West LA

For transit supporters, all eyes are going to be set on a court room in Norwalk today for the hearing that will determine the short-term future of light rail in West L.A., but as they're traveling to the Courthouse the Times has given them some reading material.

(note: An earlier version of this story says that Robert Silverstein is representing Neighbors for Smart Rail.  He has been replaced by John Bowman with a completely different law firm.  Thanks to Dakota Smith at Curbed for the catch.  To read more of Curbed's coverage of Expo, Phase II and this lawsuit, click here.)

It's official, many Westside neighborhood leaders really don't want bus-only lanes.

Via Light Rail for Cheviot comes news that while the legal battles over the Westside extension of the Expo Line may be pending, local real estate agents are talking the train with prospective clients.   Naturally, the agents are hedging their bets, and have invited both Hello Expo! and Neighbors for Smart Rail to contribute to a new flyer.

Expo supporter Gökhan Esirgen attended a special meeting of the Westside Neighborhood Council last night featuring a presentation by the Expo Construction Authority.  Esrigen sent an email afterwards to other supporters and media, which can be read after the jump, but here are some of the highlights of Expo's presentation.

Earlier this month the L.A. Times headlined its coverage of the release by Metro of the draft environmental studies for the Purple Line westward extension "Proposed Westside subway will do little to relieve traffic congestion, report shows" as if this was a searing revelation. Just proof again of the sad decline of the Times these past few years.

Last night, UCLA Planner Madeline Brozen tweeted that the Westholme Sharrows, which have been on the street for nearly five weeks, have been partially removed after Westholme Avenue had been repaved.  The Sharrows used to stretch from the corner of Westholme and Wilshire Boulevard all the way to the UCLA Campus area, but after a repaving project north of Santa Monica Boulevard, the Sharrows have been covered by a layer of asphalt.

On Tuesday morning, the Mayor's Office, LAPD, LADOT, LACBC and Midnight Ridazz held a press conference to announce the winner of a slogan contest that will appear on posters throughout the City of Los Angeles.  Last night, Gary Kavanaugh of Santa Monica Spokes told me that he saw a sign on the way to the Streetsblog re-launch party.  He mentioned that it was at the corner of Pico and Barrington.  Sure enough, there it is!

Yesterday, Judge Robert O'Brien of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a tentative ruling that traffic calming measures in the Holmby-Westood community that were removed by the LADOT and City Council in the summer of 2009 be returned.  The traffic calming was first put in as part of a Neighborhood Protection Plan (NPP) when the Palazzo development was constructed on the west side of the community.  The measures were "only temporary" pending a vote of the neighborhood six months after installation.  However, when LADOT surveyed the community, they surveyed a different and larger area than the one agreed to in the plan.  The vote to keep the traffic calming was approved by "only" 60% of residents who responded to the survey, which was short of the two-thirds needed to keep the calming in place.