July 8, 2019
Picfair Village Neighborhood Association General Meeting
Kickoff – Michael Plante led introductions of the board members and attendees
Public Comments:
– 1541 S Genessee – there was a tragic incident where the former owner of the home passed away and the body was not discovered right away. Workers have been at the home removing items from inside and began opening up/tearing down walls and ceiling tiles. Concern was expressed that this has caused a rash of insects – termites, fleas etc to be released into the neighborhood causing potential harm to the neighboring homes.
– There were suggestions for neighbors/residents to call 311 and direct concerns to Dept of Building and Safety.
– With the recent earthquakes in Southern California there was a recommendation urging neighbors to make sure they have gas stop valves installed which will automatically shut off gas flow in the event of an earthquake reducing risk of fires caused by broken gas lines.
– There was a callout that homes that have been earthquake retrofit should have the gas stop valves installed as part of the retrofit.
– There was a request to have the neighborhood association meetings on weekends instead of weeknights.
– A recommendation was made if any of the neighbors are having problems with mosquitoes to contact the Los Angeles County Vector Control District (“Mosquito Vector”) at 323-342-5010. They will send someone out to assess where the mosquitos are coming from and help with the abatement.
Update on Disaster Preparedness – RYLAN:
– John and Jillian from the Los Angeles Department of Emergency Management (LAEMD) gave background and explanation of what they do and services they provide to the city of LA residents. Community preparedness is one of their key missions – helping communities and neighborhoods get prepared for earthquakes, natural disasters.
– RYLAN program – ‘Ready Your LA Neighborhood’ – program outreach to LA neighborhoods to help organize community involvement in getting neighbors trained and prepared in the event of an emergency
– There was an update on the May 19th meeting where neighbors representing blocks on Curson, Orange Grove and Sierra Bonita met and went through an initial program training. Parts of the training focused on identifying a designated meeting place, care center, assessing and recording skills of individuals involved to help with various needs and putting together a neighborhood contact list.
– Call to get all of Picfair Village involved in this program. It helps build community and with the likelihood of larger earthquakes, it is imperative that we have community/neighbor support to assist others.
– Question was raised that in the case of a disaster and residents are displaced from their homes, where would they go. The Parks & Recreation Dept will help set up shelters that will be communicated via local media – KNX1070 radio station, etc.
– LA has 13000 police + fire dept members. In the event of an emergency, they will be stretched thin.
– If the city cannot meet the resource needs following a disaster, the escalation channel is to LA County, then to the State, and finally to FEMA.
– There was a mention that Picfair Village and Faircrest Heights have SGI, Claude Pepper Center and LACES that could be possible resource centers.
***If you’d like to get your block prepared for the next natural disaster, the LAEMD will provide all of the information and resources necessary — we just need to get our neighbors on our individual blocks together. The EMD can then come out to our neighborhood and run through the RYLAN program, which takes about 90 minutes. Please contact the PVNA at info@picfairvillage.com for more information.***
Liz Carlin – Picfair Village’s representative from City Council President Wesson’s office gave a recap of the various pride events from last month (June) which is LGBTQ pride month. Attendance was high and there was a lot of momentum to keep this growing in future years.
Treasury update from Valerie Woodson:
– As of June 30, 2019, PVNA has $969.14
Update on the PVNA board:
– As of July, Michael Plante (president), Andrew Schulman (vice-president) and Michael Osowski (secretary) are stepping down from their posts on the board.
– There has been no one to date that has been identified as possible replacement candidates.
– Based on the above, the neighborhood association will essentially be on hold/hiatus until people come forward to fill the open board positions.
Meeting adjourned.
