Venice Council: Ferris Wheel Proposal, Potential Post Office Buyer and New Outreach Officer

The Venice Neighborhood Council meeting that stretched beyond four hours Tuesday night featured an offer by a big-time Hollywood producer to buy the Venice Post Office, the election of a new community outreach officer and a lengthy presentation on the proposed 175-foot tall "Great Observation Wheel" on Venice Beach.

The meeting started on a dramatic note with former Venice Neighborhood Council President Suzanne Thompson scolding the Venice Stakeholders Association during the public comment period for publishing the address and photos of the homes of current council president Linda Lucks, City Councilman Bill Rosendahl and other members of the community and inviting the homeless to camp in front of their homes.

"This is really low, low, low," Thompson said. She added that she had no respect for the Venice Stakeholders Association and warned that such behavior could lead to violence.

Joel Silver – the Hollywood producer of dozens of movies including the Lethal Weapon franchise, Die Hard and its sequel, The Matrix franchise and both Predator films – also spoke during the public comment period and said that he would buy the Venice Post Office on Windward Circle and relocate his production companies, if the U.S. Postal Service goes ahead with its planned sale. Silver said he would save the historic mural inside the post office and provide a public screening room, if it doesn't stay a post office.

"I love the structure and I want to be very clear, I hope it stays as it is, as a post office," Silver said later. "I'm a big fan of historic buildings being re-used."

Silver said he would relocate both of his production companies, Silver Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment, to the Venice Post Office building.

Silver, who is a huge admirer of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, bought the Wright-designed Storer House in Hollywood and restored it and also owns another one in South Carolina that is being restored.

In other action, the board unanimously elected Matt Kline, a current board member, to become the council's community outreach officer. Kline, who organized the recent Silicon Beach town hall that packed the auditorium of Westminster Avenue Elementary School, said he hoped to continue the good work of former outreach officer Marc Salzberg.

Nigel Ward of United Kingdom-based Great City Attractions flew in from Edinburgh, Scotland, to give a presenation to the council and public and field questions on the proposed 175-foot tall "Great Observation Wheel" planned for Windward Plaza. Ward previously gave a presentation to a smaller crowd during a public meeting in March on the proposal.

Ward displayed slides on an overhead projector Tuesday night showing similar wheels in Paris, Copenhagen, Seville, Belfast, Brisbane and other cities mostly in Europe.

Each of the company's wheels are valued at $12 million and Ward said he is seeking a three-year permit to operate the wheel on Windward Plaza.

He told the audience the tourist attraction wouldn't worsen the notoriously horrible weekend parking in Venice because a wheel ride is an impulse buy and not a destination. The company instead is relying on "pre-existing footfall," which Venice has with its roughly 16 million visitors each year.

Ward showed a new rendering of the wheel with a different orientation than a previous design that drew complaints because it obstructed the view of the ocean.

The wheel would feature a 15-minute ride with six people inside an enclosed, air-conditioned capsule with 360-degree views. The wheel would roughly average 50 to 200 riders per hour, Ward said.

Ward's presentation was followed by statements from a long line of speakers who mostly denounced the project over parking, aesthetics, environmental rules and concerns that Venice was being used as a cash cow for the city while getting little in return.

"Venice is a unique subculture and people from all over the world come here for that," said Clabe Hartley, owner of the Cow's End coffee and sandwich shop on Washington Boulevard. "This stands out as a sore thumb."

Hartley also said he didn't believe that the proposed wheel would not make traffic worse, noting that Washington Boulevard already is backed up for blocks on busy days.

Venice resident Todd von Hoffman was one the few supporters of the project and said it harkens back to the spirit of Venice.

"Abbot Kinney would smile on this," he said in reference to the founder of Venice.

Kevin Regan, the assistant manager of the city's Department of Recreation and Parks, said that his department fully endorses the project and called it a good, wholesome activity.

Regan said the project will bring money to improve the restrooms around the proposed site and increase security. He noted that his department is mandated to self-generate $30 to $40 million of its annual $185 million budget.

An environmental review will be required and the parks department has already met with the city's Department of Building and Safety, Regan said. The Venice Specific Plan has height restrictions, but projects on city park lands have exemptions to zoning rules, Regan said.

The project also would need approval from the California Coastal Commission.

Regan said the project was still in the early preliminary stage and he expects it will take a year for it to go through all of the environmental, planning and regulatory hurdles.

The Venice Neighborhood Council will revisit the matter again next month at its regular meeting.