Downtown LA is about to explode. There's a huge plan for Grand Avenue and all the empty lots South of Disney Hall that run to City Hall. It's happening, the forces are in place, here it comes.
Question is:
Will it be just another frigging mall? Or will it be a frigging mall plus?
The cool thing, is, The LA Times and Norman Lear's little group over at USC have decided that the public should weigh in. Which is pretty cool. It's kind of sweet that this is happening. Of course, it could be a purely cynical move to get people busy doodling while the bulldozers of already rich corporations start moving in to set up shop. Like the wretched trinity of Bush, The royal Saudi Family and Halliburton, it is hard to imagine that development will be established by any process other than old fashioned cronyism...
Yet, one has hope that with Norman Lear, the LA Times, a host of big consulting firms, architecture stars and the people of Los Angeles all jabbering away on the subject that maybe something unique might happen. Maybe it won't be just a promenade surrounded by California Pizza Kitchens and Banana Republics.
So Click around the links below... and when you get a great idea for the future of this monstrous public/private work (fitting within the confines of the area), send it via email to:
www.learcenter.org
Norm promises to send the best ideas forward to the people who decide on what's going to be what.
Maybe we'll end up with a public arena for sauerkraut wrestling?
Grand Intervention
Master Plan
2 comments:
I guess it's an epidemic because they started construction last year on something similar in my town.
http://www.rockvillemd.gov/towncenter/siteplan.htm
Personally, I think they should make a park. Like Central Park or Golden Gate Park or Tuileries. A big landscaped garden - dig up all the concrete - no retail at all except maybe some italian ices from a little cart. People painting en plein air. No motorized vehicles or electronic devices allowed. Parasols optional.
Parasols optional? They should be manditory. Clothing should be optional. We should have one giant naked city park.
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