out in certain neighborhoods as you said you were looking you know for an equitable solution to something like this when EV chargers may not be able to go into a neighborhood that had the resources for it so is it specific we're looking for existing markets and hoping to create merging markets.

What I mean by that is we're going to places where there have been requests high demand where we've placed chargers we're looking at our analytics and seeing should we place another one close by right in order for for people to have more usage.

But we're also trying to get into places that we we don't necessarily see um what I would say the private sector so we're we're trying to go into uh places like Hyde Park right like um South LA like the valley right so uh get away from just what traditionally people would think that that is not just a privilege to have that's something that we should all have are we ahead of the game when it comes to technology and advancements for something like the Bureau of Streetlighting or are we looking to other cities to see how they are doing it and then following suit when you look at the world as a whole there's obviously going to be some places that might do things better here or there and different types of technology on average though I'd say LA is on on the the cutting edge the further kind of further ahead than than the pack and I'll say this for a couple things.

There's a reason why we became one of the first 5G cities in America and that's because we started attaching telecom equipment to our street lights right and so we made something that was originally a single use.

Now granted that single use was transformative we lit public spaces and and made it so people can congregate have commerce made it feel safer right but the service was the street light now we're adding other things that not only reduce the cost of infrastructure itself but make it so that there's new services that can go onto the city like 5G connectivity right so LA became one of the first 5G cities in America back in 20 I believe 2017 2018 and and that's because we started working together with the industry practitioners see what else we could do.

Very very well I mean you've worked in the mayor's office you know through a couple of tenures of different mayors and now now you're here and you've been here what was the biggest surprise coming into this bureau when you looked around and saw what your opportunities were and what your challenges were the scope of the bureau the opportunities in the bureau the history the fun the possibility what was it that you really went oh wow this is cool.

What what I was most impressed with was the people when I came in here because of their willingness to actually try new things and because of the people we have tremendous potential right so when we're talking about these new technologies these um more efficient ways to light the streets we're we're talking about connectivity with telecom partners we're talking about dynamic lighting we're talking about air quality sensors that can help inform uh uh policymakers about what's going on in their neighborhoods right now right so the people actually led to some of these progressions right these new things and and these opportunities that we have and so the bureau itself with what it has again a quarter of a million street lights an electrical system this pen ultimate electrical system that when we're thinking about the future of the city is going to empower a lot of the new services that we do now we actually see ourselves now more of a platform right so yes we have the the street light but there's many different things that you can attach to it right there's many different services that you can uh kind of uh uh create from from that point there where where we have a very uh valuable piece of real estate on the public right of way that has energy well people want to learn more about the hundredth anniversary or just about how to call in if they need some help with the lighting on their streets or just have any questions what's the best way for people to get in touch.

The best way for people to get in touch.

Well, two things, right?

If if there's any issues that you have with street lighting, please log your service requests with my LA311 or call 311 itself for for all other things.

And if you're inquisitive about our history, please visit LA Lights dot la city dot or gank you so much.

This is really, really fun.

And that's a wrap on this LA Currents.

Welcome to the Los Angeles Central Library, a cultural gem at the heart of downtown Los Angeles.

And the flagship of the Los Angeles public library system.

For the last century, this remarkable institution has been a beacon of learning, creativity, and community for Angelinos and visitors alike.

Every day, the Central Library connects people, providing a vital space to engage in the present.

Learn from the past, and dream of the future.

Whether you're visiting the city or viewing from home, welcome to LA this week.

Opened in 1926, the Los Angeles Central Library is an architectural landmark inspired by ancient civilizations and Spanish colonial revival styles.

By the mid-1960s, the building faced calls for demolition, but preservation efforts prevailed.

A major renovation saved the library, doubled its size, and introduced new landscaping.

Now in 2026, LA's public library invites everyone to celebrate 100 years of the Central Library and its lasting impact on the city.

We are in the magnificent central library here in downtown Los Angeles, and we are celebrating the 100th birthday of this incredible building.

Just as importantly, all of the incredible things that happen inside it and have happened uh over the last 100 years.

For the centennial, we dug out our time capsule that was placed on May 3rd, 1925, and we're gonna be revealing what we found in that copper box.

Yeah, it was not a simple or straightforward process to figure out how we were going to get the actual time capsule out of the middle of our wall from a hundred years ago.

There were structural integrity concerns, there were historic resource concerns.

The actual cornerstone itself is beautifully inscribed with the name and the seal of the library, and we couldn't damage or destroy that.

So, long story short, we were able to come through the inside of the building, which happens to be the men's restroom, bust through the inside layer of the outer wall and the cornerstone itself to finally reach the capsule and pull it out and uh be able to finally open it and share the contents today.

I would just encourage people to come down and see it.

The time capsule, especially, is kind of fun because as kids we used to do time capsules in our backyard.

No one probably ever dug them up, but in this case, you know, it was a very formal thing, and they even found a time capsule inside of Time Capsule, which was cool, so you can see all the contents of that.

It's neat.

There were some things that we knew had been placed in the time capsule through minutes of library board meetings.

But as with almost all time capsules, there are inevitably surprises.

Another really interesting thing to me was from the 1881 time capsule from the normal school that was on this site before the library, and that capsule was actually inside of ours.

We didn't have any idea what that was going to contain, but among the really interesting things was a sort of memento of black morning cloth and dried moss from the funeral of President Garfield, who had been assassinated just a couple months prior, and somebody who was at that memorial celebration in uh Cleveland brought that and felt that it was important to represent that moment in American history and put it in the time capsule, and that's something we have here that we never would have expected.

I've walked around and looked at the artifacts, which is amazing how well they survived.

They don't look like they sat in the box for 100 years.

But the building itself proved that LA does have a history.

We are not just this whole new city.

We do have a history here, and we like to celebrate our history.

Knowing that they can have access to any great knowledge as I have.

I don't know what anyone would be if we didn't learn from history, learn from the lessons of life.

Even though we're celebrating Central Library, we're going to be having programming at our branches throughout the entire year.

So people can go and get all kinds of information if they go to the Los Angeles Public Library website, lapl.org backslash Central 100, and everything will be posted there, and we're going to be adding information as the year goes on.

We're so excited to celebrate this incredible landmark building and to have the public celebrate with us.

So today's event is called Plant Day at the library.

I came in one day with my sister and saw that they had a sign for planting.

And I was like, oh, this is really interesting.

We should come and enjoy like the workshop that they have.

And she was like, okay, so we decided to come in.

It's just a way for people to get together and celebrate plants and the people who love them.

This one is called Donkey's Tales.

We've gathered a number of different uh experts in horticulture, flower arrangements, sustainability, composting.

I love how you're adding just a little bit of stuff.

Propagation and repotting to teach the public how to work with plants, veggie trays in case they want to grow veggies at home.

It's for drainage.

So people are walking away with knowledge of how to work with plants, some plants themselves, and then also connections to community agencies that are working to make LA greener and more sustainable.