Tag Archives: Community

Help Design The Mar Vista Of The Future

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What are you doing Saturday? Consider making time to help shape the look and feel of Mar Vista in the years to come. The LA Department of City Planning is hosting this workshop and walkabout, designed to give residents input into what kind of neighborhood Mar Vista ought to be. Want 8-story buildings lining Venice Blvd? Or NOT? Either way, you’ve got to be in the room to have your voice heard. MarVistaWalkaboutsFlyerMeet-Up starts this Saturday 10/17 at 1:00pm at St. John’s Presbyterian Church, 11000 National Blvd, then we’ll actually walk the streets in question and circle back to workshop the ideas. They’re asking us to rsvp, so please contact Shana Bonstin and let her know you’re coming: Shana.Bonstin@lacity.org.

Mar Vista Beware: Venice Blvd. Closure This Sunday 10/4

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LA Triathlon 10/4/09The 10th annual Los Angeles Triathlon will be held Sunday, 10/4, beginning at some ungodly early hour 7:15am, and the athletes will be riding their bikes east down Venice Blvd from the ocean all the way to Fairfax for hours after that, so you won’t be able to drive across. In fact, I wouldn’t even try running across, if I were you. (These athletes are pretty serious.) Be sure to check out the course maps here and make all the necessary arrangements if you need to get north or east in a car.

Save The Date: Saturday, October 3rd Mar Vista Goes Green!

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festival flyerSaturday, October 3rd, Mar Vista park holds its annual Fall Festival, and this year’s theme is Green!

The festival runs from 10am to 4pm, and there will be bouncy houses, face painting, games, prizes, an art show, a Kidz Go Green Zone, booths with Eco solutions, products and info, and live entertainment all day long. Food and drinks will be sold, or you can bring your own picnic.

Mar Vista Park, 11430 Woodbine Street, LA 90066. For more information, check out their website, MarVistaGoesGreen.

Mar Vista Morning Meet-Up Thursday, October 1st, 9am at Venice Grind

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coffee cupAfter you drop the kids off at school, come on by for a little coffee and a whole lot of community.

We may all send our kids to different schools, but we have common issues we confront every day. Let’s collaborate and share best practices for getting over hurdles and for achieving great goals. Venting is allowed (hard not to do it some days), but we can’t let it run the day. It’s about coming together to create something bigger than what we can do individually.

Plus we’re a pretty fun group. When all else fails, we can always tell LAUSD facilities jokes. That’s always a crowd pleaser.

Thursday, October 1st, 9am at the Venice Grind. The first Morning Meet-Up, continuing on the first Thursday of every month.

GoSolar Mar Vista Update: Taking It Personally

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Mar Vista Mom is going Solar! I am so excited, in a very geeky, green way.

I have lived in sunny climates most of my life and have always wanted to take advantage of the power of the sun, but there was always the big price tag standing in the way. Now with the leasing program available, that problem has vanished!

But let me back up and tell the story. After having heard the presentation in July describing the lease and the value of using solar, I scheduled an appointment with SolarCity to check out my roof and see if it was suitable for panels. Tom Folan came by promptly one morning (in his green Prius),Tom Folan and his green Prius company carand, after climbing up the ladder and checking it all out, Tom's ladderhe gave me the good news: no shade hindering our sun potential, and acres of space for panels! (I am exaggerating; not acres.) my acres of rooftopBut he said he can fit enough panels up there to offset 90% of our current electric usage. Tom Folan using the internetHere’s Tom crunching the numbers.

For the past year, we’ve averaged about $109/month in electric payments to DWP. And the lease would mean we’ll lock in that price per month for the next 20 years. And there are no upfront costs. I just don’t see a downside.

Except this: this program is so popular, we have to wait 5 months for installation. I know that means a ton of people are getting solar panels, which is great for the environment and all, but selfishly, I wanted them to be able to get started right away. Oh well, solar panels for Christmas!

Kudos to Open Mar Vista’s James Brennan and John Ayers for all the work they did pulling together this community discount!

And remember, the GoSolar Mar Vista discounts are only available until October 25th, so schedule your appointment soon. Just be aware that the roof inspection and number-crunching takes about an hour, so plan accordingly.

Oh, and the rooftop photo was taken by Tom Folan, because I have been too chicken to climb up on my own roof. But I vow to get my butt up there when my panels are installed and take the photo myself. You heard it here first.

Anatomy Of A Block Party

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Our block has held a block party for 5 years in a row, and it is an Amazing Amount of Fun. It’s also an amazing amount of work to set it all up.

But it’s absolutely SO much fun, I thought I would let the community know the ins and outs of getting a block party off the ground, because it is tricky to figure out where to go and what to do.

I turn to my neighbor and blogger, Elise Derby, for expertise in this matter, since she’s been in charge of our block party every year. I like to think it’s a labor of love, but I know for sure it’s a of of labor. There are lots of us who try to help out, and on the day of the party, everyone always chips in, but all the prep work is handled, oh so capably, by Elise.

(I’m buttering her up because I never want her to stop being in charge. Keep the love flowing to Elise!)

*** UPDATE: My vacation has thrown my blog all out of whack! Let’s get it right this time! ***

Elise says every year has been slightly different, but there are some basic steps that have to be taken each time. First of all, between 3 and 4 months before you want to have your block party, the neighbors need to get together and decide what kind of party they want to have and how much money they want to spend on it. We started out with an all-pot-luck version to keep costs low. Everyone brought out their own tables and EZ-up tents. Now we rent those things and have them delivered. Plus we get a bouncy house and sometimes a dunk tank. But the rest is still pot-luck sharing.

In terms of official steps to be taken, it goes like this: Fill out the paperwork online here at the Bureau of Street Services website and download the petition form, which must be signed by 51% of the neighbors on the affected street. You then have to get insurance for the event, the price for which has gone up from approximately $100 5 years ago to approx. $250 now.

Once the petition is signed, insurance is purchased, and a Hold Harmless form is filled out, the entire packet gets sent to Street Services. Then there are City permit fees of approx. $300, which have been waived in the past by our great City Council members, but since LA is in a bit of a budget crisis, the fees may not be waived any more. (Check with your Councilperson’s office to be sure.) Then, finally, there are Temporary No Parking Signs that get posted a few days before the event, so people will know not to park in the middle of the party, and barricades that block off the street on the actual day.

Yes, it is a ton of work, but it is so worth it. I love our neighborhood and having the chance to hang out with my neighbors on a beautiful summer day is one of the best things about living here. I highly recommend it for your neighborhood as well!

Open Mar Vista: Have You Joined?

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Open Mar VistaThis is a great resource for our neighborhood – it’s a virtual space to connect with others in our community, since we can’t always get together IRL (or, In Real Life).

James Brennan and John Ayers created Open Mar Vista, and they’re helping to make Mar Vista a place on the cutting edge, what with our free Wi-Fi and the Solar project. Join today and see what you’ll learn about the neighborhood!

Got an interest in Solar? Crafts? Animals? Wellness? Music? There are groups for all of them! Check it out.

OpenMarVista.net

Mar Vista’s On The Cutting Edge

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Picture 1Community access to Wi-Fi. FREE community access to Wi-Fi. How many ways can I say it? Dude, Mar Vista gives away wireless internet access. For Free. 

It may sound like I’m going overboard, but I can’t help myself: how awesome is it to have free access to the internet? It’s extremely awesome.

Wi-fi is present in many places, but not often for free. Airports have networks that charge by the minute, as do Starbucks and other cafes. I’ve recently found a few free hot spots, including the food court at the Westside Pavilion, and yes, Culver City does offer free wi-fi in the downtown district. But what’s so cool about the Mar Vista wi-fi is that it’s a Citizen’s Initiative.

Started by James Brennan and John Ayers, the Open Mar Vista Wi-Fi project aims to provide access to the entire community by having sponsors provide the Meraki antennas and the Verizon Fios fiber optics with 500 – 1000′ ranges spreading the internet love around. So far, sponsors have been mainly the businesses along Venice Blvd., between Centinela and Inglewood, and there’s a cluster around Beethoven school, but there are a handful of residential sponsors, and Mar Vista Mom has recently – and proudly – joined the movement, and so a little bit more of the Mar Vista community is now covered.

Access For All, I say! 

By the way, check out Open Mar Vista — it’s another great way to stay connected to our community.