A Plea For a Westside Transportation/Land Use Plan

As anyone who lives in and around the Westside knows, traffic, pollution and congestion don't obey council district or even city boundaries. Rancho Park residents can regulary be impacted by what is going on in Santa Monica or Westwood and vice versa.

 

With large projects like the Rancho Park-area Casden complex at Sepulveda and Exposition, Santa Monica's Bergamot Village and others  in various stages of planning and development, the Council District 11 Transportation Advisory Committee recently addressed the need for districts to work together for the betterment of the entire Westside.

 

At their February meeting they approved a motion requesting that,  "Councilmembers Rosendahl and Koretz collaborate with other jurisdictions to form a Regional Cumulative Transportation/Land Use Plan for large projects that affect the following geography:  Northern boundary of Santa Monica Mountains, Western boundary of the Pacific Ocean, Southern boundary of LAX/Westchester, and Eastern boundary of La Cienega Boulevard."

 

The motion also had significant input from some members of Council District 5, which covers Rancho Park, Cheviot Hills, Westwood and other nearby neighborhoods.

 

Writing on the City Watch blog, CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee co-chair Ken Alpern stressed the importance of communities working together to prevent overdevelopment of the Westside, noting that project that may exist in one neighborhood impacts residents of near and far areas as well.

 

"The border is just a line on a map, but living on the wrong side of the border leaves a person with virtually no voice or ability to slow down or demand mitigation for an oversized project," he writes.

 

Alpern, who also chairs the non-profit Transit Coalition also noted that support for the Expo Line and other transportation projects does not equal support for overdevelopment.

 

"It should be reminded, and re-reminded, however, that none of the citizen/grassroots advocates who fought for either the Expo or Wilshire rail lines are in favor of these megaprojects—and that those building the large Westside developments pay very little mitigation towards their impacts, or to the creation of these rail lines or other infrastructure projects."

 

Councilmembers Rosendahl and Koretz worked together last year to get an above-ground crossing for the Expo Line, using $5 million from the West LA Traffic Improvement Mitigation Plan (TIMP)  to fund grade separation at Sepulveda Blvd.  It remains to be seen if that mitigation is undone by the size of the proposed Casden development at Pico/Sepulveda and Expostion.

 

If that is the case, Alpern and other transportation advocates are hoping Rancho Parkers can count on our neighbors to the north, east, south and west to work together to bring neccesary improvements and changes that will benefit the whole Westside and city.

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Comment by barney desimone on August 14, 2013 at 4:20pm

Why the Casden Development is unstoppable, ditto the Expo and massive buildings at the Palms station, at Olympic and Bundy and Lincoln & Colorado in Santa Monica. The Millennium Towers in Hollywood along the subway is another. Westwood will be forever un-villaged once the subway reaches there. Read it and weep for WLA  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/354734/regionalism-obamas-quie...

Comment by barney desimone on August 9, 2013 at 8:32pm

http://minutemennews.com/2013/08/obama-administration-brings-forced... 

Why are they building these massive complexes near light rail?

Comment by barney desimone on April 13, 2013 at 9:01pm

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/312807/burn-down-suburbs-sta...

 Expo, and the Massive dense 638 unit Casden WLA Develoment? It's just being realized by suburbanites that their Prop 30 tax dollars are not going to their schools but to the inner city. This is why.

Comment by barney desimone on March 6, 2013 at 2:56am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swqaAIkGtpA  West L A this could be you. Is this is the goal of the Bicycle Coaltion? Maybe you'll like it.  

Comment by barney desimone on February 28, 2013 at 11:07pm

 Where is all of the giant mixed use development along new mass transit lines, walkable, bikeable communities concepts coming from? Study this. We fit the profile to a T. L.A. County is signed onto ICLEI. This has been in the works for years. Long but very informative video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GykzQWlXJs

Comment by barney desimone on January 21, 2013 at 9:32pm

Monday's L A Times: Subway into Century City, massive high rise residential planned and more on the Santa Monica projects.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-property-report-20130121,0,74...

Comment by barney desimone on January 21, 2013 at 9:29pm
Comment by barney desimone on January 17, 2013 at 10:26pm

This lady is difficult to follow, but she's an education. She is an appraiser for the transit agency in Northern California for eminent domain. It's long but but the answer to everything you see happening in WLA is in this You Tube clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEHWsdimVO4

Comment by barney desimone on January 17, 2013 at 8:29pm

The "overdevelopment" is part and parcel of the transit plan. The same agenda is pushing both. You won't have one without the other. The are around the Metro Buss line Station at Canoga and Vanowen in the Valley has a 400 unit project under construction. According to an article in the paper there are two other projects planned near there that total almost 700 units and the company that owns the old Recketdyne facility wants to put in 4000 multifamily units eventually. The county and city of L.A have signed up to be dues paying members of an organization known as ICLEI, the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives -Sustainable Development. This group supplies jurisdictions with a ready made planning overlay with all of the documentaion and training for implementation. It's well on it's way in L.A. They promote "transit viillages" that are supposed to make car trips less needed. The problem is that they creat so much congestion that car trip are almost impossible. Say goodbye to quality of life.

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