Grace E.

Simons, Chairman
April 20, 1973 -- No. 54
JOIN US A.T OUR POT-LUCK DINNER
COME TO OUR ANNUAL.Pot-Luck Dinner! Saturday, April 28. Enjoy yourself -- and
help us beat' back the nev, very serious threat to Elysian Park. St. Athanas ius Church,
840 Echo Park Avenue, across the street.from the boathouse. Social hour, 6:30 p.m.
Dinner at 7, to be folloved by a showing of "The Wild., Wild East," by Robert Vanderl11iven,
an exciting film, in color, of wildlife and vild nature from Canada to the carolinas.
To climax the evening, we will have an auction of llhite Elephants, starting at 9,: with
our ovn inimitable Carlton and Sara McKinney as the spell-binding auctioneers.
ings.
bute,
FOR THE POT-LUCK, please bring one of
Admission $2; Children under 12, $1.
please call Alberta Burke, 661-6788.
your favorite dishes, enough for four serv-
If you have any White Elephants to contri-
POLICE DEFY LA.W
Start Building New Academy
In Elysian Park
TAKING THE LAW in its own hands:, the Los . .Angeles Police Department has started
building its new academy in Elysian Park, even though the legality of using 21 acres of
park land for police purposes is still being tested in the courts.
THE CONSTRUCTION now in progress was begun without warning or notice. It vio-
lates the California Environmental Quality Act. It ignores procedures spelled out in
the Municipal Code. The LAPD, of course, could not have done this by itself. It didn't
need to; it had plenty of cooperation. Its accomplices include, in part, the Planning
Commission,. the City Attorney's office, the Board of Public Works and its Bureau of Pub-
lic Buildings.
FACED WITH THIS unconscionable scheme to build now and take care of legal niceties
later, the Citizens Committee is forced once again to seek relief in court. We are try-
ing to stop the building immediately, to prevent further damage to Elysian Park, before
the new academy becemes an immovable reality.
Fast Work
Under construction is a police firing si111Ulator building, designed to house mil-
lions of dollars worth 'of electronic equipment. It is the first and perhaps the most
ambitious component of the new academy. Building plans vere railroaded through the Plan-
ning Commission March 29
1
without benefit of a public hearing either then or previously
before the hearing examiner. Within tvo weeks, the land had been graded, the foundation
poured and the first phase of construction vas awaiting inspection. (Contrast this
haste vith the year and a half delay before the City' started to replace the main vater
pump in Elysian Park that was destroyed in a landSlide.)
TO GET GOING so rapidly, City officials had to override the right to appeal to
the City Council from a. Conditional Use. determination by the Planning Commission. This
was achieved by a cunning maneuver. An appeal automatically stays action. In this case,
planning officials made the filing of. our appeal conditional upon receipt of an opinion
from the city attorney as to its acceptability. At the same time, they gave the "go
ahead" signal. to the bui.lciers. We learned of this tvo- fao:ed policy only by accident,
some time after the vork was already in
No Environmental Impact Report
IN AP.PROVING the building plans 4-1, .with David Moir in opposition:,
the Planning Commissio:>n failed to require either an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) or
a Conditional Use Permi't. An EIR 111USt be .submitted if State or Federal funds are used.
The firing simulator .is. being put up under a $250,000 grant from the Lav Enforcement
Assistance Administration (the Federal LEAA), according to the City Administrative Of-
ficer. The Board of Public Works and the Planning Commission got around this require-
ment by the incredible clliim'that this multi-million .dollar project, an innovation in
its field, is'a "minorextension" of existing firing ranges, and thus entitled to a
"categorical exemptic;m." That, literally, places this first component of the new academy
in the same classification as on-premise signs or a small parking lot. The claim i's
baseless.
TO EVADE THE REQUIREMENT for a Conditional Use Permit, officials resorted to
more sleight-of-hand. Elysian Park vas zoned Rl-1 (Residential) during a 1946 citywide
zone revision. uses that were legal prior to that date continued to enjoy
" . ' ' ---
CITIZENS COMMITTEE . TO .sAVE ELYSIAN I'ARK
1672 Morton Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 9002.6/]WA.S-8427
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legal status, This is the weak reed the city attorney and the planners leaned upon in
their contention that the .police academy use of the park uas "established" in 1936-1937,
Their trouble is that police ti"aining in the park uas illegal both in 1936 and a decade
later, Our authority? Another deputy city attorney, Bryan Crahan, in an extensive
legal opinion Jan . .26, 1972, He held that all that uas authorized in 1935 and the years
follouing uas.a recreational facility to be open to the public at all times and to be
operated by a private corporation, the L, A. Police Revolver. and Athletic Club. The
former illegal use of Elysian Park cannot nolr be cited as legal justification for any-
thing,including a non-conforming use of the land,
Because of this neu assault on Elysian Park, ue must appeal to you once more for
financial help. Elysian Park is too vitally needed in Los Angeles to permit it to be
lost through stealth, deceit and chicanery.
CHINESE GOURMET BANQUET, JULY. 28
CIRCLE THE DATE. Marion Siu, 1471 Avon Park Terrace, L. A. 90026, is already
accepting reservations, $10 a person, for our Chinese Gourmet Banquet at Hong Kong Low,
in Chinatolm, Please send checks together nith reservations. Tables seat 10.
DONATION FOR COURT CASE. .. . . .. . . .. .
MEMBERSHIP ($1) . , . .. .. . .. . $ ____ _
ELYSIAN PARK NOTE CARDS, 12 to Pkg. Donation $1.50, $. ____ _
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