LAKE VIEW TERRACE : Housing Plan Draws Fire From Residents
Community members say all they want is a new library. On Monday, Los Angeles city officials told them what they will get: a $12.6-million affordable-housing project called Library Village, to be built between two struggling strip malls on Foothill Boulevard in Lake View Terrace.
Councilman Richard Alarcon and city housing officials presented plans for the development--which include a 10,000-square-foot library surrounded by 76 townhomes in Lake View Terrace’s only commercial district--to about 100 skeptical homeowners and other residents at a public hearing sponsored by the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn.
Alarcon and housing officials came under a barrage of criticism from residents who said they desperately want a new library--but not if it’s built in the middle of the town’s lone, deteriorated commercial corridor, and not if it’s packaged with a housing development.
“We’re inundated with low-income housing already,” said Sandy McGregor, a member of the Lake View Terrace Homeowners Assn. and a local realtor. “There are alternative sites for the library; why don’t we study those?”
Developing affordable-housing projects, which are funded by a combination of private and public dollars and offer some benefit to the community such as a new library or Head Start programs, is one of Alarcon’s priorities.
In Alarcon’s 7th Council District, 26% of the residents live in overcrowded conditions, according to 1990 Census figures. The Census defines overcrowded as households with more than 1.5 people per room.
At Monday night’s meeting, Alarcon defended Library Village as a unique opportunity for the community, and said, if built, the development would increase the pool of potential shoppers and bolster the sagging business of the two strip malls on Foothill Boulevard between Terra Bella and Pierce streets.
Library Village would be constructed on a vacant 2.7-acre parcel between the two malls.
The developer, American Housing Construction Inc., of Encino, and nonprofit Neighborhood Empowerment and Economic Development Inc., of North Hills, agreed to designate 21,000 square feet for construction of a new library.
Alarcon said he saw the opportunity as a way to obtain “free” land for a long-needed new library, although the city loaned the developer $1.8 million to buy and develop the property.
After a presentation by the developers, most residents said they still opposed the housing and the library at the Foothill Boulevard location.
“It’s our only commercial shopping area, and you want to make it residential,” said one resident. “Why not build a new restaurant or a theater?”
Others said they would not use the library if it is built there, because the area is a known hangout for gang members and the homeless.
Alarcon said he has tried to lure merchants to the area, but failed because the population is not great enough to support new businesses. He agreed to work with community leaders to resolve differences and possibly modify the project.
