Islands of LA installed 2 new signs on 9/17/08, exactly one year after the project began, as part of the 1 year anniversary. The installation was preceeded and followed with several discussion/activities at a traffic island in Glassell Park. 
The sign, Public Thinking, helps residents identify traffic islands that are likely to be public fora. With its companion sign NOTICE, residents can more easily find traffic islands in Los Angeles to use as public fora*.
With these signs, Islands of LA indicates locations where residents can go and exchange views and ideas alongside other activities that have happened there such as crossing on them, using them to sell or anything else. Thank you to Poli Graphics for help in printing these signs.
The use of traffic islands as public fora* has a history. Some whom I have used these spaces** with find them to be relaxing and tranquil while others find these spaces uncomfortable for public assembly because of the noise and air quality. Others have raised the question of the safety of these islands since cars have been known to drive up on them. This raises the importance of common sense when deciding whether an island is appropriate for assembly and the number of people and activity that is appropriate. It also raises the comparison of safety on our sidewalks and roads in general, for pedestrians, in a city that focuses its attention on the car. These issues are not to be avoided. Rather they present opportunities for discussion, research and experimentation about the use of our public spaces. For those uncomfortable in using traffic islands for public assembly, we encourage you to look for other places in public where public assembly is allowed, 24 hours a day, and is safer and more comfortable.
The new Public Thinking sign also include a seal for Islands of LA with various symbols and text. The ideas and definitions of these symbols and texts are not closed. This is not a seal which closes, ends. These are symbols that represent some of the major problems and curiosities when considering the use and availability of traffic islands to foster an interchange of views and ideas. There are topics and ideals to be examined.
Below are meanings that are meant to be discussed, contested, added to and changed. This is an evolving project.
- Public - what is public? who is the public? Public is of or pertaining to the people; belonging to the people; relating to, or affecting, a nation, state, or community. Is there a single public or are there “different levels of public based on differing levels of interest and ability” as Lorenz Aggens proposed. A public space refers to an area or place that is open and accessible to all citizens, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. (from wikipedia) Through the use of our public lands in a manner that is sensitive to the surroundings and history, we can consider and research the existence and idea of this concept.
- Discussion – this is the exchange of views and ideas among people. The trading of ideas. What is the relevance, the necessity of discussion? What makes for a good discussion? And is discussion something that should be allowed and supported in public space?
- Community – what is a community? In sociology, it means a group of people interacting in a common location, sharing an environment. But there are the virtual communities or special interest communities like the baseball community, where the connection to a common location gets replaced with a connection to common ideas, beliefs, preferences, etc. How long must people be interacting for there to be a community? Are 5 people sitting on a traffic island engaged in an activity or discussion forming a community? A provisional community? What of the people who live in an area but are not bound to others other than by location? And what does the notion of community mean in a world of cultural flux, velocity and fragmentation? Where do ideas of the insider and outsider fit given the state of our urban settings? The notion of community suggests a sense of unified belief but community inevitably is filled with contestation, sometimes hidden. It also suggests a thing that exists. But maybe it is always changing and filled with ruptures, camps, that can be viewed like a cohesive site. Community is problematic, made up of each individual’s existence.
- Space – Islands of LA is a project about traffic islands and the existence and possible usage of small, often overlooked spaces in Los Angeles. But what is space? How does it compare to place? Space, in some respects, is a general area but place refers to the specificity of its use, history, people, landscape that gives a given space its identity. But what is space? And what of the different types of space (social, mental, physical, urban, rural)? Is space a product, an object, or a production, a process?
- The clock – this is symbol of time. Traffic islands exist in a space dominated by time, the everyday happening rushing by on our roads. The symbol also refers to Islands of LA’s approach, which is evolving and emphasizes research and experimentation, activities and action. The clock is also an old symbol of north and south, which raises the question of orientation. Where are we? North and south are things we created, which we forget and take as truisms. Even if we dont forget, we are constantly being impacted by these ideas nonetheless. The symbol is also an old reference of other binaries such as man and woman. This reading of the symbol refers to the history of public fora, which previously were exclusionary (women, minorities and men without landed were often excluded). Today’s public fora are much less exclusionary of people but are more exclusionary of types of usages (i.e. there is an emphasis on recreation, shopping and leisure). This symbol, then, refers to an approach to public space that allows for different people and usages, the idea of context (spatial, historical) and representations.
- The 16th District – Islands of LA learned from Marcelo Elola of the Urban Think tank that in Caracas, informal and marginal spaces such as traffic islands are referred to as the 7th municipality since Caracas has 6 official municipalities. Los Angeles has 15 district areas and, thus, the traffic islands are being referred to as the 16th district.
- The Californian Poppy – this is the state flower of California but it is also a native plant with all but forgotten medicinal uses.
- The Fruit – the fruit, which can be orange, apples or tomatoes, references the agricultural history of Los Angeles as well as a project called Love Apples, which was a collaboration with Fallen Fruit.
- The 4 shapes - these are the 4 primary shapes of traffic islands, namely, circular, rectangular, triangular and irregular.
- The double headed arrow - this is the logo of Islands of LA referring to the idea of interchange, a trading and continual going back and forth of ideas. It is also a reference to time and space.
*Public fora: in constitutional law, public property where people traditionally gather to express ideas and exchange views; to be constitutional, government regulation of a public forum must be narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest and must usually be limited to time, place and manner restrictions.
**The distinction between space and place is important. Place is a particular point in space and includes the specifics of people, architecture, history, etc of that space. Space is a more generic term for an area. As we considering the question of public spaces as public fora, the question of the specific issues of a given space – the people, the community, etc – and how they relate to the space and its potential usage must be considered. How it is considered is an open question, which the project is researching. For example, should a group from South Gate be able to assemble on an island or park or beach in Santa Monica and have a discussion, or should they have to inform themselves about the place and to what extent?
