21. April 2010 by admin.

First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy Austin Beutner was appointed Interim General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power by the Board of Water and Power Commissioners today.  Mr. Beutner had been nominated for the position by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on April 19, 2010.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Austin Beutner for the past few months in his capacity as First Deputy Mayor, a role to which he has brought a new vigor and great foresight,” said Lee Kanon Alpert, President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners.  “He brings to us a wealth of experience and knowledge in finance and business that we need here at the Department.  I am pleased to welcome him aboard.”

Mr. Beutner will be charged with performing a financial and operational review of the nation’s largest municipal utility, while developing and implementing customer-friendly reforms for the residential and commercial/industrial sectors and leading the search for his successor, a permanent general manager.  He will oversee LADWP’s many green efforts to reduce the effects of climate change including the integration of renewable energy sources into the power supply and preparing the Department and the City for the commercial launch of electric vehicles, scheduled for later this year.  Mr. Beutner will also be responsible for the execution of the Mayor’s Water Supply Action Plan, a multi-pronged approach to reducing the City’s reliance on imported water, and leading the Department’s aggressive initiative to revitalize water and power infrastructure, among a host of other high-level action items.

He will continue to serve as First Deputy Mayor and Chief Executive for Economic and Business Policy, a post to which he was appointed on January 11, 2010.  During this tenure, Mr. Beutner has been credited with making progress in recrafting the City’s approach to economic development, business attraction and retention, and job creation for Angelenos.

Although well known as an investment banker, with his appointment as First Deputy Mayor, Mr. Beutner marks a return to the public sector.  After a successful run on Wall Street during which he was named the youngest partner ever at the investment and advisory firm Blackstone, Mr. Beutner joined the U.S. State Department, where he worked in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.  During this time, he led a team to help the nation transition to a market economy through the development of mortgage and business lending vehicles, the creation of a fund to invest in small to medium-sized businesses, and job creation.  Thereafter, in 1996, with former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, Mr. Beutner founded the investment bank Evercore Partners, which he helped build into a leading financial services firm.

Mr. Beutner’s interim appointment begins on April 20, 2010, and will last up to six months.  The Board set Mr. Beutner’s salary at a rate of $1 for the duration of his appointment.

Posted in community, LOS ANGELES | Print | No Comments »

20. April 2010 by admin.

Below is a list of our candidates for the upcoming OPNC ELECTIONS. Available CANDIDATE STATEMENTS may be accessed by clicking on an individual’s name. ELECTION DAY for our NC is THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010 and our polling location will be QUEEN ANNE RECREATION CENTER.

At-Large Representative
HELENE MAIDAN

Community-Based Organization Representatives
JOSEPH F. HANCOCK
KELLY U. MCCONNELL

East Area Representatives
SHERRI L. WOODS
RODOLFO A. RIVERA
ISAURA RIVERA-ANAGNOS
PETER SCHULBERG
AMADO PERAZA
LEOPOLDO GUERRERO
E. NERO SMERALDO

Senior Citizen Representative
PAMELA WHITTENBURY

West Area Representatives
JOHN JAKE
LAURA RUDISON
JULI VIZZA

Posted in elections, community, LOS ANGELES, outreach, neighborhood, opnc | Print | No Comments »

9. April 2010 by admin.

Come join Olympic Park Neighborhood Council at the Wellington Square Farmer’s Market on Sunday April, 2010.  We will be there with Candidate Statements for those stakeholders running in the upcoming elections on May 13, 2010.  So if you are running for a seat on the OPNC board and you wish to have your statement read by potential voters, please send them to jvizza@theopnc.org.  This is a great opportunity to support a local farmers market, meet some neighbors, get to know the candidates and learn about your neighborhood council.  We look forward to seeing you there on Sunday April 25, 2010! Wellington Square farmers market, 4394 W. Washington Blvd., at Wellington Road (two blocks west of Crenshaw Boulevard), Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Posted in elections, community, LOS ANGELES, outreach, event, neighborhood | Print | 1 Comment »

1. April 2010 by admin.

The monthly Olympic Park Neighborhood Board of Directors’ meeting will be held on Monday, April 5, 2010 – 7:00 PM at the LAPD West Bureau Community Room – 4849 West Venice Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90019. Upcoming OPNC Board elections, budget issues and cellular telephone tower placement in residential neighborhoods are some planned topics of discussion. Stakeholders are invited to attend and learn about participating in the NC system. Click on the Agenda to the left to view or dowload here: OPNC AGENDA 040510

Contact admin@theopnc.org for further information.

Posted in community, budget, outreach, agenda, opnc | Print | 1 Comment »

27. March 2010 by admin.

From our friends at NECA…

You are VERY welcome to join this Saturday’s meeting of NECA — the North East Central Alliance of Neighborhood Councils. Free to attend, it’s  Saturday, March 27 from 10:30am-12:30pm, at the Glassell Park Community Center, 3750 N. Verdugo, Los Angeles, CA 90065. The special speakers are L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti, Board of Neighborhood Commissioners Vice President Albert Abrams, and Jack Humphreville, president of the DWP Advocacy Committee.  They will appear one after the other. We’ll hear about and discuss such crucial topics as the city’s budget crisis, the status of DONE, and the controversial proposed “ECAF” rate hikes associated with DWP.  There will be Q&A, of course.

NECA meetings are open to the officers and other board members of the many Neighborhood Councils in the Central and East areas, and to stakeholders and other guests from throughout the city.  Alliances such as NECA are NOT governed by the Brown Act, in part because generally, alliances do not solicit or attract that level of representation from any one NC.  But we always urge appropriate sensitivity, common sense and responsibility regarding such matters, in particular when any individual NC has many members present.  Motions can be made as part of a NECA meeting, though none are presently scheduled for this Saturday.

An Alliance is a great way of building a shared voice and common purpose.  NECA is NOT about conquering territory — it’s about developing relationships and helping each other in local and civic causes. In our brief history, we’ve enjoyed meetings that have been provocative, informative and hopefully transformative, but we’ve also sought to be supportive, or at least respectful, and not belittling toward each other and our guests. To this meeting, we’re inviting current board members, but also newly elected ones who are not yet in office, and even some whose status may be in doubt:  a later NECA meeting, but not this one, will be focused on ways to examine and improve NC elections.

I hope you’ll contact me with any questions or comments, and an RSVP is especially useful.  Our meeting is scheduled to start at 10:30 and end at 12:30 but might last a bit later, in part to accommodate some folks who may try to attend other meetings, but also because we expect some great discussion.

Thanks again - Paul Michael Neuman (also, co-chair of Silver Lake NC) / pmneuman@yahoo.com

Download the agenda here:  NECA AGENDA 032710

Posted in community, NECA, LOS ANGELES, outreach, agenda, meeting, neighborhood | Print | 1 Comment »

17. March 2010 by admin.

The weekly Wellington Square Farmers Market opens this Sunday, March 21 9am-1pm 4394 W. Washington Boulevard in the Smyrna Church parking lot. A California Certified Farmers Market. Fresh fruits and vegetables grown using no pesticides, picked ripe and brought directly to you. Download the flyer: farmers-market.pdf

Posted in community, LOS ANGELES, event, neighborhood | Print | No Comments »

17. March 2010 by admin.

INVITE Your Friends and Neighbors - PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT LA HIGH SCHOOL

This SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 2010, 10am - 2pm

Safely dispose of your E-Waste items
Residential and Business E-Waste accepted

E- WASTE COLLECTION AT LA HIGH SCHOOL
4650 W Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
PH:  323 900 2700

FREE Recycling, Disposal of televisions, computer monitors, computers, printers, circuit boards, computer peripherals, copiers, faxes, Tape/DVD/CD players, telephones, cell phones, audio-visual equipment, rechargeable batteries - working or not!

NO broken glass, fluorescent devices, large household appliances, hazardous-toxic materials or substances.

Posted in recycling, community, LOS ANGELES, event, neighborhood | Print | 1 Comment »