LOS ANGELES | Downtown Project Rundown 6.0

[caligrad]

I've seen a few videos of the mayor complaining about how the new construction isn't putting a dent into the homeless crisis and how "the city has the right and ability to take over some of these plots of land and projects like oceanwide to house the homeless"

With the backlash received from Angelenos about the new Weingart towers. You would think that her and the city rest of city hall would understand that maybe this isn't the way to do things.

"Would cost 1.5 billion to finish oceanwide plaza"

That money could be spent to build a massive housing complex to house 10s of thousands in the outer banks of the county like Palmdale and Lancaster.

But the city/state isn't really interested in ACTUALLY fixing the problem.

[edale]

Originally Posted by scania

As a longtime resident, you have clearly seen the growth of DTLA. With all of the crime and homeless of DTLA...DTLA continues to grow with more residential towers, hotels, high end restaurants, etc. etc. It seems odd that your first comment on this board to be what you stated. There is a ton of room for improvement in DTLA and LA in general. No matter, what people say on the news, in article, etc. The fact is that DTLA has improved drastically within the past decade and hasn't been this at least in the past 30 plus years. I'm going to call BS and I'm sure you are just citywatch (so sad).

Office vacancy is definitely higher now than it has been at any point in the last 30 years. The homeless population downtown is probably the biggest its ever been, too. So not everything is trending the right way for downtown. Skid Row and the homeless continue to drag DTLA down to the gutter, and until Skid Row is actually cleaned up, DTLA will never come close to realizing its potential, which is vast.

The Historic Core and Civic Center areas are grimey and dirty and frankly embarrassing. People like you who evidently live in denial aren't helping anything. When I posted here last year about nearly being assaulted by a crazy man who smashed a glass bottle against the Reagan State Office building right in front of me at noon on a Tuesday, I was accused of lying. When someone comes on the forum saying downtown needs to be cleaned up, you accuse them of...secretly being another forumer who still posts here? I guess Onni is also fabricating the crime and grime in DTLA that's prevented them from breaking ground on the LA Times redevelopment project? Get your head out of the sand and demand better.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by edale

When someone comes on the forum saying downtown needs to be cleaned up, you accuse them of...secretly being another forumer who still posts here?

fwiw, I don't live in dtla & I don't play games with trolling or fake screen names.

The article about the onni proj just so happened to coincide with the poster's comments about what they're seeing in dtla. Onni's public statement about problems in dt & particularly city hall wanting to convert to site of the old state bldg into a homeless camp did shake me up.

I watched a vid a few yrs ago about one of the streets in Paris being full of homeless & immigrant camps. That really turned me off in spite of Paris having a much better worldwide brand image than LA. iow, if that city can look bad, dtla is even more vulnerable.

As for onni's other proj in dt...which is actually u/c....this cam shot shows it as looking from the east.


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[scania]

Originally Posted by edale

Office vacancy is definitely higher now than it has been at any point in the last 30 years. The homeless population downtown is probably the biggest its ever been, too. So not everything is trending the right way for downtown. Skid Row and the homeless continue to drag DTLA down to the gutter, and until Skid Row is actually cleaned up, DTLA will never come close to realizing its potential, which is vast.

The Historic Core and Civic Center areas are grimey and dirty and frankly embarrassing. People like you who evidently live in denial aren't helping anything. When I posted here last year about nearly being assaulted by a crazy man who smashed a glass bottle against the Reagan State Office building right in front of me at noon on a Tuesday, I was accused of lying. When someone comes on the forum saying downtown needs to be cleaned up, you accuse them of...secretly being another forumer who still posts here? I guess Onni is also fabricating the crime and grime in DTLA that's prevented them from breaking ground on the LA Times redevelopment project? Get your head out of the sand and demand better.

Dude, I am not in denial. Let's make it clear...the financial district in every major city has taken a hit since Covid. Those areas never have any foot traffic after office hours and those areas are mostly void of people at night and on weekends. Let's talk about the historic core...yes there is a lot of homeless and it has been for the past 10 years. But...there is also new business that are thriving and more businesses on their way to historic core. For example, there is a new coffee shop MedLab that is opening at 8th and Spring. Apple, Addidas, Maestro, etc. is an example of DTLA growing and trending in the right direction. Come to SoHo House with me and have a drink and maybe you realize that there is a light that is getting brighter.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by scania

Dude, I am not in denial. Let's make it clear...the financial district in every major city has taken a hit since Covid. Those areas never have any foot traffic after office hours and those areas are mostly void of people at night and on weekends. Let's talk about the historic core...yes there is a lot of homeless and it has been for the past 10 years. But...there is also new business that are thriving and more businesses on their way to historic core. For example, there is a new coffee shop MedLab that is opening at 8th and Spring. Apple, Addidas, Maestro, etc. is an example of DTLA growing and trending in the right direction. Come to SoHo House with me and have a drink and maybe you realize that there is a light that is getting brighter.

I bet he'll say bs. Meanwhile, Chicago's Loop is in the same boat with office vacancy. Not to mention DC and what not. Chicago and DC are kinda of worse off with that, as those older offices cant probably be even reused for anything else. Theres tons of worry on those reddits about all that unused office space.

[DJM19]

Originally Posted by caligrad

I've seen a few videos of the mayor complaining about how the new construction isn't putting a dent into the homeless crisis and how "the city has the right and ability to take over some of these plots of land and projects like oceanwide to house the homeless"

With the backlash received from Angelenos about the new Weingart towers. You would think that her and the city rest of city hall would understand that maybe this isn't the way to do things.

"Would cost 1.5 billion to finish oceanwide plaza"

That money could be spent to build a massive housing complex to house 10s of thousands in the outer banks of the county like Palmdale and Lancaster.

But the city/state isn't really interested in ACTUALLY fixing the problem.

Palmdale/Lancaster can grow all they want but why would we encourage tens of thousands of housing units way out in the high desert and now locally near jobs and transit and services.

But I do agree the city should not be spending that money on a single development downtown to house relatively few people.

[craigs]

Originally Posted by edale

I guess Onni is also fabricating the crime and grime in DTLA that's prevented them from breaking ground on the LA Times redevelopment project?

You are referring to a complaint in a contract dispute. Legal complaints are not like objective journalism; they are intended to spin everything a certain way so the party can prevail. Here, Onni's attorneys are asserting whatever they think will unwind the contract so they can recoup $30,000,000. It's entirely possible that homelessness and crime are up at the site Onni purchased, but be careful in blindly accepting their assertions as objective facts. The truth of their assertions has not yet been determined by the court. This is just how the game is played, and I say that as a guy who likes Onni and wants them to continue developing downtown.

[scania]

Originally Posted by craigs

You are referring to a complaint in a contract dispute. Legal complaints are not like objective journalism; they are intended to spin everything a certain way so the party can prevail. Here, Onni's attorneys are asserting whatever they think will unwind the contract so they can recoup $30,000,000. It's entirely possible that homelessness and crime are up at the site Onni purchased, but be careful in blindly accepting their assertions as objective facts. The truth of their assertions has not yet been determined by the court. This is just how the game is played, and I say that as a guy who likes Onni and wants them to continue developing downtown.

I was wondering...has Onni had more than one project being built at the same time?

[ajbeaver25]

Alternate reality concept I came up with where Skid Row was demolished and turned into a massive park, how do you think this would impact the city?

[4thethrill]

I'm a long time resident and I don't think we should be minimizing the situation with griminess and homelessness under any circumstance.

There are no visible improvements under Mayor Bass. It's hard to objectively compare one year to the next but things seem worse off. Homelessness and mental illness has extended from Skid Row into Jewelry District, Little Tokyo, and Financial Districts over the last few years. Businesses along Main Street have been hollowed out and Historic Core as a whole has the street-level tension you find in the middle of Skid Row. Buildings along Spring Street are seemingly falling into disrepair and so are the sidewalks and infrastructure. Historic Core today doesn't compare to itself circa 2017.

This is an all hands on deck moment. City and County need to be forced to address issues here because this is the elephant that is holding everything back.

County claims there is a 22% drop in unsheltered homelessness in Skid Row but I think they're cooking the numbers. It has never looked worse.

https://homeless.lacounty.gov/news/r...s-in-skid-row/

There are 3,791 people experiencing homelessness in Skid Row, 2,112 of them unsheltered, according to the 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. This is the densest concentration of people experiencing homelessness in the County, according to the count. This year’s results showed a 14% drop in homelessness and a 22% drop in unsheltered homelessness in Skid Row.

[caligrad]

Originally Posted by DJM19

Palmdale/Lancaster can grow all they want but why would we encourage tens of thousands of housing units way out in the high desert and now locally near jobs and transit and services.

But I do agree the city should not be spending that money on a single development downtown to house relatively few people.

I'm referring to a facility that would directly house/ filter the homeless in to get them the services they need. Palmdale / Lancaster would be an area that would see the least amount of resistance and legal issues for a massive facility to house thousands, plus the obvious having enough land to do so (Google map an ariel view of Disneyworld's All-Star Resort for reference).

In terms of new units being built in all of LA, I'll always be team BUILD DTLA. I personally feel the city should force developers to build downtown before they decide to try to build a high rise anywhere else, Like the random Culver City cluster that rose out of nowhere. Housing needs to be STACKED downtown with endless proposals for the next 50 years.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by 4thethrill

This is an all hands on deck moment. City and County need to be forced to address issues here because this is the elephant that is holding everything back.

County claims there is a 22% drop in unsheltered homelessness in Skid Row but I think they're cooking the numbers. It has never looked worse.

If ppl really care about dtla they won't try to minimize its problems like an addict who refuses to admit he's hooked on booze or drugs. however, it's correct to place dt's problems against the backdrop of what's happening in other cities in the US & world. But dtla is more vulnerable because its reputation has never been really strong to begin with.

look at san francisco...over the past 40 yrs it has had a stellar image while dtla was seen as closer to being like some midwestern rust belt center. Now in 2024, SF can be told by dtla, 'welcome to the club'. iow, if San francisco is vulnerable to falling apart, dtla is even more vulnerable...way more.

the person who owns this bldg has a credible track record & would be a better steward of the city than someone like a Karen bass or Kevin deLeon.


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I wouldn't want to be my current age & have to live in LA of over 10-30 yrs ago. It was also very bad in the past...in certain ways, even worse. So I don't want to be stuck taking a trip back to the future. But I'm increasingly worried that both the economy & political scene will make projs like this even less likely to break ground in the next 5-10 yrs....

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[craigs]

I'm a long-term lurker and a lifetime resident of downtown. I couldn't be bothered to engage in any forum discussion until this very moment, and I am NOT A BOT! This city is the very worst, just so awful. Everything here is terrible. We should just glass the whole place and replicate Texas or Florida. C'mon, you guys!