Westwood Neighborhood Council recap – Aug. 10

The Westwood Neighborhood Council meets monthly to discuss issues pertaining to Westwood Village and the surrounding areas.

Comments by public officials

• LAPD lead officer for Westwood Chris Ragsdale said auto burglaries were still occurring at a high frequency in the area and that burglars have begun to smash windows. He said residents should avoid keeping valuables in their cars. Three cars were stolen within the past month, all in the same day, including one in the North Village, he said.
• Jasmine Shamolian, field deputy for LA City Councilman Paul Koretz, said the city repaved Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Glen and Westwood boulevards. She added the Bureau of Street Services updated the power grid in the North Village last month.
• Assistant Director for UCLA Government and Community Relations Marco Perez said Shannon Hickman, director of the UCLA Volunteer Center, agreed to meet with Westwood community members to discuss reviving the Westwood Organized Meaningful Project. WOMP was an annual event in which students worked on beautification projects in the Village, such as planting trees or painting.
• Niki Svara, operations manager for the Westwood Village Improvement Association, said the association found a new tree light vendor and will replace current lights throughout the Village in the coming weeks. She added the Los Angeles Department of Transportation will install bike racks on Village parking meters on Aug. 24.

Discussion

• Vice President Sandy Brown said she and a committee of other council members will discuss changes to the council’s bylaws. She said the council members plan to explore extending terms for the education seat from two years to four and changing the qualifications for the seat. The bylaws currently require the education seat to have a child attend a school in Westwood, but the high school designated for Westwood is outside the council’s boundaries.
• Council member David Lorango said the Westwood Presbyterian Church will offer a memorial service for Robert Lanferman, a homeless man who visited the church often. Lanferman died last year.
• Westwood Recreation Center representatives gave a presentation about their plans to make the playground next to the tennis courts into a dog park. Several council members said they would prefer the center to built the dog park elsewhere because the playground is heavily used.

Motions

• The council voted to support Delphi Greek’s application for a permit to sell hard liquor so it can sell ouzo, a Greek alcoholic beverage. Delphi Greek already has a permit to sell beer and wine.
• The council voted to support ULTA’s modifications to the old Bel Air Camera storefront on Gayley and Kinross avenues, where the store plans to move in. Several council members asked project planners to look into lowering the height of ULTA’s proposed sign and the use of the color orange because they think it will clash with other building colors in the Village.
• The council voted to demand city officials to enforce codes and regulations for unlicensed and illegal sober-living homes. Sober-living homes are facilities in which people addicted to drugs can seek treatment.

• The council voted to call for Koretz and the departments of City Planning and Building and Safety to investigate the recent construction of Rocco’s Tavern on Gayley Avenue. The council thinks Rocco’s Tavern violated decisions made by the Design Review Board and Area Planning Commission. Project managers had applied to install two garage doors that would open during the daytime and the Design Review Board and Area Planning Commission denied. Instead, the board and the commission told Rocco’s Tavern that they had to install one window and it had to be fixed and inoperable.