Month: September 2009

I find it hard to believe that anyone who regularly reads Streetsblog doesn't know who Stephen Box is.  Either he, his wife, or one of the groups he leads seem to make news just about every week somewhere in Los Angeles.  But for those who don't know, Stephen Box is a Bike Activist and Community Organizer who lives in Hollywood with his lovely wife, Enci. Stephen says "I believe that our streets are the new ‘public space’ and our ability to share that space is one of our greatest opportunities for revitalizing and redefining our communities.”

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we're featuring a post from San Francisco's Pedestrianist about two-way street conversions in Minneapolis and how such changing traffic patterns could benefit pedestrians and other users:

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

New bike lanes are in use on Reseda Boulevard. L.A. StreetsBlog readers will remember that these lanes were approved in the city of Los Angeles' 1996 bike plan, but weren't implemented due to conflicting Department of Transportation (LADOT) plans for additional peak-hour car lanes. When the peak-hour lanes plan faced opposition, LADOT pledged to implement a mile of bike lanes on Reseda Blvd from Devonshire Street to San Fernando Mission Road.

On Thursday, September 24, at 9:46 P.M., Samuel L. Newton was born to this world, increasing the number of Livable Streets Activists in Los Angeles by one.  Samuel weighed in at seven pounds, one ounce and was 21 inches "long."  He was brought home by his parents on Saturday afternoon.  Mother, Father, and child are resting comfortably, if occasionally.

Hey Folks, Damien's wife is having (or just had) a baby. That means Streetsblog Los Angeles is going to have a somewhat erratic publishing schedule for the next few weeks.

This afternoon's Los Angeles City Council Transportation Committee was dominated by the taxi controversy explained in this earlier post. In brief, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) is overseeing a taxi assessment to set future taxi policy, and LADOT awarded a contract for that assessment in a manner that bypassed agreed-upon processes.

h/t to reader Jass.

The House is slated to vote this afternoon on a three-month extension of the 2005 federal infrastructure law, as proposed yesterday by transportation committee chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN).