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
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