Homeowner Heck in Toluca Lake, Courtesy of Universal Studios

SALLY STEVENS, Toluca Lake

MCA/Universal has finally presented to the public, and to city and county regional planning commissioners, their “master plan” for a threefold expansion of activities at Universal City.

With their expensive promotional material has come a glossy, 1,200-page environmental impact report intended to support their claims that his expansion will in no way be detrimental to the community and will continue the exemplary relationship they now have with their “neighbors” in nearby communities, and will shower economic and cultural blessing upon us all.

The first specific attraction announced in their unending search for “culture” and “wholesome family entertainment” since the announcement of the proposed expansion, is the “Sliminator,” a feature opening soon that will spew hundreds of gallons of green slime on a (paying!) audience. How appropriate. They’ve been “sliming” those of us they affectionately refer to as “their Universal City Neighbors” for nearly a decade.

With regard only to the impact of noise disturbance, already existing from Universal Theme Park (and from their filming activities, which have by some sort of dispensation been officially exempted from existing ordinances) I include an excerpt from a letter I wrote June 9 of last year to Raymond Ristic, at that time head of the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission:

“I am writing you at quarter of 10 on this Sunday night, because it is all I can think of to do with this anger-generated energy.

“I have been listening all day long [Sunday] to amplified dinosaur roars, crowd shouts, explosions, loud music, etc. . . . a typical day in Toluca Lake.

“Now, from what apparently is a special event going at Universal there is presently emanating [amplified] music of such a volume that once again, there is no escaping it--not by closing windows and doors, not by turning up my own CD player.

“I just called Universal for the seventh time today. I finally reached a security employee who put me on hold for ages, and then apologized for the delay, saying they had “had a lot of complaints tonight.” I bet they did. As usual, no relief was forthcoming.”

In fact, I have been told in the past by the police representative who deals with this sort of complaint that if it really bothers me I should move, because “they [Universal] are bigger than City Hall.”

At least out of the prospect of this unbridled expansion plan has come a public hearing process. For the first time, I feel like there’s someone on the other end of the phone, even though the hearing process itself has so far been highly undemocratic as far as giving weight to residents’ concerns.

The chief problem is that Universal wants blanket master plan approval for a 25-year period from any further input from the public or the city and county. They want us to trust them--to trust their predictions that no traffic nightmares or ecological disasters will ensue from their activities, that our community will not change negatively, that they will in fact create the 13,000 jobs they promise, that they will maintain the intended balance between their various proposed “districts” within the property and not create only a a huge out-of-control amusement park.

Of course, Universal offers undeniable benefits to the city and to the county, in terms of revenue and in terms of jobs. But surely there must be a balance, there must be some kind of accountability, and the interests of the public must be addressed.

Reasonable minds could decide on some sort of phased-in expansion, where the impact of each step could be examined along the way. Some evidence could be given of the type of jobs Universal/MCA intends to make available, and that if indeed they are truly jobs in motion picture production, that MCA/Universal show their good faith by returning some of the jobs that have gone out of our community in favor of productions done out of state or out of the country, or productions they’ve picked up for distribution that were done elsewhere, wherever they are not bound by contracts with the performing and technical craft unions to whom they have already made “promises” and broken them.

Regarding noise, the people disturbed by Universal’s activities are residents of Los Angeles. City noise ordinances controlling amplified noise must be adopted. If they were used, and not county ordinances which Universal has asked to have applied, there would be an end to the unforgiving intrusion into the lives of hundreds of homeowners for years and years.

C’mon, Universal, admit it. If there was a way for you to make all that money without creating 13,000 jobs, you’d do it, wouldn’t you? Let’s get real. Before we all get slimed, permanently--or at least for the next 25 years.