Community involvement is at the heart of what we are trying to do.  With that said, check out the news and dates for meetings that may be of interest to you below.

3 MAJOR ISSUES GOING ON IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

1. Temporary Road Diverters Installed on Willoughby ~ Confusing signs, confusing message and who to contact.

2. Council Bill allowing homeless shelters to be built anywhere (and taking back the promise they would be "temporary" to make them PERMANENT!) 

3. Security on the Metro and how this game of covering up the truth is being played.

Zoom meeting dates, times and links:

• Melrose BID Crime Meeting  
• Mid-City West Board Meetings dates and times
• C-PAB. Community Police Advisory Board meeting 

Temporary Road Diverters on Willoughby getting mixed reactions!

Maybe 2 out of 3 aren't so bad.  But if you wanted to see our LADOT in action and the confusion created with poorly thought-out road signs, here's your chance when it comes to "traffic diverter" on Willoughby Ave. and Ogden Drive.  What exactly is this sign telling us to do?  Go straight? Turn around? Turn right?  There are over 100 comments on NextDoor and, other than those members of the Neighborhood Council and their close friends, this one at Ogden is getting the most comments against it.  Most interesting to me is the denial of involvement by the Founder of a PAC, Chair for the MCW Transportation committee (heavily involved in supporting bike lanes everywhere) of having anything to do with this when they were involved in the planning meetings for this and the same type of installation coming to Rosewood Ave soon.  (Have you seen the one way installation at Rosewood and Fairfax yet?)

Someone got $200,000 for submitting the plan for this according to the RFP (Request for Proposal) drawn up in 2018.  

The problem with this "traffic diverter" is where is it diverting traffic to?  WARING AVE, that's where!  What was thought of as a way to get traffic back to Melrose is only making a different neighborhood street crowded now.  Drivers heading east trying to get home by using Willoughby are coming down to Waring instead. But there are plenty of drivers just going around the barricade too, confused by the whole mess.

But isn't it amazing to consider, the idea of UpLift Melrose was to choke the street down to 2 lanes and now LADOT wants to "divert" traffic to Melrose?  It appears that the LADOT and the other backers of this plan really aren't sure what they want.

You can TEXT your input to show you are against this element of the project by following the instructions below: 

Your input is vital to this street design project and may influence the types of permanent installations that are installed in the future. 

To submit input text the following to (844) 300-1624:

"I do not like the Diverter at Ogden/Willoughby" - Text "B" 

If you would like to leave feedback on the other 2 elements, you need to text again to the number above with your response per instructions below:

"I like the Corner Curb Extensions at Spaulding/Willoughby" - Text "C"
"I do not like the Corner Curb Extensions at Spaulding/Willoughby" - Text "D"

"I like the Mini Roundabout at Curson/Willoughby" - Text "E"
"I do not like the Mini Roundabout at Curson/Willoughby" - Text "F"

Additional Feedback?

To provide additional written feedback to staff, click here to submit your comments.

Or contact City of West Hollywood Senior Transportation Planner Bob Cheung at BCheung@weho.org or by phone at (323) 848-6346.

Here's the original postcard most of us received in the mail:

Proposed Homeless Shelter on Melrose. Interim or Permanent?Council Bill allowing homeless shelters to be built anywhere!

From Susan Collins - Advocate for Safer Neighborhoods:

There is a motion drafted by Nithya Raman, Mike Bonin, and Marqueese Harris-Dawson being voted on by City Council this Tues. May 10th which must be opposed 

Council File 22-0158 will grant the city permission to build homeless shelters in any area of the city, including in R1 zones as "By Right" projects. R1 zones are designated for Single Family Homes. It will also grant them the authority to make the shelters permanent.

At first glance, it is easy to misread the motion since it doesn't specifically state R1, but instead says:  "LAMC to allow "shelters for the homeless" and other forms of interim housing to be established and operated on properties located outside of R3, RAS3, R4, RAS4, RS, C2, C4, CS, CM, Ml, M2, and M3 zones during a declared shelter crisis."

The motion also allows the city to declare current shelters they previously promised would be temporary, as now permanent. 

This motion uses the terms such as:  "streamline the administrative approval"  and "reducing or eliminating certain objective zoning requirements, revising existing performance standards".  The translation of these terms is that they want to eliminate public notification prior to building homeless shelters, eliminate CEQA (environmental studies), eliminate Community Impact Statements and discussion - In short, they want to eliminate us from participating in the conversation regarding what happens in our community, even when it is directly next door to us 

I hope you will take 1 minute to submit a comment in Opposition to this motion BEFORE this Tues. May 10th. at 10:00am. 

Wording for your opposition can be as simple as:  

As a resident of Los Angeles, I would like to request the members of City Council Vote NO on Council File 22-0158.  Please Oppose Council File 22-0158. 

The link to submit public comment as well as the council file number are below. 

https://cityclerk.lacity.org/publiccomment/

Please reference council file number 22-0158 in your comment.

**Once you submit your comment, the city will send you a confirmation email.  You MUST confirm your submission in order for it to be registered. 

Lastly, I ask that you please forward this email to your friends, family and neighbors. Please ask them to please participate in preserving our right to have a voice on the future of our neighborhoods and our quality of life. 

A copy of the motion can be found by clicking HERE for your reference. 

Thank you for your support,

Susan Collins 

Security on the Metro and how this game of covering up the truth is being played. 

Are you just a little afraid of getting onto a Metro Bus?  Well check out this article from Steve Gregory, KFI News: 

https://kfiam640.iheart.com/content/2022-04-20-securing-the-metro/

His article "Securing The Metro" is a chilling story of brutally violent crimes happening on the Metro. 

To make matters even worse, if that's possible, TONY BUTKA from CityWatchLA.com wrote another article "The Metro Beast and the NoHo to Pasadena BRT - Time for Reform?"  In this article, he has found some very interesting facts about how Michael Schneider, Chair of the MidCityWest Neighborhood Council Transportation committee, has been acting with Metro.  Here's just a little excerpt:

Speaking of yes votes, thanks to Michele Mck we have the following tidbit in an email: 

“There are many new discoveries in the last few days, such as:

 that these TERA board members, Severin Martinez (LADOT) and Michael McDonald have been lobbying Metro illegally for years, they are not registered lobbyists - see attachment). There will be a complaint forthcoming this week to many agencies, that Metro has covertly worked with these unauthorized lobbyists to create the 1-lane "staff recommended" beautifulblvd design for Eagle Rock.   We have dozens of the PRA record requests to prove this covert collusion between Metro LADOT, TERA, ERNC, and City of LA-Mayors office., against the public, against the wishes of Eagle Rock residents and business owners. Also Metro employees have been illegally harassing and doxing ER business owners on Twitter to thousands of bike activists at LACounty Bike Coalition.   Also this TERA non-profit is illegally lobbying. 

Also, PRA proof of Metro, and Severin Martinez colluding with 

Michael Schneider( "founded Streets For All (streetsforall.org) in 2019 to promote freedom of choice around transportation in his hometown and he passionately believes that everyone has the right to get to where they are going safely, regardless of their mode of transportation.). - to handle communication from Metro.” 

Not my words.  Read the whole article for yourself:

https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/neighborhood-politics-hidden/24434-the-metro-beast-and-the-noho-to-pasadena-brt-time-for-reform

Are you beginning to feel taken advantage of yet?  Let's all think about the stories we're being told from Progressive Candidates that are going to "fix" our transportation problems, but never mention how they're going to deal with the CRIME problem. More information to follow soon!

MELROSE VILLAGE Wednesday Walks 

Would you like to meet some of your neighbors? Maybe you want to get off the couch and improve your cardiovascular health.  Maybe you would just like to feel safe with a group walking our neighborhood.  We'd like to make this happen! Typically we are joined by a member of the LAPD and Jill Kline from Councilmember Koretz's office who are there to meet the community, answer questions and talk about what concerns us.

Regardless if you want to walk 1 block or 1 mile, it's up to you.  We want to make this an enjoyable and no stress walk so we will start with a walk down Waring beginning at Spaulding and head in a different direction each week. 

The route is planned on Tuesday and you can email us for details.  You can join in at any location on the route that is nearest to you or meet at Spaulding and Waring at our start time of 6:30 p.m.  Anyone is welcome to join the fun and feel free to bring your dogs, children, parents, opinions and concerns. If the group wants to walk further, we can extend this in any direction after we circle back to the starting point.

(As with any type of exercise, consult your physician before to make sure this is the right thing for you to be doing.)

Last year, we even made the CBS local news!  The video link is below.

Mid City West Neighborhood Council & Melrose BID Meetings:

Click on any of the meeting dates below to be taken to the general MCW calendar. Please double check the dates and times with MCW since it seems that they are having issues with their web site and calendar updates. The agendas are supposed to be posted within 3 days of the meetings.  If you would like to listen in, just follow the link on the site to the zoom meeting.  There is no 'sign up' required but this is a chance for you to MAKE YOUR OPINIONS HEARD!

Tuesday May 10 at 6:30 - General Board

Tuesday May 17 at 7:00  - Public Safety & Well Being - Our Zone 2 rep, Nasim Kablan, is on this committee and hopes to use this committee to improve our Melrose neighborhood. Email: nkablan@midcitywest.org,

Wednesday May 18 at 7:00 - Transportation

Thursday May 19 at 5:30 - Outreach & Civic Engagement

Monday April 23 at 6:00 - Arts and Recreation

Tuesday May 24 at 6:30 - Social & Racial Equity

Wednesday May 25 at 7:00 - Economic Development

Thursday May 26 at 7:00 - Executive Council

Thursday June 2 at 6:30 - PLUC (Planning and Land Use)

Agendas, Minutes & Meeting Recordings for all the above meetings are now on a new tab on the MCW Website. 

Melrose BID Crime Prevention Meeting

This meeting is usually held on the 1st Tuesday of the month at 4 p.m.

You need to email kim@urbanlegendpr.com to get on the list and receive the zoom link details.  The next meeting is July 13th due to the July 4th holiday. 

This is an opportunity to speak directly to the people who help shape Melrose Ave.Get on the list!

We have brought this up before, but feel it's worth mentioning again...

What brought you to sign up for our newsletters?  We want to believe it is because you wish to learn what's going on and to participate in advocating for a safer and cleaner neighborhood. Most of you who receive this email live in Zone 2 or are affected by what happens on Melrose.  This newsletter contains links to the meetings to sign up for the Melrose BID Crime meeting, most of the Mid City West Neighborhood Council meetings and the LAPD C-PAB meeting.  

Here's the important part:  Neither the Melrose Bid or the MCWNC meetings have neighbors, referred to as 'stakeholders', attend very often.  Most of the sub-committees for MCWNC have NO 'stakeholders' attend.  So what happens when elected representatives get no input from those they are voted to represent?  They go off and turn their attention to their own pet projects instead of advocating for the people and the neighborhoods they serve!

So PLEASE get involved!  If you find a meeting topic in the list above that you are interested in and if you can attend just ONE meeting to make a comment or offer support to someone making comment, it will make a difference!  Tell them you are part of The Melrose Village Neighborhood Alliance!

C-PAB (Community - Police Advisory Board)

If you would like to help us with the newsletter, write an article

or comment on our newsletters,

LET US KNOW!  This is a community effort!