Last night, eight of the fourteen candidates to replace Tom LaBonge in the oddly-shaped Los Angeles City Council District Four sat down to discuss traffic safety, bicycling, sidewalks, transportation funding, and more. The event took place at Hollywood United Methodist Church. The amicable debate was often interrupted by applause, with one heckler thrown in for good measure, as candidates spent most of their time agreeing that Los Angeles is heading towards a multi-modal future.

I’ll have a more in-depth review later today. In the meantime, we wanted to thank our co-sponsors at Los Angeles Walks and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, our hosts at Hollywood United Methodist Church, and Pocrass and De Los Reyes LLC who sponsored the after-forum. Shout-out to LACBC Board Member Shannon Muir for serving as moderator. A second shout-out to the folks at Wolfpack Hustle and CiclaValley who organized a group ride to the event.

Of course, thanks to the candidates who showed up: Carolyn Ramsay, Fred Mariscal, Tara Bannister, Tomas O’Grady, Mike Schaefer, Sheilia Irani, Rostam Sarkissian, and Steve Veres

And, last, thanks to everyone who came out last night. There were over 130 of you in the audience, and that set the tone for a great debate..