LOS ANGELES – Mayor Bass announced today that the City of Los Angeles was awarded three grants from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to pursue strategic uses of City-owned land for housing, explore reconnecting MacArthur Park and link Warner Center as an active transportation hub to jobs and housing.
“We must continue to urgently pursue all available solutions to confront the homelessness crisis and that includes continuing our efforts to boldly and strategically use existing resources including City-owned property,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. “Thank you to the Southern California Association of Governments for helping Los Angeles pursue more sustainable housing, sustainable transportation and accessible neighborhoods through this grant funding.”
Strategically Using City-Owned Land for Housing
The Housing Department was awarded $2,900,000 in funding from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) to support the City’s strategic and urgent approach to addressing the homelessness crisis through the use of City-owned property as required by Mayor Bass’ third executive directive.
The grant will help reenvision how the City uses its assets and how it partners with other public agencies to maximize housing production on infill public lands. The program seeks to develop a pipeline of sites for housing by assessing public lands, parking lots and smaller sites, evaluating creative financing approaches, and bundling sites for future Requests for Proposals.
Reconnecting MacArthur Park
The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) partnered with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to secure $500,000 in SCAG funding to study the traffic impacts of closing a portion of the street that runs through the middle of MacArthur Park.". LADOT will partner with Council District 1 to conduct extensive community engagement on the concept of changing the street configuration.
“Reconnecting MacArthur Park will bring L.A.’s first major pedestrianized street to one of our most densely populated neighborhoods,” said Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. “This community-led project will restore the park to its original state before it was cut in two during the 1930’s and will be a major step forward in addressing the historic inequities that impact the surrounding area. I am excited to begin this project and I look forward to working with Central City Neighborhood Partners, the Department of Transportation, and our Westlake and Pico Union residents to bring this to life.”
"The grant awards announced recently demonstrate the City's commitment to delivering transportation projects that improve safety and connectivity, expand mobility options, and increase access to opportunity for all Angelenos," said LADOT General Manager Laura Rubio-Cornejo. "Working with the Mayor, Council offices, and partner agencies, we can create infrastructure to promote healthy and sustainable communities."
Linking Warner Center as an Active Transportation Hub to Jobs and Housing
Councilmember Blumenfield, in partnership with StreetsLA, secured a $500,000 grant from SCAG to develop an active transportation plan for the Warner Center in the West San Fernando Valley. Since the adoption of a new specific plan in 2013, Warner Center has seen rapid growth, including permitting or construction of more than 10,000 new housing units.
“This grant will help advance my vision of transforming the Warner Center into a walkable and bikeable “live-work-play” neighborhood,” said Councilmember Blumenfield. “It will help enhance connections among residential, office and commercial destinations, and to transit and active transportation corridors like the Orange Line and the Los Angeles River.”
"StreetsLA is thrilled to partner with Council District 3 on this exciting project, which will improve safety for stakeholders in the Warner Center community," said Keith Mozee, Executive Director and General Manager of StreetsLA. "As with all of our grant-funded projects, our goal for these improvements will be to integrate multiple benefits through a holistic design, which maximizes our infrastructure investments."