Northridge Vision 2025

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