Yaroslavsky Hears New Voices, Old Woes

After listening this week to a group of his new Sherman Oaks constituents, Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who previously represented only the Westside, observed wryly that the Santa Monica Mountains are a “lot less of a cultural barrier than the Berlin Wall.”

The laments he encountered in the San Fernando Valley--overly intensive development, congested streets, loss of parking in residential neighborhoods and proliferation of signs--are the same concerns he has heard for years in his Westside district, the 37-year-old councilman said.

More than 80 members of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. turned out Tuesday evening for a get-acquainted session with their new councilman.

In a redistricting plan approved a month ago by the council, Yaroslavsky’s 5th District was pushed north across the mountains to include most of Sherman Oaks. The bulk of the community previously had been represented by Councilman Joel Wachs.

Remap Seen as Gain

The reshuffling, under which a third of Yaroslavsky’s constituents are Valley residents, has been widely viewed as a political plus for the veteran councilman.

Yaroslavsky’s thinly veiled goal of running for higher office is expected to get an assist from the added visibility and fund-raising ability he now has in the Valley.

Many of the homeowners who crowded into a sweltering bank meeting room Tuesday appeared to be well on their way to becoming supporters of their new representative.

Richard Close, the association’s president, said Yaroslavsky is a council member “who in the past has represented our point of view frequently and vigorously.”

Members nodded approvingly when Yaroslavsky pledged to treat proposed large developments in the Valley as he said he has done for 11 years on the Westside.

“You can’t build anything in my district without jumping through 15 different hoops,” he said.

Vowed Fight on Density

And the councilman got an ovation when he endorsed rolling back the allowed density in many residential areas, advocated the creation of a city board to review building design and called passage of a stiff sign-control ordinance “absolutely critical.”

But he was less emphatic when discussing a proposal, scheduled for a hearing Oct. 27, to enclose the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square and expand the Riverside Drive shopping center by 23%.

Association members voted 46 to 13 at a meeting last week to fight the proposed expansion.

Yaroslavsky promised only to “work with the neighborhood on that” and said he would be guided by “parking and traffic, which are the main considerations.”

Noting that a consultant has concluded that traffic and parking will not be significantly affected by the expansion, an association member predicted that Yaroslavsky would vote for the project.

The homeowner, who declined to be identified, complained that the expansion is “the sort of small, incremental expansion in which no one project is that serious but which add up to the gridlock mess we are in.”

Yaroslavsky also made a pitch for Proposition U, the slow-growth initiative he co-sponsored that is on the Nov. 4 city ballot.

He called it the “most important step those of us concerned about overdevelopment have taken in the city in years, maybe decades.”