L.A. Kicks Off Citywide Plan Forums, Additional Forums Coming to Your Area

This past Saturday in Granada Hills, Streetsblog L.A. attended the first of seven planning forums hosted by the city of Los Angeles' Department of City Planning (DCP.)

The next forum will be held in Downtown L.A. this Wednesday, March 19 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Metro HQ, just behind Union Station. Following that will be this Saturday, March 22nd from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at South L.A.'s Martin Luther King Recreation Center on Western at 39th. Planning forums continue through April 12th - full schedule after the jump.

The forums are basically an open house format. Show up any time during the open hours, peruse plans and display boards, ask questions, and submit comments. DCP is seeking community input on three citywide initiatives:

• Mobility Plan 2035 - see: SBLA's coverage or city project website
• Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles - see: SBLA's coverage or city's project website
• Re:code Los Angeles - see city's project website, SBLA intro coming soon

Mayor Garcetti's staff are also promoting their Great Streets Initiative. Various local initiatives, including the Boyle Heights Community Plan Update, will be featured at the forum taking place in the corresponding location.

Saturday's forum at the Granada Hills Recreation Center  was attended by several hundred people. Attendees included members of San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Councils, hillside homeowner associations, and members of the city of Los Angeles' appointed Bicycle Advisory Committee. With the open house format, it's difficult to get much of an overall sense of how the draft plans were being received. Issues overheard discussed ranged from concern over toxic soils, to the taxpayer cost of large-scale planning efforts, to the loss of a "great cut-through [for cars]" on Wilbur Avenue.

These three initiatives will exert a great deal of influence on the way Los Angeles changes and grows over the next twenty-plus years. If Streetsblog readers want to see a city that prioritizes walking, transit and cycling, it's important to attend a forum, familiarize yourself with the plans, and let the city know your comments.

The DCP, especially in their Mobility Plan 2035,  is proposing fundamental changes to L.A. streets: re-allocating car space to transit on "TEN"streets (Transit Enhanced Network), constructing protected bikeways on "BEN" streets (Bicycle Enhanced Network), and prioritizing walking in "PED" neighborhoods (Pedestrian Enhanced Destination areas.) If you want to see these changes remain in these plans, and move from plan to on-the-ground change, then head down to one of these forums and speak your piece.

Full list of upcoming City Planning forums:
CENTRAL
When: Wednesday, March 19; 5 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: Metro Headquarters (near Patsaouras Plaza) - One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90012

SOUTH LOS ANGELES
When: Saturday, March 22; 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Where: Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center - 3916 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90062

EAST
When: Saturday, March 29; 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Where: Boyle Heights City Hall - 2130 E. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90033

WEST
When: Wednesday, April 2; 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Where: Westwood United Methodist Church - 10497 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90024

SOUTH VALLEY
When: Saturday, April 5; 9 a.m. – 12 noon
Where: Marvin Braude Constituent Service Center - 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys, CA 91401

HARBOR
When: Saturday, April 12; 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Peck Park Community Center - 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro, CA 90732

Forums flier here.