RICKY PARK

HOLLYWOOD REDEVELOPMENT

AND ITS MEANING FOR THE HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY

INTRODUCTION

One thing for certain is that the political situation in Hollywood is interesting, controversial that is the least, confusing, and perhaps even outright deceptive. We could be divide the four main issues confronting Hollywood as follows: 1) The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and Hollywood ‘Redevelopment’ in general. 2) The Business Improvement District (BID), that known as Hollywood Entertainment District (HED). Those are including the issues of private police and Private Street cleaning paid for by additional tax-assessments on property owners. 3) Charter Reform is including neighborhood councils, which is a citywide issue. However, especially a hot one in Hollywood where a major charge is that Hollywood Redevelopment is controlled by ‘outsiders’ who are bleeding it dry through profiteering involving city, state, and federal redevelopment funds. 4) Narcotics are while the open-air narcotics market and prostitution scenario, which was so visibly prevalent in Hollywood up to about three years ago, has definitely been diminished. There is also any type of illegal narcotic after a search of about twelve to fifteen minutes. Also, there is a distinct relationship between narcotics and the other three major political factors. They are remove narcotics completely and the political scene in the community would be vastly different. In order to produce this report will be divided into four sections: I) Basic facts, as far as can be readily obtained; II) Reasonable opinions about what is really going on, based on the facts; III) An Intelligence Analysis about the deeper realities in regards to secret conspiracies and where they would take Hollywood if not brought to a stop or restrained and the conclusions in this analysis cannot be proved; IV) Finalization of thesis.

ZONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD

The entirely of the Hollywood community can be said to encompass the 13^th Council District. And parts of the 5^th and 4^th districts that running from, approximately Fairfax Avenue where Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard intersect in the east, and from the Hollywood Hills south to Melrose. The special redevelopment zone was supposed to include the section from LaBrea and Sunset/Hollywood to Western Avenue. But the legal significance of this has become quite uncertain. (Regent Properties, The Hollywood Marketplace, 1998)

It is not clear about what is going on politically in Hollywood because there is so much propaganda, conflicting information, false information, and outright lying on the part of the major political entities and individuals. The perhaps what one would expect in 'Tinseltown' is the planetary capital of contrived realities, especially since the major 'Hollywood' movie studios control the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. (Hollywood Social Services Consortium, 1998) There is also the Hollywood community is heading in the future, since it is not certain what the major political players are up to.

SECTION I COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT

The present phase of Hollywood redevelopment can be said to have begun in 1986. The Community Redevelopment Agency supposedly was given huge funding and political power. After thirteen years and literally hundreds of millions of dollars being spent by the CRA, only now is Hollywood finally "turning around", according to its Chairperson Christine Essel. The CRA gave the information through the 'Newsweek' magazine, at least three huge shopping malls are now being constructed there, and possibly a fourth. Besides for the construction of the Galaxy Theatre Complex acknowledged as being one of the worst development disasters in the history of America. The only development, which the CRA has undertaken in Hollywood up until the establishment of "Mallywood", has been the renovating of several apartment buildings and office buildings. Many of which have not been completed still after several years of construction, including "earthquake restructuring", even years after the last major earthquake. The Hollywood pretty much looks the same as when the CRA started its redevelopment scheme, except that it still isn't as lively and prosperous as it was prior to 1986.

Mayor Richard Riordan appointed Christine Essel, Chairperson of CRA during the heyday of its redevelopment phase. She is also Vice-President of Facilities at Paramount Studios. She has any experience or abilities at urban planning and design or civil engineering, and no indication that she has gained any profound knowledge in the area even while serving as Chair of CRA. (Ellen, H., Place of L.A., May, 1998) The Hollywood, Christine Essel, who has, now supposedly retired as Chair of the CRA, claiming that she has too much responsibility. But she said " I'm happy now that Hollywood redevelopment is finally going ahead after all these years. I feel I've accomplished what I set out to do". Still sits on the board of the agency says that she is now happy that Hollywood redevelopment is underway of meaning the impending construction of the three major shopping malls. The fact is that a major redevelopment scheme was supposedly being conducted for thirteen years by the CRA, only to have it finally culminate with the construction of three major shopping malls in Hollywood by private developers. (Daily news, Dec. 23, 1998) It is not clear why the CRA waited thirteen years to come to the conclusion that the answer for redevelopment in Hollywood was to be three large shopping malls.

The relationship between the City Planning Commission and Hollywood 'redevelopment' and the CRA is a fascination one, with many dubious factors still remaining in this area. For example, the city planning commission, back in 1986 that developed a plan for Hollywood which suggested at least 40% of the special redevelopment zone. It should become open the public space and public squares and parks.

The problem is compounded by the fact that a main contractor is usually utilized just for one renovation project. When the renovation is completed, the contractor vanishes, and so does the public redevelopment money. Some of the monies utilized for this purpose by the CRA are supposedly loans, which are to be paid back by the property owners. The whole idea of redevelopment in Hollywood is a bunch of bad things. Hollywood is its own attraction anyway. There would have been more business and a better Hollywood for everyone in L.A., if the CRA had never existed. (J.L., Property Owner) But is unclear and there is much evidence that none of this money has ever been repaid. The property owners often finally flip the buildings over and selling them to another entity for a healthy profit even though the properties technically belong to the public. Abby (Shop Owner, May 3, 1999) said " It's not a question of what the CRA has done for shop owners since they've done nothing. It's like there never was any redevelopment here even though they've spent hundreds of millions. The CRA should be prosecuted under the federal racketeering statute".

Controversial CRA issue is simply giving away large sums of money that hundreds of millions of dollars to various businesses. The CRA was not legally authorized to do this, but they got around this by claiming that the funds were given over not as investments to the businesses themselves. But ‘historical rehabilitation’, which was and is a legal responsibility of the CRA for legitimate purposes. (McNarry, A Better Hollywood, 1998) However, in many cases even this assertion could not be justified by the building involved, so the funding was listed by the CRA as ‘office rehabilitation’, specifically, believe this or not, for ‘office partitions’. For example, John & Gorman films on Hollywood Boulevard near Western Avenue received about a million and a half-dollars for office partitions. Also, the Scientology world headquarters on Hollywood Boulevard at Gower Avenue received three million. There were about thirty businesses involved all together.

Still, one more controversial CRA-related factor is the existence of an entity called the ‘Hollywood Social Services Consortium’, which is apparently funded by the CRA. This sounds innocuous enough. In fact, one could suppose that a group such as this could be very beneficial. However, the CRA did not receive any authorization to fund such groups, and this is not legally within its domain. (How To Get Help In Hollywood, 1998) Many other questions are therefore raised relating to social order and civil government under the United States and California Constitutions. Exactly, how much funding is provided to the HSSC and how is the accounting of this money supervised? What does such funding have to do with redevelopment in Hollywood or the general public welfare? What exactly is the Hollywood Project – the ‘division’ or whatever of the CRA, which channels funds to the HSSC? Does the Hollywood Project have a full-time staff and budget? Answers to these questions cannot be answered because, first of all, the CRA does not permit open meetings as it is supposed to the California Brown Act. The California Brown Act is that the CRA itself didn’t have contact with the public such as open meetings to discos about the redevelopment of Hollywood, furthermore they were making plans by themselves. And the Hollywood Project has on legal reality anyway, and neither does the HSSC. Since they don’t legally exist they are, to put things simply, beyond the law and any public security, despite the fact that they receive public funding. Even if it is agreed that public funding of the HSSC is a good thing. (Member of the 'Sea Organization' of the church of scientology, April, 1999) The point is that what we have here, for better or worse, an entirely new governmental structure, outside of public security and control.

The issue of Narcotics dealing in Hollywood is an intense one in effect, the entire redevelopment and corresponding ‘business improvement’ effort was in response to narcotics dealing, and street gang activity and prostitution which centered around narcotics. The ‘Yucca-Wilcox corridor’, was the worst narcotics dealing zone, centered around Yucca Avenue and Wilcox Avenue, just north of Hollywood Boulevard. In the early and mid-nineties street gangs did their dealing openly there, or within the surrounding buildings. (Su, D., Radio Korea, April, 1999) Some of these same buildings became ‘squats’ where runaway teenagers and others (most of whom were narcotics addicts) crammed into apartments which became ‘narcotics stores’. Groups of drugged-out teenagers – especially punkers – roamed up and down Hollywood Boulevard, often refusing to get out of the way of passerby, or just hung around on street corners or in front of stores panhandling, often screaming at people in the process, under the powerful psychoactive effects of Crack and Crank.

There is no doubt that Hollywood was degrading from 1986 with many stores closing, and the higher – end stores never being replaced, and middle – class people from all over L.A. more and more getting the idea that Hollywood was a place to avoid. Bob (Hollywood Division Police Officer April 22, 1999) said, " I predict that these huge CRA shopping malls will be super-Galaxy Mall type disasters. In other words, the developers will claim that they are bankrupt and then the CRA will give them tens of millions in public funds to finish up, paid for by additional property taxes. TriZec [the developer of the 'Court of Babalon' Project at Hollywood and Highland] went bankrupt before in Canada owing $1.6 billion, so why should not they pull the same trick again?" However, the movie theatres were still open on Hollywood Boulevard, and long lines still forming in front of them. In particular, at the Pacific Theatres at Hollywood and Wilcox on weekend nights and Hollywood in general still drew true big crowds on the weekend. It wasn’t until Hollywood became an "open-air narcotics zone" and the general explosion of the Crack/Crank plague starting in 1993-1994. (Hollywood Police Station, May, 99) The Hollywood became utterly degraded, as indicated by the closing of the Pacific Theatres. There were including the Egyptian theatre complex, and two other theatres on Hollywood Boulevard. Adnan (Owner of Restaurant) that he replied "The CRA spent a fortune on rebuilding the Egyptian Theatre and now Paramount obviously runs it through this American Cinematique which I believe is a Scientology front. No wonder, since Christine Essel (Chair of CRA) is V.P. of Facilities at Paramount! Now, the Egyptian is hardly used – it’s usually locked up and it does not help Hollywood redevelopment". The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Councilperson had placed the Egyptian theatre in Hollywood from the 13^th District, Jackie Goldbeerg.

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has basically operated as the government of Hollywood Jackie Goldberg delivers her state-of-Hollywood address there every year. According to Leron Gubler who works in the ‘Controller of Hollywood Chamber of Commerce’, said; "yeah, we’re really developing Hollywood now. Now, all boats rise. This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to Hollywood". It was the Chamber, which promoted the idea of the CRA taking over redevelopment in Hollywood. But the Public had a very different idea of what this would mean than the reality, which developed. The Chamber likes to take credit for the redevelopment and cleaning up of Hollywood, but not for the degradation which too the place during their watch. Even up until 1997, the corner of Hollywood and Cahuenga, was a notorious open-air narcotics market, with dealers selling tranquilizer pills mostly to clients coming out of the Methadone Clinic on Cahuenga. (Moshen, Selling the Adult Magazine on the Street, May 2, 1999)

The Business Improvement District, such as called the Hollywood Entertainment District. It was started by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1996, and dealing with the degradation of Hollywood. The area within the BID was despite the fact that at the City Council hearing the Executive Director of the BID presented no evidence of any business improvement in that area. The main focus of the argument was the establishment of a private police force under the justice of the BID.

If anything is strange in Los Angeles politics any more, the Hollywood BID, along with the other four BIDs in Los Angeles, was being established while two charter reform commissions were busily at work or they claimed.

In another words, one completely new governmental structure was being set up while two charter commissions were supposedly debating how to create a charter. So it would set up a new governmental structure for the city in the future. In fact, only added the concept of neighborhood councils after criticism of both the BIDs by the elected charter commission. And the CRA will taking away all control of the city’s development from the electorate. However, the neighborhood councils have not been given any real financial or political power by the final version of the proposed new charter.

II. A REASONABLE OPINION

The data clearly indicates that apolitical conspiracy is going on in Hollywood, in regards to redevelopment and business improvement of the community. (L.A. Weekly, April, 1999) The conspiracy involves that the construction and renovation of buildings under the supervision of the CRA using public funds, and then the buildings are turned over to private owners for their own profit. The Galaxy Theatre mall and theatre complex on Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea and Highland. The construction of the project violated the original redevelopment proposal relative to the creation of open space. (L.A. Weekly, April, 1998) In terms of civil engineering, been explained what such a project could have to do with redevelopment of Hollywood Boulevard. According to Hollywood Social Services Consortium, there were already four movie theatres on Hollywood Boulevard, which were closed. There was also the Pacific Theatres complex, which is widely accepted as a major architectural monument. In Hollywood Boulevard, Alex (Owns an Adult Product Store); he said the city council and the CRA's proposal to lend the developer around $25 million for the project would be better spent creating public squares and parks along the boulevard in order to draw in people. McDonald P.R. who is author of the Hollywood Independent; the CRA went ahead with the project, and about halfway through the construction the developer announced that they were out of money. Therefore, CRA would need to borrow about $15 million from the CRA in order to finish the project. The Galaxy mall and theatre complex was never successful such as the theatres were mostly empty, and the underground good vending area hardly bad. Michael, L (Shop owner, 37 years old, April 30) said, "From 1986 to the present, the CRA mostly rebuilt a bunch of buildings which they then turned over to their buddies. Now they’re making it sound like they’re just starting the redevelopment with the putting up of these malls. What do you need a redevelopment agency for just to build shopping malls?" He was little upset while he was saying it. Perhaps, there was a $40 million dollars fiasco, but instead of Christine Essel and the rest of the CRA board being resign the same people get to still make decisions for major public spending.

The solution of the CRA and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce was to place into the Galaxy the Hollywood Entertainment Museum. The city gave the museum project $800,000 in original money, and $500,000 to redesign an abandoned site; because of the previously failed CRA project. The Governor Wilson allocated $2 million for the museum from out of state educational funds for special projects, which were related educational programs. (Los Angeles Times, September, 1998) According to Jenny (Owns T-shirts Store, April 23, 1998) said "The CRA obtain their profits and that's all they care about." And she said again. "They don't even think about asking the people who lived in Hollywood about redeveloping or get some idea for redevelopment Hollywood."

There is magazine called ‘Hooray’ which was a tribute to Johny Grant, which the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce likes to call "The Unofficial Mayor of Hollywood" (through critics refer to him the ‘the Unofficial Whore of Hollywood). Grant’s basic function as ‘Honorary or Unofficial Mayor’ his development and arrangement was corrupted projects such as Galaxy complex. Also the CRA that project across the Galaxy complex which was a good plan, but the people didn’t have interest to visit the Max Factor Museum with great enthusiastic mind. According to the magazine, Hooray, the project was partially funded by the CRA - $5.6 million for the residential portion and $ 5.12 million for the commercial portion. In personality, this point out again that the CRA is a totally new concept in American governmental functioning. The public financing of construction projects will be eventually belong to the property of private owners.

III INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS

This section will commence by discussing what is probably the most controversial aspect of Hollywood ‘redevelopment’ narcotics dealing. It is not interesting to see that the Business Improvement District, an extension of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. One of the tenant that lives in Wilcox and Sunset, whose name is Scott said (May, 99)" Even the private police deployed or made it, so isolated by forces the drugs and the crimes was happening all the time in the heart of Hollywood street." When Scott was saying about this issue, he was very disappointed and unhappy about it.

In other words, there is a strong indication that the CRA syndicate has purposefully allowed the devastation of Hollywood in order to force down real-estate prices, or induce property owners to flee. Therefore they could take over a large number of properties without a huge investment. It is also reasonable to suspect that the CRA utilized much of the redevelopment funds, which they channeled through overpriced renovation projects, which is including the Galaxy complex fiasco. And now that this syndicate has utilized these public monies to buy up so much real estate they seek to set up their own government with the BID and their private police. From the ‘Hooray’ (November, 98) magazine, which is states that the supplement of the Hollywood Independent would lead an observer to the conclusion that all the entities featured in to one master organization. This would include the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the CRA, the Hollywood Arts Council, the Church of Scientology, and the Community Police Advisory Board (CPAB).

The Hollywood needs now more than two basic things. A neighborhood government which will exist for all the components in the community and allow for full pluralistic input, and a strict accounting of all redevelopment funds. These funds are including local, state and federal and particular pass through funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Instead, the expansion of the BID and HED is perfectly retrogression since now the CRA has become the defect. Government of Hollywood, one does not allow any input from the surrounding community at all. The president of the HED (Steven Ullman) is the owner of Grant Parking, which occupies large tracts throughout central Hollywood. It is clear that Ullman’s function within the CRA is to simply hold on to these tracts until the decides what to develop. (McDonald, P.R., Hollywood Independent, Feb. 10, 1999)

The BID was approved by the city council, sent tax assessment bills to property owners who were not even in their district. This was to pay for private police and sanitation services. It provided by the Hollywood Beautification Team (HBT), which operates as a vendor in collusion with the BID. (McDonald, P.R., Hollywood Independent) Incredibly, the HBT uses free labor supplied through persons working instead of jail sentences or fines. By the way, they earn a profit through the additional tax assessments, which could reasonably be considered to be an illegal use of slave labor or convict labor. The attempt to tax properties outside of their district could be construed as extortion. It was stopped by the Ferraro Amendment initiated by Councilman Ferraro, which allowed the BID that ordinance to pass, but without the additional properties.

It is not clear that the Hollywood BID intents to keep expanding until it becomes a defect private government for all of Hollywood that levying additional tax assessments for private police and sanitation services. This would be the ultimate criminal racket like private government as a business, and their own police to enforce their will.

IV FINAL THESIS

The CRA specific is that in effect, a pre-meditated, complex, and long-term conspiracy to defraud the government. It involves a network operating among the CRA, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, other government and quasi-government agencies, contractors and other vendors, and real-estate management and investment firms. (Hooray!, November, 1997) This conspiracy qualifies as an ongoing criminal racket under the federal statute, designed to facilitate the right against organized crime. The various components of the CRA-syndicate, as described, in fact represent at attempt to establish an entirely new totalitarian governmental structure, existing outside of the U.S. California Constitutions. The CRA really is now the defect government of Hollywood, especially with the inclusion of the Hollywood Social Services Consortium because of frightening is that much of the structure is up and functioning.

Since narcotics distribution has been such an important factor with the CRA, and it would not be surprising. If there is a resurgence of the sort of street drug-selling, which allowed the syndicate such as CRA to take over Hollywood to be beginning with it. As this would, among other things, justify the extensive use of their private police. Another reasonable prediction is that the four large malls being built and there will wind up become to be disasters of Galaxy-type. In other words, their developers will claim that they have gone broke, partway through the construction, and then demand public funding for completion. Additional, tax-assessments will be placed on property owners in Hollywood and those that don’t pay will have their properties confiscated by the private police. However, A.H. (Property Owner) said, "The Chamber of Commerce and the CRA started the Business Improvement District just so they could have their own official government for Hollywood" "Now they won’t let me and the other property owners who aren’t in their Property Owners Association attend their meetings, which is a violation of the Brown Act which states that meetings of municipal legislative bodies must be open to the public". A booklet put out by Regent Properties, the developer of the shopping mall at Sunset and Vine called ‘The Hollywood Marketplace’. It suggests that the development is a community center. No it is not. It is a shopping mall. Actually, it’s destroying the sense of community by making Hollywood look like just most other places in the United States. There can be little doubt that the real reason that the BID wants their own private police force. So they realize that without police power you are not an authoritative government. That’s what the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and its associated groups want it to be.

All the CRA Redevelopment was done with high expectation, but the public or the tenants did not agree with all the redevelopment of the Hollywood. Even though it was not successful in the eyes of the public. The CRA was dictated to control the development of the city itself such as the malls and the theatres, because the CRA were doing by themselves or with their own ideas. The CRA were never asking to the people what they should develop to make an entertainment world. Finally, the CRA was very good for development organization in Hollywood or other things. But the one of the biggest mistakes that they were not an organization working with the public or caring for the public. The CRA also were self centered in the organization with their own workers, so all of the great developments ended up closing and corrupted without any good result. The point is that organization or a corporation its needful party; but if they just work by themselves, all the good plans will be corrupted and will be waste of the time for all of us who is contracting around them like the public.

INTERVIEWING

Hollywood Social Service Consortium, April, 1998

J.L., Property Owner, April 19, 1999

Abby, Shop Owner, May 3, 1999

Member of the ‘Sea Organization’ of the church of Scientology, April 14, 1999

Bob, Hollywood Division Police Officer, April 22, 1999

Adnan, Owner of Restaurant, March 29, 1999

Leron. Gubler, ‘Controller of Hollywood Chamber of Commerce April 25, 1999

Moshen, Adult Magazine May 2, 1999

Alex, Adult Product Store, May 2, 1999

Michael, L., Shop Owner, April 30, 1999

Jenny, Owns T-shirts Store, April 23, 1999

Scott, Tenant of Hollywood, May 1, 1999

A.H., Property Owner, April 27, 1999

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chemerinsky, Erwin & Bennett Kayster, "LosAngeles Needs Elected Neighborhood Councils, "Los Angeles Times, June 29,1998, 5B.

Hollywood Independent, Hooray!, November, 1997.

Hollywood Independent, Hooray!, November, 1998.

Hollywood Social Services Consortium, How To Get Help In Hollywood, 1998.

McNarry, David, "Building A Better Hollywood: Merchants Taking Tarnish Off Tinseltown, "Daily news, Dec. 23, 1998, N1-N3.

McDonald, P.R., "Mayor’s power, council size to grow under charter plan, "Hollywood Independent, Feb. 10, 1999, 1& 3.

Ellen H, Place of Los Angeles, May 15, 1997, 23& 27

McDonald, P.R., "Parking singled out as concern as CRA discusses Hollywood Market place", Hollywood Independent, Feb. 10, 1999, 1&3.

Naefele, Marc B., "Let the Sunshine In Wachs pushes to end City secrecy, "L.A. Weekly, Feb. 5-11, 17& 20.

Los Angeles Times, September 15, 1997.

Newsome, Melba, "Your Sorry Shows, "Los Angeles, April, 1998, 23-24.

Regent Properties, The Hollywood Marketplace, 1998.