Renting in Sherman Oaks

This letter is in response to Mr. Hal Baron’s letter of March 7 opposing Zev Yaroslavsky’s request to impose a moratorium on building permits in the Sherman Oaks area.

Apparently Mr. Baron does not reside on Dickens Street between Sepulveda and Hazeltine, for, if he did, I believe that he would be thankful for an abatement of residential building in Sherman Oaks.

I am a renter and have currently lived in Sherman Oaks for four months, so perhaps I am not qualified to comment on what is good for Sherman Oaks in the long run. As I work out of my apartment and therefore am at home during the day, I am qualified to say that living in an area where there are no fewer than six condominium developments in progress is very disruptive, noisy, congested and dirty and runs counter to Mr. Baron’s theory of affordable housing.

Has Mr. Baron investigated what a condominium currently rents for on Dickens Street? The rental prices that I encountered for a two-bedroom condominium in a new building in this area are between $1,000 and $1,400 per month. Selling prices range from $130,000 and up. Based on Mr. Baron’s idea of affordable housing, this area of Sherman Oaks is already beyond the point of being affordable. In fact, the very type of “affordable housing,” older multiunit apartment buildings, are being torn down to construct new, high-priced condominiums.

Mr. Baron’s thoughts on people living close to where they work are very noble. But, unless I’m terribly out of touch with what an average office worker earns in the Valley, I don’t see how one could possibly afford to live in one of the new condominiums on Dickens Street. A person earning $30,000 a year would be spending more than half of his salary to rent in a new building on Dickens. It looks to me as though the average office worker has already been priced out of this part of the Sherman Oaks market.

As far as traffic congestion goes, has Mr. Baron tried to drive or walk down Dickens during the day? The streets are filled with concrete, dump and lumber trucks. I have seen more than a few near accidents as people attempt to pass these trucks on this narrow street. The sidewalks in front of the construction sites have been closed off or torn up, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street, causing more safety hazards. Parking on the street is impossible right now. Should this building trend continue, visitors to Dickens Street will be forced to park in Van Nuys.

As a native Los Angeleno, I feel that I can safely say a person living five blocks from their office will drive their car to work most of the time. People drive two blocks to the market. Good or bad, this is a fact of Los Angeles life. The traffic congestion problem in Sherman Oaks, in Los Angeles in general, is major. I don’t see how a building moratorium will affect the long-term driving habits of people. Only education can achieve that goal.

If I were planning to buy a condominium on Dickens Street, I would have to think long and hard as to whether I would want to pay upwards of $150,000 to live next door to a potential construction site. In accordance with the city building ordinance, workers can and do start excavating, hammering, sawing, coring and pouring concrete, yelling and playing at 8 a.m. Saturday. Construction is not clean work. Dirt and dust and general debris are normal. I’ve found this out living on Dickens Street.

How a moratorium would affect local merchants I can’t say. I do know that, when I was working outside of the house, I did most of my shopping in the area that I worked, as did many of my co-workers. The reason for this was simple. Many of the small shops in the area where I lived closed at 6 in the evening; I didn’t get home until 7. The watch repair, gift and flower shop near my office got my business. Therefore, unless every person that works in Sherman Oaks also lives there (which is doubtful based on the traffic on southbound Beverly Glen every morning), small, local merchants benefit from the people working in Sherman Oaks.

Why, you may ask, do I live in Sherman Oaks with all of my complaints? Overall, it’s a great little city. We plan to stay here for a long time. Provided, of course, that my apartment building is not torn down and replaced by a condominium.

JACQUELINE EDMUNDS-MANZ

Sherman Oaks