LAPD Topanga Reminds Us To Watch Out For Knock Knock Burglars
It is kind of sad that the world has come to this, but you really can’t open your door to strangers any more. Granted, let’s not rush to judgment, sometimes running from the cops is just a reflex action. Right?
Alert Message has been issued by the LAPD – Topanga.
Tuesday June 22, 2010 6:07 PM PDT
Young girl calls 911, thwarts knock-knock burglars, 6600 block of Corbin Ave in Winnetka
On June 22, 2010, at approximately 1:10 p.m., two suspects knocked on the door of a home in the 6600 block of Corbin Ave in Winnetka. There was a 12-year-old girl home, but she did not answer the door. She had been told by her parents not to answer the door when home alone. The girl peeked out through a window and saw one of the suspects, desribed as a male Black, 19 to 20 years old, slim build, wearing a blue and black flannel shirt and blue jeans, climbing over the fence to enter her backyard. The girl immediately called 911 and described the suspect to the police. Officers responded but as their sirens approached, the girl saw both suspects (the man in the flannel shirt and an additional suspect she could ohly describe as male) run from her yard. Officers were unable to locate the suspects.
Topanga detectives are seeking anyone in that neighborhood who may have had one of the suspects knock on their door on June 22nd between noon and 1 p.m. A common modus operandi for burglars is to knock on the door of a home during the day, and if there is no answer go around to the back and break in. If you are home during the day, you can prevent this by yelling through the door (not opening the door to strangers) for the person to go away. That way, they know you are home and will not target your home. If you see suspicious persons knocking on doors in your neighborhood or trying to enter backyards, please call the police.
Any information should be reported to Topanga officers at (818) 756-4800.
For full details, go to https://local.nixle.com/alert/2608294/.
Popularity: 3%
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.
Popularity: 3%
The West Valley In Embroiled In All Out War With Burglars
People are afraid and this is very real. Monday’s arrests are not the end.
LAPD Topanga Station Writes on Wednesday:
Numerous residential burglaries occurred today in Chatsworth, Canoga Park & West Hills. Lock your doors and windows when you leave home. Be aware of strangers in your neighborhood and report suspicious activity immediately 8187564800 or in emergency call 911.
They also sent out these tips:
Burglary Prevention Tips
Lock all windows and doors – even if you live on the second floor of an apartment building. Lock sliding glass doors. Two-story residences – lock upstairs windows, sliding glass doors, and French doors. Remember suspects can climb onto a balcony.
Alarms: Use it! Add additional window security (example – pins in the window or wooden dowels in sliders)
Install motion detectors on all levels of the residence.
Never leave a ladder outside and accessible to a burglar.
Relocate valuables. Most burglars take property from the master bedroom.
Photograph and make a list of your valuables. Include serial numbers.
Vacation Strategies:
Let a trustworthy neighbor know that you are away. Ask that person to keep a lookout for your residence. Leave on one (1) light inside your home.Mail and newspapers should be picked up or stopped.
Have a neighbor or friend park their vehicle in your driveway or parking slot.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact Detective Theresa Gordon at 27033@lapd.lacity.org
Popularity: 4%
Area Traffic Cops Begin Click It Or Ticket Fundraising Effort
Okay, the title of this post is a little bit sarcastic. I am, in fact, a huge proponent of seatbelts and if you are not wearing them at this point you are just an absolute idiot.
The California Highway Patrol citation helped launch the annual Click It or Ticket campaign across the state on Monday to strap motorists into their seats.
More than 150 law enforcement agencies – including Los Angeles police and Sheriff’s deputies – took to the roads on the prowl for unbelted drivers.
The annual Click It campaign runs through June 6 and resumes before Thanksgiving. And fines and fees for failing to buckle up have never been higher.
The penalty for first-time offenders who ignore their seatbelt rose this year from $132 to $142. Not buckling up a child under 16 can set a motorist back $445.
“Seat belt usage is the No. 1 most important thing a driver can do to save their lives in case of a crash,” said Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety.
The Click It or Ticket campaign began five years ago with signs posted across the state.
Please read the full article on the Daily News’ website.
Popularity: 3%
LA Trying To Shift Sidewalk Repair Bill To Home & Business Owners
I’m not sure why the title of the KTLA article is Woodland Hills focused, because the proposed changes are not.
WOODLAND HILLS — The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday is considering a plan to pass on all the costs for Woodland Hills sidewalk repair to homeowners.
And according to some Woodland Hills residents, that would not only cost them as much as $5,000 but shift liability to homeowners for trip-and-fall incidents on sidewalks, likely raising homeowner insurance premiums.
Traditionally, the city would pick up the tab for repairing the walkway because the offending trees were planted by the city on a public easement.
Given the tough budget times, the City Council will consider repealing a 1974 ordinance that required the city to pay for sidewalk repairs caused by root damage from trees the city planted on its easements.
City Council Budget Chairman Bernard Parks is spearheading the new plan.
He says the city should not have been footing the bill these past few years.
Parks said the city had accepted responsibility for the repairs to curbs, driveways and sidewalks if the damage was caused by tree roots because its costs were reimbursed by the federal government. “When that money dried up, the city never changed its policy of being responsible,” Parks said. “In the last seven years, the city has spent over $100 million to repair over 500 miles of sidewalk and not made a dent in the sidewalk issue.”
Neighborhood councils and local realtors will fight the plan.
They say the transfer of responsibility for sidewalk repairs to homeowners would be unfair and could harm any real estate upswing.
Parks said the city annually pays out between $4 million and $6 million in damages for injuries caused by uneven sidewalks.
The councilman also says the cost of repairing the estimated 4,600 miles of city sidewalk could cost Los Angeles $1.2 billion – almost twice the budget deficit.
Popularity: 2%
Former Zoning Administrator Harpoons Dennis Zine Over Move To Circumvent Canoga Park Neighborhood Council
I came across this fascinating editorial/commentary/article regarding an apparent move by Dennis Zine to prevent the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council from being able to have input on a zoning variance for a recycling center in Canoga Park at 21616 Roscoe Blvd. The gist here seems to be that Zine is for the project, but the NC and adjacent residents and businesses are not, so by allowing the ZA to meet prior to the next NC session, their input can be effectively circumvented. It should be noted however, that according to supporting documentation provided in the PDF linked at the end of this post, support in the community is mixed and not exactly as 100% negative as Perica’s missive would have you believe.
CityWatchLA.com reposts an e-mail from Jon Perica, a former Zoning Administrator for the City of Los Angeles:
The announcement Thursday by Councilman Zine to muzzle the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council over an appeal of a public nuisance recycling use adjacent to residential uses is SHOCKING!
Councilman Zine had been persuaded to give the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council an opportunity to conduct their independent public hearing. The original neighborhood council hearing should have happened in the fall of 2009 so the neighborhood council could have made a decision on the appeal filed for a recycling center to operate 66-ft from adjacent residential uses in lieu of the Code required 1,000-ft (a 93% reduction).
The councilman has suddenly decided that he does not want to get any input from the neighborhood council after having only one incomplete hearing by just their planning committee and not the Board of the neighborhood council!
Zine has scheduled the City Council Planning Committee to meet this coming Tuesday May 4th at 2 pm at room 1020 of City Hall and this Planning Committee will vote to deny the local community appeal without hearing from the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council.
In all the time I have worked at City Hall as a Zoning Administrator and in the 5 years I have been a private consultant, there has never been such an obvious effort to deny the legal right of the neighborhood council to comment on a planning case before the City Council acted.
I think that the councilman realized that there was a reasonable chance that the Board of the Neighborhood Council might support the appeal and he didn’t want to take an action in supporting the recycling use against the possible neighborhood council if they opposed the use.
If you set the City Council hearing before the Canoga Park Neighborhood Council can meet later in May, you clearly prevent the possibility of any dissenting input that would conflict with the councilman’s position.
In effect, the councilman was using the neighborhood council for his own advantage for one neighborhood planning meeting only when it would help him to look good.
When the NC planning committee voted to continue the hearing a month and appeared to have serious reservation about the many adverse impacts caused by the recycling use, Councilman Zine scheduled the next City hearing of the Council Planning Committee on the recycling appeal before the neighborhood council would take their final in late May.
Neighborhood councils were set up to provide the “voice of the community” and the councilman clearly does not want to hear what the Canoga Park community wants to say.
This is an insult to the local neighborhood council and to the whole 10 year old City process that set up 90 different neighborhood councils to provided important input to help the City make better land use decision.
This action by Councilman Zine seems to be an effort to ignore what the “people” have to say. The councilman is telling the 368 residents, business people and customers surrounding the recycling center who signed a petition or wrote letters against this business at 21616 Roscoe, that their voices counts for nothing and only the one lone voice of the recycling operator, who has caused serious public nuisance problems for 4 years, really counts.
It appears that Councilman Zine really doesn’t care about input the neighborhood council or those local people who suffer from daily recycling problems.
In an apparent response from Zine’s office, Jonathan Brand writes:
I have discussed the information presented at the meeting with my boss. He has instructed me that he wants to proceed with the case and the PLUM hearing on the 4th of May.
I found a PDF about the project on the City of Los Angeles’ website here, which details some of the neighborhood concerns.
Popularity: 2%
Mobile Billboard Legislation Passes State Assembly, Moves To Senate
Amusing that I just wrote about one of the trailer signs and this story popped up today. Speak of the Devil, and the Devil appears. See text of the bill below the Daily News article reposted here.
LEGISLATION: Bill to prohibit moving signs is passed by state Assembly.
The days of mobile billboards – those large advertisements sitting atop unhitched trailers that obstruct views and take up space on city streets – could be numbered.
Proposed state legislation to ban the advertisements was passed Monday in the Assembly and it now heads to the Senate.
Local lawmakers say the signs are among the biggest gripes among voters and have been working to get them off the streets.
The bill, AB 2756, authored by two Assembly Democrats – Bob Blumenfield of the San Fernando Valley and Mike Feuer of Los Angeles – would prohibit the parking of unhitched trailers with advertisements on any public street.
The legislation, which the Assembly approved on a vote of 46-14, would cut through legal red tape that has hampered efforts to outlaw mobile billboards. Opponents say they are a safety hazard and use up valuable parking spaces.
City Councilman Dennis Zine, who has spearheaded an effort to ban mobile billboards in Los Angeles, welcomed passage of the legislation by the Assembly of what he said is the No. 1 complaint he hears from Valley residents.
“It’s the biggest complaint not only in my district but throughout the city,” said Zine. “We are very pleased with the Assembly that they passed this and hope that the Senate concurs and the governor signs this into law.
“Then we can rid the community of this eyesore.”
In a city as big as Los Angeles, Blumenfield and Feuer said, such requirements are not financially or physically feasible.
But opponents of legislation outlawing mobile billboards said they are prepared to challenge any state law.
“Our sign trailers aren’t going anywhere,” said Bruce Boyer of Lone Star Security, whose mobile billboards can be spotted throughout the San Fernando Valley.
“The legislation in this Assembly bill is ambiguous, unenforceable and unconstitutional,” he said. “After reading (this) bill, my attorney and I both chuckled.”
Boyer also maintains that under the California Vehicle Code mobile billboards are allowed to park on any street like any other vehicle.
But the bill’s co-sponsors say they are confident their legislation will hold up.
“Since the day I took office, one of the most frequent complaints I have heard from people in the Valley is against mobile billboards,” Blumenfield said in an e-mail response to a question. “Hundreds of people have told me they are fed up with these eyesores, and want them banned from our community.”
Feuer said mobile billboards should be prohibited unless a city or county affirmatively wants to allow them.
“These signs are a distracting safety hazard for drivers, a source of blight in neighborhoods, and a drain on scarce parking spaces intended for business patrons,” Feuer said.
The joint sponsors of the bill said that for years the city of Los Angeles and other local governments have attempted to control the proliferation of mobile billboards locally. But their efforts have been hampered by such requirements that signs outlawing them be posted at every entrance to the city.
The bill (at least the most recent version that I could quickly find online):
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The enactment of this act shall not
create any inference that the Legislature intends to occupy the field
of regulation of mobile billboard advertising displays, or preempt
any local ordinance that regulates mobile billboard advertising
displays.
SEC. 2. Chapter 33 (commencing with Section 7599)
is added to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER 33. MOBILE BILLBOARD ADVERTISING DISPLAYS7599. (a) No person shall park a mobile billboard advertising
display in a public place within a city or county, other than a
parking lot or parking garage.
(b) For purposes of this chapter, “mobile billboard advertising
display” means any advertising display that is attached to a wheeled
conveyance, or is otherwise mobile, that carries, pulls, or
transports any sign or billboard for the primary purpose of
advertising.
(c) This section shall not preempt a city or county from adopting
or enforcing an ordinance regulating mobile billboard advertising
displays that is more or less restrictive than the prohibition
contained in subdivision (a).
(d) The prohibition contained in subdivision (a) shall not apply
to a vehicle that displays an advertisement or identifies the
business of its owner, so long as the vehicle to which the
advertising display is attached is engaged in the usual business or
regular work of the owner and is not parked for the primary purpose
of advertising.
Love him or hate him Boyer has a point. By limiting the law to only trailer signs – instead of all trailers – the state is really opening itself up to having the law overturned on Constitutional grounds. There really is a thing call the First Amendment, and limiting only trailers with signage could definitely be construed as an illegal restraint of speech. At the end of the day, it will just depend on who wants the spend the most money pursuing the issue.
Popularity: 7%
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