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THIS IS THE OPINION PAGE
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An individual's actions should be presumed private,
while a government's actions should be presumed public.
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RAY BRADBURY, SOME PEOPLE WANT TO TAKE OUR LIBRARY AWAY FROM US
An open letter to a friend and neighbor
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Palms, California, U.S.A.
June 22, 2006
Ray Bradbury
Cheviot Hills, CA
Dear Mr. Bradbury:
Honestly, Ray Bradbury, are you aware there's a movement to take our library away from us -- in YOUR NAME? Do you realize there's bunch of folks who want our Palms-Rancho Park Library to be renamed the RAY BRADBURY library?
I mean, come on! Weren't you pretty upset when Michael Moore lifted a piece of your book title Fahrenheit 451, and didn't you demand an apology? We're just as ticked off about those who are mucking about with the name of our library.
Has anyone even ASKED you if you want to be "honored" by removing one of the few claims to intellectual rigor and literary fun that remain to the community of Palms?
I doubt it, because if they had, I believe you would tell them to take a hike, that our local branch library belongs to the men and women, boys and girls of this and other neighborhoods who stream in and out of that building six days a week, many of them making it the center of their lives.
As an Angeleno, you know as well as I the history of Palms -- how we started out 120 years ago as a whistle stop on the main line between Downtown and Santa Monica, how the Palms Library was built on Motor Ave., then moved to Woodbine and Vinton and finally, in 1964, to its present location in Palms Park and rechristened the Palms-Rancho Park Library in honor of the new residential community in which it found itself.
You know that Palms has changed over the years from an agricultural, pastoral community to its present, spirited working-class area filled with residents of all religions and races. Are you really going to let your well-meaning, benevolent friends in Cheviot Hills slap those neighbors in the face by taking their library away from them?
I don't believe you are.
The Library Commission has stated:
Branch libraries are neighborhood libraries identified and located by the names of their respective communities. In meetings and forums throughout the city, people have expressed their desires for branch libraries to be named for the community. . . . There is an important continuity and community identification with the name of each library that provides a sense of place, stability and pride. . . .
Gosh, I don't think you could have said that better yourself.
(Well, maybe a little better.)
Your friend and southerly neighbor,
George Garrigues,
Editor and owner, The Palms-Village Sun
(Born in L.A. and a resident of Palms for 11 years)
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ARCHITECT COUNTERS
COMPLAINTS ABOUT
PALMS-MOTOR MULTI-USE PROJECT
John Spohrer says there will be more parking than required, the project will open and airy and there'll be a place to meet friends and have coffee.
The architect for Claire Heron of C-R Management Co. replies to the letter from Milton Sidley posted below.
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This letter is in response to your recently published letter by Millton Sidley regarding the proposed development at the corner of Palms and Motor.
Mr. Sidley voices concern about the size of the project and how it will impact the community. In order to make his case, he misrepresents the design and presents a grossly exaggerated opinion of negative consequences that might result.
The building is a mixed-use project of apartments and retail space. It is a building type proven to be appropriate in commercial zones as a means of reducing automobile traffic and encouraging pedestrian traffic.
Living "over the shop" has been out of fashion for years, resulting in vast urban sprawl, long commutes, congestion, and unhealthy air. Fortunately, the fashion is changing. The wisdom of living near one's work, walking to shops, enjoying the street as a pedestrian, rather than the usual commuting by car, is having a rebirth. That is what this project is about.
The design provides more parking spaces than is required by code for the proposed uses. They are underground and out of sight. The streets are lined with retail spaces to serve the community. Apartments are located on floors 2 through 5 with access through a designated and secure lobby at the ground floor. The top floor apartments have a loft space.
Nearly 20% of the ground floor area is allocated to public access and is open to the sky. A central courtyard is planned that will be furnished to encourage leisurely use by the neighborhood. A space for meeting friends, having coffee or simply window browsing is the intended use.
It is not designed to be a playground, but a gathering space. Ball games as referred to by Mr. Sidley are not part of the plan.
The building is softened by stepping back from the street, plant material, bridges and an undulating roofline. A large area of the property is left open at the corner of Motor and Palms to allow pedestrian access, along with light and air into the
Palms at the bottom and Motor at the left.
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courtyard. [Drawing above shows open-air corridor leading to the Motor-Palms intersection, behind where the people are chatting. The tree is in the courtyard.]
The height of the building varies dramatically from lowest roof at 14 feet to the peak of the curved loft roofs. The result is a visually active building that will add richness and interest to the look of the neighborhood.
The same liveliness of form is carried into the courtyard to create an enjoyable and welcoming atmosphere. (See attached illustration) To refer to this as being "surrounded by 60-ft. walls on all sides . . ." as Mr. Sidley does, is simply not true.
While the proposed building is taller than others are on Motor and Palms, it is also livelier, will create a sense of place and will provide more interaction among people.
In addition, the community-serving retail space will provide convenience for locals and encourage pedestrian traffic.
In life there are trade-offs. In order to create a mixed-use project that will benefit the neighborhood a zone change is being requested from commercial to residential. Without the revised zone, the property will be developed but will not include the amenities offered by this design.
Nearby, on Motor Avenue, there are several examples of recently built projects that do nothing to encourage pedestrian activity. The ground floor is typically a parking structure with a driveway cut through the sidewalk. This mixed-use project, by contrast, offers a safer, more attractive, pedestrian-friendly environment for the community.
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LANDOWNER OBJECTS
TO A SIX-STORY BUILDING
NEXT TO HIS PROPERTY
Reposted from our May 2006 issue
Milton Sidley complains about density, parking, lack of open space and facilities for the public
The text below is abridged from a letter Sidley wrote on May 4 to the city Planning Department. He is the owner of property that includes the Pacific Television Center just to the north of a proposed new building on the northeast corner of Palms Blvd. and Motor Ave.
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| The Motor and Palms area in question . . . is primarily two-story commercial, low-density, with some low-density residential The surrounding area and across the alleyway from the proposed project is low-density multi-family.
Nothing else on Motor Ave. or Palms Blvd. is of the scale of this proposed development.
There are no six-story buildings and none with the proposed lot coverage of this project.
I strongly object to this proposed project for many reasons.
The project does not provide for adequate parking . . . 60 spaces for 40 residential units. Because of their size, these units are clearly designed for two or more adults per unit. . . . both of whom would most probably have a vehicle. The two bedrooms could have three adults.
In addition, there should be guest spaces for at least six extra cars.
This surrounding area is heavily congested residential. It now has inadequate street parking. The streets of Motor and Palms are problem areas. . . .
The developer is proposing tandem spaces. . . .
People do not like to use them and will look for street or alternative ways to park . . .
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In addition, the parking for the commercial is woefully inadequate. The developer is contemplating . . . restaurants of not to exceed 6,000 sq. ft., each with on-site liquor. A slight knowledge of the restaurant business would make us aware that each 3,000 sq. ft. restaurant would seat 80 to 100 patrons and require at least 15 employees . . .
The developer suggests a total of 100 spaces for this whole project. From my experience as a property owner, that is a recipe for disaster. If you do not have sufficient parking, people will not come, and you will have a brand-new empty building. . . .
This project should have no less than 244 spaces. The developer is short 144 spaces.
The developer provides only one ingress and one egress to the project coming off an alleyway at the rear of the building. Can you imagine vehicles lining up on Palms Blvd. waiting to get into the alley [for] . . . non-existent parking spaces?
The developer has set for the proposed rental for . . . 40 units. I have spent a large part of my adult life in the real estate and development business. At one time we owned and operated over 500 residential units. As a result I am somewhat familiar with construction and operation costs. The building . . . will be very expensive. Add that cost to the land cost, and I'm sure the numbers won't work with the rents the developer has proposed.
These units cannot be moderately priced . . .
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How will a six-story building make for
'a lively village atmosphere?'
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The developer talks about making a pedestrian-friendly area. I don't know how . . . large ground-floor dinner houses serving liquor contribute to an invitation to pedestrians. These restaurants . . . will be too expensive for the surrounding residents.
The developer talks about the open courtyard in the center of the building. I don't know how a 3,000-sq.-ft. open space . . . surrounded by 60-ft. walls on all sides can be an inviting place. . . light and air will be at a minimum.
The developer talks about landscaping. . . . the landscaping appears to consist of five boulevard of trees and three or four pots in the courtyard.
I agree with the developer that the project is the antithesis of a mini-mall. I feel that a two- or three-story commercial of 29,000 sq. ft. with adequate parking would be more in character with the neighborhood. . . .
The developer talks about the public courtyard, but doesn't say what [that] . . . means. Will it be a playground for the school kids? Will they be able to throw a ball at the 60-ft. walls?
What facilities are for the public?
I don't see public toilets, public drinking fountains or public play space. I see a concrete floor with 60-ft. walls and some flower pots. . . .
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I have never heard of asking to change the zoning to fit the design. My experience has always been the other way around: Design the building to fit the zoning . . .
Motor Ave. is not strip commercial. It is a mixed area with local shops providing moderatly priced goods and services to local residents.
The developer does not explain how a six-story building . . . will make a lively village atmosphere and be compatible with the existing area. . . .
Good planning requires that this project be denied and that the developer go back and provide a more compatible design within the existing zoning.
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