LOS ANGELES-Investment in the urban core, transit, housing and employment were among the topics touched upon at ULI's Urban Marketplace conference, held yesterday in Downtown. The half-day event was entitled Cracking the Urban Core: Housing and Jobs."The purpose of the event is to bring investors, lenders and developers together to address urban infill," Susan Kamei, executive director of ULI, tells Globest.com. "We want to use our resources to make the connection between jobs and housing."Kamei tells Globest.com that developing around public transportation is one of ULI's primary focuses, especially in Los Angeles. "We are not New York; we are never going to have a subway station on every corner," Kamei says. "But Los Angeles is going beyond rail and is using all forms of public transportation." She adds that the number of bus stops has recently been increased by the Department of Transportation.Panelists at the event included Dolores Conway, director of the USC Casden Real Estate Forecast; Denise G. Fairchild, president of the Community Development Technologies Center; Carlos Jackson, executive director of the LA County Community Development Commission; Michael I. Keston, chairman and CEO of the Lawrin Co.; and Robert J. Norris, executive vice president of Century Housing.The panel, moderated by John McIlwain, senior resident fellow with ULI, discussed how and where investment dollars would most benefit the inner city.Rotating breakout sessions included other topics such as "Public Financing," "Sourcing New Land Opportunities," "What Can Los Angeles Learn from New Orleans," and Transit-Oriented Development."The conference drew 700 attendees, the most in the conference's history. "When we first started six years ago, I felt like we were swimming upstream," Kamei says. "Now it's getting attention and the support is growing."