Month: February 2011

During today's debate over whether or not to approve a "life of the project" budget for Phase II of the Expo Line, County Supervisor Gloria Molina used the occasion to quiz Metro staff on new projections for Measure R revenue.  Originally, the half-cent county-wide sales tax was projected to produce $40 billion in revenue over thirty years.  However, in large part due to the Great Recession and high local unemployment rates, that projection has dropped 10% in two and a half years to $36 billion.

In a cover story I penned for this week Jewish Journal entitled, “All Aboard the Case for an All-Pervasive Metro,” I argue that mass transit in LA has finally arrived at the door of the Jewish community.  Thanks to the region’s population growth, as well as Metro’s considerable expansion over the past twenty years and plans for future expansion, the view that many Angelenos now hold is that transit has a critical role to play in the future of Los Angeles, even when it goes through, or under, our backyards.  While my aim with the Journal piece is to encourage the paper's traditional readership to embrace the importance of Metro’s expansion throughout Los Angeles County, the article might in fact find an audience in any of LA’s ethnic, religious and cultural communities.  In other words, if my Spanish, Tagalog, Farsi, Korean, Chinese, Armenian and Russian were better, I would be amortizing my investment by writing similar articles in community newspapers in those tongues as well.

Next Friday, Los Angeles Streetsblog will celebrate its 3rd birthday.  Unlike previous years, we're finally throwing ourselves a  birthday party.

Make federal transportation dollars more flexible. Tie infrastructure investment to economic development. Streamline the construction process.

Road interests continued to dominate the discussion as members of Congress wound their way through Chicago and Indiana this weekend, gathering feedback for the six-year transportation reauthorization bill.

Goodbye "30/10" and hello "Fast Forward America."