Los Angeles Needs to be Manhattanized

[munchitup]

Originally Posted by True Freedom

I'll agree that increasing density around the Gold Line is better than increasing the density elsewhere; however, I think we need to curb increasing density anywhere for the following reasons:

a) our "usable" transit network is not dense enough to take these new residents all the places they'll need to or want to go. Therefore, the vast majority of these new residents WILL own and use cars. More cars == more congestion. Besides the obvious deleterious effects of increased congestion.. perhaps counter-intuitively, it will also make it more difficult to improve other modes of transport like walking, biking, and rail given our built out environment here. Giving space to other modes, at this point, requires taking away from autos. The more congested it gets, the tougher it is to take away.

b) we already do not have enough water for the residents that live here. Adding more people will only make this worse.

I guess the biggest problem with this mindset is that people are going to continue moving to Los Angeles whether we like it or not. You can't just stop building and assume that population growth will stagnate because there are not new units.

Right now Los Angeles has a massive housing shortage and desperately needs more units. If we put a moratorium on new building, it would simply further exacerbate the rental / home prices we are seeing in our region - which just pushes the working class further and further out into the suburbs (which is much worse for traffic than some additional density near jobs). A huge reason the Westside has such insane congestion is because for the most part, the only people that can live out there are upper-middle-class and above so all of those nannies, gardeners, fast-food workers, grocery store workers, secretaries, assistants, clerical staff, nurses, auto workers, production assistants and more are forced to get in their cars and drive from the South Bay or the Valley.

Of course, it would also help if the developers would actually build some homes within the middle classes' budget and not either low-income housing or high-end luxury rentals. So I will concede that many of my points above are moot until developers actually cater to working and middle class renters and buyers. It seems like 99.99 percent of what is built in Los Angeles is over 2k for a 1 bedroom, which is just not realistic with today's wages.

[Sam Hobbs]

There are some extreme, extreme, extreme faults with the plan to make Los Angeles like Manhattan and that is all the faults. Seismic faults. Los Angeles is built horizontally due to the faults. I seldom pray but I sure would if it could save Manhattan from massive destruction if a large earthquake were to occur there. If that were to happen there then people would sure regret walking and living high above the ground.

Here in California we appreciate plants and gardens and yards and space. We consider it to be a big disadvantage to be packed together like sardines. We do not enjoy long commute times but many of us do because the space is important to us. We do not want to be compressed together like in Manhattan.