CicLAvia helps arrange for temporary closures that turn streets into public park spaces. (photo courtesy of CicLAvia)

CicLAvia announced its expanded outreach to more communities in its partnership with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to help the city grow its L.A. Al Fresco program, which offers streamlined approval for eligible businesses to provide outdoor dining on sidewalks, parking lots and streets. CicLAvia is known for highly successful and popular open streets events that create public spaces for Angelenos to enjoy through biking, walking, strolling, skating and jogging.

L.A. Al Fresco was launched in May 2020 as a response to the pandemic to help restaurants  provide more usable outdoor areas. CicLAvia has been working with L.A. Al Fresco specifically in communities most impacted by the pandemic, such as Boyle Heights, Chinatown, Westlake, Pacoima and South LA.

Garcetti’s 2021-22 budget proposal now includes creating permanent areas for outdoor dining as part of the program.

CicLAvia has experience connecting communities to each other across Los Angeles via its open streets events. During its signature Sundays, CicLAvia temporarily arranges for street closures to car traffic while opening them up as public park spaces for all to enjoy.

“CicLAvia has been utilizing its open streets planning expertise in a new way by reaching out to smaller ‘mom-and-pop’ restaurants in communities most impacted by the pandemic,” CicLAvia’s Executive Director Romel Pascual said. “By offering free assistance to these ‘hidden gems’ via the L.A. Al Fresco program, CicLAvia helps these restaurants accommodate more customers so they can serve their neighborhoods safely and with greater capacity, stay open and continue to prosper.”

CicLAvia will soon reveal the upcoming route and date for its first post-pandemic open streets event.

“With this L.A. Al Fresco work, CicLAvia is coming full circle by providing a different type of outreach and ensuring that our return to our highly anticipated open street events will be back even stronger as we continue to expand the horizons of our L.A. community,” Pascual said.