People

In September, I had the pleasure of bicycling around Los Angeles with Guardian journalist Nick Van Mead. The reporter was on a tour of three of the United States' car capitals - Detroit, Houston, and Los Angeles - to understand how car-centric places are moving into a healthier, more multi-modal future.

At a city parking lot in Lincoln Heights this morning, an unusually broad coalition gathered to speak out against the so-called Neighborhood Integrity Initiative. In formation for some time, the Coalition to Protect L.A. Neighborhoods and Jobs includes business and labor, with housing and homeless advocates, developers, environmentalists, and many others all joined together to oppose NII, under the rallying cry "Stop the Housing Ban."

Tomorrow night, the Mar Vista Community Council will hear from the public about a proposed mixed-use housing project slated for 12444 Venice Boulevard.

Listening to the City Planning Commission vote in favor - albeit somewhat reluctantly - of moving forward on the regressive amendments to the Mobility Plan 2035 this morning, I felt my heart sink.

Downtown L.A. now has protected bike lanes! Woooot! Wooooot!

There is a new face at Streetsblog Los Angeles this summer. Readers will soon begin seeing the byline of Streetsblog L.A. Summer Intern Doug Lewis who started last week and will be with us through early August.

At tonight's meeting of the Glassell Park Improvement Association, Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell will be presenting the Department of Transportation's (LADOT) planned Fletcher Drive Streetscape Project. Project plans are posted at the GPIA website. The project includes a road diet with bike lanes, plus new landscaped median islands. The bike lanes extend 0.8 miles from Fletcher and San Fernando Road to Avenue 36 and Eagle Rock Boulevard. Fletcher turns into Avenue 36 just north of the 2 Freeway.

For last week's Earth Day 2016, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti presented a one-year update on his April 2015 Sustainable City pLAn.