The state-ordered demise of the Community Redevelopment Agency has been a huge blow to redevelopment and affordable housing efforts in Los Angeles. A new plan being put forth by city leaders hopes to help fill that void, reports Ryan Vaillancourt.
Apr 10, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
Long rumored plans to merge L.A.'s Department of City Planning with Building and Safety to cut costs and streamline permitting are coming into focus, as the outgoing mayor tries to push through the reforms before he leaves office.
Apr 4, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
Efforts to reform L.A.'s permitting process are proceeding slower than many had hoped, reports Ryan Vaillancourt, and city leaders are looking to make more drastic changes. Could the city's planning department be consolidated as part of the effort?
Mar 6, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
An editorial in the Los Angeles Downtown News commends burgeoning efforts to rethink the city's historic Pershing Square, and offers some ideas for principles to help guide the process.
Feb 28, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
From $100 million in upgrades to Dodger Stadium, to the decades-long effort to revitalize the Los Angeles River, to the construction of the tallest building west of the Mississippi, discover the status of 85 projects underway in downtown L.A.
Feb 26, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
Los Angeles's landmark adaptive reuse ordinance has been credited with helping to spur downtown's dramatic growth over the past decade. However, developers now find it cheaper to build new than reuse the area's historic structures.
Jan 31, 2013 Los Angeles Downtown News
Despite the progress downtown L.A. has made over the last decade in becoming a vibrant, day-night, mixed-use community, "block-killing blight" remains a stubborn presence in the area's landscape. Ryan Vaillancourt calls out the worst offenders.
Dec 5, 2012 Los Angeles Downtown News
Voters in downtown Los Angeles have overwhelmingly approved a special property tax to help fund a $125 million streetcar. The results of the special vote-by-mail election were reported last night.
Dec 4, 2012 Los Angeles Downtown News
As a special election gets underway to determine whether 10,000 downtown L.A. residents support taxing property owners to build a new streetcar system, the editors of the Los Angeles Downtown News offer their qualified support for the project.
Nov 13, 2012 Los Angeles Downtown News
City officials and leaders are considering an adaptive reuse ordinance for industrial buildings, modeled on the one that helped spark downtown L.A.’s residential boom, to help push forward the sputtering vision of a "CleanTech Corridor."
Oct 19, 2012 Los Angeles Downtown News
