Kristopher Fortin

It's a copout to compare my travels in Mexico and Guatemala to anything on the Eastside. But, I can't help it. It's one of the biggest things on my mind the entire time.

After riding a couple blocks from her home, Bianca Uli Estrada dismounts her bicycle and walks on an unpaved, rocky sidewalk with light posts that split it down the middle. The 26-year-old Estrada feels the wind of oncoming cars and buses as she stops to let pedestrians pass. Earlier this year, a bus smashed and killed someone from the neighborhood, she said, when he fell from his bike trying to squeeze by one of the light posts.

Recently, a program directed to aid street vendors was awarded $100,000 as a part of the LA2050 contest. East Los Angeles Community Corporation and Leadership for Urban Renewal Now's proposed a program that will bridge the gap between brick and mortar businesses and street vendors, and a venture capital fund for street vendors.

"Necesitamos apoyo para casa de Teresita Alfaro, la policia esta alla hostigando. Puedes venir? Callejon atras de Whittier Blvd y Matthews (Street)"

After  a seven month hiatus, Merkado Negro announced last week that CaminArte, the Eastside art walk, will return to Mariachi Plaza on May 10.

Hugged between Fourth and Sixth Streets and in the middle of a residential area, La Casa del Mexicano has been neglected for years, and it's continued existence was in doubt only a few years ago.  But on Wednesday, more than 80 community members inside La Casa del Mexicano shared their ideas on what the iconic space could become.

The next tech boom in Boyle Heights? Repurposing alleyways  to create new social spaces and community empathy? These are a few of the topics Eastside community groups are bringing up in LA2050. Only 10 ideas will be chosen for the $100,000 prize, but there are many worthy causes in Boyle Heights and East L.A., many of which are regularly covered in our Eastside coverage.

Signs posted on the doors of the boarded up  El Sereno Bungalows are also dreams nearly realized. One yellow sign tapped to the 1920s buildings say "dance studio", another "community kitchen."

Last week, the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council's executive committee struck from tomorrow's general board meeting agenda the action item to support the Wyvernwood redevelopment project. After issues were brought up ranging from securing a proper location, to whether or not their decision would make a difference on the project, the neighborhood council doesn't appear likely to revisit the motion in the future, said Edward Padilla, president of the Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council.

Before the Eight Street bike lane was painted, Evelyn Martinez, a 21-year-old Wyvernwood resident and cyclist, said she would ride down Olympic Boulevard instead of Eighth Street. Since Olympic Boulevard was flatter than the hilly Eighth Street, she braced daily against freight trucks and heavier traffic.