LAPD Captain Vance M. Proctor, the new Area Commanding Officer for the West L.A. station, spoke to the Palisades Community Council last week and reassured council members that he is committed to maintaining two patrol cars in the community. The 30-plus year department veteran said, ‘This is my third time in West L.A. What a joy to come back. I understand the nature of the community and the geography and crime statistics. ‘You need two cars. When officers make an arrest they have to then drive to Van Nuys or Central, which can take them away for hours. I’m committed to keeping the second car here.’ Proctor, who lives in Ventura County and served as patrol captain in West L. A. from 1988-90, explained that he also puts a lot of emphasis on traffic enforcement, working with Captain Williams of the West Traffic Division on ‘the primary problem’speed.’ He would like to increase the number of officers who are radar-certified, which involves a one-week training. ‘The more trained officers we have, the more citations we can write’the radar gun is a very useful tool.’ Proctor said that he would like to see West L.A. have its own speed trailer. Councilmember Norm Kulla asked, ‘If we could raise funds, could we buy one?’ The trailers cost about $15,000. ‘There’s no reason why we couldn’t do that,’ said Proctor, who added it could possibly be housed in a city facility, such as a fire station. However, having community volunteers drive it into place is a potential liability issue. ‘We sent the question to the City Attorney, and are waiting for an answer,’ Proctor said. In addition to traffic, Proctor emphasized the importance of Neighborhood Watch. ‘It’s one of the best, cheapest things anyone can do in a community. It helps people know their neighbors’the person across from you, behind you, and to the right and left of you. ‘We urge people to look for activity that doesn’t fit.’ He and Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale suggested taking down the license plates of suspicious cars. ‘This can help solve crimes. If a person is loitering around, and doesn’t seem to know his way around, make an inquiry, and they usually will leave.’ Proctor also took the opportunity to praise Ragsdale. ‘I’m the captain, but he’s the chief of Pacific Palisades.’ Overall, Proctor said the police force should ideally be increased to 15,000 from the current 9,600. He also stated that crime in L.A. decreased rather significantly last year, by 20 percent. ‘We are focusing on gang members and repeat offenders and this has paid off.’ He emphasized that West L.A. in general and the Palisades specifically is a safe community. He also talked about some of the successful police programs’including the volunteer surveillance team, which is starting up again in West L.A. Volunteer recruits help with surveillance in secure locations with police backup. Another program is PACT, a nonprofit organization which raises money for needed police equipment. He also praised Bratton’s program, COMPSTAT’a computer-based technology that gives the LAPD’s management team the ability to identify, track and define issues pertaining to crime in ‘real time.’ This system provides a wealth of data and allows the Department to make the most efficient use of limited personnel resources by rapidly deploying officers to the areas when and where they are most needed. ‘The captain gets questions about what he’s doing about crime. It’s not a very pleasant experience, but it keeps you sharp as a tack,’ Proctor said. When asked about the response time to police calls, Proctor said, ‘Traditionally, West L.A. has one of the worst records [because of the geography of the area]’we average a little over 10 minutes. West L.A. currently has 244 sworn officers, 155 of which are on patrol.’ He also noted that LAPD is under a five-year federal consent decree, which mandates that the department be audited in many areas, requiring additional resources. ‘When it ends in two years, we can take some of those resources, and get them back into the field.’ Council president George Wolfberg asked Proctor about using a webcam to deter crime. Proctor responded that he had used cameras in the Devonshire Division with graffiti problems and they had been effective. Council president emeritus Harry Sondheim asked about 911 calls from cell phones which go to a central CHP location instead of the LAPD dispatch center. Ragsdale suggested that people program the local police department phone number into their cell phone also (West L.A. station is 575-8401) and in addition to 911, call the police station if necessary. ‘Let them know you have an emergency,’ he said. For non-emergency situations, Ragsdale recommended calling the LAPD non-emergency phone number of 877-275-5273. He is available on his cell phone, 622-3980, but encourages people to call the non-emergency line also in case he is off-duty.

New West Charter Middle School has signed a letter of intent to lease the former Santa Ynez Inn on Sunset from the Self-Realization Fellowship and hopes to open a campus on the 1.5-acre site in September. ‘After we sign a lease and receive various government approvals, we’ll work very hard to raise money, mostly through private donations,’ said New West chairman David Eagle, a Highlands resident. ‘Once we know that we can raise $600,000 to $700,000 to pay for the renovations, we’re in. Our rent will be very reasonable and the per-student funds we receive from the state will be enough to sustain everything after classes begin.’ But Eagle added, ‘If everybody yawns when we seek donations, then we’re out. That will be the end of it. We have a little seed money that we can utilize to get started, but we don’t want to commit until we know we can pay for the whole thing.’ Based on his group’s ability to raise a similar amount of money a year ago ($500,000) to renovate a commercial building on Pico Blvd. in West L.A. and open for classes last September, Eagle felt confident that New West will have a second campus this fall. He also emphasized that ‘we’re not going to be draining any resources from the Pico site.’ A public school chartered by the State Board of Education, New West started the school year with 275 students in grades 6-8 and currently has about 260, of which about 20 percent are from the Palisades, according to Eagle. His Palisades-dominated group is studying three scenarios for Santa Ynez, located just below the SRF Lake Shrine and across from Los Liones Drive. ‘One possibility is to have a second middle school with about 100 students in each grade. The second is to have sixth graders at Pico and seventh and eighth graders at Santa Ynez. The third is to have Pico remain our middle school and consider making Santa Ynez our high school of the future,’ though not this year. ‘We’re open to other possibilities,’ Eagle said. Once New West officials are confident about their fundraising campaign, they plan to convert the former restaurant/motel into a school with about 12-13 classrooms, several administrative offices, a library and a science lab, while respecting the original architecture of the building, Eagle said. ‘A portion of the existing parking lot will be turned into a playing field and basketball/volleyball courts and will still leave enough room to park more than 60 cars on the site.’ The total area is about 67,000 square feet. ‘I know some nearby residents might be concerned about additional traffic in the area,’ said Dr. Donald Gill, the school’s executive director, ‘but we think we have a great plan that will result in little or no effect on current traffic. At our Pico site we require our families to carpool and that has resulted in literally no negative effect on traffic in the area. We have taken a 250-car potential down to under 100 cars visiting our campus per day. At the Sunset site, we think we can reduce that number even further because we will not only require carpooling at drop-off and pick-up times, but we also expect to provide bus transportation for some of our students, which will reduce the number of cars into the area.’ When Eagle presented his plans at last Thursday’s Community Council meeting, traffic impacts were indeed the main concern of council members. ‘My immediate concern is people making left turns off Sunset into the school,’ said Norm Kulla. ‘If a traffic light can be installed at Los Liones, people could make a safe left turn into the parking lot,’ said Eagle, who noted that there’s already a median strip to work with in creating a left turn only lane. New West will hold two meetings next week to answer questions from members of the community and to show the property and their plans to those who are interested. The first meeting will take place on Thursday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in Mort’s Oak Room. A tour of the Sunset site will take place on Saturday, April 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. Free parking will be available on site. New West officials will be on hand at both gatherings to answer questions, listen to suggestions and concerns and show the plans for the site. Anyone who would like to contact the school or make a 100 percent tax-deductible contribution or offer support to this effort should contact David Eagle at NewWestCharter@aol.com, or at 441-8555.

A tea house? A computer repair store? A wine shop? A linen store? An organic coffee shop? A Mexican restaurant? While none of these new businesses have yet to find a home in the Pacific Palisades, their prospective owners have been exploring the possibility for months, scouring our commercial districts for suitable retail space, which is currently leasing for up to $4 per sq.ft. While there were some first-quarter changes in each of the five business areas (the Highlands, Marquez and Sunset, PCH and Sunset, Santa Monica Canyon and the Palisades Village), only about six storefronts are currently available for lease. Even more difficult for prospecting business people, according to Coldwell Banker agent Gregg Pawlik, is finding a landlord who will actually rent to them. ‘Owners are being very cautious these days,’ said Pawlik, who has been leasing commercial property in the Palisades for 25 years. ‘Basically, they want a business that will complement all the other retailers on the street.’ Pawlik said a prime example of that is the former Emerson LaMay Cleaners site at 1045 Swarthmore, which has now been vacant for a year. ‘Here you have 1,600 sq.ft. of prime village space which the owners, representing four different family trusts, don’t seem to be in any rush to lease. I’ve put in at least a half-dozen proposals, including one for a bakery, a computer store, a linen store, and various kinds of clothing shops, including a jeans store. Since they also own three-quarters of the buildings on the street, I guess they really are looking for the perfect mix. What I do know, though, is they are not interested in putting a restaurant in the Emerson LaMay space. There have been numerous proposals, ranging from Thai to Chinese to American-style eateries, and they have simply said no.’ Also available for lease is the former 2010 Video store at 1022 Swarthmore, owned by the same group (which includes the John R. Wilson Trust, the Whittier Trust, et al.). The Palisadian-Post has learned that another prime location on Swarthmore’the former Il Sogno eatery’will have a new restaurant opening soon. However, we could not confirm that it will be an Italian restaurant, as is widely rumored, as we could not reach the new owner before going to press. o o o Since the new year, four new businesses have opened in the Palisades, two have changed hands, and two have closed down. ”In late January, the venerable Yamato Nursery on the corner of La Cruz and Alma Real closed to make room for Village School’s new performing arts/gymnasium/playground annex, which is expected to open in the fall of 2005. Demolition has already begun. ”The Haagen-Dazs ice cream store near the corner of Sunset and Swarthmore (in the historic Business Block building) quietly shut down sometime last month. Starbucks has already subleased the space for a Quizno’s Sandwich Shop, expected to open in the next few months once renovations are complete. A national franchise, Quizno’s is known for its submarine sandwiches, which are made with toasted specialty breads. ”Jiva Yoga Studio opened on January 2 in the 2,200-sq.-ft. space on Sunset formerly occupied by Kids’ Universe toy store. The town’s only studio dedicated exclusively to yoga offers a wide range of classes, including yoga for seniors and babies. Instructors William and Patty Asad’ s two-month-old daughter, Gabriella, is a participant in the weekly baby class. Patty taught kindergarten at Marquez Elementary from 1998 to 2000. ”In late January, Body Aligned officially opened in a space above Starbucks, offering Pilates exclusively, unlike other fitness studios in town which offer a range of (Continued on Page 3) services, from healing workshops to physical therapy. Partners Margaret Freiberg and Andrea Hackin, who both worked at the former Gym ‘n Tonic on Sunset (now called The Pilates Studio), offer private lessons, group sessions and courses for instructors. ”Pinocchio In Cucina, an Italian take-out deli located on the main level of the business building at 970 Monument between Contentment and Blockbuster, opened in mid-February to rave reviews. Palisadians Theresa and David Whitworth, who own La Luna in Larchmont Village, are partnered in this venture with La Luna chefs Guiseppe Barravechia and Robertino Giovannelli, who run the day-to-day operations in the former Cloud 9 space, which has been extensively renovated. Most popular are the pizzas, so much so that the owners will soon be upgrading to a larger-capacity pizza oven to accommodate home deliveries. For Easter they recommend one of their signature dishes: lamb shank braised in a Cabernet sauce. ”The town’s first tanning salon, Heat Boutique, also opened in mid-February in the lower Highlands Plaza in the space formerly occupied by veterinarian Dr. Henry Pasternak. Besides two regular tanning beds, the salon offers sunless tanning with a Mystic Tanning machine ‘which is UV free,’ said owner and manager Alle Tithof. ‘All you need is 14 seconds on the front, 14 seconds on the back, and you’re done.’ ”In March, Cafe Misto changed hands. David Williams, president of the Palisades Chamber of Commerce, sold his restaurant in order to concentrate on Mogan’s Cafe, which he opened last July and which is just three doors away. Starting this July, in addition to serving breakfast and lunch, Mogan’s will add a dinner menu. The new owner of Misto, which serves dinner only, will keep the Italian menu. Both eateries are located in the lower Highlands Plaza, off Palisades Drive. ”HiLites hair studio, located on Antioch, also changed ownership in March. It was bought by employee Lisa Simon, who got her hair dressing license in her native Ireland. After spending some time in New York, Simon moved to L.A. where she worked at Michele International for 13 years before leasing her own station at HiLites three years ago. She currently has one other hairdresser working for her, and is looking forward to expanding her business in the coming months. ”Contentment, which occupies one of the largest retail spaces in town at 970 Monument, recently shifted its focus. While owner Vicki Middleton still sells orchids, she now has only a limited selection of religious articles (role-model dolls, spiritual CD’s and DVD’s) and has opened the space for use by local groups. A prayer group meets there once a week and a grief group will begin meeting on April 22. Whether Middleton, who for three years has been subleasing the space from Kinko’s, will continue her business when her lease is up at the end of July, depends on whether the owner of the building, Equity Pacific, signs a major tenant to anchor the space. While there are rumors that there are plans to replace Contentment with a restaurant, Taryn Rudon, who manages the building, told the Post that while ‘we have had all kinds of inquiries, everything from Italian to Greek to Indian to Asian to Mexican’you name it’nothing is definite.’ o o o Anticipated in the coming months is the opening of Chefmakers, a new kitchen retail store and cooking school at 872 Via de la Paz, the former site of Sheila May, who plans to relocate her permanent makeup studio somewhere in the village this June. Soon to close is Anna Marie’s clothing boutique at 857 Via de la Paz (see story, page 7), and at the end of this month, Palace Fireplace is moving two blocks away to a larger space next to Emerson LaMay Cleaners, now located at 15333 Sunset. Emerson owner Helen Campbell, who relocated to Sunset after she lost her lease on Swarthmore, has apparently subleased some 700 sq.ft. of her store to Palace, which has been in business in the Palisades for 12 years and is currently having a half-price sale. Who will occupy the coveted Palace Fireplace space, located between Coldwell Banker and Philips French Cleaners? ‘Someone talked to me about wanting to open a running shoe store, someone else wanted it for a tea house’ said Palace owner Armond Vartanian, who also sells mailboxes and barbecue grills. He said he was moving because the landlord is raising the rent from $5,000 to $8,000 a month, ‘which is too much for a business this size.’ Meera Cho, owner of Philips French Cleaners with her husband Jeff, said Tuesday that they are in negotiations to lease the Palace space to expand their business. They plan to invest in some new equipment to provide more ‘environmentally-correct dry cleaning services.’ Cho did emphasize, though, that the lease has not yet been signed.

Thanks to writer Bob Jeffers, a 2004 Golden Sparkplug winner, the entrance to the Palisades along Sunset is a lot more appealing this spring. Jeffers spent nearly two years raising funds and working on beautifying the 600 feet of Sunset median strips near Chautauqua. ‘Like a lot of people, I would always drive by those asphalt median strips and, especially in the springtime, when the weeds would get up to 6 ft. high, I’d say to my wife, ‘I can’t believe we live in this beautiful area and we have this ugly median strip.’ She said, ‘Why don’t you do something about it?” So Jeffers came to Pacific Palisades PRIDE (Protect and Renew Our Identity and Environment) with his idea, and he was promptly made a new board member and put in charge of the project. ‘He was the heart and soul of the project’he made all the contacts, did all the legwork, and supervised the contractors all the way to the very end,’ said PRIDE president Naidu Permaul. The beautification group hired landscape designers Pamela Burton & Co. of Santa Monica to design the median strip and established a partnership with L.A.’s Adopt-a-Median program. The project was completed last fall and the medians are now planted with 120 five-gallon dwarf bougainvilleas, 800 day lilies, 200 red-hot pokers and 20 flats of gazanias. Jeffers was nominated for Sparkplug honors by PRIDE member Kurt Toppel. In his letter, Toppel wrote: ‘Total project cost was about $115,000 and required extensive City involvement and participation. To accomplish that by itself is worthy of an award!… I have worked closely with Bob as a member of PRIDE and consider it a privilege to nominate him for Sparkplug recognition to inspire others in our community to follow his example.’ PRIDE raised about $50,000 through a Donor Diner program. ‘Bob not only came up with the idea for the project, he suggested how to fund the project through the ‘Donor Diner Program,” said Permaul. ‘He went to the restaurants in town and talked them into it.’ Jeffers explained: ‘A lot of people want to give to PRIDE, but they don’t want to spend $450 for a tile.’ His idea was to also encourage smaller donations, and in return give donors two-for-one entrees at local restaurants. ‘It’s been successful and we’ve accomplished getting a lot of people to donate who hadn’t been before,’ Jeffers said. ‘It’s nice to give a thank you for donating.’ PRIDE is continuing the program, in which a $25 donation is good for a two-for-one entree at Kay n’ Dave’s, Mort’s Deli, Caf’ Vida, Terri’s and Tivoli Caf’. Fifty-dollar donations are good for two-for-one entrees at Modo Mio, Pearl Dragon and Hidden Caf’. Jeffers has lived in the El Medio Bluffs area for seven years with his wife Karen and their sons Dylan, 11, and Charlie, 9, both of whom attend Marquez Elementary School. He grew up in Denver and Bethesda, Maryland, and attended Duke University. After graduating, he moved to New York City and worked for large ad agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather and McCann-Erickson. After six years, he ‘got the film bug’ and came out to L.A. to attend USC Film School. He graduated with a master’s degree in film, wrote screenplays and for the last 14 years has worked as a freelance copywriter in entertainment advertising, specializing in writing movie trailers and television promotions for TV shows. Working from home, Jeffers screens a rough cut of the movie or television show and writes several scripts for the narrator. ‘It gives the editors of the trailer a road map of how to cut the trailer.’ Working from home has worked out well for him. ‘Luckily, the work has been good to me,’ Jeffers said. ‘The nice thing is I do have time to coach baseball in the afternoon and a little extra time for civic activities.’ In addition to coaching PPBA baseball, he’s an AYSO soccer referee. Jeffers had a positive experience working with the city on the project and found that their Adopt-a-Median program really streamlined the process. ‘I found everybody to be very pleasant and pretty informative’no trouble at all,’ he said. One potential stumbling block occurred when workers discovered multiple layers of asphalt under the median strip. ‘There would be 8 or 10 inches of dirt and then you hit the old Sunset Boulevard.’ Jeffers and others had assumed that there was dirt under the asphalt they could use for the planting. ‘That’s when Cindy Miscikowski’s office came to the rescue with funding for demolishing the asphalt,’ Jeffers said. Her office donated about $45,000. Jeffers scheduled the demolition work, which was done by the City, for two weeks, and was surprised it was completed in three days. Several large donors contributed to the landscaping project, including the Palisades Junior Women’s Club, the Palisades Lions Club, a bequeath from Lion Merry Richards, and Prudential California Realty/John Aaroe Division. ‘These people were really instrumental in getting us the funds we needed to accomplish this,’ Jeffers said. ‘Like every construction project, it got more expensive as it went along.’ PRIDE’s maintenance fund will be used for gardener Francisco Cervantes to maintain the median. ‘Palisades has really been a big part of my life lately. It’s a labor of love to improve the area,’ Jeffers said. ‘I’m pleased and honored to be a Sparkplug. It’s really a thrill.’ Now one of the vice presidents of PRIDE, Jeffers worked on replacing and upgrading the Christmas lights in the trees along Sunset last winter and is beginning to work on the Marquez-area commercial district improvement. Regarding community involvement, Jeffers said, ‘It’s habit-forming; once you get involved you enjoy it and enjoy the people. At our meetings we have a lot of laughs. ‘I’d just encourage people to do what they can, whatever time they can give to PRIDE or other groups,’ he said. ‘I think people are pretty generous. We all really benefit from it’just a little time and you can make a difference.’ Jeffers is looking forward to seeing the plantings in the median strip mature and bloom. ‘There are hundreds of yellow lilies that haven’t done their thing yet.’ PRIDE President Permaul told the Palisadian-Post: ‘Pacific Palisades is the beneficiary of the likes of Bob Jeffers. He exemplifies what it means to be a member of the community. He not only has vision but he works to bring that vision to completion.’