Day: June 16, 2009
Streetsblog LA
Pilot Programs v Standards, the Quest for Complete Streets
Earlier today, the City Council Planning Committee heard how the City is addressing the state mandate to bring "Complete Streets" planning to Los Angeles. For those of you who don't remember, last fall Governor Schwarzenegger signed A.B. 1358 into law which required municipalities to construct streets that are safe and accessible for all users when municipalities redo their general transportation elements.
June 16, 2009
Does LADOT Fear Pedicabs?
After a solid push from Councilwoman Jan Perry's office, the City of Los Angeles is finally debating a proposal to bring pedicabs back to the streets of Los Angeles. Pedicabs have proven wildly popular in a diverse amount of American cities, everywhere from San Diego, to New York, to Portland, to San Francisco. While the city has had pedicab rules on the books since 1986, a pair of operators tried to bring the business to L.A. in 2007 and were shutdown.
June 16, 2009
GOP’s New Attack on Health Care Reform Bill: It Promotes Walking!
Despite a growing awareness among conservatives that walking and biking are causes worth backing, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to condemn bike-ped programs as wasteful "pork". The GOP's latest potshots at sustainable transportation come during debate over a health care bill that focuses mainly on insurance and hospitals, but also includes a public health grant program aimed at encouraging exercise.
June 16, 2009
Report: Nation’s Cities Getting Stiffed on Stimulus
The nation's largest metropolitan areas -- which account for 63 percent
of the U.S. population and 73 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP) -- have received less than half of the surface transportation
money allocated so far under the Obama administration's economic
stimulus plan, according to a new report compiled for the U.S.
Conference of Mayors.
June 16, 2009
Now Arriving: Transit-Oriented Development
Much of the talk on the Streetsblog Network in the past few days, perhaps prompted by the recently concluded Congress for the New Urbanism conference, is about transit-oriented development. The real estate crisis, it seems, may finally be pushing the issue into the mainstream.
June 16, 2009
Today’s Headlines
City Watch Slams Bike Master Plan Process MTA Planning for Safer Eastside Extension of Gold Line (Times) Safety Walk for the Gold Line (Little Tokyo Unblogged) Bike the Lakers’ Victory Parade Tomorrow (Examiner) Half of World’s Traffic Fatalities Are Not in Cars (Baltimore Spokes via Streetsblog.net) Obama Admin Reportedly Looking to “Downsize” Mid-Size Cities (Telegraph) … Continued
June 16, 2009