Rick Cole
Feds to the Rescue, but the Peril Remains: Preventing the Next Fiscal Apocalypse
Former Santa Monica City Manager Rick Cole talks about the implications of the fiscal reset on city budget, policy, and service priorities going forward.
Keeping Bees Away from Honey? Corruption Cases Expose Flaws in L.A. City’s Land Entitlement Process
Three former Los Angeles public officials share their collective perspective on how best to reform the city of Los Angeles' corrupted land use approval process.
Digital Roundtable Discusses Silicon Valley's Urbanist Future
Highlighting the ways in which the pandemic’s disruption is unleashing innovation, panelists share their hope for streamlining public-private collaborations to solve some of the region’s housing, transportation, and equity challenges.
The Four Horsemen of the 'Fiscal' Apocalypse
Rick Cole identifies the Four Horsemen of the 'Fiscal' Apocalypse: Cratering Revenue, Neglected Infrastructure, Pension Debt, and Community Need, as heralds ushering the reinvention of city services to meet the needs of today’s urban realities.
A Canary in the Coal Mine for All Cities? Santa Monica City Manager Steps Down
Rick Cole discusses the existential challenges cities must grapple to be a leading city in the 21st century, Santa Monica's achievements during his five years as city manager, and the sacrifices that will be made as the city endures COVID-19.
Critiquing Santa Monica's 'Grand Bargain' of a Downtown Plan
The city of Santa Monica increased in population by 6,500 between 1960 and 2010, while the rest of Los Angeles County grew by 60 percent over the same period. A debate over a new downtown plan that includes more housing was never going to be simple.
Santa Monica Proposing Balanced Approach With Downtown Plan
After residents soundly defeated the anti-growth Measure LV in November, city officials are still trying to propose a plan that addresses the traffic and livability concerns that led to the initiative being placed on the ballot.
Santa Monica Voters Soundly Reject Slow Growth Ballot Measure
The so-called LUVE initiative, which would have required a public vote on any development exceeding 32 feet or two stories, was rejected by over 56 percent of voters. Opponents significantly outspent supporters who failed to get council support.
Planning for a Microgrid: Santa Monica Reclaims Industrial Space for Renewable Energy
Cities throughout California, including Santa Monica, have been awarded research and development funding through the California Energy Commission to plan community-scale microgrid solutions.
Creating an Urban Mobility Ecosystem Helps Public and Private Actors
With new transportation options coming to cities from a plethora of innovators and entrepreneurs, how will public transit agencies respond? Are these modes in competition, or does their widespread use actually benefit one another?
Overcoming Roadblocks to Data-Driven Governance in Cities
Pursuing Mayor Garcetti's "back-to-basics" agenda, the city of Los Angeles' notoriously complex and convoluted bureaucracy has taken big leaps toward data-driven governance—thanks, in large part, to Deputy Mayor of Budget and Innovation Rick Cole.
Los Angeles' Plan to Minimize Displacement During Urban Revitalization
Bloomberg Philanthropies will fund an "Innovation Delivery Team" in Los Angeles to approach the challenge of revitalizing urban neighborhoods while also creating improvements for existing populations.
Looking at 'Data-Driven Government' from Inside City Hall
"Metrics" has become a buzzword in local government, but how do municipalities actually harness data to improve city services, operations, and accountability?
Can L.A.’s Streets Be Great? Deputy Mayor Rick Cole Opines
Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation Rick Cole shares his views on the critical ingredients necessary for the city to improve its thoroughfares at a Urban Land Institute-Los Angeles’ panel discussion titled "Can LA’s Streets Be Great?"
Does Proposed Merger Signal Planning's Surrender in Los Angeles?
Rick Cole, former City Manager for the City of Ventura CA, analyzes the upcoming merger of the Department of City Planning with the Department of Building and Safety in the City of Los Angeles.
To Reform CEQA, Return to its Roots
Rick Cole, the former City Manager of Ventura, California, and a well-known civic leader in Southern California, defends the need for CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) while calling for returning to the law's key roots.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
