Steal My Sunshine, Or Safety and Welfare are Overrated

Usually, I'm really excited about the work that I do for the Planning Department. But this time I have hit a wall.

Back in 2002 the fair city of LA banned murals courtesy of Ordinance 174517.

I had no idea until literally yesterday as there are murals all over LA, which I love! And there are often new ones. For a kid from the Midwest where the only murals were of the boring, history, civic variety to see murals of comical chickens, goddesses, and words so vibrant, it looks alive was mind-blowing. It

The thing that makes me the most angry is that it's even illegal on private property! This is why people think planning infringes on personal rights and is fascist. For once, I have to agree with them.

Apparently, murals endanger the safety and welfare of people, be they drivers or pedestrians. I sort of concede, as they are visually distracting.

Which is what is mandated against in Article 4.4 Regulations Section 14.4.1 Purpose A." That the design, construction, installation, repair and maintenance of signs will not interfere with traffic safety or otherwise endanger public safety." (if you're going to survive in planning, you have to be able to speak legalese fluently)

I'm trying to blow the system up from the inside out. But it's hard to circumvent the system when legal has you tied down. I'm trying to find ways for people to be able to put up murals on the side of their buildings, in the back, etc., But it's always a viewshed for someone.

It seems unfair that we have to squelch artistic expression just because people can't remember the basic tenant of driver's ed "eyes on the road!" But being so reliant on our cars is another symptom of what's wrong with society. Tho that's another post for another day :/

In the meantime, I am listening to my favorite 90s one hit wonders. This one seemed particularly appropriate, Len's "Steal My Sunshine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1fzJ_AYajA

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May, But Don't Forget to Stop and Smell the Roses

My boss at the Planning Department at the City of Los Angeles recently asked when I graduate. "In May." I replied. "Wow, that's what, three months away?" he observed. Well, technically, four, but yeh, soon.

Besides the heart-pounding palpitations that the thought of graduation invokes, I have also been thinking what have I learned in grad school and what is still missing.

My brilliant friend E, who can pilot a helicopter, drive a race car, make a ten course French meal with one hand tied behind her back, tie speaks or can read 5+ languages, and sew wedding dresses while writing computer code or snapping beautiful photography once said that she is often tormented with all of the areas of knowledge of which she is ignorant. I laughed at her pointing out all of her accomplishments, many of which a vast majority of people will not never come close to mastering. She was unconvinced, but Socrates said that "the beginning of wisdom is the admission of one's ignorance."

As I review my resume I wish that my hair were long enough to chew on. There are so many things that I wish I knew. This, that, gah! x, y, and z! It's enough to render a person catatonic.

But if I am honest with myself, even the director of planning of the City of Los Angeles doesn't know evvvverything about planning. If he did, we would live in Utopia, not Los Angeles. We are always learning, always ever evolving, all of us.

I know more than I did when I first started grad school, some valuable lessons and others are hard-won truths. But I will know more two years from now than I do now. And even more two years from that time.

One of my favorite poems in high school was Robert Herrick's "To the Virgins Make Much of Time." This was due in no small part to Robert Sean Leonard's tortured role in the movie Dead Poets' Society, perfect for an angst-ridden teenager in the Midwest, in which this poem played a key part. Being a perfectionist I am often consumed with thoughts of what am I missing?! What don't I know!? Time nips at my heels! I must round out my wheelhouse! Instead, I need to sit back, take a breath, and now that while my drive for perfection will serve me well in my work mode, not to let perfection be the enemy of good. Focus on what I know how and know well and be sure that future employers are made aware of these attributes.

As another favorite poet, T.S. Eliot soothed in "the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;

There will be time to murder and create,

And time for all the works and days of hands

That lift and drop a question on your plate;

Time for you and time for me,

And time yet for a hundred indecisions

And for a hundred visions and revisions

Before the taking of a toast and tea. "

{stanzas 23-34}

OK, it's doubtful that Eliot would be highly sympathetic to my plight. He came off as rather stingy emotionally and more than a little pretentious. But it is gratifying to know that there is "time yet for a hundred indecisions/ And for a hundred visions and revisions/ Before the taking of a toast and tea"

And although it is unrelated to anything in this post, it is another poem about time and one of my favorites by Henry van Dyke,

"Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve,

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love, time is eternity."

Here is Herrick's poem in its entirety-

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer,
But being spent, the worse, and worst,
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

And That's When I Realized, I Was Home, a valentine to the City of Angels

I just got home from a trip to Sin City, Las Vegas, with a bunch of my classmates at USC. As much as Las Vegas reminds me of a zoo, they really shouldn't exist, but they're here, so we may as well enjoy them, I had a great time.

The problem with Las Vegas is that if you're there for only a short time there is a desire to squeeze out as much fun and debauchery as possible. This leads to dehydration, exhaustion, and other unpleasant sensations.

We were only there for a day and a half, so we rushed around to the Bellagio, the MGM Grand, Caesar's Palace, etc., having a grand old time. But after a while I grew tired and was relieved that we were going home so I could collapse on my own bed.

But what I wasn't counting on was the reassuring sensation that came over me as we pulled into the city. I saw the skyline and familiar road signs and I thought to myself, I am home.

Home is an abstract concept for me as my family and I have lived in a ton of places, I have lived on my own in a variety of settings, and I have friends all over the U.S. I have written about this before, but it is still something with which I am wrestling.

I never expected to fall in love with L.A. other than enjoying wearing t-shirts in January while my parents are still shoveling snow in Minnesota. But I really have fallen in love with L.A. There is such a diversity here that is unmatched by any place on earth, even New York, or my beloved Chicago.

I went back to Chicago for New Year's and there was so much that was familiar and felt like I'd never left. But at the same time I yearned for things that were in L.A. that didn't exist in Chicago, and not just warmer weather. They don't have taco trucks, or especially Korean BBQ trucks (horrors! though they do have the vendor pushcarts i.e. roach coaches) nor is their Asian population as large as L.A. There is a Chinatown in Chicago, but no Thai Town, Little Tokyo, or Koreatown. Though in their defense they have Greektown and a much more predominant Polish and Irish population than the City of Angels.

It was also a little eerie seeing American Apparel stores popping up in Chicago. American Apparel is based out of Los Angeles, including their manufacturing plant. But to see it in the Windy City with negative wind chills was surreal, though inevitable as American Apparel's population increases without abatement.

Chicago still outpaces L.A. any day in terms of public transit and the way it so seamlessly woven into the urban landscape is inspiring. But the cold and ice is miserable.

Quite a few of the architectural hallmarks in Los Angeles are grounded in pop culture, not architectural history, such as Capitol Records and the Hollywood sign versus the Sears Tower and the Hancock Building. But there is also an abundance of Art Deco to be found in L.A., for which I am a HUGE sucker.

I still love Chicago, but I don't think that I will be planning there any time soon. Chicago politics being what they are is a huge obstacle and I don't think I want to move back to the Chicago "area" to plan one of its suburbs, though I may change my mind on that in the future.

The future remains unwritten, but for now I have found my place, and it is under the sun.

If I Ever Leave This World Alive -Flogging Molly

I thought it appropriate to use a Los Angeles-based band, and one of my favorites, as the title for my latest posting.

Grad school is soon upon me, and I like to have everything nailed down as much as possible. So, I thought that I had a place all lined up. It was cute, private, and close to school.

Then I called the property manager to check on whether the owner was agreeable to my lease terms and he thought that I had found another place and found another tenant! This is despite my pronouncement that I loved it and that I would take it. In the City of Angels where you can't throw a Variety newspaper without hitting a waitress-actress hyperbole is just bole.

This is not something you want to hear during the middle of your work day. I raced home and immediately hit Craig's List.

I've lined up a few prospects in a variety of situations: a thirty-something married couple, a grad school film student, a professor, and a recent grad whose parents own the house- all different, but all potentially good fits.

I enjoy variety including my living situations. I've mainly lived with one another person, but in may different places: the ghetto of Chicago, a nicer section of Chicago, an island off Savannah, Georgia, the Central Valley of California, and even alone in the suburb of Chicago.

And I've met a variety of people living in these different places: a vegetarian interior designer, a Scientologist "chiropractor", a fencing enthusiast/part-time nudist, a sociologist/music moron twin (I can say that I'm her "sister"), a graphic designer whose never met a rainbow she doesn't love, a landscape designer/ VW enthusiast, etc.,

As unnerving as it is trying to find a new place in a strange city, I've enjoyed meeting all kinds of different people as prospective housemates, or even potential friends? :) "Cold calling" prospective housemates feels a little like going on a blind date- putting your best foot forward, inflating your good qualities, etc., But sometimes things work out! I'll keep you posted. Happy 4th y'all!

We Love LA! OK, I love LA. . .

I had mentioned in an earlier post ("It Never Rains in California, but We've Got Problems All Our Own," Tuesday, August 12, 2008) that Los Angeles has its own unique set of problems, which warrant its own unique metroppolitan policy, and had presented the summary report published by the USC Southern California Studies Center for their Urban Policy Seminar Series 2001–2002

[Moderated by Antonio Villaraigosa & Jennifer Wolch/ Principal Authors: William Fulton, Jennifer Wolch, Antonio Villaraigosa, Susan Weaver/ Co-Sponsored by USC Center for Sustainable Cities, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate with support from USC Urban Initiative, The John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation]

However, I didn't dwell much on the incredible eco-paradox that Los Angeles is and the regional specific circumstances that prompted my shift in focus from urban design and behavior research to sustainable land use. So, here's what intrigues me-

Los Angeles, contrary to popular belief, is NOT a sprawling, oozing organism that will continue to expand like the horror monster the Blob. Useable land is slowly but surely being used up. And along with it the consequences of slash-and-burn development with a disregard for environmental impact are catching up. Although this is a regrettable circumstance that we find ourselves in, I also like to see it as an exciting challenge.

In addition to the the summary report published by the USC Southern California Studies Center for their Urban Policy Seminar Series 2001–2002 my interest in that which we call L.A. was also sparked by a book review of California: the Great Exception, which was written by Carey McWilliams and reviewed by Mitchell Schwarzer in the Harvard Design magazine, Summer 200, Number 11 and Los Angeles: Globalization, Urbanization & Social Struggles by Roger Keil, which was reviewed by Julie-Anne Boudreau in UCLA's spring 1999 issue of Critical Planning.

Yet another disclaimer: I have not read either of the aforementioned books yet, but the reviews of each proved quite informative, enough so that I shifted my master's subject concentration.

Old John

I came across this great article from the UCLA journal of Critical Planning, Spring 1999 (pages 119-122) entitled, Six Roads to Perdition by John Friedmann, Professor Emeritus, at UCLA (copy permission pending. Just so we're clear, until my copy request comes through, I had nothing to do with this, so please don't sue me!)

It's refreshing, even iconoclastic, to hear a rather tongue-in-cheek evaluation of the constantly self-contradictory world of planning. Does one focus on theory or real-world work experience? GIS or Lewis Mumford?! Especially from someone who is in a position to give out advice-

Professor Emeritus John Friedmann's response to the query-
From both your knowledge of UCLA and your new perspective 'down under," how do you see planning?

1. The seduction of "being parochial"
The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: Think local, act local. All the universe is in a grain of sand. Los Angeles (or name any other city) is a huge laboratory for aspiring planners. Work in it. Discover it. Why bother with anywhere else? There is so little time.
And Old John replies: Time is scarce, but the world is wide. Los Angeles is only one dot on the map and doesn't foreshadow what's in store for any other city. Look beyond the horizon if you want to know your own backyard. Without knowing about other places, and how they are different from where you live, study, and work, you lack perspective and your capacity for innovative thinking is restricted to what's before you. Learn about planning cities and regions in Asia, for example, where most of the world's urbanization will take place in the coming century. Then return to look at Los Angeles with new yes, with a vision trained to see differences and similarities. Planning is increasingly a cosmopolitan profession.

2. The seduction of "community" The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: Work in the community, for the community, become a part (119) of it all. This is how you can be a radical planner. Think people; think small; build communities. Don't be a patsy to Big Capital. And Old John replies: You don't build communities with only people. And the city is more than a mosaic of neighborhoods, each separated from its surroundings by a moat. If you want to fight poverty, you've got to think beyond the locality to the region which it supports. Impoverished neighborhoods- communities- can do a few things for themselves, but they can't create paying jobs, they can't substitute for services which only the city can provide. Discover how the regional and the local connect; learn how region connects to region in a global system; find out the dynamics of regional change. Planners must learn to think and work at different scales. No single scale is sufficient unto itself.

3. The seduction of "learning by doing" The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: get out there and practice; get real. That's the only way you ever learn anything worthwhile. Forget about books. Practice is all you need. Do projects; and when you've done one, do another and another. Until you master the art of city planning. And Old John replies: practice-based planning education can take you only part of the way to where you want to go. You need theoretical understandings, too. You need to get to know the tacit theories that inform your and other planners' practice. You need to find out how people elsewhere have confronted problems different from those you want to solve. Some ways of posing problems are better than others. There are principles to be learned. The issue is how to find the right balance between theoretical learning and practice.

4. The seduction of "unreflected practice" The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: Don't bother with planning theory; that's nothing but blabber, a bunch of overage white academics writing to entertain each other. No practitioner can afford to waste (120) time reading them. Just go out and practice; you'll be all right. And Old John replies: How do you know what is good practice? Have you thought about the different practices of planning? Have you already figured out how planning relates to other knowledges and practices? Do you understand how knowledge is created and legitimized? And think about this. What ethical norms should guide you as a planner? Why are theorists talking about the "communicative turn" in planning? and when they do, what are they leaving out? What does it mean to be reflective about one's professional practice? And how shall we reflect on it? Planning theory (and the history of planning properly understood) provides a forum for rethinking a practice that should never be applied as if all the routines of planning were already settled. Can you learn to be a good planner by reading only a textbook of planning?

5. The seduction of "methods" The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: You are insecure. You ask: Do I have a future in planning? And so, because you feel insecure, you have a hunger for skills that will get you your first job. You want to learn the skills that are prized in the marketplace. You're right. Load up on them: do stats and modeling and GIS and social surveys. Go and study finance and learn how to put a budget together and how to finance big real estate operations. Don't waste your time in seminars discussing theories that have only fuzzy answers. if they have any at all. it's hard methods that will get you ahead in the world. And Old John replies: Don't be fooled by this craze for "how do I do this or that." What's the good of knowing "how" if you don't know the "what" or "why" of practice? Indeed, what is the problem to be solved? What are the different readings on it? Who wants it solved? And why? Is it the planner's job to second-guess the market, to build in advance of the market, or what? Methods are the least problematical aspect of planning. You can run statistical regressions until you drop and still not know what the (121) problem is, what should be done (if anything), and why taking on this problem is important. There are generic skills, like writing, public speaking, doing graphics, working with people in small groups, and mediating conflicts, which are useful in all situations planners are likely to face. But beyond that...go slow on methods until you know what problems you want to solve. Your time might be better spent on all those fuzzy theories that give you a headache, worrying about the what and the why.

6. The seduction of "theory" The Great Seducer murmurs into your ear: Theory is what the smartest people do. It's a game you, too, will enjoy. We can spend hours, weeks, months, a lifetime talking about words: lifeworld, simulacra, thirdspace, deconstruction, discourse analysis, untraded interdependencies, flexible accumulation, communicative action, heterotopia, epistemology, differance, embodiment, and so on and so forth in an endless stream of infinitely fascinating writings. Without them you are truly lost, can't find your way. Planning you can always learn on the job. While you are studying. It's theory you should go for. And Old John replies: Theory is good, but practice is also good. You must have both if you want to be a planner. Theory informs practice and vice versa. Without the synapse to practice, theory is an addiction. The test of a good theory is: will it help me in my practice? If it doesn't, leave theory to the social, human, and cultural sciences. Planners need good theories to think about cities and regions as well as about their own practice. The trick is to connect them to the objects of planning.

John Friedmann lives in Melbourne, Australia. His current research interests include the development of cities and regions in the Pacific Rim.

It never rains in California, but we've got problems all our own!

I've lived in 11 places (and counting) in 25 years and the majority of my research into urban planning has focused on Midwestern and Northeastern cities. I did attend college in Savannah, GA, but the South's relationship to growth defies categorization. Apparently, Houston is one of the hot new places to be, according to an op-ed in Newsweek, June 22, 2008 www.newsweek.com/id/142633 Doesn't make it any less humid in summer yet so cold it snows in winter, it's like the Midwest, but with a drawl. . .

Also, having gone to school in Savannah, and having family in Matthews, NC, a suburb of Charlotte, I've seen first-hand the incredible growth that Charlotte and Atlanta are experiencing. Savannah too, is enjoying its revival, thanks in part to my alma mater's decision to build a downtown campus, but it doesn't have nearly the growth patterns that Atlanta is experiencing.

But I didn't realize that Los Angeles has challenges, uniquely all its own, which warrant its own metropolitan policy until I came across this excellent document, put forth by USC.

Summary Report
USC Southern California Studies Center
Urban Policy Seminar Series 2001–2002
Moderated by Antonio Villaraigosa & Jennifer Wolch

Principal Authors
William Fulton
Jennifer Wolch
Antonio Villaraigosa
Susan Weaver
Co-Sponsored by:
USC Center for Sustainable Cities
USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
With support from:
USC Urban Initiative
The John Randolph and Dora Haynes Foundation

In their report the authors recommend that Los Angeles adopt a "5-point action plan for metropolitan L.A.," which is as follows:

Grow Smarter:
As the region runs out of land, we must learn to use our land and resources better
and more efficiently to accommodate future growth.
■ Level the Playing Field for Infill Development
■ Encourage Housing Construction and Homeownership
■Manage the Car

Grow Safer: As we continue to add population in existing neighborhoods and communities, it becomes imperative to improve their safety.
■ Connect Public Safety to the Neighborhood
■ Balance Gang Suppression with Prevention and Intervention
■ Improve Safety in Transportation
■ Prioritize Earthquake Preparedness

Grow Greener: The region’s metropolitan development in the 20th Century inflicted great harm on the natural environment. In order to sustain metropolitan L.A. in the 21st Century, we must actively focus on restoring the natural environment rather than merely refraining from damaging it more.
■ Conserve Energy and Natural Resources
■ Promote Environmental Justice
■ Make the Metropolis More Permeable

Grow Together: As our region has expanded, it has also grown inequitably. The gap between rich and poor has become wider, as has the gap between the well-being of different communi- ties in the region. In the 21st Century, our growth must be more equitably
distributed, both economically and geographically.
■ Narrow the Economic Divide
■ Promote Equitable Economic Development at the Regional Level
■ Connect Neighborhoods to Regional Job Opportunities

Grow More Civic Minded: We cannot accomplish any of the other four goals without nurturing greater civic-
mindedness and commitment among the people of our region, especially immigrants
and others often excluded from participation in public affairs.
■ Broaden Civic Involvement
■ Know More about the Region and Its Communities
■ Create Benchmarks to Measure Progress

Obviously, they go into more details in their report. But I found the regionally-specific circumstances fascinating and I have now shifted my focus in emphasis on what I want to do as a planner.