Recent Streetsblog LA posts about South LA

CRA Unveils Draft Plans for South Figueroa, Public Mostly Positive

By Damien Newton | Feb 9, 2011 | 15 Comments

A standing room only audience descended on the Fashion Institute of Design on South Grand Street to listen to a presentation from the embattled Community Redevelopment Agency for a ground breaking and popular proposal to transform the South Figueroa Corridor. When people discuss Los Angeles’ streets, they usually use terms such as “car-oriented” or “ugly.” […]

Gehl Architect’s Amazing Bird’s Eye View of Parking on the Figeuroa Corridor

By Damien Newton | Jan 27, 2011 | 14 Comments

Making Cities for People, the official blog of Copenhagen super-architects Gehl Architects, gives us another look at the Figueroa Corridor as it is and as it could be in South Los Angeles. The above image shows how our city’s lifeblood is literally being drained away by the collective demand for car parking. Even Gehl’s team, […]

Will Figueroa Street Be Los Angeles’ First Truly Complete Street?

By Damien Newton | Jan 25, 2011 | 32 Comments

I have to be honest. If the My Figueroa project ends up fulfilling its mission of designing a people-friendly Figueroa Street from the southwest corner of Exposition Park to Downtown Los Angeles only by adding a couple of trees and repainting the crosswalks, I’ll be extremely disappointed. The project team raised expectations by encouraging participants […]

The Lorenzo Project in South L.A. Is Controversial, But Is it T.O.D.?

By Damien Newton | Jan 20, 2011 | 12 Comments

Last week, at a packed meeting of the City of Los Angeles Planning Commission, the Commission punted on a proposed $250-million residential development known as the Lorenzo. The developer, Geoffery Palmer of Palmer Construction, is known for his other Italian-themed apartment developments Medici, Visconti, Orsini and Piero. He’s also known for successfully challenging a local […]

The Invisible Cyclists: Immigrants and the Bike Community

By Damien Newton | Jan 18, 2011 | 6 Comments

Video by Alex Schmidt via Spot.us Last week, GOOD Magazine examined the role that the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition’s City of Lights program has taken in giving voice to the overlooked and under-represented bicyclists in Los Angeles County. A program that started by handing out lights to immigrant cyclists and has become a national […]