Well it’s been a week, hasn’t it? My family was super happy to see Measure M pass and look forward to having a world class transportation system in LA. OK, someday having a world class system. 🙂 Next up? City and school board elections in March. Do you think people will turn out to vote or is everybody burned out?

Turning our attention back to local issues, the Planning Commission voted this week to give Kentwood the more liberal R1Vnew designation when our zoning ICO expires in March. I was at the hearing and will write more about this in the near future. In the meantime, if you don’t live in Kentwood, you really should read this article about impending changes in the other parts of the City, including non-Kentwood Westchester neighborhoods.

Other local issues of note are (1) the WNA meeting on Monday; and (2) the brewing fire station controversy. The WNA or Westchester Neighbors Association is a group that has been around as long as I’ve been paying attention to Westchester politics (+/- 2008). They haven’t been very active, but I’m checking them out tomorrow night to see if they might provide a good forum for addressing our local issues. As a bonus, Mike Bonin is appearing at the meeting to report on what’s “hot” in Westchester and presumably to take questions.

Speaking of what’s “hot,” there has been a super heated conversation on NextDoor about the future of the old Westchester fire station at 85th/Dunbarton. Mike Bonin has offered up that property as part of his “potential affordable housing opportunities in LA” initiative. The property might be used as affordable housing or it might be sold to finance other affordable housing opportunities. Look for the Kentwood Home Guardians to get involved with this issue as the fire station falls squarely within the association’s borders. If you aren’t a KHG member, you can give input on the Councilman’s website here.

And on the topic of our wallets (how much more local can we get?), my real estate trend graphs have been updated to reflect the October numbers. Prices continued their steady upward climb, but the pace of sales slowed. Is the pace related to the election as people took a “wait and see what happens” approach? Or maybe the slowdown is simply seasonal. We’ll see. A republican administration presumably bodes well for business and, hence, real estate.

Have a great week!
Tracy & The Living90045 Team

P.S. Can you help us out by forwarding this newsletter to a 90045 friend? We want to share our 90045 goodness with as many families as we can. 🙂

P.P.S. Click the links below for a review of Cafe Solar and the updated real estate trend graphs and information.