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.

First Round of Great Streets Improvements Continue on Cesar Chavez; City Says Community Engagement on Horizon

By Sahra Sulaiman | Sep 2, 2015 | 10 Comments

Tracking the Great Streets program as it has begun to unfold around town has, at times, been a bit of an exercise in frustration. Which never fails to strike me as odd, given Mayor Eric Garcetti’s declaration that the transformation of the 15 chosen streets into gathering places would happen via a “bottom-up and community-based […]

Exide: Can’t Put Together Proper Closure Plan but Absolves Itself of Blame for Massive Public Health Disaster

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 25, 2015 | No Comments

“I want you to take a good look at me,” the fragile-looking young man with a curved spine, hunched shoulders, and gangly arms addressed members of the Exide Community Advisory Committee (CAC), representatives of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and Department of Public Health (DPH), and […]

Challenge Grant Winners in Boyle Heights and South L.A. Race Against the Clock to Raise Project Funds, Build Networks

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 15, 2015 | 2 Comments

Twenty-three days is not a lot of time to get community buy-in on a complete streets pop-up event/project and raise $10,000 in support of it. Especially in lower-income communities like Boyle Heights and parts of South L.A., where the stakeholders who would ideally be buying into the projects tend to be less familiar with concepts […]

Form (and Speedy Implementation) over Function Yields Semi-Obsolete Street Furniture in Boyle Heights

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 12, 2015 | 10 Comments

When the butterflies, flowers, and decorative benches first started popping up along 1st Street in Boyle Heights last year, reviews were mixed. Okay… That’s not really true — the reviews I heard were largely not that great. Particularly from business owners that had been given some advance notice — but no choice and no recourse […]

Hundreds Gather for Women and Women-Identified Ride Led by Ovarian Psycos

By Sahra Sulaiman | Aug 4, 2015 | 9 Comments

Looking out over the growing group of women and women-identified folks gathering on the grassy knoll behind Olvera St. for the Ovarian Pscyo-Cycles 4th Annual Clitoral Mass ride, I realized that, despite having attended the previous three events, I only recognized a handful of the riders. Considering there were probably more than 200 cyclists on […]

New Pedestrian Bulb-outs Make Crossing St. Louis More Pleasant but Leave Some Scratching Their Heads

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jul 28, 2015 | 19 Comments

I’ve sat and observed the intersection of St. Louis and Cesar Chavez in Boyle Heights several times since the modified curb extensions started going in last month. The painted “bulb-outs” are part of a pilot project of the Great Streets program (see recent coverage of its efforts on Central Ave. here) and are the first such […]

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