The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council met last night taking up a number of issues. Among those, the board approved plans for the Sustainability Committee to host a training session for community members interested in participating in the GWNC’s Biodiversity pilot project with LASAN. Staff from the Natural History Museum of LA County will offer instruction on how to use the iNaturalist app for recording observations of plants and animals. The Committee is also planning a bioblitz the following weekend. They are also seeking additional partners for the pilot project to encourage more people to help gather data about the plants and animals in our neighborhoods.
The board voted to form an Ad Hoc Neighborhood Purpose Grants (NPG) Committee to review applications for up to $2,500 for grants and appointed Windsor Village resident Julie Stromberg chair, who has chaired the committee in the past. They also voted to appoint Hayden Conner Ashworth to Public Works Liaison.
Fremont Place board member Barbara Kumetz, a resident of nearly 36 years, provided an area report on Fremont Place. Kumetz said the neighborhood has been working on preserving the historic stone monuments at the Olympic and Wilshire gates. She said the association is undertaking an effort to preserve the gates. She said the association is also working on being good neighbors to adjacent neighborhoods Windsor Village and Brookside by assisting the four property owners whose homes are along Olympic with increased maintenance support to clean up trash and recently removed a homeless encampment.
In committee reports the Outreach Committee invited submission for the GWNC community service awards which recognize community members for their service, dedication and/or commitment to enhancing and/or improving the Greater Wilshire neighborhood. Nominations can be made online and are accepted year-round. The next Outreach Committee Meeting is Saturday, October 5, 2019, 9:30 a.m. at Bricks and Scones Café, 403 N. Larchmont Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90004.
In Land Use matters the board voted to oppose the removal of a tree at 829 N. Orange Drive as the matter was not addressed at the Land Use committee.
“Neighbors want to preserve the tree,” explained Land Use Committee chairman, Philip Farha. “The mature trees soften the blow of the modern architecture, and so would prefer to keep the tree.”
The property owner Shane Patel indicated he would be willing to plant additional trees and may present an alternative plan at the October 22 LUC meeting.
In other matters the board vote to approve motions from the Land Use Committee to support the following project:
639 S. La Brea Ave – Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council supported the 639 S. La Brea Ave project with the request to provide additional employee parking.
The board voted to oppose the opposes the 8th & Gramercy project located at 743-749 S. Gramercy Dr as presented so they can get more neighborhood outreach, address the material and stylistic aspects of the architecture, and the parking.
On the issues of homelessness, GWNC liaison Tammy Rosato reported on the highly successful Midtown connect day. The board approved Rosato’s motion to support the recommendations and findings in LA Controller Ron Galperin, recent report on the LA Homeless Services Authority, namely to 1) Create “HomeSTAT,” a statistically-driven performance management system that would fundamentally reshape LAHSA’s outreach program by using real-time data on homelessness to evaluate performance and make informed decisions about resource allocation; 2) Work with City and County partners to define a unified set of clear and consistent goals, specific metrics and accurate reporting on outreach activities throughout the greater L.A. area; 3) Focus on a proactive outreach strategy to reach a greater number of homeless people for the first time; and 4) Enhance LAHSA transparency and accountability by geo-based mapping of outreach activities. The motion was unanimously approved
In addition the board voted to filed a Community Impact Statement in support of the federal legislation, The Ending Homelessness Act of 2019 “HR 1856 (Waters) /The Ending Homelessness Act of 2019 / Homeless Housing / Funding”
Lastly, Rosato presented a Homeless Resources Pocket Guide that she has drafted at the request of many residents. The board voted to allocate up to $200 from its Outreach budget for costs associated with the printing of a Homelessness Resources Pocket Guide to be made available to GWNC Directors and Alternates for distribution to GWNC Stakeholders.
The next GWNC Board Meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 13, 2019.
