Unprecedented transit build-out in California could transform the state. Now leaders are working to ensure the infrastructure connecting major cities also benefits the communities it touches along the way.
The leaders of California's High Speed Rail project and Los Angeles County Metro shared strategies for meeting this challenge at ULI's Transit Oriented Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Metro is trying out new methods to ease the hardship of construction periods that disrupt street-level activity. Its more direct approaches include a Business Interruption Fund, which compensates businesses impacted by construction, and a Business Solutions Center, which offers special guidance to small businesses.
In this new wave of expansion, the agency is also embracing a broader guiding principle known as "transit-oriented communities," which widens the scope of transit-oriented development planning to the field of entire neighborhoods.
But high-speed rail will pass through a number of rural areas in the middle of the state that don’t have the level of resources, existing transportation infrastructure, or market activity accessible in Los Angeles County. Historically, the Central Valley region has been shut out of investments in transportation that went not "through it," but "past it" on its way to metropolitan areas in the north and the south.
Not so for CAHSRA, CEO Jeff Morales says. Through local-hire programs and small business partnerships, the Authority is determined to bring one of the poorest regions in the country into the fold: "We’re transitioning from looking at high-speed rail as something to get people from San Francisco to LA and instead seeing it as tying together the state and reinforcing what’s happening in our cities."
Both agencies are collaborating to integrate the new infrastructure required by HSR into the county’s ongoing rail expansion plans, creating opportunities to prepare the growing city for the transit patterns of the future. "We have to think about not what LA is today, but what it’s going to be," Morales urged the audience.
The conversation was moderated by Planning Report publisher David Abel and reprinted in The Planning Report. It also covers Metro’s potential half-cent sales tax, and the Gold Line extension opening March 5.
FULL STORY: LA Metro & CAHSRA Collaborate on Aligning Community and Transportation Investment

New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.

The End of Single-Family Zoning in Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is the latest jurisdiction in the country to effectively end single-family zoning.

The Quiet Housing Crisis in Rural America
While housing shortages in major cities are grabbing headlines, rural communities are seeing higher rates of growth in housing prices and a silently spreading homelessness crisis.

Federal Loan to Support San Diego Desalination Plant Overhaul
The financing will go toward funding an updated cooling system and ensuring the protection of local marine life.

Seattle Bus Lane Cameras Capture Over 100,000 Violations
An automated traffic enforcement pilot program caught drivers illegally using transit lanes more than 110,000 times in less than a year.

The Joy of Walking
An essay meditating on the simple pleasures of a good walk.
Alamo Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
City of Kingsville
Princeton Planning
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
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.