Roundup: October 7, 2011

News items and commentary from The Local Feed (in the sidebar) and elsewhere 'round the web that may be of interest to Hollywood residents.

*Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces that it working with LACMA to locate its movie museum at Wilshire and Fairfax in the old May Co Building, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Per the article the Academy "will mount a new fundraising campaign for the museum, which will be designed to give visitors an entertaining and interactive experience illuminating the way movies reflect culture and the impact they have upon it. The museum is expected to feature both permanent and rotating exhibitions inside the facility's 300,000 square feet." Of course, this represents a big change from the previous museum plan, which would have placed the movie museum in Hollywood on a 3.5 acre Academy-owned parcel adjacent to the Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Vine Street. So what's the plan for the Vine Street property? Per a report in the LA Times, the Academy "has no intention to sell its Hollywood land" and an Academy office is quoted as saying that the Academy plans to "do something academy-centric and for the community with that land." Hopefully they will figure out what to do with their Hollywood property ASAP as the site is currently a blight and an eyesore.

*The City Council approved a motion (Council File 11-1339) relative to an expansion of the restrictions of "Temporary" Preferential Parking District (PPD) No. 112, which is located near Runyon Canyon, to include restrictions on weekends and holidays. The motion directs LADOT to prepare a report with recommendations for expanding the existing parking restrictions on the residential streets south and east of Runyon Canyon Park's Vista Street entrance (i.e. Franklin, Sierra Bonita, and Gardner) and north of Hollywood Boulevard. The current restrictions of PPD No. 112 are No Parking 7PM-8AM and 2 Hour Parking 8AM-7PM and they are already enforced on the weekends. With that being the case, it is likely that an expansion of this PPD's weekend restrictions would take the form of either (1) a reduction in the 2 Hour Parking limit or (2) a complete ban on non-resident parking on these streets. While an expansion of the weekend restrictions for PPD No. 112 would be great for the residents on Franklin, Sierra Bonita, and Gardner, it would be bad for visitors of Runyon Canyon Park and bad for residents who live on nearby residential streets that lack permit parking. Sorry, but this is a short-sighted, and self-centered, move that will do nothing to fix the problems being caused in these neighborhoods by visitors to Runyon Canyon Park.

*Curbed LA reports that the Boulevard 6200 project could break ground in January 2012. Per Curbed, the project has "settled its problems with an elderly neighbor" and is scheduled to start excavation in January. The Boulevard 6200 proposes to develop, in two phases, a total of 1,042 residential units, 175,000 square feet of retail, and almost 3,000 parking spaces on a 7 acre site at Hollywood and Argyle. I'm glad that the first phase of the project is moving forward but still feel that the entire project should have been taller and denser.