Then log onto https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2012LABudgetSurvey and fill out the easy survey.

In the last meeting of Bel Air Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council, our Senior Lead Officer informed us of a rise in construction site and home burglaries in the canyons.  Please read the following notices and refer to the five points of contact with LAPD if you see anything suspicious:

• West LAPD Five Points of Contact
• LAPD Crime Notice
• Burgerly Alert

Stay alert, please let ROBG know of any crimes so we can also follow up with LAPD and use the five points of contact!

• Thursday, November 17, 2011
• 6:00pm – 8:00pm
• Westwood Recreational Center – 1350 South Sepulveda Blvd, Room C

For more information, download this flyer: November 17, 2011 Metro Meeting.

There will be a protest at the Hotel Bel-Air on FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14th, likely starting at 4 pm, but possibly earlier.  Expect traffic on Sunset between Stone Canyon and Beverly Glen to be more difficult than usual during Friday rush hour.

Here’s the link to additional information from the Bel-Air Association.

Additionally, Beverly Glen will be completely closed between Ventura Blvd and Mulholland Blvd on Saturday, October 15th and Sunday, October 16th from 6 am to 6 pm for resurfacing.  Expect additional delays around Mulholland as people will have to be diverted to the east and west.

Thanks for your patience with these issues.  We will bring you additional information as soon as we access it.

I have received a very large power point presentation from Metro that updates the community on the improvements to the 405.  It’s 62 pages total and I was not able to post the whole thing here.  If you are interested in the whole document (10 MB), please e-mail traffic@beverlyglen.org and I’ll send it to you.

The improvements to the Sunset Bridge, including information about the closure of Sunset Blvd. are included in the three segments attached below.

If you have any questions, you can contact Metro’s community relations person for this segment, Olga Arroyo – her e-mail is arroyoo@metro.net (not a typo, there are 2 o’s at the end of her e-mail address).

Here’s the Sunset Bridge portion of the presentation – I had to break it down into three segments to get it posted here.  Closure information (between Sept. 30 and October 15) is listed in the final document (“sunset c”).

sunset a

sunset b

sunset c

If you have an EMERGENCY this coming weekend, please dial 9-1-1 as usual.  If you have a non-emergency, you can call 3-1-1 or 877-ASK-LAPD.  There is no special non-emergency number being staffed for this event.  The Metro 405 project hotline mentioned in the blurb below is a voice mail only number – feel free to call and leave a message if you have a question.

The attachment at the bottom is a press release from LA Fire Dept basically gives you a longer version of the above.

Here’s the longer version from an e-mail from Metro’s 405 project manager:

“Some of you requested a special number where you can call to report traffic and other emergencies over the 405 closure weekend.  I’d like to report back that the 405 project team brought your concerns and requests directly to the Unified Command  regarding a special number for emergencies, as it is under their jurisdiction.  The Unified Command gave serious consideration to the requests and in the end based their decisions solely on the safety  and security  of all residents and commuters during the weekend closure.  The Unified Command is doing everything they can to protect the safety of all of the citizens of Los Angeles.

The Unified Command decided not to provide the public a special call to number.  They believe it’s best that  ALL  emergency calls (medical, traffic or other)  should be placed to 911.  911 has special capabilities that a 1-800 # would not.  If a call is dropped, 911 has the ability to trace the call and send responders to that location.   911 automatically records and monitors every call.  911 dispatchers are trained to provide critical pre-arrival instructions, such as CPR or the Heimlich Maneuver.   911  is set up to directly communicate with the Unified Command to alert them to police, medical , fire or traffic related emergencies allowing each agency to respond as necessary.  Some of you have expressed concern that the 911 system can be overloaded.  It has been confirmed that there is no chance of an overload to the system occurring and there will be additional resources staffing 911 over the weekend.

Keep in mind that the Unified Command will have set up 13 satellite divisions throughout the area for the weekend.  These will be fixed posts and will have personnel from police, fire and traffic ready to respond.  The locations of these have not been made public as part of their plan.  However, they will cover areas north, south, east and west of the bridge.

The Unified Command will be located at a central location in the City of Los Angeles’ Emergency Operation Center (translation from bureaucratese:  in City Hall).  They will have direct contact to emergency responders and also to hundreds of traffic control officers located around the closure and detour areas.  Trained engineers and signal experts will also be on the ground to make changes to signals when necessary.  The Unified Command will also have access to thousands of signal cameras throughout the City which will enable them to make decisions at a moment’s notice.  Technical engineers will also be working at the Caltrans Traffic Management Center monitoring conditions on regional freeways.  It is worthy of noting that there will be regularly scheduled media briefings throughout the weekend and so the public will not be without critical information.  If you are interested in following the details, your best bet for doing so is to follow up us on Twitter.com/i_405 or tune in to KNX 1070 AM.

For real time traffic conditions, the public is encouraged to call 511 or visit Go511.com.  For City related issues, the public can call 311 .  Extra personnel will be on hand during the weekend closure with extended hours.  311 will be operational from 8:00am to 10:00pm from Friday, July 15 through Sunday, July 17.  People in the County can call 211.   The 405 project hotline, (213) 922-3665, will also be checked regularly throughout the weekend (again – this is a voice mail number only – no human will pick up at this number).  The hotline will not handle emergency situations or provide directions, but will be made available for other questions and concerns.”

405 Closure Fire Dept. Release 0711

We hope you are enjoying your summer, and that soon we will all look back on the coming weekend during which the 405 will be closed, having survived it!

Below are some links with information that you may find useful:

Bel Air Beverly Crest Neighborhood Council page with info on the freeway closure.

Visit http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/ for the most current information

Other information on the I-405 weekend closure and associated traffic impacts can be found at http://www.beagreencommuter.com/blog/?cat=266

For airport ground transportation and travel tips on getting to and from LAX go to http://www.lawa.org/405/

Two websites for viewing real-time traffic conditions before getting in your vehicle are Sigalert.com for the freeways and http://trafficinfo.lacity.org/ for surface streets in Los Angeles.

Here’s the official detour map (pdf document will open in a new window) – but don’t expect people to stick to these routes…..

And finally, here’s a list of Metro and Metrolink rail and bus lines that will be free next weekend!  Leave the car at home – use transit!!

I monitored a live web-chat today hosted by Metro.  There were two gentlemen answering questions:

Doug Failing, Metro’s Executive Director of Highway Projects (who previously worked for CalTrans for 29 years)

Krishniah Murthy, Executive Director of Transit Project Delivery for Metro (he oversees all of Metro’s construction projects)

The transcript of the web-chat is attached here; you would read from the bottom up if you want to see the questions in the chronological order in which they were asked.

I have bolded the questions to make it easier to read.  I have also turned my own question about the canyons and another question from a Roscomare resident red.

Please refer to the post below for more details about the closure, which will begin on Friday, July 15th and end on Monday, July 18th.

Evelyn Alexander
Traffic Committee Chair

Metro 405 Live Chat 6-29-11

If you don’t already know it, the 405 freeway will be closed the weekend of July 15 through July 18, from the 101 freeway to the 10 freeway.  Metro will be demolishing the Mulholland Bridge that weekend (which will of course also be closed!) in the process of improving the 405 freeway.  You can find more information here:  http://www.metro.net/projects/I-405/.

Councilmember Paul Koretz and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky have encouraged people to avoid the area or stay home that weekend.  Unfortunately for us, we are a thoroughfare that many will use as an alternate when the freeway is closed.  This means that we will be experiencing higher than normal traffic through Beverly Glen that weekend.  Councilmember Koretz assures us that measures have been taken to ensure that public safety services to canyon residents will not be impacted.  You can read an article about LAFD and LAPD’s planning for this weekend here:  http://shermanoaks.patch.com/articles/public-safety-will-be-the-priority-during-405-closure-officials-say-2#comments.

You can also call Councilman Koretz’s office at 818-971-3088 if you have questions.