(In)elegant Density: Hollywood Farmers Market Fight Still Not About Parking

(In)elegant Density: Hollywood Farmers Market Fight Still Not About Parking

By Elina Shatkin Wed., Jan. 5 2011 at 8:30 AM

Simone Wilson

Parking has been the red herring brought up over and over during the still-simmering fight between the LA Film School and the Hollywood Farmers Market. We've said it before, and we'll say it again: This is NOT a minor scuffle about parking. This is an all-out land-use war, and the market's biggest enemy may not be the film school, but Department of Public Works regulations and city councilmembers like Eric Garcetti.

The LA Film School wants to expand its curriculum and event calendar to Sundays, which would require complete access to roads and sidewalks surrounding the facility. As Simone Wilson notes in The Informer's latest update, Garcetti has long been a proponent of "elegant density," i.e. squeezing as many developers onto one block as possible even if it means exempting outsize projects from certain regulations with a "density bonus."

When we checked in on the situation in late December, the Hollywood Farmers Market had been granted a 90-day extension that would allow the market to remain open on Sundays but no final deal had been reached. This was after Garcetti claimed triumphantly on "This Way LA" (Dec. 17) that a compromise had been reached then sent out a sheepish press release the following day -- with an empty space where the Film School's signature should have gone.

Since then, things haven't gotten any better, according to Wilson. Though Garcetti says he wants to live in a city where he can stroll from the market to the theater to a subway station to his home, he supported new street-closure regulations passed in September 2009, requiring 51 percent of businesses on each block to give their permission. Those same regulations are what's driving the Hollywood Farmers Market off the streets around Vine and Ivar.

Sure, Eric Garcetti's still grinning like the politician that he is, he must know his vision for urban overlap has wedged him between a high-rise and a hard place.

All the details here.

Tags:

Eric Garcetti, Hollywood Farmers Market, LA Film School, Simone Wilson

We Recommend

Brett

It sounds to me like the author does have the facts right, especially when you go back and look at all of the maneuverings that Garcetti and others have done on behalf of developers to encourage development at the exepense of environmental quality controls. It's great when new development occurs; not so great when the developers don't have to do the things they're supposed to do, like make sure the people using their buildings for work or living have a place to park.

Jenny

@Brett-- The Film School DOES have a place to park. If they didn't, they why were they charging Farmer's Market customers $7 to use their lot if there is no access to it? I live two blocks away and am definitely not making that up. I'm making no judgement calls when it comes to Garcetti, but in defense of the Farmer's Market (which has been around 10 years longer than the Film School), I think that this isn't really a density problem. The market's been there over 20 years, the school still has access to their parking, and I think their motives for needing BOTH entrances to the same lot (during 7am to 1pm) on a Sunday is a little ridiculous.

Simone Wilson

It's not just about parking. The Film School wants to expand events and classes to Sunday, including at the Ivar Theatre. From http://www.laweekly.com/2010-1...

"Given the chance, we'd start holding events and open up our equipment room — which is closed on Sundays because of the market," Ibrahim told the Weekly. "It's about more than parking, but we never wanted to say that, because that's the legal argument."

The school, which faces Sunset, plans to hold numerous Sunday events, Ibrahim says, and will bring shuttle buses and groups to its Ivar Street side entrances.

Moreover, the school plans to develop the Ivar Theatre, just north of the disputed block — yet another stretch that's now blocked on Sundays by the market. Says Ibrahim, "On Sundays, we don't have access to the front of our theater."

So far, he says, "We haven't even begun to complain yet about our access to Ivar Theatre."

Sam

As a resident of Triangle Square, the first Gay and Lesbian senior affordable housing in the country, which is right next door to the Farmer's Market, I couldn't disagree with you more. I used to enjoy reading the Weekly--it was thoughtful, it had the facts right, and while I didn't always agree with it, it was fair. I'm a big fan of Eric Garcetti and his staff and they have done an amazing job in our neighborhood. Maybe you miss the days when Hollywood was full of hookers, gang members and empty lots, but I'd much rather have buildings like mine, which gives me a little dignity in my golden years. You rail against density, but I have been in meetings in which Garcetti argued for the right-sized buildings where there were just empty lots. I haven't agreed with everything he does (I think the W Hotel could have less billboards for one), but he has always been fair and has displayed a real talent for listening and making my neighborhood better. I was almost priced out of Hollywood after 40 years during the housing boom, but he helped me stay and got me involved. The Farmer's Market isn't going away. While the Film School should respect it more, the Market's leaders are sometimes tough to deal with. But we all love the market, and it looks like things will get resolved. It's one of the most beautiful places in LA. And thanks to Garcetti, the Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing, and many businesses who have invested in the area, it is a bright spot in an otherwise-decaying city. You seem to have a real personal beef with certain elected officials. I say give them hell when they deserve it, but get your facts right. We aren't Manhattan in Hollywood, we are finally growing in the right way and supporting the entire city as a result.