Roberti Protests Street Project Near His House; Plans Revised

A street-widening project on city property outside the Los Feliz home of state Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti was stopped for two days recently and then redesigned because of protests from Roberti, city officials said.

The resulting delays, they said, will add about $10,000 to the cost of the project.

The demolished curb in front of Roberti’s house will be restored and the start of a cut into a grassy parkway to make room for a right-turn lane will be moved so it does not front the Roberti property, according to city engineers and council aides.

Special Attention Claimed

Several city employees said that special attention was paid to Roberti’s concerns after the Democratic senator had contacted Councilmen Michael Woo and John Ferraro, as well as Mayor Tom Bradley, about the construction at Los Feliz Boulevard and Vermont Avenue.

“He raised a big stink,” said one city employee closely involved in the matter who requested anonymity. “It would be hard to think that it would have been adjusted if it were Johnny Citizen or anyone else.”

Said another: “There was some fear among the council offices and the Board of Public Works that if we didn’t respond to the situation, some state funding for city projects could be in jeopardy.”

Roberti was not available for comment Friday because he was attending hearings on the plight of AIDS patients, according to his press secretary, Steven M. Glazer. However, Glazer strongly denied that Roberti had asked for special consideration on the street widening.

Roberti opposes the road construction because he thinks that it will encourage cars to go faster and endanger pedestrians, especially those walking to the nearby Our Mother of Good Counsel Roman Catholic Church a block away, Glazer said. A woman pedestrian was struck by a car and killed on Vermont Avenue near the church in April, 1985, according to a police report.

Upset at Not Being Notified

In addition, the senator and many other neighbors were angry that they had not been notified about the construction in advance, Glazer added. “So, like any good citizen, he brought his concerns to the appropriate city officials,” Glazer said.

Glazer emphasized that Roberti did not request that the parkway and curb be restored only in front of his house. In fact, he said Roberti was angry to learn that. But the senator was pleased to find out that, as a result of his protests, the city is committed to installing a traffic light near the church.

Edward Avila, a Board of Public Works commissioner, described the modification to the turn lane as “slight” and said it will not affect the goal of the $300,000 job--to ease bottlenecks aggravated by traffic to and from the nearby Greek Theatre. The work involves cutting both right- and left-turn lanes on all four sides of the heavily traveled intersection.

Avila said Roberti received the same treatment as any other citizen with concerns about safety. “We make modifications here and there to accommodate the abutting property owners. This is really not something unusual,” Avila said.

Moved 40 Feet

The spot where the municipally owned parkway will begin to be cut for the turn lane will now be about 40 feet east of where it was originally intended and start just after the frontage to Roberti’s house, according to William Hansen, assistant district engineer for the city.

Asked about Roberti’s possible influence, Hansen said: “I would like to think the same would have been done for anyone else. But I’m not going to dismiss the fact that some consideration was given to who he was. I’d be foolish to (do so) otherwise.”

The width of the parkway in front of the senator’s large Tudor-style house was to have been trimmed by a maximum of two feet and no trees were to have been removed, according to the original plans. The parkway is about twenty-five feet wide, and the houses on the block are set far back behind the sidewalks and deep lawns.

Construction work, which was approved by the City Council more than three years ago, began March 18, was stopped two days later and resumed March 23, officials said. Temporary repairs to the intersection during the shutdown, as well as lost time, will cost at least $10,000, they said.

Association’s Support

While some of Roberti’s neighbors are upset about the construction, the Los Feliz Improvement Assn., a homeowners’ organization, supports the project. Association President Edmond Stephan said he did not think that pedestrians would be threatened by the turn lanes and that a better flow of traffic would probably make life more pleasant for all residents, including Roberti.

Discussions about the intersection were complicated because three of the corners are in Ferraro’s 4th Council District, while the other, including Roberti’s house, is in Woo’s 13th District.

Bill Chandler, Woo’s press secretary, said that, as a result of the discussions, Woo will push for an ordinance requiring the Department of Public Works to give 30 days’ advance notice to all homeowners within 300 feet of any construction.