Northeast Crime Update

Here’s your Northeast Division Neighborhood Crime Update from Captain Bill Murphy:

Echo Park
We have a burglary trend in this neighborhood between noon to 6 PM. We have detained and/or arrested some suspects over the past week Some of these crimes maybe committed by juveniles and we have tremendously increased truant enforcement in the neighborhoods of Echo Park and Silverlake. One resident attempted to detain a subject (juvenile suspect) and unfortunately, he broke away and took off (please be careful about taking action into your own hands – your life is not worth taking this risk over). We did get a composite of this subject and put it out to all of our police officers.

Note: We did have an incident that occurred yesterday in East Hollywood (will not be in these crime statistics and the suspect is probably not involved in any Echo Park or Silverlake burglaries – but its an amusing story.)

Yesterday a lady came home and when she pulled into her driveway she noticed that her garage door was open and that a man was inside her garage rummaging through her other vehicle parked in the garage. She immediately asked him what he was doing in the garage and he yelled “I am looking for my friend.” Knowing that he was not her friend, she immediately pressed the garage door remote control she had in the vehicle she was driving – and then drove her vehicle up against the garage door to trap the suspect inside. She then calmly phone 9-1-1 and reported the burglary-in-progress as the suspect began to bang on the inside door pleading ” please let me out – I am on parole – I just got out of jail.- I can’t go back” He was immediately arrested and will be heading back to a confining 9 x 12 foot cell. While I do not recommend taking action – this was very quick thinking on the lady’s part which resulted in the suspect’s capture!

And for good measure, here’s the rest of the crime update for the rest of the Northeast area:

Read more

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Restaurant and Business News Roundup

New restaurants and businesses:

  • Darling’s Flower Shop and Matsu, a Japanese restaurant, are now sharing the building on Temple. Read more at The Eastsider LA
  • Marta Teegen of Homegrown is opening up a green grocery store called “Cookbook” on Echo Park Avenue along gallery row (Chicken Corner area). Read more from the Chicken Corner
  • True Blue Tattoo popped up at 1359 1/2 Sunset Blvd. a month or two ago.

Other new news

Ongoing/Weekly Restaurant Specials

Closed 🙁

  • The Clinic of Echo Park has closed its doors following a dispute with the landlord. The owner plans to open online stores at matsonialane.com and on etsy at matsonialane.etsy.com. Read more
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Support For Depression In Echo Park

The Echo Park DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance) is a free support group for people who are diagnosed with or think they have depression or bipolar disorders. Meetings are held every Sunday from 1:00 – 3:00 pm at the Echo Park Recreation Center at 1632 Bellevue Ave.

Here is what they have to say:

Are you looking for a safe, non-judgmental place where you can share with others who are experiencing depression and bipolar disorder? We are the Echo Park DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance), a group of people living with mood disorders. We believe that the best way to cope with these illnesses is to connect with others who understand, and who care. If you’re looking for an environment of mutual support, please join us!

For more information, please visit the website or call Laura at (818) 209-8442.

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City May Eliminate Non-Profit Lease Program

A proposal by the Mayor’s Chief Administrative Officer is on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Wednesday, May 26, and will, if approved, eliminate the $1 per year lease subsidies for nonprofit organizations in city-owned buildings. Community organizations all across Los Angeles will be affected if approved by the City Council, just one of many disappointing cuts in light of the city’s fiscal crisis.

Here in Echo Park, the Central City Action Committee is particularly concerned about this program. The organization has taken up residence at the old fire station on the corner of Edgware and Bellevue for the last 10 years. Should the $1 per year subsidies be cut, there is growing concern over the future of the CCAC as all its grant money goes to graffiti removal, and youth jobs and programs in Echo Park and surrounding neighborhoods. In addition, CCAC director MaryAnne Hayashi is concerned that there have been no studies to help determine the negative impact on the communities that this proposal will have.

The CCAC is an important organization in Echo Park (and other neighborhoods of course) not only because of the graffiti removal, but also because of the youth programs it offers to the community. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, the CCAC was honored at Dodger Stadium with a “2010 Good Neighbor Award” baseball bat, The Eastsider LA reported, for its contributions to the youth community.

We need to support organizations like the CCAC and tell the city to support our important non-profits. The original vote was supposed to take place on Wednesday, May 19, but was pushed back another week even though the cut is supposed to take effect on July 1 (which doesn’t give the CCAC much time to prepare). Here’s what you can do to help:

  • Call or email your City Council rep, click here for a list of phone numbers. Tell them to oppose the proposal.
  • Attend the meeting and give public testimony in opposition to the proposal. The meeting is on Wednesday, May 26 at City Hall, Room 340,  200 North Spring St. Los Angeles, CA 90012 (for times, keep an eye out for the meeting agenda, but will probably occur between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm).
  • Arts For LA is another non-profit that is campaigning against this proposal. They have provide some detailed information and great suggestions on how to write your letters and word your phone calls to get the point across. Click here.

To follow what’s going on with this issue, you can actually subscribe via RSS feed and get updates when something happens. You can click here or go to the City Clerk website and search for file number 08-2762.

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Which Echo Park Dispensaries Will Close?

Earlier this month, the City of Los Angeles ordered 439 medical marijuana dispensaries to close by June 7, and it looks like all of those facilities in Echo Park are amongst those. According to the LA Times, the following Echo Park dispensaries may disappear in the next couple of weeks:

Divine Healing, A Nonprofit Corporation: 2501 W. Sunset Bl
Green Mile Medical Herbs: 2501 Sunset Bl, #D
Holistic Care Collective: 1302 W. Sunset Bl 90026
Innovative Health Care Collective Inc.: 3515 Sunset Bl
Natural Choice Healing Center Inc.: 2811 W. Sunset Blvd.
Sunset Discount Providers: 1498 Sunset Bl
Sunset Organic Center: 2210 Sunset Bl
Temple Herbal Collective: 2530 Temple St
The Alternate Root: 1547 Sunset Bl
West Coast Collective Inc.: 1284 W. Sunset Bl

(Click here for the PDF source of the above addresses)

LA Times map dispensaries closing down

Read the full LA Times article here, and check out the full interactive map here (there seem to be a couple of discrepancies with some addresses, so pay close attention).

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Library Book Sale Tomorrow (May 19th)

Wednesday, May 19th

2pm – 5pm

Community Room

Edendale Library

2011 Sunset Blvd.

Free parking in rear parking lot

Cash only

We have had over 1000 newly donated non-fiction books this week, mostly hardcover with dust jackets.These were donated by a local book dealer who has gone out of business, and is just a small part of the collection. The rest will be sold over the coming weeks. You will find these on our center tables starting at ten cents (.10). This is not a misprint. We must clear out our inventory. We have over 5,000 books in total, many rare, old, out of print, signed first editions and collectible.

We have nowhere to store all these books, so we’re just clearing them out. These are donated books, not library books. All our proceeds go to library programs and books, and in light of looming budget cuts this year we need your support more than ever.

Please call Sheila Anthony at 323-868-1243 if you have any questions.

If you’re buying in large quantity, please bring your own boxes.

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Parking Fines To Rise

LA City Council has voted to increase parking fines by $5. The change won’t take place for a few months.

  • Failure to Deposit a Coin into the Meter/Overtime Use of the Meter: $55
  • Street Cleaning: $65
  • Parking in a No Stopping Zone: $85
  • Parking in an Anti-Gridlock Zone: $155
  • White or Yellow Loading Zone Violations: $50
  • Over 18″ from the Curb: $50
  • Parking in a Front Yard: $55 ($80 and $130 for 2nd and 3rd violations within one year).

This info comes to us via LAist. Read their article here.

I notice the price of paying online has also been upped from one dollar to two. You can pay a ticket online here.

On the bright side, local parking lot rates aren’t following suit. See our recent blog post.

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Echo Park Lake Swap Meet Update

A new round of discussions about the swap meet at the Echo Park lake is taking place on the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council Forum, starting with a resident who drove by the Park at nearly 2:00 am last Saturday night and noticed the “whole north end of the park was already ringed with blankets.” After some discussion, Alejandra Marroquin from Garcetti’s office chimed in with an update, writing:

Read more

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Fire Hydrant taken out at Glendale and Scott

Photo via The Eastsider LA

Oops! A car took out a fire hydrant at the Chevron station on the corner of Scott and Glendale Blvd. The Eastsider LA reports the accident happened before 12 noon, but no word on what caused the accident.

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Weeds got you down? Durbin Project Overgrowth

We received an email the other day from an Echo Park resident about his frustrations with the human-sized weeds growing along Echo Park Avenue’s Durbin project. The weeds, he writes, are “DRIVING ME CRAZY!” So much, that he’s willing to borrow your weed eater and take care of it himself.

Unfortunately, it seems the only progress that’s being made are the weeds. There haven’t been any recent updates on the status of the Durbin project, located along Echo Park Avenue and Delta Street. For those of you who are new to the area or this issue, a Mount Washington-based developer sold the property to the Angeles Group in late 2006. The ground breaking ceremony was held in 2008, and the project supposed to be completed in April 2009. Since the financial crisis, the property is now owned by OneWest Bank, and so far there’s no word on any plans to finish or clean up the project.

Durbin project rendering

One Echo Park resident commented on a recent Eastsider LA article about the property, saying they had emailed the Angeles Group, and the response they got from the group’s Adam O’Neill is as follows:

I absolutely understand your frustration. This property is totally in the hands of OneWest Bank. I am forwarding your email to them right now. OneWest made a sweetheart deal with the government and we have tried to work this out with the bank and have been unsuccessful as they have little motivation. Their incentive is not to work it out. It is terrible what the bank has done and we truly have tried to do everything in our power but our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. The local council office has been involved and are working through their channels to get the bank to take some action.

What can we do about the weeds, debris, and buckling fencing? First off, please email Eric Garcetti’s office and ask them to put pressure on OneWest Bank to clean things up. You can also join the community for an Echo Park cleanup, to be held the first Saturday of every month, meeting in the Walgreens parking lot (more information to come soon!).

Community volunteers and leaders are working to get the Durbin project cleaned up and finished up. If you would like to go an extra step and help out, come to an Echo Park Improvement Association meeting, a Chamber of Commerce meeting, or join other community meetings to see what you can do. Click here for our calendar to learn when these meetings are happening.

Blends
Email & Social Media
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Sobriety Check Tonight

As mentioned yesterday, there is a sobriety check going on until at least midnight tonight on Sunset and Echo Park Ave.

The Eastsider LA also posted an article earlier, be sure to check it out!

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Echo Park Improvement Association Agenda

The Echo Park Improvement Association town hall meeting is on Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 pm, Barlow Hospital in Williams Hall

The agenda is as follows:

  1. Welcome and Introductions
  2. Council District 1 & 13 reports
  3. Northeast & Rampart Police Reports
  4. Sustainable gardening practices (drought tolerant and edible gardens – 4 speaker panel)
  5. Elections – committee update
  6. Treasurer report (Barbra Neal)
  7. Neighborhood Issues committee report (NIC)   (Andrew Garsten)
  8. Approval of Minutes from April meeting

REPORTS / ANNOUNCEMENTS:
To make an announcement, sign a card when you come in, giving your name and topic.  Cards are collected and given to the moderator.

  1. Next meeting on June 3rd – featured topic –Out of school – summer programs – confirm location.

Call 323-882-4835 or email EPIA for more information.

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A River Runneth Through

Looks like another pipe has burst in Elysian Park, along the upper path near Elsyian Park Drive and Academy Road. The water is literally gushing down the road, bringing a bit of mud along with it. 

Read more

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Northeast Crime Report Update

While Silver Lake, Highland Park, and some other neighboring areas are having some recent crime, Echo Park seems to be pretty quiet according to the most recent Northeast newsletter on recent crime events.

According to the email, Echo Park is reported as having “No trends or patterns over the past 28-day period. A few property crimes over the past week.”

The rest of the email reads as follows:

Read more

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EPIA Meeting Agenda for Tonight

Tonight is the monthly Echo Park Improvement Association’s Neighborhood Issues Committee. The meeting takes place at 7:00 pm at Williams Hall, Barlow Hospital (2000 Stadium Way). Here’s the current agenda for the meeting:

  1. Introductions and sign-in
  2. Schools:
    • Van De Kamps/LACC-LACCD Update (Garsten)
  3. Land Use:
    • Barlow Hospital-Proposed Entitlements and Development Update (Garsten)
    • Jenson’s Sign Update (Hubert)
    • Durbin project and Morton Village complex Update (Garsten)
    • Filming Committee (Garsten)
    • City Policies on News Stand Removals (Lassen, Garsten)
    • 6 New SRF on Rosebud Ave in Echo Park – Community Members
    • Four-Square Senior Housing Project – MND
    • New Items: LAUSD Parcel Tax
  4. Parks:
    • Echo Park Lake: Restoration Project (Raskin) and Illegal Flea Market (Garsten)
    • Elysian Park (Peters)
    • New business
  5. Public Works:
    • Route 2 Terminus Improvement Project Updates (Lassen, Raskin)
    • Mural Projects-EPIA Committee Progress? (Lassen, Meksin)
    • Walkable Streets-Streetscape and pedestrian amenities (Meksin report on forming working group)
    • Dodgers traffic issues (Hubert)
    • New Business
  6. EPIA Policies & Procedures
    • Standing Rules, Membership Dues. (Hubert discussion on Dues)
    • EPIAn Way newsletter discussion / internet presence
  7. Public Comment on Non-Agenda Items
  8. Future Agendas Items
  9. Next Meeting
  10. Adjourn
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