Going to try and live tweet @Planning4LA 's Westside Community Plan Update progress report.

These are the community plans that determine land use policy for most of the neighborhoods west of Robertson and south of Sunset.

Immediately raise the issues of coronavirus pandemic (grateful to healthcare workers) as well as the protests over the murder of George Floyd and other black people at the hands of the police (stand in solidarity w/ #BLM, highlight role of systemic racism in our society).

The planning profession has played a key role in reinforcing racist institutions throughout it's history. Redlining, "blight removal", freeways, etc., all part of this history.

Planners must do better. Need to center equity, and partner w/ residents and advocacy groups to ensure that everyone benefits and to make sure future generations of Angelenos can enjoy life on the westside.

First half of the presentation will be pre-recorded updates on each of the four community plan updates, then a live Q&A.

(BTW, you can join by registering here: https://planning.lacity.org/odocument/8e6d1fb2-0f96-4d68-b332-794ab97f1fae/202006_WestsideCommunityPlanUpdateWebinar_English.pdf)

The four community plans being updated are:

West Los Angeles
Palms - Mar Vista - Del Rey
Venice
Westchester - Playa Del Rey

This area includes 215,000 jobs and 291,000 residents, 135,000 households. Median HH income is higher than the city's, and the demographics are predominantly white (65%, incl. white Latinx).

Here's the existing land use map. Not going to be showing any new draft zoning proposals today. Will be doing an EIR for all four plan areas simultaneously.

These are all worthy objectives! I'm glad I'm not the planner who has to listen to the handful of residents who only care about one thing (hint: it's not shown here).

All these updates will be posted here, and they are begging the community for feedback, which they need by 8/31/20 (likely to keep the EIR on track?).

https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/community-plan-update/planning-westside

First up: West LA.

Goal is ostensibly to preserve "multicultural identies" but the only thing that's being preserved is single family zoning in wealthy neighborhoods.

Planner is encouraging feedback.

Planner is basically saying that they're not going to change zoning single family neighborhoods but will upzone commercial corridors (which is confusing because multifamily is already legal to build in LA commercial zones).

Planner also said that the city needs to build 460,000 more homes for this RHNA cycle and that West LA only built a few hundred this past cycle.

"Protecting Low-Scale Neighborhoods."

This is pathetic, unworkable, and will not be compliant w/ LA's RHNA allocation.

The corridors on Santa Monica Blvd., Sawtelle, Pico (near the Westside Pavilion), and Westwood Blvd. already allow multifamily so I don't know what this changes.

But apparently it respects the Japanese aesthetic character of Sawtelle somehow?

I'm trying not to be bitter but the Westwood Greenway has been "under construction" and closed to the public for years now, and the Ohio Triangle park has been closed for years since a homeless man killed another homeless man there (somehow closing the park makes a difference?).

That's it for West LA! On to Palms - Mar Vista - Del Rey.

BTW, if it weren't for @AbundantHousing and @elpaavo , we'd have to take seriously the extraordinarily exclusionary concepts that @Planning4LA just presented for West LA. So much for equity.

Anyways, here's the next plan area:

Residents have requested a diverse range of housing options in this plan area. Public comments have requested density to be concentrated along major streets (institutionalized misanthropy seems counterproductive to me).

The emerging vision statement for this plan area:

Why do I feel like the next slide is going to prioritize preserving single family neighborhoods?

This is a tiny part of the map. There's a chance city planning is intentionally limiting these new ideas to very small pieces of the map so as not to generate controversy. Mentioned a new base density bonus system, sounds interesting.

These are nifty ideas but should be applied more broadly.

More nifty ideas, but note that the new zones have already been applied to Venice and Overland in Palms so I'm not sure what this changes.

There it is. They're going to try and turn Mar Vista, which is overwhelmingly single family zoned, into an HPOZ. This isn't equitable or environmentally sustainable. This would be a disaster.

I'm sorry @Planning4LA, but this presentation seems like it was written by an anti-growth westside NIMBY. The dogwhistles are all there.

On to Venice!

A lot of duplex zoning but Venice has actually seen a net loss of housing as duplexes have been torn down and replaced w/ mansions.

History of Abbot Kinney, segregation against black Angelenos, and the creation of the Oakwood neighborhood which is the only part of Venice where black residents were allowed.

I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that the next slide is not going to show many new housing opportunities, but a lt of concern trolling about sea level rise.

I was right. Planner saying that pink area will be rezoned for duplex but also likely a candidate for HPOZ (is that really the best way to respond to Oakwood's legacy? You were excluded so now you can exclude, too?).

More modest upzonings along commercial corridors. It's fine as far as it goes, but it increases the likelihood that existing multifamily housing gets destroyed, and increases the chances we get more "ugh why are new five story apartment buildings all ugly now" takes.

They want to turn Oakwood into an HPOZ.

Sorry but this isn't equity.

If there's a street that needs to ban private vehicles, it's Abbot Kinney. I hope this is what they're contemplating!

On to Westchester! 48k jobs (which I *think* includes LAX), but only 2k Westchester residents live and work there. 46k people driving in and out every day is not good for traffic.

In most of these planning areas, it sounds the unit breakdown is roughly 60/40 between multifamily and single family, tho obvi much more of the land is dedicated to single family.

These are, sincerely, the right goals.

The only goal this plan achieves is preserving exclusionary, single family zoning.

This is awesome! The multifamily homes on the bottom right are dense, attractive, and sustainable. Why not legalize it everywhere? Imagine how much more affordable housing capacity you'd get once you apply a density bonus!

Westchester def needs better walkability, but the old plans from the 90s also called for better pedestrian corridors and, well, I just feel like this isn't something planners have much power over.

Concepts for new industrial centers, including future use ideas near LAX.

Planners reiterate the 8/31/20 deadline for providing feedback.

cc @AbundantHousing

Now pausing to resolve some technical issues before taking Q&A.

If you'd like to join, register here for dial-in info!

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/2311489409351706892

Planner says these plans focus on climate change, equity, economy and jobs, and environmental sustainability.

It feels bad dunking on LA City planners, almost all of the ones I've met are extremely smart and kind and they actually do care about all these things, but the fact is these proposals do not reflect any of those values.

Oh god, apparently there are a bunch of questions about the relationship between coronavirus and density.

Woot! "No conclusive evidence that density helps spread covid19, and in fact, overcrowded housing and inaccessibility can cause faster spread. Essential workers are more likely to be infected. We're in a housing crisis and we need to build more housing."

hell yeah

Q: Expecting existing units to be demo'd for new housing?

A: Community plan doesn't lead to building or demolition of anything. Goal is to figure out where to accommodate needed growth, and we're in the middle of that process now. Tremendous need for housing.

Q's and concerns about preserving the "character" of single family n'hoods.

A: Need to address city's housing crisis. Today's drafts showed new zones to accommodate some missing middle housing in SF areas to allow gentle increase in density that mimic look of SF.

#intoit

Missing middle housing can serve as a buffer between denser commercial corridors and increase affordable opportunities for people to actually live on the westside.

This is one way to achieve ethnic and socio-economic equity on the westside.

#sointoit #legalizeplexeseverywhere

Q: how many people attending?

A: 160 people.

Q: impact of density on congestion, parking, etc.

A: Congestion a real problem on the westside. Trying to direct growth (jobs and housing) to transit areas to encourage less use of single occupancy cars.

Q about Westchester - PDR plan: how will infrastructure accommodate new housing growth (cites police and fire)?

A: work w/ partner agencies like LAPD and LAFP to determine needs. (side note: new housing pays more in taxes than old housing so it's a net service cost benefit)

Q: how does the community plan address non-zoning concerns like parks, open space, schools, bike lanes, etc.?

A: Policy section of community plans does address some of these questions, but that section is more promotional given planning's only authority is over land use.

Q: Update on re:code LA? How will it be implemented in new CPs?

A: (sorry I missed it, was texting food pics to my wife)

Q: Why were the areas around the expo line not selected to increase housing capacity?

A: Multi year effort put into this via Expo Corridor Transit Neighborhood Plan. Not re-opening that process. Have heard interest in re-opening areas that weren't re-zoned.

Check out @AbundantHousing 's take on how the ECTNP process went down a few years ago: https://abundanthousingla.org/expo-line-plan-moving-forward-the-good-the-bad-and-the-hopeful/

Planners are open to revisiting some zone changes along the Expo Corridor! Maybe we can fix this? https://twitter.com/AbundantHousing/status/1013475740254285825?s=20

Q: How are we planning for affordability at other-than-low income levels?

A: Can use density bonus as a mechanism to target more levels of affordability.

Q: How do we make sure we get lots of new trees? New developments don't have enough. Need bigger setbacks.

A: Hearing a lot of demand for more open space and more street trees. Doing what they can to encourage more trees (I don't think @Planning4LA has much power over this).

Are aware that open space is often offered up as a trade-off for more subsidized affordable housing. These CP updates are an opportunity to consider whether this is the right trade off, or how to make open space more usable. Open to more input.

Q: Coastal resilience in Venice and PDR - how will building standards accommodate this?

A: Can make comments to the Coastal Commission (this is like a supra-regional land use authority in California) on this issue. [email protected] can also help.

Q: Several comments about need for more density on the westside, affordability problems caused by exclusionary zoning that prohibits housing of all kinds.

A: Thanks for that comment.

lol (the reply wasn't sarcastic but it's clear the planner didn't want to address that point)

Q: Single family zoning was invented to replace explicitly racist zoning laws. How can you justify maintaining it anywhere on the westside?

A: There is a legacy in West LA. Was built out at a time when suburban development was the trend. SF n'hoods do take up most land area.

And we do have needs today for people to be able to access all kinds of housing. We're looking at how best to meet those needs and provide access across income levels.

In our world today, the single family home is an idea, but doesn't meet everybody's needs.

*ideal

So need to figure out how to accommodate the many people who have to travel many miles to jobs on the westside and incorporate them into the community.

In some of these single family n'hoods, there are opportunities to accommodate more families. Duplexes, triplexes, can work.

This planner's voice is shaking. Mine would be too. It's is extremely stressful to talk about ending single family zoning (even on a webinar!) because NIMBYs will treat the people who do w/ extreme cruelty.

But we *have* to talk about it.

Q: When will these changes be implemented?

A: Next phase is the consult phase, need to incorporate more background research and feedback received today and before 8/31/20. All in preparation for the EIR process.

Consult phase will include new zoning ideas. Will likely be virtual community meetings as part of this process.

Goal was to be finished in 3 years (would be 8/2021), but obviously they're delayed due to covid (these meetings were supposed to happen in March) & other reasons,

technically target is to finish in 2021 but will be delayed, will share updates as they can.

Q: how are you addressing homelessness?

A: other agencies are working aggressively on this. (this isn't really an issue LADCP can impact, except to the extent that the status quo of institutionalized housing scarcity plays a role in exacerbating LA's homelessness crisis)

That's it for Q&A! Provide feedback, check out these slides on the website, and stay engaged.

https://planning.lacity.org/plans-policies/community-plan-update/westside-events/draft-concepts-westside-plans-webinars

These planners are good people. I wish they would be more aggressive, but I also wouldn't take a job where I had to listen to NIMBYs yell at me and insult me all day, so who am I to judge?

The state is taking a more active role in this process which is probably for the best.