Westwood Council Opposes Venice Zip Line

In a move it hopes will protect area parks and beaches from commercialization, the Westwood Neighborhood Council took a formal stand against the Venice Beach zip line Wednesday night.

Members unanimously voted to adopt a motion, written by board member and former Venice resident Mark Herd, that says the attraction is "perceived to be incompatible with the historical values and vision of our city's parks as they will have negative traffic, noise and visual impacts." To read the full text of the motion, click the PDF image attached to this article.

In addition to the proposed zip line, board members also added the Council would oppose "any other commercialization of our public parks and beaches."

Herd said the motion might send a message that these types of attractions are not welcome in Westwood.

"Venice Beach is the Pearl Harbor of parks. It's being bombed," he said. "What I'm trying to do here is send a missile over their bow and say, 'Westwood is definitely not in favor of this stuff.'"

The Venice zip line, which could generate revenue for Los Angeles' cash-strapped parks department, was by the Venice Neighborhood Council. A Board of Public Works hearing on the attraction .

"It's our beach, we use it too in Westwood and (Los Angeles City Councilmember) Paul Koretz has to vote on it, and he's our representative," Herd said . "Giving him direction is a good thing."

The proposed 600-foot zip line has been on the table since May in Venice. The ride would be owned and operated by Greenheart Conservation Company, based in Canada.

A  was criticized by the community and ultimately stalled.

And though the zip line primarily is a Venice issue, it still impacts the Westwood community, board member Lisa Chapman said.

"When these things come up they do tend to inch toward us as well," Chapman said. 

For .

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