Consumer Alert: Coldwater Canyon Ave to Close March 23 – April 25 for Water Trunk Line Replacement
March 5, 2013 by News Desk
Filed under Breaking News, Consumer News, Featured, Local News, News, Street Closures
Images courtesy of LADWP
LADWP to Replace 99-Year Old Pipe, Requiring Full Use of Street for Construction. Limited through Traffic Reduced to Evening, Overnight Hours and Sundays.
LOS ANGELES (March 4, 2013) – The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) will be replacing a portion of the City Trunk Line, a 60-inch diameter pipeline that runs along Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Mulholland Drive and Ventura Boulevard, necessitating closure of the major Valley to Westside pass from March 23-April 25 to allow the full use of the street for construction equipment and crews. The LADWP is replacing the 99-year old pipe in sections with new welded steel pipe as part of an ongoing citywide upgrade to major pipelines that cross the city to ensure reliable service and to comply with federal water quality regulations.
Starting March 9th, no left turns will be allowed onto Ventura Blvd from Coldwater Canyon north and south bound as crews prepare for construction.
Closures begin Saturday, March 23, and are scheduled to continue through Thursday, April 25. The hours of closure are Monday through Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. After 7 p.m. each night (6 p.m. on Saturdays), and all day Sunday, one lane in each direction will be open for traffic.
“This is a vitally important project to ensure the continued safety and reliability of our drinking water,” LA City Councilmember Paul Krekorian said. “I know how difficult it will be to drive through the area during this time, which is why I would urge all of us to find alternate routes during construction. While crews are working to repair this pipeline, my office will ensure that residents, businesses, schools and drivers are kept informed about this project and we will work with all city departments to ensure this is done as safely and efficiently as possible. I thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation.”
“This is an important improvement, but it poses an impact and a challenge. LADWP needs to get this job done as quickly and safely as possible,” added LA City Councilmember Tom LaBonge.
“Coldwater Canyon Avenue is one of our key trans-mountain routes, and there’s no question its month-long daytime closure will be a hardship to residents and commuters. But the water trunk-line replacement work’s got to be done, and I’m confident that people will cooperate with patience and understanding, with a final result that we can all be proud of,” said LA County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
In 2009, the City Trunk Line ruptured at Coldwater Canyon and Ventura Boulevard, causing flooding of area residents and businesses. Cost of repairs was over $700,000 and claims totaled nearly $8 million. Water loss was estimated at four million gallons.
Details of the closure were discussed earlier today at a morning press conference near the site of the 2009 rupture with Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who represents the area, joined by Councilmember Tom LaBonge and Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.
A representative from the City Department of Transportation also discussed traffic mitigation plans that include electronic signage, traffic control officers, new striping to guide motorists through the area.
Motorists are urged to avoid the area during the closure and take alternate routes, including: Laurel Canyon Blvd.; Beverly Glen Blvd., Sepulveda Blvd., Cahuenga Blvd./Highland Avenue and Interstate 405. During peak commuting hours, Coldwater Canyon carries approximately 1,300 vehicles per hour.
The LADWP has worked closely with Councilmember Krekorian and his staff, as well as community groups and others, to ensure that their concerns and issues are addressed to the extent possible.
Special access permits will be issued to area residents and schools, including Harvard-Westlake, and other facilities along Coldwater between Mulholland Drive and Ventura Boulevard. The actual construction zone is from Dickens Street to Hacienda Drive, where most of the work will occur.
“This project poses particular challenges – on an engineering level and for how to mitigate impacts for those who live, work or travel through this area of the City,” said James B. McDaniel, Senior Assistant General Manager, Water System. “The quality and reliability of your water service is our priority at the LADWP, and we are going to work as quickly and safely as possible to get this job done. We appreciate your understanding and patience.”
For information about the closure, please visit www.ladwp.com. To receive e-mail updates on construction progress during the closure, please visit LADWP’s online newsroom and sign-up to receive updates here. Select “City Trunk Line – Coldwater Canyon Construction” from the dropdown menu, or follow @LADWP on Twitter.
Also to read more about the Coldwater Canyon Construction March 23 – April 25, 2013
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
*TRAFFIC ADVISORY*
Left Turn Restrictions Begin Saturday, March 9 at
Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Ventura Boulevard
NO Left Turns from Coldwater Canyon Avenue
Northbound and Southbound onto Ventura Boulevard
| Left turn restrictions will go into effect as part of an ongoing water trunk line construction project on Coldwater Canyon Avenue in the Studio City area of Los Angeles.Beginning Saturday, March 9, 2013, no left turns from Coldwater Canyon Avenue northboundand southbound onto Ventura Boulevard will be allowed.These left turn restrictions will be in effect for two weeks, through March 23, 2013. At that time, the full closure of Coldwater Canyon Avenue between Ventura Boulevard and Mulholland Drive will commence and will be in effect through April 25, 2013. During this timeframe, the left turn restrictions will remain in effect during non-working hours and on Sundays. For more information on the full closure of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, click here.
Left turn restrictions will continue after the closure through June 1, 2013. Drivers who may be affected by the left turn restrictions are encouraged to consider other routes, including Cahuenga Boulevard/Highland Avenue, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Beverly Glen Boulevard, Sepulveda Boulevard and Interstate 405, or take Metro- visit www.metro.net for more information.
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Source: LADWP
About News Desk
About Diversity News Magazine: Diversity News Magazine is an independent multi-media outlet own by Minority-Owned Business who works with everyone and it is published by Diversity News Publications. Diversity News Magazine executive editor-in-chief is Esteban Escobar aka Steven Escobar an award winning honored and respected Journalist. Diversity News Magazine is a consumer news magazine covering news, entertainment, features, awards, sports, events and much more. DiversityNewsMagazine.com, an online & special print consumer news magazine that is visited by more than two million visitors a month, it is another venue for advertisers to showcase their products, brands or services on the classified and display pages. The purpose of the magazine is to educate and inform the diverse community worldwide. It focuses on local, national and international news, entertainment, features, sports and more importantly, newsworthy items that would be of interest to our diverse cultures. For more information visit Diversity News Magazine at http://www.diversitynewsmagazine.com/
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Breaking News: LA City Council Unanimously Supports LADWP’s Federal Lawsuit to Stop the Water Waste in the Owens Valley
November 1, 2012 by News Desk
Filed under Breaking News, Business News, Community, Consumer News, Featured, Legal, News, Your Money
On November 1, 2012 LADWP announced that the Los Angeles City Council yesterday unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s lawsuit seeking to halt what LADWP alleges are excessive and unlawful regulations and costs being imposed on Los Angeles water consumers by the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (Great Basin) in the Owens Valley area of California.
According to the LADWP lawsuit, Great Basin continues to issue orders to LADWP to further expand the area of dust control beyond that which LADWP is responsible and continues to seek to fund its own operations at the expense of Los Angeles water ratepayers.
“The City Council today stood up for Los Angeles consumers, who are being unlawfully obligated to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate dust beyond that for which Los Angeles is responsible. In addition, fresh water is being wasted to reduce dust when other low-water or waterless options exist,” said LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols. “While LADWP continues to honor our obligations to protect the environment by controlling dust for which we are responsible, we simply will not stand idly by as billions of gallons of LA water are wasted at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars to our customers.”
The proposed City Council resolution states that “the City has spent more than $1.2 billion toward constructing and operating 42 square miles of dust controls and has committed to an additional 3 square miles, resulting in 45 square miles. …[At] the completion of 45 square miles of dust controls the City will have fulfilled its mitigation obligations and illustrated LADWP’s willing interest in addressing the air quality impacts of its water gathering activities on and around Owens Lake.”
The LADWP remains committed to ongoing dust control on the 45 square miles, and seeks to use other proven means to control dust other than by wasting scarce drinking water. LADWP has objected to orders by Great Basin to once again, expand the dust control area further, at a cost of $400 million to LADWP water customers.
“Already, nearly $10 from every $100 of the average LA resident’s water bill goes towards the work we perform at Owens Lake. This money goes to pay for the 95,000 acre feet of water per year that is poured on the lake bed – more than what is used by the entire city of San Francisco annually – there comes a time when you mast say enough is enough,” said LA City Councilmember Tony Cardenas. “Expanding this project again is an abuse of the residents of Los Angeles, especially when we consider how far they have strayed from the original agreement reached between the city and the Great Basin.”
The City Council resolution also describes various objectionable and unlawful actions by Great Basin, including “continu[ing] to issue orders to the City to control dust arising from Owens Lake in excess of the City’s agreement, causation, and legal obligation” and “unreasonably charg[ing] the City for the general costs of government and excessive costs of outside attorneys.”
The unanimous adoption of the resolution signifies that the City Council “affirms, supports and endorses the legal position and the filing of a lawsuit by the LADWP acting on behalf of water ratepayers.”
More information on this issue can be found at www.ladwp.com/OwensLake.
Source: LADWP
About News Desk
About Diversity News Magazine: Diversity News Magazine is an independent multi-media outlet own by Minority-Owned Business who works with everyone and it is published by Diversity News Publications. Diversity News Magazine executive editor-in-chief is Esteban Escobar aka Steven Escobar an award winning honored and respected Journalist. Diversity News Magazine is a consumer news magazine covering news, entertainment, features, awards, sports, events and much more. DiversityNewsMagazine.com, an online & special print consumer news magazine that is visited by more than two million visitors a month, it is another venue for advertisers to showcase their products, brands or services on the classified and display pages. The purpose of the magazine is to educate and inform the diverse community worldwide. It focuses on local, national and international news, entertainment, features, sports and more importantly, newsworthy items that would be of interest to our diverse cultures. For more information visit Diversity News Magazine at http://www.diversitynewsmagazine.com/
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Breaking News: Statement by Los Angeles Department of Water and Power regarding Mammoth Creek Water Issues
June 29, 2012 by News Desk
Filed under Breaking News, Business News, Consumer News, Featured, Media, News
High Priced Public Relations Campaign Run by LA Firm Attempts to “Snow” the Public & Media.
On Friday, June 29, 2012 that Los Angeles Department of Water & Power General Manager Ronald O. Nichols released the following statement today regarding an article in the LA Times concerning the town of Mammoth Lakes & Mammoth Creak Water District:
The Mammoth Creek Water District has retained consultants to undertake an intensive and costly public relations campaign to cast the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) as attempting to deny the Town of Mammoth Lakes a water supply from Mammoth Creek. This is simply not true. A story reported in today’s Los Angeles Times repeats many of the baseless arguments set forth by lobbyists and public relations consultants hired by Mammoth Creek Water District (MCWD) at public expense, and I am very concerned that the public is being misled and has been misinformed as to the basic facts. LADWP is in no way attempting to deny water to the Town of Mammoth Lakes and has communicated to MCWD staff and Board that we are ready and willing to work with them to find a solution.
Here are the facts on the issues involving LADWP and MCWD:
For the past a decade, LADWP has expressed its concerns to MCWD regarding water diversions from Mammoth Creek. Over the last year, LADWP and MCWD officials have been negotiating to find a mutually acceptable way of sharing the water of Mammoth Creek while not harming the water customers and ratepayers of Los Angeles. Those talks have consistently failed to produce results.
We believe the reason for the failure to reach an agreement is that so far, the MCWD is unwilling to do what is provided for by water rights laws and protocols of the State of California. LADWP has held the senior water rights on Mammoth Creek since 1905. That water flows to Owens River, and is a part of the water supply to Los Angeles. Water from Mammoth Creek used by MCWD to meet local needs can be replaced by LADWP by purchasing more water from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). Water rights laws and protocols provide for LADWP to make that substitution to enable the Mammoth water district to meet local needs, which LADWP has repeatedly expressed we are willing to do. However, there is no obligation for LADWP to make that substitution and charge our customers to provide free water to MCWD. To view this otherwise is to ignore the very foundation of water rights laws in California. We believe that MCWD knows its position is groundless and has undertaken a public relations campaign to camouflage that fact.
LADWP had not pressed this issue legally, believing that a fair solution could be reached. However, when MCWD sought to update its Urban Water Management Plan to allow the resort community to increase its water use by 50% in the future by using LADWP’s water source, we were forced to ask a judge to protect the interests of Los Angeles’ water customers who pay LADWP water rates. LADWP has been accused of making a “water grab” but that is simply not the case.
Even though LADWP has taken legal steps required to protect our water rights, at the same time we have also been clear that we are prepared to continue our long-running negotiations with MCWD, in the hope that a compromise can be reached. In fact, recent conversations, not reported in the Times story, have been very positive, and. LADWP and MCWD staff have been quietly working together to look for a suitable resolution that would enable LADWP to retain its water while meeting the needs of MCWD.
It is important to note that even if other supplies cannot be found and Mammoth customers were asked to pay for the water purchased and paid for by Los Angeles’ residents, under the worst-case scenario average Mammoth customers would see their monthly water bills increase from about $24 to $35 – while the same amount of water currently costs a Los Angeles customer about $43 a month. In other words, LADWP’s rates would still be about 25% higher than the rates enjoyed by Mammoth’s residents, businesses and resorts. LADWP has over 300,000 qualified low-income and senior citizen customers who would continue to pay more for their water than customers pay in in Mammoth Lakes even if MCWD compensated for the LADWP water that it is diverting. Los Angeles water customers cannot continue to subsidize Mammoth’s water bills. We believe there are solutions that enable alternatives other than simply reimbursing LADWP for the water that MCWD is using and we remain actively engaged with MCWD to collaboratively find such a solution.
I want to reiterate that LADWP has no intention, nor any desire to deprive the citizens of Mammoth of water. No amount of misinformed public relations efforts can change these facts. We remain willing to work out a solution that will ensure adequate and affordable water supplies to the community of Mammoth Lakes on a sustained and fair basis and we stand ready to work with MCWD to resolve this issue.
Source: LADWP Public Affairs
Graphic credit to: LADWP
About News Desk
About Diversity News Magazine: Diversity News Magazine is an independent multi-media outlet own by Minority-Owned Business who works with everyone and it is published by Diversity News Publications. Diversity News Magazine executive editor-in-chief is Esteban Escobar aka Steven Escobar an award winning honored and respected Journalist. Diversity News Magazine is a consumer news magazine covering news, entertainment, features, awards, sports, events and much more. DiversityNewsMagazine.com, an online & special print consumer news magazine that is visited by more than two million visitors a month, it is another venue for advertisers to showcase their products, brands or services on the classified and display pages. The purpose of the magazine is to educate and inform the diverse community worldwide. It focuses on local, national and international news, entertainment, features, sports and more importantly, newsworthy items that would be of interest to our diverse cultures. For more information visit Diversity News Magazine at http://www.diversitynewsmagazine.com/
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Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Unveils new and improved official website at www.LADWP.com
June 13, 2012 by News Desk
Filed under Business News, Consumer News, Featured, News, Technology
The New www.LADWP.com Features Intuitive Layout, Self-Service Capabilities and Offers 24/7 Service and Information About the Nation’s Largest Municipal Utility.
On May 14, 2012 The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) today announced the launch of its new and improved official website,www.LADWP.com.
The English/Spanish bilingual site is more user-friendly and features a modern, updated design with streamlined navigation and improved self-service capabilities. Residential and commercial water and power customers can now access improved bill view and payment options, online applications for rebates and low income discounts, view electric and water consumption charts and graphs to understand their usage trends, view past bills and track service requests.
The website also features real-time neighborhood power outage maps and information and also comes in a mobile version for customers who use smart phones and other handheld devices.
“The new www.LADWP.com features improvements in terms of appearance, ease and convenience,” said LADWP General Manager Ron Nichols. “But more importantly, users now have 24/7 access to information that can directly impact their quality of life, including neighborhood power outage maps and water and power consumption charts to help estimate future bills. Our new online presence furthers our ability to provide the high quality online customer service experiences our customers expect.”
The new website houses detailed information on the relationship between the LADWP and the early growth of the City of Los Angeles. LADWP financial information, reports, electric and water rates, Board of Water and Power Commission agendas and community information are still readily available on the website (click “About Us”). The site also features new customer service video tutorials and information on topics such as: How to read your water and electric meters, the Low-Income Discount Program, energy and water conservation, and the “Charge Up LA” electric vehicle program.
LADWP’s website is among the most frequented municipal websites in the nation. First launched in 1995, nearly 200,000 users log-in to the website each month with more than 120,000 of these users viewing and paying their bill online.
Customers can provide feedback on the new website by clicking on the “Contact Us” tab at the top of the website and then selecting “Email Us.”
The new www.LADWP.com is part of a major initiative to improve the quality of the customer experience. The initiative will address specific process, organizational and technology improvements in customer service, including replacement of the LADWP’s 30+ year old Customer Information System (CIS).
To read the original press release visit http://www.ladwpnews.com/go/doc/1475/1430887/
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Editor’s Note: We tried the website today on June 13, 2012 and we can say that at the beginning we were not sure why we need to update our password and security questions but, then later it was easy to navigate, pay our power bill, even shows the bill been populated instantly via PDF. Congrats to LADWP staff on this huge improvement with your customers.
About News Desk
About Diversity News Magazine: Diversity News Magazine is an independent multi-media outlet own by Minority-Owned Business who works with everyone and it is published by Diversity News Publications. Diversity News Magazine executive editor-in-chief is Esteban Escobar aka Steven Escobar an award winning honored and respected Journalist. Diversity News Magazine is a consumer news magazine covering news, entertainment, features, awards, sports, events and much more. DiversityNewsMagazine.com, an online & special print consumer news magazine that is visited by more than two million visitors a month, it is another venue for advertisers to showcase their products, brands or services on the classified and display pages. The purpose of the magazine is to educate and inform the diverse community worldwide. It focuses on local, national and international news, entertainment, features, sports and more importantly, newsworthy items that would be of interest to our diverse cultures. For more information visit Diversity News Magazine at http://www.diversitynewsmagazine.com/
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