Town Hall Meeting Wednesday Evening

Melrose Action Neighborhood Watch will host a Town Hall Meeting on Wednesday (May 30, 2012) at 7:00 pm at the National Council of Jewish Women building at 543 N. Fairfax Avenue.

According to the group:

The focus of the meeting will be to address recent troubling crime trends.  Concerns about the operation and expansion of sober living facilities and nursing care homes will also be a topic.

Speakers will include our Los Angeles City Council member Paul Koretz, LAPD Wilshire Division Captain Eric Davis, and Senior Lead Officer Art Gallegos.

If you have any concerns about public safety, this is a good opportunity to talk to your local police officers and city representatives.

You can see more information here.

Melrose Village Homes Becoming More Valuable

There is a very interesting commentary in Sunday’s New York Times titled, “Now Coveted: A Walkable, Convenient Place.”

It describes a new study showing that walkable urban neighborhoods have seen much higher increases in home values than have more car-centered suburban areas.

It states:

Walking isn’t just good for you.  It has become an indicator of your socioeconomic status.  Until the 1990s, exclusive suburban homes that were accessible only by car cost more, per square foot, than other kinds of American housing.  Now, however, these suburbs have become overbuilt, and housing values have fallen.  Today, the most valuable real estate lies in walkable urban locations….  Our research shows that real estate values increase as neighborhoods became more walkable, where everyday needs, including working, can be met by walking, transit or biking.

That bodes well for Melrose Village, which is one of the most walkable neighborhoods in the United States.

The commentary is by Christopher B. Leinberger, a professor at the George Washington University School of Business and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

You can read his commentary here, and you can look at his Brookings Institution study here.

And keep on walking….

Save the date: Public Safety Walk – Tuesday, June 26th

This is a “heads up” for this year’s Public Safety Walk. This event is organized by the Mid City West Community Council Public Safety Committee, and it will be held Tuesday evening, June 26th starting around 7 p.m.

The Walk will start at Pan Pacific Park with presentations by officials from the City of Los Angeles, including the LAPD and other information. Then the group will be walking east on Beverly Blvd., including some walking north and south into the nearby residential neighborhoods before returning to Pan Pacific Park.

Watch for more details as we get closer to this informational event.

Proposed Facility on Sierra Bonita Draws Controversy

As we reported last December, a developer has proposed to tear down a small 1920s duplex and build an 11-bed board and care facility for people with dementia on a quiet residential block of Sierra Bonita.

In addition to drawing concern and opposition from many of its residential neighbors, the proposal has also been generating controversy and coverage in the media.

Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times ran an article about the case with the grandiose headline, “Near Melrose, a national healthcare predicament plays out.”

Then today, the Times weighed in with an on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand editorial.

Meanwhile, the Melrose Village Blog just received this e-mail from DJ, a concerned neighbor of the project:

I just want to remind those who read the blog that another hearing regarding a zoning variance for Raya’s Paradise is to be held this Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 2:30 pm in the Board of Public Works Edward R. Roybal Hearing Room 350, City Hall, 200 North Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Raya’s Paradise, a for-profit company, is appealing a decision by the city council, denying them a variance to build a 11 room facility to house dementia and Alzheimer’s patients on N. Sierra Bonita Ave.

Allowing such a giant structure in our small neighborhood would invite others to do the same, and of course would lower our property values significantly. The owner(s) of Raya’s Paradise already own 3 properties on our block, all within a few feet from each other.  Raya’s Paradise also owns an additional 4 facilities within our district.

Please remind everyone how important it is to show up to the hearing and voice their opinion.  Send a message to the City Council that we don’t want our neighborhood turned into a commercial enterprise.  Let’s keep our village beautiful.

If you have the time, please send a letter to our Councilman Paul Koretz, or call his office at (213) 473-7005.

Below are the email addresses of the commissioners and the Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee members reviewing this matter on Tuesday:

paul.koretz@lacity.org

councilmember.reyes@lacity.org

councilmember.huizar@lacity.org

councilmember.englander@lacity.org

chris.koontz@lacity.org

charlie.rausch@lacity.org

sharon.gin@lacity.org 

New Trader Joe’s Open at Third and Fairfax

We have reported previously on the new Trader Joe’s being built at Third and Fairfax, in the new Gilmore Station complex owned by the same company that owns the original Farmers Market across the street.

Well, let the shopping begin!  The store is open, and one of our roving correspondents took these photos of it yesterday.

This Trader Joe’s has wider aisles for shopping, at the request of Trader Joe’s aficionados.

Unfortunately, the store does not have an entrance from the street.  That’s a piece of poor urban planning for which Los Angeles is infamous around the world.  Hopefully it’s a mistake we won’t continue to repeat in the future – especially in neighborhoods like ours, which are ranked as among the most walkable neighborhoods in the nation.

The Gilmore Station complex will also house a Mendocino Farms sandwich shop, a restaurant, and a couple smaller stores – none of which are open yet.  According to the Mendocino Farms contact page, their shop will open on May 31.

Transient Arrested in 2008 Murder

One of the most tragic incidents to ever happen in our neighborhood was the 2008 murder of West Hollywood resident Katan Khaimov, who had been taking an evening walk when he was stabbed.  Khaimov collapsed and died on Romaine Street near Martel Avenue.

The current issue of the Beverly Press reports that the LAPD has at long last made an arrest in the murder.

The suspect is Angel Jesus Gonzalez, age 30.  He has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder.

According to the paper:

The [LAPD] detective described Gonzalez as being a transient at the time of the murder who lived in and around West Hollywood and the Melrose District, and frequented Poinsettia Park….  Lt. Robles, with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said the suspect also has previously been charged with narcotics violations.

Gonzalez is currently in custody at the Men’s Central Jail.

You can read the Beverly Press article here.

Melrose Village BID to Launch January 1

The Melrose Village Blog has reported regularly about plans by the commercial property owners on Melrose Avenue (between Fairfax and La Brea) to create a Business Improvement District (BID).  A BID would pay for numerous improvements and services on the famed corridor.  Potential services include increased trash and litter removal, private security patrols, faster graffiti and sticker removal, better lighting, street trees and beautification, and more marketing of the business district and its excellent restaurants, theaters, and stores.

Denis Weintraub, one of the leaders of the BID effort, recently informed this blog that things are moving forward smoothly.  Denis expects the Melrose Village BID to launch operations on January 1.

This is the best news Melrose Avenue has had in years.  Our City Council member, Paul Koretz, told the Melrose Village Blog, “In a time of tight budgets and cutbacks, a BID is the best tool available to keep streets clean, customers comfortable, and businesses growing and profitable.  I look forward to all the dedicated time and investment from Melrose stakeholders paying off in the form of a popular, reinvigorated Melrose that we will all be proud of.”

Anyone who has been on Highland Avenue recently can tell you what a difference a BID makes.  The Hollywood Media District BID has done a great job of fixing up Highland.  What used to be a barren concrete highway is now a pleasant street with beautiful medians, street trees, attractive lighting, and an increasing number of thriving stores and restaurants.

We will bring you further news on the Melrose Village BID as it develops.