Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m using this week’s SGV Connect to encourage listeners to start listening to my other podcast, StreetSmart which appears at Streetsblog California.
This week’s SGV Connect features clips from three different StreetSmart interviews.
The first is with Jeanie Ward-Waller, where we de-mystify the California Transportation Commission - a little-known board that approves billions of dollars of state transportation funds every year. In that clip, we discuss why it’s important to have progressives and activists in some of the voting board positions. For the full podcast, and transcript, click here.
Our second interview is with a UCLA researcher who literally may have forgotten more about transportation than I’ll ever know: Juan Matute. In this podcast, we discuss the state of transit funding as California continues its economic recovery from COVID and loses a funding partner for its most ambitious projects. In the clip, Matute pushes expansion of Bus Rapid Transit, as a way the state can spend smarter. For the full podcast, and transcript, click here.
The third clip is from an interview that we haven’t published anywhere else yet; it’ll debut on Streetsblog California next Tuesday. In that one, I’m interviewing both Adriana Rizzo, co-founder of Californians for Electric Rail, and Roger Rudick, the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco, about the status of high-speed rail in the state. In the clip, we’re talking about how the project is shaped as a loser in the press, but never actually loses at the ballot box. For the full podcast and transcript, you’ll have to wait until next Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Chris is working on a podcast featuring stories from the wildfires that raged last month. Stay tuned.
SGV Connect is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”
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