Concerned their neighborhood is being singled out, Reseda leaders are asking city officials to look beyond just their neighborhood in the search for parking lots that could be used to house homeless people.
Dozens of residents and business owners crowded a Reseda Neighborhood Council meeting Monday night, where many urged the leaders — an advisory board to the L.A. City Council — to save two of the proposed lots from becoming a site for supportive housing for unsheltered people.
During an hours-long meeting, the board passed a motion recommending that the city expands its study of five Reseda parking lots to other sites across L.A. City Councilman Bob Blumenfeld’s district.
Many of the attendees emphasized the need to save a parking lot adjacent to the New Bangluck Market, which shares space with more than 30 businesses near the intersection of Sherman Way and Reseda Boulevard.
Turning the parking lot into homeless housing will result in “a lot of people losing jobs,” said Ket D. Vu, a real estate broker and accountant from Chatsworth. “This will create more homeless people, and make the city lose sale taxes. Is it worth it?”
Vu added that he doesn’t “oppose having homeless people here. It’s just the wrong location.”
The meeting followed a motion proposed by Los Angeles City Councilman Bob Blumenfield earlier this year, asking the city to identify sites to build housing for homeless people.
The motion asks various agencies to “initiate a review of the city-owned properties at 7246 Baird Ave., 7222 Baird Ave., 7120 Baird Ave., 7131 Canby Ave., and 7130 Darby Ave., to determine the suitability for development as affordable and/or supportive housing, including replacement parking,” according to the motion.
But the announcement has sparked criticism from many business owners and residents who believe the councilman targeted their community in Reseda instead of exploring city-owned properties in other parts of the district, which also includes more affluent Woodland Hills, Canoga Park and Tarzana.
Another speaker said it was important to study not just parking lots but vacant buildings that are not utilized by the city.
“It’s about redevelopment,” said Tina Ly, the New Bangluck Market’s co-owner. “They are trying to take it away and put our property values down. Our businesses are going to be gone.”
Blumenfield’s proposal comes on the heels of the city’s efforts to beef up the building of affordable housing across the city that has seen a 16% increase to 36,000 of its homeless population since last year.
Council District 3, which includes Reseda, has approved only 13 units of supportive housing since last year when Blumenfield along with other council members promised to build 222 units of supportive housing in each district before next July.
In a recent interview, Blumenfield said his office was not looking into any specific parking lot. Instead, the district aims to study parking lots that are “feasible” in the West San Fernando Valley area.
“The city has a mission, that the council members and mayor approved, to look at public properties and see which of those properties can potently be used to help with our homeless crisis,” he said.
On Monday, some residents said they supported Blumnefield’s efforts but they wanted to make sure the process is transparent.
Lance Huang, a business administrator who helps his wife run Eyecon Optometry, which shares a parking lot with the New Bangluck Market in Reseda, told the board members that it was important to have a “transparent, accurate and objective” study that would look into economic impacts of Blumenfield’s proposal before turning any parking lot into housing.
This story has been updated to reflect the location of five parking lots identified in City Councilman Bob Blumenfield’s motion.
