what's going on today

Miracle Mile Patrol has phone number and website now

2007-04-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hi all. Erin is designing our business cards now so we'll have
something to hand out to people we meet while on patrol. We now have
a skype phone number (internet phone) as well as a website. Dave is
programming it so that we will be able to log in (witha password) and
check the schedule, schedule ourselves, or change a date if necessary.
The phone number will forward to whoever is on patrol that night (if
all goes well) and that way when you're out on patrol, if someone
calls you and asks for an escort home, your own cell phone will ring
and you can get them. It also might work as a way to remind you on
the days that you are scheduled to patrol.

Here's our phone # 323-319-6728
and our website: www.miraclemilepatrol.org
our email: volunteer@miraclemilepatrol.org

We still need a lot more people signed up. 36 people signed up for
the patrol but only about 13 people have committed to doing any
regular shifts. We only need 2 hours a month from you and we're
starting sometime in May with Friday and Saturday shifts of
10pm-midnight and midnight -2am.

peace,

Our First Patrol Was Tonight! Can You Commit to 2 Hours a Month? Please Email me!

2007-04-01T01:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all.

Tonight was the first official patrol of the Miracle Mile Safety Patrol.

Eight people volunteered tonight and we split into two and then three different groups to cover more of the neighborhood.

Many thanks to Sergeant Kirby of the LAPD who patrolled our neighborhood and spoke to us both before and after the patrol.

We also stopped at a neighborhood restaurant/bar for a little social time after 11pm.

We're still working out the details of the patrol - but all 8 people have officially committed to at least 2 hours a month. But we need you! We'd like to have at least 4 people go out on patrol.

We also have the option of bike patrols. It might be fun for a group of us to bike around the neighborhood and cover more ground.

Our jackets and hats will arrive soon - if you told me your size you will have one soon.

So far everyone has committed to the following nights and times. We need more people for each night. If you can commit to just one two hour shift a month - can you make it the same night each month? This will make scheduling much easier. For example - if you can do this, please write me and say "I will commit to the first Saturday of each month" or something like that...

Here are the shifts people have already signed up for - we need more people on these nights.

Friday midnight - 2am
Friday 10pm - midnight
Saturday midnight - 2am

Please let me know if you can commit to one of these shifts and if there's a particular time of month each month that you can commit to - we'll schedule you for that.

Thanks very much!

Traffic Commission Report and How to Find Out if Building is Being Demolished

2007-03-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hi all.

Carolyn Ramsay and Councilman LaBonge donated $500 toward our Safety Patrol this morning. I spoke to Carolyn about the serious parking issues on Ridgeley as well as the fence around parking at 314 Cloverdale. She said it was possible that 314 Cloverdale was being demolished - she said if you want to see if your building (or any other building) is being torn down or renovated etc. do this:

go to www.ladbs.org (that's building and safety)
halfway down page on left click on
Property activity report and put in the address of your building or any other building you're interested in.

If you didn't yet tell me the jacket size, please let me know this morning as the order is going in today.

Also, thanks to Bob and Babette for attending the Traffic Commission
Meeting - attached in WORD is a report on that meeting.

No movement on sharing Parking District 41 or 36 - both groups of homeowners are adamant against sharing parking with us (Carolyn told me that this morning!) I'd like to ask some of you who have been victims of crime to walk door-to-door with me in the near future and just talk to them directly. Let me know if you can do that.

See you Saturday at 9pm.

Can You Donate something to help Pay for Jackets/Caps?

2007-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hi all. One of our very generous members has donated enough money to pay for half of all the jackets and caps. However, we are still short by approximately $450. We're trying to order enough jackets and caps for all 36 people that signed up for the patrol - but if we can only
afford 15 or 20, we'll start with that.

Miracle Mile Action Committee is a non-profit so anything you donate toward the Safety Patrol is tax deductible.

Please let me know...

Thanks!

Mir. Mile Parking Problem: We Need Volunteers ASAPplease respond if you can help

2007-02-11T13:02:00.000-08:00

Hi all. We need volunteers to count cars in different parts of our neighborhood to see how many people are parking in the permitted areas (36 and 41). We need about 10 volunteers. If you can help, please just reply with a "yes, I can help count" email and i'll add you to the parking committee and forward your info. to Shannon, Adam and Jeff who are heading it up. peace,

Have you seen this yet?

2007-02-11T11:51:00.001-08:00

If you haven't gotten this ten times already, you will fall out of your chair laughing.

Clinton Gets A Blow Job

E-Policing Sign-Up

2007-02-11T11:45:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in signing up for e-policing to get crime
stats...here's the link

SIGN ME UP!

A thanks and follow-up

2007-02-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

from councilman LaBonge's Deputy Carolyn (note: our group is Miracle Mile Action Committee but I prefer her name for us!) peace, denise

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: thanks and follow-up

Dear Cloverdale area residents,
Thanks to all of you for attending our walk-about last night with Tom. Thanks to LAPD Capt. Richard Wemmer, Senior Street Lighting Engineer Stan Horwitz, their staff members and the leaders of several Miracle Mile community groups for showing up. In particular, I want to thank Jim O'Sullivan, Alice Cassidy and Jeff Horne of the Mid City West Community Council, James Panozzo of the Miracle Mile Chamber of Commerce and Denise Robb of the Miracle Mile Call to Action. So many great ideas have come out of this process and many of you are moving full speed ahead on them. This is really impressive. I trust you'll come up with great solutions that suit your community well. Maya Zutler of Jack Weiss's office and I look forward to working with a small committee to brainstorm solutions to the preferential parking issues. Denise is forming a committee of 5 people from your PPD to meet with 5 people from PPD 41 to find ways to create more parking spaces. Our office is also requesting higher wattage lighting for your area and
re-striping to squeeze in more parking spaces. In the meantime, stay involved, continue going to your neighborhood council meetings and please be safe.

all best, Carolyn

Carolyn Ramsay
Field Deputy for Windsor Square,
Hancock Park, Koreatown,
Miracle Mile, Larchmont Village,
Wilshire Center and Hollywood
Councilmember Tom LaBonge, CD4
City Hall
200 N. Spring St., Rm 480
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213)485-3337
carolyn.ramsay@lacity.org

Update on Miracle Mile Parking, Crime etc. 2/07/07

2007-02-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hi all (and welcome to those of you who just joined our email list):Councilman LaBonge, his deputy Carolyn Ramsay, Captain Wemmer, Sergeant Kirby and Senior Lead Officer Charles Thomas, as well as Street Lighting Senior Engineering Manager Stan Horwitz all met with us tonight on 4th and Detroit (with Channel 7 filming, at therequest of the Council office) and discussed crime and street lighting. Then we all walked to the fire station on Alta Vista and Third and had a meeting about parking.

It all seems to be very positive and productive. The Senior Engineering Manager said we would have better lighting in various areas within two weeks.

The LAPD urged us to report every single crime, even if you think the person
won't be caught. The more crime that is reported, the more they will take our neighborhood seriously. They repeated that our neighborhood is much safer than many other neighborhoods in LA. Car crime is still high and from what I hear from all of you, muggings and robberies are not uncommon. However, they promised more presence in our neighborhood. Some cops on bikes came by for a while and they will also have two patrol cars in our neighborhood more frequently.

Remember: 911 when you hear or see anything unusual or dangerous. And 311when you want to reach the city for street lighting, recycling, calling the city council, mayor, anything city related - dial 311.

PARKING: They are beginning the process of making 6th and Cloverdale one way (except for a few spots for businesses). This is thanks to the heroic work of Babette and Jon who live over there.

We will be having a meeting with the homeowners north of Third to discuss working out something mutually acceptable to allow some more parking for us.

LaBonge's office will look into commercial parking. If any of you know of any people who are willing to rent spaces, please let us know asap. It looks like our neighborhood is finally getting the attention it deserves. Shannon attended the meeting yesterday of the neighborhood council (Mid City West's) parking committee. Tonight Dan and Dave (the head of our soon to be formed security patrol) are attending the Mid City West's public safety committee. They are offering us walkie-talkies and other equipment to help us get our patrol started. 23 of you have signed up. If more of you want to be involved please let me know!

Also, don't forget, the third Thursday of every mos. is the community police advisory board. Please attend at 7pm every third Thursday at Wilshire Division police dept. (La Brea and Venice) in the Roll Call room.

I'm not sure what the coverage will be, but it's likely we'll be on ABC tonight. Thank you all for your involvement. It's starting to feel like a community
again!
peace,

Welcome to the Miracle Mile Action Committee Email List 2/06/07

2007-02-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

And reminder about tomorrow (Wed) meeting with LAPD Captain and Councilman LaBonge

Hi all! I'm sorry if this is a repetition of information for those of you who have been on this list for weeks (or months or years) - but I've finally added all the people who attended the meeting to this list. So I want to recap what we have been doing and discussion over the past couple of days:

1. Press Coverage. As you noticed when you attended the meeting - the press was there in full force. We were the lead news story on ABC and featured on Channel 2, 4, 5, 9 and 11. We received coverage starting Saturday afternoon and all the way until today(when they repeated yesterday's coverage).

2. What Happened Because of Coverage. The Captain of the LAPD called today to ask what they can do to help us. Councilman LaBonge also called today to ask the same thing. They want to know the streets that need patrolling the most - and many of you sent me ideas so I'm compiling them and emailing them to the LAPD.

They would like as many of you to serve on the CPAB (Community Police Advisory Board) as possible. This way you get to know the police and you can tell them about our concerns first hand. This is great to get increased police presence. Please regularly plan to attend CPAB which is the third thursday of every mos. at the Wilshire Station on La Brea and Venice (the Roll Call Room) 7pm.

3. La Bonge is Coming on Wednesday. If you can meet with Councilman LaBonge he'll be on 4th and Detroit at 630pm on Wednesday. He wants to talk about street lighting and crime. The police captain (Capt. Wemmer) will also be there. They want to meet with a few neighbors.

4. Neighborhood Crime Patrol. Thirteen people signed up for the crime patrol. The LAPD wants to come to our first meeting. Our neighborhood council offered equipment and possibly an office. We still have to talk about liability issues. I'll email you when Dan and Dave have set up the first meeting so you can start that.

5. Parking Parking Parking. This will be the longest fight. Many businesses have underused parking - but they don't want to share because of liability issues. We're hoping a lawyer (maybe you?)will come forward and help us with the legalities of it all. Also, we're hoping to meet with Jack Weiss and maybe even go door-to-door to meet the homeowners so they can help us turn District 41 and District 36 into District 78 (or remove signs). This will be an uphill battle, but perhaps if they met some of our mugging victims, they would be moved to act.

That's all for now. I hope to see you Wednesday. I hope some of you can join the patrol and the CPAB. Thanks for coming to the meeting and for caring about the hood.

peace,
Denise Munro Robb
Miracle Mile Action Committee

PS: I'm a volunteer and a full time grad student, so as many of you that can do things as possible will be welcome. We need you!

more Blogger action!

2007-02-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

A blog by a couple of Greens in Los Angeles about the city, the Green Party and green politics in L.A.

Community Organizing In the Miracle Mile

Daily News Editorial Against Condo Reforms - Letters Needed

2007-02-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 07:22:54 -0800 (PST)
From: Larry Gross
Reply-To: contactces@earthlink.net
To: Larry Gross
Subject: Daily News Editorial Against Condo Reforms - Letters Needed

We urge that you write letters in response to today's Daily News editorial (BELOW) against restricting condo conversions and demolitions and the proposed relocation assistance amounts, as well as expressing support for a financial and length of tenancy means test to obtain the higher relocation amounts.

You can send you letters to:

E-mail: dnforum@dailynews.com

Mail Letters to:
Public Forum
Daily News
P.O. BOX 4200,
Woodland Hills, CA
91365-4200.

Fax: (818) 713-3723

Condo complex
L.A. takes very slow approach to protecting renters

Article Last Updated: 01/31/2007

THE Los Angeles City Council got one small step closer Tuesday to passing a plan to deal with the city's condo-conversion crisis - now that the crisis is all but over.

When the real-estate market was still soaring, there was a rash of old apartment buildings' converting to condos. Since 2001, tenants from some 12,000 units have been evicted.

This presented a real hardship for many older and disabled tenants who found themselves without a home and unable to afford a new one.

But now the market has cooled. In 2006, condo sales in the San Fernando Valley dropped 23.5 percent, the single biggest fall since 1990. And as condos get harder to sell, the rush to convert apartments will slow to a crawl.

Meanwhile, the reported outline of the council's plan doesn't seem too promising. It would require landlords to pay steep fees to evicted tenants, while making no distinctions as to the tenants' incomes or length of residency. Rich yuppies and retirees living on a fixed income would get the same treatment.

Which means the council's response - whenever it's complete - will be too little and too late.

LARRY GROSS
Executive Director
COALITION for ECONOMIC SURVIVAL (CES)
514 Shatto Place, Suite 270
Los Angeles, CA 90020
Tel: 213-252-4411 ext. 201 * Fax: 213-252-4422
Email: contactces@earthlink.net
Web site: www.CESinAction.org

Flyering a Huge Success 1/20/07

2007-01-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Susie, Liz, Dave, Brendan, Robert, Dan, Ally and Louise
(and tomorrow Scott!) for your help flyering the neighborhood. Six of
us covered all the cars and apartments between 3rd and 6th street on
Detroit, Cloverdale and Cochran. Dan and Louise and Ally are covering
the areas from 6th to Wilshire - and if you see any cars parked at
meters late in the evening or on 2nd street, please give them flyers
as they are very familiar with the parking issues.

We were surprised at how delighted people were to see us. Those of us
who have done political work for years know how rare it is to have
someone HAPPY to see you putting a flyer on their car or home. The
people I made contact with kept saying "I'm so glad you're doing this
- can I have some flyers to give to my neighbors". It was inspiring
and reminded me of the good ol' days when we first formed the Miracle
Mile Action Committee.

Five of us went to a late dinner afterwards. Thanks everyone for your
help. I think Feb. 3 will be fun and productive. I hope we see some
good changes in our 'hood.

Peace,

Flyers are Ready! Pick up Fri? Police Meeting Tomorrow*

2007-01-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hi all. I know it's short notice, but I had a long talk with our senior lead officer Charles Thomas (very very nice man) who may come to our meeting - if not he'll send someone. Anyway, he asked if we could regularly start sending someone from our tenant's group to the
CPAB Community Police Advisory Board meetings. Tomorrow is the next one! I know I know, but he said it wouldn't hurt to ask. It's tomorrow (Thurs.) 7pm and also every third Thursday of the month - same time and place. at the Wilshire Station Roll Call Room. 4861 W. Venice just east of La Brea. I used to be a member and it's a wonderful way of having the concerns of our neighbors heard directly by the police and commanding officer. Also, it's a great way to learn what's going on. He urged everyone to get on the e-policing list - go to website at lapdepolicing.org and sign up!

ALSO FLYERS ARE READY! Thanks to the El Rey and Paul Billings! Can you pick them up and join us Friday evening for a bit of fun flyering? If so, meet me at my place 325 S. Cloverdale #105 (security code under ROBB) at 8pm Friday night. I tried to call everyone but I had to leave before I was done and I'll be in school all day Thurs and Fri until I get home in time to meet you all. So if you can come please do. If not, I will also be home Sat. morning if you want to pick them
up then.

We can use all the help that has been offered. Thank you all so much. I think this will be a very fun and productive meeting.

Peace,

the ointment

2007-01-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Hi all, if you missed me new year's eve, I did a 3 min. show for "the ointment" just go to theointment.com I'm today's guest (it's a sort of internet Daily Show) and it's on all day - after today it will be there in the archives.

peace,