Month: March 2010

The sad saga of John Osnes and David Jassy has finally come to an end. Late in December of 2008, Jassy and Osnes got in an altercation when Jassy's SUV encroached on a crosswalk being utilized by Osnes. By the time all was said and done, Jassy was fleeing the scene in his SUV while Jassy lie dieing in the street, brutally beaten and run over.

The House has just begun voting on the Senate jobs bill, which includes a $20 billion reprieve for the nation's highway trust fund and an highway expansion of Build America Bonds -- but though the legislation is expected to pass, it won't be headed to the president's desk yet.

Back in the day, I used to occasionally write "Bike Weekend" posts when there were multiple great events going on at the same time. Ever since I started writing "The Week in Livable Streets Events" on Monday, I've stopped doing those. However, this weekend there are three events going on across the city, at nearly the same time, each of which is a worthy undertaking in its own right. Evert weekend is a bike weekend in a city with the vibrant bike culture that we have, if you can't find a group ride, you're not really trying, but this Saturday is special because it has some great ways to have some fun and help make Los Angeles better.

Yesterday, Los Angeles Streetsblog quietly celebrated its second birthday with a slice of Hungarian cheesecake and a story about Paris Hilton.  Yeah, we really know how to party.

The Senate today took its first steps towards voting on a new long-term federal transportation bill, with environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) vowing to take up a successor to the 2005 infrastructure law before 2011 and indicating she would use the House's already-introduced version as a framework.

Following up on yesterday's post about family-friendly transit, which generated a raft of interesting comments on Streetsblog New York (and even more on our SF, DC and LA sites), we've got a dispatch from the front lines. Carla Saulter, who writes the always excellent Bus Chick blog out in Seattle, weighs in on how going from one kid to two has made her car-free existence significantly more challenging, although she remains characteristically undaunted:

Taxi Workers Alliance’s Sentayehu Silassie a leader to watch (Liberty Hill profile and video) SoapBox: Why Don’t We Ever Ask Drivers to Do Their Own Work As We Do Bikes?  Vote for CicLAvia (Biking in L.A.) City Escalates Super Graphics Fight (Times) Santa Monica Looking for Car Share Partner (Daily Press) SEC Halts Ponzi Scheme Targeting … Continued

From TMZ:

Tonight is the last of the five hearings on the major service changes that have been proposed for LADOT's transit services, DASH, Commuter Express, City Ride and Charter Bus Service.  The first four hearings have seen crowds of various sizes, with packed house's at the hearings in the San Fernando Valley's hearing and the one at Caltrans headquarters in the Downtown.  However, the message from the hearings was the same: raise fares if you must, but don't cut service.