If we learned anything at the nearly 5 hours of the public hearing that took place via telephone yesterday, August 26, it’s how much people do not understand about this project. But, we’ve also learned that many of you are very aware of the shell game being played by the City officials and this developer.… Read the rest
We want to remind everyone of the first public hearing for Millennium’s Hollywood Center Project being held tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26, 2020 at 9:30am.
In a manner that further prejudices the public, even though City Planner Mindy Nguyen stated that the city will have video conferencing capability as early as next month, the Department of City Planning is holding this hearing entirely by telephone. … Read the rest
We are pleased to share an email and attachment from City Councilmember David Ryu. In it he opposes the Millennium Hollywood Center Project. We applaud him for that.
↓ (click on the below image to read email in its entirety) ↓
Ryu notes the California Geological Survey report that is highly critical of the Draft EIR. … Read the rest
Our latest communication with the City relates to the inappropriateness of the scheduling a telephonic-only hearing to speed things along for Millennium, when the Final EIR has not even been issued.
As we note:
We object to the “bum’s rush” that the City and Millennium are giving the public regarding this dangerous and illegal project.… Read the rest
The Department of City Planning sent out a Notice of Public Hearing today scheduled for August 26, 2020 at 9:30am.
WHEN: Wednesday, August 26, 2020
TIME: 9:30am
CALL NUMBER: (213) 338-8477
when prompted enter this meeting ID number: 924 8586 5202, #
In a recent STMH Post we dared to ask the question if City Officials intended to drive over the cliff with Millennium Partners. … Read the rest
See our attorney Robert Silverstein’s latest letter about the Millennium Hollywood Center scandal.
New reports from the United States Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey find multiple active earthquake fault lines cross the Millennium Hollywood Center site. They basically say that approving skyscrapers there would be illegal and insane.… Read the rest
“I would be disgusted if we had to drive through downtown Los Angeles for generations and see buildings marking the city skyline that were achieved through bribery and corruption.”
Does Krekorian believe this plague of corruption stops in downtown LA?… Read the rest
it’s not just us, the “opposition group,” saying this. Take it from the Federal government and the State of California.
On May 8 and July 16, 2020, the United States Geological Survey and the California Geological survey issued official reports showing multiple active earthquake fault lines running through the Millennium Hollywood Center site.… Read the rest
[ Note that the link to the California Geological Survey original email and letter has been put back into the administrative record as of yesterday ]
[ Note that the link to the California Geological Survey letter to the City on their website is broken as of August 4, 2020. … Read the rest
Raymond Chan, was the Mayor Garcetti appointed General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). After resigning, Chan served a year as a Los Angeles deputy mayor for economic development until June 2017. It was under Chan that Millennium’s improper seismic studies were accepted and approved by LADBS. … Read the rest
In April 2015, STMH was victorious in our trial against the Los Angeles City Council and Millennium Partners, LLC. The Honorable James C. Chalfant threw out the EIR and all of Millennium’s project approvals, agreeing with us that the EIR was fatally flawed on 5 different grounds. Chalfant states in part: “There were many aspects Caltrans wanted you to look at, that you didn’t look at.””… Read the rest
On April 16, 2020, the Department of City Planning dropped the 13,000-page Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), kicking off the 45 day window for public comments during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Garcetti had nothing to say when the flood of requests were made by residents to extend the public comment period – during the pandemic.… Read the rest
A November 4, 2015 article by Variety writes: “Hollywood will be looking more “Star Trek” than “L.A. Confidential” in the next few years. . .”
Mixed-use and mega-sized projects like Millennium’s Hollywood Center Project threaten our already over-burdened infrastructure. Creates additional traffic and brings worlds of problems to the surrounding neighborhoods.… Read the rest
LA Times writer Patt Morrison profiles our attorney Robert Silverstein in a well conducted interview. It highlights the moral and ethical values that guide Robert in his quest to bring justice and a level playing field to the battle between the citizens and the politicians.
A few highlights from the article:
“In this county, the power to rezone property involves the power to create great wealth, and the effect of
corrupt action by a public official in these matters, in my opinion,is just as reprehensible as taking money from the public treasury.”
Here’s the good news. The judge doesn’t care what the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) says about the earthquake studies submitted Millennium Partners, LLC. Judge Chalfant determined that the City violated CEQA when it disregarded the concerns of Caltrans,
pursuant to Pub.… Read the rest
There was a fascinating debate on KCRW’s Which Way L.A., moderated by Warren Olney on the disparity between residents and developers and shown in the following quotes from developer Mott Smith and our community-advocacy attorney, Robert P. Silverstein.
“A recent study … looked at Environmental Impact Reports that had gone to court under challenges like the ones we’re talking about here.… Read the rest
Dear Friends,
Please see this May 26, 2015 Wall St. Journal article about our Millennium battle.
“If you are doing development within any proximity to a freeway-which includes a great deal of development in Los Angeles-you’re now going to have to consider Caltrans in your process in a greater way than before,” Mr.… Read the rest
By Jonathan Van Dyke, 5/07/2015
Today the Hollywood Community won an important victory reaffirming the ability of the people to direct the future development of Hollywood. We have demonstrated to our elected officials and to the City Planning Department that they will not be allowed to impose upon us the failed “Transit Oriented Development” planning model and the destructive “Regional Center, Commercial” planning policy.… Read the rest
On Saturday, April 25, the devastation that comes from massive earthquakes was on front pages around the world. A 7.8 near-surface quake hit rural Nepal resulting in thousands dead. The implication is clear for us living in a dense urban area near the surface-rupture Hollywood Fault which Dr. Dolan estimates last broke conservatively (that’s the low end of the range) with magnitude 7.0.… Read the rest
The Seismological Society of America just last Thursday, April 23, concluded its annual meeting in Pasadena. On Friday, April 24, USC geology professor Dr. James Dolan led a field trip of the Hollywood Fault for the attendees.
http://www.seismosoc.org/meetings/2015/fieldtrips.php
Here is the field trip guide:
http://www.seismosoc.org/meetings/2015/SSA15_FTGuideFinal2.pdf
Note the drawing on page 7 — 130 meters of left-lateral displacement of the Hollywood Fault at Los Feliz Blvd and Fern Dell Dr.… Read the rest
A day before the trail was to take place, communication came that the trial was postponed and a new date will be April 30th, 2015 at 9:30 a.m. in Dept. 85, the Hon. James C. Chalfant. This gives us a little (but not much) time to continue to fundraise to get our bills paid and retain the kind of witnesses that we will need to best make our case.… Read the rest
In less than one week our attorney Robert Silverstein will stand before Judge Chalfant. Stop the Millennium will finally have its day in court. It has been a long journey since July 24, 2013 when the Los Angeles City Council, led by District 13 Mitch O’Farrell, and against the wishes of two leading California regulatory agencies, the California Geological Survey and CalTrans, approved the Millennium monstrosity.… Read the rest
While the City of LA and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce continue to push the failed Transit Oriented Development planning theory and the horrible mixed-used projects in Hollywood, the national trend for young people remains the same as for older generations. Single-family home ownership and suburban living is overwhelmingly preferred. A recent survey reveals that only 10% want to live in a city center.… Read the rest
Robert Silverstein was honored by the Hillside Federation at their December 11, 2014 party.
He discussed the important legal issues that guide the Millennium lawsuit. The Millennium lawsuit is scheduled for trial in April 2015.
Please donate to help preserve the important legal safeguards that Robert discussed in his speech.
Transcript of Robert Silverstein’s speech – taken from the Hillside Federation’s January newsletter
Video of the Hillside Federation Honoring Robert Silverstein… Read the rest
Dear Supporter,
On Tuesday, December 16, 2014, the City Council gave the citizens of Los Angeles a Grinchmas present. They approved the City Attorney’s request to line up a panel of outside developer law firms to defend the City Council in land use, CEQA and Brown Act (open gov’t law) challenges brought by concerned citizens.… Read the rest
HEI/GC Hollywood and Vine Condominiums LLC, also known as the W Hotel at Hollywood & Vine, has dismissed its lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles and Millennium Hollywood LLC. The W Hotel filed its notice of dismissal on December 9, 2014.
They are the second of the three original appellants to leave the fight.… Read the rest
The Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council, at the November 24, 2014 meeting, rescinded its support for the Millennium Project and voted 7-0 to join the three other Hollywood area neighborhood councils in opposing the project.
Foremost in the decision were the seismic safety and traffic issues.
Community stakeholder George Abrahams presented the issue to the full CHNC board.… Read the rest
By George Abrahams
In Councilman O’Farrell’s November 07, 2014 blog he said, “Once again, news of the release of the official Alquist-Priolo (A-P) Earthquake Fault Zone Map for the Hollywood area was all over television reports and the Internet, and some of the loudest voices came from one opposing neighborhood group that is looking to prevent progress in Hollywood.”… Read the rest
We have been sharing with you how far Group Delta, the geologists for Millennium, would go to NOT find the fault that experts said was there. The official map has been released and there indeed is a fault line running the entire span of both sides of the Millennium project site.… Read the rest
As our attorney, Robert Silverstein, keeps winning case after case against the City, the City Attorney, stunned by all these losses, is appealing to the City Council to call in reinforcements – your tax dollars, once again, at work against YOU!
The request is going before the Budget and Finance Committee today and then to the City Council on Wednesday.… Read the rest
Advertisers and politicians repeatedly use a practice to make you believe something is true: They repeat a statement from three to five times, after which people will believe it as ‘fact’.
We have all received an email with a long string of ‘forwards’, including a passel of people we don’t know, but forwarded by a trusted friend or relative.… Read the rest
As California this year embarks on a major campaign to better identify earthquake faults across the state, Signal Hill and other communities along the Newport-Inglewood fault offer lessons on how to allow for new development.
The layout of Signal Hill was not dictated simply by aesthetics. The city and developers created this landscaping to protect residents from a danger hidden just below the surface: the Newport-Inglewood earthquake fault.… Read the rest
The New York Times broke this story September 1, 2014. There’s no denying that our current infrastructure status is bleak. The city’s solution: let’s hide our head in the sand and ok more big development projects! Garcetti fiddles while the city sinks into a giant cavity created by potholes and water main breaks.… Read the rest
A few years after Millennium’s approval in City Council, the underground network of pay to play starts to show its cracks.
Michael LoGrande has to pay more than $281,000 for illegal lobbying for developers, while receiving consulting fees from the City, according to an article in the LA Times and CurbedLA.… Read the rest
Is Millennium Developer Quaking In His Boots?
California’s top geologist has said the 6.0 earthquake in Napa Valley Sunday surprised seismic scientists because it appears to be linked to an obscure fault that had previously been deemed inactive.
“We would not have predicted an earthquake on this particular fault,” Dr. John Parrish, the chief of the California Geological Survey, told Sacramento TV station KCRA (link to KCRA report).… Read the rest
You may have read recently that Group Delta released a letter to the State Mining and Geology Board stating that the Hollywood fault does not run under three development projects north of Hollywood and Vine, including Millennium. This is no surprise to us. We expected as much. If you look at the map Group Delta presented, you will see they avoided the southerly trace area where they would have possibly found the fault.… Read the rest
Not only has this grassroots coalition interrupted the status quo downtown, launched a great crowd funding campaign, and exposed corruption, it is causing reform on a state-geological level:
All of the new public awareness of the earthquake issue — from the increase in funding to complete the mapping of dangerous surface rupture faults to the focus on hardening Los Angeles’ water supply infrastructure — has been due to Stopthemillennium’s activities.… Read the rest
CityWatchLA.com July 29, 2014 by Jack Humphreville
WHO WE ARE – Hollywood’s neighborhoods and residents are under attack by big time real estate developers who are investing billions in too many to count high rise residential and commercial buildings along the three mile stretch of Hollywood, Sunset, and Santa Monica Boulevards between Western Avenue and the border with West Hollywood.… Read the rest
Patrick Healy with Channel 4 broke this news that more evidence is being gathered showing that there are indeed fault lines coursing near the Millennium project site as well as neighboring project areas. New LADBS City geologist Pascal Challita has confirmed the existence of earthquake faults on the east side of Argyle Avenue that project towards the Second Street Ventures and the adjacent Millennium project sites.… Read the rest
In a recent article published in the L.A. Times, we learn that, on the way out the door as the official City Geologist in the Department of Building and Safety, Dana Prevost (who has approved projects in the past without the adequate seismic evaluation) decided the 6230 Yucca Street project needs to do some more testing to locate the fault that experts say is there.… Read the rest
Have you ever wondered exactly or even approximately where the Hollywood Fault exists?
The L.A. Times staff provides us with a virtual tour of the entire length of that fault. They highlight aspects of this revelation in their most recent article, Preliminary Quake Map Shows Fault Lines Under Schools, Hotels, Homes published May 6, 2014 written by Rosanna Xia, Ron-Gong Lin II, and Doug Smith
We invite you to take this virtual tour and see for yourself how many areas are affected.… Read the rest
On April 30, 2014, the City Council approved the appointment by Eric Garcetti of Raymond Chan as permanent General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety. It was a slap in the face to all who care about good government.
Those of you who have been following the Stop The Millennium Hollywood lawsuit against the twin skyscrapers Millennium Project should remember the interview last September with Raymond Chan by John Schwada. … Read the rest