This Wednesday night at Plummer Park, two West Hollywood Eastside neighborhood watch groups are sitting down with West Hollywood Station Captain Fanny Lapkin and City Manager Jackie Rocco. Two people residents will appreciate hearing from.
The meeting will be held at the Great Hall in Plummer Park. That address is 1200 N. Vista just off Santa Monica Blvd. It starts at 6:00 p.m.
The WeHo Eastside Neighborhood Watch and the Ogden Owls put this together jointly. There’s a lot on the agenda as listed on the flyer shared with WEHOonline. Topics like the Bond Hotel development. The possible closure of the BRICK gym. Recent coyotes overrunning neighborhoods. The Flock traffic camera controversy. Bike lanes on Gardner. What’s happening with Plummer Park. And whatever the City is planning for the Fountain Avenue corridor, which a lot of residents on the Eastside have had questions about and issues with for a while now. Full disclosure, I live on the Eastside and have noticed a decrease in coyote sightings on the “Poinsettia loop” which includes both Poinsettia Place and Drive.
Related Coverage:
• West Hollywood Selects Jackie Rocco as Its First Female City Manager
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• Planning Commission Approves Bond Hotel Project Over BRICK Gym Site
Lapkin has shown up for this group before. She was at Plummer Park last April talking crime trends. That meeting pulled in Mayor Chelsea Byers, Vice Mayor John Heilman, and Councilmember Lauren Meister too, all of them offering updates on what the City’s been working on, including West Hollywood’s drone program.
Rocco is about three months into the City Manager job. The City Council selected her on December 1 and she took over in January when David Wilson retired. But she’s hardly new to City Hall — she’s been there since 2008, working her way up from Parking Operations Manager through Public Works Director, Deputy City Manager, and Assistant City Manager. She’s the City’s first female City Manager. Wednesday is thought to be one of her first neighborhood-level public appearances in the new role.
The Eastside group’s whole pitch is fairly simple: the eastside deserves the same attention the westside and the Rainbow District gets. The Ogden Owls cover Ogden Drive, Orange Grove, and Genesee. Mike Carter runs that group.
The Eastside Neighborhood Watch group describes its mission as making the Eastside of West Hollywood as good or better than the westside. The group works in partnership with the City and LASD on public safety and quality-of-life issues and maintains a regular meeting schedule at Plummer Park.
West Hollywood’s Neighborhood Watch Groups
West Hollywood has several active neighborhood watch groups recognized by the City. The full list includes:
WeHo East Neighborhood Watch — Eastside, with meetings typically held at Plummer Park.
Ogden Owls Neighborhood Watch — Ogden Drive, Orange Grove, and Genesee Avenue, between Santa Monica Boulevard and Fountain Avenue.
Cynthia-Sunset Neighborhood Watch — Doheny to the west, Sunset to the north, San Vicente to the east, and Cynthia to the south.
West Hollywood West Residents Association — Area bounded by Doheny, Beverly, La Cienega, and Melrose.
West Hollywood North Neighborhood Association — Holloway, Westbourne, Westmount, Hancock, Alta Loma, La Cienega, Cynthia, Palm, Larrabee, San Vicente, Betty Way, Sunset, and Santa Monica Blvd corridors in the north.
West Hollywood Heights Neighborhood Association — Horn, Shoreham, Sherbourne, Clark, Larrabee, and Ozeta Terrace.
Flores Street “Gelson Heights” Neighborhood Watch — 1100 and 1200 blocks of Flores Street between Santa Monica Blvd and Fountain Avenue.
Harper/Sweetzer Neighborhood Watch — 1100 and 1200 blocks of Harper and Sweetzer.
City Center United Neighborhood Watch — Havenhurst to the west, Fountain to the south, Fairfax to the east, and Sunset to the north, including De Longpre Avenue.
Tri-West Residents Association — Rugby Drive between Westbourne and Westmount.
The City’s Neighborhood Watch program page has contact information and boundaries for all groups.
There should be a Fountain Avenue Watch Group formed. Many areas are not covered by the formed groups and they should have had a voice in Fountain Avenues future plans.
I agree; we are trying to get folks organized east of Genesee but the effort is fragmented. But the best tool is to show up to meetings like ours and met others who feel impacted by the project.