The Public Square: November 12 - November 13

A brief look at items on the agenda at City Council, City Council Committees, Neighborhood Councils, and various City Boards and Commissions of interest to Hollywood residents. City Agendas can be found here.

Thursday, November 12:

• City Planning Commission (8:30 AM)
  • Item 4 – VTT-65583-CN-DB-1A: Appeal of part of the decision of the Advisory Agency denying an increase in height to 36 feet in-lieu of the maximum 30 feet for a 11 unit condo project located at 6527 Leland Way. The City Planning Commission Meeting continued this item from the September 10th. This project was discussed in the 8/19/09 Development Brief, the 9/10/09 - 9/11/09 Public Square, and the 8/31/09 Development Brief. The City Planning Commission needs to determine if extra 6 feet in height being requested is necessary in order to build in the condo project or if the developer is requesting the extra 6 feet simply to accommodate the 77 space commercial parking garage they are proposing. Is the extra height necessary? No. There is no reason, beyond financial, that the developer could not simply excavate 6 feet lower rather than building 6 feet up (and exceeding the height limits).
• City Planning Commission and City Transportation Commission Joint Commission Meeting (after 8:30 AM)
  • Item 1: Presentation of a report, New Innovations in Mobility Strategies for the City of Los Angeles, by LADOT and City Planning staff. Should be interesting. I checked both LADOT and City Planning's websites but the report is not yet posted; hopefully it will be soon.

Friday, November 13:

• Board of Public Works (9:30 AM)
  • Item 9 – Communication: A request to install carpet and crowd control equipment in front of the Chinese Theater, to restrict westbound vehicular traffic on Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave to Orange Ave and close both the north and south curb lanes from 6AM on December 7th to 2AM on December 8th, and to restrict pedestrian traffic on north sidewalk of Hollywood Blvd at Hollywood and Highland from 6AM to 11:30PM, including the closure of the mid-block cross walk starting at 5PM, on December 8th, 2009. This closure is requested for the premier of “The Lovely Bones” which is to be held at 7:30PM on Monday, December 7th, 2009. Closing the mid-block crosswalk is a major inconvenience for pedestrians who are trying to walk west down the north side of Hollywood Boulevard. There is no signage posted  about sidewalk closures in front of the Chinese Theater until you get to the mid-block crosswalk. At that point, usually you can at least cross the street and continue west along the south side of Hollywood Boulevard. However, if the mid-block crosswalk is also closed then pedestrians will be forced to backtrack to Highland Boulevard and cross there. The requestor should be required to post signage at both the Metro Subway Station and the intersection of Highland Avenue informing pedestrians that the mid-block crosswalk will be closed.
  • Item 10 – Communication: A request to install carpet and crowd control equipment in front of the Chinese Theater, to close Hollywood Blvd from Highland Ave to Orange Ave from 12:01AM on December 16th to 5AM on December 17th and close both the north and south curb lanes from 11:00 PM on December 15th to 5AM on December 17th, and to restrict pedestrian traffic on north sidewalk of Hollywood Blvd at Hollywood and Highland from 12PM to 11:30PM, including the closure of the mid-block crosswalk starting at 10AM and the Orange crosswalk at 5:30PM, on December 8th, 2009. This closure is requested for the premier of “Avatar” which is to be held at 7:30PM on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009. Again, the closure of the mid-block cross walk needs to be property noticed.
• City Council (10:00 AM)
  • The City Council is in Recess through Friday, November 13th due to the National League of Cities' Congress of Cities Conference in San Antonio, Texas.