PLANNING WATCH / PLAN-IT LOS ANGELES

‘History Repeats Itself, First as Tragedy, Second as Farce’ . . . The Case of the Purple Line Transit Plan Dick Platkin, CityWatchLA, Juley 30, 2020 PLANNING WATCH -In a recent 2019 CityWatchLA column and in previous 2016 columns I carefully debunked City Hall’s Purple Line Extension Transit Neighborhood Plan (TNP ). I explained how this proposal was a real estate scam masquerading as an essential mass transit component. But, in Los Angeles, even with cascading FBI investigations, United States Attorney indictments, guilty pleas, and prison terms for City Hall officials pitching illicit real estate proposals, Purple Line TNP real estate boondoggles are still rolling out from the trickle down dead-enders .   The latest proposal comes from an anonymous and misnamed Facebook group, Fri...

A Powerful Lesson from the Pandemic: Trickle-down City Planning Does Not Work Dick Platkin, CityWatchLA, July 23, 2020 Vacant Coffee Bean parking lot, opposite the Beverly Center.  Unlike the former employees, the weeds are thriving.  Some of these volunteers even have flowers. PLANNING WATCH -Since its first baby steps in March 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic and its deepening recession have taught us four important lessons.  Heyday for weeds. When stores shut down and landlords walk away from their properties, weeds quickly take over. The photo above shows what a few months of economic collapse looks like at a prime commercial corner on the westside of Los Angeles. (Third Street & LaCienega) Like viruses, these flowering weeds reveal that Mother Nature gets the last laugh in our economically fragile society. The former parking lot shown in...

What will Concerned City Employees do Next? Stay tuned! Dick Platkin, C ityWatchLA , July 16, 2020 L os Angeles City Council PLANNING WATCH -370 current and former City of Los Angeles employees have signed an open letter to Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Counci l. They wrote, “We envision a future where community safety and security is provided through secure housing, education, food security, and healthcare, not over-policing.” Published in CityWatch on July 2, 2020, this letter is important for at least two reasons. First, it garnered supporters from 29 separate City departments, an indication that City employees, who provide much of LA’s vital infrastructure and public services, truly care about LA’s residents, not just well-connected real estate investors. Isn’t a working alliance between the providers and consumers of municipal services a logical next step? In fact, such a working ...

Crime Doesn’t Pay. Really? Is LA the Exception to the Rule? Dick Platkin 02 July 2020 PLANNING WATCH -If you visit, work, or live in LA, you only need to step outside your office, apartment, or house to discover that crime does pay. You will see shady real estate deals, small, medium, and large, allowed by the crew at 200 N. Spring Street (City Hall).  For every member of the City Council, like Jose Huizar and Mitchell Englander, or career officials like former Deputy Mayor and Building and Safety General Manager Ray Chan, who are facing jail time, there are many others clever enough to nibble at the cheese without getting caught. Their ranks include elected officials, mega-developers , departmental managers, lobbyists, campaign donors and consultants, expeditors, and cronies. For example, a former Director of Planning recently paid a $281,000 ethics fi...

LA’s corrupt, market-oriented planning process could be reinvented to promote economic and racial justice . By Dick Platkin* https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/19950-la-s-corrupt-market-oriented-planning-process-could-be-reinvented-to-promote-economic-and-racial-justice     Planning Watch : To much of the public “Department of City Planning” brings up images of widespread gentrification, a former Director of Planning paying a $281,000 fine for lobbying his former colleagues on behalf of real estate developers, and hundreds of eyes averted from FBI investigations and indictments of their bosses accepting bribes to approve major projects.  But, despite this dirty linen, in a soaring statement LA’s Department of City Planning publicly staked out its commitment to racial equality.  “ We pledge to intentionally and authentically deepen our efforts to serve all  communities of Los Angeles in a manner that promotes equity and inclu...

After Mayor Eric Garcetti feels our pain, what will permanently change at LA's City Hall? By Dick Platkin* https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/cw/los-angeles/19912-after-eric-garcetti-feels-our-pain-what-will-permanently-change-at-city-hall Planning Watch:   Like Woodie Allen’s imaginary character, Zelig , who could change his physical appearance to ingratiate himself to those around him, Eric Garcetti skillfully changes his political exterior to placate those who contest his policies.   Therefore, Angelinos wonder what will happen when the Mayor is done feeling our pain, telling us he hopes we can all get along, and taking a knee with Black Lives Matter demonstrators (i.e., a counter-insurgency technique employed by the United States military in Iraq and Afghanistan )?   Will anything permanently change in the City of LA’s budget, ordinances and regulations, and departmental work programs?   The answer is time will tell, bu...