Mountain Lion Siting in Canyon

A beautiful mountain lion has been in the area spotted both in Chevy Chase Canyon (near the country club) as well as in Glenoaks Canyon. Thanks to today’s technology, we have photos and even a video of the cat.

While these animals are beautiful, they are hunters and we should be cautious with our pets and while walking the trails especially during twilight hours (just after sunrise, and just before sunset).

This is a picture of our neighborhood visitor taken up near Chevy Chase Country Club.

This is a picture of our neighborhood visitor taken up near Chevy Chase Country Club.

This video was captured by a neighbor’s Ring camera on Glenoaks Blvd. near Bywood.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ENCOUNTER A MOUNTAIN LION

  1. STAY CALM. HOLD YOUR GROUND.

  2. SEEM AS LARGE AS POSSIBLE. STAND TALL. DO NOT CROUCH OR BEND OVER

  3. MAKE NOISE

  4. ACT DEFIANT, NOT AFRAID
    Maintain eye contact. Don’t run. Agressively wave arms, throw stones. Do not turn away.

  5. BACK AWAY SLOWLY
    Do not run and trigger chase instinct.

  6. PROTECT YOURSELF
    If attacked, fight back.

For more information you can visit these website resources:

Mountain Lion Foundation

Trail Safety for Mountain Lion Encounters

US Forest Service Encounter Guidelines

GOCHA Mourns the Loss of One of Our Longtime Residents and GOCHA Board Member

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The GOCHA Board is very sorry to inform you that our neighbor, Gerry Rankin, passed away recently after battling leukemia, colon cancer and a broken hip. Most of you will recognize him as the kind, gentle, and friendly neighbor who walked his cocker spaniel, Carter, around the park or up on the fire roads.  As a lifelong Glenoaks Canyon resident, Gerry invested much of his free time and energy into the canyon: delivering the ECHO, tirelessly investigating new construction in the canyon which he reported back to the Homeowner's  Board where code or permits were being side-stepped. He also worked to defeat various Landfill concerns such as the proposal to the 2015 expansion plan for the landfill and the current proposal to burn off gas on the landfill site.  He attended Occidental College and U.C. Berkeley and worked at U.S. Customs near the Los Angeles Port. He is survived by his wife, Mary, his daughters, Martha and Karen, their spouses, and two grandchildren. 

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New LTE Cell Tower Being Proposed at Scholl Canyon Landfill

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Apologies for the last minute post, but today, May 12, 2020 at 6:00pm there will be a virtual meeting held by the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) to discuss the construction of the proposed cell tower. This is not a City of Glendale project and does not require approval of the City Council. LA-RICS is inviting the public to join the meeting to find out more about this initiative.

The link to join the meeting can be found below.

Join Microsoft Teams Meeting

The presentation that will be shown in the meeting can be found here:

Informational Presentation

It does appear that the proposed cell tower will be seen from parts of our canyon. The presentation does not say what cellular companies will take advantage of this tower. Hopefully that will be discussed in the meeting tonight.

Spring Echo -- Digital Edition

GOCHA hopes everyone is doing well and being safe in these trying times. As some of you may have already figured out, we decided not to distribute the Spring Echo this year. We made this decision for two reasons: Firstly, by the time we were ready to distribute the Echo, many of the events listed within were already cancelled. And, secondly, we decided to err on the side of safety and not expose our canyon walkers to any unnecessary risk.

We are including the Spring 2020 Echo here with the caveat that many of the events and information in the Echo is either out of date or no longer relevant as news changes daily. But, since the Echo had already been completed, we decided to put it on the website for posterity.

Please note the following events listed in this Echo have been cancelled. Any events not mentioned below are still pending, but for now, are still scheduled to happen on the dates indicated.

CANCELLED - Dog Parade - April 18

CANCELLED - Spring Clean Up Day - May 2

POSTPONED - National Night Out - TBD

STILL SCHEDULED - Annual Meeting - Sep 9

STILL SCHEDULED - Pancake Breakfast - Oct 17

Spring 2020 Echo

Disaster Preparedness Questionnaire Now Online

Given the current state of the world as we all face the Coronavirus pandemic, GOCHA thought it would be a good idea to give folks the option of filling out or updating their information for the canyon disaster preparedness program. Normally, this questionnaire is distributed every two years in the Echo, but now that the health and safety of canyon residents is at top of mind for all of us, we thought it would be a good idea to allow everyone to fill out information through the website.

You can access the questionnaire here:

Disaster Preparedness Questionnaire (https://www.glenoakscanyon.org/disaster-preparedness-questionnaire)

The information is completely voluntary and you can fill out as much or as little as you feel comfortable with. The information is kept completely confidential and is only shared with the Disaster Preparedness volunteers in the canyon.

A Message From GOCHA President Regarding the Coronavirus

To our Glenoaks Canyon Community,

I am writing you at a time when we as a Canyon, State, and Country are facing a situation that most of us have not encountered in our lifetimes. Such a crisis certainly comes with uncertainty, anxiety and fear. 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, one of the primary reasons that my wife and I have called Glenoaks Canyon our home for the last 20 years is because of the quality of the people who reside in this Canyon. It is during times like these that I would ask our wonderful Canyon residents to show their Glenoaks Canyon spirit to contact our elderly or immobile residents to make sure they have the resources they need to weather this crisis. Such contact can be made by a quick phone call or a knock on the door. I have already been informed by the Head of our Disaster Preparedness Program Isabelle Meyer that she and her volunteers are already do the same, but please do not rely solely on GOCHA to help our neighbors. I have heard that such preliminary contact has been very well received. Thank you,Isabelle, for this very kind gesture and your continued service to our Canyon.

While I fully understand that each of you must do what is best for you and your family, I would ask that you also show your Glenoaks Canyon spirit when you visit the local market and other establishments around town. Hopefully, we can work together to get through these very trying times, the worst of which may not yet be behind us. It certainly is wise to stock-up on needed essentials, but at a certain point such stocking-up can be at the detriment to your neighbors who are also in the same situation.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of GOCHA, I wish you all the best of health and resolve during these very trying times. I am hopeful and optimistic we can get through this crisis together.

 Rick Marquis
President, GOCHA

Scholarship Applications Now Being Accepted

Going to college next year? If so, you can apply for the GOCHA Annual Scholarship.

The homeowners association will award a $400 scholarship to a graduating high school senior who will attend a post-secondary institution in the academic year following graduation. To be eligible, an applicant must live in Glenoaks Canyon, and at least one member of the household must belong to GOCHA. The application is available at glenoakscanyon.org/annual-scholarship or by contacting Marie Freeman at (818-500-1828). Applications must be submitted by May 1, 2020. The GOCHA Scholarship Committee will base their selection on merit and service and will announce the recipient in June, 2020.