Sunday Morning Mimosa

JM, Broken Fence, Leaning Pole, Playa del Rey, Dec. 2003


Grand Avenue got in the ground last week, and as the project has already doubled in cost, keep an eye out for more public handout, says the Daily News.

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Now that the sides aren't talking to each other, your former fishwrap of record has not one but two stories about the Writer's strike. Amazing timing from Spring Street again. Scott Collins marvels at his own genius in one. Three less myopic scribes cobble together another story on economic impact, going with the LA County Economic Development Corp. estimate of $1 billion, rather than the UCLA Management School shill/Variety guess of $300 million.

As readers debated grammar yesterday, the jawboning speech I'd like the Mayor to give the studios is this: "For decades, the City has provided you with generous easements to your enormous lots, built great studio spaces for you, virtually gave you a venue to host your Academy Awards, lent to you dependable location and streamlined permits, and offered up all the talent you've needed, and you've rewarded us with runaway production, and disrupting the local economy by walking away from various collective bargaining sessions. The City is not your personal trough---so get back to the table."

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Speaking of generous easements, the Planning Department often complains about how beleaguered it is, and Gail Goldberg swears that she's all for "smart growth"---which as far as we can determine is any growth that takes place within half a mile of a commercial street or busstop---which is, of course, any growth at all.

How smart is this: the City since Hahn has been peppering the City's Council offices with a document called "How to Request a Zone Change." It's mostly a blueprint for what might be the most effective way for one of your sellout neighbors to ruin the sanctity your neighborhood with a Zone or Height change.

"It's easier than you think!" is the message of this Los Angeles City Planning Department Guide. Love that "step" at the bottom: Mayor signs...



Click that image to enlarge it, if you dare. It's so easy, just like playing Monopoly!

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Alternative Holiday Fare: Today only, the famed Jazz Bakery presents Howlett Smith's The Carpenter, a telling of the life of Christ in an eclectic mix of jazz, spiritual, and classical. It's 3:00 p.m. at The Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Avenue, Culver City, admission $25.

City Bans Church's Fundraising Effort

Last week the North Valley Area Planning commission in a surprising turn, unanimously upheld an appeal against the approval of the installation of a T-Mobile cellphone tower in North Hills.

The tower was to be erected on the property of Valley Park Church and was contracted between the church and T-Mobile.

However, the same property is also leased by Our Community School, a small North Hills elementary charter school.

Though the appeal was filed by neighbors concerned about the tower in what is essentially a residential neighborhood, and under the flightpath of the Van Nuys airport, 60 or more parents and children from the charter school showed up to the meeting to speak and support the appeal, citing safety concerns regarding stored chemicals, radiation, and earthquake safety.

Though the official recommendation from staff was for the commission to deny the appeal, all five commissioners voted to block the installation.

The commissioners expressed concern about siting on a school playground, the setback bringing it close to residential homes, lack of prior community input and notification, and incongruity with the "master plan" for neighborhood development.

This decision may be in violation of "The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act," a federal law signed by President Clinton to give religious institutions freedom from discriminatory acts by local or state government.