L.A.'s Future Lies in Coordination of Transportation & Planning

Now that the voters have approved $40 billion in state bonds for infrastructure improvements, how will Los Angeles benefit from these bonds?

I'm ecstatic about the passage of the bond measures! I went to sleep early Wednesday morning (Nov. 8) dreaming of the projects that we will be able to pursue. These funds really could help in building the new, rationalized, seamlessly planned L.A. we're working toward.

The bond includes about $127 million in formula funds for local street improvement and congestion relief. Those will go towards the synchronization of lights, which is a critical part of moving traffic.

There is about $3.1 billion for port infrastructure, security, and air quality statewide, and that will be available for competitive grants for ports and airports. Since Los Angeles and Long Beach represent close to 80 percent of the goods movement in the state, we feel confident that we will be extremely competitive for those funds.

There is also $2 billion for the State Transportation Improvement Project, which will be available based on current formulas that allocate funds according to county populations and highway miles. Again, we will be able to use this for a variety of purposes that have a direct impact on our ability to move traffic.

One of the most important parts of the bond measure was provision for "Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement." I think the City of LA will have a number of projects eligible for this funding, including: a north-south extension of the Orange Line, extensions of the Expo Line and Gold Line, and beginning the process for the "Subway to the Sea."

I believe that LA will receive close to $8 million in formula funds out of the $3.6 billion distributed through regional transportation planning agencies. (That $8 million goes directly to the city, but there is the potential for $1 billion for our region.) Be assured, the city is going to compete for all of these categorical dollars.

Mayor Villaraigosa, in conjunction with the City Council, has put together a task force to determine how we can compete immediately. We're also watching the California Transportation Commission and State Legislature so when they enact implementing legislation we will to be in Sacramento lobbying for L.A.'s fair share.

Not only did the state bonds pass November 7, but there was also a changing of the guard in Congress, with a number of Californians up for leadership positions. What does that portend for Los Angeles?

I am excited about the new opportunities the election has provided. Senator Boxer will be chairing a committee that deals with the majority of transportation issues. Rep. Roybal-Allard will be on the appropriations committee, and Reps. Berman, Waxman, and Sherman will all be playing key roles. And with Nancy Pelosi as the new speaker, California will be on the map. No longer will it be "Anywhere But California" in Washington.

This issue of TPR carries remarks from the Mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa, who asks, "Can a city decide on a transport system without knowing what kind of city it wants to be? I think it's impossible because it's very different if you have something like Amsterdam or Zurich in mind rather than Houston or Atlanta. A transport system must be adapted to the kind of city we want; it actually helps generate the kind of city we want." He suggests that urban planning, real estate investment, and transportation planning are linked. Do L.A.'s Planning, CRA, Housing, and Transportation Departments collaborate?

Absolutely. We are at a crossroads in our city. We are creating a vision that heretofore has not necessarily existed. The momentum is due, in part, to leadership by the mayor and by our three general managers who have critical roles in the future of our city-the planning director, transportation director, and housing director-and a City Council that is saying that we must determine our destiny. We have to decide what our vision is and sell it, not only to the residents of our community but also to the state and federal governments.

People know that Los Angeles is not going to have a seamless transportation system tomorrow. But they do want to know that there are plans as to where we're going to grow, where we're not going to grow, and how we're going to deal with that growth. We have a unique opportunity, particularly with the passage of this bond, to make some of our dreams reality.

I spoke with Mayor Peñalosa, and we chatted about the fact that some of his advisors had recommended he spend $5 billion on Bogota's highways. Los Angeles will never be able to build enough roads or freeways to accommodate the people that are here. That strategy is outdated. We've shifted from more freeways to transit-oriented activities. The mayor and this Council are committed to creating those opportunities. We appreciate that more and more people are choosing to live in locations that allow them to access services without using a car.

You have served on PLUM, you now chair the Transportation Committee, and you have advocated for collaboration between these departments for a long time. But the tradition in Los Angeles has been that planning is done in and by individual Council offices, transaction-by-transaction. Is it now possible to change the culture and link transportation with land use planning?

Part of the reason that planning has occurred district-by-district is that there hasn't been a planning process that involved the community. Planning has been so disjointed that community members don't know where the growth is going to go or how they're going to protect their neighborhoods, so instead they fight every project.

The vision of Planning Director Gail Goldberg is to change that. She wants to update those community plans and city plans and see how the two interconnect. Let's see how the transportation system feeds into the neighborhood system and let's ensure that we're developing housing and commercial sites in places people can get to without a car.

Gail worked on transportation planning in the San Diego Planning Department. She's familiar with the importance of that relationship. I tell communities all the time, "wouldn't you rather not battle every project and instead have a vision for this neighborhood and how it relates to the adjoining communities?" They usually agree that they would prefer to have a plan that they can invest in and support rather than having to fight project-by-project. That's not planning, and it's not the way the city should move forward.

What is the jurisdiction of the Transportation Committee? Do Transportation General Manager Gloria Jeff's priorities depend on City Planning?

We've prioritized safety, public transportation, and congestion relief, and every proposal we come up with has to fit into these categories. I have focused on both short- and long-term fixes. We're not going to have the "Subway to the Sea" or the Wilshire and Van Nuys bus lanes tomorrow. But as we plan for those necessary projects, we can still move on a parallel track to synchronize lights, build left-hand turn signals at appropriate places, enforce anti-gridlock zones, and expand our Tiger Teams.

For example, we've begun regulating our parking cash-out program. State law requires employers of 50 or more employees with leased parking spaces to offer the same cost of the leased parking space to employees to take public transportation. But that law has not been enforced; Santa Monica has begun that process, and they've had a 20 percent reduction in leased parking spaces. We think that equates to less people driving in those communities, and so we're working towards our own enforcement/education process.

Building on the linked themes of urban livability, and land use and transportation planning being dependent, the mayor has talked of the need for elegant density in the city. Both you and the mayor have also said that the Valley needs to build up, not out. Have the residents of the Valley embraced those goals?

We need to get communities to understand not only what elegant density is but also where it should be. The recent Measure H, which unfortunately was not successful but received over 62 percent of the vote, showed that an impressive number of people recognize the importance of affordable housing and home ownership for the future of citywide planning.

I went to parts of my district that may not have been concerned about affordable housing specifically, but I said to them that supporting affordable housing is an investment in your overall quality of life. People are traveling from Palmdale/Lancaster, Riverside/San Bernardino, and even Bakersfield to work in the city of Los Angeles.

Those are people living where housing is affordable but using L.A. roads and services and adding to congestion. We have to educate the public about the importance of having a jobs-housing balance and increasing density in transit corridors. Ultimately this is how we reduce traffic, preserve community, safeguard air-quality and improve quality of life in L.A.

The mayor announced that the city and county are jointly investing $65 million of public pension funds in Phoenix Reality's Genesis II fund to create workforce housing (see article pg. 6). Is workforce housing now a priority for the city?

Definitely. Much of the major housing investment is going into transit corridors and into Downtown, where there is public transportation. We have to augment that by creating a seamless system where people can walk out their doors, get on public transportation, and get to their destination. That doesn't exist across the city yet, and it is a chicken-or-egg situation. Do we wait for the demand or encourage demand by creating supply? By tackling both sides of the equation we're working more swiftly toward our ultimate vision for LA.

Also, a priority for me is working with the communities who might fight against housing investment. The gut response in a lot of neighborhoods is that they don't want housing because that would bring more people when in fact several studies have demonstrated that commercial development brings more traffic, in a concentrated period of time. We need to do our part to educate, inform, and encourage participation by the residents.