"How Los Angeles Is Becoming a 'Third World' City" (Santa Monica: homes, minimum wage)

[NickofDiamonds]

Originally Posted by Howiester

How would you build up? Demo existing single family residences and start from scratch?

There is a saying in Real estate that more houses get torn down then fall down.
Developers will start buying up blocks of homes in neighborhoods and then start their high density housing there which increases employment and then burdens the infrastructure.

It's like a cancer which then starts spreading throughout the city as the city government looks at the increases in taxes collected in smaller areas go up and how the city coffers are becoming fuller. Of course, this means that then their pay and benefits go up to reflect on what a great job they've been doing and then they can retire with great pensions.

It's a great system for the 1% who get rich from not doing any physical work.

[adr3naline]

LA will have to improve its public transit and highway systems before approving a substantial increase in the housing base, ie; removing high rise regulations. I say this because the constant gridlock is a real showstopper, especially for those looking to afford their own home in the 'burbs or just find affordable rent. If we could relieve this bottleneck even marginally that would be a great improvement for the LA county tax base because the surrounding areas still have room for expansion. That's one thing we could take away from NYC.

Let's all grab a shovel and start expanding these Metro lines.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

LA will have to improve its public transit and highway systems before approving a substantial increase in the housing base, ie; removing high rise regulations. I say this because the constant gridlock is a real showstopper, especially for those looking to afford their own home in the 'burbs or just find affordable rent. If we could relieve this bottleneck even marginally that would be a great improvement for the LA county tax base because the surrounding areas still have room for expansion. That's one thing we could take away from NYC.

Let's all grab a shovel and start expanding these Metro lines.

I would build more first, then expand the metro lines. Only if there is a significant time savings will the majority of people in LA take metro vs driving.

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by HyperionGap

I would build more first, then expand the metro lines. Only if there is a significant time savings will the majority of people in LA take metro vs driving.

It's a real chicken-vs-egg scenario. Can't justify the metro expansion if the tax bases stay the same, and can't attract new dwellers without improving the of transit. I don't think we're going to get out of this any time soon, unfortunately.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

It's a real chicken-vs-egg scenario. Can't justify the metro expansion if the tax bases stay the same, and can't attract new dwellers without improving the of transit. I don't think we're going to get out of this any time soon, unfortunately.

They are expanding metro right now.

[adr3naline]

Originally Posted by jamills21

They are expanding metro right now.

To some good locations, too. Sadly it's still going to be behind the demand.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

To some good locations, too. Sadly it's still going to be behind the demand.

True, but think of all the people right now that will have an immediate QOL enhancement when even the current lines under construction are done. Somebody in Los Feliz or Pasadena doesn't HAVE TO drive to Santa Monica? We should be proud that we passed a sales tax measure to better our communities during a huge recession. I honestly think Measure R was the best stimulus package that we could have gotten.

[HyperionGap]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

It's a real chicken-vs-egg scenario. Can't justify the metro expansion if the tax bases stay the same, and can't attract new dwellers without improving the of transit. I don't think we're going to get out of this any time soon, unfortunately.

See I disagree that we won't attract new residents without improving transit. Jobs attract residents, not mass transit infrastructure.

If you were to build 50000 new apartments in West LA I can assure you people would move there regardless of the traffic.

[munchitup]

From the article:

Arroyo Seco Parkway, past the huts of wood, wire and blue tarpaulin that lined the roadway.

This is so true, I'd say the Parkway rivals the areas around the 101 for massive homeless encampments. I'd say only a few other major cities have anything of that magnitude - SF, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, maybe one or two others.

The article is interesting and well written. It has an unnecessarily inflammatory headline surely concocted by the editors at NYT to get clicks - that's too bad because I went into the story expecting the worst.

Originally Posted by jamills21

True, but think of all the people right now that will have an immediate QOL enhancement when even the current lines under construction are done. Somebody in Los Feliz or Pasadena doesn't HAVE TO drive to Santa Monica? We should be proud that we passed a sales tax measure to better our communities during a huge recession. I honestly think Measure R was the best stimulus package that we could have gotten.

I am pretty excited about the possibility of taking the Metro all the way to Santa Monica. What a cool way to show LA off to visitors too - before we just drove down the 10, which has nice views but is nothing compared to what you can see from the elevated Gold and Expo Lines. The whole transfer shenanigans at Union Station and 7th Street is a bit annoying, but really only tacks on about 15 minutes to the journey, and it will be fixed in 5 years with the Regional Connector.

These kinds of things may not change a ton of people's lifestyles in Los Angeles, but they will certainly significantly alter the city's perception.

[jamills21]

Originally Posted by munchitup

From the article:


This is so true, I'd say the Parkway rivals the areas around the 101 for massive homeless encampments. I'd say only a few other major cities have anything of that magnitude - SF, Seattle, NYC, Chicago, maybe one or two others.

The article is interesting and well written. It has an unnecessarily inflammatory headline surely concocted by the editors at NYT to get clicks - that's too bad because I went into the story expecting the worst.



I am pretty excited about the possibility of taking the Metro all the way to Santa Monica. What a cool way to show LA off to visitors too - before we just drove down the 10, which has nice views but is nothing compared to what you can see from the elevated Gold and Expo Lines. The whole transfer shenanigans at Union Station and 7th Street is a bit annoying, but really only tacks on about 15 minutes to the journey, and it will be fixed in 5 years with the Regional Connector.

These kinds of things may not change a ton of people's lifestyles in Los Angeles, but they will certainly significantly alter the city's perception.

I beg to differ. The Expo Line during rush hour is going to be PACKED! So many people on buses are going ride the expo when done. underrated is how people on the Westside will interact with it. Culver City/ Santa Monica synergy in effect.