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# The long shadows of development
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/the-long-shadows-of-development/
- Published: 2007-06-19T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:16:34.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Pico, #archive-import

I LIVE IN THE PICO NEIGHBORHOOD, it’s that area north of Pico, east of 20th that includes the Virginia Avenue Park. We are a mix of single family homes on large lots, apartments and condominiums. The street is one of those lovely places with mature trees, that if all goes well, the city will avoid destroying, unlike the Second and Fourth streets debacle.

On my street, we have an eclectic mix of individuals. We have artists and musicians, a lawyer, a civic activist, many office workers and a few retired folks. There are twen-tysomethings who have moved back in with mom, and a few rapscallions on skateboards who keep the dogs barking.

We also have a rather constant stream of construction workers in this neighborhood. Being one of the best places in this city for increased density, the City Council, the planning department and the developers all see this cute little neighborhood as a great place to develop condominiums. There were five units developed last year, and all are sold. There are an additional 16 units to be developed at the end of the block, and around the corner, there are an additional 11 units being put in. Of the six lots on my block that are ostensibly single family homes (some have a second unit on the back half of the lot), all will likely, eventually, become condominiums. At the moment, we have a nice neighborhood where the homeowners know each other. We share garden tools and chat as we water the yard and walk the dog.

I love my little neighborhood, and I know that one day, it will be gone. It will have been consumed by the rapacious growth that is Los Angeles. As people continue to flood into the basin by the bay, we will have to increase our density. One day, my home will give way for a four-or five-unit, beige monstrosity with no grass, no character and will house people who will most likely not speak to each other.

It is an odd aspect of humanity that, as we become more tightly packed, we lose contact with each other. As we have less and less individual space, we fight that much harder for our privacy and sense of self. The more precious our individual time and space becomes, the more insular we make ourselves.

The city leaders love to talk about quality-of-life issues in poetic terms and with a manner that leads voters to believe they really are concerned with life in this city. They like to paint themselves as the protectors of the flame of a way of life, but what is really happening is so far beyond their control, that any efforts are really just meaningless campaign promises.

Our city is rapidly becoming nothing more than the latest victim of urbanization and overgrowth that has happened to all major cities, globally. All one has to do is raise one’s eyes to the density of a London or Tokyo to see the future. We are not unique, and we are not going to stop the inexorable creep of development.

The best we can hope for is to plan with greater vision than our forefathers. But alas, as the fate of the Fourth Street trees shows, our leaders have myopia just as bad as the dreaded stockholders of Wall Street. Short term gains, quarterly returns and who will get re-elected are the bane of all long term thinking visionaries. Unfortunately, our city has a bad case of short term thinking.

The business community is saying that the trees on Fourth Street interfere with their signage and that is adversely affecting their business. Maybe that is true. Or maybe the fact that the Third Street Promenade is built in such a fashion that it does not open itself up to the surrounding streets in a welcoming way is part of the problem. It casts a long shadow over the adjacent streets. The way it is designed, to funnel people up and down, with almost no horizontal outlets causes it to be an insular experience.

At the time it was developed, Third Street was a blighted area, the development of it into a tourist attraction has brought many benefits to the city. Development can be a great thing, but like a good story, it takes time to be planned.

The condominiums going in around my neighborhood are necessary in the long run. But like the effects of the promenade on the surrounding streets, the shadows they will cast will be long, and leave many of us alone and in the dark.

DAVID PISARRA is a business development lawyer in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He or (310) 664-9969.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 19, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/061907.pdf?ref=smdp.com)