Photo by VirtualEm via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr An Urban & Environmental Planner friend of mine in New York City believes that when you build bigger and beefier streets, all you do is build increased traffic congestion. "Build it and they will come," he would say. Today, Steve Hymon in his weekly Road Sage column explores the subject by extension of the Pico/Olympic plan, where city officials are planning to begin......

Last December, I embarked on a mission to find a solution to a problem in my immediate neighborhood. Trying to cross Moorpark St. on foot (or left turns in a car) during rush hour is a nightmare. There is just too much constant flow and you really have to have a brave moment to cross at the unmarked crosswalk because as we all know, there is about .001% of drivers in the city who......

Brady Westwater at the blog, LA Cowboy, asked some fair questions on his blog yesterday about the former head of the city’s transportation department, who was fired last week: “Why Did The Press TOTALLY Fail Us On The Gloria Jeff Disaster?” After some research, he found that “not a word was ever printed about her past” – if that’s true, Gloria Jeff is in the wrong business. Get this woman to a PR firm......

Today brought on two major changes for Sherman Oaks. Some are cheering, some are jeering. The first is the opening of the 405 on-ramp just south of Valley's busiest intersection of Ventura/Sepulveda at Greenleaf Street. This means no more traveling a couple miles to Burbank Blvd. to get on the 405 North and possibly a tiny bit less congestion. The second and controversial neighborhood newbie (to some) is the grand opening of Best Buy on......

The first in a series of interviews with members of the Los Angeles political scene, politicians, political connectors and the politically connected, I had a short chat with Brady Westwater, downtown advocate, one of the busiest men in LA politics and the LA Cowboy. What is the LA Cowboy’s role in the LA political arena? I started the LA Cowboy before I became apart of the LA Downtown Council and it was going to......

As the year comes to a close, LAist is asking famous celebs, local politicians, and other movers & shakers of LA to tell us what they thought were tops of 2006. LACityNerd hit the blogging scene earlier this year and this cat has blown us away with the knowledge and history that is spewed upon the blog. Who is it? We will never know. At least we are allowed to ask questions. Lots of......

Remember the rolling blackouts in 2000? That really bit. If you want to read LAist today, try to conserve some energy before our screens go black. Crash a rare Ferrari in Malibu, have some friends claim they are Homeland Security, and do some more mysterious things. Can we claim this story as truly, only in LA? Simi Valley to get a new welcome sign. We like the happy face better. Downtown News interviews Brady......

Last night Council District 2's Wendy Greuel held a community forum, The Intersection of Planning and Transportation, in discussion with Director of Planning, Gail Goldberg and Gloria Jeff, General Manager of DOT. If we were better hackers, we would have live blogged, but LA Valley College protects their WiFi. Nevertheless, some highlights from last night: Buzz Word of the Night: Mobility New Phrase to Learn: Envelope Entitlement Goldberg: Maybe The Unofficial MTA Prez In......