Planner Chosen to Oversee Hollywood Redevelopment

A transportation planning expert who headed Los Angeles’ downtown revitalization effort has been assigned to oversee the city’s billion-dollar Hollywood redevelopment project.

Donald R. Spivack, one of three operations directors for the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency, said Monday that he will supervise all aspects of the Hollywood project. His duties will include overseeing work done by city project managers, planners, engineers, and real estate and financial experts, and consulting with City Council offices and public interest groups.

Spivack’s appointment comes at a critical juncture for Hollywood, according to redevelopment agency spokesman Marc Littman, because city planners are working with Councilman Michael Woo’s staff to establish Hollywood’s first comprehensive transportation management plan and urban design guidelines for Hollywood Boulevard.

The Hollywood redevelopment project, the agency’s second-largest after the 1,500-acre central business revitalization plan, will encompass a 1,100-acre area bounded by Santa Monica Boulevard on the south, Franklin Avenue on the north, La Brea Avenue on the west and Western Avenue on the east.

Spivack said in an interview this week that he will try to balance the wishes of the business community and development-sensitive community members.

“In overseeing the project, I want to make sure that steady and good progress is being made in carrying out the project with a clear understanding of the sensitivity and needs of the community,” Spivack said. “We are trying to put Hollywood forward on its best foot--it’s not only a world renowned place but home to a number of people.”

Historic preservation, improving traffic flow, remedying social needs and protecting neighborhoods will be top priorities in the project, which is formally known as the Hollywood Redevelopment Plan, Spivack said.

Cooke Sunoo, the redevelopment agency’s current on-site Hollywood project manager, will report to Spivack but his duties will not be affected, Littman said. Sunoo’s former supervisor, Diana Webb, was recently promoted to deputy chief of operations at the agency, prompting the reshuffling of assignments among other directors, Littman said.

Spivack will also oversee agency redevelopment projects in North Hollywood, the Crenshaw District, Chinatown and Monterey Hills, Littman said.

Spivack joined the redevelopment agency as transportation manager in December, 1982, coordinating transportation planning in downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood and North Hollywood. For the last seven years, he has managed the agency’s Central Business District Redevelopment Project.

Before working for the agency, Spivack worked on the expansion of the Washington, Metro Rapid Transit System into the Maryland suburbs.