Results tagged “planningdepartment”

The City of Los Angeles is in the process of updating its Bicycle Master Plan, a component of the Transportation Element of the City’s General Plan.

Simon Pastucha is the kind of city government employee Los Angeles needs more of. Why? He walks the talk and the Daily News tagged along for a day of his car-free, public transportation life. The Pasadena resident is an urban designer and planner at the Urban Design Studio, a two-person office charged with making the city a more community oriented, walkable and people friendly one. With his salary, Pastucha used to lease a Mercedes...

On Monday, not many people in Los Angeles knew the name Jack Chiang, a city planner overseeing a project in Valley Village. Then on Tuesday, The Daily News published the Department of Planning staffer's name. Come Wednesday, the LA Times caught on. Why all the sudden popularity? Sometimes when you pick up the phone and dial a number, you call the wrong person and leave a message.A Los Angeles City Council panel voted Tuesday...

Last December, I embarked on a mission to find a solution to a problem in my immediate neighborhood. Trying to cross Moorpark St. on foot (or left turns in a car) during rush hour is a nightmare. There is just too much constant flow and you really have to have a brave moment to cross at the unmarked crosswalk because as we all know, there is about .001% of drivers in the city who...

Today brought on two major changes for Sherman Oaks. Some are cheering, some are jeering. The first is the opening of the 405 on-ramp just south of Valley's busiest intersection of Ventura/Sepulveda at Greenleaf Street. This means no more traveling a couple miles to Burbank Blvd. to get on the 405 North and possibly a tiny bit less congestion. The second and controversial neighborhood newbie (to some) is the grand opening of Best Buy on...

Turmoil at the planning department! It may not sound very exciting, but the Los Angeles Department Of City Planning dictates the way our city is built, and thus, the way we live. According to the L.A. Weekly, Planning Department wonks are sick and tired of director Con Howe's listless leadership, and want him out. “He’s been very good at lowering expectations,” says one disheartened former Planning Dept. employee. That doesn't really sound like an admirable quality for one of the city's top bureaucrats. The Weekly also notes that this growing political skirmish may jeopardize a plan to require real estate developers to build low-cost apartments and condos to get lucrative new projects approved. Given the long-standing political primacy of SoCal land developers, LAist thinks it's fair to induce them to construct below-market-rate housing units. The proposed "requirement" to do so may sound overly restrictive, but we're confident that our noble real estate barons will find many ways to get around the new regulations.