It's Five Years Later and Time to Ask (Again): Was Zuma Dogg Right About Infrastructure?

With the recent break in a major water main in West Los Angeles that has wrought significant damage upon UCLA, one has to ask (again) has LA densified so much and put so much stress upon it's late 19th/early 20th century infrastructure that it is now crumbling under the weight of all this development?

Almost five years ago to the day I wrote the following at this august blog:

Though I haven't always agreed with Zuma Dogg on development in Los Angeles for some time the erstwhile observer, advocate and now Council Candidate has issued clarion calls about overdevelopment in Los Angeles and its impact on an aging infrastructure.

I had hearkened back to a warning that Mr. Dogg, in his own inimitable style issued a year earlier, in 2008:

And oh yeah, are you adding 35% more roads, police, fire, trash collection AND WATER!!! THERE IS NOT ENOUGH WATER TO ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THIS ADDED DENSITY -- AND YOU KNOW THIS. AND YOU WILL NEED WATER TO COOL YOU OFF BASED ON WHERE YOU ARE ALL HEADED FOR THIS. Besides the infrastructure -- THIS WILL CAUSE A SERIOUS WATER PROBLEM!!! WARNING...WARNING...THIS IS NOT A TEST!!!

That's not supposed to happen.

A huge amount of this development coming from affordable and homeless (such as the controversial Day Street Apartments in Sunland-Tujunga) housing that is incentivized through various city regulations and programs and has created a growth industry around growth? Again, Zuma answered that question way back when George Bush was still President and Donald Sterling didn't have a clue who V. Stiviano is. 

It'll take a minute to type up a comedy review exposing all the shady angles, but basically, if you agree to add 10% affordable housing; a developer can increase density by 20% on your project. 20% affordable housing=35% added density "bonus" (incentive).

Go back seven years and Zuma gives the prescription that should have been filled a long time ago that easily foreshadowed incidents such as the Westwood main break, earlier failures of LA's electrical system and countless other infrastructure debacles in just the last few years.

"B-ruined" (Hat tip to Joseph Mailander)

All of this density is being created without the proper infrastructure to accommodate the added demand.

Back in those days, too, there was another guy with a different kind of a bully pulpit, that is radio talk show host Kevin James, who knew deep the failures and corruption of local government, so much so that he gave up his radio career to run for Mayor and state the case for reform and to bring our infrastructure up to snuff.

James didn't win for Mayor but he earned the role of President of the city's Public Works Commission, the key organization to deal with all of the city's pipes, roads, bridges, wires, etc. He said the right thing during the campaign, but following the Great Flood of Westwood, what did President James have to say?

We've been saying these things for almost ten years now. It is time for the residents to wake up. Or, perhaps you like surfing down Glendon?

By the way, I totally agree with Zuma now on development.

Was Zuma Dogg Right About Infrastructure?

Though I haven't always agreed with Zuma Dogg on development in Los Angeles for some time the erstwhile observer, advocate and now Council Candidate has issued clarion calls about overdevelopment in Los Angeles and its impact on an aging infrastructure.

Are we seeing the tell-tale signs of this with twin water main breaks in Studio City and Valley Village this weekend?

The area around Ventura Blvd and Coldwater Canyon Ave experienced a flood of near bibilical-like propotions Saturday evening when a City water main dating back to 1914 burst.  City crews are still in mop-up operations with hundreds of homes and businesses impacted.  Major portions of the roadway were washed away in the flood with repairs not likely for days or weeks.

Tuesday morning another water main burst underneath a neighborhood in Valley Village, just a few miles away from the Ventura-Coldwater disaster creating a sinkhole that swallowed an LAFD firertruck.  At least 40 homes are without water.

Are these isolated incidents or perhaps was Zuma right about the impact of unchecked development on roadways, water pipes, the water supply and electric grid? Are we only seeing the very beginning of all hell breaking loose with the City under the weight of too many people?

This very well could be a game changer in the coming CD2 elections and beyond. In light of these recent incidents it will be interesting to hear what the candidates have to say.  Stay tuned!

Can-Do Society

Downtown Tokyo, originally uploaded by pbev.

Point out that additional freeway capacity must be central to any infrastructure plan that honestly expects to accommodate a growing Southern California population, and seven times out of ten you'll get a response adhering loosely to the following script:

“We can't double-deck the freeways in Los Angeles—one big earthquake and they’d collapse.”

In my experience, the earthquake card is typically played by people who are dogmatically opposed to cars—and, by extension, freeways. These folks aim to end debate early (before it turns philosophical), and operate on the assumption that you won’t take to the Internets, where, among other things, you can find photos of multi-level freeways snaking through Tokyo and Taipei—places, of course, where the ground shakes with greater ferocity and frequency.

Truth is, for all the big talk of transforming Los Angeles into a world-class “Jewel of the Pacific,” the Asians are, quite frankly, shaming us in the department of rolling up the sleeves, embracing the latest technological and engineering advances, and doing right by the people.

As they build the necessary infrastructure, we continue to spin our wheels and sink deeper into the mud; electing people politicians who campaign, cynically enough, on “bold ideas.”

Today, our cars run on fossil fuels. Perhaps, someday, we’ll all be pulling into hydrogen fueling stations. How we ultimately fill our tanks is yet to be determined, but one thing is crystal clear: most of us will not give up the Los Angeles lifestyle to live in Los Angeles.