Prestige developments may make for good plans, but they are "hell" for surrounding neighborhoods.
"Prestige developments such as the [Los Angeles, Hollywood] Kodak Theatre may create an illusion of grandiose urban renewal, but they are hell on surrounding neighborhoods, inflating traffic pressures and inflicting a variety of hidden costs on local residents and businesses.
...When plans were unveiled for the Grove on 3rd Street, between the Farmers Market and Pan Pacific Park, the artists' renditions showed an idyllic shopping mall on what had been a scruffy baseball field. The impact on traffic was glossed over, and no one seemed to have anticipated the way the high fortress wall on the Grove's southern boundary turns its back on 3rd Street west of Fairfax, robs it of pedestrian life and compounds the bleakness of the parking expanse that serves the aging strip mall across the street."
Thanks to Ashwani Vasishth
FULL STORY: For L.A., utopia or dystopia

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
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Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
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Seattle Builds Subway-Sized Tunnel — for Stormwater
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Feds Clear Homeless Encampment in Oregon Forest
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Is This Urbanism?
Chuck Wolfe ponders a recommended subscription list of Substack urbanists and wonders — as have others — about the utility of the "urbanist" moniker.
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