South Robertson Great Streets Final Report by LA Great Streets

FINAL REPORT October 6, 2017

Prepared by the South Robertson Community Foundation, Inc. Marjan Safinia Doug Fitzsimmons Ellen Issacs

Project Partners Mayor Eric Garcetti South Robertson Neighborhoods Council Council President Herb Wesson, District 10 Councilmember Paul Koretz, District 5 Reynier Village Neighborhood Association The Relational Center

Event and portrait photography by Barry E. Levine

Thanks to our Leadership Committee, volunteers, and community members who generously gave their time and wisdom to make this effort a success. Special thanks to Jenny An, Mukul Malhotra, and Steven Davidovas, MIG; Qiuana Williams, Mayorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office/Dept. of Planning; Laurence DeMers and staff, South Robertson Community Foundation, Inc.

Overview .............................................................................................................. 2 Introduction & Community Context .......................................................... 6 Historical Perspective .................................................................................................................................... 7 Present Day Project Area.............................................................................................................................9 LANI Project ......................................................................................................................................................10 A History of Community Outreach ............................................................................................................ 11 Windows of Opportunity ..............................................................................................................................12

Contents

Signs of Hope ..................................................................................................................................................15

Planning Process ..............................................................................................16 Digital Outreach ..............................................................................................................................................18 In-Person Opportunities ...............................................................................................................................19 Direct Business Outreach ......................................................................................................................... 20 Partnerships .................................................................................................................................................... 24 On-the-ground Promotion......................................................................................................................... 25

Project Implementation ................................................................................26 Great Streets Community Workshop No. 1: Kickoff ..........................................................................27 SoRo Festival ................................................................................................................................................. 29 Great Streets Community Workshop No. 2: Design ....................................................................... 32 Great Streets Town Hall: Plan Reveal ....................................................................................................34

Data Collection Methods & Analysis........................................................36 Methods ............................................................................................................................................................37 Analysis .............................................................................................................................................................38

Community Vision & Capacity ...................................................................42 Prioritized Recommendations ...................................................................46 Short Term Improvements..........................................................................................................................47 Medium Term Improvements ................................................................................................................... 52 Long Term Improvements ......................................................................................................................... 56 Full South Robertson Plan Buildout ....................................................................................................... 58

Appendices ...................................................................................................... 60 A: Community Survey ................................................................................................................................. 60 B: Business Survey ...................................................................................................................................... 64

Overview

On paper, South Robertson is a community of borders. We have a border to the south with Culver City. To the north, Beverly Hills. We are in four community plans, three police Divisions, two zip-codes. The border between Council President Wesson’s district and Councilmember Koretz’s district runs down the very middle of the South Robertson project area: a 0.6 mile stretch between Cadillac and Kincardine. As we know, these man-made lines can have real world consequences. And so too, in many small ways over the years, they’ve affected South Robertson. For us, Robertson—our Great Street—is not a border. Our Great Street is not a passageway to somewhere else. Our Great Street binds this community together.

For decades, we have been shaped by our fight for a better South Robertson. Twenty years ago, that fight gave birth to two community-led organizations that continue to advocate here; it honed our political know-how; propelled us into stronger outreach partnerships; created the twenty-year strong annual SoRo Festival along the boulevard; and helped foment a determined community spirit. Here, along the last mile before the freeway, we know change begets change. To the north and south, Beverly Hills and Culver City have boomed. To the east and west, residential neighborhoods have flourished. Minutes away, a major transit hub has started to shape development, and now, through this process, we are resolved to begin reshaping South Robertson, too.

1997 when the first community organization came together with their Councilmembers to find solutions, and it is true today. Our efforts have been well documented through the years, and our vision has remained consistent. We understand the contraints, as well. Robertson is a major north-south connector from the freeway to Beverly Hills and Century City. The adjacent neighborhoods are overwhelmed with cutthrough commuter traffic already. That means lane reductions aren’t feasible. In the absence of off-street parking options, our buinesses rely on the available street parking. Those two factors mean bike lanes aren’t feasible, either. We will have to find other solutions.

A safe, walkable street and a thriving business district

The good news is that these twenty years–and more–have given us a lot of time to get clear on what we want: a safe, walkable street and a thriving business district. This was true in

And while residents overwhelmingly want expanded retail choices, those changes will have to happen organically, over time. Through the Great Streets process, we’ve had an opportunity to lift spirits and re-energize the

community in conversation about their vision– one that many had given up on ever seeing come to fruition. By partnering with South Robertson Neighborhoods Council (SORO NC) we ensured that our outreach efforts would be robust. They are our resident experts. Community outreach focused on five main strategies: robust and innovative digital outreach including surveys, online videos and social media advertising; a variety of in-person meetings, workshops and events; dedicated outreach with the business community; on-the-ground promotion using yard signs; and robust partner outreach through existing organizations such as neighborhood associations, faith-based organizations, schools and more. Through this multi-pronged approach, we engaged in direct conversation with over a thousand people, and reached tens of thousands more with an invitation to get involved. What we heard was strong consensus and clear alignment about what isn’t working on the street and agreement about the change we

need to see. With passion and enthusiasm, the community consistently favored improvements that support a philosophical shift from “the final sprint to the freeway” to a “main street’ for SORO. The primary focus was to: •

Slow and calm traffic along the corridor during non-peak hours without losing a lane of traffic– and if possible, discourage cut-through traffic during peak hours through the neighborhoods

•

Create safer pedestrian passageways for our community, particularly for the 3600 Hamilton High students that flood the street at morning and afternoon rush hour

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Create a more attractive pedestrian experience to support our businesses with much-needed foot traffic

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Provide places for the community to gather with focus on bringing new greening and shade to the street

The community imagined a thriving neighborhoodserving commercial corridor demarcated by two

clear gateways, signalling to drivers to slow their speed. Within that, initial improvements focus on the few blocks that make up the commercial core, clearly defining the area as one that is safe and welcoming for pedestrians to explore. If we can change the nature of the relationship between pedestrians and noisy, speeding traffic, then maybe we can draw more people to the street and support and attract businesses that want to serve them. Our suggested improvements respect traffic throughput while also addressing issues raised by the community and business-owners. With the vision and support of the Mayor’s office and the Great Streets Initiative, we believe that change might finally come. The City has expressed a desire to see vibrant neighborhoods built on civic engagement. We have that in spades. With strong political allies in Council President Herb Wesson, Councilmember Paul Koretz, and SORO NC, we couldn’t be in better shape to capitalize on this opportunity. Will Great Streets lift the morale of the community and erase the lines that have split this corridor for so long? We’re banking on it.

We need to find solutions within these ground rules:

• No removal of traffic lanes • Minimal parking impact • Finding safer, alternative routes for bikes along parallel, quieter streets • Work with our existing businesses to build a supportive community 4

Introduction & Community Context

Opposite: Construction of the 10 Freeway at La Cienega, 1964 // LA Times Photographic Archive, UCLA Library

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE The story of the South Robertson corridor stretches back decades. Understanding the area’s future hinges on understanding how long this community has been fighting for change, and how transformative and critical this Great Streets Initiative can finally be here. It is one of the brightest opportunities we’ve experienced in the last fifty years, and we hope it starts a new chapter in the street’s story. As in all good historical epics, that story includes a community which has been actively seeking help for a long, long time. So long, in fact, that many here have given up hope that change will ever come. Others remain steadfast and determined: if only we keep making our case, eventually someone will hear us. And so we have kept faith for the last quarter century. But our story begins earlier than that. The time: the mid-1960s. The 10 Freeway opens, bisecting the vibrant Palms/South Robertson business district. The planned north/south Beverly Hills Freeway will never be built. Over time, the new traffic throttles the Robertson businesses.

Jump to 1997. Then-Councilmember Mike Feuer is concerned about the state of South Robertson. Community members clamor for help to revitalize the desolate street. He commissions a report to provide the community with the analysis they need to make their case. Moon Song-Empig, a Master’s student in Urban Planning at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research, takes on the project and in June of that year she publishes her findings. You can see the full report at: soronc.org/files/documents/SORO_ RobertsonRevitalizationStudy_UCLA1997.pdf As you read these italicized excerpts (with our occasional added emphasis), remember that they were written twenty years ago, about conditions that had already existed for decades. That’s how long this stretch of South Robertson feels like it has been frozen in amber. “The center of this study, the South Robertson Commercial Strip, consists of a ten block area which is approximately 3/4 of a mile long located in the southern portion of the study area from National Boulevard to Cadillac Avenue.” The Great Streets project area is 0.6 miles from Cadillac to Kincardine, just north of National. The same exact stretch of street. “A plan to revitalize the South Robertson Boulevard Commercial Strip was initiated by Councilman Michael Feuer. This study aims to provide a clear understanding of the issues and problems facing the South Robertson commercial area today…Concurrent with the launching of this study, the Livable Neighborhood Council (LNC) was initiated

by Councilman Michael Feuer…Since its inception in December 1996, LNC has been actively involved in working towards improving the quality of their community as that of the South Robertson commercial strip. During a series of LNC meetings, subcommittees were formed to tackle more specific problems such as safety of the community, façade improvements and major clean up along South Robertson Boulevard in an effort to improve the commercial strip.” The group of community members that formed the LNC eventually grew into two separate and enduring community organizations: the SORO Community Foundation, lead applicants for this Great Streets project, and the South Robertson Neighborhoods Council, part of the City of Los Angeles, and primary outreach partners on the Great Streets project. Today, twenty years later, the SORO Community Foundation and SORO NC continue advocating for this same small stretch of Robertson. “In April 1997, the Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles was brought in by the Office of Councilman Feuer to discuss the possibility of holding a cultural program in the area, during which a façade improvement project can be initiated.” This “cultural event” became the SoRo Festival, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in June 2017. The SoRo Festival takes place along the very same length of the project area, from Cadillac to Cattaraugus, every year. And at the heart of SoRo Festival this year? A forty-foot-long Great Streets outreach booth, seeking community input. 7

“During the 1940’s, the South Robertson Boulevard Commercial Strip was a thriving neighborhood commercial center…Back then, the neighborhood center had a variety of stores that included two meat markets, a block-long nursery, a flower shop, a bookstore, a gift shop, a barber shop, a bakery, and two or three dress shops. It was a thriving and self-contained retail center. Residents frequented the stores by walking to and supporting the local businesses… According to a long time local resident, the South Robertson Commercial strip was a thriving neighborhood center until women entered the workforce and started driving. This decline was further spurred by the opening of the Santa Monica Freeway. “Today’s South Robertson Boulevard is the result of both rapid growth in the 1940’s coupled with the lack of public investment and neglect during the last 30 years [50 years, as you read this today in 2017]. Robertson Boulevard is still an important thoroughfare carrying thousands of cars everyday. Due to its immediate access to the Santa Monica Freeway coupled with its close proximity to Beverly Hills, Fox Studio and Century City, South Robertson has experienced a steady increase in traffic. During the last 30 years [again, now 50 years], the South Robertson commercial strip has experienced significant deterioration of businesses and major decline in sales. Maintenance of store fronts has slackened and several established merchants

have left the area only to be replaced by marginal businesses that draw clients from the wider Los Angeles area. Crime has become a major concern of area merchants. “In a business sense, the commercial strip has lost a clear definition of what goods and services it offers to its residents. However, the analysis of demographics indicate that residents have a high disposable income. With appropriate uses and services oriented toward the residents in the community, the South Robertson commercial strip can once again become an important shopping area.” Each time we read the words from this report, we are struck by how it continues to ring true today. And so we open our story with this historical anchor, because it is the strongest evidence we have to show that improvements to this corridor are long overdue, and that this area deserves the full attention and collaboration of City partners to ensure that decisions that are made today (such as those involved in the concurrent Great Streets project, the I-10 Freeway Ramp Reconfiguration, the Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan (ETNP), Vision Zero, and ongoing development of Culver City–all overlapping in this small area) don’t continue to negatively impact this community for the next fifty years. Today, our neighborhood finds itself at a clear moment of opportunity, and our hope is that the hard work the community has put in to come up with a clear vision for the area can finally be given the consideration that it deserves.

Decades of Stagnation

1997 “In a business sense, the commercial strip has lost a clear definition of what goods and services it offers to its residents.” — UCLA report on South Robertson

2016 “Very few neighborhoodoriented commercial corridors in the City have such a dismal appearance.” — LA Zoning Administrator

PRESENT DAY PROJECT AREA By any normal measure, the area should be the natural heart of the SORO community. Located just north of the Culver City Expo station, the project area, a neighborhood-oriented commercial strip, extends approximately 0.6 of a mile along South Robertson Boulevard from Cadillac Avenue to Kincardine Avenue. The roadway is designated as a secondary highway, although its width is a substandard 80' (including sidewalks and parking lanes); the average sidewalk is 10' and includes 4' open planted tree wells. Businesses include a mix of older light industrial operations and struggling retail storefronts in mostly single-story and a few two-story retail buildings. The abutting neighborhoods are community-focused and highly diverse in ethnicity and income, poorly-served by the street’s neglected businesses and speeding traffic. To the east, Reynier Village and Crestview neighborhoods boast about 500 to 750 homes each. To the west, Castle Heights and Beverlywood contain 1700 and 1300 homes, respectively.

Streets are tree-lined, homes well-tended, property prices buoyant, schools improving, and residents neighborly and highly invested in their community. These are demographics that should appeal to any retailer. Median home prices in 90034 and 90035 range from $1–1.3 million, median income is in the high $70,000 range, and the community has a good distribution of multi-generational residents and younger families, the majority between 25–64 with college or higher education. To the South, the corridor is anchored by the magnificent Hamilton High School, dating back to 1931 and designed by the architects who created Griffith Observatory. Today, Hamilton is not just a meaningful institution and asset in the community, but every day it draws over 3600 students who walk along the corridor, are picked up and dropped off at Kincardine (where the current I-10 off-ramp sits) and who travel to school using transit. They need safe passage. The impact of this concentration of students, cars, roadway and freeway is often ignored in City (and State) planning. Tragically, there are frequent nearmisses and one student traffic death in the last few years since the Expo Line came to Culver City. Geographically speaking, this strip is ideally located, too: direct freeway access and a critical connector corridor between the thriving cities of Beverly Hills and Culver City. With the opening of the within-walking-distance Culver City Expo station and the explosion of high-density development surrounding it, the business district should be blossoming. And yet, South Robertson has stagnated for decades. As mentioned above, the 10 Freeway split

the commercial district and channeled speeding commuters past neglected storefronts. Absentee landlords, crumbling storefronts, industrial upholstery shops, low-cost auto dealers, and shallow lots compound the problem. The street itself has too many empty parking spaces that do nothing to encourage walking and discovery. In a South Los Angeles Area Planning Commission Determination Letter, dated 20 June 2016, regarding a proposed (and denied) application for a cellphone tower at 2512 S. Robertson Blvd, (a long-shuttered former restaurant/bar at the heart of the corridor), the letter reads: “The Zoning Administrator visited the project site...This commercial strip is clearly underutilized and under improved as many storefronts lack up to date maintenance at first glance. One remarkable impression of the said Robertson commercial corridor is the appalling abundance of advertising billboards, pole signs, and above grade power poles and lines. The streetscape is marred by various visually undesirable structures and uses. Very few neighborhood-oriented commercial corridors in the City have such a dismal appearance. A survey around the local residential neighborhood reveals well-maintained single-family properties. The disparity between the sluggish state of the commercial corridor and prosperous residential neighborhood is very evident.” Undeterred, a new application for a cell tower was submitted at this same location in September 2017. Our blight invites the feeling that anything goes.

LANI PROJECT A 1997–2006 Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) partnership with the SORO Community Foundation began to lay the groundwork for change. With a grant budget of $498,000, the completed beautification and safety projects projects included: •

Pedestrian-activated crosswalk at Robertson Blvd. and Olin Street

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Decorative stamped asphalt crosswalks at three intersections

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Sidewalk repair and cleaning

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Tree pruning and replanting

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Six bus shelters with matching benches and trash receptacles

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25 decorative pedestrian lights, improving public safety and pedestrian use

60%

Almost eight years later, our work on the Great Streets project shows many of these same goals are true, confirming that the South Robertson community is clear about what it wants, and that investment in this area is long overdue.

Crime & Safety

40%

10%

Graffiti

Traffic

20%

Parking

30% Trees, Greening, & Parks

Each year, as part of their outreach mandate, SORO NC surveys the community at the SoRo Festival, which draws about 8,000–10,000 people annually including community, businesses, elected officials, and City partners. With a steady trail of community surveys dating back to 2009, SORO NC has long documented the community’s strong desire for change. At the 2009 SoRo Festival, almost 60% of the people surveyed said the state of Robertson was the biggest problem in the area. More than crime, more than safety, more than graffiti, more than traffic–all issues that consistently rank high in almost any community survey anywhere in the world.

Back in 2009, community members expressed disappointment that the commercial face of the neighborhood had little connection to the vibrant, proud, diverse and connected community that exists within the residential streets. People spoke about a desire to be able to walk to a nice restaurant, or gather with friends at a local coffee shop. Restaurants, cafés, markets, delis, and boutique/specialty real estate uses ranked highest on the community’s desires for the corridor–all people-serving businesses. There was a strong community desire to see a more walkable business district, improved business façades, traffic medians to slow traffic, the construction of a public parking structure to support parking requirements for restaurants and cafés, and provision for public community meeting spaces, like a Farmer’s Market.

Condition of Streets & Sidewalks

Following the strong work that the SORO Community Foundation set in motion with the LANI project, SORO NC has also focused on the South Robertson corridor as a core project. SORO NC is considered a leader among LA Neighborhood Councils, and has won two separate Empower LA Awards for their Community Outreach in the last four years. This community is fortunate to have such strong leadership.

50%

Schools

A HISTORY OF COMMUNITY OUTREACH

Revitalizing Robertson

What’s the biggest problem facing SORO? // 2009 Survey

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WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY The Great Streets effort isn’t starting in a planning vacuum. A number of other zoning and transportation projects are also underway or recently completed in the area.

West Adams/Baldwin Hills/ Leimert Community Plan We want to note some history here regarding the West Adams/Baldwin Hills/Leimert Community Plan, where South Robertson forms the western boundary. When that plan was written, SORO NC submitted extensive and specific notes about the South Robertson area to the plan’s authors. These included: •

Provision for a safe and inviting pedestrian connection between the Expo Line station in Culver City and the South Robertson Commercial Corridor/Hamilton High School

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Mixed use zoning for the parcel immediately to the north of the westbound I-10 Freeway ramp to support transit-oriented density

Consideration of potential re-zoning of R-2 properties abutting the alley behind C4-1VLCPIO uses along the South Robertson project area to lay groundwork for the possibility of future deepening of commercial lots while still maintaining an offset from residential homes

During the stop-and-start seven-year West Adams Community planning process, these critical pieces of the community’s vision were omitted from the final plan.

Transportation and Planning Studies of Robertson Blvd. SORO NC worked with Council President Herb Wesson’s senior staff to address issues and ideas the community raised in the Community Plan process. In April 2017, Council President Wesson and Councilmember Koretz cosponsored and passed two motions through City Council, directing the Department of City Planning (DCP) and Department of Transportation (LADOT) respectively to conduct feasibility studies of the South Robertson community’s proposals with the intent that proposed solutions could eventually lead towards an overlay zone for the South Robertson area. It is the profound hope of the community that this Great Streets vision, with the support of the outreach grant and the Mayor’s office, will lay the foundation for a formally-adopted streetscape and/or overlay that can finally bring a single comprehensive planning approach to to a community that is ready to support these changes with enthusiasm and passion.

Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan The Exposition Corridor Transit Neighborhood Plan currently in review proposes rezoning for higher density in a number of areas, including the Helms Place/Kramerwood Place neighborhood at the south end of the Great Streets project area. If the area were to be redeveloped—which may or may not ever happen—our proposed People Plaza and greening of the triangle at Cattaraugus would be a perfect transition between the High School and the new mixed-use area, providing muchneeded public open space to offset new density. We also continue to work with the Dept. of Planning to amend the ETNP (and, hopefully, the West Adams Community Plan) to include a pedestrian gateway/greenway between the Expo Line station at Culver City and Hamilton High School. Our first priority must be the safety of our residents and students. In 2016, a young student died walking from the the Expo Line station to the High School. We do not want to lose another.

High-Density Development in Culver City Culver City has been aggressive in capitalizing on the new Culver City/Robertson Expo station. At least four major high-density, mixed-use developments adjacent to the station are underway or completed, bringing an influx of new residents to the area. Despite South Robertson’s proximity, the economic benefit is flowing almost exclusively to Culver City’s reborn downtown entertainment district. Fostering an attractive business environment on South Robertson would provide significant economic benefit to the community.

Planning and Transportation Initiatives // 2017-18 Great Streets Corridor $500K Phase I Build Implementation Area

Expo Line Hamilton High School Campus Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan I-10 Freeway Ramp Restructuring New High-density Development ETNP Rezoning: Residential to Mixed-use Commercial

Caltrans I-10 Freeway/Robertson Ramp Reconfiguration While this ramp reconfiguration project is distinct from Great Streets on paper (and is thought of as separate by City and State departments), for residents of SORO these projects cannot be seen as separate. While one project strives to create a safe, walkable district, the other plans to pull even more freeway traffic onto the South Robertson corridor. Many community members expressed deep concerns about the proposed ramp reconfiguration at Great Streets outreach events. Caltrans’ initial plans showed 3 out of 4 options adding an on-ramp in front of Hamilton High School. The community would prefer to see no ramps at that location, better use made of National and Venice to relieve obvious negative impacts on Robertson’s commercial corridor, and more importantly, the safety of its significant young pedestrian community. It is well understood that these kinds of major infrastructure changes happen once in a lifetime. The community recognizes that we need to apply pressure to make sure that the Caltrans freeway ramp reconfiguration planning team is aware of the Great Streets work and we have proposed alternative scenarios that complement the Great Streets efforts instead of conflicting with them. Unfortunately, the current siloed approach, where boundaries intersect but planning teams don’t, causes a serious loss of faith in government’s ability to do what’s right for the people it serves.

We will continue to advocate that the project partners (LADOT, Caltrans, and Culver City) work with the other active project teams, give community feedback more than cursory attention, and expand their project goals to include the safety and economic health of the surrounding community.

Hamilton High School Renovation The community recently learned of a major renovation effort at Hamilton High School. With a reported budget of $140 million, the project opens new possibilities in the ways the school relates to the community around it, particularly in terms of safe passageway for their students. We will look for opportunities to collaborate with LAUSD as it moves forward.

Each of these efforts will radically change the prospects of the neighborhood, for the better or for the worse. To be successful, each project must collaborate and share objectives with the others. At times, it has been painfully clear that they do not. We also need collaboration between these projects and the community, including acknowledgement and respect for this community’s right to finally see their decades-long vision start to come into focus. This community’s history of political activism is storied, and we would much rather see these plans proactively work with each other, than to see another Great Streets project marred by negative press and disenfranchised residents, as we’ve seen in other areas. To that end, our community has done thorough and thoughtful outreach, and for many years has tried to advocate in community plans and LADOT meetings that we must recognize that land use and transportation decisions have for too long negatively impacted an area that deserves to thrive.

Robertson on/off ramp configuration for 10 Freeway SORO NC Option 3 Initial Draft • 10 November 2015

Advantages: • Rationalizes traffic flow and removes bottlenecks. Reroutes local traffic to National. Separates uses and eliminates merging with Freeway access • Creates long on/off ramps to alleviate backups on the Freeway and single access/egress point • Creates expanded industrial/creative area; sale of CalTrans property helps fund project • Limits disruption to existing buildings to the on/off-ramp corridor • Creates attractive, inviting new greenspace and safe pedestrian pathways for Hamilton students and commuters • Removes ramp across from Hamilton High School, increasing student safety and reducing traffic congestion at arterial chokepoint Key Isolate and extend Livonia industrial/creative area and create entrance on Venice Robertson terminates at National. Access to existing businesses via Ellis. Existing westbound on-ramp.

New westbound off-ramp

New eastbound on-ramp (entrance forks off of westbound on-ramp) Existing eastbound off-ramp (no merge with Livonia)

Remove ramps by high school and National Blvd.

Leftover land converted to pocket gateway/greenway. Footpath for students and commuters puts pedestrians on west side, reducing street crossings. Reduced traffic on the deadend makes underpass more inviting. Inset on Venice for bus dropoff and pickup.

SORO NC Ramp Configuration Proposal

SIGNS OF HOPE Generations have grown up here, moved away, and come back to raise their families here, while time has stood still on this stretch of South Robertson. Even Councilmember Koretz, once a student at Hamilton High School, says “Robertson has been like this for as long as I can remember.” In the last few years, however, despite the odds, residents and a handful of business owners have slowly begun to reclaim the street. A momand-pop café opened, partially funded by a community Kickstarter campaign. A few years later, a young gelato maker followed suit, also opening his small storefront with communitydriven Kickstarter support. A renowned local artist covered her building with a brilliantly colored mural. The Neighborhood Council planted forty young chinese elms in empty tree wells. Thanks to the Great Streets Initiative, a growing number of businesses have started to connect with each other for the first time in decades, sparking a sense of ownership and community pride.

This project has offered the community a new opportunity to use robust outreach and an inclusive process to arrive at a vision for the corridor. Thanks to the help of our consultants and City partners, we now have this vision well documented. Whether over these last few months or the last few decades that preceded them, the community’s vision has remained unwaveringly consistent: we want a safer, more walkable, pedestrian-oriented, vibrant community street, with neighborhood-friendly businesses.

A Single Vision for a Liminal Space Webster’s defines “liminal” as “occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.” It would be hard to think of a better word to describe the South Robertson area, especially when it comes to how it is divided within the City of Los Angeles. To be able to effectively advocate for this liminal area, not at the center of anyone’s attention, our community, led by SORO NC, has had to work four times as hard to build strong political relationships and a robust public voice. And they have. SORO NC’s strong credibility and persuasive power, both with community residents and with City partners and elected officials, is an important engine in ensuring that change will eventually come to this community. With their persistence, and the strong and unyielding support of Council President Herb Wesson, and Councilmember Paul Koretz, who each represent one side of this Project Area (and frequently partner on behalf of the neighborhood) we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of opportunities to make this vision a reality. 15

Planning Process

Outreach for the Great Streets Challenge consisted of five main approaches, based on SORO NCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s deep existing knowledge of what tends to work with this community. Strategically, SORO NC understood that not everybody would be able to come to meetings, so the goal was to create high awareness about the project, and offer multiple ways for people to engage with the process, whether in person, or online. At each stage, input-gathering built on what the community had expressed in the prior round, creating an iterative process that led from a very broad set of goals, down to specific improvements.

Outreach Methodology

Working with SORO NC as outreach partners gave the project a big advantage. SORO NC already has well-developed relationships with partners throughout the neighborhoods, a long-standing history of surveying the community and documenting its needs, a robust email list and social media presence, and existing communications infrastructure to help spread the word.

DIGITAL OUTREACH

IN-PERSON OPPORTUNITIES

DIRECT BUSINESS OUTREACH

ON-THE-GROUND PROMOTION

PARTNERSHIPS

website, emails, online survey, online video, social media, social media advertising

workshops, existing neighborhood events, ongoing SORO NC monthly committee meetings, small group work with community leaders, etc.

online and paper survey, door-to-door canvassing of businesses, business open house meetings, private business-only online chat group, business portrait project

of all Great Streets meetings via yard signs distributed throughout the community (a highly successful way SORO NC regularly communicates with the community in this neighborhood)

with key neighborhood leaders and organizations with deep reach (neighborhood associations, schools, places of worship)

DIGITAL OUTREACH Stand-alone website for the Great Streets project (soroblvd.com) Original project identity created for the Great Streets South Robertson project SORO NC’s existing email list (1100+ people) leveraged for communications Great Streets related emails consistently enjoyed highest open rates among all SORO NC emails since tracking began SORO NC’s existing social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram used for online outreach Personal posts on NextDoor.com (very actively used here) from community members Online survey for community, online and paper survey for businesses Emails drafted for community partners to share with their distribution lists (partner list below) Collectively, these mailing lists reach many thousands of SORO community members with each email sent. 18

Online Video Together with KCET, SORO NC launched a series of short online video pieces that explored some of the unique transportation-based challenges of the area, and discussed what complete streets thinking entailed. These videos were released online over the initial month of outreach, and cross-posted by both SORO NC and KCET. All four videos were also featured in an online article published by KCET (penned by Abby Stone from LA Más), and collectively these efforts garnered over 24,000 video views on the short pieces that introduced the Great Streets idea. You can view the article and video pieces at kcet.org/news-analysis/rethinkingstreets-in-los-angeles-to-be-more-people-centric

Paid and targeted social media advertising to zipcodes 90034 and 90035 and Facebook ad partner network (including highly trafficked publications like The Washington Post and The Guardian) 94,000 ads served, reaching over 55,000 community members between May and September Self-Guided Walking Tour project Created by a project working group that identified, inspected, and documented similar complete street solutions throughout the City. The final six page guide includes photographs and explanatory text. Distributed at meetings and available for download online, the guide encourages interested stakeholders to venture out and see change in action around the city.

SoRo Festival Sunday June 4th, 11am–4pm, South Robertson between Cadillac and Cattaraugus

IN-PERSON OPPORTUNITIES Between May and September 2017, we created a number of in-person opportunities for community members to engage, both at interactive Great Streets workshops and by taking Great Streets to existing neighborhood events. In addition, SORO NC’s Outreach and Robertson Revitalization Committees held monthly committee meetings to discuss the project, agendized and noticed according to the Brown Act, as part of their ongoing commitment.

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Festival draws 8,000–10,000 annually

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Three separate long booth set ups over course of street festival

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Dot exercises, table maps, one-on-one conversations, public art outreach

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Approximately 1000 community member interactions

Great Streets Community Workshop No. 2: Design

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100 people

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Inspiration presentation and recap of project so far

•

Specific improvement design charrette and prioritization

Great Streets booths at existing community social events

Sunday May 21st, 1–4pm, Simon Wiesenthal Center

Council President Herb Wesson’s 9th Annual Movies in the Park Friday June 30th, sundown

125 people

•

Immediately followed the intense outreach surrounding the community survey

•

Survey results shared and discussed

•

General grounding education about Great Streets work and recap of prior outreach

•

Initial preference input on table map and dot exercises

•

Very diverse crowd of 700-900

Reynier Village Neighborhood Association Ice Cream Social Sunday July 30th, 2–4pm •

Audience of 200 largely faith-based attendees

Ongoing Neighborhood Council meetings •

Standing monthly meetings of SORO NC’s Outreach Committee, held jointly with SORO NC’s Robertson Revitalization Committee between May and September

•

Monthly updates at SORO NC’s General Board meeting

•

Creation of community volunteer Leadership Committee of about 18 people who volunteered, facilitated, presented, and helped lead the process at key decision points throughout the outreach phase

Sunday June 25th, 1–4pm, Simon Wiesenthal Center

Great Streets Community Workshop No. 1: Kickoff •

12th Annual Peace Picnic Sunday August 6th, 2–5pm

Final Town Hall: Plan Reveal Wednesday September 29th, 7–9pm, Shenandoah Elementary School •

Final presentation of project by project leads and Leadership Committee members

•

100 people attended

•

Online video of presentation had over 500 views in the first 48 hours it was posted and shared. You can see the presentation at soroblvd.com/proposal.

•

Email sent with video link had an unprecedented 20% click rate (average is 2–3%)

500-home Neighborhood Association abutting Robertson to the east 19

DIRECT BUSINESS OUTREACH From the start of the project it was clear that we would need specially-targeted outreach to the businesses along the corridor–a fractured group in transition. Historically, the corridor has been largely dominated by businesses that were little concerned with serving the community and as a result, less concerned with the pedestrian experience. Some of these businesses operate primarily as office, industrial, or warehousing space serving a specialized customer base that is dropping off or picking up products or equipment (e.g. upholstery shops, construction etc.) In the last few years, we’ve started to see an exciting influx of fledgling businesses that are hungry for a business environment that encourages foot-traffic to thrive. These include a coffee shop, food stores, designer furnishings, cooking classes, a dance store, and more. The gulf between these two types of businesses is at the heart of the area’s transformation. 20

While many efforts have been made to engage the business community over the years, it’s admittedly been a challenge. Many of the businesses are tenants of absentee landlords who collect rent and maintain decision-making authority over their properties, often with little effort to improve them. One clear goal of the project was to foster a better sense of connection between like businesses, knowing that for change to take hold, businesses would need to start collaborating with each other toward their shared vision for a bustling, welcoming corridor. We also wanted to build better ties between the businesses and the community. Based on the 1997 report, these ties had been tenuous for decades. While there have been brief bursts of interest—such as supporting new retail through community Kickstarter efforts— the community hasn’t always done the best job in building relationships with businesses either. Born of their own frustrations for a nicer corridor, community members have often approached businesses with a negative attitude, and throughout the Great Streets project it was very clear to us that we would have to work to reposition those relationships and focus on working with any business that wanted to participate. Perhaps the more we invested in them, the more they would invest back in our community? It was a transformative approach, and there are now much richer ties between businesses and the community than there have been for many years.

Door-to-door Canvassing •

Business-only survey created and posted on soroblvd.com

•

Engaged canvassing firm, Street Level Strategy (SLS) to help with door-to-door

•

SLS spent a week along the corridor, distributing information about meetings (including business-only open house) to all businesses

•

Multiple attempts made to engage at every single business, including returning at times specifically suggested by employees to catch business owners and managers

•

SLS suggested we create a paperversion and Spanish language version for a few businesses, which we did

Interestingly, SLS, a firm with deep expertise in this kind of work also experienced a hard time reaching many of the disengaged businesses who operate without signage, with shuttered windows, and few signs of life or activity at their places of business. Nonetheless, multiple efforts were made and conversations initiated with those who were willing to give access.

Business-only Open House Monday June 12th, 9–5pm •

Partnered with a business along the corridor, Fred’s Bakery

•

Hosted all-day open house for businesses to drop in and meet with the project consultants, see project boards, and learn more about the project

Business-leaders Follow Up Meeting Tuesday August 8th, 6:30â&#x20AC;&#x201C;8:30pm We approached about twenty businesses who had self-identified as very interested in the Great Streets project. Multiple emails were sent to promote this meeting, and in the end, about seven businesses attended. We updated the group on emerging ideas, and engaged them in deciding on allocation of the business-oriented component of the project, provided by LA MĂĄs. While this is still in progress, those businesses were gravitating towards a public seating option that would benefit all the businesses, instead of focusing on a single faĂ§ade improvement or business plan. We were heartened to see this kind of corridor-wide approach being adopted by the businesses that attended.

Business-leaders Facebook Group As a result of the business leaders follow up meeting, we started a business-leaders private Facebook group for South Robertson businesses that wish to participate, to provide a forum for them to discuss ideas and build relationships with each other. We hope this group outlives Great Streets and forms the basis for a stronger, more networked business community on South Robertson. Long-term, as newer businesses get on more solid financial footing, we would like to encourage formation of a Business Improvement District.

Business-leaders Portrait Project As a growing number of businesses emerge as big supporters of the Great Streets plans, we asked SORO NCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s resident photographer, Barry Levine, to head out onto the corridor and start a community portrait project, capturing images of each of our proud business leaders in front of their stores. This on-the-street activity also attracted the attention and engagement of a few neighboring businesses, and we are excited to continue this portrait project in support of Great Streets and business development along the corridor.

On this page from top left to bottom right: Barbara Mendes, Barbara Mendes Gallery Avi Kadmon, Fredâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bakery & Deli Kyrsten Beidelman, Hipcooks Marcelo Gutierrez, The Empanada Factory Paul Bearman, Merit Corey & David Menkes, SoRo Sweets

On this page from top left to bottom right: Kathy Mc Guinness, Green Lab @ The Dance Store Luca Monaco, Monaco Gelato Aubrey & Melba Provost, Palmer Addressing & Mailing Tui Faleofa, Art & Soul Tattoo Mark Hirsch, Twin Thunder Ron & Rachel Sazon, Undergrind CafĂŠ

PARTNERSHIPS After a decade of award-winning outreach, SORO NC has learned that getting word out is very hard, and that people tend to gravitate towards sources they already know. So it was important to augment the impact of SORO NC’s direct outreach efforts with those of trusted community partners. Working with adjacent Neighborhood Associations, houses of worship, and local realtors (who frequently distribute newsletters), key Great Streets meeting information was shared with partners to share on with their constituents. This list of partners included:

Neighborhood Associations • •

• •

Reynier Village Neighborhood Association (approx 500 homes) Beverlywood Homes Association (approx 1300 homes). An in-person briefing was also made at Beverlywood’s Semi Annual meeting Crestview Neighborhood Association (approx. 750 homes) Castle Heights Neighborhood Association (approx. 1700 homes via NextDoor.com)

Faith-based institutions and private schools • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Shalhevet School Beth Jacob Bnai David Judea Link Westside Shul YULA Boys School YULA Girls School Hillel Hebrew Academy Maimonides Chabad of Beverlywood Bais Chaya Mushka Chabad of SOLA Young Israel of Century City Pico Shul Happy Minyan Aish LA Pico Beis Medrash Knesset Israel Pressman Academy Temple Beth Am St. Mark’s Coptic Church Guru Ram Das Ashram Kabbalah of Los Angeles

Realtors • • • • • • • • • •

Dan May Real Estate Floyd Fouquette Commercial Realty Bellet Grakal Realtors Ben Lee Properties The Fiedlers Zeenat Sheriff, Keller Williams Ron Wynn Jenny Savistsky/Lee Zamos Meredith Schlosser, Sally Forster Jones Art Miller

LAUSD Schools • • •

Shenandoah Elementary School (650 flyers distributed into parent folders) Castle Heights Elementary School (650 flyers distributed into parent folders) Hamilton High School

Governmental Groups • • • • •

Council President Herb Wesson & staff Councilmember Paul Koretz & staff Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC) Caltrans I-10 Freeway Ramps Reconfiguration leads Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan leads

ON-THE-GROUND PROMOTION Yard Signs A longstanding outreach strategy used by SORO NC in the neighborhood, and one to which the community are used to responding. 165+ yard signs were placed from MaySeptember, using distinctive Great Streets South Robertson identity graphics. The signs invited the community to “help rethink Robertson” and “come see the plans.”

Tote Bags 1000 Great Streets South Robertson cobranded (and co-funded) tote bags were distributed at in-person events. Bags were stuffed with the flyer outlining the engagement process, the URL for the website, etc. These brightly colored bags are a huge hit and community members can often be seen out and about doing promotion work for us as they do their shopping. 25

Project Implementation

As outlined previously, we conducted outreach at many levels, but for the purposes of this section of the report, we will focus on four key stakeholder events: the two Great Streets workshops, the SoRo Festival, and the final Great Streets Town Hall. Based on decades of hearing how hungry the community has been for change on South Robertson, we knew that we would have a core constituency who would be very engaged and eager to participate in this project. We also knew that while many people were very interested in seeing a better Robertson, a large segment of our population simply didn’t have the time or inclination for deep civic engagement. So it was important to create a series of varied experiences which could encourage deeper engagement for some, as well as a more casual encounter for others. It was always clear that we would leverage the SoRo Festival. It has long been the biggest single outreach opportunity for SORO NC and a muchloved community event. With the festival’s date set in stone, we decided to buffer the festival on either side with a Great Streets workshop, allowing the series of three events over the course of about six weeks to both go deep with a smaller group of engaged people and go wide with a larger group of more casually engaged stakeholders.

GREAT STREETS COMMUNITY WORKSHOP NO. 1: KICKOFF The first community workshop was also the project kickoff event. Digital outreach and yard signs had helped spread the word about the grant, to much community excitement, but this was the first meeting for the new project. We knew that the workshops would appeal to that segment of our community who were really invested in seeing change. With a three-hour weekend set-up, these workshops were most likely to attract the folks who wanted to pour more time and thought into the work. We also knew that not everybody had a grounding in urban planning and design, nor a sense of how changes of one kind might impact behavior change of another kind. So we planned these workshops to start with a “learning” portion: a presentation of some core concepts as well as a review of what we’d heard from the online survey and past surveys. It was clear that we needed to clarify what could be done under the Great Streets grant, and

also what was beyond the scope of the project. This framing included narrowing down the community’s focus to the specific project area (rather than the wider SORO neighborhood), and communicating a clear understanding of the goals of the Great Streets project: to make roadway improvements that would increase safety and lay the framework for a more pleasant, walkable street with places to stop, sit and gather. Some community members voiced a desire to see us “bring in” new businesses like cafés and restaurants, so we needed to refocus that energy. While we didn’t have the power to magically produce businesses that wanted to move here, we could think about area improvements that would deal with some of the key obstacles to this kind of desired transformation, and start to build an environment that would appeal to the kinds of businesses we wanted to attract. It was important to communicate that this was the first step in what would be a long journey over many years. Finally, we wanted the workshops to incorporate physical interactivity, a handson process of connecting with neighbors, working collaboratively on ideas, and experiencing first-hand where consensus came easily and where it was harder to find. About 125 people attended the kickoff workshop, and there was much nodding of heads as the survey results were reviewed. By far, the majority of community members agreed that traffic felt intimidating, there were not enough safe crossings, there were no places to sit and relax, that the street did not have a good mix of inviting businesses or attractive storefronts and did not feel clean 27

and welcoming. Most agreed that there was not enough shade on the street, and that walking along South Robertson was not a pleasant experience. Restaurants, cafés, food stores and boutique retail remained the most desired amenities (as they had been eight years prior in SORO NC’s 2009 survey), as well as news-stands and activities for kids. The data told a story of a community that wanted a lifestyle where they could walk from home with their kids, enjoy some community time at a café or eatery, then stroll back home. When asked about what they’d like to see more of, community members gravitated towards outdoor dining, streets trees and landscaping, safer and more crosswalks, outdoor seating, lighting and curb extensions to widen a narrow sidewalk. This was all encouraging. So far, not only did our community display a high tendency toward

consistent vision, but it also tracked closely with what they had told us over the course of the last eight years. This felt like input we could rely on. Moving to the table exercise, we split the room into four groups and handed them stickers printed with potential improvements to add along the street map where they’d like to see change. Again, with consistency, people chose amenities like trees and trash cans, landscaping, farmer’s markets, outdoor dining, and pedestrian scale lighting. Again, we saw the story of a desire to see a more pleasant, walkable, clean and welcoming street where community could spend time outside with family alongside neighbors. Overall, people were energized by the meeting, but also skeptical that change would ever come. Some longtime community residents who have

lived here for many decades talked about how this was just one more attempt to change something that was unchangeable, and that they didn’t hold out much hope to ever see change. A number of folks referred back to the LANI project and scoffed. But it was the LANI project that had brought us great pedestrian-scale lighting and the one good crosswalk we had. This dual excitement and skepticism served as a powerful reminder of how long residents here have been waiting for change, and how hungry they are for a serious consideration of the area’s needs, beyond small windowdressing changes. We hope that this process will encourage City partners, planners, and developers to listen. There’s a community here who is ready to see transformation get underway.

along a half-mile stretch of South Robertson. We placed ourselves right in the middle, between the food trucks and the kid zone, knowing that we’d catch all the people passing by. Next…balloons! We ordered 200 helium balloons in the distinctive Great Streets identity colors, and made our booth as eye-catching as we could.

SORO FESTIVAL With the baseline of information we’d secured at the first community workshop, we knew the SoRo Festival would allow us to build on that with a much large group of people. Between the six 10'x10' booths secured for Great Streets, the four 10'x10' booths secured for SORO NC, and the two 10'x10' booths secured for public artist Alan Nakagawa, it was hard to attend this year’s SoRo Festival and not hear about Great Streets. Based on prior experience, we knew the best activity would be one that allowed for a casual level of engagement. The festival attracts many families with young children, and however much you care about the streetscape, the immediate screaming needs of a toddler who wants ice cream can take precedence over most things. So we needed to make it fun and easy, and ideally something that would draw in a crowd enjoying a sunny Sunday with the family. We worked with festival organizers to make sure that the Great Streets booth was well located along the corridor. The length of the SoRo Festival is almost exactly the same as the project area, so people walk back and forth

2017

20th Anniversary

“The Emerald Blvd.”

Using the inputs we’d received at the first workshop, the consultants helped set up a board gallery. The first series of boards offered grounding information (timeline and survey results etc.) The second set displayed a series of preference boards with dot-stickers, highlighting the most popular improvements already identified from prior outreach. Community members were offered three stickers to place on a board about preferred safety elements, and another three stickers to place on a board about preferred design elements. Hundreds of people stopped by over the course of the day, and it was impossible to keep up! We estimate that we probably had 1000 visitors across all booths over the course of the day. Neighbors started talking to other neighbors as they jostled for space to place their dots, and there was high energy and excitement at the booth all day. Mayor Garcetti himself stopped by, and throughout the day you could see folks walking the festival with their lime green Great Streets South Robertson tote bag slung over one shoulder, and their bright turquoise or indigo helium balloon grasped in the other hand. In short, walking advertisements to lure others to stop by and check in on the commotion. 29

When the day was done and the photos posted to social media, even LADOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds retweeted one of our dot boards, wryly remarking on how all the people want all the things. No doubt that we were running out of space for stickers around certain key choices. Like the kickoff workshop before, the festival booth also boasted a long table map set up, with an invitation for community to place dots, Post-its and notes along the length of the street where they would like to see specific improvements. By the end, it was also covered. Up at the other end of the festival, near the kid-zone, public artist Alan Nakagawa was busy creating a ruckus of his own. Alan had brought his Sound Forest out to the festival: a cacophonous array of percussive instruments for folks to bang on at will. His booth attracted a lot of eager young children, middleaged wanna-be drummers, and a couple of perturbed older folks who couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite believe the racket the community were generating. At his booth, Alan also sought input on public art ideas for the corridor, and encouraged community to let loose. Tellingly, discordant beats

slipped into one cohesive rhythm as community members learned to adapt to one anotherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an echo of our efforts to create a single cohesive vision from so many disparate stakeholders. The festival left the community excited to see more, and pleased to have been asked to participate. Newer residents found it all very promising. Longer-term residents held back a little, continuing to feel unsure about the likelihood to see actual change. We learned that people are very concerned about maintenance for planted areas and medians (and that we would have to address and provide for this in any plan moving forward). We learned that some people had concerns about public seating inviting homeless community members to take up residence, and others felt strongly that the solution to homelessness was not to leave a barren and unwelcoming street, but rather to invest in lower income and more dense housing. We even had a homeless community member actively participate in planning the streetscape. At the end of the day, we succeeded in getting word out widely to the community about the Great Streets project and given the opportunity for input to a whole lot of newly engaged community members.

GREAT STREETS COMMUNITY WORKSHOP NO. 2: DESIGN The second community workshop took place about a three weeks after the festival. The consultants had boiled down input from the prior phases of the process and honed in on the most popular safety and design improvements. On the community side, members of our Community Leadership group headed out around the City to see improvements in action in other areas. They captured images of improvements they thought would work best in SORO, and designed a self-guided tour document that was also distributed for the first time at this meeting. Of particular resonance was the Sunset Triangle Plaza, which is configured very much like a unique piece of South Robertson at Robertson Place, and a lot of excitement was generated about the potential for a public plaza idea along our southern gateway. Given reaction to recently-implemented projects in other parts of the city, it also became clear that we needed to proactively communicate that 32

South Robertson’s plans did not involve removal of a lane of traffic. Upset residents from other parts of the City called and wrote to express their concerns about road diets, although this option was never considered for our project. We knew our neighborhoods already carried far too much cut-through traffic, and any lane reductions on Robertson would make this exponentially worse. Instead, we shifted focus to calming traffic, while still allowing throughput. For this second workshop, we collaborated closely with the consultants to come up with a new kind of design exercise. With an audience as engaged and experienced as ours, we were starting to worry that any more dot exercises and PowerPoints and we might lose people, already skeptical about “busywork” solutions that didn’t result in any meaningful change. We knew that our people were hungry to dig in and have meaningful conversations, and that they were ready to roll up their sleeves and really get involved. To set the meeting off on a level-playing field, we reviewed what we had learned so far, and encouraged people to “think big” by showing inspiration photos from other cities with more progressive urban design solutions. With their imaginations primed, we divided the room of about 100 people into four groups. Each group worked at a 14-foot table, with a large printed map of the corridor. This map was a more detailed schematic,

not just an outline. Each table was manned by two volunteers from the leadership committee. At each table, the group found small piles of visual transparencies, representing the most popular improvements that had risen out of the preference exercises. These included trees, medians, gateway signage, bulb-outs, parklets, crosswalks, landscaping and more. Sized to scale, these transparencies fit tightly around street corners, spanned the width of the street just right, and really provided an opportunity for participants to visually map how improvements would play out at the street level. The four groups were tasked with a simple challenge–to decide how they wanted to think about the entirety of the corridor, knowing they only had an initial $500,000 to spend. Would they want to design from end to end? Would they prefer to maximize impact by starting with a few blocks? How did they see the overall flow of the boulevard project area? Would it be consistent and homogenous throughout, or did they envision the roadway having different and distinct user experiences? With a series of focused prompts around each of these questions, and a ticking clock, the groups had to work quickly and collaboratively to decide how the corridor experience should flow, how to prioritize improvements, what their short-term must-haves were, and which were bigger vision ideas that they would defer for future investments

As the teams got going, the energy in the room grew. Table Two ran around frantically stealing trees from other tables. Table Four had its eyes on parklets. Some people broke out sharpies and started writing on the maps, others started scribbling on post-its and attaching those. There was a lot of intense debate, persuasive arguments, and bartering one thing for another more-desired thing. Participants who were engaging in longwinded opinions quickly realized that while they were pontificating, others were designing. They stopped pontificating and got busy, too. As the clock ticked down, tables were forced to commit to their plan using sticky tape, and prepare to report out to the larger group. What emerged from this process was remarkable. 100 people at four separate tables, with a extremely highly aligned visions for the street. As each group took their large map up to the front and taped it to the wall, we were all struck by how much similarity there was between the groups. These maps formed the basis for the proposed project vision which is outlined in more detail further into the report. Also at this meeting one business owner (a lighting designer) noted that he didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think there was a pedestrian-scale lighting problem on Robertson (since we had the lighting installed by the LANI project) but rather that none of those lights were working at night. A follow-up call to the Council office resulted in a visit by the Bureau of Street Services, and now all the pedestrian-scale lights have been updated with with LED bulbs and are already illuminating the sidewalk at night.

core feature of the plan and why it was meaningful to make this proposed change. These included a business owner from the corridor who spoke with pride about his business and hopes for the corridor.

GREAT STREETS TOWN HALL: PLAN REVEAL At the end of September, the final public meeting for the Great Streets project was held at Shenandoah Elementary School, one block east of the Project Area. This meeting was designed as a presentation to describe how we got to these outcomes (process), what the proposed plan looked like (plan), as well as a celebration of months of hard work by the community. SORO NC also announced at this meeting that an existing project they had been working on with the two Councilmembers had secured the funding to move forward, and that they would be working to install permanent “SORO” medallion markers along the lamp posts along the project area by early 2018. We decided that this meeting should be run by community members only, with the consultants observing. The two community project leads from SORO NC built the presentation, covering history, context, and the outreach process, then four individual community members each tackled a 34

About 100 people attended the event, and it was very different from your typical community meeting proposing change. Instead of angry residents or negative commentary, the audience were clapping and high-fiving, brimming over with questions and cheering on the presenters. At the end, a long line formed to shake hands and hug the presenters, and people were thrilled with the outcomes of the process. One resident who also owns a commercial property told us that he had been so inspired by the first workshop that when his building had come up for lease, he’d taken a chance on a young, hip barber, because he now realized how he had the power to influence change on the street. Another business owner and landlord who had expressed significant skepticism along the way, wrote the next day to say what an “awesome” presentation it had been. Folks took to NextDoor, eager to share their enthusiasm with others. A number of land use professionals who live in the neighborhood said that they’d never seen a meeting go so well, with so little resistance to change. This was another indication that this vision for the corridor is well researched, rooted in the community’s desires, and very overdue. From an observer’s perspective, it felt like a little hope flowed back into the room that night.

Data Collection Methods & Analysis

METHODS In terms of hard data collection, we focused on an community survey, a business survey, numerous preference exercises and a design charrette exercise. The Community and Business Surveys are included in their entirities in Appendices A and B, respectively.

Community Survey •

Distributed online via soroblvd.com

•

Promoted through SORO NC emails, social media posts, partner emails and paid social media advertising

•

Open for 11 days, immediately preceding the kickoff event

•

425 survey responses secured

Dedicated Business-Only Survey

Urban Design Charrette Exercises

•

Posted online at soroblvd.com

•

Shared with SORO NC’s Business Owner email list (about 40 emails)

Workshop with about 100 participants at four separate tables

•

Detailed roadmap schematics used as basis for overlaying scaled potential improvements onto the roadway

•

Participants asked to prioritize focus area for initial investment

•

Both residents and businesses represented at these events

•

Small groups of 25 had to come to consensus on their plan in order to present back to the larger group

•

Promoted door-to-door over course of one week by Street Level Strategies

•

Translated and created paper versions based on feedback

•

22 responses secured

Interactive Preference Exercises at Events and Workshops •

Design element and safety element preference boards and table maps of the corridor where dots were placed to indicate which improvements were preferred, and where

•

Exercise repeated at in-person meetings outlined above plus SoRo Festival

•

Both residents and businesses represented at these events

Attitudes Towards South Robertson // 2017 Community Survey

ANALYSIS Throughout this process we have been struck by the consistency of the commentary about what is and isn’t working. We’ve heard very similar ideas from community and businesses alike about what they would like to see and about the problems that need to be solved to give this area new life. This has been very validating, as it confirms that the long history of waiting for change has yielded a small silver-lining. It’s clear we’re mostly all on the same page. The new data gathered through the Great Streets process very much mirrored prior research and commentary we have heard from the community over the years. We see an unchanged story about a street that isn’t working for a large majority of stakeholders.

Data showed very high alignment around feelings that: •

The street is unwelcoming

•

Traffic is intimidating

•

Crossing feels unsafe

•

Sidewalks too exposed and too dirty

•

No places to stop and sit

•

Here in South Robertson, we have a community that likes to walk. Input tells us that residents are doing that elsewhere, and not along their commercial street.

Desired design elements strongly focus on: •

Outdoor dining

•

More street trees, greening and shade

•

More places for people to gather

Safety elements focus on: •

More crosswalks

•

Safer crosswalks

•

Better pedestrian lighting (now solved by updating LANI street lights with LED bulbs, thanks to the Bureau of Street Services)

•

Medians to slow down traffic

74%

Feel there are not enough safe crossings

69%

Generally do not like walking on the street

53%

Think the street is not well-lit in the evening

79%

Feel intimidated by the traffic on South Robertson

85%

Feel there is not a good mix of inviting businesses

71%

Think there is not enough shade

85%

Do not think the street is clean and welcoming

91%

Feel there are no places to relax on South Robertson

Top Picks: What improvements would you like to see? // 2017 Community Survey

OUTDOOR DINING

TREES & LANDSCAPING

SAFER CROSSWALKS

SEATING (BENCHES, ETC.)

MORE CROSSWALKS

CURB EXTENSIONS

PEDESTRIAN LIGHTING

PARKLETS

MORE MEDIANS 39

Business community Of our 22 respondents, 82% rent along the corridor. About half have opened in the last five years. Most businesses located here because it had good accessibility and proximity to prosperous neighborhoods. About half of respondents said their business had grown in the last few years, and about half said it had stayed the same. Only 10% said it had declined. Despite this desire to be close to the neighborhoods, on average respondents said only a quarter of their customers are local. This percentage needs to be increased so there is better reciprocal relationship built between businesses and the community. A more welcoming street would draw more locals to them, and

in turn, they would be more likely to invest in upkeep and maintenance of landscaping, and more community-facing integration. Major business concerns were a lack of foot traffic, lack of parking, lack of thriving neighboring businesses, security, excessive speeding traffic, and a downtrodden aesthetic instead of a clean and welcoming street. We also heard concerns about about the costs of City permitting and rising operating costs. These responses tell us our fledgling mom-and-pop small businesses need all the help they can get to flourish and contribute to the neighborhood and to the City’s tax base. Businesses said they thought better connections to the Expo Line and transit would help them grow, especially given the booming growth in nearby

Culver City, a short walk away. Interestingly, a number of businesses talked about the need for façade and signage improvements. We heard consistent reports of a landlord community that is largely unwilling to invest in their properties, exacerbating the feeling of an abandoned street. Many felt the street desperately needed more retail and fewer businesses that don’t serve retail customers. Again, there is an emerging story of a street of businesses hungry to draw more attention. 95% of businesses thought better connections between businesses would help them grow, and that’s something we’ve started building through this process. If supported, the majority of businesses were interested in façade improvement, better signage, awnings, outdoor seating/dining, public seating, and street trees.

Community Vision & Capacity

Our community’s vision is clear and strong. Our primary goals are to: •

•

Slow and calm traffic along the corridor during non-peak hours without losing a lane of traffic–and also discourage cutthrough traffic during peak hours Create safer pedestrian passageways for our community, particularly for the 3600 Hamilton High students that flood the street at morning and afternoon rush hour

•

Create a more attractive pedestrian experience

•

Provide places for the community to gather

•

Focus on adding greening and shade to the street

And most importantly, we need to achieve these solutions within these ground rules: •

Don’t remove lanes

•

Minimize parking impact

•

Find alternative routes for bikes along parallel, quieter streets

•

Work with our existing businesses

Our overall vision places two clear gateway areas to the north and south of the corridor. Here, roadway improvements start to slow traffic and signal that this is not just the last, desolate mile until the freeway, but a business and pedestrian district they need to slow down for, stop, and enjoy. At each gateway, we want monument signage and other distinguishing improvements to indicate traffic should slow, including two medians. Mid-term, we want to transform our southern gateway from one that is dominated by speeding freeway traffic and auto-uses to a green and open community gathering space in the form of a People Street plaza. Even longer term, we want to turn that gateway into an open community space with the acquisition of the triangle-shaped lot at Robertson Place. We see the commercial core of the street along the center blocks of the corridor between Beverlywood and Olin, and we want to place a concentrated focus on pedestrian safety and connectivity in this area. We want to add two new crosswalks across Robertson, and make the four existing crosswalks we have safer and more visually prominent.

When Seleta Reynolds took over at LADOT, a neighborhood resident facilitated an opportunity for her to spend an hour or two walking the South Robertson corridor with SORO NC President Doug Fitzsimmons. Director Reynolds expressed her direct support in seeing change come here. As she heard of the community’s vision, which has stayed consistent through this Great Streets project, she said that these were exactly the types of “liveable streets” changes she hoped to support in LA. As you’ve read, our community has strong political agency, long-standing cooperative relationships with Council President Herb Wesson and Councilmember Paul Koretz, and one of the most respected Neighborhood Councils within the City’s neighborhood council system. In addition, the existence of the 501(c)3 South Robertson Community Foundation, founded for the purpose of improving this area, allows us to raise and receive grant money. In addition, we have a community base filled with activated citizens ready to participate in the work, and a business community that is starting to come together with hope for the first time as a result of the connections created by this project. We are primed.

Acknowledging the Ground Rules We’re not working with a clean slate. There are real-world constraints on what we can do. Robertson is and will continue to be a major north/south artery between Century City and the I-10 Freeway. It’s designated as a Secondary Highway, but it’s sub-standard: this strip is only 60' from curb to curb. That doesn’t give us a lot of wiggle room. We also know that our residential areas are slammed by cut-through traffic, a source of

acute aggravation within our community. A study conducted a few years ago in the course of a development dispute found that cut-through traffic in Beverlywood (the direct path between the Freeway and Culver City) was six times expected levels. We cannot make that worse, so that effectively rules out a lane reduction/road diet. Another real-world constraint: our businesses rely on street parking. There’s no readily- apparent source of funds for constructing a parking lot, so for the immediate future the project will have to minimize the parking impact of any changes.

South Robertson Commercial Core Street Configuration

We can’t, therefore, remove drive or parking lanes. Unfortunately, that leaves us with traffic that’s too heavy and streets that are too narrow for bike lanes. We intend to work with bicycle advocates to identify alternative routes through community. And as we’ve mentioned throughout, while there is dissatisfaction with the current mix of businesses and a desire for more neighborhood-oriented retail, we can only work to make South Robertson more attractive (both through our improvements and active business co-operation) and hope that over time change happens organically.

Three Distinct Development Areas

South Gateway

In our working group sessions, we quickly realized that we needed to prioritize projects and identify focus areas. We settled on a a vision of the corridor split into three distinct sections.

Commercial Core

We’d also like to see monument signage or other distinguishing improvements at each gateway. Again, part of the role of a gateway is to convey that this is a different zone with different driving conditions.

South and North Gateways These should signal to traffic that it should start slowing down as it enters a more pedestrian-oriented commercial district. In particular, we want to make sure drivers are alert and moving at the speed limit around the High School as they exit the Freeway.

Commercial Core Finally, we identified an active commercial core at Olin, Gibson, and Beverlywood where we focused on slowing traffic and widening the sidewalks through bulb-outs. The bulbouts create opportunities for outdoor seating

North Gateway

and other amenities, and create pinch-points that will calm traffic in non-peak periods. To facilitate walking between businesses, we’ll also add more (and safer) crosswalks. The commercial core will be our first area of focus. While there’s a bigger vision for the street (and certainly important anchor businesses outside of our three intersections), the workshop participants agreed that by concentrating initial improvements over a few blocks, we’d stand to get the most bang for our buck.

Prioritized Recommendations

SHORT TERM IMPROVEMENTS Installation of a new pedestrian crosswalk with both concrete and temporary sidewalk bulb-outs at Gibson St. Concrete bulb-outs at the southwest and northeast corners of Gibson with accessibility ramps. If technically possible, those bulb-outs should include tree wells and/or planting areas. The southwest bulb-out should extend beyond the current restricted parking red zone on Robertson to include the northernmost two parking spots, creating space for outdoor seating. All three adjacent business owners are happy to see this improvement happen. New zebra-striped crosswalk with RRFB between bulb-outs Gibson has a significant offset, so the new zebra-striped crosswalk with rapid rectangular flashing beacon (RRFB) would extend between these two concrete bulb-outs. Intersection of Robertson and Gbson, showing a mix of painted and concrete bulb-outs

Pedestrian-initiated signalling would conform to the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current safety standards (including flashing warning lights), and the street would be restriped accordingly. Temporary bulb-outs at the remaining corners of Gibson Given the constraints of the Great Streets Phase I funding, the rest of the bulb-outs at this corner will have to be painted.

Installation of temporary painted sidewalk bulb-outs at Beverlywood St. All four corners of this signaled intersection should be extended into Robertson for the length of the current red zones. With the exception of the northwest corner, bulbouts should wrap around on the side streets. All four crosswalks at this intersection should be zebra-striped.

We recommend a temporary painted bulbout at the northwest corner only at this stage, as the liquor store business on the southeast corner has a driveway at Robertson (see midterm improvements below). In future stages we would add a concrete bulb-out with a cutin driveway at this northwest corner, too. All painted bulb-outs in our proposal would be protected by a combination of large reinforced concrete planters and supplementary reinforced plastic bollards. Zebra-striped crosswalks across side-streets These should also be painted across both sides of Gibson to connect the wraparound bulbouts. Bicycle parking The owner of the building on the southwest corner is particularly interested in bicycle parking; if possible, the wrap-around on Gibson should be able to accommodate a bicycle rack in future phases.

Installation of temporary painted sidewalk bulb-outs at Olin St. The protected bulb-outs should wrap around the southwest and southeast corners, extending south in existing red zones to include the existing crosswalk. Zebra-striped crosswalks should also be painted across both sides of Olin to connect the wraparound bulb-outs. Paint on the existing crosswalk at Olin should also be refreshed.

Opposite: Example of a permanent wrap-around bulb-out with planting areas and public seating.

New Chinese Elm trees SORO NC has already begun replacing the gnarled, inappropriate Chitalpa trees along the corridor with Chinese Elm trees, selected to grow in a shady canopy. We propose continuing the tree planting effort with the initial improvements wherever budget will allow. If budget allows, we recommend new trees come with tree well covers, so that we do not lose precious additional sidewalk real estate.

Permanent neighborhood marker medallions As part of an ongoing already-funded project between SORO NC, Council President Herb Wesson and Councilmember Paul Koretz, permanent neighborhood marker medallions will be installed along the corridor in 2018. City support is only needed to facilitate permitting.

neighborhoods council

Business improvement solution: LA Mรกs We have convened a group of business leaders to decide on the final improvements covered under the LA Mรกs portion of the grant, designed to make a business-stimulating improvement in the sidewalk area. An early idea was a pilot idea to install tree well benches to provide public seating at intervals along the corridor. This pilot idea has the strong support of Council President Herb Wesson who would like to see this happen. We will continue to work through potential liability concerns with the City and the businesses, to be able to achieve this goal. Failing that, the businesses have backup ideas for how this portion of the grant could be used to benefit the corridor rather than any one particular business.

Public art solution: Alan Nakagawa We have also convened a community led group to discuss ideas for the public art portion of the grant. Current ideas include a mural (on an interested business ownerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wall), a swirling sidewalk inlay, or a kinetic, interactive piece to make the street a more appealing place to walk. The final decision will be determined through on-going dialogue with the community.

External Project Risks

Cell Tower

I-10 Freeway Ramp Reconfiguration

Other immediate risks to the spirit of this effort include a current application to install a 52' cell tower at 2512 S. Robertson, which would exceed the 45' building height limit on the street and eliminate much of the parking at this longtime empty restaurant/bar location. Many business operators have expressed interest in this highly desirable spot with its own parking lot, but the landlords have been disengaged, and the location is in disrepair

While construction on the I-10 Freeway ramps will not begin for many years, the planning for that massive infrastructure project is happening over the coming months. Depending on how the ramps are reconfigured, traffic flow on Robertson could be dramatically affected. For safety reasons, it is the consensus of the working group that the exit ramp across from Hamilton High School be relocated or closed altogether. Traffic leaving the freeway at speed currently merges onto Robertson at precisely the point that students walking to and from the Expo Line cross the intersection, and there is already a confluence of cars at school dropoff and pick-up times right there. A relocated off-ramp would be safer, and contribute to South Robertsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to transform

A similar application (for a 54' cell tower) was made by the same applicant at the same location in 2016. That was denied and denied again on appeal, after the community and businesses wrote over 100 letters of objection. In fact, the Zoning Administrator quote in the introduction to this document appeared in that determination report.

Caveat While these recommendations are the product of extensive community involvement, they have yet to be vetted by City departments. A significant portion of the Phase I budget has been set aside for contingencies such as unexpected subterranean utilities, dealing with storm drains, etc.

Now, with a Great Streets vision for the corridor, this proposed cell tower, and other non-compatible future land uses for the corridor should be very carefully considered by DCP to be aligned with the vision for the area. Without this critical consideration of land uses as well as changes to the right of way, change will never come.

Further, the group recommends that options that locate entrance and exit ramps on Venice, rather than Robertson, be adopted. Again, creating a more walkable street is not aligned with relocating four freeway ramps onto the southern portion of Robertson. We sincerely hope this will be given thoughtful joint consideration by all parties involved. 51

MEDIUM TERM IMPROVEMENTS

Conversion of painted bulb-outs to permanent concrete curb extensions

Installation of two new narrow medians to slow traffic at each gateway

As funds become available, we seek to convert all the painted bulb-outs at Olin, Gibson and Beverlywood to concrete curb extensions with planting areas/bioswale/cisterns, and cut-in ramps and driveways as needed.

At the northern and southern gateway, we recommend installation of two new short, narrow medians, planted with trees (particularly important) and low water/low maintenance plants, to help signal to drivers that they are entering a new type of zone and that they should slow their speed.

This would include the southeast corner of Gibson, where the current liquor store driveway access had prevented us from including a temporary painted bulb-out.

Future Land Use and Urban Design

Northern Gateway Median, just north of the intersection and signal at Cadillac and Robertson At the northern gateway, this median would be just north of the intersection and signal at Cadillac and Robertson, and include sprinklers for watering.

As noted throughout this report, the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clear vision for a walkable street extends beyond changes to the right of way, and includes changes to built-edge conditions for the South Robertson Corridor. It is critical that these recommendations be included in all future land use and urban design projects for this area moving forward. Incompatible land uses stand to impede progress, and as is made clear by this report, the neighborhood is long overdue for change.

Generous traffic lanes would allow a narrow median to be carved out by restriping, without losing a traffic lane.

Further, South Robertson Blvd. is covered by a set of qualified (Q) conditions that have been poorly enforced. The community seeks consistent application of these conditions and, when a variance/conditional use permit (CUP) is requested, deeper involvement with SORO NC as new businesses and new construction come to the area.

Southern Gateway Median, just north of Kincardine

This median is particularly important because the natural downhill grade of Robertson approaching Cadillac heading south encourages speeding, and cars often barrel down this last half mile before the freeway. The median would help those cars slow even before the signaled intersection, and indicate a new type of road condition ahead.

Note addition of a concrete bulb-out at SE corner (bottom left)

Upgrade existing crosswalk at Olin to include Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon This would improve safety at this crosswalk, and bring the crosswalk in line with other updates.

At the southern gateway, we recommend a similar narrow, tree-planted median on Robertson immediately north of Kincardine (where the current I-10 freeway exit ramp falls). Again the width of the road here allows the opportunity to carve out a median without losing a traffic lane.

Here, in immediate proximity to Hamilton High School, we want to do everything possible to indicate to drivers that they must slow downâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; particularly for drivers exiting the freeway at this ill-placed exit ramp in front of the school. This southern median would be slightly longer than the northern median, extending almost to the intersection with Kramerwood.

Crosswalk at Cattaraugus updated to a scramble

Photo simulation of the Cattaraugus scramble, looking south towards Hamilton High. The center median can be seen in the distance.

The crosswalks at the intersection with Cattaraugus carry a heavy load of pedestrians,primarily high school students from Hamilton High. Their safety is of paramount importance to the community, and this intersection is frequently a location for near-misses between moving automobiles and pedestrians. We recommend conversion of this crosswalk to a pedestrian-initiated scramble crosswalk.

Southern median across from Hamilton High School

Northern median above Cadillac/Hillsboro

If possible, we recommend this crosswalk be designed with a music theme since Hamilton High School is one of the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading music magnet schools. 53

People Street Plaza We recommend consideration of a People Street Plaza at Robertson Place, a short lightly-used piece of roadway that flanks a small triangular plot, connecting Robertson Blvd. to Cattaraugus on a bias. Robertson Placeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s location, immediately across from Hamilton High School and abutting a neighborhood that is being rezoned for density and mixed use through the Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan, is ideal for a People Street Plaza.

With clear calls for more public areas where people can gather, this location could provide some much-needed open space in the absence of more generous sidewalks and more parks/green spaces, particularly in light of anticipated density. We envision this Plaza to be very similar to the successful Sunset Triangle Plaza in Silverlake. In fact, the triangle lot here creates an almost identical geographic set up. Since this is a midterm recommendation and currently unfunded recommendation, we have not yet conducted comprehensive community outreach with the neighboring residents on Helms and Kramerwood, although initial conversations have been positive.

Before applying for funding, complete outreach would be conducted with the neighboring residents and businesses alike. Provision would be made to protect critical driveway access, and ensure that residents could easily enter and exit to and from Robertson Blvd. from Kramerwood. The Plaza would also create a barrier between the residential pocket and the abutting automobile oriented businesses, mitigating some of the negative effects of those businesses on residents of Helms and Kramerwood. Access to Helms would be preserved through the looped roadway, allowing entry and exit to the residential area via Kramerwood.

If needed, we could pilot this Plaza idea in increments to make sure there are no unsustainable negative impacts on the surrounding community.

Installation of a new pedestrian crosswalk at 24th Street We recommend the addition of a new zebrastriped pedestrian crosswalk with rapid rectangular flashing beacon (RRFB) from the southwest to southeast corner at 24th Street and Robertson, together with zebra-striped crosswalks across both sides of 24th Street. Currently, there is a distance of approximately 900' between crosswalks at Cadillac and Beverlywood, and this new crosswalk would bring that distance closer to the recommend range of 500'.

Monument signage at gateways

Engage landlord community

At the two gateway medians, monument signage signals to traffic that they are entering a pedestrian-focused area, as well as reinforces the sense of community identity. The design of these monuments has yet to be determined.

Many landlords along the corridor are not adequately invested (or invested at all) in the maintenance and upkeep of their properties, and in some cases, are not supportive of their tenants’ desired to freshen façades or update signage.

Additional street furniture We would seek funds to install additional and longer-wearing street furniture: benches and other seating, waste and recycling receptacles, a digital community information kiosk, and tree well covers.

Reclaim inactive façades A number of lengthy stretches of South Robertson are comprised of solid walls with no windows, negatively affecting pedestrian activity and the vitality of the street. We will work with existing business owners to either landscape or install murals to break up their frontage. Future development and land use on the street must encourage street-level activity. Additionally making windows open to passersby, repainting façades, installing awnings and updating (blade) signage will contribute significantly to a new and appealing aesthetic, which in turn will draw customers and new thriving businesses to the corridor.

Many landlords are absentee, and seem unconcerned about maintaining their dilapidated buildings, security grilled windows and empty storefronts. Creating a pathway for landlord education, façade improvement incentives, and better connections between landlords, their properties and a potential tenant community will pay great dividends to all parties over time. Reaching landlords with the vision for the corridor, and encouraging them to make thoughtful, not incompatible land use choices will help accelerate transformation (e.g. the location at 2512 S. Robertson with the proposed cell tower). The DCP can help by making thoughtful land use assessments as applications are made. The City can help with facilitating incentive programs and educational materials and stakeholder meetings to help landlords understand that with new focus on this area, there has never been a better time to invest in their buildings, or to sell their properties at a potential premium to developers who might be more disposed to honor the vision of the surrounding community as a way of maximizing profits.

might see many of them move into underused storefronts along the commercial corridor. It would create an ever-deepening relationship between the community and the businesses, and those relationships could underpin success for both groups. It would also provide improved community-focused amenities for local residents.

LONG TERM IMPROVEMENTS Acquisition of Robertson Place triangle The People Plaza across from the High School can be made even more useful by converting the triangle itself to a pocket park. Currently this triangle houses two auto-related businesses, a luxury rental business and a repair shop. In addition to creating a gateway buffer between the roadway/freeway exit traffic and the adjacent homes on Helms and Kramerwood, it would provide sorely-needed community space in a park-poor area. As a stretch idea, we envision installing a small (perhaps shipping container-sized?) café to serve the community and Hamilton students (see latimes.com/food/la-fo-adams-gateway20160220-story.html), or even to incubate fledgling food service businesses who need to build a loyal customer base before being able to move into bricks and mortar. If we can use this public space to help give those businesses their start, at a reduced cost (for a fixed window of time) we 56

Related: Installation of a mid-block crosswalk at Hamilton High School’s Ceremonial Entrance With the creation of a People Street Plaza, and acquisition of the triangle lot as a pocket park, we would also recommend installation of a mid-block crosswalk on Robertson Blvd. between Cattaraugus and Robertson Place, meeting Hamilton High School at its majestic ceremonial entrance. Hamilton High School is a landmark architectural building in the neighborhood and alma mater to many residents. It is a much loved institution in this community. This mid-block crosswalk would add yet another safety element to protect student pedestrians, and have the benefit of connecting the Park and People Street Plaza directly to the ceremonial entrance of the school. It would provide one more signal for cars entering the area to slow down for pedestrians, and increase safe passageway for our kids.

Off-street parking lot For decades, the community have reiterated their desire to see more restaurants and cafés along South Robertson to serve the community. With the changes outlined here, we hope even more customer-serving businesses are drawn

to the street. Unfortunately, the City’s parking requirements for many of these uses impede new businesses coming to South Robertson. The community has expressed a clear desire for a walkable street. The addition of multiple crosswalks and improvements to encourage walking suggest that the installation of an offstreet parking lot would have great benefit to the community and businesses alike. A public parking lot would allow new businesses to open here, and would encourage “park-once” walking exploration of the corridor, bringing much-needed foot traffic to the businesses. We have seen off-street parking lots transform many commercial areas in the City: North Robertson, South Beverly Drive, Culver City, and Westwood to name just a few. If the City truly wants to support the commercial success of South Robertson, investment in an offstreet parking lot would be transformative. Possible current locations include a grossly underused lot for Goodwill at 2502 S. Robertson Blvd. Another substantial Goodwill drop off location is located a few block away at Venice and National.

Pedestrian connection between the High School and the Culver City/ Robertson Expo Line station The SORO Great Streets team strongly believes that creating a pedestrian connection/ greenway between the Culver City Expo Line station and Hamilton High School must be one of the primary goals of the I-10 Freeway ramp reconfiguration project.

With this once-in-a-lifetime project, there is an opportunity to make the twice-daily walk for thousands of students (not to mention shoppers and commuters) safe and inviting— and encourage wider use of public transit, as called for in the City’s Mobility Plan 2035, Expo Transit Neighborhood Plan, West Adams/ Baldwin Hills/Leimert Community Plan, Mobility Hub Guide, Vision Zero program, et al.

Undergrounding utilities The east side of Robertson Blvd. carries a large number of overhead utilities, including highvoltage lines. Specifying a long-term goal to relocate them underground would minimize their visual impact, reduce service disruptions, reclaim sidewalk space for pedestrians and landscaping, and make those adjacent properties more attractive to higher-density redevelopment.

energized by shared vision and buoyed by community support. In the long term, as these businesses start to thrive, we’d like to see a business improvement district created along South Robertson. This group can come together to plan for maintenance of enhancements to the street and to collectively share costs for benefits such as security patrol, valet parking and more. With the strong support of SORO NC, SORO Community Foundation, and our Councilmembers, we believe that working towards a BID for SORO could secure the long-term transformation of the area. Related: Tree lighting With the support and maintenance of the business community, the trees along the commercial core could include uplighting and/or tree lights. An alternative would be to install strand lights across the roadway, suspended from poles installed for that purpose (see Colorado Blvd. in Santa Monica for an example).

Create formally-adopted streetscape/overlay zone

Business Improvement District (BID) The Great Streets project has had the unexpected benefit of bringing an enthusiastic segment of the South Robertson business community together,

South Robertson’s Commercial Corridor deserves an overlay zone to address and meet its specific needs that are not covered in the broader provisions of the West Adams/Baldwin Hills/Leimert Community Plan. As outlined in the introduction to this section, SORO NC gave extensive comments on that plan, and City Council agreed that those comments deserved closer consideration than were originally given by planners. Areas to reconsider include zoning changes to allow for deeper commercial lots on South

Robertson, and a refresh of the street’s Q conditions, which are rarely enforced. Sadly, in 2007 the City removed “automobile uses” from the C4 zoning Q conditions that govern Robertson, effectively ensuring that the many automobile uses that have kept Robertson depressed for many years can continue to operate there. Now the Great Streets outreach process has helped solidify an inclusive and comprehensive community vision in a way that the West Adams/ Baldwin Hills/Leimert Plan never managed over the seven start-stop years involved in developing that plan. That drawn-out planning process, coupled with the City’s challenges in effectively reaching the community, resulted in poor connection between the plan and the people it most affects. The Great Streets process has helped start to fill that gap, and results suggest the need for fresh big-picture thinking about the South Robertson Area. Our recommendation is that the ideas in this Great Streets report be used as the basis to create and formally adopt a South Robertson Streetscape Plan and overlay zone, ensuring that the City takes on a more committed position towards South Robertson, and that this robust civic engagement becomes a foundation for future improvement. A formally adopted streetscape/overlay zone would demand better collaboration between conflicting projects that seek to shape this area in a piecemeal fashion, and would finally give this small but mighty community the chance it has been waiting for to thrive. 57

FULL SOUTH ROBERTSON PLAN BUILDOUT

Appendices

SORO Vision Survey

A: COMMUNITY SURVEY

The City of Los Angeles Great Streets Initiative, in partnership with the SoRo Community Foundation, is preparing to develop a vision for South Robertson Blvd. from Cadillac Ave. to Kincardine Ave. SoRo is leading an outreach and design process to identify key safety improvements and urban design enhancements for sidewalks that will make South Robertson Blvd. a destination for the community. We'd love to hear what you think! Survey End Date: 17 May 2017. This is a 5-minute survey. Important: Please answer only with reference to the project area outlined in the graphic above.

Your name

First Name

Last Name

Phone number Area Code Phone Number

E-mail * 5. How often do you do the following on South Robertson Blvd? Less than once a month

1-3 times a month

1-3 times a week

Walk

Nearest cross streets *

Bike Park on the street Example: Hargis and Robertson Visit a business Visit a restaurant/eatery

1. Do you live, work, attend school, or own a business in South Robertson Blvd? (Check all that apply) Live

6. When you think about your personal experience walking on South Robertson as it is today, would you say you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

Work

Strongly agree Agree

School/church

The traﬃc feels intimidating

Own business

There is a good mix of inviting businesses

Other

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Don't know

There aren't enough safe places to cross the street The storefronts are attractive

2. Do you go to the South Robertson Blvd project area (depicted above) to visit shops/businesses? Yes

There is not enough shade Shops with sidewalk displays or promotional signs are a turn oﬀ I don't generally like walking on South Robertson The street is clean and welcoming

3. If yes, how do you most commonly get there? Walk

The street is well-lit in the evening There are places to sit and relax

Car Bike Transit Other

7. What is your opinion of traﬃc along the SoRo Corridor? (Check all that apply) It is too congested Cars travel too fast There are not enough traﬃc signals or crosswalks

4. What activities do you participate in along the SoRo Corridor today? (Check all that apply)

It serves its purpose

Walking

Signal timing needs improvement

Biking

Drivers do not practice safe behavior

Shopping

Other

Dining Attend a community event/festival Attend school or church

8. What would you like to see along the SoRo Corridor in the future? (Check all that apply)

Other

Activities for kids/youth �Boutiques/specialty retail Food stores/deli, etc. Cafés/restaurants Fitness studios Newsstand/bookstores Other

Street vending and food trucks

Parklets

Gateways

Street trees and landscaping

Public art

Street events: farmer’s market, performances, etc.

9. What types of improvements would you like to see along the SoRo Corridor? (Click your top 3)

Safer crosswalks

Bicycle detectors at traﬃc lights

More crosswalks

Curb extensions to make pedestrians more visible to drivers

Street medians

Seating: benches, etc.

More traﬃc lights

Outdoor dining

Other improvement ideas

10. What are some of the obstacles to improving the SoRo Corridor? (e.g. lack of parking, narrow sidewalks, etc.?)

11. What is important about SoRo that you want to keep? (Check all that apply)

Walkability

Variety of shops and restaurants

Visual aesthetic: trees, medians, art, etc.

Creative business signs and storefronts Sign up for Email Updates Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Gracias! Thank you!

Easy car access

Easy bus access Submit

12. Please share any additional thoughts or concerns you have about the SoRo Corridor.

13. Keep me informed! Please keep me up to date on SoRo improvements via email Please contact me via phone Please do not contact me

We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. To learn more about South Robertson and Great Streets, please visit: www.soroblvd.com

South Robertson Business Survey

B: BUSINESS SURVEY

The City of Los Angeles Great Streets Initiative, in partnership with the SoRo Community Foundation (SoRo), is preparing to develop a vision for the South Robertson Boulevard Business Corridor (from Cadillac to Kincardine Avenues). SoRo is leading a community outreach and design process to identify key safety improvements and urban design enhancements that will help make South Robertson a vital and thriving destination for the local community. As a business operator, your input is vital to this process. Thank you for your help. Survey End Date: 30 June 2017. This is a 5-minute survey. Important: Please complete this survey ONLY if you own/run a business along the project area delineated on the map above.

Business Name *

Your Name

First Name

Last Name

Job Title/Position 5. What are some of the key factors that led you to locate on South Robertson? (e.g. location/proximity to other businesses or customers, available space, operating costs/rent, parking etc.)

Business Address on South Robertson *

Street Address

6. What are your main concerns about your business location on South Robertson? (e.g. security, loading, parking etc.)

Street Address Line 2

Phone Number Area Code Phone Number

7. Where do you currently receive deliveries/loading?

E-mail *

8. Where do you and your employees currently park?

1. What type of business do you operate on South Robertson (e.g. dry cleaner, cafĂŠ etc.) 9. Over the last 3 years or so, has your business on South Robertson grown, declined, or remained about the same? Business has grown 2. Do you rent or own your space on South Robertson? Rent

Own

Business has declined Business has stayed about the same Other

3. What year did you open your business on South Robertson? 10. Do you have any perspective on what has inďŹ&#x201A;uenced these changes in your business?

4. What is your role in this business? (Check all that apply) Own Property

11. Do you have future expansion plans or other changes for your business? Please describe:

Own Business Work here (Manager/Employee) Other

Improved transit service and amenities Improved bike safety/bike parking Improved access to parking/additional parking Increased number of trash and recycling receptacles

12. What are the biggest obstacles you face in growing your business on South Robertson? (Check all that apply) Availability of investment capital/loans

Slow down traﬃc

15. What else would improve the character of South Robertson?

Operating Costs (wages, utilities, rent) Lack of foot traﬃc along the street City permitting process Cost of City permits Size of space Availability of parking

16. What percentage of your customers/clients are:

Other

0%-20%

13. What attributes do you think will help your business thrive? Please rank on a scale of 1 to 5.

20%-40%

40%-60%

60%-80%

80%-100%

Returning Customers Locals/Nearby Residents

1 least important

2 somewhat important

3 important

4 very important

5 most important

Commuters/Non-residents

More pedestrian activity/foot traﬃc Benches/public seating

17. Does your average customer visit other local businesses along South Robertson?

Spaces that encourage public gathering/social interaction

Yes

More outdoor dining opportunities

Improved lanscaping along sidewalks and parkways

Not Sure

More attractive/welcoming storefronts

If they did, it would probably be beneﬁcial to my business too Other

Better signage Public Art Cleaner/better maintained streets

18. Would your business beneﬁt from improved cooperation with other businesses along the corridor?

Removal of window bars and barbed wire

Yes

Street events (e.g. Farmer's Market, festivals etc.)

19. If you had support, which of these ideas would you be most interested in pursuing?

14. Please rank the following safety and access priorities on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 2 least important somewhat important Safer pedestrian crossings/more crosswalks Pedestrian lighting to increase visibility and safety

3 important

4 very important

5 most important

Outdoor seating/dining Street trees Improved signage Faรงade revitalization Awnings Other

20. Is your landlord/property owner supportive of your business needs/goals? Yes

Comments: We really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. To learn more about South Robertson and Great Streets, please visit: www.soroblvd.com Sign up for Email Updates 21. If you are not the property owner, do you know your property owner's name and contact information? Please provide:

22. Do you live in the South Robertson area? Yes

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23. Finally, please share with us any thoughts or concerns you have about the environment in the South Robertson community or changes you might like to see:

Keep me informed! Please keep me up to date on SoRo improvements via email.

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