It was a big victory last night for the Los Angeles economy and environment.  Voters decisively rejected Measure S, a city measure that would have essentially frozen development for at least two years, with incredibly detrimental effects on local rents, housing prices, construction jobs, and sprawl.

The measure garnered just 31.5 percent of the vote, as LA Curbed reported.  A broad coalition of environmental groups, labor unions, and homeless advocates, coupled with almost all major political leaders (including the governor), mobilized against it.  Homeowners groups largely comprised the pro side.

Despite the broad opposition, many smart growth advocates were nervous about the vote.  It’s a low-turnout election in March, and homeowner groups were really playing up the “overdevelopment” and “corrupt City Hall” angle to the measure.  And on the heels of Brexit and Trump, it seemed plausible that Los Angeles voters would succumb to the same anxiety over changes in their communities, coupled with distrust of elites.

But the positive outcome won’t solve the development challenges in Los Angeles, as even the anti-Measure S groups conceded.  The city suffers from a lack of comprehensive planning to ensure growth happens in the right places (near transit, largely) and to avoid the project-by-project approval processes that open the system up to abuse and inefficiency.

My hope is that the coalition that assembled against the measure continues to stay engaged on this issue of long-term planning in the city.  They may even find common cause with some of the pro-S forces.

But for now, smart growth advocates and environmentalists can breathe a huge sigh of relief that ballot box planning didn’t rule the day.