Montecito Heights Improvement Association Breaking News

Minutes - MHIA meeting, January 15, 2009

CALL TO ORDER
Call to order happened at 7:15 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
No current secretary present, no meeting in December.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
An announcement about community service - usaservice.org, everyone asked about an inaguration party, Rose Aleman announced her birthday party for Sunday Jan. 25 - taco carts and mariachi band will be there. • The Griffin Ave ordinance came up - this covers Avenue 52 to Montecito Drive - cars are speeding down this road as it is designated now as a secondary highway, 150 tickets were written in a few days and the majority of speeders were Montecito Heights residents. Roy Payan met with city dept re: issue and Nancy Cervantes is helping to re-classify this street from a secondary highway. It was noted that Ed Reyes has made a motion to change the status of the road. The next city meeting regarding this issue of road status is Feb 10t.h

HILLSIDE ORDINANCE AND THE RECENT DEVELOPMENT REGARDING ELEPHANT HILL
New laws were discussed by Jack Fenn, steep hill developments are more strict. Length of wall is limited, planting plans have to be submitted they must be fire-resistant, height restrictions are in place, sloped roof 30 bldg, flat roof 26 bldg, more encouragement of hillside blending for construction, 400 sq ft garage. • Elephant Hill is a big expanse of land north of El Sereno and west of Rose Hills; it borders South Pas. Developer sued the city, judge ruled in developers favor, will the developer have to follow the new laws?

PRESENTATION BY ERNESTO QUINTERO REGARDING OUR NEIGHBOR JUAN QUINTERO AND JUANS FAMILY
A moving discussion about Juan Quintero who is suffering from Lou Gerhig's Disease. Ernesto's nephew, Juan's son, also is suffering from a terminal illness. He lives off of blood transfusions. The website www.johnpaulquintero.com has been established for more information. Ernesto and his family need money to bring Juan home so that he can convalesce there. Roy suggested putting coupons in the newsletter that provide 10% of all purchases from Figueroa Produce go to a fund for the family. It was encouraged that everyone donate blood, everyone wanted other ideas to raise money for the fund. Is there a way to directly donate money to the family?

BOARD ELECTIONS
New board , Roy Payan, Jack Fenn, Cynthia Sanchez, Jana Fain, Kevin Abell, Rose Aleman, Martha Benedict, ~~Colleen Colson~~, Roberta Garten, Matt Gillette, Anthony Guida, Armita Hernandez, Rose Noriega, Katharine, Parra, Joe Siverson, Steve Smith, Gwendolyn Thomas

NOMINATION OF BOARD EXECUTIVES
President - Roy Payan, Vice President - Jack Fenn, Treasurer - Cynthia Sanchez, Secretary - Jana Fain

PROBLEM NEIGHBORS
Cynthia Sanchez opened up the discussion - she is being harrassed intently by her neighbor, Xxxxx Xxxxx.* She is very concerned because she has somehow been red-tagged and put on some list so that the police/fire and or other 911 services will not respond to her calls. She is scared for her family and their safety in case an emergency ever arose. Her neighbor turned a giant fan on her fire pit. He called the fire dept on her and three trucks showed up. One week later fire dept was called again - both houses have now been red-tagged by fire and police but somehow Xxxxx is getting around this and they are responding to his calls. After Cynthia spoke, many, many neighbors present presented complaints about Xxxxx - he is a cyclist and very provocative - he has started photographing Cynthia's house and her comings and goings along with her friends who visit. Others present said this was true - they had witnessed it. He began harassing Rose and Cynthia about 4-5 years ago. It appears he skates right up to the law without actually crossing over. He has harrassed many neighbors. Many people present are very upset about Xxxxx and what he gets away with. Many neighbors present said he is ruining the quality of their life.

Jessica Cortez was present and she works in the D.A.'s office and she said that he sounds like a bona fide stalker - possibly get an injunction against him?

Public agencies have to answer multiple complaints. Mike Fong meeting needs to be scheduled to help address this issue.

OPEN TO PUBLIC
Roy said dogs are being dumped up on Flat Top and he wants plates reported of anyone seen doing this. • On Roberta St. two new homes with lots of cars are parked on both sides of street - could 'no parking' signs be posted? • Rose announced the garden tour will be in spring, March/April - she was looking for someone to head this up it was mentioned that fundraising was important and also the chili cook off was mentioned. • There was a reading of the treasury report and it was reported that the MHIA has $833 in checking. • An announcement was made to look out for feral cats and that the Amanda Foundation will spay and neuter your dogs and you can get them vaccinated for free.

ADJOURN
Meeting was adjourned at 8:50pm.

*MHIA does not wish to publish the person's name.

MHIA fundraising for Latona Avenue School - ASNC provides matching funds

On October 6, 2008, MHIA President Roy Payan and I presented the fruits of our fundraising efforts to Latona Avenue Elementary School. We joined the students, faculty and staff for their 7:45 AM assembly. After the flag salute, I had the honor of presenting Principal Lucas with a check from MHIA in the amount of $1,216. We had received donations from 52 community members, exceeding our $1,000 goal. The school will also be receiving a check from ASNC in the amount of $1,000 as part of this fundraiser. I presented a letter from Audubon Center at Debs Park donating 6 field trips/nature programs valued at $1,440. The LAPD Museum on York has also committed to donating field trips.

The students, faculty and staff were clearly pleased with our efforts. Much applause and many thanks were expressed.

Thanks to our 52 donors. You are what makes Montecito Heights the wonderful place that it is.

—Tom Berg

The big one is coming… and emergency services are not. That was the take-away message from the presentation organized by MHIA president Roy Payan. The inevitable 7.8 quake will overwhelm the city's capacity to help. What can we do? Learn how to help ourselves.

Sign up for CERT and Red Cross training. Learn how to prepare at home, at work and in the car. Read about Cal Tech's study of a likely scenario in Southern California. No one can control when the Big One comes, but we can do a lot to control how well we do afterwards.

Roy and the other presenters suggested things you can do right now:

In your cell phone, add phone numbers of people close to you preceded by the word ICE. This stands for "In Case of Emergency." Volunteers are trained to look for numbers with that designation as the people to contact if you are found incapacitated.
Make a list of everyone and every pet living in your house and put it in a picture frame near the front entrance of your home. Include descriptions and any special needs. Volunteers will then know who to look for and no one will be left behind.
Make sure you have three gallons of water per person per day. Learn how to get the water out of your water heater for drinking.
Keep a lot of dollar bills handy. Stores will probably not be able to make change.
Get a fire extinguisher. If fire breaks out during a big earthquake, the fire department won't be able to come and your water supply may be cut off.
In addition to making plans with your household members, make arrangements with a far-away friend to be your communication chief. You probably can't contact family and friends in Los Angeles, but you may be able to call out of state. This person can relay messages to other members of your group when you can't talk to each other.
Get a first aid kit.

If you're indoors when the shaking starts, DON'T try to get outside and DON'T try to walk to a doorway. The safest response is to DROP, COVER and HOLD ON. Get down quickly because the force of the quake can immediately shatter windows and send everything flying, including heavy TV sets and computer monitors if they aren't tied down. You don't want to be in the line of fire. If you're a step or so from a table, get under it and pull a rug or jacket or anything handy over yourself. Protect your face and head and the front of your body. Hold onto whatever you can reach until the shaking stops.

Afterwards, when you are sure you're OK and there's no immediate danger in your home, check on your neighbors.

EARTHQUAKE SEMINAR AUGUST 16, 2008 A BIG SUCCESS!