Marshall Bus Line Preserved

John Marshall High School students board MTA bus 175, which will continue operating for at least one year because CM LaBonge, the school community and neighborhood leaders lobbied for it.

CM LaBonge is pleased to announce that the public bus serving John Marshall High School will continue to operate for at least one more year. The Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) voted recently to preserve this line after CD4, school neighbors and the Marshall community pleaded with them to preserve Bus Line 175.
     "We need to keep students in school and graduating," the Councilmember said. "Now that gas prices are so high, bus service has become a vital link for many, many Marshall students."
     “Students, parents and staff at Marshall high are breathing a huge sigh of relief that Bus Line 175 is being preserved,” said CM LaBonge. “Congratulations and thanks go to the board of the MTA, Marshall students and the community for working with us to make this happen."
     The Councilmember began hearing rumors from students last fall that the MTA proposed to eliminate Bus Line 175. About 85 percent of the riders on this line are from the Marshall community.
     CM LaBonge spoke against eliminating the bus route. He also organized a meeting the MTA staff, Marshall school staff, the Deputy Mayor for Education and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Yolie Flores Aguilar to address the issue. CD4 and members of the Los Feliz community also sought help from County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky since the MTA is a county agency.
     Marshall students and staff then sent hundreds of letters to the MTA board, urging them to preserve this line. The MTA said some schedule changes for this route will be announced soon.
     Residents should contact that agency or visit its website for more information: www.mta.net.

EMS response in CD4 upgraded

Residents of the Hollywood Hills will receive improved service from their local fire station with the addition of a third fully-staffed emergency response vehicle.
     Beginning July 1, 2008, a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance will once again be stationed at Fire Station 41, 1429 N. Gardner St. BLS Rescue Ambulance 841 will be staffed every day between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. and will serve to reduce response time by fire personnel.
     "The reinstatement of this service is a great example of the fire department's commitment to the people of Los Angeles. I'm proud to welcome this ambulance back to our district," said Councilmember LaBonge.
     The ambulance rejoins FS41's existing paramedic ambulance and BLS engine and is part of the fire department's improvements in EMS service citywide despite this year's budget constraints.

Take It From the Tap

Councilmember LaBonge drinks fresh water as it flows into the Silver Lake Reservoir. He stands with DWP General Manager and CEO H. David Nahai and Council President Eric Garcetti.

In an effort to reduce the proliferation, littering and accumulation of plastic water bottles, Councilmember Tom LaBonge wants Angelenos to drink from the tap. The Councilmember introduced a motion to the City Council in June directing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to initiate a “Take It From the Tap” campaign.
     “I’m a fan of Los Angeles water and always have been,” said the councilmember, who orders tap water in restaurants. “I’m glad people are enjoying water because it’s good for them. The trouble is that the bottles end up littering our streets, stacking up in our landfills and clogging our storm drains.”
     Bottled water sales have shot up dramatically in the past decade, raising concerns among scientists and environmentalists alike. Americans buy more bottled water than any other people in the world. The Beverage Marketing Corporation says the energy required to make water bottles in the United States is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil annually. Less than 20 percent of those bottles are recycled, however.
     “It’s incumbent on those of us in government to remind people that if they drink water from the tap it helps preserve their environment. And it tastes good, too,” the Councilmember said, citing a February water-tasting competition. The Metropolitan Water District, which supplies water to the DWP, tied for first place in an international taste test in February of this year.
     The LaBonge motion directs the LADWP to return to Council within 30 days with a report on his proposal. LaBonge’s motion was forwarded to the City Council’s Energy and Environment Committee for review.

Annual Summer Solstice Hike

Councilmember LaBonge at CD4's annual Summer Solstice Hike with a group of filmmakers from Tblisi, Georgia, who were part of the Sister Cities contingent at the event.

More than 150 people attended the annual CD4 Summer Solstice hike on June 18th.

This hike is traditionally our Sister Cities hike, and in keeping with tradition, members of our 24 Sister Cities organizations attended as did members of the Los Angeles Consular Corps. Special guests included a group of filmmakers from Tblisi, Georgia who were visiting Hollywood to learn about the American entertainment industry.

The hike proved fortuitous for the Georgians since the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) also attended the event in celebration of its 75th Anniversary. The guild has a special relationship with Griffith Park because it was established at a 1933 meeting in Los Feliz that coincided with the worst fire in the park’s history.

Actor Kent McCord, SAG's first national vice president and best known for his role on the 1970s police show "Adam-12," said Griffith Park is the perfect setting for the guild's celebration.

"The rugged terrain served King Vidor well for 'The Big Parade' and proved ideal for Robert Altman’s 'MAS*H,'" McCord said, naming two of the many famous films that were shot in Griffith Park.

Councilmember LaBonge added, at sunset at 1,625 feet above sea level, that the summer solstice hike is becoming a landmark event in and of itself.

“This event started in 1981 when I hiked up here with a friend and said, 'Why don't we turn this into a party?'" the Councilmember said from his perch on top of a picnic table. “Hiking to the top of Mount Hollywood with a group of friends is a great way to experience the City of Los Angeles and the great outdoors.”

New Website Features

In our ongoing effort to communicate well, we've made a few changes to our Website.

In the Interactive Maps section, for example, you'll see a tab named Community Associations Map. If you click on that, you'll see a map of the fourth council district with boundaries of all of our neighborhood associations delineated.

If you click on an individual neighborhood, you may notice on the left side of the page, there's a link to a Los Angeles Times story about that neighborhood. The Sunday Real Estate section has a recurring column, "Neighborly Advice," which describes the location, housing stock and public entities such as schools, for certain neighborhoods. They have NOT yet featured every neighborhood in CD4, but they've included several and those articles nicely capture the personality of the area. The Brookside and Franklin Hills neighborhoods are two that have been featured in this column.

We included these links to provide more information about the wonderful neighborhoods in CD4.

We have also added the locations of all fire and police stations to this map.

Please email us at Labonge.News@lacity.org if you have any feedback or comments about the Website.

Haym Salomon Statue Re-Dedication

Councilmember LaBonge with dignitaries, city officals and guests at the Rededication of the statue of little-known Jewish American Haym Salomon, a hero of the Revolutionary War.

Councilmember Tom LaBonge, Academy-Award winning actress Shirley Jones, comic actor Marty Ingels and the Jewish War Veterans of America re-dedicated the statue of Jewish American financier of the Revolutionary War, Haym Salomon.

The statue was dedicated in its fourth home since it was originally erected in Hollenbeck Park in 1946. It followed the migration of the city’s Jewish population from Boyle Heights to mid-City to the Fairfax District. It honors a Jewish patriot and friend of George Washington who raised $3.5 million for the Revolutionary War, and lent the United States government about $600,000 as well.

“I’m happy that this statue of an American patriot is now in a position of honor at the entrance to Pan Pacific Park,” the Councilmember said at the June 12th event. “I hope that by moving this statue and re-dedicating it here, we can bring greater recognition to Mr. Salomon as an important Revolutionary War hero.”

Ingels and Jones, who are husband and wife, are putting together the financing for a feature film about the Polish-born Salomon, who died young and became an obscure historical figure despite the pivotal role he played in the Revolution.

“His story reads like J.D. Rockefeller and Errol Flynn, from Poland to England to America, getting rich along the way, a staunch Revolutionary, making his way up to George Washington’s right hand,” said an enthusiastic Ingels. “And, nobody knows his name!”

Debby Rolland, Metro Region Superintendent for the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, said her staff repainted and restored the 25,000-pound cement statue after it was moved to its current location. Rabbi Daniel Bouskila provided the invocation, Tenor James O’Sullivan sang the national anthem and the Jewish War Veterans of America Post 617 led the Pledge of Allegiance. Click here for the Channel 35 story on this event.

Reducing Power Outages in Hancock Park

Councilmember Tom LaBonge tours a new power distribution station in the Hancock Park area with DWP Superintendent Mark Ashford

Just in time for summer, Councilmember LaBonge and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP)dedicated a distribution center on Maplewood Avenue to provide more reliable power to residents of the Hancock Park/Koreatown area.

"The goal is to hear no more complaints about power outages from this neighborhood," the Councilmember said at a ceremony on June 12. "I've been working to get this distribution station open since I took office in 2001. I'm happy to be here today."

Cecilia Weldon, assistant general manager at the DWP recommended that residents still try to conserve energy during the hot summer months by:

• limiting the use of appliances during the day;
• replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluourescents;
• setting the thermostat to 78 degrees if you have air conditioning;
• planting trees around your home to shade it from the sun; and
• replace old appliances with new energy-efficient models.

Shade Balls Cover and Protect Ivanhoe Reservoir

Councilmember Tom LaBonge throws the first shade ball into the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake to protect the water from potential contamination.

CM LaBonge threw the first shade ball into the Ivanhoe Reservoir in Silver Lake on Monday, June 9th, to cover the surface and protect the water from potential contamination.

"For quality water for all of Los Angeles," the Councilmember said as he hoisted a 4-inch hollow black ball into the blue water.

Staff from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) then poured 400,000 of the balls from white bales into the reservoir and watched as they covered its surface.

Last fall, an unprecedented chemical reaction between naturally occurring bromide and chlorine was triggered by sunlight to produce low levels of bromate, a known carcinogen.

When the bromate was detected, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power acted quickly to take Silver Lake and Ivanhoe reservoirs out of service. Both reservoirs were drained in the first months of this year.

The shade balls will prevent the chlorinated water in the Ivanhoe Reservoir from sunlight to prevent the chemical reaction from occurring again.

LADWP is the first utility company to use Shade Balls to mitigate a water quality problem in drinking water.

"Nothing is more important than your own personal health so clean, high quality water is our top priority," the Councilmember said. "We are confident that this is the best, most efficient way to keep the drinking water safe and clean."

"As a Silver Lake resident, I know some people might not like their views interrupted by the shade balls," he added. "We will return the unobstructed views of the beautiful water of Ivanhoe Reservoir as soon as possible."

Together with Silver Lake Reservoir, Ivanhoe Reservoir serves drinking water to approximately 600,000 LADWP consumers in Downtown, Central and South Los Angeles.
The residents of the Silver Lake area receive their water from the Eagle Rock Reservoir.