Northridge Vision 2025

On January 18th, the Sherwood Forest HOA will hold a stakeholder meeting at the Dearborn Elementary Charter Academy, at which there will be a presentation on the Clean Streets, Clean Starts program, which seeks to find work, counseling and housing for North Valley homeless.   Guest speakers will include Don Larson and Laura Rathbone, coordinators of this revolutionary approach to tackling homelessness. Homeless issues are important issues in the community, no less in the well to do and idyllic Sherwood Forest neighborhood.   Overnight parking of recreational vehicles and cars has become a daily occurrence in the neighborhood.   Other issues, such as large scale development and growing traffic strains are increasingly on the radar of the community and the Sherwood Forest Home Owners association.    Homeowners and the SFHOA find the need for advocacy in the community more than ever.   This increased advocacy has been reflected in the participation of Sherwood

Much of the good work that has been done in our neighborhood over that last few years has been because of the many volunteer hours donated free of charge.   However, volunteer labor often needs materials, money and expertise to make a project smooth running and successful.   Currently, two examples of these projects, the new “Northridge Stampede” mural on the Catalina Paint Building at Gresham and Reseda, and our ongoing “Clean Streets, Clean Starts” homeless project, both rely on the generosity of individuals, local businesses and non-profits.   The Northridge Beautification Foundation, a 501.c3 nonprofit, has been able to expand their community service projects with a much-needed infusion of money and expertise. In the case of the “Northridge Stampede” mural, currently underway, the overwhelming generosity of the Northridge Sharkey’s, which donated a sizable percentage of their Labor Day Weekend profits, totaling an amazingly generous $3,148 dollar, has made it po

Metro’s long-awaited Northridge Metrolink Station Relocation Study was made available to community members at the end of September.   The study was based on community input taken last spring at a community meeting, as well as through email and online comments.   The study takes no official position, rather it details the various costs, community concerns, and environmental factors that would be involved in either the upgrading of the current station, or in the moving of the current station to the corner of Reseda and Parthenia. Both study alternatives aimed to identify potential opportunities to enhance transit connectivity throughout the community and region. Alternative 1: Station Relocation, relocates the existing Northridge Metrolink Station to the intersection of Reseda Boulevard, Parthenia Street, and the Ventura Line.   Alternative 2: Existing Station Enhancements, upgrades the existing Northridge Metrolink Station into a multi-modal transit station to enc

When you have a minute, take a drive along Tampa Ave and check out the median which runs from Devonshire to the 118 Freeway.  You’ll see the results of a partnership between your Northridge West Neighborhood Council, the City of Los Angeles, and the Northridge Beautification Foundation, your local 501.c3 nonprofit. This partnership is multi-faceted, and one of the first steps in the renewal of the Tampa Medians, all seven of them, was to install a low water drip system for the mature growth on the medians.  The original watering system had been turned off by the City of LA because drought requirements.  However, the partnership of the Northridge West NC under the leadership of President Peter Lasky, LA Street Services Urban Forestry, and Don Larson representing the Northridge Beautification Foundation, your neighborhood nonprofit, resulted in the designing of a drip system for all seven medians.  This low water system allowed city services to commit to turning the water back on, guar

The recent “Virtuosity & Vino Fundraiser” for the Northridge Visions Stampede mural at the Catalina Paint Store, hosted by the Northridge Beautification Foundation, was a resounding success.   Randall Williams, artist and owner of Randall’s Art, taught a class of twenty eager amateur artists how to create a beautiful Caribbean Beach scene.  Painting to the sounds of Jamaican Reggae, any nervousness among the erstwhile painters was dissolved by the entertaining nature of Randall’s teaching style. Not only was everyone’s art amazing, and Randall a fun and entertaining instructor, but everyone brought home a beautiful work of art while raising money for this worthy cause. David and John Cohn, owners of Catalina Paints, opened allowed their doors after hours for the fundraiser and donated the time and enthusiasm of their staff Henry Ruiz, Robert Barron and Jerry Rodriquez.  They were instrumental in helping volunteer and neighborhood friend Trina Capka set up the

The recent transformer fire at the DWP year on Parthenia highlighted the issues of deferred infrastructure and the lack of an effective resiliency plan to cope with our aging utilities and growing energy needs.   Given the onset of our increasingly warmer weather, days with temperatures over 100 will increase and become the norm, thereby taxing our aging electrical grid.    According to the LA Times article of July 8th, the burning transformer, the size of a large truck, was more than 40 years old and needed to be replaced in the next to five to ten years.   There are a total of 70 large transformers in the utility’s greater network, with 20 of them needing to be replaced at a cost of about $5 million each.   A 2015 DWP report found the utility will need to rebuild and modernize much of its aging power grid infrastructure over the next 15 years. The same report cited research stating that eight of the utility’s 70 high-voltage transformers were past thei

Horses Across the San Fernando Valley, a public art project developed by the Museum of the San Fernando Valley, has had the first successful placement of one of its painted horses, funded by the Northridge South Neighborhood Council, at the corner of Reseda and Rayen, in Northridge Village.HATV’s public art installations of painted fiberglass horses in various locales across the valley is intended to raise awareness of the historical, cultural & artistic heritage of the San Fernando Valley. >Like the decorative cows in Chicago, angels in LA for the city bicentennial, or pigs in Seattle, the first life-size horse painted by local artist Ingrid Elburg, member of the museum’s Public Art Initiative, has been placed in an idyllic garden corral setting in front of Stereo1, at 8901 Reseda Blvd. The soft opening on Sunday, March 19 th was celebrated with Champaign and cupcakes, lots of toasts and a special visit from some of our local fireman, shiny red firetruck and al

Spring brings a number of new milestones to our neighborhood.   First and foremost is the creation of our very own 501.c3, the Northridge Beautification Foundation, which has been created to help support the many necessary fund raising and grant opportunities available to Northridge Sparkle, the 501c3’s parent organization.   It will now be much easier to fund raise and set aside monies to better support the many activities of Northridge Sparkle and other local groups. The second phase in our homeless work/training project began at the end of February.   As you may recall, the first eight-week program found 10 of the original 15 homeless volunteers finding employment and housing by the end of the eight weeks.   The second phase will involve 10 volunteers and will be for six weeks, with the same intention of finding jobs and housing for the participants by the end of the six-week program.   Many thanks to Don Larson, Northridge Sparkle, the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission and

Among the new projects coming to the Reseda Great Street Corridor is a one at the corner of Nordhoff and Darby Avenue, directly across from the Northridge Public Library.   The development will be adjacent to CSUN west side parking lots, theater and music buildings and the Valley Performing Arts Center. The project consists of a new 5-story mixed-use complex, comprised of approximately 156,016 square feet of floor area consisting of 146 residential apartment units with 129 market rate and 17 affordable units. The development also includes 2,000 square feet of ground floor retail with space for two small café or coffee shop footprints of approximately 1,000 square feet each, with room for outdoor dining. The project also includes 222 automobile parking spaces (213 residential and 9 commercial) provided on the ground floor and one level of subterranean parking.    There are also 169 bicycle parking spaces (161 residential and 8 commercial) for nearby