New mayor wants a more urban Los Angeles

On an opening night that includes a video message from the Prince of Wales, Villaraigosa says New Urbanism presents an “ideal opportunity” to transform the nation’s second-largest city. The new Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, forcefully outlined a vision for a more urban LA in delivering the keynote address of the opening night of the Thirteenth Congress for the New Urbanism in Pasadena, California, on June 9. Villaraigosa said he wants high-quality transit service and walkable transit-connected development for Los Angeles. He wants an LA of neighborhood schools and shorter commutes. And he wants a new planning director who “understands and can advocate” for the kinds of ideas new urbanists discussed at the Pasadena Congress. The address was Villaraigosa’s first significant policy address between his landslide election in late May and his official swearing in as Mayor on July 1. Villaraigosa made the remarks as part of the opening session of the Congress, which brought more than 1,230 architects, planners, public officials, real estate developers, and other to Pasadena for three days to work on making walkable, environmentally sustainable urban places. Villaraigosa also was selected by the CNU XIII local host committee to receive a Civic Art Award in the category of transportation. The honorees in five categories were selected by the 77-member local committee. Long known as an effective transit advocate, Villaraigosa expressed an impressive vision for planning and development. “I believe how a city plans for its physical development greatly affects the well-being of the whole city in every sense of the term,” he said. Inheriting a search for a new city planning director that stalled in the eight months since current director Con Howe announced his intention to retire, Villaraigosa promised to make finding the right person a high priority. “I would like that person to at least be someone who understands and can advocate for the kinds of ideas the Congress for the New Urbanism is talking about here this week,” he said. The setting of planning policies will have a direct bearing on L.A.’s quality of life and will help make the city a place where the middle class returns to live, the Mayor said. “Our urban areas need to work for the middle class if we’re going to make them work for everyone.” A proud tradition Following his inauguration in July, Villaraigosa intends to draw on a proud tradition of urban planning in Los Angeles that was later obscured by policies that fostered sprawl. He specifically mentioned Charles Mulford Robinson’s Beaux Arts plan, the Allied Architects Civic Center Plan in the 1920s, and the creation of great neighborhoods along far-reaching streetcar lines as examples of the “old urbanism” that “gave us most of what we consider great in Los Angeles.” In laying out specific planning and development objectives — including a multimodal transportation network with regional reach and network efficiency; transit-served and transit-supporting development; efficient, resource-conserving designs; and a simpler and more transparent permitting process — Villaraigosa said he foresees a pivotal role for new urbanists. “We are a polycentric city in need of transformation,” he said, referring to the CNU XIII theme. “I am asking you to help me have an effective dialogue with the people, the planners, the developers, and the urban designers of the city and the region. This dialogue will be educational, for professionals and amateurs alike. It will be informative. It will be cathartic. And I believe it will be transformational.” An accomplished group joined the mayor-elect on the opening night dais. CNU cofounder Elizabeth Moule presented the award to the mayor-elect. Fellow cofounder and Pasadena executive committee member Stefanos Polyzoides presented a history of the “Five Los Angeleses,” ranging from the original pueblo to a vast reurbanizing polycentric region. CNU Board Chairman Hank Dittmar reviewed the state of CNU and challenged the organization and membership to recognize that “we are no longer the permanent opposition party” and “have the chance to craft a movement that can transform the built environment in this country, and worldwide.” He committed the organization to supporting CNU’s task forces and initiatives such as the creation of LEED neighborhood design standards and new guidelines for context-sensitive urban thoroughfares. But the biggest gains, Dittmar said, will come from leveraging the diverse abilities and interests both of members and of related groups such as the Council for European Urbanism and the New Urban Guild. “A key to conquering and holding the territory before us is simple: let a thousand flowers bloom. Rather than attempting to control and manage the boundless energy of the new urbanist movement, the CNU needs to embrace that diversity and welcome the fact that members are building the infrastructure for success. We are UNIX, not Microsoft, and we seek to build open source software for the built environment,” said Dittmar. Dittmar also introduced a major public figure – his employer at the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, His Majesty the Prince of Wales — who appeared by video to address the Congress. CNU and the Prince’s Foundation have worked together “to build a popular movement centered on the notion that people are important to the design process,” said the Prince. “From a lonely set of designers and critics twenty years ago, we have grown into a global community of designers, local and national officials, developers and ordinary citizens who together, understand that our built environment is too important to leave entirely to the professionals.” u