After years of lobbying by local officials and advocates for more public transportation in the San Fernando Valley, L.A. Metro announced an $893-million federal grant that will help fund a new rail line for residents there.

The 6.7-mile light rail project is set to stretch along Van Nuys Boulevard and run through Van Nuys, Panorama City, Arleta and Pacoima, communities that local officials on Friday said have often been forgotten in L.A. transportation plans.

It will connect to local and regional bus services, including the Metro G Line express bus, as well as the Van Nuys Metrolink/Amtrak station, officials said.

“This is a region that has been overlooked,” Veronica Vanterpool, acting administrator for the Federal Transit Administration, said during a news conference Friday announcing the grant. “This will be the first rail line in the heart of a region that has called for high-quality transit for a long time.”

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Transportation, will be delivered to Metro during a multiyear agreement under the Federal Transit Administration’s Expedited Project Delivery Pilot Program.

The rail project, slated to be finished by 2031, would bring rail service back to the Valley more than 70 years after the last rail car from the Pacific Electric San Fernando Valley Line carried passengers there in 1952.

The grant, which will complete funding for the rail system, brought out local, state and federal dignitaries Friday to celebrate a longtime effort to improve public transportation in the area.

“This, for me,” said U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), “it’s personal.”

A native of Pacoima, Padilla said he and his family often relied on public transportation.

Padilla would later go on to serve on the Los Angeles City Council and California Senate. Trying to expand public transportation was a priority, though bringing rail service to the San Fernando Valley proved to be a challenge, he said.

“I heard things like, ‘The rail system reaches the Valley,’ ” Padilla said. “Well, a stop at Universal [Studios Hollywood] may be reaching the Valley, but it’s not serving the Valley.”

The Metro G Line does run from North Hollywood to Chatsworth, but Padilla noted that for decades, residents reliant on public transportation had no system running from north to south, except for bus services.

For years, local advocates have complained that when it came to public transportation, cities in the Valley were often overlooked.

“This is the transportation that the east San Fernando Valley has deserved for decades, and it’s coming to fruition,” said Los Angeles Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who represents the 7th District.

When finished, the line is expected to serve nearly 19,000 riders daily who currently take the bus, Vanterpool said, reducing their commute by up to 15 minutes.

About 35% of residents in the area, she said, don’t own or have access to a car.

“This line will be a game changer for the Valley for generations to come,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who also serves on the Metro board.

The total project cost is expected to be $3.57 billion. It is partially funded through Measure M, which was approved by voters in 2016, and other grants. In February 2023, the California State Transportation Agency, or CalSTA, awarded $600 million for the project.

Metro is set to start on minor street improvements and utility adjustment work later this year.

The new line will include 11 stations.

In a statement, Mayor Karen Bass thanked the Metro board and the Biden-Harris administration for the funding.

“Through their dedication, the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail is taking another important step toward a reality that connects East San Fernando Valley communities to our growing transit network which means access to more opportunities, jobs and attractions across the region.”

Metro is still studying a 2.5-mile extension of the corridor that would take the line farther out from Pacoima to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink station.

A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to build more than 2,500 units of housing for low-income veterans on its West Los Angeles campus.

In a 124-page decision following a non-jury trial, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter also ruled that leases to UCLA, the Brentwood School and others on the VA property are illegal because they don’t primarily serve veterans.

UCLA’s Jackie Robinson baseball stadium is on 10 acres leased from the VA, as is Brentwood School’s 22-acre athletic facility and a 12-acre L.A. city park.

Carter castigated the VA for abusing its mission to use the 388-acre campus to “principally benefit veterans and their families.”

“Over the past five decades, the West LA VA has been infected by bribery, corruption, and the influence of the powerful and their lobbyists, and enabled by a major educational institution in excluding veterans’ input about their own lands,” he wrote.

Carter wrote that the VA has in effect sold the land off, by allowing lease holders to construct concrete facilities on it and then arguing that tearing those facilities down would be wasteful.

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“The VA must remediate its mishandling of this resource so that the land may once again be available for its intended purpose: the housing of veterans,” Carter wrote.

Carter’s order requires the VA to build 750 units of temporary housing within 12 to 18 months and to form a plan within six months to add another 1,800 units of permanent housing to the roughly 1,200 units already in planning and construction under the settlement terms of an earlier lawsuit.

Carter also ordered the VA to increase its street outreach staffing and to increase the number of referrals it makes to local housing authorities to qualify veterans for housing subsidies.

He is also requiring the VA to begin construction of a town center, including such amenities as a cafe and general store, on the property within 18 months.

The ruling did not specify what should happen to the leases the VA has with UCLA, Brentwood School and others but said the “court will determine an exit strategy” after more hearings.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which represented the VA in the trial, declined to comment.

In closing statements at the trial, Department of Justice attorney Brad Rosenberg argued that the VA has been making progress in ending veteran homelessness and that the judge’s proposal to house more veterans on the campus would be financially burdensome and fundamentally alter the way the VA houses homeless veterans.

“Plaintiffs want to shift VA’s scarce resources to a single location to house people with high needs,” he said. “Whether or not the court thinks that is a good idea, we think it’s a bad idea.”

The Department of Justice declined further comment. UCLA and the Brentwood School did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

The three-week-long trial in downtown federal court reprised litigation going back to 2011 that challenged the leases and asserted an unmet need for veteran housing. In the earlier case, a federal judge ruled that several leases were illegal. Under the West Los Angeles Leasing Act of 2016, some were terminated and others renewed.

Subsequently, the VA’s inspector general found that leases to the Brentwood School, as well as land containing oil wells and parking lots, did not comply with the leasing act’s requirement to “principally benefit veterans and their families.”

The VA disagreed and retained the leases. A Brentwood official testified in the recent rial that the school pays rent of $850,000 annually to the VA and provides more than $900,000 in “in-kind” services, including meals for veterans and a shuttle service so they can use the campus.

In a 2015 settlement, the VA agreed to develop a master plan for the campus. A draft plan, completed in 2016, called for 1,200 units of housing in new and rehabilitated buildings with a commitment to complete more than 770 units by the end of 2022. Only 54 of those units were completed by the deadline, and only 233 are currently open.

“In the years since 2011, the Obama administration, the Trump administration, and the Biden administration have each promised that they would act swiftly to eradicate veteran homelessness in America,” Carter wrote in his ruling released Friday. “Yet, today, approximately 3,000 homeless veterans live in the Los Angeles area alone.”

Acknowledging the plaintiffs’ argument that a lack of enforcement had allowed the failures to occur, Carter said he would appoint a court monitor to ensure that terms of his ruling are met.

In a rebuke of the VA’s practice of contracting with developers whose use of cumbersome tax credits has delayed the construction of housing, Carter ordered the VA to “employ the most efficient, affordable, and time sensitive conventional financing of its housing projects.”

The decision followed testimony in which plaintiffs recounted the history of Veterans Row — the collection of tents that sprung up along San Vicente Boulevard just outside the VA grounds during the pandemic.

Rob Reynolds, an Iraq war veteran who did not live in Veterans Row but became an advocate for veterans who did, testified to the squalor, despair and deaths, as well as the neglect by VA staff who never came outside the fence to offer aid.

Reynolds traced the evolution of the VA’s response to Veterans Row from initial neglect to a plan to bring the vets inside to a village of pup tents and then to their current accommodations in 8-foot by 8-foot tiny homes, which he described as “the boxes that they live in.” He attributed the VA’s increased attention to media coverage.

On Friday, Reynolds said he was thankful for the decision.

“I felt all along if this went in front of a judge, he would see what we have all seen for years,” Reynolds said. “The facts are indisputable. I think this is a great start to end veteran homelessness and get this property back to its original intended use as a soldiers’ home.”

L.A. Redditors might revile its price (anywhere from $15 to $24 per pound), but once you’ve tasted the sweet, fragrant flesh of Harry’s Berries, you’ll quickly understand why they’re the most expensive strawberries in Southern California. The certified organic family farm in Oxnard grows delicate, flavorful strawberry varieties and only picks them at peak ripeness, shortening shelf life but maximizing flavor. Available at farmers’ markets and upscale grocery stores, they’re favored by many of L.A.’s best chefs.

Now, fourth-generation farmer Molly Gean (daughter of the farm’s namesake, Harry Iwamoto) and her husband Rick are retiring. (Don’t worry: They’re leaving Harry’s Berries in the hands of their adult children and a few of their grandchildren.) In honor of their decades of hard work, A.O.C. is hosting a retirement bash for the Geans complete with a slew of one-night-only Harry’s Berries specials at the restaurant’s Brentwood location on Thursday, September 26.

For Harry’s Berries superfans, it’s a chance to meet the Geans personally as well feast on the farm’s peak season produce, which includes tomatoes and beans as well as strawberries. (While the strawberries are available year-round, they’re generally more plentiful in the summer months.) “This is our moment to pay tribute to an epic lifetime of farming and good food,” chef Suzanne Goin said via press release. “Please join us as we celebrate Molly and Rick!”

Highlights of the one-night-only specials include a spinach and strawberry salad with dandelion, ricotta salata and candied pecans; Alaskan halibut with haricots verts, Santa Barbara pistachios and Harry’s Berries; hanger steak with last-of-the-summer tomatoes and black olive chimichurri; and a strawberry ice cream sandwich with sugar cookies and bittersweet chocolate.

All of the dishes will be available alongside A.O.C. Brentwood’s regular à la carte menu. Dinner reservations for September 26 are available on OpenTable.

Tuesday, September 3, 2024 8:27pm

CALABASAS, Calif. (KABC) -- A mountain lion was euthanized after it attacked and injured a 5-year-old boy at Malibu Creek State Park over the weekend.

A family group from Woodland Hills, consisting of several adults and a few children, was having a picnic at the park when the attack happened Sunday afternoon, according to a statement from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The children were playing near the group's picnic table when the mountain lion attacked the boy, wildlife officials said. At least one of the adults charged at the lion, who then released the boy and ran up a nearby tree. Mountain lion euthanized after attacking 5-year-old boy at Malibu Creek State Park

"The adults were able to respond. They scared off the mountain lion," California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Steve Gonzalez said.

When California State Parks rangers and L.A. County sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, the large cat was still in the tree.

After consulting with wildlife officers, they "deemed the mountain lion a threat to public safety and a ranger euthanized it via firearm."

"It was deemed a public safety issue. Anytime an animal - a wildlife animal - attacks a human, the animal is euthanized," Gonzalez said.

The 5-year-old suffered significant injuries and was airlifted to the Northridge Hospital Medical Center after the attack. He was released Monday morning.

Gonzalez said the boy is expected to make a full recovery. No other injuries were reported.

Mountain lion encounters are rare, especially during daylight hours. The big cats usually avoid human contact and do most of their hunting at night. Experts say the odds of another cougar attack are low.

Metro's TAP-to-Exit pilot program at its North Hollywood B Line station expanded to all 10 end-of-line stations Tuesday, beginning with the E-Line's Downtown Santa Monica station.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (KABC) -- Metro has officially expanded its program aimed at reducing fare evasion and boosting rider safety.

Metro's TAP-to-Exit pilot program at its North Hollywood B Line station expanded to all 10 end-of-line stations Tuesday, beginning with the E-Line's Downtown Santa Monica station.

"What we've seen, statistically, is that about 90% of the people that commit a crime on the system did not have a tap card, did not pay their fare," said Carlos Rico, Metro's Senior Manager for System Security and Law Enforcement. "So this is a proactive tool for us to be able to address crime on the system."

The goal is to help reduce fare evasion and increase safety for riders.

"In less than two months, the North Hollywood station pilot transformed behavior along the 14 B-Line stations with reported crime and other issues (fights, drug use and graffiti) having dropped by more than 40% on the Transit Watch app," said Metro in a statement.

According to an ongoing survey of North Hollywood riders, 91% said the pilot program "made the station feel cleaner" and 86% said it made them feel safer.

How does the TAP-to-Exit pilot program work? All Metro riders are required to tap a fare card to board a bus or train.

The Tap to Exit policy requires that riders tap their fare cards again to exit the Metro rail station, providing another assurance that every rider is paying the fare, according to the transit agency. The program was originally launched in May.

Metro officials previously described the Tap to Exit policy as an effort to boost compliance with fare requirements. The education period will last until Tuesday, Sept. 10, after which citations could be issued for those who evade fare.

Those who don't tap will automatically have the fare taken from their TAP card when they tap out.

According to Metro, similar tap-to-exit programs are already in place on other systems, including Bay Area Rapid Transit, Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority and Metropolitan Atlanta Regional Transit Authority.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19358113

Edit; added alt. link

Alt. Link: https://archive.ph/7hgK1

LA City opens cooling centers amid heat wave

The City of Los Angeles is opening multiple cooling centers in the wake of the ongoing heat wave.

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - As searing temperatures continue to rise, the city of Los Angeles committed to opening cooling centers this week.

The air-conditioned spaces, free and open to pets, are expected to provide temporary relief to a public struggling with the heat.

Five cooling centers will be open from Tuesday through Friday:

1. Fred Roberts Recreation Center, 4700 Honduras St., Los Angeles
2. Mid Valley Senior Center, 8801 Kester Ave., Panorama City
3. Sunland Senior Center, 8640 Fenwick St., Sunland
4. Jim Gilliam Recreation Center, 4000 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles
5. Lincoln Heights Senior Center, 2323 Workman St., Los Angeles

Additionally, the city stated that public libraries are spaces the public could utilize for cooling and shelter.

A statement issued by Mayor Bass' office said added that residents on Skid Row will be provided with cold beverages, seating and shade at the following stations:

1. Towne Street (between Fifth and Sixth streets) across the street from the ReFresh Spot
2. San Pedro Street, mid-block between Sixth and Seventh streets
3. Fifth and Maple streets
4. The ReFresh Spot, 544 Towne Ave., open 24 hours a day, seven days a week

The statement also advised the public to take preventive measures to avoid heat-strokes and other related issues.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19380571

California officials are turning the screws on the city of Beverly Hills, where approval of a new hotel and apartment complex is moving too slowly for state housing bosses and the governor.

The lightning rod is a planned mixed-use development near Wilshire Boulevard that has been brought forth under a state law intended to force cities to add more housing whether they like the proposals or not.

The 19-story building on Linden Drive by local developer Leo Pustilnikov would be big by Beverly Hills standards and include a 73-room hotel and restaurant on the first five floors. Plans call for the higher floors to contain 165 apartments including 33 units reserved for rental to lower-income households.

The project so far has failed to pass muster with city planning leaders, who say Pustilnikov hasn’t provided all the details about the project that the city requires to consider approval.

Pustilnikov has pioneered a novel interpretation of a state law known as the “builder’s remedy” to push cities to allow development projects at a size and scale otherwise barred under zoning rules.

As part of their efforts to tackle California’s housing shortage and homelessness crisis, legislators recently beefed up the law, by giving developers leverage to get large proposals approved so long as they set aside a percentage for low-income residents.

Last month the state Department of Housing and Community Development backed Pustilnikov in a “notice of violation” to the city, saying it was violating state housing laws by holding up the project.

“The City Council should reverse its decision and direct city staff to process the project without further delay,” the state notice said, referring to a council vote in June to delay the approval process.

Gov. Gavin Newsom piled on in a statement, saying that the city is violating the law by “blocking” the proposal and referring to opponents of the project as NIMBYs — a highly charged acronym for “not in my backyard” that refers to homeowners who resist development projects in their neighborhoods.

“We can’t solve homelessness without addressing our housing shortage,” the governor said. “Now is a time to build more housing, not cave to the demands of NIMBYs.”

Beverly Hills already faced pressure to approve the Linden project before the state’s letter. In June, Californians for Homeownership, a nonprofit affiliated with the California Assn. of Realtors, sued the city in Los Angeles County Superior Court for not advancing the development.

Some residents in the neighborhood south of Wilshire Boulevard are up in arms about the scale of the project that is designated to fill a parking lot at 125-129 S. Linden Drive between a five-story office building and low-rise apartment buildings.

“None of us are opposed to affordable housing,” said Kenneth A. Goldman, president of the Southwest Beverly Hills Homeowners Assn., but “you don’t have to be a NIMBY to say that’s just so far out of line.”

It would be almost four times taller than the five-story height limit the city has on its books and could threaten the neighborhood’s “quiet lifestyle,” Goldman said. The construction period would be “hell,” he added.

The city has until Sept. 20 to respond to state housing officials and indicated in a statement that the delay was due in part to Pustilnikov changing the original all-residential proposal to include the hotel. It is a switch that could offer a financial coup for the developer in a tourist-friendly city, where getting permission to build a new hotel is a tall order.

Last year Beverly Hills voters decided to rescind the City Council’s approval of an ultra-opulent hotel called Cheval Blanc on the edge of Rodeo Drive after French luxury retailer LVMH spent millions of dollars planning the project.

Of the Linden Drive proposal, the city said in a statement, “The project has not been denied.”

“What was originally submitted as a purely residential project has now morphed into a 73-room hotel and restaurant project with 35 fewer residential units, including a reduction of 7 affordable units,” it said.

When the application is complete, the city said, a public hearing will be held, followed by Planning Commission review and potential approval by the City Council.

That process may be complicated by Pustilnikov’s stated intention to sell his interest in the Linden Drive property as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding involving another of his real estate projects.

In 2018, Pustilnikov purchased a 50-acre parcel on the Redondo Beach waterfront that is the site of a defunct power plant. The property is controlled by entities owned by Pustilnikov and a business partner, Ely Dromy. Using the builder’s remedy law, the pair has advanced a massive mixed-use project for the site with 2,700 apartments as its centerpiece. In court documents, Pustilnikov estimates that the development, if completed, would be worth $600 million.

The effort has been stymied amid fights with the city of Redondo Beach, the California Coastal Commission and AES Corp., the owner of the power plant. In late 2022, AES threatened to foreclose on Pustilnikov. To stave that off, one of the entities that own the site filed for bankruptcy.

In a recent filing in the case, Pustilnikov and Dromy said they will sell the Linden property for $27.5 million to help preserve their ownership of the power plant site.

However, a representative for Pustilinkov, Adam Englander, said in a statement that is not necessarily the case.

Instead, more investors may be brought in to the Redondo Beach property and a developer with luxury hotel experience may become a partner in the Linden project, Englander said.

“It is not anticipated,” Englander said, that the Linden project “in its current form, will be sold prior to completion.”

Pustilnkov has put forward plans to build nearly 3,500 apartment units — 700 of them dedicated as low-income — across a dozen projects in Beverly Hills, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica and West Hollywood under the builder’s remedy. The Linden project is one of seven he’s planning in Beverly Hills alone.

The builder’s remedy provides few avenues for city councils to deny the developments. But because it’s legally untested and separate state environmental laws still apply, projects are not a slam dunk. None of Pustilnikov’s proposals have been approved.

Cities are subject to the law if they do not have state-approved blueprints for future growth. Every eight years, the state requires communities to design a zoning plan accommodating specific numbers of new homes, including those set aside for low- and moderate-income families.

In the current eight-year cycle, Beverly Hills struggled to get a plan that passed muster. Elected officials and residents balked at the city’s requirement to make space for 3,104 homes, saying that doing so would unalterably change the community’s character.

The city blew multiple deadlines and was sued by Californians for Homeownership. In December, a L.A. County Superior Court judge ruled that Beverly Hills could no longer issue any building permits — including those for pools, kitchen and bathroom remodels and other renovations — because of its failure.

The city appealed the ruling and continued to process permits in the meantime, but the decision sparked alarm among civic leaders. In May, the state approved a revised housing plan for Beverly Hills, ending the threat of the permit moratorium.

latimes latimes latimes beverlyhills.org

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19349389

Land movement in Rancho Palos Verdes' Portuguese Bend neighborhood has created "such a dangerous situation" that a utility provider said it needed to act immediately.

Paywall removed: https://archive.is/FMmjN

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/18900526

Source: https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/los-angeles-street-scenes-1930s/

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/23795288

I was a bit pessimistic about this being possible, but to see that we did this in the 1984 Olympics without any light rail is pretty amazing to hear.

The Plaza Festival is this weekend in Little Tokyo. Music, food, bonsai, and more

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12306830

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12306826

In case of paywall: https://archive.ph/jgkDt

4.7 in South Pasadena.

Anyone else feel it?

Paywall removed: https://archive.is/vNb9W

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/12054951

Archived copies of the article:

• ghostarchive.org
• archive.today
• web.archive.org

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/11936113

I can't make it to the show, so they are yours if you want them.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/37526357

The Los Angeles Police Department has warned residents to be wary of thieves using technology to break into homes undetected. High-tech burglars have apparently knocked out their victims' wireless cameras and alarms in the Los Angeles Wilshire-area neighborhoods before getting away with swag bags full of valuables. An LAPD social media post highlights the Wi-Fi jammer-supported burglaries and provides a helpful checklist of precautions residents can take.

Criminals can easily find the hardware for Wi-Fi jamming online. It can also be cheap, with prices starting from $40. However, jammers are illegal to use in the U.S.

We have previously reported on Wi-Fi jammer-assisted burglaries in Edina, Minnesota. Criminals deployed Wi-Fi jammer(s) to ensure homeowners weren't alerted of intrusions and that incriminating video evidence wasn't available to investigators.