Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
RAY HOTEL STALLS FOR MORE TIME/ COUNCILMAN ROSENDAHL SAYS, "NOT SO FAST":
Well folks, as I write this, I can see the lights of Venice recede into the darkness beneath me, a long night of trans-Pacific travel ahead. My flight only has another 7,880 miles to go until I reach Melbourne, Australia, where I'll spend the next 8 months or so working on a mini-series for HBO. I've known I'd make this journey for months, but it's one thing to anticipate it, another thing entirely to actually climb inside this tin can, leaving everything and everyone I love behind.
And I feel like I'm leaving so much behind, so much work undone. But thankfully, the internets are a wonderful thing. They don't call it "world-wide" for nothing. Most of my work in Venice is done via email anyway, so except for the next couple of weeks (during which time I'll be on a boat in the middle of nowhere), I anticipate being as active as I've always been, sending out information and dishing Venice dirt.
I've got miles to go before I'm done, so let's get started, shall we?
__________________________________________________
Councilman Rosendahl just released this statement commenting on the Ray Hotel's latest ploy - asking the City of LA for yet another postponement of the hearing before the West LA Planning Commision.
“In recent months, one of the most talked about and controversial development projects in Venice has been the Ambrose Group’s proposed boutique hotel, the Ray Hotel, at the intersection of Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Main Street. This hotel has been the subject of neighborhood council meetings, zoning administrator hearings and countless conversations between neighbors over a cup of coffee.”
“There is much about the proposal I find attractive. It would be wonderful for Venice to have a nice, upscale hotel so that our out-of-town friends and family do not have to stay in Santa Monica. The
“green” development standards that the hotel sought to achieve are laudable and need to be encouraged in the City of Los Angeles. And Deidre Wallace, the developer, has a spirit, an energy and a creative spark I truly admire.”
“However, the project as proposed fails to comply with the Venice Specific Plan (VSP), a document and a set of ground rules that a large segment of Venice feels is a precious and necessary safeguard against overdevelopment. While many Venetians would be willing to entertain certain exemptions to the VSP in an exchange for a clear public benefit, the developers of this project seeks height and floor-area-ratio (FAR) exemptions so incompatible with the neighborhood that the project could not win sufficient public support for a variance. Moreover, despite assurances from the developer, large numbers of people remain unconvinced that the project would contribute to even more traffic gridlock and to the ever-worsening Venice parking crisis.”
“I support the majority of the Venice community in its opposition to the variance sought for this project and encourage the developer to go back to the drawing board and craft a proposal that respects the Venice Specific Plan. Additionally, unless the developer is willing to make such a significant change to the project, I do not support a continuance of the matter at the next meeting of the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.”
As I reported earlier, the Ray Hotel held an open house at Equator Books Monday night. Reportedly anywhere between 300-400 attended. It was described to me as as quite the "hipster" crowd (however you might define that), mostly supporters from the developer's list, with a number of opponents and lookie-loos mixed in. A peak at the sign-in sheet revealed quite a few Santa Monica and Brentwood addresses.
By all accounts it was a lavish affair, with an open bar providing light refreshments of organic wine and cheese. The PR firm developer Diedre Wallace hired went all out, lining the walls with colorful graphic displays, and asking people to sign a petition supporting the project or to volunteer to write letters and make phone calls.
The presentations were impressive - people were jazzed about the organic linens, the bike racks for employees, all the "open green space". Why, 55' high didn't seem such a bad trade-off for all that community benefit. Anything and everything you'd ever want to know about hotel was right there for the asking.
Except maybe a little honesty.
They told a good story, and they got to tell it the way they wanted to without the nuisance of skeptical Public Servants or Planning Officials asking pesky followup questions in a forum the developers couldn't control.
As one neighbor left the event, she looked around at the crowd spilling out into the street, and at the snarl of traffic as valets struggled to offload and park patron's cars. She thought to herself, "Oh my God, is it going to be like this every night once the hotel gets built?"
Good question.........
I've gotten quite a few emails in the last few weeks asking why I'm so opposed to this project. How could a bleeding-heart liberal such as myself be against such a "green" project, one that promises jobs to the community, preserves the Eames legacy, and puts Venice on the cutting edge of sustainable development?
The answer is simple. I'm not. I want the hotel, with all it's greeness, to grace the corner of Abbot Kinney and Brooks. I really do. I've always valued environmental sensitivity in development. On it's face, the Ray Hotel would seem to be just that. But one of the critical considerations here is treading lightly on the earth. The Ray, as designed, fails miserably in that regard. There's nothing green or sustainable about providing luxury hotel rooms for a transient population in a building nearly twice as tall and half again as dense as the law allows in a community already heavily impacted with air and noise pollution caused by too many cars crammed in too small a space.
All the green material in the world can't fix that.
Green to me means co-existing with the community that's right here, right now - not the one the Ray Hotel developers wish were here. I don't doubt for a second that Deidre Wallace is sincere about following through on her promise to create a "green" hotel. But to me "green" means doing everything the Ray Hotel promises to do without forcing the community to sell it's soul in return.
It's the difference between "green" and "green washing".
But, obviously, she doesn't see things the same way. She's stated publicly she doesn't plan on compromising one iota on her plans. Not on height. Not on density, or parking, or even serving alcohol at the rooftop pool's open bar into the wee hours of the morning. Yet they've asked the City to allow them yet another postponement, this time into October. Not to work with the community to bring the project more in scale, but to buy more time for the their PR campaign to manufacture consent.
This has been very frustrating for those of us who've been trying to get the Ray Hotel developers to respond to the needs of our community . We don't have bottomless resources, we are not paid professionals. We have jobs and time constraints and children to raise. Like you, every meeting is a hardship to us, every delay an insult. Thankfully, we have the help of the councilman, and that is no small thing.
If we want to have a voice in Venice's future, we have to keep going. We still need to make our voices heard. There are two meetings coming up next week that are critical to opening a real (as opposed to manufactured) dialogue with the developer and the City. Write to our City Officials. Just because the developer asked for another delay, doesn't mean the City has to grant them one. Especially now that our councilman won't support it. Tell the city no more stalling tactics. Our time is precious and should be respected.
Be sure to include the project number at the top of any correspondence:
APCW 2006-9483-SPE-CDP-CU-SPP-SPR-MEL
james.k.williams@lacity.org - James Williams - West LA Planning Commission (or fax 213-978-1029)
gail.goldberg@lacity.org - Gail Goldberg - Director of Planning for the City of LA
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org - Councilman Bill Rosendahl
mike.bonin@lacity.org - Mike Bonin - Councilman Rosendahl's chief of staff
grieg.asher@lacity.org - Grieg Asher - Councilman Rosendahl's Planning Director
board@grvnc.org - The Venice Neighborhood Council
Attend these meetings. Numbers matter. Go.
TUESDAY, SEPT.18 - 7PM
VENICE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BOARD MEETING
WHERE: Westminster Elementary School - 1010 Abbot Kinney
The VNC Board still has to approve the decision LUPC made to reject the Ray Hotel's variances before it can be sent to the City. Here's another chance to make sure they do the right thing.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19 - 4:30PM
WEST LA PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Henry Medina West L.A. Parking Enforcement Facility
11214 W. Exposition Blvd.(near Sepulveda)
2nd floor, Roll Call Room
If you don't go to any other meeting, go to this one. The WLA Planning Commissioners will be considering whether or not to hear the case. If they do, they'll be deciding whether or not to approve this project as is, make the Ambrose Group conform to the VSP, or some combination of the above.
And I feel like I'm leaving so much behind, so much work undone. But thankfully, the internets are a wonderful thing. They don't call it "world-wide" for nothing. Most of my work in Venice is done via email anyway, so except for the next couple of weeks (during which time I'll be on a boat in the middle of nowhere), I anticipate being as active as I've always been, sending out information and dishing Venice dirt.
I've got miles to go before I'm done, so let's get started, shall we?
__________________________________________________
Councilman Rosendahl just released this statement commenting on the Ray Hotel's latest ploy - asking the City of LA for yet another postponement of the hearing before the West LA Planning Commision.
“In recent months, one of the most talked about and controversial development projects in Venice has been the Ambrose Group’s proposed boutique hotel, the Ray Hotel, at the intersection of Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Main Street. This hotel has been the subject of neighborhood council meetings, zoning administrator hearings and countless conversations between neighbors over a cup of coffee.”
“There is much about the proposal I find attractive. It would be wonderful for Venice to have a nice, upscale hotel so that our out-of-town friends and family do not have to stay in Santa Monica. The
“green” development standards that the hotel sought to achieve are laudable and need to be encouraged in the City of Los Angeles. And Deidre Wallace, the developer, has a spirit, an energy and a creative spark I truly admire.”
“However, the project as proposed fails to comply with the Venice Specific Plan (VSP), a document and a set of ground rules that a large segment of Venice feels is a precious and necessary safeguard against overdevelopment. While many Venetians would be willing to entertain certain exemptions to the VSP in an exchange for a clear public benefit, the developers of this project seeks height and floor-area-ratio (FAR) exemptions so incompatible with the neighborhood that the project could not win sufficient public support for a variance. Moreover, despite assurances from the developer, large numbers of people remain unconvinced that the project would contribute to even more traffic gridlock and to the ever-worsening Venice parking crisis.”
“I support the majority of the Venice community in its opposition to the variance sought for this project and encourage the developer to go back to the drawing board and craft a proposal that respects the Venice Specific Plan. Additionally, unless the developer is willing to make such a significant change to the project, I do not support a continuance of the matter at the next meeting of the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission.”
As I reported earlier, the Ray Hotel held an open house at Equator Books Monday night. Reportedly anywhere between 300-400 attended. It was described to me as as quite the "hipster" crowd (however you might define that), mostly supporters from the developer's list, with a number of opponents and lookie-loos mixed in. A peak at the sign-in sheet revealed quite a few Santa Monica and Brentwood addresses.
By all accounts it was a lavish affair, with an open bar providing light refreshments of organic wine and cheese. The PR firm developer Diedre Wallace hired went all out, lining the walls with colorful graphic displays, and asking people to sign a petition supporting the project or to volunteer to write letters and make phone calls.
The presentations were impressive - people were jazzed about the organic linens, the bike racks for employees, all the "open green space". Why, 55' high didn't seem such a bad trade-off for all that community benefit. Anything and everything you'd ever want to know about hotel was right there for the asking.
Except maybe a little honesty.
They told a good story, and they got to tell it the way they wanted to without the nuisance of skeptical Public Servants or Planning Officials asking pesky followup questions in a forum the developers couldn't control.
As one neighbor left the event, she looked around at the crowd spilling out into the street, and at the snarl of traffic as valets struggled to offload and park patron's cars. She thought to herself, "Oh my God, is it going to be like this every night once the hotel gets built?"
Good question.........
I've gotten quite a few emails in the last few weeks asking why I'm so opposed to this project. How could a bleeding-heart liberal such as myself be against such a "green" project, one that promises jobs to the community, preserves the Eames legacy, and puts Venice on the cutting edge of sustainable development?
The answer is simple. I'm not. I want the hotel, with all it's greeness, to grace the corner of Abbot Kinney and Brooks. I really do. I've always valued environmental sensitivity in development. On it's face, the Ray Hotel would seem to be just that. But one of the critical considerations here is treading lightly on the earth. The Ray, as designed, fails miserably in that regard. There's nothing green or sustainable about providing luxury hotel rooms for a transient population in a building nearly twice as tall and half again as dense as the law allows in a community already heavily impacted with air and noise pollution caused by too many cars crammed in too small a space.
All the green material in the world can't fix that.
Green to me means co-existing with the community that's right here, right now - not the one the Ray Hotel developers wish were here. I don't doubt for a second that Deidre Wallace is sincere about following through on her promise to create a "green" hotel. But to me "green" means doing everything the Ray Hotel promises to do without forcing the community to sell it's soul in return.
It's the difference between "green" and "green washing".
But, obviously, she doesn't see things the same way. She's stated publicly she doesn't plan on compromising one iota on her plans. Not on height. Not on density, or parking, or even serving alcohol at the rooftop pool's open bar into the wee hours of the morning. Yet they've asked the City to allow them yet another postponement, this time into October. Not to work with the community to bring the project more in scale, but to buy more time for the their PR campaign to manufacture consent.
This has been very frustrating for those of us who've been trying to get the Ray Hotel developers to respond to the needs of our community . We don't have bottomless resources, we are not paid professionals. We have jobs and time constraints and children to raise. Like you, every meeting is a hardship to us, every delay an insult. Thankfully, we have the help of the councilman, and that is no small thing.
If we want to have a voice in Venice's future, we have to keep going. We still need to make our voices heard. There are two meetings coming up next week that are critical to opening a real (as opposed to manufactured) dialogue with the developer and the City. Write to our City Officials. Just because the developer asked for another delay, doesn't mean the City has to grant them one. Especially now that our councilman won't support it. Tell the city no more stalling tactics. Our time is precious and should be respected.
Be sure to include the project number at the top of any correspondence:
APCW 2006-9483-SPE-CDP-CU-SPP-SPR-MEL
james.k.williams@lacity.org - James Williams - West LA Planning Commission (or fax 213-978-1029)
gail.goldberg@lacity.org - Gail Goldberg - Director of Planning for the City of LA
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org - Councilman Bill Rosendahl
mike.bonin@lacity.org - Mike Bonin - Councilman Rosendahl's chief of staff
grieg.asher@lacity.org - Grieg Asher - Councilman Rosendahl's Planning Director
board@grvnc.org - The Venice Neighborhood Council
Attend these meetings. Numbers matter. Go.
TUESDAY, SEPT.18 - 7PM
VENICE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BOARD MEETING
WHERE: Westminster Elementary School - 1010 Abbot Kinney
The VNC Board still has to approve the decision LUPC made to reject the Ray Hotel's variances before it can be sent to the City. Here's another chance to make sure they do the right thing.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19 - 4:30PM
WEST LA PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Henry Medina West L.A. Parking Enforcement Facility
11214 W. Exposition Blvd.(near Sepulveda)
2nd floor, Roll Call Room
If you don't go to any other meeting, go to this one. The WLA Planning Commissioners will be considering whether or not to hear the case. If they do, they'll be deciding whether or not to approve this project as is, make the Ambrose Group conform to the VSP, or some combination of the above.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Venice Neighborhood Council takes first steps to oppose Ray Hotel/Developer channels "1984"
Well folks, there's been lot's of movement on the Ray Hotel front, and we've got miles to go before we're done, so let's get started, shall we?
For those of you who don't know, the Venice Neighborhood Council had an entire Land Use and Planning Committee meeting devoted to the Ray Hotel Wednesday night. At stake was whether or not the current LUPC was willing to amend or overturn a previous LUPC decision to support the Ray Hotel in its entirety - even though the hotel asked for significant variances making it nearly twice as tall and half again as dense as anything else around it (and don't get me started about the parking!).
(TIME OUT: For those of you who want to cut to the chase, the LUPC did exactly that. By a razor-thin margin, it voted to approve a motion made by committee member Ruthie Seroussi to partially reject the most recent Zoning Administrators report - essentially saying by default that the Ray Hotel should conform to the height restrictions of the VSP, that the parking needs should be more closely re-examined, that better and more thorough traffic mitigation studies should be carried out, and that the LEEDS "green" certification be explicitly defined. There's more to it than that, but those are the bullet points............................Oh, and by the way, did I mention Ruthie just had a baby THREE WEEKS ago?)
Spurred on by a massive grassroots outreach campaign that sent 5,000 flyers into the community, over a hundred people (at its height) attended the meeting. As it turned out, many had never heard about the hotel before receiving those flyers.
Nearly everyone spoke about their common concerns - how this hotel would impact parking, traffic, the character of the neighborhood and precedents for future development. Most people responded positively to the hotel's design and it's plans for "green" construction, giving the impression they might actually support it if only Deidre Wallace and the Ambrose Group would conform to the Venice Specific Plan and provide parking that was adequate for the hotel's actual needs rather than an easily manipulated minimum standard. No one who spoke in opposition thought the benefits of green construction should be traded for additional height and density.
The response from Ms. Wallace and her supporters ranged from non-existant to ill-prepared. I found this rather odd until I later saw an invitation sent to a list of supporters. It was for an open house at Equator Books this Monday night.
The invitation says the hotel "..........should not be derailed by one small group of residents who feel they are the sole custodians of Venice."
Then it goes on to call 757 extra car trips a day "traffic reduction", precedent-setting height and density variances "smart progressive and sustainable", inadequate parking for the hotel's proposed usage "additional parking in the Venice community", and the tightly controlled open house a "transparent, comprehensive overview".
It's a wonderful and classic piece of propaganda, right up there with the Bush administration's "Clean Skies" and "Healthy Forests" initiatives. George Orwell must be doing backflips in his grave.
So I don't think Ms. Wallace ever intended to come to the LUPC meeting. Was it because it wasn't a meeting she could control?
I've even learned there were efforts to get the LUPC meeting cancelled. It was somehow "miscommunicated" to the LUPC Chair that Councilman Rosendahl wanted to lead a "town hall" meeting on the Ray Hotel instead. When contacted, Rosendahl's office had no knowledge of this arraignment and had no idea where this information had come from.
In any case, I suspect when Ms. Wallace and her people learned of the 5,000 flyer outreach they realized they had to make an appearance.
Less than 10 out a hundred people present spoke in favor the project as currently proposed. Out of those, only 3 appeared to be community members not personally or professionally connected with Ms. Wallace. Some supporters brought up legitimate points ( such as converted garages contributing significantly to on-street parking problems and that Venice residents could use some more hotel rooms for visiting guests), but others claimed the people present didn't "really" represent the community at large or accused them of ignorance for not acting on outreach they never received. Ms. Wallace's husband got up and spoke emotionally and passionately about the Venice Specific Plan being a "living document" and how it should be bended and amended to fit the needs of the "community". In this case the "community" being, well........... them.
But the highlight of the evening (or lowlight depending on your point of view) had to have been when the Ray Hotel architect, Hagy Belzberg, got up to speak. Armed with a legal pad full of hastily scribbled notes, Mr. Belzberg began this way,
"You know, I wasn't going to speak this evening............."
And you know, he should have listened to that still, small voice in his head, because what he said next did his client no favors at all.
Mr. Belzberg began by singling out stakeholders by name - some of whom were no longer there to defend themselves - lecturing the collective group on how wrong and ill-informed they were. Pointing his finger at a designated target, he would bulldoze past legitimate concerns, refuting versions of events and facts that didn't conform to his view. He did his best to paint opponents in their most extreme form - Philistines, NIMBYs, shrill and small-minded anti-gentrification, anti-development reactionaries still dreaming of Venice in its Town Council days and even before, when it was a destination for hippies seeking Utopia-by-the-beach.
Call me crazy, but I don't think personally criticizing a room full of people who already disagree with you is the best way to win over hearts and minds. By the time he was done he might have made himself feel better, but he turned the resolve of a lot of people in that room from salt to stone.
So right about now you're probably saying to yourself, "Now what?"
Well, that's a good question, because as I said before, we have miles to go before we're done. Momentum may be in our favor, but we can't count that it will stay that way. We have to keep the pressure up. Rosendahl has voiced his support for the community on this, but it's clear he's looking for us to lead the way. This is not something he can do on his own because the Ambrose Group has hired some very powerful lobbyists to put on the pressure. We have to be partners in this together.
C'mon, if Ruthie Seroussi can do it (ONLY THREE WEEKS AFTER GIVING BIRTH TO HER FIRST CHILD) so can you.
Here's what's next:
MONDAY, SEPT. 10 - 6:30PM
AMBROSE GROUP "OPEN HOUSE" ON THE RAY HOTEL
WHERE: Equator Books, 1103 Abbot Kinney
Don't be shy. Eat their food then pick their brains. Ask them how 757 extra car trips a day is "traffic reduction", precedent-setting height and density variances "smart progressive and sustainable", inadequate parking for the hotel's proposed usage "additional parking in the Venice community", where the valets are going to park all those extra cars, who the neighbors will have to go to to complain about noise on their rooftop pool at 3am.
TUESDAY, SEPT.18 - 7PM
VENICE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BOARD MEETING
WHERE: Westminster Elementary School - 1010 Abbot Kinney
The VNC Board still has to approve the decision LUPC made before it can be sent to the City. Here's another chance to make sure they do the right thing.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19 - 4:30PM
WEST LA PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Henry Medina West L.A. Parking Enforcement Facility
11214 W. Exposition Blvd.(near Sepulveda)
2nd floor, Roll Call Room
If you don't go to any other meeting, go to this one. The WLAPC meeting will be considering wether or not to approve this project as is, make the Ambrose Group conform to the VSP, or some combination of the above. Numbers matter. Go.
AND IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE IT ALREADY, WRITE TO THE FOLLOWING CITY OFFICIALS AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
james.k.williams@lacity.org - James Williams - West LA Planning Commission (or fax 213-978-1029)
gail.goldberg@lacity.org - Gail Goldberg - Director of Planning for the City of LA
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org - Councilman Bill Rosendahl
mike.bonin@lacity.org - Mike Bonin - Councilman Rosendahl's chief of staff
grieg.asher@lacity.org - Grieg Asher - Councilman Rosendahl's Planning Director
board@grvnc.org - The Venice Neighborhood Council
msblucow@mac.com - Marta Evry - outreach,venicerayhotel.blogspot.com
For those of you who don't know, the Venice Neighborhood Council had an entire Land Use and Planning Committee meeting devoted to the Ray Hotel Wednesday night. At stake was whether or not the current LUPC was willing to amend or overturn a previous LUPC decision to support the Ray Hotel in its entirety - even though the hotel asked for significant variances making it nearly twice as tall and half again as dense as anything else around it (and don't get me started about the parking!).
(TIME OUT: For those of you who want to cut to the chase, the LUPC did exactly that. By a razor-thin margin, it voted to approve a motion made by committee member Ruthie Seroussi to partially reject the most recent Zoning Administrators report - essentially saying by default that the Ray Hotel should conform to the height restrictions of the VSP, that the parking needs should be more closely re-examined, that better and more thorough traffic mitigation studies should be carried out, and that the LEEDS "green" certification be explicitly defined. There's more to it than that, but those are the bullet points............................Oh, and by the way, did I mention Ruthie just had a baby THREE WEEKS ago?)
Spurred on by a massive grassroots outreach campaign that sent 5,000 flyers into the community, over a hundred people (at its height) attended the meeting. As it turned out, many had never heard about the hotel before receiving those flyers.
Nearly everyone spoke about their common concerns - how this hotel would impact parking, traffic, the character of the neighborhood and precedents for future development. Most people responded positively to the hotel's design and it's plans for "green" construction, giving the impression they might actually support it if only Deidre Wallace and the Ambrose Group would conform to the Venice Specific Plan and provide parking that was adequate for the hotel's actual needs rather than an easily manipulated minimum standard. No one who spoke in opposition thought the benefits of green construction should be traded for additional height and density.
The response from Ms. Wallace and her supporters ranged from non-existant to ill-prepared. I found this rather odd until I later saw an invitation sent to a list of supporters. It was for an open house at Equator Books this Monday night.
The invitation says the hotel "..........should not be derailed by one small group of residents who feel they are the sole custodians of Venice."
Then it goes on to call 757 extra car trips a day "traffic reduction", precedent-setting height and density variances "smart progressive and sustainable", inadequate parking for the hotel's proposed usage "additional parking in the Venice community", and the tightly controlled open house a "transparent, comprehensive overview".
It's a wonderful and classic piece of propaganda, right up there with the Bush administration's "Clean Skies" and "Healthy Forests" initiatives. George Orwell must be doing backflips in his grave.
So I don't think Ms. Wallace ever intended to come to the LUPC meeting. Was it because it wasn't a meeting she could control?
I've even learned there were efforts to get the LUPC meeting cancelled. It was somehow "miscommunicated" to the LUPC Chair that Councilman Rosendahl wanted to lead a "town hall" meeting on the Ray Hotel instead. When contacted, Rosendahl's office had no knowledge of this arraignment and had no idea where this information had come from.
In any case, I suspect when Ms. Wallace and her people learned of the 5,000 flyer outreach they realized they had to make an appearance.
Less than 10 out a hundred people present spoke in favor the project as currently proposed. Out of those, only 3 appeared to be community members not personally or professionally connected with Ms. Wallace. Some supporters brought up legitimate points ( such as converted garages contributing significantly to on-street parking problems and that Venice residents could use some more hotel rooms for visiting guests), but others claimed the people present didn't "really" represent the community at large or accused them of ignorance for not acting on outreach they never received. Ms. Wallace's husband got up and spoke emotionally and passionately about the Venice Specific Plan being a "living document" and how it should be bended and amended to fit the needs of the "community". In this case the "community" being, well........... them.
But the highlight of the evening (or lowlight depending on your point of view) had to have been when the Ray Hotel architect, Hagy Belzberg, got up to speak. Armed with a legal pad full of hastily scribbled notes, Mr. Belzberg began this way,
"You know, I wasn't going to speak this evening............."
And you know, he should have listened to that still, small voice in his head, because what he said next did his client no favors at all.
Mr. Belzberg began by singling out stakeholders by name - some of whom were no longer there to defend themselves - lecturing the collective group on how wrong and ill-informed they were. Pointing his finger at a designated target, he would bulldoze past legitimate concerns, refuting versions of events and facts that didn't conform to his view. He did his best to paint opponents in their most extreme form - Philistines, NIMBYs, shrill and small-minded anti-gentrification, anti-development reactionaries still dreaming of Venice in its Town Council days and even before, when it was a destination for hippies seeking Utopia-by-the-beach.
Call me crazy, but I don't think personally criticizing a room full of people who already disagree with you is the best way to win over hearts and minds. By the time he was done he might have made himself feel better, but he turned the resolve of a lot of people in that room from salt to stone.
So right about now you're probably saying to yourself, "Now what?"
Well, that's a good question, because as I said before, we have miles to go before we're done. Momentum may be in our favor, but we can't count that it will stay that way. We have to keep the pressure up. Rosendahl has voiced his support for the community on this, but it's clear he's looking for us to lead the way. This is not something he can do on his own because the Ambrose Group has hired some very powerful lobbyists to put on the pressure. We have to be partners in this together.
C'mon, if Ruthie Seroussi can do it (ONLY THREE WEEKS AFTER GIVING BIRTH TO HER FIRST CHILD) so can you.
Here's what's next:
MONDAY, SEPT. 10 - 6:30PM
AMBROSE GROUP "OPEN HOUSE" ON THE RAY HOTEL
WHERE: Equator Books, 1103 Abbot Kinney
Don't be shy. Eat their food then pick their brains. Ask them how 757 extra car trips a day is "traffic reduction", precedent-setting height and density variances "smart progressive and sustainable", inadequate parking for the hotel's proposed usage "additional parking in the Venice community", where the valets are going to park all those extra cars, who the neighbors will have to go to to complain about noise on their rooftop pool at 3am.
TUESDAY, SEPT.18 - 7PM
VENICE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL BOARD MEETING
WHERE: Westminster Elementary School - 1010 Abbot Kinney
The VNC Board still has to approve the decision LUPC made before it can be sent to the City. Here's another chance to make sure they do the right thing.
WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 19 - 4:30PM
WEST LA PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING
Henry Medina West L.A. Parking Enforcement Facility
11214 W. Exposition Blvd.(near Sepulveda)
2nd floor, Roll Call Room
If you don't go to any other meeting, go to this one. The WLAPC meeting will be considering wether or not to approve this project as is, make the Ambrose Group conform to the VSP, or some combination of the above. Numbers matter. Go.
AND IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE IT ALREADY, WRITE TO THE FOLLOWING CITY OFFICIALS AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
james.k.williams@lacity.org - James Williams - West LA Planning Commission (or fax 213-978-1029)
gail.goldberg@lacity.org - Gail Goldberg - Director of Planning for the City of LA
councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org - Councilman Bill Rosendahl
mike.bonin@lacity.org - Mike Bonin - Councilman Rosendahl's chief of staff
grieg.asher@lacity.org - Grieg Asher - Councilman Rosendahl's Planning Director
board@grvnc.org - The Venice Neighborhood Council
msblucow@mac.com - Marta Evry - outreach,venicerayhotel.blogspot.com
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