Neighbors oppose Chabad expansion on Pico

By Jane Ulman
Published on September 24, 2008

Rabbi Boruch Shlomo Cunin, head of Chabad of California, has a dream -- a block-long, five-story "village" on Pico Boulevard that would provide a girls day school and boarding school along with affordable, safe housing for Holocaust survivors and other elderly people and for teachers with large families.

Mayor: Building inspectors need better training, increased sensitivity -- and no more Yom Kippur showdowns

By Tom Tugend
Published on September 24, 2008

Korobkin, the Yavneh spiritual leader, said he was very pleased with the mayor's recommendations and that the fault for last year's incident lay mainly in the way DBS was structured, as well as a certain lack of sensitivity.

Pacific Palisades Chabad preschool denied lease extension

By Jane Ulman
Published on July 8, 2008

An eight-to-one vote by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Board -- along with a unanimous vote by the Conservancy Advisory Board -- last night soundly defeated Chabad of Pacific Palisades' appeal to temporarily extend the lease for its preschool site at Temescal Gateway Park from September 2008 through January 2009

Chabad finds possible solution to land-use problem in Pacific Palisades

By Jane Ulman
Published on June 25, 2008

The recent discovery of a long-overlooked legal document could substantially alter the situation, potentially allowing for a public street to be constructed that would lead directly to the entrance of the proposed site.

City Voice: Yaroslavsky takes on developers in push for affordable housing

By Bill Boyarsky
Published on April 24, 2008

In defending middle-class neighborhoods, Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky is taking on an issue that reaches to the heart of Los Angeles' ethnic, political and class divide

Heschel Day School West gets OK, but future still looks clouded

By Jane Ulman
Published on February 28, 2008

After a protracted and often contentious battle, Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School West got the green light in late November to build a permanent school on a bucolic, 72-acre site adjacent to Agoura Hills when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved its application for a conditional-use permit.

Hancock Park Infighting Escalates

By Julie G Fax
Published on April 13, 2006

Smoldering tensions between the Orthodox community and other Hancock Park residents, many of them also Jewish, are heating up anew, as a battle over neighborhood architecture has divided along lines of religious affiliation.

A School or a Shul?

By Julie G Fax
Published on March 2, 2006

Yavneh moved into the Tudor estate, which formerly housed the Whittier Law School, in 1999. The school has about 400 students in preschool through eighth grade, and insists it has worked hard to foster a good relationship with neighbors. But things have soured in the last few years, as Yavneh tests the strict limitations of its conditional-use permit.

Shul’s Stormy Saga

By Julie G Fax
Published on March 2, 2006

Etz Chaim, for its part, is arguing that the settlement is valid, that it did not violate the settlement and, that, in any case, federal law exempts it from zoning regulations.

Zoning Snafus Keep New JCC Empty

By Yasha Levine
Published on January 19, 2006

The center is also the focus of criticism from some of its would-be occupants, who say that they haven't been kept in the loop about planning the center from the beginning, that its opening has been delayed and that they are unsure about when they will be able to move in.

Neighbors Renew Etz Chaim Fight

By Julie G Fax
Published on May 20, 2004

Despite continuing legal challenges, members of Etz Chaim this month prayed for the first few Shabbats in their new home, a house converted for use as a shul on the corner of Highland Avenue and Third Street in Hancock Park.

No Guests Allowed

By Mike Levy
Published on September 6, 2001

Three little words. That's what makes the difference between a religious school and a synagogue, as recently defined by the Los Angeles Central Area Planning Commission.

The five-member Planning Commission, responsible for zoning decisions in Hollywood, Hancock Park and other neighborhoods, made its decision Aug. 28 in a hearing regarding Yavneh Hebrew Academy.

In April, Yavneh had submitted an application for a number of changes to the K-8 school's zoning conditions, including adding a ninth grade for girls and allowing prayer services Saturday mornings. In June, after consulting with nearby residents, traffic consultants and architects, Associate Zoning Administrator Dan Green approved all but one of Yavneh's proposed changes. The request "to authorize Saturday prayer for students, parents, relatives and other guests" was denied.