SCPC Event Summary – “Here Comes the LA Streetcar!”

Here Comes the LA Streetcar!
Heading into Downtown’s Future

 

 

 

Carol Schatz and Shiraz Tangri presented the latest news on the LA Streetcar project in the Art Deco-themed Bar Fedora room of First & Hope, an upscale Downtown restaurant.

 

 

Carol and Shiraz focused on the detailed framework for the local property tax funding source and the related political campaign, as well as the burgeoning downtown residential population, growing local commercial economy, and the need to complement future development with the Streetcar. Carol is President & Chief Executive Officer of the Central City Association of Los Angeles and Downtown Center Business Improvement District, and is a Member of the Board of the Community Facilities District. Shiraz Tangri is with the legal firm Alston & Bird, and is the general counsel for LA Streetcar Inc.

 

 

 

 

In December 2012, the Downtown Los Angeles community voted to approve a Community Facilities District (CFD) to provide matching funds to finance the proposed LA Streetcar Project. The Streetcar will link the Civic Center to the Historic Core along Broadway and the LA Live Entertainment District. The project’s goal is to help transform Downtown into a lively live, work, and play destination.

After an introduction to the project and our speakers by Bob Fazio of the Southern California Planning Congress Board, Carol presented an in-depth overview of the growth in downtown since a revitalization of various neighborhoods began in the early 1990s. The growth in residential units, and the ongoing permitting of new residential projects, was very informative and quite astounding. The foundational anchors of the downtown area, the new burgeoning cultural icons, and how the LA Streetcar will tie them altogether, were the motivational high-notes of Carol’s presentation.

 

 

 

 

Shiraz discussed the nuts-and-bolts of the project: how it was funded, how the local tax initiative was spearheaded and championed, and how it will be built in terms of new technologies and the intricate route to be woven through existing downtown roadways. The project would link the Civic Center, the historic Broadway corridor, and the LA Live entertainment complex. Special technology, if feasible with final project engineering, would allow the Streetcar to operate without overhead wires. The project would be the first Los Angeles transit project to be owned and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and future extensions could provide direct service to the Music Center.

 

 

All in all, it was an extremely informative evening, rich with highly motivational subject matter for any champion of the future of Downtown Los Angeles.