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That and converting all the abandoned / unused upper levels of buildings in the Historic Core, along with surface lots (as you mentioned) in South Park. Also the 101 Freeway cuts off El Pueblo / Chinatown / Union Station from the rest of Civic Center, a freeway cap park would connect that area better with the rest of downtown.
Also figuring out a way to effectively manage Skid Row is a must.
That and converting all the abandoned / unused upper levels of buildings in the Historic Core, along with surface lots (as you mentioned) in South Park. Also the 101 Freeway cuts off El Pueblo / Chinatown / Union Station from the rest of Civic Center, a freeway cap park would connect that area better with the rest of downtown.
Also figuring out a way to effectively manage Skid Row is a must.
Increase the Downtown Population. IMO LA has a vibrant downtown, it's crowded, noisy and imposing. But I think it is a noch below the top tier of US Downtowns. But still it is one of our nations best if you ask me. Too many bad stereotypes going around and the image of hobos having bonfires on Broadway and users turning tricks for a rock on the sidewalks from 20 + years ago is still in most peoples mind. I agree with covering the 101 through downtown, it's not like the view from there is great anyway lol Perhaps make it into a park or a pedestrian area like an outdoor shopping area or something would add to the cohesion that has been missing between those two parts of downtown. But honestly, DTLA is right there. Look at google street view and really the only difference between DTLA and the most vibrant downtowns in the US is that there are a tad less folks on LA's sidewalks. But again, get the DT population to around 70k + and that problem is fixed.
London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong etc. etc.
World class cities around the world have very vibrant downtown's. What is the single most important factor holding back your city.
I know for Washington D.C., it is congress and the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It is impossible to create a CBD that is vibrant with height restrictions and wide streets. Cities like Paris have a few avenues that are wide, but most of the city is built with small streets. You either have skyscrapers with wide streets like Midtown NYC or you have lowrise buildings with narrow streets like Paris. You can't have both and expect to be vibrant.
What about your city in America? Is it the design? Is it the construction style?
I really don't understand why people compare entire cities like Paris to downtown DC (or wherever). You do know that Paris is 40 square miles and is not a "downtown" right, nor does it really have one inside the city limits.
Also, if you think downtown DC isn't vibrant than I don't know what is. The only difference between Paris/NYC and DC is SIZE. Two are megacities with regions full of 10s of millions of people and DC is smaller region of 5 million. See why the others might be MORE vibrant? That doesnt make DC not a vibrant downtown though.
Philly-surface lots, dead spots, less desirable areas like the Galleria areas and western section of downtown. Lacks strong retail, highrises, nightlife(in the core of downtown), stadiums/arenas and new cultural and or enough significant world class cultural institutions.
Houston-surface lots, no museum downtown, dead spots.
Dallas- surface lots, disjointed nightlife and cultural district from the rest of downtown. lack of developments and so on.
Phoenix- surface lots, few nightlife, few housing and sorely lacking vitality.
Atlanta- surface lots, poor nightlife downtown, pandhandler and lack of developments
Miami- surface lots, few nightlife still downtown, dirty and so on
Detrot- surface lots, new in revitalization game, few housing and dead spots with still alot of empty buildings.
NY
Chi
SF
Seattle
Boston
Denver- still some surface lots but redeems itself with strong vitality, cultural facilities, cleanliness, world class stadiums, great neighborhoods like LoDo and Larimer Sq. and lots of new towers with lots of new housing/lofts.
Portland
Los Angeles- great job LA with new constructions, new intertainment centers, very strong vitality and lots of new retail.
Indianapolis- still lots of surface lots but really awsome in sports, retail, entertainment and lots of new developments. Kudos to Indianapolis!
San Diego barely made it because of the new waterfront park, new city plaza park which will be world class when done in 2014, Petco Park baseball stadium, expansion of huge convention center furthermore, lots of new highrise condos/hotels. Still the surface lots and dead spots plague downtown but doesn't overpower the good quality or pose is significant presence like the downtown listed above that are not yet there.
That and converting all the abandoned / unused upper levels of buildings in the Historic Core, along with surface lots (as you mentioned) in South Park. Also the 101 Freeway cuts off El Pueblo / Chinatown / Union Station from the rest of Civic Center, a freeway cap park would connect that area better with the rest of downtown.
Also figuring out a way to effectively manage Skid Row is a must.
A freeway cap on the Nimitz would benefit Oakland as well, so that the Lower Broadway/Jack London area would be really connected to the downtown core. It's so expensive that it's hard to see it happening, unless an earthquake were to knock the freeway down (earthquakes are our most effective method of urban planning in the Bay Area!).
well i live in oakland, ca. There are a couple of factors causing problems:
1. Reputation (mostly fabricated by the media, but in reality dto aka downtown oakland is one of the safest in the region, and there are plenty of people that live in and adjacent to oakland that can support all levels of retail, high-end low-end
2. Downtown sf: It is only about 10 miles away from most parts of oakland. So opening up department stores in dto would cannibalize shopping there
3. Downtown walnut creek: This suburban area about 12 miles from oakland has been gobbling up mid-tier and high end retail for the past 15 years. Opening in oakland would also decrease sales here as well. (i have seen multiple stories that nordstrom isn't coming to town since so may oaklanders frequent the walnut creek store. I am one of them)
4. No critical mass of larger retail. Oakland has very few "big box stores." 80% of the retail in town is small local businesses. They do really well...and there are a lot of thriving business districts. There are only a few areas suitable for a "mall" or large scale shopping district. Downtown and/or adjacent to downtown. Right now the only thing is sears.....
A freeway cap on the Nimitz would benefit Oakland as well, so that the Lower Broadway/Jack London area would be really connected to the downtown core. It's so expensive that it's hard to see it happening, unless an earthquake were to knock the freeway down (earthquakes are our most effective method of urban planning in the Bay Area!).
Sad, but true... And I grew up in Santa Cruz after the Loma Prieta quake, and that basically transformed our old downtown to what it is today(and sadly destroyed some great historic buildings)...
I think where a lot of places go wrong is disjointed development in any improving district. Like in Oakland, there are blocks of activitiy peppered all over downtown. It would be great if it was contiguous. When you have zones of thriving and waiting to thrive all separating each other, it is a little hard for the newcomers (and new developers) to get the vision and see all of the activity and improvements.
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