Westside : COMMITTEE CLASH

A citizens group that helps guide redevelopment in Hollywood is out of business, at least for the time being. Nearly half the members of a committee that advises the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency resigned this week, forcing the group to cancel its meeting Monday for lack of a quorum.

The committee has been torn by dissension since its 35 members were elected last year. Of 30 remaining members, 13 quit in the last week.

Nine members said in a letter issued Monday that they resigned partly because of personal attacks from committee members and because of “counterproductive behavior” among some of their colleagues.

Among other things, committee members clashed over a proposed social service center for the homeless. Some saw the Hollywood Boulevard project as necessary while others objected to locating the center on the historic thoroughfare.

“Committee members were cheering [at one meeting] when people said negative things about the homeless and the center,” said one committee member. “All this evil behavior is tolerated.”

Some former committee members also cited the snail’s pace of the group’s progress as a reason for leaving. The committee spent four months debating its bylaws earlier this year.

Some who remain on the committee criticized their colleagues for quitting, saying that heated discussion is part of the process in such groups.

City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg will have 60 days to appoint new members to the committee. She also can disband the group and appoint a new advisory committee. Goldberg, who was in Washington on city business, could not be reached for comment.