L.A. budget woes, Coastal Commission in the crosshairs, and more

I wanted to start of this weekly headlines post by acknowledging a milestone. On March 6, 2015, we published the first post on Urbanize LA. This past Thursday marked 10 years since that day, and I feel like I should say thank you to Chris for reaching out with the idea to work together (and coming up with the name "Urbanize"), thank you to Jonathan for helping us figure out how to actually make this thing run, and thank you to my mother for suggesting that I start a blog a dozen or so years back. I also want to say thank you to the folks who have continued to read and comment for all of these years - happy to say that I've become friends with several of you in real life!

This past Thursday was also eventful to me for other reasons. At 1:31 am on March 6, 2025, my wife and I welcomed our first child into the world - a healthy baby girl. Mother and daughter are both doing well, and were are getting settled at home at the time of my writing. Looking forward to getting to know this new person, even if it means that regular sleep is a thing of the past. 

And although we did receive some incredible 3D images generated from ultrasounds along the way, I unfortunately must decline the admittedly hilarious suggestion to do a Rendering vs. Reality post about my child (at least for public consumption). However, please believe me when I say that she is perfect.

Now, back to our regular scheduled programming.

Here's what we're reading this week:

DOGE axes 125K sq of federal offices in DTLA, Sawtelle "Lease terminations hit LA office market in name of efficiency" (TRD LA)

Engineering Firm Mangan Inks 37K-SF HQ Lease in Long Beach "Landlord Kilroy has closed more than 15 leases at the Aero Long Beach office complex over the past year, per JLL" (Commercial Observer)

Malibu businesses struggling in the aftermath of fire and PCH restrictions "Pacific Coast Highway seems likely to remain a choke point for months and possibly years." (LA Times)

High-speed rail leader says project needs to find new funding or costs and timeline will expand "Challenges over the project’s timeline and budget have been acknowledged in previous board meetings by members, transit experts and project leadership. The first portion of the line is expected to open 13 years after the entire project was originally supposed to be done — in 2020 — and the budget is about $100 billion more than the $30 billion initially proposed. Lawmakers and a state-appointed advisory group say private investment will be necessary to finish the project." (LA Times)

Searing audit finds city of LA has failed to properly track billions in homelessness spending "Many of the problems auditors identified were at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA. It’s the government agency, overseen by the city and county, that for decades L.A. mayors and council members have outsourced management of much of the city’s homelessness dollars for sheltering, feeding and serving people." (LAist)

Los Angeles is broke — and LA people can feel it "You don’t have to be a budget wonk to know what’s happening with the city budget in Los Angeles." (LA Public Press)

Half a century ago, Californians saved the coast. Will Trump threats spark another uprising? "In February, Trump special missions envoy Ric Grenell painted a bull’s-eye on the coastal commission, saying that fire relief assistance could be held up if California doesn’t bow to the administration’s wishes. He called the Coastal Commission 'an unelected group of people who are crazy woke left' and said that 'putting strings on them to get rid of the California Coastal Commission is going to make California better.'" (LA Times)

Metro Expanded Bus Lane Camera Enforcement to Grand and Olive Today "Streetsblog rode the existing bus lane enforcement bus lines - on Wilshire Boulevard and on La Brea Avenue" (Streetsblog LA)

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