Stepping away from campaign rhetoric, what must the next mayor focus on to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the largest city on the West Coast? Civic, business, labor, and intellectual readers offer advice to the next Mayor of Los Angeles.
Sometime after 8PM, May 21st, Angelenos will learn who will be the Mayor of Los Angeles for the next four years: City Councilmember Eric Garcetti or City Controller Wendy Gruel. The vote tabulation will end, for many, an uninspiring, media-spot popularity contest characterized much too often by lack of candor on how local government ought to respond to the pressing debt, unemployment, and public service reductions that have been awaiting responsible public leadership for years.
Unfortunately, too many eligible voters maintain unhealthy expectations of what either candidate can actually accomplish in office. Into this abyss of cynicism leaps The Planning Report, which sought opinions from an array of Los Angeles’ often unheralded civic, business, labor, and intellectual leaders to précis what they believe should headline the next mayor’s agenda. Their briefs cover a range of challenges and, in the aggregate, refute any focus group-generated assumption that the voters are only interested in their properties and waste, fraud, and abuse.
FULL STORY: The Next Mayor of Los Angeles' To-Do List Drawn from a Sampling of TPR Readers and Civic Leaders

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

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

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Bend, Oregon Zoning Reforms Prioritize Small-Scale Housing
The city altered its zoning code to allow multi-family housing and eliminated parking mandates citywide.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

LA Denies Basic Services to Unhoused Residents
The city has repeatedly failed to respond to requests for trash pickup at encampment sites, and eliminated a program that provided mobile showers and toilets.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
planning NEXT
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie