Both scenarios form encouraging news for pessimistic residents and business owners.
Although there are separate motivations for uprooting these 2 neighborhoods, the strength of each result should allay the concerns of those who feared City Hall would go unchallenged as it seeks to gentrify community neighborhoods.
Here Comes a Train
Mr. Vorceak’s neighborhood is being cleared of around 15 mostly small businesses to open the area immediately east of Downtown for the anticipated light rail terminal and perhaps a business/residential complex.
Wilshire Boulevard developer Bob Champion is about a year and a half away from knocking down the 77 — again, mostly small — businesses on the west side of South Sepulveda, from Sawtelle to Jefferson to convert the cozy neighborhood into an upscale region.
The revamp is expected to feature, architecturally speaking, the latest look in mixed-use projects.
This means condominiums and probably a mostly new lineup of businesses, a prospect that has infuriated many or most of the present entrepreneurs and some surrounding residents, who suspect they may be next on Mr. Champion’s check list.
No Numbers Yet
Before flying to New York for the weekend, Bruce Gridley, an attorney for the city, confirmed the closely watched Vorceak decision.
On the telephone from Oakland, where he had spent the day, he declined to disclose the price, pending the receipt of written confirmation from Mr. Vorceak’s lawyer, Robert Silverstein.
In the last half-year, Mr. Vorceak has emerged as a kind of late-middle aged poster boy for the other embattled business owners on his street and in his neighborhood.
A few weeks ago, when thefrontpageonline.com visited his business, the Frenchman lowered his voice. Mysteriously, he said in hushed tones he could not speak freely because “I am being watched.”
First Meeting
Readers of this newspaper met the feisty Frenchman last September when he and Marc Chiat, who owns a neighboring enterprise on Exposition, stood shoulder to shoulder.
They said they weren’t going anywhere, that driving them out of business via the time-tested, Constitutionally validated method of eminent domain was wrong.
That was roughly the last anyone saw of Mr. Chiat. He is reported to be out of the country with his family.
This is a circumstance that has caused grief to City Hall, as it has legally attempted to press Mr. Chiat, who is every bit as resistant as Mr. Vorceak.
Some Things Never Change
Winning a large point with City Hall has not softened Mr. Vorceak.
As of this morning, the sign that has brought attention to him still was posted at the entry to his business, 8829 Exposition Blvd.
Scrawled on a chalkboard, the bold message for months has read:
All Dogs,
Thieves,
Redevelopment Personnel.
The city’s agreement with Mr. Vorceak reflected a flexibility on the city’s part that some frustrated entrepreneurs have claimed in the recent past was missing from the city’s negotiation personality.
Burnishing City Hall’s Image
Mr. Gridley, meanwhile, represents a breath of fresh air for the city. By emphasizing sensitivity and awareness of the city’s reputation, he may be putting City Hall’s humpty-dumpty image back together again — and then some.
Throughout the late negotiations in the Vorceak case, he has been uniquely courtly, laudatory and verbally generous in characterizations of the parties across the table and the surrounding circumstances.
On Feb.14, the peripatetic Mr. Gridley met with the Vorceak family in the offices of their lawyer, Mr. Silverstein.
The purpose: To determine Mr. Vorceak’s move-out price.
Each side put its number on the table.
The Vorceak proposal was slightly higher than the amount Mr. Gridley had been authorized to offer.
They were close enough, though, that it was only a baby step to reach a settlement a few days later.
Further, Mr. Vorceak and the city also reached congruence on a move-out date, 6 weeks hence, April 15.
As a taxpayer, Closing Day should be easy for Mr. Vorceak to remember.
A Name to Remember
Robert Silverstein is a name for Culver City property owners involved in eminent domain cases to remember.
He is stacking up victories for outmanned clients in a series of cases reaching across Southern California. With each success, his image and reputation are swelling.
The Shape of South Sepulveda
Joe Susca, the Community Development Dept. project manager for the South Sepulveda rebuild, turned in a much longer than expected list of citizen volunteers to the Redevelopment Agency board.
Mr. Susca said he had expected 35 to 40 people to apply instead of the 49 who filed papers by Friday afternoon.
The 4 eligible Agency board members — Mayor Gary Silbiger, Vice Mayor Alan Corlin, Scott Malsin and Carol Gross — will have 3 weeks to study the names and conduct informal inquiries, if they wish.
They will announce their 9 choices, by neighborhood, at the Monday, March 19, Redevelopment Agency meeting.
