South LA
Streetsblog LA
This Saturday: Do Good in Crenshaw and Learn About the Transformative Power of Art for Those Who Have Been Incarcerated in West Adams
When neighborhoods suffer foreclosures, everyone on the block gets hurt. The abandoned buildings can quickly become blight and attract criminal activity. The decline of a block can hurt the self-esteem of a community. It is also hard to bring communities together through block clubs and neighborhood councils when people are struggling to stay afloat and the neighborhood is in constant flux. At the very time neighbors most need to come together to support each other, their own struggles may leave them little time or energy to do.
October 5, 2012
Extend Your Hours of Cyclo-topia: Start CicLAvia in South L.A.
Just one week after Angelenos proved they could happily bike and walk their way through Carmageddon, they get to put their freshly honed skills to the test at the nation's biggest car-free festival.
October 4, 2012
Sunday Stabbing on the Blue Line Spotlights Questions of Safety on the Trains
Sunday evening, at approximately 7:20 p.m., a 20-something year old man was stabbed by two women -- one in her early 20s and the other in her early 50s -- while traveling southbound on the Metro Blue Line.
October 1, 2012
“South L.A. Democratic Spaces” Exhibit Launches Tonight at USC
When people look at questions of transportation, livable streets, or complete streets, they sometimes look at them in isolation, as if they stood alone from socio-economic issues. Slate's recent touting of LA's transit system as the next big thing, for example, never addresses questions of who is riding, how, and why. Or, why not, in the case of many Angelenos, who may find public transit cumbersome and/or have less than favorable opinions of the "public" that rides it or the neighborhoods it passes through.
September 27, 2012
Metro Diary: Planes, Trains, and Confusing Transfers with TAP
“Do you need any help?” I asked the tall Russian guy.
September 26, 2012
Endeavouring to Find Opportunities for Communities in the Wake of the Shuttle’s Passage
"That's a lot of wood," mused Ben Caldwell of the 400 trees on the chopping block along the Space Shuttle Endeavour's route to the Science Center.
September 21, 2012
Science Center Given Approval to Remove Nearly 400 Trees to Make Way for Shuttle
When I first reported on the notices posted on trees along Crenshaw Blvd. back in July, I did not realize that those notices were more or less the extent of the outreach the Science Center had done with the communities that the Space Shuttle Endeavour would be traveling through.
September 18, 2012
Healthy Food Walk Around USC Neighborhood Unearths Tensions Between the University and the Community
If you were one of the participants in the South L.A. Healthy Food Ride/Walk this past weekend, you could be forgiven if you walked away a little confused about the purpose of the walk.
September 14, 2012
A Party and Ride/Walk Linked to Fresh Food Opportunities Just South of USC this Weekend
If you've been paying attention to our calendar, you already know that RideSouthLA and Community Services Unlimited, Inc. (CSU) are holding a Healthy Food Ride this Sunday, Sept 9. The ride/walk event is designed to take participants on a tour through the neighborhood and show them the fresh food opportunities that do exist in the area. The ride/walk meet-up site is Mercado La Paloma (3655 S Grand Ave), and the event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
September 7, 2012
Neighborhood Bike Ambassador Program Officially Launches in South L.A.
As a child, I had dreamed of becoming a diplomat. A product of the cold war who occasionally had nightmares involving mushroom clouds, I threw myself into Soviet Studies in college, honed my skills in several of the UN's official languages, and prepared intensely for the foreign service exam. When the cold war ended (with no help from me, I might add), I shelved my ambassadorial aspirations.
September 6, 2012