If you are doing a lot of urban riding there in LA, which generally involves a lot of stopping, try some clips without straps. That's what I use on most of my bikes and I like it. Easy to get your foot out, and usually easy to slide into the clip sans strap. I leave one food "in" and then do the other by feel. And if I miss it the first time around, I can manage a pedal stroke with a slight scrape, or no scrape if I lean the bike over on the downstroke of the clip. Here in NYC, it's never a good idea to dilly-dally too much at a light when you are trying to get clipped in.