DWP Water Conservation Measures in Effect

DWP water conservation measures are now in effect, restricting lawn watering with automatic sprinklers to Mondays and Thursdays, before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

Watering by hand with a flow-control nozzle is allowed on any day, before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m.

Here are several links with detailed information on the water conservation measures:

Shortage Year Rates Fact Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

Sprinkler Use Ordinance

Prohibited Uses of Water

DWP Phone: (800) Dial DWP
DWP Website: LADWP.com 

To report water waste call   (800) Dial DWP.

For information on the DWP's Residential Drought Resistant Landscape Incentive Program, call (888) 376-3314. For information on any of the Department's other rebates and incentives visit LADWP.com
and click on "Rebates and Programs" or (800) dial DWP.

 

Seniors Meet Every Monday, Thursday

Chatsworth seniors 50-plus meet every Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Mason Park Recreation Center,
10500 Mason Ave.

A hot lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. But, because lunches are limited in number, seniors need to sign up beginning at 9:30 a.m.

A lunch donation of $1.25 is requested for seniors 60-plus and  $4.50 for seniors age 50-60. You do not have to be a member
to enjoy lunch, which is funded by the Department of Aging.

Membership activities include chair exercise, line dancing, mah jong, bridge, square dancing, poker and more. Exercise chairs were donated by the Chatsworth Neighborhood Council.

For information, stop in or call the park, at (818 ) 998-6377 on meeting days, or e-mail Chatsworth Senior Center President Harriet Van Tiger at chatsworth4seniors@yahoo.
com; or contact Phyllis Fisher at (818) 701-6099.

Donate DVDs
to Benefit Veterans

DVDs4Vets is a non-profit organization that collects new and used DVDs and donates them to wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many of these veterans have physical and economic hardships that make it difficult for them to obtain some of the basic entertainment that most civilians take for granted.

In the last year, DVDs4Vets has delivered more than 38,000 DVDs to various V.A. Hospitals, homes, centers and clinics for veterans.

For more information on how to donate DVDs, visit DVDs4Vets.org.

Donate Items
for VA Silent Auction

The Veterans Administration Voluntary Services Executive Committee is seeking donated items to be auctioned at its Silent Auction to raise funds to benefit veterans at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare system.

Suggested donation items include vouchers for services or goods from local businesses such as salon and spa services, carwashes, restaurants, or movie theatres, or new items suitable for auction such as sports memorabilia.
Donations are tax deductible. Funds raised will be used to purchase items or services requested by veterans.

Donated items should be labelled "VAVS Executive Committee Fundraiser" and can be dropped off at the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, 16111 Plummer St., North Hills, Bldg. 20, Room B104, or contact Julie Stranges, lead volunteer, VA GLA Sepulveda Campus at (818) 895-9325 or Julie.Stranges@va.gov.

Here's Where You
Can Recycle Locally

Vons Shopping Center,
20440 Devonshire St. (behind Rite-Aid)

Valley Recycling Center,
20220 Plummer St.,
818-885-7318

Budget Recycling,
21250 Nordhoff St.,
818-998-1700

 

Zero Waste
The City has a Zero Waste team soliciting opinions on how to reduce solid waste. Find out how you can participate. Zero waste brochure.

Bureau of Sanitation
The BOS is working to convert our solid waste into renewable energy. Read the brochure.

Be Prepared for
the 'Big One'
This is the 150th anniversary of the last great San Andreas Earthquake. Dare to Prepare is a campaign to prepare for the next big quake. Find out what you can do at the Dare to Prepare site. Read the LAFD letter.

Free Shade Trees
You can get free shade trees through DWP. Read about the Trees for a Green LA program

DWP Residential Energy and Water Saving Programs
The DWP offers incentives to recycle your old refrigerator and buy an energy efficient one. Other appliance incentives are available too. Receive $100 toward an ultra low flush toilet. Read about DWP rebates.
 
Online Service Requests
You can place service requests for street repair, tree trimming, downed trees or palm fronds in the street online.
This is a service provided by the  Bureau of Street Services.

Property Activity Reports
Did you know that you can view all permit requests for a property online? Click here to access the City's online reporting system. Enter in the address and view the permits.
This is a service provided by the Department of Building and Safety.

 

Chatsworth's SciFi, Fantasy Studio to Open for Tours
See Movies Where They Were Made

The Academy Award-winning studio that builds aliens, monsters, beasts and costumes for Hollywood's greatest science fiction and fantasy films, will open to the public,  Saturday, Aug. 15, in Chatsworth. 

The Chatsworth Neighborhood Council will help sponsor the Cinema Heritage Project's free event which will include the first public tours of the Amalgamated Dynamics Inc. (ADI) studio, where the creatures in the Alien, Predator and Tremors films were created. ADI also built the "bugs" in Starship Troopers, the beasts of Jumanji and Goro of Mortal Kombat, as well as costumes used in the Spider-Man films.

The ADI studio at 20100 Plummer St. (at Winnetka Avenue) includes a museum and a large workshop where its creations are built and displayed.

The Cinema Heritage Project is a grassroots nonprofit corporation that presents movies at the locations where they were made. CHP events include speakers, site tours and other features to celebrate the movies and the people who made them, as well as the locations and their histories. 

Tours of the studio, for which reservations are required, will begin at 3 p.m. and continue into the evening. As the sun begins to set at 7 p.m., guests will hear presentations by people who work in the special effects industry, followed at 8 p.m. by a screening of a major science fiction motion picture in ADI's parking lot.  

Among the speakers will be Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr., founders of ADI. In the movies, Gillis supervises the facial performances from outside the suits, working with the director to get the right performances on film, while Woodruff often wears the suits, performing as the Alien and other creatures. For information about ADI, visit http://www.studioadi.com.

For tour reservations, email info@cinemaheritage.com or call (818) 348-8657. For details about the Cinema Heritage Project, visit http://www.cinemaheritage.com.

Orange Line Groundbreaking Wednesday

Groundbreaking ceremony for the Canoga Avenue extension of the Orange Line busway will be 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 24 at the Chatsworth Depot

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Metro Board Member Richard Katz, and other city and county transportation officials will kick off construction on the new dedicated busway connecting the Orange Line terminus at Warner Center to Chatsworth Depot at 10046 Old Depot Plaza Rd.

The four-mile extension is expected to open in mid-2012, more than three years ahead of schedule. The busway is funded with state transportation money and with allocations from Measure R, which was approved by a two-thirds majority of voters last year.

Features include lush landscaping, bicycle and pedestrian paths, an elevated bridge at Lassen Street., privacy walls for neighbors and traffic improvements. The northern parking lot at the Chatsworth Depot will be expanded to replace southern parking spaces lost to Orange Line operations.

By interconnecting the existing Orange Line, Metro Rapid bus lines, Metrolink trains and the subway system, it will expand the public transit options for Valley commuters and is designed to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

The existing cross-Valley Orange Line saw ridership shoot up from 16,000 passengers per day to more than 21,000 per day in its first year of operation, a level not anticipated until 2020.

There will be station stops at Sherman Way, Roscoe, Nordhoff and Chatsworth, and a park and ride lot at Sherman Way. 

For more information, visit metro.net/canoga.  

OLD GOAT SINGERS perform for a senior day care group at the Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Chatsworth. The singing group is receiving the outstanding volunteer of the year award from the Valley Interfaith Council. Singers are Bob Eagles, Don Sabino, Gene Walinski, Mary Ann Walinski, Bob Smiley, Pat O'Flaherty and Jim Gergen. Details.
L.A.'s Woodstock, 40 Years Later

This past weekend was the 40th anniversary of Newport '69, the first -- and last -- ginormous rock festival to be staged within a leafy Los Angeles suburb. On June 20, 1969, a Friday, schools let out for the summer and tens of thousands of music fans headed for the corner of Devonshire and Zelzah in Northridge, the location of the former horse racing track and fairgrounds called Devonshire Downs. Ike and Tina Turner opened the show Friday night, and by the time Jimi Hendrix jammed with Buddy Miles on Sunday afternoon in a session still bootlegged around the Internet, neighbors were calling the hippie invasion of the San Fernando Valley a "holocaust," cops and overdosed teens were in hospitals, and officials were looking to blame somebody. Click for more.

• Field of secrets: The Santa Susana Field Lab cleanup saga hits 20
  
• L.A. County officials offer a novel idea to save millions
• On the chopping block: 220 California State Parks slated to close
• Map: Local State Parks that are threatened to be closed
  
• The graduate wears two caps and two gowns
• Neighbor tells on neighbor in L.A.
• Real So Cal 17-U girls' soccer team makes final
• Alberto-Culver to lay off 160, consolidate plants
• Dos Equis filmed In Corriganville
  

311 to Shut Down at Night

The City's 311 information service will shut down overnight beginning July 1 because of budget cuts.

The 311 operators currently receive 50,000 nighttime calls annually, according to Randy Levin, general manager of the City's Information Technology Agency.

The call center will continue to operate from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. It will also be open on holidays and during Friday furlough days, he said.

Day of Service Set for Aliso Canyon

Last year the Mayor's Day of Service was held in Chatsworth. This year, volunteers are invited to participate in a brush clearance project in Aliso Canyon Park in Granada Hills on Saturday, June 27.

Aliso Canyon Park was one of the areas that was heavily affected by the wildfires last fall. As we head into summer, the brush that has built up in Aliso Canyon needs to be cleared out. It's a great way to teach kids about community service, and get some fresh air and outdoor exercise while helping keep our community safe and beautiful.

Clean-up will be 8 to 11 a.m. at Aliso Canyon Park on the north side of Rinaldi Street, one block west of Zelzah Avenue.

All ages welcome, but youths under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Bring sturdy shoes, water and sunscreen. 

For more information, call Barri Worth at (818) 778-4990 or email Barri.Worth@lacity.org.

Mayor Invites All Volunteers to Festival


For more information, call Barri Worth at (818) 778-4990 or email Barri.Worth@lacity.org.

L.A. Extends Tax Amnesty to July 31

The City is offering a tax penalty waiver for businesses in L.A.

The program does not mean that business do not have to pay their taxes. But they can avoid penalties imposed as a result of nonreporting, underreporting, underpayment, or nonpayment of certain taxes.

It covers business tax, telephone, electricity and gas user's tax, commercial tenant's occupancy tax, transient occupancy tax and parking occupancy tax, and is meant to offer relief to struggling businesses during the economic recession.

Notifications to delinquent accounts began late April. This program is in effect through July 31. For info on eligibility, call the Tax Amnesty Hotline (213) 978-1555 or visit lacity.org/finance.

FlyAway Airport Bus Fare Rising to $7

A fare increase for the LAX FlyAway bus service originating from Van Nuys and Union Station has been approved. The new $7 one-way fare for these two routes for the non-stop service to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) will start Aug. 1. The fare for a third route, Westwood to LAX, will remain unchanged at $5, since it is still an emerging market. Details.

PALS Plans July Golf Invitational

LAPD Devonshire PALS and the Barbara McIntyre Memorial Foundation invite all golfers to enter the 30th Annual Grand Golf Invitational, Monday, July 13 in Northridge. 

The event raises funds for Devonshire PALS (Police Activities League Supporters) sports, tutoring, camping trips and leadership programs for at-risk youth. These programs are designed to help steer kids away from gangs, crime and drugs.

The $200 entry fee includes breakfast, lunch & dinner.
Registration is 7:45 a.m. with tee-off at 10 a.m. at the Porter Valley Country Club, 19216 Singing Hills Dr., Porter Ranch.

For more information or to register email golf@devonshire-pals.org or call (818) 349-1706.

Trade in Your Old Gasoline Lawn Mower

You can trade in your old polluting gas-powered lawn mower for a deeply discounted new electric lawn mower and help reduce air pollution.

Using electric mowers also reduces fuel costs.

The cordless rechargeable electric mowers will cost $100 to $160 with the trade-in. They operate for up to an hour on a charge and come with a rear-mounted bag and a mulching kit.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) will hold several exchange events. For location details click here.

For elegibility and registration information click here or call
(888) 425-6247.

Bring this coupon to the next Neighborhood Council Meeting and receive a free Be Safe, Be Seen safety flasher.  Wear it while jogging, cycling, walking the dog.

Name: ________________________________________

Email: ________________________________________

While supplies last                                                                6.22.09