Recent Streetsblog LA posts about South LA

In an effort to show how transportation, open space, planning and other issues impact the health and character 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 the Communities Editor for Streetsblog Los Angeles and is leading our coverage efforts in these communities. This page serves as a place to read Sahra’s and all of Streetsblog’s coverage of issues in South L.A. Contact Sahra at sahra[at]streetsblog.org or on twitter: @sahrasulaiman.

At yesterday's groundbreaking at Manchester and Vermont, South L.A. resident Dana Gilbert holds an L.A. Times article from 1992 about the plans to rebuild South L.A. using minority contractors. The article features a photo of himself with then-Mayor Tom Bradley standing in the Manchester/Vermont lot. Gilbert showed up to ask for the jobs he and other residents were promised 23 years ago. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog L.A.

Vermont Entertainment Village Breaks Ground; Residents Ask That Local Hiring Be Cornerstone

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 30, 2015 | 18 Comments

If they weren’t going to let us in, said an elderly woman in Spanish, then why did they send us cards inviting us to the ceremony? She had shown up to the groundbreaking for the Vermont Entertainment Village project at Vermont and Manchester yesterday with her daughters and their young children only to be told […]

Long-Blighted South L.A. Lots to See Groundbreaking on Massive Development Wednesday

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 28, 2015 | 12 Comments

As Baltimore grapples with tamping down the police-community tensions that have been brewing for decades, South Los Angeles may be taking a step forward in mitigating the damage done by the unrest that ravaged much of the area in 1992. Twenty-three years to the day after a not-guilty verdict for four officers videotaped viciously beating […]

West Adams Neighbors Turn Out to Protest Activities at Drill Site; Studies of Environmental Impact of Unconventional Drilling Techniques Still Underway

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 24, 2015 | No Comments

Spring is the season for oiling, it seems. Over the last month, I’ve been opening my email every morning to see anywhere between 10 and 20 notices from the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) advising me that wells across the county will be drilled, reworked, subjected to routine maintenance, or completed at some […]

South L.A. to Become SOLA? Now You’re Just Messing With Us, Right?

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 22, 2015 | 3 Comments

I nearly spit my coffee out all over my keyboard yesterday when I read that 8th District Councilmember Bernard Parks wanted to rename South Central, already “upgraded” to “South L.A.” in 2003, to “SOLA.” “They see these other communities reinvigorated by these contemporary names,” Parks told the L.A. Times, “And they wonder, at times, why […]

Fourteen Artists Named for the Crenshaw Line; What Can We Expect to See From Them?

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 17, 2015 | 1 Comment

Crenshaw Boulevard may be chaotic to navigate due to the construction of the Crenshaw/LAX Line at the moment, but good things appear to be in the works. The Source reported Wednesday that the new stations will be graced with works from a diverse mix of 14 artists. If you’ve ridden any of the rail lines, […]

Metro Takes Another Step Forward in Effort to Build and Preserve Affordable Housing at Transit Hubs

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 2, 2015 | 12 Comments

In case you haven’t heard, we’re in a bit of an affordable housing crunch. According to the L.A. Times, “the city recently estimated that 82,000 additional affordable units will be needed by 2021.” Non-profit developers have been aware of this problem for some time. Approximately 8000 families applied for the 184 units of affordable housing […]

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