Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. It's the best holiday of the year because it reminds us to be grateful for all of the wonderful people we love. Enjoy the holiday and as always, continue to enjoy and love Los Angeles.

Tom

Opposing Metro Universal

You may be aware that I am opposing the $800 million Metro Universal development project proposed for 3875 North Lankershim Boulevard.
This is a timely issue now because the City is currently accepting public comment on the Draft Environmnetal Impact Report (DEIR) for this proposed, 1.5 million-square-foot development. I encourage everyone in the 4th Council District to read the report by clicking here and responding to it.
That's your role. My role is to press the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA),as the property owner, to be accountable to the neighborhood for its role in this high-density development proposal.
I am opposed to this project because:

• The proposed development - twin 24-story towers, 34-story high-rise and 10-story parking garage - is too big and too dense for the banana-shaped parcel.
• The planned traffic mitigations are not adequate to absorb the traffic this development will generate. Lankershim is the only adjacent north/south street. There is no grid to absorb traffic flow.
• The project requires the taking of land by eminent domain from Weddington Park South. This will negatively impact park operations, cast the park in the shadow of a 10-story parking structure and require the city to relocate a park road and other amenities.

The MTA's response has been that the project's scale is necessary in order to meet the financial requirements imposed by its development deal structure. I feel strongly that the MTA is a public agency, whose mission - first and foremost - is to provide an efficient and effective transportation system.
I have encouraged the MTA, as the property owner and partner in this project, to take a renewed look at its development contract, scale back the proposed density and find a better balance between profits and impacts on neighborhoods and traffic.

Sincerely, Tom

Griffith Park as Historic-Cultural Monument

Dear Friends, Currently, the City's Cultural Heritage Commission has taken under consideration an application to declare all of Griffith Park a historic-cultural monument of the City of Los Angeles. They will be making a recommendation that, once approved, will be forwarded to the City Council for deliberation.
All of us share a great love for what I consider this city's most treasured and greatest gift, Griffith Park. I have always been a proponent of preservation. It was my idea to apply for historic designation for the Griffith Observatory in 1976. I want to make sure other buildings, like the Greek Theater, get their designation to add to the nine existing historic sites in the park.
I have encouraged the Commission staff to have a thoughtful discussion with Department of Recreation and Parks staff to interpret exactly what a historic designation would mean to the park and its operation. Additionally, the second and most current draft of the updated Griffith Park Master Plan will be reviewed soon. I want to make sure that historic designation would not conflict with the Master Plan when it's adopted.
Griffith Park is currently more than 4,218 acres: One of my major goals is to expand the park to the west, especially the area near Cahuenga Peak and the Hollywood sign. Additionally, I want to connect the park to the Los Angeles River and its revitalization.
There's a lot of misinformation out there on this topic. I hike to Mount Hollywood every morning and there have been fliers stapled to trees accusing me of supporting development in the park. I do not endorse any development plans in the park. I have received emails about items that I rejected years ago when I opposed the first draft of the Master Plan. That is why I formed the working group to create the second draft.
I am honored to serve this City and protect and enhance Griffith Park. My primary objective is to do what Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith wanted: to keep Griffith Park a park for the people.

Tom LaBonge

See CD4: The Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA

The new Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is now open in the Miracle Mile.

From your walk through rows and rows of vintage street lamps restored by artist Chris Burden, to the gallery itself where you can see the best of what namesake Eli Broad's collection of modern art has to offer, the BCAM at LACMA is worth a visit.

While you're there, explore the main collection with more than 100,000 works of art at LACMA, the largest encyclopedic museum west of Chicago. Through its far-reaching collections, the museum is both a resource to and a reflection of the many cultural communities and heritages in Southern California.

Tickets to the BCAM and LACMA are available online or by calling the LACMA box office at (323) 857-6010.

Come see what's new at the L.A. Zoo!

Visit the new Zoo's new exhibit of African Wild Dogs, which opened in April. These dramatically beautiful “painted wolves” are actually not wolves or dogs but a unique species that has existed for over three million years as the only member of their genus. They are also known as Cape hunting dogs. For more information, visit www.lazoo.org.

Saying Goodbye to an Angel in the City of Angels -- Johnny Grant

Johnny Grant with LA Inc.'s Michael Collins and CM LaBonge in November.

Dear Friends:

It is with great sadness that we bid farewell to one of the greats this week -- Johnny Grant. Johnny was a dear friend, a wonderful frontman for the Hollywood Walk of Fame and also someone who had a big heart for great causes, including those of his adopted city of Los Angeles. His enthusiasm for the Street of Dreams, and as producer of the Hollywood Christmas Parade, was infectious. Having participated in a number of Walk of Fame ceremonies, I would marvel how Johnny could make everyone in hearing distance feel like they were a part of that individual's success. Johnny had amazing recall. He'd recount an anecdote from the 50s as clearly as one from the week before. Even as his body slowly gave way to age, his mind was sharp. I called him earlioer this week to see if he could join us to mark Elvis' birthday but he said he wasn't feeling so well. We missed him at the event and now, forever more.

Johnny, an angel in the City of Angels, is with the angels.

Finally, a map of Griffith Park!!!

Dear Friends:

Finally, we have a map of Griffith Park -- a great map of Griffith Park! In all the decades of being a park-user, I've been frustrated that there's never been a comprehensive, detailed map of the terrain and trails with a guide to all the park's attractions on the reverse side. Now, this pet project of mine, paid for out of CD4 street furniture funds, is a reality. We've produced a first printing of 100,000 copies, 35,000 of which have already been distributed by the Los Feliz Ledger. The remaining maps will be available for free at all the major park attractions and the Ranger Station on Crystal Springs Road. My great thanks go to Graham Marriott and his team at Cartifact, mapmakers located in downtown Los Angeles. As it happened, I met Graham, a constituent of the Hollywood Knolls, at a CD4 meeting and mentioned my idea of producing a first-class map of Griffith Park. He loved the idea too, and now we have the result in all its four-color, user-friendly glory. It tells us what we already know about the park and probably a lot we don't including its history and all about its flora and fauna... And it all fits in your pocket! Pick one up and let me know what you think.

Message from Tom: We need an LADWP upgrade

Dear Friends: In the wake of unprecedented LADWP power outages during the recent heat wave, unfortunately with one of the greatest number of incidents in CD4, I joined with my Council colleagues Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry and Wendy Greuel in support of “Operation COOL L.A.” The top call to action is an audit of infrastructure to assess where the agency is in its upgrading of facilities. Our “load,” jargon for the amount of power needed at a given time, has become intense. Many homes have computers, home entertainment systems and other electronics that use much more energy than just a decade ago. When air conditioning is going at full blast, the system can crash. I’ve been successful in getting up-pushed for upgrades for distribution grades in the Los Feliz, Los Feliz Oaks, Hollywood Knolls, Windsor Square and other, older neighborhoods and I will not let up in this effort. Some of our distribution stations are nearly 100 years old and have patched systems. An audit would help us prioritize our resources. We also are asking for a report on LADWP’s customer service operations. It is very distressing for customers to experience power outages, but it just intensifies their frustration when they cannot get answers or updates from LADWP operators. The agency has suffered from personnel cutbacks during prior administrations and this mandate should be revisited. We look forward to the findings of “Operation COOL L.A.”

Tom LaBonge