Read our Speakers' Bios Here!

How are different cities responding to the shifting landscape of outdoor dining?

Al Fresco Dining in the Public Right-of-Way: Whose Space Is It?

Thursday, May 18th, 2023
Helms Design Center

On March 4, 2020, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Many jurisdictions followed with local emergency orders which called on residents to limit all activities outside of their homes. These restrictions included prohibiting restaurants and retail food facilities from providing indoor dining in coordination with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The financial impact of the public health emergency was particularly difficult for small restaurants. 

Soon after came the temporary outdoor dining programs that have helped to alleviate the financial stress of the indoor dining prohibition. These new programs often suspended certain regulations in order to provide restaurants and other food establishments with an alternative to full indoor dining - temporarily. 

Now that we moved from the pandemic to an endemic and full-service indoor dining is allowed, how do cities transition and take the best of what outdoor dining offered during the height of the pandemic into the future? Can cities reclaim the public right-of-way from the very businesses that provided the public a safe respite and gathering place? Will businesses be able to adjust as regulations are enforced and the cost of outdoor dining increases for operators? 

How has the urban landscape shifted, literally and figuratively, and who do our streets and sidewalks belong to after all? Join us to discuss these questions and more.

Panelists
Andrew Thomas, CEO, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc.
John Keho, Director of Planning and Development Services, City of West Hollywood 
Madeline Brozen, Deputy Director, UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Moderator
Annette M. Kim, Ph.D, Associate Professor, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy

Thursday, April 27th, 2023
Helms Design Center

Read Our Speaker Bios Here!

The City of Los Angeles is emerging from a global pandemic into a ‘recovery’ period, and many Angelenos have high hopes following the election of Mayor Karen Bass, whose tenure has also been accompanied by the dramatic recomposition of the City Council. But cautious optimism is tempered by an unstable economic environment, a crisis in housing and services for housing insecure Angelenos, aging transportation and utility infrastructure, and widespread staff vacancies. How can the region’s largest city meet these challenges and ensure an equitable economic recovery?

The State of the City mayoral address will occur in mid-April, closely followed by the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Please join us to hear from invited experts on the issues facing the City of Los Angeles in 2023, and what initiatives could - or should - be in play to build an inclusive, sustainable, and economically sound future for all Angelenos.

Panelists
Alan Greenlee, Executive Director, Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing 
Michelle Banks-Ordone, Senior Manager, Transit-Oriented Communities, LA Metro
Adam J. Fowler, Founding Partner, CVL Economics
Mary Leslie, President, LABC & LABC Institute

Moderator
Cecilia V. Estolano, CEO and Founder, Estolano Advisors

Members Only Tour: The Beehive by SoLA Impact

Friday, March 31st, 2023
10:00 AM -12:00 PM PST

The Beehive is SoLa Impact's Opportunity Zone (OZ) business campus and is the nation's first of its kind. The campus is comprised of 92,000 square feet of commercial space located only ten minutes south of downtown Los Angeles. With six unique and architecturally beautiful red-brick warehouses. This project will transform the local neighborhood and economy in the true spirit of the OZ legislation as the nation’s first OZ business campus.

Among current Beehive tenants are the first Black-owned craft brewery in California, a Black-owned and designed art gallery for South LA emerging creatives, and a state-of-the-art Technology and Entrepreneurship Center to develop the future tech leaders of South LA. The Beehive is also home to the creative office space of SoLa Impact.

Join us on March 31 for an in-depth tour with SoLa Impact's Director of Construction George Ashdown and Director of Community Engagement April Sandifer.

Intended Taxes & Unintended Consequences: Measure ULA’s Real Estate Transfer Tax

Thursday, March 23rd, 2023
Helms Design Center

7:45 am - 9:30 am PST

Read our Speaker Bios Here!

In the November 2022 election, Los Angeles voters approved ballot Measure ULA to enact a new real estate transfer tax to fund affordable housing and tenant assistance programs. Marketed controversially as the “Mansion Tax,” Measure ULA taxes all real property transactions valued over $5 million, both commercial and residential, with very few exceptions. The measure is anticipated to generate hundreds of millions or even one billion dollars annually that will be deposited in a special trust fund, known as the “House LA Fund,” intended to be used to subsidize housing, preserve affordable housing, prevent homelessness, and guarantee counsel to tenants in eviction court.

Despite the urgency and wide consensus of LA’s housing crisis, some pro-housing advocates and experts question if a transfer tax or the ultimate form of Measure ULA was the right vehicle to support affordable housing and homelessness initiatives. Some industry experts worry that with limited exemptions Measure ULA will result in a halt of the residential and commercial purchase and sale market and actually hinder housing production in the City of Los Angeles. Some Measure ULA opponents are fighting the passage with a lawsuit to strike ULA down, arguing it violates California’s Prop 13, and through a proposed state ballot initiative to invalidate the law. 

On the other hand, implementation of ULA is not fully formed and there is an important opportunity for stakeholders to shape the process. Was ULA drafted as housing advocates expected, or will there be unintended consequences including for new developments? And what’s the outlook for the pending lawsuit, prospective ballot initiative, and ULA implementation? Join us to discuss these questions and more.

Speakers
Mott Smith, CEO and cofounder, Amped Kitchens; Vice-Chair of the City of Los Angeles Small Business Commission
Jason Ward, RAND, Associate Director, RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness in Los Angeles; Associate Economist; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Tara Barauskas, Executive Director, Community Corp. of Santa Monica
Corey Hébert, Associate, Ethos

Moderator
Victor De la Cruz, Partner, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Registration Fees
$50 Members
$65 Non-Members
$10 Student Members & Retired Members
$15 Student Non-Members & Retired Non-Members

Pre-registration closes on Wednesday, March 22nd, at 4:00 PM.  After Wednesday, March 22nd, onsite registration will be available at the cost of an additional $10.  No refunds or credits will be provided after this day.

2023 Annual Westside Mayors Forum

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Read our Speaker Bios Here!

Check out Jeff Hall's writeup of the event in the Brentwood Beat: Westside Urban Forum: Small Can Be Good

WUF is pleased to present the annual Mayors Forum, bringing together mayors of the Westside cities for a discussion of priorities for 2023 from a land use perspective and the ways cities are responding to pressing and long-term issues. 

In 2023, our mayors will face a myriad of issues, including the central conflict of land use and social & racial equity.  We’re sure to discuss a variety of topics and touch on each cities’ efforts to:

• Balance economic development with the need for workforce and affordable housing;
• Implement lessons learned from pandemic-related changes to retail businesses and land use, including strategies to address excess office space, work-from-home trends, vacant commercial spaces, and conversion of under-utilized commercial spaces for new commercial models;
• Implement recent state laws to allow increases in density and reductions in parking, while trying to maintain local land use control;
• Meet state-required Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) housing numbers and win state certification of housing elements;
• Focus on local sustainability, including reducing emissions, addressing water insecurity and stormwater management, and ensuring recycling efforts result in material reuse;
• Improve transit and ridership, as well as the outlook and commitment to public transit in light of decreased ridership;
• Address historic inequity and supporting communities displaced by freeways and urban renewal; and
• Collaborate with the City of Los Angeles and the new Bass administration.

Join us to hear directly from our mayors on these and other 2023 Westside land use topics.

Panelists
Mayor Gleam Davis, City of Santa Monica

Mayor Sepi Shyne, City of West Hollywood

Mayor James T. Butts, Jr., City of Inglewood

Mayor Albert Vera, City of Culver City

Moderator
Jeff Hall, Founder of Westside Today and Brentwood News

California’s Brave New World of Parking

Thursday January 19th, 2023

Speaker Bios

For at least two decades, advocates and urban planners have decried the overabundance of parking in many cities. Many of the garages, lots, and spaces in Los Angeles exist not necessarily because they are needed but because regulations require them. The passage of Senate Bill 2097 last year nullifies minimum parking requirements across the state, including large swaths of the Los Angeles region. The goal is twofold: give developers more freedom to build housing and discourage overuse of personal vehicles. 

Now developers -- along with financiers, architects, and planners -- get to figure out what to do with their freedom. 

If developers choose to provide less parking, they could, potentially, add more units, experiment with design, and transform entire corridors of the City. This could also set off battles for parking spaces and impose burdens upon neighbors. Please join WUF to discuss whether the relaxation of parking requirements will lead to a development revolution along the major corridors of the Los Angeles region or whether conventional wisdom about car dependency will persist.

Panelists 

Donna Shen Tripp; Vice President/Partner, Craig Lawson & Co.

Hagu Solomon-Cary, AICP; Principal City Planner; Los Angeles City Planning

Patrick Tighe FAIA, FAAR; Principal; Tighe Architecture 

Jim Suhr; Owner, James Suhr & Associates

Builder's Remedy - A Treatment for Housing Shortages?

Friday, November 18th, 2022

Speaker Bios Here

For years many smaller cities in the Los Angeles region have approached development gingerly. Now some of these jurisdictions are facing hundreds to thousands of units by potentially using state laws to overcome restrictive zoning that has limited growth. Santa Monica is facing the addition of as many as 4,000 housing units, Redondo Beach is facing over 2,000 units in one project alone, and Beverly Hills, with at least one application so far, is facing 200 units, with more projects anticipated.  These jurisdictions may encounter an influx of new housing units -- whether they like them or not.

This explosive impending growth comes courtesy of the "Builder's Remedy," an obscure but recently potent provision in state housing law that essentially requires cities to permit new housing developments so long as they provide at least 20% affordable housing if those cities' housing elements fail to meet state approval. Barring a successful legal challenge, those new units are on the way.

Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Redondo Beach are not the only cities in the Los Angeles region that are vulnerable to Builder's Remedy projects. In theory, many more thousands of units could be proposed by assertive and approved by cities under duress. To many housing advocates, the Builder's Remedy is operating exactly as it should, by forcing reluctant cities to accept new housing. To critics, it is an egregious, chaotic state overreach that may lead to thoughtless overdevelopment.

Please join WUF to discuss what the Builder's Remedy is and how it might affect our region.

Speakers
Dave Rand, Partner, Rand, Paster & Nelson, LLP
Jeff Kiernan, LA County Regional Public Affairs Manager, League of California Cities
Alex Fisch, Culver City Council Member and Attorney in the Natural Resource Law Section of the Attorney General’s Office for the California Department of Justice

Moderator
Max Dubler, Communications Manager, Abundant Housing LA

BIDs In View: What do Business Improvement Districts do and who do they represent? 

Thursday October 27th, 2022
8:30 am - 9:30 am PST
Helms Design Center

On the Westside and throughout Greater Los Angeles, Business Improvement Districts provide placemaking services to commercial neighborhoods. BIDs are tasked with making their districts cleaner, safer, and more prosperous, and studies show they often succeed. But for BIDs funded by commercial assessments, there can be a tension between the desires and goals of the businesses in the district and those of the broader community. Whom do BIDs serve and whom should BIDs serve? Join WUF as we explore the role played by BIDs in Los Angeles, what they do well, who they represent and what the recent frictions between BIDs and their communities might mean for their future. 

Panelists

Kathleen Rawson - President and CEO of Hollywood partnership, former Chair of International Downtown Association

Keith Corbin - Business Owner, West Adams BID Board President

Christopher Garcia - City of Los Angeles, Office of the City Clerk - Business Improvement Districts

Dr. Fernando Guerra - Professor of Political Science and International Relations, Loyola Marymount University and Director of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles

Moderator

Thomas Aujero Small - President and CEO of Culver City Forward, former Mayor of Culver City

Piece by Piece – Modular Construction’s Future in the LA Region

Thursday September 22nd, 2022
8:30 am - 9:30 am PST
Helms Design Center

Modular construction has been long promoted as the future of real estate development, but still has yet to widely and significantly break ground for how we build in Los Angeles.  However, with skyrocketing construction costs, a historic housing supply crisis, and advances in technology, is this sector poised to reenter the mainstream and become a widespread method of construction?  As property prices and market rate rents soar, and with affordable housing construction costs regularly exceeding $500,000/unit, governments, community leaders, and real estate professionals are eager to find ways to reduce the cost of building and bring more units to market.  Can modular construction reduce costs and usher in a future of housing abundance? Are city governments and the State welcoming this new technology?  Or are the cost savings not so clear, is implementation easier said than done, and are our building codes and lending practices too rigid to meet this new opportunity?  

Join the Westside Urban Forum as we gather to discuss present and future obstacles for modular construction and explore its potential for transformative change.

Panelists
Margaux Rotter, Director of Development, BLVD Hospitality
Lana Cook, Business Development Manager, Prefab Logic
Angela Brooks, FAIA, Managing Principal, Brooks + Scarpa
Scott Baldridge, President, Aedis Real Estate Group and Hope Street Development Group Partner

Moderator
Shane Phillips, Housing Initiative Project Manager, UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies

Extract No More: Phasing Out Oil Drilling in Greater Los Angeles

Thursday July 28, 2022
8:30 am - 9:30 am PST
Helms Design Center

Baldwin Hills Oil Field (Source: The Center for Land Use Interpretation, licensed under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Creative Commons License)

Oil was first discovered in Los Angeles in 1892, and by the 1920s helped propel California to become the leading oil producer in the United States, accounting for one-quarter of the world’s petroleum output. Alongside real estate, aerospace, and film, the petroleum industry enabled the rapid growth and development of our region. To this day, visitors to Los Angeles International Airport are greeted by the pumpjacks of the Baldwin Hills Oil Field, with many others hidden behind illusory facades.

Oil and gas is no longer the regional economic megalith it once was, but it has straddled Los Angeles with a harmful and unintended consequence: the nation’s largest urban oil field. There are 68 active oil fields in the Los Angeles Basin, and more than 20,000 active, idle, or abandoned oil wells scattered throughout our densely populated urban fabric, many of them within close proximity of homes, schools, parks, and other sensitive land uses. They pose acute risks to human and environmental health via air pollution as well as water and soil contamination, and they disproportionately impact historically Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

After ten years of community organizing and advocacy by environmental justice groups, including the STAND-L.A. coalition, the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles have committed to phasing out urban oil wells. While it is relatively easy to prevent new wells through land use action, how to close, cap, and remediate the existing and abandoned wells – and how such efforts will be paid for – is a more complicated affair. Additionally, there is the consideration of the jobs that will be displaced and what opportunities exist in a “Just Transition” to a clean energy economy.

On July 28, join the Westside Urban Forum for a panel discussion as we consider how Greater Los Angeles will transition away from fossil fuel extraction, and how these brownfields may be reclaimed for regenerative new land uses.

Confirmed Panelists:

Alison Hahm, Staff Attorney, Communities for a Better Environment

David McNeill, Executive Officer, Baldwin Hills Conservancy

Laura Muraida, Senior Deputy for Environmental Justice, Office of Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell

Nicole Levin, Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign Representative, Sierra Club

Sean Hecht (Moderator), Co-Executive Director, UCLA Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment

Speaker Bios