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Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association
Collection
URB.ACC
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association Collection
Creator:
Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association
Identifier/Call Number: URB.ACC
Extent:
10.93 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1963-2000
Abstract: The Arleta Chamber of Commerce was
established in February 1975 after the Arleta Property Owners Council, a group of business
and home owners in the area, began petitioning to break free from the city of Pacoima and
establish Arleta as its own community in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley.
From its inception, the principle purpose of the Chamber was to "promote business within
[Arleta's] boundaries and to further the best community interest of the Arleta area." The
majority of records contained in the Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association
Collection consists of materials that document the activities of the Chamber/Association
since its creation in 1981.
Language of Material: English
The Arleta Chamber of Commerce was established in February 1975 after the Arleta Property
Owners Council, a group of business and home owners in the area began petitioning to break
free from the city of Pacoima and establish Arleta as its own community in the northeast
corner of the San Fernando Valley. Sallie K. Harris, the former president of the Arleta
Property Owners Council and a member of the Citizen Unit for Participation in Housing and
Community Development, became the first president of the newly formed Chamber of
Commerce.
From its inception, the principle purpose of the chamber was to "promote business within
[Arleta's] boundaries and to further the best community interest of the Arleta area." Long
associated with the older city of Pacoima, the first few years saw the Arleta Chamber of
Commerce struggling to gain autonomy from this larger city and establish independence. The
majority of activities that the Arleta Chamber of Commerce engaged in between 1975-1976
included city identification projects such as installing City of Arleta signs along the
city's new boundaries, writing letters to new businesses in the area encouraging them to
promote their location as being in the City of Arleta, corresponding with state senators and
assemblymen to support their goals, and working with the United States Postal Service to
ensure that Arleta was being recognized as a separate entity.
Finally, on 25 June 1976, the California Legislature adopted the Arleta – Lake View
Terrace – Pacoima District Plan, which granted Arleta citizens the independence they had
worked for. In early 1981, representatives of the Arleta Chamber of Commerce proposed that
the Arleta Resident's Association, the local homeowners association for many Arleta
residents, begin working within the framework of the Chamber of Commerce. This created what
became known as the Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association. The merger
ensured that nearly all the citizens of the growing city could directly participate in,
contribute to, and benefit from the activities of the Chamber.
Throughout the 1980's, the Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association continued
to organize community programs such as clean-up campaigns and city beautification projects.
In the early 1990's, however, the Chamber's focus shifted to a growing concern about the
proposed construction of an electrical distribution station by the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power on Branford Street, a heavily populated thoroughfare within the city.
Fearing the negative effects of exposure to Electromagnetic Field (EMF) radiation, Chamber
and homeowner leaders began actively soliciting support from Los Angeles City Mayor Tom
Bradley, Councilman Ernani Bernardi, and community residents and business owners to put a
halt to the construction. Their efforts were successful and the DWP ended its construction
prospects in the area.
In the early 1990's, the Arleta Chamber of Commerce revisited the issue to have its own
zip-code reinstated. Prior to the 1960's, the city of Arleta had been under the zip code
91332. In the late 1970's, the United States Postal Service removed the zip code from its
ledger and assigned Arleta and its neighbor, Pacoima, the shared zip codes of 91331 and
91334. In 1991, the ACC launched a massive Zip Code Reinstatement Project, collecting
petitions signed by over 5,000 residents of Arleta who supported the zip code reinstatement
to 91332. Despite repeated attempts and contacts with the USPS, support from such public
officials as Congressman James C. Corman and State Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane
Feinstein, the zip code reinstatement project proved unsuccessful.
The
Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association
Collection
(ACC) consists primarily of materials that document the activities of
the Chamber/Association since its creation in 1981. These materials include minutes and
agendas, correspondence, newspaper clippings, community notices, memoranda, financial
records, flyers, by-laws, resolutions, and photographs. The collection also contains records
of the precursor organizations of the ACC and materials from other local and state Chambers
of Commerce in the region, including the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando
Valley. Of particular interest in this collection are materials relating to the proposed
(failed) construction of an Electrical Distribution Station in Branford Park by the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Zip Code Reinstatement Project, which the
Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association undertook in the early 1990's. The
collection has been arranged into six series:
Administrative
Records
(1975-2000),
Chamber Activities (1967-2000),
Subject Files (1975-1999),
Special
Projects
(1963-2000),
District Planning (1974-1995), and
Non-Manuscript Material (1987-2000).
Series I,
Administrative Records, consists of four subseries:
Subseries A,
Arleta Property Owners Council (1975), contains
materials from the Arleta Chamber of Commerce's precursor organization, the Arleta Property
Owners Council. This subseries includes correspondence and meeting minutes. Subseries B,
Arleta Chamber of Commerce (1975-1989), contains articles of
incorporation, by-laws, minutes and agendas, attendance rosters, and contact lists of the
Arleta Chamber of Commerce for the years preceding its merger with the Arleta Home Owners
Association to form the Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association in March 1981.
Subseries C,
Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's
Association
(1981-2000), contains articles of incorporation, attendance records,
by-laws, financial records, minutes and agendas, member contact lists, resolutions and tax
records for the organization after it merged with the Home Owners Association in April 1981.
Subseries D,
Non-Arleta Chamber of Commerce (1975-1999), contains
administrative records of organizations other than the ACC who corresponded with, or whose
activities correlated with, the ACC. Materials in all subseries are arranged alphabetically
and chronologically within.
Series II,
Chamber Activities, consists of two subseries:
Subseries A,
General Activities (1967-2000), includes flyers,
announcements, correspondence, publications, and newspaper clippings of chamber activities
such as Town Hall meetings, community mixers, the annual chamber officers' installation
dinner, and various fundraisers. Also included in this subseries is the correspondence of
State Senator Alan Robbins and City Councilman Ernani Bernardi that was to, from, or in
regards to activities of the ACC. Subseries B,
Meet the
Candidates
(1994), includes flyers, campaign literature, newsletters, and
correspondence of candidates who campaigned in Arleta during the 1994 state and
congressional elections. This subseries includes campaign materials from such individuals as
Howard Berman and Michael Huffington, as well as a number of congressional hopefuls
including Jeff Brian, Gary Forsch and Dolores White. Files are arranged alphabetically and
chronologically within.
Series III,
Subject Files, consists of two subseries: Subseries
A,
Issues and Topics of Concern (1975-1999), consists of items
regarding issues and concerns brought to the attention of, and/or addressed by, the ACC. Of
particular importance in this subseries are the materials regarding the DWP's proposal to
build a Distribution Center in the Branford Park area. Materials on this subject include
correspondence between Chamber members, State, and City Representatives and the DWP, flyers
and correspondence urging citizens to protest the proposed project, reports of
Electromagnetic Field Radiation (EMF) readings, reports pertaining to health risks
associated with EMF, and DWP question and answer packets. Subseries B,
Issues and Topics of Concern – Non-Arleta (1978-1999), contains topics of concern
not specific to the Arleta Chamber of Commerce but which indirectly involve or concern the
community of Arleta. Some of these issues include unfair school elections, the small
business authority act, and zoning. Files are arranged alphabetically and chronologically
within.
Series IV,
Special Projects, consists of six subseries:
Subseries A,
ACTION Committee-Community Enhancement Project
(1994-1996), documents the work of the ACTION committee during community enhancement
project which was aimed at residents who were in violation of city ordinances such as
parking on front lawns and junk accumulation on property. Subseries B,
City Boundary Project
(1963-1995), consists of materials regarding a project to
establish a city ordinance and map illustrating the exact geographic area of all San
Fernando communities in the early 1990's. Subseries C,
Community
Projects (General)
(1975-1996), contains materials from various community projects
that the Arleta Chamber of Commerce undertook through the 1980's and 1990's such as
anti-graffiti programs, community beautification projects, street improvements and tree
planting. Subseries D,
Neighborhood Watch Program (1981-1992),
contains correspondence, flyers, information packets, newsletters and reports regarding the
creation and maintenance of a neighborhood watch program in the community of Arleta.
Subseries E,
Welcome to Arleta Sign Project (1992-1995),
documents the city of Arleta's work to have a "Welcome to Arleta" monument installed at the
intersection of Branford and Woodman, the main thoroughfare through the city of Arleta.
Subseries F,
Zip Code Reinstatement Project (1963, 1974-2000),
consists of materials concerned with the ACC's attempt to reinstate the zip code that was
removed from Arleta in the late 1960s. Files are arranged alphabetically and chronologically
within.
Series V,
District Planning, includes detailed community and
district plans, primarily drawn up by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, of cities
within the San Fernando Valley. The majority of these plans were drawn up in late 1970's and
early 1980's. Files are arranged alphabetically and chronologically within.
Series VI,
Non-Manuscript Material, includes one scrapbook
album originally created by Arleta Chamber of Commerce members. During processing, the
acidic contents of this scrapbook were photocopied and placed into an archival binder along
with other stable materials in the scrapbook in their original order. It also contains two
photograph albums compiled from original Arleta Chamber albums and arranged in chronological
order where possible, as well as a box of memorabilia and awards, an oversized box
containing other awards and large documents, and three flat file folders housing maps and a
committee poster.
Series I: Administrative Records, 1975-2000
Subseries A: Arleta Property Owners Council, 1975
Subseries B: Arleta Chamber of Commerce, 1975-1989
Subseries C: Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association, 1981-2000
Subseries D: Non-Arleta Chamber of Commerce, 1975-1999
Series II: Chamber Activities, 1967-2000
Subseries A: General Activities, 1967-2000
Subseries B: Meet the Candidates, 1994
Series III: Subject Files, 1975-1999
Subseries A: Issues and Topics of Concern, 1975-1999
Subseries B: Issues and Topics of Concern--Non-Arleta, 1978-1999
Series IV: Special Projects, 1963-2000
Subseries A: ACTION Committee-Community Enhancement Project, 1994-1996
Subseries B: City Boundary Project, 1963-1995
Subseries C: Community Projects (General), 1975-1996
Subseries D: Neighborhood Watch Program, 1981-1992
Subseries E: Welcome to Arleta Sign Project, 1992-1995
Subseries F: Zip Code Reinstatement Project, 1963, 1974-2000
Series V: District Planning, 1974-1995
Series VI: Non-Manuscript Material, 1987-2000
Digital reproductions of selected items in this collection are available electronically as
a part of the
San Fernando Valley History Digital Library.
Related Material
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Resident's Association. 09/2000.
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Autumn Hayner, Dan Calderon, 2008
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ephemera
Maps
Documents
Photographs
Scrapbooks