A Politically Incorrect Blog About Living in Woodland Hills, California

LAist Writes About 3 Proposed Plans For Banning Mobile Billboards

From LAist.com:

Thanks to a law signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month, cities now have the power to ban mobile billboards, and Los Angeles, which pushed the issue with state legislators, will be no exception. Today a city council committee (.pdf) will discuss three motions that could spell out the death for the unhitched trailers that display ads throughout the city, mostly in the San Fernando Valley.

The three proposals are:

• Directing city departments to create an enforcement plan if a mobil billboard ban is approved.
• Increasing the penalty for illegally parking an unhitched trailer on a city street.
• Issuing business licenses with the condition the business will not use mobile billboard advertising.

Opponents of mobile billboards say they add blight to neighborhoods, consume parking spaces and can be a public safety hazard when blown over by wind. Proponents behind them promise to fight any ban in court.

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LAFD Drills On High Rise Office Building In Woodland Hills/Warner Center

I saw about 10 LAFD vehicles parked in the Topanga Promenade’s parking lot and on Oxnard Street this afternoon.  I didn’t seem like there was any drama happening, so I decided it was a good photo op.

I spotted a fireman on and asked him what they were up to and he informed me that Battalion 15 was doing drills on the high rise building at 21800 Oxnard Street.  This is actually a strange coincidence, because I was just talking to some friends about an hour before about the equipment LAFD had on hand at the old Fire Station 84 and how it probably wasn’t adequate for dealing with the high rise buildings in Warner Center.

In the past I had wondered if firefighters drilled on the layouts and systems in place at specific office buildings and I guess today I found out that they do!

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What Comic Book Store Is For Sale In Woodland Hills?

Spotted this fresh business-for-sale listing today.  My comic book loving office compatriots tell me this sounds like The Flip Side on Ventura Blvd.  $850k sounds pretty steep for an ‘old school’ comic book business.

From BizBen.com:

Annual sales and adjusted net income would be for a new owner operator who opened online presence and draws down on the tremendous amount of inventory in this store. Current Seller is old school, no email, no cell phone, no point of sale, no inventory management, only 22 years of small business ownership and haggling skills, developing a fine eye for buying and selling all kinds of paraphenalia. 2700 square feet of space packed to the gills with comics, dvd’s, cd’s, records, movie posters, collectibles, back-issue magazines, movie cells, baseball cards, star wars gear, I mean you really have to see it to believe it. Too many “treasures” to list in one advertisement. This is a lifestyle business, and the Seller has made this store his vehicle to a hard-earned retirement, investing all profits of the business year after year into acquiring better and better inventory as every day passes. Last week he sold one box of comics for 12,000, and he’s got dozens and dozens of these kinds of boxes in his possession. Seller will take financing over 10 years at 0% interest for 1,250 per month as show of good faith and goodwill to making the deal. Perfect for internet savvy investor or ideally owner-operator who can market utilizing available channels like eBay and Comic websites etc…to leverage the existing inventory to provide a satisfactory return on investment. Over 1,000,000 in replacement value inventory, or approximately 400,000 individual units according to Seller’s estimate.

NDA is required for exact business address. Call Rick Carlson Broker at 800-985-4939 X267  (Please Mention You Saw This Ad On BizBen) About This Comic Book Store Business Opportunity For Sale in Woodland Hills.

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Movie Shoot Transforms Friday’s Into Rivetti’s Bar & Restaurant

Looks like there is a multi-day film or TV shoot going on at Friday’s in Woodland Hills this week that has transformed it into Rivetti’s Bar & Restaurant.  If anyone has details please e-mail me!

Update: A Facebook fan tells us that she believes the movie being filmed is Horrible Bosses, starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey, and Jason Bateman. Wow.

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Canoga Park’s New Tourism Video?

Oh man, this thing is over the top and an instant classic.  Thank you to Bass Rox for bringing this to our attention.

Update: Thanks to LAist for linking to this story!

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LAPD Topanga Station Reminds You How To Safely Dispose Of Your Hand Grenades

On Friday night LAPD sent out this message via Nixle:

Police activity @ on schoenborn btwn topanga cyn and canoga. Avoid area.

Topanga is currently involved in a police activity.

Please avoid this area for the next several hours. Avoid schoenborn btwn Topanga Cyn and Canoga.

As it turns out, someone decided to bring a hand grenade to the station so the LAPD could dispose of it.

On Saturday, LAPD wrote:

Man drops off grenade at Topanga Station

Last night (June 11, 2010) around 9:15 p.m. a man came into Topanga Station and advised that he wanted to turn in a grenade which he had in his car. Officers immediately shut down Schoenborn Street between Topanga Canyon and Canoga and conducted some limited evacuations in the area around the man’s car. The bomb squad responded and determined that the grenade was a “practice” grenade with a live training fuse. Bomb Squad personnel removed the training fuse and detonated it in the alley next to the station.

Police are occasionally called out when someone is cleaning out their garage and finds an old grenade. The best thing to do is not to touch the grenade, just call 911. If the grenade is live, it should not be handled by anyone other than a trained expert. LAPD’s bomb squad will respond out to the house to dispose of the grenade.

If you have an old firearm that you want to turn in to the police station, you can put it in the trunk of your car, take it to the police station, and have an officer remove it from your car. DO NOT take the firearm into the police station. We have curbside service and will take the firearm from your car for you.

Be safe out there.

I think, one could argue, that if you find yourself in the possession of a grenade you are going to have to endure high drama when disposing of it – well, that is if you decide to dispose of it safely and responsibly.  Ultimately, this means that the LAPD is going to swarm your house and shut down your entire neighborhood.  Alternatively, putting it in your trunk and taking it adjacent to the police station means that at least your neighbors won’t have to witness the drama.  Then again, in that scenario you could blow yourself up.  So, I guess it might be best to endure the public humiliation and call 9-1-1.

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LAPD Strictly Enforcing Leash Law In Warner Park

A reader writes in:

First off I really like reading your blog.  It is informative and gives a good sense of community.

I’m writing because this morning I got a ticket for playing ball with my dog in Warner Park.   I guess that it is a misdemeanor to have your dog off leash there.  I was completely unaware of this. The police woman said that there have been a lot of community complaints and it has made its way all the way up to the council. They have a zero tolerance policy so they are not issuing warnings. I usually take my dog to play ball very early when not many people are there because I don’t want my dog interfering with other people’s park business.  There are often many dogs off the leash at the park though later in the morning and after work (some well behaved and others not).  I just thought I would let you know if you wanted to look into this further and/or to let others know about this so they can hopefully avoid getting a ticket!   Thanks!

I let a friend of mine who lives adjacent to the park and owns three dogs know about this and he responded:

I walk my dogs there all the time, on the leash! I’m glad they’re giving tickets.  So many loose dogs, running up to ours, drives me nuts!

I wrote back to the reader to get a little more information, she writes:

I am trying to not be upset about it because I know that some off leash dogs can be a hazard and you can’t always count on people to appropriately control their dogs.  The policewoman did say that there are two off leash dog parks in the valley. I have not been to the dog parks because i hear really bad things about them.  Out of control dogs, bad owners, just all around mayhem.  Plus my dog just loves catch and if you introduce a ball or toy into a large group of dogs things don’t always go so well.  So i stay away from the dog parks.  This is why i like going early morning when no one is around to interfere with us nor us with them.

The ticket is only 25 bucks.  She said she would just issue a citation now but that it could be a misdemeanor.

I think at the end of the day all dog owners take some liberties with their dogs with regards to leashes when they know there are not likely to be other dogs around.  However, in public spaces I’d say that leashes make everyone’s lives easier.  I also agree with her that the dog parks are a scary nightmare and probably an insurance company’s nightmare.  But, be forewarned if you take your dog to Warner Park that LAPD is watching!

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