Posted by Will the culture of cars and congestion always be a part of the city of Los Angeles? Is there a better way?
Important questions to be sure, and to further the conversation on this issue filmmaker Karl Baumann put together a short video called DTLA Street Futures where he highlights the impact of the semi-annual CicLAvia events by splicing images from the open streets initiative with interviews/perspectives from event organizers and city officials who see an interesting path forward when it comes to how angelenos get around in L.A.
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It’s kind of neat to think about.
Watch below (and I’ll share a few thoughts after the jump).
As friend of blog Zachary Rynew points out in the CicLAvia primer he wrote for us a few months back (and as the talking heads mention in the video above), events like this help shift the perceptions of community members, give them access to seeing the city in a new way, and help people imagine what could be in terms of L.A. transit.
I don’t think the value of this should be underrated.
I’m very fond of the expression that you should never build something until it’s finished.
In other words, it takes a truly realized vision in one’s mind if you want to make the result of your efforts exceptional, whether we’re talking about a constructing a house or creating a piece of art, a bridge, or virtually any other project you can think of.
Getting people out of the shell of their vehicles and exploring L.A. streets in a more visceral way (even if for only a day) seems like a good first step to rallying the community behind the idea of rethinking city transit, and ultimately becoming less reliant on our cars.
Anyway, cool food for thought.
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