NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Store Parking Flap Splits Neighbors

In a decision that has split a North Hollywood neighborhood, city officials have moved to force a popular Latino supermarket to control parking or face revocation of its business license.

While some neighbors claim the Food Bag at 6340 Tujunga Ave. is creating a parking, traffic and trash nightmare on Tujunga and adjoining Bakman Street, others have organized a petition asking zoning officials to drop the action.

Many shoppers, unable to find a spot in the small parking lot, park on Bakman Street, sometimes blocking driveways and leaving shopping carts and trash on the neighbors’ lawns.

The issue has drawn the interest of Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who has backed the city’s action against the Food Bag.

“The neighbors are getting upset,” said Ann Ellingson, a Bakman Street resident. “One girl was changing her baby’s diaper in front of a house and when the owner asked her not to leave the soiled diaper on the lawn, the girl threw it at her.”

Food Bag owner Roberto Rodriguez Jr. said he has already tried to expand parking in the lot, but a city zoning official last month denied his request to demolish two homes he owns behind the store.

“I did everything I could to try to enlarge my parking lot,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t know what they want me to do.”

Now several other neighbors are forming a petition in support of Rodriguez.

“The intent is not to close the market,” said Tom Henry, a planning deputy for Wachs. “The intent is to make the market a better neighbor for the people who live around it.”

Henry believes a solution can be reached before any revocation proceedings are scheduled. Rodriguez said he will propose a new plan that will again include demolishing the homes he owns for more parking, but will also isolate the store from Bakman Avenue with a six-foot wall and a new entrance on Victory Boulevard.

This sounded good to Ellingson.

“Basically, that’s all we’re asking him to do,” she said.