Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of  

June 18, 2007

 

1.      LA Green Building Workshop

2.      Save Elephant Hill

3.      Sustainable Transportation Forum

4.      Southern California Planning Congress

5.      LA Botanical Panel Discussion

6.      Strategic  Planning with Ron Milam

7.      FOLAR'S LA River Tour

8.      LA Housing Update

9.      The Greening of Century City

10. NY Times: Taco Trucks

11. Downtown News: Walkable

12. ART: Pavement Paradise : American Parking Space

13. ART: Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,"

 

 

PLANETIZEN NEWSWIRE - Jun 18, 2007

 

L.A.'S ONE WAY PROPOSAL THE WRONG WAY

While there's no doubt Los Angeles has a traffic problem, it's

a mistake to put congestion relief ahead of neighborhood

revitalization.  http://www.planetiz en.com/node/ 25128

 

James Rojas

 

Visit www.latinourbanforu m.org  or  Myspace.com/ LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

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Tuesday, June 19, 2007, from 1:00-4:00 PM

LA Green Building Workshop

Please join the City of Los Angeles for a conversation and workshop about a proposed private sector Green Building Program. This workshop will provide the opportunity to share what we heard and learned from the April/May Focus Group series. We hope you can join us for this important discussion about the City's draft Green Building program. Please have prospective attendees RSVP to  claire.bowin@ lacity.org

 

Location:

LADWP John Ferraro Building,

111 N. Hope Street, Level A, Los Angeles Room Los Angeles , CA

 

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 @ 10:00 a.m.

SAVE ELAPHANT HILL

Huizar Calls for More Environmental Review for Elephant Hill !!

Motion Goes to Full Council on June 20^th

At the June 12^th PLUM hearing, Councilmember Jose Huizar voted his conscience and introduced a motion requiring the developer of 24 luxury homes on Elephant Hill in El Sereno (Tract 35022) to undertake a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR)!  This is a tremendous victory for El Sereno and Northeast Los Angeles as a whole.  Councilmember Huizar was moved by testimony regarding the significant changes in the development and the need for equitable environmental protection under the law for the low-income residents of El Sereno.  Environmental legal experts indicated that the City does have the ability to require an SEIR for Tract 35022. Citing ambiguity regarding the allowability of a SEIR, Councilmember Huizar rightfully decided on the most cautious approach—requiring additional environmental review for the public' sake. 

 

As you will recall, Tract 35022 was illegally expanded from 16 to 25 acres since final tract approval in July 2004.  Two years later, a sinkhole created by workers provided significant new information about a natural underground water system that was not identified nor could have been foreseen in the original environmental impact report (EIR).  The EIR for Tract 35022 was started 23 years ago and was approved in 1993; the shoddy engineering plans for the original development have only gotten worse. 

 

Once again the developers of Tract 35022 are using the threat of a lawsuit to bully the City, this time into sidestepping environmental oversight of a gentrification- inducing development of million dollar homes in a community that once provided working people affordable homes.  Residents must call on City Councilmembers to follow Huizar's lead; support his motion based on the facts; and, compel the developers of Tract 35022 to undertake additional environmental review.

           

What You Can Do:

 

1.      Attend the City Council hearing on Elephant Hill at 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 20, 2007, in Room 340, City Hall, 200 S. Spring Street (enter on Main).  The File Number for this item is #04-1413.

 

2.      Call or email the following City Councilmembers and urge them to follow Huizar's courageous lead and vote IN FAVOR of the motion for a SEIR for Tract 35022.  (File Number #04-1413.)  You can find email addresses the Council website: http://www.lacity. org/council. htm

 

Ed Reyes (CD 1) - (213) 473-7001

Wendy Gruel (CD 2) - (213) 473-7002

Dennis Zine (CD 3) - (213) 473-7003

Tom LaBonge (CD 4) - (213) 473-7004

Jack Weiss (CD 5) - (213) 473-7005

Tony Cardenas (CD 6) - (213) 473-7006

Richard Alarcon (CD 7) - (213) 473-7007

Bernard Parks (CD 8) - (213) 473-7008

Jan Perry (CD 9) - (213) 473-7009

Herb Wesson (CD 10) - (213) 473-7010

Bill Rosenthal (CD 11) - (213) 473-7011

Greig Smith (CD 12) - (213) 473-7012

Eric Garcetti (CD 13) - (213) 473-7013

Janice Hahn (CD 15) - (213) 473-7015

 

3.      THANK Councilmember Huizar for voting his conscience and the motion requiring a SEIR for Tract 35022!  Email: councilmember. huizar@lacity. org or Call 213-473-7014.

 

4.      For ongoing information about Elephant Hill check out these blogs:

http://www.saveelep hanthills. blogspot. com/  and  http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

 

For more information contact: saveelephanthills@ yahoo.com           

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Time: 12:00 to 1:00 pm

Sustainable Transportation Forum

Metro's Tim Lindholm, Director of Capital Projects, Facilities and Operations will give a presentation on "Metro Sustainability and Energy Efficiency Programs."  The discussion will focus on sustainability from an operations perspective and how methods used in design, material selection and construction processes aim to meet innovative building efficiency standards. One of Tim's examples will include a recently implemented operation project, Metro's Division 9, San Gabriel Valley Service Sector Operations building in El Monte , and how it has achieved a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver standard.

Location: Metro Headquarters Board Overflow Room on the 3rd floor.  (Cafeteria is located across the hall)

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 from 6:30 PM, with 7:00 PM Dinner

Southern California Planning Congress

You are cordially invited to attend a Meet and Greet with the recently appointed Director of Regional Planning, Bruce W. McClendon for the County of Los Angeles, and Director of Planning, S. Gail Goldberg for City of Los Angeles. Please RSVP on or before June 14th by 12 noon to Michael Besem at (323) 881-7058 or e-mail at     scpcrsvp@msn. com.  Mail your payment postmarked by June 14th.     Make checks payable to SCPC.

 

Mail payment to Attn.: Anna M. Vidal

6716 Clybourn Ave, #122,

North Hollywood, CA 91606. 

Cancellations must be received 48 hours prior to the event.   

 

Where: The Tam O' Shanter Inn

2980 Los Feliz
LA, CA.  90035

 

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Thursday, June 21, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.

The Cultural Values of Weeds in LA

Panel Discussion

 

The invasive nature of weeds has increasingly made them a much maligned but ubiquitous fixture of the LA landscape.  However pesky, though, there exists meaning and history to these invasive plants, many of these weeds are edible, medicinal and have cultural importance.  These uses, meaning, and history are precisely what Joyce Campbell attempts to reveal and document in her recent work.   LA Botanical features 39 of Campbell 's photographs of Los Angeles weeds and attempts to explore the reasons why it is important to the city.

 

Join us for an evening of investigation into the scruffier side of the Los Angeles .

Panelist include Joyce Campbell the artist; Daisy Tonantzin, project coordinator for Projecto Jardin and facilitator for Cultivating Roots; Rufina Juarez, South Central Farm Organizer; Mia Lehrer , landscape architect; and Jay Babcock,

Editor of Arthur Magazine.  Panel will be moderated by gallery co-founder/urban planner James Rojas

 

Date:               Thursday, June 21, 2007

Time:              7:00 p.m,

 Location:       Gallery 727

                        727 S. Spring Street #12

                        LA, CA.  90014

 

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Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 10 am - 3 pm

STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH RON MILAM

What's your community's mission?  What's your vision?  Values?  What will you do to make your vision reality?  Knowing the answers to these questions plays a key role in your nonprofit group's success, whether it be a shared house, cohousing group, ecovillage, or other type of co-op living or working situation. READ MORE AT http://laecovillage .org/strategicpl anningmilam. html

 

Fee:     $75 (sliding scale available)

Pre-registration required:  213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

 

Location:        L.A. Eco-Village,

117 Bimini Pl, LA 90004

 

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Sunday June 24, 2007 from 10-~4:30 .

FoLAR river tour

The tours starts at the River Center (near the 5/110) to form carpools. We'll then start the tour in Sepulveda Basin in the Valley, where the river is at its wildest; go to the verdant Glendale Narrows across from Griffith Park to see the new mini-parks; stop at the Arroyo Seco confluence, near where LA was founded; go to the Cornfield in Chinatown to see the huge new State Park project; and head downriver to talk about the visions for downtown.  We'll stop at a riverside cafe for lunch or you can bring your own. If you'd like to come but need to leave after lunch (at the Arroyo Seco stop), we can arrange that.

 

Cost is $20/$25 (members/non- members). Kids 18 and under are free.

 

Sign up on the FoLAR website at

http://www.folar. org/rivertours_ 2006.html - and just e-mail me with any questions.

 

 

Wednesday, June 27th, 9-11am. 

LA City's Housing Task Force Meetings Subcommittees

 

The City of LA is updating its housing element for the general plan and is looking participants.  At last week's meeting on May 30th, we discussed the Housing Element and your role in working with City staff to identify housing issues and needs, and to suggest policies and programs to address those issues and needs.  All input will be gathered for consideration by the City Planning Commission and the City Council. 

 

The work of this Task Force will be carried out through several meetings of the Task Force as well as through subcommittees.  Members of the Task Force will serve on one or more subcommittees.  It is important that each subcommittee also include additional representatives and stakeholders to participate in the subcommittee discussions.  Staff are identifying persons to include, but your help is essential as these subcommittees are an important means to accessing broader participation and assistance.

 

The full Task Force will meet once a month for the next 3 months, on the last Wednesday of the month, 9-11am.  The subcommittees will meet in between, as frequently as needed (determined by the subcommittee members).  The subcommittees will address policy and program questions in detail.

 

To assist with the organization and work of the Task Force and subcommittees, City staff will establish a website for the posting of all information.  Many of you made suggestions for providing more detailed information regarding the purpose and required content of the Housing Element.  Staff will present this information to you.  Staff will also make copies of the existing Housing Element more readily available in hard copy and as a pdf on the website.  In addition, staff is gathering information on policies and programs of all City departments related to housing issues, and will provide that information.

 

Next Steps:

1.  Please sign up for one or more subcommittees by informing me and the point person for the subcommittee.

2.  City staff will work with each subcommittee point person to establish a schedule of subcommittee meetings for June, to be distributed to all Task Force members and all other interested persons.

3.  Please plan on attending the next Task Force meeting:  Location to be determined.

 

 

Naomi Guth

City Planning Department

City of Los Angeles

200 N. Spring St. , Room 721

Los Angeles, CA   90012

Tel:  (213) 978-1363 (direct)

Fax: (213) 978-4656

Email: Naomi.Guth@lacity. org

 

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Wednesday, June 27, 7PM-9:30PM
The Greening of Century City : Presentation and Discussion

The Greening of Century City Pedestrian Connectivity Plan calls for Century City to be transformed into a sustainable, walkable neighborhood in the heart of Los Angeles , easily accessible through public transit to downtown and greater Los Angeles . Century City will become a model of truly sustainable living by incorporating new high-density residential and retail projects within its vibrant commercial center, by providing an interconnected network of pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths and public transit, and by connecting this renewed cultural and commercial district directly to downtown Los Angeles and the rest of the city.  
The Plan calls for sustainable materials and techniques as well as providing transit and services within a walkable distance.  Residents, workers, and visitors to Century City will be able to access restaurants, shops, jobs, and transportation without getting into their cars.  An innovative streetscape design, open space network, and art programming will give Century City a new, updated identity that will transform this quintessential mid-twentieth century commercial district into an integrated, sustainable, walkable community for the twenty-first century.

Presented By:
Bob Hale, FAIA, Principal, Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Samantha J. Harris, ASLA, Senior Associate, Rios Clementi Hale Studios
Rita Haudenschild, Architectural Designer, Rios Clementi Hale Studios

 

Location: AIA/LA Offices
Wiltern Building
3870 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 800

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ART

 

"Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,"

June 17-Oct 21, 2007

This exhibition explores the history of Japanese American gardens and gardeners. The exhibit runs from. The opening day of the exhibit will be on Father's Day. We'll have live music and BBQ food vendors on the plaza.

 

Location:        Japanese American National Museum

                        368 East First Street .

                        LA, CA.

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LA Botanical ;  A project by Joyce Campbell

May 18 – July 14, 2007

LA Botanical is an ongoing project, massive and perhaps unachievable in its full potential scope, to  document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a documented use - be it food,  medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel,  stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen. The plants are documented as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic  form ubiquitous the 1850's-1890s, the period during  in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants to a major metropolitan center.

The project is an attempt to reconcile Campbell 's own rural background with her life here in Los Angeles ,  one of the most sprawling and unsustainable  metropolises on earth.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles . It has the potential to reveal who lives  here, from where they originate, what they value, how  they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe  themselves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to  see Los Angeles , not as a desiccated industrial  wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a  field of abundant life that might be harvested to  satisfy our needs.

            Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont , California .

Joyce¹s recent work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques to examine the collision of natural and cultural systems.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.

While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

 

Location:        Gallery 727

                        727 S. Spring Street #12

                        LA, CA.  90014

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Friday, June 1, 2007

Pavement Paradise : American Parking Space

Eighty-one percent of Downtown Los Angeles is covered with surface parking.  The average car is parked 95% of the time.  What are the consequences of devoting huge amounts of land to cars that sit empty most of the time?  Questions such as these are posed in the Center for Land Use Interpretation' s exhibit Pavement Paradise: American Parking Space.  This exhibit "about the liminal, substanceless, and static space of automotive transience" is on display at CLUI - Los Angeles .

http://clui. org/clui_ 4_1/ondisplay/ parking/

 

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Articles:

NY Times June 15, 2007

Proposed Ban on Taco Trucks Stirs Animosity in a California Town

By CAROLYN MARSHALL

SALINAS, Calif. — Jose Martínez left Mexico around 1988 and toiled for years in a patchwork of fields here, harvesting berries and lettuce and barely making ends meet.

In 2002, Mr. Martínez took advantage of a city law created to help novice entrepreneurs start businesses related to the city's largely Hispanic cultural heritage. He bought a taco truck, one of 31 licensed mobile catering vehicles in Salinas , and built it into a modestly profitable operation.

But the City Council, responding to a business group and its most vocal members — the owners of Mexican restaurants — is poised to vote next month on a draft ordinance to ban taco trucks and other catering vehicles from Salinas, a farm town about 120 miles south of San Francisco.

The proposed ordinance, which is still subject to revision, is the latest round in a two-year debate that some say has created a rift in this community, placing poorer Mexicans who are looking to better themselves at odds with longtime residents whose families emigrated years ago.

Salinas is not alone. Taco trucks, cultural icons and social magnets in Mexico, have become a flashpoint in at least a dozen cities in California — including Santa Rosa, 55 miles north of San Francisco, and Gardena, 15 miles south of Los Angeles — and in other states, like Arizona, Oregon and Tennessee.

Restrictions are being debated in the Central Valley towns of Lathrop, Escalon and Lodi . In most cases, brick-and-mortar businesses resent the competition. Many observers say the taco truck issue illuminates far more complex dynamics, from the perils of rapid urban development to hidden resentments toward, and among, Hispanics.

"It's rarely if ever discussed, but there are obvious racial undertones," said David LeBeouf, a lawyer for about 100 food vendors here and in several Central Valley cities.

The ordinance would phase out mobile and stationary catering vehicles, most of which are taco trucks, by 2011, and would restrict how, when and where 240 pushcart vendors could sell cold prepared foods.

"Of course I'm worried," said Mr. Martínez, who at 36 is saving to buy a home. "It's my job, my livelihood."

Salinas officials say the proposed ordinance was not intended to shut down the vendors. "We don't want to put these people out of business," said the senior deputy city attorney, Chris Callihan. "We want to move them off the street and put them into brick and mortar establishments. "

Concern about mobile vendors escalated in 2005 when a trade group, the Salinas United Business Association complained about a proliferation of taco trucks, some run illegally, in east Salinas , a hardscrabble area that is slated for modest improvements, including new landscaping and a promenade.

The harshest complaints came from restaurateurs, who said that the trucks had an unfair competitive advantage, fostered urban blight, blocked traffic and were sometimes unsanitary.

"We all love Mexico , but once you jump on a plane you leave Mexico behind," said Antonio Campos, the owner of a Mexican restaurant here. "Once you are in America , you have rules, regulations and standards."

Taco trucks "should go to the fields and feed the agriculture guys," said Mr. Campos, 29, a Salinas native of Mexican descent.

Mr. Campos and others want taco trucks off east Salinas streets. "If they are mobile vendors, keep them mobile. We have way more overhead and the competition is not on a level playing field," Mr. Campos said.

Vendors pay $25,000 to $50,000 for trucks and about $1,000 for permits.

The vendors say critics are trying to undo the reputation of their businesses as clean, safe and respectable, known to provide a vital service to cash-strapped farm workers and to a growing legion of out-of-town food fanatics. The vendors have protested, circulated petitions and, as of May 31, hired Mr. LeBeouf.

Vendors "are very angry, very upset," Teresa Hernandez, a volunteer spokeswoman, said. "That group's whole argument is that the vendors are in the way of revitalization. "

Mr. Callihan said the city's main concern has always been on public health and safety, especially since an E. coli scare last fall when tainted spinach was traced to farms in this region.

"There is a huge concern around here because of E. coli," Mr. Callihan said. "It happened after the vendor issue came up. But it fed into it and our need to make sure food is safe."

City officials, though, note that no Salinas vendor has been linked to a health scare, prompting some taco truck advocates to call the rationale for the ordinance "a smoke screen."

"It really comes down to competition, " said Melanie Wong, a Salinas native and a frequent blogger on Chowhound.com. "Why should one class of merchant roll over for another class of merchant?"

Mr. LeBeouf said the ordinance's rules on how far vendors must be from restaurants and that set hours of operation from 3 p.m. to 6 a.m., were unrelated to health and safety.

"It's a restraint of trade and you cannot do it," Mr. LeBeouf said. "The city may be banking on the fact that the vendors don't have the money or motivation to challenge it. That's not the way you make good law."

 

Downtown News

Paving the Way

Effort to Make Downtown More Walkable Takes Big Step This Week

by Evan George

When the city's Planning Commission  released a fiery memorandum in April, under the banner "Do Real Planning," one concern rose to the top. "Demand a walkable city," read its first sentence.

That's easier said than done. Many officials praise so-called smart growth, yet few planning regulations mandate it.

But on Thursday, June 14, in a presentation before the Planning Commission, city planners will unveil how they intend to actualize that demand, starting with Downtown. It marks the first official report for a project charged with implementing widespread design changes to Downtown streets.

If approved and adopted, the new effort, known as the Downtown Urban Design Guidelines and Standards, could mean that developers who are currently asked to widen streets for cars could instead be required to create wide, tree-lined pedestrian walkways and paseos for foot traffic.

Proponents say that would dramatically alter the city's one-size-fits- all street standards and spur developers to help create a walkable city.

Though still in a preliminary stage, city officials say this week's progress report is a culmination of numerous Downtown street studies, years of work and the input of multiple departments on principles that have never been officially implemented.

To say the guidelines are politically popular is putting it mildly.

At a Budget and Finance Committee meeting last week, funding to implement the Downtown project gained approval in less than 10 seconds. When one Downtown stakeholder rose to say he supported the project, Committee Chair Bernard Parks barked simply, "So do we."

The guidelines that will be presented this week include:

ï‚·  Minimum 15-foot wide sidewalks on average.

ï‚·  Street standards should be based on the context of the surrounding neighborhood rather than a single citywide formula.

ï‚·  Consistent street standards that don't change from block to block.

ï‚·  Development and maintenance of sidewalks with sustainable and pedestrian-friendly features by the property owners.

ï‚·  Any parking structures must be fronted by active uses.

Observers say it signals a push by the Planning Department not only to promote the pedestrian-friendly vision extolled by Planning Director Gail Goldberg, but to proactively affect development - and to remain relevant in the city's pursuit of smart growth.

Goldberg has repeatedly called for her department to consider projects with pedestrians, not automobiles, in mind. The move to establish new guidelines also represents a milestone for the Department's Urban Design Studio, launched late last year and charged with turning many of the talking points into action.

Meeting weekly with other departments, and drawing on past street surveys, the Urban Design Studio has helped finalize the standards and beefed up restrictions that city planners hope to make law by the end of this year. Though planners say some of the guidelines are already used when reviewing projects, the June 14 meeting will serve as the first formal stage to set them in stone.

"Recommendations and refinements really don't mean anything unless it's in the Community Plan," said Emily Gabel-Luddy, who heads the Urban Design Studio. "I don't claim I invented this, I just say, 'Wow, what a great opportunity to carry it forward.'"

Cementing the Rules

The difference between standard 10-foot sidewalks and the widened walkways that the city wants on most Downtown Los Angeles blocks can already be seen at the corner of Hope and 11th streets.

There, Portland-based developer South Group is finishing work on the mid-rise housing complex Luma and the ground-floor retail that opens up to both streets. Surrounding the building, and next door to where the company's Elleven building houses a buzzing Starbucks, the developer included designs that meet many of the new guidelines.

From an outdoor table at 11th and Grand last week, Luddy sipped coffee and gazed approvingly at a new curb extension that slopes outward into the road, gobbling up the first 10 feet of the parking lane. The result is a spacious crosswalk and a 24-foot rotunda of a sidewalk.

The sky was gray enough that steam wafted from Luddy's coffee cup, like a Seattle morning in South Park . The comparison was fitting, she said. The spaces that South Group set out to develop around the housing are unlike what any other Los Angeles developer has done for pedestrian traffic, Luddy said.

The wide sidewalks hold park benches, double rows of trees and planters. The long block is intentionally cut short by a pedestrian alleyway. The project's parking structure is invisible from the street and set back so as not to pit dog-walkers against drivers.

Luddy called it the model of what she wants to see everywhere Downtown.

"[The South Group] came to me after their project had been completely approved and asked for a change in the standards," she said.

South Group Principal Jim Atkins said the city still wasn't immediately receptive, leading to a long, costly approval process.

"The Department of Transportation wanted us to build a wider street. We pushed back and suggested, 'Why don't we build an extra sidewalk instead of an extra lane of traffic?'" said Atkins.

Since Goldberg established the Urban Design Studio, Luddy and city planner Simon Pastucha have been charged with the tough task of bringing LADOT, the Bureau of Engineering and other departments to agreement on a vision for Downtown streetscapes, despite concerns that such designs could create traffic problems.

Luddy said the guidelines will not exile cars and will include traffic analyses.

"This is not the panacea. Smart growth is not going to mean everybody walking and taking transit, but the important thing is that it provides choice," said Luddy.

Planning Power

The new guidelines encapsulate much of what elected officials have talked up for decades. In fact, the specific standards the Urban Design Studio have been asked to implement are not entirely new. Many of the recommendations arose out of a study initiated by the Community Redevelopment Agency in 2004.

"The CRA has been using them for more than a couple of years when reviewing projects," said Pat L. Smith, a longtime consultant to the CRA on street issues.

But often that has caused more problems than it has solved.

Smith said it meant the CRA was picking up the Planning Department's slack, using their stricter standards on a time-consuming case-by-case basis.

That concern was high on the list at the first-ever joint meeting of the Planning Commission and the CRA's Board of Commissioners on May 31, partly to highlight the new coordination.

Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher called it the "age-old complaint" - that developers who bring projects before the Planning Department and the CRA hear very different things. Developers who might meet Planning Department standards can be ordered back to the drawing board by the CRA.

Instead, demands made of developers to encourage smart growth should be "frontloaded" and made clear from the beginning, many said.

"Those are conversations that should be very early in the process," said William Jackson, president of the CRA Board of Commissioners.

City planners see the urban design guidelines as just such a device.

"It's not going to be just the CRA doing these things, it's going to be all of the city departments speaking with one voice, all in agreement," said Smith. "Everybody's hoping, and I think this is what will happen, is that the Planning Department will step forward and take over more of the planning and urban design function so that the CRA doesn't need to."

If approved, the new standards will change how the city and developers interact on street level development, proponents say. However, change may be felt most acutely by those who live, work and walk by the projects.

Like at 11th and Grand, where commuters seeking coffee circle madly on a weekday morning for parking, finding only a plethora of places to walk.

Contact Evan George at evan@downtownnews. com.

 

Urban Eats:

 

Farmer Markets in the Hood!

 

Tianguis:  South Central Farmers Market.

Support Community Sustainable Agriculture (C.S.A.)

Music, high quality produce,

www.southcentralfar mers.com

 

Date:               First Sunday of every month (May 6^th)

Time:             10:00 am. to 4:00 p.m.

Location:         41^st and Alameda

 

Caracol Farmers Market

Date: Sunday June 24, 2007

Time:  10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

 

" East Los Angeles Farmer's Market" every Saturday from 9 AM TO 1 PM

Features fruits and vegetables grown locally by local farmers. In addition, you'll find one of a kind creations offered by local artisans and meet representatives from local community organizations.

 

Location: First Street (between Rowan and Ditman).

 

 

Homegirl Café!

1818 East First Street

LA, CA.  90014

 

Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe

7^th Street across from Macarthur Park

 

To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@ yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.

 

Another LA Times Pro-Gentrification article

The LA Times loves to make value statements. All of sudden the lives of movie people moving into Westlake are more important then the lives of the thousands of Latinos in the area! I sure many of the Central Americans who live in the neighborhood have much more interesting lives than then industry people. Many of these Central Americans lived through revolutions in their home countries and have change the urban fabric of Westlake area.

I guess as Latinos we do not matter in the LA Times.

James Rojas



Westlake: From gritty roots to the new chic
With crime down and gentrification seemingly inevitable, the Westlake/MacArthur Park area balances its history with its future.

By August Brown and Jessica Gelt
Times Staff Writers

June 7, 2007

There's a scruffy brick apartment building at the corner of 7th and South Park View streets in Westlake that hints at the history and possible future of the neighborhood. On the ground floor, a pharmacy and health clinic with signs in Spanish sit next door to an inexpensive Honduran restaurant. A few stories above, however, in his home studio in the building's renovated Presidential Suite, Matthew Cooke is filming a series of comedy sketches called "Bad Dad" for Fuel TV's upcoming variety show "Stupid Face."

Cooke, 34, a producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary "Deliver Us From Evil," is the kind of guy who is fond of stylish jeans and vintage French film posters. He is quick to poke fun at the cliché of a white artist moving into a working-class ethnic neighborhood for the cheap rents. "I hope to subjugate the people and build a tower of capitalism on their backs," he jokes, riffing on a journal entry from the ultimate gentrifier, Christopher Columbus. On a serious note, Cooke adds that "having different cultures collide and mix together is a good thing for everyone involved."

Indeed, Cooke is a new kind of resident in the evolving neighborhood that has alternately been one of Los Angeles' toniest ZIP codes and home to its most extensive menu of vices. As downtown becomes prohibitively expensive and nearby Koreatown becomes similarly priced out, local artists, designers and hipsterati are dipping their toes into the predominantly working-class neighborhood immediately west of the city's core. Swanky nightclubs, organic tamale co-ops and art galleries are following suit.

But for the ethnic families who made Westlake home long before it sparkled in a trust-funder's eye, gentrification is an uncertain blessing. With more than 114,000 residents that are 78% Latino, Westlake is one of the most densely populated 3.2 square miles in Los Angeles. Coupled with a median annual household income of just over $19,000, it's little wonder that the May Day immigration reform protest reached a boiling point here.

There's no debate that the neighborhood is changing. The question is who gets to decide what it will become.

A park rallies

MacArthur Park, with its gentle grass slopes and placid lake, is ground zero for Westlake's evolution. Mark Hubert, the park's senior lead officer, traces the area's comeback to intensive clean-up efforts in the park. "What's happened in the park has translated to the entire area," he says, adding that since surveillance cameras were installed in 2004, violent crime in the vicinity "is down over 50%. Families have returned and you see people walking and jogging. Back in '03 you could Google where to purchase rock cocaine and something would come up about where to buy it in MacArthur Park."

Residents such as Nick Macciocca, 23, who has lived on 7th Street for two years, have noticed a substantial change in the neighborhood. "At first it was sketchy; [my girlfriend] got attacked and I got chased by some crazy guy who was running from the cops," Macciocca says. Now upscale dwellings like the American Cement Building lofts, the Medici and the Ansonia are filling with young arty types and urban professionals demanding a new kind of commercial corridor.

Marco Li Mandri, president of New City America, is heading up the effort to create a Business Improvement District for the neighborhood. The creation of a BID downtown set the stage for changes there. Li Mandri has similar hopes for MacArthur Park. The process is a "frustrating bureaucratic shuffle," he says, but he believes "retail will follow residential development."

As Westlake's small but growing slate of new bars, eateries and cultural centers proves, the process has already begun.

Royale treatment

No barfly wandering through Westlake hopes to have a gun pointed at them. Unless, of course, they're seated on the sleek circular couch at Royale, a new lounge and attached restaurant on the corner of Wilshire and Rampart boulevards, where an oversized art photograph of a pistol-packing ruffian looms over them.

The sense of urban chic in the 6-month-old Royale is unlike anything else on its block. The lighting is amber-hued, DJSuprema spins electro and hip-hop, and a fashionable, ethnically diverse crowd chases the Stella Artois with mouthwash from a bathroom dispenser. Not to mention the adjacent restaurant's $5,000 toilet and the triple-digit Kobe surf-and-turf.

"People said there's not a place like this unless you go to downtown, " said Daniel Sevilla, a bartender in Royale's lounge. "The residents are really happy to have us."

Like the Standard's rooftop lounge downtown, Royale is testing the neighborhood's appetite for a relatively pricey new style of nightlife. But if the somewhat slow crowds are any sign, there's a chance they may be a bit early.

A block east of Royale is La Fonda de los Camperos, a cavernous Mexican eatery open since 1969 that hosts nightly performances by the Grammy-nominated mariachi band Los Camperos. The heavily local and Latino audience whistles and hollers at the seven-piece group from plush booths on the ground floor and in the cozy balcony. A dancing couple whirls on stage to perform folklorico stand-bys in colorful costumes.

UCLA student Julian Sakai, 32, was there on a Thursday with friends from an ethnomusicology class. "My father's Japanese and my mother's Mexican," Sakai said. "They met in an English as a second language class and they came here when they were dating."

Blue Velvet, a dashing new poolside restaurant/bar seemingly ripped from the pages of "Less Than Zero," is just west of the Harbor Freeway, technically part of Westlake. Like the nearby supper club Tatou (see review, Page 16), a bartender and hostess preferred to ally it with downtown's renaissance, proving there's still location anxiety among the newcomers. Meanwhile, the Silver Platter, a deliciously shady dive at Rampart Boulevard and 7th has no such qualms and could become Westlake's version of Silver Lake's Cha Cha Lounge as the transvestite hangout-turned-Fader magazine contributors' saloon of choice.

Artistic visions

Nightlife isn't all that's buzzing in the neighborhood. A new artistic culture is gaining prominence in the form of the Hayworth Theatre and a little-gallery-that-could, RampART.

For the last year and a half the Hayworth, housed in a 1926 Stiles O. Clements building, has hosted live productions on three stages. Their current main-stage show, a comedy cobbled together from various Shakespeare scripts, is called "Stories of the Night Told Over." On Saturday, Circus Theatricals will throw its third annual Salsa Party & Cabaret hosted by actor Alfred Molina.

John M. Sofio, the owner of RampART, says that the Hayworth draws an across-town crowd that will also swing by his gallery. Sofio relocated his design company Built Inc. to Westlake because he believes the area is "an icon of L.A.'s past and present being built for the future. It is also the gateway to the downtown scene."

RampART is currently presenting a yearlong photography show featuring a different photographer's take on Los Angeles each month. The Cinco de Mayo opening was a hit, Sofio says, with revelers "drinking, smoking and partying in the streets." (In MacArthur Park, it seems, some things never change.)

RampART's current exhibition features the work of Cement building loft-dweller Robert Todd Williamson. That Wilshire structure, a concrete honeycomb buzzing with a hive of youthful arty types, is also home to Kelly Architects — the firm of choice for downtown nightlife baron Cedd Moses (Broadway Bar, Seven Grand). Similarly conspicuous in the tenant directory: Jet Pack Design, Dance Loft, Blackspot and Monkey Boy.

Still, the new Westlake artistic culture isn't limited to literal castles in the sky. Beginning in August, MacArthur Park's formerly neglected band shell will reopen with a significant face-lift and a five-night-per-week summer concert series.

As of now, Westlake's public life is a genuine mix of its residents' cultures. Time and real estate prices will determine if it stays that way.

Getting a taste

If Sandra Romero has a say in the neighborhood's fate, its current residents won't be lost in the shuffle. The erstwhile Mama of activist hub and Institute for Urban Research and Development experiment Mama's Hot Tamales Café, Romero is the most visible figure reclaiming the neighborhood in the wake of MacArthur Park's cleanup.

Romero began training tamale cooks and hawkers in the park's vending corridor in 1999 and continually works with the Rediscover MacArthur Park campaign to encourage local businesses. A charismatic Latino leader like Romero is invaluable for turning Westlake's economy toward positive, authentic local culture. Chichen Itza, a new upscale Mexican restaurant on 6th Street, seems to be following Mama's lead.

Romero's menu of organic tamales has ingredients like pineapple, red snapper and Peruvian chile escabeche, Latin American cuisine that's fresh, affordable and vegan-friendly. But the new neighbors who are prone to frequent a community-driven tamale shop might drive up rents that force out the very street life they moved to Westlake for.

"There are a lot of lofts coming up, but they're not creating affordable housing," Romero says. "We don't own our own building. A Pollo Campero is moving in next door. What's keeping our landlord from doing the same thing?"

Romero's position as a bridge between the local Latino population, small business owners and city officials eager to revitalize the area is essential as Westlake enters yet another new identity. In the wake of the May 1 incident, during which cameras captured police beating mostly Latino immigration rights protesters in MacArthur Park, the Los Angeles Police Department needed someone local to calm a public desperate to be heard in a confusing time in Westlake and Los Angeles. They looked to Sandra Romero.

"After the May Day fiasco," Romero says, "Chief [William J.] Bratton came here and said, 'We need your help.' "

august.brown@latimes.com, jessica.gelt@latimes.com

COMING SUNDAY: About that song...

In Times staff writer Geoff Boucher's installment of SoCal Songbook, songwriter Jimmy Webb reflects on the iconic "MacArthur Park" and the "intellectual venom" it engenders. In Sunday Calendar
If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives a

Weekly Calendar

Weekly Calendar
Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of  

June 11, 2007

 

1.      Save Elephant Hill

2.      LA-APA Annual Awards Ceremony

3.      Green Schools Symposium

4.      Keep LA Beautiful

5.      Southern California Planning Congress

6.      LA Botanical Panel Discussion

7.      Strategic  Planning with Ron Milam

8.      LA Times: California Steamin

9.      LA Times:  Walk the Talk into History

10. LA Times:  Untamped Tourist Gems

11. ART: Pavement Paradise : American Parking Space

12. ART: Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,"

 

Visit www.latinourbanforu m.org  or  Myspace.com/ LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007,

Save Elephant Hill

In his recent campaign for re-election, Councilmember Jose Huizar ran on an environmental platform.  He promised to make our communities safer, cleaner and greener.  He vowed to expand green and open space.  Last summer as the campaign heated up, he responded to El Sereno residents' pleas for help to ensure equitable services from City agencies responsible for residential developments by introducing a motion to investigate the need for a supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) for Tract 35022, the controversial development of 24 luxury homes on Elephant Hill. 

 

Now, under the threat of a lawsuit by the developers of Elephant Hill, the City agencies charged with undertaking this investigation recommended NO SEIR for Tract 35022 at the May 22nd Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) hearing.

Councilmember Huizar sits on that powerful committee.  The report, developed under direction of the Planning Dept., argues that no supplemental environmental impact report (SEIR) is required because there are no pending

*discretionary* approvals for this Tract.

 

At the hearing, the issue of equity in planning decision-making for low-income communities like El Sereno hit home when Joe Edmiston of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy testified that similar situations in Westside communities have been decided in favor of residents.  Fortunately, PLUM extended the hearing, allowing residents the opportunity to review and respond to the report.

 

Residents have informed PLUM of the inaccuracies and problems with the report.

The National Resources Defense Council and Chatten-Brown & Carstens submitted comments that building permits are a discretionary action, thereby allowing the City to require a SEIR for Tract 35022 under state law. 

 

Councilmember Huizar needs the backing of his constituents, as well as the EJ and environmental communities to stand firm in his commitment to environmental justice and stop this illegal expansion of a luxury home development in a low-income community.  Please help send a clear message to Councilmember Huizar that our community expects him exercise his considerable authority to ensure that El Sereno residents receive equitable and fair services from City agencies responsible for residential developments.  These developers must be accountable and follow the rules just like everyone else, despite their wealth, influence and threats. 

 

What You Can Do:

 

Location:        City Hall, room 350

PLUM hearing on Elephant Hill at 2 p.m.,

 

2. Write or Councilmember Huizar and tell him you will stand with him as he fights for environmental justice in El Sereno by ensuring fair and equitable services from the agencies responsible for residential development on Elephant

Hill.   SEE THE SAMPLE LETTER BELOW.

 

Also, if the B-permit is approved by the Bureau of Engineering, he must issue a stop work order so that the hillside is not destroyed before this issue is resolved.

* Email: councilmember. huizar@lacity. org or Call 213-473-7014

 

For ongoing information about Elephant Hill check out these new blogs:

http://www.saveelep hanthills. blogspot. com/  and http://latinourbanf orum.blogspot. com/

 

For more information contact: saveelephanthills@ yahoo.com

6/5/07

 

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Tuesday, June 12, 2007

LA-APA Annual Awards Ceremony
The Los Angeles Section of the American Planning Association announces the 2007 Planning Awards, recognizing planners, designers, planning firms and agencies, educators, leaders, and journalists throughout Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Section typically recognizes and rewards projects, individuals and organizations that typifies excellence in planning and which generally advances the planning profession. The purpose of the LA Section Awards program is to recognize quality planning efforts and enhance public awareness of achievement in the planning field.  If you have any questions on sponsorships or registration please contact Jessie Barkley LA-APA Co-Chair at the contact information below:

Award Evening Schedule
5:15 to 7:00pm – Hosted wine reception and hors d'oeuvres
7:15 to 8:30 pm –Awards Program

Download a PDF file with directions to the Cathedral Plaza
Download a PDF file flyer on the Awards

Location:  The Los Angeles Cathedral

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Thursday, June 14, 2007

Global Green USA would like to invite you to our annual Green Schools Symposium on at the California Science Center . This year, we will discuss innovative practices and creative policies for green schools with special attention given to charter schools.

Register today at http://globalgreen. org/events/ signup.cfm.

Please go directly to their website for further info.

 

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Saturday, June 16, 2007 9:00 am to 1:00 p.m.

Keep LA Beautiful and help clean the surrounding area around Fuller Lofts on Gloves, tools and lunch will be provided. Grab your old jeans, t-shirts & sneakers and give the neighborhood a makeover.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 from 6:30 PM, with 7:00 PM Dinner

Southern California Planning Congress

You are cordially invited to attend a Meet and Greet with the recently appointed Director of Regional Planning, Bruce W. McClendon for the County of Los Angeles, and Director of Planning, S. Gail Goldberg for City of Los Angeles. Please RSVP on or before June 14th by 12 noon to Michael Besem at (323) 881-7058 or e-mail at     scpcrsvp@msn. com.  Mail your payment postmarked by June 14th.     Make checks payable to SCPC.

 

Mail payment to Attn.: Anna M. Vidal

6716 Clybourn Ave, #122,

North Hollywood, CA 91606. 

Cancellations must be received 48 hours prior to the event.   

 

Where: The Tam O' Shanter Inn

2980 Los Feliz
LA, CA.  90035

 

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Thursday, June 21, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.

The Cultural Values of Weeds in LA

Panel Discussion

 

The invasive nature of weeds has increasingly made them a much maligned but ubiquitous fixture of the LA landscape.  However pesky, though, there exists meaning and history to these invasive plants, many of these weeds are edible, medicinal and have cultural importance.  These uses, meaning, and history are precisely what Joyce Campbell attempts to reveal and document in her recent work.   LA Botanical features 39 of Campbell 's photographs of Los Angeles weeds and attempts to explore the reasons why it is important to the city.

 

Join us for an evening of investigation into the scruffier side of the Los Angeles .

Panelist include Joyce Campbell the artist; Daisy Tonantzin, project coordinator for Projecto Jardin and facilitator for Cultivating Roots; Rufina Juarez, South Central Farm Organizer; Mia Lehrer , landscape architect; and Jay Babcock,

Editor of Arthur Magazine.  Panel will be moderated by gallery co-founder/urban planner James Rojas

 

Date:               Thursday, June 21, 2007

Time:              7:00 p.m,

 Location:       Gallery 727

                        727 S. Spring Street #12

                        LA, CA.  90014

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Saturday, June 23, 2007 from 10 am - 3 pm

STRATEGIC PLANNING WITH RON MILAM

What's your community's mission?  What's your vision?  Values?  What will you do to make your vision reality?  Knowing the answers to these questions plays a key role in your nonprofit group's success, whether it be a shared house, cohousing group, ecovillage, or other type of co-op living or working situation. READ MORE AT http://laecovillage .org/strategicpl anningmilam. html

 

Fee:                                   $75 (sliding scale available)

Pre-registration required:  213/738-1254 or crsp@igc.org

 

Location:        L.A. Eco-Village,

117 Bimini Pl, LA 90004

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ART

 

"Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,"

June 17-Oct 21, 2007

This exhibition explores the history of Japanese American gardens and gardeners. The exhibit runs from. The opening day of the exhibit will be on Father's Day. We'll have live music and BBQ food vendors on the plaza.

 

Location:        Japanese American National Museum

                        368 East First Street .

                        LA, CA.

 

LA Botanical ;  A project by Joyce Campbell

May 18 – July 14, 2007

LA Botanical is an ongoing project, massive and perhaps unachievable in its full potential scope, to  document each plant that grows in Los Angeles for which there is a documented use - be it food,  medicine, weapon, abortive, analgesic, fuel,  stimulant, building material, deadly toxin or mind altering entheogen. The plants are documented as wet-plate Ambrotypes, an anachronistic photographic  form ubiquitous the 1850's-1890s, the period during  in which Los Angeles grew from a dusty town of 1400 inhabitants to a major metropolitan center.

The project is an attempt to reconcile Campbell 's own rural background with her life here in Los Angeles ,  one of the most sprawling and unsustainable  metropolises on earth.

LA Botanical operates simultaneously as map, inventory, and survival guide to the city of Los Angeles . It has the potential to reveal who lives  here, from where they originate, what they value, how  they eat, worship, heal, harm, travel, clothe  themselves, seek insight or achieve oblivion. It also serves as a tool or guide - enabling its audience to  see Los Angeles , not as a desiccated industrial  wasteland into which resources must flow, but as a  field of abundant life that might be harvested to  satisfy our needs.

            Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film and video installation. She is a visiting lecturer at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University in Claremont , California .

Joyce¹s recent work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques to examine the collision of natural and cultural systems.

In October of 2006, Joyce traveled to the Ross Sea region of Antarctica for two weeks sponsored by Creative New Zealand and Antarctica New Zealand.

While in Antarctica she shot large format negatives and Daguerreotypes, an archaic and exquisite form of photography that predates Antarctic exploration.

 

Location:        Gallery 727

                        727 S. Spring Street #12

                        LA, CA.  90014

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Friday, June 1, 2007

Pavement Paradise : American Parking Space

An exhibit about the liminal, substanceless, and static space of automotive transience.  In the Los Angeles exhibit space beginning
http://clui. org/clui_ 4_1/ondisplay/ parking/

 

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Articles:

 

Los Angeles Times' Sunday June 10, 2007

California Steamin' Sooner than you think, you're going to feel global warming in your own backyard.

By Cary Lowe
CARY LOWE is a land-use lawyer and urban planning consultant who has served as an advisor to state and local government in California .

CLIMATE CHANGE is about to move from the headlines into the personal lives of Californians. While scientists continue to debate the probabilities of various worst-case scenarios — a 31-inch rise in sea level or an 8-degree jump in average temperatures by the year 2100 — few dispute that we face a future of potentially catastrophic environmental conditions if the proliferation of greenhouse gases isn't checked.

In contrast to the federal government, which only recently recognized the human element in climate change after years of denial, state and local governments, as well as regional agencies, are devising policies that address global warming. Much of this activity is spurred by lawsuits and lobbying by environmental organizations that seek to compel public agencies to consider climate change when making decisions on land use, transportation projects, energy production and other issues.

In California , seven high-profile suits have been filed, mostly by the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization based in Arizona . All challenge the legitimacy of environmental impact reports and permit approvals that do not analyze the effects that proposed developments might have on global warming. Most recently, the center, joined by the California attorney general, sued for that reason to block implementation of San Bernardino County 's long-range land-use plan governing development, road construction, utility services and related issues.

Developers, business groups, energy producers, water agencies and local governments are all trying to get out in front of the lawsuits and expected legislation on global warming. They recall the years of struggling to catch up with previous waves of environmental regulation, such as the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. So far, California has led the way nationally with passage of a law requiring the rate of greenhouse gas emissions in the state to be cut to the 1990 level by 2020, a 25% reduction.

Climate change will create uncertainty and conflict on a variety of fronts in California .

Home construction will become more difficult and costly as its effects on climate change become a factor in the approval process. Already, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council have challenged three large residential projects in Riverside County and the Sacramento River Delta because the agencies that approved them did not consider their effects on global warming. If such suits prevail, developers will need to learn quickly how to minimize the climate change effects — the "carbon footprint" — of their projects by making them more energy efficient, less traffic generating and less dependent on water, among other things. Otherwise, they may face years of litigation, resulting in higher costs for some projects and abandonment of others.

If sea levels rise 8 to 31 inches over this century, as predicted by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and if severe ocean storms become more common, as groups such as the Global Business Network have warned, development along California's coast will be further restricted or stopped altogether, in the same way it is occurring in the hurricane-prone Southeastern states.

California 's legendary water wars will intensify as parts of the state compete for reduced supplies caused by global warming. A study published by the National Academy of Sciences predicts higher temperatures and less precipitation inland, resulting in a reduced snowpack in the Sierra and diminished runoff that feeds the state's rivers, lakes and reservoirs. A study by the National Research Council expresses similar concerns about the Colorado River, a major water source for Southern California . Even though changing weather patterns are expected to increase coastal rainfall, a serious shortage of storage capacity there will allow much of the water to escape into the Pacific.

A federal court in Sacramento has already blocked increased water deliveries from the Sacramento delta to the Central Valley and Southern California, saying the plan failed to address scientific predictions of reduced water supplies because of global warming and how that would affect the habitats of endangered species.

California law requires developers of large housing projects to demonstrate the availability of long-term water supplies for those projects, and state lawmakers are proposing even tougher rules. The state Supreme Court recently halted development of a 6,000-acre community outside Sacramento because its developers could not guarantee water sources. If projections of less water availability because of global warming turn out to be true, this and similar developments may be a thing of the past.

The power shortages that Californians endured in 2001 are likely to become commonplace as rising temperatures produce more frequent heat waves, boosting the demand for air conditioning. Unfortunately, existing electricity plants, especially those burning coal, are among the foremost generators of greenhouse gases. Tougher energy-efficiency standards in construction, better insulation and requirements for fluorescent lighting will help reduce demand for electricity. But until alternative energy sources fill the power gap, climate change will further strain power supplies and sharply raise living costs.

The hotter, drier weather will greatly reduce — or even shut off — access to such popular recreational areas as the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains because of the heightened risk of wildfires. Just how dangerous it can be living in urban areas close to parklands was recently demonstrated by the Griffith Park and Catalina Island blazes. Fire officials already are placing stricter controls on development in such fire-prone areas, meaning that communities such as Lake Arrowhead and Idyllwild probably won't see more housing or tourist facilities.

The Legislature is considering nearly 60 bills on global warming issues. The most prominent ones would require climate change analyses in water supply and transportation planning. The governor's office is drawing up regulations to implement the law mandating cuts in greenhouse gases. Meantime, the current lawsuits are heading toward decisions, and more suits will surely be filed. However it all plays out, land-use policy and development in California will be forever changed.

 

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Teens walk the talk into history

Students lead tours of South Vermont Avenue , telling of its past as part of studying its economy.

By Deborah Schoch
Times Staff Writer

June 10, 2007

A team of history-minded teenagers set out Saturday to change common perceptions of South Vermont Avenue , once a key economic artery for South Los Angeles .

The 20 students from area high schools led a walking tour of the wide boulevard, singling out landmarks and telling stories about local history.

Their goal was to highlight the economic history of their neighborhood, long buffeted by social changes, a declining job base and the 1992 riots that left some storefronts in ruins.

Still, the stories they told did not end there.

Students said they wanted to illustrate how some small businesses were thriving despite economic pressures and the neighborhood' s reputation as abjectly poor and riddled with drugs, gangs and crime.

"The media shows what it wants to show. People say that people are dying here every day," said Ivan Lopez, 16, a student who told about the history of the Nativity Catholic Church and School, a longtime community center.

Other stops included one of the area's new supermarkets, the American Barber College , a popular barbecue restaurant that has survived nearly five decades of change, and a shopping plaza that once housed a Sears store and has rebounded with new businesses.

The tour was part of a local history project organized and sponsored by the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, a private, nonprofit archive on Vermont that specializes in local labor, political and social history.

Forty students from 10 local high schools spent nearly four months researching local landmarks, combing through old records and interviewing residents. They received high school and college credit through Los Angeles Trade Tech College .

Several students said they enjoyed the project because their school history textbooks contained scant information about their neighborhood. If Los Angeles was mentioned at all, they said, it was cast as the home of Hollywood .

The students led two tours along Vermont Avenue , from 61st Street north to 53rd Street , accompanied by about two dozen residents, relatives and other students.

They strolled past shabby liquor stores, check-cashing services and weedy vacant lots behind rusted fences. But they pointed out promising businesses, such as the Gigante supermarket that opened in 2003, part of a chain based in Mexico . They said it was welcomed in the area, which has few supermarkets, and created 200 jobs.

They stopped again at the offices of the Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corp., which is trying to bolster the neighborhood economy. The organization hopes to draw more sit-down restaurants to complement the fast-food places, said Jennifer Godinez, 17.

"That would create more jobs for our people," said Jennifer, who would like to see some Mexican, Salvadoran and seafood restaurants.

Jessica Gomez, 17, a senior at Fremont High School , interviewed the co-owner of the Pit BarBQue and sampled its food. Founded in 1958, it has survived financial ups and downs.

"It's known for its sweet potato pie, potato salad and hot links," she said.

Students said co-owner Wendell Taylor told them how he and his father stood watch on the roof during the 1992 riots. Their restaurant was one of the only businesses on the block that did not burn, Taylor said. As the surrounding community has shifted from largely white to black and now Latino, the restaurant has continued to serve its Southern-style menu.

"I admire its antiquity and the fact that it's still there," said Jessica, who will attend UCLA in the fall and wants to major in history and Latino studies.

She and other students said the project gave them new insights into their community, and, in some cases, uncovered old stories.

Taylor Harris, 15, of nearby Hawthorne said he hadn't known that restrictive covenants once barred many non-whites from buying property in certain areas of Los Angeles .

He gave a report on Slauson Avenue , which once was the southern boundary of areas where African Americans could live.

"I don't think it was right. It shouldn't have been allowed by our government," Taylor said.

Several students agreed that many people in other parts of the city associate South Los Angeles with crime and poverty, in part because news organizations overlook other activities in the area.

While news outlets report on high dropout rates, Ivan said, "In my magnet class, every senior graduated in the last four years. Why not report those statistics?"

Two more tours are scheduled for next Saturday, when another group of students will relate the history of transportation in the Vermont Avenue area.

More information is available online on the library's website: http://www.socallib .org .

 

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Untapped tourism gems?

L.A.'s ethnic enclaves tend to be overlooked by visitors. A project aims to advertise their attractions and offer an economic boost.

By Teresa Watanabe
Times Staff Writer

June 9, 2007

In Highland Park , an explosion of art galleries in the last few years has made the neighborhood a leading light of contemporary Latino art in Los Angeles .

East Hollywood, meanwhile, features a profusion of Thai restaurants and spas, along with Armenian bakeries, shops and a boat-shaped library, which reflects the legend that Noah's Ark came to rest on an Armenian mountain.

And in Leimert Park , hip-hop artists, drummers and jazz and blues musicians have turned the tree-lined pedestrian space into a vibrant center of African American performance art.

But the three Los Angeles County neighborhoods, which are often overlooked by tourists, also have struggled because of a challenging business environment and physical deterioration. According to the 2000 Census, the three neighborhoods have lower median household incomes and higher poverty rates than the county average.

Now UCLA is partnering with nonprofit L.A. Commons and several other companies and organizations in an effort to turn the economic tide. The project, called Uncommon L.A., is touting cultural tourism to the three neighborhoods as a way to help bring in free-spending tourists to boost economic development. Among other things, the project is sponsoring a summer-long series of tours to the areas, including an exploration of Highland Park 's art galleries tonight.

"Most tourists from other cities tend to see only a small part of L.A. — Disney Hall, Griffith Park … " said Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, chair of the UCLA urban planning department, who helped launch Uncommon L.A. "But there is a whole vibrant part of Los Angeles they're missing: all of our ethnic neighborhoods. If we can help make them more visible, we see this as a model for economic development, " she said.

Michael McDowell of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau agrees that the city's ethnic enclaves are a potential draw for tourists. Although the top five Los Angeles tourist attractions offer quintessential Southern California features of sun, fun and glitz — Universal Studios, the Getty Center, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive and Venice Beach — ethnic neighborhoods may be of particular interest to repeat visitors who already have seen the region's major landmarks, he said.

Half of the 25 million tourists who visit Los Angeles annually are from the San Diego-San Francisco-Phoenix triangle, he said, and probably are familiar with the region.

"They've done the landmarks," McDowell said. "They're looking for something new."

The experience of other cities suggests that cultural tourism can effectively boost economic development, according to Anne McAulay, director of cultural development for L.A. Commons, the community organization that is partnering with UCLA.

Boston 's "Beyond Baked Beans" program, for instance, offers detailed guides to 19 neighborhoods. In the approximately 10 years the program has run, the districts have gained more than 3,600 jobs, 540 new businesses, 517 design improvement projects and more than $11 million in grants and private investment to the area, according to McAulay's research.

That research helped lay the groundwork for Uncommon L.A. , which is being funded by a two-year, $75,000 grant from the UCLA Center for Community Partnerships. McAulay and others also have taken surveys of area merchants and compiled "cultural inventories" of each neighborhood so that they can map the restaurants, art galleries and other assets and use the information to develop a marketing plan for the three ethnic areas.

Many of the neighborhood merchants, artists and community leaders have embraced the project.

"It would be absolutely great to have more cultural tourists down here," said James Fugate, co-owner of Eso Won Books in Leimert Park , which is an enclave of African American businesses, cultural organizations and Art Deco architecture just off Crenshaw Boulevard in the Crenshaw district. "They would help the area a tremendous amount."

Fugate said his business has plunged by 50% since he moved his store, a large African American book store, from La Brea and Rodeo Avenues last October because of rising rents. Leimert Park is more affordable, he said, but a tad "lonely" when it comes to foot traffic, he said.

Uncommon L.A. aims to increase visitors by touting Leimert Park's performance art — jazz at World Stage, blues at Babe's and Ricky's Inn, and hip-hop at KAOS Network. But whether that will help boost business for area merchants is uncertain, mainly because performances usually don't start until 9 p.m., long after vendors selling African American jewelry, clothing, art and other artifacts close shop.

Over in the heart of Thai Town , restaurant owner Som Chai Jansaeng also described the challenges facing businesses that line Hollywood Boulevard between North Normandie and North Western avenues. Ever since the city officially designated the area as Thai Town in 1999, more tourists have visited but his profit margins and customer base have not grown, said Jansaeng, whose Ruen Pair restaurant features a decor of temple rubbings, Thai puppets and a red and gold Buddhist altar.

A proliferation of Thai restaurants has increased competition, he said. And rents have more than doubled in the last several years to $3.25 per square foot today, Jansaeng said.

Chancee Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center , said Jansaeng's plight underscores the double-edged sword of economic development: As neighborhoods prosper, lower-income residents and merchants could be pushed out by rising property values and greater competition.

Her center has conducted an assessment of area merchants and residents and found, among other things, a strong need to diversify Thai businesses, which are overwhelmingly restaurants. In recent years, she said, more spa and massage centers have opened, along with a Thai silk shop and dessert stores.

The Uncommon L.A. project promotes food in its marketing for Thai Town . Loukaitou-Sideris said her research suggested that a concentration of similar businesses in one area might benefit all merchants by drawing people to the area — as "auto rows" do.

In nearby Little Armenia, one of the biggest attractions is the ark-shaped library building at the Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School , on North Alexandria Street between Hollywood and West Sunset boulevards. The area is also home to St. John Garabed Armenian Church and businesses, including bakeries that sell Armenian foods such as lahmajune, a flat meat pizza.

In Highland Park , the Uncommon L.A. project primarily will promote the local art scene, which has been revitalized by the proliferation of new galleries in the area. Although the area has been long known as an artists' colony that has been sustained by such organizations as the Arroyo Arts Collective, many of the galleries closed shop as the neighborhood declined, according to Kathy Gallegos, a local artist.

That began to change in 2000, when Gallegos opened Avenue 50 Studio to feature Latino, Chicano and other multicultural art. "We opened up and boom: Immediately it was popular," Gallegos said.

Since then, half a dozen other studios have opened in Highland Park and have formed the Northeast LA Art Gallery Assn. to offer gallery tours every second Saturday of the month, Gallegos said. Other businesses also have helped revitalize the area, including La Casa Blue coffeehouse on York Boulevard . Scott Robbins, the owner, turned an abandoned building used by drug dealers into an airy gathering space that features art, karaoke, film and food.

The Highland Park tour will begin today at 5 p.m. at Avenue 50 Studio, 131 N. Avenue 50. The tour will feature galleries, art openings and puppet shows, including the unveiling of a "Tree of Life" wood-carving project by students at Franklin High School and artist Poli Marichal. More information is available at http://www.lacommon s.org .

"Inner-city communities are often described as problems," Loukaitou-Sideris said. "We're trying to identify what's good in a community and market it."

 

 

Urban Eats:

 

Farmer Markets in the Hood!

 

Tianguis:  South Central Farmers Market.

Support Community Sustainable Agriculture (C.S.A.)

Music, high quality produce,

www.southcentralfar mers.com

 

Date:               First Sunday of every month (May 6^th)

Time:             10:00 am. to 4:00 p.m.

Location:         41^st and Alameda

 

Caracol Farmers Market

Date: Sunday June 24, 2007

Time:  10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

 

 

" East Los Angeles Farmer's Market" every Saturday from 9 AM TO 1 PM

Features fruits and vegetables grown locally by local farmers. In addition, you'll find one of a kind creations offered by local artisans and meet representatives from local community organizations.

 

Location: First Street (between Rowan and Ditman).

 

 

Homegirl Café!

1818 East First Street

LA, CA.  90014

 

Mama's Hot Tamale Cafe

7^th Street across from Macarthur Park

 

To post events, activities or meetings that promote planning, cultural or dialogue contact James Rojas at 213 892-0918 or email Latinourbanforum@ yahoo.com Please submit post in a word document.