Apparently none of the merchants affected by the proposed rent increase on Swarthmore have yet signed a new lease as the controversy enters its 10th week. While the storeowners have declined to discuss specifics pending resolution of their lease negotiations, several said this week that a compromise is still being worked out with the landlord, Palisades Partners, over the proposed rent hikes’some as high as 60 percent. After meeting privately several weeks ago to discuss their options, the merchants hired an attorney to work through the details of the new lease and help in negotiations with the landlord.

”Blockbuster Entertainment, anchor store for the 970 Monument building, closed down for three days last week over a rent dispute. Store manager David Imfante told the Palisadian-Post that last Wednesday morning a U.S. Marshall arrived with a 3-day notice to vacate the premises. ‘All I know is that there was a dispute over the lease with the landlord,’ Imfante said, ‘We were told we had to close down the store immediately.’ Imfante said he and his staff spent Wednesday, Thursday and Friday preparing for the possibility of a move. During the shutdown, Blockbuster customers were instructed to return their rentals to the store at Montana and 7th. On Saturday morning, however, the store was reopened. ‘We had the boxes ready to pack up,’ Imfante said this week. ‘Presumably, our corporate office was able to negotiate something. We’re back to business as usual.’ A spokesperson for Equity Partners, which owns the Monument building, would not comment on the dispute’either what caused it or what brought it to an end. Blockbuster, which has occupied the 3,500 sq. ft. space since 1997, currently houses 10,000 titles. When the store opened, there were two competitors in town’Video Depot and Video 2010. Both have since gone out of business. The only other surviving video store in the Palisades is Palisades Video Plus at 542 Palisades Dr. in the Highlands Plaza.

People go head over heels for horses, said Denise Degraff, a former horse boarder at Will Rogers State Historic Park who attended the first meeting convened by California State Parks last week to develop an equestrian plan for the ranch. It has been a little over three years since the horses were ordered to decamp from the 186-acre property. At that time, years of deferred maintenance at the ranch necessitated emergency attention, which included suspending all horse-boarding until State Parks could develop a comprehensive plan for a horse presence at the ranch. Improvements at the ranch are continuing nonstop. The 5,000 artifacts from the ranch house have been inventoried and catalogued; the master drainage plan is completed; the hay barn has been stabilized; the historic landscape plan is done; Jim Rogers’ barn is 90 percent completed; and historic farm equipment will soon be returned. The ranch house will reopen this fall. Last week’s meeting at the Skirball Center was convened by Jennifer Ruffolo, a State Park Cultural Resources Specialist who is charged with writing the plan. Representatives from State Parks joined in the conversation along with Will Rogers’ grandchildren Chuck Rogers and Betty Rogers Brandin, polo players, former boarders, trainers and Will Rogers Cooperative Association members. Everyone agreed that horses belong at the ranch, but the number of horses, how they would be used and how they would be housed were the questions. Polo player Leigh Brecheen was most passionate in her lobby for allowing horses to board at the ranch. ‘Excluding horses will put a nail in the coffin for people living on the Westside having horses as part of their environment,’ she said. ‘The pollution caused by trucking horses in and out of the park would be a big issue for the people in the neighborhood.’ Randy Young, president of the WRCA, agreed that horses should be a part of the scene, but cautioned that a balance must be maintained so the ‘horses don’t overwhelm the park. We need a stage-by-stage approach to reintroducing them.’ Young pointed out that the deed of gift from the Rogers’ family bans leasing or renting privately. He added that in that same document, horses were not mentioned as being integral to the ranch, only that the park be a memorial to Will Rogers’ life and to the people of California. Chuck Rogers’ own frustration with the State’s poor job at maintaining the park and inconsistent management of the boarding operation fueled the intense $5.3 million renovation effort that began in November 2002. He called for a more balanced look at Will’s life. ‘Less than 10 percent of his life was about horses, 15 percent about movies,’ he said. ‘I’d like to see access to facilities as broad as possible. I’d like to see videos of his life that include horses, but also films of him barbecuing with all his friends and dignitaries on the porch. I’d like to see the tour buses going through there on the weekends.’ Chuck Rogers’ desire for a more comprehensive look at his grandfather’s life was echoed by Trudy Sandemeier, considered a part of the Rogers family. Her grandfather Emil was ranch foreman during Will’s life and after he died in 1935. ‘General interpretation of Will Rogers’ life has disappeared from the park,’ she said. ‘Many people don’t know about Will Rogers, his radio and movie career and his interest in aviation.’ Will Rogers State Historical Park has a general plan, which states that the park is to be operated as a memorial to Will Rogers for the benefit of the public. Everything in the park should be consistent with the general plan. The Landscape Management Plan describes goals for restoring the park to the way it was at time of the actor’s death. Ruffolo said that ‘an equestrian plan should look at the policies and guidelines for facility protection, which include making sure that the riding and roping areas are not overused; that fencing, vegetation and pastures are restored; and interpretive activities encouraged, such as roping and wrangling clinics, horseshoe and trick-riding demonstrations, and perhaps the rudiments of polo could be demonstrated.’ Ruffolo hopes that some equestrian activities can be started as early as August. In the meantime she will be preparing the draft plan to be reviewed at another public meeting.

When the Palisades Beautiful board considered the 13 nominations they received for the tree to represent Arbor Day on April 29, they were challenged. ‘Board members found every tree nominated as a favorite to be truly worthy,’ said chairwoman Ann Fogel, who spearheaded the contest. Palisadians were asked to send in a few sentences or paragraphs describing their favorite tree’especially one growing in a park, yard or parkway and not hidden by a fence or a wall. The Board considered beauty and stature, but in the end pedigree won out. The tree selected to honor Arbor Day is a grand ginkgo biloba located at 1429 Capri, a suggestion submitted by Helene Tobias, who planted the tree more than 30 years ago. ‘It was planted as a replacement for a gas lantern at the foot of my driveway,’ Tobias said. ‘It has two main trunks that have intertwined to reach over 50 feet. Historically, ginkgos have existed for millions of years, and it gives one hope that life goes on no matter what.’ In explaining her board’s choice, Fogel said that the ginkgo biloba is a rather rare tree in our town, especially one this majestic. ‘It is glorious and healthy in its maturity, it has been lovingly cared for and trimmed throughout its life, and its unusual leaves and architecture stand our against the sky and background.’ A deciduous tree, the ginkgo’s light green fan-shaped leaves turn gold in the autumn and carpet the sidewalk, making it a beautiful choice for a street tree. The slow-growing ginkgo is considered an ancient survivor from prehistoric times and is now native only to two small areas in China. As with any beauty contest, all the trees entered could have come away with the crown, and the runner-up beauty was the blue gum eucalyptus growing in Joanne Repath’s back yard at 531 Chapala. With a tap root as deep as 60 feet, one tree may be 150 years old, Repath said. Dave Card nominated the red horsechestnut (Aesculus carnea) at the door to St. Matthew’s church on Bienveneda. Suited more to cooler climates, these trees are flourishing at this location, Card said. ‘The 8-inch cones of rosy red flowers are standing tall on the outer branches like red candles on a Christmas tree.’ Donna Stewart chose an old Monterey cypress that she shares with her neighbor at 1047 Galloway. ‘We are told that is has pretty much lived out its life, but this year it looks more beautiful than ever. I love the way it cleans my air, the way it smells after a rain, and the way it whispers when the wind blows through its strong branches.’ Mia Wigmore of Village Books loves the Jacaranda tree at 1040 Monument. ‘There is something magical about a tree with purple blossoms,’ she says. ‘My grandmother says, ‘The Jacaranda trees are in bloom and the children are home from school.” Palisades Beautiful thanked all those who submitted their favorite trees. ‘We say thank you for treasuring trees as we do,’ Fogel said. ‘May we all take further steps toward greening our town.’

Over the last decade, farmers’ markets have been popping up in the neighborhoods in Los Angeles like wild mushrooms. Almost every day of the week, farmers travel in from coastal valleys to sell their produce on streets and parking lots all around L.A. Initially, the City had encouraged the enterprise, typically granting street closure permits, including a waiver of all fees through council motions. Now the city council has proposed a new ordinance that would eliminate council motions and charge all certified farmers’ markets that take place on L. A. City streets and parking lots a weekly permit fee for doing business, which could range from $250 to $1,000 a week. Markets operated by nonprofit organizations could apply for two waivers a year. ‘This policy has come about because special events [a designation which includes farmers’ markets] have spiraled out of control, and the City has found itself waiving everything,’ said Julie Pietroski, senior legislative deputy for Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. ‘The budget situation has made councilmembers more aware of trimming costs. We shouldn’t be waiving fees if we can’t afford to put more police on the streets.’ While the motion is working its way through City Council subcommittees, farmers’ market operators, sustainable food advocates and neighborhood leaders are fighting to amend the ordinance to waive all weekly permit fees for the markets. Jennifer McColm, who oversees markets in the Palisades, Brentwood, Century City, Wilshire Center and Melrose, is looking at a weekly fee of $528 per market. ‘If the City imposes this $528 weekly fee, it will obviously shut down not just the Palisades but all farmers’ markets,’ she told the Palisadian-Post this week. ‘None of them can afford this kind of hit, which for me adds up to $27,000 a year for the Palisades alone.’ McColm, who opened the Palisades market in the fall of 2000, is working with the directors of the Hollywood, Culver City, Westwood, Westchester, Malibu and Venice markets to circulate a petition to stop the fee and keep the markets open. The motion, known as the L. A. City Special Events Ordinance, proposed last June, was recently debated by the budget and finance committee and the public works committee, and is scheduled for a hearing with the transportation committee. Pietroski said that the fee is based on city staff time, including marking the no-stopping zones, traffic devices and street cleaning. As the motion stands, there is no distinction between large and small markets, although ‘a number of council members are not feeling good about that,’ Pietroski said. ‘There might be the option of giving smaller markets a few years of waiver so that they can get on their feet and build more vendors. Cindy [Miscikowski] liked the tiered system.’ McColm said there are ‘approximately 50 vendors/farmers in both Brentwood and the Palisades. The cost to run a market varies, but for the most part the costs include insurance, salaries for the managers, a bookkeeper and the overseer, clean-up, workers’ comp, health and agriculture department fees, rent, portable toilet and liquid waste tank, and insurance. ‘The fee to participate in the markets varies. In the Palisades, farmers pay eight percent of total gross. Non-farmers pay 10 percent of total gross sales. Some people, especially farmers, use three or four spaces (10 ft.by 10 ft.) and still pay only eight percent.’ McColm operates markets for Raw Inspiration, a nonprofit organization established in 2002 that donates and installs organic and heirloom gardens in the schools surrounding their markets. Plans to install a garden at Palisades Elementary next week have been postponed pending the outcome of the motion. The transportation committee was scheduled to hear the motion as of press time Wednesday.

The banner was raised Wednesday morning, announcing Palisades Charter High School’s newest honor: it has been designated as a California Distinguished School for 2005. PaliHi is one of six LAUSD middle and high schools and 192 public schools in the state to receive this honor, announced by Jack O’Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, on April 19. ‘This is a fabulous recognition of outstanding work by the board, students, and teachers,’ said PaliHi principal Gloria Martinez. ‘We have dedicated teachers, staff members and administrators who put in a lot of time and effort to make it a really nice school. It’s an acknowledgment that our students are performing well.’ Martinez noted that the honor also recognized the school’s special programs such as athletics, extracurricular activities, the academic decathlon and weekend AP study groups. At the beginning of the school year, Palisades High School officials were notified that their school qualified for the honor based on academic performance index scores and adequate yearly progress results. Out of 2,300 middle and high schools in the state, fewer than 465 were eligible to apply. Pali officials then filled out a lengthy application and, about a month ago, were notified that PaliHi was a nominee. A review team with four members visited the school and spoke to committees, faculty, students and community groups about their opinions of PaliHi. The school currently has a waiting list of over 500 students, said Martinez, who will attend the May 20 Distinguished Schools award ceremony in Anaheim. A school is chosen on the basis of its educational program, its learning environment and the level of public confidence as demonstrated by family and community participation. Criteria includes high academic expectations, solid leadership, a strong core curriculum, varied teaching strategies, comprehensive guidance and counseling programs, and support services and intervention programs for students who are learning English, who are at risk, or who have physical or learning disabilities. ‘We’re ecstatic and delighted,’ said Dick Held of the PaliHi Booster Club. ‘We’d like to have every kid’s experience at PaliHi be a memorable one.’