"L.A. ditches traffic jams: A Hollywood renaissance for walking and biking"

[$tevie]

So, out of curiosity, does this ring true for our Forum members who reside in/near LA?

Here’s another piece of Los Angeles mythology that can be laid to rest: The city is not just for cars.

It’s not quite the pristine, skyscraping Los Angeles of “Her” — whose protagonist never enters an automobile — but it is equally far from the sticky stereotype of the Missing Persons lyric, “Nobody walks in L.A.” In fact, if that song, “Walking in L.A.,” maintains a curious cultural relevance here, it is precisely as a foil for planners, journalists and politicians defending the city’s peripatetic appeal. “Don’t listen to the Missing Persons,” Mayor Garcetti said in October. “People do walk in L.A.!”

Indeed, the city is in the midst of a renaissance of walking, biking and public space. Since 2010, eight CicLAvia events have shut down miles of road for cyclists, walkers and joggers — the latest drawing over 100,000 people. Two weeks ago, the city drew 25,000 revelers to its inaugural New Year’s Eve gathering in newly created Grand Park. WalkScore gives L.A. a higher rating than Portland, Pittsburgh and New Orleans. And sometime over the course of the next month, Garcetti will announce the candidates for his “Great Streets” program, intended to remodel dozens of L.A.’s thoroughfares as pedestrian destinations.

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/11/l_a_ditc...nd_biking/