SHERMAN OAKS : Town Council Organizers Plan a United Front

Community leaders and organizations in Sherman Oaks have hit upon a novel approach to making their town a better place to live--cooperation.

Three community activists have started a new organization that brings two groups that have clashed in the past--the local homeowners association and the chamber of commerce--together with other community groups to work collectively on the issues that face their town.

The Sherman Oaks Town Council was founded three months ago so that community organizations could pool their efforts on issues they agree on, share information with one another and coordinate their scheduled events.

Twenty-four people attended the council’s monthly meeting Monday, including representatives from area schools, Sherman Oaks Fashion Square mall, the Sherman Oaks branch library, the Los Angeles city Planning Department and City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office.

“The idea was that the community is going to be better off if all the organizations can come together and put their efforts together for the betterment of the community,” said Fred Gaines, a land-use lawyer and co-chairman of the council. “Ninety-nine percent of the time we agree. We want to be supportive of each other.”

One idea driving the council is that Sherman Oaks will be better able to get what it wants from government if the community can demonstrate a collective will and a united front.

For example, at Monday’s meeting, several people voiced a preference for an electric minibus designed to look like an old-fashioned trolley, over a DASH bus, when Sherman Oaks’ shuttle-bus program gets under way.

“Alisa (Katz, chief deputy for Yaroslavsky) got to hear from all these groups that we want a trolley--it’s not just Jeff Brain or just the homeowners association,” said Jeff Brain, council co-chairman and chairman of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board.

The town council’s goals are to consolidate Sherman Oaks’ three anti-graffiti programs, expand residents’ participation in the Neighborhood Watch program, create a master calendar of community events and start a community newspaper.

The fledgling group has already achieved or gotten the ball rolling on these goals. On Monday night, the chairmen--who also include paper-box manufacturer Mike Goodrich--distributed community calendars for June and July, passed out flyers for the graffiti paint-out program, and reported that a local realtors group had shown interest in helping to promote the Neighborhood Watch program.

At the meeting, there were signs both of the looseness and informality by which the group is operating, as well as of structure and organization. Gaines said that for now, the group will have no bylaws, voting rules or restricted membership. But the meeting took place in a well-appointed conference room donated by Sherman Oaks Community Hospital, complete with refreshments and laser-printed name cards.

Attendees said the council is an idea whose time has come.

“I’m very concerned about the future of Sherman Oaks because I see how devastated the neighborhoods look,” said Mikie Maloney, a longtime resident. “I really feel we’ve gone beyond separate points of view.”