An Overview of Urban Planning in Los Angeles

Fantastic video! The buerocratic black void is where the sausage is made, appreciate you getting into the details about the function of the MPO etc

While it is very true that the LA Metro has built a new transit expansion every 5-10 years since 1980, let's not forget that the Bay Area has built a new transit expansion every 3-7 years since the 1970s. Some of these expansions were split between BART, Muni, VTA, Caltrain, SMART and co. but it still amounts to more region-wide expansion than the LA area in the same amount of time.

Not saying that LA"s transit expansion hasn't been impressive or that it shouldn't be celebrated on a national scale! But the entire state of California is equally commendable for building a ton of transit since the political tides in the state shifted away from car dependency in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Let's not forget that since 1972 all major California cities have built extensive metro and/or light rail systems (Muni, VTA, SacRT, MTS, and LA Metro). And all have drastically expanded bus transit as well. SF, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, San Diego, LA, Long Beach, Santa Monica all now have some kind of light rail or metro system and serviceable to excellent regional rail.

It's not just LA that did this. The entire state did!

Super interesting video.

We need more videos like this. Every one in their city, state, and county needs to know their history!

LA is where urban planning goes to die

Thanks for covering LA in a positive fashion because its a great city, and good job covering housing issues accurately

TOPIC SUGGESTION... "STROADS" STREET ROADS... OR IN L.A. STREEWAYS

I'm genuinely surprised at the mention of the extermination of the Kish

incredibly good video thanks

Man, great video. As a local this was insightful. New subscriber

This is a really great report! Reminds me of what Johnny Harris has been doing, but with its own unique vibe

There’s no housing shortage in LA. Plenty of space that needs to be “cleaned up, schools revamped, safety, zero-gangs, zero-graffiti, and on, and on…..!

Bro Los Angeles will build one soon
A Time Square called "Angel's Time Square" 😅😂

The 21st centuries catches up to US America 😂

LA is a daily reminder that the good 'ol days weren't so good. Although some of its nicest neighborhoods date back to the early 1900s, much more of the city & region that's noticeably rundown & unattractive in 2024 (& was never nice to begin with), & has been in a long-time economic slump, was built over 60-70 years ago. Both NIMBYism & YIMBYism should always keep that in mind. Same thing can also be said about other American cities like NYC (eg, tenements, the Bronx, etc) too, but it's more of a problem in LA.

I appreciate bringing in the zoning issues that made transit & development patterns what became. Most videos gloss over that issue.

this guys enthusiasm is contagious

It's clear that if Los Angeles were to achieve its required housing goal it will have to incentivize homeowners to upgrade their single families to two family, three family, and four family houses. Plus they'll have to adopt Toronto's Avenues Plan which would incentivize construction of high density housing, office, and retail along its major arteries.

probably the most corrupted city in the country (if not the world). the city is beyond hope. there will have to be MAJOR unrest before things start to really change. i’m a native angeleno 😢

Queue Randy Newman!

Density doesn't equal affordability nor solve housing shortage. That is why NYC or Paris is very un- affordable even though it is very dense. The phenomenon is called induced demand where an increase in the supply of a good or service leads to an increase in its consumption. Zoning changes will not impact prices in any significant way either. In order to have any impact on demand it would require whole swaths of a city to be razed to the ground in a very short period of time. Even then the price decrease would be just temporary.
Cost to build a house is more or less the same across the country. The variables are cost of the land and cost of regulations.

Great vid. You should cover how these density projects in wealthier (even middle class) neighborhoods cause huge problems. Parking, severe loss of urban mature forestry, and water and utility issues just to name a few of the challenges.

Turning LA into NYC, Shanghai, Hong Kong and downgrading the quality of life is NOT progress.

Great video! We need more of your content on the regular. I really do hope that Los Angeles Makes Itself Great Again, but not in the MAGA way some would hope. I am talking more about returning to the great railroading city it was, is and could still be... Every corridor where streetcars and regional rail ran? Should be restored. Then concentrate on building an express automated regional rail like the Montreal RER using Metrolink but driverless with services as frequent as every minute or two during rush hour. These station sites could and should become mini downtowns to each district and neighbourhood and also encourage high density mixed use development at each station site much like Vancouver. It's taking the best of each cities best practices and using them to make the city as great and as equitable as it should be for all. Especially since let's face it, it a metropolis built on stolen land that hasn't come to terms with that never mind its other nefarious choices... I.e. The Water Wars and the "Chinatown-era" drama of race and income based inequality that has never been rectified such as redlining areas and driving freeways through them which disturbingly still happened in my lifetime and I'm only 40..

Youthful enthusiasm…not yet tempered by experience…I love this type of discussion. The Law Of Unintended Consequences will rule all efforts… Remember one basic fact about human beings… They are incapable of walking in a straight line, lurching from one extreme to the other. I’ll skip straight to the chase for you… The state is controlled by unions and building interests… And the politicians they control. All you need to know about mass transit is two things… California’s so-called high-speed rail multi billion dollar boondoggle, and the Democratic super majority. No one really wants lower housing prices in California because that’s were so many Californians hold the majority of their wealth.

So sad.

Why do you look like a zeven foot tall fetus? It's hard to look at them I keep on thinking they are going to suffer extreme amount of social isolation and suffering due to integrity and inappropriate comparrisons. Sorry. bye. Be ok, please. I hope you're ok.

doubtful about a good transit system

Yeah people are leaving, thanx to politics

LGBT host

This is a friendly and well put together video. Thank you.

Love my city.

What a well presented video!

zoning laws benifit the Auto Industry walking and cycling can and will land in jail in America

Its nice to be positive but this piece is just cherry picking the good stuff and tying it all together to paint a pretty picture which is far from the complete reality of those of us who actually lived through all of it - its fine to be a fan of the trains AND YES its better than nothing BUT it hasnt made a great improvement on many of our lives

Really good video! Just one small correction. Measure M, the ballot measure that passed in 2016, made Measure R have no expiration date either.

Hi from Australia! I have been watching LA build out rapid transit for a couple decades and been very impressed. Keep up the good work!

I cannot envision a worse stain on mankind's reputation than LA. Well, actually, yes I can and that's too bad.

All you need to do is watch all the Old Westerns movies, Charlie Chaplin movies where he deals with politics, and other movies like LA Confidential, Chinatown, Mulholland Falls, Don't Worry Darling and even Cat's Meow to know how corrupt and gangster LA has always been, being used as kind of a guinea pig of a place needed to be experimented on for constant change, short-lived ideas, Post-Modern Art and Lifestyles concepts, a place to sucker people into believing that the "American Dream of owning a house with a picket fence, a car and a dog" is attainable by "everyone" when, if you think about it carefully - how much space and distance do you need to fit in how many millions of people with the same house, car and dog all across the landscape before you've spread it out so far, it takes 2 hours to drive across town of all those houses into the suburbs and you've only gone 25 miles because all those cars all clog up the same roads, because, they all also have to go to the same places, all while the poor people gaze up the "palaces on the hill" of the rich and the celebrities who actually do live in those mega mansions in the hills LMAO

The Metro smells like piss because the limousine liberals think the Metro line should be a mobile homeless shelter.

Thank you Alex, very cool

(But also I have a lot of hope for LA)

Hella positive news mate! Hope they can continue to build affordable housing

This town (like many) has layers of revolving transportation, commerical and housing priorities that will never be put to rest, most of this type of legislation for growth are simply jobs bills... no different than the homeless advocacy industrial complex that gets rich without any requirement to actually solve its stated purpose, or mandated Healthcare which requires you purchase insurance yet puts almost no demands of the providers to actually improve your health care, or have a publicly/corporate funded education system reguarded as one of the worst in the country. Further, water scarcity has not been solved... most water storage and capture systems are dilapidated and fall short of what was projected to be needed almost 100 years ago. The divisive political environment will never acheive a protracted timeline of consistent societal values that transcends generations where LA may just lead the pack in dressing up kneejerk ptojects as Civic priorities. There Is work and then there is progress--most of this stuff is just work to be replaced by tomorrow's definition of progress.

Fun Fact: PETER HARDENMAN BURNETT WAS A HARDCORE PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRAT

Great video!

after a decade of planning and thanks to my grannies and aunties prayers to the Virgen de Guadalupe, the LAX peoples mover will finally get going by 2025 maybe 2026 just in time for the FIFA World Cup...Gracias!

Fun fact: Los Angeles County that claims to be so progressive are in fact still doing the same thing the old democratslave masters have been doing.. I urge anyone to look up the Metro Plan

That’s what happened to Yenga according to liberals who quietly like to rewrite history into a fictional format to fit thier narratives. The truth is the all died from smallpox.

Our, "Planners" today are just as arrogant and foolish as those who brought us to this point, and every bit as blind to their own baffoonery.

never trust christians.