Welcome to the February 2023 edition of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council's (SONC) newsletter, the Ziff Flyer.

email: lindsay.imber.sonc@gmail.com

The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council (SONC) began 2023 with presentations at our January Board meeting (video here) from the Neighborhood Council Electronic Virtual Governance-Hybrid Workgroup, LA City Clerk Elections office, and our newly redistricted Assemblymember, Laura Friedman of the state's 44th district.

SONC also adopted a motion seeking to address, prosecute, and ideally prevent hate crimes through the City's "LA for All" campaign, and a motion calling upon major event organizers to codify human rights within their bylaws to require and promote the fair treatment of marginalized groups and workers within the host country or state's jurisdiction.

As we continue working toward returning to an in-person meeting format, SONC voted to authorize participation in EmpowerLA's Pilot Hybrid Meetings program, which could potentially allow the public to choose either in-person or virtual/online attendance at select SONC meetings instead of the online-only format we have enjoyed since Spring 2020.

In last month's correspondence, I wrote that such significant transitions are often best initiated with a low dose alongside a patient outlook, and our Board's approval of a hybrid pilot is an exploratory step in discovering which transition strategy will work best for SONC and its stakeholders. The Department has informed us that in-person meetings—ideally hybrid in our case—will be allowed once again in March.

We are considering a few location options for SONC's monthly Board meetings, including a return to their circa-2020 site at 5041 Sunnyslope Ave, which has undergone a transition of its own this past year and is now known as Louis Armstrong Middle School, or perhaps the circa-2019 site at 5056 Van Nuys Blvd (the East Valley Adult Center at VNSO Park), and hope to finalize our location shortly. Committee meetings are tentatively slated to resume at 14245 Moorpark Street (the Sherman Oaks Library).

Treasurer Jeffrey Hartsough has been vital in facilitating this process and I again reiterate I could not do this job without him. Senior Librarian Meredith McGowan has also continued to be an extremely important ally and supporter at the Library, where our agendas are posted in physical form ahead of meeting dates.

Thank you all for your continued interest in SONC and Sherman Oaks community issues. Please be kind to one another.

Lindsay

To view webinar details, please visit the SONC calendar.

Human Services Meeting

February 20th, 2023, 6:30pm

February 22nd, 2023, 6:30 PM

February 28th, 2023, 7:00 PM

page links for meeting agendas and to confirm dates & times.

In May 2020, the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council began to hold virtual meetings by way of video teleconferences using the Zoom platform, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Zoom platform allowed the Neighborhood Council to conduct its meetings and keep operating and interfacing with the community via the Internet and/or via standard telecommunications technology. The City of Los Angeles has recently announced the resumption of in-person meetings effective March 2023.

Until March, information about the virtual meetings and instructions on how to join them from your personal computer, smartphone app, or telephone can be found on the SONC website: www.shermanoaksnc.org.

The full agenda for this meeting will be available on the SONC website by Friday, February 10th. A physical copy can always be found on display at the Sherman Oaks Public Library.

1-669-900-6833, enter 85140543942 #

(1) Enter the Webinar ID: 85140543942

Should you have technical questions or issues, please email Stacey.Segarra.Bohlinger.SONC@gmail.com.

All SONC Monthly Board meetings and many committee meetings that are conducted using the Zoom Video-teleconferencing platform are now being recorded for playback. All recorded meetings are playable by clicking the associated meeting date links found on the associated committee page on the SONC website.

Susan Collins, Chair

Email: Susan.Collins.sonc@gmail.com

The Public Safety Committee usually meets the 2nd Tuesday of every month, however this month we will be meeting (virtually) on Wednesday, Feb. 22nd at 6:30 PM. Please see the log in details below and on the SONC website.

During our upcoming February meeting, we are excited to have a guest speaker from the nonprofit organization, Crosstown. According to their website, “Crosstown seeks to deliver community-level data and analyses to the people of Los Angeles who want to make their neighborhoods and city safer, healthier and more connected.”

They provide targeted, detailed data on crime, traffic, homelessness, Covid and other topics of interest specific to each community.  

We’re excited to have them as our guest speaker. There will be time for questions after their presentation, so we hope you’ll be there to find out how you can obtain detailed information on the issues that are most important to you.  

For more information on Crosstown, visit their site at https://xtown.la 

Set your reminders to log in and attend the SONC Public Safety Committee Meeting on Wednesday Feb 22, 2023 at 6:30 PM. 

During the January meeting, our City Council District 4 Field Rep, Ryan Ahari, provided several helpful, local updates that were recorded and added to our extensive speaker collection on YouTube. 

Looking into March – We will have a Wildlife Specialist from the Los Angeles Animal Services department as our guest speaker. We’re blessed to live in an area that is also home to many species of wildlife. The Wildlife Specialist will address the concerns many of us have on how to best co-exist with our local wildlife, in particular the coyotes. That meeting will be held on Tues. March 14th, 2023 at 6:30pm. We'll have more details in next month's newsletter. 

Note, conversations will always be uploaded to https://www.shermanoaksnc.org.

To Join Online: Click or Cut and Paste into your web browser https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84270408817

Press “Enter”

By Telephone: Dial 1-669-900-6833, Enter Webinar ID 842 7040 8817, and Press #

Or on Zoom join meeting screen enter Webinar ID: 842 7040 8817

If you have any questions, please email us at: SoncPScommittee@gmail.com.

For more information please visit the SONC Public Safety Committee web page

Jeff Kalban, Chair

Email: Jeff.Kalban.sonc@gmail.com

The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee (PLUM) and our Vision Committee are continuing to study various proposed regulations and ordinances that will greatly impact Sherman Oaks and our quality of life. This month we will be starting a discussion about local transit options. Our Vision Committee meeting will have representatives of a private local transit company and from the firm that manages the City of San Fernando’s trolleys join us. We will also update everyone about the meetings we have been having with the City’s Planning Department regarding the Housing Element implementation and the threat of having apartment houses in our single-family neighborhoods.

Join our meetings and give voice to the future of Sherman Oaks. 

Vision meets at 6:30 PM on the first Thursday of each month and PLUM meets at 6:30 PM on the third Thursday. For more information, please visit our PLUM/Vision web page.

Harold Shapiro, Chair

Email: Harold.Shapiro.SONC@gmail.com

Do you tweet? Do you follow stuff on Social Media? Well guess who you will find out there on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, NextDoor.com and YouTube to follow, like, thank post, comment, and interact with virtually? You guessed it - the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council!

In its efforts to inform and perform outreach within the community, and to deepen as well as strengthen the avenues and pipelines of communication to interact with the residents, and community stakeholders of Sherman Oaks, SONC has established and maintains accounts on all of these social media platforms.

In utilizing these forums to publish content and accept and receive public input, the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council can dial directly into the needs and desires of the community and ensure that the community's voice is heard and represented at the city government level.

The SONC website at www.shermanoaksnc.org also has several methods in place to facilitate 2-way communications with stakeholders, and to accept public comment. There is a 'contact us' form here, and there is the ability to submit agenda requests directly to any SONC committee, that is accessible here and on each individual committee web page as well. Each council member is also directly accessible via their SONC email address link that appears under each photo on the Council Members page.

In 2022 SONC published 10 issues of the Ziff Flyer via the email distribution platform Constant Contact. The year began with a mailing list consisting of 3,374 subscribers. The SONC Agency account on Nextdoor.com reaches 29,055 Sherman Oaks area members (18,282 claimed households). 95 posts were made during the year and received 109,334 total impressions. There were 46 replies to these posts and 238 'Thank Yous'. The SONC website had over 8,400 unique visitors during the year, with 16% returning and 84% new visitors. Total page views of 32,444 with 5,004 file downloads and 1,552 clicks. The SONC Facebook page has 1,007 followers (66% women, 34% men). 744 posts were made, receiving 184 'Likes'.

The SONC Instagram account had 104 new followers and ended 2022 with a total of 335 followers (62% women and 38% men). There were 399 total posts for the year. While the Twitter account has 115 followers and 750 total tweets made since the account was created in May of 2020. SONC also has its own YouTube channel with 47 video uploads receiving 1907 views (since inception on 9-25-2020).

Your Neighborhood Council wants you to help us achieve that goal. There is much work to be done to make this city a better place to live, work, raise a family, enjoy the resources and culture, and have a happy, safe life. We want to interact with all Sherman Oaks stakeholders who have these same ideals and goals. Please feel free to let us know, via any of these communication methods, what you want to see happen in local government, what issues concern you the most, and what ideas you have to solve the problems our neighborhood is currently confronted with.

Come and join us at our upcoming Monday, February 13th SONC board meeting. Review the meeting agenda before hand so you can familiarize yourself with the proposed motions that will be discussed and voted on at the meeting. Give the NC your input on these issues during the public comment portion of the meeting, so that your voice is heard on these important issues that effect all of us in Sherman Oaks. If you are unable to attend the meetings and submit your comments in-person, you can always fill out and submit a contact form on the SONC website here or send us a post on one of the Social Media platforms!

The SONC Outreach Committee meets on the third Tuesday of each month. Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 21st. Please join us. For more information, to view meeting minutes and meeting agendas, and for instructions on how to join the monthly Zoom meetings visit the Outreach Committee web page.

Jeffrey Hartsough, Chair

Email: Jeffrey.Hartsough.SONC@gmail.com

Thank you for being an engaged and supportive member of our Sherman Oaks community and of the San Fernando Valley. Please share your interest in SONC with your friends and neighbors. Working together we can focus on improving our community and the valley.

Every year SONC funds programs for schools and non-profit organizations to improve the Sherman Oaks community through awarding of Neighborhood Purposes Grants or NPGs. NPGs are a way for neighborhood councils to partner with and support non-profit organizations and public schools on projects that provide a public benefit to the community. Eligible organizations include 501(c)(3) non-profits as well as public schools. (Please note that grants cannot be issued to religious organizations or to private schools.) Guidelines for NPGs and application forms can be found on the SONC website here. Please let us know if you have any ideas to help the community and that might qualify for receiving funds from a SONC NPG.

The SONC Finance Committee meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month. The next meeting will be February 22, 2023, at 6:30 PM. Please visit the Finance Committee page on the SONC Website for more information.

As we continue to confront the ongoing pandemic and all the daily challenges and complexities of life in Los Angeles, please be respectful and kind to others. Kindness is important.

Stay safe. Pray for Ukraine.

Jeffrey Hartsough

Treasurer

The 2023 Neighborhood Council elections season has begun. SONC is seeking interested Sherman Oaks community members to run. There are 10 council seats across areas 2, 4, and 6 as well as 1 currently vacant seat in Area 1 that will be on the ballot. Please refer to the Area map that appears below to determine if you live in an area of Sherman Oaks that will have open seats on the 2023 ballot.

Area 1 Community Interest

Area 2 Residential

Area 2 Business

Area 2 Community Interest

Area 4 Residential

Area 4 Business

Area 4 Community Interest

Area 6 Residential

Area 6 Business

Area 6 Community Interest

Neighborhood Council Board members are volunteers, serving as public officials that are elected by the members of their community. The Sherman Oaks Board members serve four-year terms of office. The current term period will begin on July 1, 2023 and run to June 30, 2027.

Eligible candidates can be residents, business owners, property owners, or community interest advocates who are key participants in local non-profit/service organizations. Candidates need not be US citizens or legal residents to qualify. Participation is also open to the formerly incarcerated. The minimum age to run for a council seat is 18. If you are interested in running for a seat, please let us know.

In 2023, the City Clerk will be using a hybrid election model for NC elections that provides for both in-person polling place voting as well as the option to Vote-By-Mail. The minimum voting age is 16. Voters can only cast their ballots for candidates that are running in their respective area of Sherman Oaks. This means that only eligible certified voters associated with Areas 1, 2, 4 and 6 will be voting in the 2023 election for candidates running for open positions in those areas. Participation to vote is open to those who live, work, or own property or a business within a specific area. The certification process to receive a ballot will require voters to attest to qualification via written documentation (California driver's license or ID, property tax statement, paycheck, City of LA issued business license, etc.).

Important NC Election dates to pay attention to that are specific to Sherman Oaks are:

The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) is hosting a series of Candidate Info Sessions via the Zoom platform for prospective candidates to learn tips for candidate filing, running a successful campaign, and connecting with voters. These sessions are free and will be conducted throughout February & March 2023. If you are interested in attending a session please RSVP to get info to join online or by phone at:

The voting deadline for SONC elections will be Thursday, June 22, 2023, with official results released on July 6, 2023. Newly elected council members will be officially sworn in and seated at the July 10th, 2023 SONC board meeting.

The in-person polling location for the 2023 Sherman Oaks NC Election will take place at the Sherman Oaks East Valley Adult Center (SOEVAC), 5056 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403, in Building C, Back Division. Voting hours will be 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

In accordance with current City policy, proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within the previous 72 hours will be required to enter a polling location. Any voter who cannot provide the required COVID-19 documents will be able to vote curbside or in front of the poll location. COVID-19 requirements are subject to change based on City policy.

Learn more about the 2023 Neighborhood Council Elections at: empowerla.org/elections

Still not sure what area you live in or who your

current Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council representative is? Email SONC.Newsletter@gmail.com with your address or cross-streets with the navigational direction -- and we will help you out!

This past week marked the end of the City’s eviction moratorium – a set of protections put in place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep renters safe and in their homes. These protections had a huge impact in LA, stemming the flow of people into homelessness for the first time in years. 

It is important to note that LA County has extended its moratorium until March 31, 2023. This moratorium does apply to the City of Los Angeles, and renters with income at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI) are still protected. If you meet that threshold and cannot pay rent due to COVID-19 financial impact, you will continue to have protections against eviction through March 31, 2023. Renters must notify their landlord within 7 days of the rent due date, unless extenuating circumstances exist, and can do so by filling out this form. 

What lessons have we learned from the COVID emergency and the protections that arose from it? For one, we learned that housing instability, eviction, and homelessness can be the result of commonplace events like falling behind on rent, receiving a high rent increase, or experiencing landlord harassment. That’s why, for the past year, I have been fighting for a set of common-sense, permanent tenant protections for tenants in the City of Los Angeles.

This week, many of those protections go into effect — but the landscape of protections can still be confusing to navigate. Here’s what tenants need to know right now and what’s coming up in the near future:

Moving forward, our purpose with these protections is to keep renters safe, healthy, and housing secure in Los Angeles at all times – not just during a global pandemic – helping us to build a Los Angeles where everyone can thrive.

As always, our office is available for questions and additional assistance at contactCD4@lacity.org and (213) 473-7004.

Join CD4 on Sunday, February 26 from 10:30AM - 1:00PM (location TBA) for a FREE compost pail (provided by LASAN) to help you separate your food waste at home. As of January 16, 2023, Angelinos are now required to place food waste and food-soiled paper in their green trash bins to be composted by the City, alongside the landscaping waste that already goes in this bin. Our Council Office is enthusiastic about working together to combat climate change. Keeping food out of landfills where it decomposes is an simple way to reduce harmful greenhouse gasses. Register HERE and we hope to see you there!

The Office of District 4 Councilmember Nithya Raman provides Sherman Oaks with a dedicated field deputy to handle resident and business owner issues at the city level. Ryan Ahari is the Sherman Oaks Field Deputy, and also services Van Nuys. If you need assistance with City services, agencies, and departments (graffiti, trash, abandoned properties, and more), you can always reach Ryan through his CD4 web page here or call (213) 424-2412 and Ryan's email address is:

In addition to contacting Ryan, for any issues related to homelessness anywhere within Council District 4, you can contact Senior Homelessness Deputy Sarah Tanberg (sarah.tanberg@lacity.org) or Homelessness Deputy Josh Scarcella (josh.scarcella@lacity.org)

Metro continues to plan in its attempts to discover viable transit option solutions that will make it easier to get from/to the San Fernando Valley and LA's Westside. The natural barrier created by the Santa Monica Mountains makes traveling between the Valley and the Westside challenging and as we all know, the 405 freeway is one of the worst places to be in your car during morning and evening rush hours. Metro is working to evaluate the impact of a high-quality, reliable transit service option using a high-speed rail system connecting the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.

This Project is still in environmental review, which is the second of five major phases in the project development process, followed by final design, construction, and operations. There are 6 options being reviewed as part of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The environmental review phase consists of two components: 1) preparation of a draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and 2) preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Metro has created a video which can be viewed here to explain the environmental analysis process.

Depending on which of the 6 plans under review is chosen, there can be significant impact to the residential hillsides and surface streets in the Sherman Oaks area. During the environmental review phase, Metro is working with two private-sector teams, LA SkyRail Express and Sepulveda Transit Corridor Partners, under a first-of-its-kind pre-development agreement to develop a design for the project alternatives.

In January, Metro hosted three public open house sessions focused on potential station and entrance locations for all 6 alternatives. This allowed participants to understand how riders might access the future transit system. A StoryMap was featured, providing opportunities for the public to engage and ask questions of Metro staff and the design teams. Whether you attended these events or not, please review information about station location considerations and spend some time with the Station Location StoryMap so you can understand the proposed station and entrance locations and share your thoughts with us. The online feedback form can be accessed here.

Metro recently completed a public opinion survey to gauge the public’s awareness of the project. The survey results also assist Metro in understanding preferences for the various elements of the alternatives from the general public, including equity-focused communities and/or people who have not already been actively engaging with Metro. While not determinative on their own, the survey helps inform our work as we continue the environmental phase for the Project. A summary of findings and full survey results are available here.

For more information about feedback received during the project scoping period, view the project’s Scoping Summary Report. For more information visit the Metro Sepulveda Corridor website.

The LA County Dept. of Public Works is still offering its series of free webinars to beautify your home and garden through March 2023. The Smart Gardening Webinars are approximately 45 minutes long followed by a 15-minute period to answer questions and take orders for compost bins. For those who are unable to attend, they have posted videos of the sessions. There are four core subjects being offered:

Intro to Composting: Learn about backyard and worm composting to create a rich soil amendment to nourish your garden.

Water-wise Gardening: Create a beautiful drought-tolerant landscape and learn about grasscycling to fortify your lawn.

Organic Gardening: Build healthy soil, grow herbs and vegetables, and address plant pests and diseases using organic methods.

Small-space Gardening: Learn to grow plants in containers and set up a small-space worm composting system.

For more information and to register online, visit their website: https://pw.lacounty.gov/epd/sg/webinars.cfm

Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power is Offering Free Landscaping Design Services to Transform Your Turf

Are you interested in saving water and money on your bill? The LADWP turf replacement program has now increased its offering to homeowners of rebates in the amount of $3.00 per square foot for up to 5,000 square feet of converted yards per year to $5.00 per square foot. As an LADWP customer, you can get free landscape design services for transforming your landscape to be more drought tolerant. The design can be submitted along with your turf replacement rebate application. Planting and irrigation plans are provided at no cost to LADWP customers who wish to remove turf and replace it with low-water use California Friendly® and native plants. The rebates for removing lawns and water-hungry plantings are still in effect. With the coming hot summer months, and new watering rules going into effect, the time is right to replace.

The provided plans can be given directly to a licensed contractor for installation and also included is a simple guide on how to best hire a landscape contractor. The plans will include a stormwater capture feature, such as a rain garden, in the design. Irrigation plans include the use of water-efficient drip irrigation systems.

Your newly installed garden will capture and reuse stormwater, recharge groundwater, prevent polluted runoff from flowing into the rivers and ocean, and provide food and habitat for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Once your newly installed plants have been established, you will see the savings on your water bill.

To learn more about this free design program and to apply, visit the LADWP website at:

To sign up, please visit: https://nhifp.org/

If you are interested in volunteering with the LA Regional Food Bank, please visit this link.

amartinez@lafoodbank.org

Facebook - @laworks 

Twitter - @LAWorksNow 

Instagram - @laworksnow

Please visit LAWorks.com

Email Contact:

Get Involved In Your Community

If you are interested in becoming a Block Captain and starting a Neighborhood Watch Program in your neighborhood, please contact your Senior Lead Officer at the email addresses or phone numbers listed below to obtain further details. There are 4 senior lead officers assigned for all of Sherman Oaks:

email: 30853@lapd.online

(818) 731-2565

9SL89

email: 40229@lapd.online

(818) 731-2563

9SL63

email: 36816@lapd.online

(818) 731-2560

9SL41

email: 32914@lapd.online

(818) 731-2562

9SL37

Please sign up on Nextdoor.com to receive current updates about crime trends and events in your community.

You can contact Alan Scher for more information about the Neighborhood Watch Program.

The February edition of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Watch News is available to read online here.

Make a difference as an LAPD volunteer and be the change you want to see in your community. Volunteers represent a broad range of ages, from teenagers to senior citizens. As a volunteer, here are some of the available opportunities:

For information on volunteer opportunities with the LAPD, email Officer Jason Jimenez in the Community Relations Office at 38903@lapd.online, or call (818) 374-5420. You can also get more information about the LAPD Volunteer Program by visiting this link.

It has been unusually cold in the neighborhood lately. And boy did Sherman Oaks get quite a bit of rainfall in January with 11.2 inches. But 74 years ago it actually snowed in Sherman Oaks. That's right - From January 9th through January 12th, 1949 much of Southern California received measurable snowfall. The San Fernando Valley was pelted with the unfamiliar white stuff for three days, accumulating almost a foot.

The rare snowfall produced wondrous vistas and unexpected difficulties, as some motorists besieged with frozen radiators were trapped in their cars in Laurel Canyon for several hours. Cars were lined up on Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks while waiting for ice to melt before driving over the hill to the Beverly Hills area. Only cars with chains were allowed through when the road was finally opened at noon on January 12th. There was no 405 freeway in existence at that time, and Sepulveda Blvd. was the primary path to the other side of the hill from Sherman Oaks and most of the San Fernando Valley.

Angelinos were forced to exchange their shorts and coconut oil for bulky jackets and gloves as flatland suburbanites scraped ice off windshields and downtown workers cursed the city’s hilly terrain.

Evidently, snow used to fall in L.A. about once every few years, but 1949 was one of the last to see an actual accumulation over several days. Smaller snows that only lightly dusted the landscape would be recorded in 1957, 1962, 1974 and 2007 but not a flake has fallen since and with each year that passes, it becomes less and less likely that the city will ever see snow again.