Thursday, February 28, 2008

Great News for The Meadows

To all - First, thanks for attending our Town Hall meeting on Tuesday to discuss the existence of an offender home in The Meadows of Altadena.

Here's the Great News: It has just been confirmed by Supervisor Antonovich's office, and a press release has just been issued from Assemblyman Anthony Portantino: the six registered sex offenders will be vacated from the house by Monday, March 3. The Parole Department has determined this has been an inappropriate placement for these individuals. We ask that all continue to be careful until the individuals are removed.

The Supervisor's office is working on legislation that will help prevent similar inappropriate placement of these types of homes from happening in the future.

We wish to thank everyone for their support and outstanding showing at the meeting. We're going to stay committed to following up on the progress of the removal of these individuals and determine what next steps need to happen. We will be reaching out to all of you for your continued support and action.

On behalf of The Meadows, we are truly grateful,

The Concerned Neighbors of The Meadows

Monday, February 25, 2008

Important Meeting Tuesday Night

For anyone who has not seen the email or received the flier:

A meeting will be held tomorrow night, Tuesday, at 7:00 p.m. at Loma Alta Park (the community building on Lincoln) to address the recent issue regarding the group home of sexual predators that has taken residence at 4455 Risinghill Road.

Please know that many of us are meeting and forming plans to reject this type of housing in The Meadows. This is a serious issue. Six men convicted of being sexual predators with convictions against minors are being housed at this location, with no notice to the community.

This is unacceptable given we are an isolated community filled with children and located adjacent to the forest. Bottom line, we will not tolerate this type of group home.

Please join us at the meeting at the park to express your opinion.

Car Vandalized on El Prieto

A car was broken into mid-day last Thursday at the top of El Prieto Road. This may explain the reports from several neighbors about Sheriff activity that day.

Three young men were seen running to their car. A neighbor was able to get the license plate. The victim's personal belongings, including a briefcase, were found at the bottom of Canyon Crest.

Another neighbor on El Prieto shared that her son's car had been broken into about a month prior, but the Sheriff's were not contacted.

Bottom line, lock your car.

FireSafe Council Update

The first check has arrived! We're contacting the vendor to begin brush clearance in the northeast portion of The Meadows starting mid- April. We're still working on securing the funds to complete the brush clearance behind homes on Risinghill and Canyon Crest and the removal of trees and bushes identified during the individual property assessments.

Hang in there - this really is going to happen.

In other news, we've submitted a grant request for 2009-2010 that will maintain the brush clearance and begin the process of replacement of trees with better fire-resilient types.

As always, we're always looking for additional neighbors to join this very effective team.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Newsletter and Monthly Meetings

As you've probably noticed, we haven't published a monthly Meadows Newsletter or had a monthly meeting.

The consideration has been to take both of these to a quarterly basis. In truth, I manage both of these efforts and have been extremely busy given the change in the real estate market.

The intent is to have a meeting in March along with a new Quarterly Meadows Newsletter.

Any assistance you can lend, whether hosting the meeting or publishing the newsletter, would be greatly appreciated.

FireSafe Council Update

A belated update: We're still waiting for the funds to start the brush clearance and removal of fire-prone trees and bushes.

We had expected the funds in November, but some unkown snafus got in the way. We've been told that the funds are on their way which will allow us to start the brush clearance and tree removal on individual properties.

Please be patient.

In additional news, we've submitted another grant request for 2009-2010 to continue the efforts. This will include continued brush clearance, removal and replacement of trees and bushes within the neighborhood, and the implementation of a notification system which would include emails, text, and phone messages in the event of an emergency.

Let it Snow! in The Meadows

At around 9:00 a.m. this morning, it was SNOWING!!!!!! in The Meadows. It wasn't that cold, but low clouds were hanging over the neighborhood and, sure enough, we had a light snow flurry for about 15 minutes.

I called a few neighbors and they confirmed my sanity.

The last snow up here was about 5-6 years ago with the start of hail turning into snow.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Sherrif Action in the Past Week

I received reports over the past week of two different incidents in which the Sheriffs were pursuing someone into The Meadows.

On Thursday, February 7 at around 5:30 p.m., Sheriffs were pursuing a car on Canyon Crest heading up to The Meadows. A helicoptor was hovering above it with the search light on.

Yesterday, Tuesday at around 11:00 a.m., Sheriffs were again heading up into the neighborhood at accelerated speeds.

I sent an email out regarding the Thursday incident, but no one has any additional information. A neighbor also called the Sheriff Department which did not provide any detail.

If anyone has information that needs to be communicated, please email me or reply to this post with a comment.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Great Pics of Wildlife







I'm a bit late in posting these wonderful pictures from one of our neighbors in The Meadows.




1. Bottom pic: Mountain lion near jpl/arroyo seco



2. Top pics: bobcat in the nieghbor's backyard a few weekends ago (early January).

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Rain Statistics for the The Meadows

Interesting information from our neighbor on El Prieto:

Rainfall for Jan. YTD.

2007-2008 14.85 21.3
2006-2007 1.2 2.4
2005-2006 2.45 3.85
2004-2005 18.75 41.7

Incident at the top of Risinghill

This was submitted by our neighbor at the top of Risinghill Road:

"I thought you and the community should be alerted to the following: My tenant, Marina, told me today of an incident outside her bedroom window a month or two ago. It was in the evening. She heard a rustling outside her window. Not to alert the “peepers” that she suspected they were there, she talked to her dog and said “let’s go in the kitchen and get something to eat”, left the bedroom to pretend to go to the kitchen but instead turned on the bright outside lights and ran outside to see 4 twenty something white guys run off and jump into a white car parked on the pull out at the top of the Risinghill Rd. and drive away. Marina got a great view of the car, called the sheriff who came up within 2 minutes with 4 patrol cars, took Marina’s report, went down into the Meadows and found the car and arrested the 4 young men. Three cheers for gutsy Marina! That is the same pull out where 3 skinheads tried to rob a fellow from the Meadows of his camera, at knife point, last summer but were “trumped” with a more impressive weapon than the skinheads had and they too were sent packing. I’m impressed with the character of our neighbors."

Friday, February 01, 2008

International Style in The Meadows




Please join me at an open house on Sunday, February 3 from 1-4 at 4017 Canyon Dell Drive.
I know, it's Superbowl Sunday, but I'll have the house open before kick-off.

This home is an amazing International Modern style. I don't think there are others in The Meadows similar to it.

This fantastic home follows in the architectural footsteps of the “international modern” style developed in Los Angeles by Neutra, Schindler and others. The open floor plan is all about straight lines and an abundance of windows with views out to the Arroyo Seco and El Prieto Canyon.

This updated home features Chinese slate tile floors and Maple hardwood floors, adding to the clean lines and light-filled rooms.

Surrounding gardens are filled with a fantastic variety of indigenous, low-maintenance, water-saving plants that highlight the architecture of the home and introduce one to the beauty of the canyon, mountain and city views.