Citizens, Not City, Lead Fight for Good Planning

The new year does not look hopeful for those seeking from the city a sensitive planning and development process promising a more attractive and livable Los Angeles--or simply a Los Angeles that does not swallow them up in flood of traffic, crush them under a mountain of speculative construction and push them off sidewalks.

“We feel we no longer can trust the city to act in our interest, to protect and improve our quality of life,” declares Laura Lake of Westwood, who, with other neighborhood activists across the city, are working to form a federation of community groups to monitor the city’s planning process.

The coalition that goes under the awkward name of Not Yet New York also is considering sponsoring city charter amendments establishing local community boards to review proposed public and private projects. “People really are fed up with the present planning process,” adds Tom Paterson, a North Hollywood activist. “It just seems to be working for developers.”

Lake and Paterson made their remarks at a gathering last week of the coalition in which members repeatedly commented that the group was not a “turn-back-the clock” conservative, “pull-up-the moat” organization. “We are in an adversary position because the city simply is not doing its job, “ comments coalition member Henry McGee Jr., a UCLA professor of law.

Those in government responsible for the process that involves no less than the future of the city seem to have other things on their minds these days. The agency that should be on the front line of the effort, the Planning Department, is floundering while lame duck, debilitated Director Calvin Hamilton goes through a tortured exit.

Also floundering is the City Council. Under the spiked heel of Pat Russell, it offers no overview of the planning and development process, deferring to the prerogatives and prejudices of each member, as in a feudal empire. One only has to look at the clutter of new developments and the chaotic traffic in Russell’s own district to judge her grasp of planning issues.

The official who perhaps could provide the leadership needed in the process is a mayor committed to a more livable city and willing to put his or her prestige on the line, whether it be to oppose with conviction a street widening, fight for a park or a landmark, insist on good architecture, or simply support dedicated aides who can get the job done.

Such leadership has been key to the revitalization of numerous cities across the country, from Pittsburgh and Baltimore in the East to Portland and Seattle in the Northwest; cities with relatively modest potential when compared to Los Angeles.

But it has become sadly obvious that in Los Angeles all that Mayor Tom Bradley seems to want to do as he once again seeks the governor’s office is to avoid any local conflicts, talk about the spirit of the recent Olympics, smile and have his picture taken, preferably with the city’s fledgling downtown skyline in the background.

A vision for a more livable Los Angeles could be offered by the city’s architectural community. Indeed, a few of its more politically and socially conscious members have been gathering in a group labeled the Urban Design Advisory Committee to press to become involved in the selection of the city’s new planning director. Their input should be helpful, especially if expanded to a larger stage, encouraging the application of architecture as a critical element in an evolving, organic city.

The hope must be tempered with the reality that many in the architectural and design community, through their private practices or institutional affiliations, are quite dependent on real estate and political interests benefiting from the present planning vacuum. Conflicts abound.

But because they have the potential political clout to be heard, the real push for a responsive, responsible planning and development policy will have to come from the neighborhoods. “And to be effective it is going to have be a grass roots movement, cutting across racial, cultural, social and economic lines,” adds McGee of the coalition (which can be contacted by writing: Not Yet New York, 1015 Gayley Ave., Suite 1063, L.A. 90024).

While government sadly lags behind, it appears that neighborhoods and design community are stirring, hopefully to somehow generate a needed public discussion of the city’s convoluted planning and development process. Hope springs eternal in the new year.