Sahra Sulaiman

Really? A helicopter?? I sighed as I heard the aircraft swoop in low and fast outside Holman United Methodist Church Monday night as Mayor Eric Garcetti's first ever South L.A. Town Hall came to a rather unceremonious close.

Anniversaries can be a b*tch.

"What do we want? Safe streets! When do we want them? NOW!"

While some might not relish the opportunity to stand out on a street corner and count passersby for two hours, I can honestly say I really enjoy the experience.

It's hard to take some of the hysteria surrounding the City Council's approval of Mobility Plan 2035 this past August very seriously.

Tap tap tap.

"I want you to take a good look at me," the fragile-looking young man with a curved spine, hunched shoulders, and gangly arms addressed members of the Exide Community Advisory Committee (CAC), representatives of the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and Department of Public Health (DPH), and concerned residents and environmental justice advocates from the communities surrounding Exide Technologies' now-shuttered lead-acid battery recycling facility.

When the driver pulled in behind me in the new buffered bike lane along Vineland, I thought, OK, it's a little weird, but he's probably going to turn right or park.

When the butterflies, flowers, and decorative benches first started popping up along 1st Street in Boyle Heights last year, reviews were mixed.

"In the interest of time," Greg Kildare, Executive Director of Metro's Enterprise Risk, Safety, and Asset Management team began his address to the Board on July 23, "I will just say that staff believes that the [Metro Blue Line] pedestrian gating project is an extremely important safety improvement to our oldest rail line and consistent with [Metro CEO] Mr. Washington's vision of reinvestment in our aging infrastructure, the state of good repair, and a safety-first orientation. That concludes my presentation."