Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Be Part of the Process! Livable Cities Presents...
()
"We cannot talk about urban transport until we know what kind of city we want, and to talk about the kind of city we want, we have to know how we want to live."
Honestly, the event tonight is worth 10 categories. Crime, transportation, traffic, your commute, green printing, sustainability...Los Angeles, listen up. We don't have to live in a city plagued by traffic woes! Imagine real solutions and ideas and a room full of people committed to taking ACTION and actually doing something about this. Think we're out of our minds?
Tonight in the MTA Boardroom downtown, Livable Places is sponsoring the former mayor of Bogota, Colombia -- Enrique Peñalosa (who we've been told looks like a Colombian George Clooney) -- to speak about lessons he learned while changing the face of one of South America's busiest cities.
Support for LAist comes from
Peñalosa built infrastructure and created "Car-Free Day" in 2000 where buses ran in all lanes during rush hour and cars were prohibited, to encourage public transportation. He planted over 100,000 trees. A sustainable development guru, he helped change the city's attitude of negativity and hopelessness to one of pride and hope. He enacted real change in marginal neighborhoods and his city had 6.5 million people. (Imagine how inspired this city could feel with someone taking the bull by the horns, so to speak.)
The event is listed as sold out, if you happen to be downtown, pop by and see if you can buy a ticket last minute. Otherwise look for more words of wisdom and lessons WE'VE learned here in the coming days.
Additional accomplishments by Peñalosa:
* Created a successful Urban Land Reform institution.
* Created a new bus-based transit system: TransMilenio.
* Spearheaded large improvements to the city center, including the rejuvenation of plazas, creation of a large park in an area previously overrun by crime and drugs, and transformation of one of the main deteriorating downtown avenues into a dynamic pedestrian pubic space.
* Built more than a hundred nurseries for children under 5 and assured resources for their operation.
Support for LAist comes from
* Increased children enrollment in public schools by more than 200,000, a 34% increase in four years; did major improvements to more than 150 school buildings and built 50 new schools.
* Put in place a network of 14,000 computers in all public schools connected to both the Internet and a network of 3 large new libraries and several smaller ones that were built.
* Planted more than 100,000 trees.
* Built or reconstructed hundreds of kilometers of sidewalks; more than 300 kilometers of bicycle paths, pedestrian streets, and greenways; and more than 1,200 parks.
* Instituted the city's first "Car-Free Day" in 2000, for which he received the Stockholm Challenge Award. Through a referendum, people adopted a yearly car free day and decided that from the year 2015 onwards, there would be no cars during rush hours, from 6 AM to 9 AM and from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist