Zach Behrens

Four valley streets with proposed speed limit increases are scheduled to be voted on by the City Council tomorrow. This has livable streets activists up in arms as they ask how can vehicles legally gain more speed while pedestrians and bicyclists are put in more danger, especially in light of a slew of recent fatal pedestrian incidents. Damien Newton at StreetblogLA explains why there is an increase: "The LADOT and LAPD have conspired to...

Eric Garcetti LA City Council's new ad hoc Committee on Economic Recovery and Reinvestment met last week for the first time carefully deciding how stimulus will be handled. "At that meeting, we established a set of 9 guiding priorities by which we intend not only to fulfill the president’s vision for efficient allocation of the stimulus funds, but also to make Los Angeles the most accountable, transparent, and effective city in moving economic recovery...

This afternoon at Trader Joe's | Lisa Borodkin/LAist There is a new Trader Joe's on the Sunset Strip at Crescent Heights in the old Virgin Megatore Complex. It's been open almost a month--since March 13th to be exact. A visit around lunchtime proved the store to be nearly empty. "People who work there say it is never crowded, as even the neighbors don't seem to know it's open yet," LAist Contributor Lisa Borodkin said...

Indie 103.1 went Spanish. 97.1 FM went Top 40. And last week Michael Schneider broke the news that "Movin 93.9" KMVN-FM will also flip to a Spanish format. Back in 2006 when 93.9 was KZLA, the country's biggest radio station, the owner decided to change it "to target young women with a new rhythmic format" and with Rick Dees manning the morning show, notes Schneider. "The switch, however, was a big bust. Listeners rejected...

Photo by doisneau via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr As mentioned last week, a congressional subcommittee tomorrow will hold a hearing on the impact of climate change on National Parks in Twentynine Palms, CA. This is something that should be important to those living in the Los Angeles region because three major national parks units--Santa Monica Mountains, Channel Islands and Joshua Tree--are so close to millions of people. Scientists, wildlife experts, conservationists...

They were planning on opening last Fall (and before that, last year Winter), but new restaurants never get off that easy. The Counter, a make-your-own-burger Santa Monica favorite (among many other locations), is working to open a Studio City location on the northwest corner of Ventura and Laurel Canyon. "No more driving to Santa Monica!" blogger Daniel Barassi excitedly said in an e-mail to LAist, sharing this photo and noting that the large street...

Photo by CarbonNYC via Flickr From the LAPD: At a 4 p.m. press conference this afternoon, it was announced that 30-year-old South Los Angeles resident Claudia Cabrera was arrested around 9:30 p.m. last night as the driver of the car involved in the fatal hit-and-run incident described below. She has been booked for Gross Vehicular Manslaughter and her bail has been set at $1 million. Cabrera also hit Marcus Garfinkle, a friend of the...

Watch out, Sacramento and local governments statewide! City Controller Laura Chick announced today she is leaving her Los Angeles post a few months early to become the "first-in-the-nation" Inspector General to oversee the use of federal economic stimulus funds given to the state and local municipalities. "I am coming to Sacramento to deter, detect and disclose any waste, fraud and abuse of these precious taxpayer dollars," she said in a prepared statement. She begins...

Just days after Korean Air donated $160,000 to the Million Trees LA initiative, the company announced that they will be demolishing the company-owned Wilshire Grand Hotel and developing a $1 billion development that includes a new hotel, residential and offices. The plans for the complex at 7th and Grand are for a 60-story office building and 40-story hotel that will include 100 residences. "The Downtown office market hasn't seen any additions since the building...

Carolyn Flowers' job is to run the country's largest bus operation and today, in addition to taking your questions, she'll talk about the federal stimulus, solar power, the Silver Line, the Orange Line and Measure R. It all starts at noon here and Streetsblogger Damien Newton advises that "the best way to have a substantive discussion is to submit tough questions."...

A sign in Hakone, Japan vs. a sign in Los Angeles | Photos by Julie Wolfson/LAist Hello to all you smoked Angelenos out there!...

Phase 2 Alignment The Expo Construction Authority Board of Directors yesterday directed staff to pursue and study a route for the second phase of the Expo Line, which would go from Culver City to Santa Monica, according to StreetsblogLA. The approved route would continue along the existing Exposition right-of-way through before converging with Colorado Avenue where it will run towards the ocean and terminating near Santa Monica Place (check this map and follow most...