Streetsblog Los Angeles

Last Friday, Streetsblog Los Angeles “hung out,” to use Google’s term, with CicLAvia’s executive director Aaron Paley to talk about the new route for the April 21 “CicLAvia to the Sea” and other issues to L.A.’s biggest and best street party. Since watching a 25 minute video can be daunting, here is what we talked about as we talked about it.

2:00 to 12:50 – Discussion of the new route, including “start” and “stop points,” where there will be dismount zones (as one enters Venice Blvd. from Alvarado on the east end of the event), and where there will be children’s bicycle lessons and fairs at McArthur Park and the Venice Beach.

We also discuss the parts of Venice east of the Mid-City Hub where eastbound traffic will be allowed on Venice Boulevard on the south side of the street. The traffic plan is similar to the one utilized for the L.A. Marathon, and is one that has been used before, with a few tweeks for the larger CicLAvia crowd. Paley assured me that access to the hubs, especially the highly anticipated Culver City hub, will be seemless and safe.

12:50 to 13:13 – Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel are just planning to have fun at CicLAvia this year.

13:23 to 15:40 – We discuss the road conditions and the pothole situation on Venice Boulevard. Venice Boulevard between the 10 and Lincoln is actually a state highway. Many of the worst potholes are the responsibility of Caltrans and the state. CicLAvia usually works with L.A.’s Bureau of Street Services for fixes, but this time it was Caltrans. The north side of the street should be fixed in both the city controlled and state controlled areas by the time CicLAvia rolls around, but Paley was uncertain whether or not both sides of the street would see fixes.

15:40 to 18:44 – Aaron answers a reader question about the future of CicLAvia. Aaron talks about the new routes that are up this year and states that the goal remains to have one CicLAvia every month. The goal is to have “12 distinct routes that would rotate every year on “their month.” We also discussed whether either Garcetti or Greuel talk to CicLAvia staff or volunteers before making statements guaranteeing future expansion of the program. Neither has.

Paley did go on to say that both candidates have been extremely supportive of CicLAvia, and he looks forward to working with “either G” to expand the program.

18:45 to 22:35 – I give a short promotion for Robin Adams’ video that we are trying to place on MTA buses for the June CicLAvia and Aaron and I have a small chat where he debuts the new CicLAvia TAP card (for anyone reading this far without video, we have a screen grab on Streetsblog LITE.) It’s even cooler than the LADOT TAP card (no offense LADOT). You can get the CicLAvia TAP Card by making a $20 contribution to CicLAvia.

We also discuss the “magic wand” question and Aaron pines for a fully built out transit system. It’s beautiful.

22:35 – 23:08 – Our next broadcast is on Live Stream live from MyFigueroa! at 6:30 pm tomorrow night.

23:12 – The debut of our new video mentioned above. We’re hoping it runs on Metro buses in June as part of Freewaves PSA/Arts project with Transit TV.

Click on the image to go to StreetsTube

We’ll be broadcasting live on YouTube today with CicLAvia executive director Aaron Paley, answering your questions and discussing the new route today at 1 pm. Can’t join us at 1? The discussion will be archived on our YouTube site as soon as we wrap.

This won’t be the first time we’ve talked to Stephen Villavaso on camera…

Just a reminder, later today Streetsblog Los Angeles will be interviewing CicLAvia executive director Aaron Paley and Steerting Committee member Stephen Villavaso live at 3:30 pm. We’ll be using Google Hangout again, and broadcasting live on StreetsTube, our YouTube account page.

If there’s anything you’d like me to ask them, please leave a note in the comments section or tweet with hashtag #ciclaviasb

We'll be broadcasting and archiving three of today's forums by Climate Resolve for CD 9, CD 13 and City Attorney. Join us at Streetsblog TV

We have a full broadcast schedule on Streetsblog TV (at Live Stream) and StreetsTube in the next couple of weeks, starting with three debates today. Here is our upcoming broadcast schedule.

Today, 9:15

Watch the candidates for City Attorney debate the environment, transportation and the economy in a live forum sponsored by Climate Resolve.

Today, 10:05

Watch the candidates vying to replace Jan Perry in South L.A.’s CD 9 debate the environment, transportation and the economy in a live forum sponsored by Climate Resolve.

Today, 11:05

Watch the candidates vying to replace Eric Garcetti in CD 13 debate the environment, transportation and the economy in a live forum sponsored by Climate Resolve.

Wednesday, 3:30 pm

Live on StreetsTube, we’ll be interviewing Aaron Paley and Stephen Villavaso of team CicLAvia about the new route and some things to look out for at the “CicLAvia to the Sea” event on April 21.

Tuesday, April 9 5:30 pm

We’ll be broadcasting live from the public meeting on MyFigueroa! including the presentation by Charlie Gandy and the presentations being made around the meeting room. The video quality won’t be the best, the location doesn’t have high-speed Internet readily available, but we’ll rebroadcast the highlights on StreetsTube the next day.

Next week, the global warming activists of Climate Resolve will host a series of candidate forums focusing on the environment, transportation and the economy. Anyone wishing to take part in the discussion, happening from 9 am to 4 pm at the California Endowment Building just north of Union Station, can reserve their space by clicking on the image above.

However, thanks to a special arrangement between Climate Resolve and Streetsblog Los Angeles, we’re happy to announce that we will be broadcasting the first three debates at Streetsblog TV.

While the program officially starts at 8:30 am, our broadcast will begin with the City Attorney discussion at 9:15. Following that will be a discussion with Senator Curran Price and Ana Cubas the two remaining candidates in the Council District 9 race to replace Jan Perry. Rounding out our broadcast schedule will be a third district discussion this time with the candidates to replace Eric Garcetti in CD 13, Mitch O’Farrell and John Choi.

We’re looking for a sponsor to help defray the costs of the broadcast and allow us to broadcast the entire event. If you’re interested, email damien@streetsblog.org. The broadcast of the morning sessions is made possible by a grant from the Vida Feliz Foundation.

Read more…

Click here to go to the CD 1 Candidate Forum Page at Streetsblog TV

Assuming all is going well, Streetsblog TV is broadcasting live from East Los Angeles Community Corporation’s “Policy Con Pan Dolce” on food vending policy. Click here, or on the graphic above, to visit our event page on Live Stream.

On a sadder note, we had to cancel our broadcast of the Janette Sadik-Khan speech at noon today. We had a communications snafu with NYCDOT.

We’re happy to announce a pair of Streetsblog TV broadcasts for this Thursday.

Bright and early at 8 a.m., Kris Fortin will be broadcasting live from the East Los Angeles Community Corporation’s panel discussion on street vending in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is one of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. without a form of legalized street vending. Street vending has been a part of Los Angeles’ fabric, culture and economy for decades. If you can’t make the discussion, but care about the issue, be sure to visit our LiveStream of the event. As with all our broadcasts, the video will be available on Streetsblog TV as soon as the broadcast is completed.

To visit the LiveStream event page for Los Angeles Street Vendors, Making Good Food Legal, click on the image on the right or just click here.

At noon, Fortin will be at Occidental College for a lecture by Oxy alumna and NYCDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. During her tenure at NYCDOT, the department has gone from one of the most car-centric ones in the nation to one of the most people-centric ones. From turning Times Square into a public plaza to creating bus only lanes in the Bronx, for the past five and a half years her department has been a national model for sustainability.

The lecture, which is open to the public but with very limited seating, is one of two public appearances Sadik-Khan will be making that day. The other is at UCLA’s Complete Streets Conference later in the day. The title of her speech at Occidental College is “Transportation Revolution? Lessons from New York City.” Visit the Streetsblog TV event page for the lecture by clicking here.

The Senator begins his response to a question on his AB 32 vote at the 1:37 mark.

In 2006, California passed landmark environmental legislation, AB 32, which set the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law. Then Senator Gil Cedillo did not vote one way or another on the legislation, which needed a vote of the majority of the present Senators to pass. While his opponents in next month’s primary election for Los Angeles City Council have contended that the lack of a “yes” vote is a sign of Cedillo’s ties to Chevron Gasoline, which opposed the law, Cedillo tells a different story.

More information on AB 32, and its importance in state and national legislative history, can be found here.

At Sunday’s CD 1 Candidates Forum, Cedillo told a moving story of how he was home with his ailing wife when the vote was cast. However, a friend of his, Republican Senator Roy Ashburn, volunteered to vote for AB 32 in his absence because of their close relationship so that Cedillo didn’t have to choose between a universally important vote and his wife.

It’s a moving story.

It’s also not true.

“I mis-spoke,” Cedillo said on a call with Streetsblog earlier today. “It was AB 1493 that I was home for, and it was Senator Vargas, a moderate Democrat, who voted yes.”

Here’s the story. AB 1493 and AB 32 have a lot in common. They were both controversial at the time. They both dealt with vehicle emissions. They were both authored by Senator Fran Paley, who endorses Cedillo’s campaign. There are some major differences, AB 1493 was passed in 2002 and AB 32 was passed in 2006. That’s an important difference, as Cedillo’s wife passed away in 2002, not 2006. Read more…

Click here to go to the Spring Street Parklet Opening Page at Streetsblog TV

It’s 9:00 A.M., so if the Internet gods are willing we are Live Streaming this morning’s press conference live from Spring Street. If you’re not going to make it to the LA Cafe (639 Spring Street), you can watch the conference live by clicking the Streetsblog TV logo above.

Photo: Kris Fortin/Flickr

It might have taken five days longer than we thought, but I finally uploaded the entire two hour Livable Streets Candidate Forum for the four candidates vying to succeed Bill Rosendahl in Council District 11. Watching the video again, it’s striking how few times Rosendahl’s name comes up in the discussion.

Also notable, each of the four candidates kicks off the forum season with a discussion of walking, bicycling, transit, parking and more sounding as though they’ve spent the last four years at UCLA planning school. As the forum season continues, it will be interesting to see if they continue in this vein or if the focus on Livability last week was an outlier.

All four videos are embedded after the jump.

Meanwhile, mark your schedules for the next two Streetsblog TV events. On February 7th, we’ll be at the opening of two pocket parks in Downtown Los Angeles at 9:00 a.m. with Mayor Villaraigosa, Council Members Huizar and Perry and more. Then, on February 10th we’ll be at Occidental College for the CD 1 Candidates debate at 1:00 p.m. Read more…