Subject: United Neighbors Update – Jan 22, 2024

Hi All,

A few updates and comments.  

We have been informed that the Housing Element maps will now be released to the public in February.  We are concerned that the window for public input keeps getting smaller.  Remember in order for LA to not be out of compliance with the State, the Housing Element must be submitted by February 2025.  With all the hearings and reviews it must go through ( EIR report, City Attorney, PLUM, City Council)  we don’t have a lot of time. We continue to be told that R1 is off the table.  We continue to advocate for R2 zones to be protected.

We met with the Los Angeles Business Council last week and presented all the community maps we all worked together on.  LABC has a similar approach to building on the commercial corridors, but we did emphasize to them the need for individual community planning and the need to protect single and multi family neighborhoods. We will continue to keep in touch with this very important group.

Our meeting with the mayor’s office is January 30.  At that time we will again share our community maps and continue to advocate for Community Based Housing solutions.  

To date we want to say that everyone that has seen all the work that went into the community maps has been very impressed.

We continue to have ongoing meetings with the mayor’s advisor on ED 1.  We are pushing for guidelines that protect our city from bad environmental policies (no setbacks, no trees, no articulation of buildings).  We have heard from many of you on ED 1 projects in your area and have used those examples to talk with the city on what needs to be done to protect all of us. The city is currently working on a permanent ordinance for ED 1.

Finally, we constantly hear about the  Livable Communities Initiative and we have met with them but we can not in good conscience support this initiative.  Our whole purpose in forming the coalition was to give communities a voice in what gets planned and built in their community.  We know that density can be added to our commercial corridors and that our single family and multi family zones can be protected.  We  advocate for smart planning of these commercial corridors because if planned correctly they can be a great asset to a community.  LCI has no concern for single family neighborhoods and is advocating for pre approved building plans that add small apartment units with no parking on corridors with transit.  We believe no two communities are the same and therefore no development should have pre approved plans that can be dropped into a neighborhood.  Community identity matters to us.  A one size fits all is exactly what we are fighting against. We also believe that building huge amounts of single unit or one bedroom apartments addresses only one demographic and completely ignores the needs of “families”.  LCI is supported by the usual groups that advocate for housing everywhere.  We will continue to fight for Community Based Housing solutions that make sense.

Thanks everyone, let’s keep moving forward,

Maria, Cindy, Jeff and Marc