On Thursday April 17th, approximately 80 concerned residents congregated for Watch2.0rg’s annual Spring Neighborhood Watch meeting at The Studio City Recreation Center.
Alan Taylor, co-founder of Watch2.Org organized the meeting, which included CD2 City Councilman Paul Krekorian, Senior Lead Officer Rob Benevides (Filling in for SLO Mike Lewis), Todd Le and Greg Bartz from The LADWP and Julie Monroy, Recreation coordinator for Studio City Rec Center.
Julie Monroy kicked off the meeting and shared information on upcoming events at the park which includes a 5k run and everyone’s favorite Halloween Festival. A big change is the brand new Inclusive Playground designed by Shane’s Inspiration which is a playground designed to share space with active kids and ones with disability. The ribbon cutting ceremony was last week. It looks great, check it out!
Next to speak was Senior Lead Officer Rob Benevides, who did an outstanding job filling in for SLO Mike Lewis (who we all missed) sharing right away that Studio City has been on the hot seat for a recent spike in property crime. Car break-ins numbers have through the roof and there has been also an increase in petty burglaries.
City Councilman Paul Krekorian inserted (ask Mike Lewis has shared with us before), that legislation in the past year or two has resulted in overcrowding of our local jails and that the types of people who are breaking into our cars and homes are back on the streets faster.
Officer Benevides passionately reminded people of the LAPD’s “Lock it, Hide it, Keep it” program which is a handy little reminder to not leave your valuables in the car.
The problem areas still exist. People are leaving items in their car, or parking their car on the street or in front of a gate, instead of in the garage or behind the gate. People are parking at Fryman and putting valuables in the trunk of their car in plain sight of the burglars.
On a positive note, YTD crime is down, per Krekorian.
Some concerned residents asked what to do when they see people loitering in their neighborhoods and they are not sure if a crime is in process. “It may not be a 911 call, it may not even b a dispatch call but I would recommend taking the license plate down and emailing it to your SLO Mike Lewis,” said Officer Benevides.
If suspicious activity or crime in process is occurring, that’s a 911 call.
Senior Lead Officer Mike Lewis – 31575@lapd.lacity.org. (818) 634-2593
The Councilman spent significant time explaining the declining crime rates for more than a decade through the greatest economic challenge being an amazing achievement. “During a time when people out if work, services have been cut – to have crime fall the way it has is an amazing accomplishment. There are 10,000 uniformed officers in LAPD and we are still least policed city per capita basis in US. Our community involvement is imperative to our continuing this reduction in crime rate and The mayor says we are the safest big city in the US.”
A couple concerned residents expressed concerns over parking issues and Councilman Krekorian explained that parking enforcement is handled by the DOT – Department of Transportation. Parking has always been and always is an issue. The neighbors don’t want the businesses parking in front of their houses and the residents want to be able to see traffic when they pull out of their neighborhoods.
On the topic of Graffiti, The Councilman’s office has become extremely focused on a program for immediate ratification of graffiti saying that even a few hours is too long for graffiti to be tolerated. Two ways to resolve the issue is to either call 311 or take a picture and email Krekorian’s Field Deputy Courtney.hamilton@lacity.org. “Graffiti won’t be tolerated for more than hours,” says Krekorian.
The Councilman concluded by sharing benefits of neighborhood watch and being organized and staying active, inviting the constituents to “Please contact our office, ask for help and we can press the issue forward on your behalf.”
Last to speak at the meeting was LADWP liaison Greg Bartz and Field Construction Supervisor Todd Le who shared updates on their efforts with the replacement of the 101 year old main city trunk line, installed by William Mulholland in 1913.
The City trunk Line South Pipeline repair (From Roscoe to Mulholland is some 60 percent complete, but also behind schedule.
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