Suzan Filipek · May 30, 2024
A big push from City Hall to build affordable housing fast has left many communities perplexed and angry. Including ours. Called ED 1, the mayor’s executive directive to speed construction of 100-percent affordable housing and address the city’s homelessness crisis has railroaded projects that have hurt some of the communities the program strives to help, […]
Columnist · October 26, 2023
In October the governor signed 56 new housing bills in an effort to address California’s housing crisis. The majority of these only continue to chip away at the issue through making construction a little bit easier here, offering an incentive there, or by enacting greater tenant protections, all in the elusive pursuit of bringing the […]
Columnist · March 2, 2023
George Allan Hancock was truly one of the great aristocrats of his day. Scion of the Gilded Age, he was the son of Major Henry Hancock (the owner of the Rancho La Brea) and Ida Haraszthy Hancock, the daughter of Hungarian count Agoston Haraszthy, aka “the Father of California Viticulture.” George Allan Hancock abandoned the […]
Columnist · January 26, 2023
The historic upset victory over incumbent Councilman Mitch O’Farrell by political newcomer Hugo Soto-Martinez reverberated not only throughout Council District 13, but in City Hall and the historic preservation community as well. A changing of the guard at City Hall always is concerning to those of us who work to preserve and protect the rich […]
Columnist · October 27, 2022
I was having lunch with my friend, James Dastoli, who has newly moved with his family into a historic house located in the Wilton Place National Historic District. We had originally met through a group which was looking to set up an historic district in Los Feliz. James was successfully shepherding an historic district in […]
Columnist · September 1, 2022
Recently released recommendations for proposed changes to Mills Act contracts have sparked opposition throughout the preservation community and beneficiaries of Los Angeles’ premier economic incentive program for historic preservation. A recent review of the Mills Act Program by the City of Los Angeles resulted in a series of recommendations, including the controversial proposal of non-renewal […]
