Carlyle Hall

In a move that is expected to give additional clout to affordable housing advocates, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Thursday created a special housing committee within the Community Redevelopment Agency to direct the agency's housing efforts. The committee will be overseen by newly appointed CRA board member Carlyle Hall, a public interest attorney who is expected to advocate an agency-wide shift away from commercial development and toward programs to help low-income and working poor families.

A developer who spent years trying to build a 5,553-home development on the jagged ridgelines at the intersection of Interstate 5 and the Antelope Valley Freeway sued the city of Los Angeles on Monday, saying that a decision earlier this year by the City Council to halt its review of the project was illegal. In a 25-page complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Las Lomas Land Co. argues that the council violated state law and the developer's constitutional right to due process when it voted 10 to 5 in March to instruct the Planning Department to stop processing the application to build the project.

A developer who spent years trying to build a 5,553-home development on the jagged ridgelines at the intersection of Interstate 5 and the Antelope Valley Freeway sued the city of Los Angeles on Monday, saying that a decision earlier this year by the City Council to halt its review of the project was illegal. In a 25-page complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Las Lomas Land Co. argues that the council violated state law and the developer's constitutional right to due process when it voted 10 to 5 in March to instruct the Planning Department to stop processing the application to build the project.

A Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Los Angeles to drop its appeal of a damaging appellate court decision in the Warner Ridge litigation, a move that has angered and confused homeowner leaders. In a closed-door session Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge R. William Schoettler orally issued the order, telling the city that its appeal to the California Supreme Court was fundamentally at odds with the city's decision to settle the Warner Ridge lawsuit.

In what is seen by many City Hall observers as a major shift in the direction of the Community Redevelopment Agency, Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday appointed two new members to its board, including a prominent public interest attorney who is expected to advocate vastly increased attention to the poor and less to high-rise development.

A Superior Court judge has ordered the city of Los Angeles to drop its appeal of a damaging appellate court decision in the Warner Ridge litigation, a move that has angered and confused homeowner leaders. In a closed-door session Tuesday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge R. William Schoettler orally issued the order, telling the city that its appeal to the California Supreme Court was fundamentally at odds with the city's decision to settle the Warner Ridge lawsuit.

A plan to cover a city reservoir at Elysian Park with a 7.1-acre roof was challenged by a citizens group and the Center for Law in the Public Interest, who claim the corrugated aluminum structure would be an eyesore and would not significantly improve water quality in the reservoir.

Jane G. Pisano, president of the Los Angeles 2000 Committee and Mayor Bradley's Blue Ribbon Committee to create a strategic plan for Los Angeles, will be the featured speaker at the Westside Development Breakfast Club on Friday. Other speakers include Carlyle W. Hall Jr., partner in the firm of Law & Phillips and founder of the Center for Law in the Public Interest, and Richard L. Weiss, partner of DIXCO, a developer.

A judge today dismissed a lawsuit that had challenged Proposition 13 on the grounds that the 1978 property tax-slashing measure established a system of unequal treatment for homeowners. Superior Court Judge David A.

Fredric P. (Ric) Sutherland, president of the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, a nationwide law firm that represents environment-oriented organizations, has been killed in a traffic accident near Lake Tahoe. Sutherland, who had helped found the Center for Law in the Public Interest in Los Angeles, was 53.

In a move that is expected to give additional clout to affordable housing advocates, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley on Thursday created a special housing committee within the Community Redevelopment Agency to direct the agency's housing efforts. The committee will be overseen by newly appointed CRA board member Carlyle Hall, a public interest attorney who is expected to advocate an agency-wide shift away from commercial development and toward programs to help low-income and working poor families.

In what is seen by many City Hall observers as a major shift in the direction of the Community Redevelopment Agency, Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday appointed two new members to its board, including a prominent public interest attorney who is expected to advocate vastly increased attention to the poor and less to high-rise development.

Congratulations to Carlyle Hall Jr., president of People for Parks, and Prof. Jack Foley for their insightful column "Recreation Is More Than Fun and Games" (Commentary, Aug. 5). The 2,000 full-time and 20,000 part-time employees of the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks share the view that the work of the department not only helps "provide a satisfying life in Southern California," but is a deterrent to crime. Drawing a direct relationship between "quantity and quality of our parks and recreation" and crime has been done time and time again.

After reading Carlyle Hall's letter in the L.A. Times (Westside, June 9), I felt compelled to respond by focusing upon the difficulties that I have with the Friends of Ballona Wetlands and their compromise agreement with developer Maguire-Thomas Partnership. Hall touts the FBW compromise agreement requiring restoration of 190 acres of coastal wetlands as an "important victory for preservation of the wetlands and surrounding habitat." The reader should know that the agreement is part of the settlement with Maguire-Thomas to move forward with the multibillion-dollar Playa Vista "mini city" on the open space east of Lincoln Boulevard.