Streetcars

The city council and mayor approved a plan to fund the $291M 3.8-mile DTLA streetcar. Metro funding would need to accelerated to make an optimistic 2021 opening.

Last week, on the Facebook group for Southern Cal Transit Fans a link was posted to an article in the Downtown News on an upcoming public hearing for the downtown Los Angeles Streetcar proposal. Out of curiosity, to gauge the level of support for the project, I decided to attend.

(We'll resume our Measure J op/ed series tomorrow. During our one-day break, enjoy this piece by DTLA Rising author Brigham Yen's view on the vote on the Downtown Streetcar funding measure. You can still vote by mail before November 28. - DN)

Earlier today, AEG announced the completion of the first draft of environmental documents for Farmers Field, the proposed football stadium for Downtown Los Angeles.  The document, available on City Planning's website, is a mammoth 10,000 pages and the ceremonial handing over of the documents to the city at today's event involved 13 overflowing three ring binders.

A standing room only audience descended on the Fashion Institute of Design on South Grand Street to listen to a presentation from the embattled Community Redevelopment Agency for a ground breaking and popular proposal to transform the South Figueroa Corridor.  When people discuss Los Angeles' streets, they usually use terms such as "car-oriented" or "ugly."  The new South Figueroa, aka My Figueroa, would be a truly beautiful street designed for people to walk, bike wait for transit or just enjoy life outside as well as a way to shuffle cars from one area to another.

After announcing $130 million in new streetcar grants in December, the Obama administration received more than $1.1 billion in applications, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff told lawmakers today — offering more evidence of the growing local enthusiasm for competitive transportation funding that began with the stimulus law’s TIGER grant program. New Orleans, above, … Continued

During a visit to New Orleans, where city planners are seeking nearly $100 million in federal stimulus money for three new streetcar lines, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced plans to award $280 million in grants for streetcar and bus networks.

Activist and blogger Eric Richardson, and indeed the whole Blogdowntown team so some extent, have been heavily involved in advocating for bringing streetcars back to Los Angeles on Broadway and beyond.  Thus, it's little surprise that Richardson has the scoop on L.A. Streetcar Inc.'s new website designed to solicit feedback on potential routes for Los Angeles' streetcars of the 21st Century: