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.

“I’m a Teacher, I’m Pregnant…I’m Worried”: Residents Fume Over Lead Contamination of Soil in their Neighborhoods

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 20, 2014 | 1 Comment

“If you don’t shut it down, we’re going to shut you down!” shouted a woman dressed in hazmat gear (above, with skull on her back). She had just angrily paraded in front of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) officials, representatives of the Department of Public Health (DPH), and the moderator with her daughter, […]

YouthBuild Boyle Heights Students Launch Funding Campaign

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 13, 2014 | No Comments

A decade ago, when programs like Donors Choose first began creating forums for public school teachers to ask for funds for things like writing utensils, art materials, stools for students to sit on, or books, it was clear the public school system was in a bit of a crisis. I don’t know if it really […]

If Cleanliness is Next to Godliness, Surely it Should Also be a Component of “Complete”-ness, No?

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 10, 2014 | 4 Comments

As folks were preparing to cut the cake in honor of the Complete Streets Day motion put forth by Councilmember Jose Huizar at City Hall last week, I was getting geared up to volunteer at a high school located in his district, around which many of the streets are decidedly incomplete. I had run into […]

The Wheels of Justice Slowly Begin to Turn in the Hit-and-Run that Killed Andy Garcia

By Sahra Sulaiman | Mar 7, 2014 | No Comments

She made the decision to drink. She ran over me and my two friends, and she fled. She killed a friend of mine. My back and other bones were broken, and I was out of work for three months, recounted Mario Lopez (in Spanish, above), to a reporter from Canal 22 yesterday. He was one of […]

Boyle Heights Forum Tonight: Neighborhood Land Trust Seeks to Help Communities Take Charge of Blight

By Sahra Sulaiman | Feb 26, 2014 | No Comments

Vacant lots constitute a huge thorn in the side of communities around Los Angeles. It isn’t just because they are ugly or represent missed opportunities. As I noted in yesterday’s piece, Blight Begets Blight, by embodying what appears to be the city’s disinterest in the upkeep of a neighborhood, vacant lots become magnets for trash […]

Second Time is Not a Charm: Community Still Vociferously Opposed to Plans for Lorena Plaza in Boyle Heights

By Sahra Sulaiman | Feb 21, 2014 | 14 Comments

What had ever happened to the plans to turn the space on the corner of Lorena and 1st St. into a fitness parklet? Many of those gathered this past Wednesday evening at the second informational meeting regarding the plans for the site were still feeling burned by the promise they believed Metro had reneged on […]

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