I continue to be horrified at the creeping McMansionization in neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles and adjacent cities. But I’m also heartened to see that neighborhood associations are fighting this creeping urban blight.
I was an early and vocal advocate of halting the onslaught of super-sized homes when I served on the Beverly Hills Design Review Commission in the early 2000s. But it was too little, too late, and whatever modest gains we made in Beverly Hills, developers and property owners continuously worked to circumvent limits and sometimes succeeded. And the city’s historic preservation ordinance – which is an important part of slowing down McMansionization – has recently been watered down.
The result in Beverly Hills has been a proliferation of architectural monstrosities. One of my fellow Design Review Commissioners aptly named these “Mr. Potato Head architecture”.
Now I live in the charming and historic Wilshire Vista area of Los Angeles, and, alas, McMansionization seems to be following me here, too. But fortunately a group of Wilshire Vista residents and homeowners have created Protect Wilshire Vista to safeguard the livability of our beloved neighborhood from the threat of mansionization.
As the organization points out on its website, across Los Angeles, single family homes are being demolished and replaced by super-sized homes that loom over neighboring homes and violate the scale and cohesion of established neighborhoods. Protect Wilshire Vista also notes the negative impacts of these grotesque eyesores, including privacy infringement, the blocking of air and natural light, the destruction of trees and plants, and the lowering of property values.
The good news is that a citywide effort has been started – and is gathering strength and momentum – to halt the spread of this disease. No More McMansions in Los Angeles is spearheading a petition drive to get the city to close loopholes in a protective ordinance – and do it soon.
As the organization points out, last May Councilmember Paul Koretz put forward a simple, sensible, citywide solution. His Council Motion would amend the flawed “Baseline Mansionization Ordinance,” (BMO) mainly by closing its gaping loopholes.
So far, over 60 homeowners and residents associations and a dozen neighborhood councils have formally declared their support, and more are signing on every week.
But the Planning Department staff report claims they need another 18 months to implement Paul Koretz’s ordinance. Meanwhile the city is offering temporary relief – but only to 14 select neighborhoods — sometime in the next few months.
Meanwhile, speculators are shoving through all the permits they can get and using their clout to keep City Hall operating on their timetable.
Please Sign the Petition to preserve our neighborhoods.