I've moved!

Lake Balboa
Originally uploaded by eugeneson

As some of you know, I live in beautiful and scenic Van Nuys.

Correction. I USED to live in Van Nuys. I now live in the community of Lake Balboa. At least for the moment.

Let me explain. Van Nuys is considered one of the uglier places in Los Angeles, but despite it all, I love Van Nuys. I love its character, I love the eclectic mix of culture, I love how it's the capital of the industry-which-shall-not-be-named-here.

I love the fact that people look at me like I'm joking when I tell them I live in Van Nuys.

But over the years, the west part of Van Nuys has gotten nicer and nicer. And like has happened before in other parts of L.A., as this community started getting better, they developed their own neighborhood identity - partly based on shared middle-class values, partly based on a snobby attitude towards the rest of Van Nuys.

So in 2002, Lake Balboa got permission to become their own community. The city even paid for little signs that read "LAKE BALBOA" and put them up... even though no one had quite decided what exactly were the boundaries of Lake Balboa. They just sort of arbitrarily put up Lake Balboa signs around.

Earlier this year, someone wanted to expand the borders of Lake Balboa. Then they discovered that the creation of Lake Balboa 2002 didn't meet the requirements established in 2006. Don't you just love bureaucracy? Anyways, a compromise just got worked out where Lake Balboa will now be an official community. And lo and behold, without doing anything, I now live in the new community of Lake Balboa.

Now I read an interesting, well-written article that decried this sort of secession. The author made the point that instead of looking to ditch your old community behind, maybe it'd be better to work together to raise the community standards. And I thought the author made a great point. Maybe this Lake Balboa thing was a bad idea. Maybe it would be better to help the entire community of Van Nuys improve its image. After all, if West Van Nuys can become this wonderful community, full of neighborhood pride, community involvement in schools, churches, neighborhood watches - what's to stop this community power from rising up in the rest of Van Nuys? Maybe we in West and East Van Nuys need to stand together, arm and arm, and overcome together!

Then I read that "Lake Balboa" just increased my home value by $20,000 overnight.

SO LONG, VAN NUYS! Because we Lake Balboans are like that. We like money. It's a shared community thing. You wouldn't understand.

In all seriousness, I'm 100% pro-Lake Balboa. I'll even help build a Berlin-wall type structure from Sherman Way to Victory Blvd to help keep the East Van Nuyers out. Then once the wall is built, we can discuss some sort of guest-pass program so that I can still get my Zankou chicken.

LONG LIVE LAKE BALBOA!