City Planning in Transit

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By GARY TOEBBEN


Daniel Miller’s article in the July 28 issue, headlined “Hard Drive,” captures the enormous challenges Los Angeles faces if we are to successfully meet the city’s housing, transportation and economic needs. Recognizing the benefit of innovative transit-oriented projects like the one proposed for the Universal City Metro site is a first step toward meeting those challenges.

Very rarely does a proposed development project move forward without opposition from some corner. As Miller’s story accurately intimated, the Universal City Metro project is already facing organized opposition even though there is no completed environmental impact report, or EIR, and a robust dialogue about project specifics has yet to take place. Moreover, the opposition’s focus has been on perceived negatives rather than the very likely long-term regional benefits of such a comprehensive development.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce supports the Universal City Metro concept for several reasons. First and foremost, the project will provide state-of-the-art media office space for high-wage jobs. The current economic downturn coupled with the slow and quiet exodus of our signature industry to other states makes opportunities to attract and retain high-wage entertainment jobs both increasingly rare and enormously valuable. As a growing number of states and countries aggressively court the industry with tax credits and other incentives, Los Angeles faces new challenges in maintaining entertainment industry employment in our own backyard. We simply cannot afford to let a project like Universal City Metro which will house KNBC, Telemundo and the entire West Coast operation of NBC News to simply move away to another city or state.

Second, transit-oriented development, or TOD, which centers mixed-use projects and amenities near transit systems, is increasingly the solution for large urban centers across the nation. TOD has been hailed by residents and government alike as one catalyst to address some of our region’s housing and transportation needs. Universal City Metro is a highly innovative TOD that will ultimately include office and production jobs for nearly 5,000 people all above a subway station and easily accessible by alternative modes of transportation. It would be all of our loss to miss out on a TOD project of this scope.

In addition, TOD infuses private investment into public infrastructure. For example, Thomas Properties Group will spend $35 million in private money to pay for congestion relief around the project. This includes constructing more efficient on- and off-ramps to the Hollywood (101) Freeway as well as building 236 new park and ride spaces (bringing the total up to 800 spaces) at the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. At a time of budget deficits for local and state government, private dollars may be the only way to quickly and effectively finance these much-needed improvements.


Home shortage

Finally, Los Angeles is struggling to meet the housing needs of a growing population. In the previous decade, only one new home or apartment was built for every two new families. At the same time, population continues to grow in our region, and is expected to increase by 30 percent by 2030. These factors, combined with the high cost of housing and the current economic downturn, only amplify our housing crisis.

However, simply building more housing is not the answer. Building it smart near mass transit and close to a job center is the best way to build a more livable city for everyone. For this very congested part of Los Angeles, the Universal City Metro project provides a job center that is accessible to adjacent housing that already exists, as well as thousands of new units coming on line adjacent to the Red Line in downtown, Hollywood and North Hollywood.

As we look into the future, we know that there will be something built at the Universal station. The question remains whether it will be a project like the one proposed by Thomas Properties Group.

One thing is for certain, Los Angeles will never solve its housing, jobs and transportation challenges if we continue to instinctively say no to projects of this size and scope. That’s a status quo that none of us can afford.


Gary Toebben is CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

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