Proposed ‘Parklet’ Spurs Controversy

Calling it “an opportunity to do an experiment” for the next year, the Village Design Review Board heard the proposal to install a “parklet” in front of Palisades Garden Café at its Wednesday, July 16 meeting.

“I believe we are constrained,” said DRB Chairman Rick Mills. “The Los Angeles City Council approved it. We can put comments in, but the design has been established.”

The meeting comes after the Pacific Palisades Community Council questioned the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s People Street Program proposal,  brought forward by City Councilmember Mike Bonin’s office and Palisades PRIDE.

On July 15, the PPCC wrote a letter to the city, citing public safety concerns related to the intersection at La Cruz and Alma Real Drive and noted a recent accident involving a parklet in downtown Los Angeles.

PPCC also requested a California Environmental Quality Act review as well as all related public safety and traffic studies for the intersection.

DRB member Sarah Griffin said she’s concerned about the location and how the parklet will be used with teenagers perpetually hanging out there.

“I can’t see putting this out in the street,” she said.

DRB members Donna Vaccarino and Stuart Muller support the parklet and the location.

“I think it’s an exciting opportunity. It works with an existing location that will help the area,” Vaccarino said.

Norm Kulla, senior counsel to Bonin, told the DRB at the meeting that all parklets through the People Street Program are temporary installations and could be removed in a year.

PRIDE member Don Scott told the DRB they’d like to have the parklet installed by October. Kulla noted the property owner UDO and café owner James Kwon are responsible for its maintenance, and that PRIDE took out a $1 million liability policy.

Kwon told the Post he plans to hold a community meeting at the Garden Café on Aug. 7, and anyone with questions about the parklet is invited to attend.