Streetsblog Los Angeles

Road closures, already announced...

Alissa Walker, known as Gelato Baby on twitter and the editor of GOOD L.A. everywhere else, spotted road closure signs already on the street for this Sunday’s CicLAvia.  If you’re not aware, GOOD is having it’s own L.A. party this weekend, including a bike ride on Saturday, and you can get all the details right here.

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 model for bicycle advocacy by focusing their efforts on safety to those who are most underserved by government.

The above film, by Spot.us reporter and producer Alex Schmidt, is intended as a companion piece to the article in GOOD.  While cyclists around the country can learn a lot from City of Lights Coordinator Allison Mannos and the Bus Riders Union’s Sunyoung Yang, I was most intrigued by some of the voices I’m hearing for the first time such as City of Lights volunteer Arlen Jones or bike commuter Gil Maldonado.

The video does a great job explaining what City of Lights is really fighting for.  They’re not dedicating their lives to improving conditions and resources for immigrant cyclists because they think cycling is great and fun.  They’re doing it because making it attractive and safe to bicycle gives a new freedom to a population that is by-and-large car-free by necessity.

Taken in concert, the story and article do a great job outlining the twin challenges faced by City of Lights.  How does one get the city to address the needs of “invisible cyclists” and how do you reach out to a community that’s getting ignored.  Read more…

Photo: GOOD

While many Americans may not think riding a bus is the sexiest form of transportation, the reality is that a majority of public transit trips in the U.S. are taken by bus. The numbers are even higher in the Bay Area. Every one of the hundreds of thousands of passengers who boarded a bus in the last year has a story to tell and there are probably lots of Streetsblog readers who would love to share a tale about their favorite line. So why not nominate it as the best bus route in America?

Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s advocacy group for bicycling, walking and public transit, has joined with GOOD Magazine for a contest asking public transit riders to email in their photos and brief captions making a case for why their bus ride is the better one. From GOOD’s website:

Bicycles can be chic, subways artful, but buses? Buses are not exactly the golden child of transportation. They’re more like the red-headed step child: Deep down you know they mean well but they’re just a little harder to love.

Yet public buses are an essential form of transit in cities across the country, and they account for a big chunk of the nearly 10.2 billion trips Americans took on public transportation in 2009. We think it’s time to give a little love to one of the least celebrated modes of transit. To that end, we’ve teamed up with Transportation Alternatives and an impressive group of bus-loving jurors to see and hear why your bus route is the best in America.

What is it about your bus route that you love? Is your bus driver brilliant? Is the view from your window breathtaking? Do your fellow riders characters belong in a Hemingway novel?

The judges include Earl Blumenauer, Enrique Peñalosa and TA Executive Director Paul Steely White. I’m honored to also be a judge. You only have until next Wednesday, November 10th, to submit your entry. You can email them to busroutes@goodinc.com or tweet the entry to @GOOD and use the hashtag #bestbusride. Good luck!

The Eco-Village Xtra-Cycle.

(This is the third installment in what's becoming a series of articles by Ron Milam that I'm calling the GOOD series.  For the other two submissions, click here. - DN)

A good facilitator brings some important materials to a meeting including an easel, markers, a small clock and most challenging of all to carry on a bicycle, a full sized posterboard to scribe notes to capture everyone’s good thoughts. Up until now, I have always asked clients to bring the posterboard because it was too challenging to secure on my small bike rack.

For a recent peer learning session I led for the Liberty Hill Foundation, one of the leading funders of social change movements in Los Angeles, I decided I would incorporate a little social change in my own lifestyle and bring everything to the training by bicycle.  Knowing I couldn't fit everyone on my existing bike, I remembered one of my neighbors here at the LA Eco-Village has an XtraCycle I could borrow, which is a bicycle trailer device designed to carry heavy loads.

I’m excited to report that I successfully carried the following items on one bicycle: that big posterboard, an easel, markers, handouts, my laptop computer and three bags of groceries that fed an impressive group of 15 leaders working on social change here in Los Angeles.  I really enjoyed the ride and the discussion that followed it.

Now that I know it can easily be done, I look forward to hauling all of my facilitation tools on bike to future trainings, retreats and meetings. While I can’t confirm it, I just might be able to say I’m the only bicycling facilitator in Los Angeles! If you need a facilitator or want to know more about what a facilitator does, check out my website.

See you on the streets of Los Angeles and remember that you can always carry more stuff on a bicycle than you think you can.  

A GOOD presentation. Image: Ron Milam

On December 5^th, GOOD Magazine hosted an event called L.A. 2.0: Refresh, Reinvent and Re-imagine that assembled 25 leading urban practitioners for an afternoon to identify five key urban strategies to improve the physical environment in Los Angeles.

I participated in this event and am pleased to report the common theme that emerged from the five groups was the need for flexibility in how we use urban space. So rather than streets being prioritized only for cars all the time, that the city of Los Angeles needs to be more proactive in using our spaces in ways that also build community and promote sustainability.

One idea that came up in several groups was the Ciclavia concept. Several people within the gathering were familiar with this idea, which goes to show the folks working on organizing this are doing a good job getting the word out. Several folks had not heard about this idea, but really liked the concept after they heard more about it.

Thanks to everyone who submitted suggestions when I made an earlier post about this gathering. I shared several of these ideas with folks who attended, which included architects, planners, staff from local elected officials, bloggers, developers, artists and advocates. The results of the think-tank will be put into a letter which will be sent to the Obama administration. I will also keep many of the good ideas I heard in mind as I continue to work with sustainability-oriented nonprofits in LA.

So, when are we going to get a Ciclavia in L.A.? Sometime in 2010 sounds good to me!

(Editor’s note: Ron did a preview of the meeting, that included some of your suggestions, that can be found here.)

On December 5^th, Good Magazine will host an event
called L.A.
2.0: Refresh, Reinvent and Re-imagine, which will assemble 25 leading
urban practitioners for an afternoon to identify five key urban strategies to
improve the physical environment in Los Angeles.

I’m pleased to participate in this event and plan to
share some good ideas I’ve learned from many of my sustainability-oriented nonprofit clients,
which have included the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition, Bike Kitchen,
Bikestation, Reconnecting America, Green LA Coalition and many others.

As a facilitator, I often work to brainstorm ideas from groups
I’m working with at retreats.   I’m curious to hear what
GOOD ideas YOU have to improve the physical environment in Los Angeles. 
Bike Boulevards? Transit-Oriented Development? Community Gardens? Taco
Trucks?  Please post your ideas as comments.  I look forward to
reading what you have to say.  Thanks!