Los Angeles' budget shortfall could mean sending its zoo's only elephant to a Northern California sanctuary. Over time, funding for city services are also predicted to get slashed.
"The City Council voted Wednesday to halt further funding for the planned $42 million Pachyderm Forest exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo while it debates what should happen to the partially completed exhibit, which already has cost $12 million. The vote came two days after the council's budget committee recommended canceling the project as a cost-saving measure.
The move is an example of how shrinking city budgets are forcing hard choices that can kick up local ire.
Declining tax revenues, triggered by the recession, mean Los Angeles is facing an expected $110 million shortfall in its $7 billion budget, which runs through June 30. The expected shortfall could surpass $300 million next year, prompting the city to discuss a wide variety of measures, such as cutting funding for crossing guards, public libraries and numerous other services.
Over the next few weeks, committee members will review options for the exhibit that include possibly privatizing the zoo.They also will be deliberating the fate of 21-year-old Billy, and whether to transfer him out of the zoo."
Read the full story: City Budget Crunch Hits the Zoo
An Inside Look at Making L.A.'s Difficult Decisions in a Time of Austerity
LA Councilmember Paul Krekorian discusses reducing the city's budget deficit, the impacts his decisions will have on core services and civil servants, and the tolls that come with taking on a budget crisis during a period of fiscal austerity.
What could the future of LA transit look like under Raman?
The mayor-elect views broken sidewalks and potholes as crises that can be fixed with better governance.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Study reveals best places in the U.S. for cycling, walking
New research from Streetlight Data examines bicycle and pedestrian miles per capita in the 100 largest U.S. cities by population.
DSA members accuse Mamdani of 'abandoning values' over housing redevelopment
New York City's mayor plans to replace about 2,000 units of public housing with private, mixed-income housing.
All sides of BRT debate unhappy with CDOT’s most recent move
The Colorado Department of Transportation is no longer considering center-running bus lanes for Colorado Boulevard.
Massachusetts bogs generate both power, and cranberries
Putting solar panels above farmland is one way Massachusetts is advancing toward its goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello