Neighbors Angry About Pace of Street Widening

A street-widening project on Beverly Glen Boulevard in Sherman Oaks set off a revolt by neighbors, who have complained to City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office that the street has been torn up by a private contractor for 10 weeks.

Owners of small neighborhood shops complain that their business is suffering, and a church preschool employee said mothers and children are forced to run across the busy boulevard in morning rush-hour traffic.

The southbound lane of Beverly Glen Boulevard has been torn up for about 100 feet south from Ventura Boulevard.

One resident posted a sign about 10 days ago at the intersection, reading:

“A private developer, Overland Centers, (213) 479-1261, tore up this street 10 weeks ago. Why won’t the city make them fix it? Ask Councilman Yaroslavsky. . . .”

A spokesman for Yaroslavsky, who has a field office at 14310 Ventura Blvd., one-half block east of the intersection, said the councilman’s office did not hear about the neighbors’ complaints until mid-April.

“We responded as quickly as possible,” said Vivian Rescalvo, planning deputy for Yaroslavsky. “We . . . let them know that their temporary schedule of occupancy was in jeopardy if they did not take care of this immediately.”

The developer said the project remains incomplete because it requires moving cables and telephone poles and waiting for the ground to dry to pour concrete.

“I can only emphasize that getting this road work done has taken priority at all times,” said Garry Sarkisian, vice president for West Coast operations of Oak Ridge Development Co. in West Los Angeles, parent company of Overland Centers.

She said the company hopes to finish the project next Tuesday.

The confrontation started when the development company opened Oak Ridge Plaza, a mini-mall on the southeast corner of Beverly Glen and Ventura boulevards. As a condition for issuing a building permit, city officials required the developer to build a second lane on the west side of Beverly Glen.

The company tore up the sidewalk on Beverly Glen, leaving a 4-foot-wide gravel strip beside the road. It also left a large hole at the entrance to an alley behind stores on the south side of the 14400 block of Ventura Boulevard. Customers and delivery people no longer had access to the alley or to the parking space behind the businesses. Anastasios Adrianos, owner of Casa Burger on the southwest corner of Beverly Glen and Ventura, said his business had dropped 50%. Young Kim, the proprietor of Young’s Cleaners a few doors down, said her shop’s business was off 40%.

Other problems developed at The Nurtury preschool, which is reachable only through the alley. Leilani Steelquist, administrative director of the school, said many mothers who could not get into the alley were parking on Beverly Glen and running their children across traffic to the school.

Several times parents tried to drive across the ditch at the entrance to the alley and got temporarily stuck in the mud following rains. “They had to rev their engines,” to get out, she said. “I was worried that someone might get run over.”

The business owners began protesting the road work at the urging of James E. Brodhead, an actor who has lived in the area 22 years.

Brodhead attached a sheet of Masonite to a utility pole at the corner and put up a highly visible protest sign. Three days later the sign was ripped down and he posted another, which has stayed up.

The builder said that work has been progressing as rapidly as possible, and the end is in sight.

The street widening has “been a comedy of errors,” Sarkisian said. “We feel very badly.”