Bureau of Street Services to do Summer street repairs – submit your trouble spots

The Bureau of Street Services (BSS) is kicking off the Summer by helping us fix our streets! BSS is conducting a “Neighborhood Council Initiative” to identify and perform small repairs on our needy neighborhood streets. On June 22, 2016, a Small Asphalt Repair truck is scheduled to be in the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council area to perform repairs to the roadway, curbs, and sidewalks, weather permitting.

The GWNC’s Transportation Committee will be coordinating submissions to the BSS. The repairs will be limited to 15 addresses, so it’s important to prioritize our trouble spots. Please help by sending photos, addresses and information about the spots most in need of repair to the GWNC’s Transportation Committee at transportation@greaterwilshire.org.

Committee representatives will collect the information and send it to the BSS staff, so they can inspect the desired streets and determine the need for repairs and feasibility of completing the work on the scheduled date. Please submit all nominations by Friday, June 10, 2016.

Thank you,
Julie Stromberg
Chair, Transportation Committee
Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council

Camp HOT – Boys Basketball Camp

Camp HOT (Hard-Work Over Talent) is a 1-week basketball camp being offered by GWNC resident Justin Maidenberg. Justin coaches at the middle school and high school levels. In his third season as a Coach at Pan Pacific Recreation Center for Summer Basketball, he decided to open a basketball camp for kids in the Los Angeles community to learn about the game, make friends, and have fun.

WHO: Boys Basketball 11-14 years old
WHERE: Pan Pacific Park, 7600 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
WHEN: June 20, 2016 – June 24, 2016
TIME: 9:00am – 3:00pm
COST: $350 (Note: The camp cost is non-refundable even upon cancellation)

CAMP PROGRAM:

  • Ball-Handling
  • Rebounding
  • Passing
  • Shooting
  • Offensive Sets and Principles
  • Defensive Schemes and Principles
  • Scrimmages

CAMP INCLUDES:

  • Guest speakers
  • Camp shirt
  • Reversible jersey
  • Tote Bag
  • Various prizes offered in certain competitions

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Registration opens on May 13th and closes on June 4th, 2016.
To register, please visit their website www.camphotblog.wordpress.com

GWNC Sustainability Committee First Annual Sustainable Garden Tour

The Los Angeles Basin will continue to experience drought and higher temperatures for the foreseeable future.  In response, many people are removing water intensive turf in favor of drought tolerant landscapes.  In order to help provide inspiration for those thinking of making changes, The Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Sustainability Committee is pleased to announce its first Annual Sustainable Garden Tour.  The tour will be free and take place on Sunday, June 26, 2016, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and will also include educational seminars. 

We are soliciting nominations for gardens to be included on the tour. Self-nominations are acceptable.  The gardens can be homeowner designed or professionally designed, but should meet the following criteria:

I. Location
Within the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council comprised of Brookside, Citrus Square, Country Club Heights, Fremont Place, Hancock Park, La Brea Hancock, Larchmont Village, Melrose, Oakwood-Maplewood-St. Andrews, Ridgewood-Wilton-St. Andrews Square, Sycamore Square, Western-Wilton, Wilshire Park, Windsor Square, and Windsor Village.

II. Size
Small and intimate or large
Front yard only, back yard only, or both

III.  Irrigation
Primarily drip irrigation

IV. Plants
Drought tolerant plant palette drawing upon plants from South Africa, Australia, the Mediterranean, and California natives.
Garden turf not to exceed 50%.
Use of mulch to retain moisture.

V. (Optional) Water Capture:
Use of rain barrels, cisterns, bioswales, etc.

VI. (Optional) Pollinator Plants:
Attracts birds, bees, and butterflies.

 Nomination Procedure:

Nominate your yard, your neighbor’s yard, or a  sustainable landscape in the Greater Wilshire area that you admire! 

Please send your application(s) to sustainability@greaterwilshire.org by May 20, 2016.

Please include the following information:

Name; Address; Email; Phone; One paragraph narrative description and 2-3 photos.

For questions, please email sustainability@greaterwilshire.org

 

2016 LAHSA Homeless Count results released

Link to the count results: https://www.lahsa.org/homeless-count/results

From the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Press Release:

2016 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Data Shows Significant Drops in Veteran And Family Homelessness Citing Focused Investment

Data Shows Increase in Los Angeles Homelessness Since 2015 Amidst Challenging Economic/Housing Climate

Los Angeles, CA (May 4, 2016) – Today, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the CityCounty agency tasked with addressing homelessness in Los Angeles County, released the results of the Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, conducted in January 2016. This was the first annual Count for the Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC) and the largest homeless census in the nation, benefitting from the support of more than 7,500 volunteers who, for the first time, counted 100 percent of the census tracts in the LA CoC (Los Angeles County excluding Glendale Long Beach and Pasadena). The Count also captured 5,000 demographic surveys to provide rich profiles and conducted a survey-based Youth Count, which provides an important new baseline for homelessness among youth in the region.

The data support several compelling success stories in housing individuals and families, results highly aligned with sustained systemic investment of local and federal resources. Data for Los Angeles County (including our partner’s data from Glendale, Long Beach and Pasadena) indicated the following:

  • Veteran homelessness fell 30% to 3,071 veterans in 2016 from 4,362 in 2015
    • Unsheltered veterans decreased by 44% to 1,618 in 2016 from 2,889 in 2015
  • Family homelessness fell 18% (homeless family members) to 6,611 in 2016 from 8,103 in 2015
    • Unsheltered family members decreased by 35% to 1,998 family members in 2016 from 3,071 in 2015
  • 13,828 housing placements in 2015 – including 3,812 veterans and 6,867 family members housed

Amidst Los Angeles’ challenging economic climate, which has a less than 3% housing vacancy rate in Metropolitan Los Angeles, a Los Angeles County housing-indexed poverty rate of 27% and an affordable housing gap of 500,000+ units, the data indicated the following:

  • Homelessness in Los Angeles County increased 5.7% to 46,874 in 2016 from 44,359 in 2015, including LA CoC and neighboring CoCs of Glendale, Long Beach, Pasadena
    • 74% of homeless population is unsheltered in LA County (12,347) vs 26% Sheltered (34,527)
  • 43,854 people were found to be homeless in January 2016 in the LA Continuum of Care (CoC), an increase of 2,680 people, or 6.5% from 41,174 in 2015
    • Revised Youth Count methodology in the LA CoC provides more representative results over 2015
    • Youth Count figure of 2,388 homeless individuals ages 18-24 adds majority of Countywide increase
  • 20% increase in most visible form of homelessness in the LA CoC – encampments, tents and vehicles

Read the rest of the Press Release: http://documents.lahsa.org/Communication/2016/2016HomelessCountResultsRelease.pdf

Join a FREE* Green Living Workshop offered by LADWP and Sustainable Works!

* The workshops are FREE to all LADWP customers

Robertson-&-1st-Pres-GLWAction Oriented Topics include: Water and Energy and we touch on Waste, Chemicals, Transportation and Shopping/Food.

The interactive workshops meet once a week for 3 consecutive weeks.

When: Tuesdays, May 24 & 31, June 7, 6pm
Where: Robertson Public Library
1719 S Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles 90035 

To reserve your spot in the workshops visit: www.sustainableworks.eventbrite.com

  • Reduce your Water & Energy usage
  • Save $ on Utilities
  •  Receive FREE resource saving tools

Water saving hose nozzles, energy saving light bulbs and more…

This FREE workshops are funded by an LADWP Community Partnership Grant

Sponsored by LA District 5 Councilmember Paul Koretz