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LANCC Minutes

LANC CONGRESS
November 3, 2007
L. A. DWP Building
111 N. Hope Street, Los Angeles

MINUTES

1. Meeting was called to order at 10:17 PM by Chair, Len Schaffer.

Roll Call: Delegates from the following member Neighborhood Councils were present:
Arroyo Seco, Bel Air Beverly Crest, Coastal San Pedro, Downtown, Granada Hills North, Greater Griffith Park, Greater Valley Glen, Harbor Gateway South, Historic Highland Park, Mid City West, Midtown North Hollywood, North Hills West, Sunland Tujunga, Tarzana, Venice, West Hills, West Van Nuys/Lake Balboa, and Woodland Hills-Warner Center.

2. The minutes were unanimously as corrected.

3. Public Comment: Greg Nelson stated that Janice Hahn has made a motion for LANCC to do the Congress of Neighborhoods debriefing. He feels that NCs must plan all sessions. The CRA is giving no information to the NCs. They are not addressing or acknowledging the NCs. Parks are being leased out and privatized. Mark Kellam of the Daily News is running an email for a column entitled “In Your Neighborhood”. It can be accessed at Mark@Valley News.Com, and put In Your Neighborhood in the reference. They want articles on NCs. Heinrich Keiffer, brought up the South West Museum issue. The artifacts are being kept safe. The Gene Autry people are trying to circumvent the 70 member coalition. He wants NCs to vote a position on this item ASAP and report back to him. Juanita Dalamas of the Sierra Club addressed the issue of non-profits taking over LA parks. Once this happens, the public is denied use and there is no oversight. One park collected two million dollars and is unavailable for public use.

4. Economic Development: Brady Westwater stated that he is making connections and the Chamber of Commerce is working on the DWP MOU with the OSC. Bob Hertzberg wants to work with the NCs. He felt that NCs should be members on the Chamber of Commerce boards. Animal Issues: The LA County rat extinction program is killing pets.

5. The DWP OSC does not recommend rate increases due to DWP deception. Infrastructure problems go back only 15 years. NCs now need to prepare CIS to the city council emailed immediately. The DWP has enough money for at least one year. The City committees are playing shell games with their meetings. All but two NCs have passed resolutions against the rate hikes.The Congress of Neighborhoods is being planned by the NCs and will be held on October 27, 2007. They have a $35,000 budget.

6. Vivian Roscaldo from Zev Yaroslovsky’s office gave a report regarding SB 1818. The 35% density bonus is not a cap, it’s a floor. It is mandated by the state, but the city sets the policy. The City did no outreach for the meeting, and went above and beyond SB 1818. There must be a review on each aplication, otherwise, we will end up with high density and heighth. SB 1818 is badly written. Planning should give a review, not just a bank check mark. A rapid bus becomes a transit stop, and the SB !*!* subdivision applies to single family residences. All planning zones are open to development.

7. How can LANCC be changed to become more effective? Face to face works beter than email, and an email doesn’t generate action. LANCC can now take positions on issues, but the delegates need to get the information to the NCs. Suggestions included: Open LANCC to all NCs; use a town hall meeting style; bring in outside speakers for meetings; work for networking and educational items; send written reports to all NCs; do outreach; take positions on the issues; use personal contact; email the minutes to all NCs; do synopsis of important issues to NCs using pros and cons. The LANCC needs to define itself and perhaps revise the Charter.

8. Downtown works because people live and work there. Yet reduced parking hurts even them, and they are opposed to reduced parking. Reduced parking is now on the books for commercial and industrial development. Multiple residential developers can haves their parking reduced down to zero within 750 feet of the development. Public parking transit vehicles will bes allowed to use private parking facilities. The developer must, however, show the lack of need for reduced parking. Is the public being left out of the decisions, and are these decisions exempt from environmental impacts? The majority of delegates felt that public transit must be in place before parking is reduced.

9. The Telephone User Tax proposed ordinance was moved to the December meeting.

10. The Dept. of Building and Safety has issued “orders to comply” in Venice. Planning had used an outdated training program in their training.

11. The meeting was adjourned at 1:25 PM.