Issue 7 2009August - September

A Living History Tour

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

N e i g h b o r h o o d Councils

What are they and whyyou should care.

Eye On Wesson

Mural: The Black Seeds

Art, food reviews, neighbor reportscommunity events and much much more.....

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content

3 Living History Tour - Laura Meyers 4 Neighbor Report: Kids Volunteer! Jeff Copeland Natural Health: Tea - Linda Ottobre

5 Astronomy Report - Dr. Martin Ross

7 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries David Sroaf

8 Featured Advertiser: Peace Labyrinth Carol Jones 10 Interview with Scott McNeely about Neighborhood Councils Dianne V. Lawrence

12 Senior Care: Keeping Seniors Safe Carol Hall

13 Eye On Wesson: “I’m The Decider.” Dianne Lawrence

14 Community Reports15 Community Events

16 Neighbor Report: Pico Corridor De’Lois Jacobs Art In The Corridor: Rosalyn Myles Carla Weber

19 Restaurant Review: Pronto Pizza IVY

21 Retailers Map

Welcome to the first issue of the second year of The Neighborhood News and we are bursting at the seams! I have

exceeded my goals for the first year (expanded distribution borders, enthusiastic community engagement, a lot of ads and no debt!) and I have already made a serious dent in my goals for our second year. We now have a website!! I am still at the beginning stages of building it up but you can visit us now at:

www.theneighborhoodnewsonline.netClick “Create Account” under the log in box and register with us. This will allow you to submit articles or websites for consider-ation, download archives and eventually receive the monthly ar-ticles when they come out. I will be creating a feature for lost and found pets that will allow you to upload pics and descriptions. Legalized marijuana for the alleviation of some of the painful symptoms of medical problems, is now a fact of life. Businesses that sell pot are growing, well, like weeds. David Sroaf, a new TNN reporter, reports on the issue and its presence in our neighborhood. Neighborhood Councils. What are they and why should you care? I interview Scott McNeely who is President of Pico Neigh-borhood Council, one of the more successful Neighborhood Councils in our community. He explains what they are and what makes them work or fail. Tree Cages line Washington Boulevard like girls in a cho-rus line. Unfortunately they are not as pretty. Beautification is in the eye of the beholder and in ‘Eye On Wesson’ we look at the golden lost opportunity for Council District 10.

If each person reading this, went just once this month to one of our FABulous advertised restaurants, it would help them beat these recession blues immeasurably. Support your local busi-nesses! Just one visit a month!

Anyway enough yibber yabber. Get a cup o Joe, put your feet up and take a little tour around your neighborhood!

Publisher/EditorDianne V. Lawrence

On the cover: Mural -The Black Seeds - on Jeffersonbetween 3rd and 4th

Contact at 323-871-8580 or theneighborhoodnews@yahoo.com

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The popular and exciting tour features costumed actors portraying, at graveside, the life stories of some of the sig-nificant people buried there.

It’s also a landmark year for Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, which celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2009. Rosedale, as it was originally known, is one of the city’s oldest, most historically significant cemeteries. Opened in November, 1884, and located at 1831 West Washington Blvd. (and Normandy), it is now the final home to many generations of Los Angeles’s citizens, representing every race, faith and creed.

Though only the second oldest existing Los Angeles cemetery (after Evergreen Cemetery in Boyle Heights, founded in 1877), Rosedale claimed a number of firsts when it was established. It was the city’s first “garden cemetery,” an effort to combine the ambience of a park with the requirements of a graveyard. Rosedale embraced the idea that a cemetery should be like a garden with beautiful landscaping, rolling hills, towering trees, and art work. The beautiful carved statuary of the monuments are symbolic: a draped urn represents sorrow, a broken stump, column or headstone symbolizes a life cut short, an angel clutching a rose symbolizes everlasting love, and Celtic knots represent eternity –- the unending thread of life.

Rosedale also boasts the first crematorium built west of the Rockies and the second in the United States. And, Rosedale was the very first Los Angeles cemetery to accept burials of all races and religions.Among the individuals resting at Angelus Rosedale are numer-ous men and women who made history in Los Angeles, Califor-nia and the nation, including such notable historic personages as Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for “Gone With The

Wind,” Phineas Banning, who helped establish the Port of Los Angeles 150 years ago; David Burbank (for whom Burbank is named), Caroline Severance, a renowned suffragette, director Tod Browning (“Freaks”), lyricist Andy Razaf (“Ain’t Misbehaving”), Jessie Benton Fremont (widow of “Pathfinder” John C. Fremont), Frank Chance, player and manager for Chi-cago Cubs (part of the famous “Tinker to Evers to Chance” triple play), 1936 Olympics Gold Medalist Cornelius Johnson (Hitler refused to congratulate him), and magician Harry Kellar.

The cemetery is the final resting place of over 700 Civil War soldiers, many buried in a large plot set aside for members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Angelus Rosedale also has a section dedicated to veterans of the Spanish American War. Col. Allen Allensworth, a former slave who fought in the Civil War and founded the town of Allensworth, is among the veterans buried at Rosedale, as is Capt. Edward L. Baker, a Buffalo Soldier who was recognized with a Medal of Honor for his valor in the Spanish American War.

For this year’s Living History Tour, visitors will meet Jean Goldkette, the “Prince of Jazz,” a jazz pianist and bandleader whose orchestras included, at various times, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, and Tommy Dorsey; William H. Shores, the first African American employee of the Security Trust & Savings Bank, founded in 1889; Katharine Putnam Hooker and her daughter, Marion Osgood Hooker, both free-spirited adventur-ers and artists; Remi Nadeau, grandson of a Los Angeles pioneer whose family once owned the land the cemetery sits upon; and actor Everett Sloan, a member of Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater troupe.

Docent-guided tours depart between 9 a.m. and noon. Tick-ets are by reservation only, and cost $25 if paid by Sep-tember 15. After this deadline, all tickets are $30. For more information, e-mail tours@westadamsheritage.org,

History Comes to Life on Saturday, September 26 as the West Adams Heritage Association (WAHA) presents its 19th annual Living History Tour of the Angelus

Rosedale Cemetery.

LIVING HISTORY TOURBy Laura Myers

Ghosts From the Past Come Alive!

Foreclosed properties can have a detrimental effect on a neigh-borhood because they are often

neglected by the banks that own them. The West 20th Street Block Club has adopted the parkway of one distressed property. The club routinely maintains the park-way, pulling weeds and picking up trash. Neighborhood kids, Pratik Amin and Rogelio Roque, help make a difference.

Kids Volunteer to Help Clean Up!

Happy Parents Witness

Did you know that drinking tea on a daily basis can lower blood fats, help reduce cholesterol, and

facilitate weight management? Teas aid in the prevention of stones (both kidney and gall) by stimulating the liver and kidneys and in building immunity by cleansing the liver and kidneys. Teas have historically been attributed to alleviating fatigue, stim-ulating mental energy and raising overall body energy and longevity. Green Tea (Bancha, Sencha, Gen-maicha) is a popuar and healthy al-ternative to drinking morning coffee. It has considerably less caffeine but is equally stimulating. Rich in antioxidants it stimulates the metabolism which in turn increases energy and creates a “full feeling” so that less food is consumed. A little heartburn, burping or flatu-lence? Pepperment tea does the trick and

is cheaper and healthier than Pepto Bismal. Chamomile tea is a very effective and immediate remedy for anxious sleepless-ness. One cup is all it takes. Dandelion Root Tea naturally cleanses the liver and kidneys, aiding in the prevention of stones, and common infections related to kidneys and bladder. It also stimulates the metabolism, promotes weight management and has also been proven to break down fats during digestion. My personal journey began just a couple of months ago. An avid coffee consumer for many years, multiple shot espresso beverages with 4 packets of sugar were a daily occurrence. Since the transi-tion to tea from coffee, and the elimination of sugar (carbs) from my daily intake, two extraordinary things have happened; the elimination of sugar cravings and signifi-cant weight loss (3 clothes sizes so far). The local grocery store carries good quality Green Tea such as Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Good Earth, etc. Whole Foods, Erewhon, and some local grocery stores carry Traditional Medicinal brands.

Consult with your physician before making any radical change in your lifestyle.

TEAThe healthy solution for sleeplessness,

weight loss, indigestion and more By Linda Ottobre

By Jeff Copeland

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might see in a planetarium. In fact this free program is used by planetariums! Once you download the program you can set the location of the observer and see the night (or day) sky in an incredible simulation. You can have a load of fun with all of the bells and whistles like showing constellations, different haze and light pollution conditions, and setting up any date and time you’d like. The simulations are incredible. Now to understand what you see looking up from your house or apartment, it is fun to set the Stellarium display for LosAngeles, set the correct date and time, and then go outside and identify just one new constellation each night. You will soon find that you have learned all of the summer constellations and which planets and stars are where. Stellarium is an amazing and fun tool for the neighborhood astronomer, with or without a telescope!

This month I want to point out something astro-

nomical that has come along on the internet that is fantastic and free. www.stellarium.com You can download soft-ware that shows sky displays on your com-puter just like you

COOL WEBSITE!

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Medical marijuana has been in the news a lot lately. The proliferation of dispensa-ries providing patients with safe access

to cannabis products, the preferred prescribed medicinal relief for many sick and ailing Cali-fornians, can justifiably be called a revolution.

With the passage of Proposition 215 (also known as the Compassionate Use Act of 1996), adult Californians are guar-anteed the right to obtain and use marijuana medicinally with a doctor’s recommendation. Prop 215 eliminated criminal penalties for patients and their designated primary caregivers, for personal possession and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes. A subsequent state legislative statute, SB420, in effect since January 1, 2004, broadened the terms of Proposition 215 to allow patients to “collectively or cooperatively” cultivate marijuana for medical purposes. In 2007, the City Council established a moratorium on any additional medical marijuana dispensaries (MMDs), which numbered 187 at the time. The moratorium also includ-ed a “hardship” clause known formally as the Interim Control Ordinance (ICO), included in order to make the restriction on the number of MMDs defensible in court and to allow dispensaries to continue to open if they met the hardship requirements. Despite or because of this legislation, the existence of medical marijuana dispensaries in our business districts remains a contro-versial subject and at present some 650 collectives, the term given to such medical marijuana enterprises, exist in Los Angeles. Two of these are operating within the midcity area.

If you have seen them, you may not have recognized them for what they are. Located at 4410 W. Pico Blvd., LA Wonder-land Collective opened for business in 2007 and last month, Blue Moon Collective began operating under the ‘hardship exemption’ at 5155 W. Washington Blvd, part of a three unit strip mall that has seen two long-standing businesses fail in the past year. Of late, the L.A. City Council has begun reviewing over 500 such post-moratorium ‘hardship exemptions’ at the rate of 10-15 per week to determine whether these Johnny-come-lately dispen-saries should be allowed to continue to operate. There has even been talk of letting them stay in order to tax them and generate revenue for the city. While some residents stand to benefit from access to discrete, secure, and considerately operated collec-tives, others are troubled by what the existence of these outlets bodes for the community. At the meeting of the Planning and Land Use Management(PLUM) Committee of the Mid-City Neighborhood Council (MINC) on Thursday, June 11, the matter of the medical mari-juana dispensaries in our midst was briefly addressed. PLUM did not take up the issue of legal versus illegal (post-moratorium) dispensaries, something that the city council and city attorney themselves have yet to fully reconcile. The question for PLUM chairperson Bruce Durbin was straightforward: why was there

no community input before the collectives were allowed to open, as there would have been be-fore another operation, say a business that intended to sell alcohol, was given the go-ahead? Secondly, was this the direction the community wanted support?

Mid-City Neighborhood Council president Allan DiCastro spoke to the latter concerns by drawing attention to the fact that the stretch of Washington Blvd. on either side of Blue Moon Col-lective already has a residential care facility for schizophrenics, several motels conducive to prostitution activities, a liquor store, and a methadone clinic. DiCastro questions the wisdom of adding a marijuana retail establishment to this mix, making a point about the questionable environment this creates for people struggling with addictions. For its part, the management of LA Wonderland Collective has done what it can to maintain a good reputation and low profile at its Pico Blvd. location. Unlike Blue Moon Collective, which advertises its presence with signs and symbols familiar to marijuana pop culture, the Pico Blvd. dispensary does without such self-promoting iconography. In fact, La Wonderland Collec-tive can be hard to identify even when its address is known. “We have tried to be very mindful of the community’s concerns,” the owners stated. As evidence of this, they cited operating hours which overlap as little as possible with those of a nearby daycare center, adding that only after they’d been in business for nearly a year did they become aware of a church down the street. Area resident and longtime medical marijuana patient Richard Kerns has different concerns. Kerns, who has AIDS, actively involves himself in his medicinal choices and wellness regime and is troubled by the notion that less scrupulous dispen-saries will not provide their patients with the comprehensive care and education they deserve. “Medical marijuana collectives need “product quality controls as well as social quality con-trols,” Kerns says, asserting that the local dispensaries need to police themselves and enforce high standards in order to overcome any unfavorable impressions the medicine and the industry face. As with boom times in any market, the medical marijuana business will almost certainly attract some operators in-terested in nothing more than a quick retail buck. Just how to weed any such profiteers-disguised-as-caregivers from the medical marijuana field remains unanswered. In late June, 10th District City Councilman Herb Wesson, Jr. did state his op-position “to the unregulated and uncontrolled spread of MMDs throughout the city,” as well as his desire to “reduce the number of MMDs operating now.” Nonetheless, for the time being both LA Wonderland Collective and Blue Moon Collective remain open for business, providing safe access to medical marijuana and continu-ity of care to mid-city patients under the aegis of Proposition 215.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIESWalking A Fine Line In Our Communities By David Sroaf

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Peace AwarenessLabyrinth and Gardens

Have you been wondering what goes on at that beautiful, big white mansion at 3500 W. Adams (just west of Arlington) and what in the world is a labyrinth?

Welcome to the headquarters of the Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness and Peace Theologi-cal Seminary & College of Philosophy, (MSIA for short). Lots of long names, lots of spiritual focus, lots of fun and joy. The

mansion is a City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument, built for Secundo and Louisa Guasti, who emigrated to the United States from Italy, amass-ing a fortune in the C a l -

ifornia wine business. The Guasti label emanated from the Guasti vineyards which became the largest winery in the world at the turn of the 20th Century right here in Southern California. The mansion was designed by prominent ar-chitects, Hudson and Munsell, and took four years to construct, with materials from all over the world and artisans imported from Italy.

In the mid-thirties, the property was sold to Busby Berkeley, the famous Hollywood director and choreographer who lived there for about a decade with his mother and a succession of wives. After that, it became a boarding house for budding ac-tresses and then a home for unwed mothers until the Physicians’ Aid Society bought it in the early 50’s and used it as a retirement home for doctors and their wives. In 1974, MSIA/PTS bought the property and have been remarkable stewards of this oasis in the middle of L.A., for the past 35 years. John-Roger, Founder and Spiritual Advisor, John Morton, Spiritual Director, and the MSIA Presidency, all agreed that since it needed to be retrofitted in order for it to be used, it should also be restored to its original grandeur and every inch of the exterior and interior of the man-

sion was painstakingly cleaned, polished, inpainted, repaired, and refurbished by professionals in the field. Under construction for eight years, this masterpiece in preservation stands as a monument for all of Los Angeles to enjoy. Many thanks go to West Adams’ very own the late Martin Weil for his consultation and contribu-tion to the project. Visitors are welcome through the week.

MSIA focuses on Soul Transcendence—knowing ourselves as one with God, not just as a theory, but as a practical, everyday reality. And the seminary is devoted to providing classes, work-shops, and what we call Spiritual Spa Days, all geared toward giving folks an experience of the universal teachings of the Spiritual Heart in a gentle, loving, focused at-mosphere. Anyone can at-tend. We love opening our doors to our neighbors.The outdoor, hand-cut travertine marble labyrinth, one of many tools for spiritual awakening, is open to the public as well as the beautiful gardens. A slow walk to the middle of the labyrinth has a calming and healing effect with a noticeable sense of spiritual renewal. It can bring peace of mind, liberation from old habits that no longer serve us, and the joy of just being with ourselves in an active, mov-ing meditation. The gardens close to the mansion complement the Italian Renaissance architecture while the meditation garden, the secluded area farthest from the house, is Asian-inspired. We hear from visitors that spending time in these peaceful and awesome gardens often transports them to reflect on their higher nature, indeed to experience themselves as one with God. Come to a Spiritual Spa Day, or a workshop on abundance and prosperity. We are open for free tours and Labyrinth walking, Tuesday through Friday 11-3 pm and Sunday 12-4. Visit www.peacelabyrinth.org or call us at (323) 737-4055 for more information on how you can bask in the beauty of na-ture, free up your Soul and have some fun while you’re at it.

By Carol JonesAn Oasis of Calm in Our Busy Neighborhood

Answer to riddle: Silence

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Did you know that your Neighborhood Council has been given $45,000 by the city to help you improve your community?

In 1999, a new City Charter, approved by the voters, created The Department of Neighborhood Empower-ment (D.O.N.E.) dedicated to creating and empowering a new city entity called Neighborhood Councils (NC’s). The Neighborhood Councils are made up of your neighborhood’s local leaders and residents, volunteering to “promote public par-ticipation in government and make government more responsive to local needs”. Each Council was given $50,000 a year (re-cently reduced to $45,000) to put into their community. If you come up with a project that improves your neighborhood, you can take it to your local NC and request funding. Today there are 89 Neighborhood Councils in the City of Los Angeles.

How did you get involved?I wanted to see how the area was developing and I ran across the info about Neighborhood Councils on the internet. I went to a few meetings and there were people yelling and screaming at each other, calling each other names and having tantrums and getting caught up in minutiae. They lacked objectivity and focus. They didn’t understand how to relegate work to Committees. In-stead they spent their time deciding how to order stationary in a group of 30 people! They weren’t getting anything done so the $50,000 (recently changed to $45,000) which was being allocated to them from the city for their community wasn’t getting used. No outreach or spending of the funds. I sat in the peanut-gallery for two years with Claudia Bayard, watched every meeting and it was very dysfunctional. So when there was an opportunity to get on board I was tapped by Consuelo Gomez from one of the neighborhood block clubs and she promised me she would recruit some other capable people. I got elected and became co-chair with Janelle Brown.

What were some of the first issues you had to address?The prior board was constantly changing their by-laws to suit

different political agendas rather than shape the by-laws to fur-ther the goals they needed to accomplish. We had to ask ourselves “what is the focus of our organization?” We hired a mediator to come to the group for a couple of sessions to try to articulate what the group wanted to accomplish and he mediated between all the personalities. We got some good direction, came up with a mis-sion statement and from that point on worked on what we could do to accomplish that mission.

What were some of those missions?One of our missions was to empower neighborhood block clubs. We had 11 in our area and only two were highly functional. The other ones were loosely organized with no by-laws and no regu-lar activity. We decided to pay to create their websites as a way of empowering them. It allowed us to get information to them automatically and frequently, with a minimum of update for them. We also had to identify the commitment level of the people involved with the Council. If the group was going to accomplish anything then we had to have performance standards, otherwise it’s meaningless. People would come and say “What a great idea”, walk away and two months later nothing is accomplished. We had a hell of a time trying to get performance clauses passed in the new by-laws compelling Council participants to perform to cer-tain standards. Now you have to belong to three Committee’s and attend 3 or 4 events per year, otherwise you are off the Board.

You got pushback for those changes?Oh yea. Some people didn’t want to do it.

How were you able to get it passed?There were a couple of us in the group that were regularly starting to accomplish things. At that time their largest project cost maybe $500 and yet we had $163,000 sitting in our checking. Whatever money received from the city that isn’t spent one year, is rolled over to the next. So you can see the group wasn’t doing a lot of projects and they weren’t used to doing high-impact community projects. They didn’t have relationships with churches, fire and police de-partments. It didn’t help when I couldn’t get phone calls returned to me from Council District 10’s (CD10) office or anyone. I think it was because of the bad reputation of the group that preceded me. It took about a year and a half to get that stuff smoothed over.

So you outreached into already established social networks and invited them into the process.It takes more than going to meetings. You have to form relationships in the community.

Now we have all these Neighborhood Councils but how cohesive are they? Are they connected to each other? That is one of the difficulties. The city wanted to make Pico and Olympic one-way streets go-ing opposite ways, effectively creating little freeways. None of

Neighborhood CouncilsWhat They Are and Why You Should Care

By Dianne V. Lawrence

Scott McNeely is the President of the Pico Neighborhood Council in Council District 10 . It is one of the most

effective and pro-active Councils in the city. His interactive website was mentioned in D.O.N.E.’s best practices and is being used as a model for the redo of their own website. Thoughtful, articulate and visionary Scott is an inspired leader with passionate ideas about community service and the responsibili-ties community leaders bring to their positions. He not only talks the talk, he walks the walk. I sat down with him at CJ’s, the local restaurant on Pico and Carmona to dis-cuss his experience and insight as a member and leader of one of the most effective and engaging Councils in the city.

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the Councils who represented communities affected by this, were coming to together to fight a common fight. So I reached out to several other neighborhood councils from here to the beach and organized a response. I didn’t wear my hat as a Council member but as an activist. I made the point that if we wanted it, okay. But if we didn’t we needed to act on it. I pulled together about 30 people in a hot room on a Sunday and started a movement to defeat this thing. We didn’t feel the impacted communities would benefit. So we organized, got active and in May of last year we won the law-suit which compelled the city to provide an environmental impact report in order to proceed with their plan. We are open to the idea we just want a process we can all agree on.

How long have you been President of your Council?This is my third year but I’ll be termed out in January. Time for fresh blood. We had some pushback on term limits. But we have term limits for officers, life caps for being on the Board, performance clauses, we have a floating quorum actually based on the number of filled board positions rather than a hard number. We even have a requirement to have a declared alternate who must come and cast your vote if you can’t show up because we don’t do proxy. We have extreme financial transparency. I did a small financial analy-sis when Claudia and I started to get involved. Out of the 92 Coun-cils at the time (I think we have 89 now) we were 91 as far as our performance was concerned. I gauged performance by how much money was put back into the community versus how much we took in. It’s a crude but useful tool. Since then using that model to look at what we put back into the community, we are now in the top ten.

What would you say some of the pitfalls are that Neighborhood Councils fall into?I would say the infighting, lack of clear goals with a vision codi-fied in the by-laws and unclear processes to meet those goals. Some of them dilute their abilities through exhaustive processes of approval. I watched some of this in other councils and know they won’t get anything done for three months.

Sometimes you have to go to the Executive Council for approval and if they approve, it goes to a committee then has to come back to the Executive council and then over to the Board. Let the Committees do the work then the Boards function is to aye or nay the committee’s recommendation and ask some exploratory questions that may not have been addressed in Committee. But the bouncing back and forth just slows the process down, people get exhausted and that’s when you start creating a distance between the community and the council.

Anything else?The Councils also need to do proactive surveying of the commu-nity. What does the community need? Why do we wait for the community to come to us? I don’t see enough of that happening.

How is the relationship between the Neighborhood Council and City Council?It’s ebb and flow. The NC’s want to give more input and City Council would probably disagree that they need it.

What kind of input are you referring to?

Development seems to be the hot button issue more so now than ever because of the real estate boom we are experiencing. Wheth-er or not a strip mall goes in. I think the community wants more of a voice in the process. Traditionally they haven’t had one.

It seems like the original function of NC’s was to be a voice to City Hall from the communities. Is City Hall paying attention?For the easy stuff but they tend to not want to be bothered with big button issues like development. I’m sure it’s uncomfortable for them because of the legwork and manpower involved. Why deal with the NC’s when they can make those decisions in their sleep.

I imagine one problem is that a City Council representative comes into a community with ideas and plans that may not co-incide with what the larger community really wants. It can come across as paternalistic. We are having that experience now with the Tree Well project. (the metal guards placed around new street trees, read Eye On Wesson) The community doesn’t want them but for some reason we are getting them. Any outreach CD10 did was after they made the decision to install them.

One is left with the feeling that some of the outreach is for show not for function. Some of it has been great but others have been questionable. Since this relationship between the NC’s and the Council Office is fair-ly new, the Office is not used to what the relathionship could or should be.They are used to seeing the community as their terri-tory.

I think this perception that they are ruling little kingdoms is being challenged because communities are getting more involved and educated. Asking pesky questions and expecting answers. I think its making a difference. We get calls now from the Council Office where we didn’t get them before and I thinkthat’s great. Now I know about things sooner than 20 hrs before they are getting voted on in Committee at City Hall.

Are there efforts to get all the Councils together?They have a get together every year but I didn’t go to the last one. My impression in the first one was that it was an opportunity for Villaraigosa to dictate which direction he wanted things to go. It wasn’t to gather input and create a symbiotic relationship. So I had better things to do the next year.

Is there anything you want to put out there as we come to a close?I think it’s important for Neighborhood Council leadership to meet on a regular basis. I have not met most of the leadership in Council District 10 and that worries me. Coming together is how we empower our communities to deal with CD 10 issues. We need to be sharing experiences and resources. About Neighborhood Councils: http://www.lacity.org/done/

To find your Neighborhood Council:http://done.lacity.org/ncdatabase/nc_database_public/

To look at Pico NC website: http://www.piconc.com/

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The years pass quickly. You’re 50+ and that means your living parents are definitely seniors. If they’re in good health, fantastic! This is the time to discuss and make

plans to help them stay in their home as long as possible by en-hancing the home’s safety. Ask parents for their input regard-ing special needs and pay attention to the following concerns: Entrances. If there are steps into the house, a handrail will reduce risk of falling. Light the entrance so people can see clearly and put reflector tape on each step. Increase safe-ty by building a ramp, or gradual slope with a handrail. Avoid Slipping Opportunities Remove all rugs that are not at-tached or wall to wall. Use bio-degradable, non-skid wax and floor cleaners and eliminate slippery floors. Bright lighting. Good lighting is important in reading areas, the kitchen, hallways and bathrooms.Stairs. Keep them clutter free, brightly lit and have handrails- on both sides; reduce clutter everywhere. Electrical cords. Place all lamps and appliances close to walls so that electrical cords don’t’ lay in traffic areas. Bathroom. Put in raised toilet seats and grab bars. Use a textured bathmat or strips in tubs and shower stalls. Lower water temperature. To avoid the possibility of scalding. Shelves. Place items on shelves low enough for them to be

reached easily- food, dishes or books.Furniture. Remove low furniture from traffic areas. Place chairs closer together to make conversation easier for the hard of hear-ing. Ease getting in and out of low cushioned chairs and sofas and raise the height by placing a pillow or folded blanket under the cushions. This fall Carol Hall and her partner, Dr. BJ Hawkins, are launching Hall & Hawkins- Caring Consultants for Seniors

Keeping Your Senior Parents Safe In Their Homes by Carol Hall

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Let’s imagine your home is looking a little rough around the edges and you’ve begun an action plan to fix

it up. Someone knocks on your door and says, “Surprise! I have $1,000,000 to fix up your house.” “GREAT!” you think. But after the initial excitement dies down, and being some-what savvy you ask...”What’s the catch?” As they push you out of the way and start marching into your home, they reply, “Oh no biggie. You won’t need to bother your pretty little head. We’ll be making all the decisions for you.” Councilman Wesson has begun his ‘beautification’ of the Washington Cor-ridor with his eye on Pico, next.

A representative from Councilman Wes-son’s office, Council District 10 (CD10) told Allan Dicastro, President of Mid City Neighborhood Council (MINC) that a big “surprise” was coming their way. “Uh, oh,” thought Allan and replied, “We don’t like surprises. We want to partner with CD10. That is what we are supposed to be doing. I don’t understand why you (CD10) refuse to do this.”Sure enough the community woke up one morning to an army of forbidding iron Tree Cages surrounding every slender tree along Washington from Normandy to Fairfax. One after the other, “Wash-ington Boulevard” emblazoned on all 4 sides just in case you forgot what street you were on as you traveled the few feet between the cages. According to emails that poured into MINC, you could sum up the overall community response with one word...‘Overkill!’. The next word? “Ugh”. As another member from United Neighbor-hoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) put it…”Why weren’t we consulted?” Local Neighborhood Councils set up for the express purpose of creating direct em-powerment of communities by City Hall, were ignored despite repeated requests to become involved. Councilman Wesson was given a golden opportunity to work with the community on a fairly obvious, benign project that would have generated enor-

mous goodwill between the Council Office and the community. For some inexplicable reason he chose to turn his back on it and blew the opportunity.

To make matters worse, the idea for trash cans that matched already exist-ing ones and tree grates, originated as a MINC project and they had the funds to pay for it. According to my sources, Coun-cilman Wesson attended a MINC meeting where plans for this project were well un-derway and he promised to fund the entire effort. But as time went on MINC realized that the Council Office had “hijacked” the project and were cutting the Neighborhood Councils out of any decision making pro-cess. In fact one email forwarded to The Neighborhood News from another source claims…”He wrote me and said this was his project and that he would do whatever he wanted...thus blatantly disregarding the community. He cut us out of all communi-cation on any of it.”MINC had successfully begun the re-sponsible task of outreaching and finding businesses willing to empty the trashcans for free. When CD10 took over the effort, the cash strapped city had to pay to have them emptied. But the once a week the city was willing to pay for, has proven expensive and inadequate. When CD10 went to the Neigh-borhood Councils to ask for help in con-vincing local businesses to assist, they were understandably met with a cold shoulder.

It appears as if Councilman Wesson is exhibiting a tendency to give the com-munity what he thinks it wants or needs or what he wants the community to have (movies, presents, gates, etc.) but not nec-essarily what they actually want and need. The Neighborhood News has been told thatrepeated requests to fix trees that are tearing up sidewalks and need trimming along Adams has been ignored. Bump-ing along the beat up streets of Wash-ington while looking at all the money ($1,000,000) spent on something the community is having a difficulty time swallowing, is an unpleasant experience.

So the question is, who is CD10 trying to impress? Why would they turn their back on the community? It makes no sense. If the rumor that Councilman Wesson’s ambi-tion to become Mayor is true, than perhaps he is making decisions he believes will look good to some larger, future audience. But who knows? One can only speculate. Phone calls and emails to CD10 with re-quests to clarify who oversaw the project and why was United Neighborhood Coun-cil’s involvement denied, have gone unan-swered. So much for transparency.

The tree plantings along Washington Boulevard happened through the separate efforts of UNNC and MINC. Resident signatures were gathered and donations of the trees secured, creating a beautification project generated and sup-ported by a community proud of its efforts. The heavy handed imposition of tree cages by CD10 obscures the natural elegance of the trees and comes off as a graffiti tag, marking territory. It could easily be read as nothing more than a false advertisement for Councilman Wesson’s “interest” in the community. If he was genuinely inter-ested…why would he ignore the Coun-cils who were set up to partner with his office about their community? Why did he not approach them with a genuine and sincere desire to find out what the com-munity really wanted, ask what he could do to help, listen when they told him and make an effort to be of service, rather than impose his decisions on the community? Currently stakeholders residing in the Pico Neighborhood Council area are organiz-ing to try to stop the tree cages from being placed in their community. The Neighbor-hood News will stay on top of that story.

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EYE ON WESSON“I’m The Decider.”

EDITORIAL

- Dianne V. Lawrence

Full trash cans can languish for a week

HARVARD HEIGHTSDEVELOPMENTPresentation by Mee Semcken of Lee Con-sulting on the Washington Square Devel-opment project. This is the 8-acre site on the SW corner of Washington and 10th Avenue which will be redeveloped over the next 2-3 years. Mee said that they hope to have a dialogue with us a few more times, keeping us apprised of their prog-ress and plans. Meanwhile, they are put-ting together a draft EIR (Environmental Impact Report) to submit to the city with hopes to get it to the planning commis-sion by the end of this year. They plan to submit 2 options with full analysis. There are a number of traffic mitigations issues (such as cut-through traffic and parking) on the table and the developers are work-ing with CD10 and DOT to address them.

Steve Wallis

AVENUES NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH ASSOCIATION

ILLEGAL HALF WAY HOUSEWe are very concerned about a landlord that has been illegally using her invest-ment property in our area to house ex-criminals including a sex offender. The block, as well as local community mem-bers have put together a letter with sig-natures to send to her as well as the Pros-ecuting Attorney (Capri Maddox), our Senior Lead Officer, and Councilman’s Herb Wesson’s office to make them aware of this violation and “illegal dumping”. DEVELOPMENTThe 8th Ave Project was submitted to the city in December of 2008. The plans called for 61 low income units proportioned as follows: 25 three bedroom units and 18 units with two bedrooms and 18 units with one bedroom. There are also two ad-ditional management units. This is a to-tal of 63 units. There would be one floor for commercial use and three floors for residential use. This proposal requires a number of changes in the current zoning.In May, 2009 the developer and CD 10 both notified the community that the de-velopment would now be for commercial

use and senior housing with 65 senior units. The developer was exploring options with the city to try to obtain the code changes necessary to build this project on this site.

Todd Hunter, Myrna Allen

WEST ADAMS HEIGHTS SUGAR HILL

END OF SUMMER BLOCK PARTY! On AUGUST 15th, from 3 pm to 7 pm, come join your neighbors in the church parking lot at the end of Hobart Avenue. Bring pot luck to add to the feast! There will be lots of activities for the youngsters and a good time to be had by all!WONDERFUL NEWS We have two homes in our neighborhood that have been nominated for historic monument status. This is another step to-wards preserving the unique character of our area. Also, the LaSalle Block Club has received funds from the United Neighbor-hoods Neighborhood Council (UNNC) that will help with our current neighborhood beautification project: designing a monu-ment and landscaping for the triangle at the intersection of LaSalle and Washington.

Jacki Morey

ALSACE BLOCK CLUB OPEN HOUSEWe will be attending the LAPD Wilshire Community Police Sta-tion & West Traffic Division OPEN HOUSE 2009 (See ntoice on next page),

Joy Williams, President

ANGELUS VISTA DEVELOPMENTMee Semcken of Lee Consulting gave a presentation and updated the AVNA on the Washington Square Development project located on the South West Cor-ner of Washington and 10th Ave. The proposed project is a mixed usage de-velopment with a combination of shops and residential units. Lee Consulting is working closely with neighborhood groups to make sure our voices are heard and are planning several more presentations as the project moves forward. Their next step is compiling an Environment Impact Report which will take into account a number of things including the impact of more traffic in the neighborhood. The redevelopment project will take 2 to 3 years to complete.For more information please email Mason

at mason@unnc.org All residence and stakeholders in our community are wel-come and encouraged to attend meetings.

Mason Bendewald

WESTERN HEIGHTS The new by-laws require residents to sign up for the Association. The drive to gather members has been put on hold. Permits for permanent street barriers (to replace cur-rent temporary barriers) are still under re-view. Council Office has been made aware, by the city agencies, of the irregularities and unusual cirumstance of the proce-dures (permits never renewed according to law, requirements not met, etc). A 2nd petition from the community of over 142 names supporting a partial barrier instead of a gate, generated by resident and LAFD vounteer emergency responder Krishna McCain, has been submitted to Councilman Wesson. No response. Dianne Lawrence

WEST ADAMS AVENUES FUN We had a very successful 4th of July party for the Avenues’ residents only. We celebrated in the street and had the party catered. We had a neighbor DJ, we had games, activities and prizes. A lot of fun and sponsored by WAAA.JAZZ ON THE AVENUES. This event is Labor Day Sunday, Sept. 6, from 7:00 PM until 11:00 PM. The location is 2500 block of 7th Avenue. Everyone in-vited, it is free. Bring a picnic or money to buy food, lounge chairs or blankets, fold-ing tables etc. We close off the entire street and enjoy the entertainment and each other.

Evangela Anderson

COUNTRY CLUB PARKMost of the heavy lifting has been done. Now we’re waiting for the City of Los An-geles to add Country Club Park to its cur-rent list of 24 Historic Preservation Over-lay Zones (HPOZ). The Country Club Park HPOZ is poised to be established by the Los Angeles City Council in the next few months.CCP resident Teresa Beaudet—another neighbor with deeply established roots in the community, has been appointed a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tom Smith

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PEACE AWARENESS LABYRINTH & GARDENS

FREE Workshopsdonations welcome3500 W. Adams Blvd.

West of Arlington222.peacelabyrinth.org

registrar@peacelabyrinth.orgcontact Judy 323.737.4055 ext 1137

MONDAYSSACRED TONES WORKSHOP7:30-8:30 p.m.THURSDAY AUG 6 & SEPT 3SOUL DANCE 730-9:00 p.m.FRIDAYS 7:30-9:00 p.m.Video Presentation, John-Roger, Founder of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness shares the teachings of the Spiritual HeartEVERY SUNDAYOPEN TOURS, 12-4 p.m.LABYRINTH & GARDENSSUNDAY, AUG 9Abundance and Prosperity Workshop2-5 p.m.Old Fashioned Barbeque 5 p.m. $12.00SATURDAY, AUG 29Listening to the Loving Spiritual Spa Day10 a.m.-4 p.m. Guest Speaker,;John Morton DSSWorkshop free, brunch $15.00Gardens closed Saturdays and Mon-days except when an event is sched-uled.

WASHINGTON IRVING LIBRARY

4117 W. Washington Blvd323-734-6303

SATURDAY ADULT ART CLASSES with Lady Gardner (Materials supplied by instructor. No experience necessary.)August 1, 1:00 - 3:00 Visioning with Lady Gardner (Last Class).August 8, 15, 22, 29 11:00 - 12:30 Beginning Creative ArtsAugust 8, 15, 22, 29 1:00 - 3:00 Creative Journaling Expressive ArtsSeptember 12 1:00 - 4:00

Redefining Pillowtalk SymposiumWednesdays, September 16, 23, 30 6:30-7:30 Weight Loss & Nutrition with AyannaTEENSSummer Reading Club. Cool Ways to Get Involved @ the Library. Come in to Sign Up or Sign Up Online.Tuesday, August 25 4:00 pm Create Your Own Sock PuppetCHILDRENMondays, 11:00 Thursdays, 4:00 PreSchool Storytime Summer Reading Club SPECIAL EvENTS Thursday, August 13, 4:00 Hawaiian Isles StorytimeThursday, August 20, 4:00 Butterfly KaleidoscopesSeptember, Thursdays 4:00 Family Storytime

ATOMIC CAFE5001 W. Washington 90016

323.935.6789TUES. & THURS 6pm

GAME NIGHT! Cards, board games, chess etc

Bring your own or use ours1st & 3rd SUNDAYS 8pm

OPEN MIKE (Poetry etc)SPEED CONNECT (DATING

OR FRIENDS) CALL FOR TIMES

SOUTH SEAS HOUSE 2301 West 24th Street

323.373.9483ONCE A MONTH

“FEED THE COMMUNITY FRIDAY”

Bar-b-que for the people in our programs and the community. First 50 people will receive a free meal.Please check bulletin board for dates .

SUMMER CAMP$75 for regular care 9:00am – 4:00pm$85 for extended care 7:30am – 6:00pmIncludes two field trips a weekAUGUST 12TH MOMMIE AND

CHILD INTERACTIVE CLASS featuring, music, dance, and home made instruments to create a happy, peaceful, bonding experience with mommie and child

CHILDREN SING TOGETHERSpecial demonstration class on august 12th 9am Benny H. Potter ParkSign up at South Seas House beginning

August 3rd 2009After School Program Starts August 31, 2009 Pick-ups from 24th Street Elemen-tary School and Mid City Magnet$75 a month

THE WILSHIRE POLICE STATION OPEN HOUSESunday, August 16, 2009.

It will be held in the rear parking lot of the Wilshire Station. The event will be from 12 – 4 p.m.. See what a police station is all about, and interact with officers to build stronger relations. We will have displays from various Department entities, as well as community groups, food, live entertain-ment, tours of the station (including the jail) and games for the kids. Theme: “Emergency Preparedness” We will feature the Los Angeles County Fire Department Earthquake Simulator as well as display booths from Los Angeles City Fire Department, Hatzolah, and local hospitals.

POLICE REPORTIt has been reported that a male Hispan-ic, approximately 16-17 years of age, re-cently robbed a younger kid at the corner of Wilton and Pico. The perpetrator was described as having shoulder length hair with a blonde stripe and riding a skate-board. Please call Officer Muy if you see anyone fitting that description.

Near us, particularly on Olympic and by Los Angeles High, there has been a large increase in car break-ins and home burglar-ies. There have also been reports of indi-viduals with shopping carts breaking into cars and stealing GPS systems, IPods and cell phones on order.

South of Washington, where the streets are a little darker, there have been a lot of stolen cars dumped off. If you notice cars on your street that have been there a while, particularly with broken windows, please email the license # and type of car to Of-fice Muy or Wendy and DOT so they can check on the registration.

Officer Slo Muy1130 S. VermontLos Angeles, CA 90006213-382-9102

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Residents near the stretch of Pico Avenue between La Brea and Fairfax Avenues are lucky in-

deed! A number of great new businesses have flung open their doors, and now more than ever - it’s summer after all! The time is right to ditch the car keys, put on your cutest pair of summer sandals, and take a leisurely stroll down the corridor to savor the new neighborhood delights that have practically come to your front door. Handmade specialty candles and natu-ral bath and beauty products, fresh baked bread and party pastries, vegetarian lunch, soul food brunch or a Mexicali taco treat.Yes, and yum! Home accents with an in-ternational cultural flair? Of course, sí and ouí! Allow yourself to sink into that cush-iony couch, try on that bangle, spritz on some cool and fragrant hydrating mist. Don’t be afraid to play a little dress up, too. That suave-y Stetson or cap that tilts just so, the just-right T-shirt to pair with those new jeans you just bought, or maybe, just maybe you’ve finally worked up the nerve to get that cute little tattoo you’ve been wanting forever – it’s all on the corridor, waiting for you.

The Westside Pico Corridor Offers up a Feast for the Body,

Mind and Soul

economies, work necessities, carpooling schedules and artistic mediums, Myles has managed to hone in on her craft as a mixed media and installation artist. Rosalyn discovered an interest in theatre and dance while attending Mills College and subsequently went on to California College of Arts and Crafts for graduate school in fine art. During this time an accident left her with a broken jaw wired shut for 2 months, forcing Myles to ask herself “What am I doing with my life?” Her need to communicate resulted in an abundance of artistic work and the commitment catapulted Myles into the serious artist she has become. Through photography, Photoshop, collage, found objects, soft sculpture, painting, in-stallation, accumulated props and set dressing taken from her days as a set decorator, she creates vignettes and snapshots of life’s scenes. These evocative and impressionistic set-tings provide a penetrating mirror and impression into her world and its characters. No stone goes unturned as politics, families and race are woven into the pieces sometimes with direct punch and more often with great subtlety. One such piece, an installation for a 2003 show at The Armory, was a vintage silver aluminum trailer set in a backyard in Watts, inspired by a neighbor. This particular installation incorporated a broad range of ordinary and unremarkable materials, conjuring ideas, images and flavors that threw the viewer into a virtual reality. Although Roaslyn Myles most recent work was in a group show in conjunction with “Over Educated Minority Artists” at The Gallery at Mama’s Hot Tamales Café, that show sadly will be closing as The Neighborhood News comes off the press.email theneighborhoodnews.com for contact info

Rosalyn MylesBy Carla Weber

At the very western edge of the Washington Corridor, Rosalyn Myles juggles her many selves and many lives. As any single mom will tell you, it’s all in

a days work. Constantly navigating fluctuating interests;

by De’Lois Jacobs

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BOYCOT RINGLING BROTHERSTHE SADDEST CIRCUS ON EARTH

Routine abuse towards their Elephants. Get the facts:http://www.circuses.com/introduction.asp

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PRONTO PIZZA!

2190 W. Washington Blvds.e. corner of Western

Holy Cow! Where has Pronto Piz-za been all of my life? Recession-proof family dinner!

Don’t let the $5 for a large pizza price tag fool you into thinking this is the typical nasty cardboard pizza with tasteless sauce or wilted toppings that is served on all of the other corners in the neighborhood. We ordered a veggie pizza and hung out talking to Derek, the owner, and in just minutes, were presented with a big fragrant box, weighed down with more pizza than we could shovel in for dinner.The mushrooms, peppers, onions, olives and tomatoes were bursting with freshness. The cheese was deli-cious, but the crust blew me away! Beautiful chewiness with light crustyedges and a soft interior. This is what real dough made into real pizza is meant to be. We tried to be virtuous, but this pie made me want to wolf down the whole thing! You can go crazy at Pronto, add garlic sauce, meat, and even nibble on cheese bread or chicken wings while you’re waiting. If you have lots of mouths to feed, you can’t beat Pronto for savings and taste! If you don’t want to hang for a few min-utes, call ahead and swing in to grab the best pizza in L.A., like the hungry locals were doing when I was there last night.

See you there!

Ivy

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QUOTE OF THE MONTHThe most important political office is that of private citizen. -Louis Brandeis, lawyer, judge, and writer (1856-1941)

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The Neighborhood News read by 8,000 - 12,000 residents in the above borders. Now online as well.

The BEST way to let this Community know you exist.Ad Rates that keep the small business in mind. FOR INFO EMAIL:

theneighborhoodnews@yahoo.com or call 323-871-8580