Patch Blog: 38 Reasons Why Revised Centrum Project Can’t Fit on Sunset

Sure new projects and developments are great and do revitalize our city and our Sunset Strip. But only the right projects that do not jeopardize traffic circulation and first responders to 911 calls. So here are 38 reasons why the Centrum project is still not a good fit at 8801 Sunset Blvd.:

1.) The egress and ingress on Horn Avenue is going to be a major cluster disaster as right now the high volume of cars leaving our Horn Avenue on a daily day and night basis is very high.

2.) Many cars mistakenly every hour drive up Horn Avenue only to realize that the must U-turn and get back on to Sunset Blvd. so these cars make their U-turn right in the middle of Horn just north of Sunset.

3.) Some other cars turn around in the first driveway on the west side of Horn Avenue of my apartment building Sunset Patios.

4.) The other cars make a U-turn in the driveway area of the old Spago’s restaurant.

5.) The other cars make a U-turn higher up on Horn just south of my apartment building driveway.

6.) The U.S. mail person parks their mail truck in the red zone on Horn Avenue to deliver our mail to our neighborhood for the past 25 years that I have lived here. This is parked on the west side of Horn where the egress and ingress are supposed to be for the Centrum project.

7.) FedEx trucks park in this same red zone area to deliver to our neighborhood too.

8.) UPS trucks park in this same red zone are to deliver to our neighborhood also.

9.) Food delivery vehicles, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Greenblatt’s, Yummy and Pink Dot all park in the red zones in this area to deliver food to our neighborhood.

10.) All other delivery trucks use this same red zone to park to deliver.

11.) With the limited parking for permit parking every kind of delivery has to use the red zones to park for a few minutes or more to make deliveries.

12.) United Cab, Yellow Cab, airport shuttles and limos all park in these areas too.

13.) LA Times delivery people park their delivery vehicles in this area to in order to make home deliveries of newspapers.

14.) Wall Street Journal delivery people park in this area too to make deliveries.

15.) At the base of Horn Avenue cars from Sunset Blvd. make illegal U-turns all day and night long in this area.

16.) All day and night long in the middle of Sunset and Horn cars also make illegal U-turns.

17.) Tour buses, CityLine, TMZ, Graveyard tours and other tour buses slow down to show their passengers Spago’s, Tower Records and tour buses slow down just before the Viper room to announce River Phoenix’s overdosing and dying on the sidewalk on Halloween night 1993 all day long on Sunset.

18.) Customers of Coffee Bean park illegally on Horn Avenue in the red zone on the east side of Horn Avenue just north of Sunset Blvd. to run in to get their coffee drinks. This involved large SUV’s, Los Angeles City’s Fire Brush vehicles and many other cars. These vehicle all block the only single north bound lane on Horn Avenue causing a public safety problem as now cars have to maneuver around these illegally parked cars and drive in the opposing southbound lane on Horn Avenue which may cause a head-on collision.

19.) From the traffic studies for the Centrum project there is still a projected over 1200 cars a day in and out of this new proposed project. 

20.) From the traffic studies there are still a projected over 550 U-turns on Sunset in front of this project.

21.) From my 26 years of living just north of this 8801 Sunset Blvd. location I can tell you first hand the amount of cars cuing up to leave in the southbound lane of Horn to drive onto Sunset during the day can be up to nine or more cars waiting to leave at the red light.

22.) At night the cars cuing up to leave Horn at the red light are over 6 cars at many times in the evening. 

23.) In addition, during any given month the traffic lights at Horn and Sunset will malfunction and have to be re-set which during this malfunction during the day or night will make a green light for cars exiting Horn at Sunset be stuck as the only way to exit Horn is to make a right on the red light. This malfunction sometimes does not get fixed in over five to six hours or more.

24.) During other times during the month the cross walk at Sunset and Horn in front of Coffee Bean malfunctions and pedestrian’s cannot cross the street safely and this does not get fixed sometimes until the next day or takes several days to be fixed. 

25.) Other days during the month the cross walk button does not work especially the one near the bus stop near Red Rock and this causes other public safety concerns.

26.) Cab drivers like to park illegally on the sidewalk on the Spago’s driveway area on Horn causing many cars making U-turns all day and night to overuse my apartment building driveway.

27.) Other days during the month SUV’s and other vehicles and cabs like to park illegally in the red zone on the west side of Horn Avenue just south of my driveway and just south of the two permit parking spaces. This causes many more cars making U-turns on Horn all day and night to overuse my driveway too.

28.) Other days the large fire trucks like to park on Horn Avenue in this very same red zone on the west side of Horn and this fire truck is not on any official business. The firemen like to eat at Pi Middle Eastern restaurant on Sunset and other local restaurants and favor using our Horn red zone area to do this.

29.) The billboards and large digital displays on the Centrum project will cause drivers on Sunset a great visual distraction.

30.) During the past 26 years of my living at this location, there are cars on Sunset driving east and west on Sunset that run the red lights all day and night long which is not going to suddenly stop happening and only cause more gridlock on Sunset at this new Centrum project. 

31.) During morning rush hour from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. there is gridlock on Sunset Blvd. in the two west bound lanes which will only get completely worse by adding this mega Centrum project at this intersection.

32.) During evening rush hour from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. there is gridlock on Sunset in the two eastbound lanes, which will only get worse by adding this mega Centrum project. 

33.) During hours before the morning rush hour times of before 7 a.m., there is at many times gridlock on Sunset in the two west bound lanes, and will only get worse by adding this mega Centrum project.

34.) During hours after evening rush hours times after 7 p.m., there is at many times gridlock from 7 p.m. to after 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Sunset in the two east bound lanes and will only get worse by adding the mega Centrum project.

35.) For our city’s public safety concerns for first responders for 911 calls for assistance from police patrol cars, ambulances and fire trucks with already bad gridlock on Sunset that by adding this mega Centrum project this will further jeopardize public safety and rescue services for residents and visitors.

36.) Local businesses on Sunset near this 8801 Sunset Blvd. development would be fiscally impacted with loss of revenue due to the complete gridlock of the Sunset Strip. If customers cannot get to these local stores, restaurants and clubs timely, these customers will stop going to these businesses and go elsewhere if they are stuck in gridlock for a longtime.

37.) Adaptive re-use is a great way to go for this 8801 Sunset Blvd. building. With the present clothing store: LIVE on Sunset or a Walgreens the present flat parking lot and building would not have the impact that the proposed Centrum project would have on this location.

38.) This property at 8801 Sunset Blvd. is deemed to have social and historic history to be historically recognized by our city and historically preserved. Tower Records and Madman Muntz’s invention of the stereo 4 track (before the 8 track) both established a long history at this same location. To ignore this or to say this location is not historic and does not need to be historically preserved is to violate the city’s own Historic Preservation Commission’s ordinances and guidelines.

If you are interested in writing to oppose or support this project then email Adrian Gallo in the planning department at AGallo@weho.org and also City Council members: JDuran@weho.org, JPrang@weho.org, Aland@weho.org, JHeilman@weho.org, JDamico@weho.org

Or to speak in person for two minutes, come to the Council meeting April 2 at  6:30 p.m. at the new Council Chambers in the library at 625 North San Vicente Blvd.