Opponents of the controversial Millennium Hollywood mega-project today released video footage that lifts the cloak of secrecy surrounding a deep exploratory trench the Millennium developer is digging on its property to determine if the site of its proposed $650 million twin-skyscraper project is crossed by an earthquake fault, as many scientists believe.
The dramatic video, available through this YouTube link, was shot from a small drone. It graphically shows the trenching work. Digging deep trenches is one way of obtaining geological evidence about the presence of an earthquake fault.
“We are understandably suspicious about the credibility of the developer’s earthquake exploratory work,” said Fran Reichenbach, a leader of StopTheMillennium, a city-wide coalition of community groups opposed to the project. “We know from past conduct that the Millennium team did everything in its power to suppress evidence of an earthquake fault on this property. They were assisted in that cover-up by city officials.
“Our question now is this: Is the Millennium’s current trenching work an objective and sincere effort to determine if there is an earthquake fault on its property? Or is it cleverly designed not to find evidence of a fault?” the StopTheMillennium leader said.
StopTheMillennium has filed a lawsuit alleging the project’s earthquake and traffic analyses were badly flawed, and that the city should rescind its approval of the project.
The drone video, shot with a wide-angle lens, is the public’s first look at the secretive exploratory trenching being performed on the Millennium site. The developer has tried to keep prying eyes from observing the trenching work by hiding it behind a wall of drapery hanging from high fences around the site.
The California Geological Survey in January released copies of its mapping of the 7.0 magnitude Hollywood Fault that showed the two Millennium skyscrapers would be built directly on top of the fault. It is illegal to build any habitable structure on top of an active fault. A developer can only build up to 50 feet away from such a fault after further seismic studies have determined the safety of such construction.
“No doubt the Millennium goes into this trenching work with its fingers crossed that it won’t confirm what the CGS maps clearly showed – that the Hollywood Fault cuts right through this property,” said Mr. Reichenbach.
“We also don’t know what the Millennium gains by all the secrecy surrounding its trenching activity.”
Mr. Schwada may be contacted at john.schwada@gmail.com
