Downtown LA

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.

July 3, 2025

Vacancy to Vitality: A Path Forward for Downtown Los Angeles?

From serial CEQA litigation and jurisdictional fragmentation to the politics of vilifying developers, Jessica Lall and Carl Muhlstein unpack how outdated processes and a culture of distrust undermine the city’s capacity to address housing affordability, revitalize Downtown, and deliver on its Olympic ambitions.

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