 Westwood South of
Santa Monica Blvd.
Homeowners Association
Home
SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING Thieves going door-to-door to see if residents are at home.... Our community has experienced an increase in home break-ins during daytime hours when people are away from their homes. It appears that burglars are going home to home knocking on doors to determine if someone is home. When they find a home where no one answers, they seek a way to enter -- most usually via a side or rear window or door although front windows have also been broken and entered. Stolen goods are often placed in a back pack and carried out by the thieves. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOUR HOME APPEARS TO BE OCCUPIED AT ALL TIMES. LIGHTS, RADIOS, ETC. SHOULD BE ON TIMERS IF YOU ARE AWAY FROM HOME. MAIL, NEWSPAPERS, ETC. SHOULD BE PICKED UP BY NEIGHBORS OR HELD BY THE POST OFFICE IF YOU ARE AWAY.
IF YOU ARE AT HOME AND YOU HEAR A KNOCK ON THE DOOR, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR TO STRANGERS BUT DO NOT IGNORE THE KNOCKING. LET THE PERSON AT THE DOOR KNOW THAT YOU ARE BUSY, ARE NOT EXPECTING ANY CALLERS AND WILL NOT BE COMING TO THE DOOR. CALL OUT TO SOMEONE AT HOME (REAL OR IMAGINED) TO TELL THEM YOU ARE TOO BUSY TO GET THE DOOR. (If you remain quiet, the burglars may attempt entry while you are inside not knowing that someone is home!)
It is important that you call the police to report suspicious solicitors, people who are going door-to-door in the area, etc. It is important that we keep a watchful eye out for our home and the homes of our neighbors. There will never be enough police to be watching over our homes or the city. We must be the eyes and ears of the police and alert them to suspicious individuals.
The notes from a recent CRIME UPDATE meeting with WLAPD Captain Nathan, Senior Lead Officer Sharif and WLA detectives appears on our crime page.
Sustainable
Works 2012 Los Angeles
Green Living Workshops
Get solutions
to some of today's greatest environmental challenges and SAVE MONEY in the
process.
Funding provided by LADWP through a grant from the US Dept. of
Energy
Classes in WSSM area begin Monday, Feb. 6th, 7 - 8:30 pm, at Temple Isaiah,
West Pico Blvd.,
Rancho Park.
FOR MORE INFO and how to enroll in this series of FREE classes, GO TO ENVIRONMENT page of our website.
The Green Living Workshop will broaden
participant's scope of environmental problems by showing them the global,
national and local impacts of their daily choices. Participants will also
be given ten impactful solutions that they can take action on as well as a
Sustainable WorksBook, which is a great resource for their continued journey
towards sustainability.
Sustainable Works is a project of Community Partners. Visit them at:
www.SustainableWorks.org
INVEST IN YOUR COMMUNITY! SEND IN YOUR WSSM MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION AND DUES NOW! A new year is here and we urge all WSSM area residents to take a moment to send in your WSSM HOA dues. Please take a moment to support WSSM's efforts on behalf of the community. Let us hear from you! The membership form can be found on the Contact us page or as the last page of the 2011 Newsletter (link below). Annual $25 dues can be sent with your membership form to: Westwood South of SM Blvd. HOA Post Office Box 64213 Los Angeles, CA 90064 Click here for the 2011 WSSM Newsletter and thank you! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to enroll in an emergency preparedness class?
See "disaster preparedness" page and sign up!NEXT CERT CLASSES BEGINS ON:
Wed., Jan. 11, 7 -9:30pm at Fire Station on Olympic and Purdue just west of the 405 freeway. Thursday, Jan. 12, 9 - 11:30 am at UCLA Reiber Residence Hall
THEFTS FROM MOTOR VEHICLES
ARE OUR No. 1 CRIME IN WLA
REMEMBER TO:
Lock It – A reminder to always lock your vehicle.
Hide It – If you must leave valuables in the vehicle, hide them from plain sight.
Keep It – A positive reminder that personal responsibility can safeguard your valuables from theft .
Top Items Stolen from Vehicles:
GPS Devices
Cell Phones/Chargers
Money
Stereos/Radios
Documents, Mail, Check books
For more Crime Prevention Information or to get involved in a local
Neighborhood Watch, contact your local Los Angeles Police Station or
visit the LAPD Web Site at WWW.LAPDONLINE.ORG
You are Invited to the Next WSSM Board Mtg:
Tuesday, Feb. 7th, 2012, 7:30 pm We meet at St Timothy's Church - Pico and Beverly Glen Blvds., Chapter Room (basement) (Access to the room is off the alley just west of Beverly Glen and north of Pico under the stairs.)
We invite you to join our Board meetings, as we discuss issues and strategies of critical importance to our community. Come to learn, come to listen, come to get involved!
Parking is available behind the church (a limited number of spaces) or on adjacent Beverly Glen or Almayo or on Pico Blvd. after rush hour parking restrictions.
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THE SPEED HUMPS ARE COMING, THE SPEED HUMPS ARE COMING..... WHEN?
WSSM coordinated the distribution of DOT petitions for speed humps during 2010 in response to concerns raised about traffic safety on a number of our blocks and in response to impacts from the Santa Monica Blvd. Transit Parkway Project. The project's mitigation fund was created to answer unanticipated impacts of the new SM Blvd. configuration. WSSM reps met with DOT and CD 5 staff to review impacts and discuss remedies. DOT approved the installation of speed humps for a number of blocks IF those blocks successfully circulated petitions and obtained 75% approval from each block's property owners / residents.
A number of our blocks were able to achieve the required percent of signatures and WSSM submitted completed petitions to LA DOT for review. Our blocks were approved for speed humps just prior to the City’s disbanding of the street hump program due to budgetary constraints. As a funding source (the SM Blvd. Project mitigation fund) was established and the petitions completed before the speed hump program was disbanded, the main issue became one of when the humps would actually constructed. Despite delays and contract approval issues, that work finally moved ahead and those humps have been completed.
Requests for funding additional speed humps in the area between Pico and Olympic Blvds. (not within the SM project mitigation fund boundaries) were presented to Westside Neighborhood Council (WNC) committees in June and September of 2009 for funding from the Trammell Crow traffic fund.
The WNC is empowered to make recommendations on expenditures of the Trammell Crow Traffic fund created as a condition on the 2000 Avenue of the Stars project when it was entitled to be built. At that time a fund of $ 300,000 was placed in an escrow account with the City of Los Angeles.
The Council District 5 office considers the recommendations of the WNC and then has the authority to request funds from the escrow account that was funded by Trammell Crow as a condition of their development agreement with the City.
Speed humps for Veteran Avenue were requested between Olympic and Pico, petitions were completed and the speed humps were finally installed in early December. A request for speed humps and traffic calming in the area between Beverly Glen and Prosser, Pico and Olympic was also submitted to the WNC in 2009 but was not approved. Petitions for speed humps on Tennessee between Beverly Glen and Prosser were successfully circulated by local residents. Funding for the humps as well as a mechanism to install them now that the City's speed hump program has been disbanded are in the works.
Thanks to those who were responsible for circulating petitions on their blocks and thanks to all for your patience.
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PICO BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT UPDATE:
An application has been submitted to METRO for funding to begin implementation of a number of pedestrian and traffic safety improvements identified in the Pico Beautification Project master plan. That plan includes recommendations for future street plantings, medians, sidewalk furniture, concrete design and coloration, new lighting, etc. You can view the complete plan including drawings, tree selections, sidewalk renderings, etc. by going to the WNC website's posting at: http://www.wncla.org/static/luc_docs/0-MASTERPLAN.pdf.
WSSM has submitted a letter of support and has also pledged $ 1,000 toward the required matching funds to help demonstrate to METRO the community's support for this project. We look forward to working with businesses and homeowners to improve the Pico business corridor for safety and pedestrian friendliness which will ultimately improve business on the street and improve the character of our community. Please email Lisa Morocco at waltzworld@verizon.net if you want further information.
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Help End Blight and
Traffic Hazards:
Report Mobile Billboards
Call (818) 752-5100 or (213) 485-4181. Press "2" and give location and license plate # (if any)
After years of frustration battling this pernicious form of blight , L.A. now has a legally enforceable ordinance banning advertising trailers parked on City streets. Thanks in large part to you and others who called and e-mailed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last fall, he resisted pressure from some business interests and signed a bill that authorized cities to ban mobile billboards that blight the public landscape, take up valuable parking spaces, and create potential traffic hazards. The law took effect on Jan. 1, and the City has begun citing the trailers and towing them if not removed. If you see one on your daily commute or in your neighborhood, please report it by calling one of the numbers and following the directions above.
Note: The law applies only to mobile billboards parked on public streets, but not to billboard trucks being driven or billboard trailers being towed through the streets. However, if the law now in effect withstands any court challenges and succeeds in getting rid of this blight, the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight is interested in working with concerned communities to mount an effort to expand the ban to moving billboards that also create blight, use energy, and add to traffic congestion. A number of cities around the country, including San Francisco, have banned ALL mobile billboards, parked or not, and L.A. should follow in those footsteps. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
New City Sewer Improvement Project began fall 2010 affecting blocks on Kelton, Camden, Veteran. See info posted on this WSSM website: Environmental Quality tab. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you see anything that you feel is
suspicious, but not an emergency, go to:
www.alertcommunity.com
It allows citizens on the Westside to document suspicious
activity quickly, easily, and anonymously. It is not a replacement for a call to the WLAPD Community Station when you believe that an officer should be dispatched.
This web site contributes
to the safety of our community and to the prevention of crime.
The
database is accessed only by the LAPD. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Graffiti Removal Resources
In addition to calling 311, you can now report graffiti directly using the City's online 311 function at http://anti-graffiti.lacity.org/welcome.cfm. Just enter the exact address and a report and clean-up order are automatically generated.
The City also is making efforts to explore today's rapidly evolving technology to make it faster and easier for citizens to report graffiti and other non-emergency problems. The City now has its own iPhone application to report problems. The application was created by Citysourced in a public-private partnership and can be downloaded for free on iTunes. It allows iPhones users to take snapshots of graffiti, potholes, illegal dumping and other issues. Using the iPhone's GPS system, the photo and the exact location are automatically sent directly to the City's 311 system. It even notifies the user when the problem is resolved.
To download the app or see pictures of how it works, visit http://itunes.apple.com/app/citysourced/id336854714. |
