Group’s Representative to Quit Hollywood Panel

Brian Moore, a longtime thorn in the side of supporters of the nearly $1-billion Hollywood redevelopment program, has said he will resign as a member of the Hollywood Redevelopment Project Area Committee.

Moore has been under fire from the Hollywood Coordinating Council’s nine-member executive board, which last month voted 4 to 2 to cease sending a representative to the redevelopment committee.

Moore said Tuesday that he favored submitting the issue to the council’s approximately 400 members but that the executive board turned that proposal down.

He is president of the council and since June, has been its representative on the project area committee, which he has vigorously criticized. He has charged that many members were elected illegally last year.

Divisive Issue

“My continued participation on the committee simply would be too divisive to the coordinating council,” said Moore, who will continue to serve as council president. “It is probably better for me to be on the outside as far as the committee is concerned. I will not have to operate under any restraints.”

Opponents of the council’s participation on the committee maintained that no single individual could stake out a position on redevelopment acceptable to the diverse council membership.

In September, the council’s board of directors voted 14 to 12 to drop membership on the committee, but the vote was nullified because only the nine-member executive board is empowered to make such a decision.

Moore said that he doubted whether either the executive board or the board of directors reflected the views of the coordinating council’s general membership.

The council’s membership is made up of homeowners, renters, merchants, social service workers, government employees and private welfare agency representatives.

Will Not Fight Decision

“My feeling is that the general membership would want to continue representation on the committee,” Moore said, but added that he has decided not to fight the board’s decision.

Moore succeeded businessman Arland (Buzz) Johnson as the council representative on the committee. Unlike Moore, Johnson was not seen as controversial on the committee.

Johnson, who is on the executive board of the coordinating council, attributed that perception to his low-key personality--”Brian is much more flamboyant than I”--and the lack of divisive issues concerning redevelopment during his two years on the committee.

“In fairness to Brian,” Johnson said, “redevelopment has been controversial during his term. When I was on the committee, our main concerns were to establish the framework for redevelopment. It is much different now, with the implementation of the program.”

Johnson said that he favored continued council participation on the redevelopment committee, but that a “cooling-off period” with no representation will be beneficial to the coordinating council.

The 25-member project area committee advises the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, administrative arm of the Hollywood Redevelopment Project.