Residents Want Bus Depot to Move On

Los Angeles City Council President Alex Padilla has asked the city attorney’s office to take legal action to remove a Greyhound bus terminal from a Mission Hills strip mall.

The depot, operating at 14729 Rinaldi St. despite a revoked permit, contributes to loitering strangers, littering, crimes and loud buses rumbling through narrow neighborhood streets, said Padilla, who represents the area.

Neighborhood residents protested the Greyhound depot’s move to Mission Hills in early 2002 after its lease expired in San Fernando.

A Los Angeles Police Department official said that determining whether crime was linked to the bus station would be difficult. Since January 2002, only four crimes -- including a stolen bicycle and stolen cars -- have been reported from the terminal’s address, said Lt. George Rock of the LAPD’s Foothill Division. In the last two years, 27 crimes have been reported in the block around the terminal, which includes stores and residences, he said.

The statistics are fairly typical for neighborhoods with mini-malls and stretches of commercial businesses, Rock said.

A spokeswoman for Greyhound said it was unfair to blame the bus terminal for crime and nuisance issues.

“It’s a perception that we often face, and it’s one that’s inaccurate and, in our experience, has been a neighborhood issue,” said Kim Plaskett. “Many of our riders are students, military personnel, seniors, people making $35,000 plus.”

The city’s Department of Building and Safety initially granted Greyhound a permit for the bus terminal in the Mission Hills strip mall. Later, the department realized that the zoning for the strip mall’s parking lot did not include picking up and dropping off passengers and revoked the permit. The zoning allowed for parking vehicles only.

“It’s almost like a Catch-22,” said Robert Steinbach, an assistant bureau chief in the department. “Technically, they’re still entitled to do business in the building, but they can’t have buses on the property, so obviously, why would you want a terminal?”

Padilla said the bottom line is that the terminal should move.

“It’s a terrible location for a terminal,” Padilla said. “The streets around that shopping center are small streets, they’re not made for a significant volume of bus traffic. There’s a lot of pedestrians, there’s churches in the area, schools. It’s a bad location from a land-use perspective, and it’s certainly out of compliance from a legal perspective” because it lacks a permit.

“We try to work with cities and local law enforcement to come up with ways to improve the neighborhoods because we’re concerned about our customers,” Plaskett said.

Many Greyhound stations operate 24 hours a day, but the Mission Hills terminal is open only from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., handling as many as 27 daily buses, she said.

Plaskett said Greyhound had spent $500,000 renovating the site and had no plans to move.

“We’re pursuing a resolution with the city, but we plan on operating there,” she said.

Padilla said staying was not an option.

“We want this location to shut down,” he said.