Building a Crosswalk in LA: Approved, But Years of Waiting
A developer wins crosswalk approval, only to be told construction will take years—or much longer—with quotes running into the millions. It precisely exposes what's really true: LA's approval system looks permissive but is actually gridlocked everywhere.
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The argument · tap a timestamp to hear it
Developers Want New Buildings to Be Anticipated, Not Feared
Zach Lazzari came from theater and performance; when he moved to LA in 2014, he noticed that whenever new construction scaffolding went up on a block, residents' instinct was usually: "Oh no, what are they building now?" He thinks this shouldn't be the baseline. Commercial real estate should curate tenants the way A24 scouts directors—finding people with a vision—not replicate another Shake Shack. He has nothing against Shake Shack; there just doesn't need to be one everywhere.
— Zach LazzariLow Density Is Why LA's Shops Are Independent
Bill McBride argues that high density in New York forces high rents for the same location, but LA's sprawl spreads things out, which is exactly why mom-and-pop shops survive there—his own neighborhood along the Pacific Coast Highway is almost entirely independent. Zach adds that many talented friends who went to school in New York later moved to LA because home-buying costs too much there, but LA makes it easier to find solid rent in an interesting neighborhood, letting people focus on their work instead of being crushed by housing.
— Bill McBrideZoning Is the Developer's Real Biggest Problem
Bill says if you ask home builders or apartment developers, zoning is always the biggest puzzle piece. California's new ADU rules have bumped housing supply slightly, but truly changing zoning is hard. He gives an example: after California declared an official housing crisis, new rules banned density reduction—previously someone could buy three consecutive houses in a coastal community, tear them down, and build a real mansion, causing density to drop. That path is now closed.
— Bill McBrideBuy the Whole Block; Build the Neighborhood Like Jacobs Wrote It
Zach says the Western and Melrose project drew inspiration mainly from Jane Jacobs' "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," which describes Greenwich Village streets as a "sidewalk ballet." He grew up seeing this kind of neighborhood in New York, where you could walk and feel culture; LA almost never has a main street like that, and on the rare occasion it does, it ends up like an airport mall. The constraint is that ~95% of LA's urban land is zoned residential, so once the culture and life drain from the main street, the surrounding area is just pure housing—nowhere to go.
— Zach LazzariRates Shifted; Commercial Real Estate Can't Profit on Spread Anymore
Zach believes commercial real estate used to run on "financial engineering"—assemble a room of 140-IQ people with spreadsheets, pocket the spread between capitalization rate and interest rate, and turn a profit. But now rates are higher than the cap rate when the building was bought, so that math doesn't work, forcing developers to actually make a good product. His project's rents are rising precisely because he invested in design talent, rather than the way most new apartments do—turning out bland, forgettable buildings.
— Zach LazzariGetting a Crosswalk Built Is Like a Kafka Novel
Zach complains that applying to build a crosswalk in LA is "like a Kafka novel." They got approval for the Clinton and Western intersection, but the email said completion would be "years from now or longer." When they pushed back, there was no actual process—the city said yes, but engineering, electrical, plus burying an underground conduit box below ran into millions of dollars in quotes, as if asking, "What else can you do for us?"
— Zach LazzariADUs Don't Need Parking, Yet Streets Get More Crowded
Bill notes that California's new ADU rules have a side effect: these backyard units don't require off-site parking spaces, so neighborhoods that build ADUs end up with streets fuller of cars than before. Zach adds that he hasn't driven in years and used to underestimate how much parking matters to LA people—friends would rather move their car half a block away to avoid a hard-to-park shopping area, and places like Fairfax, where parking is so bad that people simply give up shopping, aren't rare.
— Bill McBrideKoreatown's Parking Might Be the World's Most Insane
Bill says parking in Koreatown might be one of the most insane scenes on Earth—constantly zero open spots. His wife lived there and saw people just sit in their car next to a space, then immediately coordinate to swoop in if someone leaves. They note that self-driving cars would dramatically ease parking once widespread, ugly garage entrances could disappear, and even speeding-ticket revenue would take a hit.
— Bill McBrideIn their own words · checked verbatim
if you're passionate about a thing, then that passion usually translates into an exciting new result.
Zach Lazzari5:08
LA doesn't have the luxury of doing that because roughly 95% of the city is residentially zoned.
Zach Lazzari10:11
You can't get a cap rate and an interest rate arbitrage and make money.
Zach Lazzari12:12
It's like a Kafka novel. It's just horrible.
Zach Lazzari13:21
We got approved for a crosswalk on Clinton and Western. And it said it'll be built in a few years or more.
Zach Lazzari13:21
is one of the craziest parking situations, maybe on the planet.
Bill McBride17:26
Yeah, you got to find a guy who knows a guy.
Zach Lazzari18:28
Figures
| LA's residential zoning share | ~95% | 10:11 |
Glossary
- ADU / accessory dwelling unit
- A backyard-dwelling type that California has recently deregulated; increases housing stock but typically requires no associated parking.
- cap rate / capitalization rate
- A metric measuring net income on a property versus its purchase price; historically used to arbitrage interest-rate spreads.
How to listen
Professionals focused on urban renewal, commercial real estate development, or zoning policy; and anyone curious why LA neighborhoods have such diverse character.
The opening banter about whether LA qualifies as a "walkable city" (~10:11-11:11) is low on information and skippable.