Responses to Ivette Soler's letter about tree trimming butchery along Townsend are below.

Michael,

I live on the street that Ivette is talking about. And I can tell you, I complained to the city, the mayor’s office, Jose Huizar's office, and the ERNC. I told them what they did was wrong--It was done in August our hottest month and we depended on those trees for cooling our homes! In my e-mails I demanded and apology and at the very least, a response. I got neither. I am sure I am not the only person who complained and yet where is the city??? We are not the above Colorado neighborhood that Huizar and the city are interested in and the ERNC is completely ineffective--You are more of a representative to this community than anyone I have come across. I want to thank Ivette for writing about this. I am pained and hurt every time I walk outside of my house and see those poor butchered trees. The trees on this street were one of the reasons I purchased my home almost exactly a year ago and within a few short months, they were gone. I invite everyone in Eagle Rock to drive down my street (the 4700 block on Vincent) and take a look at what our city did to us. We are so neglected by the city and the cutting of the trees feels like the final blow--it hurt us, it really did and nobody will even apologize. Also, Ivette was right, this would never happen in West LA. They just came in one day and cut them down---didn't even notify us. It is disgusting and pathetic.

Sincerely,

Amy Sloboda

Subject: Butchering of trees

I totally agree with Ivette Soler about the horrible butchering of trees in our neighborhood! I have not seen the ones she mentioned that were cut by city pruners, but I have seen many in neighbors' yards in the Hill Drive vicinity that look like victims of a chain saw massacre. It doesn't have to be this way! I have an excellent arborist who has pruned our trees, and would be happy to share his contact data with anyone who is interested.

Lucy Cole

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Greetings TERA Newsletter!

Thanks for all you do and the professionalism with which you do it - it is a pleasure to take in updates regarding our community.

i regularly share with our neighborhood watch group which is located in the hills between Eagle Rock and Highland Park - we call ourselves the North Highlands.

Question - perhaps i missed an issue of the newsletter where this was addressed - is anything being done to curb the stand- up cocktail party of teenagers that congregates almost every evening at the corner of ER Blvd & Colorado - the space where Starbucks, Walgreens, Quiznos, Cold Stone is located. It is absolutely horrific. We love Cold Stone but will NOT patronize them anymore. The last time we went i refused to get out of the car. i'm an old time party girl but that situation is just WAITING for a shooting incident to occur. Loud music, smoking weed, hard looks from the kids, gang types etc. Sad thing is TERA saw this coming a long long time ago. Now what?

Just curious. Is it as simple as installing a no loitering ordinance for that area?

Keep up the good work; i do hope this one goes away too.

Lisa Brewer

There is no easy answer to Lisa's letter. I am troubled when a society is afraid of its children and yet there are facts that show that some children should be feared. My personal feeling is that I would not give up the right to go to places in Eagle Rock that I enjoy due to a certain "crowd" making me feel uncomfortable. I think I mentioned in an e-letter once that I sometimes feel uncomfortable in Sworks, but that is because I sometimes feel that I am at least 30 years older than everyone else in the place. But I have friends who like to drink coffee there and if I want to be with them, I'll drink coffee in Sworks. But they're only 20 years older than the rest of the crowd. But my gut feeling is that if you quit going to a place because there are people hanging out, you lose a place you enjoy and the merchant loses your business. If you're uncomfortable, go there with friends. You might also just try saying "Hi" to the person who makes you the most uncomfortable. They might surprise you by saying "Hi" back. When I walk the dogs in ER Park late in the evenings, there are occasionally "hoodies" hanging in various dark corners. I always walk up to them and say hello. Sometimes I just get a muttered response or they just disappear into the night, but other times we end up having a lively discussion about dogs or cars or (once) astronomy. I'm just letting them know that it's my park too and I'm happy to share it with them, but IT'S MY PARK TOO! And it's a judgement call and I am not advocating putting oneself in danger. If danger is your calling, you can get plenty of that just trying to use the crosswalk at Eagle Rock and Merton, where at times the cars actually seem to speed up and aim at you when you try to cross. What I am saying is that I find most people have no malice, regardless of their appearance, and if you give up using the places you like, you are ceeding that space and your enjoyment of it to others for what is probably no good reason.

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Dear Michael/TERA,

I have a question regarding the shopping carts. Why would you want to fine businesses for the carts that are strewn about our community? What about the people who are stealing them? They are stealing property! Why would you want to fine the businesses who are already suffering a loss due to theft? Please don't put this in the newsletter. I just was wondering why you would want to pursue this avenue for a solution to the shopping cart problem. Thank you for taking the time to care about our and work for our community.

Sincerely,

Theresa

Thanks for writing Theresa. My objective is not to fine the owners of the shopping carts but to keep those shopping carts on the owner's property and out of my neighborhood. The shopping carts are provided for the convenience of the store owner and the customer, allowing the customer to carry more stuff and the owner to sell more stuff and make more money. The owner has an obligation to keep that cart, the owner's property, on site and out of the surrounding neighborhood, where it causes blight, and can cause damage to passing cars when left in the street. The technology exists for the owners of the carts to keep them on-site, but instead they have chosen to be lax in keeping the carts on site or in retrieving them in a timely fashion. I've heard lots of excuses from having to pay higher insurance premiums to offering a community service by letting the carts go with the customers because they bought too much to carry. I think the carts should remain on- site and out of the surrounding neighborhood. Burbank and Glendale seem to have found a method that works and I think LA should look into it. It's really that simple.

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Subject: Roofers, plumbers, and landscapers?

Hi Mike,

I wonder if anybody out there either IS, OR can recommend people who specialize in any of the following trades:

Roofer--I need to remove the old wood shingles and completely re-roof my house with non-wood shingles. Thanks to the dry winter, I dodged the bullet, but it needs to be done soon.

Plumber--I need to repipe my house in copper. Not a huge job: 2 baths, laundry and kitchen, but it is 2 stories.

Landscaper or landscape architect--I need to convert the barren area where the deck used to be into a nice patio area, with pavers and stones, some appropriate plantings, and perhaps a few large rocks. It's a fairly level hillside view area.

Thanks to anyone who can help!

J. Gadden

ejazzme@yahoo.com

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