The big question in the Wolfberg household these days is: What will George do now that he’s going to have some time on his hands? Or, to be more precise: What is he going to do after he gives up half of his volunteer civic responsibilities tonight, when his two-year tenure as chairman of the Pacific Palisades Community Council ends? While Wolfberg will continue to chair the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association, how will he spend the day ‘or two’ a week he currently devotes to PPCC business? ‘There are lots of things for him to do around the house,’ responds his wife Diane. ‘There are lots of things for me to do around the house,’ said George, playfully mimicking Diane. The very idea that George Wolfberg, 66, will really, finally, have some free time elicits a huge laugh from both of them, especially Diane, who is involved in her own volunteer causes. Three years ago she received a Golden Sparkplug Award from the Community Council for her work with Zero Air Pollution, a group dedicated to supporting L.A.’s ordinance banning gas-powered leaf blowers. She was honored for developing its Web site (www.zapla.com), which she now maintains. As the couple ponder the possibility of having more time together, they are the picture of wedded bliss after 41 years of marriage: she padding around their Santa Monica Canyon home barefoot and wearing an apron as she talks about the challah bread she will make for their Friday Shabbat dinner; he, in polo shirt and shorts, proudly showing the results of his own domestic efforts over the years, from nailing every cedar board in the raised ceiling of their living/dining area, to his handmade pottery collection, to the blue hydrangeas that are growing ‘like weeds’ by the lap pool in their back garden. George is also a cook, and made Chinese food for his three children and three grandchildren who joined the couple for last Friday’s Shabbat. The meal was kosher, of course, ‘and vegetarian,’ he said. ‘We had brocolli chow mein, Chinese peas in ginger and asparagus in garlic black bean sauce.’ Raised in Hancock Park, Wolfberg received a B.A. in political science from UCLA and a master’s degree in public administration at USC before going to work for the City of L.A. where he held a number of administrative positions, including being a key budget analyst. In 1996, after 35 years with the city, he retired from his ‘real job’ and became involved in even more volunteer activities. While Wolfberg has been involved with the SMCCA since the couple moved to the canyon in 1972, and has been a long-time AYSO referee, he only became involved in the Community Council in 2001 after reading in the Palisadian-Post that an alternate representative was needed to represent the canyon. Within a year he found himself being recruited as chairman. Wolfberg is especially proud of the fact that under his tenure the PPCC has become ‘a model’ for L.A.’s burgeoning neighborhood councils, even though the PPCC does not officially belong. ‘I am more interested in the process than in the actual outcome of what are essentially public debates on community issues,’ Wolfberg said. ‘The whole purpose of an organization like PPCC is to give residents a voice, give them a chance to be heard. My job is to be an impartial referee and to help the community maneuver its way through the bureaucratic process. I find the process, the ferreting out of facts and ideas, essential and fascinating. In the end, politics are local, and start right here in our neighborhoods.’ Wolfberg said that residents can definitely influence public policy, pointing out a Community Council meeting in early January in which 100 angry residents showed up to demand more police protection in the Palisades from LAPD Captain Mike Chambers. ‘And we got it right after the captain saw, firsthand, how upset people were,’ Wolfberg said. ‘We went from having less than one dedicated police car to two, even if they aren’t full-time in the Palisades. That was definitely progress.’ Another example Wolfberg gives is how, just last month, a motion by the Community Council to request that the Coastal Commission allow the city to sell off some lots in Potrero Canyon in order to complete the massive infill project has ‘now integrated us into the decision-making process. The city can no longer ignore us, as they have for years.’ Wolfberg said that while he is personally against term limits for publicly elected officials (‘It should be up to the voters to decide how long they want a particular individual to represent them’), he thinks that change on a board like the Community Council is ‘healthy and invigorating for everyone. I’m looking forward to my new role as chairman emeritus. There’s still a lot of work to be done.’

City of Los Angeles officials announced this week that ‘early-bird’ spectator chairs along the Fourth of July parade route will no longer be tolerated. ‘Due to the ever increasing amount of trip-and-fall hazards and blocked access associated with parade goers who place chairs and other obstructions on the public sidewalks’ the week before the parade, ‘the Bureau of Street Services will prohibit people from placing obstructions, such as chairs, benches and ice chests prior to 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 3,’ said a memo from Monique Ford, a field deputy for City Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski. The parade begins at 2 p.m. on July 4 and travels from Bowdoin and Via de la Paz up to Sunset, east to Drummond, down to Toyopa and west back to Alma Real. According to the memo prepared by Ford and Street Services: ‘Per discussions with parade leaders, local businesses, parade goers and other interested parties, it was determined that the placement of these ‘space savers’ several days in advance of the parade was causing increased hazards and potential liabilities for people visiting the Palisades Village, specifically for those in wheelchairs, with strollers, or the elderly. The time agreed upon by these parties, 6 p.m. the night before the parade, was determined after lengthy discussions. ‘Be aware that Street Services will remove all obstructions placed on City property prior to the agreed upon time whether they are attached (chained, tied or roped) to any public object or not. All confiscated items will be available for pick-up on or after July 7 at 1479 Stoner Ave., West Los Angeles with valid I.D. and only after an appointment with the inspector has been obtained. If your items are confiscated, please contact the inspector at 575-8479 during regular business hours. Any items not picked up by July 30 will be destroyed.’

After almost a year of communicating with Americans serving in Iraq, Jim Hake made his first trip to the country this May as a guest of the Marines and civilian representative of his nonprofit organization, Spirit of America (SoA). Founded last year with the mission of helping Americans serving abroad to improve the lives of people in need, SoA is now working with a network of Iraqis to ‘support people and ideas that can make a difference in Iraq,’ Hake said. The Palisades resident gained national attention in April when The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial page feature on Hake’s campaign to raise $100,000 to help Marines establish Iraqi-owned TV stations in Al Anbar province, west of Baghdad. The article by Dan Henninger generated an enormous donor response; SoA received $764,408 from 4,088 donors in five days. The organization has now raised $1.1 million for the television project and $1.8 million overall since mid-April. As a result of this outpouring, Hake decided to increase the scope and scale of SoA’s activities in Iraq, which required traveling there to network and focus SoA’s strategy. Before leaving for Iraq on May 27, Hake attended a training session at Camp Pendleton that included safety/security issues, military procedure and a briefing on local culture. ‘I was instructed on ways to interact and not interact, and how to be culturally sensitive, such as not wearing sunglasses when talking to people,’ Hake said. He also learned about certain explosive devices that may be planted by the side of the road”what to look for and who to tell”and received protective gear to wear in Iraq. ‘It was the same training embedded journalists go through,’ said Hake, the father of two sons (ages 9 and 6). He and his wife, Kristy, a painter and photographer, have lived here since 1996. Hake first traveled to Amman, Jordan, where he met up with Lt. Col. David Couvillon, who worked with SoA last summer, and two retired members of U.S. Special Forces. They then flew to Baghdad for a day before heading west to Fallujah (30 miles) and Ramadi (60 miles), two of the most dangerous areas in Iraq today. ‘The basic purpose of the trip was to understand what SoA could do to effect the most immediate and, hopefully, lasting improvement in most Iraqis’ lives through forms of support by American people,’ Hake said. He also wanted to determine the best approach for having SoA personnel in the country to support the organization’s expanded activities. Some of the Iraqis he met with (from the Ministerial level to local leaders and ‘ordinary’ people) included an imam (religious teacher) in Ramadi, the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee and Coalition Provision Authority (CPA) personnel, as well as civilians in three surrounding villages. ‘Some folks spoke English and some required an interpreter,’ Hake said. ‘They understood I was a civilian representing private citizens in the U.S. interested in finding out how they could be of help, that there is a set of people on the other side of world very interested and committed to a better future for them, and it’s not an issue of politics.’ Hake’s conversations with Iraqis and with Americans serving abroad focused on 1) things that would be helpful as a sign of goodwill and friendship, such as soccer balls or shoes for kids in rural areas and 2) things that can help provide substantial improvement. For example, economic development programs such as job training and microfinancing to get businesses off the ground and equipment for various projects related to employment, housing and construction. In Ramadi, Hake met with the Director of Economic Development for Al Anbar province, who is spearheading the creation of women’s sewing centers in the Ramadi-Fallujah region. This will provide women with a chance to make money (some for the first time) as well as clothes for themselves and their families. While Hake was there, he distributed school supplies, soccer balls and Frisbees donated by SoA and the organization’s supporters earlier this year. ‘The adults and children were happy to see us, happy to talk and play. And, like children anywhere (at least mine!), happy to get gifts,’ Hake wrote in a SoA newsletter update. ‘The women of the community made flatbread for us during the visit….Clearly, not every visit to neighborhood in Iraq would be like that one, but it was one of those nice human moments. It was also instructive to see how the Marines operate and relate to local communities. Very impressive.’ In Fallujah, Hake spent time at a center where Iraqi civilians meet with Marines to work on civil affairs and rebuilding projects. The center also serves as a training site for the Iraq Civil Defense Corps. ‘There I had a chance to discuss with the son of a local sheikh [the leader of an Arab village or family] ideas for a neighborhood sports program that SoA is considering supporting,’ Hake wrote. The program would make it possible for about 30,000 kids, ages 13 through 19, to play soccer later this year. ‘In many cases we won’t be going through the Americans in the military but working with Iraqi civilians,’ Hake told the Palisadian-Post. He also updated SoA’s media project featured in The Wall Street Journal. ‘The TV equipment is being delivered and installed, and technical training is being planned,’ he said, adding that Iraqi reporters are interested in journalism training programs. ‘With the new equipment, Iraqi personnel at one of the stations took to the streets with camcorders to do ‘man in the street’ interviews,’ Hake wrote. ‘When they broadcast the interviews, they received numerous calls with positive feedback. Ahmad Al-Rikaby, a London-based correspondent for Radio Free Iraq, recently started a popular talk radio in Iraq called Radio Dijla. ‘Media professionals in Iraq don’t have a long history of media freedom,’ said Hake, who also networked with Iraqis who run Web sites in English as well as Arabic. ‘Providing a way for people to talk and complain about what they have on their minds is an ingenious idea.’ After being in Iraq, Hake sees ‘great potential for country that is free, peaceful and prosperous’ and encourages Americans to support Iraqis in this goal. ‘While some [Iraqis] may have beefs with the American government, what they have with the American people is different,’ he said. ‘There’s a huge opportunity for that citizen-to-citizen connection.The vast majority of Iraqis aren’t deeply concerned about matters of policy but about a better way of life’what you or I would wish for the country.’ However, Hake also realizes the situation in Iraq is difficult and dangerous. ‘Each time we left base [Camp Blue Diamond at Ramadi] to visit a local village or community we were briefed on recent threats to Marine convoys (usually from IEDs’Improvised Explosive Devices),’ Hake wrote. ‘Attacks are not constant, but occur often enough to restrict the military’s freedom of movement and action. To get around requires traveling in armed Humvee convoys or helicopters.’ Referring to the recent assassination of Iraq’s Minister of Education, Kamal al Jarrah, Hake said, ‘People in Iraq are more susceptible to assassination, which discourages anyone else from stepping up. The key lies in Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the country, but if they’re at risk, it makes it harder.’ Since returning from Iraq on June 4, Hake and his seven-person staff have been fleshing out plans and thinking strategically about how they can invest in projects over there to make the biggest difference. The projects currently support Marines, Army, Air Force and SeaBees. ‘We are still assessing the best way to structure our in-country presence,’ Hake wrote. ‘In any scenario much of our work will be managed and executed by Iraqis (and we are developing good contacts in that regard).’ For more information or to make a donation, go to www.spiritofamerica.net or call 1-800-691-2209.

‘Horeem chavereem ubne mishpacha yekareen,’ (parents, family, friends, welcome) said Palisades High School graduating senior Molly Danziger in Hebrew, one of nine multilingual welcomes at the 2004 commencement held in the school’s stadium last Thursday. Five hundred seniors were presented with diplomas and encouraged in their future plans, which include 93 different colleges and universities at the evening ceremony that included speeches, awards, music and joy. Valedictorian and National Merit Scholar finalist Anne Marie Barrette wondered how much PaliHi had prepared her class for the future. ‘Life is about learning, both big lessons and small ones,’ she told the assembled parents, friends and faculty. ‘I learned that an 8-1/2- by 11-piece of paper is not adequate covering in the quad when seagulls are flying overhead, and I learned that 20 minutes of nutrition, if used efficiently, is just enough time to finish homework due third period. ‘No doubt these lessons will serve me well in life, but there are also more important things,’ Barrette continued. She underscored the importance of the ‘plus one’ rule: If you’re studying for a final, study one more hour. If you’re selling a product, aim to sell one more.’ Class president Kedra Sattiewhite found Pali to be a microcosm of the world, a study in cooperation and understanding. ‘We have learned to get along with different races, different cultures and people from different backgrounds,’ she said. Salutatorian and National Merit Scholar finalist Andrew Pan challenged the grads to look beyond the ‘usually true, but also usually trite and clich’d advice’ to graduates. ‘We have no doubt heard many adages the last few years at school, at home and even here, now as we graduate in a ceremony filled with cliches. What we must do is use our own judgment to find and act on the truth in these axioms….Take all the other simple truths you’ve learned here and keep them near and dear to you’and whatever you do, please don’t throw them out with your old homework!’ A class of extraordinary talent, many members contributed to the day’s program. Terrell Briggs and Charmagne Land combined their voices in the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ and the Palisades Charter High School Orchestra, under the direction of Terry Henderson, played the prelude and outdid themselves with John Philip Sousa’s ‘Stars and Stripes Forever,’ accompanied by fireworks. Clarinet player Daniel Fox and pianist Anne Marie Barrette provided a musical interlude before graduating senior April Johnson began her address. The class of ’04 was remarkable also for their academic achievements. Forty-two seniors were confirmed California Scholarship Federation Sealbearers and 11 students received commendations from the National Merit Scholarship committee. Four students, Alan Baik, Michael Jacobson, Marisol Melgarejo and Heather Thompson were honored for four years of perfect attendance. Some 50 organizations, foundations and educational institutions granted awards and honors to over 100 students. While the graduates were to be commended for their hard work and numerous successes, fellow classmate William Gray cautioned against cockiness. ‘Don’t take yourself too seriously,’ he admonished. ‘The great transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau took himself very seriously. He ended up living by himself in the woods for a year, talking to the ‘mighty woodchuck’ about the reasons for his existence. Please don’t let this happen to you…I ask you not to grow up, at least not all the way. Watch comedies, not just in-depth documentaries. Eat cereal, Play fun games…Drink a high-carb, caffeine-loaded caramel frappuccino every now and then instead of the usual decaf vente, soy-milk, light-froth, no-cinnamon coffee.’