Garcetti layed out his own transportation agenda in our interview series during the primaries.
With much fanfare from the mainstream press, Mayor Eric Garcetti's first 100 days in office have come and gone. Polls show the mayor has pretty outstanding approval numbers as he's earned praise for a quiet and steady leadership style.
Things haven't been as smooth on the transportation front. The much-hyped redesign of the Hyperion-Glendale Series of Bridges has become trench warfare for the Mayor and Council Members that appeared in the flowery video promoting the project. The debacle of the repainting of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane drifted into the absurd when it took the city over two weeks to begin painting the lane after water blasting it. Meanwhile, the city's next signature bicycling project: the My Figueroa! streetscape project in South Park is being challenged by the local City Council Member and millionaire car shop owner, both of whom claim they aren't fighting it.
By contrast, the new road diet on Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock seems to be working well for all commuters (check out these pictures uploaded by Bike SGV's Wesley Reutimann.) CicLAvia adds at least one more Sunday to the mix next year. The newly launched "Performance" website does put useful data in an easily accessible format. I just hope they continue to add datasets and not just update the ones they already have.
As for our own "First 100 Days" suggestions, the Mayor goes 2.5 for 5.
He kept the stars from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's transportation team, although we don't know if LADOT General Manager Jaime De La Vega is staying for the long-term, and made solid picks to the Planning Commission and Metro Board of Directors. He definitely is still riding transit to work time and again. The implementation of the road diet in Eagle Rock, despite some heated local opposition is a good sign, even if his overall record on promoting bicycling is somewhat mixed.
On the minus side, he hasn't made a bold statement on either transit or pedestrian improvements to create a vision for his next term. With a mixed record on bike issues, Garcetti has yet to offer any real vision on transportation. And whether you liked his predecessor or not, you have to admit the man had vision.
Rather than give ideas for his next 100 days, we're going to leave it to you to outline what Garcetti should do next. Leave your thoughts on the last 100, and next 100, days in the comments section.
