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

2016 Preliminary Election Results

These are the projected winners from the election held Sunday, May 1, 2016 for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment based on totals posted at http://empowerla.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Greater-Wilshire-2016-Unofficial-Canvass-of-Votes.pdf.

There were 21 board seats available, with 37 candidates running for 20 of them (the Education seat had no registered candidates). Under GWNC bylaws, the first place finisher in each race becomes the Board Member for that seat, while the second place finisher becomes the official Alternate for that seat.

An * after a name indicates a returning Board Member or Alternate.

Area 1 – Brookside
Board Member: Owen Smith*
Alternate: None

Area 2 – Citrus Square
Board Member: Jeffry Carpenter*
Alternate: Adam Morgens*

Area 3 – Country Club Heights
Board Member:  Frances McFall*
Alternate:  None

Area 4 – Fremont Place
Board Member: Cam Davis*
Alternate: None (Candidate Bobbie Kumetz did not receive any votes)

Area 5 – Hancock Park
Board Member: James Wolf*
Alternate: None

Area 6 – La Brea-Hancock
Board Member: Barbara Savage*
Alternate: Bradley Jewett

Area 7 – Larchmont Village
Board Member: Charles D’Atri*
Alternate: Paul Hunter

Area 8 – Melrose
Board Member: Philip Farha*
Alternate: None

Area 9 – Oakwood/Maplewood/St. Andrews
Board Member: Nancy Kim
Alternate: Max Kirkham

Area 10 – Ridgewood-Wilton/St. Andrews Square
Board Member: Patricia Carroll*
Alternate:  Kathleen Mulligan*

Area 11 – Sycamore Square
Board Member: Steven Senigram
Alternate: Sue Horwitz

Area 12 – Western-Wilton
Board Member: Greg Wittmann*
Alternate: None

Area 13 – Wilshire Park
Board Member/Alternate (tie): John Gresham*/Robby O’Donnell*

Area 14 – Windsor Square
Board Member: Caroline Labiner Moser*
Alternate: None

Area 15 – Windsor Village
Board Member: Julie Stromberg*
Alternate: None

At Large
Board Member: Karen Gilman*
Alternate: Phivan Ha

Business
Board Member: John Winther*
Alternate: None

Other Non-Profit
Board member: Tucker Carney
Alternate: Colette Amin*

Religion
Board Member: Mike Genewick*
Alternate: None

Renters
Board Member: Joe Hoffman*
Alternate: James Rosales

Volunteer as a Poll Worker for Sunday’s Election

Your Neighborhood Council needs you! Are you 18 and over, want to learn the mechanics of democracy first-hand, and have some time to spare on Sunday, May 1st? We’re looking for a few good volunteers to assist at our polling place between 11am and 5pm (or part of that time if that’s all you are available).

It’s a chance to meet your neighbors, get involved with local government, and see democracy in action (really…see how every vote matters).

If you are Korean-English or Spanish-English bilingual, we particularly need your skills.

To volunteer, email election@greaterwilshire.org or follow this link to the City Clerk web site (they run the election): https://lacity.quickbase.com/db/bkd38qzpz?a=nwr&nexturl=%2Fdb%2Fbkd38qzn9%3Fa%3Dshowpage%26pageid%3D101

Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council Election
May 1, 2016 from 12pm to 4pm
The Barking Lot
366 North Larchmont Bl. (just north of Beverly Bl.)
Los Angeles, 90004

We look forward to seeing you there!