Hollywood Hills Residents Sue Los Angeles, Mayor Bass and Councilwoman Raman, Saying Tourist Crowds Around the Hollywood Sign Are a Public Nuisance
The complaint, filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, says officials let the area become overrun with tourists and illegal vendors. Residents note the city itself has called the situation unsustainable.
Residents who live near the Hollywood sign have taken the city of Los Angeles to court, Fox News reports, saying officials have let the area around the landmark become a public nuisance.
The filing. Multiple residents of the Hollywood Hills neighborhoods filed a complaint Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the city, Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman. Raman represents Council District 4, which includes the Hollywood Hills. The complaint describes out-of-control tourist activity that has turned the area next to the sign into a "public toilet."
The residents' case. They say the area is inundated with tourists, illegal street vendors and crippling traffic. The roads in the neighborhoods, which include Hollywoodland, Lake Hollywood Estates and Hollywood Knolls, are winding, lack sidewalks and average about 18 feet wide. The area is zoned as open space between two single-family residential zones.
How they say it got worse. They point to September 2011, when Council District 4 staff cleared brush at the intersection of Canyon Lake Drive and Mulholland Highway to create a viewing spot now known as "Hollywood Sign Lookout," meant to promote tourism. Residents say officials have ignored the city's own role in promoting Lake Hollywood Park, the lookout and the neighborhoods themselves.
A long-running problem. Former Hollywood United Neighborhood Council board member Chuck Suhayda, who served more than a decade, told Fox: "This was a problem 20 years ago." He described massive traffic jams and parking trouble.
The city's own words. Fox reports that in its own documents the city has acknowledged the current situation is "unsustainable."
What is missing. Fox says it asked Bass and Raman for comment. The text we read did not include a reply, and the claims in the complaint are the residents' allegations, not findings by a court.