Sidewalks

Hope Street Sidewalk Closure Gets a Guard

By Eric Richardson — July 18, 2008 — 5 Comments

Eric Richardson

The sidewalk on a stretch of Hope street next to Ralphs remains shut to pedestrians, five weeks after it was first closed. After prompting, the developer is working with city departments on a solution that would reopen the walkway while construction proceeds. — Continued Inside...

Blocked Sidewalk Next to Ralphs Shows Little Concern for Pedestrians

By Eric Richardson — June 11, 2008 — 15 Comments

Eric Richardson

A stretch of sidewalk next to Downtown's new Ralphs is closed due to construction, leaving pedestrians inconvenienced and creating an unsafe situation as walkers take to the street.

Downtown is widely talked of as a place for pedestrians, where those who live and work are freed from the need to have a car, but the city's attitude toward sidewalks has largely told a different story. — Continued Inside...

Different Cities, but Same Story on Sidewalks

By Eric Richardson — April 16, 2008

Eric Richardson

Just a few weeks ago we ran a piece chastizing the city for talking up a pedestrian friendly Downtown, while at the same time allowing sidewalks to be closed indefinitely.

It seems the problem isn't solely one facing Los Angeles. Last Friday Inga Saffron had an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer saying much the same thing:

Pity Philadelphia's walking majority. Its precious sidewalks are increasingly being taken in brazen landgrabs by the city's powerful construction industry, which erects flimsy chain-link fences to mark turf, sometimes for the sole purpose of allowing contractors to park for free. The pedestrian's daily passage is further challenged by smelly dumpsters, concrete barriers erected in the name of homeland security, and awkwardly designed wheelchair ramps. — Continued Inside...

Actions Speak Louder than Words on Pedestrian Friendly Downtown

By Eric Richardson — March 27, 2008 — 2 Comments

Eric Richardson

Curbed yesterday took a reader complaint about the closed off sidewalk on Grand Ave, across from Disney Concert Hall. The reader was complaining about the effect the closure would have on tourists wanting to take pictures of Frank Gehry's concert hall.

While certainly the Disney is a highly visited attraction, the situation illustrated has far more bearing on those of us who live in Downtown and are trying to buy into the idea of a pedestrian urban lifestyle. As we discussed last May, Los Angeles treats sidewalks as second class citizens, not hesitating to close off a span for a year at a time while a project is under construction.

Our city leaders love to tout Downtown's pedestrian potential, but how can we possibly believe their commitment to making Downtown a walkable place when it's so acceptable to force those on foot to take the long way around? — Continued Inside...

Sidewalk Reroute

By Eric Richardson — May 24, 2007 — 2 Comments

Eric Richardson

For the past few days they've been doing road work in front of the Roosevelt on 7th street. Today's work involved closing the sidewalk in front of the building. To my surprise, they coned a pedestrian path around the work instead of just calling the sidewalk closed.

I mentioned two weeks ago that sidewalks Downtown are treated as second class citizens. Even as we say we're making Downtown pedestrian-friendly, we close off sidewalks for long-term construction and force pedestrians to travel out of their way to get around. Large projects will close off an entire block at a time, as is the case for the LAPD HQ construction and the old State Building demolition.

That's just not ok. Downtown is a pedestrian place, and we need to reflect that priority in the way we plan construction projects.

On a positive note, Flower around Market Lofts has been reopened as Sodha noted in the comments. I didn't make it down to 9th to see if anything had changed there.

Second Class Sidewalks

By Eric Richardson — May 09, 2007 — 11 Comments

Eric Richardson

On the way to a meeting yesterday Bert Green and I were walking past the LAPD HQ construction at 1st and Main. Bert remarked that Los Angeles was the only place he'd seen where a sidewalk closed off by construction wasn't replaced by some sort of walkway blocked off in the street.

Sidewalks get closed off regularly Downtown, and it's entirely true that it's very rare to see that pedestrian linkage replaced. In fact the only spot Downtown where I can name a pedestrian accommodation is Flower street in front of 717 W. 9th (pictured). Even there I'd suspect we wouldn't see that walkway if it weren't for the fact that the opposite sidewalk has already long been closed by construction of Market Lofts.

More after the jump... — Continued Inside...

Sidewalk Not a Walkway?

By Eric Richardson — January 10, 2007 — 1 Comment

Eric Richardson

This sign showed up outside the Roosevelt Lofts building the other day. It's attached to the construction scaffolding that stands over the sidewalk on both the building's 7th street and Flower street sides.

And it's right in the middle of the sidewalk.

What are they trying to say? Don't walk to the right of the sign? Don't pass this way? Pass at your own risk? It's a sidewalk -- it has no role other than to be a pedestrian walkway.

From a practical perspective the sign's doing absolutely nothing. People walk right by it constantly. That doesn't excuse its utter lack of message, though.

Perhaps the Roosevelt just has safety on its mind at the moment. The very impressive on-site sales center has waffled between open and closed but is currently down thanks to the city's Building & Safety department.