SAFE STREETS POLITICS-Ted Rogers over at Biking in LA isn’t the only blogger with a Secret Correspondent. I have one too: a longtime resident of Highland Park’s Council District 1, involved in the neighborhood for over sixty years, a former board member of one of the local neighborhood councils, and a politically astute observer of City Hall shenanigans as well. And my SC reports that the tide seems to be turning against “Roadkill Gil” Cedillo, who has disappointed a broad range of his increasingly reluctant constituents, not just Safe Streets proponents and neighborhood advocates.
Quotes the SC:
I am very encouraged by the votes of “No Confidence” by the city council in regard to Cedillo. I see hints that the mayor and council have high-density residential development in mind for L.A. and tie this to slowing and reducing cars on the streets. But this will be a battle as I have seen in NELA with the development of the Marmion 50 unit apartment project being fought by residents who want continued (and expanded) free auto storage on the street and continued high speed movement of cars with the high body count being, “the cost of doing business”.
The general attitude of Garcetti and the council [is] in favor of traffic calming with Cedillo totally against it. In a private email message from CD1 to officers of the ASNC, [Cedillo’s office] stated that traffic calming would not have “made any difference” in the recent fatality on Fig/Marmion, even though a CD1 staffer stood on that corner with me and observed, first hand, the problems and conflicts caused by bad street design. I think Cedillo is also beholden to developers, but commercial developers for whom traffic calming is counter-productive, as opposed to high density residential developers for whom traffic calming is desired.
I asked the SC to elucidate the “no confidence” votes mentioned; the SC responded that it was the votes approving Mobility Plan 2035 in toto, minus Cedillo’s and Koretz’s retrograde amendments, and the vote to implement bikeshare in Downtown, right in Cedillo’s district … which will necessitate the expansion of bikeways there.
The amendments could still be snuck in while no one’s looking, as they have been tabled, and not outright denied, so we’d better keep watch. But the chatter I hear in local shops indicates that increasing numbers of residents are turning against Cedillo, and that they are nurturing the hope they can find someone to run against him and unseat him in the very next election … so they don’t have to leave their beloved neighborhood in disgust.
It does seem that the tide is turning -- and it’s a rising tide that won’t float Cedillo’s leaky boat. I’m afraid that will remain stuck in the mud of his outdated concepts until it’s submerged and allowed to gracelessly rot away.
(Richard Risemberg is a writer. His current professional activities are centered on sustainable development and lifestyle. This column was posted first at Flying Pigeon)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 72
Pub: Sep 4, 2015
{module [1177]}
