News

September 11, 2025

L.A. City Council Votes to Oppose State Housing Bill SB 79 (Excerpt)

In reporting by David Wagner for LAist, TPR excerpts coverage of the Los Angeles City Council’s narrow vote to oppose Senate Bill 79, legislation by Sen. Scott Wiener that would override local land-use restrictions and allow denser housing near major transit stops. The contentious debate highlights ongoing tensions between state housing mandates and local control.

September 11, 2025

Dan Rosenfeld on Preserving Los Angeles’ Civic Center

Framing the Civic Center as Los Angeles’ essential “common ground” for governance, culture, and public gathering, Rosenfeld traces its history, highlights past collaborative planning successes, and critiques current decisions that jeopardize its future. He challenges cost studies used to justify agency relocations, contrasting them with successful, lower-cost retrofits of comparable buildings. His central message: preserving and reinvesting in the Civic Center is vital to maintaining civic unity, cultural identity, and functional efficiency for Los Angeles.

September 11, 2025

Single-Stair Reform: Eduardo Mendoza on Housing Affordability by Design Flexibility

In conversation with TPR, Eduardo Mendoza shares how California’s single-stair reform can expand housing supply by enabling small-lot, incremental redevelopment. He notes that current double-stair mandates inflate costs and limit layouts to studios and one-bedrooms, while single-stair buildings allow more diverse typologies, including starter homes at lower price points. Mendoza emphasizes that the reform is not a panacea but creates policy leverage for affordability and highlights the importance of balancing design flexibility with safety standards.

September 11, 2025

Leah Goold-Haws: From LBEP CEO to Guiding Federal Support for LA’s 2028 Olympic Games

Outgoing CEO of LBEP, Leah Goold-Haws, reflects on her legacies advancing Long Beach’s global profile through branding, collaboration, and strategic events. She cites progress toward LA28 readiness in areas such as air mobility, shoreline redevelopment, and clean energy. Returning to consulting with the M2 Group, she emphasizes collaboration among LA28, federal partners, and local stakeholders to align priorities in infrastructure, security, and technology for successful outcomes.

September 5, 2025

New Damaging State Law Erases Decades of Community Environmental Protections

In light of the Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 131 (SB 131) and Assembly Bill 130 (AB 130) as budget trailer bills—pushed by the Governor and adopted outside the normal legislative process—The Planning Report asked legal experts Douglas Carstens, Dan Silver, and Aleja Cretcher to assess the implications of SB 131 for environmental and community protections.

August 29, 2025

Lessons From Katrina for Citizen Planners in L.A., Asheville, and Florida

In the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina, Steven Bingler, planner and citizen of New Orleans, as well as the founder of Concordia LLC, shares key takeaways from the post-disaster recovery planning for Hurricane Katrina and how cities like Los Angeles, Asheville, and Florida should incoporate community members and be human centered in their approach to rebuild. TPR excerpts this op-ed published originally by Common Edge.

August 29, 2025

Mary Nichols on California’s Climate Legacy Amid a ‘1959 Rewind’

Former Chair of the California Air Resources Board and longtime national climate leader Mary Nichols reflects on the stakes for California as federal threats loom and the state’s Cap-and-Trade Program faces reauthorization. She addresses how today’s federal policy rollbacks could be characterized as a “1959 rewind” of social, environmental, and regulatory norms, warning that hard-won climate enactments could be undermined. Nichols also reflects on the durability of California’s cap-and-trade program, its linkage with Québec, and the lessons that should inform preparation for the next decade of public actions to facilitate both remediation and adaptation.

August 28, 2025

Senator Stern on Backing Regional Leaders’ Call for $3.3B Transit Investment from Cap-and-Trade Reauthorization

Senator Henry Stern calls for Southern California to secure a fair share of Cap-and-Trade revenues, pointing to the region’s heavy congestion, pollution, and transit needs. He outlines priorities including more frequent bus and rail service, upgrades to the G Line, and accelerating fleet electrification—all with an equity lens to ensure community benefits.

August 28, 2025

Gerhard Mayer’s Call for Comprehensive Urban Change

As California’s legislature debates several zoning and building reforms, TPR spoke with acclaimed architect Gerhard Mayer both on the specific impact of single-staircase building reforms on Los Angeles' urban form and public health, and the urgent need for comprehensive changes to current planning dictum if the goal of City leaders is to incentivize the building of attractive, amenity-rich multifamily neighborhoods.

August 28, 2025

LADWP’s New Ratepayer Advocate — Meet Tim O’Connor

Tim O’Connor, newly appointed Executive Director and Ratepayer Advocate for the Office of Public Accountability (OPA) at LADWP, outlines his vision for modernizing the role to meet today’s affordability, climate, and infrastructure challenges.

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© 2025 The Planning Report | David Abel, Publisher, ABL, Inc.