I’m planning another Leadership Los Angeles Seminar for the Southern California Leadership Network.  The theme of this upcoming seminar is “Neighborhood Development” and we’ll spend the entire day in Pacoima. 

I recently met with Nury Martinez from Pacoima Beautiful and was impressed with all of their environmental justice work in the  community. 

If you have any suggestions for speakers, please let me know.  We’re looking for local leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to share more about their work in the community.  If you have any suggestions for places to visit in Pacoima, please email me your thoughts as well. Thanks.

I’m excited to invite you to a very special summer happy hour on this Friday, August 27^th from 5:30pm to around 9pm. What makes this happy hour extra special is that we’ll have a tasting from LA’s most up and coming brewers: the Eastside Brewers.  They brew their fantastic ales right here in Los Angeles and I’m hoping someday we’ll be able to sample their ales in quality bars across LA.  In support of their efforts, I’m looking forward to introducing their ales to you.

We’ll host the event just outside of Downtown LA near Historic Filipinotown at one of the homes of these fine brewers.  For $10, you’ll get to sample three different pints of ale.  There will also be food as well. 

8/25 Update: I just talked to Ben Guzman (one of the brewers) and learned we'll be sampling the following ales:  Black IPA, Old Ale, Camomile Agave Kolsch, Imperial Red, Black Mild and a Petit Saison (I wouldn't necessarily recommend them in that order). Here's the facebook link so you can see all of the good folks planning to attend. 

8/26 Update: My friend James Rojas will join us at tomorrow's happy hour and will bring his building blocks so we can build a model for a sustainable Los Angeles while we appreciate locally brewed ales!  

Here's more info about Eastside Brewers:  
Eastside Independent is a collaborative effort based in the traditions of homebrewing. Eastside believes in experimentation and variety of flavor while at the same time producing a drinkable, crowd pleasing product. Eastside seeks to expand the publics awareness of quality locally produced craft beer while  at the same never forgetting their roots in the community.

Here’s some more info that I wrote awhile back about why I host these happy hours:
"In the spirit of building community in Los Angeles, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last two years.  As a Consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. For every one of these I've hosted, a fantastic group of thoughtful, engaged and interesting people have attended, always having a variety of engaging discussions." 

This Friday, I'm pleased to present at this Pecha Kucha and invite you to attend.  Here's more information about it:

I'm a big fan of Los Angeles and always curious to learn more about both the history and current issues of the multiple neighborhoods and landscapes in LA.  One of the most innovative organizations currently engaging people and place in Los Angeles to uncover layers of social history is Public Matters.  This Friday night, Public Matters along with the Philipino Workers Center in Historic Filipinotown will host their mobile Hi Fi Jeepney tours and a video screening.  I invite you to learn more about this event and attend.  I'm thrilled to be a part of the Public Matters team and am excited that this project in Historic Filipinotown continues to move forward. 

The other day, I rode over my first set of Sharrows on the 4th St. Bicycle Boulevard in Los Angeles.  I congratulate the LA County Bicycle Coalition and countless others who worked to make these bicycle improvements in Los Angeles reality.  For more information about this, check out the LACBC blog. 

If I remember correctly, staff and volunteers developed the blueprint for this campaign a few years back during a "Winning Campaigns" Training I led for the Alliance for Biking and Walking.  Over the years, I have led 10 of these trainings in various cities across the country and am scheduled to lead three more this year in Columbus (Aug 6-8) , Burlington (Oct 22-24) and Asheville (Nov. 5-7).   I invite you to learn more about these trainings on the Alliance for Biking and Walking's webpage, and also invite you to join me. 

LSC Fellows look on as James Rojas, Co-Founder of the Latino Urban Forum
shows the model he created to showcase the future public transportation system
in Los Angeles as proposed by the Mayor's 30/10 plan. 

The Friday before I left for Mexico City, I facilitated a day-long seminar focussing on Land Use, Transportation and Housing for the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership Southern California Class.  Here's a description of the day from SCLN's recent newsletter.  

Below that is more information about the Leadership Southern California Class, which is currently accepting applications (due at the end of the week).  A few years back, I participated in the program and would highly recommend it to build both your understanding of regional issues as well as network you with other civic-oriented leaders. 

Leadership Southern California 2010 analyzes the challenges and opportunities of Transit-Oriented Development One of the most difficult challenges facing Southern California today relates to land use, housing and transportation. As the region's population continues to grow, vehicle traffic, road infrastructure and uncertainty over the price of oil have become issues of concern. A shift towards transit-oriented development (TOD) and efficient use of land has led to new initiatives and projects, some of which were examined last week by the Leadership Southern California 2010 Fellows. "The federal funding strategy our region initiated has empowered local communities to raise transportation funds on their own," said Denny Zane, Move LA, on the significance of the 30/10 transportation initiative. "This has been seen by the federal government and other local governments as a template for projects nationwide." The Chamber is currently working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, Metro and Move LA on next steps for 30/10.  For more information visit www.leadershipnetwork.org or follow SCLN on Twitter@SCLN.  View photo gallery.   

Last Week to Apply for Leadership Southern California Class of 2011
With several exciting additions to the LSC curriculum, the 2011 class promises to be the most relevant, engaging program to date. The 2011 class will include a regional seminar in Ventura County, where participants will explore the people, places and trends affecting business and technology, coastal communities and agriculture; as well as a two-day seminar on natural resources management, with the new addition of energy. The new, two-day orientation session will feature activities focusing on the Internal Dynamics of Leadership, in partnership with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. This new component focuses on executive education practices dedicated to managing one's self in the midst of dynamic, changing, challenging and sometimes stressful situations.  Please share this information with a colleague who may be interested. View more information and apply now.

Yesterday, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy hosted me at their office here in Mexico City to make a presentation about the state of bicycling in Los Angeles.  Thirteen bicycle advocates from local organizations such as BiciTekkas and Mujeres Bicicletas attended.

I talked about the growing bicycle culture in Los Angeles and showed numerous pictures of LA from the last few years.  I shared some of the organizations and people that make up the growing bike movement in Los Angeles.  Organizations such as the LA County Bicycle Coalition, CICLE, Bike Kitchen, Bike Oven, Bicrowave.  I talked about various rides such as Midnight Ridazz, Ride-Arc and Critical Mass.  I also mentioned events like the LA Street Summit, Art Cycle, the Bike Film Festival and Ciclavia, in addtion to blogs like LA Streetsblog.  I mentioned current campaigns such as Sharrows, Bike Boulevards, work to implement a new Bike Plan and the broader 30/10 plan to implement $40 billion dollars of Measure R funds.  I also talked about the incorporation of art and showed some of Cache’s murals and those "Caution Please Pass with Care" signs that appeared recently.  There's plenty of other people and organizations also working for a more bike friendly LA and I'm grateful for their efforts.  Together, this movement has dramatically increased the number of people bicycling in Los Angeles over the last 14 years, which is when a small group of us decided to launch the LA County Bicycle Coalition. 

I answered numerous questions about how groups in LA raised money to hire staff, how campaigns were organized and how a diverse group of people that care about bicycling work together in LA.  We had a very good discussion and I also learned more about their local advocacy efforts and such as developing a new bike plan for the city, passing a policy that incorporates bicycle planning into street designs and their regular Sunday Ciclovias. 

After the ride, folks from the Bicitekkas invited me on one of their weekly night rides, which starts at the city’s iconic Angel on Reforma Blvd.  About 100 of us toured the city (in the pouring rain), which included a stop near the Zocolo that will be the future location of their first Bicycle Kitchen-like space.  Very exciting! On the ride, I met Beto, the cousin of a friend of mine in LA – Ozzie, who owns one of my favorite bike shops, Echo Park Cycles.  (with Orange 20 being my other favorite shop). Small world indeed!

Folks expressed appreciation for my presentation and asked how Jimmy Lizama was doing (for the last two years Jimmy has come down to their annual Bike Congress event).  I told them Jimmy is now a proud father.  We talked about how there is so much for Mexico City to learn from Los Angeles, but in turn, there’s so much that LA can learn from Mexico (which is one of the main reasons I have spent the last two weeks here, looking at subways, street food, public spaces, Ciclovias and more).   I look forward to the exchange between Mexico City and Los Angeles increasing, and watching both of these sister cities move closer towards sustainability. 

Did you know Los Angeles and Mexico are sister cities?  Here's more info from the City of LA website on all of it's sister cities: 

"A sister city is created when a community decides to join with a community in another nation to learn more about one another, and to develop friendly meaningful exchanges. A sister city becomes official with the signing of a formal agreement by the top elected officials of the two jurisdictions. A sister city is a broad-based, officially approved, long-term partnership between two communities. These partnerships have the potential to perform the widest possible diversity of activities of any international program, including every type of municipal, business, professional, educational, and cultural exchange or project. Sister city programs involve local government, businesses, and a wide variety of citizen volunteers including nonprofit organizations."

In addition to Mexico City, I have travelled to three other sister cities to LA: Vancouver-Canada, San Salvador-El Salvador, and Tapai-Taiwan.  I hope to have the opportunity to visit other sister cities to LA during my lifetime. Not only are all these places fabulous places to visit, but they also deepen our own understanding of the many cultures that make Los Angeles home. 

      

Today, I biked around Mexico’s central and historic districts and to my pleasant surprise, numerous parks, plazas, public squares and pedestrian streets awaited me.  

They vary in size from their giant, historic Zocolo where I watched today’s world cup game with thousands of others to a tiny patch of green in one of their many parks. Each one of these places had a place for me to sit, work and people watch. 

Great cities provide places for its citizens to congregate.  Trees that shade and benches that provide a place to sit make these spaces attractive and invite use from a variety of people.  Street vendors give life to the space and provide an extra set of “eyes on the street”.   Water features add a sense of play and wonder.

I can’t help but think what a better city Los Angeles would be if we had more places like this.  Instead of parking lots, why not build more parks? Instead of vacant lots, why not convert them to community gardens? Instead of five-lane wide streets, why not add a green traffic island, wider sidewalks and a bike lane instead?  I’m glad that Los Angeles has begun moving in this direction. 

     
I love street food in general for two main reasons.  One, it gives me access to a variety of foods.  Second, it helps create vibrant urban spaces filled with people.

Mexico City is filled with street food on corners, around their subway stations, adjacent to highways and just about anywhere else it can squeeze into.  It makes otherwise bland urban spaces into places where you can people watch, sit and rest.

I’ve sampled tacos, juices, hamburgers, fruit, nuts and in the process, I have gotten a better sense of the city and people around me.  I’d like to see more of this in Los Angeles. 

     
Mexico City has another lesson for Los Angeles – dedicating existing lanes of street traffic to develop a Bus Rapid Transit network.   I took one of these busses the other day from the Zona Rosa neighborhood I’m staying in to Condessa to meet with representatives from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

With traffic in Mexico City as backed up as Los Angeles, these Rapid Buses speed through the city and come every few minutes.  They are clean, modern and very affordable ($5 pesos per ride…about 40  cents). 

The platforms are in the middle of the street and are shielded from the noise of the traffic with glass and stone walls.  The bus I rode had standing room only. 

In a city struggling to move it’s people, this investment has increased mobility and reduced pollution.  It took political will from the City’s elected officials and sustained advocacy from ITDP to make this happen.  For more information about this project and ITDP, check out their posting on the subject. 






 

After recently facilitating a seminar on land-use, transportation and housing for the Southern California Leadership Network focusing on the Gold Line Eastside extension last week, I’m paying extra attention to this issue here in Mexico City.  I have had the opportunity to ride Mexico City’s subway system and appreciated several things about it that Los Angeles could learn from.

An extensive system:  You can go just about anywhere on the subway in Mexico City.

Little wait time:  Trains here run on a very frequent schedule (I’ve had to wait less than three minutes each time).

Street vending at stations:  The public spaces immediately surrounding stations are full of people and life as vendors sell a variety of food and goods

Linkages to bus and bicycle transportation: The station I arrived at yesterday connected to a Rapid Bus Transit system, extending the reach of transit.  It also had bike racks and a free city-bikes.

Dense land-use around stations:  Mexico City is surprisingly dense, with lots of transit-oriented development around the stations.

Use of symbols at stations: I liked the maps on the train that gave each station a symbol, in addition to its name.

Affordable fares:  A one-way ticket costs 3 pesos (about 30 cents). Can’t beat that!

Today, I will learn more about sustainable transportation in Mexico City when I meet with a representative from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.



 

When I woke up on Sunday Morning here in Mexico City and looked out my window down at the giant Reforma Blvd., it was full of hundreds of cyclists.  Without knowing it, I had stumbled into one of Mexico City’s weekly Ciclovia events where miles of major Boulevards are closed off to automobile traffic and instead taken over by cyclists, rollerskaters, walkers, soccer players, dogs, children and many more.

My friends and I walked down to the street and marveled at the constant stream of cyclists – old and young, men and women, all kinds of bikes.  What a great way to experience a city!  For those who didn’t have bikes, there were kiosks every half-mile or so where you could borrow a bike for free.  I didn’t have my passport with me so I couldn’t borrow one.  The good news is that this is a weekly event so I plan to borrow a bike next week.  There are also numerous racks full of free city bikes that people could use as well.

What also impressed me was that several of the blocks had programmed space where the streets were used for other purposes.  With world cup fever going on down here, several blocks of street were converted into mini-soccer fields. Another stretch of street was turned into a showcase for locals who had restored old VW Bugs to show off their cars.  Ciclovia here gives a variety of options for people to experience their streets as vibrant places to enjoy. 

At major intersections, police regulated the car traffic so it could cross the Ciclovia on a regular basis.  We later took the subway about six stops down to the historic Zocolo, and to my surprise, the Ciclovia was going on all the way down there!

If Mexico City can do this on a weekly basis, why not Los Angeles?  I’m definitely looking forward to riding in the first Ciclavia in Los Angeles on September 12^th.  I encourage you to plan on attending and invite your friends to join you.  I also just donated to Ciclavia in LA and encourage you to as well (also on this site is a fantastic short video describing Ciclavia in LA).  

Today, I depart to Mexico City for two weeks. I'll be staying with a good friend down there in a city I have always wanted to visit.  One aspect of consulting that I really appreciate is that I can work most anywhere, given an internet connection. I also plan to meet with folks working on sustainable development down there, including representatives from the Institutes for Sustainable Transportation and Development Policy, the Mexico City Department of the Environment, Pew Foundation, the International Institute for Facilitation and Change, and the Hue Hue Eco-Village.  I'm really excited to be down there during the World Cup and also look forward to exploring the city and culture while I'm down there.  As the photo suggestions, there's a strong connection between Los Angeles and Mexico City.  I look forward to deepening my understanding of this relationship and look forward to returning to LA.  If you need to reach me while I'm gone, please contact me and I will get back to you as soon as I can. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, five years ago this month I launched my own consulting practice.  To celebrate that, I'm hosting a happy hour on Tuesday, June 22nd at Silverlake Wine (2935 Glendale Blvd.), from 5:30pm to around 8:30pm.   I invite you to join me.    For more info on my happy hours, below is some info from a previous blog post:

(David from Alta Planning and Design receiving
input at one of the break out stations)

Approximately 75 people participated in the bicycle and pedestrian planning process in Culver City on June 12th for a three-hour community workshop.  The workshop started with a presentation of the plan, presented by David Pulsipher from Alta Consulting.  The Public Advisory Committee, made up of community members, then gave their input on the plan.  One of the committee members, Ron Durgin, made the case for inserting a stronger vision into the plan.  He showed the inspiring, short Streetfilms video, Long Beach Shifts Cycling in to High Gear, which earned the audience’s applause.

For the next hour and a half, meeting participants shared their comments and suggestions for the plan, first by making general comments in front of the large group, and then by breaking up into four smaller groups to give input on proposed maps, programs, recommendations and a prioritized list of bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects. The meeting closed with David reviewing next steps, which incorporates the public’s input, the plan going in front of the City’s planning committee and eventually going before the city council.

It’s not too late to provide feedback on this plan – the deadline is June 18^th.  

I appreciate all the work that so many people have put into this process.  I also enjoyed facilitating this workshop and wish the community the best as they move forward.  

I'm pleased to serve as a member of the Public Matters Team.  Public Matters recently received a nomination for NAU's grant for change that if awarded, would provide a $10,000 grant to support our innovative market makeover work. Please take a minute to learn more about this innovative work and vote for Public Matters. 

More info on Public Matters from their website:

Public Matters generates innovative, artistic, place-based projects that build creative, civic and social capital in communities. Our projects develop creative community leaders. We engage residents in the creation of media-based neighborhood narratives that illuminate its history, character and conditions and integrate the results with broader civic processes, advocacy efforts and community initiatives. Our work addresses social issues through long-term educational projects. Our interdisciplinary approach is creative and analytical, left-brained and right-brained. We establish long-term sustainable programs that evolve beyond our initial involvement and are ultimately shaped by the community and its needs. 

Here's more information about Market Makeovers: 

Market makeovers are one strategy that aims to prevent obesity by working directly with community residents, community organizations and market owners to offer fresh, good quality fruits and vegetables to consumers consistently and reliably.

Outside of Consulting, I'm pleased to serve as an LA Urban Ranger.  Earlier today, I met with some of my fellow Rangers and prepared for our final Malibu Public Beach Safari, which we are hosting this Sunday.  I invite you to attend.   Below is information the LA Urban Rangers emailed out about the event.

I’m pleased to report the fundraiser for LA Streetsblog that I co-hosted with four other people last friday went very well! Over 60 people attended this intimate fundraiser at the LA Eco-Village, with delicious food prepared by Deborah Murphy and ales from New Belgium Brewing.  For more about the event, check out the LA Streetsblog post. 

Pictured above are members of the LA County Bicycle Coalition’s City of Lights Program, one of the awardees of the evening.  This innovative program's objective is "to increase working-class Latino immigrant bicyclists' safety and empower them to educate and spread bicycle safety information and advocacy to their communities."

Having served as the LA County Bicycle Coalition’s first Executive Director, it gives me great pleasure to watch the organization continue to innovate, grow and transform LA County into a great place to bicycle.  If you ride a bicycle in Los Angeles County and care to see riding conditions improve, I encourage you to join the LACBC as a member today.

I’m pleased to serve on the host committee for an upcoming fundraiser for LA StreetsBlog on April 9^th from 6pm to 9pm, and invite you to attend.  Streetsblog is the go to blog in LA to get the latest and greatest on work being done to  transform transportation and the streets in Los Angeles into a more livable/sustainable system.  

This afternoon, I’m working at my friend Angel’s recently opened café called Cafecito Organico and really like the space! There’s a nice, shaded seating area (that's not shown in the picture) where I can work and the traffic on nearby Hoover and Bellevue here in Silverlake is relatively quiet.

I’m really excited that my friend Angel launched this new spot, which is a great addition for the community.  Some of you may know Angel’s coffee because he sells them every week at the Silverlake and Hollywood Farmers markets.  Just like a new nonprofit organization that makes its first big step and decides to hire its first Executive Director, Angel’s taking a big step by opening up a storefront and I wish him all the best.

If you like coffee, this is a spot to check out.  He imports his own fair-trade coffee from places he’s actually visited in Central America and other places.  His product is organic and he roasts the beans himself.  All this adds up to a delicious cup of brew. 

Check out Cafecito Organico at 534 N. Hoover St.,
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Mon - Fri 6 am to 6 pm
Sat & Sun 7 am to 6 pm. 

 

Over the last few weeks, I've noticed numerous of these posters plastered on utility boxes along busy streets in Los Angeles. As a Consultant, I bike to the majority of my meetings with clients and appreciate this extra notice designed to raise awareness of drivers.  I thank whoever was responsible for designing these and putting them up around town.  

To find out more, I went to the LA Streetsblog and found an post giving more information about these signs.  This Friday April 9th, I'm co-hosting a fundraiser for LA Streetsblog and invite you to attend.  It will be from 6pm to 9pm at the LA Eco-Village (117 Bimini Pl.). 

     (photo taken by Drew Reed)

Last Saturday’s LA Streets Summit, attended by more than 500 people, left me inspired and excited about the potential for LA’s growing movement to transform our streets into more livable places.  Janette Sadik-Khan showed that if New York City transform its streets, so can Los Angeles if we are creative, organized and unified.

In the afternoon, I facilitated a discussion asking the question “How can we continue to build the bicycling movement in Los Angeles?”  Approximately 35 people attended this session and all had great things to say.  As any brainstorm goes, the point of our time was to generate ideas, not evaluate or judge them.   

Here’s a summary of the ideas generated (I put the various ideas into categories):

BUILDING THE MOVEMENT

• Focus on what connects us
• Bring together existing leaders of various organizations for a day or two retreat to figure out the following: Overall movement goals, Time to share what each organization is doing, Discuss how to best support each other, Share lessons learned, Learn best practices from other successful leaders from other cities outside of region, Develop communications strategy, Create a central calendar, Existing calendars mentioned (bikeboom, LA Streetsblog, Bikeside, Biking in LA, LACBC, CICLE, socalcycling.com, socalcross, facebook), Get to know each other better, Figure out each other’s roles and responsibility in movement
• Need an effective coalition to put political pressure on
• Need to think beyond bikes and build connect with other organizations – gender/race/other communities: Such as public health, youth, college/universities, environmental groups, grammar schools, transit advocates, police, food vendors, neighbors, neighborhood councils, art organizations, LA River, chamber of commerce, bike industry - Shimano, park advocates, charitable organizations that do fundraising rides, bike shops, cyclecross community, developers, affordable housing, communications industry – KPFK, gas stations, AARP, AAA, farmers
• Need for both regional and local groups for people to connect with
• Monthly meetings?
• Have a regular “Bicycle Roundtable” where leaders from the movement can meet to discuss goals/problems – a current idea of bicyclingjustice.com
• Need to be clearer about what our overall goals are
• Rides that give people the opportunity to get to know each other better and also explore local riding conditions
• Have a TED-style conference for bikes
• We don’t have to all agree all the time
• Work to bridge gap between youth and radical bike advocates: More dialog & Tap into good energy

WORKING TOGETHER

• Work together to implement City of LA Bike Plan
• Work to support city staff working on bike issues
• Need an effective communications strategy
• Focus on motorists to get more respect

RECRUITING

• Need to organize and recruit cyclists
• Have more people involved with various organizations cooperate to come up with a flyer to leave at various bike shots that identify the variety of bike organizations
• Have a button on bike blogs that would go to a site showing various campaigns and/or organizations people could get involved with
• Offer to help fix your neighbor’s bicycle
• Recruiting social riders into movement
• How to recruit apathetic cyclists? Are there incentives?
• Recruit at the Tour de California (and/or partner with the Tour)
• Have something on the City Hall TV Channel
• Have a fix-your bike show/kids club
• Get more people on bikes
• 2% of overall population can change anything

NEXT STEPS

• Collect emails from people in attendance
• Send out a monthly newsletter
• Have a facebook Page
• Plan a conference to unify bike movement
• Other ideas?

I invite you to attend this weekend’s LA Streets Summit, which will bring together hundreds of people interested in transforming LA’s streets into more livable places.  After a great set of morning keynote speakers, the afternoon is packed with a wide variety of fantastic panels.  I’m excited to facilitate the following panel at 1:00pm:

Building a Stronger Bicycling Movement in Los Angeles
This workshop provides a forum for people working to transform Los Angeles into a bicycle-friendly city to identify areas in which we can strengthen our movement.  How can we work more effectively with each other, better communicate with each other and strengthen relationships among each other? Participants will brainstorm ways in which to strengthen our movement and talk about potential next steps after the LA Street Summit.

I invite you to attend my session and/or register to attend the Summit. 

I’m excited to attend tonight’s Green LA Fundraiser and encourage you to attend if you support building a strong environmental movement to win campaigns that transform Los Angeles into a sustainable City.

This movement is made up of a lot of smart, talented and committed people – many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with as a Consultant.   Over the last six months, I have worked extensively with the leadership of the Green LA Coalition and can tell you they have what it takes to affect positive change in Los Angeles.

Here’s more information about the event:

I hope to see you there. 

I’m keeping busy this week with facilitation and am excited to have the opportunity to work with so many groups.  Here’s a quick glimpse of my schedule:

Tuesday:
-Facilitating a subcommittee of Green LA Coalition

-Facilitating a community meeting for the City of Seal Beach

Thursday:
-Leading a seminar at the Center for Nonprofit Management on planning successful fundraising events

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of Directors of LA Voice

Friday
-Leading a seminar at the Flintridge Foundation on Researching and Cultivating Donors

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Hosing Developers

I’m thrilled to work with so many leaders of so many organizations working for positive change in Los Angeles. 

The following is an email update about today's scheduled Malibu Beach Safaris hosted by the LA Urban Rangers, a group I'm a part of when I'm not keeping busy as a Consultant: 

I'm excited to lead three of the upcoming "Winning Campaigns" trainings for the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking in 2010 (Burlington, Columbus and Asheville): 

• New Orleans, LA: April 16-18 (Hosted by New Orleans Metro Bicycle Coalition)
• Edison, NJ: June 4-6 (Hosted by New Jersey Bicycle Coalition & East Coast Greenway Alliance)
• Burlington, VT: July 9-11 (Hosted by Local Motion)
• Columbus, OH: Aug 6-8 (Hosted by Bike! Walk!Ohio & Consider Biking)
• Oakland, CA: October 15-17 (Hosted by Walk Oakland Bike Oakland)
• Asheville, NC: November 5-7 (Hosted by Asheville Bicycle Coalition)

Last Friday I attended a town hall meeting hosting by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood and Barbara Boxer.  I appreciated their willingness to listen to citizens like me, and also gained inspiration from many of the suggestions made by other attendees. 

In the afternoon I attended a session facilitated by Metro.  As the microphone went from speaker to speaker, I jotted down 10 quick suggestions for improving transportation in Los Angeles. 

With a little dose of humor and seriousness, I offer the following to you (to make it fun, I presented these in a David Letterman style top 10 list):

#10.  Real Voices on the Bus:  As a cyclist, I often take the bus when I need to make longer commutes across town.  While the overcrowding doesn’t bother me so much, the robotic voices announcing the various stops sometimes does.  I propose an art project where Metro goes out into the communities surrounding its bus lines and record the names of stops from people who actually live near them.  Imagine taking the Wilshire Rapid from Dowtown LA to Santa Monica and hearing the diversity of voices along the way.

#9.  One ticket One Way:  I also find myself taking my bike on the train to places like Long Beach (where I will be facilitating some focus groups around bicycling for the City of Long Beach).  I wish that the one-way ticket I buy on the Red Line would also work for the one-way trip I’d make on the Blue line. 

#8.  Transit-oriented development:  LA developed around the trolley car and enormous potential exists to develop affordable housing and other buildings that are a short walk to a Metro stop.  I’m excited to see the statewide SB 375 get implemented.

#7:  Fast track bicycle plan implementation:  Cities like New York and Mexico City are transforming their streets so that they are safer and more enjoyable places to ride at a much faster pace than we are.  Why couldn’t the City of LA fast-track implementation of its Bicycle Master Plan in a year?  We’ve got good ideas on paper – let’s allocate the needed resources to make it reality.

#6. Bike Boulevards: My brother lives in Vancouver, Canada, which has developed an impressive network of Bicycle Boulevards.  These are quiet, residential streets that have several design features that make cycling pleasant:  traffic circles instead of stop signs, occasional barriers that limit auto traffic but let bikes through, good directional signage and prioritization when crossing major boulevards.

#5. Transform Parking Lots:  Los Angeles lacks adequate supplies of affordable housing and park space.   Why not convert some existing parking lots into uses that will serve more people and create a more sustainable city? 

#4.  No Free Parking:  For the parking lots we keep, let’s charge a real market rate rather than subsidizing parking.  Professor Don Shoup at UCLA has written extensively about this.  When people pay a higher cost for parking that reflects the true cost of parking, they are more willing to explore transportation alternatives.

#3. Legalize street vending around Metro Stops:  In Mexico and Central America and many other parts of the world, public space is so vibrant because of street vending.  I love how there’s a weekly farmers market right outside the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line Station and would like to see that space used like that on a regular basis. 

#2. Curtail Investment in Transportation Projects that only promote Driving:  The elephant in the room is that the majority of transportation spending still goes towards projects that encourage driving – whether it be highway expansion, new parking lots or new roads.  I would like to see less money go towards these types of projects and more money towards building transit, bicycle infrastructure and pleasant places to walk.

#1.Ciclavia:  Ciclavia will transform LA’s streets by temporarily closing certain major boulevards to automobile traffic and opening it up to people to enjoy on foot, on roller-skates, or bicycle.  It builds community and sparks the imagination for what our streets could be. 

These are just 10 quick ideas – there are so many more and so many passionate folks working throughout the region to implement other innovative ideas for a sustainable and vibrant transportation system in Los Angeles.  I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with many of them and am excited to see these ideas come to fruition.

I recently completed a consulting project that took several months for the Green LA Coalition.  Green LA works to build a strong movement to win campaigns that can transform Los Angeles into a sustainable city.

For this project, I collaborated closely with another consultant, Beth Steckler.  For this project, we interviewed over 30 people within the Coalition’s leadership and outside the organization, along with surveying the entire membership with an online survey.  Based on this work, we developed an assessment report and later facilitated a day-long strategic visions retreat for the Coalition’s Steering Committee.  From all of the information we gathered through these efforts, we presented a final report with recommendations for how the Coalition could strengthen itself as it moves forward so that it could have the greatest possible impact in making Los Angeles a more sustainable city. 

I’m pleased to report the Steering Committee approved the majority of our recommendations and has asked Beth and I to continue consulting for them to help them implement our recommendations. 

I also look forward to attending Green LA’s upcoming awards fundraiser on March 15^th, from 6pm to 9pm, and invite you to attend.

I’m very pleased to be working with the leadership at the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH).   SCANPH creates affordable housing opportunities for low-income people by expanding the knowledge, capacity and influence of the nonprofit development sector.  Over the years, SCANPH has championed affordable housing in Southern California and helped build a strong network of local affordable housing developers that have generated housing that’s affordable.   SCANPH also has some excited plans to green development in the future, which I’m especially excited to see happen. 

I’m working with the organization’s leadership to build their fundraising capacity so that they’re able to bring in the needed resources to do their good work.  I’m excited to attend their upcoming Board meeting in March to work with the entire Board of Directors on engaging in the fundraising process.  For some tips on how to build a fundraising Board of Directors, check out my recent blog post.

I have a family member who did well running a successful company.  When I asked him why he succeeded, he said “I’ll tell you what everyone will say – work hard, never give up, have vision, etc.”  He paused for a moment, smiled, and looked at me and continued sharing “There was one thing that played a key role in our success.  Once a month, I would invite everyone in my company for a drink, from the most senior staff person to the most junior.  We’d spend the first part just mingling and socializing.  Once everyone had two drinks, I would bring out a note pad and we would brainstorm solutions to whatever problems we faced.  That’s where we generated our best ideas!”

In that spirit, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last year which are not only a place to generate great ideas to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles, but also meet great people as well.  As a consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. 

My next happy hour is tonight, February 2^nd, starting at about 5:30pm at 7 Grand in Downtown LA.  The question I’m asking folks to consider is “what will you do to make LA a better place in 2010?”  We generally go until about 8:30 or 9pm. I’m looking forward to seeing who attends tonight and introducing some great people other folks they don’t already know.

The LA Urban Rangers, a group I'm a part of outside of my consulting practice, will host their final Malibu Beach Safaris on February 27th.  I will be co-leading these outings and invite you to attend.  Below is information from a recent Ranger email:

Yesterday, I made a short video giving a tour of one of my many office locations here in Los Angeles.  Occassionally working in beautiful places like Griffith Park is yet another reason why I love my work so much.  Enjoy the video!

While I love my consulting work and look forward to working with many more organizations this year, I enjoy doing a bunch of other things outside of consulting.  One group I especially enjoy participating in is the Los Angeles Urban Rangers. 

Below is text from an email update the LA Urban Rangers just sent out, in case your interested to learn more about the group and what we're up to these days.  Maybe we'll see each other in Malibu later this month.

* Our Portable Ranger Station is winging its way back from the 2009 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam en route to Tijuana! Stop by Performing Public Space, curated by Owen Driggs, at La Casa de Túnel: Art Center from February 6 - March 21. Leave your transit behind and just walk across the border. Other artists in the show include Fallen Fruit, Lauren Bon, and Jane Tsong, among others.
http://cofac101.org/casa.htm

* The new year promises new investigations as well. We are currently working with the University of California's Institute for Research in the Arts on a major project for the UC's Natural Reserve System, returning to the Netherlands next summer to build a field guide for our trail system in Almere's favorite vacant lot, and continuing development of a series of programs for our very own Downtown Los Angeles.

* Finally, thanks to support from the Coastal Conservancy, we will be wrapping up our highly successful Malibu Public Beaches program next month! The newly translated Spanish version of our informative map and guide is hot off the presses, and will be distributed throughout LA County and on the Metro 534 line, and of course, available on our website. Our very last public safari is tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in February. Stay tuned!


Ever onward,
Los Angeles Urban Rangers
http://www.laurbanrangers.org

The Southern California Leadership Network asked me to share a quote with them about sustainabilty for their monthly email newsletter. 

Here's the full quote:

Why is it important for civic leaders to become involved in conversations around natural resources sustainability?

"When leaders engage in conversations around sustainability, it leads to solutions that transform some of our region's greatest challenges into our biggest assets over the long-term.

For example, the City of Los Angeles' proposed Low Impact Development Ordinance addresses the multiple issues of stormwater pollution, water shortages, flood control, climate change and lack of green space by encouraging sustainable development in a cost-effective way that captures rainwater in a variety of innovative ways onsite rather than having it wash out to the ocean."

Check it out (it's in the Alumni Spotlight Section at the bottom right).  

A few years back, I participated in their Leadership Southern California Program.  More recently, as a consultant, I planned a day-long seminar exploring Koreatown and another one focussing on transit oriented development along the Gold line.

For anyone considering building their leadership skills and building a stronger network here in Southern California, I would recommend both of these programs.

Earlier today, I attended a Green LA meeting that Mayor Villaraigosa and new Environment Deputy David Freeman both attended and made several commitments to continue working towards making Los Angeles a more sustainable city. Originally a working group supported by the Liberty Hill Foundation, the Green LA Coalition recently became its own independent entity and is now a project of Community Partners.  Green LA is a dynamic coalition of environmental organizations working to transform the region and serve as a collective voice for our region's many organizations working on these issues.  The Coalition released a report prioritizing actions to green LA, and has been working hard over the last several years to work with the city to implement their recommendations.  I'm glad that the Green LA Coalition has grown over the years and am happy to support them in their work (I volunteered to take pictures at today's meeting, which was fun!).

Lately, I have been doing some consulting work for the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, a fantastic organization that "facilitates the creation of small, accessible community green and open space, such as parks and gardens, to address the inequity of open spaces in Los Angeles’ underserved neighborhoods, and to ensure community participation and collaboration in every step of the process of creating these parks and community gardens."

I’m working closely with their board and staff to help them develop a strategy to implement their long term vision of developing 50 new parks throughout Los Angeles.  This work involves a lot of facilitation at meetings as we brainstorm and prioritize strategies. 

This is a collaborative consulting project for me not only because I’m working closely with their staff and board, but I’m also partnering with Steve Rasmussen Cancian, a former organizer turned into Landscape Architect that has breathed new life into neighborhoods with his engaging work to develop community living rooms, among other things.  Together, we are combining our talents and generating a lot of great ideas for how to generate community parks and open space in a 21^st century Los Angeles. 

If you know of any local community groups that are interested in having more parks and open space in their communities, please email me. 

As many of my consulting clients know, I ride my bike most of the time to meetings and presentations.  I really enjoy riding around town and credit it for my good health.  Outside of consulting, I’m working on developing BikeSage, a community of streetwise bicyclists inspiring others to ride.

A few months back, I ran into some researchers at UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing working on developing a technology called Biketastic that uses cell phones to track bicycle rides.  Excited about the potential of this being a tool that could help potential cyclists discover routes that other cyclists already use, I volunteered to help test this new program in its development stage.

Nearly 150 rides later, I’ve mapped out all of the routes I ride on a regular basis.  Below is a snapshot of one section of the overall map.  As you can see, the streets I bicycle on are sometimes streets with a lot of traffic, but often quieter side streets with less traffic. 

I look forward to continuing my work with the folks at UCLA to further develop, and hopefully one day launch this exciting application.

I’m here at LAX waiting to catch my plane to Toronto, Canada, where I will lead another “Winning Campaigns” training for the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking.  This highly interactive, fast-paced and fun workshop gives participants the opportunity to develop their own campaign strategy to win improvements in their local bicycling or pedestrian environment.  This will be the eighth training I have led, having also led trainings in the following cities over the last couple of years: Denver, Albany, Louisville, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Flint, and Philadelphia.

As always, I’m excited to meet local advocates and have the opportunity to bicycle around a new city to gain inspiration for ways in which we can make Los Angeles a better place to bicycle. Later in the year, I’ll lead the same training in Denver and Little Rock.  If you’re interested in learning ways in which to make your own community a better place to walk and bicycle, I encourage you to attend.

(Here's a link to some photos from the training)

This week, the LA Times reported on the exciting work Public Matters is doing to engage the community around food-related issues through the use of media.  Working with high school students and other community members, Public Matters has generated some exciting media content that takes on the issue of the Food Desert in South Los Angeles.  You can watch some of these videos on Public Matters’ Vimeo Site.  The Associated press also recently wrote about Public Matters. 

I’m excited to be a part of the Public Matters team.  Working with the founders, I have been working on helping grow Public Matters so we can engage with more communities. 

“Public Matters generates innovative, artistic, place-based projects that build creative, civic and social capital in communities. Our projects develop creative community leaders. We engage residents in the creation of media-based neighborhood narratives that illuminate its history, character and conditions and integrate the results with broader civic processes, advocacy efforts and community initiatives. Our work addresses social issues through long-term educational projects. Our interdisciplinary approach is creative and analytical, left-brained and right-brained. We establish long-term sustainable programs that evolve beyond our initial involvement and are ultimately shaped by the community and its needs.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Public Matters, or are interested in partnering with Public Matters on a project, please contact me.  Thanks.

I’m really excited about the upcoming Los Angeles Bike Summit on March 7th and encourage you to attend.  “The Bike Summit will bring together bicycle advocates, advocates for healthy communities, and others to network and to plan a bikable healthy future for Southern California.”

The Summit features four keynote speakers from New York City, Portland and Mexico, all with stories and experiences that Southern California can learn from.  I used to have the pleasure of working with one of these speakers – Noah Budnick from Transportation Alternatives in New York City, and am excited he’ll be in town. 

I’ve been working hard to leverage the impact of the Bike Summit by planning a series of meetings on the Thursday and Friday before the conference where I will introduce the Summit’s keynote speakers to staff from local elected officials, transportation agency staff, advocates working on transportation reform, the media and public health professionals.  At each of the five meetings we have scheduled, I will facilitate a forum for the keynote speakers to share best practices, take questions and then have a conversation where we can learn from each other.  Because for as much as Los Angeles has to learn from New York City, Mexico City and Portland, there’s quite a few things we can teach them about like implementing the Orange line dedicated busway/bikeway in the San Fernando Valley, which we will also be touring. 

Then Friday night, we’ll ride in the “Root Down Ride Around”, which will tour important sites of bike advocacy/culture in Los Angeles.  I’ll be presenting at one of the stops to talk about some of the work I did while directing the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. 

I’m really excited about the Summit.  Not only will we be inspired from the keynote speakers, but there will also be over 20 workshops on a variety of topic.  I will be leading one of these workshops: Overcoming the Barriers of Bicycling through Social Networking.  The workshop will explore the BikeSage concept and launch our effort to begin recruiting a larger community of BikeSages in Southern California.  I hope to see you there.

Rising gas prices have motivated many Americans to start bicycling and taking transit in record numbers.  While I've experienced this anecdotally while riding around town, I recently learned first hand about the dramatic shifts going on around the country after researching recent media coverage relating to this issue for one of my clients, Bikestation.

Consider some of the following headlines: "Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit", New York Times; "Bicycling in Region Rolls Up Big Gains", Sacramento Bee; "Interest in Bicycling Soars with Gas Prices", Boston Channel; and even "Save Money, Bike to Work", Christian Broadcasting Network.  For every major media publication that covered this issue, hundreds of smaller media outlets around the country report the same phenomenon.  Check out this Sunday's LA Times Opinion section as well.

As more people consider transportation alternatives, the more that can be done to accomodate these trips by making them safe and enjoyable, the better. 

Locally, we have several organizations that are doing good work: Bikestation provides secure bike parking, the LA County Bicycle Coalition advocates for better policies, the Bike Kitchen provides a space for repair, CICLE gives people the education necessary to ride our streets with confidence.   As a consultant, I've had the opportunity to work with the leadership of all of these organizations and am thrilled with the work they do.

Over the last several years, numerous bicycle related groups and rides have sprung up in Los Angeles, creating the beginnings of a more bicycle-oriented culture.  While much has been gained, there is much work to be done to truly make Los Angeles a bicycle-friendly county. I'm optimistic that this will occur.