Communities United For Smart Growth

12/16/10:  At a 4-hour Public Comment Meeting Monday night, held jointly by L.A. County and City, members of the public had their first chance to weigh in on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the massive NBC Universal Evolution plan.  While most in the 300+ audience weren’t able to quote chapter and verse from the 39,000 page document issued this past November, the overwhelming general sentiment was that there were major flaws in the DEIR and the CEQA process, and that the plan, as currently envisioned, is far too massive and would create catastrophic consequences for the surrounding neighborhoods.

The vast majority of the comments shared the same common themes:

• Size of the EIR study vs. the time allotted to comment publicly: The 39,000 pages of documents in 27 volumes have been very difficult to adequately review and digest in the one month since publication, especially as this is the busy Holiday season.
• The David vs. Goliath nature of this process in general. The tax-paying public, who will ultimately bear the brunt of the admitted unmitigatable negative impacts, is at an obvious disadvantage in this process to NBC Universal, which over the years has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and many man-hours to prepare the document.  The stakeholders who cannot afford the high-priced consultants necessary to thoroughly review the gigantic document are left to fend for themselves as best they can.
• Separation of the Evolution Plan DEIR from the Universal Metro Plan DEIR: Both plans are on file with the City Planning Department,  yet they are being considered independently of one another, even though their effects and processes are inexorably linked. It is clearly impossible and legally inadequate for the City and County, said several stakeholders, to consider the Evolution Plan DEIR by itself and not in tandem with a DEIR for the Metro Project planned for across the street (NBC Universal was to be a major tenant in that project).  These DEIRs must be linked and presented as one.
• Perceived accuracy of the DEIR study:  Many stakeholders commented on missing and erroneous findings in the report which indicated to them that faulty methods were utilized or findings were deliberately obfuscated.  The absence of streets in local maps, overflow traffic in outlying neighborhoods, and the assumed timely availability of federal and state dollars for traffic mitigation during times of constant budget crises were the most referenced.
• The current traffic bottleneck in this geographically landlocked area vs. the 80% increase in traffic. It can take half an hour to drive the 1.1 miles from Pass Ave to The Hollywood Manor during rush hour, one speaker related. How will stakeholders be able to contend when the DEIR’s predicted 36,451 additional daily vehicle trips are a reality?
• Creating NEW, long-term jobs is critically important. Everyone agreed that long term entertainment industry jobs are paramount to the survival of the Southern California economy and for Universal Studios.  Only 3,000 to 4,000 of the touted 13,000 jobs are actually forecasted to be added to the Universal lot.  What’s the real net number after all the NBC personnel currently working in Burbank are transferred to the Universal lot? How will destroying the historic back lot, the one remaining open industrial space zoned for production in L.A., help create long-term jobs?
• The outsized housing development with unsustainable resources. Situated on an already over congested gridlocked piece of land, the 3,000 proposed housing units will require vast amounts of infrastructure and resources including water which is currently being rationed by the City. Over and over again stakeholders voiced their alarm at the sheer size of the intended new housing project – ¾ of Park La Brea and dwarfing the size of adjacent neighborhoods (Hollywood Knolls, The Manor and Lakeridge Estates are 800 residences COMBINED).  Local residents were adamant in their opinions that the surrounding community simply cannot support the amount of people, cars and resources required for such a development.  Councilmember Tom LaBonge, one of the speakers,  observed that placing these residences on the back lot could further reduce film production as the new residents object to the noise, lights, etc. associated with filming in their back yards.
• No placement of ANY housing component near mass transit. Many stakeholders were mystified as to why the 3,000 housing units would be placed two miles away on Barham Blvd. instead of next to the Metro Station on Lankershim. Doesn’t that run counter to the City’s oft-stated mandate to build housing stock adjacent to mass transit hubs?  Plans of “public transportation” for the area were cited as short term and overly optimistic in projected ridership.

Meanwhile, the few supporters of the plan, who wore “Yes Evolution Plan” stickers, thoughtfully provided by NBC Universal’s PR machine, tended to be those who did not live near the site and who delivered their typewritten, prepared remarks, mostly lacking any specific detail, with all the genuine emotion of a studio tour guide.  Their accusations of NIMBY-ism were undercut by the constant repetition of all the other speakers who said repeatedly that they supported the continued prosperity of NBC Universal, but NOT at the expense of its neighbors.

Indeed what was most heartening was the unanimous endorsement of what CUSG has stood for over the years—that the financial well being of NBC Universal is of critical importance to the immediate neighborhood and the surrounding region. However, that prosperity can’t come at the expense of its neighbors.  It has to be a true “win-win.”  We hope to work with NBC Universal to forge such a plan.

As Daniel Savage, President of CUSG said in his closing remarks, “Yes to a successful NBC Universal; Yes to new jobs; but No to more traffic and No to another Park La Brea in our neighborhood.”