Streetsblog Los Angeles

(Over the next couple of weeks, Streetsblog L.A. will strive to cover all of the City Council elections that are not part of the Streetsblog TV schedule. Our next piece of election coverage will be Live Streaming the LACBC/Occidental College CD 1 Candidate Forum on Streetsblog TV this Sunday.)

Just a couple of years ago, the election to replace Jack Weiss in City Council District 5, which includes Westwood, Fairfax, Bel Air, and more was a hot one for Livable Streets advocates. On one hand,  you had former West Hollywood Mayor and AIDS Life Cycle participant Paul Koretz against David Vahedi, a lawyer who succesfully sued the City of Los Angeles for dangerous non-maintenance of bike paths. The race came down to a runoff and was close until the end. Koretz won.

This time, Koretz faces Mark Herd, a little known opponent who it appears designed his website in 1998. Since this race will mostly be about the incumbent, Streetsblog presents a brief look at his record.

Over the last four years, Koretz has been a dependable vote on Livability Issues, usually voting for safer streets, better pedestrian design and more bike lanes. In 2010, he was one of the Council Members who pushed the Planning Department to do more than the bare minimum when drafting the Bike Plan. His letter to City Planning earned high marks from the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition who called it “Outstanding.”

More recently, Koretz backed the new Motor Avenue bike lanes that are already providing safer commutes through the western part of his district for hundreds of cyclists a day. While some in the surrounding community grumbled that the lanes created a choke point for car traffic, Koretz stood his ground.

Not only is his apointee to the Expo Bicycle Advisory Committee one of the most active and engaged members, his chief transportation deputy Jay Greenstein attends nearly every meeting, the only member of L.A. City government to do so.

Koretz’s record on transit projects is perhaps more mixed. Read more…

This Saturday marks the first two of four of the introductory public meetings for the City of Los Angeles Mobility plan, set to be completed in 2014.  Maybe they learned something from the disastrous early outreach meetings for the Bike Plan in 2008, because this time enthusiasm is higher for the plan.

Much of that enthusiasm can be traced to the Ideas LA/2B website designed to solicit real two-way communication between residents and the people working on the plan.  The new mobility plan is a joint effort of City Planning and LADOT.  The Ideas LA/2B website is filled with dozens of conversations taking place between users, most of which are debating the value of progressive transportation changes such as embracing cutting edge bicycle planning or a standard street design that is more “complete streets” than “surface highway.”

But before city staff could take their message off the Internet and in front of the public, they had to stop by the City Council Transportation Committee.  While the Plan’s goal is to create a series of standards and projects to improve urban mobility, it was local concerns that dominated the discussion.

Jane Choi, one of the urban planners with City Planning, led the discussion.  ”Just as an outdated land use plan reflects outdated values, a new mobility plan needs to have a new vision for the city,” Choi said at the start of her presentation.  She repeatedly returned to the idea that this plan would create a “complete streets network” for Los Angeles by creating a series of street standards and streetscape manuals that would guide slow retrofit of the city.

Most excitingly, Choi said the plan would be based on new performance measures for L.A.’s streets, standards that decide whether a street is working based on the number of people, not cars, that are moved.

This weekend’s meetings are meant to balance the initial public outreach.  The Ideas LA/2B website has brought in a younger crowd than is usual in a typical mobility update.  Over half of all respondents are under 40.  Now, the four outreach meetings are designed to bring comments from a “traditional” crowd.

However, the outreach efforts weren’t enough for some City Councilmen.  After Councilman Bill Rosendahl asked for help promoting the LA/2B website through his social media outlet, Councilman Paul Koretz wondered whether or not there had been enough outreach to City Council staff.  Koretz, for example, was unaware that the outreach was going on and used the plan as an example of poor public outreach. Read more…

On Sunday morning, transit reform champions Move LA hosted a garden party to raise money for its campaign to support Mayor Villaraigosa’s 30/10 plan and to enlist Los Angeles’ stalwart political activists in its efforts.  Held in the often traffic-swarmed West LA neighborhood of Brentwood, the event was organized by Streetsblog friend and Huffington Post transportation writer Joel Epstein.

Brought on board by Denny Zane this summer, Epstein is helping Move LA broaden nationally its coalition of labor, business, and environmental groups.  Expanding its clout beyond Southern California would help Move LA convince Washington to support the kinds of infrastructure financing reform – i.e. a national infrastructure bank – that could make 30/10 feasible, as well as benefit other localities hoping to take on similar projects.

The event featured an array of local leaders who came to pledge their support, including: US Rep. Jane Harman (D – Venice), CA State Assemblymember Mike Feuer (42^nd Dist.), Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz, Inglewood Mayor Danny Tabor, and Santa Monica City Councilmember Terry O’Day. Read more…

After years of debates, threats of lawsuits, contentious community meetings and even heated discussion on Streetsblog message boards; there was a feeling that yesterday's meeting of the Expo Board to debate the certification of the environmental documents for Phase II would be a momentous meeting.  Predictions of a 4-3 vote either for or against certification seemed a safe bet; with the exception of the Transit Coalition's Bart Reed who predicted a "blowout," everyone I talked to thought it would be close.

After nearly five hours of public comment and debate, the Board voted and the final tally was six in favor, zero against, and one abstention.  The abstention wasn't even made by a fully-vested Board Member, but a staff member from the office of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas who was empowered to vote in place of the Supervisor.  There was a vote on a Ridley-Thomas motion to delay, not reject, certification for three months that failed by the somewhat closer vote of 2-5, with Rosendahl joining Ridley-Thomas in support.

Instead of a close vote, the most controversial thing that occurred was a procedural move by Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks who blocked fellow Councilman Paul Koretz from voting on the measure.  Technically, until Phase I is completed, Parks and Council Woman Jan Perry sit on the Expo Board.  However it was widely believed that Parks and Perry would yield to their successors, Councilmen Koretz and Bill Rosendahl who's districts would be most directly impacted by the construction and operation of Phase II. 

While Perry yielded to Rosendahl, Parks decided to hold on to his seat for the meeting to, in his words, defend the grade crossing policy at Metro that was under attack from opponents to Phase II and Ridley-Thomas.  Whether that was the real reason for Parks' maneuver, or  a more political one such as wanting to prevent the expected "no" vote from Koretz or even to spite his formal rival Ridley-Thomas is unknown.  What is known is that Koretz was one unhappy Councilman.

Read more...

When we last checked-in on the status of the proposed bus-only lanes for Wilshire Boulevard, Metro staff was conducting outreach needed before the project could receive it's environmental clearance.  At the time, staff hoped it would be completing the needed studies in the next couple of months.  However, they're now estimating that, at best, the studies won't be completed until June of 2010.

Next Wednesday, the City Council Transportation Committee will hear a request from LADOT to fund the city's half of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the bus-only lanes project.  The hearing could prove interesting because the bus only lane, runs through the heart of the districts of both the new Committee Chairman, Bill Rosendahl, and new Vice Chairman Paul Koretz.  While Rosendahl has stated support for the project in the past; Koretz has been more vague and has certainly been lobbied by residents in affluent parts of his district opposed to the project.

According to the report for prepared for next week's  hearing, there are two reasons that the bus-only plan will require EIR and not the shorter studies originally recommended and already completed.

...a number of intersections along the Wilshire Boulevard and parallel streets would experience traffic impacts that could not be mitigated to a level of insignificance.  In addition, public outreach in November of 2008 indicated both strong support throughout the corridor and strong opposition in several communities.  Based on these findings, staff at Metro and DOT determined that an EIR should be prepared for CEQA clearance.

In other words, the Wilshire bus-only lanes, a project that might have seemed a virtual lock a year ago might be in some trouble because of car traffic concerns.  At the very least it now faces more obstacles to overcome than it did in 2008.  In addition to needing a green light from an environmental standpoint, the project will need to survive another alternatives analysis and another round of public outreach in some areas where a bus only lane instead of street parking is a scary proposition to local residents.

The public hearings will be scheduled soon for late this month or early in October.  Since I most likely won't be able to attend, anyone interested in reporting from the meeting should contact me at damien@streetsblog.org.

Someone bookmark this post, because if I don’t give Ted Rogers a Streetsie for his writing this year, especially his work tracking down the bike positions of local candidates for Biking In L.A., someone needs to call me on it.  I know Ted is too nice to do it himself.

Over at Biking In LA, Rogers has two new candidate statements on bicycling from the C.D. 5 Finalists, Paul Koretz and David Vahedi.  That we know more about the transportation positions of these candidates than perhaps any other candidates for public office in recent memory is a testament to the blogging community.  Rogers has twice pinned the candidates down on cycling issues, the Bottleneck Blog (RIP) talked transit and here at Streetsblog we compiled their views on the Pico-Olympic Proposal.  Since the election is next week, this may be the last time we hear from the two candidates.  For a full breakdown on Koretz’s and statements, head to Vahedi’sBiking In LA.

Each candidate talks about increasing police stings against unsafe drivers as an effort to push back against the crashes that are killing cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers.  Vahedi also talks about the need to better fund the LAPD, while Koretz discusses that a lack of transit services lead revelers feeling as though they "have" to drive between bars or back home after a night of carousing.

Both candidates also talk about how because of the weather, L.A. should be a leading bike-city instead of a follower.  While they don’t say it by name, I’m sure both are incensed that we still haven’t seen a draft of the 2009 Bike Master Plan.  They do disagree on one point, Koretz says there are 330 sunny days in Los Angeles, while Vahedi pins the number closer to 350.

The candidates also found time to agree that the Mandeville Canyon Road Rage Doctor is a psycopath who should have the book thrown at him and that the Cyclists Bill of Rights is a good thing.

So how do the statements differ?  Vahedi talks about increasing funding for the LAPD and mentions that they need more cops on bikes.  Koretz mentions that he once participated in AIDS Life Cycle, meaning he biked from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

While it’s a lot easier to talk bikes than it is to promote cycling in office, each candidate’s statements are a far cry from those of the current CD-5 Councilman who likes to say that he bikes on weekends, but is scared to do so as part of his commute.

Call it the once and future debate.

This past Monday night, David Vahedi and Paul Koretz — the candidates running to replace Jack Weiss as council person representing L.A.’s 5^th Council District — met in a debate on the UCLA campus.

Hosted by the appropriately named Bruins for Traffic Relief, the event was co-sponsored by ABC7 and Manatt Phelps & Philips, LLC, with an assist from the League of Women Voters, and mediated by ABC7’s Adrienne Alpert.

To say it started slowly would be an understatement.

The two candidates seemed more like boxers clinching in the ring for much of the event, They finally began swinging away towards the end of the hour-long debate, as Koretz accused Vahedi of accepting donations from a developer, despite his insistence to the contrary.

The gloves came off again briefly when the two questioned whether it would be possible to put the planned Expo Line crossing at Overland Avenue below grade; both favored it, noting the heavy traffic and a nearby elementary school. However, Koretz questioned whether it would be possible due to increased costs, while Vahedi insisted it could be done, noting that it was the council member’s job to protect local residents.

Read more...

By the time the runoff election for City Attorney and 5th District City Council are held next month, Paul Koretz and David Vahedi may be the most well vetted City Council candidates, when it comes to transportation, in the history of L.A. politics.

The Bottleneck Blog asked all six of the original candidates their views on the Expo Line and development in more general terms.  Biking in LA asked all the candidates about bike issues.  Vahedi responded.  Koretz didn't.  We also know how they both feel about the city's Pico-Olympic plan: they hate it.  On top of that, the Bruins for Traffic Relief are hosting a forum next week focusing solely on transportation issues for the candidates.

That being said, here at Streetsblog we're going to do our part to get you the information you need before election day.  Below are my draft questions for the candidates, feel free to comment:

1. We know that you are opposed to the city's Pico-Olympic plan for traffic relief because of parking concerns.  What would you like to see the city do to improve east-west mobility in the short and long term?

2. The city ran into a public relations firestorm after it raised the cost of on-street parking after little public notice and without building any public support.  What role do you see parking reform taking in providing a long-term solution to the city's transportation policy and funding?

3. DASH Service is in for drastic cuts and fare hikes in the coming years.  What, if anything, do you think the city should do to avert these cuts?

4. This year is shaping up to be a particularly deadly one for pedestrians in Los Angeles.  What can the City Council do to reduce or eliminate pedestrian crashes and fatalities?

5. If you could waive a magic wand and change one thing about transportation in and around the City of Los Angeles, what would it be?

Because we're so late in the election cycle, I'm hoping to turn around the questionaire and get it to the campaigns by Thursday evening so get your comments in quickly. 

Incidently, there has been no word back yet from either of the City Attorney Candidates.