An intense campaign is underway this fall in the San Fernando Valley, and it's not for presidential votes.
Instead, a veteran Los Angeles developer is seeking to win over residents' groups who oppose an $800-million studio and office project that would house NBC's West Coast headquarters and become a cornerstone for sweeping changes proposed for the Universal City corridor.
Confronted with skeptical homeowner groups and a councilman who compared the project to a "New York City block," developer Jim Thomas -- who helped build the West's tallest building, the US Bank Tower downtown -- has hired consultants to send thousands of glossy pamphlets touting how the project would boost the city's economy and be a "model of green development."
Thomas himself has even taken to walking precincts of sorts, and planned to go door-to-door this weekend to promote the project. He is also recruiting supportive residents to host kaffeeklatsches in their homes to talk up the proposal.
"Entertainment is one of our most important industries, and if we don't protect our entertainment industry . . . we're not going to have the money, we're not going to have the jobs, to deal with lots of issues," Thomas said. "So it's very hard for me to imagine a project that should have more support."
Some residents say the public relations campaign may be backfiring. The mailers, for example, only reinforce what they oppose: density.
Valley residents say that despite multiple meetings with the developer and NBC about the project, which would be constructed on a parking lot over a Red Line subway station, the recently released environmental report did not incorporate their concerns.
"We we're hoping to see something more than a Century City model," said Richard Bogy, a Toluca Lake resident who co-chairs a homeowners group formed in part to evaluate the plan. "It's animated billboards, glass-front studios and towers. We were hoping to see something more imaginative in terms of aesthetics and the incorporation of public and park space."
The development is one of several large and controversial projects proposed for a 4-mile corridor stretching from Universal City to the upper reaches of North Hollywood that would include about 5,500 new residences and millions of square feet of commercial and office space.
