Another mayoral election is upon us and we the people are bombarded with daily political promises of what “I will do for the city of Los Angeles”.
Hahn has disappointed me, though I cannot say exactly why. Maybe it is a local thing. I have to ask myself how crime can be down when the nightly news reports several murders a day, and freeway shootings are common. I see the drugs, the graffitti, the prostitution on Sepuveda, the gross sprawl without planning, the broken down schools, the hospital closings. Are these civic accomplishments to be proud of?
Villaraigosa is slick, seemingly more magnetic than white bread Hahn– and full of plans. His ethnicity does not mean anything to me. If he can deal strongly or imaginatively with hospitals, teacher unions, neighborhood commitees, the city council, then he could be from Mars and it would be OK. But what are his personal and ethical credentials? I heard he flunked the bar exam four times–is he intellectually up to the task of running the nation’s second largest city?
There seems to be, in any case, no real power in the Mayor’s Office. There is a shadow government running this city, a clan of developers, lawyers, union officials, studios, Parker Center and Disney. There is no civic sense of obligation or ideal about how Los Angeles should tackle the great issues of immigration, housing, health care, criminal activities, the environment, public transportation.
The packed freeways are evidence of prosperity, every other car is an SUV. But the traffic is also evidence of a rotting infrastructure of selfishness and shortsightedness. Why can’t Los Angeles, for example, build a train down the center of the San Diego Freeway from Santa Clarita to LAX? When will they build enough apartments to house people affordably? Why is the average house almost half a million (if you can find one)?
We live in a city of poisoned air, but also a city where youth and the world flock to pursue dreams in the golden sunshine. We live on a fragile tectonic plate, ready to shake our homes and possessions to pieces, but we also live for tomorrow, hoping that we will find a way to the American Dream. From the surfers in the Pacific to the fun seekers at Disneyland, from the hot tubs of Palm Springs, to the bowling alley in Hollywood–we enjoy life. We just have a hard time doing it.
Here in Van Nuys 
You are right Anonymous. My perception of the best way to “develop” housing in LA, is to go back to the time honored zoning that puts buildings right along the street wall, with sidewalks and pedestrians taking the center stage, and grounded by retail stores on the bottom floor.
There are some buildings in LA, recently built around the Koreatown MTA station, that seem to incorporate this. However, we need much, much more to accomodate our population’s housing needs.
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Nice post. I hope LA gets a Mayor who can unite its disparate elements to promote long-term improvements to the city.
Here is one interesting fact I learned from my alumni magazine –
It is easier and more profitable to build luxury apartments with ground floor mid to large chain retailers (Starbucks, Best Buy, etc) than housing for middle and low income families with small retailers. The banks will more likely provide loans, the governments will process the paperwork faster for the former development than the latter.
This is what some alums found when they started to redevelop a plot of land in their college town for middle/low income residential units and small/local retailers. But theyare doing it! So it is possible!
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