Los Angeles: Liberty and Justice for … Some

CityWatch, Sept 16, 2011
Vol 9 Issue 74

Los Angeles is the Capital of Contradictions and all it takes is a fence to prove that point.

On the one hand, the Residents in East Hollywood have found themselves targeted by Building & Safety and the City Attorney because they dared to build over-in-height fences around their homes, their property, and their families in order to protect themselves from criminals.

On the other hand, the Residents of Runyon Canyon have the local City Council office supporting a fence that would protect an entire neighborhood against the threat of...gasp...tourists!

As the residents of East Hollywood plead for a reprieve from the City Attorney’s enforcement of the Building & Safety citations, their request falls on deaf ears while the residents of Runyon Canyon will have their case heard next week in the City Council's Public Works Committee.

East Hollywood residents have two gang injunctions in place but the City Attorney’s Neighborhood Prosecutor is unable to actually enforce the injunctions and abatement actions, leaving squatters, drug dealers, gangbangers, prostitutes and thieves free to work their trade. The City of LA is kept busy cracking down on the residents who build over-in-height fences to protect themselves from these people.

Runyon Canyon residents have endured “security issues such as loitering, littering, drinking and smoking” due to the popularity of the area for tourists, the folks who come from around the world to spend their hard earned money in our community. As Tourism moves to the #1 position in job generation, ahead of international trade, manufacturing plants, film and TV studios, aerospace firms, and colleges and universities, the City of LA responds by criminalizing tourists.

That’s right, it turns out that the tourists are a greater threat to the residents of Runyon Canyon than gangbangers are to the residents of East Hollywood.

The absurdity gets thicker.

In East Hollywood, the City Attorney’s office instructs locals to simply apply for a “Fence District,” something that doesn’t exist, that doesn’t have an application or implementation standard in place, that has no established fee, and that is simply a theoretical proposition at this point.

One might argue that there already are “Fence Districts” in place. For example, Monroe Street has 20 homes and 16 of them have over-in-height fences, resulting in a de facto “Fence District.”

While the legal experts debate the uneven application of LA’s municipal code, it’s important to note that 24 years ago, Van Nuys Municipal Judge Kenneth Lee Chotiner dismissed an over-in-height fence case, noting the ubiquitous nature of over-in-height fences and calling for “standards to guide prosecution of these offenses.”

East Hollywood is still waiting on those standards while Building & Safety is still citing residents.

In Runyon Canyon, the City Council motion relies on the California Vehicle Code (CVC) which says in section 21101.4 that a local municipal authority can close a street to the public if it’s found that “there is serious and continual criminal activity” in the area recommended for closure and if it is determined that it is the traffic that contributes to the criminal activity.

The City Council motion clearly articulates that the “serious and continual criminal activity” in Runyon Canyon consists of “loitering, littering, drinking and smoking” but no mention is made of whether the tourists are on foot or in vehicles.

While the legal experts debate the nature of “serious crime,” it’s important to note that 17 years ago Judge Fred Cook of the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled against the City of Los Angeles and the Whitley Heights Civic Association in their gated community proposal, opining “we doubt the Legislature wants to permit a return to feudal times with each suburb being a fiefdom to which other citizens of the state are denied their fundamental right of access to use public streets within those areas.”

At the time of the Whitley Heights case, the City of LA had over 100 pending applications for street closures.

The debate over public space and private space is not new, neither is the idea that gated communities and walled off homes may have an immediate benefit to those on the inside but not to those on the outside.

While the debate over “crime prevention through environmental design” (CPTED) simmers, it’s imperative that the City of LA consider the rulings and decisions that have established legal precedent and that serve as the standard for City Hall actions and decisions.

Most importantly, the City of Los Angeles must treat the residents fairly and equitably, delivering city services consistently and applying the law evenly.

It’s not just the mark of a Great City, it the law.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at: Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net .)

CityWatchLA - A Silent Cry for Help in Hollywood

CityWatch, Aug 17, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 65


From the White House to City Hall, the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was commemorated with speeches that fell on deaf ears in Hollywood as taxi cab operators refused to transport deaf tourists and a security guard choked a deaf shoplifting suspect for failing to comply with verbal instructions.

We've come a long way but we have a long way to go.

Media coverage of the 20th anniversary celebrations paled in comparison to the viral impact of a graphic video of an incident that involved two security guards from the Forever 21 store at Hollywood & Highland and two deaf brothers. As one security guard wrestles one brother into a head lock, another security guard blocks the second brother who appears to be indicating that they can't hear. Spectators can be heard exclaiming "You're choking him!" and "He's turning purple!" and "He can't breath!" while the second brother continues to signal and circle, kneeling at one point in a futile attempt to communicate with the security guards.

The incident was picked up in the LA Weekly, the Huffington Post, ABC, KTLA, Blogging.LA, and the Deaf TV Channel while the YouTube video has received over a half million views.

The details are disputed by all sides but have resulted in the indefinite suspension of the security guard from Forever 21, the arrest of the deaf shoplifting suspect, and claims of innocence from the deaf brother of the suspect. Hollywood & Highland Center Management accepts no responsibility for the incident but says "We do not condone the apparent use of excessive force." Forever 21, in a statement from the Marketing Dept., acknowledges "the security guard used excessive force, which is against our store policy."

Hollywood & Highland has at least six layers of enforcement authority on the property, starting with the local security guards, the Business Improvement District security (Andrews International), and the Los Angeles Police Department. In addition, the presence of the Metro Red Line Station within the complex results Metro Fare Inspectors, Metro Police, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Now would be a good time for somebody to determine who is in charge and for that organization to produce a policy on communication between law enforcement and those who can't hear. This would also be a good time for the LAPD and the LASD to clarify any limitations on the law enforcement authority of the many organizations that employ security forces, from local stores to the BID to the Metro.

Hollywood's second shameful incident took place at Hollywood & Vermont's Triangle Park taxi stand. Enci and I were walking past the park when I noticed three women attempting to communicate with the operator of the lead taxi, gesturing unsuccessfully to a piece of paper and finally giving up and huddling together. Then I noticed that they were signing to each other.

It turns out that they were deaf tourists and their car had been towed from Hollywood to a Metro inaccessible tow yard in Atwater Village that closed within the hour. While Enci dusted the cobwebs off her ASL, I put out the call for help and within minutes Alfredo Hernandez of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council arrived and transported our guests to the tow yard where he negotiated for the release of their car. Moments later Bechir Blagui of Hollywood United Neighborhood Council responded and I was reminded again that I live in the community of heroes.

The City of Los Angeles, through the LADOT, licenses and regulates approximately 2300 taxis so that passengers in taxis bearing the Seal of Los Angeles can expect to ride in an insured vehicle, inspected regularly by the LADOT and operated by a trained professional. In fact, the LADOT website even has a Taxi Rider's Bill of Rights although the only mention of disabilities is with regard to wheelchairs and service animals. No mention is made of the significant percentage of our community who are deaf or hearing impaired.

American Sign Language is the third most common language in the United States, surpassed only by English and Spanish. It's estimated that the deaf and hard of hearing population in the Los Angeles area exceeds one million people.

LA's character demands that we embrace and support people of all abilities and challenges, demonstrating our commitment to the Americans with Disabilities Act at every opportunity. From the training and certification of security guards to law enforcement to the licensing of taxi cab operators to the operation of mass transit, it is our responsibility to remove obstacles and barriers so that everybody may enjoy access and mobility.

Hollywood Car Share Stalls, Electric Bikes Debut

CityWatch, Apr 27, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 33

Bechir Blagui's vision for an electric community car-share program on Hollywood Boulevard is unfulfilled but his commitment to providing a sustainable transportation solution for his neighborhood is as strong as ever. As he continues the grapple with LA's unique bureaucratic landscape, Blagui came up with an innovation that has locals and tourists alike slowing down and smiling, Hollywood's first electric bike rental program.

Blagui's ongoing efforts to deliver on his promise to place electric charging stations on Hollywood Boulevard have only resulted in a frustrating journey down a bureaucratic rabbit hole, taking him to the Mayor's office, to the City Council, to the DWP, the LADOT, the City Attorney's office and Assemblyman Mike Feuer's office, none of which took him any closer to his original goal, an electric community car share program.

Along the way, Blagui visited other cities to survey the best and worst of their car share programs and in cities both small and large he found curbside charging stations, car share companies operating freely in a competitive market, and a customer base that demanded a variety of options. Inspired by a recent tour that took him from San Francisco to San Jose to Philadelphia, he returned to LA and looked for a solution, coming up with a program that had no obstacles, an electric bike rental program.



LA's City Council Transportation Committee has a long history of sustainable transportation discussion, most of which go nowhere. Meanwhile, on the streets, it's a local business operator who delivers electric bike rentals to Hollywood.

This simple success story of a local business operator with a fleet of electric rental bikes is significant for two reasons:

1) Mayor Villaraigosa's State of the City address of last week again referred to his unfulfilled vision of becoming America's Greenest Big City, this time with his proclamation of "a plan that once and for all makes Los Angeles the undisputed national leader in green energy and green jobs."

Time after time the people of Los Angeles watch LA's leadership talk the talk but when it comes to implementing sustainable business plans, it turns out that LA is the land of obstacles, not solutions.

Small businesses are a major part of our economy. They innovate and they create new jobs at a faster rate than larger organizations. The real change on the horizon will come from the bottom up, not from the top down, and if the Mayor and the City Council are serious about a green economy, they'll look at the Hollywood Rent A Car experience and they'll get busy removing the obstacles that have kept LA from developing the sustainable transportation solutions that are common in other large cities.

2) LA's high-altitude approach to transportation solutions makes for great press but the simply reality on the streets is personal. Simply synchronizing the services that LA already provides so that our streets are efficiently maintained, repaired, patrolled and enhanced is not only good for cyclists, it's good for local businesses, pedestrians, mass transit passengers and motorists. In fact, what's good for cyclists is also good for the community.

The lesson learned at Hollywood Rent a Car is one the Mayor might consider: When approaching the problem, take a look at it from the cyclists' perspective. It worked for Bechir, it might work for LA.

(Stephen Box is a cycling advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net)

CityWatchLA - Hollywood: Protecting the Brand

Villaraigosa, Garcetti, LaBonge 

get lost on the way to Hollywood

CityWatch, Apr 9, 2010
Vol 8 Issue 28


One reason crime statistics are continually on the decline in Hollywood is because it's no longer necessary to steal things of value, one simply waits for the City's leadership to give them away.

Consider, for example, the priceless Hollywood brand.

Anywhere else on earth, those in power would protect a valuable asset like the Hollywood name and, if they had any business sense, they would cultivate it and maximize its revenue potential while investing in the stability and preservation of the brand.

Then there's Los Angeles. This past week, LA's Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council President Eric Garcetti, and Councilman Tom LaBonge joined forces to announce the unveiling of the Visit Hollywood 2010 campaign at a press conference they held in Universal City in a clear demonstration of disconnect.

This misplaced photo-op and tepid demonstration of a commitment to Hollywood was supported by a website (built by Universal Studios?) that includes in the list of "Hollywood hot spots" attractions such as Universal Studios, Universal City CityWalk, Burbank's Warner Studios, Culver City's Sony Studios, Beverly Hills' Rodeo Drive, Mid City's Farmers Market, Anaheim's Disneyland, the San Diego Zoo, San Diego's Sea World, and the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Hollywood is recognized around the world as a tourist destination and it is imperative that Hollywood's leadership do two things if Hollywood is to capitalize on the 25 million annual visitors who make their way to Los Angeles and who spend approximately $14 million during their visits.

1) Help the tourists get to Hollywood. Get a FlyAway service from the airport to Hollywood & Highland and get LA's visitors to Hollywood. Make it easy for them to find accommodations in Hollywood, keeping in mind that anyone staying at the W Hotel won't need your assistance but that the average family will.

First and foremost in any vacation planning is to establish the destination and then to find accommodations. Put a roster of hotels and motels on the website, not just a list of the Chamber of Commerce members.

It's evident that those in charge can't relate to the real-world experience of the average tourist who spends hours scouring the Internet for information on hotels, wifi connections, coffee shops, restaurants, clubs, and other quotidien necessities of travel.

Not everything is a "CityPass" ticket to TouristLand. Much of the travel experience is simply soaking up local flavor but that is hardly possible if tourists to Hollywood are promptly shuttled to Universal City where they can wander Lankershim Blvd. looking for life after CityWalk.

These are the elements of the travel experience that help a tourist select a destination, along with transportation options and walkability.

2) Help the tourists stay in Hollywood. There is no reason to encourage a tourist to leave Hollywood. In fact it should be the basic mandate of those in charge to do whatever it takes to make the Hollywood experience a full vacation experience. Yet on the website and on the streets, Hollywood does little to embrace the tourist and to encourage a longer relationship.

It's evident that those in charge haven't walked Hollywood Boulevard sans entourage or they would be clear on how confusing and downright disappointing it can be for the wandering tourist.

My wife and I frequently encounter "lost tourists" who are easily identifiable. Sunburned, carrying a thick guidebook upside down, wandering in the wrong direction, they murmur amongst themselves and stop frequently to look for wayfinding.

I confess to feeling a sense of pride because these people have come from all over the world to see my neighborhood. I also feel a sense of responsibility and take it upon myself to not only help them navigate the immediate obstacle to their experience, but I typically offer additional observations and suggestions, things only a local would know, often visible from where we stand.

I've steered lost Architectural students to some of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings, I've helped confused gourmands locate the best Thai Restaurants, I've translated the six-panel Metro maps to lost tourists, and I've explained to theatre fans that in addition to the Pantages, there a HUNDRED local theaters, all within walking distance of Hollywood & Vine. Through it all, I am reminded that Hollywood is truly the center of the universe!

The sign of a Great City is the hospitality it offers to its visitors. Los Angeles is not a Great City.

The average tourist is ... average. They won't be staying at the W and they won't be using the concierge service. They'll spend too much time looking for Hollywood and not enough time experiencing it. It's up to us to put a polish on Hollywood and to present it to the world as a complete vacation experience, not just as a Hollywood Sign photo op on Bronson Ave. before hopping on the freeway and heading off to friendlier pastures.

From Rome to Barcelona to Munich to Budapest to Sydney, I've traveled through Great Cities and enjoyed wayfinding that makes it difficult to get lost yet pleasant when it happens.

The arrogance of LA's wayfinding is simply astounding. The Metro's map at the new Hollywood & Vine station is misoriented and out of date, it doesn't have the W Hotel on it but it has the Department of Motor Vehicles? Just in case our visitors from Fez decide to register their motor vehicles?

In Seville, I hopped on a bus that took a big lap of the city so that I understood the lay of the land and from there I planned my vacation experience.

In Melbourne there is a bus just for tourists that simply takes a big loop around the city and points out the highlights to that the City makes sense and guests can plan their visit with a sense of perspective.

In Hollywood, a tourist arriving at the Hollywood & Vine Metro Station (imagine that they took the Flyaway from the airport to Union Station and then figured out how to navigate the tunnel to the Red Line and then got off at the Metro's Flagship station) will encounter no signage to indicate that they have arrived in Hollywood. No "Welcome to Hollywood!" sign, no "Walk this Way!" directions, no "You are our Guest!" sign. Nothing. Zip.

Correction, there are a couple of "No spitting, chewing gum, eating, drinking, loud music..." signs to let our guests know that we have standards, very high standards.

Hollywood is a great community and a little leadership would see Hollywood become an inspired and informed vacation destination, not simply a launching pad that sends tourists over the hill to Universal City before losing them completely to Orange County.

The photo-op declaration is the easy start but now the work begins. The simple call to action is for the people of Hollywood to treat our guests the way we expect to be treated when we visit Great Cities.

There isn't much evidence that Villaraigosa, Garcetti, and LaBonge are engaged in guarding the Hollywood brand or in maximizing Hollywood's potential as a complete vacation experience.

That means that it is up to the people of Hollywood to seize the reins and to make Hollywood a Great Host and Los Angeles a Great City.

(Stephen Box is a grassroots advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net)

CityWatchLA - Hollywood Gives up on Tourism, Embraces its Truck Stop Future

CityWatch, Sept 11, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 73

Hollywood Boulevard is one of the most famous streets in the world and to many people, it's known as the Walk of Fame. But those days are gone as the leadership of Los Angeles gives up on tourism and embraces trucking as the future of Los Angeles. As a sign of that commitment, Hollywood Boulevard is being reinvented as the Truck Stop to the Stars!

Tourists come from around the world to walk the Boulevard, starting at LA Brea Gateway and passing the Roosevelt Hotel, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theater, Ripley's, Madame Tussauds, the El Capitan, the Egyptian, the Pig 'n Whistle, Musso & Frank's, Boardner's...phew! We haven't even hit Vine Street! Keep going and there's the Pantages Theater, the Music Box Theatre, a great view of the Hollywood sign and an equally good view of the Griffith Observatory. It's as if Hollywood Boulevard is the center of the Entertainment Industry universe.

Along the walk, there are abundant cafes, restaurants, shops and opportunities to enjoy the local flavor which varies dramatically from one block to the next, featuring a community so diverse that over 100 languages are spoken within the densely populated neighborhood that wraps around the Thai Town and Little Armenia area known as East Hollywood.

One would think that such a hot tourist attraction would be guarded and protected by city leadership, celebrated and supported as a valuable heritage that deserves to be nurtured, not just for its economic potential but simply for its cultural legacy and value as an iconic symbol of the entertainment industry that gave birth to to the celebrated community.

Granted, Hollywood has had a bit of a roller-coaster past, going from peaks filled with klieg lights & red carpets to lows lit with red lights and inhabited by squatters. Along the way, Hollywood Boulevard lost its claim to fame as the center of the Entertainment Industry. FilmLA Inc., (formerly the EIDC) the company that handles the bulk of the film permitting process for the LA area, gave up its Hollywood digs in order to move to the old Unocal Building in downtown LA. Production companies, post-production facilities, payroll companies, sound studios, rental companies, and studio support of all flavors left town for more hospitable accommodations in surrounding communities. While Hollywood fiddled, local cities such as Santa Monica, Culver City, Burbank, Santa Clarita, and Glendale courted the Industry and facilitated moves that left Hollywood light on production and heavy on blight.

Things have now reached the point that even if a local crew member were to get called by a local production company to shoot a film locally, that person would likely be paid by a payroll company located in Burbank or Santa Monica, would likely rent everything from trucks to grip & electric from over the hill, would likely drive to the westside for all post-production, and would likely go to Santa Monica to sell the finished product at the American Film Market. "Local" just doesn't really mean "local" anymore!

Of course, Paramount Studios and Eastman Kodak are still in the neighborhood and if the film does well, our local crew member will be able to sit in the grandstands on Hollywood Boulevard to watch the stars arrive at the Kodak Theater to pick up their Academy Awards, so it's fair to say that Hollywood has hung on to some of its glamorous past. Barely!

While Hollywood's shine faded and the CRA came in to address the blighted conditions, speculators started circling, waiting for the right moment to dive in with bags of taxpayer money to develop any of the large number of chain-link protected empty lots that litter the Boulevard all the way to Sunset on the east. For literally years the locals and the developers have been engaged in a tug-of-war over the past, the present and the future of Hollywood Boulevard, debating development, revitalization, funding, traffic, infrastructure, community character, and nightclubs. Adding fuel to the fire were and are charges of cronyism, corruption and simple incompetence.

In the midst of the brouhaha, Hollywood lost its most valuable commodity, its name! Hollywood is the brand known around the world and Universal City, located just outside of Los Angeles on LA County land, simply lifted it and reinvented themselves as Universal Hollywood, leaving the locals on the boulevard to debate the CRA projects that litter the landscape and promise, at best, a better quality strip mall selling more expensive t-shirts.

Apparently, the fix is in, the deed is done and all that remains is for Hollywood to recover, rise from the ashes, reinvent itself, a task that appears to be underway.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce took a shot at promoting Hollywood as the Capital of Healthcare, an image that is supported by the fact that of the top three employers in Hollywood, two of them are Hospitals! Kaiser Permanente and Children's Hospital edge out Paramount and Sunset-Gower Studios, 8800 employees to 8000 employees, and based on results, often harsh but always fair, the Healthcare Industry has overtaken the Entertainment Industry as the substance of Hollywood.

All of which could change quickly, especially if LA's leadership continues to support the Trucking Industry with the bold and cavalier carte blanche and red carpet that they have offered thus far.

Hollywood Boulevard is designated as a Major Highway. It ranges in width from 60' at the eastern Laurel Canyon end to 70' at the western Virgil end and it varies in width along the way, getting as wide as 82' at one point. It is referred to as "built-out" by the Transportation Department, meaning that it is lined with historical buildings that prevent the widening or streamlining of the boulevard. It has three Metro Rail stations between Highland and Western, making this one of the most transit rich boulevards in the City of Los Angeles.

And yet, requests for bike lanes and sidewalk widenings are quickly squelched as simply impractical. The current City of LA Bike Plan maps confirm this by simply ignoring Hollywood Boulevard on the surveys and by using the visionary term "Infeasible" when referring to bikeways improvements for the boulevard. After all, "It's simply too 'built-out' and there is no more room!" This has become a popular refrain from the Department of "No!"

This position is repeated at community meetings throughout the area while complaints of 18 wheelers parked on Hollywood Boulevard, often for days on end, fall on deaf ears.

Calls to Councilmembers Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge yield instructions from local deputies on how to dial 311, an exercise in futility that leaves the caller frustrated and the 311 operator confused. The LAPD defer to the LADOT, the LADOT has been aware of the problem for two years and Chief Jimmy Price himself has claimed that the department is all over it and yet...the Hollywood Boulevard is still an 18 Wheeler Parking lot.

The simple secret is this; the parking ticket is cheaper than the off-street parking fee plus the shuttle back home. Locals park 18 Wheelers on Hollywood Boulevard because they can. They can because Garcetti and LaBonge let them. Parking Enforcement Supervisors acknowledge that there is no political will to enforce of parking restrictions for the operators of 18 Wheelers who leave their vehicles on the Boulevard, even when parked under a Tow Away sign.

As for the parking enforcement officers, there's simply no motivation to spend an entire shift working on the impound of an 18 Wheeler when during the same time, the same officer can write a full book of tickets. One Supervisor explained "These drivers need to sleep! It's better to let them park on the boulevard than to drive tired."

Good logic but not when it impedes traffic, forcing those in the #2 lane on a congested and "built-out" street to merge into the #1 lane to avoid sideswiping the 18 Wheeler.

Unless, of course, Garcetti and LaBonge are now reinventing Hollywood as the Trucking Capital and if that's the case, then it all makes sense. With the Healthcare Industry in flux, Garcetti and LaBonge are apparently betting on the future of Hollywood as a Truck Stop. It's the kind of genius plan we've come to expect, although the thought of Garcetti and LaBonge working in sync is a stretch. Regardless, public safety concerns be damned, Walk of Fame be gone, it's time for Hollywood to welcome its destiny, don the Trucker Cap, and embrace the future.

Hollywood is now your "Last Stop for Gas!"



(Stephen Box is a transportation advocate and writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net) ◘