These Residents Tackle Mundane Issues in Style

Actor George Peppard held court at a corner table in the Crystal Room of the Beverly Hills Hotel while the Entertainment Television crew worked the crowd in search of more celebrities.

It looked like another typical night among the glitterati--except that the buzz over cocktails at the Pink Palace was about property values, not box office.

It was the second annual meeting of the Coldwater Canyon Homeowners Assn., a group that believes serious issues and extravagance are not mutually exclusive.

“We won’t exactly go out of our way to make our meetings lavish, but I would say that the setting is appropriate for our group,� said real estate executive Elaine Young, one of the founders of the association.

Coldwater Canyon is not a run-of-the-mill neighborhood. Home prices start around $1 million in the wooded refuge that stretches from Beverly Hills to Studio City. But the concerns of its members would be familiar to flatland hoi polloi: traffic, smog, overdevelopment and crime.

Residents formed the association last summer after concluding that the urban problems of Los Angeles were becoming theirs as well. With real estate prices skyrocketing, developers were attempting to build on every available hillside acre.

The group has managed to stall two proposed housing developments just south of Mulholland Drive. And after getting Los Angeles and Beverly Hills police to begin issuing speeding tickets en masse along Coldwater Canyon Drive, the organization arranged for a series of computerized devices to be installed there to monitor traffic speed and control traffic lights. Most of the cost will be absorbed by the association, which charges $100 yearly dues.

At the annual meeting, held Monday night, the group’s board recited its accomplishments in front of about 175 members and declared victory in the yearlong fight to preserve the integrity--and equity--of their neighborhoods.

“We said we were going to do the things we set out to do and we have done that,� said Jonathan Besdine, president of the association. “If the residents had not gotten together, there is no doubt that things would have just continued to deteriorate.�

But it was the setting as much as the neighborhood issues that drew the well-heeled crowd, which included such celebrity residents as Peppard and Jackie Cooper. Several participants couldn’t help but comment that the trappings were not typical of homeowner meetings. There wasn’t a folding aluminum chair in sight.

“Usually when I come to a homeowners association meeting the first thing I see is a group of picketers,� said City Councilman Mike Woo. “But tonight the first thing I saw when I came in was a crew from Entertainment (Television).�

The chandelier-adorned ballroom was filled with display booths offering residents tips on police, fire and pool safety, and sales representatives from traffic control companies were on hand to explain the latest gadgets. Residents could also buy for half price a $150 jacket with a homeowners association logo on the back.

Actor Jack Wells, who doubles as secretary of the organization, said the group considered making it a black-tie affair, but decided it was a little too soon to make the annual meeting completely formal.

“We all have the same attitude,� he said. “If we have an earthquake, it’s, ‘I’ll see you at the Polo Lounge.’ �