Isn’t there an affordable housing shortage here in Culver City?
Why isn’t the city making developers build to the maximum density level at these sites?
Why?
Because the 65 upa would not be conducive to the surrounding neighborhood.
The very same reason the 65-unit density proposed for the massive South Sepulveda Gateway Project will not work in the Sunkist Park area either.
Fenestration
Before last nights community meeting, the Champion Group had announced the fine and lofty goal of trying to be one of the first to build a Leed certified mixed-use development in California, or perhaps in the nation.
Then it would make sense for their architects to plan to put the air-conditioning (A/C) units in the most efficient place to dissipate the heat: On top of each building along the alley/breeze way adding to the obstruction of the 39-foot wall seen by Segrell Way residents.
Are the A/C units with their required fencing around them considered fenestration, like the elevator overruns sticking out atop the buildings?
Won’t these A/C units limit the project neighbors’ view? Shouldn’t they be included in describing the proposed buildings’ actual height?
Long-lasting Reverberations
Developer Bob Champion has stated that the loading docks would be hidden from view.
But we have yet to hear him say they would not be heard.
How is the noise from the loading docks going to be abated? Unless these docks in back of the project are fully enclosed, the sound coming out of the entrances would be intensified and shoot out like a cannon and travel along the alley.
Being channeled by the series of high 39-foot tall by 60-foot long walls and having no place else to go acoustically, the noise would reflect off these canyon-like walls and reverberate over into the peace and quiet of the adjoining neighborhood.
Keep on Trucking
Sepulveda is still designated as being a major truck corridor.
Wouldn’t large truck deliveries have to be made during the off-peak traffic hours due to the continued congestion along Sepulveda?
Wouldn’t that mean that some would have to be night deliveries?
How late in the night or early in the morning will these deliveries take place?
Fluid Reasoning
According to the city’s own on-line resource maps, the Sepulveda Gateway would be built right in the middle of a large Liquefaction Zone that travels west, through the Ballona Wetlands, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.
We have had very little rain these past few years. The areas water table probably is lower than normal. But, what would happen to the soils foundation if we had a series of wet seasons that raised the water table and the Big One hit?
What about the methane gas we know is throughout the area?
Help Us, Big Brother, Help Us
In England, traffic has become so bad in places that they are now charging an entrance fee for every car coming into some areas of London.
This idea just might be part of the answer to our own congestion problems. (Whoa. Did I just agree that the British had a good idea?) But, as Orwellian as this may sound, as draconian as this may seem, maybe every locality could charge a fee for each commuting car that intrudes through its local streets.
No More Free Rides
Each car could have a transmitter that would be tracked by a GPS satellite navigation system and then be charged for its commute accordingly.
The combined overall effect by each intruder commuter affects our local way of life each weekday morning and afterno, causing gridlock at the local level.
If they had to pay, that would change some commuters’ habits.
Bus ridership in Los Angeles has gone up as the cost of gasoline has increased.
It seems as if the only way to get commuters and the general population to consider using public transportation is by hitting them hard in their pocketbooks. Even I decided to get rid of my family’s second car and walk.
Saving the World
My tree-hugging friends lauded me on my bold, environmentally-sound choice. They must have thought that somehow I had been saved by Al Gore’s latest Oscar-winning diatribe on global warming and was beginning to see the light.
I’ll let them think what they want.
The real truth is that I’m basically just plain CHEAP.
It really made no sense to me to continue to pay over $3.50 for something that I used to pay 35 cents.
But, hey. The effect is the same, isn’t it?
For whatever the reason, I have done my small share to reduce man’s carbon footprint on the world.
Don’t laugh. What have you done lately?
