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Judge Puts Brakes on Mayor’s Pico-Olympic Traffic Scheme |
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LA Traffic
By Ken Draper
Superior Court Judge John Torribio put the brakes on the Mayor’s Pico East-Olympic West traffic scheme, ruling on Monday that...
 ...the City would have to fulfill its California Environmental Quality Act
obligations and conduct an impact study. The study could take as much
as a year.
The judge’s decision could not have made Mayor Villaraigosa … or his
1st Lieutenant on this project, Councilman Jack Weiss … happy campers.
The Mayor felt so strongly about his almost one-way streets idea a few
months ago that he short circuited any recommendations from Wendy
Greuel’s Transportation Committee and ordered the immediate
implementation of the Pico-Olympic plan.
A move not lost on the judge who noted in his ruling: “The undisputed evidence is that City Council Transportation Committee meetings on the proposed activity were abruptly suspended and the City’s Department of Transportation was instructed to implement “phase one” of the plan by the Mayor.”
“In this instance,” Judge Torribio went on, “where the city has not prepared any environmental document.”
The Pico-Olympic battle got to court because two citizen groups … the Greater West LA Chamber of Commerce and the Westwood South of Santa Monica Boulevard Homeowners Assn sued the City. They represent a coalition of businesses and a coalition of community groups respectively. Both felt that the City was not listening to stakeholders in the most affected neighborhoods and that the City was ignoring the potential impact of the Mayor’s plan on the environment and the area’s residents.
Many transportation planners believe that the Pico-Olympic Plan will increase traffic incalculably … and thus pollution and side street woes … in already jam packed and nerve wracked Westside neighborhoods.
Judge Torribio agreed, noting in his opinion: “The very purpose of the project is to expand the use of existing streets. To claim that the project will not expand the current use and is therefore exempt (from an EIR) seems inconsistent with the stated purpose.”
“We hope that today’s ruling will encourage the Mayor and Jack Weiss to start listening to and working with their constituents,” said Jay Handal, chair of the GWLACC. Handal said that the groups that brought the suit “stand ready to talk about real solutions for the traffic problems we all face.”
Ironically, Handal’s group met with the Mayor and his advisors offering to drop the law suit if the City would rethink their plan. The City told Handal they would take their chances in court.
A long-time City Hall insider called it, “Yet another example of the use of the court system to stop City Hall from trampling on people. It’s sad in a way,” he said, “but this is what the court system is for.”
“Is still think,” he concluded, “that neighborhood councils will need, at some point, to use the court system to keep themselves from being trampled.”
No word yet from the City on whether they will attempt to take any further action. Most feel they will not. The judge’s ruling was very clear and … according to the LA Times … the Mayor has said that the city would be willing to conduct a study if ordered to do so.
The president of one of the participating groups, Jim O’Sullivan, said that at this point “it is a victory for all stakeholders in Los Angeles. We all win,” he said, “when the City follows the law and doesn’t make up the rules as it goes along.”
It is also fair to conclude that the other groups who are headed to court to resolve their issues with City Hall will feel encouraged by Judge Torribio’s favorable ruling for the folks from the neighborhood. (Ken Draper is the editor of CityWatch and can be reached at:
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