April 2023 Meetings Recap and More...

MEETING HIGHLIGHTS:
At our regularly scheduled PPCC meetings in April (4/11 and 4/27) the Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) covered a great deal. I encourage you all to see our minutes posted here.

We discussed voted to bring two new organizations onto our board in the rotational categories of Service Clubs and Civic Organizations. The two organizations we voted in as new members were the Pacific Palisades Americanism Parade Association (PAPA) and the Palisades Forestry Committee (PFC). PAPA has a 75 history in the Palisades, leading the Fourth of July festivities that begin each year with a 5/10K run, a parade and finally a must festival and fireworks at night. They are an important Palisadian Organization and we are proud to welcome them to PPCC. PFC was originally constituted as a PPCC Committee, which has now spun off into a robust organization that beautifies and positively impacts the Palisades by strategically increasing our tree canopy. They've already plated trees at the Palisades Recreation Center and are currently working on medians and streets across the community.

We heard from the Bureau of Street Services (Streets LA), with presentations that help the community understand how streets are allocated for improvements/repairs and how priority calls into 311 are flagged. We were informed that comments in the comment section can flag urgent requests and that City crews are working overtime to address all the issues that have arisen as a result of recent storms. Board members were given direct contact with streets LA External Relations team as well as the Street Maintenance Division to address specific concerns.

We talked at great length about communications and outreach to the community. We took the time at both April meetings to address the need for better/more effective communication with the community. What began as a conversation about public safety and our ability to help LAPD and LAFD get the word out to the community on matters of immediate import, has evolved to a discussion about the value and work of PPCC, its significance for the community, as well as our ability to inform the public - not only about what we do but about community issues and events in general. As an example, the Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee (PCOC) has been discussing how to inform the community that dogs must remain on-leash at Potrero Canyon because of the delicate habitat engineered around this passive riparian park. In Area Four, the enduring problem of wood dumping along Temescal Canyon Road has persisted, even while signs prohibit dumping. On other matters, the PPCC has worked hard to ensure that the unique qualities we cherish most about this community remain intact through the shifts and changes of policies and priorities, not only from the City and the County (where NCs can comment) but even at the State and Federal level. Much of this is unbeknownst to the many who live here. This month, PPCC President, Maryam Zar, suggested that public outreach and our ability to interface with the community might be our greatest tool for information sharing. Our most potent tool to inform the community is our ability to reach out through community messaging that is created by Palisadians and intended for Palisadians. As such, she has formed the PPCC Outreach Committee. More information will be forthcoming.

We supported our Area One residents as they raised concerns about a large development planned for the Castellamare/Paseo Miramar neighborhoods, at the site of a previously known landslide, where an Environmental Impact Report has not been done for a pending development project, and residents worry about the length and volume of excavation, as well as public safety in small hillside streets that can easily be obstructed with large construction vehicles. We've spent months talking about emergency preparedness and evacuation routes, asking LAFD to ensure they have evacuation plans for our hillside streets, ostensibly in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ). The Council wrote this letter in support of an EIR as well as the scrupulous monitoring of narrow hillside streets for excavation and building compliance.

In April we also held a Community Safety Town Hall, in partnership with the American Legion, Post 283. In attendance were Kristen Ly of BOE, Captain Heredia, Sgt. Alpert, SLO Espin and SLO Kirk of LAPD, Claudia Martin of the City Attorney's Neighborhood Prosecutorial office and Capt Nassour from LAFD Brush Clearance among others. We had a robust conversation about the various aspects of public safety in our Community and learned from the panelists that both the Fire Department and the Police Department are working on ways to communicate with the community effectively, while also thinking ahead about ways to protect or secure Palisadians streets and open spaces that pose new or ongoing concerns. LAPD has added a foot-beat to Potrero Canyon, and while Rangers have not been assigned to the Park (as we had asked), we did understand that Potrero canyon needed to be designated as a Regional Park before it can receive ongoing Park Ranger support for monitoring and law enforcement. (See two related letters from PPCC and PP PAB). What emerged from the discussion was the need to create a task force that is focused on messaging as well as fire prevention. Ideas that were floated included a community app as well as a pole top camera pilot, possibly in the communities of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood. People interested are encouraged to contact PPCC with ideas or to volunteer their time.

Internally, we took the matter of the Pacific Palisades Honorary Mayor tradition and whether the PPCC had a role to play in the absence of a Palisades Chamber of Commerce. The conversation cast a wide net and heard from various points of view. In general, people agreed that the Honorary Mayor tradition was an important one for Pacific Palisades and should be sustained. With the merger of the Palisades Chamber of Commerce (the entity that traditionally installed the Hon. Mayor) with the Malibu Chamber, many expressed concern that the community of Malibu businesses would pick the Honorary Mayor of the Palisades. Some thought the joint Malibu-Pacific Palisades Chamber could take on the tradition if they wished to, and keep it uniquely Palisadian (separate from Malibu) as they worked to choose the Honorary Mayor figure and install them in a ceremony similar to the traditional "Installation Dinners" of the past. Most agreed that this was a uniquely Palisadian tradition which should be kept here, one way or the other, whether or not the Palisades-Malibu Chamber were to be part of PPCC (something still being contemplated). A suggestion has been made that Palisadian organizations come together as a group to chose the Honorary Mayor (not just the PPCC or the Chamber, but a collection of several organizations). PPCC At-large rep, Chris Spitz, who represents both Palisadian residents as well as business entities, has reached out to the Chamber to get their thoughts on the Honorary Mayor tradition.

Our next meeting will be on April 13th. Join us at 6pm by ZOOM (password embedded).

For a listing of community events, please visit our website calendar.