March 2002

Yaroslavsky Re-elected to Third Term - On March 5, Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky was elected to a third four-year term in office. “I’m very grateful for the vote of confidence granted to me by the voters of the Third District,” Yaroslavsky said. “I always say that I will work as hard the day after I’m elected as the day before, and that’s a promise I intend to keep.”

Yaroslavsky Announces Highland Avenue Traffic Noise Study - Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky has announced approval of a $200,000 contract with BonTerra Consulting to begin a five-year traffic noise study for Highland Avenue between the Hollywood Freeway and Franklin Avenue. Yaroslavsky said the study is required to establish a baseline noise level prior to a Highland Avenue resurfacing project proposed by Caltrans using a special rubberized paving asphalt. If the rubberized asphalt compound proves effective in reducing traffic noise, Yaroslavsky  said, crews can expand its use in future road projects elsewhere. Area residents and concertgoers at the adjacent Hollywood Bowl have long complained about excessive traffic noise in the heavily traveled corridor.

Yaroslavsky Welcomes $27.8 Million in Federal Bioterrorism Grants - Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky welcomed word from Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson of $27.8 million in federal bioterrorism grants for Los Angeles County, one of only four metropolitan areas nationally to receive direct funding rather than a state allocation. Federal officials said the money - $24.2 million for public health emergency preparedness and $3.6 million to help prepare a regional hospital plan to respond to bioterrorism attacks - is part of a $2.9 billion federal bioterrorism package designed to assist communities to upgrade disease surveillance and investigation, help ready hospitals to cope with an influx of casualties, expand public health lab and communications capacities, and improve connectivity between hospitals and health departments to enhance disease reporting.

Carol Kim Joins Yaroslavsky Staff As Assistant Deputy For Health Services - Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky has announced that Carol Kim has joined his office as an Assistant Supervisor's Deputy responsible for helping to formulate policy in all aspects of County health and mental health services. Prior to joining Yaroslavsky's staff, she served with the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) at the Senate Finance Committee, where she worked on legislation involving foster care and adoption services for Native American children and reauthorizing the federal welfare program. Prior to that, was selected by the federal Office of Personnel Management to join the prestigious Presidential Management Intern Program, where she was assigned to the U.S. Treasury Department. There she worked on National Partners for Financial Empowerment, a public-private partnership. Welcome, Carol!

Board Votes Final Approval for Yaroslavsky Plan to Extend Jury Benefits to Contractor Employees - On February 26, the Board gave final approval to an ordinance ordered by an earlier joint motion by Chairman Yaroslavsky and Supervisor Mike Antonovich to extend five days of paid jury service benefits to eligible employees of County contractors. Yaroslavsky called jury service "one of the fundamental pillars of our nation's judicial system," and noted that under the new one day/one trial system, while the inconvenience of jury duty has been reduced, the system has also prompted the courts to summon many more citizens for jury service. Effective March 28, the new ordinance will require County contractors over a certain size to provide their full-time California resident employees at least five days of paid jury service annually.

Yaroslavsky Joins Philharmonic Musicians, Others to Kick Off Summer 2002 Hollywood Bowl Season - On Wednesday, March 27, Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky joined Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Conductor John Mauceri and others for a press event to kick off the Bowl's exciting 2002 concert season. For details, click here http://www.laphil.org/index.cfm for information about the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and here http://www.hollywoodbowl.org/index.cfm for information about the Bowl and its other musical offerings. To learn more about the spectacular Walt Disney Concert Hall Project, slated to open in the fall of 2003 as the new permanent winter home of the L.A. Philharmonic, click here http://www.laphil.org/wdch/.

Board Approves Bowl Food and Beverage Facilities Improvement Project - On March 12, the Board of Supervisors authorized construction in the first phase of a package of capital improvements to the Hollywood Bowl's food and beverage facilities. The $950,000 project will be funded under an agreement with The Patina Group, which subcontracts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic to provide dining services at the Hollywood Bowl. Among the improvements will be expanding a concession stand with a new gourmet market place, increasing picnic space for Bowl patrons, and renovating a rooftop dining area to add a covered wood fire display kitchen. Future enhancements will improve  the Bowl's beverage facilities, renovate its Deli, expand the Pool Circle Kitchen to include a roof top bar, outdoor seating and expanded picnic area, and add various other concession stand improvements.

Yaroslavsky Announces Third District Public Works Projects:

• Cold Creek Riparian Habitat Grant Request - On March 19, the Board of Supervisors approved a $399,950 grant application by the County's Parks and Recreation Department for state funding of a joint project with the Mountains Restoration Trust to acquire a number of small parcels totaling up to six acres within the Cold Creek watershed to preserve the area in its natural state and fill in some missing links to the County trail system within the Santa Monica. Since 1996, the County parks department the Trust have worked together to acquire 231 acres, protecting 21 buildable sites from development in the Cold Creek preserve. This proposed project will also reduce water pollution, repair trails to reduce erosion into Cold Creek, restore native plant species and remove non-native species. 

• Las Virgenes Creek Restoration Study - On March 12, the Board approved a $240,000 contract with consultant David Evans and Associates, Inc. to conduct a feasibility study on rehabilitating a portion of Las Virgenes Creek. The study includes restoration design alternatives that will assess flood hazards, restore native habitat, and maintain recreational opportunities for Las Virgenes Creek between the Ventura County line and Lost Hills Road in Calabasas.

• City of San Fernando 5th Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit - A project for seismic retrofitting of a bridge in the City of San Fernando. Contract for $82,310 awarded to low-bidder Dalaj International Corp. based in Los Angeles. Administered under the State Seismic Safety Retrofit Program as a Federal-aid project, the entire cost of the project will be financed with Federal and State funds. Work is to be completed in 40 working days, commencing in May and concluding in July 2002. 

• Malibu Las Tunas Beach Water Main Relocation - A project to construct an 8- inch steel waterline in Pacific Coast Highway in the City of Malibu to replace an existing waterline which interferes with construction of a seawall by Caltrans. Bids are due by April 23, 2002 with the project estimated to cost between $105,000 and $125,000. Work is estimated to take 20 days, starting in May and completed in June 2002. Officials said that traffic and local access will be mildly disrupted during the construction. 

• Westlake Village Mulholland Highway Repaving - A project to construct a retaining wall, reconstruct roadway pavement, modify an existing drainage outlet, and install a guardrail on Mulholland Highway near Westlake Village. Bids are due by April 16, 2002, with the project estimated to cost between $440,000 and $510,000. Work is expected to take 30 days, starting in June and completed in July 2002. Officials said that traffic and local access will be somewhat disrupted during the construction.

Yaroslavsky Announces Commission Appointments in March (+ designates reappointments)

03/19/02 Joyce L. Foster, Probation Commission

03/09/02 Jeff Goodman, Community Advisory Committee (Sunshine Canyon Landfill)

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