Los Angeles' City Planning Department is breaking out of the hiring freeze years and inviting twenty new planners to sign on the team "to help launch dynamic new initiatives to enhance livability for all Angelenos." Full release after you turn the page:

LA Planning Department expands, launches dynamic new initiatives

After years of hiring freezes and budget cuts, the LA City Planning
Department has received the green light to bolster its ranks. Over the
next three months, 20 new planners will join the Department to help
launch dynamic new initiatives to enhance livability for all Angelenos.

"Los Angeles is currently facing some incredibly tough challenges: a
housing shortage, issues of sustainability, ever-worsening traffic. New
planners are strengthening the Department precisely to help craft
solutions to these problems and make Los Angeles a wonderful place to
live," said Bud Ovrom, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.

The Department will expand its scope to focus on greening and
revitalizing the Los Angeles River, creating a new office of historic
preservation, developing new housing opportunities, and guiding the
ongoing evolution of downtown. It will reinstate its Transportation
Planning Unit, to improve pedestrian and transit accessibility and to
tackle traffic congestion. And it will add planners and Zoning
Administrators to help process the high volume of projects filed with
the Department.

"We will be working on the issues that affect all Angelenos and their
quality of life," said Jane Blumenfeld, head of the Department's
Citywide Planning Division. "As an example, we want to build on the
opportunities presented by our budding rail system and put tools in
place that make more of these stops into attractive, urban neighborhoods
where people can get to their jobs, go to movies or walk to the
bookstore without needing a car for every activity. We already see
tremendous interest in such lifestyles in Downtown, Hollywood and North
Hollywood. With proper planning, we can create many other great
pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods centered around our rail stations."

However, Mark Winogrond, the Interim Planning Director, cautions that
these kinds of transformations are cultural changes and must be
approached with care. "Los Angeles neighborhoods are so diverse and
unique and mass transit is still a relatively new phenomenon in the
City. While the possibilities for change are exciting, we as planners
need to craft strategies carefully, to strike a balance between the many
competing goals, needs, and views."

The L.A. River also presents abundant opportunities for the city to
address urban needs. Cities such as New York, Denver, San Antonio and
Chattanooga have transformed unattractive, degraded rivers into
centerpieces of their cities. Los Angeles is poised to do the same.
"A revitalized River can change Los Angeles dramatically and offer
all Angelenos unparalleled new recreation and open space
opportunities," notes Winogrond. Working with a team of
consultants, public agencies and community stakeholders, city planners
will help craft plans that implement this vision.

Other new planners will enable the Department to establish an Office of
Historic Preservation, develop tools that produce more affordable
housing, update the city's bicycle plan for both recreation and
transportation, update several community plans, and reinvigorate its
"Code Studies" Unit, to research and amend codes aimed at
improving the livability of the city's neighborhoods. Planners
interested in joining the Department should apply online at
www.lacity.org under "Jobs Available."