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Tomorrow, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning (LADCP) has scheduled a hearing to obtain testimony on potential changes to bicycle parking regulation in new developments. Current policy, adopted in 2013, allows developers to swap out up to 20% of required automobile parking for less costly bicycle parking spaces. For new buildings located within 1,500 feet of a rail transit station, the percentage is increased to 30%. Although the Bicycle Parking Ordinance has been used to great success, particularly by developers in the Downtown area, feedback to LADCP has lead to the conclusion that several components of the current regulations either lack clarity or require additional flexibility: According to a notice posted to the LADCP website, proposed changes include: Changes to the rules governing the location of bicycle parking include: Finally, design standards for the parking stalls themselves would be modified as follows: New developments submitted prior to the adoption of the amended bicycle regulations will not be subject to them.

Next Tuesday, L.A. County voters will comb through a laundry list of state and local ballot measures deciding future policy for subjects ranging from marijuana legalization to the death penalty. Abundant Housing LA, an advocacy group which pushes for increased housing production in Southern California, is focusing on three inititiatives at the county and municipal levels that will shape the ways in which Angelenos live and move. Their recommendations to voters are as follows: CITY OF LOS ANGELES PROPOSITION HHH Recommendation: Vote Yes Prop HHH will issue up to $1.2B in bonds to develop safe, clean, affordable housing for the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless.

According to a report from the Los Angeles Housing + Community Investment Department, the City of Los Angeles could partner with a number of non-profit and for-profit developers to build affordable housing on City-owned lots and former CRA assets. The properties, and the proposed developers, are listed as follows: If approved, the proposed development teams would be required to create permanent affordable housing units and single-family homes on the properties, intended to serve individuals and households earing at or below 30% to 120% of the Los Angeles area median income.

Downtown Los Angeles has found itself in the midst of a building spree that has augmented its long stagnant skyline. This barrage of ground-up construction has also highlighted some of the weaknesses in the City’s building code, particularly in terms of how new buildings are expected to address the public realm. Parking podiums, a common feature in many of Downtown’s residential towers, have been criticized as both a visual blight and a safety issue.

After spending nearly six months in increasingly cramped quarters, relief is finally in sight for passengers on Metro’s Expo Line. According to a new timetable, the light rail line between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica will begin running with six-minute headways effective Sunday, October 23. The Expo Line currently operates on a 12-minute timetable, as it has since it first opened to the Westside in 2012. Metro will be able to run trains more frequently due to the delivery of its new Kinki Sharyo P3010 light rail vehicles, which were first introduced into service earlier this year.

Unused federal earmark dollars could provide a potential windfall for pedestrian-safety enhancements throughout Los Angeles. Under the direction of the Los Angeles City Council, the Department of Transportation (LADOT) has compiled a list of pedestrian-safety improvements that could be implemented using roughly $4.4 million in unspent federal money from projects that were either cancelled, completed under budget or completed through alternate means. Through Metro’s Replacement Funding Program, the unused federal earmark dollars could be swapped for 97% local matching funds.

Nick Andert, best known for his numerous Metro Rail fantasy maps, is now producing videos. In a YouTube video titled “A Visual Breakdown of LA’s Measure M,” Andert walks viewers through all of the rail and bus rapid transit projects which would be funded by the November ballot initiative. For further reading on the subject, please see our past coverage here and here. If passed by Los Angeles County voters in November, Measure M would raise $120 billion to build light rail and subway lines criss-crossing Southern California.

The official “yes,” campaign for Measure M has produced an animated map, showing the potential transformations to Metro’s rail and rapid bus network under the proposed $120-billion sales tax measure. To see it, look below. For more details on what is planned under the ballot measure, look here.

With a brusing battle over high-density developments on the horizon, the Los Angeles City Council is looking to take steps toward amending its convoluted and often controversial planning process. This past May, the Department of City planning (LADCP) and the Offices of the Chief Legislative Analyst, City Administrative Officer and City Attorney submitted a report to the Los Angeles City Council which offers potential solutions for four issues that have come under harsh criticism: System for Updating Community Plans Although an ambitious program to update the city’s 35 community plans was launched 2006, efforts have been hamstrung by limited resources and the global recession.

Los Angeles has found itself in an identity crisis, with many of its low-slung neighborhoods now in direct conflict with the harsh realities of a housing shortage. Some have sought to combat the region’s rental crunch by increasing housing supply through high-density developments. Mayor Eric Garcetti, as well as several other state and local officials, have looked to ease the construction process through a variety of measures such as streamlining permitting and speeding environmental lawsuits against large projects.