PPCC Library Integration Test

**Voting Members in Attendance:** Sue Kohl, Quentin Fleming, Jenny Li, Beth Holden Garland, Maryam Zar, Chris Spitz, JoAnna Rodriguez, Diana Daniele, Julia Nilsen, Kimberly Bloom, Karen Ridgley, Lorie Cudzil, Sharon Kilbride, John Padden _,_ James Alexakis, Richard Blumenberg, Hagop Tchakerian, Rick McGeagh, Donna Vaccarino **Non-voting Members and
Advisors:** Allison Holdorff Polhill, Leeanne Sanderson, Cindy Simon, Joanna Spak, Michael Edlen, Andy Frew, Rob Weber 1.**Call to Order and Reading of Community Council’s Mission.** The meeting was called to order at 6:01 p.m. Leeanne Sanderson read the Mission Statement. 2.__**Introductions / Roll Call.** The President introduced the members and called the roll. 3.**Certification of Quorum.** The President certified quorum. 4\. **Approval of Minutes.** The minutes of
June 12, 2025, were approved as distributed. 5\. **Consideration of Agenda & Upcoming Meetings.** The agenda was as distributed. ______July 17**,** 2025 __(Note: date changed from 7/10; tentative: Friends of the Palisades Library update; Three Chairs Committee nomination and Board election of Area Three 2nd Alternate); __August 14, 2025__(topics to be announced). 6\. **Treasurer’s Report.** The Treasurer reported that the Council’s bank balance is $720,863.90, with not much activity this past month other than the monthly Mailchimp expense of $
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00. She is working on opening a separate Schwab money market account to deposit a large portion of the donated funds, to earn more interest on the funds. _[Note: Item 11.1 was called after Item 6 on the agenda.]_ 7\. **General Public Comment** :
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1. _Paloma Bustos_(Policy Associate with Loyola Law School’s Anti-Trafficking Institute) reported on the concerning phenomenon of trafficking among temporary workers after natural disasters, including in the Palisades. She has brought this to the attention of the Ad Hoc Committee on LA Recovery and her institute is working on measures that the City can take to prevent such trafficking.
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2. _Landon Nash_ of the Cosmic Foundation and Cosmic Builders (company that is building prefab homes with cutting edge technology in the Palisades) announced his Foundation’s initiative to donate one home to a needy Palisades family for every ten homes built and sold by Cosmic in the Palisades. More details about the the process and how to apply will be made available in the coming weeks.
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3. _David Howard_ (resident) spoke about public safety concerns, specifically his observation that there were no police cars present last weekend compared with the presence in prior weeks. 8.**Reports, Announcements and Concerns.**
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1. _From the Chair/Presiding Officer_.
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1. The President reported that the July PPCC meeting will be held on
July 17, 2025.
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2. Formation of new PPCC committees:
a) Grants Committee;
b) Bylaws Committee. The President announced the following members of these new committees:
a) Grants Committee: Quentin Fleming, Chair; Janet Anderson, Steve Cron, Lorie Cudzil, Chris Spitz, Andrew Wolfberg, Maryam Zar.
b) Bylaws Committee: Chris Spitz and Maryam Zar, Co-Chairs; James Alexakis, Quentin Fleming, Andrew Wolfberg.
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3. Reminder – 4th of July events: 5K Run/Walk in Venice; Parade in Santa Monica (PPCC to participate); evening Celebration at Paul Revere Middle School, sponsored by PAPA. The President reported on the upcoming events and encouraged everyone’s attendance.
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4. Position letters written since last PPCC meeting – Oppose Legislative Density Mandates w/o Funding Mechanism. The President noted that these letters have all been sent. <https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PPCC-Letter-Housing-Density-Legis.-Funding.pdf> <https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PPCC-Position-Housing-Density-Funding-.pdf> Request to Postpone I-405 Repaving Project: <https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PPCC-Letter-Postpone-405-Repaving.pdf>
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5. LAPD roll call update. The President noted that the roll call calendar for June-July 11 is on the PPCC website home page.
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6. PFC list of fire-resistant trees – The President noted that this list is also on the website.
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7. Col. Swenson recognition 7/2/25, at the Village Green. The President reported on the event recognizing Colonel Eric Swenson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to take place on July
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2. _From Officers/Chair Emeritus_.
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1. Maryam Zar, Chair Emeritus, reported on several events: 1) Colonel Swenson’s recognition will take place on July 2, following with LAPD roll call at 10am that day at the Village Green; 2) there will be a “visioning charette” in the Marquez Knolls area this Saturday from 10am-12pm, with more charettes in other neighborhoods to take place soon; 3) an LAPD “stop-in center” has opened on Sunset Blvd. in the Village area; 4) the Palisades Recovery Coalition is hosting a meeting with C.A. Hydee Feldstein Soto and Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on July
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3. _From At-Large and Area Representatives_.
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1. Chris Spitz (At-large Representative) reported on several matters: The 405 repaving has begun, with lane closures overnight. PPCC has submitted another letter opposing SB 79 to the Assembly. WRAC has also submitted a letter opposing SB
79. For reasons unknown, the City Council Rules Committee has not scheduled the motion calling for the City to oppose SB 79 for hearing. The state Board of Forestry is going forward with the proposed Zone 0 regulations, despite a great deal of opposition and concern that the regulations are not consistent with scientific data, as PPCC and many others have explained. We understand that the insurance industry is promoting these regulations.
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2. Kimberly Bloom (Area Five Representative) reported on the most recent meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on LA Recovery, chaired by Councilwoman Traci Park. She noted that LADWP representatives were present and were pressed by the Councilwoman on the status of the Santa Inez Reservoir. DWP reps stated that they hoped to fill the reservoir in the week before the 4th of July.
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4. _From Organizational Representatives_.
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1. Rick McGeagh (PPBA) provided information about progress at the Palisades Recreation Center: LADWP is now out of the building, the new playground is progressing, and the playing fields may be open soon.
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2. Donna Vaccarino (PPHS) spoke about a project by the Los Angeles Conservancy to preserve the architectural heritage of the Palisades.
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5. _From Government Offices / Representatives_ (as available). Contact information: <https://pacpalicc.org/index.php/government-contacts/>.
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1. Brian Espin, LAPD Senior Lead Officer (SLO), Pacific Palisades – not present.
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2. Arus Grigoryan, Palisades Field Deputy, CD 11 (Councilwoman Traci Park), reported that there will be an LADWP online town hall from 5-6:30pm on July
2. In addition, on July 1, the City Council will thank Colonel Swensen of USACE for his service; community members are invited. Councilwoman Park will also attend all 4th of July events.
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3. Marian Ensley, West Area Representative, Mayor Karen Bass – not present.
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4. Zac Gaidzik, Coastal & Westside Field Deputy, County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath – not present.
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5. Sean Regan, District Representative, Congressman Brad Sherman – not present.
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6. Samantha Gallegos, Field Representative, SD 24 (Sen. Ben Allen) – not present.
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7. Anthony Avila, Field Representative, AD 42 (Asm. Jacqui Irwin) – not present.
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6. _From PPCC Advisors_ _and Liaisons_.
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1. Allison Holdorff (Education) reported that LAUSD has held community meetings on the status of the rebuild of Palisades schools. There will be additional meetings in August and September. Regarding Pali High: Dr. Pam McGee and the Pali High Board have decided that students won’t occupy the Palisades campus until after Thanksgiving. She also provided information about a free 3-day camp for teenage fire survivors, to take place this summer, called “Camp Woodcraft Rangers.” 9.**Reports from PPCC Committees.**
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1. _Rebuild Committee_ (David Schwarz, Chair). Update on status of NORC focus groups. Quentin Fleming (Vice-President) reported that the focus groups are expected to conclude this week, and have been successful in fine-tuning the eventual Community Survey questions. The Survey is expected to be available for everyone to take in late July or early August -- more information will be coming soon.
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2. _Land Use Committee_ (LUC/Chris Spitz, Chair). LUC update. Chris Spitz reported that the LUC met informally and discussed several matters of interest, although no recommendations to the Board were made at this time. _(See also her At-large report in item 8.3.1.)_
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3. _Three Chairs Committee_ (Maryam Zar, Chair). Update re vacant Area Three 2nd Alternate seat. Notice: https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/PPCC-Area-3-Alt.-App.-Notice-2025.pdf. Deadline to apply:
July 6, 2025, 5pm. 10\. **Old Business** – None. 11.**New Business.**
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Pedestrian Trail (aka “Lateral Trail”) Update, LA Bureau of Engineering/BOE (trail to run from the mouth of Potrero Canyon to Temescal Canyon Blvd., per the Coastal Permit for GW Park at Potrero Canyon).
See PPCC Letter 8/27/24 (<https://pacpalicc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/PPCC-Letter-Lat-Trail-2024.pdf>) and Potrero Canyon-Coastal Access (<https://pacpalicc.org/index.php/coastal-access/>; entries for 8/27/24 and 8/23/24).
Goodwin Wharton of Geosyntech (the project consultant) was present, along with Kristen Ly of BOE.
Mr.
Wharton provided a slide show and explained the environmental review process to date, which included considering geotechnical and safety considerations and challenges.
Ratings based on several factors were assigned to the various alternate Trail routes that are under consideration.
Next step: Additional discussions must take place among the involved stakeholders (the City / BOE, Caltrans and the Coastal Commission).
Geosyntec has a recommendation for Trail alignment (based on the ratings), but it's unclear at this point which route will eventually be decided on, whether any might be altered, and/or when construction may actually begin.
Mr.
Wharton answered numerous questions from Board members and meeting attendees (including concerns about safety, security, fires, homeless camps, slides, bluff instability, cost and timing), and indicated that he and BOE will return to PPCC with further updates in the future.
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2. Motion re Authority of PPCC Grants Committee (sponsored by the Executive Committee). _See attached proposed motion text and background, below._ The President asked Chris Spitz (member of the PPCC E.C. and At-large rep) to explain the motion, which did not require a second as it was made by a committee of more than one voting member. Following discussion, a vote was taken. Result: the motion passed unanimously.
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3. WRAC-recommended Motion re Banning E-Bikes from Sidewalks (modified version sponsored in PPCC by the Executive Committee). _See attached proposed motion text and background, below._ Chris Spitz (WRAC Vice-Chair, PPCC At-large rep and E.C. member) explained the motion, which did not require a second as it was made by a committee of more than one voting member. Following discussion, a vote was taken. Result: the motion passed unanimously. 12\. **Adjournment.** The meeting was adjourned at 7:49 p.m.
**ATTACHMENT – Item 11.2:** Motion Proposed Text: “The PPCC Board approves the following with regard to the authority of the PPCC Grants Committee (committee formed by the PPCC President) and the requirements for approval of grants/donations by PPCC. “The Grants Committee shall be authorized to: