Ball 3

Mayor Garcetti’s recently announced Great Streets Initiative got me thinking about how Los Angeles uses its streets compared to other urban cities. While the region has some long, important thoroughfares (Wilshire, Sunset, Figueroa, and PCH immediately come to mind), few would argue that they are on the same level of the Champs Elysees or the Mall in Washington DC. LA’s major boulevards often have great settings and go through interesting neighborhoods, but an important ingredient that makes streets great is missing - place . Like pretty much any public problem, both the public and the private sectors are to blame. Let’s look at where they’ve fallen short and what they can do to improve our streets: More of this. The Public Sector - Lack of public space . Look at Wilshire, Sunset, Figueroa, and Pacific Coast Highway on google maps and you’ll see that these 4 major thoroughfares combined have only 2 major parks along their entire stretch - MacArthur Park on Wilshire and Exposi...

A map of LA's home ownership. Lighter areas have higher rates of renters. It seems that people are often quick to dismiss projects in the LA region due to its culture. We shouldn’t expand mass transit because people love their cars too much. We shouldn’t build high density developments because people want to raise their kids in the suburbs with big backyards. However, recent data from the Census and the American Community Survey shows that our “LA culture” may not be as deeply ingrained as we often think it is. In looking at the data, you can come up with three major takeaways: 1. 52% of residents in the LA metro area are renters (the highest rate in the country) 2. Half of these renters are spending too much of their income on their monthly rent 3. 45% of households own one or fewer cars These numbers present a great opportunity for the region’s city planners and developers. Half of the population is incredibly mobile - they don’t have the anchor of home owner...