SHERMAN OAKS : Demonstrators Oppose Quake Repair District

About 40 demonstrators, some waving signs, paraded in front of Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s field office on Ventura Boulevard on Monday, seeking to persuade the councilman to vote against a controversial proposal to create an emergency redevelopment area in the community.

The City Council will decide today whether to establish the Sherman Oaks redevelopment area, which would be the first such district in the San Fernando Valley. Five others in areas surrounding Northridge, Reseda, North Hollywood, Pacoima and East Hollywood will be reviewed by the council beginning Wednesday.

Matt Epstein, co-chairman of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.’s CRA study committee, presented Yaroslavsky aide Mark Spellman with a petition that Epstein said was signed by 2,500 Sherman Oaks residents.

“Last week, it came out in the paper that Zev was leaning toward the (redevelopment area) because there has been no negative response from the community,” Epstein said. “We went out this weekend and we got signatures.”

Spellman accepted the thick sheaf of papers and said simply, “I’ll get these to him today.”

Alisa Katz, Yaroslavsky’s chief of staff, said the councilman had not made up his mind on the issue.

The petition “is a very important piece of information,” Katz said. “I don’t want to understate the significance of that many signatures.”

Katz added that the redevelopment project could be a good tool to bring funds for rebuilding into the community. The Community Redevelopment Agency has proposed the $18.8-million, 900-acre project in Sherman Oaks as a way to rebuild quake-damaged buildings and to make infrastructure improvements. The money would come from the sale of bonds, to be repaid by increased tax revenues resulting from the improvements.

Homeowners said they took their petition drive door-to-door and to supermarkets.

The homeowners’ group feels the proposal does not have adequate limits on the CRA’s powers to condemn property and could allow too much money to be spent on street and sewer improvements at the expense of residential rebuilding.

The Chamber of Commerce, however, supports the idea.

Gary Holme, who said he manages properties with a total of 1,500 units in Sherman Oaks, said that existing private and public funding sources can take care of the rebuilding that needs to be done, and that construction has already begun on many of the structures the CRA considers to be in need of help.

CRA officials said that as of Oct. 11 there were 800 damaged residential buildings, comprising 10,100 units, and 200 crumbled commercial buildings in Sherman Oaks.

According to Holme, however, there are only 47 residential structures--equaling 1,210 units--and only five commercial buildings that have shown no signs of reconstruction activity.

Proposed Redevelopment Area The Community Redevelopment Agency wants to create a 900-acre redevelopment zone in Sherman Oaks, one of the hardest-hit areas in the quake. A portion of local property taxes will be diverted to pay for reconstruction, new construction and public improvements. Source: Community Redevelopment Agency