Urban Land Institute

Klein talks Capitol Bike Share in 2009 when he was still Commissioner of Washington, D.C. DOT

How do Los Angeles' residents want their city, and neighborhoods, to develop?  Are big projects that raise a lot of money for developers and provide entertainment and dining for thousands of people better than smaller developments that better serve the communities in which they are placed?

The story of high speed rail is one of extremes. The thought of high speed trains whizzing up and down the state is enough to induce a futuristic giddiness - and carry a plurality of voters in 2008's bond measure. But for some, the train line will be a community crushing blight, a noisy Berlin Wall carving deep into suburban utopia. So far, opposition to the high speed train has mainly been confined to Northern California, but that's probably because LA's NIMBYs are too busy suing the Expo Line.

About 10 years ago I attended a meeting of local activists held at the Southern California Association of Governments to hear a presentation about the proposed high speed rail network. This was back when few people were aware such an effort was underway. Attendance was heavily grassroots and environmentally oriented. Few present had knowledge of the project or the magnitude of the challenges it entailed. So after the slide show (this was pre Power Point) the questions were along the lines of was there any danger it would facilitate sprawl in the Central Valley, turning Fresno and Bakersfield into bedroom communities.

(Earlier this week, Gloria Ohland reviewed what happend at last week's T.O.D. Conference hosted by the Urban Land Institute.  Today, Stephen Box takes a different look, and examines what was missing. - DN)

The Urban Land Institute, a national organization that looks at Transit Oriented Development, has stepped up its working in Los Angeles recently.  In addition to releasing reports on the state of T.O.D. in the city, they've also sponsored workshops and discussions on some particular developments.  Streetsblog and the ULI don't always agree, (for example: they proposed more car parking as a cure for the problems with the Blue Line Slausson Station area), but there's no doubting the group's reach and expertise.