To the Oaks Homeowners Association;
On behalf of
Mr. Mark Hollister,
Manager of Distribution Construction & Maintenance Section,
City of Los Angeles, Department of Water and Power.
This is a summary of the March 12, 2007 annual homeowners meeting held
at the Immaculate Heart High School.
First let me say it was my pleasure to attend and give each of you an update
on the projects that are currently on going and the others planned for
the future. Know that Mr. Hollister and I, along with our construction
crews are committed to provide you with the best customer service we can.
Yes, in the past LADWP has fallen short of that commitment and for this
please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Now let me summarize the meeting for you;
1. As you are aware LADWP is short staffed and dealing with the issues
of the “brain drain”, Baby Boomers and their experience are
retiring and walking out the door at an alarming rate. Lineman and Cable
Splicers take 4 years to train to become competent workers.
2. LADWP has just finished negotiating with Labor Unions and Contractors
to continue with our pole and cable replacement programs for three years;
this will put more resources into the field repairing the wires and cables.
3. Along with the new contracts LADWP is in the process of updating our
training programs in an effort to accelerate the training and increase
the number of qualified workers, our program is now split to train Lineman
and Cable Splicers in three years.
4. At this time there are several groups that are working on the Oaks area
projects. Engineering and Design group, Overhead Distribution Design aka, “Spotting”,
District overhead and underground crews and our Contract Operations group
(CO).
5. In November you received a letter from our General Manager outlining
the scope of the projects and the estimated start date of April 2007 and
an approximate duration of 2 years to complete the upgrades. LADWP started
the work on Phase 1, November 2006, so that puts us ahead, not by much,
but we’re ahead.
6. The schedule of the projects are as follows;
Phase 1 – UG cable upgrade in the area of Los Feliz, Western, Live
Oak and Hobart is estimated to be completed by May 1st.
Phase 2 - OH conductor upgrade on Canyon Ave is also estimated to be completed
by May 1st
Phase 3 - UG cable upgrade in the area of Live Oak West, Verde Oak and
Mountain Oak will be worked by our CO group, this project is estimated
to begin in July 2007 and will take at least 6 to 7 months to complete,
this is due to the amount of circuit switching and “jumpering or
by-passing” of the cables.
Phase 4 - OH conductor upgrade also on Canyon Ave. is in the design stage
and expected to be completed by April 1st, this job is more then 1000 hours
of work and is estimated at 8 to 10 weeks to complete. Our Lincoln Heights
District crews are scheduled to start this job as early as June 1st, although
it maybe as late as July 1st with an estimated completion of October 2007.
Phase 5 – the final UG cable upgrade in the area of Live Oak West,
Holly Oak, Hill Oak, Wild Oak, Red Oak and Park Oak is estimated to start
January 2008, at this time it is estimated to be 6 to 8 months of work.
LADWP is committed to provide the best service possible and part of that
commitment is communications, with that in mind LADWP has assigned a single
point of contact during construction stages. This liaison is Mr. Jay Puklavetz,
Central District Superintendent, who will dispatch e-mails to your contact
Mr. Rainer Standke who will forward the information to all of the owners.
As always please feel free to contact either Mr. Puklavetz or myself with
your concerns, comments and/or complaints and we will try to response in
a timely manner.
Mr. Jay Puklavetz, Central District
(213) 367-6420
jay.pulavetz@ladwp.com
Thank you for your time and patience.
Andy Sparks, Distribution Construction & Maintenance Group
(213) 367-1883
andy.sparks@ladwp.com
