Transportation: On the Move in 2021
Councilmember Krekorian serves as the San Fernando Valley’s representative on the board of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro), the agency that plans, operates and coordinates funding for transportation throughout Los Angeles County.
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District 2 to Remain Largely Intact in East Valley
On November 8, the City Council approved a tentative new redistricting map, keeping the vast majority of the Second District intact. As happens every ten years, population shifts required that the tentative map would make some substantial changes in the Second District (including the loss of parts of Studio City and the addition of Toluca Lake). Still, 90% of the district’s current constituents will remain in the Second District.
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Vaccine Requirement Update
The City of Los Angeles has adopted a vaccine requirement for admission to some indoor public places and participation in some public activities. This ordinance officially took effect on November 8; enforcement efforts began on November 29, the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday.
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Krekorian Partnership With LA:RISE Changes Lives
In 2015, Councilmember Krekorian began an innovative program in his district to create sustainable employment and housing for people experiencing homelessness, partnering with the Los Angeles Regional Initiative for Social Enterprise (LA:RISE). The program uses the LA:RISE partnership to connect housing providers located in the district with employment social enterprises, WorkSource Center partners, and retention providers. Too often, these critical services have not been coordinated to produce the best outcomes for individuals experiencing homelessness. The Council District 2 program aligns housing and employment opportunities and services to ensure the greatest likelihood that participants will remain housed and remain employed.
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Revenue Report Confirms: L.A. is Back in Business
A recent revenue report to the Budget and Finance Committee, chaired by Councilmember Krekorian, confirmed what we’re seeing all around us. In the City of Los Angeles and across the region, business is making a strong recovery from the recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing businesses are reopening or expanding their hours, and new businesses are opening and creating new jobs.
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Plastic Foodware Ordinance Takes Effect
Get ready to say goodbye to all the unused plastic knives and forks that clutter our kitchen drawers and cupboards.
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Innovation Challenge Creates Faster, Cheaper Supportive Housing
Addressing homelessness requires a panoply of solutions, including preventive measures and temporary bridge housing and shelter to enable the unhoused to get off the streets quickly. But for many who have experienced chronic homelessness and face special challenges in being rehoused, permanent supportive housing is imperative. Supportive housing combines permanent homes with the kind of intensive on-site social services that enable residents to turn their lives around and remain housed.
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Cool Streets, Cool Neighborhoods
On October 4, 2021, the City announced the second phase of its “Cool Streets L.A.” program. Dubbed “Cool Neighborhoods,” the plan aims to lower the temperature of L.A.’s warmest neighborhoods by planting new street trees and resurfacing the pavement with a reflective surface that absorbs less heat than traditional black asphalt.
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Amanda Gorman Mural Brings Inspiration to Chandler Tiny Homes
The year 2021 marked the debut of the Chandler Tiny Homes Village in North Hollywood. It is also the year that the brilliant Amanda Gorman, a native Angelino, became the youngest poet ever to recite her work at a presidential inauguration. Now the Chandler Village is the site of a stunning new mural celebrating Gorman and her stirring words.
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Magnolia Blvd. Oaks Win Historic-Cultural Designation
In October 2021, the Council followed Councilmember Krekorian’s lead and designated a grove of 15 oak trees on Magnolia Boulevard in Valley Village as a Historic-Cultural Monument. An arborist report noted that most of the trees are over 100 years old. The oldest, at 232 years of age, has been growing on this spot since 1789 — the same year George Washington became president, and just eight years after the pueblo of Los Angeles was founded by the 44 original Pobladores.
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Leading The Fight Against Ghost Guns
On August 31, 2021, acting on a motion introduced by Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Paul Koretz, the City Council approved drafting an ordinance prohibiting the purchase, possession or sale of so-called “ghost guns” -- untraceable firearms assembled from parts manufactured without serial numbers.
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The Road to Clean Energy: LA100 Leads the Nation
In 2016, Councilmember Paul Krekorian initiated LA100, a historic effort to move Los Angeles to 100 percent clean, carbon-free energy, through a motion he introduced with his colleague Mike Bonin. That motion led to an intensive planning process, including a partnership between LADWP and the National Renewable Energy Lab, which proved that the 100 percent clean energy goal is feasible and both environmentally and economically advantageous. In August, 2021, the Council approved a motion introduced by Councilmember Krekorian and Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell requiring that LADWP achieve the LA100 goal by 2035.
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Whitsett West Tiny Homes Village Opens!
On September 9, 2021, Councilmember Krekorian, Mayor Garcetti, Ken Craft, CEO of Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission and various dignitaries formally launched the 77-cabin 150-bed Whitsett West tiny homes facility near the corner of Saticoy and Whitsett in North Hollywood, the third such community to open in the Councilmember's district during the year.
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Van Nuys to Sylmar Light Rail Line Receives Metro Board Support
The East San Fernando Valley Corridor project, which will be the first light rail transit line in the Valley since the demise of the Red Cars in 1952, took a big step forward last week when the Metro Board approved its final configuration. The project will connect the Van Nuys Metro station with the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station, servicing busy commercial corridors and densely populated residential areas in the East Valley.
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Goal! Whitsett Soccer Complex Completed
Ten years ago, the soccer fields at the corner of Whitsett and Vanowen in North Hollywood were so heavily used that they had become little more than dirt and rocks. If that were not bad enough, the children and adults trying to use these dusty fields were frequently victimized and threatened by violent gangs. It was a disgrace and a disturbing example of the inequity that too many neighborhoods endure.
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