August 2009 Archives

Last week, while looking into what would become this post,TTLA checked in with Wayne Wilson, Vice President, Education Services, at the LA84 Foundation.

Wilson is a familiar name to anyone whose ever spent time at the Foundation's incredible Sports Library, located at 2141 West Adams Boulevard. Wilson's also a writer, researcher, and Olympics historian.

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The 25th anniversary of the 1984 Olympic Games, held here in Los Angeles, has come and gone.

So, yeah, we're not exactly getting around to this post with the speed of Usain Bolt -- or, less anachronistically, Edwin Moses and Florence Griffith-Joyner.

Among the commemorations of those '84 summer games that caught TTLA's eye was a fold-out pamphlet produced by the LA84 Foundation.

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The RAND Corporation released this week a colorful online spreadsheet that compares and contrasts various national health care proposals.

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While searching for this recent paper about China, the U.S. and carbon dioxide, TTLA instead belatedly came across something right up our alley -- a significant L.A. research and recommendations project regarding, yes, alleys.

For more information about the Back Alley LA Project, organized by USC's Center for Sustainable Cities, take a look at this anchor page, and then download the free-of-charge .pdf titled, "Transforming L.A.'s Alleys -- What, Why, and How: A Green Alley Guide."

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Cash for Clunkers, criminology, green energy, and immigration are among the subjects of recent research, studies, and observations by California-based think tanks. A handful of examples include:

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The website, Planetizen, is asking for nominations and then votes regarding the question, "Who do you think is one of the most important urban planners?"

As of this writing, Jane Jacobs is the runaway leader. (She's got 500% or so more votes than her old NYC nemesis, Robert Moses.)

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Last summer, TTLA wrote this story, "Elephants in Pershing Square?" for Next American City, about James Rojas and his effective -- and playful -- efforts to better involve the general public in urban planning processes.

Rojas' latest community model-building exercise opens Saturday, August 8, in Chinatown at Fifth Floor, an art and design gallery.

TTLA emailed Rojas earlier this week and asked for a preview. Here's his reply:

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L.A. Times "Capitol Journal" columnist George Skelton writes the below today in his piece headlined, "Schwarzenegger is unpopular but undaunted" -- Note: emphasis added by TTLA.

Schwarzenegger is scouring think tanks across the nation for "new policy ideas," says his political advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, a former gubernatorial communications director who's now a private consultant. "He's very focused on what ideas might be out there that Californians are not talking about."

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