Featured Headline: Today is Park(ing) Day, which I once referred to as Christmas for Livable Streets advocates. If you're unfamiliar with the event, basically a group of people set up a small park in a parking space, usually a metered space, to demonstrate how much public space we're willingly giving up for car parking.
I always celebrated the holiday in style. In 2008, I toured 14 spaces by myself. In 2009, I had a small crew with me , and we made it to 13 spaces. Last year, Streetsblog co-sponsored a space with St. Andrews West L.A., the Church that happens to be next door.
This year we're going to be much more low key. I'm only planning on visiting one space, and we're doing so as part of a larger story. However, this year a pair of City Councilmen and the Downtown L.A. Neighborhood Council are using Park(ing) Day as a platform to announce new legislation that would create a "parklets" program for Los Angeles. San Francisco recently initiated such a program and you can read more about it at SF Streetsblog. Meanwhile, the advisory announcing this morning's presser can be found after the jump.
- Wi-Fi for the Gold Line on Its Way (Eastsider)
- While L.A. Debates, O.C./Metrolink Move on Bike Share (Register)
- More on Expo Line Lawsuits (SM Daily Press)
- Zev: Expo Means Jobs (City Watch)
- Lessons Learned from Expo (City Watch)
- CicLAvia Shortens New Chinatown Spur (CicLAvia)
- Gas Prices Fall for Fifth Straight Day (Daily News)
- Rich Homeowners Getting OK to Gate and Control Their "Public" Street? (City Watch)
- Retailers Thinking Outside the Big Box (DC Streetsblog)
More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill
Councilmembers Perry & Huizar Lead Effort to Create Parklets to Maximize Urban Green Space
Partner with Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council to Highlight Need for Creative Urban Planning; Announcement Coincides with Citywide Park(ing) Day
LOS ANGELES, CA – Council President Pro Tempore Jan Perry and Councilmember José Huizar will announce efforts to create a parklet program for Los Angeles in partnership with the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. Parklets are semi-permanent open space projects located in the public right-of-way for park and recreation purposes.
To help kick-off the program, Perry and Huizar will introduce a motion instructing City Planning to work with the Departments of Public Works and Transportation to implement a demonstration projects currently underway in Downtown and Northeast Los Angeles. The Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council has established a working group to design, build, fund, install and maintain parklet demonstration projects on Spring Street. The working group is coordinating this effort with the Historic Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Business Improvement District and local business owners. The 14th Council District has also initiated the creation of two parklet demonstration projects on North Huntington Drive and York Boulevard.
The announcement will coincide with Park(ing) Day when individuals and organizations create mini-parks for the day in metered street parking spaces all across the country and around the world. These pop-up parks call attention to the need for public open space in our communities and the amount of space within our public realm that is devoted to the automobile.
What: Council President Pro Tempore Jan Perry, 9th Council District ; Councilmember José Huizar, 14th Council District ; Valerie Watson, Board Chair - Parks, Recreation & Open Space Committee, Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council; Simon Pastucha, Head of the Urban Design Studio, Los Angeles Department of City Planning
When: 10:00 a.m., Friday, September 16, 2011
Where: City Council Media Room, Behind City Council Chambers
City Hall, 3rd Floor, 200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
