Today’s Headlines

  • White House Expands Automaker Bailout With $5B for Parts Suppliers (NYT)
  • Rosendahl Hosts Meeting on Del Rey Traffic Issues (Curbed)
  • Full Transcript of President’s Q and A, Includes Vague Talk of Traffic (LAist)
  • Open Left Diarist Breaks Down the New HUD-DOT Partnership
  • Broken Sidewalk Compares Ped Crossings in Seattle, England, and Louisville (via Streetsblog.net)
  • Canadians Come to Santa Monica and Venice and Fall in Love with Beach Biking (Calgary Metro)
  • Grey’s Anatomy Star in Three-Car Crash in Hollywood (Daily News)
  • Woman Hit By Car, Dragged Inside, and Whisked Off (ABC 7, Daily Breeze)

  • What Obama said regarding traffic/transportation in L.A.:

    “Now, there are some things in California that we are doing that focus on particular needs here. We just talked — Governor Schwarzenegger and Mayor Villaraigosa — here in Los Angeles, for example, there is an enormous opportunity to deal with traffic and transit and transportation — (applause) — in a way that will relieve congestion, make this economy more efficient, more productive. But the needs of Los Angeles in terms of transportation dollars are going to be different from the needs of somebody in a predominantly rural state.”

    While that is very vague, it at least makes me think that Tony V must have brought up the purple line extension in talking with Obama. I’m feeling optimistic today, so I’m going to take this as a sign that, by the end of the year, we may end up hearing a revised accelerated time table for getting the subway to Westwood. Remember that Tony V has to start thinking about running for Governor soon, and he’s going to want to point back at a campaign promise he was successful at getting enacted. The subway to the sea could be that trophy he could hold up during his gubernatorial campaign, so he’s motivated to get it accelerated.