Goodbye Van Nuys, hello Sherman Oaks: L.A. Council OKs neighborhood switch

A group of Van Nuys residents won approval today from the Los Angeles City Council to break off from Van Nuys and join the more upscale community of Sherman Oaks.

The council's 10-2 vote -- with Councilmen Tony Cardenas and Jose Huizar standing in opposition -- will redraw neighborhood boundaries to redesignate some 1,800 homes in an area bounded by Sepulveda, Oxnard and Burbank boulevards and Hazeltine Avenue. The group favoring the change gathered more than 600 signatures supporting its efforts. They argued they are isolated from Van Nuys by an industrial stretch and that their residents strongly identify with Sherman Oaks, in part because they shop Sherman Oaks businesses and children in the neighborhood attend Sherman Oaks schools.

It was just the latest in a string of San Fernando Valley name changes approved by the Council in recent years. But tempers ran hot during today's debate in council chambers. Cardenas, who represents part of Van Nuys, suggested the change was motivated by racism based on reported comments of one of the proponents at a neighborhood meeting. Other opponents of the move told council members the effort was an unabashed effort to boost property values.

The neighborhood councils of Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks opposed the proposal. Members of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council, whose members voted 13 to 4 against the plan in January, said the move would cause “irreparable harm” to a community that has seen hundreds of residents sever ties with Van Nuys to join communities such as Valley Glen and Lake Balboa.

-- Maeve Reston at L.A. City Hall

Comments

[kv]

of course it is about housing values and not wanting to be known as part of low-class Van Nuys-duh-Van Nuys has a horrible reputation -what other reason is there?

[Richard Johnston]

I've also noticed those lawn signs placed on homes bordering Sherman Oaks that read "Part of Sherman Oaks."

[Chunkdog]

Just following in the traditions of Arleta and Lake View Terrace abandoning the name of Pacoima, West Hills doing it to Canoga Park or the countless other racism cloaked requests.

[ARdem]

Easiest white flight in history--They did not even have to move!

[vt]

another pocket of self-interested egotists, who think that there's any value in a name... they're not kidding anyone... sherman oaks is not beverly hills.. i sure wasn't impressed during my visit there.... they need to get over themselves... they'll probably petition to adopt the 310 area code, too.

[DJ]

When I think of Sherman Oaks I think of good things, when I think of Van Nuys, I think of bad things. If residents have the chance to switch their community name to increase their property values (and that's the major reason of course), then why not? If the residents of Van Nuys take offense to this, then change your neighborhood.

[LV]

Just be honest
Sherman Oaks = rich white
Van Nuys = poor brown
don't give me that property values line, instead of making their neighborhood better these arrogant fools just want to change their name, how about being unashamed of being where you're from.

[mister anon]

Let's be truthful. Most of Van Nuys is the crime riddled hellhole of the San Fernando Valley. The difference between a Van Nuys address and a Sherman Oaks address is probably several hundreds of thousands of dollars. What this means is that there are *NO* nice areas of Van Nuys. People can now say that all of Van Nuys is an armpit and be factually correct.

[Pam Ward]

Sherman Oaks is like a Coach bag. All logo and no go!

[lucy]

Cardenas tried to turn it into a racial issue, saying that supporters talked about being more like the "complexion" of Sherman Oaks, which he took to mean skin color, that is fewer Latinos. And fewer people in subsidized housing. He also talked about pictures showing a stark contrast between the two areas of Van Nuys.

Well, if those factors result in dirtier streets and being more unsafe, then they're valid reasons. Maybe Cardenas needs to work with residents who are Latino and in subsidized housing to do a better job of cleaning up their own neighborhoods, neighborhood watches, and so on, so people won't see the difference. You can't blame people for being concerned about property values, their life savngs for many -- this should be a wakeup call to those who want to push MORE low-income housing into nicer areas. If they do it they must make sure the residents who move in respect the neighborhoods they're moving into, keep them clean and safe.

[Quenx]

It funny, because when I lived on the Sherman Oaks side of the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks border I used to tell people I lived in Van Nuys so people didn't just assume I was a snob.

[B Clemenb]

As a resident of "The Sherm" I can tell you the "white flight" BS is just that:BS
I am lucky enough to live in a fairly affluent area of the neighborhood and my neighbors are Korean, African American, Latino, white, and just recently gay too.
I'm proud to be part of a community that (at least from my view) is becoming more diverse all the time.
Even more so with all of the mixed-raced adoptions.

[Ryan D]

Many of us in Sherman Oaks are white, that is true.
But many others, like my latino wife and my child who was born in China, would tend to take offense to the comments that is is an all white neighborhood.

[D.Woodward Van Nuys.]

I'm a Van Nuys resident,I've lived at the same address since Labor day weekend 1974.I'm quite happy with living in Van Nuys.I think the change to sherman Oaks is silly.It is a group of nit wits that's trying to boost property values.

[Eric Elias]

I don't live in the affected areas but this disagreement seems silly because both Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks belong to the city of Los Angeles. How is changing the community's artificial designation going to change anything?

[MDS91401]

I live in the area (Burbank Blvd between Van Nuys blvd & Hazeltine) that will benefit from the name change and I'm happy to say that I live in Sherman Oaks.

Additionally, I'm sorry but I don't see this as any type of racial issue. Sherman Oaks is simply a nicer and cleaner enviroment and who doesn't want to be associated with that? Unfortunately for Van Nuys it has become a less than desirable place to live - and it seems that certain people are more concerned with keeping neighbor hoods within its boundaries instead of making any attempt to improve the area (example, North Hollywood). If the residents of Van Nuys are so concerned with the image of their neighborhood why not take some effort to improve where you live so that it isn't considered the armpit of the valley.

[MM ZZ]

These homeowners don't want to be lumped in with crappy van nuys. What's wrong with that? The only people complaining are those stuck in the armpit known as van nuys and have no ability to do anything about it. Losers hate it when others make any move towards progress -- real, perceived, or otherwise. They start calling them racists. So Typical.

[DR]

I left the valley in the late seventies and never thought I'd see the downward path most of it has taken. Pacoima was always a rough place but Van Nuys? I had to go there for an insurance signing and lo and behold I thought I was in a third world country. Vendors saleing meat on corners. Bums and gangs roaming around the blocks. Grafetti all over. Made my eyes water from dispair.
Glad I left when I did. Now happy to have left the once great state of California
Will the last civilized person there please turn off the light?

[Mike S.]

The real story here is the public confirmation of the powerlessness of Neighborhood Councils. The name change was vehemently opposed by both the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and and the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council. Their opposition was feeble and had to resort to name calling and race baiting. The group promoting the name change was much better organized and was able to utilize traditional grassroots organizaing skills as well as listservs and an impressive website. The Neighborhood Councils have demonstrated that they very little popular support and their only real purpose is to serve as a soapbox for angry malcontents and activists with an axe to grind against one perceived slight or another.

[Scott]

Haven't we heard this before (See Below).

Canoga Park = West Hills

Balboa Lake = Van Nuys

North Hollywood = Valley Village

and now

Van Nuys=Sherman Oaks

Their only fooling themselves, Your zip code is not gong to change, so you still live in the Ghetto.

[marv]

i remember looking at a home that was for sale in the area referenced in this article, the realtor had described as 'Sherman oaks adjacent'. its funny what a negative influence van nuys is.

[DMS]

well, let's hope the city of Los Angeles, reassesses these new Sherman Oaks residents' home values. We could use every extra tax dollar we can get.

[RB]

Is it really about race or is it about being a part of a neighborhood that respects itself and has its residents respect their areas? Why is it when you walk through Van Nuys it's residents keep it filthy, litter, paint graffiti on the walls and vandalize? You don't have that problem as much in Sherman Oaks. Maybe if the people who lived in Van Nuys took care of it better, people woudn't want to flee.

[ks]

I just moved just north of Burbank Blvd near Woodman and it is called either Valley Glen or Van Nuys. I normally call it Van Nuys.
I'm not ashamed. All the homes around here are beautifully kept, safe, and neighborly.
Every neighborhood has the responsibilty to clean up and beautify their areas.
I moved from the oddly overpriced Burbank/Glendale border where shopping carts and beer cans were constantly having to be picked up off the street.
And now that I'm in this close proximity to see the many apartment buildings of Sherman Oaks, I'm thinking Sherman Oaks is not that big of a deal, really.

[Valley M]

I use to leave in Panorama City growing up and spent a lot of time around the Van Nuys area, and I can admit that the area was trash. And each time I go back, for one reason or another, it seems to me that the area is getting worse...by the hour. So what that people wanted to break their association with Van Nuys.

[IK]

Who cares.

[Karen]

If you don't know the neighborhood, please don't comment.

I'm a resident of the Name Change area and have been for 11 years. I've been the head of our Neighborhood Watch for 3 years or more. I am well-acquainted with the neighbors that make up my area, including approximately 500 homes (between Van Nuys Blvd. & Hazeltine.) I'm happy to report that your racist comments are incorrect, and unfortunately a comment using the word 'complexion' (on our web site, over 6 months ago) was taken entirely out of context (it was referring to the similarity of homes to those to the south in Sherman Oaks.) We are a culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhood comprised of many races, religions and ethnicities.

As to the comments about property values, you're wrong there too. We would have pursued the name change regardless of values. Our neighborhood is already a strong-selling "pocket" that people seek out when house hunting. We simply love our neighborhood and that's what makes it so great. Drive through and you'll see.

Finally, this was a grass roots movement that has been in the works for years with well over 440+ petition signatures, and 600+ letters of support from our Sherman Oaks Neighbors to the South. Leave race and home values out of it - this was simply about civic pride in where we live. When someone says, "...And where do you live?", we would like to say, with pride, "Sherman Oaks."

We wish Van Nuys the best and as a result of this most united effort of ours, we will be more active in civic activities for years to come (both Van Nuys and Sherman Oaks, I predict).

Karen C.

[Amy Now in SO]

There were many logical and reasonable reasons for the neighborhood name change, and we met the required criteria for the name change system currently in place.

If anyone has any concerns or questions as to why it was granted our what are motivations were, please feel free to visit our website at www.partofshermanoaks.org where land use and zoning maps can be found, along with statistical data citing the commonalities between our neighborhood and Sherman Oaks to our South. It's important to remember we are only 1/2 of a mile wide and 1.5 miles long - relatively speaking, a very small neighborhood.

We are the only Van Nuys neighborhood in the CD2 district which includes all of Sherman Oaks, the only neighborhood whose children are designated by LAUSD to attend public elementary school in Sherman Oaks, and the only Van Nuys neighborhood South of the Orange Line, Oxnard Blvd and the industrial belt.

Neighborhood annexation is as old as the city itself and has been done several times before. It is not about race (our neighborhood is very ethnically diverse), it is about proximity, where we spend our daily lives and do the majority of our commerce, where are children attend school and meet friends, and where we interact with our neighbors and make friends as parents of those children.

[Concerned Citizen]

It's about schools and crime, more than anything. I live in North Hollywood, and yeah, it's painful to know that a block over (in Burbank), my child would get an actual education and the police would actually come to my door when I call them. As I am in NoHo and city of LA, the police protection is not adequate, there are gangs, grafitti and the schools are terrible. When you've got a grade school where nearly every sign is in SPANISH, that is a problem for children who will one day enter the U.S. job market. It wouldn't be a problem, if they were feeding a high school that graduated Yale scholars. Hell, even UCLA scholars. Sorry, but people (white, black, brown, green) will flock to areas where there is no graffiti, there is good education, English is taught as a first language and there aren't bargain shops on every corner. Living next to a clown-house apartment with a family of eight stuffed into one room making $30K in household income is not what people want, no matter what their ethnicity.

[S.O. snob]

This whole name calling thing has proved two things. The Neighborhood Councils have no say so or power when it comes their own communities and it really is about being a snob, wanting to live in a higher class neighborhood.

Now how about the Valley succeeding from Los Angeles! Like several members of the City Council said "if they want to change who are we to stop it!"

[Leslie]

Just to again set the record straight on the allegations made by opponents of this name change: 1) this is driven by greed (home values), 2) elitism, 3) a racial component.

The real deal:
1) This movement would have pushed the name change through whether there was a real bump to home values or not. The desire for the name change has mostly to do with Community and a residential area believing that the community name accurately reflects where they shop, do business and go to school. The Van Nuys moniker, to this extent, was not an accurate reflection of this community.

2) Elitism.
I have been a member of the name change group since last fall, and can vouch that my neighbors are not elitists. Sherman Oaks close to Ventura Blvd has plenty of apt. buildings and streets that are not as nice as mine. We all realize that the Valley is diverse and in fact, neighborhoods have both modest and glitzy areas. There are lovely areas of Van Nuys --- Cameron Woods and Midvale Estates, pockets near Valley Presbyterian Hospital, etc. but they are nowhere contiguous with our neighborhood, which truly is an extension of Sherman Oaks.

3) Racism: When the opposition to the name change could not come up with any compelling arguments against our desire to be annexed to Sherman Oaks, they resorted to low tactics, attempting to accuse us of "racism". We were accused of having employed the word "complexion" when comparing our area to the SO area to our south.
If the word "complexion" was used --- and none of us can verify that it was --- it would have been in reference to the physical, structural similarities between our area and S.O. "Complexion" is a word that can be used in comparing architecture, situations (i.e., "Judging by the complexion of things...."), infrastructure. It is not used exclusively to describe the one's skin.
Our neighborhood is proudly diverse, represented by Latinos, Caucasians, Blacks, Persians, Israelis, Armenians, French, Italian, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Gay, Straight, and more.

To imply our coalition was "racist" is so patently inaccurate as to be laughable.

Thank you, LA City Council, for endorsing our self-determination. We are proud to be not just part of Sherman Oaks, but of the SF Valley and Los Angeles as a whole.

[Robert]

I have owned a home since 1996 on Hatteras just a few blocks from Sepulveda, and am proud to call myself a part of Van Nuys, and now I am forced to say I live in Sherman Oaks. Not one person asked my opinion on this, and the movement even if called "grass roots" is in fact a move by a few greedy real estate agents, who want bigger sales commissions. I wish the City Council would let those of us who prefer Van Nuys to continue to let that be our address. I know that my zip code will stay the same, so I will continue to have my mail addressed to me as Van Nuys no matter what the City Council did yesteday.

[Karen Perea Gannon]

As a homeowner in the newly named Sherman Oaks area, I'd like to put the whole "complexion" argument to bed! Lets agree that one of our neighbors did use this word and in the skin-color context that Tony Cardenas would desire, well - I agree!! Wholeheartedly! We are exactly the same complexion as that of the residents to the south of us and living in Sherman Oaks: we are all of the same diverse cultural and ethnic background, so our complexion is as equally as diverse as theirs! Stop throwing down the racial card, Cardenas and others! We fought this battle for many reasons, non of which included an issue with any skin color or ethnicity! I am proud of my children's hispanic cultural background - I'm Irish, but my husband (RIP) was hispanic. We are black, brown, jewish, catholic, buddhist, presbytarian, atheist, asian, european, pacific islander, african, south american and WE ARE NOW PART OF SHERMAN OAKS! Get over it and lets all work together for a better Los Angeles!

[valley peep]

The movement should have been called "Lets ruin Sherman Oaks" All that was accomplished is that they watered down "Sherman Oaks" and in fact added a substandard neighborhood to a better community. I think it would have been better to rename yourselves Van Oaks or Sherman Nuys but in essence you have devalued Sherman Oaks. The City Council are idiots because here they are saying that we have a huge deficit and now they have to spend money to change all the signs and everything else that goes along with this change.

[valley peep]

I forgot to add its like when Ford owned Jaquar all they did is ruin it by making this luxury brand look like a fleet of glorified Ford Taurus's but lucky for Jaguar at least they got a repreive and were sold to another company that carried on their tradition. No such luck for Sherman Oaks I think the real Sherman Oaks should rename itself "Old Sherman Oaks" just to clarify its actual boundaries.

[Chris]

Robert said "I have owned a home since 1996 on Hatteras just a few blocks from Sepulveda, and am proud to call myself a part of Van Nuys, and now I am forced to say I live in Sherman Oaks."

Ummm, there aren't any houses with Hatteras addresses. The houses all have addresses on the north-south streets. Is this a fake post?

[Chris]

valley peep says "The City Council are idiots because here they are saying that we have a huge deficit and now they have to spend money to change all the signs and everything else that goes along with this change."

Oh, pleeeze, how many signs have to be moved? Not the one on Van Nuys Blvd. since that is still Van Nuys. Not the one on Burbank Blvd. since it already in the right place. Everything else -- no maps need to be updated, no telephone numbers, no zip codes. Hmm, the only thing I can think of that needs changing are the residents' return address labels, and somehow I don't think they'll mind springing a couple of bucks each for that.

Oh, yeah, and we know how much goodwill one gets by denigrating the fine, upstanding civil servants on the City Council.

[Robert]

Hello, I do not know if anyone will read this, but a comment was made on my post of July 14th about resenting being forced to call my address Sherman Oaks, and preferring Van Nuys. My house borders Hatteras, and is on a corner lot. I do not wish to give my home address, but it is on the 5700 block of my street, and just a few blocks from Sepulveda.

[ya!]

for me this will always be van nuys >:p

[ya!]

"Just be honest
Sherman Oaks = rich white
Van Nuys = poor brown
don't give me that property values line, instead of making their neighborhood better these arrogant fools just want to change their name, how about being unashamed of being where you're from."

well just to be honest....................................

you are right but what eves