Why LA’s Public Design Matters: An interview with Christopher Hawthorne, the city’s first chief design officer

"I think my work has shown a concern for these issues that dates back to my arrival at the Times in 2004. One thing I tried to make clear in the piece I wrote announcing that I was leaving is how much I admire the approach taken by Tamika Butler, executive director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. It involves beginning any public-design project by listening to residents and finding out what their most pressing needs and hopes are. Sometimes she learns a park is last thing they need—and she’s okay with that."