Aaron Paley to step down as head of CicLAvia

Photo for Durfee Foundation: Robert Pacheco

Aaron Paley, the co-founder of the successful CicLAvia street events, announced his plans to take a reduced role in the future via an interview with LA Times architecture critic and urbanism booster Christopher Hawthorne over coffee at the Pie Hole in downtown's Arts District. Paley, 57, will remain an executive producer of CicLAvia but the organization will conduct a national search for an executive director. He also is president of the for-profit firm Community Arts Resources.

Paley explains:

We started a strategic planning process at CicLAvia last year, and as a result we're looking to chart out a sustainable future for the organization. We feel we need to build a broader base of support as we grow. So the organization will be hiring a new executive director as well as a development director, an operations manager and a digital communications specialist….

As CicLAvia grew, it was important to have its own identity. We're at a $2 million-a-year budget now, and there's a general consensus among board and staff that we want to get to $3 million a year in the next couple of years. So we need to build capacity for that.

The origins of CicLAvia go back to a piece Paley wrote for Los Angeles magazine — the 2009 issue with the Failure cover featuring Antonio Villaraigosa as mayor.