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Thursday, December 5, 1996

DEVELOPMENT:

Increase

in parking shortage and congestion key issuesBy Laura Lake

There is no record that John Postley, who lives in Bel Air, actually attended the Friends of Westwood meeting. He did not sign in. Had he attended, he would know that participants told reporters that they enjoyed the meeting because they had the opportunity to talk about issues of personal concern to them. Hardly a staged meeting.

This movie mall is not the goose that laid the golden egg, but a Trojan horse in Bruin land. If movies were the key to prosperity, Westwood would be booming. UCLA's Anderson School Report made it clear that the salvation of Westwood will be projects that serve the neighboring communities, not a regional entertainment center. Frankly, people in Westwood are tired of having people outside of Westwood tell them what's good for them.

Friends of Westwood surveyed our community and found that 90 percent oppose the project, 5 percent are undecided, and 5 percent support it. This is not a case of a silent majority. Westwood residents are angry that such a project is even under consideration.

We used the developer's published "fact sheet" and traffic study for our briefing packet. Those alarming facts regarding traffic (26,000 additional car trips per day), closing Glendon Avenue, 17 additional movie theaters, the height, the lack of required parking, etc. ... spell disaster for Westwood.

As far as the Advisory Committee goes, the issues of paramount concern to our community, like movie theaters, have not been addressed. The mitigation measures are questioned by the committee, but no response is forthcoming. It is a smokescreen for the developer.

Having written the first book on environmental mediation as an alternative to litigation, and started the grants program for environmental mediation at the Ford Foundation over 20 years ago, I think my judgment on legitimate negotiations versus public relations gimmicks is pretty sound. That's why Friends of Westwood declined to participate. Many of the current participants are beginning to resent the lack of answers to hard questions.

Friends of Westwood chose to provide our input directly to Mr. Feuer and city departments. We hired our own traffic engineer to review the documents and found that the project would have massive impacts on our already gridlocked streets. The proposed mitigations are flawed and would change the way of life for Westwood irreparably.

Residents want to see the site developed as a low-rise, pedestrian-oriented, mid-to-high-end retail (along with the market and the drug store). Developers assure us that this can be done profitably. If developer Ira Smedra were smart, he'd eliminate the movies and rely on his entitlements.

Laura Lake, Ph.D., is the president of Friends of Westwood, Inc.