City Council signs off on more development in Hollywood

The new zoning guidelines will make it easier to put up taller buildings around subway stations and retail pockets. Supporters included Mayor Villaraigosa, Councilman Eric Garcetti, and area business groups. Opponents, many of them homeowners in the Hollywood Hills, fear that more development will bring added traffic. They're right, of course, but this is what the mayor and others have been pushing for L.A. From the LAT:

City Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents parts of Hollywood and who championed the plan, insists that the new guidelines don't create growth, only accommodate it. He points out that the neighborhood's zoning rules hadn't been updated since 1988. "If we could freeze-frame one year in Hollywood," he said, "1988 would not be our most august year." Garcetti also pointed out that the new guidelines will generally limit development in single-family residential and historical neighborhoods, as well as the Hollywood Hills. They also call for more pedestrian-friendly streets and for new parks to be developed.