In July 2014, according to coverage at LAist and CBS, a drunk man made off with his friend's car and, after clipping a couple of parked cars, smashed into a parklet. That parklet is located in front of Downtown Los Angeles' L.A. Cafe, on Spring Street between 6th Street and 7th Street. Sadly, since the collision, the parklet has been closed.
The L.A. City Department of Transportation (LADOT) People St program recently announced that the Historic Core Business Improvement District (HCBID), L.A. City Councilmember Jose Huizar, and LADOT have collaborated to devise repair and modification plans for the damaged parklet. According to HCBID executive director Blair Besten, the repairs will cost "into the thousands of dollars." Besten said that the HCBID and LADOT "are taking the opportunity to revamp some things about the parklet that we thought could be a better use of space. For example, the [stationary exercise] bikes were underutilized, so we are replacing them with additional seating and bike racks."
In addition, People St's Valerie Watson stated that LADOT will be adding "reflective flexible delineators on parklet corners, like the ones you see out on Broadway Dress Rehearsal, for extra nighttime visibility."
Besten said, "We are excited to get this program back up and running for the neighborhood and hope everyone will be happy with the usability changes we are making."
In addition to getting the damaged parklet back up to spec, People St announced that four more parklets are on the way, and they are expected to appear on L.A. streets by late 2015.
There will be one more parklet coming to Downtown Los Angeles. It will be at 1111 Hope Street in South Park, and is sponsored by the South Park BID.
The three others will be located on the Westside, the first L.A. City parklets there. One will be built at 15231 La Cruz Drive in Pacific Palisades, sponsored by Palisades P.R.I.D.E. Two others, sponsored by the Motor Avenue Improvement Association, will be installed at 3272 and 3370 Motor Avenue in Palms.
LADOT's People St program has been busy lately, sprucing up the Sunset Triangle Plaza and painting three new plazas last week.
