Los Angeles

L.A. Country Clubs Taking More Than Their Share and Paying Less
Malcom Gladwell takes on the racial and environmental problems related to the game of golf, particularly as it relates to L.A. property taxes and the Ship of Theseus.

Linkage Fees a Tough Sell for Affordable Housing
Advocates for linkage fees as a tool to enable the construction of additional have encountered stiff resistance in some of the country's most populated areas.

How L.A.'s Nighttime Park Programming Lowered Crime and Costs
Los Angeles County's Parks after Dark (PAD) program and the city of Los Angeles' Summer Night Lights (SNL) program are proving to save lives, lower crime, and reduce costs, writes L.A. County parks planner Clement Lau.
Free School of Architecture Launches in Los Angeles
Peter Zellner's experimental, tuition-free architectural school is officially in session.

Climate Change Will Be Worse for Big Cities
Blame it on the urban heat island effect.

Homeless Numbers Continue to Rise in and Around Los Angeles
Rents continue to rise in Los Angeles and more people are living in their cars.

Los Angeles Signal Priority System Should Be a Model for U.S. Transit Systems
Signal priority is a way to create faster, more regular bus service by adjusting length of stoplights for buses.

A Scathing Critique of Elon Musk's Big Tunneling Idea
Not all ideas are worth attention. What does the fact that ideas like Elon Musk's The Boring Company get so much attention say about the quality of civic discourse, or the potential for planning to improve the built environment?

L.A. Metro Announces Big Bus System Redo
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) announced plans last week to undertake a review of the agency's massive bus system. The redesign will hope to address declining ridership.

Creating Dunes to Preserve the Santa Monica Beach Against Rising Seas
The Bay Foundation have built a two acre enclave, "re-wilding" the area with native plants mimicking what it may have looked like before human interference.

The Rise of Corporate Murals in LA
Downtown Los Angeles, styled DTLA by its new enthusiasts, has long been a site for street art and murals of dubious legality. Now, developers are paying artists to paint them.

Inside Downtown Los Angeles' Subway Tunneling Project
It's not the only subway under construction in Los Angeles, or event the most famous (it doesn't have the PR ring of the "Subway to the Sea"), but the Regional Connector will provide a critical link through the heart of the city's downtown.

Elon Musk Elaborates on His Plan for Tunnels Below Los Angeles
Considering it costs $1 billion per mile to dig L.A.'s subway tunnels, how does Elon Musk plan to build a series of car-carrying tunnels with out breaking the bank?

What Will Los Angeles Will Do Next On Housing & Water? Look To Their Neighbors
The cities of Santa Monica, Culver CIty, West Hollywood, and Malibu are championing stormwater infrastructure, new public transit, affordable housing, and action on homelessness prevention.

City of Los Angeles Tops 4 Million in Latest State Population Report
As usual, California's fastest growing counties were inland, far from coastal job centers. The big surprise was that the fastest growing city was an affluent Silicon Valley suburb that had been sued in 2012 by affordable housing advocates.

After Measure S: Los Angeles Leaders Ponder Growth and Equity
The controversy over the recent ballot initiative known as Measure S has Los Angeles thinking: How can the city accommodate new housing supply without disenfranchising communities?

Study: House Sizes Increase at the Expense of Tree Canopies
A research study has found that increasing house sizes in the Los Angeles area have drastically reduced the number of trees shading the region's landscapes—regardless of geographic location of socioeconomic status.

Proposed New Zoning Around the Los Angeles Expo Line
Los Angeles' proposed transit neighborhood plan for the Expo Line corridor includes minor changes, but nothing earth-shattering. Many of the line's stations remain underutilized.

Planning and Zoning for Growth: A Few Lessons from Los Angeles
C.J. Gabbe guest blogs about a recent article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research.
Debating Los Angeles' Proposed Affordable Housing Development Fee
A proposed affordable housing development fee has inspired a debate about how far developments fees can go in generating funds for affordable housing before they finally stop development altogether.
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