24
DIRECTOR'S LETTER
The Ambitious City
THE URBANI ST
Sarah KarlinskyisSPUR's deputydirector
Cover photo by Michael Alexander
I grew up in a st reetcar suburb just outs ide Boston, attended col lege in
New York City and then lived for two years in Balti more, ofte n visit ing
Washingt on, D.C. I t raveled through Europe and South America. From
th ese experiences, I knew (or thought I knew) what a city was supposed
to be.A city had a defined center, one that you could easily find based on the
heavy concentra tion of tall buildings, the confluence of different lines of
transit. the peop le rushing on foot from one dest ination to the next. It had
historic buildings wit h brick or Victorian facades and at least some streets
built for a t ime before the automobile was invented. People in cit ies lived
in high-r ises, mid-rises, walk-up brownstones; anything green was likely
the leafy expanse of a public square not the manicured lawn of a single-family home.
Los Angeles is a dif ferent kind of cit y. My fi rst real experience there came in the mid
1990s when I visited a fr iend who was doing a summer program at USc. He didn't have a
car, so much of our t ime was spent waiting for another fri end who did. Without an auto
mobi le, we couldn't get anywhere. I left L.A. vowing that I would never, ever return. "L.A.
is not a real cit y," I proclaimed, with all the force and righteous 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 the loud clanging heart of every thing
urban, t rue and good .
I have since returne d to Los Angeles many t imes, and each time I do, I've learned some
thin g that has challenged my not ion of what cities are supposed to be, how they are sup
posed to behave and the ways in which they are capab le of change and transformat ion.
It may have a reputat ion for superficiality, but Los Angeles is a city with a spectacular
inner life. The exterior of a st ructure does not always announce its private meaning: it
might be concealing an iconic midcentury-modern home or a Korean restaurant serv ing the
greatest barb ecue you wi ll ever taste. To know what is going on and where, you need to
ta lk to those with a deeper relationship with the city (or else you'd never tru st that the best
restaurant around just mig ht be in a strip mall) -and because the city is so big and strange
and complicated , the talking can go on forever.
The public face of Los Angeles 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 hous
ing. Now there are 45,000 residents in the downtown area, an increase of 15percent since
2008. Los Angeles County just passed a half- cent sales tax (Measure R) that is est imated to
generate $36 billio n in funding for tran sit, radically expanding its already very imp ressive
t ransit system. In some locat ions, such as Koreatow n and the once-st ruggling downtown,
ta ller, denser build ings are being built adjacent to transit. And though Missing Persons'
enduring hit song from 1984 (the city's unoffi cial anthem) proclaims otherwise, more and
more residents like writer Alissa Walker ("Knowing the Distance, page 14) have commit ted
themselves to getti ng around the city on their own tw o feet.
In this issue of The Urbanist, we explore just a few of the mind-boggling ways in which
Los Angeles is reinventing it self. A city of big inf rastr ucture and big dreams, Los Angeles
has never shied away from fo rmidable obstacles, be it the quest for water, railroads , free
ways or, to day, creating 21st-century transit and a new model of West Coast urbanism. We
in the Bay Area have a great deal to learn from its bold ambition. •
O SPURSPUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Chair Board Members Mary MurphyLinda JoFitz CarlAnthony JeanneMyerson
ExecutiveVeronica Bell AdhiNagraj
ViceChairChris Block Brad Paul
AnneHalstedLarry Burnett ChrisPolandMichaela Cassidy TeresaRea
Vice Chairs MadelineChun ByronRhettAlexa Arena CharmaineCurtis WadeRoseAndyBarnes GiaDaniller-Katz Victor SeetoEmilioCruz Kelly Dearman ElizabethSeilelDavid Friedman Oz Erickson Carl ShannonBill Rosetti MannyFlores Chi-HsinShaoLydiaTan GillianGillett OntarioSmithV.Fei Tsen ChrisGruwell Bili Stotier
SecretaryDaveHartley Stuart Sunshine
Mary McCueAidanHughes Michael TeitzMaryHuss MikeTheriault
Treasurer ChrisIglesias JamesTracyBobGamble LaurieJohnson Will Travis
Immediate PastKenKirkey Jell Tumlin
Co-ChairDick Lonergan Steve VetteI
Andy BarnesEllenLou DebraWalkerJanisMacKenzie CynthiaWilusz
LeeBlitchJohnMadden Lovell
Advisory Council JacintaMcCann Cindy WuCo-Chairs ChrisMeanyMichael Alexander EzraMerseyPaul Sedway TerryMicheau
CHAIRS & COMM ITTEES
Program Regional Planning FinanceCommittees Larry Burnett BobGamble
BallotAnalysisLibby Seilel
Human Resources
Bob GambleOperating
Mary McCue
Disaster Planning Committees IndividualLaurieJohnson
AuditMembership
ChrisPolandJohnMadden
Bill Stotler
HousingNominating
InvestmentEzraMersey
Stuart SunshineAnn Lazarus
LydiaTanMajor Donors
Project ReviewBuilding
Linda JoFitzCharmaine Curtis
ManagementAnneHalsted
Mary BethSandersLarry Burnett
Planned GivingReubenSchwartz Business
MichaelaCassidyMembership
TransportationTomHart SilverSPUR
AnthonyBruzzoneTerry Micheau DaveHartley
Water PolicyBoardExecutive
Teresa ReaBrySartre
Anne HalstedGood Government LindaJoFitzBobGamble
SAN JOSE ADVISO RY BOARD
TeresaAlvarado KarlaRodriguez Robert Steinberg,Andy Barnes Lomax FAIAChrisBlock ConnieMartinez LydiaTanJ. Richard Braugh James MacGregor Kim WaleshLarryBurnett AnuNatarajan Jessica ZenkBrianDarrow Dr.MohammadGordonFeller Qayoumi
A UG /SEPT 2012
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2012
NewsatSPUR
The Housing Trust Fund Heads toSan Francisco Voters in November!After many months of work by SPUR and other housing
advocates, the Housing Trust Fund has made its way throu gh
San Francisco's legislat ive process and has been placed
on the November ballot. SPUR was very involved in crafting
thi s charter amendment, which encourages the creat ion
of housing at all income levels. The measure provides
$1.2 bill ion for affordable housing in San Francisco over a
30-year period. This funding is desperately needed,
especially since California eliminated its redevelopment
agencies, cutting off almost all local funding for affordable
housing production. The measure also st imulates t he
development of mod erate-income housing by tweaking
San Francisco's inclusionary housing ord inance to
make build ing below -market rate housing on-site more
attractive. Thanks to Mayor Ed Lee, the Board of
Supervisors and the many advocates who worked so hard
to get th is import ant measure on the ballot. Read more
at spur.org/ blog.
Parks Bond onNovember BallotAfter extensive communityout reach and planning - andmonths of negotiations overspecific projects - the SanFrancisco Board of Supervisorshas placed the $195 million 2012
Neighborhood Parks Bond on theNovember ballot. It will include$99 mill ion for neighborhoodpark improvements; $34.5 millionfor waterfro nt open spaces; $21
million for regional parks; $15.5
million for failing playgroun dsacross the city; and a $12 millionCommunity Opportunity Fundthat leverages private fund s forcommunity-based park projects.Following our 2011Seeking
Green report on new revenuesfor San Francisco parks, SPURhas been acti vely engaged in thebond planning process. The 2012
bond proposal requires approval
of two-t hirds of San Franciscovoters and follows others in 20 00
and 20 0 8 to maintain and rebuild
TH E URBAN IST
a parks system that makes up 12
percent of land in the cit y.
Presidio Parkway ProjectBreaks GroundAfter 22 years of planning,
a vision SPUR has foughtlong and hard for f inally gotunder way this spring: the
t ransformation of San Francisco'sDoyle Drive from a clunky anddangerous art ifact into a gracefulentr yway to the cit y. Whenthe $1.1 billion Presidio Parkwayis completed in 2015, carsand t raffic noise will no longerdominate key landscapesof the Presidio national park.
July: A GoodMonthfor Transit in CaliforniaIn July, the State Senate vote dto authorize the sale of $2 .6
billion in bonds for high-speedrail, marking a crucial first step
toward constr uct ion of thestatew ide rail system as wellas a renewed commitm ent to
high-speed rail by a major ityof state legislators. Included inthe vote was a provision to fund
the elect rif icat ion of Caltra in,which wi ll both increase speedsand lower operat ing costs. Alsoin July, the Transbay dist rictplan was approved by the San
Francisco Board of Supervisors,which voted unanimously toamend the general plan, planningcode and zoning code in orderto imp lement the Transit CenterDistrict Plan. SPUR has longadvocated for the plan, whichwould allow high-ri se buildin gsand neighborhood improvementsaround the new Transbay TransitCenter. This is an importantmilestone, as the passage of theplan will provid e critica l fundingfor the dow ntown extension ofCaltrain and eventually highspeed rail.
UrbanAg Billand FundingPasses Board of SupervisorsOn July 17, the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors unani
mously appro ved legislationintroduced by Supervisor DavidChiu that aims to make the city'surban agriculture spendingmore eff icient, expand accessto public land and increase theavailability of resources forcity gardeners and farmers. Itcreates a new urban agricultureprogram with specific goalsand timelines, including anaudi t of city-owned rooftopsto identify sites potentia llysuitable for rooftop agriculture,the streamlining of app licat ionsfor urban agriculture on pub licland and creat ion of a "one-stopshop" provid ing assistance to SanFranciscans growing food. Theboard also approved $120,0 0 0
in the 2012-2013 budget for thenew prog ram. The legislat ionimplements a number of key
recommendat ions from SPUR'srecent Public Harvest report, andwe wi ll continue advocat ing on
behalf of the new law. -
AUG/SEPT 20 12 3
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
The Benefitsof BigOn a recent visit to Los Angeles, SPUR discovers the benefits
and challenges - of living in a county that encompasses over4,000 square miles.
Summary: Adept at seeing
potential in nearly any challenge,
this southern metropolis gives the
Bay Area a lot to think about.
By Sarah Kar linsky
Los Angelesdiffers from the Bay Area in many ways,
but one of the biggest differences is its sheer physical
size. The City of Los Angeles is enormous, 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 - the th ree "cent ral cities" of
the Bay Area - could all fit inside Los Angeles' city
limits with nearly 190 square miles to spare.The County of Los Angeles is larger st ill. It
encompasses more than 4,000 square mi les and
includes some of the cit ies that we th ink of when
we think of LA: West Hollywood, Beverly Hills,
Long Beach, Pasadena and Santa Monica. It is themost populous county in the ent ire nat ion, home
to roughly 9.8 mill ion peop le. And the broade r Los
Angeles region as defined by the Southern Califo rnia
Associat ion of Governments (SCAG) includesImperial, Orange, Riverside, San Bernadino and
Ventura count ies in addit ion to Los Angeles County
itself, covering more than 38,000 square mi les and
roughly 18 million peop le. Compare this to the nine
county Bay Area, which covers 6,900 square miles
and includes 7.1mil lion peop le. Los Angeles - the
city, the county, the region - is simp ly enormous.
So what does th is mean for Los Ange les as an
urban place? What did SPUR learn about Los Ange
les on our study trip while t raversing the landscape
by subway, bus and foot? For one thing, it is nearly
4 AUG/SEPT 2012
impossible to talk about just one Los Angeles. The
city is made up of a seemingly endless series of
unique neighborhoods - Litt le Tokyo, Koreatown,Venice, Boyle Heights, Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver
Lake, Los Feliz - each with its own distinct cultu re,
ethnic groups and physical form . Some neighbor
hoods are undergoing rapid densification around
transit nodes in ways that are unique to the culture of
the neighborhood itself (such as Koreatown, where
a combinat ion of Asian capita l, an affi nity for high
rise construct ion and pub lic artworks such as AprilGreiman's "Big Bowl of Rice Finished, Waitin g for
Giant Soy Sauce Packet" combine to create a very
distinctiv e neighb orhood). Other places are seeking
to att ract new residents to glorious old buildings thathad suffered from years of neglect ( like the newly re
vi talized downtown). Some places are oddly familiar:
Silver Lake feels like the Los Angeles version of San
Francisco's Valencia Street corrido r, wit h block after
block of cafes and art isanal ice cream shops. Othersare a wor ld unto themselves, 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.
The GoodOur visit revealed that one of the best things
about the size of Los Ange les is that it allows for
exper imentation. In a compac t cit y like San Francisco
every new development, pocket park or street design
can be the site of a painful, protracted batt le. In Los
Sarah Karlinsky isDeputy Directorof SPUR
Special thanks to Anna Gore, Chelsea Fried
andWill Heywood for theirdataresearch.
THE URBA NI ST
LEAR NING FROM LOS ANGELES
SAN FRANCISCO OAKLAND SAN JOSECITY OFLOS ANGELES
SAN FRANCISCO OAKLAND
FIGURE 3
How do San Francisco,Oakland and San Josecompare with the Cityof Los Angeles?
TheCityof LosAngelesislargerthanSan
Francisco, SanJoseandOakland combined.
While notasdenseasSanFrancisco,
thepopulationdensity of theCityofLos
Angelesexceeds thatof bothOakland and
San Jose.
FIGURE 4
How will San Francisco,Oakland, San Jose andLos Angeles Grow Overthe next 2S years?
Inabsolutenumbers, theCity of LosAngeles
isprojectedto growbyover500,000
people, morethananyBayAreacity.How
ever, SanFrancisco, Oaklandand SanJose
will growmoreasapercentagerelativeto
their current population.
FIGURE 5
How does the BayArea Region Comparewith the Los AngelesRegion?
Thearea covered bytheSouthernCalifornia
Association of Governments(SCAG) is
enormous, coveringImperial,Orange,
Riverside, SanBernadino and Ventura
counties,inadditionto theCounty of
LosAngeles.This suggests that better
6 AUG/SEPT 2012
Square miles
2010 population
2010 population per sq mil e
2010 households
2010 Emp loyment
Populat ion 2010
Popu lation 2035
Percent Change
Households 2010
Households 2035
Percent Change
Square Miles
2010 Populat ion
Popu lation Per Square Mile
Household s
Emp loyment
comparisonto theBayArea regionmaybe
LosAngelesCounty, which isroughly 60
percent of thesize of theentireninecounty
Bay AreacoveredbytheAssociationof Bay
Area Governments(ABAG).
47
805,235
17,180
345,811
413,729
805,235
1,032,453
22.01%
345,8 11
429,895
19.56%
BAY AREA
6,907
7,150,739
1,035
2,608,023
3,268,700
56
390,724
7,003
153,791
167,1 87
390 ,724
521,035
25.01%
153,791
202,455
24 .04%
LOS ANGELESCOUNTY
4,058
9,818,605
2,420
3,217,889
4,391,268
177
945,942
5,359
301,366
432,597
SAN JOSE
945,942
1,261,544
25.02%
301,366
409,581
26.42%
SCAG
38,141
18,051,534
473
5,814,000
7,738,000
469
3,792,621
8,092
1,314,198
1,748,066
CITY OFLOS ANGELES
3,792,621
4,320,600
12.22%
1,314,198
1,626,600
19.21%
THE URBANI ST
E
~o
2a.
Angeles, however, there is so much go ing on all the
tim e and in so many places that there seems to be
more of an openness to tr y new th ings. Accordingly,
its culture of architecture and design has long been
one of the most dynamic in the nation. In Culver City,
for example, an abandoned industri al park has been
transformed into new studios and offices. Designed
by archit ect Eric Owen Moss (w ho also heads up SCI
Arc, L.A.'s most avant-ga rde architecture school),
this new collect ion of architec turally radical buildings
is known as the Hayden Tract. One would be hard
pressed to th ink of an area in San Francisco (though
easier to imagine one in San Jose or Oakland) that
might allow for such a transformation.
Los Angeles is also able to support many different
types of economic districts. The Fashion District,
to take just one examp le, occupies 100 blocks in
close proximity to dow ntow n. This immense and
eclect ic swath of the city includes thousands of stalls
for manufacturin g, wholesale and retail textil e and
apparel businesses. Nearby is the Flower Distri ct,
with its six-b lock, 200 -vendor flower market. Having
the space for such dense distr icts that cover an
enti re supply chain helps support business creat ion
and economic diversity.
We were impressed with L.A.'s incredibl y diverse
housing stoc k, includin g a greater (and expanding)
supply of relatively affo rdable housing that helps
support economic and cultural diversity. Housing
ranges from the "mansion belt " st retching from
Beverly Hills to the Pacif ic to new high-rises in
THE URBANI ST
Koreatown, from the adapt ive reuse of office
buildin gs downtown (like the Standard Hotel,
which occupies the former headquarters of the
Superior Oil Company) to the overwhelming
number of midcentur y "d ingbats" (two- to three
sto ry apartm ent buildings buil t over parking ). New
multifamily housing is also being constructed,
some of it in very thoughtful ways. Just one
example among many is 1140 Formosa, a lovely
ll -unit project in West Hollywood, designed by
Lorcan O'Herlihy, which combines playful modern
architecture with a new pocket park.
The Not So GoodThe imm ensity of Los Angeles fosters
experimentat ion and allows for lots of thing s to
be happening in many places at once, but it does
make it hard to have a civic dialogue about what
LA ought 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 possible to keep track of most of
the development pol iti cs within the city includin g
what is being proposed for developm ent and where.
Making sense of what 's happening is possible in
a 47-square-mile city such as San Francisco or a
56-square-mile city like Oakland. It's even tenable
though harder - in a 177-square-m ile city like San
Jose, where development tends to be concent rated
in certain areas. But in a 469-square-mil e multinodal
city like Los Angeles, it' s a seemingly insurmount able
prospect.
AUG/ SEPT 2012 7
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
This diff iculty is only compounded when 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 cture upgrades. Whi le these
prob lems can be overcome (as shown wit h the
passage of Measure R, which creates roughly $40
billion in new sales-tax revenue for transportat ion,page 10), the size of Los Angeles makes them harder
to tackle.
Finally, it can be hard to get thing s done in a
large city with a large city government with many
departments, especially when the problem athand requires interdepartmental cooperat ion. Not
surprisingly, some of the 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 its lovely alleyways and trailblazing park ing
management policies) and West Hollywood (with its
recent ly improved, pedestr ian-fri endly boulevards).
What Canthe BayAreaLearnfrom Los Angeles?We in the Bay Area often dwell on our challenges. It 's
hard to raise money to pay for the thing s we need,
like more parks, improved educat ion and bett er
transit serv ice. We can't get enough housing built in
the right places. Some of our older citi es are too
precious, and some of our newer cit ies st ill need to
create places that future generat ions will be proud of.
Los Angeles shares many of these prob lems and
8 AUG/SEPT 2012
of course has many of its own, most notably its
preponderance of infrastructure that supports the
private automobile - wide roads, big highways, lotsof parking.
But rather than get caught up bemoaning its car
oriented st reets and low-density bou levards, LA
has been proactiv e and has made those streets morewalkable, reclaiming odd corners for pedestrians
(one example being Polka Dot Plaza in Silver Lake,
where a strip of Sunset Boulevard was blocked
off and painted with bright green po lka dot s) and
adding layers of density to make places more lively.
It has bui lt an impressive and well-ut ilized transitsystem and was even successful in taxing itself to
make that transit system even bett er; fund s from
Measure R will build out exist ing lines and add
new ones to create an interconnected rapid transit
network.Its sprawling landscape of bou levards and parking
lot s - emblemat ic of the 20th-century's worst urban
failings - now offers tremendous opportun iti es such
as the embrace of radical new architecture in order
to foster the types of creativity and weirdness that
make cit ies excit ing places to live. Or to find ways
to reinvigorate old st rip malls, reinhabit st ill older
underut ilized high-r ise off ice buildings and reclaim
the long-neglected Los Angeles River. Being big
allows Los Angeles to think big. The scale of that
ambitio n is t ruly inspiring - and it giv es us in the
Bay Area a lot to th ink about. -
THE URBANI ST
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
Transit,TransformedArchitecture 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.
Summary: Yes, L.A. may benotoriously auto-dependent, butyou'd be hard-pressed to findany Amer ican city doing so manytransit projects in so little time .
By Denny Za ne
Los Angeles County is at a moment of transformation. If thing s cont inue on their present course,in the next decade we may remedy one of urbanAmerica's most fabled and histor ic missteps, madeseven decades ago. At that time, the seeminglyend less opportunity for development offe redby Southern California real estate conspiredwith the bound less ambit ions of the American auto mobi le industry to demolish the Pacifi c Electr icRailway, Southern Californ ia's then-extensive railtransit system.
Today, however, with funds provided by morethan two-thirds of its voters, Los Angeles Countyis reversing that wro ng turn and undertaking torecreate its former rail transit glory by launching aprogram of accelerated light rail, subway and busrapid transit (BRT) lines that will more than doubleits current system, all of which has itself beenrebuilt only since 1990.
The transformationa l moment began onNovember 4, 2008, when - on the eve of theelection of a new president and not long afte r thecollapse of the American financial system -Los Ange les County voters approved Measure R,a half-cent sales tax for transportation , by a 68
percent majority. Measure R unleashed a revenuestream expected to generate more than $36 bi llionover the next 30 years, nearly 70 percent ofwhich wi ll be invested in transit , prov iding both
10 AUG/SEPT 20 12
capita l and operating funds. The measure includedfunds for 12 new light rail, BRT and subway linesin all parts of LA County. Twenty percent ofthe revenue wil l be dedicated to operating the morethan 2,000 LA Metro natural gas buses, helpingefforts to ensure affo rdable fares for years to come.
How do transforma tional moments like thi shappen? Let's back up to 2007.
While Los Angeles County is one of the mostimportant economic and cultural engines in theUnited States, it is also, famously, one of the mostauto-dependent, with the most congested highwaysand the worst air pollution. But in 2007, traff iccongestion worsened markedly at the same timethat gasoline prices soared. It was like the t raff icslush of our lives had begun to crysta llize beforeour eyes. With it came a collect ive realizatio n,and the error of our old, auto -cent ric ways wasstarkly revealed. Gridlock was the talk of the county,in the media and in communities, prompting worriesof economic, social and environmental decline.
Wit hin planning agencies, the ant icipatio n ofthree milli on more residents in L.A. County overthe next 30 years amplified these public concerns.At that moment, to the shock of many, LA Metroannounced that all of its expected revenue wasalready comm itted for the next 30 years. There
would be no additio nal money available to expandtransportation capacity to relieve current congestion,
Denny Zane isexecutive directorof Move
LA,which advocates for thedevelopment
of acomprehensive andfinancially sound
publictransportation system for Los
Angeles County.
THE URBANIST
.~s:U
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2a.
much less meet the challenge of growth . We could
see our fut ure, and it was traffi c.
Thus, in the late summer of 2007, we convened
a committee, which would come to form the
core leadership of Move LA. We hoped to initi ate
a dialogue with leaders from the business, labor,
health, environmental, social just ice and local
communit ies, seeking ideas and support for new
sources of fund ing to meet the current and futuretransportat ion needs of Los Ang eles County.
We called a meeting of 34 different organizations
all but one RSVP'd. Representativ es of the
Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the
San Fernando Valley Industry and Commerce
Associat ion, the Westside Council of Chambers, theLos Angeles County Federat ion of Labor, the Los
Angeles-Orange Count y Building Trades Council,
Environment Now, the Los Angeles Chapter of the
Sierra Club and others att ended.At these early meeting s, the sense of urgency
was palpab le. The congest ion our community was
experiencing was severe, but under Califo rnia
law only the voters had the authority to raise real
revenue. The clock was ti cking, with the 2008
presidential electi on - our chance to get the 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 sponsor and part icipate in a conference
TH E URBANIST
on transportation funding targeted for January 2008
so that necessary legislat ion could be offered in
Sacramento that spring - in tim e to authorize Metro
fundin g to go to voters in the fall.
While we expected about 150 peop le at the
conference, more than 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 DavidFleming, Metro board and staff, and transportation
experts, as well as environmental, business and labor
leaders and community memb ers.
The focus of the conference was: Where's the
money? And what's the program?
The clear conclusion was that a countywide
sales tax increase was the only measure that would
be able to generate suffic ient revenues to make
a difference and that polled well enough to possibly
win a tw o-thirds voter approval.
Aft er the conference, thin gs moved quickly.
Assemblyman Feuer immediately initi ated the
authorizing legislat ion in Sacramento, and the L.A.
County Metro board directed its staff to begin
preparati on of a sales tax measure for the November
2008 elect ion.The month s that followed saw fu ll-th rott le shutt le
dip lomacy, briefings and discussions about the
program th e measure would fund . Metro board
AUG/SEPT 20 12 11
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
member Richard Katz and Metr o staff met wit h
anyone Move l A could bring toge ther: labor working
gro ups, environmental and environmenta l justiceworking groups, business community working
groups and more.
While consensus on something as large as a
countywide transit program is an elusive goal under
norm al circumstances, it can be achievab le under
except ional ones. We all knew that this elect ion,with its 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 with leaders and
constituencies from all part s of the county, Metrotook the final step to place a half-cent sales tax
measure - including a detailed expendit ure plan that
overw helmingly emphasized transit investments on the November ballot. Afte r a meteoric campa ign,
l os Angeles County voters approved Measure R
by 67.83 percent, despit e the palpable budgetary
pain already felt from th e collapsed Americanfinancial system.
Measure R fund ed 12 new light rail, subway and
BRT systems, as well as a numb er of imp ort ant
highway projects. But new transit capacity was the
clear priori ty. Since 1990, Metro had built several
light rail lines and a subway from downt own l A to
Hollywood and North Hollywood, but they seemed
like stand-a lone lines. Measure R would create
an interconnected system. That was really different.
It would represent a real transform ation of l os
Angeles County, marking the fir st major opportunity
12 AUG/S EPT 2012
in decades for l A to shift from an auto- dominantcity to one with robust t ransit alternat ives.
At press events, Mayor Villaraigosa and
Assemblyman Feuer singled out Move l A for its
leadership in initi ating thi s campaign and for moving
key const ituencies and the Metro board forward
on this issue. But amid the excitement, a realizationbegan to take hold: while thi s 30-yea r revenue
st ream of Measure R would ensure a dramati cexpansion of our t ransit system, 30 years felt like
a lifetim e.
At Move LA, we turn ed our atte nt ion to st rategiesthat might accelerate the developm ent of the
Measure R program. A st rategy famili ar to local
muni cipal iti es - bonding against local revenue
st reams to accelerate capita l projects - seemed agood mode l. If there was a lender able to make loans
big enough that was also willing to consider lending
for a multi project program rather than one projectat a tim e (much like a line of credit) , that would do it.
We found our model in the concepts envisioned
by the banker Felix Rohaty n and the legislati on
he inspired, which would create a National
Infrastructure Development Bank. Bills fir st authored
by Senato r Chris Dodd in 2007 and now by
Connect icut Congresswoman Rosa Delauro were
pending in Congress and had been endorsed by the
new president, Barack Obama. Whil e the batt le
over health care would block serious consideratio n
of this bill, it t rigge red a dialogue between members
of Mayor Villaraigosa's staff and members of
Senato r Barbara Boxer's staff. We began to develop
Inthe future,passengers will beableto
get fromL.A.'s Union Station (left) to the
planned Transbay Terminal inSan 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. CountyTransitWith funding in place, Los Angeles County transitprojects are on a roll. Here are the latest big wins:
o June 20:TheExposition lightrail
project openeditsCulver City station.
The8.6-milecorridor now extends from
downtown L. A. to CulverCity, with12
stations, anestimatedcost of$930
million and anestimated 27,000 daily
ridersexpectedby2020.
o June 28:TheL.A. Metroboard
ofdirectorsvoted10-3to proceed
withpreparationsto placea30-year
extensionof MeasureRontheNovember
2012 ballot. If votersapprove Measure
R, it will sunset in60 rather than30
years, enablingMetro to issuebonds
that, together with federal loans,
will acceleratethedevelopment of
theMeasureRtransit program. The
Metroboard staff isalsoevaluatingan
amendmentproposedbydirectorJohn
Fasana, mayorof theCity of Duarte, that
would giveMetrogreater flexibility to
moveMeasureRfundsfrom highway
money into transit projects,and vice
versa,withincounty subregions.
o June 29:TheMetro OrangeLine
extension opened, bringingtheline4
milesnorth from theCanoga station
totheChatsworthMetrolinkstation.
Thisdedicated busway will havefour
newstationsand improvenorth-south
mobility in thewesternSanFernando
Va lley.
o June 29:On July 6, President Obama
signed into lawafederal transportation
bill that provides$105 billionover thenext
two years and maintainscurrent levels
of federal spendingontransportation
andacontinued commitment to transit
programs. It alsocreatestheAmerica
Fast Forwardprogram,whichenablesthe
federalNewStartsprogramtoconsider
Metro'srequest for major grant funding
fortheRegional Connector andthe
WestsideSubway, aswell as providean
opportunity forMetro to seek billionsof
dollars in low-interest federal loans to
helpacceleratetheMeasureRtransitand
highwayprograms, what welocallycall
the30-10 Plan.
o July2:TheFederalTransit
Administration(FTA)grantedMetroa
recordof decisionforthe$1.37billion
Regional Connector project,officially
certifyingthat theproject hasnow
satisfied all federal environmental
guidelines,an important prerequisite
for Metrotobegin final designof the
nearly 2-mileunderground light rail
lineindowntown L.A. and to seek
federal funding to helpbuild it. Regional
Connector isconsideredoneof the
region'smost significant transit projects
becauseit will connec t theMetroGold
Line, BlueLineandExpo Linethrough
downtownL.A., enablingpassengers to
travel fromMontclair to Long Beachand
from EastLos Angelesto Santa Monica
without transferring. Constructionof
thetunnelandnewstationscouldbegin
inAugust2013, andif fully fundedthe
project couldopen in2019.
o July3:TheCaliforniaStateSenate
Government andFinanceCommittee
approved Assembly Bill 1446(Feuer),
authorizing Metrotoseek votersupport
for theproposed MeasureRextension.
Themeasureisexpected to beapproved
by thefull statesenatewhen it returns
fromrecessonAugust 6.
o July 6:TheCa liforniaStateSenate
approved fundsfor theCalifornia
High-SpeedRail project, which includes
nearly $1billion for Metrolinkupgrades
inSouthernCalifornia.Thefinancing
includestheissuance of$2.6billion
instatebonds, which would in turn
unlock$3.2billion in federalfundsfor
constructionof track inthe Central Va lley,
expected tobegin at thestart of 2013.
Thebillalsoapprovedspendingnearly
$1billionin federal, stateand local funds
on Metrolinkcommuter rail projects in
Southern Ca liforniato prepareto link
themtoastatewidesystem,aswell as
connec tivity funds, whichwill help fund
theRegiona l Connector.
- D.Z.
what Mayor Villaraigosa called the "30 -10 Plan,"a funding strategy that could allow the 30-year
Measure R transit program to be buil t in just 10 years.With Senator Boxer's strong advocacy, thi s becameAmerica Fast Forward, a more flexible loan program.When Congress acted upon the oft -expir ing (and oft
extended) Federal Transportation Reauthor izatio nbill, Amer ica Fast Forward made the cut. It wasthe rare program to have gained bipartisan andbicamera l support.
Now, LA County can seek federal financing tohelp accelerate its transit program. But the 30-10Plan wi ll require more, so Metro is headed back tothe ballot, seeking voter approv al to make the 30year Measure R program a 50 -year one. The longerrevenue st ream will enable additi onal financing to besecured that, together with Transportat ion Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loans,could shorten the constr uction to under 10 years.
The polling on this measure looks good. We thinkthe t ime is right for it. Aft er all, given the transforma
t ional successes of the past couple of years, it hasbecome quite clear that LA County has what we like
to call "new transit mojo." -
THE URBANIST AUG / SEPT 2012 13
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
Knowing theDistanceThink nobody walks in LA? Alissa Walker (and many more like
her) will prove you wrong.
Summary: More and more, L.A.
is all about its neighborhoods,
allowing residents to ditch theircars in favor of their feet (and
public t ransit).
By A lissa Walker
r
I
14 AU G/ SEPT 20 12
This isa 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 figure out how tofulfill my basic needs- groceries, drugsto re, gelato
within 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 through my desk, looking for
the original map I made with a Thomas Guide, apiece of paper and a pen. But I just reproduced it
here in about five minutes with Google Maps. You
can do either at home.)
~ This map changed my life.
The Target store I had once driven to withoutpause was now inside the 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 the burrata pizza I ate
there. It was only a 3D-minute walk (g ive or take
for hills and street navigat ion) to Universal City, forgoodness sake. And that was in the Valley!
I made my "2- mile" map when Google Maps first
came out. It was before it had walking and biking
directions that told you exact ly how long it would
take you to get somewhere not in a car. Now, when
you use something like Yelp to find a restaurant
near you, it's even easier to navigate routes. You can
actua lly choose "wa lking" or "b iking" to find places
that are closest to you.
THE URBAN IST
AlissaWalker writesaboutdesign, arch i
tecture andwalking for Dwell, Wired, LA
Weeklyand numerousother publications.
Alissa Walker is livingproof that people
do indeed walkinLA(hernear-daily photo
record of herjourneys isshown above). The
Google map (at left) got herstarted. Better
signage liketheexamples fromL.A.(below)
andNew York (at right) mighthelpothers
taketheplunge.
16"
22"
THE URBANIST
My point is that once we know exact ly how far
away things are, it changes our behavior. If you know
something is 2 miles away, and you know that it wi ll
take only 30 minutes to walk there, you wil l probably
(hopeful ly? maybe?) make the 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 the city's unnumbered streets,
they can serve as 2-mile maps like mine, help ing
people understand that somet hing notable is indeed
close enough to walk (or bike rather than grabb ing a
cab or hoppin g on the subway).
Great fo r New York, of course, but there is no
place that needs thi s kind of signage more than
Los Angeles . LA has actually been tossing around
a similar idea, wh ich was inspired by the Better
Bikeways signage (be low left ) by Joe Prichard.
This "Urban Trails" system would not only show
distances to major landmarks, but would also point
pedest rians and bikers towards the best route for
them. While New York may want to insta ll these as
a helpful directio nal guide for its touri sts or out -o f
their-n eighb orhood residents, LA needs them for
people who are so familiar with the streets they drive
on that they never consider that somet hing might be
a mere 1.5 walkab le miles away.
One great opportunity for the propose d New York
signage is that it can work wit h technology. This
could be one physical aspect of a larger progra m,
which 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 the information, the first response,
of course, is almost always: "W hoa! That's SO much
closer than I thought it was!" But if you pass this kind
of signage every day, you' ll start to knit together the
diffe rent locat ions that make up the neighborhood
where you live. It makes the city a smaller place, and
not nearly as dauntin g to traverse on foot. •
AUG/SEPT 20 12 l S
LEARN ING FROM LOS ANGELES
A New Course forthe L.A. RiverPlans are in the works to transform what many think of as a
concrete ditch into a sustainable, cultural resource for the region.
Summary : After appearing as asinister plot location in dozens offilms, the ever-changing L.A. Rivermay have a new starring role: thatof revitalized urban watershed.
By Laura Tam
Channelized and diked for nearly its entire 51-milelength , the Los Angeles River has appeared innumerous Hollywood act ion scenes - like the hotrod race in Grease - as a wide, dry concrete dit ch,not resembling a river at all (other than in the mostpostmodern, dysto pic sense). But a long-t erm plannow under way aims to give it a different future,restorin g the river as the centerpiece of a cross-towngreenway that offe rs new open space, recreation andnatural habit at in the dozens of communities alongthe river's course.
Historically, the LA River meandered aroundthe floodplain that was pre-urb anized Los Angeles.In flood, the river would dramatically alter course,meet ing the ocean anywhere between SantaMonica and Long Beach, 30 miles to the south .As development encroached in the early 20thcentury, the river had less room to move. Meanwhile,its floods became more dramatic as more of itswatershed was paved, shunting stormwater straightinto the river's banks. In 1913, the completion ofthe Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens Valleyprovided a bigge r, more reliable water supply for thecity, and the river lost some of its importance. Afterone part icularly catast rophic flood in 1938, the ArmyCorps of Engineers commenced the processof ento mbing the river in concrete on three sides.The project was completed in 1959.
Some sect ions of the river were left in a more
16 AUG/SEPT 20 12
natural, soft -bot tom conditio n; today, these placeshost wi ldlife (inc luding more than 200 species ofbirds) and provide scenic views on nearly 30 miles ofriverside bike and walking paths. But in many places,just a thin ribbon of water flows through an extrawide channel, surrounded by fences and trash. Everyt ime it rains, the river roils as sto rm drains cont ributeto its exponent ial rise and unnaturally fast flush tothe sea.
But momentum is bui lding to give th e river adifferent future. Environmental advocates,community activ ists, the city and the federalgovernment all recognize that restoring thewaterway wou ld br ing community benefits,ecolog ical benefi ts and economic development.In 2007, the City of Los Angeles, with federal andcommunity partners, publ ished the Los AngelesRiver Revitalization Master Plan. The plan is a 25year blueprint to transform the river by restoring itsecosystem and water quality, creating pub lic access,celebrating the river's cultural heritage, greeningthe surrounding neighborhoods and connectingthem to the river through urban design, public artand a greenway with bike and pedestr ian pat hs.The plan includes 20 "opportunity areas" forrevitalizat ion effor ts, wit h five major priorit y areas
for early implementation. Ideas for the makeoverinclude new publi c parks, wet lands, promenades,ponds with overlooks and naturalizing the concrete
laura Tam isSPUR's sustainable
development policydirector
THE URBAN IST
channel. Econom ic benefi ts from
areas,once they are built out, arseveral bill ion dollars, including ousands of newjobs and long-term tax revenue Increases.
Along with adopti ng the pial:'!, the city created a
new governance framework for revitalization efforts.This included establishing thr e new organizations:a joint powers authority for r'ver reconstructionand maintenance, a nonproft corporat ion to directfinancing into real estat e a (j economic developmen tand a foundation to raise R ivate funds.
In the f ive years since t e plan's adoption, muchhas been accomplished. More than $50 millionhas been acquired from ederal and local sourcesfor land acquisit ion and demonstrat ion projects .Sections of bike path a d pocket parks have beencompleted. Riverwalks and greenways are beingdesigned. The city pia ning commission adopted aRiver Improvement 0 erlay District, which appliessustainable design g idelines to privat e developmentand pub lic right-of-way projects with in roughlyhalf a mile on eithe side of the river. The city hasalso adopted gree infrastructure policies to better
manage stor mwa er. Finally, with the EnvironmentalProtect ion Agen y's declaration of the river as anavigable waterway, giving it federal clean waterprotec tio ns, th Army Corps has perm itted public
access to the ri er in a few places. Last summer,the city launc ed a pilot program to allow guided
THE URBAN IST
public boating on a 3-mile segment through the SanFernando Valley - the first t ime public recreat ion on
the water has ever been allowed.Through this process, Los Ange les is jo ining
many other large cities in realizing the benef its ofurban waters hed revita lizat ion. Other examp lesof river restoration projects paired with communityand economic development efforts include theAnacostia River in Washington, D.C., the CharlesRiver in Boston, the San Antonio River Walkand, perhaps most famously, South Korea'sCheonggyec heon, which had been comp lete lycovered by a highway prior to being restored as ariver and greenway through downtown Seoulin 2005. Closer to home, the Guadalupe River Parkoffer s downtown San Jose a 3-mile st retch oftrails, parks and plazas whi le providing habitat forbirds and wildl ife as well as critical flood control an analogue, albeit smaller, to the vision for theL.A. River. All of these projects would be worthSan Francisco's consideration, as it is poised toinvest several billion dollars to improve the seismicsafety and sustainabi lity of its wastewater system
but has not yet taken seriously the idea of restor ingurban creeks as part of that project.
The L.A. River enabled the City of Los Ange les toestablish itself and grow into the incredibly rich
and diverse place that it is. It is heartening to seethat the city is beginning to return the favor.
AUG/S EPT 20 12 17
URBAN FIELD NOTES
I
,..
Case Study #51:
Riding the RainbowA Trip on L.A.'s Rapid ly
Growing Rai l Network.
Caseworker:Will Heywood
Though Los Angeles is less than 400 miles away
from San Francisco, in th e minds of many Bay Area
residents it's anot her world. However, after SPUR's
study tr ip to Los Ange les, we discovered that Los
Ange les is in many ways not so different from San
Francisco: The city is remarkabl y urban, with vibrant
neighbo rhoods, incred ible diversi ty, surprisi ng
densit y and per haps most notably, a modern, colorfu l
and exponentially growing Metro rail network.
Over the past 30 years Los Angeles has comm itted
billions of dollars in taxpayer 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
investment in t ransit projects for the next 30 years.
18 AUG/SEPT 2012
This commitment is being realized in full force, with
80 stations and almost 90 miles of rail built since
1990. These investments have yie lded seeming ly very
un-LA results: The cit y's Metro network now averages
nearly 350,000 daily weekday riders, 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
Angeles ' rail system offers a solution to both suburban
spraw l and inevitable population growth. This is a
lesson that bot h the urban and suburban Bay Area can
learn from.
rJ RedLine: Connecting downtown
Los Angeles to the star-studded
district of Hollywood, Metro's Red
Line is doing its best to compete
with the Goliath that is Los Angeles
car culture.
THE URBAN IST
Metro
s:u
""
Il Gold Line: Not only has
the Gold Line prov ided a
t ransportation alternative for the
many neighbor hoods of East Los
Angeles, 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 note.
THE URBANI ST
ri Blue Line: You mig ht assume a
trip from dow ntown Los Ange les
to Long Beach means sitt ing in
gr idlock while enduring bad radio
and pulling out your hair. Now,
thanks to the Blue Line, you have
anoth er opt ion.
mExpoLine: With phase one
finished earlier th is year, the Expo
Line now gives a rail option to
L.A.'s western neighborhoods.
With 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
the Sea."
o UnionStation: As the terminu s
of local and regional t ransportat ion
for Los Angeles County, Union
Stat ion connects the city with
the rest of the Golden State. As
Los Angeles t ransit inf rastructur 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.
Will Heywood isSPUR's research +
volunteer coordinator.
AUG/ SEPT 2012 19
CITY NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
UrbanDrift
The World's First
Self-Folding Vehicle
Ever wanted to whirl around th e
city in a metallic gnat's head while
consuming zero gaso line? Now
you can, while tucked snugly int o
the Hiriko smart car which fold s
like an envelope to squeeze int o
impossible parkin g spots (see
above, in Bilbao, Spain) . It may
not technically be the world's
fir st "self-foldin g vehicle," as its
creato rs claim (A merica's mon ster
tru ck rallies have possessed thi s
technolog y for some tim e), we can
agree th at it 's the world's smallest
bendable car. A tri o of Hirikos
(Hiri ki?) can cram into an average
sized parking space. What it lacks
in size it makes up fo r with a killer
turning radius. People in high -up
places are tak ing Hiriko seriously:
European Commission President
Jose Manuel Barroso recentl y
held up the Hiriko as "an example
of how to resuscit ate traditi 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 2012
at around $15,00 0, is scheduled to
roll out of the factory some t ime
next year.
"GoAhead, Cram 3 of These Folding Cars Into1
ParkingSpot," byJohn Metcalfe, Atlantic Cities,July
24.2 012
Spontaneous
Interventions Abroad
The Venice Architectural Biennale
is perhaps th e most prest igious
architecture event in th e world.
This year, the U.S. Pavili on is
devoted to a th eme near and
dear to SPUR's heart: urban
interventi ons by architec ts,
designers, planners, art ists and
cit izens th at bring positive change
to th eir neighborhoods and cities.
From parklets to community
farms, guerrilla bike lanes to
urban repair squads, outdoor
living rooms to pop-up markets,
sharing networks and temp orary
architecture, Spontaneo us
Interventions highlights viable
cit izen- led alternat ives to
traditi onal top-d own urb an
revit alization tacti cs. Reflect ing
th e Bay Area's not able influ ence
in such tacti cal urbanism, several
locals will be making the t rip to
Italy - including Architec ture for
Humanity, Futurefarmers, Rebar,
pop uphood, Stamen, envelope
A+D and Nicholas de Monchaux.
Spontaneouslnterventions.com press release,
June 2012
HOW TOSHARPENPENCILS
How to Sharpen Pencils
Pencils are not funny, but David
Rees's sat irical take on th em is.
The planner's favorite hand tool is
th e subject ofwhat th e New York
Times describ es as a "stup efyingly
exhaust ive gu ide to the art ,
science and art isanal pleasures of
manually shaping a thin graphite
column encased in a 6.75-inch- long
woo den tube to a satisfacto rily
sharp po int for writ ing, drawing,
doodl ing or insertin g up a nostr il."
We can't wait for th e next design
charrette .
"Honing Skills," by Bruce McCall,New York Times
BookReview, July 27, 2012
Vertical Urban Factory
Think "factory," and your brain
usually turns toward hori zont al,
rural, flat. But what about a factory
in the city? In a tall building?
Curated by Nina Rappaport,
Vertical Urban Factory features the
innovative architecture of factories
that are bot h urban - located
in cit ies or shaping cit ies - and
vert ical - integrated throu ghout
a building or layered floor by
floor. Included in th e exhibit
are signif icant examples of thi s
archit ectur al typology designed to
house and support th e production
of thin gs. If industrialists and urban
planners reconsider the potenti al
for building vert ically in cit ies,
thi s would in turn reinforce and
reinvest in th e cycles of making,
consuming and recycl ing as part of
a natural feedback loop in a new
sustainable urban spat ial paradigm.
The tr aveling exhibit ion opens in
Toront o in Septe mber. "Facto ries,"
says Rappaport, "can be integrated
in neighbor hood s, provide t raining
centers for skilled workers, and be
incubators for business.... Pride in
one's area of work would also play
a part in city life and a sustainable
economy."
"Q&A: Nina Rappaport," by Susan S. Szenasy,
Metropolismag.com, May 18, 2012
Denver Rethinks
the Modern Commuter
As it builds out its transit systems
Denver is confronting a dilemma
facing many cit ies: What types
of uses should be developed in
close prox imity to sta t ions, and
who should th ese faci lit ies serve?
The city, which is implementin g
a $7.4 billion expansion of its rail
system, has planners revisitin g
assumpt ions about who should be
served by transit stat ions and th e
developable land around them. In
1994, planners built parking lot s
and garages around many of the
stat ions to cate r to commuters,
but now they are looking to
encourage th e development of
dense, walkable villages around
stat ions so people don't have to
drive to use th e system. Cutt ing
back on parking spaces isn't always
pract ical, however. For it to work,
basic services such as grocery
sto res and parks must be within
walking distance of the system's
rail stops, and other tr ansit opt ions,
like bus serv ice, must be available.
But th at isn't always the case in
fast-growing cit ies. Only ti me will
tell whether Denver's change in
app roach on parking will att ract
new riders - or chase th em away.
"Denver Rethinks the ModernCommuter," by Kris
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
InJuly.SPUR gathered members and
friends for aslimmer picnicin nearby
Annie Alley.
New Business Members Jonath an Fearn Daniel Livsey Ben Ronnin g
Mike Fleisher Allan Maclaren Carl SalasArquitectonica Nancy Freeborn Yolanda Manzone Anthony SoldatoIBM Derek Frit z Bobby Math ew Josh Ste inerNot re Dame San Jose l eslie Garner Zachary Meade Neal St rickbergerS.F. Bay Ferry Kathr yn Gillespie Betty Meissner Ethan TabachnickSan Francisco Zoo logical Garden s Matt Grinberg Esther Menduin a Eddie TejedaSanta Clara Valley Transportati on Authority George Grohw in Natasha Middl eton Jesse Tejeda
Kip Harkness Brendan Monaghan John L. Thiele
New Members Jay Cheng Daniel Jacobson Sara Muse Daniel Towns
Toby Coste llo Paul Jamt gaard Spencer Nelson Mark Webb
Asha Agrawal Jack Crawford Mark Kalnins Marielle Neri Mikayla Weissman
Tracey Ariga Tony Dang Ashleigh Kanat Clare O'Reilly Christo pher Wenisch
Joseph Bleckm an Richelle Daves Tricia Kelley Jason Ortego Jeffr ey A. Wi llcox
Brenna Bolger Bert deViterbo Sanford Kingsley Seana Patankar Kevin Wi lson
Jamie Bonn er Sarah Dom ingu ez Cody Kraatz Stephen S. Pearce Ken Yeager
Michael Brilliot Ann Dykstra Nicholas l aFollet te Cindy Phan Mila Zelkha N'50:
Olivia Casey Elizabeth Erhardt Matthew l asner Alexandra Post0
jAndrew Chandler Anou ar F. Alami Adjelegan l assey Veronica Hinkley Reck 11
0
Helen Chapman Andr ew Faulkner Mike Linksvayer Brian Reyes 1!c,
22 AUG/SEPT 2012 THE URBANIST
MEMBER PROFILE
Investingin PlaceMott SmithIn Los Ange les, a city-builder
imag ines all t hat's possib le.
Mott Smith 's backgrou nd doesn't immediately suggest "developer." "My
undergrad degree is in linguisti cs. It taught me that peopl e follow rules
of behavior that are completely unconscious but you can discover them
if you watch and learn," he explains. "Then I played bass in a rock band
full t ime for two years, which taught me the importance of laying good
foundat ions." Aft er hanging up his guita r (at least some of the t ime), he
worked for the government and private secto r. Now, as prin cipal of Civic
Enterprise Associates in Los Angeles, he's able to pursue his passion
for great neighborhoods. "My part ner and I do all kinds of projects
that allow us to help make neighborhoods more vibrant , walkable,
afforda ble and exciting," says Smith, "both as planners and as principa ls
in developm ents. We like to fo rge new regulatory pathways wherever
possible. And if we can help make those pathway s more availab le for
ot hers to use - such as wi th the 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 visit ing cont ingent from SPURon a tour of
Los Angeles, a city he describes as "so rich in culture and so enti cingly
misunderstood."
What can the Bay Area learn
from Los Angeles?
I'd rather answer the question
"what can we learn from each
other ?" The fir st time I met (and
fell in love with ) SPUR, it was
through an exchange you did with
the Westside Urban Forum in LA
I was blown away at how simi lar
our perspectives, aspirat ions,
challenges and comp laints are. I
now believe the historical period
when a place is built determines
its form and character even
more than its location does. The
new towns in the Bay Area have
similar issues as the new towns
in Southern 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
ownership of the city foundation s
that really matter: infrastructure
and the publi c realm.
You talk about the value of
authentic character, which is
often difficult to achieve in brand
new developments. What are the
advantages of adaptive re-use,
of not starting from scratch?
American archit ecture, planning
and developm ent culture is
obsessed with authorship, oft en
at the expense of authenticity.
There's an unspoken sense that
urban intervent ions are only
worthwhi le if someone can say," I planned that." This, however,
is narcissist ic, limiti ng and
profoundly antiurban. It results in
the problems the great sociolog ist
Richard Sennett described in his
book The Uses of Disorder, namely
that urban planners become
too preoccupied with stopping
unplanned th ings from happening
and, in the end, have no idea how
to create. This suburban ethos
has invaded our cities over the
last 100 years, leaving its DNA
in urban renewal, NIMBYism
and the highly scripted specific
planning we engage in to the
exclusion of real game changers
like investment in inf rastructureand the public realm, the places
hungriest for real planning . At
Civic Enterprise, we believe that
the best neighborhoods have
invented themselves over time
(generally on a foundation of
publi c infrastructure ). And instead
of tr ying to erase that history,
as so many plans and projectsimpli cit ly t ry to do, we want to
find that value in orga nic places
and build on it.
So, as someone who thinks aboutcities a lot, what is your favorite...
Urban view: Jamestown, St.
Helena, South At lant ic Ocean.
A cosmopo litan town of fewer
than 1,000 people, bui lt almost
400 years ago and st ill largely
unchanged. It is the purest
evid ence I have seen that "urban"is not about how big a place is but
about how it funct ions physically
and how its peop le decide to
relate to each other.
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 its story . It was
designed in the 1890 s by George
Wym an, a draftsman who was
inspired to take the commission
afte r consult ing a Ouija board . It
sits at Second and Broadw ay in
downtown L.A., right in the midd le
of the historic core. It 's like a qui et
guest at a loud party who tu rns
out to be the most interesting
person in the room.
Impressive urban infrastructure?
The canals of Venice, Italy .
And favorite book/film/work of
art about cities? Wingsof Desire,a film by Wim Wenders. It's about
uber-cool omniscient angels in
Berlin. One falls in love with a tra
peze art ist and chooses to give up
his status and vantage in order to
experience real life in the flesh. He
becomes a regular, schlubby guy
in a bad sweater. But he gets to
feel the cold city air, warm himself
with fresh coffee and touch the
person he loves. We in the land
use world would do well to do all
those things every so oft en. -
MAY 2012 23
O SPUR654 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105-4015
(4 15) 781-8726
spur.org
Tim e-d at ed mat erial
Ideas + action for a better city
38 West Santa Clara St reet
San Jose, CA 95113
(408) 200-20 20 x106
spur.org/s anjose
Nonprofit Org.
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San Francisco, CA
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The Urbanis t is ed ited by Allison Ar ieff and designed by Shawn Hazen, hazencreative. com . It is print ed on Finch Casa Opa que pape r: 30 % post -con sum er waste . 66% renewabl e energy, chlo ri ne-t ree , aci d -free .
