Join Us for a Westside WalkLAvia on April 21!

Posted on April 12, 2013 by lawalks

It’s that time again, LA!

Last fall we turned part of CicLAvia, LA’s awesome open streets event, into a WalkLAvia, marching down Figueroa on foot. On Sunday, April 21, the next CicLAvia is stretching all the way from downtown to the sea, so we’re organizing a very special Westside WalkLAvia from Culver City to Venice!

We’re joining forces with the one and only Bob Inman, author of the great book A Guide to the Public Stairways of Los Angeles, who leads amazing walking tours all over LA (and once spent a week climbing 300 of the city’s public stairways!). We’ll meet at 10:00 a.m. at the Culver City Expo Line station (look for our Los Angeles Walks banner) and head west on Venice for five miles to CicLAvia’s Venice Hub. If you’d like to continue on with Bob for the full day, he’ll be doing a loop through the Venice canals and walk streets, then walking back to the start in Culver City through some fascinating neighborhoods in Mar Vista.

Westside WalkLAvia with Bob Inman
Sunday, April 21
10:00 a.m.
Culver City Expo Line Station
8817 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(link to Google Maps)

RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’re going and invite others!

Full description from Bob below. You can bring lunch or snacks or buy them along the way at the Mar Vista Farmers Market or in Venice. Be sure to bring water! Buses will be running on one side of Venice back to Culver City, so you can stop at any time and take transit back to the start. Even if you just want to walk a few miles and bike the rest of the day, join LA Walks for a fun adventure on our open streets!

From Bob:

Here is a walk where I am joining forces with Los Angeles Walks to make the most on foot of the next CicLAvia event. April 21 some streets between the Plaza downtown and Venice Beach will be closed to automobiles for five hours. Using a variation of a walk we’ve done in the past, this day will be a walker’s option to experience part of that event and then experience some of the treats of Venice and other Westside communities.

We start at the Culver City Expo Line station at 10:00 a.m. (8817 Washington Blvd 90232). There is parking at the station but this would be a great day to enjoy the Expo Line.

We will walk west to Venice along Venice Blvd. pausing at the Mar Vista farmers market and you can leave us at SPARC or the Venice library for a total of 5 miles.

You can stay with us another 3 miles of canal paths, the boardwalk, Windward Circle, some of Abbot Kinney and the fabulous walk streets. Then leave us and take the bus or walk back to Culver City.

Beyond that, you can continue on with us as we head back east through Mar Vista and Palms on a route away from Venice Blvd. We’ll enjoy three public stairways, the Gregory Ain Mar Vista tract, downtown Culver City and 7 ½ miles of fairly flat, non-spectacular but delightful walking. Transit is always near enough that you can call it a day at the place of your own choosing.

This is a 15 mile day if you do the whole thing; a great conditioner for the Big Parade coming four weeks later. We walk back to our start, leg-sore and happy, sometime between 5 and 6pm.

If you want to do a hybrid, riding the route on your bike and parking it to walk the Venice loop with us, that’s fine too. I cannot guarantee where to park the bike. I do not tweet our locations but I will post a Google map of the route before April 21 on the Facebook page.

We’ll have four 15-20 minute breaks during our walk for bathrooms and a chance to get a snack. Pack some snacks to keep you going, carry water, be well protected from the sun and wear the right shoes.

Event is led by Bob Inman, author of A Guide to the Public Stairways of Los Angeles – Facebook group: “Guide to the Stairways of Los Angeles.” please ensure that you are in good health on April 21 before participating in the rigorous activity that this is. As the organizer, Bob Inman assumes absolutely no responsibility for the participants. If you choose to participate, you assume all responsibility for yourself and agree not to hold the leader liable in any way.

See you on Sunday, April 21!

Los Angeles Walks Competes for $100K! Vote for our idea

Posted on April 4, 2013 by lawalks

Vote for Los Angeles Walks to help us launch “Hey, I’m Walking Here: A Campaign Celebrating Pedestrians in the City of Los Angeles!”

Between now and April 17th, Los Angeles Walks is part of the Goldhirsh Foundation’s LA2050 Challenge, where ten $100,000 prizes will be awarded. But competition is tough! There are close to 300 applicants so we need your support!

VOTE NOW BY CLICKING HERE!

We started to get inspired about this idea last December, after Alissa’s talk at the WIRED 2012 conference in London became a dinner table discussion at an LA Walks steering committee meeting. We laughed over the clip Alissa referenced from Midnight Cowboy where Dustin Hoffman yells “I’m Walking Here!” at a fast-moving car rolling into a New York City crosswalk. But in all seriousness, shouting “Hey, I’m Walking Here” was far too representative of our own LA experience—a place where walking doesn’t get enough respect. We found ourselves becoming inspired by other entertaining yet educational stunts that highlighted pedestrians, like a group of pedestrians that actually moved a car which had stopped in the middle of the crosswalk in Brazil. Or Peatónito, who takes to the streets in Mexico City as the masked Mexican defender of pedestrians. We realized we needed the same kind of cultural touchstone for LA: a movement bringing attention, safety & a bit of fun to walking to help build a healthier, more vibrant LA.

In order to vote for our “Hey, I’m Walking Here: A Campaign Celebrating Pedestrians in the City of Los Angeles” idea, log in with your GOOD account. If you don’t have a GOOD account, it’s free to join. All you need is an email address or a Facebook account to register. You will be emailed a link that you need to click in order to validate your address. Once you join, find us under LA Walks (health) and cast your vote by April 17th!

One vote per participant, so look for us, vote for us, and have your friends vote for us. Please spread the word by sharing our posts/tweets on Facebook and Twitter.

To read more about our proposal ideas and strategies click here and while you’re there cast a vote in support for us!

Walk and Picnic on the LA River with us this Sunday

Posted on April 2, 2013 by lawalks

Join Bettina Hubby, Los Angeles Walks, Thank You for Coming, NELA River Collaborative, and friends on a walk to explore the Los Angeles River (and surrounding Atwater Village).

We will start and end at Thank You for Coming and enjoy a picnic lunch on the river! Purchase your brown bag lunch the day-of, made with love by TYFC. The walk will be ~3 miles round trip.

Other special surprises too — you will have to join us to find out what they are. Bring sunblock, a sunhat/visor, or a parasol. It could be blatantly sunny.

RSVP to hubbyco@gmail.com so we can get an accurate headcount!
See our Facebook event page for more details

Meet Sunday 4/7 at 10:30am / THANK YOU FOR COMING
3416 Glendale Blvd LA, CA 90039

MyFigueroa is remaking Figueroa Street for people

Posted on March 19, 2013 by lawalks

The Figueroa Corridor is transforming to promote economic development, improve the pedestrian, bike, and transit experience, and beautify some of Los Angeles’ most diverse communities. Among the exciting changes are cycle tracks, improved sidewalks, high-visibility crosswalks, more landscaping and street trees, plus some nifty new wayfinding signage that will help pedestrians navigate along the Corridor!

The project includes four miles of streets that stretch from Downtown L.A. to South Los Angeles: Figueroa Street from 7th Street in Downtown Los Angeles to 41st Street, just south of Exposition Park; 11th Street from Figueroa Street east to Broadway in the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles; and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Figueroa Street west to Vermont Avenue, on the south edge of Exposition Park.

MyFigueroa also has a new website where you can see proposed designs, read up on the project’s history and subscribe to updates. Check it out at MyFigueroa.com

Consider attending the upcoming Community Meeting for the Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project, on Tuesday, April 9, to learn more about the latest streetscape design.

 Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 5:30-8:00pm
At the Andrew Norman Hall Orthopaedic Hospital 2400 S. Flower Street Los Angeles, CA 90007 (view a map with cross streets and nearby transit stops)
$4 parking and free bike valet on-site
Show + Tell: Updated streetscape design presentation and guest speaker Charlie Gandy, Livable Communities Inc., Long Beach
See who’s coming on Facebook

Re: Street – International Conference in Los Angeles April 5th & 6th

Posted on March 19, 2013 by lawalks

re:street is a public conference that will be taking place on April 5th & 6th in downtown Los Angeles, and our Executive Direcotor Deborah Murphy will be speaking during the Saturday session. The conference is jointly organized and hosted by the Bauhaus Universitaet Weimar in Germany and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Students of both universities will conduct a hybrid workshop led by faculty members of the Departments of Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and Landscape Architecture. The results will be presented at the conference. The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles will organize and curate an art program that brings artistic positions on the subject matter into the conference.

City of Los Angeles Prioritizes Safe Routes to School

Posted on March 19, 2013 by lawalks

Los Angeles Walks, Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership have been working with the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation to support a more robust Safe Routes to School effort within the city, as a result we are pleased encourage you to attend a meeting this week where interested community members can learn about this effort and how to get involved.

When: Thursday, March 21, 2:00 – 4:00
Where: Caltrans Building (100 Main Street, LA 90012 in Conf Room 1.040B – on first floor)
For more info contact: Los Angeles City Department of Transportation Pedestrian Coordinator Margot Ocañas at margot.ocanas@lacity.org

The City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation is currently reviewing all of the 495 schools within the City’s limits and working with partners such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, community based organizations, and all interested stakeholders in an effort to prioritize schools of high need for transportation improvements to make it safer and more enjoyable for students and their families to walk, bicycle and take Metro to get to school.

This is a great meeting to make valuable contacts with who is leading these efforts and figure out how your community can get involved. All are welcome and invited to this meeting.

Parklets come to Downtown LA

Posted on March 9, 2013 by lawalks

Los Angeles Walks is thrilled to see the beginnings of LA’s new pilot parklet program – another small step for better public spaces in our city. These new parklets on Spring St, in the Historic Core of Downtown LA, opened last month and have been providing a much needed space for downtown residents and visitors to drink coffee, play foosball, meet friends, and even get in a morning workout, thanks to the exercise bikes donated by the parklets’ sponsor the UCLA Luskin Center.

These parklets are the second to open (there’s one on York in Highland Park that opened the week before). They were created by an entirely volunteer driven collaboration of architects, designers, researchers, community activists and advocates – spearheaded by the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council’s transportation subcommittee director Valerie Watson (who was doing such an awesome job she was hired as LADOT’s assistant pedestrian coordinator in the midst of the parklet planning).

Oh, and if these exercise bikes inspire you to get on a real bike, this handy sign in the parklet gives you estimated biking times to different nearby destinations. Now if only we had some similar signs for walking times to different destinations around the city. Hm…

Council District 1 Candidates Debate on Transportation and Land Use Issues

Posted on February 8, 2013 by lawalks

Co-sponsored by Los Angeles walks, the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and Streetsblog Los Angeles

Sunday, February 10, 1 pm
Lower Herrick, Occidental College

Council District 1 includes parts or all of: Glassell Park, Cypress Park, Highland Park, Mt. Washington, Solano Canyon, Elysian Park, Echo Park, Westlake, Angelino Heights, Temple Beaudry, Lafayette Park, Chinatown, Forgotten Edge, Lincoln Heights, Montecito Heights, Pico Union, Adams-Normandie, Mid Cities and Mac Arthur Park.

Bike Ride This Sunday : Explore Future Bike Lanes in Northeast LA

Posted on February 8, 2013 by lawalks

A group ride on the route of proposed new bike lanes on Figueroa and Colorado and existing bike lanes on York and Eagle Rock, led by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

Sunday, February 10
Meet at 1030am, ride leaves at 11am
Starting point at Graeyer’s Oak Park, Figueroa blvd and Marmion Way. Ends at Occidental College for candidates debate, see below
http://www.la-bike.org/ridefigueroa

$3 billion road bond gets a second look

Posted on January 22, 2013 by lawalks

On January 9 we headed to a City Council meeting with many of our street-minded friends to stop a bond measure planned for the May ballot that would allocate $3 billion to repairing roads across the city. Wait—why would we want to prevent streets from being repaired? It’s not that we don’t want the streets to be fixed, but we were concerned about how the streets would be improved. The proposal focused on improvements for cars only, only making changes to sidewalks if money was left over. The way we see it, If LADOT is going to fix some of the most troubled streets in the city, this is a great opportunity to turn them into livable streets that can serve not only cars but bikers and walkers, too.

Our own Deborah Murphy and Jessica Meaney testified along with about 20 other bike and pedestrian advocates. In the end, the council decided not to put the bond on the ballot and conduct outreach to find a better solution. You can read more coverage on Streetsblog as well as on LACBC’s blog, plus you can download the policy brief [PDF] which we signed as an organization.

We’ll be sure to post any news we hear about meetings, but in the meantime you can contact your councilperson to let them know how you feel about the bond.