David Zahniser

Villaraigosa's Media Affair

David Zahniser
{mosimage}THERE WAS ONLY ONE television station to watch on the day in mid-June when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa first broached the subject of his marriage — a disastrous event where he summoned reporters to discuss his split with Corina Villaraigosa, then demanded privacy from those same reporters when they asked about......

LAX Expansion Betrayal?

David Zahniser
YOU REMEMBER HOW EVERYBODY hated that old plan for fixing up LAX? The one that went down in flames a year or two ago? The one that helped get former Mayor James Hahn booted from office? Let’s refresh. Hahn, just a few months before his election, won passage of a......
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Splitsville

David Zahniser
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA strode in front of a dozen cameras on Monday to discuss a very personal matter: the collapse of his marriage to Corina Villaraigosa. So perhaps it was inevitable that the first question out of a reporter’s mouth brought the whole thing to a screeching halt. The question,......

Splitsville: Villaraigosa Spins his Wrecked Marriage

David Zahniser
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa strode in front of a dozen cameras on Monday to discuss a very personal matter: the collapse of his marriage to Corina Villaraigosa. So perhaps it was inevitable that the first question out of a reporter’s mouth brought the whole thing to a screeching halt. The question, of......

Splitsville

David Zahniser
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA strode in front of a dozen cameras on Monday to discuss a very personal matter: the collapse of his marriage to Corina Villaraigosa. So perhaps it was inevitable that the first question out of a reporter’s mouth brought the whole thing to a screeching halt. The question,......
11.7 m.p.h.: Average speed of L.A. buses. Yet City Hall pols hope buses will somehow handle the human crush once their plans for multistory living take hold. (Photos by Gregory Bojorquez)

What's Smart About Smart Growth?

David Zahniser
We are not moving. We, the passengers of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s No. 304 bus, are not moving. The traffic signal up ahead is green. But we are not moving because we sit behind a constellation of brake lights, a seemingly endless chain of cars lined up end to end......
Fringe idea: 5

Peddling Smart Growth

David Zahniser
{mosimage} Santa Monica real estate developer Dan Palmer faced a daunting task three years ago when he announced plans to build 5,800 homes in the Newhall Pass, a mountainous stretch that connects the northeast edge of the San Fernando Valley with the Santa Clarita Valley. After all, the project was......
Five-bedroom guard shack: Pushing hard to erect multistory housing

Do As We Say, Not As We Do

David Zahniser
If any one principle provides the underpinning for smart growth, it’s density — putting multistory homes around rail stations, on bus corridors and at the heart of urbanized areas. So why are so many smart-growth advocates avoiding density in their own lives? Take Henry Cisneros, a board member with Smart......

A Denser L.A.

David Zahniser
Click the image to download a full pdf of the mapThe Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have embraced the concept of “smart growth,” a plan to concentrate multistory, “mixed use” housing — stores and restaurants on the ground, apartments or condos above — on or near transit......

Weiss Recall Quickly Turns Ugly

David Zahniser
Forget the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall. When it comes to political theater, the hot ticket in town over the past few weeks just might have been the Councilman Jack Weiss Goodwill Tour, a show that traveled from Westwood to Hollywood to Sherman Oaks and — now that a recall......