SHERMAN OAKS : Councilman Wants Buildings Destroyed

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has asked that a string of vacant buildings in a block-long stretch of prime Ventura Boulevard real estate be destroyed because they attract vagrants and present a health hazard.

“It is imperative that these buildings be demolished immediately in order to mitigate the existing problems and nuisances these buildings are creating,” Yaroslavsky wrote to Oved Ovadia, who is seeking to redevelop the property in the 13600 block of Ventura Boulevard, between Woodman Avenue and Ventura Canyon Avenue.

The site housed the old Scene of the Crime bookstore development, the subject of a 1991 lawsuit against the city in which a developer contended that the recently passed Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan unfairly halted his project. The site is now slated for redevelopment as 10,000 square feet of retail space and an 111-unit senior housing project.

But in the meantime, Yaroslavsky said he has received numerous complaints about the vacant buildings, including that they are a haven for rats and vagrants.

“The place is a mess. It’s a health hazard,” said Vivian Rescalvo, planning deputy for Yaroslavsky. “We want it torn down.”

Fred Gaines, an attorney for Reznik & Reznik, the law firm representing Ovadia, said his client has not reached a decision about demolishing the buildings, which have been vacant since 1989.

“We just got the letter,” Gaines said. “We’re trying to figure out what the costs are that are involved, and what our options are.”

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., greeted news of the request, contained in a letter dated June 3, with relief.

“People in Sherman Oaks are tired of looking at this,” Close said. “We want this mess cleaned up and the rodents out.”

But a co-owner of the nearby Insomnia Cafe, who has been engaged in a yearlong battle with Close and the homeowners over his allegedly raucous coffeehouse, said that maybe the homeowners will think twice the next time they oppose a development.

“I don’t think they thought in their wildest dreams it would sit vacant like that for so long,” John Dunn said. “They hurt this community--they didn’t help it.”