'L.A. Live' promoters tout 'Times Square West'

[question everything]

The Daily Breeze


Saturday, September 17, 2005

'L.A. Live' promoters tout 'Times Square West'

Business and city leaders say $2 billion project will transform convention area into a world-renowned tourism destination. Critics recall hearing the Times Square pitch about the ho-hum Hollywood & Highland tourism area.
By David Zahniser
Copley News Service

For more than a decade, civic leaders in Los Angeles have watched with resignation as much-needed taxpayer dollars were used to bail out the city's nearly moribund convention center, where $34 million in debt was absorbed by the city budget last year alone.

But business leaders and city officials alike say they finally turned a corner this week with a groundbreaking for a $2 billion complex next to Staples Center that will cover six blocks and include nightclubs, restaurants, a 7,000-seat theater and a 1,100-room convention center hotel.

The 55-story hotel and surrounding venues will finally allow Los Angeles to compete with Anaheim and San Diego for convention bookings, said Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Central City Association, an advocacy group based in downtown Los Angeles.

"The convention center has never been able to attract the large-scale conventions necessary, in part because of the lack of a convention center hotel but also because conventioneers who have come have complained that there was not enough to do at night in downtown Los Angeles," she said.

The sheer scale of "L.A. Live" -- a 4-million-square-foot megaproject -- has been greeted with hyperbole from the city's political elites, who say its movie premieres, Grammy Awards ceremonies and an ESPN West Coast headquarters will make it a global draw.

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[Duer 157099]

1. Now if only they could change the location

there's no getting around the fact that downtown LA is icky, a pain to get to and a pain to get out of. I cannot imagine anything that could make this a desirable destination.

[Oerdin]

2. downtown LA is icky but...

It seems like they could turn it around if they wanted to. Downtown San Diego was run down in the 1970's and was filled with tattoo and porn shops but the city was able to restore most of the classic Victorian era buildings, built Horton Plaza, the new baseball park, and attract boat loads of new investment which has turned San Diego's downtown into one of the nicest in the country. They blended the beach front location, the historic architecture, and a concerted urban renewal program which built housing, shops, and office space to restore it as the economic heart of the city.

LA has a lot to work with if they were willing to invest the time, effort, and resources. The key is not to simply knock everything down and build new crap but instead to mix old with new so that downtown isn't just like any other new suburb but instead has a sense of history and uniqueness to it. Make it some place unlike any other place. The historic buildins get restored, the junk ones get knocked down and replaced, new venues & attractions get built to draw the tourists in. The key part to sustaining the renewal for decades is you have to convince more people to live downtown and make it home. That's how you'll turn it into a living breathing city instead of just a crappy tourist trap. To that end new high rise apartments, parks & open spaces, and along with schools and stores will have to be built. Since much of LA's financial district is located downtown many people commute downtown for work then fight the traffic back home; if they found quality housing in a nice neighborhood which was unlike any other in the city then many of those people would choose to live downtown and skip the 1.5 hour morning commute.