Vea el Streetfilm sin subtítulos, aqui.

After sponsoring two Streetfilms of the first two CicLAvias, Los Angeles’ version of the open streets festival based on Bogota’s Ciclovia, Los Angeles Streetsblog faced a dilemma: How can we continue to cover the event that draws over a hundred thousand Angelenos to the streets?  The Answer? Make a Streetfilm that was accessible to Southern California’s large Spanish-speaking population.

¡Viva CicLAvia! consists of two parts.  First, narrator Mara Corina Arellano Colin explains the history and concept of Los Angeles’ amazing open streets party, including footage and photos from similar festivals in Bogota, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Brussels and Miami.  While the narration is a great explanation of the benefits and culture of CicLAvia, the soul of Social Impact Consulting’s efforts are the interviews with participants.

The next five minutes is a parade of Spanish speakers professing their love of CicLAvia.  Whether it’s the team from South Central’s Mendez Bike Shop, the traffic officer spreading his arms while explaining Viva CicLAvia, or Hollywood’s City Councilman Eric Garcetti; the broad smiles in the Southern California sun give a message in any language.  Giving people more chances to play in the sun is good for Los Angeles.

This Streetfilm marked another first for Streetfilms, a directly reader supported video.  L.A. Streetsblog asked its readers if they wanted a Spanish language film on CicLAvia, and when they said yes, the readers were challenged through a Kick Starter campaign to fund the film.  Needless to say, the readers came through.

Watch here without English subtitles.

Guadalajara, Mexico is showing how amazingly transformative a ciclovia-style road closure can be for its citizens. In 7 years, their inaugural Sunday event Via RecreActiva has grown from just 7 miles with 35,000 participants to 41 miles with 400,000 users every Sunday. It goes from 8 am to 2 pm. It covers 6 municipalities. The diversity of activities features traditional ciclovia staples like aerobic classes and music, but also some new wrinkles including free haircuts for children and a city that clearly knows how to hula hoop!

Another unique aspect of this story is that one of the forces behind the success of the Via RecreActiva is a civil association called Guadalajara 2020, a group of primarily made of  business owners, real estate people and entrepreneurs who envision Guadalajara to be a healthier, greener and more humane city.

That mission includes bringing better transit to the city, making it safer to walk & bike and create equality and empowerment among its people. Perhaps it is best put by Guadalajara 2020′s President, José Palacios Jiménez, who told us:

“…we would like to be able to remove the cars from the entire city. Because with all the information we manage to get, we are able to understand that the biggest problem of humanity are the cars.”

Guadalajara does feature  public spaces on par with the greatest in the world, but also faces many extraordinary challenges with horrible traffic and unsafe pedestrian environments on nearly every street.  It’s refreshing to see business folks not only speaking out and understanding the real solutions, but investing their funds to create an organization like Guadalajara 2020.

By installing eight bike racks, DOT created a “daylighting” effect, improving visibility at the intersection. The bike parking is much less intrusive than parked cars and helps everyone at the intersection see everyone else. Oh yeah, and now there are a dozen new places to park bikes without taking away any space from Smith Street’s busy sidewalks.

For another look at on-street bike parking, check out Streetfilms’ 2008 tour of Portland, Oregon’s bike corrals.

In his campaign for mayor, Rahm Emanuel pledged to make Chicago a more bike-friendly city. And in office, he set his sights high, aiming to construct 100 miles of protected bike lanes in his first term.

His team wasted no time. Chicago DOT installed the city’s first protected bike lane on Kinzie Street before Emanuel’s first 30 days in office were over. Leading Emanuel’s DOT is former Washington, DC DOT Commissioner Gabe Klein, who clearly understands the connection between safe streets and the health of a city.

Last month Streetfilms traveled to Chicago to speak with the commissioner, ride on Kinzie Street, and bask in the city’s cycling excitement.

And one piece of local trivia. The Blommer Chocolate Store is right on the Kinzie Street protected bike lane and boy does it smell good. It figured prominently in my all-time favorite response to an interview question about biking.

People just have a lot of fun. You’ll see families, students, and older citizens heavily sprinkled throughout the critical mass. Drivers who usually rule the congested roads seem to mostly tolerate the inconvenience. The police largely ignore the whole thing. Helping matters is that each of the rides is theme-oreinted: one month it might be to celebrate Mexico’s Independence.  Another week it could be comic books. This month was particularly fun since it was all about celebrating the Day of the Dead!

Streetfilms would like to thank Guadalajara 2020 for making it possible to make the journey to document this wonderful event & sponsoring the film.  And to Gil Penalosa, Executive Director of 8-80 Cites, for organizing the details

In the Dutch city of Utrecht, kids start learning about traffic safety long before they prepare for a driver’s license. And not just “look both ways before you cross the street.”

The school curriculum includes regular field trips to the local “traffic garden.” The City of Utrecht has used this facility, a streetscape in miniature, to teach kids the rules of the road since the 1950s. Students take turns as cyclists, pedestrians and car drivers, learning how to take other types of street users into consideration. The hands-on experience navigating the traffic garden gives kids the skills and confidence to get around the city under their own power as soon as their early teens.

At this intersection on the main ring road around Groningen, cyclists get their own green phase. When the bike signal says go, cyclists at any point in the junction can travel in any direction. Engineer Hillie Talens explains how it works in this short video, which kicks off a series of Streetfilms we made on a trip to the Netherlands with a delegation from Bikes Belong.

Streetfilms has produced hundreds of films in five different continents, but has never produced a film in a language other than English.  We’re hoping to break the language barrier and give a third local film maker (joining Rob Adams and Ivy London) a chance to have their work featured with Streetfilms.

To get there, we need your help.  Support our Kickstarter campaign and help LA Streetsblog, Streetfilms, and CicLAvia itself make a little more Livable Streets history.

In the increasingly heated competition to see who deserves the title of America’s most bike-friendly city, Minneapolis has plenty going for it. Last year Bicycling magazine anointed the city tops in the nation, knocking Portland off its long-held perch.

The Twin Cities are undergoing a steady transformation into a more bike-oriented region thanks to nearly 100 miles of greenways and off-street paths, giving residents safe and quick travel options. By far the best-known of those paths is the 5.7 mile long Midtown Greenway, which connects cyclists to destinations through the heart of Minneapolis, from east to west. As you’ll see, the path isn’t just giving people a great place to bike, walk, and run — it’s attracting development and new businesses as well.

Thanks to the Bikes Belong Foundation for funding this Streetfilm, our third in a series on innovations in Minneapolis. Check out the Nice Ride MN and Sabo Bridge Streetfilms if you haven’t already!

Riders wait between Hollenbeck Park and the I-5 during the 10/10/10 CicLAvia in Boyle Heights. Photo:Anika Malone/Flickr

Help us reach our goal of $1,000 for the first ever Spanish Language Streetfilm on CicLAvia III at Kickstarter.

Both times that Los Angeles has celebrated CicLAvia, LA Streetsblog and Streetfilms have teamed with film maker Rob Adams to document the event.  This time, we want to do something a little different and we need your help.

In an effort to be more inclusive and broaden our reach, we want to shoot a Streetfilm of the October 9th CicLAvia entirely in Spanish. The film will be of the same professional quality as any other Streetfilm, but will have a Spanish speaking film maker asking questions and getting answers in Spanish.

We’re not talking about subtitling an English Language Streetsfilm, we’re talking about creating the first ever Spanish Language film. As with every Streetfilm, it will be made available on their website and we can produce DVD’s for outreach.  The only problem is that we don’t have the cash on-hand to make the film, and that’s where you come in.  We’ve created a Kickstarter webpage where you can pledge to help us make this film a reality.  Our goal is $1,000.  By Kickstarter rules, if we don’t reach that goal, we don’t get any of the pledged funds.

If this film proves successful, we’ll begin to produce films in Spanish with greater regularity.  If this sounds like something you want to support, visit Kickstarter and help us out!

Three years ago Streetfilms brought you a comprehensive look at Bogotá, Colombia’s TransMilenio, the world’s most advanced Bus Rapid Transit system. TransMilenio changed the way Bogotá residents think about public transportation, becoming indispensable to the 1.7 million people who use the system daily. If anything, the bus network became a victim of its own success, handling more passengers and crowding than its planners anticipated. Today, ten years after TransMilenio launched, we revisit this groundbreaking transit system and examine how it must improve as it matures.

To view film with subtitles, click on the image and select "Spanish" of the menu on the bottom left.

David Barboza’s remarkable pro-bono run translating L.A. Streetfilms for us is at an end.  I don’t think he planned it this way, but the last Streetfilm shot in L.A. that needed subtitles, was the first one that we ever shot and the reason for the first visit to Los Angeles by the Streetfilms team.  It includes a lot of “famous” faces, including Transit Coalition E.D. Bart Reed and then City Council Transportation Committee Chair Wendy Greuel.

They liked the film so much in New York, where Streetsblog ally and transportation reform super group Transportation Alternatives was pushing for BRT projects of their own, that they actually shot an update to the film a year later focusing on the addition of the bike path.

A full list of all the L.A. Area Streetfilms can be found after the jump.  Thanks for all your help, David.

What Is an Eco-Village

A Rush Hour Interview with an Urban Planner

L.A. Gets Diagonal Crosswalks, Again

Art Cycle 2009

It’s Just Like Riding a Bicycle

CicLAvia Is…

L.A. Street Summit 2010: Building Momentum for Change

Black Kids on Bikes

Long Beach Shifts Into High Gear

Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in L.A.

Orange Line BRT and Bike Path

CicLAvia: Let’s Go!

To view this film with subtitles, click on the image and select "Spanish" of the menu on the bottom left.

The good news? David Barboza has translated another “L.A. Streetfilm” and provided subtitles for a classic Streetfilm. If there’s one group of people that have supported Streetsblog and everything we’ve been trying to do, it’s the Los Angeles Eco-Village. Both as an organization, the Eco-Village has sponsored two fundraisers, and as individuals, it seems everytime Streetsblog needs something, the Eco-Village is there.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Eco-Village, check them out at the above linked video. If you’re an old hand, just take a couple of minutes to enjoy what they’re doing. And if you’re enjoying the subtitles, well, that’s the whole point of this series anyway.

A full list of all the L.A. Streetfilms that have been translated into Spanish can be found after the jump.

A Rush Hour Interview with an Urban Planner

L.A. Gets Diagonal Crosswalks, Again

Art Cycle 2009

It’s Just Like Riding a Bicycle

CicLAvia Is…

L.A. Street Summit 2010: Building Momentum for Change

Black Kids on Bikes

Long Beach Shifts Into High Gear

Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in L.A.

Orange Line BRT and Bike Path

CicLAvia: Let’s Go!

To view this film with subtitles, click on the image and select "Spanish" of the menu on the bottom left.

I have to be honest, I’ve owed Deborah Murphy an apology for over three years.  You see, I misheard the director and I told her to wear a white shirt to the filming of  Lessons From LA: A Rush Hour Drive with a City Planner.  Now seems as good a time as ever to make that apology in writing.

Sorry, Deborah.

This is a fun little Streetfilm we put together in 2008.  Given L.A.’s national reputation as “Car Culture Capital” we thought it would be fun to take a long time transportation reformer and make her talk about L.A. while driving around Hollywood at rush hour.  Perverse of us.

A lot of you have probably never seen this film, as L.A. Streetblog’s readership was less than 1/6th of what it is now, so this reposting provides a great chance to see it again or for the first time.

A full list of all the other films David Barboza has subtitled for us can be found after the jump.

L.A. Gets Diagonal Crosswalks, Again

Art Cycle 2009

It’s Just Like Riding a Bicycle

CicLAvia Is…

L.A. Street Summit 2010: Building Momentum for Change

Black Kids on Bikes

Long Beach Shifts Into High Gear

Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in L.A.

Orange Line BRT and Bike Path

CicLAvia: Let’s Go!

To view this film with subtitles, click on the image and select "Spanish" of the menu on the bottom left.

While our CicLAvia Streetfilms have been viewed more times by Angelenos than any other film, two L.A. Streetfilms have garnered over 10,000 views nationwide. One of those was our look at the Scramble Crosswalks, where pedestrians are given their own time to cross the street in whatever direction they choose.

Or, in the case of UCLA students, you can do whatever you want during the “pedestrian” time in the street.

Our friend David Barboza has added subtitles to this 2008 “classic” Streetfilm. This film was a lot of fun to make, and it’s worth a second look if you enjoyed it years ago or a first look if the subtitles make it more available.

As part of our ongoing coverage of the impact of the Los Angeles County Public Health P.L.A.C.E. grants, this week Streetsblog will focus on Long Beach.  Because Long Beach is so close to Los Angeles and has been making such strides in the world of sustainable transportation, the city’s strides have been a secondary focus of Los Angeles Streetsblog for the last three and a half years.  Heck, it even has its own Streetsfilm.

Two weeks ago, Streetsblog looked at Culver City’s first steps towards a Livable Streets transportation policy, while Long Beach is quite a bit ahead of Culver City there are some chinks in Long Beach’s armor.  There has been a quiet, but growing murmer that much of the outstanding infrastructure that has been put on Long Beach’s streets to help cyclists and pedestrians in recent years has focused on business corridors and upper class residential communities.  Streetsblog will examine that issue head on.  After all, a progressive public health plan for transportation should address the communities that most need it.

Since much of Long Beach’s PLACE Grant went in to funding the Mobility Coordinator position filled by the local bicycling community’s motivational speaker, Charlie Gand; Gandy will be a regular face on Streetsblog this week starting with our video and story series available after the jump.

In addition to this article, we’ll be publishing three more this week.  The first looks at the impact that this new focus on Livable Streets has had on business.  The second examines “Active Living and Complete Streets” planning documents put together as part of the PLACE Grant.  The third will look at the existing and funded infrastructure that’s been put in place over the last three years and talk about Long Beach’s recent past and future.

For anyone unfamiliar with our Long Beach coverage, or anyone that wants to catch up, read on after the jump.  We’ve added a few new interviews on You Tube discussing bike corrals, bike boulevards and separated bike lanes with Gandy.

The first time Long Beach’s new way of looking at streets caught our attention was in April of 2009 when they painted a Green Sharrowed Lane on both sides of Second Street through the heart of one of Long Beach’s busiest streets and business districts. We thought the Green Sharrow was the first of its kind in America, but were surprised to discover that Long Beach was edged by Salt Lake City.

During my “paternity leave” in October of 2009, Joe Linton guest wrote a couple of columns entitled “Long Beach’s Leap Toward Livability.” Part 1 looked at the existing infrastructure (as of October 2009) and Part 2 looked at what was on-deck.

Throughout much of 2010, Long Beach resident Drew Reed served as our Long Beach correspondent (all pro-bono!) writing stories on the addition of directional signage, the then-bike-unfriendly design plans for the Gerald Desmond Bridge, a visit from the president of the League of American Cyclists, and a photo tour of the Vista Street Bike Boulevard. For a complete list of all Reed’s stories, click here.

On top of all that, Reed still managed to find time to make this video on Long Beach’s bike recycling program.

In April of this year, two years after the Green Sharrows were put down, Long Beach opened separated bike lanes, aka Cycle Tracks, aka physically separated bike lanes, on Third Street (going west) and Broadway (going east). Joe Linton returned to Long Beach to cover the story and until Carmageddon it seemed as though it would be our most popular story of the year.

Damien Newton wrote this story while participating in The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships, a program of USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

The first cable-stayed bridge of any kind in the state, it’s breathtaking, even to the people who have been riding it for years. It provides a safe, continuous crossing and offers up a glorious view of the downtown skyline (especially at sunset!). The sleek Hiawatha light rail line runs beneath it, and there are benches to sit on and take everything in.

Used by an average of 2,500 riders a day, peak use can hit 5,000 to 6,000 per day on some gorgeous summer weekends, according to Shaun Murphy of the Minneapolis Department of Public Works.

The bridge was named in honor of Minneapolis’ Martin Olav Sabo, a former U.S. Representative from the 5th District who helped secure much of the $5 million needed to build it. Thanks to the Bikes Belong Foundation for enabling us to feature this majestic piece of bike architecture and to show that investing is cycling and walking is well worth every penny for our communities.

To view this film with subtitles, click on the image and select "Spanish" of the drop down menu on the bottom left.

Just as advertising and promotion for the 2011 East Hollywood ArtCycle are kicking into high gear, our friend David Barboza has added Spanish subtitles to Streetfilms’ take on the 2009 ArtCycle.

ArtCycle is an amazing event put on by the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council and a slew of co-sponsors including our friends the Greensters.  This year’s event will run from 2:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. on September 17 on Santa Monica Blvd. between Vermont Ave. and Virgil Ave.  In their own words:

ArtCycle is a street fair with a decidedly do-it-yourself artistic twist. Everything from the planning to setting up to holding the event is done with grass roots participation by denizens of East Hollywood, one of the most diverse and eclectic neighborhoods in all of Los Angeles. Activities such as “stamping parties” to create handmade fliers to publicize ArtCycle to mass-participation street art projects on the day of the event all help to bring together the many elements of a vibrant community.

I missed the 2010 event, but the 2009 version, the one that met in the Bicycle District, was really a unique and fun event, and the above film by the visiting Clarence Eckerson really captures the spirit of the day.  If you’d like to volunteer or contribute to this year’s event, contact info@artcyclela.com.

As for Streetfilms, here’s a list of all the L.A. Streetfilms that now have Spanish subtitles:

It’s Just Like Riding a Bicycle

CicLAvia Is…

L.A. Street Summit 2010: Building Momentum for Change

Black Kids on Bikes

Long Beach Shifts Into High Gear

Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in L.A.

Orange Line BRT and Bike Path

CicLAvia: Let’s Go!

Nearly three years ago Streetfilms took a day trip to Washington, D.C. to see their new bike-share system, Smart Bike DC, in action. We found the trial system a fun ride with great potential, but with only 120 bikes there wasn’t widespread use.

Flash forward to 2011. With more than 1,100 bicycles and 110 stations, D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare is testament to the imperative to “go big or go home” when deploying bike-share programs. Currently the largest bike-share system in the United States, the District’s second stab gives users much more flexibility and options to accomplish short errands and commute to work.

In fact, the next phase of expansion has just been announced, with 18 more stations and 265 more bikes coming this fall.

The handsome red bikes are easy to ride. With one swipe of a keycard you’re off and biking. During the morning and evening commutes (and lunch hours) you’ll see the bikes in very heavy rotation.  But what left Streetfilms most impressed was how many people were riding them in full business attire in the hot and humid summers around the capital. If that isn’t a sign of success, what is?

Streetfilms would like to thank the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) for partnering with us on this project.