THE EAGLE ROCK ASSOCIATION
The Best Investment You Can Make in Your Neighborhood
June 8, 2004
Special
edition
TERA
e.letter
1. AN
EMPOWERING ANSWER TO THE POWER POLE ISSUE
2. AT&T WIRELESS ANTENNA AT 1453 COLORADO BOULEVARD
3. THE BIG RED BALL TOPPED THEM ALL!
4. IT’S TIME TO RENEW YOUR TERA MEMBERSHIP! -- 2004 DUES PAYABLE BY
JUNE 15
5. THE LAST WORD — THEODORE ROOSEVELT
1. AN EMPOWERING
ANSWER TO THE POWER POLE ISSUE
As you know, TERA has been working tirelessly with the Los Angeles
Department of Water and Power (LADWP), especially LADWP Board Chair Dominick
Rubalcava, and the offices of Councilman Villaraigosa, Assemblywoman Carol
Liu and Senator Jack Scott to get the huge, unsightly power poles being erected
in conjunction with the state Caltrans/CHP building put underground. I am
pleased to say that the ERNC Land Use Committee voted to support our efforts at
its May 27th meeting.
I have wonderful news! I was contacted by Ed Miller of LADWP, who
looked at the land use regulations governing Colorado Boulevard, and he
concluded (with the help of City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo) that the
power must be put underground! – what a wonderful victory for Eagle Rock!
LADWP will work on a plan for how much the
effort will cost and who will pay for it, but the result will be less visual
blight and safer sidewalks for our community!
If you attend tonight’s ERNC meeting with City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, at
the Eagle Rock Library from 6:30 to 8 pm, please thank him for all
of his support for this community. Thanks to the ERNC for supporting our
efforts.
As for the misinformation put out in the recent Boulevard Sentinel
about this effort, TERA’s work on the power pole issue had nothing to do with TERA
President Emeritus Joanne Turner working for Kurken Alyanak of
Colorado Terrace. Kurken is paying to underground his power -- from
College View to Ellenwood along Colorado Boulevard -- himself. And Joanne
neither worked on the power pole issue nor is working for Kurken now. TERA’s
efforts were launched because the power poles are both unsightly and against
the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan and our community improvement goals for
Eagle Rock!
It is too bad that there are those who cannot bear to recognize the hard
work of volunteers for what it is: our desire to keep Eagle Rock beautiful for
future generations.
Thanks to all of the community members, elected officials and their staffs who
share this same positive goal for Eagle Rock!
-- Hilary Norton Orozco
2. AT&T WIRELESS ANTENNA AT 1453 COLORADO BOULEVARD
Thank you to all the TERA members who have brought your concerns to us about
this new wireless antenna site. As many of you read this letter, I will
be at the hearing on this issue -- Tuesday, June 8th at 9 am -- presenting both
the concerns of the ERNC Land Use Committee and TERA to the Zoning
Administrator.
On May 27th, the ERNC Land Use Committee, chaired by Jessica Wethington
McLean, expertly handled a preliminary meeting with Mr. Wally Shin,
representing AT&T. Michael Tharp, TERA’s Land Use Committee
Chair, and I are sitting members of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council
(ERNC) Land Use Committee. At the conclusion of the meeting, we voted to
deny the application, after considerable discussion of better alternatives to
the location and design of this antenna.
TERA and the ERNC requested denial for the following reasons: 1)
There has not been adequate efforts made to seek co-location of wireless
facilities in Eagle Rock; 2) AT&T has not provided an overall plan
for its numerous cellular antennas planned in Eagle Rock, and 3) AT&T
has not fulfilled its prior promises to the community.
TERA was one of a few Eagle Rock organizations that fought mightily to support
cellular flagpoles at the intersection of the 2 and 134 Freeways.
After doing so, AT&T has not fulfilled its promises of $30,000
in financial support for community projects. We cannot trust AT&T to
care for the needs of Eagle Rock residents on any future projects until this
matter is resolved. We thank the ERNC for taking up this issue as
well.
I will let you know the outcome of the Zoning hearing in the June 10th edition
of the e.letter. Thanks again to ERNC for its leadership and an extremely
descriptive and extensive denial letter to the Zoning Administrator!
-- Hilary Norton Orozco
3. THE BIG RED BALL TOPPED THEM ALL
On Saturday night, the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock painted
the town red! Well, actually, the gorgeous decorations by Lonnie Roy gave
the Center a fantastic red glow. ERCCA Director Jenny Krusoe
threw a great party! Assemblywoman Carol Liu and her husband Mike
Peavey, Chair of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) came
to check out the festivities. Morganne sang
beautifully, and the John Brown Band played a great mix of
music that got us all out on the dance floor.
Most importantly, the Big Red Ball was another testament to what is unique and
wonderful about Eagle Rock. The Big Red Ball was visually exciting,
full of artistic touches and attended by people ages 8 to 88.
People wore everything and anything, and it all worked. Thank
you to the ERCCA for putting on another noteworthy event for Eagle
Rock!
-- Hilary Norton Orozco
4. IT’S TIME TO RENEW YOUR TERA MEMBERSHIP! -- 2004 DUES PAYABLE BY
JUNE 15
TERA Membership Has New Benefits!
We are working hard for you every day, and are an all-volunteer organization,
highly dependent on member support.
If you are not yet a member, please join now. $20 a year for individuals
and $25 a year for the entire household. It's very affordable and
necessary to support all of our efforts on your behalf.
There are a few ways you can join:
(1) Simply hit the reply button to this e.letter, tell us you want
to join and include your name, address, phone number and email address.
-or-
(2) Sign up online on our Website!
(http://www.tera90041.org/terajoin.htm.)
-or-
(3) Call the TERA telephone hotline at (323) 259-TERA [259-8372]
and give us your contact information.
To those of you who are currently valued TERA
members: now is the time to renew your TERA membership!
All dues for 2004 are due on June 15th. We changed our dues policy
to have all dues payable on the same date for everyone annually – March 15th,
but this year, our first year implementing the new policy, our due date is June
15th.
Please check your mail for our upcoming membership renewal letter, or renew
online on our Website! (http://www.tera90041.org/terajoin.htm.)
We ask you to renew your support and consider increasing your membership level,
so that we can continue to publish our weekly e.letter, produce our annual Home
Tour, hold community events, host quarterly public meetings, publish our
quarterly newsletter, serve you with in-depth research, reporting and
representation at hearings and meetings, and convene our Land Use and
Beautification Committee meetings.
We look to our membership dues to support all of our administrative
overhead costs for items such as paper, ink, photocopying, mailings, telephone
and fax expenses, parking and gasoline, and computer and software technology
upgrades to keep pace with our accelerated world of communication.
Without your financial support, it comes out of our own pockets.
All of our volunteer hours are willingly given free of any reimbursement
except the personal satisfaction of serving the greater good of the community
in which we all live.
Your contribution provides us with the tools we need to perform our volunteer
efforts on your and our behalf: quality of life for all, fight for good
development, historic preservation and a more beautiful Eagle Rock.
New TERA Membership Cards with Added Value!
A brand new feature of TERA membership is our newly minted TERA Membership
Card. All members will have their own personalized card. We are arranging
terrific promotions for our "card carrying" members. Note that
you will be able to participate ONLY when you present your TERA card showing
you are a current TERA member.
New Local Business Partners Program
We are very happy to announce our first wave of local independent
business owners who are offering discounts or other advantages of TERA
membership to our growing numbers. We believe this new business partnership
program is a mutually beneficial arrangement, which serves as a practical
reminder of the economic power of TERA's investment in our local businesses.
We continue steadfastly in our resolve to patronize our local independent
business owners who have shown their commitment to this community by taking the
risk to establish themselves on our business corridors before it became
fashionable. We recognize their willingness, vision, creativity,
aesthetic, and wisdom of engaging in adaptive reuse of our longstanding vintage
architecture. These are the proven ingredients of an attractive and
vibrant local economy.
We thank our first business partners:
10% Discount at The Coffee Table
10% Discount at Swork
Our list of businesses is growing! Please watch for our notices with news
of some interesting new value added benefits on the horizon for TERA members!
Lifetime TERA Membership – A Lifetime of our
Appreciation
Please consider joining me in becoming a TERA Lifetime Member. We
are introducing our new $500 Lifetime Membership level.
We are very excited about the recognition of our home town, Eagle Rock, as a
unique place to live and do business. We want to grow together with you
and provide avenues to interact with each other through our weekly e.letter,
quarterly newsletter, telephone line, public meetings, community events,
beautification activities and business partnerships. Together we can make
a difference in our shared quality of life.
Thanks for your support!
-- Hilary Norton Orozco, President, TERA, The Eagle Rock Association
5. THE LAST WORD — THEODORE ROOSEVELT
"It is not the critic who counts;
Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles;
Or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit goes to the man who is in the arena –
who strives valiantly –
who spends himself in a worthy cause,
who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall not be with those cold timid souls
who know neither victory or defeat."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
This is a special
edition of The Eagle Rock Association e.letter, which is distributed weekly via
email and as a regular feature on various internet discussion groups, the TERA
e.letter is read by well over 2000 readers with an interest in Eagle Rock and
Northeast Los Angeles. Please encourage interested friends to send their
full name and email address to us at e.letter@TERA90041.org
so we can keep them informed, too.
If you have changed your email address or would like to be removed from this
list, send us an email to e.letter@TERA90041.org
with the word(s) "remove" or "address change" in the
subject box, as appropriate.
If you have a press release, letter of comment, question or other notice that
you feel might be of interest to the Eagle Rock community, send it to e.letter@TERA90041.org. Your announcement -- in the form of an
email text message, (no attachments, please) -- must be in our hands by noon on
Monday to be considered for inclusion in that week's issue.
TERA -- The Eagle Rock Association -- YOUR COMMUNITY IN ACTION -- http://www.TERA90041.org --
P. O. Box 41453, Eagle Rock, CA 90041 -- (323) 259-TERA -- a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit public benefit corporation
The TERA
e.letter
A publication of
The Eagle Rock Association (TERA)
e.letter@TERA90041.org