Century City/ Westwood JUNE 25 – JULY 22, 2021
NEWS CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com
Century City-Westwood Councilmember Calls for City of LA to Withdraw From LAHSA Councilmember Paul Koretz calls for end of homelessness agency By Sam Catanzaro Last week Los Angeles City Councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Paul Koretz, who represents Century City and Westwood, introduced a motion for the City of Los Angeles to withdraw from the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority joint powers Authority. The motion also calls for recommendations on incorporating outreach, housing, and all other homelessness service delivery programs within a city department, or a new stand-alone city agency. Operating with an annual budget of nearly $1 billion provided by Federal, State, County, and City funds, one of LAHSA’s core functions is street outreach to the homeless population, ensuring they receive resources, shelter, and eventually permanent housing. The City of Los Angeles pays LAHSA
nearly $300 million a year to perform this function on our behalf, yet the motion argues LAHSA is unwilling to provide the City and its departments with basic information about their outreach activities and outcomes. “Without knowing critical information about who has been offered shelter, and who has turned it down, the City cannot enforce our anti-camping laws, and differentiate between those that want help, and those that do not,” said Councilmember Buscaino. “This results in the unmitigated proliferation of dangerous, inhumane encampments, subjecting innocent people experiencing homelessness to criminals that prey on them. This is not compassionate – it’s reckless.” Councilmember Koretz added, “The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome… in the case of LAHSA, if the information, resources and services the organization provides are going to continue to fall short of what we need to get Angelenos housed and back on their feet, then every option for reform, including severing those ties, should be on the table.” According to a 2019 audit from City Controller Ron Galperin, on this critical front,
Photo: Councilmember Koretz (Facebook) Councilmember Paul Koretz who represent Century City and Westwood.
LAHSA is falling short of its City goals. In 2018-2019, LAHSA failed to meet five City outreach targets — in some cases reporting four or six percent success and reaching only
dozens of people in need. The motion will be heard in the City’s Homelessness and Poverty committee at a forthcoming meeting.
Purple Line Extension Breaks Ground 2.5 subway extension underway By Sam Catanzaro Officials last month broke ground on a 2.5-mile subway extension of the Purple Line (Metro’s D Line) from Century City to Westwood. “The Purple Line Expansion is the key that will unlock our transportation future and burst open doors of opportunity on the Westside — and today’s groundbreaking moves us one step closer to completely redefining our city’s relationship with public transit,” said Mayor Garcetti, who also serves as Metro Board Chair. Scheduled for completion in 2027, Section 3 of the Metro Purple Line Extension Project is part of a larger threephase, 8.9-mile, seven-station project that will extend the Purple Line from the current terminus at Wilshire/Western to the Veterans Affairs West Los Angeles Medical Center (VA) just west of the 405 Freeway. The 2.5-mile stretch will connect
to the final station of the Purple Line Section 2 in Century City, and include one station at Westwood Village and another at the VA. Metro is now actively building all three sections of the subway extension, which are planned to open in 2024, 2025 and 2027, respectively. The first section between Wilshire/Western and Beverly Hills is nearly 70 percent complete, and the Section 2 extension is now nearly 45 percent complete. Metro has established a $3.6 billion budget for the Section 3 project, applying a $1.3 billion federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that will be delivered through a Full Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grant program. The grant is a stand-alone agreement with no required loans. More than $2 billion for the project will come from the half-cent sales tax increases generated by Measures R and M, local measures approved by voters in 2008 and 2016. According to LA Metro, the subway
Ceremonial shovels hits the dirt outside the Westwood VA Hospital last month.
Photo: LA Metro
extension to the Westwood/VA Hospital
stations. There will be about 78,000 new
weekday boardings at the seven new
as a result of opening this line.
station will garner about 49,300 daily
daily trips on the full Metro Rail System