Thursday, November 30, 2006

Atwater Village Neighborhood Watch Meeting

Mark Your Calendar!
Atwater Village Neighborhood Watch Meeting
December 13, 7:00pm
at the New Hope Chapel (behind Best Buy)

PLEASE ATTEND!
If we want to improve our local public schools, we must also look at their surrounding environment. All residents in Atwater should be involved in eliminating gang violence and creating safer neighborhood.

The following is an email from Barry:

Dear neighbors--

A bunch of you have written with your concern about the frequency of the police helicopters of late. It seems like a nightly occurrence. They are not being proactive. The police are responding in the best way they are able to the current rise in gang violence in our community. There has been a definite increase in graffiti, gunfire and robberies. I appreciate your emails and phone calls. And I pass the information on to Gina Chovan, our SLO. And, in some cases, to Kabira and the staff at CD13. There have been reports of shootings, streets being blocked off and traffic being interrupted because of gang violence. There was even an instance where a concerned resident saw someone throwing a large bottle (or bottles) off the Hyperion Bridge, onto the freeway. I don’t think he hit anyone— we would have heard about it. But the resident had the where-with-all to take a picture of the suspect, which I sent along to Gina. Most of you have cell phones. If you have the camera feature and you see something, shoot it. It will help!

There are things you can do to minimize your risk. They seem obvious, but sometimes we get lazy or falsely complacent.

• Keep your porch light on at night
• Lock all your doors and windows at night and when you are not home
• If you see anything—or anyone—unusual or suspicious, call it in— 1-877-ASK-LAPD
• If it is an emergency, call 911

The most important thing is that we all have a safe and happy holiday season. This is an especially challenging time. Keep your eyes open and your head up. Being aware is probably the best defense. Also, please... your neighbors may not have email— they may not be on the list. Let them know what is going on. Exchange phone numbers. Watch out for one another. That is what being neighborly is all about. I may sound overly concerned, but it is because I am!

Finally, for now, our last neighborhood watch meeting for 2006 will be Wednesday, December 13th. I’m giving you all advance word. Please mark your calendars and try to attend. You may have missed some of the meetings in the past, but this one is an important one. We will share information and learn what is going on. We will also take a few minutes to honor who I am referring to the Atwater Village Neighborhood Watch “Person of the Year.” Curious as to who it is? Join us and find out!

I will send out a flyer in a week or so.

Thanks!

Atwater Griffith Park Chamber of Commerce’s 13th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony

Mark Your Calendar!
Atwater Griffith Park Chamber of Commerce’s
13th Annual Tree Lighting Ceremony
Thursday, December 7th, @ 6:30pm
Wells Fargo Bank Parking Lot (3250 Glendale Blvd)
This family event will have:
Children's choirs from our local schools
"Voice of Christmas” choral singers
Little dancers from the Caballero Dance Academy
A Toy Drive for the LAPD (donate a new unwrapped toy that doesn't require batteries to participate)
AND...
SANTA CLAUSE

Saturday, November 18, 2006

pedophile

This last week, Tim Warner and I were trying to figure out what if anything can be done about the fact that a registered child sex offender lives a stone's throw from the school, on Glenfeliz. If you aren't aware of this, go to meganslaw.org and search the sex offender registry by entering your address. You'll see a map of our neighborhood, and there's a big red star right accross the street from the school. Click on the star and you'll see his photo. His name is Steven Short, and he lives at 3944 Glenfeliz. The site doesn't say exactly what he was convicted of or when, other than it was a "lewed and lascivious act" involving a minor, which if you look up inthe Cal penal code, is a felony punishible by jail time.

We were thinking that maybe under Prop. 83 (Jessica's Law) which was signed into law a couple weeks ago, he could be forced to move. Under the new law, convicted child molesters are prohibited from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. Unfortunately, our local LAPD division thought it very unlikely that this could affect someone who was legally living somewhere before the law was passed. An investigator I spoke with at the DA's office didn't know one way or the other, but I have to say it seems unlikely. I don't know much about constitutional law, but I do recall that an ex poste facto law is not highly regarded in the courts.

Anyway, if anyone out there has some info on this situation to share, it would be much appreciated. On the bright side, the receptionist at Glenfeliz Elementary lives a couple doors down from him (she has a great commute to work!), and she said that EVERYONE at the school is aware of him and they know what he looks like. She said he's lived there for years and keeps to himself, although she didn't know him personally.

Gabriela

Monday, November 13, 2006

GLEN FELIZ WEBSITE(S) - PTA (& SCHOOL?)

I am creating this post so we have a place to discuss the progress of creating a website for the PTA (and one for the school).

Also, if people have ideas and/or suggestions on what the website(s) should include, maybe this would be a good place to get them heard first. This can be a sounding board.

1. October - I spoke with the woman who created and maintains Ivanhoe's websites, and made a list which I typed up into an informal proposal which I gave to Roxanne, the president of the PTA after the Oct. PTA board meeting. At that time she told me the PTA has been planning to do a website but hasn't had the time or resources. In that proposal I mentioned there would be costs to maintain the domain, so that will not be a surprise to the PTA board. We should have more specific numbers when we bring it up at the PTA association meeting though.

Sidenote - for various reasons it makes sense to have two websites - an official school site and a PTA site. Also, a calendar is essential, and a database of parents emails would help in sending out announcements. Once again, the PTA has already started creating a database but apparently has not really utilized it yet.

If you would like to see my notes from my Ivanhoe talk or the proposal I typed up please email me at thewarroom@mac.com and I will get them to you.

2. Nov. 2 - Kei registered the domain "friendsofglenfeliz.com".

3 Nov. 11 - Promila Singh graciously offered to do a PTA website, and I forwarded her all my notes so she can make a more informed decision about whether or not she will have the time to spare.

4. Nov. 13 - Currently I am still waiting to hear back from Roxanne about a couple separate issues, so I figured I'd wait until the next PTA association meeting (Dec. 14) to discuss the website more. There is a board meeting Dec. 7 but that is not the right forum for new proposals.

Thanks,

Tim

TITLE 1 COUNCIL

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

Gabriela K. gave us a report on today's meeting (THE TITLE 1 COUNCIL) :

Hi everyone-
Two parent and community based councils were formed at today's parent meeting: the Title 1 council and the English language learners council. There was a good turnout of parents (about 20) and the meeting was attended by the principal Carole Rosenblum and assistant principal Abby Cabrera (both of whom I finally got to meet for the first time- very, very nice folks), and led by two LAUSD reps. I couldn't get there before 9:15, and missed the Title 1 council election (but I am on the English learners council, just for the heck of it). Stephanie Martinez from our group was there and she's the new Title 1 Council president! Woohoo!
The Title 1 and English Learners Councils are advisory and they report to the School Site Council, which is the decision making body for how Title 1 money and money allocated for English Learners is spent. It is made up of 5 parents/community members and 5 school staff members. The Site Council also determines the goals and priorities of the school as a whole, and what to do to acheive them. They are the Grand Poobahs! Elections to the council were held last month, and today officers were elected.
Once the PTA can get a website together, we should post a calendar, and folks can attend any of the meetings to get a sense of what's going on. And maybe next year, we can show up at the Site Council elections and represent.
Since there is a website designer in our neighborhood - Promila Singh - and she's offered to help get it off the ground, maybe the next step is contacting the PTA and finding out if there's money in its budget to support it?

FYI, the magnet program meeting to be held today at 2:45 is not about bringing a program to Glen Feliz, unfortunately. The meeting will provide parents with information on how to navigate the application process to get their kid enrolled in a magnet program for middle school (apparently Thomas Starr Middle School has a magnet progam).Gabriela

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Upcoming PTA Board & Association Meetings

Glenfeliz Elementary PTA


Association Meeting:
December 14 (Thu.) @ 3:00pm

Board Meeting:
December 7 (Thu.) @ 3:00pm

"Magnet School" Meeting on 11/13/2006

Please mark your calendar!!!!

November 13, 2006 (Monday)
After School

"A MAGNET SCHOOL MEETING"
With LAUSD Reps.

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