Anti-CRA Bloc Retains Control of NoHo Panel

Critics of the Community Redevelopment Agency said Thursday they have retained control of the advisory panel overseeing the agency’s North Hollywood program, guaranteeing another two years of battle over how to revive the area.

In elections this week, the anti-CRA bloc maintained its two-thirds majority on the city’s 25-member North Hollywood Redevelopment Project Area Committee, said Glenn Hoiby, the panel’s chairman.

“The general attitude of the majority of members is the same,” Hoiby said. “We are disappointed with the lack of progress and positive results, as well as the agency’s waste of money.”

Gary Hendrickson, who was one of 11 committee members reelected by the public Tuesday, said he will carry on his crusade against many of the agency’s activities in North Hollywood.

“The feeling of being anti-CRA stems from the fact that it has been here over 20 years and it has failed to accomplish any of its goals,” said Hendrickson.

Many of the opponents say they want to see North Hollywood revitalized but do not believe the CRA needs to use tax dollars to subsidize the work.

Hendrickson said antipathy to the subsidies is particularly strong concerning a major film studio proposed by a private developer near the soon-to-open North Hollywood subway station.

Developer J. Allen Radford is negotiating with CRA officials for a development agreement that could include some subsidies. In addition, the CRA has said it is willing to use its powers of eminent domain to take and demolish buildings on the project site.

One of the buildings potentially in the path of bulldozers is owned by optometrist Thomas Kutrosky, who recently told the CRA board that it would be a hardship if his building is taken.

Kutrosky is one of two new members elected to the PAC on Tuesday.

He said he just wants to make sure the CRA treats property owners fairly. But he also shares some of the other concerns of those who have opposed the CRA.

Kutrosky said the city attorney’s office faces a conflict of interest representing both his committee and the CRA. The elected committee has clashed with the city attorney over issues, including a warning by the city that the committee could not discuss certain aspects of the Radford project because some committee members own property that might be affected.

“They used that as an excuse to keep us out of the loop on the project for six months,” Hoiby said.

Because of such disputes, the elected committee has sought authority to hire its own attorney, Hoiby said.

The anti-CRA bloc will also continue to press its claims that the CRA staff has refused to comply with requests by the elected committee members for information on specific development projects.

“There is still concern about the reoccurring tendency of the agency to stonewall the [committee] and try to avoid [its] involvement in redevelopment projects,” Hoiby said.

Mildred Weller, another committee member, said the CRA bureaucrats have withheld important financial information on projects that might show how little the taxpayers are getting for their developer subsidies.

Robert Akhaban, a property owner elected to the committee Tuesday, said he is not part of the faction that he characterizes as the “extremist fringe.”

Akhaban said he does not believe agency critics will prevent the CRA from accomplishing its mission of revitalizing North Hollywood.

“I am hopeful,” he said Thursday.

Walter Beaumont, an assistant project manager with the CRA, also downplayed the effect of the election on the agency’s ability to do its job.

“It’s a partnership,” Beaumont said. “We need to work together. If the community elects a group that is critical and wants to look closely at what we do, that’s what we will work with.”