Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Eastside

In an effort to show how transportation, open space, planning and other issues are intertwined with the health, culture, livability and strength of a community, Streetsblog and The California Endowment teamed to bring Streetsblog’s coverage to a hyper-local level in Boyle Heights and South Los Angeles. Sahra Sulaiman is Communities Editor for Streetsblog Los Angeles and oversees work in South Los Angeles and Boyle Heights. Her work and that of our former Boyle Heights-specific writer Kris Fortin can be found here. Contact Sahra at sahra[at]streetsblog.org or on twitter: @sahrasulaiman.

Terms of Art: Boyle Heights Youth Rally against Being Columbused by the New York Times

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 16, 2015 | 14 Comments

Speaking about her new 35,000 square foot gallery space, located in the western industrial edge of Boyle Heights, art dealer Michele Maccarone told the New York Times, “It still has a dangerous quality — I kind of like that. I like that we spent a fortune on security.” It was a line that, to the […]

Equity Advocates Discuss Needs of “Invisible” Cyclists on HuffPost Live

By Sahra Sulaiman | Nov 4, 2015 | 18 Comments

Last week, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University published a story declaring that “Most Cyclists Are Working-Class Immigrants, Not Hipsters.” If you spend any time in the streets and/or pay attention to cycling issues, this is something you probably already knew. At least, intuitively. It’s been a little harder to substantiate that […]

Erick Huerta checks his phone as he waits for the bus on Western Ave. at Exposition Blvd. At this point he has already taken one bus and one train and has been in transit for an hour and fifteen minutes. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Area Mobility Advocate Exhausted by Bus, Makes Decision to Buy Car

By Sahra Sulaiman | Oct 23, 2015 | 84 Comments

What was I writing about, a woman wanted to know. She had heard me explain to a gentleman passenger on the bus that having a camera with me did not mean I was a stripper. I was a journalist. That news seemed to have disappointed him. He had fond memories of taking fifty bucks’ worth […]

Boyle Heights to See Improvements in Phase Two of the Eastside Access Project

By Sahra Sulaiman | Oct 16, 2015 | 4 Comments

“I’m here to ask that you really take into account accessibility [when implementing any new improvements],” Boyle Heights resident and advocate for those with disabilities, Hector Ochoa, said as the meeting discussing phase two of the Eastside Access Project came to a close Wednesday night. Phase one — the $12 million in improvements along 1st […]

Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Exploring the Legacy of Redlining via a New Documentary about Boyle Heights

By Sahra Sulaiman | Oct 2, 2015 | No Comments

Moreno’s perspective is one I’ve written about many times while tracking changes in this lower-income and largely Mexican-American community over the last few years, most recently with regard to developments Metro had planned for a complete overhaul of Mariachi Plaza. And it’s a perspective readers from outside the community often find controversial, associating it with […]

Umbrellas Tallied during Boyle Heights Pedestrian Count Suggest Street Trees Important to Mobility

By Sahra Sulaiman | Sep 22, 2015 | 13 Comments

While counting pedestrians and cyclists in the transit-dependent and heavily-pedestrian community of Boyle Heights for the Bike and Pedestrian Count this past Saturday, I got to thinking about street trees. As part of the Eastside Access Project, the section of 1st Street between the Aliso/Pico and the Soto Gold Line Stations in Boyle Heights saw […]

Show More Stories