"Eagle Rock: Where land
use and planning is a contact sport"
THE EAGLE ROCK ASSOCIATION
TERA
-- e.letter --
November 29, 2001
In this issue:
1. WALGREENS MEETING REPORT
2. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT TERA AND OUR
COMMUNITY
3. COCKTAILS, COFFEE, AND CULTURE -- NOVEMB ER
30
4. EAGLE ROCK ELEMENTARY PARENTS -- SIGN YOUR
SIXTH GRADER UP FOR CATALINA FIELD TRIP!
5. LETTERS AND E.MAILS
6. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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1. WALGREENS MEETING REPORT
Thanks
for the Opportunity
First
of all, thanks to all who attended, and to all who responded to our survey,
regardless of your point of view. I
think we all showed our City and Walgreens how much our community cares about
our future.
We'd
like to thank Council member Pacheco for giving us the time and opportunity to
make our presentation to him, the developer, Walgreens, and the audience, which
numbered well more than 100 community members.
We asked that we be given time to present our opinion on this
development proposal because, as you all know, our community's concerns were
completely disregarded during this process.
No
Community Input Up Until Now
When
we say our community, we don't just mean TERA.
The usual procedure when a development is proposed in our community is
for the Council office to notify TERA, the Chamber of Commerce, and the
ERCPR. These three organizations do a
very good job of representing a wide swath of Eagle Rock. In this case, however, despite the fact that
we voiced certain concerns many months before both to the Council office and to
the developer, we were deliberately left out of the process and were extremely
disturbed to find out that what was represented to us to be a community meeting
to discuss this proposal before any approval process, the Walgreens proposal
had already been approved by the Planning Department with no community input
whatsoever.
Survey
Results
A
brief rundown of our survey results: out of approximately 1,000 survey
recipients, we received a 26% response.
Anyone in business who knows about marketing surveys knows that a 1% to
3% response is considered a successful and accurate reflection of the survey
recipients' opinion. So, needless to
say, our survey was more than successful and very telling. Another point to be made is the fact that
our e.letter reaches far more people than the TERA membership, which now
numbers close to 900. We would roughly
estimate that about half of our e.letter recipients are TERA members. The rest are other members of the Eagle
Rock/Northeast LA communities.
TERA's
Presentation
I
would like to let you all know that TERA's presentation was extremely well
received. We emphasized the fact that,
although a good representative sample of the 1,000 community members
(approximately 260, or about 97%), as communicated through our e.letter survey,
felt that the addition of a drug store would simply duplicate goods and
services already offered in our town, we would like to move beyond this,
because there is no restriction on this type of business on the particular
parcel involved. Our goal is to simply
work to make this a high-quality project.
Street
Frontage Structure/Adaptive Reuse of the Shopping Bag Building
The
most important thing to our survey respondents was that whatever structure ends
up on the site, it should be built to the street frontage so that we don't have
to stare at a huge parking lot. As
such, we strongly encouraged Walgreens at the meeting to adaptively reuse the
Shopping Bag building to not only maintain our town's historical fabric, but
also to keep the parking out of sight (no one wants to look at asphalt). This idea was very well supported by the
folks who attended.
Why
Have Adjacent Cities Succeeded Commercially?
Just
look at the commercial success of areas such as our neighbor to the east, Old
Pasadena! They have worked hard to
maintain their historic buildings and facades and to conceal any parking either
behind existing buildings or within a structure designed and built to blend in
with surrounding architecture. It is
one of the things that makes Old Pasadena so appealing and that draws so many
shoppers there throughout the year.
That town recognizes the fact that GOOD DESIGN MATTERS. Los Angeles badly needs to recognize this, too. It's one of the reasons we have the Colorado
Boulevard Specific Plan, even with all its faults, because good taste and smart
design is hard to learn. That's why it
must be legislated.
Walgreens
DOES Honor Adaptive Reuse -- They Did It in Miami!
We
found on the Internet an article in a historic preservation publication that describes
how Walgreens was successfully encouraged to restore a locally beloved
Firestone Tire building in Miami, Florida, rather than tear it down. Please visit http://www.nthp.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/092701.htm
to find out more.
We
Want and Deserve the Same Consideration for Eagle Rock
Walgreens
has in the past been well known to be extremely insensitive to historic
architecture, even landmarked buildings, in a variety of communities throughout
the nation. In the Little Havana
section of Miami, however, they did what was right -- they restored a historic
structure (not even officially landmarked but revered by the local preservation
community) in which to install their store.
They even adopted the Firestone typestyle for their own logo! We applaud them for their foresight,
creative thinking, and attention to that community's desires. Please visit the above Web site to see a
photograph of what a wonderful thing Walgreens did, and could do again.
All
we are asking is that they repeat that kind of success here in Eagle Rock,
because we treasure our history and deserve the best we can get. We strongly feel this is a win-win situation
for everyone involved.
Current
Walgreens Proposal Violates the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan
We
also were able to point out that the current Walgreens plan clearly violates at
least two provisions of the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan. After raising these issues, Luis Rodriguez
of the LA Planning Department stated publicly at the meeting that he will
review these provisions and make a final determination accordingly, and
soon. We have every confidence that he
will find the Plan has indeed been violated.
What
Do We Do Now?
So,
after that, how do we proceed? We have
informed Walgreens, the developer, and the City that this community would be
more than happy to help craft this project into one we can all live with and be
proud of. We still would strongly
support the idea that the Shopping Bag building be restored and adaptively
reused, and we think that the most valuable component that Walgreens would gain
from this course of action would be to earn the good will of our community. That is something that is precious and that one
cannot put a price tag on. If they were
to proceed with the site plan they currently are supporting, it is abundantly
clear through our survey results that community good will is something they
would surely sacrifice.
Show
Your Support for Adaptive Reuse of the Shopping Bag Building!
To
encourage and support restoration and adaptive reuse of the Shopping Bag
building into a Walgreens, please contact Mr. Robert P. Roscoe, Senior Real
Estate Manager of Walgreens, at bob.roscoe@walgreens.com or ((847) 914-2688;
developer Michael Marino at tagtas@pacbell.net or (213) 439-9802; and you can
also contact the Walgreens CEO and Chairman L. Daniel Jorndt at his home at
(847)498-5638. Please also let Council
member Nick Pacheco know of your opinion by contacting him at npacheco@council.lacity.org
or at (213) 485-3335.
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2. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT TERA AND OUR
COMMUNITY
* Who
is TERA?
TERA,
The Eagle Rock Association, is an inclusive membership organization that is
there for the residents and businesses of the Eagle Rock community. We are your
neighbors. We are the people who live
here, work here, shop here, own businesses here, send our children to school
here, and attend religious services here.
Our
members hail from all income levels, age levels, ethnic backgrounds, and
geographic areas of our town, and membership is open to all residents and
businesses. Like you, we want a good
life in Eagle Rock for our families and ourselves.
* What
is TERA's role in the community?
The
broad mission of TERA is to work for improvement of the quality of life in the
Eagle Rock community. We provide research and education about
issues that affect Eagle Rock, participate in land-use and planning activities,
promote positive community growth and business development, support
preservation of historic resources, and participate in public-area
beautification projects, among other beneficial things.
We
encourage our members to participate in the important civic life of our City by
enabling them to take an active role in Eagle Rock's future.
* What
is TERA's view on business?
TERA
is definitely FOR a diverse and thriving business district because it will
enrich our lives as residents and, in turn, further enrich the business
community. TERA foresees a business district that offers a selection of
products, services, and an overall shopping experience that is so appealing it
will KEEP EAGLE ROCK DOLLARS IN EAGLE ROCK, which is something we all
want. This goal benefits everyone,
residents and businesses alike.
* How
does the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan help the business district?
The
Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan envisions a higher-quality, more varied
business district that places a priority on a wide selection of products and
services, and physical attractiveness. The Plan foresees the creation of a
pedestrian-oriented business district that people will want to come to,
which will further attract new and better businesses to the district. It establishes certain restrictions on types
of businesses that are overly abundant in Eagle Rock and/or are well known to
lead to a community's decline, which are conditions that work against the
development of a successful business district.
In
fact, Eagle Rock is just one of many communities throughout Los Angeles and
other cities that have adopted specific plans for very similar reasons. The Specific Plan exists because the
people of Eagle Rock want and need a better business district, and that's why
TERA supports the spirit and intent of the Specific Plan.
* What
about existing businesses that are restricted under the Specific Plan?
All
of these businesses that were in existence when the Specific Plan was enacted
in 1992 have been "grandfathered in" and are known as "legal
nonconforming uses." This means that they can continue to do
business as they always have. What they
cannot do is expand their business without going through a discretionary action
such as a Specific Plan Exception according to the provisions of the Specific
Plan, which is the law.
* Who
wrote the Specific Plan?
The
Specific Plan committee was comprised of a group of concerned local citizens
representing all factions of the community who submitted resumes to and were
appointed by the Council office in 1988. The Eagle Rock Sentinel (our
wonderful long-time local newspaper we unfortunately no longer have) widely
advertised the call for the formation of this committee, and those willing to
commit tremendous amounts of personal time and effort came forward and applied.
The
Specific Plan committee consisted of 11 business owners, commercial property
owners, and residents combined, a group who dedicated five years of volunteer
effort to formulate the Plan. Perhaps
two, maybe three, were TERA members at the time (contrary to what some might
think, TERA alone did not write the Specific Plan).
The
business and commercial property interests were heavily represented. The committee members were as follows: David
Baird, Kaye Beckham, Richard Conley, Ute de Lara, Robert de Pietro, Linda
Melson, Cynthia Place Reiners, Jeff Samudio, Katie Smith, Eldie Snyder, and
Eric Warren.
The
Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan, Ordinance No. 168046, was adopted by the full
City Council on June 23, 1992, and became law effective August 9 of that same
year.
* Why
do so few businesses seem to know about the Specific Plan?
Business
representatives were directly involved in the process of drafting the Specific
Plan. They were then and continue to be in the ideal position to
distribute factual information about the Plan to those they represent, but
unfortunately they have shown little or no interest in accurately informing
members of the business community about the land-use laws and related issues
that affect them.
In
fact, TERA has stepped forward to help fill this void in an effort to avert
preventable land-use difficulties in Eagle Rock by holding public meetings
about the Plan, writing about the Plan in our newsletter, and posting a summary
of the Plan's provisions on our web site, among other things. Further, in February 2000, TERA organized
and helped conduct a seminar with Council member Nick Pacheco for the distinct
purpose of educating area realtors and others about the Plan and other land-use
laws that affect the Eagle Rock and Northeast areas.
TERA
will continue to inform the community about land-use issues because we
recognize that this information is essential to the stability of Eagle Rock's
future.
* What
changes, if any, should be made to the Specific Plan?
TERA
vigorously supports the following changes to the Specific Plan:
1. The Specific Plan's designated hours of
operation should be expanded to allow businesses to close later than 9:00 p.m. It is widely agreed that this revision to
the Specific Plan would help attract the businesses Eagle Rock wants and
needs. This revision should exclude
those businesses which have a "noise" component.
2. The Specific Plan Exception process
should be easier and less costly.
The process currently takes many months and the payment of an exorbitant
$5,000 fee, and even then an exception might not be granted. This is overly oppressive, especially to
small businesses.
3. The Specific Plan should be revised to
address our business district's biggest problem -- lack of adequate parking. Eagle Rock's commercial district was
developed in the early part of the 20th century when most townspeople relied on
the local trolley line to shop and get around town, so the available parking on
the street was more than adequate at the time.
This explains our many shallow commercial lots and lack of adjacent
parking areas. Current citywide parking
regulations, however, disregard our history and therefore do not address Eagle
Rock's unique problem.
The
Specific Plan could be revised to override city regulations and
"grandfather in" the conditions that existed when the commercial corridor
was first developed. Casa Bianca and
Cafe Beaujolais are two excellent examples of very successful Eagle Rock
businesses that have little or no parking, but they thrive because their sites
existed as restaurants before the parking regulations were imposed and
therefore are not subject to their authority.
Newer businesses should be afforded that same benefit, as long as a
business occupying an existing or historical site does not expand its floor
area.
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3. COCKTAILS, COFFEE, AND CULTURE -- NOVEMB
ER 30
Gallery
Figueroa will host its first "Cocktails, Coffee, and Culture" night
on Friday, Nov. 30, from 7 - 9 p.m. Join
us for our alternative version of happy hour! Imbibe in beverages, meet your
neighbors, and view great art -- we're currently showing the Arroyo Arts
Collective's "Palette to Palate" exhibit, through Dec. 2.
Gallery
Figueroa is located at 6122 N. Figueroa St., between York and Ave. 60. Regular hours are noon to 6 p.m. Friday - Sunday, and by
appointment. For information, call (323) 258-5939 or visit us on the web, http://www.galleryfigueroa.com.
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4. EAGLE ROCK ELEMENTARY PARENTS -- SIGN
YOUR SIXTH GRADER UP FOR CATALINA FIELD TRIP!
All sixth graders at Eagle Rock Elementary's
regular, special education, GATE, and magnet schools are eligible to sign up
for a terrific field trip to the Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI), a
great science camp located at Toyon Bay on Catalina Island. The trip will take place Wednesday through
Friday, February 27, 28, and March 1, 2002.
Spaces
are going fast (there are currently only eight spaces left). CIMI costs $180 per child with a $20
deposit. This trip is in addition to
our regularly scheduled field trips this school year, and there will be no
school fundraising drive conducted for this one. You need teacher permission for your child to attend.
For
more information, please call teacher Joyce Jerome during school hours at (323)
259-8761.
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5. LETTERS AND E.MAILS
"The
details of the Walgreen's plan come as a most unpleasant surprise. There's no
doubt this would represent a huge step backward in good urban planning just
when Eagle Rock is getting ahead of the strip mall mind-set that has blighted
so much of this city. I'm getting angry just thinking about it. It's time
citizens have something to say about the quality of life imposed on them by
large absentee business owners. Put simply, we can't have this."
--
Sean Mitchell, Eagle Rock resident, TERA member, and journalist (Los Angeles
Times, New York Times)
"This
community and all of its local organizations, like TERA, have been struggling
and pursuing a particular way of life for a community that is rising to its
prime without sacrificing our neighborhoods, our lifestyle, our comfort and not
least of all the desire to remain a hometown.
That community pride and effort is one of the reasons we moved to Eagle
Rock. Tearing down the Shopping Bag
building and putting in a Walgreen's and/or a Starbuck's would be the hugest
sacrifice. It would be shameful."
--
Bridgid Sloyan and Dan Campbell, Eagle Rock residents and TERA members
"I'm
replying to your questions about the old Shopping Bag. I'm not particularly averse to the proposed
use for the property; in fact, I happen to like Walgreens and have regretted
that there are none near this area. My
main concern, however, is that in typical developer fashion, this proposed
project shows absolutely no vision.
Reusing the existing historic building should be a no-brainer here!
However,
this developer, like so many others we've put up with over the years, has no
concept on how to step out of the box and make use of the assets in plain view.
'Progress'
is a very loaded word. What is progress
for some is regression for others, and vice versa. In the preservation community, we see adaptive reuse as a
vital tool in progressive development.
After
all, this building was not always a body and paint shop. It evolved from being a supermarket. The current proposal, if done properly
(adaptive reuse), would actually bring it almost full circle, back to a use
that is similar to the original one.
Ah!
Where [are adaptive reuse developers Wayne] Ratkovitch or [Tom] Gilmore when
you need one?
In
fine, I believe this project can be easily done without demolition. We can have our cake and eat it too, so to
speak. This developer needs to use just
a little bit of imagination and make this a project that we can all be proud
of.
Anything
other than preservation and reuse is myopic at best and tragic at worst."
--
Charles J. Fisher, Highland Park resident; past president, Highland Park
Heritage Trust; and member, Eagle Rock 'N Rodders
"I
saw a Walgreen's commercial the other night in which the featured store was a
traditional, street-fronted building in a downtown area. This is the image they
want to project -- neighborhood friendliness. I think that they need to follow
through on that message in Eagle Rock by fronting along Colorado Blvd., and
have the parking in back. I don't see why this would be a problem!"
--
Laura Mickens, Eagle Rock
"Is
there no way we could find someone to refurbish the existing building for,
perhaps a Gelson's or something of the like?Ý With the growing affluence in
Eagle Rock and the nearby large city of Glendale, we could surely support
something like that.Ý We need a showpiece at this crucial address, not a
parking lot!"
Ý
--
Chris Derksen, 1251 Eagle Vista Drive, Eagle Rock
"This
site should reinforce the streetscape by building up to the street site-line;
better yet, reuse the historic edifice already there. There have been quite successful reuse examples of structures
like this all over the southland;Ý I'm aware of Cost Plus and Pier One doing
well in sites like this, for instance.Ý A large parking lot on the street MUST
be prevented.Ý The building entry should be on Colorado, with storefront
display; lots of planting, including the parking area; encourage courtyards and
seating areas, arcades, trellises, shade in general; porches, awnings.
--
Tom Yang, architect and life-long Eagle Rock resident
"I
would really like to see the original building preserved . . . why do they have
to tear everything down!!? The area could be beautifully enhanced with
landscaping, planting of trees and old fashioned lighting fixtures . . . it
just takes a little imagination . . . like the Jack In The Box on Figueroa . .
. made to look like a craftsman house . . . there isn't anything lost from the
[Walgreens] company's integrity to save our town from looking like a parking
lot. Don't sacrifice Eagle Rock's historic architectural character for
something sterile. Why should we settle for less?"
--
Tricia Iglesias, Eagle Rock
For
more letters responding to our Walgreens survey, please log on to http://www.TERA90041.org/walgreens-survey.htm.
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6. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"[One]
who believes is strong; [one] who doubts is weak. Strong convictions precede
great actions."
-- J.
F. Clarke
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We
welcome your comments. Please include
your name.
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Joanne
Turner <artburn@earthlink.net>
President,
The Eagle Rock Association (TERA)