L.A.'s popular open streets festival CicLAvia returned to the streets of South Los Angeles yesterday. The five-mile long route took place on portions of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Crenshaw Boulevard - historically and presently two of the most prominent streets in L.A.'s Black community. The route was easily accessed via the Metro E Line, at the site of the nearly-completed, but frustratingly long-delayed Crenshaw/LAX Line's Expo/Crenshaw Station.
Leaders kicking off the event included L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, U.S. Representative Karen Bass, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) David Kim, and Caltrans District 7 Director Tony Tavares.
Tens of thousands of people participated in the car-free streets event - most on bike, but also plenty on foot, skates, scooter, and many just hanging out in front yards along the way.
The weather was near perfect - cool and sunny - with recent unhealthy air quality somewhat waning.
Readers - how was your CicLAvia day yesterday?
In other open streets news: last week, the Metro board approved a staff recommendation for $5 million for grants for upcoming open streets events in calendar years 2022 and 2023. Responding to a high volume of applications, the board also approved a motion - from boardmembers Janice Hahn, Hilda Solis, Eric Garcetti, Tim Sandoval, and Fernando Dutra - for an additional $2 million for additional events. The funding green lights open streets events throughout L.A. County, including ones in the city of Commerce, Koreatown, Lancaster, San Fernando, the San Gabriel Valley, South L.A., and others. The grant program now also includes slow streets projects. See Metro's listing and map of funded open/slow streets.
