Kiss The Sky . . . Good-Bye
Take a good, long look at the sky this weekend, because if Mayor Villaraigosa gets his way, you're going to be seeing a lot less of it.The L.A. Daily News reports that he has a plan to rezone, in the paper's words, "massive swaths of land" in order to -- you guessed it -- "facilitate construction of high-density residential projects." That means high-rise housing projects replacing low-rise buildings. "The team is looking at relaxing rules that keep building heights at a minimum and lessening requirements for parking spaces."
In case you had any doubts about who is behind this, see if the following provides a clue: "MTA and city executives met within the past few months and agreed to find ways to ease the approval process for residential developers seeking zone changes or variances near subway or light-rail routes."
If you enjoy living in a city with a low-rise skyline, if you want to keep our population density around 8400 people per square mile, rather than Mumbai's 76,000 people per square mile, then you need to take action on this issue.
And be prepared for an endless barrage of PR BS intended to mislead you. You will be told: i) that jamming a few million more people into the City will actually cut down trafffic; ii) that we need this housing to make the city "affordable;" iii) that the zoning we've had in place since 1910 or so is "outdated;" and iv) increasing the population density is "smart growth" and "bold leadership."
The truth is simpler: rich developers make money by building. Period. The more they can build, the richer they become. They don't care about the quality of your life. They care about the quality of their life. They will readily sacrifice the latter for the former, and will contribute to career politicians who protect their special interest.
Read the article: http://www.dailynews.com/ci_4281678
Posted by Walter Moore @ 9/03/2006 06:34:00 AM
35 Comments:
Huh?
People in LA have been talking about this for a decade. The policy is written into the General Plan Framework adopted back during the Riordan administration.
This blather is what happens when someone with no institutional memory (and even less of a clue) gets loose on the internet.
"Say No"
Song in the style of Greenday
by Zuma Dogg
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As saftey hazard, and we're gonna lose our nation.
Elections stolen, cause your ethics are on vacation,
Rise up against illegal immigration.
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Too expensive, sinking further generations.
Draining funding from the schools to police station,
Rise up against illegal immigration.
SAY NO! to ilegal immigration,
It's offensive to the legals in the nation.
Mayor Vigarossa gonna serve a short duration,
If you don't stop aiding more illegal immigration!
BRAND NEW SITE YOU GOTTA CHECK OUT
REGARDING LAUSD THINGS. Lots of stuff you may not have seen. I know some top-notch research and reporting has gone into this"
www.guerrillaguidetolaunified.com
Zuma Dogg
Jealous Assholes
Huizar #1
I agree with alot of what you say Walter but people keep coming and there is little we can do to stop it. So we should have a plan. Transit Villages seem like the right plan to me.
Hey moron, the population density of Mumbai is 70,499, not 76,000.
8,400 is still nowhere near Manhattan's 66,940. A few thousand more to our density can't hurt.
If you want low-rise, then move to Simi Valley.
Gee Walter,
Great article!
Your opposition to high rise housing,
is the equivalent to our issue with Home Depot in Sunland-Tujuna.
There may be hope for you yet!
Uban density is the issue of our generation. With escalating populations, people have to live somewhere. "Not in my backyard" is never a good solution, but I also have problems with increasing density. Some people like to live 95% of their lives indoors...others do not. How do we balance those needs for quality of life? Birth control might be a start. Preserving green space for moments of R&R is another partial solution. Promoting a lifestyle with "less" is another part of the solution. This isn't an easy gordian knot we've woven with our behaviors and choices. Maybe we need to put our energies into positive solutions that get to the heart of the problem...any insights as to what that heart really is? Carolyn
But Villaraigosa dreams of a "denser and taller Los Angeles".....
but what does that have to do with controling and improving the LAUSD....
go figure....
You sound like a Democrat, Walter.
Well, you're probably right that developers will get rich, just like a lot of people got rich when the land in the Owens Valley was bought up to bring water to L.A. and then the San Fernando Valley was annexed.
But corruption is a different issue from the need for high-rise residential. You seriously can't believe that the city can continue to be low-rise as population increases, can you?
Tokyo is what your future looks like: zoning created tiny lots with tiny houses that nobody can afford. There is a huge class gap between those who inherited land and those who didn't. And now the prefectural government is finally coming to its senses and encouraging high rise condominiums so that people can afford to live in Tokyo, just like they can (barely) afford to live in New York and Paris and other great cities with higher population densities.
A lingering problem is all the tiny lots: developers have a really hard time collecting up enough land to build anything substantial on because they need to negotiate with 100 different property owners, many of whom are 90-years-old and senile.
(And admit it, aren't you glad Mulholland and his cronies built the aquaduct, corruption or not?)
Thanks to Matt Drudge for letting Zuma Dogg be the only call in the 9:00pm hour on Sunday (Nationally).
I was able to bring national attention to people's claim that L.A. politicians "bus in" their own people to the polls; the politicians "friends" run the polls; IDs are not checked; and the people vote under names of others who didn't actually show up.
AND LUCKILY, There was still time to mention the story about The Mayor bussing in his own people to the LAUSD town hall meetings. And if you were anyone else (like other kids and parents NOT on the Mayor's bus), you were told, "Sorry, private event." Even though the City of Los Angeles paid for the event.
Then Matt told me I should complain to Arnold Schwartzenegger. And I told him, I would be protesting at City Hall (on TV 35, this week).
He said he was gonna join me, then Matt Drudge went on a rant how, "While Arnold is playing up the global warming political hand, we're losing the state to fraudulent elections and illegal immigration. And it sounds like there's outrage in the basin of Los Angeles."
So thanks Matt for getting this whole issue the national attention it deserves.
Zuma Dogg
Public Advocate of The Community
www.ZumaDogg.com
Oh, for crying outloud, stop with the BS. Walter is absolutely right!
This is all about not only the developers who get rich, but all the other people who help the developers get rich and those who increase their power and those who build their war chests for their next campaign.
Hey you math majors, check out Reyes figure of 1,000,000 people arriving in LA each year for the next six years. It is a gross exaggeration. Even after being called out, the Clowncilmembers are using a 30% increase in the next 24 years and the correct estimate per Southern California Association of Governments is 10%.
Los Angeles does not have a housing shortage. To the contrary, it is build and they will come!
For more information go to: stopvision2020.com
Walter, go to the last post on the Business of Disaster, and you will see that Sunland Tujunga has already been fighting the battle against so-called smart growth for well over a year now.
There are more monsters trying to decimate Sunland Tujunga than just Home Depot.
Haven't you noticed that there has never been a time like now? A strange kind of greedy socialism is dancing with a vicious kind of fascism in our world, today.
When I was on the PAC for the City Center redvelopment plan ; The one that was crushed in the courts.
I was all for increased density downtown.
For me the danger I see in this city is the continued destruction of single family dwelling neighborhoods.
Downtown Los Angeles should be a very densely populated region. Why are we going into single family dwelling unit neighborhoods and destroying their quality of life?
And why wasn't Downtown densified through smart growth a long time ago? why were the neighborhoods such as KOrea town and Macathur Park etc , densified , when Downtown Los Angeles should have been the place we started. and then the opposition could have happened in those communities that are well now into being and have been gentrified such as Echo PArk and Silver LAke?
I beleive we should continue to prevent the single family dwelling unit communities from becoming extinct.
It is imperative that smart growth takes this into account.
There is nothing wrong with smart growth , just do not destroy the single family dwellling communities.
To understand where smart growth has not worked; research how Portland Oregon adopted a smart growth policy and how now their stock of housing has not kept up with demand and they are facing a problem with higher housing costs
I took a look at stopvision2020, but even the data there is too high. The 6 million figure was reduced to 4 million in 2004 by the California DOF (the people that came up with the 6 million figure originally) when they realized that their methods for making the estimates were totally inaccurate. The current SCAG figure is 400,000 new people in the City by 2040, about 10%, as was mentionedx, and it is based on the 4 million figure.
It's worth noting that the 4 million figure is for the entire SCAG area, I think that includes about 52% of the states population (even though they refer to it as the "Metropolitan Los Angeles Area"). The 30% figure that the politicians are bandying about is the overall number for SCAG but most of the growth is predicted to be to the east (Riverside, San Bernardino, etc.), even though the Clowncil would have you believe it was expected within the city limits. It's simply a lie.
As far as what it has to do with the LAUSD takeover, school attendance is falling. They're already talking about not needing all that property they own and "maybe using some for housing". Housing has everything to do with the takeover. I'm sure ol' Tony would just love to have control over all that LAUSD property.
I am curious Walter. Are you saying that people should have control over what gets built in their communities? What happened to "let the free market decide?"
Or does that only apply to big box stores trying to force themselves into a neighborhood that doesn't want them?
People like Alger do not want big box stores in his neighborhood but he does want their stock in his portfolio.
NIMBY.......
Alger accepts an award for his Katrina Aid effort but fights efforts by Walmart and Home Depot, who gave millions in Katrina aid, from locating in his neighborhood.
Nimby...Nimby....Nimby...
The alternative to "smart growth" is called "urban sprawl".
The vertical smart growth does cut down on traffic if it is built near mass transportation and jobs.
Antonio is right this time; are you guys so anti-Antonio that it is coming down to the fact that nothing he does can be right?
I thought that attitude was exclusively reserved for George W. Bush, who has a great roaring economy going and a successful war on terror going, and all the MSM has to say is that he never does anything right.
You guys need to go out and get a life.
7:27 and 7:38 (same fool)Once again you have no idea what you are talking about, but what else is new?
I personally couldn't care less about Wal Mart or Home Depot but those who voted for me did. (care about Wal Mart not Home Depot which is located 30 miles away)
Hundreds came to community meetings to express their deep concern about the proposed 4th Wal Mart in 5 miles. I know this is a strange concept for you but when your constituents scream at you in mass to fight for something, you probably should.
The issue was traffic and the site was nowhere near my house so enough of the NIMBY nonsense.
Adding over 5,000 new vehicle trips per day (using THEIR traffic study) to what was already the most congested intersection in Northridge made no sense. If it did, Wal mart would have done the EIR and told me and others to go fly a kite. Fact is they knew they couldn't get through an EIR so they turned tail and ran away. Period.
Now, a new developer is working with the Neighborhood Council, the Council office and the community to build a project that makes sense for everyone at that location.
THAT is exactly what Neighborhood Councils are for.
Zuma Dogg...I missed the Drudge program, but is he really going to join you in the fight? If true, that's fantastic!
Illegal alien voters should be front page news in every newspaper in the country and every tv station on the planet.
Local politics in CA is the most corrupt piece of shit I have ever seen. These Mexicans have to go!!!!
It's a hostile, reconquista and it needs to be exposed!
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, ZDOGG!!!!!
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen,
I heard Mr. Dogg on the radio and was entertained and informed at the same time. Good form Mr. Dogg.
(Bows low with flourish of hat) I am corrected in that Mrs. Newman is Ms. Allen, and must admit that she is everything I have heard about her. She's a lady, very knowledgeable about the issues in her Assembly District and the Republicans are lucky to have her. Damn sots, they should have more candidates like Ms. Allen-Newman.
Ms. Allen can also sail a real sailing ship, and she's quite good at it. By the end of the day she had my crew asking me if they could sail with her. Bugger my crew, the bloody sots.
The thing to remember is that sailing is a lot like politics. One must be able to ascertain what lies below the surface, be able to read the wind and be flexible enough to change course the moment the wind changes. Ms. Allen is well schooled and it was an honor to have her command my ship for the day. Although, she can't speak whale, but I would not hold that against her.
ROMERO, NUNEZ, PADILLA AND DELEON WALK THE PLANK IN NOVEMBER. Thankfully the 45th Assembly District has someone who can take the helm and knows what the hell she's doing.
Scott Carwile, are you willing to sail with a pirate crew?
Alger makes an excellent point although much more diplomatically than I would have.
That is the problem with you putting your 2 cents into EVERYTHING Walter, you contradict yourself and get exposed as a hypocrite.
Antonio and his smart growth planners are up to their usual help the developers at any cost - screw the constituents.
Do you really think people who buy million dollar condos in downtown LA are going to ride the subway or the train or the bus with all of us smelly peons?
Los Angeles was designed to be a low density city, an alternative to the high rise cities of the east. People didn't find living on top of each other ideal. Los Angeles is a better city than New York, Boston, and Chigaco for exactly that reason.
If LA becomes another up and down city it will be a lose for all. Another ugly dense piece of earth - how sad.
What is worse is that unlike those cities, LA didn't grow that way - meaning that LA has not been building the necessary elements to make such density work, ie transportation, police or fire protection, etc.
Mayor V is chasing the myth of affordable housing. Somehow I don't think that these glass palaces will house his unwashed masses.
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I'm encouraged by the string of comments on this post. There are a lot of different perspectives on urban growth that must be considered and respected.
Mr. Moore does a good job of staying informed, but he often paints the "gray" issues of planning and development in stark "black and white" tones. Consider my critique/response to his post on traffic congestion, which he neglected to share on Mayor Sam:
3 Miles Per Hour
There is no need for anyone to be alarmist here. While we can't prevent growth and change in our city, we don't have to accept the Mayor's plan without criticism. Take advantage of the public hearings and the opportunity to provide input. Your voice matters.
The idea of increasing density near transit isn't part of an evil developer conspiracy: it's something that urban planners have been championing for decades. Remember who the planners and politicans work for: you - the taxpayer, the property owner, the resident. You have the power to help shape our city's future.
Gail Goldberg, new head of Los Angeles' City Planning and queen of San Diego's urban village chaos, has spoken repeatedly in front of numerous groups and is on the record as saying she will allow each community to choose its own lifestyle.
Some communities may want to develop while others absolutely do not.
Understand that this type of development may have been in the works for decades, but smart growth is based on lies. The first lie is to create a housing crisis where there is none; the second lie is to eulogize, exaggerate, and glorify the results; and the third lie is to diminish the horrible side affects.
Urban Villages will not succeed in Los Angeles in most areas, because Angelenos are NIMBYs, they will not get out of their cars, and there is no guarantee that they can find work that can be done at home.
Pay attention, folks, there is much more to this than meets the eye.
Ah, what a chorus of willful ignorance spews forth from those taking pot shots at the idea of more density.
Face it, silly suburbanites, it's coming whether you like it or not, as is more traffic. So your choice is whether growth continues to be dumb and makes things maximally worse, or it's not quite as dumb and the deterioration slows down. Nobody's offering you a new paradise via visionary planning, and the one you thought you had is fading fast.
Walter Moore should stop using his blatherings as pre-campaign platform rants for his next futile run against Villaraigosa for mayor in 2010 and take some of his own advice: run for City Council first and show us he knows how to do something more than flap his jaws. Or is he afraid Zuma Dogg would kick his sorry ass up one side of the boulevard and down the other?
How can you put ironic quotes around "outdated" when you admit that the zoning codes are from 1910?
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