LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[citywatch]

Even more so in 2022, if a city can keep things at least somewhat safe & clean, that's increasingly an accomplishment....forget about how many tall bldgs are in dtla or if the MTA has subways all over the place. At least keep things somewhat safe & somewhat clean. Is that too much to ask for or expect?

I won't even mention the drought causing fountains to go dry & lawns to turn brown....so sections of dt are less kinetic or less green looking than they were in the past. btw, a person in the dtla townsquare of facebook posted a few months ago that he'd contact officials at LA city hall to try to get them to deal with dead trees or empty tree wells in dt. The person said his complaints wouldn't go anywhere & he was just about totally ignored.

That is an embarrassment to Los Angeles, stressed Jeffrey Daniels, director of the architecture and interior design program at UCLA Extension. "This should have been taken care of years ago as a way to beautify the city," he said. "You travel to any other major metropolis in the world and it is fairly unusual to see it covered with power poles."

still, things like this...the corner of 1st St & grand, one side of it long a parking lot, is why LA in 2022 in certain ways is better than it has ever been.


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[Quixote]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Exactly right. It's the basics where la fails miserably. The easy stuff

And that’s the frustrating thing about LA and the U.S. writ large. Basic, no-brainers in other cities/countries are treated as complex challenges here, with every “small victory” celebrated by politicians as if whatever “progress” they are touting will amount to anything transformative.

This isn’t limited to LA. Even our country’s “pride-and-joy city” of New York has a filthy subway system and no direct airport-to-city rail link, while the Silver Line in our capital DC still hasn’t reached Dulles.

Back to LA… miles and miles of arterial corridors lined with single-story retail strips and crap strip malls. Plenty of room to build enough housing for the 65,000+ homeless. Plenty of room for vertical growth to the point where we can quite literally build our way out of the affordable housing crisis. This in turn builds up the property tax revenue base and pays for better schools, street improvements/maintenance, subsidized housing, after-school programs for at-risk youth, etc.

Time to embrace change. Staying in the comfort zone is a perpetual treadmill (that goes for life in general).

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by citywatch

still, things like this...the corner of 1st St & grand, one side of it long a parking lot, is why LA in 2022 in certain ways is better than it has ever been.

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Yet one block over, the city of LA has widened streets surrounding the new Regional Connector subway station. They also tend to do the same around new developments that ostensibly cross a certain threshold of density. Must be written in antiquated zoning laws and community plans.

Make no mistake though, the trains, train platforms, and train tracks are orders of magnitude filthier than they were 10 years ago when cleanliness was once a source of pride. That was before the homeless and housing crisis mushroomed. Forget about traffic and smog (although those are related).

[ed21x]

Originally Posted by Quixote

And that’s the frustrating thing about LA and the U.S. writ large. Basic, no-brainers in other cities/countries are treated as complex challenges here, with every “small victory” celebrated by politicians as if whatever “progress” they are touting will amount to anything transformative.

This isn’t limited to LA. Even our country’s “pride-and-joy city” of New York has a filthy subway system and no direct airport-to-city rail link, while the Silver Line in our capital DC still hasn’t reached Dulles.

Back to LA… miles and miles of arterial corridors lined with single-story retail strips and crap strip malls. Plenty of room to build enough housing for the 65,000+ homeless. Plenty of room for vertical growth to the point where we can quite literally build our way out of the affordable housing crisis. This in turn builds up the property tax revenue base and pays for better schools, street improvements/maintenance, subsidized housing, after-school programs for at-risk youth, etc.

Time to embrace change. Staying in the comfort zone is a perpetual treadmill (that goes for life in general).

New York Definitely has an airport-to-city rail link, as does Chicago, Miami, Seattle, SF, Philly, Dallas, DC should be ready any minute now, while LA is making good progress. These are just off the top of my head. Let's not sell this country short.

[Lovely1993me]

Originally Posted by Quixote

And that’s the frustrating thing about LA and the U.S. writ large. Basic, no-brainers in other cities/countries are treated as complex challenges here, with every “small victory” celebrated by politicians as if whatever “progress” they are touting will amount to anything transformative.

This isn’t limited to LA. Even our country’s “pride-and-joy city” of New York has a filthy subway system and no direct airport-to-city rail link, while the Silver Line in our capital DC still hasn’t reached Dulles.

Back to LA… miles and miles of arterial corridors lined with single-story retail strips and crap strip malls. Plenty of room to build enough housing for the 65,000+ homeless. Plenty of room for vertical growth to the point where we can quite literally build our way out of the affordable housing crisis. This in turn builds up the property tax revenue base and pays for better schools, street improvements/maintenance, subsidized housing, after-school programs for at-risk youth, etc.

Time to embrace change. Staying in the comfort zone is a perpetual treadmill (that goes for life in general).

Let’s be real you guys! Even though LA has had its problems. The “uncleanlinesses” that we are experiencing in the city has really become a real problem since the pandemic. Before the pandemic the streets were much cleaner and so were the trains stations. (Also street vending wasn’t to the degree it is now) which I think is also contributing to the waste on the streets. (Regulate)? I’m not sure if it’s due to the backlog of Sanitation workers/street cleaners since the pandemic?, but something has to be done. I have never seen LA so dirty.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Originally Posted by Quixote

And that’s the frustrating thing about LA and the U.S. writ large. Basic, no-brainers in other cities/countries are treated as complex challenges here, with every “small victory” celebrated by politicians as if whatever “progress” they are touting will amount to anything transformative.

This isn’t limited to LA. Even our country’s “pride-and-joy city” of New York has a filthy subway system and no direct airport-to-city rail link, while the Silver Line in our capital DC still hasn’t reached Dulles.

Back to LA… miles and miles of arterial corridors lined with single-story retail strips and crap strip malls. Plenty of room to build enough housing for the 65,000+ homeless. Plenty of room for vertical growth to the point where we can quite literally build our way out of the affordable housing crisis. This in turn builds up the property tax revenue base and pays for better schools, street improvements/maintenance, subsidized housing, after-school programs for at-risk youth, etc.

Time to embrace change. Staying in the comfort zone is a perpetual treadmill (that goes for life in general).

Amen. Unfortunately, most of the people in this country don't travel internationally and hasn't no idea how much better we can be

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by ed21x

New York Definitely has an airport-to-city rail link, as does Chicago, Miami, Seattle, SF, Philly, Dallas, DC should be ready any minute now, while LA is making good progress. These are just off the top of my head. Let's not sell this country short.

Even in Denver there is direct rail between the airport and Downtown Union Station. No people mover and transfers. The train goes right into the airport.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by dktshb

Even in Denver there is direct rail between the airport and Downtown Union Station. No people mover and transfers. The train goes right into the airport.

Denver airport is built differently. It has direct rail to the singular terminal, but then you take an internal people mover to get to your gate. LAX has separate terminals and will have the people mover outside the secure area instead of inside. For both instances you take a train to a people mover.

[sopas ej]

As convenient as it is to take BART into San Francisco from SFO and back, it somehow felt weird getting to the station because you have to access it by walking through a parking structure next to the international terminal; I've only ever flown into SFO to specifically go to SF once (and I've used Oakland Airport once before too to get to SF); I usually just drive there from LA.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by Lovely1993me

Let’s be real you guys! Even though LA has had its problems. The “uncleanlinesses” that we are experiencing in the city has really become a real problem since the pandemic. Before the pandemic the streets were much cleaner and so were the trains stations. (Also street vending wasn’t to the degree it is now) which I think is also contributing to the waste on the streets. (Regulate)? I’m not sure if it’s due to the backlog of Sanitation workers/street cleaners since the pandemic?, but something has to be done. I have never seen LA so dirty.

If there was one thing that I noticed about living in Chicago for 5 years is how clean the city generally is. Sure there is a very distinctive smell that the city has (a strong smell of oil and steel) but the city itself is very clean.

[Illithid Dude]

I'm currently in Mexico City and even this city is significantly cleaner than Los Angeles. There's actually lots LA can learn from CDMX in terms of building a dense, walkable environment. Lesson one would not be widening streets to make way for dense development or a new metro station. However, it's a misnomer to assume that street vending contributes to a dirtier urban environment. Street vending can be a valuable source of pedestrian activity, and contributes to a livelier, more urban city. We need to cultivate and promote street vending, not diminish it!

[homebucket]

Where exactly are they widening streets? I'm not really seeing that in any of the recent construction photos.

I do agree with trying to narrow streets wherever possible though + conversion to bus only and bike lanes. Many of our streets are at least one lane too wide. I'd be for implementing congestion pricing for downtown/core vehicles as well.

[BrandonJXN]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I'm currently in Mexico City and even this city is significantly cleaner than Los Angeles. There's actually lots LA can learn from CDMX in terms of building a dense, walkable environment. Lesson one would not be widening streets to make way for dense development or a new metro station. However, it's a misnomer to assume that street vending contributes to a dirtier urban environment. Street vending can be a valuable source of pedestrian activity, and contributes to a livelier, more urban city. We need to cultivate and promote street vending, not diminish it!

Imo it would benefit LA to convert portions of streets into pedestrian only. In Hollywood for example, I would completely shut off vehicular traffic on Hollywood Blvd between Vine and La Brea, in downtown, Spring between 4th and 9th. Angelenos clearly love being outside eating from taco trucks and street vendors and such. More importantly than that is that LA needs to do better and soon.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Quixote

Make no mistake though, the trains, train platforms, and train tracks are orders of magnitude filthier than they were 10 years ago when cleanliness was once a source of pride. That was before the homeless and housing crisis mushroomed. Forget about traffic and smog (although those are related).

Seems like the history of LA...other cities too....is always a mixed bag. Up & down cycles, good & bad, both positive & negative. I'm old enough to recall when dtla was very weak. I used to work around what's known as south pk, & back then the area was sketchy & a real downer.

Yrs later, I recall going to an event at staples just after it opened...1999....& the ppl I was with....originally from the east coast....commented on how sad dtla was. I was embarrassed for the city. As for city hall & local govnt, I don't expect that to get any better anytime soon. If anything, it possibly will become worse & worse.

But, again, things like this are why LA in certain ways is better today than it was in the past.....this not too many yrs ago used to be a large parking lot north of pershing sq, one of the major gaps in dt….

https://youtu.be/L5JKGWMfOM8?t=372

First time I’ve seen brookfield’s Beaudry apt tower with lights in several rms. It doesn’t open until next yr, but the way it will look at night from the fig & 7th shopping side is shown here…

https://youtu.be/SJuV-TyXXqY?t=538

Interesting comment about dtla from a tourist from the midwest….

https://youtu.be/DxOyL4sAmbg?t=154

In that same vid, this is another example of why I wish equity residential, before cancelling their apt proj, had at least fully cleared out the NE corner of 4th St & Hill….

https://youtu.be/DxOyL4sAmbg?t=190


As I was fast forwarding through this, I sure wish the large piece of land bounded by Fig, Olympic, 9th st (or James Wood blvd) & the fwy could be cleaned up & developed. Right now, I doubt that the Olympia proj backed by Chinese sources will go forward....


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[NIMBY Slayer]

Originally Posted by Quixote

This isn’t limited to LA. Even our country’s “pride-and-joy city” of New York has a filthy subway system and no direct airport-to-city rail link, while the Silver Line in our capital DC still hasn’t reached Dulles.

What do you mean? You can take the A or E into the city from JFK. It's pretty painless.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I'm currently in Mexico City and even this city is significantly cleaner than Los Angeles.

I noticed that city has what were to me some unexpectedly very nicely landscaped streets, much less not having nearly as much as what's described below. As for Brandon's comment about chicago, I wonder how more days of rain help wash away the grime of a city? But Mexico city's climate is drier, so it being cleaner has to be a reflection of its local govnt & local caretakers.

You don’t need welcome signs to locate the boundary between the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard. All you need to do is look up. Eastward from La Brea Avenue, the Los Angeles view is cluttered with utility poles and wires for electricity, telephone and cable television service. Westward from La Brea, the West Hollywood sky is suddenly, and blissfully, clear.

The reason is that Southern California Edison Co. has put utility lines beneath West Hollywood’s portion of the busy boulevard. The city of Los Angeles, which runs its own municipal utility, does not participate in the expensive but popular statewide effort for beautification.

The wooden poles and black wires are “really visual pollution,” contends West Hollywood city engineer Sharon Perstein. Their removal, along with the addition of such street improvements as lamps and trees, helped revive the boulevard’s retail shops and cafes she added.

LA city hall is probably going to become even worse in the next 5-10 yrs....I don't see that changing. Local culture & politics are also increasingly turning away from the idea of 'beautification' & more into notion of scoring debating points regarding some political fad...look at all the protest marches always taking place in dt.

Ppl in LA....inc the mayor & council members....had better realize that cities throughout the US & world are all in it to win it.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by NIMBY Slayer

What do you mean? You can take the A or E into the city from JFK. It's pretty painless.

I'm guessing he's referring to a one-seat ride from JFK. One of the things that is missing in a lot (maybe all?) of US cities to airport links is a direct non-stop or limited stop fully dedicated airport express train line.

[Lovely1993me]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I'm currently in Mexico City and even this city is significantly cleaner than Los Angeles. There's actually lots LA can learn from CDMX in terms of building a dense, walkable environment. Lesson one would not be widening streets to make way for dense development or a new metro station. However, it's a misnomer to assume that street vending contributes to a dirtier urban environment. Street vending can be a valuable source of pedestrian activity, and contributes to a livelier, more urban city. We need to cultivate and promote street vending, not diminish it!

I wasn’t suggesting that, maybe I should elaborate! What I am suggesting, is that when street vending is UNREGULATED it can become a problem. Have you driven past Alvarado lately? Is out of control in some areas. I use to work near the fashion district as well, and many street venders would leave mounds of trash on the street after working during the day, so much that rats would literally be jumping around from pile of trash to pile of trash. Now the fashion district has workers which come everyday after the shops close to clean up the mess. I would feel bad for them (that’s how bad it was seriously) When I ask should it be regulated, I’m saying that there should be fines for anyone who liters to that amount, and Street venders should not be exempt from that. Also like they are doing in Santa Monica now, unlicensed street venders should be shut down! They can pose a risk to public safety. Im all for the life that street venders bring to the street, but I’m sorry, in a society there has to be regulation. In Los Angeles so many things have gotten super lax, and you see where that is getting us.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by citywatch

I noticed that city has what were to me some unexpectedly very nicely landscaped streets, much less not having nearly as much as what's described below. As for Brandon's comment about chicago, I wonder how more days of rain help wash away the grime of a city? But Mexico city's climate is drier, so it being cleaner has to be a reflection of its local govnt & local caretakers.



LA city hall is probably going to become even worse in the next 5-10 yrs....I don't see that changing. Local culture & politics are also increasingly turning away from the idea of 'beautification' & more into notion of scoring debating points regarding some political fad...look at all the protest marches always taking place in dt.

... because being able to exercise your constitutional right to voice your grievances is a bad thing?? Just a "political fad?"

My guess is you've never experienced any kind of harrassment or injustice based on who you are?

This has nothing to do with poliitcs, either; you're basically belittling people who have something to say.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

This has nothing to do with poliitcs, either; you're basically belittling people who have something to say.

What I'm saying is that what's being discussed or argued about in a forum like ssp would be seen as frivolous by ppl who think their agenda is more serious or relevant.

for instance, look at how 6th st leading to the new bridge...or viaduct...would look way cleaner & nicer if LA's dwp stopped being such laggards. Other ppl, however, will say, 'who cares??! The dwp shouldn't waste its money! We have bigger problems to deal with!'


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