Chambers of Commerce across America were often formed to champion major infrastructure improvements. For the L.A. Area Chamber, that project was the Port of Los Angeles 127 years ago.
Since 1888, the Chamber and its members have successfully advocated for the construction of the Port of L.A., the Los Angeles Aqueduct, new sources of electricity, the region’s highway network, LAX and our new transit system. Each of these projects and many others are why the City of L.A. grew from a town 50,000 people in 1888 to one of the world’s largest population and economic centers.
As L.A. ages, many of our legacy infrastructure projects are now in need of major upgrades or expansions because they are not capable of meeting the future needs of our evolving environment and economy. Exacerbating this challenge are regulations that make it more costly and increasingly difficult to build new, upgraded facilities. All the while competition is growing from other cities and regions across the world.
With this challenge in mind, the Chamber launched our State of Infrastructure initiative a year ago. We hosted our second annual State of L.A. Infrastructure symposium featuring L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Edison International’s Chairman, President & CEO Ted F. Craver, Jr., Martin Powell with Siemens and a whole host of experts in surface transportation, aviation, energy, water, the maritime industry and communications.
After a year of discussions with regional stakeholders, the Chamber presented A Blueprint for a 21st Century Los Angeles Infrastructure. The goal of this publication is to encourage the public and private sectors to work together to develop a long-term, comprehensive regional infrastructure plan that cuts across sectors and silos, and clearly defines the investments that our region needs for the 21st Century.
This document lays the foundation for such a comprehensive plan by outlining unique infrastructure challenges and opportunities L.A. faces. It also provides examples of how peer cities around the world are responding to similar challenges. Our goal is to seed this critically important conversation to make sure that the L.A. region is a leader in infrastructure for the 21st Century.