Development plans vs. reality

This is driving me a little whacky. Almost without exception, I read about this or that project that's been approved the city or about to be approved or under discussion - and nowhere is there any mention of the most important consideration: Do the developers have the financing to actually begin construction? Given the state of the credit markets, many if not most of them don't. It's not an insignificant issue: Delays in getting needed financing have a way of killing projects (or hasn't anyone heard of Grand Avenue?). From a story in this morning's LAT:

Despite the poor economy, the Westside continues to be a hotbed of development. Among dozens of projects large and small that have been approved or are under discussion are the expansion of the Westfield Century City shopping center, the redevelopment of the Century Plaza Hotel site, Playa Vista's Phase 2, a transit-oriented development from Alan Casden at Pico and Sepulveda boulevards, and the Bergamot Transit Village Center in Santa Monica, near the Bundy Village site.

I can tell you that many of the possible projects out there are but gleams in developers' eyes. Sorry to pick on the Times - everybody does it - but these kinds of stories are putting out a lot of misleading info. See any construction cranes out there, folks? That will tell you a lot about plans vs. reality.