Northridge Vision 2025

  In anticipation of LA County moving into medium or low risk according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Level designation this Thursday, Public Health will issue a modified Health Officer Order which will go into effect on Friday, March 4. Under this modified order, indoor masking will be strongly recommended, but not required, for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, except in high-risk settings where federal and state regulations continue to require masking, including everyone using public transit and all those in emergency shelters, health care settings, correctional and detention facilities, homeless shelters, and long-term care facilities. At all sites where masking indoors is no longer mandatory, employers will be required to offer, for voluntary use, medical grade masks and respirators to employees working indoors in close contact with other workers and/or customers. Masking is still required for those who exit isolation or quarantine early th...

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-v...

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 commercia...

CSUN's “Acasola A Cappella” group kicked off the second-annual Matador Day of Service as approximately 400 CSUN students and volunteers took to the streets on Sept. 10 in a school-wide effort to clean the campus and neighboring communities.   Matador volunteers spread out around campus and the surrounding community after gathering at Bayramian Lawn.   The event, which was designed to clean up campus and the neighboring Northridge community, was a huge success and much bigger than in 2015, said co-event organizer Don Larson. Students gathered at Bayramian Lawn at 8 a.m. for free breakfast and to meet their groups. The volunteers spent the rest of the morning doing beautification projects such as street sweeping, litter pick up and weed removal. After their projects, students returned for free lunch, games and a chance to win prizes. “Last year was primarily for freshman students, but this year everyone could join in,” Larson said. “This year we had about 400 p...

Text for picture: “Pictured receiving AEP Award for the LA Great Streets Reseda Blvd are Devon Muto, President of the Association of Environmental Professionals; Don Larson, Northridge Sparkle; Semee Park, City of Los Angeles; Mel Mitchell, Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council; Andrea Alvarado, Northridge Sparkle, Linda Dunham, Northridge Sparkle; Dev Vrat, CSUN Urban Studies and Planning Department” At the Association of Environmental Professionals spring conference in San Diego, the Reseda Blvd. Great Streets project received an outstanding achievement award for its development and execution.   The award acknowledged the participation of the CSUN Department of Urban Studies and Planning, City of LA Great Streets Task Force, City of LA Council District 12, Northridge Neighborhood Council South, Northridge Vision Committee, LA Mas, Northridge Chamber of Commerce, and Museum of the San Fernando Valley in making this first of the fifteen great streets a major success. ...

Students from the incoming freshman class joined with CSUN campus organizations, local officials, neighbors, and with Northridge Sparkle, under the direction of Don Larson, for a day of service to the community.  The first major town and gown collaboration on a neighborhood clean up was a resounding success.  The first of many yearly traditions for our newest campus members. https://youtu.be/ig0WUfFLv5Q