Griffith Park as Historic-Cultural Monument
Dear Friends, You may be aware that there is an application to designate Griffith Park as a Historic-Cultural Monument of the City of Los Angeles.
I have supported the designation of many elements of the park as historic monuments during my 34 years in public service, including the Griffith Observatory which re-opened recently after a successful $93 million restoration and expansion project.
I am a preservationist but I am also curious about how historic designation would affect the park's varied and heavily used facilities, such as the golf courses, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Griffith Park pool, and the ball fields.
My primary objective is to do what Colonel Griffith J. Griffith wanted: to keep Griffith Park a park for all people.
Tom LaBonge
See CD4: The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA
The new Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is now open in the Miracle Mile.
From your walk through rows and rows of vintage street lamps restored by artist Chris Burden, to the gallery itself where you can see the best of what namesake Eli Broad's collection of modern art has to offer, the BCAM at LACMA is worth a visit.
While you're there, explore the main collection with more than 100,000 works of art at LACMA, the largest encyclopedic museum west of Chicago. Through its far-reaching collections, the museum is both a resource to and a reflection of the many cultural communities and heritages in Southern California.
Tickets to the BCAM and LACMA are available online or by calling the LACMA box office at (323) 857-6010.
Come see what's new at the L.A. Zoo!
Visit the new Zoo's new exhibit of African Wild Dogs, which opened in April. These dramatically beautiful “painted wolves” are actually not wolves or dogs but a unique species that has existed for over three million years as the only member of their genus. They are also known as Cape hunting dogs. For more information, visit www.lazoo.org.
Saying Goodbye to an Angel in the City of Angels -- Johnny Grant
Johnny Grant with LA Inc.'s Michael Collins and CM LaBonge in November.
Dear Friends:
It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to one of the greats this week -- Johnny Grant. Johnny was a dear friend, a wonderful frontman for the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also someone who had a big heart for great causes, including those of his adopted city of Los Angeles. His enthusiasm for the Street of Dreams, and as producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade, was infectious. Having participated in a number of Walk of Fame ceremonies, I would marvel how Johnny could make everyone in hearing distance feel like they were a part of that individual's success. Johnny had amazing recall. He'd recount an anecdote from the 50s as clearly as one from the week before. Even as his body slowly gave way to age, his mind was sharp. I called him earlioer this week to see if he could join us to mark Elvis' birthday but he said he wasn't feeling so well. We missed him at the event and now, forever more.
Johnny, an angel in the City of Angels, is with the angels.
Finally, a map of Griffith Park!!!
Dear Friends:
Finally, we have a map of Griffith Park -- a great map of Griffith Park! In all the decades of being a park-user, I've been frustrated that there's never been a comprehensive, detailed map of the terrain and trails with a guide to all the park's attractions on the reverse side. Now, this pet project of mine, paid for out of CD4 street furniture funds, is a reality. We've produced a first printing of 100,000 copies, 35,000 of which have already been distributed by the Los Feliz Ledger. The remaining maps will be available for free at all the major park attractions and the Ranger Station on Crystal Springs Road. My great thanks go to Graham Marriott and his team at Cartifact, mapmakers located in downtown Los Angeles. As it happened, I met Graham, a constituent of the Hollywood Knolls, at a CD4 meeting and mentioned my idea of producing a first-class map of Griffith Park. He loved the idea too, and now we have the result in all its four-color, user-friendly glory. It tells us what we already know about the park and probably a lot we don't including its history and all about its flora and fauna... And it all fits in your pocket! Pick one up and let me know what you think.
Message from Tom: We need an LADWP upgrade
Dear Friends: In the wake of unprecedented LADWP power outages during the recent heat wave, unfortunately with one of the greatest number of incidents in CD4, I joined with my Council colleagues Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry and Wendy Greuel in support of “Operation COOL L.A.” The top call to action is an audit of infrastructure to assess where the agency is in its upgrading of facilities. Our “load,” jargon for the amount of power needed at a given time, has become intense. Many homes have computers, home entertainment systems and other electronics that use much more energy than just a decade ago. When air conditioning is going at full blast, the system can crash. I’ve been successful in getting up-pushed for upgrades for distribution grades in the Los Feliz, Los Feliz Oaks, Hollywood Knolls, Windsor Square and other, older neighborhoods and I will not let up in this effort. Some of our distribution stations are nearly 100 years old and have patched systems. An audit would help us prioritize our resources. We also are asking for a report on LADWP’s customer service operations. It is very distressing for customers to experience power outages, but it just intensifies their frustration when they cannot get answers or updates from LADWP operators. The agency has suffered from personnel cutbacks during prior administrations and this mandate should be revisited. We look forward to the findings of “Operation COOL L.A.”
Tom LaBonge
Sister Cities: Getting better as the years pass
Dear Friends:
As we go about city business, we are confronted with numerous challenges day in and day out, so it’s good when we can emphasize the positive. That’s what I did this week in City Council when I gave an overview to my council colleagues on our accomplishments with the Sister Cities of Los Angeles organization these past several years. As many of you know, I serve as president of L.A. Sister Cities and enjoy many great relationships with our 24 member cities, including our most recent member, Yerevan, Armenia. A delegation led by Council President Eric Garcetti traveled to Armenia earlier this year for the ceremony. This people-to-people program was created by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to strengthen citizen diplomacy and avoid future conflicts. As Los Angeles continues to thrive as one of the world’s most culturally diverse places, so too does our Sister Cities program. Our annual Sister Cities Cultural Day showcasing world music and dance performances has grown in size and stature and especially now that it is held at the Grove at Farmers Market.
I am always eager to lead a delegation to any of our Sister Cities around the world and will do so twice in the next three months when I join Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit for events marking the 40th anniversary of the Los Angeles-Berlin Sister Cities relationship.
TOM LABONGE
Welcome to the New Site!
Greetings, everyone! I hope you like our new Council District 4 website. We're coming into the webblog age by dispensing with the old, static-style home page and offering you, our constituents, up-to-the-minute news and photos about your neighborhood and your city.
We live in a very dynamic place, Los Angeles. We're part of the most sophisticated and regions in the world. So, it's my challenge to be in the loop through all the conventional ways -- driving through the district, attending meetings, taking and making telephone calls -- as well as taking advantage of all the high-tech ways too * via cell, Blackberry and e-mail, among others.
I've always been a visual person. As many of you know, I love photography and enjoy sharing my pictures with those I encounter as I go about city business as well as when I'm out and about as a resident of Los Angeles. This new webblog will make it easier for people to both see and print pictures of people and events taken from around the district.
I look forward to hearing from you!