HWPOA
2024 Year-End Report
Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association is a 24 member volunteer board of your neighbors who are elected in the Spring each year. As was recently written in the Brentwood HOA newsletter, “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.” Our board members are involved in and give their time to our select committees that address community concerns about quality-of-life issues in HW. We’ve been on the job for 65 years and counting. That’s quite a tradition and we know it will continue!!
You, our members, benefit year after year. Everyone in our community benefits whether or not you support the association. We greatly appreciate those neighbors who contribute their time and financial support for we could not exist nor could we accomplish our priorities without you. We have accomplished many things this year that our members should know about:
The Housing Element/CHIP Ordinance. LA’s single-family neighborhoods survived and will not be rezoned to accommodate multi-family apartments! We asked that you email the Planning Commission, the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, and City Council to oppose opening up single family neighborhoods to build multi-family apartments. We won in the Commission, the Planning and Land-use Committee and at a hearing before City Council. LA must prove that it has enough zoning to meet the State’s mandate to house our population and we believe it is possible to accomplish without the need to rezone our single-family neighborhoods. The State must now approve our plan.
With your help and those of neighborhoods citywide, community pressure was exceedingly important to the final approval. Our Councilwoman, Katy Yaroslavsky, supported our position and we are sincerely grateful.
Since I mentioned Katy, let’s not forget her Council District 5 staff. We could not accomplish much of what we do without her super diligent staff. George Hakopiants, Deputy District Director, Patty Macias, our Westwood Field Deputy, and Jenny Torres, Planning Deputy work closely with HWPOA. A huge thank you to them for their attention to our needs!
FILM/LA Committee, chaired by Dennis Rosenblatt works with film production companies and the city to ensure that no homes or streets are harmed by the hours or number of days filming or that parking or traffic plans pose no problems to neighbors. We try to be very supportive and accomodating to the film industry, so important to jobs and LA’s economy.
The valet parking program which Dennis initiated (valets were hired on behalf of hosts in adjacent communities to park cars in our neighborhood) has been a huge success. HW has not had a reported incident since the law went into effect. Thank you, Dennis, your team, and LAPD!
Once again, Caron Schwartz produced a wonderful July 4th Parade and Picnic that began at Warner Ave. School where families walked north on Loring to Holmby Park. Fire Station 71 led the way while board member, Phil Gabriel provided the Stars and Stripes music. Red, white, and blue carried the day with food, games, and bouncies sponsored by our wonderful ACS Security, SSA Security, Jason Somers, Courtney and Kramer LaPlante, Splatterz, Target, and our real estate agents, Jim Bremner, Mark Rogo, Caron Schwartz, Michael Simmons, and Larry Young. We hope you will make it a point to patronize those who support our Holmby Westwood community!
The Green Team chaired by Marnie Bodek is renewing our tree canopy on the parkways of our streets, many planted before the first houses were constructed in 1925. The Janss Development Corp. planted 13 different species on our 26 streets. Today there are more than 2000 street trees, many of them planted over 90 years ago. We value these parkway trees and the Green Team’s goal to replace the 300 that are missing. To that end, the Team has already planted 76 trees and more are on the way. Councilwoman Yaroslavsky’s motion was recently passed in City Council to direct funds to plant 40 new trees in our neighborhood which will be initiated by the Green Team in coordination with Tree People. This is great news for which we sincerely thank Katy and her staff. We look forward to a Spring planting.
Our lawsuit, filed 5 years ago against a property owner at Lindbrook and Holmby Ave. has moved from Superior Court to the Appellate Court. As you recall, HW prevailed on all 5 counts in Superior Court. The case is anticipated to be heard in the new year. A new petition by the same owner was filed against us and dismissed without prejudice this week. We will keep you informed about his appeal.
Safety and Security co-chairs, Susan Reuben and Nancy Lushing keep an eye on problems and statistics not only in HW but also, in adjacent neighborhoods. They are in contact with our Senior Lead Officer, James Allen as well as the security companies that serve our neighbors. They have provided many helpful ways to combat safety issues at home and studied a private What’s App for HW. They have looked into Flock Cameras and determined that because HW has too many entrances and exits, the use of such a permanent monitor would be greatly diminished thus making the camera’s use in HW unworkable. As we have learned, license plates are often removed from the getaway cars thus making it impossible to track the car. Always be mindful of your surroundings at home and away.
The Westwood Village Committee chaired by Jann Williams is waiting for the Housing Element Ordinance to be approved by the city in order to understand the impact it will have on rezoning the Village. Our hope is that historic buildings will remain and will be guided by Adaptive re-use (keep the building’s exterior while changing the use, possibly retail to housing). Housing/mixed-use is expected to be developed around Metro’s Purple Line as well as Westwood’s transit corridors.
The Architecture Committee, composed of 7 members, continues to review new construction on all properties that have CC&Rs. They only comment on what can be seen from the street (nothing inside) and rely on floor plans, renderings, landscape, elevations and a materials board for final approval of a home. Their goal is to maintain compatibility in the surrounding area.
Your Board of Directors made a few bylaw revisions, mostly to clarify the language in our existing by-laws. We changed the number of members necessary to constitute a quorum at a meeting of the Members from 50 to 40. We added verbiage to include online meetings. The Board voted to amend only a few of the Articles of Incorporation to make clear our intention to the members.
The Board of Directors and the Green Team were guests at the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden and Herbarium this month. Victoria Sork, Director, gave us a wonderful tour of the grounds including the new stream and irrigation system that delivers water to plants around the garden. Anthony Baniaga, Curator of the Herbarium, discussed the identification and collection of specimens and we were able to tour the library in Kretz Hall. A very interesting morning!
The Holmby Park Committee, chaired by Susan Meals, reports that our senior gardener, Raul, retired after 27 years with the city. Jesus has been appointed to replace him and is doing a great job in maintaining the park grounds. The Holmby Park Advisory Board is working with Rec & Park and has identified several maintenance issues which they are working on with staff. We have had great reviews on the recently installed playground.
There is an effort underway with possible plans to reinstate the 9 hole golf course and bring back the young and old who enjoy this pitch and putt. Click the photo below to watch a video:
Marilyn Stern, our Good and Welfare chair, keeps the board informed about personal celebrations, illness, and passing of our members, She is always on top of happenings in our neighborhood including discounts in the village and events in our churches and synagogues.
HWPOA’s Board supports our community in many ways. This past year we contributed to the Westwood Library, L.A. Musical Salon, Warner Ave. School, TreePeople, P.A.C.T. (Police and Community Together) of the West LAPD, and the Westside Food Bank. We also support our first responders at Fire Station 71, Beverly Glen/Sunset at their Pancake Breakfast in May.
The Board of Directors wishes you a healthy, happy and safe new year! Thank you for your continued support. We’ve had a great year and hope for the same in 2025!
Sandy Brown
President
Holmby Westwood Property Owners Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 49180
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Phone: (310) 470-1785 (call/text)
Email: hwpoa@aol.com OR info@holmbywestwoodpoa.org
Website: www.holmbywestwoodpoa.org
Pay Membership Dues: https://hwpoa.square.site/
