MUSEUMS

By Staff Writers Thirteen participants in the “Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists — Research and Investigation” visited the Larchmont Boulevard offices of this newspaper for a tour, briefing and a Q&A session. The 13 people were from Armenia, Australia, Croatia, Czech Republic, The Gambia, Ghana, Hungary, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and South Sudan.

The visit on Sept. 15 was under the auspices of the U.S. Dept. of State’s International

325 N. Larchmont Boulevard, #158 Los Angeles, California 90004 windsorsquare.org

157 N. Larchmont Boulevard

Take Care of Our Trees

Visitor Leadership Program. Local arrangements, including the outreach to the Larchmont Chronicle, were made by the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles, a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles. The 13 visitors were investigative journalists, reporters, and editors from wire services, print, TV, radio, and digital and social media, as well as professors of journalism. The Chronicle visit was near the end of their three-week sojourn in Los Angeles.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISTS visit the offices of the Larchmont Chronicle to discuss the value of community-focused newspapers in a large media market like Los Angeles with publisher and editor John H. Welborne, at right.

Here’s a simple way to increase your home’s value: add mature trees (or take good care of the ones you already have)! Research has shown that houses on streets with healthy parkway trees — especially if they trees are of the same variety and size — can sell for as much as 20 percent more than those on less shady streets.

Trees work hard for us: they keep us cooler, absorb sound, fight pollution, provide privacy, produce oxygen, and offer beauty, among other things. In exchange, trees need proper care, and this is particularly true now, with the stresses of drought and high temperatures.

Here are some tips for caring for your valuable trees: 1. Most important of all: do not stop or cut back on watering your street trees, even if you’ve replaced your parkway lawn with drought-tolerant plants or decomposed granite. Mature trees need more water than they will get from a drip irrigation system. The best practice is to modify your sprinkler system so that the trees have their own dedicated sprinkler valve. Second best is to run an inexpensive soaker hose under the canopy. In either case, let the trees have a deep drink every month or so (more often during hot spells). Run the soaker hose at a very slow rate for several hours, in early morning or evening. 2. Do not prune trees during hot weather. Most trees should only be pruned when they are dormant, in late fall or early winter. And don’t over-prune them. Harsh pruning can permanently damage trees, especially when they are already stressed by several years of drought. Always use certified arborists, even though they may cost a little more. 3. Don’t plant under the tree. Leave a wide area of mulch underneath it. This will help protect the tree from disease and damage from lawn mowers and weed whackers. 4. Definitely leave a wide area of mulch around your trees if you have replaced your lawn with artificial turf. Fake grass heats up the soil beneath it, kills beneficial microbes and doesn’t allow the tree to breathe.

Our trees deserve special treatment. Let lawns go brown and thirsty shrubs wilt, but protect our hard-toreplace trees. Windsor Square depends on them! For more tips on tree care, go to our website: windsorsquare.org.

Metro K Line to open Oct. 7 on Crenshaw

The Windsor Square Association, an all-volunteer group of residents from 1100 households between Beverly and Wilshire and Van Ness and Arden, works to preserve and enhance our beautiful neighborhood. Join with us! Drop us a line at 325 N. Larchmont Blvd., #158, Los Angeles, CA 90004, or visit our website at windsorsquare.org.

©LC1022 By John Welborne

As Metro completes work in our area on the extension of the D Line subway under Wilshire Boulevard to Westwood, the transit agency has announced the Fri., Oct. 7 opening of the first phase of the K Line that extends from the E (formerly Expo) Line’s existing light rail train station to the south along Crenshaw Boulevard to Inglewood. (“Light rail” trains are ones that have overhead electrification.)

In the following two years, the new K Line light rail system will open two additional stations that will allow connection via a new people mover to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and to the existing light rail C (formerly Green) Line to Redondo Beach and Norwalk.

Also in planning discussions is a northern extension of the K Line to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Beverly Center, West Hollywood and Hollywood. That extension, not yet funded and unlikely to begin construction until 2041, if funded, is expected to connect with the heavy rail (high voltage “third rail” instead of overhead electrification) D (formerly Purple) Line at Wilshire Boulevard and the heavy rail B (formerly Red) Line at the Hollywood and Highland station.

In the meantime, under Wilshire Boulevard, Metro’s contractor is completing interior work at the D Line subway stations at La Brea Avenue and Fairfax Avenue. Effective October 7, there will be weekend street closures above ground lasting approximately 13 weekends, at Wilshire and Fairfax, while concrete decking panels are removed and the street above the new Fairfax Station is restored.

Wilshire Boulevard’s D Line (Please turn to page 11)

METRO K LINE opens Oct. 7 and extends south from the E (formerly Expo) Line, with the future K Line connection to LAX commencing service in 2024.