While you were sleeping: Weekend shootings keep Rampart busy

This went under the radar for us, but police need your tips so we thought we’d pass it along anyways.

Last Saturday night just before 2:00 am, Rampart officers responded to a call about a shooting along the 400 block of North Westlake Avenue and found a man with a gunshot wound in his leg (he told them it came from a car driving by). The man was taken to the hospital where he was treated.

Minutes later, another shooting on the radio at Glendale Boulevard and Park Avenue. Officers found an abandoned tan colored Mercury van on the southeast corner. Then, minutes after that, another shooting victim was reported to be at a hospital on the 1700 blog of West Temple Street. Unfortunately, that person died.

More from the LAPD Blog:

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64-Unit Sunset Flats to replace site of old community garden

It seems all the Echo Park news these days can be summed up in just one controversial word: Development. We’ve got a 70+ unit senior housing center going up on Glendale Blvd. and Park Avenue, a battle with Barlow Hospital over selling land for a potential 888-unit complex, a rotting structure left behind by developers at Chicken Corner, and a 64-unit complex planned for Sunset and Rosemont Avenue. Those plans plus a lot of promises, promises, promises, and if the Durbin Project on Chicken Corner is an example of how things will go in the future, Echo Park residents will have to start getting involved, well, yesterday.

Sunset Flats, the 64-unit complex planned for Sunset Blvd. and Rosemont Avenue, was (unfortunately) approved by the neighborhood council late last month despite opposition from residents. The site will be where the former Community Garden was located (remnants of the planting still exist) and will destroy 6 existing structures (11 units) in order to build. The whole structure well stretch along 2223-2235 Sunset Blvd, and back to the residential neighborhood of 2216-2218 Elsinore Street.

Architect Jay Vanos has been a regular at Neighborhood Council meetings (attending eight meetings in the past 2.5 years), but did not accept invitations from the Echo Park Improvement Association, which also regularly deals with land-use issues, to meet with other community members and address additional concerns.

Despite the destruction of 11 units of housing to build the complex, the project would include 10 units for low-income residents. The most recent design change proposed at a Neighborhood Council meeting included stepping back the tallest parts of the two buildings so that, on street level, the height of the project won’t overshadow the sidewalk and seem, well, too big. There is also now parking as part of the project, but with access along Elsinore Street.

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Mooi needs some new investors to stay open

Flickr photo via Pat/EatingLA

Daily Dish (LA Times online) tells us today that Mooi in Echo Park, which just opened up last May, may have run into some investment issues. Owner Stephen Hauptfuhr has told the online publication that he’s looking for some new investors, as the raw-vegan venture’s current ones are parting ways after November.

We recently reported that the restaurant had cut back its hours pretty severely, opening only once per week for a prix fixe multi-course dinner service and catering for the holidays. This week’s menu is a six-course Asian prix fixe dinner collaboration with LifeFood Organic on Wednesday, and later this month will host a special Thanksgiving meal on November 19.

But after this month, the restaurant could close for good if it doesn’t find some new source of cash.

Keep an eye out on Mooi’s Facebook page, or email stephen@mooifood.com with questions or for reservations.

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Neighborhood Council may vote on 888-unit complex in Echo Park

Concerned with the development in Echo Park? Remember the 4-story complex on Echo Park Avenue and Avalon? Fighting the 64-unit development on Sunset at Elsinore?

This one might make those look like small potatoes.

On Wednesday, November 3, the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council Planning, Public Works, Parks and Land Use Committee will hold a special meet to discuss Barlow Hospital‘s plans to update the facilities in order to comply with California seismic codes (retrofitting the buildings so things don’t go bad during an earthquake). Since the hospital was built in 1927 and damaged in 1994 during the Northridge earthquake, the plan is to replace the primary hospital facilities with new structures in order to keep up to code.

Sounds like a great idea, right? Barlow is an important part of the community and we don’t want to see it go away. Unfortunately the original proposal doesn’t just include a new hospital and even some shops, but also calls for the sale or leasing of part of Barlow’s 19-acre land to build a 1 million-square-foot, 888-unit apartment complex (according to an Eastsider LA article, the largest-ever residential project in the Eastside) in order to fund the new hospital structures.

In February, Barlow Hospital mailed out a survey to Echo Park residents, which asked questions like “Please rate your level of support for Barlow Respiratory Hospitals plans to rebuild? High, Medium, or Low.” (The “helllllll NO” option was mysteriously missing.) Also missing from the brochure was a mention of plans to build the 888-unit residential complex – this spurring community concern and discussion that Barlow wasn’t exactly doing the right kind of outreach to the community.

We are aware that the Echo Park Improvement Association has been involved with Barlow Hospital representatives to develop new ways to raise funding for lower-impact alternatives, and also that Council District 1 has opposed this project in the past (we have not yet heard back from a rep for details). We are hoping the Neighborhood Council won’t support a large residential structure at Barlow, and will instead encourage it to seek other sources of funding for the hospital rebuilding.

Share your opinion at the meeting tomorrow at St. Paul Cathedral Center (Grand Hall), located at 840 N. Echo Park Avenue at 7:00 pm.

You can download the Neighborhood Council meeting agenda by clicking here, or reading the excerpt describing the project and the meeting after the jump.

UPDATE:

Planning Deputy Susan Wong of CD1 told us that Councilman Reyes does not support the residential complex:

The Councilman supports Barlow Hospital in its effort to rebuild the hospital. Our office has been working with Barlow to look at different sources of funding for the hospital only. With that said, he does not support the proposed 888 unit development at the site.  The proposed project is too dense and incompatible with the surrounding land uses.

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Neighborhood Council meeting tonight

If you’re curious about what’s going on in Echo Park and the greater area, there’s a GEPENC meeting tonight at 6:30 pm at the Rosemont Avenue Elementary School Auditorium, located at 421 N. Rosemont Avenue.

Why go? Besides being involved in your community, there are some items posted in the agenda that have been of particular interested to the Echo Park community:

  • May be voting on supporting the new Sunset Beer Company’s application for a Conditional Use Permit (CUB) and a Mitigated Negative Declaration (ZA 2010-2048 CUB/ENV-2010-2049 MND). Those permits will allow for on-site sales of wine and beer for their 14-seat tasting room, as well as the sale of beer and wine for off-site consumption.
  • 64-unit complex on Sunset Blvd. and Elsinore: Will review without committee recommendation. If you want to know if there are any updates to this project, this will be the time as the developer has been working with the Neighborhood Council on design plans.
  • Discussion/possible allocation of $2,500.00 dollars to the Echo Park Historical Society for the repair and maintenance of the Jensen’s Recreation Center sign. This is great as the sign has been left unlit for quite a few years now, and the money is coming in from GEPENC as a matching grant.
  • May vote on authorizing a letter to the bidders of CRES #14 (EPN wrote about this issue recently) emphasizing the support of parental and community involvement in the process, and GEPENC’s role in outreach to the community.

You can review the full agenda here.

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The Stadium gets dirty: Motocross and Monster Car shows coming soon

Noel E. Pallais of the Dodgers announced a couple of days ago that Dodger Stadium would be host two brand new (and frankly, a little unexpected) events early next year – Motocross and Monster Car shows. The Stadium has never before hosted such an event, and with a seating capacity of 56,000 people, it’s going to be big.

According to a Supercross press release, they will cart in 550 truckloads of dirt onto the actual Stadium floor. Eric Hansen, Assistant Director of Turf and Grounds at Dodger Stadium, talked about the challenges of replacing a beautiful major league field with all that dirt: “All we have to worry about is replacing the actual grass once the dirt is removed and from what I’ve been told, (Feld) is the best in the world at what they do so my anxiety level is extremely low.” Here’s a little preview of what the course map will look like on the field at Dodger Stadium:

Supercross Course Map

The Motocross press release mentions a site visit to Dodger Stadium one year ago, and we are aware that the Community Advisory Board (made up of residents surrounding Dodger Stadium) flat-out rejected the proposal to bring these events to Dodger Stadium earlier this year. There was talk, however, of the event being held in the parking lot at that time, but the Board was concerned with noise levels.

If you’ve ever been to a Moster Jam or Motocross event, you’ll know how incredibly loud it can be (youngsters have to wear those big sound-deadening head phones). Mr. Pallais of the Dodgers doesn’t expect the noise levels to be any more than a baseball game, and for traffic LAPD and LADOT officers will be present like they would be at any other game or event. No word on how many patrons they expect to attend. Because we’ve never had an event like this at Dodger Stadium, it’s difficult to determine what noise levels will be like for nearby residents – though thankfully the event ends early in the evening.

The Monster Energy Supercross at Dodger Stadium will take place on January 22, 2011, and prices range from $40 all the way to $230.

The Monster Jam event takes place on February 19, 2011, prices range from $32-75.

It’s a pretty big deal to bring these events to the Stadium, and, I’ll say it because we’re all thinking it (you know you are), we’re sure the team needs to bring in some extra cash with McCourt’s messy divorce and a disappointing season.

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Will the LAUSD actually listen?

Last night’s Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Issues Committee meeting brought out well over 30 people to Williams Hall at Barlow Hospital to discuss community concerns about CRES#14, an LAUSD school being built near the busy intersection of Alvarado and Sunset Blvd.

Chieko Rupp, now retired from the LAUSD, spoke at the meeting as the “point person” of the design team that is writing the proposal for CRES#14. Although not an official rep from the LAUSD, she and the team will be submitting the final project proposal to the LAUSD for review.

Here’s a run-down of what is being discussed for the future of CRES#14:

  • It will be Pre-kindergarten through eighth grade
  • Because the school was initially built to alleviate over-crowded elementary schools (and continued to be the focus even after elementary schools became under-enrolled), the school will include elementary age students. One of the reasons include construction – some classrooms were built specifically for smaller children.
  • It will be a “span” school
  • Initial plans are that it will pull predominantly from areas to the south and west of the school, areas that do not include Echo Park. This, however, is not set in stone, but it’s the “boundary office” that determines which areas the school will pull from. Schools include Virgil and King, which are heavily overcrowded
  • Curriculum focus will be music, arts, language and technology
  • Capacity of the school is approximately 800, but they expect around 500 with about 35 classrooms (three may be used for a senior citizen’s organization)
  • Will be a single zone of choice, meaning kids won’t be forced to go in there but will instead have the opportunity to apply

It is difficult to completely understand some of the complicated terminology revolving “choice” schools, “span” schools, etc., but what we do understand are the concerns of the community when it comes to the LAUSD opening up a Pre-K through 8 school (and run by a charter school) in Echo Park. Many of the residents at the meeting focused on getting the point across that:

  • Echo Park should benefit from the school: 50 homes were destroyed, hundreds of people were displaced. This community needs a middle school, why not use the new school to provide this much-needed service? Why destroy a part of our community only to keep us from primarily benefiting?
  • We don’t need another elementary school: Existing elementary schools are losing teachers, and enrollment is going down. Opening up another elementary school could negatively impact our beloved elementary schools which, if they were to close, would severely impact the community.
  • Make CRES#14 a middle school, or at least make it the primary focus: Assuming we can’t do anything about there being elementary-age classes offered, if  the focus remain on middle school students it might help alleviate community concerns about our schools. However, there’s no guarantee that this will actually be followed through by the LAUSD and the chosen charter school until the decisions are made.

The question is: Will the LAUSD actually listen to the concerns of the community, and cooperate?

The good news? We were promised that nothing, absolutely nothing was set in stone and that we are still in proposal phase. There will be additional meetings prior to the proposal submital for community members to provide input. Deadline for the proposal is December 1, 2010, and the Board is schedule to make the final decision on February 22, 2011. Keep your eye out for these meetings here on Echo Park Now, and follow the EPIA website for announcements regarding those meetings.

Also make sure to follow The Eastsider LA for more detailed analysis of CRES#14 and the issues surrounding it.

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LAUSD to visit EPIA meeting tomorrow

At tomorrow’s Echo Park Improvement Association (EPIA) Neighborhood Issues Committee meeting, a representative from the LAUSD will attend to discuss the future of CRES#14, a new school being built near Alvarado and Sunset Blvd.

A rep failed to show at the last EPIA meeting, prompting a re-scheduling of the meeting, and tomorrow (Wednesday, October 20), LAUSD administrator Chieko Rupp will be joining the conversation to hear from Echo Park residents about the project.

Residents, parents, and future parents should attend this meeting to learn about CRES#14, and to let the LAUSD know that its plan to make the school a K-8 “Choices” school needs to involve community outreach. Residents at the last EPIA meeting were disappointed to learn of the K-8 plans, worried that yet another elementary school would hurt existing Echo Park elementary schools with already dwindling enrollment.

In addition, it doesn’t sound like the new school will in fact serve the community at large, but will be pulling from other neighborhoods where children will have to travel longer distances for school.

Community members came to a consensus that the school should be a grade 7-8 school, should be open to Echo Park children, and should perhaps focus on a specific purpose, such as arts or language arts.

A little back story to the school site:

  • The two blocks the school is being built was once home to more than 50 houses. Construction started in December 2008.
  • The 875-seat campus, $68 million school was suppose to alleviate overcrowding in neighboring public schools. It’s now common knowledge that enrollment in public schools has been dwindling for quite some time now.
  • The LAUSD lost a long legal battle over the site, but found a way to build anyways.

Even if you don’t have children now, but see yourself living in Echo Park for quite some time, now is your time to get involved!

Echo Park Improvement Association Neighborhood Committee meeting

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital
Special Guest: Chieko Rupp, LAUSD

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Echo Park Lake Restoration tour

Flickr Photo via avilon_music

On Saturday, October 23, we are heading to Echo Park Lake for a “Rehabilitation Pre-Construction Tour” to learn about the upcoming work on the historic lake. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the project, stormwater improvements, and what you can expect come April 2011.

Here are the dates of the tours:

Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday, November 13th, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010

9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – English
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon – Spanish

Meet at the corner of Park Avenue and Echo Park Avenue. Wear comfortable walking shoes and weather-appropriate clothes.

Sign up NOW! There are only 30 slots per tour and RSVP s are required.  Sign up today by emailing Olga.Morales@lacity.org or calling (213) 978-0329.

Click here to download the event flyer.

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Avalon Street live/work lofts denied

Remember those 8-unit live/work lofts proposed for Avalon Street and Echo Park Avenue? Residents have been collecting signatures for petitions, and working tirelessly with Echo Park organizations like the EPIA to reduce the size and/or stop the development of the four story building for the past couple of months. In an email sent out by neighbors and organizers today, it was announced that the developer has NOT received the approval to proceed with the project as planned.

The developer does, however, have until October 25 to submit an appeal. This gives a few of us in Echo Park hopes that a little bit of community organization, communication, and the right resources can help keep the community on track – hopefully we’ll be able to work with the developer of a pending 64-unit development planned for the former community garden site on Sunset and Elsinore.

We’ll keep you updated!

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Apply for the 2010 Echo Park Community Parade

2007 parade photo by Paul via Picasa

We are a little jealous that Atwater Village has a big tree lighting event every year, but we in Echo Park do have a holiday parade!

The Echo Park Community Parade is currently accepting applicants for the 2010 holiday parade on Saturday, December 11.

To apply, you have a few options:

  1. Complete the participation form online at EchoParkCommunityParade.com
  2. Download a PDF Version of the form here. Print, fill out and fax back to Cindy at 213-483-5523, or mail to:

Cindy Ortiz
Parade Entry Coordinator
1157 Lemoyne Street
Los Angeles CA 90026

It’s free to be in the parade, but you must apply by November 1, 2010.

For more info, contact Parade Entry Coordinator Cindy Ortiz at 323-664-2412.

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Children’s Program at the Rec Center

From October through December 2010, the Rec Center will be hosting Sunshine Academy – a program for children ages 3-5 four days a week.

Your child will enjoy exploration into the visual learning of colors, shapes, letters, crafts, and music through creative movement and active play. Emphasis on socialization and cooperation in a fun and educational environment will also be covered. Activities are designed for Pre-K academics, and may also include arts and crafts, games, story time, and other socially stimulating activities.

Hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Cost is $40 per week. It’s a great way to support Echo Park programs and the Rec Center!

Children must bring their own lunch. It is mandatory that children are potty trained. No class will be held on all City observed holidays.

Click here to download the flyer for Seshine Academy

Echo Park Children’s Center is located at 515 Laveta Terrace. Call with questions: (213) 240-3006

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Echo Curio shut down for lack of permits

Flickr photo via aileenrobot

The Echo Curio has been a long-time performance and art space, and a great space for local bands to play – we’ve been in the crowd for many of our friend’s performances and are grateful to have a place in Echo Park for great music to happen. But on Friday night (October 1), the LAPD shut down the Echo Curio during a show, even after they complied with the city to cease the BYOB policy last August.

“As you know,” said co-owner Justin Justin McInteer, “we have been a dry space for over 3 months now, so were a little confused as to why the police are spending time shutting down a community art and performance space.” They then learned that this time, the violation seems to be a lack of permits, specifically a Cafe-Entertainment license required for any business with any form of entertainment (including karaoke) on a regular basis.

With several shows coming up, including the Culture Collide fest and full schedules through November with local and touring bands, other nearby spaces are helping redirect shows while the shop is closed through October 18. In the meantime, the Curio owners are doing their research and are even meeting with Eric Garcetti to find out what they should do.

“…hopefully we’ll pass the class and get the info we need together that day and start the process… What would be great to find out is if we can get temporary permission to have shows while this period of waiting for the next step – the inspection and then vote by the commission to (hopefully) approve our license,” a recent post on the website blog says.

Other classes and workshops will continue to be held at the shop, and the art gallery will still be open (an art opening for Justin McInteer will take place either Thursday or Friday). We hope things happen smoothly for the guys at the Echo Curio, and look forward to seeing some great shows soon!

If you’re interested in showing your support for the Echo Curio, tell Eric Garcetti at councilmember.garcetti@lacity.org

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Zooming in on Echo Park: LA Times crime map

The LA Times recently added a new facet to the website’s mapping project – a detailed map of daily crime reports for cities and neighborhoods that allows “users to analyze crime statistics, search historic crime patterns and receive alerts when several crimes occur in an area over a short period of time.”

The LA Times maps use data from the LAPD and the Sherriff’s Department to create report for cities and neighborhoods. This map comes after the LA Times criticized the LAPD crime map database for having quite a few errors that led to serious misinterpretations of crime data. Some time since the publication of the LA Times crime map, the LAPD crime map page says the following:

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Crime Map page is currently undergoing technical renovations in preparation for a new crime mapping system which will include expanded crime data from adjacent agencies, and will accommodate our growing viewer data base. Until such time as the new crime mapping system is fully functional, you may view Part One crime data provided to the Los Angeles Times by the Los Angeles Police Department at http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/crime/. We apologize for any inconvenience during this process and thank you for your patience and understanding.

No word on whether or not (and when) the map will be functional again on the LAPD website, but for now you can click on the map image above to scroll through the crime data for Echo Park. It’s supposed to be updated daily, so keep an eye out on the map and see if you can tell if everything’s being reported.

Authors note: the Echo Park map does not include the greater Echo Park/Elysian Park and Historic Filipinotown areas that many residents consider to be Echo Park boundaries. To learn more about Echo Park boundaries, click here.

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October Library Events in Echo Park

Both the Echo Park and Edendale Libraries have some FREE special programs for kids, teens, and even some for adults all fall. Here are the October events for both libraries:

For Kids

  • Art Class for Kids: Kids will learn about art from an artist from LACMA and create something new each week. For hours please call 213-250-7808.
  • Twinkle Time: Twinkle Time is a bilingual pop family musical that teaches children valuable lessons to original catchy tunes. Join us for this free performance. Children of all ages are welcome. Wednesday, October 14 at 3:00 pm, Echo Park Library.
  • LACMA Family Art Class: Learn about art and artists, then create your own masterpiece! LACMA hosts this weekly art workshop for school age children. Program is bilingual in Spanish and English. Thursday, October 7 and 14 at 4:00 pm, Echo Park Library.
  • Popcorn Pals: Enjoy a children’s movie with other kids and a bag of popcorn. Ending time is approximate. Tuesday, October 19 at 3:30 pm, Edendale Branch.

Other great activities:

  • Bilingual Baby & Toddler Storytime at Echo Park Branch: Tuesdays at 12:30 pm
  • Infant & Toddler Storytime at Edendale: Nursery rhymes, songs, and finger plays, for children 1-3 and their special grown-ups.  Wednesdays at 10:00 am.
  • GAB: Books come alive for kids when they share the fun of reading with GAB library volunteers. Tuesdays at 4:00 pm, Echo Park Branch.

For Teens

  • Teen Council: Make your voice heard at the next Teen Council Meeting. Choose materials, plan programs, and design publicly. Tasty snacks provided. Thursday, October 7 at 5:00 pm, Edendale Branch.
  • Student Smart Seminar, Getting Into the College of Your Choice: Do you know what it takes to get into the most competitive universities? Do you know what your competition is like for the most selective schools in the country? This workshop will cover details about the application process, Early Decision/Early Action, and how test scores are only a part of the college selection application process. Saturday, October 16 at 2:00 pm.
  • Teen Book Club: Read the horror book of your choice and we’ll meet up to discuss our terrifying selections. Gruesome grub provided. Thursday, October 21 at 5:00 pm, Edendale Branch.
  • Fall Film Fest: Catch a freaky flick on the big screen. Ghoulish grub galore! Thursday, October 28 at 5:00 pm, Edendale Branch.
  • Student Smart, SAT Practice Test: Princeton Review will administer the full-length test. Saturday, October 30 at 10:00 am, Edendale Branch. Followup on Thursday, November 4 at 5:00 pm.
  • Dia de los Muertos Sugar Skulls Decorating: Create your own folk art by decorating a Mexican sugar skull to adorn your own ofrenda, or to add to the library’s Day of the Dead altar. Snacks will be served. Wednesday, October 20 at 4:00 pm, Echo Park Branch.

For more information, Edendale Teens has a website! There’s a book club, film screenings, and teens get library bucks when they sign up and write book reviews (which they can use to bid on prizes at the Carnival). Click here to visit the website. Teens can sign up at the Library or by visiting the LAPL Teen Web page.

For Adults

  • ILCSC Program: The Independent Living Center of Southern California will present a free informational program describing services available to the public. For information call 213-250-7808. Tuesday, October 19 at 2:00 pm, Echo Park Branch.
  • ELFS Monthly Meetings: Join the Edendale Library Friends Society and support the Edendale Branch Library. ELFS meets once a month on the second Tuesday at 7:00 pm. Click here for the website.
  • Game Day Saturday: Join us for fun and games in our community room on most Saturdays. We have many popular games; including chess, backgammon, scrabble, dominoes, and much more. This is a program for adults. Children must come with a parent or guardian. Call (213) 207-3000 for more information. Saturdays at 1:00 pm, Edendale Branch.
  • ELFS Used Book Sale: Join the Edendale Library Friends Society for their weekly used book sale. All sales support the library. Every Wednesday at 2:00 pm.
  • Life Story Writing: Turn your memories into vivid writing for inner exploration, to preserve family history or to prepare for publication. Try your hand at memoir writing and fiction. Warm, supportive atmosphere. No writing experience necessary. Saturday, October 9 at 10:00 am, Edendale Branch.
  • Introduction to Computers at Edendale: Tuesday, October 5 at 12:30 pm.
  • Introduction to the Internet at Edendale: Tuesday, October 12 at 12:30 pm.
  • Introduction to Email at Edendale: Tuesday, October 19 at 12:30 pm.
  • Online Job Searching & Resume Review at Echo Park: If you are a seasoned employee searching or a recent graduate looking for a job, this class will assist you in job searching, creating, and updating your resume. This class is by appointment. For information please call 213-250-7808.
  • Computer Classes to Go at Echo Park: Join us for Computer Comfort, Computer Classes for Improving your English, and Introduction to Beginning Web Design. Individual and group classes by appointment only. For information call Nadine Flores at 213-250-7808.

Edendale Library is located at 2011 West Sunset Blvd. Click here to visit the LAPL website.

Echo Park Library is located at 1410 West Temple Street. Click here to visit the LAPL website.

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