Playing Playa Vista as Farce : Development: The city-size project gets the green light to destroy the neighborhood; this is government?

On July 29, a key scene in the decade-long Playa Vista epic was played out in the City Council chambers--and it was so well-scripted it took only one take.

In perhaps their final act before being replaced by Riordan administration appointees, four members of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission held a public hearing on Phase 1 of the massive Playa Vista project, and then quickly approved it with a minimum of discussion.

The production was so smooth, it was easy to appreciate that we were watching a big-budget extravaganza. After all, with its 3,246 residential units and 1.25 million square feet of office space, Phase 1 alone will probably be the single largest development approved by the city in this decade. Not surprisingly, the producer/director/writer/leading actor, Maguire Thomas Partners, with billions at stake, made sure the show went on without a hitch.

I know; I have been a bit player in this drama for more than 10 years, even before Maguire Thomas was inked by the Summa Corp. a few years ago to clinch the deal. As one of the founders of Marina del Rey, I have been involved with this part of Los Angeles for nearly 40 years, and I have given testimony at every public hearing and contacted countless elected officials about my reservations about Playa Vista.

I have not relished my role, because I am pro-development and eager to do whatever I can to encourage the revitalization of our battered economy. But I cannot keep silent, because construction of this behemoth without the proper traffic mitigation will destroy the quality of life in this part of our region.

Phase 1 of Playa Vista will add at least 44,500 traffic trips every day to already severely congested streets and freeways. Yet the city dismissed most of Caltrans’ list of proposed mitigation measures, claiming that the state could not demonstrate that an additional 44,500 trips were sufficient cause for mitigation for the San Diego and Marina freeways and Lincoln Boulevard.

Common sense tells me that an abominable traffic situation is only going to get worse. But none of the chorus of supporters at the commission meeting told us how the developer’s modest package of traffic improvements would avert gridlock. Protests about the lack of traffic mitigation, even from the state and county governments, were cut off or greeted by silence.

No mention was made of the lack of mass transit, nor of the omission of provisions for high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes from the Playa Vista plan, without which there will be little practical incentive for the high number of car pools predicted by the developer and the city as the answer to our traffic problems.

Where were the the elected officials who have promised us less traffic and better air? Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, elected to represent that area several years ago to fight additional growth and traffic congestion, made a cameo appearance to request several minor changes to the proposal, nearly all of which the developer had agreed to beforehand, thus ensuring her nomination as a critical supporting actor.

Eager to move on from the Planning Commission to his new role on the Airport Commission, Ted Stein did not even acknowledge the potential impact Playa Vista will have on Los Angeles International Airport’s expansion plans. What will he say to airline passengers and transportation companies, already angry over time and money wasted sitting on clogged streets and runways, when the congestion gets worse and they threaten to take their business elsewhere?

And what will the city do when it is cited for noncompliance with the Congestion Management Plan, which could cost Los Angeles as much as $30 million a year?

The Planning Commission also turned a deaf ear to the testimony of scientists who questioned the viability of Playa Vista’s proposed reconstructed freshwater wetlands, even to one botanist who asserted that his expert consulting work for Playa Vista had been altered in an unprofessional and unethical manner.

Developers and labor leaders were on hand for their “walk-on” appearances to espouse the economic benefits of the project. No one mentioned the fact that traffic congestion and the resulting decline in quality of life is one of the primary reasons Southern Californians leave the area. Or that additional traffic mitigation would create more, not fewer, jobs, though less profit. Nor did anyone explain how Playa Vista could be big enough to jump-start our local economy, but too small to degrade our air quality. Debate about these matters would have distracted the crowd from the happy ending envisioned by the cast and crew.

Other viewers were left wondering what dramatic scenes had been left on the City Hall “cutting-room floor” when some notable actors failed to appear. The California Coastal Commission, reputed to be a passionate defender of public access to the coastal zone, submitted comments critical of the project last fall, but has since disappeared. Supervisors Deane Dana and Yvonne Burke were not there, preoccupied as they undoubtedly were with the county’s budget crisis, although they might have suffered stage fright from the prospect of defending the county’s and their constituents’ interests in front of a City of Los Angeles audience.

All in all, it was an impressive, polished performance in often-subtle political theater. But I wonder how many of us will still be shouting “Bravo!” from behind the wheels of our gridlocked cars just a few years from now.