Time is running out for 88-year-old tenant AND GRVNC
By Carol
Fondiller
Time always seems to run out
when it comes to the public comment portion of the Grass Roots Venice
Neighborhood Council. So I’m stating my proposal and the reasons for it in
the Free Venice Beachhead.
I move that the
meaning of its initials - GRVNC - be changed from Grass Roots Venice
Neighborhood Council to the Graft Ripoff Venice Neighborhood Cabal.
Cases in
Point:
The Lincoln Center proposal that
would plop an 80-foot-high development for two blocks on Lincoln
Blvd.
Some of the Land Use and Planning
Committee of the GRVNC support the proposed development because there would be
20 percent “affordable” housing, as is recommended by Los Angeles.
Incidentally, it would include high-end pricey apartments and a Ralphs
Supermarket, a Ross’s and several small
shops.
The “affordable”
housing was on the average $1,200-plus a unit. Not affordable for the minimum
wage earners who would work at the store. At the GRVNC Land Use and Planning
Committee meeting, the developers stated that they could only build high, wide
and dense if they had a housing component in their development. Councilwoman
Miscikowski, Mayor Hahn and most of the Board members of the GRVNC are for the
proposal as it now stands (see Beachhead articles by Stek and Smith in the
February and March editions).
At a
non-GRVNC meeting, a fairly modest development for 40 units of low-income
housing along the railroad right of way in back of Abbot Kinney Blvd. was
proposed by the non-profit Venice Community Housing Corporation. Squeals of
outrage and concern for the elimination of “charm and uniqueness” of
Abbot Kinney Blvd. were voiced by several members of the audience including some
members of GRVNC.
Though the previous
councilwoman , who was gerrymandered out of the district, had approved the
project in concept, the present coouncilwoman opposed the
project.
Some members also moaned about
the loss of parking that illegally encroaches on the railroad right of
way.
But the icing on the development cake
is yet to come!
Venice – “I
have a vision for Venice” – architect Michael Sant – yes the
very same Michael Sant whose vision for Venice includes a traffic hazard
consisting of an Art Bunker Bistro Bar/Shop Complex on Abbot Kinney and San Juan
(see article by Lydia Poncé in the December
Beachhead).
The City of L.A. had just
introduced a moratorium on evicting tenants when $10,000 rehab per unit was
proposed. It seems landlords were taking advantage of the law by evicting
long-term tenants who were having low rents because of rent control. The
Landlords would say that they had to rehab the unit for $10,000, when in
reality, the work was not necessary. When the old tenants were forced to move,
the landlords would raise the rent. The units would no longer be rent
controlled, and the rents would go to the current market
rate.
Get the
drill?
The City Council passed the
moratorium which prevents tenants from being evicted for major rehabs. The
tenants could be temporarily relocated until the rehab is finished. They would
be paying rent commensurate with the rent they were paying. After the rehab,
they would be able to move back into their unit and have the previous amount of
rent plus a 10 percent increase.
The
visionary Mr. Sant applied for a hardship exemption from the moratorium. Mr.
Sant then sold his building to Mr. Todd Flournoy of S.A. Rose Investments. Since
the City Council has not been hesitant in the past to grant so-called hardship
exemptions to developers and landlords, Mr. Flournoy and his partner, Mr.
Teague, have the greatest confidence that they will be granted the
grandfather-in-hardship exemption.
It
seems the only one who can’t claim a hardship exemption is the one
remaining tenant, an 88-year-old World War II veteran and Purple Heart
recipient, who has occupied his unit for 47 years and is dependent on care from
his daughter who has to care for him full time, and therefore is unemployed. Mr.
Dunne lives on a fixed income.
At the
GRVNC Executive Committee meeting, March 20, there was a request to put
Dunne’s case on the agenda, because time was running
out.
Two members, Jeff Miles and Chris
Bedrosian, voted to delay the matter until May. Chris Wood voted against the
delay and Tisha Bedrosian abstained. At the same Executive Committee meeting,
the GRVNC voted to approve condominiums on Venice
Blvd.
At the next GRVNC Board meeting,
March 24, Mr. Dunne, his supporters and his attorney waited to speak at the
public comment portion of the meeting, but no action could be taken since the
issue had not been put on the agenda by the executive
committee.
At this point the future
looks bleak for Mr. Dunne. Councilwoman Miscikowski wants Flournoy and
Teague’s project passed.
Usually,
what the councilperson wants in her own district is approved by the other city
councilmembers.
I am bemused by the concern
that the majority of the GRVNC members have for the developers and the Bleeding
Hearts they have for real estate
speculators.
There seems to be one set
of rules for developers of low-income housing, concern for parking landscaping
shade, etc. and blithe faith in developers of Art Bunker Condominiums and bars,
that they will do right by our little
Venice.
It seems to me time is running
out on the diversity of Venice, unless time runs out on some of the present
GRVNC Board members.
Posted: Tue - April 1, 2003 at 06:37 PM