‘Outsiders’ Blamed for Brawl at Meeting : North Hollywood: A group counters that the citizens committee is a rubber stamp for the Community Redevelopment Agency.

A bitter shouting match that touched off fighting at a North Hollywood Redevelopment Citizens Advisory Committee meeting was provoked by “outside agitators” from an ousted Hollywood redevelopment group, North Hollywood community leaders charged Wednesday.

Several Hollywood residents, who were removed from a similar redevelopment advisory committee last spring for what Councilman Michael Woo said was “wacky behavior,” has accused committee members of conducting an unfair election.

The Hollywood contingent’s decision to videotape the contentious North Hollywood Redevelopment Project Area Committee election meeting Tuesday night set off fist-swinging clashes. There were no serious injuries.

Brad Berlin, a law clerk representing the Hollywood dissidents, said his group was simply trying to help advise its neighbors in North Hollywood, who he said “have no idea” what the powerful Community Redevelopment Agency “is really doing to their community.”

The group charged that the CRA has failed to inform the community of its plans to carry out redevelopment in North Hollywood, an accusation that committee Chairwoman Ada Klevans called “absolutely ridiculous.”

Several ousted Hollywood redevelopment committee members and a handful of North Hollywood residents who attended Tuesday’s meeting charged that the 16-member Citizens Advisory Committee is a “rubber stamp” for CRA projects and that last month’s committee elections were conducted illegally, Berlin said.

The accusations infuriated some longtime members of the North Hollywood group, who said that for years they have been meeting relatively peacefully to help revitalize their community.

“These agitators have no place else to go, so they have moved to North Hollywood,” Klevans said. “Frankly, we resent this intrusion.”

Arguments broke out over eligibility requirements for candidates for vacant positions on the Citizens Advisory Committee. When a Hollywood resident attempted to videotape an exchange by positioning his camera near the face of North Hollywood committee member Guy McCreary, McCreary said he pushed aside the camera.

The incident escalated to a shoving melee. The camera was knocked to the ground. Greg Roberts, an unsuccessful candidate for a seat on the committee, complained to police that he was punched in the stomach.

Ousted members of the Hollywood Redevelopment Citizens Advisory Committee lost a court battle in December with the city and Councilman Woo. Woo disbanded the committee, naming new members, because he said it had become a forum for “wacky behavior” bent on undermining his Hollywood renewal effort.

“It really is a rotten shame that these outsiders have come in to disrupt the North Hollywood committee,” said Renee Weitzer, a deputy to Councilman John Ferraro, who represents North Hollywood. “I’m not sure what their motive is,” said Weitzer, who was present at the tumultuous meeting.

The 740-acre North Hollywood Redevelopment area is the city of Los Angeles’ only redevelopment zone in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in Los Angeles, ranking behind the downtown central business zone and the Hollywood zone.

Large swaths of run-down commercial buildings along Lankershim Boulevard have been razed over the years with little community controversy, clearing the way for major office complexes. The highly touted $41-million Academy project, a cluster of offices and apartments so named because it will house the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is under construction.

The tension on the committee arose at a time when the CRA is planning to extend the amount of time the agency can exercise its power of eminent domain to purchase land in the zone. Also, in the next 18 months the CRA will be seeking to raise its $89-million spending limit, imposed by the city in 1979, to finance new developments. The funds come from property taxes allocated to the CRA rather than government bodies such as Los Angeles County and the school district.

If the citizens committee disapproves the amendment, under state law it would take a two-thirds majority vote of the Los Angeles City Council to override it.

Berlin and several North Hollywood residents contend that citizens in the area are ill-informed of these CRA plans and believe that a more active community advisory panel could voice a wide range of opinions.

Roberts, a North Hollywood resident, said he has served twice on the committee but quit because he was harassed for his views. Roberts said he was the only one on the board to voice opposition to the “systematic bulldozing of the area.” He said he objects to the CRA tearing down low- and moderate-income housing to replace it with commercial buildings and expensive apartments.

For his views, he said, he was “constantly, verbally rebuked” by other committee members and “intimidated.”

The Hollywood group and their associates are calling for an election to fill nine vacant seats on the North Hollywood committee. Under state law, however, the CRA is not required to call such an election.