South LA

In 2008, we were curious. In 2011, we were ecstatic. In 2012, depression is starting to set in. The South Figueroa Corridor Project, unveiled to the cheers of Livable Street advocates last February, may be on the ropes.  Without action by a city agency, or the mayor's office, advocates are going to have to say goodbye to the separated bike path, bus only lane, increased open space, pedestrian plaza and other improvements the project promised.  But it shouldn't be that way.  In 2011, advocates were given three progressive visions for South Figueroa, currently a four or six lane street with whizzing cars or gridlock depending on the time of day.   Instead of "good," "better" and "best," we might get status quo. With the state-mandated dissolution of Community Redevelopment Agencies, a certain amount of chaos is occurring around the state.  Nowhere is that more prevalent than Los Angeles. One month after the dissolution of the local Community Redevelopment Agency, the city seems no closer to having a plan than it did when the California Supreme Court upheld Gov. Brown's plan to shutter the CRA's doors at the end of January.

Mikey, Jonathan, and George were waiting for a friend just a few feet from the corner of Ave. 50 and York Blvd. in Highland Park when a police car pulled up. Two cops got out and told them to turn around, spread their legs, and put their hands behind their backs.

We are most sad about being unable to pass on our agricultural traditions to our children, said an older gentleman in Spanish.

(Part 1 of the series is here.)

RIDING BACK FROM an interview at a school garden off King Blvd., I came across a dozen guys engaged in a serious game of fútbol in a Coliseum parking lot. Curious, I plopped myself down next to Oscar Villatoro, a sweet guy in glasses who was sitting out the game because of a bum knee.

YOU CAN SEE GOATS from the Blue Line, Guillermo Avilés-Rodríguez, Artistic Director of the Watts Village Theater Company (WVTC), told me excitedly.

The Tour de Watts 2012 was canceled, but will be holding a bike ride "launch party" in South L.A. with all our new friends sometime soon.  As soon as we have a new plan, we'll let you know.

Like a lot of kids (or maybe not), I had a fascination with rocks when I was younger. That said, I was rather nonplussed by the idea of LACMA spending $10 million to put a granite boulder on its lawn. Thinking perhaps I was too cynical, I headed to Figueroa St., where the rock was parked just north of Florence, to see what everyone else thought about it.

Last night, representatives from the Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), Plains Exploration & Production (PXP), the oil company in charge of the Baldwin Hill Oil Field, and other officials went head to head with members of the Greater Baldwin Hills Alliance and a highly a skeptical community in a standing-room-only meeting at the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area Community Center.