Decision to not seek re-election

03/26/2012

From the desk of Michelle Klein-Hass, Center-East Renter Representative, Panorama City Neighborhood Council.

I first was a part of the then-forming Panorama City Neighborhood Council in 2004. I had just started going back to school, and I felt that it would be a plus to be politically engaged while I had the time to do so.

For the past 8 years I've been a part of this council, from being a member of the Interim Board of Directors, to being an alternate to the certified Panorama City Neighborhood Council board, to where I am now as the renter representative for Panorama City from Roscoe Blvd on the south, Van Nuys Blvd. on the west, Woodman Avenue on the east, and Nordhoff Blvd. on the north. I now feel it's time for me to step aside and let someone else get a chance on the board.

I will not be a stranger: I will serve out my term gracefully, and I will be a part of the Election Committee to insure we have a fair, free and functional election this year. But I will not seek re-election. It's time to bring in new people with fresh ideas. I want the freedom to be able to continue my new work as a documentary filmmaker and video editor.

Thank you, Panorama City. Thank you, PCNC.

Sincerely,
Michelle Klein-Hass
Center-East Renter Representative (Term expires 2012)
Panorama City Neighborhood Council.

Happy Birthday to that neighborhood to the south of here...

On February 22nd, 1911, William Paul Whitsett, land development tycoon, threw a big party. The Pacific Electric ran trains out from Los Angeles to the middle of nowhere, in the vast expanse of the San Fernando Valley. Barbecue and land auctions...make sure you brought your checkbook! A new town's been built, and this time we did it right!

And so went the birth of Van Nuys, California, USA.

When my mom and dad brought me back from Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, a building which is now the big blue Scientology monstrosity and surmounted by a CROSS, (How tref!) they took me back to an apartment in Van Nuys. I really have no memory of that place...my earliest memories are of the second place we lived, in Tarzana.



I'm actually a bit perturbed that no big plans were made to celebrate the Van Nuys Centennial. I mean, it's not like something like this could sneak up on people. 100 years of Van Nuys, man! Every summer for 22 years, San Bernardino has done the Route 66 Rendezvous. Car culture has been so important to the Van Nuys mystique...why isn't there a similar event? For a brief time the Keyes auto dealerships revived Cruise Night...that didn't last long. Where's the big shiny parade of Kustom Kars?



There's going to be an event at the Van Nuys Orange Line Station this Saturday. Maybe when y'all are done with the Health Fair at beautiful Plaza del Valle, you might want to drop in and see how the festivities over there are going. It seems very ad-hoc to me, though. Not really much can be hosted there...you have the platform for the Orange Line, you have a small parking lot, and you have not much else. Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park is in the process of being remodeled, so I guess I understand why these festivities weren't held there. But can't they figure out some place better than the Orange Line station? Dang.



Still...it's part of my life, the Valley. Panorama City is Van Nuys' kid sister, the one who was a cute little beauty queen in the beginning, had a wild youth, and now is getting ready for her closeup again. Van Nuys was the sensible place, where you went to deal with City, State and Federal business when you didn't have to go Downtown. Older and wiser. I just wish they would have made more to-do about the old girl hitting the Century mark.

Getting people out of their cars in LA: Yes We Can.

Yeah, it's Missing Persons. I grew up on KROQ in the '80s. Guilty as charged.

Anyway, we definitely need to change our attitude about things like walking and using public transit in LA. Here in Panorama City, our "Walk Score" is actually quite good. I'm using the address of our Post Office as the starting point for the Walk Score site.

One of the most transformative things to happen to our city was the revitalization of Downtown LA. From an area which was by and large a post-urban wasteland in those aforementioned '80s, we saw the area revitalized by redevelopment and a live-work-play philosophy. People are living downtown now. People are going there for the arts and sports. And people are getting there the easy way: via the Red Line that goes from North Hollywood to Downtown LA in 30 minutes.

But how do we get people from the Red Line to places like the LA Convention Center, LA Live, Little Tokyo, etc? Here's part of the solution.



I hope this gets built. I hope something like this also gets considered for the Valley. Imagine a streetcar that runs like this:



A 16 mile ring that connects the Van Nuys corridor, the busiest transit corridor in the Valley, to things like the Orange Line, the Red Line, the NoHo district, and a revitalized Ventura Blvd. It would have links out to all the points of interest in the Valley without major transferring. In some respects it actually replicates something we lost from the old Red Car lines mentioned in the LA Streetcar, Inc. video...the Valley actually did have connectivity from Downtown a long time ago via streetcars. I wasn't even born when they were ripped out of the LA Landscape in mid-1963.

The big long term issue is a need to get off of hydrocarbons and onto cleaner and more sustainable energy. You see, we have this problem called Peak Oil. Right now, oil from places like Saudi Arabia is getting harder and harder to pump. About 30 years ago, we were in a similar position in Texas. This is why harder to extract sources like the Alberta Tar Sands are now being tapped.

The situation looks like this:



And even without this, we have another problem, which is Anthropogenic (made by humans) Climate Change. The rocket scientists at NASA can explain it better than I can, therefore I linked to their site. We're pretty safe from ocean levels rising here in the Valley, but the folks who live on the LA coast are not so lucky. We need to do something about this other than basically do as the Republicans in our national legislature have done and stick their fingers in their ears and say "La la la Climate Change isn't happening, la la la I can't hear you..." The best science we have suggests that not only is the average temperature on the planet going up, and glaciers are melting, and ocean levels are rising, but it's doing so at a speed we never anticipated. So we have less time to reverse the damage that's been done...that is, if we can.

So yeah, we need to get people out of their cars. Light rail, subways and streetcars are helpful for the future. I am a transit user myself, and not by choice. I have certain non-obvious handicaps that do not allow me to safely drive. However, even people who do have a choice should consider making the choice to not drive, and it's city, county, state and federal government's responsibility to make the public transit option more attractive for the public. Yeah, that's a progressive policy stance, but ultimately it's one in the best interest of human survival. Because ultimately that's what the stakes are.

Reprinted from the Daily News (Fair use/Educational) $2 Mil grant for Van Nuys Corridor!

LOS ANGELES -- An effort to identify ways of making public transit more efficient in the Van Nuys area received a $2 million boost today from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The federal agency awarded a grant to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which will use the funds to analyze transit alternatives in the San Fernando Valley and pay for support work on other sales-tax funded projects.

"The funding will be used for the review of transit alternatives for the Van Nuys corridor and help Metro improve its transit-forecasting model, which will benefit a host (of) 30/10 transit projects now in the pipeline," County Supervisor and Metro board chairman Don Knabe said.

The Van Nuys project is aimed at improving transit on a 10-mile portion of the boulevard between Ventura and Foothill boulevards, according to Metro. Bus ridership in that area is among the highest in the county, but traffic congestion and overcrowding often lead to transit delays, Metro officials said.

Metro plans to study various possible alternatives, including bus rapid transit, light rail and streetcars, as potential ways of relieving the congestion. The study is part of the East San Fernando Valley North-South Rapidways project. More than $68 million in Measure R transportation sales tax funds have been earmarked for the project.

"Van Nuys Boulevard is a key route for buses and a lifeline to the Valley economy," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.

Flooding problems along Van Nuys Blvd.

Today we didn't get really gnarly rain, just off and on showers, but it doesn't matter. Van Nuys Blvd. between Parthenia and Nordhoff becomes a mighty river when it rains.

Here, video proof.


I'm going to start pushing for something to be done about this. It's been problematic ever since I started living at my apartment (1989) and nobody's done anything concrete about it. If Sun Valley can get a storm drain makeover, why can't Panorama City?

Mission Tortilla finally opens!

MAYOR VILLARAIGOSA JOINS FORCES WITH MISSION FOODS IN ANNOUNCING GRAND OPENING OF NEW LOS ANGELES MANUFACTURING FACILITY

LOS ANGELES, September 28, 2010 – Mayor Villaraigosa and Mission Foods® — owned by one of the world’s leading tortilla and corn masa flour producers — announced together the grand opening of a new manufacturing facility in the Panorama City area of Los Angeles.

“Mission Foods will improve the economic vibrancy of our City by bringing hundreds of jobs and additional revenue to the Valley,” Mayor Villaraigosa said. “I am proud of my Office of Economic and Business Policy and all their hard work in successfully expediting the planning and permitting process to bring an established, multinational company to Los Angeles.”

Mission Foods agreed to build their plant in Los Angeles after the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Business Policy brought together multiple City departments to expedite their planning and permitting process. The Mayor's office also discussed with Mission Foods the benefits of operating in a Los Angeles State Enterprise Zone, such as employee tax credits and energy savings.

"We are so grateful for the Mayor, First Deputy Mayor Beutner and their team for their assistance throughout this entire process," said Juan Fernando Roche, President of Gruma Corporation. "Their support helps businesses like Mission Foods strengthen the community and improve economic vitality."

The Panorama City plant – located in the Valley’s State Enterprise Zone – is Mission’s fifth plant in the Southern California area. Mission Foods has made a significant investment of more than $50 million dollars in the development of this plant, which will create over 400 jobs and produce approximately 12 million tortillas per day when the facility reaches full capacity in 2013.

“Mission Foods’ arrival is a massive victory for Panorama City, the Valley, and Los Angeles,” Councilmember Tony Cardenas said. “In an area hit hard by the recession, this new facility will create hundreds of jobs.”

The 200,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility has earned LEED Gold certification through its design and construction practices that reduce the negative environmental impact. Among its many green features are reduced potable water use, optimized energy performance, enhanced refrigerant management, increased ventilation, and thermal comfort measures.

"Mission Foods is a great example of a company creating jobs while maintaining a commitment to workforce training and environmental protection,” said First Deputy Mayor, Chief Executive of Business and Economic Policy and General Manager of the Department of Water and Power Austin Beutner. "I commend them for their new solar-powered facility and advanced technology training for their employees. This type of investment spurs the growth of our local clean tech economy.”

The Panorama City facility was designed to save energy and reduce greenhouse emissions. The sustainability efforts helps Mission save over 1,250 metric tons of direct carbon emissions, equivalent to removing 250 vehicles from the road annually. Plant features also include rooftop solar panels allowing the facility to generate a portion of its own electricity, heat recovery lines, and systems that minimize water usage.

These new initiatives are setting the standard industry-wide and will be implemented in Mission’s other plants across the country in the near future.

For more information about Mission Foods and its extensive line of products, please visit www.missionmenus.com.

About Mission Foods
Mission Foods, headquartered in Irving,TX (Dallas area), is part of the Mexican-owned company Gruma, one of the world’s leading tortilla and corn masa flour producers and was founded in 1949 by Don Roberto González Barrera and his father. Gruma has operations in America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania with 93 plants, approximately 20,000 employees, and sells its products in over a hundred countries worldwide.

Everybody...LET'S MAMBO!!!

Love this song, have always loved it since the days of Dr. Demento on KMET. Tweedle-dee!

The Food Desert situation

This is a video from LAANE about two women swapping neighborhoods for a day to find out about each other's access to healthy and fresh foods. One woman is from the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, the other is from Santa Monica. Guess who has access to the better fruits and vegetables, including organics? Of course, the lady who normally lives in Santa Monica. In the barrio environment of Boyle Heights, fruits and veggies are hard to find, poor quality and expensive. And in Santa Monica, they are plentiful, they are accessible, and if you spend a little more you can get organics.

Where are we here in Panorama City? We aren't a food desert, that's for sure. We have a lovely Food 4 Less, and right behind it is El Super. Food 4 Less has a lot of the standard groceries we rely on day-to-day, plus a good meat department that has proven to be reliable over the decades. El Super is best for a really amazing produce department, plus one of the best bakeries in town. We also have Latino and Filipino specialty markets: Vallarta, El Pueblo, Seafood City and Island Pacific. However: we don't really have a place to get organic groceries. You can find organics occasionally at Food 4 Less, and even occasionally at the 99 Cent Only store (we've got one on the Panorama City side of Woodman) but no place that's consistent. We also have the empty hulk of the old Valley Food Warehouse which closed years and years ago, and is still vacant.

We need either a Trader Joe's or a Fresh and Easy to move in to the old Valley Food Warehouse space and give our neighborhood access to good quality food at low prices. Why should Granada Hills and Sherman Oaks have all the fun?

And another thing: we do have a whole lot of fast food places, two family restaurants (IHOP and Coco's) and a Hometown Buffet, but no really good sit down restaurants. People have nostalgia for places like the Red Barn and Phil Ahn's Moongate around here. We really don't have their like anywhere around here anymore. There is room for a nice restaurant people can take visiting family to and feel good about. I would think a high-end Mexican restaurant, something equal to El Cholo or Ciudad, probably could work here. Hello Hot Tamales...visit us here in Panorama City and we'll make you feel at home.

We are lucky here. We've still got a good food infrastructure here. But we could improve things. And people in less blessed areas need some major help. LAANC is suggesting City Council action on this. I don't know how helpful that would be. But something must be done to get fresh food to less privileged neighborhoods. We can pay now, by investing in these underserved areas, or pay later in the form of more expenditures on health care and disability.

We're not dead yet...

Stick a fork in DONE, but the only way to get rid of Neighborhood Councils is by changing the City Charter. Very interesting article on a possible way forward.

Busy gal has been busy...

OK, the election is over, we're waiting for the results which are probably going to take until next Monday, and it's pretty clear I will be back on the board in some capacity or another.

However, I want to say something about the election which was thrown together by the LA City Clerk. It was badly done, I almost had to be a write-in candidate if it weren't for the fact that I had the time at that point to stay on the office of the City Clerk's butts and deal with the minutiae they wanted me to produce for them. I got on the ballot, but the last little bit of proof had to be digitally photographed and emailed to them at 4:59 pm, with the deadline of 5pm a minute away.

The City of Burbank conducts all its elections by mail now, and so does the whole state of Oregon. Why can't we conduct the next batch of Neighborhood Council elections 100% by mail next time? Wouldn't that be cheaper than trying to run polling places by LA City rules? Maybe that would free up some money for OUTREACH, something that there was NO funding for this time. Basically individual Neighborhood Councils had to do outreach out of pocket.

Neighborhood Councils are mandated by the current City Charter. They can be starved for funds, as I suspect the City Council will try to do with the next budget. But they can't be killed clean. We're here, get used to us. Making the next set of elections an election by mail makes sense. This is something to fight for, because this time around the system sucked.

Here's what I meant about a Solar Roof...

This is an aerial view of the Target store at Osborne and Laurel Canyon in Pacoima. What's those dark patches on the roof? Why, they're SOLAR PANELS!!! Yes, SOLAR PANELS. Note that the roof isn't COVERED with them...there are a few installed here and there. And those are enough to run the store OFF THE GRID on sunny days.

Now go back and look at the aerial view of Panorama City a couple of posts down. Notice a lot of beige roofs? With nothing on them but stucco? Imagine them peppered with dark patches. And bringing in energy. And saving everyone from more pollution-belching power plants in our future. This might mean we can use what we have for longer, and not look at expanding capacity or buying energy from other places where they even use COAL to run power plants. Ugh!

See, this is what I mean by advocating what we WANT for our neighborhood and not just saying what we DON'T WANT. Think about it.

Does our City Councilman actually LIVE in our district?

Apparently it's an open question...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-alarcon15-2010jan15,0,1432531.story

Hat, meet ring

OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I'm getting ready to run again.

My new status as a full-fledged member of the PCNC board, where until recently I was Alternate #1, came rather serendipitously: the at-large board member I replaced had seemingly dropped off the face of the earth and hadn't attended meetings or asked to be excused from meetings due to hardship. We have rules in our by-laws which do not allow either two unexcused absences in a row or three in a given 6 month period. So the person I replaced was removed under these rules.

I will actually be running for renter representative in the Center-East region of Panorama City, the same spot on the board I ran for two years ago. I missed by only a couple of votes last time, and my competition for the seat has moved to another region of the Neighborhood Council area. I figure if I communicate a little better this time I might have a better time winning hearts and minds and votes. I also was a wee bit distracted at that point: I had just completed my Bachelor's in Psychology at Woodbury University, during the last year of which I was also caregiver for my husband, who has since died of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer.

The reasons why I am running are many. My most important reason is to provide a progressive counterbalancing voice on the board in a branch of LA City government that has mostly been a conservative, "NIMBY," (not in my back yard) and even reactionary branch. Panorama City Neighborhood Council has actually led in a different direction: the biggest example being our attempts to bring service providers together to better serve the significant portion of our community which is struggling with gangs and their attendant social menace through two annual "Gang Summits." I see this as an attempt within our Neighborhood Council to define our mission not only by striving to prevent what we don't want within our community, but to help shape what we DO want within our community. I am foursquare on the side of continuing with this, to inspire positive change within our community.

I want to see it expanded further, actually. Not every youth in Panorama City is struggling with whether or not to follow a family tradition and join a gang. Some are just struggling to finish high school, and possibly go on to higher education. Or maybe just to find work after graduation. As you probably notice every day, Van Nuys Boulevard is punctuated on both sides with empty storefronts; vacant lots; a derelict high-rise that has been condemned since the Northridge Earthquake of 1994 and is now basically a 13-story pigeon coop; and catercorner to each other on Roscoe, a vacant lot where a Black Angus Steak House once stood, and the old Montgomery Ward property. This is a community where hope is in short supply and jobs in even shorter supply.

The role of a Neighborhood Council in revitalizing our community is, unfortunately, a limited one. However, if we can bring together government, law enforcement and non-governmental organizations to move gang policy in our neighborhood forward, perhaps we can do more to move employment and economic development forward by bringing all of these elements plus people in the business community together to have a "Jobs And Redevelopment Summit." Maybe we can't make the change, but we can make the need for change ring loud and clear in the ears of those who might be able to help move us forward towards more jobs and smart, vibrant, green economic development.

We also suffer a bad rap in local media, foremost from the Los Angeles Daily News, the San Fernando Valley's Paper of Record since the turn of the last century. Horror stories about 'The Witch's Hat,' shock-horror-filth tales of rampant gang violence and delinquency have been fodder for the worst kind of Yellow Journalism. The Daily News has been the worst, but the LA Times, the LA Weekly, and our local TV news has continued to parrot the portrayal of this community as a slum. To quote a Living Colour song that has been sort of an internal anthem for me in my involvement with the formation of this Neighborhood Council and after formation, "I call this place my home, you call this place a slum."


Living Colour -- "Open Letter To A Landlord"

The best way to push back against this portrayal is to show the local media, in vivid, newsworthy media opportunities, that we are not a crime ridden, frightening place. On the contrary, we are a colorful, diverse community that has roots in Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, in other States of the USA, and in the Provinces of Canada. We have no annual celebration to attract positive media attention: why not start one? A Fiesta Panorama, a sort of block party for the entirety of Panorama City, would be great. We have restaurants to show off. We have culture. We have public, private and charter K-12 institutions of learning. We have preschools. We have trade schools. There continues to be talk of a satellite campus of Los Angeles Valley College being established here. We have so much to offer, that we need to stop apologizing for our community and start crowing about our community. Like the song goes, "You've got to fight for your neighborhood." In a town where appearances often are as or more important than substance, we need to raise our profile as a community.

These are but two things I'm interested in, moving forward.

More of my platform:

* I am against proliferation of uncontrolled medical cannabis dispensaries on the one hand, but for the continued availability of medical cannabis for those who need it. I have seen, through the struggles of my late husband, that when faced with life threatening and painful symptoms of a disease like the blood cancer multiple myeloma, cannabis is good medicine. We need a framework that will allow the exemplary dispensaries to continue operation to make that medicine available, but which will also screen out the bad actors and keep dispensaries away from preschools and K-12 schools.

* I am for smart growth of business and residences, and for bringing more and better transit options nearby so that people can leave their cars and the pollution they create behind in favor of green public transit. We have existing hubs like Van Nuys Metrolink/Amtrak Station, and the Van Nuys Corridor which links to the Orange Line and further to the rest of the Metro Rail system. We can become advocates of building on this foundation.

* I'm for encouraging industry to put their bare roofs to work with solar power generation. You need only look at a Google Earth satellite image of Panorama City to see the potential lying fallow just above our heads. The Target store in Pacoima has a completely solar roof. During the Summer they make enough electricity to run the store off the grid for hours at a time. Why can't we do that at Panorama Mall, at El Super, at Food 4 Less, and The Plant?



All those bright spots you see in this picture are ROOFS. They don't call The Plant a "Big Box Mall" for nothing. At the top of this satellite image is part of Panorama Mall. And there are countless industrial buildings within our Neighborhood Council boundaries.

* I am also for attracting creative media companies to set down roots here in Panorama City. There are industrial and commercial buildings currently vacant here. There is also a perennial need to find space for shooting movies. Why not bring the two together? We have everything Hollywood, Burbank and Glendale has, plus we have what they don't have: Enterprise Zone classification. Converting massive industrial buildings to sound stages, equipment rental stores and post-production houses would give a shot in the arm to Panorama City's economy and bring in a new, upscale type of stakeholder that could uplift the community.

We need to also open our community wide to location shooting. The building that now houses the "Kings Of Credit" furniture store was a primary location for the movie "Stealing Harvard." The Panorama Mall has been a movie and TV shooting location on several occasions. We have great residential neighborhoods. With other communities becoming "location hostile" we have a possibility of bringing business here to benefit all of us.

Space prevents me from going on, but these are a few elements of what I want to see in my neighborhood. If your vision dovetails with mine, keep me on the Board as Center-East's renter board member. Help me fight for our neighborhood.

Local delis get props...

Apparently Jewish delis are hurting Back East. However, they are thriving here on the Left Coast. An article in the New York Times actually gives props to two Southland delis: Langer's, just east of McArthur Park in Downtown, and the San Fernando Valley's own Brent's.

As a red-blooded Valley girl who was raised Jewish, with family hailing from New York and Chicago, I have grown to appreciate a good Deli. Alas and alack we have none in Panorama City anymore...the Deli that was in the strip mall on the Panorama side of Woodman is long gone, and that had been on the decline for a while before they packed it up. However, good ones are not far away. I agree about Brent's, but I really love Weilers on Nordhoff at Balboa in Northridge, and Art's on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City is still totally happening.

I am less fond of Jerry's Famous and Solleys, which is really the same deli under a different name. They serve rather nondescript generic Deli food at really crummy prices. However, the place has a bit of history...all through Andy Kaufman's comedy career he worked at Jerry's in Studio City. He never quit his day job because in his view you never know when your career will be over in Hollywood, and he felt it kept him grounded. One could debate that, however, he only quit after he started getting sick from cancer.

Anyway, it would be nice if someone took the plunge and opened a deli up here again. Perhaps just a stall in the Panorama Mall food court? I'd like a place where I could walk and get a turkey pastrami Reuben on rye with cole slaw on the side. Then again, we have delis here, they are just Latino and Filipino. Rincon Taurino has the feel of a deli but serves Barbacoa con Consume rather than Chicken Soup, and Toto's and Pinoy Pinay have Filipino soul food rather than Jewish soul food on sale here. Heck, we could use a Soul Food restaurant here too...oh well...

Villaraigosa's begging bowl: shame on you, Jackson family and AEG...

This is what Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa is reduced to. Basically grovelling on the streets of cyberspace with a begging bowl.

It is good that we had a trouble-free Funeral Of The Century (tm), with not even a single drunk-in-public arrest, let alone a violent crime arrest. But that was accomplished by deploying a small army of LAPD: 3,000 cops on foot, in squad cars and on horseback. This kind of response costs lots and lots and lots of money. The peaceful nature of the gathering means the costs are merely staggering but not crippling...closer to the $2 Million lowball figure than the $4 Million "holy cow it's a riot" figure.

So now Villaraigosa is reduced to begging for help from Jackson's huge fan base to defray costs. Never mind that AEG is going to recoup its costs with sales of merch that would have been sold at the 50 "This Is It!" concerts in London, UK. Never mind that the video of the funeral was recorded in HD and will probably be released in Blu-Ray and DVD. There is even talk of a live show ala the Elvis Live! touring show, using video from the recorded dress rehearsals at Staples Center to stand in for Michael Jackson, which would make AEG tons and tons of money. And don't cry too much for the Jackson clan: Jackson's albums are selling strong again, and will likely dominate the charts the next time Billboard puts them up. In short, lots of people are going to make lots of money from Michael Jackson kicking off this mortal coil.

So why shouldn't LA City be reimbursed for this? This isn't cold, this is justice. We ponied up the law enforcement, now AEG and the Jackson Family need to pony up the dough. The alternative is just plain insulting to the city that Jackson lived in from childhood. And it will mean that LA schools and LA basic human services will suffer further deep cuts as a result. Since much was made about Michael Jackson the humanitarian during his funeral, I would think that he would be upset that the circumstances of his death would be a cause for Angelenos to suffer. Do the right thing. Cough up the bucks. Thankyoudrivethrough.

Eating good, Mexican style, in our neighborhood.

Panorama City has an embarrassment of riches with regard to Mexican food. Don't just go to El Torito or Acapulco or another chain to celebrate El Cinco de Mayo, try some local grub.

1.)Rincon Taurino, Nordhoff Av. and Van Nuys Blvd, and also Van Nuys Blvd. right next to the Ice Rink.
These are the same people. And like Stater Bros. used to say, it's their meat that made them famous. I don't eat beef anymore but I remember that their Carne Asada is especially succulent, marinated for 24 hours in a secret marinade that includes Mexican beer. Their Pork Al Pastor has just the right amount of snappy spicing and is lean and lovely. However, their Pork Carnitas is my favorite...rendered beautifully lean by having all the fat fried out of it. The interior of the meat is juicy, the outside appealingly chewy and caramelized. They'll make any meat as tacos, burritos, tortas, (Mexican submarine sandwiches) huaraches, (Slipper-shaped fried thick tostadas) tostadas or even quesadillas. If you want to maintain the fiction you're eating healthy, you can get fresh juices, "aguas frescas" (fruit ade) and "bionicos" (fruit cocktails) with your meal. Awesome.

2.)El Gordo taco truck, usually parks on the corner of Van Nuys and Parthenia. (North jog) This takes guts. The El Gordo truck usually parks a block away from Rincon Taurino, and they give them a run for their money. They are most loved for their Al Pastor but I like their grilled chicken. When you buy tacos from them they will throw in a little round totopo (fried mini tortilla) topped with freshly made frijoles de olla. (beans fresh from the pot) They also are very generous with fixins too: they allow you to take home fresh guacamole, pickled onions and carrots, cilantro, onion and two kinds of salsas.

3.) Vallarta, (the taco restaurant) Woodman and Chase, right next to the car wash. This is so you do not confuse Vallarta with the Vallarta Supermarket at Woodman and Osborne. The same people who own the supermarket chain own the restaurant. Like El Gordo, they have plenty of fixins for your tacos, burritos etc...in fact, they have a bar with not only salsas but guacamole, pickled carrots; sauteed onions, scallions and chiles kept in a heater; pickled Jalapenos, and even a sort of Mexican cole slaw that has lots of heat.

They specialize in seafood there. Shrimp or fish in your tacos or burrito or whatever doesn't cost any more than less luxurious toppings like chicken or beef or pork carnitas. They also do Mexican seafood cocktails, seafood soups and seafood plates. The prices are extremely reasonable.

4.) Dos Arbolitos, Nordhoff and Woodley. The "Mexican" combination plate is actually a California invention...tacos, enchiladas and whatnot on a huge plate with rice and beans and other goodies and served with endless bowls of tortilla chips and salsa. This is what most people think of when they think of "eating Mexican." It's restaurants in Los Angeles like El Cholo, which opened in 1927, The Original Spanish Kitchen, which opened in the 1940s and closed under mysterious circumstances in 1961, and the original Encino El Torito, which opened in 1954, that made the rules for popular Mexican restaurants to follow.

Dos Arbolitos is an institution in the North San Fernando Valley, and for good reason. They have elevated the Cali-Mex combo plate into high culinary art. If they were on the Westside they would be pulling in $20 or $25 per entree like places like Ciudad does. But they're in humble North Hills, the next town to the west of Panorama City, and so they are quite reasonable.

In 1999 they closed down because the shopping center their original location was in got torn down. Despair set in as locals jonesed for their favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant. However, a year later they opened up in their current location, and there was much rejoicing. (Yay!)

They make the standards, but try some of their more creative entrees like Pollo con Mole enchiladas and Pollo Alcaparrado which is Spanish-inflected (yes, Spanish, not Mexican!) chicken sauteed with capers and onions and served in a tangy, complex sauce.

The original chef there died a few years ago, but his protege has inherited his mantle and his secret book of recipes. His cuisine reigns supreme.

There's other good places nearby like Pescado Mojado, but these are my favorites.

The Sputnik Building revealed: a great way to restart this blog.

OK, I've not really known what to do with this blog, but have hung onto it because I knew I was GOING to do something.

Anyway, I have been searching for this information for YEARS since I love this local landmark. It's now a furniture store but for most of its existence it was a bank. I think the chain of provenance went this way: it was built for Van Nuys Savings and Loan, it was taken over by Crocker Bank, then Crocker Bank was bought by Great Western Savings and Loan, then Great Western was bought by Washington Mutual Savings Bank.

Anyway, the distinctive architecture was by Wenceslaus Sarmiento, head designer for the Bank Building Corporation of America. Mystery solved.

Thank you, Charles Phoenix, for finding this out, and thank you, LosAnjealous.Com, for bringing it to my attention.

Oh yeah, this is what Charles Phoenix does for a living. Awesome.

It's on the wrong track and it's headed for you....

The second worst trainwreck in the history of the US happened yesterday afternoon in the Valley. Needless to say my trip up North to the Santa Barbara area is cancelled. However, considering that 18 people have lost their life and there are 135 injuries, some critical, I'm not complaining much. The death toll will no doubt rise before this is over. There were over 200 people on the train, and many are still unaccounted for.

The trains were on the same track on a collision course. This is NOT supposed to happen. I am hoping there is a tremendous outcry for an investigation.

Auntie Beeb has an article about the current situation here.

An insider (either a railroad worker or a train buff) put up a tribute video on YouTube. Apparently several people that "Coaster Mike" knew died in the tragedy.

The Valley, in digital...

This is a video by the band Radiohead which was completely done with digital data acquisition techniques. No cameras were used. It was shot in Woodland Hills, I think. It's amazing. It reminds me of another video done with a non-camera technique...this time with heat sensors...ladies and gentlemen, the Rolling Stones...



Anyway, I can imagine that we are looking at the infancy of perhaps the next type of media. I'm stoked.

Anyway, I'm going to launch this site for real at the next Panorama City Neighborhood Council meeting, this coming Thursday. After the formal launch, I will be writing here about my take on things going on in the neighborhood I serve as Board Alternate #1. In the mean time, enjoy the funstuff.

Keep your arms and legs inside the car and your seatbelt buckled

OK, this is my first post here. I am putting this together so I have a semi-official soapbox in my duties for PCNC. Blogger/Blogspot/Google is pretty cool.

I don't have much to say here yet, but I will later.

Toodles!
Michelle