It is hard to overestimate the enormous implications of today’s total City failure in Hollywoodland.
The last remaining thread of trust in the City has finally been cut for most of us.
We have communicated to the City on numerous occasions about the lax ( a very generous word) enforcement on top of Mt Lee. But even we had thought on New Year’s Eve when the entire world has increased enforcement and is on alert that there would be extra care taken in our neighborhood. Instead, not only was there nothing extra– there was nothing!! How long does it take for someone to change the Sign? Certainly longer than I would imagine to leave bombs there. The whole world can see what a farce the City enforcement is.
But since 911, this is no longer a prank. This is a serious breach of security that threatens our lives and homes. One councilman on his own went against decades of precedent (when the top of Mt Lee was off limits to the public for good reasons) and without studies, hearings or process opened it up, created a new activity of “walking to the Sign”, and invited tens of millions of people to come up here. 
The present Councilman has continued and thereby supports this policy. Anyone can come carrying anything, huge backpacks used for weeks of camping, metal suitcases, and various equipment. We’ve seen it. Everything is allowed–nothing is checked. The lack of security takes your breath away.
And what is atop of Mt Lee? There are multiple tourist targets any one of which should sound alarms—
*A world famous Sign known as a symbol of Western Culture, one of the biggest tourist magnets in Southern California
* Emergency communication equipment for the City of Los Angeles
* 8000 gallons of stored fuel
* Hundreds of homes built on narrow, winding substandard streets–a bottle neck surrounded on three sides by Griffith Park
* All in a very high fire hazard Zone in the midst of a drought.
This is such an easy target and the probability of hundreds or thousands being stuck on gridlocked streets could be turned into a certainty by the placing of a few vehicles at key locations.
At this point it has gone beyond ignorance, incompetency or neglect. Over and over again the City has chosen to ignore our warnings. Over and over again the City has shown that safety is not its top priority. The City scrambles to react rather than prevent. These conditions would be unacceptable anywhere else. We need and are entitled to protection. The City failed us today, and we greatly fear what the next failure will bring.