A Painful Lesson in Suburban Renewal : Block’s Comeback Was Frustrated by False Starts, Politics

Finally, some good news for Ventura Boulevard: a long-vacant and blighted stretch near Woodman Avenue reopens this month with a brand-new look and a variety of new shops. Yet despite the obvious benefit of replacing the boarded-up storefronts with snappy new facades, no one should congratulate themselves too heartily on the debut.

It took far too long for so little to be accomplished. The block’s recent sorry history as a home for derelicts and vermin should be a vivid lesson on how not to get things done. We celebrate that the buildings are once again filling with tenants and an important part of the San Fernando Valley’s Main Street is coming back to life. But this modest success was reached only after eight years of slogging through the political and legal muck--an experience that left all sides more tired than jubilant.

Since 1988, neighbors, city officials and the block’s developer have bickered over what to do with the property on the south side of the boulevard. Developer Jacky Gamliel evicted tenants and announced plans to turn the eclectic mix of shops--including the popular Scene of the Crime bookstore--into a three-story office building. Unfortunately, Gamliel acted before he had a building permit in hand--the first of many goofs that doomed the block to sit empty and decaying.

Neighbors, protective of their property values, immediately cried foul, saying the project should be no taller than the two floors allowed by the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, which guides growth on the strip. Former City Councilman Mike Woo blocked both the building permits and the clearance necessary to demolish the old shops, hoping to force a full environmental review.

So the empty shops stood as they were. Over time, the homeless moved in. So did rats. The smell of human waste stank up the block and the boarded-up windows gave the once-bustling strip the look and feel of a war zone. Gamliel, meanwhile, launched a legal war of his own against the city with a $10-million lawsuit challenging the validity of the Specific Plan. Although he scaled back the project, neighbors still turned up their noses.

When another developer, Ovadia Oved, proposed building two floors of senior housing above ground-level retail shops, former city councilman--and current County Supervisor--Zev Yaroslavsky supported the idea over the objections of neighbors, who continued their mantra that the project would be too tall. But that project also failed, even after the city guaranteed a $2.4-million low-interest loan because Oved could not cobble together the rest of the $8 million he needed.

So last year, the block’s frustrated owner took back control and announced a $1-million renovation of the existing shops. The first--an upscale gift shop--opened earlier this month. Others are opening at a good clip, demonstrating how strong the market for good retail space along the boulevard can still be. This should have happened long ago. Common sense and good business dictate that negotiation is preferable to a slugfest any day. But at every turn, that’s what the parties involved chose.

In the end, the block is little changed from its 1988 condition. Sparkling with new paint and new interiors, it is home again to a friendly mix of single-story neighborhood shops. Pity it took this long to get back to where we started.