SHERMAN OAKS : Leaders Criticize Yaroslavsky’s Efforts

Some community leaders have criticized Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s recent work on two important community issues--parking and the proposed widening of the Van Nuys Boulevard-Ventura Boulevard intersection in Sherman Oaks.

Yaroslavsky issued a news release last week saying that his office had helped find replacement parking for a soon-to-be-closed public lot and contributed to the resolution of the controversial widening issue. Ventura Boulevard will be widened for 150 feet west of Van Nuys Boulevard, rather than for a total 580 feet east and west of Van Nuys Boulevard, as originally proposed.

But community activists say they are unhappy that alternative parking replacing the public lot on Cedros Avenue south of Ventura Boulevard has been secured only through Nov. 23. The replacement parking is at La Reina Fashion Plaza in the 14600 block of Ventura Boulevard.

The activists also have complained that the widening--which necessitates narrowing a sidewalk to make room for an additional left-turn lane--impedes their goal of making the area more attractive to pedestrians.

Yaroslavsky labeled the complaints “preposterous.”

“We’re very pleased that there is a resolution to this and everybody’s concerns have been taken into account and that’s it,” he said. “The most important thing is that the community is going to be served. The most dysfunctional intersection in Sherman Oaks is going to be made functional again.”

Regarding the widening, Tom Grant, a board member of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. and a member of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board, said he objects to the sidewalk being narrowed. He said that it is in the middle of a strip that the planning review board is trying to make a pedestrian area under a conceptual street-scape program there.

Gerald A. Silver, an Encino community leader, said the compromise “cuts out the heart of the Specific Plan.” Under that plan for Ventura Boulevard, he said, street widenings are “the single most important improvement to mitigate the traffic problem.”

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said he appreciates that the council office found the alternative parking, but that the future concerns him.

Kinder words for Yaroslavsky came from community leader Jeff Brain, who pronounced himself “satisfied” with the widening compromise. He said he believes that the council office will find replacement parking beyond Nov. 23.