Wednesday, February 22, 2006
LA Mayor Wants to Bet Your Tax Dollars on New Urban High Rises
The new mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, wants to turn Los Angeles into "Manhattan West" (or, more accurately, Toronto West) by building scores or hundreds of high-rise condos connected by subway trains. He hopes developers will build the condos without subsidy (at least, without anyone noticing any subsidies), but expects to build the subways with money "from the state and federal governments."
It is worth noting that the 2000 census found that 94 percent of the people in California live on just 5 percent of the state's land. Why is Mayor Villaraigosa in such a rush to stack people in high-rise condos? The answer is simple: Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties are all growing faster than Los Angeles, and Mayor Villaraigosa doesn't like seeing people pay taxes to other jurisdictions when they could pay taxes to him.
New Urbanists claim to favor midrises (four- to six-story buildings) rather than high rises, but as I show in Smart Growth and the Ideal City, that's about the only difference between smart growth and the "Radiant City" housing projects that turned out so badly in Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and all over Europe.
Los Angeles writer Joel Kotkin is not convinced by the mayor's vision. "You turn L.A. into a bunch of apartment buildings," he says, "and it's more like Tehran than it is like Paris."
It is worth noting that the 2000 census found that 94 percent of the people in California live on just 5 percent of the state's land. Why is Mayor Villaraigosa in such a rush to stack people in high-rise condos? The answer is simple: Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties are all growing faster than Los Angeles, and Mayor Villaraigosa doesn't like seeing people pay taxes to other jurisdictions when they could pay taxes to him.
New Urbanists claim to favor midrises (four- to six-story buildings) rather than high rises, but as I show in Smart Growth and the Ideal City, that's about the only difference between smart growth and the "Radiant City" housing projects that turned out so badly in Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and all over Europe.
Los Angeles writer Joel Kotkin is not convinced by the mayor's vision. "You turn L.A. into a bunch of apartment buildings," he says, "and it's more like Tehran than it is like Paris."
Comments:
From the article:
>>>>Islands — villages, as he calls them — sprout around subway stops and are ribboned together by swaths of green space, most notably along the Los Angeles River, where the mayor imagines trees and grass in place of the long segments of concrete culverts and channels that once carried runoff to the ocean. And all across that vast landscape, scores of pocket parks bring smatterings of green to even the densest urban neighborhoods. <<<<<
This is a beautiful vision of Downtown Los Angeles. Have you been to there? I have new for you. It's a Mexican slum.
Do you want to keep the slum just the way it is and not try anything?
Luxury high-rise condo are spreading everywhere and the ideal of building single family homes in Downtown LA is never going to happen. In fact, many of the residents who currently live in the neighborhood will not be able to afford to live in these luxury buildings.
Slums in cities all over the nation are being revitalized with new luxury condo construction. People are will to pay a premium for housing that's close to work instead of driving for an hour into the burbs. It's the wave of the future.
>>>>Islands — villages, as he calls them — sprout around subway stops and are ribboned together by swaths of green space, most notably along the Los Angeles River, where the mayor imagines trees and grass in place of the long segments of concrete culverts and channels that once carried runoff to the ocean. And all across that vast landscape, scores of pocket parks bring smatterings of green to even the densest urban neighborhoods. <<<<<
This is a beautiful vision of Downtown Los Angeles. Have you been to there? I have new for you. It's a Mexican slum.
Do you want to keep the slum just the way it is and not try anything?
Luxury high-rise condo are spreading everywhere and the ideal of building single family homes in Downtown LA is never going to happen. In fact, many of the residents who currently live in the neighborhood will not be able to afford to live in these luxury buildings.
Slums in cities all over the nation are being revitalized with new luxury condo construction. People are will to pay a premium for housing that's close to work instead of driving for an hour into the burbs. It's the wave of the future.
> This is a beautiful vision of
> Downtown Los Angeles. Have
> you been to there? I have new
> for you. It's a Mexican slum.
I have been in downtown L.A. (even
though I live in Maryland) - as
recently as December, 2005.
I don't recall seeing a "Mexican
slum" there.
I don't share your apparent dislike
of persons of Mexican origin,
however.
> Do you want to keep the slum
> just the way it is and not try
> anything?
>
> Luxury high-rise condo are
> spreading everywhere and the
> ideal of building single
> family homes in Downtown LA
> is never going to happen. In
> fact, many of the residents
> who currently live in
> the neighborhood will not be
> able to afford to live in
> these luxury buildings.
Just like the highly-successful Ballston Corridor (in Arlington County, Virginia)?
> Slums in cities all over
> the nation are being revitalized
> with new luxury condo
> construction. People are will
> to pay a premium for
> housing that's close to
> work instead of driving for
> an hour into the burbs. It's
> the wave of the future.
Where are you planng on having all of the undesirables that cannot afford to live in those luxury condos go?
Post a Comment
> Downtown Los Angeles. Have
> you been to there? I have new
> for you. It's a Mexican slum.
I have been in downtown L.A. (even
though I live in Maryland) - as
recently as December, 2005.
I don't recall seeing a "Mexican
slum" there.
I don't share your apparent dislike
of persons of Mexican origin,
however.
> Do you want to keep the slum
> just the way it is and not try
> anything?
>
> Luxury high-rise condo are
> spreading everywhere and the
> ideal of building single
> family homes in Downtown LA
> is never going to happen. In
> fact, many of the residents
> who currently live in
> the neighborhood will not be
> able to afford to live in
> these luxury buildings.
Just like the highly-successful Ballston Corridor (in Arlington County, Virginia)?
> Slums in cities all over
> the nation are being revitalized
> with new luxury condo
> construction. People are will
> to pay a premium for
> housing that's close to
> work instead of driving for
> an hour into the burbs. It's
> the wave of the future.
Where are you planng on having all of the undesirables that cannot afford to live in those luxury condos go?
