We’ll be taking photos at the annual Atwater Village Tree Lighting Ceremony tomorrow night, Thursday, December 6, and we hope to see you there!
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Noticeably absent from the curvy bar inside the new Bon Vivant Market is, well, alcohol! The Glendale Boulevard restaurant has applied for a full liquor license, a topic which the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council will be taking up tomorrow night, Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 pm. The Neighborhood Council’s Board of Directors will act on an advisory level when it comes to recommending Bon Vivant’s liquor license approval to the city. Also on the agenda, a presentation from the High Speed Rail Authority, as well as electing committee members such as the Fall Festival and Tree Lighting chairs. The meeting takes place at at Christ’s Church of Griffith Park at 3852 Edenhurst Avenue.
The Atwater Village Neighborhood Council elections take place on Saturday, October 6, 2012, and all of the candidates for the Atwater Village seats have been posted on the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment website. There are some familiar faces running for these seats, but a Candidate Forum this weekend is the perfect chance to get to know everyone and their platforms. Light refreshments will be served. The forum takes place on Saturday, September 15 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at Christ’s Church of Griffith Park – 3852 Edenhurst Avenue. Click here for the Facebook invite.
One of the reasons why we created this website was to help spread community news and events, and to give an opportunity for people and businesses to share that information. But the Atwater Village Forum has always been the main source of information for local internet-goers. A great source for crime activity, local rumors, and even some heated discussions, the forum had a long-standing informational role for a lot of residents. But yesterday, it was announced the forum is no more. Forum moderator Robert “Fixer” Smith filled us in on its demise:
Basically, it looks like it was going to cost a lot more money to upgrade the forum to another publishing platform, and the new licensing and hosting fees were “not financially prudent,” says Robert. He adds, “There may be other options in the future if the Board puts together a proposal.” We were part of the discussion back in 2010 on the need to upgrade the forum, but it feels sudden and a little sad to have it go. For now, if you go to the old forum URL, you’ll be directed to a Facebook page URL that doesn’t exist. If you want to touch base with neighbors, check out the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council Facebook page, or drop us a line with questions, comments, concerns, or any other neighborhood announcements.
Alas, our own neighborhood school children may not have that same experience these days. You may have heard recently that the Atwater Avenue Elementary school library is in a bit of trouble – it is just one of the victims of LAUSD budget cuts that threaten to eliminate the library aide positions with layoffs, and essentially eliminating the libraries themselves. The school needed a total of $15,000 to pay for the library staff and keep its doors open for the rest of the school year (at three hours per day), an amount it was raising through donations around town and online. With an additional $30,000, the Wonder of Reading Program will match the funds and renovate the entire library. However, the Awater Avenue Elementary library closed last week on Friday, September 23, 2011 after an attempt to keep the doors open fell short of what it it needed. That same day, the Atwater Village Neighborhood Council granted $3,000 to the Friends of Atwater Elementary for the school – a neighborhood grant which was lastly allocated by the NC’s Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday this week. But getting the money in the bank will take some time, said Shelli-Anne Couch of the Friends of Atwater Elementary in an email. “Once we physically have $15,000 in hand,” she said, “we can write a check to LAUSD to buy back our library aide and get it re-opened!!” She continued: “We’ve had such truly wondrous responses: ATX/Atwater Crossing wrote a check for $1,000 on the spot, a pensioner in Century City doorknocked 25 of her neighbors to raise $2,500, Northland Village Church put the hat around and raised $500, and our students have been walking in with their piggybanks. Really inspirational, albeit hearbreaking.” Inspiring indeed! Friends of Atwater Avenue Elementary will continue to “rattle our donation cans,” as Shelli-Anne put it, until the library doors are open – and hopefully no longer threatened with closure. Click here to make a donation, or send any inquiries to shelliannecouch@gmail.com
Congratulations are in order for Leonora Gershman-Pitts, who took home the award for the first ever Atwater Villager of the Year at the Chamber ice cream social at Potted. Leonora is co-chair of the Neighborhood Council and, of course, an Atwater Village resident. When accepting the award, she said she truly felt right at home when she moved to the neighborhood. She is also a driving force between Atwater Village Summer Nights on the Boulevard, which will finish off the summer with the final event tomorrow (Thursday, August 25, 2011). Check out our pictures of the social event below! Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer
One thing is for sure – the forum was created a few years ago (in internet land, a very long time), and needs to be updated with some new programming. When this happens, the plan is to start fresh with a new forum (hopefully with RSS feed capabilities), and all members would re-register. The “Code of Civility” would then be extended to the forum, and all members required to respect and follow. The question then becomes how to weed out the “troublemakers” whose comments aren’t welcome on the forum. Andrew Garsten runs the Echo Elysian Neighborhood Council Yahoo forum for the Echo Park area. Users are moderated only for their first one or two posts, and if deemed appropriate users of the forum are allowed to post without moderation. He brings up a good point about that forum, saying, “The mission of the forum is to give the community a soap box to stand on. It might have nothing to do with the neighborhood, but if it interests them, that’s a stakeholder’s opinion and a stakeholder has a right to voice that.” Tonight at the Neighborhood Council Board of Governors meeting, the Outreach Committee will be submitting a couple of general changes they’d like to make to the forum, including:
Since neighborhood council volunteers are unable to monitor the forum at all times, they want to make sure all users take responsibility for their comments and use the forum in a more friendly way. Though the details are still being ironed out and ideas being accepted, one of the ideas (of many) that addresses the user verification issue was to coordinate a meeting between the stakeholder and one of the neighborhood council members. They suggested the meeting in person, or at a neighborhood council table at the weekly Farmers’ Market. Outreach Committee chair and NC Secretary Cindy Marie Jenkins told the Eastsider LA:
So, users would still be able to have anonymous user names, but only would be approved for posting after a personal meeting. Again, the committee is still taking suggestions for how to verify users. If you have suggestions, go to the meeting tonight: Neighborhood Council Board of Governors meeting Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 7:00 pm |
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