www.palisadesnews.com
December 31 – January 27, 2022 Volume 29, Issue 55
Construction of Controversial Palisades Highlands Elder Care Facility Continues Work continues at 1525 Palisades Drive development B y D olores Q uintana Construction on the underground parking garage that would serve the controversial Palisades Highlands Eldercare Building continues. The hotly contested building is located at 1525 Palisades Drive and the development is being headed by Rony Schram of Shram Development LLC. The Palisadian Post quotes Shram as saying that, “In an effort to save time and minimize the impact of onsite framing, we have prefabricated nearly the entire steel portion of the building. This process significantly reduces the amount of work that would otherwise have taken place on the property.” Additionally, the website says that, “All walls and floor assemblies have been pre-fabricated into panels. These panels will be delivered multiple times
per week and stored along Vereda de la Montura where they will be hoisted onto the podium by crane and installed in place.” The development is strongly opposed by the Pacific Palisades Residents Association and they have been actively filing legal challenges to the building of the Eldercare Facility since 2018. Their objections are to the size of the building that they say would block residents’ views of the mountainside and that the 45 foot high structure is much larger than any other building in the area so it substantially changes the character of the neighborhood. There are additional objections to the generation of traffic and lack of adequate parking which they claim would cause issues for nearby homeowners. They claim that the City did not do a traffic study on how the neighborhood’s traffic would be affected. Opposition to the project began in Sept. of 2017 with a posting to the Palisades Residents.com website that referred to the building as a “monstrosity” under the umbrella of a group called HUG or Highlanders United (For) Good.
A rendering of an eldercare facility being constructed in Pacific Palisades.
PPRA’s case was filed against the City of Los Angeles and the California Coastal Commission. A recap on the PPRA website
Photo: LADCP
states that, “Public views of the coastal hills and mountains are protected by the
Elder Care Facility, see page 4
LA City Clerk Confirms Bonin Recall Petition Headed to Verification Stage City Clerk has until January 2, 2022 to verify signatures B y S am C atanzaro The Los Angeles City Clerk has confirmed that the “raw number of signatures” on a recall petition against Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin is enough for it to proceed to the verification stage, which will occur over the next month. The city clerk this month did not specify the number of signatures. Recall effort’s organizer, Nico Ruderman, however, said on November 10, when the petition was filed, that the group collected 39,188 signatures. This number is 11,847 more than required, reflecting around 21 percent of the district’s eligible voter base. The 27,317 signatures needed under city code are 15 percent of the registered voters in the district. If the signatures are verified and a special election triggered, the timing would be unusual. Bonin is already running for a third (and final) term in an election set for June. According to City Clerk Wolcott, a recall
election would likely occur in May. A special election ballot would include not just a question about whether the voter supports the recall but also a list of replacement candidates. This is the second time Bonin has faced a recall effort. In 2017-2018, constituents launched an unsuccessful recall effort in response to increased congestion resulting from lane reductions championed by Bonin. This initial effort, however, was localized to the Playa Del Rey and Mar Vista areas. This latest effort, however, has drawn support from across the district from voters frustrated by Bonin’s handling of the homelessness crisis. “Mr. Bonin has ignored the calls of the community for help, particularly with the humanitarian crisis in our streets, as his solutions for the seven and half years he has been in office have proven ineffective and dangerous for everyone, including and especially for the homeless community he purports to champion,” said Katrina Schmitt, the co-head of the recall committee. Bonin’s office has not issued an official statement regarding the recall but the councilmember took to Twitter last month to speak out against the effort. “If the recall succeeds, it will empower those who think homelessness can be solved with handcuffs, something our city has tried
Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin.
and failed at for decades. We risk giving up on an evidence-based approach of housing and services, which began in earnest in just the past few years,” Bonin wrote. “The leaders of the recall are people who oppose homeless
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
housing in their neighborhood, and people who are angry that I refuse to criminalize homelessness. They’re exploiting legitimate frustration about our crisis, and misleading people about what causes it and what ends it.”