AIA|LA President's Installation Speech - 12.2011
I became active in this Chapter when I started attending Political Outreach Committee meetings. My family is more in politics and business than they are in architecture and the arts, so I was glad to find a group of architects committed to the political process. As all of us are aware, architects live and die by the rules that govern the built environment. When we engage our political leaders not only are we listened to, but with patience and persistence, we can make a difference. Our engagement in politics is as important as our engagement in design.
At this time, our city is under intense pressure. The Planning department has been eviscerated. Specific area plans meant to be revised every decade or so sit for much longer. Our zoning code – written in the 1940’s - is a byzantine mess in need of a complete overhaul. Billboards and so-called ‘sign districts’ go where ever the money is not where they make sense for the life of the city. Electronic billboards – energy hogs that suck around 35 kW of power – are getting turned into building skins that will consume even more power to say nothing of the degradation to the visual environment. City buildings are designed and built primarily under cost mandates; architectural and urban design issues are a sidelight. The quality of our built environment is under siege with some factions arguing that maintaining it is a luxury that we cannot afford.
But there is hope and it lies in the work of many of your colleagues, channeled through this Chapter. With Bill Roschen chairing the Planning Commission, we are doing a lot to advocate for the value of planning by design as opposed to planning by shotgun. Angie Brooks is working closely with the City to gather momentum to re-write the zoning code. I am working with our Legislative Affairs staffer, Will Wright, to influence the Sign Ordinance currently winding its way through the City. Jim Favaro, architect of this building, and Roger Sherman, current chairs of the Political Outreach Committee, are working with the Mayor to create an advocate for quality design through a new Deputy Mayor of Architecture and Urban Design.
So we need you. We need your engagement. We need your participation. Get involved in a committee that appeals to you. Come down with us when we advocate for change at City Hall. Push us as an organization to be as relevant and useful as possible. Help us improve the built environment by affecting the rules that govern the process. Together we can help make Los Angeles live up to its image.
Thank you.