Trading Places: Dodgers to DTLA, NFL to Chavez Ravine

The process build a new NFL stadium in Downtown Los Angeles, as well as draft an NFL team to fill it, has hit more than a few hurdles in the last few years.  But one thing that has fascinated me, both as a baseball fan and as an urban planner, about a new NFL stadium in LA is the choice of location.  Why would you want an NFL stadium in Downtown LA?  With new owners, the Dodgers are spending hundreds of millions on new payroll and upgrades to Dodger Stadium.  But perhaps they should consider a move to a brand new facility in Downtown and leave Chavez Ravine for a future football franchise.

Planning Confidential: Developers, Heights, and Cost of Housing

Real estate developers are controversial figures among the general population.  But among planners, they are a more accepted group of people, if not downright appreciated.  The general public thinks they understand what real estate development is all about and they malign those who take up the risk of building in our cities; accusing them of price gouging or kicking poor people out (gentrification).  They accuse developers and city officials and planners of “Manhattanizing” our neighborhoods.  But this is all wrong.  Tall buildings don’t come out of no where.  Most developers are simply trying to pen out financially a project that can not only win the approval of the city and community, but also make sense to the investors footing the bill. Tall buildings can even help solve the problems with the cost of housing.