Gary Slossberg For LA City Council District 13

Every week I cull the newspapers, blogs, cable talk shows and radio blowhards for the latest crop of bad news on the economy. This week, there’s plenty to talk about. Last month, the unemployment rate hit 7.2%, up from 4.9% just a year ago. We’re on a pace to hit 10% by the end of the year.

Think about that: one in ten people without a job. And that doesn’t even count the people who have just given up, taken themselves out of the job market. These are people who have moved back in with their parents, tightened their belts as their households downgrade from two incomes to one, or hit the street or homeless shelters.

Just last week, Caterpillar announced it was eliminating 5,000 jobs; Home Depot said it would cut 2% of its workforce, or 7,000 jobs; Sprint, Texas Instruments and General Motors all sent out thousands of pink slips. Even Microsoft is letting 5,000 employees go.

Last year, the U.S. lost 2.6 million jobs. It could lose another 2 million in just the first half of 2009.

What can anyone do to fix this mess? After the inauguration, the satirical newspaper The Onion captured the present moment with its headline: “Black Man Gets Worst Job in the World.” Why would anyone want to take responsibility for this train wreck?

Well, luckily for President Obama, the entire weight of the problem will not be carried on his shoulders. Case in point: On a little stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard, in East Hollywood, between Vermont and Virgil, stands a clutch of small shops with handmade signs and a distinctly local clientele. Just this week – despite the news that consumer confidence is as low as it’s been since they began tracking these things in 1967 – a local entrepreneur opened up a small grocery store.

I walk past the place every day on my way to and from the subway. I watched, day after day, as workers laid tile, painted the walls, installed the light fixtures and, finally, stocked the shelves.

What an expression of hope and confidence this is. What a repudiation of fear and isolation. Circuit City may be closing its doors, but the Santa Monica Grocery is open for business.

This morning, as I walked past on my way to work, the store was open. Customers roamed the aisles looking for things they need: laundry detergent, eggs, milk, bread. Out of the corner of my eye, in my rush to make my train, I noticed a small sign in the storefront window: “Gary Slossberg for City Council.”

Ahhh … . Know hope.

Melrose between Vermont and Normandie is again blacked-out at night. Normandie between Rosewood on the South and Monroe to the North is also blacked-out. Normandie just South of Melrose, is totally dark. These dark streets are unsafe for motorists and pedestrians.

My initial impression that people around here needed the neighborhood council to help them take ownership of their space has changed. People from all over the neighborhood are calling, emailing and inviting City agencies to meetings. Although it is dark on the streets of East Hollywood, I can now see that it is the City who needs to take more ownership of this neighborhood. Nearly 4 acres of prime East Hollywood land are being used to house city lamp posts for the rest of the city. How do we motivate our city servants to fix the installed street lights so that the good people trying to run businesses, plan ArtCycles, walk and drive the streets of their neighborhood can get on with their work?

~Jennifer Moran

Written by Stephen Box, Hollywood Resident and Bike Activist http://SoapBoxLA.blogspot.com

One of the simplest things we can do to support mass transit in our community is to make sure that transit stops are comfortable, clean, safe and aesthetically pleasing. it seems like a no-brainer that if we want people to become transportation solutions by getting out of their cars we’ve got to make the choice attractive and at least competitive in terms of convenience and comfort.

Unfortunately, we’re far off the mark.

The Metro has its focus on getting people from point A to point B. As for the transit stop amenities, the “no-man’s land” approach from the Metro and the local authorities leaves the average mass transit patron feeling like a second class citizen.

The Metro holds that the City is responsible for the streets, the sidewalks and the amenities along the way. The City looks at the wear and tear on the transit heavy streets and asks the Metro for maintenance money and the standoff starts. Meanwhile, transit patrons throughout the City of Los Angeles stand on narrow, filthy sidewalks, looking for little respect.

The Metro holds that the sidewalks are not their responsibility and that the City is responsible for street furniture. The City turns and contracts out with CBSDecaux who then installs bus shelters with advertising, paying the City for the privilege. The money is split so that our City Councilmembers all end up controlling some of this revenue, ideally to be spent within the respective Council District.

CBSDecaux provides everything from the traditional bus shelter shown above to the automated public toilets (APTs) such as the one located at the Santa Monica and Vermont Red Line station. Along the way they put up advertising, on the bus shelters and on two and three sided sidewalk-sized kiosks and billboards.

Missing from this relationship is a simple commitment to supporting mass transit with an overall plan for streetscape beautification, a plan that would improve the aesthetic of the neighborhood, complement the local architecture and streetlife and encourage pedestrians and transit patrons.

The picture above is of a bus shelter on Hollywood Boulevard at Western. It sits on a narrow sidewalk, forcing pedestrians to squeeze past. The sidewalk is sticky, the area smells and the solid wall of the shelter hides the activities on the other side. It’s evident here that the standards for architectural security are non-existent, that the placement of transit stops is not part of a larger commitment to mass transit and that maintenance is low priority.

The sidewalk just beyond this shelter is sinking, leaving two plates that don’t line up. A simple misstep results in a tumble as pedestrians squeeze past the shelter and passengers who are jockeying for their bus.

On the west side of Western, the sidewalk is not just uneven and patched with asphalt, it has a meter hole covered with plywood.

At least mass transit passengers suffer no delusions of equality. It’s painfully apparent that in the grand scheme of things, mass transit is for people who have no choice. It’s evident that it’s a bare-bones service for those who can’t afford a car. A comfortable, walkable environment that is safe and pleasant is not something to be wasted on a public street.

It’s a sad commentary on our community that the most popular streetscapes are fake, created by developers who study Great Streets and then imitate them, drawing people in cars to the Grove, Americana and CityWalk, all so people can walk on faux boulevards. enjoying something they should be able to find in their own neighborhoods; walkable streets.

As for our neighborhood, it’ll change when we work together and demand big sidewalks, clean sidewalks, street furniture and a commitment to making our streets pedestrian oriented.

“See you on the Streets!”

All the locations mentioned below are within two blocks of each other.

There’s a cute Spanish style multiplex up the street from where I live. And it’s boarded up with plywood and a chain link fence. Sort of detracts from the charm.

Charmless Spanish Style employs City’s own Design Standards.

Maybe this sounds like a symptom of a bad economy. But that’s not it. It’s been left this way for 7 years. It’s owned by Ronald McDonald House. They bought it in along with 5 other residential lots up the street in order to build a bigger hotel for guests who bring their sick children to the nearby Children’s Hospital. They built the hotel but left this particular parcel of land to waste away. (RMH is a worthy organization and what I am attempting to demonstrate is in no way belittling the important role they serve to the families of sick children.)

Understandably, the residing neighbor on the North side of this property is not a big fan of the dilapidated building. She takes excellent care of her property. She and husband are constantly painting over gang tags next door and hearing trespassers rustling around inside the units. The residing neighbor on the south side of the property says he hears people in there too from time to time doing, “…God knows what”.

Craftsman copies styles from the City’s nearby Light Yard.

A block away sits another abandoned property; a charming, old craftsman house on Virgil. It’s been abandoned for years. I could see inside before they nailed boards onto the windows and doors. The inside was covered in tags. Another neighborhood council member informed me that it was being used by squatters for prostitution and drugs. Now this house has a 9-foot tall chain link fence that surrounds its perimeter. One of the sides of the fence has a gaping hole.

A block in the other direction is a vacant double sized lot on a small, residential street. It’s been vacant with a breached chain link fence for the past 7 years. It sits there taunting the children who play in the street because there is no nearby park. Less than a block away from that vacant lot, is the DWP’s light yard which looks similar to a vacant lot only it is less attractive. The city thought that historic route 66, right across the street from a Carnegie Library, in one of the most densely populated areas of Los Angeles would be a great place to store light posts for the rest of the city. Behind a 12 foot high, razor wire fence that is patrolled nightly by a security guard, sits the worst offender of all: the light yard owned by the City of Los Angeles.

If we can only hold landlords as accountable as we hold our own city agencies then I suppose things could get worse than they are now. It would be nice to think that property owners care about the community more than they do about their profits but this is not usually the case. But when the city’s own example of how to maintain property is such a hideous eyesore (located smack dab in the middle of 3 elementary schools no less), the standard for what everyone else needs to do to comply has been set. Why shouldn’t gangs and squatters look at this neighborhood and feel right at home. They can literally run recession proof businesses with no overhead and, at the same time blend in with the image the city puts forth in her own properties. Maybe the city’s plan is to attract all the crime to my neighborhood so it is more centralized.

Under the misguided stewardship of Councilman Eric Garcetti, Hollywood’s world re-known architectural and cultural legacy is being lost house by house, block by block, and neighborhood by neighborhood. While the civic leaders of other historically significant Southern California cities have increasingly recognized the importance of strict developmental regulations to protect their communities, Councilman Eric Garcetti has instead actively encouraged the relaxation and outright elimination of many of Hollywood’s protective zoning regulations and community plan restrictions – laws that were specifically intended to protect his district from exactly the sort of inappropriate development that has sadly already destroyed much of Los Angeles’ storied past.

The elimination of Hollywood’s zoning protections, coupled with Garcetti’s often stated intent of transforming Hollywood into his own vision of a denser, more urbanized destination, has accelerated the destruction this famous community’s architecturally unique residential and commercial buildings, as well as Hollywood’s historical role as the epicenter of the entertainment industry. When it comes to Hollywood development, under Eric Garcetti zoning laws often do not apply, community input is pointedly ignored, and the consequences of inappropriate projects are often deemed irrelevant if they are even considered at all.

Millions of people come to Hollywood each year because of its legendary history. Nobody, however, comes to Hollywood for its future. Yet Eric Garcetti’s land-use policies are bulldozing Hollywood’s compelling history at an unprecedented rate to construct hideously ugly stucco boxes and ill-conceived, supergraphic-covered skyscrapers – buildings that can be found anywhere and offer nothing to Hollywood’s rich architectural and cultural past.

Unfortunately, however, the worst is yet to come. If Councilman Garcetti has his way, the Hollywood Community Plan now being updated by the City Planning Department will remove many of the meager zoning controls that residential and commercial areas currently have to protect against high-density, multi-storied boxes wiping out our few surviving moderate-density, livable neighborhoods and low-rise, walkable commercial zones. In their place, Garcetti envisions a Hollywood of high-density, high-rise residential buildings and billboard-covered skyscrapers. Such developments will have vastly more density than is currently allowed by the existing zoning laws, with dramatically less parking. The winners in this future Hollywood are developers, who can make much greater profit with considerably less investment (or with millions of dollars in direct taxpayer subsidies paid for by the City to encourage such development). The losers under this plan are you, the people who live and work in Hollywood, and all citizens of Los Angeles, who will be forced to pay for the improvements necessary to support massive densification that the existing infrastructure was never designed to handle. The losers will also include the thousands of low-income Hollywood residents whose affordable housing will be wiped out to make way for this new Hollywood, and who will be unable to afford the luxury housing constructed in its place.

In other words, Eric Garcetti has a vision for the future of Hollywood that doesn’t include the people who currently live and work here, people otherwise known as the constituents that he has sworn to serve. Eric Garcettii is therefore, in simple terms, a representative who refuses to represent us, and it is time for him to go.

In 1999, while Harry Markopolos was toiling as a lowly investment officer, Bernie Madoff (pronounced “made off,” as in “who made off with my retirement fund?”) was riding high as head of one of the most successful investment firms on Wall Street. The problem was Bernie Madoff was too successful. When Markopolos reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that Madoff’s consistent profits were “mathematically impossible,” the agency snoozed.

Sixteen times, in response to some red flag or other, the watchdog agency “investigated” Madoff, and each time his operation was pronounced financially sound. The truth, of course, is that Bernie Madoff was using other people’s money to orchestrate the largest financial fraud in human history.

What happened to the experts, the people in charge of making sure things like this don’t happen? How is it that the very people charged with enforcing the prohibitions against such massive fraud couldn’t see it when it was laid out in front of them with mathematical precision?

The answer, of course, is that the government doesn’t care much about money until there’s suddenly none left. The doom and gloom is widespread in this economy, but nowhere is the problem looking more serious than at the level of state and local government. You know, those people who provide things like roads, schools and fire departments.

Several months ago, members of neighborhood councils from all over the City of Los Angeles were informed in hushed and solemn tones by the keepers of the local treasury that the City was some 400 million dollars in the hole. Our leaders needed help making some tough choices.

Let’s see, do we want parks or police? Fire protection or garbage pickup? Such tough choices in these times of economic uncertainty. Not so for our highly-paid City Council members: the highest paid in the country at a $171,648 a year.

And the City’s shortfall is peanuts compared to what the State of California is facing. Turns out – surprise! – the State budget gap is on track to reach $42 billion by 2010. Just last month, the State Controller announced that the government could “run out of money” by February.

Already the states are eyeing Washington for a bailout similar to the ones handed out to the financial and auto industries. Except this one’s going to cost some real money.

What happened to the experts? How come no one at the helm of the massive engines of government and finance could see this coming down the road and prepare? Sure, times are tough all over, but most of my friends are managing to keep their heads above water.

Why? Because the money we have in our personal budgets is our own, and it’s limited. We don’t have the luxury of telling the electric company that we’ll be “running out of money this February.” Barack Obama was on the news yesterday announcing that the government will be looking at trillions in dollars of debt for years to come.

The next big battle over our dwindling resources is going to be fought at the State and local government level. People like to say that government is the problem, not the solution. Well, what we have now is the result of a government that has been asleep at the wheel for an awfully long time.

David Bell, East Hollywood Neighborhood Council

Written by Stephen Box, Hollywood Resident and Bike Activist http://SoapBoxLA.blogspot.com

A writer friend once told me that the simplest cure for writer’s block was to simply “Go for a walk!” I’ve tried  it and it works, especially here in Hollywood. Within a few steps one is guaranteed to find adventure, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always exciting.

Yesterday was no different as I set out on foot to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market. It was a beautiful day, I ran into old friends, and I discovered the Coffee Cellar which specializes in organic, shade grown, and fair trade certified coffees. I love this neighborhood!

I also took some time to wander around and to ask the simple question “What would make this a more walkable neighborhood?” The streets were full of people walking, riding their bikes, shopping, waiting for the bus, hanging out, parking cars, parking more cars and circling the block looking for parking so they could also park their cars. There were great moments of hope but then there were moments when I was confronted by  one of the “traffic moats” that separate the casual walkers from the committed.

As I stood at Hollywood & Vine and looked up at the W Hotel project I thought back to all of the community planning meetings when the CRA, the LADOT, the Planning Department, the Council office staff and lots of consultants and experts from the Developer’s team presented the plans for the project, a fairly significant and ambitious project!

I remember lots of discussions of traffic mitigation, auto parking, street widening, intersection engineering, signal timing and capacity for motor vehicles. But try as I might, I could not remember any discussion of evaluating the project in terms of walkability.

It’s too bad because the City’s Planning Department has a great tool called the “Walkability Checklist” that helps the community and the developers evaluate a project in terms of its impact on the “walkability” of the immediate neighborhood. I think we should be using it.

Rick Cole, the City Manager of Ventura and one of America’s leading new Urbanists, shook up developers and residents alike when he drew a big circle around Ventura’s downtown and declared it the “walkable zone.” First and foremost, people can walk safely and efficiently within that zone. Other modes are then incorporated but never at the expense of the safety and efficacy of walking as a mode of transportation.

Quoting Greek Essayist Plutarch, Ventura’s General Plan now declares “A city, like a living thing, is a united and continuous whole.”

As for Hollywood, I think we could benefit from that kind of re-orienting or recommitment to the simplest and most basic mode of transportation, walking.

This is not to suggest that other modes aren’t important and essential to a thriving and vital community, In fact, they are, it’s simply a matter of repositioning human powered mobility as the starting point. It’s a commitment to a solution that isn’t based on the typical “either/or” proposals but instead holds for a higher standard that includes all modes as vital and viable and defines a sustainable community as one that works for everybody.

For too long, our City’s leaders have offered us choices based on false dichotomies. Recently during the budget discussions the uproar was over “Would you like to close the libraries or cut back on police?” This was followed by the “loss of access to our parks or reduced fire department” and through it all the LADOT is notorius for offering communities the “Would you like to move cars or would you like to move people?”

As I finished my walk, I was resolute. I want it all! Either/or options are for mediocre communities and I want Los Angeles to be a Great City!

I want streets that work for mass transit, for private autos, for cyclists and yes…even in LA…for pedestrians. I want Great Streets! I want streets that are clean, graffiti free, interesting and vital, filled with wide sidewalks and bike racks, street furniture and trees. I want to be able to cross those streets without having to fear for my life and I want to see lots of wide-eyed, sun-burned tourists carrying dog-eared guide books, all walking up and down the streets of Hollywood and I want to smile, acknowledging their conformation that the streets of Hollywood are truly walkable.

I don’t think this is too much to ask for, after all, this is Hollywood and we are surrounded by the most creative and talented people in the world. All that’s missing is vision and commitment.

Who’s in?

p.s. If you’d like to look at the Walkability Checklist from the City Planning Department, you can download it here.

18 Story Condo Tower Planned for Hollywood Blvd. at Edgemont St.
By Kimberly Gomez, Ledger Contributing Writer

EAST HOLLYWOOD—Parking spillover, traffic congestion and height are some of the concerns area residents expressed in October about a new development at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Edgemont Street.

The project—expected to break ground in 2011—proposes a 15-story hotel and a 18-story condo tower on the 1.5 acre property.

Over 60 people attended a city sponsored public meeting about the project at 4900 Hollywood Boulevard. The project’s developer is Los Angeles based Cen-Fed Ltd.

Many at the meeting spoke of possible restricted views of Barnsdall Art Park, which lies directly east of the property, should the development be approved as is.

“It would trouble me to see this project moving forward as it is currently designed,” said Gary Slossberg of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council.

The development, as proposed, will have 172 residential units—including 164 condominiums—eight two-story townhouses and 150 hotel rooms along with retail and commercial space. Currently, 472 total parking spaces are planned.

“We think this is a community that is situated in proximity to transit that could absorb the type of density that is needed to reduce urban sprawl,” said Michael Gonzales who represents the developer.

But many at the meeting were not convinced.

“Any development over five stories would dramatically change the nature of our neighborhood,” said Kenneth E. Owen, Chair of the Planning, Zoning and Historic Preservation Committee of the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council.

Owen said the GGPNC may ask the city’s planning department to demonstrate the height of the project with poles or even balloons. Plans currently indicate the project will reach 220 feet in height.