$500,000 WAITING FOR GENTRY SOLUTION.

Byline: - Dana Bartholomew

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel outlined plans Thursday to stem the stream of storm water runoff on Gentry Avenue while vowing to make its repair a top priority - effective immediately. Greuel was scheduled to tell a meeting of community residents the city will be spending $500,000 to halt the stream that residents call the Gentry River, which has been flowing for 50 years from Vanowen Street to Victory Boulevard despite numerous promises by the city to fix it.

``My message is that well-maintained streets are basic services that the city of Los Angeles should provide,'' said Greuel before the meeting. ``My constituents have paid for it, and they deserve it.''

Greuel said officials in the bureaus of sanitation, street repair and engineering will begin by once a month pumping the ``burb drains'' - or limited drainage reservoirs not connected to the city's storm drain system - for better flow.

They will then draw up plans to tear up the street and rebuild it with new concrete curbs and gutters to help eliminate potholes, a $500,000 repair.

If that fails, the ultimate fix would be to add storm drains to the street at a cost of $2 million.

Residents have long complained that the constant stream of water has brought slime, trash, mosquitoes and stink to their North Hollywood neighborhood.

Greuel has red-flagged the issue with the Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, which has bumped it from priority No. 33 to priority No. 20 in terms of future repairs.

But the squeakiest wheels get the municipal grease, and the San Fernando Valley Councilwoman is encouraging neighbors to write letters to the bureau to raise its status to No. 1 priority fix.