The Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center at Palisades Charter High School ‘is fully excavated and the drain, skimmer and return lines are being installed,’ said general contractor Ben Lunsky on Tuesday.   ’Construction of the two buildings started this week,’ Lunsky continued. ‘Next week we start on the reinforcing steel, and then the concrete shell will follow.’   Lunsky, the CEO of Sarian Builders, said he is doing the pool ‘at no profit,’ and ‘we will be done the end of March 2010, as per schedule.’   PaliHi has raised just over $3 million towards a budgeted $4.3 million.

Concerned about the proliferation of cell-tower installations in residential neighborhoods, the Pacific Palisades Community Council unanimously passed a motion last Thursday to ask the city to change its regulations.   ’The city is exercising little, if any control,’ said Council Vice Chair Janet Turner, who drafted the motion with Council members Jack Allen, Chris Spitz, Barbara Kohn, Bill Davis and Peter Fisher.   The Council argues that the zoning code imposes requirements such as public notice and hearings on the placement, design and construction of cellular facilities on private property (as well as a few public properties) through the conditional-use permit process. However, these requirements do not apply to installations of cellular facilities on public right of ways such as residential parkways.   ’The Council objects to the regulatory process involving public right of ways and urges that the same or similar regulations that apply to the installation of cellular facilities on other properties be required for the installation of such facilities in the public right of ways,’ according to the motion.   To install a new pole on the public right of way, cell companies must apply through the Above Ground Facility (AGF) Ordinance, said Jeff La Dou, a management analysis administrator for the L.A. Bureau of Engineering, which oversees the AGF application. In that process, the cell companies must notify nearby residents, who can appeal to the Board of Public Works.   Cell companies can also make arrangements to use an existing utility pole in the public right of ways under the Joint Pole Agreement, a written contract between Southern California municipalities, utilities, cable companies and telecom providers allowing them to share the use of an existing utility pole. In that case, they are exempt from the permitting process and do not need to notify residents.   Sometimes, cell companies will replace a support utility pole with a much taller pole. The new taller pole is defined as existing because an additional pole was not added to the street, La Dou explained.   If cell companies want to install a new pole on private property, they have to apply for a conditional-use permit through the L.A. City Planning Department, La Dou said. Cell companies have to fulfill landscaping and visual requirements. Residents are notified and there is a hearing process.   The Council is asking that the same city agency oversee all cell-tower installations.   The Pacific Palisades Residents Association (PPRA) also passed a motion on July 13 asking that the L.A. Office of the City Attorney be directed to review the regulations pertaining to the installation of all cell towers and ‘that consistent with the city attorney’s recommendations the city enact a comprehensive new ordinance with clear and consistent standards and procedures regulating all wireless telecommunications facilities in the city and providing protection to communities and residential neighborhoods to the fullest extent possible under the law.’   Spitz, who serves on the PPRA board and actively fought a cell-tower installation near her home on Friends Street, said she strongly supports the motion.   ’I believe that Los Angeles is in need of a comprehensive new ordinance with consistent and clear regulation of all cellular facilities in the city and specific protections for residential neighborhoods to the fullest extent provided by law,’ Spitz told the Palisadian-Post. ‘On the other hand, as a member of the Community Council, I also support the Council’s motion, which is complementary to the PPRA motion and attempts to deal with an important piece of the larger puzzle, namely regulation of cellular facilities in the public right of ways.’   The Council and PPRA both asked the city to place a moratorium on cell-tower installations until the issue can be addressed.   City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, representing District 11, first submitted a motion in September 2008 asking the city attorney’s office to review the AGF Ordinance following the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold San Diego’s limits on placement, size and design of cell towers. The court’s decision gave him hope that the city could exercise greater control over the aesthetics and placement of cell towers.   The motion was deferred to the City Council’s Public Works Committee, which recently asked the city attorney to review all of the city’s cell-tower regulations on both public rights of way as well as private properties, said Norm Kulla, Rosendahl’s northern district director and senior counsel.   ’We need to have a regulatory scheme that is consistent and reasonable,’ Kulla told the Post on Tuesday, adding that the city attorney’s office is meeting with the various city departments to develop a comprehensive plan that gives residential communities more protection.   ’We have lots of good ideas,’ Kulla said, noting the Palisades community has taken the lead on this issue. ‘We just need to pull it together.’

If the Santa Monica bluffs stabilization project begins in October as hoped, the northbound lane of Pacific Coast Highway closest to the bluffs will be closed from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday until April 2010. The project involves drilling and installation of 100 hydraugers (perforated pipes an inch and a half in diameter) into the steep hillside from the California Incline to the northwest boundary of Santa Monica at Adelaide Drive. The goal is to decrease the deterioration of the bluffs caused by localized slope failures and groundwater seepage. The original permit allowed for construction from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but according to Mark Cuneo, Santa Monica’s principal civil engineer, contractors weren’t bidding on the project because of the limited times and hours. They told him it would take a minimum of two hours for setup and take down, and require more than two years to finish. At an emergency PCH Task Force meeting on July 30, Cuneo offered several options, including blocking off the far-right northbound lane entirely with K-rails. This would allow crews to work longer hours, but would mean permanently closing one of the three lanes for eight months. When asked about extending hours and adding night work instead of a permanent lane closure, Cuneo said the night alternative was not included in the original environmental impact study and a new one could take about six months to complete. Asked about delaying the project, Cuneo replied that the city of Santa Monica didn’t want to be under construction when the City of Los Angeles starts work on the coastal intercept sewer (along PCH near Chautauqua) in the fall of 2010. He added that because the bluffs project is under Federal funding, there is a time limit for completion. A consensus reached between Santa Monica, Malibu, Pacific Palisades and City of Los Angeles officials and residents was that Cuneo would explore extending construction hours from as early as 5 a.m. to as late as 3 p.m., five or six days a week. He has since filed an environmental report that includes night work, starting next January, if it is approved. With the added night hours, the project might be completed as early as next Memorial Day.   Cuneo said he was hopeful that with increased hours and work days offered, more construction firms would now bid and the project can still begin in October. A week after the emergency meeting, the longer construction hours were announced. ‘This is not as wide of a window as requested, but is what Caltrans considers the widest window based on the traffic volumes present,’ wrote Caltrans senior transportation engineer James Riley in an e-mail to task force members. He noted that Caltrans will not allow construction on the bluffs in June, July or August during the beach season. And May will have limited hours and days for construction, as per the original permit. Caltrans and the City of Santa Monica promise future joint press conferences prior to construction.

Palisadians were part of the fun when Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles held its 16th annual food- and wine-tasting event on Sunday, August 9 at the Bel-Air Bay Club above Pacific Coast Highway. Some 650 attendees were treated to generous samples created by California wineries and gourmet restaurants at ‘Uncork A Wish,’ with proceeds helping Make-A-Wish grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Laurie Kaman, a Palisadian and television advertising executive who is on Make-A-Wish’s board of directors, has been participating in the organization’s fundraising for two decades. ‘This is our first year at the Bel-Air Bay Club and the first time we’ve held this event on a Sunday,’ Kaman said. ‘This was an opportunity to change it up in a changing economy.’ Organizers said the event raised close to $200,000. Kaman’s friend and fellow Palisdian Kathy Barnes, founder of the chocolate enterprise Coco Fix, has been taking part in ‘Uncork’ for five years. The pair fondly recalled Yveline, an 8-year-old Haitian girl dying from a brain tumor whom they afforded a week-long trip to Disneyworld with a $5,000 donation. Make-A-Wish raises $3.5 million annually in Southern California and grants more than 300 wishes to kids in Los Angeles County, ranging from trips to visit out-of-state relatives to shopping sprees and Sweet 16 and quincea’era parties. Auction items included artwork from Make-A-Wish children, V.I.P. tickets to ‘Dancing With the Stars’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance,’ a walk-on role on the Steven Spielberg-produced Showtime program ‘United States of Tara,’ vacation packages to Africa and Aruba, and a one-on-one visit with superstar Laker Kobe Bryant (which went for a seemingly cheap $2,000 to the highest bidder). Strolling around the classy, venerable Bay Club (a Palisades fixture since the late 1920s), one could enjoy an endless selection of gourmet food and fine wine. Yet arguably the most popular restaurateur represented was Pink’s, the venerable West Hollywood stand known for such signature hot dogs as the Guadalajara Dog and the Lord of the Rings. Lo and behold, wearing her signature pink blazer and accessorizing with a pink Nokia, was Gloria Pink, co-owner of the La Brea-and-Melrose landmark. Pink was joined by husband (and Pink’s co-owner) Richard Pink, and Richard’s sister, Beverly Pink Wolfe. ‘We call it ‘chili dogs for charity,” Richard said of Pink’s donation to the event. The Pink family also expressed their excitement about November 7, when comedian Bill Cosby, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and KCET personality Huell Howser will celebrate Pink’s 70th anniversary. ‘He calls it the ‘Howser Bowser,” Gloria Pink said of the latter’s nickname for the Huell Dog, a tortilla-wrapped double dog at Pink’s. Guest Ken Davitian, the heavy-set character actor best known for his roles in the hit movies ‘Borat’ (including the infamous nude wrestling scene) and ‘Get Smart,’ was in good spirits. ‘I have two children,’ Davitian told the Palisadian-Post, ‘one of whom was diagnosed at birth with a disease but is now terrific. So I have a soft space in my heart for kids.’ The Armenian-American actor added that he is also involved in St. Jude Hospital and like-minded Armenian organizations. Patricia Rubio, a Palisadian by way of Chicago who had bid on several items, said she exercised all morning before attending ‘Uncork.’ ‘I’ve been eating my way through this event,’ she said, laughing. Rubio told the Post that her support was personal, as the Foundation had granted her niece, Alexandria, a Disneyworld trip. ‘She was a year-and-a-half when they found a brain tumor,’ Rubio said. ‘She was in and out of chemotherapy until she was three.’ But that was a decade ago. Today, Alexandra is 14, leading a normal, healthy, cancer-free life. ‘When everything is going wrong and things appear dark,’ Rubio said, ‘Make-A-Wish gives them a little joy and hope.’