Tuesday evening more than 50 volunteers who serve as block captains in Hancock Park gathered at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to be recognized for their efforts by the neighborhood association leadership and to catch up on neighborhood news. There are 68 block captains that cover all of the 72 blocks of Hancock Park stretching from Melrose Avenue to the north, Wilshire Boulevard to the south, Highland Avenue to the west and Rossmore Avenue to the east.
Hancock Park Homeowners Association, Est. 1948 President Cindy Chvatal-Keane welcomed everyone and introduced a large number of guests, including LAPD Senior Lead Office Dave Cordova, SSA founders Terry Seagraves and Jerry Shaw, ADT representative Steve Kushner,  FILM LA  representative Guy Langman, CD 4 staff members Nikki Ezhari and Adeena Bleich (who recently joined the CD4 staff as Deputy Chief of Staff).  Many of the 17 HPHA board members also attended, including Peter Gorelick, chair of Security, Ben Thompson, Jen Devore, Tim Allyn, Bill Newby, Jim Wolf,  Patricia Alexander, Indy Flore, and Greg Glasser.  Filming chair Cami Taylor was recognized and Rossmore resident Gary Nelson was thanked for his efforts to plant new Split Leaf Elm trees on Rossmore Blvd., replacing trees that have been lost over the years.
Guy Langman, Community Outreach Liaison for Film LA, was on hand to answer any questions about filming. Langman’s office released a report this week showing that filming in the city has increased almost 12%, largely due to the return of tax incentives, but Hancock Park has actually seen a 22% drop in neighborhood filming. Langman attributed the reduction to his efforts to educate location mangers on the neighborhood’s opposition to late night filming. He asked block captains to let residents know their views on filming make a difference, and he passed out dozens of his business cards with a QR code on the back linking to Film LA’s survey at www.filmla.com/survery.
CD 4 Council Member David Ryu arrived during the meeting. Ryu did not make formal remarks, and instead chose to visit each table, sitting for awhile with each group. He was commended by residents for his efforts to secure funding for repair of Hancock Park’s concrete streets, which has been a major issue in the neighborhood. Recently, the neighborhood learned funding for repairs was included in the mayor’s budget, but the official amount of the allocation has not yet been released. According to Ryu last night, there could be some last minute changes to the number and he’s hoping he can increase the funding.
Hancock Park is required by its city-approved HPOZ to repair and replace the streets in the neighborhood with concrete. The issue of street repairs was significant in the council district election race last year, with both candidates promising to make good on the failed efforts by former Council Member Tom LaBonge to provide funding for the repairs.
Shortly after the election, Ryu committed money from his discretionary fund to conduct a pilot project to determine the cost of concrete road repairs and construction. The pilot project will repair sections of two streets and four intersections, one using city contractors and one using a private contractor. The pilot should have been done by now, said Ryu, but he’s continuing to push the city to prepare the bid materials so the process of requesting bids can commence. He also said recently that he has been advised that the Bureau of Street Services is now available to begin its part of the pilot. Work should begin in May, if all goes as promised, said Ryu.
