Palisades News 11.25.22

Traci Park Declares Victory in CD-11 Race Over Erin Darling

constituent services and an open-door policy have been a priority and my commitment has always been to represent the neighbors and stakeholders across the District. Whether you voted for me or not, I will work hard to represent you and be your voice on matters big and small at City Hall. We intend to bring about desperately needed change to make our schools, parks, and neighborhoods safer, and I will attack the homelessness crisis with the compassionate urgency required. We have a lot of work ahead,” Park added.

By Sam Catanzaro

Traci Park has declared victory in the Los Angeles City Council District 11 race over Erin Darling in the election to replace Mike Bonin.

Following a November 17 vote count, Park held a 5,010 vote lead over Darling and issued a statement Thursday afternoon declaring victory.

“We feel confident our lead will stand and declare victory. It is gratifying that we received more votes thus far than any other L.A. city council candidate in the 2022 general election,” Park said. “I am humbled and honored that the constituents of CD11 have placed their trust and confidence in me to usher in a new era. Voters spoke convincingly that they want a different kind of leader and CD11 has sent a message that the Westside is done with ‘business as usual’ at City Hall.”

“From the beginning of our campaign,

Darling also issued a statement conceding the race to Park.

“While the margin’s been tightening, as we’ve been monitoring the votes, my team and I no longer see a path to victory. I couldn’t be prouder of the campaign we ran, or more heartened by the way the Westside showed up to support us - a last-minute, totally grassroots, at times shoestring-budget affair. This campaign brought together groups and neighbors across the district, who will continue to work together for compassionate and effective solutions to homelessness, stability for renters, and clean air and water,” Darling said. “I’d like to congratulate Traci Park - she ran record-setting campaigns in both the primary and this general election. In the wake of the rancor and divisiveness of the last two years and the shocking, damaging attitudes on the leaked tapes, the Westside, and LA in general, are in deep need of healing and unity that transcends race and economic

Pacific Palisades Rotary Club Is Sponsoring a Holiday Toy Drive

Drop off at 16320 Akron Street until December 13

This holiday season, The Pacific Palisades Rotary Club is sponsoring a toy drive on behalf of the Salvation Army Westwood Transitional Village.

The Transitional Village is an organization that helps unhoused families who are going through the process of getting off the streets and into housing. Their website states that, “The Westwood

Transitional Village is a 40 unit residential housing facility that provides support services for homeless families. Families can live here for a designated amount of time while they stabilize and acquire the skills needed for independent living.”

The website further explains that, “Approximately 150 individuals live at The Village at all times; with ten units reserved for veteran families, and children under the age of 18 making up half of the residential population.”

The Toy Drive continues until December 13. You can drop the donations off at 16320 Akron Street.

status. I wish Councilmember-elect Park the very best in that crucial work.”

Park’s victory came the day after Karen Bass was declared winner in the Los Angeles Mayoral race over Rick Caruso. Also this week Robert Luna declared victory over incumbent Alex Villanueva in the LA County Sheriff Race. Voters also seem on course to approve County Measure A, which would give the LA County Board of Supervisors the power to remove the Sheriff for cause, with the measure currently picking up over 71 percent of the vote. In the LA County Board of Supervisors race to replace the seat being left vacant by

At the statewide level, Governor Gavin Newsom holds a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Brian Dahle while at the federal level both Senator Alex Padilla and Congressman Ted Lieu each seem likely to hold onto their seats.

According to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, following Thursday’s vote tally 331,429 ballots are left to be counted.

“We intend to bring about desperately needed change to make our schools, parks, and neighborhoods safer,” park says in statement

Sheila Kuehl for District 3 – which includes much of the Westside – West Hollywood Council Member Lindsey Horvath leads State Senator Bob Hertzberg by 4.48 percentage points.

MEALS ON WHEELS WEST IS PART OF THE SOLUTION TO HOMELESSNESS

Pacific Palisades Restaurant Using NFT Technology for Table Reservation

Our Food & Shelter Program Serves the Formerly Unhoused

Angelini Ristorante an early adopter of NFTable

By Dolores Quintana

NFTs are now a part of restaurant reservations as reported by Dot.la. While reservations for in-house dining have finally risen to levels higher than in 2019, before the pandemic according to Axios as sourced through Open Table, in the months of August and September, a start-up company has decided to sell NFT reservations to tables in popular restaurants. Resy and Tock, Open Table’s competitors, have also contributed to this phenomenon. Resy, in particular, was a source where one could join waitlists for restaurants where reservations were scarce at the most coveted restaurants in town.

The idea behind NFT Table is that a person would be able to purchase the NFT of the table at such a restaurant and “own the table”.

CEO Jordan Udko came up with the idea that caters to diners who have favorite restaurants that are part of this category. NFT Table works with the restaurant to mint an NFT of the specific table at the restaurant, which can sometimes include perks like complimentary drinks, and then auction it off to the highest bidder on their private auction platform. The exclusive list of people who can bid for the NFTs of the tables at the restaurant is determined by the restaurant which sends out an email to a list of certain patrons of the location.

One of the first restaurants to try the NFT table idea is Angelini Ristorante & Bar in the Pacific Palisades. The table reservation that was minted as an NFT was at 7:00 p.m. on Friday nights, a prime space at Angelini, and was sold for 130 Sol, a cryptocurrency coin used by the NFT Table auction platform which translates into $4,250 USD. As the auction website, NFT Table claimed 25% of that fee and Angelini got the rest of the money which Angelini donated to charity according

to Dot.la’s conversation with Amici Group operations manager Alessandro Silvestri. NFT tables can be sold on secondary markets and the site would get a percentage of the resale. According to Dot.la, Silvestri said that Angelini became a partner in NFT Table because the CEO Udko and his family are patrons of Amici Brentwood, Angelini’s sister restaurant.

Silvestri says, as quoted by Dot.la, “The idea seemed solid and it was pretty revolutionary. So we decided that we could help them push the project forward, and they could help us with the revenue.”

Udko said, as quoted by Dot.la, “I think [calling it] season tickets for a restaurant is a great analogy, Any restaurant that has more demand than supply is a potential utilizer of the product.”

But what about the time when the NFT holder isn’t coming to the restaurant? According to Dot.la, NFT Table enables restaurants to have a 15-minute grace period on the NFT table where if they don’t hear from the NFT owner or they don’t show up, they can throw the table open to other patrons. Tables can also be traded to friends using the NFT Table website rules.

Silvestri said, about Angelini’s plans for the future regarding NFT tables, “I want to be clear that our first priority is our regular customers, especially the locals, so they will always have a kind of preferential channel. We received emails back with a lot of compliments, and they said, ‘oh, this is so brilliant, it’s a genius idea, who is behind it? And some others were like, ‘oh, this is disgusting, now that you are doing these things your business will go upside down.’

Angelini has decided, because they are a relatively small restaurant, to stick with only one NFT table at this time.

Silvestri added, as quoted by Dot.la, “What we are doing is being innovative. Maybe cryptocurrency will be the biggest flop of the 21st century, or maybe one day we’ll forget about U.S. dollars and we’ll all use coins or blockchain or whatever.”

"There's no place like Meals on Wheels West. They are loyal, kind, and compassionate for doing what they do. You can count on them to go the extra way."

Marianne, MOW West Food & Shelter client

26% of MOW West's clients are formerly unsheltered. increase in our Food & Shelter clients over the last three years. 78% Food & Shelter promotes stability, health, & wellness, allowing clients to reintegrate into society.

Dog Rescued After Being Lost in Santa

Monica Mountains for a Week

Smokey the

dog saved by Malibu Search & Rescue and local non-profit Dog Days

Search & Rescue

By Sam Catanzaro

Search and rescue crews safely recovered a dog that had been missing in the Santa Monica Mountains. The dog, named Smokey, had been stuck in a 200-foot-deep canyon for a week before being rescued by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department Malibu Search & Rescue Team.

According to Dog Days Search & Rescue – a nonprofit animal search and rescue organization – Smokey went missing on November 5 in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu. The organization says it heard about Smokey’s disappearance and reached out to the owner to assist.

“We went out and met with his owner, hung lost flyers, searched the area but did not see him. We were concerned that Smokey was injured and stuck somewhere but the mountain area was so wide open and vast,” Dog Days Search & Rescue wrote in a social media post.

Then on Friday, November 11, workers

clearing a property in the mountains noticed a dog stuck 200 feet down a cliffside. Later in the day those same workers saw a “missing” poster for Smokey from Dog Days and realized it was the same dog they saw down in the canyon.

“They were not able to get the dog to safety but they recognized it from our lost flier and reached out to Smokeys owner who then called us. It was dark by now and Smokey was still out there, potentially hurt and had been without food or water for days,” Dog Days said. “We had to go out right away and we immediately knew that this terrain would require additional team and equipment so we reached out to the Los Angeles Sheriff Department Malibu Search & Rescue Team for help. They immediately responded and recognized the urgency and met our team and the owner out in the area of the sighting. They were able to locate and extract Smokey, who had probably been stuck in this spot for a long time.”

Malibu Search & Rescue says it was able to rescue Smokey within two hours of being contacted.

“We responded immediately and within a couple hours of the initial contact, the dog was safely rescued from 200 ft over the side. Weak, but in good spirits, the dog was transferred to

its owner,” Malibu Search & Rescue said.

According to Dog Days, Smokey appeared stable but was sore, coughing and his legs were weak and possibly injured so he had to be carried out.

“His owner waited nearby and when he saw Smokey they were both so happy to be reunited,” the Dog Days said “We rushed

Smokey over to the vet’s office late last night and stayed with his owner. Smokey was sent home and will be recovering and is awaiting additional test results.”

Dog Days said it will share an update on Smokey’s status when it has more info. This article will be updated as more details are shared.

Owner of Popular Moonshadows Restaurant Killed in Fiery Crash

Andrea Bullo and son Marco killed in November 3 crash in Woodland Hills

By Dolores Quintana

The owner of the legendary Moonshadows restaurant in the city of Malibu has tragically been killed in a car crash this month as reported by The Los Angeles Times. Andrea Bullo and his son Marco were driving in a vintage 1965 Mustang on West Mullholland Drive when a 2014 Toyota Camry crashed into the Mustang and both cars burst into flames according to Officer Warren Moore of the Los Angeles Police Department as quoted by The Los Angeles Times.

While the coroner has not released the identities of the victims in the crash, an employee of Moonshadows, who asked to remain anonymous, confirmed to The Los Angeles Times that Bullo and his son were killed in the crash, and was quoted by the outlet “We are grieving right now as individuals and as a whole family.” According to the

Moonshadows’ Instagram, the restaurant was closed on November 3. The Los Angeles Times reported that employees held a private vigil for the Bullos with employees and patrons. On November 7, the Instagram account posted about a 50% discount deal on Maine lobster happening on November 10 and 17 so the restaurant has reopened, but will be closed on Saturday, November 19 for the funeral and on December 20 according to an employee.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Kevin Ivan Gonzales, the driver in the Camry, was taken into custody and booked on suspicion of two counts of homicide. The driver is 21 years old and it is suspected that alcohol may have been involved.

Photo: moonshadowsmalibu.com

Chris Weitz Buys New Pacific Palisades Home Model Josephine Skriver Buys Pacific Palisades Home

$7.7 million price tag on Alphabet Streets property

By Dolores Quintana

Chris Weitz, the producer of American Pie and writer of About A Boy, has purchased a new residence in Pacific Palisades in one of its most exclusive neighborhoods as reported by The Dirt.com. According to public records, Weitz dropped $7.7 million in the Alphabet Streets area of the Palisades.

The home is brand new, built last year, and is not visible from the street due to a landscaped front yard and the two-car garage that is attached to the home itself. The mansion has six bedrooms and seven bathrooms in an impressive structure with dark brown wood exteriors on three levels. Inside the home you can find features like blonde hardwood floors mixed with tile floors and walls and ceilings with decorative accents. The home has an open floor plan with shelving built into the walls in the living room that comes with a fireplace. You can bet that the home also has a gourmet kitchen with a dining room and

family room on either side. The cabinets in the kitchen are custom-made and furnished with Wolf and Sub Zero appliances, a breakfast nook and an eat-in island with a quartz countertop. Floor-to-ceiling glass sliding doors lead out to a wood deck with a patio and fire pit.

On the top level, after ascending the floating staircase, you can find three bedrooms, an ensuite, with a master bedroom with a wood-beam ceiling, a private balcony and spa style bathroom with two vanities, a soaking tub and a separate shower. On the lower level, there is a screening room with a wet bar and office and studio space.

$5.2 million property checks in at 5,400 square feet

By Dolores Quintana

Supermodel Josephine Skriver and her new husband Alexander DeLeon have a new home in the Pacific Palisades after selling their mansion in the Hollywood Hills as reported by The Dirt.com. The couple paid $5.2 million for this new home. Skriver is a Victoria’s Secret Angel and Sports Illustrated model and DeLeon is a musician.

The home has white and natural wood walls and accents and a marvelous view from the outdoor deck. The Dirt, com quotes the listing which says, “an elegant home with timeless appeal” and the threestory estate has five bedrooms and six bathrooms in a 5,400 square foot space.

The home comes with a 24-hour security patrol through the HOA group which charges $425 a month for the service along with access to the group’s clubhouse, pool, spa, tennis and basketball courts. Outside there is a motor court and a two-car garage, fruit trees and a backyard with a sundeck near a pool and a spa of their own.

Once inside the front door, an expansive

foyer, double height, leads to a curved staircase. The living room has a fireplace and French doors that lead out to the patio, which is covered. You can find formal dining near the kitchen outfitted with standard top-of-the-line appliances in stainless steel. The kitchen has one of the currently popular eat-in islands and a breakfast nook. The family room is located near the fireplace and comes with a bar and wine fridge.

The master suite and two other bedrooms are located on the second floor. The master suite comes with a private balcony, fireplace, walk-in closet and deluxe bathroom with the popular dual vanities, soaking tub and steam shower. The guest bedroom is on the first floor that is nearby an office, also with a fireplace and built-in bookshelves, a rec room and a staff room that can also be converted to other uses.

Photo: Engel Studios

Photo: The Agency

SANTA MONICA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Dr. Louise Jaffe, Chair; Barry Snell, Vice Chair; Dr. Susan Aminoff; Dr. Nancy Greenstein; Dr. Margaret Quiñones-Perez; Rob Rader; Dr. Sion Roy; Catalina Fuentes Aguirre, Student Trustee; Kathryn E. Jeffery, Ph.D., Superintendent/President Santa Monica College | 1900 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 | smc.edu