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Venice News Updates

News of Venice, CA and Marina del Rey CA

Comments–17 March 2014

Linda Vaughan of Triangle
A neighbor of mine was walking her dog a couple of nights ago at around 10pm and said that she heard horrible screams coming from Thatcher near the maintenance yard . The sounds of two women. Residents from the apt complex came out on their balconies and yelled out to the woman who claimed they had been held up and robbed. Does anyone know anything about this?

Bridget Rohmer of Triangle
Heard two girls were held up and robbed last night on Thatcher outside the maintenance yard. Anyone know anything?

Karen Moses of Triangle
Twice now I have almost hit a vehicle while I was entering the Triangle. Both times, the other vehicle was exiting the triangle turning left on a solid green light at Washington . (Same person I believe each time in fact). As I am entering the triangle I am heading straight, south, from Oxford crossing Washington. (I am heading straight, she is turning left). Neither time did she even attempt to yield to oncoming traffic. The first time I’m not sure how I didn’t hit her, my ABS engaged, and barely missed her, she of course looked at me as though it’s my fault.

I thought this was a broadly recognized signal, and the law pretty much the same across states. If you have a circular green signal, you MUST yield to oncoming traffic.

Perhaps it is “assumed” I am turning? I had no turn signal on, so do not assume. To be safe, do not assume even with a turn signal.

Ann Stevenson of Triangle
Hear Ye, Hear Ye! When having outdoor gatherings (birthdays & otherwise), please be considerate of your neighbors-especially regarding levels of “music” and that includes day or night. A suggestion would be to put notes on doors close-by neighbors informing them of upcoming event and possibility of noise.

Frank Murphy, Venice Builder

Note: The following is a letter to the VNC Board Members; cc Update, from Frank Murphy in support of 1414 Main St.

Dear VNC Board Members:
As was stated in my previous letter to you prior to your last meeting, it is my hope that you can vote in favor of the mixed use project proposed for 1414 Main St. This project consolidates lots for a mixed use enterprise that benefits multiple entities, somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 owners. It adheres to the letter and the intent of the VSP and further accommodates low and moderate housing via SB1818 using the bonuses allowed there in.

Allow me to further explain as I see it:

Character and Scale, which I will refer to as “C&S”, seems to be at the very core of the argument against this project.

Over the past 50 years the C&S and similar arguments have been very effective at maintaining the signature physical community we know as Venice. Just observe the differences between Venice and S.M.-MDR, this in my opinion is a good thing and we should be rightfully proud of our efforts to that end. That being said C&S can be looked at from many different angles other than strictly physical; after all it is a bit subjective.

In reviewing the census data and comparing 1960 to 2010 two points jumped out at me that I would like to share with you here:

1960
2010
Change
Venice
Population
38,365
36,962
-4%

MHI**
$40,029
$77,872
95%

LAMSA*
Population
6,746,356
12,840,726
90%

MHI**
$54,585
$64,136
17%

Los Angeles Metropolitan Statistical Area
** Median Household Income Adjusted for inflation

I think this illustrates the pressures on our community. Whether good or bad, change is here.

The effectiveness of the C&S argument has helped, not solely, to systemically bring about these changes. The weighting of the C&S argument to the physical has amplified the demographic changes resulting in fewer people per household and higher MHI, in other words gentrification. The systemic barriers to production and consolidation of units that I have observed over the past few decades, has substantially raised the price point per unit. This is not intended to be a therefore argument but it definitely plays into it. This is not necessarily a bad result and may even be the desired result but it is definitely changed.

This brings me to the SB1818 density bonus law. As I understand it SB1818 was initiated by the state to grapple with the statewide housing shortage. SB1818 provides communities that can’t or haven’t provided systemically available low and moderate income housing a tool with which to do so, a carrot so to speak. Venice is one such community. The stick approach employed by us collectively has provided little or no low and moderate income housing that I am aware of. For providing such units the Main St project is entitled to the requested additional height and other bonuses provided by SB1818.

I honestly do not believe changes in character and scale are a good or bad thing but trying to dogmatically maintain a static environment in a massively changing larger community is problematic. It is my opinion that Venice can absorb this project quite nicely and the result will further enhance the creative spirit of Venice. The demographic diversity this project helps to provide is sorely needed.

This project addresses the scarcity issue, reduces price points that are systemic barriers to housing, provides commercial opportunities, parking in excess of required, and provides low and moderate income housing. Its height is justified

by what it gives back, it openly engages the street and the neighborhood on the upper floors and it is well thought out architecturally and programmatically.

For these reasons I feel that you should vote in favor of this project.

Richard Garvey on Horizon, near 1414 Main project
I oppose the development at 1414 Main. I have lived at 234 Horizon for the past 18 years, and I am urging everyone to come to the Venice Neighborhood Council meeting on Tuesday 3/18 at Westminster School and join my opposition to the project. We are last on the agenda, and are projected to be heard at 9:30pm, but please come early, and sign up to speak and lend your voice to our cause! The Council needs to affirm the LUPC’s 7-0 decision to deny the project. It is way too big for our block and brings with it a myriad of problems.

One of my main concerns is parking. This block is exactly half-way between the beach and Abbot Kinney. On a typical day even before this development it is incredibly hard to park here. Not only do we have beach-goers parking on the block, we have patrons from the stores and bars on Abbot Kinney and Windward. Horizon is also one of those blocks where the entire north side is comprised of half-lots, and none of them have a garage or designated parking spot. Although they are all fairly small in terms of number of units, they are mostly multi-unit buildings; in fact there are currently 72 units on Horizon between Main and Riviera, most with more than one car per unit sharing 53 sidewalk spaces (four of which this project will also take away.) Just today I had to run some errands and when I came home at 5:00pm the closest street parking spot was at 6th and Broadway, a full 8 blocks away.

Enter 1414 Main with its 26 residential units, 4 commercial spots, 80 employees and hundreds of patrons. Yes, they are providing paid parking spots, but they are expensive, and everyone is going to drive around the block looking for a free spot before they decide to pay. We already see this with employees and patrons of the Sidewalk Café and the Hama on our block. This project will make it impossible to park anywhere near my home, and the late hours will mean that my wife will come home from work and end up having to park many blocks away and walk late at night causing potential safety issues.

Even if their patrons do decide to use the provided parking it is still an encroachment on us. The parking system that the developer intends to install requires people to line up and pull into a bay where they then have to completely unload the car and figure out the electronic system and then their car goes away. This technology is completely unproven, and when we asked him why he couldn’t put these parking bays on Main Street instead of the alley he admitted that it was because the lines might obstruct traffic with the light at Horizon. If the lines of traffic back up into our alley he is not as concerned.

This brings me to another main concern, which is 1414 Main’s abuse of the alley called Toledo Court. I live in the back house of my Horizon property, which means that my front door opens onto Toledo. The fact that they are proposing to put four entrances to their monstrosity in the alley defies logic because it is not feasible. There will be a constant stream of traffic through the alley on the way to the entry/exit. It is not only the straight shot out of their exit bays going east towards Abbot Kinney, it also is the most direct route to the property coming from Lincoln, and their own documents say that 30 percent of their traffic will come from the east. I shudder to think about how much traffic this project will bring.

The alley is not wide enough for two cars to pass each other, so this will cause incredible problems for them and for us, the residents who live here. Even though they had the gall to claim in their traffic “assessment” that there would be no cars coming from 1414 down Toledo, the developer himself is currently staying on the property and I have seen him using Toledo on multiple occasions. When we recently met with him, he even admitted that this is a problem, and his solution was to privatize the alley, close it off with a gate and erect “DO NOT ENTER” signs. That may be his vision of Venice, but it is not mine. The fact that we even need to consider these types of drastic solutions to the congestion in the alley speaks to why this project is completely unreasonable. In both public and private meetings, the developer has several times referred to Toledo as “his alley” which is simply insulting. I have spent literally weeks of my life in this alley over the past 18 years. It is my front door, and with my dogs I walk the length of it four times a day every day, and he has a lot of nerve trying to co-opt and privatize it.

The developer has said that he is “widening the alley” but he only means a small part of it, not including either entry to the alley from Horizon or Market. The fact is that only one car at a time can enter the alley from either side, and Horizon is one way going west, so if there is anyone trying to leave 1414 they are either coming down Toledo, or clogging the only entry points at Horizon and Market. This means that they will be clogging the only entry to my home; so if emergency vehicles have to come there will be a real problem. It also means that all of my neighbors are going to have a hard time getting in and out of their garages on the alley, not to mention the garbage, recycling, and yard waste trucks; and the trucks servicing our utility lines.

Additionally, the developer is taking the entire width underneath the alley as part of his automated parking scheme. How is it that he is allowed to annex the land under the alley when he doesn’t own the properties on the east side of the alley? When you put it all together 1414 Main means that our kids and dogs will no longer be able to play ball in our alley. And that is a real loss to our quality of life.

In the past three months, I have knocked on every door on the blocks surrounding the project, talked to hundreds of my neighbors, and not a single person I have spoken to is in favor of this project. In fact, several neighbors I spoke to said that if this project is approved they will be forced to move, because 1414 Main will ruin the quality of life on our block, which is really sad, as most of us have been here for over ten years. I have a feeling this is what the developer is hoping for, as he has made offers to purchase several properties surrounding his project, and one of his representatives bluntly told us that “if we didn’t like it we can move.” Well I am not moving, and I hope that the VNC board members do not force my neighbors to move by approving this project.

Another concern is the mass and scale of the project. The developer is tying together 5 lots that currently have 10 apartments, and 2 single family homes and he wants to put in 5 commercial units: a 120 occupancy restaurant; a 106 occupancy restaurant; 1184 square feet of retail space plus a 57 occupancy “event space” that will serve alcohol; not to mention 26 residential units. In defiance of the Venice Specific Plan he wants to build four-stories above ground and a three-story subterranean 242-space parking garage. By taking advantage of loopholes provided by SB 1818 he is trying to build something that is way beyond what the Specific Plan allows.

To build 1414 Main, the developer wants to dig down 3 stories in a liquefaction zone with a 6 foot water table; which will cause extreme hardships for the 100 year old foundations of our homes surrounding it. 1414 Main will also ruin our sunsets, our ocean breezes and our sounds from the beach; not only the waves but also the music and drums. It is completely out of character with the rest of our block. What is even more ridiculous is that according to his own filings he is demolishing 3 low income units to erect 4 for a net community gain of 1 yet he is getting density bonuses for all 4. And even worse, he is asking for off menu exceptions on top of those bonuses. I agree with outgoing Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky when he said that 1818 “invites developers to decimate current zoning protections under the guise of providing affordable housing.” That is what 1414 Main is all about, using a loophole to override the Venice Specific Plan. He wants to erect a four story box and is asking for allowances on height, setback, and floor area ratio which all exceed what he is allowed by statute. It is important to remember that this project is not “by right” it requires approval and it needs to be denied.

This project is also demolishing two historic buildings at 202 and 208 Horizon built in 1910 and 1912 respectively, which were featured in the first Charlie Chaplin “Little Tramp” film “Kids Auto” in 1914. He is adding to the destruction of
the history that makes Venice great. This is even more appalling because this neighborhood is part of the historic “Lost Canals” district of Venice. After recently touring the block, Kari Fowler of Survey LA “anticipates documenting the Lost Canals area as a historic district.” The developer is cutting down eight magnificent trees on the property, in fact he started cutting them down today; and he is basically erecting a 44 foot wall at the end of our alley. The size of this development is unlike anything we have seen in this neighborhood and is completely out of character.

As a member of a unified group of neighbors, I have met with the developer or his representative five times outside of official meetings, and we have faced off at three LUPC meetings as well, which resulted in LUPC voting down his project 7-0. We have offered many different suggestions of modifications that the developer could make that would show that he cares about and wants to work with his neighbors, and he has completely declined. The only concession that he has made, removing the vestibules on top of the fourth story does not come close to satisfying our issues. To add insult to injury, after the last time we met with him, he mischaracterized our meeting to Mike Bonin’s office in an attempt to make it look like he is working with us… he isn’t.

Venice seems under attack these days by developers. Even though we have a small percentage of the Los Angeles population and land mass we have 19 percent of all development permits in the works. Between the small lot subdivisions, the AK Hotel and the hundreds of de minimus waivers known as “Venice Sign-offs” we need to make a stand. The project at 1414 Main sets a terrible precedent, and if we let it get built it will be a huge milestone in the destruction of the Venice that I love.

Please send an email to: board@venicenc.org with the subject line: “I support the motion to DENY 1414 Main”, copy mike.bonin@lacity.org and tricia.keane@lacity.org and join us at Westminster School this Tuesday 3/18.

If you want more information about the project, and what you can do to help please visit us at: www.veniceagainst1414main.com or www.1414MainOpposition.org

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