Carter Rubin
Recent Posts
More Drivers, Fewer Parkers: Parking in Downtown Santa Monica is More Abundant Than Ever — Let’s Reclaim Our Streets
| | No Comments
Santa Monica has 700 extra parking, as in available parking spaces no longer needed. The cost is the opportunity cost of squandering such a valuable resource.
Metro’s $400 Million Roads Plan Is an Act of Climate Change Denial
| | 22 Comments
It’s time for Metro to pump the brakes on its misguided, climate-harming road plan for the 710 N. Corridor cities.
How Flexible Parking Requirements Spur Economic Development: Lessons from Santa Monica
| | 20 Comments
Editor’s Note: Streetsblog Los Angeles founding board member Carter Rubin recently finished his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree at UCLA. In the following article, he recaps the findings from his capstone “client project” for the Urban Design Studio at the L.A. Department of City Planning. His research adviser was the inimitable parking guru, […]
West LA Advocates Urge Rec. and Parks Commission to Support Re-Opening Bundy Triangle Park
| | 9 Comments
For those just joining the discussion, a group of activists in West Los Angeles has been working with the office of Los Angeles Dist. 11 Councilman Bill Rosendahl since April to re-open Bundy Triangle Park. This rare swath of green space in dense West LA sits at the intersection of Bundy Drive, Santa Monica Boulevard […]
Media Commentary: LADN Editorial Plays Up Bicyclists Vs. Drivers — What’s the Point?
| | 3 Comments
Editor’s Note: On Wednesday, the Daily News published an editorial that acknowledged that riding a bicycle in Los Angeles is dangerous and that cyclists are harassed on the road, but that Los Angeles’ recently passed anti-harassment ordinance was a “missed opportunity to create more harmony on our roads.” Carter Rubin responded in their comments section, […]
Bundy Triangle Park Revisited: Is One of These Not Like the Other?
| | 5 Comments
This spring, livable streets activists on the Westside began working with L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s office to reopen Bundy Triangle Park. A May 9 Streetsblog article titled, “Open Space Behind Bars,” looked at the history of the park: when it opened, why it closed, and what can be done to transform it into a […]
Weekend Review: Santa Moninca Festival Embraces Biking, Complete Streets
| | No Comments
On Saturday afternoon, the City of Santa Monica hosted its 20th annual Santa Monica Festival. The wholehearted embrace of biking at this year’s event was, it seemed, both an embodiment of the city’s early successes in encouraging biking and a hopeful harbinger for an even more bike friendly future. To set the stage, I’ll refer […]
The Bundy Drive Triangle Park, Open Space Behind Bars
| | 10 Comments
(Last week week, Carter Rubin filmed a couple of videos with Joel Epstein at the corner of Santa Monica and Bundy, in the area that would be the “Bundy Triangle Park” as proposed by Epstein. Watch all four of his short interview videos at the Streetsblog YouTube page. – DN) Nestled in the northeast corner […]
Model Streets Manual on Its Way — Move Over Old Traffic Handbook
| | 5 Comments
On Tuesday night, a group of urban planners, transportation engineers, and public health advocates convened at Metro headquarters to preview the fruits of an intensive two-day labor. Led by design consultant Ryan Snyder, this team of local and national experts had been working in Los Angeles to create a new and visionary streets manual for […]
A Photoblog: Today’s Bike Party at City Hall
| | 1 Comment
There’s going to be plenty of press on today’s press event celebrating the passage of the Bike Plan at City Hall. Rather than join the dozens of stories that are going to appear in the press, on the web, and over the airways; Carter and I thought we’d relax, enjoy the party and take some […]
From Spokes People to Bikeroots
| | 7 Comments
Back in January 2009, Los Angeles Magazine writer Matthew Segal took an assignment as an embedded reporter (so to speak) with bike activists and group riders. The resulting article, titled “Bike Culture: Spokes People,” was a thoughtful five-page assessment of the state of the bike community in Los Angeles from the perspective of a curious […]
City Election Preview: LaBonge vs. Box in CD4
| | 9 Comments
For those in the livable streets advocacy community, no city council race has taken on more significance than this one. Here, LA Streetsblog presents a rundown of the two candidates and the livable streets issues at the heart of the race, so that you can make an informed decision. The Incumbent: Tom LaBonge is an […]