Council Rejects Plan for Halfway House
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday rejected a plan by county probation officials to convert a failing retirement home in a quiet Studio City neighborhood into a halfway house for people convicted of misdemeanors.
Council President John Ferraro, who represents the area, called the project admirable but said the location was wrong.
Neighbors from the adjoining area of single-family houses had hotly protested the project, which the council defeated on a 12-0 vote.
Under the rejected plan, the Ventura Retirement Villa at 11201 Ventura Blvd., a 146-bed home for the elderly, would have become a residence for up to 140 lawbreakers serving time in a work-furlough program run by a private firm under contract to the county Probation Department.
The work-furlough program would have been the second of its kind in the county.
County officials tried to calm residents, saying no offenders guilty of violent or predatory behavior would be sentenced to the facility and that most participants would be convicted drunk drivers.
The application to operate the halfway house was supported by Goldrich-Kest, the development company that owns the Ventura Boulevard property.
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