Just a couple of questions today. Your editors are tired from a long weekend of CA Boom. And this rain. This miserable rain makes us so sleepy. Please email your answers, comments or questions to us at la@curbed.com.
1) Los Angeles: This week the Curbed editors start with a general question to forment discussion and revolution thought. Please read this with John Stossel's nasaly "Give Me a Break" voice in your mind. We've noticed that several neighborhood councils have made elimination of compact parking stalls (7'6" width) in their neighborhoods one of their primary goals. The reasoning being that compact stalls don't really serve people because we all have such huge cars and then we park over lines and stalls get lost. That's all true. Instead, property owners are being asked to provide regular sized stalls (8'8" width) to serve commercial uses. But does this make sense, we wondered. If the number of parking stalls required for a use aren't reduced, then more land will be required to provide parking areas to accomodate the larger parking stalls. Is that really what we want? More space devoted to paved parking lots? Shouldn't the elimination of compact parking stalls be tied to the reduction of parking spaces required?
2) Malibu: A reader asks, "Does Malibu have a central business district not located on PCH? Where is their City Hall? Any protests there?"
3) Los Angeles/New York: A reader asks about the Gawker Stalker web site that lets New Yorkers track their favorite celebrity by their most recent sightings within the city. "Have you covered Gawker stalker yet? http://www.gawker.com/stalker/ When is it coming to L.A.? Seems only right." We agree. And we'll ask.