Continuing our mini-series where readers explain why they support L.A. Streetsblog, I’m proud to feature an endorsement from Josef Bray-Ali. We may have no stronger supporter than Bray-Ali who sponsored a fundraiser for us last year and is sponsoring another one this weekend, was our first advertiser ever and is also our all-time commenting MVP. The founder of the Bike Oven, and proprietor of the Flying Pigeon Bike Shop, Josef still manages to find time to program dozens of bike rides throughout Northeast L.A. every year.
Why do I think Streetsblog is important?
The group that showed up to ride in last year's Flying Pigeon fundraiser for Streetsblog.
In LA, when you are walking on a sidewalk that abruptly terminates in a “No Ped Crossing”, or are sitting at a bus stop with only a bent and faded sign to its name, or riding a bike while insane “commuters” driving well over the speed limit past you, the school you just dropped your kid off at, and the local park – what are you supposed to do?
Talk to your neighbors? Hah! This town is built around social isolation. Talk to your city councilman? Hah! That guy doesn’t care about you unless you’re funding his re-election bid.
Call some bureaucrat in City Hall? Hah! Even if they could help, most city departments on the frontlines of delivering services also have a built in culture of putting off the public and ignoring our needs to suit their internal power squabbles and managerial incompetence.
What recourse do we have? The local press is owned by a bunch of corporate conglomerates busy shoveling celebrity news at us.
The answer is the discussion and analysis that starts online at LA Streetsblog, and continues in the board meetings, town halls, bike rides, and protests to fix the problems we know our city has.
In an anti-human environment, it takes a little bit of cybernetics to connect people enough to organize for positive change – and that is what Streetsblog has done in LA. It has turned the one guy on the block angry about terrible bike lanes into an organizer of dozens of other people in the city – herding them downtown to make their voices heard. It has turned the lone female bus rider, pissed about incompetent management of the bus system into the voice a many others in board meetings and in print journalism. Streetsblog is the platform upon which a more livable Los Angeles is being built.
There’s a lot of ways you can show your support. You can donate directly here, or buy a t-shirt here, or join us for our fundraiser at Flying Pigeon on June 17 (details here). We can receive through PayPal sent to “damien@streetsblog.org.” Last but not least, you can purchase an advertisement by emailing me directly.
