Come August 2nd Importante Gifts is leaving Atwater Village and moving in with MUSH in Hollywood (more details to follow)
In the meantime we're having a BLOW OUT sale. Everything is 50% off and everything must go. Jewelry, Art, Furniture, Fixtures, Gifts and what not.
What's more Sat. 7/31 and Sun. 8/1 will be OBO days!
Importante Gifts
3149 Glendale Blvd., 90039
(323) 665 - 1901
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
FUNDRAISER FOR ATWATER VILLAGE YOUTH, SASHA MONIQUE RODRIGUEZ-ROTH, FUNERAL COSTS
Sasha Monique Rodriguez-Roth Fundraiser
Thursday, July 15th, 2010 - 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Shakey's Pizza
1300 N. San Fernando Road
Burbank, CA 91504
25 % of all food purchases will go to the Rodriguez-Roth family, please come out and show your support.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
LACCD’S ACADEMIC SENATE PRESIDENT WANTS TO TELL NORTHEAST COMMUNITY TO “FUCK OFF” OVER LOSS OF NORTHEAST SATELLITE CAMPUS
E-mails Show Los Angeles City College President Jamillah Moore Agreed With Academic Senate President Ken Sherwood That the Community Ought To Be Told To “Fuck Off”
The ongoing investigation of the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the Northeast Satellite Campus of Los Angeles City College into the hands of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has turned up another example of the arrogance of the current administration of the District and Los Angeles City College.
What brought on this barrage of profanity and disrespect? Netty Carr, a founder of the Van de Kamps Coalition had the nerve to very politely ask Los Angeles Community College President Dr. Jamillah Moore a few questions about what was happening with the change of the Van de Kamps Campus from the promised Community College Satellite to a "commercial tenant based" property.
Below is the email exchange where Carr (and the rest of the community, by extension) is crudely insulted by the "leadership" of the College. Ken Sherwood is the Academic Senate President, he is a "Ralph Bunche Distinguished Professor of Speech". I wonder what Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche, would have had to say about how this professor "communicates".
This is a disgusting example of the way these arrogant "educators" and "leaders" regard the community that pays the taxes that support them. It is particularly pointed in light of the tag line Sherwood puts on his emails: "Educating minds, opening hearts, celebrating community". This is a terrible example for the young people he is supposed to be "educating". Sherwood and Moore are not demonstrating the kind of character or judgement we would hope a people we trust with our youth would have.
We think Carr, who was honored for her community activism by Senator Carol Liu as a "Woman of the Year" for the 21st Senatorial District in 2009, would not have chosen to have her community efforts "celebrated" quite this way.
Most government bodies, educational institutions and many companies have standards for language and subject matter used on their official emails - profanity, particularly the "F" word and other especially crude, graphic and sexual profanity is verboten…maybe Los Angeles Community College District just has no standards…it would explain a lot.
Both Moore and Sherwood's email addresses are listed below, in case you would like to let them know what you think of their highly educated communication. It would not be a bad idea to copy their boss, Interim Chancellor Wieder
Chancellor Weider, care of : justincl@laccd.edu
email for Dr. Moore: moorejk@lacitycollege.edu
----- Original Message -----
From: Sherwood, Kenneth G
To: Moore, Jamillah K,
Sent: Wed May 06 17:26:29 2009
Subject: RE: VDK / NE Campus questions
OMG. Tell her to fuck off!
KEN SHERWOOD PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC SENATE RALPH BUNCHE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE AD 223
323-953-4000 xt 2469 (o)
323-953-4013 (f)
Educating minds, opening hearts, celebrating community
Below- Moore's reply of agreement with Sherwoods' "f her" email
-----Original Message-----
From: Moore, Jamillah K
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 6:46 PM
To: Sherwood, Kenneth G
Subject: Re: VDK / NE Campus questions
Sure
--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry
Below-Moore's comment about Netty that started Sherwood's "f her" email.
-----Original Message-----
From: Moore, Jamillah K
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 5:25 PM
To: Sherwood, Kenneth G
Subject: Fw: VDK / NE Campus questions
She is in a different world.
--------------------------
Sent using BlackBerry
Sherwood further expresses what we can only take to be his pleasure at their poetic exchange:
From: Sherwood, Kenneth G [Sherwood, Kenneth G]
To: Moore, Jamillah K
CC:
BCC:
Sent: 5/6/2009 6:47:15 PM
Subject: RE: VDK / NE Campus questions
Attachments:
Wow. Why was that so easy? LOL
KEN SHERWOOD PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC SENATE RALPH BUNCHE DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF SPEECH COMMUNICATION LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE AD 223
323-953-4000 xt 2469 (o)
323-953-4013 (f)
Educating minds, opening hearts, celebrating community
Netty's original message which sparked such outrage and potty talk among our distinguished Community College leaders. Moore got one thing right, Netty is in a different world, one where she extends courtesy and we all try to avoid being so rude and crude.
----- Original Message -----
From: Netty Carr
To: Moore, Jamillah K
Sent: Wed May 06 13:47:10 2009
Subject: VDK / NE Campus questions
Hello Dr. Moore,
I'm following up on the Atwater Village / Glassell Park Town Hall meeting. Is there a date set yet and will you be the one giving the presentation to the community? Since there were only 7 community members who attended the April 27th meeting, I'd like to request a full presentation like you had at the MLK Library District meeting. The North East communities have been waiting a long time and deserve the full presentation.
Since you have handed off this project to the District and they are now in charge the NE Campus who do we direct our questions / concerns to? Can you give us contact list of all the decision makers for the NE campus. Many people have moved on from the project over the 8 year span and we need to have a updated contact list.
I'm hoping you can answer this question if not, please refer me to someone who can. Since the Campus was built with bond money funded by the taxpayers and now the District will be leasing the buildings out and collecting the lease money where will the proceeds from the leases go and how will North East Los Angeles stake holders benefit from this arrangement
Thanks........................Ciao, Netty
ÿflMessage File name: RE VDK NE Campus questions (14).msg
* emails above are as we received them from Los Angeles Community College District, as a result of a California Public Records Act request, with the exception that we added emphasis with some bolding and character size increase, tried to put them in order and removed private people's emails to protect their privacy.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
ATWATER VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BOARD OF GOVERNORS' MEETING, JULY 8TH
Meeting Board of Governors
7:00 PM Thursday – July 8th, 2010
Christ’s Church of Griffith Park
3852 Edenhurst Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90039
Click here for meeting agenda
ATWATER VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OUTREACH SUB-COMMITTEE MEETING, JULY 7TH
7:00p.m., Wednesday July 7, 2010
Kaldi Coffee & Tea
3147 Glendale Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Help the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council achieve its goal to meet every resident and stakeholder! RSVP to cindy@atwatervillage.org or just come to Kaldi!
REMINDER: ATWATER MOVIE NIGHT, WILLY WONKA, JULY 9TH!
Friday, July 9th, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 10:00pm Location: Los Feliz Municipal Golf Course
3207 Los Feliz Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90039
Your Atwater Village Neighborhood Council proudly presents Movie Night Under the Stars. Our first movie: WILLY WONKA!!! Please support our generous sponsors: DTox Day Spa, Bigfoot Lodge, Revo Cafe, 55 Degree Wine, Jill's Paint, Patricia Aleman at State Farm Insurance, Northland Village Church, and Open Air Productions!
LOS ANGELES COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT’S CITIZENS BOND OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULED THURSDAY JULY 8TH NOON AT VAN DE KAMPS!
Northeast Community Urged To Attend And Demand That the Bond Oversight Committee Ask For Intervention By California Attorney General Jerry Brown, State Controller John Chiang, and Economic Stimulus Inspector General Laura Chick
Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee of LACCD has called a Special Meeting at the Van de Kamps Campus to continue its investigation of potential wrongdoing by LACCD officials in the alleged misuse of taxpayer bond funds to convert the Northeast Satellite Campus of LA City College into a leased tenant facility. A Satellite Community College Campus for Northeast’s students, promised to taxpayers of the Northeast for a decade, will be taken over by the Mayor’s unemployment programs, unless YOUR VOICE is lifted to demand a return of the campus.
Since April 2009, LACCD has falsely claimed that it cannot open and run the Northeast Satellite Campus because of the State budget crisis. This claim directly contradicts two LACCD market demand studies of the Northeast Campus establishing the fact that the demand for profit-making, fee-based courses would fully cover operational costs and subsidize a modest number of traditional community college classes. This claim of the State Budget crisis affecting the opening of the Northeast Campus is a pretense or excuse to hand the buildings over to the Mayor’s unemployment programs and a favorite charter high school, the Alliance for College Ready Public Schools.
The LACCD has done no outreach and no public disclosure of this Public Meeting of the Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee. The job of this Committee is to carefully alert the public if it detects improper misuse of bond funds. The LACCD’s bond counsel released a report in March 2010 pointing out that over the last nine years, the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee has NEVER issued the annual report to the public required by state law.
The Committee should be urged to take some meaningful action to demand that the LACCD provide the Committee with its own independent financial analyst and independent legal counsel. The Committee should also be asked to issue press releases and/or letters calling for outside investigations of the wrongdoing by the California Attorney General, the State Controller’s Audit Office, and the Inspector General for Economic Stimulus Funds.
WHAT: LACCD Citizen’s Bond Oversight Committee Meeting
DATE: Thursday, July 8, 2010
TIME: Noon
PLACE: Van de Kamps Building, Second Floor Conference Room
For more information, please go to http://www.vandekamps.org/ or call Miki Jackson at 323-855-0764.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
ATWATER VILLAGE’S COMMUNITY BOUNDARIES AND DEVELOPMENT MAYBE THREATENED BY ITS INCLUSION IN A CRA/LA PROPOSED REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT AREA
The Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) is seeking to create a redevelopment project area in Northeast Los Angeles (NELA). The project area would cover most NELA communities that lie alongside the river, including some significant sections of Atwater Village, with no regards to the integrity of long established community boundaries. Atwater Village’s boundaries and land-use development uniformity would be threatened by its inclusion in the proposed NELA River Redevelopment Project Area.
This proposed redevelopment project area could in effect segregate Atwater’s northern industrial area into a separate community referred to as “River Glen” by CRA/LA officials. This newly formed “River Glen” neighborhood (a long-time dream of Councilman Tom LaBonge) would also include a noteworthy section of residential property between Chevy Chase Dr and Goodwin Ave.
In addition, the proposed redevelopment project area would also segregate smaller parcel areas that encompass the residential and commercial properties between Fletcher Dr and Carillon St in Atwater’s southern section. As well as all the industrial and some residential property along the Seneca Ave / Casitas Ave corridors next to Atwater’s eastern boundary. These smaller parcel areas would be “lumped” into the neighboring communities of Glassell Park and Elysian Valley, which could give those communities a greater say in the redevelopment of these areas.
These Atwater parcel areas would be subject to the proposed so-called “NELA River Redevelopment Project Area Plan”, currently in the works. The Plan would essentially usurp existing “village friendly” land-use development guidelines in favor of high-density housing and commercial developments. The Plan could allow and provide incentives for increased housing developments with “density bonuses” given to land developers for constructing housing that mandates a portion of the development have “affordable housing” and less parking. Effectively it could recreate a “Drew & Estara” high-density type neighborhood within Atwater Village.
L.A. City Council approval is required for the creation of the NELA River Redevelopment Project Area and Atwater’s inclusion in it. In particular, it would require the votes and willful support of Council President Eric Garcetti (CD13) and Councilmember Tom Labonge (CD4). Once approved, this project area would be governed by CRA/LA with its own staff and governing board, appointed by the City Council.
---
About CRA/LA and Redevelopment Project Areas
CRA/LA is a public agency that uses property taxes to fund commercial / residential developments in partnership with private investors within a redevelopment project area. CRA/LA provides no public services other than to administrate redevelopment projects.
All CRA/LA needs to do to justify the creation or expansion of a redevelopment project area is to declare it "blighted", regardless of community input or actual conditions in the area. California State Law, which governs CRA/LA activities, is as vague as to what constitutes “blight” that almost anything can be designated as "blight".
To make a finding of blight a “study” is authorized by the City Council at the request of CRA/LA. The authorization is usually granted and the formation of new redevelopment areas is largely driven by land developers and/or City staff. A paid consultant to “study” the area or areas is approved by the City Council. Most paid consultants know that their job is not to determine if there is blight, but to declare the selected site or sites blighted regardless of what the actual community conditions may be.
Understandably, many property owners within or adjacent to the project area fear an official designation of blight would hurt property values. Furthermore, all private property within an officially designated project area is subject to the use of eminent domain. Also, building or change-of-use permits can be denied if an applicant does not conform precisely to the redevelopment plan.
To eliminate alleged blight CRA/LA has four extraordinary powers held by no other government authority:
1. ) Tax Increment: A redevelopment agency has the exclusive use of all increases in property tax revenues ("tax increment") generated in its designated project areas.
2. ) Bonded Debt: An agency has the power to sell bonds secured against future tax increment, and may do so without voter approval.
3. ) Business Subsidies: An agency has the power to give public money directly to developers and other private businesses in the form of cash grants, tax rebates, free land or public improvements.
4. ) Eminent Domain: An agency has expanded powers to condemn private property, not just for public use, but to transfer to other private owners.
These four powers represent an enormous expansion of government intrusion into our traditional system of private property and free enterprise.
Once a redevelopment project area is created, all property tax increments within it go directly to CRA/LA. This means all increases in property tax revenues are diverted to the redevelopment agency and away from the communities, cities, counties and school districts that would normally receive them.
While inflation naturally forces up expenses for public services such as education and police, the property tax revenues within a redevelopment area are thus frozen. All new revenues beyond the base year can only be spent for redevelopment purposes; thus starving communities of vital tax revenue.
No CRA/LA development is without its issues, whether these projects are beneficial or not to the community. So you ask what now? Educate yourself, attend community meetings, and contact CRA/LA officials, elected representative and your local neighborhood council. Because CRA receives public (taxpayers) funds, ALL meetings and documents fall under the jurisdiction of the Brown Act and California Public Records Request. In other words, all meeting agendas must be posted within 72 of that meeting and all documents must be given to you at your request. The public has the right to know what its government is doing. Every action that this board does must be open and transparent. Visit the website; look at the Planning Process Chart and the maps. The message here, get involved, work to improve your community. Don’t let government agencies decide what’s best for your community.
For more information visit CRA/LA website at: www.crala.org/nela
or contact:
Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles
Alison Becker, AICP - Associate Planner
6255 Sunset Blvd., Suite 2206
Los Angeles, CA 90028
323.960.2660
Other contact information:
Council President Eric Garcetti, Council District 13
angela.motta@lacity.org (Atwater Village Field Deputy)
Councilmember Tom Labonge, Council District 4
Atwater Village Neighborhood Council
board@atwatervillage.org (general email inbox)
RUMOR MILL: POPULAR ATWATER VILLAGE BLOGGER DITCHES THE VILLAGE FOR AN ADJACENT NEIGHBORHOOD
Popular local blogger, “Atwater Village Newbie”, has apparently relocated to another neighborhood. On a recent Facebook post the blogger laments the difficulties of ordering from local restaurants after his 4-mile move to a new neighborhood. On the Facebook post Mr. Newbie does not mention where he has moved to, nor does he mention his recent relocation on his blog. The rumor mill is abuzz with curiosity about where Mr. Newbie has moved to and if he will be changing his blog’s name and focus anytime soon.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
FUNERAL SERVICE FOR ATWATER VILLAGE YOUTH, SASHA MONIQUE RODRIGUEZ, TUESDAY JULY 6TH
Sasha Monique Rodriguez
Funeral Services
Tuesday, July 6th – 2:30pm
Church of the Recessional – Forest Lawn Memorial Park of Glendale
1712 S. Glendale Ave
Glendale, CA 91205
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Click here for information on a funeral service fundraiser for Sasha (Facebook site)
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