March 21, 2013
Local News & Culture Marina del Rey
Westchester
Free S a n ta M o n i c a
P l aya d e l R e y
Beautifying Lincoln Photo by Jorge M. Vargas, Jr.
Lincoln Boulevard Task Force representatives (from left) Cynthia Rose, Roger Swanson, Bob Taylor, Jim Lawson, Dave Tann and Evan Meyer have been active in generating support for upgrading a portion of the highway south of the 10 freeway.
P l aya V i s t a
M a r V i s ta
Angered by what they feel is an affront on the grassroots democratic process, a group of Los Angeles neighborhood council leaders have asked the city’s chief legal officer to inform Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the City Council that their budgets are not to be touched. The action was prompted by the decision of a City Council committee that would require each of the 95 neighborhood councils to pay 20 percent of their budgets for their own elections in 2014 or the elections would be suspended. The mayor’s budget committee has also proposed slashing the annual allotments of local councils from $37,500 to $27,000. If the elections were to be postponed, “that would be the beginning of the end
of democracy in Los Angeles,” said Jay Handal, the chair of the West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. Neighborhood council elections take place in even numbered years. They were delayed over a year due to municipal budget restraints and were held last year, with the councils paying approximately $1,000 for the services of independent election administrators, who ran the elections with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which oversees all neighborhood councils. In 2010, the city clerk’s office managed the elections. The neighborhood leaders, many of whom are part of a group called the budget advocates, sent a letter to City Attorney Carmen Trutanich apprising him of
VenicE
Task force members jumpstart efforts to enhance aesthetics of major Santa Monica corridor By Vince Echavaria For Santa Monica resident Evan Meyer, art has the power to revitalize an area that has experienced some forms of neglect and is in need of aesthetic enhancements. It is with that cognition that Meyer went to work on Lincoln Boulevard, one of the city’s primary thoroughfares, collaborating with other artists to create a series of murals on the exterior walls of several businesses fronting a stretch of the highway. While some view Lincoln as an area that has long been neglected in regards to aesthetics, Meyer believes that art can be the spark to begin to change people’s perceptions. “Art is the beginning of bringing life to an area,” said Meyer, who has coordinated the painting of murals on establishments such as the Novel Café and Metropolitan Cleaners. “I think that art is proven to be the thing that can change things the quickest.” Meyer is the streetscape committee chair of the Lincoln Boulevard Task Force, which has worked with residents and businesses to gather feedback on their perceptions of the boulevard between the 10 freeway and Venice border and the changes they would like to see happen along the street. The task force, which is supported by the Ocean Park Association, Friends of Sunset Park, Pico Neighborhood Associa-
Neighborhood leaders confront Villaraigosa over loss of funds, canceling elections By Gary Walker
Del Rey
the council committee’s proposal and the possible reduction to their budgets, which they allege is in violation of the city charter. Neighborhood councils are advisory boards that work on local matters and are funded with public money. They provide recommendations to their council representative and serve as forums for neighborhood residents to air their grievances and vote on local and citywide issues including budget matters, planning and development and neighborhood specific topics. “I am writing to urge you to provide full funding to all neighborhood councils that will enable them to carry out their city charter-mandated functions, including (Continued on page 10)
tion and Borderline Neighborhood Group, was formed prior to the changeover of oversight of Lincoln Boulevard from the state to the city of Santa Monica last year. Through its efforts, including holding meetings and conducting surveys, the task force hopes to facilitate the transformation of Lincoln into an attractive, pedestrian-friendly, neighborhood-serving street that reflects the needs and desires of local residents and businesses. In doing so, the group wants to ensure that the boulevard is considered one that is safe, clean, beautiful and green. Task force chair Roger Swanson agrees with Meyer that the new murals are something that can trigger people’s view that changes are starting to take place along the Lincoln streetscape. “Getting art on the boulevard is very noticeable; it’s something that people can embrace and say (the street) is clean and looks nice,” Swanson said. Two opinion surveys conducted of residents and Lincoln businesses were answered by a total of 638 residents, 91 percent of whom live south of the 10 freeway, and 15 percent of the businesses located south of the freeway, Swanson said. Outreach efforts included email notifications, a press release and task force teams that visited all of the businesses and many residences in the survey area. Residents indicated that they would (Continued on page 7)
•This Week•
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Blues musician Guitar Shorty will headline a show at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica Saturday, March 23.