La Cruz Parklet Continues to Stir Controversy

Palisades Garden Café Targeted By Complaint, Must Remove Benches

The Pacific Palisades Community Council on Thursday, Sept. 11 passed a motion opposing a plan that would place a parklet on La Cruz Drive in front of the Palisades Garden Café.

The council’s vote on the matter was taken nearly two months after Palisades PRIDE Inc., a local non-profit with ties to the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, announced that an application for a parklet on La Cruz Drive was approved by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation as part of the city’s People Street Project.

Parklets are an expansion of the sidewalk and are designed to provide extra pedestrian space in areas with narrow walkways or little public space, according to the People Street Project’s website.

People Street is a push by city leaders to decrease vehicle traffic and enhance the pedestrian experience in L.A.’s densely populated urban areas.

Neighbors voice concerns

Those in opposition to the mini-park, including many residents from the nearby Huntington neighborhood, say the expansion does not fit the city’s criteria for the project.

La Cruz’s sidewalks are not narrow and the Palisades does not have a lack of public space like many other more densely populated areas of the city, said Palisadian David Peterson, president of the Huntington Palisades Property Owners Corporation.

Several Huntington residents, who echoed the same concerns at the council meeting, said a parklet would only increase traffic in an already congested three-way intersection that is situated near four elementary schools – Seven Arrows, Village School, Corpus Christi School and Palisades Elementary School.

Parklets are better suited for areas with heavy pedestrian use like Downtown and not residential areas like the Palisades, Peterson said.

“Los Angeles needs parklets. They need parklets on Spring Street. They need parklets all over, but they don’t need a parklet on La Cruz and Alma Real,” Peterson said at the meeting. “It is one of the most heavily trafficked T-intersections around. There is nowhere in Los Angeles – nowhere – where there is a heavier concentration of schools in one area.”

A popular hangout

If installed, the mini-park would take up one metered-parking space in front of Palisades Garden Café, an eatery that is a popular afterschool hangout for local children and teens.

Palisadian Schuyler Dietz, the community council’s youth representative, was among those who spoke in support of the pedestrian space.

Many teens and children sit on the edge of the sidewalk when there is no room inside or in front of the café, Dietz said.

A parklet surrounded by protective barriers or planters weighing several hundred pounds would be a safer option for younger patrons, he added.

A day after the council meeting on Friday, Sept. 12, the eatery’s owner James Kwon was cited by city code enforcement and told to remove its red dining benches, which are often used by youth after school, according to Kwon.

The café owner told the Post he may also have to remove the other tables and chairs from the sidewalk in front of the café. Determined to provide Palisades youth with outdoor seating, Kwon said he will apply for a permit to install narrower benches to replace the ones he has to remove.

The citation came a day after community councilmember Stuart Muller, who is the council’s proclaimed representative of Area 6, which includes the Huntington neighborhood, complained about the outside seating arrangement at the council meeting.

“I think that the location is not bad,” Palisadian Michael Scott said, urging the council to continue looking at more pedestrian friendly ideas for the Palisades and to support the sidewalk expansion.

Increased pedestrian traffic is also an economic driver, which the parklets help facilitate, said Patti Berman, president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council.

“Our streets are designed for speed and not for public safety,” Berman told the council. “The pedestrian experience is important. It’s important to slow the cars down.”

Community Council feels sidestepped

While PRIDE’s move sparked fervent opposition from the majority of the Huntington neighborhood, it also irked several councilmembers who felt that the non-profit group had sidestepped the community council by applying for the project without consulting the local body.

“I’m surprised by the fact that an organization applied without the community council’s input,” said Palisadian Richard G. Cohen, council treasurer and former president.

PRIDE did ask property owner Elliot Zorensky and Palisades Garden Café owner Kwon for their support of the idea before moving forward with the application, Kwon told the Post.

Zorensky recently bought the Blue Cross Pet Hospital building currently under renovation, just a few feet from the proposed mini-park location. The area is situated about a block away from where developer Rick Caruso is purchasing nearly three acres of commercial land.

Ostensibly motivated by PRIDE’s impertinence, the council also approved a motion urging the mayor, the Department of Transportation and the City Council to amend the process of consideration for People Street Projects to include a requirement for advanced notice and consultation with L.A.’s neighborhood and community councils before approval is granted.

Paying for the mini-park

The parklet would be funded by the city’s community partner, in this case PRIDE, and would cost about $37,000, according to city officials.

PRIDE, whose treasurer Arnie Wishnick also serves as executive director of the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce, would also be responsible for its removal.

Should a need arise, such as community dissatisfaction with the sidewalk park or failure to maintain the facility to municipal standards, city officials could give Palisades PRIDE a 72-hour notice to remove it.

If PRIDE failed to remove the structure, the city would remove it and bill PRIDE, according to city officials.

For an organization that Internal Revenue Service records show has nearly $100,000 in assets, the installation and removal of the “people space” on La Cruz would cost them more than 50 percent of their total resources.

The La Cruz parklet would be one of seven such installations being erected in the city in areas such as South L.A., Downtown and North Hollywood, among others.

If city officials do not rescind their decision or reject the plan, the mini-park could be installed as early as this fall.