May Newsbties

***Nonmember Alert!***   For those of you who were members of BAHA as recently as 2019 and 2020, but have not renewed your membership for 2021, it would be helpful to the Association to understand the reason for not renewing your membership.  Please let us know by email at [email protected] or you can call us at (310) 476-0322. Or renew if you have just forgotten to do so to date. Thank you for your help.  

***Roscomare Road Elementary School (RRES)*** As we mentioned in the April issue of Newsbites, our local school is reopening and there will be morning and afternoon sessions so traffic will be impacted midday as well as at the usual start and finish times. Indeed, RRES has reopened and there have already been some serious traffic problems.  BAHA has worked with the Principal at RRES and LAPD to find improved ways to manage traffic on Roscomare Road during school hours.  Hopefully, we will see improvements in the flow of traffic soon.

***Roscomare Road Street Resurfacing***   In our April issue of Newsbites we told you about the repaving work that is going to be done at the bumpy corner near 2613 and 2619 Roscomare Road.  This will, of course, add to traffic congestion in the area, but it has to be done for the safety of auto traffic on that part of Roscomare Road.  Notice of the work should be posted soon.  BAHA has requested that if it is done before RRES is out for summer, that it be done only on the weekend.  You can call 818-756-8651 or 213-847-3200 if you would like further information.

***Burglary Alert!***   In the past two weeks our area has had two residential burglaries.  If you are the victim of a crime, be sure to file a police report and take note of the number assigned to it.  Then email BAHA at [email protected] quickly so that we can save the camera footage for the time period involved.  Please provide BAHA with the police report/file number, description of the crime, date, time, any vehicle or suspect information and any camera footage that you have.  BAHA will see if our recently installed new security cameras have any footage to help the police catch the criminals.  Also contact your neighbors to get any helpful camera footage they have before it gets written over.  You need to be proactive because LAPD has only two detectives for burglaries in the entire West LA area.  

***Neighborhood Council Elections***    Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, all Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Elections are being conducted entirely using Vote-By-Mail. You must request a ballot and provide them with the required documentation either online or by US mail by 5 p.m. on JUNE 1st. Then, your completed ballot must be returned by 5pm on JUNE 8th. Please see https://www.babcnc.org/election/ for further information.

***Party Houses***    Los Angeles, including the Bel Air Hills area, continues to experience problems with “party houses”, i.e. houses where the owner rents to a commercial party organizer and big, loud parties are held at the house. This is very different from a homeowner who occasionally has a big party at their home with friends and family. There are laws on the books now that may help. The Party House Ordinance of 2018 ( https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-party-house-law-20180221-story.html) and the Home Sharing Ordinance, which went into effect in November 2019  (https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/initiatives-policies/home-sharing) which governs short term rentals.  LAPD and the City Attorney can now address party house issues in a better way than before. 

Here is what to do if there is any evidence of an unruly party, large amounts of people arriving, loud music etc:

1. Get the address of the disturbance

2. Call the LAPD non-emergency number, (877) ASK LAPD which is (877) 275-5273, to make a report so that a record is created of the call for service. After giving the complaint be sure to ask the operator for the incident number. Having many neighbors call is a good idea.

3. Contact BAHA so we can follow up with LAPD and the LA City Attorney’ office. You can email BAHA at [email protected] or leave a message on our phone line at 310-476-0322. Be sure to tell us your name, contact information and the party location, date, time and incident number from your call to LAPD.

4. Be patient if LAPD cannot immediately respond. The record of the call will be useful for LAPD to confront the property owner(s) and to forward on to the LA City Attorney.

***BAHA Social Events***    Each year, BAHA looks forward to the annual BAHA members party, when members get together, eat and drink, kids play games, and adults enjoy good conversations.  We also look forward to the annual fall festival where the entire neighborhood is invited to our local park, at the bottom of Roscomare, to enjoy refreshments and Halloween decorations.  This has been a safe and happy time for supervised children to attend dressed up in costume.  Each December, the neighborhood is again invited to the park to enjoy cookies and hot apple cider and beautiful lights at the annual holiday tree lighting. 

It has been a while since we have been able to enjoy these in person activities, due, of course, to the Covid-19 restrictions.  The situation is starting to look more promising and when it’s completely safe to do so, BAHA will once again organize these community social events.

!!! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL !!!