The Historic Core of Hollywood is still in serious jeopardy due to the passing vote of City officials that took place on April 24, 2023. There is still time to change Hollywood's fate. Please act now by SPEAKING UP FOR HOLLYWOOD before the May 3rd City Council meeting. We can retain our beloved icons of Hollywood and have a quality of life for residents, while still expanding Hollywood’s housing inventory – all without touching a single historic building. 

HELP SUPPORT A BETTER PLAN!!!!!

We need letters and calls sent to the City immediately before the City Council Meeting on MAY 3rd at 10AM. We have to STOP the proposed Hollywood Community Plan Update from being voted in. It will be in place for 20 years and DOES NOT PROTECT HISTORIC BUILDINGS. The Hollywood Community Plan Update is a blueprint for how land gets used in the Hollywood area. Hollywood Heritage, the Los Angeles Conservancy, and the Office of Historic Resources have a better proposal.

The Planning and Land Use Committee (also known as PLUM) will meet to vote on the extremely flawed proposed plan on:

It is crucial that we have a contingent there to speak for one minute each, to ask for changes.

It is very important to have our issues voiced, as there will be many people who have been wrangled by the opposition, to attend in person to support the flawed plan.

If you are able to attend, please email us at HollywoodHeritage1980@gmail.com to let us know. 

IN ORDER TO SPEAK UP FOR HOLLYWOOD AT THIS MEETING, YOU NEED TO APPEAR IN PERSON AT CITY HALL.

GOING TO THE MEETING? HERE’S WHAT TO SAY!

I feel strongly that this Plan must be made more acceptable to historic preservation. It must prioritize restoration and adaptive reuse.

I ask that these changes be adopted:

1. The recommendations of the letters on file from the Cultural Heritage Commission, the Los Angeles Conservancy and Hollywood Heritage.

2. I also support Councilmember Soto-Martinez's recommendations, specifically his rejection of broad swaths of upzoning without getting affordable housing.

ABOUT THE MEETING (DIRECT FROM THE CITY)

The Hollywood Community Plan Update is expected to be considered at a Special Meeting of the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee on Monday, April 24, 2023 at 1 p.m. The agenda for the PLUM Committee’s meeting can be accessed 24 hours prior to the meeting online at clerk.lacity.gov/calendar in compliance with the Brown Act. To access materials, including the Director of Planning’s Supplemental Memo to the PLUM Committee, and to sign up for further email updates about the project, access Council File No. 21-0934.

Please be advised that the PLUM Committee resumed in-person meetings in April. Members of the public who wish to offer public comment to the PLUM Committee at this meeting may do so in-person. If you are unable to appear at this meeting, you may submit your comments online through the City Clerk’s Public Comment Form. 

CAN’T MAKE THE MEETING? 

YOU STILL CAN ACT RIGHT NOW, BY SENDING A LETTER THROUGH THE ONLINE PORTAL, TO EXPRESS YOUR OPPOSITION TO A PLAN THAT WILL HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON HOLLYWOOD.

DO I LIVE IN THE COMMUNITY PLAN AREA?

The districts that are part of the Hollywood Community Plan Update are Council Districts 4, 5 and 13. See below for details on the PLUM Commissioners and the Council Districts.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD TO COMMENT. 

WHAT TO SEND:

Below is a letter that you can send. If you would like to personalize it, because you live or work in the area, are inspired by Hollywood history, historic architecture, etc., please add it to the bottom of this email. The word limit in the online portal is 5,000 words. 

You will have to give your email address, though not your name. Your email is used to verify that you are a real person. Your letter will be attached to the case file and will be accessible on the City’s website.

Copy and paste the letter below.

Add your own comments to the bottom.

Click to open the online portal to submit. The system will send you an email. You must click on the link in that email, to verify your submission. It will not go through until you complete this step.

Send the same comments by email to the list of officials below the letter. We put them in a list for you, so all you have to do is copy and paste!

SAMPLE LETTER BELOW:

Dear Members of the PLUM Committee:

I feel strongly that the Hollywood Community Plan Update CF-210934 recommended by City Planning must be revised.

 I support Hollywood Heritage, the Los Angeles Conservancy, and the City’s own Cultural Heritage Commission's proposed alterations to the Plan. Specific changes missed by City Planning should be made. Back the recognition of our world-renowned treasures with real action now, not sidelined to “goals” or “future implementation.” The most famous part of Los Angeles, and the place with the landmarks of the highest level of national importance, should not be getting treatment substandard to our local landmarks. That is what is in the Plan now.  

Not a single historic building or district needs to be lost to meet the housing goals set forth in this Plan. Pitting housing against preservation is mistakenly at the center of the Plan, and is the critical but correctable mistake of the CPIO. Rolling back years of earned historic building protections in the “redevelopment repeal” Ordinance is buried in the Plan, and is completely unnecessary. 

The built legacy of Hollywood is irreplaceable and can be profitable if historic resources are supported by our City through adaptive reuse and clever urban design. CPIO affordable housing density bonus incentives should be in effect where there are NOT historic buildings. The City’s economic study says they can work-in the lower density areas east of central Hollywood.  

We have already lost much of the character of this unique Los Angeles neighborhood. Please vote to change the Plan in accordance with Hollywood Heritage, the Los Angeles Conservancy, and the Cultural Heritage Commission to sensibly promote what is left, not bulldoze it.

Sincerely,

YOUR NAME & ADDRESS (optional)

EMAIL YOUR LETTER TO MORE DECISION-MAKERS

When you finish posting your comments through the PLUM Committee's portal, you can expand your impact by emailing the same letter to the PLUM Committee members and District Councilmembers responsible for the Hollywood Community Plan Update. We have included phone numbers if you prefer to call their offices instead.

They need to hear about our plan for an alternative.

COPY AND PASTE THESE EMAILS TO SEND YOUR LETTER:

councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org

councilmember.rodriguez@lacity.org

councilmember.yaroslavsky@lacity.org

councilmember.Lee@lacity.org

cd10@lacity.org

contactCD4@lacity.org

councilmember.soto-martinez@lacity.org

emma.howard@lacity.org

Dylan.Sittig@lacity.org

Mashael.majid@lacity.org

Meg.healy@lacity.org

HollywoodHeritage1980@gmail.com

WHO ARE THE "PLUM" COMMITTEE MEMBERS?

PLUM is a sub-set of the City Council. Los Angeles has 15 districts. Councilmembers sit on various committees during their time in office.

Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Chair, CD-8

(213) 473-7008; Rm 450

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, CD-7

councilmember.rodriguez@lacity.org

(213) 473-7007; Rm 455

Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, CD-5

councilmember.yaroslavsky@lacity.org

(213) 473-7005; Rm 440

Councilmember John S Lee, CD-12

councilmember.Lee@lacity.org

(213) 473-7012; Rm 405

Councilmember Heather Hutt, CD-10

(213) 473-7010; Rm 420

THESE ARE THE DISTRICTS THAT HAVE A STAKE IN THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY PLAN:

CD-4: Councilmember Nithya Raman

(213) 473-7004; Rm 415

CD-5: Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky

(213) 473-7005; Rm 440

CD-13: Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez

(213) 473-7013; Rm 480

HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY PLAN BACKGROUND

This “Community Plan” establishes the changes to “zoning” for the next 20 years. Zoning is what controls the allowable density on every Hollywood land parcel. The City’s recommendations are a blueprint for loss of historic resources and the possibilities of what Hollywood could be. 

When the City recommends up-zoning which is the increase of what is allowed on land occupied by historic buildings, it directly threatens the landmarks with demolition, especially the single and two-story buildings. Historic theaters are most vulnerable. Maybe not today, but in time, under this Community Plan, that land can be developed without protections.

Preservationists are not in favor of halting development. They believe that development can happen with sensitivity and that an authentic Hollywood can flourish with enough affordable housing and the retention of the Hollywood Boulevard landmarks we cherish.

Hollywood Heritage, the Los Angeles Conservancy, and the Cultural Heritage Commission are each contributing to a “package’ of “fixes” to improve this flawed Plan. 

Cultural Heritage is important to our quality of life. Hollywood Boulevard is one of America’s treasures. Our historic theaters are known around the world and citizens of Los Angeles should be able to see a few of the historic bungalows that were once the most important style of housing in the area.

There is no need to build more housing on the same piece of land where a historic building sits. New housing is NOT being thwarted by historic buildings. Adaptive re-use of vacant historic office buildings that are no longer in use, is a smarter, greener way to provide more housing. These buildings can have a new economic life in the 21st century, while maintaining their historic charm. There are still vacant lots in East Hollywood, but the Plan suggests nothing centered on that land.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

UPDATE as of 5:30 pm 4/21/2023

So much new information dropping in the Council File—our takeaway is:

Please specifically ask in writing or testify that the PLUM should:

1. Adopt all 4 requests (in letter 7/15/21) from the Cultural Heritage Commission. City Planning Department has failed to even recognize or support its “sister” commission—the Cultural Heritage Commission, of which the City Planning Department is directly responsible. This is a real fork in the eye.

2. Ask PLUM members to vote NO on City Planning’s new request in its PLUM Committee recommendations pages 7 and 8: City Planning is asking PLUM to vote on 2 Plan changes regarding Cultural Heritage—on pages 7 and 8 – in their letter to PLUM titled “PLUM Committee recommendations”, In the CPIO to

• Allow demolition of a historic resource with only a letter from a realtor or engineer about its structural safety or “financial infeasibility” with an arms-length review. These are notorious opportunities to fake a problem to tear a building torn down. This is also not acceptable under multiple laws.

• Change the definition of “eligible” historic resource in a bad way—to remove recognition of existing National and California Register listings.

3: Hugo Soto Martinez has a letter request delivered to PLUM asking for a “yes” vote on his recommendations. We expect to support his letter, against our backdrop of deep distress, with the 3 “adds” below So far Hugo has included 2 of our requests and those of the Cultural Heritage Commission. A real fork in the eye for the Cultural Heritage Commission.

• Councilman Soto Martinez grasped that the Community Plan CPIO was promoting density bonus incentives for affordable housing that Planning’s economist said do NOT work. He has asked that “base FARs in central Hollywood be kept. and this matches our position. If developers want to build bigger and higher, at least include affordable housing.

• He also asks for 5S3’s (bungalows) be in CPIO per Cultural Heritage Commission and LA Conservancy request. We agree.

4: Hollywood Heritage has asked Councilman Soto-Martinez for 3 more items to be added to his request letter to PLUM:

• Extend provisions in CPIO for treatment of National Register District to California Register Districts

• In CPIO ensure that treatment of all buildings and new infill in a District is conducted akin HPOZs( specifically “undo” the current definition of “eligible” historic resources which excludes “non-contributors” even under CEQA

• Rescue particular code sections from the repeal of the redevelopment plan. We are looking at specific preservation sections

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