How NIMBYism is killing Hollywood

If you’re interested in city land use politics, you’re probably aware of the huge fight over the re-zoning of Hollywood that’s been going on since the new Hollywood Community Plan was enacted in 2012. (If this is the first you’re hearing of it, check this out.)

In a nutshell, the Hollywood Community Plan is intended to allow for denser development of Hollywood, which as the center of the second largest city in America, certainly ought to have dense, transit oriented development.

Recently, a group of NIMBY (not-in-my-back-yard) jokers managed to get a judge to issue an injunction blocking the city from issuing any permits which rely on the Plan.

Why should I care? After all, Adaptive doesn’t (yet) build ground-up.  We’re not making the Hollywood any denser. So we ought not to be affected by the injunction, right?

Wrong. The city, in its brilliance, has suspended the issuance of ANY non-expedited permits for all projects in the Hollywood Specific Plan area until DBS and Planning can create a system to figure out which permits do not rely upon the blocked Community Plan and can therefore be issued.

So, my renovation projects in East Hollywood which have literally nothing to do with the scuffle over building heights in Hollywood, are delayed. And, if you’re doing anything more substantial than a kitchen / bathroom remodeling anywhere in Hollywood, you’re going to be delayed, too.

Total. Epic. Fail.