CITY PLANNING CONFLICT: City Charter vs "Elegant Smart Growth"
The Only Thing Standing In The Way of City Hall's Skyscraper Gentrification Fantasy Is Charter Law Regarding Vacancy, Zoning, EIR, Public Input and Vote of The People To Pay For It
by Zuma Dogg
Click here and type "zuma" in keyword search box for ALL ZD Public Comments from City Hall as seen on TV 35. Or "zuma density" for comments on this topic.
Hillary Clinton Campaign Co-Chair, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and The City of Los Angeles calls it "Elegant Density" or "Smart Growth". Zuma Dogg calls it wall to wall 40 story skyscrapers with not nearly enough infrastructure (by you own admission).
Now that you have seen the LA WEEKLY article which reveals the City's decision that a single family home has no place in future plans.
As a matter of fact, the only plan is to pass a new CRA "Eminent Domain" Ordinance (currently being drafted) that will make it easier for them to claim your blighted shack and replace it with a 40 story skyscraper. (See Housing and Economic Committee)
And in response to Zuma Dogg's claims that all this high density construction (along the new LA River, Elephant Hill, Dirt Burnell, Century City, Venice Beach Boardwalk and any other nook and cranny they can cram one of these things into -- without the proper infrastructure is "Planning For Disaster" See ZD LA Weekly Article -- Here's the general take from Villar, Garshady and Planning Dept.:
It's going to have to get worse before it gets better. The problem (gridlock traffic shutting down the city) is the soulution (yes, that IS a quote), because the plan is to let traffic get so bad, it will cause everyone to jump out of their Mercedes, Lexuses and SUVs and start taking the bus with Zuma Dogg and much worse.
But that's going to be o.k., because the State and City are going to build fantastic new transportation systems, like a magic bullet train from San Francisco to San Diego (and San Diego Assn of Governments want to run it all the way to Tijuana!)
Plus, can't forget about the "Subway to the Sea", Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's big pet project; in addition to the Alhambra Corridor (service road) to help ease Alhambra's traffic congestion at LA City's expense, even though Alhambra doesn't want it because it will run a toxic traffic parade through the neighborhood and several nearby schools.)
AND, all the additional light rail and added bus service they will be adding, even though they are cutting service.
So a little give and take here: You give them your house/apartment. They take it. Then purposefully cause traffic gridlock so you will hop on the transportation they haven't built yet. And they admit there will be quite a gap between the solution (traffic gridlock) and the cure (magic bullet trains).
So first on the agenda: The magic bullet train from San Francisco and San Diego. (Cause a lot of people causing traffic gridlock are driving to San Fran or San Diego!?!?) But that will cost who knows how many billions? And if they have to add new taxes like trash collection "fees" for cops they should be hiring anyway; or an additional new tax to remove bulky items that they should be removing anyway; or another attempt to make the middle class pay for affordable housing ("Son of Loser Prop H/Prep H) even though they should be building it with developers anyway --
THEY SURE AS HELL AIN'T PAYING FOR NO STATEWIDE MAGIC BULLET TRAINS OUT OF THE "GENERAL FUND". AND WITH THE GEORGE BUSH WAR IN IRAQ, WE SURE AS HELL AIN'T PAYING FOR IT OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE "GENERAL FUND" -- SO THAT MEANS IT WILL BE COMING OUT OF YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT'S "GENERAL FUND".
So like "Grand Funk Railroad", look for Sacramento's "Grand Fund Railroad" (Billions in bond) to be coming to your town, to help you vote it down. In other words, the bond initiative to pay for the SF-SD express is coming to the '09 ballot.
Only problem, is it's only the first pitch. And as you know, most batters don't swing at the first pitch. See, the condos are just going up now...so people still think the traffic problems are gonna magically solve themselves. Or at least go as far to say, it STILL isn't bad enough gridlock, yet. So we are going to have to wait for all the dumb "Smart Growth" to fester and spread throughout the city, until you are begging The White House to approve the NAFTA superhighway, so you can drive it up to Canada. Cause that's gonna be the only place for you.
THEN, even the rich upper class and low income toilet cleaners will be begging to help pay for it, along with the eternally screwed endangered species, the middle-class.
So we are heading to a two-class system, like China and Mexico. And Dr. Phil has a question: "How's that working for 'ya?"
So don't count your chickens (skyscrapers) before they are hatched (money approved by voters).
AND HERE'S THE OTHER CONFLICT THE CITY WILL HAVE TO OVERCOME IN ORDER TO TRULY GET THE JOB DONE...(The job of giving the City of Los Angeles a "China/Las Vegas" skyline make-over:
There are a few pesky obstacles in the way: The City Charter (city laws) and public interest (voice of the people). Things like vacancy rates, zoning and Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) can shut down, slow down, or compromise the plan.
Perfect example of how the City gets tripped up in the law: Venice Beach. They wanted to gentrify the Zuma Doggs off the beach and make way for the luxury condos, and you don't want no Venice Beach "artists" all over the place when you are trying to make the place like Marina Del Rey. Only thing, the plan to get all the bums off the beach didn't work. Cause the law was in the way; so all the City did was throw a wrench in the system; it diminished the culture and community, but didn't achieve the goal. Cause the first amendment will ALWAYS prevent them from making the clean sweep they need. (Another LA City Hall "lose-lose" situation.)
So they will be pretending like they are moving ahead with this plan to push out the middle class to build luxury accommodations for the rich, or affordable accommodations for the poor -- but nothing for the middle; however, the vote of the people and Charter law may present some interference.
SUMMARY: It ain't a done deal yet. I say the City will HAVE to repeal the vacancy law, change zoning laws Citywide overturn the requirement for an EIR. Plus, overturn the Brown Act and cancel public comment. Otherwise, Villaraigosa, Garcetti, City Council, Planning, Scwarzenegger and The White House will have a big, half-ass mess on they hands. And the part that WON'T happen is the George Jetson transportation part.
And besides the traffic, you can't hire enough police and teachers, now. We have trash removal and waste dump problems, now. We don't have social services for the amount of homeless people we have, now. There are already stories about problems with the water SUPPLY, now. (How are you gonna supply all the water to Skyscraper City? They don't make dehydrated water!??!)
IMAGINE WHAT IT WILL BE LIKE WHEN YOU MULTIPLY IT TIMES 40. (The stories of their proposed skyline.)
And to top it all off: The City plans "analytically" instead of "holistically" which means no one is looking out for the big picture. You can look at vacancy, zoning and EIR on a project to project basis; but you forget to see if there is another similar project about to break ground, nearby. Or trying to get multiple bullet trains "off the ground" at the same time. (Even if they do vote for one, are they gonna vote for two? Plus, "Subway to the Sea"...AND the affordable housing bonds, and the other transportation taxes. I'm starting to think you are trying to drive the middle class out of the city, leaving only the super-rich who can afford it -- and the super-poor, who don't get taxed.
Bottom line, y'all so stupid. I think your "Smart Growth" looks pretty dumb.
See you on the imaginary "Train In Vain".
Zuma Dogg
ZAP (Zuma's Activist Program)
contact: zumadogg@gmail.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment