March - Studio City

Transcription

March - Studio City

& Serving Neighboring Communities
March 2010
No.18
Studio City Still Soaked By the DWP
OF SPECIAL INTEREST
Sunday March 7
Ron Jones Jazz Influence Orchestra with
Special Guest Seth McFarlane
Upstairs at Vitello’s, 4349 Tujunga Ave.
Studio City 818-769-0905
Monday March 8
Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council.
Meets second Monday of each month.
6:30pm. Sherman Oaks Elementary School
Auditorium. 14755 Greenleaf ST. 818-5032399
Tuesday March 9
Studio City Residents Association. Meets
the second Tuesday of each month. Reception 7:00pm meeting 7:30pm. Beverly Garland Holiday Inn Theater. 4222 Vineland
Ave. Studio City
Wednesday, March 17
Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association
The Meeting begins at 7:15 p.m. with a
Social Hour starting at 6:15 p.m. The Meeting is held at Notre Dame High School located at 13645 Riverside Dr., Sherman
Oaks.
Local Events Cont. Pg. 17.
What’s Inside
Shuman at Large..................... 5
Scoops....................................... 14
Wendy Greuel.......................... 7
Tamar Galatzan...................... 7
White Sofas.............................. 8
iTeen......................................... 8
Ellen Vukovich........................ 5
Cibo Città................................. 11
HOT Recipes............................ 11
Talk DVD.................................. 16
Grigware’s Curtain Call.......... 17
Gerald A. Silver........................ 6
Photo by Stephen Phenow
It’s been months since DWP’s 62-inch 95
year old water main located at Coldwater
Canyon Boulevard and Dickens Street ruptured at approximately 10:20 PM, Saturday
Sept. 5th.
The main, which had already been placed
on the DWP short list for urgently needed
repairs, is a major trunk line that takes water from the Los Angeles Reservoir to the
Franklin Reservoir. Water under that much
pressure in order to move up into the hills
peeled the top of the pipe away “like the lid
of a sardine can,” said Kim Hughes, a
spokeswoman for the DWP.
In a matter of seconds with the force of a
runaway freight train, thousands of gallons
of water rushed into the unprotected ground
floors of buildings on Dickens St. and Ventura Boulevard . Cars with their trapped
drivers were carried along by the surge; low
brick walls were knocked down and homes
flooded. Over 150 Firefighters worked for
Photo by Stephen Phenow
Studio City Neighborhood Council.
Board of Directors meets the third Wednesday of each month. CBS Studio Center
Annex 1 Meeting room. 4024 Radford Ave.
Studio City enter Gate A to be directed to
the meeting. 818-655-5400
Monday March 22
Friends of the Studio City Branch Library
Distingushed Speaker’s Series Presents :
SHEILA LOWE, world renowned forensic
handwriting expert, and the creator of the
forensic handwriting mystery series featuring Claudia Rose. Lowe is a real-life fo-
hours, using sand bags
and K-rails to protect
property. Local homes
and businesses were
flooded, one victim requiring rescuing from a
vehicle, but no injuries
were reported. The flow
from the broken pipe was
stopped after about four
hours and the annoyance
seemly had ended. But
then came a new annoyance for the flooded residents. They had to deal
with the DWP to recover
damages.
Today, at first glance,
the neighborhood seems
Allison Rubke of Faire Frou Frou is tired of hearing “no.”
back to normal. Along
Ventura Boulevard just west of Coldwater
tember 6, ...days are filled with stress, beCanyon, the Studio Oaks Park has reopened
cause another bill comes due and we’re
and the restaurants are busy again. Just unwondering how it’s going to get paid. First,
der this veneer of rebirth, however, dozens
a cleanup company charged me $26,000 to
of homeowners and small businesses
package everything up and clean out the
remain unoccupied or under renovastore. Then, for six months I’ve had to get
tion, and are struggling to survive beused to being told “no” and being treated
cause the damages, physical and psylike a criminal. Now we’ve finally hired two
chological, are still with them.
attorneys, one to handle the claims we’ve
Allison Rubke, co-owner with her
made with our insurers and the other to
mother Gaili of “Faire Frou Frou,” a
handle DWP. I want to keep a good reputaboutique which carries some of the
tion with my suppliers but its hard. We’ve
most high-end European lingerie availjust barely been able to come up with the
able in the US, has been closed since
funds to reopen the store.”
September but will reopen at the end
Il Tramezzino, one of three sandwich resof March. She had this to say about
taurants in LA County owned by Rick
her DWP experience. “I haven’t had
Walken and Veronique DeLestang, was rea decent night of sleep since 1 AM Sep-
By Christopher Davidson
Reopened Il Tramezzino, next to a deserted The Atik
Mayor Marches for Puppies
Cont. Pg. 18
dog, one cat at a time, one day at
a time…and we can make a
difference…we are making a difOn Saturday February 13th a crowd gathference.”
ered in the parking lot of SweetHarts desLefevre, who adopted her two
sert shop at the intersection of Woodman
dogs
from Los Angeles’ Baldwin
and Ventura where LA Mayor Antonio
Park
county shelter and whose
Villaraigosa, his girlfriend, KTLA news
face
adorns
Best Friends’ billanchor and animal advocate Lu Parker and
boards,
told
the
audience of anitheir adopted dog Monkey were guests of
mal
advocates
that she’s long
honor in a two mile march to spotlight resbeen
a
believer
that the way a
cued dogs from shelters and dogs up for
society
treats
its
animals
is a readoption.
flection
of
the
health
of
that
soThe walk was sponsored by Best Friends’
ciety.
Animal Society, whose national spokesper“Being a part of this community
son, actress Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight),
From (L) Best Friends Animal Society volunteer Debbie Johnson, Mayor
has allowed me to be a part of
was there with her adopted dogs Jack Sprat
Villaraigosa, Lu Parker, volunteer Lindsay Reeves
people who I think have the right
and Mama Bear.
idea about what it means to care
The Mayor told the crowd of some 200
around the idea that we have to reduce the
for
one
another
and love each other…and
red-shirted animal lovers that Parker
number of animals killed in our shelters.”
caring
for
these
animals is a reflection of
adopted her dog from the South LA shel“You hear a lot of negative things about
your
heart
and
your
spirit,” she said.
ter, which he called “ground zero” for the
the shelters,” said Parker, who works
“Have
a
heart…adopt”
was the message imfight in Los Angeles to “promote adoption
closely with Best Friends. “But we are
and promote a community coming together
making strides. We have to remember one
Cont. Pg. 17
Story & Photo Melissa Maroff
Councilmember Paul Krekorian’s Column Debut Pg. 5 / School Notes Pg. 4 / Hoops Report Pg. 19
Sherman Oaks Studio City Encino News March, 2010
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This is the first installment of a monthly column covering school-related news and
events in the South Valley. If you’d like your
school to be featured in this column, please
contact Christopher Davidson by phone at
818-281-8731 or by email at
[email protected].
Christopher Davidson
100% tax deductible and the money raised
pays for school programs and staff not supported by the LAUSD — a full-time music
teacher, a school nurse, and a state-of-theart computer center and science lab.
East Valley High School
Studio City Kiwanis president Carson
Schreiber has sponsored a new Kiwanis Educating Youth (Key Club) for this spankingnew LAUSD campus with over 1500 students at Burbank and Vineland. With 30
members, it’s the first community service
club to be chartered at the school.
The Toluca Lake Chamber of Commerce
donated $600.00 towards the chartering fee.
The inaugural event was a fundraiser for
earthquake relief in Haiti. Students set up a
booth on school grounds and successfully
raised about $400.
Photo by Mark Johnson
This month, the schools in the news are Carpenter Avenue Elementary, Sherman Oaks
Elementary (SOES) and East Valley High.
On Monday March 1, school board member
Tamar Galatzan and Studio City Neighborhood Council representatives Ron Taylor,
Lisa Sarkin, Marilyn White Sedel and Rita
Villa visited Carpenter to dedicate the
school’s Science Garden, where children
learn first-hand to grow vegetables and herbs.
Thanks to the Carpenter gardening team,
city kids are going back to the land. Parents
Oona Hanson and Mary Teresa FortunaKuser decided last year to set up an edible
schoolyard. They garnered the support of
science teacher Lori Belateche, LAUSD
Green Teams Coordinator Mud Baron, Carpenter parent and muralist Lois Keller, plant
manager Rigo Rincon, School Board member Tamar Galatzan and the Studio City
Neighborhood Council. Carpenter PTA donated $500 for seeds and supplies. The
SCNC recruited Lowes’ Hardware to provide
a $3000 account to buy plants, rakes, shovels, and tomato baskets. The LAUSD donated a $2000 sprinkler system.
Belateche and the gardening team spent a
10 hour day last spring setting up the garden
with Mud Baron’s help. Keller painted a
mural of the sun shining over cropland on
the adjoining wall.
Belateche has shown the children how to
School Notes
Tamar Galatzan and principal Joe Martinez with Carpenter students
grow watermelon, arugula, radishes, tomatoes, and most recently, lettuce, which the
3rd graders harvested yesterday. “I’m a farm
girl from Iowa, so I love this stuff,” Belateche
said. “Digging, planting, cleaning,
composting — it comes naturally to me; I’m
used to it!”
After the March 1 harvest, 3rd graders dug
happily into their lettuce. “It’s really good,”
said 3rd grader Emma R., “but I like the eating part better than the planting.”
“I couldn’t believe it !,” Tyler P’s mother
said. “Ty ate three plates! Three! He doesn’t
Haig It Up
touch it at home.”
SOES
Ali Graiwer, parent of a kindergartener at
SOES, is organizing a silent auction and
raffle for her school’s annual spring
fundraiser, which is sponsored by the parents’ association and scheduled for March
13 at the Beverly Garland Hotel on Vineland
and Moorpark.
Although it’s an adults-only event, the 855
SOES students will really be the guests of
honor at this $65-a-head dinner dance and
gala. Donations from local businesses are all
Volunteer opportunities for
kids and adults.
Street Cleaning
Renovating local shelters.
Helping local homeless youth.
Cleaning the LA River.
Hiking and running for charity.
www.haigitup.org
Find us on Facebook.
$1,990,000
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Shuman At Large
From the Publisher
This month we follow up on our October
story about the DWP pipe that burst back
in September on Coldwater Canyon and
how residents and business owners are coping after the flood. In light of the insensitivity shown by DWP employees to many flood
victims, the fact that Mayor Villaraigosa is
proposing adding a new surcharge to our
DWP bills has outraged citizens still reeling from increased water and trash fees.
Listen up Mayor and City Council members,
columnist Ellen Vukovich has a suggestion,
just cut 10, 15, or 25% off of every city
employees salary, including DWP employees who garnered a raise last year as teachers were getting laid off due to the city budget crisis.
If city employees take a pay cut to balance
the budget, they will still have jobs and good
health insurance, which will ensure they are
in better shape than a lot of us.
Phil Shuman gives us a peek into the City
Council Chambers, our newest
councilmember Paul Krekorian debuts his
column here in the News. Christina Wheeler
Terra’s new column “Cibo Citta”, or City
Food in Italian, shows us that eating well
is the best revenge at two new casual spots
that satisfy the palate without straining the
wallet.
ADDRESS: 827 Hollywood Way, Suite
233, Burbank CA, 91505
www.shermanoaksstudiocitynews.com
PHONE: 818.982.5002 (advertising)
E-MAIL: [email protected]
Staff
Publisher / Editor
M. L. Marks
Associate Publisher
Jim Kaplan
Associate Editor / Graphics / Production
Stephen Phenow
Contributors:
Wendy Greuel
Phil Shuman
Paul Krekorian
Gerald A. Silver
Ellen Vukovich
Tamar Galatzan
Jon Epstein
Vicki Stern
Don Grigware
Anna Terra
Cristina Wheeler Terra
Christopher Davidson
Michael Mann
Stephen Phenow
The SO SC Eo NEWS is published monthly,
and delivered to 20,000 homes in Sherman
Oaks, Studio City, & Encino areas.
Delivered by Great Western Adv. Dist. INC.
Delivery problems? Call (213) 627-0539
All Contents Copyright 2010 BVP
All Rights Reserved.
The
Councilman
Speaks...
Who’s in Charge?
It was a brief but telling moment in the
ongoing budget ‘crisis’ in the city of Los Angeles. During one of the seemingly endless
City Council hearings on proposed budget
cuts, Councilman Dennis Zine called for a
closed session in the “back room,” as he put
it. Councilman Tom LaBonge, who has a
great sense of humor and can tell you what
Isaac Van Nuys had for dinner on his wedding night, stood up to correct him. “Not the
‘back room’ ”, he said, “ we’ll meet in the
Executive Conference Room.” His point was
that he didn’t want the huge crowd in the
Council chambers to be any more upset than
it already was by hearing the term
‘backroom’ because of the symbolism and
negativity that phrase invokes.
Ah yes, the old fashioned cigar- filled whiskey filled back rooms where deals were made
behind closed doors with powerbrokers and
lobbyists and elected officials and who
knows who else? Well, they didn’t necessarily make any deals and the cigars and whiskey I’m pretty sure are gone, but they sure
do meet in what is actually is a “back room.”
It’s a well appointed paneled meeting room
off the hallway behind the Council Chambers, off limits to the public and even the
press. They literally have it guarded, although loosely. It’s where the Council goes
when they have to discuss so called “personnel” matters that must remain secret and
confidential, until of course someone leaks
it to the Times.
On this day, like so many others, was for a
discussion of the latest negotiations with the
labor unions. So the Council members went
in there, and a few hours later came out with
their latest and newest (as of this writing)
plan to cut 3000 more jobs from the City’s
payroll. But wait, they’re not really cutting
the jobs, they’re going to move people
around to other departments like Airports and
Public Works. Maybe some people will retire. Maybe some vacant jobs will actually
be eliminated. And why 3000? Why not 2500
more? Or 5000? Are they cuts, are they layoffs? Firings? Depends who’s asking. These
are questions with no answers. This latest
recommendation, which seemed fairly drastic, is languishing out there in limbo like virtually every other “action” the City has tried
to take to solve this “crisis”.. If these guys
are acting on a crisis, I’d hate to call them if
my house was burning down.
Now this is where it all gets interesting. If
you’re trying to keep current, this recommendation followed by a couple of weeks the
Council’s well thought out decision to talk
for days and do nothing on the original recommendation to cut 1000 jobs, which was
then followed by the Mayor himself showing up in Council Chambers and announcing that since the Council didn’t have the
political will to cut the jobs, he was going to
unilaterally impose the cuts using the ‘’power
vested in him by the City Charter, which was
then followed by the new City Attorney’s
people saying that the Mayor didn’t have the
authority to order layoffs in the City
Attorney’s office which were included in that
original 1000, which of course has nothing
By Paul Krekorian
As the city continues to grapple with mounting deficits, I was pleased to stand up for a
vital function of neighborhood empowerment recently to ensure neighborhood’s do
not lose their electoral voice. On Tuesday,
Feb. 23, the Education and Neighborhoods
Committee, which I chair, sent a recommendation to the City Council to allow neighborhood council elections – some of which
are slated to take place as early as March 2 –
to continue as planned.
In addition, my committee asked that the
city study the feasibility of neighborhood
councils controlling their own elections, instead of the City Clerk, by 2012. That report
is due back to the committee in 120 days.
The council approved our recommendations unanimously.
We all acknowledge the need for important
cost cutting measures throughout Los Angeles. However, we simply cannot allow cutbacks to gut this very successful neighborhood council system. Neighborhood councils are a vital tool to empower communities across Los Angeles and I was unwilling
to limit their voice. We must not balance our
budget on the backs of neighborhood council members, most of whom serve an essential role in our communities’ growth.
But the fight to maintain a vigorous sense
of neighborhood empowerment in Studio
City and the rest of Los Angeles is far from
over. As chairman of the Education and
Neighborhoods Committee, I assure you that
I will continue to take the necessary steps to
balance the need for stringent fiscal reform
with strengthening community empowerment.
For more updates on neighborhood council
issues, please feel free to visit
cd2policy.wordpress.com often.
Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian represents the city’s second council district, which includes Studio City, Sherman
Oaks and other parts of the San Fernando
Valley. Follow him on Twitter
(@PaulKrekorian), friend him on Facebook
and check cd2.lacity.org for more information.
One Call Does it All
Drywall Plumbing Electric & more!
818-995-4MrH
Lic #807495
By Phil Shuman
to do with the fact that this new City Attorney was the candidate the Mayor did NOT
support in the last elections. This mini controversy was then followed by a couple of
Council members half-heartedly and very
briefly suggesting raising taxes, which didn’t
go anywhere, all of which was interspersed
with Controller Wendy Greuel appearing in
Council chambers for as briefly as humanly
possible to agree and confirm that we’re in
dire circumstances, and City Administrative
Officer Miguel Santana politely and quietly
and repeatedly reminding anyone and everyone that we can’t afford to delay even though
that’s what they were doing. Then there were
discussions about including the Police and
Fire Department in the cuts, which the Mayor
adamantly continues to oppose, for now, until he doesn’t. But they did OK holding off
on spending money for any new Police recruiting classes. Don’t forget amidst all this
the major credit ratings agencies downgraded
L.A.’s bond ratings, which further raised
blood pressure and alarms with no immediate solutions.
Through it all, city workers (presumably off
duty, but who knows?) filled Council chambers wearing T-shirts with slogans on them
like “Recall Tony and “Dead Man Walking”
and hats that read “DOA” and other sarcastic pessimistic clever messages. Talk about a
morale lift! Oh, and don’t forget the debate
over whether to save the two people who
hand craft the beautiful proclamations, commendations, and certificates that the Council spends a lot of time handing out to deserving citizens and employees. We all love
to get a big “thank you” so let’s save those
jobs right?
Am I painting a picture here? To call this
confusing, misleading, disappointing, and
even ridiculous doesn’t begin to explain it.
You really have to be there to see this operation in person. As a resident of the city, you
have to wonder who, if anyone is in charge?
Do they all have their own agendas or are
we on the same team here? Okay, we have a
huge budget deficit. Decide what you’re going to do, negotiate it and do it. The State
did it. Not that well, but it eventually got
done. Here it’s one step forward two steps
backwards. The Unions seem to have more
power than the elected officials. Nothing can
be done until the Unions agree. Great. I’m a
Union member myself and I’m all for power
to the people, so to speak. From what I understand the Unions have made lots of concessions, are willing to make more in exchange for job security, but they don’t trust
the City’s numbers either. I know this is complex . I know there is no easy answer. But
this is your job! You get paid a lot to govern, to make budgets, to manage departments,
to RUN THE CITY. At least the Mayor gave
it a shot though everyone kind of ignored him.
Council folks ? Hello? Where are you?
Everyone’s following the news. We get it. But
it’s not just union members that aren’t so sure
about the numbers. What’s the public to
think? These numbers are thrown out there
in a seemingly random way. We need 1000
layoffs. Then it’s 1500, then it’s 3000 for a
Cont. pg. 17
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From the Desk of SOHA
The Ventura Blvd. Specific
Plan Must Be Amended
In the 1980’s, existing building regulations
allowed the construction of a massive sixstory building at Ventura Blvd. and Gloria
Ave. This over-scale building caused an
enormous public outcry. This led to the Ventura Cahuenga Blvd. Specific Plan that was
approved in February 1991. The Plan was
designed to control traffic and growth for the
17-mile stretch of Ventura Blvd. The Ventura Cahuenga Blvd. Specific Plan, is sometimes just called the Ventura Blvd. Specific
Plan. It controls development on Ventura
Blvd. from Cahuenga Pass, through Studio
City, Sherman Oaks and Tarzana through to
Woodland Hills. It has undergone few revisions since its inception.
The Plan established basic development
rights and building maximums (these vary
by community): Maximum building bulk
(floor area ratio (FAR) 1.25:1) Front and
side yard minimums were established. Maximum lot coverage was set at 60% or 70%,
depending up location. 15% of parking lots
must be landscaped. Maximum building
height was set at 30 or 45 feet, depending
upon location (except near Sepulveda which
set the maximum at 75 feet). Minimum parking requirements were established.
The intent and goal of this Plan was to keep
traffic moving, while still allowing a reasonable amount of development to take place
along Ventura Blvd. Over 4.1 million sq. ft.
of new development was envisioned by the
Plan in its first phase. The second phase envisioned an additional 4.4 million sq. ft. of
new development. Many people believe the
Plan is a failure because it has not controlled
the traffic caused by the development on the
boulevard. Millions of dollars of developer
fees for traffic mitigation have been collected
but not spent on solving or even mitigating
traffic problems. The Plan is far too liberal,
allowing excessive commercial and residential development on Ventura Blvd. The Plan
initially proposed many intersection widening to be paid for by Project Impact Assessment (PIA) fees, collected from new developers. Only the new development paid PIA
fees, while existing buildings were exempt.
The Plan anticipated making major intersection improvements at 30 key intersections. The idea was to flare, or widen Ventura Blvd. 370 feet on both sides of the intersections. But business owners who stood
to lose a few feet of sidewalk frontage to
improve traffic flow, soon objected. The City
then reduced the number of intersection improvements from 30 to only 19. And most
of these street improvements have never been
made because of lack of money.
The Plan originators saw Ventura Blvd. as
primarily a local retail-serving street, and
secondarily as a regional transportation artery. Thus, they expected a large portion of
the funding for street improvements to come
from local sources. This was unrealistic because it placed the major burden too heavily
on new development while allowing regional
sources, and the State to pay little. A lot of
Ventura Blvd. traffic is regional, not just local. Another problem with the Plan is the
lack of adequate parking along Ventura Blvd.
City planners rely on “shared parking” as a
basis for determining parking requirements.
Shared parking is accomplished by cutting
City of Angels
By Ellen Vukovich
By Gerald A. Silver
back on the number of parking spaces required because of complementary uses. For
example, an office building with restaurants
and theaters would supposedly share spaces
by using them at different times of the day or
evening. The offices would use the parking
spaces during the day, and the theatres and
restaurants at night.
The reality is that uses overlap and create significant parking problems. In worse case, the
restaurant, theaters, and office uses might well
be conducted simultaneously, creating parking shortages.
Another major weakness in the Plan is the
new apartments and condos springing up
along the boulevard. These will generate a
lot of the traffic but do not pay their fair share
toward street improvements. The residential
units now built on the boulevard pay lower
PIA fees than commercial development.
There are no limits on the number of apartments and condos that can be built on Ventura Blvd. And worst of all, the square footage of apartments and condos added to the
boulevard are not even counted in reaching
the maximum build-out that is allowed.
The Plan does not explicitly ban digital billboards. Some billboard owners are seeking
to convert existing billboards to brightly lit
digital billboards, under the guide of “modernization.” S. Gail Goldberg the LA Planning Director issued a Director’s Determination Letter allowing such conversions. She
stated: “Currently, new billboards are prohibited by the Specific Plan; however, the
maintenance and replacement of existing billboards is permitted as long as they are not
larger in area or greater in height.”
The Plan contains many other weaknesses.
Unsavory business establishments such as
marijuana dispensaries, late night cafe/entertainment and night clubs proliferate. There
continues to be an excessive number of alcohol outlets. The Plan gives a new developer
of a mixed-use project a 20% density bonus.
This provision encourages large, over-scale
projects with hundreds of apartments over
commercial on the ground floor. Over the
years, many low-rise buildings will convert
to multi-story, high-density apartment buildings.
Revising the Plan would encourage developers to return Ventura Blvd. to a convenient
retail shopping facility serving the local community, rather than a high-density residential/
commercial corridor, or freeway by-pass
route. Here are the changes that are needed:
1. No additional residential units, such as condos, or apartments be permitted on Ventura
Blvd.
2. No mixed-use projects should be permitted, and no mixed-use density bonuses be
allowed.
3. New signs rules must be put in place to
prevent sign “modernizations”, including
digital billboards.
4. Maximum allowable build-out should be
reduced, until traffic problems are resolved.
5. PIA fees should be adjusted upwards to
generate needed funds for street improvements.
6. Planned street and intersection improvements must be implemented before any new
Los Angeles. The City of the Angels. A
place where dreams became reality for those
daring to journey through the mountains and
plains westward bound. Or for those who
had the good fortune to be born here. Where
the promise of a better day always dawns
because of the warm weather. And the almost year-round sunshine makes one forget that there are some bad days too.
Los Angeles. Set amidst the mountains and
the sea, with their accessible abundant pleasures, thanks to open roads, numerous freeways and highways. Where a vacation isn’t
just for two weeks or a year but any day.
Los Angeles. With its still great neighborhoods. And, a once great neighborhood-centered public education system. Where
people once left their front doors unlocked
never fearing their neighbor. And children
played in their front yards. Where public
facilities like parks and libraries were a
neighborhood’s pride.
Los Angeles. Where the living was so easy
and so good thanks to abundant jobs and
industries, that voters continually forgave
City Hall for its trespasses by rewarding
them with their hard-earned cash – thanks
to bond measures, tax increases and parcel
tax measures.
Los Angeles. Almost close to bankruptcy
in 2010. Where elected officials, most of
whom have no practical business experience, now must lead the nation’s second
largest city out of a fiscal nightmare of their
own creation. Where the public, with hundreds of thousands of years worth of business experience just for the asking, is looked
at as the enemy instead of allies. Where
doing business costs too much and is driving away Mom and Pop stores. Where living costs too much for its average resident.
Where homes cost too much for its average
resident. And, no matter how much money
the home and business owners pay downtown, it is never enough to pay for services
once covered by property and business
taxes.
Los Angeles. Where City Council Members answer first to public employee unions
(who pay millions of dollars to put them in
office) and shut-out the public from having
their rightful say. The very-same public that
faithfully votes them into office anyway!
Where a 212 Million Dollar Deficit keeps
growing in the amount of $338,000 per day
because its leaders can’t say “All employees get to keep their jobs provided if they
construction is permitted.
7. New uses along Ventura Blvd. should primarily serve local residents.
8. Building height and bulk should be reduced and building setback requirements increased.
9. Exceptions, variances or other deviations
from the Plan should not be permitted.
10 Honest, reliable and complete traffic
studies must be conducted before any
project is approved.
11. Shared parking arrangements should not
be permitted.
Gerald A. Silver is President of Homeowners of Encino. He is a member
of the Encino Neighborhood Council. He can be reached at
[email protected].
6
agree to a 10, 15 or 25% percent cut-back in
their salaries.” Where a looming pension
deficit of 10.5 Billion Dollars has yet to be
addressed. Where infrastructure fails and still
developers build bigger buildings, bring
more cars, without paying their fair share.
Instead, the City answers to its bankers, and
sells off its prized assets during a recession.
Los Angeles. Where parks, libraries, paved
streets, swept streets, trimmed trees, planning
and building and safety and other personnel
in service to the public are soon to be relegated to the past.
Los Angeles. Hopeless? Defeated? Ruined? Or, Promising? Transitioning? Renewed?
What would you like it to be?
Next SOHA Meeting
Guest Speaker is A.J. Duffy, head of the
UTLA, discussing Los Angeles Unified
School District issues. Wednesday, March
17, 2010, 6:15PM refreshments, 7:15PM
meeting. Cafeteria, Notre Dame High
School, Riverside and Woodman.
Ellen Vukovich is a Sherman Oaks Homeowner.
Budget Woes II
It’s no secret that the City of L.A. is facing a massive budget deficit. The City must
close a $212 million dollar deficit by June
30th. That is why it is critical that every
available dollar go towards reducing the
budget deficit.
In light of our troubling economic situation, the audit I released recently is particularly disappointing. My audit of the City’s
Real Property Trust Fund found that, over
the last 12 years, nearly $25 million has
gone into City Councilmembers’ discretionary accounts instead of the General Fund,
where it could help reduce the City’s budget deficit and preserve critical City services.
Here in the City there are 15 Real Property Trust Funds– one for each Council district. These funds receive money primarily
from two sources – the sale of surplus properties and oil pipeline franchise fees.
Currently, if a piece of City property is
sold, 50%f the proceeds go into the discretionary account of the Councilmember in
whose district it sits at the time of sale, while
only 50% goes into the City’s General Fund.
Similarly, the City collects oil pipeline franchise fees when companies run pipelines
under City streets. 50% of this revenue goes
into the Councilmembers’ discretionary accounts, while only 50% goes into the General Fund.
Of the nearly $25 million, we found $17.4
million from surplus property sales and $7.3
million resulted from oil pipeline franchise
Public School Choice: Round 1
“Let the games begin.” The phrase that resonated in Vancouver, Canada, last month could
also apply to the first round of voting February 23 on LAUSD’s much-discussed Public
School Choice resolution. Like the 2010
Winter Olympics, the process involved many
participants and a number of events; in this
case, votes on which entities would be selected to operate 30 new and poorly-performing schools.
Like the Olympics, the vote transpired very
smoothly. After seeing the list of 44 speakers, a number of us feared a long, protracted
and contentious meeting, lasting until the wee
hours of the morning.
Surprisingly by 5:30 p.m., the meeting was
over. The behavior of all parties bode well
for future votes on Public School Choice.
In the end, the Los Angeles Unified School
District emerged as the operator of most of
the school sites under consideration. Going
school by school, the Superintendent in most
instances made a strong recommendation
based on an extensive analysis of test scores,
academic achievement, lesson plans, and
ability to provide services for special education and English Learner students. With one
exception - a school located in South Los
Angeles - I agreed with the Superintendent’s
selections.
Still, I did feel at this meeting somewhat
like an outsider. As I noted publicly, none of
the new or poorly-performing schools up for
vote in this first go-round were located in
my district.
In one sense, that’s a compliment to the
By Wendy Greuel
fees. With the City facing
such a large budget deficit,
having a policy that takes
money away from the General Fund is simply outrageous.
That is why I called on the City Council
and Mayor to immediately adopt this audit’s
recommendations and guarantee that all
money generated from surplus property sales
and oil pipeline franchise fees goes into the
General Fund.
Everyone is going to need to sacrifice to
help solve our current fiscal crisis, and I hope
that the City Council will show some leadership and sacrifice from their discretionary
funds.
When I was a Councilmember, I authored
the proposal to move all funds generated
from surplus property sales into the General
Fund. The Council approved the proposal
for the past two fiscal years, which has
helped save the City $1.9 million thus far,
and potentially $7 million more this year.
Particularly during these dire economic
times, we need to take this money out of individual Councilmembers’ unrestricted discretionary funds and put it all into the General Fund to reduce the City’s budget deficit
and maintain critical services, particularly
public safety.
Wendy Greuel is the current City Controller of the
City of Los Angeles
7
By Tamar Galatzan
schools in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, North
Hollywood and other parts of my district,
which perform at levels well above LAUSD’s
danger zone. It is also reflective of the lack
of severely overcrowded schools in the areas I represent, which has been the trigger
for new construction.
I have expressed my concern to the Superintendent on more than one occasion that the
reforms that have been issued by LAUSD in
the past few years repeatedly overlook half
of the San Fernando Valley. I attribute this
unfortunate situation both to a systematic
pattern of the District — and other downtown-based government agencies — to dismiss parts of the Valley, along with the adoption of rules that don’t account for the circumstances of these particular schools.
This has to change. It is foolish and selfdefeating for the District to exclude for whatever reason a group of schools from the perpupil-funding pilot project, Innovative Design, school-based management, the International Baccalaureate, and Public School
Choice. The suspicion Valley parents understandably feel about the District and its policies is only exacerbated by this situation.
For reform to succeed, it is not enough to
improve failing schools. That notable goal
must be supplemented with efforts to allow
good, and even great, schools to have access
to new funding and instructional models.
Until that happens, the phrase “reform for
all” will ring hollow.
Tamar Galatzan represents more than 100 Valley
schools on the LA Unified Board of Education.
White Sofas and Other
Stupid Parenting Mistakes
My son and I are having a “slight disagreement” about something. It actually started
out as a “discussion,” which means I “discussed,” while he listened to Itunes. Then it
became an “argument,” which means that I
“argued,” while he video chatted. Now it’s
entered a new phase, a phase I like to call
“all out war,” which means I do everything
I can to get him to see my point, while he
plays a video game. And it’s all over a wet
towel.
Maybe I’m just a fussy Mom, but after my
son takes a shower, I’d like him to hang up
his drenched towel somewhere in the bathroom. We actually planned ahead for this.
There are hooks in his bathroom and several lovely chrome “towel” bars. They’re
even called “towel” bars, just so there’s no
confusion. Instead, my son drops that soggy
towel on the hardwood floor in his room or
he balls it up and leaves it on his wood desk.
The other day I found it on the couch in the
family room. It was watching the evening
news. So, I asked him nicely, “Could you
please (that was the nice part) hang up your
towel in the bathroom…You know, there’s
a “towel bar” in there.” “Yeah, no problem,”
he answered, then he immediately went back
to dropping the damp thing on the floor
again.
This went on for months. Me asking, him
dropping. When the towel and I read the
newspaper together the other morning, I
decided this meant war. My strategy was
simple: if he thought it was alright to leave
iTeen
The Media
The media controls almost everything in
our world today. If they want to make somebody look really good they can easily do
that, and if they want to make somebody
look bad, easy.
When the “Tiger Woods Cheating” headline came out, the media said that Elin had
hit Tiger Woods with a golf club. But as
we saw in his apology speech, he clearly
stated that Elin never hit him with a golf
club.
Another story that the news changed is
the story of Amanda Knox. When her
roommate was murdered, the news said that
she was making out with her boyfriend after Meredith Kercher was killed. The news
also said that she was doing cartwheels at
the jailhouse.
When Edda Mellas and Curt Knox,
Amanda’s parents, were on Oprah they said
that when she found out her roommate was
murdered, she hugged her boyfriend, not
made out with him. They also said that
when her boyfriend was being questioned
at the jailhouse she was doing homework
and when she got up to stretch, two friendly
Sherman Oaks Studio City Encino News Editorial Submission Policy
The Sherman Oaks Studio City Encino News welcomes
your letters and articles.
Letters to the Editor should be no more than 300 words,
although the News reserves the right to make exceptions to this policy.
Hand written letters are acceptable only if they are legible. Letters must contain the writer’s telephone num-
8
By Vicki Stern
the drenched towel everywhere, then I would
leave it everywhere, too. And it would really
be drenched. That night, when he crawled
under his covers, he had a new addition to
his bed. When he came upstairs to complain,
I had the look of innocence about me.
“What?” I asked. He held up the wet towel.
“Oh, that. I thought it was okay to leave the
towel anywhere.”
The following week the towel made appearances crammed in his school backpack,
stuffed into his baseball cleat, folded up in
his sweatshirt, and my personal favorite, a
piece of it went with him in his blazer pocket
to a Bar Mitzvah.
I’d like to say I made my point. But last
night as I got in my car to head out to dinner,
I sat down on something wet. I may have won
the battle but the war appears to be ongoing.
Vicki Stern used to be funny when she was a writer/
producer of sitcoms for TV. Now she’s a Mom and
she’s not funny anymore...just ask her kid.
By Jon Epstein
age 13
guards came in and asked her if she could do
the splits, and that’s all she did, no cartwheels.
In these two instances, the news has just not
checked their sources.
These two instances have also made the public think that Elin hit and abused Tiger, and
that Amanda was not sad at all and was doing
cartwheels that showed she didn’t even care
her friend was killed. These mistakes in the
media have made Elin, and Amanda both look
bad when they did not perform the tasks that
the media claimed they both did. Mistakes
like this can easily not have happened. People
say sticks and stones can break your bones
but words can not harm you, but in these cases
they did, and left a lasting effect.
Contact me at [email protected]
ber and address for verification purposes only.
The Sherman Oaks Studio City Encino News reserves
the right to accept, reject or edit letters and other editorial material. The SOSC E News does not return letters, photos or other editorial submissions.
Editorial material of 500 words or less may be mailed
to Big Valley Publications, 827 Hollywood Way, Suite
233, Burbank CA 91505 or
emailed to
[email protected]. The deadline is the
15th of the month prior to month of publication.
Gearing Up for Read Across America
By the Staff
Huntington Learning Center in Encino is
participating in Read Across America, the
National Education Association’s campaign
to encourage reading by school children. As
part of the campaign, the center is distributing bookmarks with the NEA “Reader’s
Oath” printed over a Cat in the Hat color
motif to selected classes in the Valley. March
coincides with the birthday of Cat-in-Hat
author, Dr. Seuss, an inspiration for bringing
reading excitement to children.
“Reading is the gateway to success in life,
and at Huntington, one of our core programs
is to give children the tools to read fluently,
and with increased comprehension, while
building critical thinking skills vital to success,” said Ofra Weinberg, Director of the
Encino Huntington Learning Center.”
Here are of some her ideas for parents to help
encourage their children to read:
Mark your calendar for reading time. Designate a day and time where each family
member in your household comes together
for at least 30 minutes to take turns in reading something aloud.
Bring reading into the kitchen. Find a recipe
for your next family dinner and ask your child
or teenager to help you read the recipe and
prepare the meal. Children and young adults
always love to help out in the kitchen and
when it comes time to eat, he or she will be
proud to say that he or she helped out!
Take a library field trip. Not only do libraries offer a ton of books for you and your children to choose from, they have a myriad of
activities for children and teenagers that promote reading. Check out your local library’s
monthly calendar of events, and also make
regular trips there with them to choose
weekly or monthly reading materials.
Ask for help. If you need assistance with encouraging your children to read, ask the librarian, your child’s teachers, or other education professionals for help. Tutoring centers like the Huntington Learning Center can
help your child improve their reading skills.
The center is also offering a one time special
of $99 for its diagnostic testing as an incentive to parents to improve their child’s reading and study skills.
For more information about Huntington,
please call 818-907-5557.
IS YOUR LOVED ONE LONELY? COMFORT KEEPERS CAN HELP
Loneliness is a serious issue among seniors. The U.S. Census Bureau’s latest statistics
mention that nearly 10 million elderly Americans over the age of 65 live alone. Loneliness, boredom and lack of self-confidence or self-worth lead many seniors to contemplate suicide. The National Institute of Mental Health noted that in 2004, nearly 16% of
suicide deaths were individuals over 65 years of age.
“Never underestimate the power of companionship,” advises Sharon Sherbert, Certified
Senior Advisor and owner of Comfort Keepers In-Home Care, located in Encino. “We
have many clients who live in big beautiful homes, who tell us they feel like they’re
being punished and in solitary confinement. Their families are busy and many have
outlived their friends. The only time they get out of the house is for doctor visits. They
typically get depressed which leads to more problems and more doctor visits. Whereas
if they just had someone visit with them for a few hours a day, share a meal or take a
walk together, they wouldn’t be so lonely or depressed.”
With today’s busy and demanding lives, it can be difficult for family members to always
be there when needed, and that’s where Comfort Keepers can help
Comfort Keepers is an independently owned and operated franchise (part of an international organization with over 600 offices) that provides seniors with the extra assistance
they need to manage their everyday life. Services offered include companionship, light
housekeeping, meal preparation, and transportation as well as personal care services
such as assistance with bathing, toileting, grooming, medication management and so
much more. And since clients decide how often they need services, Comfort Keepers’
services are an affordable and practical choice.
Comfort Keepers are compassionate caregivers who are all thoroughly screened, bonded,
trained, and supervised. They’re available up to 24 hours a day, and all caregivers are
Comfort Keepers’ employees so you don’t have to deal with payroll, taxes, and workers’
compensation issues.
For further information or to schedule a free in-home visit, call (818) 776-5060 or visit
them on the web at www.comfortkeepers.com.
9
Cibo Città
By Christina Wheeler Terra
I recently had the pleasure of visiting not
one, but two new restaurants that have just
opened their doors in Studio City. Kings
Road Café and Pepe’s NY Pizza are two very
different eateries yet satisfy our pallets all
the same. From deliciously familiar breakfast entrees to hot, tantalizing pizza, these
new restaurants should be added to your list
of places to enjoy. In these tough times, it’s a
breath of fresh air seeing new businesses
open on Ventura Boulevard, and as residents
of the San Fernando Valley, it’s our duty to
give these new places a shot and taste what
they have to offer!
Lately, I have been craving a good breakfast. I have to admit, I’m not much of a breakfast person. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE
the delicious foods that are typically served
in the morning it’s just that I usually have
something small and make up for it during
lunchtime. Recently, buttermilk waffles and
omelettes have been on my mind. This month,
I decided to find a new breakfast house all
of us Valley residents can enjoy. Luckily, I
came across Kings Road Café in Studio City.
This is the second Kings Road Café; the first
was opened 19 years ago on Melrose Ave
and still proves to be a favorite amongst the
Hollywood elite.
Not your traditional breakfast house, Kings
Road Café is simple, chic, and trendy. The
wooden walls are laden with original paintings from local artists available for customers to buy. The atmosphere is laid back and
trendy, perfect for people watching and
eaves-dropping on conversations about last
night’s antics. This is your no-nonsense, no
frill type of restaurant, they just want to serve
good food to good people. The staff is cool,
relaxed, friendly, and full of helpful recommendations. I love when a waiter/waitress
knows the menu because sometimes we need
help with our choices!
Kings Road Café’s chef repeats the classics,
and shakes up the traditional breakfast routines we’ve all grown familiar with. The twists
and turns in the menu are what make this café
stand out. For example, the eggs benedict is
served on a fresh croissant, to add even more
decadence to an already delicious dish. Steak
and eggs is made with top sirloin (also hormone and antibiotic free), and fontina cheese
is added to the chicken cilantro sausage omelette for a creamy texture hard to match. If
you’re feeling extra health conscious, ask for
the whole wheat oatmeal pancakes. A layer
of sweet granola on top adds a wonderful
crunchy texture to the hearty whole wheat
batter. Substantial enough to satisfy the strongest of appetites, these crazy delicious pancakes will fill your desire and no guilt will
ensue afterward, perfect! The coffee is the
star, or, as Michael Finouli (partner of Kings
Road) says, the “life-blood” of the restaurant.
I have to agree. It’s crazy strong, in a good
way. This cup of joe gives a jolt strong enough
to wake you out of your deepest slumber, and
we need that sometimes, right? This coffee
makes me question my coffee experience thus
far, for it is the tastiest cup I’ve had yet. One
of my favorite things about King’s Road is
breakfast is served until 5pm. No need to
wake up super early, you can roll in at noon
and still get a great scramble.
Along with breakfast, Kings Road Café also
serves lunch and dinner. For all of you wine
lovers, there is no corkage fee. You heard
me, bring in your favorite bottle of wine and
they will open it for you, free of charge. Beer
and wine will be served towards the end of
summer, when the takeout section in the back
is open and ready to go. There is plenty of
seating inside, (about 44 people) and if that
is full, tables and chairs are lined on two
sides of the restaurant as well. Be prepared
for a little wait, this place has caught on fast
in Studio City.
Kings Road Cafe
12401 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City 91604
818-985-3600
Pepe’s NY Pizza has a traditional “pizza
joint” flare we’ve all grown to love. Brick
walls, a fountain soda machine and wooden
tables make up this tiny 600sq feet space.
Simplicity is what Fernando (owner) strives
for and effortless, satisfying pizza is what
they serve. Pepperoni, sausage, and veggie
pizzas are made for tradition, but Fernando
likes to mix it up with chicken parmiagiana
pizza, eggplant pizza, and white pizza, made
with ricotta cheese.
Speaking of cheese, Pepe’s taught me about
the “best cheese ever made”, called “Grande
Cheese”. Grande Cheese is made by an Italian family from Chicago and they only use
the finest ingredients when creating their
delicious cheese. Fernando also pointed out
that this is the most expensive cheese you
can buy, adding a little lavishness to their
pizza. I have never had better mozzarella. I
can’t believe, in all my 26 years, I haven’t
tried Grande Cheese. Do yourself a favor
and get a Pepe’s pizza, just for the cheese,
you won’t be let down! I have to mention
their pizzas are gigantic, about 20”, enough
to feed four or more. The dough is delicious
and delivered daily, ensuring a fresh pizza
every time you order. The not too thick, not
to thin dough is crisped to golden perfection
in their huge pizza ovens guaranteeing a perfect crunch in every bite.
The “chopped salad” deserves a mention
because to my delight, it was good. A “good”
chopped salad is hard to find. That’s not the
case here at Pepe’s. The chopped salad was
crisp, fresh and best of all, effortlessly tasty.
Iceberg lettuce, garbanzo beans, red onion,
tomato and Grande mozzarella cheese are the
key players in this salad and it is a great appetizer before the monstrous pizzas.
For those of you who love Laurel Tavern,
Pepe’s is 2 doors down and they stay open
until 2am on Friday and Saturday nights. You
heard me correctly; after Laurel Tavern
closes you can finish your night with a delicious hot, pizza. There’s nothing better than
pizza at 2am right? Parking is free and available behind the restaurant.
Take a beat and enjoy a delicious breakfast (the most important meal of the day).
And while you’re at it, take some time out of
your “no carb” diet and divulge in some good
ol’ fashioned pizza. Patronize these two
brand new eateries in the heart of Studio City
and you won’t be disappointed. Spending
time with friends over a great meal is timeless, and good food never gets old.
Pepe’s NY Pizza
11946 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, 91604
(818) 358-2233
“HOT” Recipe of the Month
HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!
Saint Patrick’s Day : An annual feast day
which celebrates Saint Patrick (circa AD
385–461), the most commonly recognised
of the patron saints of Ireland, and is generally celebrated on 17th of March.
Let us start out this wonderful feast day,
bursting with GREEN! So simple and easy,
this festive drink brings life to the party.
“Slainte”! is the Irish equivalent of “cheers”
and means “good health” in Gaelic.
Following the cheers, this classic, traditional dish for St. Patty’s day is simple and
delicious! Start early as this dish takes up to
eight hours.
-------------------------------------------------GREEN BEER
Serves 1
Ingredients
16 ounces golden irish lager beer
3-6 drops green food coloring
In a pint size glass, pour beer and add
food coloring and mix. Enjoy!
________________________________________________________
SLOW COOKER CORNED BEEF
AND CABBAGE
Prep Time:
15 Min
Cook Time:
8 Hrs
Ready In:
8 Hrs 15 Min
Ingredients
1 medium onion, cut into wedges
4 medium potatoes, peeled and
quartered
10
By Anna Terra
1 pound baby carrots
3 cups water
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (3 pound) corned beef brisket with
spice packet, cut in half
1 small head cabbage, cut into wedges
Dijon mustard (optional)
Directions
Place the onion, potatoes and carrots
in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Combine water,
garlic, bay leaf, sugar, vinegar, pepper
and contents of spice packet; pour over
vegetables. Top with brisket and
cabbage. Cover and cook on low for 89 hours or until meat and vegetables
are tender. Remove bay leaf before
serving.
Slice and place on platter. Arrange
vegetables.
Top meat with Dijon mustard, if desired. This adds great flavor to the
meat. The combination of spices brings
the Dijon to life as you take the first
bite!
Beannachtai na Feile Padraig! Means,
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, in Gaelic!!
Anna Terra
www.annaterra.com
Lunch Specials $10.95
11 am - 3 pm
Same portion size as dinner
Open 6 days 11 am - 10 pm
On Sundays 11 am - 9 pm
Mazzarino’s Italian Restaurant
12920 1/2 Riverside, Sherman Oaks
818.788-5050 FAX 818.990.4236
11
No 6
This Month’s Spotlig
Impress for less at Roni B.
New for spring...Denim Leggings, Ultra Feminine Frocks,
Army Jackets, Corset Tops,
Tunics, and every accessory
from Belts to Bags to complete
your look. Spring forward to
Roni B. and get the look for
less!
Free styling services ... as
always!
ABUNDANCE is defined as “overflowing fullness or plenty, a suffi
Plus-Size Boutique strives to fill for their customers. At the same loca
Michele Varon, owner of Abundance, attributes her on-going success
needs of their clientele. This includes providing fun and fashionable c
personal one-on-one service, and a vested interest in her local comm
forums on Healthcare, free blood-sugar screenings, fund-raising even
Children & Adults) , has lead the way in with other neighborhood mer
Block Party. “I feel it’s important to give back to the community yo
Abundance started the new year out by rewarding their customers wit
a drop-off location. Donations were given to Dress For Success, Chry
and special events at Abundance, and while you are there, check out
Tue-Sat
11 am - 7 pm
Sun-Mon
12-5 pm
13626 Ventura Blvd.
818.501.5115
www.ronib.com
Linen FLAX is perfect for spring.
Needle World specializes in
unique and exclusive yarns
from around the world for knit
and crochet.
Newsprint fa
will be all
Jackets, tops
We are known for our personalized services including custom patterning, expert finishing
and a friendly staff.
Tues - Saturday
4321 Woodman Ave.
818.784.2442
www.NeedleWorld.com
Poppies and flowers are in abundant display. Abundance
carries a large selection of washable silk Asian inspired
CITRON.
Fun and fu
Europe are
ide
Get out your Easter bonnet… spring is just around the
corner. Drape yourself in Swarovski crystals to match
that perfect outfit.
12
credits: mod
photography
www.ma
March 2010
ght is on Abundance
iciency to supply every want”, which is just the niche Abundance a
ation in Sherman Oaks, 11 years they must be doing something right!
s to her loyal customers and her store’s ability to stay sensitive to the
clothing at a fair price, one-of-a-kind jewelry crafted by local artisans,
munity. The doors at Abundance have been opened for community
nts for The Valley Women’s Center and ARC (Activities for Retarded
rchants to produce the Shops at Woodman & Ventura Annual Holiday
ou live and work in”, stated Varon. In keeping with “giving back”,
th special discounts for donating “gently worn” clothing and acted as
ysalis and Cry-Help. Look to 2010 for more community involvement
all the New Fun Fashions for Spring and Summer.
Be the epitome of style and keep your cool
in this Euro style gauze swing jacket.
bric in black and white
the rage this spring.
s and skirts all in black
and white
Comfy is just how you will feel in this black
with white pinstripe tunic. You will feel like you
are wearing your jammies
unky linens from
not your mother’s
a of linen.
del Rebekah Derrick
y by Mary Ann Halpin.
aryannhalpin.com
Art of Cloth has utilized a reverse batik process
of pulling out the color which creates the fabulous
colors of this tunic.
13
Scoops
receive a coupon for a pint of Baskin
Robbins ice cream. I also ran into my old
friend from Women in Theatre, Carol
Kiernan, who was there at Aura to show her
support for principal Gomez of Colfax Elementary, a school that has seen its ranking
numbers rise dramatically recently.
Photo by Zarek
Photo by Jade Alayne
The Kiwanis Industry Entertainment Group
hosted a reception for Paul Krekorian at Aura
Nightclub in Studio City on Wednesday February 24. Krekorian recognized the Studio
City Kiwanis club founder and president,
Carson Schreiber, for his efforts in supporting the local schools and highlighting talented
developing artists. Local community leaders
and business people in attendance included
Principal of East Valley High Paul Del
Rosario, Principal Susanna Gomez of Colfax
Elementary, Principal Joseph Martinez from
Carpenter and Headmaster Julian Bull from
Campbell Hall.
With
Marci
Marks
Krekorian, Cohen, Gessler, Koretz
Jack McGrath, Carson Schreiber, Paul Krekorian &
Joe Goodman.
Studio City branch manager of Rodeo Realty, Wendy Cox, told me at the event her
office is having a blood drive on April 1 and
everyone who donates a pint of blood will
14
The Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce
had their inaugural gala last Friday night.
The dice were rolling and the roulette wheel
was spinning at the annual installation dinner at the Courtyard by Marriott. President
Robert Cohen and the 2010 Board of Directors were sworn in by Councilman Paul
Krekorian. Councilman Paul Koretz, along
with representatives from the Mayor’s ofCont. Pg.17
FRENCH COUNTRY ESTATE
17414 Magnolia, ENCINO
PRIVATE ARTIST’S RETREAT
17036 Rancho Street, ENCINO
Open Sun. 1-4 pm
Open Sun. 1-4 pm
This classic Spanish estate boasts 8,100 square feet (per Seller) with
soaring ceilings and massive public rooms that flow in a one great space for fabulous entertaining.
Double gated and private, this property is an ideal haven for the discerning artist. A wonderful al
fresco patio overlooks the expansive grounds of mature trees, verdant lawns, and distant mountains.
An oversized Master Suite evokes the dreamy luxury of a 5-star resort with its
own dry sauna, steam shower, jetted soaking tub, and private veranda.
Additional high-end amenities include a Media Room, Indoor Gym, and
Basketball court. Www.17036Rancho.com
Behind security gates at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in prestigious
Amestoy Estates, this ultra-private 6,100 square foot estate on a completely
flat 26,000 sf lot is perfect for sophisticated entertaining and gracious
family living. Design features include raised truss beam ceilings, Brazilian
cherrywood floors, elegant imported mahogany doors, a spacious entertainment
room, 4 large en suite bedrooms, and a beautiful Master Suite with views of
this magnificent property. Www.17414Magnolia.com
Offered at $2,995,000
Offered at $3,199,000
15
Releases for
March
The Informant
D: Steven Soderbergh
Cast
Matt Damon
Scott Bakula
Allan Havey
Joel McHale
Melanie Lynskey
Lucas Carroll
Eddie Jemison
Tom Papa
Rick Overton
Tom Wilson
To understand the significance of this film
some background is needed. Based on a true
story (Kurt Eichenwald’s book,) “The Informant” is the saga of Mark Whitacre (Matt
Damon), an Ivy League Ph.D. who was a rising star at Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
an agri-business powerhouse and one of the
largest Fortune 500 companies in the world.
Its Chairman, Dwayne Andreas, had extensive political involvement to both parties and
was also a friend of former President Nixon’s
Watergate coconspirators. This connection
with the Washington power elite appeared
to make him invulnerable.
Early November, 1992, Whitacre did something extraordinary, he confessed to FBI
agent Brian Shepard (Bakula) that ADM executives-including himself-had routinely met
with competitors to fix the price of the food
additive lysine. This historic meeting was the
first time that a participant in a price fixing
cartel had ever voluntarily tipped off lawenforcement officials about such a scheme.
After informing the FBI, urged on by his
wife (Melanie Lynskey,) he assisted Dean
Paisley (Allan Havey), Shepard, and Robert
Herndon (Joel McHale) in gathering evidence by clandestinely taping the cartels activity in business meetings in locations as far
as Tokyo, Paris, Mexico City, and Hong
Kong. Whitacre’s undercover work of almost
three years allowed the FBI to collect hundreds of hours of audio/video tapes to document executives from around the world fixing the prices of food additives. This became the largest case of price-fixing in history. Whitacre went far beyond the call of
duty being one of the most coopertive informants ever. For an example, when the FBI
needed him to tape meetings that occurred
in Japan, but could not use FBI owned equipment since Japan was not in U.S. jurisdiction, he purchased his own equipment at a
Radio Shack. If Whitacre was arrested in
Japan taping the meetings, there was nothing the FBI could have done to help him.
Even with that knowledge Whitacre did exactly what he was asked to do in Japan.
Right after an army of federal agents carried out a dramatic raid on ADM’s Illinois
headquarters the company struck back with
damning evidence that the government’s star
witness had his own agenda. Immediately
following the investigative portion of the case
in 1995, media headlines around the world
reported that this hero, while being lauded,
also defrauded $9.5 million from his company at the same time. What was going on
here?
What had happened was the undercover
pressure had made him delusional. After a
suicide attempt, the FBI discovered that
Whitacre was suffering from bipolar disorder. So before the ADM price fixing historic
trial began, the FBI’s star witness was suffering from a mental illness.
This admission would have seriously affected their case. So they distanced themselves from him. Claiming Whitacre violated
his immunity agreement with the government, he was charged for price-fixing, wire
fraud, tax fraud, and money laundering.
In order to save Whitacre, his attorney,
James Epstein, presented a sterling performance to the top U.S. DOJ officials convincing them that the government was not duped
by Mark Whitacre, but instead created him.
Epstein emphasized that Whitacre was not
trained for FBI undercover work; he was simply dumped in there without any training
whatsoever, with nothing to prevent him from
cracking under the pressure. He demonstrated that FBI undercover agents train for
several years before being put in the field,
and still do not go undercover longer than a
year due to the pressure. Whitacre, without
the training went undercover for almost three
years. Epstein explained to the DOJ officials
that he would go public in a trial with everything that Whitacre went through for his years
working undercover, only be punished after
he helped break one of the largest white-collar cases in history. He convinced the government that Whitacre solved a billion dollar case, and that the case was a hundredfold
larger than Whitacre’s fraud. The government
agreed. Epstein was successful in getting a
very light sentence for Whitacre. However,
Whitacre, with his manic-depression fully
out of control by then, saw it differently and
he fired Epstein because he was not willing
to do any jail time.
Whitacre then distanced himself from the
government where he was no longer of value
to them as a witness. The government used
the tapes in the ADM trials, but not Whitacre.
In turn, Whitacre received a federal prison
sentence that was three-times longer than the
usual white-collar criminals he exposed in a
much larger criminal conspiracy. Eichenwald
and several FBI agents adamantly disagreed
with the nine-year sentence that Whitacre
received. More than ten years later (2008),
the former FBI supervisor of the price fixing
case, Dean Paisley, went public with praise
about Whitacre. “Had it not been for the fraud
conviction, he would be a national hero,”
Paisley said. “...well, to me he is a national
hero, Without him, the biggest antitrust case
we’ve ever had would not have been”, Paisley added.
Whitacre was released from federal prison
in 2006 and joined a California biotechnology company as an executive. In 2008, he
was promoted to COO & President of operations. As a result of the hundreds of tapes
made by Whitacre, the lysine conspirators,
including ADM, ultimately settled federal
charges for more than $100 million. Besides
CEO Andreas’ forced resignation, ADM also
paid hundreds of millions of dollars in class
action settlements to customers that it stole
from during the scheme. A few top executives, including the Vice Chairman of ADM
who was the son of Andreas, received three
years of federal prison time. The ADM in-
vestigation, in turn, convinced antitrust prosecutors that price-fixing was a far more pervasive problem than they had suspected and
led to prosecutions of cartels in vitamins, fax
paper, and graphite electrodes. Billions of
dollars have already been paid in antitrust
fines to the U.S. government since Whitacre
first blew the whistle in 1992. The movie
more or less shows these events.
It makes sense that Steven Soderbergh
would be attracted to this story. He has often looked at compelling characters in stressful situations using their drama to entertain
this. But this time he sees Whitacre’s meltdown from the pressures of working for the
FBI as a humorous event. To further underline this he cast Damon, who the public
identifiy as the super cool government agent
Jason Bourne as the nerdy Whitacre; the
FBI’s very willing government agent and
exploits his bizarre behavior of his mental
deterioration.
The problem with this is that Soderbergh
has tried to make a black comedy about a
situation that just isn’t funny. The discovery
and dismantling of the Archer-Daniels-Midland price-fixing scandal is a compelling
story, and one that should be told as a film,
but it isn’t humorous. Nor is the main character Mark Whitacre. He’s bizarre, strange,
frustrating, and totally “off the reservation,”
which makes for some funny individual moments, but he himself is not a funny guy.
Yet, Damon gives it his all, showing
Whitacre acting in his own self delusional
interest believing that confessing to the Feds
what he intimately knows about his
company’s shenanigans in price-fixing would
absolve him of his guilt and fast track him to
the CEO position, since he’s wearing a white
hat and is a good guy.
Damon uses a thick moustache and paunch
to bring physicality to the role, in direct contrast to the lean Bourne, punctuated by a
quirky narrative reflecting Whitacre’s
thought process during scenes, representing
his condition. As an example, he’s supposed
to listen attentively to a plan, but is thinking
aloud about cheap ties.
Soderbergh attempted to emphasize a ’90s
feel in his direction, especially by using a
Red digital camera to give pastal color to
lighten his different scenes. The script however, focuses for a bit too long about
Whitacre, accentuating what the “The Informant” is all about, a Matt Damon vehicle
where he gets the chance to show that he’s
not just an all action hero, but a serious
(funny) actor as well.
Informant Conspiracy? Interestingly one of
my friends pointed out if one looks at
websites of ‘movie viewer reviews’ majority of said viewers, 99% of them in fact, give
zero stars or 1 stars to this movie. Bell curve
stats says this is impossible. Unless, of
course, Archer Midland Daniels (yes it is still
around) has hired a company to pay posters
to post bad reviews, driving down the box
office and keeping a exposed part of their
behavior and practices out of the public mind.
If this the case, the need for this film becomes
all the more necessary.
It is food for thought.
Stephen Phenow is currently writing a horror
script forLimelight Productions
arc
Expires M
16
0
h 14, 201
Valley Curtain Call
March means Saint Patrick to many and CART
(California Artists Radio Theatre) is planning to
present Hyacinth Halvey, The Lad From Carrow
by Lady Augusta Gregory one performance only
on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17 at 1:30pm at the
Beverly Garland Theatre on Vineland Avenue in
NoHo. Starring such grande veteran actors as
Samantha Eggar, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Herd
and Leslie Easterbrook with Irish music and drawings for Irish prizes, this is a special kind of fun
you won’t want to miss, especially if you’ve never
witnessed the shananigans of a live radio broadcast with the sound effects and surprises!
Speaking of the Irish, currently on The Road
stage in NoHo is a provocative world premiere,
Ann Noble’s Sidhe (pronounced ‘She’). It takes
place in Chicago, but involves two strange visitors from Northern Ireland who bring with them
not only a bizarre violent past but an uncanny
ability to unlock a chain of mysterious happenings wherever they go. There’s first-class work
from Ann Noble, Jeanne Syquia, giving an engrossing performance as the reticent childlike girl,
Rob Nagle, very funny and touching, and Patrick
Joseph Rieger under the taut direction of Darin
Anthony. If you like to be on the edge of your
seat for two hours, don’t miss Sidhe through
March 21 only!
Then, through the first weeks of March, there’s
Crown City Theatre and their outstanding mounting of Thomas Babe’s A Prayer For My Daughter, an explosive drama set in a ‘70s police station. The four actors deliver astoundingly raw performances. Matthew J. Williamson has never been
better as junkie, homophobic Det. Jack Delasante.
In and out of violent mood swings, Williamson
Scoops
With Don Grigware
www.grigwaretalkstheatre.com
Cont.from Pg. 14
fice, Congressman Sherman’s office, and
County Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s office enjoyed the casino night along with members
of the business community. Chamber Assistant Director Sue Gessler was honored by
President Cohen and the Councilmembers for
her hard work in enacting the mission of the
chamber, which is to enhance and promote
the growth, prosperity and integrity of the
business community.
brings delicious humor to his quieter moments as he gloats over
Norman Mailer’s “Prisoner of Sex.”
Gary Lamb is marvelous as sleazy Simon Cohn,
the gay conman accused of murder. Lamb creates
a complex three-dimensional character whose affectingly human stories of loving a Vietnam soldier make one question his lack of morality. Matthew Thompson is equally riveting as junkie
Jimmy Rosehips who will carry off just about
anything in playing the game to get what he wants.
Young, but hardly innocent, Jimmy has sadly seen
and done it all. Thompson is perplexing as he conveys the wonder of witnessing his child being
born. These so-called criminals convey a sensibility so lacking in the authority at hand. Speaking of whom, then there’s alcoholic Det. Francis
Kelly who would rather verbally abuse these convicts than attend to an ailing suicidal daughter
that he fails ‘to understand’. Kevin Brief is terrifc
as Kelly. Bravo to all!
You should also catch Theatre West’s wonderful revival of Arthur Miller’s The Price, if not
only to see Marvin Kaplan’s top-notch performance as antique appraiser Gregory Solomon.
This is a dream role for Kaplan, whose talent and
remarkably original sense of humor have served
him well in the business for 82 years. He gives us
a slow-moving, but quick witted, deliciously wise
and reflective man who knows how to look out
for himself by clinching the perfect deal. What a
likeable con artist! Also starring Dianne Travis,
Don Moss and Cal Bartlett through March 21!
To all my readers, have fun and put a little Saint
Patty in your heart!
Tobolowski has “Carma”
Seen around the SO: Stevie Wonder performing live at Cozy’s on Thursday February 18
at the club’s benefit for Haiti.
The three Lurie Brothers with artist Sebastiano Ciarcia
(Left Center)
The Lurie Brothers are back in Studio City
and hosted an opening on Saturday, February 20 at the gallery. Although our favorite
bad boy of the art world, Michael Gorman,
was not in attendance, the gallery is displaying some new pieces by him as well as artists Luca Piovaccari, Nicole Charbonnet and
Sebastiano Ciarcia.
Production has wrapped on the short film
“Clara’s Carma,” a comedy starring Alex
Puppies
Cont. from Pg 1.
parted by the march. Said Elizabeth Oreck,
manager of Best Friends’ Los Angeles programs, in underscoring the aim of her
organization’s “Puppies Aren’t Products”
campaign: “LA is at the forefront of a new
way of thinking, a more humane way of thinking when it comes to our furry friends. We
know that there is an alternative to the cruel
and inhumane practice of puppy mills…that
rescue is the way to go.”
Jennifer Krause, campaign specialist for Best
Friends, told the crowd that according to investigations conducted by BFAS and other
major animal welfare organizations, pet
stores that sell dogs acquire them from largescale breeding facilities (puppy mills) and
other irresponsible breeders.
“We are walking away from this old model
of pet store to a humane, cruelty-free model
where they support adoption,” she said to
thunderous applause.
At the program’s conclusion, participants set
out with dogs clad in “Adopt Me” bandanas
on the walk to Maxwell Dog Boutique in
Studio City, where the adoption event was
held.
The event came on the heels of West
Hollywood’s recently passed ordinance to
ban the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores
with the exception of animals that are “humanely bred, reared or sheltered”— a vision
shared for Los Angeles by various city council and assembly members, in order to help
eliminate the cruelty inherent with mass
breeding and reduce the number of animals
that end up in shelters.
This ordinance has brought this difficulty to
Dawson and Studio City’s Stephen
Tobolowski. Tobolowski plays Dr. Simmons,
a therapist consulted to advise his patient as
she’s suffers from a spiritual meltdown. The
film was helmed by Robert Brinkmann, and
produced by Alex Dawson and Kate
Atkinson. Dawson also scripted the piece.
the notice of Councilmember Paul Koretz.
Paul Michael Neuman, Director of Communications for the Councilmember told The
News “… we are well aware that the City of
West Hollywood is pioneering a new approach regarding the sale of cats and dogs,
and we will observe carefully to determine
the net effects of that effort. Certainly, there
are problems with puppy mills, our already
overcrowded shelters, and the costs related
to animal services that are only exacerbated
by the ever-growing population in our region,
so we’re very intent on seeing what happens
when changes occur.”
Cont. From Pg. 1
rensic handwriting expert who works with
attorneys, private investigators, corporations,
and individuals. The evening promises exciting analysis and insights of some wellknown personalities in addition to interesting stories and highlights of Ms. Lowe’s career. Free, but seating is limited and on a first
come, first serve basis . Refreshments. 7:00
PM-8:00 PM in the community room,
Moorpark at Whitsett
Wednesday, March 24
Neighborhood Council Valley Village
monthly board meeting. Colfax Elementary
School Auditorium. (Corner Colfax and
Addison) 6:30 – 9:00pm.
Saturday, March 27
Book Sale to benefit the Studio City Library.
Reasonable prices and quality merchandise.
Donation accepted every Saturday 10am to
2pm in the community room, books in good
condition, no text books or magazines. Also
donate CDs, DVDs, Videos, Travel books,
Cook Books, Children’s books. The best recycling is a used book. Please bring your own
bag or box for your purchases. 10:00 AM02:00 PM Studio City Branch Library Corner Whitsett and Moorpark 12511 Moorpark
Street Studio City, CA 91604 818-755-7873
Thursday, April 1
A Pint for A Pint Blood Drive. Receive a
coupon for a pint of Baskin Robbins ice
cream for donating blood. Rodeo Realty in
conjunction with Providence Saint Joseph
Medical Center. 12345 Ventura Blvd. Studio City 818-761-7222
Shuman
Cont. from Pg 5.
total of 4000, or is that 4500. We have a 180
million dollar deficit this fiscal year, but next
year it will be almost 400, then one day you
read in the paper it’s going to be 700. Who’s
in charge? What numbers are accurate?
Okay, I have an idea. Can’t we just get Eli
Broad or David Geffen or Steven Spielberg
or now James Cameron to write us a big
check, just once, to wipe out that deficit and
save everyone’s jobs? Say one billion, to tide
us over going forward. What if we ask nicely
and then promise to do a better job controlling costs in the future? Free parking for
them? Then once that’s resolved the Council
can get back to what we all know they can
do really well, which is hand out those beautifully hand crafted commendations.
Phil Shuman is a Fox 11 News Reporter who lives with his wife
and two children in Studio City. You can email Phil at
[email protected]
Every Sunday
Studio City Farmers Market
Open air market with organic produce, food
17
Marks is a actor, singer & songwriter.
stands, garment booths and entertainment for
the whole family. Every Sunday 8am – 1pm.
Ventura Place. 818-655-7744
Every Tuesday
Studio City Sherman Oaks branch of the
Rotary club, the largest charity organization
in the world, meets for lunch at the
Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel.
Noon. For more information call 818-7753877.
Every Thursday
North Hollywood Kiwanis. 12pm. Lunch at
Vitello’s. 4349 Tujunga Ave. Studio City. For
more info call Marilynn at 818-989-2430
1st and 3rd Sunday of the month
Seniors
Family History Writing Class:
Learn professional writing, editing and proofreading skills while writing life stories. You
will have the opportunity to be published in
our anthology as well as within our online
blog! Meets Mondays,1pm -3pm at The Valley Village Senior Apartments, 12111 Chandler Boulevard, Valley Village, 91607.
Classical Music Appreciation:
Comprehensive course now covering
Beethoven’s life and work, structure of the
symphony, how to listen. Meets Mondays,
3-5pm,at The Valley Village Senior Apartments, 12111 Chandler Boulevard, Valley
Village, 91607. ?
Brain Fitness:
Based on UCLA’s Department on Aging, this
course offers information on brain structure,
ways to protect and practice memory skills,
to live well. Meets Tuesdays from 10am11:30am at The Piedmont, 6750 Whitsett (at
Van Owen) North Hollywood, 91606, and
Wednesdays from 10:00 to 11:30am at the
Valley Storefront, 12821 Victory Blvd, North
Hollywood, 91607
SO
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Cont. from pg. 1
opened at Christmas after a $250,000 renovation thanks to money from its own insurance company.
Said Walken, “I’ve lived in this neighborhood since 1950; I left a career in set design
for this restaurant . I built this branch with
my own tools. We worked hard and became
successful, had terrific lunch traffic from the
studios- CBS, Disney. Then it’s all destroyed
in one night. How can Mayor Villaraigosa
pose with a firetruck that fell into a sinkhole,
but not bother to visit us, [after this] when
we’re creating jobs and serving citizens in
the Valley?” One “Il Tramezzino” employee
had parked his new $12,000 car in the lot
outside the restaurant; it was destroyed. The
employee had to buy another car and received
no monetary refund from the DWP. “He
doesn’t make much more than $12000 in a
year working for us,” Walken said.
While the Studio City branch of “Le Pain
Quotidien” - an international chain of organic
bakeries - was closed for four months, Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf for five, both have
reopened. Children’s clothing retailer “Little
Stinker” also reopened at the end of February, with the Stacey Todd store reopening
soon.
However, some shops are not so lucky.
The antique furniture store “The Atik” has a
“for lease” sign up after its contents were
ruined.
There are problems because the DWP
seemingly changed their procedures “in midstream.” In December, the LA City Council
Roni B
organized a meeting with the residents and
businesses hurt by the flooding. DWP representatives walked the audience through the
claims filing process, making the explicit
point that victims would not need original
receipts to document every article they were
claiming if they included reasonable evidence for the article’s value on the open
market just before it was damaged or destroyed.
How did this DWP benevolence work in
practice? Building contractor Michael
Yaghoubi is still overseeing remodeling work
on his home along Ventura Boulevard, across
from the Studio Oaks Park, and hopes to
complete work before his wife gives birth in
August. “The DWP is harassing our contractors about what they call “unnecessary repairs.” What are we supposed to do? The
house was under eight inches of water.”
Dickens Street resident Jay Cohen jumped
through DWP’s hoops. Immediately after the
flood, he filed a claim for flood damages to
his front yard, and for the destruction of furniture and electronic equipment stored in a
poolhouse and shed that got flooded during
the water main break. In order to reduce the
stress on his wife and three children, he made
a list of the damaged items and their approximate age, then hired a licensed inventory
company to catalog and package damaged
items, looked up their market value on Yahoo and Google, then recorded their value
and their approximate age. He included this
information, along with pictures of his damaged yard, when filing his claim.
He received this response via email from
DWP claims representative J.R. White:
“... In reviewing the paperwork... we are
surprised to note that although you include a
DVD with news broadcast reports and a listing of items prepared by a pack up company,
you do not provide any photographs of the
items that you claim actually are damaged
or of your residence... [Please] provide the
following: an explanation of why the pack
up company was hired, and why the listed
items needed to be packed and put into
storage...The location within your household
from where the items inventoried by the pack
up company were removed... A list of which
of the inventoried items that actually sustained damage... photographs of the items
actually damaged... The steps you took to
mitigate the damage or clean up any damaged items. [Reasons why] damaged items
are not able to be cleaned or repaired... the
age of the items you are claiming as damaged... where purchased, please provide a
purchase receipt or credit card statement or
cancelled check... reasons why the listed articles of clothing, pillows and bedding had
to be dry cleaned-why a swim suit was dry
cleaned. Please advise need for 65 pounds
of laundry to be done... Thank you for your
anticipated understanding and cooperation...”
In Cohen’s view, the email implied the need
for documentation - i.e. receipts - that the
DWP had earlier explicitly stated were not
necessary, and he responded angrily: “You
have a lot of nerve trying to put the burden
on innocent citizens that were royally
screwed by the DWP!”
The claim representative’s emailed response
expressed “concern” that “it will be difficult
to conclude your claim if you choose not to
cooperate...” and mentioned DWP’s “ fiduciary duty to exercise all necessary caution...
before paying out... public funds [for]
claimed amount that is not supported with
detail and documentation sufficient to satisfy our auditors and the Controller’s office...”
In other words: where are the receipts?
Email exchanges between Cohen, the DWP,
and the City Attorney’s office continued in
this vein until January, when the DWP made
a final offer of $15,000 to settle the claim on
damages that Cohen had estimated at
S120,000. By this time, Cohen had been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, which he
claimed was the result of stress brought on
by the flooding and its aftermath, and he decided to sue the DWP rather than accept the
settlement.
When asked about the discrepancy The DWP
had this to say: “we recognize that individuals will not have receipts for every loss
claimed especially older ones. However, we
do require documentation where it should be
reasonably available as noted above. To require less than that which should be readily
available to a claimant would invite inflated
and unsubstantiated claims.”
Michael Yaghoubi and several other
homeowners interviewed for this article have
not yet received any response from DWP
about their claims. Yet the DWP says to this
date it has paid out $504,045.75 for 43 claims
related to the Coldwater Canyon incident in
Studio City. Four of the claims received have
been declined and 30 others are currently
undetermined and/or undocumented and remain under investigation and review. There
are open offers of settlement for six claims,
and several others are in the process of be-
18
ing negotiated with the claimants.
There have been 92 unique claims received
to date related to the Coldwater Canyon
break. Homeowners/Tenants: had 69 claims.
These are broken down to 39 claims from
homeowners and tenants. 30 are subrogation
claims from Insurers; insured homeowners/
tenants have already been paid by insurer.
Businesses had 23 claims: 11 from business
owners, 12 subrogation claims from businesses’ insurers; businesses have already
been paid by insurer.
Complaints or questions about claims should
be submitted at the Coldwater Canyon Break
Claim Center (213) 367-4600. The Claim
Center may also be emailed:
[email protected]
Paul Michael Neuman the Director of Communications for Paul Koretz’s (CD5) office
made this comment about the claims process:
“We understand the DWP has to follow certain rules, regulations, laws, procedures —
they have to evaluate and monitor their use
of public funds. I’m sure that individuals who
work for DWP are sympathetic to the victims of the flooding. But they [the victims]
were understandably frightened, exhausted,
anxious, confused. Here in [Paul Koretz’s]
office there’s also a sense that [the DWP as
an institution] is showing a lack of compassion, of insight into what people are feeling
and what they deserve. We think [they]
should have a sense of priority and urgency.
We don’t want to be dealing with staff who
seem content to see nothing happen. There’s
been a process [to deal with the aftermath of
the flood] but it hasn’t worked successfully.
You’re talking here about people’s faith in
government, and it’s a matter of grave and
significant concern to us.”
It appears the struggle to do so will continue.
Christopher Davidson is a Studio City resident.
He can be reached at
[email protected]
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Resttaurant Hello again to all my
readers, it’s Mike with
your high school hoops
update. Congrats to
Crespi and Taft for making it to the finals and to
all of the other teams
who showed a tremendous amount of effort
this season. As basketball season nears its
conclusion, here is brief
analysis of how each
team has preformed.
High
School
Basketball
Report
Michael Mann
[email protected].
Crespi vs. Notre Dame
Rivalry Renewed
Crespi
Notre Dame
Encino (Private)
Shermn Oaks
Coach: Russel White
(Private)
Record: 20-11 Coach: Bill Bedgood
League: Mission
Record: 17-14
Maxpreps State
League: Mission
Ranking: 136
Maxpreps State
Ranking:91
The long coveted rivalry between Crespi and
Notre Dame has been renewed. The two
schools have been playing each other for forty
years. They have battled it out in not just basketball and football but in all sports. This rivalry runs very deep.
If you know someone who played a sport for
either of these schools, they can tell you the
games between them are extremely physical,
competitive, and often times close in terms of
margin of victory. Both schools are in the Mission league and play one another twice each
season. Crespi defended their home floor the
first game winning by the slim margin of 5350, they also won at Notre Dame by a score of
61-59.
So it was only fitting for the Southern Section Div. IV-A boys’ basketball semifinal game
number two to feature these two rivals. The
game was played at Harvard-Westlake on February 26th. The two teams battled it out in front
of a sold out crowd of 1,280. The crowd was
loud and spirited as the game started. Both
schools demonstrated and exceeded in supporting their team with creative chants and even
guest appearances such as UCLA’s quarterback
and Crespi alumni Kevin Prince. Prince was
standing in the Crespi student section cheering on his alma mater.
The game was fast paced and full of excitement as both teams traded baskets the majority of the first half. Crespi held a slight lead up
until senior guard Blake Stanton, who was too
much to handle for the Knights, was forced to
sit at the end of the first half because of foul
trouble. Stanton’s absence from the game allowed the Knights to take a 33-31 lead going
into the locker room.
Before the game Crespi Coach Russel White
had told his team, “rebounding the ball and limiting second chance opportunities is the key to
winning the game”.
Crespi dominated the Knights on the boards
out rebounding them significantly, and fighting for every loose ball. It did not take long
for the Celts to come back. In third quarter the
Celts played shutdown defense and came up
with big three point shots including one by
Justin Rubia to regain the lead at the start of
the third quarter. The Celts never looked back.
A barrage of three point shots were soon to
follow including one from Matt Mounier to put
Crespi up 42-40 with five minutes left in the
third. The Knights broke down defensively and
the Celts went onto win comfortably by a score
of 69-54. Stanton scored 13 points with 9 assists, Justin Rubia added 13 points, and Matt
Mounier scored 11 for the Celts.
Crespi went into the game poised for redemption after losing to Price (Los Angeles, CA) by
a score of 65-69 in the semifinal game last season. Notre Dame went into the game as a slight
underdog. Just two seasons ago Notre Dame
was a 2-25 program. The key to their turnaround has been the stellar play of two remarkable freshmen guards, Jahmel Taylor and Ausar
Madison and two sophomore forwards,
Jonathon Bell and Kennedy Edwards. Ausar
Madison is a small fast point guard. He demonstrated tremendous skill during the semifinal although he is slightly undersized. Madison has the potential to develop into an elite
player. The Knights are a young group and
lacked experience however; they made the
Celts play their best basketball in order to beat
them.
Crespi will go on to face Alemany on March
4th in the Championship game. This puts second-seeded Crespi in its second Southern Section basketball championship. The Celts only
other appearance in a final, came in the 2001
Div. IV-AA game against St. Paul of Santa Fe
Springs. The Celts won that game 71-57.
Harvard-Westlake
Studio City (Private)
Coach: Greg Hilliard
2009-10 Record: 25-5
League: Mission
State Ranking: 9
Harvard-Westlake was upset in the Southern Section Division 3A boys’ basketball
semifinals by Centennial (Compton) 70-78.
The Wolverines made just 11 of 20 free
throws while Centennial converted 18 of its
23 attempts. Miami bound senior, Erik
Swoope, had 15 of his 24 points in the second half for Harvard-Westlake. The Wolverines took a 21-18 lead after the first quarter
on senior forward Nate Bulluck’s steal and
lay-up at the buzzer. Junior center Damiene
Cain had 19 points and Bulluck added 10
for the second-seeded Wolverines.
Taft
Woodland Hills (Public)
Coach: Derrick Taylor
2009-10 Record: 24-4
League: West Valley
State Ranking: 6
Taft has played its way to the CIF City Section Division I finals. The Matadors will face
off against Westchester currently ranked 3rd
in the state. Taft defeated Crenshaw 81-60
in the semifinal game played at USC’s Galen
Center. USC bound senior Bryce Jones put
up some big numbers with 27 points while
teammate Pierson Williams had 20 points for
Taft.
Campbell Hall
Studio City (Private)
Coach: Steve Wachs
2009-10 Record: 20-8
League: Olympic
State Ranking: 125
The Vikings of Campbell Hall overall had a
good but not great year. They were second
in the league with a 7-3 record. They lost out
on the league title to Winward. They made
it to the CIF playoffs but lost to La Canada.
Montclair Prep
Van Nuys (Private)
Coach: Greg Patterson
2009-10 Record: 14-15
League: Olympic
State Ranking: 402
There is not much to say here for the
Montclair Mounties’ disappointing season.
They finished the season with a losing record
for the fourth time in five years. Remarkably,
they made the playoffs this year after finishing with a sub-par 4-6 record in the Olympic
league. As far as basketball goes this was
not the year for Montclair. While they got
off to a good start and then everything began
to go wrong for them as the season progressed.
Grant
Van Nuys (Public)
Coach: Howard Levine
2009-10 Record: 16-12
League: East Valley
2010 State Ranking: 460
A solid season from the Lancers ended in
disappointment. They went 10-4 in 2010,
opposed to a lackluster 6-8 in 2009. Their
performance down the stretch gave them a
10-2 record in league play. Unfortunately,
they made an early exit from the playoffs after
losing by a point to Reseda 74-75.
And that’s all for now. I hope
you all have enjoyed this year’s
high school hoops report.
MM
Rocco’s Italian Restaurant 12514 Ventura Blvd, Studio City 818.985.9876
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March - Studio City

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