A Makeover for L.A.

Antonio Villaraigosa dreams about creating new parks and using culture to help the city “bond across the cultural divide;” James K. Hahn imagines carefully integrating new development into existing historic neighborhoods and preserving open spaces to help make Los Angeles “a fun city to live in.” In separate interviews, the two candidates outlined their views on urban planning, architecture, culture and the arts. Both spoke with passion, but neither said much in the way of nuts and bolts.

“I want to plant a million new trees in my first four years and work with communities to maintain those trees. I want to site those trees in a way that not only beautifies the city, but also makes the city more sustainable,” Villaraigosa said.

“I would like to put more architects, artists and designers on city commissions,” Hahn said. “I want to have people involved who really care--not only about how efficiently the city works, but how beautiful we can make the city.”

As they approach the June 5 runoff election for mayor, the two candidates turned briefly away from the issues of crime, ethnic politics and endorsements that have dominated the campaign. Both want to improve how Los Angeles looks and how it feels to live in, and the two liberal-Democrat native sons often echoed each other’s thoughts. Both advocate historic preservation as a means of economic development; both want to use the arts to encourage community building and both would like to see Los Angeles’ parkland expand. But because of the two men’s different backgrounds in government, their records vary significantly on these topics. And that influences how they talk about them.

First as city controller and then, for the past 16 years, as city attorney, Hahn has not been involved in cultural projects, although he speaks with eloquence of his role in eliminating neighborhood crime and thereby improving communities. A resident of San Pedro, Hahn uses a broad brush to paint his picture of Los Angeles’ future in terms of architecture and urban planning.

Villaraigosa, who lives in Mount Washington, points to his record. Elected to the state Assembly in 1994, he served as Assembly speaker from 1998 until last year and has acted upon a wide range of issues related to parks and culture.

Both men want more parks; only 10% of the land within L.A.’s city limits is designated as open space, including the Santa Monica Mountain range and Griffith Park. By comparison, New York has 27% open space, and San Francisco 25%.

Villaraigosa is quick to point out that he has actively promoted parks: “I put together Proposition 12, the largest parks bond in the history of the country, bringing $300 million to Los Angeles [in state, city and county funds], with $35 million to the Santa Monica Mountains, $25 million for Ballona wetlands [on the Westside] and $100 million for an emerald necklace of parks along the L.A. river. L.A., which has less park space than any city in the country, really needs to create a vision for the future that includes a plan for more parks and open space.”

Hahn made the same point but in more general terms: “At the same time that we’re building up buildings, we have to create opportunities for open space. Little opportunities for more pocket parks, for more green space, for strolling paths, for a park bench for a senior citizen to enjoy and be outside. If we don’t create those kinds of spaces, it’s not going to be a fun city to live in.

“I want to look for more opportunities,” Hahn continued. “We have underfunded parks, and we have a great opportunity now with the parks bonds that have passed to use that money to acquire open space, to develop more parks. The L.A. River certainly presents a great opportunity. I know my opponent, Mr. Villaraigosa, did a lot to help secure funding for that; it’s certainly an idea that’s been around for a long time, an idea that I support, to look for opportunities like that to create open space and parkland that connects this whole city.”

No Detailed Visions on Urban Planning

Hahn responded directly to any question asked; Villaraigosa often gave long answers that moved the conversation to points he wanted to make. Villaraigosa complained that his views on planning, design and culture have not been covered enough by the media, but some observers argue that neither candidate has offered a detailed vision on urban planning. David Abel, publisher of the Planning Report, an L.A.-based publication focused on managed growth, says neither candidate has clarified his positions on these fundamental issues, in part because they have have not been forced to do so.

Abel points out that between $4 billion and $5 billion is becoming available for infrastructure, to build schools, libraries and parks, but the city has yet to “thoughtfully take advantage of those dollars from a planning point of view. Libraries and schools are going to auctions competing for properties instead of integrating with one another. Steve Soboroff came closest to speaking about these issues in the first campaign, but so far [Villaraigosa and Hahn] have not said what kind of leadership they can bring to this issue.”

When Hahn was asked what he would do to change the city’s planning department, considered weak by comparison to cities such as New York, Boston and San Francisco, he said, “I think our planning department would like to spend more time planning. I’m not being facetious; there’s a lot of talent in the planning department. What we want is to have a very proactive planning department working to see how we can plan for growth--to preserve existing neighborhoods and to see how we can do a better job of providing housing that is coordinated with jobs and transportation.” He said he would give the department “more emphasis.”

To the same question, Villaraigosa responded: “I think an urban planning department has a responsibility to look to the future. Michael Rotondi, [former director] of SCI-Arc [Southern California Institute of Architecture] put an event together for me, and he and some of the architects and urban planners there said they go all over the world to work, but there is not as much of a planning focus here in Los Angeles. One of the things the mayor is going to have to do is develop the in-house planning expertise, but also engage the great urban planning and architectural talent of the rest of Los Angeles, to put together the [scheme] for what the city could look like in the future.”

Both men talked about the importance of redeveloping downtown, a long-standing concern of Mayor Richard J. Riordan, and when asked about their favorite new architecture, both named Frank Gehry’s undulating-metal Walt Disney Concert Hall, currently under construction.

Villaraigosa pointed out that he helped bring $5 million in state funds to the project. “What excites me about Disney Hall was the opportunity to have a great place for culture in the heart of Los Angeles,” he said. “I’m not an architecture expert, or someone with a great understanding of great architectural works, but I know that Frank Gehry is a great architect. I think that government, instead of defining art or architecture, should give them the opportunity to do their architecture.”

Hahn, too, lauds Gehry’s design, which was once ridiculed by many observers and was long plagued by funding problems. “It’s a grabber,” Hahn said in his characteristic down-home speak. “I think it’s outstanding. We’re very lucky to have a guy like Frank Gehry right here in L.A., somebody who’s known internationally for bold and explosive new design.”

Hahn also named the rising Cathedral of the City of Angels designed by the Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo. “That creates a kind of lasting stability, too, that makes a real spiritual statement about the city.” But Hahn also admires the downtown Central Library, recently renamed for outgoing mayor Riordan.

“That’s one of the great public spaces,” Hahn said. “The [new addition, completed in 1993 and designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer] fits in with the existing line of the library. It doesn’t look like some kind of cancerous growth, as some additions to buildings have been. And it’s exciting inside. I love the garden on the front, the trees, the kind of town square that looks like it was imported from some Midwest town. That’s an example of good design.”

Preserving Buildings, Rehabilitating Areas

In the arena of historic preservation, Villaraigosa brought up the National Main Street program, focused on rehabilitating neighborhood commercial districts. Through a multi-pronged approach to design and economic redevelopment, the program run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation has helped remake 1,500 towns and cities nationally but has only begun to be explored locally, in Canoga Park and Pacoima. Now Highland Park, Leimert Park, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, North Hollywood and the Central Avenue corridor (at Vernon Avenue) are also looking into the program, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy. “Historic preservation can be an anchor for economic development and smart, planned growth,” Villaraigosa said.

For his part, Hahn pointed to the work of developer Tom Gilmore, who is in the process of adapting buildings in the former bank district downtown into living spaces. “Take an existing building, don’t change the facade, let the street look of that building remain exciting, but you can do a lot more different things inside. That’s the kind of creativity that I encourage,” Hahn said.

He also pointed to efforts by artists to revitalize his own neighborhood in San Pedro, the “wonderful old buildings along 6th and 7th Street” where artists are making homes in loft spaces. And he said he is concerned that some artists, having rehabilitated neighborhoods, are then priced out of the mix. “We’ve got to figure out a way to keep our artists in places like that.”

Both men said the character of neighborhoods must be preserved in planning for new development. Villaraigosa said he supports neighborhood planning councils, created by the new City Charter as independent community organizations that will officially participate in city government. “They’re an opportunity to get input from neighborhoods about the kinds of planning they think made sense,” he said. “We should look at some of the neighborhoods in the city that everyone would like to live in,” Villaraigosa said, listing “Silver Lake, Echo Park, Mount Washington, San Pedro, Venice, Studio City and Sherman Oaks.” They have “characteristics that we can and should replicate throughout the city.”

Hahn described himself as “pro-development, if the development is good for the city.” He added that developers often complain that the process of getting projects approved in L.A. is too long and uncertain, forcing them to spend huge sums before being rejected. “We need to have a process that is understandable and predictable,” he said.

Hahn said he will learn from what other cities have done, such as San Diego’s revitalization of its Gas Lamp district; Louisville’s focus on neighborhoods; Boston and Atlanta’s ability to lure young people to move downtown and become part of the urban core. He also mentioned Portland and Chicago as models.

Both men emphasized that they would listen to the experts.

“I want to talk to people in the neighborhoods and to hear what works,” Hahn said. “I want to talk to architects and artists and designers and musicians. You talk to everybody you can.

Despite his reputation for being somewhat aloof, Hahn almost gushed as he summed up his quest. “One of the great things about running for mayor,” he said, “is that you get to talk to a lot of people who have a lot of good ideas about what we can do to make this city better place.”

Without any prompting, Villaraigosa said that for advice he would call upon people like architect Rotondi; California State Librarian Kevin Starr; Lewis McAdams, a founder of Friends of the L.A. River; and Nick Patsaouras, a former Metropolitan Transit Authority Board member and retired engineer who ran for mayor in 1993.

“What you’re going to see with me is someone who understands how important art, architecture and urban planning are to improve quality of life in the city. Whether it’s parks or transportation, there’s a feeling that Los Angeles is missing something, and I really want to convene the visionaries, along with the doers. Because you need the doers to transform the vision into reality.”