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THIS IS THE MAIN NEWS PAGE
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IN THIS SITE
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Some links on these archived pages are not operative.
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This NONCOMMERCIAL site is a harmless hobby of George Garrigues, who has lived in the Westside Village district of Palms for 12 years. These pages have no connection with any organization.
Send him e-mail with corrections and comments.
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Leaders will be called to a neighborhood forum Below
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Spring 2005 standardized test scores for area schools: Charnock misses its target; Clover and Palms Middle remain at the top Schools page
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The long and the short of it: The Sun goofed Below
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THE HISTORY OF PALMS IS WRITTEN
IN ITS TREES
Palms, Dunn and Motor will be getting greener
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Abundant growth elsewhere in Palms:
Kingsland, left; Tabor, center; and Midvale, right.
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When Palms was founded in 1886, there weren't many trees to give shade — perhaps none!
Old photos of Los Angeles at the end of the 19th century show vast fields of mustard grass and not much else. The area around La Cienega was just a swamp.
But look at our community today!
Palms got an early start in the tree-planting endeavor. A news story from 1887 says that the 'incipient town' of Palms 'is no longer a misnomer, as the proprietors have planted two large palms near the depot and some 160 plants in various driveways.'
Palms people are continuing the 119-year-old tradition.
• A group of volunteers will plant trees on Palms Blvd. between Sepulveda and Overland on Saturday, Oct. 29 between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.
A news release tells us: "approximately 100 volunteers from Palms Middle School, local Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts, Venice High School students, members of the Mar Vista Community Council and Westside Village Civic Assn. and employees of Home Depot will join with TreePeople for the first of two, possibly three, tree plantings."
More on our Westside Village page.
• And Dunn Drive residents, along with the sparkplugs from the Pacifica Community Charter School on that street, will plant trees there on Nov. 5.
Says the school's Web site: "We have the full support of TreePeople, a private, nonprofit environmental organization whose mission is to inspire and support the people of Los Angeles as they plant and care for trees. They encourage the development of our urban forest here in Los Angeles. They will be here on November 5th to help ensure our success. . . . Over a year of preparation on this project will culminate in this extra special event." Go here for details.
• Finally, we know that a group of active neighborhood people has completed all of the necessary work for planting trees on Motor Ave. We are trying to find out more about it and will post the dope when we get the info. |
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2 officers on Overland are helping unsnarl one of the Westside's biggest traffic jams
Traffic-control officers are now supposed to be on duty on weekday mornings to help fix one of the Westside's most vexing traffic snarls — Overland Ave. where it crosses the I-10 Rosa Parks Freeway.
 You couldn't prove it by us — we stay away from that area in the morning — but the white-gloved, green-vested officers were supposed to be busy directing traffic there starting on Friday, Oct. 7.
One officer was to be on the north end of the overpass, where National Blvd. hits Overland directly opposite Palms Park and the other was to be on the south end, where National Place does the same thing at Blockbuster Video.
Those were two of 90 intersections throughout the city targeted in a new program pushed by Mayor Villaraigosa.
So actually Overland got two — count them, two — traffic guys (or gals), while all the other 88 intersections got only one apiece.
"This is a small step, but it's common sense," Villaraigosa said at a news conference at Barham Street and Cahuenga Boulevard, one of the city's most congested areas during rush hour.
"I have talked about the big things — extending the Red Line to the ocean, building the Exposition line, synchronizing traffic signals — but we have to do the small things, as well," the L.A. Daily News quoted him as saying.
Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who chairs the City Council's Transportation Committee, said the officers will spend the rest of their shifts on patrol, including working on the stolen-vehicle recovery program, the Daily News reported.
"This is an important new step to end the chokehold on traffic," Greuel said, adding that studies have shown that the use of traffic officers can improve flow by as much as 20 percent.
Los Angeles is considered to be behind the times when it comes to traffic signals, wrote Steve Hymon in the L.A. Times. Only 1,658 of the 4,325 intersections in the city are equipped with up-to-date synchronized lights, he reported.
At least 400 intersections need at least one left-hand turn arrow to help motorists avoid playing chicken with oncoming traffic, Hymon wrote. He continued:
"The officers are not overriding the timing of the lights, they're merely enforcing the rules," said John Fisher, the assistant general manager of the city's transportation department.
"All it takes is one car or pedestrian blocking the intersection and everything goes to pot."
New traffic signs have been posted on northbound Overland cautioning drivers about lane changes ahead.
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LEADERS WILL BE CALLED TO NEIGHBORHOOD FORUM
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Plans are moving ahead for the first gathering of Palms civic leaders in a Palms Leadership Forum.
On Oct. 5, the Representative Assembly of the Palms Neighborhood Council heard President Todd Robinson lay out his ideas for the forum. He plans to contact as many influential people in Palms as possible for the event.
The idea is to get input from the leaders on community projects that can be financed with the $50,000-a-year grant from the city government.
The photos show some of the ideas generated at an earlier meeting of the Outreach and Communications Committee of the Palms Council.
Photos from Palms Neighborhood Council.
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OOPS! WERE WE WRONG ABOUT THE SHORTEST STREET
IN OUR AREA!
 We said last month that it was Ellenda Place in Westside Village.
Not so. A reader signals us that it is actually Cheviot Vista Place, which runs for about 50 feet or so off of Valparaiso St. in the northerly reaches of Palms.
Cheviot Vista is atop a hill lined with apartments (both condos and rentals), as well as some interesting single-family houses. It dead-ends at steps leading down to Overland Ave. (the north-south street on the map).
It is so small that it is not even listed by Google maps. The one we have here is from Mapquest.
And as you can see, Ellenda Place is the runner-up
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