Antonio Villaraigosa

We knew Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa liked CicLAvia. Upon returning from Copenhagen in 2009, he vowed that Los Angeles would have its own "open street festival."

This Friday, the City of Los Angeles is throwing itself a party in Grand Park from 5 pm to 10 pm. There will be music by local acts, student groups and celebrity musicians. Chefs, some of whom are on television, will give healthy cooking demonstrations. There will be food trucks. There will be free nachos.  President Bill Clinton will speak. Wanda Sykes will tell jokes. Ryan Seacrest will do whatever it is Ryan Seacrest does.

It’s time to declare victory in the battle for a Leimert Park Metro station.

Two years ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a host of city officials stood at the podium announcing a new day for cyclists in Los Angeles. Today, he was back in the same place, at the same time, to announce that the city is making progress.

Moments ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed a new bicycle parking ordinance into law which requires more bicycle parking at new developments and even allows a small swap of car parking for bike parking in certain approved development plans. The ordinance was on the verge of being signed last year before a series of small technical changes were added and the legislation had to go back through the City Council Committee structure.

As national press sharpens their focus on Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's cheat sheet, there's been way too much discussion of Charlie Sheen and other assorted scandals. What's too often missing is a discussion of the Mayor's own transportation record. To try and help our friends in the legacy media, L.A. Streetblog proudly presents the two-part, "Mayor Villaraigosa Transportation Cheat Sheet." Today we'll look at policy and project accomplishments. Tomorrow we'll look at some narratives including a look at the story on whether a broken elbow changed the city's bike policies, tomorrow.

It was a rainy day on October 20, 2010, much like today. Days before her most recent re-election, Senator Barbara Boxer was in town, with USDOT officials in tow, to announce a $543 million no interest loan to expediate construction of the Crenshaw Line. At this point, it was all but official that the Crenshaw Line would be a light rail line. A parade of public officials that included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Congress Woman Jane Harman and Boxer herself all took to the podium to praise each other and the Crenshaw Line.

Last month, the Mayor's Office released a report ranking itself on how it achieved, or didn't achieve, its stated transportation goals over the last seven and a half years. Rather than traditional grades, the report gave the offices green (for "completed"), yellow (for "in the works") or red (for "didn't/won't happen) on a variety of transportation issues.

Mayor Villaraigosa Executive Order on Transit Oriented Development Cabinet