More than 20 local business owners attended a second merchants meeting at the Chamber of Commerce office on July 8 to discuss events that could promote shopping in Pacific Palisades. ‘We had a nice turnout of enthusiastic merchants,’ said Roy Robbins, owner of the gift and stationery store on Swarthmore. All of the town’s merchants were invited and need not belong to the Chamber to attend these ongoing meetings. Many of the merchants wanted to know how this group’s function differs from SHOPP, which also promotes local shopping. Marni Diamond, former co-owner of Spanky Lane on Via de la Paz, started SHOPP (Shop Pacific Palisades) early this year. ‘Marni is raising awareness to encourage people to shop locally,’ Robbins said. ‘We’re all about giving residents a reason to stay in town when they shop. The two groups are working in tandem.’ ‘Our goal is to come up with about a half-dozen events or campaigns to entice customers to keep shopping in the Village,’ explained Denise Martinez, owner of Boca, a woman’s clothing store on Swarthmore. ‘The Chamber felt that the timing was right to resurrect an effective merchants group,’ Robbins said. ‘Everyone recognizes that the economy is tough.’ ‘This is a way to create camaraderie and promote events,’ Martinez said. ‘We are also more powerful as a group,’ Robbins said. The first promotion will be a coupon card that features a one-time, 20-percent-off-any-item discount at about 40 participating stores. The card should reach Palisades homes in early August. The merchants also discussed plans to make holiday shopping in the Palisades more enticing. They hope to open the season the day after Thanksgiving with a tax-free day, free parking, and evening hours. Participating merchants will decorate their store windows, with customers asked to vote for their favorite. On December 5, there will be a holiday stroll, like the one on Montana Avenue; the following Friday, Santa will come to town during the annual Ho!Ho!Ho! The merchants will meet again in August. Robbins and Martinez are looking for people who are willing to get involved and work on committees. People who have an idea for a shopping promotion can e-mail info@palisadeschamber.com.

Residents living on Akron Street have long been upset and frustrated by the many cars speeding along that curvy, hilly connector road between Bienveneda Avenue and Lachman Lane. In the past year, for example, more than 10 parked cars have been scraped or had their side mirrors damaged, and numerous pets have been injured or killed by careless drivers, according to a neighborhood survey. Akron’s posted speed limit of 25 mph is hardly a deterrent, neighbors told the Palisadian-Post. Hoping to slow traffic, residents of the 69 homes that line the street have tried for years to have speed humps installed, but had always been rejected’until this spring, when they achieved a partial victory. A petition for a speed hump on upper Akron between Chattanooga and Lachman Lane was approved on May 5. Residents received a letter stating, ‘As you know, this location was earlier investigated for excessive speeding, and speed humps were recommended as the appropriate traffic measure.’ L.A. Principal Transportation Engineer Glen Ogura has confirmed that a speed hump will be installed on upper Akron by the end of July. Dan Urbach, who lives on lower Akron between Chattanooga and Bienveneda, has applied for a speed hump on that portion of the road. ‘We have his application and we are in the process of doing a study,’ Ogura said. Once the study is completed and if it confirms that the requirements for a speed hump are met, the next step is to have at least 75 percent of the residents sign the petition. The upper-Akron petition garnered 83 percent support. The process to acquired the first speed hump started in February 2007 when Akron residents Andrea and Roger Barton wrote to Department of Transportation Engineer Mohammad H. Blorfroshan, ‘This will be our neighborhood’s third attempt for requesting speed humps on this street,’ the Bartons wrote. ‘Last year the city recognized the speed problem and installed a stop sign on the corner of Akron and Chattanooga, but unfortunately, drivers continue to drive at unsafe speeds past our homes before arriving at the stop sign, which is rarely acknowledged. ‘The speeding problem is very serious. Two dogs were hit and killed yesterday, I was very close to being hit by an SUV while crossing the street with my two-year-old son.’ The couple concluded the letter, ‘Please help us keep our children, neighbors and pets from becoming fatalities. It’s only a matter of time and we would hate to have to reference all three requests in court if anything were to happen.’ Other neighbors recounted their traffic stories: ‘A blue Volkswagen was speeding up Akron and hit a six-month old retriever. They didn’t stop,’ said Katherine Orlinsky. ‘Our car has been in the body shop twice. Everybody has a story.’ ‘People honk at us when we’re trying to back out of our driveways,’ said Diane Braverman, and Gloria Kim commented: ‘My biggest fear is someone is going to take the curve [between Chattanooga and Bienveneda] too fast and hit my boys’ bedroom, which is next to the front yard.’ Hal Schwabe, a retired LAPD officer, told of a drunken driver who recently was speeding on Akron, hit and totaled a Prius, then drove off. Schwabe got into his car and followed him to Lachman Lane, where the driver had hit a truck and wall. The male got out of his car, accompanied by his young son, and said, ‘It’s not my car, I wasn’t driving,’ and started to leave. Schwabe told him he had to stay and the man punched him in the face. The man was subsequently subdued and arrested.

Five political and social activists were honored at the third annual Anne Froehlich Awards Dinner for Political Courage on Sunday at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. Hosted by the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club, the event drew a crowd of more than 300 (at $135 per person), despite its mid-summer timing, and celebrated the spirit of Anne Froehlich, who was one of the club’s founders and for over 50 years was its president, treasurer and matchless volunteer until her death in 2005. The first Froehlich dinner honored Daniel Ellsberg and Ron Kovic, who joined the festivities Sunday, and the 2007 awards went to Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson. This year, Anna Burger, a top-ranking officer at Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation’s largest and fastest growing union, introduced the first honoree, Robert Greenwald. ‘He’s a great filmmaker and a great agitator, who uses his creativity to take on important political battles,’ said Burger, who’s the first chair of America’s newest labor federation, Change to Win. ‘My grandfather was a union organizer,’ Greenwald told the audience, ‘and one of the highlights of my young life was going with him to Union Square to listen to people give political speeches.’ Greenwald’s films have addressed numerous social issues and include ‘Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers,’ ‘Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices,’ and ‘Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.’ Through Brave New Films, he also uses the ‘quick strike capability’ of the Internet to produce video campaigns that are viewed by millions of viewers in a short span of time (e.g., ‘The Real Rudy,’ ‘Fox Attacks Obama,’ ‘The REAL McCain’). ‘An amazing revolution is going on,’ Greenwald said, thanks to the Internet. ‘We had a paid team of editors, producers and researchers working incredibly hard for six or seven weeks on the McCain video, but then we reached almost three million people in just four weeks’without having to buy one second of TV advertising, because people like you are sending it forward.’ Noting that ‘this ability to reach people and motivate them without a gatekeeper in the way”and without having to buy a cable network”is a whole new world,’ Greenwald challenged the progressive Democrats in his audience to capitalize on the Web revolution. ‘There’s no excuse not to do something, to get involved and take action to bring about the social change we want.’ Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one of the most vocal opponents against going to war in Iraq, introduced the next two honorees, Betty and Stanley Sheinbaum of Brentwood, who have toiled decades as political and social activists. ‘Betty and Stanley are two of the kindest, most generous and most caring human beings I have ever known,’ said Waters, who noted that they have given their home, resources and leadership to countless organizations over the years, while ‘calling people to task’ on various political and humanitarian campaigns. Betty, 88, delivered an inspiring, heartfelt speech that will be published in next week’s Palisadian-Post. Her husband, also 88 this year, spoke into a microphone at his seat and commented, ‘It is clearly happening, very rapidly, that the Democrats are on their way back. It’s very heartening to me that this is happening, and let’s keep going!’ Dinner co-chair Alice Lynn introduced the final three award-winners: former talk-show host Phil Donahue and filmmaker Ellen Spiro, who co-produced this year’s critically acclaimed documentary ‘Body of War,’ and Tomas Young (in absentia), whose story is told in the film. His mother, Cathy Smith, spoke on his behalf.

Wanting to prevent the City of Los Angeles from installing street furniture displaying advertising in the Village and on Sunset Boulevard, the Pacific Palisades Community Council voted unanimously last Thursday to pay for legal research. The Council agreed to join the Brentwood Community Council and neighborhood associations in Century City and Westwood, which have hired attorney Beverly Grossman Palmer to discuss strategies for how to legally battle street furniture. The Council voted to contribute $5,000 toward the legal research. Another Palisades organization, P.R.I.D.E, donated $1,000 to the Council for the cause. Brentwood Community Council Chair Wendy-Sue Rosen had asked the Council to contribute to their efforts at the previous Council meeting on June 26. Council Vice Chair Susan Nash, an attorney, will represent the Council during the meetings with Palmer. ‘I think we need to fight this vigorously,’ Council member Mike Stryer said. ‘I think we need to be strong.’ The City and CBS/Decaux signed an agreement in 2001 to install 3,350 bus shelters, newsstands, public toilets and kiosks displaying advertising (mostly of upcoming movies) citywide in the next 20 years. The city receives a guaranteed share of the total profit (about $150 million) from the advertising revenue and uses the money for beautification projects. On Thursday, Guillermo Gonzalez, CBS/Decaux director of street furniture operations, told the Council that his company would like to place a bus shelter on the corner of Via de la Paz and Sunset and two public-amenity kiosks (PAKs), one at Sunset and Castellammare and the other at Sunset and Pacific Coast Highway. ‘We have to be in the [Village],’ Gonzalez said. ‘Some people are for the bus shelters because people take the bus, especially with high gas prices. Some people don’t see any use for the PAKs, so we are willing to take a couple outside the downtown area.’ PAKs are freestanding three-sided or two-sided structures, which have one or two advertising panels and a panel for a local vicinity map, community poster or public-service announcement. Council Chair Richard G. Cohen informed Gonzalez that the Council is concerned that the contract between the city and CBS/Decaux violates the city’s General Plan. Beverly Palmer, an attorney with Strumwasser & Woocher, found that the contract violates the city’s General Plan, which protects scenic highways (such as Sunset Boulevard) and scenic corridors (San Vicente) from advertising signs, as well as Brentwood and Pacific Palisades Specific Plans, which have signage restrictions. ‘We embrace the Specific Plan, and we think it protects our Village and Sunset,’ Cohen said. Lance M. Oishi, L.A. Department of Public Works contract administrator of the coordinated street furniture program, said City Attorney’s Office reviewed the city’s plans and determined that the Specific Plans restrict signage on private property but not on the public right-away. Therefore, the Department of Public Works can decide how sidewalks are used. ‘We recognize that people don’t agree with that,’ Oishi said. ‘But that is where I sit to facilitate the contract.’ Cohen asked if CBS/Decaux would consider locations outside the Specific Plan area, since the Council does not want the proposed bus shelter on the corner of Via de la Paz and Sunset. ‘Your position is that you get to do what you want to,’ Cohen said. ‘But if you want to be friends, we ask that you respect the intent of the Specific Plan. We would like the opportunity to find alternative sites that don’t violate our principles.’ In response, Gonzalez said, ‘We need a bus shelter in the heart of the Village. That’s our position.’ Cohen then asked whether CBS/Decaux would agree in writing to not install any more street-furniture items in the Palisades if the Council agreed to install a bus shelter and two PAKs. Gonzalez replied that he would speak to his boss about the possibility. The Council decided to search for alternative sites that might satisfy CBS/Decaux and the community. To install the street furniture, the contract stipulates that the City Council, Bureau of Street Services and CBS/Decaux can propose sites, Oishi said. Community outreach is done and residents can suggest alternatives to the proposed sites, which will be considered. Each City Council member then decides whether to sign off on the proposed sites for his or her district. In the future, there is a possibility that if a City Council member doesn’t approve enough locations in his or her district to comply with the contract, the entire City Council could vote on where those items will be placed, Oishi said. ‘It’s a proposal that has been discussed,’ he said. ‘It may or may not happen.’ Oishi continued that the city would like to install the street furniture soon in order to start receiving the monetary benefits. Although the money is divided evenly among the Council districts, the furniture is not distributed equally. The street furniture is issued to districts on the basis of need, the city’s obligation under the contract and revenue requirements for the program. Districts 11 and 5 (Westwood, Century City and Sherman Oaks) are expected to install the majority of the street furniture. The City is behind on complying with the contract because of community opposition, Oishi said. The idea was to install all of the street furniture within the first two to five years of the contract, so there would be 15 to 18 years to generate advertising revenue. So far, CBS/Decaux has paid the city about $18 million, but if the city had rolled out the street furniture on schedule, it would have received about $32 million to date, according to a letter from the Office of the City Attorney. ‘We have done our due diligence; this is the third time we’ve come to these meetings, ‘ Oishi said of working with communities to find preferable locations. ‘There is a sense of urgency. We need to move forward to make this program successful.’

Rose Gilbert’s Last-Minute $900,000 Donation Seals the Contract

Legendary English teacher Rose Gilbert donated another $900,000 for the Palisades Charter High School’s state-of-the-art aquatic center on Tuesday. At the board of director’s meeting, Gilbert presented the board with a cardboard check, and said, ‘I’m the God fairy who came in the middle of the night, so put on your swimsuits.’ Gilbert, 89, had already donated $1.1 million for the center, which will be named after her late daughter and swimmer, Maggie Gilbert. Her latest contribution brings the total amount the school has raised to about $2.6 million. The board of directors had agreed earlier that the school would not break ground until 75 percent of the funds were in the bank. The estimated cost of the aquatic center is $3.5 million. The high school has received four bids from pool contractors for the project and two of those bids are in the $3.5-million price range, said Gregory Wood, chief business officer. ‘Thanks to Rose’s $900,000, we are really in the position to move forward,’ Wood told the board on Tuesday. Gilbert had only one stipulation for her donation ‘ she wanted a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, August 1. ‘My birthday is August 2, and I wanted it before my 90th birthday,’ Gilbert said. ‘I have never written a check that big, but I feel like I am doing it for Maggie and for every kid at PaliHi.’ Gilbert said she envisions the pool being used for physical education classes, and she hopes there will be a requirement that all students have to learn to swim in order to graduate from high school. The PaliHi pool committee’s goal was to secure 75 percent of the money and host a groundbreaking ceremony in August, said Jeanne Goldsmith, whose consulting firm was hired to fundraise. Before receiving Gilbert’s latest donation, the committee had about $1.6 million raised and was searching for ways to fill the gap to meet the August deadline. ‘Rose has done a lot to make this happen,’ Goldsmith said. ‘She is an amazing woman.’ The board voted unanimously to give the pool committee the authority to select a pool contractor. To honor Gilbert’s request, a groundbreaking ceremony will be held on August 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the high school. The aquatic center will be built at the corner of Temescal Canyon Road and Bowdoin Street, replacing the outdoor handball and basketball courts. The main 10-lane pool and adjoining two-lane lap pool will be available for water polo games, water aerobics, diving, swimming lessons, lap swimmers and more. The center should be complete in summer or fall of 2009. PaliHi still needs another $900,000 to complete the project. Wood said that if necessary, the school could easily secure a loan for that amount. By renting the facility to swim teams and aquatic groups outside school hours, the pool should generate about $540,000 in annual revenue. He expects the pool will cost about $370,000 to operate and the remaining $170,000 could be used to pay off the loan. Goldsmith said she doesn’t plan to slow fundraising efforts. A group of PaliHi students in a marketing club are promoting the pool. They and other supporters have hosted neighborhood parties and more are planned. Supporters have also raised $15,000 by spending two hours on the phone seeking donations and plan to raise more money through phone solicitations. Board member Eileen Savage, who is also on the pool committee, wrote in a letter to the Palisadian-Post that the pool will be available for community use daily for about two hours before school starts (5:30-7:30 a.m.) and six hours after school ends at 3 p.m. ‘ The pool will also be open on the weekends and most holidays (closed on national holidays) and during summer vacation. Since PaliHi will be contracting with groups such as swim clubs and water polo clubs, the school will post updates quarterly on lane availability for community members, Savage said. ‘Our goal is to meet the needs of as many community members as possible, while ensuring that our students benefit from aquatics as part of their regular PE curriculum and that we have facilities that support the school’s athletic programs,’ Savage wrote.