This year, more than ever before in the dozen years I’ve worked with Streetsblog LA, I was proud to be part of our team. When COVID-19 stay-at-home orders dropped, our team didn’t skip a beat, but continued daily coverage of the people, policies, and programs that impacted our city and the region as we adjusted to new lives.
Later in the summer, protests over the murder of George Floyd demanded change to policing as well as to the systems that control how cities are planned, how transit agencies serve communities, and how decisions about community growth and sustainability are made. While much of the media responded to these protests and rallies as coverage of singular events, we worked hard to provide greater context to the rallies that broke out in Los Angeles, even as our political leaders acted as though condemning the actions of a police officer in Minnesota was an adequate response to the collective outcry for justice locally and nationally.
At the same time, many of the people considered deep thinkers in the world of planning were debating the impact of systemic racism in modern urban and transportation planning, Streetsblog L.A. had already developed a decade-long track record of covering and explaining this issue at policy and hyper-local levels. This is in large part due to the ongoing work of Sahra Sulaiman, who was and continues to be one of the most important journalists in Los Angeles and in the Streetsblog universe.
When Streetsblog first brought Sulaiman and Kris Fortin on, I didn't really know what I was doing and as their editor tried to steer them into writing more like I did. Thankfully for all of us, they resisted and eventually we settled into a good working relationship that allowed them the freedom to write as they saw fit even, sometimes especially, if it challenged the the thinking of transportation reformers at the time. It was an evolution in how Streetsblog worked then, but it's not the end. We need to, and strive to, continue to evolve so that we can continue to be better at what we do and continue to push for a better L.A.
To that end, the entire team at Streetsblog Los Angeles and Streetsblogs throughout California have worked to include discussions of how policies, programs, and statements from political leaders impact communities of color, communities that have not seen the same investments as others, and communities that have historically been denied a seat at the table where decisions are made.
If you believe this work is important and believe, as we do, that coverage of transportation reform and urban planning has to be about more than counting bike lanes on streets and parking spaces in new developments, please support us during our year-end fundraising drive. You can make a donation now, or anytime, by clicking here.
Thank you for supporting Streetsblog, whether this article is your first or you’ve been with me since the beginning. We hope you have a safe holiday season and we look forward to a better 2021.
All the Best,
