Mayor Scores His Six Foot Wall, Neighbors Sigh Silently

Back in February, the residents of Windsor Square seemed to have been caught off guard when they found out that their most famous resident, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, had applied to build a six-foot wall around the Getty House. (The normal rule allows for only a 42-inch-tall wall, about half the height the mayor sought.) The application for a variance was approved on June 8, and has just sailed through its appeal period, which ended last Thursday, with nary a peep of appeal. If the Windsor Square Association's VP seemed to soft-pedal his opposition earlier this year with a nice rhetorical question about L.A. and "walled compounds," another resident had already given in to the inevitable barrier by early last week: "We hadn't thought about doing anything on appeal, because we were under the impression it probably wouldn't make a difference," she told the Park La Brea News. And that, everyone, is how the mayor asked for a six-foot wall, and got it. -Andy J. Wang
· Mayor Gets Approval for Wall at Getty House [Park La Brea]
· Mayor Requests Variance for Six Foot Wall Around Getty House [Curbed LA]