INTERVIEW WITH A PLANNER

Friday, February 18, 2011

Friends of of newly appointed City of Los Angeles Planning Director, Michael LoGrande might be hard pressed to know whether to congratulate him for attaining one of the City’s most powerful and exciting positions or to console him for its timing.

But LoGrande, who rose in the department as a zoning administrator, isn’t a man who shies away from the heat. Thus, he sits down to talk at WUF in a one-on-one interview format with Bill Fulton, Friday, February 18. As an elected official, planner, author, and researcher, Fulton’s understanding of urban development is wide reaching.

Though the mayor has charged LoGrande with rapidly implementing a streamlined planning process, what additional priorities does LoGrande see for his department and what is his vision for this City? How will state budget proposals to eliminate the CRA impact planning and how about local proposals to remove community plan funding? And what is LoGrande’s response to critics who claimed he did not have enough experience visioning urbanity for the job?

The Westside Urban Forum welcomes Michael LoGrande to his new appointment, and we welcome you to this conversation on February 18.

Moderator
Bill Fulton, AICP. 

Journalist, urban planner, researcher, pundit, best-selling author and current mayor of Ventura, California, Fulton has played a key role in re-shaping the way metropolitan growth issues are debated in the post-suburban era. He is a principal in the California-based urban planning firm of Design, Community & Environment, and a senior scholar at the School of Policy, Planning, and Development at the University of Southern California.

He is the author of three books considered classics in their field including The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles. As founder and publisher of the monthly periodical, California Planning & Development Report, Fulton led a team of experts whose innovative methods identified sites suitable for infill development while testing the economic feasibility of infill development policies.