Hollywood

Advocates for more open space for the park-starved community of Hollywood had a moment to shine yesterday.  Congressman Adam Schiff, members of the Hollywood Central Park Committee and other neighborhood advocates had a meeting with USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood to discuss their proposal to place a 44-acre street level park "on top" of the 101 Hollywood Freeway.

Its no secret that outside of Griffith Park, Los Angeles is a city starving for open space.  There is nowhere this is more true than Hollywood, where even a weekly farmer's market is under attack because it blocks access to a parking lot.  Thus, while Hollywood waits for projects such as the Hollywood Freeway Central Park, it's important to try and create pockets of places where people can be outside in a safe and welcoming environment.

The uncertain future of the Hollywood Farmers Market has inspired much energy and advocacy that food and street advocates in Los Angeles can be proud of. Market operator See-LA rallied allies and supporters. Farmers’ market patrons flooded City Councilperson Eric Garcetti with messages of support for the market. Garcetti in turn helped extend the permit and is trying to negotiate a solution that preserves most of the markets’ existing footprint and access. But the controversy also raises a question that in turn suggests a way to save the market and others like it.

Here's a quick rundown of the major votes by today's Metro Board. Each of these five motions were discussed at Streetsblog over the last couple of weeks, and links to those stories can be found at the end of each summary.  Streetsblog will have links to all news reports on today's meeting tomorrow.

A 3D Rendering of a Future Bike Room in the Hollywood and Vine Development

At the Huffington Post, Joel Epstein, who has done a heck of a job pushing 30/10, wrote a piece pondering the absolute lack of Hollywood star power in promoting transit as opposed to promoting things like electric-powered cars. Of course, that Hollywood movies present heroes driving muscle cars, saving the universe with cars that turn into robots, and motorcycles as the key to freedom doesn't help.  And when a comet is about to crash into the earth, who is going to save us?  Oil drillers.  Jeesh.

On Monday, at Vine and Selma, a woman attempting to cross Vine on foot was killed after being hit by a delivery truck. The streets were immediately filled with LAPD vehicles and an investigation ensued. Although it was evident that statements were taken and that measurements and photos were taken, missing from the investigation was any evidence that the traffic signals were tested or surveyed. This is unfortunate because the signal at Vine and Selma is malfunctioning.

If Hollywood were to make a movie entitled "Hollywood & Vine - Transit Oriented Development" they'd have to hire professionals to manage the streets, control the traffic, move the trucks and make sure the entire environment was safe. There would be a 1st Assistant Director on set, legally responsible for the safety of all cast and crew, a commitment that would include a safety meeting each day. It's been this way for a long time, ever since the tragic incident on the set of "Twilight Zone" that took the lives of Vic Morrow and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen.

(An early version of this post listed the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition as in partnership with the government groups.  That relationship has been clarified below. - DN)