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Hollywood United Neighborhood Council Board Meeting
Monday, December 17th, 2007
Community Room, First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood
6054 Yucca St, Hollywood 90028

 

Agenda Item (AI) 1.  Welcome and Roll Call
Present: Robert Abrahamian, Debbi Aldahl, Jordan Birnbaum, Bechir Blagui, Maurece Chesse, Rodney Hargrove, Ryan Ole Hass, Scott Larson, Jamie Rosenthal, Hilary Royce, Erik Sanjurjo, David Schlesinger, Charles Suhayda, Susan Swan.
Excused: Andy Ettinger, William Logue, Bree Long.

AI 2.   Approval of Minutes from November 19, 2007 Board Meeting

Motion:  Charles Suhayda, “To approve the Board minutes with corrections.”
Second:  Bechir Blagui.
Vote:  Yes – 9       No -   0        Abs -   0
                              
AI 3.  LAPD and LAFD Announcements
No report at this time.

AI 4. Los Angeles City & County Updates including but not limited to:

  1. Mayor’s Office—No report.
  2. City Council Office—CD 4:  Doug Mensman reported that (1) the last Griffith Park clean-up was held two weeks ago. (2) There will be another meeting on Fire Station 82, on 12/18/07 at the Hollywood City Hall at 6 PM. Architectural designs will be presented. Concerns of constituent groups will be presented.

 

AI 5. Public comment on items not on the agenda

Gerry Hans (Oaks Homeowners Association) spoke on preservation of native trees that are protected by law. There are now in place new tougher tree ordinances. He cited an example of an incident in June 2006 when a developer cut down native oak trees. The Oaks HOA took notice and contacted the City of LA, who then took on this matter. The City Attorney is looking for more of these cases because they want to protect native trees.
There was extensive discussion on the types of trees and the minimum diameters of trees to which these tree ordinances apply.
Doug Mensman indicated that Council member Tom LaBonge wanted this to be an example case to show that the tree ordinance has teeth.

AI 9. Executive Committee Reports including but not limited to:

  1. President—Susan Swan

2) January Board Workshop: Asked the board what dates in January would be best for a Saturday workshop. She will bring recommendations back to the board.

  1. Vice President—Maurece Chesse
  2. Update on the NBC/Universal Project Working Group, and possible motion regarding the development. Maurece had a DVD presentation on the NBC/Universal project, but because of technical problems the power point will be presented at the January 2008 Board meeting. Maurece reported that the proposed development has a large footprint. The scale of the project is large; like NYC in a suburban area. The scope and mass is too large. The goal of the Working Committee is to achieve consensus on this project.

 

  1. Treasurer—Ryan Hass

There are not many expenditures this time of the year. We have $95,000 in our budget now. DONE has stated that any monies in excess of $125,000 will be taken back by them. The annual budget for Neighborhood Councils is $50,000 at this time.
Next month he will report on efficiencies and inefficiencies in our process for allocating our funds. He noted that for our holiday outreach everyone approved a certain amount of funds for allocation, but no one gave ideas as to what to procure or how organizations will submit proper allocations for funds.
People have approached Ryan with receipts for reimbursement. He reminded the Board that a stakeholder cannot be reimbursed directly. Ryan has to reimburse the organization or the HUNC Board member who made the purchase.
Update—PATH turned in their bills and we’ll allocate from $5,000 to $10,000 to them.
Financial summaries will come in January 2008. Ryan will provide quarterly reports and statements.

AI 10. Committee & Liaison Reports including but not limited to:

  1. Business Committee—Jordan Birnbaum
  2. Letter of Appreciation to Officer Mike Rose, ABC Coordinator for Hollywood Vice since 2000; recently transferred to another department.  Motion: Jordan Birnbaum, “That HUNC write a letter of appreciation to Officer Mike Rose.”  Second: Robert Abrahamian. Vote:  Yes—11   No—0   Abs—0.

 

  1. By-Laws/Standing Rules
  2. Approval of revisions to By-Laws including: Article V, Board; Article IX; Article X; Article XI Duties of Board Member; Article XIII Vacancies; Article XIV, removal; Article XV Grievance.  These changes included the following points: (1) deleted districts and replaced this with areas, (2) dealt with Executive Committee concerns, (3) Parliamentarian defined, (4) duties of a board member better defined, (5) removal of board members, (6) dealing with vacancies on the board, (7) censure process added and how to use it, (8) grievance procedures, (9) Attachment B—change districts to areas. Motion:  Maurece Chesse Second: Bechir Blagui. Vote: Yes---10 No—0  Abs-1.
  3. Approval of additions to the Standing Rules re: Grievance process, addition of an Attachment A regarding the grievance process.

The HUNC Standing Rules now includes the grievance process recommended by City Attorney Darren Martinez. Motion: Maurece Chesse, “That the Board approve the Standing Rules as presented.” Second: David Schlesinger. Vote: Yes---11   No—0  Abs—0.

  1. PLUM Committee—David Schlesinger
  2. Billboards/Building Wraps in Hollywood, possible motion.

David Schlesinger reported that he was disturbed by the billboard/building wrap at Hollywood/Highland. We may need to send a letter to the City on billboards. But we need a little more research on this matter and the legal issues behind it.

  1. Possible motion regarding HUNC Position on Anti-Mansionization Ordinance.

David Schlesinger reported that this is not a simple FAR (floor-area-ratio) issue. This ordinance will apply in the non-hillside areas only. Motion: David Schlesinger, “That HUNC send a letter to Tom LaBonge supporting his mansionization ordinance.” Second: Maurece Chesse. Vote: Yes—10   No—0   Abs---0.

  1. San Marcos Drive Houses—2301, 2305 and 2309 San Marcos Drive—Don van Cleve and Forest Chadwick. Proposal to build on these lots, with legal access complications. (Lake Hollywood Area). This will be taken up at the January 2008 Board Meeting.

AI 7. Update on unused Quimby funds and possible motion regarding proposals for using these funds
          Erik Sanjurjo reported that Quimby funds are used to mitigate the impact of development. The assessment ranges from $5,000 to $9,000/unit. Currently, the Quimby fund has $72 million in collected assessment from developers. CD 4 has $10-$12 million in un-spent Quimby funds; CD 13 has $3 million in un-spent funds.
This will be taken up in the January Board meeting.

AI 8. Update on Neighborhood Council Elections
The City Clerk will take responsibility for 2008 Elections for those NCs that have elections between January and June. David Schlesinger said that the estimated cost of the election will be $1.3 million. Susan Swan indicated that the HUNC election in the Fall 2008 might be held together with the Hollywood Coalition NCs. Erik Sanjurjo—reported that LA City Council will vote on 12/18/07 regarding NC Elections. The plan calls for all NC Boards to be up for election every 2 years.

AI 10D. PS&T (Public Safety and Transportation Committee)

  1. LAFD/LAPD Appreciation Day—Board member reimbursement to Hilary Royce. Motion: Jordan Birnbaum, “That HUNC reimburse Hilary Royce $310.27 for her expenses regarding this event.” Second: Maurece Chesse. Vote: Yes—11   No—0   Abs---0
  2. Update on Fire Station 82. Already discussed in Doug Mensman’s report from CD 4.
  3. Updates from CPAB (Community Police Advisory Board). Ryan Hass reported that he had served as the DOT representative to CPAB. William Logue has now taken on this role. Ryan now serves as the HUNC representative to CPAB.
  4. Tabled from November: security issues regarding First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, support for and possible funding of security cameras on city poles. No progress to report at this time.
  5. Update and possible motion regarding murder committed by a resident at state run home on Western Ave (Western Ferndale Board & Care—1745 N. Western Ave)

Sue Basko spoke before the board on this matter. She is a local resident living close to the Board and Care. She has put out a written statement to the state Licensing Board requesting an investigation, corrections or if corrections are not made that the facility be closed. Currently, there are about 90 residents at this Board 7 Care. The murder took place inside the residence.
Susan Swan recommended that this matter be taken up by the Public Safety & Transportation Committee. CD 4 has had meetings on this matter with Immaculate Heart School.

Calvin Jong—is the owner of a healthcare center in Hollywood. He had a fire behind his property. He reported it to APD/LAFD but he’s not certain it is being investigated.

AI 11. New Business/Announcements
The Social Service & Faith-based committee will not meet on December 24th.

Adjournment

Charles Suhayda
Recording Secretary
HUNC