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Volume 3, Issue 5 May 2015

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Los Angeles Police Department Community Perceptions of Law Enforcement

Los Angeles Police Department held a “Community Perception of Law Enforcement” meeting in Pacoima recently. The community turn out was exceptional, citizens from all over the San Fernando Valley were pre-sent. Deputy Chief Robert Green, Operations-Valley Bureau lead the evening of dialogue and discuss on the issues directly affecting the com-munity. Chief Green, a member of LAPD since 1975, spoke of the history and problems in policing the city and identified the many improvements over the last 40 years. Many in the audience were familiar with the many incident as far back as Watts (‘65), through to the Rodney King incident (‘92) and the current national situations. The chief informed the audience of the many changes in enacted over the past twenty years: Establishment of the police review board; In-stituting of more transparency of confrontation between officers and citi-zens; Providing officers with body cameras, less lethal weapons and in-stitution of more sensitivity training for all officers. A majority of the participants were please with the meeting, but oth-ers were disappointed because the audience did not get a chance to ask questions verbally or challegence the information disseminated by the chief. A lot of good information was shared by Chief Green and we be-lieve the citizens departed with a better understanding of the difficulty of a policeman’s job on the streets of Los Angeles. Others on the panel were: Rosalind Scarborough, President San Fernando Valley NAACP; Alex Bustamante, Office of the Inspector Gen-eral; Mohammed Khan, Director Of Interfaith, Youth Initiative.

Residential Junk Yard& Animal Farm 13059 Weidner St. Four junked vehicles stored in the front yard. Operating a me-

chanic shop with a live-in trailer, all within public view.

13049 Weidner St. Operating a farm in the middle of a residential area. The lot

is hosting goats, chickens, and other animals. Five dead line vehicles in front yard.

TABLE OF CONTENT

Community Perception 1

Junkyard & Farm 1

Pacoima Today 2

What’s Your Value? 2

Pacoima Meets LAPD 2

Pacoima Monument 3

Best Keep Secret 3

Trash Hauling 4

Crowded Housing 4

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Pacoima Today October 2015 Volume 3 Issue 5

Pacoima Today Newsletter The original intent in the creation of

Pacoima Today Newsletter was to wake up the

community of Pacoima and inform the city au-

thorities of the years of neglect of the Northeast

San Fernando Valley.

Recent articles in the Los Angeles

Times, L. A. Daily News, City Watch and the

San Fernando Sun echo's the words of the

Pacoima Today Newsletter (PTN).

The editors and sponsors of PTN wel-

come the comments by other media and the

recent concerns expressed by Mayor Eric Gar-

cetti.

Many in the community have stated

their agreement with the mayor’s commitment

to dedicate $100 million to the improvement of

the “Quality of Life Issues” in Los Angeles.

We ask all the citizens of the Northeast

Valley to contact the councilman and mayor of-

fices to voice their support for a cleaner, health-

ier community.

Co-Editors & Publishers: Morris Pichon moepichon@aol.com Edwin Ramirez ramediv@yahoo.com

There was a meeting about Community Perceptions of Law Enforcement in Pacoima and while the dialogue was limited the time was well spent and very informative. Police presence was large and pleasant (not intimidating) almost everyone had the opportunity to speak with a cop and get a better perspective and understanding about law enforcement. Officers had the opportunity to interact and learn more about our community as well. The reality is that excessive use of force, officer involved shooting and police brutality (if you will) has been around since police departments were created; but thanks to smart phones and social media it is very hard to hide it, deny it or ignore it these days, forcing all police depart-ments to address the issue, improve their procedures and try harder to avoid whenever possi-ble. Law suits are becoming more expensive, more frequent and harder for the departments and the City to fight. The bottom line is, we should not condemn the entire police department for the mistakes and bad actions of a few officers but, we should be more vocal (not violent) about the mistakes made and demand a faster process for a solutions and/or improvements. This would make a great quarterly meeting if, the community would have more input and com-ments on their perception of law enforcement and more police response, based on comment, regarding changes, improvements and/or required officer's training. If you have to start somewhere? This was not a bad start but more dialogue is always better!

Pacoima Meets LAPD Foothill Division

What Your Value to the Politicians? The recent expulsion of the Sunland/Tujunga Neighborhood Council from the Sun-land/ Tujunga City Hall should wake up every member of NC’s to the disdain CD7 have for you. The Pacoima Neighborhood Council have been treated with equal contempt and have humbly remain quiet, like an obedient lap dog. NC’s members make a major sacrifice to improve their communities and yet, the council-man shows no respect for our valuable commu-nity members. It is time to stand up and speak out against the continuous abuse of our most dedi-cated citizens.

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Pacoima Today October 2015 Volume 3 Issue 5

The Best Keep Secret in Pacoima

One of the best kept secrets in Pacoima is the Neighborhood Council's contact information; for the public that is, nonprofits and city departments have no problem communicating with them when it comes to getting their projects funded. It is just sad to see a legal extension of City Gov-ernment being use as an ATM. Every agenda has the following writing on the top of the page: "The Neighborhood Council system enables civic participation for all Angelinos and serves as a voice for improving government responsiveness to local communities and their needs. We are an advisory body to the City of Los Angeles, comprised of volunteer stakeholders who are devot-ed to the mission of improving our communities and bringing government closer to us. But how do you improve our community with a two hour meeting per month? Specially when the community at large is never informed of the meetings. Outreach should be their biggest ex-pense, not their block grants to nonprofits and City Departments. How can the council improve government responsiveness if everyone fear making anyone un-comfortable. As an "advisory body" they are responsible for making the government aware of what is not working and to recommend the needed changes. Apparently, the devotion to im-prove Pacoima is not a requirement for the current membership!

Violation of 72 hr. LA City parking limits: LAMC Sec 80.73.2 Use of street for storage of vehicles.

Parked at 10700 Glenoaks Blvd for 3 months Plus. This very unique piece of ART could become the symbol of Pacoima.

Pacoima’s Newest Community Monument

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Pacoima Today October 2015 Volume 3 Issue 5

Over Crowding Housing Several times a year there are house fires in the 7th Council Dis-trict destroying families and housing. A recent fire burned down a single family residence which contained 21 people, all of whom were forced into the cold street without coats or shoes, in the early morning.

LA COUNTY: Section 11.20.300 and 11.20.310 state that every room or place used for sleeping purposes shall be deemed to be overcrowded if it is occu-

pies by more than (2) persons and contains less than 630 cubic feet of air space. For rooms occupying more than 2 persons, an additional 500 cubic feet of air per person is required beyond the 630 cubic feet. Garages, toilet rooms, kitchens, cellars and hallways can not be used for sleeping purposes. No person shall occupy, rent or lease, suffer or permit another person to use for sleeping purposes any kitchen, cellar, hallway, bath, shower, compartment, toilet room, or any habitable room or place, including any hotel, apartment house, multiple dwelling or dwelling, which is detrimental to the health of the occupant or occupants by reason of overcrowding or insufficiency of light, windows, ventilation or drainage. The win-dow area of any room used for sleeping purposes shall not be less than one-eighth of the floor area and shall be at least one-half openable or the room completely air-conditioned. (Ord. 7583 Part 3 Ch. 11 § 825, 1959.)

Yet in Pacoima approximately 65% of single family homes are over crowded.

Trash Hauling Ever wonder why this community is littered and covered with trash. Our many trash hauling neighbors fine it cheaper to dump their loads on the streets and sidewalks. It is cheaper than going to the dump. Any thing that can not be recycled will be conveniently dumped after dark on the streets of the city. No prob-lem, city employees will pick-up the trash and the hauler will experience no direct expense. The city tax payers will pick –up the tab. That’s you! We would recommend the city check for landfill’s receipts.

Single Family

Residence

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