Pacific Palisades
Homeless Taskforce
The Pacific Palisades Coalition on Homelessness has formed a Task Force to address the growing numbers of homeless who have made their home in the wooded areas and hillsides of Pacific Palisades. The Task Force was formed in October with the initiative of Assemblyman Bloom’s office. Resident, Maryam Zar was appointed the Chair person, Stephanie Cohen, Senior Field Representative from Assemblyman Bloom’s office in Vice Chair, Palisadian Robin Degtjarewsky is the Secretary and Norman Kulla, Senior Counsel for Councilman Mike Bonin’s office, serves as Advisor.
The Pacific Palisades Coalition on Homelessness, a group of community volunteers, provides leadership and resources to manage and reduce homelessness in Pacific Palisades so that the community remains safe and persons experiencing homelessness receive compassionate, effective services and access to permanent housing.
For the Homeless Task Force Press Release to the community
by Chairperson Maryam Zar,
by Chairperson Maryam Zar,
PACIFIC PALISADES FORMS A HOMELESS TASK FORCE
Pacific Palisades has formed a task force to address the growing numbers of homeless who have made their home in the wooded areas and hillsides of Pacific Palisades. The Taskforce was formed in October with the initiative of Assemblyman Bloom’s office. Resident, Maryam Zar was appointed the Chair person, Stephanie Cohen, Senior Field Representative from Assemblyman Bloom’s office in Vice Chair, Palisadian Robin Degtjarewsky is the Secretary and Norman Kulla, Senior Counsel for Councilman Mike Bonin’s office, serves as Advisor.
Mission Statement:
The Pacific Palisades Coalition on Homelessness, a group of community volunteers, provides leadership and resources to manage and reduce homelessness in Pacific Palisades so that the community remains safe and persons experiencing homelessness receive compassionate, effective services and access to permanent housing.
Having being formed only a short time ago, the task force has already attracted a great team of involved and skilled individuals who have stepped forward to volunteer in myriad ways to tackle different aspects of the homeless issues facing the community. A number of sub committees have been formed and tasked with a set of objectives, all directed at tackling the homeless issue from a variety of angles. These include creating a unified message and a common sense approach to interacting with transients and panhandlers, signage and enforcement of laws and a greater allocation of law enforcement resources to Pacific Palisades for the purpose of installing legal signage and helping enforce violations, learning from the best practices of other agencies and community organizations that have succeeded in effectively relocating homeless from their communities, and amassing a pool of services readily available to be offered to those who are willing and able to move on and into permanent housing facilities.
Pacific Palisades will also participate in the 2015 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count which is a City wide initiative to count the number of homeless living in the greater Los Angeles area, as well as the demographic of the homeless in each locale. The taskforce has formed a sub-committee with co-site coordinators to work closely with the City to effectuate the count in Pacific Palisades.
LA City has made an exception for the Count in Pacific Palisades to be carried out at dawn on January 29th, versus the planned late night of January 28th. For more information on the change please contact Maryam Zar (pacpalihtf@gmail.com, or Norman Kulla at norman.kulla@lacity.org). Volunteers are still welcome. We will have the support of Assemblyman Bloom’s office, Councilman Mike Bonin’s office and West LA PD.
The following is a list of the various Sub-committees that comprise the Pacific Palisades Homeless Taskforce, and their sub-committee Heads.
2015 Count Sub-committee, Headed by Kim Clary and Brian Deming Community Outreach and Resource Recruitment Sub-committee, Headed by Courtney Graff Best Practices Sub-committee, Headed by Doug McCormick Government Relations Sub-committee, Headed by Bruce Schwartz Community PR and Media Relations Sub-committee, Headed by Michael Soneff
Please contact us by email at maryamzarjd@yahoo.com, or refer to the PPCC website for more details, or for contact information to reach sub-committee Heads. We have a strong social media presence. Please LIKE us on Facebook and FOLLOW us on Instagram at “PacPaliHTF”.
Best,
Maryam Zar, J.D.
Chairperson: Pacific Palisades Homeless Taskforce
