Housing Plan for Old Tunnel Site Gains

A Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday rejected an appeal meant to block the construction of apartments on the old Belmont Tunnel lot downtown.

Community activists, who are trying to preserve the lot as a graffiti art park, said they would take their case to the full council next week.

But with the failed appeal before the Planning and Land-Use Management Committee Wednesday, Meta Housing Corp. is all but sure to get the go-ahead needed to begin construction as early as next week on a 276-unit apartment complex at the 2nd Street and Glendale Boulevard site.

Community activists had hoped to persuade Councilmen Ed Reyes, Jack Weiss and Tony Cardenas to block the plan and request a full environmental impact report.

“What is viewed as abandoned has already been redeveloped by the community to serve a specific need that the city has failed to provide: public space,” said Moises Medina, a resident of the neighborhood.

The lot has been used for tarasca, an ancient Mexican ballgame, and as a canvas for elaborate graffiti murals that have gained international notoriety and been the backdrop to films and commercials.

But other community activists argued the development would help solve a long-standing need for affordable housing in the dense neighborhoods that surround downtown.”I am tired of seeing people on the street,” said Alvivon Hurd, a downtown resident and member of ACORN, a housing advocacy group.

“As much as I like the park, I can’t take that position.”

The planned complex calls for 55 affordable housing units, an after-school tutorial program and surplus parking.

Earlier this year, park advocates failed to convince the Cultural Heritage Commission that the lot’s graffiti-covered retaining walls were historically significant enough to be preserved. The Meta Housing plan preserves the Pacific Electric subway tunnel opening and a nearby electrical substation building, both of which were given protected status by the commission. Reyes, chairman of the committee, said he understood the desire for open space for the immigrant workers who play pelota tarasca, but that the need for housing in his district is too great.