The city of Los Angeles launched a virtual town hall yesterday to ask Angelenos how to improve mobility and make the best use of the city’s 6000-plus miles of streets. The town hall is the first step in the city’s three-year effort to rewrite its Mobility Element, a document that guides the city’s transportation policies.
City planners described the document this way in a blog post :
A new day has come in the city, demanding a smarter, more sustainable way of using our streets as a public resource and space. The time is ripe for a citywide conversation on the future of our streets. More Angelenos are walking and bicycling to work and to run errands. Streets are being repurposed, hosting weekly farmer’s markets, community festivals and Ciclavia. The accommodation of all users under the umbrella of Complete Streets, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, transit-riders, those with special needs, and goods movers, is an important goal of this project.
The acknowledgement of the importance of pedestrians, bikes and transit is refreshing coming from a city that has spent the better part of a century using its streets only to move cars.
So, head on over to the town hall, create an account — you can do it though Facebook if you like — and join the forum. Participants can post their own ideas and then vote and comment on others. The most popular ideas get a green light bulb, the icon of inspiration.
Contributors have so far posted 17 ideas to the Getting Around Los Angeles forum; popular suggestions include calls to create an Arroyo Seco bikeway and a citywide network of bus-only lanes on major thoroughfares.
Be sure to check out the four additional forums: Favorite Los Angeles Street, Most Representative Street, Street Uses, and Street Changes.
For more information, the city’s email blast is below:
Do you have an idea – large or small – that could help transform the way Angeleno’s travel in and around the community? The City of Los Angeles is listening. Visit ideas.LA2B.org to share your ideas today!
The City of Los Angeles is proud to announce the launch of ideas.LA2B.org, an interactive virtual “town hall” website dedicated to soliciting ideas and conversations about mobility and transportation. The City of Los Angeles is just getting started on a Mobility Element and they need your practical and creative ideas to move Los Angeles into the 21st century.
Simply jump online from work, home, school, or whenever you have Internet access to join the discussion!
Categories: Policy & Funding
I think the answer is obvious: we need RELIABLE ALTERNATIVES, rather than just being forced to drive everywhere. Our mobility is crippled, affecting our way of life and ultimately the economy, due to constant congestion. Our current mass transit system is still inadequte, outdated, and is an embarrassment. The only way to get out of our traffic nightmare is to create a CITYWIDE subway network, integrated with light-rail, streetcars, and reliable bus service. Only then will Angelinos be able to switch from driving; reliable transit is the key solution.