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THE VIEW FROM HERE - The prior article on Immaculate Heart February 6, 2023, CityWatch, How Bad is Meghan Markle’s Alma Mater, Immaculate Heart? failed to accurately convey why the neighbor was so angry about illegal 12-foot fence. At councilmember Tom LaBonge’s request, the neighbor had agreed to help IHHS evade the Nov. 4, 2009 prohibition against its using the lot for anything other than a R-1 HPOZ residence. Almost instantly an intervening factor consumed Hollywood, i.e., the location of the fault line of the Hollywood Earthquake Fault. The controversy arose over the Millennium Earthquake Towers just north of The Pantages Theater, but the LA Times’ interactive map showed that the fault line ran directly through IHHS’s lot. Thus, that issue consumed IHHS’s attention for several years. When the neighbor, Yours Truly, and IHHS’s principal returned to the issue, the following plan was devised.
The Plan To Evade the Prohibition
No one complains about something they do not know exists. There were discussions about what use to make of the lot. The neighbor’s idea was an extensive gardening where girls could do various studies about plants and urban pollution. The school is at the intersection of Western and Franklin Avenue where there is considerable air pollution. Such gardening on the lot and other vacant spaces at IHHS could then serve as scientific studies which would become the bases of Advanced Placement Courses to assist the girls in college admissions. Instead of a biological advanced studies program, the school wanted another “athletic field.”
The neighbor said OK, but then precautions would be necessary to hide the field from the HPOZ. The school planted bougainvillea along the front so that it was not apparent how the lot was being used. The neighbor’s house would stop the screaming and other noise from the athletic field except for his back yard where the noise would impact the homes on the south slope of The Oaks. Thus, he grew a huge Cana forest. With the aid of Miracle Grow, he had 12 to 15 foot high Canas to muffle the girls from being heard up the hill. The Cana forest was about 10 to 15 feet thick. As a result, no one knew about the illegal use, except the neighbor. Even though his office is a couple feet from the field, he told IHHS that the girls could scream, holler, cheer as loud as they wanted. He felt it would be unfair to say to the girls, “Here’s an athletic field. Don’t make any noise.” As is the normal custom of teenagers, they were very good at making noise.
The fence between the properties was 6 feet high, but that would not stop volley balls, soft balls or even an errant soccer ball. Thus, an invisible 20-foot netting was erected along the front and along the Neighbor’s side of the lot. Occasionally, a ball would end up in the neighbor’s yard and every so often one would go high enough to land on the roof and then roll down to either the south side or north side of the neighbor’s house. The neighbor simply slipped the balls back into the lot.
This Sub Rosa Plan Worked Perfectly
No one ever complained because no one knew about the illegal use, except Tom LaBonge and the neighbor. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Yikes, Stop!
Since the Board of Trustees’ grandiose sense of entitlement imbues them with the hubris, they did not tell the neighbor of their plan to destroy IHHS’s use of the field by replacing the invisible 20-foot netting with the 12 foot high black fence and ripping out all the bougainvillea along the front.
On Jan 31, the neighbor wrote: “I am uncertain what work you are doing with the lot, but I thought I would say that we LOVE the High volleyball fence
On Feb 2, 8:24 he wrote: “The new black poles look about 12 feet tall, which is too tall for chain link fence and too short for the [20 foot] volleyball nets. We are willing to help you with whatever you need.”
The neighbor continued to warn against getting reported: “Also, the 1912 is part of the HPOZ and the corner lot is part of SNAP. The last thing either you or we want is for someone else to come along and file some complaint. Thus, a 12-foot-high black chain link fence would probably not be prudent. It's a matter of psychology.” [referring to the plan of keeping the illegal use hidden.]
On Feb 2, 8:52 a.m,. he wrote: “I urge you to stop them! The likelihood of that 12-foot black fence getting the school reported is way too high! Please stop them and think more about what is likely to happen.”
The neighbor is in a panic because he now realizes that IHHS is destroying the field’s sub rosa use which Tom LaBonge had initiated. It is infuriating when someone like Board chair, the All Knowing Attorney Mark Allwood, who thinks he knows it all when apparently he doesn’t know jack, wantonly destroys years of work. What attorney does not know you cannot erect a fence twice the legal height without permit? How dumb does an attorney have to be to stab the architect of the field’s use in the back?
While the ugly 12-foot fence across the neighbor’s south side windows was like giving the neighbor the finger, that was only adding insult to injury. The neighbor is mad as hell that these fools trashed the girls’ ability to use the field. For what? Everything was perfect!
But Wait, It Gets Worse
Now, idiocy arrives. IHHS has constructed a ceiling of black mesh across the entire lot. It is 12 feet high on the edges and about 10 feet over most of the field. IHHS has put a 10-foot ceiling on top of a field used for volleyball, soft ball and soccer. Did these paragons of arrogance ask the neighbor about the black mesh ceiling? No. Only an utter idiot would place a 10-foot ceiling over a volleyball court!
Since Mark Allwood, the Best Lawyer, lauds himself as a personal injury and ERISA attorney (a type of federal insurance law), he should foresee that the mesh ceiling will ricochet some balls downward, hard enough to cause concussions. Thus, the school’s insurance carrier needs to issue a rider for an additional premium to cover the probability of personal injuries to the girls. Perhaps, its insurer will refuse to underwrite the risk.
Arrogance Wastes Tuition Dollars
How many tens of thousands of dollars has the IHHS Board squandered in order to ruin the perfect situation where the school could have used the athletic field forever? If the covering stays, the field is it nearly worthless. If they tell the next lie that they had not planned to use the field for volleyball, etc, then why erect volleyball poles and the 12-foot fence in the first place?
This entire nightmare would have been avoided if the Board were not filled with such disdain for its neighbors that it won’t even speak to them when the neighbor writes: “We are willing to help you with whatever you need.”
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected]. The opinions expressed by Mr. Abrams are not necessarily those of CityWatchLA.com.)
