California passes nation's first green building code

Long the pioneer of environmentally progressive policy, California became the first state to institute a "green" building code with legislation passed this week. The code, which will go into effect on January 1 of next year, is modeled closely from the US Green Building Council's LEED construction and building energy code. Cities that already enforce green building standards that are stricter than the new state requirements (San Francisco and Los Angeles), will be allowed to retain their local codes. Other cities will be able to adopt individual building codes that are stricter than the state's in the future if they choose.

Among the new building requirements are: plumbing must cut water use by 20%; half of construction waste must be recycled; low-polluting paints, carpets, and flooring must be used; separate water meters for indoor and outdoor must be installed; and building inspections must include appliance efficiency checks. The green building code is part of a state initiative to cut carbon emissions by 25% by 2020. Buildings are the biggest consumers of energy and the largest polluters, responsible for emitting more carbon than transportation and industry combined.

But some environmental groups including the Sierra Club are critical of the plan, arguing that the imposed restrictions are not harsh enough. They also say the two-tier Calgreen system, as it is called, will be confusing for builders and will allow for abuse.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

State sells 2 LA office buildings to tighten budget gap

The State of California listed 17 buildings for sale statewide last month; two are in Los Angeles. Commercial real estate brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis has been contracted with the representation of these buildings, estimated to total $2b in value. The only two buildings for sale in Southern California are located Downtown - the Ronald Reagan building and the Junipero Serra building. The State hopes to raise about $660m from the sales toward its staggering budget deficit of $21b.

The state will engage in what is known as a sale-leaseback, where it will automatically enter into a 20 year lease agreement with whoever buys the properties. This is an ideal situation for a buyer because it guarantees a favorable occupancy rate, which in the case of the LA buildings, is 100%. The Ronald Reagan State Building, which was built in 1990, is considered to be one of the largest and best-equipped Class A office buildings in Los Angeles. It is located on 3rd St. between Spring and Main Sts. The smaller Junipero Serra building on the corner of 4th St. and Broadway, is a historic building completed in 1914.

The 17 building listing is the largest real estate portfolio on the market, and is a bold move for the State of California, desperate to shorten its hopelessly deep budget deficit. Gov. Arnold Schwarzanegger made headlines last year when he proposed the possible sale of large state-owned properties like San Quentin prison in Northern California and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. While that controversial proposition never materialized, the 150 acre Orange County Fairgrounds will also be marketed for sale.

Roski Pushes to Bypass CEQA in Industry Stadium

Just days before this year's legislative session comes to a close, billionaire developer Ed Roski is lobbying the state's legislature to bypass key environmental and planning requirements for the proposed 75,000 seat football stadium. In a meeting with the state Senate Leader and Assembly speaker last week, Roski argued that the plan would provide "thousands of high-wage jobs" in an area with disparagingly high unemployment. Roski's proposal would also block litigation against the controversial project, including the pending suit filed by neighboring Walnut.

'Not so fast,' say Los Angeles County supervisors. Supervisor Gloria Molina argues that she supports the idea of a new football stadium in LA County, but that it can't justify a waiver of the strict California Environmental Quality Act regulations. "Hospitals, police stations, freeways and all sorts of valuable projects manage to be built without the necessity of CEQA exemptions," she says, and urges her companions to take the same stance. Highest among County's concerns are complications stemming from increased traffic to the area - a concern they say, that isn't felt at the state level.

But legislators in Sacramento have remained receptive to Roski's plea. Unfortunately, this is just the sort of misalignment between state and local viewpoints that has polarized all parties in talks over whether - and how - to sell the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for desperately needed cash. Of course many initial supporters of the NFL's return to LA liked the idea of a professional team playing in the historic Coliseum. But Roski's Majestic Realty Co. is probably correct in assuming that a shiny new stadium with sufficient parking and new traffic lights will make a bid to the NFL much more attractive. Legislators are due for a decision tomorrow, Friday, September 11.

Biden: California Rail a 'Priority' for Federal Funds

Vice President Joe Biden announced to reporters earlier this month that California is especially well-prepared to receive a chunk of the $8 billion of stimulus money that has been earmarked for high-speed rail. Earlier this year, President Obama identified 10 regions nationwide that could benefit from high-speed rail. But because California voters approved $9 billion in state bonds last November, Biden believes the state is well-equipped to receive at least 10% of those funds.

The first phase, which is to run from Anaheim to San Francisco, will cost upwards of $34 billion and construction will last at least 10 years. But the ultimate vision of the plan is a $45 billion, 800-mile network linking San Diego in the south to Sacramento up north. Not only does California high-speed rail have the backing of its voters, it has long-running support from Governor Schwarzenegger and the legislature, and is in advanced planning stages... which is much more than most states can say. Biden, who has been dubbed 'Amtrak Joe' for his vibrant support of rail, added that the administration wants to "get shovel-ready projects out the door as quickly as we can."

But because of the pressing need of improved transportation and construction activity, and the lengthy red tape federally-funded projects must wade through, two segments of the proposed line under considerably high demand might be contracted out by 2012 and open for riders by 2017. These segments are the $3 billion run from Anaheim to Los Angeles and the $4+ billion run from San Jose to San Francisco. This second segment is particularly controversial because it is proposed to run along an existing commuter rail right-of-way and through some very dense, primarily affluent areas. According to the Wall Street Journal, Florida is the other leading candidate for federal money.

LA Tops Forbes' List of Overpriced Cities

Thanks to inflated home prices, an astronomical cost of living, and embarrassingly high unemployment, Forbes magazine slapped the City of Angels with the number one spot in its 2009 list of "America's Most Overpriced Cities." The list was calculated using a combination of 4 measures: average salary for college-educated workers, unemployment rates, cost of living, and the Housing Opportunity Index, which measures a median income family's ability to purchase a home locally. Other California cities on the list were Riverside (#6), San Diego (#9), and San Francisco (#18). Chicago, Miami, New York, and Providence rounded out the top five.

At 10.3%, unemployment in Los Angeles is one of the highest of American cities. In the last two years, residential building permit rates have dropped 82%, and the unemployment rate of construction workers is now 21%, almost double what it was last year. And despite the median home price having plummeted almost 40% from $525,000 to $319,000, the cost of buying a home still ranks among the highest in the country. Only NYC, Long Island, and San Francisco score worse on the Housing Opportunity Index.

And in an attempt to soften the blow and gain hip hop credibility, Forbes even references late rapper and convicted sex offender Tupac Shakur. Frustrated with the high cost of living back in 1996, Tupac proclaimed he would almost rather "live life in the pen," according to the magazine. Were he still alive today, Tupac would likely have little trouble finding a nice pad with $15 million in annual royalties.

State Senate: 710 Extension Must be Buried

The state senate decided today that any extension of I-710 to Pasadena from its current terminus in Alhambra must be underground. State bill 545, authored by Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), removes any possibility of a surface option in the controversial interstate extension. The Long Beach Freeway, which runs roughly from the Port of Long Beach in the south to the northern city limits of Los Angeles, was originally intended to connect to I-210, the crowded east-west Foothill Freeway in Pasadena. But the final segment, which was to run through the city of South Pasadena, was staunchly blocked by residents and civic leaders.

South Pasadena, a city of only 24,000, has been opposed to the extension for three decades now, concerned that a freeway might split the city in two, and tarnish its cherished small-town character. But in August of last year, the city council voted 4-1 in support of a bill that would seek private cash for an underground freeway, discreetly supporting the extension. They cited their change of heart to a change in the author's (Cedillo) language that would eliminate consideration of the above-ground option, and collect money from the sale of state-owned property along the intended route.

In the 1960s, the state Department of Transportation purchased hundreds of properties in the parts of South Pasadena where the intended freeway would run. Today, these mostly vacant properties are cumulatively valued at a mind boggling $300 million. Cash from that sale alone would be enough to get the project rolling, despite the prohibitive costs of burying a freeway underground. Although the state would be imprudent to invest those much-needed funds in a not-so-needed freeway.

LA Coliseum—Decaying and Underutilized—Remains in Strict Public Control

State senator Jeff Denham (R-Atwater) published an Op-Ed in the LA Times Monday, calling for the sale of the coliseum by its public owners and the dissolution of the controversial Coliseum Commission. The LA Memorial Coliseum, built in 1932 for the Summer Olympiad, was registered as a historic landmark in 1984, the year of the Olympics' return to Los Angeles. But since a major retrofit that year, the stadium has been rapidly decaying and is used less and less frequently. The coliseum is owned by a confusing partnership between the city, the county, and the state - all of which have plunged into debt since the recession. The USC Trojans football team is the only large, long-term tenant at the stadium, and is desperate for a policy change.


Trojan fans will remember the anxiety-inducing negotiations last year that almost forced USC to temporarily play at rival UCLA's Pasadena Rose Bowl. When USC offered to buy into the coliseum's ownership, the commission not only refused, but threatened to evict the university as
a tenant. USC, frustrated with the government's inaction at the stadium's obvious disrepair, offered $100 million to help renovate (and partially own) the coliseum. Denham argues that the Trojans are the biggest stakeholders in the stadium and its future and should therefore have the right to own part or all of it.


Denham also reflects the growing confusion on the part of both lawmakers and the sports industry, as to why the debt-laden tripartite government "monster" would refuse a private investment for public gain. The Coliseum had hopes for outside intervention back in 2006 when Los Angeles bid to host the 2016 Olympic games - a US designation that was quickly and cruelly lost to Chicago. And for years politicians and developers alike have been struggling to attract a major league football team to return to the coliseum. But since the news of the cheaper and flashier stadium in City of Industry, that struggle has been rendered moot. Bottom line: the coliseum is a beautiful and much beloved historic landmark, but it is structurally unsafe and aesthetically dejected, and the public sector (all three of 'em) cannot afford to hold onto it, especially in these times.

Obama Endorses CA High-Speed Rail, Among Others

California voters who approved proposition 1A last November will begin to see the outcomes of their decision, now at the federal level. At a press conference today, President Obama delivered a speech expressing his support of a national high-speed rail network, and outlining a plan for its implementation. Flanked by Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Obama identified 10 regions across the nation where high-speed rail is needed and where it can work. The California High Speed Rail Authority's routes from San Diego to San Francisco and Sacramento were included in that list. Absent was the belligerent and fantastical MagLev route from Anaheim to Las Vegas.

The President announced a system-wide earmark of $8 billion in initial funding, to be followed by $1 billion per year for five following years. While the sum is barely a drop in the massive $787 billion stimulus package proposed by the administration, the passage of prop 1A late last year secures an additional $19.4 billion for California's share of the rail. Whether the state can even fathom an amount that high right now is another question. But California is the only state of the roughly 18 identified that has already passed legislation in support of the project at the state level.

In Sacramento, the prospect of the rail line is a pressing and popular matter. The Rail Authority has already identified the route of the line and are in the process of securing the land and composing the EIR. City leaders from almost every jurisdiction along the route have expressed avid support for the line. Racked by traffic congestion and hungry for added jobs, many cities have already developed plans for area TODs (transit-oriented development). With an added 13 million people by 2050, California's population density will begin to mirror countries like France, Germany, and Japan - countries that already have extensive high-speed rail lines hurtling their citizens along at speeds sometimes upwards of 200 mph. One question - who do they expect to board at a station in Sylmar?