LA's buildout is meeting budget reality, and today those two things are slamming right into each other. This is Los Angeles Politics and Urbanism Daily. We’ve got fresh housing numbers, a subway line that finally opened, and a county budget starting to squeeze everything it touches. The D Line extension is real, people are riding it, and the county still can’t keep the lights on. That tension is the whole show today. Alright, let’s get into it. Here's Gabriel Kahn at Crosstown:
The real estate sector is like a thermometer that measures the health of the Los Angeles economy. Lately, it’s giving some mixed signals. The median price of homes sold is flat, even though the supply of new units has trended down in recent years. Rents are stagnant, but still too high for many.
Crosstown’s out with a real estate snapshot, and the headline is basically mixed signals. Median home prices are flat, rents are stagnant but still brutal, and new construction permits are up — except most of that bump is fire rebuilding in the Palisades. Strip out the Palisades rebuild and permits are down seventeen percent year over year. That’s not a mixed signal, that’s a bad one with footnotes on it. To be fair, a 14% headline bump is exactly the kind of number that gets copied into press releases before anybody reads the note underneath. Exactly. And when the city pats itself on the back for permit counts while rents are “stagnant but too high,” that just means nobody got relief. Urbanize LA, with Steven Sharp:
A presentation to the Pasadena Design Commission reveals plans for a new housing complex north of the 210 Freeway.
The project from property owner LSJ Development, Inc., slated for a corner lot at 1062 and 1072 E. Villa Street and 445 and 459 N. Wilson Avenue, calls for replacing four single-family homes with a three-story complex consisting of 22 three-bedroom apartments with parking for 22 vehicles in a subterranean garage.
Pasadena’s Design Commission got a first look at Villa Soleil — 22 three-bedroom apartments on E. Villa Street, replacing four single-family homes north of the 210. It’s three stories, Spanish Colonial styling, courtyard in the middle, and this was only a preliminary presentation — no final vote yet. Four houses turn into 22 homes with three bedrooms each — that’s real family-sized housing, not studio micro-units for people who never cook. Pasadena should rubber-stamp this and move on. I mean, the “City of Gardens” framing is working pretty hard here. But 22 for 4 is still a decent trade, and one parking space per unit keeps it honest on the transit side. The part that slows this down is going to be the Design Commission worrying more about stucco authenticity than the family that needs a three-bedroom. Watch. Here's Los Angeles Wave Newspaper Group:
The opening of the Wilshire/La Cienega station gave Beverly Hills its first rail passenger service since Sept. 26, 1954, when the Pacific Electric Railway closed its Hollywood Line streetcar line. Transit officials said the expansion will significantly improve travel times along Wilshire Boulevard, one of the region’s busiest corridors, with trips from Union Station to the new western terminus taking about 20 minutes without transfers.
The D Line extension is officially open — three new stations along Mid-Wilshire, from Wilshire/La Brea through Wilshire/La Cienega, and for the first time in more than 70 years, Beverly Hills has rail service. The Wave Newspaper Group has the ceremony coverage, including Bass, Villaraigosa, and Garcetti all up on the roof of the Petersen. Seventy-two years since Beverly Hills lost its streetcar. That’s not a transit gap, that’s a transit crime. We’re patching something that should never have been left broken, and we’re doing it at a pace that would embarrass a glacier — but fine, it’s here, I’ll take it. Over on r/LosAngeles (521 upvotes):
Wow that is fast. I think driving that route at that time is usually 30 to 50 minutes.
Reddit’s clocking the time savings — somebody says driving that same stretch usually runs 30 to 50 minutes. Rail did it in under 11. That’s not a marginal improvement, that’s an argument. And that’s on a good traffic day. Hit the Wilshire corridor at 5:30 on a Friday and that 50 minutes turns into a cry-in-your-car situation. The train doesn’t care. Over on r/LosAngeles (176 upvotes):
Kinda crazy to think how long this took to be built. Because this is only possible because of Antonio villaraigosa. Dude worked to get a tax passed to get this built and went to congress to get a federal law passed so that this could be built. Not really gassing him but more so that both of those things happened in 2008! Like Jesus. This is a long time coming.
Somebody on Reddit pointed out this whole thing traces back to Villaraigosa getting a tax passed and a federal law changed in 2008. Eighteen years ago. That’s not a long time coming — that’s generational debt finally getting paid. Credit where it’s due — the political lift in 2008 was real. Though I’d note Villaraigosa was very much at the ribbon-cutting, so he’s not letting anyone forget it either. r/LosAngeles (311 upvotes), weighing in:
Feel like we should be both happy for the improvements but also demand more!
Best take in the thread: be happy about the win, and demand more. That’s the right posture. Phase two still has to punch through to Westwood and the VA. Celebrate today, sure — and then show up at every Metro board meeting until that’s done too. This one's from NBC Los Angeles:
LA County Sheriff’s Department deputies have been told to reduce unnecessary overtime and delay any non-critical spending – until the Department’s budget is replenished when the new fiscal year begins in July.
NBC LA got hold of an internal LASD memo — deputies are being told to cut overtime and freeze non-critical spending for the next seven weeks, until the new fiscal year kicks in on July first. So the County blew its budget on legal settlements from other departments, and now the Sheriff’s overtime budget takes the hit. Classic LA County — the bill always lands somewhere unexpected, and it’s never on whoever caused the problem. To be fair, LASD says public safety deployment won’t be affected, and FIFA World Cup staffing is carved out entirely because FIFA’s reimbursing the County directly. So the pinch is real, but narrow — for now. FIFA gets a carve-out, the contract cities get protected, and somewhere in the middle is every working-class neighborhood that depends on County services and has zero leverage. Priorities, people. From Yo! Venice:
City officials said the emergency declaration allows Santa Monica to accelerate programs and services aimed at addressing homelessness and preventing residents from becoming unhoused. The declaration also enables the city to pursue additional county, state and federal funding, streamline certain municipal processes, prevent rental price gouging and authorize emergency actions by the city manager.
Santa Monica’s city council votes tonight on re-ratifying its homelessness emergency declaration — and this is just the routine 60-day renewal required under California Government Code. Hat tip to Yo! Venice for keeping tabs on it. Three years into a homelessness emergency declaration and they’re still renewing it every 60 days. At what point does “emergency” just mean “this is the permanent condition we’ve decided to manage instead of solve”? To be fair, the declaration does unlock county, state, and federal funding streams — without it, Santa Monica loses leverage on outside money. That part is genuinely useful. Sure, keep the funding mechanism. But somebody in that council chamber should be asking why three years of emergency powers haven’t produced a number they’re proud to read aloud. Got feedback, a story idea, or a correction for us? Send it our way at ladailyfix at lantern podcasts dot com. We read your notes, and they help shape what we cover next.
We’ve put links to all of today’s stories in the show notes, so if there’s a report, meeting, or policy thread you want to dig into, you can find it there.
That’s Los Angeles Politics and Urbanism Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.