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| RESIDENTIAL BURGLARIES There has been a small increase in residential burglaries in the city of Los Angeles, including the Pacific Palisades, Westwood, and West L.A., where organized groups of thieves target vulnerable elderly citizens and use trickery or a distraction to gain access to the residence and remove property.
Some common methods of trickery used have been: Posing as Department of Water & Power employees who need to inspect the backyard. Posing as construction workers at a neighboring house and needs to enter the backyard to inspect the wall. Asking to go into the backyard to get their lost cat. Posing as telephone company employees who need to inspect the telephone pole. In September and October 2008, some areas where these incidents occurred were near: West L.A.'s Missouri Ave & Butler Ave |
This event is only open to Bel~Air Association Members and Residents
THE BEL-AIR ASSOCIATION PRESENTS
A COMMUNITY FORUM
BEING PREPARED FOR
EARTHQUAKES AND FIRE
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2008
**Please Call Paulette M. DuBey, Bel~Air Association General Manager at 310.474.3527, for Exact Time & Location**
Last month’s 5.4 magnitude earthquake in the Los Angeles area was another wake up call to be prepared for the BIG ONE. The Bel-Air Association’s Emergency Preparedness Committee has worked diligently to do just that. For the past three years, our members have organized the community into 12 sectors, meeting and outlining what we need to have in our homes and what actions we must take in case of a major earthquake or devastating fires.
Are you part of part of the Association’s Emergency Preparedness?
Do you know what the plan is to evacuate and assist your fellow neighbors?
It is time to revisit emergency preparations.
Join us for an important community event sponsored by the Bel-Air Association.
For more information please call Paulette M. DuBey our General Manager at 310.474.3527.
Thank you for your interest and for being prepared!
Representatives from the Bel~Air Association met with Verizon representatives earlier this month to discuss the possibilty of improved mobile phone service in the Bel~Air community.
Although other more substantial improvements are being considered, Verizon's technical staff indicated that they were able to quickly improve coverage to the Bel~Air area by fine tuning the existing equipment serving our area as well as specifically recalibrating the cell site serving Stone Canyon.
| Dates | Time | Venue | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 2008 | 11:00 AM | Hollywood & Highland Center 6801 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood,CA,90028 | Free |
A Red Flag Condition has been issued for Los Angeles City.
DROUGHT BUSTERS, THE CITY'S MOBILE WATER CONSERVATION TEAM, TAKE TO THE STREET TO "STOP AND SPOT" WATER WASTE
With dry weather conditions continuing to put pressure on the City's water supply, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) today kicked-off the City's latest effort to raise awareness about the continuing need for water conservation by re-launching Drought Busters: LA's Conservation Team after a thirteen hiatus since the end of the severe drought of the early 1990s. The Mayor highlighted other efforts that are underway at the City to reduce water use and explained the importance of educating the community to help prevent water waste.
"LA is bringing back the Drought Busters to remind residents to stop wasting water and to make conservation a part of our daily routines," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "This effort engages the community directly by educating every Angeleno on the need to conserve and by empowering residents to report any water waste in their neighborhoods."
The Drought Busters team will initially consist of six full-time customer service employees who will patrol communities across the City looking for prohibited uses of water and educating customers about the importance of practicing conservation.
The City of Los Angeles' Prohibited Water Use Ordinance is in effect to discourage water waste throughout the City. However, this phase of the Drought Busters program is focused on education and raising awareness about the prohibited uses and the need for water conservation. Should dry conditions persist, here and in the Eastern Sierras where Los Angeles typically gets the majority of its water, the City is prepared to significantly increase Drought Buster staffing and actively enforce the prohibited uses.
According to Los Angeles' Prohibited Water Use Ordinance, customers cannot:
· --Use water on hard surfaces such as sidewalks, walkways, driveways or parking areas.
· --Water lawns between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. during April through September, and between 11a.m. and 3 p.m. during October through March.
· --Allow excess water from sprinklers to flood gutters.
· --Use water to clean, fill or maintain decorative fountains unless the water is part of a recirculation system.
· --Allow leaks to go unattended.
The Drought Busters Conservation Team will be out in the community as part of a grass roots effort to help City residents understand how to reduce water waste. The Drought Busters will drive Toyota Hybrid Prius vehicles clearly identified with the Drought Busters logo. They will carry forms on which they can indicate the prohibited water use offense that they will give to the offending property owner or occupant found to be wasting water. The back of the form will also list simple conservation tips. When customers are not at home, the Drought Buster will photograph the water-wasting offense and mail it along with the completed form to the customer's home.
As Drought Busters patrol the streets, they will have available conservation information and devices such as literature, low flow shower heads, and faucet aerators. They will also respond to reports of water waste called in to the LADWP call center at 1-800-DIAL-DWP or emailed todroughtbusters@ladwp.com.
The Drought Busters made their debut in Los Angeles in 1990, when the City faced drought conditions. Due to a mandatory conservation effort, the Drought Busters were a means for the City to enforce the Prohibited Water Use Ordinance. The overall program was very successful and resulted in a 34 percent decrease in water usage.
The LADWP offers many rebates and incentives to residents and business owners to help conserve water. For more information on these rebates, please visit www.ladwp.com.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Paulette M. DuBey
General Manager
Bel-Air Association
100 Bel-Air Road
LA, CA 90077
310-474-3527
From DataQuick: Southland home sales up, prices down; foreclosures now half the market (hat tip Peter Viles at L.A. Land)
Southern California home sales shot up by an unprecedented 65 percent last month from the dismal, record lows of a year ago, when a credit crunch slammed the brakes on home financing. September sales also posted a rare gain over August as price cuts lured more buyers. Foreclosure resales rose to half of all transactions.DataQuick shows median house prices have fallen significantly in SoCal, but these median prices are distorted by the mix of houses sold.
A total of 20,497 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the six-county Southland in September, up 5.8 percent from 19,366 in August and up 64.6 percent from 12,455 in September 2007, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a real estate information service.
Last month's sales were the highest for any month since December 2006 and the year-over-year gain was the highest for any month in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988. However, last month's sales were still the second-lowest for any September since 1996 and were 17 percent below the 20-year sales average for that month.
...
"The pitifully low September 2007 sales numbers weren't tough to beat. More impressive was that this September's sales volume bucked the seasonal norm and rose above August. Steep price declines, especially inland, have improved housing affordability quite a bit and may keep sales levels well above the record lows we saw late last year and early this year. It will depend on the severity of this economic downturn," said John Walsh, MDA DataQuick president.
"You have to view last month's sales in the proper context," he cautioned. "They represent escrow closings, which reflect purchase decisions made in mid-to-late summer. That was before the dramatic worsening of the nation's economic crisis in recent weeks. Over the next few weeks our sales data will begin to show how the meltdown in financial markets this fall has impacted housing demand."
...
Fifty percent of all existing homes that closed escrow in September had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior year. That's up from 45.5 percent in August and 12.6 percent in September last year.
At the county level, such foreclosure resales ranged from 36.8 percent of September resales in Orange County to 68.9 percent in Riverside County. In Los Angeles County foreclosure resales were 39.1 percent of all resales; in San Diego 47.3 percent; San Bernardino 63.1 percent and in Ventura County 44.0 percent.
...
Indicators of market distress continue to move in different directions. Foreclosure activity is at or near record levels ...
One measure that is being used to summarize the strain in financial markets is the TED spread. This is calculated as the gap between 3-month LIBOR (an average of interest rates offered in the London interbank market for 3-month dollar-denominated loans) and the 3-month Treasury bill rate.
LAKE VIEW TERRACE -- A wildfire stoked by moderate winds burned about 500 acres in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday and threatened hundreds of homes and an animal sanctuary north of Los Angeles, authorities said.
The blaze began about 2 a.m. in a rugged area of Little Tujunga Canyon about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, fire officials said. About 400 firefighters were on scene and aided by aerial strike teams, said Los Angeles County fire Inspector Sam Padilla. One firefighter had trouble breathing and was treated at the scene, Padilla said.
About 1,200 people were evacuated from two canyons as the blaze brushed up against some of the area's 450 homes and moved southeast toward city limits, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea.
"It burned right down to a couple of neighborhoods," Florea said. It wasn't immediately known whether any homes had been damaged.
Television images showed a trail of flames on a pair of ridges littered with dry brush and chest-high chaparral. Heavy smoke also was filtering into the San Fernando Valley.
"As dry as it is, I would say it's pretty scary," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dee Dechert.
The fire was south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials were loading up the animals in case the fire switched direction.
"They are packing them up in case they have to go," Dechert said.
A shelter for displaced residents was set up at a nearby recreation center.
Santa Ana winds were blowing between 10 and 15 mph, but firefighters were aided by cool temperatures overnight. Highs were expected to be in the 70s on Sunday, but bumping up into the 80s and low 90s on Monday and Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Is it possible to have more than $250,000 at one insured bank and still be fully covered?
You may qualify for more than $250,000 in coverage at one insured bank or savings association if you own deposit accounts in different ownership categories. The most common account ownership categories for individual and family deposits are single accounts, joint accounts, revocable trusts accounts and certain retirement accounts.
What is a single account?
This is a deposit account owned by one person and titled in that person's name only, with no beneficiaries. All of your single accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. For example, if you have a checking account and a CD at the same insured bank, and both accounts are in your name only, the two accounts are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. Note that retirement accounts and eligible trust accounts are not included in this ownership category.
What is a joint account?
This is a deposit account owned by two or more people and titled jointly in the co-owners' names only, with no beneficiaries. If all co-owners have equal rights to withdraw money from a joint account, a co-owner's shares of all joint accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. Note that jointly owned revocable trust accounts are not included in this ownership category.
If a couple has a joint checking account and a joint savings account at the same insured bank, each co-owner's shares of the two accounts are added together and insured up to $250,000 per owner, providing up to $500,000 in coverage for the couple's joint accounts.
Example: John and Mary have three joint accounts totaling $600,000 at an insured bank. Under FDIC rules, each co-owner's share of each joint account is considered equal unless otherwise stated in the bank's records. John and Mary each own $300,000 in the joint account category, putting a total of $100,000 ($50,000 for each) over the insurance limit.
| Joint Account Example | ||
| Account Title | Type of Deposit | Account Balance |
| Mary and John Smith | Checking | $50,000 |
| John or Mary Smith | Savings | $150,000 |
| Mary Smith or John Smith | CD | $400,000 |
| Total Deposits | $600,000 | |
| Insurance coverage for each owner is calculated as follows: | |||
| Account Holders | Ownership Share | Amount Insured | Amount Uninsured |
| John | $300,000 | $250,000 | $50,000 |
| Mary | $300,000 | $250,000 | $50,000 |
| Total | $600,000 | $500,000 | $100,000 |
What is meant by certain retirement accounts?
These are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in the name of that person's retirement plan. Only the following types of retirement plans are insured in this ownership category:
All deposits that an individual has in any of the types of retirement plans listed above at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. For example, if an individual has an IRA and a self-directed Keogh account at the same bank, the deposits in both accounts would be added together and insured up to $250,000.
Note: Naming beneficiaries on a retirement account does not increase deposit insurance coverage.
What is a revocable trust account?
This is a deposit account held as a payable on death (POD) or in trust for (ITF) account or that is established in the name of a formal revocable trust (also known as a living or family trust account).
POD and ITF accounts — also known as testamentary or Totten Trust accounts — are the most common form of revocable trust deposits. These informal revocable trusts are created when the account owner signs an agreement — usually part of the bank's signature card — stating that the deposits will be payable to one or more beneficiaries upon the owner's death.
Living trusts — or family trusts — are formal revocable trusts created for estate planning purposes. The owner of a living trust controls the deposits in the trust during his or her lifetime. The trust document sets forth who shall receive trust assets after the death of the owner.
Deposit insurance coverage for revocable trust accounts is provided to the owner of the trust. However, the amount of coverage is based on the number of beneficiaries named in the trust and, in some cases, the interests allocated to those beneficiaries, up to the insurance limit. A trust beneficiary can be an individual (regardless of the relationship to the owner), a charity or another non-profit organization (as defined by the IRS).
Revocable trust coverage is based on all revocable trust deposits held by the same owner at the same bank, whether formal or informal. If a revocable trust account has more than one owner, each owner's coverage is calculated separately, using the following rules:
Note: Determining coverage for living trust accounts that have six or more beneficiaries and provide different interests for the trust beneficiaries can be complicated. Contact the FDIC at 1-877-275-3342 if you need assistance in determining the insurance coverage of your revocable trust.
POD Account Example: This example applies to POD accounts only. (Coverage may be different for some living trusts.) Bill has a $250,000 POD account with his wife Sue as beneficiary. Sue has a $250,000 POD account with Bill as beneficiary. In addition, Bill and Sue jointly have a $1,500,000 POD account with their three children as equal beneficiaries.
| Account Title | Account Balance | Amount Insured | Amount Uninsured |
| Bill POD to Sue | $250,000 | $250,000 | $0 |
| Sue POD to Bill | $250,000 | $250,000 | $0 |
| Bill and Sue POD to 3 children | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 | $0 |
| Total | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 | $0 |
These three accounts totaling $2,000,000 are fully insured because each owner is entitled to $250,000 of coverage for each beneficiary. Bill has $1,000,000 of insurance coverage because he names four beneficiaries — his wife in the first account and his three children in the third account). Sue also has $1,000,000 of insurance coverage $250,000 for each of her beneficiaries — her husband in the second account and her three children in the third account.
When calculating coverage for revocable trust accounts, keep in mind that:
Whatever you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market. Right now. This week. I do not believe that you should risk those assets in the stock market.
You can even make big money if you have some long-term savings in cash today that you can use to buy shares of these oversold, yet superior businesses ... and here are five simple steps to go about doing just that. We're also recommending to members of our Motley Fool Global Gains service that now is a fabulous time to increase your exposure to foreign stocks -- again, provided you have some long-term cash. Not doing so is the biggest threat to your portfolio today.
The takeaway We're not here to tell you that the U.S. economy is all puppy dogs and daffodils. It's not. But now is not the time to allow emotion to dictate your financial decision-making process.
If you have a sound asset-allocation plan that differentiates between short-term and long-term dollars, then you should have enough cash to see you through these lean times and be able to leave your long-term money in the market. If you don't have such a plan, then now is the time to put one in place for the next inevitable downturn.
Either way, the takeaway is the same: Stay stoic with your money. The highs are never as high as they seem, and fortunately, the lows are never as low.
The continued beating being administered to the stock market is startling, and not just for day traders and institutional investors. Even if you couldn’t tell a ticker from a price target, your regular investments – including retirement accounts – are affected by the gyrations in the market.
On Monday, CNBC’s own Jim Cramer made a dramatic recommendation on the TODAY show: Pull out any money you have tied to stocks that you may need in the next five years. It’s just too dangerous right now to count on short-term gains.
So should the average investor with money tied to the market – whether it’s through a 401(k), mutual fund or other asset – take this turmoil as a sign to get out? Not so fast, says Joe Terranova, a Wall St. veteran who joined Carmen on Monday night’s show.
The most important thing the everyday investor can do, according to Terranova, is know his or her own balance sheet. He advised people to literally fill out a spreadsheet with their assets and liabilities. What do you want to hold onto? What can you afford to hold on to? What can you drop from your portfolio if you need to raise capital? Answering these basic questions will make your investment decisions easier.
But don’t just run away from the market, Terranova said. Fear is prevailing over fundamentals right now, but it won’t forever and making money decisions in the heat of the moment is always a reckless move. That said, arm yourself with the knowledge that prices may stay deflated for some time to come. Terranova predicted the recovery could take as long as 36 months, but if your investments are in it for the long haul, three years is nothing.
If you do plan on rebalancing your portfolio to weather the storm, he suggested investing in three sectors: energy, natural resources and food. The global demand in these areas should continue, even if our economy continues to sputter.
Click Here to link to City National Bank's 10 Tips to Keep Safe & Sane
Click Here to link to CNN Money's 3 Safe Places to Stash your Cash
