Earlier this year, Pacific Palisades Community Council member Chris Spitz joined her neighbors in opposing the installation of a T-Mobile cell tower near her home on Friends Street. ‘We wrote letters, and we really fought,’ said Spitz, who spent weeks researching the regulations regarding cell tower installations. She and her neighbors were concerned that the T-Mobile pole would create aesthetic blight since it would be located next to Potrero Canyon (a public park) and in a coastal zone. The residents also thought there was adequate cell coverage in the area, and they argued that T-Mobile’s own Web site even indicated that was the case. Shortly thereafter, T-Mobile withdrew its application. After the situation on Friends Street arose, Spitz discovered that T-Mobile had also applied for cell towers on upper and lower El Medio Avenue and actually installed one on De Pauw Street. She then learned that communities across the city, state and nation are fighting the proliferation of cell towers. Last Thursday, Spitz asked the Community Council to pass a motion that would endorse the repeal or modification of Section 704 of the Telecommun-ications Act of 1996 in order to give local government authority over cell-tower regulations. The Federal Communications Commission is seeking public comment by June 8 on the National Broadband Plan that will be implemented in 2010. Spitz told the Council that the Telecommunications Act ‘takes away control from local governments and communities to regulate.’ The Council voted 14 in favor and two against (with two abstentions) to endorse Spitz’s motion and agreed to send the FCC a comment that reads: ‘We, the undersigned, call for the U.S. Congress to repeal limitations on state and local authority imposed by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and permit state and local governments to regulate the placement, construction and modification of telecommunications towers and other personal wireless services facilities.’ In addition, the Council is asking L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to take the same position and encourage the City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to follow suit. The Pacific Palisades Residents Association, of which Spitz is a member, sent a similar letter to Rosendahl and the FCC. Rosendahl told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday, ‘I totally agree with them. I have strongly taken issue with the federal law. The cell companies went to Washington, and as a result, took away our power and authority.’ He said he will write to the FCC and added that he is concerned about the health risks of radio frequency emissions from cell towers, which has been highly debated. The Telecommunications Act does not allow state or local governments to deny cell towers ‘on the basis of environmental effects on radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the Commission’s regulations.’ After the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld San Diego’s limits on the placement, size and design of towers and poles in the Sprint v. County of San Diego case in September 2008, Rosendahl introduced a motion in City Council to ask the L.A. City Attorney to review the city’s Above Ground Facility (AGF) Ordinance (which regulates cell towers on public right of ways), in hopes 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 will discuss the matter on June 17.   ’This is the beginning of a movement,’ Spitz told the Palisadian-Post. L.A. County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsy and Michael Antonovich presented a motion to their five-member board on Tuesday ‘to actively seek and support federal legislation to repeal limitations on state and local authority imposed by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.’ The board’s vote was not available at press time. In Los Angeles, there are three ways cell companies can erect towers. 1) To install a new pole on the public right of way, cell companies must apply through the AGF Ordinance, said Jeff La Dou, a management analysis administrator of L.A. Bureau of Engineering, which oversees the AGF application. In that process, the cell companies must notify nearby residents, who can appeal to a single commissioner on the Board of Public Works. The commissioner will submit his or her decision to the entire board for final approval. 2) If cell companies want to install a pole on private property, they have to receive a conditional-use permit through the City Planning Department, La Dou said. Residents are notified and there is a hearing process. 3) Cell companies can also make arrangements to use an existing utility pole, and in that case, they are exempt from the permitting process. On upper El Medio (above Sunset), T-Mobile filed an AGF application for permission to erect a pole and obtained approval. Residents appealed the decision and T-Mobile cancelled its application. On lower El Medio (below Sunset), T-Mobile filed an AGF application and has received approval. On DePauw, T-Mobile replaced an existing support utility pole with a much taller pole and added its cell equipment. La Dou said this often upsets residents because the new, taller pole is considered an existing pole; therefore, the cell company does not have to receive a permit or notify the neighbors. The pole is defined as existing because an additional pole was not added to the street. Until the law can be changed, Spitz and other members of Community Council plan to meet with T-Mobile to discuss its plans for Pacific Palisades. ‘Hopefully, we can work with them,’ Spitz said.

Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Captain Steve Ruda confirmed on Tuesday that several fire stations, including Station 69 in Pacific Palisades, will lose firefighters sometime this summer. ‘We have been asked to trim $56.6 million from our budget,’ Ruda said. ‘The only way to address that is to cut personnel because the highest percentage of our budget is salary.’ The date these cuts go into effect is not yet known. The plan is to keep all LAFD stations open, but reduce the number of firefighters working. If a firefighter is sick or on vacation in one part of the city, another one will be sent to replace him (or her), which could leave an engine unmanned at Station 69, located on Sunset at Carey. ‘Will Pacific Palisades be understaffed?’ Ruda asked, and then responded, ‘Yes, it’s kind of like Russian roulette. You just hope that when Pacific Palisades residents are calling 911, that the ‘rolling brownouts’ won’t affect the community.’ Ruda recalled that in the 1990s, fire stations were closed in order to balance the budget. ‘Once lives were lost because of the closures, the City Council changed the policy,’ he said. At Station 69, there are three different shifts, with 12 men and two captains. They provide 24-hour, seven-day a week coverage. The station has a ‘task force,’ which means it has an engine (four firefighters), a ladder truck and a pumping engine (six firefighters). It also has a paramedic unit (two firefighters). If there are not enough people to man the engine, the pumping engine will have to go on a rescue run with paramedics. Since the pumping engine always accompanies the hook and ladder truck, the ladder truck, which carries the ‘Jaws of Life’ and other heavy equipment, will not have the manpower to operate. ‘From the ocean to the 405 freeway this is the only ladder truck available,’ said Captain Kevin Kearns at Station 69. Neither Station 23 nor Station 19 (Bundy and Sunset) has one. ‘A ladder truck would have to come from Venice or Westwood. So this will impact Pacific Palisades.’ Ruda was sympathetic when asked about the lack of a ladder truck for Pacific Palisades because of its geographical isolation, but said the department has no choice because of the mandated cuts. ‘We’ve been asked to cut the fat,’ he said. ‘But we have no fat to cut, we’re cutting into the muscles now.   ’Services will come from a longer distance,’ Ruda continued. ‘As firefighters we pride ourselves on fast response. It hurts us as well.’ He explained that if Station 69’s ladder truck is engaged in a long-time emergency, trucks from other areas will ‘move up’ to this area.

Shortly after Michelle Mahanian began volunteering at the UCLA Medical Center in 2002, she noticed that patients tended to become depressed as a result of long-term hospitalization. ‘There is basically nothing for them to do except watch TV reruns,’ said Mahanian, who graduated from Palisades Charter High School in 2005. Since patients have a better chance of healing if they have a positive disposition, she started a program called Music to Heal in 2004. Mahanian, who plays the flute and piano, recruited fellow students from PaliHi to perform for chronically ill patients. When she started college at UCLA in fall 2005, Mahanian kept the program going by bringing aboard UCLA students and other musicians from around L.A. Her organization now has more than 100 volunteers serving UCLA Medical Center. On Sunday, June 7, Mahanian will receive the first Gilbert Award at the inaugural Pali Spirit Award dinner at the Sheraton Delfina hotel in Santa Monica. PaliHi English teacher Rose Gilbert has established the annual award to acknowledge outstanding alumni who have demonstrated humanitarian values. Gilbert, 90 and still teaching, will also be recognized on Sunday with the Pali Spirit Award for donating $2 million toward the construction of the Maggie Gilbert Aquatic Center, which should be complete by early 2010. This new award will be given annually to those who have made a positive contribution to PaliHi. Mahanian took two advanced placement English classes from Gilbert, who recalls that ‘Michelle was always enthusiastic and full of spirit; she was spunky.’ A native of Brentwood, Mahanian took a total of 10 advanced placement classes at PaliHi. In the summer before college, she wrote a study guidebook, ‘The Smarty Pants Guide to the AP Environmental Science Exam.’ She has since sold 3,000 copies nationwide through Amazon and various bookstores. This month, Mahanian will graduate summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA. Her entire schooling was paid for through UCLA’s Regent Scholarship and Alumni Association Scholarship programs. Mahanian, 21, majored in neuroscience and conducted research on Alzheimer’s disease, co-authoring five research papers for various scientific journals on the subject. She belongs to a team that is developing a diagnostic blood test for detecting early signs of Alzheimer’s. Last year, she received a $10,000 scholarship from the Donald A. Strauss Foundation and the UCLA Medical Center for her volunteer work with Music to Heal. ‘Instead of using it for myself, I dedicated the entire scholarship to establishing the Music Enrichment Program at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital,’ Mahanian said. With the money, she purchased a wide array of musical instruments for the children’s playrooms and installed a recording studio. ‘They can record CDs and make their own music,’ Mahanian said, adding that Music to Heal volunteers give music lessons to the children. Mahanian wanted to start the program so that children who are often unable to attend school can develop and heal through music. ‘They gain musical skills while they are there, which they can use for the rest of their lives,’ said Mahanian, whose parents Jacqueline and Albert work in real estate. Her brother, Robert, owns a marketing firm and her sister, Nicole, is a freshman at UCLA. Although Mahanian was admitted to four other medical schools, she plans to stay at UCLA, where she received a four-year, full-tuition merit scholarship. She hasn’t chosen her medical specialty yet, but is passionate about the field given that it combines all of her interests: writing, researching and helping people. Mahanian is grateful that Gilbert selected her for the award. ‘She is really my role model,’ Mahanian said. ‘She has contributed so much to her students, UCLA [also Gilbert’s alma mater] and the community. It means so much to me. I love her.’ To attend Sunday’s dinner, contact Jeanne Goldsmith at (310) 454-9033. Tickets are $150. Donations on behalf of the pool can be sent to PaliHi’s Chief Business Officer Greg Wood at P.O. Box 1011, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272.

In an upbeat performance, a group of Paul Revere Middle School students provided musical entertainment Sunday afternoon at the Oak Room, singing Dion & The Belmonts’ ‘Teenager in Love’ as part of the annual Lori Petrick Excellence in Education Award ceremony. The seventh and eighth graders are in Vanessa Ling Dokko’s advanced choir class, and they served as an example of how she fosters musical talent and why she was one of eight educators to receive a crystal trophy and a $2,000 grant from the Palisades Charter Schools Foundation. Since 2003, the foundation has given the award in honor of the late Lori Petrick, a popular third- and fourth-grade teacher at Marquez and Palisades Elementary schools, respectively. The winners also received certificates from State Senator Fran Pavley and State Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, who were unable to attend. Foundation members Eileen Savage and Susie Newman co-emceed the event, which had about 35 attendees. Paul Revere Middle School Principal Fern Somoza presented Dokko and her music department colleagues, Yosuke Miyoshi and Lara Jacques, with their awards. This is Somoza’s first year at Paul Revere, and ‘I could not believe my ears when I first heard the music coming from a classroom. I then found out they were just warming up,’ she said. Somoza, who believes that music gives students a sense of belonging, said she is ‘thrilled to see music as an essential part of our curriculum at Revere.’ Miyoshi’s students Casey Dye, Joey Galasso and Mia Yu also performed at the ceremony as part of a windwood trio. Palisades Charter High School Executive Director Amy Dresser-Held congratulated teachers Karyn Newbill, Steve Engelmann and counselor Bella McGowan for their work. She noted that Engelmann teaches students how to become leaders in his Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) elective class, in which students complete a community service project with the help of technology. ‘He brings a passion and expertise to his teaching,’ Dresser-Held said. Newbill, who teaches marine biology and serves as the science department chair, is a veteran teacher who is constantly looking for new, innovative ways to improve her practice, Dresser-Held said. ‘She’s an amazing teacher who exudes boundless energy for what she does.’ Dresser-Held then thanked McGowan for comforting students and helping them cope with their grief whenever the school has lost a member of the student body to tragedy.   Kenter Canyon Principal Terry Moren acknowledged first-grade teacher Julie Paiva, saying that one day he peeked into her classroom and became so engrossed with the lesson that he stayed for 45 minutes without realizing it. He emphasized that she spends countless hours developing lesson plans and tailoring the homework to each child. ‘It makes me proud to have her on our staff,’ he said. Ana Silka, a junior at PaliHi, talked about her experiences as a student in Marquez Elementary first-grade teacher Lisa Timmerman’s class. Silka, who also had Timmerman in third grade, said she would often cry when she arrived at school in the morning. Timmerman would walk out to her parents’ car, ‘grab my hand and say ‘Let’s go, Ana Banana,’ and then she would walk me to class.’ Silka thanked Timmerman for teaching her multiplication, cursive writing and how to spell. ‘I really look up to her,’ Silka said, adding that she and other PaliHi students in Timmerman’s class often reminisce about the fun they had. To conclude the afternoon festivities, Newman read comments about Timmerman from Marquez Elementary Principal Phil Hollis, who was unable to attend. ‘Timmerman is creative, intuitive, ambitious and is serious about her profession,’ Hollis wrote. ‘Her undaunted determination to ensure that every child succeeds is evident as soon as you walk into her classroom.’