Fantastic discussion at Friday's City Council meeting regarding SCAG. CM Bernard Parks noted that only three of the fifteen CMs vote for L.A.'s piece of SCAG's pie, and the City is at risk of continuing to be out-voted for the City's share of state and federal dollars by smaller and un-incorporated cities. So we hope the other 11 current CMs start attending the once a month meetings. That way Antonio won't be forced to stand on the streets of L.A. (like an illegal fruit vendor) and beg for the state infrastructure money SCAG is charged with lobbying for.
Also, thanks to CM Dennis P. Zine for complaining that there is no more room for additional density housing projects in the City because the infrastructure cannot accomodate the added demand. (Parking, streets, traffic, police, schools, fire, trash, sewage, waste, water, libraries, etc.)
However, it is Los Angeles City Council that has continued to approve density project, after density project with reckless abandon thanks to campaign contributions that continues to fuel this fire. So perhaps, with CM Zine going on record, addressing the City's infrastructure crisis at the hands of added high density housing projects, ZD can look for Council to start to shave back the shady over-developing -- and ZD can sleep in a few more days a week for public comment.
Kudos to CM lightweight Bill Rosendahl for standing up on camera and publicly admitting he doesn't know what SCAG does, even though he has been CM for two years -- and sits on the SCAG Council!!! I guess CM RosenDOH! isn't fighting for his district's piece of the state and federal pie -- although he complained the most about the problems in his area that he tried and pawn off on SCAG. NICE TRY...Ask Mark Grant and Linda "Sucks" Lucks to call SCAG and complain for you, Bill.
But here's a ZD first...REAL KUDOS to Tom Lebong for creating a "freindly amendment" urging Neighborhood Councils to find out more about SCAG and start being in communication with SCAG. (Tom, coming up ZD's report on SCAG that I hope you can forward to NC in the process of educating people about SCAG.)
CM Hahn weighed in to say one of her area NCs have been communicating with SCAG regarding light rail in the Harbor area. ZD CAN VOUCH...That's like asking a five year old to start a candy collection drive...SCAG IS DOWN FOR THAT! Call them again...THEY WANT TO HELP. But it's tough because people don't know about them -- and although SCAG is Federally mandated, their recommendations are not actual law...only recommendations in most cases. So SCAG to a Councilmember is like the lifelong employee waiting for a promotion, then all of the sudden the boss' kid is your new boss. And now you have to deal with it.
And in all seriousness to my nemesis CM Bill Rosendahl, you were mentioning how all these reports gather dust on planning shelves and you want to know how to better integrate SCAG's recommendations? Simple:
You read their reports! You carry the info with you, in the back of your mind, and apply it to all these decisions you make regarding streets and housing as CM. Seriously! After spending hours speaking with the top minds at SCAG, and others who used to work for SCAG, they have great things to consider (even if ZD slammed SCAG as an agency itself, due to beuracratic issues...but not because of the knowlege of the individuals.)
And coming up, something a lot of people will be interested to see. I went back and found an early draft of my LA Weekly article on SCAG. A lot of the stuff early background research that wasn't included in the article itself on WHO SCAG is; why do they exist; their function; and what they say. (From here on in, SCAG will LOVE ZD.)
EXCEPT, here's where ZD and SCAG differ. SCAG continues to assert that millions and millions of people will be migrating to the region and we must accomodate for the population boom by building the appropriate housing to accomodate these upcoming, future needs. However, all you are doing under this operating philosophy is ALLOWING for this regional population boom and ensuing infrastructure debacle that will turn LA into something worse than an uncivilized mess. (See LA Weekly article link below.)
There is a principal of economics known as "supply and demand". Plus, a law of physics know as "diffusion". Now, when ZD hits his Prop. 215 approved prescrption, and combines the two principals, here's the bottom line.
SCAG: Stop allowing for more high denisty housing project with your recommedations that facilitate it.
And, City Council: Stop approving condo after condo, high density project after high density project that has put us in this position.
Applying what I've learned from SCAG -- we ARE stuck with this gridlock for life, y'all. You can build all the double decker additions on the 710, 101 and 405...but it ain't going away. As a matter of fact, the more highway additions you add, the more it will alllow traffic from further out of the region to flow through -- adding further taxation of the infrastructure. We are stuck with the fruits of previous actions. When I lived in NYC, everyone would hit the Jersey shore on the weekend. And you JUST KNEW on Sunday evening, you were gonna be stuck in two hours of gridlock. It is part of the game plan. Same thing with Manhattan itself. YOU HAVE TO FACTOR IN THE GRIDLOCK. And NOW -- the City of Los Angeles must admit defeat and now factor in the "gridlock" in all travel plans. Sorry kiddies! So now, what do we do today, to keep it from being worse in five, ten and fifteen years?
STOP BUILDING. AND HERE'S WHAT WILL HAPPEN. All the current housing in the region will max-out as all these new people flood to the area. THEN...when more people show up to Southern California...there won't be a square inch of accomodations (housing). And law of physics (difussion) will kick in, and these new arrivals will be forced further out of the region and to outlying states. It's call assimilation. It's how the region (as a country-region) will be forced to absorb what the City of LA can no longer. So I don't see why SCAG thinks we have to bear the burden for the entire country becasue people keep coming to L.A. because it must be a convientent to new U.S residents.
When a hotel is sold out, and all the cots are occupies, and everyone is camped out in the halls, the stairwells, the lobby, the parking lot and there is not a square inch for one more person to squeeze onto the property...it's time for the Motel 6 down the street to start checking people in.
AND NOW...ZUMA DOGG'S LEGISLATIVE REVIEW OF SCAG THAT I HOPE CAN BE HELPFUL TO COUNCIL AND NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL NOW THAT WE ALL KNOW THE CITY IS LOSING OUT TO SMALLER, UN-INCORPORTED CITIES BECAUSE ONLY 3 of 15 COUNCILMEMBERS VOTE FOR THE CITIES PIE OF THE PIE, (IF YOU WILL).
ZD's Intro to SCAG
ZD's LA Weekly Article on SCAG
Official Zuma Dogg Website
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Official Website of Zuma Dogg
