News Roundup, April 23

Housing/Development
Construction watch: Le Melange on Fairfax (Curbed)
Record number of California home foreclosures (LA Times)
LA passes "green" building law (LA Times)
Is this Additional Services Agreement legal? (Curbed) (full disclosure: this blogger is commenter #4)

Law Enforcement/Crime
Hands-free cell phone law takes effect July 1 (LAist)
New officer in charge of LAPD blog (LAist)
Criminals posing as DWP workers (Inside SoCal)

The following incidents took place outside of our area, but please spread the word, and if you have any information about either, please contact the persons indicated in the articles.
School bus hit and run on Wilshire at New Hampshire -- LAPD seeks info (LAPD blog)
Police seek suspect in Molotov cocktail killing in Hollywood (LA Daily News)

City
Controversial $1-a-book reserve fee for LA libraries (LA Daily News)
Proposed trash fee hike to pay for police (LA Times)

Miscellaneous
LA's own National Park (LAist)
LADOT has a new website (LAist)

Links
LAPD Blog
LA Department of Transportation

Events
LA Times Festival of Books -- April 26 and 27, UCLA campus. (website)
MMAC Movie Night -- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- Wednesday, May 7, 8:00pm, Busby's

ACTION
A letter from Jim O'Sullivan of the Miracle Mile Homeowners Association, about Density Bonus Ordinance lawsuit:

Denise
You may or may not have heard that a coalition was formed to fight SB 1818. We hired an Environmental Law firm, Chatten-Brown & Carstens and they filed on 4/14/08. So far we raised the funds for the retainer from Homeowner and Residential Groups (much faster that way) but I now what to broaden it out. We are still in the fundraising mode and we have arranged with the League of Residential Neighborhood Advocates (LRNA) to collect for us and issue a Tax exempt certificate from anyone who request it. We did this with an earlier issue and the result was fantastic. It allowed all stakeholders to become part of and have a stake in the legal action. Since your area would be a prime target for this new density bonus ordinance, with in my opinion devastating consequences I am asking you to forward this information to your group. They can send it far and wide. I am involved with some people in the Pico Union area who are also concerned about this ordinance.
I am attaching the filing and press release which tells the story.
We need to stick together and bring the City Council back to the table to craft a better ordinance or go the distance through the legal system with this issue. We can not afford to loose any more apartments anywhere in LA. Send tax exempt contributions to:

Leonard Hill
LRNA
4500 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90010

A letter from Supervisor Yaroslavsky
(filing and press release to be posted on MMAC website)

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One more day to speak up about the Wilshire subway:
Per Bill Bergstrom from the Chamber of Commerce, the MTA needs community support for long-range plans for Wilshire Blvd.
- MTA is developing their long range plan right now
- Wilshire should be a major part of that but officials need to see community support
- the Miracle Mile/ Wilshire Corridor community has not been heard from
- Wilshire Subway is one of several long range projects the Board is looking into
IF YOU SUPPORT THE WILSHIRE SUBWAY, PLEASE CONTACT THE MTA -- DEADLINE IS APRIL 25:
(213)922-2833
metroplan@metro.net