Zev: Density debate long overdue

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, becoming the go-to voice raising questions about the urbanists' rush to let developers densify new areas of Los Angeles, took his cause to Sunday's LAT Opinion section. He writes:

The debate about the availability of housing in Los Angeles and the city's development policies has been testy but long overdue. Fueling public outrage over growth policies that would significantly increase density are well-grounded fears that, in the clash between overdevelopment and neighborhood preservation, the developers will prevail.

Urged on by some elected officials, city planners have decided that the "smart" and "elegant" way to grow the city's housing stock is to double the allowable size of new buildings,bust through established height limits and reduce parking-space requirements -- effectively rolling back more than two decades of neighborhood-protection laws.

There is nothing smart or elegant about such growth. On the contrary. It's development run amok and with an utter disregard for how it affects the livability of the city's neighborhoods.

He argues that affordable housing can be built without surrendering quality-of-life concerns to the developers. Last week, the section let Marc Haefele argue that Yaroslavsky is off-base.

Good advice: One of the best ways to cover City Hall is to get out of City Hall and "instead, wander through the many fund raising dinners where the real clout is on display," blogs Bill Boyarsky, a member of the ethics commission that is supposed to watch over L.A. politicans.