CityWatchLA - Brisbane has one, LA needs one. What’s the story?

CityWatch, Sept 8, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 72

At its heart, my Down Under Walkabout was simply a quest to connect with the people and the places that make up my past, my history, and my own personal story.

Having started in Melbourne, the Capital of Victoria, then moving through Sydney, the Capital of New South Wales, I finally arrived in Brisbane, the Capital of Queensland, the State where I was born.

My visit to Brisbane was a serendipitous journey, as I discovered the “City Machine” exhibit at the Museum of Brisbane (MoB), conveniently located on the first floor of Town Hall. Guests are invited to discover the city by examining the building blocks that make up the complex wholeness and the connectivity that keeps Brisbane humming. In short, Brisbane sets a new standard for Walkabout storytelling.

I initially visited Brisbane’s Town Hall aiming low, merely intent on visiting the Council Chambers for a moment or two of reflective contemplation on the inner workings of the city of 2 million and to catch the Lord Mayor and the City Council in action.

I was pleased enough to witness a motion to “Adjourn for afternoon tea!” The vote was unanimous and I appreciated the precision with which they concluded a lengthy debate over some monstrous funding issue exactly at 4 pm.

But as impressive as that moment in municipal synchronicity and bipartisan politics was for me, the MoB exhibit was what resonated. Overwhelmingly powerful in its effective presentation, it tells Brisbane’s story from the birth of the city, to the organizational growing pains that took it through its childhood, to its maturity as a world-class city, to its future.

Archival documents, photos, video, artifacts and relics tell the story of a community that grew in response to both crisis and opportunity, with the first demand being Public Health.

The parallels between the origins of Brisbane and Los Angeles are uncanny, with both communities organizing around the Public Works challenge of providing clean water to the residents.

In Brisbane, this resulted in the formation of the Public Works Department and in LA, it resulted in the hiring of the first municipal employee, an Indian woman who dipped water from the Zanja Madre and delivered to the local households. Thus was born the DWP.

Brisbane’s “City Machine” exhibit takes on the challenging task of turning the dry fodder of archival materials into a fast paced journey from the past to the present and into the future. Starting with simple public health challenges that motivated community organization and then moving to transportation needs, into public safety needs, and then into communications, the MoB puts a spin on the journey that brings it to life and engages the audience.

Through it all, it is rapidly apparent that as fast as the tools change, the challenges of a city remain the same. The rapid growth and maturation of the community is constantly presenting infrastructural and organizational challenges that require a highly sophisticated “City Machine” that connects, that communicates, that responds, and that has a clear mandate on purpose and on function and on process.

While both Brisbane and LA began with similar challenges and similar responses, it’s painfully apparent that the same “City Machine” metaphor has failed miserably for Los Angeles.

This past weekend, LA’s Birthday Party, typically celebrated with a 9-mile walk from San Gabriel to El Pueblo to honor the original Pobladores, was compromised by the poor air quality resulting from the Station Fire. The walk was cancelled and festivities were reduced to the minimum, proverbial icing on the municipal cake, and ironic in timing.

As Brisbane celebrates its 150th Birthday with an exhibit that honors the “City Machine,” Los Angeles cancels its Birthday celebration as it grapples with its failure to respond as a "Machine" to the Station Fire.

The Station Fire, now in its 13th day, started in Altadena and spread rapidly, throwing communities into evacuation mode and challenging the LA “City Machine.”

This time of crisis should have been the moment at which Los Angeles came together, functioning as “the Machine,” a complex assembly of many parts working in sync, communicating, connecting and concentrating energy, creating a “wholeness” and providing the leadership of LA with the mechanism to weather the storm.

Instead, the local community played a game of “Where’s Tony?” while the many departments of the City of LA followed disconnected mandates that left the locals self-evacuating under the direction and control of multiple agencies, all the while wondering “Who do you call?” as they faced life-and-death challenges.

In a situation such as the Station Fire, one would hope that the City of LA would provide proactive and effective communication to the community, instructing them on the roles the many City Departments would play in the management of the emergency, and delivered in a variety of mediums to ensure connection with the community.

One would also hope that the Department of Transportation would be on the scene, maintaining a large perimeter to keep the spectators from interfering with the evacuation and with the helicopters collecting water from the reservoir. In addition, it seems reasonable to expect that the LADOT would maintain a tight perimeter in order to keep open evacuation routes and direct local traffic.

It would also seem reasonable to have General Services and Rec & Parks on the scene, coordinating the opening of evacuation centers and communicating with the LAUSD so that people, animals and vehicles could be accommodated quickly and efficiently and safely.

A City the size of Los Angeles surely has an emergency communication network more sophisticated than a Sheriff’s car with a loud speaker rolling down residential streets, leaving a wake of “What did he just say?” as residents spent more time chasing rumors than in simply coordinating emergency response efforts.

With Community Emergency Response Teams, the Red Cross, LA’s Emergency Management Department, Neighborhood Councils, and Neighborhood Watches all standing by and ready to act, it seems that all that is missing is the mechanism for deploying the full force of “the Machine” and, of course, a leader who is available and empowered to direct “the Machine.”

Most of all, it seems fair to expect that when the largest City in the most populated State in the most powerful Country in the world is threatened with an emergency the size of the Station Fire, that it would be clear who was in charge, what the emergency plan was and how it was to be implemented.

Instead, community members from the neighborhoods most affected by the Station Fire charge that the Mayor was nowhere to be found, that communications were reactive and insignificant, that the many departments of the city who had a piece of the emergency plan were disconnected and ineffective and that there was a huge hole in the “wholeness” of LA’s “City Machine.”

All of which is in dramatic contrast to my experience in the Museum of Brisbane where the City went on record as positioning their ability to mobilize the full force of the city as the culmination of their journey and as the foundation of their vision for themselves as a world class city.

So far, my Down Under Walkabout has taken me to Melbourne, which has presented itself as the City on the Move, to Sydney which has presented itself as the City with a Vision, and to Brisbane which has presented itself as the City Machine.

As I return to my home in Los Angeles, I find myself asking “What’s LA’s story?” What is the narrative that defines us, that allows us to identify ourselves in the context of our relationship with each other, that connects us with our collective past, with our shared present and with our unified vision for the future.

These are challenging times for Los Angeles for many reasons, but most of all because we are in dire need of a leader who can deliver and direct a “City Machine” that functions effectively, with the many complex parts humming in sync, connecting us, and taking us into the future.

(Stephen Box is a transportation advocate and an observer of Los Angeles’ political and government system. And, he writes for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net) ◘

CityWatchLA - LA & Sydney: Visions Lost & Found

CityWatch, Sept 1, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 70

It has been many years since my family left Australia aboard the SS Canberra, sailing past the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House on our way to America. That was my last impression of Sydney until my Down Under Walkabout this week took me back and the strong sense of homecoming was intense.

In fact, for a moment I thought I was back in Los Angeles. The similarities between Sydney and Los Angeles are uncanny. It’s as if they have the same DNA.

Both Sydney and Los Angeles were founded by small groups of people whose first task was simply to survive, such were the obstacles that stood before them. The formative years of both cities were spent avoiding death from starvation, the elements, infighting and self-inflicted extinction.

Somewhere along the way, they prevailed and became the new home to settlers from around the world, and in both cases, now boast extremely diverse and robust mixes of cultures and ethnicities, with enough languages spoken to give the UN a run for the money.

Both cities grew rapidly, so fast that for the most part, the development of the municipal authority was spent in a mode of reaction, to public health, to public safety, to transportation, to land use, to the organization and management of assets, in short, to the many issues that arose and demanded the attention of the city’s leaders.

This is where the two cities start to differ. While Los Angeles is still in the crisis management phase of City maturity, Sydney has advanced into the Vision phase, one where the Lord Mayor has established a blueprint for the future and all actions are based on moving the City of Sydney into the future based on an agreed upon game plan and destination.

Of course, to say that Los Angeles has no vision may seem a little harsh because the Mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, has actually used the “V” word in campaign speeches, in inaugural speeches, in State of the City speeches and in press conferences. Surely there exists a “Vision for Los Angeles” document somewhere that lays it down for all to see?

As for Sydney, there is no doubt that the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, is leading the city on an adventure that is driven by the Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision. The doors to Sydney’s Town Hall open automatically when guests approach, revealing banners that articulate different elements of the Vision.

Town Hall has a room on the same level completely filled with a scale model of Sydney which details the Heritage buildings, proposed development and the master plan. Lest anyone miss the fact that Town Hall is driven by a vision, the outside of the building is wrapped with 8’ high banners detailing elements of the vision.

When it comes to Transportation, the Lord Mayor declares that Sydney is “A City for Pedestrians and Cyclists.”

Moving in a different direction, Villaraigosa Chairs the Board of the Metro, LA County’s Transportation authority, which is in the process of developing a plan to restrict the access of cyclists to Metro’s Rail System.

When it comes to Planning, Sydney’s Mayor commits to “Sustainable Development, Renewal and Design” and supports that commitment with a “One Stop Shop” on the ground floor of Town Hall along with a Town Hall Concierge.

Again, moving in a different direction, LA’s Department of Planning, a Charter Department, enters the current budget crisis with 25% of its authorized positions empty and then gets in line with the rest of the city to take the 10% “share the blame” cut.

One would think that the middle of a significant crisis would be the time to double down on strategic planning for the city, but not Villaraigosa. He’s going to wing it!

As for the Environment, Sydney commits to starting at home, greening the Council Operations first and leading by example.

Team Villaraigosa, on the other hand, commits to starting in your home, charging you more for less and maintaining its cash cow relationship with the Department of Water & Power.

Sydney has embarked on an ambitious plan to create a “Liveable Green Network” of safe and attractive walking and cycling routes across the City’s streets, parks and open spaces.

Los Angeles, by way of contrast, commits to enhancing transit with vehicle parking and connecting the proposed Civic Park with more cement, simply failing to conceive of parks as the City’s lungs, as water reclamation opportunities, and as tools for enhancing public safety.

Sydney offers its local neighborhoods an accounting of its performance and conducts Community Forums where the Mayor, the Councilors, City staff and the local Area Command all travel to local areas to listen and to report on local projects.

Los Angeles also gets talk, loads of it, but nothing in the way of accountability, as Villaraigosa positions Connectivity, Diversity, Sustainability, Density, Technology, Entertainment Industry and Education as the touchstones of excellence that will allow Los Angeles to take its rightful place as the “City-on-the-Hill” but offers no buy-in or game plan for getting there.

Sydney invites the public to the Community Forums and gives specific transportation instructions (Train or Bus) and indicates that there will be bicycle parking.

Villaraigosa rides the train for Press Conferences and then hops back into his Yukon, often flanked by his Hummer driving Deputy Mayor, unable to even give the simple directive that all city functions be held at facilities accessible to pedestrians, cyclists and mass transit passengers.

Sydney demonstrates an ability to integrate the many different departments of the city into one cohesive working group that is focused on one goal, the City's new Corporate Plan.

Villaraigosa convenes regular GM meetings for the heads of the nearly four-dozen departments that all have a piece of LA and is somehow unable to get past the introductions. Add to the mix countless Deputy Mayors and abundant Commissioners, all genuflecting to San Antonio but unable to find their nametags, let alone their marching orders. As a result, Los Angeles is a ship adrift, Captained by the master of unrealized potential himself.

At the end of the day, Sydney and Los Angeles are like siblings who share the same genes, background and opportunity but somewhere along the way, made choices that took them on different journeys. As is often the case, one did all right and the other is still struggling.

Sydney was a city with no plan as recently as the 50’s when the land now occupied by the Opera House served as a maintenance yard.

Somewhere along the way, the folks in Sydney recognized the power to be found in a strong vision. To their credit, it shows.

Los Angeles is also a city that has meandered a bit, losing its City Center and falling victim to sprawl and the notion that “LA is a Battleship, too big to be turned quickly!”

Somewhere along the way the folks in leadership positions discovered the power to be found in fortune cookie philosophy and press conference declarations of progress. To our dismay, it shows.

As Sydney celebrates its past and embarks on its Sustainable Sydney 2030 Vision, it does so as an Alpha City, a title it shares with New York City on the Global Cities Index which rates cities on a number of criteria including economics, transportation, culture, politics and influence.

As Los Angeles ignores its past and struggles with rumors of bankruptcy, it does so as a Beta City, ranking number 43 on the Global Cities Index, in spite of its #3 ranking in Gross Metropolitan Product.

It has been said that the most important skill to be learned on a Walkabout is “Tellum Story” and I believe that to be true.

Sydney has a story, it’s told in the Museum of Sydney, it’s told on the streets, it’s told in the parks, it’s told in the hustle and bustle of a city that is on the move and it’s told in countless homes throughout the city. It’s called a vision.

Los Angeles has a story, but it’s hard to find. If LA is anything, it’s the land of storytellers and yet we’ve lost our connection to our past, to each other, and to our future.

High atop the Hermosa Beach Community Center are carved the words “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

By contrast, the big space over the entry to LA’s City Hall, (Spring Street, the one with the elaborate forecourt and access to the beautiful lobby) is still blank, never finished.

Of course, most people never see this because the public is now shuttled in through the “service entrance” on Main Street while the front doors to City Hall are reserved for City Staff.

Perhaps it’s time for Los Angeles to go on a Walkabout and to come back with LA’s story, a vision for the future of Los Angeles.

(Stephen Box is a transportation advocate and writes for CityWatch. He is currently traveling in Australia. Box can be reached at Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net) ◘

(photo by Floyd B. Bariscale)