Unwanted Cars Gather Together to Commiserate

While the Big Three continue to insist that the proposed $25 billion bailout should be thought of as a "bridge loan," the Daily Breeze paints a much different picture.  Americans' unwillingness or inability to buy new cars is effecting more than just domestic car makers.

The nation's deepening economic crisis is causing a backlog of imported cars in the nation's largest seaport, providing a vivid glimpse of the economic malaise plaguing America.

Scrambling for open space to store vehicles Americans haven't been buying, carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Mercedes have signed deals to lease open space at the Port of Long Beach, where trade volumes this year are experiencing their deepest decline in two decades.

Image: Daily Breeze

Tonight is the night that late night train service on the Red Line begins in Downtown Los Angeles.  Rising to the occasion, LADOT has also extended the hours for DASH service so buses will be in place to support the transit lines.  All of this is great news, LA is finally realizing that late night trains are a relatively inexpensive way to bolster business AND make our roads a more safe way to travel.

And Los Angeles is ready to celebrate this event with a party.  I received more than one invitation to take part in a "Red Line Barhop" in my inbox, and social planning website Thrillist even put together a list to help us all out.  As Thrillist notes:

LA barhopping sucks: take your car, and risk DUI, or take the subway, and discover both that we have a subway, and that it stops running before last call. Or at least it did: starting tomorrow, the Red Line from North Hollywood to Downtown's running every 20 minutes, 'til 3am on weekends through the end of the year. Here're some suggestions for each stop -- with the exception of Vermont/Beverly and MacArthur Park/Westlake, where getting off the train risks certain death and, worse, probable thirst.

I'll probably be skipping the festivities.  Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I already have a way to celebrate non-motorized transportation by drinking; but you transit riding kids have a good time.  And don't be afraid to stay out as late as you want to.

Photo: Jon Shoemaker/Flickr

• Metrolink, Freight Train, Have Minor Collision (Bottleneck Blog, Press Enterprise)
  
• "I Found My Mid-Life Crisis at the Los Angeles Auto Show" (Times)
  
• Some Want Orange Line Converted to Light Rail (Daily News)
  
• Congress Tells Carmakers to Come Back With a Better Bailout Plan (NYT)
  
• Auto Execs' PR Savvy Could Use a Little Work (CNN, Wheels)
• Our Alternate Future without Measure R?  NYCMTA Proposes Cuts, Hikes (Streetsblog)
  
• Portland DOT Proposes City's First Cycle Track (BikePortland)
• New #1 Hit?  Wouldn't It Be Nice if Cars Were Banned? (Bus Bench)
• Special "Bike Themed" City Council Meeting Today (CityWatch)
• Time Reviews "The Lost Art of Walking"
  

Photo: Christina Izzo/SF Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the target vacancy rate for curbside spaces will be between 10 and 35 percent. New technology will help monitor the results and set prices:

For example, the hourly meter cost would fluctuate between 25 cents and $6. However, during special events, such as large concerts, ballgames and street festivals, the charge could go as high as $18. Currently, meters cost $1.50 to $3 an hour, depending on the neighborhood.

The executive director would also have the authority to change the price according to location, time of day and day of the week, based on demand.

The city would track parking meter use with a sophisticated system of sensors embedded in the pavement. High-tech space monitors would be deployed in lots. The hourly rates would not be adjusted more frequently than once a month and would not go up or down by more than 50 cents at a time.

Drivers won't have to worry about having enough nickels, dimes and quarters to feed a meter. Instead, the city will install a new generation of meters that will allow people to pay by credit card, prepaid parking cards and, perhaps, cell phones.

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(Editor's Note: This is the second in a five part series examining the five bike-related items on this Friday's City Council Transportation Committee Agenda.  The first piece looked at the city's bike sharing program, the second discussed the Bike Rider's Bill of Rights, and yesterday's looked at bike licensing.  If you want to join a group of cyclists traveling to the meeting, meet at the Red Line Stop at Santa Monica and Vermont Boulevards at noon this Friday.)

Initially, a lot of people in the bike community were happy to see an update to the City's Bike Master Plan on the agenda for tomorrow's Bike Themed City Council Hearing.  However, unless LADOT brings materials that aren't available in the update prepared for the City Council dated November 5 of this year.

The three page update doesn't even begin discussing work on the current plan until page 2, and a third of the last page is blank, leaving a page and two thirds to update the City Council on what work has been done in the past 10 months.  I don't mean to sound as though nothing has happened, everything I've heard from people working on and with access to the plan have say that progress has been great and cyclists are going to be very happy when the draft plan is released in January.  According to the report, a new bikeway route network map and new policies have been drafted and are under review.

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It's official.  Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) defeated Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) in the race to be chair of the House of Representatives Energy Committee.  This is good news for Californians interesting inlobbying on behalf of a greener energy policy, after all there are few people as influential as the Energy Committee Chair, and for the environment in general.

Dingell has long been a water carrier for the embattled Big 3 Automakers and their union constituencies.  Recently he's been responsible for lax Greenhouse Gas standards and has generally fought toughening federal clean air laws.  Dingell has promised to be a more environmentally friendly Committee Chair.

Is Dingell's ouster a signal of waning power on Capitol Hill for U.S. automakers?  The news from Capitol Hill doesn't appear good for those hoping Congress writes a $25 billion check to bailout the Big 3.

The Transportation for America Campaign interviewed activist and former Santa Monica Mayor Denny Zane, who had as much to do with Measure R's passage as anyone.  You may remember Zane as thr driving force behind the It's Time to Move LA Conference last January which led directly to Assemblyman Feuer's legislative efforts.  By bringing together environmentalists, labor leaders and busniess leaders; Zane built a coalition that overcame provencial interests in November's election to get Measure R passed.

The interview covers a lot of different topics, below is a quick example of a question and answer from the interview, but for the rest head over to the T 4 America blog:

Do you see any broader implications from your victory, any lessons that a larger movement for transportation reform could learn from your campaign?

Well it was certainly was true that here in Los Angeles, the business community, the labor community, the environmental community all saw a common interest. Especially when the concern that might have unsettled them would have been how much highways versus how much transit, but in our case, nobody was really arguing for expanded highway construction. Assuming you need maintenance and repair, and interchange improvements, but significant freeway projects – all that had been done in previous epochs.

So everybody was of accord that the future of transportation had to be dominated by new transit, and this case, fixed guideway transit. It was just a question of how much.

• For Lord's Sake!  Don't Build a Giant Park without Thinking of the Motorists! (Times)
  
• Transit, Green Infrastructure Obama's 'First Order of Business' in January (Grist)
• Metro Police Keeping Us Safe From Terrorists in Union Station (Bottleneck Blog)
  
• China's Carmakers Want a Bailout Too (NYT)
• Lower Gas Prices Not Changing Driving Habits (USA Today)
• Cheaper Gas Prices Changing People's Driving Habits (Times)
• Orange Line to Chatsworth Open by 2013? (LAist)