What is a Neighborhood Council

• Neighborhood Councils are certified organizations of the City of Los Angeles. They are all-volunteer groups, made up entirely of community members.

• We are city government at a hyper-local level. We’re here to give back to our neighborhood, and assist in the delivery of City services.

• The City of LA has 99 Neighborhood Councils.

• Neighborhood Councils receive limited funds from the city to be used for operational expenses, outreach, service projects, and to sponsor local organizations and events.

• The Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council was certified in May 28, 2002 to represent the Highland Park area with 65,000 residents.  The Council was the 33rd to be certified.

• Since 2002, Neighborhood Council volunteers have donated thousands of hours towards building better communities all across Los Angeles.

 

BOUNDARIES OF THE HISTORIC HIGHLAND PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

 

Unless otherwise specified boundaries move down the middle of the street. The boundaries abut the boundaries of adjacent Neighborhood Councils and include those areas of the City within the following lines of demarcation:

a. NORTH: From York Blvd at North Avenue 46, east to North Avenue 49, north to Stratford Road, west encircling the entirety of the Occidental College campus (a shared resource with the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council) to below Eaton Street. Continue east across North Avenue 51 to the backside of the properties facing west. North along the backside of those properties, continue below the northern segment of North Avenue 52, east around the ends of Philips Way and North Avenue 52 to above Barker and Raber Streets. North and east around the ends of North Avenue 55, Nordyke Street and North Avenue 56, continue above Raber Street. East above Raber Street to the end of Raber Street, (excluding all of Nolden Street north of Raber Street, and all of Upperton Avenue plus both the sides of one block of Raber Street east of Upperton Avenue and both sides of one block of Raber Street west of Upperton Avenue which are included in the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council.) From the end of Raber Street continue in an imaginary line northeast to just below Tipton Way, excluding Tipton Way and Tipton Terrace, east across Figueroa to the Pasadena City Border, (the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council boundary.)
 

b. EAST: Los Angeles City border with Pasadena, south along the Pasadena and South Pasadena City borders, through San Pasqual Park including a small portion of Los Angeles City east of the Arroyo Seco River Channel, and two smaller parcels at the intersection of Pasadena Avenue adjacent to the Arroyo Seco River Channel. Moving south along the Los Angeles City border to the Metro Gold Line, west to the middle of the Arroyo Seco River Channel, south along the middle of the Arroyo Seco River Channel to the entirety of Debs Park, (a shared resource with the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council,) excluding the residential area of North Avenue 52 east of the 110 Freeway. From the western side of Debs Park, return to the middle of the Arroyo Seco River Channel to East Avenue 43.
 

c. SOUTH: From the Arroyo Seco River Channel, move northwesterly on East Avenue 43 to Figueroa, including only the Charles Lummis Home and Gardens, on the southern side of Avenue 43 (a shared resource with the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council.) The boundary includes all of the north side of North Avenue 43.
 

d. WEST: From the intersection of North Figueroa Street and East Avenue 43, moving northeasterly up the middle of Figueroa to Avenue 50. (On the western side of Figueroa are two Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council resources shared with the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council. They are the Zeigler Estate, known as La Casita Verde Childcare Center, and the Casa de Adobe.) (On the eastern side of Figueroa are two Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council resources shared with the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. They are the Sycamore Grove Park in its entirety, and the Ramona Hall Community Center.) Moving on from Figueroa and North Avenue 50 northwesterly to the Metro Gold Line, south along the Metro Gold Line to North Avenue 49, west on Monte Vista, then continuing south along Monte Vista to an imaginary line on partially paved Furness Avenue. Continuing north along the ends Lynn Street, Granada Street, Eldred Street (excluding Cross Avenue,) San Marcos Place, and Aldama Street, north along Terrace 49 to San Rafael Avenue, north and east to North Avenue 50. Continue northwest on El Paso Drive, to both sides of the eastern segment of Toland Way including both sides, to the northern segment of North Avenue 46 including the Toland Way Elementary School and its entire campus, (a shared resource with Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council,) ending at the intersection of North Avenue 46 and York Boulevard, the point of origin.

Note: Sycamore Grove Park, La Casita Verde (Ziegler Estate,) Casa de Adobe, Ramona Hall and Debs Park, and the Charles Lummis Home and Gardens, are shared resources with the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council. Note: Occidental College and its entire campus, and Toland Way Elementary School and its entire campus are shared resources with the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council.

 

WHO MAKES UP THE COUNCIL?

Nineteen volunteer Governing Board members are elected as official representatives.  Their role is to help make a difference in the community.  We also interact with stakeholders and take their concerns back to City Council members or City departments.  Stakeholders are defined as people who live, work, own property or can claim a factual basis for such within the Council’s defined Boundaries.

We also have 10 active Council Committees made up of board members and volunteer community members.  Each focuses on a specific area of interest: Land Use, Beautification, Public Safety, Arts & Culture, Digital and Social Media, Outreach, Sustainability and more.  Membership is open to community members.

 

WHEN & WHERE DOES THE COUNCIL MEET?

Regular Governing Board Meetings: First and usually the third Thursday of every month
 

LOCATION:

Note:  All meetings are currently being held via Zoom.

Committees meet throughout the month but may not meet every month.

 

CAN ANYONE ATTEND YOUR MEETINGS?

Yes!  Our meetings are always open to the public.  Please come and join us, we want to have you involved.

 

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE HISTORIC HIGHLAND PARK NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL?

The public outreach for community input across Los Angeles started in the fall of 1998 and carried over into 1999 with meetings all over the city. The final Neighborhood Council plan was incorporated into the newly revised LA City Charter of 1999.
 

To begin certification of the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council, we were asked to identify neighborhood communities and group them as the local communities wished. School attendance, police districts, and other pertinent statistics were the determining factors. Population dynamics from the 2000 census were used. We approached almost all of the elementary schools, the middle school and the high school. The HHPNC formation committee consisted of volunteer stakeholders, including many from the York Valley Association, as well as Carmela Gomes, Irene and Rick Alaniz Jim Sandlin, Linda Phelps, Kevin Phelps, Gabrielle Woods, Eddie Rivera. We collected the number of community stakeholder signatures necessary for certification. We included historical pictures, and answered the many required questions, including our outreach efforts, principles of accounting for the financial records and treasurer’s procedures. We also had to negotiate with our neighboring developing Neighborhood Councils for mutually agreeable boundary lines. This included disputed shared resources such as Deb’s Park, a  “Crown Jewel” which had historically been a part of the early settlement of Highland Park. Some of our boundary lines were set by the Neighborhood Commissioners at our certification hearing on May 28th of 2002. We were the 33rd Neighborhood Council to be certified.
 

Juliet Arroyo’s son, John, suggested that the name of our NC include the word Historic, to reflect the age of our community. We elected interim officers in January, 2002:
Eddie Rivera, President
Juliet Arroyo, Vice President
Nancy Wyatt, 2nd VP
Jim Sandlin, Secretary
Heinrich Keifer, Treasurer
 

One highlight of our preparation for our first public election was “Spotlight on our Community.” Every single organization within the Highland Park community was invited to have a table display available to introduce the community. We had 27 organizations, the two local Council Districts and the mayor’s office were represented as well. This event was so successful we had a difficult time getting folks to attend the presentation of the candidates for our first public election. It can be said that this “Spotlight” gathering was the first collective meeting of its kind in Highland Park and was no doubt the beginning of the Resource Fairs that we continue to have today.