Ways to get involved in Echo Park

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The Echo Park Improvement Association (EPIA) is a volunteer-run, non-profit organization that has been addressing quality of life issues in Echo Park for over 30 years. If you have a love for Echo Park and want to be involved, check out these opportunities:

Get informed

All are welcome! All of our meetings are held at Barlow Hospital (2000 Stadium Way) in Williams Hall at 7pm. Learn about a variety of issues such as criminal activities, development & other quality of life issues.

TOWN HALL MEETINGS

Every first Thursday of the month

NEIGHBORHOOD ISSUES COMMITTEE

Every third Wednesday of the month

Volunteer

The EPIA sponsors and actively participates in many community activities including neighborhood clean-ups, the Echo Park Holiday Parade, the Lotus Festival, National Night Out and the Homeless Count.

More community organizations and volunteer opportunities can be found on here.

Follow us

We’re on Twitter and Facebook where we share information about Echo Park and the neighborhood!

Sign up for our email list for important neighborhood announcements, click here.

Petition to install pedestrian crosswalks in Elysian Park

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Ever done the dash of death over Academy to access Elysian Park Trails?

The Echo Park Gathering of Elders and Caregivers is circulating a petition to begin the process of installing pedestrian crosswalks on both Scott Avenue and Academy Road at Elysian Park Drive.

Click here to download the petition page, print, sign and distribute to your neighbors. You can mail the pages to us at:

Echo Park Improvement Association
P.O. Box 261021
Los Angeles, CA 90026

CicLAvia comes to Echo Park: Road closures and more

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Our town hall yesterday featured a representative from the nonprofit organization CicLAvia to present their street closure plans for this Sunday. The event, a free, open streets event in which streets are closed in favor of bicycles and pedestrians, is coming to Echo Park for the first time since its start in Los Angeles four years ago.

Sections of Glendale Boulevard and Bellevue (just south of Echo Park Lake) will be closed for a few hours on Sunday, October 5. At the corner of Glendale and Bellevue is the “Echo Park Hub,” where there will be a DJ, a KPCC booth and food trucks like Fluff Ice, the Grilled Cheese Truck and Mandoline Grill. Also at the Echo Park Hub will be 100 feet of bike racks so event participants can lock up and enjoy.

With the Hub being right next to Echo Park Lake, the concern was that cyclists would find their way into the park – where no cycling or skating is allowed. CicLAvia will have multiple sites with signage posted, and will staff the entries of the park to notify cyclists if they attempt to enter the park. The freeway exit at the 101 will be open but you won’t be able to turn left onto Bellevue.

Click on the map below to download the printable PDF of the map, noting the locations where cars will be allowed to safely cross the CicLAvia route with the assistance of DOT.

Ciclavia

Activities

In addition to the activities at the Echo Park Hub, there will be a lot of great activities throughout the CicLAvia route from food trucks, free walking tours, rock walls, library events, and more.

Click here to download the flyer for a full list of events.

Metro Routes affected

Multiple bus routes will be affected by the street closures. Click here to download the flyer.

Dodgers Postseason schedule, traffic and safety information

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Dodgers Postseason

We attended a community meeting on Thursday, October 2 on the Dodgers postseason plans for traffic abatement and public safety in Echo Park and surrounding communities. While there wasn’t a lot of new news, they did present the postseason schedule, plans for ingress and egress traffic along with LADOT placement as well as LAPD deployment plans.

The first Postseason game is TODAY, Friday, October 3 at 3:37 pm at Dodger Stadium.

Some important items of consideration for today’s game and what we can expect for the postseason:

  • There will be increased LAPD deployment on Sargent and Scott Avenue as well as Echo Park and Scott Avenue
  • The Dodgers are planning on organizing a drop-off location for Uber/Lyft and other rideshare services (unsure of where that will be at this time)
  • There will be 243 LAPD in and outside of the stadium (including 20 motorcycle police, 25 on bicycles and the remaining black and white cars) and 40 undercovers

Download

The presentation by the Dodgers can be downloaded here – it includes the slideshow presentation and the color maps indicating ingress and egress routes along with DOT locations and the postseason schedule.

Dodgers-Egress-Map

Important phone numbers:

Northeast Los Angeles Senior Lead Officer Gina Chovan: 213-793-0760
LADOT Aram Sahakian: 213-216-6210
DOT Command Center: 818-374-4823
DOT Chief Greg Savelli: 213-972-8426
Dodgers Communications Manager Oscar Delgado: 323-224-1443

 

Upcoming Echo Park Events

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Small Lot Subdivision Informational Workshop
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral at 650 Micheltorena Street

How to Start a Business in LA workshop
Wednesday July 16 from 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Edendale Branch Library. RSVP at bit.ly/smallbizLA

CD13 Community Cleanup
Saturday, July 19, 2014 from 9:00 am – 12 noon
Morton and Academy in Echo Park

CD1 Community Cleanup
Saturday, July 19 from 9:00am-1:00pm
Frank Hotchkin Memorial Center, 1700 Stadium Way
RSVP to: (323) 550-1538

Identity Theft Panel hosted by Congressman Adam Schiff
August 4 from 7:00 – 8:30 pm
The Withersbee Auditorium, Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens
5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Echo Park Rising
August 15-17, 2014
Free! Music, Art, Fun & Food
www.epr.la

LIBRARY EVENTS
Lego Club
Edendale Branch Library
Saturday, July 19 from 10am-12:00 noon

Computer Class for Beginners in English and Spanish
Echo Park Branch Library
Every Friday from 3:00 pm to 5:15 pm

GED Glass
Edendale Branch Library
Every Tuesday from 12:30 pm – 2:30 pm

Echo Park neighborhood issues overview

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Andrew Garsten, EPIA President

The EPIA Neighborhood Issues Committee (NIC) is the “activist” arm of the EPIA. On the 3rd Wednesday of every month, nine volunteers with many years of experience report on, or discuss issues concerning schools, special events, land use, parks and public works issues that impact our community.

When appropriate, NIC will formulate recommendations to be brought to the general membership at our monthly town hall meetings for approval. The recommendations are then directed to the relevant politicians and/or decision-making authorities.

Here’s a list of issues that NIC is weighing in on, or continuing to monitor:

Barlow Hospital-Proposed Entitlements and Development – Monitoring
Morton Village complex – Monitoring
Filming Issues – No activity at this time
SB1818 Letter – Work in progress
Lot adjacent to Laguna Stairs – Monitoring
Senior Fish CUB – Letter of recommendations sent. Appeal was withdrawn by Neighborhood Council
Sunset/Everett Street Project – Letter recommending approval with conditions
Planet Home Bruce Court SF Development – Monitoring
Rosebud SFR project – Waiting for developer to come back with more info
Button Mash CUB: Letter recommending support with conditions
Echo Park Lake Restoration Project – continuing to monitor
Elysian Park 18 Acres Elysian Park Expansion Public Safety Issues – continuing to monitor
Northeast Little League Facilities – Letter recommending support
Route 2 Terminus Improvement Project – monitoring
Mural Documentation Project – Work in progress
Dodgers Issues – continuing to monitor
Sunset Streetscape Project – continuing to monitor
Academy Cut Clean Up – Work in progress
Farmer’s Market Wall Mural – Work in progress

The NIC invites anyone who is interested in issues impacting Echo Park and/or their quality of life, whether on this list or not, to come join us at our monthly meetings every third Wednesday at 7:00 pm, in Williams Hall at Barlow Hospital.

Elysian Heights Elementary: Growing as a Community One Step at Time

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Article from ElysianHeightsElementary.com

Elysian-HeightsOn Saturday, May 3, 2014 Elysian Heights Elementary School hosted its first ever Elysian Heights 5K. On the surface the event was a robust activity to fundraise essential funds for classroom technology and student enrichment materials. However, the event served a greater purpose in building community and providing children and their families an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful landscape and views of Elysian Heights.

In today’s fast paced society, neighbors are people we greet in passing and our interactions with our children involve taking them to a place they can play with friends or with their siblings. At Elysian Heights, we believe a community school should promote opportunities for all neighbors to come together and share in a positive experience. Where families and neighbors inspire each other to forge ahead on a challenging run in Elysian Heights Park.

This year the 5K had over 200 participants from students, parents, neighbors, police officers, local business owners, and teachers. Although the event was free, participants who donated received a shirt, medal, and official bib number as a gift for their generosity. All of the participants did a phenomenal job with a rigorous run in the streets and park of Elysian. The event netted $6,400.00 thanks to both major donors (Swimmingpool.com, Blue Rooster Art Supplies, Urban Hillsides Realty, Stericycle Specialty Waste, Arey Jones, Dodgers, and Councilman Mitch O’Farrell’s Office) and local community members. The funds are being used to purchase technology and enrichment materials to ensure we are providing students a 21st Century Educational experience.

We are excited to continue the Elysian Heights 5K on an annual basis. We believe our school should be at the center of promoting positive communal experiences that enhance both the learning experience of students and the living experience of our neighbors. We look forward to sharing our experience with more members of the Elysian Heights family next year on Saturday, February 21, 2015!

Save Elysian Park’s “Week of Action”

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This is a repost from the Save Elysian Park campaign during the week of action

Stop-Barlow

Call and email Councilmember O’Farrell  (213-473-7013) and Councilmember Cedillo (213-473-7001) and ask them to demand answers from Barlow.

Here’s a sample email you can just copy and paste in the email to the councilmembers:

Dear Councilmember,

I oppose the Barlow project.  They should not be granted grading and retaining wall permits.  Reference Permit Numbers: 13030-­10000-­07421 and 13020-­10000-­03232.

Thank you for your consideration.

Reminder we are organizing a week of lunchtime calls and emails to the Council District Offices.  We will send daily reminders to call and email this week only, so forgive the lunchtime interruption for this campaign!

We will keep it short and sweet, please take a minute or two to do this once or twice this week! Barlow Hospital has applied to the City for grading permits and permission to construct retaining walls. Barlow’s tactic is to show even a small bit of progress on their ill conceived project, despite a still uncertified EIR and no approvals for its massive development scheme.

Call and Email Councilmember O’Farrell  (213-473-7013) and Councilmember Cedillo (213-473-7001) and tell them to stop Barlow!

NEED A NEW YARD SIGN?? WE HAVE LOTS!!

Please forward this letter to your friends, your neighbors and your mailing lists …anyone who cares about stopping the massive Barlow Development Scheme.

SIGN UP FOR OUR MAILING LIST!!     REQUEST A SIGN!!

Please let us know if you have any more questions.

Thank you for taking time from your busy day to help build a stronger community!

– Your friends at SaveElysianPark.Org