East Hollywood BID Has New Plan for “Triangle”

LOS FELIZ—For the last several years, the Vermont Triangle, a traffic median-cum-park located at the three-point intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vermont and Prospect avenues, has been host to a constant rotation of homeless encampments.

Now, four years after taking over upkeep of the area, the East Hollywood Business Improvement District (BID) might actually be able to do something about it.

According to East Hollywood BID Vice Chair Jeff Zarrinnam, the BID has maintained the Triangle since 2012, when they discovered it was included on their boundary map, not the Los Feliz BID’s.

The Los Feliz BID, constrained by budget, eagerly handed over Triangle upkeep when the error was discovered, but the East Hollywood BID has thus far been limited in their efforts to mitigate homeless encampments at the location.

“We could manage, water and prune [the Triangle], but we couldn’t technically do anything with it,” said Zarrinnam.

At issue is what is known as a revocable permit, required for any obstruction of a public right-of-way—putting up a temporary construction fence, for example.

According to Zarrinnam, when the East Hollywood BID tried to get that permit, they were surprised to discover the Los Feliz BID’s permit had never been revoked, which prohibited East Hollywood from applying for a new one.

“It was a mistake,” said Zarrinnam. “The permit should never have been given to the Los Feliz BID to begin with.”

This July, the Los Feliz BID’s permit was finally revoked, opening the door for the East Hollywood BID to apply for their own. According to Zarrinam, the organization is still waiting for that permit, and it is unclear when the paperwork will be finalized.

In the meantime, Zarrinnam has prepared a preliminary plan for the Triangle that he hopes will prevent future encampments.

Central to that plan, which would fully landscape the Triangle and remove the existing seating areas and sidewalks, is changing public perception of what the Triangle is.

“The Triangle is a median,” said Zarrinnam. “It’s not a park. It never has been a park. People were trying to turn it into a park, but it’s a traffic median.”

In 2008, Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge transformed the Triangle into a micro-park, installing landscaping, seating and lighting at a cost of $800,000.

Because Zarrinnam’s plan would remove all of the Triangle’s existing walkways, it would also require the four crosswalks to the median be removed, which he said will likely be the plan’s biggest hurdle in gaining community support.

But other members of the East Hollywood BID seemed amenable to that aspect of the plan when Zarrinnam presented it at an August meeting.

“[Removing the crosswalks] is totally reasonable,” said Treasurer Susanna Furios. “People can walk a bit.”

According to Zarrinnam, the plan is just a starting point, and the East Hollywood BID intends to get feedback from the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, the Los Feliz Improvement Assoc., the Los Feliz BID and other stakeholders before moving forward.

“Everybody has to have a voice in this,” he said. “That’s what’s important to me.”

Up next, said Zarrinnam, is figuring out how to pay for the redesign.

“Until we find out what we’re going to do, we don’t know what kind of funding we’ll need,” he said.

According to Zarrinnam, one contributor will be OSH Hardware who, at Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu’s request, agreed to contribute an unspecified amount between $5,000 and $75,000 to the Triangle redesign in conjunction with a new location they are building adjacent to it on Hollywood Boulevard.

Additionally, OSH will give $25,000 to the East Hollywood Los Feliz Homeless Coalition, of which Zarrinnam is also a member.

The coalition is currently raising funds to renew a $150,000 homeless outreach contract, which Zarrinnam said would play an important role in ridding the Triangle of homeless encampments.

“We’re trying to find permanent supportive housing” for people living in the triangle through the coalition, he said. “We’re not trying to displace anyone.”

According to Zarrinnam, pending community input, he expects to present an updated redesign plan to the East Hollywood BID within the next couple of months.