DEL REY HOMEOWNERS & NEIGHBORS ASSOCIATION
BOARD MEETING OF JUNE 4, 2007

Italicized remarks are post-meeting comments by the Recording Secretary.

Roll Call and Introduction of Guests: Janice Santos, Parliamentarian; Chris Nevil, President; George Gross, 1st VP and Webmaster; Elizabeth Pollock, Recording Secretary; Tobyann Mandel, Corresponding Secretary; Marlene Savage, Director; Aaron Bernardin, Director; Mary Anderson, Director and Newsletter Editor.
Guests: Drake Madison, Senior Lead Officer; Claudia Martin, Neighborhood Prosecutor, Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office; Veronica de la Cruz-Robles, School Safety Prosecutor; Nicole Velasquez, Council District 11 deputy; local residents Elizabeth Zamora, Nancee Inouye and Devin Santos; Realtors Sue Levitt, Drew Butler, Elizabeth Campos Layne and Renae Paonessa.

Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the May 7, 2007 board meeting were reviewed and approved.

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Michelle Rudo could not attend the meeting, but before the meeting, she circulated a Treasurer’s Report with the dues received and expenses paid during May 2007. This report was approved as submitted.

C.D. 11 Update: Nicole Velasquez reported that her duties in Mar Vista will be taken over by the former Mar Vista deputy (Len Nguyen), and that should give her more time to devote to Del Rey when she begins graduate school this fall.
The City of Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety has ordered Ilya Kleinman of Culver Stoner LLC, owner of the condominium project on Culver Blvd. between Inglewood Blvd. and Stoner Ave., to clean up the property by June 24. Specifically, he is to take down the plastic on the fences because graffiti is being spray-painted on the plastic.
Ilya Kleinman was on the June 4 agenda but did not attend the meeting. As of June 19, 2007, Pacific Graffiti Solutions reported to Michael Bonin, chief of staff for Councilman Bill Rosendahl, that PGS had gone to the property on four occasions, but without the owner’s permission, the graffiti cannot be cleaned. Therefore, as of June 19, the graffiti was still present.
The Villa Marina Garden Walk took place on Sunday, June 3. Each Villa in Villa Marina is built around an interior garden.
Councilman Rosendahl will speak at a June 5 town hall meeting regarding expansion of LAX.
The Argonaut of June 7, 2007, reported that the airport is considering moving the north runways so they will have more distance between them. One of the runways might be moved as much as 400 feet closer to the homes in Westchester/Playa del Rey.

Police/Crime Report/Pacific Division Update: The Basic Car 14A49 Advisory Council has resumed its monthly meetings with SLO Drake Madison (First Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Pacific Division). As a member of the DRNC Public Safety Committee, Mary Anderson had been attending and reporting to DRHNA and DRNC, but she is no longer on the committee, so a new person needs to attend. Would the new DRNC representative be willing to report to DRHNA as well?
SLO Madison covers Del Rey east of Centinela Ave., and SLO Heidi Llanes covers Del Rey west of Centinela Ave.. There has not been much crime, although there were several burglaries from motor vehicles near Sepulveda. SLO Madison urged people not to leave anything in a vehicle that might attract a criminal’s curiosity.
There were three crimes on Memorial Day weekend – two car burglaries and a business burglary on Mesmer Ave.. Pacific Division is working with Leonard Johnson, principal of Braddock Drive Elementary School on regulating traffic speeds near the school.
There will be a Community Cleanup on Saturday, June 9, 2007, starting at the police station (Culver Blvd. and Centinela Ave.) at 8 a.m., and the volunteers will work their way down Centinela.

Traffic Committee: Tabled.

Newsletter: Articles should be submitted by August. The DRNC is also planning to issue a newsletter in September.
DRHNA Director Marlene Savage is also the Outreach Coordinator for the DRNC. The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) has directed the DRNC to begin spending part of its budget on outreach. DRHNA and DRNC will need to coordinate in order to avoide duplicating our efforts.
Del Rey Day is scheduled for October 20 or 21, 2007.

General Meeting: The planning committee will meet before DRHNA’s July board meeting to discuss potential topics.

Membership: Tabled. Casey Anderson not present.

Website: Webmaster George Gross can post colorful event flyers to advise the neighborhood of coming events.

Del Rey Neighborhood Council: Next board meeting is June 14 at 7 p.m. at the Westchester community building.

Culver City Liaison: Marlene Savage attended the May 22, 2007, community meeting that discussed the redevelopment plans for the west side of Sepulveda Blvd. between Slauson Ave. and Sawtelle Blvd. (12.5 acres). About 100 people were there to discuss Culver City’s exclusive negotiating agreement with Champion Realty. Goal is to construct a five story, mixed use complex in a five year construction project that will have four phases. Bob Champion of Champion Realty is a Professor of Urban Design at U.S.C.. Culver City is opposed to the proposed height of the project.
There will be another meeting on Wednesday, June 27, 2007, at the El Marino School cafeteria.
A different developer is proposing construction of a 13 story building next to the Radisson Hotel on Centinela Ave.
After the meeting we learned that the Culver City Planning Division held a scoping meeting about the project on Wednesday, May 30, 2007. Centinela Development Partners proposes construction of a 13 story (approx 342,409 square feet) office tower and a nine level parking structure on the site of the Radisson Hotel’s surface parking lot. The parking structure would serve both the hotel and the office tower (1,243 parking spaces).
Written comments on the 5.63 acre project were due by 4 p.m. on June 11, 2007. Board members Casey Anderson and George Gross submitted a private letter and asked the board to also send a letter opposing the development of an office building of this size on Del Rey’s immediate southeastern border
The votes in favor of sending the letter were: Mary Anderson; Tobyann Mandel, Chris Nevil, George Gross, Casey Anderson, Wendy Averill. No other votes were received before the June 11 deadline. George Gross prepared the letter and sent it on DRHNA’s behalf.

Post Meeting Notices:
(1) On Wednesday, July 25, 2007, at 7 p.m. at the Council Chambers in Culver City’s City Hall (9770 Culver Blvd.) , there will be a Planning Division meeting to consider an application to change the zoning for 12402 Washington Place (corner of Centinela) from Commercial Neighborhood to Commercial General to construct a four story, 41,802 square feet building with ground floor retail and three stories of office, to subdivide the building into 30 commercial condominium units and to allow the use of tandem parking places. (Zoning Code Map Amendment P2007075, Tentative Tract Map P2007074, Site Plan Review P2007073, Administrative Use Permit P2007072.
(2) David Herbst of Archstone Smith would like us to help coordinate a community meeting regarding their proposed project on the former church property (5550 Grosvenor). The meeting might be in the third week of July.
(3) Culver City’s Planning Department served a notice of pending administrative decision concerning a proposed reduction of parking stall widths at 13372-13380 Washington Blvd., a commercial property across from Costco. The parking lot is in Culver City; the building itself is in Del Rey. The stalls would be reduced from 8’6” to 7’8” wide, with a decision to be made on or about June 26, 2007.
Post Meeting News:
Welk Real Estate has sold two parcels to Archstone-Smith: 8000 square feet at 4143 Glencoe Ave. and 96,840 square feet at 4170 Del Rey Ave.. As both these properties are in Del Rey, any residents of these developments will be potential DRHNA members.

School Safety Prosecutor Program: Veronica de la Cruz-Robles, School Prosecutor for Venice High School, said that funding for the program was restored because of the community support they received. The program will be expanded to include Roosevelt High School in the Hollenbeck Division and a second high school that has not yet been designated. De la Cruz-Robles leads the Westside Gang Task Force at Venice High School. On June 14, there will be a Venice High Summer Activities and Job Fair to show students that there are things to do during the summer.

Neighborhood Prosecutor: Claudia Martin wants people to report their community concerns to her, e.g. the house and boat at 11586 Mesmer Ave. (corner of McDonald) that appear to have been abandoned after the house was damaged by fire.
Community Concerns: Guest Elizabeth Zamora lives on Hammack St., and her parents and siblings also live in Del Rey. She is concerned about the many homeless people that jump the gate to the CalTrans service road by the Marina Freeway . Her SLO is Heidi Llanes, but SLO Madison will investigate and put some heat on the vagrants in the area. He said the police department must focus on one person at a time. If the person has a shopping cart, the police can approach.

Fourth of July: The residents of Juniette Street are concerned about the fireworks being set off by people in the alley between Juniette and the apartments on Jefferson Blvd.. Fire danger is the big issue, and last year, “the response was wanting,” according to M. Anderson. SLO Madison will tell his people that if they have spare time on July 4, they should drive through the area.
Trash at Culver Blvd. and Braddock Drive: It appears that the trash receptacles are not being picked up. Claudia Martin can look into this to determine who is responsible for the trash bins there.

New Map of DRHNA: Tabled.

Jonathon Neumann, DRNC’s Area A director, has provided us with a good map showing the boundaries of the DRNC’s districts. DRNC’s Area B includes the triangle bounded by Maxella on the north, Alla on the east, 90 freeway on the west/south.

Del Rey Identity: Four realtors who both live and represent properties in Del Rey were asked to opine on how Del Rey is perceived in the local residential real estate market: Sue Levitt with Coldwell Banker; Mr. Drew Butler with Innovative Realtors; Elizabeth Campos Layne with REMAX; Renae Paonessa, Keller Williams Realty.
Sue Levitt uses the “Del Rey” designation in all of her flyers, advertisements, internet listings. In the Multiple Listing Services, residences east of Mesmer Ave. are in Area 12, i.e. Mar Vista/Palms, but residences west of Mesmer Ave. are in Area 13, i.e. Marina del Rey. The MLS recently gave Playa Vista a separate designation. The realtors agreed that it will be difficult to get a separate designation for “Del Rey,” but it might be possible to get a “Palms/MarVista/Del Rey” designation. DRHNA should send a letter to the Combined Los Angeles Westside Board of Realtors to request a different MLS designation.
Sue Levitt said she has been fighting the Area 13 designation for Del Rey for more than a decade. The MLS fined her $200 for listing a Del Rey property in Area 12.
We should also ask the City of Los Angeles to post more “Del Rey” signs.
The home prices in Del Rey are the biggest attraction. It’s “the biggest value on the West Side.”
The presence of Mar Vista Gardens is perceived as a big negative, but its actual effect is insignificant. Slauson Avenue is more of a problem.
The school system is a negative factor, but buyers with children now factor in the cost of private schools when deciding whether to buy. One can check www.gradeschools.com for data about the local schools. Westchester Neighborhood School is a private school. Ocean is a charter school at Culver Ave./Braddock Drive.
The diversity of the area is not discussed as a factor because realtors must be careful not to comment on issues of religion, race, gender preference.
It benefits us to be next to Playa Vista. Del Rey is better for families that want a yard. Playa Vista residents do not have yard maintenance but must pay condominium fees. The lofts at Glencoe/Maxella are doing well.
Del Rey is in an ideal location with good freeway access and several shopping areas less than five miles away.
Sue Levitt has a “Welcome to Del Rey” package prepared by the Los Angeles Police Department, but it probably needs updating.

At 8:50 p.m., the guests and board member Aaron Bernardin left the meeting.

Del Rey Park Acquisition: Recording Secretary Elizabeth Pollock urged the board to make park acquisition a priority project for DRHNA. President Chris Nevil, who fought hard to have part of the former U.S. Postal Service property be set aside for a park, pointed out that the prerequisite for any project is to identify how the project can be funded. Before the July board meeting, Elizabeth Pollock will contact our Los Angeles County Supervisors (Yvonne Burke and Don Knabe) and Councilman Rosendahl’s office to determine who the best contact people will be to work on getting a park for Del Rey. Devin Santos suggested that Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, might be willing to contribute some funds. If we had the money, what land might be available? Playa Vista has set aside some land for a park near the Centinela/Mesmer Ave. intersection, but that land is still completely undeveloped. We do not know if the neighbors to the north of Grace Community Church have made any effort to organize in opposition for zoning variances that would permit high density development of that property.
Strategic Planning Meeting: DRHNA will hold a strategic planning meeting on Saturday, July 14, 2007, from approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Marlene Savage will inquire if we can use an office in the Westchester community building. The attendees will set priorities for DRHNA’s work during the next two years.

Due to calendar conflicts, this meeting will be postponed to August 2007.

Los Angeles Neighborhoods Initiative: Chris Nevil attended this year’s meeting, where there was discussion of how to regulate “dynamic advertising,” i.e. the billboards that change like giant video screens.

Scholarships: After the June 4 board meeting, we learned that Marina del Rey Middle School had three (3), rather than two (2) valedictorians this year. The board voted electronically to increase the DRHNA’s contribution to Three Hundred Dollars ($300). Lillian Jenkins arranged to purchase three $100 savings bonds, one for each valedictorian. In favor: Chris Nevil, George Gross, Marlene Savage, Wendy Averill, Elizabeth Pollock, Tobyann Mandel. Casey Anderson. Abstain: Mary Anderson.

NEXT MEETING: MONDAY, JULY 9, 2007

Change from July 2 approved by electronic vote – In favor: Mary Anderson, Chris Nevil, George Gross, Marlene Savage, Aaron Bernardin, Wendy Averill, Elizabeth Pollock, Tobyann Mandel.
Room reservation approved by Jim Akioka of the Venice Japanese Community Center.

ADJOURNMENT: 9:20 P.M.