[ssiguy]

I hope LA has learnt from Vancouver's experience of allowing Chinese developers to run amok in the downtown development. The Chinese bought thousands of houses and apts in the city but allowed them to remain vacant. They were bought only as investments to sit on and then flip at a later time. It has left Vancouver in a horrid place. With just 650,000 people the city has seen the destruction of 20,000 homes nearly all of which were perfectly good and destruction of thousands of heritage homes. Condos were bought and left empty so new downtown developments are dead. The city now has near zero rental vacancies, the highest real estate prices in NA and a staggering 10,000 empty homes. It's not a way to build a sustainable city nor a sense of community. Some entire blocks on the tony Westside have only 1 or 2 inhabited houses leaving the area dead with an abandoned feel and no sense of community. Seattle is currently studying Vancouver to make sure they DON'T follow Vancouver's lead.

To make a city truly liveable it must put it's citizens first and not development for the sake of development. A city is for people and not just a commodity and I hope LA keeps that in mind.