The Public Square: August 13–15, 2012

A brief look at items of interest to Hollywood residents that are on upcoming agendas at City Council, City Council Committees, Neighborhood Councils, various City Boards and Commissions, and County Board of Supervisors. LA City Agendas can be found here and LA County Board agendas can be found here.

As always, the meeting times, locations, and agendas are subject to change, so be sure to check and confirm.

Monday, August 13:

• Budget and Finance Council Committee (2:00 PM)
  • Item 3 (Council File 12-0600-S158).
    • City Attorney report and Ordinance (.pdf) relative to amending the Los Angeles Administrative Code to eliminate (1) authorization for the use of monies in the Special Parking Revenue Fund for the Central Library Validation Program
      and (2) to eliminate all Special Parking Revenue Fund loan repayment requirements on surplus funds transferred to the General Fund.
    • Note: The Special Parking Revenue Fund is funded with money collected from the City’s parking meters and revenue from public off-street parking facilities. The funds are supposed to be used to pay for meters, the acquisition and operation of off-street parking lots and garages, and for painting street curbs.
    • Viewpoints: For years the City Council has raided the Special Parking Revenue Fund to supplement the City’s General Fund. Once this ordinance is passed the City Council will be able to continue to bleed the fund dry, just now they will no longer need to pretend that they intend to repay it. Yes, the ordinance reads that the Council can raid only the “surplus” funds from the Special Parking Revenue Fund, but it is the City Council that determines when the fund has a surplus (and determines when and by how much parking rates go up). I expect that the City will soon see higher parking rates, decreased maintenance at its lots and garages, and the record “surpluses” in the Special Parking Revenue Fund.
• Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council Board (6:30 PM)
  • Agenda (.pdf)
    • Meeting will be held at Assistance League of Southern California (1370 North Saint Andrews Place).

Tuesday, August 14:

• County Board of Supervisors (9:30 AM)
  • No items of note.
• City Council (10:00 AM)
  • Item 3 (Council File 11-1332)
    • Planning and Land Use Management Council Committee Report and City Attorney Report and Ordinance (.pdf) relative to amending various sections of the Los Angeles Municipal Code to create a Modified Parking Requirement District, which would allow for the use of one or more of seven specified parking requirement modification tools.
    • Per the ordinance, the proposed Modified Parking Requirement Districts shall use one or more of the following “strategies”: (1) change of use parking standards, (2)off-site parking within 1500 feet, (3) parking reduction approval, (4) decreased parking requirements, (5) increased parking requirements, (6) commercial parking credits, and (7) maximum parking requirements.
  • Item 9 (Council File 11-1339)
    • Transportation Committee report relative to the renewal of "Temporary" Preferential Parking Districts (PPD) No. 72 and No. 112 for another 12 months and a change in the parking restrictions for along Gardner Street (PPD No. 112) in order to permit non-resident parking on Sunday.
    • PPD No. 112 is located 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 Anytime Except; 2 Hour Parking 8AM-7PM Monday to Friday. Due to the fact that the current parking restrictions are negatively impacting a nearby church, LADOT is now recommending that the restrictions on Gardner Street be changed to No Parking Anytime Except; 2 Hour Parking 8AM-7PM Sunday to Friday.
    • Viewpoints: The parking restrictions for PPD No. 112 were changed just a few months ago with restrictions that prohibited non-resident parking on weekends. I note again that I thought the changes would do little to solve the parking problems in this area and would in fact make things worse. I think the same of these new changes as well.
• Central Area Planning Commission (4:30 PM)
  • Item 4 (APCC-2008-2703-SPE-CUB-SPP-SPR)
    • Consideration of the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Target Shopping Center project proposed for the corner of Sunset and Western (5520 Sunset Boulevard) in East Hollywood; as well as a number of discretionary approval requests, including several exceptions from the Vermont/Western TOD Specific Plan, a Site Plan Review, and a Conditional Use Permit for alcohol.
    • Staff Report (.pdf)
    • The Target Shopping Center project proposes to construct a 163,862 square foot Target store along with 30,887 square feet of other smaller retail, food, and associated uses in a 3-level (and up to 84 feet high) building. The first floor of the building would have retail (along both Sunset and Western) while the Target store itself would be located on the structure's third level. A total of 458 automobile parking spaces would be provided in two parking levels, on ground floor and one above ground.
    • City Planning Department Staff is recommending the project be approved, with one minor change: That Target only be permitted to build to a maximum height of 74 feet instead of 84 feet as Target requested.
• Mid City West Community Council Board (7:00 PM)
  • Agenda (.pdf)
    • Meeting will be held at the National Council of Jewish Women Building (543 North Fairfax Avenue) in the Auditorium.

Wednesday, August 15:

• City Council (10:00 AM)
  • Item 11 (Council File 10-1942)
    • Public Works Committee report relative to the proposed vacation of a public alley located just west of Vine Street and between Santa Monica Boulevard and Eleanor Avenue.
    • The Bureau of Engineering report (.pdf) report recommended that the vacation be denied because the proposed vacation is not in conformance with elements of the City’s General Plan (i.e. the Hollywood Community Plan and the General Plan Transportation Element) and noted that “the purpose of the vacation request is to provide a private gated driveway for the petitioner's property”. However, the Public Works Committee rejected The Bureau of Engineering’s recommendation, and is instead recommending that the alley vacation be approved.
  • Item 20 (Council File 12-0011-S20)
    • Motion recommending the transfer $62,571 from the Council District 4 portion of the Street Furniture Revenue Fund to the Bureau of Street Services for the “repair a  concrete alley west of Larchmont Boulevard, north of First Street”.
    • Viewpoints: I wonder how much money is in Council District 4 portion of the Street Furniture Revenue Fund, and how and why this project was identified as a priority for the use of those funds. It would be nice to know what criteria Council District 4 uses, as there are lots and lots of alleys and streets in need of repair in that Council District.
• Energy and Environment Council Committee (2:00 PM)
  • Item 2 (Presentation)
    • LADWP report on the status of its water conservation and water supply programs and its associated Water Rate Increase Proposal.