At its monthly board meeting on Wednesday, March 8, the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council (GWNC) installed Hancock Park resident  Jennifer DeVore as the new Area 5/Hancock Park alternate board member…and attendees also learned about several staff changes at City Council District 4, including the promotion of Julia Duncan to Senior Planning Deputy.
According to information provided at the meeting, and also by City Council Member David Ryu’s office, in a letter to local stakeholders, Catherine Landers will also replace Nikki Ezhari as field deputy for the Greater Wilshire area, since Ezhari will be moving to supervise the overall field program in the absence of Deputy Chief of Staff, Adeena Bleich, who is currently on maternity leave. (Bleich is expected to return to the office by summer.) Landers will now oversee the neighborhoods in the central and southern parts of the district, including Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Hancock Park, and Miracle Mile…while continuing to serve as the chief liaison for issues relating to Griffith Park.  And, finally, Daniel Park, Neighborhood Advocate, will be assisting with constituent cases and issues in the central and southern neighborhoods in the Fourth Council District as well as Korean American community affairs.
In other GWNC actions on Wednesday evening, GWNC Secretary Joe Hoffman reports that the board voted to allocate an additional $5,000 in funding from the city to Neighborhood Purpose Grants and Operations. GWNC will award two NPG grants, up to $1000 each, to local non-profit organizations or public schools. The application form can be found at http://www.clerk.lacity.org/sites/g/files/wph606/f/NPG-Application-1-26-15-final1.pdf.  The application deadline is June 2, and the grant recipients will be announced at the June 14 GWNC board meeting.
The GWNC’s Land Use Committee presented the also presented the following items to the board:
647 N. Beachwood Drive/5570 W. Melrose Ave. – The Board voted to support the project with a 9-4-2 vote, over the objections of neighbors who opposed the building height and increased traffic it could generate. Land Use Committee Chair Jim Wolf explained that the applicant had addressed the height and traffic issues at previous GWNC Land Use Committee meetings and, after those discussions, the LUC had recommended a vote of support for the project.
600 S. La Brea.  – The board approved the LUC’s recommendation – at the request of the La Brea-Hancock Homeowner’s Association – to table this matter until next Board meeting.  The applicant  concurred with this request, which will allow the matter to be discussed at an upcoming LBHHA meeting before the GWNC takes action.
5820 W. Melrose Ave. – The board agreed with the LUC’s opposition to the application for a CUB for Burgerian restaurant, with extended hours of operation until 2 am. With a vote of 16-0, the board voted to oppose the CUB.
Finally, the Board voted to oppose all projects for which the applicant does not appear before LUC. At its last meeting, the LUC decided to add language to its application guidelines, advising applicants that the committee may take a vote on their project even if the applicants failed to present their projects to the committee.  This was done to help encourage developers to present their projects for neighborhood review and discussion.Â
