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NORTHWEST SAN PEDRO NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILMEETING MINUTESJanuary 13, 2003 at 6:30 PM, Peck ParkBoard Members in Attendance Julia Parker Craig Byrnes Shari Hill William Upchurch Ray Patricio Shannon Day David L. Rivera John Greenwood Emily Rochte Guillermo Villagran Michael Nizetich Joyce Fischer Board Members Absent Laura Hansen-Lara (excused) Diana Nave (excused) James Smith Steve Druskovich ITEMS OF DISCUSSION AND RESULTING ACTION1. Meeting called to order and roll call taken. 2. Minutes a. Revision approved to the minutes of November 18, 2002, at the Request of Bill Stein of the Port of Los Angeles, to clarify his statement regarding the Urban Land Institute. The revision added the following words in quotes: … the Harbor Commission has approved the “Waterfront Promenade” plan. b. Minutes of December 9 approved. 3. Report by the Department of Public Works - Tom Thomas, Superintendent, Bureau of Street Maintenance; David Mays, Executive Liaison to Neighborhood Councils; and Valerie Shaw, President of the Board of Public Works a. Street Repairs - Tom Thomas gave an overview of the Department and passed out a listing of contact phone numbers (attached to these minutes). Mr. Thomas also indicated that he would respond at the next meeting on the status of the NWSPNC requests for street and sidewalk repair. He stated that several of the request items were already scheduled to be accomplished this fiscal year (requests attached) b. Approach to Neighborhood Councils - Public Works Commission President, Valerie Shaw, stated that she was available to the neighborhood council to respond to their questions and concerns (phone: 213-978-0251). Ms. Shaw asked if she could come back to the NWSPNC and respond to specific issues. Only general statements were made at this meeting. Ms. Shaw also stated that the Department of Public Works has a three-step approach to neighborhood councils, listed below: i. Provide information. ii. Provide an overall assessment of the specific neighborhood council’s area within 90 days; including condition of streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure. (Report to be given at the March board meeting.) iii. Prioritize the work that needs to be done. c. Street Sweeping - President of NWSPNC, John Greenwood, asked about Street Sweeping. He stated that since signs are not posted indicating the days sweeping will occur, vehicles are parked at the curb and only the middle of the street is getting cleaned. The representative from Public Works stated that 70% of streets are not posted and that their Department is looking at scheduling sweeping and the related impact to other neighborhoods. John Greenwood volunteered the NWSPNC area to help with the Public Work’s proposed street sweeping pilot program. Tom Thomas stated he would get back to the Council with more information at the February meeting. d. Pot Holes – Tom Thomas also stated that Public Works has a 24hr turn-around time for filling pot holes. (Pot holes can also be reported to Councilwoman Hahn’s Office). e. Household Hazardous Waste Recycling Center – The opening of this center on Gaffey has been delayed pending the results of the Negative Declaration. The Department of Public Works will provide an update at the February meeting. 4. Department of Recreation and Parks (speaker: Gat Lum, Superintendent) a. Peck Park i. Restrooms - Department of Recreation and Parks is looking at adding a pre-fabricated, free standing restroom (by Viacom), as they are less expensive than building a permanent structure. Cost is approximately $275,000. Ms. Lum stated that the issues of 1) required advertisement on the restroom facility and 2) easement (there is no public right of way on Park property) have to be addressed. Ms. Lum said the Department is also considering turning the staff restroom into a public restroom. Board member Ray Patricio stated that the current single public restroom at Peck Park was locked when several of the board members went on a tour of the Park. Ms. Lum said she would look into it. ii. Canyon Clean Up – The Board was informed that the Department performs a canyon clean up once a month. Board members pointed out that there is a current homeless problem with one noted active homeless camp, including tent, and another abandoned camp that has left a lot of debris. The Board was told that the Department is required to notify homeless people that they have seven days to leave. The Department cannot immediately remove individuals. There was a noted difference between the results of the monthly cleanup as stated by Rec & Parks representatives and Board members Ray Patricio, David Rivera, and Shari Hill, who had toured the park just a few days prior. Board members stated there were a lot of abandoned shopping carts and waste receptacles in the deep canyon areas and considerable debris from the trees and plants that obviously had been there for a very long time. In an effort to better understand the maintenance that is performed by the Department of Recreation and Parks and give the Board an opportunity to point out the discrepancies in the condition of the Park, the Board will be scheduling a walk through with Juan Benitez, Park Maintenance Supervisor (548-7405), other representatives from the Department of Recreation and Parks, NWSPNC board members, and a representative from Councilwoman Hahn’s Office. iii. Funding - Gat Lum, Superintendent, Pacific Region, stated that there is insufficient funding to upgrade Peck Park and that to accomplish the items presented by the Park Advisory Board would cost approximately $200,000. NWSPNC Vice President, Craig Byrnes, asked Ms. Lum what efforts are being taken by the Department to obtain the needed funds. Ms. Lum stated that there might be funds available from Prop K but there is no money earmarked for the Park. Craig Byrnes stated that the City needs a funding plan and he, as the board’s representative, wanted to be kept apprised of what efforts the Department of Rec and Parks was making in this area. iv. Storm Drain at Summerland and Patton – There is sufficient water run off at this area to cause deterioration problems to the Park and street at this cul-de-sac. The Department of Rec and Parks will be looking at putting a storm drain in this location 5. Can Trans Property on John S. Gibson, near Channel (Speakers: Yunus Ghausi, Senior Transportation Engineer and Clarence Stubberfield Jr., Area IV Superintendent, Long Beach Maintenance Station) – This property is owned by Cal Trans and leased to an environmental company that has been dumping large mounds of debris on the fenced grounds. Per Cal Trans, this dumping was in violation of the lease. At the request of the NWSPNC, the assistance of Broc Coward of Assemblyman Lowenthal’s office, and the cooperation of Yunus Ghausi and Clarence Stubberfield of Cal Trans, the property will be cleared of all debris within approximately two weeks. Mr. Ghausi further stated that the property is no longer leased to the company who did the dumping. (Yunus Ghaus -213, 897-0560; Clarence Stubberfield – 323, 775-1320) 6. Update from Councilwoman Hahn’s Office (Speaker: Elise Swanson, Director of Community Development) a. Navy Property – In 1999 the City Council approved a plan for the former Navy property. Since that time several issues have arisen such as the preservation of the Blue Butterfly and a current lawsuit by a homeless transitional housing facility to obtain more Navy property for homeless purposes. The City’s goal is to provide a diverse, balanced occupation of the grounds keeping in mind the concerns of the community. It is up to the HUD to make this determination. Ms. Swanson stated that negotiations were currently going on with the homeless facility and the City’s lawyers and that if a settlement was not reached, the property could continue to remain abandoned for another six years. Councilwoman Hahn will be making a statement on January 25, 2002 as to the results of the negotiations. b. Cable TV Franchise Renewals – The Issues Committee of the NWSPNC are to notify the board of any issues to be presented during the renewals discussions. c. New Animal Shelter – Due to lack of time, a status update will be made at the February meeting. d. LAPD Commission decision on burglar alarm response. Commission voted to stop police response to unconfirmed burglar alarms, due to the high percentage of false alarms. They felt the police force could be better utilized by responding to actual crimes. This decision was made without notification to the neighborhood councils and community input. The City Council will be meeting on Tuesday to discuss this issue. Councilwoman Hahn’s Office is encouraging stakeholders to attend the meeting and let their voice be heard on the subject. 7. Update from Mayor’s Office (Speaker: Abigail Zimmerman) a. Teamwork L.A. - The Mayor is dividing the City into seven service zones and holding each department accountable for identifying which services it provides to these zones. Each zone will have its own City Hall. This program will be operational in 8-12 months but meetings have already started to get it organized. The meetings are on the first Thursday of each month at the San Pedro City Hall. The Board asked if the time of the meetings could be changed from during the to the evening. NWSPNC representatives are Board Members Julie Parker and Shannon Day (per approved motion). Neighborhood Council representatives will be meeting with the service department heads to acquaint them with the needs of our area. b. Business Opportunities – Mayor Hahn and the Port of Los Angeles are sponsoring “Where Opportunity Docks” on February 5, 2003, 9 – 11 am., at Liberty Hill Plaza, 100 West Fifth Street, San Pedro. This is an opportunity to network with potential buyers and contract administrators form the port community. Contact: Michelle Mesina, 213, 978-0691. 8. Report by LAPD – The Police Department has extended an invitation to join Mayor Hahn in participating in the Harbor Area Summit, on January 15, at 6:30 p.m., at Banning’s Landing, located at 100 E. Water Street, in Wilmington. The purpose of the Summit is to bring together stakeholders from within the community and engage in a dialogue designed to elicit and prioritize two or three important problems unique to each police division. Contact: Jeffrey Hamilton, Harbor Senior Lead Office at 548-8097. 9. NWSPNC Election Update – As of the date of this meeting, only one application has been received for the vacant board seat in the educational category. February 3 is the deadline to send in applications. The Outreach Committee created an election flyer and sent it to numerous educational facilities, including public schools and religious institutions. 10. Treasurer’s Report a. Board treasurer, Bill Upchurch, and Vice President, Craig Byrnes, attended DONE training on the requirements for obtaining City funds for neighborhood councils. Details on the funding program are attached to these minutes. Mr. Upchurch provided a summary of the requirements: i. The Treasurer will be given a plastic card, similar to a charge card, with the name of the Neighborhood Council on it. The card is called a Stored Value Card and it is expected that use of the card will handle most the routine expenses. In those instances where the card is not an acceptable method of payment, the City Controller has developed an expedited check approval process whereby the neighborhood council will receive a check within 24 hours of approval of the request by DONE. ii. Neighborhood Councils will be eligible to receive City funding in quarterly installments that can exceed $12,500 per quarter with permission of the General Manager of DONE. The $12,500 quarterly installments will be provided to the Councils by two methods: 1. A “Stored Value Card” (with a pre-loaded dollar amount) and 2. Standard paper checks issued by the City Controller. iii. A petty cash system, allowing cash withdrawals using the Stored Value Card, will be available in situations where immediate, but relatively small amounts of cash are needed to take care of unanticipated business. This program now allows up to $500 in cash per month to be withdrawn from an ATM by the Neighborhood Council representative authorized to use the card. iv. The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment will monitor funds as prescribed in the Plan for A Citywide System of Neighborhood Councils b. The NWSPNC proposed budget will be presented at the February meeting. Board members should send Bill Upchurch any requests they want included in the budget, for review by the Budget Committee. c. The Treasurer submitted his monthly report which indicated a balance of $622.57 11. Outreach Committee’s Report –Bus Bench Shelters a. Co-Chair David Rivera presented the Committee’s recommendation for installation of bus bench shelters throughout the NWSPNC area. The Committee went to the downtown LA office of the City’s contractor for shelters (Viacom) to view the structures and learn about the related requirements. The Committee then visited each bus stop in the NWSPNC area to identify suitable locations that met the mandatory space requirements and be the least imposing (visually) on the community, due to the required advertisements. b. A stakeholder at the meeting spoke on the locations of 7th and 9th at Averill. He stated that we wanted the bus stops completely removed as the buses were disturbing the residents of the area. He has received no response from Councilwoman Hahn’s office to his request. Abigail Zimmerman of the Mayor’s Office stated she would meet with the stakeholder that evening to discuss his concerns. c. Due to this stakeholder’s presentation, Guillermo Villagran (Outreach Committee co-chair) made the motion to temporarily eliminate the locations, mentioned by the stakeholder, from its list of recommended sites for bus shelters. Motion seconded by Joyce Fisher. The motion was unanimously approved by the Board. As a result of the motion, the list now contained 12 recommended sites. A letter will be sent to Councilwoman Hahn’s Office to submit the Board’s request to the appropriate entity for processing. 12. Future meetings a. Locations – Due to the lack of adequate temperature control in the Peck Park auditorium, John Greenwood would like the Board to consider alternate locations for its monthly meetings. This will be discussed at the next meeting b. Next Meeting: February 10, 6:30 p.m., Peck Park. MINUTES PREPARED BY: MINUTES APPROVED BY: DATE: _______________________ ________________________ ____________ Shari Hill, Secretary John Greenwood, President
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