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MINUTES FOR MAY 23rd 2019

Voting Members in Attendance:  George Wolfberg, Richard G. Cohen, Chris Spitz, Rick Mills, Joanna Spak, Steve Cron, David Kaplan, Sue Kohl, Haldis Toppel, Alan Goldsmith, Richard Blumenberg, Duke Ostendorf, Jean Sharp, Brenda Theveny, Ellie Jenkins, Reza Akef, Sarah Knauer

Voting Alternates:  Barbara Kohn, Eric Dugdale, Barbara Marinacci

Non-voting Advisors and Alternates:  David Card, Melanie Bouer, Jan Ostendorf, Eli Safaie-Kia, Zennon Ulyate-Crow [following appointment; see item 8.1.5 below]

1.    Certification of Quorum.  The Chair George Wolfberg called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and certified that a quorum was present.

2.    Reading of Community Council’s Mission.  Brenda Theveny read the Council’s Mission.

3.    Introduction of the Board and Audience.  The board and audience were introduced.

4.    Approval of Minutes & Upcoming Meetings.  1) Approval of Minutes – the minutes of 5/09/19 were deemed approved.  2) Upcoming Meetings – June 13, 2019: (1) candidates forum (if needed) and Board election of PPCC officers for the 2019-2020 term; (2) LAX Landside Modernization Plan update; 3) plans to restore historic buildings at the West LA VA.  June 27, 2019:  Guest speaker Councilmember Mike Bonin; Q&A about matters of community concern. Additional topics to be announced.  There will be one meeting only in each of the months of July and August (dates to be announced).

5.    Consideration of Agenda.  The Chair announced that the agenda is as distributed.

6.    Treasurer’s Report.  Treasurer Richard G. Cohen reported that the Council’s bank balance is $40,982.66. There were no significant transactions since the last report.

7.    General Public Comment.

7.1.    Elizabeth Lerer (former resident) seeks to protect a house in the Huntington Palisades that was built in 1929.  The address is 14924 Camarosa Dr.  This will be on the agenda of the July 18 meeting of the Los Angeles Historical [Cultural Heritage] Commission. She distributed flyers. She does not know if the Huntington Palisades Property Owners Corporation has a position.  Phillis Dudick (interested person) stated that she is also seeking to protect the house and may organize a community meeting with an architect to present more information.  Contact:  phdphillis@gmail.com.

7.3.    Daphne Gronich (resident/past PAPA President and former PPCC Citizen of the Year).  PAPA is looking for parade volunteers and donations for the 4th  of July Parade and Fireworks Show/Concert. Visit www.papa.org.

7.4.    Raquel Richter (resident) explained that she and other parents who live in the Polo Fields are very concerned about a sudden change in the admissions policy at Canyon Charter Elementary School, which has resulted in preventing children who live in the Polo Fields from being enrolled in Kindergarten, even though the Polo Fields had for many years been considered part of the assignment area and children from that area had been allowed to enroll on a preferential basis at Canyon School. She stated that she and other parents – some of whom already have children in other grades at the School — had relied on assurances by the Principal that their children would be entitled to preferential enrollment in Kindergarten as per the longstanding policy, but were recently told that the policy had changed and they would now have to enroll at Brentwood Science Magnet or enter into a lottery for Kindergarten enrollment at Canyon School along with other prospective students from outside the School’s assignment area.  Reza Akef (Area 8 Representative) stated that he will address this issue during his Area report.

8.    Reports, Announcements and Concerns.

8.1.    From the Chair.

8.1.1.    Board Nominations of officer candidates – accepted until 15 minutes before scheduled close of meeting (8:45pm; Bylaws, Art. VII.2).  The Chair asked the Board if there were any further officer nominations.  Barbara Kohn (PPRA Alternate) nominated Haldis Toppel (Area 3 Representative) for President.  There were no other nominations. The Chair stated that nominations would remain open until 8:45pm [see item 12 below].

8.1.2.    WRAC leadership meeting 5/15/19 update.  The Chair and Secretary Chris Spitz attended the May WRAC leadership meeting.  A lot of ground was covered.  Items of most interest to the PPCC board are: 1) the PPCC-sponsored resolution regarding dockless scooter providers was recommended to all the member-councils; 2) a motion regarding ride-sharing data was also recommended and is on our agenda as a new business item tonight; 3) LADWP will be constructing new underground distribution facilities along Sunset Blvd. to address power outages in the Bel Air and Westwood areas; trenching will begin soon and the work is expected to be completed in 2020.  We were told briefly that the reason the Palisades has pole-top rather than underground facilities is because our power lines are almost all above ground and it is too expensive for LADWP to change to an underground system in our area.

8.1.3.    SMCCA annual meeting 5/14/19 update.  This was SMCCA’s 73rd annual meeting.  The Chair attended the meeting and reported that Deputy Fire Chief Armando Hogan briefed attendees on wildfire safety. Councilmember Bonin also attended and answered audience questions, particularly regarding dockless electric scooters.

8.1.4.    Minor bylaws corrections approved by the Executive Committee (Bylaws, SR-8).  In the process of reformatting and posting the amended Bylaws on the website, the Bylaws Committee saw that two minor corrections were needed:  adding quotes around the word “PPCC” in the Definitions section and adding the term “alternate organizational representative” that had been inadvertently omitted in another section.  The Executive Committee unanimously agreed and these minor corrections have been made pursuant to Standing Rule 8 of the Bylaws.

8.1.5.     Approval of third PPCC Youth Advisor.  The Chair introduced Pali High sophomore Zennon Ulyate-Crow, who has applied to become a third PPCC Youth Advisor.  Zennon comes to us with the strong recommendation of both of our other Youth Advisors, Eli Safaie-Kia and Sharla Steinman.  The Chair and Secretary had the pleasure of meeting with Zennon recently.  He is a 5th generation Californian who is very active and interested in governmental affairs and policy matters.  He has worked with Metro and the bus companies on bus scheduling matters, is a member of Abundant Housing LA and supports SB 50. The Chair and Secretary have spoken with Zennon about this and do not believe there will be any conflict with his duties as a PPCC Youth Advisor.  Zennon was then appointed as the third PPCC Youth Advisor, with the approval of the Board [Bylaws Art. XIV].

8.1.6.    Resolution re Dockless Mobility Device Providers update.  See PPCC Position Letter.  LADOT community meetings on June 11 (WLA) and June 12 (Venice).  See Dockless Flyer.  In response to our position letter sent to City Council members, we have been told that Councilmember Koretz is drafting a resolution in turn to be submitted to City Council. WRAC leadership has also recommended the PPCC resolution to all 14 member councils; we are following up.  The Secretaryand Steve Boyers (Area 7 Representative) hope to attend one of the LADOT community meetings scheduled for June.We also learned last Friday about AB 1112 (Friedman – Burbank).  This bill would greatly limit the City’s ability to obtain data from scooter companies. It is expected to go to a floor vote in the Assembly soon.  PPCC has submitted a letter to Assemblymember Bloom opposing the bill:  AB 1112 LetterCouncilmember Bonin has also introduced a resolution in City Council to oppose the bill.  We will monitor developments.  The Chair and Secretary also submitted a letter to the Editor of the Post, which was published in today’s paper.  The letter explains PPCC’s position on the dockless scooter matter: We are not “at war” with all scooters as a recent Post headline suggested; we simply want to see the City enact appropriate  rules to prevent permits from being issued to providers who refuse to cooperate with police by providing identifying information about users to law enforcement in situations such as the hit-and-run incident that recently occurred in the Palisades.  The Chair was also interviewed today at the scene by an investigative reporter for Channel 4 (KNBC); he was told the interview will be broadcast sometime next week.

8.1.7.    LAPD Basic Patrol Car Area Boundary Study.  Take the LAPD Survey (data may be used to increase patrol car presence in our neighborhoods).  Questions and answers will be used to determine how we can increase patrol car presence in our neighborhoods.

8.1.8.    Parking Meter Revenue Return Pilot Program update (use of funds for streetscape projects in the BID area).  We are still awaiting an update on program details from the City as to the required process.  We expect to work with the BID in the coming weeks to facilitate application for these funds and the necessary public hearing, which may take place at a future PPCC meeting. Stay tuned for more details to come.

8.1.9.    PPCC Position Letter re Developer Contributions.  A letter was recently submitted to City Council regarding our position in support of Councilmember Ryu’s motion to restrict developer contributions to City officials:  Developer Contributions Letter. The motion passed in City Council on Wednesday May 22, 2019.

8.2.    From Officers.

8.2.1.    Chris Spitz (Secretary) gave an update on SB 50 (Wiener).  As has been widely-reported, SB 50– the highly controversial do-over of Sen. Wiener’s failed bill from last year, SB 827, that would effectively “up-zone” large swaths of LA and which PPCC and the City of LA strongly oppose — was held in suspense by the Senate Appropriations Committee and designated as a two year bill, which means it will not be brought to a vote in the Senate this year (although it may be re-introduced in January 2020; if it isn’t brought back by the end of January next year, it will be killed).  We’re told that the bill’s author may be engaging in last minute efforts to somehow bring the bill out of committee to a floor vote, but so far this hasn’t succeeded.  Meanwhile, a super-majority of WRAC member-councils have passed motions opposing the bill.  The WRAC position letter is on the PPCC website under Resources/Presentations to PPCC. We will continue to monitor the bill’s status, in whatever form it may take going forward.

8.3.    From At-Large and Area Representatives.

8.3.1.    Rick Mills (Area 4) indicated that we had recently learned from SLO Moore that there was a permit application filed with LAPD for a carnival to take place on Temescal Canyon Rd. in June.  SLO Michael Moore:  This event will not happen [see Item 8.5.1 below].

8.3.2.    Reza Akef (Area 8) explained the concerning situation about a change in enrollment policy at Canyon Charter Elementary School:

PPCC Area 8 includes the Riviera and the Polo Fields.  For the past thirty years, Canyon Charter Elementary School had always included the Polo Fields as part of the School’s assignment area.  All children from the Polo Fields area had been allowed to enroll on a preferential basis (along with other students in the assignment area) and automatically attend Canyon School.

Two weeks ago, the District suddenly decided to enforce the original Charter in which the Polo Fields neighborhood is not in the School’s assignment area for purposes of Kindergarten enrollment.  Ten Polo Fields parents had earlier been assured by Canyon School Principal Nicole Sheard that their children could enroll and automatically attend Kindergarten along with other students in the School’s assignment area.  In reliance, the parents had not applied to any other schools. They have now been told that the School must enforce the Charter rules and their children are no longer entitled to preferential Kindergarten enrollment; their only options are to enroll in Brentwood Science Magnet or enter into the Kindergarten lottery at Canyon School for students outside the assignment area.  They were also told that their children could later enroll in 1st through 5th grades at Canyon School.

Upon learning about the situation, the Chair reached out to the LAUSD District 4 office via our Education Advisor Allison Polhill.  He explained that Ms. Polhill indicated she would follow up, but he has not yet received a further response.  Several Board members expressed concern about the situation. Sue Kohl (Area 5 Representative) asked about the School’s Kindergarten classroom capacity. Ms. Richter (the Polo Fields parent who had commented in Item 7 above) explained that she has an older child at the School, had received assurances from the Principal that her Kindergartner could also enroll and attend automatically as an “area” student, and had relied on these assurances. However, she and other Polo Fields parents have now been told that the policy has changed and their Kindergartners can only apply in the Canyon School lottery or to Brentwood Science Magnet. She indicated it is too late to apply or prepare the required enrollment packet for another school. She stated that parents were told that enrollment from students in the assignment area had reached capacity and that the School has only one Kindergarten classroom, but parents say that there are two classrooms plus one T-K classroom (i.e., parents believe there are actually three Kindergarten/T-K classrooms).  Daphne Gronich remarked that she was involved in the original Charter process and it appears the Principal is now enforcing the Charter at the instruction of the District.  Reza Akef also stated that this does not appear to be the fault of the Principal, who was apparently acting at the District’s direction.  The Chair and/or the Area 8 Representative will follow up with the District.

8.4.    From Organizational Representatives.

8.4.1.    Brenda Theveny (TCA).  This coming Tuesday there will be a TCA hike led by Randy Young in Rustic Canyon. Participants should meet before 6pm in the upper parking lot at Temescal Canyon Park, near the dining hall.  The TCA evening hikes will continue weekly on Tuesdays throughout the summer.  The Secretary noted that the hikes are listed on the PPCC website calendar.

8.4.2.    Chris Spitz (Secretary), reporting in the absence of Bill Bruns (Friends of the Library). The Friends are holding a parking lot book sale (benefit for the library) on Saturday June 1, in the Palisades branch library parking lot, from 9am-3pm.

8.4.3.    Duke Ostendorf (YMCA).  The 47th Annual Kids Track Meet at the Pali High Track has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 8.

8.4.4.    Sarah Knauer (Chamber of Commerce).  The next Chamber Evening Mixer will be on June 18 at the Bay Club.

8.4.5.    Eric Dugdale (Historical Society).  A Pacific Palisades Historical Society Members & Guests Luncheon will take place on June 20 at the Aldersgate Retreat Center.  Naturalist and award-winning author Charles Hood will speak on the diversity of backyard wildlife in Los Angeles.  RSVPs are due by June 14.  The Secretary noted that information about the event is also on the PPCC website calendar.

8.5.    From Government Offices / Representatives.

8.5.1.   LAPD SLO Michael Moore.

The West LA LAPD station is having an open house on Wed. May 29, from 3-7pm. All are invited. A carnival company recently tried to obtain permission to hold a carnival fundraiser for LAPD on Temescal Canyon Rd.  This will not occur; the carnival will instead be held in the parking lot behind the West LA District office on Corinth.  There is no news on the hit-and-run scooter or racist hate speech incidents.  Regarding the scooter incident:  Officer Moore explained that there are many factors and the case is on hold.  The primary issue is that the victim doesn’t want to press charges.  There is a time limit on how long the police can hold the case open.  They have 3-4 years before the time limit runs out. LAPD has too many hit-and-runs to investigate, so the Palisades incident is on the back burner for now.

8.5.2.    Lisa Cahill, Palisades-Brentwood Deputy and Arianne Garcia, new District Director, CD11.

Arianne Garcia introduced herself and stated that she welcomes everyone’s questions.  Ms. Cahill then reported on several items:

1) Regarding the City Budget:  We did not get all money we wanted for Urban Forestry but did get some funding for an Urban Forestry Manager, for tree-trimming crews, and for the first step of the Dudek report (initial part of the Urban Forestry Management plan).

2) Regarding a 2014 letter from LAFD referencing problems with accessing narrow streets in the Palisades: This was spurred by incidents that occurred at the time.  The Department completed a survey of the Palisades area.  Our streets are narrow but people want to park in front of their homes, which makes access for emergency vehicles difficult if not impossible in some cases. The letter went to City Council and it was ruled that this was a citywide issue.  The most recent iteration of a response to the problem is the Wildland Urban Interface Task Force proposed by Councilmember Bonin.  All the agencies that are participating on the Task Force are being asked to look at the issues involving narrow streets and to come up with recommendations on a way to move forward.

3)  The Councilmember is looking at naming a street in the Palisades after Arnie Wishnick. This will probably be near the Chamber office in the Village.

4)  Regarding Potrero Canyon:  The work is moving along and is on schedule.  Construction is going well.  The next phase is to get out the landscaping bid.  The bid is divided into 2 phases – the first to be a contract for early growing of the plants with a goal to increase survival of the initial plantings.  She has no further updates.

Board member questions:  Sue Kohl (Area 5 Representative) asked about parking meters being installed on Albright to the rear of the Caruso project.  Response: Transportation Deputy Eric Bruins will be discussing this with LADOT.  David Card (At-large 1st Alternate) remarked that Southern California Edison has new rules resulting in drastic pruning of trees around power lines as a result of fires; he suggested that the City should be on the alert for butchering around our power lines.  Response: She will bring this to Councilmember Bonin’s attention.  Sue Kohl advised that an Alphabet Streets resident thinks that traffic light links on Chautauqua are off due to the recent repaving.  Response: Eric Bruins is aware and is looking into this.

8.5.3.    Janet Turner (District Representative, Congressman Ted Lieu).

The House passed national disaster relief funding, providing for $19.1 billion in disaster relief.  A portion will go to Woolsey Fire victims. Ms. Turner will double-check on whether the relief is only for past disasters.  The FCC is circulating a declaratory ruling to give permission to carriers to develop new blocking tools for robocalls.  The Congressman is introducing new bold ways for creating jobs through infrastructure improvements. His District office is moving to the same office in West LA where the City Council District 11 office is located, on Corinth Ave.  See District Office Move Flyer.

8.6.    From PPCC Advisors.

8.6.1.    Miriam Schulman (Wildfire Safety Advisor).  See item 11.1 below.

8.6.2.    Eli Safaie-Kia (Youth Advisor) presented news about Palisades Charter High School.  The School had the highest pass rate for an AP exam.  Nineteen new Ambassadors were welcomed; there is a new website for the Ambassadors, www.paliambassadors.org.  An Entrepreneurship Fair took place recently.  Gardening Day was big success.  The Pali Choir will be going to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Graduation will be on June 6 at 5:30pm.  The Pali Awards banquet will take place on May 30.

9.    Reports from Committees.

9.1.    Palisades Street Tree Committee (David Card, Chair).  Committee meeting update.

David Card announced that the Committee met this past Tuesday and has hit the ground running. Lisa Cahill of CD11 was the Committee’s guest and gave valuable guidance.  The first step:  members will be walking around the neighborhoods counting all the street trees in the Palisades. When this task is completed the Committee will have an idea of the size of the Palisades’ urban forest.  The PPCC Chair stated that Brentwood Community Council (BCC) is also interested in our Committee’s work and has requested that a BCC representative be permitted to attend the Committee meetings.  It was agreed that Nancy Freedman (past BCC Chair) will attend.  We want to work together on challenges and ideas.

9.2.    Executive Committee.  PPCC Awards Guidelines revisions: recommended for Board approval (process revisions only).  See Draft Revised Guidelines Redline.

At the request of the Chair, Secretary Chris Spitz explained that the Executive Committee is recommending several revisions to the current Awards Guidelines, solely having to do with the processinvolved in nominating and selecting the awardees and producing the awards event.  The Guidelines were originally drafted almost five years ago during her tenure as Chair. Some of the circumstances involving the granting of the awards had changed, as explained in the Guidelines. The Executive Committee believes that revisions are needed now in order to bring the Guidelines up to date with current practices in terms of process.

The Secretary noted that we have also received a few comments from individuals who suggest that the Committee might want to consider making substantive changes in the Guidelines in terms of the actual awards requirements, which the Committee had not previously considered changing.

What are the awards requirements?  First, the Citizen award requires both a record of long-time community service as well as a recent outstanding accomplishment benefitting the entire community.  The Golden Sparkplug award requires that someone ignite or set in motion an idea or project that benefits the community; there is no requirement that the idea or project be completed in the given year.  There are also various other requirements for the awards, including residency, whether the work was a beneficial outcome of the person’s profession, and whether the person is a PPCC Board member. The Guidelines also provide for discretionary Pride of the Palisades honors, which the Awards Selection Committee may or may not decide to give in a given year, to someone who doesn’t quite meet all the requirements of the other awards but does something that in the Committee’s judgment is extraordinary.  It was noted that the first Pride of the Palisades honoree was Bill Bruns in 2014. This discretionary award was made “official” in the Guidelines in 2015.

Discussion was opened as to the recommended process revisions and as to whether the Board believes the Executive Committee should consider substantive changes in the awards requirements.  Richard G. Cohen (Treasurer) provided further explanation about the history and substantive requirements of the awards.  He stressed that in 2015, a great deal of thought and work went into the Executive Committee’s drafting of the awards requirements and the Board’s consideration of the Guidelines, which were discussed thoroughly at several meetings before final approval. The Secretary also explained that the substantive awards requirements are essentially a continuation of the same requirements that had been in place for many years for the Citizen and Golden Sparkplug awards. She and the Treasurer do not believe that any changes in the substantive awards requirements are needed at this time. The Chair asked for Board approval of the recommended revisions; the Board approved the revisions.  No Board members expressed a desire for the Executive Committee to consider any further changes in the awards requirements or the Guidelines.

10.    Old Business – None.

11.    New Business.

11.1.    Update on Wildfire Safety.  Presentation by Miriam Schulman, PPCC Wildfire Safety Advisor.  To inform understanding & for helpful information, see four videos from Dr. Jack Cohen, Research Scientist with the US Fire Service, on the PPCC Disaster Preparedness page (scroll down to Fire Prevention Videos).

Ms. Schulman explained that she is a resident, not an expert in wildfire safety. However, she has been a professional researcher and because of her concerns about the increasing danger of wildfires in our area, she has researched, spoken with experts, attended meetings and read a great deal of data on how wildfires start, why fires burn and how to protect ourselves and our property from wildfire damage.  She introduced residents Maureen Grace, Krishna Thangavelu and K.C. Soll, with whom she has been working on getting information to present tonight. She also distributed a summary to the Board with tips on protecting homes from wildfire damage.

Ms. Schulman noted that we have new environmental conditions, such as extreme wind and drought, that lead to increased likeliness of damaging wildfires.  She stressed that all of the chaparral north of Sunset which has not burned since 1978 is overdue to burn and will likely go up in a few months. When there’s a big wildfire, chaos almost always results.  There are communications breakdowns due to havoc with cell systems, organizational problems and various teams being sent to different areas.  The Malibu fire had a fourteen-mile fire line that had to be covered. Regarding opt-in alert systems: Many people never opt-in and the alerts aren’t always timely.  Sometimes the agencies involved don’t want to create panic with alerts, or don’t get an order to send an alert.  The Paradise evacuation drill failed because they didn’t prepare for the worst-case scenario.

She also discussed the problems with narrow streets. Fire trucks can’t get up many narrow streets.  If a power line goes down the trucks won’t cross it.  Never cross a downed line.  When there is a wildfire there aren’t enough resources (planes, helicopters or trucks).  Some areas cannot be accessed.  Sparks and embers can blow and create spot fires miles away.  Winds that carry burning embers can go at least 4 miles.  Some houses are safer because they are brand new and built to new code requirements, but we still have original homes built in 1950s that are not updated.  If a house goes up in flames it endangers at least ten houses around it.

What can we do to make big difference?  Regarding narrow streets, Capt. Kitahata of Station 69 has asked Ms. Schulman to advise the community:  Residents should look at streets and decide whether parking is more valuable than safety; if a fire truck can’t get through call Station 69 and ask for no parking on the street.  Capt. Kitahata doesn’t think the “2014 letter” issue is over (see Item 8.5.2.). 

Ms. Schulman attended the recent Mandeville Canyon community meeting and evacuation drill. Deputy Chief Hogan advised people that if a wildfire hits, many people will not be able to get out of their neighborhoods and will have to shelter in place.  She is working on how to make homes and neighborhoods safe.  First, residents all need a “Go Bag.”  There are many online resources with information about what should be placed in the bag (insurance papers, ID, medicine list, glasses, etc.).  Keep the bag next to your bed or in a central place ready to go.  She also recommends checking out Map Your Neighborhood (MYN) – a useful program to help in situations when you can’t get home in an emergency.  Neighbors can help getting your Go bag and otherwise helping people get out of homes out if you can’t get there.  The Secretary noted that we had a presentation about MYN at a past board meeting and information about the program is on the PPCC website Disaster Readiness page.

Ms. Schulman also urged residents to view four videos linked in the handouts and also posted on the PPCC website (see above for link).  These protocols were developed by the National Fire Prevention Association to help keep homes from burning.  Proof of the danger is everywhere:  houses are catching each other on fire, they burn hotter and faster than anything else and they put out toxic gasses.  Fire experts would like to see houses standing even if all trees around them burn; there is evidence that this can occur if the homes are properly defended.

Ms. Schulman has arranged for a class to be taught by Dr. Jack Cohen, Research Scientist and wildfire expert with the U.S. Fire Service.  He will teach a three-day course in the Palisades, to be attended by firefighters and officials from LAFD, LAPD and BHFD.  They will be taught about what makes homes vulnerable.  The Topanga Fire Safe Council made a grant application and received $24,000 to fund this program.  If someone from one of our neighborhood organizations wishes to join the class, contact Ms. Schulman (contact information on PPCC website). Her research shows that many homes are burned from the inside. Embers get in through vents and firefighters cannot always see what is happening inside. Ember-proof mesh can be purchased and she passed out a brochure.  She recommends that residents make sure their homes are tight and closed during a fire event.  Always close the flue.  Don’t leave the A/C on in a fire situation as it will pull embers in – turn off the A/C if you are evacuating.  If you have a flat roof, the parapet will catch embers on the edge; they will burn hole in roof and then the fire starts inside.

Ms. Schulman is convinced we can take steps to protect houses from burning in the Palisades even in the event of a wildfire.  The key is to create defensible space.  It is best to have green plants around the house.  She also strongly recommends that everyone have a water bladder that can be used to put out spot fires and defend structures.

K.C. Soll (resident) then spoke briefly.  She has been organizing a series of LAFD CERT training in the Palisades; she organized four series of classes over the last year, with 100s of graduates.  All classes are free.  She has organized thirty people in a Palisades Ham Radio network.  Problems occur when police and fire departments can’t talk to each other. She suggests having a cell phone app with an opportunity to be texted in an emergency.  She has been working on emergency response communications.

Board members next raised various points about problems with communications during wildfires, emergency alert and text alert apps (from LAFD and “Pulse Point”), venting and power cut-off issues and the like.  It was suggested that Ms. Schulman may want to visit various Palisades HOAs with her information. In conclusion, she reiterated that we can empower ourselves and there are things we can do to keep our houses from burning down, but we must be prepared.

11.2.    WRAC-recommended Motion re Study of Ride Sharing Data to Assess Impacts on LA Traffic; sponsored in PPCC by Secretary Chris Spitz. Proposed motion: postponed to next meeting due to lack of time.

12.    Close of Officer Nominations from Board (8:45pm) and Adjournment.  At 8:45pm the Chair asked the Board if there were any further officer nominations. There were none and nominations were closed.  Discussion continued regarding Item 11.1 above; Item 11.2 was postponed. The Chair then adjourned the meeting at 9pm.

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