getting things done in the unfinished city
- Posted by: Beth Stone
- on March 26, 2009 at 7:00 pm
i drove down third from western to traction (with a short stint on fourth) and fell a little bit harder for los angeles.
when i finally made it to the inside of sci-arc, i had enough time to read the first place submission before the discussion began.
as we walked back to the auditorium, i admired the collective mess of the studio, the cardboard sculpture on the ceiling, the dual projected screens.
measure r passed adding a half cent sales tax over thirty years resulting in $40 billion for transportation initiatives.
march 21st marked an award ceremony for the open call for submissions:
A New Infrastructure:
Innovative Transit Solutions
For Los Angeles
two things stuck out most in the two hour presentation:
1. Gail Goldberg, the director of planning for our city, the “closest to implementation and practicality” called Los Angeles the “last big unfinished american city” adding we take part in who we become and what place we inhabit.
2. Los Angeles is not like other cities we have the ability to eat breakfast in the desert, lunch in the mountains and dinner by the ocean. “that is part of the beauty of living here” – a last comment raised by a member of the first place team
my favorite of the day was Eric Owen Moss, a late entrant to the commentary who was a little bit cantankerous, literally staring down the crowd at times and instigating the other panel members. he was insistent that the discussion continue and that there is “not a mechanism or will in place to take on the type of things proposed.” claiming there “needs to be authority to experiment in particular areas.” he feels things cannot be handled on a project by project basis and we should lead the discussion in the same way it is done around reebok. “intelligible vs. piece meal”
more interestingness:
- task is to “solve individual movement in the city”
- the first cent tax passed in 1980 and relied upon 19th and 20th century technology – now we have information technology in plans
March 27th at Metro from 2 – 4 to discuss implementation
April 4th A New Infrastructure Discussion: Transit And The City (MAK Center at the Schindler House)
April 14th A New Infrastructure Discussion: Transit and The Community (The GOOD Space)
June 25th A New Infrastructure Discussion: Architects And Transit (AIA Mobius/ Dwell Conference)
