This past Thursday was an important day in Los Angeles YIMBY history. Various areas of the city were upzoned due to letters and contact with the City Planning Commission. This is the first time this has ever happened in city history. The Commission heard public comment and actually told the planners they needed to add more housing.

This happened because 189 people submitted letters through the Abundant Housing LA website. It also happened because of the great work being done by Mark Vallianatos, Brent Gaisford, Gabe Rose and Leonora Yetter, along with others at Abundant Housing LA. At one point, the Commission even referred to the letter written by AHLA.

This is a victory, but it might be temporary. Paul Koretz, who is councilman for the 5th District, encompassing much of western L.A. proper, argued that they should not be upzoning this area until there are infrastructure improvements. I guess the billion dollar subway is not good enough for him. But it is possible that City Council could remove these upzones. We shall see.