The third in a series of five community meetings between the builders of an affordable housing complex known as Tilden Terrace and neighbors has been rescheduled for a week from Thursday, at 6:30, at the Vets Auditorium.
This time when residents talk it over with the increasingly impressive developer, the Los Angeles Housing Partnership, at the Tilden Terrace Design Workshop, the atmosphere should be mellow, the setting like longtime pals mellifluously exchanging ideas.
This could inspire a new trend in housing projects, which customarily attract stormy protests the way horses are a magnet for flies.
Several months ago when the Tilden Terrace plan still smelled new and was hitting neighbors like a splash of cold water early in the morning, thundering criticism volleyed across the meeting rooms.
And then the storminess subsided and stopped, or at least severely shrank as quickly as it had appeared.
What happened?
Riled up residents saw that the Housing Partnership, which has created numerous praiseworthy affordable housing projects across Los Angeles, was listening and responding to the usual traffic and noise complaints.
The meetings did not melt into deaf mute conventions, but calm and order defined the day.
Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, the most prominent denizen of the neighborhood, was asked if he expected sailing to be as smooth as it has begun to look.
How Problems Have Surfaced
“The neighborhood has issues that are not unrelated, but this development has brought them to light,” said the owner of the Joxer Daly Irish pub near the intersection of Washington and Sepulveda boulevards. “The attitude was, whatever problems the neighborhood has, this project would make them worse.
“Since finding out about the plans (for 33 housing units), we began looking at the problems of traffic and parking more critically. We probably could have done it without this development.
“But with the project moving the way it is, it has caused us to take care of an intersection (near the King Fahad mosque) that needed to be taken care of a long time ago.”
Therefore, said Mr. O’Leary, both parties — the resident and the builder — briefly adversaries, should emerge with victory smiles.
Predicting that two thorny topics likely to be aired next week are mosque-parking and street sweeping, Mr. O’Leary added: “Maybe the Housing Partnership will bring updates on items that can be fixed that are not directly related to the project but are concerns of the neighbors.
“Sometimes neighbors are distrusting or, let’s say, more cautious,” said the Vice Mayor. “They would like to see us do this in a different order, correct the problems and then we’ll discuss what project goes in there.
“My belief is the development will actually enhance the corrections that are needed at that intersection.
“There is totally going to be a development there — regardless. It’s just delaying the inevitable.
“Hopefully, people will realize I am not pre-empting this. If issues come up, we will look at them and evaluate them exactly as they come up.”
