Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary probably was the most celebrated and yet most awkwardly positioned personality at last night’s heavily attended community meeting at La Ballona School to air out conflicting views on the proposed affordable housing project, “Tilden Terrace,” just west of the King Fahad Mosque.
Why was he there?
More precisely, which chapeau was he wearing? As the owner of Joxer Daly’s Irish pub, a few yards down Washington Boulevard from Tilden Terrace? Or as an elected official, the Chair of the Redevelopment Agency, which will be passing judgment on whether Tilden Terrace shall live or die?
Plainly, he had been served a wicket that was sticky and not of his making?
Since the meeting started 20 minutes late, Mr. O’Leary, a familiar figure in the neighborhood, arrived in plenty of time and quietly took a front seat at the seventh rectangular table on the far side of the room.
After a parade of officials from the building company, the Los Angeles Housing Partnership, which specializes in erecting affordable housing, and from City Hall had given detailed expositions, Mr. O’Leary strode to the front of the room.
Raising Their Spirits
It was not immediately clear why he was speaking, given the delicacy of his professional placement. Ultimately, his riff evolved into a pep talk for the assembled, emphasizing that they held in their hands the power to influence the three-story, mixed-use building with 33 affordable housing units above ground-floor retail.
Ever with a quip at hand, Mr. O’Leary told the crowd he was one of them and one with them. “I am as vested in this neighborhood as you are,” he said. “The city doesn’t pay me much. This is not Bell.”
Glancing at the screen behind him where the Housing Partnership and City Hall talking points had been laid out for the last 60 minutes, the Vice Mayor repeated the Partnership contact information where protesting and information-seeking neighbors can turn:
meeting@lahousingpartnership.com and 310.200.2787.
For a moment, the athletic-minded Councilman/pub owner became Coach O’Leary:
“This project is dependent on you. We are looking for your feedback. Embrace the opportunity.”
And then it was back to quips. Telling the crowd that Tilden Terrace was scheduled to rise from the razed ground where the rather ramshackle halfway house known as Pleasantview formerly stood, Mr. O’Leary grinned and mused: “Pleasantview? I don’t know where it got that name.”
Later, the Vice Mayor was asked privately his opinion of the Housing Partnership project.
“I don’t really want to discuss that right now,” he said. “I am very interested in this part of the project. I have been approached by the housing authority. I have listened. From a cursory viewpoint, I was interested.”
Question: You are here tonight as a member of the neighborhood?
“I am. But I didn’t want to come just as a business owner locally. I wanted to emphasize I am a business owner and I have separate interests in the proposed property. But I also wanted to come and let people know we (the city) are not shying away from residents. We told the housing authority to come to the residents. We didn’t want to hold five (Redevelopment Agency) Closed Session meetings, and then come out and say, ‘Hey, residents, this is what’s coming.’
“What I want us to do — it is unfortunate the way projects have gone in the past. To me, (Tilden Terrace) is not a normal building with normal processes. This is a very touchy subject in Culver City (affordable housing).
“Affordable housing has not been built in this city for years.
“We have millions (of dollars) in an account, supposedly to build affordable housing. By virtue of the fact we haven’t, I think it has added to the fear of affordable housing. Whereas in my opinion, there should be no fear.”
