Hollywood United Neighborhood Council

Hollywood United Neighborhood Council Board Meeting
Minutes for October 17, 2005
6:30 - 8:30 PM
Community Room
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood

Agenda Item 1-Roll Call & Approval of minutes from September 19, 2005 meeting

Roll Call : Robert Abrahamian-notified he'd be late, Jordan Birnbaum-notified he'd be late, Russell Brown-present, Maurece Chesse-present, Ann DeBello-present, Andrew Ettinger-present, Joel Fisher-present, Norma Foster-excused absence, Viktoria Gaw-present, Andrew Glazier-present, Scott Larson-present, Susan Polifronio-present, Hilary Royce-present, David Schlessinger-present, Gary Slossberg-present, Charles Suhayda-present, Susan Swan-excused absence.

Minutes from the Sept. 19, 2005 Board Meeting were reviewed and approved. Motion: Susan Polifronio-To approved the minutes of the 9/19, 2005 HUNC Board Meeting. Second: Joel Fisher. Vote: Yes---13, No---0, Abstain---0.

Agenda Item 2-LAPD Senior Lead Officer Reports.

1) Officer Mike Shea : There were 11 Burglary Theft From Vehicle (BTFV) occurrences in his area. There are no new crime patterns, just random crimes. Some aggravated assaults occur around clubs.

· Street Characters(SC) -There are many street characters around the Hollywood/Highland Complex. Some take tips but others are so aggressive in getting money that it borders on robbery. LAPD fliered Hollywood Blvd to announce a meeting with SC. Sixty-eight SCs attended the meeting along with some members of the community. City Attorney Bill Kassella and SLO Shea addressed the SCs in an hour long meeting. SCs were educated on aggressive begging and straight-up theft. SLO Shea recognized that some SCs are ambassadors to Hollywood but that LAPD Hollywood Division cannot tolerate violations. SLO Shea's warning to the SCs---When I handcuff you, don't tell me that you didn't know the rules of conduct.

· Ripley's Believe It or Not -Was robbed. Police are looking at tape from surveillance cameras.

· Sixth Murder of the Year -Victim was trampled to death.

· Crime Statistics -Violent crime ¯ 26%, property crime ¯ 11% from last year.

· Questions ---(1) There's more and more noise on Bronson Canyon. There's a house with a band. The police were not responsive a couple of months ago, they are more responsive now. What can be done? Ans: That's Bill Sollie's area. Call the Watch Commander, make a report and ask if its on the Loud Party Log. If its on the Log Party Log and the police go out to the location after a second complaint, they can confiscate the sound equipment. (2) Helicopter noise, who can we call? Ans: It depends on what type of helicopter. With military helicopters, you won't have much luck.

2) Officer Armen Sevdalian :

· The entire city shares the problem of car break-ins.

· A robbery/rape incident on Sunset Blvd just west of Normandie. The suspect and the female were acquaintances. The suspect has been located but the female victim will not prosecute.

· There was a gang shooting in SLO Sevdalian's area but cannot get any cooperation from those involved.

· The White Fence injunction-the City Attorney not yet moving on this.

· There will be a Senior Lead Officer Summit/Community Meeting on October 26 th at 6501 Fountain Ave beginning at 6 PM.

Agenda Item 3-Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda

1) Erik Sanjurjo (CD 4) : Councilmember LaBonge is attempting to buy 138 acres west of the Hollywood sign (Cahuenga Highlands area). Ques: What happened to the Santa Monica Conservancy? Ans: They are still working and have acquired a couple of hundred parcels. Ques: How much land does Tom LaBong want to buy? Ans: 138 acres. There are proposals to build on this property but CD 4 does not support building on this site.

2) Jim McQuiston : He attended the Education and Neighborhood Committee meeting of the city. There are efforts underway to analyze the efficacy of the Neighborhood council movement. We have to look at why we have NCs. This should be on your agenda.

3) Ann DeBello : Also attended the meeting that dealt with evaluation of NCs. The Westchester NC was pushing for a grass roots organization to evaluate NCs. Ann recommends the formation of a regional commission for this task. Janice Hahn is looking at which NCs are successful and why; looking for strengths and weaknesses. Russ Brown---The Gay & Lesbian Council also met with Janice Hahn to discuss evaluation of NCs.

4) Erik Sanjurjo : There are some contentious issues relative to NCs:

· Should the definition of stakeholder be changed?

· What should the commission that evaluates NCs look like? A 17-19 member commission?

· Some don't want the NCs to be the only voice in the process

· In the coming year, evaluation of NCs will be a priority

· People in CD 11 want outsiders on the commission because their NCs are fairly disfunctional.

5) Russ Brown : There are differing models of NCs. There are different sizes-HUNC has 20,000 stakeholders, some other NCs have 100,000. But pass-through people are not counted.

Agenda Item 4---Executive Committee Reports

(1) Joel Fisher (Past President) : For 2-yrs there has been illegal food vending activity in Hollywood. There are ways to enforce the licensing and health ordinances. LAPD Hollywood officers started enforcing vending ordinances 2 weeks ago. This is a cooperative effort between 5 Police Captains and 3 rd District LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Vendors come to Hollywood at 11 PM and stay until 2-4 AM. If you see any food vendor activity, please report it to LAPD. (2) The Mayor's Budget Report-please fill it out today and give it to Jennifer Christie. (3) I'd like to address Agenda Item 7C, the LANC Congress Discussion. I'd like to agendize LANC for the next HUNC Board Meeting. I'd like Robert Cook, Hollywood Hills West NC (Treasurer) to make a report. Rob Cook : There was a meeting last year at USC on NCs with 54-55 NCs representatives in attendance. Some representatives want to see NCs focus more on neighborhood issues than participating in DONE trade shows. Some felt that the DONE organized meetings didn't reflect what people wanted from a Citywide Congress of NCs. A work group has been meeting to draft a plan for NCs. The working group has looked at the original mission statement for NCs. It has looked at how to do outreach to NCs who have not been involved with this evaluation process. It is looking at getting NCs to adopt this document. As of this date 9 NCs have ratified this document. In order to go to the next step in this process, 17-18 NCs need to ratify this document.

Jim McQuiston (Comment) : The problem NCs have is that they get information on the tail end because the city doesn't have to notify NCs about what is going on. Now, look at the LANC document, the preamble. A Congress of Neighborhoods is not a Congress of Neighborhood Councils. NCs before they make a decision must get input from stakeholders. So you can't have a congress of NCs because you need input from millions of stakeholders. The problem is you have 17 NCs ratifying this document but that doesn't include all the NCs. Look at each word and its meaning. A Congress is a legislative body over the NCs. You can't have a legislative body over the NCs.

3) Susan Polifronio (President) : Thank you to everyone who participated in the Firefighter Festival on October 1 st . Thank you also to all who participated in the Mayor's "City-Wide Day of Service to our Youth" on October 8 th . We had a great turnout by Board members and people from the community for our clean-up and mural painting at Cheremoya Elementary School.

4) Susan Swan (VP) : No report.

5) Jordan Birnbaum (Corresponding Secretary): No report.

6) Charles Suhayda (Recording Secretary): No report.

Agenda Item 5-Committee Reports

1) Education & Youth : Andrew Glazier:

· Thank you to everyone for a fabulous Mayor's Day of Service. Cheremoya School is very happy. Much of our activities have been recorded on a DVD. A special thanks you to Viktoria Gaw for a fabulous work with the mural painting. And also a thank you to Hilary Royce for her efforts and coordination of much of the activities. Also thank you to Jordan Birnbaum for additional contributions that helped make this a successful event.

· There was a small and very appreciative welcome party for the new principal at Cheremoya Elementary. Thank you to the HUNC Board for donating food for this event. Thanks also to Eric Sanjurjo for attending.

· Gary Slossberg---Washington Mutual Bank will make a financial contribution to any school you designate when you use their credit card. Keep this in mind as a means of supporting Cheremoya.

· Viktoria Gaw-Cheremoya may be loosing its art program. Andrew Glazier will try to confirm if this is the case.

2) Business committee : Jordan Birnbaum:

· Met with Andrew Glazier to determine the best structure for this committee. One goal will be how best to help people who are trying to open new businesses in our neighborhood.

· There are efforts underway to establish a new Business Improvement District (BID). It would run from east of Gower to Vermont. About 4-8 people are leading this effort. This is promising and has the support of city officials.

3) Public Safety & Transportation : Joel Fisher:

· There will be a Town Hall Meeting on the topic of "Disaster Preparedness." It will be held on November 14 th at 6:30 PM in this Community Room at Hollywood Presbyterian Church. Fire and Police officials have been invited. Viktoria Gaw will make the fliers for this event. Motion: Joel Fisher--- To prepare postcards for advertising this event; on the backside have a map of evacuation routes for residents of the Hollywood Hills. Second: Susan Polifronio. Vote: Yes---14, No-0, Abstain-0.

4) Election Committee : Gary Slossberg will setup and run the election committee. Susan Polifronio asked that all necessary paperwork for this be completed by year's end. The election will be held at the beginning of May.

5) Neighborhood & Environment : The Oaks/Fern Dell clean up is scheduled for October 22 nd .

6) Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ) : David Schlessinger:

· The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 1 st at 7 PM.

· The FOLAR meeting is on October 21 st

· PROS Committee-Is looking at a proposal to open up Mt Hollywood Drive to buses to get people up to Griffith Park Observatory.

7) PLUM : Russell Brown:

· CRA Hollywood/Western development meets on the third Wednesday of the month. This coming meeting will be at the Metro apartments above the red line stop. There will be a presentation on the northside development of Hollywood Blvd. Last month there was a presentation on development of the southside of the Blvd.

· PLUM will meet this Wednesday, 10/19 at 6 PM

· Update on the Hollywood/Vine Project---Whole Foods has signed a lease to bring a "Super Store" to the Selma/Vine corner. There will be 250 parking spaces allotted for this store.

· The LA City Council made a decision on the location for Fire Station 82. They agreed to proceed with the purchase of the Florentine Gardens property (3.5 acres) and will enter negotiations with FG. It will be an adaptive re-use project.

· There is a certification hearing for the Hollywood Studio District NC. It will be held at LeConte Middle School on November 1 st at 6:30 PM.

8) DWP : Andrew Ettinger:

· The Lake Hollywood Homeowners Association held their Annual meeting. TomLaBonge, Erik Sanjurjo, and Rory Fitzpatrick attended. These members of CD 4 were asked about DWP's care for Lake Hollywood. The homeowners have concerns. They are asking DWP to remove coiled barbed wire and chain link fencing. They would like to seethe area cleaned up. Specifically, the downed trees need to be disposed of appropriately.

Agenda Item 6-Mayor's Budget Survey

Ann DeBello: Board members please complete the surveys. We will agendize this for the next board meeting. Jim McQuiston: They want a 70-80% response from the NCs.

Agenda Item 7---New Business

A) Annual Christmas Party. Maurece Chesse:

· The date for this event is December 11 th . It will be held in the Mayer Bldg (SW corner of Hollywood/Western). What is needed-1) helpwith planning, 2) toy donations. GGP NC is involved and will donate In & Out Burger Coupons. All toy donations will go to PATH.

· Motion: Maurece Chesse to donate $150 for food and outreach for this event. Second: Susan Polifronio. Vote: Yes-13, No-0, Abstain-0.

B) Garfield Watch Block Party-Outreach Expenses. Maurece Chesse:

· This event will be held on Sunday, November 1 st .

· Motion: M. Chesse to appropriate $100 of HUNC funds for outreach at this event. Second: Susan Polifronio. Vote: Yes-13, No-0, Abstain-0.

· Motion: M. Chesse to approve the HUNC Budget of $12,500. Second: Andrew Glazier. Vote: Yes-13, No-0, Abstain-0.

C) LANC Congress discussion possible action. Already addressed above under Agenda Item 4.

D) Letter of recommendation to DONE and Education & Neighborhood Committee; RE: $500,000 for Committee to evaluate the future of NCs.

· Jim McQuiston-The NCs can't be part of this. You need an independent commission. There is a struggle between the City Council and the mayor for representation on any such commission. NCs have 45 days from September 28 th to respond to these two groups.

· Andrew Glazier---The $500,000 price tag for this proposed commission is exorbitant.

· Motion: Ann DeBello to propose the following on the formation of this commission-(1) The commission should not exceed 20 members, (2) To explain the need for a $500,000 budget, (3) To define the term stakeholder, and (4) that the commission be an independent commission. Second: Gary Slossberg. Discussion: JimMcQuiston-don't put in a dollar amount for the budget. Let the CLA/CAO present the plan with a budget. Vote: Yes-13, No-0, Abstain-0. Ann DeBello and Jordan Birnbaum will write a letter to the above groups relating HUNC's decision on this matter.

Meeting Adjourned