What a bunch of obnoxious NIMBYs. Why invest billions of dollars in passenger rail if you're not going to build at least moderate density around the stations? Last I checked, Hollywood Blvd is a pretty major corridor. This presentation about development along the Orange line corridor in Arlington County, VA, should be essential reading. Before the Orange line, the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor was an aging corridor with some of the similar challenges as Hollywood. What the NIMBY neighbors seem incapable of understanding is that by having dense development within a 1/4 mile radius of the metro stations, you help protect the existing single-family residential homes elsewhere.
http://www.arlingtonva.us/department...ion_060107.pdf
High-rise planners do the Hollywood ruffle
Residents are livid over L.A. commission's proposed zoning changes that could make it easier to erect skyscrapers in the heart of Tinseltown. Mayor Villaraigosa has called it 'elegant density'; one neighbor calls it 'the rape of Hollywood.'
By Steve Lopez
December 24, 2011
Los Angeles Times
"If this is the season to be merry, many residents of Hollywood did not get the memo. Instead, they got a community development plan they look upon as their very own nightmare before Christmas.
It happened earlier this month, when the Los Angeles City Planning Commission approved zoning changes that could make it easier to erect skyscrapers in the heart of Hollywood, forever changing the scale of a historic neighborhood with international cachet. They say the high-rises will block views, throw shadows and obscure the landmark Capitol Records building, and make already unbearable traffic even worse.
The Hollywood Community Plan, headed to the City Council in a month or two for review and consideration, fits with what L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has called "elegant density," accommodating expected population growth by building mixed-use projects around transit hubs. And there is definitely something to be said for so-called smart growth, offering residents the option of using transit instead of cars..."
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnis...7072217.column