Officials spoke at Windsor Square Town Hall’s 100th anniversary
WSA PRESIDENT Larry Guzman with Mayor Karen Bass.
Larry Guzin, president of the Windsor Square Association (WSA), convened the group’s 100th Town Hall meeting at the Ebell of Los Angeles Nov. 17. Speakers included District 13 City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martínez, Mayor Karen Bass, and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto.
Guzin honored
In a surprise presentation, Guzin was given a framed certificate from city officials honoring him for his 22 years of service on the volunteer WSA board, including as president for the last 16 years. He is retiring from that office at the end of this year.
Parking Lot 694
A main topic at the meeting was the city’s rejection of conveying Lot 694 to Larchmont landlord Ron Simms, which was brought to the community’s attention by the Council District’s office. Soto-Martínez and the City Attorney explained there never was a deal or a term sheet that would have been necessary to transfer ownership of the city’s property. The only action that had been taken was a letter or two from Simms’ company implying that if the city granted him the ground lease lot it might help avoid litigation over the underground parking structure across the street.
Underground Lot 732
Underground lot 732 was financed with payments from the city beginning in the late 1980s. The owner (the Simms company) was supposed to turn over the deed to the city around 2011, but he hasn’t. Feldstein Soto said that several of her predecessors have failed to obtain the deed that the city is entitled to, but she plans to pursue it.
Mayor Bass
Mayor Bass sat for a dialogue and Q & A session with Guzin. The topics discussed related to homeless encampments, her Inside Safe program, cleaning dirty city streets, copper wire theft and streetlight outages, tree planting for shade and to increase the urban canopy, and the absence of local crime data on Police Department crime maps.
Regarding the crime data, Bass was unaware of this situation and promised to speak with the Police Chief and find out what was delaying the integration (for more than a year) of new software.
City Attorney
Feldstein Soto briefed the audience about the tasks of her office. With respect to the critical role played by purchasers of stolen copper wire, she said that regional, and probably statewide, laws are needed. If a thief steals copper wire from Windsor Square lights and LAPD is only able to oversee metal scrap purchasers in the city of L.A., the thief can easily sell the stolen goods in Burbank or any other municipality.
When confronted by audience members about huge sums of public money being spent on addressing homelessness, Feldstein Soto agreed that audits were missing—and needed. But she pointed out that doing those audits is the responsibility of the elected city controller, Kenneth Mejia.
Land Use
Under Land Use issues, association Vice President John H. Welborne gave a brief synopsis about pending projects along Wilshire Boulevard in the Park Mile, including a preliminary proposal that is too tall and includes illegal retail use for the small vacant lot just south of the mayor’s house on Irving Boulevard at Wilshire, as well as the Metro site at Wilshire and Crenshaw boulevards.
Squeaky Wheel
Welborne and Guzin announced that the winner of the annual Squeaky Wheel Award was Norton Avenue’s Matt Gallagher, for his “Brave Action To Prevent Fire and Protect the Neighborhood.” Gallagher helped reduce potential threat of fire when he climbed a ladder to trim trees near a sparking transformer high on a power pole in his and his neighbors’ backyards during the January wildfires.
Also during the meeting, Mayor Bass was presented with an honorary membership to the Ebell, a club founded by and for women in Los Angeles in 1894. They have occupied the historic building at Lucerne and Wilshire since the late 1920s.
Category: News
