Valleywide : Katz to Present Final Good Neighbor Prizes

On Saturday morning, the Odyssey Restaurant in Granada Hills should be packed with doers of good deeds, humble heroes, tireless community volunteers and other citizens cut from the same cloth.

The occasion is Assemblyman Richard Katz’s fifth annual Good Neighbor Award ceremony. This is the last time Katz (D-Sylmar) will bestow the special honors because his term limit is nearing, and award winners from previous years have been invited to attend.

“These awards are special because the community organizations themselves nominate the winners,” said Sue Gold, a Katz spokeswoman.

Past winners include Lefty Blasco, who helped found the die-hard Panorama City Graffiti Busters group; Barbara Hubbard, who started the Lake View Terrace Hawks Neighborhood Watch program; Barbara Perkins, president of the San Fernando Valley chapter of the National Council of Negro Women; and an array of other crime busters and civic champions.

Ten new winners will receive awards this year.

Those named so far include Jan Liptak, who orchestrated this year’s Valley Health Fair and coordinated a mural project at the Sun Valley Swap Meet; Leslie Yamashita, president of the Panorama City West Neighborhood Assn. as well as a member of Neighborhood Watch and a police advisory board; Harry Coleman, director of the North Hills Community Coordinating Council; Bob Wynn, who helped organize the donation of a van to transport people to and from the Pacoima Senior Center; and Hawley Smith, who has led efforts to beautify Arleta and donated 50 turkeys to needy children on behalf of the Arleta Chamber of Commerce last Christmas.

Five other winners from communities in Katz’s 39th Assembly District are yet to be named.

The award ceremony will be held at 9 a.m. at the Odyssey Restaurant, 15600 Odyssey Drive, Granada Hills.