Ignorance is bliss.
A hackneyed phrase that probably describes my way of getting by here. I really don't know anything,
I don't know who the gang members are, I don't know who the families are --- I feel reasonably OK.
But again, maybe that's all because I really don't know anyone here.
I was even about to take and post videos of Christmas lights adorning the houses here. Some people really take pride in it, and you would think that we were in Torranc---well maybe Azusa.
My wife and I have been getting by just fine, except yesterday, Christmas, when the action cut close.
The getting fine had been going on for a while now, probably about a good few weeks or months. It was even extending on the walk we took around the neighborhood where we were able to strike up a conversation with a guy and saw a few houses put up for sale during yesterday's Christmas morning.
The part where I stopped being fine was after our morning walk.
Me having developed an ear distinguishing between fireworks and gunshots and being a vigilant follower of the news, I heard about 5 gun shots. Then a car speeding off. It sounded a bit far away from me.
It's not the first time I've heard shots, maybe about the third.
Then I find out that the shooting and killing is in an area that covers my running route. It's really a heartening time given my co-worker's recent death, my school classmate's violent death in South LA near a Ralph's, and now the latest story near where I live.
Not unexpected because hardy har har har, Compton, but it hits a little bit to know that tensions are still active at the same time that me, a person from a middle-class immigrant family completely unexposed to violence, is around as well.
I'm not scared because I think I would be an intended target but more so, because I would not want myself nor my wife nor anyone around me to be the victim of a stray bullet.
It makes me think of how my next door neighbors, who speak no differently than other college-educated friends, have endured their entire 30+ years of life living here.
Previously, I know that I've blogged about being able to develop a jogging routine. I have been able to do roughly 2-3 times a week, though I've allowed work and schoolwork to interrupt any regularity in it. My jogging/running habits are nowhere near the level I would like because of not only my work but the limited amount of daylight in a day, especially during Winter.
My wife generally does not want me running at night.
I've seen people jogging around Greenleaf and other streets at night so jogging isn't a completely alien activity here. I occasionally see people at nearby Tragniew Park getting their jog on at twilight, but I honestly haven't been paying too much attention the past 6 months since Summer ended.
In my younger days living with my folks, I could run miles and miles. I had a routine of getting at least a mile or two in the morning. This was in Silver Lake and Panorama City.
I've been wanting to re-hash that routine, which included lots of early morning and late night runs.
The most I've run in Compton at the 7 PM twilight is about 2 miles --- for reference, I used to run along Sunset Blvd from Silver Lake to West Hollywood for a distance of around 10 miles total.
Most importantly I really want my wife to be able to be active. But her biggest concern is safety. Safety. Safety. It sucks enough to be a woman in public space, but being in a city which is still considered a symbol of urban violence isn't helpful either. It's one thing for me to not care as much, but it's an entirely different thing. I want her to be able to go out by herself, but she would never do that here.
Hoping for that day when she could unconsciously start being active outside not because her personality changes but because the environment does. I'm not calling for gentrification or something to rip at demographics, but you do wonder why famous people from here and got famous out of talking about survival here probably don't want to actually live here whether it's Dr. Dre, the Williams Sisters, or even the "non-materialistic" Kendrick Lamar.
Showing posts with label Runnability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Runnability. Show all posts
Trick or Treating, Running, and Other Briefings about the 2nd Month in Compton
So, first year of Halloween here, near the Westside of Compton.
As I was biking back from our local Food For Less there was some excitement building up in Compton. A few houses were appropriately decored, however, none on our street, which by observational accounts appears to be a quiet neighborhood.
My fiance and I were anxiously anticipating trick-or-treaters like a community leader at a community organization anxiously anticipates community turnout. Only we actually want to give away candy, give free stuff away, and not somehow sell people on something.
By the end of the night, 9PM, we had about 13 trick or treaters for the whole night coming in 4 droves. One appeared to come in a van and rolled up with 5 kids. I guess it's quite telling that they came in a van. This is probably not a lot, but hey we got some!
Our 15 dollar bag of candy from Costco is half-empty and that's because we were giving candy away in generous amounts.
Our neighbor, the lifer, said that not many trick-or-treaters come here. They go to the "nicer areas."
Apparently the same happened to my cousin in Highland Park; not many were visiting her, according to her statii on Facebook. This had me thinking about where the kids actually were, and if trick-or-treating was somehow ruined by some combination of new generation of parents/kids, social media, technology, etc. etc.
It would be interesting to map the areas and kids trick-or-treat in. Seems like it would be a good indicator of perceived neighborhood safety amongst residents.
My fiance and I in our efforts to re-establish/establish our lives in Compton have been running a bit.
One good thing that I do notice about Compton's sidewalks is that there does seem to be an effort to ensure safe crossing during school dismissal hours. During this time, I do see vested crossing guards on main thoroughfares.
Otherwise, there are plenty of open, lonely sidewalks that accompany the industrial warehouses that line the East-West corridors. Also unlike in any other neighborhood, people do look back at you as sort of a nervous tick when they hear you running behind them; that hasn't happened as much in any other neighborhood.
All the lonely sidewalks, along with scant lighting at night, probably make it difficult for women to run around, and that is probably a contributing factor as to why there is not much of a "running culture" as Olympic trial distance runner and fellow Loyolan David Torrence put it.
In one of my longer runs, along Compton Ave to the 110 freeway, I actually got a nail stuck at the sole of my (new) shoe. In my 12 plus years of running around Silver Lake, Eagle Rock, Van Nuys, Long Beach, Wilmington, this had never happened before, only in Compton (more accurately Gardena, but Compton has the "ring" to it)!
One of our local pocket parks, Tragniew Park, is not as scary as it sounds online. In our weekday twilight runs, we see kids playing soccer, people casually milling around, and not in the intimidating, get off our space kind of way. A band appears to practice there at night on the basketball courts.
As I was biking back from our local Food For Less there was some excitement building up in Compton. A few houses were appropriately decored, however, none on our street, which by observational accounts appears to be a quiet neighborhood.
My fiance and I were anxiously anticipating trick-or-treaters like a community leader at a community organization anxiously anticipates community turnout. Only we actually want to give away candy, give free stuff away, and not somehow sell people on something.
By the end of the night, 9PM, we had about 13 trick or treaters for the whole night coming in 4 droves. One appeared to come in a van and rolled up with 5 kids. I guess it's quite telling that they came in a van. This is probably not a lot, but hey we got some!
Our 15 dollar bag of candy from Costco is half-empty and that's because we were giving candy away in generous amounts.
Our neighbor, the lifer, said that not many trick-or-treaters come here. They go to the "nicer areas."
Apparently the same happened to my cousin in Highland Park; not many were visiting her, according to her statii on Facebook. This had me thinking about where the kids actually were, and if trick-or-treating was somehow ruined by some combination of new generation of parents/kids, social media, technology, etc. etc.
It would be interesting to map the areas and kids trick-or-treat in. Seems like it would be a good indicator of perceived neighborhood safety amongst residents.
* * *
My fiance and I in our efforts to re-establish/establish our lives in Compton have been running a bit.
One good thing that I do notice about Compton's sidewalks is that there does seem to be an effort to ensure safe crossing during school dismissal hours. During this time, I do see vested crossing guards on main thoroughfares.
Otherwise, there are plenty of open, lonely sidewalks that accompany the industrial warehouses that line the East-West corridors. Also unlike in any other neighborhood, people do look back at you as sort of a nervous tick when they hear you running behind them; that hasn't happened as much in any other neighborhood.
All the lonely sidewalks, along with scant lighting at night, probably make it difficult for women to run around, and that is probably a contributing factor as to why there is not much of a "running culture" as Olympic trial distance runner and fellow Loyolan David Torrence put it.
In one of my longer runs, along Compton Ave to the 110 freeway, I actually got a nail stuck at the sole of my (new) shoe. In my 12 plus years of running around Silver Lake, Eagle Rock, Van Nuys, Long Beach, Wilmington, this had never happened before, only in Compton (more accurately Gardena, but Compton has the "ring" to it)!
One of our local pocket parks, Tragniew Park, is not as scary as it sounds online. In our weekday twilight runs, we see kids playing soccer, people casually milling around, and not in the intimidating, get off our space kind of way. A band appears to practice there at night on the basketball courts.
* * *
We have now discovered a few of our local stores. Food4Less is a short bike ride away from us as is a General Discount Store. Our more durable items are available at a local Home Depot, Staples, and, Target. What more do we need?
Probably just more money so we can get enough gas to make the trek to our local Trader Joe's.
Running the Parks
As I've made my way up and down parks owned by the City of Los Angeles from the South Bay to the Valley, the one thing I like to do in all of them: run.
Maybe it was Forrest Gump, maybe it's just habit, maybe it's the easiest way (for me) to feel like an athlete, but whatever it is, that's what I do when I'm not supposed to be writing a proposal, article, or thesis/dissertation.
When I lived in Silver Lake, I would lap Bellevue Park's dirt track over and over.
When I moved with my folks to the Valley, I would run the concrete perimeter sidewalk surrounding Panorama City Recreation Center.
Nowadays, you can find me every other day running either the perimeter or the grass at Banning Park in Wilmington.
But none of them compare to the one park I like in particular for running: the Sherman Oaks park.
Why?
Because of its sign and map indicating the distance of each running trail.
That's it.
I do use gmap-pedometer to see how much each of my runs (and bikes) are, but having the sign affirming the distance would be a permanent symbol for everyone to know how much is enough for them.
I think something as easy as that signage would create a lot more motivation, and make people perceive a space as "runnable." You'd probably see a spike of more people outside running, which I wish I could confirm and observe, but at the moment can only propose, till a person or group of people with more clout than me make it happen.
Central Long Beach and those interested in "Building Healthy Communities", perhaps that's something to think about.
Maybe it was Forrest Gump, maybe it's just habit, maybe it's the easiest way (for me) to feel like an athlete, but whatever it is, that's what I do when I'm not supposed to be writing a proposal, article, or thesis/dissertation.
When I lived in Silver Lake, I would lap Bellevue Park's dirt track over and over.
When I moved with my folks to the Valley, I would run the concrete perimeter sidewalk surrounding Panorama City Recreation Center.
Nowadays, you can find me every other day running either the perimeter or the grass at Banning Park in Wilmington.
But none of them compare to the one park I like in particular for running: the Sherman Oaks park.
Why?
Because of its sign and map indicating the distance of each running trail.
That's it.
I do use gmap-pedometer to see how much each of my runs (and bikes) are, but having the sign affirming the distance would be a permanent symbol for everyone to know how much is enough for them.
I think something as easy as that signage would create a lot more motivation, and make people perceive a space as "runnable." You'd probably see a spike of more people outside running, which I wish I could confirm and observe, but at the moment can only propose, till a person or group of people with more clout than me make it happen.
Central Long Beach and those interested in "Building Healthy Communities", perhaps that's something to think about.
This Is Why Sherman Oaks Will Never Bike or Walk
Came back from an eventful visit to the Bay Area this weekend. My mode of transportation, the Greyhound! The cheap and gritty way of travel. I always make sure to never shower, less I want some 6'9, 485 lb coughing bum closing me into a window seat.
Equally cheap was the method of transportation I chose to get from the Greyhound station in North Hollywood on Magnolia Blvd. to my casa back in Panorama City on Nordhoff.
I walk/ran 8 miles in the dark. West on Magnolia, North on Woodman.
I was planning on taking the bus once I hit Woodman, but I wasn't sure where the 158 bus would take me. It said Devonshire...but me remembering the lessons they tell engineers...if you don't know what to do, don't do anything.
On that string of conservatism I ran/walked West on Magnolia for about 2 or 3 miles
I was pretending this was a military drill, as I had my backpack full of crap, a water canteen, and cargo pants.
The thing that I couldn't but notice, that is relevant to this blog?
A nice chunk of that route is unwalkable/unrunnable. I felt like I was fighting for my life just running and walking through in the dark, as I stepped different terrains from mud, to cracked sidewalks, unkempt lawns, to phantom, disappearing sidewalks.
Perilous isn't it.
Try and locate a sidewalk one of these streets.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Don't see any sidewalks?
Well, neither did I.
I was stuck running/walking those paths from 6-8 on a November night.
There are some plots of land where there's no sidewalk, but just dirt or manicured lawns. Imagine having to cross these at night where there are no street lights and only cars are passing through at 50 mph.
View Larger Map
What exactly do you do when there is no sidewalk and you're just on people's grass?
Is that their fault, or yours? City of LA's?
View Larger Map
Beneath that big tree is a great place to dump a body at night.
View Larger Map
If I wasn't a fit male who likes running and saving tons of money with keen awareness, there would be no way I'd walk from the station to my house.
Pictures posted in case anybody ever wanted visual, physical proof of the utter unwalkability of the San Fernando Valley, particularly in Sherman Oaks.
And why is unwalkability so bad again?
Unwalkability generally means not safe. Not safe means insecurity. Insecurity means borders and fences. Borders and fences mean disconnection. Disconnection means a lack of continuity and community. A lack of continuity and community means less attachment, less personal meaning to residents, less investment in city infrastructure.
Equally cheap was the method of transportation I chose to get from the Greyhound station in North Hollywood on Magnolia Blvd. to my casa back in Panorama City on Nordhoff.
I walk/ran 8 miles in the dark. West on Magnolia, North on Woodman.
I was planning on taking the bus once I hit Woodman, but I wasn't sure where the 158 bus would take me. It said Devonshire...but me remembering the lessons they tell engineers...if you don't know what to do, don't do anything.
On that string of conservatism I ran/walked West on Magnolia for about 2 or 3 miles
I was pretending this was a military drill, as I had my backpack full of crap, a water canteen, and cargo pants.
The thing that I couldn't but notice, that is relevant to this blog?
A nice chunk of that route is unwalkable/unrunnable. I felt like I was fighting for my life just running and walking through in the dark, as I stepped different terrains from mud, to cracked sidewalks, unkempt lawns, to phantom, disappearing sidewalks.
Perilous isn't it.
Try and locate a sidewalk one of these streets.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Don't see any sidewalks?
Well, neither did I.
I was stuck running/walking those paths from 6-8 on a November night.
There are some plots of land where there's no sidewalk, but just dirt or manicured lawns. Imagine having to cross these at night where there are no street lights and only cars are passing through at 50 mph.
View Larger Map
What exactly do you do when there is no sidewalk and you're just on people's grass?
Is that their fault, or yours? City of LA's?
View Larger Map
Beneath that big tree is a great place to dump a body at night.
View Larger Map
If I wasn't a fit male who likes running and saving tons of money with keen awareness, there would be no way I'd walk from the station to my house.
Pictures posted in case anybody ever wanted visual, physical proof of the utter unwalkability of the San Fernando Valley, particularly in Sherman Oaks.
And why is unwalkability so bad again?
Unwalkability generally means not safe. Not safe means insecurity. Insecurity means borders and fences. Borders and fences mean disconnection. Disconnection means a lack of continuity and community. A lack of continuity and community means less attachment, less personal meaning to residents, less investment in city infrastructure.
Runnability in Urban Design
In urban planning and policy circles, much is discussed about a community's/metropolitan area's "walkability" and "bike-friendliness." They serve as indices for sustainable, smart economic growth communities. People who live in the sustainable, smart economic growth community will be able to get around easily and cheaply. With easy and cheap transportation, the main idea is that economic activity becomes easier to pursue. Beyond economic development, easy transportation means that people are able to make more connections to things, be it to friends in other neighborhoods, parks, museums, libraries, social activities.
Walkability, the ability to walk safely and conveniently to various destinations no more than say a mile radius (a guess).
Bikeability, the ability to use a medium speed vehicle on the road or side of the road to various destinations within a fifteen-mile radius (a guess).
Within the walkability checklist and the bike ability checklist are concerns about safety, and convenience.
Walkability and bike-friendliness, two concepts which desparately need to be integrated within transportation and development policy and infrastructure implementation if we are not only going to be ecologically-friendly and community-building, but also cost-saving.
However, those two concepts alone do not cover the broad range of transportational activities that can take place on a metropolitan street.
There's a third category that meshes the two concepts of walkability and bike-ability together because it needs elements of both, but it isn't as slow and limited in range as walking, nor is the transportation robust and/or fast enough to be acknowledged as vehicles on the road.
What am I talking about? People on scooters, the skateboarders, the rollerbladers, motor-wheelchaired, runners. Their concerns for safety and convenience should be looked at too!
Faster than walkers, but not quite fast enough for the road or the side of the road/bike lane.
They'll have the same concerns the walkers and bikers have: enough space on the sidewalk, whether or not there's good lighting in any given neighborhood to walk, a lack of debris and surface peculiarities, and if there are slow intersections, and a culture of one-minded fast-moving impatient drivers.
However, they offer a meaningfully distinct viewpoint on the use of sidewalks and streets for transportation. The "meaningfully distinct viewpoint" is expressed in their ability to give a broader overview and feel for the sidewalk connectivity within and between neighborhoods. They are more likely than the regular pedestrian to cover more distance.
What separates my point of view as a long-distance marathon runner from an average pedestrian and/or a biker is that I see more sidewalks on the whole than pedestrian and "feel" them more than a biker. While I can't speak as much about the bike lanes or the immediate safety of the sidewalks, I have a better sense of the type of sidewalk that can connect or disconnect districts, neighborhoods, community areas.
When I trained for the LA Marathon in 2007 and I was living in Silver Lake on Sunset, I knew that I would eventually have to make a long run. For me, that run was from my lil apartment in Silver Lake to UCLA.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2277590
A 10.5 mile run to UCLA, and a 10.5 mile run back. No big deal except this is what I face on Sunset before Beverly Glen. Try looking for a sidewalk.
One side.
View Larger Map
Other side.
View Larger Map
For about 100 meters, twice, the sidewalk is overrun by these untrimmed bushes, so essentially there is no sidewalk, leaving me on the road, constantly looking over my back to make sure of my visibility so that a car won't hit me.
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't run that route if I know there's no sidewalk there, but I'd come to expect sidewalks to be there just like any other regular person, I can't help but think if whoever owned the property there would just cut his goddamn bushes, and I like most people like to move in straight lines from point A to point B.
Alternate routes to UCLA on a sidewalk from Sunset are simply inconvenient, impractical, winding road detours that add to unnecessary mileage.
If there's no safe, straight-line road for me as a young, mobile runner, there's definitely no safe road for any pedestrian, and it's likely to be intolerable for a biker.
No runnability, no walkability, no bikeability on Sunset in Beverly Hills - unmaximized economic activity, minimized community connection, minimized people connection.
Walkability, the ability to walk safely and conveniently to various destinations no more than say a mile radius (a guess).
Bikeability, the ability to use a medium speed vehicle on the road or side of the road to various destinations within a fifteen-mile radius (a guess).
Within the walkability checklist and the bike ability checklist are concerns about safety, and convenience.
Walkability and bike-friendliness, two concepts which desparately need to be integrated within transportation and development policy and infrastructure implementation if we are not only going to be ecologically-friendly and community-building, but also cost-saving.
However, those two concepts alone do not cover the broad range of transportational activities that can take place on a metropolitan street.
There's a third category that meshes the two concepts of walkability and bike-ability together because it needs elements of both, but it isn't as slow and limited in range as walking, nor is the transportation robust and/or fast enough to be acknowledged as vehicles on the road.
What am I talking about? People on scooters, the skateboarders, the rollerbladers, motor-wheelchaired, runners. Their concerns for safety and convenience should be looked at too!
Faster than walkers, but not quite fast enough for the road or the side of the road/bike lane.
They'll have the same concerns the walkers and bikers have: enough space on the sidewalk, whether or not there's good lighting in any given neighborhood to walk, a lack of debris and surface peculiarities, and if there are slow intersections, and a culture of one-minded fast-moving impatient drivers.
However, they offer a meaningfully distinct viewpoint on the use of sidewalks and streets for transportation. The "meaningfully distinct viewpoint" is expressed in their ability to give a broader overview and feel for the sidewalk connectivity within and between neighborhoods. They are more likely than the regular pedestrian to cover more distance.
What separates my point of view as a long-distance marathon runner from an average pedestrian and/or a biker is that I see more sidewalks on the whole than pedestrian and "feel" them more than a biker. While I can't speak as much about the bike lanes or the immediate safety of the sidewalks, I have a better sense of the type of sidewalk that can connect or disconnect districts, neighborhoods, community areas.
When I trained for the LA Marathon in 2007 and I was living in Silver Lake on Sunset, I knew that I would eventually have to make a long run. For me, that run was from my lil apartment in Silver Lake to UCLA.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2277590
A 10.5 mile run to UCLA, and a 10.5 mile run back. No big deal except this is what I face on Sunset before Beverly Glen. Try looking for a sidewalk.
One side.
View Larger Map
Other side.
View Larger Map
For about 100 meters, twice, the sidewalk is overrun by these untrimmed bushes, so essentially there is no sidewalk, leaving me on the road, constantly looking over my back to make sure of my visibility so that a car won't hit me.
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't run that route if I know there's no sidewalk there, but I'd come to expect sidewalks to be there just like any other regular person, I can't help but think if whoever owned the property there would just cut his goddamn bushes, and I like most people like to move in straight lines from point A to point B.
Alternate routes to UCLA on a sidewalk from Sunset are simply inconvenient, impractical, winding road detours that add to unnecessary mileage.
If there's no safe, straight-line road for me as a young, mobile runner, there's definitely no safe road for any pedestrian, and it's likely to be intolerable for a biker.
No runnability, no walkability, no bikeability on Sunset in Beverly Hills - unmaximized economic activity, minimized community connection, minimized people connection.
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