LOS ANGELES IN 2017

Instead of a newsletter, this month UN4LA offers a collection of images from the past year.  The newsletter will return in January 2018.

In November the LA Weekly reported that Level Furnished Living, a recently constructed Downtown high-rise that had been approved as an apartment building, was now operating as a hotel. When asked for comment, a spokesperson said that the owner, Onni Group, was working with the City to allow the transient occupancy use.

Construction has begun on a 35-story residential tower at Fourth Street and Broadway. The PerLA will offer 450 condominiums, probably starting at around $400,000. The completed project will also include a pool, a karaoke space, outdoor kitchens, and an indoor driving range.

Artists in Little Tokyo protest their impending eviction from the Arts District they helped create.

City Hall claims that the costruction of high-priced high-rises in Downtown is intended to create Transit-Oriented Density, a strategy aimed at getting people out of cars and onto busses and rail. In reality, the MTA's ridership is lower than it was 30 years ago, and traffic appears to be worse than ever.

Many have suggested the City could boost the MTA's ridership by constructing transit-adjacent housing that's affordable for the people who actually use transit. The Meridian Apartments, located near the Vermont/Beverly Red Line Station, seem to be a step in the right direction. The mixed-use complex offers 99 affordable units.

In October the Cultural Heritage Commission voted unanimously to consider making Liberty Park in Koreatown a Historic-Cultural Monument. The park, designed by internationally known landscape architect Peter Walker, is threatened by the construction of a proposed 36-story mixed-use tower.

Residents of Leimert Park are worried about gentrification, and with good reason. The construction of the Crenshaw/LAX light rail project been a magnet for speculative real estate investment. The Crenshaw Mall expansion includes almost 1,000 new residential units, but the cost of the units will put them far beyond the reach of residents earning the area median income.

A crew working for developer Wiseman Residential demolished this apartment building on Formosa in spite of the fact that a stop work order had been posted by the Department of Building and Safety.

Wiseman continues to evict tenants from rent-stabilized apartments, and continues to demolish potentially historic buildings.

The Hollywood Reporter Building, under threat of demolition to make way for the massive Crossroads Hollywood complex, looks like it will escape the wrecking ball. In a huge victory for preservationists, the City Council recently voted unanimously to designate the building a Historic-Cultural Monument.

LA's water infrastructure is crumbling. Yet another water main ruptured this year, this time under Franklin Avenue in Hollywood. The DWP has received approval for a series of rate increases that hopefully will allow it to step up work on repair and maintenance.

Earlier this year the last tenant was evicted from a complex on Weddington in Valley Village to make way for a small-lot subdivision. The Hermitage was a unique collection of rent-stabilized structures that contained an urban farm. The City has approved a developer's plans to demolish the existing buildings to build 26 homes, and even agreed to vacate part of Weddington to sweeten the deal.

The 2017 Homeless Count revealed that there were 57,794 people experiencing homelessness in LA County, a 23% Increase from 2016. In the City of LA the count showed 34,189 homeless people, a 20% Increase from 2016.

The MTA's Expo Line is a bright spot on the transit horizon. The line's recent expansion has sent its ridership soaring even beyond the agency's expectations.

The massive Cumulus project, currently under construction at Jefferson and LaCienega, will bring over 1,000 new units to this intersection. Critics of the project are worried that the units will only be affordable to an affluent demographic that's more likely to drive cars than take transit, adding more traffic to an area already plagued by congestion. It should be noted that this photo was not taken during weekday rush hour, but on a Saturday afternoon.

Longtime Venice residents are up in arms about Snapchat's growing footprint in the community. The tech company has taken over an increasing number of buildings, and residents complain that it has displaced local businesses and has used security guards to intimidate people who live in the neighborhood. [Detail of photo by Jennifer Darling.]