Calabasas' Top Stories of 2011

Three Council Members Step Down

In one of the biggest shakeups on the in recent memory, multi-term members Dennis Washburn and Barry Groveman in April.

Both opted not to run for re-election and were replaced , the top vote-getters from an election in March.

Groveman was elected to the council in 2003, while Washburn joined as a founding member back in 1991 when Calabasas was incorporated and entered cityhood.

And earlier this month, Councilman when he announced he would move to Bell Canyon, making him ineligible to continue holding office.

An application process is underway to find a replacement.

Calabasas High Senior Takes Her Own Life

The school year began on a tragic note. During the evening hours of Aug. 24, the first day of school, senior Amelia Schiff, 17, at her father's home in Woodland Hills. Her body was discovered by her dad shortly after 9 p.m.

School administrators scrambled the day after to provide grief counseling for students while friends of Amelia, who also went by Millie, recalled their friend and classmate online.

City Council Seeks Further Regulations for Cellphone Towers

Adopting stricter rules for the placement of cellphone towers was one of the biggest goals for the city council in 2011, but the task is not quite done yet.

Since 2007, a number of residents have petitioned the council to update its current code regarding such facilities to preserve neighborhoods and open spaces.

The Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 allows municipalities to regulate the distance between cellphone towers and residences and require wireless providers to demonstrate a significant gap in coverage in an area before being granted a permit.

City Attorney Michael Colantuono is fine-tuning all those details for the latest draft of the city's updated wireless telecommunications ordinance. Next, the document will be peer reviewed by Andrew Campanelli, a New York-based attorney who has helped draft many similar ordinances, and the Communications & Technology Commission.

The ordinance could go before the council for a final vote as early as February, Colantuono said.

Anti-Semitic Graffiti Found at Calabasas High

Three Calabasas High students were arrested in April for messages and images around campus.

Images of swastikas were found on walls and on the ground of the school.

The three teenagers submitted written confessions of their crime after they were detained and interviewed by sheriff's investigators, according to a press release issued by the

The students' names are being withheld because they are minors.

In September, were ordered by Sylmar Juvenile Court Referee Mark Frazin to each complete 100 hours of community service, pay $6,000 in restitution, attend counseling and attend a program at the Museum of Tolerance, according to a statement from the DA's office.

They will also be under court and county Probation Department supervision for one year, the statement read.

A third boy is awaiting his adjudication in hearing scheduled for Jan. 7.

Community Bands Together to Save Teaching Jobs

When 53 teachers and counselors faced layoffs this spring due to budget cuts, parents stepped up and opened their wallets.

The Save Our Schools phone campaign garnered almost $500,000 in donations from homeowners, enough to

The district's budget was cut by $10 million in the last five years and more cuts are to come. a ballot initiative to implement a local parcel tax to generate $2.2 million annually for the district, failed at the polls in November.

So the job to generate money for the LVUSD is up to parents again. A new volunteer-led organization was formed this year called and its sole purpose is to organize fundraisers for the district.