CommentsALPERN AT LARGE--As someone who both co-sponsored the motion of a six-month, transparent, input-oriented Venice Blvd. road diet about two years ago, and who played a key advisory role to enabling the late and brash-talking Bill Rosendahl come out of nowhere to become CD11 Councilmember, I'm pretty sure Bill would have the following to say about the Venice Blvd. Road Diet suddenly on the LA Transportation Committee agenda:
"This Venice Blvd. Road Diet is bullsh-t, this whole process is bullsh-t, the gridlock and safety issues and impacts to business are all f-cking intolerable, and I won't divide the Mar Vista community the way it has been through this non-transparent and probably illegal process!"
It does appear that the CD11 Councilmember's office did follow Bill Rosendahl's "people-oriented" and neighborhood/grassroots-oriented lead during the first four years/first term after Bill's death. LAX reconfiguration, neighborhood preservation, the insistence on a tough compromise (but overall fair) for a large development adjacent to the Olympic/Bundy Expo Line Station...all seemed well.
Then, after the re-election of Mayor Garcetti two years ago, a powerful slap to the face of the communities of CD11 (especially Mar Vista) appeared to be the order of the day. Furthermore, with the troubled political (and maybe legal) future of Eric Garcetti and the City Council, and the awareness that Downtown LA is second in corruption only to Chicago is troublesome.
I won't go as far as to suggest that the CD11 office is corrupt (far from it, actually), but it does appear that they've chosen an approach of being cold, tone-deaf, and downright cruel from an electorate who previously had a very, very close relationship with its City Councilmember and staff:
1) Promise an open pilot study for the Venice Blvd. Road Diet and then ignore repeated requests for over a year for the ongoing and past data that was originally promised, with its promoters predominantly living OUTSIDE of the neighborhood?
Bill Rosendahl never would have done that...which is why his former constituents still sing his praise.
2) Throw out 15 years of grassroots efforts to beautify Downtown Mar Vista and enhance local businesses, just to sweep in with a Venice Blvd. Reconfiguration that even bicyclists fear with respect to safety?
Bill Rosendahl never would have done that...which is why his former constituents miss him so much.
3) Promise a Parking Demand Study, and then renege on that promise by stating the data and funding lies with City Planning and its Community Plan Update team, only to learn that the Planning/Community Plan staff have NO such data, NO such funding, and have NO legal or granted authority for a Parking Demand Study?
Bill Rosendahl never would have done that...which is why his former constituents are so miserable.
1) Now we have a "conclusion" for the Venice Blvd. Road Diet "pilot project" in the form of a YouTube video snuck through during the holidays after over a year of begging for data.
2) Now we have a Transportation Committee meeting this Wednesday which is to "conclude" a so-called "pilot project" that will undoubtedly sing the praises while ignoring so many safety and mobility issues on and adjacent to Venice Blvd. that a good legal evaluation and lawsuit would probably kill it.
3) Now we have those of us in the Mar Vista Community Council (which has almost completely reversed its makeup on the Board of Directors, after those who cruelly ignored their constituents were chased out of office) are in horror as we learn about future road diets planned all over the Westside.
Hence the MVCC Board of Directors were forced to meet on short notice outside of the Coffee Connection at Venice/Centinela (I guess it's closed Sunday evenings!), and by 6-1-1 (with the Chair abstaining as he usually does) we voted on a Resolution of Disapproval on the manner that the CD11 office closed the Great Streets Venice Blvd. Project.
The words "disappointed and dismayed" lies within the Resolution, as well as the conclusion that City Charter Section 907 and LAMC Section 22.810.1 (f) (A) were violated, and as well as a disapproval of the CD11 Councilmember's conduct in the Great Streets Venice Blvd. Project.
Again, former City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl would NEVER have done something so divisive and immoral as we've seen in Mar Vista.
But Bill Rosendahl, may he rest in peace, is now deceased.
And, apparently, so is the transparency and grassroots representation he once brought to a City that did and still does desperately need that representation...more than ever.
(CityWatch Columnist, Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He is also a Westside Village Zone Director and Board member of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC), previously co-chaired its Outreach Committee, and currently is Co-Chair of both its MVCC Transportation/Infrastructure and Planning Committees. He was co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee and chaired the nonprofit Transit Coalition and can be reached at [email protected]. He also co-chairs the grassroots Friends of the Green Line at www.fogl.us. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
-cw
