When I listened to Los Angeles Planning Department General Manager Gail Goldberg boast last week about how Echo Park was named "one of America's 10 greatest neighborhoods," I couldn't help but laugh.
The city has had little or nothing to do with the regeneration of this wonderful but rundown community. Echo Park, like Eagle Rock and Highland Park and a few others neighborhoods, are undergoing an exciting revival. It's happening despite City Hall policies that are ruining many other neighborhoods.
What was ironic about Goldberg's boast is that she probably isn't even aware that a zoning administrator who works for her is holding
a hearing Monday on T-Mobile's request to put a dozen 55-foot cell phone towers atop a nearly 200-year-old apartment building right in the center of an area that is attracting young professionals, artists, students and others who are making it a hip place to live.
Apart from the unknown health issues associated in living beneath and around massive bursts of radiowaves is the hideous visual blight those 12 towers would create, the sense of the neighborhood being violated by their intrusion. This wouldn't even be a question if the city had a comprehensive policy that protects community interests and processes to inform and help residents look after themselves.
Have a laugh yourself. Listen to Goldberg echopark1.wav as reported last Thursday to her bosses -- Jane Usher and the Planning Commission -- the pride she feels at the American Planning Association's honor for Echo Park
How could anyone disagree with what Goldberg is saying -- if only that were the policy of the city. Recognition that quality of life and enriched social capital are the heart of a a great community gets occasional lip service but City Hall's decisions are made on the basis of a different capital -- the monetary kind. There is no goal beyond filling the city treasury and lining the pockets of moneyed interests.
To the corrupt and greedy insider political culture, the spirit of a community has no value. That's why L.A., after these years, is still a city in search of an identity. The Spirit of L.A. is struggling to be born out in Echo Park and neighborhoods across L.A. But City Hall is like a mausoleum that houses in its crypts all hopes for the birth of something greater than ourselves, a dynamic sense of community that inspires us to strive for more than our own private interests.
The city has had little or nothing to do with the regeneration of this wonderful but rundown community. Echo Park, like Eagle Rock and Highland Park and a few others neighborhoods, are undergoing an exciting revival. It's happening despite City Hall policies that are ruining many other neighborhoods.
What was ironic about Goldberg's boast is that she probably isn't even aware that a zoning administrator who works for her is holding
a hearing Monday on T-Mobile's request to put a dozen 55-foot cell phone towers atop a nearly 200-year-old apartment building right in the center of an area that is attracting young professionals, artists, students and others who are making it a hip place to live.Apart from the unknown health issues associated in living beneath and around massive bursts of radiowaves is the hideous visual blight those 12 towers would create, the sense of the neighborhood being violated by their intrusion. This wouldn't even be a question if the city had a comprehensive policy that protects community interests and processes to inform and help residents look after themselves.
Have a laugh yourself. Listen to Goldberg echopark1.wav as reported last Thursday to her bosses -- Jane Usher and the Planning Commission -- the pride she feels at the American Planning Association's honor for Echo Park
How could anyone disagree with what Goldberg is saying -- if only that were the policy of the city. Recognition that quality of life and enriched social capital are the heart of a a great community gets occasional lip service but City Hall's decisions are made on the basis of a different capital -- the monetary kind. There is no goal beyond filling the city treasury and lining the pockets of moneyed interests.
To the corrupt and greedy insider political culture, the spirit of a community has no value. That's why L.A., after these years, is still a city in search of an identity. The Spirit of L.A. is struggling to be born out in Echo Park and neighborhoods across L.A. But City Hall is like a mausoleum that houses in its crypts all hopes for the birth of something greater than ourselves, a dynamic sense of community that inspires us to strive for more than our own private interests.
Too bad that most of the policies Goldberg has initiated lack the vision to free the soul of the city. She doesn't serve the people, she serves the developers and other special and the city officials they buy on the cheap with campaign contributions.
The hearing before Zoning Administrator Andre Parvenu is at 1:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, Room 1050. Why isn't it in Echo Park so residents could show up in numbers without the expense of parking and the trouble of going to City Hall?
I tried to reach Parvenu several times last week but he didn't return phone calls. I called several others in Planning and Building and Safety but I couldn't find anyone who knew what the city's policies are on cell phone towers or who might know. It shouldn't be that hard to find out some basic facts about city policies and how they work.
I do know thanks to Google search that the towers proposed for the top of the Delmor Apartment building at 1551 Echo Park Ave. are worth
a lot of money to T-Mobile and to the property owners, perhaps more than the profits from rentals.The question is how well organized the community is to make it clear that the health and well-being of their neighborhood must matter more than the wealth of T-Mobile and the landlord. Councilman Eric Garcetti who represents the area is said to oppose the cell towers -- not because they are an affront to the community but because they exceed the height limit.
People I know in the Echo Park community say they are ready for a fight. They have organized a petition drive and I'm told they have as many as 200 signatories.
We've seen recently how community activists trekking to City Hall have made a difference at the Department of Water and Power and the City Planning Commission. Here's another opportunity for community action.
Don't be a victim. Get involved. Ultimately, this isn't just about cell phone towers in Echo Park. It's about who owns L.A. -- the politicians and special interests or the people.
Ron Kaye
Why have community interest at heart, when personal interest are much more endearing to one's self?
Because they can!
I really think that this blog can help people. Well done :)
I just wanted to thank you for writing this. It really made my day :)