People

(Update: It turns out that unless the Najarian nomination is rejected by a majority in a weighted vote by the City Selection Committee, that no action is required by North County Cities earlier today. While the Committee didn't confirm his nomination, it didn't reject it either. This wasn't announced until today at the meeting, with everyone involved somewhat confused as to what the rules are. As Najarian put it in an interview with Streetsblog, "It's no surprise people are confused. This has never happened before."

(The original version of the story stated that the League of Cities selects the Metro Board Members. Dana Gabbard points out it is actually The City Selection Committee. The CSC is not a subsidiary of the League of California Cities, Los Angeles Division. Its authority is Sections 50270 through 50281 of the Government Code, and it is administered by Los Angeles County.)

It was a rainy day on October 20, 2010, much like today. Days before her most recent re-election, Senator Barbara Boxer was in town, with USDOT officials in tow, to announce a $543 million no interest loan to expediate construction of the Crenshaw Line. At this point, it was all but official that the Crenshaw Line would be a light rail line. A parade of public officials that included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, Congress Woman Jane Harman and Boxer herself all took to the podium to praise each other and the Crenshaw Line.

Last month, the Mayor's Office released a report ranking itself on how it achieved, or didn't achieve, its stated transportation goals over the last seven and a half years. Rather than traditional grades, the report gave the offices green (for "completed"), yellow (for "in the works") or red (for "didn't/won't happen) on a variety of transportation issues.

Mayor Villaraigosa Executive Order on Transit Oriented Development Cabinet

Returning from paternity leave, I made a joke promise that if Supervisor Mike Antonovich's office would get behind a transit line for the High Desert Corridor, a proposed new freeway connecting Highway 14 in Los Angeles County to Highway 18 in San Bernardino County, Streetsblog would give a week of exclusive coverage to the area he represents and praise him effusively.

(Editor's Note: The City Council passed the motion on Friday, November 16, 2012, making the allocation final.)

Over the last two and a half years, Los Angeles turned a corner. While the city has a long way to go to be a safe and welcoming city for pedestrians and cyclists, things are getting better. The change in attitude has also changed the debate from, "What can the city do to make things better?" to "Is it doing all that it can?"

I had to look up the date, but I'll never forget the time I ran into City Council Member Bill Rosendahl on the evening of June 14. I ran into my Councilman in our usual place, the produce section of the Whole Foods on the corner of National and Barrington. The usually ebullient Rosendahl was actually a little sour faced. Earlier in the day, he had lost a vote on whether or not to give a tax break to a new downtown hotel. He voted no, everyone else voted yes.