CicLAvia

In an announcement that caught even some CicLAvia organizers by surprise, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced this morning at the "CicLAvia opening" that CicLAvia partners Bike Nation will establish a permanent footprint in Los Angeles this December.  The cost to the city will be minimal, as Bike Nation promises to pay for all of the 4,000 bikes and 400 kiosks coming to Downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, Venice Beach and Westwood.  Bike Nation estimates it could take a full year to complete the installation.

Although it may not have its own full-fledged CicLAvia extension just yet, you can still start your day off in a celebration of South L.A.

(In a wild coincidence, many of the country's top urban planners will be in town for CicLAvia this year as the American Planning Association holds their annual conference beginning this Saturday in Downtown Los Angeles.  We reached out to a local planning expert, USC Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs, David Sloane.  It would so happen that Sloane's newest book, Planning Los Angeles, will also be released this week. - DN)

The Kick Starter campaign for CicLAvia enters its last twelve hours in just a couple of moments, and they need your help. To earn any of the well over $10,000 that they have already earned through pledges, they need to raise another $1,655 by 1:50 A.M. tonight. That's how Kick Starter works, you either meet or exceed your goal or you don't get any of the pledged funds.

Although a few state parks will close on July 1, Shuntain Thomas, the Real Rydaz, and We Are Responsible People (WARP) want you to know that the streets of South Los Angeles will be open for riding.

L.A. Streetsblog is pretty excited about Los Angeles' fourth CicLAvia coming up in just under three weeks. On Sunday April 15th 2012, about 100,000 Angelenos will experience what L.A. streets can be when we just remove a few pesky automobiles. In case you've been hiding under a rock for the last couple years, watch these earlier Streetfilms to get a sense for CicLAvia. Then cancel any plans you may have made for April 15th, lace up your walking shoes or tune up your ten-speed and go directly to CicLAvia.

Several years ago, I spent a week photographing a stretch of 37th St. as part of a neighborhood documentation project of the area around USC. Where other photographers had diligently snapped structures and streets, I had cajoled residents into participating in the project and later gave them copies of the photos so they could see the final product. The soul of a neighborhood is its people, I had argued in defending my approach at the time. Without them, the structures are just a shell.