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In 2019, no community captured the attention of the world as did Crenshaw. Sahra Sulaiman chronicled the efforts of the Crenshaw neighbors to claim their community, and its history, in February with "Destination Crenshaw and the Rise of We-Built-this-Place-Making." The Crenshaw community re-envisioned the corridor as a place to celebrate unapologetic Blackness with Destination Crenshaw, a 1.3 mile outdoor museum meant to greet the Crenshaw/LAX Line when it surfaces to run at-grade between 60th and Vernon Streets next year.
Less than two months later, following the shooting death of Nipsey Hussle, Sulaiman wrote about the community coming together to mourn a hero who contributed so much to the community even as the city tried so hard to push back against him. Later in the summer, Sulaiman published a much-discussed piece that is part-tribute to Hussle and part history lesson for those not familiar with his work, how the city demonized him, or how his demonization paralleled the city's history of denying the community ownership over its own streets.
Meanwhile, Joe Linton continued to research and report stories about Los Angeles' planning and transportation agencies that are missed or under-reported in the mainstream press. This fall, Linton was the first to publish stories of overcrowded trains on the Expo Line that eventually prompted Metro into increasing service. After Streetsblog coverage, the story jumped to Curbed and the Los Angeles Times.
This year, environmental litigation killed the wrongheaded High Desert Corridor highway, though SBLA was the only local media to publish that obituary. Maybe if they had put the cancellation announcement behind a psychedelic cover sheet?
But if there's one thing that Linton is best known for lately, it is debunking NIMBYs. In 2019, obnoxious NIMBYs were attacking voter-approved Metro bus rapid transit (BRT) projects in Northridge and Eagle Rock. Linton's stories helped re-frame the debate and he published nearly a dozen posts just debunking falsehoods and covering local meetings. If you missed the coverage, here are three of the most popular stories.
Linton also critiqued Olympics project acceleration and translated L.A. City's hugely important but impenetrably wonky LOS/VMT (Level of Service, Vehicle Miles Traveled) changes into everyday language.
What does next year hold for Los Angeles and its Streetsblog? We don't know for certain, but with your help we'll be ready to tackle any issue as it comes forward. Would you consider supporting us with a donation today?
