Public Interest Briefs

Gates installed to wall off a relatively affluent Hollywood Hills area from its not so well-to-do neighbors were declared illegal last winter. In a suit brought by CLIPI on behalf of Citizens Against Gated Enclaves (“CAGE”), Superior Court Judge Robert O’Brien ruled that the City of Los Angeles had violated state law when it allowed the Whitley Heights Civic Association to construct gates which would exclude the general public from the public streets of the area.

The City had contended that the Government Code gave it the right to withdraw publicly owned property from public use. But the state Vehicle Code, the only authority for traffic regulation, specifies that local authorities may not place gates on streets to restrict access for certain members of the public while granting unrestricted access to others. Jude O’Brien ruled that the Vehicle Code prevails, and that the City has an obligation to ensure equal access to its public streets. 

The suit raises important issues about how Los Angeles confronts today’s urban insecurities. Whitley Heights, located in the Hollywood Hills near the Howllywood Bowl, is a neighborhood of gracious private homes owned in the 1920s by famous Hollywood writers and stars. Residents are frightened by an increasing crime rate (but one which is, according to police, still lower than that of the city at large). They believe that closing their streets to outsiders is the best, if not the only, solution.

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