This is great! I wrote a very similar piece more from a housing and industrial base perspective, but also highlighted LANL and the Navy's Danville Institute for Advanced Manufacturing. As a previous YIMBY organizer, its great to see more people working at the science and tech intersection as well!
As a Los Alamos resident obsessed about this issue enough to run for County Council twice, I can't tell you how good it feels to finally feel heard by somebody outside of the community. Everybody says the "standard prescription" is the starting point, but I'm giving up hope we'll ever get that far. Lots of nice concepts proposed and public money spent, but progress is painfully slow.
There's other challenges, as you said, but I don't think those with the power to change things really care about changing things, from staff to elected officials. They just don't have the skin in the game. I think we need a higher power to intervene, which is another reason why I'm glad somebody from the outside noticed.
If you haven't read it, there's a great book about how Los Alamos used to build workforce housing called Quads, Shoeboxes, and Sunken Living Rooms.
tbh that was my first reaction. As part of the research for this, i was talking to one of their plan comm folks and got filled in on the history around that, but, yeah, this is goin a be something to talk about in a follow up post
8:30 pm walking my dog on coastal LOS ANGELES ocean cliff area. I smell burning plastic - like maybe idiots at the beach are using plastic garbage cans to burn in their fire pits?! ( oh the kids steal patio furniture from area homes Idiots- because the furniture is made of SYNTHETIC PLASTICs)
I call non emergency LAFD number. I get “ Yes we are aware. No confirmation it is anything”
View the local ABC news coverage. AT 8 pm was the explosion. By 830 they had LAFD at the scene… but I call at 8:37 and fire crew dispatcher NOT A CLUE?!
( similar occurred in 2019 here. Sounds of emergency air raid sirens. Land to air searchlights were seen. Bomb sounds in the air.
I call LAFD what the hell is happening?! This is MY LOCAL FIRE DEPT So I call local news. Find out it is annual WW2 RE ENACTMENT at the coastal sea cliff military park…This part of Los Angeles had 2 Japanese subs on the perimeter in 1942 and they were planning to launch missiles. US air team came in and bombed them)
So tonight I smell the acrid plastic gas It is coastal on the ocean peninsula area. I keep my windows open. Sound of waves and Sealions. Cool breeze 24/7.
I shut my windows thinking this smell cannot be good. But zero info from LAFD authority. TYPICAL - as I have posted before- CITY OF LA FIRE FIGHTERS - 80% do not live in CALIFORNIA!!! They just come here to be THE HIGHEST PAID IN ALL USA. Work 2 weeks in 4 weeks off or vice versa. I forgot. They don’t give a FUCK about the community!
I called them recently because we witnessed 4 teen thugs setting the community playground on fire! We recorded it. The LAFD showed up and did NOTHING. LAPD took 1 hour to get there. We( parents that kids were playing in the jungle gym etc - almost burned alive) showed the cops the video. One thug dropped his smartphone. I had it. Proved the kid was LIVE STREAMING the destruction. The cop gave the phone back to the kid. Said fire is out. Nothing to do about because LA CITY DA WILL NEVER PROSECUTE THIS! THEY ARE TOO BUSY GOING AFTER OUR PRESIDENT!
I called city DA office. I sent the videos but since we got none of the kids names… but I found that fire captain is on unpaid leave…
Anyway 3 hours later the city gives SHELTER IN PLACE ORDERS!!! We just had a deluge of rain yesterday. Next 14 days NO RAIN IN FORECAST. Keep all windows. Doors sealed. No HVAC. No pets should be left outside. ( there are outdoor pet kitties still out there😔
First thought- it is a terrorist attack! Trump will do ZERO to help us out. We are fucked.
But nope. A container ship from Japan had electrical fire. Spread to 100 containers full of flammable stuff- furniture. Clothing. ( if you are waiting for your package- gonna be MAJOR DELAY NOW ☹️
The city alerts came out at 12:30 am- 3 hours AFTER they knew it was dangerous!!! Off shore winds are blowing hard. That means the gases are blowing BACK TO LAND! Dead birds. Pelicans. Dead wildlife - lots of foxes and raccoons around here—-is gonna happen…
This is great! I wrote a very similar piece more from a housing and industrial base perspective, but also highlighted LANL and the Navy's Danville Institute for Advanced Manufacturing. As a previous YIMBY organizer, its great to see more people working at the science and tech intersection as well!
https://industrialstrategy.substack.com/p/how-the-department-of-war-can-build
As a Los Alamos resident obsessed about this issue enough to run for County Council twice, I can't tell you how good it feels to finally feel heard by somebody outside of the community. Everybody says the "standard prescription" is the starting point, but I'm giving up hope we'll ever get that far. Lots of nice concepts proposed and public money spent, but progress is painfully slow.
There's other challenges, as you said, but I don't think those with the power to change things really care about changing things, from staff to elected officials. They just don't have the skin in the game. I think we need a higher power to intervene, which is another reason why I'm glad somebody from the outside noticed.
If you haven't read it, there's a great book about how Los Alamos used to build workforce housing called Quads, Shoeboxes, and Sunken Living Rooms.
https://lahistorymuseumshop.square.site/product/quads-shoeboxes-and-sunken-living-rooms/9?cp=true&sa=false&sbp=false&q=false&category_id=7M3YJ5G7JCS7FX7VWNLFQWLH
Woot! So happy to see this drop. Well done, Jeff!
The solution should be government housing on government land! It would be a good investment. Even Trump should approve if it makes enough money 💰
tbh that was my first reaction. As part of the research for this, i was talking to one of their plan comm folks and got filled in on the history around that, but, yeah, this is goin a be something to talk about in a follow up post
Why wouldn't the research directors want housing a five-minute walk from the labs? How about dorms?
There’s some history there that didn’t make it into the final cut….maybe that’d make for a good follow up post
This is a great article even if an unusual angle for urbanism and I never considered it. Thanks for sharing it.
8:30 pm walking my dog on coastal LOS ANGELES ocean cliff area. I smell burning plastic - like maybe idiots at the beach are using plastic garbage cans to burn in their fire pits?! ( oh the kids steal patio furniture from area homes Idiots- because the furniture is made of SYNTHETIC PLASTICs)
I call non emergency LAFD number. I get “ Yes we are aware. No confirmation it is anything”
View the local ABC news coverage. AT 8 pm was the explosion. By 830 they had LAFD at the scene… but I call at 8:37 and fire crew dispatcher NOT A CLUE?!
( similar occurred in 2019 here. Sounds of emergency air raid sirens. Land to air searchlights were seen. Bomb sounds in the air.
I call LAFD what the hell is happening?! This is MY LOCAL FIRE DEPT So I call local news. Find out it is annual WW2 RE ENACTMENT at the coastal sea cliff military park…This part of Los Angeles had 2 Japanese subs on the perimeter in 1942 and they were planning to launch missiles. US air team came in and bombed them)
So tonight I smell the acrid plastic gas It is coastal on the ocean peninsula area. I keep my windows open. Sound of waves and Sealions. Cool breeze 24/7.
I shut my windows thinking this smell cannot be good. But zero info from LAFD authority. TYPICAL - as I have posted before- CITY OF LA FIRE FIGHTERS - 80% do not live in CALIFORNIA!!! They just come here to be THE HIGHEST PAID IN ALL USA. Work 2 weeks in 4 weeks off or vice versa. I forgot. They don’t give a FUCK about the community!
I called them recently because we witnessed 4 teen thugs setting the community playground on fire! We recorded it. The LAFD showed up and did NOTHING. LAPD took 1 hour to get there. We( parents that kids were playing in the jungle gym etc - almost burned alive) showed the cops the video. One thug dropped his smartphone. I had it. Proved the kid was LIVE STREAMING the destruction. The cop gave the phone back to the kid. Said fire is out. Nothing to do about because LA CITY DA WILL NEVER PROSECUTE THIS! THEY ARE TOO BUSY GOING AFTER OUR PRESIDENT!
I called city DA office. I sent the videos but since we got none of the kids names… but I found that fire captain is on unpaid leave…
Anyway 3 hours later the city gives SHELTER IN PLACE ORDERS!!! We just had a deluge of rain yesterday. Next 14 days NO RAIN IN FORECAST. Keep all windows. Doors sealed. No HVAC. No pets should be left outside. ( there are outdoor pet kitties still out there😔
First thought- it is a terrorist attack! Trump will do ZERO to help us out. We are fucked.
But nope. A container ship from Japan had electrical fire. Spread to 100 containers full of flammable stuff- furniture. Clothing. ( if you are waiting for your package- gonna be MAJOR DELAY NOW ☹️
The city alerts came out at 12:30 am- 3 hours AFTER they knew it was dangerous!!! Off shore winds are blowing hard. That means the gases are blowing BACK TO LAND! Dead birds. Pelicans. Dead wildlife - lots of foxes and raccoons around here—-is gonna happen…
https://abc7.com/post/fire-erupts-container-ship-port-los-angeles-san-pedro/18188607/