Developers want to transform downtown L.A.'s warehouses, factories, and grimy commercial buildings to accommodate live-work spaces. Planners and activists want to stay the course -- they say needed jobs are at stake.
"Developers are pushing Los Angeles to radically rezone the city's industrial core to allow residential development. They argue that the change would create a new type of neighborhood, one that would mix light industry with condo living and live-work lofts - spaces where artists, architects and others can operate businesses and sleep at night - and would ultimately create more jobs and tax revenue for the city."
"The city Planning Department and some community activists, however, are resisting the heavy lobbying. They say the industrial zones provide solid jobs for the working class and boost L.A.'s economy."
"In the rush to build some downtown fantasy, we should be careful not to destroy the things about downtown that actually work," said Joel Kotkin, an urban planner who has written extensively about L.A.'s economy. "The industrial stuff actually works: It employs a lot of people, there's a low vacancy rate, and being at the center of a transportation hub really matters."
"The debate goes beyond issues of planning, zoning or architecture, say most people familiar with the discussions, and centers on the very nature of what a city is supposed to be, and who it should be for."
FULL STORY: Developers, industry battle for L.A.'s heart
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