Councilmember Eric Garcetti

A Word From Eric

The results are in. One year ago, Chief Bratton, Public Works Commissioner Cynthia Ruiz and I stood on the steps of Micheltorena Street School to kick off our ambitious anti-graffiti program for CD13, UNTAG: Uniting Neighborhoods To Abolish Graffiti. We were joined by dozens of neighborhood activists who were frustrated by seeing the same tags go up on the same walls week after week and wanted to do something about it. Together, we pledged that in two years time, we would lower the amount of graffiti in CD13 by 50%.

A victorious year

I had been inspired by the example of Ron Gonzales, the mayor of San Jose, CA, who had remarkable successes lowering graffiti in San Jose. However, when my staff spent a day driving CD13 block by block to count tags, we found densities of up to ten times the graffiti found in San Jose. Still, we had our base number (20,763 tags in the 13.13 square miles of CD13) and we knew what we had to do to bring that number down.

The key to our success was our recruitment of block captains. Starting with the thirty or so people who signed up at our kickoff, we reached 100 block captains, people who took responsibility for reporting any instances of graffiti to our paint-out crews, either by calling our office directly or by using 3-1-1. We also won funding for security cameras (PDF) to be placed in parks such as Lake Street Park, whose brand new skate park, recreation center and playground had all been marred by acts of vandalism in the first months of its young existence. A year after our initial benchmark count—a year in which constant, block-captain-driven graffiti reporting had substantially increased the workload for our paint-out crews, Central City Action Committee and Hollywood Beautification Team—my staff and I drove the district once again, counting tags with the same methodology we had used a year before. The results were astonishing. The entire day turned up only 7,970 tags: a 62% reduction in only one year.
Jocelyn Geaga-Rosenthal, a block captain from Historic Filipinotown, captured it best at the press conference announcing the results when she said, "Fighting graffiti is like brushing your teeth. You have to do it every day to see results." She added: "But now my neighborhood has a great big smile." UNTAG did the job with neighbors' engagement, smart police work, and real care. Let's keep up the momentum of reducing graffiti. Won't you become a block captain (PDF) today?

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Good luck, Rich

CD 13's staff has gone through some changes recently. As I wrote in last month's issue, Glen and Jim have gone on to pursue life in the private sector. Now comes perhaps the most bittersweet announcement I have made since taking office. Rich Llewellyn, my chief of staff and dear friend, has accepted a position as Chief Deputy to City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. For the past four years, Rich has led my office. He has helped me cultivate an incomparably talented staff by encouraging their creativity and individuality. Guided by his light touch and strong example, that staff has produced real results for the people of the 13th District.

Rich has been an ideal political advisor and a true friend. Those of you who had the good fortune to work with him on legislative and district projects know firsthand his extraordinary intelligence, wit and compassion. Even though he's just across the street from City Hall, he will be deeply missed by all of us, and he only has to look at the state of CD13 today to know that he has accomplished wonderful things.

Rocky is getting an exceptional lawyer in addition to a great human being. Before joining my office, Rich was Special Counsel to former District Attorney Gil Garcetti, my father. Prior to that he served in the office of Supervisor Ed Edelman. He has also served as a litigator in the Department of Justice and at the Los Angeles law firm of Riordan & McKenzie. Rich, best of luck.

P.S. As a resident of Los Feliz, Rich, you should direct any personal constituent concerns here.

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Approaching the Speed of Blog: For the past four months, you've been able to stay up-to-date ahead of the e-news by reading the council-blog, and now it gets even easier. Council-Blog v1.0 was a breakthrough for the lacity.org website, but it still lacked some elementary features of blogs, namely permalinks and a feed. I am pleased to announce that both are now in our repertoire. To subscribe to cd13.com posts, use this link in your news aggregator. (For an explanation of feeds and news aggregators, this Wikipedia entry is helpful. A feed allows you to be notified when I post a new entry, instead of having to keep checking the website every other hour.)

Thank you to the crew at ITA's Webservices division for putting the new system together by capturing content from a blogger.com website. The whole team had a hand in it, including Joe Quan, Bob Hill, Virginia DePrez, Hoa Nguyen, Jess Kapik Chong, Dominic Degrassi, Jason Nishi and Hans Pravecek. I'm told they're hard at work on a blogging platform that will be entirely in-house; in the meantime, thanks for giving me new ways to communicate with CD13.

Odds and Ends/Around Town

Stan Chambers has not signed off

Stan Chambers has reported more than 20,000 stories, every one for KTLA in Los Angeles. Beginning his career in 1947, he started reporting for television when there were barely 300 TV sets in Los Angeles, only half of them working at any one time. Over the following six decades, he covered natural disasters, riots, elections, and more; he covered the night in 1949 when four-year-old Kathy Fiscus stumbled into a well and was not recovered alive. He was on the scene to report heartbreaking, high profile stories from the Robert Kennedy assassination, the Frank Sinatra, Jr. kidnapping, the Manson family murder to Sharon Tate and the case of the Hillside Strangler. And he broke the monumental Rodney King beating story when amateur photographer George Holiday handed over his tape to him. He's covered almost every Rose Parade since 1949. He's got a star on the Walk of Fame, and a building on the Tribune lot in Hollywood bears his name. Stan was honored last weekend by the Society of Professional Journalists, and we were very proud to have the opportunity to present him with a certificate of commendation in council beforehand. Congratulations, Stan!

Que Viva Ecuador:

Parading with Miss Ecuadors

I rode in Sunday's Ecuadorian Independence Parade with my colleague Councilmember Jan Perry. Miss Ecuadors past and present abounded; Jan also brought them in to Council on Friday. There is a very active Ecuadorian community in Los Angeles, and some of its best restaurants are in CD13.

 

CITY HALL UPDATE:

Housing and Economic Development

CDLAC: I traveled to Sacramento for my inaugural meeting as a member of the California Debt Allocation Limit Committee, aka CDLAC. The committee is responsible for issuing up to $2.83 billion in tax-exempt state bonds each year, much of which finds its way into affordable housing developments. The voting members of the committee are State Treasurer Phil Angelides, Governor Schwarzenegger, and State Controller Steve Westly. I'm the advisory local government representative, and my position on the committee will give me a chance to shape policy on this critical source of funding for affordable housing in Los Angeles and throughout California. It's an exciting honor and I thank the Treasurer for nominating me to the committee.

The Unsung Heroes of Community Development: The Housing, Community and Economic Development committee is no walk in the park. With oversight over the Housing Department, the Community Development Department and the Community Redevelopment Agency, the committee I chair must process hundreds of transmittals from those three departments and several others over the course of a year. The work includes approving city economic development projects, putting new affordable housing in the ground, issuing tax-exempt bonds, and helping fund non-profit organizations that serve at-risk youth, low-income families, and seniors; in addition to handling those individually, we have to set the overarching city policies that guide the conception and creation of those projects. To keep up, we meet once a week (most committees meet twice a month). And every decision that the committee makes is informed by the hard work of the staffs of the Chief Legislative Analyst and the City Administrative Officer, assisted by the City Attorney and City Clerk.
 

Appreciation lunch

To show our appreciation for this heroic but unrecognized effort, I invited the whole crew to join me for a mellow ceremonial lunch in Silver Lake. Thank you! From left: Todd Bouey (CAO), Neil Blumenkopf (CA), John White (Clerk), Angelica Samayoa (CAO), Paul Smith (CLA), Meg Barclay (CLA), Bea Hsu from my own staff, Emilio Rodriguez (CAO), Robert Andrade (CAO), Lisa Johnson-Smith (CAO), Scott Eritano (CAO). Not pictured: Ivania Sobalvarrio (CLA).

Government Reform

Clean Money for L.A.: Would you rather have your candidates raising money on the phone or out in the neighborhood, knocking on your door and figuring out how to deal with the issues that confront you? No matter how many campaign finance reforms we consider, we always find ourselves with a system that requires candidates to raise money day in and day out. But now the City Council has taken a step down the road to changing that. 

Full public funding now

With my colleagues Wendy Greuel, Bill Rosendahl, and Tony Cardenas, I joined Susan Lerner and Ted Williams from the California Clean Money Campaign to kick off our push for full public financing of city elections. The states of Arizona and Maine have clean money laws, and the city of Portland, Oregon is considering one (they call it "voter-owned elections"). In a clean money system, candidates demonstrate a base of support, for example by collecting micro-donations of $5 each from a few hundred supporters. After that, they receive from a trust fund the amount of money necessary to run a campaign. (With the amount of money we put into our election trust fund under the current system, we could fund most city council races.) If their opponents receive independent expenditure support or don't accept clean money, clean money systems also provide additional funds to match those expenditures. As a result, grass-roots candidates flourish on the basis of their community support, not their fundraising acumen.

Our motion today asked city staff to look at the systems that are out there and bring back options that could work in Los Angeles. Next it will go to the Ethics Commission. I'll let you know how this policy develops along the way; my hope is to enact a clean money law that lets candidates in the 2007 elections compete with full public financing—and lets all of us in government win back your trust in our democratic system.
 

NEWS FROM AROUND THE DISTRICT:
 
Atwater Village

Slow down on Boyce: We've received interest in placing speed humps on Boyce Street to calm traffic and soothe nerves. In order to advance, we need to demonstrate sufficient support from the affected blocks. If you'd like speed humps for your block, would you please volunteer to collect signatures from your neighbors? Let my field office know if you would be willing to walk Boyce Street between Glendale Boulevard and Los Feliz Boulevard to gather petition signatures.

Support Farm-Fresh Food:

Fresh-farmed food (photo Jeff Gardner)

The Farmer's Market in the bank parking lot at 3250 Glendale Boulevard is still running on Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm. Please come do your produce shopping at the market this weekend! The success of our six-month pilot depends on the farmers seeing some more Atwater Village shoppers.

Street Sweeping: For six months that began on August 11th, the area bounded by Fletcher, Casitas and Silver Lake Boulevard will receive street sweeping. We will continue seeking funds to make this a permanent service. Not only does street cleaning make the neighborhood look and feel better, it prevents harmful pollutants and trash from finding their way to the ocean through storm drains.

Glendale Boulevard Update: The Glendale Boulevard crosswalks have all been installed! Soon you'll see Atwater Village monument signs rise on the grassy median near Madera and La Clede. The resultant gateway will let drivers know that they're coming home to or passing through Atwater Village. I think they'll be impressed.
 

Glassell Park

Keeping the streets safe

Glassell Park's National Night Out was a terrific success. The community decided early on that it wanted to develop its own organic version of National Night Out, and community members struck out on their own. I was pleased to attend the event, meeting at Juntos Park (pictured) and seeing the great participation from LA Bridges, our gang intervention program (they must have had 30 people there!) and Fire Station No. 50, who led the parade with their engine and played games with kids in attendance. Congratulations to all who attended.

National Night Out: the panorama view (photo courtesy LAPD)

A place to meet

Public Space at Public Storage: I was delighted to help open our fabulous, unique new community space in at 3700 N. Verdugo Road in Glassell Park. This 7,400 square foot space comprises a senior center, a CD13 field office, a hot lunch kitchen and individual offices and storage spaces for the Glassell Park Improvement Association and the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council. It is particularly special because, like no other public building I've seen, it's housed in a Public Storage facility, the colorful building that meets your eye as you exit the 2 freeway on Verdugo Road.

And a place to eat

After a rocky start in the community, Public Storage has become a great neighbor. When it wanted to change its operations, it sought community input as to how it could help the community as it shifted from an underutilized drop-off facility to a typical storage center. With great participation from local groups facilitated by my deputy Mitch O'Farrell, the vision for the multi-purpose center took shape.

The Glassell Park Seniors (who will officially move in on Tuesday, September 6th) were tired of having to play an inadvertent dodgeball game with local youth every time they met next door at the recreation center. There weren't enough parking spaces or meeting rooms at that center to meet the growing community's needs. All these concerns factored into the design that has now been realized in a state-of-the-art public space where our the vital grass-roots organizations that make our democracy hum can meet, plan or argue the shape of their neighborhoods and our lives. And the self-storage company went the extra mile and donated an additional $30,000 for furnishing the facility.

Public Storage has given us the space for a 30-year, $1-annual lease. We'll make the most of it.

The Glassell Park Safety Fair will be held on September 24th. Senior Lead Officer Red Falconer is helping us coordinate the event, proceeds from which will benefit the Recreation Center. The full list of activities will be posted on the blog later, but I'm told that they will include “touch-a-truck.” That offers kids who attend a chance to climb aboard and take pictures on city service vehicles like fire engines and public works vehicles. It's not to be confused with this.

Hey Now, You're an All-Star: My congratulations go out to the North East Little League. Two of the teams that made first place in the regional division are from the league, who call parts of CD13 home.

Elysian Valley

B-I-N-*-*! Tuesday night is still bingo night hosted by the Elysian Valley seniors at the Recreation Center. CD13 recently purchased a new fan for the Seniors since the air conditioner at the Rec Center needs repair.

Sen. Jack Scott enjoys the new park

Crystal Street Park: I joined Supervisor Gloria Molina, State Senator Jack Scott, Joe Edmiston from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and Larry Smith from NorthEast Trees as well as numerous community members who had all been involved with the creation of a pocket park just a few feet away from the banks of the Glendale Narrows in Elysian Valley. (Here's a map.)
The new park, situated on DWP land, is a natural jumping-off point to the river bike path; it has parking, seating, shade trees and bicycle maps for users of the path. It's dotted with saplings planted by NorthEast Trees with community input, and on the nearby riverbank, a looming stand of cottonwoods planted by that same group just seven years ago gives you an idea of just how the park will truly let you escape the freeways and streets only a few yards away. With the other parks and green spaces[.pdf links] we've opened along the river, I believe we are finally turning around to face the river and looking to it to guide the shape of our city in the 21st century. Congratulations to everyone who was involved in the project.

Lights on Elysian Valley: We have learned from Congressmember Xavier Becerra’s office that we will receive $1.12 million to pay for Phase 2 of the Elysian Valley Lighting Project.  Phase 1 is currently under development, but the go-ahead for the second phase will make a luminous difference for night-time strollers and other Elysian Valley residents.
 

Echo Park

Back-to-School Giveaway: This Saturday, the 20th of August at 1:30 pm, the Dream Center is sponsoring a back to school backpack giveaway. Deputy Field Office Director Mitch O'Farrell has more information.

Boathouse News: The renovation of the Echo Park Lake Boathouse is going great. We've expanded the scope of work to include some remodeling of the interior, and we're working with the Echo Park Historical Society and other interested parties to get it just right. The city's Bureau of Engineering and General Services Department have provided exemplary assistance and labor, and the federal Housing and Urban Development funds used for the scope of work expansion would not have been won without the help of Congressmember Xavier Becerra.

The new Walgreen's is open where Pioneer Market used to be. My office has been meeting with the store managers to get them involved in the community.

Employing Youth for a Cleaner Echo Park: We're continuing our work creating jobs for youth in Echo Park. You may have seen the group of 15 local youth going door-to-door on Sunset Boulevard to inform all local businesses about the municipal codes that lay down their responsibilities to keep adjacent sidewalks, alleys and dumpsters clean and beautiful. They're also emptying the trash cans every Monday and Thursday. 

Historic Filipinotown

Filipino patterns in the street

The new crosswalks on Temple at Hoover, Alvarado, and Glendale installed by our Bureau of Street Services (or BOSS) are a first for L.A.: custom-designed patterns. This pattern is based on a traditional Filipino weave design. As part of the Temple Streetscape Project, the intersections of Temple and Glendale and Temple and Alvarado will get crosswalks over the next couple of weeks. Keep your eyes peeled for the crosswalks (and, as always, for the pedestrians using them).

Also, thanks to Congressmember Xavier Becerra's good work on appropriations matters, the streetscape project has been funded with an additional $400,000. Thank you!

The Department of Transportation is planning a “Back to School Safely Day” at one elementary school in each council districts.  Rosemont Elementary will proudly represent CD13.  I will host an assembly on September 19th  to help teach students about traffic safety. I'll award extra points to anyone who can complete the rhyme, “Cross at the green, not __ ______.”

Rampart LAPD's National Night Out was very successful with over 1000 people in attendance, continuing the Rampart Division tradition of hosting the largest National Night Out in the United States. If you missed it this year, come out next year for free food, great entertainment, and solidarity with your neighbors in fighting crime and keeping the community safe.

Getting to Yes: My office was able to settle a long-running dispute between neighbors on Carondelet and Coronado streets regarding the alley that they share.  One of the neighbors had been using the alley as a driveway, and  another neighbor, angered by the unofficial use, summoned the city to enforce the public right of way.  Working with the Asian Pacific Dispute Resolution Center they came together to resolve the issue in a meeting that only lasted a couple of cool-headed hours. Both sides agreed to apply for an alley vacation, and all neighbors win. You can contact the APDRC at 213-250-8190.  They charge a $15.00 administrative fee for their dispute resolution services, but they will waive it if it's a hardship.

Silver Lake

Much improved!

Turf's Up! Or in this case, down. The green is on the ground at the Sunset Junction Triangle park and it looks great. The park at the corner of Sunset and Edgecliff has beautiful new turf, fine sycamore trees, and handsome boulders. To get a nice feel for the new park, why not pay a visit to the Silver Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday and enjoy it? My office and I had a great time working with the beautification committee of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council to complete this handsome touch-up to Silver Lake's snappy Sunset shopping district.

It Is On: The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council election kickoff was on July 16th, just after publication of last month's e-news. It was the first (but not the last) opportunity for candidates to declare themselves in public; the actual vote will be held on September 17th. There’s still time to declare yourself if anyone wants to throw a hat in the ring, although you might want to do so before the Silver Lake Improvement Association's candidates' forum on August 25th.

A Crack-Down on Cut-Throughs:The Silver Lake Traffic Committee is working closely with my office and with the Department of Transportation to reduce and prevent cut-through traffic in our neighborhoods. The recently issued report contains recommendations that, most importantly to child safety and neighborhood peace, will prevent traffic from exiting the 2 freeway and getting onto Waterloo (which is the main source of westbound Duane cut-throughs).

The Silver Lake Dog Park Association, which has certified non-profit status, is working to improve the dog park. They recently met with Recreation and Parks and have been seeking ways to revitalize the association (and the park itself) and get more shade in the dog park.

It Goes All The Way Around: The new path around the Silver Lake Reservoir is virtually complete! Check out the work on Armstrong, which includes a wide, paved path cut in to the woods where joggers and walkers used to have to either cross the street or negotiate a rocky narrows. And to discuss Phase II of the Reservoir plan, come to a community meeting August 24th from 6 to 9 pm at the Recreation Center.

Rock Outside: Don't forget, Sunset Junction is the 27th and 28th of August. The list of bands is extraordinary as always, so come on out and join the fun.

Maximillian's Schell: There are a million reasons to love the 13th District, but this is surely one of them.

East Hollywood and Hollywood

Salvadoran Independence: Save the Date: The DEFISAL Salvadoran Independence Parade will take place on Sunday, September 4th, starting on Van Ness and turning onto Santa Monica to wrap up with a festival at City College.

The Newest Thirteener: Congratulations go out to Dete Meserve of the Melrose Hill Neighborhood Association and her husband Paul. Their daughter Lauren Elisabeth Meserve was born on Sunday, August 7th. According to unbiased reports from her parents, she is "an adorable angel." Welcome to life in CD13, Lauren. Let us know when you're ready for your first community clean-up.

Goodbye, Friend: Amy Solorio of the El Centro Alliance, who has devoted many years to East Hollywood, is leaving the neighborhood. My thanks go out to Amy for setting up community clean-ups and guiding the Alliance as chair of the organization. El Centro will miss you, and your new neighborhood doesn't know what a gift they're getting.

The parties at the Hollywood Roosevelt seem to have wound down to a more manageable level. While it's great to see the Roosevelt attracting people to Hollywood, my office received several complaints from neighbors about events remaining loud long into the night. Talks between the party host, the hotel management and the police seem to have returned things to a festive equilibrium.

Safer Santa Monica: In response to the tragic pedestrian death of Seily Rodriguez, I introduced a motion in early February asking the Department of Transportation to plan for the installation of a traffic signal at Santa Monica and Tamarind.  DOT conducted an extensive study which looked at traffic volumes, speeds, accident history, and proximity to schools.  The study concluded that installing a traffic light at the intersection of Santa Monica and Bronson (one block to the east of Tamarind) would do more to increase pedestrian safety).  Since the completion of the study, my office has been working with DOT, the office of Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg, and Cal Trans (which has jurisdiction over Santa Monica because it's a state highway) to design the traffic light and obtain necessary approvals.  The city and the state will split the cost for the traffic light, which should be installed in September.  The city only has funding to install about 14 new traffic lights a year, less than 1 per council district, and I am very glad that we will be putting one up at this important location.

CONTACT US

Tell us what you think. ..... garcetti@council.lacity.org

Councilmember Eric Garcetti represents the Thirteenth Council District which includes all or part of the communities of Glassell Park, Atwater Village, Elysian Valley, Echo Park, Historic Filipinotown, Silver Lake, East Hollywood and Hollywood.

Councilmember Garcetti serves as Assistant President Pro Tempore of the Los Angeles City Council. He chairs the Council‘s Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee, is the Vice-Chair of the Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee, and sits on the Information Technology and General Services and Budget and Finance Committees. He also sits on the Council‘s Ad Hoc Stadium Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on the Los Angeles River.

Councilmember Garcetti and his staff can be reached via e-mail at garcetti@council.lacity.org or by mail or phone at City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Room 470, Los Angeles, CA 90012, (213) 473 7013 and 3525 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90026, 323/913-4693.

www.cd13.com