DIRECTOR'S LETTER
O SPUR SPUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair Linda JoFitz Executive ViceChair AnneHalsted Vice Chairs Alexa Arena AndyBarnes Emilio Cruz David Friedman Bill Rosetti LydiaTan V. Fei Tsen Secretary Mary McCue Treasurer Bob Gamble Immediate Past Co-Chair Andy Ba rnes LeeBlitch Advisory Council Co-Chairs Michael Alexander Paul Sedway
Board Members CarlAnthony Veronica Bell Chris Block Larry Burnett Michaela Cassidy MadelineChun CharmaineCurtis GiaDaniller-Katz Kelly Dea rman Oz Erickson MannyFlores GillianGillett ChrisGruwell DaveHartley Aidan Hughes Mary Huss ChrisIglesias LaurieJohnson KenKirkey Dick Lonergan EllenLou Janis MacKenzie JohnMadd en Jacinta McCann ChrisMeany Ezra Mersey Terry Micheau
Mary Murphy JeanneMyerson Adhi Nagraj Brad Paul Ch risPoland TeresaRea Byron Rhett WadeRose Victor Seeto ElizabethSeilel Carl Shannon Chi-HsinShao OntarioSmith Bili Stotier Stuart Sunshine Michael Teit z MikeTheriault JamesTracy Will Travis Jell Tumlin Steve VetteI DebraWalker CynthiaWilusz Lovell Cindy Wu
CHAIRS & COMM ITTEES
Program Committees BallotAnalysis Bob Gamble Disaster Planning LaurieJohnson ChrisPoland Housing Ezra Mersey LydiaTan Project Review Cha rmaine Curtis Mary Beth Sanders ReubenSchwartz Transportation AnthonyBruzzone
Regional Planning Larry Burnett Libby Seilel Operating Committees Audit JohnMadden Nominating Stuart Sunshine Building Management La rry Burnett Business Membership TomHart Terry Micheau
Water PolicyBoard Executive BrySartre Anne Halsted Good Government LindaJoFitz BobGamble
Finance Bob Gamble Human Resources Mary McCue Individual Membership Bill Stotler Investment Ann Lazarus Major Donors Linda JoFitz AnneHalsted Planned Giving Michaela Cassidy SilverSPUR Dave Hartley Teresa Rea
SAN JOSE AD V ISO RY BOARD
TeresaAlvarado Andy Barnes ChrisBlock J. Richa rd Braugh Larry Burnett BrianDarrow GordonFeller
KarlaRodriguez Lomax ConnieMartinez James MacGregor Anu Natarajan Dr. Mohammad Qayoumi
A UG /SEPT 2012
Robert Steinberg, FAIA LydiaTan Kim Walesh Jessica Zenk
The Ambitious City I grew up in a st reetcar suburb just outs ide Boston, attended college in New York City and then lived for t wo years in Balti more, ofte n visit ing Washingt on, D.C. I t raveled t hrough Europe and Sout h America. From th ese experiences, I knew (or thought I knew) what a cit y was sup posed to be. A city had a define d center, one that you could easily find based on the heavy concentra tion of tall buil dings, th e confluence of different lines of transit. t he peop le rushing on foot from one dest ination to th e next. It had Sarah Karlinsky historic buildings wit h brick or Vict orian facades and at least some st reets isSPUR's deputy director built fo r a t ime before th e automobile was invented. Peopl e in cit ies lived in high-r ises, mid-rises, walk-up brownstones; anything green was likely th e leafy expanse of a public square not the manicured lawn of a single-fa mily home. Los Angeles is a dif ferent kind of cit y. My first real experience there came in t he mid 1990s when I visited a fr iend who was doing a summer program at USc. He did n't have a car, so much of our t ime was spent waiting fo r anot her fri end who did. W it hout an automobi le, we couldn't get anywhere. I left L.A . vowing t hat I would never, ever return. "L.A . is not a real cit y," I proclaimed, wit h all th e fo rce and rig hteous clarity of someone whose very small set of experiences ent it led her to have very big, unshakeable opinions. The next morn ing I got on a plane back to New York, back to t he loud clangi ng heart of every t hing urb an, t rue and good . I have since returne d to Los Angeles many t imes, and each time I do, I've learned somethin g th at has challenged my not ion of what cities are supposed to be, how they are supposed to behave and t he ways in which they are capab le of change and t ransfo rmat ion. It may have a reputat ion for superficiality, but Los Ang eles is a cit y with a spect acular inner lif e. The exterior of a st ruct ure do es not always announce its pri vate meaning: it might be concealing an iconic mid cent ury-modern hom e or a Korean rest aurant serv ing t he greatest barb ecue you wi ll ever taste. To know what is go ing on and where, you need to ta lk to t hose wit h a deeper relations hip with th e city (or else you'd never tru st that th e best rest aurant around just mig ht be in a st rip mall) -and because th e city is so big and strange and complicated , t he talking can go on forever. The public face of Los Ang eles is changing too, and in incredibly radical ways. The city has changed zoning laws in its dow ntown, allow ing office space to be converted into housing . Now t here are 45,000 resident s in t he dow ntown area, an increase of 15 percent since 2008 . Los Angeles County just passed a half- cent sales tax (Measure R) t hat is est imated to generate $36 billio n in funding fo r tran sit, radi cally expanding its already very imp ressive t ransit system . In some locat ions, such as Koreatow n and th e once-st ruggling downtown, ta ller, denser build ings are being built adjacent to transit. And th ough Missing Persons' enduring hit song from 1984 (the city's unoffi cial ant hem) proclaims ot her wise, more and more reside nt s like writer Alissa Walker ("Knowing t he Dista nce, page 14) have commit ted t hemselves to getti ng around t he city on their own tw o feet. In t his issue of The Urbanist, we explore just a few of th e mind-boggling ways in whi ch Los Ang eles is reinventing it self. A city of big inf rastr ucture and big dreams, Los Ange les has never shied away from fo rmidable obstacles, be it the quest fo r water, railroads , freeways or, to day, creating 21st-cent ury tr ansit and a new mod el of West Coast urbanism. We in th e Bay Area have a great deal to learn from it s bold ambition. • Cover photo by Michael Alexander
THE URBANI ST
AUGUST/SEPTE MBER 2012
NewsatSPUR The Housing Trust Fund Heads to San Francisco Voters in November! After many months of work by SPUR and ot her housing
agencies, cutting off almost all local funding for affordable
advocates, th e Housing Trust Fund has made its way throu gh
housing prod uctio n. The measure also st imulates t he
San Francisco's legislat ive process and has been placed
developm ent of mod erate-in come housing by tweak ing
on the November ballot. SPUR was very involved in crafting
San Francisco's inclusionary housing ord inance to
thi s charter amendment, w hich encourages t he creat ion
make build ing below -market rate housing on-site mo re
of housing at all income levels. The measure provides
attractive. Thanks to Mayor Ed Lee, t he Board of
$1.2 bill ion for affordable housing in San Francisco over a
Supervisors and th e many advocates who work ed so hard
30-year period. This funding is desperately needed,
to get th is imp ort ant measure on t he ballot. Rea d more
especially since California eliminated its redevelopm ent
at spur.org/ blog.
Parks Bond on November Ballot
high-speed rail by a major ity of state legislat ors. Included in t he vote was a provision t o fund the elect rificat ion of Caltra in, which wi ll bot h increase speeds and lower operat ing costs. Also in July, th e Transbay dist rict plan was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, w hich vot ed unanimously to amend the general plan, planning code and zoning code in order to imp lement th e Transit Center District Plan. SPUR has long advocated for th e plan, w hich would allow high -ri se bu ildin gs and neighborhood improvements around th e new Transbay Transit Center. This is an im port ant mil estone, as th e passage of th e plan will provid e critica l fundi ng for th e dow ntown extension of Caltrain and event ually highspeed rail.
After extensive community out reach and planning - and months of negotiations over specific projects - the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has placed the $195 million 2012 Neighborhood Parks Bond on the November ballot. It will include $99 mill ion for neighborhood park improvements; $34.5 mi llion for wate rfro nt open spaces; $21 million for regio nal parks; $15.5 million for failing playgroun ds across the city; and a $12 million Community Opportunity Fund that leverages private fund s for communit y- based park projects. Followin g our 2011 Seeking Green report on new revenues for San Francisco parks, SPUR has been acti vely engaged in the bond planning process. The 2012 bond proposal requires approval of tw o-t hirds of San Francisco voters and follows others in 20 00 and 20 0 8 to maintain and rebuil d TH E URBAN IST
a parks system that makes up 12 percent of land in the cit y.
Presidio Parkway Project Breaks Ground Aft er 22 years of planning, a vision SPUR has fought long and hard for finally got under way this spring: th e t ransform ation of San Francisco's Doyle Drive from a clunky and dangerous art ifact into a graceful entr yway t o t he cit y. When the $1.1 billion Presidio Parkway is completed in 2015, cars and t raffic noise will no longer dominate key landscapes of th e Presidio national park.
July: A GoodMonth for Transit in California In July, the State Senate vote d to authorize the sale of $2 .6 billio n in bonds for high-speed rail, marking a crucial first step toward constr uct ion of th e st atew ide rail system as well as a renewed commitm ent to
UrbanAg Billand Funding Passes Board of Supervisors
Board of Supervisors unanimously appro ved legislati on introd uced by Supervisor David Chiu that aims to make th e city's urban agriculture spendi ng more efficient, expand access to public land and increase th e availability of resources for city gardeners and farmers. It creates a new urban agricult ure prog ram wit h specific goals and timelines, includi ng an audi t of city-owned rooft ops to identify sites potentia lly suita ble for rooftop agricult ure, th e streamlining of app licat ions for urban agriculture on pub lic land and creat ion of a "one-stop shop" provid ing assistance to San Franciscans grow ing food. The board also approved $120,0 0 0 in th e 2012-2013 budge t for the new prog ram. The legislation implements a number of key recommendat ions from SPUR's recent Pub lic Har vest report, and we wi ll continue advocat ing on
On July 17, the San Francisco
behalf of t he new law. AUG/SEPT 20 12 3
LEARN ING FROM LOS A NGELES
The Benefits of Big
Summary: Adept at seeing
On a recent visit to Los Angeles, SPUR discovers the benefits and challenges - of living in a county that encompasses over 4,000 square miles.
By Sarah Kar linsk y
Los Angelesdiffers from t he Bay Area in many ways,
Sarah Karlinsky is Deputy Directorof SPUR
but one of t he biggest diff erences is its sheer physical size. The City of Los Angeles is enormo us, covering 469 square miles and housing 3.8 million peop le. Compare to San Francisco, at 47 square miles, Oakland at 56 and San Jose at 177. wit h populations of roughly 800,000, 400,000 and 950,000, respect ively. To put it anot her way, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose - th e th ree "cent ral cities" of the Bay Area - could all fit inside Los Angeles' city limits wit h nearly 190 square miles to spare. The County of Los Angeles is larger st ill. It encompasses mo re th an 4,0 0 0 square miles and includes some of t he cit ies that we th ink of whe n we t hink of LA: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Pasadena and Santa Monica. It is the most populous county in t he ent ire nation, home to roughly 9.8 mill ion peop le. And t he broade r Los Angeles regi on as defined by th e Sout hern Califo rnia Association of Governments (SCAG) includes Imperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino and Vent ura count ies in addit ion to Los Angeles County itself, covering more t han 38,00 0 square miles and roughly 18 million peop le. Compare t his to th e ninecounty Bay Area, w hich covers 6,900 square miles and includes 7.1 mil lion peop le. Los Angeles - t he city, the county, the region - is simp ly enormous. So what does th is mean for Los Ange les as an urban place? W hat did SPUR learn abo ut Los Angeles on our st udy t rip w hile t raversing t he landscape by subway, bus and fo ot? For one t hing, it is nearly 4
AUG/SEPT 2012
impossible to talk about just one Los Angeles. The city is made up of a seeming ly endless series of unique neighb orh ood s - Litt le Tokyo, Koreato wn, Venice, Boyle Heights, Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Los Feliz - each with its own distinct cultu re, ethnic groups and physical form . Some neighborhoods are undergoing rapid densificatio n around tr ansit nodes in ways that are unique to the culture of th e neighb orh ood itself (such as Koreatown, where a combinat ion of Asian capita l, an affi nity for hig hrise const ruct ion and pub lic art works such as Ap ril Greiman's "Big Bow l of Rice Finished, Waitin g for Giant Soy Sauce Packet " combine to create a very di stin ctiv e neighb orh ood). Other places are seeking to att ract new residents to glorious old buildi ngs th at had suffered from years of neglect (like the newly revit alized downtown). Some places are oddly familiar: Silver Lake feels like t he Los Angeles version of San Francisco's Valencia St reet corrido r, w it h block after block of cafes and art isanal ice cream shops. Others are a wor ld unto t hemselves, like Venice Beach, a place perhaps best experienced on ro ller skates. The sheer scale of Los Angeles has numerous benefit s - and no shortage of prob lems.
potential in nearly any challenge, this southern metropolis gives the Bay Area a lot to t hink abo ut.
Special thanks to Anna Gore, Chelsea Fried andWill Heywood for their dataresearch.
The Good Our visit revealed that one of the best things about the size of Los Ange les is th at it allows fo r exper imentation. In a compac t cit y like San Francisco every new development, pocke t park or stree t desig n can be th e site of a painful, protract ed batt le. In Los T HE URBA NI ST
LEAR NING FROM LOS ANGELES
FIGURE 3
How do San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose compare with the City of Los Angeles? TheCityof LosAngelesislargerthan San Francisco, San JoseandOakland combined. While not asdenseasSanFrancisco,
SAN FRANCISCO
OAKLAND
SAN JOSE
CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Square miles
47
56
177
469
2010 population
805,235
390,724
945,942
3,792,621
2010 population per sq mil e
17,180
7,0 03
5,359
8,092
2010 househol ds
345,8 11
153,791
301,366
1,314,198
2010 Emp loyment
413,729
167,1 87
432 ,597
1,748,066
SAN FRANCISCO
OAKLAND
SAN JOSE
CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Pop ulat ion 2010
805,235
390 ,724
945,942
3,792,621
Popu lation 2035
1,032,453
521,035
1,261,544
4,320,600
Percent Change
22.01%
25.01%
25.02 %
12.22%
Households 2010
345,8 11
153,791
301,366
1,314,198
Households 2035
429,895
202,455
409,581
1,626,60 0
Percent Change
19.56%
24 .04 %
26.42%
19.21%
BAY AREA
LO S ANGELES COUNTY
SCAG
Square Miles
6,907
4,058
38,141
2010 Population
7,150,739
9,818,605
18,051,534
Popu lation Per Square Mile
1,035
2,420
473
Househ old s
2,608,023
3,217,889
5,814,000
Emp loyment
3,268,700
4,391,268
7,738,000
thepopulationdensity of the Cityof Los Angeles exceeds that of bothOakland and San Jose.
FIGURE 4
How will San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Los Angeles Grow Over the next 2S years? Inabsolute numbers, theCit y of LosAngeles isprojectedto grow by over 500,000 people, morethan anyBay Areacity.However, San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose will growmoreasa percentagerelativeto their current population.
FIGURE 5
How does the Bay Area Region Compare with the Los Angeles Region?
Thearea covered bytheSouthern California
comparisonto theBay Area regionmaybe
Association of Governments (SCAG) is
LosAngelesCounty, which is roughly 60
enormous, coveringImperial, Orang e,
percent of thesize of theentireninecounty
Riverside, SanBernadino and Ventura
Bay Areacovered bytheAssociationof Bay
counties,in addition to theCounty of
Area Governments(ABAG).
LosAngeles.This suggests that better
6
AUG/SEPT 20 12
THE URBANI ST
E
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Angeles, however, th ere is so much go ing on all t he tim e and in so many places th at ther e seems to be more of an openness to tr y new th ings. Accordingly, its cult ure of architect ure and design has long been one of t he most dynamic in th e nation. In Culver City, for examp le, an abando ned indu stri al park has been tr ansform ed int o new st udios and offices. Designed by archit ect Eric Owen Moss (w ho also heads up SCIArc, L.A.'s most avant-ga rde architect ure school), this new collect ion of architec t urally radical buildings is known as th e Hayden Tract. One wo uld be hardpressed to th ink of an area in San Francisco (t hough easier to imagine one in San Jose or Oakland) th at might allow for such a tr ansformation. Los Angeles is also able to support many different types of economic dist ricts. The Fashion District, to take just one examp le, occupies 100 blocks in close proximity to dow ntow n. This immense and eclect ic swat h of th e city includes th ousands of stalls for manufacturin g, wholesale and retail textil e and apparel businesses. Nearby is t he Flower Distri ct, wit h its six-b lock, 200 -vendo r flower market. Having th e space for such dense distr icts th at cover an enti re supply chain helps suppo rt business creat ion and economic diversity. We were impressed w it h L.A.'s incredibl y diverse housing stoc k, includin g a greater (and expand ing) supply of relati vely affo rdable housing th at helps support economic and cult ural div ersity. Housing ranges from th e "mansion belt " st retc hing from Beverly Hills t o th e Pacif ic to new high -ri ses in THE URBA NI ST
Koreatown, from t he adapt ive reuse of office buildin gs downtown (like th e Standard Hot el, which occupies th e form er headqu art ers of th e Superior Oil Company) t o th e overw helming number of mid centur y "d ingb at s" (two- to thr eesto ry apartm ent buildings built over parking ). New multifamil y housing is also being const ructed, some of it in very th oughtful ways. Just one example amo ng many is 1140 Formosa, a lovely ll -unit project in West Hollywood, designed by Lorcan O'Herlihy, w hich combines playful mod ern architect ure with a new pocket park.
The Not So Good The imm ensity of Los Angeles fosters experimentat ion and allows for lot s of thing s to be happ ening in many places at once, but it does make it hard to have a civic dialogu e abo ut w hat LA oug ht to be. In San Francisco, getti ng to City Hall to testif y on matters large and small is fairly easy to do. It is possibl e to keep t rack of most of th e development politi cs wit hin th e city includin g w hat is being propose d for developm ent and where. Making sense of what 's happening is possibl e in a 47-square-mile city such as San Francisco or a 56-square-mile city like Oakland. It's even tenable th ough harder - in a 177-squ are-m ile city like San Jose, w here development tends to be concent rated in certain areas. But in a 469-square-mil e multi nod al city like Los Angeles, it' s a seeming ly insurm ount able prospect.
AUG/ SEPT 2012 7
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
This diff iculty is only compounded w hen t ry ing to solve collect ive act ion prob lems, such as cont rolling traffi c or sit ing new housing or figuring out how to pay for big infrastru ct ure upgrades. Whi le th ese prob lems can be overcome (as show n wit h t he passage of Measure R, wh ich creates roughly $40 billion in new sales-tax revenue for tr ansportat ion, page 10), th e size of Los Angeles makes t hem harder to t ackle. Finally, it can be hard to get thing s done in a large city w it h a large city governm ent wit h many department s, especially when t he problem at hand requires interdepart mental cooperat ion. Not surprisingly, some of th e best pub lic-realm changes in Los Angeles County have been imp lemented by smaller and more nimb le citi es, such as Pasadena (w ith it s lovely alleyways and tr ailblazing park ing management policies) and West Hollywood (w ith its recent ly improved, pedestr ian-fri endly boulevards).
What Canthe Bay Area Learn from Los Angeles? We in t he Bay Area often dwell on our challenges. It's hard to raise money to pay for th e thing s we need, like more parks, improved educat ion and bett er transit serv ice. We can't get enough housing built in th e right places. Some of our older citi es are to o precious, and some of our newer cit ies st ill need to create places th at future generat ions w ill be proud of. Los Angeles shares many of th ese prob lems and
8
A UG/SEPT 2012
of course has many of its ow n, most not ably its preponderance of inf rastr uct ure t hat supports th e private automobile - wide roads, big highways, lots of parking. But rat her than get caug ht up bemoa ning it s caroriente d st reets and low-density bou levards, LA has been pro activ e and has made t hose st reets more walkable, reclaiming odd corners for pedestrians (on e example being Polka Dot Plaza in Silver Lake, w here a st rip of Sunset Boulevard was blocked off and paint ed with bright green po lka dot s) and adding layers of density to make places more lively. It has built an impressive and well-ut ilized t ransit system and was even successf ul in ta xing itself to make th at tr ansit system even bett er; fund s from Measure R w ill build out exist ing lines and add new ones to create an int erconnected rapid tr ansit network. Its spraw ling landscape of bou levard s and parking lot s - emblemat ic of th e 20t h-cent ury's wor st urban failing s - now offers tr emendou s opportun iti es such as th e embrace of radical new architect ure in order to fo ster th e typ es of creativity and weirdness th at make cit ies excit ing places t o live. Or to find ways t o reinvigorate old st rip malls, reinhabit st ill older und erut ilized high -r ise off ice building s and reclaim th e long-negl ected Los Angeles River. Being big allows Los A ngeles to think big. The scale of t hat ambitio n is t ruly inspi ring - and it giv es us in th e Bay Area a lot to th ink about. THE URBANI ST
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
Transit, Transformed
Summary: Yes, L.A. may be notoriously auto -depe ndent, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any Amer ican city do ing so many transit projects in so little time .
Architecture critic Reyner Banham once quipped that he'd "Iearned to drive in order to read Los Angeles in the originaL" Today, he'd ride light rail instead.
By Denny Za ne
Los Angeles County is at a moment of tr ansform ati on. If thing s continue on th eir present course, in the next decade we may remedy one of urban America's most fabled and histor ic missteps, made seven decades ago. At that time, the seemingly end less opportunity for development offe red by Southe rn Califo rnia real estate conspired with the bound less ambitions of th e American auto mobi le indu stry to demolish the Pacifi c Electr ic Railway, Sout hern Californ ia's th en-extensive rail transit system. Today, however, with funds provided by more than two-thirds of its voters, Los Angeles County is reversing that wro ng turn and undertaking to recreate its form er rail transit glory by launching a program of accelerated light rail, subway and bus rapid tra nsit (BRT) lines that will more than do uble its current system, all of which has it self been rebuilt only since 1990. The transformationa l moment began on November 4, 2008, when - on the eve of the election of a new president and not long afte r th e collapse of t he American fin ancial system Los Ange les County voters approved Measure R, a half-cent sales tax fo r tra nsporta tion , by a 68 percent majority. Measure R unleashed a revenue stream expected to generate more than $36 billion over the next 30 years, nearly 70 percent of which wi ll be invested in tr ansit, prov iding both 10 A UG/SEPT 20 12
capita l and operating fund s. The measure included fun ds for 12 new light rail, BRT and subway lines in all parts of LA County. Twenty percent of the revenue wil l be dedicated to operating the more than 2,000 LA Metro natural gas buses, helping efforts to ensure affo rdable fares for years to come. How do tra nsforma tional mome nts like thi s happen? Let' s back up to 20 07. While Los Angeles County is one of the most important economic and cult ural engi nes in th e United States, it is also, famously, one of the most auto-dependent, with the most congested highways and the wo rst air pollution. But in 2007, traff ic congestio n worsened markedly at th e same time that gasoline prices soared. It was like the t raff ic slush of our lives had begun t o crysta llize before our eyes. With it came a collect ive realizatio n, and the error of our old, auto -cent ric ways was starkly revealed. Gridlock was the talk of the county , in th e media and in communities, prompting worries of economic, social and environmental decline. Wit hin planning agencies, the anticipatio n of three milli on more residents in L.A. County over th e next 30 years amplified these public concerns. At that moment, to the shock of many, LA Metro announced that all of its expected revenue was already comm itted for the next 30 years. There wo uld be no additio nal money available to expand transportatio n capacity to relieve current congestion,
Denny Zane is executive directorof Move LA,which advocates for the development of a comprehensive andfinancially sound publictransportation system for Los Angeles County.
TH E URBAN IST
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s:
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much less meet th e challenge of growth . We could see our fut ure, and it was tr affi c. Thus, in th e late summer of 20 07, we convened a committee, whi ch would come t o form the core leadership of Move LA. We hoped to initi ate a dialogue wit h leaders from th e business, labor, health, environment al, social just ice and local communit ies, seeking ideas and suppo rt for new sources of fund ing to meet th e current and future t ranspo rt at ion needs of Los Ang eles Count y. We called a meeting of 34 different organizations all but one RSVP'd. Repr esent ativ es of th e Los Ang eles Area Chamber of Commerce, th e San Fernando Valley Indust ry and Commerce Associat ion, t he Westside Council of Chambers, t he Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, th e Los Angeles-Orange Count y Building Trades Council, Environm ent Now, th e Los Angeles Chapter of th e Sierra Club and ot hers att ended. At th ese early meeting s, th e sense of urgency was palpab le. The congest ion our community was experiencing was severe, but und er Califo rnia law only th e voters had th e aut hority to raise real revenue. The clock was ti cking, wit h th e 20 08 presidential electi on - our chance to get th e issue before a large voter turn out - barely one year away. We had to move quickly, thou gh we were unsure if consensus was even possible. Those present agreed to spo nsor and part icipate in a conference TH E URBANIST
on tr ansportation funding t argeted for January 20 08 so th at necessary legislat ion could be offered in Sacramento that spring - in tim e to aut horize Metro fundin g to go to voters in th e fall. Whil e we expected abo ut 150 peop le at th e conference, mor e th an 350 atte nded. Speakers included Mayor Anto nio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Assemblyman Mike Feuer, LA County Federation of Labor 's Maria Elena Durazo, LA Area Chamber of Commerce President David Fleming, Metr o board and sta ff, and tr ansportation experts, as well as environmental, business and labor leaders and community memb ers. The focus of th e conference was: Wh ere's th e money? And w hat's t he program? The clear conclusion was th at a countywide sales t ax increase was th e only measure th at wo uld be able t o generate suffic ient revenues to make a difference and th at polled well enoug h to possibly w in a tw o-thirds voter approval. Aft er th e conference, thin gs moved qui ckly. Assemblyma n Feuer immediately initi ated th e aut horizing legislat ion in Sacramento, and th e L.A. County Metro board dir ect ed its staff to begin preparati on of a sales tax measure for th e November 20 08 elect io n. The month s th at followed saw fu ll-th rott le shutt le dip lomacy, briefin gs and d iscussions abo ut th e program th e measure wo uld fund . Metro board
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LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
member Richard Katz and Metr o staff met wit h anyone Move l A could brin g toge t her: labor wo rking gro ups, environmental and environmenta l justice wor king groups, business community wo rking group s and more. While consensus on somet hing as large as a countywide tr ansit prog ram is an elusive goa l under norm al circumsta nces, it can be achievab le under except ional ones. We all knew th at t his elect ion, w it h it s very high expecte d turn out, was our best, perhaps our only, hope of achieving a two-thirds vote. It was now or never. In late July, afte r meetin g w it h leaders and constit uencies from all part s of th e county, Metr o took th e fin al ste p to place a half-cent sales tax measure - includ ing a detailed expendit ure plan th at overw helmingly emp hasized t ransit invest ments on th e November ballot. Afte r a meteori c campa ign, l os Angeles County voters approved Measure R by 67.83 percent, despit e th e palpable budget ary pain already felt fr om th e collapsed American fin ancial system. Measure R fund ed 12 new light rail, subway and BRT syste ms, as we ll as a numb er of imp ort ant highway projects. But new tr ansit capacity was t he clear pri ori t y. Since 1990, Metr o had built several light rail lines and a subway from downt own l A to Hollywood and North Hollywood, but th ey seemed like stand-a lone lines. Measure R wo uld create an int erconnect ed syste m. That was really different. It wo uld represent a real tr ansform ati on of l os Angeles County, marking th e fir st major op po rt unity
12 A UG/S EPT 2012
in decades for l A to shift from an auto- dominant city to one w it h rob ust t ransit alternat ives. At press events, Mayor Villaraigosa and Assemblyman Feuer sing led out Move l A for its leadership in initi atin g thi s campaign and for moving key const it uencies and th e Metr o board forward on thi s issue. But amid th e excitement, a realizati on began to take hold: w hile thi s 30-yea r revenue st ream of Measure R wo uld ensure a dramati c expa nsion of our t ransit syste m, 30 years felt like a lifetim e. At Move LA, we turn ed our atte nt ion to st rategies th at might accelerate th e developm ent of th e Measure R progr am. A st rategy famili ar to local muni cipaliti es - bonding against local revenue st reams to accelerate capita l project s - seemed a good mode l. If t here was a lender able to make loans big enough th at was also w illing to consider lendin g for a multi project program rather th an one project at a tim e (much like a line of credit) , th at wo uld do it. We found our model in t he concepts envisioned by th e banker Felix Rohaty n and t he legislati on he inspired, which wo uld create a Nati onal Infrastructure Development Bank. Bills fir st aut hored by Senato r Chris Dodd in 2007 and now by Connect icut Congresswoman Rosa Delauro were pending in Congress and had been endorsed by th e new president, Barack Obama. Whil e t he batt le over health care wo uld block serious consideratio n of thi s bill, it t rigge red a dialogue bet ween members of Mayor Villaraigosa's staff and members of Senato r Barba ra Boxer's staff. We bega n to develop
In the future,passengers will beableto get from L.A.'s Union Station (left) to the planned Transbay Terminal in San Francisco in 2 hours and38minutes L.A.'s MTA (above) isaveraging aboutl.4 million ridersdaily; Metrolink trains(at right) arealsoseeing asignificant increase in ridership.
THE URBANI ST
Seven Big Victories for L.A. County Transit With funding in place, Los Angeles County transit projects are on a roll. Here are the latest big w ins:
o
June 20:The Exposition lightrail
project openeditsCulver City station.
o
July 2: The Federal Transit
Administration(FTA)grantedMetroa
The8.6-milecorridor now extends from
record of decisionforthe$1.37billion
downtown L. A. to CulverCity, with 12
Regional Connector project, officially
stations, anestimatedcost of $930
certifyingthat the project hasnow
million and anestimated 27,000 daily
satisfied all federal environmental
ridersexpectedby2020.
guidelines, an important prerequisite
o
nearly 2-mileunderground light rail
for Metroto begin final design of the June 28:The L.A. Metro board
of directorsvoted 10-3to proceed
linein downtown L.A. and to seek
withpreparationsto placea30-yea r
federal funding to helpbuild it. Regional
extension of Measure Ronthe November
Connector isconsideredoneof the
2012 ballot.If votersapprove Measure
region's most significa nt transit projects
R, it will sunset in 60 rather than 30
becauseit will connec t theMetro Gold
years, enablingMetro to issue bonds
Line, Blue LineandExpo Linethrough
that, together with federal loans,
downtown L.A., enablingpasse ngers to
will accelerate thedevelopment of
travel fromMontclair to Long Beach and
theMeasure Rtransit program. The
from East Los Angelesto Santa Monica
Metroboard staff isalso evaluating an
without transferring. Constructionof
amendmentproposedbydirectorJohn
thetunnelandnewstationscould begin
Fasana, mayorof theCity of Duarte, that
in Augu st 2013, andif fully fundedthe
would give Metro greater flexibilit y to
project could open in 2019.
move Measure Rfundsfrom highway money into transit projects,and vice
o
versa,within county subregions.
Government andFinanceCommittee
o
July 3:TheCaliforniaStateSenate
approved Assembly Bill 1446 (Feuer), June 29: The Metro Orange Line
authorizing Metrotoseek votersupport
extension opened, bringingtheline4
for the proposed Measure Rextension.
miles north from theCanoga station
The measureisexpected to beapproved
totheChatsworth Metrolinkstation.
by the full statese nate when it returns
Thisdedicated busway will havefour
from recessonAugust 6.
new stationsand improvenorth-south mobility in the westernSan Fernando
o
Va lley.
approved fundsfor theCalifornia
o
July 6:TheCa liforniaStateSenate
High-Speed Rail project, which includes June 29: On July 6, President Obama
nearly $1billion for Metrolink upgrades
signed into lawa federal transportation
in SouthernCalifornia. The financing
billthat provides$105 billionover thenext
includestheissuance of $2.6billion
two years and maintainscurrent levels
in statebonds, which would in turn
of federal spending ontransportation
unlock $3.2billion in federalfundsfor
and acontinued com mitment to transit
construction of track in the Central Va lley,
programs. It alsocreatesthe America
expected to begin at thestart of 2013.
Fast Forward program, which enablesthe
The bill alsoapproved spendingnearly
federalNew Startsprogramtoconsid er
$1billionin federal, stateand local fund s
Metro's request for major grant funding
on Metrolinkcommuter rail projects in
forthe Regional Connector andthe
Southern Ca liforniato prepareto link
WestsideSubway, aswell as providean
themto astatewidesystem,aswell as
opportunity forMetro to seek billionsof
connec tivity funds, whichwill help fund
dollars inlow-interest federal loans to
the Regiona l Connector.
help accelerate theMeasu re Rtransit and highway programs, what welocally call the30-10 Plan.
THE URBA NI ST
- D.Z.
what Mayor Villaraigosa called the "30 -10 Plan," a fun ding strategy th at could allow the 30 -year Measure R transit program t o be buil t in just 10 years. Wit h Senator Boxer's strong advocacy, thi s became America Fast Forward, a more flexibl e loan program. When Congress acted upon th e oft -expir ing (and oftexte nded) Federal Transport ati on Reaut hor izatio n bill, Amer ica Fast For ward made the cut. It was the rare program to have gained bipartisan and bicamera l support. Now, LA County can seek federal financing to help accelerate its transit program. But th e 30 -10 Plan wi ll require mo re, so Metro is headed back to the ballot, seeking vot er approv al to make the 30year Measure R progr am a 50 -year one. The longer revenue st ream will enable additi onal fin ancing to be secured that, togeth er with Transport at ion Infrastructu re Finance and Innovati on Act (TIFIA) loans, could shorten the constr uction to under 10 years. The polling on this measure looks good. We think the time is right for it. Aft er all, given the transformat ional successes of th e past couple of years, it has become quite clear th at LA County has what we like to call "new tr ansit mojo." -
AUG / SEPT 2012
13
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
Knowing the Distance
Summary: More and more, L.A. is all about its neighb orh ood s, allowing residents to ditch th eir cars in favor of their feet (and public t ransit).
Think nobody walks in LA? Alissa Walker (and many more like
By A lissa Walker
her) will prove you wrong. r
I
This is a sto ry about how I first gave up my car when I was living in Hollywood . One of the fir st thing s I had to do before banishing it was figur e out how to fulfill my basic needs- gro ceries, drugsto re, gelatowithin walk ing distance of my house. So I made a map wit h two circles around where I lived. One was a mile away and one was 2 miles away. (I just spent far too long digging thr ough my desk, looking for th e original map I made with a Thomas Guide, a piece of paper and a pen. But I just reproduced it here in about five minutes w it h Google Maps. You can do either at home.) ~ This map changed my life. The Target sto re I had once driven to wit hout pause was now inside th e blue circle, meaning it was a mere 15 minute walk away. My favor ite new restaurant, Mozza, was 1.5 miles away, meaning I had no excuse not to walk of f t he burrata pizza I ate t here. It was only a 3D-minute walk (g ive or take for hills and street navigat ion) to Universal City, for goo dness sake. And th at was in th e Valley! I made my "2- mile" map when Google Maps first came out. It was befor e it had walking and biking directi ons th at told you exact ly how long it wo uld take you to get somew here not in a car. Now, wh en you use something like Yelp to fi nd a restaurant near you, it's even easier to navigate routes. You can actua lly choose "wa lking" or "b iking" to find places th at are closest to you.
14 AU G/ SEPT 20 12
T HE URBAN IST
AlissaWalker writesaboutdesign, arch itecture andwalking for Dwell, Wired, LA
Weekly and numerousother publications. Alissa Walker is living proof that people do indeed walkin LA(her near-daily photo record of herjourneys isshown above). The Google map (at left) got herstarted. Better signage likethe examples fromL.A.(below) andNew York (at right) mighthelpothers taketheplunge. 16"
22"
THE URBANIST
My point is th at once we know exact ly how far away t hings are, it changes our behavior. If you know something is 2 miles away, and you know t hat it wi ll take only 30 minutes to walk there, you wil l probably (hopeful ly? maybe?) make t he choice to walk . Last year it was announced that wayfinding signage would be placed throughout New York City showing distances and directions to major locations. While these signs certain ly help people who can get easily confused in t he city's unnu mbered streets, th ey can serve as 2-mile maps like mine, help ing people understand th at somet hing notable is indee d close enough to walk (o r bike rather t han grabb ing a cab or hoppin g on th e subway). Great fo r New York, of course, but th ere is no place th at needs thi s kind of sig nage more th an
Los Angeles . LA has actually been tossing around a similar idea, wh ich was inspired by t he Better Bikeways sig nage (be low left ) by Joe Prichard. This "Urban Trails" system wo uld not only show distances to major land marks, but wo uld also po int pedest rians and bikers towards th e best route for t hem. W hile New York may want to insta ll th ese as a helpful directio nal guide for it s touri sts or out -o fth eir-n eighb orh ood resident s, LA needs th em for peopl e who are so familiar wit h th e streets th ey drive on th at t hey never consider th at somet hing migh t be a mere 1.5 walkab le mil es away. One great opport unity for t he propose d New York signage is t hat it can work wit h technology. This could be one physical aspect of a larger progra m, wh ich uses apps or augmented reality to direct walkers towards wi -fi hotspots or the best pizza. It's ironic, maybe that we walk around cities with our smartphones all day, this kind of information in hand, but there's still a need for physical signs. But there 's something about a well-de signed wayfinding system that makes peop le pay attention. When you're confronted with t he information, t he first response, of course, is almost always: "W hoa! That's SO much closer t han I th ought it was!" But if you pass this kind of signage every day, you' ll start to knit togeth er t he diffe rent locat ions th at make up th e neighborhood where you live. It makes th e city a smaller place, and not nearly as dauntin g to tr averse on foot. •
AUG /SEPT 20 12
lS
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
A New Course for the L.A. River
Summary : After appearing as a
Plans are in the works to transform what many think of as a concrete ditch into a sustainable, cultural resource for the region.
By Laur a Tam
Channelized and diked for nearly its entire 51-m ile
laura Tam isSPUR's sustainable
length , t he Los Angeles River has appeared in numerous Hollywood action scenes - like the hotrod race in Grease - as a wide, dry concrete dit ch, not resembling a river at all (oth er than in the most postmodern, dysto pic sense). But a long-t erm plan now under way aims to give it a different futur e, restorin g th e river as the cente rpiece of a cross-to wn greenway that offe rs new open space, recreation and natur al habit at in th e dozens of communities along th e river's course. Histori cally, th e LA River meandered around th e flood plain th at was pre-urb anized Los Angeles. In flood, the river would dramatically alter course, meet ing the ocean anywhere between Santa Monica and Long Beach, 30 miles to the south . As development encroached in the early 20th century, the river had less room to move. Meanwhile, its floods became more dramatic as more of it s watershed was paved, shunting stormwater straight into the river's banks. In 1913, the completion of the Los Angeles Aq ueduct fro m the Owens Valley provided a bigge r, more reliable water supply fo r t he city, and t he river lost some of its importance. After one part icularly catast rop hic flood in 1938, the Army Corps of Engineers com menced the process of ento mbing the river in concrete on three sides. The project was completed in 1959. Some sect ions of th e river were left in a more 16 AUG/SEPT 20 12
natural, soft -b ot tom conditio n; toda y, these places host wi ldlife (inc luding more than 20 0 species of birds) and provide scenic views on nearly 30 miles of riverside bike and walking paths. But in many places, just a thin ribbon of water flows th rough an extrawide channel, surrounded by fences and tr ash. Every t ime it rains, the river roils as sto rm drains cont ribute to it s expo nential rise and unnatu rally fast flu sh to the sea. But momentum is bui lding to give th e river a different future. Environm ent al advocates, community activ ists, th e city and th e federal gove rn ment all recognize that restorin g th e wate rway wou ld br ing comm unity benefit s, ecolog ical benefits and economic develop ment. In 20 07, t he City of Los Angeles, wit h federal and comm unity partners, publ ished t he Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan. The plan is a 25year blueprint to tra nsform the river by restoring its ecosystem and water quality, creating pub lic access, celebrating the river's cultural heritage, greening the surrounding neighborhoods and connecti ng them to t he river through urban design, public art and a gree nway with bike and pedestr ian pat hs. The plan includes 20 "opportunity areas" for revit alization effor ts, wit h five major pri orit y areas for early impl ementation. Ideas for the makeover include new publi c parks, wetlands, promenades, ponds with overlooks and naturalizing the concrete
sinister plot location in dozens of films, the ever-changing L.A. River may have a new starring role: that of revitalized urban watershed.
development policydirector
THE URBAN IST
channel. Econom ic benefits from areas, once th ey are built out, ar several billion do llars, including ousands of new jobs and long-term tax revenue Increases. Along wit h ado pti ng the pial:'!, the city created a new governance framework for revitalization efforts. This included establishing thr e new organizations: a joint powers aut hority fo r r'ver reconstruction and maintenance, a nonproft corporat ion to direct financing into real estat e a (j economic developmen t and a foundation to raise R ivate funds. In the five years since t e plan's adoption, much has been accomplished. More than $50 million has been acquired from ederal and local sources for land acquisition and demonstration projects . Sections of bike path a d pocket parks have been completed. Riverwalks and greenways are being designed. The city pia ning commission adopted a River Improvement 0 erlay District, which applie s sustainable design g idelines to privat e development and pub lic right-of-way proj ect s with in roughly half a mile on eit he side of the river. The city has also adopted gree infrastructure policies to better manage stor mwa er. Finally, with the Environmental Prot ection Agen y's declaration of the river as a navigable waterway, giving it federal clean water protec tio ns, th Army Corps has perm itted public access to the ri er in a few places. Last summer, th e city launc ed a pilot program to allow guided TH E URBAN IST
public boating on a 3-mile segment through the San Fernando Valley - the first time public recreation on the water has ever been allowed. Through this proce ss, Los Ange les is jo ining many other large cities in realizing the benef its of urban waters hed revita lization. Other examp les of river restoration projects paired with comm unity and economic development efforts include the Anacostia River in Washingt on, D.C., the Charles River in Boston, the San Antonio River Walk and, perhaps most famo usly, Sout h Korea's Cheonggyec heon, wh ich had been comp lete ly covered by a highway prior to being restored as a river and greenway through downtown Seoul in 2005. Closer to home, the Guadalupe River Park offer s downtown San Jose a 3-mile st retch of trails, park s and plazas whi le providing habitat for birds and wildl ife as well as critical flood control an analogue, albeit smaller, to the vision fo r the L.A. River. All of these projects would be worth San Francisco's consideration, as it is poised to invest several billion dollars to improve the seismic safety and sustainabi lity of its wastewater system but has not yet taken seriously the idea of restor ing urban creeks as part of that project. The L.A. River enabled the City of Los Ange les to establish it self and grow into the incredibly rich and diverse place that it is. It is heartening to see that the city is beg inning to return the favor. A UG/S EPT 20 12 17
URBAN FIELD NOTES
I
,
..
Case Study #51:
Riding the Rainbow Though Los Angeles is less than 400 miles away from San Francisco, in th e mi nds of many Bay Area reside nts it's anot her world. However, after SPUR's st udy tr ip to Los Ange les, we discovered t hat Los Ange les is in many ways not so different from San Francisco: The city is rem arkabl y urban, wit h vibrant neig hbo rhoods, incred ible diversi ty, surprisi ng densit y and per haps most not ably, a modern, colorfu l and exponentially growing Metro rail network. Over the past 30 years Los Ange les has comm itted billions of dollars in ta xpayer money for its transit infrastructure, most recently in 2008, with the passage of Measure R (see "Transit, Transformed," p, 10), which raised sales tax by half a percent to be finance investm ent in t ransit projects for the next 30 years. 18 AUG/SEPT 2012
This commitment is being realized in full force, w ith 80 stations and almost 90 miles of rail built since 1990. These investments have yie lded seeming ly very un-LA result s: The cit y's Metro network now averages nearly 350,000 daily weekday rid ers, more than doub le Muni's light rail network in San Francisco. The type of polit ical wil l and public interest it takes to foster such massive infrastructu re projects migh t be indicati ve of just how desperate ly Los Angeles needed to reurbanize. Neverthe less, the progress made on Los
A Trip on L.A.'s Rapid ly Growi ng Rai l Netwo rk. Caseworker: Will Heywood
rJ RedLine: Connecting downtown Los Angeles to t he star-studded district of Hollywood, Metro's Red Line is doi ng its best to compete with t he Goliat h t hat is Los Angeles car culture.
Angeles ' rail system offers a solution to both suburban spraw l and inevitable population growth. This is a lesson t hat bot h t he urban and suburban Bay Area can learn from.
THE URBAN IST
Metro
Il Gold Line: Not
s:
u
""
only has the Gold Line prov ided a t ransportation alternative for the many neighbor hoods of East Los Ange les, but it has also made a destinatio n of Mariachi Plaza, located in Los Ange les' Boyle Heights neighbo rhood. Sixteenth and Mission BART, take not e.
ri
Blue Line: You mig ht assume a t rip from dow ntow n Los Ange les to Long Beach means sitt ing in gr idlock w hile enduring bad radio and pulling out your hair. Now, thanks to the Blue Line, you have anoth er opt ion.
mExpoLine: Wit h phase one
o UnionStation: As th e terminu s
finished earlier th is year, th e Expo Line now gives a rail option to L.A.'s western neighborhoods. Wit h phase two set to complete in 2016, ending in Santa Monica, Los Ange les is well on the way to receiving its coveted "Subway to
of local and regional t ransporta t ion for Los Angeles County, Union Stat ion connect s th e city w it h th e rest of t he Golden State. As Los Angeles t ransit inf rastru ctur e cont inues to grow, Union Stat ion should serve as a sterling ambassador fo r a rapid ly growi ng and admirable rail network.
th e Sea."
Will Heywood is SPUR's research + volunteer coordinator.
THE URBANI ST
AUG/ SEPT 2012 19
CITY NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
Urban Drift
th e Bay Area's not able influ ence
planners reconsider th e pot enti al
in such tacti cal urbanism, several locals w ill be making th e t rip to
for buildin g vert ically in cit ies,
Italy - includin g Architec t ure for
thi s wo uld in turn reinforce and reinvest in th e cycles of making,
Humanit y, Futurefarm ers, Rebar,
consuming and recycl ing as part of
pop uphood, Stamen, envelope A+D and Nicholas de Monchaux.
a natur al feedback loop in a new sustainable urba n spat ial paradigm.
Spontaneouslnterventions.com press release,
The tr aveling exhibit ion opens in
June 2012
Toront o in Septe mber. " Facto ries," says Rapp aport, "can be integrated in neig hbor hood s, provide t raining HOW TO
SHARPEN PENCILS
centers for skilled wo rkers, and be incubators for business.... Pride in one's area of wo rk would also play a part in city lif e and a sustainable economy." "Q&A: Nina Rappaport," by Susan S. Szenasy, Metropolismag.com, May 18, 2012
Denver Rethinks How to Sharpen Pencils
the Modern Commuter
Pencils are not funn y, but David
As it builds out its tr ansit syste ms
Rees's sat irical take on th em is. The planner's favorite hand tool is
facing many cit ies: W hat typ es
th e subject ofw hat th e New York
of uses should be developed in
Tim es describ es as a "stup efyin gly
close prox imity to sta t ions, and w ho should th ese faci lit ies serve? The city, whi ch is implementin g
The World's First
at around $15,00 0, is scheduled to
exhaust ive gu ide to th e art ,
Self-Folding Vehicle
roll out of th e fact ory some t ime next year.
science and art isanal pleasures of
Ever wante d to w hirl around th e city in a metalli c gnat's head w hile consuming zero gaso line? Now you can, while tu cked snugly int o th e Hiriko smart car w hich fold s like an envelope to squeeze int o impossible parkin g spo ts (see above, in Bilb ao, Spain) . It may not techni cally be th e wo rld's fir st "self-f oldin g vehicle," as it s creato rs claim (A merica's mon stertru ck rallies have possessed thi s technolog y for some tim e), we can agree th at it 's th e wo rld's sma llest benda ble car. A tri o of Hirikos (Hiri ki?) can cram int o an averagesized parking space. What it lacks in size it makes up fo r w it h a kill er turnin g radius. People in high -up places are tak ing Hiriko seriously: European Commission Preside nt Jose Manuel Barroso recentl y held up th e Hiriko as "an example of how to resuscit ate tr aditi onal indu stri al secto rs and lead th em to new challenges, such as urban mobility." The fir st Hiriko, priced
20
A UG/SEPT 201 2
"Go Ahead, Cram 3 of These Folding Cars Into 1 Parking Spot," by John Metcalfe, Atlantic Cities,July
Denver is confronting a dilemma
manually shaping a thin graphite column encased in a 6.75-inch-long
a $7.4 billion expansion of it s rail system, has planners revisitin g assumpt ions about who should be
24.2 012
woo den tu be to a satisfacto rily sharp po int for w rit ing, draw ing,
Spontaneous
doodl ing or insertin g up a nostr il."
developable land around th em. In
Interventions Abroad
We can't wait for th e next design
1994, planners built parking lot s
The Venice A rchitect ural Biennale is perhaps th e most prestigious architect ure event in th e wo rld. This year, t he U.S. Pavili on is devo ted to a th eme near and dear to SPUR's heart: urban int erventi ons by architec ts, designers, planners, art ists and cit izens th at bring positive change to th eir neighborh oods and cities. From parkl ets to community farms, guerrilla bike lanes to urb an repair squads, outdoo r livin g room s to pop -up markets, sharing net work s and temp orary architec t ure, Spontaneo us Interventi ons hig hlig hts viable
cit izen-led alternat ives to tr aditi onal top -d own urb an revit alizati on tacti cs. Reflect ing
served by tr ansit stat ions and th e
charrette .
and garages around many of th e
"Honing Skills," by Bruce McCall, New York Times
stat ions to cate r to commuters, but now t hey are looki ng to
BookReview, July 27, 2012
encourage th e development of Vertical Urban Factory
dense, walkabl e villages around
Think "f act ory," and your brain usually turns toward hori zont al,
stat ions so people don't have to drive to use th e system. Cutt ing
rural, flat. But w hat about a factory in th e cit y? In a tall buildin g?
pract ical, however. For it to wo rk,
back on parking spaces isn't always
Curated by Nina Rappaport,
basic services such as grocery
Vertical Urban Fact ory features th e
sto res and parks must be wit hin
innovati ve architec t ure of factori es
walking distance of th e system's
th at are bot h urb an - located
rail sto ps, and ot her tr ansit opt ions,
in cit ies or shaping cit ies - and
like bus serv ice, must be available.
vert ical - int egrated throu ghout
But th at isn't always th e case in
a building or layered floor by
fast-growin g cit ies. Only ti me will
floor. Includ ed in th e exhibit are significant examples of thi s
app roach on parkin g w ill att ract
archit ectur al t ypolog y designed to
tell w het her Denver's change in new riders - or chase th em away.
house and suppo rt th e produ ction
"Denver Rethinks the Modern Commuter," by Kris
of thin gs. If industri alists and urb an
Hudson, WallStreet Journal, July 24, 2012
THE URBANI ST
Join SPUR today as a Business Member There are many benefits to business membership, including invitations to SPUR's exclusive Business Breakfast Series featuring conversations w ith prominent government and business leaders from the Bay Area.
Join during our 2012 Business Membership Campaign and receive 20% off your next Urban Center rental!
NEW MEMBERS
In July.SPUR gathered members and friends for aslimmer picnicin nearby Annie Alley.
New Business Members
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IBM
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Not re Dame San Jose
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New Members
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N
'5 0: 0
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j
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Ad jelegan l assey
Veronica Hinkley Reck
11
Helen Chapman
Andr ew Faulkn er
Mike Linksvayer
Brian Reyes
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22
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T HE URBA N IST
MEMBER PROFILE
Invest ing in Place Mott Smith In Los Ange les, a c ity-builder imag ines all t hat's pos sib le. Mott Smith 's backgrou nd doesn't imm ediately suggest "developer." "My undergrad degr ee is in linguisti cs. It taught me that peopl e follow rules of behavior th at are completely unconscious but you can discover th em if you watch and learn," he explains. "Then I played bass in a rock band full t ime for two years, which taught me th e importance of layin g good foundat ions." Aft er hanging up his guita r (at least some of t he t ime), he wo rked for t he government and private secto r. Now, as prin cipal of Civic Enterpri se Associates in Los Angeles, he's able to pursue his passion for great neigh borh ood s. "My part ner and I do all kinds of projects t hat allow us to help make neighborhoods more vibr ant , walkable, afforda ble and exciting," says Smith, "both as planners and as principa ls in developm ent s. We like to fo rge new regulatory pathways wh erever possible. And if we can help make th ose pathway s more availab le for ot hers to use - such as wi t h th e small lot subdivision ordinance in Los Angeles - we feel like we've made a contr ibut ion, and we are happy." Smith recent ly took a visiting cont ingent from SPUR on a tour of Los Angeles, a city he describ es as "so rich in culture and so enti cingly misunderstood." What can the Bay Area learn from Los Angeles?
I'd rather answer t he question "wh at can we learn from each other ?" The fir st time I met (and fell in love with ) SPUR, it was thr ough an exchange you did with t he Westside Urban Forum in LA I was blown away at how similar our perspecti ves, aspirat ions, challenges and comp laints are. I now believe th e histori cal period when a place is built determ ines its form and character even more th an its location does. The new town s in th e Bay Area have similar issues as th e new towns in South ern California, as do the older communit ies in both places. What I have learned from SPUR and the Bay Area is that it isn't just LA but all of California THE URBAN IST
that cont inues to clumsily app ly a 20t h-century new-growt h paradigm to exist ing urban places, with poor results. We need to move beyond planning that cares mostly about zoning and takes no ow nership of t he city found ation s that really matter: infrast ruct ure and th e publi c realm. You talk about the value of authentic character, which is
worthwhi le if someone can say, " I planned that." This, how ever, is narcissistic, limiti ng and profoundly antiurban. It results in th e problems the great sociolog ist Richard Sennett described in his book The Uses of Disorder, namely t hat urban planners become too preo ccupied w ith sto pping unp lanned th ings f rom happening and, in th e end, have no idea how to create. This suburban et hos has invaded our cities over th e last 100 years, leaving its DNA in urb an renewal, NIMBYism and th e highly scripted specific planning we engag e in to the exclusion of real gam e changer s like investment in inf rastructure and th e pub lic realm, th e places hungriest for real planning . At Civic Enterprise, we believe that the best neig hborhoods have invented th emselves over time (generally on a foundation of publi c infra stru cture ). And instead of tr ying to erase that history, as so many plans and projects impli cit ly t ry to do, we want to find th at value in orga nic places and build on it.
often difficult to achieve in brand advantages of adaptive re-use,
So, as someone who thinks about cities a lot, what is your favorite...
of not starting from scratch? Am erican archit ecture, planning and developm ent culture is ob sessed w it h authorship, oft en at th e expense of authenticity. There's an unspok en sense th at urb an int ervent ions are only
Urban view: Jamestown, St. Helena, Sout h At lant ic Ocean. A cosmopo litan town of fewer th an 1,0 0 0 people, built almo st 400 years ago and st ill largely unchang ed. It is t he purest
new developments. What are the
evid ence I have seen t hat "urban" is not about how big a place is but about how it fu nct ions physically and how it s peop le decid e to relate to each oth er. Favorite building? Wow, so many to choose from. The Bradbury Buildi ng in downt own L.A. is one of my favorites. I love it not just because it is an urban geode but also because of it s story . It was designed in th e 1890 s by George Wym an, a draftsman w ho was inspired to take th e commission afte r consult ing a Ouija board . It sits at Second and Broadw ay in downt own L.A., right in th e midd le of th e historic core. It 's like a qui et guest at a loud party who tu rns out to be t he most interestin g person in t he room. Impressive urban infrastructure? The canals of Venice, Italy . And favorite book/film/work of art about cities? Wings of Desire,
a film by Wim Wenders. It's about uber-cool omniscient angels in Berlin. One falls in love with a tr apeze art ist and chooses to give up his stat us and vantage in order to experience real life in the flesh. He becomes a regul ar, schlubby guy in a bad sweater. But he gets to feel the cold cit y air, warm himself with fresh coffee and touch the person he loves. We in the landuse world would do well to do all those things every so oft en. -
MAY 2012
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