**Voting Members in Attendance:** George Wolfberg, Peter Culhane, Richard Cohen, Chris Spitz, Maryam Zar, Sue Kohl, Cathy Russell, David Kaplan, Rick Mills, Dick Wulliger, Janet Anderson, Sarah Conner, Lou Kamer, Danielle Samulon
**Voting Alternates:** Doug McCormick, Leah Cox, Susan Payne, Brenda Theveny
**Non-voting Advisors and Alternates:** David Peterson, Allison Polhill. Sandra Eddy present but stated she had resigned as Friends of the Library representative. 1.**Certification of Quorum.** Chair George Wolfberg called the meeting to order at 7:02pm and certified that a quorum was present. 2.**Reading of Community Council’s Mission.** Dick Wulliger read the Council’s Mission. 3.**Introduction of the Board and Audience.** The board and audience were introduced. 4.**Approval of Minutes & Upcoming Meetings. ** _1) Approval of Minutes – The minutes of 9/27/18 were deemed approved. 2) Upcoming Meetings –_
October 11, 2018: topics: 1) board election of Alternate Area and At-large representatives; 2) welcome to incoming board members; 3) report from Melissa Kaufler on CA REAL ID Card (deferred due to Ms. Kaufler’s inability to attend tonight’s meeting); additional topics to be announced. 5.**Consideration of Agenda.** The Chair announced that the agenda was as distributed. 6.**Treasurer’s Report**. Treasurer Richard Cohen reported that PPCC’s bank balance is $32,119. There were no significant transactions since the last report. 7.**General Public Comment****.**
7.
1. Sandra Eddy (resident) stated that she did not receive notice of permits regarding the Caruso project.
7.
2. Marge Gold (resident) stated that a large amount of trash is being left at the Village Green, which she believes is due to the many visitors to the Palisades Village project. She would like Caruso to be responsible for trash removal. See also Item 9.1 below. 8.**Reports, Announcements and Concerns.**
8.
1. _From the Chair George Wolfberg._ The Chair first announced that leadership has been working hard to get the meeting package to the board the Friday before the Thursday meeting. This permits board members to schedule a few minutes to become familiar with the agenda and maybe even ask a question or two in advance. This is a two-way bargain. We get information to the board in plenty of time and the board reviews it to be prepared for the meeting. The board’s respect for leadership’s efforts is appreciated.
8.
1.
1. Alternate Area and At-large Representatives Application Process. Deadline for receipt of applications: 9pm on
September 30, 2018. Alternates application information: click on the green “Alternates Application” button on the PPCC website.
8.
1.
2. 2018 Citizen of the Year and Golden Sparkplug Awards. PPCC’s Awards Gala will be hold on December 13 – Save the date! Pursuant to PPCC procedures, the Chair is appointing an Awards Selection Committee to vet any nominations received. The Awards Selection Committee members are: Sue Kohl (Chair), Daphne Gronich (past Citizen of the Year), Bill Bruns (past Community Service Awardee), Richard Blumenberg and Chris Spitz. Nominations from the public are invited and welcome. Deadline for receipt of nominations: 9pm on
October 27, 2018. More details are on the PPCC website. _See attached Awards Nominations Press Release._ The all-important Awards Event Committee, to be chaired by Peter Culhane, will be announced next month.
8.
1.
3. Congress of Neighborhoods Update. The Congress was held last Saturday at City Hall. Over 900 persons attended and there were 40 workshops, free parking and two delicious meals. The Chair attended and spent considerable time with one of the Street Services Forestry managers. He was very familiar with Palisades tree issues, including dying and missing trees. The Chair invited him to share information with and brief us at a future meeting.
8.
1.
4. WRAC Leadership Meeting Update. PPCC participates on two Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC) groups: the Land Use & Planning Committee (LUPC), where the Chair and Secretary Chris Spitz have been attending monthly meetings for many years; and the leadership group, composed of leaders of the 13 Councils in our region.
The leadership group met this Wednesday and here are a few highlights: The leaders unanimously elected Maryam Zar as WRAC Chair for the coming year.
This will be a good outcome for WRAC and PPCC.
The Protected Tree Ordinance support motion (previously approved by the PPCC board) has now received the necessary nine council sign-offs to become a WRAC position.
Regarding the bus shelter advertising issue, Debbie Dyner Harris (now a district director for Councilmember Koretz) informed the assembled that the City Attorney and Decaux failed to reach an agreement to continue the contract and the City Attorney now supports a new RFP to be issued.
With the concurrence of our Executive Committee, the Chair sent a note to Mike Bonin reiterating our position that there be a transparent RFP process for selection of a new contractor.
We also learned that RAP is subsidizing sports activities for girls.
Finally, two interesting notes from DWP.
They have an emergency program to replace deteriorating wooden poles with steel poles and will be implementing “shared solar” where the department rents your roof to install solar panels to charge the grid. 8.1.5.**** Thanks to Outgoing Representatives.
We thank the 30 volunteers whose terms expire with this meeting. _See attached list._ As appropriate, several alternate area reps have reapplied so we hope to see many of them back starting next month.
Not returning is 30- year veteran Gilbert Dembo, who has been a long-time representative of TCA and is a member of the Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee.
He will be missed around this table, but the Chair noted that we will see his continued community activity.
8.
1.
6. New Organizational Representatives. These new representatives will take office next week (on
October 1, 2018). _See attached list._
8.
1.
7. Caruso Palisades Village. Believe it or not, your officers do not live under a rock. We all have seen the grand opening of the Palisades Village. We have also heard from neighbors and personally expressed concerns about some of the implementation issues. Only the Caruso people can answer these questions. The Chair is sure that we will all hear something soon.
8.
2. _From Officers_.
8.
2.
1. Chris Spitz (Secretary) provided information about the Processes and Procedures Ordinance proposed by the City Planning Dept. This is a companion ordinance to the substantive revision of the Zoning Code that is still ongoing in the RecodeLA process. It is a complicated and highly technical ordinance. Among other things, it includes changes in hearing notice requirements and also new procedures for a few streamlined permit approvals. The Secretary had previously provided information about this ordinance to LUC members. There have been prior public hearings and comment periods; the City Planning Commission will now hear the ordinance on Oct.
11. Information can be found at the Planning [website](http://www.planning.lacity.org/), or in Council File No. 12-0460. Comments may be submitted to [cpc@lacity.org](mailto:cpc@lacity.org). Check the Planning website for information on deadlines for submission of comments. Contact the Secretary for more information.
8.
2.
2. Peter Culhane (Vice Chair) thanked Lisa Cahill for the street sweepers that came down Sunset Blvd. on Saturday. It was noted that this was probably clean-up for recent utility work.
8.
3. _From At-large and Area Representatives_ _8_.
3.
1. Lou Kamer (At-large) indicated concern that items thrown in trash cans in the Village are not being recycled. Chrysalis was hired by the BID to handle the trash but they have ended recycling. He hopes that the BID will take this up.
8.
4. _From Organizational Representatives_.
8.
4.
1. Dick Wulliger (Historical Society). On Tuesday Oct. 2 at 7pm in the Theatre Palisades, the Historical Society will sponsor a talk on the history of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Park Ranger Mike Malone is the guest speaker. All are invited. No RSVP is required and the event is free.
8.
4.
2. Brenda Theveny (TCA) stated that she has observed many cars idling in the Palisades and expressed concern about air pollution as a result.
8.
4.
3. Sarah Conner (PPRA) announced that PPRA has filed a lawsuit against the City and Coastal Commission regarding the eldercare project. There will be a settlement hearing on October 11 at 9:30am.
8.
5. _From Government Offices/Representative_ s.
8.
5.
1. Melissa Kaufler, Field Representative, Assemblymember Richard Bloom. Briefing on the new CA REAL Driver License/ID – not in attendance; deferred to 10/
11.
8.
5.
2. Ron C. Kato, Commissioner, Los Angeles City Health Commission. The Commission is preparing its annual report with recommendations to the City Council. The report addresses: 1) homelessness; 2) health & wellness; and 3) emergency medical services. He has participated with PPTFH on homelessness issues in our area. Other areas of the City are holding senior health fairs. In the next year, he would like to raise awareness of the use of chemical herbicides at parks.
8.
5.
3. Lisa Cahill, Palisades Deputy, Councilmember Mike Bonin. She has been working on Potrero Canyon Park. A great deal is going on even though it may seem as if nothing is happening. The Bureau of Engineering (BOE) has subdivided the remaining work into two phases – grading and landscaping. A contract was awarded to the construction company to begin grading; this phase will last 14 months. The landscaping contract is to be awarded soon. That phase will take 16 more months. Real timelines have been established for completion. The Notice to Proceed will be issued soon; groundbreaking is likely in the next few weeks. There will be sensitivity to encroaching on adjacent private property. Public safety is important. This will be a passive park with hiking trails. David Peterson asked for information on the future relationship between Palisades Recreation Center and the new passive park. He was directed to the Pali Rec Park Advisory Board Meeting to be held on October 17 at 7:00pm.
8.
6. _From PPCC Advisors_.
8.
6.
1. Allison Polhill, Education. LAUSD Vice President Nick Melvoin has visited eight of the nine schools in our complex. He is visiting Palisades Elementary and Kenter Canyon Elementary tomorrow. There is an impending teacher strike. He has prepared a “year in review” flyer, which was distributed to the board. Vice President Melvoin wants to spend more per pupil, which requires more funding, and he also wants to spend monies wisely. In the future, he wants to have an “Oscars” for teachers as some other schools are doing. He would like the involvement of volunteers from the Palisades. Unlike any other LAUSD board member, he has now visited all 150 schools in the district. 9.**Reports from Committees.**
9.
1. _Village Project Community Liaison Committee_ (VPCLC; David Kaplan and Sue Kohl, Co-Chairs). Project update.
**Report on operational issues (David Kaplan):** David stressed that the VPCLC is not a monitoring or enforcement committee. It is a liaison committee. Its purpose is to bring issues to Caruso’s attention, obtain their response, and then relate that information to the board. David, Sue Kohl and VPCLC member Chris Spitz met with Caruso Vice-President Michael Gazzano (MG) to discuss operational issues that had come to their attention involving parking, the Bay Theatre, PRIDE bricks, the Farmers Market, noise and construction. MG indicated that because they were less than a week into operations he could provide initial responses at this point and would continue to respond as operations were ongoing. His initial responses were as follows: