Livable Streets

With all the remarkable recent livable streets improvements in New York, it's no surprise the tenth annual Walk21 Conference chose the Big Aplle. Visitors and attendees salivated over new pedestrian infrastructure and public spaces, including tours of the recently opened High Line and a special visit to the soon-to-be-restored High Bridge. Featuring a plethora of speakers, design charrettes and walking workshops, the three-day event drew experts from the UK, Austria, Japan, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy, and Australia, among other places.

The inspiring and, in a way, infuriating story of Elli Giammona popped up on the Streetsblog Network over the weekend.

In the end, it really wasn't about David Byrne.

The White House's effort to promote sustainable communities has prompted serious (and inadvertently humorous) hand-wringing from conservative pundits who fear the concept of livability will translate into governmental edicts on lifestyle choices. What's the best way to counter such tactics?

(There's a lot of great bike and walk improvements happening in Long Beach, so L.A. StreetsBlog will cover it in two parts, for now. Today's article features the past and present; next Friday will feature exciting plans for the future.)

Last weekend the Eco-Village sponsored a weekend of events designed to empower the residents within and surrounding the Eco-Village and reclaim their streets.  On Friday night, they hosted Portland architect and activist Mark Lakeman, founder of the City Repair movement, who encouraged those listening to think of themselves as villagers empowered to take control of their streets instead of vassals to the bureaucracy known as local government and DOT's.  On Saturday, they took his words to heart and went to work on their own street at Bimini Place.

On Wednesday evening, I received a phone call from my sister-in-law.  She was calling because she noticed that the road right outside her driveway was re-striped and she thought the outline could change the road from a four-lane arterial street with left hand turn lanes to a two-lane street with bike lanes on either side and a bus-only lane down the middle. 

The Los Angeles Eco-Village is continuing its battle with the the Los Angeles Unified School District over the LAUSD's plans for a 137-space parking lot to be located across the street from the main apartment building of the Village.  If the LAUSD goes forward with its current plan, it would literally add hundreds of vehicle trips to a street that the Eco-Village has worked for years to make as car-reduced as possible.

Earlier today, the City Council Planning Committee heard how the City is addressing the state mandate to bring "Complete Streets" planning to Los Angeles.  For those of you who don't remember, last fall Governor Schwarzenegger signed A.B. 1358 into law which required municipalities to construct streets that are safe and accessible for all users when municipalities redo their general transportation elements.