Month: February 2011

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Voters in Los Angeles' 6th Councilmanic District face a choice between Councilman Tony Cardenas, and a trio of lesser known neophytes all banking that Cardenas's record has turned off enough voters to allow one of them to slip past the well-funded incumbent. Thus, Jaime Cordaro, David Barron, and Rich Goodman haven't focused much on transportation and Smart Growth to tilt this San Fernando Valley District, leaving us with little to analyze other than Cardenas' record and a couple of sentences in campaign platforms.

The Obama administration is taking its infrastructure push on the road. First stop: Philadelphia, to announce a $53 billion plan to invest in high-speed rail.

It always amazes me how artists can capture new ways of walking in the existing built environment.  The boring streets of South Park became a world of physical and sensual discovery through Being Pedestrian facilitated by Sara Wooky and Sara Daleiden last Saturday.

On Friday night, I received an agitated email from Ray Klein, a Board Member for the Brentwood Neighborhood Council who requested a retraction for my claim that he has continually misquoted LADOT Senior Traffic Engineer Kang Hu while making the case that Brentwood should be excluded from the Wilshire Bus Only Lane (BOL) project.

In just the last month, several reports have quantified, in various ways, how investing in transportation infrastructure pays off in jobs and economic health. Now Smart Growth America is out with new research showing that it's not enough to plunk down a bunch of money and expect miracles. You've got to do it right.

President Obama paid a visit to the Chamber of Commerce this morning, trying to make nice after a hot-and-cold couple of years.

You know how this story goes: A subdivision pops up in a cornfield. Soon enough, said subdivision is in the midst of the new, hot suburb, essentially a thrown-together collection of cul-de-sacs and big box stores.