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%
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%
You Can Own Kourtney Kardashian’s Townhouse In Calabasas, Now Listed At $795,000
4389 Park Paloma, Calabasas, CA
Kourtney Kardashian’s 2,245 sq. ft. townhouse in Calabasas (4389 Park Paloma) has recently been listed for $795,000. This property was featured in numerous episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashains, and Kourtney was filmed many time crying on her bed in this very townhouse over her baby’s daddy Scott because she was never willing to acknowledge what a scumbag he was. You can see many more pictures of this home here.
Kourtney Kardashian is a huge Z Gallerie fan.
The listing reads:
Gorgeous Calabasas Home In Gated Community Of Creekside. Beautifully Updated With Hardwood Floors, Granite Counters, Stainless Steel Appliances, Custom Window Treatments, Refrigerated Wine Closet, Marble Bath, Beautiful Fireplace, Skylights & Vaulted Ceilings. Immaculate Throughout. Third Bedroom Currently Finished As Built-In Study With Lighted Cabinets. Private Yard With Covered Patio, Fountain, Lush Landscaping. Two-Car Attached Garage With Built-In Storage. Excellent, Close-In Calabasas Location Near Tennis Center And The Commons Shopping Center. Prime, Las Virgenes Schools. Pride Of Ownership Here. Don’t Miss This One.
Mark Gonzalez, a reader of the blog and local real estate agent, posted about this on his Facebook page. And, while he’s not the listing agent, he’d love to help make owning this property a reality for you. If you are interested give him a call at(818) 414-1914.
Popularity: 40%
Insane Armenian Mafia Hit Job In Valley Village Eatery? Crazy!
Thankfully this has nothing to do with Woodland Hills, but I want to repost it anyway. Surreal.
Police officials are calling the deadly Saturday afternoon shooting inside a Valley Village restaurant “an intentional act.” Four were killed and two critically injured after shots broke out inside Hot Spot Cafe, a Mediterranean restaurant on Riverside Drive near Colfax Avenue, in what some are calling an Armenian mafia or gang hit.
“This is not a random act of violence,” explained Kirk Albanese, the Deputy Chief for the LAPD’s Valley Bureau. “This is an intentional act and this is an investigation that will require a great deal of effort on the part of our detectives.”
Around 4:40 p.m., a group of people were eating at the restaurant when the incident occurred. Albanese could not confirm details initially reported in the media. “We need to answer [questions] correctly with an investigation that does so with the facts.”
Early media reports said a white 30-year-old male, possibly Armenian, walked in with a gun, but a cautious Albanese deflected. “We don’t now if it’s one or more gunman,” he said, citing the large number of bullets expended. Whether the suspect or suspects walked in or were already inside was unknown, he added. No official suspect description has been released.
All victims were men. Three of them were dead on scene while three others were transported the hospital where one died. The two others were in critical but stable condition and are expected to survive.
The shooting was rumored to be tied to organized crime. According to sources to the LA Times, it “might have involved Armenian gangs” while other media gathered at the scene spoke of the Armenian mafia. Police said they had no further information in that regards, citing it’s too early to say.
Those rumors were further fueled by neighbors of the eatery. “How do you run a business when there are no customers?” questioned Bettye Hicks, who lives down the street.
Matt Edwards, a neighbor who heard the gunshots, said he immediately knew the incident happened there. “The place is so shady,” he said of the place, described by the Times as a mom and pop mom-and-pop restaurant. “It opened like five years ago… I went in there to get something to eat and they didn’t even know what they were doing making the food.”
One employee at Marie Et Cie, a coffee house catty corner to the restaurant, said no one ever goes in and out of the business. And numerous neighbors noted how often private parties occurred there.
Addressing any concern, L.A. City Councilman Paul Krekorian, who represents Valley Village, said “this wasn’t a random act, there isn’t an immediate danger to the community.”
When Tony Braswell, President of the Valley Village Neighborhood Council arrived at the scene, police immediately addressed the same concern. “Our senior lead officer was here… He came over and said ‘this is not about Valley Village, it’s isolated.’
Braswell then relayed information to the Council’s network of neighborhood watches and informed other community groups. He said the senior lead officer also sent out an e-mail to community members.
Outside the police perimeter, a distraught woman who said her husband was shot tried to gather information from detectives. A few small groups of Armenian men gathered throughout the night.
“We will get to the bottom of it and we will get to the bottom of it quickly,” Krekorian said.
Popularity: 8%
Yankee Doodle’s Reopens In West Hills As “Y.D.’s”
Y.D.'s on Fallbrook Ave in West Hills
I picked up this rumor from Twitter today that the Woodland Hills Yankee Doodle’s (a sports bar and grill) that closed Monday April 7, 2008 has been reopened at the former location of the Stargazer on Fallbrook Avenue on the Fallbrook Mall property (6501 Fallbrook Ave) in West Hills. The name of the new place is “Y.D.’s” and I’m told it just opened last Tuesday.
As many of you will remember, there was a Yankee Doodle’s at the southeast corner of Victory Blvd. and Topanga Canyon Blvd. which closed and was razed in 2007 for the construction of Crate & Barrel.
A quick call to Yankee Doodle’s in Santa Monica confirmed this, but the person was quick to point out that they have five different owners (and I assume 5 different locations) and that the Santa Monica location is not really affiliated with the new West Hills location.
Update: I did a more more detailed write up about this a couple days later. See it here.
Popularity: 34%
Kardashians Closing Smooch in Calabasas
Kim Kardashian writes on her blog:
Last week Kourtney announced on her blog that she and mom will be closing Smooch. The store was Kourtney’s baby. She put so much time and effort into Smooch to make it what it is, and we were all so proud of her for setting her mind to it and achieving her long time dream of opening a childrens’ clothing store. But now that her son is coming along, she has to focus on being the best mother she can be to him and unfortunately the store just wouldn’t be the same without her. We’re all sad to see the store go, but I think Kourt and mom made the best choice. Now they both have more time to dote on the baby when he arrives!
Smooch is having a huge sale right now. The custom made furniture they sell there will also be on sale! They have the cutest beds, desks and chandeliers!
Smooch is located in the same shopping plaza on Park Granada in Calabasas as the sisters’ more successful (albeit questionably) boutique Dash. I’m sure the unit will be available for lease soon with a crazily jacked up rent.
Popularity: 8%
il Tramezzino in Tarzana for Breakfast, Kourtney Kardashian sighting!
Well, it’s definitely my opinion that nice Sunday breakfast options in Woodland Hills are definitely limited. On that subject, I’d love for you guys to leave some comments with your suggestions attached to this post. I’ve driven by this newish place (opened maybe late last year or earlier this year) in Tarzana called il Tramezzino (18636 Ventura Blvd) a few times, and recently they’ve thrown up a huge “NEW SERVING BREAKFAST” banner so I’ve marked it down on my culinary calendar as a place to try.
Today being Sunday I decided to sleep in until about 11AM so when I woke up I gave the place a call to see when they were serving breakfast until. 2:00PM. Excellent! So I grabbed a friend, hopped in the car and ventured over to our neighbor to the East, Tarzana to see what il Tramezzino had to offer. First, I’d like to say that it’s in a brand new shopping complex which has great parking and some nice upscale clothing shops. A nice clean environment, and the restaurant was nice, clean, inviting, and I did observe quite a few young families around. A good vibe for sure.
I had the menu item entitled “Scramble #1 – $9.95″ which consisted of scrambled eggs with turkey sausage, roasted peppers, onions, and mushrooms covered with cheddar cheese, accompanied by some crusty Italian toast and fresh fruit. My friend had “Breakfast Combo #3 – $8.95″ which served up 2 pumpkin pancakes (how seasonally appropriate) with a side of bacon, and she added some scrambled eggs for an additional $3.75.
I must say that the food was absolutely excellent, the food was great, and the atmosphere was upscale yet not pretentious, and best of all the price was quite affordable. Much cheaper than breakfast for two at say Marmalade in Calabasas, and a much quicker in-and-out experience. As an added bonus, almost immediately after we sat down my friend noticed that Kourtney Kardashian and her boyfriend Scott were sitting right behind us. It’s actually a crazy coincidence because we had literally justed watched an old episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians (where they ‘broke up’) right before leaving for the restaurant!
The place was great, I just wish we could get some good places like this to come into Woodland Hills. Why are we being upstaged by Tarzana?
Popularity: 2%
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