Month: October 2009
Streetsblog LA
A National Look at Meyer’s Exhibit – Mobility as a Basic Human Right
Advocates of sustainable transportation are sometimes charged with elitism and criticized for being out of touch with the mainstream of America. A new exhibit of photographs showing in Los Angeles, "Without a Car in the World:
100 Car-Less Angelenos Tell Stories of Living in LA," graphically makes
the point that the people who have the most to gain from effective
public transportation and complete streets are hardly the elite.
October 23, 2009
Metro Board Passes Long Range Transportation Plan
(editor's note: For more of a blow-by-blow from today's meeting visit the twitter feeds for LA Streetsblog, Soap Box and I Will Ride)
October 22, 2009
Update on the Prosecution in the Road Rage Doctor Trial
DJ Wheels, an attorney who happens to be a bicycle rider, has been updating the folks at Midnight Ridazz on the ongoing case of the "Road Rage Doctor" as it is heard at the LAX Courthouse. Wheels was gracious enough to summarize his posts on Monday and Tuesday's hearings. If you can't get enough Dr. Road Rage, Ted Rogers has more at Biking In L.A.:
October 22, 2009
Ad Nauseam: Toyota’s (Passive-Aggressive) Ransom Note to America
Toyota wants you to know that it's here for you. And not just as a
car maker, as the company explains in this spot, ironically entitled
"Community."
October 22, 2009
Takeaway From This Week’s EPA Hearing: Fuel Efficiency is a Money-Maker
A major step towards more fuel-efficient U.S. vehicles is being taken today in Detroit, where the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. DOT are holding their first in a series of public hearings on the new emissions standards the Obama administration released in May. These GM executives long resisted higher fuel-efficiency standards. Now a … Continued
October 22, 2009
Plenty of Ways to Follow the LRTP Debate, Including Streetsblog Twitter Feed
If you care about transit issues in Los Angeles, you probably know that today is the day that the Metro Board is expected to pass the Long Range Transportation Plan that will cement the timeline for local funding from Measure R for projects and allow the agency to apply for Federal and State funds. If you want to follow the debate, amendments and votes, you have several options.
October 22, 2009
Should Cities Try to Keep Out Big Chains?
Chain stores. A lot of people hate them because they often muscle out local businesses that give a neighborhood character (the excellent film Twilight Becomes Night documents this painful loss in New York City). But clearly a lot of people vote with their pocketbooks by spending money in chains. And the question of the effects … Continued
October 22, 2009
Metro Board Preview: Long Range Transportation Plan, Federal Funding, Measure R and One More Time with AnsaldoBreda
Tomorrow the Metro Board will meet and is widely expected to finally pass the Long Range Transportation Plan, which just like the city's Draft Bike Plan, was the subject of public hearings in the early winter of 2008 and hasn't been subject to much public scrutiny since. Many Board Members are already offering amendments to the plan to protect and advance their preferred local projects. The goal of moving projects in the plan is to better position them to receive federal funds to hopefully get them off the design table and on the ground, or under the ground, as quickly as possible.
October 21, 2009