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An individual's actions should be presumed private,
while a government's actions should be presumed public.


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Reader moved from Palms 79 years ago but thinks about it often See his letter below

How many Palms property owners actually live in Palms?
(Darned few, if Jasmine Ave. is any example)

"Dear Neighbor," the letter began. It was addressed to a homeowner on Jasmine Ave. And it made that homeowner mad.

Because the letter, dated Nov. 17, 2006, came from someone who neither lived nor worked in Palms. It came from Gary Schaffel, who works in Van Nuys and lives in, well . . . the letter didn't say. Schaffel was applying for a building-line encroachment that would allow him to construct a new apartment stucture only 15 feet from the sidewalk, instead of the established 25 feet.

"This man is not my neighbor," Neal Zoromski told the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission on Feb. 7. Schaffel wants to construct his new building across the street from Zoromski's single-family house, one of the few left in this part of Palms.

"This man is not my neighbor."

How true. Only five of the 64 properties on those two blocks of Jasmine Ave. are owned by people with mailing addresses in Palms. And only Zoromski and Steven Siegel (in the same 3600 block) actually get mail at the property which they own: The other three get it through a business address elsewehere in Palms.

In the letter sent to all Jasmine Ave. property owners between Palms and Venice Blvds., Schaffel excoriated the Palms Neighborhood Council for its Nov. 1, 2006, resolution which stated that the council "is concerned about the reduction of open space in Palms and is opposed to the reduction of building setback requirements."

Schaffel wrote: "You, as a Palms Area property owner who will be the most seriously impacted by the Palms Neighborhood Council vote, have not been given a chance to let your voice be heard."

Not true.

All property owners in Palms are members of the Neighborhood Council and can attend the meetings and take part in Council activities if they want to.

". . . we should not allow the Palms Neighborhood Council . . . to deny us the ability to maximize the potential of our property in the future," Schaffel wrote to his fellow property owners.

Where do these Jasmine Ave. property owners get their mail? Not in Palms, for the most part. The breakdown by address is:

• Beverly Hills, 8.
• Marina Del Rey, 7.
• Palms, 5.
• Sherman Oaks and West Hollywood, 4 each.
• Venice and West Los Angeles (90064), 3 each.
• Bel Air, Brentwood, Cheviot Hills, Culver City, Granada Hills, Santa Monica, Valencia and West Los Angeles (90025) 2 each.
• Agoura Hills, Berkeley, Calabasas, Corona Del Mar, Glendale, Los Angeles 90004 (Larchmont-Western-Beverly), Los Angeles 90048 (Beverly Hills adjacent-Wilshire-San Vicente), Malibu, Mar Vista, Moorpark, Pacific Palisades, Studio City, Temple City and Van Nuys, 1 each.

Schaffel's bid for a building-line waiver was turned down by the West L.A. Area Planning Commission. Read the story here.

FRANK FREEMAN: Born in Palms, moved away, but thinks about it often

The author was born at 3671 Motor Ave. (between Regent and Tabor) and now lives in Winslow, Arizona

Dear George,

I have been so impressed with your Palms-Village Sun publication that I have prepared  a thumbnail sketch of you and it for my autobiography. If you have no objections to its contents, I would l like to included it in my autobiography. If you would rather that I not, I certainy will honor your wish.

Although I have no memories of the community of Palms where I was born some 81 years ago, for some unknown reason I developed an insatiable interest in learning more about the historic community of Palms. So, one afternoon I decided to surf the Internet. To my pleasant surprise, I found a very comprehensive and informative Web site named The Palms-Village Sun. It was unique in that it wasn't a site published by the Palms Governing Council or a city newspaper. It was the personal site of Mr. George Garrigues, a retired college professor and journalist, who coincidently was a graduate of the same the University where I graduated, the University of California at Riverside. He also graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles with a MA. And, he is a native Southern Californian. He made his home in the historic community of Palms. Mr. Garrigues' Web site was similar to a bi-weekly newspaper published  in  a small city, in that it contained up-to-date news stories, editorials, citizen opinions and letters from the citizens of Palms. What made the site unique, it also contained, among numerous other interesting aspects of the community, a wealth of information on historic Palms' growth and development, arts and culture, schools, maps, landmarks, and archive photos. Consequently, at least once every two weeks I visited The Palms-Village Sun Web site, to learn more about the oldest community located on the westside of Los Angeles. I recalled that I thought how fortunate the community of Palms was to have a journalist of

Mr. Garrigues' caliber living in Palms. I had spent over forty years of my life in municipal government and knew of no community citizen who was willing to voluntarily provide a municipality with such a high-quality Web site containing comprehensive information about the community. I never had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Garrigues. However, I was so impressed with Mr. Garrigues' site and his dedication to the little community of Palms, I decided to write him and convey my appreciation for his contribution to the community of Palms. I included a photograph of the metal statue of a guitar player standing on the City of Winslow's legendary corner made famous by the Eagles' hit song and record Take It Easy. The song's main vocal theme is "Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona . . . " Much to my surprise, while reading a subsequent edition of Mr. Garrigues' biweekly Palms-Village Sun, I found that he had published my letter along with the letters submitted from Palms citizens. Read that letter in our October 2006 issue.

Thanks, Frank, for the tribute.

Sincerely,

George Garrigues