Fire your ad department
The typography and animation reminds me of a Saul Bass title sequence, which I like. But did anyone really need to encourage drivers to be more aggressive? Although maybe it's just honest advertising.
Unconventional Race/Ethnicity Map for LA County
The map above is a fairly unconventional depiction regarding race and ethnicity in Los Angeles County. Demographically, race and ethnicity are hard to map because the way that people identify themselves may be different than how the data are formally collected...read more about the methodology below.
♥ Lovebirds ♥ to LAX: A Sweet Bikeride/Party
By our very own!! Go Omari!
A great event conceived and organized by UP 2nd year, Omari Fuller, to take place this Sunday (2/20/2011) is attracting attention for its inventiveness. The ride from Westwood to LAX will raise awareness of bike access and infrastructure issues all while escorting his long-distance sweetheart, Aileen, to LAX. What a brilliant combination!
(I ♥ that it's in the name of l♥ve)
Details and route for the event
Media coverage:
Post on GOOD magazine
Post on NBC Los Angeles
Post on Streetsblog
Post on bikingla
A great event conceived and organized by UP 2nd year, Omari Fuller, to take place this Sunday (2/20/2011) is attracting attention for its inventiveness. The ride from Westwood to LAX will raise awareness of bike access and infrastructure issues all while escorting his long-distance sweetheart, Aileen, to LAX. What a brilliant combination!
(I ♥ that it's in the name of l♥ve)
Details and route for the event
Media coverage:
Post on GOOD magazine
Post on NBC Los Angeles
Post on Streetsblog
Post on bikingla
Reflections on LA's New Planning Director
This morning the Westside Urban Forum hosted "an interview with a planner." New planning director Michael LoGrande was interviewed by the Ventura Mayor, Bill Fulton (UCLA Urban Planning Alum!) with a short time for questions and answers. The conversation included thoughts on operating the planning department with a varying budget, his past experience and plans for the future. This was the first time I had heard from the new director and left with mixed feelings. LoGrande may be what LA city planning needs at the moment - however, it's hard not to long for the visionary ideas of former directors like Gail Goldberg.
LoGrande was formerly the zoning administrator. This is seemingly a largely procedural body, and he appears to bring that same mentality to planning. He brings a new organizational structure, which is being implemented this weekend, in fact. Now, some planners will be staffing a "one-stop shop" for planning documents. This way, developers and others will not have the run around between city hall and the planning department. This physical re-organization is something that Janette Sadik-Khan has employed in NYC. She found that if you office the planners and engineers together, they are forced to talk to each other. This department integration could be a great thing. We've seen some failures because LADOT and Street services do not communicate with each other. LoGrande has also been having monthly meetings with the heads of Bureau of Engineering, Building and Safety, Department of Transportation, the CRA and Department of Housing. There are many federal applications that require these departments to coordinate with each other. This re-organization and coordination is a definitely a positive.
This is an example of LoGrande being a manager rather than a visionary. He expressed that in these difficult budget times, that is largely the role of the planning director. Since the city council did not pass the parking lot privatization, planning is faced with finding $1 million to cut from their budget. Under the former administration, there was a big push to update all the community plans. I did not catch which specific plans are slated to be updated in the next 2 years. After that, the department will switch focus to Measure R planning on station plans for the 17 new stations. A lot of the talk centered around transportation planning. He hit all the points about having TOD's, density, parking, SB1818, and site specific design. However, there was no context about how these specifics fit into his larger vision for Los Angeles.
LoGrande was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa. His rhetoric reflects that appointment and he is implementing the Mayor's vision and legacy. He seems to share the "get things done" attitude that Measure R reflects. He wants to accomplish the things he sets out to do. He is focused on implementation and plans not sitting on shelves collecting dust. I guess we will just have to wait 2 years and see how that all pans out. This could be great for transit future in Los Angeles and development with a half mile from these 17 new stations. However, it will leave a great deal of the city left behind, and many other issues still to be tackled. Hopefully, when the UCLA urban planning class which will enter this fall is coming upon their graduation, they will be able to report great things about LoGrande's blueprint.
To read more about LoGrande's blueprint for the City Planning Department, the PDF can be found here
LoGrande was formerly the zoning administrator. This is seemingly a largely procedural body, and he appears to bring that same mentality to planning. He brings a new organizational structure, which is being implemented this weekend, in fact. Now, some planners will be staffing a "one-stop shop" for planning documents. This way, developers and others will not have the run around between city hall and the planning department. This physical re-organization is something that Janette Sadik-Khan has employed in NYC. She found that if you office the planners and engineers together, they are forced to talk to each other. This department integration could be a great thing. We've seen some failures because LADOT and Street services do not communicate with each other. LoGrande has also been having monthly meetings with the heads of Bureau of Engineering, Building and Safety, Department of Transportation, the CRA and Department of Housing. There are many federal applications that require these departments to coordinate with each other. This re-organization and coordination is a definitely a positive.
This is an example of LoGrande being a manager rather than a visionary. He expressed that in these difficult budget times, that is largely the role of the planning director. Since the city council did not pass the parking lot privatization, planning is faced with finding $1 million to cut from their budget. Under the former administration, there was a big push to update all the community plans. I did not catch which specific plans are slated to be updated in the next 2 years. After that, the department will switch focus to Measure R planning on station plans for the 17 new stations. A lot of the talk centered around transportation planning. He hit all the points about having TOD's, density, parking, SB1818, and site specific design. However, there was no context about how these specifics fit into his larger vision for Los Angeles.
LoGrande was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa. His rhetoric reflects that appointment and he is implementing the Mayor's vision and legacy. He seems to share the "get things done" attitude that Measure R reflects. He wants to accomplish the things he sets out to do. He is focused on implementation and plans not sitting on shelves collecting dust. I guess we will just have to wait 2 years and see how that all pans out. This could be great for transit future in Los Angeles and development with a half mile from these 17 new stations. However, it will leave a great deal of the city left behind, and many other issues still to be tackled. Hopefully, when the UCLA urban planning class which will enter this fall is coming upon their graduation, they will be able to report great things about LoGrande's blueprint.
To read more about LoGrande's blueprint for the City Planning Department, the PDF can be found here
What is the relationship between education policy and urban/suburban form?
[Editors note: The author has no background in education policy. This is a purely speculative inquiry interested in exploring these questions]
At the end of the Transportation Research Board conference, I found myself at a wonderful reception at ITDP, graciously invited by an UCLA urban planning alumni. The room was filled with great food, great people and great conversation. One of my research idols, Todd Litman arrived and I was happy to get a chance to pick his brain. Todd, I and another person I had met earlier at the conference, began an enlightening conversation on a topic I had not considered previously:
What is the relationship between education policy and urban/suburban form?
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