Lots of noteworthy announcements and articles this week on stories we’ve been following a while – including the LACMA redevelopment, the Tom Bergin’s Historic Cultural Landmark progress, housing development, and – yes – still more on SB 50. So…in case you missed it (ICYMI), we offer the following informative links:
LACMA Redevelopment
A group calling itself the LACMA Lovers League (which appears to be led by LA architecture and history maven Kim Cooper) has launched a petition to urge the LA County Board of Supervisors to reconsider its recent vote to approve the Final EIR for the increasingly controversial LACMA redevelopment project, and to preserve and restore the museum’s existing buildings. The petition page also includes a link to the lengthy list of emails received by the County opposing the project, which Cooper has collected and reproduced on her esotouric.com site, both questioning and opposing the redevelopment of the museum’s home base. As Cooper notes on the e-mail page, while the Supervisors claim there is widespread support for the LACMA’s project, “the emails received by the County supervisors, and reviewed by Esotouric, tell a far less two-sided tale. 226 are opposed to the project, 48 in favor—about 83% against, 17% for.” You can read all of them at the link above.
Tom Bergin’s Landmark Effort
On March 8, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission formally gave its approval to an Historic Cultural Monument application for Tom Bergin’s Bar and Restaurant, 840 S. Fairfax Ave. The next step in the city’s approval process has now been scheduled for next week, when the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee will address the application at its Tuesday, May 21 meeting, starting at 2:30 p.m. at City Hall, Room 340, 200 N. Spring St. If the PLUM Committee approves the application at that meeting, it would move to the full City Council for final approval.
Housing Construction
While SB 50 is definitely one of the main topics of conversation throughout the state this month, the big issue underlying the legislative effort is our current housing crisis…and, more specifically, whether or not we have, or are at least building, enough housing to make sure everyone can afford it and have access to it. But actual numbers to back up various points in that discussion have sometimes been hard to find. So we were glad this week to see CurbedLA publish a very data-packed account of how Los Angeles, in particular, is doing in its efforts to build more housing. And the answer to at least one big question is right in the headline: “Los Angeles led California in housing development in 2018.” According to the story:
- “Developers in the city of Los Angeles built 16,525 units of housing in 2018, more than three times the amount produced in any other California city.”
- “Based on permitting data analyzed by Abundant Housing, the units added in the city of Los Angeles in 2018 are in keeping with recent trends. Since 2014, the city has added between 15,000 and 17,000 units of housing each year.” And…
- “That rate of development should mean the city exceeds a goal set five years ago by Mayor Eric Garcetti to add 100,000 new units of housing by 2021.” But also…
- “…the amount of development now occurring in Los Angeles represents “healthy production,” but that it won’t be enough to “replenish” a shortage decades in the making.”
It’s a good read if you’re looking for more information on housing targets, population trends and more.
Another Take on SB50’s Reach
Meanwhile, while we’ve seen several maps that show that SB 50’s zoning and densification changes could reach about 80% of our urban area, the Urban Footprint blog offered some new maps this week, based on current amendments to the bill. Those amendments might exempt some large swaths of our biggest cities, including “sensitive communities” (e.g. low income areas), historic areas designated prior to 2010, and areas with very high fire risks. The maps included in the story, “Peeling the SB 50 Onion with Urban Footprint” are mostly for the San Francisco area, but there is one for L.A. (see above). And it does still show our Wilshire Blvd.-adjacent single family neighborhoods taking one of the hardest hits.
