Downtownla VISION PLAN
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
your downtownLA VISION PLAN This is a project for the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council with funding provided by the Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) Compass Blueprint Program. Compass Blueprint assists Southern California cities and other organizations in evaluating planning options and stimulating development consistent with the region’s goals. Compass Blueprint tools support visioning efforts, infill analyses, economic and policy analyses, and marketing and communication programs. The preparation of this report has been financed in part through grant(s) from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) in accordance with the provisions under the Metropolitan Planning Program as set forth in Section 104(f) of Title 23 of the U.S. Code. The contents of this report reflect the views of the author who is responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of SCAG, DOT or the State of California. This report does not constitute a standard, specification or regulation. SCAG shall not be responsible for the City’s future use or adaptation of the report. 0CONTENTS 00. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 01. WHY IS DOWNTOWN IMPORTANT? 01a. It is the birthplace of Los Angeles 01b. All roads lead to Downtown 01c. It is the civic, cultural, and commercial heart of Los Angeles 02. WHAT HAS SHAPED DOWNTOWN? 02a. Significant milestones in Downtown’s development 02b. From pueblo to urban core 03. DOWNTOWN TODAY 03a. Recent development trends 03b. Public infrastructure initiatives 04. VISION DOWNTOWN 04a. What does Downtown want to be? 04b. Stakeholder input 04c. Public Input 05. LAND USE 05a. Embed flexibility into the zoning code 05b. Accommodate future growth through infill development 05c. Transit networks should serve as the framework for future smart growth development 06. MOBILITY 06a. People on feet 06b. People on wheels 06c. People on transit 07. PUBLIC REALM 07a. Opportunities to expand the public realm 07b. Open space for all 08. OPPORTUNITY CORRIDORS 08a. Thriving north-south corridors 08b. Neglected north-south corridors 08c. Fragmented east-west corridors 09. GAME-CHANGING OPPORTUNITIES 10. NEXT STEPS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Los Angeles is the quintessential global city. The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Breathtakingly diverse, the second-most populous (DLANC) was established in 2002, one of the first U.S. city, and the cultural heart of the west neighborhood councils in the City. Its mission is to coast, it is able to project its influence and ideas “promote more citizen participation in government unconstrained by geography. It is one of only a and make government more responsive to the local handful of cities that the rest of the world looks to needs” of the Downtown community. for leadership and inspiration. DLANC continues to be a pioneer. It is the first In a competitive global context, it is critical that neighborhood council to have sought and secured Los Angeles continually re-invigorates its core – the resources to map its own future. In 2012, it Downtown – as a choice place to live in, work was awarded a grant from the Southern California in and play in. Downtown’s skyline is the image Association of Governments (SCAG) to craft its most strongly associated with the City of Los own vision for the future. This document is the Angeles. According to multiple surveys, Downtown product of that grant. The greatest promise of Los Angeles is also home to more than 52,000+ Vision Downtown will be its ability to provide residents, 200,000+ workers, 10 million+ a much-needed framework for Downtown’s visitors, and a multitude of neighborhoods and successful evolution and fulfill the vision for future districts. generations. DLANC’s proactive efforts to shape its own future will serve as pilot study for all In the early 2000s, with the bold goal of neighborhood councils. This vision plan and the “Empower Yourself, Empower Your Community, underlying process has the potential to serve as a Empower LA,” the City of Los Angeles model for other neighborhood councils interested embraced, in an unprecedented fashion, citizen- in proactively crafting their own destiny. based governance and grassroots democracy. Neighborhood Councils were established all Just as neighborhood councils were once an across the city and have, in the decade since, experiment, this next level of community planning empowered community members to lead, engage, is as well. The success of DLANC’s planning and participate in the governance of their city will transform the dynamics of traditional city and their neighborhoods. Today there are over 95 planning in the City of Los Angeles. What is not neighborhood councils, each its own crucible of lost upon DLANC and the community are the civic engagement and pride. limitations of their roles. Neighborhood councils 6 | VISION DOWNTOWN A patchwork quilt of neighborhoods. Mapping neighborhoods is never an easy task. Boundaries are dynamic and they are a product of a community’s self-image – which not everyone will share. The neighborhoods depicted on this diagram are not meant to define boundaries. They illustrate, instead, the incredible patchwork of activities and ideas that inhabit the urban core of Los Angeles. 52,000+ residents 200,000+ workers 10 million+ visitors Source: downtownla.com, Downtown LA Demographic Study 2013; SCAG employment estimates, 2012 DLANC Boundary 7 do not have any official authority or responsibility crucible of its finest aspirations. It strives to to regulate and manage land uses. That lies with protect its inclusive and diverse mix of residents, City Planning. Neighborhood Councils do not jobs, and visitors and is ready to set standards have funds or mandates for making any kind of – that the rest of the city may emulate – for public improvements. The City and County do. progressive and responsible urban growth. It Neighborhood councils do not have permanent welcomes the opportunity to place the pedestrian staff and therefore lack the institutional and first and lead the way in redefining the city’s management continuity to shepherd long-term relationship with car and pedestrians. initiatives. The City and County do. Neighborhood Councils primarily play a (powerful) advisory role The Downtown community recognizes that to decision makers. residents – people who live and raise their families in the neighborhood – have been How will DLANC benefit from this vision instrumental in guiding Downtown’s resurgence. plan? The decline of American Downtowns after World War II was precipitated by the gutting of its It will provide guidance to the DLANC board as residential populations. Downtown Los Angeles it performs its review/advisory role for projects is one of the most successful U.S. cities leading within its jurisdiction. their return by prioritizing housing in future developments – for all incomes and generations. It provides a community-endorsed set of Downtown doubled its population from more than aspirations that will provide input to City and 20,000 to over 40,000 between 2000 and 2010. other public agencies as they decide on revising Downtown now aspires to reach a population of and establishing new regulations for Downtown 100,000 in the next 10 years. A critical mass of development. ReCode LA, the new Downtown residents will ensure that amenities, attention, Development Code, and the Central City/Central and opportunities continue to follow. City North Community Plans are of immediate relevance. Through zoning changes introduced in the early 1900s, industrial uses in Downtown were It identifies short-term individual projects in expanded and have grown to become an integral the public realm, which DLANC can pursue for part of its local economy and an engine of the implementation via additional fundraising. regional economy. Downtown should remain a major employment center for the city and the Finally, it assembles in one place a comprehensive region; the Downtown community and City leaders set of aspirations that embody the vision of this would like to see the Downtown area continue generation of the Downtown community. to provide quality jobs at a variety of income and skill levels. But not all that is currently The Downtown community embraces its unique designated as industrial land needs to remain position of serving as the heart of the city, a so. The dynamics of the global economy have 8 | VISION DOWNTOWN seen many manufacturing jobs leave the country, the larger vision for Downtown, rather than be leaving behind vacant or underutilized industrial evaluated on an isolated, project-by-project basis. districts. Downtown stakeholders want to “leave This effort – Vision Downtown – aims to provide a light on” for manufacturing jobs to return, but that framework and serve as a mechanism for in the interim would like greater flexibility in how bringing together the aspirations of the community industrial lands are utilized. This plan suggests a and the needs of a global city. It follows in the precedent-setting “flex use” approach along with a footsteps of past visioning efforts in Downtown development strategy centered around existing and – the Silver Book Plan of 1972, the Downtown new transit. These provide the city a framework to Strategic Plan of 1994, and the Diamond Plan of manage future growth. 1997. This is a formidable legacy but an absolute imperative, for there has been no Downtown- The quality of open space in Downtown and wide planning effort since the Adaptive Reuse its ability to sustain existing and attract new Policy adopted by the City in 1999. Downtown’s residents is fundamental to Downtown’s future. population has more than doubled since, but The Downtown community demands that new amenities and public improvements have open space be equitably distributed, actively not followed apace. The Downtown community programmed, and designed and operated to the strongly advocates for Vision Downtown to highest global standards.