Join us to honor two great LA walkers at the Sidewalk Soirée, our 2016 Awards Dinner. On Saturday night, January 23, from 6pm to 10pm at a stunning hilltop mid-century modern home in Silver Lake, we'll raise a glass to these pedestrian advocates and celebrate the hard work that goes into making LA’s streets more safe, accessible, equitable, and fun. Get your tickets today!
We'll enjoy street foods from around the world: Salvadoran pupusas, Korean steak skewers, Middle Eastern lima bean falafels, Mexican rajas tacos, as well as mezcal cocktails, and (local!) Angel City brews. Ready for that ticket now?
Read on for more about our Honorees:
Los Angeles City Councilmember Felipe Fuentes works to make LA more walkable
Motivated by his family to provide service and to give back to his community, Felipe Fuentes works enthusiastically and tirelessly to ensure Los Angeles is a truly great city. Fuentes was inspired to pursue public office in LA to ensure Los Angeles is more resilient and sustainable and to provide opportunities for families to live safer and healthier lives. He was elected to serve as Councilmember for Los Angeles’ Seventh District, in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, in March 2013.
He is a strong supporter of increasing mobility for all modes of travel in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, as well as throughout the City. He is an avid bicyclist and is an occasional equestrian rider. Councilmember Fuentes utilizes public transit to and from City Hall and recognizes the importance of first-mile last-mile connections to improve a transit rider’s experience.
Since taking office, Councilmember Fuentes, both from a policy and project standpoint, has made it a priority to support improvements in mobility, especially for those who walk, bicycle and ride horses on our city streets. He believes it is critical to provide a safe pathway for all modes of travel from developments to our city streets. He is a strong advocate for the City's updated mobility plan, the Vision Zero Policy, as well as increased funding to active transportation under the Measure R2 ballot initiative. He is spearheading a number of district-specific projects which will improve the pedestrian experience including improving sidewalks or adding sidewalks where none exists, improving crosswalk safety, increasing bicycle connections and providing more streetscape amenities enhancing a pedestrian’s sense of safety and experience.
A third generation resident of Council District Seven, today, the Councilmember calls Sylmar home where he, his wife, Lena Wu-Fuentes and daughter Iliana spend time harvesting their garden, tending to their chickens, and sharing home-cooked meals. Advocating for the Northeast San Fernando Valley is Fuentes’ focus, and he is grateful for the opportunity to serve.
Advocate and author Bob Inman leads walks that inspire Angelenos to explore their city on foot
A lifelong walking and hiking enthusiast, Bob Inman spent decades exploring the Sierra Nevada and the British Isles on foot. While his interest in those locations endures, in 2004 he began to appreciate the unique pedestrian infrastructure that was readily accessible to his home in Los Angeles and he particularly embraced urban walking as an avocation. He adopted the public stairways of Los Angeles as a specialty and area of advocacy.
In 2008, Bob published A Guide to the Stairways of Los Angeles. In 2010, Inman began leading regular urban walks that served as a hybrid of a fitness walk as well as a narrated city discovery activity. In the past six years he has lead 3500 participants on 150 walking events of this nature. His groups have included grade school children, college urban study groups, and transportation specialists. In 2011, Inman co-invented and designed the 220-mile Inman 300, a route which travels up or down 300 public stairways in the city of Los Angeles. Urban hikers travel from all over the world to attempt the Inman 300, which has been called “America’s 1st urban thru-hike." In 2013, Inman published an expanded guide to LA’s pedestrian destinations, Finding Los Angeles by Foot: Stairstreet, bridge, pathway and lane. His current special interest is a collection of “Metro stops to urban walks” to encourage utilization of the Metro subway and light-rail network as a portal to help discover the city while on foot.
Now retired, Bob’s career was in transportation logistics for the fresh fruit and vegetable industry, working mostly downtown near the produce market and ultimately for Sunkist Growers in Sherman Oaks. Born in Los Angeles, Bob grew up in Silver Lake attending Ivanhoe Elementary School, King Middle School, Marshall High School, and Occidental College. He has lived in Northeast Los Angeles for 40 years and has been an Eagle Rock resident since 1988. Bob lives with his wife Barbara May, and they have a daughter, Leah, who recently graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in geography.
Celebrate the accomplishments of our honorees and support our ongoing initiatives and campaigns, like Vision Zero, sidewalk repair and maintenance, and the Mobility Plan 2035 by purchasing your tickets today!