Insuring a Vibrant Future for DTLA and South Park
© 2019, John Nilsson
Following the release of several studies on the recovery of downtown LA from the Covid shutdown, it is now evident that DTLA’s comeback has been significantly delayed. The popularity of remote/home work for office workers forced on us by the Pandemic has resulted in a marked reduction in the number of workers in downtown offices. Experts fear that the trend to work at home is not going away soon and the many office buildings in the downtown core are going to continue to be under-utilized.
Pre Covid, the downtown area thrived from the influx of over 600,000 daily office workers. This supported many restaurants, support businesses, and watering holes. Due to the recent unpleasantness, there is a glut of empty high rise office space that experts tell us is bound to get worse over the next few years. With many office commuters continuing to work from home or working outside of the downtown area, the support businesses that make the community thrive are finding it harder and harder to survive, resulting in vacant store fronts, fewer people on the streets, and a loss in the vibrancy of the many downtown neighborhoods. More empty offices lead to less feet on the street and less business activity of all kinds. What can we do to fight for the vitality of our city?
© 2022 John Nilsson
Many experts feel that the answer is found in the success of New York City in its revitalizing of Lower Manhattan following 9/11. Fearing the decay of Lower Manhattan following the disaster, city planners concentrated their efforts on stimulating residential construction and repurposing vacant and under-utilized office buildings to residential housing for all income levels of New Yorkers. Now the area is home to over 60,000 full time residents. Pre 9/11, Lower Manhattan teemed with thousands of office workers who sustained 900 retail, restaurant and bar establishments that bustled - from 9:00 to 5:00 only. Now this new predominately residential/tourist area, while lacking the previous 3,000,000 square feet of office space, sports well over 60,000 full time residents and 1300 restaurants, bars, retail shops and entertainment venues and is vibrantly active day and night. We need to concentrate on bringing more residential units to DTLA!
While more people walking dogs and pushing baby carriages is vital to keeping the heart of DTLA beating, we must also be conscious of making our streets more residentially appealing by paying more attention to maintenance and cleanliness of our neighborhoods. We must improve the feeling of security by more and better policing and, we must finally solve the problem of our unhoused residents living on our streets. We need schools and support facilities, and improvements in our medical infrastructure and transportation networks that will help us becoming a truly automobile free.
© 2022 John Nilsson
We’ve come a long way since the dark days of the early 2000’s when downtown LA was essentially unlivable. While suffering a hard punch from Covid, the future is bright if we all work together toward the goal of creating full-time living communities throughout DTLA. Let’s get to work!
More on this subject::
https://downtownla.com/the-dcbid/economic-development