Challenge to Homeowner Associations
Regarding the Sept. 21 letter from the Santa Ynez Canyon Homeowners Association issuing a challenge to all Palisades HOA’s to “step up” and contribute to the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness, we wholeheartedly agree!
In 2015 our Lower Canyon association (BOCA) gave $500 and in 2016 we doubled our contribution to $1,000. Our second Canyon Association (Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association) gave $1,000 in 2015 and $2,000 in 2016.
Our associations donated at first because we believe in the PPTFH’s mission. After a few months we increased our support because we saw the results of their work: the beaches, compared to what they used to be, are kept tent-free and we see the OPCC outreach folks engaging with the homeless people in our canyon and on Will Rogers beach on a daily basis.
We believe the quality of life on our beaches is safer than ever before, especially when you see the extent of homelessness in other communities. We plan to continue to contribute to PPTFH as long as it is necessary to manage the issue of homeless people in the Palisades.
We thank the Santa Ynez Canyon HOA board for raising the need for HOA support and their challenge to all of our HOA’s to do their fair share in helping PPTFH help us keep our community safe in a responsible way. If nothing else, preventing fires in our hillsides and bluffs should be worth a few dollars a year. Come on, HOA board presidents and residents, what is your association going to do? Let us all hear from you.
Joan Kramer, Marilyn Wexler and Sharon Kilbride
Vintage Grocers Not My Choice
Alas, Caruso’s selection of Vintage Grocers as his project’s supermarket is all too revealing and distressing to this 43-year resident. A place that sells out of $2,000 bottles of wine is not a place we regular folk will be able to patronize. The mansionization crowd is probably overjoyed. I suspect this is just the harbinger of the “Rodeo Drive West” shops that will populate the high-rent development and provide us only with window-shopping opportunities. Farewell, Mayberry, and hello Beverly-Hills-By-The-Sea.
Jon Calhoun
Posting on Facebook Page
If I have an event coming up, can I send the PDF of the flyer to Matt Sanderson for posting on your Facebook page? I like the way the Facebook page is looking and I think Matt must be responsible for that.
Marge Gold
(Editor’s note: Matt Sanderson is our digital editor and is happy to post events that miss our print deadlines. We invite you to visit our Facebook page and our website for upcoming events and breaking news.)
Dust from Project
My eyes have been killing me lately. There is a layer of grit building up on my car that necessitates frequent trips to the car wash. Friday afternoon, Sept. 23, I was driving west on Albright past the Caruso construction site. The sun was behind the site, revealing masses of dust roiling about over our new “village.” Got it! The reason our eyes and our cars are a mess is that we are living in a construction site, and the surrounding wall (8 feet high) is virtually useless in dust mitigation.
What we are experiencing is “fugitive dust.” No, that’s not the name of a hot new band; fugitive dust is “. . . particulate matter discharged into the atmosphere due to a man-made activity or condition.”
I have tried repeatedly to contact Michael Gazzano, Caruso Affiliated’s Palisades Village contact, to no avail. I would like clarification of the dust mitigation requirements for construction sites in California, and if those requirements are being met. I look at the layer of grit on my car.
I think about our kids’ and grandkids’ lungs, I think about the timeline on this project, and the particulate we can expect to be in the air until the opening of the Village, and I wonder if there is more that could and should be done to protect us.
Cabell Smith
(Editor’s note: Caruso Affiliated was contacted and spokesperson Liz Jaeger responded: “We are working hard daily to ensure dust mitigation, including other mitigations, in the community as we want to be the best neighbor we can be. Right now we do everything from installation of an 8’6’’ barricade around the property, spray all demo activities with water, pre-moisten loose material and cover before transport, to mechanical sweepers during hauling in surrounding streets, among many other ways. We will step up our monitoring of these mitigation measures to do what we can to prevent dust from migrating into the local community. Call Caruso Affiliated at (310) 744-2301.)
(Editor’s note: We received several letters about the proposed BMO/BHO revisions. They will be printed on our website, palisadesnews.com, and space permitting, we will print them in the Oct. 19 issue.)
Palisades News welcomes all letters, which may be emailed to letters@palisadesnews.com. Please include a name, address and telephone number so we may reach you. Letters do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the Palisades News.
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