Residents Outraged at LA City Planning Decision To Allow Alcohol Near Schools Despite Overwhelming Community Opposition

By Carlos Morales
Publisher/Editor, The VOICE: The Number One Source For News In North East LA

Excerpts from March '08 issue of The Voice: Click here for full story

After an exhausting eight hours of pleas from over two hundred concerned Lincoln Heights residents and petitions turned in with over a thousand signatures against the proposed LAS VILLAS Inc. development project, the East Los Angeles area Planning Commission voted 2-1 to deny the community's appeal against a video arcade and the sale of beer and wine.

The proposed Las Villas Entertainment Center will be immediately next to three schools: Gates Street Elementary School less than 75' away, Abraham Lincoln High School less than 50' away, and Little Flower Missionary School for pre-school children only 3' away. There is also the Kwan Ying Vietnamese Buddhist Temple; and The American Vietnam Chinese Friendship Association. Approximately 4,000 children attend classes near the proposed development.

The room was filled to capacity with community stakeholders armed with signs and banners, the row of media cameras ready to record and report live on scene. The overflow of about 30 more people stood outside the hall. Chants were heard inside the hall from the outside "NO ALCOHOL NEAR OUR SCHOOLS" repeatedly. It was near midnight when the vote came in, after the TV stations left, two of three commissioners decided to support Councilman Ed Reyes and the developers and deny the community's appeal.

One of the appellants in this case is Hugo Pacheco, who stated. "This is an absolute injustice. We thought the system was set up to serve the people, but it's obvious to us that the City is only interested in helping developers despite what the community may want." If the project cannot get funding without alcohol, adjust your business model so that you can open it without alcohol.

LA City Councilmember Ed Reyes Saying "NO" to alcohol "to go" permit .71 miles away. How come a full blown bar at a game arcade, even closer to schools is o.k., Ed?

To be continued...

Click here for full report

contact: voicepub@gmail.com

EQUAL TIME: See "Comment Section" of this thread for a response from Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council President, and USC Community Outreacher David Galaviz regarding The Voice and the front page article on LAS VILLAS. [Zuma Dogg's response to The President in brackets.] Plus, The Voice responds to Mr. Galaviz. (See comment section.)

Here's my favorite part: In addition, there are a number of liquor serving establishments in close proximity to three schools - Sacred Heart Elementary and High School as well as Griffin. These liquor serving establishments do not have the same requirements of Las Villas.

[UM...Thank you for making that most important point. With a number of existing liquor serving establishments in close proximity to the schools...DON'T YOU THINK THAT'S ENOUGH AND THERE SHOULDN'T BE ANYMORE ADDED!?!? Something is wrong with the logic you present if you are trying to argue FOR the liquor arcade across from three schools?]

Does Villaraigosa Have Los Angeles on A Losing Track In The Global Economy? (LA Times Wonders Aloud)

SHOCKER: Villaraigosa LOSES LAdailyblog.com Readers Poll:
Q: Re-elect Antonio (yes or no)

Yes, re-elect: 20%
No, change the batter: 79%

(I know readers of this blog are more likely to vote "no", but it doesn't appear as though I'm on the wrong side of the issue, either. The issue being, "anyone but Tony, as a matter of public safety and national security.)

From LA Times:

Can the mayor find his way out of a jam and lead Los Angeles to global glory?

Have you been to London recently? How about Dubai? For that matter, how about Bogotá, Colombia? Each of these cities is thriving, and their collective success makes clear the battle Los Angeles faces during the next several decades to stay successful on a global scale.

It also raises a question: Is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who came into office nearly three years ago with brio and youthful promise, doing enough to keep L.A. from slipping from the top tier of world cities? In many ways, his political legacy may depend on it. And in an age of hyper-competition among world cities, so will the health of the metropolitan region—and maybe of California as a whole.

When Villaraigosa took office in July 2005, he looked for all the world like the newest member of the Dynamic Mayors Club: a young, ambitious Latino leader for a young, ambitious Latino city. He appeared poised to build on the advantages L.A. has always had—a global brand name, an idyllic climate, a diverse economy with a workforce to match.

Promising to assume a higher profile than the managerial caretaker mayors who preceded him, Villaraigosa pledged to take bold steps to keep Los Angeles competitive with its global peers, including putting a comprehensive transit system in place. The mayor and his appointees also promised to make the city more walkable and its streetscape more humanely designed, changing a planning process that has always favored cars over pedestrians and traffic flow over the creation of successful urban spaces.

Nearly three years into his tenure, though, the mayor’s grandest plans have barely inched forward. Instead, he has fallen into the politically expedient trap of pushing for wider freeways and streamlined traffic on the city’s major boulevards.

Other bold-sounding efforts, such as his plan to plant a million trees, have been as much salesmanship as substance. (The Times’ David Zahniser has reported that there’s reason to believe that many of the trees the city has given away as seedlings and claims to have planted never made it into L.A. soil.) Among planners and architects, a sharp sense of disappointment in the Villaraigosa administration has become both widespread and impossible to ignore. The skidding economy and the city’s budget shortfall have made the outlook only gloomier.

ZUMA DOGG SAID...I still say as the city takes "belt-tightening" measures in the face of a $500-$700 million budget deficit -- City Hall needs to remember to cut back on the fraud, waste, abuse and flat-out coffer-draining corruption. Y'ALL KNOW WHAT THE F*CK I AM TALKING ABOUT! (See ZD threads on this blog on non-profit abuse and non-profit affordable housing scams and more.) THE CITY IS IN CRISIS...THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO STEP IN AN INVESTIGATE LOS ANGELES CITY HALL. YOU MIGHT FIND RAMPANT CORRUPTION AND MASSIVE RICO VIOLATIONS!!! IT SEEMS LIKE CORRUPTION IS IN CHARGE! THE CITY, COUNTY AND STATE CAN NO LONGER AFFORD IT! Don't let a few corrupt politicians tank the State and tip the nation's already weak economy. (Plus, the mayor just lost the LAdailyblog readers poll!)

Click here for full LA Times article