LA MAYOR VILLARIGOSA'S TRANSIT CORRIDORS CABINET GOES PUBLIC AT MOVE LA'S 5TH ANNUAL TRANSPORTATION CONVERSATION
LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa created a Transit Corridors Cabinet by executive order last year to help ensure that after he's gone (hopefully to the U.S. DOT as transportation secretary) a new administration will continue to support the Measure R investment in the transit system.
The Transit Corridors Cabinet meets for the first time with the public at Move LA's 5th annual transportation conversation, and then takes the show on the road with meetings with the LA Thrives equity collaborative next month and then the Urban Land Institute in June. Here are 3 interesting interviews with some of the key cabinet players:
Global transit and development expert Robert Cervero from UC Berkeley talks about working in LA in the 1970s and thinking it was too late for LA to save itself by building a transit system. Now he is advising the Transit Corridors Cabinet and pretty impressed with the Measure R-funded investment. Read it here.
Bill Roschen is president of the Los Angeles Planning Commission and an architect who has co-chaired the cabinet from the beginning. He talks about the cabinet's goals here.
Mercedes Marquez is the general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department and deputy mayor for housing. She makes a powerful pitch for focusing public investment along transit corridors here.
The Transit Corridors Cabinet meets for the first time with the public at Move LA's 5th annual transportation conversation, and then takes the show on the road with meetings with the LA Thrives equity collaborative next month and then the Urban Land Institute in June. Here are 3 interesting interviews with some of the key cabinet players:
Global transit and development expert Robert Cervero from UC Berkeley talks about working in LA in the 1970s and thinking it was too late for LA to save itself by building a transit system. Now he is advising the Transit Corridors Cabinet and pretty impressed with the Measure R-funded investment. Read it here.
Bill Roschen is president of the Los Angeles Planning Commission and an architect who has co-chaired the cabinet from the beginning. He talks about the cabinet's goals here.
Mercedes Marquez is the general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department and deputy mayor for housing. She makes a powerful pitch for focusing public investment along transit corridors here.
January 31, 2013
MERCEDES MÁRQUEZ ON LEVERAGING THE POWER OF THE MEASURE R INVESTMENT
Mercedes Marquez will not be able to join Mayor Villaraigosa's Transit Corridors Cabinet at Move LA's 5th annual transportation conversation February. But in this interview with Gloria Ohland she talks about the importance of leveraging the Measure R investment.
Mercedes Márquez, general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department and deputy mayor for Housing, returned to LA last summer from her job as assistant secretary for community planning and development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) believing that transit is this city’s future. She is convinced that the smartest investments the city can make at this juncture are those that will leverage the local and federal investments we are already making in LA’s Measure R-funded transit system.
She also thinks that Mayor Villaraigosa’s decision to create a Transit Corridors Cabinet of eight city departments that are making “transit orientation” their policy and funding priority is exactly the right focus — a larger “urban policy scheme” that will result in neighborhoods that are truly fair and affordable. She says, “I believe this is the way to bring the promise, the power, and the resources of government to bear on supporting neighborhoods in a way that is equitable.”
Mayor Villaraigosa also got it right, she adds, when he decided early in his political career to make the transit system a priority, noting that he has worked diligently and successfully to secure the funding and financing required to realize that vision. “The mayor understood how the freeway system and wide streets with fast-moving traffic have cut neighborhoods apart and endangered the health and prosperity of the people who live in them,” Márquez says. “And he understands how the transit system together with bike and pedestrian infrastructure has the potential to knit neighborhoods and local economies back together in a way that will bring opportunity back to Los Angeles.”
While at HUD, Márquez was in charge of a $50 billion portfolio of federal dollars for affordable housing and other social services, and for redesigning HUD’s consolidated planning process to enable cities to make data-driven decisions about where affordable housing and community needs are greatest and investment makes the most sense. Los Angeles has just completed its draft Consolidated Plan under this new rubric, and Márquez says the data justifies an emphasis on transit corridors using federal funding including Community Development Block Grants, HOME (for increasing affordable housing opportunities), HOPWA (Housing for People with AIDS), and Emergency Solutions Grants for homeless services programs.
While together these programs total a $130 million investment in Los Angeles, Márquez notes that “every CDBG dollar leverages another $3 in other funding, and every HOME dollar leverages another $4.17, so the Consolidated Plan actually represents a half billion dollars in investment. If we are serious about our commitment to equity, it’s clear we have to invest those dollars along transit corridors.”
This targeted investment makes sense because neighborhoods along transit corridors are where many low- and moderate-income people already live. Older neighborhoods tend to have higher concentrations of apartment buildings and homes with lower rents because they are covered by the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, or because they are government-subsidized and/or income-restricted and covered by Section 8 or other contracts between the government and property owners — and many of these contracts are set to expire in the next five years.
A recent study for the housing department by the national nonprofit Reconnecting America concluded that preservation of existing affordable housing near transit lines is critical because the threat to the affordability of this housing has never been greater. The construction of so much transit in so many neighborhoods could activate the real estate market around both new and existing stations — because the expanded rail system will connect to so many more destinations —making these neighborhoods especially desirable.
More demand could drive up rents and housing prices and push out the low-income residents who use transit the most. The study found, for example, that 75 percent of those who commute to jobs by transit make less than $25,000 a year. Marquez intends to bring LAHD’s resources to bear on this problem by aligning other resources around transit, including the city’s low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF).
Most affordable housing in the U.S. is funded through the LIHTC program, which provides dollar-for-dollar reductions in investors’ federal income tax as an incentive to spur private sector investment in affordable housing. But as the program has gotten more and more competitive, cities that can put up more of their own money are awarded more tax credits. This puts LA at a disadvantage because the need here is so great: the average median income in Los Angeles is lower than in most cities and the cost of housing is higher.
However, the City of LA may have succeeded in addressing this problem by convincing Sacramento to provide the City with its own “bucket” of tax credits, which means the city doesn’t have to compete. New York City and Chicago are the only other cities who exercise this much control over where and how they invest tax credits.
Moreover, there has been a national movement to create transit-oriented affordable housing funds that are focused on transit-oriented development, and Márquez says she is working with investors on re-purposing the City’s New Generation Fund — a partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and others — so that it, too, is focused on investing near transit.
Add all of this — HUD’s funding programs, tax credits, the New Generation Fund — to the Measure R sales tax investment and federal transportation funding that has already come or will come from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program, and the U.S. DOT’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) and TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan programs, and it’s clear why Márquez sees a transit-oriented future.
“We are taking control of our destiny,” she says, “investing according to the priorities voters agreed upon when they voted in Measure R in 2008.” She adds, “And I am not just talking about investing near rail stations and rail corridors but also along bus rapid transit.”
Márquez notes LAHD began prioritizing the production and preservation of affordable housing within a half-mile radius of transit back in 2007, which helped the city win $1 million from the MacArthur Foundation to enhance preservation efforts. During discussions about how to award Proposition 1C bond funds the city also worked with the state to expand the definition of “transit-oriented development” from a quarter to a half mile radius around stations. A subsequent analysis found that 44 percent of stations in the city either had preservation or affordable housing construction projects underway along all seven Metro rail lines.
Marquez says she went to Washington as a “housing developer” but came back home as a “neighborhood developer” who believes the interplay of policy and investment has the most power to leverage change: that economic development policy and investment has to be supported with programs that address homelessness, with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to prevent the decline of neighborhoods because of foreclosed properties, and with investment in community services such as workforce training, parks, schools, and libraries.
She adds that in Los Angeles the development of affordable housing has always been about economic development, since so many of the city’s challenges — from the problem of homelessness to the severity of the real estate recession —are tied to the problem of housing affordability. “To the degree that we are able to put more income into the pockets of our residents —transit, walking and biking can help us do that by reducing transportation costs and providing connections to good jobs — the less money we will need to subsidize housing.”
Mercedes Márquez, general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department and deputy mayor for Housing, returned to LA last summer from her job as assistant secretary for community planning and development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) believing that transit is this city’s future. She is convinced that the smartest investments the city can make at this juncture are those that will leverage the local and federal investments we are already making in LA’s Measure R-funded transit system.
She also thinks that Mayor Villaraigosa’s decision to create a Transit Corridors Cabinet of eight city departments that are making “transit orientation” their policy and funding priority is exactly the right focus — a larger “urban policy scheme” that will result in neighborhoods that are truly fair and affordable. She says, “I believe this is the way to bring the promise, the power, and the resources of government to bear on supporting neighborhoods in a way that is equitable.”
Mayor Villaraigosa also got it right, she adds, when he decided early in his political career to make the transit system a priority, noting that he has worked diligently and successfully to secure the funding and financing required to realize that vision. “The mayor understood how the freeway system and wide streets with fast-moving traffic have cut neighborhoods apart and endangered the health and prosperity of the people who live in them,” Márquez says. “And he understands how the transit system together with bike and pedestrian infrastructure has the potential to knit neighborhoods and local economies back together in a way that will bring opportunity back to Los Angeles.”
While at HUD, Márquez was in charge of a $50 billion portfolio of federal dollars for affordable housing and other social services, and for redesigning HUD’s consolidated planning process to enable cities to make data-driven decisions about where affordable housing and community needs are greatest and investment makes the most sense. Los Angeles has just completed its draft Consolidated Plan under this new rubric, and Márquez says the data justifies an emphasis on transit corridors using federal funding including Community Development Block Grants, HOME (for increasing affordable housing opportunities), HOPWA (Housing for People with AIDS), and Emergency Solutions Grants for homeless services programs.
While together these programs total a $130 million investment in Los Angeles, Márquez notes that “every CDBG dollar leverages another $3 in other funding, and every HOME dollar leverages another $4.17, so the Consolidated Plan actually represents a half billion dollars in investment. If we are serious about our commitment to equity, it’s clear we have to invest those dollars along transit corridors.”
This targeted investment makes sense because neighborhoods along transit corridors are where many low- and moderate-income people already live. Older neighborhoods tend to have higher concentrations of apartment buildings and homes with lower rents because they are covered by the city’s Rent Stabilization Ordinance, or because they are government-subsidized and/or income-restricted and covered by Section 8 or other contracts between the government and property owners — and many of these contracts are set to expire in the next five years.
A recent study for the housing department by the national nonprofit Reconnecting America concluded that preservation of existing affordable housing near transit lines is critical because the threat to the affordability of this housing has never been greater. The construction of so much transit in so many neighborhoods could activate the real estate market around both new and existing stations — because the expanded rail system will connect to so many more destinations —making these neighborhoods especially desirable.
More demand could drive up rents and housing prices and push out the low-income residents who use transit the most. The study found, for example, that 75 percent of those who commute to jobs by transit make less than $25,000 a year. Marquez intends to bring LAHD’s resources to bear on this problem by aligning other resources around transit, including the city’s low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF).
Most affordable housing in the U.S. is funded through the LIHTC program, which provides dollar-for-dollar reductions in investors’ federal income tax as an incentive to spur private sector investment in affordable housing. But as the program has gotten more and more competitive, cities that can put up more of their own money are awarded more tax credits. This puts LA at a disadvantage because the need here is so great: the average median income in Los Angeles is lower than in most cities and the cost of housing is higher.
However, the City of LA may have succeeded in addressing this problem by convincing Sacramento to provide the City with its own “bucket” of tax credits, which means the city doesn’t have to compete. New York City and Chicago are the only other cities who exercise this much control over where and how they invest tax credits.
Moreover, there has been a national movement to create transit-oriented affordable housing funds that are focused on transit-oriented development, and Márquez says she is working with investors on re-purposing the City’s New Generation Fund — a partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and others — so that it, too, is focused on investing near transit.
Add all of this — HUD’s funding programs, tax credits, the New Generation Fund — to the Measure R sales tax investment and federal transportation funding that has already come or will come from the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts program, and the U.S. DOT’s TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) and TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act) loan programs, and it’s clear why Márquez sees a transit-oriented future.
“We are taking control of our destiny,” she says, “investing according to the priorities voters agreed upon when they voted in Measure R in 2008.” She adds, “And I am not just talking about investing near rail stations and rail corridors but also along bus rapid transit.”
Márquez notes LAHD began prioritizing the production and preservation of affordable housing within a half-mile radius of transit back in 2007, which helped the city win $1 million from the MacArthur Foundation to enhance preservation efforts. During discussions about how to award Proposition 1C bond funds the city also worked with the state to expand the definition of “transit-oriented development” from a quarter to a half mile radius around stations. A subsequent analysis found that 44 percent of stations in the city either had preservation or affordable housing construction projects underway along all seven Metro rail lines.
Marquez says she went to Washington as a “housing developer” but came back home as a “neighborhood developer” who believes the interplay of policy and investment has the most power to leverage change: that economic development policy and investment has to be supported with programs that address homelessness, with the Neighborhood Stabilization Program to prevent the decline of neighborhoods because of foreclosed properties, and with investment in community services such as workforce training, parks, schools, and libraries.
She adds that in Los Angeles the development of affordable housing has always been about economic development, since so many of the city’s challenges — from the problem of homelessness to the severity of the real estate recession —are tied to the problem of housing affordability. “To the degree that we are able to put more income into the pockets of our residents —transit, walking and biking can help us do that by reducing transportation costs and providing connections to good jobs — the less money we will need to subsidize housing.”
January 31, 2013
SPECULATION RAMPANT ABOUT NEXT U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY
Two especially good stories, that link to so many other good stories about who should be the next secretary. Tanya Snyder on Streetsblog notes that the well-loved Ray LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, turned out to be — in the words of his under secretary for policy, Roy Kienitz — "a breath of fresh air in every way." And Emily Badger on the Atlantic Cities blog notes that LaHood was the first secretary to think that:
Emily Badger is keen on the idea of a mayor running the DOT. I think I agree.
- transportation is about more than just highways,
- transportation is inseparable from housing, education, the environment and the economy,
- transportation requires bottom-up problem solving, and
- that technology is changing how we get around.
Emily Badger is keen on the idea of a mayor running the DOT. I think I agree.
January 30, 2013
AVENCEMOS! 5TH ANNUAL TRANSPORTATION CONVERSATION AGENDA!
AVANCEMOS! MOVE LA FORWARD!
Registration (8:00 am)
Welcome (8:30 am) Marlene Grossman, Move LA Leadership Board Chair
Denny Zane, Executive Director, Move LA
Morning Keynote (8:45 am)
Robbie Hunter, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
The Next Step for LA’s Transit Revolution: A View from the Labor Movement
Post Measure J: Big Picture Politics of Money for Transportation (9:10 am)
Denny Zane, Move LA — Framer & Moderator
What are the next steps for accelerating Measure R?
• How can we make federal opportunities real? America Fast Forward Bonds? National Infrastructure Development Bank? The next transportation reauthorization bill?
• With the State in the black, what are the new opportunities: 55% local voter threshold? Vehicle License Fee surcharge? Cap & trade funds? A new form of redevelopment? Statewide transportation bonds?
• What is the role of CA High Speed Rail in LA County? Can we modernize Metrolink?
Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, Los Angeles
Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer, LA County Federation of Labor
Richard Katz, Metrolink Board Chair, LA Metro Board
Art Leahy, CEO, LA Metro
Mary Leslie, President, LA Business Council
Adriano Martinez, Staff Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
Ron Miller, Executive Secretary, LA & Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council
Tracy Rafter, LA County Business Federation
Gary Toebben, CEO, LA Area Chamber of Commerce
Making the Transit Revolution Real and Fair (10:20 am)
Beth Steckler, Move LA - Moderator
• What are the tools we need to make the transit revolution real and fair in LA County and how do we get them?
• What are the opportunities to increase housing opportunities for core transit users, to facilitate walking and cycling, and to pay for bus and rail operations?
Rye Baerg, SoCal Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Autumn Bernstein, Executive Director, ClimatePlan
Raffi Hamparian, Director of Federal Affairs, LA Metro
Madeline Janis, National Policy Director, LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Joan Ling, Real Estate Advisor and Urban Planning Policy Analyst
Hilary Norton, FAST (Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic)
Kevin Ratner, Forest City
Tunua Thrash, West Angeles Community Development Corporation
Michael Turner, State Affairs, Metro
LA Metro Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (11:30 am)
Keynote: Big Lessons from LA’s Transit Revolution
Lunch (noon)
Invocation: Rabbi Mark Diamond, American Jewish Committee
Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (12:30 pm)
Keynote: Sacramento’s Contribution to LA’s Transit Revolution
Dr. Robert Cervero (1:00 pm)
Keynote: Lessons for LA from Successful Cities around the World & LA’s Potential
Afternoon Topics
Gloria Ohland and Denny Zane, Move LA - Moderators
LA Mayor Villaraigosa's Transit Corridors Cabinet Co-chair and LA Metro Board Member Mel Wilson, and Cabinet Co-chair and President, LA Planning Commission William Roschen (1:30 pm)
The “DNA” of Transit Corridors
Priorities for the Mayor’s Transit Corridors Cabinet
Michael LoGrande, Director LA City Planning Department
Mercedes Marquez, General Manager, LA Housing Department and Deputy Mayor for Housing
Jaime de la Vega, General Manager, LA Department of Transportation
Valerie Lynn Shaw, LA Board of Public Works Commissioner
Cal Hollis, LA Metro Countywide Planning Department
Respondents:
Cecilia Estolano, ELP Advisors
Paul Habibi, Habibi Properties/UCLA Anderson School of Management
Dr. Manuel Pastor, Program for Environmental & Regional Equity (PERE), USC
Amanda Eaken, NRDC
Thomas Yee, Little Tokyo Services Center
Public Comments
Audience
Adjourn to Reception in Honor of LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl (3:30 pm) Fred Harvey Room.
Registration (8:00 am)
Welcome (8:30 am) Marlene Grossman, Move LA Leadership Board Chair
Denny Zane, Executive Director, Move LA
Morning Keynote (8:45 am)
Robbie Hunter, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
The Next Step for LA’s Transit Revolution: A View from the Labor Movement
Post Measure J: Big Picture Politics of Money for Transportation (9:10 am)
Denny Zane, Move LA — Framer & Moderator
What are the next steps for accelerating Measure R?
• How can we make federal opportunities real? America Fast Forward Bonds? National Infrastructure Development Bank? The next transportation reauthorization bill?
• With the State in the black, what are the new opportunities: 55% local voter threshold? Vehicle License Fee surcharge? Cap & trade funds? A new form of redevelopment? Statewide transportation bonds?
• What is the role of CA High Speed Rail in LA County? Can we modernize Metrolink?
Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, Los Angeles
Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer, LA County Federation of Labor
Richard Katz, Metrolink Board Chair, LA Metro Board
Art Leahy, CEO, LA Metro
Mary Leslie, President, LA Business Council
Adriano Martinez, Staff Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
Ron Miller, Executive Secretary, LA & Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council
Tracy Rafter, LA County Business Federation
Gary Toebben, CEO, LA Area Chamber of Commerce
Making the Transit Revolution Real and Fair (10:20 am)
Beth Steckler, Move LA - Moderator
• What are the tools we need to make the transit revolution real and fair in LA County and how do we get them?
• What are the opportunities to increase housing opportunities for core transit users, to facilitate walking and cycling, and to pay for bus and rail operations?
Rye Baerg, SoCal Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Autumn Bernstein, Executive Director, ClimatePlan
Raffi Hamparian, Director of Federal Affairs, LA Metro
Madeline Janis, National Policy Director, LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Joan Ling, Real Estate Advisor and Urban Planning Policy Analyst
Hilary Norton, FAST (Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic)
Kevin Ratner, Forest City
Tunua Thrash, West Angeles Community Development Corporation
Michael Turner, State Affairs, Metro
LA Metro Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (11:30 am)
Keynote: Big Lessons from LA’s Transit Revolution
Lunch (noon)
Invocation: Rabbi Mark Diamond, American Jewish Committee
Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (12:30 pm)
Keynote: Sacramento’s Contribution to LA’s Transit Revolution
Dr. Robert Cervero (1:00 pm)
Keynote: Lessons for LA from Successful Cities around the World & LA’s Potential
Afternoon Topics
Gloria Ohland and Denny Zane, Move LA - Moderators
LA Mayor Villaraigosa's Transit Corridors Cabinet Co-chair and LA Metro Board Member Mel Wilson, and Cabinet Co-chair and President, LA Planning Commission William Roschen (1:30 pm)
The “DNA” of Transit Corridors
Priorities for the Mayor’s Transit Corridors Cabinet
Michael LoGrande, Director LA City Planning Department
Mercedes Marquez, General Manager, LA Housing Department and Deputy Mayor for Housing
Jaime de la Vega, General Manager, LA Department of Transportation
Valerie Lynn Shaw, LA Board of Public Works Commissioner
Cal Hollis, LA Metro Countywide Planning Department
Respondents:
Cecilia Estolano, ELP Advisors
Paul Habibi, Habibi Properties/UCLA Anderson School of Management
Dr. Manuel Pastor, Program for Environmental & Regional Equity (PERE), USC
Amanda Eaken, NRDC
Thomas Yee, Little Tokyo Services Center
Public Comments
Audience
Adjourn to Reception in Honor of LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl (3:30 pm) Fred Harvey Room.
January 29, 2013
THE BEST STORY SPECULATING ON VILLARAIGOSA SUCCEEDING LAHOOD
The "Human Events" blog features robust speculation on the choice of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to replace outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. For example, John Gizzi writes:
"A former speaker of the California state Assembly, Villaraigosa has long been regarded as a future Democratic governor or senator from the Golden State and even a candidate for national office. Less than two weeks ago, his address at the National Press Club in Washington DC on immigration was a sold-out event. After two two-year terms in City Hall, Villaraigosa is “termed out” in April and appointment to the Cabinet would give him a new political home in which to land.
"In addition, a Villaraigosa appointment to the Cabinet would solve another political problem. With Democrats holding all major statewide offices in California and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein considered shoo-ins for re-election so long as they choose, there is no available office to which Villaraigosa could turn—at least not in 2014. Making him “Secretary Villaraigosa” not only gives him a home but a base with which to be considered for future office—quite possibly, as vice presidential running mate to Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton in 2016."
Read the rest:
"A former speaker of the California state Assembly, Villaraigosa has long been regarded as a future Democratic governor or senator from the Golden State and even a candidate for national office. Less than two weeks ago, his address at the National Press Club in Washington DC on immigration was a sold-out event. After two two-year terms in City Hall, Villaraigosa is “termed out” in April and appointment to the Cabinet would give him a new political home in which to land.
"In addition, a Villaraigosa appointment to the Cabinet would solve another political problem. With Democrats holding all major statewide offices in California and Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein considered shoo-ins for re-election so long as they choose, there is no available office to which Villaraigosa could turn—at least not in 2014. Making him “Secretary Villaraigosa” not only gives him a home but a base with which to be considered for future office—quite possibly, as vice presidential running mate to Joe Biden or Hillary Clinton in 2016."
Read the rest:
January 29, 2013
HAPPY 20th BIRTHDAY RED LINE!
The Source is celebrating with some photos, 
videos from 1989 and 1993 and an analysis from Metro's Dave Sotero, which begins:
“This day is here…”
On January 29, 1993, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley stood among a swarm of public officials and transit agency staffers on the cramped Pershing Square subway platform. Standing shoulders above everyone else, including then-California Gov. Pete Wilson, Bradley proudly inaugurated the opening of the first modern subway in Los Angeles.
“Twenty years is a long time. That’s how long we have been pushing on this dream, this vision of what we should do in Los Angeles County,” Bradley said, referring to the subway’s quixotic path to reality in ‘93. “I made a promise when I ran for mayor in 1973 that in 18 months, we’d deliver by breaking ground for rapid transit. Well, I missed by only a few months…”
Today, Metro marks the 20th anniversary of the Metro Red Line’s first phase from Union Station to MacArthur Park, a nearly 4.5-mile construction milestone that began a brand new chapter in regional rail construction and placing L.A. among other major cities across the globe with high-speed, high-capacity subways.
videos from 1989 and 1993 and an analysis from Metro's Dave Sotero, which begins:“This day is here…”
On January 29, 1993, former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley stood among a swarm of public officials and transit agency staffers on the cramped Pershing Square subway platform. Standing shoulders above everyone else, including then-California Gov. Pete Wilson, Bradley proudly inaugurated the opening of the first modern subway in Los Angeles.
“Twenty years is a long time. That’s how long we have been pushing on this dream, this vision of what we should do in Los Angeles County,” Bradley said, referring to the subway’s quixotic path to reality in ‘93. “I made a promise when I ran for mayor in 1973 that in 18 months, we’d deliver by breaking ground for rapid transit. Well, I missed by only a few months…”
Today, Metro marks the 20th anniversary of the Metro Red Line’s first phase from Union Station to MacArthur Park, a nearly 4.5-mile construction milestone that began a brand new chapter in regional rail construction and placing L.A. among other major cities across the globe with high-speed, high-capacity subways.
January 29, 2013
NEW BBC SERIES STARS PLANNERS
Named The Planners, a new BBC documentary series promises to "lift the lid on the decisions behind planning approvals and refusals . . . through the eyes, ears and drawings of the planners themselves — the people who interpret the rules, evaluate the proposals and make the recommendations. These are the people who can make homeowners' dreams come true or bring them crashing down."
Here is the description for the first of the series' eight episodes: "In this episode of The Planners, three national house builders target a greenfield site outside Winsford in Cheshire. They're proposing to build 540 new homes in the area but the locals aren't happy and will stop at nothing to derail the development. A Cheltenham couple erect a mock-up of their neighbour's extension to highlight their concerns to planners. A retired couple that lives in a conservation area in the heart of Chester submit a planning application to erect 17 solar panels onto their garage roof and a Cheltenham resident spends over £10,000 pounds on her planning application for a dropped curb outside her home."
For real . . .
Here is the description for the first of the series' eight episodes: "In this episode of The Planners, three national house builders target a greenfield site outside Winsford in Cheshire. They're proposing to build 540 new homes in the area but the locals aren't happy and will stop at nothing to derail the development. A Cheltenham couple erect a mock-up of their neighbour's extension to highlight their concerns to planners. A retired couple that lives in a conservation area in the heart of Chester submit a planning application to erect 17 solar panels onto their garage roof and a Cheltenham resident spends over £10,000 pounds on her planning application for a dropped curb outside her home."
For real . . .
January 27, 2013
5TH TRANSPORTATION CONVERSATION FEATURES BIG CAST OF IMPORTANT PARTNERS FEBRUARY 1!
Move LA's annual transportation conversation is a gathering of our business-labor-environmental coalition and government partners to chart the way forward in 2013. Without Measure J and redevelopment, local governments need new tools to accelerate transit and the production and preservation of housing that is affordable, as well as the infrastructure that will make neighborhoods walkable and bikeable, prosperous and healthy.
Fortunately, there are new tools under development: We are working with Congress on America Fast Forward bonds to accelerate transit, and with the state Legislature on lowering the local voter threshold to make it easier to win funding for neighborhoods. There’s Cap and Trade funding in the offing, a possible vehicle license fee surcharge to help implement green neighborhood infrastructure, SB 1 to reinvent redevelopment around transit, a national infrastructure bank, public private partnerships and LA Mayor Villaraigosa's Transit Corridors Cabinet. This day-long conversation involves a large cast of community and government partners. Join us!
Register now! Free if you arrive by bike (there will be a bike valet). And free if you come after 1 p.m. AGENDA IS BELOW.
AVANCEMOS! MOVE LA FORWARD!
Registration (8:00 am)
Welcome (8:30 am) Marlene Grossman, Move LA Leadership Board Chair
Denny Zane, Executive Director, Move LA
Morning Keynote (8:45 am)
Robbie Hunter, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
The Next Step for LA’s Transit Revolution: A View from Sacramento
Post Measure J: Big Picture Politics of Money for Transportation (9:10 am)
Denny Zane, Move LA — Framer & Moderator
What’s the next step to accelerating Measure R?
• How real are the federal opportunities: America Fast Forward Bonds? National Infrastructure Development Bank?
• With the State in the black, are there new opportunities: 55% voter threshold? Vehicle License Fee surcharge? Cap & trade funds?
• What about CA High Speed Rail?
Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, Los Angeles
Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer, LA County Federation of Labor
Richard Katz, Metrolink Board Chair, LA Metro Board
Art Leahy, CEO, LA Metro
Mary Leslie, President, LA Business Council
Adriano Martinez, Staff Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
Ron Miller, Executive Secretary, LA & Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council
Tracy Rafter, LA County Business Federation
Gary Toebben, CEO, LA Area Chamber of Commerce
Making the Transit Revolution Real and Fair (10:20 am)
Beth Steckler, Move LA - Moderator
• What are the tools we need to make the transit revolution real and fair in LA County and how do we get them?
• What are the strategies to increase housing opportunities for core transit users, to facilitate walking and cycling, and to pay for bus and rail operations?
Rye Baerg, SoCal Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Autumn Bernstein, Executive Director, ClimatePlan
Raffi Hamparian, Director of Federal Affairs, LA Metro
Madeline Janis, National Policy Director, LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Joan Ling, Real Estate Advisor and Urban Planning Policy Analyst
Hilary Norton, FAST (Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic)
Kevin Ratner, Forest City
Tunua Thrash, West Angeles Community Development Corporation
Michael Turner, State Affairs, Metro
LA Metro Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (11:30 am)
Keynote: Big Lessons from LA’s Transit Revolution
Lunch (noon)
Invocation: Rabbi Diamond
Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (12:30 pm)
Keynote: Sacramento’s Contribution to LA’s Transit Revolution
Dr. Robert Cervero (1:00 pm)
Lessons for LA from Successful Cities around the World & LA’s Potential
Afternoon Topics
Gloria Ohland and Denny Zane, Move LA - Moderators
William Roschen, President, LA Planning Commission (1:30 pm)
The “DNA” of Transit Corridors
Priorities for the Mayor’s Transit Corridors Cabinet
Michael LoGrande, Director LA City Planning Department
Mercedes Marquez, General Manager, LA Housing Department and Deputy Mayor for Housing
Jaime de la Vega, General Manager, LA Department of Transportation
Valerie Lynn Shaw, LA Board of Public Works Commissioner
Mel Wilson, LA Metro Board
Cal Hollis, LA Metro
Respondents:
Cecilia Estolano, ELP Advisors
Paul Habibi, Habibi Properties/UCLA Anderson School of Management
Dr. Manuel Pastor, Program for Environmental & Regional Equity (PERE), USC
Amanda Eaken, NRDC
Thomas Yee, Little Tokyo Services Center
Comments from audience
Adjourn to Reception in Honor of LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. (3:30 pm) Fred Harvey Room.
Fortunately, there are new tools under development: We are working with Congress on America Fast Forward bonds to accelerate transit, and with the state Legislature on lowering the local voter threshold to make it easier to win funding for neighborhoods. There’s Cap and Trade funding in the offing, a possible vehicle license fee surcharge to help implement green neighborhood infrastructure, SB 1 to reinvent redevelopment around transit, a national infrastructure bank, public private partnerships and LA Mayor Villaraigosa's Transit Corridors Cabinet. This day-long conversation involves a large cast of community and government partners. Join us!
Register now! Free if you arrive by bike (there will be a bike valet). And free if you come after 1 p.m. AGENDA IS BELOW.
AVANCEMOS! MOVE LA FORWARD!
Registration (8:00 am)
Welcome (8:30 am) Marlene Grossman, Move LA Leadership Board Chair
Denny Zane, Executive Director, Move LA
Morning Keynote (8:45 am)
Robbie Hunter, State Building & Construction Trades Council of California
The Next Step for LA’s Transit Revolution: A View from Sacramento
Post Measure J: Big Picture Politics of Money for Transportation (9:10 am)
Denny Zane, Move LA — Framer & Moderator
What’s the next step to accelerating Measure R?
• How real are the federal opportunities: America Fast Forward Bonds? National Infrastructure Development Bank?
• With the State in the black, are there new opportunities: 55% voter threshold? Vehicle License Fee surcharge? Cap & trade funds?
• What about CA High Speed Rail?
Assemblymember Bob Blumenfield, Los Angeles
Maria Elena Durazo, Secretary-Treasurer, LA County Federation of Labor
Richard Katz, Metrolink Board Chair, LA Metro Board
Art Leahy, CEO, LA Metro
Mary Leslie, President, LA Business Council
Adriano Martinez, Staff Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council
Ron Miller, Executive Secretary, LA & Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council
Tracy Rafter, LA County Business Federation
Gary Toebben, CEO, LA Area Chamber of Commerce
Making the Transit Revolution Real and Fair (10:20 am)
Beth Steckler, Move LA - Moderator
• What are the tools we need to make the transit revolution real and fair in LA County and how do we get them?
• What are the strategies to increase housing opportunities for core transit users, to facilitate walking and cycling, and to pay for bus and rail operations?
Rye Baerg, SoCal Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Autumn Bernstein, Executive Director, ClimatePlan
Raffi Hamparian, Director of Federal Affairs, LA Metro
Madeline Janis, National Policy Director, LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE)
Joan Ling, Real Estate Advisor and Urban Planning Policy Analyst
Hilary Norton, FAST (Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic)
Kevin Ratner, Forest City
Tunua Thrash, West Angeles Community Development Corporation
Michael Turner, State Affairs, Metro
LA Metro Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky (11:30 am)
Keynote: Big Lessons from LA’s Transit Revolution
Lunch (noon)
Invocation: Rabbi Diamond
Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (12:30 pm)
Keynote: Sacramento’s Contribution to LA’s Transit Revolution
Dr. Robert Cervero (1:00 pm)
Lessons for LA from Successful Cities around the World & LA’s Potential
Afternoon Topics
Gloria Ohland and Denny Zane, Move LA - Moderators
William Roschen, President, LA Planning Commission (1:30 pm)
The “DNA” of Transit Corridors
Priorities for the Mayor’s Transit Corridors Cabinet
Michael LoGrande, Director LA City Planning Department
Mercedes Marquez, General Manager, LA Housing Department and Deputy Mayor for Housing
Jaime de la Vega, General Manager, LA Department of Transportation
Valerie Lynn Shaw, LA Board of Public Works Commissioner
Mel Wilson, LA Metro Board
Cal Hollis, LA Metro
Respondents:
Cecilia Estolano, ELP Advisors
Paul Habibi, Habibi Properties/UCLA Anderson School of Management
Dr. Manuel Pastor, Program for Environmental & Regional Equity (PERE), USC
Amanda Eaken, NRDC
Thomas Yee, Little Tokyo Services Center
Comments from audience
Adjourn to Reception in Honor of LA City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. (3:30 pm) Fred Harvey Room.
January 25, 2013
CPDR REPORTS THAT INFILL PROJECTS SURVIVE CEQA CHALLENGE MORE OFTEN
The California Planning and Development Report reported on a study by the law firm of Holland & Knight that looked at 95 legal challenges filed against development projects under the California Environmental Quality Act, finding that that CEQA was used to challenge more infill projects (60%) than greenfield projects. The irony being that, from an environmental perspective in particular, infill projects are much less damaging because they don't encroach on habitat and species.
CPDR, however, looked at the outcomes of these legal challenges to infill projects and found that only 31% were successful, compared to 55% of the challenges to greenfield projects. CPDR's analysis also notes:
Read it on Bill Fulton's blog.
CPDR, however, looked at the outcomes of these legal challenges to infill projects and found that only 31% were successful, compared to 55% of the challenges to greenfield projects. CPDR's analysis also notes:
- The success rate for legal challenges has been dropping steadily since 1997 – from 70% in the 1997-2002 period to only 34% in the 2007-2012 period.
- Legal challenges are most likely to succeed against infrastructure and industrial projects (more than 60%). Challenges were least likely to be successful against commercial projects (less than 30%).
- Legal challenges against public projects were more successful than legal challenges against private projects, though the difference was small (50% to 44%).
- Local plaintiffs were more likely to succeed than non-local plaintiffs, though again the difference was small (49% to 41%).
Read it on Bill Fulton's blog.
January 25, 2013
KCET'S ERIC BRIGHTWELL WALKS THE ROUTE OF THE CRENSHAW LINE
KCET's Eric Brightwell has been exploring LA's existing and planned rail and bus lines and checking out their stations and the neighborhoods along each corridor — and then blogging about it. Most recently he blogged about his walking tour of the 8.5 mile route of the Crenshaw Line and its 9 stations, which will connect the Expo Line to the Green Line and eventually to LAX.
Here's his list of blog posts.
Here's his list of blog posts.
January 25, 2013