Hollywood Community Studio

The Garcetti 311 App Helps Residents Report Problems about their Neighborhood

“Garcetti 311″ is a real-time mobile civic engagement tool that allows residents to identify problems in their neighborhood such as potholes, graffiti and broken sidewalks.  Utilizing GPS technology, users can identify and take photos of the problem, which are then automatically geo-coded – or mapped – and then sent to the City for repair. The application is free and available for iPhones during the year-long pilot program.  You can download the app through iTunes.

Another recent addition to the pool of iPhone apps is the “Official Hollywood Walk of Fame App” which helps fans navigate Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.  Just type in the name of the star you’d like to see, and the application searches its database to guide you directly to the correct spot along Hollywood’s famed sidewalks.   A biography also pops up alongside the star’s location with up-to-date information.  The “Official Hollywood Walk of Fame App” is now available $1.99 on iTunes.

HCS is always interested in learning about apps that help users navigate cities, so if you try either of these apps let us know what you think! Or, if you use other mobile apps that use geo-coding and allow you to upload pictures, tell us about them in the comments.

The Traveler’s Aid Society of Los Angeles (TASLA) recently conducted a community needs assessment to identify what types of social services are offered in Los Angeles County, including what  gaps in services exist, and how well TASLA’s target population (individuals and families who are stranded in transit and who are in danger of homelessness), are being served.  Over 20 agencies throughout the Greater LA area – with an emphasis on Downtown and the Hollywood area – responded to the assessment.  For the most part, agency respondents felt that there are adequate services provided to their client base.  TASLA, however, noted that their client base consistently sites laundry services, dental care, and eye care as services that are needed in the community but hard to find.  The Hollywood Community Studio is interested in hearing from YOU about this topic.  Do you think Hollywood has enough services to help its vulnerable populations?  Yes?  No?  Why or why not?  What could be done to better assist our struggling residents? If you want to learn more about TASLA and their services, check out their website here!

1600 Vine, Hollywood, Ca.
Via LA Wad’s Flickr

One of our main goals at the Hollywood Community Studio is to help connect local residents with the opportunities that arise out of development. As such, we helped distribute the applications for the 78 affordable housing units at 1600 Vine, part of the new Hollywood and Vine project. More than 300 applicants came to our office alone, and we want to hear from you how the application process went.

If you applied, we want to know: How did you hear about the applications? Did you get picked in the lottery? If so, how are your new digs? Could the application process have been easier and, if so, how? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below, or send us an email to info (at) hollywoodcommunitystudio (dot) org.

This summer, the Hollywood Community Studio (HCS) has continued its community-based research in the neighborhoods that make up the CRA/LA’s Hollywood Redevelopment Project Area. This year we are focusing on the northern part of the project area, which extends from La Brea to the 101 and from Franklin to Selma. HCS hits the streets with a neighborhood opinionnaire asking residents and workers what they think about the physical and social changes taking place in their community, and how best to create a healthier Hollywood neighborhood. With only a month into the summer engagement process, we have already reached our goal of surveying 300 residents and workers! We surveyed the 300th neighborhood participant yesterday, and we still have two more weeks to go in the survey administration process!

This has been an amazing feat for the civic engagement of Hollywood, as it establishes Hollywood as a neighborhood with its own community voices. Additionally, HCS has served as an educational field internship for several students from various local colleges including CSUN, Antioch, Cal State Pomona, UCLA, and USC. If you would like to see the results of our research report from 2009, Central Hollywood Now, please visit the publications tab on our website.

Last year the Hollywood Community Studio surveyed close to 100 small businesses in Central Hollywood to learn about how they were being affected by neighborhood change. The survey inquired about the challenges and barriers to running small businesses in Hollywood, and what public agencies such as the CRA/LA can do to assist small businesses. To get a more complete picture of the neighborhood, this summer we’ll be knocking on doors around Hollywood Boulevard. If you own or operate a small business, we would like to know how current and proposed development projects in Hollywood affect your business and what types of technical and financial services you may need.

Please stay tuned for our online survey.  We look forward to hearing from you soon!