Pledge
of Allegiance – Color guard from Venice Japanese Community Center
Boy Scout Troop 764. Thank you to Jim Akioka.
Opening
Remarks – President Chris Nevil.
Thanks to Marina Middle School’s principal (Eric Mata), Vice Principal
(Tracy Smith) for providing the location. Thanks to The Argonaut, The Daily
Breeze and The Pacific News for publicizing the meeting.
Members of the DRHNA Board and members of the DRNC were asked to stand and be
recognized.
Musical
Program - Students in the music magnet program at Marina Middle School
provided a mini-concert under the direction of Suzanne Jones. The chorus (in
performance dress), and three instrumentalists performed.
Daniel Hackney, Senior Policy Analyst, Environment, Office
of the Mayor
Keynote speaker Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will not be attending
this evening because he has been invited to speak at the funeral for Rosa Parks
tomorrow in Detroit, Michigan. He has agreed to reschedule for Tuesday, December
6, 2005. Location undetermined.
Councilman
Bill Rosendahl, 11th District
Elected May 17, 2005; Sworn in July 1, 2005. District goes from Imperial Blvd.
north to Mountain Gate and from the 405 freeway west to the ocean.
He is monitoring the following issues with special interest: (1) Playa Vista
and the recent court ruling that the Phase I environmental impact report did
not adequately address the methane contamination issues; (2) 12 intersections
where left turn controls have been requested; (3) extension of the Green Line
to LAX, construction of the Expo Line to Santa Monica, a mass transit leg down
Lincoln and extension of the subway under Wilshire Blvd. “Gridlock is one
of our biggest problems.”;(4) an impending settlement that would take a
regional approach to airport traffic issues; (5) monitoring of development so
that community will come first; (6) promoting Neighborhood Watch programs as
our first line of defense, although we are “well-served” by the L.A.
Police Department.
In response to questions:
(1) The U.S. Postal Service property is presently zoned light industrial and anyone who wants to change the zoning to residential “must deal with him.”
(2) Each Council District is allowed to resurface 4.6 miles of pavement per year. If one wants to resurface Wagner, one should speak with Kathryn Frengs; (3) There are now 9 miles more of bikeway at Ballona & Centinela;
(4)
Call Kathryn Frengs or Mark Antonio Grant (special projects deputy) for specific
questions. “I work for you.”
Police
Panel – Los Angeles Police Department West Bureau Chief Richard
Roupoli; Pacific Division Commanding Officer Captain Bill Williams, Pacific
Division Patrol Captain William Hayes.
Richard
Roupoli:
West Bureau serves one million people and has four divisions – Hollywood,
Wilshire, West Los Angeles and Pacific. It covers 212 square miles and employs
1200 police officers.
On the Westside, property crime is the primary problem. This type of crime is
usually traced to narcotics dealers, school truants and criminal homeless people.
He has set up groups of officers to target these three groups for enforcement
efforts, e.g. experts in drug recognition, a hotel detail. The officers are
to be proactive, to engage with the potential criminals. They are to keep track
of what happened to people who were arrested/convicted earlier in the year.
He strongly encourages participation in Neighborhood Watch programs.
There are 347 people going through the Police Academy right now, and it is hoped
that they will be used to augment the force. The gang units that were involved
in the Rampart scandal are now under a consent decree and must have better than
95% compliance with multiple criteria.
Captains Williams and Hayes are being extremely successful and are doing a stellar
job.
Captain
Williams: He is not thrilled with the new digital phone system at the
police station. If one tells the desk officer one’s street address, s/he
can identify if it is in Del Rey or elsewhere in zip codes 90230, 90066 or 90030.
There is coordination between the Culver City and Los Angeles police departments.
The bike path is being patrolled, and the police are working on outreach to
the homeless there. They are trying to get extra lighting from the city.
Call the Senior Lead Officer for your area if the leaf blower law is being disobeyed.
It is L.A.P.D. policy not to focus on an individual’s immigration status.
If a crime is committed, the police will advise the immigration authorities
if a suspect is illegal. It is a felony to return to the U.S. once one has been
deported.
There are three gang injunctions in place in Pacific Division and the Culver
City Boyz and two Oakwood gangs are active. MS 13 is more in the Hollywood area.
The police followup on all burglary reports, but category 1 investigations have
an identified suspect and evidence. In category 2, there is little or no information
about the perpetrator or the crime.
“We Need Your Help” – participation on the Community Policy Advisory
Board, increased block captainship, reserve officers to do work that will free
officers for patrol, email trees with daily crime reports.
For an emergency, call 911. Nonemergency, call 311. Community Relations: (310)
202-2890.
PACIFIC DIVISION PHONE NUMBERS CHANGED. FRONT DESK IS 202-4502.
Captain
Hayes: Came to Pacific Division in July 2005 and has reorganized the
patrol system so that there will be eight response cars (“A” cars)
working at any time. We now have two 12 hour watches, rather than three overlapping
watches. The response time is down from 7.1 minutes (July 2005) to 6.4 minutes
(early October 2005).
It is true that if a family member commits a crime, Mar Vista Gardens can evict
the entire family. However, there must be a criminal conviction of the tenant.
On Slauson Ave., the perpetrators came from outside of Pacific Division.
The LAPD is working with the school police on the theft of 39 computers from
Marina Middle School. The community is the “eyes and ears” for the
police, however.
Questions
from the Floor:
Whether the Marina Sound Wall can be continued is a state (CalTrans) issue.
Future of Playa Vista Phase I is in litigation. Being watched closely by the
mayor.
One can request that bulky items be picked up in the alley, not on the street.
One must ask a solid waste manager to come out and assess the location.
Per Kathryn Frengs, there were 80 developments already approved when Bill Rosendahl
took office. Mark Antonio Grant has been working with Bartell’s.
A traffic control device is needed to enable people to turn left from Redwood
onto Washington Blvd., especially with 168 lofts being built there.
A left turn pocket is needed at Culver Blvd. and the 90. The mayor “will
deal with it on December 6.”
The mayor has issued a directive that construction vehicles may not be parked
in traffic lanes from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m..
There is a bottleneck on Lincoln Blvd. at Jefferson because Edison had to remove
poles, and CalTrans didn’t pay the bill on time. Bill Rosendahl’s
office has been working to get things moving again. The Lincoln Blvd. work should
be done in 2007.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.