[Image by James Jones via Patch

Mad Mar Vista mom Linda Jones made good on her promise to stage a protest this past Sunday on Venice Boulevard over the street's deteriorating condition. About 20 protesters joined Jones over the weekend, Patch reports, and they were greeted warmly by drivers and cyclists navigating the street's pockmarked and rutted surface. The California Department of Transportation did inform Jones that Venice will be smoothed over this summer "at the earliest," but Jones is dubious: "I really don't think it's going to happen that soon, if ever." State Senator Ted Lieu was invited to the protest, but didn't show. His rep said "grinding and paving" has already taken place on Venice in the past few weeks and Caltrans has put out bids for a permanent fix. Meanwhile, Jones says, "Cars are almost hitting other cars or almost hitting bicyclists ... It's horrendous."
· Crowd Gathers to Protest Caltrans [Patch]
· Mar Vista Mom Fighting for Less Pot-Holey Venice [Curbed LA]

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We’re thinking of you, Boston. Stay strong.

[Photo by Stephen Zeigler]

HISTORIC CORE: Long-time (as in, pre-gentrification) Downtown booster Mark Schumacher died recently–Schumacher lived in the neighborhood for 20 years and owned Old Bank DVD (he was also a “cinematographer, artist, musician, pool shark, and friend,” according to fellow DTLAer Stephen Zeigler). Resident Downtown street artist (and Schumacher friend) Wild Life put up this street sign at Fourth and Main as a memorial–Zeigler says “Mark’s daily routine included walking from his loft on Wall St up 4th to his store near Main. With love and gratitude for the time we were able share with him, we his friends, here by honor Mark’s memory by naming 4th street from Main to Wall St. ‘Schumacher Way’.” [Curbed Inbox]

BRENTWOOD: Over the weekend, the Getty Center (opened in 1997), was set to get its twenty millionth visitor (and all visitors were set to get commemorative cookies). In case you were not one of them: “Designed by architect Richard Meier, the iconic landmark high above the Sepulveda Pass is home to the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation.” Go! It’s fantastic! [Curbed Inbox]

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Filming location managers have been battling with LA over the bright green bike lane on Spring Street–it’s faded now and the city said they’d repaint it against the protestations of the movie people (who say it interferes with Downtown’s Any City USA look). Now in a three-part series explaining why the bike lanes aren’t a big deal for filming, Streetsblog LA reveals that “city staff confirmed to me what has long been rumored … the city is just going to not repaint the lane.” [Streetsblog LA]

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Longtime Mar Vista resident Linda Jones has had it with the beat-up state of Venice Boulevard between Overland and Lincoln, so she’s planning a protest over the rutted, pot-holed mess, which is scary for drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and baby carriage-pushers. For more than a year and a half, Jones went through the normal channels to complain about Venice, according to the Mar Vista Mom blog; she was first told by her City Council rep that the boulevard is actually considered a state highway and thus under the purview of the California Department of Transportation. Caltrans hasn’t gotten back to her about her complaints nor have other agencies or government officials–so she’s taking it to the streets, encouraging others to join her protest on the morning of April 28 at Venice and Grand View. “There’s portions of Venice Boulevard you cannot walk across, bike across, and certainly you cannot drive through,” Jones says in a video.

· Venice Blvd. Pot Holes — Protest [Mar Vista Mom]

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The stretch of Figueroa Street (and environs) between Seventh Street and Exposition Park has been seeing an enormous amount of action lately, so thank heavens LADOT’s MyFigueroa project, which will majorly transform the street itself, is looking healthy following the setbacks of the past few years. MyFig completely redesigns the street to make it more friendly to bikers, pedestrians, and transit riders (in addition to, of course and as always, motorists). LADOT has just released new renderings, plans, and website for the project, and plans to hold a community meeting on April 9. MyFig will still feature “people-focused streetscape elements like pedestrian-oriented signage, transit platforms for boarding buses, and a three-mile bikeway complete with bike signaling … high-visibility crosswalks, widened sidewalks, transit platforms, more street trees and landscaping, better signalization and signage, and public art,” according to a press release. More generally, “the project will physically connect South L.A. and Downtown.”

Streetsblog breaks down the details: “North of exposition the road design calls for five mixed use travel lanes. South of exposition it’s down to four mixed use lanes and a bus only lane. The bus only lane provides a buffer of sorts for bike traffic heading south.” The adjacent stretch of Eleventh Street (from Fig to Broadway) will also be reconfigured–it’ll lose one of its two westbound traffic lanes and get a one-way westbound bike lane; its northern sidewalk will be expanded. Part of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the south end of the project will get repaired paving and more lighting and street trees.

Melendrez Design Partners is leading the design work on MyFig. LADOT is still doing a traffic analysis, but construction is supposed to start in January 2014 and wrap up by the end of that year.
· Figueroa Street Overhaul Back on the (Separated Cycle) Track [Curbed LA]
· MyFigueroa [Official Site]

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Picture by Lucyrk in LA/Curbed LA flickr pool

· Get ready for your Oscars-related street closures in Hollywood [abc7]
· Local power pole feels wrath of Burbank wheelchair woman [BnB]
· Construction is booming all over LA, permits show [Daily News]
· Local business owners snapping up space in Arts District [Downtown Muse]
· “Anti-ark” art installation washes up on El Segundo beach [ER]
· Westside NC considers floating bike lanes on Westwood Blvd [RanchoPark]
· XpressWest train to Vegas on track, gets federal permits [ktnv]

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DOWNTOWN: Spring Street Park‘s first trees are here, according to this picture from SkyscraperPage commenter Muji. The 0.7-acre space looks on track to open this summer and happily replaces a surface parking lot between the Rowan and El Dorado Lofts, on the northern end of Spring Street’s action. Walking paths, an open lawn, seating, a water feature, art work, kids’ play elements, and eco-friendly landscaping features are all on their way. [SkyscraperPage]

BROADWAY-MANCHESTER: Councilmember Jan Perry hosts a groundbreaking tomorrow morning for Wall Street Park, near Manchester Avenue and the 110. The green space is part of the city’s 50 Parks Initiative, a public-private partnership that will add more than 170 acres of new open space to the city, including in many areas left blighted by the real estate crash. [Curbed Inbox]

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