Downtown LA

This weekend saw three pretty amazing events in Downtown Los Angeles. Each unique and important in its own way, that shows how Los Angeles is on the cusp of becoming a world class city for reasons beyond the film industry and a truly livable city.  In chronological order. If you have any experiences with the Grand Park opening, late night train service, or Wolfpack Hustle midnight race, please leave them in the comments.  We'll highlight some of them on Streetsblog Lite.

There have been a handful of stories that I partially developed, but are on the back burner this week as I work to try and get out some stories that were researched last week, interview for the Long Beach writer position, and prepare L.A. Streetsblog's tax forms.  So, with apologies to Steve Hymon, here are five things that have been on my mind.

Maybe you haven't noticed.

(Many of you know Carlos Morales from his leadership roles with the Eastside Bike Club or Voice Community Newspapers.  In his earlier career, Morales was an event programmer, producing large concerts and other major attractions.  He offers his views on this weekend's Sportsaggedon from both the view of a transportation advocate and large event planner.  In his eyes, L.A. has proven itself ready for many more major sports attractions. - DN)

Yesterday, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition released "2011 City of Los Angeles Bicycle & Pedestrian Count Report" and a separate study on bicycling on Spring Street in the Green Buffered Bike Lane.  The result?  Cycling in the city is on the upswing, as positive press, CicLAvia and new infrastructure are encouraging more people to embrace two-wheeled travel.

Old toy warehouses. Coca-Cola bottling plants. Bridge-cable manufacturing. A sushi restaurant with cardboard furniture. Angel City Brewing. Buildings covered with colorful graffiti.

After two months of delay, and after being pushed to second on today's agenda behind the Westside Subway, the Regional Connector finally had a moment to shine at the Metro Board of Directors.  The environmental documents approving the Connector passed seven to zero.  The official twitter account for the Regional Connector celebrated by noting that the "Regional Connector has gone from a study to a project.  How cool is that?"  Given that the Connector is perhaps the most important project in the region, connecting all existing and future transit lines, the final passage of the environmental documents is very cool.

Planners who traveled to Los Angeles over the past four days to attend the American Planning Association’s National Planning Conference were greeted by a very different L.A. than the one they visited at the last APA conference in L.A. over 25 years ago.