Rick Cole

September 7, 2020

Is There A Remedy For Keeping Bees Away from Honey? Corruption Cases Expose Flaws in LA City’s Land Entitlement Process

Instead of a process that demands case-by-case exceptions to outdated zoning codes or superficial knee-jerk reforms, the Rick Cole, Gail Goldberg, and Bud Ovrom advocate for a comprehensive package of policies to reform land use planning in Los Angeles.

August 17, 2020

City Age Digital Roundtable on Silicon Valley’s Urbanist Future 

Highlighting the ways in which the pandemic’s disruption is unleashing innovation and entrepreneurial bureaucrats, panelists share their hope for streamlining public and private sector collaboration to solve some of the region’s most pressing challenges of housing, transportation, and equity.

April 29, 2020

Rick Cole: The Four Horsemen of the 'Fiscal' Apocalypse

Rick Cole identifies the Four Horsemen of the 'Fiscal' Apocalypse: Cratering Revenue, Neglected Infrastructure, Pension Debt, and Community Need, as heralds ushering the reinvention of city services to meet the needs of today’s urban realities.

April 19, 2020

Is Rick Cole's Resignation as Santa Monica City Manager a Canary in the Coal Mine for All Cities?

Rick Cole on the existential challenges cities must grapple to be a leading city in the 21st century and shares Santa Monica's incredible achievements during his 5 years as city manager and the sacrifices that remain as the city endures the challenges of COVID-19.

October 3, 2019

City of Santa Monica: Modeling Effective Local Climate Action in Alignment with C40 Goals

City Manager Rick Cole outlines Santa Monica's actions and policies to realize the city's ambitious C40 goals.

May 11, 2017

Santa Monica Downtown Community Plan: An Exercise in Balancing Priorities

Santa Monica's Rick Cole and David Martin discuss the new draft of the Downtown Community Plan.

April 27, 2017

Westside Urban Forum: Metro LA’s Westside Mayors Address City Prospects & Challenges

TPR presents an excerpt of the recent Westside Mayors Forum, where the mayors of Culver City, Malibu, West Hollywood, and Santa Monica address housing affordability, economic development, and the changing transportation and mobility paradigm.

February 23, 2017

Rick Cole on City Planning: A Call To Action For Civic Leaders

At the recent VerdeXchange 2017/ULI–LA FutureBuild, Rick Cole addressed the systemic, embedded problems in LA’s current politicized planning regime.

January 20, 2017

Santa Monica's Rick Cole Values City Planning and Citizen Engagement—Perhaps Why No-Growth Measure Failed To Pass

After Santa Monica's rejection of the growth-restricting Measure LV, Rick Cole is hopeful for the future of good planning in the LA area.

October 31, 2016

To Regional Leaders: Comprehensive Planning Must Be Integrated into Pro-Housing Conversation

SCAG's recent California Housing Summit focused on the chronic shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles. TPR presents an except from a breakout session moderated by Santa Monica City Manager Rick Cole, entitled “Integrate, Preserve, Utilized, and Build,” which focused on how good community and infrastructure planning must work in tandem with pro-housing advocates.

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