Woo Disbands Committee, but Members Meet

Defiant members of the citizens advisory committee on Hollywood redevelopment will meet tonight despite assertions from Los Angeles Councilman Michael Woo and the Community Redevelopment Agency that the panel no longer exists.

“It is business as usual,” said Scott Halper, the committee’s secretary, who added that the committee will continue to meet indefinitely. “We have a full agenda.”

Woo proposed last week that the City Council replace the 25-member Project Area Committee with an 11-member group he would appoint. The council’s Planning and Environment Committee endorsed Woo’s proposal this week, and the entire council is expected to approve it Tuesday.

For several years, critics of the 1.7-square-mile renewal effort have used the Project Area Committee as a forum for their fears and complaints about Woo and the CRA. In announcing his new committee, Woo said it was time to give Hollywood redevelopment a “fresh start” by appointing a panel he can work with.

Angry PAC members have characterized the move as arrogant and tyrannical because it replaces a predominantly elected body with an appointed one. Four of the PAC members were appointed by Woo and the rest were elected by residents, property owners and local merchants.

“He is trying to do away with the democratic process,” said PAC member Norton Halper.

Woo sent letters last week to PAC members thanking them for their participation on the committee.

A Woo aide said the letters were meant to inform members that the PAC had been disbanded, but only four members have indicated to the CRA that they intend to resign. PAC members said Wednesday they did not know how many members would attend tonight’s meeting, but they said they expected a large turnout.

City and CRA attorneys contend that under state law the agency is required to consult with the PAC only during the first three years of the redevelopment plan. The three-year period ended last week. The attorneys said the PAC expired May 8 because the council did not vote to extend its life.

Questions City Authority

Opponents of the redevelopment effort--including a majority of the PAC and the group’s private attorney--assert that the city has no authority to disband the committee. Several PAC members complained Tuesday to the Planning and Environment Committee that Woo’s proposal was illegal, and the PAC as a whole recently voted to sue the city if the City Council goes along with Woo.

Orry P. Korb, the PAC’s attorney, said in a recent interview that a provision in the council’s Hollywood Redevelopment Plan states that the PAC must remain in existence during implementation of the plan, which could span its entire 30-year life. Korb has been working for the PAC without pay because the CRA and the City Council have refused to provide funding for an independent PAC staff.

“The PAC exists until the court tells the PAC it doesn’t exist,” Korb said. “The community can continue to meet as a Project Area Committee. There is nothing in the law that stops them from doing that.”

Even so, CRA officials said this week they will no longer provide staff for PAC meetings nor will they rent space for the sessions. Until last week, CRA Hollywood Project Manager H. Cooke Sunoo and three other staff members typically attended PAC meetings and two staff members usually attended subcommittee meetings. The CRA also paid $100 per month for a meeting room at the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood.

‘Basically Woo’s Call’

“It is basically Councilman Woo’s call with the concurrence of the full City Council,” said CRA spokesman Marc Littman. “There is legal precedent for allowing the PAC to lapse and appointing a new advisory committee in its place. The CRA stands ready to work with the new citizens panel if that is what the council opts to do.”

Tonight’s meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Hollywood YWCA, 1215 N. Lodi Place. Robert W. Nudelman, the committee’s assistant chairman, said he attempted to book the meeting at the church and the Hollywood Senior Citizens Multi Purpose Center but was turned down by both. In the past, PAC subcommittees have frequently met at the senior center.

“I was told that they wanted permission from Woo and the CRA,” Nudelman said.

Woo spokeswoman Julie Jaskol said the councilman had nothing to do with two organizations’ decision not to provide space for tonight’s meeting.

About a dozen Hollywood residents, including Nudelman and six other PAC members, confronted Woo about the turmoil surrounding the citizens committee at Tuesday’s Planning and Environment Committee meeting. The residents challenged Woo’s authority to do away with the PAC, and some offered to work with the councilman to improve the committee.

Several PAC members complained after the meeting that Woo was the only committee member present during most of the testimony, giving them no opportunity to appeal to Woo’s colleagues. Councilwoman Ruth Galanter did not attend the meeting, and Councilman Hal Bernson was present only for the end of the testimony and to vote with Woo in favor of the proposal.

Jaskol Woo said the councilman recognized the problem and will probably accept testimony when the council considers the matter Tuesday.