Mother Nature is always good for a surprise. Just
when you think you have her figured out, she throws you a new curve. Such
is the case with wildflowers. What makes one year a better bloom year
than others? Winter rainfall, no doubt, is a big part of the story, but it
also depends upon what months the rain comes down and whether it saturated
the ground deeply over a sustained period of time. On the flip-side,
some plants bloom more with below-average rainfall.
The May 2007 Griffith Park Fire may have been a factor in this year’s spectacular bloom of some the species in Griffith Park. The smoke was everywhere, both in the burn area and outside the burn area. The smoke was sustained and significant. It’s well documented that smoke stimulates shoots and runners in some plants which can result in blooms that may not happen otherwise. It seems as though native lilies species may have had especially favorable stimulation to bloom this spring, maybe because of last year’s fire! It is also well-documented that some species are capable of producing a second, alternative type of seed which only germinates when stimulated by heat. Biologically speaking, it’s called “dimorphism”. Pretty neat trick, Mother Nature!
Please read Gerry Hans' photo-journal of his favorite five flowers of this spring in Griffith Park here.After the vote, Gerry, Rainer, Bob and Wayne went up to the fourth floor office of Councilman Tom LaBonge to find Renee Weitzer, the Councilman’s Chief of Staff and thank her for her effective support of the Oaks ICO for the past three years. Renee was very pleased to hear the news – she had the Council hearing on her office TV set but had missed it, too.
It was a brief, but an important moment for The Oaks as all of us seek a way to preserve the character of our neighborhood. But the ICO is only a temporary measure and now that it has been passed by Council, the Planning Department must start the work of developing permanent regulations on development for The Oaks. That work will certainly occupy them for quite some time. Stay tuned to this website for updates on the process.
As
they do every March, Oaks residents met in the upper cafeteria of Immaculate
Heart High School to review the news and events of the past year in the
Oaks. Here are a few highlights of the meeting.
Beginning with the most important stuff first… Little Dom’s (newly opened on Hillhurst) provided a light dinner of fried rice balls (with a heart of creamy burrata cheese) and grilled artichokes. Yum.
After
folks had some food to stoke their furnaces, our new President, Bob Young,
opened the meeting with words of thanks to immediate past president Gerry
Hans for three years of extraordinary dedication to The Oaks and great
results in both in advocating for our neighborhood with the City and in
preserving the character of The Oaks for the future. Then Bob gave
a brief report on the association’s activities in 2007, which included
working for the enactment of the Interim Control Ordinance that will stop “mansionization.” Bob
was able to report that the City Attorney’s Office had finally signed
off on the ordinance and that he is hopeful it will go to the city council
soon. ... [continued
here]
Oaks board members Gerry Hans and Bob Young attended
the Board of Public Works’ hearing on Friday, January 4th at City Hall
at which the Board considered the application for removal of four protected
oak trees at 5898 Lorae Place by the builder of the new house currently under
construction there, Castle Management. Gerry and Bob were joined
by Doug Mensman and Jullian Harris-Calvin of Council District 4. First the background: The Native Tree Ordinance, adopted by the City to protect oak and walnut trees such as the ones in the Lorae Place application, was passed April 6th of 2006. Castle Management’s building permits and documents for 5898 Lorae Place are dated April 23, 2006 or later. In August of 2007, during the construction process, Castle cut down two of the four large native oak trees on the property – without having applied for a permit to do so, as is required by the Ordinance. At that time, The Oaks Homeowners Association was told that the two remaining oak trees were to remain, and in fact Castle was asked by the City to place protective fencing around them. ... [continued here]
On December 18, 2007 residents of The Oaks, HollywoodLand,
the Eastwood Coalition, Franklin Avenue and the flats of Hollywood attended
a community meeting to see drawings and designs for the proposed new
Fire Station 82 at Hollywood and Van Ness and for the renovation of the existing
FS 82 on Bronson Avenue. Rory Fitzpatrick of Council District 4 opened the meeting, introducing Allan Kawaguchi from the Department of Engineering. Mr. Kawaguchi then moderated the meeting, introducing representatives from the Fire Department, the Planning Department, the Cultural Affairs Department as well as two architects from the firm that has designed the new fire station. ... [continued here]
At
7 pm, Sunday, November 25th, at the DWP “Walking Only” Light
Festival, the Zoo parking lot was wide open and there was absolutely no traffic
delay on the freeway or getting into the parking area. In fact, “oodles
and gobs” of parking was available at the Zoo lots at this time. Also,
all of the Autry parking lots were empty, although the attendants directed
everyone into the Zoo lot. In contrast, folks parking south of the Festival
route reported traffic congestion all the way from Los Feliz Blvd, resulting
in a time delay of 25 minutes between 6:30 and 7:30. ... [continued
here]
You've read about the proposed ICO here, you've read about it in our newsletter, you went to the workshop in April, and you've heard about it from your neighbors. But you have never seen it? No? Well, that's about to change - if you click here. You'll see a pdf document of the Draft Version of the ICO as it stands now. We have compiled a list of Questions and Answers about the ICO to help clarify its language. The Q&A list is availabe here.
The last hurdle still to be cleared is approval by the City Council which is expected to occur relatively soon. As implied by the word "interim", this ordinance will only be in effect for a short period of time (between 12 and 24 months, to be exact). During that time the Department of City Planning will work on a set of permanent regulations to restrict out-of-scale building - what is commonly known as "mansionization" - in the Oaks. There will be ample opportunity for input from the community and for public comment.
A survey of Griffith Park’s flora and fauna was well
underway prior to the May 8th fire which ignited a good portion of the Park.
The Griffith Park Natural History Survey (GPNHS) is a privately funded project
whose mission is “To promote knowledge, appreciation and understanding
of Griffith Park wildlife and natural resources, and to provide a source of
information for informed stewardship of the Park’s ecosystems.” A
permanent website is
under development and already partially operational as a means of accessing
the scientific data collected. The website will become an educational resource
for Park users seeking information about the plants and animals they see in
the Park, and eventually interactive tools such as a blog and sighting report
forms will be incorporated. ... [continued
here]
Many of you have seen the DWP work crews around the Oaks off and on since early this spring. As announced at our annual meeting in March, the DWP is upgrading the electrical system in the neighborhood in several phases. We asked The DWP’s Transmission & Distribution District Supervisor, Jay Puklavetz, for an update.The focus right now is on the high-voltage lines that feed the four distribution circuits the homes in the Oaks are connected to. While each of those circuits has its own supply lines, they can also interconnect. This means if there’s a problem with the supply in one circuit it can be fed from another direction. ... [continued here]
It's
been nearly a year and a
half since Friday, June 23th, 2006, when Oaks residents discovered a tree service crew illegally cutting down protected mature Oak and Walnut trees on four contiguous empty lots on Live Oak East. More neighbors were summoned, and the police were called. The tree cutting was stopped but only after a number of trees had been destroyed. The City Attorney is, as of this date, still considering charges against the tree service and against the owner of the lots and their representative for their roles in cutting down protected oak and walnut trees on the lot. If charges were filed, this would be the first case involving the new Protected Trees Ordinance to go before the courts. ... [continued
here]