The blog is alive; it's Encino that's dead...

A few people have asked me lately what's going on with this space and the various efforts to spiff up the neighborhood. This space is alive, though I've been busy with work and various other things for a few months; it's the will to move on with things in the neighborhood that's (apparently) dead. The intention here was to have a means of communication; there's been little of note about the Village to communicate.

The main thing for me is that there has been very little response to either this blog or the various flyers that the encinodogger and I put on doors last summer, and it gets tiring, all this crying out in the wilderness. Most of the email addresses I got at the meeting last February are garbage. They're either not valid, or so spam-blocked that my emails won't go through, so it's hard to know who's actually reading this. A place to begin: email to me your (valid and not-spam-blocked please) email address. Also, as you can see, there aren't a lot of comments on the blog, let alone people interested in posting here. BTW, commenting is easy; you don't have to be a geek to do it, so give it a try. You can also email me here.

I never saw any action or offers that were acted on about landscaping the Louise strip, or any of the other beautification efforts, so I'm assuming there's no enthusiasm for any of that. These changes can't happen without expertise, money and stuff - trees, dirt, tools, planning. Got any of that? If so, let's do it. By this, I mean actually get it done. I know that there are people who'd love to get involved with projects. I think we're just having trouble getting the ball rolling.

There was a Neighborhood Watch meeting last night (Tuesday 12/5), which I could not attend. Barbara at encinowatch.com is still doing a great job of keeping that channel open, and our SLO, officer Trulick remains helpful and responsive.

One positive: The petition to limit parking on Louise is with the city. How long that may take to turn around is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile, enjoy this time of the year. Kiss your children and hold them close; call your old friends and wish them well. Sing the songs and eat the foods that go with whatever holiday you may celebrate.

Any ideas on how to get things happening are welcome. Email me at encinoblogger@gmail.com.

It's a busy time...

...for the encinoblogger just now. It's time to get the encinodaughter off to college, there's some paying work to be done, and tomatoes in the garden that need picking. While there is blogging to be blogged, it's going to have to wait for a week or ten days more; then I'll be back up to speed.

Just a note, though: The encinoblogger would like to stay that - simply "the encinoblogger" - in this space. If you know my name, leave it off this space or any other 'net places where you may hang out. I want to avoid any flame wars or other conflicts. Inevitably, someone will disagree with something here, and I'd like to keep that out of my personal life if possible. You're free to disgree in print as much as you like; I welcome debate, I just want to leave the debate in cyberspace.

Thanks for understanding...

Meanwhile, there's a swell new blog up regarding the village's history and efforts to promote and preserve same. You can find it here (http://encinovillageheritageassociation.blogspot.com/).

I'd like to see someone posting or commenting (btw, thanks to John Bwarie)about the efforts to plant behind the wall. Does no one have a thought about this?

As promised...

...news of the new "Encino Community Improvement Organization." We met last night, the agenda being limited to projects that would update the physical appearence of the nabe. Such as:

• Spiffing up the (former) Oak Tree island at Louise and Ventura
• Extending the planted divider on Ventura near Plaza de Oro to "Chli's" restaurant
• Removing the moribund newsstand next to Auto Steigler
• Landscaping and cleaning-up the east side of Louise between Burbank and Oxnard

It turns out that there may be grant money available for some of this; it may also be possible to get contributions from private sources and from the council members' discretionary funds (who knew?).

To Babbitt Ave. residents, and others who back up to Louise Ave.:

If we are able to secure plants (we're thinking oleanders, but open to suggestions) for the parkway between the wall and the street, they will need to be watered and somewhat tended until they are established. How will we keep them watered? This will require community action of some kind...

• Are you willing to install a drip sprinkler for the new plants at your expense?
  
• Can you hang your hose over the wall twice a week to water the plants
  
• Should we just go #$%$&^% ourselves; this isn't worth the trouble
  

Several of my neighbors have remarked that they always direct visitors to enter through Aldea. If we do this, the result will be a much more pleasant drive on Louise, and a better face for our community. We can take a little pride in how we present to the world. The beginning of this project will require some effort. It's going to be worky to plant whatever stock we're able to get. That dirt is bound to be hard, so we may need equipment besides hand labor. Does anyone know of a landscape architect who could help with design, preferably on a pro bono basis? Does anyone own, work at, or know of a nursery and/or equipment rental facility that might donate stock and machinery or at least give us a break?

Please email encinoville@gmail.com or comment below.

News from Neighnorhood Watch

Some of you will find a flyer with Neighborhood Watch news on your doorstep tonight (Sunday). The encinodogger and I took it around and dropped it at selected houses, especially those of residents who have expressed a wish to be involved in the nabe. Though this is the first issue that I remember seeing, at least for quite some time, I think the organizers of this now know that we in the "south of Hatteras" sector are interested and involved with Encino Village life.

The bad news is that our SLO has not set up a future meeting for the neighborhood, though the other areas covered in the brochure seem to have a regular schedule. There could be a lot of reasons for this, but if you're concerned, or just want to get more involved, give him - officer Rob Trulik - a call at 818 374.7637, or drop an email to 32326@lapd.lacity.org. In my experience, he's shown himself to be a good guy and responsive to our needs and requests. Notice that the large commercial trucks have, for the most part, disappeared from Louise Ave., due largely to Ofc. Trulik's citing efforts. And you haven't seen anyone messing with the trash on Thursday mornings either, thanks again to him.

In other news, there's an effort afoot to organize a new group to deal largely with neighborhood beautification efforts. They're meeting Tuesday, so more news after that.

We've done it...

Well, at least we've started to do it. Thanks to Josh and Richard, we walked the petition around the neighborhood and garnered quite a few signatures. Since we only need two-thirds of the affected properties to sign on, it should be pretty easy to qualify this. How long it will take the city to actually put up the signs is another story altogether, I'm sure.

A couple of the old-timers in the neighborhood recalled to me how many times this has been tried before; apparently we're not breaking any new ground here, but we're actually doing something.

Thing is - it's a beginning. If you're new to the blog, or even if you're not, please comment or email me. If you want to post, or even start your own damn blog, I'll help you do that too.

Get involved; be part of the solution.

And to all that helped, signed, and leant their experience: thanks.

Somebody help me...

...Anybody. Please?

Chcchchchanges...

Greetings from beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I'm again closing in on a living. It's hot and rainy here. The rain cools off things nicely, though, as does the beer. But, I digress...

Obviously, there was no petitioning last week. In fact, Maritza pulled out of the whole thing on Saturday, due to personal pressures. Yes, that was kinda last minute, and this is the first chance I've had to plan a new path. So - we begin again. I now have all the petitions, and I'd like to walk the neighborhood on Monday. With the holiday there should be a lot of people at home. and they may be drunk enough to actually open the door for us.

This is a call for volunteers: if you can do this Monday in the early eve, please enter a comment below, or email me. The thing is - if we're to do this, we need to do this, y'know? If Monday isn't good, let's plan another night, but soon.

A Reminder...

I'm in the bay Area today, making a much-needed living, but I wanted to remind all that it's time to get those parking petitions out. We're still looking at Monday and/or Tuesday (26,27th), so reply here or contact Maritza to volunteer.

What about the landscaping? Any ideas? I've got the beer on ice, so let's get it done.

News!!! (finally)

Maritza Beaudine has the parking petitions in hand, though she will need help to circulate them. She has next Monday and Tuesday in the early evening (June 26 and/or 27) in mind. Mrs. Encinoblogger had originally planned to help out with this, but she has a foot injury that may preclude this amount of walking. She may indeed be healed by then, but, in any case, we could use volunteers. We will need to cover all the houses that back up to Louise. This is a moderately big job, but it's something that can be easily done with a few people.

Please email the encinoblogger or reply in the comment space here to sign up. And please tell your neighbors to open their doors for us when we come around. Let's get this done.

Also, is anyone interested in a planting program for the parkway on the east side of Louise? Ideas and connections for getting cheap - uh, free - plants are needed. A few of us can do the labor (I'll bring the beer), but it would be great to get the stock donated. There may be help from the city available; in fact I'm hoping the councilman's office is reading this space and will step up on this. Email or comments below.

New Comment policy: Anyone's welcome!

I've decided to throw open the Comments section to anyone from now on. You no longer have to register with Blogger to post a comment, although you might want to register anyway, just so you can start your own blog. I know that some people were uncomfortable with the whole registration routine, so now you can comment to your heart's content.

Mi blog es su blog.

Disaster Preparedness meeting : The Summary

There was a fair turnout for tonight's meeting, probably around 150 people. The main points: you need lots of practical food, lots of water, lots of supplies. Flashlights, batteries, fie extinguishers, radios, blankets, pet food, kitty litter, plastic bags for the kitty litter (hint: it's not just for kitties anymore...). Aside from the Mr. Rogers-like approach ("Who can tell me how many policemen are in Los Angeles?") the main message delivered by experts from the city's Disaster Preparedness board, the LAFD and a particularly dour FBI agent was - you're on your own if it comes down. You need to be able to take care of yourself for at least a week.

We all saw after Katrina that you can't count on government help any time soon, so you'd better be able to survive until things settle down. We all know this, of course, but we act like it's not so. We nod sagely and vow to get to it, but do we? I don't know about you, but I've had kits in my house, cars and office for a long time, and I'm going to see this weekend that everything is fresh and functioning. When was the last tme you checked the batteries in your radio (you do have a battery-powered radio, don't you?) and rotated out the old Cliff bars for some fresh stock? Now's the time.

Disaster Preparedness meeting on Thursday night...

There will be a Disaster Preparedness Community Meeting on Thursday, June 1st at
Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Free emergency preparedness starter kit per family plus QuakeHold Museum Putty. This is part of a citywide effort to prepare every community for any disaster. Speakers from the FBI, L.A. Fire and Police Departments will offer survival techniques to help you and your family prepare for earthquakes, fires, and terrorist attacks. We need to be prepared to survive on our own, as outside help might not be available. Please plan to attend and please tell your neighbors.

Thank you for your help.

Show of hands...

...if you knew about the Neighborhood Watch meeting tonight (Tuesday 6/30). Yeah; that's what I thought.

I found out at literally the last possible minute, thanks to an email from Barbara Hand. She works tirelessly to promote community action and safety, but it takes more than one person if we're going to organize anything. At any rate, I decided to change my plans for the evening and got right to the meeting. Officer Trulick, who is obviously serious about being available and involved, discussed recent crime activity in the area, and gave tips on how to secure our houses and cars. Various questions were asked and answered, some quite relevant, and some kinda...uh, puzzling.

That's OK; I think the main value of these meetings (don't we know that we need to lock our doors, and not let the mail pile up while we're away?) is that we look around and see that others are interested in getting involved with the neighborhood. When we see that we're part of something, that in itself justifies the effort. If I know that you're going to show up, it's more likely that I'll show up the next time.

I'm hoping that it won't be too long before we hit the streets with the parking petition. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't even come the door these days for various reasons, so I'll try to email or do leaflets a few days before to remind people that we'll be coming over. Please open your doors when we knock. That's a good start.

If you want to be added to the email list, please leave a comment in the "Comments" space below. And tell your neighbors.

Important meeting this Thursday night...

There will be a Disaster Preparedness Community Meeting on Thursday, June 1st at
Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Free emergency preparedness starter kit per family plus QuakeHold Museum Putty. This is part of a citywide effort to prepare every community for any disaster.
Speakers from the FBI, L.A. Fire and Police Departments will offer survival techniques to help you and your family prepare for earthquakes, fires, and terrorist attacks. We need to be prepared to survive on our own, as outside help might not be available. Please plan to attend and please tell your neighbors.

Yo!

Resident jpink brings up an interesting point in his comment below...this is not just about parking, it's about how we view our neighborhood. No one is going to do this, or anything else, for us. (As you see, we've heard sweet nothing from the councilman's office for almost two months.) This is really about compromise, and the very essense of democracy. If we all agree that we want to make a change, let's not let the details get in the way.

I will be emailing and posting when we walk the parking petition. Please open your doors, and let's get behind this. And let's hear about other ideas for the neighborhood while we're at it.

More on parking (moron parking?)

Here's the new info: We must get 50% of residents on both sides of the street (Louise) to sign the petition in order to get it considered. Maritza, who has done all of the real work on this so far, has already gotten a flat turndown from one homeowner on the west side of Louise. He doesn't want to lose his parking privilege, no matter what. This is certainly a defensable position, but we all have to be willing to give something up in order to get something better.

Once again, if there is to be no compromise, this is a total waste of time for all concerned, so please think about this carefully. This blog is a great place to vent and raise questions, which hardly anyone is doing. Please participte; this is how changes get made.

Update

As of this morning, suspected dumpster divers on Babbitt Ave. were in custody, along with their truck brimming with our recycling. Nice work by LAPD.

Dumpster divers

I spoke today with our SLO, Officer Trulik. His captain is very concerned about the trash pickers working our recycling containers on Thursday. In fact, there is concern at higher levels: in 2003 this pilfering cost the city of Los Angeles over $12 million, and action on this has become a priority issue. Who knew?

The SLO will be working on this in a major way. He has asked us to call him (818 731.2572) if we see illegal activity around the recycling bins on trash day, and he will be on the street looking to make arrests.

Parking, part 2

I was going to post a reply to jpink's comment below, but I thought it deserved a full post. Two ideas:

• Here's the thing: we need to put something in motion now or the whole idea of neighborhood action will wither away for us. Let's get this going and then see if there's enough political will to go farther. It's important to act while we feel united. Even if we only achieve an imperfect solution, we've proved that we can act in concert.
  
• Or - Here's the thing: this solution resolves the problem but not well; no one's needs are ultimately met by a short-term compromise. We need to have another community meeting on this issue only. We need to decide if we want to fight city hall and insist on different parking restriction on either side of Louise.

Any ideas?

Parking News

The petition for getting parking restrictions on Louise is, finally, in hand. The city will require signatures from the majority of property owners on both sides of the street -i.e. people who live on LaSaine and on Babbitt- so we will need to reach a consensus on what we want to put in place.

The city requires the same restriction on both sides of the street. Since the LaSaine (west side of Louise) residents have access to their homes from Louise, they have, understandably, different needs. At the March meeting, several Babbitt residents brought up the issue of poolside and backyard privacy during the day, mentioning the prying eyes of truckers and city workers in their high-cabbed vehicles

A "No Parking" zone between, say, 7PM and 7AM would seem a likely compromise: this lets residents on LaSaine use their side of Louise to park during the day when they might be using their garage for other projects or need vehicle access to their backyards, and also advances privacy, security and a measure (at least) of quiet for both Babbitt and LaSaine residents during nightime hours. This soulution, does not address, unfortunately, the daytime privacy issue.

Let's see some chatter in the "comments" section below about this. Shall we take what we can get most easily, or is there another possible solution? I suppose we might be able to wrestle the city into approving separate restrictions on each side, but this seems like both a long shot and a guarantee that nothing would happen for a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

Please speak up.