Venice Neighborhood Council to Discuss Pedestrian Access to Oxford Triangle
The Venice Neighborhood Council Board will make a recommendation to the City of Los Angeles regarding pedestrian access to the Oxford Triangle at its meeting on January 19. The meeting will be held at Westminster Elementary School, 1010 Abbot Kinney Blvd, starting at 7p.m. The recommendation, while not binding on the City, will have a large role in determining the outcome of a long-standing controversy in the community. Two access locations, one at Thatcher and Princeton, the other at Carter and Berkeley will be considered.
In other business, the Council will begin a discussion on the Los Angeles City Budget and its impact on Neighborhood Council Funding (already cut in the 2009 budget and heavily impacted by City-mandated expenditures for new elections). A summary of the City’s 2010 budget situation will be presented and alternatives to influence the budget process explored. A vote to determine VNC policy will be taken at a board meeting this spring.
The VNC’s 2010-2011 Community Improvement Project Funding program and availability of applications will be announced. This highly successful program of the Venice Neighborhood Council distributes money to projects based on a competitive application process.
Jack Riley Appointed V.P. & Director of RAND’s National Security Research Division
National security researcher Jack Riley has been appointed vice president and director of the RAND National Security Research Division, RAND Corporation President and CEO James A. Thomson announced..
The division conducts research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, defense and intelligence agencies, allied foreign governments, and foundations. Riley has been associate director of the division since 2007.
“National security is one of the fields for which RAND is best known for providing nonpartisan, evidence-based public policy analysis,” Thomson said. “Jack Riley’s deep experience in research leadership across a broad range of policy issues will be especially valuable as he takes on this new assignment.”
During 11 years at RAND, Riley has worked primarily on domestic and international security issues, including assessments of security institutions in Palestine, Liberia, and Afghanistan, cost-effectiveness analyses of security measures in settings such as airports and passenger rail facilities, and a multiyear evaluation of police-community relations in Cincinnati.