Eastwood Coalition Report

May 4, 2004

Opening and thanks to all who help put the meetings together.

Crime Report – Armen Sevdahlian and Mike Shea

Crime is very low – burglary from motor vehicles is still high. Graffiti and transients are a big problem right now. The police coordinate the services of the social service providers sharing information with the homeless.

Graffiti – St. Andrews is getting hit quite often. Beverly Christian church on gramercy is getting hit – they lease out part of their building to a probation school. There are many members of several different gangs attending the same school. At 2:30pm, when they get out, they run loose in the community causing problems. Armen has asked the head of the church to see if we can get rid of the probation school. If you see any gangsters hanging around, call that church and complain. There is also a building on Harold way where gangsters hang out. The owner is working on getting them out. If you see gang members loitering, call our gang unit 323- 957-6493.

The LAPD has a website: www.lapdonline.org and it has all the brochures and helpful information.

White Fence is the most violent gang here right now. The other gangs are pulling back due to the injunction. The two locations above are only some of the areas that the LAPD are targeting.

One neighbor asked “Why are they [gangsters] here?” Drugs, prostitution and eventually, they will extort money from the businesses.

“What do shoes hanging over the power lines mean?” Drugs are being sold or they are initiating a new gang member in the area. Sometimes they will beat the initiate and throw his shoes over the power line.

One neighbor reported that the 18^th street gangs are present at Griffith Park. He and his family were at Griffith Park during the Easter vacation. He actually had a conversation with a couple of gang members. Armen thanked him for that information and suggested that people call the police and share information like that.

The police are working on every aspect of crime in our area. Last Friday night, they ran a trick task force taking away 12 cars from Johns.

“What will it take to get more foot patrol?” We need more man power. The car that is assigned to this area is most of the time handling crime in various parts of the area. We will be getting a platoon unit in the area. These are sent to areas when there is a spike in crime. Once a month the desk people are mandated to come out for a few days to patrol. During that time there are many more officers on the street. We had them last week and will get them again in a few weeks. Also we will be getting the motorcycle patrol.

A neighbor mentioned that on Taft there is an increase of homeless around the 7-11 asking for change. Armen says that 7-11 has hired a security guard but you need to complain to them.

A neighbor called 911 twice and had to get officers from Riverside rather than Hollywood because our local cops were busy. The Riverside cops were given a convoluted route in order to get to his home for some reason. Officer Shea explained how that can happen and apologized for the slow service.

Officer Shea circulated special stickers to be placed in the car to identify your car as one that can be pulled over if seen driving after 1am. This will help prevent auto theft. They are also asking for a $10 donation for a “club” for your car. Come to a meeting this Saturday at Lemon grove to register your car for this program.

Whole Foods

Larry Bond introduced Michael Besancon from Whole Foods.

Mr. Besancon has a long family history in the area. He said that Whole Foods are offering the neighborhood a great community asset.

The size of the project will be a 42,000 square foot store like Glendale store.

There will be a 5’ setback at the northern end.

They are planning a 15’ x 15’ set back at the corner of Garfield and Hollywood.

Height: Whole Foods will be 53’ high including a 20’ tall store with parking levels (2) above that. The top parking level will be open to keep the scale of the building down. No underground parking due to poor soil conditions.

Design: Larry says they are listening and will bring the new designs and site plan to the next meeting.

Shopping carts: Typically they have shopping carts outside but inside enclosed areas so they are not visible from the street. They will also have outdoor eating places to create a street friendly, pedestrian friendly meeting place. Michael said that, “We would love to spill out the entrance with flowers and produce into the street to give the Farmers Market feeling.” He said that the design element is to make it as comfortable and community friendly as possible.

Lighting: Ira says that they are coming up with signage that will go along with the area and Michael will work to get “non-standard signs – signs that are outside their corporate standards.

KC says that the concern is also about the light from the signs into resident homes. Heidi is concerned about the view to her clients too. Ira says that the security lighting will have a sharp cut off so that the parking lot will be lit but won’t go outside the parking lot.

A property owner shared her concern about the view, the loss of the trees and the height of the building.

Bond says that the height is shorter than what they could build in the area. They are trying to incorporate landscaping into the design on the Garfield side and Hollywood side.

53’ is the tallest height of the elevator shaft. The whole building will be like a three story building. The Downtowner is two stories and the Whole foods will be 3 stories.

Trees: There are four trees on the blvd and there are Palm trees on the Whole Foods property.

Street tree plans approved for Hwd blvd. are palm trees. Regarding the trees that are on the street (ficus), we need to talk to the city to keep the ficus instead of having the city tell the developer to remove them and plant palm trees.

They are talking to a tree person to see if they can relocate the trees – possibly on the vacant lot across the street. They will need the neighborhood’s help for that. Garcetti’s office will need to be involved. The neighbors were very supportive of this as they are already working with Garcetti’s office to have the city purchase that land for a pocket park for the neighborhood.

More on Design: Michael would like the building to be representative of Hollywood – like an art deco, moderne in keeping with the architecture of Hollywood. He says he’s been wanting to build a art deco or Nuevo for a long time before he heard of our design requests.

Parking Lot: Heidi asked who is caring for the vacant lot now. There are homeless people setting up camp, starting fires, etc.

Bond says they towed cars away and removed the trash. He was unaware of the homeless. He wanted to gate it but that isn’t fair to the people who rent spaces there. The city has told Bond that they are not allowed to rent out the spaces any longer but will consider granting an extension. Ira says they went to building and safety to apply for an extension.

Parking: Dave asked about both neighborhood and employee parking. Bond says that right now the city has a SNAP = 2 cars for every 1,000 feet of space – 80 or 90 cars – they are going to try to get double that amount of parking plus 25 spaces for the neighbors. They want 210 spaces totally.

Employees/Parking: Dave asked about how many people will be employed. Michael said that, at the most 60 on a shift. Dave was concerned about where these employees will park. Michael says he will encourage them to take the metro and is looking for off-site parking lots to lease for his employees. Also they are going to make an effort to hire locally. Michael doesn’t want his employees (“team members”) to have to struggle to find parking. According to Michael, they are going for 210 parking spaces, which is 70 more than the parking that is at the highest volume store that they have. (Glendale has 180.)

Michael says they want to be wanted by the community. He says that they don’t want any of their stores located in a neighborhood that doesn’t want them.

Loading/Unloading: The loading dock will be enclosed – The city has ordinances controlling when they can deliver or receive deliveries. They will commit to loading at 6am. The parking entrance will be on Hollywood Blvd. and the trucks can come in that way. There will be 4 – 5 of the large 40 – 50 footers and several Bodtails coming and going twice a day. They will come in from Hollywood and go into the loading area and then go back out Hollywood(?). This discussion will come up again when the site plan is presented next month.

Trash pickup: Michael shared the new Whole Foods composting program. They recycle their green matter. They will sell the compost in the store. WF will take it out to the distribution center rather than use the traditional trash removal. This reduces trash pickup from 7 loads a week to just 2 a week.

Residential Relocation: The Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) rep made a comment. He said that the bungalow residents received a 120 notice to terminate their residence. Bond says that they are given a couple thousand per resident per city code. The only one evicted hasn’t paid for 7 months (rent).

WF was unable to talk to the residents so they had to send a letter. They only try to communicate for 60 or 70 days. CES asked for them to get some advanced money for their relocation. Bond said that this wasn’t the proper forum for that discussion but shared his card and promised to discuss these matters after the meeting. The owner of the St. Francis offered to coordinate with the CES rep offering the Hotel as temporary lodging if the residents get evicted.

Construction: Target date for the construction to be completed will be end of this year or first part of next year. There are many permits to pull and hearings to attend.

Bond added that they are reducing curb cuts on Hollywood and Garfield They are cutting this down to add to the pedestrian experience.

Dave says that the Glendale store is very big. It will be a huge impact on this neighborhood. He suggests that we get the speed bumps right away. Bond will be asked not only to place trees at the St. Andrews lot but also to jack hammer that lot.

CRA – Request for Proposal:

As discussed in the April meeting, the CRA is looking for community input regarding development of Hollywood Boulevard on South side of street from Western to St. Andrews. Since we had John McCoy explain the details of the Request for Proposal (RFP) last month, the group discussed some ideas about the draft “Wish List”. They filled out cards with their ideas and plan to meet again on May 11 at 7PM. This meeting will result in a prioritizing and expansion of that “Wish List” in time to meet deadline for CRA for community input regarding development.

Buses on Garfield: Should this be the first priority as far as a wish list? Possibly change the route? Expand the bus stop on the corner of Hollywood and Western at the Meyer building? There should be a bus turn-around created. Steven says that the bus turn around must be poured concrete and the foundation must be strong enough according to the city standards.

Should parking be another priority.

Meeting next week: The group committed to meet next week to hammer out a final presentation to CRA with priorities of the neighborhood outlined.

Keh from Thai CDC reminded the people of the CRA’s proposal and suggested that people go to the city website to download the RFP. Fran asked if the Thai CDC would be generating their own “Wish List” to the CRA. Keh didn’t know but thought that they could go in with us on a document. K.C. suggested to her that it would be more powerful for them to submit their own statement.

The owner of the St. Francis says that the plan should have a meeting room and a community center. She also says that the neighborhood kids need a place to play.

Ambassador Hotel Support:

Dave distributed an L.A. Times article as well as information about the Ambassador Hotel. There is a group trying to save it. A proposal will go before the school board to decide whether to save all of it, part of it or tear it all down. The Eastwood Coalition made a motion to support the efforts to preserve the Ambassador (Fran/Missy) – Motion carried.

Adjourn