The future of the Valley rests greatly on how we meet the challenges addressed in this report. Our solutions combine preserving that which is good—that is, the predominately middle-income, family-oriented, multipolar character of the Valley—with efforts to address problems, such as affordable housing, lack of community centers and the potential of barrioization—all implemented through enlightened public policy. These recommendations also tend to follow those presented by the San Fernando Valley's Vision2020, a February 2002 report that addresses the future of the Valley.
In our understanding of good public policy, there are two main prerequisites. One is that the policies have strong and broad community support—not just that of professional advocates. The second is an understanding that creating market conditions to attract private capital will be critical to any successful effort. With the state and local governments facing a fiscal crisis of unprecedented proportions, it would be foolhardy to look primarily at government as the primary financial resource.
Dominant Themes:
1. Expand the quantity of housing available in the Valley. This will not only help to hold prices down, but also to diffuse transportation costs, enhance labor markets, and help the local economy. There are a couple of dimensions to this goal: first the emphasis should be less on direct government investment and more on eliminating the barriers to this activity imposed by government—notably the commercial exclusion for strip malls, opening them up for residential mixed use development). Second, it should be done in such a way that it improves the quality of life in Valley communities. Lots of huge, boxy apartment buildings may be efficient, but not necessarily desired.
2. We need to focus on steps to improve the quality of life for existing and new residents. A community is not just a geographic distinction but should reflect the life and actions of the residents. As we promote mixed use, and the development of urban villages, we should take care that we do it at a scale that is appropriate to the various Valley neighborhoods. In addition, the classic anti-car version of mixed use may need to be customized to reflect the lifelong patterns of Southern Californians, and should accommodate easy auto access and parking along with attractive pedestrian environments.
3. We need to better leverage our existing space resources. The Valley is just about built out, so any serious community enhancement model must leverage the available resources. This includes using underutilized lots, developing open space and housing in discarded industrial tracts, and reviving the Los Angeles River as a kind of greenway connecting various Valley communities. According to a recent analysis by The Trust for Public Land, Los Angeles is more than 50% below the parks-to-people ratio of 10 acres per thousand residents, as recommended by the National Recreation and Park Association. And the availability is even lower in most minority communities in the Valley.
4. There needs to be better usage of existing housing. Successful urban villages, particularly in attractive areas such as along Ventura Boulevard or a revived Los Angeles River, may help lure some older couples, whose now-grown children have left the nest, out of their large family homes. This would open up the Valley for other middle-income families, who constitute the key element in the region's workforce. At the same time, greater emphasis should be placed on loan programs and zoning changes which might lead to the speedier rehabilitation of now deteriorated homes. According to The Gas Company, there are over 500 abandoned homes and nearly 14,000 abandoned apartment units across the Valley; these represent a potential resource that can help relieve our current housing shortage.
5. Finally, we need to turn the Valley into a more self-sufficient cultural hub. Instead of placing all our major emphasis in the arts and entertainment north of Mulholland, there should be an effort to boost local districts so that they can provide interesting venues, particularly for the single, empty nester and younger populations who may be attracted to the new village environments. The proliferation of farmers markets and street fairs in recent years represents a promising sign, and should be further developed.
Specific Mechanisms for these Policy Actions:
Ultimately our vision for the future neighborhoods looks to restore much of what attracted people to the Valley in the first place. This will require a lot of new thinking, and in the current budgetary atmosphere, a greater attention to the needs of private capital. Restoration of the Los Angeles River—something we see critical to the health of our future neighborhoods—could be facilitated by selling air rights above the River; developers would get rights to build along greenway in exchange for helping defray the cost of constructing it.
We believe improvements in the natural and built environment can be leveraged as to help finance improvements even under the current fiscal crisis. Research on the impact of open space or park facilities on home prices reveals a significant boost in home prices (Lutzenhiser and Netusil 2001). This was also found to be true in studies of water-based parks in Oakland, San Diego and Columbus, Ohio (Geisler and Daneker 2000).42
It is also appears increasingly clear that urban village development also enhances property values in a similar fashion. The success of the areas around Studio City and Sherman Oaks suggest that, eastern perceptions of Southern Californians notwithstanding, Valley people actually are attracted to and will pay money to be near village environments.
But perhaps more important, these measures—improving existing housing stock, the creation of urban villages and the restoration of the L.A. River—could all enhance the Valley's sense of identity and cohesion.
Ultimately, this is what the future of the Valley rests upon. The quality of neighborhood life is the basic bone structure of any region. With its legacy of middle-income opportunity, many distinct neighborhoods and a growing grass-roots activism, the Valley now has the opportunity to shape its future in ways appealing to its residents, past, present and future. This is far better than allowing others, and outside events, do the shaping.
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