When a Few Neighbors Speak for the Entire Neighborhood

This probably sounds familiar in more places than one: just a few stakeholders accounts for a clearly disproportionate number of the appeals made to the Planning Department in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood.

1 minute read

May 3, 2019, 8:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell

Michael Gordon / Shutterstock

"Nearly two-thirds of appeals against Westwood businesses and properties in the last 20 years were made by the same three community members," reports Stephanie Lai.

Westwood is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, home to the University of California, Los Angeles.

Lai continues: "A document compiled by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning listed 72 appeals made since 1998. Of the 72 appeals, 61% were filed by the same three community members in a community of over 50,000. Appeals are alteration requests filed with the Los Angeles Department of City Planning addressing areas including building amenities, violations to city plans and conditions on operating."

Grayson Peters, a North Westwood Neighborhood Council member and second-year political science student at UCLA, posted the document on Facebook as evidence of abuses of the appeals process in the Planning Department.

FULL STORY: Document shows three people account for majority of property appeals in Westwood

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 in Daily Bruin

Government / Politics Land Use Urban Development California Los Angeles NIMBYs Planning Appeals Westwood Community Council View More

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