‘When it rains, it pours.’ This foreboding saying has become a metaphor for the residents of the Asilomar bluffs in Pacific Palisades, who are urging the City of Los Angeles to repair the storm-damaged hillside that threatens their safety and property. Asilomar Boulevard, above PCH and west of Temescal Canyon Road, was damaged during the heavy rains in January and February of 2005, which caused the federal government to declare disasters in the City of L.A. and surrounding areas. The damage to Asilomar, between El Medio and Almar, includes slippage and substantial fissures in the street. At last Thursday’s Community Council meeting, Asilomar residents expressed deep concern and frustration over the city’s response to repairing the area. The city’s plan focuses on repairing the street but not the 200-ft. slope directly below Asilomar, which caused the destabilization of the street. Why not fix the root of the problem? The city argues that the majority of the slope is under the control of private owners. Puerto del Mar, a privately owned street, traverses the slope approximately 30 ft. below Asilomar, and two mobile home parks, Palisades Bowl and Tahitian Terrace, lie at the bottom of the hillside. These mobile home parks are regulated by the state. Last February, the Palisadian-Post reported on the safety concerns of residents at the Palisades Bowl, who were evacuated from 12 units at the bottom of the slope when persistent rains caused the hillside to move and the streets within the park to buckle. The city owns the property along the top of the slope, including Asilomar’a two-lane asphalt concrete road’and a small grass parkway adjacent to the street’one at approximately 35 ft. below the ground surface (bgs) and the other at 85 ft. bgs. Now, a dewatering system is necessary to intercept and remove groundwater from the slope, which has accumulated between 63 ft. bgs and 77 ft. bgs and is ‘adversely affecting’ the lower plane, according to the report. However, the city proposes a system that ‘would have to be connected to the city’s storm drain or sewer system for the groundwater to be taken away.’ The city’s proposed repair project also includes a ‘side-hill bridge’ over the street, which would maintain the street by bridging over the landslide. The preliminary estimated cost of the project is $4.4 million. ‘The repair of Asilomar would depend on the available funding,’ said Cora Jackson Fossett, director of public affairs for the Department of Public Works, in an e-mail to the Palisadian-Post on Tuesday. Because Asilomar is a designated federal highway, the city has submitted a request for funding to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) asking for approval and designation of the road as an Emergency Relief. ‘We expect to hear from the FHWA by April,’ Jackson Fossett said. However, there was a question at the council meeting as to whether the FHWA had even received the geotechnical report sent to them on January 24. ‘I received a call from [Congressman Henry] Waxman’s office yesterday saying the FHWA never received the report,’ said Andrea Epstein, deputy to Councilman Bill Rosendahl. ‘We’ve had full discussions with the FHWA. I don’t know why they’re telling the Congressional district they haven’t received it.’ ‘This is a city problem,’ said Asilomar resident Jason Sloane. The FHWA ‘will only fund the damage from the rain, not what is the pre-existing slide. If the FHWA denies it [the city’s request] or only supplies a certain amount of funds, it still doesn’t negate the city’s responsibility. ‘Where we are with the city is short of a lawsuit,’ said Sloane, who added that he and some neighbors have hired an attorney. Another Asilomar resident commented that ‘a chief cause of the problem is inadequate sewage [drainage]’ and that ‘it’s not merely an Asilomar problem; it’s affecting the whole slope.’ The residents and the city seem to be working on different deadlines. For the city, the project would need to advance to the ‘construction obligation’ stage by the end of September 2007 or risk losing Emergency Relief eligibility. In a letter to Rosendahl dated March 14, the Community Council wrote, ‘There is no disagreement as to the seriousness of the street condition. Immediate allocation of funds from FHWA is required in order to begin remediation. We urge your office to make the securing of these funds a priority. ”’This is a safety issue that concerns not only the residents who live on Asilomar but also the residents of two mobile home parks, who live directly below the slippage.’
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