Keep the MTA lot in public (our) hands
There aren’t many 3.13 acre plots near the
beach that are public property. There’s one at Main and Sunset Avenue that
been public – or quasi-public – land for 100 years. That’s the
MTA bus maintenance lot.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, to give it’s proper name, has been planning to
move to a larger facility for nearly 20 years. Then, a couple of years ago, the
RAD Development Company and Robert D’Elia came along – with lots of
political connections and proposed a swap to the MTA. If the MTA would give them
the prime beachside land and $8 million, RAD would build them a nifty
state-of-the-art bus lot a few miles ago on Jefferson Blvd.
The MTA jumped at the deal, without
competitive bidding or hearings, and without any comments from Venetians, who
knew nothing of the deal until it was
done.
In some respects, it was a sweet
deal for the MTA, and for RAD. The only ones who got screwed were us. Included
in the covenant with the MTA was a provision that RAD had to get all the rights
to build on the lot. RAD’s vision of an ideal Venice habitat was a gated
“fortress,” with 201 mostly high-priced condominiums rising 55 feet
above the neighborhood. They have since backed off, in the face of community
opposition, to a partially gated project with “only” 34 rooftop
structures reaching 55 feet.
Opposition to
the project is nearly unanimous in the surrounding North Beach section of
Venice. A lot of people have other visions for the property that they would like
considered, including a park, a community center, public parking, and affordable
housing.
The Beachhead urges that
Venetians rise up and demand that this valuable property remain in public hands.
We’re shocked – as we are by what’s going on at Lincoln Place
– that in the middle of a severe affordable housing crises, that a public
agency would even consider giving away this property so that more condos, that
are unaffordable to most Venetians, could be
built.
Keep the MTA lot public!
Don’t give in to greedy
developers!
–the Beachhead
Collective
Posted: Wed - February 1, 2006 at 11:07 PM