Nella McOsker speaks at CCA's 2025 Annual Holiday Party

2025 will be a year Los Angeles never forgets. We opened this year in crisis — mourning 31 lives lost, watching more than 16,000 structures reduced to rubble, and feeling the shared heartbreak of communities erased overnight. But Los Angeles did what it always does: we came together. We asked hard questions. We scrutinized policies and processes. And we committed ourselves not just to rebuilding, but to building smarter.

This year, our work went far beyond cutting red tape. We reminded ourselves that world-class cities don’t materialize out of thin air, they are built — block by block, project by project, through choices about what we invest in, how fast we permit, and the kind of future we believe Los Angeles deserves.

And at the Central City Association, we know Los Angeles deserves big things.

We deserve — and fought for — a 21st-century Convention Center. And we delivered. In its first five years, this modernized hub will welcome 3.6 million additional visitors and generate more than $2 billion in spending at our local businesses — putting real paychecks into the pockets of Angelenos.

We deserve housing for every person who wants to call Los Angeles home. That’s why we championed citywide adaptive reuse and continue to educate policymakers across all levels of government about the urgent need to dramatically increase our housing supply. The reality is clear: Los Angeles is nowhere near on track to produce the tens of thousands of homes we need this year. CCA is working every day to change that trajectory.

We deserve good-paying, career-building jobs. That’s why we helped secure an expanded state film and TV tax incentive and advocated for approvals of transformative developments like Fourth & Central and the South Park Towers — projects that create opportunity and strengthen our economic engine.

And we know none of this is possible without getting the fundamentals right. Through our Revive DTLA action plan, we advanced practical, immediate, and achievable policies to strengthen public safety, ensure clean and welcoming public spaces, and support the small businesses that give Downtown its vibrancy and drive its recovery.

CCA could not do any of this without you. You testified at City Hall and in Sacramento. You built more than 5,000 homes. You broke ground on projects that will move Los Angeles forward. Together, we are shaping a stronger, more resilient, more inclusive city.

And we’re just getting started.

With gratitude,

Nella McOsker

President & CEO, CCA