jeremygrant.com

Last year an AIA survey revealed that there are at least 850 architects – more than one percent of total membership – who are serving in an elected or appointed role. The Architects serve as Mayors, Council Members, Comissioners and Board Members. They advocate for higher living standards, the creation of a sustainable environment, quality of life, and the greater good of the public. These Architects use insight, talent, training and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition.

The AIA released a bulletin on these Citizen Architects and made some visionary statements to provide for the future of civic minded Architects:

Citizen Architect Program

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) believes that society and the profession benefit from civically engaged architects, and that these members should be actively supported at all levels of service.

“The Citizen Architect uses her/his insights, talents, training and experience to contribute meaningfully, beyond self, to the improvement of the community and human condition. The Citizen Architect stays informed on local, state and federal issues, and makes time for service to the community. The Citizen Architect advocates for higher living standards, the creation of a sustainable environment, quality of life, and the greater good. The Citizen Architect seeks to advocate for the broader purposes of architecture through civic activism, writing and publishing, by gaining appointment to boards and commissions, and through elective office at all levels of government.”

Most recently in the face of global financial crisis the AIA has been advocating for policies to revive the economy and and build a foundation for a sustainable community for long term growth. It’s Rebuild and Renew Blueprint for Long-Term Prosperity outlines goals to jump start the economy without making the same tragic mistakes that resulted in the failure today :

Make Financing Available for Design and Construction Projects

*Extend the Term Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) through 2010.
*Allow Public Private Investment Programs to Finance Sound Construction Projects.
*Eliminate Disincentives on Global Investments in U.S. Commercial Real Estate.
*Encourage the Use of SBA Lending Authority to Help Small Owners Address Equity Issues.

Provide Relief to Small Businesses

*Allow Sole Practitioners to Claim the Deduction for Qualified Architectural and Engineering Firms.
*Streamline Onerous Recovery Act Paperwork and Reporting Burdens on Small Businesses.
*Reform Retainage Rules on Architects and Engineers.
*Repeal the Three-Percent Withholding Requirement.
*Extend COBRA Benefits.
*Hire Underemployed and Unemployed Design and Construction Professionals to Help Speed Recovery Act Implementation.

Make Tax Policies Work for Recovery

*Expand and Improve the Energy Efficient Commercial Building Tax Deduction.
*Extend the First-Time Home Buyer Credit.
*Make Permanent the Shortened Cost Recovery Period for Retail & Restaurant Improvements.
*Extend and Expand the Five-Year Carryback of Net Operating Losses for Small Businesses

Rebuild our Infrastructure for the 21st Century

*Enact a Five-Year Reauthorization of the Federal Surface Transportation Program.
*Build 21st Century Green Schools.
*Invest in World-Class Labs and Classrooms at Colleges and Universities.
*Promote the Revitalization of Historic Properties.
*Reduce Delays by Streamlining Building Permitting.
*Help Communities Plan Their Futures.

Build the New Green Economy

*Create Incentives for Mixed-Use, Transit-Oriented Development.
*Promote Green Affordable Housing.
*Provide Innovative Funding Streams Funding for Green Retrofits.
*Educate the Workforce of Tomorrow in Sustainable Design.

Though I’m only an Associate AIA I’ve been committed to participating in my community and local government process to ensure that it will excel comparatively to other internationally ranked cities in the future. There is no reason for Los Angeles and it’s communities to fail when such a density of design professionals, schools and organizations exist to service outside locations. Why shape the futures of others when we need work on our own?

Some of the specific demands of the Rebuild and Renew Blueprint result in some tough battles ahead against staunch supporters of the status quo. I picked out a few that are important to me and my community:

**Despite the best efforts of many agencies, billions of dollars of Recovery Act funding has not been obligated because of the sheer size of the program. Worsening the problem is the fact that many agency contracting officers lack specialized understanding of design and construction procurement. Congress should encourage agencies to contract, on a temporary basis, with design professionals currently out of work or underemployed to help ensure that Recovery Act funding for infrastructure projects is distributed expeditiously and effectively.

**The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has released legislation, the Surface Transportation Authorization Act, that would make major strides in moving our country towards a 21st Century transportation system. Delaying action on comprehensive transportation reform traps our communities in a failed system that threatens our economic and environmental well-being. Congress needs to act now to make sure that federal transportation policy truly helps us rebuild and renew our country.

**In order to fully maximize the ability of citizens to shape their futures, Congress should require that metropolitan planning organizations and state DOTs hold interactive public design workshops facilitated by planning and design professionals as a part of their planning processes. Congress also should pass S.1619, the Livable Communities Act, to help communities of all types and sizes plan in ways that reduce congestion, promote transportation choice and ensure affordable housing.

**Slow building permitting processes unnecessarily delay projects and slow economic growth. Congress should provide incentives to communities that streamline their permitting processes, including the use of e-permitting, and allow Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant monies to be used for permit streamlining for green building projects.

**Investing in green building retrofits through innovative financing mechanisms not only improves energy independence and protects the environment; it also creates jobs. Congress should pass legislation that would allow the Department of Energy to use their existing bonding authority to back Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds, municipal bonds whose proceeds are lent to commercial and residential property owners to finance energy retrofits.

Los Angeles, CA, USA
Beverly Hills, CA, USA
Long Beach, CA, USA
Guangzhou, China
Dubai, UAE

I’m always interested in expanding my global practice. Inquire within.

I have one of those!

Retail sales show an increase of 2% in 2009 vs. 2008 figures — clients are now gearing up to hire for next years hopeful 2% increase in projects. (source)

Good luck to everyone looking for and working on projects.

If you require services in or near Los Angeles please inquire within.

A singular light yard sits in the middle of the 7,000 square mile area city Los Angeles. It is home to the Bureau of Street Lighting: four acres of utility trucks, light poles, offices and machine shops that services all 230,000 lights of the city.  It is funded by a special assessment levied against any property adjacent to or benefiting from the Street Lighting System. Chances are if you need a street light fixed the supplies and truck will be traveling from this light yard. Just call 311!

Take one step out from the light yard’s eight foot tall, chain link fence topped with razor wire and you’ll recognize that the sidewalk and curb in front is littered with trash, road debris and huge cracks. Another step and you’ll see how fast the traffic is speeding recklessly to the next stop light, a street lined with parked cars and cyclists trying to squeeze between the two. It is a disconnected stretch of Santa Monica that doesn’t share the two sided street interaction the rest of the Boulevard does. It’s been described by locals as a “dead man’s land” on the way to the Hollywood or Silverlake. It’s not a pretty picture of urban design. Much to the contrary — it’s a picture of urban decline.

Maybe this is where a light pole yard should be, right?

No. The light yard is contributing to urban decline. All sides are fighting this vacuum of decay. Dirt lots, parking lots and generous road right of ways border the yard.  The residential community seems sliced apart by the void of stacked light poles and a parking lot full of utility trucks and cars.  Replacing the void of the light yard with a park would nearly complete the vision of East Hollywood according to the Vermont/Western Transit Oriented District (TOD) Specific Plan.  By the year 2020 the Specific Plan seeks to create more public parks, establish a clean, safe, comfortable and pedestrian oriented community environment with a  compatibility of uses, transit friendly.  It calls for a lively civic atmosphere, safer routes to schools and transit.  It asks for more trees, replacing asphalt with porous surfaces, decreasing the urban heat island affect, and supporting the hospital core.  It supports the expansion and provision of educational, sports, senior and childcare public facilities.  The light pole yard property, public facility land mostly owned by the City of Los Angeles, is planned to be one of the following:

…public elementary, secondary or high schools; police stations and related uses; parks and recreation facilities, including bicycle paths and walking trails, nature trails; park land and lawn areas; children’s play areas; picnic facilities; athletic fields (not to exceed 200 seats); senior citizen centers, community centers, clubhouses; swimming pools, libraries; tennis courts; rest rooms; gyms; camping facilities; museums; aquaria, observatories, planetaria and zoos.

One artist’s vision of the proposed park… What would your vision look like?

There are many reasons why this area needs a park.  Across the street, under the shine so fantastically provided by the adjacent Street Lighting System are the signature bricks of Carnegie’s Cahuenga Library. It is the oldest branch in the LA system and a registered U.S. National Historic Place. It sits north of the yard. Behind the library sits Marshall Primary School and within short walking distances there are number of other schools (USC Medical School, Los Angeles City College, Lockwood Elementary, and many other private schools). The immediate area is also a national center of medical research and practice with Kaiser Permanente, Queen of Angels, Hollywood Presbyterian and LA Children’s Hospitals populating the neighborhood. Arts and culture is not to forgotten in this community as it is home to many types of artists, public television KCET, Barnsdall Art Park Center, the Braille Institute, Little Armenia, Thai Town and the Bicycle District. The new multi-family residential communities are exploding and the single homes continue to be a remodeled and resold. This diverse, mixed-use community is linked regionally via the subway / transit station, two blocks away at Santa Monica Blvd. & Vermont. East Hollywood also serves as a corridor to the the adjacent communities of Hollywood, Los Feliz and Silver Lake.  Whats missing in the package that East Hollywood provides is a park, open space, a community center.

Maybe its not enough reason that a park fits into this community like a jigsaw piece. The City is working on plans to expand the light yard while also contemplating plans on sharing part of the land as public open space while the Bureau of Street Lighting continues to operate as the industrial black sheep of the East Hollywood neighborhood. A shared land use plan is a good result for the short term; a long term goal of transforming the entire four acres into a public park and community center is what the neighborhood is asking for.

Take for instance David Bell’s call to action for support of the East Hollywood Greens. Mr. Bell is President of the local East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, one of the most vocal and active in Los Angeles. He sees the park as a direct health benefit to the children residing in the area, “Kids kick soccer balls up against this fence sometimes because they don’t have anywhere else to go.” Mr. Bell and his council have organized Park demonstrations in front of the light yard in the past few months and has seen overwhelming support from the community for this vision. In fact, the grass roots Park(ing) Day LA has taken the East Hollywood Greens on as a pet project with the NC and is organizing ongoing support, planning and demonstrations to make the park a reality by 2020.

Stephen Box, another East Hollywood stakeholder and park advocate, cites the drawn out ‘history’ of the 1996 $750-million parks measure passing and subsequent city council support and inaction in his most recent article on the stalled East Hollywood Greens plan. Mr. Box states, the “City Council motion 06-07-07 expired on August 25, 2009 and simply died, mortally wounded by City Council inactivity… The City Council motion of 2006 directed General Services to identify property that could be used to accommodate the Bureau of Street Lighting service yard and property was identified but the motion died. It simply died”

I understand that the City doesn’t have the money to build the park now; but, if the whole site is planned as a park it should remain that way in the plans. Inaction by the City should not be seen as reason to undermine the future of this park, the vision of the Specific Plan. Special consideration should be taken of plans that are so affected by the budget deficit and present economic circumstances, especially when it’s long term goal is to enhance the community and support a healthier population.

What would you rather have? stacks of poles or a park?

los angelenos knock down about 75 poles a month!
please stop knocking down the poles people! parks are for people, not for poles!!!

budget: $150 or less

“This nonresidential downturn is shaping up to be the deepest decline in nonresidential activity in over a generation.” said Kermit Baker, chief economist for the AIA.“However, we’re beginning to see some moderation in the trends in design billings at architecture firms, so we hopefully are nearing the bottom of this cycle.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2009/07/13/daily3.html?jst=b_ln_hl