Renaissance Academy Charter High School students commuted to The Art Institute of California in Santa Monica for classes this week, which marks the third week of instruction held largely at alternate or temporary classroom locations. As of Wednesday morning, total attendance at Renaissance was 337 students, including 63 residents of the 90272 zip code. The school is located in the 881 Alma Real building. According to the school’s charter, presented by founding director and principal Paul McGlothlin, ‘The Renaissance Academy (RA) will enroll 400 students over three years.’ However, because the school was initially scheduled to open last year with 200 to 230 ninth and tenth graders, McGlothlin decided to start with 300 students when the school actually opened early this month. ‘The publicly stated target enrollment for this year was 300,’ said Palisadian Bill Bryan, RA board member, parent and facilities coordinator. ‘Because students are able to ‘double book’ by enrolling at multiple public schools with no financial or other penalty for failing to show up, Renaissance accepted 330 applications, anticipating approximately 30 ‘no-shows.” However, when more than 350 students arrived for the first day of classes September 13, RA prepared to tell about 20 students that they could not attend and ‘we began to search for additional classroom space and part-time teachers to accommodate any permanent enrollment in excess of 300,’ Bryan told the Palisadian-Post. ‘By then, however, we were blocked from using most of our leased space, due to the well-publicized actions of the landlord.’ As a result, some students dropped out. For this week, Bryan says the school made a ‘100 percent voluntary move to The Art Institute’ because holding classes at this temporary location with established classroom space is ‘a more efficient way to conduct school.’ The Art Institute, located at 2900 31st Street in the business park that runs along the south side of Ocean Park Blvd., is a post-secondary educational institution for career preparation in the visual and culinary arts. In a letter posted Sunday on RA’s Web site (www.rahigh.org), principal McGlothlin wrote, ‘We have arranged for the space at The Art Institute in order to best support our cross-grade level programs in Mathematics, Foreign Language, and the Arts.’ Students and parents have been advised to check this Web site for information on class locations and transportation routes. RA has offered special bus service this week from the Palisades to The Art Institute and back for any students who want it. Others have been allowed to travel directly, on their own, to the temporary classroom location. Students did, however, attend some classes in the Palisades, including yoga, dance and surfing’at JIVA Yoga Studio on Sunset, Fancy Feet Dance Studio in the Alma Real building, and at Will Rogers State Beach. McGlothlin added that while the students were away this week, contractors were ‘finishing various life-safety projects and improvements’ at the school’s main campus. Some of these projects include installation of additional fire caulking; relocation of one exit door; additional low-voltage wiring; removal, cleaning and remounting of fire sprinklers; and paint touch-up. The largest project is the conversion of the television studio into one large classroom that could be divided into two classrooms by a portable divider, and also function as a TV studio. These projects were ‘partially complete’ by Wednesday morning, and scheduled to be finished by the end of this week, according to Bryan. Last week, students met at the private homes of parents in the Palisades, under trees at the park, at the United Methodist Church on Via de la Paz, and at Mort’s Oak Room. ‘We knew that the unsettled circumstances would cause some students to drop out, and that has indeed happened,’ Bryan said. ‘Since our survival (at least in our current form) is contingent upon receiving the ADA funding for 300 students, we were afraid to reduce enrollment until we see how long the facilities battle lasts, and how many kids we lose because of it.’ State funding will amount to about $6,000 per student. McGlothlin wrote in his letter, ‘We still retain our lease at Alma Real, and there has been no further limitation to our use there. We have full confidence that we will return to Alma Real within a few days.’

Owner Wehiba Kalifa confirmed to the Palisadian-Post Friday that she has sold her business to Pharmaca, which will bring a holistic approach to the venerable pharmacy which has served the Palisades since 1949. The transfer of ownership took place on Monday. ‘I think it is a good match for the community,’ Kalifa said, ‘because Pharmaca is really commitment to customer care.’ The chain, which calls itself an ‘integrated pharmacy,’ is expected to continue dispensing prescription drugs as well as offering dietary supplements, herbal medicine and homeopathic remedies. The store also plans to offer medical screenings, diagnostics, demonstrations, book signings and lectures, all related to health. Pharmaca, which is seeking naturopaths, herbalists, nutritionists and estheticians, has already posted a hiring sign on the pharmacy’s front door. ‘Background in Natural Health a Bonus,’ it reads in part. The prime Sunset location, at the corner of La Cruz, will be Pharmaca’s first store in Southern California and 11th store in five Western states. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, the five-year-old chain has four of its European-style stores in the San Francisco area. ‘It was our success there that led us to want to open up in L.A.,’ Pharmaca president and CEO Barry Perzow told the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday. ‘Our demographics depend on high affluence and high education. The research we did indicates that the Palisades is both.’ Kalifa, who purchased the pharmacy four years ago from longtime owner Al Green (who still works as a pharmacist in the store several days a week), said that she was approached by the chain 18 months ago, even before she started extensive renovations to the store in July 2003. After spending some $300,000 to improve the almost 10,000-sq.-ft. space, which included making the pharmacy three times larger by moving it from the back to the front of the store, Kalifa achieved a distinctly modern look. She said she finally made the decision to sell to Pharmaca after realizing ‘how badly they wanted this location, even though the renovation is still not complete.’ Perzow said his company plans to invest $500,000 to give the building, both inside and out, a distinct new look by the end of November. The exterior will be ‘Mediterranean-style’ with large picture windows, while the raised area inside, which currently sells jewelry and clothing, will be an enclosed cosmetic boutique, offering services from ‘make-overs to dermatological consultations.’ Perzow confirmed that the store, the largest in the chain, will continue to offer home delivery, in-house charge accounts and over-the-counter medications, and will carry medical supplies such as wheelchairs and crutches. Plans call for an organic food and beverage section as well as a flower shop in the back of the store, facing ‘the car wash.’ While more than half of Bay Pharmacy’s business currently comes from selling prescription drugs (more than 300 prescriptions a day), Pharmaca plans to expand prescription services by ‘compounding, which is essentially customizing medications for allergy sufferers who may have special needs, for example,’ Perzow said. He added that Bay’s 24 employees will all continue to work for Pharmaca ‘during the transition period. Typically what happens after that is some of them may feel they don’t quite fit into our new model, which will be completely different from what is being offered at the pharmacy now. So they either leave or we retrain them. All of our staff at the Palisades Pharmaca will be very highly trained.’ According to one longtime Bay Pharmacy employee, who asked not to be identified by the Post, all of the workers at the store, both full and part-time, ‘have been invited to fill out applications with Pharmaca, but none of us, as far as we know, is guaranteed a job. Technically, all of us are on probation at this point.’ Kalifa, 32, said she plans to return to her native Ethiopia to live. She said she came to the U.S. when she was 17 to go to school. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a major in business. Her family’s medical supply store in West L.A., which is managed by her brother, is not included in the sale to Pharmaca.

More than 100 Pacific Palisades residents showed up at Mort’s Oak Room Monday night for a public hearing on the controversial proposal to implement a preferential parking district within the Palisades. ”After a two-hour debate, which included comments and questions from the floor, there was no clear indication on what the Los Angeles Department of Transportation would recommend, although participants were asked to submit their straw votes at the end of the hearing. ”Residents were also asked to indicate their preference for parking restrictions (see below) and have until October 27 to forward their written comments to LADOT. ”Applications to be included in the district will also be accepted up until that date. ”’This is a truly democratic process,’ said Alan Willis, the chief transportation engineer who chaired the meeting. He presented a brief history of how the proposed district came about (several local residents petitioned for it), an explanation of current parking restrictions (which are generally limited to two-hours) and the results of the traffic survey that was done. ”Emilie Baradi, an engineer with LADOT, explained that on the day the survey was conducted in the proposed district, the available parking spaces occupied by non-residents (judging by addresses and zip codes of the registered vehicle owners) ‘averaged 50 percent’ and that on some streets it was ‘100 percent.’ ”Baradi used a color-coded map to clarify the potential district boundaries, a six-block area which will include McKendree, Whitfield and Rimmer (west of Monument); Via de la Paz over to Fiske and south to Sunset; all of Huntington Palisades from Carey to Pampas Ricas and south to El Cerco Place; and the Via de la Paz mesa from Antioch to Carthage and from Temescal Canyon Road over to Swarthmore. ”The loudest applause of the evening occurred when Jack Allen, an advisor to the Pacific Palisades Community Council (which has not taken a stand on the issue) suggested that the preferential parking district be restricted to the proposal currently being considered by LADOT. ”’Just put it on the blocks that have asked for it and don’t extend it to any other streets,’ he said. ”LADOT also provided residents with a clarification of the proposed parking restrictions for the district, which are as follows: ”Carthage between Swarthmore and Via de la Paz. Residents are applying to be exempt from the existing two-hour parking from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus no parking from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., except by permit. ”Radcliffe between Haverford and Bowdoin, two-hour parking 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, except by permit. ”Alma Real between Toyopa and Frontera, two-hour parking 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, except by permit. ”Monument between Albright and Bestor, two-hour parking 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, except by permit. ”Willis explained that the preferential parking request by Palisades residents is not for more restrictions, but rather for obtaining permits to exempt them from existing parking restrictions’a point that was made by several residents who support the preferential parking proposal. ”Other residents were adamantly opposed to the district. ”’I do not want McKendree included,’ said a resident who lives on that street. Another resident complained about the inconvenience of having to go to West L.A. to obtain the necessary permits, to which Willis replied: ‘This is an inconvenient program. Preferential parking is a last resort. Things have to be very bad for you if you have to do this here.’ ”Should the district be approved, each household can purchase up to three permanent annual permits for $15 each and two transferable visitor permits for $10 each. Both are renewable every four months. Residents can also purchase an unlimited number of one-time use guest permits for $1 each. While LADOT has technically approved the proposed six-block district (after conducting the parking survey and determining that the district meets the City’s program criteria), ‘we are still seeking feedback from the community before approving the establishment of the district,’ Willis said. ” ”He also encouraged residents who may be worried about the ‘spillover’ effect of the proposed district to submit petitions to have their own street included by the October 27 deadline. ‘The petitions require the signatures of two-thirds of the residents on the block,’ Willis said. ”Several audience members also argued at the hearing that the proposed preferential parking district fails to address the core problem, which Allen identified as a ‘lack of available parking in the Palisades.’ ”There were also concerns about how preferential parking will be enforced. ‘Chalking tires is one way,’ said Willis, who explained that the penalty for parking over the two-hour limit in a preferential parking district is $45. ”If LADOT does recommend the district, the proposal will be forwarded to the transportation committee for approval. If the transportation committee approves the proposal, it will then go before L.A. City Council. ”’In the next 30 days we will still be waiting to hear from you,’ Baradi announced as the hearing concluded. ”Further questions on preferential parking and applications can be obtained by calling the LADOT at (323) 913-4600.

The long-awaited decision regarding the proposed 82-unit condominium/townhouse development on Tramonto Drive in Castellammare was approved last Tuesday by the Los Angeles Planning Department. ”The property, which developer Ken Kahan purchased in 1999, occupies 3.98 acres overlooking Santa Monica Bay, above the Sunset/PCH intersection. The units will nestle into the hillside at 17331-17333 Tramonto and resemble an Italian hillside town. ”The approval states Kahan must designate and maintain 16 condominium units as Very Low Income (VLI) or Low Income (LI) affordable accessible rental dwelling units or designate and maintain eight condominiums for VLI affordable accessible rental dwelling units. The inclusionary VLI or LI units ‘must be located on-site or, with permission, may be located somewhere else within the coastal zone, or within three miles of the coastal zone.’ ”Prior to the issuance of any building permit by the Department of Building and Safety, an agreement (approved by the Housing Department) must be signed, which guarantees that the designated affordable accessible dwelling units will be reserved for occupancy by eligible households for at least 30 years from the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy. ”According to the L.A. Housing Department Web site, to qualify for affordable housing, all working members of a household must not exceed the income limit for the bedroom count and family size of the unit for which they are applying. In addition, there are various other requirements one must meet to fall into the affordable housing bracket. ”Despite years of neighborhood opposition to the project, the L.A. Planning Department, headed by director Con Howe, deemed many ‘substantial benefits will occur’ as a result of the project’s approval. ”Those include: bringing 82 new for-sale housing units to a part of the city in need of new housing supply, stabilizing and putting to productive use land that has been vacant since the Revello landslide in 1965, bringing needed improvements to Tramonto Drive, and improving the aesthetic character of the area by replacing two outdated apartment buildings with an attractive and well-designed condominium project and associated landscaping. Although the Department also found that approval of the project could result in ‘significant unavoidable impacts related to private views, short-term noise and traffic on residential streets,’ the Department stated that ‘the unmitigable impacts associated with the project are outweighed by the benefits and are therefore acceptable.’ ”The approval also states that trucks and construction equipment are restricted from adjacent residential areas during the construction period. Construction workers are not allowed to park on Sunset or any residential or local street in the vicinity, except for Los Liones Drive. ”Andrew Martin, president of the Castellammare Homeowners Association, said his group was ‘disappointed’ by the Planning Department’s decision, adding that the city is well known for being ‘developmentally biased.’ Martin’s group had lobbied for only 50 units to be built on the site. ”’We think it’s unfair to maximize revenue at the cost of the quiet and comfort of 250 homeowners,’ he said. ”Martin, along with other local residents, plan to file an appeal before tomorrow’s deadline. The appeal focuses on the the density and traffic concerns regarding the project. ”Residents wishing to appeal the approval or who are opposed to the locating the housing units on the site may file an appeal, which includes a fee of $71. The appeal must be be submitted in person on Master Appeal Form No. CP-7769 at the Department’s public offices located at 201 N. Figueroa St., downtown Los Angeles or 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., Room 251, Van Nuys. Forms are available online at www.lacity.org/pln. Contact: (213) 978-1330. ”Several attempts by the Palisadian-Post to reach Ken Kahan by phone Tuesday and Wednesday were unsuccessful.