Woo Wants to Replace Hollywood Citizens Panel

Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo will ask the council today to abolish the contentious citizens advisory committee on Hollywood redevelopment and replace it with a panel he would appoint, Woo told The Times on Monday.

The action is certain to set off a tumultuous new round in the protracted fight over renewal of the faded movie capital, which has pitted Woo and the Community Redevelopment Agency against a group of anti-redevelopment activists.

For several years, critics of the 1.7-square-mile redevelopment area have used the panel, the Project Area Committee, to air their complaints and fears. In December, elections to the committee gave critics a clear majority on the panel for the first time.

Last week, defiant committee members voted to sue the city if the council votes to disband the group. Orry P. Korb, the committee’s attorney, said Monday that he has been authorized to go to court as soon as the council moves to do away with the group.

“They are free to sue,” Woo said in an interview. “I basically don’t care. The important thing for us is to continue the momentum for the redevelopment process.”

Under state law, the Community Redevelopment Agency is required to consult with the Project Area Committee only during the first three years of the redevelopment project. The three-year period expired Monday. After that, the City Council can extend the committee’s life for one-year intervals or simply allow the committee to expire.

But opponents of the redevelopment effort point to a provision in the Hollywood Redevelopment Plan that states the Community Redevelopment Agency must consult with the committee on “activities . . . pertaining to implementation” of the plan.

Korb interprets that to mean that the committee must remain in existence during the 30-year life of the plan. Attorneys for the city and the agency, however, say the provision does not require consultation beyond the three years provided by state law.

The committee reviews various aspects of the redevelopment effort, including proposed traffic and urban design plans as well as some individual projects. It makes recommendations to the CRA board of commissioners but has no official decision-making powers.

In proposing the overhaul, Woo said he wants to give Hollywood redevelopment “a fresh start” by appointing a panel he can work with. Woo has characterized the Project Area Committee as “an official forum for wacky behavior,” a reference to the group’s reputation as rowdy and largely unproductive.

Woo appoints four members of the Project Area committee, but the others are elected by residents, property owners and local businesses. Woo’s new panel--the Hollywood Community Advisory Council--would have 11 members, all appointed by Woo. He said he would name the new committee members in July.

“Given the disastrous consequences of the election process in the past, I didn’t think it was worth institutionalizing that process in this new arrangement,” Woo said. “The advantage provided here is that it enables me to have a citizens advisory committee which I will be able to work closely with. And I will be able to find panel members whose views on transportation or economic development or urban design are compatible with my own.”

Woo’s action does have precedence. In 1985, Councilman Gilbert Lindsay replaced the Chinatown Project Area Committee with an appointed body. Woo hinted as early as January that he was considering following in Lindsay’s footsteps. His foes in Hollywood complained then that an appointed committee would simply become a rubber stamp for the councilman and would deny a cross section of Hollywood residents--in particular, Woo adversaries--a role in the community’s future.

“It is a raucous group because that is the nature of the Hollywood community,” said Korb, who was hired by the Project Area Committee in January. “For better or worse, this PAC is representative. . . . Any effort by the city and the CRA to limit the PAC is a statement that they do not want to hear all the voices in Hollywood.”

Woo said Monday that he will introduce his resolution to disband the Project Area Committee at today’s council meeting.