A public meeting on proposals to improve Eagle Rock Boulevard, scheduled for Dec. 15, has been delayed until February. The proposals are part of “Rock the Boulevard,” an improvement effort first launched in 2018.
The meeting delay came after Councilmember Kevin de Leon did not agree to a request from Richard Loew, president of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, to remove De Leon’s name from a flyer announcing the meeting, Loew told the Boulevard Sentinel.
Loew asked that De Leon’s name be removed because the ERNC — along with other Rock the Boulevard supporters and numerous other neighborhood councils and elected officials — have called on De Leon to resign over his participation in the now infamous racist discussion that was leaked to the press in October.
“I asked that Council District 14 use a neutral logo that did not contain Kevin de Leon’s name, so it did not appear that the ERNC supported his remaining in office,” said Loew.
The CD 14 office did not reply to Loew’s request to remove DeLeon’s name from its logo, but Streets L.A., the city agency in charge of the meeting, sent him an email saying the meeting was postponed. Loew asked why and suggested that the meeting flyer could go out with no logos or names on it. He also emphasized that the most important thing was to have the meeting.
Streets LA did not reply, said Loew.
“It seems that we are now faced with either going along with our councilmember’s efforts to gloss over his despicable actions and return to business as usual, or have important projects in our community put aside,” said Loew.
The Boulevard Sentinel asked De Leon’s spokesperson, Pete Brown, for comment on Loew’s request to remove De Leon’s name from the meeting flyer and the subsequent postponement of the meeting.
In an email reply, Brown did not address the request to remove De Leon’s name from the meeting flyer. He said that De Leon has been a leader on Rock the Boulevard and would continue to work with Streets LA and the Eagle Rock community to set a date that would allow for “MORE” stakeholder participation.
Brown said a later date was especially important to Eagle Rock businesses that would not be able to attend if the meeting were held in the busy month of December. (Editor’s note: Brown declined to name any local businesses that had requested a delay, saying he had not asked for permission to name them.)
Brown also said that meeting delays were due to the need to vet ongoing revisions to the proposed improvements. He said that any notion to the contrary was “outrageously disingenuous and seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the project for the community.”
The ERNC’s Loew sees it differently. “The ERNC will continues to speak out against our councilmember’s actions, and will continue to call for his resignation,” he said. “There is important work to be done in our community that is being hampered by his insistence on remaining in office. Councilmember de Leon must resign.”
KDL obviously has no intention of resigning. There’s a recall effort going on; let it proceed and in the meanwhile let the business of CD14 be conducted as normally as possible. Otherwise we’re just damaging ourselves.
The Rock The Boulevard project was started before Cm De Leon took office. Delaying public meetings, while waiting for De Leon to resign, is not in the best interests of the the Eagle Rock community. We need a public meeting sooner, not later, to address issues of pedestrian and traffic safety on Eagle Rock Blvd. I hope that this delay does not prevent needed design and structural changes to a very important thoroughfare in Eagle Rock.
I’m curious to know a bit more about just what, exactly, these people have in mind to “improve” Eagle Rock Blvd. Let me guess: a triple-wide bicycle path, with an expanded median (to make more “green space”), and some kind of Bus Lane between the major destinations of the (former) Eagle Rock City Hall, all the way to the McDonalds at San Fernando Road & Fletcher, and reduce the space for those hated automobiles down to a single lane each way?
Unironically, yes. Sounds amazing.
The improvements as unascertained, may be more for the sake of change politically than a necessity. The photo caption on this story remarks, ” Planned improvements to Eagle Rock Blvd, now delayed, are intended to curtail all too common scenes like this one at the intersection of Langdale Ave and Eagle Rock Blvd.” I think a lot is more subjective than anything else without some factual comparisons, more so than theory.
Also, HOW are “planned improvements” going to work? What really may be a problem for roadways is the ongoing speeding and traffic violations including breaking red lights that have been more constant since the Covid lockdown relaxed last summer. A lack of law enforcement for traffic situations since the 2020 blanket demonization of police is a consequence, too, of reduced police staffing and priorities as their budgets were adversely affected as political agendas dictated. Currently, the most notable changes have been the installation of signal lights for pedestrians to cross ER Blvd, which is a practical matter more so than conceptual changes that “Plans” may involve.
Precisely and remove 50% of the parking and close off left turns to residents and schools
Your list really does sound fantastic Paul. Let’s hope these improvements and more will truly come to our boulevard!
Kevin De Leon is a true POS.
Bwahahahahaha
The rock the boulevard plan is from TERA volunteer board member, severin martinez (he also works at LADOT) and michael sweeney of the ERNC,, and michael mcdonald (TRRA) This crazy plan will remove 50% of the parking spaces along eagle rock blvd hurting all of those small businesses. Also they want to put bike lanes in a center median down the boulevard this will close off most of the left turns to residential streets and schools. These are the same people behind the “beautiful boulevard” center BRT only lanes on colorado blvd that provides “protected bike lanes” and removes most of the parking on colorado. all of those businesses are against that crazy 1 lane traffic congestion creating proposal.
Wow! Sorry to hear about this. I hope for the best for my colleagues at Eagle Rock NC. Stay strong!
As per the City Charter, Neighborhood Councils are non-partisan organizations whose only purpose is to advise City Departments and Council Offices. I have no issue with holding Councilman De Leon accountable for his actions but until he resigns, is recalled, is suspended or voted out of office, he is still the councilman for this district. Demanding what is printed on a public notice flier or delaying a meeting about a Public Improvement Project in order to force De Leon to resign is a partisan act and is hijacking the public’s right to know about the progress of Rock the Blvd.
I was recently made aware that members of the ERNC and TERA have been meeting regularly with Streets LA about the new designs for Eagle Rock Blvd. Since the ERNC is suppose to represent our neighborhood, why haven’t they updated us about the plans they are working on in private? Why hasn’t the Rock the Blvd committee made any calls for public meetings or ask for the public’s input on the multiple designs? I’m assuming we are going back to Huizar’s despicable acts of backroom dealing, which is how Eagle Rock got the BRT and the failed Take Back the Blvd program on Colorado.
Richard Loew’s statements infers that the ERNC board is now a political advocacy board. The ERNC needs to fulfill its obligations to the community by stopping these backroom meetings about Rock the Blvd and hold public meetings.