In our brief holiday respite, we missed a ton of news. For instance, new urbanist dogma finally taking root in Orange County. The Olson Company has broken ground on Founders Walk in Buena Park, a 192-unit townhome development adjacent to the new MetroLink station scheduled for completion in 2006. That's hot. Transit, housing, attached townhomes, density in the OC. T.O.D. baby! T - O - D.
· New Urbanism in Buena Park [OC Metro]
Has Hollywood finally reached its saturation point with the homeless? Some neighbors of a proposed housing project at Gower and Hollywood are fretting at the possibility of homeless people making the new development a permanent home. Jesus, can't they just stay homeless? Helmi Hisserich of the CRA says the nationwide trend is to provide permanent housing rather than temporary shelter but locals fear that Hollywood will be overtaken, slowly devolving into another Skid Row where Hollywood actors will troll for drugs. The thought is sickening.
· Down and Out in Hollywood [LA Independent]
Blight has been spotted in Van Nuys with visual evidence provided on Here in Van Nuys. We mocked Councilman Dennis Zine's efforts to clean up shopping cart blight in his district earlier this year (or maybe we were mocking his head shot), but as shown in Picture 3 of the pictorial, shopping cart blight is real!
· 14851 Victory (NE Corner of Kester) [Here in Van Nuys]
Recently separated, and soon to be divorced, Jessica Simpson has purchased a $3 million home in Beverly Hills, according to Defamer. We got nothing to say about that.
· Jessica Simpson’s $3 Million Coping Mechanism [Defamer]