Bel Air-Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council News

Volunteers: Have you been told that you are a good listener? Are you usually the one to comfort your friends and family in difficult times? Do you want make a difference in someone’s life? The Mayor’s Crisis Response Team is looking for kind and compassionate Angelenos to join our team.

What is El Niño?
El Niño is a warming of the Pacific Ocean near the equator caused by a weakening of the trade winds that normally push sun-warmed waters to the west. When ocean temperatures are warmer or cooler than normal, they can affect weather around the world. In the United States, El Niño often changes typical weather patterns and could bring drier conditions to some areas and intense rainfall amounts to others.

The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates have created a Service Report Card for citizens of Los Angeles to rate their local City Services.  Every community is different and every community has their own set of problem areas.  Here is your chance to let the Mayor’s office, Los Angeles City Council and the City Hall Departments know exactly what matters to you the most! The due date to complete this service report card is on Friday, January 15.

Below is a link to the Charter-mandated evaluation of DWP that’s done every five years.  Navigant is the consultant that performed the work.  It’s almost 600 pages so we’ve included the 10-page Executive Summary…..and in case you haven’t already seen it there’s also a link to yesterday’s Daily News story about the survey.
 

The City’s Implementation Plan for the Clean Streets Citywide Program (Council File: 15-0600-S78) aims to provide a comprehensive program to improve Angelenos’ quality of life by cleaning up our streets. This plan includes...

In preparation for the holidays, L.A. Sanitation is asking people not to pour fats, oils, and grease down the drain. This can be damaging not only to pipes in the home, but also to outside sewer lines.
LA Sanitation is now accepting household fryer oil for recycling at our S.A.F.E. Centers. The oil will be recycled for fuel and energy.

Originally posted at http://citywatchla.com/8box-left/9995-neighborhood-council-elections-are-around-the-corner-here-s-why-you-should-run. Written by Tim Deegan.

Why do neighborhood councils matter and why should you run for a board seat on your NC? At their best, and some excel at this, they serve as local political organizations that are empowered to monitor the critical issues in their communities such as land use and development, transportation and parking, and public safety. These are three key issues facing every neighborhood and depending on the NC, there are other issues to tackle as well.

Earlier this year Mayor Eric Garcetti launched several Executive Directives, one of which was the first ever Sustainable City pLAn. Sustainability is about more than combating climate change and reducing pollution: it encompasses economic development, social development, and environmental protection. The pLAn looks at ways the whole city of Los Angeles: citizens, communities, and businesses, can be more cognizant about responsible waste, clean energy, water conservation, efficient transportation, improved air quality, and the creation of green jobs. Sustainability is about making sure that the natural resources we have today are available for future generations tomorrow.

This week, a public hyperlink was established on the City’s website directing users to the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services’ website to provide information on adoption opportunities.

Every child needs a loving, supportive and nurturing family. Sadly, in the United States, there are 400,540 children in the foster care system with 104,236 children ready and waiting to be adopted. In California, there are 55,851 children in the foster care system with over 13,178 children ready and waiting to be adopted. In Los Angeles County, there are over 18,000 children in the foster care system with over 500 of them ready and waiting to be adopted.

Looking for affordable housing? There is a new resource available from the Los Angeles Housing + Community Investment Department (HCIDLA).

Los Angeles County Housing Resource center, together with HCIDLA launched this new web-based ADA accessible application tool to match qualified tenants with affordable housing.

LADWP will be on Mulholland Drive from Beverly Glen to Nicada Drive for one final weekend. The project will be from Saturday, November 7, 2015 to Sunday, November 8, 2015 between 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. As you know, we all can not...

Each year, LA Sanitation (LASAN) prepares itself and Los Angeles residents and businesses for the rainy season. This year, we are anticipating El Niño, which will likely cause higher-intensity storms and potential flooding.

 

Los Angeles lawmakers voted unanimously Tuesday to pass a new law requiring Angelenos to lock up or disable their handguns at home if they aren’t close at hand.

In an impassioned speech before the vote, City Councilman Paul Krekorian argued that the new rules would help prevent deadly accidents and youth suicides by stopping the guns from falling into the hands of curious children or despondent teenagers. Krekorian said more preschoolers are killed with guns annually than police officers.

Decades before someone coined the Twitter hashtag #droughtshaming and people began posting YouTube videos of their neighbors’ drowning lawns, California water suppliers encouraged conservation by releasing the names of their biggest water hogs.

Among these wealthy and powerful water guzzlers was then-San Diego Union-Tribune publisher Helen Copley, who often saturated her La Jolla property with more than 10,000 gallons a day. “I don’t doubt for one minute that I might be the biggest user,” she told The Times in 1991.

Mayor calls for investments in long-term initiatives, and rolls out short-term proposals to address emergency needs.

Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced the first steps of a comprehensive strategy to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, an effort that would invest at least $100 million annually in City funding to help house tens of thousands of homeless individuals.

The LAPD is alerting the public about a recent rash of phone scams that seek ransom for taking family members hostage.

According to the police, the victims are contacted by a suspect who states they are holding a family member hostage. The caller then demands money to be wired, threatening they will kill or hurt the hostage. The scammers then advise the victim withdraw money from an ATM and send send it via wire services.  Other variations of the extortion include the caller contacting miscellaneous businesses for “protection money.”

There has been a significant increase of copper wire thefts targeting the city’s street lighting system in various neighborhoods, causing street lights to go dark for a period of time. If you observe a wire theft in process or see any suspicious activity around street lights, please call 9-1-1 immediately.

The City of Los Angeles is conducting a survey to gather community input with respect to vending on City sidewalks and in City parks. The Los Angeles Municipal Code prohibits vending on sidewalks and is considered a misdemeanor and vending in City parks is only allowed with a permit.
.