October Archives

October 2002

Yaroslavsky Announces Approval of $3.5 Million Santa Monica Courthouse Project – Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky has announced Board approval on October 29, 2002 to open bidding for a $3.5 million project to replace three heavily used modular civil courtrooms at the Santa Monica Courthouse with a 12,000 sq.ft. new permanent structure on the same site, located at 1725 Main Street in Santa Monica. Yaroslavsky said that officials would unseal the construction bids in early December and plan to award the contract in February 2003, with completion expected by March 2004. Click SM Courthouse bids for further information.

Yaroslavsky Reappointed to Local Agency Formation Commission – On October 29, 2002, the Board voted to reappoint Supervisor Yaroslavsky to a new four-year term on the Local Agency Formation Commission, the County’s state agency charged with reviewing proposed annexations, incorporations, and – in the case of the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood – proposed detachments to become new cities.

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Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky (left) joins Assemblymember Fran Pavley and Caltrans District 7 Director Doug Failing to officially dedicate Malibu Canyon/Las Virgenes Road as a state-authorized County Scenic Highway. Yaroslavsky noted that more than 85% of the frontage along the route is either publicly owned parkland, owned by a public entity and conserved as open space, or slated for acquisition by a public entity for open space preservation. Winding through an oak-studded valley and a canyon surrounded by dramatic mountain ridge tops, the road affords dramatic ocean views as it leads toward the Pacific Coast Highway. The first county road to be so designated in more than 20 years, it is the first ever of its kind in Southern California. The County Scenic Highway designation confers scenic corridor protection that includes land-use regulation, detailed site planning, curbs on outdoor advertising including a ban on billboards, and heightened scrutiny of grading, landscaping, and accompanying structures and equipment. (10/10/02)

Board Approves Yaroslavsky Open-Meeting Proposals - On October 22, 2002, the Board unanimously approved an open-meetings motion by Supervisor Yaroslavsky containing recommendations developed at Yaroslavsky’s request by the Chief Administrative Office. Included are provisions to clarify Board roll call votes, to improve announcement of closed-session actions, to expand on-line access to agenda background materials and to enhance online meeting transcripts and linked video streaming.

Self-Help Legal Access Center Contract Renewed - On Tuesday, October 8, 2002, the Board of Supervisors approved a new $313,000 one-year contract with an additional one-year option with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County to continue operation of a Pilot Self- Help Legal Access Center (SHLAC) adjacent to the Van Nuys Courthouse to assist litigants without lawyers in understanding the laws, regulations and court procedures relevant to their cases, and to improve their ability to represent themselves effectively. The SHLAC offers counseling or assistance to patrons on civil law matters including, but not limited to, adoptions, name change, family law, landlord/tenant disputes, guardianship, dispute resolution, small claims, traffic infractions and juvenile law.

Board Adopts Yaroslavsky/Burke Motion to Boost Pay for Home-Care Workers - On Tuesday, October 1, 2002, the Board of Supervisors approved a joint motion by Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke to increase wages from $6.75 to $7.50 per hour for roughly 85,000 home-care workers who assist the elderly and infirm to live independently in their own residences. The Board also approved Yaroslavsky’s motion to analyze expanding the workers’ health-care eligibility by reducing from 112 to 80 the required monthly work-hours needed to qualify for health benefits. The workers are technically employed by the Personal Assistance Services Council, which receives federal, state and county funding.