An unsolicited political endorsement

I don’t know him personally, but I really like Councilman Jose Huizar of Council District 14.

Here are some relevant, recent positions:

1. He’s trying to lift the insane ban on bars / restaurants that opened on Colorado in Eagle Rock after 1992 staying open past 9PM. If we’re going to be a real city, we need to get rid of these kinds of anti-urban regulations. It’s Colorado Blvd., the main commercial street in Eagle Rock… surely you ought to be able to get a beer at 10PM on a Saturday night.

2. He’s the main motivating force behind Bringing Back Broadway, an initiative aimed at returning Broadway to life downtown. Prior to this initiative, Broadway was a crummy, street-level retail market with very high vacancy rates in the office space in the floors above street level. Now, through a combination of street improvements, a street car and regulatory changes, Broadway is one of the hottest areas of the city for new retail and residential development.

3. Huizar helped Geoff Palmer get a skybridge approved connecting his monstrous developments along Temple downtown. Now, I’m no fan of Palmer’s work… I think those buildings are anti-human fortresses which basically raise a gigantic middle finger to street life in their area. That said, Palmer’s request for a skybridge was self-evidently reasonable – once you allow a guy to build two fortresses, it seems kind of petty to force the residents to go out onto a blighted part of Temple to access amenities.

Taken together, you can see a councilman who is pro-development and interested in seeing LA turn from a sprawling collection of loosely-linked suburbs into a real, global city. Seems like my kind of guy.