SUN VALLEY : Transportation Program Seeks to Lure Visitors

Most people don’t stop--or even think about stopping--when passing through Sun Valley, residents say.

That’s probably because they’re zooming through Sun Valley at about 65 m.p.h. on the Hollywood or Golden State freeways, which meet in the middle of the community of 41,000.

But if the local postmaster and his team of organizers continue at the rate they’re going, Sun Valley will be the first of eight Los Angeles communities to fund major transportation improvements through a new federal program.

The program, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, or LANI, is aimed at transforming deteriorating, freeway-corridor communities into more attractive, accessible neighborhoods--the kind of place that might lure travelers off the highways to stop, shop or just smell the roses.

LANI, a federal grant program administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was conceived a year ago after state Department of Transportation officials met with city officials to discuss ways to spur economic revitalization and “humanize” transportation issues, said Joyce Perkins, LANI’s executive director.

Eight Los Angeles-area communities located in major transportation corridors were selected to become part of a 30-month demonstration project. In addition to Sun Valley, the only other San Fernando Valley community included in the project is North Hollywood.

City Council members appointed community leaders to make recommendations and submit applications for state transportation funds.

“The eight demonstration areas have shown different degrees of intensity,” Perkins said. “But Sun Valley has set the pace. They were the first area to produce sponsor dollars. They are extremely enthusiastic.”

Sun Valley’s efforts are driven by a group appointed by Councilman Richard Alarcon and headed by Postmaster Jon Eshback, who was elected chairman. Eshback and his group have met weekly since June and plan to begin major community improvement projects by Christmas--well before the deadline to submit their list of proposed improvements.

“We want to get our work plan in 45 days early and get started working,” says Eshback, who was born and reared in Sun Valley. “Everybody’s opinion is, let’s push as hard as we can until we get the projects accepted.” Some improvements likely to stem from the $250,000 in federal funding Sun Valley received through the program so far this year include: repaving and curbing, installing sidewalks, street lights, bus-stop kiosks and benches, landscaping, and constructing jogging paths.

“What we want to do is create an identity for Sun Valley,” said Lance Reynolds, director of Neighborhood Empowerment and Economic Development Inc., the community management firm hired by Sun Valley to implement its plans.

“We want people to drive in, be able to stop and shop and maybe enjoy the mariachis in the town center,” he said. “That means fixing up the streets, many of which are unpaved. It means landscaping and painting buildings. It means giving people a reason to get out of their cars and do something in the town.”