Save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course

[Brian]

Karen Keehne Zimmerman sent me the following e-mail, a perfect thread-starter about the draft EIR released last week. Sharon and I have been posting about this and the workshop on June 7 in another thread:

Last week the City of L.A. released the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Verdugo Hills Golf Course.

For more information about the DEIR please visit: www.gcvoice.org/emails/2009May20.htm

The public has until July 20, 2009 to submit their opinion about the draft document. Community members input can be helpful in sharing the final EIR, which will help determine whether or not the proposed 229 residential unit development is approved by the City of L.A.

During the next weeks we will continue to share information about the EIR process and what people can do to voice their opinion. For updates, please visit the www.savethegolfcourse.org website. We will be updating the site on a regular basis. It would be a good idea to ‘refresh’ your browser window each time you visit to make sure you are viewing the most current information. You can use the F5 key at the top of your keyboard to refresh your browser.

A quarter-century ago, I was on the board of the Sunland-Tujunga Association of Residents, which celebrated many land use victories in the proud, century-old tradition of this area, mostly by challenging EIR's. The campaign against this development will be huge -- I hope to get involved after the Bed-In.

[Brian]

Thought it was time to check the Save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course website to see what's new. Last week, they launched a letter writing campaign for soon-to-be-former Councilmember Wendy Greuel to extend the comment period 30 days past the July 20 deadline. This is an activity best suited to residents of Los Angeles, so I'll write my letter this week:

www.gcvoice.org/current-projects/vhgc.htm

That draft Environmental Impact Report is a monster. The summary is 80 pages. I'll have to stop at the library and pick up a copy of the whole thing.

The committee will have a community meeting on Tuesday, July 7 (when the Dodgers, still the best team in baseball, are on the road), 7 p.m. at North Valley City Hall, 7747 Foothill Blvd. I liked it better when they called it the Sunland-Tujunga Municipal Building.

[Sharon W]

Jun 14, 2009 23:01:28 GMT -8 Brian said:

Thought it was time to check the Save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course website to see what's new. Last week, they launched a letter writing campaign for soon-to-be-former Councilmember Wendy Greuel to extend the comment period 30 days past the July 20 deadline. This is an activity best suited to residents of Los Angeles, so I'll write my letter this week:

www.gcvoice.org/current-projects/vhgc.htm

That draft Environmental Impact Report is a monster. The summary is 80 pages. I'll have to stop at the library and pick up a copy of the whole thing.

The committee will have a community meeting on Tuesday, July 7 (when the Dodgers, still the best team in baseball, are on the road), 7 p.m. at North Valley City Hall, 7747 Foothill Blvd. I liked it better when they called it the Sunland-Tujunga Municipal Building.

CVCA encourages all stakeholders, even those not in the City of LA to write. Sorry for the late notice but if you want a sign to put in your yard with the save the golf course website see below. I'll try to snag a few extra so respond here if you want one.

Monday, June 15, starting at 7 pm, the Historical Society of the Crescenta
Valley holds it's regular meeting at the Center for Spiritual Living, at the
corner of Dunsmore and Santa Carlotta, La Crescenta. This month's featured
speaker is Nat Read, author of "Don Benito Wilson: From Mountain Man to Mayor".

Author Nat Read reveals the amazing tale of the "pioneer, beaver trapper and
trader, grizzly bear hunter, Indian fighter, justice of the peace, farmer,
rancher, politician, horticulturist, vintner, real estate entrepreneur, and one
of the great landholders in Southern California". His holdings included what are
now Altadena, Pasadena, South Pasadena, San Marino, Alhambra, Beverly Hills,
Culver City, Riverside, and more. He faced near death experiences with Indians,
grizzlies, and a firing squad. Mount Wilson is named after him. This is a story
people of all ages will want to hear.

The meeting is free and open to the pubic. See:
www.cvhistory.org/meetings/meetings.htm for more information.

Anyone interested in displaying a SaveTheGolfCourse.org yard sign to encourage traffic to the website dedicated to saving the Verdugo Hills Golf Course from development into 229 luxury homes can stop by the HSCV meeting tonight and pick one up.

[Brian]

Jun 15, 2009 17:46:23 GMT -8 Sharon W said:

...if you want a sign to put in your yard with the save the golf course website see below. I'll try to snag a few extra so respond here if you want one...

Anyone interested in displaying a www.SaveTheGolfCourse.org yard sign to encourage traffic to the website dedicated to saving the Verdugo Hills Golf Course from development into 229 luxury homes can stop by the HSCV meeting tonight and pick one up.

Thank you for the offer, Sharon. We're in a house behind trees down a long driveway -- nobody would see a sign here, or I'd ask for one.

Before writing my letter, I thought I'd visit Wendy Greuel's website to see what she had to say about the proposed development on the golf course or her new job July 1. She hasn't updated it since last fall, when she started her campaign for city controller. Even the calendar for June is empty. In case you have to see for yourself:

www.lacity.org/council/cd2/index.htm

[Brian]

The latest addition to the Save the Verdugo Hills Golf Course webpage features proposed before and after pictures of those hillsides from the developer's Draft Environmental Impact Report. Man, why create such an aggressively ugly image?

www.gcvoice.org/current-projects/vhgc.htm

[anni]

EEEEEEWWWWWWW.

And the developer photoshopped this so we could see his good idea?


I repeat:
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

[Brian]

We were impressed by all of the bright yellow savethegolfcourse.org signs along Tujunga Canyon Boulevard as we drove to the Dodger game last night. John, my friend since our first day attending Mt. Gleason Junior High 40 years ago, lives in Van Nuys now and didn't know about the proposed development. (John, if you're looking at that link, they took down the Photoshop rendering we mentioned in this thread last week.)

The latest update on that webpage touts the Town Hall Meeting next Tuesday, July 7, at the North Valley Neighborhood City Hall, where we'll find out more about what we can do to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report and meet some nice people who don't care about missing the last couple of innings of the Dodgers-Mets game in New York.

By the way, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel gets sworn in as city controller today -- and her official city website still has not been updated since last October.

[KarenZ]

I just read your comment about the two images from the DEIR. I agree, you'd think the developer's consultants would have worked up a better image of the product they want to sell.

We're planning to use the two images on another page, which has yet to be created. I needed to move the images from the front page because of upcoming events which needed to be "above the fold". and more visible.

Thank you all for your interest in the VHGC.

P.S. Did you notice that the original photo was taken so that you hardly see anything of the golf course itself? And the starkness of the second image with so many beautiful trees obliterated by the photoshopping of the proposed development.

[Brian]

Tonight's the night -- Tuesday, July 7 -- for the Town Hall Meeting, 7 p.m. at the North Valley Neighborhood City Hall, 7747 Foothill Blvd., Tujunga. I know about it thanks to savethegolfcourse.org and I'll be there to:

• Learn about the Draft EIR
  
• See the Project and its Alternatives
  
• Get Tips on How to Comment
  

[/i]

Jul 1, 2009 0:53:30 GMT -8 @KarenZ said:

Did you notice that the original photo was taken so that you hardly see anything of the golf course itself? And the starkness of the second image with so many beautiful trees obliterated by the photoshopping of the proposed development.

Thank you for pointing that out, Karen. I had only noticed that the photo looked like it was taken from a car driving west on the 210 -- a real drive-by.

[anni]

Yes, Brian and I attended. Our Nancy was there, too. It was great, the hall was filled, maybe as many as 100/125 peeps. I noticed a troop of boy scouts. Very cool.
We all need to address the E.I.R. as the builder MUST reply to all letters. Choose a section that you might be interested in, and read it, looking for discrepancies or outright lies and write a letter. Where to send your letter check out:
www.gcvoice.org/current-projects/vhgc.htm

I volunteered to count cars on Tujunga Canyon in the evening, for my contribution...