Recent Streetsblog LA posts about safe streets

Dead Spaces Make for Dead (and Unwalkable) Places

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 25, 2014 | 13 Comments

I’m feeling sorta trashy. Not in that way. I’ve just had trash on the brain lately. Even as L.A. is celebrated for moving toward being more walkable and livable, trash seems to be the one constant, particularly in lower-income areas. One of the reasons is that there is a lot of dead space in places […]

Weekend Memorial Events Highlight Continued Vulnerability of Cyclists

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 16, 2014 | 2 Comments

For those of us who pay attention to such things, it was a terribly mournful weekend. Friday night, friends and family gathered at 47th and Normandie to witness the installation of a ghost bike in honor of hit-and-run victim Oscar Toledo, Jr., at the growing memorial there. His youth and the freshness of the event […]

Friends of Oscar Toledo, Jr., gather to mourn at the site where he was killed by a hit-and-run driver near 47th and Normandie in South L.A. Sahra Sulaiman/Streetsblog LA

“What Happened to Human Decency?”: Friends and Family of South L.A. Hit-and-Run Victim Seek Answers

By Sahra Sulaiman | Jun 13, 2014 | No Comments

“I know it wasn’t even his fuckin’ fault!” railed Daniela, 19. She was unsuccessfully fighting back tears yesterday as she stood alongside the light pole serving as the unofficial memorial site for bicyclist Oscar Toledo, Jr., killed in a hit-and-run at 47th and Normandie in South L.A. less than 24 hours earlier. Toledo had “always […]

Empowering Communities to See Streets as Sites of Recreation: What does it Take?

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 19, 2014 | 25 Comments

“We need to empower people to see their streets as sites of recreation.” It’s somewhat of a city planner mantra. And, it tends to drive me crazy. Part of it has to do with my having been an academic in my previous life, where I spent years observing efforts to “empower” refugees, displaced persons, sex […]

Location, Location, Location: Contested Public Space Means Moving Watts School Could Deny Some Education

By Sahra Sulaiman | May 14, 2014 | 3 Comments

“They say they care about our safety, but they’re putting us in harm’s way!” It is a refrain I’ve heard several times over the last month from students of INSPIRE Research Academy, a state-subsidized continuation school based at YO! Watts that offers 17-24-year-olds a free education and a rare second chance to get their high […]

CicLAvia Highlights Need for Better Bike Infrastructure for Cycling to Grow as a Transportation Option

By Sahra Sulaiman | Apr 8, 2014 | 13 Comments

“Stay to the right!” rang out over the megaphone from a passing police car. “That means you, young lady!” As CicLAvia came to a close and streets were being re-opened to cars, well-meaning police officers did their best to warn folks on bikes that their two-wheeled utopia was subsisting on borrowed time. And, while I […]

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