PLANNING WATCH / PLAN-IT LOS ANGELES

Why We Need to Carefully Monitor Infrastructure in Los Angeles DICK PLATKIN, City Watch LA,   CREATED: 28 JANUARY 2016 LOS ANGELES   PLATKIN ON PLANNING-Concerns over LA’s mounting infrastructure problems are everywhere. Is it structures that will fail in El Nino floods? Coastal facilities that cannot withstand the rising seas caused by climate change? Sidewalk repairs that will cost $1.5 billion? A proper urban forest whose bill is close to $1 billion?  Or is it street repairs estimated to cost  $3 billion?   Several billions of repairs scheduled for LAX? Or is it $15 billion to repair century  old water mains  and sewer pipes that burst with alarming frequency? Perhaps it’s the 405 Freeway widening that cost about $1.3 billion? The $250 billion  in across-the-board infrastructure categories that are certain to fail within minutes of “The Big One”?  The answer is that this and much, much more is the basis for LA’s growing infrastructure and public services crises. Furthe

City Planning Debates: More Heat than Light DICK PLATKIN, City Watch LA,   22 JANUARY 2016 LOS ANGELES SHARE THIS PLATKIN ON PLANNING--There is no shortage of heat when it comes to planning debates in Los Angeles, but not much light, especially when attention turns to the proposed  Neighborhood Protect Initiative .  For example, an instant opposition group, that does not appear to have even read the initiative, is already mislabeling it the Housing Moratorium Initiative.     So, borrowing a term from Hizzoner, Eric Garcetti, lets return to some (city planning) basics.  Maybe it is possible to shed some light on these heated planning debates through three simple questions and answers:   What do we mean by planning?   In California there is not much grey when it comes to planning.  Every city is legally required to prepare and adopt a General Plan.  State law not only specifies that this  General Plan must be timely and internally consistent,  but it also must inclu