Do Real Planning #3: Require Density Around Transit

Los Angeles - Hollywood
Originally uploaded by Christopher Biggs.

Last week, the Los Angeles City Planning Commission unveiled a 14-point policy agenda to set the city on a course towards sustainability, using Planning Director Gail Goldberg's mantra of DO REAL PLANNING as an acronym for the platform. I'm blogging my own thoughts on each of these planning principles through the lens of my own district work and the potential for citywide direction along these lines.

Council District 13 is blessed with a transit infrastructure that is the envy of the city. We have more subway stops, rapid bus lines, and bike lanes than in any other part of town. We have the most used DASH line in the city and the most pedestrian-oriented business districts. So taking advantage of our main streets to help reduce traffic and increasing the quality of life by putting density near transit is a true no-brainer.

A few years ago, the community in Hollywood helped write the Station Neighborhood Area Plan (SNAP), to encourage the right kind of development near all of our Red Line Stations and adjacent neighborhoods. In the next 5 years, you will see a dramatic change in Hollywood at the Red Line intersection of Hollywood and Vine, where dense, urban projects will rise above a corner that has not until recently lived up to its famous name. That resurgence will mirror the revitalization of the Hollywood and Western intersection, where we moved our field office over a year ago to take advantage of the subway stop. In central Hollywood, several thousand housing units are coming on line that can move people closer to where they work or allow them to use public transit to get there.

In Hollywood today, you can commute to work downtown on the subway, walk to a great restaurant, stroll down to the world-famous Hollywood Farmer's Market, or catch a movie or a play all without getting into a car. That means more time to enjoy our city and the company of our families and friends.