• Rezoning Commission Map draft K2 puts Melrose into CD4!

• POLL: What type of shops would YOU like to see on Melrose

• Walk Wednesdays!  Melrose Village Walk Wednesdays at 6:30 - Join us!

• MidCity West NC - Social Racial Equity Committee ~ False and Defamatory Statements! Are they really advocating for a safer neighborhood or not?
• Melrose BID Crime Meeting  
• Mid-City West Board Meetings dates and times
• C-PAB. Community Police Advisory Board meeting 

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.

Rezoning Commission Puts Melrose residents north of the Blvd into CD4:

This could be a disaster in the making! We need EVERYONE to write and make public comment in regards to the new proposed Draft Map K2, District G that splits Melrose into 2 separate districts!  One on the north and one on the south.

We need to be included in District J and allow the natural border of West Hollywood to be our northern  and western border.  One of our readers suggested that the only reason OUR area was added to District G was because of the population requirements.  However, this totally ignores the need to keep Neighborhood Council areas together and communities with similar interests together.  How does splitting Melrose accomplish this? So when it comes to crime, sanitation, homeless or illegal street vending (i.e. selling shoes & puppies from the back of a double parked car) issues that we need Councilmember support to solve, we'll need to contact TWO Councilmember offices if this passes!  It's difficult enough just coordinating with one office.  It'll be a disaster trying to get both CD4 & CD5 staff to help us.

There were numerous individuals and neighborhood council members who made public comment in regards to the good the bad and the ugly issues for each of their areas at the last meeting when this map was formally discussed.  I really didn't hear ANYONE from Melrose or MCW talk.  Although I know that many of us have already written to the Commission to voice our displeasure with this latest map.  It's not enough! We need YOU to join in on this and make public comment or write to the commission.

We will have more detailed information later this week but wanted everyone to get this onto their radar since we do have another meeting this Wednesday.

A draft letter can be found at this link for you to use and edit or write your own from scratch.  Please remember to add your name at the bottom along with your address so the Commission can know what area you are representing. Send your email to the commission at this email:

redistricting.lacity@lacity.org

The next meeting is Wednesday 10-6-21 at 6 p.m.  Click on the Zoom Link below to be taken to the meeting.

Zoom Link

What Types of Stores do you want to see on Melrose?

Our survey poll is still open! Please spend 2 minutes and provide your opinions.

Part of our effort to improve the experience of wanting to come and shop on Melrose includes reimagining the types of stores YOU would like to see on the street.  What's YOUR opinion? The answers will be shared with leasing agents and the Melrose BID to help promote a safer and friendlier Melrose shopping experience for neighbors and guests that come to our area.

Click HERE to take a quick, 2 minute, survey poll

Walk Wednesdays! 

Take a walk with your Melrose Village neighbors ~ Wednesday nights - 6:30 p.m.

We made it onto the local KCAL9 News!  See video below the article.

Would you like to meet some of your neighbors? Maybe you want to get off the couch and lose a few pounds.  Maybe you would just like to feel safe with a group walking our neighborhood.  We'd like to make this happen!  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 short walk down Waring beginning at Spaulding to Gardner or maybe down to Pointsettia Pl where there is a traffic light at Melrose, cross Melrose to Clinton, turn right and head back to Spaulding and then circle back to where we started.  You can join in at any location on the route that is nearest to you or meet at Spaulding and Waring at our new earlier start time of 6:30 p.m.  Anyone is welcome to join the fun and feel free to bring your 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.)

Walks are on Wednesday and we now start at 6:30 p.m. PLEASE bring a mask to wear and some water to drink (preferably not while wearing your mask!). 

MidCity West NC - Social Racial Equity Committee ~ False and Defamatory Statements! Are they really advocating for a safer neighborhood or not?

Here's another great reason to attend a Mid-City West NC Social Racial Equity meeting.  At the risk of being baited into an argument on totally unrelated issues, I need to let our readers know about something that happened at the last Social Racial Equity sub-committee meeting. During discussion after a presentation on public safety, the co-chair, Taylor Holland starts talking about our Wednesday Walks. She leads off with the comment "I think it was Shelby who said...'we need to take back our streets'...this is very aggressive and coded language".

Well, I suppose, at best, it's just an example of Taylor not really hearing what I said in regards to our Wednesday Walks. I wrote to Taylor and Lauren Nichols to discuss why Taylor would even bring up MY name when I'm not there to defend myself and to clear up any misunderstanding in regards to what I had said along with giving her the opportunity to ask me any additional questions in regards to our Wednesday Walks.  It's been 5 days and Taylor has not reached out to resolve anything or to apologize for the defamatory remarks attributed to me.

I have spoken with Lauren Nichols, the president of MCW and she agrees that the use of my name should not have been done.  OK, that's encouraging.  But where's Taylor Holland?  In my opinion, this is really HER failure to understand just how frustrating it is for our older neighbors to leave their homes in the evening and take a walk because they are so afraid of being robbed or mugged. So let me repeat this again...It's a neighborhood walk that provides an opportunity to meet your neighbors, walk in the comfort and safety of a large group and get off the couch.  Trying to make this into anything else just ignores the needs of some of our most vulnerable residents in the Melrose area. 

I could only guess what Taylor Holland was trying to do or get across. The meeting seemed to just dwell on this comment for a little while further. But using my name and our neighborhood walk really didn't leave me with the feeling that she thought this was really a genuine, neighborhood centric and wholesome idea that would help with public safety.  She left me wondering what in the world "coded language" is and why the public attack on me. I'm a stakeholder that devotes so much of my free time to making our community safer. Maybe at best is was her way of finally getting her meeting added to the calendar below and finding a way to get me to attend (since NO public stakeholders attended her last meeting)!

The meeting was over 90 minutes long so if you would like to save some time and get to the exact part of the meeting and details for when these comments began please feel free to email me on our "contact us" link.

These are my thoughts & opinions only. 

Shelby Blecker

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!

Thursday Oct 7 at 6:30 - PLUC (Planning and Land Use)

Tuesday Oct 12 at 6:30 - General Board

Thursday Oct 14 at 5:30 - Outreach & Civic Engagement

Tuesday Oct 19 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 Oct 20 at 7:00 - Transportation

Monday Oct 25 at 6:00 - Arts and Recreation

Monday Oct 25 at 6:30 - Homelessness, Refugees & Renters Rights

Tuesday Oct 26 at 6:30 - Social & Racial Equity

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

WE ARE STILL WAITING FOR THE MCW COUNCIL TO ACT ON THIS: 

Writing a "No Confidence" letter regarding DA Gascon is something we're waiting to hear back on. None of the board seem to think this is a priority!

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)

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LET US KNOW!  This is a community effort!