MINUTES FROM OCTOBER 13th 2022
1. Call to Order and Reading of Community Council’s Mission. Maryam Zar read the Community Council Mission
2. Roll-call of Board members and Certification of Quorum
The President called roll and certified quorum.Voting Board members in attendance: Maryam Zar, Randy Young, David Card, Beth Holden-Garland, Murray Levy, Steve Cron, Haldis Toppel, Kimberly Bloom, Cindy Simon, Julie Silliman, Chris Spitz, John Padden, Nina Kidd, Greg Heidt, Eric Dugdale, Richard Blumenberg, Rick McGeagh, Shirley Haggstrom, Gabrielle Gottlieb, Jessica Rogers.
Non-voting Alternates in attendance: Mary Schultz, Kevin Niles, Genevieve Bostik, Ryan Craig.
3. Introduction of attendees
The President introduced Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (AD44) and Lori Mills, both candidates for AD42. They each gave remarks that lasted 20 minutes and took a series of questions that board members and the audience submitted to the chat. The President thanked them both and wished them well in upcoming elections on November 8, 2022.
4. Approval of Minutes – the September 22, 2022 minutes were approved as distributed.
5. Consideration of Agenda & Upcoming Meetings – the agenda was considered as presented.
6. Treasurer’s Report – the Treasurer reported that he has finally obtained a credit card and checks from the proper account and that there is $55,022.54 in the PPCC bank account at US Bank.
7. General Public Comment. None
8.1. From the Chair/Presiding Officer.
8.1.1. The President welcomed all new members!
8.1.2. The President noted that Area and At-large 1st and 2nd Alternates will be nominated tonight, per the determination of Committee of Three Chairs. Those nominees will be introduced today under Committee Reports for board affirmation.
8.1.3. The President announced that the 2022 Awards Selection Committee has been appointed. Committee co-Chairs are Nancy and Kevin Niles. Committee members are Daphne Gronich (former COTY, per Bylaws), Barbara Kohn and Andy Frew. They have met and begun the call for nominees by putting out the linked press release https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Awards-Nomination-Press-Release-2021.pdf.
8.1.4. The President announced that the 2022 Holiday Gala and Awards Event Committee has been appointed. Committee Chair: Haldis Toppel. Committee members: Cindy Simon, Sue Kohl, Karen Ridgley (and one more member pending). They will be working to hold an in-person event this year on December 8th, at Temescal Gateway event halls.
8.1.5. The President shared that the Malibu/Palisades Chamber of Commerce has announced their call for nominations for the Women’s Business Leadership Awards. We are all welcome to nominate businesses we know.
8.1.6. The President informed that board that she and others had held a productive and informative Orientation for all new elected reps and al new organizational reps and their alternates. See shared FAQ (https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/New-member-orientation.pdf). There will be a similar orientation held for Area and At-large Alternates as well as anyone else who’d like to attend.
8.1.7. The President said she had been in touch with the Brentwood Community Council regarding the Cookies dispensary that recently opened on San Vicente Boulevard and 26th Street. The location had one break in before it opened (delaying its opening) and another not long after it opened. The location of the business coupled with the break-ins have raised some alarm in Brentwood and the BCC has taken up the matter. She noted that our board will discuss the matter as new business below and consider a motion supporting BCC.
8.1.8. The President noted that per our last meeting and approval of a number of amendments to the Bylaws, we will no longer be meeting by remote means as a function of an emergency (covid) but as a normal means of convening. We have left it to the board to decide how that will be, so she will ask the board to vote to approve meeting remotely for now, until such time when there is a consensus or a need to meet again in person. In the meantime, she has secured our ability to meet in the meeting room of the Palisades Library and is planning the Awards Gala on December 8th, at Temescal gateway Park, in person.
8.1.9. The President reminded the board that on October 27th we will host the two candidates for County supervisor. Please submit questions for the candidates to info@pacpalicc.org . She will curate the questions and send them to the candidates in advance, just as with the CD11 forum.
8.2. From Officers
8.2.1. Dave Card announced that The Lutheran Church is doing a fundraiser run on Saturday, October 15th that will close some roads. The closures will be south of Sunset, east of Muskingum, west of El Medio, and include Asilomar along the bluff. Please see the church’s website under Events to see a map of which roads will be closed: https://www.plc.cc/about-5
The race starts at 9:00AM on Saturday, so the closure barricades will go up before then. Residents along closed roads should not leave their cars in the street. The race should be over by 10:30AM, and the roads will begin to open as barricades are lifted. This is a much tighter course, which should inconvenience fewer people.
8.3. From At-Large and Area Representatives – none
8.4. From Organizational Representatives
8.4.1. Rick McGeagh, PPBA, reported that the Spooktacular at the Palisades Rec Center on Saturday October 29th, and PAB meeting on October 19th. Meeting link pending.
8.4.2. Ryan Craig, Resilient Palisades, reported that the Leaf Blower program (buying Husqvarna battery blowers), seeking applications from gardeners in the Palisades to be awarded a free blower. 25 blowers to give away. Email: connect@resilientpalisdes.org with nominees. Next Wed, Resilient Palisades will host a presentation by Julieanna Heaver, a plant-based dietician, on health benefits and myths about a vegan diet, by Vegan Solutions team. And next Sunday, they will have a potluck for all their volunteers, and anyone interested in getting involved. Email RP with interest.
8.4.3. Shirley Haggstrom, TCA, reported that TCA is started hiking again. First hike will be next Sunday, departing at 9am and will go up to the Waterfall. Go to https://temcanyon.org to sign up/rsvp and see more programs.
8.5. From Government Offices / Representatives
8.5.1. Noah Fleishman, CD11 District Director from the Office of Mike Bonin
Recommended use MYLA 311 app or website or call 311 to create service requests.
Announced the re-paving of Temescal Canyon Rd over the course of two weekends in November: Bureau of Street services will be working on Nov 5 and 6th as well as Nov. 12 and 13th to repave Temescal Cyn Rd. There will be more information coming and alternate routes will be introduced to mitigate traffic impact during re-pavement, but this is a necessary upgrade of a failing road.
The George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon will be opening to the public on December 3rd. There will be an opening ceremony at 10 am (more info to come). This is an important passive park that the community has worked hard to make possible, and the council office is happy to announce this grand opening.
8.5.2. Brian Espin. LAPD Senior Lead Officer for Pacific Palisades
Reported that all crime in the Palisades is trending lower. We are doing well. Best deterrent is eyes out on the street, walking dogs, talking to neighbors, being neighborly – this deters would be criminals. SLO Espin reports er are negative 20% in burglaries and auto thefts. Down even in Los Liones, where there had been an uptick.
Cookies (retail dispensary in Brentwood) – was burglarized again after their soft opening after having postponed their grand opening (note: the shop had been burglarized prior to their grand opening which did not take place). The business selling cannabis has all the necessary permits, and is situated outside the 700 foot sensitive zone from Paul Revere Middle School (an LAUSD public middle school). Right now, LAPD is keeping an eye on the operation — if they see an uptick in crime in the surrounding area they will document it, and if they can associate the uptick with Cookies, then they will take measures to shut it down (this is just LAPD).
Question: Katie O’Neil Art store in the village was robbed. SLO Espin said camera security footage from surroundings businesses and fingerprints from a frame were pulled and detectives are investigating. Updates will be forthcoming.
8.5.3. Janet Turner, Office of Rep. Ted Lieu informed us that Congressman Ted Lieu joins President Joe Biden, Supervisor Hilda Solis, Mayoral candidate Karen Bass, Mayor Garcetti and Senator Alex Padilla to celebrate the metro stop at West LA VA.
8.6. From PPCC Advisors and WRAC Representatives.
8.6.1 Sharon Kilbride, PPTFH presentation & update (PIT homeless count results).
Homeless count led by PPTFH (Kim Clary and David Morena) was done on February 23rd. Not an easy year since LAHSA introduced at app this year that seemed unreliable. PPTFH brought their own strategy to the table with Morena and Clary taking the lead, and feel confident in their numbers. The results show that we in the Palisades are “holding the line” with numbers consistent with what was counted the last year the PIT count was conducted in 2020 (there was no count in 2021).
Homeless count Results (2022):
LA County: 4/1% increase in homelessness
SPA 5: 23% decrease
CD11: 38% decrease
Pacific Palisades: 0% increase of homeless individuals form 2020
Encampments: increase of 5 encampments since 2020 (all since cleared)
Vehicles: 38 vehicles found being used for dwelling in Pacific Palisades. This is an increase of 15 from 2020.
Officers assisting PPTFH:
Currently we have officers Bermudez, Fletes and Muhammed. More are being trained by Officer Bermudez. We may be losing Fletes and Muhammed.
2022 Activity Recap:
2022 the PPTFH “Volunteer Response Team” engaged 452 new individuals (January 1 – Dec 31)
Cleaned up 262 camps (mostly on the beach). Working with LAPD and Beaches and Harbors. They believe there is very little fire threat on the hillsides, at this point.
They’ve found 95 vehicle dwellers this year. We’ve had one homeless related fire, which was on the beach.
PPTFH now has two outreach workers and a resume out for a new clinical case manager. They have the funds, but the job market is competitive and they now have 6 new applicants to interview and choose from. They are losing one for their outreach workers. Glanda Sherman will be alone until the positions are filled. The team has gotten 162 people off the street and 102 permanently housed.
Next community meeting (webinar) will be November 14th. Presentation from outreach workers will include sharing success stories (with clients sharing their experience) and answer community questions.
Q: why are vehicle dwellers up from 69 to 95? LAPD comes in before 5am to enforce the no-parking regulation but if they can’t get out there during the hours of midnight to 5am, then the numbers begin the grow. Commended the PPTF partnership with LAPD.
Looking for a volunteer in the village area (to work with Nancy Klopper and Lou Kamer) as part of the volunteer response team, talking to homeless people and offering them services, pass out hygiene kits and outreach cards (which will be changing – no more meetups at the library).
The board thanked Sharon Kilbride and the PPTFH for their excellent work.
9. Reports from Committees.
9.1. Committee of the Three Chairs (Card, Kohn, Boyers):
Committee Chair, David Card, thanked his fellow committee members and all 28 applicants for Area and At-large alternates and announced the 18 chosen for those roles. The suggested nominees are a mix of half newcomers and the other half comprised of people who have served in alternate or board roles previously.
Card proceeded to announce the slate of 1st and 2nd Area and At-large Alternates nominated by the committee (see attached) with a brief introduction of their qualifications and interests.
The President called for discussion. There was none.
The President called for a vote. The slate was approved unanimously.
9.2. Awards Selection Committee
Nancy Niles, co-Chair, announced that the committee of Niles, Niles, Gronich, Kohn and Frew, had met and put out a press release (see below) as a broad community call for nominations. They have already begun to have some nominations rolling in and they are very excited to be able to award the Citizen of the Year, several Golden Sparkplug awards as well as the discretionary, Pride of the Palisades Award. See announcement of open nominations and guidelines below.
10. Old Business – None
11. New Business
11.1. The board approved remote meeting for the duration of the 2022-2023 term (though June 2023), unanimously.
11.2. Chris Spitz introduced the motion to support BCC, per below [see attachment]. The motion was seconded by Beth Holden-Garland. The President gave some additional background and asked for discussion and questions. The President called for the vote. The vote passed with one abstention.
12. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 7;53pm.
[ATTACHMENT — Item 11.2:]
Draft motion re BCC letter
Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) shares the serious concerns expressed by Brentwood Community Council (BCC) in its Open Letter approved on October 12, 2022 pertaining to the cannabis retail dispensary named “Cookies” located at 13030 San Vicente Blvd., as well as the licensing process for cannabis retailers under current Los Angeles Municipal Code (“Code”) provisions.
PPCC is particularly concerned that:
• BCC did not receive any outreach or advance notice that a permit was being requested for this establishment before a permit was issued; there appear to be no available consequences or recourse for this significant omission.
• BCC and the Brentwood community were given no opportunity to provide input as to community concerns or to propose reasonable conditions on operations prior to licensing, in light of the establishment’s proximity to Paul Revere Charter Middle School (“Revere”);
• Although it is technically outside of the restricted radius from Revere (a “sensitive use” under applicable Code provisions), “Cookies” is located very near Revere and adjacent to the family-oriented Brentwood Country Mart – a centralized school bus pick-up and drop-off location for students from numerous local schools, including from Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, and where youth in grades 6-8 from Revere and young students from other local schools often congregate;
• At least two break-ins have occurred at “Cookies” within a month of operations (prior to and after opening of the establishment);
• Unlike numerous other cities in California (including San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Pasadena, Long Beach and Santa Monica), Los Angeles does not require issuance of a conditional use permit in order for cannabis retailers to operate; indeed, current Code provisions prevent Planning Dept. review in these cases, i.e., there is no discretionary review, public hearing before a zoning administrator or right of appeal as is otherwise required with most other businesses in Los Angeles, which are in turn in regulated under applicable conditional use/conditional use “beverage” permit requirements under the Code.
PPCC accordingly fully supports the eight “Action Items” (bullet points following the Open Letter) proposed by BCC for Code amendments and other actions to be taken with respect to cannabis retailer licensing and operations in Los Angeles. PPCC specifically supports an amendment that would require cannabis retailers to obtain a conditional use permit, similar to conditional use “beverage” permits required for retail liquor stores (with appropriate notice and public hearing, NOT an over-the-counter/streamlined or “by right” process) under the Code.
PPCC stresses that its position pertains only to concerns related to the licensing process, the lack of notice, the location near a school and the inability of the community to weigh in meaningfully (or at all) on operations and location of cannabis retailers. PPCC takes no position on the use of cannabis under applicable California law.