Entries Tagged 'Take Action Now!' ↓

Because our subscriber list has grown so rapidly, we’ve had to upgrade to a more reliable email system.

If you have already signed up for email updates, you should have recently received an email asking you to reconfirm your address. Since we are shutting down the old system, it’s important that you click the confirmation link in the email.

Please do this ASAP, as news is changing rapidly and we want to keep you up to date.

If you haven’t received the confirmation email — or if you haven’t yet signed up — you can join the new list by entering your email in the column at right.

The Hearing Examiner for the Los Angeles Police Commission’s Permit Review Panel has turned in his report. This report is a result of all the letters you’ve written and all the statements you made at the hearing on January 28th.

And we can hardly have hoped for more…

Our community’s concerns were heard and comprehensively reflected in his report (click to download the report).

As you will read, the Hearing Examiner recommended that the 7-member Police Permit Review Panel deny the club’s operating permit. Furthermore, if they decide that the permit cannot be denied, he recommends numerous stringent conditions on the permit, including:

• Limited operating hours: 7pm-12am weekdays and 4pm-1am on weekends.
• Adequate on site parking
• No sign on the property indicating usage
• ID scanners with cameras
• Entertainers to be classified as employees
• Club to provide adequate clean-up of area
• Club to engage security firm to patrol during business hours and up to one hour after closing
• Minimum age requirement of 19 to enter
• Move entrance of the club to the side of the building
• Club provide Commission with names and addresses of all owners of the club
• Name and phone number of manager be posted prominently in the club
• Club to provide insurance policy naming City of Los Angeles as additional insured and/or bond to cover any damage or injury that may occur
• Patrons and staff to be given Breathalyzer (PAS) test prior to entering.

On Wednesday 19th March at 2:30 pm the 7-member Police Permit Review Panel will consider this report and hear arguments from both sides at Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles. To ensure that the Panel thoroughly considers each of the Examiner’s recommendations, including outright denial of the permit, our community’s attendance is critical.

Wednesday 19 March, 2:30pm
Parker Center Auditorium
150 N. Los Angeles Street, 90012

This hearing is where the decision will be made, and although the report appears very favorable, we can absolutely count on the fact that the club’s lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, will fight each and every restriction for all he’s worth. If you were at the hearing on January 28th you will have heard him tell the Examiner that he expects the permit to be granted with “NO RESTRICTIONS.”

We cannot afford to sit back at this critical final stage. Although the time and location of the hearing may be inconvenient, this is a standing panel meeting that we cannot change. However, we’re working hard to see if we can provide free buses from the neighborhood to the hearing, and to help organize carpooling and free parking downtown.

We’re doing everything we can to get the word out, but your help is essential. Please send this information to your friends and neighbors. If you (or they) are unable to attend, please write a brief letter addressed to the Police Permit Review Panel indicating your endorsement of the report’s findings. We will be happy to deliver all correspondence to the Panel at the hearing on the 19th. You may mail your letter, no later than March 15th to:

Reynier Village Neighborhood Association
1800 S. Robertson Blvd., #107
Los Angeles, CA 90035

or fax to (310) 837-3325.

We’re in the home-stretch now, and we’ve done so well. Let’s keep up the pressure and bring this home.

We’ve just heard that the date has been set for the 7-member Police Permit Panel to rule on the operating permit for SKIN.

The hearing will take place on Wednesday 19th March at 2:30pm.

The hearing will be held downtown at Parker Center. Although it is during the work week, we strongly urge everyone to attend. It is vitally important that we’re there in force to continue to represent our position. Based on the turnout and extent of community opposition at the last hearing, the Police Commission have cleared the schedule of all other items that day, and moved the hearing to the Auditorium to accommodate 200-300 people. We expect a lot of media coverage and we need to turn out a crowd. We will have the opportunity to comment directly to the panel before they make their decision. Let’s not forget what impact we had the last time our community turned out.

The Hearing Examiner has made his report and recommended restrictions, but we can count on the fact that Roger Diamond will be fighting each one. At the January 28th Hearing, we all heard Diamond state that he expects the permit to be granted to his clients with no restrictions at all. We need to be there to show the panel that our community is not giving in.

We’ll be posting more information in the coming weeks. We’re working on arranging parking for the community downtown, setting up carpooling from the neighborhood and disseminating information about what the Hearing Examiner has recommended. As soon as we know more we’ll be posting it here.

In the meantime, please make note of the following information and share it widely with your friends and neighbors.

Police Permit Hearing
Wednesday 19 March, 2:30pm
Parker Center Auditorium
150 N. Los Angeles Street, 90012

And if you haven’t yet signed up for updates, please do that now. With the clock ticking on this fight, it’s important that we are able to reach you all as quickly as possible whenever there is news.

This evening at 7pm at Hamilton High School is the community’s chance to be heard.

SKIN may have been open since December, but they have not yet been granted their final permit from the Police. Because of the hundreds of letters that you’ve written, the police have scheduled this special hearing. It’s been scheduled for one reason only: to hear your concerns.

Over the past four months, many of us have volunteered literally hundreds of hours to educate ourselves on how we can respond. The No Robertson Strip Club steering committee and many others have worked tirelessly to research and present the best arguments on behalf of the community-at-large. We’ve met with Councilmen, talked to neighborhood prosecutors, met with Vice detectives, raised money, retained lawyers and poured energy, talent and funds into reaching out to the community.

Tonight, we’ll be handing the hearing examiner the fruits of our labor: a comprehensive report outlining the reasons we believe SKIN’s permit should be denied, as well as the extensive restrictions we recommend if the permit is granted. Restrictions we believe will best mitigate the nuisance they pose to our community.

Tonight is our chance to make a difference. The truth is that businesses like SKIN hold most of the advantages; they are well funded and well represented by slick lawyers, and they count on the fact that communities won’t stand up against them. They thrive on our apathy.

Let’s show them that our community is different. Let’s take a stand. Let’s show up tonight in force. Let’s overflow the auditorium at Hamilton. Let’s put up a fight. We  may or may not be successful, but let’s give it all we’ve got. Let’s make ourselves hard to ignore.

Tonight is our chance to have an impact. Let’s not take it for granted.

We really hope to see you there. Bring your kids, bring your neighbors, bring your friends. Rain or shine, we’re counting on your voices.

Don’t let us down.

Dear Community Members,

The Police Permit Hearing is on Monday at 7pm at Hamilton High. These are our last few days to get the message out as widely as we can so that we represent in LARGE NUMBERS on Monday night.

Here’s what YOU can do to help:

1. Mark you calendars, clear your schedules, book your babysitters -or better yet- bring your kids. Whatever you need to do to, please BE THERE.

2. Tell your friends and neighbors. Send an email around. Knock on some doors. RALLY A CROWD

3. Help us get new YARD SIGNS out. We have about 75 more yard signs to distribute around the neighborhoods before Monday. If you have a half hour free and you’d like to help, please click on the email link to the right. We need all hands on deck to get these out there.

4. Help do a final push on FLYERS. We have plenty of them, and if you want to volunteer to walk a few more streets or distribute them at your local store, school, place of worship or book club, please use the link on the right to send us an email. We could really use the help.

5. Take a few minutes to think about what you want to say to the Hearing Examiner on Monday. If you’d like to speak, you’ll probably get 2 minutes, so think about what it is you want him to hear. Do you have a strong objection to the club? Do you want him to learn more about why this neighborhood means something to you? Do you have a specific concern you’d like to address? Have you seen or experienced anything since SKIN has been open that you feel he should know? Take a few moments to JOT DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS. It’ll come in handy on the night.

Thank you for your support, your donations, your helpful emails and your comments. Whether you agree with the club or disagree with the club, isn’t it good to know you live in a neighborhood where people care enough to do something? It sure feels good to me.

See you on Monday, and please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have a little time to volunteer. Trust me, it feels good to get involved.

“The location of a former meat market has re-opened as a strip club and neighbors don’t like it one bit. They’re up in arms over the club which is located on South Robertson, near the 10 Freeway. Jeff Michael was at the club’s opening night.”
Click here to watch
Click here to listen

A solid report from Fox News, although the reporter was mistaken about one key point: the Club has opened without materially addressing any of the community’s concerns.

If you’ve driven by the club lately, you’ve probably noticed that they recently put up flimsy temporary signs.

On the basis of flimsy temporary permits, today Skin opened its doors to the public.

Again this demonstrates the club’s complete disregard for its neighbors. The club owners have opened without meeting with the community to discuss their concerns and have chosen instead to speak through Roger Jon Diamond, a lawyer who has made a cottage industry of representing strip clubs.

The club’s opening underscores the importance of the Police Permit Review Panel meeting on January 28th. It is your chance to be heard before the final operating permit is approved.

The Police Permit Review Panel has set January 28 to take public comment before making a decision on the strip club’s final operating permit. The club is now operating on a temporary permit.

It is critical that the community turn out in force for this meeting. The panel examiner needs to see and hear firsthand how many people in the community are outraged that the club is opening. The hearing is our best chance to argue for operating restrictions, infraction penalties–or denial of the permit altogether. Talk to your neighbors, community groups, faith organizations and schools to spread the word.

Police Permit Review Panel Hearing
January 28, 2007
7:00pm
Hamilton High School

We will post full details on the meeting in the coming days, so make sure you are signed up to receive email updates.

WHEN: Tuesday, December 11th, 7pm
WHERE: Palms Westminster Fellowship Hall, 2908 Robertson Place, 90034

The No Robertson Strip Club Steering Committee is holding a Public Town Hall meeting next week to discuss our community’s effort against the Strip Club. We’ll be covering the core issues, the work we’ve done to date, and what we need to do moving forward.

Representatives from the Mayor’s office and the offices of Councilmen Wesson and Weiss will be there.

If you are concerned about the idea of having an all-nude (18+) club in your neighborhood–one located near Hamilton High School, in a place guaranteed to make a bad traffic situation worse, run by people we believe to have a history of prostitution arrests at their other clubs–then you need to come to this meeting. We understand the club is scheduled to open before the holidays.

The LAPD has now scheduled the special hearing for January 28th 2008 to let us voice our concerns before they issue a final permit to the club operators. It is unlikely that we can stop the club on zoning arguments. The strongest tool we have is our unified, collective voice. This issue is not going to be resolved in any other way, nor can it be done by proxy. If you have concerns about the Strip Club, then you need to participate. We are relying on your help to get the word out about this as widely as possible. Come to collect facts and materials that will help us spread the word.

If you can’t attend the meeting, please make a donation online. If you can attend the meeting, please bring your checkbook. The opposition is well organized, well represented and well funded. We need to be able to take them on. The Steering Committee has been working hard to gather official support, and lay infrastructure for our fight. Now it’s time for you to get involved and take part in your community.

Come learn more about what is happening on your doorstep.

The Public Safety committee of the South Robertson Neighborhood Council (SORONC) is meeting Monday, December 3 at 6:00pm in the Hamilton High cafeteria. In case you’re not familiar with the group, SORONC is our local neighborhood council, officially chartered by the city of LA.

Although the strip club isn’t officially on the agenda, representatives of Los Angeles Department of Transportation, the Office of the Mayor, Council District # 5 and Council District # 10 will be there to discuss the traffic changes on Pico and Olympic. Since the first thing they do at these meetings is open the floor to general comments from the public, this is a great chance to bring up our issues, too.

We urge you to come out and speak. If you do plan to speak, note that you’ll be limited to 2-3 minutes and that they take comments right after roll call. If you’re late, you may not be able to speak.

We have designed 18″x24″ lawn signs to help get the word out about the strip club. They are weatherproof, and come with a wire frame so they can easily be displayed in front of your house.

Update: The signs are available now—look for them throughout the neighborhood. We will be giving a sign to all who make a donation to the cause. Please note in the donation comments field if you’d like a sign.

This Los Angeles Police Department Report summarizes some of the crimes that originate in strip clubs. Covering an 18-month period to determine the types of law enforcement problems which arise from businesses that offer live adult entertainment, most of the incidents in this particular report involve prostitution, violent conduct, lewd conduct and narcotics violations.

WARNING: This report is xxx-rated and contains sexually-explicit language and may be extremely offensive to the reader.
For adults only. Download the LAPD Report on Strip Clubs.

Here’s an easy way to show your opposition to the proposed strip club: download either a Color or Black and White sign, print it on your home printer, and tape it inside your window.

(And while you’re at it, get your neighbor to do it, too.)

Join us in opposing the proposed all nude strip club at 3388 South Robertson Boulevard, L.A. 90034.

Get the Fact Sheet, outlining our key reasons to oppose the strip club.

Download the Fact Sheet NOW: No Robertson Strip Club

Parents and concerned citizens, a reminder to please WRITE to the Police Permit Review Panel Commissioners today! We’ve created three sample letters to get you started. Feel free to edit and personalize it to fit your situation.

The clock is ticking, and we need you to donate to our legal defense fund and to get involved today.

Use either the donation form at upper right of this page, or go here for instructions if you’d prefer to mail a check.

We also need volunteers to help organize the neighborhood response. If you are interested in helping out, please download the sign up form and fax to the number on the sheet.

Thanks!

This notice is posted on behalf of the Palms-Westside Village Neighborhood Watch.

Come meet LAPD Pacific Division Capt. Joe Hiltner to discuss the strip club on Nov 7.

The strip club is Capt. Hiltner’s jurisdiction. It is not in West LA LAPD jurisdiction. Capt. Hiltner makes decisions on if or how much enforcement the strip club will receive. It is important the community turn out and give Capt. Hiltner their feedback on strip club enforcement. This is a rare opportunity to see the Capt. We have not had a Capt’s visit in about 5 years. The fact he is coming now underscores the importance of the threat the strip club proposes to our public safety.

Some people may think they live too far from the strip club and Robertson Blvd. for this to matter to them.

If you live, work or own property in LAPD Basic Car 14A27, which covers #10fwy, to #405fwy, Venice Blvd., to Washington Blvd., to Robertson Blvd., there is only one police car. This means if you call the police, they may be busy at the strip club and unable to come help you . Only in the most serious life threatening calls do police cars come from out of the area. If our one police car makes an arrest they have to go back to the station for 4hrs. to process the arrest. During that time our police car will not be available. When crime increases, is goes into the one set of crime statistics for our basic car. Even if you think you live far away, your property values are impacted by all crime in the crime statistics.

We are concerned about the likely increase in crime.

Strip clubs generally cause concern due to organized crime, drugs, prostitution, lewd conduct, fights and decreased property values. We are concerned about signage devaluing our properties and causing accidents. As several people have noted, the location and timing may be related to the Expo line station which will be very close by, just inside Culver City. Strip club customers and employees likely come and go via the train.

Please attend

Palms-Westside Village Neighborhood Watch meeting
Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007
6:30 pm
At the IMAN Center Library
3376 Motor Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90034
(Between Palms Blvd. and National Blvd., east side).

There will first be a crime briefing by Senior Lead Officer Ceja then the rest of the meeting will be on the strip club with Capt. Hiltner. The main topic will be the strip club which is expected to open at 3388 S. Robertson.

Note: the meeting is expected to be in the The IMAN Center’s Library; on the street side of the south bldg. Please be flexible if they ask us to move. If you can not find us there, please inquire as to where we were moved to. At 7:15pm the Palms Neighborhood Council holds its separate meeting in another room while our meeting continues.

Strip club will affect two (2) police divisions

While the strip club is located in the Pacific division of the LAPD, both WLA and Pacific divisions cover a 1-mile radius of 3388 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles 90034.

Download the Pacific Division crime stats. Here are the West Los Angeles police stats.

Comment: If you live within a one mile radius of 3388 S. Robertson, you already know that police resources are strained.

Woe to Pacific area residents who have an emergency and their area car is busy on a strip club call. If you are a concerned resident and want to find out more, attend the Nov. 7th meeting to ask the Pacific Division Police Captain.

We need YOU to send a letter to the Police Commissioner ASAP!

The purpose of the letter is to ask the L.A. Police Permit Review Panel to not issue the strip club a Cafe and Show Entertainment Permit.

This is a time sensitive issue. Act today! We need the L.A. Police Permit Review Panel to get your letters and/or petitions before the upcoming public hearing. They do not accept fax. It must be mailed or hand-delivered. IF YOU SEND A LETTER, the Police Commission will mail you a hearing notification when the date has been set.

Feel free to modify the sample letter to reflect your particular concerns—and be sure to urge your neighbors to do so, too!