As a city, how shall we select our next Mayor? What criteria will we use to analyze their leadership capacity?
- Most of the candidates agree with each other on broad principals, so the details of the devil? Who will have the managerial skills, the charm, wit and leadership capacity to inspire the rest of the City of LA team to align around common goals? Answer: to be determined.
- Core themes that emerged: the need for wider and more effective community outreach, fiscal repair, regulatory streamlining and more civic engagement from our design-thinkers.
- Each candidate agreed that place making is a priority - however, in my opinion, no single candidate shared with passion the details about their favorite place - the where, the how and why, the what! In other words, I think we want our civic leaders to have strong opinions and even stronger passions about specific places. AIA|LA and the architecture profession have a key opportunity here to better educate the candidates and to inspire them about the core tenets of design matters.
- Although all the candidates have a general idea about the importance of architecture and design, no single candidate shared a vision that resonated with confidence for what exactly could be done to transform our city. General approaches, sure. But step-by-step, catalytic steps are for the most part still not being discussed. I think we need an implementable, process-oriented roadmap for how we can go from A to Z as a world-class city and in my opinion, much of this will begin with Charter Reform so that the city departments can be substantially reorganized to strengthen/ optimize internal connectivity and efficiency - and that so more influence can be leveraged on all the projects that are being executed within the City by other public agencies (such as LAUSD, Metro, LACCD, County, State and Feds, etc). Also, there needs to be a re-affirmation that Public-private partnerships will be essential to fund and construct catalytic projects like Park 101, the Hollywood Central Park, the Figueroa Corridor and the Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan.
- Widom's commitment to improving the DSA and strengthening the values of design excellence statewide
- The opportunity to better align Federal ADA and California access regulations
- The opportunity for architects to help shape the next reiteration of the CalGreen Building Code
- The political reality-check of establishing a Deputy Mayor of Architecture and Urban Design. Perhaps under the tenure of our next Mayor???
- NYC's Department of Design and Construction and the Design + Construction Excellence Program
- The City of Los Angeles Development Reform Strategic Plan
As the Director of Government & Public Affairs for AIA|LA, I strongly encourage you to reach out to your Los Angeles City Council and request that they support the Department of City Planning's budget request to fund the initial step to a comprehensive zoning code revision. The City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning has developed a proposal to embark on one of the City's biggest planning initiatives to date: a comprehensive revision of the City's Zoning Code. First adopted in 1946, the Zoning Code has grown from an 84-page pamphlet to a 600+ page book does not reflect our 21st Century needs or vision.
Feel free to forward this information to anyone you feel might be interested. This is an issue that AIA|LA advocated to support as part of our 2011 Issue Briefs.
It's also an issue that was identified in the 2011 City of LA Development Reform Strategic Plan.
With smart reform we can update our zoning code to provide the public with greater clarity and certainty a vision for the future of our city. A revised zoning code will not only save the taxpayer money by streamlining the amount of staff time required to administer projects, but it will also streamline the process for economically sustainable urban infill development. I encourage you to learn more about the issue, and to lend support at the upcoming council meetings.
On March 30th, the City Council voted on COUNCIL FILE 11-1140 to support the Multiple Approvals Procedural Revisions Ordinance. The complete ordinance can be found by CLICKING HERE.
Streamlining the approval procedures section of the zoning code will eliminate planning staff redundancies and simplify administrative processes, which in turn will help save the City money and enable more planning staff resources to have the time to focus on envisioning and executing urban planning on the behalf of our City, as opposed to untangling bureaucratic burdens. Overall, these revisions will benefit the community by establishing a more transparent project review system, which will allow all stakeholders to more accurately assess the proposed project in context with its surrounding area. In short, it will help bolster additional certainty and facilitate the development of a more livable city by enabling planners, developers, community-stakeholders and architects to concentrate on improving the project for the benefit of all.
On March 27th, PLUM heard testimony on the proposed Hollywood Community Plan Because of the complexity and the importance of the community plan the item has been continued to an upcoming PLUM meeting and I will continue to monitor its status and the progress. Both Curbed LA and the NY Times have posted articles about the plan as it moves slowly through the process of public testimony.
NY Times: Facelift Project for Hollywood Stirs Divisions
Over the past several months, I've participated on the Mobility Element Task Force. One of the community outreach tools that DCP and DOT have coordinated is a website to solicit a wide swath of community input entitled LA/2B. I encourage everyone to get more involved in the process and to share innovative design solutions for how to enhance mobility throughout Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, the progress that was being made to reform City of Los Angeles Gross Receipts business Tax (GRT) policy has slowed down substantially due to differing analyses on financial impact. For the year ahead, The City of Los Angeles is facing a fiscal shortfall of over $200 million (2012 CAO BUDGET OVERVIEW). Depending on which GRT report you read, eliminating the City of LA GRT has a $400 million impact on the general fund. However, by eliminating the business tax, it's reported to generate an additional $2 billion in economic activity - which in turn will vastly enhance the City's ability to access financial resources. So, it's clearly a chicken and an egg, and all we need is the political will to take bold steps forward.
USGBC-LA leadership has reached out to me to identify opportunities to further collaborate on advocacy initiatives that advance the common goals between the organizations. We discussed possible techniques for how to keep each other better informed and agreed to further connect on an ad-hoc basis whenever policy initiatives are underway that could benefit from the additional examination and expertise of each other's design-thinkers.
On March 30, the AIACC AAC reviewed and discussed the merits of numerous pending statewide legislative items. Many legislative issues in 2012 will impact the built environment and the architecture profession. From next steps with Redevelopment Agencies, Infrastructure Finance Districts, CEQA Reform, ADA compliance, and Building Code issues - quite a bit is happening and all AIA|LA members are encouraged to become more involved with the leadership efforts of the California Council. If you're interested in serving as a resource to represent an LA perspective, please contact me at (213) 639-0764 and we can determine the most effective way to get your input integrated into the process for advancing the issues you're most passionate about.
SB 654 (Steinberg) – Affordable Housing
San Joaquin Valley 
