The lawn was crowded as Caruso’s Palisades Village opened with a ribbon cutting on September 22.
Ribbon Cutting Held for Caruso’s Palisades Village
Caruso’s Palisades Village had its grand opening on Saturday, September 22, with Councilman Mike Bonin and co-honorary mayors Janice and Billy Crystal participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Also on the dais was L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, who made a special effort to be in Pacific Palisades for his friend Rick Caruso.
On September 21, Garcetti, who is exploring a presidential run, traveled to Colorado Springs to deliver the keynote address for the 2018 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Assembly Awards Dinner. He returned to L.A. the same night so that he could attend Caruso’s mid-morning opening.
Later Saturday, Garcetti flew to Charleston, South Carolina to give a speech on Sunday to the Charleston County Democratic Party’s annual Blue Jamboree and attend church services and an event in support of Congressman Joe Cunningham.
Fancy Feet dancers performed at the ribbon cutting.
The Caruso ribbon cutting took place on the little park next to Monument. Fancy Feet dancers and the Palisades High School marching band provided entertainment. People lined up for McConnell’s Ice Cream, Edo Little Bites, General Porpoise, See’s Candy, The Draycott and Blue Ribbon Sushi, which “circle” the lawn where the ceremonies were held.
Caruso tenant Jennifer Meyer welcomed customers.
People were generally thrilled that stores had opened, and they could finally tour the premises. Perhaps the only negative heard from those attending was dealing with the traffic and the parking costs of the new parking lot.
Nextdoor was rife with information or misinformation. Supposedly, the concierge will only validate with a $250 purchase and McConnell’s doesn’t validate.
Rick Caruso signed a written agreement with neighbors on April 27, 2016 that two hours free parking would be offered and could be obtained from a tenant or concierge. Movie theater patrons would receive validation for three hours.
That agreement came about because as the project progressed, neighbors north of Sunset in the Alphabet Streets were worried about traffic impacts and parking issues. Neither L.A. City, nor the Pacific Palisades Community Council seemed to be addressing those concerns. About 120 residents formed a working group, Protect Our Village (POV), to have a voice.
In exchange for not objecting to any portion of the project at the L.A. City Planning Commission hearing on April 28, 2016, Caruso signed the agreement, as did two POV representatives.
The agreement addressed hours of operation, parking, on-site advertising, change in use, construction worker parking, shopping carts, service and loading, traffic/roadway improvements, resident complaints, outdoor performances, the community room, the movie theater CUB/liquor licenses and street closures.
Porta Via restaurant was packed on opening day.
The entire portion of the parking agreement is below:
(a) All tenant leases shall require tenants and employees to park in the underground on-site parking structure. CA (Caruso) will make reasonable efforts to make tenant vendors and contractors to also park in the underground on-site parking structure. All CA employees are to be required to park in the lot, free of charge to the employee. CA agrees that lease provisions regarding required parking shall be clearly set forth and there will be no penalty or cost imposed on employees who burden their employer-tenants with the costs of on-site parking. CA shall oversee compliance and enforce leases regarding any breaches of parking clauses. CA shall cause internal security staff to monitor any tenant-employee parking violators, who shall bring violations to the attention of CA management. Violations of the no-parking on residential streets by employees will be reported to the oversight committee and CA management for enforcement.
(b) Parking Validation Policies: two hours free parking will be offered and can be obtained from a tenant or concierge. Movie theater patrons will receive validation for three hours.
(c) For Sunday farmers’ market vendors and guests, free parking will be offered from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. If vendor trucks are unable to fit under the overhead clearance for the underground lot, they will not park in the neighborhood. CA will take reasonable steps to assure that promoters of the Sunday farmer’ market adhere to farmers’ market parking conditions.
(d) All valet services must park cars on-site in the underground lot. Valet employees to park on-site in the underground lot. There shall be no off-site stashing or staging of vehicles. CA to provide adequate signage directing how to reach valet and drop-off zones.
(e) CA shall support permit parking efforts of any block within 1,000 feet of the Project electing to seek permit/restricted parking; CA shall make permits and passes for any permit parking program available locally through its on-site management offices, if allowed by the City.
(f) Signage shall be maintained to discourage parking on residential streets; wayfinding signs shall clearly direct traffic into the underground parking lot.
(g) Illegally parked vehicles at or about the project property shall be towed.
Late in the afternoon on September 22, Rick Caruso took a break from opening day at Hank’s, a restaurant that serves burgers and beers.
Hi Sue,
If only Caruso would oblige THE Neighbors if no one else with FREE parking in the garage with all we had to put up with his contractors and sub-contractors noise for 3 years. He does not know what keeping your word or a signed contract with us means.
Thank You for letting me vent.
Much of this depends on who you ask, as people on ND are posting getting different information directly from Caruso employees. They do not seem to be all reading from the same script yet.
Caruso also has not kept his promises about parking, among other things. For instance, regardless of any previous agreements, his own website shows only 30 mins free parking, after which they must get validation from the stores offering them (no list) to get up to two free hours:
“We offer guests 30 minutes of free self-parking. Self-parking may be accessed from Palisades Village Lane.”
https://palisadesvillageca.com/visit/#parking
Another instance: I am right at 1000′ away, and late Saturday evening, his people were trying to set up Uber parking. Unfortunately they were directly under my bedroom window, less than 15′ from my pillow with lighted signs complete with circles and arrows. Fortunately once I started questioning them, they decided to pack it up and go mess with Embury instead. Will that be his MO for the future, to push it out to the 1000′ limit and beyond? I guess I’ll find out!
I have little doubt that this kind of thing, and his middle of the night fireworks, will not be a one time occurrence. I will likely be able to look forward to all his future celebrations, and holidays, wreaking havoc on his neighbors too.
The parking situation is confusing…conflicting information and no place to confirm any of it. IF people who are visiting the mall aren’t given free parking for a period (30 minutes is rediculous) the alphabets will be overrun with the mall visitors.
An Uber stand set up in the neighborhood…. I’M SPEACHLESS.
The Pacific Palisades Community Council has a Palisades Village liaison group of three that interfaces directly with Caruso. The PPCC meeting is Thursday, September 27, 7:00p at the library. This would be a time to show up and voice concerns and be heard.
In the agreement that Caruso signed with Protect Our Village: the following two conditions were approved:
(a) Caruso will not promote, create or subsidize programs to encourage tour buses, taxis, free transportation, or private car services like Uber or Lyft to come to the project to shop or dine, except car services that transport 90272 residents or their guests directly to or from the development and their private residences in the 90272 zip code.
(b) Uber, Lyft, other private car services, third party vehicle parking services and taxis to be prohibited from parking or waiting in nearby residential streets. A designated pick-up/drop-off location at valet area will be used for these purposes. Caruso will maintain signage informing third party drivers of location of and directions to the pickup/drop-off zone located at valet area.
He’s broken that first clause (a) straight out and will likely do so for any occasion he chooses. The second clause (b) might be limited to the 1000′ limit he was supposed to protect (and obviously hasn’t). Since I am right on that 1000′ border, seems my home might be considered fair game for his shenanigans.
Rick Caruso is obviously very good at wheeling and dealing, then breaking promises, and even all after that he is still convincing a large section of this town to drink his cool-aid and consider him the town’s savior. As a 57 year resident, it has all been just mind-boggling to me.
Marge, unfortunately I was unable to make that meeting; I can really only protest from the sidelines these days. Thank you to Sue for giving me a chance to point out some of the serious deficiencies involved here.