Final EIR of City of Los Angeles’ Proposed Single-Use Carryout Bag Ordinance

Posted on May 18, 2013 by admin

plasticbagThe City of Los Angeles is proposing to adopt and implement an ordinance to ban single-use plastic carryout bags, charge a fee on paper bags, and promote the use of reusable bags at specified retailers in the City of Los Angeles.  The Final EIR is available at City of Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation, 1149 S. Broadway, 5th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90015; at www.lacitysan.org under What’s New…; and at the following public libraries:

  • Central Library, 630 W 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
  • Van Nuys Branch Library, 6250 Sylmar Ave., Van Nuys, CA 91401
  • West L. A. Regional Branch Library, 11360 Santa Monica Bl., Los Angeles, CA 90025
  • San Pedro Regional Branch Library, 931 S. Gaffey Street, San Pedro, CA 90731
  • Granada Hills Branch, 10640 Petit Avenue, Granada Hills, CA 91344
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Grading Los Angeles’ Streets

Posted on May 7, 2013 by admin

L.A. full of roads to ruin for cars

The city gives its road network an average grade of C. But a Times analysis finds wide disparities, and they’re not driven by wealth or political power.

Explore pavement quality ratings for each of the 68,000 street segments in L.A., graded from A to F.

Gregory Leskin

From the L.A. Times, May 4, 2013

A drive along Angus Street in hilly Silver Lake requires navigating a gantlet of buckled concrete slabs and dirt-filled cracks.

But on South Seabluff Drive in Playa Vista the ride is smooth, the pavement is black and you can smell the fresh asphalt.

Despite the city’s best efforts to keep up with the constant flood of road repairs, Los Angeles is a city divided — by its potholes, cracks and ruts.

Interactive map: See your street’s grade

A Times analysis of street inspection data found Continue reading →

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2013 LAFD Community Alert Reminder

Posted on June 20, 2013 by admin

NoFireworksinLA

The Los Angeles Fire Department reminds you that ALL FIREWORKS, even the so-called “safe and sane” variety are ILLEGAL in the City of Los Angeles. Those who use, possess or merely transport ANY type of fireworks are subject to severe penalty.

Fireworks within the City of Los Angeles are a violation of Municipal Code 57.55.01A, or Section 12677 of the Health and Safety Code.

WHY TAKE THE RISK?

july-4-safetyHave a Safe July 4th!

Going to a professional fireworks show is truly the safest way to celebrate the 4th of July.

Check out www.safejuly4th.org/fw/fwshows.htm  after June 26 for 2013 for fireworks show information. NOTE: The Los Angeles Fire Department does not sponsor any of the shows listed.

Though the information listed above is sponsored by The Los Angeles Fire Department, The Los Angeles County Fire Department and The Children’s Burn Foundation. All rights reserved.

Fire investigators and police officers will be out in full force this year. 

Violators risk serious fines, confiscation of fireworks, and jail time.

By obeying the LAW, you not only protect yourself, but also your children and your property.

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Loud Parties

Posted on April 13, 2013 by admin

Project X

A certain level of noise is part of modern life.
However, excessive noise can affect your quality of life.

Summer brings an increase in outdoor entertaining.
Be a good neighbor-consider the hour and music volume when entertaining.

You can be given a citation if a gathering becomes loud enough to disturb the peace of those around you, LA Municipal Code 112.01(b)

A ‘Loud Party’ does not depend on size and examples include parties with amplified music or Continue reading →

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Mayor Villaraigosa Announces $5 Million in Grants for Earthquake Early Warning System

Posted on April 19, 2013 by admin

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined with the US Geological Survey and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Approval Authority members to announce $5 million in federal funds for the region’s Earthquake Early Warning System.

for sale

“Our partners at the US Geological Survey and Caltech have been working on the development of a cutting-edge early warning system.” Mayor Villaraigosa said. “We’re proud to provide this additional funding to improve the system’s capacity and bring it to the level required to make earthquake early warning a reality in Southern California.”

The USGS, in partnership with CalTech, UC Berkeley, and the Southern California Earthquake Center, has been developing an Earthquake Early Warning system for Southern California since 2006.

The objective of earthquake early warning is to rapidly detect the initiation of an earthquake, estimate the level of ground shaking to be expected, and issue a warning before significant ground shaking starts. This can be done with sensors placed near active fault zones that detect the first energy waves to radiate from an earthquake.  Those first waves travel at the speed of sound but cause little damage.  The following waves, which bring the strong shaking that causes most of the damage, travel slower.  The greater the distance from the epicenter, the longer the warning time which can range from a few seconds to a few tens of seconds.

Those seconds could:

  • allow people to drop, cover, and hold on and grant businesses time to shut down and move workers to safe locations,
  • give medical professionals time to stop delicate procedures,
  • protect travelers by providing time for trains to slow or stop, for elevator doors to open, for bridge traffic to clear, for slowing or stopping traffic, and even stopping landings and take-offs at airports, and
  • enable emergency responders to prepare by opening fire station doors and starting generators.

When the magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Japan in March 2011, 50 million residents received warning in advance.  The country’s earthquake information systems gave people about 200 miles away in Tokyo up to 30 seconds or more to prepare before strong shaking from the epicenter reached them. People closer to the epicenter, which experienced the strongest shaking from this offshore event, received up to 5-10 seconds warning.

For further information, visit www.shakealert.org

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The Fastest Route to City Hall

Posted on April 12, 2013 by admin

Email-704x318

In a city the size of Los Angeles, one of the fastest routes to City Hall is the internet. In the time it takes to find your car keys, you can be online and communicating with the Mayor and the City Council.

Effective Neighborhood Council advocates typically know three things; they know the issue, they know what they want, and they know who can help them.

Then they do something about it. Here are a few tips for effective email advocacy, followed by the email addresses of the Mayor and Continue reading →

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Sanitation Open House Dates for 2013

Posted on February 27, 2013 by admin

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the City of L.A. Bureau of Sanitation 2013 “Discover Recycling” Open Houses!

Families, children and residents of all ages have the opportunity to meet Sanitation collection truck drivers and staff, enjoy truck demonstrations and facility tours as well as receive information about recycling and a host of Sanitation services.

The 2013 “Discover Recycling” Open House dates, locations and times are:

Saturday, April 27, 2013 – 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
East Valley District Yard, 11050 Pendleton Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 Continue reading →

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City of Los Angeles Releases a 3-1-1 App and a Cleaner Website

Posted on February 7, 2013 by admin

L.A. 311 App

Los Angeles residents will be able to complain about graffiti, abandoned furniture, potholes, broken street lights and fallen trees using their iPhone and Android smartphones starting March 18.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the My LA 311 mobile app and a redesigned website for the City of Los Angeles in a Google+ hangout with reporters Wednesday.

“Silicon Beach has raised the game,” Villaraigosa said, referring to the city’s coastal tech hub. “And the city of L.A. needed to raise ours. And we did.”

The new look for the website, which launched Wednesday, is the first refresh in 15 years. It delivers clearer portals for business owners and visitors to the city. It also brings better access to city TV channels, where people can watch live streams of city council meetings.

During the hangout, councilman Joe Buscaino said the city would be hiring a website content manager to make sure the website isn’t filled with outdated and useless information.

On the app, city residents can also pay their Department of Water and Power bill. There’s also an option to find nearby parks, libraries and police stations. By taking advantage of a smartphone’s GPS and camera, the app promises to make reporting complaints a simpler process. L.A. is one of the last big cities in the country to have a 311 app.

“My LA 311” comes alongside the first major re-launch of the city’s website in 15 years. The new LACity.org offers a smarter user experience with self-updating “Top 10 Service Requests”, “Top 10 City Council Files,” and a “Dynamic City Calendar.” The citizen-centric redesign features live streaming home screen video, centralized job opportunities, and easy to access City services. The site will also provide a more social user experience through “LA City Now,” a homepage ticker-tape of every City twitter feed. Continue reading →

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Mayor’s Final State of the City Address

Posted on April 11, 2013 by admin

0410_NWS_LDN-L-STATEOFCITY-MB

Mayor Villaraigosa gave his final State of the City speech Tuesday evening at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Below is his statement following the speech and links to view it in case you missed it.

To My Fellow Angelenos,

I write to you tonight to Continue reading →

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Advisory: No Prize in Lotto Scams! Spanish-speakers targeted for Lotto scams in SFV. Don’t be a victim.

Posted on March 27, 2013 by admin

No Prize in Lotto Scams – Trending in SF Valley

Los Angeles.  Detectives are warning San Fernando Valley Spanish-speaking residents against falling victim to con artists offering shares in a big winning Lotto ticket in return for “trust” money.

“The old adage holds true: ‘If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,’” warns Det. Marc Madero, who works the robbery unit for LAPD’s Mission Detective Division.  “We might see 6 or 8 of these a year, but we’ve now seen two in the last week and four in the last month.”

The scam goes like this:  A Spanish-speaking man or woman approaches the unsuspecting mark and explains that he’s holding a winner Lotto ticket, but can’t claim it as he is in the USA illegally.  The con artist suggests the mark helps him by redeeming the ticket for the prize, then splitting it with the con artist.  But here’s the catch: the mark must put up some money as a show of good faith, which the con holds or asks a disinterested third-party to hold.  The ticket is counterfeit and the con artist makes off with the good-faith money.  That so-called disinterested party will always be the con artist’s accomplice or shill.

Recently, victims have reported being duped out of $1,000 at a time.  In several instances when the mark has no cash, the con artist suggests the mark put up jewelry instead.

“Of course the money or jewelry is never seen again,” explains Det. Madero.  “And all the victim has left is a worthless Lotto ticket and the embarrassment of falling for a common trick.”  Out of embarrassment, victims either do not report crimes, or change the story to report the money loss, often saying they were robbed.  Mis-reporting the circumstances will never result in catching the suspects.

Detectives warn against these scams and offer the following tips to protect the public:

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