Pacific Palisades Community Council Meeting Includes Introductions of Area Officials, Camera Updates

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Pacific Palisades Community Council met virtually on Thursday, February 8—covering a wide variety of topics on the agenda, including the introduction of new area officials and updates regarding cameras in public spaces.

At Councilmember Traci Park’s office, Juan Fregoso has taken over the district director position, replacing Gabriela Medina, and Dellarose Santos has joined as a constituent services deputy.

Fregoso previously served one year as director of homelessness and housing for Park’s office, but has garnered almost a decade of experience with the city of Los Angeles under Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell (CD 13), so he said that while he was relatively new to CD 11, he is not new to city processes.

Fregoso explained during the PPCC meeting that the team at Park’s office was expanding, expecting to be fully staffed in two to three weeks. The bigger vision for the district is to bring additional resources to areas like the coastal zone, to aid in things like tourism, disaster impact and beyond.

Santos joined the office with a background at Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. In her position, she will work closely with Brentwood, Pacific Palisades and West Los Angeles Field Deputy Michael Amster on individual cases related to things like maintenance and infrastructure.

“There’s a lot of stuff that I’ve just been handling on my own,” Amster explained, “and it’s just awesome to have a partner like Dellarose who’s really well versed in dealing with very complicated issues, especially with the unsheltered population.”

Also introduced during the meeting was Los Angeles Police Department Patrol Captain Alisha Jordan, who has returned to the West Los Angeles Division with nearly 30 years of experience. She previously served West LA beginning in 2011 as a police sergeant.

“Every division has two captains,” explained LAPD Senior Lead Officer for Pacific Palisades Brian Espin. “You have an area captain that runs the whole gamut of the division, and then you have a patrol captain, which is specific to the boots on the ground—all patrol officers that are out driving around in the black and whites handling the radio calls. She is responsible for deployment, how they’re conducting their work and responsible for them.”

Jordan, who had been on the job for eight weeks at the time, said that she is looking forward to getting reacquainted with Pacific Palisades. Her time with LAPD has included patrol, detective and investigations.

“For the years I’ve been on the job, I have enjoyed every bit of it,” Jordan said. “I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and I take taking care of my community seriously. And I want to ensure that my officers are also out there doing their part.”

Jordan said she speaks with the officers daily, making sure they understand what she expects from them and that she is available for them to reach out to as well—noting the importance of “open communication” about how to best serve the community.

“What I’ve learned in the 29 years that I’ve been here is that when they have access to their command, that the officers feel more confident about going out there and doing their job and they’re typically more productive,” Jordan said. “So that has always been a part of my goal, as well as listening to my leadership team, my sergeants and my watch commanders.”

Over the next few months, Jordan planned to go out with some of the senior lead officers to meet members of the various communities in person.

PPCC Chair Maryam Zar and Vice Chair Sue Kohl provided updates regarding the placement of cameras in open spaces, including at Palisades Recreation Center—a topic that had been discussed at previous PPCC board meetings.

Zar reported that after speaking to LA Parks Foundation, she and Kohl were informed they would need to use Recreation and Parks technology for the cameras versus going through a company, like Flock Safety.

Before installing cameras, it was suggested to Zar and Kohl that Palisades Recreation Center gets an electric systems upgrade so that the park could accommodate better lights and cameras, which has been done by RAP at other parks.

Kohl reported that she spoke with RAP technician Jimmy Newsom, who said the park would need about 15 cameras and that a minimum $500,000 investment in the electric infrastructure upgrade would be needed.

It was suggested that interested parties advocate with City Council for budgeting.

“We’ll have a plan in the next couple of months and we’ll advocate for it,” Zar said.