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Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.
Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited
00:00:00:02 - 00:00:23:09
Alissa Walker
I think one thing to point out, which is I think the most important and kind of, catalyst in, in LA Cyclovia which you're very familiar with. I'm sure it is the largest Open Streets event, in the United States. We have over 50, 50 events that used to be, you know, a few times a year.
00:00:23:12 - 00:00:42:19
Alissa Walker
Now they're in that there's not only the ones that are planned, you know, within the city of LA, but also like, smaller cities have their own offshoots. They closed the 110 freeway last year, which was wild. There are people, which is actually the second time they had done it had been done a while ago, like 20 years ago.
00:00:42:21 - 00:01:01:24
Alissa Walker
And but that these are the kind of things that, like our show the demand of how much people, are really ready for a different way to experience their city. And how many people just, like, have bikes and, like, would love to ride them if it felt safe on a regular basis? In with that infrastructure that we have.
00:01:01:29 - 00:01:15:21
Alissa Walker
So my kids, I always say like they've never known a world that isn't cycled via when they were younger, they actually thought this was happening all the time and we just weren't taking them, which is I love the idea of just in your mind and then, you know, that's going on somewhere else.
00:01:15:24 - 00:01:37:29
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, welcome to the Active Town Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Alissa Walker with Torched.la, a new newsletter, that has been launched, in the run up to the 2028 Olympics being hosted in Los Angeles. So let's get right to it with Alissa.
00:01:38:02 - 00:01:42:25
John Simmerman
Alissa Walker, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. Once again.
00:01:42:27 - 00:01:46:02
Alissa Walker
Once again, thanks for having me. Yeah.
00:01:46:05 - 00:01:55:24
John Simmerman
And and I do say once again, because, this is a return trip for you. You were on way back in season one, episode 20.
00:01:55:27 - 00:01:57:25
Alissa Walker
Oh my God. Wow.
00:01:57:27 - 00:02:00:21
John Simmerman
You do remember when this was?
00:02:00:24 - 00:02:08:21
Alissa Walker
Well, it must have been. It must have been when I had first maybe joined curb or in the early years when there was actually.
00:02:08:27 - 00:02:16:15
John Simmerman
You may or May of 2020. So we were in the early stages of major Rock.
00:02:16:18 - 00:02:19:04
Alissa Walker
So the photo was an older photo. Okay. That photo was.
00:02:19:04 - 00:02:45:16
John Simmerman
An older photo. But, season one, episode 20, we were we were in the throes of, of the lockdown from the pandemic. And, in and for me, this, you know, the whole podcast was a shift. It was it was me shifting over to what I had been doing, which was traveling around filming a documentary following, some people for bikes, cities that were implementing the big jump project.
00:02:45:16 - 00:03:10:10
John Simmerman
And, and then I'm like, okay, I can't do that anymore. There's no more travel. What am I going to do? And so I started a podcast. You were nice enough to come on. And again, that was in the first 20 episodes. You were episode number 20. Wonderful catching up with you. For those people who don't really know who you are, why don't you give the 32nd, version of who Alyssa Walker is, sir?
00:03:10:12 - 00:03:51:25
Alissa Walker
Right. Well, yeah. As the slides said, I'm a journalist focused on urban issues, I guess, I started out writing about, architecture about 20 years ago. And design and, then just started to do more writing about cities and transportation policy, climate. And, as of this year, I started a newsletter, that is focused on, everything leading up to our LA's mega event era.
00:03:51:27 - 00:04:00:21
Alissa Walker
So this is the World Cup coming up, another Super Bowl, and then the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.
00:04:00:23 - 00:04:12:03
John Simmerman
And here you are in this is in fact your language to torched. And and so yeah, you started this, gosh. When was it. It was in the spring. Right.
00:04:12:06 - 00:04:15:21
Alissa Walker
This, April. Yeah, I think it was April.
00:04:15:24 - 00:04:41:11
John Simmerman
Yeah. Fantastic. And in fact, let's pull up that post this is introducing torched. Boom. Right here. Share with us, have you what was the background? What what inspired you to, you know, bring this up, you know, answering your burning questions. Introducing torch here. And I love your tagline to torch. It's it's basically. What is it?
00:04:41:11 - 00:04:52:15
John Simmerman
It's it's right here. Boom boom boom boom. Where is it? It's at the end there. So la doesn't that.
00:04:52:17 - 00:05:21:07
Alissa Walker
Yeah. It's first name. Yeah I mean obviously torch there's the torch. As part of the games I've got some paraphernalia. Yeah. You know, behind on the wall behind me, you can see the, the Olympic, the 84 Olympic, poster with the stars and motions. And then I have like, this around me all the time, too, which is the brand book from the amazing urban design and graphic design that was all over the City by David Sussman.
00:05:21:09 - 00:05:39:07
Alissa Walker
But yeah, I the the torch was like, yes, obviously there's a torch. And, you know, a lot of cities have been burned by hosting these mega events. But also, it's going to be really hot. It's the Summer Olympics. All these events are happening, in summer, with the exception of, you know, the Super Bowl.
00:05:39:09 - 00:05:58:03
Alissa Walker
And we are not prepared as a city, as a region for the effects of extreme heat on a regular day, and let alone four years from now, and millions more people will be trying to get around the city. And what are supposed to be the car free game. So I'm alarmed. I think a lot of people are alarmed.
00:05:58:03 - 00:06:04:22
Alissa Walker
And what can we do to maybe fix that, not just for our these visitors, but for people who have to do that every day in our city?
00:06:04:24 - 00:06:19:26
John Simmerman
Yeah. And the image that we have on screen right now, and we'll describe this for the listening only audience, is is a beautiful image, but it dates back to the first time, that LA hosted the Olympics. Why don't you explain that?
00:06:19:26 - 00:06:44:22
Alissa Walker
So right here. Yeah. I think this is like one of our, you know, we didn't build a lot of years for the games, right? That's kind of been our promise to everybody that LA is, you know, not going to assume this big financial risk. And we're not going to have these, like, empty shells, you know, stadiums all over, the city.
00:06:44:24 - 00:07:15:00
Alissa Walker
But what we did do in 1932, because we've hosted the games twice previously, is we planted about 30,000 palm trees along the streets of Los Angeles. This is actually my street, which is lined with palm trees. And I believe that they were planted around that time, as far as I can tell. These I have I live on the street from, you know, from the 1932 palm planting, and it's kind of debated why exactly it was done.
00:07:15:00 - 00:07:40:19
Alissa Walker
You know, remember, it was the depression. They were trying to put people back to work. There were all these big, you know, programs happening all over the country. But as far as I can tell, the boosters did convince the city to spend the money to plant these palm trees, and it was meant to look, you know, exotic to the visitors or, you know, give this like, maybe even, like, a tropical or resort vibe, you know, to, to the area.
00:07:40:22 - 00:08:02:14
Alissa Walker
But if it had literally been any other tree, the city would be completely different. And, you know, just from like a shade perspective. Just from, just from, you know, when you're walking around, you would feel like maybe there might be an urban canopy above your head instead of this tiny little pompom, on top of, toothpick.
00:08:02:14 - 00:08:06:05
Alissa Walker
That, is is what what we're more used to.
00:08:06:08 - 00:08:28:01
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And these these palm trees, I mean, they are iconic now, for Southern California because of that, you know, that process of, you know, planting a bunch of these and they end up having they making some beautiful pictures, like this particular photos is gorgeous that you snapped with the the nice pink in the, in the clouds and everything.
00:08:28:01 - 00:08:53:17
John Simmerman
And it does conjure up this like Paradise thing and and thinking back to 1932. Yeah. The height of the depression and, you know, challenging times, but also getting to Los Angeles if you're coming from the East Coast, I mean, air flight wasn't a common thing. I mean, a lot of these people who would come, you know, to Southern California, that's a long train ride.
00:08:53:20 - 00:08:56:15
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah, we remember that. We used to have trains.
00:08:56:17 - 00:09:20:28
Alissa Walker
All right. Still there. We, I like people are always like, oh, the car free games. I'm like, well, technically we kind of did it the first time because 1932, we had one of the largest streetcar networks in the world. And. Yeah. And so there was like really, there was, there was there's really a lot of communication even back then about how to get people to the various venues, you know, using streetcars.
00:09:20:28 - 00:09:47:01
Alissa Walker
They also had a, extra, you know, kind of bus fleet to move people around, which is what we used in 84 and what we're going to use again in 2028. But then there are some funny stories that I found about, you know, there were a lot of people who did have cars, and there was questions about if you could park at the venues, which is so funny because we're we're doing that same thing now where we're trying to figure out, how to keep the cars away.
00:09:47:03 - 00:09:53:16
Alissa Walker
But except there they were, almost being, like, welcoming to cars because they were kind of like a new, a new way to get around.
00:09:53:19 - 00:10:14:03
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Well, I don't know if your ears were burning at all or not, but, last week's guest, last week's episode was with, Jeff Wood, from up in, San Francisco. And we were talking a little bit about the games and, in, you know, I mentioned to him, yeah, I'm going to be having you on the, on the podcast.
00:10:14:03 - 00:10:51:00
John Simmerman
We're going to talk about the, the, the, the Olympics and everything. And, one of the things that I mentioned is that, I had had the opportunity to, to travel to both London and Paris over the summer. I was over in Europe for two months, you know, interviewing folks, doing on bike interviews, filming. And I specifically wanted to see the Olympic Park in London to kind of get a get a sense as to, okay, they built out a lot of infrastructure, and then they had this whole vision for what the village would be, the Olympic Village.
00:10:51:02 - 00:11:12:22
John Simmerman
And, I had heard that. Oh, it guess what? It's being developed as like this whole New Urbanism residential community. So I wanted to get some eyes on that, to really get an idea of what that looked like. And so such a video of that. Then I was off to the velocity Conference the next week, and then the week after that, or the weekend after that.
00:11:12:27 - 00:11:32:00
John Simmerman
I was in Paris for three days. And I also wanted to understand and get a sense as to, okay, how car free is the Paris Games. And so I was on the ground there filming, getting an idea as to to what the status was, because I kept hearing from everybody, oh my. And you got to get to Paris.
00:11:32:00 - 00:11:52:06
John Simmerman
You got to document it. It's amazing what they've done. And I said, well, guys, I was just there in 20, 22, two years ago. And it was not car free. And it was you know, they're they're making great progress. I'll give it to that especially especially, you know, some of the bold moves that Merrillville Talgo is, is doing.
00:11:52:08 - 00:12:14:23
John Simmerman
But the streets were still incredibly hostile two years ago, so I had to be there. I had to do that. And, you know. Spoiler. If you haven't watched my videos, it's like, yes, some amazing things have happened. But the streets were incredibly car choked and incredibly hostile. And, the drivers were still very, very aggressive on those busses.
00:12:14:23 - 00:12:26:11
John Simmerman
Busiest of the boulevards. Although they did give credit and say that some of the great things that did happen were some of the side streets have become much more pedestrian friendly. And the School Streets program is phenomenal.
00:12:26:15 - 00:12:27:21
Alissa Walker
And so.
00:12:27:24 - 00:12:28:15
John Simmerman
Kudos to that.
00:12:28:19 - 00:12:31:03
Alissa Walker
Now. Yeah, two school months I think. Yeah.
00:12:31:03 - 00:13:00:07
John Simmerman
Yeah, exactly. And that was one month prior to the games. So who knows. Maybe magically those cars got booted out a month later. But that's the context that I had was I'm very interested in the 2028 games. Naturally. I'm a fourth generation Los Angeleno. You mentioned the streetcar lines. Both my great great grandfather and my great great great grandfather worked on the red car lines there in the downtown area, at the turn of the century.
00:13:00:07 - 00:13:26:29
John Simmerman
And so, I have deep roots in LA and have a vested interest. And in wanting to see the best step forward for, you know, Los Angeles as a, as a, as a region and as a city. So let's talk a little bit more about what you're talking about with torch, because you have this love affair like I have with LA, and you don't want to see them torched.
00:13:26:29 - 00:13:29:24
John Simmerman
You don't want to see them. Yeah.
00:13:29:27 - 00:13:50:04
Alissa Walker
It's true. I mean, we all want the same thing. We want the city to be better because this happened, not worse. And we want. But I, you know, I think we can only ask, so much of these organizing committees or sponsors, you know, they're they just they're going to do their thing. It doesn't really matter to us in the long run.
00:13:50:04 - 00:14:13:24
Alissa Walker
It's really up to the decisions that our leaders are making. And it's been alarming to see, how much time we had to plan for this. Remember that we were awarded the games the same year as Paris. It was this, special, like, dual award ceremony because nobody wanted to host the games at all. So we were kind of the two last bidders for 24.
00:14:13:24 - 00:14:37:10
Alissa Walker
And they said, why don't we just give Le 28 at the same time that we don't have to worry about it? Which was smart on their part because then it was Covid. And then there is all the other, you know, issues with hosting and even delaying the games a year when it was in Tokyo. So, that gave us maybe some inertia in a way, because it was so far away.
00:14:37:10 - 00:14:59:01
Alissa Walker
You know, this was 2017. Games are 2028. I wrote a story in 2018 for curbed about all the transportation stuff that had happened in 84, because what happened in 84 is, again, nobody wanted the games. And, we did decided to have it in LA with these same kind of promises about, you know, we're not going to build anything.
00:14:59:03 - 00:15:17:15
Alissa Walker
Don't worry about traffic. We're going to move everybody around and busses and tell people kind of not to get on the roads if they don't have to be. And it was this magical few weeks in LA where, you know, the freeways were clear and you could get anywhere you needed to the skies, you know, where it's smoggy, all these things.
00:15:17:18 - 00:15:41:06
Alissa Walker
And, you know, there were no big traffic, you know, crises or anything, but I, you know, we're going to use the same playbook, I guess is, is that this time? And we we haven't really spent public money to build stadiums. But now all of a sudden, there's this getting to the crunch of the four years and you starting to see, well, you know, actually our, our streets and sidewalks are in pretty bad shape.
00:15:41:06 - 00:16:01:18
Alissa Walker
And like, yes, we've invested a lot of money in our subway system and our light rail system. But like we don't have bus lanes for the busses, which are the workhorses of our, you know, the backbone of our transit system. We don't have bike lanes still, we have a few, but they're not really safe. And you can't really get places, you know, without a car, in a reliable and comfortable way.
00:16:01:18 - 00:16:33:21
Alissa Walker
So, I think there's a kind of a big reckoning, kind of drifting through, you know, city government, at various levels. You know, it's it's not just L.A., there's Long Beach, there's all these, separate cities that are hosting, like Inglewood, that are hosting a lot of the games, too. And I think what, what, what keeps coming up for me is like, what is the overall like regional collective vision that we have for what's going to happen in the next four years, and how can we start to align those a little bit more?
00:16:33:21 - 00:16:44:28
Alissa Walker
So we're all kind of, you know, can pull our resources or, you know, try to get somewhere together instead of everybody kind of did this infighting a little bit about about who gets what.
00:16:45:00 - 00:17:12:18
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. Well, in your most recent post, which was yesterday is, LA has a plan. And this really kind of addresses a part of the challenge that you just mentioned, which is, yes. We've got a lot of deferred upkeep and maintenance of infrastructure. And, and this was huge. So, the mayor signed this executive directive to do what?
00:17:12:18 - 00:17:27:01
John Simmerman
And why is this does this matter and why does this relate to what you just talked about in terms of, like, lack of sidewalks and, you know, protected, you know, and safe all ages and abilities, cycle network facilities?
00:17:27:03 - 00:17:50:10
Alissa Walker
Yeah. It's it's nothing new to anybody listening to this or watching this because your city probably has one. And we are the only major city in the United States, to not have a capital and infrastructure plan, which is basically just planning ahead a couple of years on what you're building as far as public infrastructure and how much it costs and what the deadlines are.
00:17:50:12 - 00:18:10:02
Alissa Walker
We do our planning one year in advance. We have a giant budget of, that kind of gets fought over by all of our council members, who, you know, all want their little piece of of money, but there's no kind of unified strategy for how we spend it. And there's no really no real vision for like, you know, you're showing this, like, sidewalk.
00:18:10:02 - 00:18:35:03
Alissa Walker
These our sidewalks are, so bad that we had a lawsuit brought against us, ten years ago, by people with mobility disabilities. About half the sidewalks are not in good repair, and that hasn't really, improved even though we received and made this big, splashy agreement saying that we were going to fix them, because there was no real plan for.
00:18:35:09 - 00:18:54:19
Alissa Walker
How do we do this at scale and how do we address other problems at once? So you could see these giant figures, trees next to, you know, freshly repaired sidewalk. This is a rarity, but like the trees and the sidewalks are kind of having this battle on every block in LA because we need the trees and we need the shade.
00:18:54:21 - 00:19:24:25
Alissa Walker
But that they ruined the sidewalk. So this is like, one of the thing I keep pointing to is like, we need to think about this differently, you know? Can we widen the sidewalks? Can we put the sidewalk on the other side? Can we put a raised bike lane up instead of, you know, the chair or whatever? Can we look at the street as a whole, you know, ecosystem, for getting around the city and like, you know, for every mode to make them feel safe and comfortable and dignified, instead of just, you know, we're getting money on the sidewalk, but then also, oh, we might have to cut down the tree, and then
00:19:24:25 - 00:19:38:26
Alissa Walker
we're digging that up again. You know, there's a whole. It's just like an overlapping, you know, layer cake of of all the different, fixes we're trying to make without really addressing literally the root problem, I guess in this in this example.
00:19:38:29 - 00:19:40:14
John Simmerman
Pardon the pun.
00:19:40:16 - 00:19:42:14
Alissa Walker
Yeah, yeah.
00:19:42:17 - 00:20:13:08
John Simmerman
Well, and it's interesting that you mention that again, channeling the poster that's behind you, from 1984, in the Olympics there. And I'm wearing my USC, aloha shirt here. You know, because that's 1984 was my freshman year, there at USC in Los Angeles. And, I didn't get a chance to actually experience the games. In the summer of 1984, I was there again, like the month prior for my walk through, as an incoming freshman.
00:20:13:08 - 00:20:35:27
John Simmerman
And then I went back home to the little ranch community that I lived in up in Northern California. I came from a community of, like, 4000 people, tiny little town. And I lived on a small ranch outside of town. And, so L.A. was even though I'm originally from there, LA was like, you know, the big city for this, you know, small town kid.
00:20:36:00 - 00:21:07:12
John Simmerman
I grew up there, since 1972, when my parents fled from the big earthquake that happened, in 1970. And so, you know, that's kind of the backstory on that. But the reason I bring that up is I wanted to mention what you were just talking about with these trees. And the interaction with the sidewalks is, I can remember, riding my bike, especially, along some of the beautiful, tree canopy neighborhoods near the Los Angeles Country Club in that area.
00:21:07:15 - 00:21:38:22
John Simmerman
The final two years at USC, I lived in a in a historic, Victorian home, you know, not far from Western Avenue in that area. And so I used to ride my mountain bike, through these wonderful tree canopy streets, that gave that shade the so much desired shade and limited resource of shade. And, and I would write all the way up to the, the fire roads up back behind the, the Hollywood sign, you know, be able to get up there and do that.
00:21:38:22 - 00:21:59:24
John Simmerman
So it was, it was like a, a couple of us, a handful of us in the early 1980s who had mountain bikes because it was before the explosion of mountain bikes and then the equestrian, riders who were riding on those fire roads up back behind the Hollywood sign. But yeah, I mean, that's such an interesting challenge and battle that we have because you're absolutely right.
00:21:59:24 - 00:22:30:03
John Simmerman
There was literally a consent decree about the fact that the sidewalk network was not was in such disrepair and was not conducive from an all ages and abilities perspective. And, you know, you, you you don't want to get rid of the trees. You have to have trees. We have to have a good, you know, tree canopy. Hopefully it's not those palm trees, hopefully something that's actually giving some, some legitimate shade, like some of those, neighborhoods that I remember.
00:22:30:05 - 00:22:48:23
John Simmerman
And it is an interesting balance, but you, you kind of touched upon that in the sense of rethinking how these corridors are actually even thought about, because if we're going to try to preserve those trees, maybe the real solution is maybe we need to be rethinking what the streets are for.
00:22:48:26 - 00:23:06:00
Alissa Walker
Yeah. Why do we give so much space? Yeah. Why do we give so much space to the cars and the fruit? And this picture actually, there you see a creek here. Like, obviously the creek needs to be replaced. Have more than more than as, the three lanes of traffic or whatever that are going by there.
00:23:06:00 - 00:23:28:11
Alissa Walker
So, yeah, I really do think I mean, the city has a lot of great plans. We have, a lot of even like countywide plan, you know, we have like something like measure, which is funding our transportation, you know, build out from, like, you know, our public transit agency, we have something called measure W, which is about like pulling up pavement, and, and stormwater interventions.
00:23:28:11 - 00:23:49:00
Alissa Walker
And, you know, this is like a perfect example of, like, why we need to expand our tree wells or put, you know, a little Boswell's and along so we we do have a lot of really good plans, but they are not reflected in our, public infrastructure all the time. So maybe, maybe with that as a goal, for 2028, we can move towards that.
00:23:49:03 - 00:23:53:01
Alissa Walker
But again, for, for everyday people, we we all we need that too.
00:23:53:03 - 00:24:33:20
John Simmerman
Yeah. Yeah. You know, and you mentioned to, earlier about, the heat stress that's involved, you know, involved with the fact that, you know, in the summertime, that basin, the Los Angeles Basin area has a tendency to just start really, really baking. And, and that's, you know, it's a very unlivable type of situation, which, you know, brings up you were just talking about, you know, opportunities for more livable environment, opportunities for, you know, incorporating some bio swales and and bringing some more green into that environment to try to bring down that, that heat stress, the heat effect that, you know, takes place with all this paved surface.
00:24:33:22 - 00:25:01:22
John Simmerman
And it brings me along to another recent episode that I had with Lindsay Sterman, with the Livable Communities initiative LCI there in Los Angeles. And and it also makes me think of the other recent interview that I did, which was with Michael Schneider in, season seven, episode 255. With the Streets for all initiative. You all have got a whole bunch of groups doing some really good stuff in L.A right now.
00:25:01:25 - 00:25:17:10
John Simmerman
I'm loving it because I know able to live vicariously not only through your newsletter, but also the good work that, you know, and the teams that, of folks that are doing things there. I mean, you've been on the ground there in LA for how long now?
00:25:17:12 - 00:25:19:27
Alissa Walker
23 years.
00:25:19:29 - 00:25:40:06
John Simmerman
So in that couple decades, in the 23 years that you've been there, I mean, is this, like the most kind of like urbanism in active mobility and transit and housing for everybody, energy that you have seen in the basin? I mean, it seems to me like there's a lot of good groups doing some stuff. Not that necessarily, but just getting.
00:25:40:06 - 00:26:06:06
Alissa Walker
Absolutely. Yeah, I would say like, yeah, the energy from the groups is good as far as the leadership that's doing that implementing, we're not in that we there is stuff going in the ground. Probably two mayors ago better and and I wouldn't like discount the, the efforts that Metro is making because obviously what they've accomplished is huge.
00:26:06:06 - 00:26:34:22
Alissa Walker
Like we have a basically like fully funded transit, you know, system we don't need to collect fares. Really. We have our infrastructure basically paid for, we have a sales tax that we voted on, you know, L.A. County sales tax. So we kind of you know, Metro just keeps cooking. And we're we're the only really North American city doing this type of infrastructure, building, as far as you know, we're tunneling.
00:26:34:22 - 00:27:00:04
Alissa Walker
We're extending our, our purple line, sorry, d line to, Westwood, which is another goal for the Olympics. We're building light rail, and we just launched a, you know, new light rail line in the valley, which is really exciting. So we're really like, that stuff is huge. It makes a big difference. But like I said before, you know, majority of our riders are, in busses, stuck in traffic with everyone else.
00:27:00:07 - 00:27:18:28
Alissa Walker
We this is like the. Yeah, that's a great post to pull up. So this is, Jody lit back. Who is this, like legend at Metro? She's that called the most hated woman in Beverly Hills for trying to get the subway to go under Beverly Hills. Obviously they prevailed. And it's going to open pretty soon.
00:27:19:00 - 00:27:40:13
Alissa Walker
But her point was really like, Metro can only do part of the work. We need the cities to really pitch in. And yes, things like, hla getting passed, which was just basically the, you know, voters saying you have to implement your mobility plan, this network of bike and bus, lanes that you promised you vote. We they, you know, the city council passed it and said they were going to implement this plan.
00:27:40:13 - 00:27:58:05
Alissa Walker
They promised us, and then they haven't really implemented it. So that's kind of seen as a mandate now for. Yes, everybody agrees. And now in, you know, new bike projects go in or, you know, bus stuff, I don't think I think people expect that to be happening. Now. There's a lot of busses around that, that you have really good bus lanes.
00:27:58:12 - 00:28:17:23
Alissa Walker
But when like new bike projects go in, we just have a new really great facility, on Hollywood Boulevard, which is going to be connecting, you know, the eastern part of Hollywood with the Walk of Fame, with this really nice project that, you know, could could be that kind of, you know, holistic street redesign that we're talking about.
00:28:17:25 - 00:28:42:10
Alissa Walker
People just kind of see it now as like, oh, this is the way it is. You know, we voted for busses and bike lanes, so that's really great. You know, that's important to be able to say everybody, you know, you can point to each neighborhood. Even at the press conference for the Hollywood bike Lanes, the council members were about there being like, this neighborhood voted 80% for each LA, and this neighborhood voted 70% for, you know, so you can say the people want these things.
00:28:42:12 - 00:28:42:29
Alissa Walker
But.
00:28:43:01 - 00:29:06:22
John Simmerman
Let's, let's, let's pause on that for just a second. We'll come, we'll come back to your. But because I know where you're going to head on this, but I want to really emphasize just how impactful Hlaa was of being able, you know, for those politicians to be able to be at a ribbon cutting or a community opening for a protected bike lane and say, you know, hey, these communities were voting for this.
00:29:06:25 - 00:29:29:13
John Simmerman
And we see the same thing in cities, you know, around the globe that if you ask them, you know, would you support, do you support having all ages and abilities, facilities for active mobility? You know, overwhelming numbers come out the 60, the 70, the 80%, you know, come back and say, yes, we would use this, we do support this, etc..
00:29:29:13 - 00:30:12:15
John Simmerman
So it's only a minority of populations, very vocal minority are against, you know, active mobility infrastructure, safe and inviting all ages and abilities facilities. But that brings us back around to what we were just talking about earlier, is having the ability to fund that intelligently. And that's where the CIP comes in, being able to actually have that capital improvement plan process in place so that you can actually implement the program that is on the plans, which is the active mobility network plans that HLA was saying is like, look, you've got great plans, just build it and they can't build it if they don't have the plans, you know, for for actually implementing from a capital
00:30:12:15 - 00:30:14:04
John Simmerman
perspective.
00:30:14:06 - 00:30:49:14
Alissa Walker
Right. And so we're not replicating efforts and the, the group that has been, you know, the for seven years, I think really push this to the forefront is investing in place Jessica meany who, you know, go go look their work up they have been, you know, really pushing this like, singular vision for, the city is the solution that we need to at least try, you know, I'm it's it's it just doesn't make sense la would it would, you know, be the only city that would need one that doesn't make, you know, we think we're exceptional in a lot of ways and that we don't need to try things, but but what's also
00:30:49:14 - 00:31:15:04
Alissa Walker
exceptional in LA is our rate of pedestrian fatalities. I mean, we and you know, and and honing in on like just the data specifically in the last few years, like it's gotten worse, where a lot of cities have been able to make pretty significant improvements. And that's, of course, the infrastructure. Like it's obvious, you know, I when visited Hoboken last summer and like saw they haven't had a single traffic death in years.
00:31:15:07 - 00:31:38:08
Alissa Walker
And and that was a very concerted effort after, you know, a very tragic death of an elder in the community, the mayor, the amazing mayor, Mayor Ravi Bhalla literally said, we're not doing this anymore. We're going to fix the problem on every corner. And it's gorgeous. Like, it's not just like, you know, nice crosswalks and sidewalks and, you know, but there's like, really nice trees and benches and trash cans everywhere.
00:31:38:08 - 00:31:41:23
Alissa Walker
So, like, you can make these places better to be exactly.
00:31:41:25 - 00:32:04:06
John Simmerman
And I think that's the entire point. In fact, Mayor Ravi was literally on a press release for Strong Towns in the Crash Analysis Studio earlier this week, and he was talking a little bit about, you know, the fact that, yeah, this is not a war on cars. This is, you know, really trying to create communities that are people oriented and safe and inviting environments.
00:32:04:08 - 00:32:30:09
John Simmerman
And so it's like, yes, we can do that. And I think it's up to seven years now without a fatality, you know, there in Hoboken and Jersey city as another city, with Mayor Patel there, there's another great shining example of what can happen when you invest in the appropriate infrastructure. And I think the key thing for both of those cities, which is really, really important to emphasize, is they have mobility choice.
00:32:30:11 - 00:32:55:26
John Simmerman
And that brings us back around to our photo that's in frame here with, with our nice, boring machine here. But I want to get to the title of this, this particular post because, her whole point was that, hey, if the ground hasn't been broken yet, these big infrastructure projects are not going to be ready in time because they do take years.
00:32:55:28 - 00:33:18:29
John Simmerman
To your point from earlier, there is no other North American city that I can think of that has been moving as fast as L.A has over the past decade in building out and trying to rebuild that network of transportation that existed back when my ancestors were working. That's see you on the red car lines.
00:33:19:01 - 00:33:43:24
Alissa Walker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it really is something. And you can tell the difference. Our ridership has also, I think it's 22 months of straight growth. We're about to surpass our, pre-COVID ridership, which is really exciting. That would be that would that would put us ahead of a lot of other cities where now, have a higher overall ridership than Chicago.
00:33:43:24 - 00:34:00:22
Alissa Walker
So it's New York and then L.A., and that's really great that says we're doing something right. That also says that people rely on transit, to get to work. And it's not people that are working from home, obviously, because they haven't been able to change their commuting habits. So they're they're right back on the busses are right back on the trains.
00:34:00:25 - 00:34:22:16
Alissa Walker
What's really interesting, too, about Metro's data is how much of it is special events. So they're they're talking about, you know, a lot of their increase in their ridership growth, has been people taking it to, you know, sporting venues, which is perfect if we're kind of prepared for, that, that like that to be a major driver of growth in the next few years.
00:34:22:16 - 00:34:46:16
John Simmerman
So yeah. Yeah. You know, you all had a big event, just recently, that really kind of celebrated and talked a little bit about, this festival trail concept. Talk a little bit about what this is all about and what it's connection to the festival trail is, to the prospect. Well, the not the prospect. The games are happening.
00:34:46:16 - 00:34:53:01
John Simmerman
This is the prospect. Can we have something that's, you know, that kind of links everything together, so to speak.
00:34:53:03 - 00:35:13:10
Alissa Walker
Not every. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. This is this is the part that I was talking about before the, the missing links that, you know, you can get to a train station, but can you easily get from the train station to, you know, somewhere else in the city, that you need to go? This is a concept called the festival trail.
00:35:13:13 - 00:35:33:04
Alissa Walker
It's, a coalition of a bunch of different groups that have been working together to just kind of get grassroots support at the at the moment, they've had over, I think, 200 jobs with, stakeholder just, you know, interested groups and stakeholders all over, the city and, and beyond the city, you know, outside of L.A. as well.
00:35:33:04 - 00:35:52:13
Alissa Walker
So it would go from literally start at LAX, and travel, try this kind of diagonal path through the city, trying to hit as many of the venues as you can along the way. But then also linking up this is a really important part. It's not just like a trail, you know, to get to, you know, the football games or whatever.
00:35:52:15 - 00:36:28:27
Alissa Walker
Football stadium. But it's, it's linking up a lot of the existing trails and bike lanes and bus lanes, and all these other project corridor projects that we're, we're working on. So you really can, connect car free infrastructure with other car free infrastructure. And I think that's what we're really missing, too, is this kind of, you know, we have the LA River Greenway, which is has gaps that we have, you know, we have some other, examples of of kind of cool projects like this that also have gaps.
00:36:28:29 - 00:36:51:28
Alissa Walker
And if this could be something that could be put in place as part of the games, most of it's traveling on, you know, existing trails and paths and infrastructure that are already separated. But there'd be a few places where we just need to maybe have a lane of traffic. It seems like it's a good idea. So hopefully the leaders, you know, at the cities can start to embrace it and officially endorse it.
00:36:51:28 - 00:37:09:19
Alissa Walker
Because I think this again, this is just something that will not only actually help, you know, alleviate some of the traffic concerns, but also just make it nice for people who have nothing to do with these games, as are in town. You really want people to be able to enjoy things in their own neighborhoods or go to these little viewing parties?
00:37:09:19 - 00:37:27:18
Alissa Walker
Do you see, the rendering here is kind of like the shade structure where you could be watching a game, have some food trucks nearby, and that's the kind of thing we're also really missing in the city. You know, we don't have a lot of public plazas or a truly public, you know, spaces where where we can hang out with our neighbors.
00:37:27:18 - 00:37:33:16
Alissa Walker
So, I love the idea of adding these types of interventions, you know, all over the city.
00:37:33:18 - 00:37:51:21
John Simmerman
Yeah. You know, and and not to belabor the point, but, you know, outside of a couple of months of the year when it's really, really hot most of the time. And in the LA basin region is just kind of perfect weather for walking.
00:37:51:24 - 00:37:55:03
Alissa Walker
Such a shame that we're not taking advantage of that.
00:37:55:06 - 00:38:06:11
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. What other things would you like to share about torch with the the audience here?
00:38:06:13 - 00:38:30:08
Alissa Walker
Sure. Well, I think one, one thing, that's pretty cool that I've been trying to do is, you know, I did an event like a, these zoom type of events, these torch talk. So that was one of them. That was with, Chris, who is one of the leaders of the Festival Trail project. I, I continue to be doing those type of zooms where you can come in, drop in and chat.
00:38:30:10 - 00:38:57:28
Alissa Walker
And then I'm also going to be doing like in-person events and tours. Just had a launch party. That was just a party, but it was really fun. But some of the things coming up are like tours of previous legacy improvements. So one of our most famous, legacies from 84 is at SAC, which is basically a traffic control system that is like in this bunker underneath, our civic center, where they literally in 84.
00:38:57:28 - 00:39:17:20
Alissa Walker
We're so worried about, you know, some kind of traffic mishap occurring during the games that they started to go out and install cameras all over the city. So most intersections, most major intersections, they have the ability to look at what's going on. And then they have, you know, timing to improve slow. So we're going to go down and check that out.
00:39:17:20 - 00:39:50:12
Alissa Walker
But also, you know, a little bit like, did we, did we cede so much power to the free flow of cars. But maybe we forgot about some of these other modes. So how can we make apps like you know, it be a little bit better to help our trains and busses get through, get through traffic now? So that's kind of been, the top of my mind, but yeah, just getting out in the city and seeing what's left and what, what we want out of the next four years.
00:39:50:14 - 00:40:10:15
Alissa Walker
I'm hoping to just, you know, really bring up people's concerns, help them, like, bubble up to the top. And there's a lot of concerns. But also, just like what people think we should be getting out of this, and that is. Yeah, things like the green spaces those were promised in the original bid. But they haven't really.
00:40:10:17 - 00:40:23:03
Alissa Walker
I don't see them happening. They'll be temporary. But can we make them permanent? You know, can we get. So can we be able to keep these cool gathering places, in our neighborhoods and, you know, green up to space.
00:40:23:05 - 00:41:00:21
John Simmerman
Is you mentioned the green greening up the space. And, and that brings us around to your one another, one of your recent posts here, which is, you know, how to fix the LA, park crisis. You know, one of the major goals of the trust for public land is that, you know, communities, you know, individuals should be within, you know, a 5 to 10 minute walk from a park, green space, a trail, an open space, some some form of, being able to recreate, but also being able to get, a nature fix.
00:41:00:21 - 00:41:12:12
John Simmerman
And it's one of the biggest challenges that, Los Angeles deals with. Talk a little bit about this creative, weird solution that you talked about here in in this particular post.
00:41:12:14 - 00:41:34:15
Alissa Walker
Again, like most cities already do this. So I again, we're just behind here. We're another, good example of LA exceptionalism. But we have. Yeah. So that's why it's weird. Yeah, we I don't I mean, people don't really think about this. Probably they when they think of LA, they think of it probably is like the. Yeah, these are like green most months out of the year.
00:41:34:15 - 00:42:01:13
Alissa Walker
And, great weather and we're all the beach, but you know that those communities that are at the beach are significantly wealthier in most cases than, the rest of the rest of the city. So, from the most of us, the reality including, you know, my own family, my kids go to a blacktop, schoolyard LAUSD school in our neighborhood, in a very hot, unshaded environment.
00:42:01:15 - 00:42:25:03
Alissa Walker
But then also, like, our nearest park is not that close by either. So we're one of the we're in one of those places that we're more than a ten minute walk from, a park, which is like a one third of the of the city, which is absolutely outrageous in a place like you said, that has great weather and, and a lot to offer as far as, like a natural, you know, nature, access to nature.
00:42:25:03 - 00:42:45:11
Alissa Walker
Like there's a we have a giant municipal park in the middle of the city. Griffith Park. But, you know, it's not that close for everybody to get to. So, we are 88th out of 100 when for the in the Trust for Public Lands rankings, which is a drop. We as the as long as I've been looking at this data, we've been going down, down, down.
00:42:45:13 - 00:43:16:21
Alissa Walker
And so 88th out of 100. So you look at like the top you know the top cities and everybody's like oh well how how you were such a big city. We're so spread out. But like anyway you guys said we're way behind like access acreage. You know all that stuff. So, what one solution, that has been talked about a lot is opening our school schoolyards, which is a way that San Francisco, for example, got its 100%, you know, 100% of the city and the smaller city, but 100% of the city is within a ten minute walk to a park.
00:43:16:21 - 00:43:41:23
Alissa Walker
And they did that by opening and greening public school yards. LAUSD is the largest landowner in L.A. County. We have over a thousand campuses. That it could be that this could be done. But the hand that the number that have been green to like, park like standards is like. Yeah, I can count them on my hand. So it's a really cool program that has been launched by, really one councilmember has really spearheaded that.
00:43:41:23 - 00:44:06:06
Alissa Walker
Councilmember and Nithya Rahman and her office, really kind of revived this idea that's been tried over and over again, you know, literally for decades. But it seems like they have funding now and they have like a dedicated staff person. And they also have, legal agreement for joint use with LAUSD, which was, I don't know, there's all the legal stuff and liability, of course, like, this is, maybe the hardest part, but.
00:44:06:06 - 00:44:32:21
Alissa Walker
So they're going to be opening schoolyards, on the weekends in these, like, targeted areas that have, you know, don't have good park access. But then the goal, too, is to prioritize some of these for greening projects. And the situation is, is dire. I mean, what the you look at the data of how much like a, a really nice park with, like, trees and grass and shade and, you know, stormwater, interventions.
00:44:32:28 - 00:44:55:01
Alissa Walker
And that can cool down a neighborhood by six degrees. They did all these studies where they looked at, kind of like the heat coming off of, you know, different parts of the city. And the hottest parts of many neighborhoods are the elementary school playgrounds, which is, you know, like literally like it. You could land like a, you know, a helicopter, you know, in these schoolyards.
00:44:55:01 - 00:45:27:06
Alissa Walker
And that's how kind of barren and open and hot they are. So we've got to tackle this, you know, for our kids, but also for our communities, because we need give people more places to cool down. And this could be a great place to have those gathering places, you know, for various mega events, if you want to play a World Cup game, if you want to, you know, involve kids in like youth sports, this needs to be something that I think, you know, the Olympics planning and Paralympics planning people need to be focusing in on because it, it it it, it checks all the boxes of having, you know, kids, you know, doing sports
00:45:27:06 - 00:45:29:25
Alissa Walker
and, and also cooling down the neighborhood.
00:45:29:25 - 00:45:37:09
John Simmerman
So I'm going to, take a sip from my street surfer people coffee mug here.
00:45:37:11 - 00:45:40:08
Alissa Walker
I don't have anything as well branded, but.
00:45:40:10 - 00:46:15:22
John Simmerman
And the reason why I'm doing this is, is this brings up the what I mentioned earlier about school streets in Paris. And one of the interesting things about that concept of, of permanently closing the streets, you know, around these schools, especially the elementary schools and their process of green ING them and turning them into permanent 24 over seven space for kids is so brilliant and it can be done fast.
00:46:15:25 - 00:46:32:29
John Simmerman
It's not one of those things that is necessarily completely, breaking the bank in terms of, you know, capital investment. You can yes, you can completely d pave it and really make it beautiful, like this one right here. This is not.
00:46:33:02 - 00:46:33:22
Alissa Walker
So nice.
00:46:33:23 - 00:46:55:18
John Simmerman
But this is this is a post that, Tim Gill, who wrote the book, Urban Playgrounds, just, posted. This is not necessarily a school street. This used to be a surface parking lot, but the same thing of, you know, the same spirit of, hey, let's d pave these asphalt playgrounds that are out in our schools.
00:46:55:21 - 00:47:16:10
John Simmerman
Let's d pave some of these streets that really, there's no reason that those streets need to be, a traffic sewer. And you can solve a great deal of the challenge of school drop off and pickup if you transform it d pave it and transform it into a, you know, a much more of a living street.
00:47:16:13 - 00:47:37:06
John Simmerman
But this is an example of, I think, you know, being able to to have pavers and pavement when it's appropriate. But then other than that, what can we do to do pave, bring some green, bring that heat island effect down to your point that, you know, that's just the heat stress that is that we're inflicting upon our children.
00:47:37:06 - 00:47:41:18
John Simmerman
Is is just, you know, it's cruel and unusual punishment.
00:47:41:21 - 00:48:02:29
Alissa Walker
That looks amazing. I mean, we, we we're voting on a few things. Hopefully by the time this airs, we'll have all this, new bond money. We have a climate bond at the state level. We have all these things that are, can make a big, difference. But, yeah, just pulling up the pavement is something we seem to have a really big problem with here.
00:48:03:01 - 00:48:12:24
Alissa Walker
Even though, like you said, the benefits are, you know, multiple. It's a, you know, a multiple benefit, effort. And, we should be doing it as much as we can.
00:48:12:27 - 00:48:46:18
John Simmerman
Yeah. And and let's face it, too, I mean, yes, we've talked a lot about the heat island effect, and that's hugely, you know, appropriate for the challenges that Los Angeles faces. But the other thing that Los Angeles faces is that it when it rains, it pours. And we has had some historic amounts of rain. And then that's where, again, when you have all this impervious cover everywhere and you're not able to really soak up and replenish, you know, the, the groundwater, and the aquifers.
00:48:46:20 - 00:49:07:10
John Simmerman
What ends up happening is you just have, you know, a paved over environment. It creates flooding, and it all just rushes out to the sea and, you know, and so a lot of these efforts of trying to, again, make our streets a little bit more people oriented, let's do pave a lot of stuff. Let's get some, you know, some rain gardens in place.
00:49:07:10 - 00:49:16:26
John Simmerman
Let's get some more percolation happening and, you know, and let's replenish those aquifers versus just having a massive flash flood out into the ocean.
00:49:16:28 - 00:49:37:16
Alissa Walker
And, and a lot of our basic infrastructure is, you know, not just in the gutters of the streets that flood, but also in the actual rivers, like our greenways. Some of them are down, you know, right along the channel. And when it floods or when it's unsafe or when we have mudslides or all, you know, all sorts of things, you can't use them.
00:49:37:16 - 00:49:54:29
Alissa Walker
You cannot use our bike infrastructure. So we need to really just completely rethink our definition of greenway. And, you know, maybe we do move it a little bit away from the river so it can just take a lane of traffic and make it so it's, know, safe in all seasons. Well.
00:49:55:01 - 00:50:00:20
John Simmerman
To be quite honest, I mean, I'm very familiar with with Boulder, Colorado. I lived there for a decade and.
00:50:00:25 - 00:50:02:08
Alissa Walker
I went to college.
00:50:02:11 - 00:50:43:13
John Simmerman
Yes. There you go. And so you'll you you may know this about, the Boulder Creek path and the whole network of off street network of pathways that follow along the riparian corridors. And part of the reason why they were able to get that funded and get that done is because they realized that, hey, if we're able to bring these pathways that are next to the creeks, we can actually increase the size of the opening, you know, for, you know, that future 500 year and thousand year flood that inevitably has been hitting, you know, Boulder more frequently and then every 500 years or thousand years, and it actually preserves the overall street network
00:50:43:13 - 00:51:05:07
John Simmerman
because you're not wiping out, you know, the, the infrastructure, the automobile infrastructure and pedestrian infrastructure at street level because there's more space and more volume. Yes, that's true. The bike lane, it needs to get cleaned up because, you know, it's part of what happens is the flood waters take over that space. But then you need to, you know, get in there and clean that up.
00:51:05:12 - 00:51:13:12
John Simmerman
But guess what? The city's used to doing that because they actually plow when the snow hits, as you well know, they plow those bike and ped facilities first.
00:51:13:16 - 00:51:13:23
Alissa Walker
Thing.
00:51:13:26 - 00:51:33:25
John Simmerman
Before they do the streets. And so there's an ethic and there's a sensibility of saying, hey, we need to make it safer for people, who are relying on active mobility, to be able to get around and get to their meaningful destinations, including school, including work, including to the grocery store, including to their doctor's appointments. And so that's that's huge.
00:51:33:25 - 00:51:51:29
John Simmerman
So I see that there can be a balance on that, but it has to be done thoughtfully, so that, you know, it's done. And and here's a great message for, you know, other cities, if you're dealing with, you know, increased flooding risk as almost every major metropolitan area is now in the area of climate change and global warming.
00:51:52:01 - 00:52:08:08
John Simmerman
You know, this might be a way to be able to get more off street network of of pathways and, just do it intelligently so that, you know, you're not putting people at risk. And at the same time, you can move quickly to get that reactivated. If a flood does happen.
00:52:08:11 - 00:52:09:22
Alissa Walker
Yep. Yep.
00:52:09:25 - 00:52:31:19
John Simmerman
Yeah. Good stuff. So talk a little bit about torched as a business product because this is your job. So you know, what's, what's the deal? How I know because I'm. I'm a subscriber. I'm subscribed. Thank you. You are quite welcome. Please share with the audience, what it cost to be a torch subscriber.
00:52:31:22 - 00:53:04:15
Alissa Walker
Sir, I have three tiers right now. Just denoted by flames. Emojis. Flames. And you can obviously read all the content for free. Because it's like public information in my mind. So all the news, you know, all my reporting and all my, coverage, is always going to be free. No paywall. But what you do, if you want to join for one of the and one of the tiers, you can get these really cool stickers is I don't have one in front of me, but they're awesome.
00:53:04:17 - 00:53:23:03
Alissa Walker
And an invitation to an annual party, that I hold. And then if you, join in the next tier, you get to come to, some of the events that, you know, that I've been talking about. Some of them are open first and only in some cases to people who have subscribed at that next level.
00:53:23:03 - 00:53:48:22
Alissa Walker
So we're gonna be doing a lot of cool tours and in-person talks and in-person events that you can only have access to if you're that next year. And then if you're at the thousand dollars a year tier. I actually do like a briefing and annual briefing that can be customized to your, you know, whoever if you're with a company or if you, you know, need something information in particular catered to what you know you're doing as related to these mega events.
00:53:48:25 - 00:54:08:03
Alissa Walker
I do kind of like, you can be a talker, can be like a report or just a convening of some sort. And that way, you know, what I'm really trying to do is like, you know, funnel this knowledge, all this sometimes very useless information in my brain about about all of this. And there's a lot, but really be able to put it to good use.
00:54:08:03 - 00:54:31:02
Alissa Walker
I know, like, particularly like a lot of something I've been considering is like, creating like a nonprofit tier because a lot of nonprofits, you know, I don't want them to, you know, pay the full, top amount. But like, really, a lot of them are wondering a lot of the questions that, you know, that everybody's asking, but they they need to find a way to plug in to the planning or just get like a readout of what's happening at City Hall or at these metro meetings.
00:54:31:02 - 00:54:48:03
Alissa Walker
So I want to maybe find a different way to create a cohort of nonprofits who can, you know, just all be in this together. Because I think a lot of it we're all trying to figure out what's going on, and it's not very transparent. And, there's no one place to go to get all the information. So I'm going to try to be that.
00:54:48:06 - 00:55:01:18
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. No, now you're going to have to check out the fact check me on that. Make sure I did do the paid subscription versions of the freebie. Like maybe I'm freeloading on you. I don't know.
00:55:01:21 - 00:55:02:02
Alissa Walker
Well.
00:55:02:04 - 00:55:04:14
John Simmerman
I'd have to double check and make sure.
00:55:04:20 - 00:55:06:16
Alissa Walker
It's a subscription.
00:55:06:18 - 00:55:22:15
John Simmerman
So I wanted to also, call out the fact that you do, also or are also, publishing with another, architecture related, publication. Talk a little bit about that.
00:55:22:17 - 00:55:43:07
Alissa Walker
Oh, yeah. There's a new a new publication in town, actually the launch or like the second launch party, I guess is tonight. Or they were recording this. So, the lesson of this review of architecture is, off spin off, I guess, of the New York Review of Architecture. I also I have a hat somewhere, but it's not in front of me.
00:55:43:09 - 00:56:05:07
Alissa Walker
And it's, Yeah, it's a printed paper publication, which is really exciting these days to actually see a story in print. And I think just what we're all, again, like, you know, journalism, we're having a tough time right now trying to figure out, how to get paid, but also just how publications can be, really useful for their readers.
00:56:05:07 - 00:56:34:29
Alissa Walker
And I think in that way, we're very similar. You know, we've kind of found a way to tell stories, that are, you know, have opinions, which doesn't work in every, newsroom right now. A lot of people are just trying to kind of both sides things or make sure they have access to, powerful people. And, myself and publications like, you know, the New York Review, Architectural Review, we've I don't I'm not afraid to question power, and kind of be critical.
00:56:35:06 - 00:56:56:15
Alissa Walker
So, yeah, I'm excited that they exist and that it's at least one one more publication out there, and writing about architecture and urbanism and the built environment, obviously, like, it's hugely important because it affects people in ways beyond just, you know, pretty buildings. So, hopefully I can keep contributing to that and support them as well.
00:56:56:17 - 00:57:24:03
John Simmerman
Yeah. To close us out, I want to pull up this, this beautiful shot that you have out on your, your threads page here, and, and also channel the fact that you all are parents to and so, you know, you're, you're doing this not just because you're, you know, a selfish, you know, privileged professional that wants to be able to be the elite that gets around by walking and biking and taking transit.
00:57:24:05 - 00:57:38:25
John Simmerman
You know, you are thinking about the next generation. So close this out, talking about, a little bit about the Los Angeles that you'd like to be able to bequeath on to the next generation and, being able to get around.
00:57:38:27 - 00:57:47:21
Alissa Walker
Yeah. And this. Yeah, this is a perfect example. I was also, like, taking a conference call while I was on this, bike ride as well. So I was, like, on my side.
00:57:47:23 - 00:57:49:18
John Simmerman
That wasn't my style. All right.
00:57:49:22 - 00:58:06:27
Alissa Walker
Yes. Like a whole a completely. I mean, it was very safe, very short call, but I was, I mean, just the ultimate multitasking, right? The moms has to get home from the train station really fast with her potted plant. Like, what do you do? You ride on a metro bike and, like, take a call really quickly as you're going?
00:58:06:29 - 00:58:30:18
Alissa Walker
But yeah, I think one thing to point out, which is I think the most important and kind of, catalyst in, in LA is cycling via, which you're very familiar with. I'm sure it is the largest open streets event, in the United States. We have had over 50 of 50 events that used to be, you know, a few times a year.
00:58:30:20 - 00:58:49:28
Alissa Walker
Now they're not there's not only the ones that are planned, you know, within the city of LA, but also like, smaller cities had their own offshoots. They closed the 110 freeway last year, which was wild. There are people, which is actually the second time they had done it. It had been done a while ago, like 20 years ago.
00:58:50:00 - 00:59:09:02
Alissa Walker
And but that these are the kind of things that, like our show the demand of how much people, are really ready for a different way to experience their city. And how many people just, like, have bikes and, like, would love to ride them if it felt safe on a regular basis? In with that infrastructure that we have.
00:59:09:08 - 00:59:29:15
Alissa Walker
So my kids, I always say like they've never known a world that isn't cycled via when they were younger, they actually thought this was happening all the time and we just weren't taking them, which is I love the idea of just in your mind and then, you know, that's going on somewhere else. And that's how they, you know, learn to ride bikes and navigate through the city and take trains and busses.
00:59:29:15 - 00:59:55:19
Alissa Walker
You know, they're very, you know, avid, transit fans as well. They know how to use the transit app to tell me that we could have gotten there faster on the train, which is very true. But I would think I would say also, like with my kids, they have such a, innate sense of public space and they really know, like, what makes a good playground and what makes a good splash pad.
00:59:55:19 - 01:00:25:23
Alissa Walker
And they sure can point out, when the city's doing something wrong. So I would say, like, listen to your kids, like, the school street idea sounds great. We're just trying to get our schoolyard not be an asphalt hellscape. But but really let these kids plan and navigate and, you know, give them all the tools they need to and language to be able to describe, you know, what their, what they want because they're so.
01:00:25:23 - 01:00:42:01
Alissa Walker
Right. Like, we'll be walking somewhere and they'll be like, oh, there's not enough trees on this street, mom. And then we have to have that whole conversation. Why why can't we have more trees? So they also hate palm trees just as much as me. So that's that. I'm proud of that.
01:00:42:04 - 01:00:55:02
John Simmerman
I have that love hate relationship with palm trees because, yeah, it does bring back some pangs of nostalgia for what they are. But at the same time, from an urban ism perspective, they're completely useless when it comes to creating useless.
01:00:55:08 - 01:00:59:06
Alissa Walker
Yeah, yeah, they're they're fine, but they're they are useless. Yeah.
01:00:59:08 - 01:01:20:09
John Simmerman
I'm glad you mentioned Villa. I mean, one of the things that I love about, Open Streets events, is it helps to reinforce, that concept that we've been talking about so much here, which is, again, you know, streets are for people and trying to reframe and reimagine what our streets are for can really help us open up the possibilities.
01:01:20:09 - 01:02:02:21
John Simmerman
Because, you know, going back to the conversation we were having about the conflict between trees and, and sidewalks and whatever, you know. Yeah, just right off to the side there, you know, we've got, you know, excess space that's been developed or dedicated to the movement and storage of automobiles, which could really be repurposed and reimagined. And so having community events like Open streets, events like Sylvia's really help to reframe the thought process, because ultimately, none of this can really happen unless the political leaders within our communities feel like they're backstopped by true community support.
01:02:02:23 - 01:02:43:03
John Simmerman
And that's why I really, really emphasize that people, you've got to get involved. You've got to like, reach out, talk to your neighbors. You've got to talk to your entire block. You've got to get engaged with some of these organizations, you know, the like streets or for people or streets for people, as well as LCI, to be able to sorry, livable communities, initiative, you know, the programs like that because, that's how you grow the movement, grow the tent, get the tent bigger so that really city leaders feel like, oh, wow, this would be political suicide if I didn't listen to the the constituency.
01:02:43:09 - 01:02:55:08
John Simmerman
Because, again, going back to the data that we were looking at earlier is 60, 70, 80% of the population supports this type of transformation of public space. Yeah.
01:02:55:09 - 01:03:21:03
Alissa Walker
So let's do it. And I yeah, it's true. I think everybody here knows that, I think our leaders know that. I think they pretend, you know, they go out to the press conferences, they, you know, they, they like those photo ops. But when it comes to putting the stuff in the ground, or in many cases of what we're talking about, taking the stuff out of the ground, you know, they really have they need they need the leadership and the political will and.
01:03:21:03 - 01:03:30:23
Alissa Walker
Yeah, yeah, shaming, shaming them, until they get it, you know, that that works. But it needs to also be, you know, it needs to also come from all of us. Yeah.
01:03:30:26 - 01:03:51:12
John Simmerman
Well, I think there has to be a little bit of empathy to, to for the fact that, yes, this is hard to do. Like for instance, you know, council member, Bonin I think, you know, when, when they were trying to do like a really nice protected bikeway in, in that particular district, and then we realize that the status quo will not just capitulate.
01:03:51:14 - 01:04:21:10
John Simmerman
I mean, the oftentimes the minority, a very, very influential and wealthy people who want to be able to drive their car as fast as possible between points A and B, will put some political, influence and pressure on city leadership to do it, even if they do feel like, oh yeah, this is the right thing to do. And of course, you know, some of the city leaders like mountain and others, we're like, no, we need to do this right thing, this proper thing.
01:04:21:10 - 01:04:41:23
John Simmerman
This is good for everyone. But, yeah, it's we have to be realistic about the fact and empathetic to the fact that, you know, there's powerful pressures to be able to keep, you know, the motoring, party happening, the status quo of drive everything for, you know, for everything all the time.
01:04:41:25 - 01:04:59:25
Alissa Walker
And I'll tell you two interesting stories, kind of a way to show that maybe we've moved past that, you know, and Mike Bannon, former council member on the West Side, very wealthy West side, community that I was talking about before. Yeah. But in a road diet, I got faced recall battles. That project stayed in. It's really good.
01:04:59:28 - 01:05:27:21
Alissa Walker
There was another project, though, and, PCH, which is, you know, right along. Well, actually, it's not technically part of the PCH is another very dangerous part of the road further north. But if the road right along the ocean, again, he put in some traffic safety. You know, infrastructure, the people who are commuting from even wealthier communities further south, again, threatened with, you know, recall all that stuff.
01:05:27:28 - 01:05:48:08
Alissa Walker
They took that out and a bunch more people have died and sued the city. And they keep talking about, we don't have money for these types of things, or we don't understand why traffic is so bad. These are real repercussions for you know, failing to, you know, keep stand firm and keep the infrastructure. And I blame, you know, the city 100% for for backing down.
01:05:48:10 - 01:06:08:06
Alissa Walker
Not Mike specifically, of course, like he, he had done a lot. But the big thing that's changed now is when the Hollywood project went in, there's these really nice new bike lanes. Hugo Soto Martinez, council member for, you know, Hollywood, they had shirts made that were advertising a road diet and they're all wearing them around. And I was like, we've really changed.
01:06:08:08 - 01:06:24:29
Alissa Walker
Now we're, we have council members at a booth at Sicklerville on Hollywood Boulevard, you know, giving out shirts that are like, I love this road diet. So clearly something, you know, it's hard not to get a little bit of emotional thinking about it, but I you I really saw that. And I was like, okay, we've turned the corner here.
01:06:24:29 - 01:06:25:21
Alissa Walker
So.
01:06:25:24 - 01:06:54:18
John Simmerman
Well you have. But I mean every and I like to say this is that even though you may feel like you've got momentum and, and things are heading in the right direction, every single street transformation is a challenge. We have to have that empathetic understanding that these changes are fear inducing to many people. And, you know, for every success story there, there, there's another example, like in Culver City, that happened where.
01:06:54:20 - 01:07:17:07
Alissa Walker
Oh my god. Yeah. Saw that being ripped out. That was hard. Yeah. Gutting. Yeah. They had a really great project. Very small. But like literally the the gold standard of quick quick build bus and bike, architecture, you know, and they just tore a bunch of it out. So. Yeah, but we got new people coming and they're going to get elected and they can put it back better, better than before.
01:07:17:10 - 01:07:37:27
John Simmerman
I'm glad you mentioned that too, because absolutely. By the time this episode goes out, our elections will be done. And you had mentioned you alluded to it earlier that there might be some bond measures, but, you know, in whatever the outcome of that election was earlier this week or last week, I want to say this is that, hey, elections do matter.
01:07:38:04 - 01:08:08:15
John Simmerman
And in in addition to talking to your neighbors and, you know, engaging and getting involved with your local community groups, it really does matter who we elect to public office at that local level, at the regional level, at the state level, as well as as the federal level. So please, people get involved, get engaged. You know, it really matters that we grow the town and that we have an appreciation, you know, for what our streets can become and what our communities can become.
01:08:08:15 - 01:08:32:24
John Simmerman
Because, you know, we all deserve every single person deserves to live in a place where, you know, all ages and abilities can be able to get to meaningful destinations. All ages and abilities can be able to have access to green spaces and parks and places of respite from the day to day. And this has been such a wonderful pleasure catching up with you, Alyssa.
01:08:32:26 - 01:08:33:10
John Simmerman
Thank you for.
01:08:33:10 - 01:08:33:28
Alissa Walker
Taking.
01:08:33:28 - 01:08:35:00
John Simmerman
Me on the Active Towns bike.
01:08:35:01 - 01:08:40:12
Alissa Walker
Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. See you in five more years or whatever.
01:08:40:13 - 01:08:43:03
John Simmerman
No, no, no, no, I've got to get home. I've got to get back to LA.
01:08:43:10 - 01:08:48:25
Alissa Walker
Or maybe. Yeah, I might go. Yeah, maybe, maybe we'll we'll compare notes after the game seven.
01:08:48:28 - 01:09:02:05
John Simmerman
No no no, let's do this. Let's make sure Active Towns is at the games. Let's figure out a way to get back to town to the gamer. Yeah. We'll have a we'll we'll have a joint party. So they're active towns and torched, you know, parties. And again I want to emphasize.
01:09:02:07 - 01:09:03:22
Alissa Walker
That you do trail. Yeah.
01:09:03:23 - 01:09:19:17
John Simmerman
Yes. And you do like you said earlier, you do try to bring the community together. And I want to emphasize that is that you do try to bring your torched community together that is growing, and have some fun things. In fact, you you did some fun games too, right?
01:09:19:19 - 01:09:30:20
Alissa Walker
Oh, yeah. We had a jeopardy! Well, I just was a contestant. I had nothing to do with it, but, yeah, they had a, jeopardy! The great Devin. Many planned a jeopardy event, which is? We'll do that again today. It was really fun.
01:09:30:22 - 01:09:34:02
John Simmerman
All right, let's make it happen before the Olympics. All right. Come visit.
01:09:34:02 - 01:09:34:25
Alissa Walker
Sounds good.
01:09:35:02 - 01:09:48:26
John Simmerman
Okay, thanks. Bye bye. Thank you. Hey, thank you all so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with all this, Walker. And if you did, please say give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, I'd be honored to have you subscribe to the channel.
01:09:48:28 - 01:10:07:19
John Simmerman
Just click on that subscription button down below, and don't forget to ring that notification bell. And if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Tens channel, please consider supporting my efforts. I'll just head on over to Active Towns 40 and click on the support tab at the top of the page. There's several different options, including becoming a Patreon member.
01:10:07:19 - 01:10:30:02
John Simmerman
A patrons do get access to all of this video content early and ad free. Which is a pretty cool thing. Again, thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate the support. And until next time, this is John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers and again, sending a huge thank you out to all my Active Towns Ambassadors supporting the channel on Patreon.
01:10:30:02 - 01:10:43:03
John Simmerman
Buy me a coffee YouTube. Super! Thanks! As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and purchasing things from the Active Towns store, every little bit adds up and it's much appreciated. Thank you all so much.