Replace Strip Malls With ‘Lifestyle Centers’? City Councilman Says It’s Time

CBSLA.com) ^ | September 23, 2014 3:00 PM | Ed Mertz

[BenLurkin]

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Los Angeles City Councilman wants to eliminate strip malls that dot many of the city’s street corners and replace them with multi-use “lifestyle centers”.

KNX 1070’s Ed Mertz reports City Councilman Felipe Fuentes wants to create incentives that will lure more developers to create places for shopping, leisure activities and housing all on one site.

Fuentes introduced a motion (PDF) in June calling for the city Planning Department to report on the number of mini shopping and commercial corner centers that have been developed citywide since the enactment of the Mini Shopping Center and Commercial Corner Ordinance in 2003.

“[Mini malls] are outdated, they’re not very friendly, they don’t make themselves easy for pedestrians,” said Fuentes.

Under the 2003 ordinance, the City Council sought to encourage owners to convert existing buildings into mini shopping centers by allowing them to forgo obtaining a conditional use approval if a project complied with certain requirements and conditions of operation.

But Fuentes said due to the downturn in the national economy, the city must explore every opportunity to boost sustainable economic development, increase property values, and enhance tax revenues while creating neighborhoods where commercial and mixed-use development thrives.

“We have to figure out a way for us to revitalize open, public and retail space in a way that we limit people’s need to have to travel from, say, Northridge to Burbank or from the Westside to Central City,” he said.

The Council voted Tuesday in favor of further study of the proposal by the Planning Committee.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Felipe or the Invisible Hand? Hmmmmm....

[henkster]

We had a developer present plans for a “lifestyle center.” It’s just a strip mall.

[Jim Robinson]

Communist bastard.

[Conservative4Ever]

Centers for leisure activities, shops and housing...ummm...I have a great name...how about *towns*

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Yep. “Sustainable economic development” is the dead giveaway. Reminds me of “Urban Renewal” in the 70’s.

[boycott]

I don’t know that much about it but is this the goal of that Agenda 21 plan?

[Secret Agent Man]

if they can’t fill the strip malls who’s gonna fill the “lifestyle choice” centers?

and who the hell wants to live in a jack of all trades buildingwithall sorts of people who don’t live there milling around?

[KoRn]

Is our country just flat out of its f#*king mind??? I know it’s California and all, but damn......

[Bullish]

Well sure, that way you can buy a couple rocks of crack at the same strip mall you just bought a 40 oz and some menthols.

[ClearCase_guy]

I hope the marijuana is free. That would be so awesome, dude!

[BenLurkin]

Bingo!

[ConservativeStatement]

“they don’t make themselves easy for pedestrians...” I assume that is a nicer way of saying ZombieTexters who walk into objects.

[Wisconsinlady]

http://americanpolicy.org/agenda21/

In their own words....

Hide Agenda 21’s UN roots from the people “Participating in a UN advocated planning process would very likely bring out many of the conspiracy- fixated groups and individuals in our society… This segment of our society who fear ‘one-world government’ and a UN invasion of the United States through which our individual freedom would be stripped away would actively work to defeat any elected official who joined ‘the conspiracy’ by undertaking LA21. So we call our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth.” J. Gary Lawrence, advisor to President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development.

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[Army Air Corps]

Bump.

[Signalman]

I’ve always hated the word “lifestyle”.

[cloudmountain]

From Wikipedia: Lifestyle centers, which were first labeled as such by Memphis developers Poag and McEwen in the late 1980s and emerged as a retailing trend in the late 1990s, are sometimes labeled "boutique malls". They are often located in affluent suburban areas.

==========================================

Just a new name for the same ole baloney: SPEND your "filthy lucre" (Dr. EEEEEEeeeeugen Scott).

[Maceman]

So we call our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth.”

The gall of these angels who insist they can manage our society for us. History has shown that they are they are often the dumbest, shallowest, least aware people in society. We have spent the last 100 years watching their centrally planned monstrosities fall apart, and yet they dare call their half-baked ideas "smart growth."

[boycott]

I haven’t read much on agenda 21 but I knew this was right up their alley.

I also don’t have any doubts that agenda 21 is something the UN hopes to achieve. It is too well documented to believe otherwise.