Recent Streetsblog LA posts about Great Streets

Make It Mar Vista: Pop Up Bike Lanes and Parklets at Westside Business Festival

By Damien Newton | Nov 23, 2015 | No Comments

This Saturday, the Mar Vista Chamber of Commerce is hosting “Make It Mar Vista” along Venice Boulevard starting at Centinela Avenue and heading west. The event is the area’s newish small business showcase, highlighting one of the Westside’s more walkable corridors with small shops and locally-owned restaurants. But this year’s event is also another outreach event […]

Lessons From UCLA’s TransportationCamp

By Jason Islas and Joe Linton | Oct 6, 2015 | 2 Comments

What do you get when dozens of transportation professionals, technologists, and others interested in improving urban transportation networks all in one room at UCLA on a Saturday morning? The answer is Los Angeles’ very first TransportationCamp. While there were no bonfires or arts and crafts, Saturday’s event was different than your usual gathering of transportation […]

South L.A. Cyclists Call for Price, Garcetti to Implement Central Ave. Bike Lane

By Sahra Sulaiman | Sep 24, 2015 | 29 Comments

“What do we want? Safe streets! When do we want them? NOW!” So went the chants as approximately 40 members of the South Central community headed north toward City Councilmember Curren Price’s constituent center on Central Avenue yesterday evening. They were headed there to speak with the group of stakeholders that recently got the green […]

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 […]

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 […]

Venice Great Streets Phase 1: Road Diet, Protected Bike Lanes, Mid-Block Crossings

By Damien Newton | Aug 13, 2015 | 7 Comments

(Update: While I have the term “phase 1” in my notes, I was corrected that there are no formal “phases” to the project. Right now there is only a firm plan for the transportation improvements, but will be implemented as opportunities arise, such as partnerships with community groups or businesses. They could happen before, or after, the […]