because of the Hollywood Sign.  You will see more fly-bys with helicopters.  The city is working hard and trying to break gang violence cycle and reduce homicides.  That’s the Public Works  goal but they have less dollars to work with. 

Ridgeline Preservation (Open Space)

Tom says that the property to the west of the Hollywood Sign is privately owned and was sold a year ago to a guy from Chicago who wants to build seven homes. Tom wants to block any building and acquire the land to be tied to open space corridor.  Number one priority is open space. He needs the community to support this plan. 

The neighbors asked many questions and committees were formed to address some of these issues.

 The meeting adjourned at 9:30PM.