Homeowners’ Gripes: Speed Bumps, Zoning Gobbledygook

Diane Halvorsen is really rattled. Her Van Nuys house shakes every time a truck drives over the speed bumps just installed by a supermarket next door.

When she called Councilwoman Joy Picus’ office, Halvorsen said, she was told that her only recourse is to sue the market. Hoping to get more assistance from city government, Halvorsen was the first to register a complaint at the Van Nuys Homeowners Assn.’s annual “Gripe Night.”

For three hours Thursday, more than 60 homeowners grilled a panel of 13 government representatives on issues ranging from “deafening” noise from the Van Nuys and Burbank airports to filthy streets.

For the privilege of griping and to support the 14-year-old association’s activities, about 1,000 households pay $12 each in annual dues, said David Read, the association’s president.

As for Halvorsen’s problem, Rita Schnair, an aide from Picus’ office, said she will do what she can to persuade the market to reduce the height of the speed bumps.

Homeowner William Grincig had a gripe about city paper work. “You got to be an MIT graduate to understand these zoning notifications,” he complained. “Why can’t they write these things in English?”

Grincig said he was speaking for every association member who has had to decipher a notice from the Los Angeles Planning Department.

Many of the panel members, from a Los Angeles Police Department captain to representatives of council members’ offices, nodded sympathetically.

Frank Fielding, senior city planner in charge of the San Fernando Valley Community Plan, tried to answer Grincig’s query. But, after talking planning jargon for five minutes, Fielding acknowledged: “We’ll just have to plead guilty to that.”

Representatives from the two airports, however, would not concede that planes are causing major late-night noise problems. A partial curfew prohibiting certain takeoffs and landings at Van Nuys Airport between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. is strictly enforced, airport Manager Chuck Zeman said.

Association officers encouraged members plagued by noise to register complaints on the airport’s hot line at (818) 785-1418.

One woman worried about the possibility of a crash such as the one last summer in Cerritos, when a small plane and an airliner collided and 82 people were killed.

Richard M. Vacar, manager of Burbank Airport, responded that planes from Van Nuys fly at least 600 feet below those from Burbank.

Responding to homeowners who complained about unswept city streets, Jerry Donahue, a supervisor for the Department of Street Maintenance, said he never knows either when streets will be swept. Donahue, who lives in the Valley, urged homeowners to telephone the city and voice their specific complaints.

“We just don’t have enough men or sweepers,” Donahue said. “That’s why only 26% of the city is posted and the City Council hasn’t adopted any new routes since 1975.”