#  Can North Fig Rise Again?

     Details    Bill Johnson   ![logo](https://mail.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         June 19 2014       [ARCHIVE](https://mail.citywatchla.com/archive)   - [  Previous Article **Reversal of Misfortune: Caregivers Win Overtime** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7090:reversal-of-misfortune-caregivers-win-overtime&catid=16)
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> ***![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/June-2014/12050b.png)HIGHLAND PARK***-Mayor Eric Garcetti a few weeks back designated 15 L.A. “Great Streets.” I so want to believe this is a good thing.
>
> Under the Great Streets program, one street in each of the City Council’s 15 districts has been singled out. And the mayor has found about $800,000 to make improvements on each one of them.
>
> He says his program will fundamentally change “how we perceive, interact and build around us.”
>
> I, for one, am completely in favor of fundamental change. It is what opens our minds and makes us grow as a society.
>
> The mayor says he has most city departments on board, from Sanitation and Cultural Affairs to Street Lighting and Engineering.That will come in handy.
>
> But I wonder: Can you simply throw money at a street and make it “great?” That is what I wanted to know, way before I ignited the Prius and took to the 15 streets.
>
> How can the city turn, say, nearly impassable traffic-choked Venice Boulevard from Beethoven Street to Inglewood Boulevard into a Great Street?
>
> So I threw an imaginary dart at a map of the city to determine where I would go first.
>
> I settled on North Figueroa Street between Avenue 50 and 60 in District 1 – Highland Park, mostly.
>
> Besides, as a native of this great town, I had never before been there.
>
> The street has seen better days.
>
> North Fig, as everyone who lives or does business there calls it, has a quaintness to it, and if you could forgive the empty storefronts, check-cashing and fast-food joints that populate it now, it could be mistaken for the main drag in Any Town, USA.
>
> Someone – I am guessing around the turn of the last century – actually put some architectural thought into the buildings that line the wide street that once housed car dealers, furniture stores and mom &amp; pop businesses.
>
> *[(Read the rest here) ](http://www.losangelesregister.com/articles/street-601033-says-great.html%20)*
>
> -cw
>
> CityWatch
>
> Vol 12 Issue 50
>
> Pub: June 20, 2014

  - [  Previous Article **Reversal of Misfortune: Caregivers Win Overtime** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7090:reversal-of-misfortune-caregivers-win-overtime&catid=16)
- [  Next Article **Court House Closed for Business … Trek to Court Now Longer** ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7092:court-house-closed-for-business-trek-to-court-now-longer&catid=16)
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