Notes from the pressure cooker

Leave it to the grown-ups in Los Angeles’ most congested neighborhoods to stall an inexpensive, sensible congestion remedy on Pico and Olympic Boulevards. L.A. is in perpetual internal conflict. In the end—decades from now—it’ll make for fascinating reading.

Southern California: where the wealthy and educated lost paradise, clinging to a belief that everyone else on the block would eschew Lexus luxury for mass transit.

I passed by the Archstone Del Mar Station apartments in Pasadena yesterday—an ochre monstrosity I watched rise from the dead over the dusty northwest corner of Arroyo Parkway and Del Mar Blvd. Archstone is among a growing number of Gold Line “transit villages,” and features massive faux pillars, a bell tower, and kitschy transit theme—perfect for the über-hip, carless, young professional who works downtown and finds his sense of place in something resembling Legoland. Never will he make a spontaneous day trip to Redondo Beach or drop in at IKEA, just because he’s in the neighborhood. Life is so clean and manipulatable on government letterhead.

A few miles down the Arroyo, the Highland Park Transit Village is coming. A four story, multi-block, all-but-certainty, residents are told. Minor details yet to be worked out include: a) what it will look like, b) whether or not it will include retail, and c) whether or not it will supplant all existing public parking spaces and provide adequate parking for the new residential units. Oh—and, what will become of the “market-priced” units when the market fails to deliver. One thing is certain: 75% “affordable” means developers Kevin McCormack, Richard Baron, and Tony Salazar will sleep soundly—far from Avenue 56 and Figueroa.

I’m still searching for the young, professional Angeleno who invests $750,000 in a condo with only one parking space, among majority affordable units in a marginal neighborhood, and commutes to her six-figure job via rail and bus transfer.

Should it surprise anyone that the same geniuses who failed to notice an 800-pound sub-prime gorilla savaging the city budget in slow motion also believe they can fabricate markets, complete with consumers lining up to make bad investments? Make believe is so easy when you’re spending someone else’s money.

Meanwhile, an urgent sandwich board outside Archstone Del Mar Station reads: FLEXIBLE LEASE OPTIONS.

Which way West L.A.?? Judge stops Villar, Weiss Plan for Pico and Olympic

From the Los Angeles Times.

By Steve Hymon, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 12:57 PM PDT, May 5, 2008

A Superior Court judge gave a big red light to the city of Los Angeles this morning when he ruled that a plan to make the Westside's Olympic and Pico boulevards behave more like one-way streets can't go forward until a study is done of its effects on businesses and residents.

The ruling is a blow to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his ally City Councilman Jack Weiss, both of whom have been pushing the proposal since November. Two Westside groups -- one representing businesses and the other homeowners -- sued the city to stop the plan.

In his five-page ruling, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge John Torribio wrote that the Olympic-Pico proposal had a reasonable chance of causing impacts that required study. He took particular umbrage with a claim by the city that the project didn't need to be studied because it wasn't a major change to how the streets are managed.

"In other words, the very purpose of the project is to expand the use of the existing streets," Torribio wrote. "To claim that the project will not expand the current use and is therefore exempt" from further study "seems inconsistent with the stated purpose."

The idea behind the proposal was to give commuters an easier way to get to and from jobs on the Westside, given that the Santa Monica Freeway is often clogged.

The first part of the plan involved removing street parking along parts of Olympic and Pico during rush hours -- leading to complaints from merchants, who said they feared it would frustrate and drive away customers. The city also wants to time traffic signals to stay green longer so that westbound Olympic and eastbound Pico traffic moves faster.

City leaders had planned to start work on the project this week.

"This is a pretty clear ruling -- they have to start from scratch," said John Murdock, an attorney representing the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard Homeowners Assn. "They've got to look at the whole project from beginning to end and determine whether it can be mitigated or not -- and if it can't, they've got to do a full environmental impact report."

Such studies can take six months to a year to complete.

Matt Szabo, a spokesman for the mayor, said officials would be reviewing the decision. Last week, Villaraigosa said the city would be willing to conduct a study if required.

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

In an exclusive interview with Mayor Sam's Sister City, father of Jamiel Shaw, II and community advocate Jamiel Shaw, Sr., says that he has received a significant amount of pressure to drop or modify his support for Jamiel's Law, ending Special Order 40 for gang members. Shaw tells us that in one instance he was "offered a better paying job" in an attempt to silence him.

This could be a problem for the Council. There's widespread disgust with their reaction to the treatment of Anita and Jamiel Shaw, Sr. Tuesday during their appearance at the Council meeting. The feeling is that the Clowncil members did everything from ignore the Shaws to dis them.

The whole of issue of Jamiel's Law is a problem for Mayor Villaraigosa and could even become a problem for the Democratic candidates later this year. As rational people of all races and political parties see to the extent that liberal policies have sought to protect those illegal aliens who happen to criminals - on the backs of those of who are hard working otherwise law abiding undocumented folks - votes could fall away from the Democratic party this year and the Mayor next year. No wonder the usual spinners were in full force to spin against Jamiel's Law.

After months of a self-imposed exile in the mid-west, Zuma Dogg triumphantly returned to City Hall Wednesday. In the requisite video, we learn that Councilman Bill Rosendahl eschews an electronic personal digital assistant for a box of several hundred index cards he carries around and that Matt Dowd just can't get why folks are happy to see Zuma Dogg at City Hall and could care less about Matt. I can help Matt with this question - because Matt my friend you are an asshole, an idiot and you lack the charisma, talent and star power of Zuma Dogg.

Residents of an orthodox Jewish community on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles say that the Mayor's new traffic plan is going to create a serious disruption for them and business that cater to the community's special needs.

More celebrities getting kicked by various businesses. A tabloid reports that supermodel Naomi Campbell has been banned from flying on British Airways after allegedly spitting on a cop on a flight. Fashion designer Alexander McQueen has banned faux celebrity Paris Hilton from his stores because he doesn't want her as a customer.

Once in a while it happens. An incumbent has been defeated by a challenger. Walnut Parks and Recreation Commissioner Nancy Tragarz managed to beat incumbent Mayor Tom Sykes for a spot on the City Council.

Heidi Montag, the 21 year old star of the MTV reality show, The Hills, has been turned down by Tom LeBong (well and the rest of the Council). The young celebrity wanted permission to change the Hollywood Sign for one day to say Heidiwood. Not going to happen.

Did you know that California has a Democratic caucus? Even though the primary was held in February, Democrats will gather in libraries, gyms and senior centers to choose the delegates who will represent California and queue up for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August.

An LA Traffic Fix?

Marc Haefele of KPCC, Citybeat and Citywatch fame offers his thoughts on the political SigAlert over the Pico-Olympic traffic plan. (Tina Dupuy also has a piece on it in LA Weekly.)

Unsnarling traffic can be a mess
A plan for Olympic and Pico boulevards pits two council districts against each other.

Marc B. Haefele
Op-Ed - LA Times
March 2, 2008

It's probably not a neighborhood in which you'd want to spend a lot of time. Not that it's dangerous. It's just 11 gritty blocks of small enterprises on West Pico Boulevard on the Westside.

There's a charter school, a couple of strip clubs, a mattress store and one that sells grand pianos. A couple of restaurants offer valet parking, but for the others, customers have to find a meter. It's a neighborhood where shops that repair autos, shoes and even golf equipment can afford to operate. So can a Mexican grocery and a secondhand record store where the treasures include a Wilson Pickett album ($3) and a complete recording of Maria Callas singing "La Boheme" ($2).

The problem is that this little stretch of Pico Boulevard between the Santa Monica city limits and the 405 Freeway is a traffic bottleneck. So it's sitting squarely in the gun sight of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to ease congestion, pitting the two most-affected council districts against each other.

Originally, the mayor wanted to turn Pico and Olympic boulevards into one-way streets. But fierce neighborhood opposition forced him to retreat to the scaled-back, but complicated, plan that gets underway Saturday -- unless a court grants an injunction sought by a group of Westside businesses to block it.

The new plan turns Pico, from the Santa Monica city limits to Fairfax Avenue, into a mostly eastbound one-way street, and Olympic into a mostly westbound one-way street, for three hours each morning and late afternoon. In April, signals will be timed to speed up traffic flow, and later this year, the streets will probably be re-striped to make the added eastbound and westbound lanes permanent. Street parking will be largely forbidden along both boulevards during rush hours.

More

Which Way, LA?

No this doesn't refer to the fabulous Warren Olney radio program of the same name but the latest silliness around traffic issues in Los Angeles.

Zev wants to make Pico and Olympic one way streets so folks on the Westside can get to the Hollywood Bowl in time.

But neighbors and Zuma Dogg's favorite Clowncilman, Tom LeBong are opposed to it.

LeBong does support however the notion of a dedicated rapid bus lane on Wilshire Boulevard. Zuma Dogg's other favorite Councilman Bill Rosendahl however is opposed to the bus lane, but only in his district.