Woo Wants Changes in Hollywood Renewal
Lashing out at what he called “lackluster management” of Hollywood’s $922-million redevelopment plan, Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo on Friday proposed sweeping changes in the way the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency handles the project and vowed to increase the voice of residents and small merchants in Hollywood planning decisions.
At a City Hall press conference, Woo unveiled a seven-point proposal for bolstering the controversial project, including an expansion of the 25-member citizens committee responsible for reviewing commercial developments. Woo said he plans to add six seats to the committee, primarily to provide places for apartment renters, small-business owners and homeowners in the Hollywood Hills who are under-represented on the advisory panel.
Land Values Increase
That committee was the subject of a Times article Aug. 31 that explained the influence of business interests on the panel and how, in some cases, these interests benefited financially as a result. In part because of lucrative high-rise zoning standards allowed in the plan, land values in the zone area rose sharply, by as much as $2 million an acre.
More than half the committee members who helped shape the plan beginning in late 1983 were members of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to expanding the committee, Woo announced plans to give the Hollywood community an appointed seat on the Community Redevelopment Agency board of directors, which oversees redevelopment projects citywide, and to increase the clout of Hollywood citizens groups responsible for planning social programs and architectural-design standards for new buildings.
He also proposed creating a nonprofit corporation to build low-cost housing as the refurbishment of Hollywood unfolds, and he called for redevelopment committee members to quickly follow new state requirements for filing financial-disclosure statements--a move designed to end community controversy over the possible motives of committee members. Other recommendations were aimed at enhancing the Community Redevelopment Agency’s visibility in Hollywood by creating a storefront office for the agency and improving the agency’s communication with business and homeowner groups.
Unresponsiveness Cited
In outlining the proposals--which are due for City Council action in coming weeks--Woo sharply criticized what he called the unresponsiveness of Community Redevelopment Agency officials to community concerns, such as traffic congestion in the redeveloped area.
“It’s not . . . a secret that we’ve had some dissatisfaction with the CRA’s current management of Hollywood,” Woo said in an interview following the 40-minute press conference. “There’s been a lot of frustration for me personally and also for my staff. The important thing is to try to cause a shake-up” in the Community Redevelopment Agency leadership.
The 30-year redevelopment plan, adopted early last year, provides public money to assist development in a vast area populated by 37,000 residents just south of the Hollywood Hills. The area runs roughly from Franklin Avenue on the north to Santa Monica Boulevard on the south, and from Western Avenue on the east to La Brea Avenue on the west.
Community Redevelopment Agency Administrator John Tuite, in an interview Friday, said he shared many of Woo’s concerns about the plan but defended the job the agency has done so far. The agency has held more than 100 public meetings to get public comments on the plan, he said. Some proposals, such as putting a Community Redevelopment Agency office on Hollywood Boulevard and creating a nonprofit housing corporation, require funding that may not be available for Hollywood until tax revenues begin to pour in from new construction, he said.
Central Issue of Suit
Tuite declined to comment on charges by community members that the redevelopment committee has been stacked in favor of big-business interests--a central issue in a lawsuit filed last year by residents who have opposed the plan.
“I don’t have an opinion on that,” Tuite said. “I think we have an effective (committee) right now. If it could be more effective, fine.
Woo “may be unhappy . . . with some aspects of (the agency’s role), but he has expressed his continued support for the plan--and I think that’s healthy,” Tuite said. “I think we have done a good job. Can we do a better job? Isn’t that always possible?”
Residents, meanwhile, criticized the proposals and questioned whether Woo was sincere in trying to aid homeowners and small business owners.
Pat Morley of Save Hollywood Our Town, the residents group that filed suit over the plan, said the proposals fall far short of addressing concerns raised in the lawsuit. She accused Woo of trying to improve his public image without changing the big-business nature of redevelopment.
If the councilman really wanted to give residents and merchants a greater voice, Morley said, he would allow the additional committee seats to be filled by communitywide election rather than appoint the new members himself. Currently, Woo is responsible for appointing four committee members; remaining seats are filled by communitywide elections scheduled for November.
