Thank you to those who attended this important meeting!  And thank you to the Pappas & Kurosaki household for hosting and to everyone who brought food and chairs!  Here's a recap of what was discussed.

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• Senior Lead Officer Harry Cho spoke about crime in our area including home burglaries and personal property theft from cars.  He reemphasized the importance of locking your cars and homes, having alarms and cameras, and turning on your exterior lights.  He also discussed realistic expectations with regard to the LAPD and our responsibility as neighbors to be aware of what's happening on our streets, report it, and press charges.  In particular, he wants us to be on the lookout and report any sightings of 3-4 individuals in hoodies and masks and immediately call 911!  Officer Cho agreed that supplementing alarms and cameras with armed patrol is a good idea.  He gave a tip to folks with older cars to get a key software update to prevent the hacking of electronic keys.

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• SSA Security Group made a presentation on their services, especially patrol, as did ADT.  Both of them require a minimum number of subscribers to their patrol services to get a dedicated car to Wilshire Park.  We'll be following up with the community to determine the interest in this.  A dedicated car that is seen roaming our neighborhood would be a great deterrent to the crime we are experiencing.  If you are interested in signing up for either patrol service, let me know if you need contact information.  Being visible in our neighborhood – sitting on porches, walking the street with or without a dog, is also a great deterrent. 

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• AT&T's discontinuation of land lines was discussed.  Discontinuing these landlines eliminates the use of them in emergencies, for medical equipment and for alarms that are not wireless.  If you disagree with the discontinuation of landlines, please make your voice heard and make your comments using this link Case# A2303003.    https://apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=401:65::ADDPC::::

 

• If you have an ADT alarm and want to upgrade your system from using a landline to wireless, you can call this ADT contact: Gabrielle C. Muttillo, 818-632-0441, gmuttillo@adt.com

 

• Patty Macias, Westside Field Deputy from CD5, Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky's office, attended to speak in place of our Field Deputy Michelle Flores.  She updated us on an anticipated further delay on the overnight parking district expansion request, possibly until July 18.  This was a request made by the neighborhood east of us which we can't stop.  She also updated us on the City's intent to replace speedbumps on the 800 block of Norton and fix a sinkhole on Olympic.

 

• We asked her to take several issues back to the Councilmember including:  concerns on increased graffiti on 8th, Wilshire and the metro station, and HPOZ protection for Executive Directive 1 (basically we want to prevent building affordable housing in HPOZ R1 districts – if you need more information, there are many resources available for you to google).  There is a GWNC meeting on Tuesday, February 27, at 6:30pm, in which one of the protested projects under ED 1, will be discussed (the project is at 8th and Lorraine in Windsor Village).  If you would like to participate in this meeting, it is open to all via zoom –  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/91527869326 or dial in Toll Free at (833) 548-0282 Webinar ID: 915 2786 9326

 

• Crime in our neighborhoods was discussed with Patty, and one of our board members is in touch with Councilmember Yaroslavsky's office about the possibility of getting license plate reading cameras on the street. Patty suggested that any sidewalk repair requests be made by someone with a disability so that the request moves through the process more quickly.

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Committee Reports:

• Our Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council (GWNC) liaison is working with other neighborhoods to prepare a list of emergency preparedness items each of us should have in our homes and in our cars.  More information to come.  One of our neighbors is also going to work on getting the neighborhood up to speed on getting a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) in place.

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• The Halloween Haunt Committee has Wilshire Park swag -- sweatshirts ($25), baseball t's ($15) and shopping bags ($15) – for sale and sold several at the meeting.  There are more left!  Reach out to one of the Haunt chairs if you wish to make a purchase, wilshireparkhalloween@gmail.com.

 

• The Beautification committee sold MOOP (matter out of place) tools for neighborhood cleanups.  We have requested that each block captain organize at least one block clean up with their neighbors before the end of April.

 

• Neighbors are reminded to please identify their block captains and be part of the whatsapp group for the block to keep up to date on what's happening and in contact with their neighbors. One of the keys to safety in our neighborhood is to know who belongs (and what cars) and who doesn't and to report suspicious occurrences.  To that end, there is a plan to design and distribute parking decals so that cars that don't belong can be identified and observed.  

 

• We are still in need of block captains on the following streets, so if you live there, please let me know if you would like to volunteer, as it is also for your benefit!  Empty positions; Ingraham, 8th, 9th and San Marino

 

• Finally, individuals old and new volunteered to be on the WPA Board!  Yay!  Committee Chairs and officers will be announced soon.

 

• It was a lot, but thank you to everyone who came with questions and suggestions, showing your care for Wilshire Park.  Hoping for lots more participation from the other 90% of our 500 households in the future!