Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plans to remake L.A.’s streets from Northridge to San Pedro into pedestrian-bicycle friendly meccas is moving into its second stage.

It began Dec. 10 when Garcetti and Councilman Joe Buscaino unveiled the new San Pedro sign on the Gaffey Street bridge welcoming people to the harbor community.

The next day, teams of officials from several city departments and a private consultant conducted what they called a maintenance walk of Reseda Boulevard in Northridge to determine what easy fixes can be made to fill potholes and fix curbs and sidewalks.

“It brings together Transportation, Street Services, the council offices and the Great Streets Studio to coordinate improvements,” Garcetti spokeswoman Vicki Curry said. “The staff actually walks the street together for the day to find and fix problems.”

Curry said all 15 council districts will have had a maintenance walk and repairs made by next June.

On their tour of Reseda Boulevard, Curry said the teams spotted a number of issues, from sidewalks in disrepair, broken cement around tree wells and poor signage.

“Some of it involves other agencies, so we will reach out to them,” Curry said. “What this was designed to be is taking a focused look at a stretch of street and try to coordinate our response to make it a Great Street.”

Great Streets is the program launched by Garcetti when he first took office to identify 15 intersections in the city that can be made hubs of the communities and encourage more pedestrian activity.

The Great Streets Studio is the mayor’s program that oversees what is being proposed.

Councilman Mitch Englander, who represents the North San Fernando Valley area, said he sees the project “as taking a good community and making it great.”

“We have community collaboration with three neighborhood councils, CSUN and the local chamber,” Englander said. “What we want to see is an area with walkability, usability and mobility. What we want to see is this serve as a gateway to the crown jewel of the Valley, in CSUN.”

Some questions, such as density and zoning changes, will have to be addressed as the program proceeds, he said.

Wayne Adelstein, president of the North Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he wants to hear more from the Mayor’s Office on what is being considered.

“The community would like to see a more attractive boulevard with new businesses that will be of value and be assets to the Performing Arts Center,” Adelstein said. “Reseda Boulevard has the opportunity to be an entertainment and cultural center with small theaters, art galleries and more restaurants.”

But, he said, questions need to be answered over how much density will be allowed and how the area can be made attractive to investors.

“We need to have the zoning that will allow for that and make sure the community agrees with whatever is done,” Adelstein said.

“Reseda Boulevard has a lot of pros and cons,” Adelstein said. “It’s an old boulevard and parts of it are functionally obsolete. But a lot can be done with it.”

Among the plans he would like to see is having more of a setback for the businesses, which in turn would make it more attractive to pedestrians.

For Northridge, the city has hired a nonprofit consulting firm, LA-Mas, which has been working in the Watts area to improve its commercial areas. It is working on designs for street furniture, miniature parklets, sidewalk patterns and underawning art to make it more welcoming.

Helen Leung, director of social impact for the firm, said the goal of the project is to “create an identity for the street.”

“We think there is some architecturally unique structures along there,” Leung said. “We aren’t looking at the full stretch of Reseda, but a small area where we can put awnings in to encourage pedestrians along with underawning art.”

Before that happens, however, Leung said they will be meeting with community and business leaders on what they would like to see and to develop a timeline for implementation.

Garcetti has budgeted $800,000 for the first year’s work, with the money going for the Great Streets Studio and to bring on the consultants.

Adelstein said he is concerned about any proposal that would seek to slow traffic along the street.

“As is, when CSUN is in session, it’s pretty congested,” Adelstein said. “The fact is that Reseda is a major thoroughfare and was designed to handle traffic. If we get the businesses we need, it will naturally serve to slow down traffic in the area.”