Streetsblog Los Angeles

The future of South Figueroa at 11th Street? Doesn't seem far fetched now. Click on the image for a high-res copy.

The MyFigueroa team will be presenting all their images and renderings at the Andrew Norman Hall Orthopaedic Hospital at 5:30 pm on April 9th. Get the event details at the MyFigueroa website. Of course, we’ll be Live Streaming at Streetsblog TV. Bookmark our event page now.

It seems like just yesterday a team of Los Angeles’ most progressive planners and international planning rock stars from Gehl Architects unveiled some planning images showing how the rather bleak South Figueroa Corridor could be transformed into a complete street. While the public was “mostly positive,” it seemed a stretch that such a project would ever take place in Los Angeles.

In truth, it wasn’t yesterday. It was over two years ago. But despite some major hurdles, such as the minor issue of the dissolution of the Community Redevelopment Agency responsible for the project, the $20 million project should be completed on-time before the end of 2014.

The newly released images don’t look quite as dramatic as the ones shown a in 2011, but still promise bus only lanes, new transit waiting areas, fixed sidewalks, zebra crosswalks and the minor issue of separated bike lanes, proudly marked as “cycletracks” in MyFigueroa’s promotional materials.

“While our design still includes cycletracks on Fig, as we have always shown, we have more to share about the design of the entire corridor, and the multimodal components serving pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders,” writes Melani Smith, the president and principal of Melendrez Design Partners, the firm who has teh lead on the project. “We think there’s something in our design for all kinds of people using the streets.  Ultimately, we’re planning a corridor that is a safer, more comfortable place for people to be.”

The project isn’t just about improving Figueroa Street between 7th Street (in Downtown Los Angeles) and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard  (in South Los Angeles) by offering a full buffet of safe and comfortable transportation options. It also includes new streetscapes on 11th Street between Figueroa Street and Broadway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue.

“I am thrilled that the pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders in Downtown and South Los Angeles are benefactors of the 2006 State of California bond measure that provides funding for the implementation of new infrastructure,” writes Deborah Murphy of Deborah Murphy Urban Design + Planning, another project partner. “The MyFigueroa! project supports the development of new housing, particularly affordable housing, in dense transit-oriented urban neighborhoods.” Read more…

The Mayor Villaraigosa's image looms over hundreds of transit professionals and advocates at the start of Railvolution. Photo: Damien Newton

Just over a month ago, planners, advocates and political leaders from around the country descended on Long Beach for the annual “Pro Walk/Pro Bike Conference” to plan the next steps in the Livable Streets movement. This week, Los Angeles takes its turn on center stage as host of Railvolution, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was there to roll out the red carpet.

The tagline for this year’s Railvolution is “Building Livable Communities with Transit.” By holding the conference at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, across the street from the Hollywood/Highland Red Line subway stop, Los Angeles is able to showcase both the good and the bad of its Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) planning. On one hand, the stop allows for people to access many of Hollywood’s attractions and for tourists to access the rest of the city. On the other hand, the lack of advance planning before the subway was built led to expensive TOD developments that don’t always blend smoothly with the community.

Following short introductory pieces by Metro’s CEO Art Leahy and Board Chair Mike Antonovich, the mayor took the stage.

“Welcome to Railvolution,” he began, before launching into a laundry list of transit expansion projects and a call to support Measure J, the Los Angeles County sales tax extension on the fall ballot that would allow Metro to, in the mayor’s words, “build three decades of mass transit projects in one [decade].”

While Villaraigosa sounded upbeat about the ballot measure’s passage, and polls show it would pass narrowly, if a vote were held today, he also noted that there is significant opposition to overcome. Read more…

The Globe Mills Transit Oriented Development in Sacramento won national and international awards for design and livability. Sacramento has a minimum parking requirement of one space per unit, the same standard A.B. 904 wishes to create for every city in California. Photo:Miyamoto International

With the clock ticking, a state bill that would have banned parking minimums near transit nodes in certain circumstances was pulled from the July 3 California Senate Governance and Finance Committee agenda, shooting down major statewide parking reform efforts for at least another year. A.B. 904, a bill which waspraised by parking policy guru and UCLA professor Donald Shoup, appears to be dead in the water, but opponents vow to re-introduce a similar proposal next year.

Leading the charge for A.B. 904 was Mott Smith, a developer based in Los Angeles who sits on the California Infill Builder’s Association Board of Directors. “I’ve heard from countless cities that they want to fix their 60-year-old parking requirements, but they don’t have the money, the staff or the political will to take this on by themselves,” said Smith. “Next year’s version of AB 904 will give them tools to grow much more sustainably and affordably, without creating an onerous State mandate.” Berkeley Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, who introduced A.B. 904, is likely to sponsor a new proposal.

The legislation would stop municipalities from imposing parking minimums on new development of more than one space per unit or 1,000 square feet of retail within a half-mile of a transit node without meeting one of four exemptions.  The legislation wouldn’t impact parking meter rates, require the removal of any parking space, or even limit the amount of spaces that could be developed.

However, opponents claimed those were all possibilities in their mis-information campaign against the A.B. 904, led by the League of California Cities. The campaign’s tactics were at times laughable: Smith remembers a flyer distributed against A.B. 710, a similar bill a similar bill proposed last year, showing a clown car and bemoaning the lack of car parking for the planned Farmer’s Field Stadium.  Of course, because the bill doesn’t limit the developer with parking maximums, the image had about as much to do with A.B. 710 as a picture of aliens destroying a parking garage.  Still, the campaign was effective.

Read more…

Last week I started a multiple part series on traffic, and the myths that surround it in Santa Monica, promising a part 2. That is still coming, but I am holding it for next week’s column to focus on recent developments concerning what had been proposed as a car-free mixed use apartment building at 401 Broadway.

Google Maps view of existing use at site.

At the northeast corner of the prominent Santa Monica intersection of Fourth Street and Broadway,  sits a small surface parking lot and auto shop on 401 Broadway. It’s certainly not the kind of land use suited for an increasingly pedestrian oriented and urbanizing downtown. The site also features two prominent billboards, a rarity in Santa Monica because it has been illegal to put up any new ones for years. A development proposal from the applicant Steve Henry, Fourth and Broadway, LLC has sought to completely transform this space with 56 apartments and ground floor retail spaces.

What made this proposal truly noteworthy however was what was absent from the plan. Zero car parking spaces were proposed. Yes zero. The unique dimensions of the site, which is prohibitively small for a conventional underground parking garage and ramps, helped drive the decision to go with no car parking. It was a bold move by Southern California standards, but one I feel is entirely viable given the location and ample on site bike parking proposed.

The site is in walking proximity to numerous shops, jobs, and services. Nearby transportation opportunities include the core intersections of numerous Big Blue Bus lines, the future Expo Line Station, and the Santa Monica Bike Center is across the street. If car parking was really needed for temporarily or for guests there are many garages in the area, some of which are underutilized much of the time. Read more…

(Note: Yesterday, Mayor Villaraigosa spoke at the Urban Land Institute’s 3rd Annual Summit on Transit Oriented Development.  Several conflicts prevented our team from covering the conference, but to give you a flavor for what was discussed, we asked the Mayor’s Office for a copy of his prepared remarks.  They are below.)

Thank you Dean Knott, for that generous introduction and thank you to USC for hosting today’s summit.

Antonio Villaraigosa, pictured here at a "30/10 Rally" in 2011 was a featured speaker at yesterday's Urban Land Institute Conference on TOD.

I would like to acknowledge ULI Los Angeles’ sponsorship of today’s event.

Whether it’s Los Angeles or Lagos, Karachi or Kansas City, the residents and leaders of the world’s cities all face the same basic challenge:

How to balance the need to grow and develop with the need to create a livable, sustainable community for all residents.

To meet this challenge we will need innovative ideas.

We will need bold action.

We will need organizations like ULI to bring together thinkers, leaders and practitioners from the private and public sectors – exactly like what is happening today.

We will need ULI to continue to do what it has done best: Be an incubator for the best ideas and the best practices in urban design and development.

Thank you for bringing us together today.

When I took office in 2005, I made a commitment to work together to build a better, a more livable Los Angeles.

To change how the city looked, and how we moved.

In a city where the motto seemed to be ‘Build Now, Plan Later,’ we said we’d do things differently.  Read more…

Back in 2008, Streetsblog looked at the Solair Development along the Red Line in Koreatown. Our review was mixed.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) has been a hot topic in Los Angeles, with planners noting that most of the city’s development will be around transit nodes in the coming decades.  Last week, Streetsblog featured a three-part series from Joel Epstein.  Next week, the Urban Land Institute and University of Southern California offer a symposium entitled “Staying on Track and Moving Forward” on how TOD continues to impact Los Angeles.

In a way, TOD has been at the heart of the debate between Metro and Beverly Hills over subway routing.  Opponents of the route passed by Metro point to JMB Realty’s relationship with the Mayor, and with property adjacent to the rail stop, as a reason for the route that runs to Constellation Ave. and Avenue of the Stars.

Among the featured speakers at the conference is none other than Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a proponent of creating a transit oriented Los Angeles.

“In a city where the motto once seemed to be ‘Build Now, Plan Later’, we are committed to doing things differently,” explains Mayor Villaraigosa, a keynote speaker at the conference. “We are closely linking our ever-expanding transit system with the planning of vibrant, livable neighborhoods. As we continue to move forward with making L.A. a true TOD city, we are dedicated to making better decisions about where and how to build our communities.”

Read more…

Culver City has earned grants and accolades for its TOD plans. Image:Behance.net

This is the third part of a three part series on Transit Oriented Development written by Joel Epstein.  Part I ran on Wednesday and introduced the series and looked at Metro’s current role.  Part II ran yesterday and focused on the TOD history of L.A. since construction of the Red Line.  The series was originally assigned to Joel when he wrote for Metro’s website, The Source.  There was no effort from Metro to “place” the story with Streetsblog.

Building transit and TODs where it is feasible 

In an ideal world, Metro would go out and buy all the land it needs to build lines along the routes where urban density is the greatest. But L.A. long ago ceased to be a city where there is ample undeveloped land and little opposition from residents, business owners and drivers to needed transit improvements.

A case in point is traffic-snarled Santa Monica Boulevard through West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and West L.A. Looking at it today, the reconstructed trunk road, along which a Pacific Electric Railway streetcar once ran, appears to be a sorely missed opportunity to build transit and TODs along the boulevard. But the idea of asking West Hollywood to give up its tree-lined median or Beverly Hills, its parking lots serving South Santa Monica Blvd merchants, underscores the challenge Metro faces in L.A.’s built environment.

TOD planning grants

One initiative Metro is pursuing to improve transit’s chances is its Local Planning Grant Program. The new effort is a competitive grant program designed to promote TOD development by encouraging communities to enact TOD-friendly building codes and regulations. The grants provide the winning communities with funds to go out and look at parking codes, last mile connections (how people get from the rail station or bus stop to their home), greater density around transit and better bike and pedestrian linkages to the rail and bus system.

There are also new requirements in the Federal Transportation Administration’s (FTA) New Starts program that require transit agency applicants for federal funding to look at the impact of their projects on development and make changes that promote TOD.

To date, Metro has given out a total of $5 million in TOD grants. Recipients include Duarte for the Foothill portion of the Gold Line extension, Culver City for Expo Phase 1 and 2, Inglewood for the Crenshaw Line and L.A. for 10 stations within the Expo planning area. Metro will soon be going to the Metro Board with recommendations for another $1 million in grants. Though at this point the program is only a pilot, it may become an ongoing Metro program.   Read more…

The W Hotel and Condos off the Red Line's Hollywood stop is considered by many, including promotional materials, as the "crown jewel" of Metro's TOD program. Photo:Eric Oginski/Flickr Caption: Damien Newton

This is the second  in a three-part series on Transit Oriented Development and Los Angeles by Joel Epstein. Yesterday’s piece was an introduction and a look at Metro’s role.  Today, Epstein looks at the history of TOD on the Red Line.  Tomorrow, he examines what L.A. has to do to embrace true Transit Oriented Development.  You don’t have to read the pieces in order, but it makes for a more complete view.

Looking at the region overall, Metro’s Calvin Hollis explains that Metro has enough lines now that companies developing TODs, already see the value of transit. He believes that as we mature further as a transit-friendly region, we will see more people riding buses and trains. Cars become less essential as the city urbanizes, more local services arrive, and people realize they have an alternative to driving. The daily opening of restaurants, markets and other services in downtown L.A. as the area morphs into a more residential neighborhood is a case in point.

A look at some of the TODs built, or being built on Metro-owned land, demonstrates the different approaches the agency has taken to development along its subway and light rail lines.

• Del Mar Station — At the Del Mar Gold Line station in Pasadena, Metro’s developer partner has built 347 apartments with 11,000 square feet of ground floor retail around a public plaza.
• Hollywood & Vine Apartments — Completed in 2009, the Hollywood & Vine Red Line station apartment project is a mixed-use development featuring 375 apartments, and 28,000 square feet of ground floor retail.
• Hollywood & Vine W Hotel & Condos — Another partially Metro-owned site at the Hollywood & Vine station hosts a mixed-use TOD that includes a 300 room W Hotel, 143 condominiums, 30,00 square feet of ground floor retail, redesigned plaza and subway entrance.
• Westlake/MacArthur Park — At the busy Red/Purple Line Station, Metro is improving the plaza and subway entrance and building 170 affordable apartments, 38,000 square feet of retail space and transit parking on two Metro-owned parcels.
• Wilshire/Western — Completed in 2009, Metro has built a 195 unit condominium tower with 49,500 square feet of retail space above the current terminus of the Purple Line station.
• Wilshire/Vermont — Metro’s Wilshire/Vermont development above the Metro Red and Purple Line station includes 449 apartments and 35,000 square feet of ground floor retail around a lively public plaza. Read more…

This is the first in a three-part series on Transit Oriented Development and Los Angeles.  Today’s piece is an introduction and a look at Metro’s role.  Tomorrow looks at the history of TOD on the Red Line.  Friday examines what L.A. has to do to embrace true Transit Oriented Development.

A new flyer promoting a proposed development adjacent to an Expo stop at Sepulveda and Exposition in West L.A. is arriving in people's mailboxes today.

For those of us who grew up within walking distance of a commuter bus or train stop, the concept of development near rail stations seems like the natural way cities develop and expand. Where there is a train station, there are amenities around it — homes and businesses — the things that make a city, a city. It is just common sense.

As has been well documented here and elsewhere, Los Angeles once had a large streetcar network that was gradually dismantled over the decades. By 1963, the Red and Yellow Cars were gone. It wouldn’t be until 1990 that transit by rail began again in L.A. County with the opening of the Metro Blue Line. During that nearly three decade gap, the area continued to sprawl relentlessly outward, hemmed in only by the efforts of sensible growth advocates and the fact that water and other infrastructure just couldn’t keep pace with the developers’ ambition. Real estate speculators out to make a cheap buck on the region’s once-abundant open space effectively conspired against the concept of building housing near public transit.

But change the channel and one sees a different picture. Over the past 22 years, Metro has added 79 miles of rail with miles more to be added when the Expo Line is completed. There is also the Orange Line busway across the San Fernando Valley and the Silver Line, which runs on the El Monte Busway, and on the Harbor Transitway on the 110. As more transit has opened, the public has begun to see communities throughout L.A. take on a more transit-oriented hue.

Hollywood, North Hollywood, South Pasadena, Long Beach, Pasadena, Claremont, downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica have all emphasized putting new development near transit. As a result, these areas are noticeably different — and denser — places than they were just a few years ago.

The question remains, however, why some parts of Los Angeles County have seen transit as a boon to development whereas other communities served by the rail system have experienced relatively little change. Why is this? Is transit–oriented development (TOD) something that happens organically or is there a reason some places have it and others do not? Read more…

Over the past couple of years, the name “Claire Bowin” has been attached to many of the most important projects that Streetsblog regularly covers.  For that reason, we decided to feature a reader question and answer with Bowin so readers could both get to know her and learn a little more about how the city operates.

Claire Bowin

Because Bowin wrote such detailed answers, we decided to split her question and answer into two parts.  Today’s question and answer covers the public outreach for the Mobility Plan that are underway, Transit Oriented Development and Affordable Housing.  The last question, on affordable housing, is almost literally a dissertation on the issue and a must read for anyone that cares about housing, equality, development and TOD.  The second part of the series will run tomorrow.

Readers: The city’s General Plan 1999 Transportation element has all sorts of great language about livability, walkability, transit – but this plan language didn’t really end up with much in the way of results on the ground. How can the Mobility Element update underway do better?

Bowin: It’s amazing how much has changed in the past 13 years- LA is such a different place now than it was in 1999 and I think we’re finally moving towards a community that is truly multi-modal. Measure R’s passage, in 2008, demonstrated again how much Los Angelenos truly support a regional transit system. Measure R is also a good example of how important local leadership and dedicated funding are in ensuring that physical improvements actually get done.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out how important a strong implementation plan (read $$) is going to be if we really want to see the ideas in the Mobility Plan carried out. Without it we can have lots of lofty policies and goals but we won’t get the traction to actually make the many on-the-ground changes that are going to be needed to really attract Los Angelenos to try out new ways of getting around.

 How will the mobility plan assure that we are planning our streets as ‘places’ as well as mobility corridors for pedestrians, cyclists transit riders and drivers? Read more…