On Saturday morning, hundreds of Northeast LA residents marched for Peace in the Northeast. Crime, drugs and gangs have all been spotlighted in the community this past year and it was time to take back the streets. "It was amazing to see the people who came out and to have hundreds of folks standing for peace in their own community," explained Councilman Eric Garcetti, who represents part of the region, over the phone on Monday.......

Yesterday, we highlighted Steve Hymon's explanation on why there is traffic in Los Angeles. We started off by saying something we heard LA City Council President say to a group of people a year ago. In a phone conversation with his office, we said we stated his thoughts, but very simply and that if he wanted to clarify and expand, to please do so. Garcetti did just that in the comments section this morning. Here's......

Councilman Eric Garcetti once explained to a group of people that traffic is a sign, a good sign. A sign of a strong economy. If there was no economy, people wouldn't be traveling to their jobs, thus causing traffic. Today in the print edition (and in the blog yesterday), LA Times' Road Sage, Steve Hymon, backs that theory up. He shows two different maps: one of population density and another of job density. "The maps......

An update on the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood where the construction of a condo's underground parking lot that will come within six yards of the studio's underground recording studio. Julie Wong at Councilman Eric Garcetti's office said in an e-mail that "Capitol Records and Second Street worked out a private agreement between them. Both parties were satisfied with the mitigations (which included Second Street putting $1.5 million in an escrow account to cover any......

Two years ago the community joined City Council President Eric Garcetti on the Great Hollywood Walkabout conducted by Deborah Murphy who then made recommendations which included reclassifying Hollywood Boulevard to include a pedestrian priority classification. Then and today, Hollywood Boulevard is still classified and engineered as a Major Highway. This morning, a vehicle involved in killing two pedestrians on the boulevard last night still sat in the middle of the street. The two victims were......

The corner of Sunset and Cahuenga in Hollywood was officially renamed Larry King Square by the City of Los Angeles yesterday. City Council President Eric Garcetti introduced the 74 year old broadcast journalist and talk show host after honoring him with accolades of his accomplishments in his field. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his professional journalism career. On hand were several members of the CNN staff who did not need to travel far......

The Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard is gone, leaving a trail of b'day party memories, indigestion and chain link fencing in its wake. The Sunset & Gordon neighborhood has a big wide sidewalk but not much street life. The sound of the helicopter hovering overhead competes with the police sirens, the music pumping from the adjacent apartment building, the traffic on Sunset. This neighborhood needs a park! All it takes is the Los Angeles......

Photo by delera-photos via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr Today, City Council President Eric Garcetti announced two motions he is putting forward. If you know the biking community, you know these two proposals came from Garcetti listening to the community as the problems/solutions here are often heard within the cycling community. From a Garcetti press release: Garcetti introduced a resolution to urge the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to repeal its ban on......

The proposed route from Union Station to Dodger Stadium | View Larger Map Come end of July, expect to see public transit hit Dodger stadium again after a 14-year hiatus (save for a small Friday night 2004 experiment that failed). A proposal is making it's way through city council this week and is expected to pass out of committee and the full council. The plan, for the last 32 home games starting July 25, is......

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be presiding over his first same-sex marriage ceremony later today at City Hall, joining together Bruce Cohen and Gabriel Catone. Cohen is an Academy Award-winning producer for American Beauty and has also produced Big Fish and Pushing Daisies and Catone is an art consultant in New York. Earlier this month, Villaraigosa said he would "marry as many people as possible," but a trip to Israel made him miss the first couple......

There's a lot of confusion out there about Los Angeles City Council President, Eric Garcetti, these days. He's a superdelegate for Barack Obama (which leads to people throwing out the "cabinet position" question), it's often brought up that he has congressional aspirations, there's a viral website to elect Garcetti for D.A. of Gotham City (ah, yes, the new Batman movie), Mayor Tommy Carcetti is a character in HBO's The Wire (you can buy reelection t-shirts)......

After a handful of marriages last night (including the couple that challenged the ban on same-sex marriage and got it overturned), this morning marked the beginning of M Day as thousands of couples across the state celebrated love and rights. For Los Angeles, the first official marriage within city limits was officiated by Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti. And this one was close to home: Shane Goldsmith (flower dress) and Monica Granados (shirt/pants)......

On the heels of the annual Great LA River CleanUp comes another large do-gooding river activity tomorrow morning. 2,000 people from Heal the Bay, the NAACP, PAVA and ANAHUAK will be cleaning the Glendale Narrows section of the LA River along with Councilman Eric Garcetti and other neighborhood and organization leaders. "The L.A. River is something we all have in common. Only if all communities work together will we be able to restore and revitalize......

In January, Los Angeles City Councilman Eric Garcetti announced that City Hall and other downtown facilities would provide bicycle lockers, more racks, access to showers and a subsidy to City Hall staffers who ride a bike to work. Yesterday, Garcetti blogged that they have already won an award, the Rideshare Diamond Award, for their efforts. In other bike facility news, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is hosting a bike/walk tour that is open to......

Photo by Stephen Box/LAist The Bike to Work Week celebration came to an abrupt end as Enci rode north on Western, turned left onto Hollywood Boulevard and then had a bus accelerate from behind, crossing her line and pulling to the right, forcing her to the curb as he pulled in to his last scheduled stop of the day. He then opened the door and screamed "Get the F@%& off the road!" and then......

Photo by pepewk via Flickr June 3rd is not going to be a very popular day for Californians to come out to the polls when compared to last February's Super Tuesday primary. Nonetheless, among electing state and congressional politicians, there are only two propositions on the ballot and they are stirring up controversy. Prop 98 and 99 are like good cop, bad cop, depending on how you feel about the issues, or maybe better......

View Larger Map City Councilman Eric Garcetti said it best in a statement this morning: "This morning there was another tragic shooting in my district that resulted in the death of a 13 year-old boy. We are losing too many young people to senseless violence, and we must all -- elected officials, community leaders, local residents, businesses and law enforcement -- work together to end it." Last night 13-year-old Anthony Escobar went outside to pick......

Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist Who knew an early Monday morning post about graffiti on a mural posthumously made famous by singer/songwriter Elliott Smith would lead to such wonderful results. Nearly six months ago, then-editor of LAist, Tony Pierce, posted a photo of the graffitied wall stating that "this is why we can't have nice things." Then, on Monday, reader Robert T. wrote an e-mail attaching a photo of a new tag on the wall.......

February may well be the month of the year we think about love the most, but our local schools are banking on us sharing our love with them right now, too. This month, a project called "LA Loves Its Schools" is taking place. It's a donation drive based on the pages of DonorsChoose.Org that calls for caring individuals to pitch in a little to help local schools, classrooms, and teachers get the things they need......

The most exciting thing about this primary campaign is the fact that it is reinvigorating in the public an interest in the direction of our nation, our state and even our communities. Witness the energy in the cycling community. This past weekend cyclists “Biked the Vote” with City Council President Eric Garcetti on a bike ride from the Eco-Village to Marsh Park in Elysian Valley where they discussed politics and then phone banked on......

In a quite quickly put-together press conference slated for 2:00 p.m. today at the First Street Steps at City Hall, Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Dennis Zine will be reminding voters that if you're nonpartisan or 'decline to state,' you must mark the box at the top of the ballot if you want to vote for an American Independent or Democratic candidate. Unconfirmed field reports are saying that the LA County Registrar is expecting to disqualify......

The locally based GOOD Magazine, founded by Ben Goldhirsh, always treats its hometown with respect. Here's some of what they had to say about Los Angeles in their most recent rag, the food issue. LA Weekly's pulitzer prize food critic, Jonathan Gold, is given props in "The Next Sushi" (pg. 70). Which food type will go from unknown to trendy? Gold predicts that Korean Bibimbap could be it: "[It] may someday be as popular among......

Not sure how to cap off your Super Tuesday voting experience? Why not grab a drink with LAist! We'll be at the Seven Grand in Downtown from 7-9 p.m., and your first drink is free if you're sporting the hottest accessory in town tomorrow: Your "I Voted" sticker! 21+ only, please. The body of a 32-year-old woman who fell off a cliff late Saturday morning near Chantry Flats on Mount Wilson has been recovered. Recovery......

Obama and Clinton onstage last week in Hollywood | Photo © 2008 by Jonathan Alcorn (sundogg) via LAist Featured Photos Pool Everyone's a songwriter when there's something big going on. YouTube is busting at the seams with song parodies of candidates and campaigns; some mourn for better choices, some simply sing their support, and some poke lots of fun at the candidates' foibles. Recently a couple of professional songwriters were asked by Weekend America......

He goes by the name 'frazgo' and he had an encounter with a Monrovia Public Information Officer that left a sour taste in his mouth. In a post on blogging.la, he ventures into that new media gray area that still is fuzzy... is a blogger considered media?I attended the city press conference regarding the gang warfare here. The city Principal Information Officer was giving transcripts of the mayors speech. Several of us asked for a......

Saturday morning was the first community meeting to discuss the Hollywood Freeway Central Park. Meeting in an elementary school auditorium, like they do in the Simpsons, those that attended saw Assemblyman Mike Feuer, LA City Council President Eric Garcetti and others speak about this park and the story behind it. In part I, I wrote about the failures of design in Los Angeles and a need to use architecture to embrace our 36 freeways.......

LA cyclists are joining LA City Council President Eric Garcetti on a bike ride in support of Obama. Cyclists will gather at the Eco-Village on February 2 at 11:00 am for a leisurely ride through Silver Lake and ending in Elysian Valley with snacks and the opportunity to help with some campaign phone banking. Cyclists in search of Leadership have to search hard to find Presidential hopefuls who support cycling and walking as transportation solutions......

A small patch of land in Silver Lake is about to learn its fate, as are the residents and officials who have been debating about what to do with it for close to ten years. At stake are six acres termed "the Meadow" by locals on the property of the Silver Lake Reservoir which is going to be opened to the public soon, but concerns are already swirling about the nature of the land's purpose,......

Cranes along Vine St. in Hollywood | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist Today, Councilman Eric Garcetti delivered the annual State of Hollwood address at an event organized by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He dedicated the address to Johnny Grant, who passed away earlier this month, and spoke about what makes a great neighborhood, at-risk youth tragedies and all that has been great and to be great for Hollywood. Here are excerpts from the address......

City Council President Eric Garcetti has just announced that City Hall now provides bicycle lockers, access to showers and a subsidy to City Hall staffers who ride a bike to work. End of trip amenities is one of the simplest and most effective ways to encourage cycling as a transportation solution and Los Angeles City Hall has just raised the standard. For those cyclists who don't work at City Hall, this action is still very......