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Image: CRA/LA
Transit oriented development is a key strategy for Los Angeles |
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Green Urbanism
Los Angeles Aims for Balanced Growth
by Lisa Lilienthal
When she talks about a livable city, Cecilia Estolano, CEO of the
Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), talks about
the need for open space, recreation, and respite from urban stress. She
talks about parks and gardens, shade trees and markets with fresh fruits
and vegetables.
Estolano doesn’t sound like a city planner, she sounds like an urban
environmentalist – and that’s no coincidence. An attorney who spent the
late 1980s and early 1990s in the legal trenches fighting for
environmental justice, Estolano’s reputation as a friend of the earth
preceded her into office.
“I brought those values with me to CRA/LA,” says Estolano. “And what I
found when I got here is that our Mayor has a very clear vision of what
long-term livability means for LA, and that the staff at CRA/LA was a
storehouse for untapped ideas when it comes to sustainability. It is a
tall order, but we have what it takes.”
Indeed, Estolano is today at the helm of an enterprise with no small
mission: to attract private investment into economically depressed
communities throughout Los Angeles, eliminating slums, abandoned or unsafe
properties and blight, while creating jobs and providing affordable
housing. CRA/LA has a $670 million budget and a geographic mandate that
spans from the Los Angeles Harbor and San Pedro to East LA to West
Valley.
With 35 redevelopment projects on the books, CRA/LA’s geographic scope
makes it the country’s largest – and therefore probably the most ambitious
-- redevelopment regions. And even though South Central has been dubbed
“South LA,” no amount of public relations savvy can completely gloss over
the fact that the city is home to some of the country’s most notorious
neighborhoods. To Estolano, all of that just spells opportunity.
Sustainability = Livability
Elegant density characterized by transit-oriented development,
well-designed, energy efficient buildings that don’t require coal power
from Utah, and water efficient design that takes less from the Bay Delta.
These are the elements of sustainable development that will define
CRA/LA’s legacy, according to Estolano.
But those are big picture, City Hall terms. What Estolano sees when she
thinks about a livable city is this: a mother pushing a stroller down a
tree-lined street, on a shady sidewalk that takes her from her apartment,
where her energy bills are minimal, past a pocket park and a small
shopping district where she can buy fresh fruit and vegetables, on her way
to the bus line. She sees urban gardens in lots that were once abandoned
but deemed too small for redevelopment. She sees neighborhoods that
attract development because the commercial district has benefited from a
façade retrofit paid for by the utility companies. She sees jobs created
by a surge in green technology, with CRA/LA creating the link to a new
green workforce whose members live in redevelopment zones.
What is most exciting about her vision is that it is happening. From
urbane high rises like Elleven, Luma and Evo in the emerging South Park
area of downtown LA, to a newly designed track and field complex at the
Challenger’s Boys and Girls Club in the heart of South LA, CRA/LA is
committed to communities that are growing in well-planned, well-balanced
increments. “Every community is unique, and its needs are unique,” said
Estolano. “What downtown needs is different than what South LA needs, but
one is no more important than the other.”
Elleven, Luma and Evo are part of an effort to transform Downtown LA’s
South Park, and include 1.5 million square feet of residential, commercial
and parking space in a multi-use development. The South Group, a
partnership of
Williams & Dame and
Gerding Edlen, is developing the
LEED certified project in concert with CRA/LA. LEED (Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design) is the U.S. Green Building Council’s
program that provides a prescription for varying levels of green building,
from LEED registered (a minimum standard), through Silver, Gold and
Platinum, the highest designation available.
“What is remarkable about this project is its design; the multi-level
architecture gives you a sense of ‘neighborhood’ as opposed to a series of
developments,” says Estolano. Not insignificant is the community
investment, which is estimated to be at over $250 million and includes
over 7,000 jobs.
Green Dinosaurs Extinct in LA
“I don’t run into many environmental dinosaurs,” said Estolano. “The
private sector is, in many ways and in many areas, ahead of government
when it comes to sustainable development. Today, when we ask a developer
about the environmental impact of a project, they already have the
answer.” The exception to this rule is when the developer is looking for
short term gains.
“It all comes down to the developer’s intention for the project,” says
Estolano. “If the plan is to develop and hold a property, most see the
long term value of building green. If the plan is to develop and sell, it
is less persuasive.” To that end, Estolano says that CRA/LA intends to
develop a minimum green building standard for redevelopment projects,
based on LEED or LEED equivalent status.
And occasionally, Estolano will run up against another old paradigm: the
idea that any development is good development. In this case, she points to
the community’s critical role in setting expectations and holding a
developer to their word. Case in point is the recent announcement that
Tesco, a British supermarket chain, is planning a store in Los Angeles.
“The community organized to share its expectations with Tesco” said
Estolano. “Now, the company knows not only what the community expects, but
that they will be accountable to their neighborhood. It is a powerful
statement.”
Raising the Bar
City Hall support for a CRA/LA minimum threshold for green building
shouldn’t be a problem, given that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s
energy efficiency plan is designed to aggressively tackle Los Angeles’
status as the nation’s second largest city in terms of population, and a
polluter to the tune of one fifth of one percent of the world’s carbon
dioxide.
“Mayor Villaraigosa has said many times that sustainability need not stand
in opposition to economic growth,” said Estolano. At a recent Los Angeles
Business Council Sustainability Summit, the Mayor outlined an aggressive
agenda that includes:
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A commitment to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions 35 percent below 1990 levels by 2030
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Water conservation
efforts aimed at maintaining per capita water consumption at 1990
levels, stable despite a 15 percent increase in population
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An energy
portfolio that will reflect 20 percent renewable by 2010, and 35 percent
by 2020
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A recycling rate
of 62 percent
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The largest number
of LEED-certified buildings in the country
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The country’s
second largest alternative fuel vehicle fleet
“Sustainable
development is what makes an urban area more livable to its residents and
what makes a development more attractive to the agencies who have to
approve it,” says Estolano.
A sustainable, livable Los Angeles could indeed set the bar for the
world’s large urban areas. It is a bar set high – a community has yet to
be designed that will get Angelenos out of their cars.
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