Toys for Tots

This year, there are children in your own local communities who won't know the simple joy of opening one gift this holiday season. The offices of Coldwell Banker are teaming up once again to collect toys for the Marine Corps Reserve sponsored Toys for Tots program. Please help by donating new, unwrapped toys valued at $10 or more. Toys suitable for teens are especially needed. Educational toys are great choices, and there are many green options as well. Check out greentoys.com for info on where to find green toys made in Cali. Toys "R" Us has also launched a line of eco-friendly toys--click here for more info.

You can drop the toys off at any Coldwell Banker location, including Green City-Coldwell Banker or bring them to any event where you know you'll see me. I'd also be happy to pick up any items as I make my way around town. Just shoot me an email at jeffrey@greencityrealestate.com, visit me on Facebook at Green City's Fan Page or leave a comment below.

Be good!

Image from toysfortots-socal.org

Mapping LA

Ever wonder exactly where the many neighborhoods--114 in total--in LA begin and end? How often have you driven down the road with an out-of-towner and tried to pinpoint when you crossed over into a different neighborhood? City and county boundaries are clear enough, but so many of us in LA identify strongest with the neighborhoods we live, work, or play in. So, the folks over at LA Times decided to settle this boundary dilemma with Mapping L.A.

You simply click on an area on their city map, and up pops the name of the neighborhood with the boundaries highlighted. You can also look up the demographics of any neighborhood, including population, median income, average age, etc.
Some comments on the website about the project site discrepancies with certain boundaries, and Venice is one of the neighborhoods with said questionable boundaries. This is largely due to the fact that half of Venice receives its mail through the Marina del Rey post office and uses the Marina zip code, 90292. So, if you are one of the folks living in the Oxford Triangle, say, what do you think--Venice or Marina del Rey? Which one do you identify with?

Happy mapping! Be good!

Venice Top Ten Properties

1. 1301 Preston Way – This LEED Platinum certified home with solar and a ton more has a beautiful indoor outdoor floor plan and located in great neighborhood east of Lincoln Blvd.







2. 418 Westminster Avenue – This home is gorgeous! If you ever wanted to feel as though you were vacationing in the far East but as close to home as Abbot Kinney than this is your spot. This is hidden sanctuary in an otherwise busy beach town.







3. 434 Rialto Avenue – Located in one of the best neighborhoods in Venice. The streets are tree lined and it is just a hop, skip and a jump to Abbot Kinney and the beach.








4. 736 Amoroso Place – Arguably one of the best walk streets in Venice. This home is classic original craftsman with exquisite wood working and cabinetry. Not to mention the grounds and the studio space.








5. 687 Washington Boulevard – Architectural SHORT SALE. This home is up for negotiations. Make an offer.









6. 17 27th Avenue – One of the cutest beach bungalow under 1 Million dollars. What else is there to say?









7. 546 S Broadway Street – New construction short sale! This is what we all have been waiting for. New York brownstone couple blocks from Abbot Kinney, Rose & Main Street.









8. 29 Brooks – This is a 7 unit craftsman on walk street 1 block to the beach. Not to mention it is priced at 12.9 x gross.









9. 22 Navy Street #102 – This lowest priced condo, ½ block from the beach with 2 parking spaces.






10. 512 Rose Ave – This property is a great development opportunity. We all have driven down Rose and thought what we would do with this lot. Do I hear “mixed use project”.



Contact us for more information on these Venice Beach Green Properties!

350 Day Was A Great Sucess

Yesterday was an amazing experience for my wife and me. Being apart of a global movement through participation within our local community made me further understand how our daily actions can impact all of us around the world. According to 350.0rg's official website, "many people in 181 countries at over 5400 events participated yesterday". The mission for 350 day is "to inspire the world to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis—to create a new sense of urgency and of possibility for our planet."

Kristen and I attended the Community Tree Planting at Coeur d'Alene Elementary. Volunteers, parents and children helped plant trees & shrubs throughout the play ground of the school campus. The Tree Planting was the culmination of 9 months of hard work by many of the parents and supporters of Coeur d'Alene Elementary. It was great to see the excitement in the kids eyes as they dug, planted, watered and laughed with each other. I look forward to more days like this not only with my wife but with our community as we all work together to help product our environment and stop climate change.

For more information, photos and reports on 350 day events visit 350.org. Also if you are interested in learning more or donating to a great school located in Venice, CA visit Coeur d'Alene Elementary.

I hope all of you had a great time yesterday and if you did not get a chance to attend or participate in an event remember we all have the ability to do something daily in our lives to help stop climate change so have at! Be good.

Give to your favorite charity just by searching the internet!

Next time you are searching the internet, consider searching through GoodSearch.com. Just enter the name of the charity or school you wish to support and start searching as you normally would. They'll donate to your cause for every search. How easy is that! There are thousands of organizations to choose from. Some local environmental ones include: Heal the Bay, Garden School Foundation in Santa Monica, Green Wish, Los Angeles Parks Foundation and the Ocean Conservation Society. Just click on the button below to get started.

Happy searching and be good!

International Day of Climate Action-Oct. 24

Next Saturday, October 24 is International Day of Climate Action--more succinctly known as 350, which, according to the website 350.org ,
is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

So far there will be over 3000 actions (all volunteers) taking place in 158 countries, so I decided to find out if an action was being planned here in Venice (the website lets you search for an existing action in your area or create your own and invite others to join). Turns out The Green Team at Coeur d'Alene Elementary, with TreePeople, has an event planned for next Saturday called "Butterflies and Boulders: A School Greening Project."

The goal is to plant 28 trees and 128 shrubs to help educate kids, parents and community about global warming and the importance of green space. There will also art for the kids, guest speakers and entertainment. So, my wife and I decided to sign up, and I'm inviting others to join us for this community event! To learn more, click here.

Hope to see you there!

I'm Getting This Blog Going!

So this has been a long time coming but I'm about to get this blog going. Stay tuned and please if you have any questions, comments or complaining please don't hesitate to reach out. Be good!