Devastating Density?

How soon will Beverly Hills traffic gridlock congeal
into a mass of metal and rubber going nowhere at all?

Will parking become so scarce that our existing businesses will lose even more of their customers, to Montana and Main streets in Santa Monica?

Or, to shops and restaurants on San Vicente Bl. in Brentwood? And, what might this mean to the City, and its services, in lost sales tax revenues?

Just as importantly, what will such over-development as is now planned, mean, in time spent in Beverly Hills getting nowhere, as signals cycle while cars wait. Beverly Hills' air quality will certainly suffer as will our patience.

Going nowhere in a hurry

THREE OF THE MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS ARE THOSE OF THE CITY ITSELF: First is the historic Crescent Station Post Office, purchased by the City to be turned over to the mayor's own foundation, for conversion into a theatre with a visitors and (alleged) cultural center.

Her attorney is a member of the City Council and was among those voting unanimously to give the mayor's foundation a 55-year lease at $1 per year. Real estate experts say they could easily lease it for $1 million dollars a year.

Residents and businesses wanted at least part of the Crescent Station to become a contract postal facility. Instead, 3,300 box-holders were banished to the inconvenient Industrial Area P.O. at Maple & 3rd. That's where there were already thousands of boxes and inadequate parking. Availability of spaces will be further diminished, as soon as the huge new building, across from the Maple P.O., is fully occupied.

That such a travesty could occur, to one of the first professionally planned communities in the West, can only be attributed to overwhelming ego. Already, local wags are referring to the mayor's so-called cultural center as, "Vicki's Folly."

This is the same mayor recently referred to as a "slumlord" by the Arizona Republic, the Los Angeles Times and KCBS, Channel 2 in Los Angeles. She has claimed to have recently given her shares of the Arizona slumplex to a charity.

However, she declines to say which charity and how much it may have to pay to complete the needed repairs.

FURTHER PARKING PROBLEMS: The Crescent Station facility won't have sufficient parking for the hundreds of theatre-goers the mayor is expecting. So, the City has expedited its development of more parking at the nearby D-Lot. It is located just below Santa Monica Bl., running from Beverly Dr. clear through to Canon Dr.

That will include ground floor retail, with a lease already signed for a Crate & Barrel store and possibly a gourmet food establishment, offices and 4 floors of underground parking.

Merchants are already worried about customers objecting to using underground parking spaces. And, they fear that there will still be insufficient parking once Crate & Barrel moves in.

The City is also eager to develop its T-Lot, another huge parcel that goes from Beverly Dr. through to Canon, near Wilshire Bl. It may generate enough traffic to make Wilshire at Canon and Beverly as impassable as the built-out D-lot will be at Santa Monica Bl. at Canon through Beverly.

Then, there is the Gelson's Project, which will include both a market and a huge office building on Crescent Dr., adjacent to residences. Fear of noisy truck traffic deliveries to the market is compounded by the huge number of vehicles arriving at, and departing from, the office complex.

IS BEVERLY HILLS BECOMING AN ANYTHING-GOES DEVELOPER'S PARADISE? Will those who give to Mayor Vicki Reynold's foundation get greater consideration than those who don't?

Political quid-pro-quo foundations are getting to be one of California's elected officials' favorite form of funding.

The Insurance Commissioner, Chuck Quackenbush, who resigned in disgrace last year, started the trend. He had major insurance companies giving to his tax-deductible foundation instead of paying earthquake victims claims and/or fines.

Nevertheless, Quackenbush may have inspired Governor Gray Davis. The Los Angeles Times recently revealed that he too has a foundation to which his corporate supporters and others have contributed more than $2 million dollars.

WHAT? YOU WEREN'T INVITED? These tax-deductible dollars have gone to the governor's travel, housing and even to a huge party he hosted for "thousands of delegates at last summer's Democratic National Convention," the Times noted.

Who will ask the IRS to rule on such a misuse of public money? What politician will introduce legislation to prohibit such abuse of the public interest?

One person's tax deduction is another person's tax burden or federal and state budgets won't be met. The incredible part about these politician's foundations is they may not require full public disclosure as to who contributes. Contributions may be made by relatives and the donor's lawyers and/or accountants, thus concealing the actual donor.

Time for yet another panel to be convened on Ethics In Government? This time enforcement should be the focus.