Things to read from the past week:
- He paved the way for big electronic billboards. Then $75,000 poured in for his reelection: "Construction still hasn’t started on the skyscraper complex, which would go up next to the existing building and add 1,444 apartments and condominiums, a 208-room hotel, a supermarket and other attractions. But the property owners have already installed the digital billboards, sparking complaints from those who live and work nearby." (LA Times)
- Red Paint Will Curb Public Access to Palos Verdes Nature Preserve, One of Los Angeles County’s Most Significant Open Spaces (Legal Planet)
- Take the Sepulveda Station first/last mile survey: "As part of this project, the G Line Sepulveda Station will be rebuilt as an elevated station to improve operating speeds, capacity and safety. Metro is currently studying the area surrounding Sepulveda Station to identify potential improvements for walking and bicycling connections to the future station, and we’d love to hear from you!" (The Source)
- Bid to allow duplexes on most California lots dies after Assembly approval comes too late: "The failure raised questions among supporters as to why Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) brought up the bill so late Monday night, and it marked another setback for a multi-year push by some activists and legislators to tackle California’s housing crisis by boosting density." (LA Times)
- L.A. City Bikeway Mileage Increased in Fiscal Year 2019-20, but Network Still Lacking: "Streetsblog runs down the Good, the Meh, and the Ugly of recently installed LADOT bikeways" (Streetsblog LA)
- Metro will run on Sunday/Holiday schedule for Labor Day: "This means that buses that do not operate on Sundays will not run on Monday" (The Source)
- L.A., meet your new streetlight. The winning design marks the first revamp since the 1950s: "Project Room’s winning entry seems to say that L.A. is banking on creativity, elegance and function as it moves into the 2020s. Renderings of the new light reveal a bundle of slender hunter green tubes secured with a horizontal metal collar. The tubes are fatter at the bottom and become more slender toward the top, before branching out individually like perfectly curved vines." (LA Times)
- Covid-19 Is Taking a Toll on Plans for New Hotels: " L.A. has 49 hotels with 7,650 rooms under construction and leads the state in number of hotels and rooms in planning. However, the number of hotels under construction statewide decreased 17% from 2019." (LA Business Journal)
- California’s Manhattan effect: The wealthy are skipping the census: "Census officials have noticed an unexpected trend amid the pandemic: Residents in California’s wealthiest enclaves aren’t filing out their surveys since they appear to be sheltering in vacation homes and secondary residences." (CalMatters)
- Southern California cities can soon object to giant increases in housing goals: "Population, household and job forecasts contained in the report serve as the basis for how many new homes each of the region’s six counties and 191 cities must zone for by October 2029 under the state’s Regional Housing Needs Assessment process, or RHNA..." (Daily News)
- TAP is now on iPhone and Apple Watch: "This is a safer, contactless way to pay fares and it means no more having to go to a station to purchase a TAP card or load fares from a TAP vending machine or a vendor. Using your iPhone or Apple Watch as a TAP card means you no longer have to dig a TAP card out of your pockets, purse, knapsack, etc." (The Source)