Welcome to LA Streetsblog. I could call this the first post, but you can see all of my previous writings from Street Heat have moved with me. Even the stupid ones. Like this one. And let me say, tagging 275+ posts in one evening? Not fun.
All that being said, let this post be sort of a F.A.Q. list for any long time readers that are following me from Street Heat and any other people new to Streetsblog.
What is the difference between Street Heat and LA Streetsblog?
First off, Street Heat was about my impressions as a newbie Angeleno experiencing LA's transportation network and the public process for the first time. There were a lot of posts that were nothing more than my opinion written about something that irritated me. Posts of that sort will not be on LA Streetsblog. We'll have some fun posts, but we'll leave most of the opinions for the comments section.
Secondly, due to limitations with the blogger.com format, I often tried to truncate posts so that as many as possible would fit on the front page of the blog. I know that once a post was off the front page, it was pretty much dead since Street Heat didn't have the discussion necessary to keep the more exciting posts alive once they were off the front page.
For an example of what the difference between a Street Heat and a LA Streetsblog post would be, compare these two posts on the same topic. This is a Street Heat post. This is a LA Streetsblog post.
Thirdly, for this blog to work, I'm going to need your help with story ideas, comments, events etc...Without your help this will end up being a Westside and Downtown Streetsblog, and that's not what I want...so if you see or hear something you think I should write about, let me know! Even if I can't make the event, I can at least put it in the calendar section or even solicit a post from the event organizers.
And of course the obvious difference...Streetsblog is a power house of a blog that not only has top notch writers, but also connects to The Open Planning Project and Street Films. Street Heat was me, a keyboard, and a digital camera that I got for my birthday. Occasionally I was able to get a guest post, and everytime the guest writer knocked it out of the park. I am more than open to doing more guest posts, just drop me an email with your idea and we'll talk.
What About Your Pick the Tagline Contest?
The winner will be announced and the new tagline will appear this coming Monday. I'll see if I can get him/her an Open Planning Process T-shirt.
I don't see my group/blog/government organization in your links. Why don't you like me?
Even though I've been writing for a couple of months, I'm sure there's still plenty of groups/blogs that I haven't run into. Please drop me an email and I'll add your group/blog.
What Happens to Street Heat?
From now on, Street Heat will serve as my personal blog. If you are really interested in who I'm voting for or what crappy thing happened to me on the bus, go to Street Heat. If you want transportation news, stay here. For you veteran blog readers in LA, it will be similar to the relationship between the Green L.A. Girl and Emerald Cityblogs.
If there are any other questions, just put them in the comments section and I'll answer them as quickly as I can.
Thanks to everyone who's been such a great help getting me oriented out here and contributing to the Street Heat blog, the folks in New York who made all this possible, and my friends at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign for getting me involved in all this transportation stuff in the first place.
