Neighborhood Council - notes from April 2012 meeting
Z
Neighborhood Council
Saturday,
April 21, 2012 -- 10 AM -- Ken Edwards Center
Meeting
Notes
Valerie
Griffin compiled the agenda. Albin Gielicz chaired the meeting. FOSP provided
the refreshments.
1) Parking at Ken Edwards Center – Restrictions on underground parking at KEC have changed.
2) Benjamin Steers – Ben, the Acting Administrator at Woodlawn Cemetery, grew up in Sunset Park, is currently on the Wilmont Board, and is the only municipal mortician in California. He spoke about the 74th Annual Memorial Day Observance at the cemetery on May 28th at 11 AM, which will include a DC-3 flyover. Ben also passed out brochures for the 26-acre Woodlawn Cemetery, Mortuary, & Mausoleum, which is owned by the City of Santa Monica and has served the community for more than 100 years.
3) Rachel Waugh – Rachel works in the City Manager's Office on the Seascape newsletter and website. She reviewed a 6-page hand-out with attendees about the city-recognized neighborhood groups, which she will email to Valerie to forward to us. Topics included the official city definition of a neighborhood group, the current boundaries, financial support (the annual membership appeal mailing and the annual half-match grant), the purpose of city support and expectations for the use of taxpayer funding, what city funding may not be used for (promoting activities involving political campaigns, candidate endorsements, or ballot measures), required documentation, the website – www.smgov.net/neighborhoods -- and Rachel’s contact information: 310-458-2274.
Comments included reference to the city’s 2010-2015 Consolidated Plan – Appendix C-3 showed that the 90401 zip code in downtown had the smallest number of respondents to the survey (9) although about 3,400 people live in the downtown area. The upcoming Downtown Specific Plan makes it especially important for downtown residents to have a voice at this time. Wilmont will temporarily act as a umbrella organization for the adjacent downtown area and has created a “Downtown Extra” newsletter, an updated neighborhood boundary map, and a downtown page on their website at www.wilmont.org/downtown -- Wilmont will also request funding from Downtown, Inc. to send a mailer to downtown residents. Another suggestion was for neighborhood organizations to assign liaisons to adjacent neighborhood organizations.
4) Saving the Downtown Post Office – Susan Reichmann spoke about her efforts to save the Main Post Office on 5th Street. Although there’s currently a nationwide moratorium on “closing” post offices, operations are being “re-located” to the Post Office Annex on 7th St. south of Colorado, this despite the fact the Main Post Office has 2,000 post office boxes and $3 million in annual revenue. 112 post offices in California are scheduled to be closed. The budget problem is a result of Congress deciding that the USPS should pre-pay its pension obligations for the next 75 years. Those interested in saving the Downtown Post Office should contact Boxer, Feinstein, and Waxman by U.S. Mail before May 15th. (Google “Senator Boxer + contact” to find a mailing address.) Additional information, including archival photographs from the opening of the Post Office in 1938, is posted at www.facebook.com/SaveTheSantaMonicaMainPostOffice.
5) Neighborhood Updates
a) Wilmont – In additional to working to help the downtown residents, Wilmont participated in the Buy Local event this month, which was very successful.
b) OPA – Current activities in Ocean Park include monitoring progress on the Ocean Park Boulevard "Green Street" Project, creating a Lincoln Blvd. Committee, as Caltrans is transferring authority for Lincoln south of the I-10 freeway to the City (interested FOSP members will join the OPA Board at its May 7th meeting to discuss this issue – PNA members might also be interested), planning for the 4th of July Main Street Parade (volunteers needed), and an upcoming mixer at Brock & Mortar in the Edgemar Center on April 26th at 5 PM.
c) FOSP – The April newsletter for passed out and included:
- Airport Update (April 23rd Airport Commission “Airport Visioning” workshop, May 8th City Council “Airport Visioning” agenda item, and CASMAT online survey results posted at www.casmat.org),
- Lincoln Blvd. Update (the future of Lincoln Blvd., a community meeting regarding Common Ground on April 25th, 7 PM, at Olympic High School, and a progress report on the planned Walgreens at Lincoln and OPB).
The Common Ground Board President recently told FOSP that CG will not commit to never bringing the homeless youth program to 2401 Lincoln, will not commit to never having a free needle exchange program at 2401 Lincoln, will not commit to limiting hours of operation, and that if FOSP does not want to sign a Good Neighbor Agreement with those stipulations, that CG will find other residents who don’t live near 2401 Lincoln to sign the GNA. Human Services Manager Julie Rusk confirmed by email that her department approves of these actions.
- Development Update -- upcoming hearing dates and includes information about large development projects in the Bergamot Area (Agensys, Inc., Bergamot Transit Village, Paseo Nebraska, SMC Academy of Entertainment and Technology, 2834 Colorado Creative Studio Project, Roberts Business Center, and - Village Trailer Park) which seem to add up to more than 2 million sq ft of development and more than 20,000 additional daily car trips.
- Village Trailer Park Update -- This includes the URL for a documentary entitled "Village Trailer Park: An Uncertain Future" which is posted at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL93740BB55F6D6650
d) Mid-City Neighbors – MCN held its Annual Meeting, elected Board members, and set up committees. They are still working on the complicated paperwork required to set up a non-profit organization, since the paperwork from the previous iteration of the organization is missing. Meeting space is becoming problematic as the time slot available at the Friends Meeting House conflicts with the SMRR Steering Committee monthly meeting, and the Unitarian Church requires them to carry liability insurance, which they can’t afford. A 99% group is meeting on Sundays at Village Trailer Park.
e) NOMA – The organization has 9 newly elected Board members, the monthly meetings have been well-attended, and recent speakers have included Jory Phillips, who is working on the zoning ordinance update, and SMC Trustee Susan Aminoff. The Board continues to work on establishing priorities and setting up committees.
f) PNA – At the last PNA meeting, topics included the pepper spray incident at SMC, the hotel workers union, and the removal of some personal belongings from the Virginia Avenue Park Teen Center that caused hard feelings. The Virginia Park Advisory Board will discuss the last incident, which seems to have been part of a city-wide effort to remove personal belongings from city property, based on staff-created policy, not Council policy.
A request was made for an SMC rep to speak to the Neighborhood Council about recently-announced plans for building a new theater at the Performing Arts Campus. Greg Brown, Facilities Director, was suggested as a possible speaker.
6) Planning & Community Development meeting – Neighborhood organization reps met with Planning Director David Martin on April 12th regarding the tight schedule of Planning Commission hearings on development agreements, and the problem of approving development agreements in the Bergamot Area before the Bergamot Area Plan is completed. Mr. Martin subsequently issued a revised schedule of meetings and agenda items.
The LUCE states that the Bergamot Transit Village can be approved after the Draft Bergamot Area Plan is approved, but not the Village Trailer Park or any other projects in that area. A version of the LUCE with bookmarks has been created and posted on the Wilmont website. On a related topic, one attendee asked whether the “Friends of the Miramar” are immediate neighbors of the project, and whether the affordable units to be constructed will be made available to hotel employees.
7) Santa Monica Festival on May 19th – Apparently only neighborhood organizations that participated last year were invited to participate this year. (There’s a new CARS coordinator.) FOSP has reserved a booth for $150 plus a security deposit. Valerie Griffin will try to reserve a booth for the other organizations to share, although the reservation deadline has passed.
8) 2nd Annual Walk for Warriors – Memorial Day, May 28th – 8 AM 5K run, 9 AM 5K walk, starting at the West Los Angeles VA Campus, 11303 Wilshire Blvd., VA Building 116 – www.WalkforWarriors.org -- Sponsored by New Directions, Inc. and the West Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
9) SMC tuition change – The State Attorney General and the California Community College Chancellor have both stated that the two-tier tuition system proposed by SMC would not be legal.
10) Village Trailer Park -- The elected chair of the Village Trailer Park residents’ organization, Catherine Eldridge, noted that Brenda Barnes is not an elected VTP leader, but rather self-selected. The Planning Commission hearing on the VTP Development Agreement has been delayed until May 23rd. The owner rep, Marc Luzzatto, met with residents recently and announced a revised project, different from what’s in the EIR. He wants residents out of VTP by the end of June and wants the DA fast-tracked to the City Council in June or July. Residents have been told that home ownership options are no longer available to them at Mountain View Mobile Home Park. A member of the city’s Relocation Appeals Board stated that residents have to be offered 3 affordable options, and at an April 19th meeting of the Board, they recommended to the City Council that $9.2 million in Redevelopment Agency funds for Mountain View be approved. Catherine stated that California Mobile Home Residency laws protect the VTP residents.
11) Services and Transportation Options for Seniors – April 24th City Council agenda item 8-A – This will include discussion of Dial-a-Ride, Access, and use of taxis. Information was emailed to City Council and to NC members about similar programs in Culver City and West Hollywood that may work better for seniors and the disabled. The proposed closure of the Senior Recreation Center on Ocean Avenue and re-location of those programs to the Ken Edwards Center was also discussed. The proposal seems to be motivated by consideration of WISE and Healthy Aging staffing and convenience, not what’s best for seniors.
12) Hotels and the living wage – The Miramar, Loew’s, and Sheraton hotels pay employees $15 per hour with benefits. The recently approved development agreement for the new hotel at 710 Wilshire stipulated only $12.54 without benefits, and $11.29 with benefits (which is 25% lower than the other 3 hotels).
13) Vacation rentals – Although about 108 vacation rentals currently are listed online for Santa Monica, rentals for less than 30 days have been illegal in Santa Monica for about 30 years.
Attendees were pleasantly surprised when the meeting adjourned at 12:45, right on schedule.