Gardner Street Elementary School is being threatened by a millionaire developer planning a 7-story multi-use building which will tower over our school yard. This project will have a huge and detrimental impact on the health and safety of our children and community.
This development will:
- rob our children and our edible garden of sunlight
- exponentially increase the amount of traffic in the already dangerously congested area around the school
- expose our young students to hazardous particulates and construction vehicles during the three-year construction period
On top of this, the developer is not conducting the necessary environmental impact studies that used to be absolutely necessary before the city of Los Angeles decided to fast track luxury housing projects instead of protecting the wellbeing of its citizens, even the youngest and most vulnerable ones.
We are a Title 1 and Community Eligibility Provision School, with 64% of families qualifying as low income.
This is yet another example of a rich and powerful special interest taking advantage of an underprivileged community. We need your help to fight back!
The parents and supporters of Gardner Street School are earnestly trying to raise money to help cover legal fees to fight these wealthy developers. They have lawyers and we need one too to represent our community fairly.
This is an unacceptable proposal for a busy, historic section of Sunset Boulevard which abuts the elementary school home to 400+ children aged 4 – 11 years.
Gardner Street Elementary is a K-5 public school within the Los Angeles Unified School District. A bright and happy place to be with a dynamic Arts Integration Magnet track, it is a diverse, cultural melting pot of 425 students at the base of the Hollywood Hills at Sunset Boulevard and Gardner Street and has been a vital part of the neighborhood since 1910.
Other concerns we have on our community:
- Ingress/egress on Gardner will create an untenable safety hazard for all pedestrians, including the parents/children who walk to and from school along this sidewalk.
- The two-lane nature of Gardner Street with the bump-out at the NE corner cannot safely sustain the additional flow of traffic from 107 parking spaces at an already congested intersection.
- The intersection of Sunset and Gardner is also the main northern route for emergency calls to Fire Department 41.
- During three years of construction, with the east sidewalk closed, all pedestrians, along with the kids/parents walking to school will be at risk daily.
- The environmental impact on air quality in spaces where children run and play is unacceptable.
- Negative effect on Gardner's enrollment - 3 years of construction are turning families away from the school.
Riding on the coattails of The Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) Incentive Program, the developers are only including 10 units, out of 123, for low-income housing, to avoid undergoing the Environmental Impact study.
Another concern is the demolition of the Historic Gardner Junction, the site of the former junction of the historic Pacific Electric Red Car Trolley line through Hollywood and two 100-year old commercial buildings.
Please consider a tax-deductible donation. 100% of the money raised will go to cover the legal fees and transportation study costs paid by Friends of Gardner, the parent-led non-profit organization fighting for the rights and protection of our children.
