North Westdale Neighborhood Association – November 14, 2005 Meeting

Minutes

I. Called to order by Pete Castro at 7:10.

II. Richland Ave Elementary Update
Haunted Pirate Ship – A fabulous display was enjoyed by all.
Wonders of Reading Library Opening – A good-sized audience celebrated the beautiful new library. They need 30 volunteers to put in some hours in the library, there are 8 volunteers signed up now. Training for the volunteers will be at the school tomorrow. Other training sessions will be available. Contact Ann Tell 310.729-7759 to be a reading volunteer. Contact Karyn Lee Garcia 310.289-1201 for information on Wonder of Reading
Richland Learning Garden – Richland could be a magnet school for Math/Science by using the extra classrooms and the garden. News of a possible garden party should go into the next newsletter.
Volunteers are welcome to join Cecile Benson at the next sub-committee meeting on school affairs.
We encourage new neighbors with younger children to consider Richland with all the wonderful new programs as their first choice for elementary school.
Design for playground improvements has been resubmitted for both the Kindergarten yard as well as the big yard.

III. Block Captains needed to distribute the newsletter west of Barrington. We need to coordinate with Bahaa and the newly added neighbors to our association.

IV. Pacific Division of LAPD Toy Drive – Drop off new unwrapped toys at the station on Culver Blvd. Before December 13.

V. Articles for the newsletter can be e-mailed to bunigrrl@gmail.com.

VI. Dues – The money coming in is less than years past and the newsletter used to cost about $50. The beautiful new newsletter last month cost over $200. Please send in your dues.

VII. By-Laws Subcommittee Update
New boundaries have been set to include west of Barrington all the way to Centinela. East of Sawtelle neighbors share the same issues as NWNA and the committee would like to include them. A neighbor from the 3 blocks between Ocean Park and Pearl attended as she received our last newsletter. There is also a small pocket of houses west of Bundy next to airport that is also part of Los Angeles. A draft of a new set of boundaries was distributed at the meeting. Our old boundaries included 500 homes. The new boundaries would more than double our numbers. The new boundaries would mirror Zone 2 of the Mar Vista Community Council. Discussion followed regarding incurring the cost of distributing newsletters to more homes, the interest of those neighbors to join us, and whether to include the boundaries in our by-laws. Discussion also followed regarding getting newsletter out promptly and making sure neighbors know who their Block Captain is.

VIII. New Business
Community Alert sent out from the Police to warn neighbors to be on the lookout for groups of people who ask for access to your backyard to check for lost cats, roof repairs or for a variety of bogus claims. Don’t let them in.
Courtyard Apartments – Meeting tomorrow regarding protected historical status. Neighbors encouraged to attend.

IX. Town Hall Meeting Update – Marty Rubin reported on how well the meeting sponsored by our councilman went. The event was recorded and will be televised soon. There will be more Town Hall meetings in the future. Some Santa Monica Airport Commissioners were there but no one from the SM Council attended.

X. Next Meeting: Monday, December 12