Issues Affecting Del Rey

As a community we face more issues that we can address.  This means that we have to set priorities.  Those priorities are generally determined at the monthly meetings of the Board to which all members are invited and welcomed.  These meetings occur on the first Monday of every month in Room 3 of the Japanese Community Center on Braddock Drive just west of Centinela Ave.  We would love to see you there.

You can get a sense of the issues currently before us by looking at the meeting agendas posted on this website.  The minutes will give you a sense of what is being done currently.  We welcome your input as well and we look forward to hearing from you, meeting you, and getting to know you better.

Below you will find a highly detailed recitation of issue to which we might give attention, but we seek your input as to how our energies should be directed.  Hence, the following is an issues survey that we would appreciate your taking the time to complete and to return to us.

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DEL REY HOMEOWNERS AND NEIGHBORS ASSOCIATION

COMMUNITY ISSUES SURVEY 2003

Dear Del Rey community resident:

For your Association to be effective, our focus needs to be on the issues you care about most. We are asking you to study the list below and check off the three (3) items you feel most strongly about.

There is also a blank space at the bottom, which you may use to add an issue that is not listed here. If you write one on, please count it as one of your three choices.

NAME:___________________________________________________________

______ Apathy in our community

______ City services (i.e. sanitation, DWP, street maintenance)

______ Community aesthetics and beautification

______ Community planning

______ Crime

______ Diversity – communication between our different cultures

______ Health care facilities serving the community

______ Local schools

______ Marina Freeway sound walls

______ Neighborhood Watch and emergency preparedness

______ Parks and play space

______ Public transportation in our area

______ Traffic conditions on local freeways

______ Traffic conditions on local streets

______ Traffic enforcement

______ ___________________________________________________

DRH&NA – Post Office Box 661450 – Los Angeles, Ca. 90066

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The following is an extensive list of issues that are of concern to our community and our neighborhood.  We invite your input, either through this website or otherwise, to help us define other issues of concern and to shape our response to, and to define the priority of,  the issues before us.  These are just questions, as they are listed here, and the questions should not be interpreted as implying answers.  Our purpose is to foster response and discussion that can lead to consensus and action.

• Crime: what is our crime rate?  what are the sources of crime in our area?  what can we best do to counter crime?  what is the police presence in our area?  how can we best support the police in preventing crime or removing criminals from our streets when we do not succeed in preventing crime? How are overlapping police jurisdictions managed? How does the Los Angeles Police Department coordinate coverage for Del Rey with the Culver City Police?

• Enforcement: is enforcement, traffic and otherwise, uniformly and justly applied throughout our community?  where are there photo, or other electronic, enforcement devices?  what steps are taken to ensure that these devices are flawless in their enforcement actions?  is the judicial review process adequate, i.e. are any municipal judges biased toward a finding of guilty without an adequate judicial inquiry?  is enforcement and its adjudication uniformly applied across all jurisdictions in our immediate area and region?

• Traffic: what is CalTrans plan for our area?  what are the plans of other traffic planning agencies involved in our area?  what agencies address traffic flow and control through, into and out of our area?  are there alternatives that might better meet the traffic challenge? how can we work with neighboring groups to influence traffic mitigation for our area and region?  how effective is rapid transit in mitigating traffic?  what is our position as a community concerning rapid transit service to Del Rey?  are the needs of Del Rey adequately recognized in the traffic planning process, CalTrans and other?  how can we best ensure that our needs are reasonably met?

• LAX Airport: does the airport planning process involve the interests of the Del Rey community or our neighbors?  how are we represented in the planning process?  do we have adequate influence over the planning process?  is the plan suited to travelers?  does the plan optimize the use of the airport?  is the plan innovative or merely a copycat plan based on other airports, e.g. Denver or Atlanta?  are their other options that have not been publicly discussed which might better meet the future transportation needs of Los Angeles in general and the Westside in particular?  has planning adequately considered the facilities and capabilities that will be needed in the event of a disaster or terrorist attack?  how is our Del Rey community affected by the security planning at the airport, e.g. the blocking of access to the Airport Urgent Care center by Del Rey residents after 9-11?

• Municipal Services:  are we satisfied with the level of city services in our community?  are infrastructure services adequate in the areas of water supply (quantity and quality), sewage treatment, trash removal, storm and fire abatement and response, and emergency response to local or general emergencies including flood, earthquake, fire, terrorist attack, etc.?  how do services for Del Rey compare with those of other adjoining or like-situated municipalities? is it possible to have small city responsiveness in a large, departmentally-structured municipality? do we receive equal or better value for the taxes and fees we pay when compared with the value available in neighboring communities, notably Culver City which surrounds us on two sides? are taxes and fees configured to advance economic opportunities in our community or do they discourage economic growth?  is economic growth desirable for our area?

• Attractiveness:  are we satisfied with the maintenance and planting of public facilities in our area, e.g. the median strip on Culver Boulevard, the grounds of Mar Vista Gardens, or the power plant at Culver Boulevard and Centinela Avenue? do we have adequate parks and recreational areas and facilities in our area?  what is the status of the use of the playing field of Marina del Rey Junior High School for soccer?  what is the current status of the Little League baseball fields on the east side of Culver Boulevard south of the 90 freeway?

• Public Housing:  is it possible to reconfigure public housing in our area to make it a positive and attractive resource for all members of the community regardless of their economic circumstances?  could the existing residents be staged into new housing to allow reconstruction of the facility into a modern community center?  what steps would be needed to allow the residents to buy their units in condominium or cooperative ownership?  could the facility be reconfigured to support community recreation for all ages, and housing and recreation for the elderly, together with community-based healthcare for all income segments of the community?  does the political structure and control of public housing promote or inhibit its development in ways that could better transition residents into feeling that they are fully a part of the larger Del Rey community? 

• Diversity: do all members of our community feel that their views and their needs are represented?  how can we better forge a unified sense of community among the diverse groups that comprise our neighborhood?  what are the needs of homeowners, renters, and business owners, or of new immigrants, arrivistes from "Back East", and those born here, and how can those needs best be reconciled and harmonized?

• Healthcare: do we have the distribution of healthcare services needed to serve adequately all segments of our community?  what options are there for emergency medical needs?  is the community sufficiently prepared to cope with the demand for medical services that would follow from a disaster be it natural or terrorist-induced?  what agency is responsible for ensuring the health of our community?  are we satisfied that health needs have been adequately identified and addressed?

• Planning: does planning address the needs of the Del Rey community per se?  Does the Palms - Mar Vista - Del Rey Community Plan provide a sufficiently local focus on the needs of Del Rey?  Have the views of those in the Del Rey community been reflected in the plan as it concerns development in the Del Rey community?  are we satisfied with the plan as it now exists?  how can we most effectively provide input into the planning process? do developers' campaign contributions give them unwarranted access to the decision processes? can we work better with developers to make it unnecessary for them to appear to subvert the election process through campaign financing? what is the relative density created by mini-developments (e.g. the old GTE property on Lincoln Boulevard) vs. macro-developments (e.g. Playa Vista)?  are we satisfied that we are adequately able to influence the quality of development undertaken in our community by developers?

• Education: what are the challenges confronting local schools?  how can we best help improve the quality of education locally?  are there constraints on public educators that handicap them in optimizing the education of children?  how can we best support local public educators in meeting the challenge?  is there a sufficient stability of teachers and other educators locally for us to build relationships with them or are they subject to being moved to remote sections of the city?  are there legally available options, e.g. charter schools, that we might consider as a means to improve the quality of education and to better engage the students in learning? are there adequate college resources in our area?  are those resources open to all residents of our Del Rey community on a fair and equitable basis?

• Apathy: are those people who are not actively engaged with community groups apathetic because they are satisfied with the status quo, or are they disengaged because they feel that constructive change is not possible, or have they given up because they believe cynically that decisions are made for reasons other than the public interest, or do they avoid involvement because they are simply too busy?

• Communications:  are we adequately served by existing common carrier communication companies, i.e. PacBell, Verizon, DirecTV, Comcast, Adelphia, cellular services, etc.?  can we develop a wish-list of what our members and neighbors would like communications to be? do we have means to influence these companies or their regulators to improve communication services in our community? what benefits do we have from the franchise taxes that we pay monthly? how are the franchise revenues to the city disbursed?

• Cooperation:  can we improve our effectiveness by working more closely with other community groups and with neighboring communities on matters of common concern?  what steps can, or should, we take to improve our relations with others?  what is our relationship with the incipient Del Rey Neighborhood Council?  what matters is the Del Rey Neighborhood Council better able to address than are we?  Likewise for other councils, homeowner groups, chambers of commerce, and other de facto associations in the adjoining areas, including Venice, Westchester, Marina del Rey, and Culver City?