The Blogito

UPDATES>>

2008-11-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

UPdates & Events are at Latino Urban Forum

HEYA-Forward Thinking (?) Mobility Options

2008-08-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

HEYA, Toyota’s online community of inspiring, innovative young adults, is proud to announce that four of its members’ visions for the future of transportation have been selected to be brought to life at Quiksilver’s siteLA for a two week residency entitled: “From Here to There: A HEYA Project.” Opening with a kickoff celebration on August 22nd, “From Here to There: A HEYA Project” will be anchored by multimedia artworks that showcase the four HEYA members’ visions, created in collaboration with the Quiksilver siteLA community. The two-week exhibition will also feature a series of workshops, speakers and film screenings as well as transportation-related art and design projects by siteLA’s “Visionaries in Residence.”

Over the last few weeks, HEYA invited its members to describe and illustrate their future visions in HEYA’s online forum. From human power to hydrogen, bicycles to rails, the ideas ranged from common sense to fantastical. The diversity of ideas and the overwhelming optimism from the HEYA community leaves no doubt that there will be many ways to get from here to there in the world of tomorrow. Following are the four winning visions that will be unveiled during the exhibition at siteLA:

Location: SideLA

2522 Sunset blvd.

LA, CA.

The Golden Necklace Continues

2008-08-15T16:42:00.001-07:00

The design project initiated by Cal Poly Pomona's Graduate 641 + 642 Design Studio continues with another crop of students. Save the date for this results oriented endeavor.

PanAmerican Urban Redux

2008-08-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

If you missed the fab presentation/discussion on Wednesday at the MAK Institute...you're in for a treat. We will be bringing it to Gallery 727 on Thursday, August 21th. This one will have some more offerings, and a different set up. Don't miss it.

Salsa Salsa at the Farmlab

2008-08-14T15:09:00.000-07:00

Met this cool cat two months ago during our LA2TJ Conference. He's throwing this event at the Farmlab

SALSA SALSA

What: Salsa Salsa, a Celebration of Love Apples
Type: Public Art Event in which we make salsa while dancing to salsa music together and
enjoying a free salsa concert and dance class
When: Sun August 17th, 3 to 7 p.m.
Where: Farmlab, 1745 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Free to the public

Come to SALSA SALSA, a harvest festival for the citizens of Los Angeles – come make and taste tomato salsas while listening and dancing to salsa music. SALSA SALSA is a celebration of public space and the culmination of the LOVE APPLES project in which 72 tomato plants were installed on 12 traffic islands in LA.

LOVE APPLES is an experiment in public space in the city of Los Angeles, imagining new ways in which such spaces could be utilized to make our communities more livable and engaged. It is a collaboration with Fallen Fruit that promotes community awareness, sharing, food safety, public resources, organic gardening and the use and exploration of available public space.

As part of the event there will be a free Salsa dance class from 3:30 - 4:30 taught by Miguel Candela. This will be followed by a free Salsa concert by recording artists Mestizo L.A.

PLEASE JOIN US from 3 to 7 p.m. on Sunday August 17th at Farmlab (1745 N. Spring Street, 90012) to make salsa and dance together. Meet new people and talk about the future shape and texture of life in this city. Bring your homegrown or street-picked tomatoes and collaborate with your neighbors on new and remarkable salsas. Bring a friend – this event is free to the public.

Hermanos Herrera in San Fernando (FREE)

2008-08-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

August 17, 6:30 p.m.
César E. Chávez Park
208 Park Ave., San Fernando

Pistolera at McArthur Park (FREE)

2008-08-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Night, August 13, 2008 7pm.
McArthur Park

Glassell Park Transit Pavilion Public Performance & Installation

2008-08-11T16:15:00.001-07:00

Friday, August 22 from 7:00am to 9:00am and Saturday, August 23 from 9:00 a.m to11:00 a.m

This public performance is designed to bring our future structure to life for the many public transit users who wait at this transit stop every day. We'll be setting up tarps and chairs to approximate the setting and design of the structure. We will discuss elements of comfort and safety with the riders and receive their feedback through a short survey we've prepared. Renderings of the Transit Pavilion will be on view. For more information contact Helene Schpak

323-422-1330 or email at hschpk@sbcglobal.net

Location: The intersections San Fernando Road, Eagle Rock Blvd., and Verdugo Road intersect.

PanAmerican Urbanism

2008-08-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

THE MAK URBAN FUTURE INITIATIVE PUBLIC FORUM SERIES
Presents PanAmerican Urbanism: From Caracas to
East Los Angeles

Reservations are recommended. Please RSVP for this event by calling 323-651-1510, or by email at office@makcenter.org.

Please join us on Wednesday, August 13 for PanAmerican Urbanism: From Caracas to East Los Angeles, the second event in an ongoing series, the MAK Urban Future Initiative (UFI) Public Forum. PanAmerican Urbanism will feature Efrén Santana, a MAK UFI fellow and architect with Urban Think Tank in Caracas, Venezuela; and James Rojas, an urban planner and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Latino Urban Forum, an organization dedicated to understanding and improving the built environment of Latino communities.

Santana and Rojas will present a comparative study of the built environments of their respective cities, and discuss their evolving hypothesis of a PanAmerican Urbanism, which explores how the urban fabric of cities throughout the Americas has been shaped by Hispanic and Latino culture. Santana and Rojas will give special attention to the home as a manifestation of transnational common values, such the importance of extended family and the notion of the front yard as a public space.

More about Efrén Santana
Efrén Santana is in Los Angeles as part of the MAK Urban Future Initiative (UFI), a new international fellowship program dedicated to creating meaningful cross-cultural exchange about the challenges confronting cities worldwide. As the second UFI fellow-in-residence, Santana is researching the urban practices of Los Angeles' Latino immigrants- how they have changed the city's urban fabric, and how the city has changed them.

Santana is an architect with Urban Think Tank (U-TT), a multi-disciplinary design practice based in Caracas, Venezuela, that is dedicated to high-level research and design. U-TT's design practice places the social reality of a site at the forefront of political discussion. Their work is aimed at reversing the top-down hierarchy of governance in the public sphere in favor of bottom-up, locally driven action.

More about James Rojas
James Rojas is an urban planner who lectures widely at universities, planning conferences and grassroots community meetings on the impact of Latino populations on land use and transportation. Rojas is also the founder of the Latino Urban Forum in Los Angeles, dedicated to understanding and improving the built environment of Los Angeles' underserved Latino communities. To date, more than 300 volunteer architects, urban planners, public administrators, and lawyers have helped LUF to develop strategies and to provide technical expertise on critical infrastructure and land-use issues in the Latino community.

More about the MAK Urban Future Initiative
Funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the MAK Urban Future Initiative (UFI) is a fellowship program in which cultural researchers from diverse nations come to Los Angeles for two months, live in the exemplary L.A. modern Fitzpatrick-Leland House (R. M. Schindler, 1936) and pursue a research topic related to urban phenomena. Fellows come from nations that are under-represented in the Los Angeles discourse; the MAK Center works closely with them to create a meaningful cross-cultural exchange. The goal is to generate concepts for the urban future by stimulating dialogue and mining both Los Angeles and international resources. At the end their fellowship sessions, UFI fellows present their research at a MAK UFI Public Forum event. For more information about the UFI program, please visit www.makcenterufi.org.

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MAK Center for Art and Architecture
at the Schindler House
835 North Kings Road
West Hollywood, CA 90069
323 651 1510 phone
323 651 2340 fax
visit: www.makcenter.org
contact: office@makcenter.org

ICAN Film Festival (San Fernando) Over the Years

2008-07-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

Every year great films are put together to document the stories and narratives of the communities of the Northeast San Fernando Valley. This year will be no different, but with a focus on the environment and issues of sustainability. Below are some Clips of ICAN 4 - 8 clips.

Great ICAN Festival Films Through the Years:

Sushi in San Fernando

Anti-Immigrant Laws

One Man Mariachi from La Bufadora in Ensenada

Air Jesse: boy pilot from Pacoima

Storytelling through Puppetry and Film

Multidimensional Mariachi Teenager

San Fernando Swapmeet

Water Issues and the Pacoima Dam

Saturday, August 2, 2008 from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
The San Fernando Education Technology Team, better know as SFETT, is an exceptional team of creative and talented individuals who continuously strive to engage and captivate students while providing them an avenue of expression through the use of digital media. SFETT started with one teacher, a handful of students and the desire to create positive change. Over the years, however, this small team based out of San Fernando, California has exceeded expectations and gone on to impact the whole world.

The Art of City Building through Civic Engagement

2008-07-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

James is installing an interactive public project inviting participants to develop and envision public and civic amenities in a 3-dimensional model form. Participants will be provided with a medley of recycled materials and invited to create their ideal urban form on an oversized urban plot of streets, parcels and parks. This City-building installation allows participants to think of planning goals in physical terms, creating a platform for diverse voices. Playing and visualizing with the 3-dimensional forms engages children and adults of all ages. This model will be constantly changing as participants' work builds upon the contributions of everyone. Participants will be able to understand the city as not only a place but as a comprehensive urban art form. The purpose of City-building is to use interactive arts to help people think about urban design and planning. It shows participants the challenges and excitement of building through a multidisciplinary process involving everyone.

Saturday, August 16, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Location: Galeria Tufino Galeria Tufino

Santiago Lofts Arts District.

949 E. Santa Ana Blvd.

Santa Ana, CA. 92701

Across the street from the Santa Ana Train Station

Pan American Urbanism: From Caracas to East Los Angeles

2008-07-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Reception at 6:30 p.m.

Panel discussion at 7:30 p.m.

The MAK Center for Art and Architecture is pleased the second event in its new series, the Urban Future Initiative (UFI) Public Forum. PanAmerican Urbanism will feature Efrén Santana, a UFI fellow and architect with Urban Think Tank in Caracas, Venezuela; and James Rojas, an urban planner and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Latino Urban Forum. Santana and Rojas will present a comparative study of the built environments of their respective cities, and discuss their evolving hypothesis of a PanAmerican Urbanism, which explores how the urban fabric of cities throughout the Americas has been shaped by Hispanic and Latino culture. Santana and Rojas will give special attention to the home as a manifestation of transnational common values, such the importance of extended family and the notion of the front yard as a public space.

Admission: $7, $6 students; Free for Friends of the Schindler House

Location: MAK Center for Art and Architecture at the Schindler House

835 North Kings Road

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Public info: 323-651-1510

San Fernando iCAN 9 Festival de Cine

2008-07-28T15:19:00.000-07:00

Saturday, August 2, 2008 from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
The San Fernando Education Technology Team, better know as SFETT, is an exceptional team of creative and talented individuals who continuously strive to engage and captivate students while providing them an avenue of expression through the use of digital media. SFETT started with one teacher, a handful of students and the desire to create positive change. Over the years, however, this small team based out of San Fernando, California has exceeded expectations and gone on to impact the whole world.

Location: 231 N. Maclay

San Fernando, CA 91340

Free admission visit www.sfett.com for more info.

iCAN 9 Trailer

MAK Fellows Blog

2008-07-03T21:35:00.000-07:00

Different perspectives on the built environment get me goin'! Particularly by those researching the LA city-region. Visit the blog of an architect from Venezuela visiting L.A. via the MAK Institute's Urban Initiatives Fellowship.
Very little narration, just good design and images. James from LUF took him around town visiting significant places in Southeast Los Angeles, and other areas on the Eastside.
next week he"ll be rollin' with me to the San Fernando Valley.

Blog

Downtown News Article on LUF's James Rojas

2008-06-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

News Link

LUFites hangin’ with MAK Insitute Fellow

2008-06-26T19:14:00.000-07:00

Here are some images taken on Wednesday evening at an intimate dinner for visiting MAK Institute Fellow Efrén Santana. Santana who hails from Venezuela will be in Los Angeles for the next two months researching (and contrasting) how Latinos shape Los Angeles through the physical and social interactions with the city-region.

On hand were various colleagues from the MAK Institute, and other notable activists, researchers, architects, and artists whose work focuses on the built environment. The dinner took place at the beautiful Leland House (designed by R.M. Schindler) situated atop the Hollywood Hills. Guests were treated to an excellent dinner, wine, kick ass coffee, great conversations on the city-region, and just a plain ole’ good vibe. Nobody jumped in the pool though. Various LUFites will be showing Santana around the city over the next two months...including the quintessential trip to the criminalized taco trucks in East L.A.

For full gallery of images see:

MAKin out Gallery!

LA 2 TiJ Slideshow 2: San Ysidro

2008-06-25T12:46:00.000-07:00

The slideshow will be modified later as more images are available to us. Audio is kinda bad...hard to photoshoot, record, etc etc all at the same time.

Voyeuristic Landscapes: LA 2 TJ Mobile Conference Audio Slideshow

2008-06-23T14:14:00.001-07:00

One of the first audio/slideshow narratives of more to come. Check LA Times often for the article by reported Hector Becerra.

For better sound and visuals visit:

LUF Direct Link

or settle for the youtube version:

LA 2 TJ links

2008-06-22T18:04:00.001-07:00

Check Latino Urban Forum website for images,sound byes, etc. from LA 2 TJ Mobile Conference.

FYI, LA Times Reporter Hector Becerra made the trip with us from Union Station to La Casa del Tunel in Tijuana.

LA River Via Music Video

2008-06-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

A good friend of mine asked me to give a multimedia savvy lecture on my Graduate Work to a small group of students at CSUN's Department of Chicana/o Studies last April. Before dabbling into my focus/research, I took them on a visual and audio tour of the LA Built Environment (e.g. LA River, Powerlines, streetscapes). Embedded is a small sample of what I used as a medium to build the context on the social (and physical) construction of space:

5 Days Til 1st Annual LA-2-Tijuana Mobile Conference

2008-06-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

Almost 60 people have signed up for the 1st Annual LA to TJ mobile conference! More details as the week progresses.! Train departs at 8:30 am.

Moving Goods, People and Ideas

Date: Saturday, June 21, 2008
Time: 8:30 am to 11:05 pm

Discussions on Track will focus on four topic areas: transportation, social issues, the natural and built environment impacting the region. Projects visited include: the LA River, Hobart Rail Yards, 710 Expansion, Great Park, San Gabriel River, Casa Familiar, Tijuana River and many others.

Itineray*;

Train Ride from LA-San Diego 8:30 am to 11:20 am
Trolley Ride from San Diego to San Ysidero 11:30 am to 12:30 pm
Walk over the Border/Lunch 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm
Walking tour of Tijuana 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm
Border Crossing 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Trolley Ride from San Ysidero to San Diego 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Train Ride from San Diego to LA 8:20 pm to 11:05 pm
*All times subject to change

Charro Article in NY Times.

2008-06-13T17:46:00.000-07:00

Excellent little article in the NY Times on charreria in the U.S. The slideshow is also pretty hot. Maybe the LA times will one day catch up with the level of attention the NY times puts on cultural practices by mexicanos in CA/Southwest.

NY TIMES ARTICLE

Cal Poly Pomona Golden Necklace Master Plan--Digital Component

2008-06-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

These two vignettes were created to compliment the Graduate Studio's design proposals, policy-guidelines, and research for the creation of a multi-trail system for Los Angeles. I, metrovaquero, was part of this multimedia collaboration. check it!

Residents Unidos de Wyvernwood

2008-03-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

Check it out at: http://ruw90023.blogspot.com

I hear that there's more to come shortly.

Chuppy Latinos!

2008-03-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of the homies throws this word around loosely: Chuppies. Chicano...Latino Yuppies. Now the LA Times is up on it. Peep it:
Upscale Latinos Find A Home I suppose these folks couldn't live anywhere else, but Whittier.

L.A. River Visual + Audio Documentation

2008-02-14T10:18:00.000-08:00

Three Cal Poly Pomona Graduate Students (myself included) set out to document the LA River for their Graduate Capstone Studio Class. Instead of opting for the typical (and bland) powerpoint presentation consisting of maps, numbers, dull pictures etc etc ... they decided to engage all the human senses by deciphering the very unique experience of the Los Angeles River through music, sounds, and imagery. This team is only focusing on researching the river’s leg consisting of the SFV to the near the Vernon area. Another team is leading research from Vernon to Long Beach.

This presentation & research is an on-going project and an entity of the Graduate Capstone’s class endeavor to create a potential Master Plan and/or the data & design schemes needed for a system of multi-use trails in Los Angeles County. Over the the length of two quarters, 5 teams will be working and researching throughout the county to continue advancing a non-motorized mobility agenda. This plan has been dubbed the Golden Necklace.

Two Options below for viewing:

Original/Higher-Res Slideshow at:

Quicktime Option (T1 recommended)

Fresh N' Easy Comes to the CPT

2008-02-08T10:46:00.000-08:00

Just caught wind a New Fresh N' Easy just opened in Compton. "Now we won't have to drive to get to Whole Foods," said Jalom Raney of Compton, adding that it was about a 20-minute drive." ..or another 20 to Trader Joes, depending on where you live.

Article Link
Compton Article

Rent Control Under Threat!

2008-01-30T23:38:00.000-08:00

In the midst of a housing crisis that is already squeezing the poor out of the city of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported a couple of days ago that a June 3 ballot measure would abolish all rent control laws in California (see http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rent28jan28,0,7822882.story). While this undoing of tenant protections would be gradual (since protected units would only join the unregulated market after their current occupants move out) it could deal a fatal blow to efforts at maintaining income diversity in the city, particularly in poor- and Latino-heavy, gentrifying districts like Echo Park, Koreatown, Lincoln Heights, Boyle Heights.

Four of the most popular arguments against rent control blame such regulations for actually reducing the amount of affordable rentals in the city in the following ways: 1) by discouraging developers from creating new rental units since their ability to make a profit is reduced; 2) by keeping units occupied much longer than they would be without rent control since tenants, who would otherwise like to move, often remain in a unit to continue to pay below-market rents; 3) by encouraging landlords to leave the “low-profit” business of renting and convert their properties into condos; 4) and by encouraging landlords to jack up rents as much as possible the moment a longtime (and below-market paying) tenant moves out.

All four arguments are flawed, however.

1) While it is true that landlords whose regulated rental properties stand to make smaller profits, the fact that the law exempts all developments built after 1978 (when it was passed in Los Angeles) has meant that developers have continued enjoying considerable returns on rental housing built since then. Even if the law were to be updated so that it applies to all rental units created before February 2008, new housing developed for the next several years would continue to harness profits for both builders and landlords, especially if it took another three decades for the ordinance to be updated again. Given that a provision in the law allows for yearly increases in rent to match inflation, a landlord never sees any decrease in rent revenues throughout a protected occupant’s tenancy from the day she moves in.

2) As for the regulation encouraging the prolongation of a tenant’s stay in a rent-controlled unit, therefore keeping it unavailable to others, while true, the fact is that unless the tenant moves out of the city altogether, becomes homeless, or dies, she would always need to move into another home, meaning that the net number of units that would be made available by her moving would be null. Associated with this same argument is the point that tenants themselves suffer when they feel they cannot move into a new unit of their choice, say, closer to a new job, because they are compelled to stay put where they can pay below-market rents. However, that many people can’t afford market-rate housing is a problem that must be blamed on an unfair distribution of wages among workers, not on rent control, which actually ensures that at least one unit in the city remains affordable to a tenant.

3) Indeed, many landlords in rent-controlled markets have converted their properties into condominiums as a way of cashing in on the skyrocketing real-estate market in recent years. But laissez faire in rental housing would leave low- and moderate-income tenants no better off if they can’t afford the rising home values, be they for rent or sale. (A better protection for tenants would be to curb the condo conversion mania.)

4) Finally, that a landlord starved for profit during years of a renter’s occupancy is more likely to raise rents to the maximum as soon as the unit becomes available is foolish, as it ignores common market sense: a) the provider of any good will always seek to make the biggest profit possible, and b) the price of any good is ultimately set by the market.

Rent control is hardly a silver bullet to our affordable-housing crisis; it does create other problems, the main one being a landlord’s lowered incentive to keep up regulated properties. But in the face of public officials’ paltry efforts to minimize poor people's displacement being brought on by gentrification, rent control is the only thing that can save Los Angeles from becoming exclusively for the rich. Now the question is whether we can save it, as the June 3 election (when no mayoral, gubernatorial or presidential candidate will be elected) will almost surely garner a low voter turnout, which always benefits conservative causes.

You're Invited to an Instant Gathering

2008-01-17T17:57:00.000-08:00

you’re invited to an instant gathering...of planners, architects, designers, and other fresh people with a care for the urban environment.

the on going situation at the historical Wyvernwood Apartments in Boyle Heights has prompted several individuals to get together for drinks, discussion, and an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals from our great city. as our neighborhoods continue expanding, its time we extend our networks as well.

join us this Friday at fellow LUFillo Chuy’s place precisely in the Wyvernwood neighborhood.

bring a dish, some bottles (or cans), and a smile.

PLACE : 2676 East 8th Street (cross street is Soto)
DATE & TIME: Friday. Jan 18. 6pm
INFO: JESUS HERMOSILLO

Direct LUF Link

House along the Nacimiento Bike Tour 08 Route

2008-01-10T18:35:00.001-08:00

Because of the rain we didn't get a good chance to catch a critical mass (if there was any) riding the Nacimiento Bike Tour. Then again, we were out on the street about 2 hrs. after it began. We did get a chance to visit one of the host residences along Pasadena Ave (I"ll post the address later).
This nativity scene has plenty of history.
According to the elderly mother and daughter duo which resides here, they've been doing this for decades. The mother is 90-years old and has been doing nacimientos for about 80 years (!!). Her nativity scene is an awesome collection of figurines from around the world (Middle East, South America) which came via her grandkids traveling abroad. This nativity scene took about two weeks to assemble (!). The women began arranging the scene since early December and finished just in time for Christmas Eve.

The women invited us to visit them again, but with our nephews and nieces to continue the tradition...which is why they do it year after year. They stated they receive a tremendous joy when people enter their home to witness the nacimiento, and they hope that tradition continues here in the U.S. for future generations. So we promised we'd come back on February 2nd, el Dia de La Candelaria. I will post more information soon enough so that everybody can go to the celebration of the 2nd. My other friend took some amazing shots, I will post them later. In the meantime, Imma eat this orange they gave me and head to class.

LUF Holiday (Dia de Los Reyes Magos) Party

2008-01-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

Join us for a Los Reyes Holiday party at the Eastside Luv Café @ 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 6, 2008

1835 E. First Street,
Boyle Heights, CA. 90033

For Further information: 626 437-4446

LUF Co-Sponsored 8th Annual Nacimento Tour

2007-12-31T11:00:00.001-08:00

Sunday, January 6, 2007 from 11 a.m – 4 p.m.
This year's tour starts at the Los Angeles River and Gardens Center, 570 W. Avenue 26, Los Angeles, 90065 at 11 am, with registration opening at 10 am. Highland Park's Bike Oven will offer free tire checks and sag support. The Latino Urban Forum, The Rare Times, Wild Women on Wheels (w20ws), C.I.C.L.E., Santa Monica Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition are co-sponsors of the tour.

For the 8th year, the annual tour will highlight mini Bethlehems, makeshift barns and stables, and in one setting, a complete living room reenactment of Jesus' birth and the arrival of the three kings. For many bicyclists, this is the first time exploring the historically and ethnically rich neighborhoods of Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, and Boyle Heights.

Listings and pictures of previous years' tours can be found on .The 2008 map will be available online and at the registration on the day of the event.

The Nacimiento Bike Tour is one of those rare LA seconds when west-sidersand east-siders, Latino and non-Latino, come together and participate in exploring LA's unique cultural traditions and physical landscape in a environmentally friendly way.Nacimientos, or nativity scenes, is a tradition that many Latino throughout Latin America follow during the Christmas season. This tradition takes place in the streets of LA where many immigrants and multi-generational families spend countless hours creating Nacimientos in their front yards, porches, on roofs, as well as in the home.

Nacimientos range in size, complexity, and creativity. Some can be a simple scene of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to elaborate landscapes with tinsel waterfalls, sparkling lights, and hundreds of pieces. Each Nacimiento reflects the creator's devotion to Christmas and can be very personal in nature. For many Latinos, the building of the sets begins the day after December 12th, which is the feast day of Our lady of Guadalupe and they stay upuntil January 6th, when the three kings arrive with gifts for the new born king.

Retro NY Times Article on Nacimiento Tour

2007-12-31T10:59:00.001-08:00

On Tough Blocks, Divine Glitter by Patricia Leigh Brown (Dec 22, 2002 NY Times)
By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN, New York Times

LOS ANGELES
IT is the season of the nacimiento, the time of year in Latino neighborhoods when porches and patches of lawn become dazzling home-grown Bethlehems. In East Los Angeles, just as in other Mexican-American communities, the deep creative urge that is Christmas flows like a seasonal torrent into the tin foil rivers and tinsel waterfalls of nacimientos, elaborate homemade Nativity scenes that subsume living rooms and whole yards.

In places like Boyle Heights, the city's easternmost neighborhood and 87 percent Latino, the nacimientos, a Mexican tradition that dates back to at least the 16th century, spring forth in baroque splendor beneath dolled-up ficus trees from which glittery snowflakes dangle. " The children today want $200 toys, which is hard for working people," said Maria R. Sandoval, 56, a home care provider whose simple family nacimiento is encircled by twinkling lights. " This gives them the deep gift of tradition."
The seasonal flurry of nacimientos in first-generation Mexican-American neighborhoods represents "a redefinition of urban space" to James T. Rojas, an urban planner and co-chairman of the Latino Urban Forum, a volunteer group of architects, community members and planners. (The forum will offer a public tour of East Los Angeles nacimientos on Jan. 5; www.theraretimes.com). "It's about personal expression and a sense of community, the social dialogue that happens on front porches and over fences," Mr. Rojas said. In neighborhoods plagued by gang activity and crime, the shrines are rarely vandalized. "They are respected," he added. "It's a sacred space."

Masterminded mostly by women, each nacimiento is a portrait of its maker. Thus Christmastime in the Mexican-American precincts of Los Angeles resembles the Academy Awards: no bit of shrubbery shall remain undecorated. In the Pico Aliso neighborhood a mile from downtown, Veronica Aguilar and 16 members of her family have assembled an idealized miniature world in front of their stucco house in which pebbled walkways meander past foil ponds and moss-shrouded milk-crate mountains. A devil lighted luridly by a red bulb animates the sidewalk.
By contrast, the nacimiento of Victoria Vazquez, 84, in Boyle Heights is a thicket of faith and tin foil flickering in a jungle of foliage. "I want people to think it's beautiful," she said of her spiritual Shangri-La, whose wattage fluctuates with the electricity bills.
Her nacimiento, like so many others, is a designated stop in las posadas, a widely practiced Mexican custom that takes place on the nine nights before Christmas. In emulation of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter in Bethlehem, neighbors and family members gather to make candlelight processions, usually ending at a church. Along the way, they visit nacimientos and have fiestas that include the breaking of piñatas and lots of tamales, pan dulce and hot chocolate. On Christmas Eve, the niño, or baby Jesus figure, is placed in the nacimiento manger.

On Amber Place in the neighborhood of El Sereno, 200 residents parade around the block carrying papier-mâché figures. They pass the sidewalk nacimiento created, with a competitive instinct, by Donald and Hilda Navarret, a husband-and-wife team who try to outdo each other. Mr. Navarret's blue lights and Mrs. Navarret's stars hover over the manger amid tuberoses, begonias, poinsettias and pine cones dipped in glitter.
The neighborhoods that are home to many Mexican immigrants are also some of the city's oldest and densest. A rarity for Los Angeles, they are pedestrian neighborhoods where art flourishes in street murals, hand-painted storefronts and shrines. The miniature nacimiento scenes are a combination of rural Mexican villages and the Holy Land. "You have to walk to appreciate them," Mr. Rojas said. "It's not like the suburbs where you drive by looking at the nice lights."

Sonia Ibarra, who lives in El Sereno, cut up old plastic window blinds and pasted the strips together to form a house, a fruit stand, a gazebo, a well and, finally, a church with a bell tower. The town of her imagination, with its blue duct-tape river, recalls her home in Jalisco. Her husband, José Guadalupe-Ibarra, 44, a produce shipper, said her handiwork "is like Universal Studios."
"It will help the children not to get lost in life," he said.

While their function is primarily religious, the Los Angeles nacimientos — which go up after Dec. 12, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and usually come down after Jan. 6, the Feast of the Epiphany — also serve a cultural role. There are some common elements among the nacimientos, including the pilgrims Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus; a figure of the angel, the Three Kings; and often a cave made of mud or driftwood and a mountain with a tinsel waterfall. The figures, along with sheep, camels, cows, pigs, burros and other animals, are procured everywhere from Tijuana to Disneyland.

Many nacimientos are cultural mixed metaphors. In Monterey Park outside Los Angeles, for instance, Pedro Ruiz, a 56-year-old truck driver whose children were born in California, has divided his lawn into two zones: One is a riot of candy canes and plastic "Let It Snow" signs, and the other, a comparatively staid nacimiento. "This is America," he said, pointing to one side, "and this is Mexico," of the other.

Christmas abhors a vacuum, as Jovita Garcia, 71, who lives in Alhambra, proves in her living room every year. Her nacimiento, composed of more than 2,000 figures and counting, reflects the Mexican penchant for miniatures, sensuous surfaces and wild ornamental abandon. A two-tiered assemblage that takes months to construct, completely obscuring the fireplace, it combines heirloom ceramics with materials for the holy grottoes harvested during family vacations — pine cones from Yellowstone, sand and lava rocks from Hawaiian cruises, and tree trunks hauled back in the family station wagon from Sequoia National Park.
From its humble origins on her dining room-table, Mrs. Garcia's nacimiento has become a tableau of mesmerizing proportions, comprising thousands of tiny figures. While her sons-in-law live in fear of her daughters inheriting the collection, Mrs. Garcia prays that there not be a recurrence of the Northridge earthquake, the only quake-proofing she has being her deep faith. Her nacimiento includes tiny penguins, snowmen, swans and boats sailing on mirror lakes. "This is a part of the beauty God has given to the world," said Teresa Thompson, 48, the oldest of her eight children. "Now we're giving the beauty back to him.

On Vernacular Urbanism and Spiritual Space.

2007-12-17T22:30:00.001-08:00

About fifteen years ago, several homeowners decided to change the name from Sepulveda to North Hills in an attempt to shake off the negative perception that people have of Sepulveda Blvd. The trivial name change did very little to improve the quality of life for many of the residents (e.g. apartment dwellers) which live immediately east of the 405. The poverty, the landlord abuse, and the image of danger persisted. North Hills’ Langdon Avenue in particular holds some of highest population densities in Los Angeles County. The demographic consists predominately of immigrants and children, plenty of them. Langdon is also home to Langdon Avenue Gang, or simply “La Langdon.” As gang violence reached its peak in the communities of Panorama City and North Hills in the 1990’s, then City Attorney Jim Hahn began pursuing the first court-backed injunctions against gangs--the quintessental in the United States. Hahn first applied this tool in my old neighborhood of Blythe Street in the neighboring community of Panorama City. He would later apply this policy against North Hills’ Columbus Street gang a couple of blocks away, and then ultimately against la Langdon. These areas would also be the site of the first LAPD designed “defensive space” policing methods (e.g. no left turns, street obstructions). While concrete barricades at the neighborhood’s perimeter functioned to curtail auto-oriented drug sales, they also served to forever create the perception of a human hazard in need of containment.
The roadblocks have long been removed but its fringe image in the Valley-based Daily News continues. Many others however know of another North Hills, a place where neighbors circumvent any type of barrier, and in effect simultaneously transform front-yards into a place of cultural celebration and civic congregation. Like so many other impoverished communities in the L.A. metropolis, this is a site where the neighborhoods’ mothers provide the thrust to reclaim ownership to the street. Nearly a decade ago, the various mothers of Langdon organized themselves to a form a tightly-knit informal advocacy group known as Familias Unidas. Familias Unidas since then continues to play a critical role in assisting the formal governmental and policing structure, despite their migratory status.
To truly understand the spirit and tenacity of Familias Unidas, one must visit the block on the evening of December 12. On this night more than 500 people, predominately apartment tenants, converge at the intersection of Orion and Langdon to begin Familias’ Virgen de Guadalupe two mile procession around the neighborhood. The multitude snowballs as it continues its passage along the thick landscape of dwelling units. Residents await at the frontage of many of these buildings with their humble roses for the la Virgen Morena. Almost every single Langdon resident, including the cholillos and the LAPD, partakes in this ritual. The streets come alive with the sounds of chants, the sound of tambora or mariachi (depending on the year’s funding), and the vigor of a community affirming their existence. What began as an unrehearsed and unofficial cavalcade consisting of a few women self-directing traffic and snaking across the autoscape has evolved into the fabric of a community’s agency. On this evening, the cars at the adjacent 405 freeway will simply have to wait--the traffic and city will have pay homage to them.
In America’s quintessential suburb of the San Fernando Valley, this ritual is repeated in numerous apartment-lined blocks of the Latin American immigrant diaspora. In Northridge’s compact Bryant Street neighborhood, or simply “Tijuanita,” cul-de-sacs become the natural stage for a tradition spanning back centuries. In Canoga Park and North Hollywood the scene is almost identical. These festivities commence the beautiful celebrations that will continue into January with posadas, and the nativity scenes that begin adorning homes. While designers and planners alike receive APA & AIA awards for creating “ground-breaking” pedestrian-oriented communities, in their own very ways, these neighborhoods have already formulated the template for us to follow. Join us for the Nacimiento Bike Tour in January 2008.

See all the Images from procession:
North Hills Virgen de Guadalupe Slideshow

City of Los Angeles Planning Commission To Vote Today on Green Building Ordinance

2007-11-15T09:01:00.001-08:00

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on amending the L.A. Municipal Code to establish a Green Building Code. This would set a minimum threshold for buildings of 50,000 sq ft, or above 50 units to meet LEED certification. It would further formalize the collaboration between various city departments (e.g. LADWP, Public Works) and the mayor, I mean the city. In July Mayor Villaraigosa presented an environmental policy statement report outlining his vision for a more "sustainable" Los Angeles, this is part of it.

Expect the commission to approve the measure.

Los Angeles City Planning Commission

Google Map Mash Up

2007-11-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

We'll be unveiling a google map mash up specific to noteworthy places, constructed and in the vernacular sense. No new luxury housing construction projects a la Curbed LA, but sites where people create vibrancy outside of formal planning and architectural processes. In communities that are park poor and lack recreation places, ingenuity and practicality takes hold..and creates better planning solutions. See Hansen Dam

View Larger Map

Fresh N' Easy Opens in SoCal.

2007-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:00

The widely anticipated arrival of the euro-based grocery store Fresh N' Easy came this past Thursday, but all wasn't exactly fanfare. A coalition of community organizations, and labor groups have been pushing for Tesco (owner of Fresh N' Easy) to grant community benefits agreements since the middle of summer. The call & need for these concessions have been substantiated by a report/study released in August by Occidental College's Urban & Environmental Policy Research Institute. Look for Fresh n' Easy's expansion to not be so easy after all, considering all the fresh labor led victories against Wal Mart throughout L.A. County. The first operating store within the City of L.A. municipality is in Glassell Park, which lies within the Assembly District of labor champion Assemblymember Kevin De León (AD-45) whom I sure will be play a leading role as this thing plays out. Shoot, there's already a certificate from the office of AD-45 right near the human-operated cashiers, yes, a differentiation needs to be made, visit & see for yourself...and park in the obnoxious family parking stalls.

Below is a press conference held in front of the Glassell Park with various LA heavies, including Maria Elena Durazo, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer with the LA County Fed. of Labor

"Good Groceries Gampaign"

Good Grocery Stores

Immigrants are transforming the urban landscape of Los Angeles, and its dense

2007-11-08T22:14:00.001-08:00

Check out the article on the Latino Urban Forum featured in Real Talk LA. Excellent commentary by both James and Hilda Delgado on the urban shaping of L.A. by immigrants.

Real Talk LA

Great Concert at La Plaza Olvera

2007-10-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles: Que circo es esta ciudad

Don't miss it.

Maldita Vecindad, Aterciopelados, Alejandra Guzman, Calle 13

Saturday, Nov 10, 2007

La Plaza Olvera

5pm - 9pm

10 bucks

Tickets

Porter en Los Angeles.

2007-09-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, Porter (Guadalajara, JAL,MX.) will perform in the U.S. & they're playing in Los Angeles first! They crept up as far as Tijuana & Mexicali but now they're finally coming to L.A. This is going to be one hot azz show.

Fri. October 12 at 7:30 p.m. @ Ford Amphitheatre

Very cool... (from Elva Yanez a couple minutes ago)

2007-09-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

In a unanimous victory, 15 to 0, the City Council voted to assert authority over the Board of Public Works’ recent action to approve the building permit and related items for Tract 35022, the controversial development of 24 luxury homes on Elephant Hill in El Sereno. This matter will now move to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

In a powerful show of unity, the Council expressed its displeasure with the Board’s disregard for their legislative authority and action that made an already complex issue even more complicated.

Please take a moment and thank all the Councilmembers for their vote today (see email addresses below). Special thanks and recognition are due to Councilmember Huizar for his persistent and courageous defense of his constituents’ right to environmental protections under the law from those agencies responsible for land use and development. Many thanks are also due to Councilmember Reyes for his eloquent defense of equal environmental and public safety protections for eastside residents while simultaneously addressing open space conservation and watershed improvements.

Approximately 70 people showed up for the hearing including many residents from El Sereno (including among others Ramona Chavez, Olga Quinones, Michael Carreon, Sylvia Wallis, Tom Williamson and Casey Reagan) and greater Northeast LA. Many thanks to Stephanie Taylor, Jonathan Parfrey and Glen Dake of environmental coalition GREEN LA for helping organize the educational outreach and the mobilization for this hearing.

Special thanks also for the groups who turned out numerous attendees including Latino Urban Forum, SCOPE/AGENDA, Northeast Trees and LA-32 Neighborhood Council.

Local elected officials also sent representatives to the meeting including:

Assemblymember Kevin de Leon (District 45)
Assemblymember Anthony Portantino (District 44)
Senator Gloria Romero (District 24)

Helping us fill out one entire side of the chamber were individual representatives from the following organizations:

Audubon Center at Debs Park
Baldwin Hills Conservancy
El Sereno Residents for Responsible Land Use and Development
Glassell Park Improvement Association
Greater El Sereno Chamber of Commerce
Hillside Environmental and Safety Coalition
LA Community Garden Council
Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority
Mujeres de la Tierra
National Resources Defense Council
Rivers and Mountains Conservancy
Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
Save Elephant Hill
Scenic Arroyo Seco

Stay tuned for the details on the actual motion language, the upcoming PLUM hearing and formation of a formal coalition. A replay of the actual hearing will be aired by City of Los Angeles ’ Channel 35 tonight at 7:30 p.m.

Thanks to all those who wanted to attend but had to work, but were at the hearing in spirit. Words cannot capture our gratitude to the many individuals and organizations who submitted letters, emails, and calls, and also offered encouragement and support to help us keep pressing on with this campaign.

Mil gracias!

Elva Yanez

· Ed Reyes (CD 1) – jill.sourial@lacity.org

· Wendy Gruel (CD 2) – dale.thrush@lacity.org

· Dennis Zine (CD 3) - jonathan.brand@lacity.org

· Tom LaBonge (CD 4) – renee.weitzer@lacity.org

· Jack Weiss (CD 5) – lisa.hansen@lacity.org

· Tony Cardenas (CD 6) – vanessa.soto@lacity.org

· Richard Alarcon (CD 7) – jose.sigala@lacity.org

· Bernard Parks (CD 8) – dilara.rodriquez@lacity.org

· Jan Perry (CD 9) – greg.fischer@lacity.org

· Herb Wesson (CD 10) – andrew.westall@lacity.org

· Bill Rosenthal (CD 11) - grieg.asher@lacity.org

· Grieg Smith (CD 12) – nicole.bernson@lacity.org

· Eric Garcetti (CD 13) – sam.siegel@lacity.org

· Jose Huizar (CD 14) – jessica.wethingtonmcLean@lacity.org

· Janice Hahn (CD 15) - frank.hong@lacity.org

Route 99--San Fernando Road in their own words

2007-09-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of my friends, San Fernando natives, are doing various mini-stories on the communities of the Northeast San Fernando Valley. This is the first of a series that they are producing, from this side of L.A.

San Fernando Road

Zoé Performs Outdoors--John Anson Theater

2007-08-26T00:34:00.001-07:00

¿Who says LUF is pura cosa seria? For those fans of excellent indie, peep the always kick ass Zoé at the outdoor Anson. Muy nice. It's great seeing these bands getting space at this particular venue. I saw Nortec Collective perform here as well for the LA Film Festival two months ago & it was off the rails!! No doubt, Zoé will bring that same vibe to the hills of hollywood.

14.Septiembre.2007 / Zoé en Los Angeles
Venue: John Anson Ford Amphitheater
Ciudad: Los Angeles, California
Info: Zoe with Los Abandoned at Ford Amphitheatre

Fourh Street Bike Ride

2007-08-25T14:08:00.000-07:00

The 4th Street Bike Ride (A potential Bike Boulevard)

The Fourth Street Bicycle Ride with Councilman Tom Labonge was very inspirational. Right when you think it is impossible to create a sustainable transportation system in car-crazy LA, this bike ride gives you hope for the future.

I started the evening after work at Union Station by hopping on the Purple Line, bicycle in tow. I rode the train to the Wilshire/Vermont Station. From this station I rode my bike a few short blocks to Shatto Park on Fourth Street near Vermont.

After a few remarks from Councilman Labonge on the importance of bike riding to solve LA’s congestion problem, 25 to 30 cyclists set off on a six-mile bike ride along Fourth Street. The nice ocean breeze cooled down the asphalt and made it a very pleasant ride. We rode over the gentle rolling hills of Mid-City LA.

Our bicycle police escorts made us feel very safe on the otherwise dangerous streets of LA. I would have never done this bike ride otherwise! They helped us ride through the many Mid-City streets without stopping and made it easy cross busy streets like Vermont, Western and Highland.

The pace of the group allowed us to talk to each and make new friends. Someone even brought music for the ride. For a few seconds it was great to reclaim Fourth Street as a pleasant temporary open space.

By a stroke of luck of pure, much-welcomed luck the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has not molested Fourth Street by removing parkways to widen it. Fourth Street is narrow and comfortable by LA standards and is a treasure trove of urban history, architecture, and diversity. The street changes from straight to nice gentle curves resembling the street of a nice Mid-Western historic suburb. The landscape along Fourth Street improves drastically from a landscape-poor street to a nice tree-lined street. Biking through the narrow streets of Hancock Park reminded me of riding on the bike boulevards of Palo Alto.

Lining Fourth Street in Mid-City are Gothic, Spanish and other eclectic multi-family buildings built in the 1920’s , with a new few stucco boxes thrown in for good measure. The dense neighborhoods house many Latinos and Asians. Many of these residents were gathered in green spots in the front or side yards, parkways or on their balconies, out enjoying the cool breezes. These dense neighborhoods of Mid-City then gave way to single-family homes in Hancock Park.

We rode along until we reached Park LaBrea and made a quick pitstop at the Fire Station on Third Street. From here we rode back and stopped at 31 Flavors ice cream shop, in Larchmont Village, for some free ice cream cones. By than it was dark and we proceed back to Shatto Park. As a cyclist I realize how important it is to have lighted bike paths, because in the dark it hard to spot the pot holes!

Fourth Street has the potential to become the City’s first bike boulevard. This bike route is a great east-west linkage in Mid-City, that can connect downtown with places like the Grove trendy Westside places.

The bike ride made me realize what a great biking city LA could become with the proper infrastructure investment. The bike movement in this city has been dominated by athletic males who can out smart cars, and feel we do not need bike lanes, paths or boulevards. For a vast majority of Angelenos, however riding a bike in this city is seen as a death wish. People act so surprise when I tell them I bike to work through downtown streets. I always reassure them that I bike very slowly on sidewalks making eye contact with every car driver on my way to work. It’s not worth getting hit by a car. Downtown needs bike boulevards!

As a transportation planner it is important to understand the geography of LA, how people move through it and what the mobility trends are.

Because this bike ride was a success, Councilman Tom Labonge will be hosting a bike ride on the last Thursday of the month. I will keep the team updated on this rides.

For more information, contact Carolyn Ramsay at (213)473-2340 or Carolyn.ramsay@lacity.org.

pe.com article from Lys Mendez

2007-08-22T09:18:00.001-07:00

Lys Mendez [lysmendez@hotmail.com] has sent you a story from pe.com.
(Page at: http://www.pe.com/localnews/southwestarea/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sbikes22.3e6e4a9.html)

An opportunity for a suburban city to plan ahead may be lost to, again, revolve around the car.
======================================================================

Planned bike lanes causing problems for Temecula
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
By CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTEThe Press-Enterprise

TEMECULA - A small item on the city's master plan to promote quality of life has caused more consequences than intended.

Adding bike lanes to Meadows Parkway would force hundreds of cars off the street and into nearby residential areas, especially near Temecula Middle School, prompting school officials, parents and neighbors to question the move.

When the road is striped for bikes, cars cannot park or stop at any time. That would affect traffic and parking at three of the district's schools -- Rancho Elementary, Vintage Hills Elementary and Temecula Middle. Officials say the street is too narrow for both parking and bike lanes.

(PHOTO:

Story continues below

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Members of the Temecula City Council and the Temecula Valley Unified School District board met Tuesday at the middle school to discuss the situation and possible solutions.

The committee reached no decision but asked staff from both sides to continue working on ideas.

"I would love to see both, but I doubt it would happen," said parent May Lora, whose children attend Vintage Hills, Temecula Middle and Temecula Valley High.

Bike lanes have been planned for Meadows Parkway since 1993, when the city adopted its master plan. However, officials wanted to wait for development to arrive on both sides of the road before striping them, City Manager Shawn Nelson said.

School Trustee Barbara Tooker said officials should consider the growth the city has since experienced.

Temecula Middle School, on Meadows Parkway, is the district's largest middle school with about 1,300 students. Built in 1990, the campus doesn't have enough parking for its staff, let alone parents ferrying their children to and from school.

The school district already has decided to convert some grassy areas on campus into additional staff parking, but is still unsure how to address the traffic flow without affecting student safety or nearby residences.

Principal Rob Sousa said no access to Meadows Parkway could cause some parents to park illegally or let their children out at unsafe places. Also, students could dart into traffic.

"I am concerned that having no parking will cause people to make poor decisions," Sousa said.

Traffic from parents who use Meadows Parkway already spills onto side streets.

"In the morning, sometimes we can't get in and out of our driveways," said Gene Chalkley, who lives on Camino Alagon along the west side of Temecula Middle School.

Chalkley said the problem isn't just caused by school parents, but continues at night and on weekends when the campus converts to a city park.

"If you take Meadows away, that's going to make a bad situation impossible," he said.

Parent Carol Buck, who lives in Temecula Valley Wine Country, said parents could ignore the bike lanes.

"I think parents are still going to park there and hope they won't get a ticket," she said.

Bill Bibb, who lives on Calle Marquis near the school, said he rides his bike almost daily and sees the dangers.

"Clearly, there has to be a solution to this problem, but I don't think we should do it at the cost of either side," he said. "Bikes are going to be there and so are parents."

Councilwoman Maryann Edwards agreed.

"It's a school and it's a neighborhood," she said. "The two have to coexist."

Reach Claudia Bustamante at 951-375-3740 or cbustamante@PE.com

LAtino Urban Forum Site Redux

2007-08-21T23:35:00.001-07:00

¡Saaaaaz! LAtino Urban Forum's website is up n' going again. Newly (and constantly updated) material ranging from stories to digital media...non-stop. Newly added features & sections that accommodate for podcasting (video etc.) and other visual forms of communication. We're planners, urban designers, architects...what else did u expect? We just ain't gonna "discuss," "analyze" or "rant" about things, we're going to create & visualize them. Bookmark and check often, shoot subscribe to the RSS feeds or whatever else is in there. Blast James on your earphone set, "what you listening to sunn? That new that new LUF Digital Panel dunn! its blaazzzin"

Saz

Latino Urban Forum

Vigil for Arellano/cry for justice on steps of federal building

2007-08-21T20:17:00.001-07:00

About 150 supporters of Elvira Arellano attended a vigil and press conference late afternoon yesterday in front of the federal building on Los Angeles Street downtown. Reacting angrily to the arrest and deportation of Arellano on Sunday – the undocumented-immigrant-turned-activist who had been harbored at a church sanctuary for about a year in Chicago – the group vowed to continue the fight for justice in the form of green cards to the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the US.

(Attending the vigil along with immigrant-rights and social-justice groups CHIRLA and CLUE was Bienestar, a gay Latino health-services organization, which took the opportunity to both show support for the deported Arellano as well as to call for justice another, lesser-known Arellano, a yet unluckier victim of immigration authorities: Victoria Arellano, a transgender woman who died last month for lack of medical attention in a detention center while awaiting deportation. An AIDS patient, the 23-year-old’s desperate appeals for access to her confiscated medications was denied throughout the months she was held and only received medical care once it was too late. You can read about her wrongful death and the scandalous conditions of US immigration detention centers at http://www.bibdaily.com/pdfs/Denied%20Medication2.pdf. A rally protesting her death is planned next week on Monday at the same place, 300 North Los Angeles Street.)

Arellano and her 8-year-old son, who was born in the US, were on a speaking tour across the country calling for such immigration reform. Though she and supporting activists say they always knew she could end up arrested and deported, they were probably betting the Bush Administration would back off in recognition of the symbolic power of Arellano’s actions. But it looks like the strategy backfired, for the Bushies are desperate to look tough after a string of recent defeats: losing control of Congress, failure in Iraq, failure to reform immigration law, etc.

Or maybe the strategy didn’t fail. Even though Arellano didn’t get very far, the event may serve to galvanize pro-immigrant supporters and church leaders to energize the fledgling sanctuary movement and push more strongly for fair immigration reform.

Perhaps one way Arellano could continue to fight for immigrants in the US while living south of the border would be if immigrant-rights groups north of the border provide her with financial support while she presses the Mexican government to take up the immigrants’ cause. This is an issue Mexicans of every political stripe would support. Yet in his meeting this past weekend with Mexico’s NAFTA partners (the US and Canada), President Calderon’s priorities hardly included bettering the lot of poor Mexicans – north or south of the border. Instead, the conservative leaders of the three countries discussed further liberalization of their economies, which benefit their corporate supporters at the expense of the poor. Free trade is to blame for deteriorating quality of life and social security in all three countries through the loss of well-paying jobs in the US and Canada and by overwhelming Mexico’s farmers with cheap (subsidized) agricultural products that run them off the land and, ultimately, out of the country. A Mexican president concerned about the poor would defy US pressure to maintain laissez-faire policies and would begin to more-fairly redistribute the country’s vast wealth, reducing poor Mexicans’ need to emigrate. Or… he would demand that free trade in North America took after that in the European Union, where all factors of production, including labor, are able to freely cross borders.

Icy, spicy, cool

2007-08-21T20:16:00.001-07:00

This story was sent to you by: lys mendez

The LA Times went crazy over the Pinkberry yogurt wars on the Westside, and it seems like they recently discovered the iced wonders that Latinos have enjoyed in the barrio for decades.

--------------------
Icy, spicy, cool
--------------------

Handmade

By Betty Hallock

August 22 2007

SUMMERTIME is paleta time. These Mexican ice pops -- chock-full of chunks of fresh fruit and available in a hypnotizing array of colors and clear, not-too-sweet flavors -- conjure images of hot afternoons in the park, time spent on a bench under a shady tree, clear blue skies dotted with red, white and green balloons.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-paletas22aug22,0,4238103.story?coll=la-home-middleright

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Sunset Junction

2007-08-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sad but true Sunset Junction is no longer what it used to be. I have been going since the early nineties. The people, prices and place has changed. Back then it was $3 dollars and the crowd was very diverse. The diversity made it interesting. Families, gays, straights all doing their own thing. Today its generic hippster! It look very boring. This time around I did not bother to go inside. I guess I will have to find some where else to hang out.

James Rojas

Treepeople--11th Hour 2nd Showing

2007-08-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

Nate commented earlier about the screening of the film "11th Hour," which will also be showing at the Arclight in Hollywood. You can also probably get it before then in front of el Mercado del Valley en Pacoima. Here's the link from Tri Peepol's volunteer e-mail.

Tri pipol Link

Wednesday, Aug. 22
7:30 p.m.
$11 admission
Arclight Cinema

Website Almost there

2007-08-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Between personal life, school, work, activism, and photography....its Almost there! Just working out some server/domain issues. ANyhow, check out the screenshot of the newly Added Places section. In this section we will showcase interesting destination points a la Latino urbanism in SoCal. You won't find the future Downtown LA Earth Cafe or the new hipster bar, but you will find a guide to the Murals on Broadway. Peep it.

LUF Blogger at LAist

2007-08-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

LUF Blogger Lys has been invited to post over at the mega-popular L.A. centric site LAist!

Her first two posts feature an interview with "Departures" creator Juan Devis, and an announcement about El Vez's recent performance this past Saturday... (Hopefully, she'll not forget about the blogito.)

Sunset Junction no longer welcomes the poor

2007-08-19T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Sunset Junction Street Fair seems to have officially departed from its original mission of bringing together and improving relations between the working-class Latino families and the gay men and women coexisting in Silverlake.

In a sad and ironic twist, the increasingly famous annual two-day event - which was held this weekend for the 27th time - had an admissions fee of $15 per person and turned away anyone who couldn't come up with the money, explaining why so extremely few families with children could be seen making their way through the multitudes. In the past, donations were asked for at the entrance but not required, allowing poorer (as well as stingier) folks to get in, though they still had pay inflated prices for a drink or a bite to eat once inside. This year, the crowd appeared to be mostly white, often gay, and between ages 22 and 50.

The event appeared to be well attended despite the entrance fee, reflecting its rising popularity among people in other neighborhoods who are willing to drive in to have a good time. But perhaps it also reflects another, sadder truth: poor Latino families have already been priced out not only of the fair, but of Silverlake and, increasingly, the city.

The 11th Hour

2007-08-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

The 11th Hour opens in L.A. today (and New York). Last night, a pre-screening was held, followed by a "panel discussion" featuring FOLAR executive director Shelly Backlar and an air quality guy I can't remember the name of, MC'd by a guy from 97.1's Free FM. I got my free ticket because I receive updates from F.O.L.A.R. I assume that's probably where James received his invitation as well; he was a couple rows behind me and said hello as a friend and I made our way to a couple of the last remaining seats in the moments before the film started.

It's a pretty good movie. I could have done with a little less of Leo and his voice over (DeCaprio produced the film). But he honestly didn't over do it, and as my friend also argued, he'll probably help attract more people to watch this kind of necessary viewing that tends to get overlooked. It features a number of experts, and a couple of my personal favorites, including Wes Jackson of The Land Institute, and William McDonough, author of a great book, Cradle to Cradle, and others from a variety of disciplines, backgrounds, and traditions. (I actually observed one guy pumping a fist when Andy Lipkis, of Tree People, made an appeance--which I found a little amusing). I was especially glad to see the documentary get hopeful at the end. I find the gloom and doom approach to be a little ridiculous and harping in most instances. But things are in dire straits, and the movie does a good job of detailing our realities comprehensively, while the healthy stock of hope helps make it easier to confront the issues we need to.

I found the "panel discussion" at the end to be a little disappointing. Too many people shouting out their own PSAs about their own organizations (LUF refrained from doing so, thankfully), with too few really thoughtful questions posed to the panelists. The almost best one, to me, was when a woman asked, What's the most daunting challenge of the panelists' work, excluding finding resources? Backlar responded that the toughest challenge is focusing on what can be done, and what should be done by FOLAR in particular, out of the whole host of good options and work that needs to be done. Tellingly, the air quality guy said the toughest challenge is resources, resources, resources. Which leads me to what I think would have been the best question asked last night if I had been able to articulate it and pose it in time:

When non-profits have to compete with each other for resources, from constituent citizens and government and foundation grants, how are they not to get caught up in the ends game of securing money and growth?

Collaboration seems to be key. But collaboration is tough, especially considering that our systems and institutions seem to design our organizations to compete wth each other to each other's death...

11th Hour's companion action site is at 11thhouraction.com.

Community street fair in BH on August 18

2007-08-17T22:49:00.000-07:00

Organized by Unión de Vecinos, Boyle Heights's first community street fair to feature entirely local merchants and organizations will take place tomorrow at Fickett and Cesar Chavez. Unlike other fairs around here, such as the one on the Sixth Street bridge, it is almost entirely the very señoras living in the neighborhood who are getting together to make this happen. Sweeping and scrubbing sidewalks, and picking up trash, setting up shop and cooking at home the food to be sold there... they're making the event possible.

An essential part of the event will be several educational workshops on various themes, such as tenants' rights, how to fight an eviction, how to get health and housing codes enforced and other issues faced by local residents.

Unión de Vecinos as as association of residents in BH that includes both landlords and tenants seeking to improve the quality of life in the community. A branch of the group is the Sindicato de Inquilinos, which is a tenants' union.

Anyway, it'll be worth checking out.

URGENT: Elephant Hill Update & Alert

2007-08-17T13:20:00.001-07:00

Action Alert * Action Alert * Action Alert * Action Alert * Action Alert

Huizar Pushes Back Against Surprise Action to Approve Elephant Hill Building Permits

August 17, 2007

On Wednesday, August 15th, Councilmember Jose Huizar submitted a motion (below) under Charter Section 245 that would assert City Council jurisdiction over the surprise vote by the Board of Public Works (BPW) on August 8^th to approve the building permits for Tract 35022 on Elephant Hill. Councilmember Huizar's motion will come before City Council at 10 a.m., Tuesday, September 11, 2007.

The Board of Public Works (BPW) acted on recommendations by the Bureau of Engineering. Bureau staff testified that, because the June 20^th Council motion requiring a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) for Tract 35022 did not specifically address the building permit issue, it was OK for the BPW to approve it. Complicating matters, on July 26^th developer Monterey Hills Investors filed a lawsuit against the City Council's SEIR action.

In order for Huizar's motion to pass and the Council to gain authority over the BPW action, a two thirds (2/3) vote by the full Council is required. This means there must be 10 votes in favor of this motion. Please take action today to ensure that reason and environmental justice prevail over the developer's onerous tactics and insider politics. Together we can continue to make a difference!

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Write, email or call Councilmember Huizar thanking him for introducing this motion and his continued leadership to ensure environmental protections for the residents of El Sereno.

· Jose Huizar (CD 14) Jessica.WethingtonMcLean@lacity.org or 213-473-7014; Address: 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Write or email City Councilmembers asking them to support Huizar's motion to assert authority over the BPW building permit approval for Tract 35022 and uphold their vote for an SEIR for this project. The mailing address for all Councilmembers: 200 N. Spring St. , Los Angeles , CA 90012 . Email addresses follow:

· Ed Reyes (CD 1) – jill.sourial@lacity.org

· Wendy Gruel (CD 2) – dale.thrush@lacity.org

· Dennis Zine (CD 3) - jonathan.brand@lacity.org

· Tom LaBonge (CD 4) – renee.weitzer@lacity.org

· Tony Cardenas (CD 6) – vanessa.soto@lacity.org

· Richard Alarcon (CD 7) – jose.sigala@lacity.org

· Bernard Parks (CD 8) – delara.rodriquez@lacity.org

· Jan Perry (CD 9) – greg.fischer@lacity.org

· Herb Wesson (CD 10) – andrew.westall@lacity.org

· Bill Rosenthal (CD 11) - grieg.asher@lacity.org

· Eric Garcetti (CD 13) – sam.siegel@lacity.org

· Janice Hahn (CD 15) - frank.hong@lacity.org

Attend the City Council meeting where Councilmember Huizar's motion will be heard at 10 a.m., Tuesday, September 11, in Council Chambers, Room 340, City Hall., 200 S. Spring Street (enter on Main).

For more information contact: saveelephanthills@yahoo.com.

* * * * * * *

MOTION -Submitted August 15, 2007

On November 28, 2006, the City Council referred a Motion (Huizar-Hahn) to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee that requested, among other things: (1) That the Planning Department, Building and Safety and the Bureau of Engineering, with the assistance of the City Attorney, to prepare a report, to determine whether the most recent grading plans and designs for the Pueblo Subdivision, evaluated against the previous Environmental Impact Report No. 172-85 (SUB)(REC), and its associated Statement of Overriding Considerations, trigger the need for a subsequent or supplemental Environmental Impact Report; (2) Whether new information of substantial importance related to the hydrology of the hillside triggers the need for a subsequent or supplemental Environmental Impact Report; (3) Whether all feasible mitigation measures, in light of substantial changes to the project and new information, have been incorporated into the Pueblo Subdivision Project; and (4) Whether any other circumstances exist that would merit conducting further environmental review under t he California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including CEQA Guidelines (Sections 15162-15164).

The Motion further requested that no discretionary, ministerial action or approval be granted for the Pueblo Subdivision Project, or any portion thereof, by the Planning Department, Building and Safety and the Bureau of Engineering, until the above-described report is presented to the City Council.

On June 20, 2007, the City Council took the following two actions regarding this matter:
(1) "Received and Filed" the report of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee that was submitted without recommendation; and (2) Adopted a Verbal Motion (Huizar-Zine) relative to whether a further Environmental Impact Report (EIR) is required for the Pueblo Subdivision Project, to "require that a supplemental EIR be completed for this Project."

On August 8, 2007, the Board of Public Works adopted a recommendation of the City Engineer to: (1) Complete the remaining ministerial actions of issuing a B-Permit for work specified in the conditions for both Tract (No. 35022) and Parcel (No. AA-205-0849-PMLA) maps; (2) Process the Resolution of Acceptance for the dedication of land for the Pullman Street realignment adopted by the City Council on September 28, 2005; (3) Accept the final parcel map for recordation; and (4) Issue all other ministerial permits associated with the development of the Pueblo Avenue Subdivision (Elephant Hill).

The action of the Board to issue the B-Permits and take the other described actions is inconsistent with the City Council directive that supplemental environmental review be conducted on this project before it proceeds.

I THEREFORE MOVE the City Council take the necessary steps to assert jurisdiction over the August 8, 2007, action of the Board of Public Works in adopting a report of the City Engineer recommendation to (1) Complete the remaining ministerial actions of issuing a B-Permit for work specified in the conditions for both Tract (No. 35022) and Parcel (No. AA-205-0849-PMLA) maps; (2) Process the Resolution of Acceptance for the dedication of land for the Pullman Street realignment adopted by the City Council on September 28, 2005; (3) Accept the final parcel map for recordation; and (4) Issue all other ministerial permits associated with the development of the Pueblo Avenue Subdivision (Elephant Hill).

I FURTHER MOVE that upon assertion of jurisdiction by the City Council, that this matter be referred to the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

PRESENTED BY Councilmember Jose Huizar

SECONDED BY Councilmember Tom LaBonge

Affordable Housing Article--San Fernando Sun

2007-08-16T08:47:00.002-07:00

For all the folks interested in affordable housing, but then again who shouldn't be!? There's a couple of stories on affordable housing, testimonials, stats in this week's edition. Imma start living online soon enough, the rent is cheaper here anyway. Personalized addresses, saz!
Um, the link won't post, weak. ok no such thing as free rent, cut n' paste it homies.

http://sanfernandosun.com

(EDIT: since Cowboy Galactico didn't know how, I snuck and in hyperlinked it for ustedes... and here's a link to one of the specific articles he mentioned: "Housing Remains at Crisis Stage in Los Angeles County" - Nate)

Northeast Los Angeles Planning Session

2007-08-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

Councilman Jose Huizar's second community-based planning discussion in Eagle Rock on Tuesday focused on the future of smart growth in Los Angeles.

The panelists included: Mike Woo, city planning commissioner; Emily Gabel-Luddy of the Urban Design Studio with the city; Woodie Tescher with EIP Associates; William Fain with Johnson Fain, who all spoke about the virtues of creating transit-based development around the city.

Several noteworthy points were brought up in the discussion: If we laid out every space dedicated to parking in Los Angeles, it would cover 81 percent of the city. The average Los Angeles car carries 1.2 people per ride. Only four percent of the city is dedicated to open space, compared to 17 percent for New York City. Repeatedly, the panelist discussed the ills that we already know plague the city - that we are too car-centered, that cities weren't designed to encourage pedestrian use, and that our auto-centered culture is no longer sustainable.

I was disappointed at the lack of diversity among the audience and panelists, especially in a council district such as Huizar's, considering that these sessions are meant to make planning issues accessible to the community. I submitted several questions on the impact of so-called "smart growth" on the gentrification of our communities and it was barely discussed or properly answered. However, the awareness that issues of density, land use, how we move around, and the creation of liveable communities was actively discussed. Although no exact vision for how it will all come together was articulated, the discussion seems to be moving along and involving the various agencies with a stake in community development.

Huizar will hold two more sessions:
Economic Development - Encouraging Small Business
Wed., Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
El Sereno Senior Center, 4818 Klamath Place

Historic Preservation - A Link to Revitalization
Tues., Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.
Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, 2225 Colorado Blvd.

"Southland home sales hit 12-year low"

2007-08-16T00:24:00.001-07:00

This story highlighted a few things for me:

1) People consider low-income neighborhoods as "entry-level" homes, meaning they have no interest in settling there and starting a community.

2) The housing market is a reflection of the destabilization of the lower and middle class, who can lose all the have very quickly because of the lack of a safety net.

3) An economy based on housing speculation is unsustainable.

--------------------
Southland home sales hit 12-year low
--------------------

Even most creditworthy borrowers are feeling the crunch.

By Annette Haddad
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 15 2007

Would-be home buyers in Southern California continued to sit on the sidelines last month, driving down home sales to their slowest pace in 12 years and pushing down prices in the region's less-expensive neighborhoods, data released Tuesday showed.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-homes15aug15,1,3968915.story?coll=la-headlines-california

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

NYTimes.com: "Cybermural: The Web as the Wall"

2007-08-15T00:16:00.000-07:00

Boyle Heights makes it to the New York Times. An interesting story on the intersections of art, gentrification, changing urban landscapes and Latino urbanism.

ARTS / ART & DESIGN | August 12, 2007
Art: Cybermural: The Web as the Wall
By CAROL KINO
An online travelogue strongly suggests a new twist on the Los Angeles muralism of the 1970s...

the LUF bomb

2007-08-14T12:24:00.000-07:00

About to drop the LUF bomb within the next 2 days. Newly Designed & formatted and CONSTANTLY updated website. Too many "urbanist"/downtown LA & "me" driven blogs/site are monopolizing urban space discussion on Los Angeles. its time.

-victor

Weekly Calendar

2007-08-13T00:11:00.000-07:00

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of August 13, 2007

1. Cornfields State Park Meeting

2. Global Warming Forum

3. Discussion: smart growth • urban design • transit development

4. Parking Day LA Lecture

5. City Housing Element

6. LA Architects in China and the Far East

7. Discussion: economic development • encouraging small business

8. Parking Day LA

9. Discussion: historic preservation • a link to revitalization

10. 2008 APA State Conference Brainstorming

11. Conference: California Walks

12. Conference: APA State Conference, San Jose

13. Conference: Walk 21

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

15. Article LA Times Downtown LA

Introductory Transportation Planning Class!

Regional Land Use & Transportation Planning, Transit Planning and Operations Class. Projects to be discussed include: SCAG Regional Transportation Plan, Playa Vista TDM program, Pasadena Mobility Element, Universal Studios Master Plan and many others. Pat Gibson is a transportation planner and excellent instructor! This is a great introductory course on transportation and land use. I have taken this very informative class. Register on line at East Los Angeles College . For more details contact Pat Gibson at (310) 458-9916

Class meets on Wednesdays from Sept. 5. 2007 to Dec. 12, 2007 at Metro Headquarters. Time: 6:00 to 9:00.

Informational session Thursday, Aug. 16 @ noon at Metro Union Station Room!

James Rojas

Visit www.latinourbanforum.org or Myspace.com/ LatinoUrbanForum

And especially, the Blogito!
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Tuesday August 14, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m.

Please join California State Parks and Hargreaves Associates for a community meeting about the next phase of work for the park.

Location: St. Peter's Italiana Church
1051 N. Broadway, Los Angeles
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Thursday, August 16, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Global Warming Forum

Congresswoman Hilda Solis will be hosting a Global Warming Forum.

The purpose of the event is to discuss local challenges and opportunities facing Los Angeles County as a result of climate change. To be addressed are: 1) pressures on local resources, 2) initiatives underway in Greater Los Angeles to protect communities against these impacts and 3) economic opportunities associated with actions to become more energy efficient and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Location: California State University , Los Angeles
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Friday, August 17, 2007 @ Noon
Park(ing) Day Los Angeles Lecture

September 21, 2007.

Come join the at Farmlab Public Salon and learn about what is Park(ing) Day, and how to get involved.

Based on a successful event started by the ReBAR Group and the Trust for Public Land in San Francisco , on Park(ing) day, local folks reclaim public space by creating temporary parks in parking spaces throughout the city. Caravans of bicyclists deliver sod, potted trees, benches and chairs. Pedestrians stop and relax on their way through the city.

Park(ing) Day creates a dialog about cities, creativity, lack of open space, and how much real estate we give over to our cars. Salon will include showing the ReBAR group's 16-minute Parking Day documentary

http://farmlab.org/2007/06/farmlab-pubic-salon-parking-day-friday.html

Location: Farmlab

Near Cornfields
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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 @ 7 pm

SMART GROWTH • URBAN DESIGN • TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT

Panelist: William Fain, FAIA, Johnson Fain Architects, Emily Gabel-Luddy, Urban Design Studio, City of Los Angeles, Woodie Tescher, EIP Associates, a Division of PBS&J, Mike Woo, Los Angeles City Planning Commission

Location: Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd. Los Angeles , CA 90041

____________ _________ _________ _________ _______

LA City is updating its Housing Element. Please attend if you are interested in shaping the Housing Element. Contact Naomi Guth (info at the bottom) for further information.

Housing Preservation
Thursday, August 16th
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Location TBD

Housing Preservation
Thursday, August 23rd
2:00 - 4:00 pm
Location TBD

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

Wednesday, August 29, 7PM-9:30PM
LA Architects in China and the Far East

AIA/ Los Angeles Urban Design Committee

In August we have the rare pleasure of a presentation by FOUR premiere LA architects presenting recent work in China and Korea . After a brief presentation by the four participants, there will be a moderated discussion focusing on challenges and opportunities for architecture and urban design in the Far East , and the varying design philosophies of the panelists.
Presenters/Panelist s
Robert Shaffer, AIA, Associate Principal, Johnson Fain will present several recent projects in China including Central Business District in Beijing
James Mary O'Connor, AIA, Principal Moore Ruble Yudell will present ChunSenBiAn master planning project in Chongquing, China
Herb Nadel, FAIA, Chairman and CEO, Nadel Architects will present Hunan Urban Village, Seoul, Korea

Robert Jernigan, AIA, Principal / Managing Director, Gensler will present Shanghai Pudong Development Bank

RSVP by Tuesday, August 28 to stephanie_reich@ longbeach. gov

Location: AIA/LA Offices

Wiltern Building

3870 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 800

___________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ____

Friday September 21, 2007

Parking Day LA

Imagine turning a metered parking space into a park. In 2005 a small group out of San Francisco called Rebar, did just that. Rebar opened eyes worldwide with their comment on the lack of quality open space in American cities. Their goal was to reclaim parking spaces and streets for people to rest, relax and play while:

· Promoting a critical dialogue among artists, designers, activists, residents, corporations, and government regarding the need for urban open space and the way in which streets are currently used.

· Energizing civic life by questioning basic assumptions about urban space while offering provocative and meaningful alternatives.

· Connecting artists, designers, and activists with ways to permanently reclaim the street for people.

Here in Los Angeles , a diverse group of committed professionals have been inspired by this idea and have come together to bring Park[ing] Day to Los Angeles on September 21, 2007. In the spirit of Rebar's goals, our mission is to reclaim public space over-occupied by parking spaces for parks and people.

Will your parking space be transformed into a park on September 21st?

Contact 213.622.5980 or info@parkingdayla. com

www.rebargroup. org
____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

New Meeting date: 2008 American Planning Association State Conference

The 2008 APA State Conference will be held in Hollywood next year. A volunteer committee has been formed to help plan the conference. Many of us have volunteered to organize workshops on Cultural Planning Issues in LA and the state. We want to develop a strong cultural planning agenda that can address issues and as well as highlight stellar projects that provide innovated solutions to land use problems in communities of color. Please contact James Rojas

Location: 725 S. Spring Street #12
LA, CA. 90014

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 @ 7 pm

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • ENCOURAGING SMALL BUSINESS Panelist: Richard Benbow, Community Development Department, Jack Keyser, L.A. County Economic Development Corporation, James Rodriguez, CB Richard Ellis, Retail Brokerage Services, and Kent Smith, Fashion District Business Improvement District

Location: El Sereno Senior Center
4818 Klamath Place

Los Angeles, CA 90032
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Wednesday, September 25, 2007 @ 7pm

HISTORIC PRESERVATION • A LINK TO REVITALIZATION TUES.

Panelist: Richard Barron, Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission, Ken Bernstein, Office of Historic Resources, City of Los Angeles, Linda Dishman, Los Angeles Conservancy, Peyton Hall, FAIA, Historic Resources Group, and Michael Olecki, S. Carthay Historic Preservation Overlay Zone Board

Location: Center for the Arts
Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
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Audubon Film Fridays—our free, summer film series under the stars. Our film series begins on Friday, August 3rd with the feature film Hoot!, about the adventures of a group of teens who fight to protect a population of endangered owls in Florida .

We will start each Film Friday at 7 p.m. with a bird walk; the films start at 8 p.m. All films are family friendly and nature themed—the full line up is found below and in the attached flyer. Some films will be shown in English with Spanish subtitles; others will be shown in Spanish with English subtitles. Seating is limited so please arrive early. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Limited parking is available in the Center's parking lot; there is plenty of street parking and we have plenty of space for bicycles. Again, admission to Film Friday is free.

Aug. 17: Happy Feet (Spanish w/English subtitles)

Sept. 7: Winged Migration (English w/Spanish subtitles)

Sept. 21: Eyewitness: Bird (English w/Spanish subtitles); Ocean Oasis (Spanish w/English subtitles)

Oct. 5: The Life of Birds – 2 episodes (English)

With your help, Audubon Film Fridays will become a summer tradition at the Audubon Center . What better way to enjoy a hot summer evening than watching nature-themed movies outdoors with family, friends and neighbors in our courtyard??
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"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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Conferences

September 11-14, 2007

APBP Professional Development Seminar in Davis , CA -

Theme: "Walking and Bicycling – The Next Generation"

Registration rates GO UP after July 31 http://www.walkbike california. org/register. htm

Reserve lodging by August 11 or consider camping

Check out the PDS sessions at www.apbp.org and the Walk/Bike California program at http://www.walkbike california. org/schedule. htm.

This is the first time APBP has partnered with a state bike/ped conference. Is your state next?

Walk21 Toronto – October 1-4, 2007

Register by July 31 for the early bird rate http://www.toronto. ca/walk21/ registration. htm

View the program and conference update news at http://www.toronto. ca/walk21/ index.htm

APBP served on the program planning team. Walk21 Toronto 2007 will bring together hundreds of delegates from around the world, will feature over 100 different presentations, numerous social and networking events, a poster session, walkshops, community events, and more. You're invited to Canada 's largest and most multicultural city for this exciting event!
___________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Jobs

ORGANIZATION:

Youth Arts & Education Program, Department of Cultural Affairs

JOB TITLE:

Administrative / Program Assistant

LOCATION:

Department headquarters, downtown Los Angeles

HOURS:
24 hours per week (3 days per week)

APPLY BY:
August 22, 2007, 5:00 p.m.

The Youth Arts and Education Program of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs seeks a part-time ADMINISTRATIVE / PROGRAM ASSISTANT to provide administrative support and assistance in coordinating special projects such as exhibitions, citywide youth programs, outreach initiatives, grant program, education publications, and other related services. This position will provide on-going support for general office functions.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
Schedule, plan, and coordinate meetings
Assist in coordinating outreach projects and education programs
Manage communications by phone, fax and email
Respond to calls/mailings
Prepare and distribute material by mail or email
Maintain program databases and manage files
Research using internet and/or traditional method(s)
Draft, edit, and process correspondence and other documents such as agendas and reports
Maintain files and update mailing list
Organize, edit and manage printed materials
Present informational workshops on programs to the public
Provide support to staff and volunteers as directed
Perform other related duties as assigned
Serve allied City offices and the public in the areas of youth arts, arts education, the arts, and cultural programming
Represent Youth Arts and Education Program at external events, meetings, or related activities as assigned

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS:
Must be punctual and detail oriented.
Self-motivated individual with highly developed organizational and communication skills.
Excellent oral and interpersonal communication skills.
Excellent writing skills an absolute must.
Strong proficiency working on PC, including Microsoft Word and Excel.
Strong research skills.
Ability to multi-task in a busy office.
Must have previous experience coordinating program and office experience.
Demonstrated ability to handle complex projects.
Must be able to take direction (directives) well.
Must be able to meet deadlines and manage multiple projects at once.
Must have patience; demonstrate creative thinking; and be resourceful.
Knowledge of Los Angeles arts and non profits desired.
At least two years demonstrated experience working in an office.

The above statements are intended to describe the general
nature and level of work performed in this position; they do not purport to describe all functions of the position. Other duties may be assigned and the essential functions of the position may change or be changed as necessary.

APPLY:
Before applying, please visit our website at www.culturela. org to get a sense of the organization and the Youth Arts and Education Program. Submit cover letter, resume, and three references via EMAIL ONLY to the Youth Arts and Education Program at elizabeth.morin@lacity.org

This position is administrative adn serves the youth of Los Angeles through the arts, local history, and education.

No phone calls please.

Articles:

Good signs downtown, but vision still lacking
Steve Lopez

August 12, 2007

The ghost town is gone.

When I leave my office in the early evening, the downtown Los Angeles of years past is but a memory. People who live in transformed, long-abandoned buildings and trendy new towers are on foot, heading here and there and nowhere in particular.

The new and much-celebrated Ralphs, whose disciples are no less reverential than those who flock to Harrod's in London , has international wine tastings where no one drinks out of a brown paper sack. And I think it's generally a good sign that there are now more dogs than humans urinating on downtown sidewalks.

I like much of what I see. And with all this commerce and more to come, the potential benefits to the rest of the city (from shared tax revenue) and to the whole region (from new attractions around Staples Center and on Grand Avenue ) are huge.

But there's just as much potential for disaster. Pardon me for popping a few party balloons, but somebody has to.

In typical L.A. fashion, mega-developments and the redrawing of the skyline are underway with little in the way of long-term vision or planning. It's the same old let's-try-this- and-see-what- happens approach, with developers in the driver's seat.

Although public officials and the media spun last week's downtown zoning changes as a boon for desperately needed affordable housing, there is in fact no requirement that a single such unit be built -- there are merely incentives that developers may or may not choose to take advantage of.

As usual, the impact on traffic was not a consideration in any of this. Nor is anyone admitting that downtown will scare most people away until there's a commitment to build, and scatter across the region, enough supportive housing to clean up skid row once and for all.

And then there's the greenery problem.

Why do dogs do their business on sidewalks? Because there's nowhere else for them to go. Where are the pocket parks? Where are the benches for people to sit with a cup of coffee and a newspaper and watch the world go by?

Rather than do something about it, the geniuses at City Hall have just given developers the right to reduce the space between buildings and to squeeze up even closer to sidewalks.

"Everybody is talking about the need for more parks," said Ian Barnard, a downtown resident and an English professor at Cal State Northridge.

Actually, there's the Fashion Institute park, but that's small. And there's Pershing Square , but that is possibly the worst excuse for a city park in the entire Western Hemisphere . It's a sun-blasted wasteland and public embarrassment, and if it were up to me, I'd have the bulldozers out there tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a planned park at 1st and Spring was ditched for a new police administration building, and the civic mall redesign is a few years away and a little too far from much of the new downtown residential development.

How many people are going to hear the downtown buzz, make the move and then clear out a year later when they discover there's so little outdoor space in the heart of a city with the kind of weather that makes a person want to be outside?

Robert Harris, a downtown resident and a professor of architectural landscape at USC, argues that sidewalks constitute the greatest expanse of open space in downtown Los Angeles . Rather than squeeze them, he'd like to see them dressed up with benches and public art.

Beth Steckler of Livable Places would like to see little nooks and alcoves of downtown turned into miniature parks. To spur creativity, her public policy nonprofit is sponsoring a Sept. 21 campaign to convert areas as small as parking spaces into mini-parks (more information is at www.Parkingdayla. com).

It wouldn't take much imagination to convert dozens of downtown alleys into al fresco hangouts, but according to downtown developer Tom Gilmore, there's a reason only a few such places exist.

"The bureaucratic lead time to pedestrianize the alleys is a day shy of infinity," Gilmore said, adding that the city could easily streamline the hurdles.

"The city can get caught up in big plans and forget how much can be accomplished with little things. Look at all the little tiny 5,000-square- foot parking lots. The city could be buying those up and building parks, because those are the ones that people love -- the small neighborhood park that's built on a smaller scale."

Madeline Janis of the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy says the city should offer developers a menu of community-enhanceme nt options. If the downtown real estate market is so hot that builders want to bust density or height limits, they should be required to convert alleys, or add green space, or improve transit access, or offer a percentage of affordable housing units so people can walk to all the new jobs that might be created in the new downtown.

Imagine if all of those amenities were in place along with a new civic mall park.

Bill Witte, the Related Cos. chief who's in charge of that project, told me he plans to lobby the state for enough additional funding, on top of the budgeted $50 million in local funds, so there's a chance to build one of the great public spaces of the world.

I'll believe it when I see it, but let's say it happens. Let's say you can take the Red Line in from the Valley -- or Metrolink from Claremont -- and have an early dinner on a downtown sidewalk paved with Spanish tiles.

Then you take a shuttle -- I'd have them running on five-minute intervals -- to the new civic mall to watch a band from the Colburn School in the new outdoor amphitheater, or catch a movie under the stars, or watch opera in the park.

Maybe you go to a Lakers game or see a theatrical production in a rebuilt grand theater on Broadway, and then wander over to a re-imagined Pershing Square for a nightcap.

No, I'm not holding my breath.

But this is not farfetched, pie-in-the-sky stuff. With enough imagination, and a little leadership, it's a city center that could exist.

steve.lopez@ latimes.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.southcentralfarmers.com

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

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

Location: 41st and Alameda

PROYECTO JARDIN COMMUNITY GARDEN

Location: 1718 Bridge Street, Boyle Heights LA 90033
(In between State and Boyle behind White Memorial Medical Center )

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.

good discussions on gentrification...

2007-08-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

over at El Chavo and El Chavo's recommendation, Sickly Season...

Gail Goldberg visits Boyle Heights!

2007-08-06T20:44:00.000-07:00

Keeping her promise to engage the residents of Boyle Heights in our neighborhood’s planning process, Planning Director Gayle Goldberg appeared last Saturday (August 4) at a community forum organized by Unión de Vecinos (UV) and the East Los Angeles Community Corporation (ELACC). Over a hundred people showed up for the Spanish-language event at the Puente Learning Center on Boyle Ave, welcoming Ms. Goldberg with a slide show depicting life and art in the barrio, small mementos presented by children, and a brief explanation of both organizations’ efforts to secure affordable housing here and make other quality-of-life improvements. For her part, Ms. Goldberg’s opening remarks included acknowledgement of the acute housing shortage we are experiencing east of the Los Angeles River, a crisis that has sent many working-class families to relocate to Ontario, San Bernardino and other Inland Empire cities even while their jobs and hearts remain in Boyle Heights.

Unsurprisingly, the questions, concerns and visions for the future of Boyle Heights expressed by the attendees—overwhelmingly middle-aged señoras, most of whom were wearing either UV’s black-and-orange tee shirts or ELACC’s dark green tees—mainly revolved around the need for building more (affordable) housing, which would effectively require increasing the neighborhood’s density. Other points raised, however, included the need for more parks and other public spaces, improving public transit, economic development, better enforcement of housing codes and tenant protections, and improving street and sidewalk maintenance—all issues pertinent to the well-being of families growing up here and areas in which we are severely lacking.

One question for Ms. Goldberg was put forth by a young man wearing a name tag reading “Jesús” (strikingly handsome, he!) who said he was a tenant in Boyle Heights’s huge Wyvernwood Garden Apartments, one of the largest private housing tracts in the country with 1175 units and about six thousand residents. Wyvernwood’s owners, said Jesús, are planning to convert the complex into high-end condos and rentals as their way to “rescue the community from blight.” But all his neighbors know, he said, that the landlord’s plans would only push them out of area and, ultimately, the city, because the new housing would be too expensive for them. Most of Wyvernwood’s residents, like most people in Boyle Heights, earn fairly low wages. Aside from their banishment, Jesús pointed out, the city would be losing precious rental housing stock governed by the rent-stabilization ordinance that only covers structures built before 1978.

The forum was a success, if you consider the importance of providing local residents—largely immigrants and with little or no tradition of civic participation—the opportunity to speak to high-level policymaking officials in this city. On the other hand, while immigrant mothers and grandmothers were present, the men of Boyle Heights were conspicuously absent, as were Chicanos and young people to quite an extent. Also, as a couple of organizers noted afterwards, there is still a need to cultivate leadership in the community and encouraging participants to articulate their own ideas: More than a few of the women who took the microphone to speak to Ms. Goldberg read off a piece of paper words that appeared to have been written by someone else in English and translated for them into Spanish.

Weekly Calendar

2007-08-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

I've been slacking a little on getting these up here. But will post soon the two I missed for archiving purposes. These CD14 Planning sessions look particularly interesting to me...
-Nate

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of August 6, 2007

1. Urban Design Exercise

2. Malibu Public Beach Safari

3. Urban Planning Discussion Series for CD14

4. LA RIVER: River Improvement Overlay ( RIO ) Meeting

5. Cornfields State Park Meeting

6. LA City Housing Element

7. 2008 APA State Conference Brainstorming

8. Conference: California Walks

9. Conference: Walk 21

10. ART: Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden

"REWORKING and RETHINKING the LINEAR CITY"

Help create a 100-foot by 3-inch linear city along the walls of Galley 727!

Come join us for an interactive city-building extravaganza in which we will push the boundaries of what a linear city might look like and how it might function. Model-builder James Rojas will supply the building materials; urban designer Simon Pastucha will provide the design expertise; DJ John Kamp will provide the soundscapes for your new urban landscapes. For further information contact James at (626) 437-4446

Bring your imagination.

Date: Thursday, August 9, 2007

Time: 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Location: Gallery 727

727 S. Spring Street
LA, CA 90014

Visit www.latinourbanforu m.org, Myspace.com/LatinoUrbanForum, and the blogito

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _____

August 11-12th, 2007

The Los Angeles Urban Rangers announce:

"MALIBU PUBLIC BEACHES" SAFARIS

Tired of Zuma and Surfrider? Want to find and use the other beaches in Malibu? The twenty miles that are lined with private development? The "Malibu Public Beaches" safaris will show you how to find, park, walk, picnic, and sunbathe on a Malibu beach. Each 3 1/2-hour safari visits two or three beaches and explores natural history, jurisdiction, and the identification of public and private property. Skills-enhancing activities include a public-private boundary hike, an accessway hunt, sign watching, and a public easement potluck. We will offer two safaris in west Malibu and two in east Malibu:

** West Malibu beaches - SUN Aug 12 (1:30-5pm)
** East Malibu beaches - SAT Aug 11 (1:30-5pm)

Safaris are free, but space is limited. To sign up, please email info@laurbanrangers.org with tour date, name, and # of people. For further information on the safaris and the Los Angeles Urban Rangers, visit laurbanrangers.org.

A "Malibu Public Beaches" guide will be downloadable from our website in early August.

_____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _

Saturday, August 11, 2007

River Overlay Improvement Meeting

The Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP) was adopted on May 2007 by the Los Angeles City Council largely from the efforts of Councilman Ed Reyes and support from eastside residents and organizations. Many of us worked hard making sure the interest of our communities were being heard and incorporated through outreach. The following are meeting dates and locations involving the Eastside:

Location: Council District 14

Boyle Heights Office

2130 E. First Street Suite 202

LA ,CA 90033

_____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ____

Tuesday August 14, 2007

Please join California State Parks and Hargreaves Associates for a community meeting about the next phase of work for the Cornfields State Park.

Location: St. Peter's Italiana Church

1051 N. Broadway, Los Angeles

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ____

PLANNING PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES

Each panel discussion forum will include presentations and the participation of well-respected subject matter experts from the public and private sectors, as well as time for Q&A. Councilmember Huizar is hosting the summer series with a special focus on the communities of Northeast Los Angeles CD14, but all are welcome! Anyone in the City of Los Angeles interested in planning and economic development will not want to miss this broad and informative summer series!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007 @ 7 pm
PLANNING 101
• How It Really Works In L.A. & How The City Can "Do Real Planning"
Panelists: Jane Blumenfeld, Dept. of City Planning, City of Los Angeles
• David Gay, Dept. of City Planning, City of Los Angeles
• Bill Roschen, AIA, Los Angeles City Planning Commission

Location: El Sereno Senior Center 4818 Klamath Place Los Angeles, CA 90032

Wednesday, August 15, 2007 @ 7 pm
SMART GROWTH • URBAN DESIGN • TRANSIT DEVELOPMENT

Panelists: William Fain, FAIA, Johnson Fain Architects
Emily Gabel-Luddy, Urban Design Studio, City of Los Angeles
Woodie Tescher, EIP Associates, a Division of PBS&J
Mike Woo, Los Angeles City Planning Commission

Location: Center for the Arts
Eagle Rock: 2225 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90041

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 @ 7 pm

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT • ENCOURAGING SMALL BUSINESS
Panelists: Richard Benbow, Community Development Department
Jack Keyser, L.A. County Economic Development Corporation
James Rodriguez, CB Richard Ellis, Retail Brokerage Services
Kent Smith, Fashion District Business Improvement District

Location: El Sereno Senior Center
4818 Klamath Place, Los Angeles, CA 90032

Wednesday, September 25, 2007 @ 7pm

HISTORIC PRESERVATION • A LINK TO REVITALIZATION TUES.

Panelists: Richard Barron, Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission
Ken Bernstein, Office of Historic Resources, City of Los Angeles
Linda Dishman, Los Angeles Conservancy
Peyton Hall, FAIA, Historic Resources Group
Michael Olecki, S. Carthay Historic Preservation Overlay Zone Board

Location: Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd. Los Angeles , CA 90041

____________ _________ _________ _________ _______

LA City is updating its Housing Element. Please attend if you are interested in shaping the Housing Element. Contact Naomi Guth (info at the bottom) for further information.

Housing Preservation

Thursday, August 16th

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Location TBD

Week of Monday, August 20th - Friday, August 24th:

Housing Preservation

Thursday, August 23rd

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Location TBD

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

New Meeting date: Thursday, July 26, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m to 8:30 p.m.

______________________________________________________________

2008 American Planning Association State Conference

The 2008 APA State Conference will be held in Hollywood next year. A volunteer committee has been formed to help plan the conference. Many of us have volunteered to organize workshops on Cultural Planning Issues in LA and the state. We want to develop a strong cultural planning agenda that can address issues and as well as highlight stellar projects that provide innovated solutions to land use problems in communities of color. Please contact James Rojas.

Location: 725 S. Spring Street #12
LA, CA. 90014

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _

We will start each Film Friday at 7 p.m. with a bird walk; the films start at 8 p.m. All films are family friendly and nature themed—the full line up is found below and in the attached flyer. Some films will be shown in English with Spanish subtitles; others will be shown in Spanish with English subtitles. Seating is limited so please arrive early. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Limited parking is available in the Center's parking lot; there is plenty of street parking and we have plenty of space for bicycles. Again, admission to Film Friday is free.

Aug. 3: Hoot! (English w/Spanish subtitles)

Aug. 17: Happy Feet (Spanish w/English subtitles)

Sept. 7: Winged Migration (English w/Spanish subtitles)

Sept. 21: Eyewitness: Bird (English w/Spanish subtitles); Ocean Oasis (Spanish w/English subtitles)

Oct. 5: The Life of Birds – 2 episodes (English)

With your help, Audubon Film Fridays will become a summer tradition at the Audubon Center . What better way to enjoy a hot summer evening than watching nature-themed movies outdoors with family, friends and neighbors in our courtyard??

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

"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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Conferences

September 11-14, 2007

APBP Professional Development Seminar in Davis , CA -

Theme: "Walking and Bicycling – The Next Generation"

Registration rates GO UP after July 31
http://www.walkbikecalifornia.org/register.htm

Reserve lodging by August 11 or consider camping.

Check out the PDS sessions at www.apbp.org and the Walk/Bike California program at http://www.walkbikecalifornia.org/schedule.htm.

This is the first time APBP has partnered with a state bike/ped conference. Is your state next?

Walk21 Toronto – October 1-4, 2007

View the program and conference update news at http://www.toronto. ca/walk21/index.htm

APBP served on the program planning team. Walk21 Toronto 2007 will bring together hundreds of delegates from around the world, will feature over 100 different presentations, numerous social and networking events, a poster session, walkshops, community events, and more. You're invited to Canada 's largest and most multicultural city for this exciting event!

_____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

Articles:

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 6th)

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

Location: 41st and Alameda

PROYECTO JARDIN COMMUNITY GARDEN

Location: 1718 Bridge Street, Boyle Heights LA 90033
(In between State and Boyle behind White Memorial Medical Center)

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.

"No cars on Wilshire"

2007-07-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

This story was sent to you by: lys mendez

An interesting proposal to help reduce traffic in one of the craziest thoroughfares in town.

--------------------
No cars on Wilshire
--------------------

An above-ground rail line to the ocean, along with bike lanes and a few buses, would ease L.A. traffic immeasurably.

Michael Balter

July 22 2007

Forget the "subway to the sea." It is a dramatic and radical idea to relieve traffic congestion on the Westside, but extending the Wilshire Boulevard Purple Line from its current terminus at Western Avenue to Santa Monica probably won't happen.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-modestproposal22jul22,0,7697988.story?coll=la-opinion-center

Visit latimes.com at http://www.latimes.com

Weekly Calendar

2007-07-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of

July 16, 2007

1. Urban Planning Discussion Series for CD14

2. LA RIVER: River Improvement Overlay ( RIO ) Meeting

3. LA City Housing Element

4. Does LA have the funding to END THE GRIDLOCK?

5. Northeast Open Space Coalition Meeting

6. How do Great Streets Get Made?

7. 2008 APA State Conference Brainstorming

8. ART: American Parking Space

9. ART: Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden

10. Malibu Public Beaches Safari

11. Article: Bike Paths for All

PLANNING PANEL DISCUSSION SERIES - THIS AUGUST & SEPTEMBER!

Councilmember Jose Huizar will be hosting a series of four planning-related panel discussions for the community in August and September. The panel discussions will lead up to planning charettes which will kick off this fall in El Sereno, Eagle Rock and Highland Park . Each panel discussion forum will include presentations by subject matter experts from the public and private sectors. Anyone interested in planning and economic development will not want to miss this summer
series!

Forum #1 - PLANNING 101

DATE: Weds. Aug. 8, 2007

TIME: 7pm

LOCATION: El Sereno Senior Center 4818 Klamath Place , 90032

Forum #2 - SMART GROWTH, URBAN DESIGN & TRANSIT

DATE: Weds. Aug. 15, 2007

TIME: 7pm

LOCATION: Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd. 90041 (parking at Bank of America)

Forum #3 - BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & ENCOURAGING MOM & POP BUSINESSES

DATE: Weds. Sept. 19, 2007

TIME: 7pm

LOCATION: El Sereno Senior Center 4818 Klamath Place , 90032

Forum #4 - HISTORIC PRESERVATION AND REVITALIZATION

DATE: Tues. Sept. 25, 2007

TIME: 7pm

LOCATION: Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock 2225 Colorado Blvd. 90041 (parking at Bank of America)

Visit www.latinourbanforum.org or Myspace.com/LatinoUrbanForum
and http://latinourbanforum.blogspot.com/

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

"How does the eastside impact the river rather than the river impact the eastside"

Saturday, July 21, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Glassell Park Community Center

3750 Verdugo Road

LA, CA. 90065

Saturday, August, 4, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m

Goodwill Center

342 N. San Fernando Road

LA, CA. 90031

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Council District 14

Boyle Heights Office

2130 E. First Street Suite 202

LA ,CA 90033

____________ _________ _________ _________ _______

LA City is updating its Housing Element. Please attend if you are interested in shaping the Housing Element. Contact Naomi Guth (info at the bottom) for further information.

Capacity for Residential Development

Wednesday, July 18th

9:00 - 11:00 am

Livable Places

634 S. Spring St.

Special Needs and Access to Housing

Wednesday, July 18th

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Beyond Shelter

1200 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 600

Housing Preservation

Thursday, July 19th

2:00 - 4:00 pm

City Hall, Room 1040

Housing Preservation

Thursday, August 16th

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Location TBD

Week of Monday, August 20th - Friday, August 24th:

Housing Preservation

Thursday, August 23rd

2:00 - 4:00 pm

Location TBD

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

Friday, July 20, 2007 at 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Does LA have the funding to END THE GRIDLOCK?

Westside Urban Forum: Last year Californians approved $20 Billion in transportation bonds and Metro just approved a fare increase. How much will LA County receive for its critical needs, moving both people and goods? And will the bond funds survive the budget process in Sacramento ? Join us for a lively discussion with Metro Board Chair Pam O'Connor and California Transportation Commissioner Larry Zarian moderated by Norman Emerson, president of a southern California firm focusing on infrastructure planning, funding and public policy. Do we have enough to really address our transportation needs? What else can we do? What does this mean for important Westside transportation projects?

After Wednesday, July 18, 2007 the price increases by $10.00. Please RSVP to the Westside Urban Forum

Location: The Regency Club

10900 Wilshire Blvd. 17th Floor

Los Angeles , CA

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

Saturday, July 21, 2007 @ 10:00 a.m.

Northeast Open Space Coalition Meeting

Latino Urban Forum has worked hard in preserving open space in North East Los Angeles . We are happy that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Board will be considering the long-awaited NELA Open Space Plan in the next month or so. Conservancy staff have agreed to present the plan to the NELA/OS Coalition on.

This is an excellent opportunity for us to preview the proposal prior to consideration by the SMMC Board. We hope that you will be able to
attend and give input and comments on the Plan. Please let us know whether you will attend, so that we can arrange light refreshments.

Location: Audubon, Debs Park

4700 N. Griffin Avenue

Los Angeles , 90031

Wednesday, July 25,2007 (6pm)

HOW DO GREAT STREETS GET MADE?

This is a panel discussion organized by AIA/LA & ASLA on how the streets in LA are designed, funded and built through the city process.

Moderator: Barbara Romero - Special Projects Manager (MRCA)

Panelists: (invited)

Emily Luddy Gabel, FASLA - City of Los Angeles Urban Design Studio

Lance Oishi - City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street services)

Jay Kim - City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Deborah Weintraub, AIA - City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering

Mia Lehrer, ASLA - Mia Lehrer + Associates

Katherine Spitz, AIA, ASLA - Katherine Spitz & Associates

Location: Los Angeles River Center

570 West Ave 26

Los Angeles, CA 90065

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ___

Thursday, July 26, 2007 @ 7:00 p.m to 8:30 p.m.

2008 American Planning Association State Conference

Location: 725 S. Spring Street #12

LA, CA. 90014

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _

ART

"Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,

June 17-Oct 21, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

368 East First Street .

LA, CA.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

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/

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

The Los Angeles Urban Rangers announce:

"MALIBU PUBLIC BEACHES" SAFARIS

August 4-5th & 11-12th, 2007

Tired of Zuma and Surfrider? Want to find and use the other beaches in
Malibu ? The twenty miles that are lined with private development? The
"Malibu Public Beaches" safaris will show you how to find, park, walk,
picnic, and sunbathe on a Malibu beach. Each 3 1/2-hour safari visits
two or three beaches and explores natural history, jurisdiction, and the
identification of public and private property. Skills-enhancing
activities include a public-private boundary hike, an accessway hunt,
sign watching, and a public easement potluck.

We will offer two safaris in west Malibu and two in east Malibu :

** West Malibu beaches - SAT Aug 4 (9:30am-1pm) , SUN Aug 12 (1:30-5pm)

** East Malibu beaches - SUN Aug 5 (9:30am-1pm) , SAT Aug 11 (1:30-5pm)

Safaris are free, but space is limited. To sign up, please email
info@laurbanrangers.org with tour date, name, and # of people. For
further information on the safaris and the Los Angeles Urban Rangers,
visit http://laurbanrangers.org/.

A "Malibu Public Beaches" guide will be downloadable from our website in
early August.

Articles:

Neal Peirce

A New Two-Wheeled Course?

July 8, 2007

Anne Lusk of Harvard's School of Public Health has a startling -- many would say quixotic -- ambition for America 's cities. She'd like to equip them all with cycle tracks.

Cycle tracks? Does she mean the painted buffer lane for bikes you see on some streets? No! Those lanes are easily blocked by vehicles attempting to park. And they leave cyclists within inches of fast cars and monster trucks; if there's any error, you know who get hurts, often badly.

Cycle tracks, notes Lusk, are actually a separated part of the roadway yet distinct from the roadway, distinct from the sidewalk. In their purest form
-- Odense , Denmark , where 50 percent of all city journeys are by bicycle -- the paths even have their own traffic signals.
What actually separates the cycle track? It can be a long, narrow curb. Or a line of cones or concrete barriers. Or metal stanchions. Or a line of trees and other vegetation (an on-street greenway).

Another solution, tried on relatively wide streets in Bogota , Paris , London and elsewhere, is to move the parking lane several feet from the sidewalk, creating a new lane for cyclists between the sidewalk and parked cars.
Brooklyn-based bicycle advocate/blogger Aaron Naparstek has an excellent online video celebrating that solution (www.streetfilms. org/archives/ physically- separated- bike-lanes/).

OK, why should we go to all this trouble -- and years of reconstruction, and unquestionable expense?

Global warming is the biggie: bicycles are zero emitters of CO2 emissions that are shaping up as the planet's greatest peril in this century.

Then there's the obesity epidemic. For public health, cycling does help millions; it could help tens of millions of Americans stay slimmer.

As a New Yorker interviewed in Naparstek's video says: "I've lived in 10 different cities around the world. ... The thing about a separated bike lane is you feel totally separate. Which means you get a ton more people on the streets -- mothers, kids, even at rush hour you think nothing of it."

That dovetails with Lusk's point -- that in today's America , cycling is too often the preserve of athletic men who don't mind heading out into the fast-moving main lanes of traffic.

Great for those guys if they think they can handle it, says Lusk. The most extreme among them, she notes, don't even want to have a white painted bike lane.

But if the numbers of Americans who bike regularly remain overwhelmingly male and macho, she warns, huge portions of the American population -- women, seniors, children on their way to school, and men who use more caution -- will never join in. We'll never save the energy, reduce the carbon emissions, lighten the vehicle traffic, make the health gains we could.

Opponents of cycle lanes argue that they are a bad idea because earlier research showed them to be more hazardous than sharing the road with regular motor traffic.

Lusk replies that the research cited is dated, based on earlier-style bike tracks with less safe curb cuts and intersection crossings.

Just check around the world, she says -- to China , Canada , Norway , Sweden , Australia and elsewhere -- to find positive examples of cycle tracks that draw entire populations, all ages, both sexes, into daily, overwhelmingly safe use.

It's time to stop assuming, she insists, "that what works for men will work for the rest of the population." The clear fact, she argues, is that women tend by nature to be more cautious. They simply won't try biking (or encourage their children to bike around town) until it appears to be, and is, a lot safer.

The pitch for exclusive bike lanes does come at a moment of potential serious change, as societies seek to reduce many short car trips that account for a growing share of auto emissions. A big potential is seen, for example, in getting more people to haul groceries in bike saddlebags or tote their small children in bike seats. From "active elderly" to children biking to school, major new user groups are being developed across the world.

Amsterdam has built five new bicycle garages in recent years and now plans a 10,000-bike garage in the center of the city. Paris is putting thousands of low-cost rental bikes at strategic spots across the city this summer, aiming to cut traffic and reduce pollution.

It is true -- the U.S. has a long way to go to get serious about bike usage, including dedicated cycle paths. Even leading cycling cities ( Eugene and Corvallis , Ore. , for example) lack contiguous grids of separated bikeways.

But who is to deny that our towns and cities (and environment) need bicycling opportunities, safe routes that serve both sexes and all ages? The debate should be about the how, not the whether.

Neal Peirce's e-mail address is nrp@citistates.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.southcentralfarmers.com

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

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

Location: 41st and Alameda

Caracol Farmers Market

Date: Sunday June 24, 2007

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

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·

Weekly Calendar

2007-07-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Latino Urban Forum

Meetings, activities and events that promote our mission as of

July 9, 2007

1. LA RIVER, River Improvement Overlay (RIO)

2. Do Real Planning

3. Friends of the Southwest Museum

4. Farm Lab: Do Real Planning

5. Northeast Open Space Coalition Meeting

6. Does LA have the funding to END THE GRIDLOCK?

7. How do Great Streets Get Made?

8. ART: LA Botanical:

9. ART: American Parking Space

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

11. Articles: LA Times 60 Million Inhabitants in California

“How does the eastside impact the river rather than the river impact the eastside”

The Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP) was adopted on May 2007 by the Los Angeles City Council largely from the efforts of Councilman Ed Reyes and support from eastside residents and organizations. Many of us worked hard making sure the interest of our communities were being heard and incorporated through outreach. The Latino Urban Forum helped host two design charretts which attracted more than 1,000 people and allowed them to build and share their ideas.

The next step to implement the LARRMP is to examine zoning along the LA River. Zoning is a very powerful tool to promote, protect and enhance our communities through the regulatory process. The Los Angeles City Planning Department is conducting meetings for the proposed River Improvement Overlay (RIO) District. The River Improvement Overlay District is the landuse component or zoning details to the River Master Plan.

It is important the RIO respect and address the needs of the eastside communities such as affordable housing, jobs, and open space.

The RIO outreach should incorporate the following issues:

Culturally Sensitive Outreach: Because of the politically charge immigration issues, the meetings/workshops need to be a sensitive to the community in order to attached them. We want residents want to attend the meetings, feel comfortable at the meetings, with the presenters, presentations and information sharing.

Community Based Presentation: The presentations should highlight the needs of the community and how the master plan can full fill these needs.

Productive Discussion and Input: It’s important the every one feel comfortable to share their ideas and that their ideas are heard.

We have all worked hard on the LA River Master Plan and its delivery of this plan’s next stages is just as important and should be as effective and productive as possible.

James Rojas

The following are meeting dates and locations involving the Eastside:

Saturday, July 21, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Glassell Park Community Center

3750 Verdugo Road

LA, CA. 90065

Saturday, August, 4, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m

Goodwill Center

342 N. San Fernando Road

LA, CA. 90031

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Council District 14

Boyle Heights Office

2130 E. First Street Suite 202

LA ,CA 90033

Visit www.latinourbanforum.org or Myspace.com/LatinoUrbanForum

http://latinourbanforum.blogspot.com/

______________________________________________

Wednesday, July 11, 4:30 p.m.

Joint East LA Area Planning Commission and City Planning Commission Meeting on a discussion for “Do Real Planning: 14 Ways to Make L.A. a More Sustainable City”

Location: Ramona Hall Community Center

4580 N. Figueroa

LA, CA 90065

___________________________________________________________

Thursday, July 12, 2007 from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition meeting
Location: Ramona Hall Community Center

4580 N. Figueroa

LA, CA 90065

_______________________________________________________

Friday, July 13, 12:00 p.m.

Farmlab Public Salon
“Do Real Planning: 14 Ways to Make L.A. a More Sustainable City”

Jane Usher, Mike Woo, and Diego Cardoso

Location: Farmlab / Under Spring

1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

_____________________________________________________________

Friday, July 20, 2007 at 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Does LA have the funding to END THE GRIDLOCK?
Westside Urban Forum: Last year Californians approved $20 Billion in transportation bonds and Metro just approved a fare increase. How much will LA County receive for its critical needs, moving both people and goods? And will the bond funds survive the budget process in Sacramento? Join us for a lively discussion with Metro Board Chair Pam O’Connor and California Transportation Commissioner Larry Zarian moderated by Norman Emerson, president of a southern California firm focusing on infrastructure planning, funding and public policy. Do we have enough to really address our transportation needs? What else can we do? What does this mean for important Westside transportation projects?

After Wednesday, July 18, 2007 the price increases by $10.00. Please RSVP to the Westside Urban Forum

Location: The Regency Club
10900 Wilshire Blvd. 17th Floor
Los Angeles, CA

_________________________________________________________________

Saturday, July 21, 2007 @ 10:00 a.m.

Northeast Open Space Coalition Meeting
Latino Urban Forum has worked hard in preserving open space in North East Los Angeles. We are happy that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Board will be considering the long-awaited NELA Open Space Plan in the next month or so. Conservancy staff have agreed to present the plan to the NELA/OS Coalition on.
This is an excellent opportunity for us to preview the proposal prior to consideration by the SMMC Board. We hope that you will be able to
attend and give input and comments on the Plan. Please let us know whether you will attend, so that we can arrange light refreshments.

Location: Audubon, Debs Park
4700 N. Griffin Avenue
Los Angeles, 90031

Wednesday, July 25,2007 (6pm)

HOW DO GREAT STREETS GET MADE?

This is a panel discussion organized by AIA/LA & ASLA on how the streets in LA are designed, funded and built through the city process.

Moderator: Barbara Romero - Special Projects Manager (MRCA)

Panelists: (invited)

Emily Luddy Gabel, FASLA - City of Los Angeles Urban Design Studio

Lance Oishi - City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street services)

Jay Kim - City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation

Deborah Weintraub, AIA - City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering

Mia Lehrer, ASLA - Mia Lehrer + Associates

Katherine Spitz, AIA, ASLA - Katherine Spitz & Associates

Location: Los Angeles River Center

570 West Ave 26

Los Angeles, CA 90065

____________________________________________________________

ART

"Landscaping America: Beyond the Japanese Garden,"

June 17-Oct 21, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

368 East First Street.

LA, CA.

_________________________________________________________________

LA Botanical ; A project by Joyce Campbell

Until Saturday 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

______________________________________________________

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/

______________________________________________________

Articles:

60 million Californians by mid-century

Riverside will become the second most populous county behind Los Angeles and Latinos the dominant ethnic group, study says.

By Maria L. La Ganga and Sara Lin, Times Staff Writers
July 10, 2007

Over the next half-century, California's population will explode by nearly 75%, and Riverside will surpass its bigger neighbors to become the second most populous county after Los Angeles, according to state Department of Finance projections released Monday.

California will near the 60-million mark in 2050, the study found, raising questions about how the state will look and function and where all the people and their cars will go. Dueling visions pit the iconic California building block of ranch house, big yard and two-car garage against more dense, high-rise development.

But whether sprawl or skyscrapers win the day, the Golden State will probably be a far different and more complex place than it is today, as people live longer and Latinos become the dominant ethnic group, eclipsing all others combined.

Some critics forecast disaster if gridlock and environmental impacts are not averted. Others see a possible economic boon, particularly for retailers and service industries with an eye on the state as a burgeoning market.

"It's opportunity with baggage," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., in "a country masquerading as a state."

Other demographers argue that the huge population increase the state predicts will occur only if officials complete major improvements to roads and other public infrastructure. Without that investment, they say, some Californians would flee the state.

If the finance department's calculations hold, California's population will rise from 34.1 million in 2000 to 59.5 million at the mid-century point, about the same number of people as Italy has today.

And its projected growth rate in those 50 years will outstrip the national rate - nearly 75% compared with less than 50% projected by the federal government. That could translate to increased political clout in Washington, D.C.

Southern California's population is projected to grow at a rate of more than 60%, according to the new state figures, reaching 31.6 million by mid-century. That's an increase of 12.1 million over just seven counties.

L.A. County alone will top 13 million by 2050, an increase of almost 3.5 million residents. And Riverside County - long among the fastest-growing in the state - will triple in population to 4.7 million by mid-century.

Riverside County will add 3.1 million people, according to the new state figures, eclipsing Orange and San Diego to become the second most populous in the state. With less expensive housing than the coast, Riverside County has grown by more than 472,000 residents since 2000, according to state estimates.

But many residents face agonizingly long commutes to work in other areas. And Monday, the state's growth projections raised some concerns in the Inland Empire.

Registered nurse Fifi Bo moved from Los Angeles to Corona nine years ago so she could buy a house and avoid urban congestion. But she'd consider moving even farther east now that Riverside County is grappling with its own crowding problems.

"But where am I going? People used to move to Victorville, but [housing prices in] Victorville already got high," the 36-year-old said as she fretted about traffic and smog and public services stretched thin. "We don't know where to go. Maybe Arizona."

John Husing, an economist who studies the Inland Empire, is betting that even in land-rich Riverside County, more vertical development is on the horizon. Part of the reason: a multi-species habitat conservation plan that went into effect in 2005, preserving 550,000 acres of green space that otherwise would have vanished.

"The difficult thing will be for anybody who likes where they live in Riverside County because it's rural," Husing said. "In 2050, you might still find rural out by Blythe, but other than that, forget rural."

Husing predicts that growth will be most dramatic beyond the city of Riverside as the patches of empty space around communities such as Palm Springs, Perris and Hemet begin to fill in with housing tracts. The Coachella Valley, for example, will become fully developed and seem like less of a distinct area outside of Riverside, he said. "It'll be desert urban, but it'll be urban. Think of Phoenix," he said.

Expect a lot of the new development in Riverside County to go up along the 215 Freeway between Perris and Murrieta, according to Riverside County Planning Director Ron Goldman. Thousands of homes have popped up in that area in the last decade, and Goldman said applications for that area indicate condominiums are next. The department is so busy that he's hiring 10 people who'll start in the next month.

"We have over 5,000 active development applications in processing right now," he said.

No matter how much local governments build in the way of public works and how many new jobs are attracted to the region - minimizing the need for long commutes - Husing figures that growth will still overwhelm the area's roads.

USC Professor Genevieve Giuliano, an expert on land use and transportation, would probably agree. Such massive growth, if it occurs, she said, will require huge investment in the state's highways, schools, and energy and sewer systems at a "very formidable cost."

If those things aren't built, Giuliano questioned whether the projected population increases will occur. "Sooner or later, the region will not be competitive and the growth is not going to happen," she said.

If major problems like traffic congestion and housing costs aren't addressed, Giuliano warned, the middle class is going to exit California, leaving behind very high-income and very low-income residents.

"It's a political question," said Martin Wachs, a transportation expert at the Rand Corp. in Santa Monica. "Do we have the will, the consensus, the willingness to pay? If we did, I think we could manage the growth."

The numbers released Monday underscore most demographers' view that the state's population is pushing east, from both Los Angeles and the Bay Area, to counties such as Riverside and San Bernardino as well as half a dozen or so smaller Central Valley counties.

Sutter County, for example, is expected to be the fastest-growing on a percentage basis between 2000 and 2050, jumping 255% to a population of 282,894 , the state said. Kern County is expected to see its population more than triple to 2.1 million by mid-century.

In Southern California, San Diego County is projected to grow by almost 1.7 million residents and Orange County by 1.1 million. Even Ventura County - where voters have imposed some limits on urban sprawl - will see its population jump 62% to more than 1.2 million if the projections hold.

The Department of Finance releases long-term population projections every three years. Between the last two reports, number crunchers have taken a more detailed look at California's statistics and taken into account the likelihood that people will live longer, said chief demographer Mary Heim.

The result?

The latest numbers figure the state will be much more crowded than earlier estimates (by nearly 5 million) and that it will take a bit longer than previously thought for Latinos to become the majority of California's population: 2042, not 2038.

The figures show that the majority of California's growth will be in the Latino population, said Dowell Myers, a professor of urban planning and demography at USC, adding that "68% of the growth this decade will be Latino, 75% next and 80% after that."

That should be a wake-up call for voting Californians, Myers said, pointing out a critical disparity. Though the state's growth is young and Latino, the majority of voters will be older and white - at least for the next decade.

"The future of the state is Latino growth," Myers said. "We'd sure better invest in them and get them up to speed.... Older white voters don't see it that way. They don't realize that someone has to replace them in the work force, pay for their benefits and buy their house."

maria.laganga@latimes.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.southcentralfarmers.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.

Weekly Calendar

2007-06-18T22:56:00.001-07:00

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/

____________ _________ _________ _________ _______

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ____

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)

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _______

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __

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.

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ __

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

ART

"Landscaping America : Beyond the Japanese Garden ,"

June 17-Oct 21, 2007

Location: Japanese American National Museum

368 East First Street .

LA, CA.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ________

LA Botanical ; A project by Joyce Campbell

May 18 – July 14, 2007

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.

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

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

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/

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ ______

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

2007-06-12T07:44:00.000-07:00
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

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Location: Farmlab / Under Spring

1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street

LA, CA. 90014

Weekly Calendar

Proposed Ban on Taco Trucks Stirs Animosity in a California Town

LA, CA. 90014

Another LA Times Pro-Gentrification article

1745 N. Spring Street #4, LA, CA 90012
Across the street from the site of the Not A Cornfield project, in a warehouse colocated at Baker Street and N. Spring Street