Communities

It's been a couple of years since we last checked in with Greg Gunther (See: DamienTalksSGV #3), a safe streets advocate in Pasadena. While progress on installing the Playhouse District parklets has stalled, Pasadena is moving forward on some other projects.

Metro Board Member and Supervisor Hilda Solis, backed by fellow board member and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, has drafted a motion that will put the 710 expansion on hold while focusing on the community projects attached to the massive infrastructure proposal.

This week Metro board committees are considering approving a distinctly backward-looking $6 billion project to widen the 710 Freeway through southeast L.A. County. It is difficult to believe that, in the 21st Century, Caltrans and Metro are still seeking to spend billions widening a highway in order "to improve air quality, mobility, and quality of life" per the Metro project website. East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice Executive Director mark! Lopez criticizes the 710 Freeway project because it "does little to advance zero emissions, does little to ensure local labor is hired to build this enormous project, and will displace hundreds of longstanding families from their homes."

Last week the Beverly Hills School District filed a new lawsuit against the FTA and Metro again aimed at preventing the Purple Line from tunneling below Beverly Hills High School.

The city of Claremont, and Metro board and staff are all supporting keeping Claremont's Metrolink Station open as part of extending the Gold Line

"Angeli" has completed work on two mile-long subway tunnels below downtown L.A.

In just about two hours, the Metro Board of Directors Parking Committee will meet to discuss a major update to the agency's parking policies. This policy, if passed in committee and the full Board of Directors next Thursday, would dictate how parking, both car and bicycle, would be allocated at future Gold Line Foothill Stations.

The Monterey Pass Road project includes new protected bike lanes, sidewalks, and preserves car lanes and parking