Our 2008 Year-End Progress Report:

The 10th Anniversary of a Major Scoop and the Start of Big Successes in the Battle to Save the Ballona Wetlands

This is the Tenth Anniversary of the release of the Playa Vista company's 1998 secret business plan. Insiders in the development firm gave us this 198 page document that contains political strategy, what the owners paid for the land and what our public opposition was costing them, and the frank admission of how "generous" the City Council had been to them.

To read the full plan, click here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5SGRAMv8RXuUWd1Tnk0bzY4cnM
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5SGRAMv8RXubFNIRTBSV0VkU2M

To read our analysis of the plan's contents, read here:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0138798/stories/2006/08/03/whistleblowersReleasePlayaVistaSecrets.html

Soon after we published excerpts of this report, Playa Vista's key tenant DreamWorks Pictures backed out of the project, after 4 years of public protest at their film premieres and a loss at the local Water Board when they sought to be exempted from financial liability for groundwater contamination at Playa Vista;

Read more here:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0138798/stories/2004/12/23/toxicWaste.html
http://radio.weblogs.com/0138798/stories/2006/08/03/september1999IssueOfSaveAllOfBallona.html

A year later, Patricia McPherson and her group the Grassroots Coalition discovered high levels of explosive methane gas underneath the proposed community for 20,000 people.

http://radio.weblogs.com/0138798/stories/2006/08/03/august2000IssueOfSaveAllOfBallona.html

also see: http://www.grassrootscoalition.org/

By 2001, Playa Vista began negotiations with the State of California to sell the Ballona Wetlands, taking the development of all the land west of Lincoln Blvd. off the table.

With the State's purchase of the wetlands in 2003, fully 70% of the original 1087 acre Playa Vista project was permanently preserved from development. Approximately 300 acres of the site has been developed or is in the process of being developed as part of the project's Phase 1. We were successful in 2007 in overturning the development plans for the remaining 110 acre Phase 2 site and with the election of friends at City Hall in 2005, we have excellent working relationships with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Councilman Bill Rosendahl.

Read more about our legal efforts here:
http://ballona.blogspot.com/2007/09/playa-vista-loses-huge-case-to.html

Above and Below--two views of the Ballona Wetlands State Preserve


BELOW: The condominium development at Playa Vista. In the background is the remaining Phase 2 site which totals 110 acres. Can we preserve this land? Maybe 2009 will bring us another big victory!

---------------------------------------------------

Excerpts of the 1998 Playa Vista Business Plan:

Here are some of the most interesting pages; CLICK ON THEM TO ENLARGE:

"The site has issues of...poor soil conditions".
"The entitlements received for Phase 1 are generous"