In 2018 there is new urgency for saving Parker Center, the midcentury masterpiece by Welton Becket that has stood empty for years a block from City Hall, and which Mayor Eric Garcetti …
Curren Price, City Council District 9, Vetos Homeless Housing for Seniors
We all learned from Los Angeles Times reporter Emily Alpert-Reyes of a slyly concocted “veto letter” that allows each Los Angeles City Council member, in this case Curren Price, to write a ban any …
Berkeley Finds CEQA Doesn’t Hurt Housing, City Councils Do
“Getting It Right,” a stunning report by Berkeley Law and Columbia University researchers, drives a stake in claims by Gov. Brown and legislators that the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, …
Eric Garcetti Nominating Political Consultant for Planning Commission?
L.A. planning commissioners, who wield tremendous power and influence, should obviously have a background in urban planning and land use, right? Not according to Mayor Eric Garcetti. He’s nominated a …
How Nextdoor Found 10 Million People While LA City Planning Found 100
By Jorge Castaneda – In 2013, I was organizing for the startup Nextdoor, the social networking app for neighborhoods whose logo is a cute ’n chunky house. Nobody had heard of …
Los Angeles, If You Love Breathing, Fight for True Open Space!
After months of controversial, closed-door, non-transparent meetings, the L.A. Planning Dept. is finally holding four “Open Space Element” public meetings on the Westside, Valley, South L.A. and Hollywood to determine …
Is Re:code L.A. Not Reaching Out to Neighborhood Councils?
Does the L.A. planning department not want feedback from the city’s neighborhood councils for Re:code L.A.? At recent public hearings, it sure seemed that way, with officials awkwardly explaining why …
L.A.’s Urban Tree Canopy Must be Saved to Fight the Heat Island Effect and Climate Change
“To exist as a nation, prosper as a state, we must have trees.” — Theodore Roosevelt Why Now is the Time to Act to Save the Urban Tree Canopy in …
People of Color Are Still Exposed to More Transportation Pollution, Says Study
A new, joint study by researchers from the University of Washington and University of Minnesota shows that people of color are still exposed to more pollution created by trucks and …
Are L.A. Politicians Pushing the Homeless Out of Gentrified Downtown?
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a women’s homeless shelter for Sylmar on Tuesday — the same community in northern L.A. County where the city of L.A. …