CommentsEASTSIDER-This week I have two stories that you couldn’t make up even if you smoked a doobie and drank a bunch of alcohol.
In the Lincoln Heights NC, we have the President filing a Public Records Act against another board member, demanding website information! So far it looks like DONE is in hiding, since after all, anyone who messes with an NC website without the express permission from She Who Must Be Obeyed (Raquel Beltrán) will be severely punished. Supposedly Jackie Kim is the designated staff person according to the EmpowerLA website, but who knows?
And in Council District 14 apparently Kevin De León’s staff are running the other way after they got a letter from the Highland Park NC asking about toxic substances underneath the York Blvd. Parklet where a ton of kids play. Of course, Kevin is in good political company, since the 2-page letter was sent in April to not just him, but also to Jimmy Gomez, Maria Elena Durazo, Gil Cedillo, Wendy Carrillo, and Hilda Solis. So far, everything has been dropped into a black hole.
Lincoln Heights
I feel for friends in my old Lincoln Heights stomping grounds at the Brewery. They didn’t even get a legitimate election (thank you, DONE), and now it appears that their designated DONE staff member, Jackie Kim, is either running away from her job, or DONE GM Beltrán is simply letting them hang out to dry.
Tempers are evidently short, and it looks like the Executive Committee is turning on other board members. The latest is the Board President actually sending a CPRA (California Public Records Act) request to another board member. Here’s a sample from the President to Mr. Larsen:
“On Sun, Aug 1, 2021 at 5:55 PM Sara Clendening <[email protected]> wrote:
Dear Richard Larsen,
Good evening, this is a CPRA Request dated 8/1/21 for all LHNC PLUC and 5 Lots Ad hoc minutes listed below. This PRA request seeks minutes from 2016 onward- with an emphasis on 2019-2021. Any and all minutes in your possession as Chair during that time as highlighted below. This request was sent originally on 5/21/21 and left unfulfilled, however, this is now an official request. Please submit these documents within the 10-day PRA timeframe.
2021 April 14 Planning & Land Use
2021 Mar 17 Special Planning & Land Use
2021 Mar 10 Special Planning & Land Use
2020 Nov 11 Planning & Land Use
2020 Oct 14 Planning & Land Use
2020 Sept 22 Special Planning & Land Use
2020 Sept 9 Planning & Land Use
2020 Aug 19 Planning & Land Use (CANCELED)
2020 Feb 26 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2020 Jan 22 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2019 Dec 11 Planning & Land Use
2019 Sep 25 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2019 Aug 14 Planning & Land Use
2019 Jul 24 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2019 Jun 26 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2019 May 22 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2019 Mar 27 5 Lots Ad Hoc
2018 Aug 8 Planning & Land Use
2018 Jun 13 Planning & Land Use (CANCELED)
2018 May 16 Planning & Land Use
2018 Apr 11 Planning & Land Use
2018 Mar 14 Special Planning & Land Use
2018 Feb 14 Planning & Land Use (CANCELED)
2018 Jan 10 Planning & Land Use
2017 Dec 18 Special Planning & Land Use
2017 Nov 8 Planning & Land Use
2017 Sep 13 Planning & Land Use
2017 Jul 12 Planning & Land Use
2017 May 10 Planning & Land Use
2017 Jan 11 Special Planning & Land Use
2016 Oct 12 Planning & Land Use
2016 Jun 15 Planning & Land Use
Thank You
Sara Clendening
President
Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council
I can’t blame Sara, since DONE has paid about as much attention to their “mandatory trainings” for all board members as the State of Florida has to mask mandates, but where the heck are these highly trained DONE employees charged with handling a bunch of Neighborhood Councils?
For that matter, where’s the EmpowerLA Webmaster who is supposed to be in charge of all this stuff? C’mon DONE, you can do better. A lot better.
And I suppose that if Mr. Larsen is sufficiently miffed, he could raise the matter of DONE’s spiffy “Code of Conduct.” Hot damn. I’m not going to waste the space in this article, but you can find a link to the current one here.
Further, just in case there’s a question about the minutes, BONC also has a really gee whiz Policy on Minutes too. Of course, it’s just about posting. You can find it here.
As a trial balloon, let us see if BONC and DONE can actually live up to their own responsibilities and policies; like maybe resolving the issues raised in Lincoln Heights.
Highland Park
The issue that recently popped up in Highland Park NC is both interesting and potentially has serious consequences. The Neighborhood Council sent a letter dated April 27 to CD 14 and all the other worthies listed at the beginning of this article. You can find a copy of the letter here.
Here’s a key part of that letter:
“One resident was previously interested in purchasing the York Park property when it was still a gas station, and requested paperwork on the site's history and environmental review. Records obtained through the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety showed that one abatement occurred on site, including the full replacement of dirt. The records also show that there was a considerable diesel pipe leak in the 1980s. This was discovered when the gas station was replacing their tanks due to a change in technology and possible corrosion. When the site's wells were tested for holding gasoline, there was immediate volume loss due to the leak. It is unknown how long the pipe leaked occurred, as the site sat vacant for a long time. It is believed that the area surrounding the gas station became saturated with gasoline and caused the soil to leach as well as other possible impacts to underground infrastructure. Furthermore, multiple community stakeholders remarked that the gas station owners and its tenants regularly ignored abatement orders over the years.”
So far, I’ve received no response from Rec and Parks regarding any City documents. So, I did some online research, bypassing most of the City tools because you can’t find anything real that way.
What we do know, for sure, after the Ave 34 Project debacle in Lincoln Heights, is that the City has not been requiring testing by the State Agency charged with such things.
That Agency, as we noted in an expose of toxins at that Project is the Department of Toxic Substances Control:
“Later in October 2020, still during the hearing process, we found out that the State Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) had never even cleared the new project as required by law:”
Huizar Deliberately Bypasses Normal Planning
The immediate question is how could Huizar build a pocket Park on York Blvd without serious testing of the soil?
In a 2012 post, the STREETSBLOGLA, laid it all out:
“Move over Sunset Triangle Plaza, a pair of street reclamation projects on the Eastside are threatening to steal your thunder as the most progressive street reclamation project in Los Angeles. Living Streets L.A. and Councilman Jose Huizar unveiled new designs for a “street porch” on York Boulevard in Highland Park and a “street plaza” on Huntington Drive in El Sereno.
And a bit later in the post, Huizar boasts:
I brought in the Green L.A. Living Streets team to work with my staff and community members on improvement plans for York Boulevard in Highland Park and Huntington Drive in El Sereno.” In 2010, the Council office earned grant funds for new planning efforts on York Boulevard and El Sereno Street. Rather than engage in a typical planning process, Huizar teamed with Living Streets and Cancian Rasmussen”
The details of this whole approach are buried in a long-forgotten Council File from back in the day, CF 11-1604. You can find it here.
Without going into too much detail, the Report from the “Arts, Parks, Health and Aging, and Transportation Committees” lays out the scheme in three pages, all of course passed by the City Council.
If you look deeper into the Council File, you will also find a roughly 60-page report on “Parklets” and how to bypass the regular City system. Its chock full of pictures, graphs, and sketches. It is also telling that the co-sponsors of this file were none other than Jose Huizar, Jan Perry, and Ed Reyes.
The Takeaway
The LA City Council system of government is breaking down at numerous levels. BONC and DONE spin around each other in their own universe, and evidently don’t know (or care) what’s going on in their Neighborhood Councils. Remember, the Charter says they are there to “support” the NC System. At the same time, our Mayor in name only is racking up his airfare miles anywhere except Los Angeles, leaving everyone back home in the lurch.
Looking at CD 14, the machinations used to build the York Park and three other “Parklets” was deliberately pulled out of the City’s planning process and given to “friends” of then Councilmember Jose Huizar. Within his bureaucratic maze there was no planning process, just rubber stamps by appointed insiders. Look at the York Park project and the links I have provided as living proof that as far back as 2012, CD14 wanted four pocket parks off the books.
I’m not a lawyer, thank God, but I can read, and right now no one can say exactly what is in the ground under York Park. Somebody needs to bring in the State Department of Toxic Substances for an impartial analysis.
I do feel bad for Kevin De León. He inherited this mess, which has just surfaced, and there is no simple way to fix what happened. It was a Jose Huizar under-the-table special. Not that CD14 is asking for advice, but their best bet is to have a really neutral agency like SDTS test the site.
With CD1 and CD13 up for grabs, let us pray that the 2022 elections bring about a real change, while the City of Angels is still marginally habitable. In the meantime, it would be really nice if BONC, DONE and the City Council could strive to make things better for all Angelenos. What a concept
(Tony Butka is an Eastside community activist, who has served on a neighborhood council, has a background in government and is a contributor to CityWatch.) Photo illustration by Alexis Manrodt for The Real Deal (Getty, iStock). Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
Tags: Tony Butka, Eastsider, BONC, DONE, Lincoln Heights NC, Department of Toxic Substances Control, York Park, Jose Huizar, Raquel Beltrán
