LAI KeyNotes: October 2007

Land Economics Weekend in Los Angeles, CA
October 18 - 20, 2007

Entrance to the Fairmont Miramar Hotel,
Santa Monica, CA

Leslie Pollock, the New International
President for 2008/09

The Los Angeles Chapter hosted the 37th Biennial Congress Weekend for Land Economics on October 18 -20, 2007. Our members came from around the world, and loved it! We promised everyone our beautiful Southern California climate with sunny warm days and lovely evenings, and we delivered.

Fereydon Ghaffari announces schedule

Dr. Anthony Downs receives award from
Dr. James A. Fawcett

Approximately 80 members registered for the event, with visitors coming from as far as the United Kingdom; Australia; Canada (Vancouver and Toronto); Maryland, Washington, DC,; Philadelphia, Chicago, Phoenix, Sacramento, and from our Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County chapters. Out-of-town guests for the event stayed at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, where the Congress weekend activities were staged.

Gil Escobeda presents Member of Year
award to Gary Nelson

Marsha Rood Welcomes Everyone

Business Meetings of the Executive Committee, and the LAI Land Economics Foundation were held on Thursday morning, and the Board of Governors meeting on Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning, an orientation meeting was held for new incoming Presidents and Administrators.

Ron Buss (center) receives International
Member of the Year award

Michele Meng and Terry Stevenson

Events commenced Thursday evening with a cocktail reception at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, with all of the international members getting an opportunity to chat with one another. The formal evening dinner and initiation began with a welcome by Los Angeles Chapter President Marsha V. Rood, and an address by International President, Dr. James A. Fawcett. Fereydoon Ghaffari, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and Terry Stevenson, Executive Director from the national office, reviewed the schedule for the weekend. After dinner, eighteen new members to the Los Angeles Chapter were initiated, followed by a presentation by Dr. Greg Hise, Associate Professor of History, School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of Southern California. The Los Angeles Chapter presented the Member of the Year Award to Gary Nelson.

Playa Vista new community architectural model

Tours: We generally think of Los Angeles as a low density spread out suburbia. This may have been true in the past, but the City is reinventing itself into an organized, functional urban structure being assisted by our newly developed and expanding mass transit system. Tours on Friday and Saturday were orchestrated to see some of these new, exciting architectural and urban planning projects being developed.
- An in-depth visit to the new Rand Corporation's "Green" headquarters in Santa Monica which is LEED certified and is part of a new overall civic center utilizing elements which will also be green type buildings.
- A tour of the Hollywood district which, over the past several decades, had become a run down area of crime, homelessness, and drugs with vacant and blighted buildings. The tour showed how old Hollywood is being revived today into a new entertainment and residential district now being served by subway transit.
- A visit to Playa Vista, a “new-town-in-town” where approximately 40% of the land has been mandated and set aside for a natural preserve on a former wetlands area, and the rest being developed into a major residential, commercial and recreational urban community.
- A visit to Downtown Los Angeles where, adaptive re-use of old and historic structures, has been creating a new live and work environment. The tour continued to Staples Center, the project that received both the 2001 Los Angeles Chapter and International Skyline Awards, which along with the Convention Center may have been one of the main factors for spurring revitalization and this growth of new residents in the downtown. The tour also included a visit to the Nokia Theater, which opened only 2 days before, and is the first completed building of the LA Live entertainment project. We also viewed an architectural model showing the next phases of this multi-entertainment, hotel and residential project.
- Lastly, we toured the famous architectural jewel of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which was awarded the 2004 Los Angeles Chapter Skyline Award. In addition, a presentation was held regarding the new Grand Avenue project which is adjacent to the Concert Hall and is being planned as a signature project of residential, hotel and offices for this section of the Downtown. There were also narrated drive-by tours of Santa Monica, Marina Del Rey, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, and the USC Campus.

New Nokia Theatere - Downtown Los Angeles

The tours consisted of the following narrators:

Tour of Rand Corporation "Green" Headquarters, Santa Monica— ao Katagin, Deputy Vice President, Rand Corporation; Paul Danna, Architect, DMJM; Steve Zimmerman, LEED certification Coordinator.

Tour and economic stats of West Los Angeles—David Lachoff and Neil Resnick, Sr. Vice-Presidents, Grubb & Ellis.

Tour of Hollywood Boulevard, and Hollywood and Vine Projects—Kerry Morrison, Executive Director, Hollywood Entertainment District; John Tronson, President, Ramsey-Shilling; Todd Steadman, Executive Director of the Sunset Strip BID, West Hollywood; John Given, Principal, CIM Group; Kipp Rudd, Senior Planner, Community Redevelopment Agency.

Tour of Marina Del Rey, and University of Southern California campus—Dr. James Fawcett, USC School of Policy, Planning and Development.

Transportation commentary along routes: John Stutsman, Fehr & Peers/Kaku Associates Playa Vista - New Community; Rick Siebert, Project Manager, Entitlements, Sr. Vice-President, Playa Vista; Raegen Foreman, Manager, Guesthouse, Playa Vista; Ron Buss, Buss-Shelger Associates Downtown Los Angeles.

Adaptive re-use projects, Disney Hall, Grand Avenue Project—Hal Bastian, Sr. Vice-President & Director of LA Economic Development and Downtown Center BID Staples Center and LA Live; Matt Collins, Director of Special Events, Staples Center; Evelyn Taylor, Marketing Director, LA Live

Evening event Speakers: Dr. Greg Hise, Associate Professor of History, School of Policy for Planning and Development, Universtiy of Southern California; Dr. Anthony Downs, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution

Awards Banquet: The Lambda Alpha International Awards Banquet was held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel on Saturday night, October 20, 2007. A newly designed ELY Trophy was unveiled at the dinner. It features a soaring flame and the Lambda Alpha International key set on a wooden base. The trophy was designed by Theresa Cardinali of Pasadena, CA, to symbolize Professor Richard Ely's emphasis on the academic study of land economics as a science. The trophy was sponsored by many chapters across the world and is proposed to become the new permanent award for the Lambda Alpha International Awards. Fereydoon Ghaffari and Dr. James Fawcett, presented ELY trophies to the following recipients of the Lambda Alpha International Awards:
Journalism Award: John McCarron, The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill
Author Award: Dr. Anthony Downs, The Brookings Institution, Washington, DC
International Fellow Award: Larry E. Lund, Real Estate Planning Group, Chicago, Ill
Gerald D. Hines International Humanitarian Award: Eli Broad, The Broad Foundation, Los Angeles, CA (not present)
Edward L. Johnson Member of the Year Award: Ronald L. Buss, Buss-Shelger Associates, Los Angeles, CA
International Public Offical Award: William J. Bogaard, Mayor, Pasadena, California (not present)
International Urban Affairs Award: Maureen McAvery, Urban Land Institute, Washington, DC (not present)
Richard Y. Ely Distinguished Educator Award: Dr. Michael A. Anikeeff, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Skyline Award: Millennium Park, Chicago, Ill

Banquet Address: Following presentation of the Awards, Dr. Anthony Downs, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution, gave an address.

Special Thanks to the Organizing Committee
Special thanks were given to Fereydoon Ghaffari, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and his members, including Ron Buss, Maurice Kurtz, David Lachoff, Millard Lee, Gary Nelson, Elizabeth Watson, and advisors Marsha V. Rood, and Dr. James Fawcett for all their hard work in garnering sponsors and arranging the venues. New Slate for Executive Committee, 2008-2009 The new slate for the coming year was introduced and the new gavel was passed from Dr. James Fawcett to the new International President Leslie S. Pollock, FAICP of the Chicago Ely chapter.

Letter from the President

Dr. James A. Fawcett

I want to take a few moments of your time to consider how our Society is organized and to suggest that there may be ways in which we can better fulfill the aspirations of our charter by new initiatives that build on our traditions. The structure of Lambda Alpha has always honored the chapters as the basic unit of organization, a “federalist” notion that recognizes that the Society is essentially the sum of its parts. For the past 77 years, that notion has evolved with the International being represented by our International Secretariat located in Illinois, but with chapters acting autonomously, and logically so since they respond to the needs of the communities and regions of which they are a part.

Yet, despite their autonomy, there are trends in land economics and land use that could benefit from enhanced coordination between our chapters. Over the weekend at our Los Angeles Land Economics Weekend and Biennial Congress, Dr. Anthony Downs, our distinguished member from the George Washington Chapter, suggested that the challenges of worldwide phenomena such as global climate change offer new opportunities that Lambda Alpha can and should meet with its reservoir of intellectual talent. The fundamental question is: How can land use patterns be reconsidered to pose less of an impact on the environment? He urged us to think not only of land markets but also of those aspects of human settlements that demand long-range planning, thus collective action, to avoid adverse environmental consequences—for ourselves and our progeny. The devastating brush fires in southern California this week present a grim example of land use policies fostering suburban development in historically fire-prone habitats. Residents, acting as rational economic actors, trade off high in-town property costs for commuting costs to and from suburban residences with the expense being borne in part by the atmosphere in air pollution that aggravates global climate change as well as the social costs of thousands of residents being homeless when their homes are destroyed.

We as a Society have the unique ability to speak across disciplines confronting these and other issues and to publicize at least our findings, if not our conclusions. Downs suggests collective action, too, in that our chapters can work together on issues of common concern. This year’s conflagrations represent only the very latest of what is an annual event each fall in southern California. Our southern California chapters could, for example, work collectively with one another to bring thoughtful discourse to the land use/brush fire issue and, perhaps, even publish findings of experts from the Society. Although we have grown accustomed to our federalist structure, we are faced with issues that affect large numbers of our communities and Lambda Alpha can, and should, serve as an instrument to bring together our collective wisdom. To do less is to shirk our intellectual responsibilities.

Dr. James A. Fawcett
International President
fawcett@usc.edu

Editor’s Column

Helen Sause

Lots going on in all aspects of life! LAI in Los Angeles was awesome – lots to report on from a truly outstanding Weekend. Interesting meetings and ideas that will be helpful for all of us in our efforts to communicate and work together and terrific project tours. The Weekend report from the Los Angeles Chapter and their great photos will give you a flavor of what we did and saw. We had a first ever Chapter Presidents meeting that provided some excellent suggestions – stay tuned for those in the next edition.

Then professionally, the real estate market “meltdown” continues. There are so many foreclosures and the rental market are tightening up even more than usual even as rates increase. A really sorry state of the market both economically and socially. You all know a lot more about the unsettling impact that is having.

I wanted to finish off a discussion of the final grouping of the five things that have seemed to be most on member’s minds. These deal with Preservation of Assets and Retention of the Public Eminent Domain capacity. (You may recall that the first issue was Organizational matters, and the last was Professional and Ethical Standards.)

Asset Management is so essential to the public and private sectors it seems surprising that particularly for the public it is allowed to go untended until there is little that can be done for the property except demolish it. Publicly supported low income housing is certainly a case in point. The Golden Gate Chapter has just had a speaker who shared information on the years of under funding by the Federal government have reduced the options for the local housing agencies to find other sources of funds and clear the units and rebuild. Unfortunately programs for rebuilding are also subject to systematic under funding as well. I am pointing out the obvious in most cities, but the same issues are true for way too many in the private sector too. The ownership and neglect of privately owned properties has the same negative effect on adjacent properties and communities. The Section 8 program where landlords are paid a subsidy for private property by the Government to house low/mod income people are frequently as guilty of allowing properties to run down as those publicly built and managed. What to do? Better code enforcement might be a start, there is a lot of literature about making it a priority ensure good asset management standards but how to bring it home? Do you have any programs on this topic? Any models in your communities? The Golden Gate chapter is one city’s efforts to deal with systematic neglect – what is needed is a will to prevent property from reaching such unhealthy living conditions! Any ideas?

The laws creating the Eminent Domain right of public takings is totally under attack. Please send us information on what is happening in your community and state. If the capability of redevelopment and cities to acquire property using the eminent domain laws it will have a huge, destructive impact on private / public development partnerships. There is no national eminent domain law, but with Congressional consideration of the Kelo case it has triggered a national outcry about state laws which provide for communities to use public takings to assemble land to achieve public purposes including change of land use. My numbers may be a bit off but there are about 34 states that have such legal provisions, however only 10 -12 actively use this tool to assemble land for public purposes ranging from school sites and infrastructure to acquire blighting rundown empty factories, warehouses, slums etc. to rebuild mixed use projects that revitalize areas or transportation systems or any one of the myriad other uses that will permit reuse of deteriorated or obsolete properties.

Could you find out exactly what is happening in your part of the country? It may be of interest to have speakers with opposing views on the subject. In California a proposition (90) was defeated last year. It would have had a crippling effect on cities’ ability to do their business. There is a new version of this proposition being passed around that looks like it will qualify for the June 2008 ballot. There is a League of Cities measure being talked about that more narrowly defines how the law can be used. See www.eminentdomainreform.com for more information about the California situation.

In checking with the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) staff they are keeping a sharp eye on the eminent domain issue in Congress and at this time do not see any attention being given to the issue. They will continue to watch, as I am sure, are the staffs of the League of Cities and US Conference of Mayors.

Stay tuned for developments in these related topics...and be a player, become informed, share that information with your membership and as always, look into the legislation and see how it affects your community. Let us hear from you please.

Till next time!

Helen Sause
International Editor
helensause@alamedanet.net