From the Newsroom

Everyday

"Will This Time Be Different?"

By Eric Richardson — May 26, 2005

Dominating the front page of the LA Times’ California section today is a picture of 7th+Fig’s metal not-roof framed against a high-rise. Below the picture runs an article on Downtown development that asks, ”Will This Time Be Different?” This is not downtown’s first attempt at revitalization. In the decades before World War II...


Everyday

Protest in Pershing Square

By Eric Richardson — May 25, 2005

Protest in Pershing Square

I’m sure if you’re Downtown this afternoon you’re well aware of the protest going on right now in Pershing Square. I’m not, but I grabbed this image off of CBS2’s 5pm news. It’s good to see the park getting some foot traffic, even if it is angry foot traffic.


Everyday

Spring Street Contra-Flow Lane on the Way Out?

By Eric Richardson — May 25, 2005

Bus Backup

Fresh on the heels of my post illustrating the problems of the contra-flow lane comes word that LADOT is finally moving to make the lane a thing of the past. In fact, tomorrow morning they take the issue to the Board of Transportation Commissioners to get their consent to move forward. Southbound buses will continue to run on Spring, and a peak hour bus lane...


Everyday

Antonio Wants MTA To Reconsider Late Night Cuts

By Eric Richardson — May 25, 2005
1 Comment

Yesterday Mayor-Elect Villaraigosa introduced a Council resolution asking the MTA to revisit its decision to cut late night rail service. I think it’s a very well-written resolution, that not only recognizes the problem but seeks to offer a better solution. While the need to achieve these savings is understandable, considering the agency’s difficult...


Everyday

Calendar Live on South Park

By Eric Richardson — May 24, 2005

A random bit about Downtown from an LA Times piece on the Palm steakhouse: L.A.’s first Palm is a venerable 30-year-old outlet in West Hollywood; then there is “Downtown Palm,” a newcomer near the Staples Center. The restaurant’s arrival there several years ago was one of the perennial events declared by developers to be the thing that...


Everyday

Body Found on Spring

By Eric Richardson — May 24, 2005

A sad scene early this morning just up the street from my apartment. NBC4 is reporting that an MTA driver found a dead body between 3rd and 4th. The driver of an MTA bus traveling south on Spring Street, between 3rd and 4th streets, found the body of a man lying face-down on the road early Tuesday. The victim, about 60 years old, according to police, appeared...


Everyday

Grand Ave. Authority Approves Plans

By Eric Richardson — May 23, 2005
2 Comments

The LA Business Journal is running a news piece this afternoon saying that the Grand Avenue Authority has approved Related’s master plan for Grand Ave. The LABJ piece pretty closely echoes a press release issued by the Authority. I’ll confess that I haven’t followed Grand Ave. stuff very closely, so it’s sort of news to me that Frank...


Everyday

DLANC Special Election: Area-Wide Resident

By Eric Richardson — May 23, 2005

Next Tuesday, May 31st, DLANC will be holding a special election to fill the vacant seat of Area-Wide Resident. John Sellars, the board member who previously held the seat, disappeared and only recently turned up in England. At the May meeting the Board voted to formally remove him and go ahead with a special election. If you are a resident in the DLANC boundaries...


Everyday

LA Times Profiles the Alexandria, Brady, and Celia

By Eric Richardson — May 22, 2005
5 Comments

There’s a long article in the LA Times today featuring the Alexandria Hotel. ”At the Corner of Have and Have-Not” talks about the Hotel’s glamorous past and its present state at a low-rent residential hotel in the midst of Downtown development. The piece features a bit on Brady, Downtown’s “most devoted gadfly and promoter...


Everyday

The Illustrated Problem of the Contra-flow Lane

By Eric Richardson — May 21, 2005

Ambulance in the Contra-Flow Lane

One of the priorities of DLANC’s Transportation & Public Works Committee has for quite a while been to get LADOT and the MTA to get rid of the contra-flow bus lane on Spring St. While the street’s main lanes of traffic run south, this one bus lane runs north and sees quite heavy traffic. Today, as I was walking back from lunch, I observed a situation...