Eastside

Recall the language in the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution about "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances?" Keep it in mind as you read this overview of the recent interaction of Metro, a group of disgruntled riders, and a local politico. If nothing else it illustrates what American Democracy in action looks like.

The confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Arroyo Seco, is one of the most historic places in Los Angeles.  In 1769, Spanish explorers Colonel Gaspar de Portola, Father Juan Crespi and Michael Costanso "discovered" Los Angeles.  It also, in the words of the Arroyo Seco Foundation, "provides the key linkage of the Los Angeles River to vital habitat and wildlife corridor, joining the San Gabriel Mountains to the Santa Monica Mountains."

Calls for a Road Diet on Colorado Boulevard are growing, and beginning to become too loud to ignore.  For those not familiar with the layout of the road, it currently spans six car travel lanes, provides on-street car parking, and features a seventeen foot median that occasionally features live grass.  Eagle Rock residents have been puzzled about a road configuration that is designed for many more cars than actually use it.  The result is that the traffic that does use the street, tends to drive above the speed limit.

In which I plug the awesome street/music festival that I only attended for the first time two days ago, despite being fairly well attuned to the LA music scene...

This Saturday, the Eastside Bicycle Club turns two with a big party planned for its second birthday party at Lincoln Park from 2:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.  The event will feature a pair of concurrent bike rides, the handing out of the "Golden Crank" awards, an all-afternoon barbeque and a fireworks show.  A fireworks show?  Nice.

Yesterday, I finally had the time to take my wounded Flying Pigeon Bucket Bike back to its nest to get repaired and retrofitted for baby carrying.  As you might expect, Josef "ubrayj02" Bray-Ali was fantastic, the bike is great, and baby has already had his first fun, and safe, bike ride.  You can view a couple of pictures of us here.  But, this is not our story.

There have been a fair number of folks making comments on this site and elsewhere on the internet about the recently opened Gold Line Eastside Extension and safety. This coming week the advisory committee that provides input to Metro on such issues is holding a meeting near the Indiana Street station (Alma is the next street east of Indiana, and the School is midway between 1st and 3rd Streets) in the evening. Certainly worth checking out if you want to share such comments directly .

The opening up of the Eastside Gold Line Light Rail afforded twenty-four students from Mujeres y Hombres Nobles Continuation High School in East Los Angeles and I the opportunity to explore urban planning and transportation options together. As part of the HeArt Project (www.theheartproject.org), I taught a 10-week art course that used the rail line and urban planning as the subject.

Earlier today the Metro Board of Directors unanimously approved the light rail alternative for the Crenshaw Corridor and agreed to study making the light rail run underground for a dozen blocks between 48th and 59th street over the plans of the Metro staff. According to a press release, "The light rail alternative will be 8.5 miles in length from the Metro Green Line Aviation Station to the Expo Line, now under construction, at Crenshaw and Exposition boulevards, with a travel time estimated at 20 minutes. There will be seven new stations plus an option for one more. The final Environment Impact Study/Environment Impact Report could be ready by the end of 2010, with the line scheduled to open in 2018."