Interesting meeting scheduled by Councilmember LaBonge on August 14th about access to viewing of the Hollywood Sign.
As the spectre of his departure from City Council grows ever near, LaBonge is frenetically pressuring Recreation and Parks, Public Works, and LADWP right now to complete a number of his boutique pet projects. One of those pet projects is to open up Griffith Park's interior roads again, ostensibly to relieve pressure on the long-suffering communities who are overwhelmed by Hollywood Sign tourist traffic.
Besides the fact that re-opening roads in the park interior is yet another damaging ingress into what remains of a fragile urban wilderness ecosystem, anyone who knows anything about traffic knows that the volume of car trips will simply expand to fill the void. It would be just a matter of weeks before this new viewing area would be highly impacted as well as the traditional viewing neighborhoods. And boy-oh-boy would it be expensive!
Another solution needs to be implemented. Something other than adding to the traffic hell in and around Griffith Park and destroying precious habitat. A solution that stops putting the transitory desires of tourists over the needs of the beings trying to live here. We'd love to hear your suggestions.
