January Newsbites

Our annual BAHA Holiday Celebration was bigger and better than ever and enjoyed by about 100 community members of all ages!!  Councilmember Koretz attended with Field Deputy Jarrett Thompson and presented City of Los Angeles Certificates of Recognition to outgoing BAHA president Wendy Morris and our new president Robin Greenberg, who was the BABCNC president for the past 6 years.  Joanie and Leigh's Bakery donated beautiful cookies which tasted wonderful as always!  We hope to see everyone at our next neighborhood gathering!!

***Happy New Year***  The Board of Directors of Bel Air Hills Association wishes all of our members and the entire BAHA community, a healthy and prosperous 2022!  We all look forward to a year in which a sense of normalcy can return.

***BAHA's Annual Membership Drive***  Strong membership numbers enable BAHA to provide more services, support, activities, and to be a louder voice for government services.  January and February are the months in which BAHA strives to have all existing members renew their memberships and to encourage all nonmembers to consider joining BAHA.  Please look for membership envelopes, and read the membership letter, which will be sent by mail soon.  Copies of the notices will also be sent via email to all residents for whom we have email addresses.  Hopefully, BAHA’s efforts, on behalf of your Bel Air Hills community, will encourage you, for a modest membership fee, to renew your membership or to join BAHA so that we can continue to work on behalf of our neighborhood.  Your email address enables BAHA to send you Newsbites and other important neighborhood information.  Through Newsbites, our community remains informed about important issues that impact our homes and lives and BAHA activities.  Much more information about BAHA, is available on our website at https://www.baha.la.

***LAPD Liaison with BAHA***  LAPD’s detectives have responded with positive comments about BAHA’s new license plate reading cameras, and the opportunity they provide to LAPD to help identify criminal suspects.  Because of this, BAHA now has a dedicated liaison in the LAPD West LA station that will coordinate with BAHA and the detectives assigned to crimes in BAHA territory when BAHA has potentially useful information from these cameras.  As a reminder, these cameras have considerable annual costs, that are paid from membership dues, so please make sure to join or renew so we can keep the cameras and, hopefully, add more!

***Register Your Security Camera***  As noted in the item “LAPD Liaison with BAHA,” BAHA’s license reading cameras may be helpful to the police in solving crimes in our area.  Additional helpful information to LAPD could come from other security cameras with street-facing views that are located in the area of a suspected crime.  Thus, if you have such a camera and are willing, please register with BAHA’s Security Committee.  In the event of a suspected crime nearby, you could be contacted by the Committee to determine if you have relevant footage.  If you are interested, please email BAHA at [email protected].   Thank you.

***Vehicle Break-ins***  Newer model cars often have side mirrors that automatically fold in when the car is locked, making it easy for a thief to tell if a car is unlocked without even getting out of their cars.  They simply look for a newer car with mirrors that are not folded in.  Don’t make a thief’s “job” easier – lock your cars!

***Sepulveda Transit Corridor Project***  As many of you know, Metro has chosen six potential mass transit alternatives for further study. Three of the alternatives utilize a monorail on or along the 405 Fwy, and three utilize a heavy rail which would travel in a tunnel deep beneath Sherman Oaks Hills and Bel Air (located roughly under either Stone Canyon or under Beverly Glen Blvd.

The environmental review process for these six alternatives has begun.  Metro will hold two more zoom meetings presenting the alternatives, tomorrow January 11th, 6-8 pm Webinar ID: 964 8792 4301  Passcode: 550195  Webinar link: https://bit.ly/SepulvedaJan11  Call-in: 669.900.6833 and on Saturday, January 22, 10 am-12 noon Webinar ID: 999 3010 8496  Passcode: 270559  Webinar link: https://bit.ly/SepulvedaJan22  Call-in: 669.900.6833.  To learn more and find out how/where to comment on any environmental concerns, please read the Notice of Preparation which is attached here: Sepulveda Transit Corridor NOP.

The deadline for comments is February 11th, 2022. Please be sure to limit your comments to environmental subjects, as Metro will ignore all non-environmental comments submitted at this stage of the process.

***Update on Airplane Noise and Pollution***  The SOSLA opening brief has been filed and the FAA’s responsive brief is due today unless they asked for a further extension.  The SOSLA reply brief, the final word, is due three weeks after the FAA’s brief.  Five HOAs—representing collectively thousands of residents—submitted supportive amicus letters concurring with SOSLAs facts.  An oral argument will be scheduled after the reply brief is filed.  The City of LA’s lawsuit was dismissed by the Court and the SOSLA lawsuit is the only remaining way to challenge what has happened. Please consider donating to the SOSLA legal fund at https://sosla.org/ to help raise $15k to finish out the lawsuit which aims to protect your family’s health and home.