July 17, 2010

Measure R and TOD

Rendering for Expo Line's Vermont Station near Exposition Park and USC.
The NY Times wrote recently about the under construction Expo Line, scheduled to open as soon as next summer, and how it is already spurring transit-oriented development.

Los Angeles consistently earns the dubious award for worst traffic congestion in the US. The reasons for congestion in Los Angeles are complex, but the salient point is that most of the city’s residential, commercial, and retail districts were built for people coming and going by car. Few areas of the city are capable of supporting non-auto dependent lifestyles. To rectify this situation, and fight congestion and air pollution at the same time, the city is investing heavily in new transit lines like Expo via Measure R, a voter approved sales tax increase that will raise $30 billion for eleven new rail lines and extensions over the next thirty years.

Los Angeles’ existing transit network of 71 stations and 100 miles of track, coupled with the additional infrastructure investments provided by Measure R, represent the city’s best chance for creating dense, affordable and non-auto dependent communities. There is tremendous potential for Los Angeles to leverage its existing transit network, Measure R and demand for transit-oriented development as the starting point for improving mobility, building community and achieving regional sustainability. Simply building more roads and more parking to accommodate ever more cars is unsustainable and unhealthy. And without much remaining empty land (besides remote desert valleys) the City has little choice (if it wants to grow sensibly) to concentrate growth and vitality around transit stations.

July 13, 2010

Revisioning the San Fernando Valley

I came acroos two interesting news stories this past week. The first is from The Planning Report online, which discusses the recent formation of the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments, and the other is a video from TED.com by Ellen Dunham-Jones about retrofitting suburbs into more vibrant and sustainable communities.

Bringing together elected officials and planners in the SFV under one umbrella is sure to benefit the region as it plans for continued economic and demographic growth in the coming years. The SFV not only functions as its own region, but it is also part of the larger LA-metro region covering five counties and roughly 15 million people; this reality must be taken into consideration for any planning efforts to be successful. The formation of a SFV COG is a positive first step. Just look at how coordinated lobbying, planning and political pressure worked in the San Gabriel Valley - Metro broke ground just last month on a 12 mile "foothill extension" of the the Gold Line, scheduled to open for revenue service in 2014.

Numerous SFV-regional issues come to mind that deserve attention and coordinated planning: the headwaters of the LA River begin in the western SFV, the Orange Line (which many want converted to light rail) traverses the basin and is being extended north to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station and at least one California High Speed Rail station has been promised for the Valley. The SFV COG will prove its worth if it can manage to leverage these resources effectively to reorient growth and development away from the automobile and toward a more just and sustainable future. We need not reinvent the wheel to make this happen, for really good plans, like the LA River Master Plan, already exist; we just need the political and financial support to make it happen.

For additional ideas about how to reinvent suburbia, which is an apt characterization of much of the SFV, watch Ellen's 20 minute video (link above). Land in LA is at a premium and taking advantage of all the underutilized parcels and parking lots in the SFV represent an enormous untapped resource for capturing growth within the city's existing urban envelope. Some may fight any increase in density but few attractive alternatives remain in our increasingly resource constrained world.

July 8, 2010

Planning Vacancy Opens Door for Innovation

City of Los Angeles Planning Director Gail Goldberg announced her retirement recently, which has been covered by numerous sources. Here are two good articles that talk about her impact on planning, the city and opportunities for future innovation now that she's leaving: LA Times and more from The Architect's Newspaper.

The LA River Master Plan and construction of dozens of miles of rail via Measure R are two of the most obvious opportunities for LA to remake itself in the coming years. Time will tell how the City's new planning director will manage these opportunities while integrating principles of sustainability. In many ways, without any clear direction about how LA ought to grow sustainably over the coming decades, there is a real chance for the new director to put their imprint on the issue and begin to frame the debate.

What would you like to see LA's new planning chief do? What advice would you offer to the incoming planning director? How do you think they should define "sustainability" for the city?

July 2, 2010

Looking to China for Inspiration?

China is moving toward a carbon-neutral future through heavy investment in mass-transit, high-speed rail and renewable energy sources. Read the article from World Changing. Los Angeles is pursuing similar carbon reduction strategies but a singular focus on carbon based emissions dilutes the meaning of sustainability. The two are not synonymous and should not be treated that way. "Green buildings" are not "sustainable" unless they address the full menu of priorities that define sustainability.
It's probably not controversial for me to say that carbon-neutrality is not sufficient for a sustainable Los Angeles. Water, transportation (mobility), housing, etc. are all issues intimately tied to the sustainability of the region. Engaging in a narrow discussion about sustainability will mean that too many other vitally important issues will be ignored. It will serve Los Angeles well to have a more comprehensive discussion about sustainability, rather than an overly circumscribed discussion about only carbon emissions. What aspects of sustainability, beyond carbon emissions, do you think policy makers should be considering for Los Angeles?