A New Vision for Transportation In Los Angeles--Improving Infrastructure in Urban Core Communities

On Monday, the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles in partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles submitted a very important application for federal funding under the Department of Transportation’s TIGER II program for the Watts Green Corridors Project.  My colleague, Colin Peppard has written some good posts that explain the TIGER program— you can read them by clicking here and here. The agencies call the project the Watts Green Corridors Project, which is part of a larger effort to revitalize the Watts community.  It is the product of an extensive community-led planning effort that has been ongoing since 2005.  The application for TIGER II funding includes requests to repair and enhance physical infrastructure and planning money to improve connectivity between the regional transportation network and the Jordan Downs housing development.  In applying for federal funding, these city agencies followed the direction of Mayor Villaraigosa in promoting more biking, walking and use of transit in Los Angeles, which also has the added benefit of promoting sustainability.

The project development also entailed collaboration with several Non-Governmental Organizations, including the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, Grant Housing Economic Development Corporation, Harbor Watts Economic Development Corporation, and NRDC.  The proposed project also has diverse support from business groups, local and national political leaders, and environmental groups.

The project is designed to follow the principles laid out in the interagency effort from the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Housing Urban Development in their Partnership for Sustainable Communities.  EPA describes this innovative and first of its kind interagency partnership as achieving the following goals—

On June 16, 2009, EPA joined with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U. S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Through a set of guiding livability principles and a partnership agreement that will guide the agencies' efforts, this partnership will coordinate federal housing, transportation, and other infrastructure investments to protect the environment, promote equitable development, and help to address the challenges of climate change.

Specifically, the Watts Green Corridors Project seeks to obtain federal funding to implement streetscape and bicycle improvements in Watts to achieve the objectives laid out in the Partnership for Sustainable Communities—namely connecting affordable housing to affordable transportation options while promoting environmental sustainability.  The project includes a long list of benefits, but importantly for Los Angeles, it will reduce Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) on the order of 1.6 million miles a year. The application estimates $85 million dollars in benefits in the form of reduced congestion, pollution, etc, so the request for a little over $8 million is a great deal.  There are also other benefits that were not quantified related to increasing economic competitiveness in Watts, which suffers from high levels of unemployment and poverty.

The planning component of the application will be led by the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles.  It includes efforts to make the Jordan Downs Housing Development more accessible to the regional transit system.  Moreover, it will seek to make other improvements that will aid the City as it seeks to greatly modernize and expand the housing opportunities at Jordan Downs.   

Simply stated, this is a good project.  It will provide money to an urban core community, which will concurrently reduce our dependence on foreign oil, stimulate the economy of an area with high poverty and unemployment, and promote sustainability and smart growth principles. All in all, this effort is the type of innovative partnership that the TIGER program was meant to achieve by fostering collaboration between a broad range of stakeholders.  I hope the selection team at the Department of Transportation will take notice of this excellent proposal for vital community improvements in one of the nation's most historic urban core neighborhoods.

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