CRESCENTA VALLEY TOWN COUNCIL
October
20, 2005
Call
To Order at 7:06 P.M.
Adjourned
at 9:55 P.M.
1.
Call to Order - President Hales
Thank
you to the Boy Scout Troop for attending our pledge.
Present
Absent
Councilmember
Andrus
Councilmember Beatty
Councilmember
Erickson
Councilmember
Lunt
Councilmember
Ostler
Councilmember
Pierce
Councilmember
Raghavchary
Councilmember
Rawlins
Councilmember
Smiley
Councilmember
Thomas
Councilmember
Toyon (late)
President
Hales
Remembering
Frank Roberts, Former Councilmember
2. Acknowledgement of Officials and Guests
3.
Approval of Minutes of CVTC General Meeting, September 15, 2005
Moved-Councilmember
Lunt, Seconded-Councilmember Raghavachary, Passed Unanimously
4.
Presentation to Soroptomist International
Stephanie
Miles: Breast Cancer Awareness
Month
5.
Guest Speaker - Linda Evans, Principal of Crescenta Valley High School
Being
a former teacher, Principal Evans brought the awards earned by CVHS and showed
them to the Council and audience. These include: Crescenta
Valley High School is a California distinguished school, BRAVO Award from the
Los Angles Music Center – visual and performing arts school, and a rendering
of the plans for the CVCAN new turf the CV Field.
A
new program, 40 developmental assets, has begun with the school working to
develop these assets during the school year.
The campaign at the beginning of November is titled, “Take a Second,
Make a Difference.” Principal
Evans requested the Community and the Council to help develop assets.
Councilmember
Smiley stated that she is proud of CVHS. Principal
Evans responded that there are still so many goals and lots to do to get from
where they are, to where they want to go.
President
Hales commented on the academics and Principal Evans informed the community that
there are college credits for high school students available through the school
with our high school being the in the top 3 % of the nation.
CVHS
is finding ways to help the students who have not been successful through a
tutoring class with Ms. Yamaguchi. There were 15 students with a total of 45
F’s between them. This has been
reduced to 8 F’s between them.
Tutors
for Algebra One are available during a complete class time.
New
classes available including digital photography.
Candidate
Joshua Sofias asked if there would be bleachers on the new field.
Principal Evans responded that there are
temporary bleaches right now, but there are parking issues and space
issues, so there will continue to be no home games.
6.
Comments from Officials
There
will be a Supervisor Antonovich Trail ride- Oct 30th, at Marshall
canyon. Riders must provide their
own horse and a minimal fee.
Montrose
Avenue will have repaving, in July 2006.
Floriencita
Ave., 2435
building, had a visit from safety and regional planning, the Supervisor’s
office, and the Council. There is a
height violation and the owner was cited, with options to correct the issue by
either applying for a variance, or lowering the building.
Mike
Lawler said “thank you” for paying attention to this building.
Ms.
Hadjimanoukain replied that it was their pleasure, gave out her phone number,
626-356-5407, and reminded the community that every individual counts to the
Supervisor and staff. They don’t
need 20 people or the Town Council to be involved in order to encourage them to
work on an issue.
Stats
for September - Rise in burglaries to 11. Average
is usually 4-5. There were 7
arrests with 2 groups of burglars working the area, one with 3 people and 2
groups of 2 people. Five are in
custody and have been linked to LAPD area as well.
They were apprehended due to public awareness.
Larceny – under the average, Motor vehicle thefts zero, 2 assaults
which were domestic violence. There
has been graffiti at the high school – boys bathroom – with the writing
being “INSANE.” There has been
a few taggers arrested and there are diversion programs in the works.
Councilmember
Erickson talked about the stickers available for residents with the Sheriff’s
Emergency Phone Number printed on them. Reminder
by Captain Peters that dialing 911 from a cell phone reaches the Highway Patrol.
Call 957-2918 from your cell phone if you are local to reach the
sheriff’s emergency phone.
Councilmember
Lunt asked about the burglary rings. Captain
Peters stated that it was people that did not live in the area.
They are from south LA, Glendale, and central LA areas. There were three
search warrants obtained in these arrests.
During
this meeting there is also a meeting at Rosemont Middle School
regarding the seven students arrested with narcotics – meth
amphetamines. There is a
presentation for families. What is
the problem? The biggest problem is
drug usage. Meth is easy to
produce, readily available. The
meeting contains anti-drug information for parents including signs of use.
Use of this drug causes the user to go several days without sleep, leads
to violence, and no appetite results in not eating so blood sugar drops to zero,
and this causes death. Steve Colley, is the new Field Deputy at the school.
There
has also been a problem of Morphine use/sale at the High School.
Ms.
Hadjimanoukian reminded the community that there is a county graffiti removal
program which is free.
Officer
Bell is filling in for Officer Vasquez. There
were 4 injury accidents last month and 5 non-injury accidents.
The corner of Foothill and Pennsylvania was the biggest problem spot.
Officer Bell also encouraged the community to use sheriff’s emergency
numbers because the 911 operators are overwhelmed.
Councilmember
Raghavachary asked for the stats on Officer Bell’s baby:
born 9/2, boy, Patrick
Councilmember
Smiley informed the community that if your child’s car seat is in a car
accident, you can turn in the seat to the Highway Patrol and they will turn in
and paperwork so that the insurance company will pay for a new one.
This is a new state law.
Councilmember
Erickson asked about the call boxes that Councilmember Andrus noticed were not
working as last month. It appears
they are working now and if they are waiting for scheduled maintenance they will
be covered.
Ms.
Hadjimanoukian informed the community that the county approved $900,000 to
purchase car seats for low income families.
Reminder
from President Hales: The Council
will air their meetings on Channel 25 from 8-11 Wednesday nights for one month.
Dennis
Erdman, general manager, is also in attendance.
In January there will be a tour of the Colorado aqueduct on the 6th,
7th, and 8th of the month.
This Wednesday at about noon there may be a large BOOM from the public
display of how the bedrock locations will be tested as a result of grants for
ground water geological studies. The
display will begin at 10 AM and this is to measure bedrock locations in our
community.
Regarding
emergency planning, there is a plan in place for terrorism, fires, and
earthquakes. Hopes are that the
Town Council and Water District can work together in case of emergency.
Currently
they are working on the interconnection off of Lowell to where Glendale touches
LA City.
Charter
Cable are working to interconnect between the CVWD stations so that there is an
alternate form of communication in case of emergency.
The
Council would like to link websites with the CVWD for Emergency Preparedness.
Councilmember
Erickson asked about Sheriff Bacca’s statement that indicated that a major
earthquake would break main water lines. We
would like to verify this and is there a plan to retrofit?
Mr.
Atwater reminded the community and Council that emergency water can come from
the Riverside Reservoir. Our water
lines could be interrupted for up to 6 months and we would still have water.
We could loose wells and that is why we are building interconnects.
We are replacing old lines over time at $2 million over the year.
The lines cannot be replaced all at once.
Enhancement
of Saturday family programs are reinstated with the Bat Man featured last week.
The
Bookmark contest is winding up with the Woman’s Club Juniors judging this
Sunday.
Mad
Science of Los Angeles will be the program on 11/12.
Friday
at 11 AM is the pre-school program.
Homework
helpers are available from 3-5 PM and there is an online homework center help.
Vintage
Baseball presentation was last Monday. November
21st 7 PM Mary Lou Posa – talking about Sunland –Tujunga Women
Pioneers
Development
of the valley – preserve history and natural beauty, concerned about
multi-family housing
This
Monday, October 24th @ 6 PM, Glendale portion of the valley will be
discussed - dealing with historic preservation and development
Councilmember
Pierce asked about naming of the library. CV
Heritage would like the “Seymor and Helen Thomas Library” to be considered
as the new name of the La Crescenta Library.
Councilmember
Raghavachary was noticed as the one who got things together for the Florencita
project.
Candidate
Bill bodell asked offered Mr. Lawler an opportunity to speak at the Kiwanis
meeting. Mr. Lawler recommended
Stuart Byles for that speech.
Community
was reminded to visit CV Heritage on the web at CVHeritage.org.
The
Conservancy is opposing the use of anti-coagulant rodent poison due to the
resulting harm on large predators. Bills
153, 1024, are in the works to fund open space.
The recent Chattsworth fires – and Omison Ranch – are seeing new
grass already sprouting. There is
concern for that area and possible mudslides.
Historic
sites and Valley Oaks did not fair well. They
are planning on replanting in the fall.
4000
acres of federal and 6000 acres of local and state parks were lost.
7.
CVTC Candidates Forum (as drawn) - Councilmember
Rawlins
Absentee ballot procedures discussed first.
Three minutes are available per candidate to introduce themselves and
tell why the community should vote for them.
1.
Steve Pierce – Forty year resident living on Rosemont for 38 years.
Graduate of the University of Redlands.
Veteran of the US Navy and the Vietnam War.
Job in Vietnam was to take soldiers and drop them off up the rivers.
Steve is 62 years old and his wife was a Mountain Avenue school teacher
for 11 years. Pierce is a member of
the Historical Society, CV Heritage, and has applied to be a volunteer for the
Sheriff’s Dept. On the Council
Pierce serves as a member of the Community Outreach Committee, Streets and
Roadways Committee, and Scholarship Committee.
He encourages everyone to get involved in their community and has found
in working with disaster preparedness that while organizations are prepared,
families are not. Please vote.
2.
Edwin Suh – Youngest candidate, 28 yrs old. For 5 years he has been in real estate and a resident of La
Crescenta. Suh is a graduate of
Hoover High school, and has a BA in history from CSUN. He is ready to learn and is excited about our community and
the education in the area, with all of our blue ribbon schools.
Suh comes to the Council with a blank slate, morals and beliefs, and
wanting to make right decisions.
3.
Jaleen Lunt – Served for 3 years and has projects she would like to see
through to the end, including the library, Community Standards District, Welcome
to La Crescenta sign, and spot park. Lunt
believes is it good for the family to see parents involved in the community.
She likes La Crescenta and wants to keep it a nice place to live.
4.
Krista Smiley – Montrose resident who loves the community and is happy
about having so many people wanting to be involved. Krista and her husband have lived here for 22 years.
Smiley works for Glendale High School as the plant manager.
Smiley would like to work to see a bike path from spot parks to
historical spots, more restaurants on Foothill Blvd., beautifying Montrose
Avenue, multi-family housing limited due to high water costs and limited
parking. Over-development needs to
be prevented. Smiley is a member of
the Community Outreach Committee and a team player who works hard.
Applying for and receiving grants for before and after school programs is
another program Smiley would like to work on this coming year.
5.
Danette Erickson – Former business woman, designer of computer systems
for JPL, PTA president, and volunteer award winner listens to different
perspectives. Erickson works at all
levels of government and went to Washington DC on her own dime to lobby
Congressman Drier for funds for our library and community center. Erickson also was influential in stopping new liquor licenses
from being granted in our community and in helping kids walk to school safety by
working to get sidewalks and crosswalks installed. She would like to see the library to its completion and work
to preserve historical buildings, Erickson wants to see well planned
developments. With change coming,
she wants to preserve mountains and protect streets. Erickson knows how to give and has the time to give to this
position.
6.
Robert Thomas – Currently an alternate on the Council, a real estate
broker, and a resident of La Crescenta and Glendale his whole life.
Robert has been married for 15 years and has been a broker for 25 years.
He loves the local schools and has four children in the school district.
Thomas is amazed that he lives in La Crescenta because it is so majestic.
Thomas acknowledges that there are problems but that they are being dealt
with and the Sheriff’s Dept. wants to keep it that way and so do the schools.
(Thomas put on fake hair that his son recommended so he would get more
votes.)
7.
Joshua Sofias – Husband and father of two, has lived in La Crescenta
for 10 years. He likes the small
town feel, yet is glad to be so close to downtown with it being the best of both
worlds. Sofias wants to represent
the residents and to maintain the small town feel.
He has concerns about the community – cell towers, safety issues,
housing developments, multi-family units. Currently
Sofias is a systems engineer at a financial institution.
8.
William Bodell – (Told a joke.) We
should not have knee-jerk reactions. Twenty-two
years ago he grew up in Orange County but his wife is from this community so
they moved here. He is a former
member of the Council, former Kiwanis Club President, and they Key Club advisor
to CVHS and Clark Magnet.
9.
Alex Rogic – Resident of La Crescenta since 1979, whose children have
gone through the local schools. He
lost his son at 36 years of age. Rogic
has experience of 27 years as chief architect, professor at Santa Monica College
for 20 years, professor at Glendale Community College, and gave oral exams for
21 years. He has been married for
44 years to the same wife and he’s had his watch for 52 years.
He has been observing the Council for 8 months, since last January, to
keep an eye on issues and now desires full involvement.
He is a dedicated worker and team player.
He knows are community is a bedroom community but must acknowledges that
it must stay awake to keep our community nice.
Rogic is an artist and a swimmer who competes.
He has been in the top 10 in his age bracket in US three times.
8.
Public Comments
Elisia
Williker- New resident- Pineridge and Mountain View - asked about school at top
of Rosemont and if the Council is for it or against it.
The Council simply reflected the feelings of the community and wrote a
letter to the Supervisor giving him the concerns of the community.
9.
Committee Reports
Candidates
will be notified that night. Messages
will be left.