SoapBoxLA has been lobbying for cyclist and pedestrian access for the Griffith Observatory, and SoapBoxLA has prevailed! Good News!!!! To find out how you can go to the Observatory for free, read Music To My Ears.
SoapBoxLA has also been paying attention and raising his voice about the Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Parkway construction, that has been in the works since 2000. A longtime project worth $95.000.000 (ninety-five million dollars!) and still not finished. The asphalt is smooth, the striping looks clean and bright, there are trees on the long empty sidewalks, and there is sometimes also striping down for bike lanes.
If you only look at this project from your daily commute in your car, this might seem like a swell project. But wait ’till you try to get up on the saddle, and you have to dodge the cars, that are speeding out into the side streets, and speeding back into the Santa Monica Boulevard Transit Freeway. I don’t know why they call it a Parkway anyways. There is no parking on the Boulevard, and it is designed as a Freeway.
However, when the plan was presented to the city, this supposed Parkway was supposed to be a Multi-Modal-Transit-Corridor. Now it’s only a Speed-Up-And-Get-Out-Of-My-Way-I-Want-To-Get-As-Fast-As-Possible-
Onto-The-405-So-I-Can-Park-My-Car-There-Transit-Parkway. Phew. That is how I feel, when I ride my bicycle there. To read more on this, go to www.soapboxla.blogspot.com .
And yes, this transportation issue, cyclists vs. cars, pedestrians vs. cars is a civil rights issue. If people are deprived of moving safely and effectively from point A to point B without having to own a car, then we are guilty of depriving the people who don’t own a car (be it from their own choosing or not) access to jobs, education, entertainment, and life! But more on this mobility issue later.
If you are interested in Education as a Civil Rights Issue, and if you like Bill Cosby, I’d love for you to attend his first African American Education Civil Rights Agenda Forum on October 28th, which is this Saturday! The initiative and its action plan will be unveiled at the forum.
And of course I don’t want to forget to mention that there will be a Bike Scout ride in November, and if you are interested in joining us, we’d love to have you. It’s a two day event. We’ll be riding our bikes out to the Mesa Gould Camp north of Altadena, camp over night, go on a wild-food hike (We’ll take lots of powerbars, just in case!), watch a movie under the stars, make a BBQ dinner, and enjoy the smogless weekend. This will be so awesome, and I’m so excited!
We are going to continue all our MAD, BAD, FAD and other events, so keep checking the Newsletter. Maybe one day you’ll join us on your bici! I hope so 
Oh, and before I forget, Women In Theatre (WIT) had their Annual Red Carpet Awards two weeks ago, and it was an amazing event, with so many inspiring theatre and entertainment professionals, that I’m planning to go again next year. If you are involved in Theatre check out the Women in Theatre website for the Awardees, and for more info about WIT .
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